deep space cosmic whisperings, prog spirals and sonic exorcisms minced into a dense narcotic fog of melodic guitars, bowed strings, keyboard mutilations and spectral murmurs, slowly creepy from the speakers to flood the room with trance vibrations, occasionally lifting itself up into clatterings of drum and bone, or prayer like voicings. there is a visual quality to this music, a narrative flow, like bearing witness to strange events, creepy and portentous – more sweet mystery sounds. nice full color covers.
the richest hues, soaked in heavy decay. the brightest tones, steeped in analog fuzz and digital fog. the sound of one hand waving away the smoke from a burning bush. this new cd-r from (vxpxc) stacks layers of analog and digital keyboards with looping guitars and voices, and peppers the whole mix with a slew of acoustic instruments (from banjos to accordions to violins). this cd-r is protected from the forces of nature by a black plastic clamshell perfectly matched with industrial photos by andrew smrz… quite limited.
brand new cdr from trio of grant capes, justin mcinteer and tim goodwillie recorded in la. wavering multi instrumental folk-psyche-drone jams across 4 tracks, total bliss! again comes in the same lightweight paper as the wwvv with fold out all over artwork by darryl norsen. limited to 110 handnumbered copies. this was previously intended to be a cassette, but the band decided they wanted a cdr instead… very limited.
the 1972 debut album by turkish ethno psych-rockers 3 hur-el. the three hür-el brothers, onur (bass), haldun (drums, percussion) and feridun (saz-guitar + vocals), were one of the very few turkish groups at the time not playing covers, but only self-penned compositions. having played together for their whole life (other projects included trio istanbul, biraderler, alizeler, and oguzlar, and all three brothers were members of the selçuk alagoz orchestra), they formed 3 hur-el in the late 1960’s, releasing two wonderful albums as their all-too-brief recording legacy. feridun created the double-neck saz-guitar (a combination of electric saz and electric guitar in the same body), and haldun’s drum set was an assemblage of darbukas (a turkish percussive instrument also used in north africa and the arabian peninsula) in different sizes, made by the copper masters of the beyazit bazaar in istanbul! the hür-el debut is a brilliant set of turkish ethno-influenced folk-rock with a psychedelic progressive feel, some great electric guitar and fantastic eastern percussion. this very rare album is now available again on vinyl (the cd version on world psychedelia also in stock), with remastered sound from the original mastertapes. includes an insert with detailed liner notes and photos.
this is the second album by turkish ethno psych-rockers 3 hür-el, originally released in 1976 on the diskötur label. comprised of three brothers, onur (bass), haldun (drums, percussion) and feridun hürel (saz-guitar, vocals), they were one of the very few, if not the only, turkish groups at the time not doing any covers, but only self-penned compositions. hürel arsivi is an absolute killer of an album and easily one of the top turkish psych records ever released. it has a more western feel, with brother feridun here infected by a fuzz-virus and his own two-arm guitar (one for guitar, one for saz). also there’s much more heavy drums than percussion, in an astounding blend of psychedelic rock and traditional turkish instrumentation, and of course, plenty of distorted fuzz guitar and electric saz. includes an insert with detailed liner notes and photos.
the first public appearance pairing christian henjes and juergen gleue (inspired by and with names derived from lsd-25, they would become ch-39 and jg-39) was in 1976, at the dada nova (a space occupied by otto mühl’s aao commune) in midtown hannover, germany. dada nova would be a space of enduring clash. from the subtlety of a shat upon organ to the ejection from communal meetings by bodily force, the aao would display that the presence of the 39 clocks was one of their constant grief. known for pranksterism and the destruction of the clubs in which they would perform, friction in every form would continually follow the band. in 1979 they were thrown out of a show in kassel at dokumenta (their sounds had disturbed joseph beuys). they created an outrage (they wrote a tune with the title “art minus idiots”) at the filmtage hannover with their avant-garde super 8 movies made under the disguise of director zachius lipschitz. rumour claims that at a hannover show at the cafe glocksee, they played the vacuum cleaner and a circular saw instead of guitars, and there was even a knife throwing incident in bremen. inspired, then, clearly, by protest in the broadest and most romantic sense (they wrote a tune with the title “radical student mob in satin boots”) their’s was a sound attuned to classic american punk / nuggets. although, this is not bomp rock; theirs was a thrust that purposed deconstruction and reassembly in the most modern sense. this collection was put together with the non completeist in mind (originals of some of these records are as rare as italian underwear), intending to display the general 39 clocks vibe, but also some of their more curious wrinkles. and as the clocks were always interested in where they were going and not where they’d been, the chronology here is strictly reversed. diedrich diedrichsen wrote the first review of the band (in spex), and we at destijl are very pleased to have had him scribe liner notes.
50 foot women is a san francisco-based duo with jessi leigh swenson and elaine barry kahn. swenson is known for her trance-forming work with the believers and duck, kahn is a wild card. combined, they create and destroy small forms with the ease of kettle fish.
a two part experimental acoustic guitar offering funneled through a train load of pedals and effect and then ejected from a marshall 1/2 stack performed by michael gibbons of bardo pond (and all things philadelphia and psychedelic). recorded by myself in 2007 at the worlds nosiest book store bigjar in philly. the cd edition comes housed in a slightly taller sleeve with two color silk screen work by alan sherry of siwa on a heavyweight 140lb paper. the front cover is die cut with an inserted picture from the performance printed on vellum, all hand glued and assembled by myself. edition of 500… nice one & beautifully packaged.
released 10 march, 2007. performed and recorded by michael gibbons (bardo pond) over the course of 2006 in the lemur house, apocatastisis is a meditation on restoration and awakening. an inner voyage in seven parts consisting of guitars, effects, sitar, tabla and violin. a truly special record. from a one-time pressing of 677 hand-numbered copies. housed within sleeves that were individually silk-screened by alan sherry (siwa).
cosmic jewels and meditation jams by the musicyourmindwillloveyou tribe. 6majik9 creates a path of sound experiments in the australian bush and brings us some moody soundscapes of short acid melodies. come with the guru in this psychedelic and tribal journey – limited to 93 copies.
interviews with book of am, ed yazijian, geoff mullen, ghosting. art and words by ilyas ahmed, juan arkotxa, tara burke, darrell buxton, tom carter, cybele collins, sara czerny, bart de paepe, paul grimes, jani hirvonen, phil legard, samara lubelski, leslie mackenzie, marja mikkonen, thurston moore, roberto opalio, zachery reno, matt valentine. silkscreened coverfrogs by colleen kinsella… very sweet little read! recommended.
a middle sex? who the fuck are a middle sex i hear you cry… one of the best out there bands in the uk that nearly no one knows, totally ruling manchester duo of phil and karl. fluxing between minimal scrape and pound rhythms to noisy tumbling weird jamzzz using there trashed guitar, drums and electronics, with the odd weird vocal splatter thrown in. this is fresh from the jungles of manchester… it really gives me a jungle vibe – you’ll see what i mean. colour sleeve, edition of 55.
another hot jammer from the session in the fall 2007 from the trio of steffan deturck, jan-m. iversen and sindre bjerga. blissful drones, crackling electro-accoustics… this should have been out last year, but we didn’t want to flood the market haha.. small edition on 1-sided “ecological” tapes…
acid mother’s temple’s glorify astrological martyrdom is sure to appeal to the myriad amt fans who have made crystal rainbow pyramid a new fan favorite. professionally recorded mega riffage for a super defined clean sound. kawabata and company deliver this focused rock explosion full of hyper repetitive heavy hooks and freaked out pitched up vocals. cover art by seldon hunt… tour only lp, very limited stock.
mysterious woods bootleg. four beautiful acoustic versions of “rain on”, “twisted tongue”, “to clean” and “the number”. one sided, white label twelve inch with a pasted-on cover image. very limited, origins unclear… awesome little document and sure to not hang around long. recommended.
over the last few years brandon nickel has been honing his sound and making a name for himself with the, as of recent, very impressive isounderscore label. not afraid to embrace technology, aemae sounds is at times restrained, and at times a whirling maelstrom of ones and zeros, yet always carefully constructed, each release taking months of editing and re-editing. here the sound falls into the later, more intense mode of aemae, and a fitting way to retire the name, as mr. nickel is using his own name to perform under. comprised of edited live material, yet the heightened composure is still evident. the a-side is a lot of gear, screaming at each other more or less really, digital mulch. the flip offers a slightly more restrained sound, and could be visually compared to a sheer obsidian cliff on a foreign planet where the air is ten times the density of our own planet, the geological formation slowly rising along the horizon until it falls off the edge. silver offset ink on metallic black stock, 2-panel j-card. edition of 111 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
a new collection of material culled from recordings made in 2004 through 2007, mostly at the blueberry studio space in brattleboro vt. aethr myth’d members and some local guests in a sprawling unformed free process. this disc was made to be available on the band’s recent east coast usa tour, limited to 200 hand assembled copies. next planned shows will be at various random stops in europe.
afcgt = 3 parts a-frames + 2 parts climax golden twins. this is a vinyl release of their self release cdr that was limited to about 75 copies. those lucky enough to have heard that cdr, along with those who have caught one of this beast live in the past year know just what to expect. not quite as robotic and structured as the a-frames, not quite as loose nor remotely as mellow as the twins ever are. raw, noisy, dirty, psyched out punk rock. this record is in the red all the way through, and by the end your speakers should be nearly as blown out as the amps used to record these tracks. this is a supergroup set to lay waste to all other supergroups. pressed in an edition of 550 on 180 gram white vinyl. packaged in a tip-on style gatefold jacket with silk-screened art.
age of disinformation is a lucid nightmare supergroup featuring members of dallas/denton/ft. worth area ensembles great tyrant, zanzibar snails, yells at eels, tidbits, subkommander & aphonic curtains. at midnight on may 23, 2008, surrealist impresario aaron gonzalez assembled a 6-piece ambient group called age of disinformation, billing the event in advance as “an improvisation on the current state of psychological and spiritual breakdown as it relates to viral ecosystems of economies of information.” those were the only instructions the incoming players received. the end result: a 47-minute cloud of transmogrifying cadmium clouds with mercury lining, mutated voices meshing with dark electronic scree tempered by beautifying moments of translucent cognition, paving the way for the formation of the eternal unimind. the way to evolution is …. disinformation? limited edition 200 cdr, featuring design by nevada hill based on a collage by aaron gonzalez.
pakistani-born musician ilyas ahmed traffics a sound that borders on the folk/drone/raga/rock axis, one that scottish critic david keenan has called ‘gone’. currently residing in portland, or, ahmed has released recordings on time-lag, digitalis, and root strata. immune recordings is now proud to present the ultimate edition of these two modern classics presented as a deluxe gatefold double lp. featuring the original collage artwork printed in full color as well as brand new gatefold artwork created especially for this release by ilyas ahmed. the music was meticulously cut to vinyl by roger seibel at sae mastering in phoenix, az and pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in camarillo, ca… highly recommended vinyl version of these great early recordings.
since 2005 ilyas ahmed has been blurring the folk/drone/raga/rock realms into a sound that is uniquely his own. a string of self-released cdrs in 2005/2006 brought ahmed immediate attention and he soon released landmark albums on time-lag, digitalis, and root strata. in 2010 immune began working with ahmed first giving his first two albums between two skies & towards the night a deluxe 2xlp vinyl release and then in 2011 releasing a split 7” between ahmed and steve gunn for record store day. ahmed’s brand new album with endless fire was entirely written, performed and recorded direct to analog tape by ilyas ahmed in portland, or. it is ahmed’s first album since his 2009 release goner (root strata) and continues the much fuller sound presented there, giving us his unmistakable voice with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium, organ, and drums. ilyas ahmed on with endless fire : “this record started out during an extended period of decline and gradually shifted focus to let more light in, to reconcile the murky depths and the ecstatic highs of everyday life. i wanted to make music that was “of” rather than “by”. it was the first time i felt there was no separation between head & hands, instruments & speakers, microphones & air, fuzz pedals & tape machines. the songs are inspired equally by memory, loss, love, and electricity.” with endless fire was mastered by timothy stollenwerk in portland, or and cut to vinyl by roger seibel at sae in phoenix, az. the album is housed in a heavy-duty old-style tip-on gatefold jacket printed by stoughton and includes a free download coupon. the lp is limited to only 1,000 copies. also included is a free download coupon… awesome new album. looks and sounds totally hot. highly recommended!
reissue of a 1978 self released lp by one of the greatest ethiopian vocalists of all time. this material has not been reissued in any form since its original release. recorded at the end of the ‘golden age’ of ethiopian urban music, mahmoud is in top form belting out transcendent intense vocals over the ibex bands’ hypnotic soulful sound. as good as it gets & as close to universally perfect music as ever has been made. old school thick “tip on” sleeve. beautifully remastered by timothy stollenwerk.
jason ajemian is perhaps best known as 1/2 of the magical born heller (w/ josephine foster). ajemian also plays in a number of excellent jazz ensembles throughout chicago (like dragons 1976). but on”love songs invade your mind too,” ajemian steps to the forefront and does nothing but impress. over the course of nine tracks, ajemian shows that true power of a love son. now, these aren’t your typical sappy affairs, these are songs extracted from deep within ajemian’s smitten soul. using little more than upright bass and voice, ajemian’s stark incantations are deeply affecting. ajemian’s approach here couldn’t be simpler. but his talent and ability morph these pieces into something grandiose and magnificent. you don’t find honesty like this anymore. 100 copies.
near passerine devotionals is a new, vinyl-only label residing near toronto, ontario, canada. for our debut release, npd is proud to deliver this mammoth caustic-drone masterpiece from oklahoma’s native sons, ajilvsga (brad rose – he who runs the digitalis imprint, and nathan young – not the wolf eyes guy). trading in their guitars for synthesizers, this prolific duo has unloaded a pair of rocket blasts that are sure to flip your skull. the a-side is ear-meltingly delicious, slowly ramping from deepest drone to sheets of piercing skree. the flip takes the pummelling even further, incorporating a sinister rhythm and ghost-vox from brad’s wife, eden. it’s the soundtrack to your beheading… we feel that this is some of the best ajilvsga action yet! and it’s on vinyl!! comes sheathed in a 12″x18″ poster on heavy stock silkscreened by the mighty vgkids; artwork courtesy of evan caminiti (barn owl)… limited to only 300 copies.
with their third release for peasant magik, ajilvsga push their sound even further. huge slabs of densely layered scum continuously churn while rose and young summon shards of electricity from the high heavens. edition of 100.
the consistently mind numbing crushing noise project from nathan young and brad rose (the north sea, digitalis), like a black swarm of god knows what tearing your mind apart. if you dug the north sea cassette we released last year, you should def check this shit out. limited to 100.
the second release highlights the improvisatory aspect of van wissem’s activity, but as is always the case with him, the approach is not so easy to categorize. hymn for a fallen angel pairs van wissem with another rigorously iconoclastic artist, japanese guitarist and off-site alum, tetuzi akiyama. van wissem improvised to a recording of akiyama that he had entered into garageband, a program which allowed him to “see akiyama’s notes coming.” the result is something like a duo improvisation in which the participants are separated in time, with one player given the benefit (or burden) of precognition. this is austere, yet open music that unfolds slowly and laterally, with van wissem’s lute and akiyama’s bottleneck guitar tightly echoing one another or sounding together in strange clusters of tones that are allowed to decay slowly into deep chasms of silence. full of spectral chords, microtonal glissandi, and iron concentration, hymn draws firmly from the work of both artists in forging a sound world that is as barren as it is deep. tetuzi akiyama – martin hd-28 guitar, bottle neck. jozef van wissem – baroque lute, bottle neck, edits… beautiful stuff. edition of 500. nice silver on black cover art.
the japanese guitarist tetuzi akiyama performs an improvised set as a duo with canadian percussionist jeffrey allport on july 1, 2006. this recording is of the first and only time these two well-regarded improvisers have ever played together. living on opposite sides of the pacific, this show became an opportunity for allport and akiyama to each perform some of their most advanced techniques in improvised music with a player whose style was truly compatible. allport approaches every side of his drum, the rim, the snares, the steel clamps, and of course, the skin to produce a challenging repertoire of sounds that defy the drum’s gambit, segues from tibetan drones to electronic clicks and cuts, distant steamships to nearby popcorn. akiyama’s preternatural improvisations along the neck and body of his guitar meditate patiently on each bluesy sound, almost as if his fingers were playing along the surface of a slow-moving river. every note that akiyama plays becomes a sensational interruption causing ripples, splashes, and oxbows in the flow of the music. performed live at a sold-out western front, vancouver’s oldest and most significant artist-run venue, akiyama and allport propose a rich new vocabulary for music. two tracks on vinyl mastered by toshimaru nakamura. this lp documents an unprecedented collaboration between two modern masters of far left improvisation.
tetuzi akiyama has been a major player on the free music/improv scene in tokyo for going on 20 years. pre-existence first came out on cd as a part of the great ’wooden guitar’ series from locust. akiyama’s playing here is one of a minimalist approach, discovering and investigating the empty spaces between each note. he does not follow the takoma guitar school style of finger-picking, but a far more warped primitive country blues feel, with a meditative quality. you never know where you are going to be led with his guitar, down roads rarely traveled. with his dense tapestry of sounds, akiyama evokes emotions that at times are uncomfortable, but of real beauty. open your ears and let the music take you far far out there? 180gm vinyl, heavy textured covers, and hand numbered to 550. awesome.
this 7″ from scotch tapes features san francisco noise/ psych band, al qaeda. its a collaborative affair with side a getting help from mike watt (the minutemen), gabe serbian (the locust, holy molar) and chris carrico (aarktica) while side b features weirdo hip-hop act, occassional detroit. it comes packaged in incredible art by kevin yuen who has recently done tour poster art for the likes of sunn o))). its limited to 324 copies and is pressed on silky smooth green/aqua marbled vinyl. al qaeda recently toured in support of this 7″ with watt, serbian and rob crow (pinback) making appearances on stage with them.
anonymous group of forest dwellers. recorded off the coast of maine and sounds exactly what you think that would sound like. wheezy wordless vocals and strummed strings are gathered in a joyous ritual.
forthcoming lp on time-lag. edition of 100.
2nd release following debut on foxglove. more bone less meat less muscle more sinew fewer thoughts less synaps some time less space – color paste-on art with insert. nice.
electronic reverberations. pounding metallic crashes. sonic wails calling for the end of something we’re not sure of just yet. keep listening as all hope for a better tomorrow quickly crumbles into a venomous pile of tape hiss and radio transmissions from the planet we used to call earth. we’re truly fucked. colour photocopied artwork by sarah taylor. photocopied insert. spray painted cassettes. hand stamped and numbered edition of 100.
amanaz was formed in 1973. 3 songs are in the native language bemba, and 9 songs in english, recorded in kitwe, the 3rd biggest city in zambia up north. musically is goes in the same direction as blo, the witch and question mark, but this album is way cooler and stoned with amazing fuzz guitar all over which sounds like an african version of early cream. the cover make it look very traditional but after a few spins you are aware that this one is very special. it’s soo cool, so tight produced and easily to compare with uk underground albums with a touch of african beats. still completely unknown, so this album has not been scored yet by the collectors scene. a real surprise… new edition of 300 on 180gm yellow vinyl. great album!
first full-length album from mark mcguire (emeralds, etc…) and julian gulyas (synaptic foliage, etc..). expansive guitar and synthesizer compositions recorded in the dead of winter. limited to 500 copies on black vinyl… pretty awesome one if you’re digging this sound!
the mystic worlds of valerio cosi and the solo joint collide as amber lions……one long track navigates through a dreamworld of saxophone, synth, strings and more strings all glazed in a mercurial fog. magnificent. 3″ cd-r edition of 90.
explosive subtle motion and jarring delicateness collide and co-mingle through these two long sides of classic colored seven inch vinyl. here we find much more than just a single demonstration of west coast melding of east coast minds, there is something else in the water? full color covers in shiny plastic sleeves, limited and color vinyl.
amolvacy is aaron moore from volcano the bear, dave nuss from no-neck blues band, and sheila 16 of the laboratory theater group, nyc. the band creates compositions from its improvisations centered around strong elemental percussion, radical theatrical vocals, and classical acoustic instruments. recurring themes in amolvacy’s texts are the pain of relationships, the affirmation of the feminine in myth, the hero’s journey, and continuous need to flame the passions of the heart. “a la lu la” specifically addresses the gap of language in facilitating accurate communication, a gap that only music at its most primal can fill. the back of the album features text by jose da fonseca & pedro carolino, two portugese who in 1855 created an english phrasebook titled “english as she is spoke,” but who faced just one problem: they didn’t know any english. the linguistic train wreck that ensues mirrors the play of language, sound, and unintentional humor on “a la lu la.” clear vinyl in custom die-cut sleeve.
(one) side is amon düde (avarus) / the hoopo (hetero skeleton) doing some plundered gamelan and david hasselhoff rapping about the jungle… the other side features new sparkling anthems by nuslux (roope from avarus, pylon, maniacs dream, lal lal lal, etc..)
a first vinyl edition fully remixed for wax from the cd masters that first appeared on a ltd cdr from deserted village in 2006. plaintive semi abstract vocals strain and wind over ecclesiastical notes held so long that your head becomes the organist’s domain. rarely have vocal harmonies been this ethereal or perfectly held. not the glottal gymnastics of joan la barbara but rather the complementary visions of two unique artists in absolute accord. much of side b feels more improvised but throughout the whole there is an economy of note, a tension of control and an element of perfection to the detail of performance. housed in an ultra heavy card sleeve with cover art by paul santoleri and labels by helena espvall. ltd edition of 400 copies. housed in uber thick sleeve and pressed onto deluxe virgin 180gm vinyl… awesome this one finally made the jump to vinyl. wonderful sounds & beautifully presented. highly recommended!
captured live on the most patriotic of holidays, improvisations edited down into 8 pieces, quirky and mystical, clattering drums that sound from another world, saxophone, and a thick cloud of electronics. surreal. packaged in marbled cream art paper, with a color transparency, riveted together in three places, each looks unique, and color labels. edition of 80 hand stamp #’ed copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
caethua and debbie diaper have been teaming up off air well before thursday and tend to use those nights of their radio show inside outsider sounds to wind down after the week has just flown by. put to tape and assembled in the last months of their sorely missed studio, walking on ice. layers of loops and vocal sound forms, a.d. illustrate for the listeners a spelunking holiday that goes on a little too long, just a little bit further, the mouth is just around that corner. a small light illuminates a small cavern just fine…… what did you see? featuring andy neubauer of impractical cockpit, doggerella decided upon, flak mask, curtain call, uke of spaces….. etc, and caethua of sports, uke of spaces corners and sax wand fame. 300 pressed. screen printed on painted recycled jackets.
portland guitar wizard marisa anderson”s long awaited solo guitar record. marisa has been a fixture on many a music scene for years & years playing with everyone from the evolutionary jass band to tara jane o’neil to the dolly ranchers. in any context, she can’t escape her rag/blues/folk roots no matter how hard she tries. on this lp featuring only guitar – no vocals & no overdubs – we are treated to a very intimate sounding home recording filled with delicate grace. comparisons to john fahey & his ilk who do their hoodoo mystical rewrite of folk music is bound to occur, but close listening reveals a very original & yet truly rooted in the old style record that we hope will stand the test of time nicely.
tenebrae is theo’s fourth long-player and second with amish (also see dearly beloved, [ami-025]), marking the return of his patently unique songwriting, which includes a variety of regionalist folk-stylings — the mountain music one discovers along the appalachian trail; a southern gothic lyricism; northwestern eco-spiritualism; and above all, the music discovered in the woods just beyond a tent revival. angell’s densely hermetic iconography reflects an artist well-versed in myth, the avant-garde filmwork of kenneth anger and stan brakhage, and the ethno-poetics of brion gysin. oh, and theo’s singing voice is unquestionably one of the most expressive and expansive in outsider folk today. theo grew up in rural oregon, was home-schooled along with his siblings by his minister father, which provided him little exposure to mainstream pop culture; the tunes on tenebrae reflect these conditions, documenting both a reverence for and rebellion against isolation and spiritual absolutes. to that end, the title song, which is the latin word for darkness, references a religious ceremony that involves the extinguishing of candles in advance of holy week. the album’s song-cycle reworks various primitive musical forms to new and celebratory ends, twisting these styles into a unique brand of folk-psychedelia. for this outing, the tabernacle hillside singers include, among others, matt valentine, p.g. six, tom greenwood and samara lubelski. tenebrae highlights again theo’s unique poly-vocal pyrotechnics and will no doubt prove to be one of the most beautiful records of the year… comes in a heavy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve, with foldout insert.
what can i say about theo angell? he’s an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, a shaman. he lives and works in new york city, but plies his trade all over the country. angell is perhaps best known for his work in hall of fame and jackie-o motherfucker, and also as part of samara lubelski’s live band. but with the release of “auraplinth,” all that will change. this is theo angell’s opus. this is his masterwork. it finds him at his absolute peak and delivers an album unlike anything else. he uses his voice to etch out a detailed map of the stars, made up of dirt and bone, proving the organic nature of the cosmos. “auraplinth” is an amalgamation and invention, joining foundation with the ether. both of these forces are constantly at work throughout these 15 tracks. his voice is molded into every possible form. at times it reverberates above a river of folk-inspired melodies, while at other moments, he creates a bed of sound with wordless vocal moans. that voice is the glue that holds this great document together. on “auraplinth,” theo is once again joined by the evolving cast of characters known as the tabernacle hillside singers. this time it includes cynthia nelson (ruby falls), dan brown (hall of fame), & josh stevenson (magneticring). packaged in full-color, heavy duty gatefold jackets with original artwork by christian holstad (the front cover image is actually from a victorian death mask of theo himself), complete with full lyric sheet. the album is mastered by yellow swans’ pete swanson… nice one!
theo angell: introduction to thlowlth fissure – thlowlth is an entity who was birthed in 1996 during a seance in answer to the question “what is dark and green and fills our mouths when we’re not thinking?”. fissure was latter attached as a sire name denoting a lineage of tone splitting and throat separation. this collection reveals thlowlth’s close relationship with the moog synthesizer. el nino came through in ’97 in response to the catastrophic growing pains of our tilting weather system. the desire was to conjure the sound of a detached electrical power plant hurling over the humid southern states. within this hurtling mass is a moment of sadness and loss at the sight of one’s home floating down the street. the storm moves on. in moog killer, also recorded in ’97, we have painful vocal drones alongside sine waves. this uneasy alliance turns into an epic battle with the wild bull! it’s a story with tension, violence and tender resolution. “all change, feels strange, even better, better than before.”voxcual is a moog imitator is simply one long vocal improvisation recorded in the late fall of 2001, with reverb. goodwillies: revenant sun – these are the ur-songs, remnant fruit bodies of 1999-2005. my thick skull’d realize, that sound through: answering machine, telephone (land and cell and land), cardboard tube, a wahl two-speed vibrator, tears & semen divided by bee’s wax, and electronic voice phenomena laid up into a deep deep hallowed angelino unemployment in the paradise of a green, too too green, late middling late to early, too early ending-beginning of an echo park scene-thing and the sweet sweet a.c. of fax monica’s salvian closed curtains & windows, & sweeter east los fatherhood compound-coupled-tripled with the growth of a soft cult, sleep cult, a turn in silence and its ancillary friendships, alas black is black even, pink, come back shadows in heat, rub on me; a pirated copy of sound edit 16 version 2 does make, music? long, long before i knew, before i blew, the jasmine of a banana-dill-mint vapour, with more than, much much more than, more, than a little help from my friends, & a greater family and greater still where they meet, again, in pink. heaven is for quitters, reincarnate. for elves protect & fairy kiss, you.
pittsburgh stalwart alan lewandowski brings us yet another pro culture/ counter culture release. this time for turned word records via alan’s own imprint rickity/new anarchy #73. these meandering, jangly and highly poetic political folk tunes will undoubtedly stick to your minds eye, even sans chorus. a bit of biff rose mixed with a chadbournian sense of sarcasm keep this release feeling optimistic, without sending one too skyward during these bleak days of war on war. mono print by bucky brayer, handwritten text by alan lewandowski.
kokura was recorded under dark skies and howling winds, deep in the bowels of a japanese club as the country shook outside. kokura is the fruits of a collaboration between acid mothers temple/mainliner main man kawabata makoto, argentinean guitarist anla courtis (reynols) and japanese underground musician rokugenkin. based around hushed, mellow guitar drones and hypnotic, yet restrained guitar wails, kokura is the first fruits of their labors and captures the sound of life beneath a hurricane. like sunn o))) on half volume! – limited edition of 400.
two live pieces recorded in christiania free town, denmark february 07. immensely mind melting repeato-madness from ex-reynols sound thinker playing mouth harp on one side and bursting deep psychedelic mutant tones on homemade violin on the other. edition of 50, with full color artwork by j.h.
a talisman, a living mandala. recorded in buenos aires, 1992-93 (!) and now brought to life by the chants of birds, this is anla courtis ‘ornitology’, a poem about the secret forces of nature and the most sublime forms of communication hidden in the forest. earth, water, wind and fire the elements that are all living inside these three gems, starting with a spectral ballad, “quetro”, and exploding into the second track, ‘escua’, 16 minutes of epic guitars flying over an endless sea of visions. the last track, ‘tersina’, is the final redemption, and it comes through as a primitive-electronic assault! pure magic. 140 grams vinyl, limited to 105 copies only, screenprinted artwork (by canedicoda), half of the covers come in yellow with green print, half in green with dark print.
really wonderful & totally mysterious one here, with no artist credit at all. received this as an anonymous demo and managed to sort out this release, which is essentially a straight reproduction of the demo cassette transfered to the vinyl format… totally mesmerizing hushed, raw, bedroom acidfolk sounds, steeped in alchemical spiritual depth, profound lonesome melancholy, and seriously intense & haunting intimacy. magical poetic songs from a true searcher, battler of the spirit sorrows, and rejoicer in all mystical beauties. there is a gripping sadness that permeates these recordings, but also flashes of joy, redemption, and in the end a powerful hopefulness. indeed, this is living, breathing music from the true inner/ancient soul – zero hint of hipster folk trip here… nothing but intricate yet meditative acoustic guitar figures, mournful viola, and those vocals, all wrapped in gauzy 4-track haze and far distant street sound hum… you really just gotta hear this one to understand… pressed on 140gm vinyl and packaged in a stark foldout art paper cover with paste-on color front art & screen printed back. numbered edition of only 150 copies.
following their acclaimed debut here on -house of alchemy- and two stellar discs on phantom limb (vol.5) and foxglove (vol. 3) comes volume 2 in their mangled and distorted un-series. this air is thick this time around, musty even. prisoner children run the castle halls making these strange sounds, deranged echoes, lost in a maze. electricity flows through this one, via frayed cords. percussion jars you from stasis, leaving you only to gasp for cool crisp air. and then things really get unwound. cd-r edition of 123…. sweet oversized foldout covers with photo.
volume five of this duo’s phenomenal acoustic guitar manipulations, this is actually only their second release. following the critically acclaimed debut release on the house of alchemy, this album finds the brothers in a much more communicative and realized state. for fans of six organs of admittance and clipse alike… sweet sounds and more nice packaging too.
anyone who read our deep water interview with norman, ok’s anvil salute knows what big fans we are of the group. and lucky for us, they’ve returned to the acres to grace us with their ironically titled fourth full-length disc, a full hour of gloriously unwinding instrumental great plains folk rock. both their most focused and most varied work to date, it takes in everything from angular modal epics to sweetly melodic miniatures to ethnic-infused psychedelic drones, all seemingly rendered live via lovely you-are-there room-fi acoustics. heed that rooster’s crow…
those of you lucky enough to have heard not not fun’s “free beasts” cassette compilation may remember apple snails from it. that’s all i had to hear from them to know that i wanted more! apple snails cover the first side and are about as close as you can get to folk drone (is that possible?). lots of slide guitars and dark drones that will leave you with an amnesia induced trip. side b belongs to the mighty acts of god, which is a lovely lady, niwi. electric guitar is the main instrument used, with others guitars and keyboards(?) soaking through that create this very vibrant transcendent feeling, that honestly, the first time i heard, left me speechless. red cassettes with ‘grid’ labels, and fabulous artwork by the even more fabulous jeremy earl of fuck it tapes. edition of 100.
following up releases on crocomodile and an exquisite split cassette w/ the mighty acts of god on dnt, jeffrey mitchell’s apple snails take a whole new approach on “only a macadam road,” and the results are stunning. it’s full of ambient drones that sound like they were born in the northern lights. the road is bathed in darkness, but tiny fragments of light seep through the murk every so often in the form of acoustic melodies and glockenspiel bursts. it’s music that transports you far, far away. we’ve been working on this one for what seems like forever… so long in the making that the inserts actually say foxglove132, but good things certainly come to those who have waited for this apple-eyed gem.
if you’re already ready for more manic teenage improvised art punk from finland here it comes! unlike those pre-teenagers in the demars, armas huutamo is the real thing! they are right in the middle of their teens! that means you can hear all the beautiful anxiety, creative energy and forever growing new pubic hair the age involves. the awesome songs presented on this 7″ have been picked from 50 other songs the duo made during the hyperproductive summer of 1998.
cult new wave band the art museums tell sordid tales of artists, lovers, and poseurs. bay area psych burnouts josh alper and glenn donaldson converged in san francisco in the summer of ’09 to record anglophile jams on a tascam 388 tape machine (state of the art home-recording circa ’85). rough frame is their debut lp for the woodsist label. they would make a hi-fi studio record if they had the money, but reviewers would probably still say it was lo-fi. the art museums are into: art, poetry, whaam! records, and films about mods. the art museums are not into: flared trousers, drip coffee, or dirty sneakers.
latest basement clacker from the nav. blown tape levels, idiot rock n roll (with moron mantra drumming) and the shimmering of a sexy mile-long windchime in space. it s a bit like smearing sugar all round the inside of your mouth and going into the park to hand out fireworks. and its not even xmas yet! holy fuck.
the jodido triangular live sound of ashtray navigations ( – lamf) caught upstairs in one of leeds’ very most exotic wallpaper dens. the walls dripped honey and yet we did not make too much of a mess. features melanie delaney (sculptress) and phil legard (xenis emputae travelling band) as well as the usual. very ‘eavy, very ‘umblin’ – clear packaging, as always.
now into his 10th year operating under the ashtray navigations moniker & with releases on such esteemed labels as menlo park, jewelled antler, siltbreeze, american tapes, celebrate psi phenomenon etc, phil todd continues to conjure up his own unique brand of rural psychedelic folk musik. with his prolific output unde various guises (anna planeta, a warm palindrome, inca eyeball, target shoppers, dogliveroil, green monkey, tea culture etc etc – ) not to mention his previously longrunning label & distro – “betley welcomes careful drivers”, phil todd has been a tireless champion & exponent of fucked-up rock, avant-folk, mangled pop, allout noise, indeed “outsider” art in all its forms. for “electric cointelpro” we are treated to 4 superb tracks of organic drone & inspired electric gtr aktion. an excellent addition to an ever-expanding resume – xeroxed/stapled transparent covers.
….and a new one from easter 2009. believe it or not, these are the first 2009 ashtray navigations recordings to be released, so there. and this is quite definitely the last in the “painted clamshells” series of cdrs (this time they are mostly yellow, fact fans). sort of a response to a review which described ash nav as “obviously heldon-influenced”…news to me, but i decided to go for it and prove the reviewer right. but imagine a bunch of early 70s frenchmen playing all of their psychedelic records, all of their ocora records and all their prog/fusion at once whilst angry drum machines beamed in against their will from an alternate future blast out very mutated hip-hop beats. apparently mr. r.pinhas was an attendee at a paris ash nav gig and is said to have remarked “i thought they only had pop music in england these days”. this release may prove him right also. this is also the first ashtray release to be almost all digitally recorded….and you’ll be surprised how fucked up it sounds – gawd bless technology for giving us so many options. our most fun-packed cdr for a while. limited to 100 copies.
green-colored vinyl. recorded in leeds, june 2007. originally released as cd-r limited to 100 copies. “classic ashtray navigations, two hallucino-kinetic tracks each side.”
double cdr! two tracks each exceeding 40 minutes. snakestrings (i.e. disc 1) is a trip through strings and soundboxes, phil todd plays esraj, kemence, electric sitar and guitars until the electronic instruments rebel and propel the whole thing into psychedelic overdrive. hollywood taught you to kiss (i.e. disc 2) is based around another todd/crowley/legard trio excursion. dedicated to sun ra and andy warhol respectively. limited to 99 numbered copies.
brand new tracks from phil todd and mel delaney. leeds’ finest experimental movers and shakers of the last decade or so. perhaps their noisiest material yet! limited to 250 copies on black vinyl.
five blasts of guitar/drums action with electronic gush cerebration. business as usual then. great back cover snap of mr.legard and mr. todd in the shadow of the trunk. ms. delaney took the picture. only one of these people appears on the record. can you guess which? like i say, life is predictable stuff. limited to 100 – color covers.
this is the last of the vintage, tipple era askew, before the fingers cramped and began tickling digital ivory. these 2 wondrous cuts would’ve been included on the little eyes cd if time were not space. wonderful live versions, of “here we are together again” and “yellow dollars”, taken from david porter’s show on wybc, nov 1969. these songs are the topical concern of that or any era (love and war) and what else is there anyway?
a quickly happening dvd release from tokyo artist ai aso whose probably most well know outside of japan for appearing on michio kurihara’s solo cd’s and handling the b side of a lavishly packaged 2007 split 7″ with wata from boris fame. the chamomile pool dvd documents concert footage from ai aso from 2007 in tokyo. hypnotically delicate, angelic and minimal in structure ai, accompanied by her band, and with guest appearances by wata and kurihara, for a portion, craft her unique blend of songwriting and psychedelic musicianship. produced by atsuo, of boris, and edited and directed by ryuta murayama of foodunited (responsible for boris dvd’s, greenmachine, stupid babies gone mad). to date represent ai’s first non-japanese release. offset printed dvd disc face comes housed in a heavy stock diecut letterpress printed fold cover. pressing of 600 copies.
wheezing skyward born machine groans and gasped tremolo root to a kinetic pulse, while distant melody zones ascend to circulate around the bass flex on this face chewer by neil campbell. on the flip is the first vinyl cut by glockenspiel, flocculent tones weave with tom rub and bowed metal harmonics, drifting on the back of a drum dub to the heart of a snow-blind haze of feedback, amplified string scrape and analogue electronics. spin at 45. art by noah campbell.
two of europe’s finest collide on a 12″ 45 rpm platter loosely inspired by the club single. on wet wheel/hot wheel, neil campbell of astral social club succumbs to the heartbeat throb of house but tops the bass with a frenetic squall of darting alien melodies. on cursory listen, the elements congeal into honest-to-god body music, but the track is riddled with stutters and gaps that the flooded synapses fill with aural afterimages. on the reverse, jan anderzen of tomutonttu buries the dance influence, retaining only the genre’s neon shimmer and linear logic. ‘syvat svyät’ overflows with cuckoo loops that briefly cohere into musical shapes before casting off, replaced by an ecstatic march of manic squiggles. one must focus to follow the train of musical thought, but anderzen’s humor and intuition reward the effort. issued in an edition of 300 hand-stamped, 150-gram lavender lps in matte sleeves screened with consummate skills by alan sherry of siwa.
content this time around is highly nitrous, with much overloaded top-end twinkle. check for some particularly screwy (and often barely-recognisable) versions of tracks set for release on qbico and important records later this year, taking the demented recent asc live persona and twisting it further with heavy collage/layering techniques. offset this with remedial drumbox stumble and mysterious processed tracks and you know there’s only one hotel you can be checking into. edition of 150 in colour asc corporate house-style. 7 tracks, 42 minutes.
more jams culled from sessions both live in the field and at home, again sometimes touching on alternate-universe takes on tracks destined for lp and cd issue. huge chord swathes, babbling ectoplasm rituals, crunching delay unit swing, weird time tricks, scattershot beats, all propped up with shards of the patented asc heavy tonal foundation. edition of 150 in colour asc corporate house-style. 8 tracks 44 minutes.
new single by neil campbells ever-evolving solo project, astral social club. neil (a band, vibracathedral orchestra) with assistance from karl bauer (axolotl) unleashes two electronic psychedelic noise jams with distorted loops, cascading feedback, and the sound of hypnotic drones recorded in space. 500 pressed.
featuring two tracks of fearless sonic bliss and two long journeys to a state of sustained ecstasy astral social club’s “plug music ramoon” was recorded in one day on analogue 2″ tape. the lp combines percussive sticks and bells, resonant electronics, keyboard odysseys and some experimental vocal work from helmsman campbell. whilst club member john clyde-evans’s laptop contributions provide much of the backbone groove of the album, stewart keith adds light and shade on a variety of keyboards and toys. together they weave a rich tapestry of sound and noise. but it’s campbell’s dense guitars that thicken the very stem of these four tracks and leads his astral social club to conjure up his visions. this limited edition 12″ comes housed in a gorgeous hand-printed silkscreen sleeve. limited edition of 500.
neil campbell & mel delaney. rec. west yorkshire, winter 2008/09. new asc effort on qbico, a duo this time. this is the social club for astral spirits… red & pink vinyl.
philadelphia drone crew featuring rafi & paul from death chants. lush psychedelic moves morphing into some nice synth/mumble creep out. 3 tracks in 30 minutes recorded at black dirt studio. cover art by jeremy earl. limited to 100.
space hymns echoing in swirling psychedelic synth patterns, zoned guitartones and out-there primitive percussion. featuring members of death chants and muntjac. devotional raga wrapped in appropriate silkscreened offering. 80 copies.
a vision artifact of ancient future harmonies and inner cosmosis. supreme inner cranial reverbational reflections of where you are. unspoken language and incorporeal communion. recorded by jason meagher at black dirt studio, vinyl pressed at rti, housed in custom stoughton gatefold jackets lovingly adorned with screen printing, color photo and hand drawing. hand numbered ed. of 320… total zoner of a full length from paul & rafi’s post death chants duo. way deep vintage/future sound voyaging. other-worldly tones & moans. a recommended trip for fans of sus & jakob, angus maclise, and all stoned-avant sound art.
cassette version of the above lp. two long midnight fireside all acoustic jams from sparrow (prisma, the bummer road, etc.) nemo (drona parva, time-lag records, etc.) and the three members of visitations. tranced percussive strings, ghost vocals, and creaky rhythms and wrapped up in each other. limited to 60 copies with color transparency sleeves and no info.
4th vinyl release on the label, and the first wax for this maine crew after a cassette release on sloow tapes. two long midnight fireside all acoustic jams from sparrow (prisma, the bummer road, etc.) nemo (drona parva, time-lag records, etc.) and the three members of visitations. tranced percussive strings, ghost vocals, and creaky rhythms all wrapped up in each other and slowly unfolded… numbered edition of 299 with stamped labels and full color paste-on art front & back. zero info.
here is another unknown us beauty. recorded in 1968 august played a lot in small clubs. the clubowner gave them the chance to record an own album. they played it straight onto tape with no overdubs in a couple of hours. only 100 copies or less where pressed. the music reminds me a lot of lazy smoke. it has that pepper style but the sound is more rough. beautifull compositions played in a garage style – recorded usa, 1968. 180gm vinyl, heavy covers, numbered to 450.
so delicate, the sounds that unfold here. brad rose and ville mosquiitto return as autumn galaxy with another discharge of aural marvel. they tip-toe around one another, laying out a finely-crafted set of music that manages to be both dense with texture and startlingly fragile. fractured sound-scapes, shattered banjo and endless buzz are just some of the elements at play here. cd-r edition of 123.
shimmering blankets of glass sound lay fallen upon concentric ears this spaced gorgeous collaboration between brad rose and ville moskiitto unfolding slow in delicate patterns very pretty – great stuff packaged in a lovely metallic gold cover with color paste-on art and a full color insert.
here is your introduction to phase two. while there is a certain degree of continuity in the approach, ii is a noticeable extrapolation of the avarus sound. the albums six tracks span collage-esque pieces of audio junk to deconstructed song forms to subtly dense instrumentals. waves of stretched electronics, distorted clank and warbling bass throb create layers of chaotic wreckage until a sudden collapse reveals an underlying stasis. unnoticed patterns now conscious pull the listener into another time/mind continuum. step into the g-a-p. the lp is presented in a full cover printed sleeve with suitable “found” photo art – for you to figure out what its all about – limited to 400 or so copies… slightly bumped corners, reduced price.
all-new exclusive avarus! fourth secret eye full-length and tenth release overall from this incredible finnish band that pretty much defines modern psychedelic kraut improv. primitive, primal and tribal, desolate and mournful, dreamy and pastoral, motorik and hypnotic. buzzing, clattery, droning, stumbling krautrock flecked with shimmering free-noise, avant ambience, delicate folk fuckery, and chaotic caveman psychedelic space rock. avarus iv starts where the rasvaaja lp ended. the iv, too, consists of tomas regan’s careful high-quality recordings. on the iv avarus makes and even longer dive in the warm and clear pond, into which the water is poured from both kraut and space rock, and from micro music and slapstick. the recording was made after the us tour, which guarantees the firm harmony satisfying the most demanding listeners. the delicate talent and the hilarious team spirit guarantee a recordful of heart-warming harmonies and surprising turns delighting an unprejudiced mind. the wondrous adult rock of avarus is born from an uncompromising love for music. the finished recording deserved a fantastic cover, too. this in mind, the graphic visionaries amanda and pauliina spent their summer holidays swimming, drinking beer, and drawing their kaleidoscopic davy crockett epos inspired by music. lp only – 160 gram virgin vinyl, pressed in czech republic, direct metal mastering, full-color labels and jackets, all-exclusive new jams. limited to 200 copies… sure to go quick, so don’t miss out if you’re a fan.
long touted as the forefathers of finnish freeform psychedlic music, avarus, a collective bearing members from the anaksimadros, kemialliset ystävät, maniacs dream, and more, document their first tour of the united states on “kirppujen saari”. the sounds contained show a departure and growth from typical avarus recordings. the a side long track begins with a psychrock romper complete with full “band” instrumentation, slowly it deconstructs itself into the abstract electric/acoustic stylings and sonic spattering familiar to their previous work. slowness builds into full on clatter filled walls of vocals, toy keyboards, horns, strums, and other acoustic junk, creating a unique and massive drone. the opposing side is pure acoustic drones composed of vocals, horns, and tribal beats. room filling ambiance, corner clatter, and morphing silence also find a way to unobtrusively build themselves into the piece. in an edition of 350 lps on coke bottle clear vinyl with printed labels by bart of sloow tapes and proprinted full color foldover art by the band… nice one!
restock of 2005 release, last copies… xmas 2004, brooklyn. brian sullivan and nate nelson of mouthus meet up with karl bauer of axolotl for some sonic celebration and let the tape machine roll. two side-long psilocybe-inspired scoops of shimmering and stumbling drone / zone / sludge ragas. better dust off your bib. full color printed photo-collage covers, insert.
originally released in 2005 as a limited edition cd-r on yellow swans’ jyrk label, this three-way collab now gets a proper run on wax. recorded in oakland at the huffin house before the swans made the retreat back to portland. despite the weight of these players when they rock alone, this jam really never gets into full on white out territory. instead, it’s loaded to the brim with wavy neon distortion and soothing low end that occasional drops out into huge washes of emptiness. the opening passage of gms guitar flecks sympathizing with karl’s string wash is alone worth the price of admission. red vinyl with lime green splatter. edition of 500.
karl bauer and eva saelens (axolotl and inca ore respectively) are two like minded bay area psychers operating on two opposing levels. axolotl marks the a side with skyward streaking drones and ethereal loops tinged and focused, ringing with the joyous bliss of upward passage. an endless array of vocals, electronics, and violin looping and looping, building and growing: stasis. inca ore makes her craft from an earth bound level. oneness with her surroundings, roots firmly planted. eerie incantations and meandering harp play foreground to layer upon layer of looped vocals and murky ambience, charting your way towards forever. in an edition of 450 white purity colored 7″s in black and white pro-printed collage fold-over sleeves by eva with a numbered insert.
B
brand new hand-numbered edition of 552 12 inch ep from this great new european label gipsy sphinx that also just released the vanishing voice ‘nordic visions’ set. here karl bauer uses violin, vocals, electronics and percussion to assemble swathes of hypnotic, tripped-out noise that falls somewhere between terry riley’s circular, pulsing explorations, sonic boom’s radiophonic workshop gargles and swirls, and burning star core / vibracathedral orchestra’s wall of sound. the a-side is an ecstatic fog with the b-side the gentle star-gazing come-down – limited/numbered to 552. from the fine folks who brought you the vanishing voice nordic visions lp. nice paste-on art packaging too.
new psych damaged batch of nocturnal hookum from karl bauer. zoned out crackling, tones and sweet sk-1 blowout all brewed up into a sweet load of tingling psychic non-songs and grot beats.
first ever correct reissue of this chicago area 1968 private press holy grail. one of the most legendary & valuable garage / psychedelic lps ever, this ones been seeing massive hype and huge price tags for decades now, all with good reason. for a 60s private press lp it’s got a truly remarkable number of things going for it that set it apart from literally every other lp in this bag. an album of all original material that amazingly combines the best elements of garage, psychedelia, and teenage self release realness without hitting any of their many pitfalls along the way: totally crude garage production values, crackling on-the-edge energy, and wild punk-minded rave-ups – without any covers, flat sameness, or throw-a-way filler. beautifully inspired mind-expanding sonic depth, confused, fantastic lyrics, relentless jangle, swirling reverb, unhinged fuzz / feedback outbursts, and constantly flowing textures – without any pretentiousness, blues jamming or self indulgence. exquisitely personal, human, painfully lonesome, and achingly moody – without any macho posturing, stoned goofs, or bad diary poetry… then there’s the fact that these guys came up with gorgeous unique songs, both singers have great distinct voices that are constantly playing off each other, and the band takes a wide-open approach that spans pop sensibility, acid experimentalism, and heartbreaking teen ballad moves, and combines them into a sound totally their own. would seriously be too good to be true if it didn’t actually exist, and it barely ever did… recorded and mixed in just 10 hours at a makeshift studio above a pharmacy, and locally pressed as an edition of only 150 copies, the few remaining original lps are true artifacts… which makes it totally confounding that all past reissues have sadly not even come close to capturing the crystalline, biting fidelity of the original album. we’ve fixed that once and for all with total top-notch mastering from a pristine original copy, to bring you just as close to the soul-piercing experience of spinning the real thing as possible… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. packaged in an exact reproduction heavy weight reverse tip-on cover, made just like the original, plus exact repro metallic printed labels. one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
marking the vinyl debut of a couple of so maine’s favorite improvisational psych outfits, this split 33rpm 7″ runs amok with some murky kraut-leaning grooves. bad bus’ side builds from loose tom drumming and echoey vocal moans into a locked-in bassline stomper. tempera’s track buzzes its way through lo-fi live loops, beats backing aetherial vocals, a complete electro mindgroove. hand-stamped black 7″ vinyl record held in a hand-ripped, machine-stitched patchwork record sleeve. hand-numbered to 300…loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
the first recordings by meg baird under her own name. meg has been singing and performing since she was a kid with her sister laura as a charter member of the traditional folk duo the baird sisters, though she is currently best known as one of the ‘female larynxes’ of the communal philadelphia band espers. or we should say, best known as the siren-voiced singer for same. or, perhaps, we could let nick carraway describe the quality of her voice for us: ‘the exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. i had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone before any words came through. we asked meg to record something with a country-waltz flavor, and she courteously obliged us with a graceful and bittersweet cover of ‘waltz of the tennis players’ by the under-appreciated ’60s folksters fraser and debolt. the mushrooms are growing in every new boot print, my, my, my.’ for the b-side, she recorded an alternate version of ‘dear companion,’ a track from her forthcoming lp. it’s an ancient melody, an aching lament sung ‘in the style of the chapel,’ with meg whisper-singing right into your ear, or maybe just to herself as she folds the laundry and does the dishes. you can see things more clearly when you shut your eyes – lovely color covers, heavy vinyl, very limited, and oh so beautiful.
you all may not be familiar with the project, but it’s william sabiston of (part-time) axolotl fame. dude is a wild percussionist who’s collaborated with tons of folks, but most recently in a group bulbs. i’m not even sure how to describe this release – i suppose”freedom techno,” a ficticious genre imagined by roope eronen, would be some sort of applicable term. william weavs all sorts of percussive sounds; bells, electronic drum pads, synth and acoustic drums into a complex whirl of pulses and clicks that will occasionally congeal into abstract loops, minimalist techno riffs, dub-zones or some sort of cohearance, before whatever beat he’s imagined crashes in on itself – those familiar with william’s solo track on the axolotl cdr,”oranur,” will have some idea what to expect. but then, i’ve been listening to this thing for months and i still don’t know what’s happening when i listen to this thing. limited to 150 copies – screenprinted covers.
limited edition pressing of 1000 copies on vinyl heavy enough to hold some of bardo pond’s headiest jams. this is the first of four vinyl only bardo-related releases coming out simultaneously on important records. gazing at shilla is bardo pond’s first release on important. the two pieces, both very different in sound and feel, have sat patiently in the bardo archive waiting for the most opportune moment for release. ‘eight-thousanders’ and ‘kali’ are both entirely improvised pieces with no overdubs. slide blissfully into a smokey heaven and then forget your mind in a lower world of strange tones on side a. if you’re still able to flip the record when the needle hits the runoff groove, you’ll find yourself exposed to the goddess kali’s naked blackness. bardo is out. are you in?
limited edition of 1640 copies. in early 2008, bardo pond and three lobed recordings teamed up to assemble batholith, a collection of tracks that were close to the band’s heart but for various reasons had never been released. the result was an extremely cohesive and vital statement that was positively received by both old and new bardo pond fans. during the compilation of batholith the band had to agonize over the wealth of material that they were sitting on in constructing the ultimate tracklisting – there were too many good songs! the band approached this “problem” by structuring two sister albums, batholith and peri, each possessing their own musical themes and each fully capable of standing independent from the other. for this reason, peri is every bit as potent as its predecessor. the meticulous sequencing of peri’s five tracks provides a classic bardo pond experience. while the initial description of the material might lead one to think that these tracks are “outtakes” or cutting-room floor type material, neither conclusion could be further from the truth. the band is quite excited to finally see all of the material on peri venture into the public. for example, “chicken gun” will be recognizable to the band’s longtime fans. a former live staple from 1996 through 1998 (even making an appearance in the band’s set at the first terrastock festival), it is a propulsive and fiery rocker every bit as monumental as some of the band’s classics such as “lb.” and “tommy gun angel.” “the path” is a subtle number featuring floating flute work from isobel sollenberger. the album-closing “silver pavilion” is the sort of meditative psychedelia that has been bardo pond’s calling card over their lengthy career. the track dates to the band’s extremely fertile, yet barely documented, period between the release of “dilate” and “on the ellipse.” “silver pavilion’s” slow, enveloping build properly see the listener to the door and is reminiscent of such flawless bardo closing tracks as “rm,” “aldrin” and “night of frogs.” peri is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and is housed within heavy “old-style” one-pocket stoughton gatefold jackets bearing new collage work from michael gibbons. the record is from a one-time pressing of 1640 copies and, as an added convenience for our vinyl-loving friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax… all copies here are accompanied by a bonus cd (tlr-068) of previously unreleased bardo pond material, only available as a special pre-order bonus.
recorded by george mitchell in 1978, this lp was originally released by the southland label under the name ‘william robertson.’ due to cecil’s superstitions and legitimate fears of the taxman, he insisted that it come out under a false name. cecil was an unusual blues musician, giving each song its own feel and rhythm. another underrated american original. this is a co-release with big legal mess records.
campbell kneale moves ever closer to the glistening, levitation altar, with backwards bliss-shimmer, spooked chant and analogue squawk and squeal, kaleidoscoping around triumphant snare punctuation. bark haze (thurston moore & gown duo) hit back with focused power-drone guitar duelling from the heart of the bong, smoking out into tunnel-visoned, crumbled-amp chunder. artwork by campbell kneale/kim gordon.
since first bearing witness to barn owl’s mythically desolate amplifier alchemy last year, nnf has been rabid fans/fanatics. but like lots of badass bands, bo are a rolling stone, heavy on the transformation tip, and the bo of today is an altered beast from the one that folkily fingerpicked bridge to the clouds and their self-titled disc way back when. and in case we’re not being clear: this is a beautiful thing. from our mouths a perpetual light burns with the sun-dead majesty of a death valley burial ground, all wasted waterless expanse and cracked earth smoke blowing in the dry wind. heavy western drone revelations bleed into forlorn guitar drift, downcast percussion plods across the plain, a skull on its side lies in the sands. evan caminiti and jon porras have somehow flawlessly evolved barn owl into a blazing new universe, and from our mouths… is the first mission statement from their new spectral/aesthetic outpost, a stunning and timeless eight-song suite of grim cinematic electricity. tune in, drop dead, rot on. in swank matte jackets with ‘four-armed demon warrior-yogi’ artwork by the band… very limited repress on this great one, in slightly altered packaging.
this one is two side-long triple guitar jams by ben chasny (six organs of admittance, comets on fire), elisa ambrogio (magik markers) and brian sullivan (mouthus, eskimo king, white rock). extremely dense and crunchy – hold this one back to set the mood at your next summer of love party. like our other vinyl releases, this one will be pressed on 180g rti black vinyl and will come from an edition of 845 copies. look out for the beautiful and heavy wrap-around silkscreened covers (by alan sherry of siwa) on this one. as a bit of a first for three lobed (and a trend that we hope will continue with most of our vinyl releases from this record onward), packed in with the lp is a pressed cd (not cd-r) of the same material present on the album. the cd is not available separately and is included as an element of convenience and portability for all you vinyl folks (and also as an effort to help convert a few of you cd folks into vinyl folks!).
another in the wooden weavil series, this time an unreleased live robbie basho recording from germany in 1980. this program appears to have been recorded in one go. robbie scatters his americana numbers throughout, beginning with ‘redwood ramble,’ ending with ‘california raga.’ this date finds robbie in fine fettle, his playing sharpened by the intensity of touring, his mood seems ebullient, at times (as on ‘fandango’) he comes off like john lee hooker’s sun-kissed cousin, stomping furiously along to his playing. there is sweetness to his material, yes, but this is not, as jack rose put it, ‘music for wineries.’ there is the galloping muscularity of basho’s playing, coupled with the sheer hugeness of his sound; the fearless employment of dissonance as part of his musical make-up; a love for the unexpected chord change. robbie was a voracious and uncompromising player. basho’s singing was as integral to who he was as his guitar playing, and when he opened his mouth, he filled the room with sound. say what you like about his lyrics, no one can accuse basho of dilettantism, of dabbling, or of trying something on merely for effect. whatever bag he was in, he was in all the way. liner notes from glenn jones & stephen basho-junghans, and beautifully remastered by glenn jones… wonderful archival release!
second cdr on br from mike vest of bong’s solo project of hazy lo-fi ritualistic temple drone for smoked out fried brains. one long beast of a track at over 35 minutes. limited to 100.
alt.vinyl is pleased to be releasing this collaboration of two of the us’ free folk/ experimental luminaries..marcia bassett from zaimph and double leopards on guitar and electronics…and helena espvall of espers on cello and electronics. a killer cut first recorded in philly in late 2008 and now mixed specially for vinyl by patrick klem (the man behind many a 3 lobed release) and sounding like a knife wrapped in silk. coruscating drifting harmonies that will appeal to the improv raga community echoing the early works of no neck blues band, sunroof, six organs and sunburned. warm yet sharp, effortless and complex… artwork by derek moench, audio mastering by patrick klem. ltd edition of 400 on 180gm vinyl… massively heavy covers!
hand-numbered edition of 200 copies lp on manuel mota’s private headlights imprint documenting a heavyweight duo set from marcia bassett of zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, ghq et al and improvising portuguese bassist and guitarist margardia garcia. garcia is one of the major new generation european free players, coming out of the same scene as mota, and she’s just as capable of generating swans-style industrial entropy as she is playing explosive fire music. here bassett uses keyboard and guitar to create austere arcs of industrial-strength drone that garcia anchors with tactile, questing strings, giving the whole thing an odd avant-classical backbone. – volcanic tongue.
totally seamless electric/acoustic mindmeld from the duo of jacob heule (ettrick) and tony dryer. double bass, floor tom and cymbals trigger electronics, which are processed to create spontaneous compositions ranging from articulate harsh noise to quiet moments reminiscent of comus, u.s maple and brigitte fontaine.
great local maine private press mini-album from mt. moon member. etheral dream melancholy songcraft. totally insane hand done packaging with free pin. extremely limited!
handmade covers. a confusing, odd record. 2 lock grooves begin the edith side. bedroom meanderings that steve stapleton might be proud of. released around 9/11/01. really! tons of confusing inserts. 200 pressed.
it’s the final beach fuzz recording made with barry dean on drums and also features the eyeball-melting saxophonic skree of solar fire trio’s dave jackson. it was recorded in warrington on 29th oct ’08 and is a more melodic yet typically cacophonous jam than previous releases. we hope you dig. out now on cd-r, limited to 80 copies.
5 minutes pulled from 2 epic, cacophonous jams make up both sides of this first beach fuzz 45. following on a slew of home spun cassette and cdr releases on their own golden lab label as well as blackest rainbow, lotus birth and others. insistent, narcotic drone pieces featuring bowed, scraped lap steel, wailing echo drenched synth wash with occasional mo-esque, circling percussion. 300 only in cool, fliptop, yearling lined card fliptop sleeves.
last ever copies!!! recorded in 1970 but not released until 1996. follow up to their highly heralded album ‘welcome’ which is a classic psych album. this one is psych flavored pop/rock. comes with paste-on sleeve… long out of print high quality archival release.
devastating psych noise power drones by ernesto gonzález, an 18 year old kid from venezuela who moved to belgium with his family 3 years ago. thick layers of hototogisu-like guitar drones interfere with endless tape loops and warm washes of analogue jungle color tone to work up to an overwhelming fuzz guitar climax, leaving listeners helpless, ecstatic, puzzled and bemused. ernesto has been making music for over three years now, has various solo as well as collaboration projects going on, has released a slew of amazing selfmade cdr’s and has recently also become a full time member of belgium’s finest: freefolk/krautrock outfit silvester anfang, who’ve got an lp coming out on eclipse later this month. a promising new star in the psych drone skies’85 djid hums is the vinyl debut of bear bones, lay low: over 45 minutes of pure psych drone bliss pressed on heavy high quality 180g vinyl, complete with paste-on art and flashy insert, housed in a thick cardboard jacket with resealable plastic sleeve. limited to 525 hand-numbered copies.
ernesto gonzález traded the chavez regime for comfortable living in a dreary place called waterloo, near brussels. he picked up the guitar, practiced his hendrix skills, got introduced to the world of scorching fuzz, demented kraut rock jams, drone lords and kosmik trance and decided he could as well do all that shit by himself. after his debut on gipsy sphinx, vallée de dith is his second official solo outing, leaving the drone in second position and focussing heavily on kraut rock work-outs. this is the ultimate south-american take on moolah, ash ra temple and neu!: excellent riffing, brain-melting space synth and far-out hippy meditation. probably the best venezuelan album since angel rada’s upadesa. phill niblock hated it!
new very limited local private press from adam bosse, the same dude behind the mysterious darkhorse cdr awhile back. sound here in guitar/drums duo prog psych action. sweet hand painted covers. copies here include a bonus dvd!
recorded live to tape in two days, after a sleep deprived month of beefheart style creative lockdown, begushkin – dan smith’s 8 headed hydra – lay to rest the twilight folk of 2007s nightly things and reemerge with the wicked & strange hard rock gypsy shake of king’s curse. smith yells and carries on like a man posessed with tales of the damnation of a robber king and the band plays it ultra tight & ultra heavy. king’s curse is higher tier creep rock…. ‘at times like an impossible mixing of leonard cohen, will oldham, and michael gira stirring up a series of haunted gypsy hymns. mournful and melodic with half-seen shadows walking through the trees at night, and fever dreams swooning in the moonlight. mysterious like lyrically compressed american gothic short stories.’ george parsons, dream… 180gm limited vinyl version.
a long three track cdr collecting a particularly insulated and homespunera of the believers development. especially the longer-than-album-side rendition of their standard, ‘down to the lake’. step inside, take a breath, get to know this album. perhaps you will glimpse the reasons why so many in the valley are holding their breath for the believers debut lp – features members of son of earth, shackamaxon, duck, idea fire company, sapat, so many other spins, the whole meatball is here. packaged in simple xerox folded jackets, origami style – yeah! go believers!
the first ever official vinyl reissue of this folk-psych gem from new york city, usa. originally released in 1977 by winter solstice -group’s own- label this is a very rare (r3-r4) album nowadays. and hopefully it deserves every cent that you will spend for purchasing an original copy. its strange mixture of haunting melodic folk and dreamy psychedelia. both male and female vocals participated by roger and wendy penney (who had also presented the extremely rare “roger & wendy” lp back in 1972) while autoharp, violin, percussion and sound effects (wah wah, fuzz, phaser, delay) offer a “unique” atmosphere. this is an official, fully licenced and autographed, vinyl edition. exact reproduction of the cover and label with extra 4-pages insert with bio, photos and lyrics. all in high quality special papers. pvc protective outersleeve. includes one extra unreleased track from 1974. limited to 400 black vinyl copies, 180gr, copies. pvc protective outersleeve… top quality reissue of this pretty great private press oddity.
totally unreleased (on vinyl format) album by legendary nyc psychfolk duo. all the recordings range from the late 60′s to the late 70′s. our opinion is that “the missing tapes” is their best till today offering. just take a listen to “did you love me” and “lost worlds” songs. original, unique and bizzare sound not unlike their first album (see anazitisi records arlp 70-21f). half of the 10 songs are penned by roger penney while the other 5 are covers on: dennis deyoung’s “come sail away”, joni mitchell’s “circle game”, richard farina’s “swallow song” (what an adaptation!!!!), fred neil’s “dolphin” and an exceptional “high flying bird”. from the original 2-track master tapes with excellent sound quality and licenced by roger & wendy. it includes a 12-pages large booklet with story, lyrics & photos, decorated by wendy’s paintings. fully laminated. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual. limited, to 200 black and 100 coloured copies, edition… black vinyl copies here. highly recommended if you dug their s/t lp!
really cool new out-of-nowhere private press from israel. haunted lo-fi male/female duo that trip into the same sort of dust baked bedroom visionary zones as early charalambides, or more fried mazzzacane/bloom. totally spooked femme vocal stretching out over equally zoned & exposed slo-mo electric guitar pluck & moan. really good stuff. each copy has a unique hand painted white on black cover. recommended.
a stunning new album including 5 long jams (23 minutes each side) which balance perfectly between the homey “strange maine” sound, the collage aesthetic of “the grove” and the extraordinary singer / songwriter approach as heard on “dead songs”. if it wasn’t released by phase!, it would certainly top a position in the 2011 top-13 albums! comes in an edition of 350 copies w/ 2-color awesome screenprinted jacket + insert… really sweet new one from this great group, looks & sounds awesome. press note that all copies seem to have a odd marking on the vinyl, but this does not effect play. recommended!
fantastic new private release from this wonderful duo. one of their very best yet! the usual totally amazing one-of-a-kind screen printed/painted cover art, with insert. highly recommended!
the brand new self released disc from this amazing project featuring colleen & caleb from cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. off the cuff abstact improv spaces with goobs of reverb, strange instruments, and spooked vocals mix with straighter, and generally pretty dark, acid folk songs. male/female vocals, accordion, many different guitars, multiple personalities, toy drums, and plenty of mystery sounds. their 6th private press release, as usual packaged in a totally beautiful one-of-a-kind multi color/layer screen printed art paper cover, with vellum insert, extra art, printed disc, and more. extremely limited. could be their best yet! very recommended maine goodness!
finally a release on night-people from raccoo-oo-oon tour mates and chicago’s best basement improv unit binges. killer drums, percussion, electronics, saxophone, guitar, and bass from these two dudes chris and anthony. binges are ultra focused and tight, chris glides around on his kit with supreme precision with anythony juggles a bunch of loops, noises, and instruments all at once. one of the most solid and exciting underground bands around right now. artwork by the band printing by sdrreed.
“common wealth” is bird by snow’s 4th lp, and their 1st record made outside of their own lo-fi home studio. but bird by snow stays true to their analog roots by conducting ceremony with tape alchemist tim green who recorded and produced this album and has cast countless other magic spells with artists such as joanna newsom, daniel higgs, wolves in the throne room, and a multitude more. this lp comes on deluxe heavy white vinyl, with a beautifully printed color jacket, and 8-page color 10″ booklet! all together in this photo. “common wealth” is a watershed of song, an album of arrangements that behave more like an ecosystem. the interdependence of the instruments that dwell in the wilds of this record give the impression that the sounds here create themselves and all other sounds simultaneously. this album begins when a shaker wakes in the darkness, the first sign of approaching warmth, like spring thaw on a frozen river. the icy shaker that floats on the water is joined by skin drums resounding from the hillside, and by pump-organs migrating over-head with geese. the cirrus clouds are spectral piano trills; the marching cumulous clouds, piano bass-lines. steel drums, autoharps, vibraphones and dulcimers burst suddenly from under rocks like crawfish. voices high and mellow dance on the surface of the water with flecks of sunlight. the boulders churning in the deepest pools are the bass, the cymbals, and a thundering gong. and the flow of the river itself, the invisible energy, is guitars, electric and nylon. this river flows between an ancient glacier and a vast ocean. the mind glacier melts into poetry, lyrics that travel with those sound sediments back to the source: the endless ocean of gratitude, and openness. this is how “common wealth” passes from vinyl to needle to speaker to you and beyond, as a river passes through the world… very nicely present release on white wax with big color booklet and download coupon.
two sides of total existential rebirth! placental for you and bird by snow, a 7 inch baby of the cosmos, belching new sounds, and visions. replete with new-metal guitar tones, falsetto cave paintings, and gasoline-riot guitar solos (think blue cheer in thunderdome). begging the question what is paradise? a waterfall? or a burning sky-scraper? each cover is hand printed from a linoleum block by bird by snow, at no extra cost to you. limited to 300. recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape.
to you, children of the zeitgeist, we give ‘sky,’ offered in the same generous spirit as this bountiful world itself. ten songs of reggae-infused, psychedelic, folk music. existentialism you can dance to! open-hearted sound-fields, vast and colored with tiny blue-grass orchestras, authentic dub banjo, black cloud back-beats, and (if you can believe it) california soukous guitar! open eyes wide, and take in ‘sky,’ bird by snow’s outrageously lush follow-up lp. cloudy or clear, day or night, let us be absorbed in the one-always-giving moment, and know the sky not as vacuous hole, but as container (whole). limited to 300, on beautiful tranparent-blue vinyl. hand silk-screened gold covers, with a lovely hand-made booklet too. recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape, mastered by george horn… who mastered “zuma” by neil young and crazy horse… last copy.
a new calf sparkles in the field at dawn with after-birth upon her. standing strong and brave with wobbly legs in a precarious world. with totally fearless surrender she steps forward, still wet from the inner universe of the before birth being. with the same naked abandon we offer this 3rd long-player by bird by snow. ten free-pop-mantras, ancient-babies of modern song. the most fertile bird by snow record (so far) each side of this album has its own name, in order to give the tunes more mind-space to flourish and expand side a is ‘songbread’ and side b is ‘another ocean.’ in this record-world we find bbs harvesting perspectives in an old-growth forest of ontology & swimming joyfully in wide-wonder-waters of multi-instrumentalism. cellos, drones, pianos, field-recordings, tape-collage & all manner of drumming, strumming & singing confer and conspire here. many of these songs have been two years in the making, grown and regrown on musical tours through the generous world. songs with fresh-washed faces, and crow’s feet in the corners of their eyes. ‘songbread / another ocean’ is also some of gnome life’s most beautiful and ambitious packaging! the cover is a color lithograph poster, and the lp also includes a deluxe handmade booklet of literature, lyrics, ideas, and points of entry. and a second semi-transparant poster of poetry called: “slow poems” by fletcher tucker (a.k.a. bird by snow). this edition is limited to 550 copies, and is on completely clear vinyl, and comes with a cd! recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape, mastered by john golden.
bird microphone follows up last year’s paper mines split with cursillistas with this collection of original songs and appalachian child ballads. fitting six songs onto this 45rpm 7″ record, bird mic. mixes her trademark dulcimer plucks and cut-up bell percussion clacks with a new focus on voice. love songs that aren’t afraid to expose the dissonance; traditionals on the a-side, originals on the b. preview here. black 7″ vinyl record with center labels hand-stamped on the a and hand-drawn/colored on the b-side, held in a heavy off-white cotton paper sleeve, with double-vision two-color screenprinted covers and an offset-printed back. hand-numbered to 300, and embossed… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
death-defiling split disc of zodzoric psychedelia from these hot leeds zombies! neon death slittes is the axle-greased alterego of phil ‘xenis emputae travelling band’ legard who contributes four tracks of greasy blues amphetamuck that will have fans of pink fairies/deviants/gong/third world war choking on their wet dentures. recent american tapes/no fun stars birds of delay occupy the other half with a knob-scorching oscillation/voice seizure recorded live in sunny edinburgh. ltd.100 in tracing paper sleeves with on-disc gocco print – very hip one with sweet covers.
birds of delay is a leeds duo whose first half lives in london (and loves whitehouse and rush) and the other in berlin (and loves farley jackmaster funk). with several releases on labels such as chocolate monk, american tapes, troniks, hospital productions, or their own: alcoholic narcolepsy, luke and steven have been crafting and sculpting their psychedelic-electronic-noise-drone sound for over half a decade. but who cares and what does that sound description mean anyway? if you ask them, they’ll simply tell you a living room at the bottom of a lake is a projection into a total rainbow bliss zone! edition of 240 copies.
during the last euro tour of wolf eyes, john olson (of american tapes, spykes, guam river etc – ) and mike connelly (of gods of tundra, hair police, failing lights etc – ) decided it was enough! they screamed “i’m not going to bed!!! i never wanne sleep again!!!”, they missed their flights and stayed in antwerp with the ultra audiobored horror crew for 7 more weeks without food and drinks, just dry weed and cancerbags to suck on! after that intense test to see if they could adapt to the antwerp life style, they finally met up with legendary belgian eccentric cacti and hat collector cassis cornuta, this psychadelic character brought his whole space synth and tape lab over to radio central to record an intense last gasp jam with the hardly breathing olson and connelly, the end result is an amazing trip to space and back to the mental hospital! like pouring lighter fluid and tabasco up your genitals or like olson states it so beautifully; like pissing on your own hand, freezing it and then using it as a lollypop for 5 days! comes in a gross 6 panel cover design and with an etch on the b side! – very limited. amazing packaging!
it goes without saying that polytheistic fragments is an instrumental release — who among us would want it otherwise? in the tradition of his classic debut, salvador kali, this new record features equal amounts of improvisation and composition. sir richard’s powers lie in his ability to captivate with just the sound of his guitar, but he doesn’t completely abandon studio processes, which allow polytheistic fragments to communicate a greater wholeness: all sir rick, all the time, if you will. we have come to expect a few solo acoustic guitar pieces with the gypsy stylings of his hero, django reinhardt — and as if to tenderize our consciousness and prepare it for the ride, ‘cross my palm with silver’ meets and exceeds our expectations. ‘rub ‘al khali’ is an ode to the oud, a northern african lute of sorts. on ‘free masonic guitar,’ sir richard manifests free form acoustic playing wholly in his own style. peppering the mix are the sounds of electric guitar and lap steel guitar, bringing contrast and color. ‘hecate’s dream’ is a dreamy praise to a dark greek goddess, but ‘tennessee porch swing’ and ‘canned goods and firearms’ switch gears to good old down home americana and country twang. sir richard is renowned for his prowess and mastery with the guitar, but the piano playing on polytheistic fragments shows a fluid, meditative style. ‘saraswati’ is a lengthy river piece bathed in hindustani serenity, while ‘cemetery games’ is a short celebratory skeletal dance, with more light-heartedness than spook. in a record with so many spirits, bishop fills in the space where necessary and rounds out the feeling with catchy tunes such as ‘elysium number five’ and ‘ecstasies in the open air.’ polytheistic fragments shows that the divinely inspired sir richard bishop cannot be contained in one form.
another album of acoustic guitar music from sir richard bishop — are you ‘freakin’ nuts? the freak of araby is a new direction for our distinguished gentleman, and just in the nick of time as well. sir rick’s had it up to here with solo acoustic guitar records! the freak of araby isn’t even a solo record! and there’s no acoustic guitar on it! so let’s have no more of this kind of talk. over his years with sun city girls, richard bishop threw a wide variety of music and sound against the wall — and all of it stuck. among those who know, he’s reasonably fluent in any number of international music traditions, playing them for (mostly) fun and (sometimes) profit all over the place. the freak of araby is the debut of sir richard bishop and his freak of araby ensemble, a talented quartet of players getting deep into the middle eastern mystic with hand drums, percussion, bass, drums, electric guitars and a heavy dose of moroccan chanters, all of it captured with depth, detail and sympathy for the eternal enigma by engineer scott colburn. but a sir richard bishop album with a backing band — how did this happen? after recording a cover of ‘ka’an azzaman,’ written by elias rahbani, one of lebanon’s finest songwriters, something dawned on sir richard. half-lebanese by birth (it didn’t just occur to him later), he found himself suddenly possessed to really dig into middle eastern sounds. a pair of original melodies not fully developed at a prior recording session had the arabic inspiration, so these were reattacked and finished in short order. soon, sir richard’s head was flooded with some of the classic sounds spun for him by his grandfather back in his (way) younger days, like farid al-atrache, oum kalthoum and fairuz, along with other personal favorites, such as the guitarists omar khorshid and mike hegazi. in addition to the studio improvisation, ‘taqasim for omar,’ the whole of the freak of araby is dedicated to these inspiring players. check ‘em out. in addition to his soul-stirring electric guitar playing, sir richard grabbed a couple of moroccan chanters and blew the house down on ‘blood-stained sands,’ providing an epic (not to mention epochal, heh heh) finish to this journey to the center of one-half of the family tree. this is music meant to be played live, and sir richard’s freak of araby ensemble intends to play it everywhere there’s interest in hearing it. so get your freak on.
repressed… this is an essential document by one of america’s most original and inventive unaccompanied guitarists working today. while my guitar violently bleeds is a splendid three piece gem in which the good sir branches out & nods to points west, east & otherworldly. classic spaghetti western tinged spidery fretwork(“zurvan”), fushitsusha style feedback drenched psych decay (“smashana”) and a brilliant lengthy raga epic (“mahavidya”) round out the proceedings by the sun city girls master musician.
since its discovery in the late ’90s, dave bixby’s legendary $2000 private press album from 1969 is considered by all serious record collectors as the king in the loner/downer-folk genre. after being involved in ’60s michigan folk and garage-rock bands such as the shillelaghs and peter & the prophets, bixby started playing acoustic guitar and experimenting with lsd. after a year of drug abuse he felt broken. starting a soul-searching, spiritual journey, he wrote ode to quetzalcoatl and most of the material for his second album, harbinger’s second coming in just a month and a half. assisted by fellow musician brian macinness, who played some guitar parts on the album, bixby recorded this record in a living room using an echo-laden 4-track machine. the sound is lo-fi and sparse: just acoustic guitars and some occasional harmonica & flute, added to bixby’s haunting, emotional vocals, spiritual lyrics and solid songwriting. the opening cut, the eerie and painful “drug song” sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the album. never again has an acoustic folk album sounded as intense as this. reissued for the first time under license from dave bixby himself, and carefully remastered from vinyl (no master tapes exist) at shadoks music studios. includes an insert with extensive and detailed liner notes by matvei procak — the guy who found bixby in 2006 — plus some rare pictures. this vinyl release also includes a free mp3 download code… recommended!
56 pages – a massive overview of the life and work of avant garde percussionist stomu yamash’ta, including his first english-language interview in over 30 years. a child prodigy, his meteoric rise in the classical world spawned a new world of improvisation and avant classical in the late ’60s and early ’70s before melding eastern concepts with jazz fusion via his more well known outfits come to the edge, east wind, and go. includes never-before-revealed insight into collaborations with toru takemitsu, takehisa kosugi, masahiko sato, the baschet brothers, and others. years in the making, this exhaustive survey corrects misinformation and apocrypha carried down for decades, and opens a new window to yamash’ta’s current projects featuring instruments made from resonant stones. – akio suzuki’s uk travelogue translated by the expert on japanese underground alan cummings – michael griffen, one half of noggin, remembered by aaron gorseth – andrzej zulawski’s films – a history of the beautiful limited edition releases by raymond dijkstra – onde, the new belgian group made up of members of the late noise-maker’s fifes, include timo van luijk of af ursin and in camera – rob millis’ talking machine – patrick marley (former publisher of muckraker magazine) with his column nickels and dimes – reviews of vinyl, cassettes, compacts disc, dvds and books, both new and old… sold out at source.
the no-neck blues band’s dave nuss recalls his time with the source family which led to the first yahowa 13 performance in new york city and their new lp. as much about dave’s experiences throughout this and how it brought him into the family, as about discovering the wealth of their archives and continuing energy… an extensive interview with reformed vancouver noise band tunnel canary by allan macinnis. allan speaks not only to the leader of the group, nathan holiday, but also tunnel canary members past and present mya mayhem, ebra ziron, and dave sheftel about their intense performances, early influences, their specially altered instruments, life and musical philosophy, and the different reactions in the early 1980s and now, matched with photos from their recent live shows and one from the archives…. a remembrance of noggin violin player michael griffen by his friend aaron gorseth…. a feature on the belgian group onde featuring former members of noise-maker’s fifes; supplemented by photographs taken on tour by dan burke of illusion of safety… a feature on the new label assophon, home to the sea donkeys, spider trio and factums with photographs by mark sullo…. rob millis, waxing on about the preciousness of shellac while discussing the drive to recycle that raw material in the war years and the price that artifacts from that time can command…. eric lanzillotta’s reviews of vinyl, compacts discs, and books, both new and old by bill bissett, bob cobbing, helena espvall & masaki batoh, malcolm goldstein, the howling hex, dieter schnebel, and “radio mynamar (burma)”…. patrick marley’s column nickels and dimes focusing on american tapes and drunjus…. cover star: djin of yahowa 13…. 56 pages, 5.5″ by 8.5″, 20 lb. paper, b&w, approximately 800 copies printed.
sewer mist catharsis is beautiful but frightening droning electronic ambient noise from norway in the vein of zaimph, kevin drumm, or mb. limited to 30 copies.
solo live blurt from 25 june 2008 from sindre bjerga, one half of bjerga / iversen. background drones hit in immediatley accompanied with some minimal scrapes and sputtering kinda growth aura from aforementioned drone, there’s a real static vibe cruising through this. occasional clunk and taps blur away as the heavy dense drone consumes the lot like an electric mist, with feedback clots clogging up your lungs, and creepy terror sounds. limited to 50 hand numbered copies, each with indvidual handmade weird paper and an insert, everyone looking entirely different.
edition of only 50 copies made for shows in october 2009 across the uk. two tracks recorded in vansdorf and prague, czech republic in feb 2009). the lo-fi quality of the recordings adds a mystique of what sounds are supposed to be there and what are down to the occurences that sometimes emerge from live recordings, the whole disc has a beautifully raw and pure feel to it, there’s moments in the second track where you can hear what could be a digital camera beep, but who knows, it could be anything right? packaged in a classic br style sleeve.
black boned angel return with their second riot season release, following the eternal love/eternal hunger vinyl lp (repose 013lp). sharing a similarly bleak ground to corrupted, sunn 0))) and earth, new zealand’s black boned angel return with their fourth full length album verdun, and perhaps their most sombre and fully-realized work to date. the battle of verdun was fought between the german and french armies, and was one of the critical battles during world war 1 on the western front. it resulted in more than a quarter of a million battlefield deaths and at least half a million wounded. verdun was the longest battle and one of the most devastating in world war 1 and indeed in history. over the course of 50 minutes, bba soundtrack that brutal conflict with their trademark dark ambient drones and doom-laden riffs.
diggin’ deep into the montreal free music vault of yesteryear. 15 minutes of totally free improvisation recorded live in 2003 at pasalymany bar (rip). originally recorded for the birthdays of colin, serene, and sime. members of rivers and mountains along with other pasalymanians. found cover image photocopied on heavy card stock. hand stamped j-cards and cassette labels. hand number edition of 66.
guitar, cello, electronics, and various small rackety sounds collect themselves into a haze of infinite possibilities. – byron coley. for this new 10″, the duo is joined by guests margot goldberg and joe grimm (a.k.a. the wind up bird). this quartet version of bf/bs is the very same lineup that performed at terrastock 6. 10″ vinyl-only release limited to 500 copies worldwide. silkscreened metallic silver covers by mike taylor (lungfish, avarus, dan higgs). 21 minutes of music, all exclusive material… nice little slab.
following recent releases under the directing hand moniker on memoirs of an aesthete and chocolate monk, alex neilson (jandek, ashtray navigations, richard youngs etc etc) conjures another slab of percussive clatter to excite yr inner ear. joined on this journey by frank janiurek, the duo lay down a thick bed of organic drone before reaching for the stars with some inspired levitation tactics.
fully re-mastered vinyl edition of what was originally a europe-only cassette released in an edition of 80 copies from the solo project of spencer clark of the skaters/vodka soap/monopoly child et al. spencer describes black joker as being more drone-focused and with faster percussion than the recent monopoly child sets. indeed, the percussion is thrifty and up-front, with arcs of criss-crossing time signatures generating maximum space/time confusion. the combination of trance-informed momentum and bubbling electronic sci-fi tones sounds closest to one of the sun ra arkestra’s most future-visioned takes on “ancient aethiopia” while expanding on the classic post-angus maclise feel of all of the best skaters material. comes with pro-printed 80s style 12” maxi-sleeves with liner notes by fortean authority, itinerant visionary and skaters road mangler in-absentia charles berlitz.
the josh/roy anti-society drone/drums duo drops its first (and last?) lp. a dripping cavern of red-eyed vibes and numb inner examination. uncomfortable, epic. edition of 270. comes with a poster. co-released with illinois sweatshop arbor.
this vinyl-only split-lp release is a meeting of two of the most interesting bands coming out of hamburg, germany at this moment, both continuing the long tradition of both challenging and explorative music coming from this city in the last decades. from krautrock to the origins of the so-called neue deutsche welle from experimental sound artists to some of the finest pop ambient, hamburg is regularly spitting out some of the most singular artists on this planet. both aosuke and black to comm have absorbed influences from all these sources (and a million others) while working towards their very own individual vision. the two brand new tracks by black to comm are continuing the massive organ/voice drone alchemy of the last double-lp while refining and personalizing his sound, reaching new heights of blazing sonic mysticism. aosuke have decided to home-record their new material, continuing their loop-oriented, monotone yet highly melodic ambient journeys. working with repetition and small abstractions, all instrumental “loops” are played by hand and recorded live without overdubs (one of the main principles of the guitar/electronics duo), creating surprisingly concrete dormant and somnambulistic soundscapes while fortunately completely lacking the washy and drowsy effects of most ambient music. black to comm is the one-man project of marc richter who is the brain behind the dekorder label as well. so far he has released two albums on his own label (“rückwärts backwards” and “wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun…”). aosuke is the duo of tobert knopp and ulf schütte, the latter being a label head as well (tape tektoniks). last year they have released their debut “monotone spirits” album co-released by hamburg’s audiolith label and south germany’s meudiademorte label.
incredible, spooky-spiritual-drone masterpiece by the most hip german experimentalists black to comm (mark richter) and the free-noise group datashock companied by new member marcel tirkowsky. here all together creating a flavor of blissen alien soundscapes, whirling on, changing and evolving all the time, generating hyperzonic tensions inside the crown-chakra so long that the eyes start to see pulsating flames inside and outside your imagination. rich in colour of sound and for sure not a restless headfuck, but a stony stoned psychedelic vibration of something spiritually exciting, something which reminds the outer inner worlds, and how close they are. the fog of the lake & the ghosts of the forgotten old new days. recorded nearby berlin’s goldmund festival in august 2007, in a place which used to be a summercamp for kids in the times of gdr the point which alone may cause the climbing in such a mystical level. peaceful & strange at the same time. includes 9 minute quicktime video by renate nikolaus! music and video recorded at goldmund festival, wukensee / biesenthal 08/2007. 150 copies.
black to comm is the solo venture of dekorder label boss marc richter. having released two and a half albums on his own label he is slowly establishing himself as one of the more prolific drone artists out there with a forthcoming album on the american digitalis label, a collaborative cd with datashock on ikuisuus, a 7″ on the irish trensmat label and a collaboration with xela in the works. “fractal hair geometry” is richter’s most refined and original work to date, picking up where the electrifying drone works of his monumental double-lp left off. like the last records this album is centered around recordings of a variety of vintage organs. while “wir kennen leider…” often featured pure harmonium sounds and spacious recordings of chuch organ and mellotron, the new album opts for a more electronic, effects-laden sound, sending an old farfisa compact deluxe and casio sk-5 through an armada of analogue & digital effects pedals. the results are massive one-chord drones layered into dense & ecstatic, flickering & pulsating clusters of psychedelic electronic sound. additional wordless vocal effects, hyperventilating & sizzling drum machines and hypnotic violin and guitar noises make for a hyperactive sound that never stands still even though most of the music is pure drones (sometimes consisting of more than 50 recording layers). decidedly simple but gorgeous melodies shine through the mist from time to time, making a black to comm record always much more accessible than your average drone album. there’s even a heavy 4/4 bass drum smuggled into a track dedicated to the late leigh bowery, one of the most enigmatic creative figures of the mid-80′s uk club scene (and singer of minty). guests include jonna karanka (aka kuupuu) on piano, guido mebius on trumpet and current black to comm (live) band members renate nikolaus on violin and ulf schitte (of datashock, aosuke, etc.) adding electronic sounds. along the lines of the music, seminal german artist oliver ross has created a massive multi-layered neon-coloured collage artwork which is printed on special ultra-heavy cardboard stock.
the whole album is very dream-like, mystical and fascinating, like being in the middle of a fog bank and loosing your sense of direction but always knowing that you’ll find your way out one way or the other. – mats gustaffson/the broken face. finally, here’s the vinyl version of the debut album by hamburg’s black to comm. strictly limited edition of 222 copies, hand screened grey cardboard sleeves, full colour insert, postcard and gold stamped labels – sweet stuff.
banjos and fiddles, boards and bones in hand, the black twig pickers dove into a living tradition of old-time music that surrounds their homes in southwest virginia and never looked back. both scholars of the regional sounds and advocates of an ecstatic and highly personal approach to the music, the twigs hold down local dance and bar gigs, play all manner of celebrations, and, every so often, hit the road. along the way, isak howell, nathan bowles and mike gangloff kept company with some of underground america’s heavyweights and haunted the doorsteps of appalachian fiddle and banjo masters. ironto special is an album of traditional appalachian old-time tunes (and two originals) that they’ve learned through study of both local old-time musicians and old-time records and field recordings. the instrumentation is all-acoustic and features some of the old-time usuals — fiddle, banjo, guitar — and some implements less routinely heard in today’s old-time scene like washboard, bones, fiddlesticks, mouth harp and jaw harp. plus (on one song) a one-of-a-kind baritone resonator 12-string guitar. old-time music served, and continues to serve, a variety of functions in appalachian life: from dance music to somber solo performance, to raggier blues and everything in between. ironto special is an attempt to celebrate this variety in the old-time tradition through the band’s process of learning and growth as they explore the music’s many facets.
blank dogs are actually singular: it’s the insanely prolific one-man brooklyn-based band of mr. blank dog. we don’t know too much about the biography of the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he’s usually covering his face with masks or bedspreads, but that’s fine. the aura of anonymity allows you to focus on the sounds — and, really, he might be releasing a ton of things, but there’s definitely a higher jam-to-crap ratio. it’s like joy division vocal lines with the cure’s synth and guitar melodies filtered through ancient submerged keyboards and eroded recording equipment. and that voice? all the feedback in the world can’t hide his knack for melody. blank dogs have been making plenty of rumbles in the noisier and more secretive outposts of the underground (half his discography’s sold out), but troubleman unlimited’s just repressed his very recommended full-length on two sides (on yellow vinyl in an edition of 500) and in the red’s releasing a 20-song double lp (or single cd) called under and under . it’s all new material. he’s also playing his first shows in nyc, so if you want to take a peek, you can. all this to say: seems like blank dogs is on his way out of the basement. –stereogum
we are a tribe of bro/ho’s who sing songs of ancient fields. we all own pot except for the ones who own beers. we use trombone, flute, trumpet, guitars, drums, synth and upright bass to make songs of enjoyment for the gods. we scramble not, yet in our haste to please we drink all the cups of drugs of dance and mostly scream. we want to burn the dead babies birdessess and paint our naked bodies with our blood but must care not for it. will you help us care and scream to the tune of our holy birth right of liberation from the townspeople?
long form folk-doom-drone excursion comes on in layers, like sediment underneath a raging woodland apocalypse. the yin-and-yang solo projects of wolfgang nessel colliding head-on into one cosmos-worshipping 41-minute shape-shifter of cortex-splitting rifts. edition of: 100.
underwater peoples records is proud to offer alex bleeker’s passion fueled project as our first ever lp release. built solely on love, our label strives to deliver uniquely genuine pieces of artwork. it is a special privilege to find ourselves linked to this heart felt treasure. alex bleeker & the freaks self titled album was recorded live on june 11th, 2009. the bulk of the session took place in the basement of julian’s childhood home, in ridgewood, nj. the group consists of alex bleeker (real estate), matt mondanile (real estate, ducktails), martin courtney iv (real estate) and julian lynch. some of the songs mirror the boys collective disposition, that of a gentle and warm young man. others however, invite the listener in for a glimpse at that same boy’s restless, virile soul. a sensitive type may describe it all as raw, live, honest rock and roll with heart. alex bleeker & the freaks have been friends since high school and as healthy, red blooded american men so often choose to do, they’ve channeled their romantic energies into an electrified musical powerhouse. it’s as classic and genuine as an adolescents playboy collection or a fat, bald man in a red corvette. – up.
two florida 19 year olds make mature pysch pop, receive blog love from stereogum, i guess i’m floating, indie rock café, and kanye west, sign to kanine records and release debut album “season dreaming”. limited run of cd and vinyl lp with printed inner sleeve and digital download card. track listing: 1.the warm current’s pull 2. heavy cloud hustle 3. the dinosaur ride 4. anxious place 5. the planets explode 6. sleeping habits 7. jimmy dove 8. kissing minutes 9. ghosts 10. shells. vinyl is limited 500 one time pressing only.
warehouse find of the last copies of this 2003 reissue…. very rare arizona psychedelic trio from ’69. fuzz guitar, psych-y leads and great cuts like ‘ride the ship of fools’, ‘cry for love’, and ‘visions’. plus two incredible bonus tracks never before heard.
recorded live at resonance fm. full on duo in kick back mode, trying to burrow out of the airwaves into the listeners spine via tapes, voice, violin, oscillators, percussion and various other junk. a very pleasant magnetic headache.
perhaps the rarest greek rock album, released back in 1972 in very small quantities (300-500copies) and never again re-released in vinyl. here, we talk about a combination of psych-folk and flower power hippy rock with male and female vocals, great melodies and an acid overall atmosphere. acoustic guitars, sometimes heavy and sometimes fuzzy electric guitars, organ, bass and drums create one of the best greek psych albums, although overshadowed and low promoted back then. blue birds was one of the very first greek modern bands as well as one of the most long-lived. although they had started in 1963 as a garage-beat band they delevoped in a hippy band producing some fine singles & #136;êas well as this album- in the early 70′s. as the original release, this reissue is housed in an envelope-like gimmix heavy cover, contains the poster and the greek lyrics sheet. extras are a 4-pages insert with english lyrics and band’s bio and a full-coloured, high quality, psych post-card – killer album and another very high quality exact repro greek reissue. recommended.
new tape from my buddy cybele who’s based in providence… total free violin slashes and carves busted out, then dropping right off to some super quiet and minimal experimentations… one to shred your speakers! awesome stuff, previously had tape on raccoo-oo-oon’s night people label. limited to 60 hand numbered copies with stamped labels and colour covers!
there where only 4 good and rare albums on the danish spectator label: terje, jesper & joachim (which we have just done on lp and now on cd), moses (we are still working on a deal), days (we are about to negotiate a deal) and the rarest of them all blues addicts. what a guitar work this is. ivan horn really kicks ass with his extra heavy guitar. as good as the heavy cream songs, in parts as creative as jimi hendrix. the musical range and the guitar style is as good as the best early eric clapton work with the far out techniques of jimi hendrix. all own composition, long tracks, extra heavy guitar, english vocals & heavy drum sounds. ivan horn: guitars, vocals & kazzo, mich brink: bass, gibber thomsen: vocals & congas, henning aasbjerg: drums. if spectator would have kept rock music their musical style instead of switching to jazz, those 4 bands would have been successful on the international rock circus… recorded denmark, 1970. great crude b&w art, heavy covers, 180gm white vinyl, insert, 450 numbered copies.
two mysterious no-age beings from the other side of denmark evocates a cassette of no-fi hallucinative waves of broken skies and scorched earth. pure analog hell. edition of 50 – another sweet hand packaged release on this mighty fine label.
65 minutes spread out over 4 sides. presented as a retrospective, including some previously released select tracks, and some not heard before. the style can vary from track to track, some dominated by small sounds and buzzing loops, to epic and beautiful drone pieces, and electro-acoustic improv fused with noise. instruments that are audible include saxophone, guitar, and drum machine. bodyvehicle manages to keep the avant garde classics in mind while still looking forward in a way that few acts can. presented in a black vinyl album, with color art on blue/gold shimmer vellum cover and color on transparent labels. tracks listing is printed on blue shimmer paper, which is glued to the inside. edition of 50 hand stamp numbered copies on hi-bias chrome tapes – instantly out of print. very limited stock.
interest in this has surged recently and quite rightly too, as this is one of the best acid-punk lps ever. clearly inspired by “electric comicbook”-era blues magoos, these long island kids had a problem with both drugs and their attitude! their originals are excellent vox organ/fuzz teen garage psych and the reworked cover versions pretty demented as well. the cough syrup high school-play vibe of “deaf, dumb ¨ blind” must be heard to be believed. not a perfect album, with a few sections that drag on, but the highs are higher than on almost any other lp of this kind. possibly the best on the label, at least if you prefer the 60s teen-garage approach over hippie longhairs. – acid archives… heavy covers, 180gm vinyl, limited to 1000 copies.
described by kris kristofferson as “one of the three best songwriters in the country,” kentucky native jay bolotin’s songs have been championed by the likes of merle haggard and porter wagoner, among many others. yet jay’s eponymous debut – released on the major subsidiary commonwealth united label – had the halflife of a mayfly when it went into circulation in 1970 and today it remains as phantasmic as the prairie ghosts that have long populated his native kentucky. however hasty or uncertain the release of the album may have been some 40 years ago, one thing is certain: in a darkened room in new york city at the end of a kentucky childhood, a 20 year old jay bolotin cut a singularly enchanted album of unhurried, low key loner ballads with the confidence and honesty of a seasoned journeyman. jay bolotin is an unqualified singer songwriter gem that will appeal to fans of leonard cohen, townes van zandt & alex chilton. features kenny lyon on bass & mark taber on piano & harpsichord- both veterans of the providence, rhode island scene, the fugs’ bobby mason on percussion and david mowry on guitar. deluxe 180 gram vinyl featuring new liner notes and lyrics inserts. remastered & reissued for the first time since it’s elusive ‘release’. “dear father” featured on numero group compilation lonesome heroes.
tie yourself on a feedbag of slightly decayed dog bones and crushed plastic kids toys you found in a cheeze whiz dumpster, throw you inhabitations out the window and dance your ass off to these highly damaged, anthemic, home made synth and drum songs. this is analog plunger punk at its best!!!! featuring: members of child bride, dreamhouse, blue shift and riddlin’. 600 pressed. full color cover.
over 70 minutes of beautiful white light healing vibes spread out over 5 songs. all music recorded in the summer of two thousand and six in the “frozen earth cabin” in dublin, except “sea cave” which was recorded live to cassette at lazybird… oversized color covers.
on earth is the first studio document created by the group, recorded with marcelo spinna at the space in may 2006 with production assistance from pete swanson (d. yellow swans). while previous cd-r releases were entirely improvised, on earth is comprised of three untitled pieces composed by the group with elements of restrained improvisation. musically, each piece has a specific concern, ranging from extremely subtle microtonal shifts to distorted crashes of intervals against one another. on earth captures the reductive bonus sound with all the sustained tones and sparkling textures, but with a more focused and succinct delivery.
the cathedral of junk was started in 1988 in austin texas as a backyard art project and has continually grown ever since. brett humphrey of the band x=x set up this show and when one of the bands backed out at the last moment i asked the band lead sister ii (joshua hume) to play even though i had never met him. i saw that lead sister ii was on the ikuisuus label, liked his music, and figured since we both lived in austin we should play a show together!! it turned out that it was his last day in austin before moving to japan. he was a very thoughtful polite young guy who played very intriguing music so now we have this cassette release on ikuisuus of two great austin texas bands meeting each other and playing together for the first time!!! enjoy. – carlton crutcher, book of shadows
2nd private press solo release from rafi of death chants, aswara, etc. more excellent smoked out late night sounds. pure space folk. 2 side long tracks. lovely hand water colored heavy art paper covers, with hand written text. numbered edition of only 76 copies. recommended!
an allez-taeia of the body, earth breath and sweetness, a great sigh beneath the world tree. an attempt this time to say a few things simply, and be gone. about letting go of places that are family, not holding on too tight, the condition of waking up one morning and suddenly finding yourself alive on this great green planet, surrounded by the infinite… gorgeous solo outing from death chants / aswara member, and the first release on his new humito label. lovely screen printed wrap-around paste-on art on heavy black cover. limited to just 200 copies. highly recommended!
these three lps were originally privately pressed by the artist(s) in minuscule editions sometime in this new century. it appears that very few copies were circulated outside a close circle of acquaintances and it was only by chance/luck that they found their way to us. each lp contained no information whatsoever, the only hint was the name stamped on the plain white jacket. clouding matters even further was the fact that each of the three albums bore a different moniker. musically the lps share a consistent solitary vision, one that treads an inward-looking path that leads to far-reaching psychedelic excursions.”boots” is a prime example of the range of these albums. side one features five tracks of acoustic guitar and raw vocal accompaniment heavy on the loner vibes. the flip changes directions entirely, offering a wild ride of percussion and electronics. likewise,”c.c – live at rainbows end” follows a similar course, although the mood is somewhat less solemn (though no less introspective) on the tracks featuring voice and guitar. the counterpoint here is the near side-long track of barely audible field recordings from an unrecognizable location.”snake & remus – no tape outside” is a continuation of sound and thought. interchangeably piano, electronics and percussion supplement the songwriter, adding a haunting layer to the already subdued mood. the final side contains instrumental passages of processed guitar strum that weave delicate waves. the lps are presented in a box, its own cryptic coffin perhaps, with individual stamped jackets consistent with the original lps. as it says, “it’s just a box man”… very gone stuff here that fits right in with the best of the ultra underground 90s private press vortex. recommended… possible connection to those long gone terry & jim collins lps, maybe arian sample & tommy roundtree too? you take a listen and decide….
long regarded as musical pioneers, boredoms have continually pushed sonic boundaries and inspired musicians for over 20 years. their albums and their performances defy categorization, each one a completely unique event. after only being released on cd in japan, thrill jockey is proud to bring super roots 10 to the us. the album is only available as a limited 2 x 12” release. the album is produced by eye and all the artwork was created and designed by eye as well. super roots 10 features a remix from norwegian artist lindstrøm who has released music on the label smalltown supersound and has also done remixes for franz ferdinand, lcd soundsystem, and the juan mcclean. also featured is a remix from japanese artist altz who has recorded albums for bear funk and jet set records japan and previously done remixes for the boredoms in addition to tal m. klein, cro-magnon, and harp on mouth sextet. boredom’s music is very rarely available domestically on vinyl. this 2×12” is pressed on two high quality virgin vinyl lps at rti and is cut at 45 rpm for maximum fidelity. includes a 24”x 24” full-color poster of artwork from eye. super roots 10 is limited to 2,000 copies. this is sure to sell out upon release.
second breath of the occultists. alchemical dispersal and hex dilution. features one member each from brothers of the occult sisterhood, terracid and 6majik9. formation like a triangle but with fewer angles, a single point. drifting outsider strum and trance while watching the suns light fade and the colors shift, then inside amongst the cables and fields, under a flowers thought. free jizz? … nice hand made packaging as you’d expect.
long time chapel hill noisers boyzone in two shades of low light. one disc is a lo-fi recording of a short live performance from winter solstice a few years back, and the other disc features seven tracks of boyzone’s more studio material. edition of 15 in hand made cardboard / xerox packages.
new cdr from this american experimentalist who’s had previous releases on reverb worship and basses frequences. six tracks across only 19 minutes, totally far out dream tone keys blending into one another pushing you into an almost nightmarish state of mind. eternal could almost work as a 70s italian horror soundtrack with its minimal blurred humming almost reminiscent of some kind of devil organ. limited to 100 copies. pro-manufactured cdrs with on disc print.
new cdr from this american experimentalist who’s had previous releases on reverb worship and basses frequencies. six tracks across only 19 minutes, totally far out dream tone keys blending into one another pushing you into an almost nightmarish state of mind. eternal could almost work as a 70s italian horror soundtrack with its minimal blurred humming almost reminiscent of some kind of devil organ. limited to 100 copies. pro-manufactured cdrs with on disc print.
all songs by ayal senior. you may know ayal from his preface to john faheys last book “vampire vultures.” first in a series of five releases on beniffer dedicated to torontos most prolific outsider folkie, edition of 50.” – beniffer editions.
debut single from this new “hard pop” duo of d. aquarius and m. lajoie, which smothers spector-era space-echo pop in the psychedelic technicolor grit and grime of a bakshi / corman urban sewer. wah’ed synths and fuzz guitars lift up heavy basslines and off-kit percussion, with nice & ruff soft-focus vocals appearing like phantoms, all produced in engulfing heavy mono. a-side “wild cherry” brings home some tuff teenage motorcycle gang love-in vibrations; an intravenous alternate soundtrack to a beyond the valley of the dolls party scene. on the flip, “ripe” is genuine lovers rock dub-pop, with plenty of wah and hazed & hushed come-ons: an abstracted ode to the magick of early keith hudson and horace andy sides. recycled black vinyl 45rpm 7″ held in a pro-printed full-color sleeve. limited to 200 copies.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. the third and final album by the edinburgh-based duo of david mcniven (ex-human beast) and angie rew was barely released in 1971, but has gone on to become one of the most treasured “acid folk” albums of all time. comprising the epic, 21-minute title track and four unforgettable stand-alone songs, amaryllis features a heady, trippy blend of true acoustic melodies as well as outstanding support from musicians including danny thompson and terry cox of pentangle, and is an essential purchase for all fans of psychedelic singer-songwriting… highly recommended lp sounding better then ever on nice audiophile vinyl. nice!
mckinley jones (ex-expo ’70) dollops out a spoonful of star-gazing cosmic folk/astral flower picking, full of fly-by guitar buzz and synth warbles, melted field recordings intertwined, dipping from dark vibes to light all the way to the melodious happy ending. a short but sweet collection full of interesting twists and turns in a cohesive vision of nights laid out in the grass dreaming of blooming lands. tied up in wrap-around sewn wallpaper border pouches with an insert and a flower bud. edition of 50.
james blackshaw & jozef van wissem form a holy alliance on this palindromatic masterwork… totally fantastic album of lifted lute & 12 string bliss. limited to 1000. very recommended.
this is heather woods broderick’s debut album — from the ground is built around warm, reverberating atmospheres and familiar yet striking melodies, gently wrapping around the listener and finding magic in subtlety. her soft voice matches the delicate neo-classical arrangements that are as light as a feather. careful attention has been paid to the album’s understated production, giving the feeling that these are lullabies pulled straight from the still morning air. broderick’s songs make the case that sometimes starting out somewhere simple is often better. at the core is heather and her guitar and throughout from the ground that combination is its greatest strength. plucked and strummed chords provide the foundation from which these songs take flight. the record is populated by lyrically-engaging songs and impressive instrumentals that take the listener into a world full of indian summers and pink sunset skies. it’s inevitable that anytime from the ground comes up, the fact that heather woods broderick is, indeed, the older sister of everyone’s favorite ultra-talented multi-instrumentalist peter broderick is mentioned, but his string arrangements and production on the album cannot be overlooked. they add another layer to compositions that are already stunning, further making the case that from the ground is an alluring yet subtle force to be reckoned with. from the ground was originally released on cd by preservation records (australia). this limited lp edition features new artwork and a previously-unreleased bonus track. vinyl cut at dubplates & mastering, berlin. includes a hidden locked groove.
here’s an assemblage of seemingly disparate recordings, including one tale of selling clam chowder to the russians. it’s not instrumental per se, but, as the title suggests, contains ‘no sung words.’ think of it as the appetizer for what david brant (you’ve seen him playing bass in vollmar) has up his sleeve with this exciting new project.
wild slab from this minneapolis brother/sister duo, ripping through some very damaged high energy garage rawk mischief. white stripes for acid heads? who knows – sweet eye-popping screenprinted covers. some are glow-in-the-dark style, some are silver. both are lovely. edition of 500.
newest release on big blood’s tiny private cdr label from s. br. oak of upside-down cross, deceh, etc. seriously zoned-out ultra lo-fi hiss saturated acoustic ragas, machinery hums, cut-up meditations, and an awesome totally blown-out version of ‘dark is the color of my true loves hair’… lovely screen printed doubled-sided art paper covers with inserts. nice.
…we like to play with fire and also botos like this… flaming tunes catching with angels chants… we accept the bet for the winner!!another 9 crazy trip from the massive band from blissland handmade hard cardboard limited to 116 copies.
as far as the southern hemisphere goes, australia’s budding underground has often played second fiddle to that of it’s island neighbor, new zealand. but a new crop of aussies is levelling the playing field. leading the way is the brother/sister duo of michael and kristina donnelly aka brothers of the occult sisterhood. these cosmic travelers are soaked to the bone in dust, like relics from the past. they speak only in tongues and send out shortwave psychedelic radio transmissions into the bleeding edges of drugged-out folk sludge. botos’ organic compositions are familiar to many by now. after a string of cd-r releases on time-lag, celebrate psi-phenomenon, and others, this is their first pro-pressed offering. building on transcendent themes and saturating everything in an all-encompassing puff of bong smoke. endless walls of instrumentation create artificial bounderies that the donnellys destroy with far-reaching, hypnotic drones. by the time “goodbye” comes to a grinding halt, it feels like the stuff of legend. brothers of the occult sisterhood are only interested in blowing your skull to smithereens while cradling you in their arms. they are simply magnificent, and there aren’t many doing it better these days. the first 500 copies come in silkscreened sleeves done by the new zealand crazies at united fairy moons.
one track, 45 minutes of sonic tripping. many many parts seamlessly (seemingly) flowing in and out of one another. tribal, witchy, cataclysmic. dig it. music from down under. way down under. features incredible new art from cory card designed specifically for this release. edition of 123.
original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates
every time she did a new pressing (sounds of the sea is from 1981 but
says 1990)… joanna brouk was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on kpfa even before hearts of space. she put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. you can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ … two side-length pieces — maggis flute and healing music. maggi is maggi payne of lovely records fame, today an instructor at mills college. this long improvisation based on brouks directions later provided the basis for a short symphonic piece by brouk in the mid 80s. healing music (1976) is one of brouks first piano works, a self-taught rondo of deep, hypnotic power. – yoga.
original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (sounds of the sea is from 1981 but says 1990)… joanna brouk was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on kpfa even before hearts of space. she put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. you can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ … brouks most unusual, ambitious, and remarkable recording consists of two side-long suites, atavesta, and the sailor and the nymph. lonesome whistles, flutes, drones whale songs, and wordless vocal wails suggest the experimental album kate bush never made, or a de-progged “sunborne” by constance demby. a startling, haunting work, highly recommended. – yoga.
bruce blucher and paul cahill (both of trash) hook up with drummer bo martak (king loser) and singer viv crowe for a one-off single from 1994 – great long gone dose of new zealand underground lo-fi folkrock, with great female vocals and good vibes all over. on bill meyer’s excellent and all too brief roof bolt label.
Originally released way back in 1965 on the Decca label (as just ’Vashti’, no Bunyan), “Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind” was actually the young London-based singer’s debut record. Written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, the song was handed to Vashti by Rolling Stones manager/guru Andrew Loog Oldham, who had recently discovered her via an industry friend. Vashti was put in the studio to record the song with the backing of a full orchestra. The track was backed by her own beautiful song, “I Want To Be Alone” on the B-side and released as a 7″-inch single in May 1965. Despite a whirlwind of promotion around the release and some very positive reviews, the single flopped and Vashti subsequently left the Decca label to pursue more pared-down ambitions. Remastered from a rare existing copy of the original 7-inch, “Some Things…” is revealed as a classic Stones-style pop stomper with a rich, full orchestral effect and a centre-point of Vashti’s inimitable vocal. Both eternal yet very much of its time, the record may have gained a slight patina of crackle and pop, yet has lost none of its charm through the decades, and somehow still manages to sound thoroughly fresh and full of wonder… limited to 1000 & recommended.
based in western massachusetts, joshua plays occasional live shows that never fail to stir the spirit-pot. whether beaming layered vocals and effects-trammeled whistling (whistling!) into the anticipatorily puckered o-minds of the audience, paying tribute to the great jansch, or rambling down forgotten paths w/ archaic stringed instruments, the guy never fails to heat up brain coils that i’d forgotten i have. in many ways, however, his most potent material is crafted in dark singularity, late at night, w/ tape rolling and moist nodes of fever pulsing gently in the dark, soft air. on this album, helped by kindred souls from tower recordings, six organs of admittance, and dredd foole, joshua achieves a kind of dream-loaded perfection that is the purview of very few. as the fools in the mainstream underground rush towards a platonic ideal that dehumanizes the process of creation, joshua embraces the quivering meat wheel that rotates in the center of all humankind. it is nothing less than a pinnacle of splendor. subtlly acknowledging influences that range from c.o.b. to the guild of temporal adventurers, it moves through the fair like a wraith. – byron coley… long out of print private press masterpiece. metallic gold spray painted recycled covers with paste-on art. highly recommended!
limited to only 500 copies worldwide on deluxe 10″ vinyl. includes exclusive artwork insert designed by hair police’s robert beatty! the first in a 6 part series from the avant garde’s young upstart c. spencer yeh. burning star core may not be a name familiar to everyone, but in the murky world of the avant garde he is already something of a legend. notching up performances with chris corsano, thurston moore, john olson (of wolf eyes), jessica rylan, hototogisu and many more, his name has become synonymous with the new wave of avant-noise. ‘amelia’ is the first disc in a five part series which collects rarities from almost ten years of recording activity, and here we see him exploring the bubbling psychedelic world of synthesizer heavy krautrock. from the initial synth-heavy rumbling and growling of ‘i wanna make a supersonic woman of you’ it is clear that yeh is on a mission to throw your brain into a psychedelic overload of colour and creativity, but it is on the flipside – the eleven minute ‘the point of departure is no return’ that he really gets into the progressive spirit and conjures up images of tangerine dream at their best. micro-arpeggios are layered underneath gasping winds of analogue synthesizer to create something which should really be a soundtrack to some kind of late-70s fantasy sci-fi film. this is the lighter side of burning star core, but shows the kind of creativity and bubbling genius you can only expect from the mind of one so renowned – recommended.
what can i say? burnt hills. stripped down to a quartet here, burnt hills actually play louder than ever before. you want heavy? you want merciless, unflinching, guitar-wielding thug-beauty? look no further. cd-r edition of 123 with spray-stenciled vellum envelopes and mad-dog insert.
minotaur surf party firing nitrous arrows into a flaming headswim universe, a wealth of decomposing monster saturated jams, dripping n melting in a heavy golden like syrup… edition of 50.
latest missive from this free rock/noise/psych collective based in the wilds of albany, ny. easily their loudest and most pure assault on the senses yet. wild, wooly, and singular-minded in its pursuit of psychedelic krautrock-inspired oblivion. we can’t say it any better than the good folks at aquarius: “fans of freaked out psychedelic punch ups, dizzying clattery outsider free rock and getting super high and diving head first into a huge pile of drums and guitars will feel right at home.” keep an eye out for upcoming burnt hills releases on the lotus sound, qbico, ruby red, and ruralfaune too.
burnt hills are a collective from albany, ny. every monday they use to jam and host shows at the heldberg basement, which is also the headquarter of flipped out records, exquisite label and mailorder active for 25 years. if you are lucky enough to attend one of their shows, you will probably realize that you are experiencing something more than a concert… it’s in fact a proper ritual that finds its perfect expression in a music that combines the freedom of free jazz, the fire of garage rock and the hallucinations of the best psychedelic music. lights out is just burnt hills at their best. just a little warm up and the hills explode like a bomb blowing up continually in a furious jam, where heavy vibrating vocals, pulsating rythm section and wild guitar wipe outs move along with perfect cohesion and fluidity. we are completely sucked into the vortex of this groove when a slow comedown begins to the end of the side, with that great solo guitar pattern drawing the last beaufitul images and then… lights out! paste on covers, with hand stamped label. limited to 150 copies, numbered.
hand picked from the treasure trove… a beautifully crushing live recording! professionally mastered and cut to sweet black wax. the full band blazing away at the pinnacle of their cosmic live explorations… stunning dual sided screened artwork… as with all “holy room” releases, this will be a one time only pressing…limited to 139 numbered copies, black jackets with “deluxe gold flake” screen printing!
psych trip genius, burnt hills drop a 57min wild wild ride to the best possible place. truly albany’s best. play it loud and you will find all sorts of lost zones there! play it very loud and you will be re-born.
soar through the cosmos as five guitars radiate microwaves towards the sun’s core, a bass levitates over the rings of saturn and shimmering percussive clatter seals up a black hole at the edge of the universe…. co-released with noiseville…. edition of 300 copies, with paste-on art front & back.
dig the raging thunderstorm of sound as four squealing, reeling and paint peeling guitars thrash riffs, tones and cosmic bursts, a massive bass throbs and centers, propulsive dive bomb drums explode constantly and the sweet glaze of an insistent chiming xylophone rings out from the eye of the storm….one track, one hour and twenty seven seconds long….cover art by bill nace…
i wish it could have been a double, but its finally thirty five minutes of wax after years and years of cassection-8 for you subwolfers out there. alas, the aerobics class needs a chalkboard accompaniment and someone better check the instructors erratic heart beat, ie drew. using clock tracks, basics and a storkrugfull of gadgets, analog synthtronica is his labor of love. amazing covers screened by the instructor himself-urban music has to be heard to be believed. featuring drew ryan of flak mask, and uke of spaces corners. lp 500 pressed. multi colored screen printed, plastic jackets.
clare hubbard (caethua) and andy neubauer (uke of spaces, flak mask, impractical cockpit) play the koner synth holy carols. edition of 100 with white imprinting and letterpress inserts… real sweet sounds from these local zoners. awesome package too.
clare hubbard (“caethua”) creates haunted movements, encompassing scapes of “coldness” and comfort, throughout this lp with each sorrowful ballad surrounded by terms/phrases of meditation and experimental sound collages using saxophone, singing bowls, electronics, guitars, bells, water, and recordings made while on a boat trip traveling throughout the length of the st. lawrence river. dark ambient psychedelic folk… real nice album packaged in a screen printed recycled cover with paste-on art. swirl colored vinyl.
caethua is the project of maine residents clare hubbard, now collaborating with andy neubauer. as caethua walks deeper and deeper into the fogged up landscape, they bring with them a walter carlos take on baroque tinged psyche folk, and post industrial tinted lenses for which to look through. with a handful of releases under her belt on a variety of labels, the summer is over is one of hubbard’s most realized works. eight sonically perfect songs filled with heart-melting vocal melodies, and dream provoking lyrics. tastefully accompanied by her piano, guitar, saxaphone and well placed soundscapes. she is joined on this record by the multi-instrumentalism of andy neubauer (impractical cockpit, ancestral diet, flak mask, village of spaces) who compliments this masterpiece with bass clarinet and cello. recorded at the pool recording studio by alex yusimov and artfully mastered by tim stollenwerk. this is a split release between turned word and the debut release on the new mississippi records imprint, water wing records. edition of 500… nice fancy covers & heavy full color inserts. lovely stuff.
dennis callaci and simon joyner are two of the foremost channelers of “the song.” simon is known for his solo recordings, with releases on jagjaguwar, truckstop, shrimper, and sing eunuchs!, among others. dennis plays in refrigerator and was the sole voice behind the criminally underheard paste. they are singer-songwriters in that they write songs and sing them, but that appellation dumbs down and sanitizes what they do. i think it is more accurate to say that both have a way of tapping into the stream of collective creativity that flows from god-knows-when through to the present and beyond. their songs have a gravity to them, an”old soul,” as it were, that cannot be mistaken. there are a few stylistic precursors to their work precursors that have been well-documented previously but the songs they write and sing tap into something more ineffable, timeless, and grave. stranger blues set comprises three of simon’s songs and two by dennis, all recorded live in the callaci living room to what seems to be a single microphone. the nontraditional (or better: non-studio) setting adds a palpable sensation of space to the recordings by space i do not simply mean the warmth of the room tone, but actual space: backing vocals and spare piano or guitar lines arise in such a way that you are aware of the physical geography of the room. you can hear simon singing along with dennis from an actual distance away; his voice is (literally) distant and all the more forlorn. the guitar lines that dennis adds to flesh-out simon’s songs have the same eerie effect. this sense of space underscores two seemingly contradictory strengths about stranger blues. on one hand, these songs are beautifully lonely and spare, highlighted by the echoes and distance in the room. at the same time, it is clear that two songwriters who know and love the other’s work, who are very much working in tandem to build upon each others strengths. single edition of 500 one-sided lps. silkscreened and hand assembled chipboard jackets in a”traditional” catsup plate brown butchers tape design scheme.
packaging in an exact reproduction heavy mini-lp style cover, with japanese woven inner sleeves, and a double-sided insert with a bunch of great vintage photos of eddie rockin’ the marshall stacks at the ‘false ego’ sessions, and new notes from eddie, his wife donna-davi, and album producer robert berry. edition of 500 copies.
first ever reissue, deluxe & legit, of this quite rare 1976 southern california private press gem. it’s a strange, fantastical, and totally distinct album that will have you sucked in almost instantly. this one is extremely hard to pin down – think something like a loner powerpop rock opus, heavy on the psychedelic production values, studio dreamer vibes, and timeless hooks. the songs are unusual but infectious, the production is breezy & expansive but not polished, and the vocals are constantly morphing yet always effective. in fact, the hazy chameleon-like personality here might be one of the best things going for the album, as not only does eddie seem to be channeling a handful of different vocalists, but the whole mood & sound shifts around unexpectedly as well. even the potential low points somehow work, and there’s surprises around every turn. the often questioning, self-reflective lyrics add yet another layer of mystique to the trip. musically the most mellow points hover around gorgeous, airy, rural-tinged, floating psychedelia with beautifully layered acoustic & electric guitars, tinkling keys, and lush mellotron. when things pick up they’re truly rocking, with tight punchy rhythms and eddie firing off big chunky guitar riffs like he’s playing to the packed stadium behind his third eye. all the studio tricks at hand are put to full use with sweet leslie guitar effects, special tones, backwards solos, elaborate multi-tracked sound fields, and some of the most wonderfully bent synthesizer soloing ever laid to tape. the perfectly strange & beautiful cover art seals the deal… mastered from the artist’s well preserved & great sounding master tapes. pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl, and packaging in an exact reproduction heavy old-style cover, with exact repro labels. also includes a double-sided heavy stock insert with a bunch of great vintage photos of eddie rockin’ the marshall stacks at the ‘false ego’ sessions, plus new notes from eddie, his wife donna-davi, and album producer robert berry. one time pressing of 700 copies.
traditions don’t often go softly into the night. they may fest under the surface of things for a while, but they don’t truly disappear. the lost domain’s john henry calvinist prepares a set of limestone-dusted originals which snake their way through the muddy rivers of days gone by. dirt-soaked radio transmissions from distant dimensions scorch the reels and get things moving. there’s enough space in these towering guitar explorations to suck marrow from the sky. these back porch acoustic blues sing to the heavens,”come down and get me, i’m just waiting – ‘ edition of 100.
evan caminiti is a guitarist full of big ideas and even bigger sounds. currently known as one-half of the san francisco bay area avant-droners barn owl, caminiti has spent a great deal of time the past few years playing and recording gorgeous solo explorations focused primarily on the guitar but, when need be, accented by additional instrumentation. following several prior releases, caminiti’s abilities have been honed to the razor-sharp point of his new lp, west winds. three lobed recordings is proud to present this album, caminiti’s most mature and meditative to date. west winds is a discourse on solitude and cosmic exploration set primarily to an open tuned guitar. it is a logical successor to caminiti’s strong, large(r) scale solo debut, psychic mud shrine (digitalis, 2009) and calls to mind roy montgomery, hex-era earth, and popul vuh. the album is the result of caminiti’s six-month-long focus on each song’s form and musical composition. over that span of time, caminiti assembled and came to know each song intimately, constructing a series of strong structural bases. that knowledge permitted him to record the final takes accentuated by numerous potent improvisational flourishes as heard on west winds. this long-form approach of adding chaotic, off-the-cuff elements to such long-crafted tracks is basically the opposite approach to that which is used within the context of barn owl. through its contemplative tone, west winds is the perfect soundtrack to your next night alone in the literal or figurative desert. it is a bold and cohesive statement from a young artist already capable of recording greatness… includes free download. limited edition of 600 in a cool screen printed cover. already sold out at source so don’t sleep on it.
canamii’s concept is a great obscure south african progressive folk rock album with excellent female vocals by claire whittaker. it reminds of the best uk mid ’70s progressive groups. a must have for all spriguns, renaissance and early curved air fans. insert with group photos and lyrics included. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, from the original master tapes, exact reproduction of the original artwork.
car commericals are generally uncomfortable; probably shifty-eyed loners that barely leave the basement. their brand of strictly personal suburban ooze was borne deep within the recesses of new jersey, just east of i-95. more specifically, this music springs from inside that unspeakable zone deep within the mind where feelings get very messy. david sutton and daniel dimaggio, the duo known as car commercials, make mysterious fake rock clatter for heavy petting (yeah right). following a brief stint as gt performers, daniel and david began to make duo recordings as car commercials a few years ago, releasing their creepy missives in small runs, mostly for sutton’s leaf leaf label. the two have tapped into an aspect of nonsensical nihilism that makes jad fair’s early recordings so alluring, but have forgone his obsession with cartoon horror and monster movies in favor of faces of death i thru vi. eric’s diary is the second lp release from car commericals, following the out-of-print judy’s dust lp (cenotaph) from early 2008. those confounded by judy’s dust will be pleased to know that eric’s diary is where things get…intense. breathe deep, and prepare to scratch yr head faster than you can say ‘home blitz.’ lp edition of 200 with full color paste-on sleeves… great!
car commercials explore the personal / loner side of diy with their singular take on no-chord strum & mumble rock n’ roll alienation. dave sutton and daniel dimaggio have created another soundtrack of suburban boredom & terminal paranoia; the stifling, mundane source of this music (geographically and psychologically speaking) is mirrored and regurgitated in these five tunes. where once they tread a formless, lurching path, car commercials now tromp along with more-cohesive abandon. moments of spontaneity & pure attitude are delivered in restrained spurts and jabs, and their chops seem better, too. all in all, prisoner of type extends the duo’s unsettling missives into (slightly) less-rudimentary corners. each side offers a different, uh, side of the band. its a savory listen. 300 pressed, includes a free download.
this may be the end is a tapestry of intricately repeating guitar phrases woven into layers of interlocking, syncopated, phase in/phase out patterns…a melodic rhythm that will keep your head bobbing as much as spinning. melodic lines (often expressed through layered ebows) enter as quickly as they depart, leaving no central theme except the interlocking reichian pattern. this may be the end feels almost like two pieces of music with a bridge of synthesized waves between the two patterns, the latter being a more subtle come down to the vortex of chaotic bliss in the first section. long hallway, three slightly open doors is a step in a different direction, without a central rhythmic or melodic theme, the piece is a beautifully meandering stumble of notes falling from the guitar. a perfect counterpart to the first piece’s tenseness, long hallway is loose, patient and indirect about it’s objectives, causing the listener to react more than anticipate. recorded in his home studio, nada sound studio, from 2003 to 2006, both pieces are a far cry from carbonara’s solo guitar work, showing his depth as an arranger/composer in the studio beyond that of a solo improviser.
extra epic double disc. pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
i’m wrapping my head in plaster of paris. i will then dunk it in a barrel of brine before diving into the la brea tar pits. sure its suffocating, but my dying, muffled gasps will be overpowered by the sounds pumping through my headphones, headphones running to my cheap, portable cd player which is, miraculously, not struggling with this black-bottomed cd-r. it never likes cd-r’s but this time its different. the scuzzed-out fuck-folk of card & snyder jams my eardrums till my nose runs. these lo-fi cantatas are last rites for all the wicked and i’m listening hard and close. rock n roll rumbles in and out of the proceedings, but mostly what we have here are the sounds of card and snyder’s dark and sweaty wet-dreams; fried-out electronics and peasant drones. the end of it ripples on and on, beautifully, jarringly, like your buddha machine being cooked inside a thanksgiving turkey. or even better: an easter ham. get it and rejoice! – indieworkshop.
here is a great surprise for us. an unknown uk album with such a great musical potential. musically it is a very powerful guitar dominated underground rock such as black sabbath, blue cheer, dark or grannie. the rarity factor is way above all those other rare uk albums, which stay in low pressings of 99 copies and 15-20 such as dark. this one has been pressed only 4 times ever. in september 1971 eugene carnan entered a uk-wide competition for ‘best new band’ run by the famous melody maker magazine, they recorded the album in 1972 and took it to london to eden studios for a demo pressing and cut 4 acetates. eugene carnan a 3 piece band are from sheffield, uk with guitar & vocals, bass and drums. all own composition. a killer album from beginning to end…. 500 numbered copies, 180gm vinyl, insert, etc.
a new 7″ by christina carter which serves as the opening ceremony for our new 7″ series of solo performances ‘alone together’. a loan voice, the tangled bells, the caw of a crow, a plane passing overhead… a fortuitous overlapping of sound moments, trapped in amber by christina for us to bear witness. much like her early cdrs ‘hand & mind’ or ‘human as guitar’, ‘obelisk/tholos’ is an act of white witchcraft, a healing spell that defines time with the merest of tools: bells, voice, a microphone… mastered by pete swanson, edition of 300.
christina carter (charalambides, et al.) has a gift. in a world where most people shy away from the truth, from honesty in emotion, christina has the strength to address those feelings head on through her music. within the songs of original darkness, she confronts loneliness, self doubt, inadequacy and desire. she bares these emotions in a sometimes tender, sometimes forceful, sometimes pleading voice, a voice in which you can hear her vulnerability, her trepidation. christina’s words, and the mournful sound of them, stirs a melancholy that is supported and framed by her gently plucked guitar notes, notes that echo the sadness in the world she sings of, as well as the words she sings. these ten new songs are effective at painting pictures, exposing the underbelly of what we all really think but most will not say, of what we all really feel but push away. with the addition of gentle bells and occasional keyboards, christina reminds us of what it means to be honestly human.
relentlessly looped fuzz wah spun into muzzy knots around dazed spectators’ heads, crumbling into fragmenting crumbs of varying bit depth. presented in two longish improv settings (recorded during a residency in louvain-la-neuve belgium by daniel duchamp, in paul labrecque’s basement), and one short blast recorded before a very zoned audience in berlin by steve gunn, laid down during the massively psyched out ghq / tom carter tour in europe, spring 2008. edition of 100, gatefold silkscreen covers.
solo guitar psych drone explorations from tom carter, of charalambides, of course. floating sound pools of vibrating electric tones. sweet full color double sided oversized fold out packaging. limited to 150 copies & out of print.
here it is! the first 7″ in the anthem records singles series. a series of super limited, one sided 7″ singles. carter crams two tracks onto this one. the first a sparse lap steel wanderer, the second a full on wall of riff with backward guitars, it’s chaos and beauty! limited to 211 copies. packaged in a sweet embossed, hand stamped, stitched art paper cover. numbered edition.
this is the companion release to the tom carter cd titled shots at infinity 1 being release on important simultaneously. shots at infinity 2 is two long live tracks in the same mode as shots at infinity 1, but more cut loose and blown out, recorded in nemo bidstrup’s record store and burnt hills’ basement jam zone. tom carter is a guitar player best known for his work with acclaimed psych-drone iconoclasts charalambides. since 2000, however, he has become increasingly active as not only a solo artist but as a collaborator. he has performed with improvising musicians as diverse as thurston moore, jandek, tetuzi akiyama, matt valentine, and many others, as well as being a key member in groups like badgerlore (with ben chasny of six organs of admittance), friday group, mudsuckers (with robert horton and the yellow swans), and zaika (with marcia bassett of the double leopards and hototogisu). carter’s solo work covers a lot of territory, but latter-day sightings show him to be concentrating on looped guitar drones of immensely stacked beauty, with heaps of psychedelic melodic content missing from the repertoires of many noise and drone bands. his influences include everyone from lamonte young to david crosby… limited vinyl.
warm and warbling full-bodied drone from paul (aswara / muntjac / death chants) with alison & michael (death chants, moon pie). cool elaborate hand made packaging. must be pretty limited.
during the last euro tour of wolf eyes, john olson (of american tapes, spykes, guam river etc – ) and mike connelly (of gods of tundra, hair police, failing lights etc – ) decided it was enough! they screamed “i’m not going to bed!!! i never wanne sleep again!!!”, they missed their flights and stayed in antwerp with the ultra audiobored horror crew for 7 more weeks without food and drinks, just dry weed and cancerbags to suck on! after that intense test to see if they could adapt to the antwerp life style, they finally met up with legendary belgian eccentric cacti and hat collector cassis cornuta, this psychadelic caracter brought his whole space synth and tape lab over to radio centraal to record an intense last gasp jam with the hardly breathing olson and connelly, the end result is an amazing trip to space and back to the mental hospital! like pouring lighter fluid and tabasco up your genitals or like olson states it so beautifully; like pissing on your own hand, freezing it and then using it as a lollypop for 5 days! comes in a gross 6 panel cover design and with an etch on the b side! – very limited. amazing packaging!
first release from this danish project. tapes have been dug up from many older sessions, and this is the result. ’the dry, heavy shape reaches out’ is one long hypnotic drone-noise-rock track, designed to make you bleed (please play it loud)… cool deep underground sound packaged in a painted cloth shroud. very limited.
underwater peoples records is proud to peddle one of this world’s constantly enjoyable phenomena.. rock n’ roll!!! and today, in the fine tradition of rock spirit, we are proud to announce the release of a split 7” record from andrew cedermark (born in beautiful glen rock, nj/formerly of titus andronicus) and family portrait (front man evan brody hails from ridgewood, nj).despite being two very different artists, both bands emit towers of sound and giant walls of melodic noise, making this pairing a diverse yet cohesive record. the recordings also feature friends and fellow musicians martin courtney (real estate, bass guitar on hard livin’) and julian lynch (clarinet on super cool).
the tenth release on tape drift brings us back to the first, with a brand new offering from century plants. the first in a multiple volume series, “circular spaces, vol. 1″ finds hardiman and hare in particularly fine form, showing how far they’ve come since their debut. this one splits the difference between their melodic and noisy extremes, with two beautifully intense guitar workouts and a long excursion into the depths of sonic abstraction unlike anything else they’ve committed to tape yet. debut lp out soon on music fellowship!
last november we put together an amazing show here in buffalo featuring a spectrum of -house and alchemy- friends/partners, past, present and future. century plants were the future. and, that future is now. featuring their set from that wonderful night in buffalo and another live set, electrics is century plants in top form. cd-r edition of 123 in sleeves with full color artwork by katheryn richards.
ceylon mange is the trio of dylan nyoukis (chocolate monk proprietor and sound molder in blood stereo, decaer pinga), karen constance (blood stereo, smack music 7) and bill nace (x.o.4, vampire belt). the maiming path extends from the group’s previous mind melts with two side long (de)constructions that are assembled from a variety of mangled loops and electronics, guitar feedback/slaughter and cromagnon vocals. the results are a murky stew, as each emerging sound creeps upon the listener like a blackened sloth nightmare. it’s the type of organic brain tangle that is rarely unleashed by the spirits these days. the lp is pressed in an edition of 410 and housed in a full-colour printed sleeve featuring karen’s outsider artwork – killer dirty droning noise. out of print first pressing.
a great puerto rican garage psych group who sang in english, with pleasant multi-part vocal leads sitting atop more engrossing latin rhythms and instrumental flourishes, fine fuzz guitar work and screaming farfisa organ. this is the first time reissue for lp of this rare central-south american psychedelic vinyl – elaborate lp-only reissue, super heavy full color gatefold sleeve, poster and obi – awesome album!
a rare document of a brief arc in charalambides’ 17 year (and counting) trajectory, somewhere between the extreme spatial attenuation of the long gone crucial blast cdr being as is and the gentle intergalactic trio sway of the kranky disk unknown spin – and quite distance from both the exclamatory exhalations of joy shapes and the layered songcraft of likeness. these are spartan duets of formalistic near-symmetry, a reminder that there was a time when charalambides swung as close to the axis of incus and fmp as to that of takoma and esp. christina (voice) and tom carter (guitar) improvise non-textual melodic lines around an locus of mirror clarity, occasionally overlapping various strands using two dat machines and a mixing board, in a nod to the pre protools digital scrap heap. originally issued as a peter king lathe cut lp on eclipse records in an edition of 100 in 2000, the reissue of this extreme rarity is remastered from a superior source for maximum clarity. inkblot artwork courtesy of heather leigh murray. the whole package is dedicated to bruce connor (r.i.p.). the reissue at hand is an edition of 500, with fold-over printed sleeves in the style of electricity ghosts.
long-, long-, long-, loooooong-awaited and singular entry in the charalambides and klang industries discographies; one of those “does it really exist?” items that’s finally seeing daylight, or moonlight. a stark, unsettling and beautiful slice of duo charlambides invocation/incantation, taken from the period between jason bill and heather leigh murray’s tenures with the band and featuring extraordinary chord organ and vocal work from christina and some signature lap steel mastery from tom. fans of the band’s most recent, more song-based work will find this relevatory, long-time listeners will say “ahhhh” and settle in for the flight. heavy vinyl, limited pressing, cover handiwork by tom, the first release in years from klang and a sign perhaps of a truly epic revival… nice!
new release of eldritch origin featuring historic recordings of two nearly-complete sets from the “market square”-era charalambides lineup, featuring the core duo of tom & christina carter + jason bill. one side is from the cooler, nyc, at the 1995 cmj fest (swirling vox sound courtesy kurt wolf), where strapping fieldhands got their fender twin stolen, and bill orcutt & i witnessed the unrepentant use of string-eze by the gtrist from cobra verde. the other side is from the 1994 siltbreeze festival at the khyber pass in philly. both sets consist of freak-rock tracks from “market square” & “strangle the wretched heavens,” heavy on analog atmosphere & ecstatic/blown-out gtr/vox interconnectivity.
charlie nothing & dingulator was one of the seemingly myriad 80s charlie nothing cassettes and it’s inclusion was, in part, intended within a 2cd anthology that we’d planned but the amount of material is too great and the moments therein are too grand to even dream of an edit. although this is fairly late in mr nothing’s oeuvre, we can’t think of a more fully realized statement regarding the scope of his playing recycled automotive steel guitars and the performing of his big dingulator song sweet (or suite, as it were, a concept of his that implied all songs were but one song) than a reissue of this 1985 manifesto-like piece. what you are about to hear, is dingulation…
charlie nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher, clown and inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made from american car metal), charles martin simon. charlie’s only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. due to it’s rarity, the psychedelic saxophone of charlie nothing, issued by takoma records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years. outside / inside, the second and only other charlie nothing lp, originally issued by everitt enterprises in 1969, thematically follows with two sidelong flute-based instrumentals. nowhere on wax will you find more palpable preserved air of a real-time dropout scene than with these sides of nothing. it is a wonder that these records circulated at all outside the vacuum in which they were created. nothingness, a california existentiality looping back on itself, preserved and disseminated as evidence. there are indeed very few records like these. fully authorized / fully legit.
it is with great excitement that three lobed announces the privilege of releasing for hans chew his debut solo release, a 7” featuring both “new cypress grove boogie” and “forever again.” hans chew’s skill as a piano player has previously been on display both in a complementary fashion to jack rose (appearing as a member of jack’s live backing band at arthurdesh as well as on both the black dirt sessions and luck in the valley) and as a integral member of d. charles speer & the helix (including his vocal turns on both “life insurance” off distillation and “bar-abbas blues” off the “in madagascar” 7”). this new single offers an expanded glimpse at not only chew’s songwriting prowess but also his powerful boogie-blues, bar-rockin’ piano skills. both tracks presented on this 7” are slated to appear on chew’s forthcoming debut album, tennessee and other stories, but appear in different versions exclusive to this release. the 7” itself is a vivid picture disc bearing stunning shots by jake cunningham and comes from a limited edition of 500 copies, each accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free 320kbps mp3s. this record is a joint release between three lobed and divide by zero. due to co-release nature, three lobed has limited stock.
from biel switzerland, comes this little known group. one of the few all-girl bands (along with kleenex/lilliput) to come out of the early 80′s swiss punk scene. chin chin definitely considered themselves a punk band. although their catchy pop vocals and harmonies strongly aligned them with the burgeoning c86 scene. they shared bills with the shop assistants, television personalities, the pogues and new model army, before the band drifted into obscurity. this 7″ was originally released in 1984 on the band’s own, farmer records. it contains 3 self-penned songs and marks their first and punkest release. keep your eyes peeled for their full length lp out soon as a split between the mississippi and slumberland labels.
brand new collaboration from the uk blurters… 3 jams of fuzzy drug psychedelia and shake ’n’ noise featuring the sheffield legend that is rob from chora who has now fled for the big city itself. laser printed yellow sleeves, limited to 60 hand numbered copies.
first release by young upstarts from sheffield and what a fine racket it is too. this live recording gives a fair estimation of the damage they’ve been doing along the highways of the uk for the past 18 months. great mixture of high end ear cleaning, nonsensical vocal-isms and eventual lapses into metronomic rythym. a mixture of noise and repitition that is not a million miles away from the area that this heat so successfully cultivated. the future is very bright indeed – transparent xeroxed/stapled covers.
psychedelic drones recorded in sheffield summer 2006, performed and recorded by ben morris and robert wye. future releases coming up on gold soundz, utech, singing knives, curor et al.
debut release of chapel hill, nc duo. oscillates back and forth between dub-inspired beats and sparse creeping drones. edition of 15 in hand sewn paper slip cases.
summer 06 family underground (dk) recorded with dave nuss of nnck at black dirt studios in the woods of upstate ny. the yield was as characteristically unhinged as one might expect: sweeping electronic sounds backed with wood and bone percussion spirit-conjure. however also harvested was some new and especially tasty crop: sung and spoken song, electric guitar/conga “rock,” and an odd ghostly sheen coating the entire proceeding.…
susan christie was a philly-based sophomore folk singer who had one novelty hit for a major label and never quite recovered…and afterwards, her psychedelic take on country standards and hand crafted tales of inner-city solitude that was backed by a break heavy folk-funk rhythm section was never accepted as a commercial viability by record company big-wigs: they obviously couldn’t quite muster their ‘nostradamus’ sensibilities to foresee what future hip-hop producers and djs would be feeding into digital music-machines 30 years down the line! luckily three-fifths of a handful (literally three!) privately pressed vanity copies were manufactured in early 1970, one of which became the source material for this b-music release, nesting in the finders keepers’ ever-expanding library of obscure, obtuse, obsolete and obsessive vintage music from the ’60s and ’70s. the uber-legend john hill (who penned the mind-blowing acid rock floor-filler ‘love love love love love’ for wool) produced this release: which features 8 tracks including a twelve minute drugsploitation epic called ‘yesterday – where’s my mind’ featuring the enigmatic susan flipping vocal styles between janis joplin and margo guryan (who was in fact a close friend of susan’s at the time of recording.… pretty wild & great one. nice gatefold covers. limited.
1968 hollywood, usa. the churchill downs recorded 16 great tracks at the studio from famous producer gary s. paxton. the band was very young at the time but the musical output was on the highest level you can imagine with a damn good production. how a band like this not become famous is a mystery. fantastic compositions, great multi vocal singing, strong guitars, organ, drums, bass, effects, everything you desire to get catchy underground songs with tons of great ideas in it to make those songs unique and out of bounce and not middle of the road. it is just what we love about the productions of phil spector and andrew loog oldham. the churchill downs are one of the best us unknown albums among beauregard ajax and public nuisance. with don adey on guitar and vocals, gary dalton stovall guitar and vocals, dirk acree bass and vocals, mick newton keyboards and vocals, al stigler and fred darling on drums. if we could go back in time, let’s say 40+ years and release this album in 1968 we would have been rich. why this album was never been pressed is still a mystery. so for the first time ever those great songs made it onto vinyl. we love it… numbered edition of 500, 180gm vinyl, 2 page insert, etc.
our second split cd features 45 minutes of complementary drone bliss by two prime proponents of contemporary underground drift. glasgow’s pefkin (gayle brogan of the boa melody bar mailorder) offers up one extended track in which discrete, often acoustic sounds glisten and overlap like light on a rolling ocean; while the circle and the point (a duo of buffalo-based adam richards [house of alchemy records] and la denizen grant capes [of (vxpxc) and the phantom limb label]) bring us four tracks that drag simple eno-esque melodies through an unpredictable filter of urban noise. sea air to city clatter, electronically bridged; plug in anywhere… limited to 100 or so.
post-terrastock 6, two weary travelers holed up in a spare bedroom with a random cache of instruments and various noisemakers in an attempt to unleash some of the beer-fueled steam that had built up over the previous weekend. the music here comes from two delirious afternoons, still weary from a lack of sleep, minds still overloaded from a weekend of mania- both music related and beyond. floating acoustic guitars buried in the murk of distorted electric guitars. featuring grant capes from (vxpxc), these are ideas six years in the making, now just starting to unwind. adorned with major cover art by darryl norsen – very sweet art paper paste-on packaging. limited/numbered edition of 123 copies. very nice!
years passed since the last full length – and circle bros turned from a pure ambient-esque unit into a more song-oriented unit; expect adventurous singer-song improvisation. circle bros is the project of wim lecluyse, the man behind morc records. just as with morc records, circle bros doesn’t focus on quantity – this is the first circle bros full length album since late 2001. on haven, you’ll still hear echoes from the classic drone-outfits likes of windy and carl or azusa plane, but the sound palette is no longer focussed just on guitars. organ, vocals and sound-collages give the recordings a very warm tone, and sometimes refer to the experimental pop- and folk structures of e.g. richard youngs, grouper or castanets.
… really nice new album from this overlooked project. screen printed covers, limited edition of only 143 copies.
arkades catches a session finnish group, circle, recorded exclusively for wfmu during their us tour, september 19, 2005. comprising two lengthy pieces taking up a side each,”the greatest kingdom” and “the ghost of the highway,” the record focuses on the bands often spacy improv underpinning and applies new meaning to a vision which strides powerfully over the line dividing apocalyptic dread from a semblance of hope. agonized wailing, screams and torrents of molten sound dance ghostly shapes over psychedelic keyboard patterns, distant clattering, moonlit guitars and a rhythm section so carefully tempered that its impossible not to feel the chemistry at work. coupled to a fantastic sleeve which illustrates a homage to spaghetti western films and includes fitting notes by wfmu’s program director, brian turner, arkades proves what these new wave of finnish heavy metallers are capable of when they leave most of the rock at the door. file somewhere near acid mothers temple after having been given the kinda makeover only the scandinavians have the formula for. indeed, this is sweet shit – limited!
this is a new zealand duo (mark sadgrove, sam hamiltony)… a really beautiful 3″cdr, a nice gentle drone with some really beautiful vocals! both these guys have appeared on pseudoarcana in the past… sweet home made packaging. very limited.
brand new dead end carpetbagger blues by these born losers. this third claudio two album (following the unreleased and indefinitely shelved jazz improve cdr) finds the crew flexing their muscles a bit – from wasted bedroom metal riffs carelessly layered over each other to create a zit cream vortex, to synth / occult pieces inspired by john carpenter soundtracks and ritalin snorting, to atmospheric black metal frightmares, and decrepid blooz rock, it’s all here on this brief cd, which may or may not include the band’s first actual cover song, by french geniuses vietnam veterans. full color collage covers by local college radio personality (actually he just steals cds from the station) blake conley. only 150 copies of this one, hurry!
some folks may claim that improvisation is all about listening, but claudio two endash a new project starring partners chazz improv and norma bates (aka james and jessica toth, formerly of wwvv), and featuring the first appearance in over ten years by former golden calves vocalist max “mev” wicker endash is all about the opposite. recorded in various spurts over the fall of 2007, sniper at the gates of dawn is the debut cdr by claudio two, on which the band layers individual single tracks recorded solo and combines them unheard (a la durian durian), and, elsewhere, uses this source material to try to recreate this accidental music while in a group setting. mixed in glorious mono. 150 copies, no reissues.
when i first heard the name, ‘clay man in the well,’ i got images in my head of archaelogical digs and ancient civilizations. pseudoarcana chief antony milton brings us a brand new album of dirt-infused jams, uncovered after years of digging. with scores of music boxes and simple drones, milton’s affected whispers treat these hymns with formaldahyde, preserving them for a million years. this is timeless. this is music for the archives. 100 copies.
long awaited collection from heavy sessions in the tomb, same sessions that bore “silver skull”. all out medicine worship, oily secretions of black sunshine to dampen your hollow bones. 80 minutes thick with whirlwind of mangled audio snapshots, healing rituals, analog psychosis treatment, massaging the dump – crazy oversized packaging.
short heavy jam by davenporting clay. colliding vocals, wrong brakes and dusty feedback. earfilth for the believers. a grey walk to the leftovers from last weeks house. psych! comes in an offset/handmade cramamyser cover. clay ruby is the guy behind the 23 productions label and the wellknown pasture festival in the usa. he also plays in bands like davenport, metrocide etc.
a lovely vinyl reissue on etude records of a long obscure climax golden twins gem. originally issued in 1995, on cassette, eerie fragrance or eyeless fabrication or exclude frank or eat fuck or etc (forever) was climax golden twins second official issue after a self-released double seven inch gatefold record. cassettes–the cockroach of the industry–were a necessity at the poorer end of the music spectrum prior to cdrs and file sharing…the good old days…ef was a collage of noise, found sounds, punk rock disasters, chinese climaxes, broken records, and tape failures mastered directly to cassette on a reverberant wooden floor in an old building in seattle, washington. it seemed an inauspicious start and little presaged the ambient/dreamy/art installation/field recording/anomalous records darlings cgt were to become with releases such as lovely, dream cut short in the mysterious clouds, locations, etc. however, secret free hillbilly noise epilepsy has always lurked under the button up shirts, white wine sipping and gallery-opening snack-munching. the noise informs the dreams which informs the ambiance which informs the chaos and so back to the beginning and vice-versa. etude records discovered cgt through their work on the horror film session nine and have been wanting to release something ever since. part band, part art project, climax golden twins were discovered lurking under a desk in a laboratory in the early 1920s. reconstituted around 1993 or 4 (just add gin), they perpetrated various audio artifacts on an unsuspecting (and cold) world (see extensive and largely mythical list below). these days they are the cgt in afcgt. and they released victrola favorites recently on dust to digital. their laboratory origins lead to a an unhealthy interest in early recording and the era of music on 78rpm records and cylinders, a time of acoustic sound reproduction when oral traditions ended and the home entertainment industry and the information age devoured our puny lives. that’s a mouthful. this era was a pivotal one in understanding how humanity arrived where it is today, though climax golden twins denies all knowledge of where that might be.
this collaboration between the mellow, memphis-meets-germany duo of kip ulhorn and simon wojan (aka cloudland canyon) and chicago’s great rock ‘n’ roll concierge and knower-of-mystics mr. robert lowe (aka lichens) was born on a trip to the west coast of the united states a few years ago. exterminating angel’s single 30-minute track uses voice, guitar, samplers, and arp synthesizer. you’ve heard of the unmade science fiction epic whose would-be director proposed using different big-name progressive bands to perform a soundtrack for specific planets used in the script; here then are the sounds accompanying a spacecraft that’s a combination death star and taco bell from the 1970s filled with cement mayan temples and pyramids populated by large, snappily dressed reptilian beings. every so often a bell goes off to break the spell and presents convincing evidence of this record’s special journey.
fresh off a new killer kranky full-length, bi-continental teutonic duo cloudland canyon grease the gears on a piston-pumping motorik ramp into futurist motion, gliding drones & mechanic rhythm. seamless & dreamless. on the b nnf extended family m beast drop 2 perfect soul caravan wanderlust blues drifters. real gorgeous, and a great teaser for their in-the-works full-length for drag city subsidiary language of stone. with art by crops + rawber best friend diva dompe.
originally released in 1972, this is the second album by legendary german ambient pioneers dieter moebius and hans-joachim roedelius. moebius and roedelius essentially create ambient electronic soundscapes that ebb and flow, droning on in a suspended world of anti-gravity where machine has conquered man.
delight in the stream is the first solo vinyl outing for john clyde-evans (aka tirath singh nirmala) in close to a decade. recorded during a year-long stay in india, the album seamlessly weaves together an array of piercing bowed objects, flutes and voice with electronic and audio embellishments over the course of three extended tracks. the scattering of sounds swirl around to disorienting effect yet still manage to mesmerize as the music draws itself out. pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies.
tirath singh nirmala returns as his former moniker john clyde-evans, bowing transcendental asian instruments and indian thought back to the mysterious groove of manipulated drone. 100 copies.
two new songs from the “no flies on frank” sessions. side a > i stole a skipping rope from molly. she made me pay. side b > thanks to mssrs. davies. psych-pop for the end of the season. edition of 300.
turner has been kicking around the nyc folk scene for quite a few years now, but this is, perhaps inexplicably, his first foray onto wax. while most singer / songwriters’ these days seem to draw most of their water from iron and wine via pavement and back again, turner sounds like he began his musical education listening to gershwin player piano rolls and quit buying records somewhere around the time dylan brought it all back home. lyrically, turner can turn a phrase with the best of ‘em, and the gloriously ramshackle accompaniment is mungo jerry meets herman dune sharing a squat in tin pan alley. this lp combines two of turner’s self-released cds, and is as good an introduction to his wonderful music as any. here’s what jeweled antler head honcho glenn donaldson sez about turner:”cody is pre-war, old testament & a confederate general from big sur.” err’nuff said, no?
walking up walls is the second solo album from long-time musician and visual artist alice cohen. in contrast to her previous studio efforts, these are raw home recordings with an intensely personal vibe. the sixteen short song-sketches alternate between densely layered shoegaze burners and shimmering, ethereal drifters. exploring shadowy corners and using the musical equivalent of automatic writing — this was considered to be a sonic diary and not originally intended for release. for reference points think pink opaque-era cocteau twins filtered through the early ’90s lens of new zealanders like alastair galbraith & sandra bell.
there can only be one bongo joe, and that is the incredible george coleman. bongo joe is perhaps the world’s only virtuoso player of the empty oil drum, a man so ingenious that he could even turn petroleum refuse into something musical and sublime. recorded on the streets of san antonio in 1969 by chris strachawitz (arhoolie records). bongo joe drums on his oil cans with a thunderous, tympani-like effect, while discoursing rambling, insightful and hilariously funny lyrics that are often times more stories than songs. as joe himself put it, ‘i rap but not that bullshit they’re putting down now. i play fundamental beat music.’ whether draping his drums with an american flag or washing them in swirls of psychedelic green and red paint, there’s something beyond the typical street-corner busker in bongo joe’s persona, unbridled quality that isn’t just musical, but draws on a tradition of pure entertainment. one of the true treasures of the arhoolie catalog for many years. try ‘innocent little doggie’ (if you think joe was just a novelty act, listen closely to the poignant insightfulness of the lyrics), ‘transistor radio’ (more wry commentary) and ‘dog eat dog.’ one of our favorites, available on vinyl for the first time in 39 years.
new project from arbor ruler (aka treetops) mike pollard with former jk taper, now mr young tapes, peter friel… four space related close encounters of the drone kind… sweet and simple, guaranteed to leave you floating somewhere totally cosmic in the outer reaches of mind and space!!! black and white sleeve and insert designed by the color dream boys. pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 100 copies.
“i have always been fascinated by the way music and sound alter the way we perceive time and space. we organize all experiences in these terms. the motivation behind my musical compositions and installations over the past several years has been the exploration of the conventions that determine the way we experience time and space, and thereby our world. these pieces seek to expose such conventions by giving the listener the chance to become familiar with unfamiliar tonalities and rhythms, as well as to register the divorce of space and sound made possible by contemporary audio technology. and they sound good” – white vinyl with screenprinted insert.
after 2004′s critically acclaimed blue cathedral, one might have expected comets on fire to blast off into the cosmos in an infinite flurry of lysergic spasmodicism. surprising, then, that they should turn in an earthy, more accessible and downright beautiful album as their follow-up. then again, it is a completely logical progression, but in reverse, sort of. on avatar their astonishing new album, comets display development in every direction: as musicians, as songwriters, as arrangers and as singers (?!), without sacrificing one ounce of the intensity that is expected from our heroes. as on blue cathedral, the diversity of the material is staggering. avatar veers from swinging, bluesy explorations to piano-laced, progressive power balladry, to pure tribalism, evoking everyone from the allmans, to quicksilver, to procol harum, to some insane fela/sun ra/crazy horse hybrid, yet remains wholly comets on fire. though they play cleaner and clearer, their firepower is evident and abundant. they have shifted gears and opened themselves up completely. you should do the same.
blue cathedral is the third album from comets on fire and their first for sub pop. it is also the bay area band’s most varied and richly textured album yet. with their first two albums, (2001′s self-titled debut/self-released and 2002′s field recordings from the sun on ba da bing!) they established themselves as flag-bearers of modern psychedelia. however, where their previous efforts are full-tilt psychedelic affairs, blue cathedral is harder to pin down (which elusiveness we heartily support). their trademark sound is here enriched by more structured, keyboard-driven jams, churning blue oyster cult-ish chooglers and slow burners reminiscent of harvest-era pink floyd. they recently opened a string of dates for sonic youth and have also played shows with rocket from the tombs, dead meadow and dead moon, sunburned hand of the man and more. they also made a big fan outta lord head on high, julian cope, who said of them: comets on fire deserve our gratitude for their distillation of all the best rock riffs since high rise’s take on blue cheer. naturally, we agree.
now expanded to a four piece, common eider, king eider have crafted yet another blast of high-end wind chill that whips through the empty spaces in your skull. more stories of flora and fauna that hang beautifully in dynamic rooms of piano, strings, voices; and stargazing guitar explosions born of layer after layer of feedback. this ghost world is all gray and black, with a high condensation of loss penetrating throughout. moonlight occasionally lights the path, but for the most part, prepare to be lost in the woods. liz harris (grouper) and tom carter (charalambides) on the tracks ‘ennui’ and ‘earth liver’ add to the overall sense of dread… cool foldout poster cover.
this self-titled release is the debut by concern, a solo endeavor by gordon ashworth, who is perhaps best known for issuing complex harsh noise missives as oscillating innards. that said, concern is an entirely different affair. here, ashworth’s principal focus is on the drone – shimmering, multi-layered and dynamic, he stretches loooong tones into gorgeous sonic tendrils which dissolve or implode into impossibly nostalgic field recordings and static. recorded throughout the years 2004 – 2007 and, surely, not to be missed. limited to 100.
just past 10 years ago this debut collaboration between primitive american blues guitarist loren connors and the confounding electric bassist darin gray was issued on cd. the lost mariner was the first in a pair of releases by the upstart family vineyard label. now with a decade of hindsight and a nod to looking ahead, here is a a 700 edition lp reissue of the studio session considered by connors to be one of his finest. since this album’s 1999 release connors has released a series of sorrowful solo albums and multi-disc collections on family vineyard while gray formed the cinematic on fillmore (with wilcoõs glen kotche) and continued collaborations with jim o’rourke, akira sakata, chris corsano and others. the lost mariner is an improvised dialogue between these two musicians. structure is there, but it roams as it sways, constantly adjusting and reinventing itself as the two react to its mysterious design. for this reissue the lp is sleeved inside stunning cover art (an albert pinkham ryder painting) and contains the bonus at the old factory 7-inch. this raw, live snapshot of a 1999 performance comes on colored vinyl in a full-color sleeve designed by katie leming (cro magnon, bird).
bill cooley and alan munson were two friends in santa barbara, california, living their early 20s writing folk-rock songs for their pleasure. that was 1972, and they decided to put these songs into the studio, self-produce the album and press a tiny quantity of 500 pieces hoping it could help getting a contract with a major company. this never happened, as you would have guessed, and sure this fact helped making their sole album, ‘in debt,’ a major collectable item for folk-rock and psychedelic rock listeners and collectors. being a private pressing, you can easily imagine it’s not a big production, but who cares. this album has the right feel and you won’t need anything else to make it one of your faves. all tracks are original compositions, and the style is very personal. it’s folk-rock, but many tracks are psychedelic too, in their own way. but don’t look close for influences, they will not come to mind easily. bill and alan had their own psychedelic folk-rock style, and the raw, sometimes amateurish feel that these recordings have give the album the final distinctive touch. never reissued before in any format, now here we come with a splendid reissue, with the collaboration of the guys. remastered sound taken from the master tapes… great stuff.
live at the hint house might be considered a field rec. in as much as it is a recording of an ambience or soundscape. made on my first ever trip to mainland america to play music this is the 2nd set of that evening, the 1st set had been an acoustic one of songs and slide guitar. at the start of the 2nd set i quickly realised that my guitar was not working and rather than stop and attempt to find out what was wrong i decided to just continue and improvise with what was at hand on the table in front of me. a casio sk1 sampler keyboard, a yamhaha su10 sampling unit with some pre-recorded samples loaded, a mini disc with some tropical ambience rec. from malaysia and a pitch shifter delay pedal. i was not very happy with what happened that night and when matt zwed gave me two cd-rs the next day i don’t remember giving much attention to the 2nd set. five years on, coincidently to the day as i write this, i realized he had captured more than me trying to get through the piece. it was me, the people in the room, the dog that ran around barking, the traffic sounds coming through the door that was open right behind me and a whole host of magically transported tropical birds and insects that suddenly found themselves reciting whatever it was in the loft space on the edge of harlem, competing or colluding with all of the above to produce a piece of urban exotica. – mike cooper… black vinyl, cover design/collage by mike cooper. rec. in nyc, 2000.
recorded over a weekend back in the early months of 2009, here are 2 tracks of multi instrumental composition from ben nash and sophie cooper (cooperjones). the music here is truly beautiful, personally i think this is some of the best work to come from both ben and sophie so far. total late night guitar meanderings blurred with a haze of deep churning scrapes from various instruments and layered drone bliss, creating 2 totally immersive and beautiful psychedelic drone. some of the guitar playing here has a beautiful loren connors meets ry cooder paris texas era sound, and then when both ben and sophie reach for the gee-tars you have the beautiful mix of ben’s reflective electric blues and sophie’s purely relaxed acoustic musings, totally fantastic. this really has it down for me as something truly different, lets hope that they continue to record as this duo. i certainly cannot wait for more. glass mastered pro pressed cd (not cdr) in pro printed full colour card sleeve, one time pressing of 1000. co-released with ben’s own recollections of knulp label.
cooperjones is the manchester based duo of sophie cooper and kelly jones. five tracks of experimental folk fight outs and one blast of improvised jam noise featuring pascal of stuckometer. comes in folded printed pastel paper jackets with artwork by patrick milsom, limited to 100 hand numbered copies – nice packaging and another fine release on this new label. cool experimental acoustic based femme psych goodness.
dancing wayang records are excited to release the first duo album by london-based double bassist john edwards and us drummer extraordinaire chris corsano called tsktsking. the album was recorded at eastcote studios, london in december 2008. limited to 500 copies it comes housed in hand screenprinted wrap-around sleeves. the accompanying insert features exclusive and humerous liner notes written by uk sax pioneer evan parker. defying the drum and bass’s classic roles as rhythm instruments, edwards and corsano’s tsktsking is a beautifully melodic album. at times corsano’s drumset sounds like it’s got strings whilst edwards’s double bass takes its fair share of scrapes and slaps. extended passages explore the most subtle and some unexpected sounds that can be summoned from metal and timber. equally, possessed progressions and untamed eruptions of energy and power are conjured up. these two musicians prey and pounce on their instruments like it’s their last chance. john edwards is one of the most gifted double bassist playing in the uk and europe. since taking up his instrument in the late 1980s he has become an unparalleled force and choice collaborator for musicians such as evan parker, charles hayward (this heat) and john butcher. in 2008 he released a solo bass record on evan parker’s psi label and continues to push the instrument’s boundaries into unexplored territories. chris corsano is one of the most in-demand free drummers working today. after several years living in manchester and edinburgh where he forged fruitful relationships with mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra) and heather-leigh murray (scorces, jandek), he is now based in massachusetts, usa. first encountering free improvisation in the mid 1990s, corsano is now at the forefront of expanded drumset improvisations both solo and in collaborations with artists such as paul flaherty, thurston moore and six organs of admittance… high quality screen printed covers. limited to 500 copies.
gorgeous ethnological forgeries from the husband and wife duo of brad rose and eden hemming rose. these gentle, free improvisations set the lister gently down amidst the dappled sunlight and sweet scents of a long forgotten time.truly beautiful, honest music for the tired ears of a dying civilization.
italian galactico valerio cosi returns with his second album for foxglove, and raises the stakes considerably. he bends his saxophone into a glistening array of aural armaments, channeling the ghosts of giants, these spaced-out, eastern-infused missives. cosi is master and bending tones and meshing multiple instruments and styles into a cohesive unit. layers of guitars, horns, percussion, and more create everything from whimsical pop to sprawling, esoteric drone. “the spiritual committee” is the perfect homage to the roman gods of yore.
valerio cosi may be young at only 22, but his talent is undeniable. he may be mostly known for his exquisite saxophone playing, but this italian wunderkind doesn’t stop there. cosi composes strings of magic using all sorts of instrumentation and production tricks. “heavy electronic pacific rock” marks the first cd release in cosi’s ever-expanding discography, and he saved the best for this, his most widely-available release to date. limited to 500 copies… includes the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
this is the third volume of work for folkways by one of the most important acoustic guitarists of the 20th century, originally released in 1965. produced by musician alice gerrard and recorded by folklorist/musician mike seeger, when i’m gone is the perfect introduction to the queen of folk-blues. an absolute classic lovingly reissued in a perfect replica of the original folkways jacket and including a reproduction of the original information booklet… top notch official reissue of this gem.
brand new lp with dirty sounds from cousins of reggae, montreal based 2 man mind fuck. utilizing guitar, drums, turntables and voice. ( featuring blake hargreaves of dreamcatcher, fluorescent friends…& liam thurston of orphanage…) go for a trip via 2 different pieces, heavy, loud, hit electric noise & fatal attack. first vinyl release for parisian noise anti brutal pro violence lubriphikatttor (with members of zaraz wam zagram, tg, napalm jazz, ero babaa…) long tune ‘babypute’ / death of flowers & elaborated destruction… 319 copies in silkscreened covers.
13 gestating years past and crappy nightmareville’s pod unfolds in full color via this 7″ single which is not just their debut but also birth marks the first of a four part vinyl single series: an engraved introduction by way of alien-forcept exacavation of their old kentucky womb. prior stages spiraled from public-prank to outer-earth music-concret to scaling-the-scaur of bavarian-salt-licks. side a, “neutron dracula” imagines the scene from gypsy classic latcho drom when children sing “we are the bloody nail in the foot of jesus on the cross”, only reinterpreted as a saturday morning cartoon. side b, “black beam dub” is smoke from a wounded nurse surrealing sun ra into a new form of dub music that will have you and your headphones installing a seatbelt into your couch for endless round trips. crappy nightmareville is one of louisville’s longest running aural magnetic-bananimals and shares drinking water with a huge cast of bands including the web, evergreen, the belgian waffles, sapat and kark. beautiful post-nuclear fall-out full-color sleeve. edition of 350.
crash coffin’s eponymous album was originally released privately in 1974 on the mus-i-col label. it is very rare and sought after by early ’70s us psychedelic collectors worldwide. not unjustly so, since it contains one of the best psychedelic songs ever recorded (‘god loves the loser’) and a couple of other great moody psych tracks. it contains 2 unreleased bonus tracks from the same period. limited edition of 500, deluxe 180g vinyl, heavy original cover and insert with group history. insert also contains a sketch of what the original cover was supposed to become — if it were not for lack of funds — that led to an original release with plain white covers — half of them carrying crash coffin’s signature.
the third of the gps debut 45s this week. leeds based three piece crayon offer up what some longterm gps devotees may see as a departure to it’s usual output. sombre synth tones and military like drum rolls give way to an infectious, startling pop rush of a chorus. perfect pop in a nutshell. ‘b’ side ‘milk’ is a slow building, initially, glitchy electronic piece again with a cool pop sensibility as it’s underbelly that soon explodes… a fabulous record and a band to keep yr eye out for. ace 2 piece sleeves with inserts galore- a hand numbered pressing of just 300 only.
crystal thoughts formed in 1999, as a psych folk duet by spiros rouchotas & vassilis stavrianakos. the same year they recorded a number of songs, part of a jam session, and the next year the duet splits. as years went by, spiros r. decided to reform crystal thoughts remaining under the same music aesthetics, but this time as a 4member unit. authentic psych-folk characterises 4 tracks on this album, with the first song excluding from the genre, jumping deep into heavy dope of psychedelia with progressive touches. four new tracks and one from crystal thoughts beginning era. spiros rouchotas is known from his first solo project lp titled “ta paichnidia tou iliou” (tricks of the sun / 2007), but also in 1996 with his band “dedalos” (daedalus) in their debut 7″single. 500pcs limited and numbered, deluxe unipack cover, 180g vinyl.
brand new split cassette from portland, maine based cursillistas, who recently had superb lps on time-lag and digitalis, and love cult from petrozavodsk, russia. first up is cursillistas’ epic 23 minute ‘great salt desert’, a superb weirded out blues drenched, desert dried, psychedelic mirage. a real fine side summing up how awesome cursillistas are, if you haven’t checked them yet, don’t miss this side! the b side opens with love cult’s ‘breadcrumb pony tail’, a swirling blissful distortion dripping psyche dream, a really beautiful 11 minute wonder. this is followed by ‘somn’ a more crushing electrifying piece with tinkering and rattling from unrecognizable objects, distorted feedback blurts and what sounds like then objects trying to communicate. limited to 100 copies with parchment paper (either gold or ivory) cover with black and white print.
observe ember weeks is the final cursillistas “studio” album, momentarily lost to time as herbcraft took flight, now seeing a brief light-of-day. written, recorded, and mixed concurrently with wasp stings (digitalis), joint chiefs (digitalis), and several small-run/tour-only releases between 2007-2009, o.e.w. touches on elements and styles of all these while also marking a return to a more song-based rural folk psychedelia. nylon-string minor-key folk-pop commingles with naive noise experiments, breathless first-take improvisation, multi-tracked “full band” jams, wah’ed fuzz guitar abandon, electric slide glide, heavy tom-thumps & tambourine shakes, all presented with cursillistas’ trademark rich reverb treatment and multi-layered vocals. this is perhaps the peak cursillistas experience in all its bedroom glory, the fitting final chapter to a project that never stayed still for too long, and the definitive collection of the tunes that made up much of cursillistas’ live set from 2007-2009. deluxe 150-gram virgin black vinyl held in a 4-color, 5-layer silkscreened art paper jacket, with two-sided full-color pro-printed glossy heavy stock insert, hand-numbered to 225… sweet one!
cursillistas contributes two exclusive tracks to the series in this 45 rpm 7″. “taste teeth” crackles along with a melodic mini-choir of vocals and plucked strings, building to the outro with electric guitar noise, multiplying vocal loops, whistles, and toy xylophone. the b-side builds from a monastic chant, while percussion and whisps of guitar scatter form around. sparse and haunting. hand-stamped black 7″ vinyl record held in a heavy cotton art paper sleeve, with offset-printed cover art and titles hand-written with india ink and stylus. hand-numbered to 300, embossed for authenticity…loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
“wasp stings the last bitter flavor” marks the first widely available release from this portland, maine troubadour. the brains behind the project is matt lajoie and he is perhaps best known for his enchanted album on time-lag records. his folk-inspired psychedelia reaches new heights on “wasp stings” as he puts together an album of lost songs, found hiding in a dank and dusty cellar. lajoie’s approach here is different. it’s as if he’s taken the negative space of his previous works and hashed them out and spruced them up until they’ve become epic, flowing songs whitewashed with a basketfull of analog hiss. the whole thing flows together like magic poured straight from the sky. it’s haunting, beautiful music. cursillistas’ music is often densely populated with a variety of instrumentation and textures. lajoie is a master at molding sounds from a variety of sources into a cohesive, organic whole. this music, as with past efforts, sounds like an intimate secret whispered in the listener’s ear. you feel as though you’re being led into a world where very few lucky souls find their way. lajoie’s distinctive voice is the true weapon here, weaving hypnotic melodies over rivers of delicately strummed acoustic guitars. “wasp stings the last bitter flavor” is his message in a bottle. it’s a love letter to everyone and no one, and there’s a lot to love here, that is for damn sure. lajoie is joined by the inimitable nemo bidstrup (time-lag records figurehead and the brains behind drona parva) and sometime-mv & ee collaborator, sparrow wildchild. housed in sturdy, white-on-black gatefold jackets.
looks like doggerella finally wandered into an alpine grove without a compass or even water to drink or a hat and gloves or anything like that, with maybe no hope to see the light of day again, except as maybe a ten year retroactive compilation box set called ‘to summerize.’ this present cassette however was crafted in belfast, maine, entirely by an artist who has been accused of being the offspring of alien life forms somewhere down the line. while supplies last. featuring andy neubauer of impractical cockpit, flak mask etc.
first memoirs vinyl lp release! the essence of outsider psychedelic electronics composed and performed by phil todd (ashtray navigations, inca eyeball, hitler airbag etc). influences include cccc, jean-claude eloy, master wilburn burchette, metal machine music, incapacitants, old fairground rides, the sound of low flying planes over ls6 especially the latter etc. punk’s not dead, it just stinks of silver spraypaint – crazy silver spray painted recycled covers with paste-on art. numbered/limited edition of only 200 copies, so act fast!
d & n 2 is the full length debut from the collaboration between nevada hill and david lee price of north texas improv/drone collective zanzibar snails that continues to define and redefine the concept of home. the follow-up to the well-received (9/10 from foxy digitalis) d & n 3-inch from 2007 on mayyrh that was recorded (natch) at each members’ home. as for the d & n 2cdr, the process of recording an album outside in the middle of nowhere, texas is described by the screen-printed text on the vellum sleeve. keywords for d & n 2 include “pitter-patter”, “somber cricket-infested paens,” “juvenile racketeering,” “tin roof rustic,” and “beh!” as for the presence of the mysterious sebaceous animal fleece surrounding the disc, price says only the following: “it was so dark that i could only see the small area illuminated by my flashlight. through the darkness i could feel the presence of the sheep, and the anger with him.” ltd. ed. 100, screen printed by nevada hill.
the much-anticipated blast-off release for speer and his band. recently rewarded 5 stars in time out mag by the music editor, this album is a landmark in laid-back blues and country songwriting, feat. members of nnck and sunburned. -s@1. the inimitable mr. speer coined the term himself upon titling his pre-helix full length releases… forgotten country. not so much a forgotten people of a state or a rural area. not so either some south’s gonna rise again moonshine. more so a return to a way of presenting a music in the context of a tradition (something those boys in the band are pretty high on.) but this isn’t your grandfather’s bakersfield we’re dealing with. tho’ the tongue of the balladeer may spin tales ripe with a cast of characters including “the pastor” randolph healey, cheese frog, the man from hhs, uncle ernie, that guy with the black mustache and red caddy who stole your girl, and the true born sons of levi, he sings them not only with the twang of the roadhouse, but tainted with the grit of the streets of the big city. as one casual listener once noted to the band after a performance, “you guys play both types… country and psych.” and it’s true that the sounds contained on after hours do act on the mind as much as they tug at the heartstrings. replete with tales of mental instability, infidelity, drunken advice, wartime hucksters, heartbreak, and redemption, the first album by d charles with his backing band will surely immediately stand out amongst the shards of gothic americana that litter our fair sonic landscape… beautifully done release on this great new label! 180gm vinyl, heavy screen printed flipback covers, heavy insert. recommended.
it is a tremendous understatement to say that it is with grand excitement that three lobed recordings is proud to announce the release of distillation by d. charles speer & the helix. for the last couple of years we have been continually excited by each of the fruits that have resulted from speer/helix collaboration. for our money, last year’s after hours album was one of the best released by anyone. distillation only ups the ante from that prior full length by elaborating upon some of the musical themes from the late 2008 “in madagascar” 7”. the resulting album presents a tightly focused modern honky tonk quintet more than happy to blur the lines between country, psychedelia and the overall american musical tradition. consisting on this album of d. charles speer (aka dave shuford from the no neck blues band and enos slaughter), hans chew (last seen providing some ripping piano accompaniment on “fishtown flower” from jack rose’s the black dirt sessions), marc orleans (enos slaughter, sunburned hand of the man), jason meagher (no neck blues band, coachfingers) and rob gregory (the suntanama), the helix are a seriously experienced and talented crew. distillation was recorded over time between the winter and summer of 2008 at the band’s home away from home, meagher’s black dirt studios in westtown, new york. margot bianca guests on backing vocals on a few of the album’s tracks. the album starts off in monstrously infectious form with the leadoff track, “mason dixon crime”. the track’s propulsive, rolling rhythm, dueling guitars and soaring chorus offer the perfect foil to speer’s ever-present baritone vocals. to those new to the band, “mason dixon crime” provides the perfect introduction to speer’s captivating narrative gift. he is a singer who is capable of simultaneously spinning a masterful tale using a delivery that leaves the listener feeling like there is something hidden and secret being held just out of sight. other prime examples of this gift are evident throughout “open season” and its soaring climax, the plaintive “time changes things” and the swaggering album-closing “shorty (a bastard cat).” while speer’s vocal range is one of the band’s calling cards, the helix also features the unique voice of hans chew’s blazing piano. while chew aims for the fences throughout the rollicking “hardwood floors”, he really gets cut loose (and to spend some time on lead vocal duty) on the seriously jamming “life insurance.” one would be remiss to think that the helix is a one (or two) voice affair though – it is a totally solid full ensemble presentation as is evidenced by the jaunty full band workouts presented within both the instrumental “helical” and the rockin’, rollin’ and beer swillin’ “gravedigger.” distillation is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton gatefold sleeve bearing new artwork from both turner williams and the band. as a bit of a first for three lobed, the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. distillation is from a one-time pressing of 891 copies… includes pre-order only bonus cd!
it is a tremendous understatement to say that it is with grand excitement that three lobed recordings is proud to announce the release of distillation by d. charles speer & the helix. for the last couple of years we have been continually excited by each of the fruits that have resulted from speer/helix collaboration. for our money, last year’s after hours album was one of the best released by anyone. distillation only ups the ante from that prior full length by elaborating upon some of the musical themes from the late 2008 “in madagascar” 7”. the resulting album presents a tightly focused modern honky tonk quintet more than happy to blur the lines between country, psychedelia and the overall american musical tradition. consisting on this album of d. charles speer (aka dave shuford from the no neck blues band and enos slaughter), hans chew (last seen providing some ripping piano accompaniment on “fishtown flower” from jack rose’s the black dirt sessions), marc orleans (enos slaughter, sunburned hand of the man), jason meagher (no neck blues band, coachfingers) and rob gregory (the suntanama), the helix are a seriously experienced and talented crew. distillation was recorded over time between the winter and summer of 2008 at the band’s home away from home, meagher’s black dirt studios in westtown, new york. margot bianca guests on backing vocals on a few of the album’s tracks. the album starts off in monstrously infectious form with the leadoff track, “mason dixon crime”. the track’s propulsive, rolling rhythm, dueling guitars and soaring chorus offer the perfect foil to speer’s ever-present baritone vocals. to those new to the band, “mason dixon crime” provides the perfect introduction to speer’s captivating narrative gift. he is a singer who is capable of simultaneously spinning a masterful tale using a delivery that leaves the listener feeling like there is something hidden and secret being held just out of sight. other prime examples of this gift are evident throughout “open season” and its soaring climax, the plaintive “time changes things” and the swaggering album-closing “shorty (a bastard cat).” while speer’s vocal range is one of the band’s calling cards, the helix also features the unique voice of hans chew’s blazing piano. while chew aims for the fences throughout the rollicking “hardwood floors”, he really gets cut loose (and to spend some time on lead vocal duty) on the seriously jamming “life insurance.” one would be remiss to think that the helix is a one (or two) voice affair though – it is a totally solid full ensemble presentation as is evidenced by the jaunty full band workouts presented within both the instrumental “helical” and the rockin’, rollin’ and beer swillin’ “gravedigger.” distillation is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton gatefold sleeve bearing new artwork from both turner williams and the band. as a bit of a first for three lobed, the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. distillation is from a one-time pressing of 891 copies.
yo peoples – like the vibes, then get yrself a fine artifact for the years to come. single cover is hand screened and stamped with esoterica on the interior – nice druggy country psych from no neck blues band members. limited to only 500.
a true solo endeavor, this lp is the debut of d. charles speer on long player. recordings over a span of 4 years have been assembled here into a rumination on loss in its many forms – loss of direction, loved ones, home, mental acuity, money, and emotional stability. pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl and limited to 500 copies.
dag are haugan is certainly for most people not the most common name. being half of the legendary norvegian outfit alog made him one of the most original musicians of the last decade. at the start of our label we did carry his debut 7 on myke droner stating it as classic a couple of years further we received this wonderfull demo. you can call it guitar-glitch if you want – the result comes close to a beatless gas, a more guitar-driven novisad, etc – pressed on vinyl-only, with artwork from rune grammofone s kim hiorthoy, this album will make you reconsider electronica (aka the glitch/microsound-movement), while the guitar world will be surprised to see how both, old and new traditions can be melted into one brilliant artwork. the music is very introspective creating different state of minds. sometimes you discover yourself headbanging to what is generally called ambient, while some other tracks put you in a kind of warm blackout. those fans who were waiting for the ideal mix between rocket girl and mego might have found what they been looking for. ltd to 500 copies worldwide.
cool new self released local ep from adam bosse. layered trance drift tones with guitar & distant piano. pretty amazing totally hand made, hand painted, hand cut ‘squid’ packaging. surely quite limited.
daughters of the sun formed and started playing shows in the fall of 2005 with an original lineup that included chris rose of vampire hands on guitar. the band has played the twin cities and midwest since their formation and have recorded a number of albums. the band honed their recordings in their twin cites practice space, but thier eastern psychadelic/shoegazer sound can be attributed to members time spent living in india. this is documented in live field recording on their rings lp. the band summons the mystique and instrumentation of the world’s oldest music balanced against the spiritual limits and possibilities of technological sound. artwork designed and printed by josh of knife world… real cool soundsfrom this newish group, in an awesome multi-color art paper screen printed cover with insert. limited to only 300 copies. fans of the more zoned early raccoo-oo-oon recordings would be well advised to grab a copy. recommended.
vinyl version of their debut originally released by the band in 2007 as a screen printed cd. the lineup consisted of bennett, nick and ryan. recorded at old blackberry way with neil weir. mastered at magneto by brooce templeton. visions of the ocean head was made available on vinyl for the first time in december of 2010 by modern radio, pressing of 300. jacket artwork was painted and designed by lisa luck… cool to have these jams on vinyl now. good stuff.
one sided 35 minutes long jam. their very last jam with the mask of the davenport clan on their faces, free-form improvisational folk performed on walpurgis, clay ruby’s brithday by clay ruby, t endless, woodman, johnny d, billy lee, nico kain, aaron laurant, tyler olson. limited to 230 copies.
reissue of sold out cassette on temple of be saint 777. wulfcult rising is an empowerment ritual of caveman electronics, heavy astral drone and rain fall.
the extended davenport family has been producing their unique flavor of free-form and exultant improvisational folk since 2001. operating out of madison, wisconsin, their music has taken on an open joviality that reflects the spirit of their hometown and the natural world that resides just outside its borders. respectful and observant of all things natural, davenport has focused on their organic sound over a long string of cdr and cassette releases for a number of different labels. rabbit’s foot propeller is simultaneously a natural extension of their prior work and a confident step into a new and different direction. taken as a whole or as its component tracks, the album is a solid continuation of the davenport aim to bring light into all dark corners. rabbit’s foot propeller is all about the juxtaposition of varying sounds and musical textures against one another. over the course of the album’s thirteen tracks the listener is presented with numerous playful improvisations, tones generated from various instruments and lilting melodies (both guitar and vocal).
clarinettist gareth davis and guitarist steven r smith (hala strana, mirza, thuja) have already collaborated to stunning effect back on 2009’s “westering” released on the important label. this alt.vinyl release sees them gain another notch in history’s belt. the at-first-glance bizarre pairing of these two instruments might conjure up images of anchorless skronk and scratch, however “the line across” is anything but. with each side of the vinyl containing just the one ambitious piece, this duo creates seas of organic drone that live and breathe. unspooling like wisps of smoke, the tones of “other forms of consecrated life” simultaneously conjure exotica and melancholy. what davis and smith manage to pull off here is the sound of flickering reflections in canal tunnels, something beyond drone and soundscaping; 3/4 cloud cover sporadically parting to reveal abyssic drops within it. it is not all intangible drift though; raw guitar sequences (even rhythm parts) appear in the sound as clarinet echoes and violin/fiddle tensions make textures from foreboding trails of drones. if a piece of shorthand could be applied to steven r smith’s playing here, then picture a colour haze or earth trading instrumental punches with derek bailey through a styrofoam cup phone. on the flipside is “the natural history of devastation”, a piece that falls somewhere on the fields far beyond descriptions and sounds of grace and mourning. there are unconscious nods to a gybe! sound here, layered stately string sounds and the chiaroscuro of feedback and waves of black moving across the vinyl. this track is a slow lull of strangled clarion call, orbison’s cold fingers on the guitar and banks of fog leaving only loss in the sound’s wake. things might not at first listen appear like they’re going to be ok in the morning, but familiarity with “the line across” shows that they might just end up close to perfect after all… deluxe edition in super thick textured covers & pressed on 180gm vinyl. limited to 500.
these pieces grew out of my research and interest in just intonation and prime numbers. during my explorations, i came across some interesting prime number sets and wondered what they would sound like. i constructed these pieces using sine wave generators in max/msp. i chose a base frequency (fundamental) for each piece and multiplied that number by each of the prime numbers in a given set to determine the harmonics / partials / overtones. most of the overtones were transposed down several octaves to fit within a comfortable 2-3 octave range. this became my “scale” or harmonic zone for each piece. i related the panning and metronome speed of each overtone to its frequency. rhythmically, each sine tone / frequency followed its own 3 beat cycle which created overlapping prime number rhythmic patterns. beat 1 = base frequency for that given overtone. beat 2 = an octave higher. beat 3 = silence (rest). the lower overtones had faster rhythmic cycles and the higher overtones had slower rhythmic cycles. this was a way for me to relate the rhythm to the prime number sets and integrate it with the harmony while still retaining a musical texture that was interesting to me. i used a simple stereo delay to blur the rhythmic texture to create more of a slowly shifting, patterned harmonic cloud. these pieces are dedicated to james tenney (1934-2006). they are an acknowledgment of his extraordinary work with alternate tuning systems and just intonation. his musical life should be an inspiration to us all… 300 copies in screen printed chipboard covers.
from denmark 1970; lp in edition of 450 numbered copies, glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing, insert. the danish group days was formed in copenhagen in the winter 1967/1968 by peter lindhe (drums), john kjaergaard (vocals/rhythm guitar), ole fester (vocals/bass) and lars reinau (vocals/lead guitar). the band’s repertoire was mainly rock and blues oriented with cover versions of songs from john mayall’s bluesbreakers, cream, jimi hendrix and the rolling stones. during 1968/1969, peter lindhe and lars reinau started writing original material to the band and the repertoire started changing from rock/blues cover versions to self-composed, more lyrical songs with elements of the beatles, procol harum and (early) deep purple. in 1969, jørn anker (hammond organ) joined the band and he, too started contributing new original songs to the band. the days lp was recorded in the early summer of 1970 and in 1971 the band split up. days is one the the rarest albums from denmark which also came out on spectator (blues addicts, terje jesper & joachim, moses). it is full of amazing prog tunes with great organ elements and strong fuzz guitar. a killer album from beginning to end.
de kift emerged from a dutch squatters’ movement and the punk waves of the late ’70s and early ’80s. their debut vinyl lp yverzucht was released in 1989. ferry: guitar & brass (svatsox); wim: drums (rondos, the ex); jacco (grrr): bass; maarten: vocals (pistache b.v.). de kift were a tremendous and original force at the time. sparse, rhythmic, angular, yet energetic music. staccato punk with fanfare elements. maarten’s lyrics were recited, spat out and crooned, bleak reflective explorations of the dutch mental state of the times. maarten (as well as jacco) departed the band after debuting yverzucht. out of the ashes, emerged a new conceptual, literary de kift that would play on for 20 years. de kift were part of the squatter movement. playing benefits, raising funds, eyebrows and soundtracking a lifestyle on its last legs.
as dead letters spell out dead words, gothenburg based composer and sound artist thomas ekelund has delved into a time-consuming investigation of the complex, multi-faceted world of solitude and introspective darkness. his pallet is strictly greyscale, but the tones he uses are deeper, more honest and more heartfelt than anything else out there. ‘lost in reflections’ is dead letters spell out dead words’ fourth main album and his definite masterpiece so far. here, hurt is transformed into absolute beauty. and here, dampened drones make pop art. split release with ideal, when skies are grey and fang bomb. 500 made. pro-printed sleeves with 5mm spine, printed insides and black innersleeves. heavy weight vinyl.
the a side was recorded at the first no fun festival in march 2004 (brooklyn) and features a little comedy to start with and then things get heavy – and the second side is the very first vg kids/wolf den ypsi street level throwdown – our set was live on a 6 color shirt screen press and nate brought a fog machine that blasted out the room and into the parking lot night of the vg complex – near the end you can hear people chucklin cause its absurd – that night was also the first”offical” sick llama, and mi debut of failing lights – great night – dm had a weird 7 small speaker set up on the heads of the press and spun it slighty for that dead-universe dying electronic creeping blast sound – sweet cover art. limited to 500.
what can be said about the amazing dead raven choir that hasn’t been said already? this release marks the return of d.r.c. after a slew of releases on some very respectable cd-r labels, not to mention 2003′s “wine, women and wolves” cd (last visible dog) as well as last years “cask strength black metal” 3 lp box set (weird forest) which was a re-issue of all of the “choir’s” ugly, noisy, totally fuzzed out black metal on vinyl format. smolken returns to the dark, avante-garde neo-folk side of dead raven choir that has made this such a unique and awe inspiring musical journey. selenoclast wolves is an album that runs the gammet of emotions; whether it be the creepy lurch and sway of the track “the silence”, the brooding melancholy of “when men die”, or the sheer manic violence of “i am not a recluse” the common feeling throughout is one of complete isolation. as a bonus this cd will contain the complete re-issue of the “lesbian corpse wolves” album which was limited to only 30 copies. all completely re-mastered by frédéric arbour (cyclic law, visions, longing for dawn). on “lesbian corpse wolves” most of the vocals were handled by the beautiful voice of emily salvatierra. aversion online once said of this release that these ” – dark, folk-ish compositions rely heavily on picking accents and clashing notes that are both melodic and completely discordant all at once – ” and we could not agree more. now lets all raise a glass (or goblet perhaps?) and thank mr. smolken for resurrecting his fascinating project once again!!!
dead western plays the type of music that makes genres obsolete. it is not that dw does the cross genre pollination clusterbarf, but that troy mighty’s sounds exist outside of any one (or two or five) genres. perhaps, just perhaps the music recalls the mellow, introspective side of current 93 or the druggy downer folkishness of legendary pink dots, but that is stretching things as much as claiming that troy’s voice is a melted version of bing crosby. yes, there are elements of downerism and croonerdom in dead western, but dw goes deeper than weird and depressing. there is something beautiful in this bizarre world. definitely not for the orthodox, but also far from being so out there that the music is incomprehensible. i am very much taken with this record. –scott soriano, z-gun. limited to 500 hand-crafted copies on clear vinyl with die-cut, full color sleeves.
when dead western’s soften your screams into sings lp (put out by kdvs) hit the mailbox my first thought was how lovely the sleeve looked, then turning over to see a photo of actual naked modern hippies in a forest (one of which was climbing a tree) i immediately thought i had this whole deal figured out. west coast, future arthurfest participants, etc.; i know pretty much what to expect here. well, it took me a good couple minutes to figure out what speed this thing played at, and when i did discovered this thing to be a real treasure outta left field. fragile instrumentation, heartfelt songs, but a truly alien voice delivering what i can only describe to be what you’d expect peter jefferies in the persona of the pink panther to be, or something similar. woozy, deep, resonant bass vox wobbling around the grooves here which i now know belong to sacramento musican/artist fixture troy mighty who i remember from the free jazz-leaning noiseniks antennas erupt. the variety of instrumentation, while being minimal, is also pretty rich in emotion. – brian turner, wfmu… really stunning album which is visually as beautiful as beautiful as the music. multi-fold, layered screen print & photo art. recommended.
the deadnotes are eugene carchesio, stuart busby and leighton craig, from brisbane in queensland, australia. armed with an arsenal of trumpet, guitar, drums and casio, the trio make a glorious, semi-spontaneous sort of eccentric pop music that’s drawn comparisons (rightly or wrongly) to the likes of ennio morricone, maher shalal hash baz, the magic band, moondog and even the minutemen. since their formation in 2005, the band has written and recorded hundreds of miniature odes to this & that, some of which have seen release in limited cdr editions on craig’s kindling imprint. the 30 tracks that comprise orange trumpet, the trio’s defining statement, are amongst their earliest creations.trained in the ‘school of error,’ the deadnotes’ fractured take on pop form touches upon the sounds of their brethren in brisbane, from the experimental (the lost domain, et al.), to skewed pop (small world experience, et al.), to the city’s moody punk past (the five minutes, et al.). more accurately, orange trumpet plays like a minimalist, mariachi-informed version of grow-up’s the best thing; it’s brimming with ideas & presented with loose abandon. a jaunty melancholy that echoes tori kudo and tenniscoats, is present throughout, regardless if the boys are shuffling thru haunted dirges, garage-y workouts, or other points in between. carshesio’s classic recordings as dne are undeniably a touchtone here as well… orange trumpet is released in an edition of 400 numbered lp copies with full color jackets.
i’m sure you’ll not need me to tell you that dean wareham was once in galaxie 500 and that britta phillips joined him later in luna, you all know that stuff iim sure. what you may not know is that at the behest of the warhol museum and the pittsburgh cultural trust last year, dean and britta were asked to create 13 pieces of music as a backdrop to 13 of warhol’s legendary screen tests. the choice of subjects was theirs, only the number was set. believed to have been as many as 500 and all shot at the factory, nyc, between 1964 and 1966, subjects were chosen by warhol believing they had ‘star potential’. regulars to the factory such as gerard malanga, lou, ingrid superstar, edie sedgwick and nico as well as people like dylan, dennis hopper, yoko ono, donovan, ginsberg and dali all had the silent film treatment. dean and britta’s task was to choose 13 which make up the gorgeous new album, ’13 most beautiful’ – from which these 2 tunes were taken. ‘i’ll keep it with mine’ features an incredible britta vocal and was chosen as nico’s piece for the full length. ‘it don’t rain in beverly hills’ as it’s double a side was picked for edie sedgwick. the single here is limited to 500 copies and has a hand numbered, booklet sleeve with glorious live shots of the band playing the tunes on the single to stunning backdrops of nico and edie. copies are earmarked for the museum and the imminent tour. the band play london’s barbican on july 30th. be quick here, these’ll go in the blink of an eye…
limited edition tour lp for their upcoming joint tour across europe. one side for each of these amazing uk guitarists. cam has two tracks, one beautiful long guitar piece followed by an insane electronics track, that sounds almost like autechre’s more weird static work. spoono is jack allett who is also half of towering breaker. his side consists of three incredible tracks that will no doubt prick up the ears of fans of jack rose. limited to 350… paste-on found photo cover art. great album.
i am very pleased to be releasing the debut lp from sheffield-london-brighton guitar master, cam deas. this follows his two long sold out cdrs on blackest rainbow, and proves once again that he is off the chain! ok, so there’s always gonna be the immediate comparison to james blackshaw, but the sound is different, more aggressive almost and raw… this guitar playing has an edge, its deep and its powerful. the lp consists of three tracks, the a side is an epic almost 20 minute piece entitled ‘the waters of kvaloya’ recorded by ben nash. the b sides and albums title track begins with almost a minute of near silence distant drone, that develops with stomach wrenching string twangs. the closing piece is ‘as spring fell from the leaves’, which was originally issued on ‘for the silver waters, sing!’ cdr last year on br, but has been considered by people who’ve bought his releases and seen cam live as possibly one of the best things he has composed, total genius, with a real blissful, but eventually dark, vibe. this track definitely deserved to be put on wax. mastered by ben nash. limited to 300 copies… really great stuff. fans of jack rose, james blackshaw, etc. will need this one.
stunning 45 from sheffield based cam deas — a debut 45 on wax. 2 heavy strummed blues across 2 sides of vinyl — best approached as 1 long piece. sure, the names of fahey, basho, blackshaw, rose, etc. spring to mind, but this has a raw, slow building presence and an expressive approach all of it’s own. a potent brew — perhaps a departure from recent work on labels like blackest rainbow and dead pilot, released as a pressing of 300 numbered, date stamped copies in linen card, fine art sleeves with sticker… real nice one.
sweet vinyl debut from the mighty fine death chants, released on the band’s own label. if you tuned into any of their great self released cassettes, or either of the time-lag cdrs, you pretty much know the deal. in a pretty mellow smoked-out drift mode here, the a side is sunny strummed acoustic guitar mantra with bubbling modular synth bleeps, distant buzzes & drones, occasional noisy bursts and half slurred wordless vocal. the b side is less songy with sweet drifting keys, thick viola drones, ebow guitar hum and an ultra peaceful ambiance. very sweet stuff. perfect baked summer evening porch music. heavy moss colored art board covers, with black offset printed art by nemo. limited / numbered edition of only 320 copies.
cassette reissue of self released cdr. comes with an extra jam recorded live at la sala rossa in 2006 by nks. ultra crude hypno-style drums and groove box electronics. a constant flow of muddy water. don’t bother trying to reach in though. only bad shit will happen. if you’re lucky and you’re down with astral projections, you might meet these ladies in the other dimension they normally hang out in, sipping tea n’ sake and talking about their favourite dance records. photocopied artwork, insert, and labels. hand stamped. numbered edition of 100.
death vessel is joel thibodeau’s work as both a solo artist and band leader. his music, captured on the resplendent record stay close, is an eloquent distillation of a life’s tales. born in berlin, germany before the wall fell… raised in kennebunkport, maine before senior bush’s presidency… this musician lived a childhood where the ghosts of cold war casualties and seaport tragedies haunted the alleyways and beaches. leaving maine as a teenager, thibodeau moved to boston, providence and new york. in providence he was a founding member, songwriter and performer of the group string builder. now as then, thibodeau captures the surreal and the sublime in wondrous song. thibodeau’s vocal delivery is astonishing. perhaps his singing is best-described as descendent from ‘the high lonesome sound’ — unleashed upon the world by roscoe holcomb in the early 1960s. with this voice, death vessel delivers stunning lyrical poetry that transcends the ‘whisky ‘n’ haystack’ imagery of its neo-folk contemporaries. thibodeau brings this same unusual experimentation to the acoustic guitar (his primary instrument). the daringly melodic plucking of strings and the odd tempo changes provide expertly unexpected accompaniment. stay close was originally released on cd in 2005 by north east indie. new chicago imprint immune is proud to present the album on the lp format for the first time. this version of the album contains a bonus track exclusive to this release — a live/acoustic version of ‘deep in the horchata,’ recorded in 2005 with micah blue smaldone playing accompaniment.
their time in the studio was overseen by engineer jim vitti, whose work with parliament/ funkadelic seems to have informed his decision to record death in raw fashion with little polish, showcasing the organic power relationships within the trio. the songs recorded there make up ?for the whole world to see, which today blasts from the speakers as a fresh and inspired early entry in the category of punk rock. death had a single pressed, politicians in my eyes b/w keep on knocking, selling them at their shows and on the street. things weren’t really going anywhere when they heard from columbia records’ president clive davis. he was interested, but he had one demand — they’d have to change their name. david, acting as the band’s leader, would have no part of it, a decision that ultimately brought an end to death. moving to new england, david, bobby and dannis reconnected with their faith, forming the christian rock-n-roll band the 4th movement, whose self-released early-80s album joined death’s 45 as a sought-after obscurity for the next generation. 2009 is the time that death is finally here …for the whole world to see. …for the whole world to see is the first full-length release ever for the band called death — with only one 7″ single to their name, and that usually goes for about a grand per. that’s $1000! for those who do have the single, the remastered sound here will break you up… great album!
alan r.t. – percussion, piano, horns, electronics & aaron rosenblum – percussion, piano, strings, electronics… aaron rosenblum and alan r.t. performed together for the first time as members of sapat in 2004, and both currently perform multi-instrumental roles in that band’s mashup of jazz, psychedelia and experimental music. in deep pockets, both improvise on a narrower range of instruments and concentrate on the intense musical conversation that is made possible by the duo format. alan is a member of sapat, kark, valley of ashes, and boogie brothers, and is featured on recordings by rachel’s and jackie-o-motherfucker. he records and performs solo under several pseudonyms, including arsenio, raw thug, and arthur kalow. aaron rosenblum performs in sapat, kark, son of earth, shackamaxon (with members of double leopards and magik markers), and pleasant colony, and has been a guest member of wooden wand and the vanishing voice, sunburned hand of the man, and the cherry blossoms. he also performs and records under his own name and runs the hank the herald angel recordings label (www.hankrecordings.com). their debut cdr features a slightly condensed record of a single day’s improvisations on electronics, percussion, trombone, and strings.
brooklyn-based 3-piece the depreciation guild have been making underground waves to match those created by their fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched melodies. artfully combining progressive and retro chic, the trio draws influence from shoegaze guitar walls, dreampop highs, and the rigidity of electronic rhythms, while creating a sound that is a bit different from both, dreamily reinventing their musical heritage. *special note, two of the members fo this band also play and write songs in the pains of being pure at heart. this is their debut 7 inch in full color jacket, white vinyl and download card! 400 limited one time pressing only. side a dream about me side b listless. catch them on tour now with the pains of being pure at heart and cymbals eat guitars.
following their premiere full-length in her gentle jaws, self-released in december ‘07 exclusively as a free download, the album has already found its way to over 90,000 hard drives. the stir across the internet, as well as in their own backyard, is testament to some breathtaking songwriting and arranging. a musical piece to be heard as a whole saturated in color, and drifting into dream. limited one time 500 pressing only. on tour now with the pains of being pure at heart, cymbals eat guitars, and school of seven bells.
if you haven’t heard bob desper’s new sounds yet, you may have heard something about it. originally recorded in 1974, new sounds is considered to be one of the pacific northwest’s best-kept secrets, a regional holy grail with copies fetching upwards of $1000. until recently, not much was known about this mysterious blind folk-singer from oregon. in 2007, discourage records located bob desper, alive and well, living in albany, oregon. after two years of culling materials, discourage records is proud and honored to officially reissue this once lost masterpiece. evoking the melancholy mood of nick drake, the fluid improvisation of van morrison’s astral weeks, and the intricate instrumentation of jose gonzales, new sounds’ dark, meditative urgency immediately transcends the thirty-five years marking its original release. this official reissue of new sounds includes bob desper’s 1972 debut 7″, dry up those tears (including picture sleeve); an 11 x 17 insert with extensive liner notes and full color photos; and 1970s style tip-on sleeve… recommended & long awaited reissue!
eeeew. as the positively revolting title might suggest to some of you who are alert and paying attention, this release is a veritable shrine to perverted, in-bred, hillbilly atrocity. misanthropic to a degree i previously thought impossible, this is quite simply the blackest of folk/horror-inspired black metal with an unbelievably high ‘deliverance’ factor. think rusty pickup trucks and cages in the basement. think pathetic whimpering death. sounds like the house in ‘the blair witch project’ or the forest in ‘texas chainsaw massacre’ or maybe the sledgehammer in ‘misery’… i feel strangely compelled to shower. again and again.
diagram a is dan greenwood whos based in the providence/ma area, makes all his own electronics and use to do a label called sound probe…most recently he was on the rrr new england noise box set… first ever vinyl release on bill nace’s open mouth label. screen printed covers, clear vinyl, insert. limited to 300 copies.
underneath the dirt lies the roadmap to ancient civilization. the world before the fall. dinmuck #f (aka eon) comes from toowoomba and is enlisted as an intergral part of the musicyourmindwillloveyou collective.”the old is new” is a psychic brainfuck, like calloused skin baking under the scorching summer sun. imagine cave paintings singing about the third eye, caked in mud and eating the soil. this music, in all it’s scattered glory, is totally, 100% fried – limited to 100.
alex neilson is the uks kid thunder, who may be known to you for playing drums in jandeks band or being one half of beating stars with richard youngs, but directing hand is his own free form handshake. all kinds of joyous clatter in this baby. guests players include christina carter.
essential debut album by the ethereal and mesmeric la based former front woman of cult alt.indie band blackblack and of pocahaunted. this is the real diva coming out, quirky, catchy alt.pop for those hankering after a hook and looking for a middle ground somewhere between the cure and joy division. variously described as a psychedelic cassette tape princess and a mythical creature lady diva, fresh from playing with os mutantes and ariel pink, is touring across europe from april, so enjoy the record and catch the live show and get in on the ground floor. pressed on 140 gram glitter vinyl in an edition of 300 copies.
the 5th installment in the music fellowship’s triptych has finally arrived!! this release brings together two brooklyn bands, mouthus and double leopards, and the sonically entwined sunroof! of england. while each band contributes a side to this two-lp set, the artists are brought together not just figuratively on wax, but literally, as the fourth side features all seven musicians playing together. double lp gatefold artwork and design by mouthus – long out of print & very limited edition.
moving to the outer fringes of psych-folk, the dove azima is a deeply american recording. this solo project of zack hay has folk sensibilities much like john fahey’s and hearkens to roots music from an era before the cultural tributaries of rock, country and folk had parted ways. american avant gardists have also crept much more into hay’s sound since his last, more straightforward album, bronze horse. hay himself had written of his interest in naive experiences with guitar and he seems to have stumbled upon the steel string’s extended faculties ala eugene chadbourne; extended guitar techniques in general are almost never as visceral and hypnotic as they are on this lp, however. hay’s detuned meditations sometimes can sound as weird as jandek or sometimes lush and heady like harry partch’s microtonalities. like a decayed american flag you found buried in the woods, the dove azima is one of the more brilliant pieces of americana i’ve ever heard. it begs for many repeated listens and one oughtn’t neglect such a request. -nat roe, wfmu… pressed in an edition of 321 on 180 gram vinyl, with stumptown printed jackets.
volcanic tongue is proud to present the first ever release by the dream/aktion unit, a free-thinking avant garage ur-kestra based around the central kernel of guitarist thurston moore (sonic youth), saxophonist paul flaherty and drummer chris corsano (six organs of admittance, sunburned hand of the man et al) and featuring heather leigh murray (taurpis tula/jandek/charalambides) on pedal steel and vocals and matt heyner (no-neck blues band/test/angelblood) on upright bass. in may 2005 moore, flaherty and corsano brought the dream/aktion unit to stirling, scotland, for the final le weekend festival to be curated by david keenan/volcanic tongue. with o’rourke permanently out of the picture due to various film and musical commitments, matt heyner aka count hejnowski of nnck and heather leigh of taurpis tula stepped up. the results were mind-blowing, with the quintet tearing through a non-stop gush of energy/ideas without resorting to base musical concerns like dialogue or listening with your ears. this was pure simultaneity at some kind of peak of flux. moore’s role was key. he would move from these kind of suggestive, shepherding chords that would work lubes of motion into the back line, where corsano and heyner hooked up to such a degree that it was hard to separate their individual tonal and percussive points. they sounded like a friggin combine harvester. murray and flaherty were floating on their own particular plane, one that worked to reconcile the insane pulse of blood from the base of their spine with the juice of pure vision. flaherty’s sound touches on a whole bunch of jazz modes while re-situating the tradition somewhere way upwind of contemporary sound-as-thought while heather leigh’s exquisitely violent pedal steel stylings and free vocal improvisations seemed to touch on aspects of both patty waters, lydia lunch and keiji haino’s flesh-extensions while resolutely refusing anything approaching previously-articulated tongue. the whole thing was recorded and mixed straight to 24 track and the results are what you have in your hands. the first ever document of the collective thought of what’s easily the cream of the subterranean cup… nice heavy mini-lp style covers.
dredd foole (dan ireton) and ed yazijian met while wandering the shadowy corners of the boston ’80s post-punk scene. ed was playing in such avant-rock combos as high risk group and 7 or 8 wormhearts (and the original pre-lp cul de sac). dan had just dissolved dredd foole & the din, tired of rock as a form and the extraordinary loudness of the group. he wanted a chance to do some real singing. ed was feeling a need for something more subtle and embraced the idea of actually being able to hear what he played. they set out to turn the world onto the largely acoustic folk and free-improv stew they had cooked up. boston rock audiences were not impressed. indifference and downright hostility were the norm. there was talk of an lp, and some tentative recordings were done. but before anything could materialize, frustration took over and dan decided to retire from performing music altogether. ed went back to rock music with kustomized. and eventually, dan bought a four-track and recorded the lp in quest of tense (which some consider the opening salvo of the free-folk movement) with ed appearing on one track. but by the time it was released, they had gone their separate ways. years later, by a series of coincidences, they reconnected, and they found that when they played together again, it seemed nothing had been lost. they did a short tour with comrades and friends damon & naomi and eventually played the now-legendary brattleboro free folk festival. they found that audiences were now more open to their efforts. a couple of years passed during which dan released three solo records and a record with a new improvisational din (which included chris corsano, thurston moore and the members of pelt). ed recorded and released his brilliant solo record, six ways to avoid the evil eye and was even caught playing live with folks like richard bishop and sunburned hand of the man. then, against all odds, february 2008 found ed & dan recording, with ed at the helm in foole’s ashram in brattleboro for the better part of a week. that lonesome road between hurt and soul is the result of those sessions. some improvisations are built on dan’s songs played in a totally unfettered manner. one is based on a tune by j. mascis, and some were recorded as they were created. long talked about, long awaited, years in the making — the dredd foole & ed yazijian recordings are finally here.
last 95 original copies of this mega rare and very hip 1982 debut single from dredd foole backed by mission of burma! self released in an edition of 1000 copies 25 years ago, the ‘lost’ remaining 95 copies turned up and have been lovingly repackaged in a high quality cover my michael k of sunburned hand of the man, and featuring postcard photo inserts from the recording session. signed & numbered by dredd himself. nice. recommended!
the dredd foole catalog is wide (and deep) and yet this new release manages to carve another distinct tributary into the swamped landscape. as the title implies, songs to despond ya falls on the songwriting end of the foole spectrum, and he takes full advantage of the opportunity to flesh out his bardic impulse. the results are raw and immediate, devoid of electronic effects, and all the more timeless for it. of course, whether he’s offering up ballads or free-hootin’ and -hollerin’, dredd foole always tugs at the heart and mind of anyone receptive enough to leave those doors open just a crack.
let me preface this review by saying that i’m beginning to loathe the day when any group of outcasts or fuckups decide that it’s a good idea to pick up flutes and sitars and, after having formed their collective and listened to nothing but the incredible string band’s “the hangman’s beautiful daughter” (a great record yes, but it has already been made) for a solid week, retreat into some forest to commune with nature, only to emerge some months later with limited edition lp with hand printed covers. the gentle results are usually inauthentic and make me irate; those are the records that make me long for smashable acetates. luckily, belgium’s drifting bears collective seems to have gone another route entirely, creating intense and caustic music, actually suited for the fact that the world we live in today isn’t out of the pages of a j. r. r. tolkien novel, but is one on the brink of collapse. “south of no north” seems to be aware of its surroundings; it is, as we are, always existing on a precipice. to its credit, it never totally falls apart; it retains intensity throughout, never lulling, always moving forward with frenetic energy, electric energy, enraged energy. the lp culminates with the side long “cum black frost,” a track that rambles through what sounds like a muezzin chanting over street traffic before giving way to a healthy dose of fuzzed out guitar. this is what new music should sound like. 9/10 – neale gay, foxy digitalis… really quite great. very limited & lovely fragile screen printed packaging.
first time ever vinyl reissue of the hard-to-find sole album by u.s. duo drnwyn. wonderful record that has some very cool psychedelic moments (especially the track ‘the madman and the angel’), and a good number of fabulous folk rock mid-tempos. there’s drums, bass and lots of acoustic guitars in here, but also electric leads, keys, mandolin and multi-part vocals with some female chorus as well. but most important, very well-crafted songs from start to finish. this was a private release back in 1978, and a very recommended album for those into folk-psych and folk-rock. remastered sound and 500 copies only.
thick winds off the sargasso is a phase from the epic drunjus 2xcdr (foxglove). this 3inch features a live excerpt from the source material that birthed the album version. the sounds are a meditative blur of buzz tone and the seething outdoors by woodman, clay ruby and endless.
two killer journeys… dremcrom and relax, hunter. both recorded live. one side completely in the analog realm; from the boys’ cassette deck straight to 180 gram black wax. strictly limited to 300 copies. hand screened on thrifted album covers turned inside out. no two alike. side a – ‘dremcrom’ is a sideways drift through the earths crust which confirms that the core truly is molten. drunjus bore a hole straight to the center of your brain. live at the infamous wisco biker bar… side b – ‘relax hunter’ is a more galactic affair. with enough molten fuel to get their ship airborn, drunjus escape the atmosphere and enter a 300 year cryogenic sleep… co-released with tree tapes…
exact same lp & 7inch as the above version, but in addition also includes a 10 track bonus cdr ‘THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS – 1974’ for the fully exhaustive drywater experience. the disc includes various post drywater oddities from dennis cheplick’s 1974 stint in nashville. included are : the two acetate tracks from the bonus 45, four acoustic demos, and four tracks from the ‘backbone of the nation’ tapes to which dennis added vocal overdubs shortly after the lp was released. beyond the two great acetate tracks, the acoustic demos are also quite good moody folk, and include one track co-written with jack sarvis and considered for inclusion on the lp. the overdubbed ‘backbone’ tracks aren’t exactly a revelation, but the ghostly layered vocals and odd low fidelity have a certain charm of their own… packaged in tri-fold offset printed b&w cover with yet another great vintage photo… available only direct from time-lag, in limited quantity, for just 3 bucks extra.
first ever reissue of this massively cool & hideously rare 1973 rural pennsylvania private press jewel, originally released on the legendary RPC custom label in an edition of only 25 copies. this one might slip right by you on first listen, but there is a subtle brilliance buried in these grooves that’s captured the hearts of the lucky few who’ve had the chance to spend some time with the album… and once you’ve connected, there’s no turning back… like the very best of the upper echelon 60s & 70s private press benchmarks, ‘backbone of the nation’ is a crystal clear snapshot glimpse into a precise time & place, a unique moment captured, a lost reality preserved… small town working class teen ethos expressed with raw precision. zero hippie hangover or arty posturing here… the sound is essentially split between the two dominate modes of polarized male youth psyche : alternating moody, dejected, love scorned melancholy folkrock with wasted, howling, proto-punk garage fuzz brain fry… all together it’s a totally sincere lost in time vibe, delivered with gobs of naive charm & executed with almost zero resources. the album was recorded and mixed direct to tape in just a few hours, without overdubs or even the option to mixdown. you can hear the clearly unprepared recording engineer frantically flipping switches & tweaking knobs in a state of near panic as these kids tear furiously through a rapid fire album worth of original songs, always teetering on the edge of total collapse, yet never quite imploding. while the end results are, to say he least, very crude, the band pulls together a distinct and wonderful sound. underpinned by ken turcic’s dry, low, rubbery bass lines and greg cheplick’s wildly raw & cool drumming (he’s only 15 at the time) dennis cheplick (greg’s older brother) and jack sarvis trade off vocal duties, guitars licks, and writing credit. rhythm guitars chug excitedly, acoustic 12-string adds a sweet, chiming, folky texture, and sarvis switches between a great, slightly surf-tinged ringing reverb tone and frenetic fuzz figures. what really sets this one apart from the crowd, though, is a surprising sophistication lurking deep within. there’s real depth and staying power to the song writing that sneaks up on you with repeated listens, combined with the sort of subtly clever vocal and guitar arrangements that imply a band maturity well beyond their amateur exterior. a grower if ever there was one… and totally essential if the sound of “rural”, “real people”, and “garage” all in the same sentence peaks your interest… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. packaged in an exact reproduction heavy weight reverse tip-on cover, with exact repro label art, a heavy double sided insert with loads of vintage color photos and extensive liner notes, plus a bonus heavy vinyl 45rpm 7inch. the 45 contains two non-lp tracks featuring both cheplick brothers and recorded in nashville, tennessee just months after the ‘backbone’ sessions, and preserved only on a single copy acetate demo disc. while due to the original format the sound quality of the 45 is less then ideal, it’s an awesome pair of songs and a wonderful complement to the lp, clearly hinting at the brooding folkrock masterpiece these guys could have pulled off had drywater ever entered the studio again… one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
the “must have” debut album (1971) from psychedelic guru armando nava and his band, recorded after their failed trip to nyc did not produce the stardom they had been promised—pain and disappointment sparking great song-writing on this, the first mexican psych album in english. after an extended stint as the house band at tijuana strip joint fantasitas, los dug dug’s relocated to mexico city in 1966. they quickly garnered a rabid fan following there, which resulted in the dug dug’s signing to rca records and cutting a series of singles (the band also headlined a pair of 1967 films, el mundo loco de los jovenes and cinco de chocolate y una de fresa). upon returning to tijuana in 1968, los dug dug’s took up residence at the popular sans sous ci club. an american tourist was so impressed that he offered to bankroll a trip for the band to new york city. the group played a handful of live dates and recorded a few demos, but having no money to pay the union fees necessary to earn them the opportunity to play nyc’s larger venues left them with little choice but to return to mexico. los dug dug’s immediately began work on their first lp for rca mexico, little knowing at the time that it would become a classic of psychedelia. long-simmering creative differences between band leaders nava and jorge de la torre forced the latter’s resignation after the album was completed; by the time the resulting psychedelic opus appeared in 1971, the first incarnation of los dug dug’s was essentially no more. all that remained was this heavy, explosive album, a record which captures the fever/dream humidity of flower children running amok on a july afternoon. essential… nice legit version of this killer side.
after some 27 lps, 48 tapes, 25 seven inches, 33 cds/cdrs, and 4 ten inches, the time has finally come for not not fun’s first foray into the great wide world of book publishing. and there’s few better nnf bffs we could hope to share the adventure with than fuck it tapes/woodsist ceo (and meneguar/shepherds/woods multi-instrumentalist) jeremy earl. since early on in fit’s adolescence, he began incorporating his own loosely composed symbolist/primitivist designs into the label’s aesthetic (highlights like the brain band and blues control’s ‘riverboat styx’ j-card come to mind), but constant focused labor and the endless march of new projects forced his craft into a heightened state of evolution, birthing countless killer compositions along the way. skull is here to pick up some of the choicest pieces from bone-yard and bind them all together. the art inside spans several years worth of work, from 2006-era obsessively rendered ritual serpents and bleeding, 8-fingered hands up through earl’s most recent experiments with collage and multi-media hieroglyphics. over a dozen of his most striking and iconic cassette covers are included as well, in addition to scores of never-before-seen images. dazed pterodactyls, radiant pyramids, possessed worms, faceless figures beneath winged specters: all lurk and loom from the eye of the skull. 40 full-color pages, professionally printed and bound, in a one-time edition of 500… awesome & recommended eye-popper.
this is a cold vision of a dark trash covered future full of sci fi nightmares and strange out of body experiences. this is the final kites recording and is perhaps the strangest and most chaotic piece in the prolific discography. annihilation synth and tape collage, cut up, sped up and dialed to oblivion. earth crown steps it back, slows down the pulse, lets the edges of the static curl around the drone to the breaking point, where the damage is let loose, purged out and built again. this lp is a reminder of how cold, desolate, and haunting life can be. silkscreened by shawn reed, art by kites and earth crown.
earth station is mike pollard (abror rec./treetops etc.) and peter friel (young tapes) new now age, space suit, field studies in the deep trenches of mars, power ambient band. tidal waves of glacial synth murmur, the kind of intentionally epic stuff that you can’t help but like if you let yourself truly drift off. the end is coming and this what it might sound like. space music for earthlings. total harmony, total control. artwork by sdreed.
don’t put baby in the corner. jerusalem mall is a newer christmas time jingle for these hopeful times. backed with 2 sick to death outtakes unavailable on vinyl till now. no one puts baby in the corner. full color glue pocket sleeve.
eat skull’s sick to death received worldwide accolades for its frantic pacing, unimpeachable lyric quality, and nugget after nugget of pop hooks buried under a gob of lo-fi muzz. on this follow-up, fans and critics will find a cleaner, more inimitable eat skull at work. frontman rob enbom has outdone himself with both lyrics and structure on wild and inside, and the band as a whole rises to the challenge of nixing the lo-fi tag for a sound that’s less… antecedent. gone is the wall of crud that prevents discerning listeners from identifying the instrumental play-by-play; in its stead, a set of crafted songs recall the paisley punk of the last and the rural-delica of great plains, as well as nodding to the sanguine pop of early flying nun bands such as the double happys. wild and inside is a grower for the ages. it breathes deep and exhales perfectly.
egghatcher is robert horton made of space in delicate petals that speak like stars like red units fresh from the cosmos seeping a thinking upon distilled minds.
resistant to the clutches of anubis, the members of egypt have emerged from a six year hiatus to produce an archival release dating from the dclxvi dynasty. after serving as priests to hathor, the mistress of life, the great wild cow, for five years, these egyptian numerologists have honed their aesthetic reeds to razor sharp points. these tracks include glossalalia praising the pantheon, an illustration of the electromechanistic migration of the soul as well as ecstasy soaked instrumental excursions. look for these adepts appearing at your local oasis soon! 180 gram vinyl, full color covers, 500 copies!
an ultra-deluxe, limited edition of 475 copies of an lp on many hard-core psych collectors’ top 10 lists. insanely rare and impossible-to-describe 1973 brain-fryer from minneapolis is utterly soaked with mystic, thoroughly-dosed higher key psychedelia. damin eih rambled off to india to clear his head after leaving behind this lone, legendary offering, never to be heard from again. painstakingly and spectacularly re-mastered from two virgin copies of the original vinyl, this treasure is now rescued from the deepest catacombs of psychedelic fatso obscurity for you to hear. 180 gram vinyl, original insert reproduction, and 28 pt. craft stock with old school paste-on sleeves—this is nicer than most shadoks releases in all respects)… nice upgrade of this awesome lp. recommended!
‘i was lucky to see uruguayan music born. before el kinto it didn’t exist, and if it did i did not know it or like it.’ nosvaldo fattorusso. an exact replica of the original clave label lp release of fourteen crucial tracks by these uruguayan legends, whose line-up includes members of totem and limonada, and features the compositional abilities of poet/panhandler and acid casualty eduardo mateo and his alter-ego, candombe legend ruben rada. el kinto began their brief but eventful life in music playing in the dark shadows at orfeo negro (black orpheus), a night club near the portones de carrasco in montevideo, uruguay. inspired by the way tropicalistas like os mutantes were transforming the pop music of brazil, el kinto embraced their own native music formsnbut, as always, they went a step further: they integrated candombe and bossa nova into beat music, but they also added their own notion of ‘psicodelics.’ they experimented with newness in all its varietynnew sounds from their guitars, new types of vocal delivery, new ways of striking the drums (with little brooms, with gavels or their hands). as one journalist noted in 1969, ‘el kinto, directed by the brilliant mateo, and amplified to the maximum… creates a frenzy of rhythmic music in whichnwith force and convictionnpure wave ‘beat’ is synthesized with the warmth of the african drums.’ the result of the group’s tireless experiments is music which sounds fresh and engaging today. in a world dominated by the commercialization of everything – including (although it is difficult to comprehend)nthe arts, all we can say is, thank god for el kinto! now, on to the presentationnthe highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside you will find a double-fold insert packed with photos, detailed band history, and lyrics for this most important of uruguayan bands, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the sondor originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 500 copies.
only available non-bootleg videocassette version of this mind-melting and highly recommended psychedelic film masterpiece. has japanese subtitles, but the the original analog print looks & sounds way better then the rampant bootlegs floating around. nice color cover art. very rare. still sealed. only a couple of copies available, so don’t miss your chance!
final instalment of the great subscription series… ghq’s “requiem for bhopal” this brooklyn all-star duo of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika) and steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner) have been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there’s definitely enough noise to remind you this ain’t just about good vibes. black 7″ vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity… vollmar’s “new best friend b/w flood punch & holy blessing” justin vollmar’s recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who’s got only one person’s ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar’s songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements – modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7″ single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7″ record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves…. elephant micah’s “in midnight b/w ocean floor”as consistently great a songwriter as we’ve had this decade, elephant micah’s joe o’connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7″ release so intriguing – this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah’s past work, and yet joe’s voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the “recycling” theme of the songs, this black 7″ record comes packaged in discarded 12″ LP sleeves, which have been cut down to 7″ jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300… beautifully done & highly recommended!
echoer’s intent critically considers notions of ‘training’ in the social contexts of fine art, animal husbandry, and areas in between. characters include an unethical folksong collector, a french schoolboy and his dog robot, and a migratory game researcher. these minimal, mostly live recordings are the first to fully foreground elephant micah as a writing and solo performance project… lovely new release packaged in a classy screen printed art paper cover with offset printed fold-out insert & screen printed all black discs. limited to 250 copies. nice companion piece to the new ‘bible birds’ cd.
as consistently great a songwriter as we’ve had this decade, elephant micah’s joe o’connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7″ release so intriguing – this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah’s past work, and yet joe’s voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the “recycling” theme of the songs, this black 7″ record comes packaged in discarded 12″ lp sleeves, which have been cut down to 7″ jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300… got our hands on a very limited number of these great 7inches usually only available by subscription.
louder than thou is the latest album from underground folk mainstays elephant micah, a rotating-member band headed up by one joseph o’connell. the record will be released on o’connell’s own product of palmyra label on january 31, 2012. bridging the minimalist rock and sonic experimentation of early work for time-lag records, louder than thou is the clearest statement yet of the elephant micah sound. where past releases have been a matter of stylistic tinkering, louder settles into a meditative, avant-americana that o’connell and friends make fully their own. soaring harmonies and ringing lap dulcimers nod to ‘70s songwriter-ism while simultaneously recasting the genre through textural play and ensemble improvisation. with louder than thou, elephant micah secures its place alongside other masters of post-roots mood music such as califone and sun kil moon. the record follows an already extensive catalogue of limited, home-produced, and otherwise difficult-to-find recordings, which have circulated far and wide among a small, dedicated online fan base. this music’s cult also includes peer musicians like magnolia electric co., dark dark dark, and breathe owl breathe, who have toured with, accompanied, or covered the songs of elephant micah. louder than thou is closely tied to the musical life of bloomington, indiana and the greater region. the musicians that contribute to the record are part of a longstanding and celebrated underground music scene in this college town, which harbors more punk and indie bands than anyone can count. o’connell, originally from the adjacent area of “kentuckiana,” now resides in bloomington and works as a folklorist with grassroots music communities around the state. these efforts helped earn o’connell a grant from the state of indiana in the field of folk and traditional music for 2012… packaged in with lovely cardstock sleeve, with insert / lyric-sheet and heavy plastic picture disc sleeve. edition of 400. highly recommended!
finally available on vinyl! we’ll let joe himself shed a little light here : touring the east coast in 2003, someone asked, “you’re from indiana – have you ever heard of the bible bird man?” i hadn’t, so i did some research. his video had already been stolen from the library at earlham college, but i stole it back and returned it. i began to imagine what the musical equivalent of his evangelical bird act might sound like. i wrote a song about the bird man, thinking of releasing it as a “re-issue” of a central indiana country-gospel group that had never existed – the bible birds. then i thought maybe i would do an elephant micah album of covers originally written by this (non-existent) bible birds band. in the end of course the concept kind of dissipated and it just became an elephant micah album. i recruited beth remis from static films (and more recently pillars and tongues) to help arrange/sing harmonies for the songs, and generally bring them up to pseudo-gospel snuff. we played the songs around the upper midwest once with ben racher on a portable pump organ and jason henn on upright bass. all of us got together in indianapolis in 2006 and recorded this. i drove everyone crazy with my insistence on weird recording methods. i think i was kind of trying to approximate the timbres of the hymn sing broadcast on salem, indiana’s WSLM. who knows? i was critical of the results and didn’t finalize them for several years. here it is finally, a kind of “prequel” companion to the ‘hindu windmills’ (TIME-LAG 035) album. - joe o’connell 2010… so there you have it. an overlooked chapter from this wonderful artist finally seeing the light of day, and a perfect companion piece to the highly praised ‘hindu windmills’ album. both albums are clearly united by their warm, lo-fi intimacy, sparse production, and stunning song-craft. strikingly simple & beautiful stuff… packaged in a lovely three color screen printed heavy stock tri-fold art paper cover, with heavy stock offset printed lyric insert. limited edition of 500 copies.
the band kissing spell changed their name to embrujo in early 1970 due to the political climate in chile causing it to be less than ideal for a band with an english name. embrujo is the spanish translation of the word spell (bewitched). so embrujo is the same band as kissing spell and the album came out on arena records in 1971. among the great albums from chile like blops, aguaturbia, los jaivas and escombros, this album is just amazing, just like their first. beautiful compositions and instrumentation, very well played, strong vocals and poetic lyrics; we would vote this album as one of the best from the of south america. chile seems to be ‘the county’ for extraordinary pop and underground songs going right into the heart. what a shame that after 1973 until 1990 (pinochet dictatorship), no more bands could work anymore. we are missing a lot of great future albums by those bands… originally released in chile, 1971. 500 copies, 180gm vinyl, insert, etc.
gatefold double vinyl version. this is the third official album by emeralds (after solar bridge on hanson, and the self-titled lp on their own wagon and gneiss things imprints, as well as countless small edition tapes and cd-rs on a host of labels) and once again, it presents another radical new direction for this cleveland trio. it sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrids as well as a great deal of guitar synthesizers, not to mention fine-tuning their skills as brilliant tunesmiths. simply put, the results are outstanding. comprising of a number of tracks from their ultra-limited 7″ vinyl series on wagon, as well as new compositions exclusive to this release, this fine selection of tunes surpasses anything they have achieved in their 5-year career. perfect melodies intertwined with ripping sequences and a guitar sound that floats perfectly throughout. although most tracks cover new ground in that they follow a shortened “pop format,” more long-form cuts such as the towering “genetic” and the title track will give fans of their earlier work something to grab onto, or totally let themselves go, depending on their state of mind. having spent all their lives in the relative isolation of cleveland means their music has developed into a vital, stunning unique hybrid that may not have been able to blossom in more active urban centers. does it look like i’m here? heralds a turning point for all those involved and is a perfect, vivid soundtrack to emerge out of a harsh, grey winter. fresh, shiny and totally essential… real sweet new album. out of print first pressing with bonus poster! high quality wax, gatefold cover, etc. recommended trance-out.
second edition… gatefold double vinyl version. this is the third official album by emeralds (after solar bridge on hanson, and the self-titled lp on their own wagon and gneiss things imprints, as well as countless small edition tapes and cd-rs on a host of labels) and once again, it presents another radical new direction for this cleveland trio. it sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrids as well as a great deal of guitar synthesizers, not to mention fine-tuning their skills as brilliant tunesmiths. simply put, the results are outstanding. comprising of a number of tracks from their ultra-limited 7? vinyl series on wagon, as well as new compositions exclusive to this release, this fine selection of tunes surpasses anything they have achieved in their 5-year career. perfect melodies intertwined with ripping sequences and a guitar sound that floats perfectly throughout. although most tracks cover new ground in that they follow a shortened “pop format,” more long-form cuts such as the towering “genetic” and the title track will give fans of their earlier work something to grab onto, or totally let themselves go, depending on their state of mind. having spent all their lives in the relative isolation of cleveland means their music has developed into a vital, stunning unique hybrid that may not have been able to blossom in more active urban centers. does it look like i’m here? heralds a turning point for all those involved and is a perfect, vivid soundtrack to emerge out of a harsh, grey winter. fresh, shiny and totally essential… real sweet album. high quality wax & gatefold cover like the first pressing, but no poster. recommended trance-out.
after the runaway success of their does it look like i’m here? (emego 101cd/lp) album, editions mego is chuffed to release these vintage synth-guitar improvisation jams recorded straight to tape, 2007-2008. previously released as a cd by no fun, this is now the definitive vinyl edition of this material, and serves as archival insight into the development of emeralds’ sound over the last years. mastered by james plotkin. cut at dubplates & mastering, berlin… great to see this one one wax! very nicely done edition.
this is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks by these crazed heavy industrialised weirdos from sweden! all recorded between 1986 and 1988. originally formed in 85 by kai parviainen and mats lundberg (who later got replaced by landgang) enema syringe played heavy monotone simple noise industrial the way it should be done; straight forward, loud, heavy and simple!! brutal toy synths and repetitive beats dominate the whole recorded archive and the few live sets this duo did, spiced with horrific sounding lyrics in swedish (usually about funnier things then the usual industrial fan would hope for like farts, massage shops, etc – ) all of the tracks on this lp are recorded without any mixing possibilty straight onto two channels with a marantz amp and a tape deck, prophet one, casio rz1 drummachine, casio toy synth, an old rhythm box and vocals thu headphones and a crappy mike! these beats are the best fist in the airpumpers ever, reminding of early throbbing gristle, club moral or more recent wolf eyes and meerk puffy! the lp comes with liner notes by kai parviainen, a discography, and is completely remastered. artwork by dennis tyfus. limited to 400 copies.
béisbol is a three sided lp by enos slaughter. the brainchild of david shuford (no neck blues band, d. charles speer and the helix), marc orleans (sunburned hand of the man, d. charles speer and the helix) and carter thornton (izititiz, zashiki warashi), béisbol is a full-fledged continuation of the musical ideals that the band has previously set forth within on sunday, saloth sar and on the shores of jupiter. click here for a downloadable preview, “the kingdom of oscar charleston.” as per the three lobed standard, béisbol is pressed on 180g rti vinyl. it is housed within an appropriately themed jackets designed by the band and a two-sided full color photo insert. the record is from an edition of 679 copies and, and as an added convenience for our vinyl friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax.
this is my fifth solo release as es. kesämaan lapset was recorded during a three year period. it is a mix of soundscapes and pop tunes. you can hear influences varying from contemporary indie to ancient classical music. it’s a summer album and a childhood photo album. the name translates as “the children of the summerland”. it an homage to the pekka streng album “kesämaa” (summerland) which is one of my favourite finnish albums ever made. it also refers to finland of course. i’ve been travelling a lot these past three years and every time i return here it feels more and more like home. i’ve used lots of instruments, from high-end analogue synthesizers and upright pianos to cheap flea market casios. i’ve recorded parts of this abroad and at home in my studio and in my bedroom. there are a few special guests: laura laurila plays violin, tuomas eriksson (risto) plays trombone and elissa määttänen who has sung on most of my albums is present again to give her special voice to the tracks. i hope you enjoy the album. it is not as ambitious a work as my previous double album sateenkaarisuudelma. but this one is meant to be listened to in many more situations and it might just fit as music for a house party too… -sami sänpäkkilä.
after what seems to be an interminably long gap and born into an inextricably changed world, espers iii walks among us, finally and finely. it’s not as if espers completely disappeared following their acclaimed first and second albums and tours. they played the odd show here and there – but with time and focus given to meg baird’s solo album dear companion, the valerie project and helena espvall’s collaborations with masaki batoh and others, not to mention the launching and flight of greg weeks’ language of stone label, three years passed like a day or two in the life of espers. picking up the threads with ease, espers iii was intended to be an aural reversal of the layered sound of ii. the goal was to record fewer tracks in order to achieve a stronger, more oxygenated sonic presence. where ii was almost claustrophobic in its density and darkness, iii was envisaged as being somehow lighter, effervescent; perhaps even of a cheery disposition at times. under these auspices, recording started in late 2008 and spilled into the spring and summer of 2009. as more time passed in the recording process, a growing dementia within both song and lyrics emerged, making even the most ethereal songs on iii seem oddly unwholesome to all involved.
further along the path of musical friendship that helena espvall and masaki batoh have discovered for themselves, we find overloaded ark ready to sail. and indeed, a new and better society might be provided for with all that they’ve packed on board. these are end times, we are told. often, though, the craft of espvall & batoh drifts through placid waters. in the distance, thunderheads raise up and lightning flashes. when the storms finally come raging, they blow through — and, singular in purpose under skies of shifting color, the intrepid ark sails onward. espvall & batoh have come prepared for anything, armed with acoustic and electric guitars, cello, renaissance harp, organ, sho, banjo, electronics, recorders, piano, hurdy gurdy, frame drums and several more obscure instruments such as auschpfeife, crumhorn, cornamuse, darbuka, and rig. listen for them! but look them up first, so you know what you’re listening for. there are vocals as well, sung mostly by helena but also with batoh’s empathetic support. they are backed by two of batoh’s ghost-mates, kazuo ogino and junzo tateiwa, and joined by ancient music specialist haruo kondo. as on the first espvall & batoh album, overloaded ark features a trove of traditional and ancient music alongside self-composed explorations. songs from many cultures and ages are in evidence, from scandinavian folk to german madrigal to french and italian medieval court dances and even a good old latin hymn! nearer our present day, ‘sueno con serpientes’ is a cautionary tale from the legendary cuban protest singer silvio rodriguez, and ‘sham no umi’ is a batoh solo piece from the mid-’90s. espvall & batoh endeavor to combine sounds from different times in history with an eye towards the creation of a peaceful new global village in the world of today. and indeed, overloaded ark is a gentle and expansive trip, fusing the sounds of east and west, new world and old into a new epic for all nations. charted with grace and skill, overloaded ark is a human record, its passions focused under a stoic, enduring exterior.
most do not know much about music from bolivia, like us. what’s flashing our minds are the andes, la paz and flute music by indios. but there are some great rock & underground bands such as wara, climax and most of all estrella de marzo. this album (still unknown to most collectors) is not only special because it’s from an country not many listeners know much about. this album is so great, so much underground, so unique and well crafted, that it goes into a strong competition with most “classic underground releases” from south america. if you are in to wild fuzz guitar ala zappa, and if you like kissing spell from chile, beautiful vocals with strong lyrics and great beats , you will love this album. the early pink floyd has also influenced this album for us it was one of the big musical discoveries for this year. every track is great, high spirit progressive underground rock, as good as it can be. this album “a los ninos con amor” (to children with love) was recorded in 1974 with, keyboards, guitars, drums, bass & vocals. 500 numbered / heavy sleeve / 180 gram pressing / 2 page inserts.
andre is best known as the former lead vocalist and songwriter of the deadly snakes, whose swansong “porcella” has to be considered one of the best albums of this decade. andre hasn’t exactly been on hiatus since the snakes called it quits–though it may be news to most americans, ethier has released 4 albums over the past 5 years in his native canada. “running of the bulls” marks both ethier’s solo and vinyl debuts in the u.s., and dull knife couldn’t be happier to release it. the single finds andre reuniting with former deadly snakes band mates matt carlson and maxwell mccabe-lokos (as well as toronto musician andrew moszynski), to produce a sound that’s is a logical bridge between the deadly snakes and andre’s solo material. these aren’t just two songs slapped together with no thought–no, these are songs that were wrote and meant to be paired together, as they are weaved together in an ironic interplay. ethier’s distinctive voice and clever wordplay shine throughout, and this one won’t dissapoint. 300 hand-numbered copies in silkscreened chipboard arigato paks with pasted on photos from andre. 3 photo variations, 100 copies of each variation.
from harsh noise over tape experiments to nordic chants and back. edition of only 27 copies. handmade, every cassette a little different… bear bones, law low offshoot.
total monster by these 2 old-tymey duos. ex-c give you a home where the ragged riffs roam (including a sick meat puppets cover!), and pdx colossus y swans lay down a 10-dimensional lava lamp of frying wires and poignant dissolution. housed in a jacket with perhaps the boldest pair of maya miller art-damage compositions she’s ever dreamed up. leave this one on the turntable forever.
completely unknown portuguese lp from 1973 that sounds like a cross between peruvian psych such as laghonia & traffic sound, and a uk lost gem on harvest or deram, with 2 great vocalists, seering guitar and a real groove. this reissue is the second in the golden pavilion series, fully licensed, done in association with acalanto and limited to 450 copies in black vinyl and 100 in coloured golden brown vinyl… all copies here are the golden vinyl edition of 100! special low price!
bermuda telepaths is the latest title lifted out of the fruit-and-photocopy-strewn outer limits recordings archive and into the ears of the world at large. recorded under the never-again-used explorers moniker and first edited into album form about a year ago, this hallucinatory patchwork trip into the ether synthesizes all of olr’s deepest loves – boombox fidelity, quick cuts, keyboard loop sorcery, underwater pop, general mind surfing – into a humbly hypnotic whirlpool of energies. apparently there was a concept/thesis behind the album’s genesis somehow involving psychic powers, lizard people, and the bermuda triangle, but the details are hazy. which befits the audio in question. read your palm. take a walk in your thoughts. explore away. black vinyl lps in jackets with artwork designed by the artist, plus a copy shop poem insert. edition of 330.
gareth hardwick’s steady stream of quality releases is gathering to be one of the uk’s best current minimal drone catalogues around… here he gives us a 3 part trip of pure slow motions… flip the tape and you have richard dawson’s eyeballs project, whose debut on blackest rainbow caused a stir with the few people who managed to lay their hands on it. here dawson’s side is bleaker and darker than expected, gives me the full on feel of the twin peaks woods… feels like the vast emptiness of that claustrophobic wooded area. low and lulling. pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 150 copies.
flowers is the latest full length from seattle’s bleak and ominous factums and is their second for the sacred bones label. recorded between 2006 and 2007 but only now seeing a proper release, flowers is dark and disturbing. the album has twenty two tracks that fluctuate from sound collage to soundtrack-esque moments as well as more structured songwriting. this album also has flashes of abrasive electropunk that has garnered them well-deserved comparisons to chrome, cabaret voltaire, throbbing gristle and much of the early wax trax catalog.
primitive future indeed! its 4000 a.d. and human kind’s fate from a binge of manifest destiny has finally collapsed on itself. now we’re back to the basics. the jungle is in charge again. the factums have crafted a soundtrack to this dark and mysterious place. a world where the listener is the prey and this record is the hunter. this is exploratory music, a melding of rusted out kraut debris, dead c. carnage and lost in time sci-fi rock moves. ed. of 400 copies.
full-length follow-up to last year’s lp on the sitlbreeze label from this band that vaguely circles in the a-frames/intelligence/fruit bats orbit. critics have compared factums to tronics, cabaret voltaire, or pere ubu’s more chaotic moments also citing some heavy kraut influenced flashes. includes a bonus three song 7-inch ep and screened cover art.
john w. fail has turned up in a lot of places but on few recordings; this is the first release entirely under his own name, following an 8-project cassette compilation on dronedisco last year. most well-known as 1/2 of lied music, the icewhistle finds fail quietly scraping ghost overtones from his israj (the traditional bengali instrument heard on lied music recordings). in eight minimal tracks, the sounds of air and urban ambiance mix with the israj to create a haunting, suspended soliloquy.
fusion is a dirty word, implying clinicism and a dry sense of conscious matchmaking. “bow low bright glow” is a more a communal excavation and re-presentation of buried european folk and sufi-hearted music than any form of experiment. family elan are alone in their field. here, chris hladowski has put together a collection of original numbers, visions created from lost/found tapes and traditional pieces (including a absolutely gorgeous “the blackplanets of her eyes”) that are a fitting companion to family elan’s “stare of dawn” debut. alongside hladowski’s voice, there’s the vocal input of nalle’s hanna tuulikki – a voice as easily capable of gentle qawwali as it is folk song. this is a record of heavy treble intricacy, hladowski’s saz and bouzouki playing encompassing drones, folk, dervish progressive work and a woozy shimmer over and through the entwining melodies. family elan are more than just a project or a band, hladowski has endowed the music here with a such a unique voice that shaky shorthand comparisons would be pointless and a short sell. music that hints at the devotional rarely feels as inclusive, as communal and as enjoyable as this… deluxe super thick textured covers, 180gm vinyl, limited to 500. beautiful stuff!
great heavy jam from these danish black-out artists. lurching drone and electronic strangeness slowly worm their way into yr face hole and blow smoke rings. that sound? thats an ancient axe cutting through cosmic fog, man. come breath the thunder… another wall melting dose!
family underground drenched the east coast of the usa in molten syrup last year and they toted along a tour cd-r entitled black hole released by the fine folk of secret eye. mega bummed i didn’t get to feel their magic live but i ordered that tour disc post-haste. man, when i got it i was slain. i thought it was their finest work to date so i had to invoke it on vinyl. i tapped into the band’s communication network and together we figured this would make a killer double lp, definitely one for the record books. so the underground sent me a half hour of unreleased musics to fill the vinyl sides to fruition. holy hannah was i unprepared for a – how well the new jams mind-melded with the other tracks. and b – the superb variation of the entire work with paramount peaks and deep arcane valleys. get it and trip! limited to 500 copies on black vinyl with full color gatefold jackets.
denmark’s drone demons release another one. a helium rug would float, which is exactly what your melted mind will do while listening to this record. whistling blown by the birds of hell. this has been in the works for quite some time. originally intended to come out last summer on their us tour, but we didn’t want to flood the market (they already had 3 lps coming out the same time). edition of 300 on black vinyl with bi-color stencil. the front cover is what you will look like after listening to this. your mind will split open unleashing the helium rug from within. artwork by zachary fleming.
crushing new full-length by this legendary danish drone squad. 2 massive side-long black holes, mastered by pete swanson of yellow swans. hand-numbered edition of 450.
2 tracks from recent jams – 100 copies – more sweet drone psych goodness from the wicked crew. beautiful printed art paper covers with art paper insert & spray painted disc.
from ged gengras (antique brothers) comes this accomplished take on the new wave pop song (“down in the park”) and some inspired no wave guitar and sonica instrumentals. for fans of current 93 and any beta-lactam ring releases.
fapardokly is probably regarded as the most important release in merrell fankhauser’s long career, and an absolute collector’s item. the band recorded about 30 tracks in a small studio in palmdale, california, from 1965 to 1967, when the owner of the studio decided to release an album with some of these tracks. with such different recording dates, you find here different sounds… organ-ized 60′s pop, jangly folk-rock, psychedelia… a truly fantastic album that finally gets, for the first time, a legit vinyl reissue and with the original artwork. comes with an insert featuring photo from merrell’s personal archive, and linernotes by him as well.
finally available, the first licensed reissue of michael farneti’s elusive good morning kisses lp from 1976. this south florida marvel has eluded collectors for eons and we are thrilled to get it back into circulation. 500 exact repro copies were pressed at rti with crisp, heavy jackets produced by stoughton… limited to 500. great high quality reissue. nice.
two songs which were performed at the very last few shows before deerpark’s unnaturally long hibernation are now available on the feather gatherers 7″ record. recorded by jonathan marshall with sharron kraus accompanying on banjo, flute, voice, harmonium, bodhran, twigs etc. ‘the feather gatherers are an ad hoc uk duo with jonathan marshall of deerpark joining the superb new-volk multi-tasker, sharron kraus. leaves/tower at bollingen (singing knives 7″) has two songs that are as swank a pairing of contemporary acoustic sadnesses as you’ll find in a month of mondays. “leaves” features both vocalists and the blend of their voices is like biting into the best pickle you ever ate. “tower” is a feature for marshall’s voice and kraus’s flute, and it’s another sparse haunter. file near iron & wine and play often.’ – byron coley, the wire.
third installment in a new series of releases from ferraro, part of his summer headrush 2009 series vision. inspired by “visualisations that came to mind while receiving self-induced hypocapnia or as it’s commonly called ‘free fall’, the albums being representative of the free fall head space.” body fusion 1 presents a themed suite with track titles like “shemale”, “pregnant air”, “angel alien” and “species within” that takes off in multitopia’s transformative worlds-within-worlds style. cut-up throughout with pitch-shift sonic reassignments of she-males and transvestite phone sex lines that promise “fantasy fulfilment 24/7″ the music feels like an attempt to mint a form of holy/devotional reverie directed towards the celebration of the gatekeepers of the most primal, transformational sexual urges, with lap-dancing clubs, peep shows, strip bars and chatlines re-imagined as temples to the lifeforce. featuring some of james’s darkest transits, the music is built around huge organ drones that build to the kind of otherwordly ascensions of popol vuh’s “vuh” over which he drops in huge crashes of percussion and eerie music box melodies. – volcanic tongue.
the citrac collection presents one of james ferraro’s most cinematic visions; showing his recent mode of soundworld creation in top form. by shying away from pure musical creation and opting towards the organic birth of sonic universes james finds a new way to tell a story. evoking vastly imaginative imagery, this 80+ minute suite spanning two lps, contains the previously released “postremo techno mundus symposium”, excerpts and alternative edits from liquid metal’s alternative soundtrack to “digital overdrive”, and the all new “digital tribe”. presenting deep-nightmarish atmospheres of surveillance and captivity on through the rush of the open road; the hypnotic, lo-fi result is one that could only come from ferraro’s alien mind, eternally stuck in a 1980s vision of an impossibly archaic future. in an edition of 400 double lps with full color printed inner-sleeves in pro-printed black and white cardboard sleeves and printed labels by james.
clear and discovery were origianlly released as two companion cdrs by james ferraro (of the whole skaters / lamborghini crystal / 90120 / splash / nirvana axis) and comprise the august 1974 (taj-mahal travellers) of his discography. both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference klaus schulze or bobby beausoleil. clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while discovery is comparable to daft punk’s album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room. these two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious giorgio moroder songs for the upcoming olympics in atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from revenge of the nerds-or is it “wonderwall”-into a theme for a future ski jump at the great pyramids. are you ready for the lizard people to compete? now available as mastered vinyl lps with a digital download.
clear and discovery were origianlly released as two companion cdrs by james ferraro (of the whole skaters / lamborghini crystal / 90120 / splash / nirvana axis) and comprise the august 1974 (taj-mahal travellers) of his discography. both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference klaus schulze or bobby beausoleil. clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while discovery is comparable to daft punk’s album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room. these two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious giorgio moroder songs for the upcoming olympics in atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from revenge of the nerds — or is it “wonderwall” — into a theme for a future ski jump at the great pyramids. are you ready for the lizard people to compete? now available as mastered vinyl lps with a digital download.
latest installment of barbiturate-bombed muscled flexing and body worship/horror from long-term alternate james ferraro identity, edward flex. grotesque huffing voices, the sound of pumping iron and choruses of meathead grunts combine with slow, hypnotic keyboard tones to create the ultimate steroid-enhanced transformation scenario with drones that go so far beyond the physical as to sound like the songs of solitary cells destroyed and re-born in the furnace of mutation and evolution. massively psychedelic and totally deranged. comes in a plastic case with original black and white art. “what’s up people this is edward flex here in my brand new studio in beautiful hawaii . come and join us as we waste some metal. in the arena of chrome wave reflection life meets the ultimate rush, of the ocean spray moisturizing our ripped tanned flesh. so come escape with us and enter the dream. extreme metal retreat awaits. you think you had enough? don’t even think about it! let the transformation begin! – volcanic tongue.
third limited double set in a series of three volumes self-released by james ferraro of the skaters documenting his exploration of inner/outer sci-fi landscapes populated by cyborg lizard deities. flushpipe is a staggering two disc set that features cover art showing the view down to the pyramids from a hovering ufo filled with cryogenically-preserved aliens and titles like “skyhanger”, “flush stream of sting ray blue grid” and “awesome motion”. the imagery combines weird frank herbert-styled desert planet vistas with the kind of ophidian power visioning of kenneth grant’s nightside narratives while the sonics stretch the length of ferraro’s career. the sound is james’ most convincing amalgam of classic skaters-styled vertical ritual with murky tape psych, ecstatic new age keyboard visions and post-multitopia future/primitive 1980s computer game reverie. there are dense fields of bell tones that sound like john coltrane’s ascension broadcast via a shortwave radio at the bottom of a wind tunnel, gorgeous keyboard hymnals that hover over a bunch of simple, primal patterns ala harmonia/cluster and heavy vocals from that are quite unlike any of his previous work, combining bursts of aggression with possessed reptile tongues and oracular insect voices. one of ferraro’s most mind-bogglingly sustained transits of other states of there. highly recommended. – volcanic tongue.
‘in chameleon ballet, i wanted to create a work of magic that simulates a dream atmosphere of post-industrial landscapes, with the waking memory of a romantic alien encounter occurring in the dream. dedicated to the mystery of night and the magic of dreams’ –james ferraro. ‘debut limited edition album by this new sci-fi synth project by james ferraro of the skaters et al., with 1980s minimal wave moves bisected by the kinda keyboard patterns you might’ve found on an edgar froese solo album or post-body love klaus schulze, then exploded with barbarous invocations, syruped-vocals and some black drone atmospherics. or, as the cover art suggests, urban landscapes as visioned by showroom dummies illuminated under 3 a.m. neon. another killer.’ –david keenan. remastered and expanded version of the cd-r release on new age discs — this has an additional previously-unreleased track. limited edition of 425 copies. black & white printed covers.
FERRARO, JAMES ~ MULTITOPIA ~ lp (olde english spelling bee) $18.00
new album from james ferraro of the skaters/lamborghini crystal et al., the first run ever presented under his own name. ‘multitopia is our reality system,’ james writes in the liner notes. ‘a post-9/11 reality technology in between the frames of data reception. a cross wire into ‘new head’ and necessary evolution upon the impact of the towers.’ it feels like a major work from james, the first fully-conceived album to go beyond his initial brain-fried 1980s nightmare culture documentation, reconciling both dystopian and utopian mindsets in a vision of pan as multitopia. body modification, the blurring of sexual persona (via cracked images of james on the back with a modified pair of breasts chilling next to an arcade game) and cyborg intelligences are all recurrent tropes in james’ work, but here he explodes them all, with some of the most aggressively-nuanced keyboard and drum work of his entire career, kicking off with a full kit sound that sits somewhere between industrial steel drums and kaoss pads, then building to an evocative peak that then dissolves into wave after wave of fluxing keyboard drone and oddly-looped vocal fragments. the gravity of the music is truly omnivorous, devouring drone, punk, new wave, industrial and minimal synth modes and spitting them back out as intensely detailed black and white visions of the future-now. james somehow manages to interweave vacuous tv announcements and cheap anchor man quips alongside the lucid, microtone-rich keyboard work, situating the whole deal in a virtual, godless netherworld with each track a further descent into hell. it is both beautiful and horrifying. a major work from james — no one is doing anything remotely like him. highly recommended.’ — david keenan. remastered version of the cd-r release on new age discs. limited edition of 425 copies. color printed covers. dedicated to zac davis.
part of the second limited batch of summer headrush 2009 releases from james ferraro of the skaters with full-colour pro-printed sleeves. wild world is edward flex visits multitopia, one of the bleakest and darkest of ferraro’s recordings thus far, as he ties up fantasies of body modification and hollywood stardom with terrible eschatological visions and cut-ups of recorded testimonies of members of the heaven’s gate mass-suicide cult on their hopes for a transport to heaven. his use of minimal musical fragments looped to infinity is at its most twisted and wrong, with obsessive vocal figures played out over leery keyboard parts and snippets of vocal that conflate plastic surgery with pre-lapsarian and post-ufo powers of transformation. there’s often a lurid, cartoon aspect to ferraro’s amplification of the various desires that contemporary popular culture works as a cipher for but this one feels less technicolour and more desperate, charting the apocalyptic fantasies (via elvis presley and michael jackson) that find their apotheosis in california’s end-of-land culture through a series of black magical workings. also features some of ferraro’s most shredding 80s/90s metal guitar. an extremely heavy installment. – volcanic tongue.
more archival madness from the australian fruited plain. ffehro is ian macintyre and michael donnelly, spitting out dirty dirges over a spirtual concoction. the ebb and flow of ffehro is much like that of a hurricane, thwacking you in the skull with a hurled tree trunk, but all the same cooling you down with soft, soothing rain. dichotomy, they say – that’s the magic. donnelly’s best known for his work in brothers of the occult sisterhood and terracid, but ffehro’s country drone madness is up to the task of pushing that lore forward. dreadlocked madness abound! 100 copies.
this studio recording deftly interlaces and frames the spontaneous improvisations of toronto reeds/guitar multi-instrumentalist colin fisher and drummer/producer jean martin into extended and dynamic song forms with results that range from delicate to euphoric.
aria nativa is more than paul flaherty’s third solo saxophone album; it merges rhapsodic avant garde music, patriotic dream verse, and mortality into a frighteningly pure work of audio, visual and literary sledge. recorded during a pair of 2007 performances, its four pieces capture lifeblood in stunning detail from foot stomps to gut hollers and crowd roars as flaherty’s free power blues dips into the well of wretchedness yet raises with fists of mirth. it’s the sorta record that splays naked the artist for all: equal parts wise ass and universal vision. from his early 1970s woodshedding through a dozen plus albums each with drum buddies randall colburne and chris corsano, and collaborators bill nace, wally shoup and sunburned man of the hand, flaherty remains a total wildcat — on and off the alto/tenor horns. for this lp his massive tonal craft is equally matched by ken hill’s gorgeous cover shot of a snow blown grave and “no more america” — ken delponte’s epic poem that spans nearly five decades and fills the back jacket, framing the atmosphere the music was recorded under. each 500 copies contain a download coupon for mp3 version of the album that includes a bonus track of “no more america” read by the author.
based in turners falls, ma, flaming dragons of middle earth are the brainchild of visionary wheelchair-bound ‘band shaman’ danny cruz, who leads an ensemble of rotating non-musicians, artists, oddballs, kids with down syndrome etc in weekly jams at a community resource centre, playing what he describes as ‘mud lightning metal’. cruz is heavily into sun ra, captain beefheart and roky erickson and has a fascination with zombies, punk rock, metal, horror movies and the aesthetics of the free form freak. the seed of contempt is the first available document of their wild reign, capturing a bunch of jaw-dropping sessions recorded onto cassette between 2007 and 2010. cruz’s vocals are somewhere between nate young of wolf eyes and don van vliet and his cosmo-philosophical lyrics touch on cartoons, anarchy, radical politics and evil in the night, with titles like “i am the creator sun ra”, “know my name of blood”, “hunger in the world is a problem”, “bush no on cnn” and “anarchists of punk rock”. the music ranges from wasa wasa-style destructo blues as played by the familiar ugly through odd piano/vocals tracks ala richard youngs’ “advent”, brokedown folk with weeping brass, unaccompanied vocal rants and wonky big band jams that channel cryptic nnck-style environments via the la freak scene around wild man fischer and weirdo lafms satellites like ace & duce and smegma. the seed of contempt goes well beyond mere real people interest: it feels like a bunch of kids mainlining everything that’s great about the wildest, freakiest rock/roll and free improvisation of the 20th century. funny, sad, exhilarating, confusing, effortlessly out – it’s hard to believe such a purely-conceived document could even exist in the current cynical/know-all post-wikipedia world. if this hadda come out on some private press side in 1970 then acid archives would have already erected a monument. but this is real – if you wanna drop in and jam with them, the invitation is there: every thursday at 5pm at the brick house, turners falls, ma 01027. tell em we sent you. if you can’t make it, this lp will take you *there* all the same. consider us blown away. “sun ra’s good, it’s a good jazz band, good methods he had.” massively cool cover, heavy vinyl, with insert. highly recommended. – david keenan
official lightning tree version with stunning sound quality. among the crown jewels of sought after 1960’s american psychedelic records the flat earth society’s waleeco is a legendary album that more than lives up to its reputation. recorded in 1968 for of all things a candy bar manufacturer (waleeco being the name of the said confection) the album was only made available to candy fiends that sent in a few wrappers and $1.50. anyone lucky enough to take advantage of that offer obtained a beautiful psychedelic rock/pop masterpiece that took in everything from dreamy west coast styled acid rock, laid back sunday morning acoustic folk, driving garage psych rock and full on trippy psychedelia. restored from the original master tapes to its true stereo this 180 gram reissue in a stunning psychedelic sleeve, is the ultimate edition of this period classic that sits head and shoulders above a sea of re-issue mediocrity … highly recommended new england teen psych classic!
stunning double cassette set that bundles a bunch of live jams from various locations – london’s cafe oto, salford’s islington mill, manchester’s fuel, leeds’ brudenell social club, cambridge’s portland arms – from the world-beating duo of michael flower (guitar) and neil campbell (guitar/casio). flower and campbell were of course compatriots in one of the uk’s greatest underground drone/rock groups vibracathedral orchestra and this tape presents a more dazzling psych rock extension of that particular group’s navigation of constantly peaking eternal sound but it’s cut with an amazing ostrich guitar/explosive drone style that comes straight out of the velvet underground. across four sides of tape they mutate the basic blueprint to the point that it sounds like greatest vu bootleg jam of your life, with flower’s guitar tearing through sheet metal melodies and epic raga levitations while campbell flits between flashing keyboard melodies that sound like cluster on infinite repeat and some almost skullflower-like string violence. they’re joined by john godbert aka herb diamante – also of vibracathedral orchestra – on drums for two tracks and they are particularly phenomenal, with godbert thundering like faust through storms of technicolour electricity. the uk has long had a particularly amazing and unique take on drone rock and vibracathedral remain pretty much kings of the genre and this is another ass-flattening reminder of their powers from a bunch of key players w/hypnotic command of the zone. can’t get enough of this one. – david keenan, volcanic tongue… really hot one here. looks great, sounds great, and only 50 copies!
the four aims is the much-anticipated second full-length by the long-running duo of mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra, sunroof, michael flower band) and chris corsano (flaherty/corsano, jandek, bjork, sunburned). in the couple years since their debut, the radiant mirror (textile), the two have toured and recorded frequently, expanding their range to include a mind-boggling array of free sound. “i, brute force” kicks off the record with the electrifying sound of flower’s virtuosic, heavily amplified japan banjo (also known as a shaahi baaja) over corsano’s free-wheeling percussion. other tracks show off subtle improv moves, with both players using extended techniques to generate a wide range of unusual sounds. corsano’s technical mastery is almost without peer in his generation (alex neilson, maybe)-his ability to take the lessons of nearly five decades of free playing and extend them into new ranges is startling and exciting. rather than play backup, corsano meets flower’s strings and organ head-on with his own drum-bowing, cello, and circular-breathing-fired melodica… wow.
processed and prepared guitars and synths with a visit in a quasar. cosmic and droning. new project of mason jones (trance) with friends. nicely pressed and printed on hand-made paper. limited to 333.
flying sutra is the new philadelphia-based drums-guitar duo of bob cozzolino and george draguns. while both men have long and varied musical resumes – from film scores to indie rock to avant-jazz – levitate and dissolve is their first release in this configuration, and it’s a doozy: nearly an hour of wild, urban-elemental art-punk/free-jazz that pitches tensely unwinding klang against whirlwind percussion to highly electric effect. we recommend you remain seated with safety belt fastened while listening.
“i want to be a rocker. everybody else has walked away from rock. i want to walk towards it.” – henry flynt. taste the magic! nova’billy is another edible audible from henry flynt’s dusty lower manhattan bunker and it stands as one of the fullest, most beauteous document of flynt’s tenure with a full working rock band to date. for less than one calendar year between 1974 and 1975, henry flynt’s hard driving, heavy jamming agit country rock band, nova’billy embraced bareknuckled deep fried groove attacks, bearded hippie jam band workouts & a monstrous melange of blues, boogie and free jazz squeal into a musical soufflé that could only have come together with flynt cooking up what was proven to be, time and again, an impossible vision within the confines of the soho art orbit of the 70s. after a couple performances at anthology film archives and studio sessions in richmond, virginia and manhattan, the band postered soho in a last ditch effort to get some traction with the hipsters that read, “party on down to the kitchen. stoned country music for rock country”. the gig, like all the others before it, was poorly attended. nova’billy played what would be their last live gig at the kitchen on june 27, 1975. nova’billy covers a damned fine and important moment in henry flynt’s musical career. if the insurrections laid the foundation for his anti-war primitive garage rock sound, the emergence, nearly a decade later of nova’billy is the realization of henry’s own vision of obtuse personal politics (“i was a creep”), provocative leftwing posturing (check their version of the world communist anthem “the international!”) and a gleefully recombinant spin on southern music. 13 cuts and 60 minutes of old glory! … double 180gm vinyl. limited edition. gatefold covers. nice!
our man flynt shatters the categories once again with this surprise collection of his short lived basement rock protest band, the insurrections, from 1966. let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind: flynt’s version of protest music isn’t your cultural-commissar school of folk posturing. it’s aggro and flynt is an unhinged showman on helium induced vox and the electric guitar (his teacher was none other than lou reed). imagine a mix of sky saxon (of seeds fame) with a dash of roky erickson thrown in on vocals, a little bit of the cramps’ scary monster dramatics thrown in for good measure & the swamp chugalug laziness of vintage pussy galore and you get an idea what flynt was up to at this phase in his non-career. features legendary sculptor walter de maria on drums, confirming our hidden suspicion that in every great artist there’s a desire to rock & beneath every fine gallery, there is a basement. photos by george maciunas. 180 gram limited edition virgin vinyl, heavy whiteboard jacket… we still have 2 copies of the original bo’ weavil vinyl version with glossy covers & limited to 500.
this is the limited (500 copies) vinyl pressing of henry flynt’s i don’t wanna originally released on cd on locust. he’s made his mark with his brand of ecstatic north indian raga inspired minimalism on c tune, the full bodied experimentalism anthologized on raga electric and the avante-hillbilly bumpkin fiddle joyride on last year’s back porch hillbilly blues volume 1 & 2. now it’s time to make a place in your heart for i don’t wanna! in which flynt shatters the categories once again with this surprise collection of his short lived 1966 basement rock protest band, the insurrections. let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind: flynt’s version of protest music isn’t your cultural-commissar school of folk posturing. it’s agro punk & flynt is an unhinged showman on helium induced vox and electric guitar (his teacher was none other than lou reed). imagine a mix of sky saxon (of seeds fame) with a dash of roky erickson on vocals, a little bit of the cramps’ scary monster dramatics thrown in for good measure & the swamp chugalug laziness of vintage pussy galore and you get an idea what flynt was up to at this phase in his non-career. features legendary sculptor walter de maria on drums, confirming our hidden suspicion that in every great artist there’s a desire to rock & beneath every fine gallery, there is a basement. photos by george maciunas… original first uk pressing. way recommended avant-garage psych!
in the early ’60s, fresh from his clean behind the ears years at harvard, henry was undergoing rapid ideological shifts: cavorting with maciunas and the whole fluxus bit, doing performances at yoko ono’s loft and recording with la monte young; having it out with his stalinist cohorts over the relative merits of a good blues run and searching for a new musical language outside of the various artistic restrictions before him. what he arrived at was an expressive practice he dubbed audact (auditory acognitive cultural activity). collecting key material from 1963 to 1971, raga electric is a 7 piece distillation of some of henry’s most adventurous outsider musical endeavors. the record begins with a bonkers treatment of the jarhead anthem “the marine’s hymn” sung in a thick tongued, fully untutored hindustani vocalese. the title cut, ‘raga electric’, is a twisted, howling fake hindustani rag with staccato untuned guitar and bleating screams recorded at his home just a few short hours after catching pandit pran nath at a downtown morning concert. the howling orgasmic yodel of a visionary’s self-posession and certain surrender on this 1966 c ut puts henry somewhere at the epicenter of the folk isolationist world of jandek and the ethnodislocation of the sun city girls, to name but a few. the side long closer, ‘free alto’, is a monstrous exploration of the ins and outs of the tenor saxophone. though it remains henry’s single meeting with the instrument, over the course of some 13 odd minutes, he finds out everything he needs to know about the horn and gets into some pretty hairy free squelch and squeal territory in the process. ‘i was just pulling sounds out of a hat and just stringing them together,’ he recently told me. as hats go, this one should fit today’s heads just fine. 180 gram limited edition virgin vinyl, heavy whiteboard jacket.
chris forsyth has recently been touring around europe with his paranoid cat band in support of their excellent lp on family vineyard as well as playing with meg baird on her recent record and a continuing member of the peeesseye. koen holtkamp plays as part of thrill jockey’s mountains, as well as releasing solo material on aformentioned thrill jockey and type. on early astral forsyth and holtkamp team up, playing guitar and synthesizer and modular electronics respectively. the record consists to two tracks, each with a great kraut guitar groove, but frequently rocking into a blissed out epic psychedelic smog of wailing riffs and bubbling electronics tones. pressed on heavyweight black vinyl.
fuzzy underground album recorded back in 1978, and released as a private pressing of 500 copies… the band formed in baltimore, maryland by danny amburn, john holt, joe klimas, mark beyder and bob wells. their album, heavy at places, is full of fuzz-guitarwork with 60′s garage & british invasion influences and low-budget production (think of boa or shadrack chameleon albums) while a couple of songs have a wild and underground approach to rural rock. this album exists in a time warp. it’s from the midst of the first punk era, but sounds genuinely 60s garage the way no neo-garage band ever did. the fuzz guitars are everpresent, and the songs are pure garage pop and garage rock, rocking hard without ever sounding remotely “hard rock.” the sound is as cheap as can be, which only accentuates the coolness of the fuzz. despite some awkward singing, there are a lot of catchy melodies here, and i can imagine that baltimorians who discovered “nuggets” in the late 70s went nuts over this band. a few songs flirt with rural rock, but basically it’s teen-sounding angst, just as cool as their punk peers. – [am] taken from the acid archives. first ever official reissue, fully licenced by danny amburn and the band. exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra 4-pages laminated insert with bio, lyrics and photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual… limited edition of 400 (plus 100 on colored vinyl). great crude private press album!
al (david) payne, (johnny) scarr pacino, and tony (scott) johnson jam it out like true gang starrrz. recorded in september ’07. strum, hum and squeak… chalk board screech etched with bling bling, guns, drugs, and all things old skool unfuckablewith y’know? total weirderess. blue tapes, and fucking weird ass black and white cover star scarr pacino, totally murked on da booze in shotingham… limited to 50 copies, and dat’s dat.
monster solo debut from ray hare of century plants and burnt hills. ranging from meditative guitar mantras to blissed out noise to hazy melodic riffage, and covering most of the points in between, this release has fast become a favorite here at tape drift headquarters. a very tight and driven set, this has the conceptual purity that only a debut can have, as it represents years and years of preparation and inspiration. get on the train early – there’s much more to come and you won’t want to have missed out on the beginnings. edition of 50.
limited edition of only 50 copies, a brand new slab of squelch and crush from canada’s fossils. duel sides of metal scrunching nightmares with fucked up words and speech. comes with sleeves designed by pascal of stuckometer and a handnumbered crubby insert by myself.
this is the first record from u.s. minstrel-folk chanteuse josephine foster on fire records. graphic as a star is based upon the poems of the 19th-century american poet emily dickinson. josephine lays stair-steppy melodies beneath a collection of dickinson gems and sings them with a burnished soulfulness like the purple sunsets so often described in the poems. massachusetts mountains, pearled spider-webs and folk hero william tell, are all present in this unforgettable meeting of dickinson’s poesy and foster’s music, making a natural and inevitable whole. ms. foster is a colorado-born artist whose songwriting draws from far corners of the musical spectrum to form a truly singular body of work. her voice is sometimes compared to singers as disparate as grace slick, shirley collins or tiny tim, and it’s certainly difficult to pigeonhole her varied music. she says her craft is strongly shaped by “tin pan alley on my maternal side, rock and roll on the paternal side, western folk music by birth, art-song and classical music via my adolescent passions.” a personal introduction to graphic as a star from josephine herself: “as to the source of these interludes, i wrote them this past winter while living in this remote, half-abandoned spanish mountain village, a deadly quiet place with occasional interruptions of goats’ bells, donkey brays, and the church bell announcing the passing of another old neighbor every day or so. i had just a few books with me, and one was the poetry of emily dickinson. her poems proved such good company, that in a few short weeks appeared this ‘song cycle.’ whether for the irony of distance and homesickness being 3 years away, or through inevitable kinship with this long-dead lady, these songs seem to veer more towards america than ever before. back in music school, i heard a few musical settings of dickinson made by classical composers, but it’s my hope to unite some of her poems into more intimate and intuitive musical settings, being so lyrical and transparent as they are.
previously released on cd by bo’ weavil recordings, now available on vinyl. this is colorado-based josephine foster’s (born heller, the supposed) debut release for bo weavil recordings, and her third full-length album. this coming gladness is transcendental fin de siecle songs from one of the great unsung voices and songwriters of our modern times. josephine foster unites rarely united royal realms: self-penned operatic art songs cast in freely-rendered blues with electric guitars and drums beating the path along with harp and piano flourishes. she has a voice that was trained for opera, but creaks like ancient mountain folk floating out from a dusty victrola. she surpasses any “weird-folk” labeling through the sheer timelessness of her songcraft — making baroque balladry sound new yet remembered from some not-too distant shared american past. joining her on this recording is electric guitarist victor herrero and drummer alex nielson… beautiful. limited vinyl in a nice full color textured cover. sure to vanish pretty quick.
after many years as half of the highly influential skaters with james ferraro, 2 solo albums on olde english spelling bee (black joker and monopoly child star searchers) and countless tapes and cds, spencer clark has taken it to the next level. layers of cosmic and alien sounds inhabit their own world and act as metaphors you can access subconsciously or explicitly. clearer and more lucid than previous releases of his, this is a singular record of inner space exploration that operates completely outside the retro kraut-new age-synth trend so prevalent right now. being more hi-fi than his past recordings, spencer says ‘i have made an alien space fusion music that is an aural symbol for the pre-birth outer space-self’s new arrival.’ in this new zone, spencer channels a more personal and spacious side of his vision, combining the rhythmic side of monopoly child with the abstractions of his vodka soap project. this marks the first lp release on clark’s pacific city sound visions label. it stands as his biggest statement yet and will surprise and please. a beautiful record. now it’s yours to explore.”-on location at hotel california, scott simmons… great new one, maybe spencer’s most realized yet. packaged in a 12”x12” full color 12 page book.
los angeles-based fraction’s heavy psych classic moon blood was originally released on the angelus record label in 1971. only 200 copies were pressed, so originals are currently worth a small fortune. fraction, with vocalist jim beach, bearing an uncanny vocal resemblance to jim morrison (although he was singing on sunset strip long before morrison took to the stage), were often compared favorably with the doors, although their quasi-religious message would probably not have found favor with the recently-departed morrison. indeed, this rather fine record was once famously described as the album the doors probably wished they’d made! underpinned by guitarist don swanson’s superb ritchie blackmore-style guitar work, this is an album full of beautiful psychedelia, acid and hard rock, at once emblematic of the era, but not dated by its association. the five original compositions are consistently of the highest quality and the contribution of beach’s now legendary vocals places a stamp of originality on the recording that endures from beginning to end. monstrously heavy, howling, epic psych that is basically a must-own. a truly excellent album. featuring the original die-cut cover with colored cellophane, and pressed on 180 gram vinyl… nice exact reissue of this heavy rarity.
another awesome one from these guys. this came out before the recent amazing ‘pau’ lp and charts the same sonic path. limited to 500 copies in a cool hand made multi-color spray-paint stenciled clear covers. recommended!
the fresh & onlys began in the spring of 2008 as a recording collaboration between tim cohen and shayde sartin. after a month of marathon recording sessions on various broken tape machines the two enlisted wymond miles, heidi alexander and grace cooper to help complete the sound. since then the band has recorded well over a hundred songs and played a hand full of shows on the west coast. “the group’s self-titled debut full-length album strikes a balance between the psych-fried blur of the california sun and an amp-crackling, four-chorded garage basher.” -chris sabbath (sf chronicl)… released on john dwyer’s (oh sees) castle face label.
when tim cohen told shayde sartin he was writing a song called “be my hooker,” the fresh & onlys bassist looked at the singer/guitarist and said… “‘there’s no way we’re gonna have a song with that title, dude,’” explains sartin. “but sure enough, he laid a riff down and i was like, ‘jesus christ, i can’t believe you pulled something meaningful out of such a stupid line.’” welcome to the push/pull dynamic that’s fueled the fresh & onlys’ steady stream of releases over the past year, including last spring’s self-titled lp (castle face) and this fall’s grey-eyed girls (woodsist). and to think it all started the old-fashioned way – with sartin and cohen simply hanging out after work, playing their favorite punk (buzzcocks, the mekons) and classic rock (country joe and the fish, cued up alongside slabs of psych from the group’s homebase, san francisco) records alongside a growing collection of empty beer cans. “i can’t really explain what happened or why,” says sartin. “i guess we listened to records until we were on the same page, and from that point on, we never stopped recording.” as simple as all of that sounds, the duo first bought a tape machine five years ago. when that failed to produce any concrete cuts, cohen focused on his previous avant-pop band, black fiction, and sartin split his time between session and live work for such bands as the skygreen leopards, papercuts and citay. not to mention his close friend kelley stoltz, who ended up releasing the first fresh & onlys 7″ (the limited imaginary friends ep) in early 2008. with so much music hitting shops in such a short time (sartin says the band already has boxes of backlogged tapes), you might think the fresh & onlys camp have a problem with quality control. quite the contrary; sartin and cohen are very careful about what they release. and while the duo writes and records the band’s songs, the arrangements are usually fleshed out with guitarist wymond miles, drummer kyle gibson, and backup singer heidi alexander. “if we take a song into the studio or a live setting and it doesn’t have wings,” says sartin, “then we just ditch it and keep the charming demo version.” the final mix of grey-eyed girls sounds like a natural bridge between the raucous garage rock of the group’s debut and the full-on studio record they plan on wrapping for in the red later this year. that goes for the galloping grooves of “happy to be living,” the shadowy post-punk of “invisible forces,” and the firework finale freak-outs that drive “the delusion of man.” not to mention a stack of hook-slinging tracks that nix any ‘clowning on bitches’ assumptions you may have. “we’re not trying to hide melodies or do the blown-out thing,” says sartin. “a lot of those bands are great, but i don’t want to ever cater to what’s popular. it’s not that i’m being reactionary; we’re just trying to make recordings that are as rich and ear-friendly as possible.” it’s working.
“second one to know” b|w “hated or loved.” recorded spring 2009.
both tracks taken from the super limited “bomb wombs” cassette on fuck it tapes. full color glue pocket sleeve. two of their best songs yet!
previously reissued on cd & lp by sunbeam, now issued yet again on deluxe double-lp format as well! vinyl mastering at abbey road studios, pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl. long established as a cult classic and collector’s grail, fresh maggots makes its vinyl reappearance with the duo’s full cooperation. recorded in 1971 when they were just 19 years old, and fresh to the studio, the album is one of the best distillations of folk and psychedelia ever recorded. issued as a double lp, with a lavish gatefold sleeve, its second disc boasts seven tracks previously unavailable on lp, including their rare non-album single and a live radio session from 1971. the package is rounded off with comprehensive sleevenotes and rare photographs, making this the most comprehensive collection of their music ever assembled on lp.
extended late-night improvisations of passed-out fuzz, coughing, sneezing and the occasional slow motion drone. line-up includes tom carter, shawn mcmillen, brian smith, sandy ewen, glen nuckolls, stephanie demopolus and jonathan home. edition of 100.
one sided lp of looped/ live collage action swirled up into mass gtr/ drum ritual terror. far darker than previous fg stuff…. blank lp side is a blood-red silkscreen. shipped in clear polyvinyl sleeves.
ghost town is the first full-length solo release from parts & labor singer/electrician dan friel. characterized by its anthemic melodies, complex electronic arrangements and huge distorted beats, ghost town has massive universal appeal. “music-box melody shoved through the speaker cone of a subwoofer salvaged from the trunk of a totaled jeep” – pitchfork. the first 100 records shipped will be on red vinyl… all copies here are the limited to 100 red vinyl version.
if any one group can legitimately qualify as the ‘great lost psychedelic band’, then frumious bandersnatch are that group. the few tantalizing glimpses of the combo afforded by their sole release from the 1960s have engendered an enormous reputation. the subsequent fortunes of its members in groups like journey and the steve miller band have only added to the phenomenon. frumious bandersnatch were amongst the second wave of the 1960s san francisco rock renaissance, but they had no allegiance to folk or jazz or any of the other influences that shaped the major players such as the dead or the airplane. instead the group came together in the culturally-arid environs of contra costa county in the east bay, over the hill from politicized berkeley and working-class oakland, and a world away from cosmopolitan san francisco itself – key document of this great overlooked west coast psych band. extensive notes. 180gm vinyl. the cover is a blown up version of the great art from their sole 1960s release, their mega rare private press 7inch.
official reissue for this obscurity of british progressive folk, licenced by tony durant. with an unusual and unique line-up -a male typical rock trio with a female classical strings trio- fuchsia made this gem in the late 1971. moving more on the rockier side of the 70′s progressive scene than on its folk one, the band created a completely original sound with complex arrangements and “multi-rhythmic” patterns, excellent musicianship, charming melodies and lot of adventurous musical ideas. the extra single contains two tracks: “ragtime brahms” is an unreleased –on vinyl- recording from 1972 made by the original line-up and used as a demo for the band to secure a new recording deal (which never came real). “the waves” recorded in 2010 and it’s the precursor of a new album which will be “out” soon by tony durant and the revamped fuchsia band. this song really follows the spirit of 1971!!! limited to 200 black and 100 coloured copies. high quality special carton used for the cover (almost same to the original). includes 4-pages laminated insert with lyrics, bio and photos. yet, a 7″ single (with laminated 4-pages picture sleeve) is included with one previously unreleased -on vinyl- song and a brand new recording. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outersleeve.
“allegory of the cave” is the first release of this young lad from the midwest and it is pretty stunning in its minimalist appeal.. layering piano and organ in long icy runs, rob adds in bells and light percussion to create a shimmering ambient piece over 35 minutes long. for fans of eno, tim hecker, and, of course, other fine phantom limb recordings.
everyone in bloomington knows and loves rob funkhouser. he’s everybody’s favorite hawaiian-shirt wearing party-attending, philosophy-spewing college student. most people haven’t heard his music yet though. rob is an incredible percussionist and composer and this tape showcases both of these talents. side a is an epic synth-based piece that could easily be the new soundtrack to chasing replicants through future los angeles. side b is a haunting marimba composition recorded in an empty high school gymnasium. both sides show that rob is extremely talented and is deserving of much more recognition. just released a cdr on ruralfaune.
a previous member of the band un, tara burke {aka: fursaxa} is now one of the epicenters and key collaborators of the north american free-folk movement, along with such luminaries as jack rose, charalambides, ben chasny and the jewelled antler collective. with her hypnotic, echoey church bell chanting, burke possesses a power-filled vocal sound that harkens back not only to those other polar queens of disaffected freakout psychedelia nico and barbara manning, but she is also akin to and inspired by hildegard von bingen, the 12th century benedictine mystical abbess. with the low drone of chord organ and farfisa, detuned ringing guitar, and endlessly looped, multiply-tracked vocals applied with heaps of delay, fursaxa sounds like a tripped-out medievalist perched upon a poppy petal. burke has an alchemical knack for turning folk into lo-fi, and then into sheer psych and back again, but more importantly, her music is pure humming narcosis… always a treat to have more fursaxa vinyl in the world! recommended!
fursaxa is tara burke. formerly a member of the siltbreeze band un, tara started her fursaxa project in 1999 after un disbanded. since then fursaxa has released six full length albums on the acid mothers temple label, ecstatic peace, time lag, eclipse, last visible dog, and atp. in addition there have been 3 self released cd-rs and a cd on her own sylph recordings. in the summer of 2008 fursaxa started recording her seventh full length record mycorrhizae realm at hexham head studio in philadelphia. this studio recording is a first, as all of the previous releases have been recorded at home on a four track. in addition to recording, fursaxa has played live music at venues in the us, uk, and europe, touring with bardo pond, black forest/black sea, christina carter, jack rose, spires that in the sunset rise, and brightblack morning light to name a few. over the last couple of years fursaxa has been collaborating more and more with other musicians as well. espers member helena espvall and tara have a duo called anahita, and sharron kraus and tara have the duo tau emerald. and in september of 2006 fursaxa became part of the valerie project, which was a live soundtrack for the 1970 czech film valerie and her week of wonders. tara really enjoyed playing with these musicians and decided to engage greg weeks, mary lattimore, and helena espvall, all fellow valerians, for her next album. greg recorded the album at his studio, mary played harp on 4 songs and also co-wrote 2 of the songs, and helena played cello on 3 songs. it is an exercise in symbiosis… limited vinyl version. awesome.
an angelic force, delivering a unique thrash-bliss sound to the world. sparkeling synths and homemade glitter electronics are combined with whirlwind drums, screaming vocals, and aluminum spring guitars. a fantasy of blindness cycling through your lungs… members of foot village, rose for bohdan, and many other bands. edition of 300 on black vinyl with minimalist cover… out of print.
if you liked the 12″ ep and lp by these sacramento weird-poppers, then you’ll love this, their first non-split 7″. two equally amazing tracks, and in our opinion, two of their best.
sacramento’s ganglians want an island somewhere where they can soak in the sun and prowl the canopy by night. it’s not often that they do get out, but they can get down for that. recording sometimes as one, sometimes as four it’s a real game to figure out where the entity comes from and where it’s going. first and foremost it’s about uncertain pleasures. it’s a bit like choose your own adventure. there’s ‘codeine balladry’; a slightly upsetting tempo that is quickly flushed into an aural high, the next moment you’re in the toy strewn abyss of the bedroom and then out to the tribal caves of the natives. the planets align and the sun beats down, palms tingling, and you are on the island they’ve built, the scenery constantly shifting for a better view, of you.
new garbage from the young musical genious ryan garbes (perhaps best known for his drum and percussion contributions to raccoo-oo-oon). side a revels in redlined blown out drumming, finding eventual accompaniment from a drunken slide guitar fury, resulting in what can be properly described as the fucked blues. side b brings together the holy trinity of drums, guitar and more guitar into a kind of distorted raga with each element taking turns, trading fours, evoking an eternity of summer fun in the mouth of inevitable oblivion. sleeve and label screenprinted by ryan… long out of print! last 2 copies
previously issued as a download only release via the night people website, home of many if ryan’s physical releases, this superb recording of fragmented blown out percussion, loose guitar ragers and feedback frenzied weaved with church organ, it’s gotta be said that ryan garbes has got some wild and weird shit going on what was one of my highlights of, well i can’t remember when it first appeared on the np site, maybe 2007 or 2008? get ready to have you mind squelched by this former member of raccoo-oo-oon and current jammer with shawn reed in wet hair. issued in an edition of only 100 copies with paste on covers and insert, stamped labels and pressed on heavyweight black virgin vinyl.
sweet hassle is the debut lp from ryan garbes (wet hair, raccoo-oo-oon), fresh from his 7-inch on arbor and his cassette on nna. a man in a small college town hours away from the influences that foul a musician’s mind, garbes has a lot of time to hang, especially in the recording studio. on sweet hassle, he incorporates heavy velvets live bootleg vibes straight from the bedroom soundboard, with a touch of melodic electronic drone and a byrds dusting. “… as if lou reed had done a record for creation…” – raven sings the blues. limited edition of 500 copies.
ryan garbes is the drummer of iowa city bands such as wet hair, dunebuggy, trash dog, and formerly raccoo-oo-oon. his recordings under his own name represent a unique brand of solo multi-track recording with a seamless integrity; through a skillful use of instrumentation and recording technique, garbes eschews notions of low fidelity for songs reminiscent of traditional american garage rock produced in the haze of an early 90’s uk aesthetic. genuine pop songs, cloaked in a comforting wash of reverb, as if lou reed had done a record for creation; more ecstatic than obstructed garbes’ voice is a refreshing one outside the continuum of the contemporary four-track bedroom pop. in an edition of 300 copies with full color sleeve and printed labels by ryan.
real sweet new solo release from b.r. garm of visitations, attar cups, am frank, etc. if yr ears were bent by his ’acid skull’ cdr on time-lag a couple years back you’ll find a lot more to love here. maybe a bit more hi-fi this time around, but still whole heartedly home-fi, and just as full of crude, simple, and half cracked stream of consciousness song gush. totally damaged fuzz soaked folk tales of animals, strangers, love, new england, deep thoughts, demons, diseases, paranoia and just about everything else. nice fold around b&w vellum packaging, with insert & printed disc tops. on big blood’s micro label. recommended.
here it is our first vinyl release. br. garm is a member of visitations and founder and owner of our local universe “strange maine”. “the 78thmorning tide” is truly a fantastical listen that is simultaneously foreboding and inviting. side a opens with the title track and is a complete psychedelic journey unto itself, followed by a lady losing her mind and smokin’ on rainbows, a face off with jesus and the devil, a tale of windham maine, a bombed out apocalyptic country song and a fuzzed out doomy cover of gordon lightfoot’s “wreck of the edmund fitzgerald”. side b begins with “can you feel it” which sounds like a loners take on damo era can. followed rapidly by a duo of songs that cover the apocalypse and getting stoned, a song that sounds as if black sabbath never made it out of the bedroom, a sort of childs prayer called “so many men” (which we got to play on!), a deceivingly dark folk song called “pretty red pony”, and finally a truly haunting and beautiful song called “at the end of the world”. locked grooves end both sides! this whole record is a complete joy to listen too, infectious and hard to get off the record player. one of our all time favorites! this is garm’s second release on dttr (other releases can be found on mangedisc, and time-lag). cover artwork by hillary irons, printed on thick old style jackets, accompanied by a pamphlet with lyrics and chords for those who want to play along. limited to 500 copies… great first vinyl release on big blood’s rad micro label. nice!
an earwig’s guide to traveling is a new cd collection of previously out-of-print and unreleased material by the southern california band gasp. gasp used elements of grindcore, power violence, psych, ambient noise, tape manipulations and down-tuned sludge to create a sound that will never be duplicated. they released records on some of the most influential punk and hardcore labels of the past decade, including slap a ham, witching hour, clean plate and deep six. this cd includes all of the songs from gasp’s split records as well as tracks from compilations and demos. as a bonus the cd features the first chance to hear the four songs from gasp’s unreleased “lepidostomatid” ep. 25 tracks in total.
this is the sounds of summer honesty and partnership, when biking across the city to sit in a poorly ventilated room to compare 1/4 reels is not such a clamorous premise. when the timing is right we can be very productive. these are primarily live to tape jams replete with found recordings, lousy keyboard lines, unearthed cut-up and cartoon bellowing set to delay hyper-warp speed. we don’t get along very well when it comes to making music like this. jacob has entitlement issues that have to be resolved, and so our deplorable attitudes towards each other’s approaches are resolved in a round of sonic posturing from beyond the grave. sounds a lot like penis envy, if penis envy was a flanger – comes in sloppy marbled watchshmacallit folding over another doohicky tied together with a piece of twine.
new full-length outing from torontosaurs gastric female reflex. exposing their vulnerable underbellies by offering the gift of song, as transmitted through the cackle of thirty meter bronze age jump ropes, and then swatted with limitless spools of tape culled from businessmen’s faculty tape recorders – very limited pressing in totally insane heavy marbled/screenprinted cover.
with gazheart, celebrated visual artist rita ackermann (voice) & the no neck blues band’s dave nuss (found percussion) created a playful spontaneous sound that seemingly bridged the gap between the broken pop sounds of certain strains of the no wave movement, sound poetry and catchy, otherworldly art folk using the barest of resources available to them. one time pressing of this special edition one-sided lp features an original etching by visual artist rita ackermann on the flip side. gazheart is housed in a plain jacket with two opposing drawings for front & back by ackermann.
hartmut geerken is an incredible and misterious writer, filmaker, musician, composer and big traveller coming from the south of germany. his musical work is unfortunately not well-known by the mosts: during the last 40 years he was working stablely with famodou don moye, art ensemble of chicago, john tchicai and many others, and in 1971 he invited sun ra and the arkestra in egypt, where hartmut was living at the time, being also the founder of the cairo free jazz ensemble. on this live recording from 1989, he’s performing on prepared piano and short waves receiver, with the collaboration of grace yoon dancing and playing percussions. “mappa” was a series of long performances (lasting usually around 4 hours each) the duo was acting on those years, and “mappa #9″ is the first released witness of this experience. the sound is a burning and explosive vortex of fire, without a single moment of breath. one-sided pink vinyl (some are sprayed!) unique pieces ltd edition of 117 numbered copies.
florian tositti and jacob garret’s ghost brames brings a handful of magic mushrooms to the party. it is woozy music, as patterned as an acid high. simultaneously breaking apart and sewing itself back together again, “eagle arpegi” encapsulates the infinitism of the universe. slowly, the leviathan raises its head and sinks in its teeth, without alarming its prey. this is the true measure of great music. your blood will boil and your skull crack at its base, but in the end you’re better for it. because really, how can you actually free your mind when it’s trapped inside a bony prison?
debut release. dark ambient folk noise that hovers between awake and asleep. echoes sift up from the floor boards, voices delay in a dream… packaged in a fabric bag.
this is ghost hand’s second release, features seven compositions ranging from harsh walls of noise to shimmering acoustics. edition of 25 in handmade frosted mylar slipcases with screenprinted insert.
released 27.11.2006, limited edition of 61 copies in handpainted sleeves, features an insert, sold out… ghosts brâmes of the cerf are jacob garet and florian tositti and they play theremin, oldcrock, guitars, harmonica, effects, percussions, flutes – songs are played and recorded during different live sessions, july and august 2006 in france.
is the duo of the reggaee and jacob the “magick skull of noise” master : intricated jams for the sabbath ; praise the beast – future releases on the magnificientfoxglove and 267 lattajjaa labels… limited to 49 copies!
we will go ahead and say it now – we are lucky enough to be able to release ghq’s strongest collection of studio material to date. “crystal healing” is a massive collection of the band’s unique and mesmerizing brand of acoustic drone goodness. get ready to have your socks knocked off. like all of our other recent vinyl projects, this record has been wonderfully mastered and pressed onto some super-sweet sounding rti 180g vinyl. the record will be housed within hand-numbered heavy stock “old style” one-pocket gatefold sleeves and come from an edition of 855 copies. the jacket itself features some stunning new artwork by michael pare. “crystal healing” was be our second vinyl release to feature a special pressed cd (not a cd-r) of exclusive additional material accompanying all pre-ordered copies. the numbered edition of 212 bonus cds that accompanied pre-order copies of the lp contained two exclusive tracks (titled “pyramid merchandise” and “blue silence”, both from the “crystal healing” sessions) are out of print and no longer available direct from three lobed… another lifted slab from the burning trio of marcia bassett, pete nolan & steve gunn. very sweet and really done right production wise.
released 15 august, 2006. following on the heels of their fantastic 2006 release cosmology of the eye, ghq and three lobed recordings are proud to release the aptly titled heavy elements. culled together from a live performance in brooklyn (january 2006), the trio continues to explore the intricacies of electric/acoustic drones and ragas in what is their most intense set of recordings to date. for this recording the band consisted of marcia bassett (double leopards, hototogisu, zaimph), steve gunn and pete nolan (magik markers, spectre folk, the vanishing voice, etc). heavy elements churns with the deeply layered drones that marked previous ghq releases. while these sounds are present, this album differentiates itself from the band’s prior outings through the addition of nearly-tribal drums and a more intense overall aural atmosphere. this is music that, while blissfully transcendent and beautiful, is not for the faint of heart. from a one-time pressing of 1000 copies.
this brooklyn all-star duo of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika) and steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner) have been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there’s definitely enough noise to remind you this ain’t just about good vibes. black 7″ vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
limited edition of 300 copies in a heavy stock screen printed jacket. a zamuro is a dark south american vulture of great size. zamuro is also a solo composition piece for portable synth and analog filter. side a on this lp is a live realization of this piece recorded at the compound in san francisco in 2006 (mastered by lasse marhaug). carlos composed and performed this piece live on several tours in the us/europe/japan all trough out 2006 and 2007, if you saw him live in those two years this is the piece he performed. this was the most complete version of it that made it to tape. side b is a studio piece recorded live on a much larger modular synth, based around the same theme, but with structural and tonal variations not in the original composition. .this is pure psychedelic electronic music. cover illustration by megan ellis. screen printed at monoroid.
now 3 tapes in the duo of glass organ continues on from previous efforts creating a sound their own. crackling prisms of guitar drone flow forward, carried by minimal tape loops and a penchant for abrupt editing. dreamy and dreary at the same time. these tracks were both caught live in the fall of 2006. color cover on white gold cardstock, individualized clear color labels. hi-bias chrome tapes in an edition of 130.
the sky done clouded over after glory fckn sun’s debut album, yielding this brooding and corrosive follow-up. the new zealand sorta-super group of antony milton , ben spiers, and simon o’rorke concoct a slow-burning behemoth of metallic shivers and distortion churn, dark enough to invoke the dread name haino. spectra is an unsettling mind-meld: spiers desolate soundscapes bleed into milton’s heavy drones, which are complemented perfectly by o’rorke’s restless percussion. group improvisation is the natural language of these three; even listing their solo and collaborative albums over the past decade would take way more effort than i can muster. suffice to say this is a stellar and unique record to add to their massive discographies. in an edition of 300 red 160 gm. vinyl records, housed in silk-screened, heavy-gauge recycled stock jackets.
throw mutations-era beck, the monkees, and gram parsons into a blender and you would get something roughly equivalent to tucson, az’s the golden boots. this is a double ep 12″ that is comprised of coyote deathbed surprize tour-only ep, and the ev ep, which was originally intended to be released on the trust series. when i received those tracks, i couldn’t, in good conscience, allow there to be only 25 copies. i feel that way with a lot of the lathe cuts i release, but this one was just too good! so here it is… deluxe, expanded release of ev/cds + cassette. because of the foul-up at the pressing plant during the initial run, we never got any of the “swirl” vinyl that i really wanted for this release. so, i ordered an additional 250 on pink and orange vinyl. and they look great! unfortunately, i had already cleaned off the screens for the covers before i knew i would need more. dmitri from golden boots suggested doing an alternate cover and including a new cassette as part of the packaging. and thus, ev/cds/tf was born!
raucous, whiskey-drenched austin, tx, psych-country demigods.the golden boys’, who formed in spring branch, tx, in 2003, “set the summer on fire,” according to the austin chronicle, with the release of their july ’07 lp “whiskey flower,” and garnered mentions on “best of…” lists from the omaha, neb., city weekly to the new york city-based matador records. most recently, the boys were featured on the cover of the austin chronicle with fellow austinites the strange boys. the golden boys are comprised of matt hoopengardner (formerly of the san antonio garage-rock heroes the white heat), lead vocals and guitar; wes coleman, lead vocals and guitar; bryan schmitz, vocals and bass; nathan arbeitman, organ and trumpet; and pat troxel, drums.
document of 2 of l.a.’s more esoteric basement metal crews. gbe is a one-note highway to hell, with eagle rock expat nels cline stepping in to rip an absurd guitar solo. sasqrotch go for a scummier and rawer approach, amp haze, low-end lurking, and hairy drums. hand-numbered edition of 400.
gown (aka andrew macgregor and otherwise known as one-half of the bark haze with thurston moore) moved from western wassachusetts to nova scotia in mid-2007. before he moved, he wanted to have one big audio blow-out to remember the grand old mass times. with that goal in mind, gown went into the studio with the sunburned hand of the man gang (represented this time out by john moloney, sarah o’shea, ron schneiderman and taylor richardson) to melt some audio consoles. for the maples represents a portion of that recorded output and believe us, it’s some massive stuff. sunburned’s thick funk presents the perfect background for gown’s shredding guitar-play. extremely hot stuff, especially the massive side-long “bending close.” as per the three lobed standard, for the maples is pressed on 180g rti vinyl. it is housed within silkscreened jackets (screen work by alan sherry / siwa) bearing new artwork by gown. the record is from an edition of 698 copies and, and as an added convenience for our vinyl friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax. pre-ordered copies were accompanied by a bonus cd (tlr-059) of previously unreleased gown material… all our copies include the very limited bonus cd.
gown is gown is gown. we love it. 3 tracks of earthquake balladeering. packaged in a double sided 11×17 3-color poster folded to hold the gown sounds in mothering fashion. darryl norsen has created something both lush and arresting in his art for this release, ideal and deserving housing for this magisterial music. the guitar doesn’t weep, it sobs. edition of 130.
new 3 track 26 minute cdr from andrew macgregor. really incredible free psychedelic guitar strummz with vocal howls weaved in and out. andrew is also of the bark haze with thurston moore and occasional collaborator with christina carter of charalambides, so you know he’s got the goods if you ain’t checked him yet! limited to 80 copies with artwork by andrew, packaged in mini dvd cases.
ritualistic psychfolk drone – another unknown name and another winner from the eclectic 267 lattajjaa label: this opens with soporific layers of blissed-out folk – minor-key guitar arpeggios and murmurred vocals, then deviates into a more ritualistic sound of pounding percussion with psych-guitar trying to tunnel its way through the smothering thunder. the last track delves deeper into abstract noise: guitar-based drone / repeptition and vaguely industrial clunking. – boa melody bar.
this lp features members of the skaters, jewelled antler collective and davenport, all kicking up dust in a rickety old barn. a spontaneous happening, the few hazy nights leading up to pasturefest 2004 may not be easily recalled, but the christening sounds, emanating from a ramshackle farm in the vales of southeast wisconsin, are imprinted here on this unassuming lp. featuring an alternate b-side jam (of music pulled from the same session) not found on the cassette version. otherworldly and just down right cosmic! … very limited vinyl in inside-out recycled old lp covers, with screen printed art.
the second ep (previous self-titled 12-inch on make a mess) from this san francisco based all-female power-trio. the captured tracks guys can’t stop gushing about this band. killer harmonies, move meets neo boys meets jesse garon and the desperados songwriting. about to have a feature on pitchfork, put your order in before the mania starts. no joke. co-released with cape shok records.
two new tracks of brutal synth minimalism from jonas asher, the man behind grasslung and also the excellent phaserprone. this release finds him operating under a tense, fearful, and lonely sound environment, a trait hinted at on older releases, but i feel realized to an even fuller extent here. this is his first work off his own label, and the packaging was something that i felt was very important for this release in particular, given the peerless visual aesthetic the artist has already set forth; obis, letterpressing, diecuts, etc. all packaging is offset printed in silver ink, on metallic black cardstock. there is an obi, with 3 asymmetric cut outs done by hand, as well as a 2-panel j-card with more curved edges. labels are blank silver, and each copy comes with a blackened nail. edition of 100 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
it was important we get this out in the heart of summer because “whiskey leaves” its familiar melodies and breezy instrumentation are the perfect accompaniment to your hot, humid nights. the duo of aiko koa and anthony guerra first made their presence known on a micro-edition cdr from new zealand’s pseudoarcana. “whiskey leaves,” though, is a different beast entirely. while on the surface these compositions feel simple, once you dig a little deeper you realize the care put into each song. this is intimate music. guerra sets the pace with layers of makeshift percussion and guitar. koga also plays ukelele, but it’s her voice that is the real focal point of the album. soft and restrained, even when you can’t understand her words (some of the lyrics are in japanese), you are hooked from the get-go. hours later, you find yourself humming her melodies whilte her ghostly incantations are stuck in the back of your mind. this is fractured pop perfection. “whiskey leaves” will be a welcome addition to fans of tujiko noriko, tenniscoats and the like. beautiful. limited to 500 copies.
ultra rainbow is a sonic drift of buzz, drones and melancholy provided by green mine, the newest project of emanuele bortoluzzi (aka kabu former of ent). the sound shift from ambient pulsations to harsh landscapes of amplified murmur by the amazing “green” omnichord… in fact the sound source is only that cheap electronic instrument filtered and delayed and gently layered by emanuele in his home/bedroom/studio colle666. each track grows from a static point of departure until his climax is determined, no matter when it comes, after you gain that point all is a remember and every track (or song if you prefer) has the ability to cull the listener until the end of the last buzz. this way of hypnotism is the secret of ultra rainbow, so we have only to let us mesmerize by this perfect flow. the art work was drawed and curated by green mine himself… limited to 74 copies.
the new generation of the finnish electronica, the first official release from this 11-years old wonderkid who is also a member of lamppukello. artwork by the artist.
nick grey and his random orchestra return with what, in recording terms, is the prequel to their critically acclaimed and julian cope endorsed “thieves among thorns” album from 2006. clocking-in at just over 40 minutes, the five-track “candlelight eyes ep” showcases the signature heartbreaking and brooding melancholy of its aforementioned sister-album, and at times incorporates intimate chamber folk arrangements, all of which draw more from the musical heritage of the mid-1970′s german electronic underground, that inspired bowie’s berlin trilogy, than the pastoral musings of 1970′s psychedelic folk. “the candlelight eyes ep” features cover-art by scapegott, is packaged in jewel cases and limited to 200 copies.
over 23 minutes of fresh music by nick grey and english guitarist nicholas davis. les eaux territoriales is the first volume of nick’s mini-series unclear perspectives : each volume of the series will be centered around one or several specific instruments and will revolve around its own original musical axis and its own set of collaborators. all copies are hand-made, numbered and each one features a slightly different inlay. nick grey is a member of the collective 48 cameras, (which have collaborated with prestigious artists such as charlemagne palestine, gerard malanga, michael gira or paul buck), and his other projects include a new full length album (out on hand/eye early 2006) and an ep. nicholas davis is a talented improv guitarist from the uk, and nick’s full-time collaborator – very nice elaborate totally handmade packaging, including a small peice of glass mirror! very limited first release on this new label.
following the in gowan ring 10″ here is the second release in the time is a spiral 10″ series, which is enitirely dedicated to recordings made by, at and for the highly regarded radio show dwars@vpro. larkin grimm, who beyond doubt is one of the most intriguing and talented exponents of the contemporary folk-boom, entered the vpro studio in 2006 to record this extremely intense session. this 10″ captures the very soul of larkin grimm at its purest. truly wonderful and very unique! tracks: ‘entrance’, ‘future friend’, ‘little weeper’, ‘don’t come down darkness’, ‘bollweevil’… very limited, heavy vinyl, nice covers, etc.
horn of plenty is a nostalgic amalgamation of found sounds and layered vocals bound to thrill followers of animal collective, sufjan stevens, nick drake and the unicorns. while the album pushes the boundaries of mellow into undiscovered territory, grizzly bear is not sure if they fall under the newly coined “freak-folk” category or hte new-folk genre, but they’d like to offer up wood-temp or cave-core. v magazine likened them to neil young on cough syrup. for the first time, the full horn of plenty album is available on vinyl. 180gm pressing w/printed inner sleeve. limited 1,000 pressing.
sublime frequencies is honored to be releasing the third lp by the now legendary group doueh. group doueh have been playing in and around their native dakhla, in the western sahara for over 27 years. sublime frequencies’ discovery of the group, via a song heard on a radio broadcast in morocco in 2005 and an exploratory mission in 2006 that landed hisham mayet in the group’s compound after chasing an overland trail all the way to the mauritanian border sealed the band’s relationship with the label. a successful european tour (with label-mate omar souleyman in 2009) ensued and western audiences were finally able to witness the power of the group’s mighty live shows. doueh’s guitar heroics and wife halima jakani and bashiri touballi’s soaring vocal interplay entranced all who were present. this lp showcases a different side to group doueh’s far-reaching arsenal of sounds. the songs represented on this album adhere to the roots of saharoui music — drawing from the classical repertoire of ancestral mauritanian musical modes. using the traditional moorish instruments such as the tinidit (three string mauritanian lute), ardin (kora-like harp played traditionally by women), tbal (clay drum) and the kass (tea glasses) along with guitar and korg synth, group doueh manage to attain heights of spiritual poetry that this music aspires to convey. halima’s ardin playing and most importantly, her vocal prowess, take this music to blissful and exalted realms. doueh’s tinidit and guitar overlays showcase the technical virtuosity and command that this master has over the region’s stringed instruments. this is the music of group doueh’s roots and the band truly takes these traditions to cosmic heights. recorded by group doueh and hisham mayet on location in dakhla, west sahara in 2010. this limited edition vinyl lp comes in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket… recommended!
self-released second vinyl pressing of the split by inca ore and grouper. initially self-released on tape in 2007. this version has new black and white artwork. though it’s a proper split, each side resonates strongly with the other–hissing and dream-sick, songs whispered in the dark. inca ore’s side is feverish and haunted, much of it recorded while on a somewhat nightmarish journey taken through mexico several years ago. grouper’s side is distorted and pitch-twisted wurlitzer and guitar songs, recorded during a rain heavy winter, about unexplainable disappearances, invisible structures.
its not that the 1st track just sounds like cavemen summoning spaceships from the sky, the gryn brvs (pronounced groyne brothers) actually were trying to do just that. recorded round a campfire on a hill in ireland one night, the duo sweated out minimal chops, absolute ‘less is more’ jams of strumming and catatonic tinkling, sauced up with electronic drones. we also get a live basement jam and sweet closer that whiffs of atlantis. now put your arms up, and your brow down.
restock… this record showcases two very talented musicians in their prime. steve’s side clearly displays his guitar wizardry, while remaining honest and heartfelt. after several years with ghq, steve has sharpened his skills and it really shows. if you’ve had the pleasure of seeing him perform live, you know exactly what i mean. shawn’s recent collaborations with warmer milks seep through on his side of the album. bleaker and darker than steve’s side, shawn tells his tale through guitar, piano, synth and tape manipulation. it’s completely engrossing. with it’s many crooked bends and turns, it will lead you to a sort of discomforting fulfillment that gets more intense with each listen. edition of 500 on black vinyl in a pro-printed jacket with full color artwork by mary kidd.
steve gunn’s prodigous talent for fusing traditional american song structures with a raga influence is almost criminally unheralded. gunn’s songcraft is so strong and his playing style so effortlessly beautiful that folks should be shouting his name from every tall building and mountaintop. it is with such high esteem for the man’s work that three lobed recordings is humbled by the association and thrilled to announce the release of boerum palace by steve gunn. without any doubt, boerum palace is a staggering accomplishment and is certainly gunn’s most assured and confident work to date. native philadelphian gunn has been a stalwart of the american experimental scene for closing in on a decade. he is known by many for his contributions as one half of the core duo behind ghq (with marcia bassett) as well as for his many other affiliations with underground luminaries such as tom carter, the magik markers and marc orleans. gunn has slowly cultivated his own solo work alongside his other obligations and involvements. after a few early cdr and cassette releases under the moniker “moongang,” gunn gravitated towards performing and releasing music in his own name, culminating in the exceptional sundowner (digitalis industries, 2008). sundowner was, to that point, the most potent burst of gunn’s songwriting abilities and remarkable playing abilities. following sundowner, gunn bunkered down to further hone his songwriting and boerum palace represents the overwhelming products of that effort. boerum palace represents steve gunn’s first full-length release on vinyl and second album. the album starts off with a headlong rush into the hypnotic “mr. franklin” (a downloadable mp3 of which can be found here). gunn’s fluid playing style, especially as portrayed withing this track, provides ample space for the development of infectious musical themes. the track ends in a dextrous duel between gunn’s guitar and guest marc orleans’ (of d. charles speer & the helix, sunburned hand of the man) vicious pedal steel. the album mixes gunn’s long-form blues / raga / psych explorations alongside briefer cuts that equally display his songcraft. these tracks, such as “variation ii” and “jadin’s dream,” demonstrate that gunn is equally confident with shorter or longer compositions. gunn’s voice is joined by an ethereal turn from the vanishing voice’s heidi diehl on the album’s central and haunting “house of knowledge.” the track opens with a building central guitar theme. this theme allows gunn to layer on further guitar explorations. the tone set by these musical themes builds into the duo’s vocal delivery that delivers volumes despite being uttered in gentle tones. other highlights include “cryin’ eyes,” an inspired reworking of j.j. cale’s “crying eyes” featuring backing instrumentation from marc orleans, and the richly textured album finale “mustapha’s exit.” boerum palace is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton sleeve bearing new original artwork from mike pare and some of gunn’s photography. the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for high quality drm-free mp3s of the album. boerum palace is from a one-time pressing of 823 copies… all copies here are accompanied by a glass-mastered cd titled too early for the hammer (tlr-074) presenting new, scarce and previously unheard gunn material that is not available separately… recommended!
three lobed recordings is extremely excited to be releasing sand city, a blistering new collection of original compositions from steve gunn and john truscinski, otherwise known as the gunn-truscinski duo. steve gunn is one of the most exciting american guitarists working today. his solo discography, as well as his work with ghq, should be well known to folks who have followed three lobed recordings over the past several years. percussionist john truscinski is a stalwart of the american underground in his own right through his dedicated work in x.o.4 (with bill nace and jake meginsky), slaughterhouse percussion, as well as with ghq (as last seen on the outfit’s everywhere at once from the oscillation iii series). sand city is an extremely mature and thoughtfully-crafted album that conjures some of the most potent moments of both fantasias-era sandy bull and the more guitar-centric sun city girls albums while firmly charting its own raga-based territory. it is an exceptionally strong collection that should leave listeners rapt for years to come. hand-numbered edition of 624… awesome album! recommended.
odd colored carpet of bizarre 3d fields dominate the bright and lurid psychedelic forests you’ll have to run thru to grab a mug a brew at the end of the trip! hop on the back of a giant pink elephant and let go, eventually follow his tiny dick-like tail if u are too small to climb up this pink turt in space! but do give it a try and check out what’s left? thats right: nothing! just a puddle of restless throbbing poop in different colours. the elephant turns out to be a puddle as well and the sounds you’re hearing are all on the most psychedelic hair police lp so far! this is definitely way different then any of their other recordings, way more high bliss, blown out delayed voice and hardly any harshness. originally recorded as a hair police radio special for radio centraal in antwerp! thick black and neon blue eye destructive cover design and a psychic laser etch on the b-side of this 180 grams wax!
exact reissue of this totally obscure late 60s dutch beat psych album. two covers from the hair musical, but beyond that its all fuzzy psych go-go beat action. nice, cheap, and very limited.
hall of fame is back with three atonal campfire songs. dan and samara split the vocal duties on their first pop outing. this single reveals a more song-based side to the band. whatever it lacks in drone, it provides with rock and hook. the two color screen-printed jackets were done by wiggly printing (brooklyn, ny) edition of 500 – long out of print & very sweet.
unknown to most ’60s/’70s collectors until its discovery a few years ago, this is the beyond rare second album released by loner/downer folk legend dave bixby, recorded around 1969, the same year as his first one, the now-famous ode to quetzalcoatl. musically, second coming is equally as good and very similar to the first one, but this time the recording took place in a professional studio, so the sound is improved. bixby is joined by brian macinness on guitar, sandy johnson on vocals and don degraaf on bass and production duties. don was in fact leader of the, in the end, destructive religious cult known as “the group” or “the movement,” of which bixby and brian were part of. the sound is more up-front and the songs are slightly optimistic compared to the ones on ode to quetzalcoatl, and there’s plenty of acoustic 12-string raga guitars and harmony male/female vocals. the lyrics deal with cosmic imagery, psychedelics and religious/biblical references, but this goes much deeper than any xian record you’ve ever heard — titles such as “cosmic energy,” “time to clear your mind,” “rainbow,” and “circus world” point towards some sort of new age/post-revelations utopian consciousness. reissued for the first time under license from dave bixby himself, and carefully remastered from a clean vinyl (no master tapes exist) at shadoks music studios. includes an insert with extensive and detailed liner notes by matvei procak — the guy who found bixby in 2006 — plus some rare pictures. also includes a free mp3 download code… recommended.
this first album of the turkish band hardal (mustard) with the title nasil? ze raman? (where from? where to?) was recorded in turkey in 1979 by sikri yiksel (guitar), aydin sencan (bass), cahit kukul (guitar) and sedat avci (drums). the band was only known by a very small insider-group, but those fans just adored hardal. the secret of hardal’s small popularity is that in 1979 the turkish rock scene was comatose. cem karaca left to germany, erkin koray moved to canada, edip akbayram got stuck because of his political ambitions. only baris mancho was still on the road. to start a new band was tough in turkey. hardal also recorded 2 albums later. the music is the best turkish progressive underground you can think of. filled with guitars, synth sounds, great eastern vibe vocals and harmonies, pumping rhythms. as good as the best koray tracks for sure. this album was never reissued before, so we are sort of proud to present it to most people for the first time. from turkey, 1978. edition of 500 numbered lps, glossy heavy sleeve, 180gm pressing, with insert.
one copy only. wild solo release from nautical almanac dude. co-released with about 20 other labels. insane fake leather, painted, screen printed, etc. cover. edition of 555. long out of print.
twig harper has been a force in the noise/experimental scene since the mid ’90s with his group nautical almanac, touring worldwide and releasing recordings on hanson, load, and heresee. he also runs tarantula hill in baltimore – a space that includes a performance area, recording studio, esoteric library, and rooftop beehives & gardens. daniel higgs is best known for his work as the lyricist and frontman of lungfish, whose work on dischord records has spanned 3 decades. he is also a very prolific solo artist with works on thrill jockey, holy mountain, northern liberties, open mouth, and ideal recordings. clairaudience fellowship is released on lp-only in an edition of 1,000 copies housed in full-color jackets with a coupon for drm-free mp3 download. the download coupon includes one additional bonus track that is not on the lp.
originally issued as a series of three micro-edition cdrs by wooden wand hassara, “backyard i-iii” presents the majority of this scarce material in one easily handled package. since no more than 100 copies exist of any of the individual original issue cdrs, there are a lot of folks who have not yet been blown away by hassara’s largely instrumental electric guitar blues drone. spin this disc, grab a cold one and let the good times flow. this cd is from a one-time pressing of 500 copies and features some super-intense new artwork by robert beatty (hair police)… already sold out at source!
debut release from the duo of chris and claire who run london’s mighty upset the rhythm label and promotion. deranged messy drums and squelched weirdo vocal. edition of 50 hand numbered copies.
recorded at the bowling green pub in manchester on 17th november 2008, when bridget was on tour with marcia bassett, this is a maximal 25-minute set of epic guitar brutalising and deep, moaned vocal incantations. employing a bow and ‘metal’ effects pedals, the resulting cacophony is orchestral in scope, rendering almost unreliable the memory of one woman and her instrument. somewhat akin to bassett’s duo with matthew bower, hototogisu, the deeply layered tones created by hayden offer, upon first exposure, a somewhat icy auditory experience, but as the recording settles in, the richness and sheer breadth of sound wraps around you like a feather quilt and shifts your perception almost 180 degrees. a truly magnificent set from this former vibracathedral orchestra member that cements her reputation as far more than that alone.
edition of 120 copies cd-r documenting a live performance from paul labrecque (sunburned hand of the man/trees chants and hollers/the other method et al). labrecque’s string work makes reference to the lonesome sound of sandy bull and john fahey while connecting with the experiments in contemporary american primitive drone of paul metzger and matthew valentine. quietly psychedelic and spellbindingly intimate. in full colour gatefold card sleeve. – volcanic tongue.
lunes is the second album by the texas psychedelic duo headdress. written in the desert but recorded during an endless new york city winter, the album is a dark meditation on americana. guitarist caleb coy and organist ethan cook sculpt a cold, expansive sound made ripe for these turbulent times. it’s the blues shaped by the avant-compositions of la monte young and dylan carlson. it’s drone rooted deep in the american tradition… includes download coupon.
nice new mystery recordings that seem to be an extension of the equally mysterious ‘whorl’ tape we had while back. lo-fi bedroom trance amp hum & softly modulated feedback. way limited & each cover it a totally unique hand assembled/painted piece of art. gotta love it.
i’ve been wanting to put out something by heavy eye of the sun for years and now, nearly two years after their last self-released cd-r, “iii” is locked & loaded. this montreal-based duo create sprawling, monolithic landscapes of sound, barely held together by the flickering of their voices. this is their most involved and evocative work yet. sparse forests of acoustic instrumentation conjure up ancient spirits that the duo channel without abandon. the hypnotic nature of their collective vocals lull you into a trance. bowed zithers and guitars drone and creak into oblivion. heavy eye of the sun suck you into their world and don’t let go until they are good and ready. this is enchanted music. limited to 80 handnumbered copies, packaged in oversized hand-stamped envelopes w/ two inserts handstamped cd-rs.
wild collaborative lp by these 2 deep psych visionaries. one side is a studio collab merging hw’s pummeling psych-frenzy with cascading waves of io-keyboard bliss. the other side is a rare, unhinged live recording of the single time these outfits ever performed together…imagine hw with a freaked out lead singer. strange and great.
last summer’s cd release for heavy winged, blacc lust, flew out of here and really seemed to find a good home with folks. following up on that response comes the massive and dense blowout that is alive in my mouth. comprised of two of the band’s dirtiest and, quite simply, heaviest tracks, it is music for tearing down physical walls. in a small departure from some of our recent vinyl titles, there will not be a bonus cd for pre-ordering the record. instead, every copy of the album will come complete with a cd that features both of the album tracks in addition to a “bonus” 17 minute track. everyone wins! alive in my mouth is be from an edition of 647 copies pressed on 180g rti vinyl. the record is housed within heavy art sleeves bearing new artwork by michael canich and letterpressed by dexterity press (the same folks who we teamed with on sarin smoke’s smokescreen).
brand new three trax release from portland/ brooklyn based unit which comes on the heels of the bands recently re-issue disc, and highly excellent three lobed release “blacc lust”, comes three long playing journeys into psych noise dronedom. i’m not a huge fan of the press release description game where the label goes on to babble and make absurd quotes like “sounds like every band that has sold a shit load of records this past month if you combine sunno))) with your mamma then you know exactly how great this record is”. i’d just like to humbly state to me it comes off like the bardo pond brothers recording in the lo-fi high fuzz induced kitchen of the goslings. package comes packed in a double cover center opening sleeves with the outer shell being a vellum overlay wonderfully executed graphically by chase middaugh. single pressing of 600 copies.
they’re back. heavy winged has continued to stretch their leathery, scarred, er, wings and grow since their last release for three lobed recordings, 2008′s alive in my mouth. from that time to the present the group has ventured to release three complete albums (spreading center, shaking, waking and the thinner the air) and a full-length collaboration with inca ore, each displaying a few additional wrinkles to heavy winged’s sonic palette. while these additions to the band’s distorto-electro-bombast may be most apparent to those who have closely tracked their total output, fields within fields, their latest and, all hyperbole aside, greatest album to date, displays the band’s grand developments in a fashion apparent to even casual outside observer. every great band has that one totally assured statement album. for heavy winged, it is fields within fields. the band was determined to make fields within fields into a significant part of their discography from the very outset. in october 2009, the band decided to enter the 5d studios in brooklyn to engage in what would be a first-time experiment – recording in a multi-track studio with overdubs planned from the session’s start. prior to this experience their entire catalog was centered on displaying the band’s ferocious live spirit. having already proven themselves to be adept at creating grand and heavy statements in an improvised, one-take-only setting, they felt that were ready for the challenge of being both improvisational and composition-minded. the band hunkered down for the session and even brought in some friends to help augment the heavy winged vibe. their time in 5d yielded the two dark fruits which combine to form fields within fields. brutal and hard, “among the maori” leads the album off and encompasses the entire first side of vinyl. the track opens with a slow, deliberate fade into jed bindeman’s tribal drumbeat. this beat may start controlled but the track’s velocity and volume continue to accelerate, eventually turning “among the maori” into a highly tuned jet engine. ryan hebert’s guitar playing is exceptional throughout, beginning with an initial prolonged banshee-like wailing and slowly building and fully giving way to a fantastically cranking and grinding post-metallic din by the track’s conclusion. “among the maori” stands out among the band’s entire catalog as perhaps their truest moment. the album’s second side is fully dedicated to the drone doom opus “the hum of the universe.” “the hum…” adds bob jones on viola to the band’s three piece lineup. the results of this pairing are epic and haunting. jones’ viola couples nicely with brady sansone’s low-end work to create a churning sound vortex that will pull you in and release you only when the stylus reaches the run-out groove. fields within fields is a powerful and assured statement, one that strongly rings “death to the new flesh – long live heavy winged’s drone!” fields within fields is pressed on rti vinyl and housed within a textured old-style stoughton tip-on sleeve bearing new artwork from rebecca carlisle-healy. the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album…. edition of 994 copies. all copies here include the pre-order only bonus cd with extra tracks and a guest appearence from one of the white hills dudes.
very pleased to announce that after much ongoing talk between me and the band, blackest rainbow will be issuing the very first heavy winged cassette. a total beast from this cross country american trio of ryan, jed and brady recorded just after a 4 day east coast tour in november 2007 at ryan’s house in vermont. the music switches between pure heavy repetitive riffing, drum kit massacre and shredding bass to more melancholy weird minimal bits, which actually co-inside with the last jam the band did before parting ways across the map. nevertheless, this is another totally amazing and essential release from one of my favourite bands around right now. limited to 200. pro-dubbed cassettes.
heavy winged are a sprawling north american trio made up of drummer jed bindeman, bassist brady sansone and guitarist ryan hebert. over the last few years, the band have released a cacophonous splatter of cassettes, vinyl and cd-rs for not not fun, digitalis, aurora borealis and a handful of other esteemed imprints. most of these have been mercilessly grimy signifiers of their buzzing free-rock style, and were recorded poorly to almost accentuate the harsh guitar tones and double-time blast beats. this latest jagged offering, however, is a rare beast in the heavy winged canon, offering a higher-fidelity peek into their muddled world. this time around, the band escaped to a “real” studio to record two slices of extended sludge rock, which come across as wider than ever, thanks to some fresh recording techniques. something like an unholy union between the sheet-noise of yellow swans and the blissful sub-harmonic transcendence of early mogwai or sonic youth, sunspotted is an album that takes tried-and-tested sounds and bends them beyond recognition. sure, plenty of bands have made distorted, blurred, guitar noise before, but rarely with the conviction and wit of heavy winged. with their early explorations into doom and metal, we find the band on a high, framing their high-octane jitter into something that could almost be mistaken for beautiful. just as the aforementioned yellow swans took their sound from the outer reaches of noise to something, dare i say it, pretty, heavy winged have focused their three individual powers to come up with an album that revels in its depth and shimmering beauty. it might take a few listens to reveal its layers, but sunspotted is a challenging and rewarding listening experience. standing at the top of the band’s already estimable catalog of albums and eps, this album finds them at a key moment, a moment where they have found a balance between fidelity and grit, harmony and discord. step in, turn it up and let yourself descend. cut at berlin’s d+m.
found a few last copies of this out of print title. most copies have a very small top right corner dent, but nothing major at all. grab one now if you missed it!
fully licensed legit deluxe reissue of this completely unique slab of outsider private press psychedelia. long whispered about by the most inner circle of obsessive psych collectors, but up till now heard only by a lucky few. a true legend for sure, and rightfully so, as the bizarre story surrounding the lp is nearly as twisted as the music itself. ex-road runners drummer stephen david heitkotter recorded and pressed the lp in california sometime before 1971 as a demo only edition of no more then two dozen copies in blank white covers, then distributed it only to a handful of local san joaquin radio stations before the pressing plant destroyed the masters due to non-payment. within months of his failed attempt at radio stardom stephen was committed to the state mental ward, and that was that… but what an album he left behind… deeply damaged outsider/real people westcoast basement loner acid-garage-blues from a genuinely insane person, recorded at the very edge of oblivion. the sound of a last gasp at the teetering edge of the darkest void. a murky disjointed trip wobbling between acid-scorched un-reality and pure all-encompasing blankness… full electric band setting, but whether this was a purely solo endeavor or an actual band recording will remain a mystery forever. those close to stephen at the time swear he was already too far gone to assemble even a jam session, so the solo theory seems likely, making the musical deconstruction meltdown that much more disturbing. semi-tight playing disintegrates into meandering sonic smear at every turn, then somehow resolidifies and churns onward while bent deadpan vocals funnel garbled surrealisms from nowhere to nowhere. the scarily hyper-real yet ultra-weird otherworldly presence is as thick as it comes, and only enhanced by the raw/crude/muffled recording fidelity… not recommended for the weak of heart… co-released with earmonger records. mastered from the best possible original copy and pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl. exact reproduction labels, including some wild hand embellishment from the man himself. heavy blank white 60s style art paper covers with hand stamped title. heavy insert with extensive liner notes. one time vinyl only limited edition of 1000 copies. no cd, no repress.
long time coming release from this towering breaker offshoot. like some total weirdo bluesy jams – in the most loose possible. most recently these guys were seen on the incredible 4×3″ cdr set on psykick dancehall, and also a split lp last year on upset the rhythm. limited to 100 with colour sleeve by the band. limited to 100.
autumn 2009, french canadian experimental rap duo heliodrome, concludes an european tour in berlin. during this tour they offered three different sets of music, either improvised folk of electronic. each concert was seen as a possibility to expand their vision of their own music. in berlin, they met labelmate jayrope, who’s about the release on endemik his collaboration with american rapper bleubird called prinzenallee. after assisting at an heliodrome concert in berlin, he promptly suggested that they record together, in the format of a small show for some friends in his appartement. this improvised concert led to this release. a really intimate improv session between likeminded artsits that gave birth to “swearing at the sun”, a modern play of schreber’s delirium, where rap and rhythm fades away giving place to instant improvisation. the result is unclassifiable, sitting somewhere between avant folk, noise and free improv.
the second release from the sacred harp library label (following the sold-out dr. ragtime 7-inch) is the stunning debut from extraordinary london based 7-piece hellicar, crago, lewis lloyd & friends. ‘chicken or pills’ is an utterly infectious barnstorming romp mixing folk, blues and riotous rock ‘n roll, like 70s richard thompson fronting a bluesy neutral milk hotel. flip it over for ‘the truth’ showing a completely different side to the band breaking out the ukelele, clarinet and three part harmonies. utterly wonderful. limited to 500 copies, packaged in sacred harp’s die-cut, letterpressed, silk-screened sleeves.
solo noise psych gush from luke of bird of delay. debut release on this promising new label. sweet pro-printed fold out covers wrapped up in a hand written and numbered kraft paper envelope. numbered edition of only 50 copies. instantly out of print!
hematic sunsets is an alias (an anagram to be exact) for german soundartist asmus tietchens from hamburg. tietchens is a self taught artist with more than 50 lp and cd releases on numerous labels (nurse with wound’s united dairies, sky records, the mille plateaux sub-label ritornell, staalplaat, selektion, recent albums on richard chartier’s line label and a massive reissue series on die stadt, to name but a few). his solo works are mainly concerned with the manipulation of concrete sounds and (most recently) pure sine waves (on his mengen series) and their placement (assemblage?) in time and space. while his solo efforts are often austere formal works (yet never lacking a twisted humour), hematic sunsets is a different beast altogether. reminiscent of his sky-era attempts with rhythm and melody, the aroma club series is tietchens warped, almost parodic (per)version of lounge music. each record of the series is based on the sounds and rhythms of one particular (preferredly cheap) organ/keyboard, usually a yamaha product (this time it’s the psr 36). while the last club lp was recorded with several guests (felix kubin, michael rother…) and the 2007 x-mas 7″ was a collaboration with long-time “producer” okko bekker, “aroma club paradox” is another solo effort (collaborating with several fictitious anagrams/characters though). the result is a timeless and completely unique take on muzak using cheap keyboard sounds usually associated to drunk wedding bands or your grandmother’s home organ family music. tietchens elaborately transforms the cheesy associations into cold, bloodless, almost unhuman pop tunes totally lacking the sensationalism and pseudo-fervour of most music, especially modern pop music. limited edition of 500 copies in baby blue heavy vinyl!
contains the audio from jason’s ‘first announcements’ lathe cut, plus other pieces – we cut the lathe 78 for jason last year here at time-lag and had a few for sale then, this cdr versions adds extra stuff. great fractured noise/hum/piano cut-up goodness. experimental music that goes somewhere – from elephant micah member.
culled from a large mess of untitled computer music that jason had stashed away for quite some time, the peace drills cycle was improvised and edited together in a loose tribute to conlon nancarrow. employing the notation software finale as a sort of 21st century player piano, henn stacked, squeezed and quantized a year’s worth of off-hand, amateurish piano solos into several chaotic minutes of digital soul-spew. additional tracks, which sound something like sterilized milton babbit, feature the midi contributions of microwave background mainman will ryerson, as manually altered and tweaked into oblivion by henn, ultimately realized as piles of keyboards and drums. it’s a dense 30-some minutes. oh, and for the curious, the disc’s title refers to one of several aborted attempts to find grant money to release the abovementioned music, its author assuming that the vaguely jazz-based/new classical pretensions of the material might actually confuse someone into funding its release despite its irrelevance to any/everything. one such proposal was addressed to a non-profit that claimed to support daring and exciting peace/soc. justice-type projects. so, our maestro set about writing detailed programs for the six “peace drills,” claiming that each was performed as a meditation on a particular geopolitical/historical/social something-or-other (ex., “peace drill 2: journey through gaza”) when, in fact, jason really just wanted the scratch for nice pressed discs and a color booklet. the org didn’t buy it, but, when third uncle agreed to do the thing as a handmade edition, the name stuck… crazy oversized lp cover packing with all sorts of inserts & stuff. elephant micah member.
one of the most gifted abstract sonic pilots from the vacationland stable, portland, maine, artist matt lajoie enjoys a larger-than-
sasquatch reputation for his free folk personality and unpredictable takes on spectrasound techniques. although he and his merry band are one of the most charismatic tribes of the new england underground you gotta see them live they blossom from psychedelic occurrences that lead to bursts of pacifist oblivion which can only be redeemed inside their studio output. the momentum lajoie deploys in his polar expressions indicates a supply of time-manipulated balance. an accretion of bucket brigades warping wildly at first breath, generally considered a condition of primitivism, this is searchlight abandonment
with purely spirited jams more akin to the tapers pit than slam continuance. in fact, the only thing slammed here (other than the
muted poetry echoing like buoys in golowins harbor) are the in the red meters on fire signs from fire music providing ease with earth, wind and air. long may we inhale. this is a heady atmosphere, an atmosphere for heads, and it not only delivers the contempo dreamlike aspect at the apex of its form, but transcends it to those revolving with them. take this fucker for a spin. – matt valentine, vermont, 2011.
gnomic no-fi plunk, wheeze, rattle and moan courtesy of an unfortunately monikered (well… at least to english language readers anyway…it probably means something just lovely in finnish…) supergroup comprised of jonna karanka aka kuupuu, laura naukkarinen aka lau nau and merja kokkonen aka islaja that draws from the seemingly eternal well of stoned detuned mischief that feeds the viaducts of the finnish underground. the sheer density of acts positing variants on this same post-amon duul/siloah-like freakout stylee there gives rise to questions of bandwagon hopping, but that’s a discussion for another time. for the here and now, this first release of theirs is a choice manifestation of heavy-lidded third-mind acoustic weirdity that’s as ungainly as it is mystically/chemically blasted… yay to hertta lussu ässä finally on wax!
both carolyn hester coalition albums are fine examples of u.s. west coast-style hippie fuzz psychedelic folk rock, like neighb’rhood children, birmingham sunday and similar outfits. they were recorded in 1969 and 1970 on the metromedia label and are considered to be a must have for u.s. dreamy folk-psych music collectors. first ever reissue on vinyl. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
must have for u.s. dreamy folk psych music collectors. first ever reissue on vinyl. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
hevoset is the duo of two of the most enigmatic individuals of the finnish underground, namely jan anderzen and jani hirvonen, both hailing from tampere. anderzen is ringleader of a mysterious multitudinous beast known as kemialliset ystevet (fonal records), a part-time member of avarus and islaja and records solo as tomutonttu (ultra exzema, beta-lactam ring records) with a new album coming out on dekorder this year (hopefully). hirvonen is best-known under his uton monicker with two lp’s on dekorder and a stream of releases on last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna, jewelled antler, pseudo arcana and his own ikuisuus label. while most one-off meetings between so-called experimental and improvising musicians often sound like bad excuses for a few beers and endless jams this is quite the opposite – a heavy weight championship finale of two like-minded whizkids cross-fertilizing each other with idea after idea, leading to some of the weirdest and quixotic recordings you will have heard of the two. everything you loved about kemialliset ystevet, uton and tomutonttu is contained in hevoset…..and more. rural psychedelia, out-of-tune plucked and strummed strings, overloaded organs and effect pedals, jani hirvonen’s sweet wordless vocals, ecstatic improvised drone collages, bells, backward loops, jungle percussion and tons of unidentifiable sounds and noises shaped into tight 4 – 6 minute tracks…. awesome.
daniel “aiu” higgs is a shaman, an anarchist with radical messages from strange worlds. he is a dervish, treading on borderlines, whose thematic native territory is the very borderline of human existence. the musical presentation of his work is crystal clear and razor sharp: either higgs plays his banjo like an indian sitar, or he creates a monotone carpet of sounds which he weaves out of his shruti-box—and with demonic ruthlessness, he sheds light on the human abyss. the aphoristic elements remain metaphorical and the meanings are clear, the images that higgs produces in the imagination of his listeners through his verse are brutally explicit and leave no trace of ambiguity. his unforgettable performance in unrock was one of the major highlights of the entire series. higgs captivated his awe-struck audience like no other performer in the unrock studio had done before. on the one hand, he was highly fascinating and resonated with strong charisma; on the other hand he was an enigmatic sphinx. his music is a hymn to the doors of perception, to the borderline between clarity and insanity, a scurrile dream of the dawn of being—the thin line on which higgs offers us to dance with him, always with one foot in the bottomless pit. manic, hypnotic and dangerous, all at the same time. 150 hand-numbered, limited edition cdr copies boast a one-of-a-kind cover, a handmade silkscreen from rike stephani (antipesto) which shows an original drawing from daniel higgs, which he created especially for this special recording at unrock… nice one in a sweet yellow on black screenprinted cover.
in recent years, higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band, lungfish. higgs follows up the 2007 album/book release atomic yggdrasil tarot with his new double album say god. say god is an album of gospel songs and poems as presently received by this daniel higgs. recorded with the help and enthusiasm of david andrew sitek, who graciously provided this daniel higgs with an environment in which to prosper and enjoy the adventure of recording, or, if you will, the ensnaring of songs as they migrate through time and mind, that they might be heard many places at once, with the singer absent. song seeds cast abroad, that their message, the advent of the songway, the way across, might take root, twist and fruit, light for all. it is the simple hope of this daniel higgs that the album say god may be of any use to the listener, may serve the listener, may accompany the listener in clairaudient fellowship… limited gatefold vinyl version with insert.
often considered the holy grail of “real people” records, kenneth higney’s “attic demonstration” was never actually intended to be an official release. it was recorded in new york city by higney and his accompanist gordon gaines (r.i.p.) as a vehicle with which to sell higney’s songs to other artists and was only pressed to vinyl in 1976 when he grew tired of duplicating cassette tapes. apparently the jandekian dissonance of the “a. demo.” sound was an unintended by-product of the one take demo sessions. be that as it may, “attic demonstration” is a strange sonic world all of it’s own. it is neither too weird to be unappealing to “regular” music listeners nor is it one of those “discoveries” that leaves you wondering what all the hype was about. acoustic guitar ballads of nearly atonal desolation mix readily with rock ‘n’ roll numbers featuring hiccuping drums and alien sounding electric guitar. hingey’s vocals are by turns sneering and mournful as he sings about lost love and the desire for fame all filtered through his uniquely bent worldview. although a few ads were placed for the record in the village voice and the aquarian, the fame that higney sought illuded him (a semi-positive review in trouser press notwithstanding). that is, until the album was discovered and distributed by record dealer paul major. “attic demonstration” has been featured in the acid archives and copies of the original lp have soared in price over the years, but you no longer have to pay $100, $200 or even $300 to obtain a copy of this monumental album on vinyl. one kind favor and kenneth higney have teamed up to bring you an official reissue of “attic demonstration” remastered and with all the original artwork. lp edition of 500 copies
over the past few years higuma’s evan caminiti (of barn owl) and lisa mcgee have slowly evolved their sound from shamanistic acoustic dirges into shimmering metallic blast-off hymns, hair-raising eulogies to the cosmos. pacific fog dreams is a set of seven such songs, all beautifully distant and drenched in layers of earth-toned echo, balanced in dream time between melodies and all out electric whitewash. delayed strums hang in a beyond background, a ghost world of songs from some other place and time, channeled onto the hiss of a cassette tape to remind you. caminiti’s guitar is often on the verge of taking the whole thing down, sporadically billowing into colorful feedback, huge blocks of impenetrable sound. mcgee’s vocals are sometimes discovered, but just as distant smears, or riding the peaks, coaxing out phrases of hidden origin, maybe singing of intimacy, memory, nature or magic.
two sweating side-long jams along the itching lines of fellow mind-travellers sunburned hand of the man, astral blessing and dredd foole. recorded smack in the middle of bible belt country, inspired by the wicked deeds of psyched master rick and his friends who used to be giving voluntary castrations in their own private creepy sm dungeon.
one of the all-time 60′s classics, coming out from the california desert of antelope valley where hms leader merrell fankhauser lived for a couple of yyears. this was released on uni in late 1968, and gosh it’s a killer!!!! flower power psychedelia, great all original songs, this is one of these albums you shouldn’t miss under any circumstance. make yyourself a favour and get one of these wonderful reissues we have for you, with remastered sound, original artwork and an insert with liners by merrell and a great photo from his own archive.
one lap steel through two amps, one keyboard, one drum kit, one chord. 17 minutes of tripped-out string popping and drum scatter on one side. 16.5 mins of scraped and sustained lap steel on the other.
we’re proud to announce the first-ever vinyl reissue of homestead & wolfe’s lone and excellent album. one of the most unknown artifacts that ever came from the american psych-folk land. originally released in 1975 by topo records. this is an official reissue, fully licensed by ernie bringas (h&w founder) and anopheles records. it has an exact reproduction of the original cover, label, 4-page insert and poster as well as extra triptych insert with bio and photos. two extra tracks are also included… despite being recorded at gold star in l.a. and featuring heavy session names such as hal blaine and al casey, this irresistible femme-vox melodic folk rock/psych delight has remained mysteriously unknown for 30 years. you’ll be hard-pressed to find faults with its mix of various late 1960s california styles, ranging from lyte neighb’rhood child’n top 40 psych over carolyn hester coalition/yankee dollar folk moves into all-out west coast acid rock a la ill wind. – acid archives… beautifully done deluxe reissue! recommended & highly limited.
treetop moon hollers and american primitive star gobbling, bedroom gagaku and cold hardy foole-jazz techniques. folk music for wherever arthur doyle or little howlin wolf were the ‘new’ pete seeger. bongos, voice, wood flute, triangle. screen printed nightime covers with hand lettered text, numbered edition of 112… new solo project from rafi bookstaber of death chants / aswara / etc.
casual late night camfire jams by robert horton and tom carter, with laidback appearances by natacha robinson, janet and mary carter. baked guitars, boot and percussion. on special request there’s only 40 copies of this one.
wild and eclectic mail collaborations from one of america’s most recently on fire jammers robert horton, and norway’s drone master sindre bjerga. both have incredibly solid resumes of collaborations and releases, what with sindre’s ongoing collaboration with jan iversen, and robert’s collaborations with tom carter and the mudsuckers crew of pete and gabe (of yellow swans), which also includes carter. ‘can’t go faster enough to get there early’ features a massive range of instruments and sounds, from multiple instrument based layered drone to down right weirdness, and total outsider vibes. also features hal hughes, lisa graves and jan iversen. glass mastered cds, limited to 264 in white digipaks with stickered covers and a small 4 page insert of liner notes. please note some tracks feature digital clicks and pops, this is meant to be there.
reissue of classic robert horton now with new artwork and shiny plastic jewel case. again robert horton amazes and dazzles. this recording spans from 1983 until yesterday before dinner. it is so amazing to hear robert’s thought process evolve over the years yet be so cohesive to never stray from robert’s life vision. i never knew what visionary meant in the 21 century until i met robert horton.
robert founded the appliances, part of sf’s first wave of punk bands in 1979. then later formed the plateau ensemble in 1983, a tribal noise drone group who played in the bay area until 1987. from the early 90′s until 2004 horton continued to compose and record, but didn’t release any of it publicly until 2005, when he put together first light. originally released on the finish label outta (now defunct), in a tiny edition of 50 copies. anyways we’re all glad robert has opened up the floodgates, and i’m pretty excited to get to re-issue this thing in a slightly larger edition. edition of 100, photo/screen-print cover, inserts, black cds, heavy vinyl sleeves.
“warmth” is the fourth volume in robert horton’s archives series of releases (previous volumes on 23 productions, sloow tapes, & jyrk). this single, monolithic piece unfolds at snailspeed, but succeeds in wrapping itself around you like an old, familiar blanket.”warmth” is the most appropriate title, as these drones emit sonic beams of silver light. using only two reel-to-reel tape recordings and a loop, horton’s artistry is on full display. the fact he was doing this 20 years ago is a testament to his immeasurable talent.
robert horton is an amazing multi-instrumentalist/genius/alien whisperer from san francisco. he has worked with tom carter and an assortment of folks. 2nd pressing now available!!! robert horton is a sound producer of the highest order. when i received this recording i was almost instantly put in a trance. all of a sudden i was in my back yard on a mission – building string instruments triggered by wind chimes and tall totem pole flute like instruments that were played by the arctic winds. robert horton has a musical language that no one else speaks. he builds his own instruments and conjures an alien harmonic orchestra out of the instruments that existed before he arrived on our planet. in the last year he has released a slew of amazing recordings both solo and in collaborations (with tom carter and loren chase among others). this was one of the first of robert’s recordings to land on earth. it is now finally available again.
hotem is one incarnation of kheta hotem, one of finland’s finest. backed by the neverending talents of keijo virtanen, hotem is an adventure through cavernous echoes and enchanted forests. sparse acolades transcend through the overcast skies and hover above your head like a guillotine waiting to drop. this is music full of open spaces, and it is in those spaces where the true magic happens. sounds dance like fireflies in the lunar haze. didjeridu drone and walls of chromatic percussion bounce off each other in a soothing fit. hotem are quite the experience. 100 copies.
live in person collaboration of mid ranged feedback hell laden with raw human drones of cosmic existential turbulence from from matthew bower (legend of total, skullflower, ramleh etc) marcia bassett (double leopards, zaimph, ghq etc.) and dominick fernow (vegas martyrs, nihilist assault group, ash pool, etc).
green metal music, decanted collage of fuzzy scream vocal loops and mangled buried riffing, bursting w/ vivid colour power electronics and chilly black metal soundscaping. studio prototyping of the hg signature sound, shorter pieces than the usual jams, even denser than the live version, with blatant referencing of the black metal/ tibetan devotional strands that run like veins of lightning through the dense mesh of noise. out of printed edition of 1000 copies. nice full color 8 page booklet.
long out of print… double lp pressing housed in a gatefold jacket. being a nabokovian and visceral garden of delights, a musical evocation of memory and desire spread over four sides of vinyl. the sound is conjured forth from dark wells to be birthed, twisting and screaming in silver winds. recorded at black dirt studios, over an intensive three day period of hermetic isolation, whilst snow blanketed the surrounding fields, this work is both more detailed and conjures a heavier, more brooding occult atmosphere and sound, than any previous hototogisu release. limited edition of 700 copies.
hototogisu is the duo of marcia bassett (double leopards, ghq, un) and matthew bower (skullflower, sunroof!, total). for the past few years, they have been delivering intense guitar/electronics based drones of gargantuesque scales. robed in verdigris is their 16th release and only the third on vinyl. 3 tracks spread over both sides of extreme sunshine and ecstasy. a total assault of metaphysical vibrations. limited to 500…this one vanished in a wink, so act fast if you don’t wanna miss it forever!
since arriving on london racks in the summer of 1970, catherine howe’s debut album has been unavailable in its original format. less than 20 lp copies survived reflection records’ demise, and the album sat in the can until numero’s 2007 cd issue. produced by the legendary jazz pianist bobby scott, this orchestral-folk master stroke has once again been set to lacquer, remastered and restored directly from the original master tapes specifically for this deluxe vinyl release. gatefold package includes replica lp art and complete annotation on the sessions and history of this forgotten brit-folk treasure. “it’s like some missing link between sandy denny and karen carpenter, or between ladies of the canyon and dusty in memphis. if you buy no other reissue this year, buy this.” – barney hoskyns, guardian uk.
released march 3, 2008 as an installment in the oscillation iii series. sold only as a part of the set. lp released december 8, 2008 from a limited edition of 998 copies. wild life, howlin rain’s contribution to oscillation iii, consists of two fifteen minute plus monster jams. the first is an amazingly inspired and completely improvised wailing twin guitar, rock meditation on paul mccartney’s “wild life.” “black sangria” rounds out the disc with a completely improvised piece covered in heavy jazz fusion and free, latin jazz rock overtones. the band featured a slightly different lineup for these session, a lineup that in part feels like a comets on fire mini-reunion (above and beyond ethan miller on guitar/vocals is ben chasny on guitar, utrillo kushner on drums, ian gradek on bass and joel robinow on wurlitzer electric piano/nord keyboard). wrapped delicately in two paintings by raeni miller (ethan’s wife). 180g rti vinyl and housed within an “old style” lp cover.
finally the official vinyl reissue of stan hubb’s 1982 crystal lp is available. 500 faithful repros were made of this confounding slab of stoner rock, each including a replica of the original 16 page booklet. crystal was recorded in hubb’s rural sonoma county living room and just like the original, this reissue was mastered and cut by paul stubblebine, pressed by rti and housed in heavy, old-style jackets… limited to 500. great high quality reissue of this killer unknown slab. recommended!
here is a man who creates extraordinarily complete pieces of sonic tapestry, as has been evident on a number of earlier hotd releases on vinyl and cdr. this tape brings you more than one hour of tonal and textural mastery. from thundering tnb-like cavernous metal noises, through deeply vibrant slabs of shimmering tonal bliss, always moving ahead into new areas of gritty textural explorations. attentive listening is rewarding listening, and will most likely lead to repeat listening. this piece of music demands to be experienced more than one time. 200 copies, on type ii chrome tape.
human skab was a 10-year old boy from elma, washington who played african music with buckets and spoons. thunder hips and saddle bags is a 1986 cassette recorded by young travis roberts with his neighborhood pals and siblings. it was injected into the underground network of tape traders, zine scribes, college djs, and freak seekers who were universally bowled over by its bewildering and utterly poignant snapshot of the mid-1980s. skab’s music — an orchestration of pots n’ pans, three string guitar, poorly-tuned upright piano, broken bottles, toy guns, a garden rake, and a “snake mountain” microphone — is a response to fear of nuclear war with the soviet union, he-man cartoons, twisted sister, the coolness of dinosaurs, the uncoolness of john wayne, and ronald reagan. roberts captures the fervor of do-it yourself ethos, punk energy and the rawness of early american folk by acting on his wild child imagination and enigmatic sense of song. these rare recordings have never been made widely available until now. this reissue includes the complete 1986 cassette. the cd and mp3 version contain a bonus 1987 radio interview. the 16-page booklet in the 500 edition lp and cd contains liner notes by roberts and cousin franky along with many full-color photographs and news clippings. as bruce pavitt wrote in the 1986 sub pop zine: the skab zips around the living room shooting toy guns. he hits the family piano with his fists. he tries real hard to play guitar. he makes up songs about terrorism and radiation and throwing rocks at windows. cool!
landing out of nowhere and traversing historical sonic planes with freeform light-speed, the hunter gracchus arrived at my desk. continuing the recent leaking tap, (so obscure and secretive no one seems to have really cottoned on yet), of european free-music, folk and psych that has been seeping into the underground, hunter gracchus sound both fresh and devastatingly contorted. listening to the fragile and intoxicating sounds generated by the hunter gracchus, your surroundings are skewed into displacement. when describing the output and production of sound experienced on the record, hg used the foundation of non-studio based recordings, stating “where the microphone’s presence seems inconsequential to the performance you hear and its placement is determined more by remaining inconspicuous than maximising fidelity.” this is a keen observation and sits well with the overall experience that the collective creates. spatial awareness is delivered through raga styled drones, but also, more inventively, through anarchic freeform playing. hg also site the bedouin music by deben bhattacharya and the vibracathedral orchestra as having influenced their sound; this alludes to what you will hear, but be prepared for a unique sound-world, all of its own (and straight out of sheffield!) an abundance of acoustic instruments are blown, strummed and plucked alongside inventive percussion that clangs both traditional and (seemingly) found objects. the improvised nature has a difficult narrative that paddles murky water through perilous terrain. this is imagined through the music, but also signified through lengthy and descriptive song titles, e.g. “elkadia priests’ ransacking of the pnac offices”. a mythology is an adequate accompaniment to a challenging and overwrought listen. there are moments where the peaceful rolling of hypnotic free folk is suddenly disrupted by chaotic, (close to a nervous breakdown), improvised attack. the de-tuned gypsy-shanty of the final track on side a, twists and turns like a serpent of rust and soiled canvas. the tort strings scrape and roll in unwavering tones that arch beyond the inevitable outcome one might assume, (then again this is the point of freeform music). side b has pastoral marches with balkan overtones that allude to foreign tradesmen and portside harlots. this has a similar disjointed glow that fans of lauhkeat lampaat will immediately warm to. this has a similar, yet rawer, feel to the recent part wild horses mane on both sides record. the record displays a combination of deep folk understanding, along with a distinctly western european ability to juxtapose misery and hope. the closing track hits a fantastic high with a mix of subtlety, drone, vocal wavering and distortion. the sounds implode in glorious sonic hollers that over lap and consume themselves in the form of an ouroboros. 8/10 — peter taylor, foxy digitalis.
half of the six songs on jana hunter’s carrion are unreleased hangers-on from the writing sessions that produced her most recent full-length, there’s no home, while the other half are alternate renditions of works that appeared on that release. but this is no mere grab bag of remnants; it’s a real tight product, all around. “paint a babe” is a throw-back to hunter’s earlier material, written and recorded simultaneously on a borrowed four-track recorder. a real sad, longing song. “a goblin, a goblin” took a little more time to create: this strong, sturdy number, replete with violins and creepy harmony, tells the tale of an indignant outcast. “you will take it and like it,” turns one central, pretty and proud guitar part over and over and over, with others mirroring it, leeching from it, grabbing on like little parasitic danglers. the original version of “there’s no home” is here, the track that spawned an entire record title, followed by “sleep” (titled, as it was originally, “ooh uuh”), from the recording that ended up on a lullaby compilation. concluding carrion is an acoustic re-presentation of the country-minded “oracle,” stripped down to one guitar, one melody, and one harmony, as it was originally conceived in its creation as homage. cd on gnomonsong. limited to 500.
finnish psychedelic masters uton and anti unleash a new beast as the hunton quintet. heavy hazy woven jams as zelig concrete and agent stepanoff. clay whistles, wooden electronics, animal hide drums. serious carpet tripping deep in the dark woods. 6 tracks straight outa porvoo, finland – namecheck all things finnish and hard to pronounce: www.myspace.com/huntonquintet. deluxe handcrafted gatefold sleeves. limited edition of 99.
new recordings by michael. on this lp we find hurley stretching out on six longer than usual compositions that are heartbreaking & beautiful as anything he’s ever done. side one features hurley on a creaky pump organ. side two starts out with two newer compositions – just michael on guitar & vocals. the record ends with a stunning version of tea song (which michael originally wrote & recorded way back in 1963). a sustained feeling of loss & need for redemption haunts this record.
michael hurley is one of the most beloved cult figures of the greenwich village folk scene and his songs have been recorded by everyone from the holy modal rounders and the youngbloods, to vetiver and cat power. first songs, recorded in 1964 when hurley was only 22 years old, shows that his charming, bumming, hippie, wino persona was fully formed at an early age. the album features the first recorded versions of such snock classics as ‘the werewolf song’ and ‘captain kidd.’ reissued on lp for the first time ever, with deluxe packaging including faithful reproductions of the original jacket and insert… about time this was on vinyl again! highly recommended.
a mighty 45 pairing longtime missouri friends jerusalem and the starbaskets and hush arbors. a fabulous band, jats debut here with the formidable ‘i cannot radiato without you’. a spiky 2 chord blast clocking in at under 2 minutes of perfect pop. acting as a taster for the stunning ‘battle of the orchids’ imminent full length (on the gps soon), the band merge the ferocity of the sonics with the tenderness of galaxie 500 or 3rd album velvets. wacked out, often ferocious, psych blues- a taster from which appears here. hush arbors’ recent expansion to a two piece, debut here on vinyl, with ‘mr. bones’, another gem from the songwriting genius of keith wood. a gentle acoustic opening gives way to a fuller, perhaps busier, 12 string laced sound- not unlike some unreleased nugget from the gene clark ‘roadmaster’ sessions where he coaxed the original byrds to reconvene for one last time on wax… very limited vinyl only 45, on split ‘one half orange, one half green’ vinyl. get on it!
never one to go overboard with wildly overblown statements, the gps *thinks* it is about to unleash the first uk release by the greatest singer songwriter in the world. james jackson toth aka wooden wand shares a mighty split single with the equally great keith wood aka hush arbors. the single has an overall title “swappin’” and it is pretty much essential if we may say so. cunningly sleeved with each others’ other halves in “swappin’” guise and with a picture of a neatly made bed on it’s insert! … another must have single on this great uk imprint.
keith wood and his hush arbors project had a good year in 2006. after multiple solo tours and stints with wooden wand & the vanishing voice, his first cd and lp were released earlier in the year. he ended the year relocating to england and plying his trade across the pond. with all this in mind, it was decided that a re-release of his first full-length for digitalis was in order, and thus this expanded version of “under bent limb trees” was born. keith wood concocts massive emotional releases in his head and transfers them to tape using the most organic means possible. bowed dulcimer, singing bowl, banjo, and a his trademark falsetto dot the horizon of this majestic album. this graceful and subdued music has been extracted from the earth and laden with golden spirits. this two cd set, housed in gatefold cardboard jackets, is the perfect embodiment of wood’s delicate take on shy melancholia that has one foot in the forest and one on a log fire, burning with passion. his experience as the go-to guy of not only ben chasny (six organs of admittance) but massachussets god-botherers sunburned hand of the man for live appearances has clearly set him in good stead for his own recordings, and this collection only serves to magnify his deft talent and unique voice. disc one features the whole of “under bent limb trees”, newly remastered and sounding better than ever. the real prize is in the second disc, which features out-of-print, rare, and unreleased tracks culled from wood’s own collection and various limited and obscure releases. includes the long out-of-print “if there be spirits, let them come” 3″ among other things – nice full color gatefold covers.
key duo from the catalan folk scene, result of the union between ia clua (from”2+1″) and jordi batiste (one of the leading forces of màquina! together with enric herrera), after the later one’s return from military service.”un gran dìa”.the duo’s first album, was recorded at the end of 1972 with the help of such outstanding musicians as manel joseph (ex”2+1″, ia’s early band), joaquìn”max” suñer (vèrtice, tapimàn, iceberg y a neverding etc) & albert batiste (musica dispersa). the result is an amazing & varied musical tapestry, best heard in the record’s first side, a long suite covering from orchestral folk-pop with some psych leanings (“un gran dìa”,”max”) to straight in-your-face hard rock (“sleeping rock”) via typical early 70s prog rock (“oliba”) or uncathegorisable experiments which defy all rules (“reprise”) and show perfectly the freaky stage reached by the catalan scene in it’s early years (as a matter of fact, the record is sung in english and catalan – ). a piece of wax which went totally unnoticed when first released in a tiny pressing back in the days (thus becoming a big ticket item in the collector’s market) and which wah wah rescues from oblivion thirty years after it’s original release. an excellent work which deserves to be discovered by a wider public – limited issue of 500 numbered copies in gatefold cover reproducing the original artwork, including a colour insert, a colour poster and a bonus 7″ single w/ one previously unreleased song… very hip sounds & beautifully done reissue. recommended.
i got a strange tape wrapped in brown paper with nasty dirt and blood stains in the mail; postmarked from finland. i opened it up and heard some wild sounds from a lone magus called ihminen. the only info inside was: ihminen, rec 26.08.04, many thanks. this tape is over 30 minutes of broken folk musings, incantations, astral meditations, and other completely undefinable musical and atmospheric creations.
ihre kinder, formed in 1968, were the pioneers among the politically and socially engaged groups in germany. their third album, 2357004 (also known as jeanscover) was originally released on kuckuck in 1971 and it is considered to be their best. a great german progressive krautrock effort, that should be part of every serious ’70s progressive rock collection. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, original jeans cover and insert, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
superastral team, iibiis rooge is the proof that the famous 1+1=3 equation is correct. modern psychedelic high wolf jams + astral social club fucked up improv electronics = something we don’t have a name for. better than a one shot collab this duo is made to last. forthcoming debut lp on dekorder.
post-pilz folk instrumentals from the mountains of tyrol. jahral is the one-man project of ewald spiss, who has been involved in music and art since the early eighties. tranquil melodies, exotic instrumentation and barking dogs echoing peaceful mountains and forests. 70 copies.
the path of spectrolite is the latest full length recording from imaginary softwoods. early comments have praised this album and state that while this recording retains some of the icy drone sound from some previous softwoods releases, this is a great progression and a bit more active. an extremely beautiful album entirely of sounds created by synthesizer and voice, this is an essential piece of the imaginary softwoods discography that you are sure to love… first pressing.
ever been hypnotized? taken back to some distant memory as if it were real? well, imperfect masters is straight from the womb. this duo of robert horton and dan plonsey is a disheveled mess of spiderweb drones and floating jazz curses. these compositions are a breath of fresh air from the sea, tingling all your senses like the day you were born. as horton deconstructs plonsey’s magical saxophone playing, you are flushed from your perch like a night owl running from dawn. at times it’s like being chased through a fantasy land and at others it’s like finding nirvana.”strike out” is a mundane mystical interpretation of the baseball season and too many beers. one thing is for sure, imperfect masters wears the crown. 100 copies.
facilidad? is impractical cockpit’s 7th full length lp since their inception more than 10 years ago in the cold and blustery minneapolis winter of 1998. after several “relocation efforts,” the band settled for 6 years in the vibrant port of new orleans just after the turn of the new millennium, honing in on their signature approach to noise infused songwriting. always brewing up their own slog of psychedelic punk the cockpits have managed to stay true to their all-analog asthetic no matter how difficult this can be on shoe string budgets. after their crew was totally displaced by the horrific events of hurricane katrina, the band re-formed in new orleans in the spring of 2006 to spend a month writing a new album, unavoidably inspired by the desolate depressed post katrina landscape. mountains of molding garbage lined the streets as cats claw and ivy tore through watermarked walls of recently abandoned buildings. the national guard paced through the streets in armored vehicles, and constant gunshots rang through the thick stillness of decay and toppled over trees. after putting together a live set there, which was to later become this album known as facilidad?, the cockpits embarked on a 2 month tour, with a 2 week recording session scheduled right in the middle. traveling in a home made vegetable oil powered motor home as a 5 piece band, with 2 dogs, and a battery of instruments, they played the album all the way through every night of the tour. the set varied wildly from night to night. the result is this multi-track recording, a culmination of all of their previous efforts summed up in an opus. balkan informed brass arrangements get smacked to tape alongside the thick improvisational gumbo of triaged hand crafted paper reed horns and drum machines. plywood gets smashed to shit and an abandoned warehouse stairwell provides an echochamber for choral arrangements complete with barking dog. on the albums closer “guru’s plume,” a homemade electric violin gets heavy usage, played in the northern louisiana michot family tuning of ebeb. shrill reverb drenched vocals are softened by intense but loosely slung rubber band looped keyboards while talismans are shaken is a steel tea cup. now somewhat disbanded, each member of impractical cockpit seems to be digging themselves deeper into whatever sonic obsession they see fit for these crucial times. but that’s not to say that this is the last time we’re likely to hear from impractical cockpit. produced and engineered by ipcp, jeremy harris and ryan fontaine. recorded to 8 track 1/2 inch tape. mastered by peerless mastering. 500 pressed. full color covers.
600 pressed 5 color silkscreened cover and extensive booklet. recorded to 1/2 inch 8 track in minneapolis wintertime after a long tour with band fluency/solvency at an all-time high, even though a serious bicycle/carwreck and subsequent surgery made drummer don godwin dust off his drum machines and stow away the ludwigs. this is one of ipcp’s more structured albums to date despite maximum rock and roll magazine saying “its’ like confusion is sex era sonic youth only without the songs.” sounds like they skimmed it. this album has been likened to black humor, flipper and early cabaret voltaire… cool spaced sounds in an awesome cover.
recorded in new orleans and originally released by trd/wd in 2001 on very limited cassette. remastered by don godwin summer 2010. edition of 295 copies in recycled german thrift shop record sleeves. includes insert.
the 12″ in dedication to alarmist, a post-animal band from portland or from 2004-2005. they influenced the people that saw them play and took your carpet for a joy ride once or twice while you knew them. nick b (drums) aka tunnels donates some tracks of psychedelic pop unlike other recordings under the same name. recorded during the last few days of the band and after the break up. eric c.(guitar) aka ghost to falco brings you 2 tracks one almost like a 1 minute western dirge the other more in the traditions of ghost to falco style recordings. james s.(vocals) aka argumentix dabbles in the world of industrial beats and stories of a world left behind in 3034. assisted on these recordings by hando on sax. eva aka inca ore(vocals) delivers a chopped and screwed version of some of her recordings mixed with clips of alarmist live shows she picked up from friend mansion a few years after the fact. on the first track of side crocodile you can hear the ode to alarmist by m.remy (u.s. girls) as she calls in to a radio interview the band was doing. non of the 4 solo artist sound anything like what alarmist was doing and non of the solo projects sound a like. this is a great collection of eclectic music. pressing of 300. 12″ black vinyl.
eva saelens’ life quest has taken her from michigan to oregon to oakland back to portland and back again, with several overseas explorations and inner journey road trips thrown in for good measure. whatever path she’s on is long and winding and hidden in the shadow of overhanging cherimoya trees. fortunately she maps her migrations with haunted, exotic breath-and-electricity sphinxes ranging from 2006′s brute nature vs. wild magic to last year’s brainwashing birthday of bless you lp. 2009 finds her offering up another psychic harvest unto the world, silver sea surfer school, a new nine-song pipeline ride that floats through a whole new web of voice orbs and tape hiss and keyboard balladry. if anything, silver sea is saelens’ weirdest hour, layered in abstract environments, whispers, distant poetry, free percussion loops, with sudden passages of heart-dissolving ghost-piano beauty (“shine on from the heaven above,” “adventure in light”). heavily impressive, and a brave pearl-dive into even more personal waters for the inca ore lifeforce. lps come in jackets with art by saelens, plus a full-color insert. edition of 500 (40 on clear ocean-water vinyl, 180 on marbled blue/white, 280 on black).
the soundtrack to houston at night. synths as guitar attack, phased out beats pummeling your tired brain. your head is swimming and there is nothing but concrete jungle and stucco as far as the eye can see. there is nowhere else you would rather be.
rookie railcar leaper rory dalley channels the athletic parabola energies on this uprooted and winged heap of cremated beats, petrology funk and heavily composted cadillac fleetwood groove. tape treks off in the lower paleolithic grotto mind, coalmining and telecombing the sumner beach fluorescence, shifting from shuffled sandhopper trapeze to iridized octopus kit-splash somewhere further down the floating coastline. medicated contra-fizz and sunstroke splatter dubbed straight to the ebbing tide, then windswept to tape live over the unlearned spirits of ginger baker, keith moon, mitch mitchell and levi eshleman. second side drifts the emblazoned offworld breeze of interrogated mini-koto and amethyst-clustered gunk-gaku. explict hex scenes, rug use, duck language, and totally rated basic instinct. c20. 50 copies.
cd version of the lp. includes slipcase packaging & bonus tracks… the inner space is the stuff of legend. this obscure outfit is best known as the antecessor band of can and not much is known about them except it featured the core members of can (irmin schmidt, holger czukay, michael karoli and jaki liebezeit) and lasted just a few months before renaming themselves the can and releasing monster movie. they left two ultra-obscure seven inches as their only recorded legacy and only the first of them is credited to the inner space, it contained two songs taken from the soundtrack of 1969′s underground film agilok & blubbo. originally released by the german vogue label in 1969, it currently fetches prices around the 300 euro mark in the collector’s circuit. given the obscurity of both the band and its recorded output, we’re proud to present, for the first time to the public, not only the aforementioned singles but the complete soundtrack to peter f. scheneider’s offbeat political satire agilok & blubbo. previously unavailable until now, the original master tapes of this soundtrack have been stored in the archives of legendary german producer and music publisher hans wewerka who produced the recording sessions back in 1969. here you can hear history in the making, the first step of a group of musicians who’ll go on to achieve fame, success and recognition over the ’70s, helping define a sound (often called krautrock) that has been highly influential to this day. those familiar with can’s output will recognize some of the band’s characteristic sound, albeit in an embryonic form. songs like ‘agilok & blubbo’ or ‘kamera song’ already hint at their later pop brilliance whereas the short cues and extended free jams found elsewhere in this soundtrack reminds us from the heterogeneous roots of a bunch of musicians coming from rock, jazz and avant-garde backgrounds. all in all, an excellent glimpse into the early stages of an innovative band developing its own musical language. this reissue includes detailed liner notes by wah wah’s very own raül g.pratginestós and comes illustrated by original b/w shoots from the movie production… a very cool document and pretty essential for any serious can / krautrock fan.
the inner space is the stuff of legend. this obscure outfit is best known as the antecessor band of can and not much is known about them except it featured the core members of can (irmin schmidt, holger czukay, michael karoli and jaki liebezeit) and lasted just a few months before renaming themselves the can and releasing monster movie. they left two ultra-obscure seven inches as their only recorded legacy and only the first of them is credited to the inner space, it contained two songs taken from the soundtrack of 1969′s underground film agilok & blubbo. originally released by the german vogue label in 1969, it currently fetches prices around the 300 euro mark in the collector’s circuit. given the obscurity of both the band and its recorded output, we’re proud to present, for the first time to the public, not only the aforementioned singles but the complete soundtrack to peter f. scheneider’s offbeat political satire agilok & blubbo. previously unavailable until now, the original master tapes of this soundtrack have been stored in the archives of legendary german producer and music publisher hans wewerka who produced the recording sessions back in 1969. here you can hear history in the making, the first step of a group of musicians who’ll go on to achieve fame, success and recognition over the ’70s, helping define a sound (often called krautrock) that has been highly influential to this day. those familiar with can’s output will recognize some of the band’s characteristic sound, albeit in an embryonic form. songs like ‘agilok & blubbo’ or ‘kamera song’ already hint at their later pop brilliance whereas the short cues and extended free jams found elsewhere in this soundtrack reminds us from the heterogeneous roots of a bunch of musicians coming from rock, jazz and avant-garde backgrounds. all in all, an excellent glimpse into the early stages of an innovative band developing its own musical language. this reissue includes detailed liner notes by wah wah’s very own raül g.pratginestós and comes illustrated by original b/w shoots from the movie production… a very cool document and pretty essential for any serious can / krautrock fan.
inside is the one man psychedelic drone outfit of sandy schaare who hails from new zealand.”celestial telepathy” is inside’s debut release on 3″cdr, featuring a single 20 minute piece constructed entirely on electric guitar. to call”celestial telepathy” an electric guitar piece is probably a misnomer, as schaare manages to mutate the sound of the instrument into something completely unrecognisable as guitar. drifting waves and curling smoke trails float around as if propelled by schaare’s trademark guitar chime that appears to have more in common sonically speaking with singing bowls or bells. the disc is limited to 100 copies, packaged in pvc slipcases with an insert, features beautiful psychedelic cover-art by schaare himself… long sold out.
inspector 22 is the solo-project of todd emmert. he has both recorded and performed under that name in the chapel hill, nc area since 1997. “…lost somewhere in the limbo of folk an’ punk very much in the vein of little stevie mccabe an’ the axemen.”-roland woodbe “…a great blend of stark loner-folk disturbance and wigged out, assemblage oriented cheese.”-byron coley… nice new release on big blood’s micro label. beautifully packaged screen printed art paper covers, with inserts, etc.
inspector 22 is the solo-project of todd emmert. he has both recorded and performed under that name in the chapel hill, nc area since 1997…. ‘lost somewhere in the limbo of folk an’ punk very much in the vein of little stevie mccabe an’ the axemen.” – roland woodbe… ‘a great blend of stark loner-folk disturbance and wigged out, assemblage oriented cheese.” – byron coley… on big blood’s micro label. beautifully packaged screen printed art paper covers with vellum overlay, with insert, etc.
besides home to the hells angels, farmers and citrus grooves, san bernardino, california was also where instant orange lived and released their first single in 1968. the band forged ahead and released another single (1973), album (1973) and two 10″ eps (1974 & 1975). all of their releases were small pressings of 100 copies and to this day, instant orange remains virtually unknown. their homemade sound is a refreshing reflection of their west coast folk-rock influences that were so prevalent during the ’60s and early ’70s. all original tracks with inspiration from bands like the byrds, buffalo springfield, love, sandy bull and others. songs full of electric and acoustic guitars with nice doses of mcguinnesque 12-string riffing as well as many unsuspecting surprises (antiquated electronic effects, rambling rural explorations, long jams, experimental moves, stoner banter and other weirdness between songs, caveman fuzz, etc). a solid listen with enough original imagination to keep it interesting without the band creating an identity crisis by trying too hard to be something else than themselves. hear it all on this limited double album, but grab it before it becomes elusive like some of san bernardino’s motorcycle riding inhabitants. 450 numbered/glossy heavy gatefold sleeve/180 gram pressing/insert… one last copy of this cool one.
debut vinyl release from natural snow buildings’ solange gularte’s solo project, isengrind. modlitewnik continues solange’s fantasticly far out occult psych-folk-drone trip outs, 12 tracks across the length of this lp, considerably shorter pieces in comparison to her work with mehdi in natural snow buildings, isengrind retains a certain amount of the sound of the duo, but it is a whole other beast, in many ways much stranger and darker, but still hauntingly beautiful with some fantastic blissed out vocal drones, dreamy guitars, and psyche soaked dark drone zones. heavyweight vinyl, housed in a pro-printed full colour fold over sleeve with all 4 panels featuring stunning artwork by solange, the inside of the cover is especially spectacular. one time pressing of approx 600 copies… already sold out at source.
islaja’s third album is a journey deeper into the world that for us is a dream and a fairytale, but to her a reality. islaja as a concept has turned into a star that is expected to shine with brilliance. but she is something else. the songs tell us about the decay of our age, its demise and immorality, its plunge into heartless consumer culture. islaja herself does not burn in that same fire. her fire is an inner fire. behind her eyes and in her heart you can see and hear her true charisma. true dedication and utter disrespect for the artificial authority made by men. yet she is not the self-destructive nico or the eccentric bjerk. but a good woman. a tough one. her eyes can burn a hole in you. her songs are poems and stabbing knives.’ –sami senpekkile; islaja is merja kokkonen, a young visual artist and musician living and working in helsinki, finland. islaja records her music at home using a rainbow of instruments to accompany her personal vocal delivery sung in finnish. she has performed with avarus, kemialliset ystevet and is also a member of hertta lussu esse, a free-folk super trio with lau nau and kuupuu very sweet one.
the first jomf studio release since the critically acclaimed 2005 cd, flags of the sacred harp. produced by adam forkner, valley of fire contains three brand new finely crafted songs and a 20 minute classic psychedelic dirt road journey. the record represents two equally fascinating aspects of jomf, songwriting and musical arrangement. over the years jomf have spent equal time writing and arranging classic american folk and blues and long, freeform compositions, drawing comparisons to 1960s and 70s ensembles like ash ra temple, amon duul, amm, faust, can and the art ensemble of chicago, while at the same time developing a song crafting style passed down through generations. valley of fire picks up the trail of flags of the sacred harp and wanders down a similar path, adding elements of krautrock and classic west coast american production to create an incredible, original album. the cover of valley of fire is an original watercolour painting by american artist jo jackson, who creates mystical paintings and shows her work around the world… covers have banged corners, so reduced price.
jackwacker crawled out of the bleak bubble of the early 90′s bloomington, indiana followed by a short lived relocation to madison, wisconsin, where they soon dissolved. thriving briefly as outsiders of the midwest no-wave scene, they shared bills amongst folks like couch, duotron, the scissor girls, the flying luttenbachers, to live and shave in l.a., zerobot and lake of dracula. stearing clear of flacid progressive rock virtuoso noodling, jackwacker have instead created the perfect juxtaposition of primal noise and know-how rock sounds. plainly speaking, they just fucking rock.
this album is a legendary artifact for all 60s and 70s music collectors, original copies in good condition change hands for about 500 us$. the spirit of the music is a tasty combination between aggressive groovy fuzz-garage-hard rock and atmospheric psych-folk with moody vocals and a poetic message, comparable to world in sound’s legendary phantasia or dr. hooker. in between perfectly arranged songs like ’you don’t walk on my street,’ ’i remember’ and the psych-trip ’sleepers,’ you’ll hear weird spoken word themes as guatamalan strange, electronic silver and heavy-riff instrumentals. this was the debut release by michael james, who’s still active in the music business with his own label, empath records, and the groups children of the risk, michael yonkers and mounting santa feat. dr. fink of prince’s revolution. this lp-reissue is produced from the original analog master tapes… deluxe reissue of this total obscurity.
the 1978 release of corwood industries #0739, ready for the house, began one of the most compelling, disturbed, and singular legacies in musical history. in the 30 years since this unique debut, jandek has released 53 albums of mournful, atonal music that continues to defy classification and accessibility. and while the past three decades of intense productivity have yielded a depth of discussion, a handful of legendary live performances and even a film documentary, no amount of time or experience can prepare a listener for the experience of ready for the house. beyond stark, beyond oblique, beyond outsider, the first jandek lp (originally credited to the units) explores musical territories no one even knew existed, with just a hollowed-out voice and a lonely, detuned guitar. in 1985, it had infamously sold less than ten of the 1000 copies originally pressed, however by 1999, when it was issued on cd, the vinyl had completely disappeared, with original copies changing hands for hundreds of dollars. this exact vinyl repress on corwood industries, is the first time ready for the house has been available on vinyl for nearly 20 years, finally giving collectors and fans the opportunity to own one of the most peculiar, solitary, and strangely magnetic records of all time.
hip uk private press from one half of the excellent red kites. solo guitar trance with plenty velvets damaged drone and feedback. obscure all silver metallic covers. way limited.
a totally unreleased album from 1969. this birmingham based and velvett fogg connected “underground” quartet, recorded an album back in 1969 which was intended to be released by polydor uk. that never happened and the material shelved. now, almost 40 years after the recordings finished, you’ll be able to listen to a lost jewel from the late 60′s uk psychedelic scene. excellent poetic lyrics, with a particular 60’s feeling, by keith law, agreeable singing by both the male voices, heavy guitar solos, and occasional organ, flutes, recorder, sitar. with guest appearances by andy bown, peter frampton, michael berg, brian appleyeard. marvelous stuff…!!! this is an official, fully licenced, vinyl edition taken from the original master tapes. it has a gimmick cover (a window opens and presents a group-photo). and contains a, 4-pages full coloured, insert with lyrics, photos and bio and a big sized psychedelic poster (40x60cm); all in high quality paper. limited to 400 copies. 180gm black vinyl, in pvc protective outer sleeve.
spider reincarnated into a master-burning bunch of cheap whiskey drinkers. little popsong melodiebook. pink. style pink. very little plastic. kick off time in distortion. medley melodies.”pulp voxtrotter vocal/mental institution blues – i’m feelin’ it — whothe fuck is neil clucax?” both wagstaff (aka joincey) and jarvis are wellknown for their work in several bands like a warm palindrome and their collabs with people like neil campbell, phill todd etc – the usual trashed & thrashed imvated packaging. limited to 63.
a truely dedicated cassette of recordings done in august. icy synth tone-shards tunneling themselves through immense layers of ice before melting into a beautiful, jaw dropping audiovisual landscape which then again warps itself into guitar chords spreading warm waves of greatness dedicated to his newly born son. edition of 50. skull drawing by jarvis himself… another nice one this too overlooked uk figure.
the 12” ep is limited to 500 copies worldwide. each record comes in a one of a kind vintage record jacket. the front side is silk-screened and the back has a hand pasted track listing which is also silk-screened. also included is a free mp3 download coupon. 2 is the second 12” from javelin. their debut 12” released by thrill jockey last november sold out the week of release javelin consists of two cousins, tom van buskirk and george langford. they started making music together in providence, ri in 2004, although their earliest collaborative tapes date back to a bunk bedroom near the sea shore. they now live in new york. in performance, javelin will use colorfully painted boomboxes that form large speaker totems (“boombaatas”) which can hang from the ceiling or stack up on the floor like pyramids. the signal from the show is broadcast via fm transmitter, thereby fostering audience participation (b.y.o.boombox) or fueling battery-powered, mobile parties. the duo has played venues as diverse as the children’s branch of the olneyville public library (ri), to the museum of modern art (ny), both of which happened in the same week. when not performing, javelin is busy producing. together they have amassed a vast catalogue of music, varying in its aesthetic range. songs resemble the record collection from whence they spring, if not literally as when sampling, then figuratively as when past forms are cited and re-contextualized. sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their mpcs. long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. the result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical “dollar bins of the future”), where r & b impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and andean flautists hold equal sway.
beautiful 7″ by this cool duo from providence! their sound although is not much like their colleagues’ in the super city usa. in javelin’s music samples and their own playing melt into a great whole of genius groovy living room music. perfect music for summer night after-parties in amusement parks. it’s so incredibly fresh you want to explode when it’s over! to avoid explosion you want to listen to the 7″ forever! not exploding means that you can enjoy your life and love this beautiful world – whoa – now this is not quite what you’d expect maybe, but pretty damn fun non the less, especially at 45rpms!
long awaited follow up to the “true story of abner jay” lp. abner jay was a man who had a grand sweeping vision of what folk music was. in his lifetime his expression of what folk music could be encompassed some serious stylistic variations. sometimes he was a one man band traveling troubadour playing an electric banjo, harmonica, & drums who tried to hoodwink audiences into believing that he was 150 years old & the standard bearer for authentic americana. sometimes he played in electric straight up r&b bands such as “koko joe & the jobhunters”. sometimes he claimed to be the “black bob dylan” strumming an acoustic guitar & singing socially conscious urban folk. on this lp we find abner in all of these modes & more. (he also does a pop song about a submarine disaster & a beautiful gospel song) culled from a mix of abners’ 45′s & lps spanning the period 1964 – 1973, including abner’s first long lost lp, which we reproduced the cover image for this lp from. we hope that this release will help to further the current wave of understanding that abner jay is an important artist who deserves a wider audience than he ever received during his lifetime. comes with a self promotional pamphlet penned by abner & a color photo of abner. housed in an old school tip on sleeve. we are very proud to get this incredibly hard to find material out into the world.
restock/repressed… compilation culled from abners’ self released lps & 7″s featuring hits such as ‘i’m so depressed,’ ‘cocaine’, ‘vietnam,’ & ‘the reason young people do drugs.’ abner jay was a one-man band singer/songwriter deserving of a wider listening audience than he received in his day. this is the first vinyl release of his material since the 1970s. great soulful folk & r&b music. most copies of the lp include a press photo of abner, transcriptions of his spoken word pieces, a reproduction of an informative pamphlet about abner & a press statement penned by abner himself. tip on jacket.
debut vinyl lp from manchester’s david a. jaycock (who is also a member of big eye family players), david had a 7″ on the excellent great pop supplement and presets follows on from that fine release. presets features 12 tracks of melancholic folk almost entirely performed by david on a variety of instruments, and it’s a real step forward to darker areas than his previous releases on great pop supplement, early winter recordings and the red deer club. the record retains some of the more haunting vocal and guitar moments from aforementioned excursions, and at times is comparable to ben chasny’s six organs of admittance, but it has a much stranger and hard to place approach and sound, with some fantastic dark creepy tracks, blurring creaking, clunking objects with something that sounds like guitar, transformed into something far more sinister… but somehow at the same time retains a feeling that everything isn’t quite as bleak as it seems. edition of 250 with pro printed sleeves. pressed on virgin vinyl.
in which noise abounds, melody and beauty are found incidentally, and visceral sounds reach for visceral ears. of the four words in the above heading, only the second and fourth are truly evoked from this disc, silence being the hardest to come by. with guitar tracks that are saturated in feedback ‘n distortion and arhythmic spoken-word vocals over a bedrock of pulsing drones and beats, this album will put the fear in you like a good ital. horror flick. dense noise-rock orchestrations that are minimal yet overflowing. dirt and soul in a grimey oasis of fuzz. limited to 40.
brand new split lp featuring heavy hitting uk bleak dudes… a-side is jazzfinger’s ‘killed in a clear sky’, one solid slab of fucked up tapped guitar drone and distant errie whir… like a storm of electric feedback, slashes and cuts. far out, and a real killer 20 odd minutes to make you lull out. b-side is a collaboration between culver and fordell research unit, another side long piece, that starts off with some bassed up doom chugs and slogs that sound like fucking something that could lay down by some southern lord brutality, but then it punches you in the face with its distorted churning hell. limited to 280 white label lps in black sleeves with hideous brutal artwork by french.
danish label reverse recordings have just released a jazzkammer/opec split lp. our side is a 20 minute turntable freak-out, while opec offer a more subtle but no less intense soundscape. 323 copies, silkscreened covers and a proper vinyl mastering by the good rashad at d+m in berlin. — lasse marhaug (jazzkammer) — another sweet one on this hip label. two color screen printed art on a heavy clear vinyl sleeve, screen printed round art paper insert, numbered to 323.
danish label reverse recordings have just released a jazzkammer/opec split lp. our side is a 20 minute turntable freak-out, while opec offer a more subtle but no less intense soundscape. 323 copies, silkscreened covers and a proper vinyl mastering by the good rashad at d+m in berlin. – lasse marhaug (jazzkammer) – another sweet one on this hip label. two color screen printed art on a heavy clear vinyl sleeve, screen printed round art paper insert, numbered to 323.
portland / oregon-sacramento / california: 580 miles. one of the longest trip for the first jennifer gentle north american tour. they play at the academy of fools, a sort of garage converted as an art gallery: a big open space, low ceiling, completely empty, walls without anything, no stage, no audio system, just a microphone. it seams the beginning of a bad night, on the contrary due to the wonderful view and the beautiful californian sun, or just for themselves and their fans, the jennifer gentle decided to play anyway; not their usual repertory to much noisy but just an improvisation made by their instinct. the result was a hypno jam session, relaxed, honeiric. the day after jennifer gentle play at the davis kdvs radio, where they propose and records the same jam of the previous night, which became the”sacramento session”. back to home, working on marco’s improvisations with different sounds, manipulated, mixed and remixed, they found the specular image from a distorted mirror of the”sacramento session”:”5 of 3″ is the perfect b side, the balance and overturn of that californian night. we would like also to remark you that”sacramento session / 5 of 3″ is not the jennifer gentle new studio album, but is instead a combo of a jam session together with a studio manipulation. packaging in a de-luxe and elegant fold-out cover – opaque red vinyl. very limited edition.
debut full length by this death cult trio. first track is psychotic piece of mind captured on the concrete floor. followed by a parable trilogy about a loved canine’s murder by a zealous rural gunslinger, recorded thick in the asbestos death dust of dreamtime village – very limited and out of print.
hangzhou’s li jianhong has been performing alone and in the duo d!o!d!o!d! for several years, but he only caught western ears last year with the monumental san sheng shi, released by philadelphia’s archive cd. oceanic and desolate, lovers with cloisonné bracelet cements li as a distinctive voice in modern noise. the two halves of this record are an ideal introduction to li’s music: “lovers in misery” offers a restrained, electric swell; “time in the mirror” wallows in hototogisu-an guitar hell. without sacrificing pacing for density, li has crafted an album that decimates the retrograde psychedelic guitar landscape and trivializes the petty violence of much harsh noise. edition of 350 180gm lps in heavy-stock linen-paper sleeves hand-screened, -cut, and –glued by reuben little of 43rd parallel press.
with its immediately recognizable m c escher cover, this intriguing folk/rock/psych release from 1974 is another incredibly rare album enjoying its first legitimate reissue. a joint effort’s final effort was originally recorded and released by canada’s university of new brunswick on its little records label (little records 101); despite its lack of wider recognition, this is generally regarded by those who know as a diverse and eclectic album with a number of outstanding tracks. one pundit described it as ’a weird mix of early csny, with shades of perth county conspiracy and a dash of early eagles thrown in.’ the first side, with the superb ’winter’ is particularly impressive — largely acoustic hippy folk rock with the occasional electric guitar thrown in for good measure. side two, however, is an altogether rockier affair with standout tracks ’greed for goldand,’ an up-tempo fuzzed-out cover of ’a horse with no name’ combining effectively to elevate final effort to a different musical plane. original cover has been reproduced as well as rare original insert.
since 1989, glenn jones has led boston’s “avant -garage” instrumental rock band cul de sac, whose musical adventures are documented on nine albums to date, including a soundtrack for cult-director roger corman (the strangler’s wife, 2003), and collaborations with guitarist john fahey (the epiphany of glenn jones, 1996) and former can vocalist damo suzuki (abhayamudra, 2004). a 30-plus-year devotee of the so-called “takoma school,” jones has written extensively on the steel-string guitar’s leading lights: john fahey, with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years, and robbie basho, who befriended jones during the five years before his untimely death in 1986. in 2001, jones began playing acoustic guitar in earnest, which he hadn’t touched in more than a decade. in 2004, jones stepped out of the long shadow cast by takoma’s guitar visionaries and offered his own “new possibility” — this is the wind that blows it out, an impeccable album of acoustic 6 ¨ 12-string beauty, released to rave review. since then, jones has kept busy performing with many leading lights of the guitar soli movement, past and present, while penning new material for what is destined to be known as his crowning achievement. against which the sea continually beats is an indisputable triumph of acoustic guitar composition, a reverential and innovative melding of sound and form. against which the sea continually beats was recorded over four days during late september 2006 in beautiful west tinsbury, martha’s vineyard, ma. the peaceful, seafaring setting of the island community inspired the recording sessions, lending an air of tranquility that served to coax from glenn jones impeccable performances, most of which were captured in just one take. bookended by the brief slide blues laments “island 1″ and “island 2″, against which the sea continually beats’ eleven tunes travel from delta to appalachia, from classical to a cinematic sort of folk sound in a language that is purely imbued in the artists’ own dialect. “david and the phoenix” unfurls like a robbie basho-style american raga, but with a particular propulsion laden with melodic hooks to keep it from floating away; “little dog’s day”, originally found on imaginational anthem vol. 1 as a previous recording, benefits greatly from the martha’s vineyard sessions as the overall feel is more relaxed and precise, lending a bit of bounce and swagger to the folk ditty. “freedom raga”, a staple in jones’ live set, at 11:04 is the longest tune on the album and although not a raga at all but rather a triumphant 12-string straddling of the mason-dixon line, it is every bit as epic in scope as the title suggests; and “the teething necklace (for john fahey)”, a tune that jones was working on in 2001 when he got the news that john fahey had died, finally fleshed itself out while touring europe with jack rose and is in itself a tremendously nuanced, delicately understated bit of fingerstyle allegory. graceful and subtle, resonating with confidence and at times sheer power, against which the sea continually beats is a masterpiece of guitar soli by a truly singular talent… excellent new solo cd.
guitarist /composer glenn jones claims a lengthy and rich relationship to what his longtime friend john fahey so famously dubbed ‘american primitive guitar.’ aside from being seduced by punk in its latter-’70s heyday and brandishing the electric for a large portion of his career (including 20 years as a founding member of post-rock instrumentalists cul de sac), it was the acoustic steel-string and the seemingly multi-directional genres born from fahey’s homespun takoma imprint that informed much of jones’ early musical vision. he’s also an accomplished writer and producer, penning notes for many of fahey’s reissues as well as his final posthumous album red cross; it was from jones’ personal archive that the robbie basho live concert album bonn 1st supreme he produced for bo’ weavil recordings (entrusted to him by the late basho, whom he befriended in the latter years of his life) was exhumed. in short, he’s an authority on the subject, both as a player and scholar, and with two gorgeous, critically-acclaimed solo albums under his belt, jones is widely and justly recognized as one of the major voices of the international wave of acoustic steel string players that seemingly crested in the wake of fahey’s death. barbecue bob in fishtown is jones’ latest, a disarmingly elegiac foray into wider and deeper streams of ever-chiming steel string. returning to martha’s vineyard where jones recorded his previous masterwork (against which the sea continually beats, strange attractors, 2007), barbecue bob in fishtown explores the possibilities of classical composition within american folk forms and solo instrumentation. it’s precisely this stylistic melding which sets jones apart from his modern-day acoustic underground brethren. jones is able to discover and project wide-screened cinema from just 6 & 12 strings, coaxing vivid panoramic images from his sparkling fingerstyle playing. experimentations with tuning and various capos of his own invention are wed with delicately expressive playing and a remarkable compositional prowess. barbecue bob in fishtown also finds jones’ performing solo on 5-string banjo for the first time on record, exhuming the spirit of clive’s original band as seen through a dock boggs-esque prism. barbecue bob in fishtown distills the best qualities of jones’ musical vision into a finely honed summation of his distinctly singular style. a timeless recording, one to be held up as one of the best examples of the genre by a unique player dubbed by writer bill meyer in signal to noise as ‘…an elder amongst the disciples.’… limited 180gm vinyl version.
the first in a series of 5 x 45s as a collaborative project between the gps and bo weavil records. the project runs something like this: a sides feature 5 c joynes originals while b sides feature reworkings / remixes of other c joynes pieces by friends and artists involved with all parties concerned. volume 1 here is in an edition of 350 in die cut tower sleeves, on numbered yellow vinyl.
the first ever release on black petal by japanese musicians… the right people were finally found… and we dont even need to make a fancy explanation – this is pure beautiful pop abstracted by avant-garde tactics and obtuse lyrical concerns (like prince). cdr and seemingly too popular for this little operation.
orange you glad is the debut full-length lp from julian lynch, following a string of self-released cd-r’s and a recent split 7″ with his childhood friend and frequent collaborator matt mondanile of ducktails on the underwater peoples label. a talented multi-instrumentalist, julian has had a busy summer playing countless shows both solo and as a member of predator vision, ducktails, and real estate offshoot alex bleeker & the freaks. this album is comprised of 4-track home recordings made in his hometown of ridgewood, new jersey and also in madison, wisconsin where he is a graduate student in ethnomusicology. his interest in indian & south asian music blossomed several years ago when he was living in washington, d.c. and working for smithsonian folkways recordings. this exposure to their vast library of world music has informed his output, and he blends instruments such as harmonium & tabla with guitar-rock instrumentation. also of note is his use of circular breathing techniques on the clarinet — often a focal point during his meditative live shows.
guerssen records is proud to release on vinyl nothing less than an essential album to anyone with a minimum interest in psychedelic music. this very rare 1968 uk album, originally released on the major minor label, features essential psych classics such as “dandelion seeds” and “my clown.” this is the definitive vinyl reissue of this beauty, pressed on 180 gram vinyl and housed in a high-quality carton cover with old-style backflaps and a fantastic 4-page insert with photos and extensive liner notes by uk psych authority david wells. also included is a full-color reproduction of the rare-as-hell original promo poster… great upgrade of this total classic.
the first legitimate re-issue of this mega rare californian psychedelic monster. this is one of the best and most sought after psychedelic gems ever recorded, with amazing and fluid heavy fuzz guitars, superb organ, drums and fantastic songwriting. recorded in new york in 1969 while the band was living in a farm in vermont. the original was pressed in a run of 50 demo copies only! no names or hints are given on the original lp but after over a decade of excruciating search, miguel rodriguez, the man behind finding darius, garrett lund, stonewall and many more, finally found the band members! so here is your chance to listen to one of the great mystical albums of the psychedelic private press collectors’ realm at the fraction of the cost of the original, in amazing sound. this gem comes in a gatefold cover with unseen pictures and full band history, released in full collaboration with the surviving band members… great to see this finally get a high quality legit reissue! been a long time fave ‘round time-lag since way back. recommended!
denmark is a place teeming with half fried organic drone crews such as sarah’s charity and family underground. kaezm is the solo output for nicolas kauffmann of fu; here he channels electricity through criss-crossing patterns creating a midrange din full of lament. nic’s drones move with static builds from a variety of sources and multiple levels of echoing chorus: airy, buzzing mantras tinged with middle eastern vibes and a deepening sense of time beat down like an incessant rainfall in a storm of hiss. in an edition of 100 labeled tapes with full color art by nic.
more madness from the sprawling mymwly collective comes to us via kageplan. this project is the brainchild of native aussie katrina mcphie. in mymwly fashion, this album is a total manic headfuck. mcphie mixes rhythmic guitar playing with a bevy of samples and hypnotic vocals. this sound world is for acid heavyweights, swirling around your head like a million buzzing bees. mcphie gets help from ian mcintyre (of ffehro, majik, & soarwhole) on most tracks, but this is her show. these spaced out jams will suck you dry and leave you for dead. and really, that’s just the way we like it. 100 copies.
“misora” (which can be roughly translated as beautiful sky), the 1972 debut album by sachiko kanenobu, a woman generally acknowledged as japans first female singer-songwriter. it’s a near-perfect folk masterpiece, alternating full-bodied arrangements (produced by harry hosono of yellow magic orchestra and happy end) with sachiko’s lonesome guitar and pure, soaring vocals. discovered as a precocious 18 year old in osaka, sachiko was signed in 1968 to japan’s first ever independent record company, urc (underground record club), who changed japan’s musical landscape irrevocably in the late 60s and early 70s with artists like happy end, folk crusaders and kenji endo. sachiko was the only female artist on this era-defining label and the very fact that she wrote and sang her own songs made her a rarity among japanese women. limited reissue of 500 copies, in gatefold cover and with a 4 page insert featuring extensive linernotes, lyrics translated into english by sachiko herself, and never before seen photos from the singers own archives.
new reissue of ohio psych, folk, rock and strange from ’71-’72. originality was not an issue with the jammers. they are ‘real.’ 500 legit pressings, black vinyl with bonus non-lp 45! also with band history insert and a real sharp looking glossy cover. ‘waiting for the messiah’, ‘midnight watch’.
debut album from this massive free ensemble from louisville which features a revolving cast of over 50 musicians including members of sapat, valley of ashes, virgin eye blood brothers, son of earth, taiwan death and the belgian waffles. the hermit consists of three extended pieces that offer spaciously abstract atmospheres as well as moments of righteous cacophony. utilizing a multitude of brass, reeds and percussion the album careens through numerous passages where intricate harmonics are created from the densely layered sounds. when the full force of the ensemble is unleashed individual elements appear and quickly recede into the squall. as the music nearly becomes unhinged, the sound disintegrates into a godzilla-like rockist thud propelled by the rhythm section and soaring horns before drifting to a sparse conclusion. the lp comes in a full colour jacket with homespun artifacts gracing the cover – very limited.
the new decade begins with a groovy explosion of sound and colors: ladies and gentlemen, here comes the new rock syndicate. band leader kawaguchi masami is a veteran of the tokyo underground scene, being former miminokoto, broomdusters and lsd march member, both seminal projects in the development of a certain way to make rock, looking back at the tradition with a new approach, open to psychedelia, noise and free improvisation. as it happens, masami’s activities soon became the object of a passionate cult among music lovers and record collectors. ‘the psychedelic sounds of the new rock syndicate‘ is the definitive statement of masami as songwriter and ferocious guitar player, finding in kikuchi akira (bass), kiyasu (drums) and hasegawa yohei (guitar on ‘dazzling light’ and ‘(theme from) new rock syndicate’) the perfect partners in crime for this unbelievable new studio work. the album opens with an almost sabbattesque anthem (‘why’) where a heavy riffage is accompanied by lamentous vocals; second piece (‘affected dance’) is a deconstructed blues jam, with a touch of narcoleptic magic and simply beautiful. side b is where the miracle actually happens: every single track is a banger, a compendium of 50 years of rock music compressed in 18 minutes of fire on wax. songs like ‘repetition’ or ‘tottemo’ have been rotating non stop here since when we got the master recording. every other word is useless: a monument. first edition 250 copies, with spectacular artwork by standard in-fi visuals… nice one!
from all belgian projects maybe the best known. started the köhn project around 1997 and released three full albums on our label. right from the start köhn wasn’t happy with only providing the hip electronica world only an exploration of sounds, but decided to combine these sources to deliver a kind of pop from another angle. you’ll bump into pure electronica, pop melodies, ambient pieces and musique concrete. his soundpalet is music history uptill now. still: he did find his own signature. proof of this can be heard on the epic dble cd ‘koen’ which is mainly a sum of years of experience within a thin field. köhn also provides soundtracks to short movies and animations, produced music for dance performances/theatre plays and commercials. in between all this he tours the world (with or without visuals from hendrik dacquin) setting fire to most stages and plays in de portables. besides all this he also releases albums as jurgen deblonde on tomlab to break in completely into pop-territory. but 2003 is the year that both projects coming together more and more. other projects: jurgen deblonde, ed nolbed, frambooz, de portables, burda moden. the comeback we were all waiting for! ever since his “bruce willis” album (western vinyl, 2003) jürgen de blonde mainly focussed on music for dance and theatre productions. untill recently when he relived his old synthesizer festish. this finally resulted in “we need more space in the cosmos”, an ode to lost hero’s such as klaus schulze and jean-michel jarre. the album recalls eighties electronics, i.e. an era when kraut rock culminated into new space ages and cosmic television soundtracks. but still the köhn trademarks pop up from the very first second. his unique approach to music that made him differ from the likes of aphex twin and oval in the nineties, now shows the man as a cosmic courier of the 21st century. comes in a limited edition sleeve from the yves jeanson geometrical abstraction art collection.
once again, finnish-native keijo virtanen unloads another dirt-stained masterpiece. over the past few years he has assembled a group of artists that have become known as the free players. their collaborative efforts are like a clinic in improvisation. the interplay and spontaneity between them is epic. the free players often include members of finnish free-jazz pawnpins VAPAA, as well as KHETA HOTEM, KUNDALINI SNAKES, and others. ‘after at once’ is the ensemble’s first non-cdr release and finds them in top form. the members of vapaa play an integral role on ‘after at once.’ tiitus petajaniemi is especially key with his vocal wailings and incantantions. tribal percussion and chromatic whimsy often puncuatekeijo’s sarod-laden excursions through the mist. there’s a heavy indian influence on these recordings, stemming from keijo’s many trips its sub-continental shores. musically, ‘after at once’ is spacious, but cohesive. with the addition of the sarod on these recordings, the music takes on a life of its own. as always, keijo’s hand guides the magic and in the end, it’s still his world we’re living in.
wonderfully dreamy and spatious recordings by finnish ambient-mystic keijo virtanen, joined on these sessions by members of the band vapaa. synth and reed-instrument drones are married to discreet plucked strings, abstract percussion, and keijos harmonic singing. a 45 minute series of beautiful slow moments.
first duo collaboration of keijo & uton. here is 7 songs of droney & spacey blues jams, sometimes far away in cosmos, sometimes rockin the ground again. 60 copies.
on this outing the freeplayers move with gentle grace through realms of hazy free flowing rock and psyche spiked jammage. deeply meditative, cyclical and dreamy, perfect for the human nomind.
keijo is a finnish psych guru of sorts and here he is on a brand new label called reverb worship. this is thelabel’s first release and they’ll be doing ltd cdr runs of 50 in hand sprayed sleeves (this one looks a lot like a not not fun release). they’ve got some juicy bits coming up but i can’t say what they are! anyhoo keijo does a blues/ psych thing on guitar which sounds improvised and it’s a rather jolly thing. ‘about around’ is extremely widdly! – norman records… very first release on the label, long out of print. 50 numbered copies in hand painted covers.
the godfather of the finnish underground is back with his most complete album to date. keijo virtanen’s far-reaching hands can be felt throughout the nordic peninsula from his home in jyväskylä. while he often performs in numerous groups such as the free players and kheta hotem, it is in his solo work that he is most accomplished. virtanen is not just a talented and prolific musician, but also an artist and published author. his inspiration and creativity know no bounds. at 54 years-old, virtanen still rides his motorcycle all over the country and shows no signs of letting up. virtanen finally took his show on the road this past autumn, touring with members of uton and vapaa throughout northern europe. he also released two cds on the much heralded last visible dog imprint. flying over is the culmination of a landmark year for this troubadour. these nine tracks run the gambit of all of keijo’s talents, from the rattling blues transgressions of ‘on the edge,’ to the throat singing-laced organic drone of ‘late night here & far away.’ virtanen’s range is pure magic. while the bulk of flying over is entirely virtanen’s creation, he is joined by two of his closest collaborators on two tracks: sami virtanen and jussi karsikas, two extremely talented finns in their own right. whatever the moment calls for, though, virtanen fills the void and the empty space with exactly what is needed. he is a wizard of sound and a seemingly endless well of magnificent music. it shouldn’t be surprising for someone who makes their home at the center of the universe.
keijo’s songs draw from country-blues sources, as is often the case with his releases, there’s a couple of woody guthrie interpretations included here. harmonicas whine and woe, but also keep up the rhythm of keepin’ on. in these songs, people get up early and travel in a land “that used to be your land.” it’s a place where luck comes and goes, just like the people that you meet. the girl knows how to hit you like rolling thunder, the workers are left unpaid (the boss ain’t), the ones with no work are standing in the welfare line, your “true love” throws you a suitcase and shows you the door, there’s working in the country and in the cities, an anonymous wanderer carries the blues wherever he goes – but it’s bigger than just being down: you don’t see me worrying, ‘cos i’ve got nothing left to lose. that’s why we all share the blues… packaged in a full color 7inch sized cover.
this beautiful super-heavyweight lp, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the uk’s premier free drummer alex neilson, who’s played, amongst others, with motor ghost, directing hand, trembling bells, tight meat duo, josephine foster, bonnie ‘prince’ billy, jandek, mv&ee, richard youngs, baby dee and alastair galbraith, with nmperign member greg kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as anthony braxton’s reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. a screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of greg’s horn, unlike anything we’ve ever heard and he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes. limited to 500 copies.
another exercise in failure. spring 2003: with assistance from vic rawlings, i fill my room at club awesome in somerville ma w/ electri keyboards, synth, a small organ and set them all for drone. a radio plays static. record to md, output md through my stereo for low feedback. an electric fan is aimed at the microphone for the distorted vintage 78 effect (rpm, not the year). vic bowed a single cello note at some point and a cymbal was scraped. the intent: record in mono for 2 hours, communicate with the dead. after 1 hour, i couldn’t take it any more. my intended”two hours as – ” is now”one hour as – ” i fussed over it for a while. it’s kind of boring. i like boring, but – late winter 2004: i must do something with this recording. i decide to look backwards into the archives – january 8, 2000: i send out a call to arms: meet me at twisted village records, cambridge ma at 8pm. it’s scelsi’s birthday and we will play a memorial drone for him. the call was met by oliver alden, mike bullock, james baumgartner, seth cluett, james coleman, david dougan, david gross, tatsuya nakatani, howard stelzer, bhob rainey, vic rawlings. some automatic instruments played themselves. others may have been there, but i don’t remember. and you can’t really hear them anyway. back to late winter 2004: i record a new track onto my 4 track in my bedroom in allston ma. trumpet and radio static. (dj screw’s ghost inhabited my 4 track near the end of this track.) then i record a burning guitar solo for the end of my new and improved”one hour as – ” the mono drone, the scelsi tribute band, the trumpet/radio track and the hott guitar track are all mixed down from 4 track to md under the influence of samuel smith oatmeal stout. a vocal intro and headphone feedback interruptions are then added. the task is complete. it’s a bloodbath. what have i done?
i first met jeremy kelly at bottled smoke back in may and subsequently got to know him via email over the summer. simply put, he’s an incredible artist and musician. there’s a few things you should know… first, he’s an effects-building wizard. he makes a lot of his own stuff, giving his music unique sounds and textures. also, he’s one hell of a guitar player with one hell of a nice guitar. third, his circuit-bending wizardry also lends its hand to his mighty doepfer modular synth, which has its tendrils weaved all throughout his debut cd. so keeping all these things in mind, we’re extremely excited to be offering up jeremy’s first proper cd release. this self-titled effort is a cohesive conglomeration of a dizzying array of styles, recorded beautifully by ged gengras (antique brothers) with help from grant capes ((vxpxc)) out in los angeles. gengras even joins in on saz at one point, concocting a hypnotic middle-eastern jam that feels baked in the scorching desert sand. add in some blues-infused acoustic ragas that throw a nod to ben chasny’s six organs of admittance and glazed walls of analog noise, and you’re somewhere in the ballpark of this album. it’s all over the place, but never too far from the path kelly has laid down for himself. this is some serious magic. limited to 500 copies.
this is the first release from finland’s kemialliset ystävät since 2007. kemialliset ystävät equals jan anderzén. he is one of the few finnish musicians to have achieved renown in the international experimental circuit. in the case of anderzén — who also plies a trade as a visual artist — this is not a matter of juxtaposition between experimental and mainstream, or a calculated career choice. using music and images, he is busy creating a world that is a law unto itself, a world of exceptional freedom and beauty. earlier ky albums have been peppered with contributions by individuals such as islaja, the members of avarus and sami sänpäkkilä. it is not easy to distinguish who plays what on kemialliset ystävät recordings. rather than a side project consisting of solo parts, the band is an ecosystem within anderzén’s reality. one of the essential techniques applied by anderzén is collage, in sound as well as image. he is no conventional instrumental virtuoso; his music is created with a fluctuating array of instruments and equipment. the focus is less on instrumental prowess and more on the overall sound and impression as well as the tension between the various materials. as a manipulator of these elements, anderzén is in a league of his own. his sampler-based solo performances as tomutonttu have left no doubt about that. a close listening of anderzén’s music reveals its near-architectonic precision. he is known for an exceptionally painstaking approach to creating his music. all this hard work is readily evident in the finished product, not as an accentuated complexity but rather as a clear, independent vision. kemialliset ystävät is like a natural phenomenon. it is difficult to imagine anyone having consciously constructed it, such is the ease with which it presents itself to us. to be in the presence of anderzén’s work is captivating in the same way, simple yet inexplicable, as it is to stare into fire. it truly takes a master to create such an experience, but listening to this kemialliset ystävät album evokes just that: a feeling of lightness.
this is the fourth full-length album by kemialliset ystävät on the fonal label, originally released in 2007. pulsating, radiant and turbo-charged, this music shares the groove of a junk pile and a wild foal. it comes with the lovely smell of the chemical they spray on apple trees. it’s a highly ambitious effort originally planned to become a defiant message in a bottle, limited edition of one, addressed to the man. kemialliset ystävät has been rocking out for some time now and there is no end in sight. without all the experiments of the past, this record would not exist, and there’s still plenty of fresh perspective in the mix, too. listen to roope drum his belly, laura play tambura and jaakko go berserk on a chinese flute. lots of energy went into the mixing: a million voices from friends are twisted into one hypnotic, over-the-top sound textile that vibrates and grows in every direction, resembling a living organism, a merry beast. give it a hug and you will gain power — it is like shooting up echinacea. wrap it around you and tune in to the blizzard. sit down and blast as loud as possible.
better late than never (this was originally to be released in december), “winter solstice” finds kheta hotem in rare form, basking in the glow of the midnight sun. this finnish quintet featuring, among others, keijo virtanen and members of the free players and akisa, is a chaotic romp. with elements of free jazz creeping in from the margins to compliment the organic drones and shimmering percussion orchestra, these recordings are woven in solid gold. keijo’s throat singing is the perfect undercurrent for jilted saxophones to dance in the metallic rain. “winter solistice” is perhaps kheta hotem’s finest hour.
so i would imagine that youd have one look at the photo of king darves we have here and think “oh brother! another guy with a beard getting over what looks like a bad case of the clap and an acoustic guitar. wheres my axe?” so were not gonna put it up here. (mystique, dig?) but its really not like that, i tell you! the bedrock of king darves new brunswick based concoction is certainly folk based but theres no headband and hes not singing of pixies in the moss. this is somewhere between rolled cigs and the foggy vision of big pink from somewhere on jersey avenue, or maybe a one-manned meat puppets. this kid has really cobbled something together in his kitchen sink! the sun splits for… the blind swimmer will shock and please when the prettiest sound of his deep, rich voice comes out of yr headphones, and itll make you tap yr toes and nod yr head like a little jersey goil. – tony rettma.
king george discovery – peace of mind, was recorded in sweden in 1968 with the us musician king george clemens on guitar & vocals. a close friendship to jimi hendrix, who toured also sweden in 1968, dropped many tracks from the release plan when the band was recording an album which also came out that year. all tracks who where competing with the music of jimi hendrix was not released, until now. a collector from england found the unknown tracks who where pressed only as a demo lp for the band. what a great find. some tracks where placed on youtube and collectors where starting raving about this album. it is soo good, the guitar work is amazing, as psychedelic as it can get. we could release this album in cooperation with king george clemens and we are proud to have this treasure released on vinyl and later onto cd. it’s just great! one of the most important release this year for sure! 500 numbered / heavy sleeve / 180 gram pressing / 2 page inserts.
KIRBY, DAVID ~ INSIDE IT IS RINGING ~ cdr (students of decay) $10.00
this is it. long in the making, we have here thee definitive statement (for the time being) from atlanta, georgia soundwizard david kirby. and god, it’s a monster. “inside, it is ringing” is born of the same brain erasing dust as his recent “shrieks against the glass pt. 2″ and his work in the wire thicket duo. however, this record transcends those previous outings in every possible way. kirby offers cavernous drones, alien rumblings and static depth
charges here that could level mountains. his recording processes are as hermetic as they are obsessive, and, like the work of all the finest craftsmen, nothing is superfluous. play impossibly loud. inhale the vapors. and float the fuck away… out of print.
kohoutek’s a live experience and this cd-r + dvd-r captures them in that context with an amazing show and video in philadelphia this past year. this comes with amazing, original cover art by scott allison and features video by jim brophy. sweet. pick it up, only 50 copies – sweet damaged psych sounds. follow-up to last years self release debut.
levitating guitar drones and vocal moanin’ creepin’ out the suburbs of the west island of montreal. waves upon waves. dig a hole in the sand and stick your head in. found cover image photocopied on heavy card stock. hand numbered and stamped. spray painted cassettes. edition of 65.
this one’s a real tasty way to kick off a new label. ‘deep distance’ was created as a side project to the great pop supplement, a way of releasing some of the demos and planned releases within gps head dom’s primary love of all things motorik and kosmische themed… the first few releases are broadly based on the killer series of konrad schnitzler private press / gallery edition series of lps from 1974. borrowing the deliberately minimal single colour themes for sleeves and labels with all release details contained over a series of inserts and stickers. with some fabulous releases currently being discussed and negotiated, the series in the meantime kicks off with the incredible first volume of 2 planned ‘kosmonaut’ full lengths. released in a blue edition of 250 lps on vinyl only, kosmonaut is the brainchild of texan patrick r. park, whose stunning cassette and cdr releases on his own “ethereal mother” label point at some holy kosmische collision of schulze, froese, ash ra / gottsching, and latter day celestial synth explorers expo 70, jonas reinhardt and mist, amongst others. a fabulous lp in a numbered edition of 250, not expected to sit around long…. a second volume follows as does the previously gps destined ‘karen novotny x’ full length of killer previously discarded 1978 synth experiments partly inspired by chris carter / tg, cabaret voltaire, the normal et al… contrary to much web based mis-info these are all black vinyl, not blue vinyl… just so you know!
now available on yellow chrome pro-dubbed tape is kosmonaut’s official debut, the dilation of mother cosmos. kosmonaut is patrick r. park, who despite being physically located in texas and on planet earth, possibly inhabits another cerebral realm from within the universe. the sounds of kosmonaut are very heavily influenced by the gorgeous soundscapes of vintage synths of yesteryear and emanate total ashra, heldon, and cluster worship. the dilation of mother cosmos is the epic story of the galactic dilation of the cosmic cervix, resulting in the regeneration and progagation of a new cosmos. journey to the deepest caverns of your mind, and take the voyage with kosmonaut! this cassette was released by ethereal mother tapes, and is available in 75 hand-numbered limited edition cassette tapes.
after quite a while a new private press album from this wonderful finnish crew who seem to operate in their own little world. dreamy, mellow, soothing progfolk with acid flashed, sweet female vocals, mellotron, violin, etc. really lovely subtle stuff. their two earlier lps flew out of here quick years ago, and chances are if you dug those you’ll need this one too. nice. numbered edition of 500 copies with double-sided insert. 180gm vinyl.
for those that don’t know kousokuya are a cult garage pysch rock trio formed in the 70’s in the tokyo underground music scene by main member, and recently deceased jutok kaneko. despite having existed for 20+ years the bands output has been fairly sparse with a few releases on psf and one domestic us release on the forced exposure label. originally the archive release was to be comprised of a fantastic live performance on cd from osaka in 2001 but having discovered the existence of video footage from the same performance, coupled with the efforts of james a bonus dvd was added to the mix. this release represents to date the only video document of jutok and kousokuya released in official capacity and realistically represent a chance for fans of obscure psych to see a band, and artist, that basically played outside of japan only a handful of times. this pressing of 700 copies comes packaged in a ? fold heavy black stock cover with metallic silver and gloss varnish silkscreen work by the wonderful alan sherry of siwa records. the cd and dvd come in black envelopes held together by a silkscreen obi strip… sweet one.
field recordings get a whole new meaning on this album. sharron kraus and michael tanner (of plinth and united bible studies) took their instruments to the rheidol valley in wales and improvised songs, inspired and accompanied by the nature sounds. the result are eight very diverse experimental yet traditional sounding folksongs, that are very much related to both artists’ solo output. comes in beautiful screenprinted sleeves, in an edition of 250 copies. sharron kraus is a singer/musician/songwriter with a gift for beautiful and heartbreaking songs from a deep- seated storytelling mythology. her music, rooted in the folk traditions of england and appalachia, is characterized by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar, and visionary word-craft. she is like the roving storyteller, bringing tales of terror, sadness and joy to a stranger’s hearth on a dark and stormy night. not surprising, kraus has been featured in the wire, arthur magazine, ptolemaic terrascope and broken face. her fanbase includes veteran folkies shirley collins and archie fisher as well as indie figureheads michael gira, david tibet , and sonic youth’s thurston moore. her list of collaborations is just as impressive in the past, she worked with the likes of the iditarod, fursaxa and meg baird and helena espvall of espers. though this record is the first one that has michael tanner’s name on the sleeve, he’s far from being a newcomer. most of his solo-output has been released under the name plinth, on labels like second language or apollolaan. he also recorded and played live with the likes of pantaleimon, united bible studies and tex la homa. before this album, he already worked with sharron on her album ‘the fox’s wedding’… quite lovely stuff.
long out of print 1995 private press from this obscure & rather hip italian space rock / psych / drone outfit. two extended tracks. clear yellow vinyl in a plain black cover. very limited.
archive lp of material recorded by tori kudo and some fellow travellers during a stay in new york in the summer of 1981. originally released on cassette the approach on these recordings was a long way from the creepy organ driven “noise tenno” lp that tori and reiko released a year earlier. about half of ‘atlantic city’ consists of songs, teeth bared and falling apart as they come together but still in a style similar to tori’s subsequent work with maher shalal hash baz. the other half is made up mostly of extended guitar jams nodding equally to rock and blues but retaining tori’s rather unique take on the idioms. cover and insert art on the lp is adapted from drawings drawn and photos taken in ny and atlantic city in 1981… beautifully packaged & fully screen printed as always. great stuff. recommended.
unilintu is the second of two vinyl-only lps on the dekorder label compiling the best material from kuupuus first four cd-r and cassette releases, this time presenting a slightly darker and even more coherent sonic vision compared to last years gorgeous yökehrä lp… awesome vinyl slab of kuupuu femme drone folk psych greatness. sweet full color photo cover. highest recommendation!
jonna karanka aka kuupuu is one of the main movers of the (deservedly) much hyped finnish psychedelic free folk scene. originally hailing from tampere she is known as a core member of avarus, anaksimandros, kukkkiva poliisi and maniacs dream. additionally, she has recently started hertta lussu esse with lau nau and islaja and has collaborated with tomutonttu (aka jan anderzen of kemialliset ystevet) and paavi (as lussu ja paavi). “yekehre” is the first of two vinyl-only lp’s on the dekorder label compiling the best material from her first four cd-r and cassette releases, all of which immediately became much sought after collector’s items, fetching ridicolous prices on the ebay market. this lp is a beautifull collection of haunting (sometimes spooky) home baked freeform folk songs, strange lo-fi loops, vocal drones and psychedelic cut-ups, made using weirdly tuned plucked and strummed strings, bells, clattery percussion, unidentifiable wind instruments, backwards tape loops and a ton of other noisemakers all played and recorded by herself; accompanied by her distinctive voice (often looped and layered) with vocals sung and whispered in her native finnish language making the whole atmosphere even more haunting and mysterious. jonna karanka creates an intimate space where the listener feels like sitting next to her in a small chamber or outside in the woods where kuupuu sings a lullaby just for him. we’re proud to say that this has to be one of the most exciting debut albums of the year. housed in a full colour sleeve with beautifull design / drawings / collage artwork by jonna karanka herself… awesome release. highly recommended!
shrine presents a summer of 2004, post-midnight, outdoor field recording made on the footpaths of japan’s largest shinto shrine and documents the first time meeting of japanese improvising duo kuwayama-kijima with nyc’s carter thornton (izititiz, zashiki-warashi, enos slaughter). constructed with a mixture of cellos, violins, guitars, sticks, leaves, rocks, toys, security guards and wind, the music drones, hisses, screeches and whines with the humid japanese dark within which it was created. limited to 500 vinyl copies.
here is one the the best and longest album we ever did. side a has 8 tracks studio (25 minutes) and side b 7 tracks live (28 minutes). this band from guadalajara, mexico never did a complete album (only 7 inches and an comp. on orfeon). la fachada de piedra (the stone facade) is a 6 piece band with 2 guitarists. the cream influenced bluesy underground blows you away. all english vocals, original songs, effects, screaming guitars (like eric clapton & peter green in best action) with hendrix style drug-out psychedelic… long out of print. extra heavy thick covers, 180gm vinyl, only 350 copies.
live to air in lyttelton in may 2009 when the musician pretended to be a duo from kaiapoi and conducted a fake interview with its revenant participants. ominous mists embraced the surrounding hills, before creeping toward the quiescent harbour. apologetic rainbows. c20. pro dubs times 100.
first release on this new label / custom hi-fi creator. adam kriney from owl xounds and co. lay down more deep space psych sounds. hand done full color packaging. limited to only 100 copies.
“the risk of gravitation” is the stunning new summer 08 tour mini-album by brooklyn’s la otracina, who have long wandered and forged sounds in the hidden lands of heavy psychedelia and progressive space music. this 7 track 32+ minute excursion is a major paradigm shift for the group as drummer adam kriney is now on vocal duties as well, adding yet another layer of epic intensity to the swirling chaos of evan sobel’s fender bass vi low-end destruction and new guitarist philippe ortanez’s ecstatically angular bliss-out. this disc shifts between tracks of classic la otracina free-form freakout brilliance and their current vocal-heavy jams, which put the progressive psych back into early heavy metal while exploring realms of dark doom-sludge thunder and the graceful complexity of early canterbury jazz-rock. refusing to be quantified, it is clear that la otracina remain in an orbit of their own, seeking out the cosmic weird and channeling it through hard rock power! first press limited edition of 100 numbered copies.
brand new tour only limited to 100 copies splattered vinyl with signed posters!! shifts between tracks of classic la otracina free-form freak-out brilliance and their current vocal-heavy jams, which put the progressive psych back into early heavy metal while exploring realms of dark doom-sludge thunder and the graceful complexity of early canterbury jazz-rock. refusing to be quantified, it is clear that la otracina remain in an orbit of their own, seeking out the cosmic weird and channeling it through hard rock power!
when their recent “tonal ellipse of the one” cd came out on holy mountain, the boys hit the road and created this limited tour ep to bathe the masses in astral jelly! three tracks featuring extensive collage work and new music by new bassist evan sobel. source material includes new / unreleased recordings of trio improvisations during the adam kriney/ninni morgia/jordon schranz period as well as some material from earlier out-of-print eps. a brilliant mix of acid-rock blowout, early electronic kraut innovations, and lush drones / tones.
brand new studio album! yes, these sonic spacemen have just finished yet another studio album, this one channeling yet even newer ideas into their boundless sphere of psychedelic transmissions! quite different from their current “space-metal” live show, this new studio album swirls between worlds of loner cosmic psych-folk meditations, 70′s european electronic-progressive space music (i.e. – heldon / tangerine dream / cluster / spacecraft / pulsar), overblown freak-rock improvisation and heavy-dark-brooding new music-meets-industrial sound-collage mind warp! 9 songs, 35 minutes, professionally printed cd-rs and full color inserts, 1st edition of 100!
lagger blues machine came from belgium and was founded in 1970 by christian duponchell, organ, jean-luc duponcheel, drums, jose cuisset, guitars and michael maes, bass. in 1971 the band joined the musicians vincent mottoulle, organs and carmelo pilotta, flute and saxophone. the band played very interesting progressive-rock and raised up soon to an important live-band at whole of belgium. so they performed with great success at end of october 1970 at the pop-festival, bruselles, together with warhorse and wishbone ash. in 1972 their only album was recorded which was very well done and can be considered today as a very important album in prog-rock history of the seventies. the official reissue, which is presented here, comes with an interesting insert and 180 gram vinyl – slightly banged corner. low price.
crazy psychedelic electronica. the second album from the mysterious lamppukello, a follow-up to auringonpaisteessa hämärtä – ja hämärtessä aurinko paistaa that was released by foxglove last year. crazy vocals, weird loops and some noise, handpainted sleeves, limited edition of 66 copies.
outside of philadelphia i was born and raised, and in the playground i spent quite a few of my younger days. at the time i had a preference for brunettes but years pass and we change. when my tendencies turned toward blondes i began to hear the call of the big rotten apple and at eighteen, away i went. gone were the lonely, sweaty summer nights of pa. the crickets were still cricken’ but not in my ears. i was in new york and i was looking for action. some crave love, some seek danger but i was on the hunt for open mics and not to brag—i found ‘em. in a section of the city once referred to as alphabet on the lower east side there lurks a lot of white guys with acoustic guitars. this minor mass of songsters would meet one, two and sometimes three times a week in the back of bars, smoking, drinking and sharing with each other our newest creations. it was there that i met some good friends and came of age beginning to play my own shows and tour. one of the most endearing and standout qualities of slim’s live shows is the sureness that one is always entering a genuine gospel-like musical experience full of little miracles. be set free has captured this charisma and spirit -the “hold your heart” moments and “raise a drink” dance vibes shine throughout with lush string arrangements and the fine sonic talents of drummer malachi delorenzo and new bassist jeff ratner. langhorne’s stronger than ever vocals lead the journey blending his poetry through the beautiful chaos and bearing a wisdom that reflects a broken heart battling the perils of true hope. be set free is langhorne’s most cinematic and cohesive effort to date. slim has truly reached a point of light where these songs come from wide-eyed maturity and mastered craft. gut wrenching lyrics and gorgeous merry melodies-it would be easy to categorize it as folk, but this time-it’s much more complex than just that slice of pie. sweet hallelujah choruses bleed throughout tracks like “land of dreams” and “say yes” and turn to the darkness of blues filled “i love you, but goodbye”.
we’re proud to present the first ever reissue of this monster rarity. one of the best xian psychedelic albums. privately pressed in 1972 in tiny quantities (200 or 500 copies as the band recalls), nowadays is very hard to obtain any and because of its hand-made and fragile cover it’s more common to find it without the cover or just with a trashed one. musically begins as a country-rock flavored band with grateful dead and quicksilver influences. but from the last track on side a and then, the album is “taking off”. a real “killer”. a combination of westcoasty folk-rock and moody psychedelic rock with superb male/ “dreamy”-female vocals and dual-guitar works. here’s an album that’s desperately in need of a reissue. it’s an early christian rock record, which, like wilson mckinley, is basically a record of its time with christian lyrics rather than something that has true roots in any christian musical tradition. much of it is lovely folk-rock, and there are a few very, very beautiful songs. the vocals are dreamy and, dare i say, heavenly. it’s not as consistent as, say, azitis or “spirit of elijah,” but the best songs here are the pinnacle of this genre. [am] taken from acid-archives of interest to the greek music collectors too, as lcs had in their ranks dimitri tsapatori and wis wife viki. our reissue is strictly limited to 400 black & 100 coloured copies. it shares the original cover and labels artwork. extra 16-pages, big shape (30×30 cm) booklet with extensive band bio, photos and lyrics. fully authorized and licenced by the band. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outersleeve.
glasgow drone magic from jani hervoten (uton), chris hladowski (scatter, the one ensemble of daniel padden, nalle) and ben reynolds. a sizzling psych summit to end all sizzling psych summits. edition of 60 numbered copies.
glasgow drone magic from jani hervoten (uton), chris hladowski (scatter, the one ensemble of daniel padden, nalle) and ben reynolds… out of print. one copy only.
many positive reviews have littered the web of this cassingle. bruno from ruralfaune calls this his “song of the year.” recorded in early 2006, the first side sounds eerily contemporary. dense, layered experimental pop music from the stratigraphic future.
once upon a time there was a world famous free jazz band rauhan orkesteri. all their instruments and half of the players were taken away, leaving only two peasant brothers and a pile of garbage. they abandoned melody, rhythm and the shine of chrome and started to build from the garbage the stormy temple of all miniatures, which they open for you right now. this is the top peak of lauhkeat lampaat’s work.
r.keenan lawler has spent the last 25 years developing his own personal sound world, constantly pushing himself in new directions and developing new techniques, while remaining completely focused on his vision. his experiments on 1930 national resonator guitar are the stuff of legend you sometimes hear from town to town by someone who may have had the good fortune to witness one of his performances. words such as cosmic, monolithic and deeply american have been used to describe the experience of his music. he has worked with other like-minded musicians such as matmos, pelt, rhys chatham, john butcher, charalambides, ignaz schick, philip samartzis, my morning jacket, david watson and lukas ligeti. in 1999 he self released ghost of a plane of air, it quickly went out of print and has since been heralded by many as a minimalist masterpiece. it is now available for a larger audience. lawler here pushes the bounds and very definition of the resonator guitar: bowing, picking, scraping, knocking and combining it with electro-acoustic manipulations and on site recordings. the sound that pours from the speakers is dense, affecting, cavernous and like no other, often delving from delicate picking into a flurry of notes and ecstatic drones. ghost of a plane of air is the sound of a man looking deep into his soul and coming out the other side changed, scarred and poetic. this reissue has been remastered, and includes a previously unreleased song recorded during the same time period.
in a genre built on obscured and unsung genius, corridor of faces transcends and stands out as a true psyche masterpiece. rising above any number of recently unearthed late-60s anglo-pop platters, the sole offering from small town massachusetts phenomenon lazy smoke is a cohesive, solid, classic album in every sense. ten songs that weave into one-another, painting some beautifully drifty sonic picture as they go. the first remarkable trait of lazy smoke’s sound is the lead vocals’ uncanny similarity to john lennon. if that likeness was the whole story, we would have a beatles sound-alike on our hands, and that would be that. upon digging just a little deeper below the surface, we instead find a darker tone and a patient, eerie and almost shut-in feeling resonating through the songs. while bands like the beatles and the left banke were singing about love, lament and hallucinated travel experiences, the songs on corridor of faces get sincerely dark right away. even the seemingly-light teenage love-themed ‘sarah saturday’ shares an undercurrent of on-the-edge uncertainty and dread. it’s this undercurrent that calls to mind comparisons to forever changes-era love and the more damaged end of the pop spectrum. originally privately pressed in ma in an edition of only 500 copies in 1968… includes liner notes & photos.
all songs were recorded during a few days in jenkeping early 2007. the recordings took place in viktor’s room in his father’s apartment (god bless tolerant neighbours). help was provided by jonas ottosson (sanchez is driven by demons) who played some, gustav karlsson (log cabin) who mastered the record and robin watkins (dialog cet) who made the beautiful purple (cd-r) and green (net) cover artwork together with jesper canell. the record includes songs that make a stunning impression. the free form tracks samerna hade rett and pink moonlight introduces a new shift in leafes music making. slow, dissonant and lose structured make the songs exciting and haunting. leafes howls with the wolves and bastard son are pop songs at their very best. interesting soundscapes and amazing lyrics brings that extra to the otherwise great songs. autumn storm is a tale inspired by the storm gudrun that caused a lot of destruction in the southern parts of sweden a few years ago. the song will surely bring tears to your eyes as you’ll hear about the animals taking shelter. the closing song wooden lung generates pictures of how modern life shapes us as human beings. the song is not without some sad parts but it’s neither without hope. in the mountain’s belly is a perfect break from the hectic urban life of ours and make you long for more of leafes peculiar direction in pots, drones and sad farmer’s broken hearts… really sweet release from this new project. beautifully packaged with a thick stack of art inserts. recommended.
wonderful release of folky pop songs from an american summer stripped down and slowed down to the bare bones. ten pieces about lost friends, angels, ghosts and mountain gods. recorded in a cool room during a hot week in a southern town.
long delayed vinyl reissue of this classic mid-2000s slab of voice-storm magic by pedal steel songstress heather leigh. originally on fag tapes. freshly remastered and with all new art by heath moerland. edition of 400.
promised for a long while now, november finally sees the release of this incredible album of rustic, very english, psych folk. boasting not only the songwriting prowess of adam leonard and the playing of the owl service’ steven collins but the majestic presence of pat gubler (aka pg six) across this beguiling, charming album. drawing from a wide ranging, genre crossing mix of inspirations for the record, adam quotes ’69 roy harper, tower recordings and klaus wchulze’ mighty “irrlicht” album on ohr, alongside a passing nod to syd and robyn hitchcock (check out the killer take on “the man who invented himself”). contractually agreed pressing of just 150 copies in numbered, pro-printed, psych forest sleeves…
phoenix records releases the oft-bootlegged heavier than a death in the family by legendary japanese rock/psychedelic noise band les rallizes denudés. this “album” is in fact, a blistering assemblage of live performances (all recorded in 1977, except for “people can choose,” which was recorded in 1973) which sits at an esteemed #3 position on julian cope’s japrocksampler top 50 list. reverb so heavy, it will split your frontal lobe in two… awesome vinyl upgrade!
“hasenlove” is the debut musical release of hamburg visual artist antonia leukers. she’s a founding member of “institut hasenbart”, a 10-piece artist collective dedicated to a meta-scientific research of hares and related social, zoological and aesthetical phenomena in reference to the art world and pop culture. leukers has previously created stitched, sewed and animated sculptures while casually growing cucumbers, working for a local in-vitro fertilization hospital and advising young people on erotic issues as a german dr. ruth for a popular online magazine. inspired by a journey to island, hearing local travel guides spontaneously interweaving their narrations with sudden outbursts of folklore chanting and an encounter with wolfgang miller’s (die tedliche doris) strategy of transforming and combining his (pseudo-)scientific, documentary and social research into a musical and artistic performance she started to elaborate her fellow artist’s lectures with musical renditions. as a passionate diy home-recording artist she has soldered her own microphones, used cheap toy instruments, gameboys and minidisc recordings of kitchen sounds to create her very own bricolage comic universe. by recycling corny aor mainstream rock/pop songs into some oddly disturbing and wonderfully weird rabbit love songs with newly-made german lyrics and combining these with some truly strange original compositions (ranging from freeform collage to distorted techno to deranged singer/songwriter stuff), she has created a musical love story in 7 parts. spiritually influenced by (though not really sounding alike) german “neue deutsche welle” artists such as der plan and theatrical and surreal performance bands like the residents her versions of popular love songs sound like a teenage/female andrew lloyd webber on bad acid. this 1-sided vinyl-only picture-disc lp is a strictly limited edtion of 300 copies. both the gorgeous design and ornamental etching on the b-side have been done by fellow hasenbart founding member renate nikolaus… all copies here include the VOM LIEBREIZ DES HASEN fanzine, an amazing 40-page fanzine accompanying the above lp with gorgeous art, lyrics, illustrations, photos, articles… screen printed & xeroxed… very cool & unusual art object!
a very obscure and nearly impossible-to-find piece of american acid folk-rock recorded in 1968 by mark levine — an underground dylanesque singer-songwriter, here backed by top-notch musicians like ry cooder and mike deasy. a complex and enjoyable piece of music from the outer fringes of the late ’60s featuring explicit lyrics (sex & drugs), and trippy liner notes and cover art.
lichens is rob lowe’s (90 day men) vehicle for performance and recording solo and with collaborators. lichens is a transfixing experience that loops wordless vocals into curtains of ghostly drone which lowe makes witchier with the addition of both acoustic and electric guitars, percussion and other effects. recorded live as a one-time improvisation without overdubs, the three tracks on the psychic nature of being reveal and extend already mesmerizing lichens live performances. holy mountain’s deluxe vinyl edition of the psychic nature of being comes housed in a sturdy old-style tip-on jacket that features original artwork by mr. lowe not available on the cd version… top notch space-out trance sounds. awesome album & great cover art too.
“the moon” kicks off lsl’s vinyl debut with some synth squelch/drum liftoff, until the trademark banjo and extremely-distorted guitar interplay begins the melodic tapestry, joined by four voices around one microphone. “no you won’t” was one of the earliest lsl tracks, recorded in an era before murk and caves. a clean electric guitar, bass, and banjo create the foundation upon which a nonchalant female lead vocal spooks some warnings punctuated by fluttering flute leads. as freaky as these folks come. hand-stamped (from hand-carved linoleum stamp) black 7″ vinyl record held in a chipboard sleeve, with a full-color photo pasted to the front and an in-house screenprinted front and back design. hand-stamped numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
“the moon” kicks off lsl’s vinyl debut with some synth squelch/drum liftoff, until the trademark banjo and extremely-distorted guitar interplay begins the melodic tapestry, joined by four voices around one microphone. “no you won’t” was one of the earliest lsl tracks, recorded in an era before murk and caves. a clean electric guitar, bass, and banjo create the foundation upon which a nonchalant female lead vocal spooks some warnings punctuated by fluttering flute leads. as freaky as these folks come. hand-stamped (from hand-carved linoleum stamp) black 7″ vinyl record held in a chipboard sleeve, with a full-color photo pasted to the front and an in-house screenprinted front and back design. hand-stamped numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
another unsung bunch of krautrock pioneers, limbus had formed in heidelberg in 1968. comprising the trio of odysseus artnerm, bernd henniger and gerd kraus, in 1969 recorded the groundbreaking new atlantis lp (subtitling it ‘cosmic music experience’) for cpm, a spaced-out concoction of free and psychedelic musics with strong folky and ethnical flavors sounding very much like a more ethnic take on free improvisation. in 1970 they become a quartet with the addition of matthias kniepper thus renaming themselves limbus 4 and went to record the puzzling mandalas lp, a further step in their cosmic ethnic improvisations, this time making use of a more varied instrumental palette and taking advantage of the possibilities of the recording studio. a unique album that ranks amongst the most adventurous ever released by ohr and which, to make things even better, spots another of those cool reinhard hippen covers designs made of doll parts (which graced the covers of the first five of the the label’s albums, this being actually the second ever ohr release). you don’t get them much trippier than this. strictly limited to 500 copies, gatefold cover, sealed copies w/info sticker.
although they sprung ready-made from of the ashes of legendary candombe/beat group el kinto, one of the best-kept secrets from uruguay’s musical mythology is nevertheless the group of musicians who recorded one album as limonada. so what happened? the story starts with the end of el kinto, when band leader and iconoclastic maniac eduardo mateo decided to embark on a solo career (see our lion productions collection of his early music for more details), and the other members of el kinto said ‘let’s do something together.’ and so it was that in the middle of 1970, limonada recorded their one and only album, ‘limonada’ (sondor 33.111). it is a strange record, with backwards tape splices and abrupt song changes, that remains at the same time absolutely accessible and very groovy, in a tropicalia sort of way, which might explain why it was an immediate success. in truth, it’s a profound mystery why the limonada lp – one of the ten best sellers of its time within three weeks of its release – seems to have vanished from the consciousness of even the most devoted fans of obscure music. until now, of course. now, on to the presentation – the highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside you will find an insert with historical background on the uruguayan scene, details of the band’s past, plenty of photos, as well as a brief overview of the legendary sondor label, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the sondor originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 500 copies.
lp version. limited edition of 500 copies worldwide. this is the second album from swedish folk siren lisa isaakson and her band lisa o piu. this is the follow-up to 2009′s critically-acclaimed debut album when this was the future. to get inspiration for the creation of behind the bend, lisa spent time in a small cottage located deep in the vast woods of vastmanland, sweden, where she enjoyed the last breath of the summer. every evening she and david svedmyr walked further into the woods to an old rowing boat that lay on the edge of a forest lake. in the light of the magically ever-glowing swedish summer midnight sun they paddled across the lake and then further along a forest creek with lush green trees that hung down over the fresh running water and water lilies. this is the kind of set and setting where you travel into another world… and they did. the initial recordings were made under a vaulted blue ceiling with gold stars in the old 15th century timber church of hjulsjö, sweden. the new album is filled with delicious and bewitching watery woodland folk hymnals — eloquent yet eerie. the harp has been given more space, the violin plays a greater role, the 12-stringed guitar plays graceful melodies and all is led by lisa’s gossamer vocals, as delicate as a wavering candle flame. come along for the ride… very lovely stuff here once again.
portland, or-by-way-of-michigan garage gang little claw first tripped our radar with their self-released why not 7 inch, which was/is raw and physical and swingin’ in all the ways you want a 7” to be. their la live shows proved even more ripping and charged; we were sold. so we sprung at the offer to enshrine their latest (and best) album, human taste, on vinyl for the world’s turntables to adore. packed with classic, cracked anthems (“frozen in the future,” “colors you drown”), basement weirdo stompers (“modern vampire,” “breathing tape,”) and naked art-punk riddles (“lay to waste,” “summerphile”), the lp’s two sides are slyly sequenced to seduce, blind, and devour, demonstrating a rad range of attacks, escapes, claws, tongues. it’s a great late summer record: between styles, beyond genres, and aggressively alive. taste the taste. black vinyl lps in jackets with art designed by the band, plus a pro-printed, double-sided 11×17 poster/insert. edition of 600.
adagio830 is proud to release the debut full lenght lp by our friend christian deroeck. after touring the us this fall for almost 4 weeks and released this album on cd by himself – this is the proper vinyl version. all records come w/ heavy cardboard cover, spot uv, poster inlay and heavy vinyl. christian deroeck spent most of the past decade writing, touring & recording with the brooklyn indie/punk band meneguar. in late 2006, he and bandmate jeremy earl decided to combine their bedroom recordings and release them together, as woods. they recorded two albums together and toured the us and europe. in early 2008, for several reasons, christian left both bands. he spent the summer of 2008 working as a carpenter in eastern long island. inhabiting a tiny basement room, he began working on the songs that shape on the knife. in the fall he moved back to brooklyn and teamed up with his old friend, multi-instrumentalist dylan edrich (chain and the gang), and little gold was born. recorded to tape at emandee studio in brooklyn, on the knife is a deeply personal take on love and loss, and was very much shaped by christian’s departure from his previous bands. like his earlier work with woods, the songwriting is earnest, and of course there are a few indulgent headphone tracks as well. now joined by stand-up drummer patty conway, little gold has begun to incorporate more improvisational and psychedelic sounds into their mellow, country-rock oeuvre, and in the process are becoming a notable live act around nyc… recommended!
weird freedom, the second full-length from brooklyn’s little gold sounds like a celebration, and with good reason. it is the inaugural release for the band’s own loud baby imprint, and it’s little gold’s first lp as a proper band. shortly following his departure from folk feral enthusiasts woods, christian deroeck assumed the little gold moniker and in 2009 released the wayfaring bridge-burner on the knife. in support of the record, deroeck toured for several months, picking up and putting down members along the way. upon returning to brooklyn in the winter of 2009, he teamed up with brian markham and pat broderick of psychedelic shredders ancient sky, and a new sound began to take shape. in stark contrast to the melancholic, country-tinged on the knife, weird freedom is a rock band getting weird in their new skin. while on the knife explored lonesome americana themes of isolation and addiction, weird freedom strips away the overt sad-sucker aesthetic in lieu of fuzzy power pop more akin to deroeck’s earlier work with meneguar. little gold has sped and turned up, plowing through 10 tracks in just over 30 minutes, including a frantic, feedback-drenched cover of “oh, dad!” an unreleased wooden wand gem. while the band is busy kicking the shit outta the barn, deroeck’s cryptic lyrics take the shape of beautiful, multicolored earworms, inching their way into your heart. thanks in equal part to markham’s easy-breezy basslines, washed-out harmonies, and broderick’s powerfully mellow drumming, weird freedom is a warm feeling, a summer record in every way. a record to blast while speeding with the windows down, singing along to tales of bike accidents, chainsaw surgery, and the joy of breaking up with someone you didn’t really love. lp pressed on sky blue vinyl in an edition of 500 copies.
this tape is a direct transmission from the mind of kyle field (a.k.a. little wings)… brain waves reflected off a storm cloud and the nearby ocean… song droplets from kyle and the windy mother. a chill out tape of eclectic covers, little wings classics remixed, a little story telling, and a fully new song to boot. recorded on cassette tape live in the dream yurt, high on the cliffs of big sur, california, above the pacific ocean, one late night in may 2011, in the midst of a gentle but unrelenting rain storm which eventually cut the party short by outing the power. “made it rain” is a wild artifact from the wild west. this volume of echomancy is represented by the meteorological symbol for a rain storm… nice deluxe packaging & includes download version too.
ltd ed of 300 lps in covers that were hand-painted by kyle field of little wings, who is as renowned for his art as he is his incredible songwriting. a split release with the awesome gnome life records in big sur, ca, made it rain was originally released on cassette as part of their echomancy series. piaptk, gnomelife, and kyle each have only 100 copies available. gnome life said it best when they said: made it rain is a direct transmission from the mind of kyle field (a.k.a. little wings)… brain waves reflected off a storm cloud and the nearby ocean… song droplets from kyle and the windy mother. a chill out tape of eclectic covers, little wings classics remixed, a little story telling, and a fully new song to boot. recorded on cassette tape live in the dream yurt, high on the cliffs of big sur, california, above the pacific ocean, one late night in may 2011, in the midst of a gentle but unrelenting rain storm which eventually cut the party short by outing the power. “made it rain” is a wild artifact from the wild west… great stuff and sure to vanish in a wink. very limited stock.
the living sacrifice band was the continuity of the legendary last call of shiloh which anazitisi records had released some months ago (see arlp70-40f). in 1975 pastor john murray founded the living sacrifice band with john rosenberry, member of the last call of shiloh too. the band headquartered in spokane washington. the band would play out of the sonshine inn, a coffeehouse that would pack out hundreds of young people. often people were turned away in great number for there was no room to enter. a more detailed account of this time can be found in pastor murray’s book of his life story, chosen to honour thee. from 1975 to 1982 the living sacrifice band would play literally hundreds of concerts from the west coast to the east coast and privately produce 3 albums between 1977 and 1981. “beauty for ashes” is their second one, from 1979. side a contains 5 pleasant xian folk-rock ballads, with beautiful female vocals and excellent flute and keyboards work, reminiscent of early 70′s uk bands. side b seems to be different enough, containing 3 extended rock (you could even call them heavy rock) tracks with female and male vocals as well and lots of fuzzy, distorted guitars, and wild flute leads. 3 tracks of the album are (co-)written by jim and vicky tsapatoris of last call of shiloh fame. the “catching away” is a reinterpretation of the “rapture” included in the lcs lp…. “mellow folk praise dominates side one, a more or less pleasant and peaceful sound highlighting acoustic guitar, a pair of flutes and female lead vocals. the title track especially has a lovely minor-key beauty. the three extended tracks that make up side two, however, are where the real edge kicks in. ‘conquered death’ has a mid- tempo classic rock feel with harmonica, hard rock guitar, flute and electric piano each getting a solo turn. more tasty guitar leads follow on ‘the catching away’ and ‘the great day’, both excellent lengthy progressive tracks re-interpreted from last call with positive results (a touch jazzier, with the addition of lead flute and keyboard passages).two cover variations exist: one featuring simple black lettering over a white background, the other an old-fashioned photograph of a girl holding flowers, again both pressed in micro quantities.” (ken scott -archivist)… this is an officialy reissue, represented here with the original b/w cover which is much rarer than the second edition from 1980, with the well-known “flower girl” cover. fully laminated cover. includes extra triptych (6-pages lp-sized) insert with bio, photos, lyrics and memorabilia and a reproduction of the second 1980 edition’s (“flower girl”) front and back cover. reproduction of an lsb original poster is also included. limited to 200 black and 100 coloured copies. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outsleeve… black vinyl version.
loosers from portugal continues with their psychedelic free noise jams after releases on labels such as qbico, ruby red, meudiademorte and woodsist. a quiet and subtle guitar-driven piece, feels like a slooow and hot sunday afternoon. the flipside has more crude and dirty out there jazz madness from brooklyn’s owl xounds exploding galaxy, featuring adam from holy mountains la otracina. 420 copies, all on black vinyl.
portuguese sidelights seekers finally unveil this thick black dinner plate of drums and mosque smoke. 2-color silkscreen of a jeremy earl drawing on a textile-photocopied sleeve. edition of 340.
in early 2008, thrill jockey released gyromancy, a limited edition art book & cd release from robert a.a. lowe & rose lazar. gyromancy featured a 3″ cd of music from robert a.a. lowe and was accompanied by a 72 page perfect-bound book featuring the art of both lowe and rose lazar. thrill jockey is now happy to present eclipses, a limited edition lp-only release again featuring the music of lowe and the visual artwork of both lowe and lazar. eclipses is an extension of gyromancy. remaining in view of what came before and altering the vision. pushing out beyond natural terrestrial landscapes into those slightly more cosmic or alien in scope. it makes an appropriate addendum to the onset of this particular phase. the music was recorded at home by lowe utilizing semi-modular and polyphonic analogue synthesizers. accompanying the full length lp is a 12″ x 36″ double-sided full color poster showcasing the artwork of both lowe and lazar. this is again included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music.
robert aiki aubrey lowe (lichens, singer, 90 day men) constructs haunting, beautiful, at times hypnotic rhythms and melodies using synthesizers. his love of the warm, bubbling, physical sounds of the synthesizer permeates these seven songs, which seem simultaneously strangely familiar yet also somehow distant and alien. fazo iv: la kvalito de speguloj (phase 4: the quality of mirrors) is a further extension of lowe’s exploration of sonic vocabularies and emotional landscapes. because the modes lowe utilizes are tonally and melodically universal to his ear, he has titled the album in the language of esperanto– the universal language constructed to foster international understanding and peace. this notion of univeral understanding comes through in waves on fazo iv. there is a certain tranquility in these tracks– something very meditative and therapeutic; a calming honesty that leads the mind inward and transcends language. limited edition of 300 lps pressed on 150 gram vinyl with full color 11×17 poster insert.
as the title would suggest represents footage james filmed of all three members of lsd march (shinsuke michishita, ikuro takahashi, masami kawaguchi) performing solo sets at philly’s best book store, bigjar, while on a short us tour in the fall of 2006. shinsuke and masami’s renderings represent a japanese working of psychy folk for guitar and vocals. ikuro offers a contrasted short piece of oscillator assemble that is firmly rooted in the avant-garde, with overtones of conceptualist art, found sound, and experimentalism. the release comes packaged in a 3 fold heavy stock cover with a pressing size of 550 copies design and silkscreen by jason killinger from birds of maya.
with parallel suns samara lubelski has flown into a higher orbit with her merger of the fuels of folk, psychedelia and pop. they combine into a potent mixture that gives her compositions a vibrancy that shimmers in the reflection of their power. the music streams down and ends up in your ear through dappled arrangements that are warm and bright while still having them shaded with darkness from both the lyrics and sound… limited vinyl version. by far her best yet, and thats saying a lot. recommended!
lussu and magneetti are a finnish-american duo from helsinki. they joined forces in early summer of 2006 and began recording in lussu’s appartment shortly thereafter. their debut release is noisy, droney music: vignettes of drum beats laced with ethereal voices and reverbed guitar. at times, it unleashes harsh episodes of distorted rhythms and noise, other times, a dark universe of”spooked-out” earthy tones coming from either the finnish forest or the”spin-cycle” of your washing machine. this limited editon of 150 copies is beautifully decorated with pressed leaves handpicked near the road of a main norwegian highway. delicate and unique, this cd-r release greets its audience with both visual and aural delights – new project from jonna karanka (kuupuu), so you know its gooood! very lovely packaging too.
julian lynch is from ridgewood, new jersey. the songs featured on this 7” single were originally created for the 2008 album, born2run. the recordings contain both acoustic and electric guitar, a drum kit, a keyboard and julian’s voice. everything was recorded on a tascam portastudio 424. while the initial taping began in julian’s family basement (birthplace of the alex bleeker and the freaks debut), the brunt of the work took place in an empty apartment in madison, wisconsin. in a new town with no furniture, julian recorded the album. includes cd-r of born2run in it’s entirety. born2run was originally made available as a tape by wild animal kingdom records, in 2009. julian also produced 75 copies of the album on cd-r. since it’s minimal physical debut, born2run has been lovingly featured on countless mp3 blogs such as dayvanzombear, forlorn-valleys, bee boo bee bop, a cassette cathedral and prisms of fame. julian’s music can now be found all across the world wide web, sweet messages often dangle beneath. julian’s second lp, mare, is coming out on olde english spelling bee this summer.
second full-length album by julian lynch. recorded in madison, wisconsin and ridgewood, new jersey in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. download coupon included… sweet new one. recommended.
standard edition of the dreamweapon exhibit catalog with texts by lou reed, la monte young, ira cohen, plus exhibit curators johan kugelberg and will swofford cameron. this edition includes a laid in memorial letterpress broadside commemorating ira cohen, reprinting a 1976 ode to cohen by angus maclise. printed by jon beacham/the brother in elysium press. edition of 1000… 120 pages, full-color, perfect bound. really cool document. recommended.
the end of january sees this superb new release by the magic carpathians.”gharana” has been specially recorded for reverb worship.the recording consists of three collective improvisations by the band featuring eric arn, anna nacher, marek styczynski and audrey widota. available now in a limited edition of 50 copies.
through a mutual admiration of each other’s work magic lantern & the hop-frog kollectiv have created two stunning masterpieces for a collaborative release. the hop-frog kollectiv’s somba is based on recordings on silvertone and hammond organs donated by shea m. gauer of open books and features yanqin (chinese dulcimer), ruan (moon guitar), been, electric guitar, midi guitar & flutes. the title comes from the regionally known name of three clans in the atakora mountains of the sahara desert who’s ancestral and family ties govern their society through their belief that the dead are permanently among us and constantly influencing us. magic lantern’s underwater dynasty was recorded for ukelele, guitar, flute, piano, bells, hand drums & voices. this piece could alternatively be titled underwater raga. the magic created by the interweaving flute and string melodies creates and epic soundtrack to an atlantis like hesse-esque world that’ll take you to the outer places you’ve always needed to explore. this is magic lantern’s follow up to their highly acclaimed wax release on not not fun entitled high beams. this lp is limited to 300 copies.
companion banger to the platoon lp, this 33 rpm single finds the lanterns firmly in retro motor city rave-up rockist terrain, covering the cult classic “showstopper” on the a, backed with their own james brown soul revue funk-rock shaker “cypress” on the flip. recorded during the platoon sessions and mastered by james plotkin. black vinyl 7 inches in cosmic boogie collage jackets designed by cameron stallones. edition of 500… already out of print.
documenting last summers tour with lambsbread and featuring guests joshua burkett & steve gunn. on pete nolan’s own elusive imprint. crude block printed envelope covers with insert. way limited.
all hail this new supergroup of finnish mystics. the magick travelling backpack band is no longer showering, but is bathing with rocks and grime all over western europe. they’ve been booted out of that magic forest that burned down years ago, anyway. so who are these moaning, droning superstars? the backpack band on this go around is keijo, uton, j. koho & tiitus (of vapaa, the free players, kulkija, etc), & christelle gualdi. and it’s gualdi who keeps things in check. while the finns do their best to muck everything up, spilling buckets of psychedelic mud skronk and painting the windows and walls as black as coal, gualdi’s crystalline voice calms everything down. sizzle. 100 copies.
a formality and restraint the markers have never exerted on their previously recorded material is present on boss. now the markers are jainists, with their mouths masked so as to not inhale even one tiny insect, here pursuing the killer gentle with a vengeance. recorded in the cavernous dark of echo canyon west, with producer lee ranaldo working the boards like a diviner, boss documents the markers with a previously unheard fidelity and orchestration. idiosyncratic song structure and melodies interspersed with a destructive drum stomp are reminiscent of the early electrified blues of junior kimbrough, or the black hole rhythms of kousokuya. mixing a gentle vulnerability with a winded egomania, the markers have always had a musical tunnel vision; boss is that vision made manifest… self released edition of only 500. screened covers. wicked.
another killer markers gem on pete nolan’s great & elusive arbitray signs label. two more discs in the series that started with the awesome road pussy’ disc a month or two back – these ones are equally great. as burning, damaged, grooving, ridicolous as ever. nice sreenprinted art paper envelope packaging with insert, to match road pussy’. recommended and surely quite limited.
recorded in san francisco a few months ago in a home studio zone.. moves like some kind of deep space taffy pull.. haz from jazzfinger really likes this one… screened covers.
another insane markers release. this includes some of the same stuff as the ’road pussy’ cdr, but is not the same album, rather the entire road pussy session… got it? crude screen printed envelope covers, this time a bit oversized. damn limited, no doubt.
lost in between heaven and hell, sprawling psychedelic grooves picture brothers of the occult sisterhood, terracid and friends painting spirals of red dust on snake dancing bodies in front of a new golden dawn. edition of 83.
feedback drenched guitarnoise drones by rinji fukuda’s majutsu no niwa, his follow-up band to the legendary overhang party. a magical garden of post-velvet doom stripped to the bare essentials by way of the japanese psyche. 100 copies.
hooray! boy am i happy to be putting this cracker out. recorded live, without the cumbersome weight of newfangled techniques such as ‘overdubs’ (gee-whiz!) which may seem a little commonplace for you hip-to-be-square cats until you realise that the good mr malcolm plays two guitars and percussion with his feet. his third guitar, the guitar he actually holds in his hands, has about half a million strings and a number of contact mics imbedded where the sun-don’t-shine to amplify a host of springs, triangles, and other junkyard ephemera. this is a second-to-none ride through a world of sunshine, as viewed through net curtains from a darkened room in suburban new zealand. charming, stupifying, and profoundly accomplished. the noise of music!
manaia is the solo project of jen strickland, who wastes no time in establishing herself with this cdr as one of the more evocative solo artists stepping across the modern garage-psych landscape. “faith” is filled with the kinds of peculiarities that keep me coming back to a disc. the vocal delivery, the recording quality, and the guitar tones, all have a genuine “worked over” quality that gives this album an immediate depth. strickland’s voice cries out and whispers cryptic mantras that speak of spiritual yearning and discovery but all without sounding cliche or cheesy. ~ foxy digitalis. features 2 way-out cover versions of buffy sainte-marie’s ‘he’s a keeper of the fire’ and a creepy a capella translation of townes van zandt’s ‘if i needed you’. amazing hand-assembled packaging – screenprinted silver ink on deep blue metallic-infused paper. limited edition of 100 copies. exceptional packaging as always. nice!
somewhat of a concept album, each disc has a theme : exile, anger & faith, and each disc features a different recording situation. overall the sound comes off something like early pj harvey or sandra bell – emotionally taught female vocals accompanied by often chugging / chrunchy electric guitars, as well as occasional drums, synth, clarinet, slide guitar & electronics. a power dose of soul – amazing hand assembled packaging, each set is housed in a lovely handmade iridescent paper box with metallic embossing, art paper insert, vellum inner sleeves, and stenciled discs. numbered edition of 50 copies, only available here.
the fabulous third lp by mandrake memorial, one of the best bands of the us psychedelic sounds history, is the release chosen to open our new wah wah deluxe series. this marvelous 1970 lp from the poppy label is reissued for the first time ever on full 180 gram vinyl glory, housed in its original escher gatefold sleeve and complete with a colour insert that reproduces the original lp insert plus contains some interesting texts courtesy of poppy label founder kevin eggers and mandrake memorial member craig anderton. for those unfamiliar to this top band’s sounds, we’ll just add that their three lps shall be up there with the best works of the best bands that came out from the states in the psychedelic era. think of the west coast pop art experimental band, pearls before swine, united states of america and the likes. puzzle is a masterpiece that not only benefits from the master work of the mandrake members, but also from that of producer ron frangipane. the combination of talents delivers a perfect mix of classic psychedelia with beautiful orchestra passages.
new album by the most relentless free-rockers in the solar system. recorded after maniacs dream’s trip to zanzibar, where they succeeded to find the beauty of antiquity. ‘how beautiful! like in the homeric times!’ bella blossa said of the harem that inspired him to write the last song on side a. the song is a speed of light free fall into the orange hole, like the whole album! in time! comes with beautiful psychedelic covers by bema bergman!
dark, poetic beauty mixing cheerful northern californian brightness with the intensity and energy of the feelies, the clean or dream syndicate. frayed and frazzled pop, moody psych/folk, sinister and buzzy guitar squalls sweet enough to bite.
david maranha’s recordings stretch back over 20 years with the portuguese avant trio osso exótico, as well as collaborations with z’ev and minit. a followup to marches of the new world (2007), antarctica is made up of two side-long excursions into monolithic drone-rock. in the vein of tony conrad & faust, “venus in furs,” la monte young and terry riley, maranha’s ensemble is driven by keyboards, strings, and hypnotized-heartbeat percussion. like the great white expanse of the titular continent, it can be taken in simply as a glorious wash of sound; listen to it closely, however, and you’ll hear the smallest details jump out in high relief: a feather can move a mountain. an edition of 300 copies in silkscreened covers. digital download coupon included.
matt is a composer and researcher here in portland. he is a student of speech and hearing science and a co-editor fo a rm magazine. his recorded work is mostly made up of finely tuned field recordings and prepared instruments. if i had to make references i’d drop keith barry, olivia block, and andrew chalk. beyond his works for cd recording, matt is increasingly focused on scoring and performing works for large groups of musicians and ‘non-musicians’ using traditional and self-made instruments. chiasmata is an edition of 90 copies, photo cover, inserts, pink cds, heavy vinyl sleeves.
hard-hitting, hair-raising, afro-fuzz from ghana, this is marijata is the heaviest and most sought-after african funk record of them all! recorded in 1976, this album is the standard by which all other afro-funk albums are measured — its power, vitality and rawness have been emulated, but never equaled. fully licensed and lovingly remastered, the academy lps/voodoo funk re-issue presents this is marijata in all of its rough-hewn glory.
brooklyn-based musician and visual artist jason martin records on 4 track near his upstate ny hometown in a haunted cabin by a lake that used to be a valley of towns and indian settlements. some of them were his ancestors. this album crashes through deconstructed folk, gospel-tinged noise, a nick lowe-esque pop song about women turning men into horses to whip and ride through the woods (actual legend from the region), while soundscapes string it all together. well-researched liner notes explain the history, while the lp puts it into sound. with a nearly 20 year-long discography, jason made music throughout the 90′s with schenectady’s expansive cable-access tele-audio-visual collective brown cuts neighbors, and has been in dozens of groups including atlantic drone, evolution revolution, corcraft (w/ j.mascis of dinosaur jr + suzanne thorpe of mercury rev), the bunnybrains, denim and diamonds. his love of glamorous, paganistic animism surfaces in his music as well as videos, drawings, and performances. this lp is no exception as it creaks, moans and shimmies with voices of the undead in catchy little ditties such as “witch”, ”white horse”, “body in the water” and other hits… tiny private press edition of only 99 copies packaged in a metallic screen printed cover.
travel back in time to 1969 with our official reissue of one of the most highly sought after west coast psychedelic rock records ever recorded. a heady trip, filled with grooving reverb-soaked jams! prized original pressings command more than $1000!! in the tumultuous spring of 1968, the mary butterworth band was formed. contrary to rumors, the group originated from southern california and enjoyed being thrust onto the incredible scene that was developing during this remarkable time for music. after a year or so of performing throughout the region in places like the marina palace in seal beach and others, they decided to record and release a debut album on their own label. in 1969, on a shoestring budget, their album was recorded, manufactured and released. however, the limited pressing was pre-sold to fans and friends only, and never even made it into stores. it disappeared as quickly as it arrived, as did mary butterworth, who disbanded not long after the album’s release, never to perform together again. after a decade or two, word of the album had spread to rabid collectors of vinyl records and late 60s music. somewhere in europe during this time, a bootleg vinyl was released and the legend of mary butterworth continued to grow, driving the price of the original pressing up into the hundreds of dollars. it would go on to be bootlegged a handful more times in various countries, further driving the price of the original pressing through the roof and continuing to enhance the reputation of this long lost piece of 60s psych rock history. here it is 2011 and mary butterworth returns from the past once again, this time in the form of an official licensed, from the master tapes, limited edition vinyl reissue of the impossibly rare and sought after 1969 debut album.
kawaguchi masami (miminokoto, lsd march, broomdusters) returns with his new rock syndicate, recorded live in tokyo. monster guitarpsych feedback screech and heavy dosed garagerock insanity. 100 copies.
echoing like a long lost werner herzog soundtrack, totem two is a record of subtle meditations and deep electric hallucinations from the crystal caves of the northwest to the orchestral desert portals of turkey. totem two finds mmob exploring the disappearance of the mystic and the schisms of our age. in times when forces move against our souls, these are the first sounds of music that can only be described as no-age, a resistance is making itself known. featuring members of earth, asva, burning witch, the diminished men, and more, as well as special guests from secret chiefs 3 and the thriving istanbul music scene. mmob has now solidified into a 7-piece cosmic psych force. like a reverse dark side of the new age sound, on the totem series master musicians of bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. this totem trilogy echoes with the delusions of a west coast death cult. outer-spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged krishna gathering, and the blurry acoustic guitar majesty of the cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form. master musicians of bukkake’s newest offering in the totem trilogy, totem two marks yet another psychic and sonic shift from their first record visible sign of the invisible order (abduction records 2005/lp via important records 2010) and its predecessor in the trilogy totem one (conspiracy records 2009). on totem two, master musicians explore and meditate deep on the death of the mystics, the forgotten ones, the schisms of our time, and the inability to realize the primary clear light for what it is. totem two shifts from electronically altered bön cult rituals to outer spaced sufi sects. finally succumbing to the fully orchestrated no-age darkness of the religion of the future only to end in delusional ‘enlightenment’ atop mt. shasta, scrawling the deranged rambling of new age psychosis on the crystal walls of a cave. every sound and note played is put to tape by a group with a singular purging purpose. recorded, mixed and produced by randall dunn (six organs of admitance, sunno))), earth ,etc.), at aleph studios in seattle, wa. ‘perede kaldirma’ was recorded in istanbul, turkey at the legendary ada studios, november 2009. featuring a collaboration between mmob and turkish musicians from the istanbul music scene, it features amazing ney solos by serkan bagkenesen. over the years, ada studios in istanbul has been the host for records by erkin koray and baris manco to name a few. inspired by and for lovers of: popul vuh’s work with werner herzog, early vangelis and tangerine dream, as well as philip glass’ kundun soundtrack… limited vinyl version with obi strip.
newcastle seems to be having some kind of insane surge of awesome musical activity in the last few years, and it seems unstoppable. least stoppable is powerhouse mike vest who is creating some serious jams with his outfits bong, blue queen, basillica and now the heavy sludge dual guitar drone beast master slave with pete ryde. 3 tracks of heavy guitar drone, with the last track having an almost weirdo skaters feeling to it. limited to 50 hand numbered copies in bright orange sleeves to burn your eyes while the music burns your mind!
this group has been called mountains of matallama, mountains of matalama, mountains of mata llama, mountains of mattallama, mountains of mata lama, mountains of mattalama, mountains of mattalamma, and on down the line. for the record, this record, and the rest to come this is matta llama. residing in ny matta llama have been playing together longer than they would like to admit. what do they play? blood music. the music works like that of the circulatory system chugging and pounding. at other times it can turn out a wispy, crispy tune of flickering light. all of this delivered via drums, keys, guitar, and bass with the occasional seasoning of vocalizations and in/organic dripping. with this, their first record, they offer 5 cuts culled from years of rehearsals at the hint house. these impromptu rock excursions gleam with but a taste of their musical existence, and with that expect more to come. matta llama. with deluxe foldout poster and fancy matte cover art! 500 copies.
anopheles records is proud to announce our latest archival release, the first ever authorized, high quality vinyl lp reissue of baltimore, maryland’s maypole, whose sole album, & #145;the real,’ was recorded in three days in july 1970, and released in early 1971, shortly before their label folded, dooming the album to stillborn status commercially at the time. the lp is an ambitious, 50-minute feast of tight harmonies, powerful arrangements, fluid improvisation, and flat out great songs, and serves as a touchstone for twin guitar-driven, west coast-styled psychedelia, soaring power pop, and blistering hard rock. if you’ve been looking for an lp to file next to your public nuisance and morgen lps, then this is your tonic. the stature of maypole has been muddied by the previous cd reissues, but this lp edition gets it right. featuring state of the art remastering and pressing, a high quality full color ‘tip on’ jacket featuring original artwork, and a full color insert loaded with lyrics, photos, and complete historical notes by maypole founder, dennis tobell, this is the closest to ‘classic psychedelia’ anopheles records has delved in to date, and we’re glad we didn’t settle for something second rate.
this is, without a doubt, the most outright beautiful tape we’ve ever released. san francisco’s mccann (who’s on a roll of sorts with recent solo killers on stunned, dnt, and his own roll over rover) teams up with longtime friend manata for a full-length collaboration. in the grand tradition of synth/guitar duos like fripp & eno and budd & guthrie, mccann & manata lay down perfectly soothing waves of ethereal ambience. like standing in a tide pool and pondering the vast ocean—infinitely pleasant, yet a strange, otherworldly presence lies beneath. your summer will be a little better with mccann’s synth and viola and manata’s guitar as the soundtrack. with full color art, inserts, and labels by matt yacoub. edition of 75.
lo-res video preview of coppicing. the first video available from sean. twenty minutes of visual and auditory regeneration. features some easter eggs, so look around. comes with a download of the soundtrack. ntsc dvdr, limited to 100 copies.
genesis reminds of the best early ’70s uk progressive records and is practically impossible to find even in bad condition. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
mccully workshop is one of the most important south african rock groups. their 2 first albums, inc. (1970) and genesis (1971) are considered to be among the best, rarest and more expensive south african psychedelic/progressive rock albums — sought after by all serious collectors worldwide. inc, is a great psychedelic album. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
reissue of the arhoolie lp originally titled fred mcdowell – volume 2. a beautiful set by the mississippi blues legend. one of fred’s best. intense delta blues… licensed from arhoolie.
the debut solo release from former ash castles on the ghost coast member and current iron kite and rubble player shawn david mcmillen. five epic, mostly instrumental songs performed with bowed bass and metal, indian goat bells, analog synth, a rusty old autoharp, amplified springs and an abundance of guitars. features guest appearances by bc smith (iron kite, etherea planes indian) and matt martinez (friday group). one-time vinyl-only edition of 500 copies, packaged with eye-blistering artwork by mcmillen reproduced in a sickening black cast created with multiple passes of ink.
this lp was recorded in new zealand in 2004, and is the duo recording of new zealand guitarist donald mcpherson and japanese guitarist tetuzi akiyama. a beautiful meeting of 2 virtuoso acoustic guitarists, both thoroughly schooled in the vast world of improvising. donald mcpherson, a native new zealander has been playing the guitar since the tender age of 12, studied at the otago art school in the ’80s. and in the ’90s he released a number of extremely limited lathe-cut folk records. this record finds tetuzi and donald playing melodic folk improvisations that grow and morph into compositions that on each listening uncover some new layer of beauty. both playing on acoustic guitar, they have a level of communication and understanding of each other’s playing that allows a musical connection to grow and blossom into a full-length recording of delicate melodic mayhem – 180gm vinyl, heavy fold-around covers with insert, hand numbered edition of 550.
debut vinyl release from this new duo that makes up two thirds of jazzfinger (ben jones and sarah sullivan). based around the idea of used broken keyboards, ben and sarah make some totally fucked and pretty heavy noise jams. there’s some searing moments in this beast, particularly across the two part ‘burning of the light fields’ which spans all side a, and most of side b. the closer is ‘planatary wasp,’ which pretty much would be what jeff goldblum would have sounded like if he’d turned into some kind of rancid badass wasp instead of that pussy fly! turn it up and get ready for your neighbors to come knocking with an asbo for ya. limited to 300.
a reissue of a tape that was initially an edition of only 5 copies. blending homemade synths, field recordings, and vocals, an epic recording that requires a closer listen. buried under the tape hiss and piercing highs there is many details that could easily be overlooked, minimal beats, cryptic vocals, radio interference and insect song. isolationist psychedelic noise. color cover on black shimmer cardstock, with an insert containing texts / collage, on silver paper, clear labels. hi-bias chrome tapes in an edition of 56.
this one could easily be described as something of a gps curveball 45. following last year’s rapid fire -4 day- sell out of the band’s debut (lp), the 45 here features 2 tracks of kraut grooves, incessant bubbling moog freakouts like some holy mash up of add n to x, holy fuck vs. cluster, neu! and co., or some imaginary ’70s czech horror flick soundtrack set to an oil wheel backdrop, in tasty psych sleeves, numbered to 300 copies only.
debut lp that came and went in 72 hours. whacked out, moog mayhem that recalls the likes of cluster and harmonia in tandem with early stereolab and holy fuck. 200 numbered copies sold out at source.
switching instruments and experimenting with recording techniques, meneguar has cooked up a totally unique (and surprising) record. the in hour channels the spontaneity and aesthstetics of swell maps, the pop hooks of the zombies, and lyrical collage of guided by voices. everything was home recorded at their little xanadu in brooklyn, rear house, home base to jeremy earl’s woodsist label (blues control, sic alps, wooden wand, jana hunter) and the changing roster of meneguar’s alter egos (woods, shepherds). only six months since their last record, the in hour represents a serious departure that still holds true to the band’s undeniable pop sensibility.
the baby believes the womb is the universe. at birth there is a glimmer of light and a shifting of space. i was there, but now i am here. then there are still but 2 things : me and the universe. and then what happens is other people. from a note sounded in 1960 and held for a long time, a continuum of sound has been sluiced along a diagonal of personal ecstasy, and some have come to call it a drone. surrounding the drone is a genre, and within, wheat and chaff often comingle all too comfortably. but with tones as thick and texturally luxuriant with spiritual resonance as their long, glorious hair, messages are the two worthy gurus currently contributing to the echo. messages evoke the womb. and when the womb smiles, it whispers messages, and then there is the first glimmer of light.
golden trees is a minimalist psych-folk masterpiece. a supergroup of sorts, helen rush, pat gubler and samara lubelski have created seven songs characterized as much by quiet and restraint than by their acclaimed musicianship. the lyrical lines in these songs appear suspended between pregnant pauses of silence and subtle instrumental flourishes. on one side of the gap, samara lubelski’s violin invokes the velvets and other avant string-players. on the other side, p.g. six layers effects and pointillist finger picking, while evoking outright weirdness from his guitar rig. at the center, helen rush has penned songs of delicate beauty and fragile intimacy… really lovely sounds. with matt valentine, helen and pat formed the core nucleus of tower recordings. samara also performed with later incarnations of tower, as well as hall of fame, thurston moore’s band, and as a solo-artist. where the early tower catalogue was characterized by schizophrenic studies in a variety of forms (folk, noise, drone, lo-fi skronk, etc), metal mountains’ songs like “structures in the sun,” “the golden trees that shade us” and “turn to the east” provide us with sonic beauty in high fidelity. though helen gave us a sample of her post-tower recordings-work with “silver sun,” which we released on the and to the disciples that remain compilation, she here provides us with a rearranged treatment of that song, which along with “prisms” opens the folk idiom into a new minimalist terrain. we’ve been waiting more than ten years to explore this sonic space, which in music industry dog years, amounts to almost two centuries. this full-length is well worth the wait.
meth teeth reside in portland or. and in some ways embody the rainy day big country vibe of the city with its youth culture dreamers, old druggies, and rustic history. there is something that is really hard to pin down about meth teeth, the songs rely on simple ramshackle rhythms, upbeat shinny guitar interplay, and big fat chord churners, and a lot of tambourine banging away on the snare drum. ultra catchy summertime rockers keep you sad and lonely, and upbeat and hopeful all at once. – shawn reed/night people.
completely isolated and fully deranged. weathered blasts of feedback and digital rumble. recorded live to cassette in verdun. too many nights spent getting lost in the douglas hospital fields can really make a man turn on himself. tortured screams and unrelenting microphone violence. most likely as a direct result. photocopied artwork on coloured paper. photocopied insert and labels. hand stamped. numbered edition of 100.
filleted over two sides of wax, here we have a rare meet up of three of the brightest lights in the twin cities musical orbit. on march 21, 2009, paul metzger – best known for his transcendental gypsy raga guitar and banjo meditations – jumped in the ring with percussionist davu seru and veteran multi-instrumentalist milo fine for an evening of uncompromising spontaneous composition. medusas lair is stunning, inscrutably wily, living music. one time edition of 300 lps pressed on
180 gram virgin vinyl. milo fine: drum set (bowed cymbals), b flat clarinet, prepared piano remains, voice; paul metzger: modified guitar; davu seru: drum set.
anamnestic tincture is a live album by virtuosic musical carpenter paul metzger, culled from many hours of concert recordings. side one comprises metzger’s public debut on his modified banjo, recorded in 2002 at a former church-turned-underground art space in minneapolis. one of his most memorable compositions, “after milo” later turned up as an untitled improvisation on his cd for the chairkickers label. jumping ahead six years (and several more banjo alterations later) to side two, the glittering “orans” gets a workout at a memorial show for the artist matt zaun. as an acknowledgment of the occasion, metzger also gave a one-time-only performance — “dark green water” — on another of his mutant instruments: an acoustic guitar with the body drilled out to accommodate a cymbal set into its face, and ten assorted strings of varying lengths laid over the top, giving it a particularly metallic and dissonant sound. anamnestic tincture is released in an edition of 425 copies, with an original vintage snapshot mounted on each cover… awesome new album in great looking home made covers. recommended!
minnesota’s paul metzger is an unsung hero of the unaccompanied string instrument and a master musician of an instrument of his own invention. on deliverance – a real time performance on his overhauled 21 string banjo – you’ll be treated to some of the most deeply satisfying & impulsive outer cosmos ragadelia you’re ever likely to hear. clocking in at nearly 60 colossal minutes, deliverance is 3 tracks of unfiltered aural transcendence; a hypnotic raga epic that’s by turns a slow burning meditation & an urgent mind / body duel. paul’s playing may summon up the spirits of sandy bull’s searching inventiveness, billy faier’s out tacoma sides, j.p. pickens’ tweaked americana, henry flynt’s searing harmonic drones or big jim sullivan’s psychedelic exotica, but at the end of the day, metzger is no idolater and we’re all a little luckier to have him around to occupy his own singular post in this post-fahey world… dmm 180gm vinyl housed in a gatefold jacket.
paul metzger continues to pile up the plaudits from critics and peers alike for his virtuosic string-slinging, gaining notice through his cd on chairkickers and his split lp with ben chasny and chris corsano on roaratorio. metzgers modified banjo is tricked out with additional sympathetic raga strings, although the compositions on gedanken splitter are informed by much more than eastern drone music alone. recorded in the same period as 2007s deliverance on locust music, thisis a more agged and aggressive (although no less accessible) affair. metzger winds these improvisations around thornier threads than on his previous releases, and while never turning completely abstract, gedanken splitter moves even further away from anything resembling typical banjo fare. this is mesmerizing and singular playing… excellent new album! recommended.
wow! gorgeous first-ever reissue of this rare spanish band’s lp from 1971. great west coast-influenced guitar sounds, progressive hammond grooves, nice soft pop vocal harmonies (reminiscent of csn¨y), and cool folk-inspired acoustic guitars melt on the sources of the ultra rare lp of the band originally released on the palobal label from barcelona. this lp and two 45s, including the mega rare non lp single ’toma tu parte de felicidad’/’triste y solo’ whose b-side, a killer version of garden odyssey enterprise’s ’sad and lonely,’ makes original copies raise up to the 500/600 euros tag among mod/garage/freakbeat djs and collectors. these were their only releases under the mi generación name (although the band is also known for their studio work on the cover albums sonido eléctrico and sonido acústico, issued by the joint label.) the mi generación lp is a killer gem that will please anyone into the cool sounds of the late ’60s and early ’70s. but for those who want more, they’ll get it: for the first time in many years, here’s a chance to get the mega-rare triste y solo picture sleeve 45 for far less than the 500 euros you will have to pay on the collector’s market. get that top version of ’sad ¨ lonely’ you’ve danced to at parties, which by the way surpasses the original in your vinyl collection! ain’t that enough for you? no problem! in addition to all that, we are ready to include a whole unissued second lp that the band recorded in 1972 but was never released at the time. more cs¨n inspired vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars ¨ beautiful songs by this great, underrated band. a deluxe package! two vinyl lps housed in a colorful sleeve, plus the mega-rare 45 perfectly reproduced with its original color picture sleeve and all. strictly limited edition of 500 copies.
before michael yonkers would revise the history of recorded music with the clarion chords of microminiature love, he was in a band called michael and the mumbles, and they made this self-titled lp in 1966. in the premiere spin, their would-be debut comes off as a naive, teenage trip thru the typified garage band moves of this era. but repeated listening reveals a darkness beneath what some dullard might be deceived by as it’s crisp, winsome visage. it’s only to a slightly less visible degree that the mumbles lp has the same characteristics that would make micro the singularly original piece that is; it’s emotionally bleak themes, dissonant undercurrents, and recklessly wild performance. so, once again we have a michael yonkers lp that is going to turn yr world upside down, make the college girls scream and leave you wondering how many more times this can happen. seriously, pigeon falls up here looked like a riot on the sunset strip. indulge yrself. ps. michael and the mumbles is on the king of all known formats (with a digital download coupon, natch) only, the mastertapes used herein are 45 yrs old and aside from the glitch on “cold town”, they sound amazing.
previously released on cd by sunbeam, now issued as a 180 gram double vinyl release. mighty baby are firmly established as one of the best-loved underground bands in british rock history. combining elements of blues, folk, jazz and psychedelia, their unique brand of experimental rock n’ roll is brilliantly captured on these rare recordings, finally given an official release here. three tracks were captured live at a gig supporting u.s. legends love in march 1970, while the remainder were taped soon afterwards at london’s olympic studios. finding the band midway between the blazing psychedelia of their self-titled november 1969 debut and the mellower sounds of their october 1971 swan song a jug of love, the set comes complete with sleevenotes, rare photographs and an introduction from their bassist, michael evans, making it simply essential for all fans of the band.
this is the 2nd lp by migrantes (jason bill {guitar, air organ, hammond organ, cymbal} & caroline vickers {hammond organ & vocals}) of tucson, az. pressed in an edition of 536 copies and housed in a lovely printed full color jacket, this is a sublime record! “for those that have never been there, the desert signifies space, sand, and nothing. when i (who live nowhere near any deserts) first visited jason & caroline (who live smack in the middle of one), that was what i had thought too. i was a bit surprised that the desert in fact looks nothing like its platonic counterpart – it is in fact interlaced with ropy thorned plants, crawls with life of every species, and is inevitably circumscribed by distant mountains. for some, monsoon moods may capture the real desert, the one where home fires burn under looming stone, where love and life flourish in austerity. for me though this lp somehow encompasses sweaty nights in 100 degree summer warehouses, ghostly drives through norfolk shipyards, the slow crack of datura pods drying in the sun, and all the other things that have grown inside j&c to buoy them up into this warmly inviting space illuminated by their big hearts. a stunning record that camouflages the simplicity of its ingredients with songs of glowing precision and vox-laced hammond drones of vertical majesty.” – tom carter.
new solo studio recording by japan’s reigning surrealist blues poet. forty plus minutes of all new material recorded in france during mikami’s 2008 european tour. numbered heavy weight vinyl only edition of 333 in handpulled screen printed sleeves. includes lyrics in japanese and english (title track alone is a trip through painted omelets and the moon to a rusty french bicycle). while mikami is building up a massive body of work through his long running association with psf records this is the first of his studio dates to be committed to vinyl in decades. singular and essential… another total class siwa release. already sold out at source.
evan miller has been a staple around digitalis hq for the past few years since he busted onto the scene via too many killer night people tapes. over the course of many, many releases, miller has traversed all manner of different landscapes. perhaps he’s best known for his post-takoma acoustic jaunts, but there’s always been elements and vague hints of drones that circle underneath his picking like tonal sharks, looking for any sort of bait to jump out at. well, “three improvisations” puts it all together one in fine package. side a features two short songs for six-string guitar. to the point, they pull in melodies and keep them caged up until the exact, perfect moment when they are set free. it’s deceptive in its simplicity. side b adds electric elements (c/o phil ochs) and field recordings to jumble millers various sides into a cohesive whole. 95 copies with coffee-dyed tape labels.
iowa city’s evan miller is never one to stay in the same rut for too long. his earlier releases were composed of fahey-esque spells, heavily emotional acoustic guitar work emanating tones of nostalgia and simplicity. on transfigurations on lap-steel guitar, a new zone is crafted with lap-steel guitar and tape collage, creating equally nostalgic music from the other end of the spectrum: delicate, minimal drones. tones interweave and textures evolve: it is evan’s most personally progressive work, combining past themes and reinterpreting them on another medium: electric lap-steel guitar. mastered by pete swanson. in an edition of 450 full color pro-printed cardboard lp sleeves and printed labels designed by jeff witscher (secret abuse / callow god).
cole is back and this time on a ton of labels (different versions of this album will be on stop drop, marriage, paw dawns, and arbor). the entertainer extraordinaire brings his playful melodies and clever rhyming in attempts to cheer you up and maybe make you dance a little. cole sings song about how much he loves you, as in, this wasn’t recorded with his girlfriend in mind, but actually you! very similar to the more recent playfulness shown by adrian orange and calvin johnson; totally positive and uplifting. this is a much more cohesive album than cole’s previous arbor release, “no strangers”. in a numbered edition of 50 copies in sewn/stamped sleeves with stamped discs.
i recorded it in 2000 a few months before i started the pseudoarcana label, and given that my initial idea for p.a. was for it to focus on harsher and more abstract musics the simple melodic folk songiness of ‘short road’ resulted in it sitting on the shelf for much longer than it perhaps should have.there was a great poet who said of his work that all he had ever done was write the same poem again and again, trying to get it right. i’ve sometimes felt that i only have the one song inside me, and i’ve approached that song from a hundred radically different angles and have ultimately become convinced that this song can never in fact be realised in any definitive way. but that one song is still there inside me and there are places on ‘short road’ where i think i come as close to realising that song as anywhere – edition of 500.
much welcome vinyl issue of the 2010 cassette release from john elliott (outer space, emeralds) and sam goldberg (radio people, docile dawn, pizza night) that sold out at the source and distros rather quickly. further exploring the zones on the previously released “mist” lp, the duo take it one step further with their electronics unleashing a record which sounds like it could be the soundtrack to an amazing 70′s / 80′s sci fi movie. the tracks have been remastered for vinyl by james plotkin. vinyl is in an edition of 750 copies.
really wild, psychotic, exotic, progressive psychedelic beast from brasil – all those attributes in an extreme way! long freaked-out tracks driven by furious organ and massive fuzz – wahwah guitar assaults, also added distorted vocals (portuguese lyrics) that creep deep inside your cranium – one of the best ever! comes in usual world in sound quality with original amazing triple fold out cover that is beyond belief… repressed totally deluxe reissue of this great brazilian psych rarity. ultra-heavy textured tri-fold gatefold cover, 180gm vinyl, etc.
for one night only the mongoloid men (connelly, olson, young and nyoukis) came lurching into a brighton basement. cheap beer and indian food in their stomachs, beards and hair full of hash smoke. a swarm of metallic insects shitting debris into ears of those who attended. horrible, horrible noise.
today, ‘garage,’ ‘psych,’ and ‘punk’ are three overused words to say the least. they’re dropped from every direction to brand, market, and sell, but looking back to the mid-1960s, there was only one group of musical mavericks that clearly defined them. the monks were five beat-playing american gis stationed in germany who, after their discharge, decided to stay and continue their musical mission. meeting up with a team of local managers, they transformed themselves and their sound into a holy racket like the world had never known. this five-person order literally birthed the above genres through a fuzz-drenched evolution of sound, bursting with social commentary and future primitive rhythms. krautrock? it started here. do we hear non-believers? we are not making this up. if you aren’t already converted, it won’t take long. light in the attic is ecstatic to present the monks recorded legacy in the lavish and lovingly researched: the early years 1964-1965… brilliant deluxe archival release. 180gm vinyl, heavy gatefold 60s style foil stamped cover, rare photos, etc.
phil from ussr first time on vinyl wackies – silkscreen book madness art by jacob horwood, dylan nyoukis, sekitani norihiro, jeff garcia, andrew zukerman etc. edition of 150… totally mind melting package here. recommended just for the looks of this thing!
monopoly child star searchers nightlife band presents: bamboo for two. a night’s creativity. a parroted companions guided tour to the most romantic details of a jungle’s sensbility. imagine the elements of your most recent landscaped vision coming to life and allowing you to witness a hearts perception of the natural world. charles berlitz has reported this eventful experience in the form of a romantic poem, and the star searchers have invented the soundtrack. olde english spelling bee and pacific city sound visions invite the listener to experience the first studio album in pacific city’s history! featuring james ferraro as rocco martini, lieven martens of dolphins into the future, and eva van deuren of orphan fairytale; playing the most exotic keyboard melodies this side of a parrots hotly lit plumage. this album is the first in series of romantic audio recordings that will later include the titles: “make mine, macaw” and “the garnet tucan”. do enjoy the excitement of this one of kind journey to pacific city’s nightlife and relax your mind’s physical limitations….
her first ‘official’ solo-output since 2005 – after collabs with jessica bailiff and birch book. pretty much focussing on organ sounds and harmonics, in her unique style: scarce, minimal and haunting tracks. somewehere someone is probably more dark and droning than previous works. ltd to 185 copies, comes in handwritten and handstamped sleeves… quite cool & lovely stuff.
in an era when “variety of sound” means a flip of the radio dial and then a burst of blasé melodies, pretty monsieur mo rio has emerged with his fascinating oeuvre. as you listen to his music, you will hear and experience the exciting, warm aural magnificence that is monsieur mo rio. with influences ranging from swinging baroque pop to bossa nova, his songs will remind you of summer, spring smells, and a love that will be. and while we applaud the result of this musical journey through monsieur’s mind, we must not forget that this chèr ami was not only the author, conductor, main musician, and singer on this album, he also was its engineer – really pretty fantastic fake-french pop from this german wonderkid that mixes said french grooviness with kinks damaged pop craft, a heathly dose of experimentation, and supurb studio trickery & talent.
san francisco’s moon duo feature the combined forces of wooden shjips’ erik johnson and sanae yamada. led by, ‘catch as catch can’, a blistering sonic stew and b/w the a cover of the scientists’ classic speaker burner “set it on fire”. taking threads from the fabric of loop, neu, silver apples, the psf canon and the red eye / black eye label oeuvre the band weave a tapestry of droning motorik rock noise… first release on this new label, sure to vanish quick.
san francisco’s moon duo was formed in 2009 by sanae yamada and erik johnson (wooden shjips). inspired initially by the legendary john coltrane and rashied ali, moon duo counts such variant groups as silver apples, royal trux, moolah, suicide, and cluster as touchstones. utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals, the pair plays space against form to create a primordial and disorienting sonic stew. they released two acclaimed records in 2009: the love on the sea 12-inch single on sick thirst and the killing time ep on sacred bones. escape, their debut long-player on woodsist, marks the fullest realization yet of the young group’s evolving sound… sick new full length!
moon pie features alison and michael from death chants. the live band sometimes features fellow ex-death-chanter paul, now of the recording projects aswara and muntjac. the music is psychedelic, prismachromatic, and pan-galactic, with inspiration drawn variously from shoegaze, folk, vaudeville, and albanian urban lyric song of the 1930′s, all presented in a collagey psych/dreampop context. the ep has 6 tracks and is 21 minutes long. each copy is packaged in an individually collage-decorated clothbound cover.
a scabrous grab bag of weirdo recordings assembled by thurston moore: hardcore basement slam jammer with mark ibold (bass) and john moloney of sunburned (drums), a rough demo cue made for an hsbc tv ad (w/ steve shelley-drums – uncredited – sorry steve!), a few noise b-sides from various lost releases and a couple of long psycho-bead kosmi-killers and some subterranean acoustic luv n all wrapped up n a pic disc with art by t moore extracted from his street mouth series of collages… picture disc. edition of 500 copies.
limited to 1000 copies. solo, untreated, 12-string compositions in tribute to one of the greats. an album of instrumentals in requiem… newest volume of this nice solo guitar series. letter press printed cover.
sonic youth’s thurston moore returns with his first solo outing since 1995’s psychic hearts. unlike psychic hearts’ skeletal trio rock, this new jammer has a far fuller bouquet of sonic depth and showscases thurston’s songwriting abilities outside of sy. twelve tracks featuring backing help from steve shelley (sy) and violinist samara lubelski… very limited vinyl version.
i gave a kiss to a giant leech. it sucked me in. with a little effort, i wriggled to its opposite end and out into a different world, but i can’t say how it differed from the one before. likewise, all the atoms and other bits of matter that pass through us – that we swallow and transform – bear more or less fresh fruit, as they are reborn through us. boris morgana’s rotti frutti is not just an oral delight, it’s aimed at the whole organism. it percolates, hisses, comes and goes: gently as well. furtively it infiltrates the brain through the ears and causes reactions. and maybe these inner oscillations move on to the hands, feet and other organs: maybe they carry the germ of a wholly new fruit. when it comes about, it’s too late: everything has changed and one can’t but accept it – allow the rotten fruit to issue forth.
moses was formed in 1969 in esbjerg, denmark by søren højbjerg — guitar / jørgen villadsen — bass / henrik laurvig — drums and vocal. moses played their own heavy and punshy and stoned progressive blues. their record changes from 1971 has now become cult in the collectors market. by the end of 1969 the band got a contact with the independent record company spectator records in denmark and in the summer 1970 they recorded the only album, changes in 2 days in the spectator record studio in ålborg, denmark. finally the rarest and perhaps best album on the rare danish spectator label. the music is strongly influenced by the cream and other hard psychedelic guitar bands. it took us quite a while to get a deal together and we are happy now to close the final chapter of the spectator story with this great release of moses. extra heavy fuzz-guitar madness all over with strong bass and drums and great vocals… numbered edition of 500, heavy sleeves, 180gm vinyl with insert. originally released in denmark 1970.
a loss for words, folks. s…thing…ain’t like nothin i heard period. twisted, gnarled up like the milkweed and splattered like it’s oozy juices. warty and aggressive, like something pullin viciously from every corner. beautifully tremendous, yeah tremendous. like the very end of something. or the very beginning of something. -valhalla. edition of 100 on orangey yellow shells with hand-cut labels, inside folds, and inserts.
very hip private press avant solo guitar stylings from this seriously talented portuguese fellow. one disc is solo acoustic, one disc is solo electric. all recorded at home.
electric guitar 1-9. rec 2008… guitarist born in lisbon, with public activity since 1989. from that to 1997 he studies and experiments with prepared guitar, mainly acoustic. since then his interests shifted to the development of a personal language for fingerstyle electric guitar and started working in a regular basis with bassist margarida garcia. a lot of acoustic guitar has been played at home in the last years, and it has also been possible to find him playing with bands osso exótico, curia, dru, and collaborating with david maranha and afonso simões. worked with sei miguel from 1997 to 2005. founds the record label headlights in 1998. draws and shoots… newest solo outing from this rather amazing guitar player. limited to only 300 copies and packaged in a nice mysterious letter press printed heavy black paper cover, to match the curia lp. nice.
troubling rituals are gathering. haggling skills are becoming golden chisels, and granite belts grind them to sparks. turning with traction, these sparks gather like flies. the kinetic tones of acceleration found within mother of fire combs the psyche for hints of panic and replaces it with an imperative momentum. drive away superficial doubt like a herd of unwanted beasts, and allow the sagacious freedom our instinct rightfully deserves, it’s requisite course. channeling this responsibility with confident sincerity, the troubling is at once the relaxing. this conviction and tolerance is persistent, enabling a bloodletting which battles to cure and to cull. without the contemporary irony used to punctuate and justify in distanced safety, mother of fire instead creates an honest reflection through brave hand forged lenses. churned in memory-like cycles the ritual is commanded by searing bow strokes and a muscovy glass voice. silhouette elements pass decree through almost ancient melodic incantation. the stable hand of song in a world saturated with scattering distraction. beside these earnest standards a rich understandable darkness, like the pulse of frozen lakes and failing factories, urges us toward the terrible, daunting and sublime. it is here in the folds of both endurance and remedy that mother of fire sways with darkness until darkness swoons. – asa irons.
motor ghost is the new project of drummer / vocalist alex neilson and multi-instrumentalist ben reynolds. & #145;a gold chain round her breast’ is their first recorded document as a duo. from the brooding opener through tracks of soaring electricity to the beautifully fragile a capella rendition of the folk song & #145;leaves of life’, this album sees alex and ben exploring darkness and light and all shades in between. alex’ drumming provides much of the backbone of the album supporting and conversing with ben’s acoustic and electric guitars, loops and the call of the dümuk (a greek horn). the album comes in screenprinted sleeves, all of which have been hand embellished and are individually numbered. the first 100 copies of the album include a 3& #148; bonus cd-r containing a 4 song solo vocal set alex performed at the macbeth in london the day before the motor ghost studio session and feature exclusive and extensive liner notes by scottish folk singer alasdair roberts. these will sell on a first come first serve basis… killer new lp on a new label. lovely hand printed covers. limited to only 300 copies.
in high summer of 2007, phil elverum, in the guise of mount eerie, found his way to southern studios, armed with a borrowed guitar, some notebook paper, & with little time before an evening gig, mount eerie & southern’s engineer harvey birrell recorded the six songs of black wooden. black wooden is the coming together of ideas that had travelled with mount eerie for months & had solidified into compositions in the days & hours before the studio session. the title itself refers acutely to the genre black metal — perhaps less surprising a reference considering black metal often shares mount eerie’s appreciation with low fidelity production aesthetics (among many other things), and that phil elverum had just been in norway before arriving in the uk… very limited vinyl version.
third full length release from this new haven, connecticut rock band, but the first on the band’s own label. the mountain movers went into the studio with 10 new hits and some serious psyched out guitars. the results were documented to 2 inch 16 track reel to reel and put onto vinyl for your listening pleasure. “the day calls out for you” finds the band focusing on guitar driven songs, which is a departure from their previous piano and horn colored albums. heavy echoes, heady tones, and strong songwriting really make this a gem. vinyl only, hand-numbered, and limited to 270, the front and back covers feature the beautiful artwork of head mountain mover daniel greene. included is a cd of the album, courtesy of the band. the line-up for this recording includes: dan greene (singing, guitar, art), rick omonte (bass, noises), joey maddalena (lead guitar) and john miller (drums).
our very first one sided lp, which is a bizarre trip from michael curtis hilde’s mountainhood project. this one follows on from the two lps on time-lag’s red records label a few months back which vanished super fast, as well as other releases on reverb worships and yod. total outsider midnight missions into weirdness… strange strings twang and rattle into the darkness, a very strange experience spread across one side of black wax. limited to 300 copies in pro-printed wrap around sleeve featuring art by michael… ultra-zoned stuff. nice.
last year i discussed with michael hilde the idea of doing something special for my 100th release on reverb worship. michael very kindly agreed to do something memorable and very worthwhile. “live at dearborn house” is a 5 track 3″ cdr ep. we are very proud to announce this release which both michael and myself have spent a lot of time and effort preparing and working on. michael spent roughly three months doing the artwork. each and every one of the 100 covers has been hand drawn, painted and numbered by michael himself. the artwork is totally gorgeous and straight from a very talented and creative mind. you can see all of the cover designs on the “mountainhood” page on this website and on my myspace page too. no doubt michael will be posting up images too on his website www.mountainhood.com. made in a limited edition of 100 hand numbered copies. each cd is individually titled. this release has been priced to compliment the hard graft, labour and artistic input involved to create such lovely collectables such as these. you are not only getting a twenty plus minute “live” cdr but a individual work of art as well… far-out sounds & totally great hand done packaging with michael’s unique a wonderful artwork all over.
northern california’s mountainhood has a long long long discography, and we’re psyched about the latest. shine shine is sometimes sweet folk songs, sometimes a wild party (like a bunch of horsemen dancing around a stump), and just about always full of plenty of goblin voices. take it on your roadtrip and get nostalgic about redwoods and the moon. with an 8-page minibook of art by michael hilde. edition of 200.
the boat-maker’s daughter is a record about transition and transformation. it is an expression of total breakage from all prior forms of thought and action–your parents, your government, your faith–and blazing a new path through doomsday to the other side. the songs range from the quiet, fragile, and distant “geodesic dome, oregon” to the anthemic folk sing-along of “jaine,” one of the most accessible songs in the mountainhood catalog. with the boat-maker’s daughter, mountainhood has transformed and shed much of the tape hiss that defined his earlier recordings, and let these very special songs of rapture shine through. this is not only a singular release for hilde, but for the entire psych-folk genre. poster designed by hilde included. edition of 500… really sweet.
300 exquisitely handmade copies. part 2 in the larger multivisorial dreamsaga called: the light, the road, recorded in nyc, continues the epic narrative of kria blisses’ journey to/through the chrystal palace first introduced in goldenness, part 1. packaging painted, pencilled, photographed in new almaden, northern california or point lobos, big sur, also forms a narrative whole broken down into several acts or series perceivable only by over-eye. this record follows his sold out records on time lag, ecstatic yod & reverb worship. this is volume ten in our arts & crafts series. each record in the series is released in handmade packaging by the artist on the record. it’s clear that michael hilde poured countless hours into these jackets so we’ve documented each one. there wasn’t enough time to photograph the inside covers which are as detailed as the outside. hilde went beyond all expectations… great new single, each copy with hand drawn/painted packaging. nice.
the wonderful san francisco psychedelic folk troubadour mountainhood. 30 minute six track cdr. mountainhood has recently changed his name from almaden… repress of only 50 copies with nice new artwork. sweet.
lovely free sounds from taiwan. wind blew the sea & brought many circles with drops. moon married the sea & reflected in the surface. he asked the reflection: where is my best friend? wind played his flute & the sound brought him to the brightening woods of the giants to see the god of mountain. the god of mountain told him loudly through all animals’ voices in the woods: it’s wind! edition of 90.
really nice private press canadian solo acoustic based sounds. edition of only 300 copies. nice color covers. a good one, and i doubt these will hang around long.
as organ scientist mudboy is back in europe, lexi disques is happy to present his new 7-inch. mudboy comes from providence, rhode island, the town of lightning bolt and hp lovecraft. he released cassettes, cdrs, vinyls, texts on various european, belgian and american labels including his own free matter for the blind label. he’s also making sound/light installations and silkscreen visuals. a short cv is here if needed. music for any speed is based on a reflexion on time. artwork: mudboy (printed on newspaper). with poster & download code.
crashing circles in the midnight horn cdr (about 45 minutes) a collection of all-acoustic improvisations by sam hamilton, mark sadgrove, andrew scott & eve gordon. droning bowed-strings are the predominant sound, with a few gentle percussive sections. very cave-man, very hippie, but very beautiful too – these two pieces were recorded in the dead of night, in concrete echoey spaces in the urban environment (too close to the neighbours at times). 1st edition of 50 copies, and sewn and stamped covers, each disc with a unique wordfind – just found a few copies of this long out of print disc.
cd reissue of siwa #6 in screenprinted gatefold sleeve. first released on lp in 2000 in an edition of 300 which sold out pretty much overnight. three tracks recorded at kid ailack art hall in tokyo in the late 90′s. just over 40 minutes of solo improvisations for er-hu, voice, kengali, rings, cymbals. the recording has been remastered for the digital format but contains the same material as the original lp.
fuzz and buzz improvisations tuning in with the higher forms of new england reverb. turning deep, lonesome abstract guitar feedback modulations upside down into mad psych blues of the dog. edition of 100 copies.
with highrise being basically an in-active band the last few years narita munehiro has been keeping his electric guitar skills sharp with gigging around tokyo in varies duo’s and other small groupings. (as evidenced by the fantastic cd between narita and drummer hano on psf) this archive release documents 2 live sets from narita recorded in late 2005 and the summer of 2006 that put on display the recent solo works of the man who the term psychedelic speed freaks was really captured from. running time of around 40mins one time pressing of 600 copies packed in an extra glossy 2.5 panel sleeve with appropriately chemically treated photographic work from the live dates.
paul grimes, member of the now defunct death chants walks a surprisingly personal path on this album. very outside the common psychedelic genre he draws a path of his own. on warp, grimes scrapes together a faboulous blend of easy listening, light marbles and more retro space tunes. a hot mix of elements of kitaro, joe meek, and even some hits of an introspective dennis wize. fantastic stuff for the upcoming summer hangovers.
second mystery release from paul of death chants. layered modular synth, flute and more with drifting echo waves… way out there. nice double sided color covers. green tapes. numbered edition of 95. sweet.
murphy blend’s (named after a pipe tobacco) only album, is one of the best and rarest early german progressive rock records. excellent hammond organ, that delivers a unique heavy psychedelic krautrock sound. it was originally released on the legendary kuckuck label in 1970. english lyrics. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, heavy exact texture cover.
debut vinyl full length by this long-time h-town expat/pedalsteel visionary. past cdrs on her and dave keenan’s volcanic tongue imprint have sketched out the breadth of her possessed solitary vigils, but her three pieces here are even more untamed and unique. voice, electric strings, song tendrils blowing in the soul’s breeze. edition of 500… sweet…
mutantea is anla courtis (reynols), j.koho (kulkija, aan, vapaa, keijo & free players) and jani hirvonen (uton, aan, last night on earth) — recorded early 2006 in helsinki, at the night time, in the middle of darkest winter, after the show in gallery, just before going to sleep. three electric guitars, with differert effects and styles to play, together in this mass, which gave us this wave called ‘mutantea’. includes also arts by bart de paepe (sloow tapes).
real raw ‘you are here’ sound captured live in the deep tapers pit by number one uk golden road archivist pete coward. this disck is a window into sweet harvests from a handful of shows, most notably an electric “easy livin” eye opener from a back room in brighton from the ‘gettin’ gone in aquarius’ tour, plus a soaked “tea devil” from dylan nyoukis’ ‘colour out of space festival’ as well as a blown out epic “canned happiness” from this years ‘golden cherry ball’ jam at instal. fasten yr jaw on the big league chew-z “environments” bubble featuring the usual heads (mv/ee/doc dunn/samara/chris davis) along with mick flower, chris corsano, the cherry blossoms and phil todd. child of microtones and ecstatic peace joint release – golden roadies unite! edition of 199… metallic printed art paper covers.
orbiting the earth in vermont is matt “mv” valentine, once the brawn of the tower recordings, and erika “ee” elder, ceo of heroine celestial agriculture and the mv & ee medicine show. together with their dog zuma, they run the child of microtones library of exploratory music–sometimes their own lunar blues, sometimes finger-picking-style noise/space, sometimes lonesome frontier folk. mv & ee have landed at the dicristina building bearing drone trailer, featuring the golden road: doc dunn (pedal steel, guitar, harmony), mike smith (bass, fender rhodes, harmony), and james anderson (drums, engineer). you may recognize these names as part of mv & ee’s touring band when they scorched across new england and the rust belt en route to terrastock this past june. drone trailer is a consolidation of the previous musical high-life of the duo’s space shanties for the 21st century. in other words, mv & ee explore their unique mix of lunar raga and astral string band music, with a couple deep-space burners/covert jams such as opening blast “anyway” thrown in to bust it all open. nobody is gonna mind if they hear a little crazy horse and prime-era dead here as well! previous releases on their own child of microtones label, along with notable albums on time-lag and ecstatic peace.
still riding high on the glorious steed that was green blues, matt valentine and erika elder entered a western mass studio armed with enough fresh material to choke a whole team of horses. you may ask, “how can this be?” well, since recording their ecstatic peace debut the duo has toured extensively, all the while writing tunes, scavenging esoteric guitar equipment and revamping their backing band to suit the environment of gettin’ gone. a new sound has organically evolved that will most certainly astonish listeners new and old… deluxe limited heavy vinyl edition. gatefold cover.
side a is called ‘limits’ and it’s a full golden road blaster with riffs as meaty as a new york deli sandwich, ripped-up mv vocals and swirling ee vocals through a fat leslie speaker. side b is a sleww, stonnnned (possibly 4-track) recording called ‘jacked-up’ with a haunting, almost dissonant vocal from mv and one of the greatest examples of erika elder’s intuitive, whacked-out electric mandobird playing we’ve yet heard… limited to only 300 copies!
this summer loving bliss festival of a record is everything we hoped it could be and more. side a, “moment spacing” is a two-and-a-half-minute blast of “ooh-la-la-la-la-la” joy that wraps a posi+ aura around the world. b-side, ‘bong judge’ is the stoned, slowed down, phaser-drenched, stretched-out basement tapes version of (almost unrecognisably) the same song running at six+ minutes. the most beautiful record we think we’ll hear all year. featuring: mv – guitars/vox, ee – lap steel/vox, willie lane – guitar, sparrow wildchild – vox, janane tripp – vox, chris livingood – vox, samara lubelski – bass, john moloney – drums… last copies.
brand new deluxe box set from mv & ee featuring 8 shows from their no floor tour in usa & canada in april 2010. the line up for this tour was mv & ee with mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra / flower-corsano duo) and john moloney (sunburned hand of the man). there’s also guest appearance from j. mascis (dinosaur jr), eric chenaux and doc dunn. the 8 shows were from hadley (ma), ridgewood (ny), oberlin (oh), detroit (mi), toronto (on), montreal (qc), saratoga springs (ny), and boston (ma). housed in an old style tape pack box (keepin’ it in the road trips family), pro dubbed tapes with printed shells, full colour cover artwork by jake blanchard, and a full colour pro-printed a6 size booklet. edition of only 150 copies… instantly sold out at source, very limited stock.
still harvesting and sustaining in the deep woods of vermont , mv & ee (matt ‘mv’ valentine, once the brawn of the tower recordings, and erika ‘ee’ elder, ceo of heroine celestial agriculture and the mv & ee medicine show) are following their 2008 release drone trailer with their feature-film-for-the-blind barn nova, which marks their return to the ecstatic peace! label. mv & ee aspire to the sort of beautifully rewarding standard in their documented output that sun ra or the grateful dead achieved. it is with ecstatic peace! that their most consistent works have been born and continue reach fans with the golden road, their most constant band. together with doc dunn (pedal steel, rhythm guitar, vocals, drums) and mike smith (rickenbacker 4001, vocals), who appeared on drone trailer, as well as j mascis (drums, guitar, plate reverb) and woods’ jeremy earl (vocal, drums) they take you on the ride now known as barn nova and here they jam. justin pizzoferrato also appears contributing percussion, space echo and aiding once again at the controls. this album was recorded at mv & ee’s own home studio ‘maximum arousal farm’ as well as their current local new england rooms of choice, ‘bank row’ (an old mid 1900s bank) and j’s home studio ‘bisquiteen.’ these kindred spirits share a wealth of ideas including a serious reverence and desire to upgrade/expand the classic-rock idiom. barn nova marks the return of ‘spectrasound,’ mv’s production technique that places tones dancing all around the stereo sound field: it has to be heard to be believed. this effect is all the more impressive that the majority of it was created recording live, rather than conjured through studio post-production during mixing. especially potent on the a side-ending stomp ‘summer magic,’ where erika’s economical leads go head-to-head with j’s on a particularly mind-blowing live-in-studio effort; it brings to mind the vibe of green blues, mother of thousands and even an electric moon jook with matured songwriting. inspired by the likes of jerry garcia, john cipollina and tom verlaine, matt valentine displays an insatiable appetite to play in various idioms with constant exploration and development. meanwhile, elder’s harmony leads recall the glorious twinned guitar lines of canned heat’s al wilson & henry vestine at their most potent… limited vinyl version with poster.
country stash is from an edition of around 600 copies and is pressed on 140 gram dutch vinyl. the album is housed within gorgeous multi-color silkscreened jackets bearing new original artwork by both jenny mcgee dougherty and lucy isabel graves. the album is accompanied by both a collage/text insert and a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. country stash is a joint release between three lobed recordings and blatant obviousness… first press version.
finally! this was originally released by com in an edition of 99 copies on cdr. here it is for manhand’s new vinyl campaign remastered and re-edtited by mv in spectrsound. comes in a one-side screenprinted / one side paste on with an insert, bagged. featuring contributions from the golden road (doc dunn/mike smith), jeremy earl (woods), asa irons (feathers, witch)… edition of only 300 copies. sweet vinyl upgrade!
here is the first ever all live lp of “mv & ee” material and it is the perfect example of the scene in the tapers pit. the familiar tunes which have become staples in their set shine with an unheard intensity with killer solos and sonic excursions into the unknown, and then there is the deep of their singular ‘environments’, their space which manages to showcase the pastoral freakouts and cosmic raga forms so singular to this unique band. just as their recent run of releases on ecstatic peace! and dicristina consolidates the mv & ee private press universe and child of microtones orbit with the essence of the maximum arousal farm sound “home comfort” does the same to distill the gems of their live shows onto sweet wax. for those familiar with matt and erika’s cottage label “heroine celestial agriculture”, known to the heads as “heroine”, this lp reads like a best of curated by the ‘you are there’ swingin’ pig and the results are a stunning cross section of their duo exchange, funky trio with woods’ jeremy earl and big band exploratory stomp with doc dunn, muskox and willie lane of the golden road. here is the true sound of “mv & ee” with the songs, the extended jams and the feeling. this seminal duo and all they sail with need to be heard live and need to be heard live often, what a glorious document from the tapers pit. that’s tapers pit twice in a paragraph, class. peace. full color jackets with insert. limited to 550.
arbitrary signs is turbo stoked to announce the august 1st release of “liberty rose” the brand new lp by contemporary psychic blues visionaries mv & ee. the duo spent 40 days and 40 nights under the twisted trees and endless sky of the mojave desert via a vermont homestead, freedom and unity. thats where these songs were unformed in dreams, floating off to mingle with the collective unconscious of coyotes and rattlesnakes, before they were re-birthed as smoke signals channeled through shaky hands, an old tele, germanium transistors and a bucket brigade. we at arbitrary signs feel that this is the purest distillation of the mv & ee “ s p e c t r a s o u n d ” to date. embedded within the grooves of this record are 6 streams to dip into as respite from the punishing rays of the hot summer sun… very small pressing in screen printed covers.
ragas of the culvert, previously self-released as a cd-r in an edition of less than 50 copies as well as a quickly sold out cassette on fuck it tapes, is a glorious revisiting of the lunar raga style that created so much of mv+ee’s past. this meditative and purely instrumental six track voyage is guaranteed to transport you to distant worlds. ragas of the culvert will be from an edition of 840 copies pressed on 180gm rti vinyl. the record will be housed within “old style” stoughton lp sleeves bearing a new design by both matt and erika… all copies here include the pre-order only bonus cd, ‘total loss songs’, that featuring 50 minutes of previously unreleased and newly recorded material, complete with b&w cover art. sold out at source.
the box set documents the mv & ee live experience in various incarnations between 2002 and 2009. the music is entirely unreleased material (with the exception of guitar barn featuring j mascis and tom carter, which was issued as a bootleg cdr in the heroine style, but was actually unofficial). highlights include a 2002 mv & ee medicine show performance, the guitar barn jam with j mascis and tom carter, a new band, mv & ee with the wolfpack, a recent set with jeremy earl of woods, as well as classic bummer road and golden road jams. the box set will be presented chronologically and culminates in a pete’s pix vol. 2 featuring 7 tracks from various dates mainly in the uk (including tracks from the thurston moore curated atp in 2006, and dylan nyoukis’ 2006 colour out of space fest – both of which feature chris corsano). limited to 250 copies. the tapes: the mv & ee medicine show ‘citybillies’ brooklyn, ny 5/23/02 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘the suncatcher blossoms a novatone’ tonic, nyc 7/18/2005 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘abstract blues and egyptian mud’ campfire sounds, acra, ny 7/15/06 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘pastis king’ paris, november 11th, 2006 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘barn joint’ red barn, amherst, ma, 10/16/07 (feat. j mascis and tom carter) (previously out as an unofficial bootleg) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘lobstora vs tone crabs’ floristree auditorium baltimore, md, 6/14/08 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the wolfpack ‘yurt aspects/rural centrifuge’ wickermania festival, the yurt, goshen, ma 8/2/08 / tinderbox, brattleboro, vt, 8/3/08 (unreleased) – mv & ee with jeremy earl ‘”he’s on tonight, saddleback”/”multiple gravitrons” cakeshop, nyc, 1/20/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the wolfpack ‘mamma zooed’ the triple, richmond, va, 1/23/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee ‘smoked bossier’ art space, shreveport, la, 1/29/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘sequential circuits’ vintage by the pound, toronto, on, canada, 2/7/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee ‘pete’s pix vol. 2′ 2004 – 2006 (tracks from cambridge uk, colour out of space, thurston’s atp, oxford, london, and more. features nemo, chris corsano, samara, willie, jiggs, sparrow, simoes) (previously unreleased)… beautifully done & already sold out at source. very limited stock.
i was lookin’ for myself in this celestial agriculture and came upon this country store. i was informed. i was told by certain sources that this was the place. you can hear why. i mean from the outside it looked like any other joint. tho’ you don’t need to cut the cord to know that a c.o.m. is not like anything else. this sounds and feels analog – because it is and was created with warm technology in every possible stage. you don’t need to jettison awareness to realize that this is handmade. would be “good” by the woodstove, in yr ear, for yr pipe – stuff like that. so i went inside and asked if they’d heard us and thought about diy, keepin’ it sustainable. i just asked straight out like that. you can wait right there and look or you can “hear” it while supplies last. limited to 99 copies… 8 discs packaged in a handmade/handbound wallet offset printed with silver and black ink, stamping and a 16 page book with a color cover repro of the tour poster. “you are there” vibe of the tapers pit recorded live, up close and personal. all this housed in an archival quality poly sleeve – lovingly assembled / mastered / restored in spectrasound. peace… maybe the most epic com release yet! totally cool one here folks. 99 copies only and very limited stock.
tribute album to alan lomax, the man who, more than any other, have worked to “bring the music to light”, in the widest and most absolute meaning of the word. a record that the space brothers maurizio and roberto opalio, aka my cat is an alien, share with fabio orsi, considered by the impro duo as the most interesting emerging italian musician, from the “bloody heart of naples”. in his track, orsi inserts lots of voices “stolen” from the infinite recordings made by lomax along decades of meticulous and continuous work, and makes them hinge and nucleus of “spring no more and love come in the wind”, giving them new shape in order to make them his own; like for example a sicilian fisherman’s chant from the middle of the twentieth century, which orsi stretches into a low and hearthbreaking prayer, submitted to the personal and sensitive logic of his own elettroacoustic aesthetics. though so different from each other, orsi’s and mciaa’s tracks sound complementary, and build up an original, complex and really unitary work. mciaa’s “heart of the earth” starts with an harmonica floating throughout cosmic sounds, while alien cosmic blues guitar chords slowly increase until an explosion of tumultuous space-noise, enhanced by roberto opalio’s estranged vocal tune, which rises on the great void to celebrate the spirit of the artists which hav e always represented mciaa’s heroes, from leadbelly to blind lemon jefferson and charlie patton. the listener won’t find difficult to see the great alan lomax materializing from the deepest cosmos, as undiscussed discoverer of the american primitive music. released in an elegant matt varnished digi-sleeve. limited edition of 500 copies… out of print.
limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies packaged in heavy duty screenprinted metallic ink jackets done by neil burke at monoroid. my cat is an alien’s new surprising master work is a concept-album split with their side project, praxinoscope. as always, in a world full of compromises, mciaa represent fierce independence and complete freedom. take roberto’s own words in the liner notes as the best introduction to this work: ‘one day we realized it was no more possible to discern archaic art and post-modern art in our palette; it was clear that they were both reflected in the same hall of mirrors. in other words, alien art and archaic art are the same thing. all archaic art deals with death, sex, transcendence and eternity. we’re all living days suspended in the void. the difference is in consciousness: this is real artists’ duty. beyond and other than this, only oblivion.
entire session of one of the latest mciaa’s live killer performances, recorded at feedback festival in dijon on september 29th, 2007. split over 6 sides of c20 analog tape cassettes, the duo’s performance couldn’t but draw inspiration by the name of the event, launching a massive attack of feedbacks from the highest spheres. private edition of 60 handnumbered copies; in heavy cardboard with paisted artwork.
another voyage into the inky blackness with the cosmos-loving italians and another gem. mciaa have gone from making dronescapes that were merely beautiful to listen to (merely!) to vast vistas of sound that seem to exert an almost gravitational pull into their depths. this opens with roberto opalio’s parched vocal trances and the calming ching of oriental bells and builds into a soporific sea of echoing guitar notes with bells rippling through it like a warm wind. for some reason, the line from”astronomy domine” about”the blue you once knew” comes to mind. the sound then appears to collapse in on itself before ebbing into freefall. divinely beautiful. — boa melody bar.
“here we are/ dancing with the dark shadows/ here we are/ dancing with the dark shadows” this is the incipit of the first side of”when the windmill’s whirl dies”, the new work by the space-brothers maurizio and roberto opalio, alias my cat is an alien; and here we are indeed, ready to dance with the shadows which surround the light, as the intimate and vividly estranged mood originated by the floating guitar tunes will enter the furthest meanders of your mind. both the words, recited and shaped by roberto from his own homonymous poem that suggested the title of the album, and the oblique minimalism of the complex musical texture made of flowing space sounds, represent the abstract neo-expressionistic substratum of the whole corpus of the work. moving throughout a nebula of space dust and debris, the starting spoken-word vocals alongside the percussive section sound as powerfully impressive as the violent imagery of trees beaten down by the storm, while the whispered silence of”perspective of time” and”fallin’”, on side two, discloses the emotional and existential universe of an isolated broken soul, lost in a world of inanity. this is the center of the no-thing universe, where each single word or sound assumes the aspect of a sort of pagan prayer that speaks the language of astral folk-blues. in this context, mciaa’s outer space becomes a re-found uterus, meant to be the form of a new self-biogenesis. at the same time, space is conceived as symbol of the eternal theatre surrounding the mysterious cycle of life & death; such infinite space, despite such limited time. this cosmic-chant of the new millennium may heat our nights like a flame left to enlighten the shadows of the coldest darkness. at the end of it all, some words will still be ringing in our minds:”so, we’ll never forget the light”. after 2004′s key-work”the rest is silence”, mciaa’s”when the windmill’s whirl dies” comes as the second act of a trilogy dedicated to the great void. a beautiful recording housed in a thick, heavy duty gatefold sleeve. edition of 600 copies.
the follow up to their excellent debut cdr, the mystery water saloon boys is phil todd’s vehicle for group workouts in atmospheric and psychedelic jams. this disc features the duo of PHIL TODD (ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS) and CHRIS HLADOWSKI (SCATTER, NALLE) exploring everywhere from twisted deep space raga to edgy paranoid ramblings using strings, effects, voice, reeds, wind, and percussion all mixed and mangled onto a very damaged old tape deck – limited.
vinyl edition of this nomadic psych-soul trio’s beloved 2008 studio debut, released on cd on greg weeks’ (of espers) language of stone label. this edition has swank glossy jackets, plus an 11×11 pro-printed insert, on colored vinyl. one time pressing of 500.
debut vinyl album by contemporary electric guitar wizard bill nace, ‘too dead for dreaming’ begins in the form of a deconstructed blues piece, slowly exploring the territories of atonal composition, string–scraping and feedback, crashing all these styles in an instinctive, personal way. his affiliations with x04, northampton wools and vampire belt converge here in a unique flux. bill’s ability in creating sounds, follows a clear logic of ‘construction of tension’ that eventually explodes into pure sonic mayhem (part 2) then switching the attention from your blowing ears into new, obscure tonalities, with a spectral meditation that develops in the last part of the album and mirably closes the circle. it’s all here: one man, one guitar. a bulldozer. limited to 200 copies , hand printed and numbered.
mr. ruaradidh sanachen has been getting a name for himself recently with his one man kosmische metal space ritual project nackt insecten, releasing plenty of limited edition “stuff” on a whole bunch of labels. in february 2008, as part of glasgow’s wonderful instal festival, he was seen cradling a suitcase full of howling drone/noise aboard glasgow’s tube trains, and what a show it was – check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5nrb6nllo for a glimpse of the fun. as nackt insecten’s relentless sounds meshed in perfectly with the locomotive rumblings, i thought to myself what a fine 7 inch single it would make. and sure enough, over a year later, here it is. an explanation made by a member of the “audience” to a worried fellow traveller provides the title. this package also contains a cd of new nackt insecten studio concoctions, a conceptual sequel to the recent lp on blackest rainbow records. a real cd too, not a cdr! cover art by goldenlab’s fliss horrocks and the inclusion of a genuine glasgow tube train ticket completes this handsome package. limited to 200 copies.
side a features 4 tracks, sort of snippets of larger drone landscapes build from what sounds like burnt-out spacestations and lost may-day transmissions of shuttles travelling into the unknown. side b is one long 15 min drone piece that slowly works its way into total blacked-out nothingness. the atmosphere of the whole release warps you into some creepy sci-fi movie with the sound of xenomorphed arachnid hordes slowly eating it’s way through ancient space waste and abandoned spacecrafts. all in all, a haunting and throughout focused release by this insect! edition of 60 with artwork by jf.
the rumors are true. marissa nadler delivers her kickstarter funded debut release on her own box of cedar label. brian mctear produced the album, which nadler says is the “most honest, natural record” of her career.
across these seven tracks, tuulikki adopts different personae to act out variations on the mythic themes of love and death that have informed british indigenous music for centuries. accompanied by multi-instrumentalist chris hladowski (with whom she also performs in the family elan) and viola player aby vulliamy, tuulikki constructs poetic, timeless tales with arrangements that draw as much on 1960s acid folk and its 21st century descendants as they do on traditional music. in the ballad “sunne’s return” her longing for physical dissolution, coupled with hladowski’s spidery, off-key electric guitar, creates something as creepy and haunted as an empty playground swing rocking by itself. “lilly” is a dark vision of extinction and exile built around a heavy, comus-like acoustic riff and hotwired with a spitting fuzz-guitar solo, in a similar vein to some of ben chasny’s louder six organs of admittance moments. the stand-out track, “songthrush” – which also features scottish saxophonist raymond mcdonald and alex nielsen on drums, reprising the free jazz inflected playing that powered his own psych folk song project, directing hand – is a broiling, formless freak-out, borne aloft on tuulikki’s ecstatic, birdlike trilling. it’s a breathtaking burst of magical energy, and easily some of the most convincing free-folk the uk has ever produced. daniel spicer/ wire magazine. 180gm lp ltd to 500 copies… another lovely lp on this label, with top notch presentation as always : massively thick textured cover & super heavy wax.
nautilus is the solo project of heidi diehl of vanishing voice/time life, long-time br transatlantic e-mail buddy who we finally got to meet just over a year ago on the very brief vanishing voice tour. since then, she has begun recording solo material under this alias, and has self-released one cd-r which blew our minds, and likewise blew local long-time br friend ben nashs cranium apart. the nautilus side opens with still rings, a far-out trip of weirdo outsider dripping mind-fuzz, like some kind of spatial insect gathering. tallahasse woman rings more bells with the sound of vanishing voice and heidis psychedelic string playing, and subtle vocals buried below it. jeans theme is another sweet track of tranced-out guitar with approaching percussion and waves of vocal drones. ben nash holds his side with two nearly 8-minute tracks, opener plymouth bredren blues has definitely got the blues, as mentioned in the title, theres some serious woe in the wah right here, and some almost paris, texas moments. interloper / latch also starts off pretty bluesy, but halfway through goes to a speaker-shredding guitar shaker, with some seriously serious riffs, that are almost breaking up as they begin, and then reverting back to the blues mediation of the beginning of the track. a great release, in an edition of 300 copies… great stuff! recommended for sure.
subterranean substances flipping over into parallel visions of increased awareness. bringing the aura of inspired nakedness to fruition. exposing percussion by brett womersley. 70 copies… another great release from this dude! hot stuff. recommended.
it’s been quite some time since a full length solo ben nash release, and it’s finally here, and so,what different from his more psychedelic folk drones he showcased way back on ‘the seventh goodbye’. probably best left for ben to explain this one for you… “i recorded this new full-length record during downtime from playing with chora and after a long break from recording any solo music. having become somewhat disillusioned with the process of overdubbing conventional “physical” instruments repeatedly in my solo work i have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ways of inputting, manipulating and arranging sound electronically, both in a variety of computer based environments and also using an apple ipad. this release is the first in a series that will document these experiments. all sounds on the album stem from and are sequenced within yamaha’s tnr-i app with some minimal mix processing in logic” – ben nash, camberwell green, september 2011. edition of 250 copies pressed on heavy weight black virgin vinyl.
vinyl debut for long term blackest rainbow brother ben… i’m extremly happy with this one. 8 tracks, 34 minutes. opening with a reworking of ‘kuad 9873′ from his blackest rainbow debut cassette… bleak drones smothered in vocal lulling, and finishing with a sweet guitar piece swirling in a lake of percussion, vocal and drone. ‘nightcall’ shows a more middle eastern psychedelic droning, bowing, wailing, and satanic mutterings. track 3 is the title track ‘the seventh goodbye’, and is the most ‘full band’ approach of ben’s acoustic psychedelic folk jams, but this blurs into sax blurts, waves of melancholic vocal drone and writhing riffery. perhaps similar to voice of the seven woods or six organs of admittance. side b opener ‘smoke and flattery’ is the most experimental – multi percussion, echoes of whispers, finger grating guitars. ‘magnetophon pt iv’ is not ben’s recent sloow tape of a similar name, but a bluesy haze lsd dream, building into a drenched ecstatic guitar drone. following this is ‘what will always be pt.ii’ which is reminiscent of jack rose, or james blackshaw, the most beautiful composition on the lp. this bleeds into the final surrealness of ‘angel no. 7′ field recordings, bleak, fearful and empty. i’m honoured to release this gem. limited to 250 hand numbered copies on virgin vinyl, with black, white and red pasted on covers, plus a black and white insert. all artwork designed by darryl norsen who designed our (vxpxc) sleeve, and done a few beauties for important records, as well as posters for sunburned, six organs, hush arbors, magik markers and more… killer vinyl debut from this great under the radar uk dude. paste-on color art, insert, etc. limited to only 250 copies and sold out at source. recommended & act fast.
formless, yet totally purposeful impressionism from travis of warmer milks; totally blow out guitars layered over mysterious might, it’s almost meteorological. the tape’s totally autumn: breezy synths, rain-drop-drop percussive jewels, air-shifting riffs; when a recording reveals an certain experiential wisdom, (here through some sort of kaleidoscopic spasmodic vermism) it’s clear t-t-t-totally precise artistry was necessary–totally “next level” material. in addition of fifty (and numbered) totallly full-color “double cover insert” tape.
this might sound like hyperbole, but i’m not exaggerating when i say that “the dance of the moon & the sun” was the greatest cdr release of all-time. the packaging, the music, the overarching feel of the whole release was nothing short of perfection. it was criminally limited (though understandably so with the intricate packaging & booklet) and eventually found its way onto various mp3 blogs and other file-sharing resources online, and it became the stuff of legend. but what of the music? it’s the rarest of cases that one would want to listen to 2.5 hours of music by a single band in a single sitting, but natural snow buildings is that rare exception. there is no filler on this monumental masterpiece. it is the history of all things. it is an epic poem. it is a love letter to the world. nsb find their way through dense forests and towering peaks using every weapon in their arsenal. the aching beauty of “wisconsin” is the perfect piece of ambience in the tradition of windy & carl. “john carpenter” is loose and subdued, washed in reverb with a nod to the dirty three. the title track flickers in the night sky like the north star, beckoning those who hear it’s heady call. the 25 minute stunner, “felt presence, ghostlyhumming” takes flight and never returns to earth, losing you in the darkness. it’s desolation will rip your heart out, while putting much drone-based music to shame. in the end, though, words can’t do something this special, this important justice. it is perfection defined. packaged with all new artwork in arigato packs from stumptown printers with 6-panel insert, featuring new liner notes from time-lag’s nemo bidstrup. limited to 500 copies… long sold out at source, we scored a few last copies. if you don’t have it yet, better go for it, cuz this one is a real stunner. highly recommended.
stunning new record from natural snow buildings, the collaborative project between mehdi ameziane and solange gularte, the minds behind twinsistermoon and isengrind respectively. this new epic from the french duo is their first physical release since 2009′s well received ‘shadow kingdom’, also issued by us here at blackest rainbow, and it follows on from 2010′s download only ‘the centauri agent’ and both twinsistermoon and isengrind full length lps. so 2010 has been a relatively quiet year for natural snow buildings in comparison to 2008 and 2009. mehdi and solange have been working on ‘waves of the random sea’ for us for quite sometime, both in terms of art and audio, and it really has come together beautifully. solange has created a truly stunning series of artworks that spread across the 4 panels of the gatefold sleeve, and the music is a gorgeous tapestry of dreamy drone blurred with their enchanting ethereal folk balladry. this release continues to show how important every aspect of a natural snow buildings release means to them, i was blown away by the standard of the music and artwork. pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl, and housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve featuring artwork by solange. the vinyl edition features an extra track not on the cd and all tracks in their entirety.
two of the most intense young “free” dudes from different parts of the globe (kelley from boston, neilson from leeds) unite for this completely weird record, taking free music to a different level, recorded on top of eachother via mail. this sounds like moving the heaviest metal closet on a little rubber boat from brighton to the east coast of the united states, kicking off with a heavy free jazzy tune full of retarded trumpets stuffed with little babies screaming for a change slightly changing into ice cold acoustic metal scraping ambience. tons of different sounds to discover and very unclear whether they came out of a trumpet, a drumset, a mouth or a whale. comes in a black and silver fine line drawn cover by dennis tyfus. limited to 400 copies – sweet!
filthy, ragged, drone-damage from the mastermind behind the insanely credible pseudoarcana label, and recently crowned third member of black boned angel. crackle and smoldering fuzz turn over and over on itself at ever more terrifying pace until everything within its gravitational grasp begins to smell of burning plastic. frightening, shamanic, and dare-i-suggest bluesy (think fushitsusha not gary moore!) yet set within a down-on-the-farm, antipodean, post-xpressway context. the future of drone. the future of rock. the future of goddamn everything!
neu’s third album repressed on super thick, 200g vinyl. ’75 is a unique entry in neu’s discography, mainly due to the fact that the album was created while band was going through growing pains and creative differences (this was their last album till much later in the 80′s). it had been a few years since the second album, and keyboardist/guitarist michael rother had grown very fond of the ambient style, while his band-mate klaus dinger (ex-drummer for kraftwerk) preferred a more aggressive, rock sound. as a compromise, they decided to record one side of the record (side a) in the old neu! style with dinger on drums and rother on keys. side b however, was a much more radical change in style with dinger on lead guitar and vocals leading to a much more experimental punk sound. both sides are equally fantastic listens and together they give a great variety to the album, reminiscent to the varied styles found in some of their peers albums at the time (such as ‘faust iv’). to aid with performing on the album, and more importantly, live, hans lampe and brother thomas dinger were enlisted to help execute more music than was possible by two men. upon its release, and arguably to this day, ‘neu! ’75’ is one of the most diverse records available from the krautrock scene. while this can be seen as a positive point, the differences in musical direction (as well as personal issues) not only isolated the dinger/rother duo, it isolated their already small fan base. neu! broke up (for the moment). excellent space-out music for the cosmic heads in original gatefold sleeve, and on extra-high grade vinyl too.
new yaki is gown and partli cloudi, culled from fahey tributes, grain elevators, jazz vangaurds, and apartment recordings towering above blackball records. exotic drones and percussive memory loss. analog delayed reactions. also guests babel and matt o))) on a couple tracks. vintage folkwaste library covers, limited edition 69.
first release on new portland maine label, started by the fine folks running the great venue of the same name… really sweet lonesome stripped down folk & folk blues from this local fellow. mostly slow paced & but pretty on the edge, its a intense listen if given real focus. certainly will appeal fan of the area’s other folk hero, micah blue smaldone. packaged in a nice screen printed cover with paste-on photo, plus thick board printed art insert. limited edition of only 100 copies, so not going to hang around long!
our first split cd, two complementary mini-albums merged into one mind-altering whole. philadelphia-based niagara falls follow up two fine cds on their own honeymoon music label with perhaps their most evocative electro-acoustic drones to date, an aural tour of a misty archipelago located just off the coast of dreamland; 3 tracks, 30 minutes. meanwhile, the clear spots roll up one of their most fried rural noise fatties yet, assembling various wreckage from last year’s successful orbital barn launch into an imposing edifice that towers over the scree on the far side of the ridge; 1 25-minute track in 4 parts.
sequence of prophets, the third full-length album from niagara falls, finds the band once again radically altering their instrumentation and composition methods. upon the exit of erich breimhurst and jeff carpineta, sam cusumano and noah levey joined norman fetter in the latest incarnation of the group. the trio of norman fetter (ex-golden ball) (percussion, keyboards, and guitar) noah levey (keyboards and guitar) and sam cusumano (synthesizers and electronics) self-recorded the album in spring of 2008 at the band’s own honeymoon compound in the fishtown section of philadelphia, which has also been home to espers, golden ball, ex reverie, fursaxa, sharron kraus, heather leigh murray and christina carter. on the opening track, flatlands, the band employs a cacophony of insect nosies, long sustained keyboard drones, and tribal drumming, as well as sam cusumano’s hand-made acousto-electric devices and circuit-bent keyboards, to create a symphony of fluctuating electronic weather patterns. sequence of prophets is an illustratration of the band’s journey from free-form improvisation towards a more solid sonic anatomy. calling to mind the early experimental albums of tangerine dream and popol vuh, niagara falls has created a new synthesis of ambient new age experimentalism and neo noise. limited edition of 500.
ninni morgia: guitar, bass, el.autoharp, el.sitar, keyboard, percussion, kalimba. daniel carter: saxophones, trumpet, clarinet, flute, voice. jeff arnal: drums, percussion, thumb piano. brooklyn-based guitarist ninni morgia (quivers, the right moves), in this occasion with multi-instrumentalist daniel carter, one of the most active and talented musicians of new york’s free jazz community, who has played, among others, with: sun ra, sunny murray, test, matthew shipp, other dimensions in music, plastic ono band… and drummer/percussionist jeff arnal, create a beautiful mix of psychedelic free jazz and indian raga with a wide range of instruments like thumb piano, kalimba, bells, gongs, all centered around morgia’s versatile guitar work, previously compared to great masters like keiji haino, sonny sharrock and hendrix. on the various tracks of this 2lp, morgia’s guitar goes from miles-electric style funky-wah and the acid trips of jerry garcia, to the fury of haino and sharrock, and finally reaches the ecstatic visions of the great kosmische bands popol vuh and ash ra tempel. the record has been mastered by audio wizard scott colburn (sun city girls, magik markers, animal collective).
not too long ago, john clyde-evans made a huge splash with his phenomenal solo lp on england’s fisheye imprint. he also performed as an collaborator with the seminal uk group, hood. after taking a seven year hiatus and committing to the path of sikhism, he returned as tirath singh nirmala. his continually unfolding backstory is interesting enough, but it’s his music where the real magic and mystery stretch their silver wings. nirmala returned to making music after his close friend and collaborator, vibracathedral orchestra’s neil campbell, gave him some free software and set him on his way. nirmala responded with nearly a dozen self-released, highly limited cdrs. the releases were filled to the brim with eastern-influenced, transcendental drones and uplifting spiritual sound explorations. his manipulation of sine waves and use of obscure asian instruments creates a wholly original and unique sound. as on his solo lp as john clyde-evans, nirmala’s ability to concoct sprawling, majestic drones using such simple terms is unmatched.”bluster, cragg, & awe,” nirmala’s first non-cdr release, is the perfect beginning. it collects the best tracks from those now impossible-to-find releases and adds one new song and one collaborative piece with scottish guitar guru, richard youngs. it is a journey that lasts less than an hour, but contains a lifetime of aural experience, wrapped into one, shimmering golden package. oh yes, tirath singh nirmala has returned.
from elevated drones to gut-spit vocal edits, blown woodwinds and heavy electronics, this is one of the finest summations of music made in ‘the tirath era’ – english artist john clyde-evans has retired his tirath singh nirmala name and now flies under the jce banner. tirath/john has also recently worked with neil campbell in astral social club, released a collaborative lp with richard youngs, and was previously a member of the hood crew. edition of 100.
another well-smoked slab of glorious “what the fuck?” by visionary caterwaulers of chaos and ex-chicago blues cruisers, no doctors. equal parts backwards boogie and straight skullfucking confusion, “t-bone pt. 1″ stomps one through hard and thick, slinging broken barn-boned riffs that collide head on with sputtering cross-eyed measures of brilliance and back again. “t-bone pt. 2″ ensues after a quick flip to side b as you and your square-minded notions are slapped straight in the face with a wet hose spewing talkin box (!) snarl and ultimately delivers your blown mind on a broken piece of hobo-stew stained porcelain.” – noel von harmonson (comets on fire). “like the grateful dead and royal trux, no doctors possess the ability to start off playing the most rudimentary of folk forms and then subtly shift into exploded, free-form sonic excursions.” – justin f. farrar (east bay express).
recorded close to the group’s inception in 1994, languid red marchetti is the nnck sound in its empirical form, rhythmically a-linear and fundamentally abstract. while nnck would go on to become a seven piece performing group, recording and touring extensively, this recording documents a smaller group of four original members engaged in the hermetically sealed sonic exploration which best locates their aesthetic origins. from the group’s statement on languid red marchetti: ‘a proto-intuitive latihan of feedback + pre-scaffold juxtaposition of layers which would come to constitute edifice, and eventually dwelling. where we would soon occupy this sound, it here was a force in and of itself, its directionless propulsion compounding into substance and landscape.’ this deluxe edition planam lp comes with a nnck generated essay on sound imaging through improvisation and is packaged in a full color jacket depicting ‘the hypothetical dissolve/corruption + subsequent inevitable repetition of suprematism.’ edition limited to 340 copies, with full-color cover, infra-suprematist inner sleeve and ultra-liner notes insert by keith connolly.
the first release of dokuro is the 7″ of nodolby, two tracks of guitar ferocity melted with blasted synths and tape manipulation of howling voices. the b side featured the droning trumpets played by demis da rold. the art work was drawed and curated by merlo and hand printed by canedicoda. nodolby is the sound’s onanist expression of michele scariot (part-time lover of emanuele “kabu” bortoluzzi in the electronic combo ent) , he run this project privately since ’98, during all these years nodolby was like a slumbering creature that wait in his lair the right moment to attack you. his sound archive goes from guitar abuse to computer scorias through turntable detonations and it will be release in the future by dokuro… purple vinyl edition of only 66 copies.
as a wee lad – i would make these treks up to portland from my smaller home-town down south – i’d hit these spots like the x-ray and thee o hell cafe – and suburbia – and catch all these weirdos doing their thing – i saw jacike o motherfucker, smegma, daniel menche – all the og motherfuckers here in puddletown – . and i saw noggin – who were probably the least forgiving, most punishing slab of skree my virgin ears had heard – seriously rough guitar/violin scrapes and feedback – i still don’t have any idea how they made all of the sounds they pulled out of those little twigs – fast forward ten plus years, and i’m a bit older and making a small racket of my own – we’re on tour with gang wiz and playing up in bellingham, wa with noggin – all are stoked. the noggin bros rock up with no amps and two violin cases – so – now noggin’s as abrasive as ever, but totally acoustic – now – a few years further down the road – and jyrk is releasing their return to electric playing, which is a great amalgam of their intense electric skree and their acoustic athletics. all smashed up into this lil cdr – edition of 150.
g lucas crane. the breakdancer. g lucas crane. the tapemanipulator. g lucas crane. the new york city guide. g lucas crane brings us a 60 minutes roundtrip of weird fidelities and strange sounds. i enclose what the mind of lucas communicated me through resonating electric wires. i wrote down this given information using the technique of automatic writing: “its tape one in the goblin universe series. the rare zero tape is the only tape to survive the arson of rozwell labs 2029. it was one of 6, the rare one through rare 6 were all holding sound patterns corresponding to analysis levels, the audio detritus left over from mental examinations. the exposure to these tapes responds to latent interdimentional experiances, womb style, aeomeba style. the silver disk is the symbol of the gobiln universe and altered opened mind in general. its yer “classic” unidentified flying object. a smooth, silver disk that turns pink red orange hues when its about to punch through off into the multiverse. apparently, it also turns blueish purpleish when landing. awesome mode! anyway. the rare zero tape survived and was taken to the quarentine site in los alamos nv, approching the rare zero tape causes an audiable “swarm of bees” sound to increase in anger and intensity the closer one gets. touching the rare zero tape with skin causes negative aura proxisms and results in instant death. listening to the rare zero tape does not kill, just touching the original. a military robot was charged with dubing the master and sending it to you. it is the sound of perliminary examination. the further 6 levels have been lost. good god.
two ten minute tracks come smeared across this tape from brad rose’s the north sea. drone music, slowly shifting, and peppered with acoustic folk-oriented instruments and percussion, hinting at this artist’s background, but obviously looking forward to a drastic change in sound that is obvious from his recent releases under this project as well as activity in ajilvsga. color digital printing on a royal arsenal of metallic vellums; silver, gold, plum, purple. 2-panel j-card, 1 panel of real marble, an internal horizontal obi, and silver labels. edition of 100 on hi-bias chrome tapes.
brad rose of digitalis has been busting the north sea jams for quite sometime, and in the last year or so its developed from being a luscious garden, to a complete metallic desert of industrial waste land, christian bale and his co-stars would probably feel at home with this being the soundtrack to the next terminator flick, and who knows, maybe it will be? the a side, cyclones, is a pure doom soaked 11 minute beast. side b’s milk money is a fuzz layered nightmare of scolding blowtorches burning at your face and mind… intense and bleak. bleak forestry cover art, pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 100 copies.
this is the first official solo full-length release from tulsa’s the north sea (brad rose). rose is easily one of the free-folk movement’s busiest exponents, splitting his time between running the digitalis and foxglove labels, the foxy digitalis webzine and writing his own music under a variety of different monikers with a host of collaborators. somehow, he has found the time to craft exquisite idols, which elegantly follows a hugely acclaimed collaboration with uk’s rameses iii, night of the ankou. however, whereas night of the ankou explored both acts’ occasional leanings towards ambience and drone, exquisite idols shows rose digging deep into the dusty vaults of his american heritage and drumming up an album dripping with blues, folk and free experimentation. this is folk music as played from a snow-drift in tulsa, in a midwest wasteland or a forgotten forest drenched in moonlight. it is personal, secluded and almost lonely, but rose never allows the melancholy to take over. from the jubilant opening crackles of “eternal birds” right up until the rockin’ stomp of “feather-cloaked silver priestess,” there is the distinct feeling that although this might be labeled free folk, there’s a barn somewhere full of like-minded drunkards waiting eagerly to get dancing on them there hay-bales. just flip to the rip-roaring folk stomp of “take it from me brother moses,” take a swig of moonshine and let your feet do the talking. exquisite idols is an album steeped in tradition, yet its greatness comes from rose’s ability to absorb other cultures so easily — there are traces of indian traditional music, greek music and more, all hidden within the cacophony of banjo, guitar and clanging percussion. this is what sets him apart from his contemporaries and makes his music so absorbing… limited vinyl version.
brad rose as been channeling some seriously heavy vibes lately. picking up where ajilvsga left off, rose spews forth even more thick unholy shimmer. hints of past pursuits loom just beneath the surface, lush forest drones are completely overpowered by caustic metallic doom. c30 edition of 100.
brad rose joins the black petal family, with contributions from valerio cosi. tender earth-bound songs for hand and hoof eventually grow wings and scramble straight into the core of the sun. cdr with handpainted covers… very limited & out of print.
you thought you knew what digitalis industry honcho brad rose played the bouzouki? well, you haven’t this set of recordings yet. thought lost in the postal system or perhaps at the bottom of a pile of packages on some other label’s desk, it is now time for this incredible acoustic document to be unleashed. reverbed-out folk tunes at their finest. this release is housed in a sturdy cardboard package, stamped with the north sea seal, and contains a printed insert and a non-spraypainted cd-r (cuz brad hates that stuff)… very limited.
grey-area exact lp repro edition, originally released on fahey’s takoma label in 1967. charlie nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, organic farmer, beekeeper and philosopher/clown charles martin simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out the metal from american cars). the psychedelic saxophone of charlie nothing made
a minor splash in the european free jazz melting pot upon its initial release, but the albums non-dingulating psych sax improvisation, accompanied by gong, conga drum and banjo (supposedly borrowed from tiny tim), is highly sought-after by the adventurous and heavily medicated. limited to 500 copies.
these tunes turned up on cassette recently at gps hq from an associate of kn x founder cy levine. recorded back in the winter of 1978 in various london locations, on original analogue equipment often borrowed from friends such as throbbing gristle’s chris carter and other sonic diy/minimal synth luminaries. they remain unreleased until now due to fractures within the band in late 1978. credited to cy levene: voice, synths. anna bloom: voice, electronics. niko: tapes and rhythm machines. taking their cue from tonto’s expanding head band, throbbing gristle, silver apples, suicide, fifty foot hose, kraftwerk and the burgeoning industrial sheffield sound, this ep is an absolute must for fans of the normal, thomas leer, tg and early human league. dressed in original collage artwork by ruth levene, depicting a host of 70s underground icons. more recordings are being released from the kn x vault, appearing as a gps lp in 2011. total killer ep, the tracks on which have been re-mastered from original cassette tape. released as a limited numbered pressing of 300 7” singles and 30 cassette tapes.
one of the newest and most surprising discoveries in the 60′s & 70′s rock rarities field, this caused big hype among collectors in the last months. certainly easy to understand, as it’s an ace album no one had heard of before. guitarist william nowik recorded this obscure instrumental record back in 1974 in the ny area. psychedelic, progressive, very early floyd sounding at times, crimson-esque, and a kind of sound that reminds on the british early 70′s underground but with an experimental, trippy touch. fourteen tracks in total, but played and arranged in suites. seems that only 200 copies were pressed and never distributed, so it has taken 35 years to be discovered for the first time. this wonderful reissue comes with the intended original artwork (it came out in green and black cover instead of the black and white that william wanted), has nice remastered sound and includes an insert with rare unseen photos and extended liner-notes.
finland and new zealand meets again on this second collaborative album from uton and antony milton (first one under the nthnthsthsth moniker was released as a limited cdr on celebrate psi phenomenon back in 2004). a perfect clash of two beautiful worlds over 2 sidelong tracks divided into several shorter segments. layers of majestic droning sounds, field recordings, voices, guitars, percussion… full colour artwork by jani hirvonen and liner notes by jon dale. limited to 520 copies.
continuing in the series, nudge deliver a smoky dirge perfect for autumn. lineup consists of honey owens (of valet, former jomf) alongside brian foote and paul dickow (ex-fontanelle, foote et al) – limited to 214 copies in a sweet embossed, hand-stamped, sewn art paper jacket.
dublin-based guitarist cian nugent excells here with meditative guitar compositions. 19 year old nugent’s originals (plus a cover of buell kazee’s anthology of american music staple “the wagoner’s lad”) are well served in this recording of nugent 4th ever live concert. ranging from the jug band bounce of “baka danse” to the eerie squeaks of “the ceremony,” nugent’s music boasts a rare breadth.
doubles, the first widely available release by irish guitarist cian nugent, showcases a major talent in the audacious setting of two side-long epics. clearly inspired by the takoma classics and the recent generation of greats (jack rose, glenn jones, etc.), nugent delivers a pair of perfectly formed takes on the classic steel-string sound, one (mostly) unaccompanied, the other an expertly arranged full-band throw-down. “peaks and troughs” is a slow-building solo piece in the style of fahey’s “fare forward voyagers,” with each part perfectly connected to the previous. nugent has ample technique, but the virtuosity here is all in service of the mood and the build-up. his guitar has a darker, more intimate sound than many current players, without the brittle ring common to fingerstyle. the emergence of a deep drone after fifteen minutes shakes up the track, like a swarm of bees spilling out of the speakers. in contrast, “sixes and sevens” is a percolating jam in the style of jim o’rourke’s classic bad timing lp, with nugent’s steel-string riding an inventive wave of drums, organ, viola, woodwinds and brass in an ambitious, filmic masterpiece. the main tune of the song is instantly memorable, building momentum before a subdued interlude that resets things for an elegant, orchestrated finish. vinyl includes digital download code
number none’s tentacles stretch out deep into the deepest depths of the wild oceans crawling along deformed creatures deprived of all oxygen who get some heavy hallucinating going ending into a tranquil state of sonic watery bliss. each copy comes with handmade papercut of a green exotic looking squidopus. numbered edition of 65 copies…. looong gone one.
great, causal yet commanding drones from this chicago duo. extremely well done twilight ghost drones. there’s something really unnerving about these subterranean transmissions – like landing on a newly discovered planet, and realising it’s all quicksand – edition of 50.
numinous eye is an improvised psychadelic-cosmic-noise-rock project based around mason jones (trance), and generally featuring the participation of various collaborators. side a is from a live set in tokyo at the end of 2005, with koji shimura (acid mothers temple, high rise, mainliner, white heaven) on drums and higo hiroshi (friction, shibusashirazu orchestra) on bass. side b was recorded live in the studio with chris van huffle (ex-subarachnoid space, gay barbarians, etc) on drums. limited to 490 copies on orange vinyl with insert and sticker.
the debut by roope from avarus, pylon and maniacs dream. nuslux plays good-humoured and chilled out electronic minimalism by mostly self-built analogue instruments. on this cd-r you can also hear some violin and the last sounds of a now passed out old yamaha sampler. the result is a celebration of sound waves, dry pulses, and harsh harmonies. the main mission is to try to get (back) near the listeners ear. this cd-r contains the very best 14 short songs of the enthusiastic and productive first sessions in the spring 2007. edition of 200.
100% minimalistic short circuit grooves! the pots of two d.i.y. oscillators are placed in three glasses of water to create parallel and random pulses and beats. the result is brutal, cheesy, funny and minimalistic dance party. probably the best nuslux item so far! … way out sounds from roope of avarus!
two solo pieces for voice and reel to reels (well one also has oscillator), plus one interlude. includes the first ever solo live joint. like if terry riley had down syndrome when he hooked up his time-lag accumulator. ‘like he was being eaten alive by goblins.’ – audience member.
forty-four short poems for amusement and contemplation, hand-bound and packaged as a “cd without a cd.” compiled from several years-worth of word experiments and traditional american pseudo-haiku. populated mosaics wonders, for one, “what do things look like from above?” … really sweet little book from elephant micah mastermind. recommended reading.
a rather appropriate unearthing takes place on this record, as yellow swans are posthumously paired up with chicago’s oakeater. first up is yellow swans, with a single side-long track that should please fans of their later, brighter more psychedelic sound as well as those of the more rigid, structured and even melodic sound found on their final lp. masterfully mixing huge guitars, shards of mixer feedback and discreet loops. oakeater on the flip side performs the funerary rights with three tracks that fall somewhere between a satanic ritual and a cosmic synth trip, with meditative vocals, throbbing synthesizers, and distant piano lines. on the label and art/design end this was a collaborative effort between black horizons and dead accents. comes packaged in a custom euro-style sleeve, offset silver ink on black linen paper. black vinyl with silver on black center labels in an edition of 500 copies.
the first full-length album from east coast doom lords ocean. three rogue waves clocking in at a full 65 fathoms, unleashed with the deep low-end drone of sunn o))), burzum’s screams, the crushing heaviness of buried at sea, and the art rock of mogwai. slothful and suffocating. includes a non-cd bonus track-a cover of the cure’s “siamese dream.”… deluxe uk import of the out of print important label release. portland maine’s finest doom unit! silver embossed cover, 180gm splatter purple vinyl. limited edition.
space cassette by a real human genius. dr bibber (a dutch guy going strong from 1985, releasing enema syringe in 1987!!!) delivers 60 minutes of space and noise. welcome in his head – limited. seriously fucked packaging!
a thousand years ago, in 2006, michigan moonlighters odd clouds drizzled down their lp opus, the cavernous end. within the sphere of open-eyed freeform organized psych-jazz sprawl, nothing compared. years later that album still kills, but not much has followed in its wake (there have been some loose tapes but those roll in a cruder basement fuckaround vein). so we are personally xxtremely pleased to be able to finally offer up the band’s latest album-length affair, deceiving illusion. a six-song spelunk into the deranged group brain responsible for noise scene mainstays like fag tapes and tasty soil records, illusion rumbles through a hall of mirrors of zones/styles, from freaky garbage punk to robot throat games to motorik brass meditations to unhinged 70s german commune beardo psych-blazers. the journey is the destination and all that. abuse yr illusion. black vinyl lps in stunning 4-color pro-silkscreened jackets with artwork by chris pottinger and jamie easter, plus a double-sided photocopied insert. edition of 400.
this self-titled album was the only one that icelandic progressive rock trio odmenn ever released. it was made at a critical point in odmenn’s history when the band members had agreed to take a sabbatical year while the guitarist studied law at the university of iceland. they got together for the last time a year after the album was released and split up directly after having played only one gig. odmenn was formed in early 1966 by the johannsson brothers playing the most popular music clubs in reykjavik. most of odmenn’s music could be categorized as protest songs or social studies, touching topics like anti-war protest and fights against pollution, greed and deception balanced with more positive stances like hope for a better world with love and eternal brotherhood. ‘psychedelic guitar pieces had become their trademark.’ odmenn recorded this double album in copenhagen with a release late december 1970. odmenn made a great impression with their blooming mixture of energetic blues rock and was probably one of the best progressive rock bands in northern europe. 15 great songs released as a double album with massive 4 page insert and many photos never shown plus long liner notes… numbered edition of 500, ultra heavy gatefold sleeve on 180gm vinyl. originally released in iceland, 1970.
thee oh sees are back again with this brand new full length. by john dwyer’s own description, castlemania is the band’s “summery poppy” album. castlemania finds the band introducing more baroque instrumentation to gild their swirling attack. the vinyl is comes in a beautiful, colorful gatefold sleeve that houses this three sided double lp. the fourth side features an etching. very swank indeed… first lp is beer colored vinyl. plays at 45. best one from them in awhile.
featuring a 13-piece band of multiple drummers, reed & brass sections, junk percussionists, banjo, a saw trio, and a vacuum, with members from evolutionary jass band, au, cexfucx, hammer of hathor, old time relijun, castanets, eternal tapestry and others. long-form compositions with free-improvising, group sing-a-longs, ecstatic shouts and new orleans funeral horns.4 songs, averaging at 12 minutes each. like the band playing backwoods tone-poems in a rotting swamp. limited pressing of 300 lps, hand-screened.
at some point all great explorers, from amundsen to kishan singh rawat, come to an opening up and cast their minds across a big space. a clearing, a promontory, a look out from a place no one’s been before. jakob olausson ventured deep on moonlight farm, his debut for de stijl in the winter of 2005. his singular expression returns on morning and sunrise, an explorer’s codex, a gaze through to what’s more important and less seen. the path yet traveled and the sun arcing over it. morning and sunrise is a different record from moonlight farm. neither “progression” nor the preferred “natural progression” describe how. there is more electric guitar and it really whisks at your earbones, the playing is beautiful. jakob’s singing glows more. it gives light and shows love as it reassures, makes no false promises, says: you can be understood. honest as the elements, whether you count four or 118. words like “loner” will be hung on morning and sunrise, and that’s okay, we associate clarity this potent with solitude. and this could be the most lucid psychedelic record ever, morning is just so clear, and anyway, it’s not really loner, because you are there all along. don’t we all just want to know how the next person gets along? come out into the morning and see… fantastic new album, at last! highly recommended!
it’s been years now — just about two, judging from the sun. om have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. today, they say, god is good. are you surprised? perhaps you’ve haven’t understood what om was saying to you. but perhaps you felt something… it’s true that the one way pursued by om leads in many different directions. it is a mystic path. songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. om albums are rituals, personal convictions transcripted into verse. playing the music is visceral, emotional, a catharsis of soul and spirit. as the ghat liberates soul from body to the ultimate, so too do om strive to disengage from the finite object of their objective mortal self to rest in the empty and timeless witness. and in doing so, they seek to release you as well. as ever, dynamic relationships and the slow building of mood are attenuations that shape the structures of god is good. with careful microscopic increase, the energy grows through the four songs, leading towards moments that one could interpret…revelation? oblivion? awakening? since 2004, om have burned their name into the annals, trolled the fertile crescent, faithfully made more out of what little was put into their hands, forged three full-length albums from white-hot evaluations of the infinite. the duo that is om is composed of bass and drums and whatever else comes into their mind that will serve the song and do it justice. al cisneros has been pursuing the pure note as om (and previously with sleep) for many years now, but this is the first om record to feature the battery of emil amos, who replaces chris haikus in the chair. you can go to the shelf and study it: there are comparative religions, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, and history. turn around, and there is om. their vibrations of the philosophical and the physical are meant to move you. believe… limited vinyl version in a heavy old style cover with foil embossing.
in december of 2007 the mighty duo that is om made a pilgrimage to israel to play for its people. their pinnacle performance unfolded at 4 aristobolus street in jerusalem the site of uganda records. the band played for over 4 hours on this evening! the tracks: “flight of the eagle” and “bhimas’ theme” were captured and the transmission of these recordings were flown back to the united states where the vinyl lacquers were made by bob weston. southern lord in cooperation with om present you the listener with this 180-gram black vinyl transcendental offering: om live at jerusalem. limited to 3,000 machine numbered copies.
oneida has delivered a monster named rated o which happens to be the crowning achievement of their storied creative lives. by producing this colossus they have also created the necessity of its destruction — which within the confines of this tremendous accomplishment — they do so handily and with utter fluency. perhaps rated o represents the encyclopedic representation of oneida music, oneida creativity and oneida insatiability. as the leviathan rises from the murky depths to endow the idle watch with illusion, disillusionment and mortal terror — thus oneida leaves a hieroglyphic spume upon the glassy surface of what is known and unknown. the music contained within the covers of rated o must be seen as a gifted wilderness that when traversed will grant the traveler both a fractured mirror and a demolished and worried pathway deeper into the abyss. this album is an attempt to contain the entirety of oneida and thus it points the way to infinite rebirth and boundless creativity. it is a finite map and the suggestion of unknown worlds. we finally have in our hands the album that oneida has often gestured towards. ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the greatest triple albums ever recorded.
edition of only 480 copies. sweet screen printed covers, etched vinyl b-side, hand numbered, hand done labels, etc. live studio version of ‘the human factor’ from the ‘rated o’ triple lp. really nicely done art release. gonna vanish, so…
gatefold lp version. returnal is the fourth album from daniel lopatin’s oneohtrix point never project, after betrayed in the octagon (deception island, 2007), zones without people (arbor, 2009) and russian mind (no fun, 2009). all 3 albums being superbly compiled on the rifts double cd set (no fun, 2009). it sees lopatin fine-tune his craft for the creation of deep atmospheres and textures even further. starting off with the mind-blowing triptych of “nil admiari”/”describing bodies”/”stress waves,” which fires off into a noise/rhythm excess before entering a zone of relative calm, building to the melancholy of the final part. this sets the tone perfectly for the album’s title track, a stunning, out-of-this-world ballad featuring lopatin’s near-desperate vocal delivery, ending what could be seen as one of his most chilling and thought-provoking sides to-date. the atmosphere is slightly lifted as the darkened sun comes up over the ruins on “pelham island road” and “where does time go,” with the album closing with edgy broken beats and the fourth-world possible landscapes of “preyouandi,” which fades into the distance with echoes of the “returnal” chorus closing the loop. what’s burnt into memory here is lopatin’s love affair with the long, slow path back home… the cycle… the hypnotic sector… the ghost in the machine… and whether people are making dance music or hip-hop or space head-music or metal, the ouroboros is present in every sector — as it was in bach’s study, and in the elephant songs of the ituri forests. instrumentation: akai ax-60, roland juno-60, roland msq-700, korg electribe es-1, voice. recorded using a personal computer. mastered by james plotkin. tape-op & additional engineering by al carlson. awesome spot-varnished cover design by stephen o’malley.
first soloist release by one-half of my cat is an alien, space brother maurizio opalio. way up to enfer is the entire recording of an acoustic, totally improvised session performed on december 31th, 2005 at my cat is an alien’s new alien zone headquarters, located somewhere in the italian western alps. along the two tracks featured in way up to enfer, maurizio’s acoustic guitar notes create subtle killer tunes woven in a richly textured harp-like fingerpicked style, like the charming sound of a lyre emerging from a spinning maelstrom in the sea. there are no space sounds here, but clearly emotional rises, an acoustic resistance to the falling darkness, or maybe just the right way up to enfer. special handmade ltd. ed. of 100; handnumbered, look-like-vinyl black-bottom cd-r in nice-textured cardboard tri-fold sleeve, with charcoal drawing by maurizio opalio – these new acoustic releases are quite beautiful!
limited edition of 300 copies packaged in heavy duty screenprinted jackets done by neil burke at monoroid. each side features a 20-minute solo track from both brotherly halves of the acclaimed my cat is an alien. both brothers were quiet about the inspiration for their tracks. dig in and find your own meaning in the comfortable alien world of the opalio space brothers.
recorded in 1970 as part of the first biennale of arts and culture for the young in mali. the regional orchestra of mopti was a state funded orchestra that participated in country wide music festivals and competitions. a hypnotic band featuring electric guitars & a large horn section. this is the first in a series of six mali music lps we will be reissuing this summer from sterns. a serene and droning record that is both sorrowful & celebratory.
these three 7inches were originally released separately, but due to the very limited stock and unified nature of the trio we’re offering them as a bundle all together. more amazing raw solo guitar action. each 7inch limited to only 200. released of orcutt’s own private label. recommended but very few on hand.
yet another essential, cracking new set of songs from bill orcutt, showcasing a further development of his unique, visceral acoustic style. the language that orcutt uses looks familiar at first glance, but cuts deeper and it’s a myriad of twisted audio that’s both full-on and drenched in melancholy, usually in the same gasping breath. while a lot of it is the classic face-melting style, some quieter segments counter balance on the title track as well the epic closer “a line from ol’man river” and “heaven is closed to me now.” recorded spring 2011 in the living room, san francisco. gatefold lp version.
one-sided lp. originally a tour only release, but now repressed in only slightly larger quantities… recorded may 22, 2010 at high street project, christchurch, new zealand. clear vinyl with silkscreened cover art… recommended!
after a long wait… the tale finally arrives, one insane trip of moon safari keyz from belgian frozen corpser eva. one side of pink cassette acid fuelled child like far outness that only the of can jam so well. one of the most psychedelic-ly far out surreal trips to come out on the label so far, each one comes in individual space covers with a hand numbered black and white insert of crackle screen space weirdness. limited to 100.
eric is probably best known for being half of noggin – he also dropped the “e” cd/dvd in 2005, which is quite a heavy load – cyanonide is four short film pieces of beautiful bright blue takes in his usual painted film/organic matter exposure techniques. these films cover a great breadth despite their singular spectral focus – some are static blasts with other colors consuming the various washes of blues, approaching the most abstract hypercolor visions of the paper-rad sect – other pieces are meditative drifts featuring suspended plant matter in crystal blue – limited to 90 copies.
eric is probably best known for being half of noggin – he also dropped the “e” cd/dvd in 2005, which is quite a heavy load – cyanonide is four short film pieces of beautiful bright blue takes in his usual painted film/organic matter exposure techniques. these films cover a great breadth despite their singular spectral focus – some are static blasts with other colors consuming the various washes of blues, approaching the most abstract hypercolor visions of the paper-rad sect – other pieces are meditative drifts featuring suspended plant matter in crystal blue – limited to 90 copies.
it was the worst of times in johannesburg white suburbs. the beatles were banned on state radio. haircut regulations were merciless. life was an unutterable hell of boredom and conformity, but lo: salvation awaited. they came from the north in the summer of ’69, armed with axes and scarabs, long hair streaming behind them, and proceeded to slay the youth of the nation with an arsenal of murderous rock tunes. they were the biggest thing our small world had ever seen, our led zeppelin, our black sabbath, maybe even our rolling stones. they were otis waygood. after two albums released on emi s.a. the album ten light claps and a scream was simply the best otis waygood record and among collectors the most sought after. the music is influenced by the british underground for sure. bloodwin pig, steamhammer, if are working in the same field. great guitars and vocals, blues-influenced underground rock, sax, organs and well-crafted composition and arrangements making this album a unique masterpiece. julian laxton of freedoms children was the producer. rob zipper (vocals, guitars, saxophones); ivor rubenstein (vocals, percussion); leigh sagar (guitars, organ, hawaiian guitar); benny miller (guitars); alan zipper (bass)… recorded south africa, 1971. edition of 600 numbered lps, glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing.
stunning new lp from campbell kneale’s post birchville cat motel project. continues with the vibes set on his superb lp for dekorder, total psychedelic filth noise. two side long heavy pieces of gushing electric destruction, one sound lurches in and tears down another one, which it rebuilds an even more ferocious version of the original sound. pressed on 180gram vinyl. limited to 400 copies in pro printed wrap around sleeve on 400gsm silk card.
debut single of the new project by campbell kneale (birchville cat motel / black boned angel) sure to pack the dance floors in hades. -dirty knobby… shoot. the goddamn funkiest noise record ever? like a bop-off between rudolph grey and terminator x. grinding psychedirgecore plastered over tasteless and ghastly electrosplatter and ambivalent fake-folk strummage. (everybodydancenow!) – campbell kneale.
the gates of birchville cat motel crack, creak wide, and crash, unleashing a gush of soul-fried bleakness and love-damage stained with a defiantly metallic pose. thats ‘metallic… as in, has the surface qualities of metal’ not ‘metal… as in, has the surface qualities of metallica’… step back you fucking freaks. although the broken bricks of bcm are still plain to see amid the burning wreck and ruin, ‘stillborn plague angels’ represents the first fully formed sentence in a new chapter of campbell kneale’s ongoing tome of star-spangled, psychedelic, noise-om. cholesterol-shaving guitar peeks over the trench to survey an adrenalised landscape of endless roaring catastrophy… everything louder than everything else! our love will destroy the world is the new one-man project by new zealander campbell kneale after disbanding birchville cat motel. in the past kneale has released albums on ecstatic peace, corpus hermeticum, last visible dog, conspiracy and his own celebrate psi phenomena label. he has colllaborated with lee ranaldo, neil campbell, bruce russel, john olson (wolf eyes), yellow swans, has toured throughout japan, europe, america and australia and also records und the names black boned angel and ming. “stillborn plague angels” is the debut lp by this new project.
the gates of birchville cat motel crack, creak wide, and crash, unleashing a gush of soul-fried bleakness and love-damage stained with a defiantly metallic pose. thats ‘metallic… as in, has the surface qualities of metal’ not ‘metal… as in, has the surface qualities of metallica’… step back you fucking freaks. although the broken bricks of bcm are still plain to see amid the burning wreck and ruin, ‘stillborn plague angels’ represents the first fully formed sentence in a new chapter of campbell kneale’s ongoing tome of star-spangled, psychedelic, noise-om. cholesterol-shaving guitar peeks over the trench to survey an adrenalised landscape of endless roaring catastrophy… everything louder than everything else! our love will destroy the world is the new one-man project by new zealander campbell kneale after disbanding birchville cat motel. in the past kneale has released albums on ecstatic peace, corpus hermeticum, last visible dog, conspiracy and his own celebrate psi phenomena label. he has colllaborated with lee ranaldo, neil campbell, bruce russel, john olson (wolf eyes), yellow swans, has toured throughout japan, europe, america and australia and also records und the names black boned angel and ming. “stillborn plague angels” is the debut lp by this new project.
japan’s overhang party were always one of their country’s most interesting, multifaceted and imaginative musical units, and we at mutant music are honored to be able to make their long out-of-print debut lp available once more. overhang party and its members, who revolve around founder rinji fukuoka, have always shown a wide range of musical interest and ability, and this lp shows them all at their formative nucleus, offering a glimpse into what would come in later years in addition to enormous immediate aural gratification. initially released privately by the group in 1993 (prior to rinji’s formation of his pataphysique imprint, which would release the rest of the group’s output in addition to many other interesting recordings), this lp was limited to just 200 copies and has long been sought-after by aficionados of the japanese underground. needless to say, until now, if one were to be lucky enough to find a copy of this lp, it would come with a somewhat prohibitive price tag; we offer it once again in the vinyl format with its original presentation for those of us for whom the depth of our fanaticism may not always equal that of our bank accounts. this lp shows the group’s long-standing interest in the avant-garde and improvisation, featuring some amazing soundscapes which find their way through both the beautiful and the abrasive; they definitely explore some far-out territory, but there are also glimpses into the beautiful saturation of their more ‘rock’ side on occasion, with some particularly expressionistic guitar work from rinji within the context of a slow-burning psych blowout. this lp features the initial lineup of rinji fukuoka (guitar, voice), iwao yamazaki (drums), kouji nishino (bass) and kunukunu as guest on vcs3 synthesizer during the track ‘air.’ this vinyl reissue is limited to 500 copies and it is presented with its original artwork which features a stark plain white jacket with ‘overhang party’ simply printed on the front.
reissue of the arhoolie lp recorded in 1962 at overstreet’s church in phoenix, arizona with a slightly altered track listing. includes two tracks previously unissued on vinyl. recorded very live during a church service. rev. overstreet plays electric guitar and bass drum in his own driving & intense style while his four sons and the congregation take care of tambourine, backup singing and hand claps. a powerful record of gospel energy and testament.
creaking basement prayers from a few sides of the dust era. owl head, wooden man, otherwise known as shon mahoney (s. br. oak, soft peace, etc.) slips right into a long buzzing drone piece, full of half-heard layers and imagined howls, the subtle melody of a horn on the radio. a dream in dust, for sure. then he let’s it ride a little easier on a simply folky song blown out and roaring in the most gentle way possible, building into a strange loop of misheard melody. the flip side sees a series of shorter cut works from night music’s christopher kline (wooden veil, soft peace, etc.) tossing banjos, guitars, jaw harp, old electronics and whatever else he can find into an old trunk, shaking it up, and dumping it out. sounding like a television made of stones on the fritz during a storm, chopping up flooded gray static and deep woods fortune teller stories. in an edition of 50 painted-label tapes tied with thread to a seed packet designed by the artists and filled with cosmos flower seeds.
we here at mad monk have been fans of adam kriney’s many projects over the past few years and feel deeply honored to offer the vinyl debut of his long-running fucked-jazz unit owl xounds (formerly owl sounds). taking their psychedelic rhyhmic core of drummer kriney (la otracina / blizzards / rust ionics / castanets / the places) and upright bassist gene janas (screamin jaw hawkins/bern nix’s sedition ensemble) to any reedsman up for the challenge, the boys explode it all with austrian sax-ist mario rechtern, who has been invlolved with free-music since the late 60′s playing in the reform art unit (with sunny murray, linda sharrock, & leena conquest) and more recently as a guest in the weasel walter quartet / sextet / trio. truly and honorably a post-esp expression, it is much a post-sst expression. while the instrumentation and framework are a staple of the jazz/improvisaion tradition, the directions and velocities at which owl xounds exist are just as informed of the worlds of hardcore/punk and experimental noise. citing the misfits as the most important band in his musical education, drummer/leader kriney always felt the connection between the punk he grew up on and the free-jazz he became aware of later in life, the energy, the volume, the commitment, and most importantly the undeniability of them both! and similarly the ostracism of the two is not to be ignored, being an outsider, the alienation from popular music, from popular culture, and from everyone around who just ‘didn’t get it’ were also of significance. it is with these considerations that this lp was named, for after all, from albert ayler to thurston moore to glenn danzig to kawabata makoto to peter brotzmann, ‘they’ and ‘we’ are all teenagers from mars, and we don’t care! – limited to only 400 copies i think. awesome packaging with cutout neon stickers on a heavy vinyl clear covers and bright orange vinyl. nice.
oxfords sole 1970 privately pressed album is one of the best late 60s us psychedelic soft rock albums. excellent male female vocals and complex original songs. it contains 4 bonus tracks from their pre-lp 45, which were not included in the original album. highly recommended! limited edition, gatefold, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
p. a. r. a. represents pre-atlantean ritual artifacts. it was channeled in deep sea space by labanna bly, in the celestial summer of 2008. dedicated to my knight, james ferraro. mermalien is a three-part suite for three deaths to supreme consciousness: ‘mercury overdose,’ ‘abyss retreat,’ & ‘seaspace chrysalis.’ limited edition of 200 copies. paste-on covers.
we created this record during 2001-2005. also many other things happened. mostly “yhä hämärää” is trying to reflect inner landscapes. ofcourse concrete places are forming and partly creating those inner views. some highly inspiring places: durde, densis, my home, pöllänlahti, toilet, graveyard, sewers, disco, the beach at redpoint, rooftops at night, alcoholic’s home, churches, uukuniemi, foggy fields, sauna, my bed. everything the light touches (and doesn’t touch) is our kingdom. we like “yhä hämärää” very much. -lauri ainala / paavoharju… limited 180gm vinyl version.
fricara pacchu is a man whose quest is the ‘real’. the same quest that made him quit his profession as a photographer and become a welder. this maniacs dream member’s sixth solo release ‘lucy’ contains five tracks recorded on his four tracker, using electronic keyboards, presets, guitar, stylophone and effects. hard driving psychedelic synthesizer music.
super limited debut vinyl release from this uk based duo creating some really gorgeous minimal americana-folk for field recoridings, guitars, banjo and piano. bleak and almost epic-ly empty at times, personally it gives me a real feeling of old american western times, dusty deserts, desolate old towns… it would be the perfect soundtrack to a modern tale of these lands from the past. ‘born music’ is an extremely well assembled collection of 10 tracks totaling in at just over 30 minutes. edition of only 100 copies, pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl, with paste on full colour covers and full colour inserts… instantly out of print first pressing.
mind melting tribal ghost jams and full tilt punk skronk rock of the highest order from the melbourne based inverted crux horde. not your blab blab bullshit punk either – i’m talking old school/new school past eating the future type shit. comes in hand-colored sleeves made by the artists themselves – yummy.
excellent new solo guitar album from frequent richard youngs collaborator andrew paine. this is one huge laminal guitar construct that takes off on a vaguely keith rowe-esque tangent of bowed/e-bowed guitar strings before the sizzle of lead guitar and the gravity of overloaded pick-ups fixes the whole thing to the ceiling in a mass of competing fuzz architectures. definitely a touch of matthew bower to the delirious high-end shots at heaven feel of the more rock-informed passages but there are also hints of keiji haino, mazzacane connors and even the flashing industrial stasis of mev. – volcanic tongue.
transparent winter follows on from the debut release on the always excellent time-lag label and releases on the equally great psf, opax and a silent place. painting petals on planet ghost is the trio of ramona ponzini with roberto & maurizio opalio (aka my cat is an alien). here they return for a new full length vinyl release on blackest rainbow. ppopg create some wonderfully fragile and unusual experiments that fall somewhere between folk, psychedelia and drone. ramono ponzini sings in japanese as well as contributing ‘furin, metal and wooden japanese wind chimes’. these are combined with maurizio opalio on acoustic guitar, and roberto opalio on ‘mini keyboard, bodhran, alientronics, and wordless vocalizations’. the trio’s eclectic setup helps them create some truly luscious and mysterious music that is perfectly fragile, strange, distant and delicate. ‘mars appears’ is a hazy dream piece with layered guitars, strange electronics and ramono’s perfectly delivered japanese vocals drawing the listener in surrounded by a strange but perfect fitting created by the opalio brothers musical output. ‘the mountain’ is equally as otherworldy as the previous sides track, with swirling strings and out of this world electronics created by roberto and maurizio. whilst ramona’s vocal are almost delivered in a trance like state. a extremely beautiful record with a gorgeous organic feel to it. the record is housed in a sleeve featuring film photographs of flowers. edition of 250 copies pressed on 140gram virgin vinyl.
pale blue sky is the new project from mike pollard (formerly treetops). shades of grey is the project’s genesis; a long considered transition uniting the organic drone-work of the former project with compositional structures. the recordings embody a delicate sense of distance; staring out at the moving landscape obscured by the mediation of the window. through blurred fidelity the origin of melody is placed under microscopic inquiry; an exploration into the moment of tonal interaction. pale blue sky utilizes repetition and non-linear movements, attempting to reconcile simplicity, form, and sentiment through modes of difference. placing focus on spatial concerns, as well as emotive potential, the five songs contained within are each different embodiments of the possibility of the transformative decay of remembrance. an ephemeral glimpse; the moment has already passed. for quiet, distanced listening. in an edition of 400 copies with full color glossy jackets, printed inner sleeves, and printed labels.
side a of this cassette single is an experiment in brainwave synchronisation. a mind machine with strobe light goggles was attached to each musicians head to help synchronize the two hemispheres of their brains. the stimulus was intense and the alpha frequencies almost triggered photosensitive epilepsy before they crashed down and passed out. side b is just like the lightbike scene in tron. it is about losing yourself in a maze where speed, space and time change at every turn. recorded in an old-school time pod. straight up bendy collage by felix morel. black spray painted cassettes with gold splatter, just like the future. numbered edition of 100.
the paper hats is william tyler from nashville, tennesee. you have seen and heard him play guitar with lambchop, silver jews or — if you are lucky — with the spiritual family reunion. deseret canyon is a psychedelic record and psychedelic is when one drops the google and let the music do its thing and moves in time to imaginary spaces. and since its meant to appear in vinyl this move has two opposite spiral tracks. flip it, screengazer. deseret canyon is finger picking folk. tuning secrets and mesmerist magic. country soul on a carrousel. magnetic front porch symphonies with a drone. the apalachian meets raga meets vienna classic meets hawaiian slack. the fahey thing, the loren mazzacane conners thing, the ribot thing, the jansch thing, the o’rourke ding, the datashock dthing. ding music that makes you concern, consider, regard, and bear in mind, also waltz sleepy in serpentines with your augur self… real nice album.
supposedly there are nineteen sisters and they all play together and never ever look at each other. continual transgression and vacation woery. all this in preparation for an lp on de stijl recs… great high quality packaging as always.
part wild horses mane on both sides is the duo of kelly jones and pascal nichols. proclaiming a context far greater than the sum of their instruments, low fired clay escape is a remarkable record of visceral beauty, stark decay and translucence. one that inhales the smoke of martyrs and advances towards an unknown vocabulary, depicting barren worlds as lost as they are found. limited to 530 copies and housed in the intricate work of darren adcock.
new hyms by bram borloo, member of belgian junkpsych bands like dirk freenoise and r.o.t. bram is a prolific belgian fluxus artist that makes his owninstruments. this is a collection of recent quiet recordings he did. ballads for broken metal and shortcircuit radios.
ritual recordings from partli cloudi (one half/third of the newyaki duo/trio with gown). a missing jorodowsky soundtrack by rainforest dwellers. self medicated ragas, peyote tom tom percussion, bells, wah, mysterious strings plucked like chickens by a slow motion raccooon. recorded by alien lomax and vishnu woods- a true labour of loveliness. handmade collages assembled by meadow sweetie, each one beautifully unique. limited edition of 34.
after years of prodding by fans and reviewers, the patron saints have released a 2-cd, 45-song set of cover tunes recorded from september, 1966 to late spring/early summer 1968, entitled before bohob, vol. 1 (subtitled birth of a basement band). here are the liner notes from the cd package: once i actually held a tape recorder in my hands, it was all over. i was probably about ten or eleven years old, and had received a cute, toy-like little 3-inch reel-to-reel from my grandmother for my birthday. i was absolutely fascinated with it, spending hour after hour recording errant noises, household sounds and family members ad nauseum. i used to love to flip the tape over and play stuff backwards (predating john lennon by years!). when the patron saints formed in 1966, i was able to couple my love for tape recorders with my other obsessions, electric guitars and rock ’n’ roll, and record us at various stages in our ‘career’, culminating in our most famous project, our 1969 independently written, produced and distributed lp, fohhoh bohob, now an unexpected cult classic. when our musical genre is listed in numerous musical websites and catalogs, it is invariably ‘psychedelic garage rock’ or something equally obtuse. we’re usually presented as three dorky ‘emo’-like teenagers who must have spent all of our formative years in our bedrooms penning our angst-ridden musical ideas and who, finally, painfully, put them down on tape. often, reviewers will attempt to ‘nail down’ our musical influences, often naming groups we’d never heard of, let alone were influenced by. the truth, as you will hear in this musical chronicle, is that the early patron saints were never a psych band’85we were a hardcore r & b/blues/pop/rock/folk rock/country/surf band. well, maybe a little psych, too, i guess. and we weren’t a garage band, either’85we were, in reality, a basement band. i don’t recall ever playing in anyone’s garage, quite honestly; we honed our craft in each other’s basements. over the years, a surprising number of fans and reviewers have written to ask me if there were any recordings of the patron saints made before fohhoh bohob. as well-known as the threesome on the fohhoh bohob sessions are, and the four patron saints who recorded the latimer sessions in 1970-71, for me, the real patron saints are the original five who started the group together in ’66; me, frank stapleton, jeff alfaro, jon tuttle and bruce miller. the songs presented in this cd set are all live recordings made by the five of us, presented chronologically, spanning the period from september, 1966 to late spring/early summer, 1968. recorded in a number of different situations with tape recorders of varying features and quality, i believe that our energy and ability shines through, despite any equipment limitations and engineering inadequacies. for a bunch of teenagers, we had a remarkable work ethic. we were all fiercely dedicated to learning and mimicking our musical heroes’ recordings as closely as possible, until we felt comfortable enough to stray from that formula and start developing our own distinct sound. we all liked working in a group context, and really enjoyed each other’s company. while most of the groups in our local musical universe played it safe with the hits of the day, the vast majority of our repertoire was rolling stones songs (and a lot of obscure ones, at that), which gave us, by proxy, a ‘bad boy’ image. to this day, members of local bands from back in the day will tell us how much they used to look up to us. pretty amazing. each band member seemed comfortable with his role; as patron saint founder, i was pretty much the anchor, politically and, as bass player, musically. i was really into the details; “no, i think keith actually played this note, not that one’85″. frank, on rhythm guitar, had an amazing ability to see into the musical future; he was the one who first discovered jimi hendrix, for instance, and turned us all on to him, ages before the rest of the world had caught on. he also introduced me to the john mayall and the bluesbreakers with eric clapton lp, for which i am forever grateful. jeff, on drums, was the baby of the group; he was (and pretty much still is) the highenergy, positive ‘keith moon’ core of the group. i’ve known him for over fifty years (!), and i don’t recall ever seeing him angry. jon, on lead guitar, was a musical force of nature. incredibly gifted, his superlative guitar playing elevated our group stature quite a few notches over our local contemporaries. forty years on, i still marvel at the skill and maturity in his playing back then. bruce, on lead vocals, organ, harmonica and tambourine, was supremely confident as the front man. he had the voice, the chops and the looks to add the icing to the cake. so often nowadays, the mid-to-late sixties is remembered musically as a period of drug-induced, psychedelic “summer of love” hippie music. i hope that this cd set helps to dispel that absurd myth, and prove that there was a huge variety of music genres to experience and tap into back then. in preparing these songs for inclusion here, i have done some harmonic balancing, a little click and pop removal, and a modicum of noise reduction, but i’ve attempted to leave them as “analog” and close to the original vibe as possible. so sit down, crank it up and listen to what a true garage, err, basement band from the sixties was all about.- eric bergman, october, 2007… fantastic new archival release! highly recommended listening!
the patron saints, creators of the legendary 1969 lp fohhoh bohob, had a long-anticipated reunion in 2000. that event sparked a strong desire to go into the studio and record a brand new patron saints album, and the following crew happily signed on for the project: eric bergman (original member),and other ex members made it a real patron saints album.they decided to revisit a couple of songs from the latimer sessions,”fly away” and”in the mourning”, both of which they felt deserved a rethinking from a”grown-up” perspective,”good friday”, an old live favorite from the ’70s which was never recorded in the studio, a few from the ’80s which had never been recorded, and some brand new songs. as a special treat for fohhoh/proto bohob fans, there’s also an early ’70s demo recording by original patron saint and fohhoh bohob co-writer, the late jon tuttle, which was given the”beatles-free as a bird” treatment, i.e., other instruments were added to jon’s demo to make it a finished production – solid reunion album from the makers of one of the greatest ‘lost album’ private press lps of the 60s.
sometimes it feels so simple: two of our favorite people in one of our favorite bands release one of our favorite records of all time. 2009’s imaginary falcons was its own genius slushpile of tape-hissy drift-dub haze anthems, no question, but 936 takes every facet of the peaking lights mighty diamond and shines it to fluorescent perfection. the songwriting is insane; “all the sun that shines,” “amazing & wonderful,” “tiger eyes (laid back),” etc, all seep into yr mindstream and float there like melodic gold dust. indra dunis’ silky soul-jazz keys and tranced vocals have never sounded so exquisite, and aaron coyes busts out the best bass/drum loops and sneaky dub guitar of his musical lifetime. recorded by luke tweedy at flat black studios in iowa city (where both the nnf wet hair lps were tracked) and mastered in berlin, 936 retains the cool crate-digger grit of their earlier highlights, but within a much more vivid spectrum of sound. could not be more jazzed and honored to unveil this total groove-wave classic. black vinyl lps in jackets with vintage/bootleg art by the band. edition of 600.
peaking lights return with a follow up ep to their excellent night-people full length imaginary falcons and a teaser to lead into their killer next full length album set to drop on not not fun later this winter. space primitive was originally released as a limited cassette on fuck it tapes but needed a bit more shelf life so night-people set to work to make this release a reality on vinyl. aesthetically very similar to imaginary falcons, the same haunted low fi electronics surfacing throughout, cascading shimmering layers of guitar, and indras ethereal vocals moving through the sound like a surfer on a wave. this 12” comes on clear 1 sided vinyl with a silkscreen on the b side, the best looking 1 sided homemade picture disc night-people has made yet. artwork by shawn reed… great to see this one on wax!
pefkin is the scotland based solo project of gayle brogan (ex electroscope member and owner/operator of the amazing boa melody bar mailorder). pingle pangle is the 2nd album for this project and picks up where the similarly astonishing ‘asa nisi masa’ (foxglove cdr) left off. pefkins music flows easily between swirling melodic psychedelic ‘almost-pop’ songs, tonal electronic experimentation through to eerie whispered ancient forest folk. melodica, violin, percussion, guitar and voice are built up with a crystal clear use of delay and other effects to produce a fragile beautiful whole. pefkin has been compared favouably with nico and alastair galbraith. such comparisons are well deserved.
now available to all, a new pressing of the extremely limited edition live cd previously attainable only on the band’s 2006 european tour. contrary to the grateful dead reference in the title, skullfuck is a tight recording of a single, intense november 2005 performance from nyc’s knitting factory. the set begins with an epic group arrangement of jack rose’s ‘calais to dover,’ with rose’s 12-string shadowed by mike gangloff’s fiddle, and the thick drone of mikel dimmick and pat best’s harmonium and srutis. the three-part ‘bestio’ suite follows, with the group moving to tibetan bowls and gongs, building up a huge sheet of sound which peaks in a brief ‘encore’ of wild gong smashing. this new edition is packaged in a gatefold ‘eco-wallet’ with cover art designed by fabric and fiber-artist emily keown.
rochesters pengo is john schoen, r. nuuja and jason finkbeiner. 2/3 of them have previously played with arthur doyle. hailed as the worlds most psychedelic band, they come back with “counterfeit memories” which could be their darkest statement so far. a departure from 1970s ugandan extravaganza into possibly the synapses of its then leader. limited to 500.
pengo is: john schoen, jason finkbeiner, r. nuuja. pengo comes from rochester, ny and are simply a dark-bright beacon of madness in the subterranean swamp of psychedelic junk collectors. they’re kind of elusive, having issued only an lp prior to this release (it had been a year since we’re working on this album) + a few cd-rs and tapes. got affiliations with coffee & the doyle eae – wild stuff/weird vibes! – green & gray vinyl. way limited as always.
blazing, distorted guitar-driven mayhem straight from the uk. it is literally unreal how angular, ample and amped these sounds are. be prepared for complete brain dis-fucntion. take your pets to the kennel before playing this one, ’cause you won’t be back for awhile. edition of 123… amazing deluxe packaging & highly recommended!
originally released in 1971 in japan. nobody’s sure if the musicians on this recording ever performed as a group or whether ceremony was simply a studio super-project. certainly, guitarist kimio mizutani had already enjoyed a certain amount of critical exposure following stints with love live life + one and masahiko satoh’s sound brakers, and it is satoh’s jazzy fuzz guitar licks that help to lift this album to a higher level. unfortunately, this was the ensemble’s only output, but this conceptual album is an absolute classic. as the title suggests, this recording was an attempt to fuse a buddhist-influenced spiritual vibe into an innovative form of hypnotic, psychedelic prog rock. all in all, a rather weird record, but the sound is mindblowing — experimental and trippy, but never too free or over the top, and at times a more traditional japanese style of music lurks in the background. a monumental album that’s never going to go out of style. numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies only.
incredible second album by welsh psychedelic folk-rockers pererin. here we have traditional welsh folk-meets-rock with psychedelic guitar leads, flute, and male/female vocals. this was originally released in 1981 on the gwerin label?for many it is the band’s best work, and yet as is often the case, it’s their rarest release. exact repro of the original, including the insert. definitely one of the best albums of the genre, another superb rarity brought to you with a legitimate reissue by guerssen.
the third album from welsh folk/psych/prog legends pererin is finally made available again. many of you have already purchased guerssen’s previous pererin reissue of their second album “teithgan,’’ so you know what to expect from this platter; those who didn’t buy the previous reissue can expect a brilliant set of traditional songs played in the band’s very own contemporary electrified folk style. guitars, bass, mandolin, synths, mellow percussions, flute. and so forth. this might well be the folkiest of all their albums, but there’s still a strong progressive feel on it and some killer electric guitar leads. another must-have for anyone into folk-prog, this is the last of the band’s vinyl offerings, released in 1983, followed only by their last work that was only released on cassette. this brand new, first ever reissue of this wonderful album, is licensed from arfon wyn and comes with a replica of the original insert as well. strictly limited to 500 copies.
first pressing… deluxe 2lp format, 180 gram pressing. combining fragile and beautifully melodic acid folk with perfectly-rendered electronic effects, this remarkable album consists of what its creator describes as “visual music.” first released in 1970, parallelograms by california’s linda perhacs has gone on to become one of the most legendary and well-loved recordings of its time, assuredly sitting alongside vashti bunyan’s just another diamond day as a lost folk gem that should never have been cast aside. summoning the shimmering sunlight of topanga canyon, and resonating with the same strength-in-fragility as joni mitchell, it’s presented here for the first time as a double lp, with the full collaboration of its enigmatic creator. the deluxe gatefold sleeve contains her own detailed liner notes, as well as rare illustrations and eight bonus tracks (including one previously-unheard out-take), making it the most definitive vinyl edition of this timeless classic ever released.
finally this lost gem of austrian psych folk is reissued after being lost for over 34 years! this is probably the rarest austrian lp, and one of the most elusive records ever. the music is honest and spontaneous, crossing paths between fragile folk and psychedelic dark undertones with a touch of glam, expressive lyrics and fleeting guitar lines. the 200 copies privately pressed in 1976 (two runs of 100 copies each) were mostly given to friends and sporadically sold at concerts. this reissue is fully licensed, limited to 600 copies in black vinyl and 100 copies in coloured golden brown vinyl. a must for all psych-folk lovers… all copies here are the golden vinyl edition of 100! special low price.
debut 45 from one man, record at home swedish outfit. 3 ridiculously catchy lo-fi pop gems, hooks a plenty- great sunshine psych pop kinda stuff, in ace round, shell like sleeves. numbered to 300.
in spite of its minimalistic appearance, is a most intricate light work which, in its scope and originality, defines its own aesthetic. the number of persons involved may vary. although thirteen has been suggested as the optimum number, two would usually be referred to as a working couple (in any combination of sexes.) within the community, many believe that a number larger than thirteen is unwieldy, citing unwieldy group dynamics and an unfair burden on the leadership. when this has grown too large to be manageable, it may split, or “hive”. most often utilizing electronic instruments or electronic processing of acoustic instruments, they typically create dense, unmoving harmonies and a stilled or “hovering” sense of time… 250 copies only.
debauche hedonism a la early 1970s rock… a party album for excavating your libido. krautrock lock grooves give way to full throttle alice cooper/black sabbath moves but mid-tempo scott walker fronting early roxy music is closest to the core; with occassional flickers of tangerine dream synth-glaciers and marc bolan bare-bones. dominic mario santo cipolla also sings in dead child (venom/judas priest veined metal band with david pajo on guitar; ep forthcoming) and plays drums and sings some with sapat (forthcoming lp/cd on siltbreeze). phantom family halo guitarist michael mcmahan was also a touring member of the slint reunion band and founding member of the for carnation along with his older brother brian mcmahan. vinyl only silk-screened first edition.
the return of the mighty finnish octane grammophon label and a new disc by phosphene gives us two reasons to be cheerful at boa hq. phosphene, of course, is boa reviewer john cavanagh, who also used to be half of electroscope, wrote a book on “piper at the gates of dawn”, makes a mean christmas dumpling and once featured on page 3 of the sun next to corrie’s reg holdsworth, pamela anderson and a sun stunna. this excellent 3″ features two ocean-inspired tracks: the first a collaboration with drew mulholland (mount vernon arts lab) – a short piece featuring drew on harmonium, john on long silvery lines of e-bow guitar and sounding like a long lost track from eno’s “another green world”. the second track is an epic semi-freeform re-imagining of the folk song “the captain’s apprentice” which features me (on harmonium and vocals) as well as some of glasgow’s finest improvising musicians aby vulliamy, george burt and raymond macdonald. burt and macdonald’s guitar / sax in the latter part of the track ramp up the intensity as the water closes over the boy’s head, descending notes and bubbling guitar runs evoking the chilling end he meets. cavanagh’s dramatic vocals have rarely sounded finer. – boa melody bar.
the pedal steel is an underused instrument in experimental and psychedelic music (current and former members of charalambides being the exception). oakland resident joel pickard does a lot to change that on his fantastic debut, “songs of the nightlife.” having studied with the likes of alvin curan and fred frith, pickard’s approach to the pedal steel is wholly his own. from raucous, skronk jamborees to pastoral ambient promenades, there’s endless possibilities during the album’s 36 minutes. hypnotic and beautiful, “songs of the nightlife” will make sure you reach dawn safe and sound. this is the pedal steel like you’ve never heard it. 100 copies.
pigeons make sublimely blasted / incredibly hallucinogenic songs from their base up in bronx, ny. the trio of wednesday knudsen (in disguise on the sleeve), clark griffin and carter thornton have been active for a few years, releasing miniture-run cassettes and lathe cuts for griffin’s sub-underground moran tape label that dealt in skronk, warp & mystery. their wayward song-based creations are just as ambitious, melding dissonance, crude electronics & chanson pop . the pop element in their tunes, fully introduced on their brilliant virgin spectacle lp, firmly rests as the oddest element in the mix. connections to the no neck / sound @ 1 crew & the sea donkeys exist, but pigeons are wholly on their own plane. lunettes, their first release since virgin spectacle, features four new song creations, arrives in lieu of their forthcoming lp si faustine (to be released by black dirt), and provides a notion of what they’re moving towards.
beautiful dream-dementia pop from a couple tangentially related to the sea donkeys/sublime frequencies camp in seattle. -s@1. pigeons and doves are so closely related, they are practically interchangeable in the minds of the people who classify such fowl. but in the eyes of the general public, the dove is a beautiful bird symbolizing freedom and peace while the pigeon is a dirty rat with wings that eats our city’s garbage and craps on our cars. but maybe the pigeon is a crafty bird, content with its own beauty and happy to obscure it to avoid the glare of our ever intrusive public eye. virgin spectacle is a distorted, hungover, and elusive statement. and it’s in french. except one word at the end. or more, if you are to believe those responsible. regardless, amongst all the fog and feathers is a collection of comely pop and sonic excursions guaranteed to lodge itself in your waking subconscious. hell, you might even dream of a few of these songs. the fine people who constitute the band named pigeons would like you to believe that they have stumbled incidentally upon such charm, like a diamond in the mine. don’t believe it. take yourself out of your particular urban situation. look toward the skies, and see the besmirched bird for what it really is. they have laid out a sonic journey meant to disorient on the surface, but if you follow their flight you’ll find yourself cruising along and singing in a language you may not understand… sweet screen printed flipback covers, 180gm vinyl, etc.
the eagle has strayed in this 48-minute opus of lunar musique concrete right out of the late 60s in hastings, nz. these squiggly prescient jams emerge on the very 40th anniversary of apollo 11′s inaugural moonlanding, having originally sampled and plunged that stuttering, televized transmission into another sea of tranquility and magnificent desolation right out here in an even more remote solar system. but that reference ends there. stellar tapezones joyously light years ahead of time. cds. mastered by surface of the earth’s paul toohey… really wild & great stuff!
still unknown incredible rare album of mellow underground with english vocals. good and rare as gold dust. a beautiful concept album, far away from any avant garde tunes. the recording was great but the mixing was weak. this album make you shiver. great artists and performers, electric guitar, piano, drums, bass, beautiful english vocals, all original compositions influenced by the london underground scene and bands such as procol harum. if you think martha is a good album you will like this one a lot – original released on polydor japan 1972. heavy laminated sleeve, 180gm vinyl, numbered to 450 copies.
following volume i (8mm, 2008) and ii (presto?!, 2009), and previously released in a super small cassette edition on tulip, stefano pilia’s last days iii is finally available in a new remastered one sided lp edition. the intuitions of the first two chapters of this series of ‘last days’ shine in ‘atlantic city’ in all their beauty. stefano’s touch is so warm and gentle, always unique in creating that feeling of soft, warm nostalgia, loud, and passionate as he’s strumming his strings with exceptional fervor like a howl to the sky. pilia can create emotions out of a guitar riff like no one else around and this beautiful piece, directly inspired by the same titled springsteen song, will make you feel shivers up your spine. limited edition of 250 copies, with only 100 available for mail order, the other half will only be available at performances directly from the artist. professionally printed covers with original photo artwork by canedicoda… very last copies.
recorded between bologna and providence, last days is just pilia and his nude guitar. five new pieces that will bring you up to the sky in a climax of infinite grace and beauty. if you followed his previous works, you already know that stefano is a rare voice, within his fingers, improvisation and composition meet each other in perfect harmony. this new lp offers some of the most emotionally intense guitar music we have listened to, to date. last days is in fact apart from stefano’s previous efforts for a series of reasons. each song is an adventure into a different style, combing elements of noise, rock, folk and drone as part of the same sound painting. but the main focus here is that his sound on vinyl comes out revealed: naked, rough, and ‘primitive’ as we commented listening together to this record. this music comes from the heart, doesn’t need any overdubbs. 140 grams vinyl, edition of 110 numbered copies. silkscreened covers.
dear family & friends, this announcement is long enough, so i won’t inundate you with yet another flowery description. i’m just gonna say this, the first time i ever heard pill wonder was in ari’s bedroom. me, archibald, mimoun and brody were all crowded in there, perched on his bed, listening to the tracks that would eventually go on to become the summer showcase. when “wishing whale” came on, i remember my face wrinkling up into a confused glee then spinning round to see brody smiling like a jester, nodding his head as if to say “yea buddy!” from that moment on i knew i was in some pretty special company… i’m fantastically excited to be presenting this album to you now.
excellent new cassette from this eerie drone act from portland, maine that there seems to be very little information on. this four track 60 minute beast takes you one dark earthy drone excursions into bleak trip-outs of lord knows what. very dark and mystical, and probably one of the most interesting drone acts i’ve heard in quite some time. pro dubbed cassettes with stark black and white woodland cover art. edition of 80.
debut release from new portland, maine outfit featuring members of seekonk. gentle drifty folk psych with female vocals. very nice nice. limited edition of 50 copies in hand painted / screen printed art paper covers.
it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the second reverb worship release of 2011. it comes in the form of the latest recording from plankton wat entitled “in magical light”. plankton wat is of course the multi talented musician dewey mahood. you may know his other musical projects like eternal tapestry, edibles and recent project garden sound’s “black summit” lp on digitalis (with barn owl dudes jon porras and evan caminiti and jed bindeman from eternal tapestry). dewey seemed pleased and rather excited to record this album. indeed he thought that the recording was “a bit different from anything he had done, retaining the very calm vibe of the “shadows” cassette on sloow tapes, but is mostly electric guitar, and everything is stretched way out”. dewey has tried to capture the feeling of being in the middle of a vast forest as the sun is setting! all i’m gonna say is that this is truly a lovely album with four superb tracks. nice one !!!! this cd is available now in an edition of 82 hand numbered copies.
repressed… in 1968, the plastic cloud recorded, quite simply, one of the greatest psychedelic albums ever made. this is one hip album, full of catchy melodies and hippie harmonies, as well as some of the most superb (and trippiest) fuzz guitar ever recorded. there is no point singling out a specific track, they are all excellent—one is equally as good as the next. essential psychedelia! deluxe limited edition lp version in heavy cardboard gatefold jacket… great reissue of this fuzz psych monster. been out of print for years. this new repress is just as nice & limited to less then a couple hundred copies, so act fast if you missed it before.
after a six-month hiatus, a complete line-up overhaul, a trip to sxsw, a uk/euro tour, and a full year-plus of only playing shows and writing songs and amassing totemic objects, finally pocahaunted return to the recorded realm with their first album since 2008. time flies when yr having not not fun and all that. make it real collects seven of the band’s 2009 live staples for a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment. recorded barefoot and shirtless and direct to tape at green machine studio in summer ’09 by m. geddes gengras and featuring guest bamboo sax by jazzmaster alex gray (of dreamcolour/deep magic) and mastered by james plotkin. black vinyl lps in jackets with warped la post-parliament utopia artwork by vision wizard spencer longo. edition of 500.
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bands to solo projects – it’s all the same arc. and here it is, the final rip action by star-crossed nnf institution pocahaunted and the only recorded document of the final triforce-vocal line-up featuring leyna noel on keys/crooning/dance magic. on the final day of their 3-week spring ’10 us tour, the band booked a session at louder studios in san francisco with tim green (nation of ulyssess/fucking champs, etc) and it marks poca’s first & last time working in a proper studio setting. the results blaze/amaze. “threshold” was written on the road and melts through a river mistress intro before revving into a tense kraut-funk burner with catchy (and surprisingly non-fx-soaked) femme-soul vocables cascading down from every side. the b, “echolocation,” is a tranced ghost-reggae comedown ballad and classic slow-dance live staple. nimble bass maneuvering by whimsy princess diva dompe leads the melody up through the choruses into the torch-song bridge climax that leaves everybody on the floor. roll the credits, this is the end. black vinyl 7 inches in sleeves with collage/paint artwork by manda b brown and diva dompe, plus a photocopied insert. edition of 500… already out of print.
69 hallucinatory, ghostly and otherworldly minutes of solo freak from this burnt hills member, recorded with bongos, floor drum, triola, acoustic guitar, kiddie accordion, broken kiddie electric guitar, cello, piano, electric guitar, kick drum, electric mandolin, wah wah, giant metal tweezers, pocket rocket and little big muff on a variety of boom boxes, tape decks and dictaphones with hand decorated mini lp gatefold jackets and “vinyl” cdrs in an edition of 99 copies… cool ‘pop-up’ covers!
two finnish groups that on the surface are very different, but in the end actually find themselves to be distant cousins connected through the mighty cahier. the polka dot clan’s half of this split is a sprawling piece of magic. it’s the blood running through your veins, bringing life to everything it touches. mountainous drones and pulsating walls of guitars fill your arteries and pour out through open sores. but in some odd and unexplained way, this track is showered in ultraviolet warmth. body odour, on the other hand, is salt in the wounds. thick rivers of sludge doom and riot-worthy drums. this tepid cocktail is steeped in metal and it’s heavy-handedness will stuck all the air out of the room. you’re going to wanna die.
the mystic atmosphere of the finnish woods continues to grace the corners of our ears. out of the shadows steps the polka dot sunflower bed orchestra. having almost no connection to tampere’s free-folk scene. dwelling in crackling bedroom nostalgia and chanting psychedelic pop. with their second album they craft a dense psychedelic universe where toy instruments and hissing tape are statues amongst an oceanic blanket of acoustics. slightly twisted vocals over guitar murk. chiming percussion and unexpected turns to let your mind wander through sinister forests. primitive but so whole heartedly pure they’re summoning a ghost both far-out and cosy. they’ve been described as a gentle cross between the elephant 6 collective. syd barrett and kemialliset ystavat’s psych/folk escapes. limited to only 150 copies. packaged in stencil-printed sewn covers by jelle crama… awesome!
when i first heard the polyps i was immediately drawn in. this solo/sideproject from raf spielman of the golden hours is perfect, disjointed bedroom pop. over the course of more than a dozen songs spielman weaves a basket of hooks that you will find yourself humming until dawn. mostly written on guitar, the accompaniment of melodica, ramshackle percussion, and of course spielman’s distinct voice bring these songs to life. “isla & emma” is a short and deliciously sweet journey. while many of us anxiously await the next installment of the golden hours, this is just the sugarfix needed to get you through. so simple, so good. limited to 95 copies in handpainted sleeves and handpainted wraparound covers, each one different.
born on valentines day 1911, in maine’s northernmost county, bern porter was a north american artist, writer, publisher, free thinker and scientist who found meaning in the things that others discarded or ignored. porter is known in mostly underground circles as one of the earliest and most prolific practitioners of found poetry. through his gleaning of founds in recycle bins, telephone books, and repair manuals, he created hilariously cunning, sometimes irreverent works of art that often bear his signature, as well as an anti-copyright statement. many of these works have been published in collections over the past 70 years. on top of all this he was a sharer of knowledge who opened his home, “the institute of advanced thinking,” in belfast, maine, to dropouts, artists, children of all ages, and anyone who felt like dropping by. in celebration of the 100th anniversary of bern’s birthday, turned word records presents this 34 minute lp of performed poetry, philosophical musings, and general word play, by bern porter and longtime collaborator, mark melnicove. though porter is not known for his sonic explorations, this lp is quite musical, channeling improvisational song chant modality and rhythm oriented slamesque poetry. on side b we hear what should be bern’s most famous work “the last acts of st. fuck you.” while a child is gently cooing in the background, the acts are presented in alphabetical order. all this is on vinyl for the first time ever. many of the pieces have never been heard outside of a small circle of friends. includes loose leaf booklet of rare photos and 20 founds, most never before published. hand stamped offset printed covers on re-cycled jackets. mastered by caleb mulkerien. edited by dan beckman-moon. 300 pressed… awesome & totally out there. recommended.
new loose group of folks that have been playing under a bridge and living rooms over the past year… another mysterious release on this private label also behind the whorl & heavy dew cassettes that came out over the last few years.
‘epocsonixarp’ is the second full-lenght album of the praxinoscope duo formed by roberto opalio (my cat is an alien) and ramona ponzini (painting petals on planet ghost). this work is even more lyrical and ecstatic than the debut; here roberto’s use of a mini-keyboard and astral effects collides with ramona’s hypnotic use of several handmade wood percussions and her japanese wind chimes and bells, creating such an infinite and intimate ‘space’ so that you cannot but loose yourself inside. a whirlpool of roberto’s whispered wordless vocals will live till the evening dies, and the black of the night will come to surround everything. as the duo asks, ‘play it in the dark!’ – special private press edition of only 130, with heavy textured cardboard sleeve + sticked art on cover, individually numbered – nice!
1969, sf sorrow is done and dusted. parachute is yet to come. the pretty things are at their creative peak with no outlet in sight. enter philippe debarge: frenchman, playboy, and pretty things superfan. he commissions the band to write and produce an album for him. debarge and the five pretty things duly enter nova studios, one of london’s first eight-track facilities. with access to this new technology they experiment with multi-tracking and an array of psychedelic effects. debarge sings lead, and the pretty things play and sing everything else on a stunning set of 12 may/waller originals in the classic late ’60s pretty things style, many of them never recorded by the band before or since. acoustic, fuzz and backwards guitars abound, along with mellotron, harpsichord and the unmistakable heavenly three-part harmonies of phil may, wally waller and jon povey. the album is completed, but never released. until now. limited edition deluxe vinyl edition. just 1,000 pressed. heavy duty glossy color lp jacket with insert and full liner notes by mike stax. cover art by phil smee. fully re-mastered in magnificent full stereo hi-fidelity sound with the close collaboration of original co-producer wally waller. fully sanctioned and approved by the pretty things… highly recommended!
sonic-utopian synth mystics and pretend pop make-believers don’t always sound so good side by side as prince rama of ayodhya and the great valley do. prince rama’s twelve-minute earth-shaker “aeolian divine” winds its way to eternity, from the floating island atlantis, through some kind of cosmic dancehall, and into an infinite-space ecstatic-calm of heartbeat drums and swimming synth lines. then the great valley descends with ukuleles and guitars down from space, through a tree in the forest, and into their underground home… paste-on art on recycled lp covers. very limited.
restock… the two spectral ladies of prisma mark their debut release with this 7″ split with drona parva. prisma has been performing the quietest shows in and around portland for a couple years now, mixing softly echoing vocals with flute drones, only the gentlest plucking of various stringed instruments, and the occasional analog noise rumble. their a-side track resonates with beautiful restraint and delicacy; the stunning debut all of us entranced by their live show have hoped for. on the b-side, drona parva–the long-running solo project of time-lag records’ nemo bidstrup–turns in a blissed-out muti-tracked free-flowing guitar composition. trance-inducing acoustic plucks and strums eventually give way to shimmering waves of fuzz guitar until the whole thing becomes impossibly beautiful. the minimal packaging for the record complements the gentle touch of the recordings held within: the 45rpm 7″ record is a custom, slightly-marbled avocado green color with a yellow-green mandala-design center-label. the record is held in a semi-transparent vellum sleeve that has been hand-punched on the corners, giving a soft mask to the striking colors on the record itself, and hand-numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
the feminine entities of visitations / attar cups step forward, duo style, for their debut longplayer… and what a debut it is… these magical ladies have been oh so subtly wowing locals with their rare live sets for a few years now, and as hard as it is to imagine, this album manages to surpass their live wonder in both intimacy & intensity… a mesmerizing cycle of ultra-hush dreamtime lullabies, ethereal ghost pop, lost folk, and trance-state sonic whirlpools. the songs are hazy shimmerings of dusty splendor, delivered with utter beauty & fragility, yet shrouded in a thick veil of mystery & sadness. the drones seem to be pulled from between the cracks in silence by some woozy late-night ritual, summoning an edgy & ecstatic presence into the very spirit of the sound… recorded to analog tape with minimal equipment and much spontaneity, the rural autumn / winter setting of the process has no doubt penetrated the creation, and suits the cozy / lonely vibe perfectly… packaged in a truly cool & unusual three color screen printed double-sided foldout art paper cover, with a flocked / screen printed fuzzy mini-poster insert. pressed on highest quality 180gm vinyl with full color photo printed labels. each copy also includes a bonus cd version of the album in its own metallic printed cover (different from the standard cd cover) for easy all night repeat-o-play. hand numbered edition of 400 copies.
killer hard rock from 1972, sounds like a mix of bolder damn and allman brothers, with maybe a little feather da gamba. lost music from a lost time. ‘water song,’ ‘right on.’ new.” “the mystery and music of the prodigal sons continues to thrill and mesmerize listeners to this day. who are they? where are they? the answers my friend lay in the vault of the void. one thing is for certain… they know how to play kickass rock ‘n’ roll early ’70s style before all the head bangin’ mumbo jumbo. listen on, as many have already… to the power and the glory that is and was… the prodigal sons as they emerge from the void.
psychedelic improvisations, released 28.1.2008, features an insert printed on transparent paper. garden-recorded, fully acoustic, minimalist improvs, half-awake in summer’s afternoon sun. recorded during summer 2007 using glasses, harmonicas, seeds, cymbal, ebow, guitars, bowls, mandolin, violin bow. “good christians gather and roam the streets. fly around and sing their songs. sun shines softly in mid-day air, a warm breeze in the leaves. same thing every year on and on. setting up. blending in… improvising a couple of broken tunes, half accomplished, half awake. tunes for the grass to grow.”
a split cdr, with 2x20mn improvisations, from the fresh bands polder (benjamin laurent aman, french artist from berlin who runs the razzle dazzle imprint) and przewalski’s horses (duo with a french artist ¨ the n.o.t. belgian head). polder is cold and clinic like its name, and he comes here with a great 20mn of broken blues, like recorded by a blind old jack lost in a dead factory. przewalski recorded in their country shelter, and turned everything rural weird, keeping in their minds the old folks in frozen east europa while grabbing their harmonica, acoustic guitars and loop station… artwork wise..… 40 different copies with handmade drawings/collages from the artists – they look like the mishaps of a hippy amazed in a dusty grey library.… a5 format & – great looking black/red cdrs.
after about a 2 year absence, psychedelic horseshit is back with an ep of alleged b-sides from an upcoming full length. and what has happened since we last peeked in on these ‘shitgaze’ innovators? well, in parts all over the world that famous ‘distorto-lo-fi-sound’ has been popping up in quite open spaces. no age has become the new brittany spears, wavves crashed in outta nowhere like a mid-nineties major label grunge signing, and cute and sweet vivian girls are playing on the speakers in target stores nationwide. what does this have to do with the new psychedelic horseshit ep? well, nothing really, except that if you expect to hear that tried and true lo-fi sound, that is now so en vouge, you might be a little disappointed cause these boys have cleaned up a little bit, and from the sound of things this might only be the beginning. ‘i only listen to ok computer and cranes. the fall sucks, diy sucks, we suck, you suck.’ said matt horseshit in a recent interview. ‘why should anyone listen to you then?’ replied the reporter. ‘because we’re fun, duh.’ and even though you wanna hate ‘em, you gotta admit, they kinda are fun. matt is a dick, of course, and rich is hilariously clueless mostly, and by all means most of the stuff on this shitgaze anthems ep shouldn’t work, whether it be the white-boy dub section, the cliche acoustic ballad with backwards guitar, the blatant dylan rips or the overall amateur playing, but for some reason these elements that usually reek of pretention and failure actually endear you to the band and their songs. yes, they’re called psychedelic horseshit. yes, they do suck, but i’ll be damned if they aren’t one of my favorite bands in the world, and they’re only getting better, but if i tried to tell you why it’d only make ‘em sound worse. so it goes.
a surprising cd by a german musician living in utrecht, containing 35 minutes of very minimal, hissy and adventurous popsongs. her influences range from experimental analogue electronics to mid-nineties lo-fi, with melodic sound-sketches put together as an audio-notebook… screen printed chipboard cover. rather limited.
playfull lonerfolk and mangled tricks by stoke city forward joincey. the figure that also brought you inca eyeball, wagstaff, saboteuse and a warm palindrome among others… full color cardstock cover – nice!
does anyone remember a remarkable piece of psych-styled rubbish called “god is free”, released on chocolate monk back in 2004? of all the odd wonders and incestuous secrets to emerge from finland in the last 20 years, the puke eaters could be thee greatest. “hello walhalla” is the first long playing record by this anti-prolific group. the applied methods range from accidental to free and from psycho-motorik to ritual. for any points of reference think of the swamp into which fille qui mousse, cromagnon and ‘jesus christ’ era smell & quim were dumped. after years of tireless experimentation in the cynical utopian ruinscape of their collective butterfly mind, the puke eaters have loosened their belts and finally unleashed their deadliest recordings for thee future caveman. endless volcano-brain spewing on the ur-limits of limitless psycho-dynamic sound clash, totally high on scandinavian pussy juice.
two tracks by the puke eaters, the a side was originally conceived as a theme for an album dealing with deihoma, the man who wandered inside “the worm that ate the world” in order to slay it. strictly steen & rusty, as inept as ever. b side has rusty involved in the act of synthesizer desecration with some nameless slave. steen guru vocals were added later via the method of overdubbing. – ralf normaali.
finally pulse emitter gets the treatment he deserves, a full 12″ of vinyl to lay down two prog flavoured tracks of synth drone. created using homebuilt synth modules, and meticulously contructed into a sci fi storyline, this could be a soundtrack. suffocating layered heavyness, dry synth hiss, oscillator click terror meets equally with beauty, a quality rare among pulse emitter’s peers. each cover and insert is a unique paint marbled design, silkscreened / designed over by nick of seizure palace. edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
“its always a struggle. the instruments are wearing out, the guitar gets harder and harder to tune, the tape loops get sicker and the batteries get flatter, but pumice perseveres.” – stefan neville. following a mammoth tour of europe, japan & the us in 2007-2008, stefan geoffrey neville took a sabbatical from pumice. after a silence of several months, stefan slowly began to re-emerge in new zealand, playing (the drums) with a few bands in auckland. slowly, a few proper pumice gigs were played & soon thereafter, in january 2009, neville started work on a new batch of recordings. one of those found a home on the split single with grouper, while the others, appear on persevere; a befitting title for neville’s first new grip of songs following his hiatus. three songs comprise persevere: ‘the dawn chorus of kina,’ an ode to (alleged) singing sea urchin, and covers from two vision-sharing kindred spirits: the axemen (‘pacific ocean’) and michael hurley (‘open up’). persevere is released in an edition of 500 copies, housed in textured paper sleeves adorned with neville’s signature dog drawings.
180gm. vinyl version of stefan neville’ latest opus. covers are two-color silkscreens by vg kids on heavy-gauge recycled stock. edition of 300. here’s what soft abuse had to say about quo: as the title self-effacingly implies, quo proffers a triumphant, primo slice of past pumiceisms: uncertain progressions, anomalous structure, inimitable guitar buzz, sublime melancholy, and distorted vocals (crooned, spoken & moaned). quo once more finds pumice cruising the convergence of pop, folk and noise strains with bona fide inner mystique. sputtering sub-underground skiffle aims for outer zones, diamond cuts of nervous guitar with pesky hooks that sting and tickle tread rough hewn punk turf, pop tangents charm with echoes of kilgour or knox, and woozy synth blurts & drones thread the patchwork patterns with hulk-like grace. with quo, neville’s palette has shifted to include traces of useless hardcore, doo wop, and modern loner/lunar blues. stefan neville, shamblin’ on unhinged like a modern day hasil adkins, has been making music as pumice now for most of his life. through a steadily spewed stream of unique diy thud & ooze, mostly created on his insular own, neville has burrowed an incomparable place in the post-everything new zealand landscape, all the while making music that’s his.
a psychedelic afrojazz stunner that capped off a feverish diaspora from the midwest to the bay area by way of africa. cut in 1975, birth/speed/merging was the band’s highest end production to date and their final recorded act. the mood was celebratory, carnivalesque and wholly in the groove. features the burning classic ‘black man & woman of the nile.’ remastered from the original source tapes. 180 gram virgin vinyl pressing.
ireland’s timothy hurley has carved out his own ocean in the back alleys of dublin as quetzolcoatl and as 1/2 of bonecloud. “forever bleeding canyon cloud” is a fuzzed-out parlay of ghost drones and atmospheric wreckage. hurley bends and twists minimal instrumentation and chants into a massive, bubbling concoction of stuck souls wailing for freedom. it’s a murky proposition, but in the end the bliss will come. looped walls of feedback scorch the walls surrounding the kingdom, and by the time the last track fades away, the organic ruins left behind are nothing short of beautiful.
a personal, meditative, moving journey, through time, mind, worlds and dreams. crafted from piano artifacts played over a time period stretching several years and in more recent months channeled through loud fractured and working speakers in empty rooms and a cabin, combined with my voice and detritus to create 10 blissful, hopeful yet melancholic pieces that all combine to create the world that is living. -tim hurley… oversized color covers with inserts. quite limited.
easily one of the hardest working young artists in the free-form music world today, tim hurley, aka quetzolcoatl, has been releasing his sonic bliss like a hundred flowers blooming. luckily, he stopped by our garden and gave us this collection of works, a cosmic swirl of keyboard pulses and vocal loops. guaranteed to make you nod out and then undergo some powerfully transformative dreaming. and you can check out tim’s lovely manipulated photography on the printed insert… nice covers!
san francisco songwriter donovan quinn is anything but direct. with an enigmatic deadpan he delivers lyrics written in a dense and fragmentary style; the influence of writers such as malcolm lowry and thomas pynchon figures just as heavily on his craft as robyn hitchcock, pavement, robert forster and skip spence. your wicked man is the second album from his primary band, donovan quinn & the 13th month, created in collaboration with nick marcantonio on bass and jason quever (papercuts) as producer and multi-instrumentalist. in much the same way his presence molded cass mccombs’ early efforts, quever’s contributions to your wicked man serve quinn’s narratives with arrangements that range from ornamental to rollicking to bare, pushing quinn’s embrace of rustic, poetic popcraft to the fore. the band’s distinct take on art-pop forms re-imagines early efforts from mekons, nikki sudden and john cale as filtered through californian folk-rock… includes free download. edition of 500.
this onesided 12″ is maybe the most minimal but yet slightly melodic output by this analog dronebigband thusfar. these are two lenghty tracks recorded throughout 2007. this is their first vinyl release since their celebrated album on (k-raa-k)3, and their second one on morc. what to expect? as vital weekly wrote about one of their earlier releases: ‘a noisy form of ambient music. (). the music is not overtly present, but ‘reduced’ and ‘quiet’, with sounds arriving from a vast swamp of sounds..’ comes as a onesided, amazing sounding 12″ ep, in a beautiful silkscreened jacket. ltd. edition of 175 copies.
r.o.t. has gained a quality reputation in the underground scene during their six years of existence. this led to a splendid cdr- and tape discography. ‘l’écurie’ is their first long player. each side contains two jams that sound like calm and fluently movements through sound at one time, then like a somewhat more brutal treatment at another point. the album shows nicely how r.o.t. works as a (live) band. it’s not about well-thought sound poetry here, but about spontaneous improvisation where random incidents are considered as an extra band member. a slow bass that wanders gently through the acoustic droning, when suddenly an alarm clock starts to ring, followed by new almost-quietness and laidback noise. r.o.t. stands for an original approach of sound sources and a continuously seeking for the ‘moment’. side a was recorded in an abandoned administration building in jette, a small town near brussels. the space was run by young students for six months and renamed the place ‘l’écurie’, the french for stable. r.o.t. improvised in the dusty kitchen during three long days, mostly during the nights as well. the tracks on the b side are takes from improvisations in an horse stable. there again the album’s title refers to l’écurie. this time at an old farm which is called ferme du biereau (louvain la neuve). the farm is also known as a nice venue and spot for artists en musicians.
summer 2006: r.o.t. is invited to play 2 shows in rome. side a was recorded in preparation of this excursion while the flipside is a monsterjam recorded on location together with our italian friends from noise from the cellar and manolo stimmungblend. (“r.o.t. went to rome in 2006, all i got was this lousy side b”) – 20 copies only!
new live raccoo-oo-oon document, recorded one early jan. winter afternoon at the cave of spirits in iowa city by ryan garbes to stereo cassette deck. a side is groovy future fusion scramble, melodic vocal chants rolling over tight percussion flows that ride like kenetic energy blasting into the atmosphere. b side is blown out guitar burners giving way to dark night ride vibes. in general think about starring out of your sunglasses at the end of the world and thinking this is alright. artwork by sdreed and rgarbes… recommended!
released along side their newest full length, “behold secret kingdom”, iowa city’s raccoo-oo-oon’s self titled 7″ has three new and exclusive songs, going from dark, erie broken layers of cello, vocals and percussion (mud mound), to the precise, triumphant and uplifting, post-everything feelings of the actual song, “behold secret kingdom”… awesome.
the radiation line are an experimental collective based in central scotland. at their core, the duo of euan meikle and james t mckay constantly record and perform with each other and different musicians. they create different blends of sound, heavily utilising elements of the drone, folk, feedback and a raw channeling of tribal psychedelia.
tumbling weirdness of noise from this san francisco based duo of nate archer and aaron coyes. fuzzing feedback walls of metallic drone stabbing at your ears making them bleed, and the sound of the blood trickles into the recording of these recordings or something? but in a more documentation descriptive approach, this is a bunch of live recordings from a bunch of recent shows. fully doom drone scapes… somewhere between black boned angel and mouthus maybe? they got an lp on emporer jones out now, and a lp coming on qbico in the new year along with a lp on ecstatic yod. ripping stuff. 3 panel wrap around cover designed by the band. limited to 80 copies.
underrated uk psych-pop album from 1968 originally released on the parlophone label. this is one of the most sought-after artifacts from the british psychedelic scene. sallies fforth will transport you to the swingin london-era in its full glory: well-crafted songs, inventive arrangements, charming home-made sound, nice vocal harmonies, crazy sound effects and more. highly recommended to fans of toytown pop-sike and sunshine-pop. file next to koobas, forever amber, ora, kinks, millennium-sagittarius and the likes. housed in a high quality carton cover with old-style backflaps and pressed on 180
gram vinyl. mastertape sound quality. includes one bonus track taken from their rare non-lp 45 and an insert with extensive liner notes by brian hogg.
recorded at old slaughterhouse in keljo jyväskylä finland 2009. rambling boys on this lp: keijo virtanen, jukka nousiainen, sami virtanen, j. koho… great lo-fi underground folkrock that sounds 80 years old. very limited pressing in screen printed recycled lp covers.
cdr debut solo release from eric hardiman of century plants and burnt hills. from ghostly noisescapes to swirling organic drone plateaus to pure guitar improvisations, hardiman floats in and out of various sound worlds on this one, yet always ties things together with a thoughtful and compelling sonic thread. four tracks recorded basement style deep in the night, and it shows. dig in, yet another surprise from the century plants camp.
when witch-gods collide, it might sound something like this. six organs of admittance…richard bishop…chris corsano. riders of the apocalypse, it’s them vs. us. after absorbing their über-holy dynamo, you’ll be prepared to join up with these wraiths, making it all of us against…well, whomever’s fool enough to stand in our way. to evil! rangda’s been building up behind the scenes for some time now. as label mates and members of an exclusive mutual admiration society, sir rick and kid chasny thirsted for a conflagration involving two electric guitars plus a drummer. in such an environment requiring excellent survival skills as well as composition and improvisation rhythms, who better than chris corsano to work the skins… on paper, this was colossal, but actually getting everyone together proved awesomely impossible, with each man in a different city sprawled across the vastness of the united states — not to mention each man’s diverse state of mind sprawled across the vastness of inner space. and so, time passed. chuckling, the guitar men dreamed of visiting rangda on our world, working figures on their necks in anticipation. finally, with the desperate recklessness of the ancient witchsoul herself, they booked a live show, followed by a studio session with seattle sound guru scott colburn. beforehand, a mere ninety minutes was allotted for the three to further discuss ideas and play together for the very first time. what would happen… what do you think happened, stupid… of course they planted a garden of lyricism seeded with several compositions and several improvisations! placed end-to-end, the six pieces of the rangda saga (part the first) rock from splintering onslaught to soulful meditation and back again with manifest precision — this was a planned attack. unceasing battery slides suddenly into ritual form with elemental ease. the fretworks of richard bishop and ben chasny split time while corsano shapes the air around them. each players moves as part of the whole of rangda, and whether surging, cycling, or in pastoral, they are never less than explosive. this initial foray flies under the banner of false flag. yet this is only the beginning, for rangda is alive. to ensure your future in the endless cosmos, march forward with the forces of rangda, heart and soul, now and forever.
recorded in 1986 & completely unreleased until now – this is fred & toody cole’s (weeds, lollipop shoppe, zipper, torpedoes, rats, western front, desperate edge, dead moon, pierced arrows, & so on) great lost country lp! all original compositions…some sad lilting ballads & some punk as hell. two songs feature fred & toddy playing with “rollie”, a janky roland drum machine that didn’t keep a consistent meter very well. the rest of the songs were recorded with a lean mean band. we are very proud to bring this lp into the world for the first time – another facet of the genius of fred & toody cole & lowfi as cadn be. housed in an old school tip on sleeve.
rangers is joe knight. “suburban tours” is his debut vinyl release after a string of popular cassette albums last year – including “low cut fades” on not not fun. his sound has been referred to out in blogland as “elevator psyche” and “mirrorball funknagogic pop” – and that’s not a bad start considering his music is often bass-driven with washes of synth and prog-psych guitar riding over the top. unlike the extended side-long collages of his cassette releases, “suburban tours” is a collection of eleven concise “pop” songs that were written and recorded after moving to san francisco from his native texas. not knowing anyone in this new locale, he describes the period after the move as being extremely lonely and plagued with near-constant rainfall. so he holed up and focused his attentions on recording a batch of songs that reflected on his suburban upbringing outside of dallas and what he calls the “failed connections with nature” that exist in these suburban zones (fake lighting, cranked-up air conditioning, golf courses, and gated “communities” where everyone keeps to themselves). but despite the loneliness and melancholic themes there is a remarkable amount of color to his music. like it’s the sound of what he’d want to have playing on his headphones while riding a bike thru these neighborhoods — the sound necessary to make these places seem lively and fun. music blog visitation rites hits the nail on the head when saying “his music reflects a parallel fixation with the tape reel as a cutting board for the psychic trappings of middle class american youth.” rangers is drawing from an entirely different set of musical influences than the rest of his peers – combining a passion for manchester’s northern soul sound with early 80′s rock radio staples like rush and the police and the 70′s prog-fusion of weather report. plus he’s got the chops to pull off this unlikely union — in fact the cutting engineer for “suburban tours” was utterly baffled and commented that it sounded to him like a lost steely dan session recorded onto a mangled microcassette tape. that’s a good thing, right? full color pro-printed covers and insert – also includes a download coupon for the mp3 version.
micro quantity solo release from shiggajon member. dannish underground drone raga sounds packaged in a black card cover sealed with stamped wax & twine.
material taken from various cdr releases. crazed noise action. edition of only 200 copies in three different coloured sleeves (white, yellow, silver) with a microwaved anti-cd in the front.
the second release by portland’s own rats, fred and toody’s pre-dead moon outfit. this record hails from 1981 and holds a place in portland punk history. considerably better sound quality compared to the first record. poster included and tip-on jacket… nice!
it is the long-awaited return of ray off (jim currin of united fairy moons, with tim cornelius of sandoz lab technicians and other peoples). this one is a really great ray off release.. there has been some lineup changes and there are some new vocalists in the band.. some of it is in the dreamy tone float vein of their previous album, but they are also rocking out a bit more… totally classy packaging as always.
albumful of recordings from the late 90′s by this wonderful swedish trio closely connected to johannes nilsson. packed with folkish wibes and hypnotic hi & lo-fi grooves they sound like the summer sun shining through the smoke of tar production. at the same time it gives you a feeling of eating well and starting to get drunk afte a long day in the tar fields. every song is great like every dance you dance on the dancefloor on a cruiser on the same night. the tape stops just before the police takes you to prison becaus of otherworldly dancing and wrestling with your beloved ones – limited new release. nice stuff.
here we have a couple names new to the l’animaux tryst family, but no doubt familiar to those in the southern-maine know, here presented in split-single form as the official solo debut for both artists. the red f is the solo project of phantom buffalo guitarist tim burns, and there are shadows of his group’s gentle and sweetly skewed indie-pop on “fingers”. but pared down to just a voice, a creaky acoustic guitar, and the reverbed ghosts in the room, burns turns out one of the most affecting folk ballads we’ve heard in some time. on the b-side, sarah ramey (lead vocals and guitar for seekonk) presents two similarly pared-down tracks of acoustic strings and double-tracked vocals. the incredible intimacy with which she delivers each half-whispered word and melody alludes to warmth like the crackle of a woodfire on the coldest night. black 7″ vinyl record with hand-stamped center labels, held in a heavy white cotton paper sleeve, with offset-printed art with watercolor washes applied by tim burns’ hand. hand-numbered to 300 and embossed… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
fifteen-plus minutes of astral debris from the reggaee, aka florian tositti of angers, france. with previous releases on ruralfaune and his own vilaaaviivivi imprint, tosittiti has mapped a space of eternal-drone now sound channeled through a roomful of instruments and old tape decks. balthar’s two side-long tracks of blissful whirring and buried, distant percussion catch the reggaee at his best. the a-side is lodged inside a dream of vocal clouds and scattered bells, with the nocturnal kicking of the dreamer audible in the fog. the b-side ebbs to nightmare, ending in bleak tonal decay. full-color cardstock covers with two inserts and sprayed tapes. edition of 72.
53mn of a music that invokes the subtle lifes of nature, clicking sounds, folksy guitar lines wrapped by ethereal voices, these melancholic chants go on the traces of the sons of the creek – in the life the reggaee is the boyfriend of the rome chell, here their first child. edition of only 40 copies.
new up on the gps is a beautiful new jonas reinhardt 12″ ep – following hot on the heels of their acclaimed not not fun lp “music for the tactile dome” earlier this year (not to mention earlier essential outings on kranky and kraak). initially a project launched by san francisco based jesse reiner, who began writing and creating analog synthesiser music over 10 years ago whilst studying music synthesis at the harvard electronic music centre (recently extended to a 4 piece for the road and future recording, by one time and current members of trans am, mi ami, citay and 3 leafs amongst others). 2 deep trip kosmische pieces, heavy on rich cyborg-esque swells and pulsing drones, expansive simmer and swelling kraut soundscapes aimed for the stars. hypnotic, warm and melodic with a celestial eeriness. shades of froese and schulze figure for sure, with passing nods also perhaps to some of the later sky oeuvre; “sonnenlicht”, “synthesist”, later cluster etc…. cut and mastered at abbey road, this one looks just beautiful too. side a of this 12 is cut as a 7″ played at 45 and side b cut as a 10″ at 33. 11+ mins of music overall. both sides featuring on disc etching from gps head, dom, also at abbey road. an incredible record in top opening pro-printed sleeves in a numbered edition of 500 on vinyl only… really nice unusual art vinyl.
the brain child of adam payne, residual echoes pave a psych-sound unique to themselves. recorded late 2005, this album features four long excursions into psychedelia that brings to mind the experimentation of early pink floyd, the guitar heroics of you’re living all over me-era dinosaur dir and the sonic groove of the velvet underground. ‘as the american underground coalesces around vague notions of ‘free rock’ residual echoes are one of the precious few units that truly sound free in their own music. — time out new york… uk only limited vinyl release pressed on clear wax.
for this spectacularly knarly live recording, the restless dead chose to perform a set comprised entirely of tunes originally composed by frequent collaborator c.joynes. filling the room with a slowburning aural smog, the stark folk structures of the originals are filtered through a sea of fluctuating frequencies and fluttering speakertone. as the performance gains charge and momentum, the sound blossoms to take in reverb-laden slowcore, middle-eastern modes, ecstatic garage primitivism and barely-there drag-racer rock moves, all generated by equipment of uncertain provenance. enveloped in the murk, the audience for the most part maintain a zoned silence throughout, giving sections of the recording an eerie disembodied quality. while the sonics might give the impression of a rudimentary cassette bootleg, with audio fidelity struggling to emerge through layers of magnetic tape crud and dictaphone hiss, it is claimed that this is a detailed and accurate document of the sound in that room on the night… 60 numbered copies.
the followup to last year’s uncabineted collaboration was recorded in preparation for an appearance at the hard gaan festival in belgium and holland last october. fail’s interest in tape work finds a welcome complement in reynolds’ electric guitar wanderings; the pieces are all atmosphere, recording both the sounds and the sounds’ interaction with thin walls.
ben reynolds and john w. fail collated several recordings to compile uncabineted, covering the period between september 2005 (when they met) and march 2006. reynolds work is well-documented on labels such as ikuisuss, memoirs of an aesthete, time-lag and 267 lattajjaa while fail has dabbled in myriad projects including lied music, intro to pterodactyl and land. ranging from screaming acoustics to dirgy fuzzfests, the real document is that of experience, joy and camaraderie.
a lot of the stuff coming out of that sphere marries acoustic folk stylings to a grander holy noise and reynolds is one of the more adept at generating truely wonderful mutant offspring… the disk starts off with sustained bowings, guitars and keyboards setting up beautifully rich rumbling drones that serve to give flight to the entranced keenings of reynolds voice. gradually the drones recede as acoustic guitar movements bring the whole back to terra firma. like the title suggests this is all about magic, the warmth of earth and the chill of space… now out of print.
great 2005 release, his first ‘proper’ cd… in the spring months of 2005 ben reynolds began taking yet more jabs from mankind’s collective unconscious and turning them into sounds that love being in your ears. they have since been collected under the title ‘music is the music language’ and kindly unleashed by new finnish label ikuisuus. this is the first cd release from ben after a torrent of cdrs bearing his name came flowing from various corners of the globe throughout 2004/2005. the sounds contained within the present release were moulded with less care but an equal if not greater amount of love as previous creations; the age old fight between the human controlling impulse and the natural (non) laws of chance ceased momentarily and a brief collaboration between the usually warring factions ensued. the results were welcomed by the overseer of this collaboration as a job well done and has since continued to pursue methods of creation whereby this fight will be done with once and for all. as for how all this sounds, that’s for your ears to decide.
usa 1971 obscure christian folk-rock album with an appealing, understated feel. close male/female vocal harmonies and ringing guitars create a secular late ’60s california sound, with strong songwriting that reaches back to a byrds / simon & garfunkel hook sensibility. fully licensed, first ever vinyl reissue. monster rarity going for $700+ when showing up. limited reissue of 500 copies, printed in hq 350g carton and 180g vinyl. unbeatable 24bit remastered sound quality. including an insert with liner notes by patrick lundborg… lovely album, great to see it reissued on wax.
top quality official reissue of this wonderful album. this project is a bit different from other time-lag reissues, as the original isn’t exactly a mega-rarity. that’s not to say that they’re easy to find, but our motives for the reissue have more to do with the fact that this great lp has been seriously overlooked by so many, and feels very ripe to reach some new ears. this one’s got a pretty wild backstory too, being a rather undiscussed piece of 60s texas underground history : in 1966 larry ‘sunshine’ rice was feeling burnt by the increasingly superficial hippy scene in san francisco, so headed to dallas, texas, the “center of darkness” and the place he was raised, with a vision to transform minds. a random gig doing psychedelic light shows at a local bar led to a job managing a new “hip” church… and so the ‘satori house’ was founded. through this outlet sunshine held experimental light & sound worship sessions, began hosting underground rock concerts, launched a free press, and just about any & all other activities towards the goal of turning on dallas. it was, of course, a great success while it lasted… which was not long once a federal drug bust (total set-up) went down, and the higher-ups in the parent church organization got wind of just exactly what their cash had been backing. during the extended trial that followed sunshine split the city for tiny justin, texas and founded ‘the church of changes’ texas’ first marijuana church, claiming grass as their sacrament and legal right… it was at this point that a series of truly unlikely synchronicities led to a record deal & recording session, but by the time “here’s sunshine” was released in the summer of 1969, sunshine was back in california living as a fugitive. he never showed up at his meeting with the bigwigs at blue thumb records who were planning to release his follow up album, thus quickly and purposely ending his connection to the music industry…. if that’s got your head turned, you’ll almost certainly dig the music… it’s a mystical and convoluted folk trip, executed with the lonesome single-mindedness of a true searcher. warm intense vocals are delivered in a magically loose, flowing style. tim buckley comparisons pop up, and that’s not totally off the mark if you replaced any avant / jazz leanings with more of a tripping-in-the-desert vibe. lyrically things get truly bent, venturing into some deeply surreal & glassy-eyed zones. there are a few grasps towards religious ponderance, but it’s very far from a “xian” album. stream of consciousness broodings on nature, work, love, god, satan, sex, hallucinations, and so forth. it’s a totally solo recording centered on understated but effective acoustic guitar, and fleshed out via overdub with rather unusual use of electric bass, organ, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica. things get especially psychedelic when the bass comes in, either as an ultra-minimal echo-drenched pulse or a flowing tonal improvisation. the hyper compressed and reverb saturated production somehow suites the material perfectly, and the combination of elements creates quite an immersive, mirage-like and exploratory space. this one is far stronger, more hallucinogenic, and has gobs more personally then most of the over-hyped, mega-bucks coffee house folk strummers passed off as loner / downer / acidfolk these days. this record’s got a real spirit of it’s own, that with repeated listens will sneak right into your mind before you even know it… and i’m sure that’s the way sunshine intended it… beautiful exact reproduction art packaged in a lovely heavy 60s style cover and pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl. includes an insert with new notes from the artist, as well as a short except from his book ‘morning glory’ which was written in 1968 and tells the story behind the album, but has yet to be published. one time vinyl only edition of 500 copies.
risto from tampere, finland releases a seven inch ep hessu kostaa ja muita hiiritarinoita under an alias ris-to. with this new product the ‘saviours of finnish indie-pop’ broadens their output. this time in the direction of children’s songs. it should be clear however that this is not to be played to the minors. the title translates as goofy avenges and other mouse stories. i tell you it’s tough stuff – nice covers and massivelly heavy vinyl.
a psychedelic brew of catchy guitartunes spiced with abstract meditations on electronics, sitar, moog etc. features contributions by david hayward, stephen clarke, ben reynolds and andy jarvis. art by robbins, 70 copies.
massively epic new release from this american duo of stark echoing multi-instrumental drone, layers of charcoal to black emptiness that has gathered pretty solid sound throughout the releases they’ve unleashed last year, this is bleak, not harsh, just dark, and unrelenting for it’s immense near 80 minute duration… fans of sunn o))), robedoor, and occult ritual nightmares will zone into this. limited to 150.
here it is. crouched cloud-summoning from two of the west coast’s most coma-coaxing cloak teams. both have been questing/crawling after the holy drug-drone grail for years now, but this vinyl union is an even deeper step into their respective fog/smog voids. ghosting’s a-side, “rivermouth,” might be the most awesomely charged piece of weather-stricken wire-séance the portland duo’s ever recorded. roiling banks of suspended densities and white-hot metals are shot through with flickering loops of lightning, lances of light beams. stunning spiral sky-welding. the b-side (“roving shaman”) is more of a white-eyed trance, with robedoor throwing bones under a thatched roof, eyes sewn shut. smoke-tones spin and wobble while sixth sense frequencies chime in the distance. a no-mind ritual of atmospheric fear. white vinyl 7 inches with hand-stamped labels in 2-color silkscreened fold-over cardstock sleeves. limited to 325… long out of print early robedoor jams! rad packaging.
slow smoke jams from californian sloth worshipers. total monochrome lurches into the feedback hole. like a mouthful of black strawberries. great dementia. voices, confusion, poisons. an endless fade to grey.
eagle rock, ca’s robedoor are back with another doomed out k-hole. slow creeping drones building to some nice loner caveman pound / real song territory. three tracks in just under 40 minutes. edition of 500 with full color jacket. artwork by jeremy earl.
way too much is made these days of looking back, memory, social network fantasias. what a bummer, cause reality’s a bad experience and 2012 is on deck; we deserve whatever we get. evolve or erode, dudes. la visigoths robedoor slip into another sinkhole of voidist shadow-rock with pacific drift, three new tracks recorded across the last greylight winter. the a side stirs into a jazzy apocalypto depression with flute-keys and an overdriven om groove that spirals in a web of distortion before drifting out to sea/silence. the flip finds a pair of deeply mutated rbdr genetic codes, one a mantric death-punk protest song cloaked in smoke and speed, the other a 3 am slow-motion soul implosion set to upright piano, descending bass, tear garden guitar, and acid rain. the coast is a ghost, the city seethes. mixed and mastered by m. geddes gengras at green machine in east la. black vinyl 7 inches in sleeves with corpse-diver artwork and a band photo by caitlin c. mitchell. edition of 500… already out of print.
following their 2008 east coast tour with woods and pocahaunted the robedoor agenda has mainly been: hibernating in the city terrace zone above east la, adding a drummer/modular synth dealer, and letting the smoke rise. raiders is the first rbdr lp since 2008′s endlessly blazing and is the result of almost six months of slow-burn transformative tape machine meditation helmed by ged genras. bummed guitars, loner drone tones, low caverns of reverbed drums and rumble, echo dislocation, and dead voices cascade down into the isolated highways. song modes are carved out and then left to rot. features early trio live set staples like “indo shadow” and “the downcast eye.” you can’t stick your hand in the same black river twice. change or be changed. lps in jackets with cover photo by caitlin c. mitchell. edition of 500 (250 on marbled gray, 250 on black).
excited to offer our first release: this is robedoor’s “rancor keeper” on vinyl in an edition of 500. pete swanson did an awesome job mastering this for vinyl. it also features all new artwork put together by the the rbdr dudes.
shapeshifters are messengers and imitators of the gods. shapeshifters can be divine or human. crossing boundaries between sacred and evil, they often bring messages, power or punishment from the gods. shapeshifting is used to gain access to the tower. they are able to turn any situation around. nothing is too much or too little. the shapeshifter can invert a life-threatening situation into one where he triumphs. this form of shapeshifting is most commonly painless but can be traumatic if the change was unintentional; clothing is rarely lost in this process. edited, assembled, and mastered with assistance from pete swanson of the yellow swans. ectoplasmic cover art conjured by france’s parisse bruno. pro-printed black and white covers and insert. limited edition of 425 copies.
long awaited solo guitar release from mr michael rodgers of broken hands. pure nightime ritual music.. the street enters the house.. and the guitar weaves around the sounds of london which intrude from every window and every door.
formerly of 1960’s us psych-folk band euphoria, roger & wendy financed this privately pressed album for family and friends in 1971, in an edition of 50 copies. they later renamed themselves bermuda triangle (their recently reissued 1977 album has garnered terrific reviews throughout the years). the roger & wendy album is the rarest of the lot ($900+), and is a top notch collection of psych-folk gems. a superb artifact from the early 1970’s us underground psych folk scene. taken from the original master tapes, and using the original sleeve artwork, this is a strict limited edition of 450 copies pressed on virgin dmm vinyl.
originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of cut hands waaay back in januscary but since it’s never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn’t worth the goddamning wait. jason rohm paints a grim picture that’s both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. the tale of a desperate soul in a world that’s tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in english and awkward dutch. the compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack. tunes by andrew coltrane, sick llama, warmth, droughter, bottom feeder, raperies (like draperies), ex-cocaine, robedoor and josh lay.125 copies made, limited availibility, so act fassssssst.
lo-fi pop-folk, released 28.2.2007, features an insert. musically challenged teenagers dreaming of world domination. faux-naive pop songs and formless folk recorded with a microphone.
1971 heavy private press free blues/psych from the left coast cortical geo zone of the us underground chain spearheaded by don campau and essentially the californian amalgam of the gate 5 as esp disk punk/jazz 3rd eye. a higher key farrago of hypercosmic extended runs that oscillate between the tubular philosophy of the sun city girls sound/art and the aloneness of stoned blues concrete. a refreshing lost artifact of pure american fizz resurrected from the iconoclasm void and perfectly reissued in a joint effort from de stijl and child of microtones. an essential lp for anyone concerned with the paramount energy fields of all the above ground sound subterrains – very recommended.
raw and rocking collaboration between jack rose and the black twigs with some of the most swinging, hard-hitting string music waxed in many a decade. rose’s solo playing has always had a tough edge, with his prodigious technique often employed in the service of dropping right-hand bombs – his use of a thumbpick originates from his years of duets with twig mike gangloff, struggling to make his guitar heard over gangloff’s crashing banjo. the front line of rose and gangloff’s strings are joined by isak howell’s no-nonsense guitar and harmonica and nate bowles’ variety of expert percussion. the four players lock together with a sure-footedness honed by frequent touring and a singularity of intent to rock. gangloff takes the vocals, howling out standards like “little sadie” firmly in the old-time tradition – without reserve. a few of the tracks here are updates of rose & family classics, with the group turning the stately “kensington blues” upbeat and an issuing an assured take on “bright sunny south,” first recorded by pelt (w/rose and gangloff) back in 2001 on their gonzo classic double “ayahuasca.”
jack rose and david charles shuford both rose to musical prominence as early and influential pruveyors of noise and drone music – rose as a member of pelt, shuford with no neck blues band. later, each would return to more lowdown americana stylings – jack rose on a masterful series of acoustic guitar recordings, and dave shuford as the leader of honky tonk quintet d. charles speer & the helix. so it was fitting that jack rose and d. charles speer & the helix would tour and make a record together. “ragged and right” was germinated while rose was traveling through the heartland on a tour with the band in spring 2008, inspired by the mordicai jones/link wray 3 track shack sessions. jack got so excited by the vibes emanating from these songs that he thought to break with his usual acoustic approach and get some electricity in his life again. the recording features the original lineup of d. charles speer & the helix in peak form, and rare electric lap steel and telecaster stylings from rose. the songs bear a vibrancy and depth of feeling that is striking and unforgettable. lp version comes in a full color jacket with spot uv gloss printing and is limited to a first pressing of 1,000 copies with download coupon.
4 songs of noisy, delicate, barely there pop songs–all hanging together by a thread. the baltimore duo of katherine plummer and william hardy have a sound that harkens back to a time when twee wasn’t a bad word and lo-fi wasn’t marketing jargon. rosemary krust seemlesly blend the fuzz and fumble of charalambides with the naive pop of beat happening, finding their own charming niche. they’ve even been called an american garbage & the flowers, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. 300 hand-numbered copies… real good stuff from this fresh young group.
in which rroc’s main man handpicks twelve of the best bedroom tones to have come from his 4-track in the past few years, presenting an accomplished whole assembled from the various, consistently impressive individual parts. stylistically floating between lo-fi folk strummers, mantra chants, and warm drones, streamliner’s beautiful double-tracked poem vox hit a perfect balance between haunting closeness and warm invitation. blanketed in close-mic’ed analog warmth, these songs are like blowing the dust off your favorite songwriter’s shoebox demo tape collection; singular, immediate, private and timeless. 5″ cdr: orange-topped cdr, with hand-stamped title in black ink. packaging: handstamped cover image in black ink, on chipboard arigato pak. insert: printed collage insert with track titles. edition: limited, 50 copies.
28 minute whirlwind exercise touching on various american folk musics, traditional greek melodies, and a ‘sister ray’ like freakout for an exclamation mark. a real gem of a modern, not-so-modern pop record. you’re zigging, they’re zagging. includes a coupon for mp3 download.
ruchalski continues the series begun on humbug last year, 3 tracks of singing tones and drones like onkly he knows how. excellent cd’s on pseudoarcana and digitalis also worth tracking down – transparent xeroxed/stapled covers.
three tri-polar waste cases get together to smoke toxic telecaster scuzz rock and in the meantime do some home recording of the resultant epic misadventures. several opossums ‘beached’ themselves on the grill of my car due to the garbled neurosis of these recordings – and to top it off, the ill-advised attempt at judas priest, which certainly displays a profound mental deficiency! edition of 50 copies.
an unearthed treasure of the golden era, ripe for the fucking. group sounds for a new millennium; flowery music for flowery people; tropical sounds of a distant paradise. entertain no one. “of all the fucked up, nasty ass, deliriously damaged rock bands in the recent history of the american underground wonderland (particularly texas), none come close to the squirm and hellacious sqwunk of rusted shut. from the incinerated skum of houston weirdness improv outfit grinding teeth arose rusted shut in 1986. their shows were a notorious mess, drunken and fueled by cheap-jack acid. after years of slovenly survival they’ve been somewhat rescued from universal distaste by the current noise legions. the emperor jones label released the rehab cd in 2003 and aa records did a sick lathe (“bring out your dead”) last year and their notorious “fuckin’” track off the 2006 end times festival live comp is still the only loop that matters (check their myspace page for that one). it was with some apprehension of being held up by knife point that we unzipped their new hot sex ep (dull knife). but goddamn if this is not a great goddamned beast of a record. the core duo of don walsh and sybil chance (the original still alive members of grinding teeth) and domokos (on drums and ‘earthscreamer’) just lay it out in an unctious smear of rawk n roll decimating any obvious pretence of hardcore, black metal, death metal, sludge, punk, avant improv goop etc.—shit is the real amerika full on. salute and die.” – thurston moore/byron coley – arthur magazine.
collie ryan privately pressed three albums in the early ’70s-taking your turn round the corner of day, indian harvest, and the giving tree. the records were funded in part by collie’s friends at the new age farms carrot and fresh juice company in lompoc, california and her mesmerizing music remained largely a secret until “cricket,” one of the tracks from indian harvest surfaced on the numero group’s stellar compilation ladies from the canyon in 2006. collie’s music is almost solely based around her cosmic and birdlike voice and nylon guitar picking, and her lyrics reflect her lifelong study of theosophy and naturalist living. the hour is now collects tracks from her first three lps and is packaged with collie’s own artwork. for fans of buffy sainte-marie, joni mitchell, sibelle baier and ruthann friedman… lovingly presented collection in a heavy 60s style cover with thick insert. great music too. nice.
restored to one is a modern response to the musical activities of a cult known as the process church of the final judgment, who used music to spread their visions of gnostic reconciliation in a time of cataclysmic change. sabbath assembly has re-charged the original hymns of the process church and worked them into moving renditions that unite the trinity of rock, psychedelic and gospel into one triumphant re-awakening. the process church was an intensely creative, apocalyptic shadow side to the flower-powered ’60s and new age ’70s. the influential group opened chapters in london, europe and across the united states. dressing in black cloaks and walking the streets with german shepherds, they created their own intricately designed magazines, and promoted a controversial, quasi-gnostic theology that reconciled christ and satan through deeper awareness and love. funkadelic reproduced process writings in two of its albums. the process church was accused of being part of a satanic underground conspiracy by true crime pulps, most notably ed sanders’ the family, which linked the church to the manson murders. the insider’s perspective of this secretive group and its true leadership recently emerged with feral house’s love sex fear death: the inside story of the process church of the final judgment, written by former members including timothy wyllie, and edited by adam parfrey. restored to one features the following: jex – jex thoth (i hate records). xtian a.k.a. dave nuss – no-neck blues band (sound at one records); curator of source family’s magnificence in the memory archival release (drag city); boredoms drum leader for boadrum 777, 888, 999 concerts. randall dunn – producer (sunn0))), earth, boris, etc.)… 180gm metallic gold vinyl, super thick old style cover. cool.
you guys are probably familiar with this dude as a former member of axolotl, as ball lightning or as a member of bulbs – william is not only a totally visionary percussionist, he’s also a spectacular video artist. this release is a trilogy of his pixelvision work – everything is super blown, black and white and low contrast – it all feels like living x-rays, electrical storms and flying saucer hallucinations – all of the films feature william’s music as a soundtrack. limited to 90 copies.
stellar vocals and drones by sachiko of overhang party; three pieces of hypnotic, gliding delight. this is sachiko’s first —all-drone— vinyl release, in an edition of 350. heavy-weight vinyl & paste-on sleeve with artwork created by johan de wilde… very beautiful release.
new album by one of japan’s key players in the psychedelic underground. sachiko was also a member of legendary bands such as overhang party and kousokuya among others. ‘with lament’ finds itself in the lost worlds of eerie devotional chants drowned in eternal reflections of kaleidoscopic electronic powers. paste-on cover, silkscreened insert and edition of 100 copies.
hometown meets out of town in a blow out jangle of sounds. recorded last fall in portland, sacred basil brings together cursillistas, gorman, planets around the sun, and tempera for a living room improv after breakfast. grooving organ, trumpet wails, building drum circle pounds, singing bowls, etc. a treasure chest of instruments dumped on the floor and a rotating cast picking them all up to work out the tones. packaged in a tri-folded art paper ‘booklet’ that opens to reveal a full-color collage and pasted on vellum insert. tapes painted & stamped and tied with twine. limited to 50.
sacros (‘the sacred’) was a chilean rock band inspired by the spiritual passion and veneration for the great gods of south america, such as quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent, god of the ancient mayas and viracocha, lord of tiahuanaku in the andes mountains. sacros recorded the debut lp on the state label irt and the production was destroyed by the militaries. only very few copies survived from destruction. the music goes in the same direction as los jaivas, los blops and el congreso (all from chile) and lula cortez from brazil. it has a great 12 string rickenbacker sounds, effects, great vocals and rhythms with an experimental touch. you can call this easy one of the rarest albums from latin america since only a handful of copies survived. patricio panussis (guitar & vocals) hernan valdovinos (bass & vocals) and tomas r. herrera (percussion). the band recorded only this one album in 1973… from chile, 1973. lp in an edition of 450 numbered copies, with glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing, insert.
here at last is a chance to discover why people have been willing to pay a very steep price to hear sandhy & mandhy, the duo who were not a duo, the band who were not a band, creators of perhaps the rarest and most expensive album from argentina. to tell the story of sandhy & mandhy, we have to go back to 1967, when alberto infusino (sandhy) and alberto vanasco (mandhy) began their musical partnership in the beat band the new free men. like many bands of that time, los shaker’s and los walkers, for example, the new free men played covers of songs by the zombies, animals, kinks, yardbirds, doors, and so on, in clubs and at parties. yet at the same time, infusino and vanasco started to play their own compositions, with a national touch to the music. let’s let vanasco (mandhy) take up the story: ‘in 1969, we went to talk with billy bond, chief of ‘la pesada del rock roll,’ to ask about the chance to make an album. bond said that he was not looking for a band, but for a duo who sang songs in spanish… so, we called some friends to play together, and we called the project sandhy & mandhy.’ they recorded the album in three hours, with a full band (farfisa organ, congas, drums, bass, and guitars) – one take of each song. instead of a demo, they decided to press an lp: the company (phonalex) pressed 110 lps in total, which the band gave out at gigs. sandhy & mandhy were one of the first bands in south america bring a rebellious attitude to the music scenenall this in a period of military repression, when forced haircuts in the streets were a common occurrence. although they broke new ground, success was not their fate. and so thirty-eight years after the burst of improvisation that was sandhy & mandhy, the rest of the world can finally take a taste of their dark, groovy, beat-influenced psychedelia (that fuzz guitar on the excellent ‘lluvia’!). at times introspective and acoustic, at others manic and ramshackle in the best way, it’s quite a discovery. now, on to the presentationnthe highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style gatefold jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside the sleeve, you will find an insert with full details on sandhy & mandhy, including lyrics in spanish and english, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 800 copies.
sandstones sole 1971 privately pressed album is one of the best and rarest early 70s us psychedelic folk rock records. although only recently rediscovered, it is very sought after from worldwide collectors both for its rarity and musical quality. great male female vocals in an early 70s uk psychedelic acid folk rock sound similar to tudor lodge, jade etc. it contains 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks, not included in the original album. highly recommended! limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
imagine if the edgar broughton band spent their formative years in a crack house on the bayou swamping out the rock in desperate need of a shot of penicillin. now exit that doorpass and enter again: peak to peak of mainliner, psychosexual rnb, eric dolphy-gagaku, william s. burroughs ghost writing a straight line diatribe for a vertiginous howlin wolf and tony joe white’s wah bleaching on the beach with a sassquatch. while sapat’s forthcoming lp/cd on siltbreeze is a bong shot of dusty sunlight vitamin c enveloper rays, this 7″ single is a quarantined crater of wasabi soup strainer knock your dick in the dirt dixie raunch. spins at 33rpm and clocks in at nearly 15 minutes. members of various kentucky head units: valley of ashes, virgin eye blood brothers, phantom family halo, dead child, son of earth and kark – killer lo-fi psych damage!
self released stab from christian stadsgaard’s solo oscillator psych drone harmonic raga zone-out. flat out meditative intensity for the electronic sect. limited to 70 copies in spray painted covers. previous releases on into the lunar night & heavy blossom.
denmark’s sarah’s charity has been cranking out some serious walls of sound over the past few years. churning black guitars that get sucked into the bottomless depths of ice-cold oceans. each track builds on the previous, leaving your ears white hot and begging for more. there’s so much distortion that it feels like the tape can’t even hold it all in. the best way to experience “fear of sound” is head-on. crank the volume up as loud as you can, pour it in and make your ears bleed. eventually you’ll be absorbed and drift away on a cloud of burnt dust. good fucketimes. limited to 87 copies with full-color sleeves designed by peter friel.
the second ever wholly other vinyl outing is a duo of peter swanson (d. yellow swans) and tom carter (charalambides etcetera). despite the noisy pedigree of mr. swanson, and the latter day scrape of tc’s horton collaborations, this is a deceptively serene collection of electric guitar trance-outs, gently building to a spiders-down-the shirt climax full of hiss and slithering menace. eye-popping silkscreened crypto mandala art by liz harris (grouper) on the blank side, on clear vinyl so you can stare while it spins (and you’ll want to)… packaged in a heavy clear sleeve. edition of 308.
a meditative dual guitar exploration from pete swanson (yellow swans) and tom carter (charalambides). totally gorgeous stuff that is not to be missed. like our other vinyl releases, this one will be pressed on 180g rti black vinyl and will come from an edition of 652 copies. it will be housed within heavy letterpress sleeves (letterpress work performed by dexterity press) featuring original artwork by liz harris… includes pre-order only bonus cd “live at the yacht house, sacramento, in april 2006″.
this one has been on the cards for a long time, and after over a year of waiting the master dropped through my mail box. these dudes have had releases on br label buddies not not fun and dnt, and this is a steady paced doom tinged rock out beast, there’s no joy found here. two tracks, one studio, and a nasty live piece recorded at la’s echo curio, lined with sax blurts, guitar shreds, psychedelic swirls, and smouldering drums. limited to 75 copies in bleak black envelopes with paste on japanese art paper and packaged with a skeletal leave and a hand numbered insert.
perhaps, one of the rarest and most expensive, major company, releases from greece. released back in 1971, by polydor. it was a tiny pressing (probably 200 or 300 copies) and it has never been rereleased on vinyl. even the 1996 cd reissue (500 copies only) is very rare nowadays. “episodio” is one of the hidden treasures of the greek rock/folk music scene. an album not easy to categorise. ok, folk is probably the “right” word but what kind of folk?? powerful, anarchic, experimental, revolutionary but also polite, sophisticated, melodic, poetic even psychedelic and avant-gardish…!!! you have to listen to it… acoustic & electric guitars, heavy percussion, bass, flute, cello, clarinet, bass, lot of reverse tapes and sound effects and….some wild, real angry vocals. his first “domatio” album from 1968, will follow soon… first ever official reissue licenced by universal, greece. exact reproduction for the gatefold cover and the labels. it includes extra 8-pages, fully laminated, booklet (a4 size) with bio, lyrics and photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual. limited to 350 copies… nice album & beautifully presented.
performed by: mark bajuk, tony fasce, silvia feriozzi, eric mauer, brent peich, russ waterhouse. the next evolutionary step from double leopards and family underground, very subtle and psychedelic music.
johnny is from nottingham, england and has been making weird noise for all the time i’ve known him, as well as pretty much single handedly trying to keep the small nottingham noise scene going with countless shows… this release follows his two recent releases on mjc and collaborative release with luke younger of birds of delay on audiobot. a trip into the squelching, droney, scratchy world of scarr’s soggy brain… comes in case with lame insert by me and amazing eye pulsating sleeve by pascal of stuckometer, cars etc.. edition of 29 copies.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. when robin scott’s electro anthem “pop muzik” hit no.1 in the us in 1979, few could have guessed that his debut had appeared on an obscure english underground label, head records a whole decade earlier, with backing from psychedelic legends mighty baby. now, with original copies changing hands for hundreds of pounds, it’s finally available on vinyl again, complete with a lavish reproduction of the original insert and showing itself to be a lost gem of british acid folk.
traba is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in an edition of 500 copies for the world. included is a free mp3 download coupon. traba is a brand new mini-lp from the uk’s simon scott. in the early ‘90s scott was the drummer for renowned shoegaze band slowdive. recent years have seen scott running the kesh recordings label from his base in cambridge, performing in the group seavault with anthony ryan (isan) on morr music, and also working as a sound designer for television, film and sonic art installation. 2009 saw the release of scott’s debut solo album navigare released on miasmah recordings (run by erik skodvin of svarte greiner/deaf center). scott has shared studio and stage with brian eno, klimek, the caretaker, machinefabriek, jasper tx, nils frahm, seasons (pre-din), rafael anton irisarri, xela, fever ray, svarte greiner, marcus fjellstrom, lawrence english, fennesz, leyland kirby and taylor deupree. he has also remixed on, autistici and isan and provided production assistance for hannu’s album hintergarten. scott also performs live with the sight below and co-wrote songs on the new album it all falls apart (ghostly international). traba contains four tracks that were written at the end of the sessions for navigare. when the deadline for completion of the album came and went these compositions were unfinished, but over the course of the summer and autumn of 2009 they were completed in scott’s o3o3o studio in cambridge. traba continues and expands on the themes of submergence, being lost at sea, and intoxication. opening track “she came from the sea”, with it’s distant swirling brush stroke drumming, haunting vocals and deep processed textures, captures the almost overwhelming physicality of being at sea, miles from home, yearning for loved ones and a physical embrace. though this is the first track on the record it was the last one to be written and completed after the navigare sessions. “the water loop” tackles themes of addiction, obsession and urban decay via a max/msp manipulated loop that initially feels warmly narcoleptic but grows into something anxious and intimidating. the music evokes warmth and adventure but slowly unfolds into a dark tone of emotional weakness and paranoia. an influence of stanley kubrick shines out here as this is a musical landscape occupied by droogs on molotov cocktails threatening to impose themselves on you. “lamina” is about a short spell of tinnitus that scott had which resulted in a brain scan. the uncertainty of what caused the hearing damage mixed with the possibility that something had indeed grown inside his brain affected scott in a heavy way. “feeling like i had half of my head submerged underwater somehow matched the themes i was writing about so it inspired me to finish the track. luckily my head was fine and the frequencies returned just in time to mix the piece”. the digitally processed acoustic instruments are blended together with field recordings taken from his local east anglian coast line as well as vocal samples. these elements ebb and flow until the smoldering finale that recalls the sinister imagery of the quay brothers, david lynch or the brothers grim. scott’s uncle was a submarine officer in the british navy who died of alcoholism. his life away at sea fueled his fraught family life and kept his battle with drink alive until his death. traba’s closing track “an avalanche” is directly inspired by the moment his uncle’s heart stopped. coming ashore after months at sea, his uncle drank himself to death. he was brought to a hospital where he was shortly brought back to life, but quickly returned to his death bed as a direct result of his eldest son’s disapproval. traba is truly a dense collection of songs from simon scott.
6 songs, nearly 13 minutes of bi-polar music made especially for scibbler’s extensive canadian tour in march. one side beautiful and moving folk, the other an electrified aural thrashing of your senses. is it really the same band? full run edition of 300 (!) on black vinyl with hand-silkscreened jackets and hand-drawn labels.
a live recording of the stoke-on-trent based improvising unit, here operating as a trio of melanie delaney (ashtray navigations), joincey (inca eyeball, wagstaff, target shoppers etc etc – ) & andy jarvis (anna planeta) over 20 minutes they slowly weave a trance-inducing web using clarinet, acoustic gtr, electric gtr, percussion & toys. this is the first available document of the group’s continued & varied live work over the last 2 years – package in a stapled transparent cover.
second family band is a musical collective from madison, wisconsin which rose from the ashes of legendary free-folk outfit davenport. they’ve had releases on sloow tapes, earjerk, gods of tundra, bumtapes and a whole host of other crucial underground labels. alt.vinyl records is proud to release ‘good blood’, an absolutely necessary slice of bold psychedelic absurdism from a tribe of musician-magicians operating at the very peak of their dark powers. line-up: endless, woodman, nico kain, clay ruby, dave 3000, ivan mariesse, tyler ol’son, lliam lee zian. opening scuzz-haiku ‘below the arch’ instantly enthralls with some throbbing maltronics circling a quivering cardboard totem , a sky of sound pinpricked open with some gently rabid ponca drumming and delicate wafts of fragrant fuzz. in seven minutes we are ascended beyond cloud level onto a crytalline plateau of ringing light and trembling breath. it’s a shamanistic free-drone space-jam in miniature, rather like some strange confluence of the necks, sunburned hand of the man and circle at their most obtuse. the next track ‘night graces of the morning temple’ slowly balloons us back to earth, the music seemingly deflating the speakers as she goes. a choir of rusty radiators throb, moan, creak and boing along a half-dreamed corridor of mournful wah-wah. it sounds like morphogenesis playing berio at the bottom of a sewer, or the soundtrack to some lynchian nightmare – very cool and grubby, bathed in a sort of undulating aural moonlight. total deep listening mirage-music. side 2 is comprised of a single 23-minute track, ‘good blood’, a delightfully pungent slab of relentless exotica blending elements of les baxter and martin denny with a nice wooden shjips-esque vibe, the whole mad soup bled through with some really sensitive electronic splashes and splutters. at about seventeen minutes we emerge from hypnosis into a clearing, bleary-eyed and stomach-cramped, and face a dramatic climax. the boulder-strewn groove threatens to topple at any moment, the air is awash with the flash and hiss of cymbals and feedback, it just rocks harder and harder. then it’s over, and my hand is reaching for the needle to spin it again.deluxe edition ltd to 300 copies. hand screened sleeves by levi seeldraeyers, artwork by wouter vanhaelemeesch. ‘good blood’ is a a towering piece of psych-prog ritualism. bloody brilliant!
crunching, raw and abstract psychedelic blues improvisations by this collective featuring clay ruby of davenport and burial hex fame. tasty keys, moody rhythms and two long, relaxing and dirty tunes. edition of 70.
ty seagall’s self-titled album broadens the horizon of punk, paying deserved homage to the roots of rock and roll, while rejuvenating the music for today. as anticipated, the album holds the classic 60s pop-meets-california surf to a fast tempo that pushes the boundaries of punk. while the lo-fi claustrophobia keeps the undercurrent harsh and real, the upbeat melodies and psychedelic, reverb-laden vocals keep it buoyant and hypnotic. native to southern california, ty segalls solo project began as an attempt to keep his live performances in tune with his recordings.
brrrrr, its gettin cold in here – don’t fall asleep cause you may never wake up. like its namesake, antarctica – ‘ comes on like a vast cathedral of suspended ice-prongs dripping out action at a pace roughly comparable to the formation of a glacier. natures fractured architecture pixelated and amplified through the green luminescence of night vision goggles – almost too beautiful to be real? my esteemed friends, this hugely confident release falls well inside the parameters of effortless’ and represents a pinnacle of sensual, hypothermic dream-states. file under near death’.
application antarctica’s sister release, performing a function akin to an exclamation mark at the end of stephen clovers brilliance. the routine transfer of electrons from wire to amplifier (resulting in tiny pulses of air that can only be detected by your eardrums and the hairs on the back of your neck). golly, it never seemed quite so important before. further proof of my theory that states if you leave a tap on for long enough, you can carve your own grand canyon”.
members of sejayno release a morphic aura into the air through the utilization of therapeutic breathing techniques, fumblings, and fantasies about sexual tourism. the swedenbourgian airplane becomes reality along with the use of tubas and guitars and poetic resonance. you may know peter blasser as “ciat-lonbarde” or the next incarnation of dr.who imagining bob moog as interpreted by the paper circuit in the form of the seed of life. carson garhart is not only “cute” but was also the phantasmal skeleton in the skeletons and severiano. martinez is the man behind it all. limited lp screenprinted covers.
septemberist is andrew johnson from hood. this is his own sound performance in a very melancholic electronic drone mood. the vinyl is housed in a printed jacket that’s been inserted into a poster folded to 7″ size. edition of 323. recorded in manchester/maastricht, november 2002.
duo recordings by tara burke (fursaxa, anahita, tau emerald) and grant acker (slurp dogs), smoking one late-period un/early fursaxa style. a scorching blend of distorted psychedelia, hypnotic riffing and mellow vocals trapped inside a very trippy atmosphere. edition of 170 copies with silkscreened fold-out booklet… awesome!
spooky and fragile british sounding folk record from the usa, with some progressive and psychedelic hints. recorded between 1970 and 1976 and privately released in 1976, original copies reach four figures. high-quality reissue in 180g vinyl, nice carton with original artwork, unbeatable remastered sound quality and also including a repro of the original sticker, the original insert and a new insert with photos and liners by bandleader heff munson. 500 copies limited release. the seventh dawn is like few other american folk albums. maybe it’s because all four members of seventh dawn had written these songs when they were between 11 and 17 years old. ann & heff were taking classes in electronic music, which gave them access to the labs with two synthesizers, two stereo records and one four track recorder. this protected opportunity was unspoiled by any style-pushed fashions, and the results have a comparable sweetness, innocence and almost pastoral purity to the best moments of the uk album of sallyangie (with mike oldfield, also then only 15). the same reason why ithaca was compared to moody blues (a reference which always is more symbolic, because mb never had that much of its own style-reference uniqueness in many songs), can be given here as a reference too. just listen to the nice sweet-fuzzed guitars which flow softly like keyboards on ‘such a lonely”. another reference point, relevant on one track, ‘latecoming,’ is emtidi for its piano arrangements in combination with the song.
it’s been almost a year since justin shay initially introduced himself to the world of digitalis, and a lot has happened since then. first we made plans to release this cd-r, and then time passed along, we met up at bottled smoke and it turned out he was friends with gregg kowalsky. happy accidents and small worlds like these collide “vocalizations.” as the title suggests, each of these tracks is constructed entirely from vocals and effects. shay’s ability to script and manipulate his voice into a magic show of drones and melodies is masterful. “vocalizations” isn’t just a lot of fun, it’s hypnotic. shays has such a rare talent that i can only imagine what’s coming next.
vancouver’s shearing pinx have been on fire lately, releasing one tripped out slab of no-wave goodness after another. this latest offering pushes onward with some of their most doped up freak-outs and weirdo jams. until recently, the pinx saved the wildest material for tapes, cdrs and the road, but as proved on their recent split with the mutators, they can let loose on wax too. haruspex is the next open door. artwork by nicholas macmillian. limited to 500.
i met matt himes, the man behind shep and me, in belfast, maine last spring and i was instantly captivated by his music. using a mix of incredible folk inspired guitar playing, tape loops, field recordings and his unique voice, he makes some of the eeriest, most engaging folk infused soundscapes i have ever heard. i imagine that shep and me sounds like a collection of old dust-bowl folk recordings that have been melted corroded and then discovered seventy five years later. ghostly, haunting and beautiful are all adjectives that can be used to describe this tape.
vinyl debut by brooklyn’s shepherds. originally this was going to be used for the dnt 3″ series, but it was far too long to be used for a 3″ split, so we decided to upgrade it to a 7″! the best way to describe them would be free-form psych-drone, with different tape effects thrown in their too. members of woods, non-horse, wooden wans and others. pro-printed full-color glue pocket sleeves. pressing of 500. 50ish on black. 100 on gold. 350ish on white.
shiggajon are a danish free music collective with a shifting identity, built around nikolai brix vartenberg and mikkel reher-langberg. here, that core duo play sax and clarinet in an expanded, nine-piece ensemble also featuring guitar, violin, drums, and electronics, as well as the unmistakably haunted, questing flute wor of kelly-jayne jones from part wild horses mane on both sides. asconema was recorded at a 2009 gig in sheffield organised by singing knives records. the resulting lp seals the shared aesthetic shaping the music of not just part wild horses, but other units associated with singing knives, including chora and the hunter gracchus. essentially, this means music made with an emphasis on the communal experience and an urge towards the ecstatic, filtered through a post-noise instinct for volume and white-out drones. shiggajon’s previous live tapes and cd-rs made room for more overtly psychedelic electronic, but their debut on vinyl sticks closer to the methods of 1960s free jazz, john coltrane’s ascension sessions being the obvious template for the flatlining cacophony of the set’s more intensely sustained moments. yet you wouldn’t really call this free jazz, any more than you would suggest the danes are trying to communicate the same feverishe, southern baptist christian-inspired devotions that gripped coltrane. similarly, when the cymbal scrapes and bells accompanying jones’ flute conjure a quieter ‘monastery jam’ vibe, the music superficially touches on the fourth world meditations inspired by don cherry and ed blackwell on their mu albums. which isn’t to say that this is a hollow forgery. spiritual significance resides in the ear of the beholder. ragged energy can plunge any soul that’s ready into the light. if shiggajon’s joyous noise gets you there, why fight the feeling? – the wire, uk.
‘one we heard is a real rock n’ roll monkey called fly so high by the shining path, a duo comprised of ilya monosov and preston swirnoff. more known for their weirdo psych minimalism as monsov swirnoff, documented heavily by eclipse records the last few years, here they get down to some confused and slippery boogie-spazz with the finer elements of free spirit futurism informing the process. fucking out there and great.” –byron coley and thurston moore, arthur magazine. side a is a reissue of the cassette released by tbtd tapes. side b is a bombastic unreleased live cut of the path with little howlin wolf and peter barry at marquise dance hall (brooklyn, nyc, 2006).
the first ever cd released by ruralfaune is the new output from the shitty listener aka jason honea; multi-faceted moon chaser who wanders through myriad activities that include: his personal label 3rd acre floor, being one of the founding members of the jewelled anter collective, whisperings inside of the child readers (with loren chasse), singing for the knit separates (with glenn donaldson)… recorded in berlin by michael northam, the shitty listener is a lo-fi, bedroom folk project, deeply connected to poetry. incredibly intimate. the music incorporates whatever ambient sound happens to occur in the background, and it all just becomes part of the wound, becoming as much a part of the song as the song itself. melancholic piano, gentle guitars, plaintive and emotive voices… a sort of drifty fuzzy dreamy melody crosses each song.
shelly short is a portland musician born & raised who plays pretty songs. this lp finds her doing a bit more orchestrated works than her usual stripped down approach. a nice record to wake up in the morning to. each copy of the lp is lovingly hand glued together over old defectively printed “bongo joe” lps with a silk screen & a 10” by 10” photo print by shellys’ brother faulkner short. there are 50 variations of the photos spread over the 350 copies of this lp. a true hand made family affair… really lovely private press fragile femme folk album, released with help from mississippi records. stunning hand assembled covers. 350 copies so better grab one quick, as its sure to vanish soon.
split 12” anticipating their upcoming december 2009 west coast tour together. sic alps give up three tracks with help from lars finberg (intelligence) and ty segall, the highlight being a great punched-in guitar solo from matt hartman that makes one song reminiscent of a safe as milk outtake. markers show up with a 7ft bass player who throws the band into guru guru mode. great all around… slightly different cover art then the instantly sold out first edition.
ever shrouded, serpentine by design, the legend of the sic alps has at last made its way to the gates of drag city. the new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl 2xlp reissue of a long way around to a shortcut is somehow a ‘greatest hits’ of the golden not-quite-decade of sic alps. well, not quite golden, either. can gold be tarnished? can it be done on purpose? if so, sic alps are artisans of the highest order — for their music is the bright, surging sound of ye olde rock and roll radio (and the garages that tuned in), but heard through air darkened with specks of nameless obstruction. in and amongst their ingrown sounds, sic alps take on classic tunes from strapping fieldhands, throbbing gristle and the zipps on a long way around to a shortcut. it is to their credit that they completely absorb their estimated predecessors and create the only sound left to them: the sound of the sic alps. a long way around to a shortcut was issued as a cd in 2008. it collected songs that were first issued throughout the epic years of 2006 and 2007 on two 12″eps, three 7″ singles and a cassette, plus a song from a compilation cd-r and a song released nowhere else but on the alwatas compilation. the records were originally given titles like united, strawberry guillotine, semi- streets, hip-hop sweepers vol 1, teenage alps, the soft tour in rough form– but all these original releases are long gone, and the cds fairly much oop as well. can this vinyl version be far behind? the hordes are coming, so heed well and get your own copi(es) in stock now… ultra vague cover art with full color innersleeves.
sic alps make music with their eyes on the past but their feet firmly in the present. bits of psychedelia, folk, garage, punk, and other fuh fairly well flow from their fingers, seamlessly worked together to render easy categorizations pointless. over the course of numerous singles and albums, sic alps’ mike donovan and matt hartman have carved themselves a snug niche filled with fuzz, crackle, vibes, and most of all, cracking tunes. continuing this fine tradition is “l. mansion,” a swinging little folk / beat tune that is totally timeless / out of time in the way of sic alps’ best songs. it’s as straightforwardly “pop” as anything they’ve done, and a totally effective summertime single. on the flip is a banging cover of the other donovan’s ode to puff-”superlungs.” wild and thumping, the pair have definitely taken the sunshine superman on a little side trip to detroit rock city.
…from the “space guitarist” of comet iii, a pure gift of sounds joy directly from the pulsating and deadly mother heart… 5 songs that go from melanchony and delicates drones thou strings resonance… handmade hard cardboard limited to 115 copies.
san marcos based silver pines inhabit a beautifully translucent space between dark hollows and an airy evening glow. under the soulful sway of stefanie franciotti’s mesmerizing vocals, the songs linger breathlessly, slide guitar and softly eerie beats unfolding a dreamscape that justifies the band’s comparisons to mazzy star, but evoking a rich expanse of the texas horizon… nice new texas private press for these folks who otfen share stages with silent land time machine… nice screen printed chipboard covers. numbered edition of 250, and these are the last of ‘em.
sara and nicolas of family underground hit it for stoners all around the globe – heavy drone psych action in a lovely hand made gatefold package. limited to only 85 copies on the band’s private imprint. nice!
first ever vinyl release and this is fully lisenced. this garage-driven heavy psychedelic band formed in 1968 out of the ashes of the marc 5 and sonix in colonia, nj. they captured the changing times and sociological upheaval of the pre-woodstock nation and like the jefferson airplane, neighb’rhood childr’n and united states of america, 6 feet under was blessed with a dynamic diva who soared amidst searing fuzz leads, swirling organ chords, and gifted songwriting with prophetic lyrics. this release contains 3 tracks from their singles, one alternate version of the 4th single track and 6 unreleased -back in the late 60′s- songs. all recordings made between 1969-1970. a must have album!!! high-quality paper (canvas-like) cover. includes 4-pages full-coloured insert with story, photos and comics. limited to 300 black and 200 coloured copies. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outsleeve… black vinyl version.
through dark days and glowing nights, six organs of admittance continues to step to the far rim of the world with purposeful strides. indeed, new horizons are visible throughout luminous night. be it in the face of spiritual crisis or catharsis, ben chasny as six organs refuses to stagnate, or to evolve in predictable fashion; in response, he keeps moving on. this is the first six organs of admittance albums with such a lengthy gap between it and its former number. in the past two years chasny has kept busy writing this new epic, moving house to seattle, composing soundtracks for novels and movies, and touring constantly in america and europe (with bands like the dead c and om) as well as being invited by legendary post-metal group neurosis to play their beyond the pale festival in belgium. six organs of admittance is such a singular experience that it is sometimes easy to forget that ben was the lead guitarist in comets on fire, as well as a songwriter and guitarist for current 93′s black ships ate the sky album and half of the pan-pacific psych-folk duo august born. but clearly, chasny knows heavy, having grown through times of heavy and times of light. and in answer to the question what’s heavier, a pound of rock or a pound of feathers, six organs of admittance has devised this for luminous night: a pound of rock covered with a pound of feathers — twice as heavy, but feathery light to the human eye. with luminous night, chasny’s working with some heavy dudes, like producer randall dunn and eyvind kang, whose sound on viola shines with a guiding glow throughout the album (both dunn and kang contributed their talents to the outré arrangements of the recent sunn o))) album). the other invaluable contributors to the album are hans teuber on flute, tor dietrichson on tabla, matt chamberlin on drums, and dave abramson on percussion. occupying their spots with care, they’ve collaborated to create something rich and vibrant, aching and new, in the world of six organs of admittance. the arc of luminous night is wide as the sky, commencing with a stirring instrumental evocation of the greek myth of poor actaeon before flowing into the vocal, the vengeful, the ancient, the divine and celestial, scored with guitars, bass, viola, flute, tabla, electronics and synthesizer, as well as a buried-in-the-rain-soaked-earth-of- seattle-then-exhumed four-track cassette that formed the basis of the instrumental ‘cover your wounds with the sky.’ for its blanketing sound, luminous night draws inspiration from such cinematic sources as jodorowky’s el topo soundtrack and the scores of kurosawa’s samurai films, but is at the same time music that could only have come from the singular sound world of six organs of admittance. what is it about the man that buries his sound in the ground? he has faith in the earth, for one. when we think of six organs of admittance, we think of a man with six-string ambitions, a rambler with mystic beliefs and dark electric visions. it’s a big universe and we’re only human, which basically means that we’ve got spirit and that we’re going to die. but until then, we live. six organs of admittance has lived to tell about it on luminous night.
awesome new private press album. after years of bigger label projects its a real treat to see ben’s pavilion imprint in action again. easily the most beautiful and intense in quite some time, this is a real gem. hand packaged in classic pavilion style with hand painted white on white covers with graphite powder stencil art. limited to only 500 and sure to vanish without a trace. highly recommended.
triple-lp epic called rtz (named after the button on a tascam 484 that “returns to zero”) fashions several lesser-known pieces from six organs of admittance’s early years into a massive prismatic arc, colossal and organic like some wonder of the ancient world. even when existing as only one half of a record, as many of these pieces once did (and still do, somewhere), mr. 6ooa (ben chasny) leans into the eternal-letting the winds of time scar his face and the light of all there is burn his skin black. rtz is an iridescent chimera in full flight, viewed through stained glass. rich with excursions to exotic musical climes and rhythmic with prayerful chants from the dark shadows of the earth, rtz uses strings and bells, riffs both warm and icy, glowing lead guitars, massed voices and the pure, open for its mantras and rituals… 4 out of 6 lp sides here are made up of out of print time-lag releases, so you know its good! recommended.
man – one of the first times we rolled down to oakland, we met up with this dude and his intensely dark steez – dude reminded me of my buddies up in portland who had first told me about”the temple,” which mr. sixes calls home – my friends told me that their show at”the temple” was one of the most chaotic evenings of their band’s career – tons of smashed glass, fights – debauch – a fierce mess – when we finally got to see sixes – or more importantly, when we moved to the bay and got to see sixes a lot, dude was repeatedly crushing – on par with other westen freaks like wiese and gerritt – totally gross intensity – so – we bug him to do a release – and he takes his time – but – now we’re finally holding onto this sick live recording of a set in seattle from 2005 – it’s perfect for jyrk too – totally a slow burner. you can’t tell it’s creeping up on you until it’s too late. edition of 200.
uncalculated unconscious expectations within an involuntary interception (system) of detached fantasy detached provided the fantasy is born of ingredients outside of the body but determined by the unpenetrated unconsciousness this in combination with the minds ability to sight illusions creates a world in which the consciousness can travel in and out of realisation of the event arising as with the tangible actions of the ceremony ascending and descending within the spectators consciousness manifest exchanged illusions. the unknowing of levels of consciousness as the procession of the ceremony transforms the imagination from inner and outer experience to one a whole motion of physical and mental interaction. recorded in universal city, mexico by spencer clark and james ferraro. limited edition – one time pressing.
taste the blood of the deceiver, the first full-length skullflower album to be pressed on vinyl since forever (at least the early ’90s), finds matthew bower in the more blackened, doom-damaged terrains like those strip mined on the recent desire for a holy war or pure imperial reform: abrupt vertical baths of blinding distortion and harmonic override spiked with cavernous cultish riffs and deeply bleak ritual moods. the blood is fresh, but the body’s unrecognizable. charred and forgotten, this is another stepping stone on the path to the upturned altar. black vinyl lps in fucked-up-and-photocopied matte jackets. edition of 500… out of print.
edition of 300 made for sale at no fun. the kings of uk guitar noise return with vile veil in their never ending search to see just how much a guitar can be tortured. brilliantly debased.
totally far out live synth from my man josh over in chicago whose had releases on fag tapes, avocado jungle and sound holes… totally killer freestyle jams recorded last month, real deal blissed out zoned sounds, raw and ready. regular cased tapes with fuzzy psyche sleeve… limited to 40 copies.
18 minutes of drugged out bedroom folk strained through cheap computers. think low on more pain killers and newcastles. comes in a sickly sweet sky blue and clouds spraypainted plastic case, with printed insert and spraypainted 3 inch cd-r.
echo-dyed space chanteys dwelling into cosmic generosity, homebrewed by high sky couriers willie lane (golden road) and grant acker (un). have another sip of the lion’s head and get with the beam. silkscreened visions in 101 copies… sweet one!
the red river is the fourth solo offering from portland, maine’s micah blue smaldone and the first to be released on chicago label immune. here’s what micah has to say about it: ‘rather than construct a thick frame of reference for this new album, i’d prefer to describe simply where i’ve come from in the past few years, and then let this music speak for itself. my first solo effort, 2003′s some sweet day, was a collection of ragtime and country-blues, a fervently authentic homage to great influences — john jackson, blind blake, robert wilkins, etc., who all helped me through some tough times. 2005′s hither and thither was much more internal, an urgent telling of germination in a harsh climate. this new one reaches a little further both into the past and the future. the title is borrowed from ‘red river blues,’ an old chestnut that goes ‘which way, which way do that blood red river run? from my back window home to the rising sun.’ i suppose this is the big theme of the album – ‘never fight evil as if it were something that arose totally outside of yourself.’ it is simple faith in the goodness of people, the depth of love, and the infinite wisdom of nature, which allows for this path to be cut with patience, humility, and an eagerness to share. so let this album be a little way-mark, and never a hitching post… lovely new album. limited edition heavy vinyl version. includes coupon for free download of the album.
i used to buy and collect smegma rockets when younger, so i’m really happy to release an lp by this really far out band, especially since they played with my friend perry, who is one of the most versatile musicians i had ever met! smegma is a kind of cult mob in the us experimental underground, based in portland, oregon, they started back in the early ’70s and got connections with the los angeles free music society (tom recchion, joe potts, le forte four, airways, doo-dooettes, ace farren ford and even the residents); they also got an amazing label called pigface… here they played some jazz for the year 3018… clear orange vinyl with white and red effects. artwork by ju suk reet meate.
restock… sean smith is a modern composer of ageless guitar folketry [instrumental poetry]. with several masterful solo-guitar albums behind him, smith has been drawn out of his hermetic recording life by the power and potential of collaboration, presented here on this record! sean smith becomes more fully fructified in the company of his friends, one voice becomes many (instruments)… 6-string steel, weissenborn [slide], & nylon-string guitars, with dulcimer, banjo, violin, organ, drums, & electric wall of sound… his guitar breathes deeply in this new depth of field and altered sonic state, giving bright light and love to his powerfully emotive instrumental songs. limited to 300, with letter pressed sleeves! this is a pure analog recording, recorded and mixed to 2 inch reel-to-reel tape, mastered directly from tape to vinyl by john golden! … great most recent album, beautifully packaged.
limited edition of 500. screen printed at monoroid on heavy duty board stock. in may of 2008, amsterdam-based clarinetist gareth davis and american guitarist steven r. smith convened at worstward studios, in los angeles to collaborate and create music together, the results of which have been titled westering. gareth davis is a dedicated performer of contemporary music while at the same time works with improvising musicians such as jon balke and terje rypdal as well as electronic artists including machinefabriek and ryan teague (type records) and has recently completed the rabbit at the airport series of lps with martin stig andersen and robin rimbaud (aka scanner). steven r. smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for over the last decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including thuja, hala strana, and most recently ulaan khol. this fruitful collaboration has created the perfect meeting place between the scrapings and various layers of musical detritus steven r. smith has been known for and the textural, guttural and almost feedback laden bass clarinet of gareth davis to create a delicate and abstract musical language of shifting moods and textures.
cities is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in an edition of 900 copies for the world. included is a free mp3 download coupon. american multi-instrumentalist steven r. smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for well over a decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including thuja, hala strana, and most recently ulaan khol. this music has ranged from sparse solo guitar improvisations to hala strana’s reworkings of eastern european traditional folk tunes to the dense, psychedelic fuzz guitar workouts of ulaan khol. on his latest full-length solo release, cities, smith combines the composed with the improvisational and the result is a beautiful and desolate collection of songs evoking a crumbling landscape reminiscent of cormac mccarthy’s novel “the road” or the films of hungarian director béla tarr. cities was recorded in smith’s worstward studios on all analog equipment and features a wide variety of instrumentation including fretted spike fiddle, baritone psaltery, electric and nylon stringed guitars, cello, melodica, electric piano and organ. musically, smith’s work over the years could be summed up as a struggle to contain a series of opposites: light and darkness, sorrow and joy, despair and hope. it is this balance, or at least the effort to create or maintain this balance, that informs cities as well. smith has recorded for numerous labels including important records, catsup plate, soft abuse, emperor jones, last visible dog, jewelled antler, digitalis and darla. cities is his first release for immune recordings.
steven r. smith’s name has become more commonplace over the last half-decade, and that’s a very good thing. from his monumental works as hala strana to being a prominent contributor to many jewelled antler projects, his sound is distinct. this is the first brand new solo album from steven r. smith since last year’s epic the anchorite. on here, you’ll find some of the things you expect with a new steven r. smith record: sparse, angular walls of his trademark guitar playing with embellishments from an array of acoustic instrumentation. but there’s a new twist here: vocals. yep, vocals. smith unleashes his voice on owl and does so in such an impressive fashion that it leaves one asking ’what took so long’? owl is full of desolate but hopeful aural landscapes. there’s a tinge of regret and longing in his voice when he belts out the words, ’this is the world we know…’ and in those six words, smith sums up what owl brings to the table. there is something recognizable about this terrain; the paint is just worn down enough to expose the raw wood underneath. but carefully placed in each corner, in each nook is something new that breathes life into the familiar. this is a bold step for someone who has already accomplished a great deal, and leaves us listeners without a clue as to what will happen next. this is magic, indeed… nice fancy packaging. limited pressing.
holyblood was santa sangre but has now become snow fox. songs of love and loss, smothered in rich creamery psychedelia and executed like a wounded animal.
daily dance is a genuinely unique artifact from rural ohio; a mythical frenzy of distorted guitar and improvised drums creating walls of psychedelic noise. originally released in 1973, its sound is unparalleled for its time and precedes its closest kin, new york’s no-wave explosion, by a solid 5 years. ‘they generate waves of energy through cascading feedback squall and drumbo bash and shimmer. a few tracks will start with something vaguely resembling a ‘groove,’ before they quickly deteriorate into their lonely buckeye din.’ – dante carfagna. cantor records is proud to make daily dance available on vinyl for the first time in 35 years. daily dance was remastered from the original tapes, pressed at rti, and is lavishly packaged with a heavy stoughton paste-on jacket, informative obi/u-card, and an extensive 20-page booklet of liner notes.
philly residents noah and heather recorded on two trips down south in 2007 and 2008. don’t know if this is intended as a funk-less tribute to miles davis’ 1972 classic. instead you get queasy pulsing electronics, vocal hoodoo and some primitive percussive clatter courtesy of guest, jasper justice. it’s got a nicer cover than the davis record. edition of 50.
the superb greek band hits again. this is their second effort, also from 1972, originally released on black polydor international. heavy progressive and more blues oriented this time, it contains nine songs; the eye-opener is a frenzied and”wild” re-arrangement of the rolling stones’ satisfaction’. for 13+ minutes, socrates jam and improvise with endless guitar solos and fuzzy bass riffs while thunderous drumming accompanies the orgy. good morning blues’ is an original heavy-blues number, while the traditional c.c. rider’ (represented here as see see rider’) takes life thanks to the demonic treatment from the band’s guitarist john spathas. side 2 of the lp, with six original compositions, is more like the heavy progressive direction of their first”same-titled” album. comes with a two page b/w insert (30x30cm) full of photos and memorabilia, and an over-sized (40x60cm) poster (that was prepared for the original lp, but was never released back in the early 70′s). a 7″ single has been added as an extra bonus, containing the tracks my only fellow’ and friends blues,’ originally released in 1971 on the red polydor label – great high quality exact reissue of this wild & mega rare dose of greek psych rock. perfect right down to the reproduction of the 7inch factory sleeve. recommended.
when the kids in town get together, it could become anything. sometimes they get smoke pumpkin, other times it will be burnt harvest. like anybody anyplace else, the only answer is to make music to blow people’s minds open with. on those nights when plum takes them there it is soil sing through me. here is the first album. oversized, hand-folded, xeroxed sleeve – we hear this is ruth and kyle from feathers with paul labrecque and ron schneiderman of sunburned hand of the man – but who really knows. a beautifully wasted lo-fi mess
son of earth began life in early 2000 as son of earth-flesh on bone trio. aaron rosenblum, matt krefting, and john shaw, inspired by many spirited late-night experimenting sessions, began to play out using wild arrays of sound-making devices. as the years have gone on, the group has chisled away at the number of instruments used and brought their once maximalist and varied sound creation down to a whisper, a murmer, a sound that hints at and flirts with texture and atmosphere; a music made from almost nothing. seven full years into their life-span, son of earth offer their first full-length lp, pet. the record represents a culmination of sorts of a certain arc in the son of earth sound, one where simple electronics and oddly-played instruments are combined to create a music that walks a tight-rope between easily definable atmospheres and emotions. the results are so delicate that at times the music seems to cease to exist at all… right on!
after releasing two unique lps back in the ’60s for the legendary esp label with his ritual all 770 and another one for riverboat, finally alan sondheim is back! this is his 1st lp after nearly 35 years and here he plays guitar, alpine zither, electronics, field recordings – as usual he presents us an eclectic mix of fascinating sounds – dark red vinyl.
sonic youth’s eponymous debut ep, reissued in a deluxe double-lp edition on the band’s own goofin’ imprint, was recorded in late 1981 at radio city music hall in nyc and originally released on composer glenn branca’s neutral label. the album is loosely based on compositions the newly formed group had performed at that year’s week-long noisefest event (and remains the only recorded document of an early line-up featuring actor richard edson on drums). the newly remastered vinyl also features extra live material from a 1981 gig, and a track from a previously unheard studio session… awesome landmark album finally back in print, and with the deluxe treatment even. every collection needs this album in some form!
i am a filmmaker/photographer currently filming on the s-bahn and in the train stations of berlin. my films are part of an ongoing project filming the city of berlin through the windows of the trains. there are no effects and everything is as it appears within the glass. each film is made up of scenes or takes, with each one beginning as the train leaves one station and ending after it arrives at the next. please, if possible, view them full frame in a darkened room… pretty trance inducing silent visual minimmalisism. nice hand packaging. all region.
deluxe gatefold 2lp version. omar souleyman is a folk-pop singer from rural northeastern syria. like many syrian musicians, he made his name as a singer for wedding parties in the region, with hundreds of cassettes and cds documenting his performances distributed throughout the country. these, along with several studio albums, earned him legendary status in the syrian dabke scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. after his 2005 breakthrough folk-hit “khataba,” omar gained wider recognition throughout the arab world. after collecting his tapes for a decade, sublime frequencies released the first compilation of omar souleyman tracks to be distributed in the west. the success of highway to hassake (sf 031cd, 2007), and the enthusiastic online reaction to the promotional clip for his track “leh jani,” led to omar being invited to tour the uk and europe in the summer of 2009. it would be his first time performing or travelling outside of the arab world. he and his group, comprised of two longtime collaborators — rizan sa’id on keyboards, and electric saz player ali shaker — set off on a six-week sublime frequencies tour with label-mates group doueh. by the end of 2009, omar had proven that his unique and charismatic delivery of syrian electrified folkloric dabke, iraqi choubi and arabic shaabi had the ability to appeal to the most diverse of western audiences. his success has continued, with further tours throughout europe, america and australia drawing rave reviews and leaving a trail of fervor across the globe. the rise of omar’s success has transcended the wedding halls and cassette stalls of syria and slipped into western popular consciousness. despite there being no shortage of musical talent in syria, dabke and otherwise, omar souleyman is the first syrian musical export to have won the hearts of westerners and arabs alike on this scale. his trademark checkered khaffya, sunglasses and elegant jalaba are not uncommon male attire in the arab world, but for years in the west, it is that exact image which has been excessively demonized. perhaps one of the most striking achievements of omar’s rise has been watching that iconic image transformed from comic book villainy to something positively regal. the recordings on haflat gharbia: the western concerts, omar souleyman’s fourth release on sublime frequencies, represent an hour of the best moments from the western tours between 2009 and 2011, captured in striking fidelity and intensity. fans will recognize familiar songs, as well as previously-unreleased material presented here for the first time, in what is the biggest sounding omar record yet. compiled and recorded by mark gergis.
canadian born guitarist and songwriter ron warren ganderton self-released three lps with his group sound ceremony while living in the united kingdom during the 1970s and 80s. first came “guitar star” (1973), then “sound ceremony” (1979) and finally “precious as england” (1981). despite some modest distribution and frequent gigs, the band never seemed to really take off and ganderton eventually returned to his native vancouver (where he still resides), leaving hundreds of unsold records in the attic of his house. while these copies seem to have been lost to the ravages of time, the second sound ceremony lp will now be reissued by one kind favor. while all of the group’s efforts are undeniably unique, “sound ceremony” (1979) is the true brain-damaged winner of the bunch. the record surely fits somewhere into the uk punk explosion of the day, but it’s also looks back to the mid-sixties rock that ron cut his teeth on and ahead to some sort of maniac future form of entertainment that perhaps has not been invented yet. ganderton’s truly “out of it” stream of consciousness lyrics show a clear lack of self-censorship and that’s really one of the albums strongest assets. he has created this character of himself as a huge rock star and a sex symbol, and who are we to deny his claims? this stuff is eerily convincing. like lou reed, the man’s ideas can’t be contained by something so limiting as the bar line. the band chugs amiably along as ganderton’s vocals wander all over the place. if you’ve never heard a singer do a count-off all the way up to seven, then now is your big chance! features what is perhaps the greatest anti-cigarette song of all time. lp edition of 500 copies.
first ever release from jutlandish shiggajon and the to date most ragapsychish release from the marvellous soyc of sjælland. the soyc side is one track of great shruti box-folk. like eastern chanting with a groovy psych-folk twist. hippie-trance-folk just the way you like it. the shiggajon side is the composition ’forklarelsen på bjerget’ (the transfiguration on the mountain for the biblically oriented to spot the christian undercurrent). going from drone-folk through more jazzy/gospel-like parts to pure atmospheric psych and collage, this is no usual folk-track. all in all endash a piece of more western folk from western denmark and one of more eastern folk from eastern denmark… really sweet one here! great hand painted/screen canvas covers tied up with a leafy vine. way limited & quite cool.
in this extended 3 song jammer, folk spectre’s arabesque acoustic and electric guitar are joined by diamond dusty’s zoned synth moves and the pulse beat shuffles of chill will. guitars wander over all different landscapes from early morning dawn… mean grinding streets and even desert ozones. the liquid swords have a sharp edge here… crude screen printed covers.
ex-angel – fuzz up – gpro blankest meds… solo psych sounds from pete nolan of magik markers, ghq, the vanishing voice, etc., etc., etc… hand colored xerox black box covers.
this cdr explores new sonic possibilities of home 16 track technology and early formation of the new band phase of spectre folk as pete is joined by j.t. sodas on synth. a few songs, new and old, are given the band treatment. thers also some very glopy stuff and some extendo blooz stuff, as well as some solo synth action. a long disc full of dripping mind exploration.
“as anxiety encroaches with the cold air of winter thank the stars for the whiskey/weed warmth of compass, blanket, lantern, mojo – it flows through you like a liquid howl of light.” – thurston moore. “for an out-of-it fogie like myself, its tough to keep up with the many musical hats our boy peter nolan sports. theres of course the magik markers and then theres lil dusty, spectre flux, spectre folk, folk spectre, cops, etc. i gotta admit i sorta lost the thread on petes musical output for awhile there due to the simple fact i couldnt keep up with it all. my chrome dome would literally throb with all the names and phony catalogue numbers that must accompany all these sound whims that must fly off his ginger head like bats from a belfry. luckily, i put down the brupenex long enough to catch up with compass, blanket, lantern, mojo, nolans latest expulsion under his spectre folk moniker. as expected, the album reeks of the musty homespun psychedelic scent that would make both al simones and uncle neil young red as a beet. the tunes are hazy with hope and bobbing audio to spare. seagulls or rusty bedsprings sound off in the crackly distance on one track and i get a salty taste in my mouth like i licked the third pier boardwalk in wildwood circa 79. and check out the track burning bridge where petes voice soars and wavers like a wounded dove flying to the safety of a clean cage and the awaiting name of walter. the whole thing is a gorgeous, fully conscious stumble into a self made sunset and it just reminds me of something someone never said to me its not over until you declare everyone a loser and paint yourself in a corner. – tony rettman.
released march, 2006. leaping forth from a prior discography consisting of cdrs and cassettes, spectre folk’s requiem for ming aralia is a powerfully assured psychedelic folk statement. spectre folk is a one-man operation consisting of pete nolan (drums for the magik markers, shackamaxon, ghq, virgin eye blood brothers, wooden wand & the vanishing voice, etc.). nolan’s significant responsibilities elsewhere have made him into a man who rarely has a chance to slow down. spectre folk offers the listener the ability to glimpse at one of those rare calm moments and it showcases the delicately twisted calm bubbling underneath the drumming furor nolan unleashes elsewhere. the beauty present in this uneasy tranquility certainly makes three lobed recordings proud to release requiem for ming aralia as spectre folk’s first full-length cd. ranging from atmospheric instrumental explorations to dark and moody sing-alongs, requiem for ming aralia offers a little bit of everything for fans of “out” music. from the opening moments of the first track to the final notes of the album-closing “bindi clip,” spectre folk has crafted an extremely solid album packed with rich, full sounds. “tendrils floating fastly,” the album’s first song, is an epic where textured crystalline guitars and various pulsing tones engaged in a prolonged ten minute battle. drone revisionist c. spencer yeh (burning star core) contributes to the joyful din by adding some tweaked electronics to nolan’s guitar work on “indianana.” not content to rest exclusively with instrumentation alone,”been here and gone”,”you showed me” and “drowning” all reveal a gentle, natural vocal delivery which results in a trio of delicate folk goodness. unwilling to leave things calm and complacent, nolan turns in a truly inspired and evil performance for guitar, drums, and voice while simultaneously upping the ante near the album’s conclusion with “the pointed horn.”
featuring lil diamond dusty and chill will. “in this extended 3 song jammer, folk spectres arabesque acoustic and electric guitar are joined by diamond dustys zoned synth moves and the pulse beat shuffles of chill will. guitars wander over all different landscapes from early morning dawn .. mean grinding streets and even desert ozones. the liquid swords have a sharp edge here.
new solo smooch from pete nolan (magik markers / virgin eye blood brothers / ghq) letting out some primitive apartment style electronic/raga strangeness – recommended solo zone-out.
grey area exact reproduction lp of a swedish release from 1970… a bit of confusion surrounds this release: the album has been credited to träd, gräs och stenar, but they aren’t featured on it. bo anders persson did, in fact, in collaboration with solvieg bark, compile, edit and released this album. bo anders persson, was a member of the legendary swedish bands harvester, international harvester, pärson sound, träd, gräs och stenar. solveig bark was one of a few young composers that through the unm (young nordic music festivals) would become a contemporary of erkki kurenniemi, folke rabe, etc. “reportage: spela själv” roughly translates to play yourself. it contains field recordings of amateurs playing / making sounds. raga concrète, if you will. a fine, rare, and lovely piece to behold.
reissue of the arhoolie lp recorded in 1971. joseph spence was a highly original guitarist & vocalist from the bahamas. his music is hard to describe – extreme guitar runs with joyful vocalese rambled along with it. this album includes hits such as “out on the rolling sea” & “sloop john b”. one of our favorite lps of all time. silk screened cover glued over a hand manufactured folkways style cover.
it’s taken a long fucking time, and finally, a fully legit lp ~ only reissue of this amazing helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. shh ! is highly collectable in it’s original form on the band’s own o records imprint (home of 3rd erection, samsa trio, one point music, etc). in a non ~ dream state, i’ve seen 2 copies and both were in a condition slightly more well kempt than “hammered ++”… shh ! is primarily a document of pekka airaksinen’s experimental compostions, consisting of primitive samples, guitar loop feedback and musique concrete. probably inspired by a cage / stockhausen / et al, but actually more easily peeped in pre ~ lafms world, perhaps sitting aside ju suk reet meate’s do unseen hands make you dumb? also involved were jan olof mallander, who has been active in and around art in several roles; as the editor of iris, writing reviews for hufvudstadsbladet, contributing to taide, and as the art critic of dagens nyheter. inspired, perhaps, by gordon matta clark’s food he converted his cheap thrills gallery into a restaurant and instead of art, served the public vegetarian and macrobiotic cuisine. and mattijuhani koponen, a poet, composer, musician, painter, photographer, performance artist, a gardener, activist in men’s postmodern liberation movement (the what?!), he was the primus dramatic motor for the sperm. in december of 1968, during a symphonic poem of reconciliation made by cain and abel, he fucked atop a grand piano and, for it, spent 8 months in the clink. aside from serving a brief stint in wigwam, i know little of vladimir nikamo but his presence makes sense; wigwam’s first lp is titled hard n’ horny. you get the idea. ooh la la..
spider trio are wally shoup (alto sax), jeffery taylor (guitar) and dave abramson (drums). wally shoup is a legend in the free jazz/improv scene. he has been well documented over the years, releasing records with thurston moore, chris corsano, paul flathery, nels cline, bill horist and many others in various combos. jeffery taylor and dave abramson are key players in the ever incestuous seattle subunderground musical community. taylor is one half of climax golden twins and abramson leads the diminished men. this lp is a live document that blew all the minds in attendance. take your byg/fmp/esp/ sun/ america/akba imprints and the sounds they represented and you’ll have an idea of the force and power of this amazing trio. this is some of the finest free jazz of the modern era! ed. of 400 copies.
new release from this ultra mysterious welsh born duo… 3 tracks improvised live with guitars, microphones, voice and effects. swirls of feedback, weirdo pops and glitches, distorted decaying walls of fuzz and barely recognizable voices. packaged in black/white classic br style sleeve designed by the band with insane black mental logo and blackened psyche art, and a bizarre loved up photograph insert. definitely a weird one. limited to 50 copies.
featuring two members of the most excellent pelt, the spiral joy band swells forth from blacksburg, virginia, with a follow up to their album “wake of the dying sun king” and now hitting the streets along side their new album “little sparrow”, both on vhf records. this double lp set features recordings from two eras of the spiral joy band. the first is from 2005, the second 2007. a cacophony of gongs, bowls, bells, chimes, electronics, fiddle, bowed cymbals, esraj, harmonium, sruti and electronics played by mikel dimmik, michael gangloff, amy shea and nathan bowles, along with a guest or two, here and there. “pleasure is the headlight” features 5 tracks in total spread over 4 sides. the first three being long trance inducing meditations recorded in blacksburg and ironto. the fourth side features unique recordings, the first is a solo wind chime performance recorded in a gift shop, featuring the murmur of confused patrons and what is likely some truly wonderful am radio piped in over the store’s stereo system. the second track is a slow hazy day at the beach, with gongs, seagulls, and the gentle roar of the ocean. pressed on 180 gram black vinyl and limited to about 400 copies, this album comes in a custom gatefold jacket with letter pressed cover art and silk screened inside art… another real high quality release on this young label. nice.
spiral joy band adventures farther into epic rolling drone percussion clang, resonating it’s way through meditative and psychedelic tones and drones. featuring pelt’s mikel dimmick and mike gangloff. artwork by emily keown. 150 copies.
new release from these nottingham based dudes, scarr is an occasional member of fossils, and has also collaborated with luke younger of birds of delay/helm. this newbie is a minimal electronics weirdo… like some kinda insane prehistoric midnight insect war… churning bleeps, scratching, fuzzed drenched buzzes…. sleeve by patrick milsom, hand numbered edition of 60.
solo guitar tunes from jack of towering breaker, which sound has really developed vastly since i heard material back in 2006. smooth, and very well produced indeed, blew me away when i first sat and listened to it… some serious fast finger picking goes on here. people who dug last months cam deas ‘silver waters’ cdr will probably dig this… black and white sleeves with artwork by paul sammut. limited to 130 copies.
following a pair of fabulous releases on blackest rainbow, camberwell based jack allett aka spoono unleashes his debut 45. 2 stunning solo guitar pieces that initially bring to mind say, james blackshaw but descend into some backwards recorded, eastern fuelled drone finale. over 12 minutes over what we believe to be 2 epic sides of wax…. cool tri fold sleeves with tracing paper inserts, hand numbered to just 300 copies.
so, you love english folk/rock, but you’ve never heard of spriguns? don’t feel bad. many people outside of england don’t know this group, or their singer, mandy morton, even though in her homeland she is considered on a par with such well-known english female folk singers of the 1970s as sandy denny (fairport convention), and maddy prior (steeleye span); during her scenic career morton has released six albums in total, including two for decca under the name of spriguns. what we have here is the first non-japanese reissue of album one for decca, from 1976, issued by acme as a 24-bit digital re-master, taken from the original tapes. perhaps not quite as rare as mellow candle’s sole decca lp (& #147;revel& #148; commands a $400+ price tag, vs $1,000+ for mc); even so, both spriguns albums are in the same league musically as that of their irish label-mates. morton’s voice is lovely and captivating, the songs lilting and celtic-ish— if this is a sound you like, these albums are for you! … limited vinyl version with exact repro cover. nice!
so, you love english folk/rock, but you’ve never heard of spriguns? don’t feel bad… many people outside of england don’t know this group, or their singer, mandy morton, even though in her homeland she is considered on a par with such well-known english female folk singers of the 1970s as sandy denny (fairport convention), and maddy prior (steeleye span); during her career, morton released six albums in total, including two for decca under the name of spriguns. what we have here is the first non-japanese reissue of album number two for decca, from 1977, issued by acme as a 24-bit digital re-master, taken from the original tapes. perhaps not quite as rare as mellow candle’s sole decca lp; even so, both spriguns albums are in the same league musically as that of their irish label-mates. morton’s voice is lovely and captivating, the songs lilting and celtic-ish— if this is a sound you like, these albums are for you! … limited vinyl version with exact repro cover. nice!
crawling through quicksand and dirt piles after a gang of 89 hells angels followed you with broken bottles, running through fields of mud covered with red ants, spilling boiling water over a cute little babies’ head, or getting raped with an open tabasco bottle, that’s exactly the feeling i had while listening to the first side of this black and white 12″ skateboard wheel!!! you can smell the horrific fumes from john olson’s mouth through your speakers, escape is hard but worth the try! side b is even harder to escape horror!!! aaron dilloway and olson (aka the casket sinkers) join forces on a cathedral organ and a filthy synth, this sounds like the dirtiest horror film soundtrack ever!! imagine yourself fingerfucking your grandmom’s ass while listening to this side. seriously (close your eyes) euh – pure audio filth! limted to 400 copies, this black and white filth picture disc comes in a dirty black printed cardboard cover – totally eye/ear melting. vanished!
anthropological aural envisioning to flaherty’s real fiction cinema inuit epos by starbird’s carson arnold. lonesome drifting icebergs of frozen guitars, distant percussion and cold midnight dog howls from another time and place. 80 copies.
now available on vinyl! starless & bible black make beautiful, spirited & catchy songs in the grand tradition of classic british folk rockers pentangle and john & beverly martyn straight on up through the halcyon days of early 4ad records. on their debut self-titled outing, the diverse manchester 3 piece brings to bear much of the lively attitude, passion and rain, rain, rain of the old textile city they’ve all come to call home for the last several years. the result is a great collection of 11 songs — at once earthen and elevated — that are given added mood & flavor by the charcoal vocals of french chanteuse hélène gautier. the other contributing members are the main rhythm men in the manchester music scene — paul blakesley on bass and brian edwards on drums — they have perfected their craft playing with the likes of local heroes such as aidan smith, john stammers and jane weaver.
the first vinyl side from these northern california mushroom farmers is a real doozy. a live soundtrack to the silent psychedelic films of american hero harry smith, this one sided lp is more free drift than free jazz – taking off from a shot in the dark and never touching ground again. each one with punk rock paste on black & white collage art – edition of 300.
first off, this 2xlp set has thee best cover i’ve laid my sockets on in many moons. it is soooo eye-burningly great that i’m tempted to run out and buy a van just to have the image painted on it. it’s about time the art world came around to the lucrative ‘ray-gun touting topless women riding giant tarantulas through darkened valleys’ market. bra-fuckin’-vo! but i’m not getting off my high horse just yet. i must say that this latest from norcal’s finest, starving weirdos, is one of their most swell/swollen yet to date. four flippin’ sides of confuse-adelia for both the farm-fresh kid to the well-heeled cad. way noisier than the releases on root strata, path of lighting is chock full of mystery moves and dynamo hums, from the tripped-out textural flips on ‘into the flatlands’ flickering in and out of foci to the almost-an-environmental-statement of ‘n.y. blues’ with talk show jibber jabbing into the corrosive static as the grooves run out. the two dudes in starving weirdos are joined by yet another dude for two tracks and it’s tough to know exactly what he’s adding (besides another layer of ecstasy gush) but they’re my fave sides. for sure. these two sides sound like the fine line that separates no neck blues band from sunburned hand of the man. the final track could/should have been in the movie rosemary’s baby, right around the time mia farrow is screaming ‘what have you done to his eyes!’ as the kids these days say, ‘fuck you, dad!’ — no wait, ‘dude, that would rule!’ yeah, that’s it. so, let recap — you get the deluxe gatefold jacket courtesy of the always peachy weird forest label, twin slabs of head-spinning secret laboratory recordings and man — that cover is making me so hot!. — dennis yudt. gatefold cover.
what’s going on here? well, a couple sides of self-hypnosis were recorded in a concrete racquetball court (and a couple of sides weren’t) which has been mysteriously transformed into the legendary black ark studios and lee perry is going nuts with the ol’ echo effects. a tiny clatter in the background suddenly rushes up to your ear-bones, magnified into giant sheets of rubberized steel plates which bounces as high as you are. the backwards flow-motion is set on fire as the storm approaches. various liquids are aerated while dub insects skitter about the killing floor. little crashes, hither and thither, mostly between the buildings — not causing much damage at all. oh oh, those voices sound pretty serious. time to go? nope. these here farming combines sure are hard to start up but, boy, when they do you’re in for a thrashing. ham radio on rye. moldy rye. mutter all you want and loop it, why don’tcha? the other two sides are not rock and roll or hoochie-coo. the mystery is killin’ me! is that a giant wet thumb rubbing on a window? aren’t you the big man, buster! i like how the guitar gets sucked into a vortex and then keeps popping out and scaring me. it’s all bone saws and throwing stars. ducks and covers. and where is that humming noise coming from? oh, now i get it. awesome! lemme play this again! — dennis yudt. gatefold sleeve; white vinyl.
more heavy head trips from the weirdos camp. shrine-of the post hypnotic is the second real cd released by the group, and by far the most coherent one to date. flowing like an epic nighttime hike through the damp forest of the northern california cost, it’s packed to the brim with acoustic sound worlds and moon beams of electricity. unfolding slowly, it never peaks out, instead drifting along like a dense patch of heavy coastal fog… edition of 1000 in a sweet gatefold cover.
psyched on this beast of psyche-ness from this cali crew. total dreamy wood vibes flowing through to a mist covered opening with some kind of gathering of creatures unknown to the everyday dude. totally far out, and totally killer. just in time for the uk tour. bleak black and white landscape cover, hand numbered with silver ink, and silver inked signature style ‘sw’ on the tapes. limited to 120.
the first ever official reissue of this highly-rated and very rare us album. don l. patterson (aka one st. stephen) wrote the music and lyrics, was lead vocalist, played electric guitars, directed and produced the album ‘one st. stephen’ in march of 1975. the music was originally intended for a film don was developing with the working title ‘the devil’s reservation’. due to a famous jazz musician with the same name, don used the alias of one st. stephen. the music was recorded at the legendary owl studios (columbus, ohio), using the same 8-channel analog recording deck that was used to tape the audio at woodstock in 1969. because everyone who heard the lp wanted a copy, don pressed a very limited amount from queen city record company (cincinnati ohio). he also designed the album sleeve and label. the response by regional disc jockeys was phenomenal. the album got a lot of regional air play. a few months later, don was offered a recording contract from two major record companies in new york city. don was asked to tour. don was never interested in the world of rock and walked away from a music future. since then, the album has been sought by many record collectors around the world and bootlegged several times on cd and vinyl in europe. one of the finest examples of mid-70′s us psych-acid music. great vocals with some jim morrison “colour”, heavy and sometimes fuzzy acidelic guitar work and excellent musicianship overall. fully licenced by don patterson (who did half of the remastering work). exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra poster/painting (45x65cm) and large 12-pages booklet (30x30cm) with bio, lyrics, paintings, drawings and photos. all fully laminated. pvc protective outersleeve.180gm vinyl as usual. it will be a 400 black and 100 coloured copies, vinyl edition… black vinyl version.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. when his classic outlander lp failed to break through in 1970, welsh singer-songwriter meic stevens’ major label days were over. gwymon (“seaweed”), his legendary second lp, was recorded on his own terms in london in the summer of 1972, and highlights his pop sensibilities, with folk and blues influences also to the fore. it was only released in wales in a tiny pressing, and has barely been heard since. the album makes its long-awaited lp reissue here in a deluxe gatefold sleeve containing complete liner notes, previously unseen photos, rare contemporary press cuttings and an introduction from the man himself, making it an essential purchase for all fans of psychedelic singer-songwriting. 180 gram virgin vinyl; mastered at abbey road: all-analog audiophile pressing.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe double lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. following its rapturous reception on cd, sunbeam is delighted to announce the vinyl reissue of this haunting collection, which proves once and for all why meic stevens is so often called “the welsh bob dylan.” as well as gathering for the first time the ultra-rare eps he recorded between 1967 and 1970 (mike stevens, rhif2, mwg and meic stevens), the package comes complete with a full-color gatefold sleeve incorporating full sleevenotes, rare photographs and an introduction by the man himself, making it an essential purchase for all fans of acid folk and psychedelia… highly recommended limited analog version!
long-lost demo album from this welsh folk legend, recorded soon after his debut single for decca but never issued. eleven previously-unheard original songs like ’winter of the clan’ and ’not for me mr. mp,’ and a great companion piece to the now sold-out ghost town. 1,000 copies, 190 gram vinyl… recorded at the tony pike studio, in 1965. original; copies of this nice 2002 release.
master box ep is the latest installment of archeo-futuristic music and sound from robert stillman. like past work by the composer/multi-instrumentalist, master box combines pre-jazz american folk-form, surreal sound-collage, and evocative, unfolding melodies. the material emerges from a hazy tape-hiss canvas like a radio broadcast from beyond, an unearthed sonic relic that might have been buried at some point between 1878 and 2178. recorded during a one-year stint as an apprentice in a player-piano workshop, master box is about the piano as contraption- it portrays the instrument, traditionally (classically) associated with the ‘sublime,’ as the sum of all those wood and metal parts stillman saw lying around the workshop floor (the ‘collages’ on master box are sonic studies of these piano innards). the ep is not only a salute to the ‘physical’ attributes of piano, but to the maverick musical styles that exploited them (ragtime, boogie, etc.). the album also contains some more directed salutes: to an inventor (the talking clock 2008, for pre-edisonian inventor of sound, frank lambert); to a ragtime guitarist (‘micah blue smaldone’); to a prolific griller ( old friend ‘bbq dave’ sheinkopf of the band the subjects). the same evocative, timeless quality that characterizes master box has become something of a calling card for stillman’s work. his first solo release, robert stillman’s horses (mill pond record), was a genre-stradling studio production that garnered considerable critical acclaim for its subtle, soundtrack-esque sound. venturing into the realm of multi-media 3 early maine films (l’animaux tryst field recordings) was a cd/ dvd release comprised of turn-of-the-centery archival footage from stillman’s native state, scored with his own music and sound-scape. in 2007, the work was projected / played live at the h&m high line festival (curated by david bowie). stillman has performed his music at venues and festivals all over the world, both with ensembles of various sizes, and solo in a format that incorporates piano, percussion modified for the feet, and tape-collage in a real-time man-machine merger. in addition to his own projects, he has also collaborated with various other musicians in performance and recordings, including kurt weisman (feathers), luke temple (here we go magic), glass ghost, and the subjects. master box is the first catalogue entry for archaic future recordings, stillman’s newly launched ’boutique’ label specializing in limited-run art-edition cd’s and lp’s. the ep is available as hard copy in a package assembled from player-piano rolls, hand- printed on a letterpress, and includes a type-written essay ‘the mystery and player pianos,.’ it is also available as a download. his forthcoming lp, machine’s song, the ‘companion piece’ to master box, will be released this winter.
the strange girls was a band to be reckoned with the members were cja (of armpit and on and on) sugar jon, and motty ’kat’ smokehouse. i released this after f.l.o.w.e.r had done a split lathe lp with armpit and a warm overseas friendship had blossomed through the satelite conversations on the web, f.l.o.w.e.r later mutated into family underground… totally unique hand painted art covers, crazy limited release from years back.
the strange are from olympia, wa, close to the canadian border. the strange are tom hackett, robert rensel, david chamberlain, rick rackleff plus mike pitcher, don morris & carl dexter. this art-rock underground band recorded the souvenir album over a period of several years released in a tiny pressing in 1976 on the yantis record label. with a touch of west coast music and lots of mothers of invention influences, this album is really something special. as special as the spoils of war and as complex as time and think dog, with frank zappa style wah-wah guitar, great vocals, piano, effects, some horns, and a well-balanced mixture of heavy psych guitar tracks and twisted underground folk tunes. if you think the first spoils of war album on shadoks is a great album and the early mothers albums are the ones you always kept you will be very very happy with this album…. extra heavy cardboard sleeve, numbered edition of 450 copies.
live recording of a killer collaboration between andrea stroud (solo tape out on hot releases) and laurie (of yohimbe, quiokn) from summer 2008. walls of electronic sound collide with effected vocals, beers, kiddie pools. this is volume one, look for number two before next summer… real nice hand made covers.
suck were from johannesburg, s.a. in their short history (only eight months) suck made one album and created more mayhem than most bands do over a ten year career. but what an album. time to suck is a highly-charged package of manic drumming, scorching guitars and sublime, wailing vocals. political statements on stage (in south africa) against the war. this one is not for folk fans, no moonshine mellow candle, this one kicks ass and is pure adrenaline, a real pusher. if you think black sabbath, uriah heap, deep purple, mc 5 and grand funk railroad are your tip of the iceberg, you might consider this one as your future favorite album. full of hard, psychedelic tracks with louis ‘moose’ forer on bass, steve ‘gil’ gilroy on guitar, who worked in the uk with mick abrahams from jethro tull, saverio grande on drums and andrew ionnides on vocals. again, julian laxton from freedoms children was the producer. from south africa, 1971. 600 numbered lps, matte-varnish heavy gatefold sleeve, 180 gram pressing. plus a one-sided 7inch ep.
earliest, most innovative suicide material. nyc’s pioneer electronic punk rockers with never before available ’75 to ’79 tracks. original liner notes by lester bangs. 3 bonus tracks! “what we got here is vintage studio suicide from the archives and live tapes on a par in atmosphere if not violence with ’23 minutes in brussels,’ their own notorious metallic k.o. there is none of the onstage carnage which frightened early audiences, but maybe that wouldn’t have transferred to tape anyway. ‘space blue,’ ‘long talk’ and ‘speed queen’ were recorded at suicide home studios in 1974/5, ‘dreams’ at sun dragon studio in ’75, and are not all that different from their later work except perhaps in murkiness which is all to the good. ‘dreams’ is very close to their later island single ‘dream baby dream,’ and also sounds a lot like certain things eno would be doing in the mid-to-late seventies. similarly, ‘love you,’ recorded at suicide home studios in ’79, displays suicide’s little recognized sense of (no joke) pure pop. play the velvet’s original ‘waiting for the man’ back to back with the ohio express’ ‘yummy yummy yummy,’ then this back to back with archives’ ‘sugar sugar’ and the connections are clear. ‘cool as ice’ from the same sessions is the coolest (only?) take on stooges’ ‘penetration’ ever, and proves once again that alan can scream like nobody since iggy at his pinnacles.” – lester bangs, 1981.
the new installment from pirako kurenai and kageo’s suishou no fune is finally ready, and it’s a true gem. recorded in a bonsai shop in tokyo, summer 2010, ‘bonsai no ie’ is a dream made out of floating guitar textures and vanishing vocal lines. four spectral, naked pieces that stand as the core of suishou no fune’s poetry, where delicate folk moments, abstract blues riffs and oniric ballads concur in the realisation of the definitive psych experience. close your eyes and abandon your senses to a journey through the land of ethereal joy and endless abandon. comes in a beautiful professionally printed cover, specifically designed by artist anya kuts. edition of 250 copies.
a collection of material filmed and edited by james plotkin from 2007 us east coast dates from nyc, and philadelphia. also includes a short clip of a jam session from the lemur house with bardo pond guys and harmonica dan. total run time of about an hour. comes housed in a large four panel foldout cover slipped inside a custom sized 10mil pvc sleeve. pressing of 600.
a wonderfully dripping in echo single trax live set played during the bands last small batch of shows from their first trip to philadelphia. a duo drumless performance on this given night finds sishou no fune doing what they do best bringing the darkness. package comes packed in a double cover center opening sleeves with the outer shell being a vellum overlay all graphics by chase middaugh. single pressing of 600 released in conjunction with current us tour dates… more cool sounds from this great japanese unit, following their awesome sloow tape release.
mega rare album from the dartmouth, massachusetts fivepiece outfit which was released originally on the laurel label (laurel 331098) in 1969. up-down is an album of largely self-penned material (only 2 covers, one of which is a strong version of the spencer davis group’s hit, ‘gimme some lovin’) with the leaves are turning brown, complete with cheesy psych organ and wonderful earnest vocals, is the stand out track. up-down is a beat-garage concept album detailing the highs and lows of a summer vacation romance, with, as you would expect, loads of moody teenage angst and lashings of self pity. the songs are all catchy, and there’s a couple of good ballads – sweet new england moody teenage garage rock on this very sketchy label. oh well…
when the on patrol test presses hit the turntables, an epilogue burst from the side of the sun araw cranium immediately, before it was even cold on wax. the camera jumped all by itself, spontaneous framing and
new perspectives: “last chants” grips you in heavy, end-of-shift panic; who knew “holodeck blues” got so rowdy? surrounded and staringdown the barrels of some serious forces, the scum is rising. no worries: you got backup, don’t forget who’s wearing the badge. flip the vision and make it all the way down, it’s your party. “midnight locker” is one chilled exhalation, all cold sweat and steam vents. the cab ride home comes with am radio ghosts, whispering again of that heavier zone, it’s time to get back. the flip side is pure secret sun-day, sacred rest: the stairway to the stars. “deep temple,” float on up, the heavy deeds are waiting. – aristocrat p. child… vinyl includes free download coupon for all five tracks from the cd version.
autumn records is back with a lp reissue of the debut cdr by sun circle on lichen records. this lp is a musical offering by the duo of zach wallace and greg davis. side a features ecstatic full wail vocals and organ drones peace noise. side b soothes with repetitive washes of bells gongs and chimes… numbered edition of 525 copies in paste-on chipboard covers.
sunburned hand of the man is a band in the loose sense of the word; it’s better described as a banner under which a collective of musical freaks have gathered. so when they toured europe in september 2006, and ended up in the same room as psych/kraut/hard-rockers circle in tampere-finland, they decide to jam together and record all of it. this session was edited down to a total of 40-minutes which wanders ongoing through free folk, psych, improv, spaced out- hippy jamming & noisy-rock bizareness . the collaboration of both america’s & finland’s weirdest, is nothing less than sensational… quite limited, out of print, and totally deluxe vinyl version. full color art, insert, and inner sleeve, heavy vinyl, etc. gonna fly quick…
produced by four tet with artwork by eye. the relationship between four tet & shotm began in august 2003 when kieran hebden read the cover story of the wire, which touted shotm as leaders of the ‘new weird america.’ that story sent hebden on a search for sunburned records & he’s been a fan ever since. in 2004, hebden asked sunburned to tour with him. a couple of years later in march 2006, hebden asked the band if they would like him to record them with the idea that he would take the recordings & construct his vision of a sunburned record… very limited. real weird cover artwork by eye from boredoms.
brand new lp (and first on blackest rainbow) from sunburned, vocal splutter weirdness, thrash trash, funk jams, spoken word surreal-ness, you got it all in this lp which i’m very proud to be releasing with the good man tom at lost treasures of the underworld. picture disc jackets with insert, a bunch of different colour vinyls, edition of 500 copies.
mind rattling collaboration of keith wood, brad rose and eden hemming rose. truly the stuff of psychedelic dreams – lost in the woods with only wild mushrooms for sustinance. is it any wonder?
last year sunn o))) was invited to perform at a ancient cathedral in bergen norway. the performance was captured via 24 track mobile recording and the results were pressed onto double 180-gram black vinyl. this recording will be available exclusively on vinyl only. there will not be a digital release (cd or downloads). pure analog! the o))) lineup for this performance includes attila csihar (mayhem) on vocals, steve moore (earth, ascend) on the church’s legendary pipe organ and norwegian native lasse marhaug on electronics. behold the glory!
fews copies of this nice 2006 release… the latest collaboration between the mighty sunray and sonic boom. you get a phenomenal 13-minute take on the velvet underground’s “the ocean,” loaded with two-chord drones, farfisa organ, buzzing moogs, and mr. boom’s hushed vocals. the b-side features the bluesy spiritualized-esque cut “i wish,” and the fuzz-drenched “one note jam.” packaged with a psychedelic sleeve.
surface of eceyon continue their dohym saga with revenge of dragon. featuring the dense and swirling psychedelic sounds of adam forkner (white rainbow/ jackie-o motherfucker/ vvrssnn/ yume bitsu), dick baldwin (towering giant/ landing/ dragon), daron gardner (towering giant/ landing), phil jenkins and aaron snow (paper/ landing). this lp is limited to 500.
probably the most strange band from finland (or over the world?!). i have received the master of this album without any informations except the one that the music has been recorded on a unknown finland’s hill. it’s probably that survon is a project composed of names already known in the n.w.o.f.n.a. (new wave of finland new age) as vapaa and the free players but nothing is sure… it’s very difficult for me to describe their music, first of all it’s extremely lo-fi, without a real structure (pure shamanic improvvisation). a bizzare folk, sometimes almost evil thanks to strange vocals that seem to come from creatures of caves. incredibly fashinating… the tape is limited to 30 numbered copies, inside a little plastic-bag. on the cover there is a drawing find on a very old american children book. in the package there is also some pot-herbs.
last year saw the danish/swedish duo heading over the pond. they rented a car and got a not very detailed road atlas. learned that public payphones are some quarter eating pieces of shit. and that cheap $7 chinatown voltage converter turned out to be a total rip off. they fried their power strip during soundcheck at the first gig in nashville. an overwhelmed klyd watkins was in the audience, and the poet was later reported being “lost for words” when taking off into the night. so what about the music?? people whove seen them play have mentioned patty waters, linda sharrock, brother ahh, strange strings etc as reference points for the drooling gawkers. it sure is recalling the homeburned jazz sounds of the past. they play french horn, flutes and saxophonic vocals over soothing harplike tidal waves. where the last vocalions is the perfect late night/early morning nod out spin, the next album will be the wake up call. we for long thought this was the record that wasnt supposed to happen. the stampers broke a handfull of times, then later the pressing plant sufferd from a power blackout after a storm etc. it was planned for their us tour september 06. now its a new year and here we finally have it. – jacques smoi, lyon france… in stock once again this great private press zoner from jakob olausson (moonlight farm, joshua jugband 5, destijl, etc) and the ineffable sus. recommended.
the icelandic prog-rock band svanfrídur released only one album, recorded six months after they played their first gig. this short-lived band rapidly rose to fame, receiving rave reviews for live performances, but in fact their music was way ahead of its time. they were unable to seal a recording contract so they formed their own label – swan records. when the album what’s hidden there? was released in autumn 1972, it got mixed reviews and sold only a few hundred copies, leaving the band with a great album but, sadly, not the income they had been hoping for. recorded at london’s majestic studios, the album was cut and pressed in england. perhaps one of the best heavy prog/underground albums from scandinavia, with amazing guitar & all english vocals. would have been a famous and successful album on decca uk… numbered edition of 500, heavy gatefold sleeve on 180 gram vinyl with 2 page insert.
reminiscent of later era residents albums such as ‘animal lovers,’ sword of the ancient, with their latest release ‘head of the tide,’ create a world where night and day playfully collide in a swirl of sonic shadows, shards of light, and evervescant sound. chance and chaos intermingle with strict song structures to develop the ‘balancing point,’ of this recording. featuring members of flakmask, uke of spaces corners, and impractical cockpit… edition of 100.
all things must evolve, and given time even the unicellular organisms dwelling in ocean’s deepest fathoms may shift form and take to the skies. in celebration of the mysteries of evolution, aurora borealis proudly presents sylvester anfang ii. in the time since the release of kosmies slachtafval, silvester anfang have grown into sylvester anfang ii, a more psychedelic beast, a more tangible creature in some ways, but one that defies and confounds standard classification. taking their cue from krautrock communes of yore, the flemish troubadours have expanded both ranks and minds and now present this giant new opus for general consumption. with cultish numbers swollen with new blood in the guise of stef anus (kiss the anus of a black cat), father sloow (sloow tapes pontiff), bram (ignatz) and clay ruby (davenport, burial hex), the sound is much fuller and more reminiscent of kraut-ish dope jams than ever before. ruby’s vocal additions create a whole new universe for the band, rather like if dr. john had been born in a plague pit in flanders, and the resulting tracks ‘the devil always shits in the same graves parts 1 & 2′ are masterful examples of flemish voodoo boogie. sure to upset parents and upstanding citizens with their occult themes and liberal european-style artwork, sylvester anfang ii reach new levels of consciousness with their mantras of goat worship and the orthodoxy of denial that states, ‘only analogue is real.’ dust off your robes, sharpen the sacrificial blade, order in some trappist beers — tune in, turn on, evolve… deluxe gatefold sleeve, heavy vinyl, etc.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing, mastered at abbey road. includes the same bonus track as the cd version. london trio synanthesia were only together briefly, but in that time they made an album that has subsequently been hailed as a lost classic. with original copies (from 1969) changing hands for hundreds of pounds, sunbeam is delighted to give it its first official reissue, showing it to be a great lost british acid folk gem and an absolute treat for all lovers of acid folk and psychedelia. named in the top twenty “strange folk classics” in record collector, 2005.
two of america’s finest drone acts come together for this split lp. taiga remains is student of decay’s master mind alex cobb project, if you ain’t picked up his new disc on digitalis ‘wax canopy’ yet, go get it, it is one of the best drone releases i have heard in a long time! the 15 minute track on this is new split lp is entitled ‘mengku from mengsa’. opening with far off chimes upon chimes, this leads to pure bliss dream zones, rather than the more intense material on the aforementioned wax canopy. this is a fantastic piece of drone work, layered to create some beautiful zoning out in the mind. rv paintings is the project of brian pyle of the almighty psychedelia legends starving weirdos, along with his brother jon pyle, and spencer doran, who also plays under the name of cloaks. this is an amazing track, kinda darker and bleaker than the weirdos vibe, with some totally awesome free percussion playing central to the piece, this is hard to top in the drone game. a totally solid slab of sound from both acts. limited to 400 copies.
new full-length cdr by the head of students of decay label. melancholic drones coupled with majestic guitar effects haunt our winter. the moonlight rays of his instrument light the trees of our emotions and send us the ligth we need covers pics taken at versailles, france – limited to 95 copies.
5:45 a.m. tone float. conducted by sunlight and aged puerh and performed with acoustic guitar, electronics, loops, bows, and chopsticks. recorded live at acacia sound, september 2007. music for early mornings. limited to 100 copies.
recorded on 1 july 1971 in the geodesic dome at the ‘utopia & visions 1871-1981′ exhibition at the moderna museet in stockholm, takehisa kosugi’s taj mahal travellers were a japanese experimental improv group active in the 1970s. the group, heavily influenced by fluxus, used electronic effects to create their own unique improvised drones… white vinyl in clear plastic sleeve with red lettering. edition 500 copies. nice.
day two of this historic and rare live performance at the moderna museet in stockholm, sweden.” grey vinyl in clear plastic sleeve with blue lettering. edition 500 copies. nice.
since 2003, nyc’s talibam! have been charting a course through the improv waters in a way that few other groups can pull off. rock, jazz, noise and all stops in between collide in an aggressive mix that defines free music in the best sense of the term: nothing is deemed out of bounds. too much fun to be a po-faced postmodern exercise, and too expertly played to be sunk in a morass of good intentions, the new nixon tapes hurtles through two side-long pieces in an agile cascade of rhythmic and melodic ideas. kevin shea (drums) and matt mottel (synthesizer) have worked with cooper-moore and rhys chatham, among others; here they’re joined by master saxophonist / trumpeter / flautist daniel carter. recorded live in the wfmu studios. mp3 download coupon included.
since their lightning-strike first appearance, talk normal’s sound has stormed upward & outward, referencing nothing but relating to almost everything, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm & noise supporting pleas & plaints, signal-calls & marching orders. each talk normal show builds on past ones: up-to-the- moment updates of ideas previously stated, new phrasings of old upheavals delivered with increasing focus & joy. darkness & light; fury, silence, space & sound… includes download coupon.
mystical trip from canada, heading for deep exotic zone and ethnic space. acoustic improvisations and clouded forest rhytms on various instruments, including homemade ones. ideal companion to your morning meditation. 70 copies.
someone should start a clan of the instrument builders. and if such a thing existed, talugung (aka ontario resident, ryan waldron) would be one of the leaders of the movement. even though no such organization exists (damnit), there’s still this debut album of waldron’s fractured exploits. “flooded fields” isn’t played on all instruments he’s built, though. he accents this with all sorts of random, ethnic instruments – circular xylophones from god knows where, for example – creating a wonderful cacaphony of sound. the proceedings here are choppy and melodic, but underpinned with an organic sense. at times, it sounds like something you might find on a sublime frequencies release, and is also reminiscent of the work of henry kuntz. 100 copies.
vibratory energy forms dropping out with molecular and cellular guitar phrases in trance-like babble. two pot-smoking guitarists harvesting their daily supply. edition of 70 copies.
excerpt from the liner notes: sayas – you must listen. you must listen through the noise. you must listen through the chaos. if this song is yours then it is in your heart. you must play from your heart, listen from your heart. then you will hear your music. it will play through you and you will not miss a note. what is going on outside does not matter. what matters is that you can be in this moment, that you can be truly with yourself and not out there. to be a great at anything, you must be able to listen. beyond that, you must always find a pleasure in listening. you are not here to please this crowd. you are here to play through this chaos and please yourself and through this you shall attain an infinite awareness of the present… limited to 100 copies in nice stamped chipboard covers.
synth-duo tarp is made up of joshua burkett (vermonster, believers, solo, etc.) and conrad capistran (sunburned hand of the man, sephiroths knot). two tightly edited masterstrokes flank the sides of this 7″, taking tarp out of their familiar live setting and thrusting them under a sonic microscope. neat and polished, yet still utterly unconstrained. amazing journeys packed into each four-minute track. tarp effortlessly glide through a full spectrum of atmospheres: ’call-and-response’ conversation, brooding ambience, rhythmic pulses, and melodic lullabies. full color sleeve art by george w. myers.
cadillac sitting like a ton of lead, the brand new album from the taurpis tula trio of david keenan (tight meat duo), heather leigh (scorces/dream aktion unit/jandek) and alex neilson (tight meat duo/directing hand/jandek/richard youngs et al), represents the absolute apex of their twin guitar/drums incarnation, with two side-long improvised psychedelic blues that combine the kind of epic string-muscle of fushitsusha, ohkami no jikan, kousokuya and rallizes denudes with a sublime avant-garage sensibility and massive pockets of time-killing freedom. further amplifying the malevolent narcosis of their debut lp on eclipse, cadillac? is a full blown rock record that full delivers on their vision of yoko jamming with red transistor in a world where the conventional middle-brow ’canon’ is pretty much upended in favour of primitive avant garde brut. there are grooves here that are as magnetic and future-visioned as the magic band circa “big eyed beans from venus” or the final seconds of amplifier meltdown on mainliner’s mellow out while the playing is at an all-time esp-channelled high, with the group generating glorious metal-inflected simultaneities without the slightest whiff of ’dialogue’ or even listening with ears.this is a profound statement of the kind of freak-out freedoms inherent in the most primal blues/rock forms and a revitalising connection to the source of *it*, further building on the kind of form the group were packing during their monstrous jam at thurston moore’s nightmare before christmas. features heather leigh on vocals, harmonica and pedal steel, david keenan on electric guitar and alex neilson on drums. packaged in individually silkscreened sleeves by disobedient belgian artist jelle crama and featuring all-original artwork by heather leigh on the front, the insert and the labels, cadillac sitting like a ton of lead comes in a limited edition of 440 copies.
this first recording as a trio (heather and david leigh are joined by alex neilson on drums) is a full on sonic avalanche. a wild exorcism, baby – leaves little fractured patterns scorched onto the memory like acid on glass. taurpis tula’s improvisational magic has taken a stronger but no less delicate and detailed turn. this is an epi excursion. — stylus.
harry taussig’s fate is only once was originally self-released in 1965. taussig’s only other recordings appear on a deleted 1967 takoma records sampler lp entitled contemporary guitar spring ’67, which also featured john fahey, bukka white, max ochs and robbie basho… excellent lp and great to see it reissued on vinyl.
when it comes to quality control and prolificacy, one can’t imagine a band doing much better on either count than portland, maine’s own tempera. considering the thousands of minutes of original material they’ve committed to tape, microcassette, and hard-drive over the past four years, it’s hard to believe that this is still officially tempera’s debut long-playing album. and befitting the band’s thorough self-scrutiny (in itself a rare characteristic amongst experimental improv groups in this era) the music is decidedly top-tier. this self-titled lp contains two side-long, long-form improvisations, with kraut-rock inspired tom-heavy drumming backing ethereal vocals and synth tones and drones; smooth, blissed-out ambient passages building to cymbal-crashing climaxes. here, tempera’s nicholas barker and corinna marshall are joined by electric pianist/drummer robert stillman [of robert stillman's horses] to hit that ecstatic, transcendent zone. pressed onto crystal clear 12″ vinyl (and including a cd version of the album with a bonus track!), packaged in a silkscreened art paper “poster-style” fold-over sleeve, and limited to 300 copies.
terje bandholdt on drums, jesper schmidt on guitar and joachim. this album was recorded in 1970 for the famous spectator records in denmark (moses/bluesaddicts/days). reissued for the first time in original cover plus insert with many photos and band story, this amazing heavy psych album beats most releases from denmark, in quality and rarity. massive guitar action all over, great heavy vocals and pumping rhythms lift this album right out of there. beside moses, the best heavy psych album from northern europe. 450 numbered/glossy/heavy sleeve/180 gram pressing/insert.
“2023″ marks the latest interplanetary excursions by michael donnelly (mymwly/brothers of the occult sisterhood) and it’s a diverse platter of headtripping psych-drone-clatter-rock if ever i’ve heard one. in fact, each of the album’s twelve tracks finds donnelly mining different territory, channeling the psychedelic ghosts of japan and germany through the lens of the sonic traditions of planets light years further away from the sun than our own. limited to 100.
michael donnelly of the brothers of the occult sisterhood: the zoned tribal folk of botos in a head-on collision with lo-fi electronics. this is a sort-of reissue of a cdr that was supposed to come out on hiulcity but didn’t and comes in a hand-painted sleeve. — boa melody bar… ultra heavy hand painted board cover. limited.
three jams coming from the minds of b. hargreaves (dreamcatcher / cousins of reggae / waxathon) and a. moskos (unireverse / et sans / drainolith) recorded in 2005 to 4-track. featuring one of the tracks that came out on the arthur mag. comp. for the suoni per il popolo festival. heavy rumble pack action. twisted guitars and fully bent electronics. thames “logo” photocopied on card stock. hand stamed and numbered. spray painted cassettes. edition of 95.
tom thayer is a ny visual artist who creates paintings, drawings, sculpture, music, puppetry, film and theatrical experiments. these works are often loosely strung, frail objects depicting dilapidated, fantastical scenes of abstract human and animal figures. this is his first record of music, self-titled lp, edition of 550, released on his own cardboard mirror label. from the artist, “this record contains a broken, mildewed darkride of songs and beats held together by adhesive tape and string.” we saw his gig and there were bird puppets playing records with their beaks, speeding up/slowing down, pecking the vinyl. this recordingemdash remember the plonsky record, or the recordings of jean dubuffet? profound minimal electronic manipulation in real time by his own hand, mixed with crude sampling, creates a stunning first offering. check his art at www.tomthayer.net. – sound at one.
mysterious canadian 100 copy private press stoner psych improv slab, featuring mark alexander mcintyre, who has just released a rather great little solo folk psych album as well. this is the follow-up yo ‘biker smell’. wrap around color paste-on cover wth double-sided xerox insert. hand numbered edition of only 100 copies, and very few in stock.
the most inventive and progressive album so far from thee free. at times imaginative and always very free, even when soaked in (sporadic) heavy rhythms or walls of harsh noise. mangled radio output and voice samples blend with abusive storms of coloured noise, drums, clarinet, flutes and heavy electric guitars make twisted and psychedelic appearances. certain tracks show how the total (sometimes very gradual) deterioration of a ‘tune’ can amount to something just as, if not more, engaging. we are also offered hope from the words of a yogi in the midst of this warped sonic landscape during ‘juice bug’ – ‘coily’ was recorded on the day of the announcement of coil artist johnn balance’s passing. the album title is in tribute to mark stewart and the mafia’s track ‘liberty city’, appearing on ‘learning to cope with cowardice’, a hugely significant album of the early eighties, musically and otherwise. seven lengthy tracks (56 mins total) from the archives of 2006 tf’s sessions; stimulating and truly experimental, resulting in a powerful underground album – limited to 50 copies.
the hippie groundswell of the late ’60s left a lot of young people on the road to self-discovery in the new decade of the 1970s. some were true “dropouts,” but there were also a number of artisans and talented people out there, footloose yet fascinated with the workings of the world and determined to make something of the pieces they’d been given. these trails echoes back to us from hawaii, and specifically the world of the nature cult there. hawaii’s (comparatively) unspoiled wilderness bore great fascination to the gentle young people of the west coast back in those days. musicians as diverse as the beach boys, merrell fankhauser, sky saxon, dan hicks and ry cooder all drew vibes and inspiration from the hawaiian mystique and music-but these trails gains distinction having been made by everyday-people-type inhabitants of the islands. hiking, swimming and surfing were the auspices under which margaret morgan and patrick cockett first met. they were local kids, who’d grown up on the island of kaua’i. they’d both been studying native hawaiian music and their shared interests and island upbringing inspired them to write and play new music together. by the time this music got to tape, a greater environment had been created with the addition of dave choy’s arp synthesizer, uruguayan carlos pardeiro’s guitar and sitar, and the soft rhythm of ipu, hawaii’s traditional percussion. the music of these trails is a psychedelic bridging of folk musics that has a natural and melodic flow and a somber, spiritual air. these trails was never really a band; it was an album of music. it wasn’t pressed in any great numbers and created only a few ripples locally when it was released in 1973. nonetheless, it was a powerful expression that stands with up other recently-discovered heroes of the private-press world, such as linda perhacs and gary higgins, whose singular musical endeavors stand with the best of what the hippified 1970s had to offer… nice to see this super blissed-out gem on wax again. great stuff!
co-release between sparrows & wires and horror bag recordings. not live-evil, not evilive, but live evils. these wonderful evils outside reverberation vinyl records, central illinois, august 2011. decaying echo boxes, fuzz by hudson electronics, cats, kids, davy graham tunings… newest private press from this cool folk primitive / loner fuzz psych solo project. crude xerox folkways style wrap-around paste-on covers, with funny insert. pressed on splatter magenta vinyl. hand numbered edition of only 205 copies. nice one!
the debut album from chicago’s these wonderful evils is a dark, psychedelic meditation, echoing richard youngs & nico, as well as the more experimental side of the velvet underground. voices & guitars buried deep in the forest are both familiar and chilling at the same time, from the drowning drone of the opener “north atlantic” through the drifting, forlorn closer “st.jo.” – reckless records… really excellent private press here. if you dug the galbraith / neilson / youngs lp on time-lag you’ll dig this for sure. second numbered edition of only 208 copies, this time in fancy metallic printed covers. highly recommended… if you missed it last time, don’t make the same mistake again cuz these will go quick.
drugged bedroom lo-fi psych. meandering acoustic guitar tones showing occasional signs of fuzz outgrowths while drowning in an overall feeling of obsessive loner harmonies. imagine early six organs jamming with spacemen 3 in new zealand. a real sloow burner. 70 copies.
edition of 111. the record centers are hand stamped and stenciled. record jackets are hand numbered and assembled. comes with a booklet of john’s drawings… oddball punky folk stuff. very limited stock.
great underground acid folk lp by greek singer/songwriter (and a film director today) andreas thomopoulos, who lived in uk for many years. recorded at chalk farm and released in 1971, by mushroom. this is his second album, more acid, sensitive and enigmatic than his first singer/songwriter approach called “songs of the street”. andreas accompanies his melancholic voice with guitars, piano, bouzouki, kalimba and harmonica while his colleagues, from the same label, second hand (ken elliot, george hart and kieran o’connor) help on organ, bass, violin and drums. yet, the well-known barbara thompson guests on flute, malcolm budd on sitar, nick hoare on kalimba, triangle, tony pedroza on electric guitars and raphie on vocals. lyrics are in english and only “the stranger” is in greek (and what a song!!!). a totally vanished album as original and a “must”!!! 400 black copies edition. licenced by andreas thomopoloulos. it includes the original lyric sheet plus one more insert with photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gm vinyl as usual… very sweet one.
when the curtain opens on the lone figure at the head of the stage as he blows his harmonica, hoping to conjure spirits from the layers of dust on the floor. wailing vocals light the balconies and waft their way toward the smoky heavens of the lushly decorated ceiling. thousands is the sister of the mighty (vxpxc), but this extended family vision is a much larger beast. on “overflow’d ¨ gush’d out,” thousands are six. disjointed melodies reclaim the horizon from fractured guitar lines and sporadic drum blasts. thousands move like a machine across the landscape, sucking up everything in their path, inviting it all in to join in their revolt. rebelling against what? that’s not all that important when it sounds so damn good.
four seekers went into the joshua tree desert, armed with acoustic instruments, battery powered amps, and a few bottles of whisky. as night descended, the four huddled together and made up songs for protection against the wild darkness. eventually, it was the darkness that feared the sound. this release is housed in a sturdy cardboard pack, with many bedazzled adornments… very limited.
improvisational bay area quartet thuja create aural landscapes that capture the reverberations of wood and wire, the sounds of breaking sticks and scraping stones, and the ambience of their surroundings into a shifting, dynamic musical framework… jewelled antler folks. vinyl limited to only 500 copies, so act quick.
diehl / crane duo drops its long-overdue vinyl debut and it’s great news. memory bank robbing and mechanized appalachian comedowns. manda collage artwork with loopy eyes added. edition of 250.
recorded nearly a year ago in amsterdam, the duo of heidi deihl (of vanishing voice) and g. lucas crane (of nonhorse and vanishing voice) bring together a sound that few others in the scene can compare to. seasoned veterans at this point, the two of them have a wonderful sense of interaction and playing off of each other. this album is beautifully dark and wondrous; terribly serene and introspective. for those of you who know and love time life, this will not disappoint. if you have yet to hear them, then this is a great place to start. c38 edition of 150.
one of the rarest and most mysterious of all 1960’s uk psych/pop albums. the band had released a handful of 45’s on decca between 1967-68. this album was set for release in 1969, but the lp was pulled at the last minute. only a handful of finished copies with covers survived, and now command a hefty £1500+ price tag. taken from the analogue masters this is a superb sounding album. not only this, the original painting used for the lp artwork has also recently come to light, and we are lucky enough to reproduce it for this reissue. this is a superb collection of 1960’s uk sike pop with a mix of american sunshine pop. finally after 40 years the album is seeing the light of day for the first time! this is a strict limited edition of 450 copies only, dmm mastered and pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl.
tombi is the solo moniker of ry wharton (who runs the great twonicorn tape label). over the course of several limited edition cassettes, including the simply fantastic “forest of three trees” released on tone filth midway through 2006, wharton has sculpted subterranean synth and electronics into obsessive basement hymns. “black humid mist” begins with a calming tide pool of ringing bell tones, which open up into the hypnotic riptide static of the title track – an enchanting live feed from some bleak and beautiful valley far beneath earth’s surface.
the album tomuuntuu, was conjured based on the omnipresent reinterpretation of the project name tomutonttu by press, fans and even its publisher. confused? well, this one sided 21 minute opus may alleviate some of the pressure you’ve put on your self for correctly trying to pronounce acts from the finnish underground. jan anderzen was commissioned to make this album by the aanen lumo fesitval for new sounds. the music debuted at the orion theatre in helsinki 11.10.10. tomuuntuu conveys dozens of ideas in psychadelic electronic composition. each short piece shifts into the next as if it was born out of the last one. fluttering tremolo guitar, percussive hits, manipulated field recordings and electronics all bounce between stereo channels to create a sublime listening experience. lp is pressed as a one sided record, with a direct to vinyl, solvent based high gloss screen print on the blank side. permanent and archival… edition of 300. really sweet multi-layer screen printed white vinyl art piece. nice!
where does tomutonttu begin? from here. we have re-released the hunchback’s first tape (tomutonttu, huutomerkki!, 2003) on 10 inch vinyl that works as a gateway from kemialliset ystävät to the melted seduction song world of tomutonttu. he is one of the most important characters in new music, and even though they say you should avoid looking towards him, everybody’s a bit sweeter when being born… nice!!!
the lp version of the cd released by quecksilber in 2007. presented in a limited edition of 500, mastered direct to metal and pressed on 200g virgin vinyl. the jacket features the rui toscano drawing from the cd version expanded for the 12-inch format printed in black and pantone red on reversed stock with the pocket flooded red.
new collaboration bursts from tb’s duo of jack and ben with dylan nyoukis, chocolate monk label boss and blood stereo man. weird creeped out noise and vocal sickness. hits in at over 50 minutes. hand numbered edition of 100, with exposed brain panda cover art that surely the world wildlife fund would approve of?
50 copies. the follow up to the now sold out tranko debut cd from the later part of 2008.”tranko ii” is again another lovely album containing five tracks of traditional indian and ainu instrumentation and trance raga like programmed keyboards effects.this time the cover features a pink stencilled star design. available in an edition of 50 hand numbered copies.
same titled album by oregon group tree people has finally reached its deserved status after the excellent cd reissue released by japanese label tiliqua a couple years ago. ‘tree people’ is no other than a fantastic piece of hippie acid folk that clearly anticipates today’s ‘freak folk’ movement. very clean production, with an eastern flavour noticeable in many passages and using acoustic guitars, varied percussions and flutes, while the strong vocals of stephen cohen finalize the picture. remastered sound from masters, has insert with rare photos.
subterranean midwest boys sure got some reputation, but treetops and dan marino represent a novel and downright invigoratin’ duality. treetops rips through effects with overwhelmin’ honesty. scrapin’ up amplifier discharge and molding passages of raw sentiment and ageless boon. dan marino pairs truth in field recording with a burbly gurgle and solid crystal synth. less destructo, more dazer. something for everybody, straight from the jabbers of our young future! -valhalla. edition of 100 on imprinted shells with hand-cut inserts and inside folds.
mike pollard is basically the man right now, not only does he do this awesome project called treetops thats had some killer stuff on ecstatic peace, not not fun, dnt and gilgongo, but he runs one of my favourite labels arbor. so i’m psyched to be releasing this disc from him. sounding like some kind of 70s cavern ritual nightmare throughout, tapping, churning weirdness with occasional patterred drums, shattering cymbals, and more full on room engulfing density-intensity. comes in full colour collage sleeves designed by bethany of pocahaunted. handnumbered edition of 100 on black bottomed cdrs.
the 80′s healing scene has found ressurection in the body of arbor head
mike pollard aka treetops. soothing tunes for a new step into the self. i don’t know if anyone remembers aeoliah, but this album made me think about his psychological new age meditation pieces a lot. this iasos affilate made music for a healthy living ™. treetops steps on this path as well, but travels more out there, more vague. synthesized sounds of a new beginning surrounded by the crunch of the media. deep inside this tape, the message of healing is encoded. if psychotronics is a new genre of music, this guy is one of the portholes to the genre’s heart.
time spent alone during the summer; outside. recorded shirtless in the sand, direct to walkman on the beach in northern michigan. an organic ambience; orchestrating the sounds of the earth. in an edition of 50 tapes with full color art, labels and an insert.
a state of mind between sleep and consciousness, where the past gently glides over the future, weaving it’s self into the unknown. an unfamiliar place, surrounded by things you recognized and things you do not. birds in flight, sprinklers, quiet humming of machines, echoing voices blended with strains of haunted melodies that remind you there is a vast world outside your door in a state of constant change.
first three songs on this album are as good as anything; trimble’s music is an utterly unique blend of melodic songwriting, gorgeous high vocals, overwhelmingly echoey and warbly production, synthesized guitar and fuzz guitar, and it’s mesmerizing and life-changing. side two was recorded a few years earlier and is simpler in terms of production, but the songwriting is equally good. over the years it has become apparent that this album has aged very well and is every bit as good as the more heralded second album. trimble’s music is utterly timeless, utterly distinctive, and utterly beautiful. – acid archives… nice reissue of this lost-in-time 80s gem.
trúbrot was the first supergroup ever founded in iceland. it was created in may 1969 when leading members of ‘hljómar’ (sounds) and ‘flowers’ set out to create the finest icelandic rock group of all time. guitarist and composer gunnar thórgarson, bass player and singer rúnar júlíusson and lead vocalist shady owens of hljómar had been plotting this for some months, along with organist karl sighvatsson and drummer gunnar jökull hákonarson of flowers, before the band’s genesis was announced publicly. these were troubled times and trúbrot had countless hurdles to overcome before the band eventually fell apart early in 1973. after the debut album was released in december 1969 by emi, vocalist shady owens announced that she was quitting. trúbrot recorded 3 more albums. tony branwell of apple records was saying these were one of the two best bands he had seen perform on stage in the preceding six months. really cool underground album full of musical ideas and well-crafted music, male & female vocals. the music should hit the same listener of uk bands such as blossom toes, billy nichols; underground with a touch of pop…. numbered edition of 500, heavy gatefold sleeve on 180 gram vinyl with 2 page insert.
the unified duo of che chen (founder of o’sirhan o’sirhan zine) & rolyn hu (operatrix of brooklyn’s glasslands space) are on a mission to reverse the flow of negative energy with their elemental brand of ecstatic pop & anthemic noise, live & on the record. join inn! true primes disinfect disaffection with their brand of elemental buzzing unrock. tp are adding a new chapter to the growing saga of ny’s long, fruitful history of downtown artrock by grafting a smiley face on the body of no wave’s penchant for alienation. we have won is the band’s debut. lp edition of 330 available now, covers done up sweet by che chen… 180gm vinyl. paste-on xerox covers. numbered edition.
long anticipated vinyl version of tsukimonos grandiose time canvas, originally released as a limited cdr on kning disk spring 2007. a true gem when it comes to drone-based music, this recording still stands out as tsukimonos finest moment. each track is based on a sample on one specific instrument. slow and quiet and big and brutal at the same time. incredible beauty indeed. the deluxe 2xlp version also comes with a side-long bonus track recorded in 2008. letterpressed silver ink on black cardboard sleeves. liner notes by matthias andersson (rtb records), pm jönsson (sound of music/sonic), gustav rosengren (kalligrammofon) and musician viktor sjöberg. also comes with a coupon for a digial download of the album, which also includes the lesson, a second bonus track. limited to 525 copies.
the third album from tunng, the pastoral pop band behind the acclaimed mother’s daughter and other songs and comments of the inner chorus albums. good arrows is a totally immersive record, enveloping the listener in tunng’s wyrd world, and is their first to feature the full six-piece band. eleven songs that borrow from icelandinc prog rock, choral music, and film soundtracks… limited vinyl version.
flux is the 1981 debut solo outing of robert turman, an american multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde composer. until recently, turman was perhaps best known for his contributions to the ballistic non project with boyd rice, as well as other obscured u.s. industrial acts such as z.o. voider. in the summer of 1981, turman decided he would take a drastic turn from the noisy/electronic/industrial work of his compatriots, and began work on what is now the classic flux cassette. flux was originally self-released in extremely limited numbers. weary of the noisescapes of old, he set out to create long-form minimalism utilizing kalimba, piano, “mini-pops jr.” drum machine, and tape loops to create a complex bed of interweaving micro-stasis. the results of these new experiments were as beautiful as they were perplexing. a curious, dusty fidelity carries these classic tracks across four sides of vinyl, including all of the original flux content. these compositions glow with a sprawling, slow-motion haze that’s light years ahead of its time. flux reveals wide spectrums of sound from melancholic kalimba and percussion patterns to slowed-down, syrupy exotica. turman had complex ideas in his mind, yet only the simple technologies of the day were at hand. hear the click of the stopping and starting tascam 3340 open-reel tape machine as one hand presses the “record” and “play” buttons and the other plays piano phrases. while there are similarities in style to classical minimalism, turman’s sound and vision is his own and is exclusive to his limited discography. released in a limited edition 2xlp set. lovingly remastered and cut by rashad becker at dubplates & mastering from the original c-60 cassette master. original cassette artwork and scans provided by aaron dilloway… really great deep zoner trance sounds. recommended!
twinsistermoon is the solo project of mehdi ameziane of natural snow buildings. the hollow mountain was originally issued by dull knife records in 2009 as an lp limited to only 105 copies, unsurprisingly it sold out in a matter of hours. widely regarded by many natural snow buildings fans as one of the best releases from their camp, this reissue has been remastered by ben nash, includes new artwork, and brand new unreleased material. the album has a beautiful earthy lo-fi feeling throughout which perfectly compliments its short and sweet folk songs, and occasional wanderings into psychedelic drone ambience. this is an album that really is totally beautiful and probably one of my favorites from mehdi. the cd is packaged in a square artwork booklet and a pro-printed card wallet showcasing the superb original artwork from the lp sleeve. limited to 1000 copies… recommended!
brand new full length vinyl lp from natural snow buildings’ mehdi ameziane’s solo project. this is the third vinyl release from twinsistermoon since last summer’s the hollow mountain lp and bride of spirits 7″ which were both released on the excellent dull knife label. following on from these two gems, as well as various obscure self released discs and cds on digitalis and students of decay, ameziane’s sound has grown somewhat darker at times with this brand new lp featuring nearly 50 minutes of new material. the a side features 6 tracks, where as the b side is a huge almost 25 minute track. the opening track ‘black nebulae’ is a gorgeously textured psychedelic drone based piece, followed by a short, quieter, guitar plucked piece with vocals, but no words entitled ’1976′. ‘ghost that was your life’ is a stunning beautiful layered guitar piece with ameziane’s astounding beautiful vocals shining through. ‘big sand’ opens as one of the darker pieces, with an occult feeling to its sound, swirling vocal drones, almost like a choir at times, and in come those stunning warm and distinctive gutar sounds with layered ghostly sound scapes, that haunt much of ameziane’s solo and nsb recordings. half way through this track it fades into layered field recordings, drones, and distant chimes, the sound of this track at this point just has a real melancholy vintage sound, the last two minutes are again a change of sound with a slow plucking of guitar strings. ‘desert prophecy’ returns of the sound of just ameziane and his guitar, with some lo-fi electric riffing distrotion in the background. its pretty incredible to hear this and think that its from 2010, and not from the 60s or 70s. the sixth and final track on the first side is ‘trailer’, another beautiful somewhat lighter folk sound, which is interesting considering the following is the albums title track ‘then the ashes fell’, a side long track which is a considerably darker and heavier than much of the rest of the lp, but it weaves in some beautiful lighter more reflective moments. pro printed sleeves and labels. heavyweight vinyl… massively thick old style covers.
meghan remy continues her one woman crusade to drain all humankind of bad blood and garbage, refilling our boots with hissed out affection while dousing us in white thunder. hear the sound of a skull full of quartz being pounded by tiny yet powerful hands and listen to her inveigling vocals, the kind of thing phil spector hears in his pill poping nightmares. note to prog logs, this baby is a short and sweet slide (19mins).
the ukes bring us all another butter country moon fried farm folk
bammer to sing or bang a gong along to. once again this release
features a full band of self taught weirdo clinger and clangers
carefully caressing tones out of anything from an effected mandolin to a marble in the bottom if a well tuned 5 gallon bucket. players include andy neubauer, dan b, amy moon o-s, kristen myers, caleb gamble, and ben grubb. cover art by janel beckman and printed by leif goldburg. insert art by amy moon and kristen myers… newest from this great belfast maine bent rural folk crew. maybe their best yet?! beautiful full color offset printed wrap-around paste-on art over a chipboard cover. tons of insert. recommended!
do not expect the “goblinish” umberto that you’ve listen in his past records. the aim of this track, the only one, that compose the record is to accompany the last moments of your life. 15 minutes to reach that peace of mind that you need to abandon the temporal and embrace the great unknown. every b side is needless: who will turn the record? … really cool one here for all space / trance / drone / new age fans. beautifully packaged with metallic ink cover and silver screenprinted vinyl b-side, and limited to only 150 copies! better move on this one…
gloomy psych-folk fuzz, in recycled classical lp sleeves, members of seanceorchstramindzoo, common oracles, hisseaters, mummers, grim spell etc… nice deep underground psych micro press monster for fans of residual echoes and such. awesome one-of-a-kind hand decorated art covers. edition of only 200 copies sure to vanish as quickly as they appeared. nice.
nyc ghost unchained swings his umbilical cord your way with joyful and pleasant but sick internal feedback blues. edition of 50, comes in spraypainted slip-cases with insert… long out of print.
teenage home recordings of nrbq’s tom ardolino from 1971… “i made these tapes in my basement…i was 17, still two years away from joining nrbq…..i had some friends who would come to the basement at night and we would smoke and listen to records. they would leave around midnight and i would start to record one track over another using the(kenwood reel to reel) recorder’s sound on sound feature. i would add drums the next day….sometimes i would try to do songs that i just felt like doing(like the nutty squirrels’ “zowee”…) but usually things were just made up. i would just kind of hear things in my head and just try to go for it…i never thought these tapes would be heard by anyone except for a few friends. warning: if out-of-tuneness bothers you, do not listen.”… newest on joshua burkett’s micro label. screen printed / stamped / numbered covers. 500 copies. first 100 or so include a set of magic markers to hand color the cover, we’ve got a few with the markers here so first come…
a re-issue of the out of print 99 five track album from Tokyo pysch. Unit uptight. Audio tracks have been slightly remastered with the addition of two unreleased tracks dating back to the bands earliest years 1994. Comes housed in a 2.5 panel foldout heavy stock sleeve pressing of 600 copies… long out of print.
new studio album by these japanese heads, this one is sure to place your third eye right onto the eternal cosmic plane. feels like spacing out in a hammock set between massively fucked-up, stripped-down mantra rhythms licking that sweet essence of crazed fuzz guitars and beautifully mellow acid ballads. a classic nocturnal journey into deep tokyo psychedelica. full-color artwork by bart de paepe, edition of 300 copies… awesome vinyl debut from the sloow tapes label, and a killer lp. very last copies here. recommended!
“alitaju ylimina” is the first vinyl album by finland’s uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a marvellous fold-out sleeve with a full-colour drawing by uton himself on the outer sleeve and some fierce black¨white illustrations by dutch artist christelle gualdi inside. uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere and currently travelling and recording in india. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystävät, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. the music of uton is no exception there, drawing inspirations from psychedelia to free jazz to pure ecstatic drones and noises using a wide range of acoustic instruments from various parts of the globe and a bulk of electronics. recorded in glorious lo-fi the mystery of hirvonen’s sound is difficult to pinpoint; sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze – gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis and his own ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystävät) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) will be released on lp by dekorder later this year.
one meditation taken from the first live show of the finish master, mrecorded with kulkija and edited at the mouth of life & death; and a second one recorded in the mysterious castle mountain high from springtime to winter 2006. this massive forestdrone leads us on some enchanted paths of mysticism. limited to 100.
uton plays ballads for the new earth. covered under a blanket of tone colors and nature cones, this brain is transferring a total new spectrum of trance. including a super guest-appearance by bridget hayden. full color cover and insert, painted tapecase.
double a-side tape, played in reverse on the b, this documents an uton live show. more abrasive than recorded output. acoustics, vocal mantras, and pulsating drone that leave you confused when it is all over with. offset printed gold on platinum vellum, clear labels “touched by the golden hand” in an edition of 100 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
make there beds in the gnome-infested waters throughout the city. uton is perhaps the country’s best kept secret. ‘mystery revolution’ is a sonic excursion through the finnish forests unlike any other. massive drones are balanced by the hypnotic dance of flutes, bells, and keyboards. underneath everything runs a mind-altering stream of fuzzed-out brainwaves. every corner you turn, there’s another smiling nymph, begging you to follow the golden path into the mystic woods. uton’s minimalist rumblings are there to infect and enchant, and hirvonen never fails to impress. the mask is off with ‘mystery revolution,’ and uton will remain shrouded in obscurity no more. this pine-scented excursion may by mysterious on the surface, but overall is a thing of beauty, lying in wait for the perfect time to infect you. ‘mystery revolution’ is proof that uton’s dreamy soundscapes are one of finland’s finest exports – nice art paper covers.
“straight edge xxs” is the 2nd vinyl album by finland’s uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies on the dekorder label. it comes in a gorgeous full-colour collage sleeve assembled by hirvonen himself. while uton’s last dekorder album “alitaju ylimina” (and most of his other recorded works respectively) are hazy lo-fi drone masterpieces for the most part, this is a completely diffferent affair. recorded straight to tape within one month, right after returning from a 6-month trip to india, these songs (if you could call them songs) are completely out-of-this-world; very short and crazed sketch-like pieces sounding like a nonesuch explorer lp of long lost field recordings from an as yet unexplored continent. or is it world music from an unknown planet recorded by those sublime frequencies guys from mysterious short wave transmissions? well, it is all that and more. it is pure ecstatic expression channelized through psychedelia, free jazz, noise and rural ancient folk music from all over the world in a completely naked, predominantly acoustic setting. one of the purest forms of music you could imagine; while all the familiar uton elements remain evident in a hazy backcloth. uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystevet, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna and his own ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystevet) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) is released on lp by dekorder simultaneously. limited edition of 500 copies.
“unexplained objects” is the 3rd vinyl-only lp by finland’s uton for the dekorder label, like his previous dekorder albums released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a beautiful full-colour heavy duty sleeve designed by hirvonen himself. while the last albums explored rural soundworlds from the outer reaches of this planet and hidden places of the inner human (and animal) mind, he has finally left planet earth completely and is now reaching out for outer space and alien communication. hirvonen seems to have traveled the spaceways, bringing home folk music and field recordings from faraway planets and alien cultures. erich von däniken beware! uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystävät, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna and his own
ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystävät) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) has been released on lp by dekorder as well. limited edition of 500 copies!
for the past five plus years, uton has been one of the most consistent projects to come out of the snowy confines of his native finland. his output has been constant, but the quality is always great. his drones have always been underscored with a sense of melody and a keen utilization of the space where the music was created. these songs are not icy or glacial, though, like one might think. uton’s uncanny ability to inject an inviting sense of warmth and spirit. “we’re only in it for the spirit” is ghost music; barely there and out-of-sight in the blink of an eye. limited to 500 copies with artwork designed by james livingston of black horizons… includes the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
new ultra-minimal string excursions from this finnish artist now resident in india. a ascetic sound pallette of strum and scrawp revealing intense swirling beauty and lost in the woods nordic aurora – very nice. limited to 100 copies only.
uw owl has finally found their first proper release after making numerous small edition cd-rs and contributing a track on united bamboos they keep me smiling compilation curated by hisham bharoocha (x- black dice, soft circle). this lp features ten songs chosen from a mass of recordings between 2003 and 2004. electrical currents, desolate sound scapes, dark tunnels, late night jams and structured waste recorded on a broken dust-filled concrete basement floor in bushwick – brooklyn, ny. 333 copies. 140g vinyl. packaged in a self assembled dye-cut and letterpressed jacket by jonas asher, with insert.
new release from new york based nickolas mohanna, following some fine releases on abandon ship and super minerals/magic lantern’s phil french consistently excellent stunned records imprint. mohanna creates vakhchav through a hazed blur of synth, guitar, electronics and computer, giving this, his first non-us label release, a real nice ambient quality throughout. ‘sequels’ opens the disc with a star-gaze wavering drone, washing in from multiple directions for full immersed bliss. ‘line in motion’ has a deep bass working your brain from the distance with a purely electric droning riff fading in from some unknown source. ‘passage’ is brief with barely audible voices being subjected to pure static destruction, before heading into ‘of a curvature’, which returns to the blissed out multi drones of the opening track. this fine disc finished on ‘the take (at dusk)’ which is a 7 minute piece which somehow seems to blur all the elements of birth to a point’s frenzied dizzying bursts and the euphoric dream like moments.
dino valenti was one of the most fascinating figures of the san francisco 60s psychedelic scene. he was the frontman of the quicksilver messenger service, and became famous with his hippie anthem get together, that has reached the usa top-ten, when played by the youngbloods. he made a solo album with columbia, and recorded a lot of other material, that he has been storing in various warehouses in the late 60s. this record comes from some of these tapes, which were recently found and delivered to valenti’s family. they are of superb sound quality, and of even greater musical value – excellent never before issued gems, as well as his own version of get together presented for the first time here on vinyl. it is unknown, who else is performing in these tapes, although sound and great acid guitar in several tracks strongly remind of early qms albums. limited, deluxe 2lp extra heavy gatefold cover, 180g vinyl… pretty great archival release here.
if string theory is correct, this is approximately the thirteenth album matt valentine has released that definitely shouldnt be filed
under a group name (tower recordings, bummer road, golden road, etc.). on the other hand, if string theory is correct, this might also be his 11,000th album. the truth, one suspects, is somewhere in between. since bedding down in southern vermont at the dawn of the century, mv has been as cussedly prolific as anyone. the gout of lps, cassettes, cdrs, singles and 10-inches emerging from maximum arousal farm has dwarfed the output of everyone cept maybe sunburned or thurston. regardless, there can never be enough mv lps in the world, and what i became is a beaut. most of it is as solo as satan, apart from
percussionist jeremy earl (of woods fame), whose presence is sometimes felt more than heard. erika ee elder and mike muskox smith also pop up on a track, but the general approach here is as naked-and-loaded as the soul of icepick slim. as usual, mvs tunes and procedures beggar easy generification. elements of deep forest psychedelia brush against crazy horse guitar / vocal flourishes that explode to reveal volk-based form mayhem at its hickiest. my particular fave here is pk dick,
a paean to nth dimensional logic in the form of a swedish psych-folk readymade. my son prefers the haunted-harvest-vibe (his words) of ave. b. my wife goes for the seventh sons approach offered by sweet little indian girl (always a fave with the ladies). and my daughter nods in the direction of continuing the good life for reasons she will not explain. i suspect its the hooty vocals, reminding her of teen pop giants like the shins and of montreal, but she aint sayin. all this just goes to show that what i became is a fun album for the whole family. it will soothe your savage breasts. it will turn your evil mother-in-law into a porpoise. it will wash yr dishes and darn yr socks. darn them! motherfucker, who else would do that? nobody, jack. cept mv. this guy has the magic touch. and it has never been displayed better than here. just get the fucking rec. or prepare to go sockless. kind of a no-brainer, eh? -byron coley… really sweet one. recommended!
swirling drones smothered in pure electric guitar anthems from two jon’s, one being jon of the hunter gracchus / singing knives, and the other being jon from serfs. this is their debut release and is a real beauty, psyched out blues for a dark back room in hut out in the woods. limited 100 hand numbered copies.
minneapolis’ vampire hands are a rather difficult-to-pigeonhole lot, one with so many disparately abundant ideas bubbling out of their collective skulls that they barely keep pace with them. citing influences as diverse as exuma, can, neil young and simply saucer, vampire hand’s sound might (lazily) be described as marc bolan meets mayo thompson in neil haggerty’s cannabistro. fuzzy, distorted guitars meet tribal, pulsating rhythms. an eerily affecting falsetto melds with a lower, drier voice to create delightfully off-kilter harmonies. get this now before this band assuredly ascends the hype-ladder… super limited tour release in a very cool multi-layer screen printed envelope cover. nice.
total can-style audacity from brooklyn drone stew edward goreyean broken house sufic wanderers the vanishing voice. the vanishing voice head down from the mountain for another dip in a lake of elephant seals. a misty warbling leads down a twisted path where molten earth and crust collide. the beginning of the end of the beginning. stone tab is a trip to be sure. mother mark ospovat cracks the whip of dogsled imandi while snarling bad dog pete nolan kept a forward propulsion on skins and molten guitar spew. mad man steve j taveniere of local faves meneguar lent a cool head and a popular sensibility to the proceedings with skills on the acoustic axe to be sure. non horse crane, magnetic wizard and dj, let loose his usual bag of hidden charms and h. “reality” diehl, with a voice said to make many a grown man cry, a magik trash harp and the mind o the other, kept us all in the ethereal realm. don’t worry though, this strange brew rocks out for real and you can be sure it was recorded in the highest fidelity known to man. lp features a bonus track and different mixes than on the cd, and is limited to 500 copies… another killer one from the vanishing voice!!! great heavy screen printed cover. recommended!
next release from vv without ww and ss.. grooving psych jam.. much harsher and rougher as the two last cdrs and the lp. comes with a gold silkscreend cover. limited to 200 copies… lovely little package & more great sounds. recommended.
vapaa, the pawnpins of tampere, finland, turn in absolutely expansive and enchanting live set that will soak through your skin like poison. recorded during the first signs of spring in april 2006 in vaasa, on this session the trio are joined by the kingpin himself, keijo virtanen. a massive squall of hypnotic, organic tones flow underneath keijo’s trademark guitar. it is a spaced-out amalgamation of drones, blues, and free jazz, with no epicenter in sight. the build-up is slow, but the payoff from this freakshow is bliss. 100 copies.
originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of cut hands waaay back in januscary but since it’s never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn’t worth the goddamning wait. jason rohm paints a grim picture that’s both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. the tale of a desperate soul in a world that’s tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in english and awkward dutch. the compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack. tunes by andrew coltrane, sick llama, warmth, droughter, bottom feeder, raperies (like draperies), ex-cocaine, robedoor and josh lay. 125 copies made, limited availibility, so act fassssssst.
ab-1 is a lp with individually hand painted covers feat. great earthquake, humansixbillion, patinka cha cha and the thimble orchestra, low rise estate, fulton girls club, extreme wheeze, popolice, touch typist, guns for saint sebastion, seagull, johnny saw horses, and oscar’s psuche. live in a bedroom. here’s a review from terrascope… finally from me, one of the most terrascopic items i have received, a self released compilation lp documenting a collection of underground musician working out of melbourne. recorded in one night at a gig in a bedroom, the whole thing was captured live on one microphone into a computer. featuring twelve bands, the music ranges from melodic instrumentals through lo-fi songs in unique styles, and carries on into heavier territory and fuzzed up mayhem. the remarkable thing about this endeavour however is that it is so damn listenable, the recording is excellent considering the circumstances and every piece of music has a spark of something that hold your attention. it seems churlish to pick out individuals so i wont, just to say, this must have been a magical night and the atmosphere has been perfectly captured on this record so go and buy one. oh yes, even the cover is a home made treat fitting the mood with perfection. – simon lewis… pretty great comp with real nice covers.
great out of print early comp. a nice peak into prime era finnish underground, and beyond! featuring: LÖRSSON, AVARUS, PLAT YPUS, GREY PARK, RAKENNUSTUHKAA, PYLON, KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT, BUNSENLAMPPU, BRASPYREET, KUKKIVA POLIISI (pre KUUPUU), DI MAISSINTÄHKÄ, FUTURIANS, TIVOL, THE BURIED CIVILIZATIONS, KULKIJA, RAUHAN ORKESTERI, PEKKO KÄPPI, AÏR, KEIJO, THE FRANCISCAN HOBBIES, SONIC TEMPLE ASSASSINS, AGNOSIA, LAMPPUKELLO, O SAMULI A, CAN CAN HEADS, VAPAA, UTON, CLAY FIGURE… released 7.6.2004. a 267 lattajjaa compilation featuring some old tracks, some remixes, some new versions and mostly new tracks, includes a coloured insert.
piaptk is starting a new series. 4 geographically centralized artists that are good friends on one lp. the inaugural issue is this split between karl blau, gift machine, graves, and nate ashley. comes in a hand-screened jacket (from an amazing pen and ink drawing by nate ashley) and on colored vinyl. 50 copies on swampy green marble, 75 copies on purple, and 375 copies on grey marble.
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, george mitchell recorded extensively in the south. mitchell concentrated mainly on local blues traditions recording some famous bluesmen and many otherwise ignored artists. the george mitchell collection was originally released as a series of forty-five eps on fat possum, this lp contains our favorite fourteen tracks. this lp represents songs from many well known blues musicians such as fred mcdowell, furry lewis and joe calicott as well as some from criminally under represented artists like jessie mae hemphill, rosa lee hill and john lee ziegler. comes with a short booklet of photos, discographical notes and recollections.
recordings made between 1918-1955 compiled by ian nagoski. a compilation of 24 recordings from the first half of the 20th century of music from syria, bali, scotland, thailand, ukraine, china, cameroon, india, turkey, germany, spain, vietnam, yugoslavia, japan, poland, greece, java, portugal, laos, sweden and burma, all newly transferred and mastered from 78 rpm discs, at least 18 of which have never been issued before on cd (all but one never having been previously reissued in the u.s.). influenced by pete whelans origin jazz library, pat contes secret museum of mankind, harry smiths anthology of american folk music, henry cowells music of the worlds people, alan bishop and hisham mayets sublime frequencies label, lance ledbetters goodbye, babylon, michael snows the last lp and much more. sounds like zamr, naa phaat piphat, gong kebyar, northumbrian piping, periya melam, rhumba, carpathian weddings, rulin opera, uilleann piping, bollywood, dan bau, handel, rembetika, gusle, tembang sunds, flamenco, fado, prayer, djanger, kabuki and yien pwe.
mismatched cover/wax here, please take note! cover is orig 1963 vol. 1, wax is 1972 ‘broadside reunion – vol. 6’… cover is rough anyway, with splits, stickers, stamps, so you’re buying this for the wax which includes 4 rare BLIND BOY GRUNT (aka BOB DYLAN) tracks. VG-/EX.
the brief, such as it was, for this double 8″ lathe-cut set was that each artist should submit a track of “vocal exploration.” the artists were free to interpret this however they wished. it was not a condition that tracks should necessarily be a capella. jessica rylan (aka can’t) provides a “cover version” of part of junko’s “sleeping beauty” with heavily processed voice and homemade modular synthesizer. double leopard’s marcia bassett pushes the tolerances of the lathe-cut to breaking (up) point with the intensely distorted vocal loops of “winter lips”. carly ptak’s “activity: brief fugue” offers perhaps the most unexpected interpretation of the brief, being the documentation of a talk the artist gave during a workshop dedicated to creative realisation. finally, on “loch awe”, heather leigh assaults a massively reverberant drum set, all the while wailing like some supernatural creature of scottish legend. stunning cover art by karen constance… nice color covers, individual labels by each artist. mega limited.
cover artwork made by roope eronen from avarus, little drawings inside by jani hirvonen , adam forkner and jonna karanka. featuring: aan, valerio cosi, peter wright, black forest/black sea, ravi padmanabha & leathan hardy, the mighty acts of god, kuupuu, expo 70, ghost brames of le cerf magickal, aaron martin, alligator crystal moth & taiga remains, white rainbow, enfer boreal, oroubos.
for centuries, the jemaa el fna (rendezvous of the dead) has remained the stage for one of the most spectacular social forums on the planet. by day, this central square in the city of marrakesh, one of morocco’s great imperial cities, fosters a kaleidoscope of entertainment for its local inhabitants; storytellers, acrobats, magicians and snake charmers all create intriguing displays of bewitching spectacle. as the sun sets, the evening grows frantic with the pulse of the crowd; it is then that the night musicians set up. free from the restrictions and expectations of light entertainment for a tourist crowd, these musicians manifest ecstatic performances that animate the audience and players alike. the groups represented on this album; troupe majidi, amal saha, and mustapha mahjoub, are working and carrying the torch of their musical heroes nightly in the square. these songs come from the repertoire of morocco’s greatest musical exports: nass el ghiwane, lemchaheb, jil jilala, larssad and many others from the chaabi (moroccan popular music) canon and are given a raw, emotional and fiery interpretation. instruments are powered by car batteries and blown out through megaphone speakers. these recordings represent a rare opportunity to hear this music at such close proximity taking in all the power and passion of the performances. the raw fidelity captures an unflinching immersion of what is simply some of the greatest street music on earth. recorded by hisham mayet in 2005, a few of these performances were featured in his film musical brotherhoods from the trans-saharan highway (sublime frequencies dvd sf041). this collection also contains tracks not present in the film for a more potent snapshot of the ecstatic jemaa el fna. limited edition lp comes in a beautiful full color gatefold jacket with photos of the musicians and liner notes by hisham mayet… limited edition, already out of print. nice one.
over a three year period in the late 1990s, charlie brooks embarked on two long field recording trips in madagasikara. brooks primarily concentrated on the more remote north and west regions of the island. upon his return in 1999 he pressed 200 copies of a triple record and stored them under his bed for the last ten years. the three themed lps: vocal, valiha marovany and miscellaneous instruments were released as the now out of print mr-061 fihavanana. this single lp collection compiles seventeen tracks from fihavanana. comes with a twelve page booklet of photography and notes.
limited edition full-color gatefold lp version of the first sublime frequencies cd release from 2003. the equator runs through only ten countries on earth and i bet that you cannot name them all without consulting a map. indonesia is one of them and the only nation in asia with the equatorial stripe impaling it. there are so many different cultures spread out on this chain of islands that it would take several lifetimes to experience them all properly. within this umbrella of diversity is one of the world’s richest and most dazzling sound museums. sumatra is the northwestern entry point to the great archipelago. approximately the size of california, indonesia’s largest island has a wide variety of natural wonders: dense jungles, picturesque mountain peaks, gargantuan lakes, lowland swamps, active volcanoes, and highly frequent seismic activity. populating this gorgeous setting are orangutans, tigers, durian trees, the largest flower on earth, dozens of cultures and languages, myths and folklore, and much more music than you’ve ever been allowed to discover. the style selections on this lp include forms of droning beat pop, early orkes melayu songs, batak tapanuli, traditional minang music, and folk drama soundtracks heard by only a handful of outsiders. the recordings are from old cassette tapes; decaying documents of various sound qualities containing some of the most eccentric artifacts ever uncovered from this fascinating island. assembled and compiled by alan bishop (sun city girls) in july of 1989… great to see this one vinyl!
with the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach used for deep funk (the funky 16 corners, cold heat), now-again records and its owner, stones throw records producer egon tackles global psychedelia with forge your own chains. “those of us birthed into record collecting by the hip hop midwife revered jimi hendrix as well as james brown. we searched for albums by mulatu astatke and power of zeus with the same fervor,” egon writes in his introduction to the comp. forge your own chains showcases music from all corners of the world: colombia, nigeria, sweden, south korea, thailand and iran. the focus – in keeping with now-again’s tradition – is on melody, driving rhythms and accessibility. not one song is included on this compilation because it is from a ‘rare’ album. certainly, many of these songs do spring from albums that exchange hands for many thousands of dollars and many of these songs have never seen reissue. but these songs are all beautiful in their own right and work to form a coherent album. psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors, are giving up new ghosts in the hands of egon and those of his generation. and, with comps like forge your own chains, they are inspiring new investigations into our not so distant (and still very much alive) musical past. american gospel, paranoic soul, loner folk, east-nigerian fuzz, thai rock, iranian ballads, and more. deluxe gatefold jacket contains extensive and detailed liner notes, rare photos, and other ephemera.
gloriously bent compilation of tape manpulation/loop madness/whatever with john wiese, ashtray navigations, justin meyers, ones, smack music 7, julian bradley, luke younger, green mist, neil campbell, aaron dilloway, shakeeb abu hamdan, dylan nyoukis, skaters, sisprum vish & gas shepherds.
getting rid of the glue is a curatorial project by pendu gallery and is available through pendu sound recordings. it is a tribute to the continuing positive influence of john cage on free /improv /creative /& noise music. getting rid of the glue is a phrase first used by henry cowell before introducing the music of christian wolff, earl brown, morton feldman, and john cage at a new school concert in 1950s. john cage in his influential lecture entitled “history of experimental music in the united states& #148; recounts the remarks of henry cowell. “that here were – composers getting rid of glue. that is: where people had felt the necessity to stick sounds together to make a continuity, we – felt the opposite necessity to get rid of the glue so that sounds would beam themselves.” – john cage. this will be the first in a series of “getting rid of the glue” themed lps dedicated to improv / experimental / & noise music. limited to 300 lps so they won’t last long. includes a 11×17 xerox poster with art contributed by each of the bands – heres the track list: 1. dirty churches – eat birth 2. spin-17 – fin fang foom 3. k.p. – birds fucking outside my window 4. big a little a – yves st. sean 5. fessenden – pt. iii/ii 6. eager meek – to accidental crashes and long naps 7. mialessot + daniel carter + old ghost – hemorrhage 8. maria chavez – untitled (live @ spoken word, 04/06) 9. talibam – talibam eat a sound soup 10. excepter – sonja.
fourth installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from blue ridge instrumentalist wade ward performing alongside an eighty-one year old charlie higgins, sought-after mississippi church singers james short and viola james, more from fred mcdowell (“woke up this morning”), a locally composed religious piece written from words spoken by mountain view, arkansas resident joseph looney while on his deathbed, hillsville, virginia’s the mountain ramblers, spiritual singers from the georgia sea island of st. simons and banjo master hobart smith’s “banging breakdown.”… heavy cover with extensive notes.
third installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from fred mcdowell, carlos “bookmiller” shannon’s rendition of “the eighth of january” (another variation of which — “the battle of new orleans” — was a billboard charting hit by johnny horton in 1959), a medley of classic african american spirituals by virginia’s union choir of the church of god and saints of christ, lined hymns from kentucky’s george spangler and a baptist church congregation, ozark balladeer neal morris, work songs from mississippi state penitentiary, a previously unissued version of “moses was a servant of the lord” performed by charles barnett (vocal and washtub) and arkansas’ almeda “granny” riddle performing “rainbow mid life’s willows,” based on a british broadsheet originally published in 1631… heavy cover with extensive notes.
fifth installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from north carolina’s mountaineers, migratory labor songs from fishermen the bright light quartet, a stark religious meditation on the end of days from virginia service station owner e.c. ball, bessie jones (later a touring performer) singing the spiritual “daniel in the lion’s den,” an evening worship service at a pentecostal temple in memphis, emma hammond’s dance tune “shout lula,” an excerpt from alabama religious radio testimony and music performed on caned panpipes (or quills) at a country picnic in senatobia, mississippi… heavy cover with extensive notes.
pretty darn sweet all maine drone/noise/psych/weird comp. featuring exclusive tracks from : aphelion shelter, bird microphone, id m theft able, crank sturgeon, pine tree state mind control, rattle of polar bear teeth, cursillistas, drona parva, visitations, bad bus (members of cursillistas, crank sturgeon, elephant micah, etc.), and nancy scott. dvd style packaging will wild full color art from crank sturgeon plus a screen printed and hand embellished fold out art paper insert. limited to 100 copies. nice!
features: BLACK TO COMM, KEIJO AND JUSSI KARSIKAS, BJERGA / IVERSEN, AJILVSGA, ANLA COURTIS, VLUBÄ, VILLE MOSKIITTO, SILVESTER ANFANG, KULKIJA, ENE KITA, UTON, BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD, VOICE OF THE SEVEN WOODS, EMERALD CLOUD COBRA, INFINITE ARTICLE, DECEMBER, UNITED BIBLE STUDIES, LOACHFILLET, GREIPPI… new compilation of the psychedelic underground, released 26.7.2006, features an insert. limited edition of 100 copies on black cdrs.
a collection of exclusive cuts from the great pop supplement series. tunng kick the ep off with a tune recorded during the sessions for the bands’ new full length, a typically astute blend of folky, glitchy electronica. next up come the woodcraft folk who offer up “them there eyes.” the laughing windows follow with a fabulous blend of film samples, loops, electronics woven around a folk base. shady bard check in with a fine intro to their sound on “what’s behind the door?” ending the ep is a mighty collaboration between adam leonard and p.g. six with a tune that starts as gently strummed blues before heading into an almost syd-era floyd psych nugget. a wonderful ep available on vinyl only, pressed in an edition of 1,000 copies… nice fake vintage 78 covers with paste-on art.
another new compilation of the psychedelic underground featuring : robert horton, the grand hotel, particles collect, ben reynolds and alex neilson, vapaa, grey park, o samuli a, hans grüsel’s krankenkabinet, pefkin, hannu karjalainen, felipe+forte, pumice, leafy green, seán óg, western automatic, rameses iii, and zelienople. limited edition of 100 copies on black cdrs.
insane compilation featuring: lörsson, ! & the hysterians, mixer, musti laiton, robert horton, vihreä tee, melkoinen, henen lähettipalvelu, kiva, klaus herde, lamppukello, twisted krister, sierainparisto, human neutron missile squad, tor tor tor, toni laakso, matti ja seppo, rene kita, tamminiemen pesänjakajat, panssarijuna, toni kandelin, and unidentified sound objects – versions or tracks inspired by j.o. mallander’s legendary tracks”1962″ and”1968″ which are based on the counting of the votes in finnish president election. the winner was urho kaleva kekkonen, who was the president of finland for 25 years. hand-painted sleeves, limited edition of 120 copies, the ultimate party album!
the official compilation that includes all the artists performing at the second annual lal lal lal festival. 60 minutes of deep, uncensored and unreleased sounds by sus & jacob, kiiskinen, lussu & pami, benjamin franklin, good band, buffle, kompleksi and avarus! the tape comes packed in four different kind of found photograph covers (four eyes lady, drinking in the mirror, babysitting and loch wheel chair).
three performances from summer 2009. features sets by ex-chapel hill residents maddie and america reads, as well as a performance by ghost hand. edition of 15 in hand decorated jewel cases.
compilation focusing on mellow dramatic music from around the world. everything from calypso to flamenco to thai ballads to indonesian instrumentals to american country to hawaiian music. designed as a sort of sequel to our i don’t feel at home in this world anymore compilation. cover art by chris johaanson… heavyweight folkways style sleeve with paste-on art.
ultra minimalist comp (both in packaging and sound) featuring : stilluppsteypa, ryoji ikeda, cm von hausswolff, sukora, rehberg & bauer, ultrasound, taku sugimoto, john hudak, jim o rourke, tamaru, m. behrens & loren mazzacane connors. some very lovely tracks. out of print.
the second compilation compiled and conceived by london-based illustrator jake blanchard continues on its strength of eclectic audio vibes paired with visual glory by an array of excellent artists. eight artists were given a track and their finished artwork is based around their assigned track. with the previous cd release of menagerie #1, there was only 100 copies available with the zine. but with this new issue, every single copy comes with a super-slick, pro-printed, full-colour zine of artwork from: jake blanchard, pete fowler, will sweeney, andrew rae, sarah king, solange gularte, james trimmer/mirt, and mat pringle. this time the audio is appearing on vinyl only, with exclusive tracks from: MOON DUO, NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS, WAND (AKA WOODEN WAND), THE SEE SEE, SEADOG, JOANNE ROBERTSON & MATTHEW ASHWORTH, MARRIED IN BERDICHEV, and AKRON/FAMILY. the pro-printed sleeve features artwork by jake blanchard. heavyweight vinyl, with full colour labels. edition of 500. joint release between blackest rainbow, and jake’s new tor press label for zines and music… nice comp already sold out from the label.
jake blanchard’s third volume of menagerie finally shows up just over a year after #2… the concept this time is slightly different, not only do the artists create imagery based on the musicians music, but this time the musicians also create a track based on an image created by the artist. two exclusive new tracks from each of these artists: BEN NASH, ISENGRIND, C JOYNES and TWINSISTERMOON. and exclusive new artwork by jim stoten, simon fowler, adrianne neal and jake blanchard. the sleeve is a collaboration between jake and jim and it is incredible! the lp is pressed on heavyweight black virgin vinyl, packaged with a a5 12 page litho printed full colour booklet. limited to 500 copies… pretty great.
almost two years in the making, “molten strings, train wrecks and birdsong” is an expansive compilation loosely centered around sound made by stringed instruments. strings are the primary sources of sound on all of these recordings, and the majority of the works are generated solely from them. the record offers a wealth of different approaches to these instruments. from the scathing, feedback blasts yielded by fred lonberg-holm’s cello and mini-amplifiers, to the dexterous blur of c. spencer yeh’s violin fretwork, from the pastoral vistas of peter wright’s danelectro 12 string, to the billowy dirges of birchville cat motel, zaimph, family underground, and taiga remains lending the record even further diversity are joyous bouzouki renderings from the north sea, and damaged, eerie and beautiful contributions from robert horton and brothers of the occult sisterhood. presented together, the record is cohesive in the same way that the best compilations are, flowing effortlessly from track to track and, in the process, demonstrating the diversity and immense capability of all things stringed. limited to 1000 copies.
first ever nnf vinyl compilation (more in the future hopefully?) finds the spotlight landing fairly on the fairer sex, and the glare is glorious. 11 diverse femme musical energies corralled across 12 inches of black vinyl, all exclusive contributions, and the breadth of zones and interzones traversed is a beautiful thing to hear. carry on my wayward non-sons. lps in jackets with artwork by pocahaunted bassist/scholar diva dompe, plus a full-color double-sided insert. edition of 500. this year’s estrogeneration includes: zola jesus – tickley feather – pocahaunted (vintage unused track from gold miner’s daughters sessions) – inca ore – topaz rags – hny – talk normal – islaja (featuring samara lubelski and blevin blectum) – l.a. vampires – u.s. girls – valet.
early in 2000, three lobed recordings was born out of the notion that there needed to be a 10” ep included within bardo pond’s discography. late in 2009, with the label’s looming tenth anniversary on the horizon, the label decided that it was time to take the curatorial enjoyment that resulted in its three multi-disc subscription cd series (purposeful availment, modern containment and oscillation iii) and transfer that spirit over to the vinyl format. rather than do this as a series, three lobed decided it would be a lot more fun, efficient, and economical to put the project out as a one-shot box set. from that notion came the dream-team lineup of artists who were also interested in helping assemble this project – sonic youth, sun city girls, bardo pond, comets on fire, eternal tapestry, steve gunn, mouthus, d. charles speer & the helix and wooden wand. think back to the wonder the first time you were sucked into the epic sprawl of such seminal collections as harmony of the spheres and by the fruits you shall know the roots. it’s been several years since one of these time capsules has been created to document the various phases, shapes and sizes of the modern underground psychedelic scene – this box is intended to help fill that void. much like how various label predecessors have shaped their epic compilations into lovingly assembled and presented artifacts, the three lobed vision of not the spaces you know, but between them is bold and brash. three lobed wants this set to both stand as the single coolest title within the label’s catalog and to also be a device to help introduce some new listeners to the various ways psychedelic music is presented in 2011. each artist’s contribution to this set stands alongside the best that artist has previously placed within their respective discographies, almost as if each artist is trying to set the bar even higher for their fellow contributors to the set. this set pretty much has it all – from newly composed and well honed tracks (like steve gunn’s contribution, “the lurker extended”), historically important recordings (the entire sun city girls side presents a glimpse of the band’s final show in the united states) all the way to how- the-hell-has-this-been-hidden-from-the-world-for-so-long gems (such as sonic youth’s “out & in” which was recorded in 2000 with jim o’rourke). sticking with the collection’s title, three lobed is rather confident that the musical threads that run through all of these contributions are strong and natural – folks who are interested in one or two of the contributors should be enthralled by the work from the other artists that surrounds those tracks.” ”befitting of such an intense musical collection, not the spaces you know, but between them will be a pretty lush package. the whole thing will start with a plush, heavy stoughton lid box which will be filled with: (1) four vinyl albums pressed on 140gram dutch vinyl; (2) four different printed inner sleeves each bearing different artwork; (3) a big foldover insert with an extensive liner note essay from marc masters (the wire, pitchfork); (4) audio mastering by patrick klem (with scott colburn having mastered the sun city girls side) and (5) a download card for mp3s of the set. all aspects of the entire set will feature swanky custom artwork by three lobed’s old friend, the super-talented casey burns. only 700 copies of this set will be made available for sale to the public… the few copies all include the very limited hush arbors / key demo split 7inch and mystery artist bonus cd. also includes download version of the entire 4 lps. yowzer. already out of print.
four french and swiss artists dish up solo drone offerings – tamagawa: minimalism musik between earth and lamonte young. oldine: ambient pop between spacemen 3 et brian eno. shit: solo project of vomit for breakfast singer, noise ambiant between merzbow and bastard noise b¬°tong: solo project of cult swiss band mercury 4¬°f, electronica noise between throbbing gristle and lustmord – transparent blue vinyl and hand painted cardboard covers. extremely limited. 200 copies?
spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, stuart ellis of radiodiffusion international has compiled a mind-blowing set of pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. it’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: the panthers, the mods, the bugs, the blue birds, the abstracts, the aay jays, the fore thoughts, nisar bazmi, and sohail rana. situated between afghanistan, india and iran, the collision of cultural influences in pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet. by the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing american and british pop covers became popular in karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties. long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across pakistan. soon, hippies from both north america and europe began flocking to karachi, lahore and peshawar. very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record. like their neighbors in india, the pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music, which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar. pakistan’s musical revolution ended in june 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure islamic state governed by sharia law. this marked the end of the “swinging ’70s” in pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. after the clamp-down, many pakistani musicians left the country and moved to america, canada and england. the audio quality here is top-notch, sourced straight from the original emi pakistan masters. this limited 2lp set is housed in a heavy-duty full-color gatefold jacket with superb photos of the musicians and extended liner notes by compiler stuart ellis.
a very special 3cd set of some of the best new music being made off the grid and under the radar by artists from and/or living in wales. 4 hours of challenging music spread over 3 discs, with 32 page booklet, housed in a custom foil-embossed box. limited edition of 1000. welcome to brave new wales, a personal selection of the best new music being made under the radar and off the grid by musicians from and/or living in the land of song. despite many areas of welsh music being celebrated and well documented, little publicity has so far been given to the more experimental or challenging avenues being pursued by the rule breakers, or perhaps more interestingly, those blissfully unaware of the rules in the first place. theres great variety here: from the murky baritone guitar smears of chuch to the environmental recordings of eirwyn llwyd roberts; from the brick-in-the-face noise of stereo minus one, rose heyworth and edwin pang to the strange beauty of angharad and rhodri davies violin and harp improvisations. we make no attempt to search for welshness within the music, or to investigate parallels between land and sound – our intention is more simple: to showcase music that you are unlikely to have heard before; to give recognition to the creative souls tucked away in bedrooms and studios (and forests) up and down the land making music primarily for their own pleasure, and to show that in this tiny and bewitching country of only 3 million people, theres much to celebrate. we hope you enjoy listening as much as the contributors enjoyed making. and if you like what you hear, spend some time seeking out more. this is a far from comprehensive survey; there are likely volumes more material as yet undiscovered. finally, if you’re making strange and wonderful music, feel you should have been included but weren’t, get in touch. there’s always volume 2… lovely collection, beautifully packaged. all copies here include the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
featuring one full 3inch disc each from : BIG BLOOD, VALERIO COSI, GREGG KOWALSKY, SUPER MINERALS, NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS, THE NORTH SEA, FABIO ORSI, ANDREW PAINE, PILLARS OF HEAVEN, and THROUROOF… 8 hand stamped 3″ cdrs all housed their own jewel case. each cd has its own cover which was designed by an artist from philadelphia. all cds come in a custom cut, full color printed box along with a full color zine with additional art and info. edition of 200. visual artists: kris chau, mike bukowski, melissa farley, josh robison, chris lawrence, zoe soslow, james ulmer, kathryn moran, and sienna freeman… really sweet little release here! instantly out of print so act fast.
limited edition full-color gatefold lp version of the sublime frequencies cd release from 2004. original description from 2004: how do they do it? are they smarter? are they better? how can it be ignored or denied? how is it possible that one of the most unique, perfectly composed and performed, intense and awe-inspiring musical legacies the world has ever known is looming north of the equator physically tucked between world cultural giants india, china, and thailand, without more than a whisper from ethnomusicologists or those who define themselves as “purveyors of world music?” not only are the roots of this music unique, but so are the results after incorporating outside instrumentation from modern colonial and (unavoidable) international influence. what the burmese have done with a piano is so precise in the adaptation to their existing form and melody that one would think they invented it. burmese music has a very distinct sound and whatever instrument is assimilated into its core only seems to magnify the original intent without depending upon outside ideas relating to each component utilized. this collection will immediately bring you up to speed to what you have been missing all along. the time is now to put the real music of myanmar on the map once and for all. here are some of the greatest names from the past 50 years of burmese musical history from the original recordings featuring mar mar aye, bo sein, and the incomparable tonte theintan. listen, and be amazed! compiled by alan bishop (sun city girls) in 1993 and originally released on majora records (lp/1994)… great to see this one vinyl!
rec. live @ dynamo klubi on march 11, 2006 by mikko lagernohm side a: RAKHIM with HANS-JOACHIM IRMLER. side b: LAUHKEAT LAMPAAT with LAU NAU and KUUPUU… two unique sides: on side a you’d hear a rare meeting among rakhim (circle’s more dark side project) and hans-joachim irmler from legendary faust! while on side b, a two male / two female playful affair (qbico’s idea) among brothers tolvi (rahun orkesteri) and antti tolvi’s wife lau nau with kuupuu. true unite spirit and perfect balance between both sides with opposite moods… 200gm clear blue vinyl. quite limited.
the long-awaited foray into the vietnamese rock, pop and soul sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s is finally here. saigon rock & soul delivers the goods international retro collectors have been searching for in vain for many years — and it delivers beyond belief. every song is a mini-masterpiece, be it heavy acid-rock psychedelia, horn- and guitar-drenched funk grooves, or gripping soul ballads reflective of life during wartime. the tracks that form this collection cut a window into a rich musical vietnamese music scene that has long been obscured, and for the most part, forgotten. as the scope of electrified vietnamese music from the 1960s and 1970s begins to be revealed, it becomes evident that this was among the heaviest and most eclectic musical scenes of southeast asia at the time. these songs tell of war, love and what war does to love. all of them were recorded in makeshift studios and even u.s. army facilities while the vietnam war raged — and were issued by a handful of saigon record companies on vinyl 45s and reel or cassette tapes. westernized forms of music in vietnam had appeared during the latter 19th century, and especially during the early 20th century, under the influence of the french colonizers. tan nhac (trans. “modern music”) always incorporated both domestic and international sounds, and continued to develop alongside western musical trends. during the 1960s and 1970s, pulp ballads were being recorded by leading crooners of the time who alternated between modern and traditional forms of regional music. when the electric guitar hit the streets of saigon, vietnamese renditions of contemporary instrumental trends such as surf-rock, beat and twist soon emerged, followed by some pretty deep soul sounds inspired by motown radio hits as well as funk grooves brought on by james brown and his contemporaries. by the mid-1960s, vietnam had been ravaged by war for years. american g.i.s had become a standard fixture in saigon, as did many of the cultural artifacts they brought with them. this certainly included the music. the sounds of rock and roll dominated the radio waves, and saigon nightclubs were teeming with new sounds. musically, the shadows and the ventures soon gave way to the beatles and the rolling stones as an enthusiastic set of young vietnamese rockers signed on to the lifestyle, always eager to hear the latest musical trends the g.i.s would bring in on lp or tape. this era saw the birth of a vibrant rock scene, yet rock music and anything that came close was commonly referred to as “soul” in the vietnamese genre-listings. like many cultures in asia, vietnamese music is recorded, marketed, listened to and disposed of in a relatively quick manner. this level of advanced ephemera ensures a degree of difficulty when trying to unearth and discover cultural histories. literally, most of the music heard here has been brought back from the dead. artists featured include some of vietnam’s most popular at the time: elvis phuong, hung cuong, mai lei huyen, le thu, thai thanh, giao linh, mai lei huyen and the cbc band. this limited edition 2lp vinyl release features 70 minutes of classic original recordings compiled by mark gergis housed in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes.
pretty sweet uk drone/psych/experimental heavies comp on this new label. features exclusive tracks from: tirath singh nirmala – singing at the moon, one ensemble of daniel padden – low clowns, peril hill – vapours in august, chora – live from the inky gazelle gland, bridget hayden – untitled, nalle – are you beautiful inside? are you here?, feather gatherers – leaves, big eyes family players – alenky, michael flower band – santa flauta, tau emerald – the piano key, inecto school – mullard’s third madrigal, james green – ribbon, ben reynolds – golden arm, directing hand – down in yon forest, mcwatt – untitled – full color fold out covers as well.
textile is proud to offer the last copies of this year sonic protest festival double cd sampler including unreleased material or unreleased on cd tracks from no neck blues band, trencher, tetuzi akiyama, hive mind, jazzkamer, carlos giffoni, yellow swans, quintet avant, justice yeldham, astral social club, harry merry, brotzman / pliakas / wertmueller, and more… this 27 tracks double cd compilation is packaged in a beautiful silkscreened 7inch sleeve. illustration by marie caillou based on the textile rds vinyl serie sleeves characters. this year was the last ever edition of the sonic protest festival and was dedicated to the memory of benoit sonnette textile rds and sonic protest founder who passed away earlier this year. may he rest in peace.
totally obscure new compilation on a totally obscure (non)label or something, we think – as far as we can tell this features about 30 different bands, whose members seem to overlap quite a bit – but as the liner notes seem to barely grasp the reality of the lp, its pretty hard to say just what’s going on here – we do know that there’s some elephant micah action on here, as well as some sounds from the great kitchen typists, plus lots of other lo-fi, basement loving, entertaining, and plain old head-scratichingly strange bits – all packaged in some totally hand made, collaged, recycled, spraypainted covers, and extremely limited.
expand your experience of space-time with the aid of five continuum-dilating long-form droneworks, contributed by my cat is an alien, taurpis tula, jim haynes, the skaters, and number none. released june 2005.
“people were saying that southern folk song was dead, that the land that had produced american jazz, the blues, the spirituals, the mountain ballads and the work songs had gone sterile.” — alan lomax, 1960.
“in 1959 and 1960, at the height of the folk revival, alan lomax undertook the first-ever stereo field recording trip through the american south to document its still thriving vernacular musical culture. he traveled through virginia, kentucky, tennessee, alabama, mississippi, arkansas, georgia, and north carolina, making over 70 hours of recordings. the trip came to be known as lomax’s ‘southern journey,’ and its recordings were first issued for the atlantic and prestige labels in the early ’60s. those, however, as well as subsequent releases on new world and rounder records, are now all out of print. to remedy this, and to celebrate the southern journey’s 50th anniversary, mississippi records and the alan lomax collection have collaborated on five commemorative lps, spanning the breadth of lomax’s ’59-60 southern recordings, drawing on new transfers of the original 1/4″ tapes, and featuring a considerable amount of previously unreleased material. the five lp volumes feature singing siblings hobart smith and texas gladden from saltville, virginia; menhaden fishermen’s chorus the bright light quartet; the young brothers’ mississippi hill country fife and drum band; blue ridge instrumentalists wade ward and charlie higgins; bessie jones and the georgia sea island singers; work songs and hollers from parchman farm; congregational hymns from african american and white appalachian meeting-houses; alabama’s singing washerwoman vera ward hall; the 1959 united sacred harp convention; and the debut recordings of bluesman fred mcdowell, among much else. each volume is being sold separately with its own distinctive packaging. all come with a 12-page booklet featuring many never before published photos. old school tip on sleeves & beautiful sound. not to be missed!
beautiful vinyl edition (limited to 300) of the seminal basho tribute first released on cd by important records in 2010. released in response to strong demand after being included in acoustic guitar magazine’s best albums of 2010, textura’s best of 2010 and 4 or 5 star reviews everywhere else. featuring the best guitar, folk and new psych artists around and curated by buck curran this album really benefits from the lush re-mastered for vinyl sound and 180gm pressing (vinyl mastering by patrick klem). we are all one, in the sun: a tribute to robbie basho, represents a humble tribute to this truly original and passionate american guitarist, musician and composer curated and realized by musician, producer, and acoustic guitar maker buck curran (who along with his wife shanti performs as the duo arborea). this collection of both original compositions and new interpretations of basho songs befittingly begins with german guitarist and painter steffen basho junghans, who has devoted almost 20 years to composing guitar music in the spirit of robbie basho. there is also a gorgeous composition by glenn jones, a friend of basho and another musician who has dedicated his life to proliferated music composed on the steel string guitar, and the young irish guitarist cian nugent…who represents a new generation of guitarist-composers carrying on the torch. meg baird, arborea and fern knight all represent beautiful female led vocal tributes to robbie basho compositions that feature his passionate and evocative singing. curran’s choice of female led vocal performances is a tribute honoring basho’s own profound spiritual reverence and fantastical love for women. basho’s own singing was said to have been first inspired by the beautiful and powerful voice of peruvian soprano yma sumac. the choice of involving instrumentalists rahim alhaj and helena espvall in this project was simple, in that curran feels basho would have appreciated their roots, virtuosity, and passion and in their sound he also hears a kindred spirit linking all three musicians. rahim alhaj is a grammy nominated iraqi born master of the persian oud. alhaj, a student of the great munir bashir, exhibits great technique and a pure emotional style. cellist helena espvall, a native of sweden, represents a musician with a deep connection to her instrument, a musician who conjures up mysterious and emotionally charged improvisational music from bow and cello, music that is an amalgamation of sounds and textures from her travels all over the world. this record is also dedicated to the memory of philadelphia based guitarist jack rose, who passed away too young (1971 to 2009) and who over the past decade created and recorded some of the most beautiful and powerful guitar music in the tradition pioneered by robbie basho. (excerpted from the original press release from important records)… features meg baird, helena espvall, fern knight, cian nugent, glenn jones, arborea, and basho-junghans. deluxe vinyl edition of only 300 copies.
it’s true–the sons and daughters of homestead, xpressway and first-wave drag city (et al.) are now making good music. the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s are all there, bound together by shitty tape machines, reverb and easy chord changes, but melody is back and so is the joy of jamming a perfectly mangled pop song. welcome home might hit some new kids the way human music or nuggets did back in their day. in any case, it’s one of those rare compilations you can play straight through and over again. -glenn donaldson. all tracks (excepting white fence’s “the love between”) are exclusive to this release… nice vinyl upgrade of this rad comp. features : woods / run dmt / white fence / the fresh & onlys / the mantles / skygreen leopards / alex bleeker / moon duo / city center / cause co motion / art museums / nodzzz / ducktails.
honest jon’s has prepared a series drawing on some of the earliest recordings in the emi hayes archive — recovered from more than 150,000 78s — staggering music from iraq, turkey, caucasia, lebanon, iran (including sides made in old street, london, in 1909), egypt and the belgian congo. this series opener presents the music of the west african underground of 1920s britain, recorded at hayes and released on the zonophone label (which exported nearly all the records to west africa). you can hear caribbean influences here, the promise of highlife there, but living is hard mostly disavows fusion and assimilation. and by contrast with antecedents in the history of black music in britain — minstrelsy and spirituals, for example, ragtime and jazz — these recordings are unhitched from the protocols of a white listenership. these are startling, trenchant, elemental roots — carrying troubled news home, along with signs of the new african nationalism — and an enthralling glimpse of other lives, other times. artists include: oni johnson, isaac jackson, ben simmons, harry e. quashie, douglas papafio, prince zulamkah, the west african instrumental quintet, the ga quartet, domingo justus, james tucker, john mugat, kumasi trio, james thomas, nicholas de heer, george williams aingo and james brown. 2lp version, deluxe gatefold sleeve. with large insert including mark ainley’s liner notes plus photos, etc.
second installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from blues singer sidney carter, seventy year-old norman edmonds, rosa lee (or rosalie) hill performing on fred mcdowell’s porch, two mississippi gospel groups, the united sacred harp convention in 1959 alabama, the first-ever recordings of the fife and drum music of the mississippi hill country and the bright light quartet, a group of fishermen recorded in virginia in 1960… heavy cover with extensive notes.
a limited compilation lp + 7″ of western mass. music. it was made to be released in concurrence with a week-long series of music events in the area. this comp attempted to chronicle 10+ years of music by solo artists, bands, and ex-bands from western mass. like: noise nomads, squidlaunch, chris corsano, laudable pus, sunburned hand of the man, shurt kwitters/bromp treb/chris cooper (all from fat worm of error), head of wantasquit (paul from sunburned), bill nace, red favorite, viking funeral, avocet & kurt weisman (from feathers), aaron rosenbloom, matt krefting, lil dusty (pete from magik markers), gastric lavage, jow jow, mirror/dash (kim & thurston), whyte kastles, and slander puff (dredd foole meets john shaw & tarp). all music is previously-unreleased on vinyl and most has never been released before in any format.” hand-assembled covers, with inserts, byron coley liner notes and a bonus 7″ pressed on clear vinyl.
compilation tape with 1 track each by entente cordiale, my cat is an alien, number none and secrets to the sea. yellow cassette, yellow paper fold-around cover. 40 copies – extremely limited stock.
of contemp bizarro & acoustic based ‘christmas and seasonal sounds’ by 24+ groups and individuals like: sop, ed askew, prisma, exusamwa (fat day & preggy peggy folks), dawn cook, bromp treb, pat conte (secret museum), ralph white, jack callahan, bunwinkies, flaming dragons of middle earth, defneg & tumblecat duo, big kids, cycles inside, crystaline roses, happy jawbone band, betsy nichols, bengeorge7, richie & the zip code & a bunch more! comes with a cassette with more similar soundz & a big fold-out art cover with seperate pages by jeff hartford, josh verizon, ruth garbus, john moloney,& josh burkett. 350 copies… totally bonkers concept & packaging from joshua burkett’s great mystra label.
4-way split 7” between CASTANETS, OHIOAN, GHOST TO FALCO, and DRAGGING AN OX THROUGH WATER. limited to 300 copies. hand-screened, 3 color covers. featuring artwork from brian mumford (dragging an ox), jeffery bowers (prism index magazine, “american boogie” film), and o ryne warner (ohioan). all exclusive new music. all tracks are in mono, with each song hard panned left (west) or right (east), so to hear separately, pan your stereo accordingly. also, some cross-talk is inevitable on vinyl, so personal equalization is recommended. or just listen to two songs simultaneously and freak out… beautiful looking release & cool concept too.
features: rob mullender, wooden spoon, ladywoodsman, the eidetic band, each given one side of an lp – free london, is a split double lp (heavy weight vinyl), of 4 bands/musicians currently working in london’s growing improvised folk music scene. lp one: wooden spoon is seeking to create a music free from the influence of the contemporary world, to evoke some kind of state of pastoral introspection at once joyful and sad. influenced by the takoma school of guitar players, popol vuh & folk music from around the world. rob mullender, takes the other side of this lp with some solo acoustic pieces that owe much to heroes of the english guitar in jansch, renbourn and others. mullender also spent some time wood shedding with davey graham. his music is delicate wonderings that edge towards a freer conception of folk music. lp 2: eidetic band working throughout the different musical diagrams, those both fictional and unreal (the names of folk, noise, drone, jazz etc) — traditions which inform ways of feeling and playing and showing with sounds. the eidetic band are interested in exploring each in never ending turn, in splicing them, in both respecting and devastating en route to feeling sound and its extent, deeper and deeper. the ladyswoodsman is a london based duo of luke garwood (a.k.a duke garwood) and paul may. using a variety of different instruments from guitars, clarinets to all kinds of percussion in the creation of improvisations that ignites the imagination. some of the tracks have a down home folky feel, while others could find themselves happily nestling amongst the free jazz greats of the late ’60s – nice one. packaged in a heavy fold-around cover with a nice insert. double 180gm vinyl. numbered edition of 500 copies.
this collects a bunch of mostly live tracks from 1966, in the early and most experimental days of the band. from a performance at the factory on jan. 3: “heroin,” “miss joanie lee,” “boom boom,” “green onions,” “there she goes again” (lou singing), “walk alone,” “venus in furs/cracking up,” “there she goes again” (nico singing), and 3 untitled instrumentals. from the factory on march 7: “get it on time”and “i’ll be your mirror” (lou singing). from a performance at nyc filmmakers cinematheque on feb. 6: “heroin,” “ill keep it mine,” and “european son.” from a recording made at john cales loft sometime in the winter of 66: “sheltered life” and “here she comes now.” from the east village others (a nyc underground newspaper) “electric news paper” lp recorded on aug. 6: “noise,” plus a short interview with andy warhol on wnet-tv on feb. 7. sound quality ranges from very good to very primitive. color vinyl pressing.
awesome new live bootleg lp recorded at the gymnasium, new york city, new york, april 1967. includes the never before released track ‘i’m not a young man anymore’ as well as the earliest live performance of ‘sister ray’. great rare vintage photo cover art as well. very limited. highest recommendation.
cool velvets bootleg with all the max’s kansas city live recordings that didn’t make it on to the official album. a must have for any fan hoping to catch a deeper glimps of those last couple gigs before lou reed split the band for good. very limited pressing.
the velvet underground singles 1966-69, is a seven-disc box set honoring the legendary new york combo’s 7″ vinyl output in their rare mono versions. the set features exact reproductions of velvet underground singles, two of them with their original picture sleeves. the singles are packaged in a distinctively designed box, along with rare vintage photos and new liner notes by rolling stone’s david fricke (who also penned the acclaimed notes for the historic 1995 velvets cd box set peel slowly and see). the velvet underground — whose membership included lou reed, john cale, sterling morrison, maureen tucker, doug yule and nico — introduced numerous sonic and thematic innovations that laid much of the groundwork for punk and alternative rock. although they’re now acknowledged as one of the most influential bands in rock history, during their existence the velvets barely registered on mainstream radar, and were often reviled by mainstream observers as well as hippie-era arbiters of cool. but, as fricke writes in the new set’s liner notes, ‘somewhere, in another rock & roll universe, the velvet underground are more than a legendary band. they are stars, with hit singles — the original seven-inch masterpieces inside this box.’ although they never came close to scoring a hit, the velvet underground was ideally suited to the 7″ single format. ‘the velvet underground were a great singles band,’ david fricke notes, adding that the velvets ‘invented modern rock with searing guitar distortion, throbbing improvisation and brutally realistic tales of life on the wild side. but they did it all in these classic pop songs — compact miracles of raw drive, intimate beauty and top 40 ecstasy, heard again in the original, thrilling mono single mixes.’ the seven singles included in the velvet underground singles 1966-69 comprise the four velvets singles originally released in the u.s. on the verve and mgm labels, plus an additional pair of singles that were prepared for release but never made it to the marketplace and a special radio-only promotional single. the singles feature alternate mono versions that differ in significant ways from the songs’ better-known stereo album versions. for instance, the band’s 1966 debut single ‘all tomorrow’s parties’ appears here in a special mono edit that amplifies the song’s melodic beauty and sonic tension, and a mono mix of their sophomore single ‘sunday morning’ emphasizes the song’s haunting quality. meanwhile, the mono single version of ‘white light/white heat’ exemplifies the vintage velvets’ stark, distortion-laden fury, while a mono edit of ‘what goes on’ accentuates that song’s inherent pop jangle. the velvet underground singles 1966-69 also includes two unissued singles, one with a never-released pairing of ‘white light/white heat’ backed by ‘i heard her call my name,’ and the other with ‘temptation inside your heart’ and ‘stephanie says,’ recorded in the waning days of the band’s classic reed/cale/morrison/tucker lineup and unheard by the public for nearly two decades thereafter. the set’s seventh single is a reproduction of a vintage promotional disc, a two-and-a-half minute radio spot promoting the band’s eponymous third album and featuring legendary disc jockey bill ‘rosko’ mercer, with excerpts from ‘i’m set free,’ ‘what goes on’ and ‘beginning to see the light,’ as well as a picture sleeve with an un-airbrushed variation on the album’s iconic cover art. by presenting the velvets as a singles band, the velvet underground singles 1966-69 shows, in david fricke’s words, ‘rock history the way it should have been: the velvet underground as the new york beatles, guaranteed to blow up your radio and your mind.’… essential release for any serious fan! highly recommended.
legenda is on one hand a combination and a continuum of different things, on the other something unique. listener with a sharp ear and enlightened mind should be able to locate the past points of reference for the cd. legenda is a logical continuum of the 1960s and 1970s wild electronic experiments and general recklessness of finnish underground music. legenda is a logical continuum of krautrock as bands like faust, can, neu and amon duul presented it for us legenda is a logical continuum of the multiplicity of golden era pink floyd (ummagumma/atom heart mother) and their perfection in sounds and recording techniques. legenda is a logical continuum of the work that was started back in the day by nurse with wound, throbbing gristle and such industrial music pioneers. legenda is a logical continuum of miles davis masterworks such as bitches brew and his live recordings from the same era. the music of verde is not meant for superficial listening. verde challenge their listeners instead of trying to please them legenda is the second official cd by verde, lead by electronics wizard/madman mika rintala (ex-circle, ektroverde). the first one, vuoronumero, came out in 2004. legenda is co-released by mir, zum teufel and ruma puulaaki – nice full color digipak gatefold covers.
final repress of 250 copies… every family has a freak (or 2). every deck’s got a wild card. we’ve got vibes. ante up. nnf’s loosest cannons return to the recording fray with psychic, a blown-out briar patch of basement garage fantasy masquerading as obscurist protest funk – and the band’s first vinyl statement. recorded in eagle rock on a “last legs”-style 4-track, the ep’s four songs are jacked deep in the red, with fuzz bass, wah shrapnel, vocal sloganeering, and drum racket all fighting for tape room. competition is fierce. recent live faves like “dead horses” and “night court” appear in particularly revved-up form, as do the first two vibes songs ever written, “psychic” and “prisms of fame.” all bases are covered. all soul trains are derailed. here comes the judge. black vinyl 33 rpm singles in full-color fold-over sleeves with collage artwork and lettering by cameron stallones, photographs by caitlin c. mitchell, plus a rant-y revolution scrapbook insert.
the ever-mysterious vibracathedral orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition lps. slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts mick flower and adam davenport with frequent collaborators john godbert (total) and john moloney (sunburned hand of the man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. joka baya offers up a set of shorter pieces on the a-side in a high-fidelity style that contrasts the dark, smoky sound of the rest of the tracks. the percussive grooves are overlaid with sunroof!!-like shimmer, stabbing electric leads, gentle acoustic rain, and droning organ peeking through at opportune moments. the roaring side-long epic on the flip is a droning, phasing slice of psychedelia with moloney’s drums battering the tape in between long stretches of humming stasis.
the third of three new lps from the vibracathedral orchestra. smoke song’s more gentle exposition starts with adam davenport’s santoor (a type of hammered dulcimer) leading the band into a lengthy mid-tempo groove on “smoke song,” followed on the second half of the side by the short, quiet “cholita maria.” the second side’s 17-minute “get it?” lays down the tremolo and phase in a manner reminiscent of the best spacemen 3 comedowns, taking a pulse and riding it into organ- and percussion-fueled bliss.
the second of three new lps from the vibracathedral orchestra. the secret base starts up at full throttle, straight into a raw-sounding live outing, with mick flower’s overdriven guitar occupying the same sonic space that gives his japan banjo / shaahi baaja workouts with chris corsano their urgency. the sound is dark and rough, almost xpressway-like in its claustrophobic atmosphere. the percolating krautrock stylings of “if you can’t smoke ‘em” chugs along hypnotically for over 13 minutes to close out the side. the entire b-side’s 20-plus minutes are devoted to the clanging free sound of “eyes of wood,” where gamelan-like metal percussion dominates the proceedings.
helsinki’s videotrage rise from the ashes of tivol. they are sami kettunen and mika ihanamäki, the latter half of the duo also runs the octane grammophon label. their fondness for ’70s synth-prog shines through here in most delightful ways, whilst sounding fresh and alive. there’s a finnish spoken word part, which may well be the lecture of the title. as far as i was concerned, i had no idea what it was all about, but found it a good trigger to the imagination: if you don’t understand the original words, write your own story and use this as the soundtrack! a fine and welcome disc, handpainted in red. (jc) – boa melody bar.
hailing from gothenburg, viking jews is the brainchild of hannes norrvide (also a member of bleak rascal duo lust for youth), which after a few selfreleased cassettes here offers up 20 shimmering minutes for his vinyl debut. melancholic and rhythmic stuff melted through cheap keyboards, distinguished vocals and some serious cassette-flippin’, somewhat covered under layers of dust, delay and piles of trashed skateboard decks. twisted west coast ambience and scandinavian heat all over. think of monopoly child star searchers, early dolphins into the future and innercity and maybe you are halfways. all new material, except the inclusion of the beautiful ambient-closer from the boneless cassette which we just couldn’t resist to put on vinyl. smycken resides in gothenburg / malmö / copenhagen and consists of rasmus svensson and hanna nilsson. just as with viking jews, this is the first vinyl-apperance from smycken after most notably a cassette on night people and a cd-r on psychic malmö (both released in 2009). 4 tracks of hazy and dreamy music, pushing forward everything towards a more refined pop-sound but without loosing it’s initial fonal-esque psychedelic blurs and almost folky undertones. current popular culture is being demolished and embraced at the same time. tracks like marble slabz will have you, with a big smile, asking yourself what the fuck just happened and the closer mysterious moonlight is the closest thing we have come to a ballad in the rtb discography since… well, ever… edition of only 275 copies, pressed on lovely pale blue vinyl.
constant hitmaker’s songs are varied and twisted in their arrangements, but most often include exquisite melodies floating atop a bed of hissing psych-pop experiments that fall together as nearly perfect pop songs. the album is steeped in an atmosphere of four-track recording and homespun obscurity, however it frequently, almost if by mistake, references a collection of some of pop music’s best: my bloody valentine are felt on ‘space forklift,’ lee hazlewood’s spirit haunts ‘slow talkers,’ and lou reed adorns ‘don’t get cute.’ all this without mentioning the album’s most distinct song, ‘freeway,’ the lone studio recording and a piece of music that will become lodged in every head that hears it. constant hitmaker comes off a bit straighter than anything on the siltbreeze label, but more lovingly deranged than most every other indie rock album. it’s something noteworthy, no doubt, and not just because it lives up to its title. – skyscraper magazine.
more than a mere odds-n-ends collection, kurt vile’s latest lp is a compilation of tracks from overnite kv, a tour-only cdr made in conjunction with a european tour of kurt’s other project (the war on drugs), along with a handful of extra tracks recorded specifically for this release. here we find kurt solo, four-trackin’ as usual, and blowing minds with his mix of bluegrass guitar, blazed singer-songwriterisms, and the knowledge of how to balance these contexts out with laidback precision. psychedelic to its core, these twelve tracks speak to the will of the casual perfectionist, honing his craft with effortless aplomb. you’ll be hearing plenty more from this philadelphian wizard in the months to follow, and we’re happy to keep the ball rolling with god is saying this to you… repressed numbered edition of 2000.
here’s the timeless record for 2009. electric studio (mostly) recordings from philadelphia’s constant hitmaker. new fans of his last cd will cry into their pillows and accuse him of selling out the bedroom rock scene. the initiated few will know he’s been doing it for years… plugging in with a full on rock band called the violators and gigging in all corners of philly. with baritone guitar/bassist adam granduciel, rodeo slide & fuzz guitar from jesse turbo, and perfect percussion from mike zeng, the violators are kurt’s crazy horse, slugging it out with him when he feels like playing with a full band. oddly pleasant singing, in-the-red fingerpicking, twisting swells of feedback, totally pounding drums, and krautlike-zen fill both sides of this record. loud and proud, the hunchback ep looks right filed next to your neil, faust, and spacemen 3 records… includes download coupon.
having changed their name from uke of phillips, to uke of spaces corners, this time around, on their 4th full length album, we see another moniker shift, to village of spaces. collaborating with michael hurley, big blood, ancestral diet and caethua, “alchemy and trust” might be this crew’s most potent release to date if not their most deliberate and un-compromising. recordings made over the last 3 years make up this 34 minute lp, which was recorded at the pool recording studios in portland, oregon, big blood’s tank 26 studios in so. portland, maine, and by nemo bidstrup at the bands home in midcoast, maine. heavy trance elements are woven throughout the entire lp, as opposed to hinging on the individual songs themselves. neo-traditional, butter fried homesteader volk, with extended vamps on, but not limited to, the g chord… vinyl edition of 500 with heavy screen printed insert. really happy to have helped with this wonderful album. recommended!
during summer 1998 ville leinonen & valumo made their first visit in a recording studio in savonlinna, their hometown. now this almost eight years old session of two songs has been released by fonal records.
the sparrow is the same fragile little bird that appears on two old classic finnish christmas carols (freezing to death on the christmas morning and locked in the cage of sylvia). the poor bird is dying, the end is near. will the famous gunslinger save it in time? hey, my sister leads us to late 90´s smalltown-angst, too small circles. to a turningpoint of the darkest sequel of this reality show. big brother is about to lose his mind because of his little sister.
crackling mumbling free-association drone recorded in the deep and dark caves of turku: drawing inspiration from the dim and snowless winter, sleep deprivation, sickness and alcohol. try and catch the wind – crayon colored covers.
first ever reissue of this hopelessly rare & obscure 1971 rural virginia private press folk masterpiece. a true anomaly in the seemingly bottomless world of self released albums, this one charts a truly unique realm all its own… while the sound itself may draw some clear influence from classics of the day, even lifting the band name from a song by the band, the mood & vibe here is ponderously uncharted territory, seemingly birthed complete from some parallel sonic reality. crude lo-fi metaphysical basement folkrock filtered through a deeply southern gothic / appalachian / americana band aesthetic and executed in the purest, most sincere, spontaneous, vibe-thick sense possible. the atmosphere trapped in these grooves is truly as strong as it gets and is sure to engulf any open-minded listener given half a chance… the near magical power of the album seems to lay in its extreme polarization; on the one hand there is a fully developed lyrical depth and intellect that’s profoundly poetic, even novelistic, yet the music & recording is shockingly raw, unhinged, completely unselfconscious, and downright weird. it’s a dusty, creaky, ebb & flow of clackity percussion, acoustic strum, shaky low-watt electric guitar licks, occasional floorboard rattling bass, and thick southern drawl. even the recording quality has a bizarre lo-fi character of its own, with some sounds seeming to barely hit the tape at all, while others are wildly overblown, wrapping the whole deal in a gauzy tape hiss fog, with hints of garagy distortion. the album progresses with a casual but surprisingly purposeful intent, hitting an intimately mystical, visionary, dream-like arc through the entire second side of the record and ending in complete dissipation… all taken together it’s a seriously teleportive trip to a flicker in time & place that is really quite special… the scratchy textless black & white band photo cover art suites the album perfectly: striking yet vague, timeless yet ancient, simple yet mysterious… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl and packaged in an exact reproduction heavy old-style cover, with exact repro labels. also includes a double-sided heavy stock insert with new liner notes from main songwriter and vocalist roger mannon, as well as introductory notes from band scholar and devoted fan jack d. fleischer. one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
in the true spirit of the occasion, southern maine’s outerworldly psych-folk beacons visitations and big blood decide to forgo the concept of the “split” release and instead launch forth into a mindbending collaborative effort. the bands are not new to performing together: they’ve toured together and have even backed each other up under various names. but this release marks the first physical release by their combined forces, and, unbelievably enough, is big blood’s first vinyl release ever. the ease with which the bands complement each other is astounding – five clear voices reaching together to guide the record through a buzz-guitar singalong, a breathless pastoral folk tune, a chugging nightmare rock-dirge, and a sweetly-lighthearted vocal exercise. this 33rpm 7″ record contains four tracks in a 14-minute official runtime, but will play forever if you let it. in addition, the record comes with a bonus cd-r of tracks from the late-night jam session that pre-dated the recording sessions for the 7″, as well as the four tracks from the 7″ itself in digital form. a one-of-a-kind package, with each record sleeve offset printed with the bands’ artwork in dark blue ink on colorful, individually hand-painted sheets of heavy art paper. embossed, hand-numbered limited edition of 300 record/cdr sets… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series. awesome one!!
brooklyn’s vivian girls are back with everything goes wrong, released almost exactly a year after in the red’s reissue of their self-titled debut. the band have taken their time with this new album and recorded it in six days-rather than the three their debut took-though many of the songs were still recorded in single takes. over the last year, the vivian girls have toured the us and europe extensively and received a considerable amount of national and international press. everything goes wrong is a slightly moodier album than its predecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twice the length of anything on their debut. that said, the influences remain the same; ramones, ’60s girl groups, surf, indie pop, etc., etc. this is immediately classic stuff. watch for constant touring in late ’09 and ’10.
repressed and hotter than a forklift load of acapulco gold… irresistible mix of shoegaze, punk, and ’60s girl-group sounds with beautiful reverb-drenched vocals. features three self-recorded tracks of lo-fi goodness.
caitlin cook and calder martin, formerly vocalist/players in excepter, resurface as a rock duo with martin weaving holographic guitar riffs around cook’s wails and gloomy poems. the pair spent two years living in the skylight studio of the historic matthew brady daguerreotype building at 359 broadway nyc, recording in the same vaulted rooms where abe lincoln, felicita vestvali, edgar allan poe, frederick douglas, and sitting bull voluntarily screwed their heads into iron stabilizers in order to be photographed. the resulting album conveys a falsely two-sided pattern of epic american triumph, contemplative grooviness, and crumbling disaster in the guise of hyperactive fun. cameo drum appearances blast through at key moments, courtesy of spencer herbst, nathan corbin, and the inimitable fiz. released on seres, a longstanding label cohort of the no-neck blues band. at the right volume, the crackle of the amps will make your ass ripple.
on vlasman recorded this amazing piece of acid euro folk back in 1970, making it sound like an outer space freaked out bob dylan with the help of frans schoonen (organ, flute and harmonica) and leo van vugt (chincha tumba and tambourine). the seven original compositions are stunning, drug inspired psychedelic pieces of acid folk that mix dylan with indian ragas and even add some pink floyd overtones, yet from an acoustic rather than electric point of view. and the album contains also a very cool version of the velvet underground’s ‘pale blue eyes.’ if you ever wondered how dylan would have sounded covering the v.u., here’s a close example! the album, originally released on the small flame label from amsterdam, sold poorly back in the seventies — thus becoming a collector’s piece when it was rediscovered in the eighties. since then it has been gathering new fans that pay small fortunes for a copy, no reissue has been available until now that wah wah offers 500 copies in a lavish edition that will probably sell out soon, so grab your copy before it’s too late! the beautiful cover art and full color poster insert with the lyrics are the work of leendert le duc, and both are here faithfully reproduced as they deserve. the wah wah reissue also features an extra insert with a text by reputed dutch collector jean jöbses and a couple of rare unseen period photos courtesy of the frans schoonen and leo van vugt archives. the album has been carefully remastered by sound wizard denis blackham @ skye mastering, making these songs sound like never before. 500 copies only… great album! beautiful exact repro cover art too.
argentina’s self proclaimed “prehistoric magical psychic band” blast off into the inner space void on this one. electro-accoustic brain burps ringing out through the cosmic ocean. oh mama!
about (((vlube))) : hi ! we are vlube, posted at buenos aires at now, but borned at the lovely chrome moon, circa (since) 1965… our music works consist at psychedelic weird cock, drone rok, free(ak) rock, no music, acid harsh nose, long distant folk, harsh electrons noise; cosmic kingdom music, conceptual art music, free improvisation, magical music for the high kings from the high spheres and i don’t know what’s experimental music (‘) or fuck off… something from this side of the planet and the others planets… comes in green dvd case…
first tchantinler recordings’ vinyl release. “the burning mountain” b/w an alternative version of “dry leaves” from the forthcoming lp. limited to 500 copies in litho-printed fold out sleeves. each copy is individually numbered… pretty awesome new private release from this post voice of the seven woods project. act fast….
voks aka mikkel moir pihl from copenhagen, denmark is a household name on dekorder, being signed to the label since its inception six years ago. though keeping a low profile with only two 3″cd releases in all these years he won over some dedicated fans such as the late john peel, who shortly before his death played a different voks track every week for several weeks in a row. now voks is finally presenting his first full-length album (though only 30 minutes long this is epic in voks’ universe – both 3″cd’s included 10 tracks each within 20 minutes). while keeping his trademark style of hyperactive and nervous high-pitched twisted pop songs a newborn interest in (italo-western) movie soundtracks seems to be evident. the sound of super fast surf guitars is colliding with what seems chinese opera samples, world music is combined with children’s whisteling tunes. think raymond scott, joe meek, ennio morricone or carl stalling collaborating with the residents and then getting an 8-bit remix by the aphex twin. a surprising & amazing record, really! it will leave a huge grin on your face (and a few question marks as well)….
justin vollmar has consistently appeared in the most unlikely sectors of french media, including fashion magazines, tv guides, and even a monograph on the history of rock music (translated title: rock odyssey). in the summer of 2005, justin journeyed overseas to investigate this phenomenon and share a few of his songs in person. surprisingly, the french seemed uninfluenced by what had looked like outright vollmar mania when viewed stateside. the nation went about its business as usual, our hero but another baguette tucked under its collective arm at the day’s end. once, in a moment of painful anonymity, justin stood on a busy metro platform and screamed, ‘i’m the guy from the tv guide!’ repeatedly, before the noise of an incoming train muted his cries for recognition. while the trip did nothing to demystify vollmar’s strange foreign relations, it did yield a couple of great new songs. committed to tape in an open-windowed bordeaux apartment, ‘the runner’ and ‘feels good hurts’ intermingle street-level ambience with justin’s characteristically understated guitar and voice. the effects of a little knob twiddling back in the states help create the sense that vollmar has here reconciled the contrasting extremes of his vision, merging seamlessly his adventurous sense of pure sound with his already distinguished storytelling. like justin vollmar, microwave background mastermind will ryerson is a hoosier transplant, left-handed guitarist, and practiced home taper. prior to their recent reissue, you would have had to send up a microwave telescope on a balloon above antarctica to locate one of ryerson’s homemade cdrs. actually, that’s exactly what led cosmologists to report on the musicality of the real cosmic microwave background, for which the band was named. in 1998, a device called boomerang (balloon observations of millimetric extragalactic radiation and geophysics) floated around the south pole gazing deep into subtle radiation from the beginning of time, still measurable at the universe’s absolute edges. miniscule temperature variations in these big bang remnants indicated in the cmb a ‘harmonic series of angular scales,’ an acoustic structure as enormous as space itself. the music of the earthly microwave background might also be concerned with the spheres, but what the band does best is look through its telescope backwards, creating a skewed miniature of something vast. orchestral moods are played out through the tiny timbres of battery-operated keyboards. noisy rock-outs are crammed back into the boombox. after all, ryerson’s aesthetic is more human than cosmic, even as it evokes the otherworldly. the jubilant ‘wavy oasis’ sounds as if it were a fuzzy pop radio hit broadcast from the very ‘place with all your past and future friends’ imagined in its lyrics. ‘moon and northern cross’ correlates stargazing with songwriting before lifting off on a sonic youth-style guitar implosion. all this suggests a simple moral: when next in antarctica, bring a turntable.
two tracks of abstract sounds recorded live. this disc captures vollmar as a sonic adventurer rather than songwriter… billiant cover art, hand ’bloodied’ by the artist.
new version of this early self released gem. as the title implies, there’s four distinct things going on here, sort of song groups & concepts or something. one of the best vollmar releases out there, mixing, as always, offhanded melancholy folk story songs, cracked folk rock, lo-fi experimentalism & noisy guitar damage. great stuff. new gatefold packaging. limited for sure. recommended.
justin vollmar’s recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who’s got only one person’s ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar’s songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements – modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7″ single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7″ record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
originally released as three 3inch cdr’s and now compiled as a 12inch lp these recordings have appropriately become the first self-titled vollmar album. the approach employed embraces immediacy much like the “4 separate things” cd-r. it’s the most stylistically diverse collection available. players: dorey fox – keyboard, david brant – bass guitar, and distorted keyboard percussion, nathan vollmar – keyboard drums, drums, keyboard, justin vollmar – acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, omnichord, and recording, john ringhofer – sleigh bells, melodica (unheard for all practical purposes)… nice one. screen printed chipboard covers. limited edition.
west virginia native and bloomington, indiana resident justin vollmar has been making leftfield folk-rock for longer than most. he’s toured the western world over with like-minded artists such as half-handed cloud and elephant micah, and released a small library of critically-acclaimed home recordings. a mainstay in the midwest scene, vollmar has also lent his talents to countless bands (mt. gigantic, bronze float, matty pop chart, etc.), and held at least one word-of-mouth music festival in the vacant field beside his house. tell the dirt is vollmar’s newest release as “vollmar,” a band name accommodating two more musicians-drummer/brother/pianist nathan vollmar and bassist david brant. dirt finds the band in a formal studio environment, trying on a slightly more “refined” sound. all the hallmarks of the vollmarian approach, though, remain happily in place. dirt is a characteristically sparse affair, featuring band performances that sound more “live” than “layered.” the brain-twisting songwriting and moments of experimental flourish that have historically set vollmar’s music apart from the indie-folk crowd are likewise here in spades… great new album. numbered edition of 300. hand packaged with hand penciled titles, and a unique large photo print, each a frame from a stop motion film. great concept, right? watch the film here: www.vollmarmusic.com/videos/tell%20the%20dirt-tell%20the%20dirt-h.264.mov
the proprietors of underwater tea party records offered to pay a month of justin vollmar’s rent if he’d make a record for their label. he then went on a family vacation, sat out on the beach late one night, and made some solo recordings straight to simultaneous tape and minidisk recorders. the results make for a kind of sonic portraiture that sets aside ‘objective’ recording aesthetics in favor of a more personal, contextual representation of the songs – we love this guy and we think you should too! very limited edition, with screenprinted chipboard covers and paste-on family vacation’ photo. nice!
this split release originated as a wedding favor. vollmar covers ‘a girl like you’ and ‘chanson d’oh’ on one side – well, he was supposedly lying on his back during most of the takes. on the other side little wings takes a crack at ‘be my baby.’ he’s rumored to have shown up to the sessions with only drums. these guys keep it weird – nice covers. awesome!
von bingen began life when husband and wife duo jenni pace and daniel presnell (astral blessing) temporarily suspended hildegard (their east coast group of clangorous misfits), and relocated to vancouver, bc where they soon met josh stevenson (aka magneticring, and one-time jomf member), and richard smith. influenced by histories of conceptual art practices and electronic and outsider music native to the west coast, von bingens sound is at once reminiscent of distant sonics, such as those found in the labs of 60s sf pioneers, or overheard in berlins zodiac club in the early 70s, while also anticipating the drone of future decades. folk forms gleefully mutate, reborn as new hybrids, dignified by analog modular and semi-modular synthesizer systems from serge, buchla, and ems. instruments such as the flute, clarinet, guitar, and the drum are defamiliarized through quixotic treatments, originating from experimentations in the bands studio. by rescuing tones, processes and technology from dusty desuetude, von bingen happens upon a unique retrofit for advanced audiences that is sure to confound, if not altogether please. within the grooves of this lp, you will not find full-fledged allegiance to current fashions, nor will you find some light loop of cheap sensations, hollow-core historical reenactments, or facsimile sentiments. in fact, we are not sure what you will find at all, and that is the beauty of nature, a potentially infinite system of chances, where the opportunity to un-learn is as important as the opportunity to learn; where memories possess the power to eclipse experience; where all history becomes synesthesia. join von bingen in this new eden, and by all means, have an apple. – f.o.l. ministries, 2009.
much anticipated reissue of obscure kraut masterpiece from this mysterious unit. a classic kosmische sound dream, hitting multiple familiar mind harmonics assembled in stereo polyphony. guru is you… 300 copies in lovely screen printed fancy packaging. sweet.
keith richards once said “it’s not what you play, it’s what you don’t play that matters”. well, w-s burn know it….they know it! pure, minimalist music that secretly traps – and then releases – you in a sense of time-stopping beauty. sweetly haunting vocals by pixie are complemented by hidden lamp chimes and steve gigante’s twisting guitars. violinist marcelle good’s playing on several songs only adds to the ethereal wonder. this collection will leave you breathless. re-issue of a self released cdr. spray painted cdr packaged in a clear pvc case with original insert, a bonus insert (designed by pixie) & a small numbered insert holding a feather from the british pheasent. edition of 60.
while remaining largely unknown to the general public, peter walker was something of a legend along the boston-new york folk axis of the 1960s, releasing a few celebrated albums for vanguard during this period. playing with various folk luminaries like fred neil, joan baez, tim hardin and karen dalton, and studying spanish flamenco and indian classical guitar with none other than ravi shankar, walker was both a true student of his instrument and a pioneer, using not only acoustic guitar, but, as can be heard on this album, also electric. recorded in 1970 at levon helm’s (the band) house in woodstock, with the likes of legendary detroit drummer maruga booker and tabla god badal roy, this is an essential release for fans.
peter walker’s quintessential debut, reissued on vinyl for the very first time since its original 1966 release on vanguard. featuring contributions from jazz flautist jeremy steig and dylan session veteran bruce langhorn, walker’s fusion of psych-folk and traditional indian raga was ahead of its time. “exploring a tonal range that would be best described as the perfect lsd soundtrack, this album is a gentle, evocative affair, and often recalls some of the passages that stephen stills would use for ‘suite: judy blue eyes,’ among others.” – all music guide… finally a vinyl reissue of this gem! heavy cover & vinyl.
glass armonica is the first solo cd by musician zach wallace. when not counting fauna in the montana wilderness, zach can be seen performing across the incense sticks from greg davis in their stoic long form drone duo sun circle. zach’s armonica, based loosely on benjamin franklin’s 1761 design, is built entirely from thrift store bought wine glasses and has been modified to handle multiple players. the performances captured here were recorded in ann arbor, michigan, in the spring of 2007. the results are not too far off from what you might imagine if you’ve ever coxed sound waves from the rim of a wine glass with your finger. now just imagine multiplying that sound a few times over until you arrive at a dense fog of resonant tones that hover in mid air while concurrently penetrating your pituitary glad. that’s getting close. edition of 500 in an offset white case with silver ink.
warmth offers a hollow, swaying and moody piece that is probably as heavy as he has ever gone, ending in subtle ringing. guitar and trumpet bleak ambiance from robe., would work perfect in a horror film. offset printed silver on black linen paper sleeves, hand-cut into a cross shape, folded and sealed with a wax stamp in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
after months of attempting to acquire the final (now lost) tour recordings of roxanne jean police (rip), steev thompson presents his most recent incarnation, warmth. fresh out of a brian wilson-esque disappearance steev brings deep visceral layers of synth and electronics that churn and grow. clouds of fog envelope the tones emanating from michigan’s forgotten forests. this tape acts as the precursor to the upcoming warmth lp co-released by arbor and double fantasy. in a numbered edition of 90 tapes in sprayed paste-on manilla envelopes.
even though warmth main man steev thompson still appears to be incommunicado totally epic recordings continue to surface. before roxanne jean police was officially over and steev still lived in chicago, he joined up with another then chicago resident branden diven of quilts / american grizzly records. the jams that were created filled a couple of cdrs and the warmth side of the split with quintana roo on not not fun. this lp consists of a remixed and edited version of the original cdr running at just under 45 minutes. forgotten smog floats through a northside basement. sounds emanate but their source is totally unrecognizable. quiet growing tonal blobs erupt into washes of aural color. a complete union of samplers, synths, vocals, guitar, organs, percussion, and electronics merge to create the sounds contained within; a loss of individual existence. completely serene. in an edition of 300 lps on creamy yellow vinyl with hand stamped labels in pro-printed and screened fold over sleeves with art by roy tatum and an insert by steev.
lovepump united is stoked to release a collaborative 7-inch by washed out and small black: featuring each band re-imagining and remixing a song off the other’s debut ep. the 7-inch follows both acts’ breakthrough records released in late 2009, featuring a killer small black remix of washed out’s “you’ll see it” and a gorgeous, hazy washed out remix of small black’s anthemic “despicable dogs.”
as of today, it’s officially crispy in new york, so we are seeking one last summer solace with the california crust-pop of san diego’s wavves. as you might expect from a socal band named after ocean motion, this shit sounds like a living version of thrilla gorilla & da’ boys. as you might not expect, it is made by one kid named nathan who has a classic rap blog called ghost ramp. wavves has a follow-up coming in 2009 on de stijl which will include ‘so bored’ and ‘wavves’ which is also ridiculously great and streaming on his myspace. – the fader.
from the sooner state via the evergreens comes wax ghost, the solo project of digitalis co-conspirator, eden hemming rose. simple keyboard compositions that simmer in the autumn dust. this is a master deception, as the simplicity is key. haunting rhythms and fluttering whimsy take hold and latch their catchy melodies into your skull. this music is soft like a feather pillow, but also just as warm and comforting. wax ghost is music for all times and all moods. this is the first excursion eden hemming rose has taken on her own. without a trail of breadcrumbs to follow back, the only way to move is ahead. 52 copies.
in the spring of 2007 a tour commenced from latvia to holland called “way of the cross: on the path of the ninefold muse”, titled from robert graves’ book the white goddess. the tour spanned polish clubs, dutch radio, berlin galleries, and the latvian beach; ‘mind of the dolphin’ documents the music spawned at these stops. wotc members include dave nuss (nnck), stellar om source, the skaters, jan anderzen (kemialliset ystavat), kuupuu, mik quantius (embryo), and tiitus petajaniemi and jari koho (uton, keijo). “the white goddess is far more than a long-discredited pagan deity. she is still alive, and her worship takes many strange forms both inside an outside the conventions of western morality. in particular, she continues as the ninefold muse, patroness of the white magic of poetry.”
dreamy music for lazy hot summer afternoons flowing down weaving paths through the forest while laughing hyenas take a shortcut through the valley. 70 copies.
experimental heavyweights adam forkner (white rainbow, rob walmart, atlas sound), honey owens (valet, miracles club, atlas sound), and eva salens (inca ore) collaborate to exploit their highly vibed-out dubby post-yoga practice chilling with the cats killer band that has made a great debut record called proper eats. vinyl version comes with bonus download remixes.
150 copies. professionally duplicated cassette with laser printed j-card. artwork by ruth garbus… chris weisman emerges again with more new vermont music. two stereo albums of multi-colored songs (yen you & i don’t care again) rainbow music (see: aja cover) balanced & varied. the tone is right. white light refracting through a prism. sunshine through trees through curtains, reflecting mind mirrors. this is a white album (or maybe a mccartney iii) and when you take out the 4 picture inserts of the beatles they look like warhol images, silk-screened with the brightest neon colors spray painted / crayon scribbles / paint splatters / computer generated geometry. repeating to infinity. like an 80s local motion advertisement or 90s pbs specials graphics. or 00s paperrad animation retro/bizarro fantasies (in the 50s, every dad was thin) four dimensional. dynamic spectrum of rockers acapella synth guitars electric acoustic drums pedals folk vocals fuzz pop tapes solo bass yamaha dx7 / dx100 (kaleidoscopic sound paintings) fm synthesis on the am dial. crackling static, faint reception. fifth world. (re: magnetic fields, lyle mays, stevie wonder, the beatles, five stairsteps, loggins, fagen, etc…) [if you can, imagine chris in the back of the midi van, wearing a rainbow chris hat, wrapped in an indian blanket, floating just above an oriental rug, eating an heirloom apple, reading richard brautigan, focusing on the flute in the middle of the air, dream catching dream songs] this is some of chris’ best music yet (maybe his best is always now?) the blank page (mind) is alive. steep (sit) for 62 minutes (hours/days/months/years/lifetimes…) take a fresh sip (always) listen deeply. find the feel & get on the trail…
over the shadow’s door is a unified artistic project by the ever creative weisman siblings. a title was chosen and then kurt, chris and emma set about making music / art to correspond with the title. this is the result… kurt open things up on side a with lovely spiralling acoustic guitar patterns with kurt’s trademark high angelic tenor falsetto vocals (along with the ghost of kurt weisman singing even higher vocal harmonies!) “no i can not be a man anymore” on side b, chris slashes and cuts through echoed word raps over spindly guitar licks and drum stick clicks (he’ll explain it to you in the song). the chorus reaches a droney low voice counterpoint stasis. a nice little coda at the end with brazilian guitar tones and a chunky bassline. “who says that i can’t find the floor?” emma’s artwork is a wonderful children’s book style cross hatch illustration. boy crawling on floor trying to open the purple shadow door. boy on the first floor climbing a ladder to peer at the ceiling galaxies / stars. strange paintings on the wall above the orange couch. are there are more questions than answers? 300 hand numbered copies with hand stamped labels on colored vinyl (pink & blue).
repress of 400 copies. when iowa city freak-out free-rockers raccoo-oo-oon called it quits last year it left a bummer scar in the midwest underground scene. but time is a great healer, and so are new bands. so out of the ashes of the rac pack comes wet hair, a synth-punk-trance duo composed of keyboardist/vocalizer shawn reed and keyboardist / drummer ryan garbes, and dream is the band’s debut vinyl full-length after a series of increasingly shredding limited-edition cassettes on their own night people label. piling together an unlikely trash heap of suicide-style drum machine beat-bops, zone-droned krautrock keys, and fucked up outsider crooning, the lp’s four tracks careen across a spectrum of moods and mangled melodies. recorded at flat black studios by luke tweedy and mastered by pete swanson, wet hair’s cult electric annihilation has never gleamed with such razor-edged weirdness; this is their dream made real. black vinyl lps in jackets with artwork by reed and garbes, plus a pro-printed full-color 11×11 insert.
welcome back. one of nnf’s total favorite active bands return with a second full-length (most of which was recorded during the same sessions that birthed their debut lp, dream) and we are pleased as spiked fruit punch. the reed/garbes duo mainly sticks to their guns, mining the same post-suicide art-trance vein they perfected on dream, but with glass fountain there’s an added emphasis on the disembodied, oscillator pop mode that wet hair often toy with. fountain’s five tracks include some of the band’s simplest but catchiest songs (“crucifix in the waves,” “when the right time comes,” etc), mesmerizing organ melodies over plink-plonky vintage drum machines with weirdo soulful singing and outer space electronics, like an outsider-punk silver apples or something. hard to say exactly what universe wet hair are operating in and that’s probably part of why we love it so much. a killer record that gets better each spin. in jackets with art drawn and designed by the band, plus a pro-printed 11×11 insert. edition of 600 (400 on opaque lavendar vinyl, 200 on black).
dark, dank, blissed and pissed jams from a portland all-star cast. members of white light, tempera, cursillistas, visitations, computer at sea, planets around the sun and many more congregating under the full moon for a good ole fashioned howlin’. vocal moans, analog synth tones, dueling crazy horse-style guitar leads, and a crazy wasted drum circle. all in good fun, of course. tracing a line from amon duul i to sun ra to the new weird hypnogogic, this is a celebration of “the now drone” … this is an exploration of “the dub” … this is the story of “the drum” … stay in the rhythm. two extended improvised pieces, pro-recorded by pete nanortes and lovingly pieced together by your emcee, ian paige. 28 minute mini-album, on white-top cd-r, with pro-printed cd insert sleeve on textured art paper, limited to 100 unnumbered copies.
ian paige’s white light project turns in a graceful, drony and jangly piece of classic lo-fi psych-pop, with a subtle galloping rhythm track keeping the good vibes in line. swirls of phasing synth quietly sneak up on the sweet vocals and lead guitars until all ride off on the figurative elephant in the sky. meanwhile, perennial favorite barry burst crashes that elephant back to the earth dirt and kicks up a party that could only be described as bollywood on acid. tablas and a host of handclaps provide the rhythmic thrust, while eastern strings and a chorus of singers (a multi-tracked barry) parade the blissfully gone love-fest through town. black 7″ vinyl record with hand-stamped center labels held in a tri-fold die-cut chipboard sleeve, letterpressed and screenprinted in a multicolor design, with screenprinted chipboard insert. hand-numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
from the fruited plain and the rusted carcasses of ohio’s industrial sea comes the fresh-faced, doe-eyed white mountains.”this timbered choir will sing our collapse” is a pinecone-laden excursion through the soft underbelly of decaying forests and greying thickets. white mountains employs washes of feedback and hum to navigate through the dense tangles of acoustic scree. cool blasts of treated field recordings fill in the gaps. by the end of the albums 41+ minutes, your leaf-covered body will feel all at once exhausted and rested. oh, to be 15 again. 100 copies.
emily jane white is a san francisco folk singer/songwriter. armed with little more than an acoustic guitar and her own voice, emily offers complex tales of melancholy and isolation. comparisons to artists like cat power and hope sandoval are frequent, yet emily’s music owes a clear debt to classic female jazz and blues singers such as billie holiday. one of her songs is actually entitled “bessie smith.” catch a rising star. limited edition of 500 copies pressed on clear vinyl with slightly different inserts, lyrics included… nice vinyl edition with huge full color foldout insert. debut release on this tiny label. if you dig brooding femme folk melancholy this one is well recommended. sure to go quick.
excellent new private press release. if you dug his recent lp on joshua burkett’s mytra label, you need this one too. wondefully deep texas folk, here totally centered on kalimba & wooden banjo. new packaging. recommended.
ralph white calls blues, country, folk and other influences to new psychedelic depths. recorded under cold starry texas midnight skies, these kalimba/ banjo/accordion/fiddle arrangements are sure to bring you ‘out there’. ‘atavistic pillow’ compiles the best tracks of the privately issued cdr’s ‘the atavistic waltz’ (2008) and ‘a kalimba pillow’ (2009). featuring amy annelle on a great rendition of ‘the cuckoo’. 100 copies.
ralph white, ex-fiddler for the legendary austin, tx country-punk band, the bad livers, gives us a newly recorded collection of american and caribbean songs, plus one original. ralph is a truly inspirational folk artist. his music could be described as “psychedelic”, but only in the way that his voice cuts straight through your psyche into the very heart of your being, melting away all resistance. no, really, it’s that powerful. white’s voice soars mournfully over interlocking banjo and kalimba parts that are firmly rooted in traditional americana, but belie the influences he garnered on his cross continental african bike trip. this beautiful gem is garnished with a hand-cut stamp and each edition is subtly different. check out ralph’s “navasota river devil squirrel” lp on mystra records. edition of 200… more recommended sounds! nice covers too.
debut self released little nugget of barely there micro sounds, guitars, hum, buzz and rattle. tiny mystery noises flutter. waves of tape hiss. is someone singing? – good stuff. color xerox covers. numbered edition of 30 copies.
6 minutes of beautiful, sprawling acoustic psych from eternally evolving, sunny, californian folk collective whsyp. hazy high end vocal harmonies backed with subtle sitars (courtesy of skygreen leopards, part time wooden wand backing guy glenn donaldson) which aim for the stars yet quickly turn into a darker beast as the piece closes out. a beautiful 45 in fliptop match wallet style sleeves made from linen card and in a run of 300 only… a real beauty here!
first-time ever reissue of rare evil psycho machine-funk from ’80s washington, d.c., including previously-unreleased mixes. now is not the time to doubt your senses — the wicked witch does exist. born and raised in the musical magical cauldron of washington d.c., wicked witch combines elements from alchemical mentors parliament funkadelic, sun ra, esg, run dmc, james brown and jimi hendrix to cast a crazed spell on the innocent listener. an evil mass of machine-funk with lashings of rhythm and blues and fusion delivered direct from the heart of the witch, a misunderstood psycho-genius weaving his solo web deep within the dark studio walls. trained by masters at the duke ellington school of the arts, wicked witch is in full control; he plays all, knows all, tells all. his message will not be denied. believe your ears, believe your eyes: the wicked witch does indeed exist. first-time ever re-issue, remastered from the original master tapes… very limited vinyl version, now out of print. crazy shit!
words are tough when it comes to describing music this astoundingly beautiful. a leading figure in the worldwide experimental music community since the early 90s, simon wickham-smith adds to his sizable body of work with this masterpiece. three tracks clocking in at almost 60 minutes, simon’s new work is the result of years spent honing his craft. his influences are drawn from sources far and wide, but the music that results is uniquely his own. transcending genre altogether but most clearly informed by minimalism, this release is hypnotic, mysterious, and gorgeous. if you’ve followed the arc of his career, you’ll be pleased to see how mature and powerfully focused his musical vision has become. if you’re new to his world, it’s an excellent introduction. to say that it’s an honor for us to be releasing his music would be a massive understatement. a true classic.
new release from doyen of english bedroom underground scene. two epic tracks, the first a very skewed take on religious chant which retains a genuine and relevant reverence at the same time as it forges a whole new path through both laptop electronica and devotional music. the second is a huge track characterised by ripping great digitally distorted drones which seem intent on tearing through the bullshit (maya?) to reveal a clearer world beyond – all recorded on a small island off the coast of scotland.
sparkling 7″ single from mr. wiese, someone whom i’m increasingly finding an essential artist in the cut-up noise genre… i don’t see why fans of venetian snares et.al aren’t all over this guy as he’s making of the most high-energy million-edit-per-second blasts of distorted computer sound. this ep is the first wiese release on the new, tiny meudiademorte label, and is limited to the point that i’m not going to spend much more time writing this blurb here given the amount of copies i was alotted. it’s very good, and if you’re feeling john’s work, buy it. – mimaroglu music… limited to 500 copies.
real cd from magic duo cc&ew. super beautifully dense all percussion / synth set. while listening, the sound will fill different gaps of space on your room that never before were filled. unbelievable stuff! – crazed bulcha synth action!
i was introduced to the music of wild gunmen by russ waterhouse, who handed me a tape wrapped in silver foil and told me i’d love it. he was right, and i immediately wrote to main gunman witt, just telling him how much i liked his band. he wrote me back immediately, promising “years” of more music, and telling me i’d better get ready, because this was some serious shit. he explained that the band – a trio – were ‘bad on the biz end’ because they were all saddled with being drug addicts and had also been dealt the unfortunate blow of all being born under the sign of libra (???). he also told me that two of the members were former fm radio djs on cincinnati’s waif. a few days later, a package arrived containing three unmarked 90 minute cassettes, and a handwritten letter. the letter featured color copies of a sexy drummer who, witt explained, was dead now, and another photo of a very young girl who witt claimed to have taken to see gg allin. the letter, rife with more references to the copious amount of drugs the band takes, quotes from south park, and casual boasting, was still not enough to prepare me for the amazingly twisted sounds contained on the tape. eerie acoustic blues, with oscillator and other various noises, super confessional lyrics sung by what sounds like the demon spawn of jandek’s gal nancy and niagara, and the unmistakable sound of several fucked up adults getting together to rock out in a self-described ‘drug infested nut house.’ this one is hard to explain, and frankly, i’m at a loss – a very authentic psychedelic nightmare that may be a little too ‘real people’ for it’s own good. of all the amazing shit coming out of cowtown lately (and there is a lot!) this is some of the most fried by far. some of it maybe sounds a little like sam esh? i don’t know, man. anyway, this is the first of what we hope will be many releases of wild gunmen material on mad monk. we are super excited to share this with the world! i asked witt to send me cover art and song titles, and he told me to “just make them up, cause no one here can ever agree on them…our singer kristy is a drug addict…half the time i just want to kill her. and surprise us and cook up your own design for a cd cover – title it anything you want.” okay, then! only 150 copies, hurry!
the second volume in this exciting series by this wastoid troupe from the buckeye state is even better than the first. while the highly popular volume one introduced the band as the parole board’s answer to the cherry blossoms, volume two: cocain spyders (the misspelling is the band’s) finds the group more stoned, introspective and deliberate, with oscillators, delay drones, horns, and high pitched feedback squeals taking the place of more ‘traditional’ instruments. singer kristy is, as ever, center stage, singing beautifully harrowing misfit tales of lonely strangers, train wrecks and dreams fading away. volume two also features what is perhaps, in our opinion, the quintessential wild gunmen track thus far – an untitled jam near the middle of the disc begins like any other paranormal wg track, until kristy nonchalantly takes a break from singing to audibly converse with her captive party guests about sex and cocain(e), while witt and ron, undaunted, lock into a supremely fucked clarinet / guitar duet that sounds like a moonlight meeting between rafael toral and little howlin’ wolf. when kristy decides to begin singing again, the track only gets weirder, stretching out over several parts and nearly fifteen minutes like a lost esp side or perhaps the music the guy who left the desperate answering machine message at the beginning of charalambides market square might have made. as if all of this weren’t enough, volume two also includes the soon-to-be-punk-classic “(i’ve got a) washboard (for a stomach).” this is the second in what we hope will be a long running series of releases by wild gunmen on mad monk, but each one could be the last – word has it a few of the band members are dead set against these releases – so treasure and cherish every minute while it lasts!
one of the best from the usa, legit reissue with insert, many photos, extensive liner notes, posters, from master tapes, a killer guitar album. i was searching for an original lp for many many years but never saw one. even the band has no extra copies. california trio wildfire came to austin in 1969. they shared the stage with many performers such as johnny winter, allman brothers, freddy king, shivas headband and many more. after laying down partial tracks at the beach boys’ recording studios (wildfire guitarist randy love is beach boy mike love’s cousin) the trio ended up at sonobeat studios to record this 8-track album. sonobeat became famous for the recording of the first johnny winter album, dark shadow/cold sun and mariani. this album is extra heavy psychedelic rock with dual vocals, great stereo effects, all original songs in moby grape/blue cheer direction. they use to be one of the loudest band’s around on their custom build quilter amps. for the first time officially released direct from copies of the master tapes… way heavy 1970 american private press. deluxe extra heavy laminated gatfold cover, 180gm vinyl. numbered edition of 450 copies.
winter family are the brooklyn based duo of ruth rosenthal and xavier klaine. alt.vinyl is proud to release this double vinyl ltd edition edition (300 copies only) of their latest intensely atmospheric work. artwork by franz vesolt, layout by fabien lehalle. audio mastering by patrick klem. a rare and unique audio worldview expressed by the singular approach of brooklyn based duo ruth rosenthal (spoken words) and xavier klaine (harmonium, organ etc..). from the first bares of searching donkeys this double album creates a glowering and intense atmospheric…part nightmare, part uplifting dreamscape it permeates and builds into a compelling whole. a reference point might be some of the output of constellation records – indeed gybes norsola johnson plays on this record..however it is doubtful whether any of those artists ever produced anything to match the taut tension of the title track red sugar..a spoken hymn to absence. the ambition of winter family is evident on the expansive, orchestral epic dancing in the sun..crank your speakers, sit back and open your mind..it will blow you away. as an entirety this album builds on previous releases on marienbad and sub rosa and demonstrates that rarest of things..a unique voice..once heard never forgotten. essential.
the wire tapper 15 is the latest volume in the wire’s ongoing series of exclusive new music compilations. the cd will be given away free with every copy of the june issue worldwide and will contain a range of new, rare or exclusive tracks that together will span the spectrum of the kind of underground music that gets featured in the magazine each month, from electronic music, avant rock and new jazz, to dub, hiphop, traditional musics and beyond. on the cover: sonic youth (the veteran new york rockers tell nick cain about the raw power of rather ripped, and give an update on their myriad activities, past, present and future). features: terry day (the former people band drummer talks julian cowley through his interrupted improv history); harry rag (from dusseldorf punk to pastoral futurism via wim wenders and can with the syph vocalist); jutta koether (lina dzuverovic unravels the personae and multiple media activities of the new york artist and painter); invisible jukebox: rob mazurek; yellow swans (the prolific portland, oregon noise duo mull over method, motivation and manifestoes for a better world); ekkehard ehlers (the berlin conceptualist reconfigures blues, jazz and african musics in an attempt to reconnect dead voices across continents); the primer: john fahey (david keenan picks his way through a user’s guide to the phantasmagorical folk blues of the original american primitive) – with 20 track free cd.
new solo lute recordings. “once some music dropped through my letter-box; let’s summon their sounds into our world now, and deliver their names as roses or stations. the picture they imagined was both clear and cryptic: the certainties of the 17th century holding tight the ugly beauty that we now see scattered around us. i loved these cds by jozef van wissen, a rose by any other name and stations of the cross. and then i received a new album, a priori, and i immediately played it and heard its stark and repetitive intensity, its stately and glacial march. there is nothing quite like it that i have heard before-it is timeless, breathing deeply and exhaling showers of snow, endless circles, mirrors, spirals, the sea. when jozef plays the lute, he pours out endless space. what can i say but let the rain come, close your eyes and watch the stars fall and rise and fall again.” – david tibet, current 93… recommended.
jozef van wissem continues to liberate the lute. once the most popular of portable instrument, it then entered 250 years of neglect, but today suffers from being regarded as a museum piece, only to be played in accordance with theories about authenticity. van wissem has improvised with guitarists gary lucas and tetuzi akiyama, while his solo objects in mirror are closer than they appear alternated his own palindromic compositions with processed field recordings of airport lounges. the excellent a rose by any other name is a ‘straight’ lute record, though van wissem’s scary monochrome cover photo harks back to a more innocent age when lute playing, like vegetarianism, would have been evidence of mild insanity. all 22 pieces here are anonymous- as van wissem points out, this could have been because the composer was too much of a celebrity to be worth naming, or else an aristocratic amateur unwilling to demean himself by appearing as a professional musician. there’s one 14th century italian drone-dance, but most are from the early 17th century, late renaissance and pre-baroque. many have a forthright and folksy quality, and it’s not until ” en me revenant” ( from the fitzwilliam museum in cambridge) that we hear the tricky contrapuntal lines typical of upmarket renaissance lute. this is straight away followed by “general leslys godnight”, which sounds like the bastard offspring of a sarabande and the blues. rendered still stranger by a sharp tuning (an experiment characteristic of the period, apparently). this scottish melodie illuminates how european tunes were shortly to traverse the atlantic and mutate in the new world. van wissem’s playing is unfetterd and lacks tea-party politeness. he ranges from moody to muscular, and coaxes a good range of colors from his ten-course, canadian-built lute, evoking african kora as well as blues guitar. my favorite, “untitled”, by anonymous, is a stirring, spacious scottish lament, conjuring up windswept wastes.
new cd of solo lute compositions by jozef van wissem mixed in with manipulated airport lounge and train station recordings. more minimal and delicately psychedelic than his previuos a rose by any other name, here van wissem drops solitary single notes deep into stately black space with all of the graceful, slow-motion focus of a feather on the breath of god. there’s an eerie sense of pregnant, occult space here that will surely chime with fans of current 93 circa of ruine… or sandy bull’s more baroque, psychedelic work but it also files nicely alongside your favourite major minimalist, making this another profoundly defiant side from this out-of-time thinker.icuna new release from baroque conceptualist and improviser, jozef van wissem, who, for more than a decade, has been quietly but surely reinventing the vocabulary of that most unlikely of instruments, the lute. with the exception of the odd renaissance preservationist context, the lute, which was once the most popular portable instrument in the western world, has all but disappeared from our musical landscape. despite the arcane associations of his chosen instrument, van wissem is no revivalist; his compositions often marry a deep and self-conscious knowledge of the instrument’s weighty history with a rigorous post-modern sensibility that has encompassed everything from appropriation to minimalist free improvisation, electronic manipulation, and the mirrored or palindrome musical structures for which he is perhaps best known. these palindrome compositions, a group of which are collected on his latest solo release, stations of the cross, are compositions that, like the words “radar” or “wow,” or the phrase, “madam, i’m adam,” read the same forwards or backwards. each composition progresses through a series of notes to the midpoint of the piece, where the sequence then reverses and the pitches are played in retrograde order back to the compositions starting point. the effect is strange and subtle, and oddly psychological — there is a sense that time expands and contracts back to the point of origin, while the exact moment of reversal is difficult to detect. compositional expectations are similarly, subtly undercut and, being that the beginning is always also the end, these pieces tend to come to a close without resolution, which gives them a quietly unsettling, question-like quality. to make things even more interesting, these mirrored structures are often superimposed onto field recordings of airport terminal interiors which are digitally manipulated into mirrored structures of their own. these recordings lend an eerie, impersonal atmosphere, the specificity and contemporary nature of which stands in stark contrast to the timeless, esoteric quality of van wissem’s gut stringed lutes. stations is a record of quiet, stately beauty and concept.
another out-of-nowhere african ’70s rock discovery in the blo mold. completely unknown band from zambia, privately pressed on a small local label, this five-piece electric band plays a strong electric african underground style. tons of wah wah-fuzz guitar in every track, african style beats and vocals and all original songs. after the successful release of the other witch album lazy bones, here is the earlier introduction. crazy & wild fuzz guitars all over, african beats and chanting, as good as it gets. incredible cool and stoned album from the southern african country. again we need to say: if you’re feeling depressed, low, disturbed, out-of-sorts, sad, frustrated or widely demented, then folks, we suggest you seek out a quiet place, indulge in some soothing meditation and cut away that headache by listening to this inspirational album… numbered edition of 500, glossy heavy sleeve, 180gm vinyl. originally released in zambia, 1973… if you dug their other lp, blo, question mark, the peace, ofege, etc. this is highly recommended!
three blokes with goof instrumentarium making fun. witcyst veet mixing it himself. a happy bunch of uncrafty popsongs!! first song on the disc has serious love / hit potential. awesome cocktailparty collage – witcyst had done almost 100 releases by now on several labels like freedom from, humbug and his own imprint lifespace… limited/fucked-up packaging with cocktail spears.
deep inside an abandoned bunker on new zealand’s north island, with throats as fine as needles have perfected their craft. on this, their debut cd release, the group has expanded to a quartet. birchville cat motel’s campell kneale and pseudoarcana chief, antony milton, have joined forces with james kirk (sandoz lab technicians, gate) and richard francis (eso steel) to create a claustrophobic, organic web of massive drones. everything on this cd was recorded outdoors with battery-powered instruments. underneath the ground, the quartet burrows out their own cavern, bouncing sounds off the walls until it becomes a singular, solid mass. each gently sculpted tone floats in humid air. the music is saturated with the dirt and grime from a million a years of human history, wailing out in unison like an excavation turned exorcism. with throats as fine as needles are your guides through this aural fog. co-released with ohio’s students of decay imprint.
also known as the ‘solo’ record. this is a reissue of a double cassette that came out a while ago on gods of tundra. each member of wolf eyes does a side solo, and then the band does a tune together. failing lights = mike. spykes = john. nate young = nate. wolf eyes = wolf eyes. intense double picture disk lp housed in plain black gatefold cover. ltd to 1000 copies – totally insane one here sure to vanish quick.
fuck the old miami is a 12inch featuring the entire live performance on the a side and a b side etching hand carved into the original laquers by wolf eyes. on their home lathe wolf eyes cut playable grooves into and around the etching, playable at your own risk.
this is the vinyl edition of wolfmangler’s cd release on digitalis industries, minus the bonus tracks. the core tracks of the release make for a perfect lp. this has been extensively written up all over the place, so i won’t go into detail, expect avant folk by way of doom metal depression. all acoustic. packaged in a silkscreened glue pocket sleeve, red and silver on black stock, same as the cd version, but with expanded art. includes 3 inserts, screened in the same colors with printed labels. edition of 500, 250 on black and 250 on red.
first full-length cdr from the nz drone-doom masters wolfskull. after a split with wolfmangler and releases on battlecruiser and root done lonie for cash, “tannasg” gives us the primitive sounds we need. slowness and heaviness are the canines of this wolf, let it bite you – limited to 79 copies.
woodcraft folk re-emerge from the hills of lancashire with 2 new tunes for the gps. “quiet, birds…“ is a hazy electronic, vaguely psych work out with vocals by ivan ink and pen. the flip is a wholly different sonic experience. “at home with howls” starts off all strange and hallucinatory but soon the drums, swirling organ and moogs take over, -reminiscent of some kraut themed, motorik 60s horror soundtrack. dressed up in trademark, lovingly created packaging consisting of hand drawn spirograph inserts, hammer card sleeves and half white, half clear wax, numbered to 400 copies, with none of that download or cd nonsense.
one of the most exciting listens i’ve had this year was the skaters and wooden cupboard releases that have come out on nature tape limb.based around the core pair of james ferraro and spencer clark (the wooden cupboard is ferraro’s solo project) they sure manage to make a hell of a joyous and utterly insane ecstatic racket on their disks. the overall sound they capture is reminiscent of the recordings by angus maclise of tripping screaming hippies involved in dodgy rituals in nepal in the early 70s, with crazy drumming and loops of lo-fi noise, except that rather than hippies it sounds more the ritual is being conducted by a cult of hyperactive and demonic elves… but its good! extraordinarily energising music and one of my all time faves for the label so far… now out of print.
repressed… this release is brand a new slab from sf’s incomparable wooden shjips. they are a modern day answer to space rockers like hawkwind, f/i, or just the good parts of van der graaff generator. this band helped to kick off the modern small-press vinyl revival with their debut 10” ep (now a sought-after collectors’ piece) and eking out limited releases one at a time since 2005. for this release the band has cooked up a two-song ep of colossal proportions. “contact” is a cover of a serge gainsbourg classic, made famous by brigitte bardot. the shjips update with their patented thousand yard psych-cosmos stare, transposing the original’s freakbeat tendencies with a krautrock bassline and a transcendental wander that’ll put you in the zone, every time. once there, chill out even harder to the “ez version” of original “i hear the vibrations,” is slower, grander, heavier, and dreamier, and takes full advantage of the for better fidelity and a truly blissful listening experience… limited numbered edition of 500 in a cool multi-color printed disco sleeve. white vinyl. sure to vanish quick again…
wooden veil is a berlin-based art group formed in 2007. inspired by the shared hauntedness of their respective homelands, they combine elements from forgotten and misremembered traditions to create a microcosmic world which only wooden veil inhabits, complete with its own symbols, clothing, food and shelters. performances, installations and videos are characterized by an expansive wardrobe of ritual dress, and the creation of shrines, relics and talismans used to create music. the group consists of artists marcel türkowsky (also a composer, founder of snake figures arkestra, cones, uuhuu, collaborations with datashock and christoph heemann), hanayo (known for her solo work as a photographer and singer, collaborating with the likes of christoph schlingensief, merzbow, red crayola, and kai althoff), christopher kline (valkenburg hermitage, †, night music, and soft peace), dominik noé (member of krautrock legends lustfaust), and jan pfeiffer (songs for rocks, soft peace, purple).to understand: hold right hand, cupped near right ear; turn hand back and forth slightly with wrist. bring left hand to opposite eye with the second finger pointing in the direction one is looking. with index and thumb of right hand, form an incomplete circle, space of one inch between tips; hold hand towards the earth, then move it in a curve across the heavens and back toward the horizon.
last year, james jackson “wooden wand” toth went to alabama to record a split 7″ with the gum creek killers (feat. members of verbena) a while back and had such a good time, he decided to go back and record an entire wooden wand record with the gum creek killers as his backing band. briarwood is the result of that collaboration. another wand album full of great one liners (“we were all at the wal-mart for the irony…”) and down south pomp and swagger. limited to only 500 copies… pressed on nice swirled colored vinyl. totally great album! recommended.
a brand new album from rising folk scene favorite wooden wand and his sky high band-members of skygreen leopards, vanishing voice, and davenport. recorded live on vintage equipment, the album features eleven rollicking tunes that recall such cracked masterpieces as “tonight’s the night” and “mendocino,” as wand blends surreal lyrical imagery with equal amounts of sunshine and grease. unhinged.
brand new live jam from wwvv (formerly wooden wand and the vanishing voice), but with a twist. this features 4 ’phases’ across the one long 30 minute track. 3 duo performances (diehl/taveniere, crane/toth, nolan/toth) and then a fourth phase as wwvv. comes with tour diary extract on double sided a4 sheet on the inside of the package. both the insert and the sleeve are printed on a very thing paper (kinda like newsprint) with tiny red flecks built into the paper. limited to handnumbered 250 copies… recorded right here in portland, at the infamous ’strange maine’… already out of print & quite great, as act fast.
very thrilling and energetic set from wwvv, 45 minutes of blasting psychedelic madness. raging rythms, long fuzzed out guitar solos, spirit voices, poetry rants, crippled boogie, lost groups chants, blissed blues journeys, feedback trances, hootin and hollerin, and a fuck all version of “the flood” tacked on at the end. this wwvv jam really gets us moving, reminding us of every reason why we fell in love with this band; easily one of their most compelling and intense workouts of 2005… more great live action. paste-on art digi-pak covers. quite limited.
we’ve really been soaking up these mid to late 2005 era jams. the band started this ridiculously long tour, hoping to play many of wooden wands songs mixed with the occasional jam. after many long nights on the road, some of wwvvs most cerebral and far out moments started to surface. as we are going through the tapes from this tour, it has become apparent that these kids may have come damn close to losing their minds on this tour. well, this disc is from one hot night in nyc, it is the first day of the last week of a two month long tour and wwvv take to the stage at tonic and drop this dead lecture. starting out with a stunning version of ‘genesis joplin’, featuring satya sais beautiful voicesoaring above the din. then they all flow out into a deep zone jam made up of some of the most sparse and meandering stuff weve ever heard them do. then, right about the time you become convinced that wwvv have forgotten they are on a stage, in front of a packed house, wooden wand grabs the mic and just looses it. i cant spoil it further, but we could not avoid including this unique moment in the series. 36 minutes of straight heavy tension. enjoy… way limited. color paste-on digi-pak covers.
unearthly trance and wooden wand offer up an ultra-limited split 7″ from the songbook of charles manson. unearthly trance reach into the hole of the infinite with their haunting version of “people say i’m nogood” while wooden wand programs the young love with his version of “get on home”. limited to 200 copies.
new solo album featuring guests steve shelley & lee ranaldo (sonic youth), jeremy earl (woods), jarvis taveniere (vanishing voice, woods)… great brooding folkrock goodness.limited vinyl version.
the latest in a very long line of essential releases from james jackson toth, sees this brand new collection for the gps. following 2 treasures from the mighty wand canon previously released on the label over the last 3 years. “my week beats your year” acts as a follow up to fans favourite “born bad” released 2 years ago on mad monk / people in a position to know. a collection of home recordings and demos from various points since 2002 to the present. an intimate, up close, occasionally stark collection of late night blues, and darkside musings that somehow manage to yet again raise the songwriting bar within the wand catalogue- (check out “tribulation fear” and “pale fire“). includes one of his most in yr face, confessional tracks ever put to wax- an ace take on jimmy rogers’ “sloppy drunk”. an utterly fabulous collection in a sleeve to match- beautiful inside and out pro printed jackets, and brown 70s french lined inners – a killer lp in an edition of 400 numbered copies… great new album, in that nice sorta country folk zone.
after clocking some serious time together on the road, it makes sense that psych rockers kurt vile & the violators would pair up with woods to create a combined 7″ release. the split contains two songs from woods and three from vile… very limited.
with a title like at echo lake the fifth album from new york’s woods intimates a modern rock aesthetic fully informed by historical manifestations of teenage along with a concomitant feel for the specifics of time and place. the distance between 2007’s at rear house and 2010’s at echo lake may at first seem only semantic but it more properly represents a move from a kind of informal back porch jam ethos to a fully-committed vision of the infinite possibilities of group playing. over the past few years woods have established themselves as an anomaly in a world of freaks. they were an odd proposition even in the outré company of vocalist/guitarist/label owner jeremy earl’s woodsist roster, perpetually out of time, committed to songsmanship in an age of noise, drone and improvisation, to extended soloing, oblique instrumentals and the usurping use of tapes and f/x in an age of dead-end singer-songwriters. recent live shows have seen them best confuse the two, playing beautifully-constructed songs torn apart by fuzztone jams and odd electronics. at echo lake feels like a diamond-sharp distillation of the turbulent power of their live shows, in much the same way that the grateful dead’s “dark star” single amplified and engulfed the planetary aspect of their improvised takes. some of the material here – the opening “blood dries darker”, the euphoric “mornin’ time” – is so lush that lesser brains would’ve succumbed to the appeal of strings and horns but at echo lake is more fifth dimension than notorious byrd brothers, nowhere more so than on “from the horn”, a track that is as beautiful in its assault on form as “eight miles high” or swell maps’ “midget submarines”. but despite the instrumental innovation that the album heralds – g. lucas cranes’ psychedelic tapework on “suffering season”, guest musician matthew valentine’s harmonica and modified banjo/sitar on “time fading lines” – at echo lake is all about the vocals. woods’ secret weapon is the quality of earl’s voice, osmosing the naive style of jad fair, jonathan richman and neil young while re-thinking it as a discipline and a tradition. here he is singing at the peak of his powers, in a high soulful style that is bolstered by heavenly arrangements of backing vocals. at echo lake feels like the transmission point for teenage garage from the past to the future. deformed by contemporary experiments, bolstered by magical traditions from the past, it’s the sound of now, right here, at echo lake. -david keenan/glasgow/march 2010… with free download coupon. awesome!
the woods’ 2005 debut, initially issued as a double-cassette on the fuckittapes label, was recorded in two bedrooms with no intention of being shared with the outside world. how to survive in / in the woods finds the woods family at their most stripped-down and primitive. thirteen cuts of home-cooked measles and grout gingerly pulled out of the spleen of a tape deck are now reissued on the popular lp and cd formats. the woods are in the midst of touring and recording a follow-up long player due out in 2008. check out their almost fully baked humble beginnings on this much sought-after reissue.
the fourth full length by woods, songs of shame, rips deeper with both 90-second and 10-minute forays into skeletal psychedelia. this is not to say the idiosyncratic songwriting style & vocalizing of jeremy earl is not present in spades but expanded, colored, and twisted into a tie-dye of soundscapes. having toured incessantly over the last 12 months as a four piece (jarvis taveniere, g. lucas crane & kevin morby round out the band), many of the songs on shame benefit from having been road worn, windblown, and deeply grooved… awesome!
woods delivers the follow-up to 2010′s amazing at echo lake with another full-length gem. “woods is a two-headed dog asleep on the porch and a butterfly on the windowsill… a janus, a gemini and a screen door. the sun won’t fade and the earworms will not leave, but the jams go on too long for the girl in the back who wonders if her friends are at another bar. still, the ballads always make her cry. woods is up there relaying the woods-feel: folk-rock, fuzz, tambourines, tapes and raw lunch pulled straight from the yard. pop songs and other things: sun and shade. – glenn donaldson.
this is the absolute pinnacle of the wovoka family jams with spaced chanted voice, melted down mountains of rippling and snarling electric guitars, waves of sweet strummed acoustic guitars and galloping hand percussion torching us all to join them in their journey to the outer limits of time and space, there are massive heavy vibes on this one, supreme paste on gatefold packaging with “;vinyl”; cdrs in a numbered edition of 199 copies… 3rd private press acid folk psych monster from this great project. heavy lp style gatefold covers with full color paste-on art inside & out. hand numbered. highly recommended!!
recorded in the mid seventies, vernon wray’s “wasted” is a prime artifact of sublime country rock, dusted with fuzz and fatigue. though perhaps not as famous as his brother link, vernon was an integral part of his brother’s recordings, including link’s own self titled 1971 record on polydor, with which “wasted” shares a certain kinship. part kristofferson and part hazelwood, “wasted” touches on a broad number of elements; a singular and until now virtually impossible to find collection of perfectly crafted songs. sebastian speaks has undertaken a remastering of the lp, along with an insert featuring track notes by vernon’s daughter sherry.
new 2-song single by new zealand-born, london-based peter wright. aquarius records says peter is ‘one of the most compelling sound makers we have ever heard’ and has released records on celebrate psi phenomenon, drone, last visible dog, digitalis, and pseudoarcana. peter uses a 12-string guitar, effects, amplified mini tambura, bells, chimes, and other gizmos to create powerful, organic noise. for fans of smith and youngs, matthew bower, and birchville cat motel. mastered by john golden for maximum volume and pressed on thick vinyl. 500 pressed.
Five track droner from this New Zealander via London. A mix of ambient guitar work, field recordings, and soundscapes recorded between 2005-2006. Housed in a double sleeve with outer sleeve being semi transparent vellum, all graphic work by Mr. Wright. Single pressing of 500 copies.
you can remove a kiwi from new zealand but you sure as hell can’t remove new zealand from a kiwi. such is the case with christchurch transplant, peter wright. over the course of a decade, wright has etched his name in glass in the annals of drone-world superstardom. and while i’m not sure what that really means, the point is that when it comes to soaring dronescapes, few do it better than peter wright. he has helped pave the way with contemporaries such as birchville cat motel and double leopards, but clearly has his own distinct voice. with his past few albums, wright seems the logical successor to native kiwi, sound manipulator extraordinaire, roy montgomery. red lion is wright’s latest incarnation and, once again, pushes the boundaries of what he can do with his trademark 12 string danelectro to the absolute outer limits. he pushes the limits of simplicity without ever breaking. wright’s albums are a thing of sheer, pure beauty, existing in a vacuum where nothing on the outside can tamper with their grace. even with his lofty intentions, red lion is immediately approachable and grabs the listener from the opening notes. as always, peter wright offers up something wholly infectious and undebatably magnificent.
it would be easy to treat this release as another bead on the freak-folk necklace first strung by incredible string band and vashti bunyan. legard makes no secret of his love of folk, but his music is far too personal to reduce to a genre description. while the chic may have moved on from such a sound, the passionate feel no need to retreat from themselves. – bryan berge, stylus magazine.
the xenis emputae travelling band is mr. phil legard of the hallowe’ed borough of yorkshire, england. he has been hard at work since 2001 making psychedelic folk-concrete inspired by the psychogeography and mythology of various secret regions of the british countryside. xetb has released plenty of cdrs and tapes over the years (all limited editions, long sold out etc etc) but, aside from one track on a cold spring records cd, nothing at all in a “posh” format – something we at memoirs thought we should do something about. we are, after all, classy folks and that. mr. legard is also a writer on various occult and esoteric matters, his most recent publication being a contribution to the new translation of “the consecrated little book of black venus” (waning moon publications). he also has several other music projects, most notably the neon death slittes and pneumonic consort. he is also, for his many sins, a frequent collaborator in ashtray navigations. “the pyrognomic glass” was originally released by us as a ltd. ed cdr back in 2005. by popular demand it is back, this time on vinyl, and including “abital – or conferences with the genii of nocturnal and diurnal dew in vii chapters”, a beautifully-printed 28 page chapbook by mr legard, most profitable to students of natural philosophy. limited to 250 copies… great to see this sweet album on vinyl!
the legendary father yod was a wealthy man, with a rich inner life, a family of disciples that loved him, many, many women and seemingly unlimited power. so why at the height of his success, did he choose to spend his time playing rock and roll? having a band in residency at father house provided him and all his children with another path to travel in their never-ending search for experience and wisdom. taking time out from their busy schedule as father’s students and spiritual seekers in the source family, sunflower, octavius, pythias and djin took instruments in hand and, at a mere gesture from father, turned up the amps and began tapping into the cosmos. first, they recorded themselves. the energy was good. equipped by father with instruments and effects pedals to ensure that they could create music that came ‘from the spheres,’ their sounds provided spiritual growth to everyone in the source family. after a time, father became the lead singer, as ‘a way to record wisdom in a modern, youth-oriented way,’ djin tells us. and yahowha 13 was born with sunflower, octavius and djin. the music was recorded at a studio in the father house on a teac 4-track reel-to-reel machine and was released on the source family’s higher key records label. in a couple short years, nine lps were created, to be sold at the source restaurant and at yahowha 13 shows. much sought-after items today, they’ve all been reissued. even more exciting is the material that wasn’t released – enough music to fill over sixty albums, all of them mind-blowers. skimmed from the riches in isis aquarian’s vaults (by dave nuss of the no-neck blues band), the nine tracks on magnificence in the memory run the gamut of yahowha 13′s rainbow of styles, from the whispered funk of ‘camp of the gypsies’ to the screaming and stomping of, well, ‘camp of the gypsies.’ storming through moments with abandon, father and his sons never repeated themselves, committing everything they did to tape in a single take. the capacity of their riffs and grooves to sound like german prog bands of the same era, psychedelic rock bands of several years previous or the as-yet-uncreated avant sounds from the indie rock movement a decade away is testament to their ability to tap the source of human inspiration. adds octavius, ‘these cuts will always be a source of inspiration.’ the songs on magnificence in the memory were chosen to provide a non-stop exciting listening experience for source fans and neophytes alike – and as sunflower has stated, ‘father’s music is our legacy and represents the voice of the times.’
first studio recordings in 30 years from the incredible underground psych masters! the organic fluctuations of sonic chemistry. wildly primal. jazzy. blues-y. electrical. contagious. always inspired. music is channeled from the divine. unpracticed, unpretentious, and wickedly rockable! fire. water. air. ether. earth. fusing every element; taking you on an energetic cosmic carpet ride. sonic portation is the long awaited result, the first studio recordings in over 30 years by yahowha 13! released in november 2008 by prophase music, original members djin, octavius and sunflower jam out like the ensuing years never happened. incredible improv pieces with mind melting guitar and the psychedelic low end throb that all yod fans will immediately recognize. 2009 saw the band tour extensively for the first time in their fabled career, including performances in seattle, portland, arcata, san francisco, and la (where they were joined at the end of their set by billy corgan !?!). during their run of the east coast, dc, balt, philly, ny and new haven, the band had the opportunity to spend some time at the welfare line studios in royersford pa to record the foundation to their follow up release for sonic portation, “2013″. in july 2009, the band headlined the million tongues festival in chicago and performed at the ottawa blues festival, one of the largest music festivals in n america. additionally the entire east coast tour was professionally documented in high definition film by a very active hollywood filmmaker. a 17 minute short of this document will be debuting at film festivals throughout n america beginning this winter… hand numbered vinyl gatefold limited to 500. multi-color vinyl.
monster rare usa private pressing from 1968, rated with 6 stars in the hans pokora 3001 book. the yays & nays were a groovy, hip group comprised of three guys and three girls. this is a truly unique sounding album, full of creative songwriting and vocal arrangements and a style that defies any categorization. there’s some fab garage folk-rock on it (the opening track ‘gotta keep travelling’ is really astounding!), and also some tracks in a bizarre crooner-lounge incredibly strange music vein. reissued for the first time, in collaboration with band members, and with original artwork… great & unusual album!
second solo full-length from ed yazijian, also known for his long running but sparsely documented collaborations with dredd foole, featuring eight disparate tracks recorded between 1996 and 2009. each side starts off with some slow burning guitar (accented by bowed contrabass and violin on side two) that reverberates with an ease past midnight vibe. the album then weaves through a personalized space featuring eastern percussion, mainlined/cosmic violin drones and intercepted radio transmissions from an unknown origin. the record concludes with a contemplative guitar which is enveloped in tape hiss that eases its way in before fading away. the lp pressed in an edition of 350 copies and is presented in a full colour printed sleeve that is at one itself and with the spirits an opaque facsimile.
2 sides of bent frown jazz from the hardcore supergroup of lorenz, yeh and jewell. side a comes on all fifth dimension hard think: violin scrunch and squeal, hard tom rub and dense harmonic blowing pushed right to the front of your brain box, jams a frantic fanfare with locked horn and strings before giving in with a wheeze and a tinkle. side b’s call and answer shies away as fragments fragment into bowed skin, seesaw string microtone and rasped mouthpiece until spunk rock free jizz looseness explodes in downtown turntable street. artwork by wyvern.
minimal and tense recordings from the man behind burning star core. made up of ten unprocessed live to tape violin experiments edited from the original tapes originally issued as limited edition cdrs on c. spencer yeh’s drone disco imprint. the sounds on this record range from tense scrapes to minimal textural drones. a beautiful statement. edition of 400 copies with three-color screen print on front, one color on back… sweet one.
metal rouge has emerged as los angeles’ best kept secret in 2008, but they’re luckily getting some air underneath those silver wings. yek koo is another side of that same coin, though. this solo project from helga fassonaki, who is half of metal rouge, shimmers under the weight of leaded gold. “psychic atonement for land deaths” is an excursion through the shadowhills, built on a foundation of lapsteel and head-swirling vocals. it is boundless. on this album, fassonaki pushes new boundaries. with hints of the trails traveled by the likes of heather leigh-murray and fursaxa creeping in from the peripheral, yek koo deconstructs these flowing drones into flecks of silver and gold. these are serious times and this is serious stuff for all that ails you. ltd to 81 copies.
first ever vinyl reissue of this rare and sought after us psychedelic folk album from 1977, very much uk folk-styled. limited to 600 copies, all with exact reproduction of the original insert with lyrics… great intense pagan folk psych obscurity, recorded in the same studio within weeks of black flag’s nervous breakdown lp! ***there were warping problems with most copies sold, but these copies included a second lp (no cover) without warping, so you essentially get 2 copies for the price one, one of which may or may not be warped. got it? can’t go wrong, 2 for one…
the debut of yeti’s new, larger, square format, with an awesome carson ellis cover, and including a hard vinyl 7-inch ep featuring 4 killer unreleased songs: two 1959 lomax recordings by MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL; the TIKI MEN’s blown-out cover of duane eddy’s “first love, first tears,” recorded ca. 1994; plus a new recording by dreampop slayer GROUPER of dead moon’s “demona.” (there’s also a sweet, 100-minute, free digital download for those who miss the long mixes that came with previous issues.) inside the book: photos from the alan lomax archives ca. his 1959 ‘southern journey’; poet margarita shalina’s recollections of the nyc 1980s hardcore scene; kim spurlock’s annotated trove of neal cassady ephemera; photos by nina dudoladova of abandoned forts in kaliningrad, russia; epic essay on forgotten ‘90s surf band the tiki men; an interview with translator/author susan bernofsky; a great short story by mimi lipson; chris kirkley on african sign-painter thiam bellou; jamaican gospel 7-inch labels; drawings by tim miller, james trotter, and shana cleveland.
the first official vinyl reissue of this highly-rated and very rare us album. yezda urfa was a progressive rock band that formed in the fall of 1973 and existed until the spring of 1981. their “boris”, privately pressed, album came out in 1975 as a demo for giving them a way-out to some major record label. their try had no luck as the album didn’t atract any interest from the record labels, and nowadays this is one of the rarest us pressings. boris is an eclectic progressive/symphonic rock album -although some folky elements are evident here and there- reminiscent of some uk bands such as yes, gentle giant, cirkus and fantasy. but…yezda urfa was a us group and their music influencies and abilities moved them farther, producing a unique, powerful, adventurous, complicated and bizarre final result. powerful rhythm section, superb playing from the synths, keyboard and wind instruments and ingenious use of the guitar, banjo and mandolin. a must for the progressive music aficionados. “legendary local rarity with an interesting mix of styles. opens like a late 60s westcoast folkrock lp, then moves into yes-style symph/prog sounds with tempo shifts, moog leads and frantic playing. basement recording with a live feel and plenty of enthusiasm saves this from the usual prog-rock traps, and the tongue-in-cheek, showtune feel that runs through it is an advantage in this context. excellent, high-pitched vocals is another plus. side 1 is impressive throughout, while some of the unique dementia is missing on the too-proggish side 2. while no great fan of the style this is an lp i’ll probably return to in the future. [pl]” (taken from acid archives). thanx to greg walker (syn-phonic) & fully licenced by yezda urfa members. exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra 8-pages, fully laminated, booklet (a4 size), with bio, lyrics, memorabilia and unseen photos. a gig-poster is included as well. yet, a 7″ single (with laminated picture sleeve) is included with the previously unreleased -on vinyl- song, “the basis of dubenglazy while dirk does the dance”. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gm vinyl as usual. it will be a 400 black and 100 coloured copies, vinyl edition.
pretty boy daniel mitha serves up a diamond noise goiter. arcade game cut-up hookum meets candle lit face drill romance. dedicated to his future ex-wives 16 bitch pile-up.
300 copies on clear vinyl, numbered in circular die cut sleeves. choice of 3 sleeve colours: green, brown and red (same clear vinyl in each!). stunning debut 45 from amazing israeli slide / picker yair yona. much admired by the likes of glenn jones and the late great jack rose, the single here features 3 fabulous tracks of killer 6 / 12 string acoustic guitar, weissenborn (an acoustic slide guitar), resonator guitar, bass and banjo, over a layered drone backing, an awesome ep in cool circular packaging… really nice stuff.
a chance nightclub pairing of the incomparable michael yonkers with minneapolis noise rockers the blind shake went so exceptionally well that a studio session ensued. the result is this, one of two vinyl documents that represent by far the most exciting new work that yonkers has recorded since his international emergence. the blind shake rock with a sound not unlike latter-day hammerhead (which might be a better thing than you think), with yonkers splattering maniacal guitar shards and impassioned vocals over the top. add the best collection of songs (with great, skewered goddamn hooks) yonkers has come up with since at least the early ’70s and you have a serious contender for rock record of the year. packaged in beautiful silkscreened sleeves designed by zak sally (ex-low). limited edition of 400 copies… totally sweet packaging!
the second of two startling michael yonkers releases is an eight-band lp of solo, modified guitar improvisations. these recordings were picked from a number of tapes representing the entire works recorded by yonkers that utilized a severely altered steinberger knockoff guitar (that has since been retired). the music was recorded on a high-speed four-channel cassette machine, further manipulated during mastering. this is the “noise” record that lucky regional yonkers aficionados have been hoping for since witnessing his infrequent, brain-scrambling, all-instrumental performances-and then some! vinyl-only edition of 303 numbered copies in a gorgeous, four-color hand-screened jacket by minneapolis artist and printer dan black complete the scrumptious package… another real sweet one.
recorded in glasgow, march 2006. ap: electric bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, theremin, percussion; ry: electric bass guitar, electric guitar, shakuhachi, percussion. highly recommended!
brand new pitch-black live seance style from the duo of richard youngs and andrew paine. recorded with an armoury of unknown instrumentation sprawled around a room in the dark and then overdubbed with vocals without reference to the first recordings, this one combines the logic of the classic durian durian side with a much creepier, low-level ritualistic atmosphere featuring paine and youngs gargling wordless chants like electrified monks while bells, small instruments and thick, hovering silence builds to a crescendo of black-on-black. very psychedelic. – volcanic tongue.
here the duo use vocals, guitar, keyboards and programming to launch a series of eight intensely detailed paranoiac sci-fi fantasies that sound somewhere between early nurse with wound (with the combination of cut-up malevolent vocals and deep-field drones evoking work circa homotopy to marie in particular), the more electronic prog stylings of ilk, early youngs vocal pieces like the train tickets/postage stamps series, creel pone-esque experiments in concrete sound, steve reich’s different trains, throbbing gristle, harsh power tone and nightmarish, almost disinformation-styled electronic hypnosis. easily one of the darkest, evocative and plain weird releases from youngs and paine to date. – volcanic tongue.
new limited collaborative album from youngs and paine, on paine’s own sonic oyster imprint. this set is a little more subtle than previous installments, with two short tracks based around flickering vocals, delicate electronic melodies and puffs of flute giving way to a long piano/fuzz guitar instrumental that would reconcile mazzacane-style overdriven string action with lugubrious single note melodies. – volcanic tongue.
tokyo garden suite is one of the most beautiful, stately and oddly melancholic releases in the sonic oyster catalogue. as well as paine and youngs, the disc sees the return to the fold of steve todd, who the no fans hardcore will immediately recognise as the duo partner youngs cut the great georgians cd with for vhf back in 1996. todd opens the 30 minute piece with a sombre, atmospheric reading of a text which introduces a slow, single note piano motif behind which paine and youngs’ spoken vocals create a feeling of a post-apocalyptic albion, with lyrics that reference the buzz of geiger counters double by overblown shakuhachi. in many ways tokyo garden suite is an extension – or perhaps more accurately a dilation – of the minimal logic of earlier youngs pieces like advent while factoring in the later more prog-tinged aspects of the best ilk recordings. outside of ultrahits, this has probably been the most played sonic oyster disc in the office. highly recommended. – volcanic tongue.
debut album from the duo of richard youngs and tirath singh nirmala (nee john clyde-evans) that has the pair creating a bucolic minimalist meditation. side one interchangeably features hammered strings, gong/cymbal washes, droning vocals, and breathed shackuhachi/flutes. the second side leads with a melodious encounter before delving further into a glimmering psychedelia with sawed strings, fluttering reed organ and electronic drift. the results resemble a non-western approach to traditional musics filtered through the personalized aesthetic that runs through each of the artist’s prior works. the lp is enclosed in a full colour cover with suitable “of the earth” imagery… very limited pressing. beautiful full color cover art.
a reissue of richard young’s debut record, originally released in 1990 on his no fans label in an edition of 300 copies, and then again on table of the elements.”a three-part composition for piano, voice and ultra-nasty oboe and electric guitar. — alan licht… much needed vinyl reissue. very recommended!
richard youngs is a prolific british musician (located in glasgow) with an extremely diverse output. dusted magazine once wrote he is “defying strict genre classifications since the early nineties, swapping labels, styles, partners, motifs, and recording techniques as the desire has struck him”. so his new album for dekorder might not be a surprise to anyone following his career. still, a self-proclaimed all-electronic “ecstatic house record” comes somewhat unexpected. with a line of distinctive synthesizers often used for techno/house music youngs recreates the energy, euphoria and frenzy of these styles without ever trying to recreate the music note by note.the final outcome sounds like recordings made by aliens who have received transmissions about house music but never listened to the music itself. the album reminds of the sound of hallways/corridors inbetween large house parties where you can hear the music from several floors collide. while it’s an emulation, interpretation or replica of house music, it’s still managing to evoke similar feelings even though some might find it difficult to dance to the music. in the past, youngs has released several albums on a dozen labels such as vhf, jagjaguwar, table of the elements, gipsy sphinx, majora, chocolate monk, celebrate psi phenomena, fusetron and his own no fans outlet. he has collaborated with neil campbell (aka astral social club), matthew bower, simon wickham-smith and many others and was a member of the a-band and has performed live and in the studio with sunroof! and skullflower. additionally, youngs played bass for jandek, appearing on three of his live records/dvd’s.
youth of the beast is pure primitive electronics, suffocating saxophone scrawl and epic percussion. acting as the solo output for raccoo-oo-oon’s andy spore, this record is yotb’s first vinyl offering following up a few tapes on night people and fuck it tapes. blistering vocal screeches and mixer feedback blasts meld with stray tones as brass wails and drums are pounded. spore is a master of channeling the spirits right into the basement where he crafts his jams, creating a captivating mass of noise and psychedelic signals crossing for a painfully beautiful 10 minutes. breathless sax solos and massive tribal percussion interspersed throughout. the sum of all these parts is something intense, unknown; an ever evolving sonic creature as bleak as it is restless. in an edition of 315 records with epic xeroxed double sided/double foldover (you’ll understand it when you see it) sleeves and printed labels by spore.
guerssen reissues this mega-rare private pressing from france, 1975, with only 300 copies originally made. pretty unknown album, and a killer! nothing you would expect from a french record, really. this is 100% usa early-’70s sounding stuff: west coast folk-rock with a psychedelic edge, csny feel, acoustic & electric guitars, some fierce fuzz assaults and english vocals. an incredible discovery! the original pressing came with a plain white cover, and a few copies were later pasted-on with a few very low quality photos. for this reissue guerssen used this restored original artwork and also included a booklet with info and photos. fantastic remastered sound.
marcia bassett of double leopards, hototogisu, ghq, fame on her first proper solo full length has given us one of our favorites in the history of hospital productions. sexual infinty stands refreshingly organized into six escalating pieces of her signature guitar, voice, and electronic moodscapes entrancing the listener with sinister seduction. comparisons to early 80s power electronics and industrial acts as uncommunity, mauthausen orchestra and ramleh reside in the underbelly of zaimph’s ability to generate ominous, gritty, and doom laden atmosphere cloaked in a thick lush drone. what begins with raw ethereal guitar shadows of longing delight closes with vital gripping electronic tension.
zaimph is working cover for the solo experiments of marcia bassett, formerly of un and double leopards, currently of ghq and hototogisu. the undetermined dyad functions as the fulcrum of her career to date, looking back towards her experiments in group levitation with double leopards while extrapolating on her recent solo work. most of all it’s a *guitar* record and one that sits comfortably alongside previous six-string monoliths like john fahey’s days have gone by, donald miller’s a little treatise on morals or masayuki takayanagi’s live at zojoji hall while sounding quite unlike any of them. bassett’s re-imagining of the instrument pushes it to the point of almost-translucence, where the physical fact of the guitar itself is almost completely subsumed by echo, f/x, loops and the kind of improvisatory logic that prizes infinite expansion and organic growth over repeated tropes or riffs. aspects of the first side – the eerie ghost voices, the deep space echo – recall the electrified ritual of nomadic japanese avant gardists taj mahal travellers but more immediately it sounds like a magnification of her individual contribution to double leopards, generating towers of electricity that move from malevolent arcs of anti-gravity and spumes of throttled single notes through to deep wormholes that do violence to feeble notions of time and space. the b side is a little more aggressive, with the tactile sound of strings on pick-ups anchoring a gorgeous wash of all-consuming drone and garage band fuzz before bassett cranks the tone into realms of total sonic reducer. if your concept of the guitar begins with jimi hendrix setting the fucking thing on fire and ends with the sound of voltage completely liberated from any kind of tonal or harmonic anchor whatsoever then this record may well be the girl you’ve been praying for. but you won’t wanna introduce her to your parents. edition of 300 copies, with jackets featuring original artwork by marcia bassett, all silkscreened by alan sherry of siwa and with a full-colour insert wrapped in a japanese plastic sleeve. expertly mastered by tom carter of charalambides.
absolute mega-rarity, an incredible discovery and the ultimate folk-psych artifact unearthed directly from teheran! female vocalist pari zangeneh recorded this really amazing album in 1976 with a full backing band, covering a number of traditional persian folk songs and giving them a lovely psychedelic flavor. beautiful strings, flutes, really charming and tasty drumming, some organ and orchestration, percussion. a truly fantastic album, and one of the rarest folk-psych records ever to file along other obscurities as book of am or mellow candle! … deluxe reissue in a super heavy (shadoks style) exact repro textured cover, 180gm vinyl, numbered edition of 350.
two discs, one audio, one video montage by david lee price with a separate zanzibar soundtrack. limited edition of 100 in a vellum sleeve, screen printed by nevada hill. an ebbing series of hypnotic fjords that whisper, banter & barter, commingle, converge & break apart, pile up and explode. michael chamy & nevada hill w/ guest spots from chicago-based saxophonist mike forbes, and austin’s david lee price, who re-imagines the epic opener in flashback form. video: carbage goma, a visual transmission by david lee price. soundtrack by zanzibar snails recorded live in denton, tx on 9/29/2007. a hallucinatory montage by david lee price titled “carbage goma,” with zanzibar snails producing the soundtrack. the audio is taken from a live performance by a five-piece lineup feat. price, seth sherman & josh mcwhirter … a chanting, clattering cry for help giving narrative to price’s shifty, swirling ode to the primeval takeover of a technocratic society by a battalion of mutated hervay villachaize clones & his pet cadre of mutant wombat larva sporting oversized women’s sunglasses.
krakkatowiak is the centerpiece of a sprawling home recording session in early 2007 in the center of dallas-area suburbia. hill’s krakkling ampbuzz and intermittently piercing screetch guitar opens the door into a vertigo-inducing world populated by wildfire free sax explosions, reverberating junkpile percussion, and jarring outbursts of smoking oscillator emissions, transposed with restful ambient daydreams — tonal fortune cookies on a lighly bouncy early elec tronic nest, populated by the friendly electromagnetic denizens of the shortwave. only to erupt again into 31st-century tribal breakdowns. over the course of this ambitious 17-minute piece, the zanzibar snails have managed to fuse the freeform incidentalism of amm with the focused-yet-reckless energy of this heat, and the anything-goes playfulness of sunburned hand of the man. all neatly wrapped in a micro-package of antique paper stock smeared with the distinctively bold style of locally renowned poster artist and designer hill, and a dense antediluvian tissue insert courtesy of hill’s zine collaborator david price.
in 2004 the zashiki warashi organization began sending out pieces of music through the mail to various parties in different geographic locations asking them to interact with it in some way and return it, which would then be assembled into a larger whole. this album is the result. includes battles with: burning star core, alan dubin (khanate, gnaw, old), marcia bassett (double leopards, zaimph), david shuford (nnck, enos slaughter), pigeons, kuwayama kiyoharu, marshall avett (zandosis), greg wildes (gas tank orchestra), carter thornton, carl smith / derek phelps, darwin smith, smith harrison, dr. mijin kim. vinyl only. limited to 550 copies.
zadik zecharia’s zorna playing is a powerful relentless blast of beauty. the drone-like qualities that engulf both the listener and player are unyielding in their intensity from start to finish. the instrument, well known in the middle east, particularly in kurdistan, iraq and turkey, is similar in sound and intensity to the scottish bagpipes. zadik takes few pauses for breath, but wildly plays a continuous flow of melody weaving around the dola drum that provides a pulsating rhythm. zadik zecharia was born in the sharnash village in kurdistan and moved to israel in 1950. zadik has dedicated his whole life to playing the zorna — a traditional, trumpet-like instrument (but longer and narrower), that has been identified with the kurdish people. ‘there are two kinds of melodies: chopie and shechni. the chopie are the fast melodies, tunes for dancing with the high notes of the zorna. the dola drum always accompanies the zorna on chopie tunes. the shechni are slower melodies in the background, sad tunes that are usually played while the celebrators are sitting around the table. it reminds them of their motherland, kurdistan, and serves as an intro to the partying and dancing.’ (tzadik zecharia, jerusalem 2005) first released on cassette in the 1980s, bo’ weavil reissue this with a beautiful digi-pack designed sleeve. limited to 550 – very cool entho-trance ragger. beautiful heavy art paper packaging.
we recorded “ink” on two separate days in may and april of 2005. all songs were recorded live to cd, with no overdubs. the instrumentation on all tracks is quite different from zelienople’s previous releases, with most of the instruments being invented. boxes with springs or thick wire were used for percussion, and much of the”string” sounds were made with tuned suspension cable. mike also plays a large artillery shell on two of the tracks. there’s still a fair amount of guitar on the record, but most of it is obscured by the screeching and droning of the new instruments. our reworking of”hard to steal cars” (the first song on our first record,”pajama avenue”) was put through the drone machine as a warm up for the recording session. we liked the way it turned out, and decided to include it with the other songs (no, we’re not just lazy) – limited to 100 copies only, and quite lovely. nice heavy covers too!
reissue of late-90s mail collaboration between phil todd (ashtray navigations) and lasse marhaug (jazzkammer, del etc), originally released in a micro-edition by ordinance tape only. the kids thede days want noise and thats what they’ll get. swirling relentless cosmic electro-spasms of it. packaged in recycled maps, as was the original cassette version, with paste-on gold gocco print. numbered edition of 100.
twenty dense minutes of one guitar flipping from amp to two dollar box in a small room of sweet tile… one sided with action photo pasted to the wax…. edition of 200 copies… out of print. paste-on/hand made recycled covers.
it’s back to the bathroom for another twenty minute slice – this time four cellos zone and drone around the tiled walls (my bathroom, your brain) – lights out, goodnight – hand embellished recycled cover. long out of print. limited to 200 copies.
this is the zodiac speaking. a collection of early demos from the primal beginnings of the zodiac mountain, a grateful underground process of young and ready saints. lake winnebago holds beautiful songs colliding with twisted jams, all at the edges of their wits, from gone down too long in the zone – new project from clay ruby, james toth & co. nice.
early in the summer of ’06, clay ruby’s zodiac mountain did a short u.s. tour, showering the people with roots rock, heavenly boogie, atmospheric spirituals, cryptic blues and the occasional classic cover tune. this incarnation of zodiac mountain was a collaboration betwee clay ruby and wooden wand, featuring jams with nate nelson (mouthus,religious knives), robert beatty (eyes and arms of smoke, hair police), and maya miller (religious knives, double leopards). 5 songs, over an hour of red, white and blue bliss from two of the heaviest, gun toting, bourbon soaked, bbq breath’d road warriors east of the mississippi.
can you smell burning horse hair and flesh? totally unprecedented and deep scuzz damage from a group that may or may not be none other than clay ruby (davenport, etc), keith wood (hush arbors, etc.), and james jackson toth (wooden wand, etc.) under psuedonymns. long jams that bring to mind such wild ones as german oak, magic muscle and that foggy dream you had where the stooges covered ‘space ritual’ start to finish. led by the mysterious zodiac speedcreep, whos credited as handling drums, organ and vocals all at the same time, zodiacs burn a heavy trail back to the days where outlaw biker clubs roasted and consumed whole horses in celebration of the wild life. come and gone are two cdrs to be released simultaneously, extremely limited so hurry!
debut release of zohnenshein is available now. this 7″ lathe-cut in an edition of 33 features electric melodica music on one side (check out sample from the suite) and mouth music on the flip (note ‘i walk, you follow’). who needs laptops and keyboards to make profound electronic music? who needs a band?
after their world-wide and unexpected hit with time of the season, the somehow announced death of the zombies, who had indeed already disbanded, was put off by an attempt at prolonging this success. using new odyssey & oracle-era recordings, and rescuing some old decca outtakes and demos, a new album was prepared for release. unfortunately the album never saw the light; instead, a couple of singles were released, and the rest of the album was discarded… until some of the material featured here was released in several compilation albums during the ’70s and the ’80s, much to the astonishment of zombies fans. this is the first time that the album is released in the way it was conceived. unlike much of the ‘unreleased’ material of other bands, the content of the lp matches the published work of the zombies, in terms of song-writing and production, confirming the talent of one of the most influential bands of the sixties… very cool item for the serious fan.
distributed items
deep space cosmic whisperings, prog spirals and sonic exorcisms minced into a dense narcotic fog of melodic guitars, bowed strings, keyboard mutilations and spectral murmurs, slowly creepy from the speakers to flood the room with trance vibrations, occasionally lifting itself up into clatterings of drum and bone, or prayer like voicings. there is a visual quality to this music, a narrative flow, like bearing witness to strange events, creepy and portentous – more sweet mystery sounds. nice full color covers.
long out of print. numbered to 50 copies.
the richest hues, soaked in heavy decay. the brightest tones, steeped in analog fuzz and digital fog. the sound of one hand waving away the smoke from a burning bush. this new cd-r from (vxpxc) stacks layers of analog and digital keyboards with looping guitars and voices, and peppers the whole mix with a slew of acoustic instruments (from banjos to accordions to violins). this cd-r is protected from the forces of nature by a black plastic clamshell perfectly matched with industrial photos by andrew smrz… quite limited.
long out of print, last copy.
out of print. one copy only.
brand new cdr from trio of grant capes, justin mcinteer and tim goodwillie recorded in la. wavering multi instrumental folk-psyche-drone jams across 4 tracks, total bliss! again comes in the same lightweight paper as the wwvv with fold out all over artwork by darryl norsen. limited to 110 handnumbered copies. this was previously intended to be a cassette, but the band decided they wanted a cdr instead… very limited.
the 1972 debut album by turkish ethno psych-rockers 3 hur-el. the three hür-el brothers, onur (bass), haldun (drums, percussion) and feridun (saz-guitar + vocals), were one of the very few turkish groups at the time not playing covers, but only self-penned compositions. having played together for their whole life (other projects included trio istanbul, biraderler, alizeler, and oguzlar, and all three brothers were members of the selçuk alagoz orchestra), they formed 3 hur-el in the late 1960’s, releasing two wonderful albums as their all-too-brief recording legacy. feridun created the double-neck saz-guitar (a combination of electric saz and electric guitar in the same body), and haldun’s drum set was an assemblage of darbukas (a turkish percussive instrument also used in north africa and the arabian peninsula) in different sizes, made by the copper masters of the beyazit bazaar in istanbul! the hür-el debut is a brilliant set of turkish ethno-influenced folk-rock with a psychedelic progressive feel, some great electric guitar and fantastic eastern percussion. this very rare album is now available again on vinyl (the cd version on world psychedelia also in stock), with remastered sound from the original mastertapes. includes an insert with detailed liner notes and photos.
this is the second album by turkish ethno psych-rockers 3 hür-el, originally released in 1976 on the diskötur label. comprised of three brothers, onur (bass), haldun (drums, percussion) and feridun hürel (saz-guitar, vocals), they were one of the very few, if not the only, turkish groups at the time not doing any covers, but only self-penned compositions. hürel arsivi is an absolute killer of an album and easily one of the top turkish psych records ever released. it has a more western feel, with brother feridun here infected by a fuzz-virus and his own two-arm guitar (one for guitar, one for saz). also there’s much more heavy drums than percussion, in an astounding blend of psychedelic rock and traditional turkish instrumentation, and of course, plenty of distorted fuzz guitar and electric saz. includes an insert with detailed liner notes and photos.
the first public appearance pairing christian henjes and juergen gleue (inspired by and with names derived from lsd-25, they would become ch-39 and jg-39) was in 1976, at the dada nova (a space occupied by otto mühl’s aao commune) in midtown hannover, germany. dada nova would be a space of enduring clash. from the subtlety of a shat upon organ to the ejection from communal meetings by bodily force, the aao would display that the presence of the 39 clocks was one of their constant grief. known for pranksterism and the destruction of the clubs in which they would perform, friction in every form would continually follow the band. in 1979 they were thrown out of a show in kassel at dokumenta (their sounds had disturbed joseph beuys). they created an outrage (they wrote a tune with the title “art minus idiots”) at the filmtage hannover with their avant-garde super 8 movies made under the disguise of director zachius lipschitz. rumour claims that at a hannover show at the cafe glocksee, they played the vacuum cleaner and a circular saw instead of guitars, and there was even a knife throwing incident in bremen. inspired, then, clearly, by protest in the broadest and most romantic sense (they wrote a tune with the title “radical student mob in satin boots”) their’s was a sound attuned to classic american punk / nuggets. although, this is not bomp rock; theirs was a thrust that purposed deconstruction and reassembly in the most modern sense. this collection was put together with the non completeist in mind (originals of some of these records are as rare as italian underwear), intending to display the general 39 clocks vibe, but also some of their more curious wrinkles. and as the clocks were always interested in where they were going and not where they’d been, the chronology here is strictly reversed. diedrich diedrichsen wrote the first review of the band (in spex), and we at destijl are very pleased to have had him scribe liner notes.
50 foot women is a san francisco-based duo with jessi leigh swenson and elaine barry kahn. swenson is known for her trance-forming work with the believers and duck, kahn is a wild card. combined, they create and destroy small forms with the ease of kettle fish.
a two part experimental acoustic guitar offering funneled through a train load of pedals and effect and then ejected from a marshall 1/2 stack performed by michael gibbons of bardo pond (and all things philadelphia and psychedelic). recorded by myself in 2007 at the worlds nosiest book store bigjar in philly. the cd edition comes housed in a slightly taller sleeve with two color silk screen work by alan sherry of siwa on a heavyweight 140lb paper. the front cover is die cut with an inserted picture from the performance printed on vellum, all hand glued and assembled by myself. edition of 500… nice one & beautifully packaged.
released 10 march, 2007. performed and recorded by michael gibbons (bardo pond) over the course of 2006 in the lemur house, apocatastisis is a meditation on restoration and awakening. an inner voyage in seven parts consisting of guitars, effects, sitar, tabla and violin. a truly special record. from a one-time pressing of 677 hand-numbered copies. housed within sleeves that were individually silk-screened by alan sherry (siwa).
reissue of first 6majik9 disc, previously available on foxglove.
more brothers of the occult sisterhood related psych drone goodness. nice hand painted covers.
cosmic jewels and meditation jams by the musicyourmindwillloveyou tribe. 6majik9 creates a path of sound experiments in the australian bush and brings us some moody soundscapes of short acid melodies. come with the guru in this psychedelic and tribal journey – limited to 93 copies.
the latest offering of psych/sludge from the only real band in the universe. at times space travel, air decorations, or pleading sufferance.
interviews with book of am, ed yazijian, geoff mullen, ghosting. art and words by ilyas ahmed, juan arkotxa, tara burke, darrell buxton, tom carter, cybele collins, sara czerny, bart de paepe, paul grimes, jani hirvonen, phil legard, samara lubelski, leslie mackenzie, marja mikkonen, thurston moore, roberto opalio, zachery reno, matt valentine. silkscreened coverfrogs by colleen kinsella… very sweet little read! recommended.
a middle sex? who the fuck are a middle sex i hear you cry… one of the best out there bands in the uk that nearly no one knows, totally ruling manchester duo of phil and karl. fluxing between minimal scrape and pound rhythms to noisy tumbling weird jamzzz using there trashed guitar, drums and electronics, with the odd weird vocal splatter thrown in. this is fresh from the jungles of manchester… it really gives me a jungle vibe – you’ll see what i mean. colour sleeve, edition of 55.
another hot jammer from the session in the fall 2007 from the trio of steffan deturck, jan-m. iversen and sindre bjerga. blissful drones, crackling electro-accoustics… this should have been out last year, but we didn’t want to flood the market haha.. small edition on 1-sided “ecological” tapes…
mysterious finnish psych folk is a cool deluxe cardboard package. limited to 120 copies.
out of print. one copy only.
a mountain of melodie and shimmering strings makes a ghostly trail under sweet vocal clouds with percussion eruption and hot vapor guitar.
acid mother’s temple’s glorify astrological martyrdom is sure to appeal to the myriad amt fans who have made crystal rainbow pyramid a new fan favorite. professionally recorded mega riffage for a super defined clean sound. kawabata and company deliver this focused rock explosion full of hyper repetitive heavy hooks and freaked out pitched up vocals. cover art by seldon hunt… tour only lp, very limited stock.
mysterious woods bootleg. four beautiful acoustic versions of “rain on”, “twisted tongue”, “to clean” and “the number”. one sided, white label twelve inch with a pasted-on cover image. very limited, origins unclear… awesome little document and sure to not hang around long. recommended.
over the last few years brandon nickel has been honing his sound and making a name for himself with the, as of recent, very impressive isounderscore label. not afraid to embrace technology, aemae sounds is at times restrained, and at times a whirling maelstrom of ones and zeros, yet always carefully constructed, each release taking months of editing and re-editing. here the sound falls into the later, more intense mode of aemae, and a fitting way to retire the name, as mr. nickel is using his own name to perform under. comprised of edited live material, yet the heightened composure is still evident. the a-side is a lot of gear, screaming at each other more or less really, digital mulch. the flip offers a slightly more restrained sound, and could be visually compared to a sheer obsidian cliff on a foreign planet where the air is ten times the density of our own planet, the geological formation slowly rising along the horizon until it falls off the edge. silver offset ink on metallic black stock, 2-panel j-card. edition of 111 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
a new collection of material culled from recordings made in 2004 through 2007, mostly at the blueberry studio space in brattleboro vt. aethr myth’d members and some local guests in a sprawling unformed free process. this disc was made to be available on the band’s recent east coast usa tour, limited to 200 hand assembled copies. next planned shows will be at various random stops in europe.
afcgt = 3 parts a-frames + 2 parts climax golden twins. this is a vinyl release of their self release cdr that was limited to about 75 copies. those lucky enough to have heard that cdr, along with those who have caught one of this beast live in the past year know just what to expect. not quite as robotic and structured as the a-frames, not quite as loose nor remotely as mellow as the twins ever are. raw, noisy, dirty, psyched out punk rock. this record is in the red all the way through, and by the end your speakers should be nearly as blown out as the amps used to record these tracks. this is a supergroup set to lay waste to all other supergroups. pressed in an edition of 550 on 180 gram white vinyl. packaged in a tip-on style gatefold jacket with silk-screened art.
age of disinformation is a lucid nightmare supergroup featuring members of dallas/denton/ft. worth area ensembles great tyrant, zanzibar snails, yells at eels, tidbits, subkommander & aphonic curtains. at midnight on may 23, 2008, surrealist impresario aaron gonzalez assembled a 6-piece ambient group called age of disinformation, billing the event in advance as “an improvisation on the current state of psychological and spiritual breakdown as it relates to viral ecosystems of economies of information.” those were the only instructions the incoming players received. the end result: a 47-minute cloud of transmogrifying cadmium clouds with mercury lining, mutated voices meshing with dark electronic scree tempered by beautifying moments of translucent cognition, paving the way for the formation of the eternal unimind. the way to evolution is …. disinformation? limited edition 200 cdr, featuring design by nevada hill based on a collage by aaron gonzalez.
pakistani-born musician ilyas ahmed traffics a sound that borders on the folk/drone/raga/rock axis, one that scottish critic david keenan has called ‘gone’. currently residing in portland, or, ahmed has released recordings on time-lag, digitalis, and root strata. immune recordings is now proud to present the ultimate edition of these two modern classics presented as a deluxe gatefold double lp. featuring the original collage artwork printed in full color as well as brand new gatefold artwork created especially for this release by ilyas ahmed. the music was meticulously cut to vinyl by roger seibel at sae mastering in phoenix, az and pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in camarillo, ca… highly recommended vinyl version of these great early recordings.
since 2005 ilyas ahmed has been blurring the folk/drone/raga/rock realms into a sound that is uniquely his own. a string of self-released cdrs in 2005/2006 brought ahmed immediate attention and he soon released landmark albums on time-lag, digitalis, and root strata. in 2010 immune began working with ahmed first giving his first two albums between two skies & towards the night a deluxe 2xlp vinyl release and then in 2011 releasing a split 7” between ahmed and steve gunn for record store day. ahmed’s brand new album with endless fire was entirely written, performed and recorded direct to analog tape by ilyas ahmed in portland, or. it is ahmed’s first album since his 2009 release goner (root strata) and continues the much fuller sound presented there, giving us his unmistakable voice with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium, organ, and drums. ilyas ahmed on with endless fire : “this record started out during an extended period of decline and gradually shifted focus to let more light in, to reconcile the murky depths and the ecstatic highs of everyday life. i wanted to make music that was “of” rather than “by”. it was the first time i felt there was no separation between head & hands, instruments & speakers, microphones & air, fuzz pedals & tape machines. the songs are inspired equally by memory, loss, love, and electricity.” with endless fire was mastered by timothy stollenwerk in portland, or and cut to vinyl by roger seibel at sae in phoenix, az. the album is housed in a heavy-duty old-style tip-on gatefold jacket printed by stoughton and includes a free download coupon. the lp is limited to only 1,000 copies. also included is a free download coupon… awesome new album. looks and sounds totally hot. highly recommended!
reissue of a 1978 self released lp by one of the greatest ethiopian vocalists of all time. this material has not been reissued in any form since its original release. recorded at the end of the ‘golden age’ of ethiopian urban music, mahmoud is in top form belting out transcendent intense vocals over the ibex bands’ hypnotic soulful sound. as good as it gets & as close to universally perfect music as ever has been made. old school thick “tip on” sleeve. beautifully remastered by timothy stollenwerk.
improvised guitar & drums racket, released 30.3.2006.
jason ajemian is perhaps best known as 1/2 of the magical born heller (w/ josephine foster). ajemian also plays in a number of excellent jazz ensembles throughout chicago (like dragons 1976). but on”love songs invade your mind too,” ajemian steps to the forefront and does nothing but impress. over the course of nine tracks, ajemian shows that true power of a love son. now, these aren’t your typical sappy affairs, these are songs extracted from deep within ajemian’s smitten soul. using little more than upright bass and voice, ajemian’s stark incantations are deeply affecting. ajemian’s approach here couldn’t be simpler. but his talent and ability morph these pieces into something grandiose and magnificent. you don’t find honesty like this anymore. 100 copies.
near passerine devotionals is a new, vinyl-only label residing near toronto, ontario, canada. for our debut release, npd is proud to deliver this mammoth caustic-drone masterpiece from oklahoma’s native sons, ajilvsga (brad rose – he who runs the digitalis imprint, and nathan young – not the wolf eyes guy). trading in their guitars for synthesizers, this prolific duo has unloaded a pair of rocket blasts that are sure to flip your skull. the a-side is ear-meltingly delicious, slowly ramping from deepest drone to sheets of piercing skree. the flip takes the pummelling even further, incorporating a sinister rhythm and ghost-vox from brad’s wife, eden. it’s the soundtrack to your beheading… we feel that this is some of the best ajilvsga action yet! and it’s on vinyl!! comes sheathed in a 12″x18″ poster on heavy stock silkscreened by the mighty vgkids; artwork courtesy of evan caminiti (barn owl)… limited to only 300 copies.
with their third release for peasant magik, ajilvsga push their sound even further. huge slabs of densely layered scum continuously churn while rose and young summon shards of electricity from the high heavens. edition of 100.
the consistently mind numbing crushing noise project from nathan young and brad rose (the north sea, digitalis), like a black swarm of god knows what tearing your mind apart. if you dug the north sea cassette we released last year, you should def check this shit out. limited to 100.
the second release highlights the improvisatory aspect of van wissem’s activity, but as is always the case with him, the approach is not so easy to categorize. hymn for a fallen angel pairs van wissem with another rigorously iconoclastic artist, japanese guitarist and off-site alum, tetuzi akiyama. van wissem improvised to a recording of akiyama that he had entered into garageband, a program which allowed him to “see akiyama’s notes coming.” the result is something like a duo improvisation in which the participants are separated in time, with one player given the benefit (or burden) of precognition. this is austere, yet open music that unfolds slowly and laterally, with van wissem’s lute and akiyama’s bottleneck guitar tightly echoing one another or sounding together in strange clusters of tones that are allowed to decay slowly into deep chasms of silence. full of spectral chords, microtonal glissandi, and iron concentration, hymn draws firmly from the work of both artists in forging a sound world that is as barren as it is deep. tetuzi akiyama – martin hd-28 guitar, bottle neck. jozef van wissem – baroque lute, bottle neck, edits… beautiful stuff. edition of 500. nice silver on black cover art.
the japanese guitarist tetuzi akiyama performs an improvised set as a duo with canadian percussionist jeffrey allport on july 1, 2006. this recording is of the first and only time these two well-regarded improvisers have ever played together. living on opposite sides of the pacific, this show became an opportunity for allport and akiyama to each perform some of their most advanced techniques in improvised music with a player whose style was truly compatible. allport approaches every side of his drum, the rim, the snares, the steel clamps, and of course, the skin to produce a challenging repertoire of sounds that defy the drum’s gambit, segues from tibetan drones to electronic clicks and cuts, distant steamships to nearby popcorn. akiyama’s preternatural improvisations along the neck and body of his guitar meditate patiently on each bluesy sound, almost as if his fingers were playing along the surface of a slow-moving river. every note that akiyama plays becomes a sensational interruption causing ripples, splashes, and oxbows in the flow of the music. performed live at a sold-out western front, vancouver’s oldest and most significant artist-run venue, akiyama and allport propose a rich new vocabulary for music. two tracks on vinyl mastered by toshimaru nakamura. this lp documents an unprecedented collaboration between two modern masters of far left improvisation.
tetuzi akiyama has been a major player on the free music/improv scene in tokyo for going on 20 years. pre-existence first came out on cd as a part of the great ’wooden guitar’ series from locust. akiyama’s playing here is one of a minimalist approach, discovering and investigating the empty spaces between each note. he does not follow the takoma guitar school style of finger-picking, but a far more warped primitive country blues feel, with a meditative quality. you never know where you are going to be led with his guitar, down roads rarely traveled. with his dense tapestry of sounds, akiyama evokes emotions that at times are uncomfortable, but of real beauty. open your ears and let the music take you far far out there? 180gm vinyl, heavy textured covers, and hand numbered to 550. awesome.
this 7″ from scotch tapes features san francisco noise/ psych band, al qaeda. its a collaborative affair with side a getting help from mike watt (the minutemen), gabe serbian (the locust, holy molar) and chris carrico (aarktica) while side b features weirdo hip-hop act, occassional detroit. it comes packaged in incredible art by kevin yuen who has recently done tour poster art for the likes of sunn o))). its limited to 324 copies and is pressed on silky smooth green/aqua marbled vinyl. al qaeda recently toured in support of this 7″ with watt, serbian and rob crow (pinback) making appearances on stage with them.
anonymous group of forest dwellers. recorded off the coast of maine and sounds exactly what you think that would sound like. wheezy wordless vocals and strummed strings are gathered in a joyous ritual.
forthcoming lp on time-lag. edition of 100.
2nd release following debut on foxglove. more bone less meat less muscle more sinew fewer thoughts less synaps some time less space – color paste-on art with insert. nice.
electronic reverberations. pounding metallic crashes. sonic wails calling for the end of something we’re not sure of just yet. keep listening as all hope for a better tomorrow quickly crumbles into a venomous pile of tape hiss and radio transmissions from the planet we used to call earth. we’re truly fucked. colour photocopied artwork by sarah taylor. photocopied insert. spray painted cassettes. hand stamped and numbered edition of 100.
amanaz was formed in 1973. 3 songs are in the native language bemba, and 9 songs in english, recorded in kitwe, the 3rd biggest city in zambia up north. musically is goes in the same direction as blo, the witch and question mark, but this album is way cooler and stoned with amazing fuzz guitar all over which sounds like an african version of early cream. the cover make it look very traditional but after a few spins you are aware that this one is very special. it’s soo cool, so tight produced and easily to compare with uk underground albums with a touch of african beats. still completely unknown, so this album has not been scored yet by the collectors scene. a real surprise… new edition of 300 on 180gm yellow vinyl. great album!
first full-length album from mark mcguire (emeralds, etc…) and julian gulyas (synaptic foliage, etc..). expansive guitar and synthesizer compositions recorded in the dead of winter. limited to 500 copies on black vinyl… pretty awesome one if you’re digging this sound!
the mystic worlds of valerio cosi and the solo joint collide as amber lions……one long track navigates through a dreamworld of saxophone, synth, strings and more strings all glazed in a mercurial fog. magnificent. 3″ cd-r edition of 90.
explosive subtle motion and jarring delicateness collide and co-mingle through these two long sides of classic colored seven inch vinyl. here we find much more than just a single demonstration of west coast melding of east coast minds, there is something else in the water? full color covers in shiny plastic sleeves, limited and color vinyl.
amolvacy is aaron moore from volcano the bear, dave nuss from no-neck blues band, and sheila 16 of the laboratory theater group, nyc. the band creates compositions from its improvisations centered around strong elemental percussion, radical theatrical vocals, and classical acoustic instruments. recurring themes in amolvacy’s texts are the pain of relationships, the affirmation of the feminine in myth, the hero’s journey, and continuous need to flame the passions of the heart. “a la lu la” specifically addresses the gap of language in facilitating accurate communication, a gap that only music at its most primal can fill. the back of the album features text by jose da fonseca & pedro carolino, two portugese who in 1855 created an english phrasebook titled “english as she is spoke,” but who faced just one problem: they didn’t know any english. the linguistic train wreck that ensues mirrors the play of language, sound, and unintentional humor on “a la lu la.” clear vinyl in custom die-cut sleeve.
(one) side is amon düde (avarus) / the hoopo (hetero skeleton) doing some plundered gamelan and david hasselhoff rapping about the jungle… the other side features new sparkling anthems by nuslux (roope from avarus, pylon, maniacs dream, lal lal lal, etc..)
a first vinyl edition fully remixed for wax from the cd masters that first appeared on a ltd cdr from deserted village in 2006. plaintive semi abstract vocals strain and wind over ecclesiastical notes held so long that your head becomes the organist’s domain. rarely have vocal harmonies been this ethereal or perfectly held. not the glottal gymnastics of joan la barbara but rather the complementary visions of two unique artists in absolute accord. much of side b feels more improvised but throughout the whole there is an economy of note, a tension of control and an element of perfection to the detail of performance. housed in an ultra heavy card sleeve with cover art by paul santoleri and labels by helena espvall. ltd edition of 400 copies. housed in uber thick sleeve and pressed onto deluxe virgin 180gm vinyl… awesome this one finally made the jump to vinyl. wonderful sounds & beautifully presented. highly recommended!
captured live on the most patriotic of holidays, improvisations edited down into 8 pieces, quirky and mystical, clattering drums that sound from another world, saxophone, and a thick cloud of electronics. surreal. packaged in marbled cream art paper, with a color transparency, riveted together in three places, each looks unique, and color labels. edition of 80 hand stamp #’ed copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
2005 release. french noise. wild packaging as always from this now defunkt label. numbered edition of only 25 copies!
caethua and debbie diaper have been teaming up off air well before thursday and tend to use those nights of their radio show inside outsider sounds to wind down after the week has just flown by. put to tape and assembled in the last months of their sorely missed studio, walking on ice. layers of loops and vocal sound forms, a.d. illustrate for the listeners a spelunking holiday that goes on a little too long, just a little bit further, the mouth is just around that corner. a small light illuminates a small cavern just fine…… what did you see? featuring andy neubauer of impractical cockpit, doggerella decided upon, flak mask, curtain call, uke of spaces….. etc, and caethua of sports, uke of spaces corners and sax wand fame. 300 pressed. screen printed on painted recycled jackets.
portland guitar wizard marisa anderson”s long awaited solo guitar record. marisa has been a fixture on many a music scene for years & years playing with everyone from the evolutionary jass band to tara jane o’neil to the dolly ranchers. in any context, she can’t escape her rag/blues/folk roots no matter how hard she tries. on this lp featuring only guitar – no vocals & no overdubs – we are treated to a very intimate sounding home recording filled with delicate grace. comparisons to john fahey & his ilk who do their hoodoo mystical rewrite of folk music is bound to occur, but close listening reveals a very original & yet truly rooted in the old style record that we hope will stand the test of time nicely.
tenebrae is theo’s fourth long-player and second with amish (also see dearly beloved, [ami-025]), marking the return of his patently unique songwriting, which includes a variety of regionalist folk-stylings — the mountain music one discovers along the appalachian trail; a southern gothic lyricism; northwestern eco-spiritualism; and above all, the music discovered in the woods just beyond a tent revival. angell’s densely hermetic iconography reflects an artist well-versed in myth, the avant-garde filmwork of kenneth anger and stan brakhage, and the ethno-poetics of brion gysin. oh, and theo’s singing voice is unquestionably one of the most expressive and expansive in outsider folk today. theo grew up in rural oregon, was home-schooled along with his siblings by his minister father, which provided him little exposure to mainstream pop culture; the tunes on tenebrae reflect these conditions, documenting both a reverence for and rebellion against isolation and spiritual absolutes. to that end, the title song, which is the latin word for darkness, references a religious ceremony that involves the extinguishing of candles in advance of holy week. the album’s song-cycle reworks various primitive musical forms to new and celebratory ends, twisting these styles into a unique brand of folk-psychedelia. for this outing, the tabernacle hillside singers include, among others, matt valentine, p.g. six, tom greenwood and samara lubelski. tenebrae highlights again theo’s unique poly-vocal pyrotechnics and will no doubt prove to be one of the most beautiful records of the year… comes in a heavy mini-lp style gatefold sleeve, with foldout insert.
what can i say about theo angell? he’s an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, a shaman. he lives and works in new york city, but plies his trade all over the country. angell is perhaps best known for his work in hall of fame and jackie-o motherfucker, and also as part of samara lubelski’s live band. but with the release of “auraplinth,” all that will change. this is theo angell’s opus. this is his masterwork. it finds him at his absolute peak and delivers an album unlike anything else. he uses his voice to etch out a detailed map of the stars, made up of dirt and bone, proving the organic nature of the cosmos. “auraplinth” is an amalgamation and invention, joining foundation with the ether. both of these forces are constantly at work throughout these 15 tracks. his voice is molded into every possible form. at times it reverberates above a river of folk-inspired melodies, while at other moments, he creates a bed of sound with wordless vocal moans. that voice is the glue that holds this great document together. on “auraplinth,” theo is once again joined by the evolving cast of characters known as the tabernacle hillside singers. this time it includes cynthia nelson (ruby falls), dan brown (hall of fame), & josh stevenson (magneticring). packaged in full-color, heavy duty gatefold jackets with original artwork by christian holstad (the front cover image is actually from a victorian death mask of theo himself), complete with full lyric sheet. the album is mastered by yellow swans’ pete swanson… nice one!
theo angell: introduction to thlowlth fissure – thlowlth is an entity who was birthed in 1996 during a seance in answer to the question “what is dark and green and fills our mouths when we’re not thinking?”. fissure was latter attached as a sire name denoting a lineage of tone splitting and throat separation. this collection reveals thlowlth’s close relationship with the moog synthesizer. el nino came through in ’97 in response to the catastrophic growing pains of our tilting weather system. the desire was to conjure the sound of a detached electrical power plant hurling over the humid southern states. within this hurtling mass is a moment of sadness and loss at the sight of one’s home floating down the street. the storm moves on. in moog killer, also recorded in ’97, we have painful vocal drones alongside sine waves. this uneasy alliance turns into an epic battle with the wild bull! it’s a story with tension, violence and tender resolution. “all change, feels strange, even better, better than before.”voxcual is a moog imitator is simply one long vocal improvisation recorded in the late fall of 2001, with reverb. goodwillies: revenant sun – these are the ur-songs, remnant fruit bodies of 1999-2005. my thick skull’d realize, that sound through: answering machine, telephone (land and cell and land), cardboard tube, a wahl two-speed vibrator, tears & semen divided by bee’s wax, and electronic voice phenomena laid up into a deep deep hallowed angelino unemployment in the paradise of a green, too too green, late middling late to early, too early ending-beginning of an echo park scene-thing and the sweet sweet a.c. of fax monica’s salvian closed curtains & windows, & sweeter east los fatherhood compound-coupled-tripled with the growth of a soft cult, sleep cult, a turn in silence and its ancillary friendships, alas black is black even, pink, come back shadows in heat, rub on me; a pirated copy of sound edit 16 version 2 does make, music? long, long before i knew, before i blew, the jasmine of a banana-dill-mint vapour, with more than, much much more than, more, than a little help from my friends, & a greater family and greater still where they meet, again, in pink. heaven is for quitters, reincarnate. for elves protect & fairy kiss, you.
pittsburgh stalwart alan lewandowski brings us yet another pro culture/ counter culture release. this time for turned word records via alan’s own imprint rickity/new anarchy #73. these meandering, jangly and highly poetic political folk tunes will undoubtedly stick to your minds eye, even sans chorus. a bit of biff rose mixed with a chadbournian sense of sarcasm keep this release feeling optimistic, without sending one too skyward during these bleak days of war on war. mono print by bucky brayer, handwritten text by alan lewandowski.
kokura was recorded under dark skies and howling winds, deep in the bowels of a japanese club as the country shook outside. kokura is the fruits of a collaboration between acid mothers temple/mainliner main man kawabata makoto, argentinean guitarist anla courtis (reynols) and japanese underground musician rokugenkin. based around hushed, mellow guitar drones and hypnotic, yet restrained guitar wails, kokura is the first fruits of their labors and captures the sound of life beneath a hurricane. like sunn o))) on half volume! – limited edition of 400.
two live pieces recorded in christiania free town, denmark february 07. immensely mind melting repeato-madness from ex-reynols sound thinker playing mouth harp on one side and bursting deep psychedelic mutant tones on homemade violin on the other. edition of 50, with full color artwork by j.h.
a talisman, a living mandala. recorded in buenos aires, 1992-93 (!) and now brought to life by the chants of birds, this is anla courtis ‘ornitology’, a poem about the secret forces of nature and the most sublime forms of communication hidden in the forest. earth, water, wind and fire the elements that are all living inside these three gems, starting with a spectral ballad, “quetro”, and exploding into the second track, ‘escua’, 16 minutes of epic guitars flying over an endless sea of visions. the last track, ‘tersina’, is the final redemption, and it comes through as a primitive-electronic assault! pure magic. 140 grams vinyl, limited to 105 copies only, screenprinted artwork (by canedicoda), half of the covers come in yellow with green print, half in green with dark print.
really wonderful & totally mysterious one here, with no artist credit at all. received this as an anonymous demo and managed to sort out this release, which is essentially a straight reproduction of the demo cassette transfered to the vinyl format… totally mesmerizing hushed, raw, bedroom acidfolk sounds, steeped in alchemical spiritual depth, profound lonesome melancholy, and seriously intense & haunting intimacy. magical poetic songs from a true searcher, battler of the spirit sorrows, and rejoicer in all mystical beauties. there is a gripping sadness that permeates these recordings, but also flashes of joy, redemption, and in the end a powerful hopefulness. indeed, this is living, breathing music from the true inner/ancient soul – zero hint of hipster folk trip here… nothing but intricate yet meditative acoustic guitar figures, mournful viola, and those vocals, all wrapped in gauzy 4-track haze and far distant street sound hum… you really just gotta hear this one to understand… pressed on 140gm vinyl and packaged in a stark foldout art paper cover with paste-on color front art & screen printed back. numbered edition of only 150 copies.
following their acclaimed debut here on -house of alchemy- and two stellar discs on phantom limb (vol.5) and foxglove (vol. 3) comes volume 2 in their mangled and distorted un-series. this air is thick this time around, musty even. prisoner children run the castle halls making these strange sounds, deranged echoes, lost in a maze. electricity flows through this one, via frayed cords. percussion jars you from stasis, leaving you only to gasp for cool crisp air. and then things really get unwound. cd-r edition of 123…. sweet oversized foldout covers with photo.
volume five of this duo’s phenomenal acoustic guitar manipulations, this is actually only their second release. following the critically acclaimed debut release on the house of alchemy, this album finds the brothers in a much more communicative and realized state. for fans of six organs of admittance and clipse alike… sweet sounds and more nice packaging too.
anyone who read our deep water interview with norman, ok’s anvil salute knows what big fans we are of the group. and lucky for us, they’ve returned to the acres to grace us with their ironically titled fourth full-length disc, a full hour of gloriously unwinding instrumental great plains folk rock. both their most focused and most varied work to date, it takes in everything from angular modal epics to sweetly melodic miniatures to ethnic-infused psychedelic drones, all seemingly rendered live via lovely you-are-there room-fi acoustics. heed that rooster’s crow…
those of you lucky enough to have heard not not fun’s “free beasts” cassette compilation may remember apple snails from it. that’s all i had to hear from them to know that i wanted more! apple snails cover the first side and are about as close as you can get to folk drone (is that possible?). lots of slide guitars and dark drones that will leave you with an amnesia induced trip. side b belongs to the mighty acts of god, which is a lovely lady, niwi. electric guitar is the main instrument used, with others guitars and keyboards(?) soaking through that create this very vibrant transcendent feeling, that honestly, the first time i heard, left me speechless. red cassettes with ‘grid’ labels, and fabulous artwork by the even more fabulous jeremy earl of fuck it tapes. edition of 100.
following up releases on crocomodile and an exquisite split cassette w/ the mighty acts of god on dnt, jeffrey mitchell’s apple snails take a whole new approach on “only a macadam road,” and the results are stunning. it’s full of ambient drones that sound like they were born in the northern lights. the road is bathed in darkness, but tiny fragments of light seep through the murk every so often in the form of acoustic melodies and glockenspiel bursts. it’s music that transports you far, far away. we’ve been working on this one for what seems like forever… so long in the making that the inserts actually say foxglove132, but good things certainly come to those who have waited for this apple-eyed gem.
if you’re already ready for more manic teenage improvised art punk from finland here it comes! unlike those pre-teenagers in the demars, armas huutamo is the real thing! they are right in the middle of their teens! that means you can hear all the beautiful anxiety, creative energy and forever growing new pubic hair the age involves. the awesome songs presented on this 7″ have been picked from 50 other songs the duo made during the hyperproductive summer of 1998.
cult new wave band the art museums tell sordid tales of artists, lovers, and poseurs. bay area psych burnouts josh alper and glenn donaldson converged in san francisco in the summer of ’09 to record anglophile jams on a tascam 388 tape machine (state of the art home-recording circa ’85). rough frame is their debut lp for the woodsist label. they would make a hi-fi studio record if they had the money, but reviewers would probably still say it was lo-fi. the art museums are into: art, poetry, whaam! records, and films about mods. the art museums are not into: flared trousers, drip coffee, or dirty sneakers.
latest basement clacker from the nav. blown tape levels, idiot rock n roll (with moron mantra drumming) and the shimmering of a sexy mile-long windchime in space. it s a bit like smearing sugar all round the inside of your mouth and going into the park to hand out fireworks. and its not even xmas yet! holy fuck.
the jodido triangular live sound of ashtray navigations ( – lamf) caught upstairs in one of leeds’ very most exotic wallpaper dens. the walls dripped honey and yet we did not make too much of a mess. features melanie delaney (sculptress) and phil legard (xenis emputae travelling band) as well as the usual. very ‘eavy, very ‘umblin’ – clear packaging, as always.
now into his 10th year operating under the ashtray navigations moniker & with releases on such esteemed labels as menlo park, jewelled antler, siltbreeze, american tapes, celebrate psi phenomenon etc, phil todd continues to conjure up his own unique brand of rural psychedelic folk musik. with his prolific output unde various guises (anna planeta, a warm palindrome, inca eyeball, target shoppers, dogliveroil, green monkey, tea culture etc etc – ) not to mention his previously longrunning label & distro – “betley welcomes careful drivers”, phil todd has been a tireless champion & exponent of fucked-up rock, avant-folk, mangled pop, allout noise, indeed “outsider” art in all its forms. for “electric cointelpro” we are treated to 4 superb tracks of organic drone & inspired electric gtr aktion. an excellent addition to an ever-expanding resume – xeroxed/stapled transparent covers.
….and a new one from easter 2009. believe it or not, these are the first 2009 ashtray navigations recordings to be released, so there. and this is quite definitely the last in the “painted clamshells” series of cdrs (this time they are mostly yellow, fact fans). sort of a response to a review which described ash nav as “obviously heldon-influenced”…news to me, but i decided to go for it and prove the reviewer right. but imagine a bunch of early 70s frenchmen playing all of their psychedelic records, all of their ocora records and all their prog/fusion at once whilst angry drum machines beamed in against their will from an alternate future blast out very mutated hip-hop beats. apparently mr. r.pinhas was an attendee at a paris ash nav gig and is said to have remarked “i thought they only had pop music in england these days”. this release may prove him right also. this is also the first ashtray release to be almost all digitally recorded….and you’ll be surprised how fucked up it sounds – gawd bless technology for giving us so many options. our most fun-packed cdr for a while. limited to 100 copies.
green-colored vinyl. recorded in leeds, june 2007. originally released as cd-r limited to 100 copies. “classic ashtray navigations, two hallucino-kinetic tracks each side.”
double cdr! two tracks each exceeding 40 minutes. snakestrings (i.e. disc 1) is a trip through strings and soundboxes, phil todd plays esraj, kemence, electric sitar and guitars until the electronic instruments rebel and propel the whole thing into psychedelic overdrive. hollywood taught you to kiss (i.e. disc 2) is based around another todd/crowley/legard trio excursion. dedicated to sun ra and andy warhol respectively. limited to 99 numbered copies.
brand new tracks from phil todd and mel delaney. leeds’ finest experimental movers and shakers of the last decade or so. perhaps their noisiest material yet! limited to 250 copies on black vinyl.
five blasts of guitar/drums action with electronic gush cerebration. business as usual then. great back cover snap of mr.legard and mr. todd in the shadow of the trunk. ms. delaney took the picture. only one of these people appears on the record. can you guess which? like i say, life is predictable stuff. limited to 100 – color covers.
this is the last of the vintage, tipple era askew, before the fingers cramped and began tickling digital ivory. these 2 wondrous cuts would’ve been included on the little eyes cd if time were not space. wonderful live versions, of “here we are together again” and “yellow dollars”, taken from david porter’s show on wybc, nov 1969. these songs are the topical concern of that or any era (love and war) and what else is there anyway?
a quickly happening dvd release from tokyo artist ai aso whose probably most well know outside of japan for appearing on michio kurihara’s solo cd’s and handling the b side of a lavishly packaged 2007 split 7″ with wata from boris fame. the chamomile pool dvd documents concert footage from ai aso from 2007 in tokyo. hypnotically delicate, angelic and minimal in structure ai, accompanied by her band, and with guest appearances by wata and kurihara, for a portion, craft her unique blend of songwriting and psychedelic musicianship. produced by atsuo, of boris, and edited and directed by ryuta murayama of foodunited (responsible for boris dvd’s, greenmachine, stupid babies gone mad). to date represent ai’s first non-japanese release. offset printed dvd disc face comes housed in a heavy stock diecut letterpress printed fold cover. pressing of 600 copies.
wheezing skyward born machine groans and gasped tremolo root to a kinetic pulse, while distant melody zones ascend to circulate around the bass flex on this face chewer by neil campbell. on the flip is the first vinyl cut by glockenspiel, flocculent tones weave with tom rub and bowed metal harmonics, drifting on the back of a drum dub to the heart of a snow-blind haze of feedback, amplified string scrape and analogue electronics. spin at 45. art by noah campbell.
two of europe’s finest collide on a 12″ 45 rpm platter loosely inspired by the club single. on wet wheel/hot wheel, neil campbell of astral social club succumbs to the heartbeat throb of house but tops the bass with a frenetic squall of darting alien melodies. on cursory listen, the elements congeal into honest-to-god body music, but the track is riddled with stutters and gaps that the flooded synapses fill with aural afterimages. on the reverse, jan anderzen of tomutonttu buries the dance influence, retaining only the genre’s neon shimmer and linear logic. ‘syvat svyät’ overflows with cuckoo loops that briefly cohere into musical shapes before casting off, replaced by an ecstatic march of manic squiggles. one must focus to follow the train of musical thought, but anderzen’s humor and intuition reward the effort. issued in an edition of 300 hand-stamped, 150-gram lavender lps in matte sleeves screened with consummate skills by alan sherry of siwa.
content this time around is highly nitrous, with much overloaded top-end twinkle. check for some particularly screwy (and often barely-recognisable) versions of tracks set for release on qbico and important records later this year, taking the demented recent asc live persona and twisting it further with heavy collage/layering techniques. offset this with remedial drumbox stumble and mysterious processed tracks and you know there’s only one hotel you can be checking into. edition of 150 in colour asc corporate house-style. 7 tracks, 42 minutes.
more jams culled from sessions both live in the field and at home, again sometimes touching on alternate-universe takes on tracks destined for lp and cd issue. huge chord swathes, babbling ectoplasm rituals, crunching delay unit swing, weird time tricks, scattershot beats, all propped up with shards of the patented asc heavy tonal foundation. edition of 150 in colour asc corporate house-style. 8 tracks 44 minutes.
new single by neil campbells ever-evolving solo project, astral social club. neil (a band, vibracathedral orchestra) with assistance from karl bauer (axolotl) unleashes two electronic psychedelic noise jams with distorted loops, cascading feedback, and the sound of hypnotic drones recorded in space. 500 pressed.
featuring two tracks of fearless sonic bliss and two long journeys to a state of sustained ecstasy astral social club’s “plug music ramoon” was recorded in one day on analogue 2″ tape. the lp combines percussive sticks and bells, resonant electronics, keyboard odysseys and some experimental vocal work from helmsman campbell. whilst club member john clyde-evans’s laptop contributions provide much of the backbone groove of the album, stewart keith adds light and shade on a variety of keyboards and toys. together they weave a rich tapestry of sound and noise. but it’s campbell’s dense guitars that thicken the very stem of these four tracks and leads his astral social club to conjure up his visions. this limited edition 12″ comes housed in a gorgeous hand-printed silkscreen sleeve. limited edition of 500.
neil campbell & mel delaney. rec. west yorkshire, winter 2008/09. new asc effort on qbico, a duo this time. this is the social club for astral spirits… red & pink vinyl.
sweet totally hand packaged & very limited tour release from this great ancient future drone / raga duo.
philadelphia drone crew featuring rafi & paul from death chants. lush psychedelic moves morphing into some nice synth/mumble creep out. 3 tracks in 30 minutes recorded at black dirt studio. cover art by jeremy earl. limited to 100.
space hymns echoing in swirling psychedelic synth patterns, zoned guitartones and out-there primitive percussion. featuring members of death chants and muntjac. devotional raga wrapped in appropriate silkscreened offering. 80 copies.
a vision artifact of ancient future harmonies and inner cosmosis. supreme inner cranial reverbational reflections of where you are. unspoken language and incorporeal communion. recorded by jason meagher at black dirt studio, vinyl pressed at rti, housed in custom stoughton gatefold jackets lovingly adorned with screen printing, color photo and hand drawing. hand numbered ed. of 320… total zoner of a full length from paul & rafi’s post death chants duo. way deep vintage/future sound voyaging. other-worldly tones & moans. a recommended trip for fans of sus & jakob, angus maclise, and all stoned-avant sound art.
sweet totally hand packaged & very limited tour release from this great ancient future drone / raga duo.
cassette version of the above lp. two long midnight fireside all acoustic jams from sparrow (prisma, the bummer road, etc.) nemo (drona parva, time-lag records, etc.) and the three members of visitations. tranced percussive strings, ghost vocals, and creaky rhythms and wrapped up in each other. limited to 60 copies with color transparency sleeves and no info.
4th vinyl release on the label, and the first wax for this maine crew after a cassette release on sloow tapes. two long midnight fireside all acoustic jams from sparrow (prisma, the bummer road, etc.) nemo (drona parva, time-lag records, etc.) and the three members of visitations. tranced percussive strings, ghost vocals, and creaky rhythms all wrapped up in each other and slowly unfolded… numbered edition of 299 with stamped labels and full color paste-on art front & back. zero info.
here is another unknown us beauty. recorded in 1968 august played a lot in small clubs. the clubowner gave them the chance to record an own album. they played it straight onto tape with no overdubs in a couple of hours. only 100 copies or less where pressed. the music reminds me a lot of lazy smoke. it has that pepper style but the sound is more rough. beautifull compositions played in a garage style – recorded usa, 1968. 180gm vinyl, heavy covers, numbered to 450.
so delicate, the sounds that unfold here. brad rose and ville mosquiitto return as autumn galaxy with another discharge of aural marvel. they tip-toe around one another, laying out a finely-crafted set of music that manages to be both dense with texture and startlingly fragile. fractured sound-scapes, shattered banjo and endless buzz are just some of the elements at play here. cd-r edition of 123.
shimmering blankets of glass sound lay fallen upon concentric ears this spaced gorgeous collaboration between brad rose and ville moskiitto unfolding slow in delicate patterns very pretty – great stuff packaged in a lovely metallic gold cover with color paste-on art and a full color insert.
here is your introduction to phase two. while there is a certain degree of continuity in the approach, ii is a noticeable extrapolation of the avarus sound. the albums six tracks span collage-esque pieces of audio junk to deconstructed song forms to subtly dense instrumentals. waves of stretched electronics, distorted clank and warbling bass throb create layers of chaotic wreckage until a sudden collapse reveals an underlying stasis. unnoticed patterns now conscious pull the listener into another time/mind continuum. step into the g-a-p. the lp is presented in a full cover printed sleeve with suitable “found” photo art – for you to figure out what its all about – limited to 400 or so copies… slightly bumped corners, reduced price.
all-new exclusive avarus! fourth secret eye full-length and tenth release overall from this incredible finnish band that pretty much defines modern psychedelic kraut improv. primitive, primal and tribal, desolate and mournful, dreamy and pastoral, motorik and hypnotic. buzzing, clattery, droning, stumbling krautrock flecked with shimmering free-noise, avant ambience, delicate folk fuckery, and chaotic caveman psychedelic space rock. avarus iv starts where the rasvaaja lp ended. the iv, too, consists of tomas regan’s careful high-quality recordings. on the iv avarus makes and even longer dive in the warm and clear pond, into which the water is poured from both kraut and space rock, and from micro music and slapstick. the recording was made after the us tour, which guarantees the firm harmony satisfying the most demanding listeners. the delicate talent and the hilarious team spirit guarantee a recordful of heart-warming harmonies and surprising turns delighting an unprejudiced mind. the wondrous adult rock of avarus is born from an uncompromising love for music. the finished recording deserved a fantastic cover, too. this in mind, the graphic visionaries amanda and pauliina spent their summer holidays swimming, drinking beer, and drawing their kaleidoscopic davy crockett epos inspired by music. lp only – 160 gram virgin vinyl, pressed in czech republic, direct metal mastering, full-color labels and jackets, all-exclusive new jams. limited to 200 copies… sure to go quick, so don’t miss out if you’re a fan.
long touted as the forefathers of finnish freeform psychedlic music, avarus, a collective bearing members from the anaksimadros, kemialliset ystävät, maniacs dream, and more, document their first tour of the united states on “kirppujen saari”. the sounds contained show a departure and growth from typical avarus recordings. the a side long track begins with a psychrock romper complete with full “band” instrumentation, slowly it deconstructs itself into the abstract electric/acoustic stylings and sonic spattering familiar to their previous work. slowness builds into full on clatter filled walls of vocals, toy keyboards, horns, strums, and other acoustic junk, creating a unique and massive drone. the opposing side is pure acoustic drones composed of vocals, horns, and tribal beats. room filling ambiance, corner clatter, and morphing silence also find a way to unobtrusively build themselves into the piece. in an edition of 350 lps on coke bottle clear vinyl with printed labels by bart of sloow tapes and proprinted full color foldover art by the band… nice one!
restock of 2005 release, last copies… xmas 2004, brooklyn. brian sullivan and nate nelson of mouthus meet up with karl bauer of axolotl for some sonic celebration and let the tape machine roll. two side-long psilocybe-inspired scoops of shimmering and stumbling drone / zone / sludge ragas. better dust off your bib. full color printed photo-collage covers, insert.
originally released in 2005 as a limited edition cd-r on yellow swans’ jyrk label, this three-way collab now gets a proper run on wax. recorded in oakland at the huffin house before the swans made the retreat back to portland. despite the weight of these players when they rock alone, this jam really never gets into full on white out territory. instead, it’s loaded to the brim with wavy neon distortion and soothing low end that occasional drops out into huge washes of emptiness. the opening passage of gms guitar flecks sympathizing with karl’s string wash is alone worth the price of admission. red vinyl with lime green splatter. edition of 500.
karl bauer and eva saelens (axolotl and inca ore respectively) are two like minded bay area psychers operating on two opposing levels. axolotl marks the a side with skyward streaking drones and ethereal loops tinged and focused, ringing with the joyous bliss of upward passage. an endless array of vocals, electronics, and violin looping and looping, building and growing: stasis. inca ore makes her craft from an earth bound level. oneness with her surroundings, roots firmly planted. eerie incantations and meandering harp play foreground to layer upon layer of looped vocals and murky ambience, charting your way towards forever. in an edition of 450 white purity colored 7″s in black and white pro-printed collage fold-over sleeves by eva with a numbered insert.
B
brand new hand-numbered edition of 552 12 inch ep from this great new european label gipsy sphinx that also just released the vanishing voice ‘nordic visions’ set. here karl bauer uses violin, vocals, electronics and percussion to assemble swathes of hypnotic, tripped-out noise that falls somewhere between terry riley’s circular, pulsing explorations, sonic boom’s radiophonic workshop gargles and swirls, and burning star core / vibracathedral orchestra’s wall of sound. the a-side is an ecstatic fog with the b-side the gentle star-gazing come-down – limited/numbered to 552. from the fine folks who brought you the vanishing voice nordic visions lp. nice paste-on art packaging too.
new psych damaged batch of nocturnal hookum from karl bauer. zoned out crackling, tones and sweet sk-1 blowout all brewed up into a sweet load of tingling psychic non-songs and grot beats.
live improvisations + electronics for the 1st release of this french duo – 4 tracks – 72mn – limited to 50. packaged with the usual foliage.
first ever correct reissue of this chicago area 1968 private press holy grail. one of the most legendary & valuable garage / psychedelic lps ever, this ones been seeing massive hype and huge price tags for decades now, all with good reason. for a 60s private press lp it’s got a truly remarkable number of things going for it that set it apart from literally every other lp in this bag. an album of all original material that amazingly combines the best elements of garage, psychedelia, and teenage self release realness without hitting any of their many pitfalls along the way: totally crude garage production values, crackling on-the-edge energy, and wild punk-minded rave-ups – without any covers, flat sameness, or throw-a-way filler. beautifully inspired mind-expanding sonic depth, confused, fantastic lyrics, relentless jangle, swirling reverb, unhinged fuzz / feedback outbursts, and constantly flowing textures – without any pretentiousness, blues jamming or self indulgence. exquisitely personal, human, painfully lonesome, and achingly moody – without any macho posturing, stoned goofs, or bad diary poetry… then there’s the fact that these guys came up with gorgeous unique songs, both singers have great distinct voices that are constantly playing off each other, and the band takes a wide-open approach that spans pop sensibility, acid experimentalism, and heartbreaking teen ballad moves, and combines them into a sound totally their own. would seriously be too good to be true if it didn’t actually exist, and it barely ever did… recorded and mixed in just 10 hours at a makeshift studio above a pharmacy, and locally pressed as an edition of only 150 copies, the few remaining original lps are true artifacts… which makes it totally confounding that all past reissues have sadly not even come close to capturing the crystalline, biting fidelity of the original album. we’ve fixed that once and for all with total top-notch mastering from a pristine original copy, to bring you just as close to the soul-piercing experience of spinning the real thing as possible… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. packaged in an exact reproduction heavy weight reverse tip-on cover, made just like the original, plus exact repro metallic printed labels. one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
marking the vinyl debut of a couple of so maine’s favorite improvisational psych outfits, this split 33rpm 7″ runs amok with some murky kraut-leaning grooves. bad bus’ side builds from loose tom drumming and echoey vocal moans into a locked-in bassline stomper. tempera’s track buzzes its way through lo-fi live loops, beats backing aetherial vocals, a complete electro mindgroove. hand-stamped black 7″ vinyl record held in a hand-ripped, machine-stitched patchwork record sleeve. hand-numbered to 300…loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
the first recordings by meg baird under her own name. meg has been singing and performing since she was a kid with her sister laura as a charter member of the traditional folk duo the baird sisters, though she is currently best known as one of the ‘female larynxes’ of the communal philadelphia band espers. or we should say, best known as the siren-voiced singer for same. or, perhaps, we could let nick carraway describe the quality of her voice for us: ‘the exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain. i had to follow the sound of it for a moment, up and down, with my ear alone before any words came through. we asked meg to record something with a country-waltz flavor, and she courteously obliged us with a graceful and bittersweet cover of ‘waltz of the tennis players’ by the under-appreciated ’60s folksters fraser and debolt. the mushrooms are growing in every new boot print, my, my, my.’ for the b-side, she recorded an alternate version of ‘dear companion,’ a track from her forthcoming lp. it’s an ancient melody, an aching lament sung ‘in the style of the chapel,’ with meg whisper-singing right into your ear, or maybe just to herself as she folds the laundry and does the dishes. you can see things more clearly when you shut your eyes – lovely color covers, heavy vinyl, very limited, and oh so beautiful.
you all may not be familiar with the project, but it’s william sabiston of (part-time) axolotl fame. dude is a wild percussionist who’s collaborated with tons of folks, but most recently in a group bulbs. i’m not even sure how to describe this release – i suppose”freedom techno,” a ficticious genre imagined by roope eronen, would be some sort of applicable term. william weavs all sorts of percussive sounds; bells, electronic drum pads, synth and acoustic drums into a complex whirl of pulses and clicks that will occasionally congeal into abstract loops, minimalist techno riffs, dub-zones or some sort of cohearance, before whatever beat he’s imagined crashes in on itself – those familiar with william’s solo track on the axolotl cdr,”oranur,” will have some idea what to expect. but then, i’ve been listening to this thing for months and i still don’t know what’s happening when i listen to this thing. limited to 150 copies – screenprinted covers.
vinyl only release, long out of print. one copy only.
limited edition pressing of 1000 copies on vinyl heavy enough to hold some of bardo pond’s headiest jams. this is the first of four vinyl only bardo-related releases coming out simultaneously on important records. gazing at shilla is bardo pond’s first release on important. the two pieces, both very different in sound and feel, have sat patiently in the bardo archive waiting for the most opportune moment for release. ‘eight-thousanders’ and ‘kali’ are both entirely improvised pieces with no overdubs. slide blissfully into a smokey heaven and then forget your mind in a lower world of strange tones on side a. if you’re still able to flip the record when the needle hits the runoff groove, you’ll find yourself exposed to the goddess kali’s naked blackness. bardo is out. are you in?
limited edition of 1640 copies. in early 2008, bardo pond and three lobed recordings teamed up to assemble batholith, a collection of tracks that were close to the band’s heart but for various reasons had never been released. the result was an extremely cohesive and vital statement that was positively received by both old and new bardo pond fans. during the compilation of batholith the band had to agonize over the wealth of material that they were sitting on in constructing the ultimate tracklisting – there were too many good songs! the band approached this “problem” by structuring two sister albums, batholith and peri, each possessing their own musical themes and each fully capable of standing independent from the other. for this reason, peri is every bit as potent as its predecessor. the meticulous sequencing of peri’s five tracks provides a classic bardo pond experience. while the initial description of the material might lead one to think that these tracks are “outtakes” or cutting-room floor type material, neither conclusion could be further from the truth. the band is quite excited to finally see all of the material on peri venture into the public. for example, “chicken gun” will be recognizable to the band’s longtime fans. a former live staple from 1996 through 1998 (even making an appearance in the band’s set at the first terrastock festival), it is a propulsive and fiery rocker every bit as monumental as some of the band’s classics such as “lb.” and “tommy gun angel.” “the path” is a subtle number featuring floating flute work from isobel sollenberger. the album-closing “silver pavilion” is the sort of meditative psychedelia that has been bardo pond’s calling card over their lengthy career. the track dates to the band’s extremely fertile, yet barely documented, period between the release of “dilate” and “on the ellipse.” “silver pavilion’s” slow, enveloping build properly see the listener to the door and is reminiscent of such flawless bardo closing tracks as “rm,” “aldrin” and “night of frogs.” peri is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and is housed within heavy “old-style” one-pocket stoughton gatefold jackets bearing new collage work from michael gibbons. the record is from a one-time pressing of 1640 copies and, as an added convenience for our vinyl-loving friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax… all copies here are accompanied by a bonus cd (tlr-068) of previously unreleased bardo pond material, only available as a special pre-order bonus.
recorded by george mitchell in 1978, this lp was originally released by the southland label under the name ‘william robertson.’ due to cecil’s superstitions and legitimate fears of the taxman, he insisted that it come out under a false name. cecil was an unusual blues musician, giving each song its own feel and rhythm. another underrated american original. this is a co-release with big legal mess records.
campbell kneale moves ever closer to the glistening, levitation altar, with backwards bliss-shimmer, spooked chant and analogue squawk and squeal, kaleidoscoping around triumphant snare punctuation. bark haze (thurston moore & gown duo) hit back with focused power-drone guitar duelling from the heart of the bong, smoking out into tunnel-visoned, crumbled-amp chunder. artwork by campbell kneale/kim gordon.
since first bearing witness to barn owl’s mythically desolate amplifier alchemy last year, nnf has been rabid fans/fanatics. but like lots of badass bands, bo are a rolling stone, heavy on the transformation tip, and the bo of today is an altered beast from the one that folkily fingerpicked bridge to the clouds and their self-titled disc way back when. and in case we’re not being clear: this is a beautiful thing. from our mouths a perpetual light burns with the sun-dead majesty of a death valley burial ground, all wasted waterless expanse and cracked earth smoke blowing in the dry wind. heavy western drone revelations bleed into forlorn guitar drift, downcast percussion plods across the plain, a skull on its side lies in the sands. evan caminiti and jon porras have somehow flawlessly evolved barn owl into a blazing new universe, and from our mouths… is the first mission statement from their new spectral/aesthetic outpost, a stunning and timeless eight-song suite of grim cinematic electricity. tune in, drop dead, rot on. in swank matte jackets with ‘four-armed demon warrior-yogi’ artwork by the band… very limited repress on this great one, in slightly altered packaging.
this one is two side-long triple guitar jams by ben chasny (six organs of admittance, comets on fire), elisa ambrogio (magik markers) and brian sullivan (mouthus, eskimo king, white rock). extremely dense and crunchy – hold this one back to set the mood at your next summer of love party. like our other vinyl releases, this one will be pressed on 180g rti black vinyl and will come from an edition of 845 copies. look out for the beautiful and heavy wrap-around silkscreened covers (by alan sherry of siwa) on this one. as a bit of a first for three lobed (and a trend that we hope will continue with most of our vinyl releases from this record onward), packed in with the lp is a pressed cd (not cd-r) of the same material present on the album. the cd is not available separately and is included as an element of convenience and portability for all you vinyl folks (and also as an effort to help convert a few of you cd folks into vinyl folks!).
another in the wooden weavil series, this time an unreleased live robbie basho recording from germany in 1980. this program appears to have been recorded in one go. robbie scatters his americana numbers throughout, beginning with ‘redwood ramble,’ ending with ‘california raga.’ this date finds robbie in fine fettle, his playing sharpened by the intensity of touring, his mood seems ebullient, at times (as on ‘fandango’) he comes off like john lee hooker’s sun-kissed cousin, stomping furiously along to his playing. there is sweetness to his material, yes, but this is not, as jack rose put it, ‘music for wineries.’ there is the galloping muscularity of basho’s playing, coupled with the sheer hugeness of his sound; the fearless employment of dissonance as part of his musical make-up; a love for the unexpected chord change. robbie was a voracious and uncompromising player. basho’s singing was as integral to who he was as his guitar playing, and when he opened his mouth, he filled the room with sound. say what you like about his lyrics, no one can accuse basho of dilettantism, of dabbling, or of trying something on merely for effect. whatever bag he was in, he was in all the way. liner notes from glenn jones & stephen basho-junghans, and beautifully remastered by glenn jones… wonderful archival release!
second cdr on br from mike vest of bong’s solo project of hazy lo-fi ritualistic temple drone for smoked out fried brains. one long beast of a track at over 35 minutes. limited to 100.
alt.vinyl is pleased to be releasing this collaboration of two of the us’ free folk/ experimental luminaries..marcia bassett from zaimph and double leopards on guitar and electronics…and helena espvall of espers on cello and electronics. a killer cut first recorded in philly in late 2008 and now mixed specially for vinyl by patrick klem (the man behind many a 3 lobed release) and sounding like a knife wrapped in silk. coruscating drifting harmonies that will appeal to the improv raga community echoing the early works of no neck blues band, sunroof, six organs and sunburned. warm yet sharp, effortless and complex… artwork by derek moench, audio mastering by patrick klem. ltd edition of 400 on 180gm vinyl… massively heavy covers!
hand-numbered edition of 200 copies lp on manuel mota’s private headlights imprint documenting a heavyweight duo set from marcia bassett of zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, ghq et al and improvising portuguese bassist and guitarist margardia garcia. garcia is one of the major new generation european free players, coming out of the same scene as mota, and she’s just as capable of generating swans-style industrial entropy as she is playing explosive fire music. here bassett uses keyboard and guitar to create austere arcs of industrial-strength drone that garcia anchors with tactile, questing strings, giving the whole thing an odd avant-classical backbone. – volcanic tongue.
totally seamless electric/acoustic mindmeld from the duo of jacob heule (ettrick) and tony dryer. double bass, floor tom and cymbals trigger electronics, which are processed to create spontaneous compositions ranging from articulate harsh noise to quiet moments reminiscent of comus, u.s maple and brigitte fontaine.
great local maine private press mini-album from mt. moon member. etheral dream melancholy songcraft. totally insane hand done packaging with free pin. extremely limited!
handmade covers. a confusing, odd record. 2 lock grooves begin the edith side. bedroom meanderings that steve stapleton might be proud of. released around 9/11/01. really! tons of confusing inserts. 200 pressed.
it’s the final beach fuzz recording made with barry dean on drums and also features the eyeball-melting saxophonic skree of solar fire trio’s dave jackson. it was recorded in warrington on 29th oct ’08 and is a more melodic yet typically cacophonous jam than previous releases. we hope you dig. out now on cd-r, limited to 80 copies.
5 minutes pulled from 2 epic, cacophonous jams make up both sides of this first beach fuzz 45. following on a slew of home spun cassette and cdr releases on their own golden lab label as well as blackest rainbow, lotus birth and others. insistent, narcotic drone pieces featuring bowed, scraped lap steel, wailing echo drenched synth wash with occasional mo-esque, circling percussion. 300 only in cool, fliptop, yearling lined card fliptop sleeves.
last ever copies!!! recorded in 1970 but not released until 1996. follow up to their highly heralded album ‘welcome’ which is a classic psych album. this one is psych flavored pop/rock. comes with paste-on sleeve… long out of print high quality archival release.
devastating psych noise power drones by ernesto gonzález, an 18 year old kid from venezuela who moved to belgium with his family 3 years ago. thick layers of hototogisu-like guitar drones interfere with endless tape loops and warm washes of analogue jungle color tone to work up to an overwhelming fuzz guitar climax, leaving listeners helpless, ecstatic, puzzled and bemused. ernesto has been making music for over three years now, has various solo as well as collaboration projects going on, has released a slew of amazing selfmade cdr’s and has recently also become a full time member of belgium’s finest: freefolk/krautrock outfit silvester anfang, who’ve got an lp coming out on eclipse later this month. a promising new star in the psych drone skies’85 djid hums is the vinyl debut of bear bones, lay low: over 45 minutes of pure psych drone bliss pressed on heavy high quality 180g vinyl, complete with paste-on art and flashy insert, housed in a thick cardboard jacket with resealable plastic sleeve. limited to 525 hand-numbered copies.
ernesto gonzález traded the chavez regime for comfortable living in a dreary place called waterloo, near brussels. he picked up the guitar, practiced his hendrix skills, got introduced to the world of scorching fuzz, demented kraut rock jams, drone lords and kosmik trance and decided he could as well do all that shit by himself. after his debut on gipsy sphinx, vallée de dith is his second official solo outing, leaving the drone in second position and focussing heavily on kraut rock work-outs. this is the ultimate south-american take on moolah, ash ra temple and neu!: excellent riffing, brain-melting space synth and far-out hippy meditation. probably the best venezuelan album since angel rada’s upadesa. phill niblock hated it!
new very limited local private press from adam bosse, the same dude behind the mysterious darkhorse cdr awhile back. sound here in guitar/drums duo prog psych action. sweet hand painted covers. copies here include a bonus dvd!
recorded live to tape in two days, after a sleep deprived month of beefheart style creative lockdown, begushkin – dan smith’s 8 headed hydra – lay to rest the twilight folk of 2007s nightly things and reemerge with the wicked & strange hard rock gypsy shake of king’s curse. smith yells and carries on like a man posessed with tales of the damnation of a robber king and the band plays it ultra tight & ultra heavy. king’s curse is higher tier creep rock…. ‘at times like an impossible mixing of leonard cohen, will oldham, and michael gira stirring up a series of haunted gypsy hymns. mournful and melodic with half-seen shadows walking through the trees at night, and fever dreams swooning in the moonlight. mysterious like lyrically compressed american gothic short stories.’ george parsons, dream… 180gm limited vinyl version.
a long three track cdr collecting a particularly insulated and homespunera of the believers development. especially the longer-than-album-side rendition of their standard, ‘down to the lake’. step inside, take a breath, get to know this album. perhaps you will glimpse the reasons why so many in the valley are holding their breath for the believers debut lp – features members of son of earth, shackamaxon, duck, idea fire company, sapat, so many other spins, the whole meatball is here. packaged in simple xerox folded jackets, origami style – yeah! go believers!
the first ever official vinyl reissue of this folk-psych gem from new york city, usa. originally released in 1977 by winter solstice -group’s own- label this is a very rare (r3-r4) album nowadays. and hopefully it deserves every cent that you will spend for purchasing an original copy. its strange mixture of haunting melodic folk and dreamy psychedelia. both male and female vocals participated by roger and wendy penney (who had also presented the extremely rare “roger & wendy” lp back in 1972) while autoharp, violin, percussion and sound effects (wah wah, fuzz, phaser, delay) offer a “unique” atmosphere. this is an official, fully licenced and autographed, vinyl edition. exact reproduction of the cover and label with extra 4-pages insert with bio, photos and lyrics. all in high quality special papers. pvc protective outersleeve. includes one extra unreleased track from 1974. limited to 400 black vinyl copies, 180gr, copies. pvc protective outersleeve… top quality reissue of this pretty great private press oddity.
totally unreleased (on vinyl format) album by legendary nyc psychfolk duo. all the recordings range from the late 60′s to the late 70′s. our opinion is that “the missing tapes” is their best till today offering. just take a listen to “did you love me” and “lost worlds” songs. original, unique and bizzare sound not unlike their first album (see anazitisi records arlp 70-21f). half of the 10 songs are penned by roger penney while the other 5 are covers on: dennis deyoung’s “come sail away”, joni mitchell’s “circle game”, richard farina’s “swallow song” (what an adaptation!!!!), fred neil’s “dolphin” and an exceptional “high flying bird”. from the original 2-track master tapes with excellent sound quality and licenced by roger & wendy. it includes a 12-pages large booklet with story, lyrics & photos, decorated by wendy’s paintings. fully laminated. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual. limited, to 200 black and 100 coloured copies, edition… black vinyl copies here. highly recommended if you dug their s/t lp!
really cool new out-of-nowhere private press from israel. haunted lo-fi male/female duo that trip into the same sort of dust baked bedroom visionary zones as early charalambides, or more fried mazzzacane/bloom. totally spooked femme vocal stretching out over equally zoned & exposed slo-mo electric guitar pluck & moan. really good stuff. each copy has a unique hand painted white on black cover. recommended.
a stunning new album including 5 long jams (23 minutes each side) which balance perfectly between the homey “strange maine” sound, the collage aesthetic of “the grove” and the extraordinary singer / songwriter approach as heard on “dead songs”. if it wasn’t released by phase!, it would certainly top a position in the 2011 top-13 albums! comes in an edition of 350 copies w/ 2-color awesome screenprinted jacket + insert… really sweet new one from this great group, looks & sounds awesome. press note that all copies seem to have a odd marking on the vinyl, but this does not effect play. recommended!
cassette version of the above cdr, now available in pure analog! screen printed cover. highly recommended!
fantastic new private release from this wonderful duo. one of their very best yet! the usual totally amazing one-of-a-kind screen printed/painted cover art, with insert. highly recommended!
the brand new self released disc from this amazing project featuring colleen & caleb from cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. off the cuff abstact improv spaces with goobs of reverb, strange instruments, and spooked vocals mix with straighter, and generally pretty dark, acid folk songs. male/female vocals, accordion, many different guitars, multiple personalities, toy drums, and plenty of mystery sounds. their 6th private press release, as usual packaged in a totally beautiful one-of-a-kind multi color/layer screen printed art paper cover, with vellum insert, extra art, printed disc, and more. extremely limited. could be their best yet! very recommended maine goodness!
finally a release on night-people from raccoo-oo-oon tour mates and chicago’s best basement improv unit binges. killer drums, percussion, electronics, saxophone, guitar, and bass from these two dudes chris and anthony. binges are ultra focused and tight, chris glides around on his kit with supreme precision with anythony juggles a bunch of loops, noises, and instruments all at once. one of the most solid and exciting underground bands around right now. artwork by the band printing by sdrreed.
“common wealth” is bird by snow’s 4th lp, and their 1st record made outside of their own lo-fi home studio. but bird by snow stays true to their analog roots by conducting ceremony with tape alchemist tim green who recorded and produced this album and has cast countless other magic spells with artists such as joanna newsom, daniel higgs, wolves in the throne room, and a multitude more. this lp comes on deluxe heavy white vinyl, with a beautifully printed color jacket, and 8-page color 10″ booklet! all together in this photo. “common wealth” is a watershed of song, an album of arrangements that behave more like an ecosystem. the interdependence of the instruments that dwell in the wilds of this record give the impression that the sounds here create themselves and all other sounds simultaneously. this album begins when a shaker wakes in the darkness, the first sign of approaching warmth, like spring thaw on a frozen river. the icy shaker that floats on the water is joined by skin drums resounding from the hillside, and by pump-organs migrating over-head with geese. the cirrus clouds are spectral piano trills; the marching cumulous clouds, piano bass-lines. steel drums, autoharps, vibraphones and dulcimers burst suddenly from under rocks like crawfish. voices high and mellow dance on the surface of the water with flecks of sunlight. the boulders churning in the deepest pools are the bass, the cymbals, and a thundering gong. and the flow of the river itself, the invisible energy, is guitars, electric and nylon. this river flows between an ancient glacier and a vast ocean. the mind glacier melts into poetry, lyrics that travel with those sound sediments back to the source: the endless ocean of gratitude, and openness. this is how “common wealth” passes from vinyl to needle to speaker to you and beyond, as a river passes through the world… very nicely present release on white wax with big color booklet and download coupon.
two sides of total existential rebirth! placental for you and bird by snow, a 7 inch baby of the cosmos, belching new sounds, and visions. replete with new-metal guitar tones, falsetto cave paintings, and gasoline-riot guitar solos (think blue cheer in thunderdome). begging the question what is paradise? a waterfall? or a burning sky-scraper? each cover is hand printed from a linoleum block by bird by snow, at no extra cost to you. limited to 300. recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape.
to you, children of the zeitgeist, we give ‘sky,’ offered in the same generous spirit as this bountiful world itself. ten songs of reggae-infused, psychedelic, folk music. existentialism you can dance to! open-hearted sound-fields, vast and colored with tiny blue-grass orchestras, authentic dub banjo, black cloud back-beats, and (if you can believe it) california soukous guitar! open eyes wide, and take in ‘sky,’ bird by snow’s outrageously lush follow-up lp. cloudy or clear, day or night, let us be absorbed in the one-always-giving moment, and know the sky not as vacuous hole, but as container (whole). limited to 300, on beautiful tranparent-blue vinyl. hand silk-screened gold covers, with a lovely hand-made booklet too. recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape, mastered by george horn… who mastered “zuma” by neil young and crazy horse… last copy.
a new calf sparkles in the field at dawn with after-birth upon her. standing strong and brave with wobbly legs in a precarious world. with totally fearless surrender she steps forward, still wet from the inner universe of the before birth being. with the same naked abandon we offer this 3rd long-player by bird by snow. ten free-pop-mantras, ancient-babies of modern song. the most fertile bird by snow record (so far) each side of this album has its own name, in order to give the tunes more mind-space to flourish and expand side a is ‘songbread’ and side b is ‘another ocean.’ in this record-world we find bbs harvesting perspectives in an old-growth forest of ontology & swimming joyfully in wide-wonder-waters of multi-instrumentalism. cellos, drones, pianos, field-recordings, tape-collage & all manner of drumming, strumming & singing confer and conspire here. many of these songs have been two years in the making, grown and regrown on musical tours through the generous world. songs with fresh-washed faces, and crow’s feet in the corners of their eyes. ‘songbread / another ocean’ is also some of gnome life’s most beautiful and ambitious packaging! the cover is a color lithograph poster, and the lp also includes a deluxe handmade booklet of literature, lyrics, ideas, and points of entry. and a second semi-transparant poster of poetry called: “slow poems” by fletcher tucker (a.k.a. bird by snow). this edition is limited to 550 copies, and is on completely clear vinyl, and comes with a cd! recorded at home on 8-track cassette tape, mastered by john golden.
bird microphone follows up last year’s paper mines split with cursillistas with this collection of original songs and appalachian child ballads. fitting six songs onto this 45rpm 7″ record, bird mic. mixes her trademark dulcimer plucks and cut-up bell percussion clacks with a new focus on voice. love songs that aren’t afraid to expose the dissonance; traditionals on the a-side, originals on the b. preview here. black 7″ vinyl record with center labels hand-stamped on the a and hand-drawn/colored on the b-side, held in a heavy off-white cotton paper sleeve, with double-vision two-color screenprinted covers and an offset-printed back. hand-numbered to 300, and embossed… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
death-defiling split disc of zodzoric psychedelia from these hot leeds zombies! neon death slittes is the axle-greased alterego of phil ‘xenis emputae travelling band’ legard who contributes four tracks of greasy blues amphetamuck that will have fans of pink fairies/deviants/gong/third world war choking on their wet dentures. recent american tapes/no fun stars birds of delay occupy the other half with a knob-scorching oscillation/voice seizure recorded live in sunny edinburgh. ltd.100 in tracing paper sleeves with on-disc gocco print – very hip one with sweet covers.
birds of delay is a leeds duo whose first half lives in london (and loves whitehouse and rush) and the other in berlin (and loves farley jackmaster funk). with several releases on labels such as chocolate monk, american tapes, troniks, hospital productions, or their own: alcoholic narcolepsy, luke and steven have been crafting and sculpting their psychedelic-electronic-noise-drone sound for over half a decade. but who cares and what does that sound description mean anyway? if you ask them, they’ll simply tell you a living room at the bottom of a lake is a projection into a total rainbow bliss zone! edition of 240 copies.
during the last euro tour of wolf eyes, john olson (of american tapes, spykes, guam river etc – ) and mike connelly (of gods of tundra, hair police, failing lights etc – ) decided it was enough! they screamed “i’m not going to bed!!! i never wanne sleep again!!!”, they missed their flights and stayed in antwerp with the ultra audiobored horror crew for 7 more weeks without food and drinks, just dry weed and cancerbags to suck on! after that intense test to see if they could adapt to the antwerp life style, they finally met up with legendary belgian eccentric cacti and hat collector cassis cornuta, this psychadelic character brought his whole space synth and tape lab over to radio central to record an intense last gasp jam with the hardly breathing olson and connelly, the end result is an amazing trip to space and back to the mental hospital! like pouring lighter fluid and tabasco up your genitals or like olson states it so beautifully; like pissing on your own hand, freezing it and then using it as a lollypop for 5 days! comes in a gross 6 panel cover design and with an etch on the b side! – very limited. amazing packaging!
it goes without saying that polytheistic fragments is an instrumental release — who among us would want it otherwise? in the tradition of his classic debut, salvador kali, this new record features equal amounts of improvisation and composition. sir richard’s powers lie in his ability to captivate with just the sound of his guitar, but he doesn’t completely abandon studio processes, which allow polytheistic fragments to communicate a greater wholeness: all sir rick, all the time, if you will. we have come to expect a few solo acoustic guitar pieces with the gypsy stylings of his hero, django reinhardt — and as if to tenderize our consciousness and prepare it for the ride, ‘cross my palm with silver’ meets and exceeds our expectations. ‘rub ‘al khali’ is an ode to the oud, a northern african lute of sorts. on ‘free masonic guitar,’ sir richard manifests free form acoustic playing wholly in his own style. peppering the mix are the sounds of electric guitar and lap steel guitar, bringing contrast and color. ‘hecate’s dream’ is a dreamy praise to a dark greek goddess, but ‘tennessee porch swing’ and ‘canned goods and firearms’ switch gears to good old down home americana and country twang. sir richard is renowned for his prowess and mastery with the guitar, but the piano playing on polytheistic fragments shows a fluid, meditative style. ‘saraswati’ is a lengthy river piece bathed in hindustani serenity, while ‘cemetery games’ is a short celebratory skeletal dance, with more light-heartedness than spook. in a record with so many spirits, bishop fills in the space where necessary and rounds out the feeling with catchy tunes such as ‘elysium number five’ and ‘ecstasies in the open air.’ polytheistic fragments shows that the divinely inspired sir richard bishop cannot be contained in one form.
another album of acoustic guitar music from sir richard bishop — are you ‘freakin’ nuts? the freak of araby is a new direction for our distinguished gentleman, and just in the nick of time as well. sir rick’s had it up to here with solo acoustic guitar records! the freak of araby isn’t even a solo record! and there’s no acoustic guitar on it! so let’s have no more of this kind of talk. over his years with sun city girls, richard bishop threw a wide variety of music and sound against the wall — and all of it stuck. among those who know, he’s reasonably fluent in any number of international music traditions, playing them for (mostly) fun and (sometimes) profit all over the place. the freak of araby is the debut of sir richard bishop and his freak of araby ensemble, a talented quartet of players getting deep into the middle eastern mystic with hand drums, percussion, bass, drums, electric guitars and a heavy dose of moroccan chanters, all of it captured with depth, detail and sympathy for the eternal enigma by engineer scott colburn. but a sir richard bishop album with a backing band — how did this happen? after recording a cover of ‘ka’an azzaman,’ written by elias rahbani, one of lebanon’s finest songwriters, something dawned on sir richard. half-lebanese by birth (it didn’t just occur to him later), he found himself suddenly possessed to really dig into middle eastern sounds. a pair of original melodies not fully developed at a prior recording session had the arabic inspiration, so these were reattacked and finished in short order. soon, sir richard’s head was flooded with some of the classic sounds spun for him by his grandfather back in his (way) younger days, like farid al-atrache, oum kalthoum and fairuz, along with other personal favorites, such as the guitarists omar khorshid and mike hegazi. in addition to the studio improvisation, ‘taqasim for omar,’ the whole of the freak of araby is dedicated to these inspiring players. check ‘em out. in addition to his soul-stirring electric guitar playing, sir richard grabbed a couple of moroccan chanters and blew the house down on ‘blood-stained sands,’ providing an epic (not to mention epochal, heh heh) finish to this journey to the center of one-half of the family tree. this is music meant to be played live, and sir richard’s freak of araby ensemble intends to play it everywhere there’s interest in hearing it. so get your freak on.
repressed… this is an essential document by one of america’s most original and inventive unaccompanied guitarists working today. while my guitar violently bleeds is a splendid three piece gem in which the good sir branches out & nods to points west, east & otherworldly. classic spaghetti western tinged spidery fretwork(“zurvan”), fushitsusha style feedback drenched psych decay (“smashana”) and a brilliant lengthy raga epic (“mahavidya”) round out the proceedings by the sun city girls master musician.
since its discovery in the late ’90s, dave bixby’s legendary $2000 private press album from 1969 is considered by all serious record collectors as the king in the loner/downer-folk genre. after being involved in ’60s michigan folk and garage-rock bands such as the shillelaghs and peter & the prophets, bixby started playing acoustic guitar and experimenting with lsd. after a year of drug abuse he felt broken. starting a soul-searching, spiritual journey, he wrote ode to quetzalcoatl and most of the material for his second album, harbinger’s second coming in just a month and a half. assisted by fellow musician brian macinness, who played some guitar parts on the album, bixby recorded this record in a living room using an echo-laden 4-track machine. the sound is lo-fi and sparse: just acoustic guitars and some occasional harmonica & flute, added to bixby’s haunting, emotional vocals, spiritual lyrics and solid songwriting. the opening cut, the eerie and painful “drug song” sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the album. never again has an acoustic folk album sounded as intense as this. reissued for the first time under license from dave bixby himself, and carefully remastered from vinyl (no master tapes exist) at shadoks music studios. includes an insert with extensive and detailed liner notes by matvei procak — the guy who found bixby in 2006 — plus some rare pictures. this vinyl release also includes a free mp3 download code… recommended!
56 pages – a massive overview of the life and work of avant garde percussionist stomu yamash’ta, including his first english-language interview in over 30 years. a child prodigy, his meteoric rise in the classical world spawned a new world of improvisation and avant classical in the late ’60s and early ’70s before melding eastern concepts with jazz fusion via his more well known outfits come to the edge, east wind, and go. includes never-before-revealed insight into collaborations with toru takemitsu, takehisa kosugi, masahiko sato, the baschet brothers, and others. years in the making, this exhaustive survey corrects misinformation and apocrypha carried down for decades, and opens a new window to yamash’ta’s current projects featuring instruments made from resonant stones. – akio suzuki’s uk travelogue translated by the expert on japanese underground alan cummings – michael griffen, one half of noggin, remembered by aaron gorseth – andrzej zulawski’s films – a history of the beautiful limited edition releases by raymond dijkstra – onde, the new belgian group made up of members of the late noise-maker’s fifes, include timo van luijk of af ursin and in camera – rob millis’ talking machine – patrick marley (former publisher of muckraker magazine) with his column nickels and dimes – reviews of vinyl, cassettes, compacts disc, dvds and books, both new and old… sold out at source.
the no-neck blues band’s dave nuss recalls his time with the source family which led to the first yahowa 13 performance in new york city and their new lp. as much about dave’s experiences throughout this and how it brought him into the family, as about discovering the wealth of their archives and continuing energy… an extensive interview with reformed vancouver noise band tunnel canary by allan macinnis. allan speaks not only to the leader of the group, nathan holiday, but also tunnel canary members past and present mya mayhem, ebra ziron, and dave sheftel about their intense performances, early influences, their specially altered instruments, life and musical philosophy, and the different reactions in the early 1980s and now, matched with photos from their recent live shows and one from the archives…. a remembrance of noggin violin player michael griffen by his friend aaron gorseth…. a feature on the belgian group onde featuring former members of noise-maker’s fifes; supplemented by photographs taken on tour by dan burke of illusion of safety… a feature on the new label assophon, home to the sea donkeys, spider trio and factums with photographs by mark sullo…. rob millis, waxing on about the preciousness of shellac while discussing the drive to recycle that raw material in the war years and the price that artifacts from that time can command…. eric lanzillotta’s reviews of vinyl, compacts discs, and books, both new and old by bill bissett, bob cobbing, helena espvall & masaki batoh, malcolm goldstein, the howling hex, dieter schnebel, and “radio mynamar (burma)”…. patrick marley’s column nickels and dimes focusing on american tapes and drunjus…. cover star: djin of yahowa 13…. 56 pages, 5.5″ by 8.5″, 20 lb. paper, b&w, approximately 800 copies printed.
sewer mist catharsis is beautiful but frightening droning electronic ambient noise from norway in the vein of zaimph, kevin drumm, or mb. limited to 30 copies.
solo live blurt from 25 june 2008 from sindre bjerga, one half of bjerga / iversen. background drones hit in immediatley accompanied with some minimal scrapes and sputtering kinda growth aura from aforementioned drone, there’s a real static vibe cruising through this. occasional clunk and taps blur away as the heavy dense drone consumes the lot like an electric mist, with feedback clots clogging up your lungs, and creepy terror sounds. limited to 50 hand numbered copies, each with indvidual handmade weird paper and an insert, everyone looking entirely different.
edition of only 50 copies made for shows in october 2009 across the uk. two tracks recorded in vansdorf and prague, czech republic in feb 2009). the lo-fi quality of the recordings adds a mystique of what sounds are supposed to be there and what are down to the occurences that sometimes emerge from live recordings, the whole disc has a beautifully raw and pure feel to it, there’s moments in the second track where you can hear what could be a digital camera beep, but who knows, it could be anything right? packaged in a classic br style sleeve.
black boned angel return with their second riot season release, following the eternal love/eternal hunger vinyl lp (repose 013lp). sharing a similarly bleak ground to corrupted, sunn 0))) and earth, new zealand’s black boned angel return with their fourth full length album verdun, and perhaps their most sombre and fully-realized work to date. the battle of verdun was fought between the german and french armies, and was one of the critical battles during world war 1 on the western front. it resulted in more than a quarter of a million battlefield deaths and at least half a million wounded. verdun was the longest battle and one of the most devastating in world war 1 and indeed in history. over the course of 50 minutes, bba soundtrack that brutal conflict with their trademark dark ambient drones and doom-laden riffs.
diggin’ deep into the montreal free music vault of yesteryear. 15 minutes of totally free improvisation recorded live in 2003 at pasalymany bar (rip). originally recorded for the birthdays of colin, serene, and sime. members of rivers and mountains along with other pasalymanians. found cover image photocopied on heavy card stock. hand stamped j-cards and cassette labels. hand number edition of 66.
guitar, cello, electronics, and various small rackety sounds collect themselves into a haze of infinite possibilities. – byron coley. for this new 10″, the duo is joined by guests margot goldberg and joe grimm (a.k.a. the wind up bird). this quartet version of bf/bs is the very same lineup that performed at terrastock 6. 10″ vinyl-only release limited to 500 copies worldwide. silkscreened metallic silver covers by mike taylor (lungfish, avarus, dan higgs). 21 minutes of music, all exclusive material… nice little slab.
following recent releases under the directing hand moniker on memoirs of an aesthete and chocolate monk, alex neilson (jandek, ashtray navigations, richard youngs etc etc) conjures another slab of percussive clatter to excite yr inner ear. joined on this journey by frank janiurek, the duo lay down a thick bed of organic drone before reaching for the stars with some inspired levitation tactics.
another new guise for spencer clark (the skaters) zoned solo trance sounds. primitive percussion paterns, zonked sci-fi synth, etc. limited.
fully re-mastered vinyl edition of what was originally a europe-only cassette released in an edition of 80 copies from the solo project of spencer clark of the skaters/vodka soap/monopoly child et al. spencer describes black joker as being more drone-focused and with faster percussion than the recent monopoly child sets. indeed, the percussion is thrifty and up-front, with arcs of criss-crossing time signatures generating maximum space/time confusion. the combination of trance-informed momentum and bubbling electronic sci-fi tones sounds closest to one of the sun ra arkestra’s most future-visioned takes on “ancient aethiopia” while expanding on the classic post-angus maclise feel of all of the best skaters material. comes with pro-printed 80s style 12” maxi-sleeves with liner notes by fortean authority, itinerant visionary and skaters road mangler in-absentia charles berlitz.
the josh/roy anti-society drone/drums duo drops its first (and last?) lp. a dripping cavern of red-eyed vibes and numb inner examination. uncomfortable, epic. edition of 270. comes with a poster. co-released with illinois sweatshop arbor.
this vinyl-only split-lp release is a meeting of two of the most interesting bands coming out of hamburg, germany at this moment, both continuing the long tradition of both challenging and explorative music coming from this city in the last decades. from krautrock to the origins of the so-called neue deutsche welle from experimental sound artists to some of the finest pop ambient, hamburg is regularly spitting out some of the most singular artists on this planet. both aosuke and black to comm have absorbed influences from all these sources (and a million others) while working towards their very own individual vision. the two brand new tracks by black to comm are continuing the massive organ/voice drone alchemy of the last double-lp while refining and personalizing his sound, reaching new heights of blazing sonic mysticism. aosuke have decided to home-record their new material, continuing their loop-oriented, monotone yet highly melodic ambient journeys. working with repetition and small abstractions, all instrumental “loops” are played by hand and recorded live without overdubs (one of the main principles of the guitar/electronics duo), creating surprisingly concrete dormant and somnambulistic soundscapes while fortunately completely lacking the washy and drowsy effects of most ambient music. black to comm is the one-man project of marc richter who is the brain behind the dekorder label as well. so far he has released two albums on his own label (“rückwärts backwards” and “wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun…”). aosuke is the duo of tobert knopp and ulf schütte, the latter being a label head as well (tape tektoniks). last year they have released their debut “monotone spirits” album co-released by hamburg’s audiolith label and south germany’s meudiademorte label.
incredible, spooky-spiritual-drone masterpiece by the most hip german experimentalists black to comm (mark richter) and the free-noise group datashock companied by new member marcel tirkowsky. here all together creating a flavor of blissen alien soundscapes, whirling on, changing and evolving all the time, generating hyperzonic tensions inside the crown-chakra so long that the eyes start to see pulsating flames inside and outside your imagination. rich in colour of sound and for sure not a restless headfuck, but a stony stoned psychedelic vibration of something spiritually exciting, something which reminds the outer inner worlds, and how close they are. the fog of the lake & the ghosts of the forgotten old new days. recorded nearby berlin’s goldmund festival in august 2007, in a place which used to be a summercamp for kids in the times of gdr the point which alone may cause the climbing in such a mystical level. peaceful & strange at the same time. includes 9 minute quicktime video by renate nikolaus! music and video recorded at goldmund festival, wukensee / biesenthal 08/2007. 150 copies.
black to comm is the solo venture of dekorder label boss marc richter. having released two and a half albums on his own label he is slowly establishing himself as one of the more prolific drone artists out there with a forthcoming album on the american digitalis label, a collaborative cd with datashock on ikuisuus, a 7″ on the irish trensmat label and a collaboration with xela in the works. “fractal hair geometry” is richter’s most refined and original work to date, picking up where the electrifying drone works of his monumental double-lp left off. like the last records this album is centered around recordings of a variety of vintage organs. while “wir kennen leider…” often featured pure harmonium sounds and spacious recordings of chuch organ and mellotron, the new album opts for a more electronic, effects-laden sound, sending an old farfisa compact deluxe and casio sk-5 through an armada of analogue & digital effects pedals. the results are massive one-chord drones layered into dense & ecstatic, flickering & pulsating clusters of psychedelic electronic sound. additional wordless vocal effects, hyperventilating & sizzling drum machines and hypnotic violin and guitar noises make for a hyperactive sound that never stands still even though most of the music is pure drones (sometimes consisting of more than 50 recording layers). decidedly simple but gorgeous melodies shine through the mist from time to time, making a black to comm record always much more accessible than your average drone album. there’s even a heavy 4/4 bass drum smuggled into a track dedicated to the late leigh bowery, one of the most enigmatic creative figures of the mid-80′s uk club scene (and singer of minty). guests include jonna karanka (aka kuupuu) on piano, guido mebius on trumpet and current black to comm (live) band members renate nikolaus on violin and ulf schitte (of datashock, aosuke, etc.) adding electronic sounds. along the lines of the music, seminal german artist oliver ross has created a massive multi-layered neon-coloured collage artwork which is printed on special ultra-heavy cardboard stock.
the whole album is very dream-like, mystical and fascinating, like being in the middle of a fog bank and loosing your sense of direction but always knowing that you’ll find your way out one way or the other. – mats gustaffson/the broken face. finally, here’s the vinyl version of the debut album by hamburg’s black to comm. strictly limited edition of 222 copies, hand screened grey cardboard sleeves, full colour insert, postcard and gold stamped labels – sweet stuff.
banjos and fiddles, boards and bones in hand, the black twig pickers dove into a living tradition of old-time music that surrounds their homes in southwest virginia and never looked back. both scholars of the regional sounds and advocates of an ecstatic and highly personal approach to the music, the twigs hold down local dance and bar gigs, play all manner of celebrations, and, every so often, hit the road. along the way, isak howell, nathan bowles and mike gangloff kept company with some of underground america’s heavyweights and haunted the doorsteps of appalachian fiddle and banjo masters. ironto special is an album of traditional appalachian old-time tunes (and two originals) that they’ve learned through study of both local old-time musicians and old-time records and field recordings. the instrumentation is all-acoustic and features some of the old-time usuals — fiddle, banjo, guitar — and some implements less routinely heard in today’s old-time scene like washboard, bones, fiddlesticks, mouth harp and jaw harp. plus (on one song) a one-of-a-kind baritone resonator 12-string guitar. old-time music served, and continues to serve, a variety of functions in appalachian life: from dance music to somber solo performance, to raggier blues and everything in between. ironto special is an attempt to celebrate this variety in the old-time tradition through the band’s process of learning and growth as they explore the music’s many facets.
blank dogs are actually singular: it’s the insanely prolific one-man brooklyn-based band of mr. blank dog. we don’t know too much about the biography of the guy behind the bedroom new-wave pop/punk and he’s usually covering his face with masks or bedspreads, but that’s fine. the aura of anonymity allows you to focus on the sounds — and, really, he might be releasing a ton of things, but there’s definitely a higher jam-to-crap ratio. it’s like joy division vocal lines with the cure’s synth and guitar melodies filtered through ancient submerged keyboards and eroded recording equipment. and that voice? all the feedback in the world can’t hide his knack for melody. blank dogs have been making plenty of rumbles in the noisier and more secretive outposts of the underground (half his discography’s sold out), but troubleman unlimited’s just repressed his very recommended full-length on two sides (on yellow vinyl in an edition of 500) and in the red’s releasing a 20-song double lp (or single cd) called under and under . it’s all new material. he’s also playing his first shows in nyc, so if you want to take a peek, you can. all this to say: seems like blank dogs is on his way out of the basement. –stereogum
we are a tribe of bro/ho’s who sing songs of ancient fields. we all own pot except for the ones who own beers. we use trombone, flute, trumpet, guitars, drums, synth and upright bass to make songs of enjoyment for the gods. we scramble not, yet in our haste to please we drink all the cups of drugs of dance and mostly scream. we want to burn the dead babies birdessess and paint our naked bodies with our blood but must care not for it. will you help us care and scream to the tune of our holy birth right of liberation from the townspeople?
long form folk-doom-drone excursion comes on in layers, like sediment underneath a raging woodland apocalypse. the yin-and-yang solo projects of wolfgang nessel colliding head-on into one cosmos-worshipping 41-minute shape-shifter of cortex-splitting rifts. edition of: 100.
underwater peoples records is proud to offer alex bleeker’s passion fueled project as our first ever lp release. built solely on love, our label strives to deliver uniquely genuine pieces of artwork. it is a special privilege to find ourselves linked to this heart felt treasure. alex bleeker & the freaks self titled album was recorded live on june 11th, 2009. the bulk of the session took place in the basement of julian’s childhood home, in ridgewood, nj. the group consists of alex bleeker (real estate), matt mondanile (real estate, ducktails), martin courtney iv (real estate) and julian lynch. some of the songs mirror the boys collective disposition, that of a gentle and warm young man. others however, invite the listener in for a glimpse at that same boy’s restless, virile soul. a sensitive type may describe it all as raw, live, honest rock and roll with heart. alex bleeker & the freaks have been friends since high school and as healthy, red blooded american men so often choose to do, they’ve channeled their romantic energies into an electrified musical powerhouse. it’s as classic and genuine as an adolescents playboy collection or a fat, bald man in a red corvette. – up.
two florida 19 year olds make mature pysch pop, receive blog love from stereogum, i guess i’m floating, indie rock café, and kanye west, sign to kanine records and release debut album “season dreaming”. limited run of cd and vinyl lp with printed inner sleeve and digital download card. track listing: 1.the warm current’s pull 2. heavy cloud hustle 3. the dinosaur ride 4. anxious place 5. the planets explode 6. sleeping habits 7. jimmy dove 8. kissing minutes 9. ghosts 10. shells. vinyl is limited 500 one time pressing only.
warehouse find of the last copies of this 2003 reissue…. very rare arizona psychedelic trio from ’69. fuzz guitar, psych-y leads and great cuts like ‘ride the ship of fools’, ‘cry for love’, and ‘visions’. plus two incredible bonus tracks never before heard.
recorded live at resonance fm. full on duo in kick back mode, trying to burrow out of the airwaves into the listeners spine via tapes, voice, violin, oscillators, percussion and various other junk. a very pleasant magnetic headache.
perhaps the rarest greek rock album, released back in 1972 in very small quantities (300-500copies) and never again re-released in vinyl. here, we talk about a combination of psych-folk and flower power hippy rock with male and female vocals, great melodies and an acid overall atmosphere. acoustic guitars, sometimes heavy and sometimes fuzzy electric guitars, organ, bass and drums create one of the best greek psych albums, although overshadowed and low promoted back then. blue birds was one of the very first greek modern bands as well as one of the most long-lived. although they had started in 1963 as a garage-beat band they delevoped in a hippy band producing some fine singles & #136;êas well as this album- in the early 70′s. as the original release, this reissue is housed in an envelope-like gimmix heavy cover, contains the poster and the greek lyrics sheet. extras are a 4-pages insert with english lyrics and band’s bio and a full-coloured, high quality, psych post-card – killer album and another very high quality exact repro greek reissue. recommended.
new tape from my buddy cybele who’s based in providence… total free violin slashes and carves busted out, then dropping right off to some super quiet and minimal experimentations… one to shred your speakers! awesome stuff, previously had tape on raccoo-oo-oon’s night people label. limited to 60 hand numbered copies with stamped labels and colour covers!
there where only 4 good and rare albums on the danish spectator label: terje, jesper & joachim (which we have just done on lp and now on cd), moses (we are still working on a deal), days (we are about to negotiate a deal) and the rarest of them all blues addicts. what a guitar work this is. ivan horn really kicks ass with his extra heavy guitar. as good as the heavy cream songs, in parts as creative as jimi hendrix. the musical range and the guitar style is as good as the best early eric clapton work with the far out techniques of jimi hendrix. all own composition, long tracks, extra heavy guitar, english vocals & heavy drum sounds. ivan horn: guitars, vocals & kazzo, mich brink: bass, gibber thomsen: vocals & congas, henning aasbjerg: drums. if spectator would have kept rock music their musical style instead of switching to jazz, those 4 bands would have been successful on the international rock circus… recorded denmark, 1970. great crude b&w art, heavy covers, 180gm white vinyl, insert, 450 numbered copies.
two mysterious no-age beings from the other side of denmark evocates a cassette of no-fi hallucinative waves of broken skies and scorched earth. pure analog hell. edition of 50 – another sweet hand packaged release on this mighty fine label.
65 minutes spread out over 4 sides. presented as a retrospective, including some previously released select tracks, and some not heard before. the style can vary from track to track, some dominated by small sounds and buzzing loops, to epic and beautiful drone pieces, and electro-acoustic improv fused with noise. instruments that are audible include saxophone, guitar, and drum machine. bodyvehicle manages to keep the avant garde classics in mind while still looking forward in a way that few acts can. presented in a black vinyl album, with color art on blue/gold shimmer vellum cover and color on transparent labels. tracks listing is printed on blue shimmer paper, which is glued to the inside. edition of 50 hand stamp numbered copies on hi-bias chrome tapes – instantly out of print. very limited stock.
interest in this has surged recently and quite rightly too, as this is one of the best acid-punk lps ever. clearly inspired by “electric comicbook”-era blues magoos, these long island kids had a problem with both drugs and their attitude! their originals are excellent vox organ/fuzz teen garage psych and the reworked cover versions pretty demented as well. the cough syrup high school-play vibe of “deaf, dumb ¨ blind” must be heard to be believed. not a perfect album, with a few sections that drag on, but the highs are higher than on almost any other lp of this kind. possibly the best on the label, at least if you prefer the 60s teen-garage approach over hippie longhairs. – acid archives… heavy covers, 180gm vinyl, limited to 1000 copies.
described by kris kristofferson as “one of the three best songwriters in the country,” kentucky native jay bolotin’s songs have been championed by the likes of merle haggard and porter wagoner, among many others. yet jay’s eponymous debut – released on the major subsidiary commonwealth united label – had the halflife of a mayfly when it went into circulation in 1970 and today it remains as phantasmic as the prairie ghosts that have long populated his native kentucky. however hasty or uncertain the release of the album may have been some 40 years ago, one thing is certain: in a darkened room in new york city at the end of a kentucky childhood, a 20 year old jay bolotin cut a singularly enchanted album of unhurried, low key loner ballads with the confidence and honesty of a seasoned journeyman. jay bolotin is an unqualified singer songwriter gem that will appeal to fans of leonard cohen, townes van zandt & alex chilton. features kenny lyon on bass & mark taber on piano & harpsichord- both veterans of the providence, rhode island scene, the fugs’ bobby mason on percussion and david mowry on guitar. deluxe 180 gram vinyl featuring new liner notes and lyrics inserts. remastered & reissued for the first time since it’s elusive ‘release’. “dear father” featured on numero group compilation lonesome heroes.
tie yourself on a feedbag of slightly decayed dog bones and crushed plastic kids toys you found in a cheeze whiz dumpster, throw you inhabitations out the window and dance your ass off to these highly damaged, anthemic, home made synth and drum songs. this is analog plunger punk at its best!!!! featuring: members of child bride, dreamhouse, blue shift and riddlin’. 600 pressed. full color cover.
over 70 minutes of beautiful white light healing vibes spread out over 5 songs. all music recorded in the summer of two thousand and six in the “frozen earth cabin” in dublin, except “sea cave” which was recorded live to cassette at lazybird… oversized color covers.
on earth is the first studio document created by the group, recorded with marcelo spinna at the space in may 2006 with production assistance from pete swanson (d. yellow swans). while previous cd-r releases were entirely improvised, on earth is comprised of three untitled pieces composed by the group with elements of restrained improvisation. musically, each piece has a specific concern, ranging from extremely subtle microtonal shifts to distorted crashes of intervals against one another. on earth captures the reductive bonus sound with all the sustained tones and sparkling textures, but with a more focused and succinct delivery.
the cathedral of junk was started in 1988 in austin texas as a backyard art project and has continually grown ever since. brett humphrey of the band x=x set up this show and when one of the bands backed out at the last moment i asked the band lead sister ii (joshua hume) to play even though i had never met him. i saw that lead sister ii was on the ikuisuus label, liked his music, and figured since we both lived in austin we should play a show together!! it turned out that it was his last day in austin before moving to japan. he was a very thoughtful polite young guy who played very intriguing music so now we have this cassette release on ikuisuus of two great austin texas bands meeting each other and playing together for the first time!!! enjoy. – carlton crutcher, book of shadows
2nd private press solo release from rafi of death chants, aswara, etc. more excellent smoked out late night sounds. pure space folk. 2 side long tracks. lovely hand water colored heavy art paper covers, with hand written text. numbered edition of only 76 copies. recommended!
an allez-taeia of the body, earth breath and sweetness, a great sigh beneath the world tree. an attempt this time to say a few things simply, and be gone. about letting go of places that are family, not holding on too tight, the condition of waking up one morning and suddenly finding yourself alive on this great green planet, surrounded by the infinite… gorgeous solo outing from death chants / aswara member, and the first release on his new humito label. lovely screen printed wrap-around paste-on art on heavy black cover. limited to just 200 copies. highly recommended!
these three lps were originally privately pressed by the artist(s) in minuscule editions sometime in this new century. it appears that very few copies were circulated outside a close circle of acquaintances and it was only by chance/luck that they found their way to us. each lp contained no information whatsoever, the only hint was the name stamped on the plain white jacket. clouding matters even further was the fact that each of the three albums bore a different moniker. musically the lps share a consistent solitary vision, one that treads an inward-looking path that leads to far-reaching psychedelic excursions.”boots” is a prime example of the range of these albums. side one features five tracks of acoustic guitar and raw vocal accompaniment heavy on the loner vibes. the flip changes directions entirely, offering a wild ride of percussion and electronics. likewise,”c.c – live at rainbows end” follows a similar course, although the mood is somewhat less solemn (though no less introspective) on the tracks featuring voice and guitar. the counterpoint here is the near side-long track of barely audible field recordings from an unrecognizable location.”snake & remus – no tape outside” is a continuation of sound and thought. interchangeably piano, electronics and percussion supplement the songwriter, adding a haunting layer to the already subdued mood. the final side contains instrumental passages of processed guitar strum that weave delicate waves. the lps are presented in a box, its own cryptic coffin perhaps, with individual stamped jackets consistent with the original lps. as it says, “it’s just a box man”… very gone stuff here that fits right in with the best of the ultra underground 90s private press vortex. recommended… possible connection to those long gone terry & jim collins lps, maybe arian sample & tommy roundtree too? you take a listen and decide….
long regarded as musical pioneers, boredoms have continually pushed sonic boundaries and inspired musicians for over 20 years. their albums and their performances defy categorization, each one a completely unique event. after only being released on cd in japan, thrill jockey is proud to bring super roots 10 to the us. the album is only available as a limited 2 x 12” release. the album is produced by eye and all the artwork was created and designed by eye as well. super roots 10 features a remix from norwegian artist lindstrøm who has released music on the label smalltown supersound and has also done remixes for franz ferdinand, lcd soundsystem, and the juan mcclean. also featured is a remix from japanese artist altz who has recorded albums for bear funk and jet set records japan and previously done remixes for the boredoms in addition to tal m. klein, cro-magnon, and harp on mouth sextet. boredom’s music is very rarely available domestically on vinyl. this 2×12” is pressed on two high quality virgin vinyl lps at rti and is cut at 45 rpm for maximum fidelity. includes a 24”x 24” full-color poster of artwork from eye. super roots 10 is limited to 2,000 copies. this is sure to sell out upon release.
second breath of the occultists. alchemical dispersal and hex dilution. features one member each from brothers of the occult sisterhood, terracid and 6majik9. formation like a triangle but with fewer angles, a single point. drifting outsider strum and trance while watching the suns light fade and the colors shift, then inside amongst the cables and fields, under a flowers thought. free jizz? … nice hand made packaging as you’d expect.
long time chapel hill noisers boyzone in two shades of low light. one disc is a lo-fi recording of a short live performance from winter solstice a few years back, and the other disc features seven tracks of boyzone’s more studio material. edition of 15 in hand made cardboard / xerox packages.
new cdr from this american experimentalist who’s had previous releases on reverb worship and basses frequences. six tracks across only 19 minutes, totally far out dream tone keys blending into one another pushing you into an almost nightmarish state of mind. eternal could almost work as a 70s italian horror soundtrack with its minimal blurred humming almost reminiscent of some kind of devil organ. limited to 100 copies. pro-manufactured cdrs with on disc print.
new cdr from this american experimentalist who’s had previous releases on reverb worship and basses frequencies. six tracks across only 19 minutes, totally far out dream tone keys blending into one another pushing you into an almost nightmarish state of mind. eternal could almost work as a 70s italian horror soundtrack with its minimal blurred humming almost reminiscent of some kind of devil organ. limited to 100 copies. pro-manufactured cdrs with on disc print.
all songs by ayal senior. you may know ayal from his preface to john faheys last book “vampire vultures.” first in a series of five releases on beniffer dedicated to torontos most prolific outsider folkie, edition of 50.” – beniffer editions.
debut single from this new “hard pop” duo of d. aquarius and m. lajoie, which smothers spector-era space-echo pop in the psychedelic technicolor grit and grime of a bakshi / corman urban sewer. wah’ed synths and fuzz guitars lift up heavy basslines and off-kit percussion, with nice & ruff soft-focus vocals appearing like phantoms, all produced in engulfing heavy mono. a-side “wild cherry” brings home some tuff teenage motorcycle gang love-in vibrations; an intravenous alternate soundtrack to a beyond the valley of the dolls party scene. on the flip, “ripe” is genuine lovers rock dub-pop, with plenty of wah and hazed & hushed come-ons: an abstracted ode to the magick of early keith hudson and horace andy sides. recycled black vinyl 45rpm 7″ held in a pro-printed full-color sleeve. limited to 200 copies.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. the third and final album by the edinburgh-based duo of david mcniven (ex-human beast) and angie rew was barely released in 1971, but has gone on to become one of the most treasured “acid folk” albums of all time. comprising the epic, 21-minute title track and four unforgettable stand-alone songs, amaryllis features a heady, trippy blend of true acoustic melodies as well as outstanding support from musicians including danny thompson and terry cox of pentangle, and is an essential purchase for all fans of psychedelic singer-songwriting… highly recommended lp sounding better then ever on nice audiophile vinyl. nice!
mckinley jones (ex-expo ’70) dollops out a spoonful of star-gazing cosmic folk/astral flower picking, full of fly-by guitar buzz and synth warbles, melted field recordings intertwined, dipping from dark vibes to light all the way to the melodious happy ending. a short but sweet collection full of interesting twists and turns in a cohesive vision of nights laid out in the grass dreaming of blooming lands. tied up in wrap-around sewn wallpaper border pouches with an insert and a flower bud. edition of 50.
james blackshaw & jozef van wissem form a holy alliance on this palindromatic masterwork… totally fantastic album of lifted lute & 12 string bliss. limited to 1000. very recommended.
nice legit reissue of private heavy guitar psych beast.
this is heather woods broderick’s debut album — from the ground is built around warm, reverberating atmospheres and familiar yet striking melodies, gently wrapping around the listener and finding magic in subtlety. her soft voice matches the delicate neo-classical arrangements that are as light as a feather. careful attention has been paid to the album’s understated production, giving the feeling that these are lullabies pulled straight from the still morning air. broderick’s songs make the case that sometimes starting out somewhere simple is often better. at the core is heather and her guitar and throughout from the ground that combination is its greatest strength. plucked and strummed chords provide the foundation from which these songs take flight. the record is populated by lyrically-engaging songs and impressive instrumentals that take the listener into a world full of indian summers and pink sunset skies. it’s inevitable that anytime from the ground comes up, the fact that heather woods broderick is, indeed, the older sister of everyone’s favorite ultra-talented multi-instrumentalist peter broderick is mentioned, but his string arrangements and production on the album cannot be overlooked. they add another layer to compositions that are already stunning, further making the case that from the ground is an alluring yet subtle force to be reckoned with. from the ground was originally released on cd by preservation records (australia). this limited lp edition features new artwork and a previously-unreleased bonus track. vinyl cut at dubplates & mastering, berlin. includes a hidden locked groove.
here’s an assemblage of seemingly disparate recordings, including one tale of selling clam chowder to the russians. it’s not instrumental per se, but, as the title suggests, contains ‘no sung words.’ think of it as the appetizer for what david brant (you’ve seen him playing bass in vollmar) has up his sleeve with this exciting new project.
wild slab from this minneapolis brother/sister duo, ripping through some very damaged high energy garage rawk mischief. white stripes for acid heads? who knows – sweet eye-popping screenprinted covers. some are glow-in-the-dark style, some are silver. both are lovely. edition of 500.
newest release on big blood’s tiny private cdr label from s. br. oak of upside-down cross, deceh, etc. seriously zoned-out ultra lo-fi hiss saturated acoustic ragas, machinery hums, cut-up meditations, and an awesome totally blown-out version of ‘dark is the color of my true loves hair’… lovely screen printed doubled-sided art paper covers with inserts. nice.
…we like to play with fire and also botos like this… flaming tunes catching with angels chants… we accept the bet for the winner!!another 9 crazy trip from the massive band from blissland handmade hard cardboard limited to 116 copies.
intended as an aid in the transformative pursuit of prehuman awareness or empty clatter as model of spacetime.
as far as the southern hemisphere goes, australia’s budding underground has often played second fiddle to that of it’s island neighbor, new zealand. but a new crop of aussies is levelling the playing field. leading the way is the brother/sister duo of michael and kristina donnelly aka brothers of the occult sisterhood. these cosmic travelers are soaked to the bone in dust, like relics from the past. they speak only in tongues and send out shortwave psychedelic radio transmissions into the bleeding edges of drugged-out folk sludge. botos’ organic compositions are familiar to many by now. after a string of cd-r releases on time-lag, celebrate psi-phenomenon, and others, this is their first pro-pressed offering. building on transcendent themes and saturating everything in an all-encompassing puff of bong smoke. endless walls of instrumentation create artificial bounderies that the donnellys destroy with far-reaching, hypnotic drones. by the time “goodbye” comes to a grinding halt, it feels like the stuff of legend. brothers of the occult sisterhood are only interested in blowing your skull to smithereens while cradling you in their arms. they are simply magnificent, and there aren’t many doing it better these days. the first 500 copies come in silkscreened sleeves done by the new zealand crazies at united fairy moons.
reissue of the second botos disc , previously available on foxglove… probably their best! last copy…
one track, 45 minutes of sonic tripping. many many parts seamlessly (seemingly) flowing in and out of one another. tribal, witchy, cataclysmic. dig it. music from down under. way down under. features incredible new art from cory card designed specifically for this release. edition of 123.
original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates
every time she did a new pressing (sounds of the sea is from 1981 but
says 1990)… joanna brouk was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on kpfa even before hearts of space. she put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. you can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ … two side-length pieces — maggis flute and healing music. maggi is maggi payne of lovely records fame, today an instructor at mills college. this long improvisation based on brouks directions later provided the basis for a short symphonic piece by brouk in the mid 80s. healing music (1976) is one of brouks first piano works, a self-taught rondo of deep, hypnotic power. – yoga.
original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (sounds of the sea is from 1981 but says 1990)… joanna brouk was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on kpfa even before hearts of space. she put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. you can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ … brouks most unusual, ambitious, and remarkable recording consists of two side-long suites, atavesta, and the sailor and the nymph. lonesome whistles, flutes, drones whale songs, and wordless vocal wails suggest the experimental album kate bush never made, or a de-progged “sunborne” by constance demby. a startling, haunting work, highly recommended. – yoga.
bruce blucher and paul cahill (both of trash) hook up with drummer bo martak (king loser) and singer viv crowe for a one-off single from 1994 – great long gone dose of new zealand underground lo-fi folkrock, with great female vocals and good vibes all over. on bill meyer’s excellent and all too brief roof bolt label.
finnish underground fun. blue tape, pro-dubbed, 100 copies.
Originally released way back in 1965 on the Decca label (as just ’Vashti’, no Bunyan), “Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind” was actually the young London-based singer’s debut record. Written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, the song was handed to Vashti by Rolling Stones manager/guru Andrew Loog Oldham, who had recently discovered her via an industry friend. Vashti was put in the studio to record the song with the backing of a full orchestra. The track was backed by her own beautiful song, “I Want To Be Alone” on the B-side and released as a 7″-inch single in May 1965. Despite a whirlwind of promotion around the release and some very positive reviews, the single flopped and Vashti subsequently left the Decca label to pursue more pared-down ambitions. Remastered from a rare existing copy of the original 7-inch, “Some Things…” is revealed as a classic Stones-style pop stomper with a rich, full orchestral effect and a centre-point of Vashti’s inimitable vocal. Both eternal yet very much of its time, the record may have gained a slight patina of crackle and pop, yet has lost none of its charm through the decades, and somehow still manages to sound thoroughly fresh and full of wonder… limited to 1000 & recommended.
based in western massachusetts, joshua plays occasional live shows that never fail to stir the spirit-pot. whether beaming layered vocals and effects-trammeled whistling (whistling!) into the anticipatorily puckered o-minds of the audience, paying tribute to the great jansch, or rambling down forgotten paths w/ archaic stringed instruments, the guy never fails to heat up brain coils that i’d forgotten i have. in many ways, however, his most potent material is crafted in dark singularity, late at night, w/ tape rolling and moist nodes of fever pulsing gently in the dark, soft air. on this album, helped by kindred souls from tower recordings, six organs of admittance, and dredd foole, joshua achieves a kind of dream-loaded perfection that is the purview of very few. as the fools in the mainstream underground rush towards a platonic ideal that dehumanizes the process of creation, joshua embraces the quivering meat wheel that rotates in the center of all humankind. it is nothing less than a pinnacle of splendor. subtlly acknowledging influences that range from c.o.b. to the guild of temporal adventurers, it moves through the fair like a wraith. – byron coley… long out of print private press masterpiece. metallic gold spray painted recycled covers with paste-on art. highly recommended!
limited to only 500 copies worldwide on deluxe 10″ vinyl. includes exclusive artwork insert designed by hair police’s robert beatty! the first in a 6 part series from the avant garde’s young upstart c. spencer yeh. burning star core may not be a name familiar to everyone, but in the murky world of the avant garde he is already something of a legend. notching up performances with chris corsano, thurston moore, john olson (of wolf eyes), jessica rylan, hototogisu and many more, his name has become synonymous with the new wave of avant-noise. ‘amelia’ is the first disc in a five part series which collects rarities from almost ten years of recording activity, and here we see him exploring the bubbling psychedelic world of synthesizer heavy krautrock. from the initial synth-heavy rumbling and growling of ‘i wanna make a supersonic woman of you’ it is clear that yeh is on a mission to throw your brain into a psychedelic overload of colour and creativity, but it is on the flipside – the eleven minute ‘the point of departure is no return’ that he really gets into the progressive spirit and conjures up images of tangerine dream at their best. micro-arpeggios are layered underneath gasping winds of analogue synthesizer to create something which should really be a soundtrack to some kind of late-70s fantasy sci-fi film. this is the lighter side of burning star core, but shows the kind of creativity and bubbling genius you can only expect from the mind of one so renowned – recommended.
what can i say? burnt hills. stripped down to a quartet here, burnt hills actually play louder than ever before. you want heavy? you want merciless, unflinching, guitar-wielding thug-beauty? look no further. cd-r edition of 123 with spray-stenciled vellum envelopes and mad-dog insert.
minotaur surf party firing nitrous arrows into a flaming headswim universe, a wealth of decomposing monster saturated jams, dripping n melting in a heavy golden like syrup… edition of 50.
latest missive from this free rock/noise/psych collective based in the wilds of albany, ny. easily their loudest and most pure assault on the senses yet. wild, wooly, and singular-minded in its pursuit of psychedelic krautrock-inspired oblivion. we can’t say it any better than the good folks at aquarius: “fans of freaked out psychedelic punch ups, dizzying clattery outsider free rock and getting super high and diving head first into a huge pile of drums and guitars will feel right at home.” keep an eye out for upcoming burnt hills releases on the lotus sound, qbico, ruby red, and ruralfaune too.
burnt hills are a collective from albany, ny. every monday they use to jam and host shows at the heldberg basement, which is also the headquarter of flipped out records, exquisite label and mailorder active for 25 years. if you are lucky enough to attend one of their shows, you will probably realize that you are experiencing something more than a concert… it’s in fact a proper ritual that finds its perfect expression in a music that combines the freedom of free jazz, the fire of garage rock and the hallucinations of the best psychedelic music. lights out is just burnt hills at their best. just a little warm up and the hills explode like a bomb blowing up continually in a furious jam, where heavy vibrating vocals, pulsating rythm section and wild guitar wipe outs move along with perfect cohesion and fluidity. we are completely sucked into the vortex of this groove when a slow comedown begins to the end of the side, with that great solo guitar pattern drawing the last beaufitul images and then… lights out! paste on covers, with hand stamped label. limited to 150 copies, numbered.
hand picked from the treasure trove… a beautifully crushing live recording! professionally mastered and cut to sweet black wax. the full band blazing away at the pinnacle of their cosmic live explorations… stunning dual sided screened artwork… as with all “holy room” releases, this will be a one time only pressing…limited to 139 numbered copies, black jackets with “deluxe gold flake” screen printing!
psych trip genius, burnt hills drop a 57min wild wild ride to the best possible place. truly albany’s best. play it loud and you will find all sorts of lost zones there! play it very loud and you will be re-born.
soar through the cosmos as five guitars radiate microwaves towards the sun’s core, a bass levitates over the rings of saturn and shimmering percussive clatter seals up a black hole at the edge of the universe…. co-released with noiseville…. edition of 300 copies, with paste-on art front & back.
dig the raging thunderstorm of sound as four squealing, reeling and paint peeling guitars thrash riffs, tones and cosmic bursts, a massive bass throbs and centers, propulsive dive bomb drums explode constantly and the sweet glaze of an insistent chiming xylophone rings out from the eye of the storm….one track, one hour and twenty seven seconds long….cover art by bill nace…
i wish it could have been a double, but its finally thirty five minutes of wax after years and years of cassection-8 for you subwolfers out there. alas, the aerobics class needs a chalkboard accompaniment and someone better check the instructors erratic heart beat, ie drew. using clock tracks, basics and a storkrugfull of gadgets, analog synthtronica is his labor of love. amazing covers screened by the instructor himself-urban music has to be heard to be believed. featuring drew ryan of flak mask, and uke of spaces corners. lp 500 pressed. multi colored screen printed, plastic jackets.
clare hubbard (caethua) and andy neubauer (uke of spaces, flak mask, impractical cockpit) play the koner synth holy carols. edition of 100 with white imprinting and letterpress inserts… real sweet sounds from these local zoners. awesome package too.
clare hubbard (“caethua”) creates haunted movements, encompassing scapes of “coldness” and comfort, throughout this lp with each sorrowful ballad surrounded by terms/phrases of meditation and experimental sound collages using saxophone, singing bowls, electronics, guitars, bells, water, and recordings made while on a boat trip traveling throughout the length of the st. lawrence river. dark ambient psychedelic folk… real nice album packaged in a screen printed recycled cover with paste-on art. swirl colored vinyl.
caethua is the project of maine residents clare hubbard, now collaborating with andy neubauer. as caethua walks deeper and deeper into the fogged up landscape, they bring with them a walter carlos take on baroque tinged psyche folk, and post industrial tinted lenses for which to look through. with a handful of releases under her belt on a variety of labels, the summer is over is one of hubbard’s most realized works. eight sonically perfect songs filled with heart-melting vocal melodies, and dream provoking lyrics. tastefully accompanied by her piano, guitar, saxaphone and well placed soundscapes. she is joined on this record by the multi-instrumentalism of andy neubauer (impractical cockpit, ancestral diet, flak mask, village of spaces) who compliments this masterpiece with bass clarinet and cello. recorded at the pool recording studio by alex yusimov and artfully mastered by tim stollenwerk. this is a split release between turned word and the debut release on the new mississippi records imprint, water wing records. edition of 500… nice fancy covers & heavy full color inserts. lovely stuff.
dennis callaci and simon joyner are two of the foremost channelers of “the song.” simon is known for his solo recordings, with releases on jagjaguwar, truckstop, shrimper, and sing eunuchs!, among others. dennis plays in refrigerator and was the sole voice behind the criminally underheard paste. they are singer-songwriters in that they write songs and sing them, but that appellation dumbs down and sanitizes what they do. i think it is more accurate to say that both have a way of tapping into the stream of collective creativity that flows from god-knows-when through to the present and beyond. their songs have a gravity to them, an”old soul,” as it were, that cannot be mistaken. there are a few stylistic precursors to their work precursors that have been well-documented previously but the songs they write and sing tap into something more ineffable, timeless, and grave. stranger blues set comprises three of simon’s songs and two by dennis, all recorded live in the callaci living room to what seems to be a single microphone. the nontraditional (or better: non-studio) setting adds a palpable sensation of space to the recordings by space i do not simply mean the warmth of the room tone, but actual space: backing vocals and spare piano or guitar lines arise in such a way that you are aware of the physical geography of the room. you can hear simon singing along with dennis from an actual distance away; his voice is (literally) distant and all the more forlorn. the guitar lines that dennis adds to flesh-out simon’s songs have the same eerie effect. this sense of space underscores two seemingly contradictory strengths about stranger blues. on one hand, these songs are beautifully lonely and spare, highlighted by the echoes and distance in the room. at the same time, it is clear that two songwriters who know and love the other’s work, who are very much working in tandem to build upon each others strengths. single edition of 500 one-sided lps. silkscreened and hand assembled chipboard jackets in a”traditional” catsup plate brown butchers tape design scheme.
packaging in an exact reproduction heavy mini-lp style cover, with japanese woven inner sleeves, and a double-sided insert with a bunch of great vintage photos of eddie rockin’ the marshall stacks at the ‘false ego’ sessions, and new notes from eddie, his wife donna-davi, and album producer robert berry. edition of 500 copies.
first ever reissue, deluxe & legit, of this quite rare 1976 southern california private press gem. it’s a strange, fantastical, and totally distinct album that will have you sucked in almost instantly. this one is extremely hard to pin down – think something like a loner powerpop rock opus, heavy on the psychedelic production values, studio dreamer vibes, and timeless hooks. the songs are unusual but infectious, the production is breezy & expansive but not polished, and the vocals are constantly morphing yet always effective. in fact, the hazy chameleon-like personality here might be one of the best things going for the album, as not only does eddie seem to be channeling a handful of different vocalists, but the whole mood & sound shifts around unexpectedly as well. even the potential low points somehow work, and there’s surprises around every turn. the often questioning, self-reflective lyrics add yet another layer of mystique to the trip. musically the most mellow points hover around gorgeous, airy, rural-tinged, floating psychedelia with beautifully layered acoustic & electric guitars, tinkling keys, and lush mellotron. when things pick up they’re truly rocking, with tight punchy rhythms and eddie firing off big chunky guitar riffs like he’s playing to the packed stadium behind his third eye. all the studio tricks at hand are put to full use with sweet leslie guitar effects, special tones, backwards solos, elaborate multi-tracked sound fields, and some of the most wonderfully bent synthesizer soloing ever laid to tape. the perfectly strange & beautiful cover art seals the deal… mastered from the artist’s well preserved & great sounding master tapes. pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl, and packaging in an exact reproduction heavy old-style cover, with exact repro labels. also includes a double-sided heavy stock insert with a bunch of great vintage photos of eddie rockin’ the marshall stacks at the ‘false ego’ sessions, plus new notes from eddie, his wife donna-davi, and album producer robert berry. one time pressing of 700 copies.
traditions don’t often go softly into the night. they may fest under the surface of things for a while, but they don’t truly disappear. the lost domain’s john henry calvinist prepares a set of limestone-dusted originals which snake their way through the muddy rivers of days gone by. dirt-soaked radio transmissions from distant dimensions scorch the reels and get things moving. there’s enough space in these towering guitar explorations to suck marrow from the sky. these back porch acoustic blues sing to the heavens,”come down and get me, i’m just waiting – ‘ edition of 100.
evan caminiti is a guitarist full of big ideas and even bigger sounds. currently known as one-half of the san francisco bay area avant-droners barn owl, caminiti has spent a great deal of time the past few years playing and recording gorgeous solo explorations focused primarily on the guitar but, when need be, accented by additional instrumentation. following several prior releases, caminiti’s abilities have been honed to the razor-sharp point of his new lp, west winds. three lobed recordings is proud to present this album, caminiti’s most mature and meditative to date. west winds is a discourse on solitude and cosmic exploration set primarily to an open tuned guitar. it is a logical successor to caminiti’s strong, large(r) scale solo debut, psychic mud shrine (digitalis, 2009) and calls to mind roy montgomery, hex-era earth, and popul vuh. the album is the result of caminiti’s six-month-long focus on each song’s form and musical composition. over that span of time, caminiti assembled and came to know each song intimately, constructing a series of strong structural bases. that knowledge permitted him to record the final takes accentuated by numerous potent improvisational flourishes as heard on west winds. this long-form approach of adding chaotic, off-the-cuff elements to such long-crafted tracks is basically the opposite approach to that which is used within the context of barn owl. through its contemplative tone, west winds is the perfect soundtrack to your next night alone in the literal or figurative desert. it is a bold and cohesive statement from a young artist already capable of recording greatness… includes free download. limited edition of 600 in a cool screen printed cover. already sold out at source so don’t sleep on it.
awesome textured paper fold out cover with paste-on art & insert. features mc john olson. numbered edition of 150.
out of print. one copy only.
canamii’s concept is a great obscure south african progressive folk rock album with excellent female vocals by claire whittaker. it reminds of the best uk mid ’70s progressive groups. a must have for all spriguns, renaissance and early curved air fans. insert with group photos and lyrics included. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, from the original master tapes, exact reproduction of the original artwork.
car commericals are generally uncomfortable; probably shifty-eyed loners that barely leave the basement. their brand of strictly personal suburban ooze was borne deep within the recesses of new jersey, just east of i-95. more specifically, this music springs from inside that unspeakable zone deep within the mind where feelings get very messy. david sutton and daniel dimaggio, the duo known as car commercials, make mysterious fake rock clatter for heavy petting (yeah right). following a brief stint as gt performers, daniel and david began to make duo recordings as car commercials a few years ago, releasing their creepy missives in small runs, mostly for sutton’s leaf leaf label. the two have tapped into an aspect of nonsensical nihilism that makes jad fair’s early recordings so alluring, but have forgone his obsession with cartoon horror and monster movies in favor of faces of death i thru vi. eric’s diary is the second lp release from car commericals, following the out-of-print judy’s dust lp (cenotaph) from early 2008. those confounded by judy’s dust will be pleased to know that eric’s diary is where things get…intense. breathe deep, and prepare to scratch yr head faster than you can say ‘home blitz.’ lp edition of 200 with full color paste-on sleeves… great!
car commercials explore the personal / loner side of diy with their singular take on no-chord strum & mumble rock n’ roll alienation. dave sutton and daniel dimaggio have created another soundtrack of suburban boredom & terminal paranoia; the stifling, mundane source of this music (geographically and psychologically speaking) is mirrored and regurgitated in these five tunes. where once they tread a formless, lurching path, car commercials now tromp along with more-cohesive abandon. moments of spontaneity & pure attitude are delivered in restrained spurts and jabs, and their chops seem better, too. all in all, prisoner of type extends the duo’s unsettling missives into (slightly) less-rudimentary corners. each side offers a different, uh, side of the band. its a savory listen. 300 pressed, includes a free download.
this may be the end is a tapestry of intricately repeating guitar phrases woven into layers of interlocking, syncopated, phase in/phase out patterns…a melodic rhythm that will keep your head bobbing as much as spinning. melodic lines (often expressed through layered ebows) enter as quickly as they depart, leaving no central theme except the interlocking reichian pattern. this may be the end feels almost like two pieces of music with a bridge of synthesized waves between the two patterns, the latter being a more subtle come down to the vortex of chaotic bliss in the first section. long hallway, three slightly open doors is a step in a different direction, without a central rhythmic or melodic theme, the piece is a beautifully meandering stumble of notes falling from the guitar. a perfect counterpart to the first piece’s tenseness, long hallway is loose, patient and indirect about it’s objectives, causing the listener to react more than anticipate. recorded in his home studio, nada sound studio, from 2003 to 2006, both pieces are a far cry from carbonara’s solo guitar work, showing his depth as an arranger/composer in the studio beyond that of a solo improviser.
extra epic double disc. pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
pretty great self released disc from france-by-way-of-brooklyn solo bedroom psych-out dronefolk trip. long layered & echo soaked excursions run into starker acidfolk ‘songs’ proper. interesting & well executed stuff with piles of acoustic & electric guitars, flutes, sitar, fuzz, drums, synth, and effective warm vocals. i can see folks who dig the rougher sound of natural snow buildings or cursillistas doing well to check this stuff out. chipboard covers with paste-on color art, hand titled spine, etc. nice.
i’m wrapping my head in plaster of paris. i will then dunk it in a barrel of brine before diving into the la brea tar pits. sure its suffocating, but my dying, muffled gasps will be overpowered by the sounds pumping through my headphones, headphones running to my cheap, portable cd player which is, miraculously, not struggling with this black-bottomed cd-r. it never likes cd-r’s but this time its different. the scuzzed-out fuck-folk of card & snyder jams my eardrums till my nose runs. these lo-fi cantatas are last rites for all the wicked and i’m listening hard and close. rock n roll rumbles in and out of the proceedings, but mostly what we have here are the sounds of card and snyder’s dark and sweaty wet-dreams; fried-out electronics and peasant drones. the end of it ripples on and on, beautifully, jarringly, like your buddha machine being cooked inside a thanksgiving turkey. or even better: an easter ham. get it and rejoice! – indieworkshop.
here is a great surprise for us. an unknown uk album with such a great musical potential. musically it is a very powerful guitar dominated underground rock such as black sabbath, blue cheer, dark or grannie. the rarity factor is way above all those other rare uk albums, which stay in low pressings of 99 copies and 15-20 such as dark. this one has been pressed only 4 times ever. in september 1971 eugene carnan entered a uk-wide competition for ‘best new band’ run by the famous melody maker magazine, they recorded the album in 1972 and took it to london to eden studios for a demo pressing and cut 4 acetates. eugene carnan a 3 piece band are from sheffield, uk with guitar & vocals, bass and drums. all own composition. a killer album from beginning to end…. 500 numbered copies, 180gm vinyl, insert, etc.
a new 7″ by christina carter which serves as the opening ceremony for our new 7″ series of solo performances ‘alone together’. a loan voice, the tangled bells, the caw of a crow, a plane passing overhead… a fortuitous overlapping of sound moments, trapped in amber by christina for us to bear witness. much like her early cdrs ‘hand & mind’ or ‘human as guitar’, ‘obelisk/tholos’ is an act of white witchcraft, a healing spell that defines time with the merest of tools: bells, voice, a microphone… mastered by pete swanson, edition of 300.
christina carter (charalambides, et al.) has a gift. in a world where most people shy away from the truth, from honesty in emotion, christina has the strength to address those feelings head on through her music. within the songs of original darkness, she confronts loneliness, self doubt, inadequacy and desire. she bares these emotions in a sometimes tender, sometimes forceful, sometimes pleading voice, a voice in which you can hear her vulnerability, her trepidation. christina’s words, and the mournful sound of them, stirs a melancholy that is supported and framed by her gently plucked guitar notes, notes that echo the sadness in the world she sings of, as well as the words she sings. these ten new songs are effective at painting pictures, exposing the underbelly of what we all really think but most will not say, of what we all really feel but push away. with the addition of gentle bells and occasional keyboards, christina reminds us of what it means to be honestly human.
brand new 2009 recordings of galactic guitar ooze, laid down in nyc usa. hand silkscreened gold on matte black covers. edition of 258.
relentlessly looped fuzz wah spun into muzzy knots around dazed spectators’ heads, crumbling into fragmenting crumbs of varying bit depth. presented in two longish improv settings (recorded during a residency in louvain-la-neuve belgium by daniel duchamp, in paul labrecque’s basement), and one short blast recorded before a very zoned audience in berlin by steve gunn, laid down during the massively psyched out ghq / tom carter tour in europe, spring 2008. edition of 100, gatefold silkscreen covers.
solo guitar psych drone explorations from tom carter, of charalambides, of course. floating sound pools of vibrating electric tones. sweet full color double sided oversized fold out packaging. limited to 150 copies & out of print.
here it is! the first 7″ in the anthem records singles series. a series of super limited, one sided 7″ singles. carter crams two tracks onto this one. the first a sparse lap steel wanderer, the second a full on wall of riff with backward guitars, it’s chaos and beauty! limited to 211 copies. packaged in a sweet embossed, hand stamped, stitched art paper cover. numbered edition.
companion disc to “shots at infinity 2″. one copy only.
this is the companion release to the tom carter cd titled shots at infinity 1 being release on important simultaneously. shots at infinity 2 is two long live tracks in the same mode as shots at infinity 1, but more cut loose and blown out, recorded in nemo bidstrup’s record store and burnt hills’ basement jam zone. tom carter is a guitar player best known for his work with acclaimed psych-drone iconoclasts charalambides. since 2000, however, he has become increasingly active as not only a solo artist but as a collaborator. he has performed with improvising musicians as diverse as thurston moore, jandek, tetuzi akiyama, matt valentine, and many others, as well as being a key member in groups like badgerlore (with ben chasny of six organs of admittance), friday group, mudsuckers (with robert horton and the yellow swans), and zaika (with marcia bassett of the double leopards and hototogisu). carter’s solo work covers a lot of territory, but latter-day sightings show him to be concentrating on looped guitar drones of immensely stacked beauty, with heaps of psychedelic melodic content missing from the repertoires of many noise and drone bands. his influences include everyone from lamonte young to david crosby… limited vinyl.
warm and warbling full-bodied drone from paul (aswara / muntjac / death chants) with alison & michael (death chants, moon pie). cool elaborate hand made packaging. must be pretty limited.
during the last euro tour of wolf eyes, john olson (of american tapes, spykes, guam river etc – ) and mike connelly (of gods of tundra, hair police, failing lights etc – ) decided it was enough! they screamed “i’m not going to bed!!! i never wanne sleep again!!!”, they missed their flights and stayed in antwerp with the ultra audiobored horror crew for 7 more weeks without food and drinks, just dry weed and cancerbags to suck on! after that intense test to see if they could adapt to the antwerp life style, they finally met up with legendary belgian eccentric cacti and hat collector cassis cornuta, this psychadelic caracter brought his whole space synth and tape lab over to radio centraal to record an intense last gasp jam with the hardly breathing olson and connelly, the end result is an amazing trip to space and back to the mental hospital! like pouring lighter fluid and tabasco up your genitals or like olson states it so beautifully; like pissing on your own hand, freezing it and then using it as a lollypop for 5 days! comes in a gross 6 panel cover design and with an etch on the b side! – very limited. amazing packaging!
first release from this danish project. tapes have been dug up from many older sessions, and this is the result. ’the dry, heavy shape reaches out’ is one long hypnotic drone-noise-rock track, designed to make you bleed (please play it loud)… cool deep underground sound packaged in a painted cloth shroud. very limited.
underwater peoples records is proud to peddle one of this world’s constantly enjoyable phenomena.. rock n’ roll!!! and today, in the fine tradition of rock spirit, we are proud to announce the release of a split 7” record from andrew cedermark (born in beautiful glen rock, nj/formerly of titus andronicus) and family portrait (front man evan brody hails from ridgewood, nj).despite being two very different artists, both bands emit towers of sound and giant walls of melodic noise, making this pairing a diverse yet cohesive record. the recordings also feature friends and fellow musicians martin courtney (real estate, bass guitar on hard livin’) and julian lynch (clarinet on super cool).
the tenth release on tape drift brings us back to the first, with a brand new offering from century plants. the first in a multiple volume series, “circular spaces, vol. 1″ finds hardiman and hare in particularly fine form, showing how far they’ve come since their debut. this one splits the difference between their melodic and noisy extremes, with two beautifully intense guitar workouts and a long excursion into the depths of sonic abstraction unlike anything else they’ve committed to tape yet. debut lp out soon on music fellowship!
last november we put together an amazing show here in buffalo featuring a spectrum of -house and alchemy- friends/partners, past, present and future. century plants were the future. and, that future is now. featuring their set from that wonderful night in buffalo and another live set, electrics is century plants in top form. cd-r edition of 123 in sleeves with full color artwork by katheryn richards.
ceylon mange is the trio of dylan nyoukis (chocolate monk proprietor and sound molder in blood stereo, decaer pinga), karen constance (blood stereo, smack music 7) and bill nace (x.o.4, vampire belt). the maiming path extends from the group’s previous mind melts with two side long (de)constructions that are assembled from a variety of mangled loops and electronics, guitar feedback/slaughter and cromagnon vocals. the results are a murky stew, as each emerging sound creeps upon the listener like a blackened sloth nightmare. it’s the type of organic brain tangle that is rarely unleashed by the spirits these days. the lp is pressed in an edition of 410 and housed in a full-colour printed sleeve featuring karen’s outsider artwork – killer dirty droning noise. out of print first pressing.
a great puerto rican garage psych group who sang in english, with pleasant multi-part vocal leads sitting atop more engrossing latin rhythms and instrumental flourishes, fine fuzz guitar work and screaming farfisa organ. this is the first time reissue for lp of this rare central-south american psychedelic vinyl – elaborate lp-only reissue, super heavy full color gatefold sleeve, poster and obi – awesome album!
a rare document of a brief arc in charalambides’ 17 year (and counting) trajectory, somewhere between the extreme spatial attenuation of the long gone crucial blast cdr being as is and the gentle intergalactic trio sway of the kranky disk unknown spin – and quite distance from both the exclamatory exhalations of joy shapes and the layered songcraft of likeness. these are spartan duets of formalistic near-symmetry, a reminder that there was a time when charalambides swung as close to the axis of incus and fmp as to that of takoma and esp. christina (voice) and tom carter (guitar) improvise non-textual melodic lines around an locus of mirror clarity, occasionally overlapping various strands using two dat machines and a mixing board, in a nod to the pre protools digital scrap heap. originally issued as a peter king lathe cut lp on eclipse records in an edition of 100 in 2000, the reissue of this extreme rarity is remastered from a superior source for maximum clarity. inkblot artwork courtesy of heather leigh murray. the whole package is dedicated to bruce connor (r.i.p.). the reissue at hand is an edition of 500, with fold-over printed sleeves in the style of electricity ghosts.
long-, long-, long-, loooooong-awaited and singular entry in the charalambides and klang industries discographies; one of those “does it really exist?” items that’s finally seeing daylight, or moonlight. a stark, unsettling and beautiful slice of duo charlambides invocation/incantation, taken from the period between jason bill and heather leigh murray’s tenures with the band and featuring extraordinary chord organ and vocal work from christina and some signature lap steel mastery from tom. fans of the band’s most recent, more song-based work will find this relevatory, long-time listeners will say “ahhhh” and settle in for the flight. heavy vinyl, limited pressing, cover handiwork by tom, the first release in years from klang and a sign perhaps of a truly epic revival… nice!
new release of eldritch origin featuring historic recordings of two nearly-complete sets from the “market square”-era charalambides lineup, featuring the core duo of tom & christina carter + jason bill. one side is from the cooler, nyc, at the 1995 cmj fest (swirling vox sound courtesy kurt wolf), where strapping fieldhands got their fender twin stolen, and bill orcutt & i witnessed the unrepentant use of string-eze by the gtrist from cobra verde. the other side is from the 1994 siltbreeze festival at the khyber pass in philly. both sets consist of freak-rock tracks from “market square” & “strangle the wretched heavens,” heavy on analog atmosphere & ecstatic/blown-out gtr/vox interconnectivity.
cool & long gone early one.
charlie nothing & dingulator was one of the seemingly myriad 80s charlie nothing cassettes and it’s inclusion was, in part, intended within a 2cd anthology that we’d planned but the amount of material is too great and the moments therein are too grand to even dream of an edit. although this is fairly late in mr nothing’s oeuvre, we can’t think of a more fully realized statement regarding the scope of his playing recycled automotive steel guitars and the performing of his big dingulator song sweet (or suite, as it were, a concept of his that implied all songs were but one song) than a reissue of this 1985 manifesto-like piece. what you are about to hear, is dingulation…
charlie nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher, clown and inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made from american car metal), charles martin simon. charlie’s only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. due to it’s rarity, the psychedelic saxophone of charlie nothing, issued by takoma records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years. outside / inside, the second and only other charlie nothing lp, originally issued by everitt enterprises in 1969, thematically follows with two sidelong flute-based instrumentals. nowhere on wax will you find more palpable preserved air of a real-time dropout scene than with these sides of nothing. it is a wonder that these records circulated at all outside the vacuum in which they were created. nothingness, a california existentiality looping back on itself, preserved and disseminated as evidence. there are indeed very few records like these. fully authorized / fully legit.
it is with great excitement that three lobed announces the privilege of releasing for hans chew his debut solo release, a 7” featuring both “new cypress grove boogie” and “forever again.” hans chew’s skill as a piano player has previously been on display both in a complementary fashion to jack rose (appearing as a member of jack’s live backing band at arthurdesh as well as on both the black dirt sessions and luck in the valley) and as a integral member of d. charles speer & the helix (including his vocal turns on both “life insurance” off distillation and “bar-abbas blues” off the “in madagascar” 7”). this new single offers an expanded glimpse at not only chew’s songwriting prowess but also his powerful boogie-blues, bar-rockin’ piano skills. both tracks presented on this 7” are slated to appear on chew’s forthcoming debut album, tennessee and other stories, but appear in different versions exclusive to this release. the 7” itself is a vivid picture disc bearing stunning shots by jake cunningham and comes from a limited edition of 500 copies, each accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free 320kbps mp3s. this record is a joint release between three lobed and divide by zero. due to co-release nature, three lobed has limited stock.
full color paste-on cover art with insert. numbered edition of only 60 copies.
from biel switzerland, comes this little known group. one of the few all-girl bands (along with kleenex/lilliput) to come out of the early 80′s swiss punk scene. chin chin definitely considered themselves a punk band. although their catchy pop vocals and harmonies strongly aligned them with the burgeoning c86 scene. they shared bills with the shop assistants, television personalities, the pogues and new model army, before the band drifted into obscurity. this 7″ was originally released in 1984 on the band’s own, farmer records. it contains 3 self-penned songs and marks their first and punkest release. keep your eyes peeled for their full length lp out soon as a split between the mississippi and slumberland labels.
brand new collaboration from the uk blurters… 3 jams of fuzzy drug psychedelia and shake ’n’ noise featuring the sheffield legend that is rob from chora who has now fled for the big city itself. laser printed yellow sleeves, limited to 60 hand numbered copies.
first release by young upstarts from sheffield and what a fine racket it is too. this live recording gives a fair estimation of the damage they’ve been doing along the highways of the uk for the past 18 months. great mixture of high end ear cleaning, nonsensical vocal-isms and eventual lapses into metronomic rythym. a mixture of noise and repitition that is not a million miles away from the area that this heat so successfully cultivated. the future is very bright indeed – transparent xeroxed/stapled covers.
psychedelic drones recorded in sheffield summer 2006, performed and recorded by ben morris and robert wye. future releases coming up on gold soundz, utech, singing knives, curor et al.
debut release of chapel hill, nc duo. oscillates back and forth between dub-inspired beats and sparse creeping drones. edition of 15 in hand sewn paper slip cases.
summer 06 family underground (dk) recorded with dave nuss of nnck at black dirt studios in the woods of upstate ny. the yield was as characteristically unhinged as one might expect: sweeping electronic sounds backed with wood and bone percussion spirit-conjure. however also harvested was some new and especially tasty crop: sung and spoken song, electric guitar/conga “rock,” and an odd ghostly sheen coating the entire proceeding.…
susan christie was a philly-based sophomore folk singer who had one novelty hit for a major label and never quite recovered…and afterwards, her psychedelic take on country standards and hand crafted tales of inner-city solitude that was backed by a break heavy folk-funk rhythm section was never accepted as a commercial viability by record company big-wigs: they obviously couldn’t quite muster their ‘nostradamus’ sensibilities to foresee what future hip-hop producers and djs would be feeding into digital music-machines 30 years down the line! luckily three-fifths of a handful (literally three!) privately pressed vanity copies were manufactured in early 1970, one of which became the source material for this b-music release, nesting in the finders keepers’ ever-expanding library of obscure, obtuse, obsolete and obsessive vintage music from the ’60s and ’70s. the uber-legend john hill (who penned the mind-blowing acid rock floor-filler ‘love love love love love’ for wool) produced this release: which features 8 tracks including a twelve minute drugsploitation epic called ‘yesterday – where’s my mind’ featuring the enigmatic susan flipping vocal styles between janis joplin and margo guryan (who was in fact a close friend of susan’s at the time of recording.… pretty wild & great one. nice gatefold covers. limited.
1968 hollywood, usa. the churchill downs recorded 16 great tracks at the studio from famous producer gary s. paxton. the band was very young at the time but the musical output was on the highest level you can imagine with a damn good production. how a band like this not become famous is a mystery. fantastic compositions, great multi vocal singing, strong guitars, organ, drums, bass, effects, everything you desire to get catchy underground songs with tons of great ideas in it to make those songs unique and out of bounce and not middle of the road. it is just what we love about the productions of phil spector and andrew loog oldham. the churchill downs are one of the best us unknown albums among beauregard ajax and public nuisance. with don adey on guitar and vocals, gary dalton stovall guitar and vocals, dirk acree bass and vocals, mick newton keyboards and vocals, al stigler and fred darling on drums. if we could go back in time, let’s say 40+ years and release this album in 1968 we would have been rich. why this album was never been pressed is still a mystery. so for the first time ever those great songs made it onto vinyl. we love it… numbered edition of 500, 180gm vinyl, 2 page insert, etc.
our second split cd features 45 minutes of complementary drone bliss by two prime proponents of contemporary underground drift. glasgow’s pefkin (gayle brogan of the boa melody bar mailorder) offers up one extended track in which discrete, often acoustic sounds glisten and overlap like light on a rolling ocean; while the circle and the point (a duo of buffalo-based adam richards [house of alchemy records] and la denizen grant capes [of (vxpxc) and the phantom limb label]) bring us four tracks that drag simple eno-esque melodies through an unpredictable filter of urban noise. sea air to city clatter, electronically bridged; plug in anywhere… limited to 100 or so.
post-terrastock 6, two weary travelers holed up in a spare bedroom with a random cache of instruments and various noisemakers in an attempt to unleash some of the beer-fueled steam that had built up over the previous weekend. the music here comes from two delirious afternoons, still weary from a lack of sleep, minds still overloaded from a weekend of mania- both music related and beyond. floating acoustic guitars buried in the murk of distorted electric guitars. featuring grant capes from (vxpxc), these are ideas six years in the making, now just starting to unwind. adorned with major cover art by darryl norsen – very sweet art paper paste-on packaging. limited/numbered edition of 123 copies. very nice!
years passed since the last full length – and circle bros turned from a pure ambient-esque unit into a more song-oriented unit; expect adventurous singer-song improvisation. circle bros is the project of wim lecluyse, the man behind morc records. just as with morc records, circle bros doesn’t focus on quantity – this is the first circle bros full length album since late 2001. on haven, you’ll still hear echoes from the classic drone-outfits likes of windy and carl or azusa plane, but the sound palette is no longer focussed just on guitars. organ, vocals and sound-collages give the recordings a very warm tone, and sometimes refer to the experimental pop- and folk structures of e.g. richard youngs, grouper or castanets.
… really nice new album from this overlooked project. screen printed covers, limited edition of only 143 copies.
these two morc bands wrote their best songs yet to put on this split lp. this album is the perfection of both bands’ sounds – good stuff!
arkades catches a session finnish group, circle, recorded exclusively for wfmu during their us tour, september 19, 2005. comprising two lengthy pieces taking up a side each,”the greatest kingdom” and “the ghost of the highway,” the record focuses on the bands often spacy improv underpinning and applies new meaning to a vision which strides powerfully over the line dividing apocalyptic dread from a semblance of hope. agonized wailing, screams and torrents of molten sound dance ghostly shapes over psychedelic keyboard patterns, distant clattering, moonlit guitars and a rhythm section so carefully tempered that its impossible not to feel the chemistry at work. coupled to a fantastic sleeve which illustrates a homage to spaghetti western films and includes fitting notes by wfmu’s program director, brian turner, arkades proves what these new wave of finnish heavy metallers are capable of when they leave most of the rock at the door. file somewhere near acid mothers temple after having been given the kinda makeover only the scandinavians have the formula for. indeed, this is sweet shit – limited!
really nice new single. green vinyl, color cover, vellum obi, limited to 300 copies. already out of print.
this is a new zealand duo (mark sadgrove, sam hamiltony)… a really beautiful 3″cdr, a nice gentle drone with some really beautiful vocals! both these guys have appeared on pseudoarcana in the past… sweet home made packaging. very limited.
brand new dead end carpetbagger blues by these born losers. this third claudio two album (following the unreleased and indefinitely shelved jazz improve cdr) finds the crew flexing their muscles a bit – from wasted bedroom metal riffs carelessly layered over each other to create a zit cream vortex, to synth / occult pieces inspired by john carpenter soundtracks and ritalin snorting, to atmospheric black metal frightmares, and decrepid blooz rock, it’s all here on this brief cd, which may or may not include the band’s first actual cover song, by french geniuses vietnam veterans. full color collage covers by local college radio personality (actually he just steals cds from the station) blake conley. only 150 copies of this one, hurry!
some folks may claim that improvisation is all about listening, but claudio two endash a new project starring partners chazz improv and norma bates (aka james and jessica toth, formerly of wwvv), and featuring the first appearance in over ten years by former golden calves vocalist max “mev” wicker endash is all about the opposite. recorded in various spurts over the fall of 2007, sniper at the gates of dawn is the debut cdr by claudio two, on which the band layers individual single tracks recorded solo and combines them unheard (a la durian durian), and, elsewhere, uses this source material to try to recreate this accidental music while in a group setting. mixed in glorious mono. 150 copies, no reissues.
long out of print. “industrial folk” cover versions.
when i first heard the name, ‘clay man in the well,’ i got images in my head of archaelogical digs and ancient civilizations. pseudoarcana chief antony milton brings us a brand new album of dirt-infused jams, uncovered after years of digging. with scores of music boxes and simple drones, milton’s affected whispers treat these hymns with formaldahyde, preserving them for a million years. this is timeless. this is music for the archives. 100 copies.
long awaited collection from heavy sessions in the tomb, same sessions that bore “silver skull”. all out medicine worship, oily secretions of black sunshine to dampen your hollow bones. 80 minutes thick with whirlwind of mangled audio snapshots, healing rituals, analog psychosis treatment, massaging the dump – crazy oversized packaging.
short heavy jam by davenporting clay. colliding vocals, wrong brakes and dusty feedback. earfilth for the believers. a grey walk to the leftovers from last weeks house. psych! comes in an offset/handmade cramamyser cover. clay ruby is the guy behind the 23 productions label and the wellknown pasture festival in the usa. he also plays in bands like davenport, metrocide etc.
a lovely vinyl reissue on etude records of a long obscure climax golden twins gem. originally issued in 1995, on cassette, eerie fragrance or eyeless fabrication or exclude frank or eat fuck or etc (forever) was climax golden twins second official issue after a self-released double seven inch gatefold record. cassettes–the cockroach of the industry–were a necessity at the poorer end of the music spectrum prior to cdrs and file sharing…the good old days…ef was a collage of noise, found sounds, punk rock disasters, chinese climaxes, broken records, and tape failures mastered directly to cassette on a reverberant wooden floor in an old building in seattle, washington. it seemed an inauspicious start and little presaged the ambient/dreamy/art installation/field recording/anomalous records darlings cgt were to become with releases such as lovely, dream cut short in the mysterious clouds, locations, etc. however, secret free hillbilly noise epilepsy has always lurked under the button up shirts, white wine sipping and gallery-opening snack-munching. the noise informs the dreams which informs the ambiance which informs the chaos and so back to the beginning and vice-versa. etude records discovered cgt through their work on the horror film session nine and have been wanting to release something ever since. part band, part art project, climax golden twins were discovered lurking under a desk in a laboratory in the early 1920s. reconstituted around 1993 or 4 (just add gin), they perpetrated various audio artifacts on an unsuspecting (and cold) world (see extensive and largely mythical list below). these days they are the cgt in afcgt. and they released victrola favorites recently on dust to digital. their laboratory origins lead to a an unhealthy interest in early recording and the era of music on 78rpm records and cylinders, a time of acoustic sound reproduction when oral traditions ended and the home entertainment industry and the information age devoured our puny lives. that’s a mouthful. this era was a pivotal one in understanding how humanity arrived where it is today, though climax golden twins denies all knowledge of where that might be.
this collaboration between the mellow, memphis-meets-germany duo of kip ulhorn and simon wojan (aka cloudland canyon) and chicago’s great rock ‘n’ roll concierge and knower-of-mystics mr. robert lowe (aka lichens) was born on a trip to the west coast of the united states a few years ago. exterminating angel’s single 30-minute track uses voice, guitar, samplers, and arp synthesizer. you’ve heard of the unmade science fiction epic whose would-be director proposed using different big-name progressive bands to perform a soundtrack for specific planets used in the script; here then are the sounds accompanying a spacecraft that’s a combination death star and taco bell from the 1970s filled with cement mayan temples and pyramids populated by large, snappily dressed reptilian beings. every so often a bell goes off to break the spell and presents convincing evidence of this record’s special journey.
fresh off a new killer kranky full-length, bi-continental teutonic duo cloudland canyon grease the gears on a piston-pumping motorik ramp into futurist motion, gliding drones & mechanic rhythm. seamless & dreamless. on the b nnf extended family m beast drop 2 perfect soul caravan wanderlust blues drifters. real gorgeous, and a great teaser for their in-the-works full-length for drag city subsidiary language of stone. with art by crops + rawber best friend diva dompe.
originally released in 1972, this is the second album by legendary german ambient pioneers dieter moebius and hans-joachim roedelius. moebius and roedelius essentially create ambient electronic soundscapes that ebb and flow, droning on in a suspended world of anti-gravity where machine has conquered man.
delight in the stream is the first solo vinyl outing for john clyde-evans (aka tirath singh nirmala) in close to a decade. recorded during a year-long stay in india, the album seamlessly weaves together an array of piercing bowed objects, flutes and voice with electronic and audio embellishments over the course of three extended tracks. the scattering of sounds swirl around to disorienting effect yet still manage to mesmerize as the music draws itself out. pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies.
tirath singh nirmala returns as his former moniker john clyde-evans, bowing transcendental asian instruments and indian thought back to the mysterious groove of manipulated drone. 100 copies.
two new songs from the “no flies on frank” sessions. side a > i stole a skipping rope from molly. she made me pay. side b > thanks to mssrs. davies. psych-pop for the end of the season. edition of 300.
6 song ep. hand stamped kraft board covers. numbered edition of 200.
turner has been kicking around the nyc folk scene for quite a few years now, but this is, perhaps inexplicably, his first foray onto wax. while most singer / songwriters’ these days seem to draw most of their water from iron and wine via pavement and back again, turner sounds like he began his musical education listening to gershwin player piano rolls and quit buying records somewhere around the time dylan brought it all back home. lyrically, turner can turn a phrase with the best of ‘em, and the gloriously ramshackle accompaniment is mungo jerry meets herman dune sharing a squat in tin pan alley. this lp combines two of turner’s self-released cds, and is as good an introduction to his wonderful music as any. here’s what jeweled antler head honcho glenn donaldson sez about turner:”cody is pre-war, old testament & a confederate general from big sur.” err’nuff said, no?
walking up walls is the second solo album from long-time musician and visual artist alice cohen. in contrast to her previous studio efforts, these are raw home recordings with an intensely personal vibe. the sixteen short song-sketches alternate between densely layered shoegaze burners and shimmering, ethereal drifters. exploring shadowy corners and using the musical equivalent of automatic writing — this was considered to be a sonic diary and not originally intended for release. for reference points think pink opaque-era cocteau twins filtered through the early ’90s lens of new zealanders like alastair galbraith & sandra bell.
there can only be one bongo joe, and that is the incredible george coleman. bongo joe is perhaps the world’s only virtuoso player of the empty oil drum, a man so ingenious that he could even turn petroleum refuse into something musical and sublime. recorded on the streets of san antonio in 1969 by chris strachawitz (arhoolie records). bongo joe drums on his oil cans with a thunderous, tympani-like effect, while discoursing rambling, insightful and hilariously funny lyrics that are often times more stories than songs. as joe himself put it, ‘i rap but not that bullshit they’re putting down now. i play fundamental beat music.’ whether draping his drums with an american flag or washing them in swirls of psychedelic green and red paint, there’s something beyond the typical street-corner busker in bongo joe’s persona, unbridled quality that isn’t just musical, but draws on a tradition of pure entertainment. one of the true treasures of the arhoolie catalog for many years. try ‘innocent little doggie’ (if you think joe was just a novelty act, listen closely to the poignant insightfulness of the lyrics), ‘transistor radio’ (more wry commentary) and ‘dog eat dog.’ one of our favorites, available on vinyl for the first time in 39 years.
new project from arbor ruler (aka treetops) mike pollard with former jk taper, now mr young tapes, peter friel… four space related close encounters of the drone kind… sweet and simple, guaranteed to leave you floating somewhere totally cosmic in the outer reaches of mind and space!!! black and white sleeve and insert designed by the color dream boys. pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 100 copies.
“i have always been fascinated by the way music and sound alter the way we perceive time and space. we organize all experiences in these terms. the motivation behind my musical compositions and installations over the past several years has been the exploration of the conventions that determine the way we experience time and space, and thereby our world. these pieces seek to expose such conventions by giving the listener the chance to become familiar with unfamiliar tonalities and rhythms, as well as to register the divorce of space and sound made possible by contemporary audio technology. and they sound good” – white vinyl with screenprinted insert.
after 2004′s critically acclaimed blue cathedral, one might have expected comets on fire to blast off into the cosmos in an infinite flurry of lysergic spasmodicism. surprising, then, that they should turn in an earthy, more accessible and downright beautiful album as their follow-up. then again, it is a completely logical progression, but in reverse, sort of. on avatar their astonishing new album, comets display development in every direction: as musicians, as songwriters, as arrangers and as singers (?!), without sacrificing one ounce of the intensity that is expected from our heroes. as on blue cathedral, the diversity of the material is staggering. avatar veers from swinging, bluesy explorations to piano-laced, progressive power balladry, to pure tribalism, evoking everyone from the allmans, to quicksilver, to procol harum, to some insane fela/sun ra/crazy horse hybrid, yet remains wholly comets on fire. though they play cleaner and clearer, their firepower is evident and abundant. they have shifted gears and opened themselves up completely. you should do the same.
blue cathedral is the third album from comets on fire and their first for sub pop. it is also the bay area band’s most varied and richly textured album yet. with their first two albums, (2001′s self-titled debut/self-released and 2002′s field recordings from the sun on ba da bing!) they established themselves as flag-bearers of modern psychedelia. however, where their previous efforts are full-tilt psychedelic affairs, blue cathedral is harder to pin down (which elusiveness we heartily support). their trademark sound is here enriched by more structured, keyboard-driven jams, churning blue oyster cult-ish chooglers and slow burners reminiscent of harvest-era pink floyd. they recently opened a string of dates for sonic youth and have also played shows with rocket from the tombs, dead meadow and dead moon, sunburned hand of the man and more. they also made a big fan outta lord head on high, julian cope, who said of them: comets on fire deserve our gratitude for their distillation of all the best rock riffs since high rise’s take on blue cheer. naturally, we agree.
now expanded to a four piece, common eider, king eider have crafted yet another blast of high-end wind chill that whips through the empty spaces in your skull. more stories of flora and fauna that hang beautifully in dynamic rooms of piano, strings, voices; and stargazing guitar explosions born of layer after layer of feedback. this ghost world is all gray and black, with a high condensation of loss penetrating throughout. moonlight occasionally lights the path, but for the most part, prepare to be lost in the woods. liz harris (grouper) and tom carter (charalambides) on the tracks ‘ennui’ and ‘earth liver’ add to the overall sense of dread… cool foldout poster cover.
this self-titled release is the debut by concern, a solo endeavor by gordon ashworth, who is perhaps best known for issuing complex harsh noise missives as oscillating innards. that said, concern is an entirely different affair. here, ashworth’s principal focus is on the drone – shimmering, multi-layered and dynamic, he stretches loooong tones into gorgeous sonic tendrils which dissolve or implode into impossibly nostalgic field recordings and static. recorded throughout the years 2004 – 2007 and, surely, not to be missed. limited to 100.
just past 10 years ago this debut collaboration between primitive american blues guitarist loren connors and the confounding electric bassist darin gray was issued on cd. the lost mariner was the first in a pair of releases by the upstart family vineyard label. now with a decade of hindsight and a nod to looking ahead, here is a a 700 edition lp reissue of the studio session considered by connors to be one of his finest. since this album’s 1999 release connors has released a series of sorrowful solo albums and multi-disc collections on family vineyard while gray formed the cinematic on fillmore (with wilcoõs glen kotche) and continued collaborations with jim o’rourke, akira sakata, chris corsano and others. the lost mariner is an improvised dialogue between these two musicians. structure is there, but it roams as it sways, constantly adjusting and reinventing itself as the two react to its mysterious design. for this reissue the lp is sleeved inside stunning cover art (an albert pinkham ryder painting) and contains the bonus at the old factory 7-inch. this raw, live snapshot of a 1999 performance comes on colored vinyl in a full-color sleeve designed by katie leming (cro magnon, bird).
bill cooley and alan munson were two friends in santa barbara, california, living their early 20s writing folk-rock songs for their pleasure. that was 1972, and they decided to put these songs into the studio, self-produce the album and press a tiny quantity of 500 pieces hoping it could help getting a contract with a major company. this never happened, as you would have guessed, and sure this fact helped making their sole album, ‘in debt,’ a major collectable item for folk-rock and psychedelic rock listeners and collectors. being a private pressing, you can easily imagine it’s not a big production, but who cares. this album has the right feel and you won’t need anything else to make it one of your faves. all tracks are original compositions, and the style is very personal. it’s folk-rock, but many tracks are psychedelic too, in their own way. but don’t look close for influences, they will not come to mind easily. bill and alan had their own psychedelic folk-rock style, and the raw, sometimes amateurish feel that these recordings have give the album the final distinctive touch. never reissued before in any format, now here we come with a splendid reissue, with the collaboration of the guys. remastered sound taken from the master tapes… great stuff.
live at the hint house might be considered a field rec. in as much as it is a recording of an ambience or soundscape. made on my first ever trip to mainland america to play music this is the 2nd set of that evening, the 1st set had been an acoustic one of songs and slide guitar. at the start of the 2nd set i quickly realised that my guitar was not working and rather than stop and attempt to find out what was wrong i decided to just continue and improvise with what was at hand on the table in front of me. a casio sk1 sampler keyboard, a yamhaha su10 sampling unit with some pre-recorded samples loaded, a mini disc with some tropical ambience rec. from malaysia and a pitch shifter delay pedal. i was not very happy with what happened that night and when matt zwed gave me two cd-rs the next day i don’t remember giving much attention to the 2nd set. five years on, coincidently to the day as i write this, i realized he had captured more than me trying to get through the piece. it was me, the people in the room, the dog that ran around barking, the traffic sounds coming through the door that was open right behind me and a whole host of magically transported tropical birds and insects that suddenly found themselves reciting whatever it was in the loft space on the edge of harlem, competing or colluding with all of the above to produce a piece of urban exotica. – mike cooper… black vinyl, cover design/collage by mike cooper. rec. in nyc, 2000.
recorded over a weekend back in the early months of 2009, here are 2 tracks of multi instrumental composition from ben nash and sophie cooper (cooperjones). the music here is truly beautiful, personally i think this is some of the best work to come from both ben and sophie so far. total late night guitar meanderings blurred with a haze of deep churning scrapes from various instruments and layered drone bliss, creating 2 totally immersive and beautiful psychedelic drone. some of the guitar playing here has a beautiful loren connors meets ry cooder paris texas era sound, and then when both ben and sophie reach for the gee-tars you have the beautiful mix of ben’s reflective electric blues and sophie’s purely relaxed acoustic musings, totally fantastic. this really has it down for me as something truly different, lets hope that they continue to record as this duo. i certainly cannot wait for more. glass mastered pro pressed cd (not cdr) in pro printed full colour card sleeve, one time pressing of 1000. co-released with ben’s own recollections of knulp label.
cooperjones is the manchester based duo of sophie cooper and kelly jones. five tracks of experimental folk fight outs and one blast of improvised jam noise featuring pascal of stuckometer. comes in folded printed pastel paper jackets with artwork by patrick milsom, limited to 100 hand numbered copies – nice packaging and another fine release on this new label. cool experimental acoustic based femme psych goodness.
dancing wayang records are excited to release the first duo album by london-based double bassist john edwards and us drummer extraordinaire chris corsano called tsktsking. the album was recorded at eastcote studios, london in december 2008. limited to 500 copies it comes housed in hand screenprinted wrap-around sleeves. the accompanying insert features exclusive and humerous liner notes written by uk sax pioneer evan parker. defying the drum and bass’s classic roles as rhythm instruments, edwards and corsano’s tsktsking is a beautifully melodic album. at times corsano’s drumset sounds like it’s got strings whilst edwards’s double bass takes its fair share of scrapes and slaps. extended passages explore the most subtle and some unexpected sounds that can be summoned from metal and timber. equally, possessed progressions and untamed eruptions of energy and power are conjured up. these two musicians prey and pounce on their instruments like it’s their last chance. john edwards is one of the most gifted double bassist playing in the uk and europe. since taking up his instrument in the late 1980s he has become an unparalleled force and choice collaborator for musicians such as evan parker, charles hayward (this heat) and john butcher. in 2008 he released a solo bass record on evan parker’s psi label and continues to push the instrument’s boundaries into unexplored territories. chris corsano is one of the most in-demand free drummers working today. after several years living in manchester and edinburgh where he forged fruitful relationships with mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra) and heather-leigh murray (scorces, jandek), he is now based in massachusetts, usa. first encountering free improvisation in the mid 1990s, corsano is now at the forefront of expanded drumset improvisations both solo and in collaborations with artists such as paul flaherty, thurston moore and six organs of admittance… high quality screen printed covers. limited to 500 copies.
first recordings by the chris corsano band. 28 minutes of guitar-bass-drum trio music.
gorgeous ethnological forgeries from the husband and wife duo of brad rose and eden hemming rose. these gentle, free improvisations set the lister gently down amidst the dappled sunlight and sweet scents of a long forgotten time.truly beautiful, honest music for the tired ears of a dying civilization.
out of print collaboration.
italian galactico valerio cosi returns with his second album for foxglove, and raises the stakes considerably. he bends his saxophone into a glistening array of aural armaments, channeling the ghosts of giants, these spaced-out, eastern-infused missives. cosi is master and bending tones and meshing multiple instruments and styles into a cohesive unit. layers of guitars, horns, percussion, and more create everything from whimsical pop to sprawling, esoteric drone. “the spiritual committee” is the perfect homage to the roman gods of yore.
valerio cosi may be young at only 22, but his talent is undeniable. he may be mostly known for his exquisite saxophone playing, but this italian wunderkind doesn’t stop there. cosi composes strings of magic using all sorts of instrumentation and production tricks. “heavy electronic pacific rock” marks the first cd release in cosi’s ever-expanding discography, and he saved the best for this, his most widely-available release to date. limited to 500 copies… includes the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
this is the third volume of work for folkways by one of the most important acoustic guitarists of the 20th century, originally released in 1965. produced by musician alice gerrard and recorded by folklorist/musician mike seeger, when i’m gone is the perfect introduction to the queen of folk-blues. an absolute classic lovingly reissued in a perfect replica of the original folkways jacket and including a reproduction of the original information booklet… top notch official reissue of this gem.
ancient tape (1996) from ANLA COURTIS dude. argentinean avant psych.
brand new lp with dirty sounds from cousins of reggae, montreal based 2 man mind fuck. utilizing guitar, drums, turntables and voice. ( featuring blake hargreaves of dreamcatcher, fluorescent friends…& liam thurston of orphanage…) go for a trip via 2 different pieces, heavy, loud, hit electric noise & fatal attack. first vinyl release for parisian noise anti brutal pro violence lubriphikatttor (with members of zaraz wam zagram, tg, napalm jazz, ero babaa…) long tune ‘babypute’ / death of flowers & elaborated destruction… 319 copies in silkscreened covers.
prolific facial oil ballads and grumpy conversations – from portland maine’s number one naked fish screamer.
13 gestating years past and crappy nightmareville’s pod unfolds in full color via this 7″ single which is not just their debut but also birth marks the first of a four part vinyl single series: an engraved introduction by way of alien-forcept exacavation of their old kentucky womb. prior stages spiraled from public-prank to outer-earth music-concret to scaling-the-scaur of bavarian-salt-licks. side a, “neutron dracula” imagines the scene from gypsy classic latcho drom when children sing “we are the bloody nail in the foot of jesus on the cross”, only reinterpreted as a saturday morning cartoon. side b, “black beam dub” is smoke from a wounded nurse surrealing sun ra into a new form of dub music that will have you and your headphones installing a seatbelt into your couch for endless round trips. crappy nightmareville is one of louisville’s longest running aural magnetic-bananimals and shares drinking water with a huge cast of bands including the web, evergreen, the belgian waffles, sapat and kark. beautiful post-nuclear fall-out full-color sleeve. edition of 350.
crash coffin’s eponymous album was originally released privately in 1974 on the mus-i-col label. it is very rare and sought after by early ’70s us psychedelic collectors worldwide. not unjustly so, since it contains one of the best psychedelic songs ever recorded (‘god loves the loser’) and a couple of other great moody psych tracks. it contains 2 unreleased bonus tracks from the same period. limited edition of 500, deluxe 180g vinyl, heavy original cover and insert with group history. insert also contains a sketch of what the original cover was supposed to become — if it were not for lack of funds — that led to an original release with plain white covers — half of them carrying crash coffin’s signature.
the third of the gps debut 45s this week. leeds based three piece crayon offer up what some longterm gps devotees may see as a departure to it’s usual output. sombre synth tones and military like drum rolls give way to an infectious, startling pop rush of a chorus. perfect pop in a nutshell. ‘b’ side ‘milk’ is a slow building, initially, glitchy electronic piece again with a cool pop sensibility as it’s underbelly that soon explodes… a fabulous record and a band to keep yr eye out for. ace 2 piece sleeves with inserts galore- a hand numbered pressing of just 300 only.
crystal thoughts formed in 1999, as a psych folk duet by spiros rouchotas & vassilis stavrianakos. the same year they recorded a number of songs, part of a jam session, and the next year the duet splits. as years went by, spiros r. decided to reform crystal thoughts remaining under the same music aesthetics, but this time as a 4member unit. authentic psych-folk characterises 4 tracks on this album, with the first song excluding from the genre, jumping deep into heavy dope of psychedelia with progressive touches. four new tracks and one from crystal thoughts beginning era. spiros rouchotas is known from his first solo project lp titled “ta paichnidia tou iliou” (tricks of the sun / 2007), but also in 1996 with his band “dedalos” (daedalus) in their debut 7″single. 500pcs limited and numbered, deluxe unipack cover, 180g vinyl.
brand new split cassette from portland, maine based cursillistas, who recently had superb lps on time-lag and digitalis, and love cult from petrozavodsk, russia. first up is cursillistas’ epic 23 minute ‘great salt desert’, a superb weirded out blues drenched, desert dried, psychedelic mirage. a real fine side summing up how awesome cursillistas are, if you haven’t checked them yet, don’t miss this side! the b side opens with love cult’s ‘breadcrumb pony tail’, a swirling blissful distortion dripping psyche dream, a really beautiful 11 minute wonder. this is followed by ‘somn’ a more crushing electrifying piece with tinkering and rattling from unrecognizable objects, distorted feedback blurts and what sounds like then objects trying to communicate. limited to 100 copies with parchment paper (either gold or ivory) cover with black and white print.
observe ember weeks is the final cursillistas “studio” album, momentarily lost to time as herbcraft took flight, now seeing a brief light-of-day. written, recorded, and mixed concurrently with wasp stings (digitalis), joint chiefs (digitalis), and several small-run/tour-only releases between 2007-2009, o.e.w. touches on elements and styles of all these while also marking a return to a more song-based rural folk psychedelia. nylon-string minor-key folk-pop commingles with naive noise experiments, breathless first-take improvisation, multi-tracked “full band” jams, wah’ed fuzz guitar abandon, electric slide glide, heavy tom-thumps & tambourine shakes, all presented with cursillistas’ trademark rich reverb treatment and multi-layered vocals. this is perhaps the peak cursillistas experience in all its bedroom glory, the fitting final chapter to a project that never stayed still for too long, and the definitive collection of the tunes that made up much of cursillistas’ live set from 2007-2009. deluxe 150-gram virgin black vinyl held in a 4-color, 5-layer silkscreened art paper jacket, with two-sided full-color pro-printed glossy heavy stock insert, hand-numbered to 225… sweet one!
cursillistas contributes two exclusive tracks to the series in this 45 rpm 7″. “taste teeth” crackles along with a melodic mini-choir of vocals and plucked strings, building to the outro with electric guitar noise, multiplying vocal loops, whistles, and toy xylophone. the b-side builds from a monastic chant, while percussion and whisps of guitar scatter form around. sparse and haunting. hand-stamped black 7″ vinyl record held in a heavy cotton art paper sleeve, with offset-printed cover art and titles hand-written with india ink and stylus. hand-numbered to 300, embossed for authenticity…loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
“wasp stings the last bitter flavor” marks the first widely available release from this portland, maine troubadour. the brains behind the project is matt lajoie and he is perhaps best known for his enchanted album on time-lag records. his folk-inspired psychedelia reaches new heights on “wasp stings” as he puts together an album of lost songs, found hiding in a dank and dusty cellar. lajoie’s approach here is different. it’s as if he’s taken the negative space of his previous works and hashed them out and spruced them up until they’ve become epic, flowing songs whitewashed with a basketfull of analog hiss. the whole thing flows together like magic poured straight from the sky. it’s haunting, beautiful music. cursillistas’ music is often densely populated with a variety of instrumentation and textures. lajoie is a master at molding sounds from a variety of sources into a cohesive, organic whole. this music, as with past efforts, sounds like an intimate secret whispered in the listener’s ear. you feel as though you’re being led into a world where very few lucky souls find their way. lajoie’s distinctive voice is the true weapon here, weaving hypnotic melodies over rivers of delicately strummed acoustic guitars. “wasp stings the last bitter flavor” is his message in a bottle. it’s a love letter to everyone and no one, and there’s a lot to love here, that is for damn sure. lajoie is joined by the inimitable nemo bidstrup (time-lag records figurehead and the brains behind drona parva) and sometime-mv & ee collaborator, sparrow wildchild. housed in sturdy, white-on-black gatefold jackets.
looks like doggerella finally wandered into an alpine grove without a compass or even water to drink or a hat and gloves or anything like that, with maybe no hope to see the light of day again, except as maybe a ten year retroactive compilation box set called ‘to summerize.’ this present cassette however was crafted in belfast, maine, entirely by an artist who has been accused of being the offspring of alien life forms somewhere down the line. while supplies last. featuring andy neubauer of impractical cockpit, flak mask etc.
first memoirs vinyl lp release! the essence of outsider psychedelic electronics composed and performed by phil todd (ashtray navigations, inca eyeball, hitler airbag etc). influences include cccc, jean-claude eloy, master wilburn burchette, metal machine music, incapacitants, old fairground rides, the sound of low flying planes over ls6 especially the latter etc. punk’s not dead, it just stinks of silver spraypaint – crazy silver spray painted recycled covers with paste-on art. numbered/limited edition of only 200 copies, so act fast!
totally great psychedelic hazy, supernatural tape junk by clay kolbinger (of maths balance volumes etc.)
d & n 2 is the full length debut from the collaboration between nevada hill and david lee price of north texas improv/drone collective zanzibar snails that continues to define and redefine the concept of home. the follow-up to the well-received (9/10 from foxy digitalis) d & n 3-inch from 2007 on mayyrh that was recorded (natch) at each members’ home. as for the d & n 2cdr, the process of recording an album outside in the middle of nowhere, texas is described by the screen-printed text on the vellum sleeve. keywords for d & n 2 include “pitter-patter”, “somber cricket-infested paens,” “juvenile racketeering,” “tin roof rustic,” and “beh!” as for the presence of the mysterious sebaceous animal fleece surrounding the disc, price says only the following: “it was so dark that i could only see the small area illuminated by my flashlight. through the darkness i could feel the presence of the sheep, and the anger with him.” ltd. ed. 100, screen printed by nevada hill.
the much-anticipated blast-off release for speer and his band. recently rewarded 5 stars in time out mag by the music editor, this album is a landmark in laid-back blues and country songwriting, feat. members of nnck and sunburned. -s@1. the inimitable mr. speer coined the term himself upon titling his pre-helix full length releases… forgotten country. not so much a forgotten people of a state or a rural area. not so either some south’s gonna rise again moonshine. more so a return to a way of presenting a music in the context of a tradition (something those boys in the band are pretty high on.) but this isn’t your grandfather’s bakersfield we’re dealing with. tho’ the tongue of the balladeer may spin tales ripe with a cast of characters including “the pastor” randolph healey, cheese frog, the man from hhs, uncle ernie, that guy with the black mustache and red caddy who stole your girl, and the true born sons of levi, he sings them not only with the twang of the roadhouse, but tainted with the grit of the streets of the big city. as one casual listener once noted to the band after a performance, “you guys play both types… country and psych.” and it’s true that the sounds contained on after hours do act on the mind as much as they tug at the heartstrings. replete with tales of mental instability, infidelity, drunken advice, wartime hucksters, heartbreak, and redemption, the first album by d charles with his backing band will surely immediately stand out amongst the shards of gothic americana that litter our fair sonic landscape… beautifully done release on this great new label! 180gm vinyl, heavy screen printed flipback covers, heavy insert. recommended.
it is a tremendous understatement to say that it is with grand excitement that three lobed recordings is proud to announce the release of distillation by d. charles speer & the helix. for the last couple of years we have been continually excited by each of the fruits that have resulted from speer/helix collaboration. for our money, last year’s after hours album was one of the best released by anyone. distillation only ups the ante from that prior full length by elaborating upon some of the musical themes from the late 2008 “in madagascar” 7”. the resulting album presents a tightly focused modern honky tonk quintet more than happy to blur the lines between country, psychedelia and the overall american musical tradition. consisting on this album of d. charles speer (aka dave shuford from the no neck blues band and enos slaughter), hans chew (last seen providing some ripping piano accompaniment on “fishtown flower” from jack rose’s the black dirt sessions), marc orleans (enos slaughter, sunburned hand of the man), jason meagher (no neck blues band, coachfingers) and rob gregory (the suntanama), the helix are a seriously experienced and talented crew. distillation was recorded over time between the winter and summer of 2008 at the band’s home away from home, meagher’s black dirt studios in westtown, new york. margot bianca guests on backing vocals on a few of the album’s tracks. the album starts off in monstrously infectious form with the leadoff track, “mason dixon crime”. the track’s propulsive, rolling rhythm, dueling guitars and soaring chorus offer the perfect foil to speer’s ever-present baritone vocals. to those new to the band, “mason dixon crime” provides the perfect introduction to speer’s captivating narrative gift. he is a singer who is capable of simultaneously spinning a masterful tale using a delivery that leaves the listener feeling like there is something hidden and secret being held just out of sight. other prime examples of this gift are evident throughout “open season” and its soaring climax, the plaintive “time changes things” and the swaggering album-closing “shorty (a bastard cat).” while speer’s vocal range is one of the band’s calling cards, the helix also features the unique voice of hans chew’s blazing piano. while chew aims for the fences throughout the rollicking “hardwood floors”, he really gets cut loose (and to spend some time on lead vocal duty) on the seriously jamming “life insurance.” one would be remiss to think that the helix is a one (or two) voice affair though – it is a totally solid full ensemble presentation as is evidenced by the jaunty full band workouts presented within both the instrumental “helical” and the rockin’, rollin’ and beer swillin’ “gravedigger.” distillation is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton gatefold sleeve bearing new artwork from both turner williams and the band. as a bit of a first for three lobed, the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. distillation is from a one-time pressing of 891 copies… includes pre-order only bonus cd!
it is a tremendous understatement to say that it is with grand excitement that three lobed recordings is proud to announce the release of distillation by d. charles speer & the helix. for the last couple of years we have been continually excited by each of the fruits that have resulted from speer/helix collaboration. for our money, last year’s after hours album was one of the best released by anyone. distillation only ups the ante from that prior full length by elaborating upon some of the musical themes from the late 2008 “in madagascar” 7”. the resulting album presents a tightly focused modern honky tonk quintet more than happy to blur the lines between country, psychedelia and the overall american musical tradition. consisting on this album of d. charles speer (aka dave shuford from the no neck blues band and enos slaughter), hans chew (last seen providing some ripping piano accompaniment on “fishtown flower” from jack rose’s the black dirt sessions), marc orleans (enos slaughter, sunburned hand of the man), jason meagher (no neck blues band, coachfingers) and rob gregory (the suntanama), the helix are a seriously experienced and talented crew. distillation was recorded over time between the winter and summer of 2008 at the band’s home away from home, meagher’s black dirt studios in westtown, new york. margot bianca guests on backing vocals on a few of the album’s tracks. the album starts off in monstrously infectious form with the leadoff track, “mason dixon crime”. the track’s propulsive, rolling rhythm, dueling guitars and soaring chorus offer the perfect foil to speer’s ever-present baritone vocals. to those new to the band, “mason dixon crime” provides the perfect introduction to speer’s captivating narrative gift. he is a singer who is capable of simultaneously spinning a masterful tale using a delivery that leaves the listener feeling like there is something hidden and secret being held just out of sight. other prime examples of this gift are evident throughout “open season” and its soaring climax, the plaintive “time changes things” and the swaggering album-closing “shorty (a bastard cat).” while speer’s vocal range is one of the band’s calling cards, the helix also features the unique voice of hans chew’s blazing piano. while chew aims for the fences throughout the rollicking “hardwood floors”, he really gets cut loose (and to spend some time on lead vocal duty) on the seriously jamming “life insurance.” one would be remiss to think that the helix is a one (or two) voice affair though – it is a totally solid full ensemble presentation as is evidenced by the jaunty full band workouts presented within both the instrumental “helical” and the rockin’, rollin’ and beer swillin’ “gravedigger.” distillation is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton gatefold sleeve bearing new artwork from both turner williams and the band. as a bit of a first for three lobed, the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. distillation is from a one-time pressing of 891 copies.
yo peoples – like the vibes, then get yrself a fine artifact for the years to come. single cover is hand screened and stamped with esoterica on the interior – nice druggy country psych from no neck blues band members. limited to only 500.
a true solo endeavor, this lp is the debut of d. charles speer on long player. recordings over a span of 4 years have been assembled here into a rumination on loss in its many forms – loss of direction, loved ones, home, mental acuity, money, and emotional stability. pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl and limited to 500 copies.
dag are haugan is certainly for most people not the most common name. being half of the legendary norvegian outfit alog made him one of the most original musicians of the last decade. at the start of our label we did carry his debut 7 on myke droner stating it as classic a couple of years further we received this wonderfull demo. you can call it guitar-glitch if you want – the result comes close to a beatless gas, a more guitar-driven novisad, etc – pressed on vinyl-only, with artwork from rune grammofone s kim hiorthoy, this album will make you reconsider electronica (aka the glitch/microsound-movement), while the guitar world will be surprised to see how both, old and new traditions can be melted into one brilliant artwork. the music is very introspective creating different state of minds. sometimes you discover yourself headbanging to what is generally called ambient, while some other tracks put you in a kind of warm blackout. those fans who were waiting for the ideal mix between rocket girl and mego might have found what they been looking for. ltd to 500 copies worldwide.
cool new self released local ep from adam bosse. layered trance drift tones with guitar & distant piano. pretty amazing totally hand made, hand painted, hand cut ‘squid’ packaging. surely quite limited.
new split lp from these two related groups. daughters of the sun serve up a side-long epic. limited to 500 copies with free download.
daughters of the sun formed and started playing shows in the fall of 2005 with an original lineup that included chris rose of vampire hands on guitar. the band has played the twin cities and midwest since their formation and have recorded a number of albums. the band honed their recordings in their twin cites practice space, but thier eastern psychadelic/shoegazer sound can be attributed to members time spent living in india. this is documented in live field recording on their rings lp. the band summons the mystique and instrumentation of the world’s oldest music balanced against the spiritual limits and possibilities of technological sound. artwork designed and printed by josh of knife world… real cool soundsfrom this newish group, in an awesome multi-color art paper screen printed cover with insert. limited to only 300 copies. fans of the more zoned early raccoo-oo-oon recordings would be well advised to grab a copy. recommended.
vinyl version of their debut originally released by the band in 2007 as a screen printed cd. the lineup consisted of bennett, nick and ryan. recorded at old blackberry way with neil weir. mastered at magneto by brooce templeton. visions of the ocean head was made available on vinyl for the first time in december of 2010 by modern radio, pressing of 300. jacket artwork was painted and designed by lisa luck… cool to have these jams on vinyl now. good stuff.
one sided 35 minutes long jam. their very last jam with the mask of the davenport clan on their faces, free-form improvisational folk performed on walpurgis, clay ruby’s brithday by clay ruby, t endless, woodman, johnny d, billy lee, nico kain, aaron laurant, tyler olson. limited to 230 copies.
reissue of sold out cassette on temple of be saint 777. wulfcult rising is an empowerment ritual of caveman electronics, heavy astral drone and rain fall.
the extended davenport family has been producing their unique flavor of free-form and exultant improvisational folk since 2001. operating out of madison, wisconsin, their music has taken on an open joviality that reflects the spirit of their hometown and the natural world that resides just outside its borders. respectful and observant of all things natural, davenport has focused on their organic sound over a long string of cdr and cassette releases for a number of different labels. rabbit’s foot propeller is simultaneously a natural extension of their prior work and a confident step into a new and different direction. taken as a whole or as its component tracks, the album is a solid continuation of the davenport aim to bring light into all dark corners. rabbit’s foot propeller is all about the juxtaposition of varying sounds and musical textures against one another. over the course of the album’s thirteen tracks the listener is presented with numerous playful improvisations, tones generated from various instruments and lilting melodies (both guitar and vocal).
clarinettist gareth davis and guitarist steven r smith (hala strana, mirza, thuja) have already collaborated to stunning effect back on 2009’s “westering” released on the important label. this alt.vinyl release sees them gain another notch in history’s belt. the at-first-glance bizarre pairing of these two instruments might conjure up images of anchorless skronk and scratch, however “the line across” is anything but. with each side of the vinyl containing just the one ambitious piece, this duo creates seas of organic drone that live and breathe. unspooling like wisps of smoke, the tones of “other forms of consecrated life” simultaneously conjure exotica and melancholy. what davis and smith manage to pull off here is the sound of flickering reflections in canal tunnels, something beyond drone and soundscaping; 3/4 cloud cover sporadically parting to reveal abyssic drops within it. it is not all intangible drift though; raw guitar sequences (even rhythm parts) appear in the sound as clarinet echoes and violin/fiddle tensions make textures from foreboding trails of drones. if a piece of shorthand could be applied to steven r smith’s playing here, then picture a colour haze or earth trading instrumental punches with derek bailey through a styrofoam cup phone. on the flipside is “the natural history of devastation”, a piece that falls somewhere on the fields far beyond descriptions and sounds of grace and mourning. there are unconscious nods to a gybe! sound here, layered stately string sounds and the chiaroscuro of feedback and waves of black moving across the vinyl. this track is a slow lull of strangled clarion call, orbison’s cold fingers on the guitar and banks of fog leaving only loss in the sound’s wake. things might not at first listen appear like they’re going to be ok in the morning, but familiarity with “the line across” shows that they might just end up close to perfect after all… deluxe edition in super thick textured covers & pressed on 180gm vinyl. limited to 500.
these pieces grew out of my research and interest in just intonation and prime numbers. during my explorations, i came across some interesting prime number sets and wondered what they would sound like. i constructed these pieces using sine wave generators in max/msp. i chose a base frequency (fundamental) for each piece and multiplied that number by each of the prime numbers in a given set to determine the harmonics / partials / overtones. most of the overtones were transposed down several octaves to fit within a comfortable 2-3 octave range. this became my “scale” or harmonic zone for each piece. i related the panning and metronome speed of each overtone to its frequency. rhythmically, each sine tone / frequency followed its own 3 beat cycle which created overlapping prime number rhythmic patterns. beat 1 = base frequency for that given overtone. beat 2 = an octave higher. beat 3 = silence (rest). the lower overtones had faster rhythmic cycles and the higher overtones had slower rhythmic cycles. this was a way for me to relate the rhythm to the prime number sets and integrate it with the harmony while still retaining a musical texture that was interesting to me. i used a simple stereo delay to blur the rhythmic texture to create more of a slowly shifting, patterned harmonic cloud. these pieces are dedicated to james tenney (1934-2006). they are an acknowledgment of his extraordinary work with alternate tuning systems and just intonation. his musical life should be an inspiration to us all… 300 copies in screen printed chipboard covers.
180gm thick cover deluxe reissue of rare danish power trio psych. numbered edition of 450 copies, with insert. in shrink. NM+/NM+.
from denmark 1970; lp in edition of 450 numbered copies, glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing, insert. the danish group days was formed in copenhagen in the winter 1967/1968 by peter lindhe (drums), john kjaergaard (vocals/rhythm guitar), ole fester (vocals/bass) and lars reinau (vocals/lead guitar). the band’s repertoire was mainly rock and blues oriented with cover versions of songs from john mayall’s bluesbreakers, cream, jimi hendrix and the rolling stones. during 1968/1969, peter lindhe and lars reinau started writing original material to the band and the repertoire started changing from rock/blues cover versions to self-composed, more lyrical songs with elements of the beatles, procol harum and (early) deep purple. in 1969, jørn anker (hammond organ) joined the band and he, too started contributing new original songs to the band. the days lp was recorded in the early summer of 1970 and in 1971 the band split up. days is one the the rarest albums from denmark which also came out on spectator (blues addicts, terje jesper & joachim, moses). it is full of amazing prog tunes with great organ elements and strong fuzz guitar. a killer album from beginning to end.
de kift emerged from a dutch squatters’ movement and the punk waves of the late ’70s and early ’80s. their debut vinyl lp yverzucht was released in 1989. ferry: guitar & brass (svatsox); wim: drums (rondos, the ex); jacco (grrr): bass; maarten: vocals (pistache b.v.). de kift were a tremendous and original force at the time. sparse, rhythmic, angular, yet energetic music. staccato punk with fanfare elements. maarten’s lyrics were recited, spat out and crooned, bleak reflective explorations of the dutch mental state of the times. maarten (as well as jacco) departed the band after debuting yverzucht. out of the ashes, emerged a new conceptual, literary de kift that would play on for 20 years. de kift were part of the squatter movement. playing benefits, raising funds, eyebrows and soundtracking a lifestyle on its last legs.
as dead letters spell out dead words, gothenburg based composer and sound artist thomas ekelund has delved into a time-consuming investigation of the complex, multi-faceted world of solitude and introspective darkness. his pallet is strictly greyscale, but the tones he uses are deeper, more honest and more heartfelt than anything else out there. ‘lost in reflections’ is dead letters spell out dead words’ fourth main album and his definite masterpiece so far. here, hurt is transformed into absolute beauty. and here, dampened drones make pop art. split release with ideal, when skies are grey and fang bomb. 500 made. pro-printed sleeves with 5mm spine, printed insides and black innersleeves. heavy weight vinyl.
one copy only. out of print. numbered edition of 500.
one copy only. out of print.
the a side was recorded at the first no fun festival in march 2004 (brooklyn) and features a little comedy to start with and then things get heavy – and the second side is the very first vg kids/wolf den ypsi street level throwdown – our set was live on a 6 color shirt screen press and nate brought a fog machine that blasted out the room and into the parking lot night of the vg complex – near the end you can hear people chucklin cause its absurd – that night was also the first”offical” sick llama, and mi debut of failing lights – great night – dm had a weird 7 small speaker set up on the heads of the press and spun it slighty for that dead-universe dying electronic creeping blast sound – sweet cover art. limited to 500.
what can be said about the amazing dead raven choir that hasn’t been said already? this release marks the return of d.r.c. after a slew of releases on some very respectable cd-r labels, not to mention 2003′s “wine, women and wolves” cd (last visible dog) as well as last years “cask strength black metal” 3 lp box set (weird forest) which was a re-issue of all of the “choir’s” ugly, noisy, totally fuzzed out black metal on vinyl format. smolken returns to the dark, avante-garde neo-folk side of dead raven choir that has made this such a unique and awe inspiring musical journey. selenoclast wolves is an album that runs the gammet of emotions; whether it be the creepy lurch and sway of the track “the silence”, the brooding melancholy of “when men die”, or the sheer manic violence of “i am not a recluse” the common feeling throughout is one of complete isolation. as a bonus this cd will contain the complete re-issue of the “lesbian corpse wolves” album which was limited to only 30 copies. all completely re-mastered by frédéric arbour (cyclic law, visions, longing for dawn). on “lesbian corpse wolves” most of the vocals were handled by the beautiful voice of emily salvatierra. aversion online once said of this release that these ” – dark, folk-ish compositions rely heavily on picking accents and clashing notes that are both melodic and completely discordant all at once – ” and we could not agree more. now lets all raise a glass (or goblet perhaps?) and thank mr. smolken for resurrecting his fascinating project once again!!!
dead western plays the type of music that makes genres obsolete. it is not that dw does the cross genre pollination clusterbarf, but that troy mighty’s sounds exist outside of any one (or two or five) genres. perhaps, just perhaps the music recalls the mellow, introspective side of current 93 or the druggy downer folkishness of legendary pink dots, but that is stretching things as much as claiming that troy’s voice is a melted version of bing crosby. yes, there are elements of downerism and croonerdom in dead western, but dw goes deeper than weird and depressing. there is something beautiful in this bizarre world. definitely not for the orthodox, but also far from being so out there that the music is incomprehensible. i am very much taken with this record. –scott soriano, z-gun. limited to 500 hand-crafted copies on clear vinyl with die-cut, full color sleeves.
when dead western’s soften your screams into sings lp (put out by kdvs) hit the mailbox my first thought was how lovely the sleeve looked, then turning over to see a photo of actual naked modern hippies in a forest (one of which was climbing a tree) i immediately thought i had this whole deal figured out. west coast, future arthurfest participants, etc.; i know pretty much what to expect here. well, it took me a good couple minutes to figure out what speed this thing played at, and when i did discovered this thing to be a real treasure outta left field. fragile instrumentation, heartfelt songs, but a truly alien voice delivering what i can only describe to be what you’d expect peter jefferies in the persona of the pink panther to be, or something similar. woozy, deep, resonant bass vox wobbling around the grooves here which i now know belong to sacramento musican/artist fixture troy mighty who i remember from the free jazz-leaning noiseniks antennas erupt. the variety of instrumentation, while being minimal, is also pretty rich in emotion. – brian turner, wfmu… really stunning album which is visually as beautiful as beautiful as the music. multi-fold, layered screen print & photo art. recommended.
the deadnotes are eugene carchesio, stuart busby and leighton craig, from brisbane in queensland, australia. armed with an arsenal of trumpet, guitar, drums and casio, the trio make a glorious, semi-spontaneous sort of eccentric pop music that’s drawn comparisons (rightly or wrongly) to the likes of ennio morricone, maher shalal hash baz, the magic band, moondog and even the minutemen. since their formation in 2005, the band has written and recorded hundreds of miniature odes to this & that, some of which have seen release in limited cdr editions on craig’s kindling imprint. the 30 tracks that comprise orange trumpet, the trio’s defining statement, are amongst their earliest creations.trained in the ‘school of error,’ the deadnotes’ fractured take on pop form touches upon the sounds of their brethren in brisbane, from the experimental (the lost domain, et al.), to skewed pop (small world experience, et al.), to the city’s moody punk past (the five minutes, et al.). more accurately, orange trumpet plays like a minimalist, mariachi-informed version of grow-up’s the best thing; it’s brimming with ideas & presented with loose abandon. a jaunty melancholy that echoes tori kudo and tenniscoats, is present throughout, regardless if the boys are shuffling thru haunted dirges, garage-y workouts, or other points in between. carshesio’s classic recordings as dne are undeniably a touchtone here as well… orange trumpet is released in an edition of 400 numbered lp copies with full color jackets.
i’m sure you’ll not need me to tell you that dean wareham was once in galaxie 500 and that britta phillips joined him later in luna, you all know that stuff iim sure. what you may not know is that at the behest of the warhol museum and the pittsburgh cultural trust last year, dean and britta were asked to create 13 pieces of music as a backdrop to 13 of warhol’s legendary screen tests. the choice of subjects was theirs, only the number was set. believed to have been as many as 500 and all shot at the factory, nyc, between 1964 and 1966, subjects were chosen by warhol believing they had ‘star potential’. regulars to the factory such as gerard malanga, lou, ingrid superstar, edie sedgwick and nico as well as people like dylan, dennis hopper, yoko ono, donovan, ginsberg and dali all had the silent film treatment. dean and britta’s task was to choose 13 which make up the gorgeous new album, ’13 most beautiful’ – from which these 2 tunes were taken. ‘i’ll keep it with mine’ features an incredible britta vocal and was chosen as nico’s piece for the full length. ‘it don’t rain in beverly hills’ as it’s double a side was picked for edie sedgwick. the single here is limited to 500 copies and has a hand numbered, booklet sleeve with glorious live shots of the band playing the tunes on the single to stunning backdrops of nico and edie. copies are earmarked for the museum and the imminent tour. the band play london’s barbican on july 30th. be quick here, these’ll go in the blink of an eye…
limited edition tour lp for their upcoming joint tour across europe. one side for each of these amazing uk guitarists. cam has two tracks, one beautiful long guitar piece followed by an insane electronics track, that sounds almost like autechre’s more weird static work. spoono is jack allett who is also half of towering breaker. his side consists of three incredible tracks that will no doubt prick up the ears of fans of jack rose. limited to 350… paste-on found photo cover art. great album.
i am very pleased to be releasing the debut lp from sheffield-london-brighton guitar master, cam deas. this follows his two long sold out cdrs on blackest rainbow, and proves once again that he is off the chain! ok, so there’s always gonna be the immediate comparison to james blackshaw, but the sound is different, more aggressive almost and raw… this guitar playing has an edge, its deep and its powerful. the lp consists of three tracks, the a side is an epic almost 20 minute piece entitled ‘the waters of kvaloya’ recorded by ben nash. the b sides and albums title track begins with almost a minute of near silence distant drone, that develops with stomach wrenching string twangs. the closing piece is ‘as spring fell from the leaves’, which was originally issued on ‘for the silver waters, sing!’ cdr last year on br, but has been considered by people who’ve bought his releases and seen cam live as possibly one of the best things he has composed, total genius, with a real blissful, but eventually dark, vibe. this track definitely deserved to be put on wax. mastered by ben nash. limited to 300 copies… really great stuff. fans of jack rose, james blackshaw, etc. will need this one.
stunning 45 from sheffield based cam deas — a debut 45 on wax. 2 heavy strummed blues across 2 sides of vinyl — best approached as 1 long piece. sure, the names of fahey, basho, blackshaw, rose, etc. spring to mind, but this has a raw, slow building presence and an expressive approach all of it’s own. a potent brew — perhaps a departure from recent work on labels like blackest rainbow and dead pilot, released as a pressing of 300 numbered, date stamped copies in linen card, fine art sleeves with sticker… real nice one.
sweet vinyl debut from the mighty fine death chants, released on the band’s own label. if you tuned into any of their great self released cassettes, or either of the time-lag cdrs, you pretty much know the deal. in a pretty mellow smoked-out drift mode here, the a side is sunny strummed acoustic guitar mantra with bubbling modular synth bleeps, distant buzzes & drones, occasional noisy bursts and half slurred wordless vocal. the b side is less songy with sweet drifting keys, thick viola drones, ebow guitar hum and an ultra peaceful ambiance. very sweet stuff. perfect baked summer evening porch music. heavy moss colored art board covers, with black offset printed art by nemo. limited / numbered edition of only 320 copies.
cassette reissue of self released cdr. comes with an extra jam recorded live at la sala rossa in 2006 by nks. ultra crude hypno-style drums and groove box electronics. a constant flow of muddy water. don’t bother trying to reach in though. only bad shit will happen. if you’re lucky and you’re down with astral projections, you might meet these ladies in the other dimension they normally hang out in, sipping tea n’ sake and talking about their favourite dance records. photocopied artwork, insert, and labels. hand stamped. numbered edition of 100.
death vessel is joel thibodeau’s work as both a solo artist and band leader. his music, captured on the resplendent record stay close, is an eloquent distillation of a life’s tales. born in berlin, germany before the wall fell… raised in kennebunkport, maine before senior bush’s presidency… this musician lived a childhood where the ghosts of cold war casualties and seaport tragedies haunted the alleyways and beaches. leaving maine as a teenager, thibodeau moved to boston, providence and new york. in providence he was a founding member, songwriter and performer of the group string builder. now as then, thibodeau captures the surreal and the sublime in wondrous song. thibodeau’s vocal delivery is astonishing. perhaps his singing is best-described as descendent from ‘the high lonesome sound’ — unleashed upon the world by roscoe holcomb in the early 1960s. with this voice, death vessel delivers stunning lyrical poetry that transcends the ‘whisky ‘n’ haystack’ imagery of its neo-folk contemporaries. thibodeau brings this same unusual experimentation to the acoustic guitar (his primary instrument). the daringly melodic plucking of strings and the odd tempo changes provide expertly unexpected accompaniment. stay close was originally released on cd in 2005 by north east indie. new chicago imprint immune is proud to present the album on the lp format for the first time. this version of the album contains a bonus track exclusive to this release — a live/acoustic version of ‘deep in the horchata,’ recorded in 2005 with micah blue smaldone playing accompaniment.
their time in the studio was overseen by engineer jim vitti, whose work with parliament/ funkadelic seems to have informed his decision to record death in raw fashion with little polish, showcasing the organic power relationships within the trio. the songs recorded there make up ?for the whole world to see, which today blasts from the speakers as a fresh and inspired early entry in the category of punk rock. death had a single pressed, politicians in my eyes b/w keep on knocking, selling them at their shows and on the street. things weren’t really going anywhere when they heard from columbia records’ president clive davis. he was interested, but he had one demand — they’d have to change their name. david, acting as the band’s leader, would have no part of it, a decision that ultimately brought an end to death. moving to new england, david, bobby and dannis reconnected with their faith, forming the christian rock-n-roll band the 4th movement, whose self-released early-80s album joined death’s 45 as a sought-after obscurity for the next generation. 2009 is the time that death is finally here …for the whole world to see. …for the whole world to see is the first full-length release ever for the band called death — with only one 7″ single to their name, and that usually goes for about a grand per. that’s $1000! for those who do have the single, the remastered sound here will break you up… great album!
12 inches of spastic, throbbing teknoise and raunchy post-industrial funk generated by fried consumer electronics. harsh grooves for misanthropic ex-ravers… nice fragile screen printed covers.
alan r.t. – percussion, piano, horns, electronics & aaron rosenblum – percussion, piano, strings, electronics… aaron rosenblum and alan r.t. performed together for the first time as members of sapat in 2004, and both currently perform multi-instrumental roles in that band’s mashup of jazz, psychedelia and experimental music. in deep pockets, both improvise on a narrower range of instruments and concentrate on the intense musical conversation that is made possible by the duo format. alan is a member of sapat, kark, valley of ashes, and boogie brothers, and is featured on recordings by rachel’s and jackie-o-motherfucker. he records and performs solo under several pseudonyms, including arsenio, raw thug, and arthur kalow. aaron rosenblum performs in sapat, kark, son of earth, shackamaxon (with members of double leopards and magik markers), and pleasant colony, and has been a guest member of wooden wand and the vanishing voice, sunburned hand of the man, and the cherry blossoms. he also performs and records under his own name and runs the hank the herald angel recordings label (www.hankrecordings.com). their debut cdr features a slightly condensed record of a single day’s improvisations on electronics, percussion, trombone, and strings.
brooklyn-based 3-piece the depreciation guild have been making underground waves to match those created by their fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched melodies. artfully combining progressive and retro chic, the trio draws influence from shoegaze guitar walls, dreampop highs, and the rigidity of electronic rhythms, while creating a sound that is a bit different from both, dreamily reinventing their musical heritage. *special note, two of the members fo this band also play and write songs in the pains of being pure at heart. this is their debut 7 inch in full color jacket, white vinyl and download card! 400 limited one time pressing only. side a dream about me side b listless. catch them on tour now with the pains of being pure at heart and cymbals eat guitars.
following their premiere full-length in her gentle jaws, self-released in december ‘07 exclusively as a free download, the album has already found its way to over 90,000 hard drives. the stir across the internet, as well as in their own backyard, is testament to some breathtaking songwriting and arranging. a musical piece to be heard as a whole saturated in color, and drifting into dream. limited one time 500 pressing only. on tour now with the pains of being pure at heart, cymbals eat guitars, and school of seven bells.
if you haven’t heard bob desper’s new sounds yet, you may have heard something about it. originally recorded in 1974, new sounds is considered to be one of the pacific northwest’s best-kept secrets, a regional holy grail with copies fetching upwards of $1000. until recently, not much was known about this mysterious blind folk-singer from oregon. in 2007, discourage records located bob desper, alive and well, living in albany, oregon. after two years of culling materials, discourage records is proud and honored to officially reissue this once lost masterpiece. evoking the melancholy mood of nick drake, the fluid improvisation of van morrison’s astral weeks, and the intricate instrumentation of jose gonzales, new sounds’ dark, meditative urgency immediately transcends the thirty-five years marking its original release. this official reissue of new sounds includes bob desper’s 1972 debut 7″, dry up those tears (including picture sleeve); an 11 x 17 insert with extensive liner notes and full color photos; and 1970s style tip-on sleeve… recommended & long awaited reissue!
eeeew. as the positively revolting title might suggest to some of you who are alert and paying attention, this release is a veritable shrine to perverted, in-bred, hillbilly atrocity. misanthropic to a degree i previously thought impossible, this is quite simply the blackest of folk/horror-inspired black metal with an unbelievably high ‘deliverance’ factor. think rusty pickup trucks and cages in the basement. think pathetic whimpering death. sounds like the house in ‘the blair witch project’ or the forest in ‘texas chainsaw massacre’ or maybe the sledgehammer in ‘misery’… i feel strangely compelled to shower. again and again.
diagram a is dan greenwood whos based in the providence/ma area, makes all his own electronics and use to do a label called sound probe…most recently he was on the rrr new england noise box set… first ever vinyl release on bill nace’s open mouth label. screen printed covers, clear vinyl, insert. limited to 300 copies.
underneath the dirt lies the roadmap to ancient civilization. the world before the fall. dinmuck #f (aka eon) comes from toowoomba and is enlisted as an intergral part of the musicyourmindwillloveyou collective.”the old is new” is a psychic brainfuck, like calloused skin baking under the scorching summer sun. imagine cave paintings singing about the third eye, caked in mud and eating the soil. this music, in all it’s scattered glory, is totally, 100% fried – limited to 100.
alex neilson is the uks kid thunder, who may be known to you for playing drums in jandeks band or being one half of beating stars with richard youngs, but directing hand is his own free form handshake. all kinds of joyous clatter in this baby. guests players include christina carter.
your guess is as good as mine…!
essential debut album by the ethereal and mesmeric la based former front woman of cult alt.indie band blackblack and of pocahaunted. this is the real diva coming out, quirky, catchy alt.pop for those hankering after a hook and looking for a middle ground somewhere between the cure and joy division. variously described as a psychedelic cassette tape princess and a mythical creature lady diva, fresh from playing with os mutantes and ariel pink, is touring across europe from april, so enjoy the record and catch the live show and get in on the ground floor. pressed on 140 gram glitter vinyl in an edition of 300 copies.
the 5th installment in the music fellowship’s triptych has finally arrived!! this release brings together two brooklyn bands, mouthus and double leopards, and the sonically entwined sunroof! of england. while each band contributes a side to this two-lp set, the artists are brought together not just figuratively on wax, but literally, as the fourth side features all seven musicians playing together. double lp gatefold artwork and design by mouthus – long out of print & very limited edition.
moving to the outer fringes of psych-folk, the dove azima is a deeply american recording. this solo project of zack hay has folk sensibilities much like john fahey’s and hearkens to roots music from an era before the cultural tributaries of rock, country and folk had parted ways. american avant gardists have also crept much more into hay’s sound since his last, more straightforward album, bronze horse. hay himself had written of his interest in naive experiences with guitar and he seems to have stumbled upon the steel string’s extended faculties ala eugene chadbourne; extended guitar techniques in general are almost never as visceral and hypnotic as they are on this lp, however. hay’s detuned meditations sometimes can sound as weird as jandek or sometimes lush and heady like harry partch’s microtonalities. like a decayed american flag you found buried in the woods, the dove azima is one of the more brilliant pieces of americana i’ve ever heard. it begs for many repeated listens and one oughtn’t neglect such a request. -nat roe, wfmu… pressed in an edition of 321 on 180 gram vinyl, with stumptown printed jackets.
volcanic tongue is proud to present the first ever release by the dream/aktion unit, a free-thinking avant garage ur-kestra based around the central kernel of guitarist thurston moore (sonic youth), saxophonist paul flaherty and drummer chris corsano (six organs of admittance, sunburned hand of the man et al) and featuring heather leigh murray (taurpis tula/jandek/charalambides) on pedal steel and vocals and matt heyner (no-neck blues band/test/angelblood) on upright bass. in may 2005 moore, flaherty and corsano brought the dream/aktion unit to stirling, scotland, for the final le weekend festival to be curated by david keenan/volcanic tongue. with o’rourke permanently out of the picture due to various film and musical commitments, matt heyner aka count hejnowski of nnck and heather leigh of taurpis tula stepped up. the results were mind-blowing, with the quintet tearing through a non-stop gush of energy/ideas without resorting to base musical concerns like dialogue or listening with your ears. this was pure simultaneity at some kind of peak of flux. moore’s role was key. he would move from these kind of suggestive, shepherding chords that would work lubes of motion into the back line, where corsano and heyner hooked up to such a degree that it was hard to separate their individual tonal and percussive points. they sounded like a friggin combine harvester. murray and flaherty were floating on their own particular plane, one that worked to reconcile the insane pulse of blood from the base of their spine with the juice of pure vision. flaherty’s sound touches on a whole bunch of jazz modes while re-situating the tradition somewhere way upwind of contemporary sound-as-thought while heather leigh’s exquisitely violent pedal steel stylings and free vocal improvisations seemed to touch on aspects of both patty waters, lydia lunch and keiji haino’s flesh-extensions while resolutely refusing anything approaching previously-articulated tongue. the whole thing was recorded and mixed straight to 24 track and the results are what you have in your hands. the first ever document of the collective thought of what’s easily the cream of the subterranean cup… nice heavy mini-lp style covers.
dredd foole (dan ireton) and ed yazijian met while wandering the shadowy corners of the boston ’80s post-punk scene. ed was playing in such avant-rock combos as high risk group and 7 or 8 wormhearts (and the original pre-lp cul de sac). dan had just dissolved dredd foole & the din, tired of rock as a form and the extraordinary loudness of the group. he wanted a chance to do some real singing. ed was feeling a need for something more subtle and embraced the idea of actually being able to hear what he played. they set out to turn the world onto the largely acoustic folk and free-improv stew they had cooked up. boston rock audiences were not impressed. indifference and downright hostility were the norm. there was talk of an lp, and some tentative recordings were done. but before anything could materialize, frustration took over and dan decided to retire from performing music altogether. ed went back to rock music with kustomized. and eventually, dan bought a four-track and recorded the lp in quest of tense (which some consider the opening salvo of the free-folk movement) with ed appearing on one track. but by the time it was released, they had gone their separate ways. years later, by a series of coincidences, they reconnected, and they found that when they played together again, it seemed nothing had been lost. they did a short tour with comrades and friends damon & naomi and eventually played the now-legendary brattleboro free folk festival. they found that audiences were now more open to their efforts. a couple of years passed during which dan released three solo records and a record with a new improvisational din (which included chris corsano, thurston moore and the members of pelt). ed recorded and released his brilliant solo record, six ways to avoid the evil eye and was even caught playing live with folks like richard bishop and sunburned hand of the man. then, against all odds, february 2008 found ed & dan recording, with ed at the helm in foole’s ashram in brattleboro for the better part of a week. that lonesome road between hurt and soul is the result of those sessions. some improvisations are built on dan’s songs played in a totally unfettered manner. one is based on a tune by j. mascis, and some were recorded as they were created. long talked about, long awaited, years in the making — the dredd foole & ed yazijian recordings are finally here.
last 95 original copies of this mega rare and very hip 1982 debut single from dredd foole backed by mission of burma! self released in an edition of 1000 copies 25 years ago, the ‘lost’ remaining 95 copies turned up and have been lovingly repackaged in a high quality cover my michael k of sunburned hand of the man, and featuring postcard photo inserts from the recording session. signed & numbered by dredd himself. nice. recommended!
the dredd foole catalog is wide (and deep) and yet this new release manages to carve another distinct tributary into the swamped landscape. as the title implies, songs to despond ya falls on the songwriting end of the foole spectrum, and he takes full advantage of the opportunity to flesh out his bardic impulse. the results are raw and immediate, devoid of electronic effects, and all the more timeless for it. of course, whether he’s offering up ballads or free-hootin’ and -hollerin’, dredd foole always tugs at the heart and mind of anyone receptive enough to leave those doors open just a crack.
let me preface this review by saying that i’m beginning to loathe the day when any group of outcasts or fuckups decide that it’s a good idea to pick up flutes and sitars and, after having formed their collective and listened to nothing but the incredible string band’s “the hangman’s beautiful daughter” (a great record yes, but it has already been made) for a solid week, retreat into some forest to commune with nature, only to emerge some months later with limited edition lp with hand printed covers. the gentle results are usually inauthentic and make me irate; those are the records that make me long for smashable acetates. luckily, belgium’s drifting bears collective seems to have gone another route entirely, creating intense and caustic music, actually suited for the fact that the world we live in today isn’t out of the pages of a j. r. r. tolkien novel, but is one on the brink of collapse. “south of no north” seems to be aware of its surroundings; it is, as we are, always existing on a precipice. to its credit, it never totally falls apart; it retains intensity throughout, never lulling, always moving forward with frenetic energy, electric energy, enraged energy. the lp culminates with the side long “cum black frost,” a track that rambles through what sounds like a muezzin chanting over street traffic before giving way to a healthy dose of fuzzed out guitar. this is what new music should sound like. 9/10 – neale gay, foxy digitalis… really quite great. very limited & lovely fragile screen printed packaging.
first time ever vinyl reissue of the hard-to-find sole album by u.s. duo drnwyn. wonderful record that has some very cool psychedelic moments (especially the track ‘the madman and the angel’), and a good number of fabulous folk rock mid-tempos. there’s drums, bass and lots of acoustic guitars in here, but also electric leads, keys, mandolin and multi-part vocals with some female chorus as well. but most important, very well-crafted songs from start to finish. this was a private release back in 1978, and a very recommended album for those into folk-psych and folk-rock. remastered sound and 500 copies only.
thick winds off the sargasso is a phase from the epic drunjus 2xcdr (foxglove). this 3inch features a live excerpt from the source material that birthed the album version. the sounds are a meditative blur of buzz tone and the seething outdoors by woodman, clay ruby and endless.
two killer journeys… dremcrom and relax, hunter. both recorded live. one side completely in the analog realm; from the boys’ cassette deck straight to 180 gram black wax. strictly limited to 300 copies. hand screened on thrifted album covers turned inside out. no two alike. side a – ‘dremcrom’ is a sideways drift through the earths crust which confirms that the core truly is molten. drunjus bore a hole straight to the center of your brain. live at the infamous wisco biker bar… side b – ‘relax hunter’ is a more galactic affair. with enough molten fuel to get their ship airborn, drunjus escape the atmosphere and enter a 300 year cryogenic sleep… co-released with tree tapes…
exact same lp & 7inch as the above version, but in addition also includes a 10 track bonus cdr ‘THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS – 1974’ for the fully exhaustive drywater experience. the disc includes various post drywater oddities from dennis cheplick’s 1974 stint in nashville. included are : the two acetate tracks from the bonus 45, four acoustic demos, and four tracks from the ‘backbone of the nation’ tapes to which dennis added vocal overdubs shortly after the lp was released. beyond the two great acetate tracks, the acoustic demos are also quite good moody folk, and include one track co-written with jack sarvis and considered for inclusion on the lp. the overdubbed ‘backbone’ tracks aren’t exactly a revelation, but the ghostly layered vocals and odd low fidelity have a certain charm of their own… packaged in tri-fold offset printed b&w cover with yet another great vintage photo… available only direct from time-lag, in limited quantity, for just 3 bucks extra.
first ever reissue of this massively cool & hideously rare 1973 rural pennsylvania private press jewel, originally released on the legendary RPC custom label in an edition of only 25 copies. this one might slip right by you on first listen, but there is a subtle brilliance buried in these grooves that’s captured the hearts of the lucky few who’ve had the chance to spend some time with the album… and once you’ve connected, there’s no turning back… like the very best of the upper echelon 60s & 70s private press benchmarks, ‘backbone of the nation’ is a crystal clear snapshot glimpse into a precise time & place, a unique moment captured, a lost reality preserved… small town working class teen ethos expressed with raw precision. zero hippie hangover or arty posturing here… the sound is essentially split between the two dominate modes of polarized male youth psyche : alternating moody, dejected, love scorned melancholy folkrock with wasted, howling, proto-punk garage fuzz brain fry… all together it’s a totally sincere lost in time vibe, delivered with gobs of naive charm & executed with almost zero resources. the album was recorded and mixed direct to tape in just a few hours, without overdubs or even the option to mixdown. you can hear the clearly unprepared recording engineer frantically flipping switches & tweaking knobs in a state of near panic as these kids tear furiously through a rapid fire album worth of original songs, always teetering on the edge of total collapse, yet never quite imploding. while the end results are, to say he least, very crude, the band pulls together a distinct and wonderful sound. underpinned by ken turcic’s dry, low, rubbery bass lines and greg cheplick’s wildly raw & cool drumming (he’s only 15 at the time) dennis cheplick (greg’s older brother) and jack sarvis trade off vocal duties, guitars licks, and writing credit. rhythm guitars chug excitedly, acoustic 12-string adds a sweet, chiming, folky texture, and sarvis switches between a great, slightly surf-tinged ringing reverb tone and frenetic fuzz figures. what really sets this one apart from the crowd, though, is a surprising sophistication lurking deep within. there’s real depth and staying power to the song writing that sneaks up on you with repeated listens, combined with the sort of subtly clever vocal and guitar arrangements that imply a band maturity well beyond their amateur exterior. a grower if ever there was one… and totally essential if the sound of “rural”, “real people”, and “garage” all in the same sentence peaks your interest… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. packaged in an exact reproduction heavy weight reverse tip-on cover, with exact repro label art, a heavy double sided insert with loads of vintage color photos and extensive liner notes, plus a bonus heavy vinyl 45rpm 7inch. the 45 contains two non-lp tracks featuring both cheplick brothers and recorded in nashville, tennessee just months after the ‘backbone’ sessions, and preserved only on a single copy acetate demo disc. while due to the original format the sound quality of the 45 is less then ideal, it’s an awesome pair of songs and a wonderful complement to the lp, clearly hinting at the brooding folkrock masterpiece these guys could have pulled off had drywater ever entered the studio again… one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
nice live album from this much loved crew. crude hand stamped covers. rather limited i’m sure.
the “must have” debut album (1971) from psychedelic guru armando nava and his band, recorded after their failed trip to nyc did not produce the stardom they had been promised—pain and disappointment sparking great song-writing on this, the first mexican psych album in english. after an extended stint as the house band at tijuana strip joint fantasitas, los dug dug’s relocated to mexico city in 1966. they quickly garnered a rabid fan following there, which resulted in the dug dug’s signing to rca records and cutting a series of singles (the band also headlined a pair of 1967 films, el mundo loco de los jovenes and cinco de chocolate y una de fresa). upon returning to tijuana in 1968, los dug dug’s took up residence at the popular sans sous ci club. an american tourist was so impressed that he offered to bankroll a trip for the band to new york city. the group played a handful of live dates and recorded a few demos, but having no money to pay the union fees necessary to earn them the opportunity to play nyc’s larger venues left them with little choice but to return to mexico. los dug dug’s immediately began work on their first lp for rca mexico, little knowing at the time that it would become a classic of psychedelia. long-simmering creative differences between band leaders nava and jorge de la torre forced the latter’s resignation after the album was completed; by the time the resulting psychedelic opus appeared in 1971, the first incarnation of los dug dug’s was essentially no more. all that remained was this heavy, explosive album, a record which captures the fever/dream humidity of flower children running amok on a july afternoon. essential… nice legit version of this killer side.
after some 27 lps, 48 tapes, 25 seven inches, 33 cds/cdrs, and 4 ten inches, the time has finally come for not not fun’s first foray into the great wide world of book publishing. and there’s few better nnf bffs we could hope to share the adventure with than fuck it tapes/woodsist ceo (and meneguar/shepherds/woods multi-instrumentalist) jeremy earl. since early on in fit’s adolescence, he began incorporating his own loosely composed symbolist/primitivist designs into the label’s aesthetic (highlights like the brain band and blues control’s ‘riverboat styx’ j-card come to mind), but constant focused labor and the endless march of new projects forced his craft into a heightened state of evolution, birthing countless killer compositions along the way. skull is here to pick up some of the choicest pieces from bone-yard and bind them all together. the art inside spans several years worth of work, from 2006-era obsessively rendered ritual serpents and bleeding, 8-fingered hands up through earl’s most recent experiments with collage and multi-media hieroglyphics. over a dozen of his most striking and iconic cassette covers are included as well, in addition to scores of never-before-seen images. dazed pterodactyls, radiant pyramids, possessed worms, faceless figures beneath winged specters: all lurk and loom from the eye of the skull. 40 full-color pages, professionally printed and bound, in a one-time edition of 500… awesome & recommended eye-popper.
matt is in xnobbqx, who recently released on siltbreeze. this one is pretty sparse downer blues, vocals and acoustic guitar… nice fancy covers.
this is a cold vision of a dark trash covered future full of sci fi nightmares and strange out of body experiences. this is the final kites recording and is perhaps the strangest and most chaotic piece in the prolific discography. annihilation synth and tape collage, cut up, sped up and dialed to oblivion. earth crown steps it back, slows down the pulse, lets the edges of the static curl around the drone to the breaking point, where the damage is let loose, purged out and built again. this lp is a reminder of how cold, desolate, and haunting life can be. silkscreened by shawn reed, art by kites and earth crown.
earth station is mike pollard (abror rec./treetops etc.) and peter friel (young tapes) new now age, space suit, field studies in the deep trenches of mars, power ambient band. tidal waves of glacial synth murmur, the kind of intentionally epic stuff that you can’t help but like if you let yourself truly drift off. the end is coming and this what it might sound like. space music for earthlings. total harmony, total control. artwork by sdreed.
don’t put baby in the corner. jerusalem mall is a newer christmas time jingle for these hopeful times. backed with 2 sick to death outtakes unavailable on vinyl till now. no one puts baby in the corner. full color glue pocket sleeve.
eat skull’s sick to death received worldwide accolades for its frantic pacing, unimpeachable lyric quality, and nugget after nugget of pop hooks buried under a gob of lo-fi muzz. on this follow-up, fans and critics will find a cleaner, more inimitable eat skull at work. frontman rob enbom has outdone himself with both lyrics and structure on wild and inside, and the band as a whole rises to the challenge of nixing the lo-fi tag for a sound that’s less… antecedent. gone is the wall of crud that prevents discerning listeners from identifying the instrumental play-by-play; in its stead, a set of crafted songs recall the paisley punk of the last and the rural-delica of great plains, as well as nodding to the sanguine pop of early flying nun bands such as the double happys. wild and inside is a grower for the ages. it breathes deep and exhales perfectly.
egghatcher is robert horton made of space in delicate petals that speak like stars like red units fresh from the cosmos seeping a thinking upon distilled minds.
resistant to the clutches of anubis, the members of egypt have emerged from a six year hiatus to produce an archival release dating from the dclxvi dynasty. after serving as priests to hathor, the mistress of life, the great wild cow, for five years, these egyptian numerologists have honed their aesthetic reeds to razor sharp points. these tracks include glossalalia praising the pantheon, an illustration of the electromechanistic migration of the soul as well as ecstasy soaked instrumental excursions. look for these adepts appearing at your local oasis soon! 180 gram vinyl, full color covers, 500 copies!
an ultra-deluxe, limited edition of 475 copies of an lp on many hard-core psych collectors’ top 10 lists. insanely rare and impossible-to-describe 1973 brain-fryer from minneapolis is utterly soaked with mystic, thoroughly-dosed higher key psychedelia. damin eih rambled off to india to clear his head after leaving behind this lone, legendary offering, never to be heard from again. painstakingly and spectacularly re-mastered from two virgin copies of the original vinyl, this treasure is now rescued from the deepest catacombs of psychedelic fatso obscurity for you to hear. 180 gram vinyl, original insert reproduction, and 28 pt. craft stock with old school paste-on sleeves—this is nicer than most shadoks releases in all respects)… nice upgrade of this awesome lp. recommended!
‘i was lucky to see uruguayan music born. before el kinto it didn’t exist, and if it did i did not know it or like it.’ nosvaldo fattorusso. an exact replica of the original clave label lp release of fourteen crucial tracks by these uruguayan legends, whose line-up includes members of totem and limonada, and features the compositional abilities of poet/panhandler and acid casualty eduardo mateo and his alter-ego, candombe legend ruben rada. el kinto began their brief but eventful life in music playing in the dark shadows at orfeo negro (black orpheus), a night club near the portones de carrasco in montevideo, uruguay. inspired by the way tropicalistas like os mutantes were transforming the pop music of brazil, el kinto embraced their own native music formsnbut, as always, they went a step further: they integrated candombe and bossa nova into beat music, but they also added their own notion of ‘psicodelics.’ they experimented with newness in all its varietynnew sounds from their guitars, new types of vocal delivery, new ways of striking the drums (with little brooms, with gavels or their hands). as one journalist noted in 1969, ‘el kinto, directed by the brilliant mateo, and amplified to the maximum… creates a frenzy of rhythmic music in whichnwith force and convictionnpure wave ‘beat’ is synthesized with the warmth of the african drums.’ the result of the group’s tireless experiments is music which sounds fresh and engaging today. in a world dominated by the commercialization of everything – including (although it is difficult to comprehend)nthe arts, all we can say is, thank god for el kinto! now, on to the presentationnthe highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside you will find a double-fold insert packed with photos, detailed band history, and lyrics for this most important of uruguayan bands, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the sondor originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 500 copies.
only available non-bootleg videocassette version of this mind-melting and highly recommended psychedelic film masterpiece. has japanese subtitles, but the the original analog print looks & sounds way better then the rampant bootlegs floating around. nice color cover art. very rare. still sealed. only a couple of copies available, so don’t miss your chance!
final instalment of the great subscription series… ghq’s “requiem for bhopal” this brooklyn all-star duo of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika) and steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner) have been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there’s definitely enough noise to remind you this ain’t just about good vibes. black 7″ vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity… vollmar’s “new best friend b/w flood punch & holy blessing” justin vollmar’s recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who’s got only one person’s ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar’s songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements – modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7″ single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7″ record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves…. elephant micah’s “in midnight b/w ocean floor”as consistently great a songwriter as we’ve had this decade, elephant micah’s joe o’connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7″ release so intriguing – this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah’s past work, and yet joe’s voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the “recycling” theme of the songs, this black 7″ record comes packaged in discarded 12″ LP sleeves, which have been cut down to 7″ jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300… beautifully done & highly recommended!
echoer’s intent critically considers notions of ‘training’ in the social contexts of fine art, animal husbandry, and areas in between. characters include an unethical folksong collector, a french schoolboy and his dog robot, and a migratory game researcher. these minimal, mostly live recordings are the first to fully foreground elephant micah as a writing and solo performance project… lovely new release packaged in a classy screen printed art paper cover with offset printed fold-out insert & screen printed all black discs. limited to 250 copies. nice companion piece to the new ‘bible birds’ cd.
as consistently great a songwriter as we’ve had this decade, elephant micah’s joe o’connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7″ release so intriguing – this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah’s past work, and yet joe’s voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the “recycling” theme of the songs, this black 7″ record comes packaged in discarded 12″ lp sleeves, which have been cut down to 7″ jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300… got our hands on a very limited number of these great 7inches usually only available by subscription.
louder than thou is the latest album from underground folk mainstays elephant micah, a rotating-member band headed up by one joseph o’connell. the record will be released on o’connell’s own product of palmyra label on january 31, 2012. bridging the minimalist rock and sonic experimentation of early work for time-lag records, louder than thou is the clearest statement yet of the elephant micah sound. where past releases have been a matter of stylistic tinkering, louder settles into a meditative, avant-americana that o’connell and friends make fully their own. soaring harmonies and ringing lap dulcimers nod to ‘70s songwriter-ism while simultaneously recasting the genre through textural play and ensemble improvisation. with louder than thou, elephant micah secures its place alongside other masters of post-roots mood music such as califone and sun kil moon. the record follows an already extensive catalogue of limited, home-produced, and otherwise difficult-to-find recordings, which have circulated far and wide among a small, dedicated online fan base. this music’s cult also includes peer musicians like magnolia electric co., dark dark dark, and breathe owl breathe, who have toured with, accompanied, or covered the songs of elephant micah. louder than thou is closely tied to the musical life of bloomington, indiana and the greater region. the musicians that contribute to the record are part of a longstanding and celebrated underground music scene in this college town, which harbors more punk and indie bands than anyone can count. o’connell, originally from the adjacent area of “kentuckiana,” now resides in bloomington and works as a folklorist with grassroots music communities around the state. these efforts helped earn o’connell a grant from the state of indiana in the field of folk and traditional music for 2012… packaged in with lovely cardstock sleeve, with insert / lyric-sheet and heavy plastic picture disc sleeve. edition of 400. highly recommended!
finally available on vinyl! we’ll let joe himself shed a little light here : touring the east coast in 2003, someone asked, “you’re from indiana – have you ever heard of the bible bird man?” i hadn’t, so i did some research. his video had already been stolen from the library at earlham college, but i stole it back and returned it. i began to imagine what the musical equivalent of his evangelical bird act might sound like. i wrote a song about the bird man, thinking of releasing it as a “re-issue” of a central indiana country-gospel group that had never existed – the bible birds. then i thought maybe i would do an elephant micah album of covers originally written by this (non-existent) bible birds band. in the end of course the concept kind of dissipated and it just became an elephant micah album. i recruited beth remis from static films (and more recently pillars and tongues) to help arrange/sing harmonies for the songs, and generally bring them up to pseudo-gospel snuff. we played the songs around the upper midwest once with ben racher on a portable pump organ and jason henn on upright bass. all of us got together in indianapolis in 2006 and recorded this. i drove everyone crazy with my insistence on weird recording methods. i think i was kind of trying to approximate the timbres of the hymn sing broadcast on salem, indiana’s WSLM. who knows? i was critical of the results and didn’t finalize them for several years. here it is finally, a kind of “prequel” companion to the ‘hindu windmills’ (TIME-LAG 035) album. - joe o’connell 2010… so there you have it. an overlooked chapter from this wonderful artist finally seeing the light of day, and a perfect companion piece to the highly praised ‘hindu windmills’ album. both albums are clearly united by their warm, lo-fi intimacy, sparse production, and stunning song-craft. strikingly simple & beautiful stuff… packaged in a lovely three color screen printed heavy stock tri-fold art paper cover, with heavy stock offset printed lyric insert. limited edition of 500 copies.
the band kissing spell changed their name to embrujo in early 1970 due to the political climate in chile causing it to be less than ideal for a band with an english name. embrujo is the spanish translation of the word spell (bewitched). so embrujo is the same band as kissing spell and the album came out on arena records in 1971. among the great albums from chile like blops, aguaturbia, los jaivas and escombros, this album is just amazing, just like their first. beautiful compositions and instrumentation, very well played, strong vocals and poetic lyrics; we would vote this album as one of the best from the of south america. chile seems to be ‘the county’ for extraordinary pop and underground songs going right into the heart. what a shame that after 1973 until 1990 (pinochet dictatorship), no more bands could work anymore. we are missing a lot of great future albums by those bands… originally released in chile, 1971. 500 copies, 180gm vinyl, insert, etc.
gatefold double vinyl version. this is the third official album by emeralds (after solar bridge on hanson, and the self-titled lp on their own wagon and gneiss things imprints, as well as countless small edition tapes and cd-rs on a host of labels) and once again, it presents another radical new direction for this cleveland trio. it sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrids as well as a great deal of guitar synthesizers, not to mention fine-tuning their skills as brilliant tunesmiths. simply put, the results are outstanding. comprising of a number of tracks from their ultra-limited 7″ vinyl series on wagon, as well as new compositions exclusive to this release, this fine selection of tunes surpasses anything they have achieved in their 5-year career. perfect melodies intertwined with ripping sequences and a guitar sound that floats perfectly throughout. although most tracks cover new ground in that they follow a shortened “pop format,” more long-form cuts such as the towering “genetic” and the title track will give fans of their earlier work something to grab onto, or totally let themselves go, depending on their state of mind. having spent all their lives in the relative isolation of cleveland means their music has developed into a vital, stunning unique hybrid that may not have been able to blossom in more active urban centers. does it look like i’m here? heralds a turning point for all those involved and is a perfect, vivid soundtrack to emerge out of a harsh, grey winter. fresh, shiny and totally essential… real sweet new album. out of print first pressing with bonus poster! high quality wax, gatefold cover, etc. recommended trance-out.
second edition… gatefold double vinyl version. this is the third official album by emeralds (after solar bridge on hanson, and the self-titled lp on their own wagon and gneiss things imprints, as well as countless small edition tapes and cd-rs on a host of labels) and once again, it presents another radical new direction for this cleveland trio. it sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrids as well as a great deal of guitar synthesizers, not to mention fine-tuning their skills as brilliant tunesmiths. simply put, the results are outstanding. comprising of a number of tracks from their ultra-limited 7? vinyl series on wagon, as well as new compositions exclusive to this release, this fine selection of tunes surpasses anything they have achieved in their 5-year career. perfect melodies intertwined with ripping sequences and a guitar sound that floats perfectly throughout. although most tracks cover new ground in that they follow a shortened “pop format,” more long-form cuts such as the towering “genetic” and the title track will give fans of their earlier work something to grab onto, or totally let themselves go, depending on their state of mind. having spent all their lives in the relative isolation of cleveland means their music has developed into a vital, stunning unique hybrid that may not have been able to blossom in more active urban centers. does it look like i’m here? heralds a turning point for all those involved and is a perfect, vivid soundtrack to emerge out of a harsh, grey winter. fresh, shiny and totally essential… real sweet album. high quality wax & gatefold cover like the first pressing, but no poster. recommended trance-out.
nice older release from this deep drone nu-new age crew.
after the runaway success of their does it look like i’m here? (emego 101cd/lp) album, editions mego is chuffed to release these vintage synth-guitar improvisation jams recorded straight to tape, 2007-2008. previously released as a cd by no fun, this is now the definitive vinyl edition of this material, and serves as archival insight into the development of emeralds’ sound over the last years. mastered by james plotkin. cut at dubplates & mastering, berlin… great to see this one one wax! very nicely done edition.
split cassette single on white tapes in clear hand painted poly case. edition of 60.
this is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks by these crazed heavy industrialised weirdos from sweden! all recorded between 1986 and 1988. originally formed in 85 by kai parviainen and mats lundberg (who later got replaced by landgang) enema syringe played heavy monotone simple noise industrial the way it should be done; straight forward, loud, heavy and simple!! brutal toy synths and repetitive beats dominate the whole recorded archive and the few live sets this duo did, spiced with horrific sounding lyrics in swedish (usually about funnier things then the usual industrial fan would hope for like farts, massage shops, etc – ) all of the tracks on this lp are recorded without any mixing possibilty straight onto two channels with a marantz amp and a tape deck, prophet one, casio rz1 drummachine, casio toy synth, an old rhythm box and vocals thu headphones and a crappy mike! these beats are the best fist in the airpumpers ever, reminding of early throbbing gristle, club moral or more recent wolf eyes and meerk puffy! the lp comes with liner notes by kai parviainen, a discography, and is completely remastered. artwork by dennis tyfus. limited to 400 copies.
béisbol is a three sided lp by enos slaughter. the brainchild of david shuford (no neck blues band, d. charles speer and the helix), marc orleans (sunburned hand of the man, d. charles speer and the helix) and carter thornton (izititiz, zashiki warashi), béisbol is a full-fledged continuation of the musical ideals that the band has previously set forth within on sunday, saloth sar and on the shores of jupiter. click here for a downloadable preview, “the kingdom of oscar charleston.” as per the three lobed standard, béisbol is pressed on 180g rti vinyl. it is housed within an appropriately themed jackets designed by the band and a two-sided full color photo insert. the record is from an edition of 679 copies and, and as an added convenience for our vinyl friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax.
this is my fifth solo release as es. kesämaan lapset was recorded during a three year period. it is a mix of soundscapes and pop tunes. you can hear influences varying from contemporary indie to ancient classical music. it’s a summer album and a childhood photo album. the name translates as “the children of the summerland”. it an homage to the pekka streng album “kesämaa” (summerland) which is one of my favourite finnish albums ever made. it also refers to finland of course. i’ve been travelling a lot these past three years and every time i return here it feels more and more like home. i’ve used lots of instruments, from high-end analogue synthesizers and upright pianos to cheap flea market casios. i’ve recorded parts of this abroad and at home in my studio and in my bedroom. there are a few special guests: laura laurila plays violin, tuomas eriksson (risto) plays trombone and elissa määttänen who has sung on most of my albums is present again to give her special voice to the tracks. i hope you enjoy the album. it is not as ambitious a work as my previous double album sateenkaarisuudelma. but this one is meant to be listened to in many more situations and it might just fit as music for a house party too… -sami sänpäkkilä.
after what seems to be an interminably long gap and born into an inextricably changed world, espers iii walks among us, finally and finely. it’s not as if espers completely disappeared following their acclaimed first and second albums and tours. they played the odd show here and there – but with time and focus given to meg baird’s solo album dear companion, the valerie project and helena espvall’s collaborations with masaki batoh and others, not to mention the launching and flight of greg weeks’ language of stone label, three years passed like a day or two in the life of espers. picking up the threads with ease, espers iii was intended to be an aural reversal of the layered sound of ii. the goal was to record fewer tracks in order to achieve a stronger, more oxygenated sonic presence. where ii was almost claustrophobic in its density and darkness, iii was envisaged as being somehow lighter, effervescent; perhaps even of a cheery disposition at times. under these auspices, recording started in late 2008 and spilled into the spring and summer of 2009. as more time passed in the recording process, a growing dementia within both song and lyrics emerged, making even the most ethereal songs on iii seem oddly unwholesome to all involved.
further along the path of musical friendship that helena espvall and masaki batoh have discovered for themselves, we find overloaded ark ready to sail. and indeed, a new and better society might be provided for with all that they’ve packed on board. these are end times, we are told. often, though, the craft of espvall & batoh drifts through placid waters. in the distance, thunderheads raise up and lightning flashes. when the storms finally come raging, they blow through — and, singular in purpose under skies of shifting color, the intrepid ark sails onward. espvall & batoh have come prepared for anything, armed with acoustic and electric guitars, cello, renaissance harp, organ, sho, banjo, electronics, recorders, piano, hurdy gurdy, frame drums and several more obscure instruments such as auschpfeife, crumhorn, cornamuse, darbuka, and rig. listen for them! but look them up first, so you know what you’re listening for. there are vocals as well, sung mostly by helena but also with batoh’s empathetic support. they are backed by two of batoh’s ghost-mates, kazuo ogino and junzo tateiwa, and joined by ancient music specialist haruo kondo. as on the first espvall & batoh album, overloaded ark features a trove of traditional and ancient music alongside self-composed explorations. songs from many cultures and ages are in evidence, from scandinavian folk to german madrigal to french and italian medieval court dances and even a good old latin hymn! nearer our present day, ‘sueno con serpientes’ is a cautionary tale from the legendary cuban protest singer silvio rodriguez, and ‘sham no umi’ is a batoh solo piece from the mid-’90s. espvall & batoh endeavor to combine sounds from different times in history with an eye towards the creation of a peaceful new global village in the world of today. and indeed, overloaded ark is a gentle and expansive trip, fusing the sounds of east and west, new world and old into a new epic for all nations. charted with grace and skill, overloaded ark is a human record, its passions focused under a stoic, enduring exterior.
most do not know much about music from bolivia, like us. what’s flashing our minds are the andes, la paz and flute music by indios. but there are some great rock & underground bands such as wara, climax and most of all estrella de marzo. this album (still unknown to most collectors) is not only special because it’s from an country not many listeners know much about. this album is so great, so much underground, so unique and well crafted, that it goes into a strong competition with most “classic underground releases” from south america. if you are in to wild fuzz guitar ala zappa, and if you like kissing spell from chile, beautiful vocals with strong lyrics and great beats , you will love this album. the early pink floyd has also influenced this album for us it was one of the big musical discoveries for this year. every track is great, high spirit progressive underground rock, as good as it can be. this album “a los ninos con amor” (to children with love) was recorded in 1974 with, keyboards, guitars, drums, bass & vocals. 500 numbered / heavy sleeve / 180 gram pressing / 2 page inserts.
andre is best known as the former lead vocalist and songwriter of the deadly snakes, whose swansong “porcella” has to be considered one of the best albums of this decade. andre hasn’t exactly been on hiatus since the snakes called it quits–though it may be news to most americans, ethier has released 4 albums over the past 5 years in his native canada. “running of the bulls” marks both ethier’s solo and vinyl debuts in the u.s., and dull knife couldn’t be happier to release it. the single finds andre reuniting with former deadly snakes band mates matt carlson and maxwell mccabe-lokos (as well as toronto musician andrew moszynski), to produce a sound that’s is a logical bridge between the deadly snakes and andre’s solo material. these aren’t just two songs slapped together with no thought–no, these are songs that were wrote and meant to be paired together, as they are weaved together in an ironic interplay. ethier’s distinctive voice and clever wordplay shine throughout, and this one won’t dissapoint. 300 hand-numbered copies in silkscreened chipboard arigato paks with pasted on photos from andre. 3 photo variations, 100 copies of each variation.
from harsh noise over tape experiments to nordic chants and back. edition of only 27 copies. handmade, every cassette a little different… bear bones, law low offshoot.
total monster by these 2 old-tymey duos. ex-c give you a home where the ragged riffs roam (including a sick meat puppets cover!), and pdx colossus y swans lay down a 10-dimensional lava lamp of frying wires and poignant dissolution. housed in a jacket with perhaps the boldest pair of maya miller art-damage compositions she’s ever dreamed up. leave this one on the turntable forever.
completely unknown portuguese lp from 1973 that sounds like a cross between peruvian psych such as laghonia & traffic sound, and a uk lost gem on harvest or deram, with 2 great vocalists, seering guitar and a real groove. this reissue is the second in the golden pavilion series, fully licensed, done in association with acalanto and limited to 450 copies in black vinyl and 100 in coloured golden brown vinyl… all copies here are the golden vinyl edition of 100! special low price!
bermuda telepaths is the latest title lifted out of the fruit-and-photocopy-strewn outer limits recordings archive and into the ears of the world at large. recorded under the never-again-used explorers moniker and first edited into album form about a year ago, this hallucinatory patchwork trip into the ether synthesizes all of olr’s deepest loves – boombox fidelity, quick cuts, keyboard loop sorcery, underwater pop, general mind surfing – into a humbly hypnotic whirlpool of energies. apparently there was a concept/thesis behind the album’s genesis somehow involving psychic powers, lizard people, and the bermuda triangle, but the details are hazy. which befits the audio in question. read your palm. take a walk in your thoughts. explore away. black vinyl lps in jackets with artwork designed by the artist, plus a copy shop poem insert. edition of 330.
gareth hardwick’s steady stream of quality releases is gathering to be one of the uk’s best current minimal drone catalogues around… here he gives us a 3 part trip of pure slow motions… flip the tape and you have richard dawson’s eyeballs project, whose debut on blackest rainbow caused a stir with the few people who managed to lay their hands on it. here dawson’s side is bleaker and darker than expected, gives me the full on feel of the twin peaks woods… feels like the vast emptiness of that claustrophobic wooded area. low and lulling. pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 150 copies.
flowers is the latest full length from seattle’s bleak and ominous factums and is their second for the sacred bones label. recorded between 2006 and 2007 but only now seeing a proper release, flowers is dark and disturbing. the album has twenty two tracks that fluctuate from sound collage to soundtrack-esque moments as well as more structured songwriting. this album also has flashes of abrasive electropunk that has garnered them well-deserved comparisons to chrome, cabaret voltaire, throbbing gristle and much of the early wax trax catalog.
primitive future indeed! its 4000 a.d. and human kind’s fate from a binge of manifest destiny has finally collapsed on itself. now we’re back to the basics. the jungle is in charge again. the factums have crafted a soundtrack to this dark and mysterious place. a world where the listener is the prey and this record is the hunter. this is exploratory music, a melding of rusted out kraut debris, dead c. carnage and lost in time sci-fi rock moves. ed. of 400 copies.
full-length follow-up to last year’s lp on the sitlbreeze label from this band that vaguely circles in the a-frames/intelligence/fruit bats orbit. critics have compared factums to tronics, cabaret voltaire, or pere ubu’s more chaotic moments also citing some heavy kraut influenced flashes. includes a bonus three song 7-inch ep and screened cover art.
john w. fail has turned up in a lot of places but on few recordings; this is the first release entirely under his own name, following an 8-project cassette compilation on dronedisco last year. most well-known as 1/2 of lied music, the icewhistle finds fail quietly scraping ghost overtones from his israj (the traditional bengali instrument heard on lied music recordings). in eight minimal tracks, the sounds of air and urban ambiance mix with the israj to create a haunting, suspended soliloquy.
fusion is a dirty word, implying clinicism and a dry sense of conscious matchmaking. “bow low bright glow” is a more a communal excavation and re-presentation of buried european folk and sufi-hearted music than any form of experiment. family elan are alone in their field. here, chris hladowski has put together a collection of original numbers, visions created from lost/found tapes and traditional pieces (including a absolutely gorgeous “the blackplanets of her eyes”) that are a fitting companion to family elan’s “stare of dawn” debut. alongside hladowski’s voice, there’s the vocal input of nalle’s hanna tuulikki – a voice as easily capable of gentle qawwali as it is folk song. this is a record of heavy treble intricacy, hladowski’s saz and bouzouki playing encompassing drones, folk, dervish progressive work and a woozy shimmer over and through the entwining melodies. family elan are more than just a project or a band, hladowski has endowed the music here with a such a unique voice that shaky shorthand comparisons would be pointless and a short sell. music that hints at the devotional rarely feels as inclusive, as communal and as enjoyable as this… deluxe super thick textured covers, 180gm vinyl, limited to 500. beautiful stuff!
cool hand done packaging. numbered edition of 90 copies.
great heavy jam from these danish black-out artists. lurching drone and electronic strangeness slowly worm their way into yr face hole and blow smoke rings. that sound? thats an ancient axe cutting through cosmic fog, man. come breath the thunder… another wall melting dose!
family underground drenched the east coast of the usa in molten syrup last year and they toted along a tour cd-r entitled black hole released by the fine folk of secret eye. mega bummed i didn’t get to feel their magic live but i ordered that tour disc post-haste. man, when i got it i was slain. i thought it was their finest work to date so i had to invoke it on vinyl. i tapped into the band’s communication network and together we figured this would make a killer double lp, definitely one for the record books. so the underground sent me a half hour of unreleased musics to fill the vinyl sides to fruition. holy hannah was i unprepared for a – how well the new jams mind-melded with the other tracks. and b – the superb variation of the entire work with paramount peaks and deep arcane valleys. get it and trip! limited to 500 copies on black vinyl with full color gatefold jackets.
denmark’s drone demons release another one. a helium rug would float, which is exactly what your melted mind will do while listening to this record. whistling blown by the birds of hell. this has been in the works for quite some time. originally intended to come out last summer on their us tour, but we didn’t want to flood the market (they already had 3 lps coming out the same time). edition of 300 on black vinyl with bi-color stencil. the front cover is what you will look like after listening to this. your mind will split open unleashing the helium rug from within. artwork by zachary fleming.
one copy only. deluxe full color packaging with insert. way limited & long out of print.
crushing new full-length by this legendary danish drone squad. 2 massive side-long black holes, mastered by pete swanson of yellow swans. hand-numbered edition of 450.
tiny private press release from their recent west coast tour. quite limited. last copies!
2 tracks from recent jams – 100 copies – more sweet drone psych goodness from the wicked crew. beautiful printed art paper covers with art paper insert & spray painted disc.
from ged gengras (antique brothers) comes this accomplished take on the new wave pop song (“down in the park”) and some inspired no wave guitar and sonica instrumentals. for fans of current 93 and any beta-lactam ring releases.
fapardokly is probably regarded as the most important release in merrell fankhauser’s long career, and an absolute collector’s item. the band recorded about 30 tracks in a small studio in palmdale, california, from 1965 to 1967, when the owner of the studio decided to release an album with some of these tracks. with such different recording dates, you find here different sounds… organ-ized 60′s pop, jangly folk-rock, psychedelia… a truly fantastic album that finally gets, for the first time, a legit vinyl reissue and with the original artwork. comes with an insert featuring photo from merrell’s personal archive, and linernotes by him as well.
finally available, the first licensed reissue of michael farneti’s elusive good morning kisses lp from 1976. this south florida marvel has eluded collectors for eons and we are thrilled to get it back into circulation. 500 exact repro copies were pressed at rti with crisp, heavy jackets produced by stoughton… limited to 500. great high quality reissue. nice.
two songs which were performed at the very last few shows before deerpark’s unnaturally long hibernation are now available on the feather gatherers 7″ record. recorded by jonathan marshall with sharron kraus accompanying on banjo, flute, voice, harmonium, bodhran, twigs etc. ‘the feather gatherers are an ad hoc uk duo with jonathan marshall of deerpark joining the superb new-volk multi-tasker, sharron kraus. leaves/tower at bollingen (singing knives 7″) has two songs that are as swank a pairing of contemporary acoustic sadnesses as you’ll find in a month of mondays. “leaves” features both vocalists and the blend of their voices is like biting into the best pickle you ever ate. “tower” is a feature for marshall’s voice and kraus’s flute, and it’s another sparse haunter. file near iron & wine and play often.’ – byron coley, the wire.
no info on this one, sorry.
third installment in a new series of releases from ferraro, part of his summer headrush 2009 series vision. inspired by “visualisations that came to mind while receiving self-induced hypocapnia or as it’s commonly called ‘free fall’, the albums being representative of the free fall head space.” body fusion 1 presents a themed suite with track titles like “shemale”, “pregnant air”, “angel alien” and “species within” that takes off in multitopia’s transformative worlds-within-worlds style. cut-up throughout with pitch-shift sonic reassignments of she-males and transvestite phone sex lines that promise “fantasy fulfilment 24/7″ the music feels like an attempt to mint a form of holy/devotional reverie directed towards the celebration of the gatekeepers of the most primal, transformational sexual urges, with lap-dancing clubs, peep shows, strip bars and chatlines re-imagined as temples to the lifeforce. featuring some of james’s darkest transits, the music is built around huge organ drones that build to the kind of otherwordly ascensions of popol vuh’s “vuh” over which he drops in huge crashes of percussion and eerie music box melodies. – volcanic tongue.
the citrac collection presents one of james ferraro’s most cinematic visions; showing his recent mode of soundworld creation in top form. by shying away from pure musical creation and opting towards the organic birth of sonic universes james finds a new way to tell a story. evoking vastly imaginative imagery, this 80+ minute suite spanning two lps, contains the previously released “postremo techno mundus symposium”, excerpts and alternative edits from liquid metal’s alternative soundtrack to “digital overdrive”, and the all new “digital tribe”. presenting deep-nightmarish atmospheres of surveillance and captivity on through the rush of the open road; the hypnotic, lo-fi result is one that could only come from ferraro’s alien mind, eternally stuck in a 1980s vision of an impossibly archaic future. in an edition of 400 double lps with full color printed inner-sleeves in pro-printed black and white cardboard sleeves and printed labels by james.
clear and discovery were origianlly released as two companion cdrs by james ferraro (of the whole skaters / lamborghini crystal / 90120 / splash / nirvana axis) and comprise the august 1974 (taj-mahal travellers) of his discography. both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference klaus schulze or bobby beausoleil. clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while discovery is comparable to daft punk’s album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room. these two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious giorgio moroder songs for the upcoming olympics in atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from revenge of the nerds-or is it “wonderwall”-into a theme for a future ski jump at the great pyramids. are you ready for the lizard people to compete? now available as mastered vinyl lps with a digital download.
clear and discovery were origianlly released as two companion cdrs by james ferraro (of the whole skaters / lamborghini crystal / 90120 / splash / nirvana axis) and comprise the august 1974 (taj-mahal travellers) of his discography. both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference klaus schulze or bobby beausoleil. clear bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while discovery is comparable to daft punk’s album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room. these two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious giorgio moroder songs for the upcoming olympics in atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from revenge of the nerds — or is it “wonderwall” — into a theme for a future ski jump at the great pyramids. are you ready for the lizard people to compete? now available as mastered vinyl lps with a digital download.
latest installment of barbiturate-bombed muscled flexing and body worship/horror from long-term alternate james ferraro identity, edward flex. grotesque huffing voices, the sound of pumping iron and choruses of meathead grunts combine with slow, hypnotic keyboard tones to create the ultimate steroid-enhanced transformation scenario with drones that go so far beyond the physical as to sound like the songs of solitary cells destroyed and re-born in the furnace of mutation and evolution. massively psychedelic and totally deranged. comes in a plastic case with original black and white art. “what’s up people this is edward flex here in my brand new studio in beautiful hawaii . come and join us as we waste some metal. in the arena of chrome wave reflection life meets the ultimate rush, of the ocean spray moisturizing our ripped tanned flesh. so come escape with us and enter the dream. extreme metal retreat awaits. you think you had enough? don’t even think about it! let the transformation begin! – volcanic tongue.
third limited double set in a series of three volumes self-released by james ferraro of the skaters documenting his exploration of inner/outer sci-fi landscapes populated by cyborg lizard deities. flushpipe is a staggering two disc set that features cover art showing the view down to the pyramids from a hovering ufo filled with cryogenically-preserved aliens and titles like “skyhanger”, “flush stream of sting ray blue grid” and “awesome motion”. the imagery combines weird frank herbert-styled desert planet vistas with the kind of ophidian power visioning of kenneth grant’s nightside narratives while the sonics stretch the length of ferraro’s career. the sound is james’ most convincing amalgam of classic skaters-styled vertical ritual with murky tape psych, ecstatic new age keyboard visions and post-multitopia future/primitive 1980s computer game reverie. there are dense fields of bell tones that sound like john coltrane’s ascension broadcast via a shortwave radio at the bottom of a wind tunnel, gorgeous keyboard hymnals that hover over a bunch of simple, primal patterns ala harmonia/cluster and heavy vocals from that are quite unlike any of his previous work, combining bursts of aggression with possessed reptile tongues and oracular insect voices. one of ferraro’s most mind-bogglingly sustained transits of other states of there. highly recommended. – volcanic tongue.
‘in chameleon ballet, i wanted to create a work of magic that simulates a dream atmosphere of post-industrial landscapes, with the waking memory of a romantic alien encounter occurring in the dream. dedicated to the mystery of night and the magic of dreams’ –james ferraro. ‘debut limited edition album by this new sci-fi synth project by james ferraro of the skaters et al., with 1980s minimal wave moves bisected by the kinda keyboard patterns you might’ve found on an edgar froese solo album or post-body love klaus schulze, then exploded with barbarous invocations, syruped-vocals and some black drone atmospherics. or, as the cover art suggests, urban landscapes as visioned by showroom dummies illuminated under 3 a.m. neon. another killer.’ –david keenan. remastered and expanded version of the cd-r release on new age discs — this has an additional previously-unreleased track. limited edition of 425 copies. black & white printed covers.
no info on this one, sorry… but you know the deal…
FERRARO, JAMES ~ MULTITOPIA ~ lp (olde english spelling bee) $18.00
new album from james ferraro of the skaters/lamborghini crystal et al., the first run ever presented under his own name. ‘multitopia is our reality system,’ james writes in the liner notes. ‘a post-9/11 reality technology in between the frames of data reception. a cross wire into ‘new head’ and necessary evolution upon the impact of the towers.’ it feels like a major work from james, the first fully-conceived album to go beyond his initial brain-fried 1980s nightmare culture documentation, reconciling both dystopian and utopian mindsets in a vision of pan as multitopia. body modification, the blurring of sexual persona (via cracked images of james on the back with a modified pair of breasts chilling next to an arcade game) and cyborg intelligences are all recurrent tropes in james’ work, but here he explodes them all, with some of the most aggressively-nuanced keyboard and drum work of his entire career, kicking off with a full kit sound that sits somewhere between industrial steel drums and kaoss pads, then building to an evocative peak that then dissolves into wave after wave of fluxing keyboard drone and oddly-looped vocal fragments. the gravity of the music is truly omnivorous, devouring drone, punk, new wave, industrial and minimal synth modes and spitting them back out as intensely detailed black and white visions of the future-now. james somehow manages to interweave vacuous tv announcements and cheap anchor man quips alongside the lucid, microtone-rich keyboard work, situating the whole deal in a virtual, godless netherworld with each track a further descent into hell. it is both beautiful and horrifying. a major work from james — no one is doing anything remotely like him. highly recommended.’ — david keenan. remastered version of the cd-r release on new age discs. limited edition of 425 copies. color printed covers. dedicated to zac davis.
part of the second limited batch of summer headrush 2009 releases from james ferraro of the skaters with full-colour pro-printed sleeves. wild world is edward flex visits multitopia, one of the bleakest and darkest of ferraro’s recordings thus far, as he ties up fantasies of body modification and hollywood stardom with terrible eschatological visions and cut-ups of recorded testimonies of members of the heaven’s gate mass-suicide cult on their hopes for a transport to heaven. his use of minimal musical fragments looped to infinity is at its most twisted and wrong, with obsessive vocal figures played out over leery keyboard parts and snippets of vocal that conflate plastic surgery with pre-lapsarian and post-ufo powers of transformation. there’s often a lurid, cartoon aspect to ferraro’s amplification of the various desires that contemporary popular culture works as a cipher for but this one feels less technicolour and more desperate, charting the apocalyptic fantasies (via elvis presley and michael jackson) that find their apotheosis in california’s end-of-land culture through a series of black magical workings. also features some of ferraro’s most shredding 80s/90s metal guitar. an extremely heavy installment. – volcanic tongue.
more archival madness from the australian fruited plain. ffehro is ian macintyre and michael donnelly, spitting out dirty dirges over a spirtual concoction. the ebb and flow of ffehro is much like that of a hurricane, thwacking you in the skull with a hurled tree trunk, but all the same cooling you down with soft, soothing rain. dichotomy, they say – that’s the magic. donnelly’s best known for his work in brothers of the occult sisterhood and terracid, but ffehro’s country drone madness is up to the task of pushing that lore forward. dreadlocked madness abound! 100 copies.
recorded during the last days of the reign of pope whoever the whatsit – one epic search for the sound that will undo the universe.
this studio recording deftly interlaces and frames the spontaneous improvisations of toronto reeds/guitar multi-instrumentalist colin fisher and drummer/producer jean martin into extended and dynamic song forms with results that range from delicate to euphoric.
one copy only.
aria nativa is more than paul flaherty’s third solo saxophone album; it merges rhapsodic avant garde music, patriotic dream verse, and mortality into a frighteningly pure work of audio, visual and literary sledge. recorded during a pair of 2007 performances, its four pieces capture lifeblood in stunning detail from foot stomps to gut hollers and crowd roars as flaherty’s free power blues dips into the well of wretchedness yet raises with fists of mirth. it’s the sorta record that splays naked the artist for all: equal parts wise ass and universal vision. from his early 1970s woodshedding through a dozen plus albums each with drum buddies randall colburne and chris corsano, and collaborators bill nace, wally shoup and sunburned man of the hand, flaherty remains a total wildcat — on and off the alto/tenor horns. for this lp his massive tonal craft is equally matched by ken hill’s gorgeous cover shot of a snow blown grave and “no more america” — ken delponte’s epic poem that spans nearly five decades and fills the back jacket, framing the atmosphere the music was recorded under. each 500 copies contain a download coupon for mp3 version of the album that includes a bonus track of “no more america” read by the author.
based in turners falls, ma, flaming dragons of middle earth are the brainchild of visionary wheelchair-bound ‘band shaman’ danny cruz, who leads an ensemble of rotating non-musicians, artists, oddballs, kids with down syndrome etc in weekly jams at a community resource centre, playing what he describes as ‘mud lightning metal’. cruz is heavily into sun ra, captain beefheart and roky erickson and has a fascination with zombies, punk rock, metal, horror movies and the aesthetics of the free form freak. the seed of contempt is the first available document of their wild reign, capturing a bunch of jaw-dropping sessions recorded onto cassette between 2007 and 2010. cruz’s vocals are somewhere between nate young of wolf eyes and don van vliet and his cosmo-philosophical lyrics touch on cartoons, anarchy, radical politics and evil in the night, with titles like “i am the creator sun ra”, “know my name of blood”, “hunger in the world is a problem”, “bush no on cnn” and “anarchists of punk rock”. the music ranges from wasa wasa-style destructo blues as played by the familiar ugly through odd piano/vocals tracks ala richard youngs’ “advent”, brokedown folk with weeping brass, unaccompanied vocal rants and wonky big band jams that channel cryptic nnck-style environments via the la freak scene around wild man fischer and weirdo lafms satellites like ace & duce and smegma. the seed of contempt goes well beyond mere real people interest: it feels like a bunch of kids mainlining everything that’s great about the wildest, freakiest rock/roll and free improvisation of the 20th century. funny, sad, exhilarating, confusing, effortlessly out – it’s hard to believe such a purely-conceived document could even exist in the current cynical/know-all post-wikipedia world. if this hadda come out on some private press side in 1970 then acid archives would have already erected a monument. but this is real – if you wanna drop in and jam with them, the invitation is there: every thursday at 5pm at the brick house, turners falls, ma 01027. tell em we sent you. if you can’t make it, this lp will take you *there* all the same. consider us blown away. “sun ra’s good, it’s a good jazz band, good methods he had.” massively cool cover, heavy vinyl, with insert. highly recommended. – david keenan
official lightning tree version with stunning sound quality. among the crown jewels of sought after 1960’s american psychedelic records the flat earth society’s waleeco is a legendary album that more than lives up to its reputation. recorded in 1968 for of all things a candy bar manufacturer (waleeco being the name of the said confection) the album was only made available to candy fiends that sent in a few wrappers and $1.50. anyone lucky enough to take advantage of that offer obtained a beautiful psychedelic rock/pop masterpiece that took in everything from dreamy west coast styled acid rock, laid back sunday morning acoustic folk, driving garage psych rock and full on trippy psychedelia. restored from the original master tapes to its true stereo this 180 gram reissue in a stunning psychedelic sleeve, is the ultimate edition of this period classic that sits head and shoulders above a sea of re-issue mediocrity … highly recommended new england teen psych classic!
stunning double cassette set that bundles a bunch of live jams from various locations – london’s cafe oto, salford’s islington mill, manchester’s fuel, leeds’ brudenell social club, cambridge’s portland arms – from the world-beating duo of michael flower (guitar) and neil campbell (guitar/casio). flower and campbell were of course compatriots in one of the uk’s greatest underground drone/rock groups vibracathedral orchestra and this tape presents a more dazzling psych rock extension of that particular group’s navigation of constantly peaking eternal sound but it’s cut with an amazing ostrich guitar/explosive drone style that comes straight out of the velvet underground. across four sides of tape they mutate the basic blueprint to the point that it sounds like greatest vu bootleg jam of your life, with flower’s guitar tearing through sheet metal melodies and epic raga levitations while campbell flits between flashing keyboard melodies that sound like cluster on infinite repeat and some almost skullflower-like string violence. they’re joined by john godbert aka herb diamante – also of vibracathedral orchestra – on drums for two tracks and they are particularly phenomenal, with godbert thundering like faust through storms of technicolour electricity. the uk has long had a particularly amazing and unique take on drone rock and vibracathedral remain pretty much kings of the genre and this is another ass-flattening reminder of their powers from a bunch of key players w/hypnotic command of the zone. can’t get enough of this one. – david keenan, volcanic tongue… really hot one here. looks great, sounds great, and only 50 copies!
the four aims is the much-anticipated second full-length by the long-running duo of mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra, sunroof, michael flower band) and chris corsano (flaherty/corsano, jandek, bjork, sunburned). in the couple years since their debut, the radiant mirror (textile), the two have toured and recorded frequently, expanding their range to include a mind-boggling array of free sound. “i, brute force” kicks off the record with the electrifying sound of flower’s virtuosic, heavily amplified japan banjo (also known as a shaahi baaja) over corsano’s free-wheeling percussion. other tracks show off subtle improv moves, with both players using extended techniques to generate a wide range of unusual sounds. corsano’s technical mastery is almost without peer in his generation (alex neilson, maybe)-his ability to take the lessons of nearly five decades of free playing and extend them into new ranges is startling and exciting. rather than play backup, corsano meets flower’s strings and organ head-on with his own drum-bowing, cello, and circular-breathing-fired melodica… wow.
processed and prepared guitars and synths with a visit in a quasar. cosmic and droning. new project of mason jones (trance) with friends. nicely pressed and printed on hand-made paper. limited to 333.
flying sutra is the new philadelphia-based drums-guitar duo of bob cozzolino and george draguns. while both men have long and varied musical resumes – from film scores to indie rock to avant-jazz – levitate and dissolve is their first release in this configuration, and it’s a doozy: nearly an hour of wild, urban-elemental art-punk/free-jazz that pitches tensely unwinding klang against whirlwind percussion to highly electric effect. we recommend you remain seated with safety belt fastened while listening.
“i want to be a rocker. everybody else has walked away from rock. i want to walk towards it.” – henry flynt. taste the magic! nova’billy is another edible audible from henry flynt’s dusty lower manhattan bunker and it stands as one of the fullest, most beauteous document of flynt’s tenure with a full working rock band to date. for less than one calendar year between 1974 and 1975, henry flynt’s hard driving, heavy jamming agit country rock band, nova’billy embraced bareknuckled deep fried groove attacks, bearded hippie jam band workouts & a monstrous melange of blues, boogie and free jazz squeal into a musical soufflé that could only have come together with flynt cooking up what was proven to be, time and again, an impossible vision within the confines of the soho art orbit of the 70s. after a couple performances at anthology film archives and studio sessions in richmond, virginia and manhattan, the band postered soho in a last ditch effort to get some traction with the hipsters that read, “party on down to the kitchen. stoned country music for rock country”. the gig, like all the others before it, was poorly attended. nova’billy played what would be their last live gig at the kitchen on june 27, 1975. nova’billy covers a damned fine and important moment in henry flynt’s musical career. if the insurrections laid the foundation for his anti-war primitive garage rock sound, the emergence, nearly a decade later of nova’billy is the realization of henry’s own vision of obtuse personal politics (“i was a creep”), provocative leftwing posturing (check their version of the world communist anthem “the international!”) and a gleefully recombinant spin on southern music. 13 cuts and 60 minutes of old glory! … double 180gm vinyl. limited edition. gatefold covers. nice!
our man flynt shatters the categories once again with this surprise collection of his short lived basement rock protest band, the insurrections, from 1966. let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind: flynt’s version of protest music isn’t your cultural-commissar school of folk posturing. it’s aggro and flynt is an unhinged showman on helium induced vox and the electric guitar (his teacher was none other than lou reed). imagine a mix of sky saxon (of seeds fame) with a dash of roky erickson thrown in on vocals, a little bit of the cramps’ scary monster dramatics thrown in for good measure & the swamp chugalug laziness of vintage pussy galore and you get an idea what flynt was up to at this phase in his non-career. features legendary sculptor walter de maria on drums, confirming our hidden suspicion that in every great artist there’s a desire to rock & beneath every fine gallery, there is a basement. photos by george maciunas. 180 gram limited edition virgin vinyl, heavy whiteboard jacket… we still have 2 copies of the original bo’ weavil vinyl version with glossy covers & limited to 500.
this is the limited (500 copies) vinyl pressing of henry flynt’s i don’t wanna originally released on cd on locust. he’s made his mark with his brand of ecstatic north indian raga inspired minimalism on c tune, the full bodied experimentalism anthologized on raga electric and the avante-hillbilly bumpkin fiddle joyride on last year’s back porch hillbilly blues volume 1 & 2. now it’s time to make a place in your heart for i don’t wanna! in which flynt shatters the categories once again with this surprise collection of his short lived 1966 basement rock protest band, the insurrections. let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind: flynt’s version of protest music isn’t your cultural-commissar school of folk posturing. it’s agro punk & flynt is an unhinged showman on helium induced vox and electric guitar (his teacher was none other than lou reed). imagine a mix of sky saxon (of seeds fame) with a dash of roky erickson on vocals, a little bit of the cramps’ scary monster dramatics thrown in for good measure & the swamp chugalug laziness of vintage pussy galore and you get an idea what flynt was up to at this phase in his non-career. features legendary sculptor walter de maria on drums, confirming our hidden suspicion that in every great artist there’s a desire to rock & beneath every fine gallery, there is a basement. photos by george maciunas… original first uk pressing. way recommended avant-garage psych!
in the early ’60s, fresh from his clean behind the ears years at harvard, henry was undergoing rapid ideological shifts: cavorting with maciunas and the whole fluxus bit, doing performances at yoko ono’s loft and recording with la monte young; having it out with his stalinist cohorts over the relative merits of a good blues run and searching for a new musical language outside of the various artistic restrictions before him. what he arrived at was an expressive practice he dubbed audact (auditory acognitive cultural activity). collecting key material from 1963 to 1971, raga electric is a 7 piece distillation of some of henry’s most adventurous outsider musical endeavors. the record begins with a bonkers treatment of the jarhead anthem “the marine’s hymn” sung in a thick tongued, fully untutored hindustani vocalese. the title cut, ‘raga electric’, is a twisted, howling fake hindustani rag with staccato untuned guitar and bleating screams recorded at his home just a few short hours after catching pandit pran nath at a downtown morning concert. the howling orgasmic yodel of a visionary’s self-posession and certain surrender on this 1966 c ut puts henry somewhere at the epicenter of the folk isolationist world of jandek and the ethnodislocation of the sun city girls, to name but a few. the side long closer, ‘free alto’, is a monstrous exploration of the ins and outs of the tenor saxophone. though it remains henry’s single meeting with the instrument, over the course of some 13 odd minutes, he finds out everything he needs to know about the horn and gets into some pretty hairy free squelch and squeal territory in the process. ‘i was just pulling sounds out of a hat and just stringing them together,’ he recently told me. as hats go, this one should fit today’s heads just fine. 180 gram limited edition virgin vinyl, heavy whiteboard jacket.
chris forsyth has recently been touring around europe with his paranoid cat band in support of their excellent lp on family vineyard as well as playing with meg baird on her recent record and a continuing member of the peeesseye. koen holtkamp plays as part of thrill jockey’s mountains, as well as releasing solo material on aformentioned thrill jockey and type. on early astral forsyth and holtkamp team up, playing guitar and synthesizer and modular electronics respectively. the record consists to two tracks, each with a great kraut guitar groove, but frequently rocking into a blissed out epic psychedelic smog of wailing riffs and bubbling electronics tones. pressed on heavyweight black vinyl.
fuzzy underground album recorded back in 1978, and released as a private pressing of 500 copies… the band formed in baltimore, maryland by danny amburn, john holt, joe klimas, mark beyder and bob wells. their album, heavy at places, is full of fuzz-guitarwork with 60′s garage & british invasion influences and low-budget production (think of boa or shadrack chameleon albums) while a couple of songs have a wild and underground approach to rural rock. this album exists in a time warp. it’s from the midst of the first punk era, but sounds genuinely 60s garage the way no neo-garage band ever did. the fuzz guitars are everpresent, and the songs are pure garage pop and garage rock, rocking hard without ever sounding remotely “hard rock.” the sound is as cheap as can be, which only accentuates the coolness of the fuzz. despite some awkward singing, there are a lot of catchy melodies here, and i can imagine that baltimorians who discovered “nuggets” in the late 70s went nuts over this band. a few songs flirt with rural rock, but basically it’s teen-sounding angst, just as cool as their punk peers. – [am] taken from the acid archives. first ever official reissue, fully licenced by danny amburn and the band. exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra 4-pages laminated insert with bio, lyrics and photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual… limited edition of 400 (plus 100 on colored vinyl). great crude private press album!
al (david) payne, (johnny) scarr pacino, and tony (scott) johnson jam it out like true gang starrrz. recorded in september ’07. strum, hum and squeak… chalk board screech etched with bling bling, guns, drugs, and all things old skool unfuckablewith y’know? total weirderess. blue tapes, and fucking weird ass black and white cover star scarr pacino, totally murked on da booze in shotingham… limited to 50 copies, and dat’s dat.
epic analog dose of foreign drone rumble…
monster solo debut from ray hare of century plants and burnt hills. ranging from meditative guitar mantras to blissed out noise to hazy melodic riffage, and covering most of the points in between, this release has fast become a favorite here at tape drift headquarters. a very tight and driven set, this has the conceptual purity that only a debut can have, as it represents years and years of preparation and inspiration. get on the train early – there’s much more to come and you won’t want to have missed out on the beginnings. edition of 50.
limited edition of only 50 copies, a brand new slab of squelch and crush from canada’s fossils. duel sides of metal scrunching nightmares with fucked up words and speech. comes with sleeves designed by pascal of stuckometer and a handnumbered crubby insert by myself.
this is the first record from u.s. minstrel-folk chanteuse josephine foster on fire records. graphic as a star is based upon the poems of the 19th-century american poet emily dickinson. josephine lays stair-steppy melodies beneath a collection of dickinson gems and sings them with a burnished soulfulness like the purple sunsets so often described in the poems. massachusetts mountains, pearled spider-webs and folk hero william tell, are all present in this unforgettable meeting of dickinson’s poesy and foster’s music, making a natural and inevitable whole. ms. foster is a colorado-born artist whose songwriting draws from far corners of the musical spectrum to form a truly singular body of work. her voice is sometimes compared to singers as disparate as grace slick, shirley collins or tiny tim, and it’s certainly difficult to pigeonhole her varied music. she says her craft is strongly shaped by “tin pan alley on my maternal side, rock and roll on the paternal side, western folk music by birth, art-song and classical music via my adolescent passions.” a personal introduction to graphic as a star from josephine herself: “as to the source of these interludes, i wrote them this past winter while living in this remote, half-abandoned spanish mountain village, a deadly quiet place with occasional interruptions of goats’ bells, donkey brays, and the church bell announcing the passing of another old neighbor every day or so. i had just a few books with me, and one was the poetry of emily dickinson. her poems proved such good company, that in a few short weeks appeared this ‘song cycle.’ whether for the irony of distance and homesickness being 3 years away, or through inevitable kinship with this long-dead lady, these songs seem to veer more towards america than ever before. back in music school, i heard a few musical settings of dickinson made by classical composers, but it’s my hope to unite some of her poems into more intimate and intuitive musical settings, being so lyrical and transparent as they are.
previously released on cd by bo’ weavil recordings, now available on vinyl. this is colorado-based josephine foster’s (born heller, the supposed) debut release for bo weavil recordings, and her third full-length album. this coming gladness is transcendental fin de siecle songs from one of the great unsung voices and songwriters of our modern times. josephine foster unites rarely united royal realms: self-penned operatic art songs cast in freely-rendered blues with electric guitars and drums beating the path along with harp and piano flourishes. she has a voice that was trained for opera, but creaks like ancient mountain folk floating out from a dusty victrola. she surpasses any “weird-folk” labeling through the sheer timelessness of her songcraft — making baroque balladry sound new yet remembered from some not-too distant shared american past. joining her on this recording is electric guitarist victor herrero and drummer alex nielson… beautiful. limited vinyl in a nice full color textured cover. sure to vanish pretty quick.
after many years as half of the highly influential skaters with james ferraro, 2 solo albums on olde english spelling bee (black joker and monopoly child star searchers) and countless tapes and cds, spencer clark has taken it to the next level. layers of cosmic and alien sounds inhabit their own world and act as metaphors you can access subconsciously or explicitly. clearer and more lucid than previous releases of his, this is a singular record of inner space exploration that operates completely outside the retro kraut-new age-synth trend so prevalent right now. being more hi-fi than his past recordings, spencer says ‘i have made an alien space fusion music that is an aural symbol for the pre-birth outer space-self’s new arrival.’ in this new zone, spencer channels a more personal and spacious side of his vision, combining the rhythmic side of monopoly child with the abstractions of his vodka soap project. this marks the first lp release on clark’s pacific city sound visions label. it stands as his biggest statement yet and will surprise and please. a beautiful record. now it’s yours to explore.”-on location at hotel california, scott simmons… great new one, maybe spencer’s most realized yet. packaged in a 12”x12” full color 12 page book.
los angeles-based fraction’s heavy psych classic moon blood was originally released on the angelus record label in 1971. only 200 copies were pressed, so originals are currently worth a small fortune. fraction, with vocalist jim beach, bearing an uncanny vocal resemblance to jim morrison (although he was singing on sunset strip long before morrison took to the stage), were often compared favorably with the doors, although their quasi-religious message would probably not have found favor with the recently-departed morrison. indeed, this rather fine record was once famously described as the album the doors probably wished they’d made! underpinned by guitarist don swanson’s superb ritchie blackmore-style guitar work, this is an album full of beautiful psychedelia, acid and hard rock, at once emblematic of the era, but not dated by its association. the five original compositions are consistently of the highest quality and the contribution of beach’s now legendary vocals places a stamp of originality on the recording that endures from beginning to end. monstrously heavy, howling, epic psych that is basically a must-own. a truly excellent album. featuring the original die-cut cover with colored cellophane, and pressed on 180 gram vinyl… nice exact reissue of this heavy rarity.
another awesome one from these guys. this came out before the recent amazing ‘pau’ lp and charts the same sonic path. limited to 500 copies in a cool hand made multi-color spray-paint stenciled clear covers. recommended!
the fresh & onlys began in the spring of 2008 as a recording collaboration between tim cohen and shayde sartin. after a month of marathon recording sessions on various broken tape machines the two enlisted wymond miles, heidi alexander and grace cooper to help complete the sound. since then the band has recorded well over a hundred songs and played a hand full of shows on the west coast. “the group’s self-titled debut full-length album strikes a balance between the psych-fried blur of the california sun and an amp-crackling, four-chorded garage basher.” -chris sabbath (sf chronicl)… released on john dwyer’s (oh sees) castle face label.
when tim cohen told shayde sartin he was writing a song called “be my hooker,” the fresh & onlys bassist looked at the singer/guitarist and said… “‘there’s no way we’re gonna have a song with that title, dude,’” explains sartin. “but sure enough, he laid a riff down and i was like, ‘jesus christ, i can’t believe you pulled something meaningful out of such a stupid line.’” welcome to the push/pull dynamic that’s fueled the fresh & onlys’ steady stream of releases over the past year, including last spring’s self-titled lp (castle face) and this fall’s grey-eyed girls (woodsist). and to think it all started the old-fashioned way – with sartin and cohen simply hanging out after work, playing their favorite punk (buzzcocks, the mekons) and classic rock (country joe and the fish, cued up alongside slabs of psych from the group’s homebase, san francisco) records alongside a growing collection of empty beer cans. “i can’t really explain what happened or why,” says sartin. “i guess we listened to records until we were on the same page, and from that point on, we never stopped recording.” as simple as all of that sounds, the duo first bought a tape machine five years ago. when that failed to produce any concrete cuts, cohen focused on his previous avant-pop band, black fiction, and sartin split his time between session and live work for such bands as the skygreen leopards, papercuts and citay. not to mention his close friend kelley stoltz, who ended up releasing the first fresh & onlys 7″ (the limited imaginary friends ep) in early 2008. with so much music hitting shops in such a short time (sartin says the band already has boxes of backlogged tapes), you might think the fresh & onlys camp have a problem with quality control. quite the contrary; sartin and cohen are very careful about what they release. and while the duo writes and records the band’s songs, the arrangements are usually fleshed out with guitarist wymond miles, drummer kyle gibson, and backup singer heidi alexander. “if we take a song into the studio or a live setting and it doesn’t have wings,” says sartin, “then we just ditch it and keep the charming demo version.” the final mix of grey-eyed girls sounds like a natural bridge between the raucous garage rock of the group’s debut and the full-on studio record they plan on wrapping for in the red later this year. that goes for the galloping grooves of “happy to be living,” the shadowy post-punk of “invisible forces,” and the firework finale freak-outs that drive “the delusion of man.” not to mention a stack of hook-slinging tracks that nix any ‘clowning on bitches’ assumptions you may have. “we’re not trying to hide melodies or do the blown-out thing,” says sartin. “a lot of those bands are great, but i don’t want to ever cater to what’s popular. it’s not that i’m being reactionary; we’re just trying to make recordings that are as rich and ear-friendly as possible.” it’s working.
“second one to know” b|w “hated or loved.” recorded spring 2009.
both tracks taken from the super limited “bomb wombs” cassette on fuck it tapes. full color glue pocket sleeve. two of their best songs yet!
previously reissued on cd & lp by sunbeam, now issued yet again on deluxe double-lp format as well! vinyl mastering at abbey road studios, pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl. long established as a cult classic and collector’s grail, fresh maggots makes its vinyl reappearance with the duo’s full cooperation. recorded in 1971 when they were just 19 years old, and fresh to the studio, the album is one of the best distillations of folk and psychedelia ever recorded. issued as a double lp, with a lavish gatefold sleeve, its second disc boasts seven tracks previously unavailable on lp, including their rare non-album single and a live radio session from 1971. the package is rounded off with comprehensive sleevenotes and rare photographs, making this the most comprehensive collection of their music ever assembled on lp.
extended late-night improvisations of passed-out fuzz, coughing, sneezing and the occasional slow motion drone. line-up includes tom carter, shawn mcmillen, brian smith, sandy ewen, glen nuckolls, stephanie demopolus and jonathan home. edition of 100.
one sided lp of looped/ live collage action swirled up into mass gtr/ drum ritual terror. far darker than previous fg stuff…. blank lp side is a blood-red silkscreen. shipped in clear polyvinyl sleeves.
ghost town is the first full-length solo release from parts & labor singer/electrician dan friel. characterized by its anthemic melodies, complex electronic arrangements and huge distorted beats, ghost town has massive universal appeal. “music-box melody shoved through the speaker cone of a subwoofer salvaged from the trunk of a totaled jeep” – pitchfork. the first 100 records shipped will be on red vinyl… all copies here are the limited to 100 red vinyl version.
if any one group can legitimately qualify as the ‘great lost psychedelic band’, then frumious bandersnatch are that group. the few tantalizing glimpses of the combo afforded by their sole release from the 1960s have engendered an enormous reputation. the subsequent fortunes of its members in groups like journey and the steve miller band have only added to the phenomenon. frumious bandersnatch were amongst the second wave of the 1960s san francisco rock renaissance, but they had no allegiance to folk or jazz or any of the other influences that shaped the major players such as the dead or the airplane. instead the group came together in the culturally-arid environs of contra costa county in the east bay, over the hill from politicized berkeley and working-class oakland, and a world away from cosmopolitan san francisco itself – key document of this great overlooked west coast psych band. extensive notes. 180gm vinyl. the cover is a blown up version of the great art from their sole 1960s release, their mega rare private press 7inch.
official reissue for this obscurity of british progressive folk, licenced by tony durant. with an unusual and unique line-up -a male typical rock trio with a female classical strings trio- fuchsia made this gem in the late 1971. moving more on the rockier side of the 70′s progressive scene than on its folk one, the band created a completely original sound with complex arrangements and “multi-rhythmic” patterns, excellent musicianship, charming melodies and lot of adventurous musical ideas. the extra single contains two tracks: “ragtime brahms” is an unreleased –on vinyl- recording from 1972 made by the original line-up and used as a demo for the band to secure a new recording deal (which never came real). “the waves” recorded in 2010 and it’s the precursor of a new album which will be “out” soon by tony durant and the revamped fuchsia band. this song really follows the spirit of 1971!!! limited to 200 black and 100 coloured copies. high quality special carton used for the cover (almost same to the original). includes 4-pages laminated insert with lyrics, bio and photos. yet, a 7″ single (with laminated 4-pages picture sleeve) is included with one previously unreleased -on vinyl- song and a brand new recording. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outersleeve.
“allegory of the cave” is the first release of this young lad from the midwest and it is pretty stunning in its minimalist appeal.. layering piano and organ in long icy runs, rob adds in bells and light percussion to create a shimmering ambient piece over 35 minutes long. for fans of eno, tim hecker, and, of course, other fine phantom limb recordings.
everyone in bloomington knows and loves rob funkhouser. he’s everybody’s favorite hawaiian-shirt wearing party-attending, philosophy-spewing college student. most people haven’t heard his music yet though. rob is an incredible percussionist and composer and this tape showcases both of these talents. side a is an epic synth-based piece that could easily be the new soundtrack to chasing replicants through future los angeles. side b is a haunting marimba composition recorded in an empty high school gymnasium. both sides show that rob is extremely talented and is deserving of much more recognition. just released a cdr on ruralfaune.
another amazing release from tara burke!
a previous member of the band un, tara burke {aka: fursaxa} is now one of the epicenters and key collaborators of the north american free-folk movement, along with such luminaries as jack rose, charalambides, ben chasny and the jewelled antler collective. with her hypnotic, echoey church bell chanting, burke possesses a power-filled vocal sound that harkens back not only to those other polar queens of disaffected freakout psychedelia nico and barbara manning, but she is also akin to and inspired by hildegard von bingen, the 12th century benedictine mystical abbess. with the low drone of chord organ and farfisa, detuned ringing guitar, and endlessly looped, multiply-tracked vocals applied with heaps of delay, fursaxa sounds like a tripped-out medievalist perched upon a poppy petal. burke has an alchemical knack for turning folk into lo-fi, and then into sheer psych and back again, but more importantly, her music is pure humming narcosis… always a treat to have more fursaxa vinyl in the world! recommended!
fursaxa is tara burke. formerly a member of the siltbreeze band un, tara started her fursaxa project in 1999 after un disbanded. since then fursaxa has released six full length albums on the acid mothers temple label, ecstatic peace, time lag, eclipse, last visible dog, and atp. in addition there have been 3 self released cd-rs and a cd on her own sylph recordings. in the summer of 2008 fursaxa started recording her seventh full length record mycorrhizae realm at hexham head studio in philadelphia. this studio recording is a first, as all of the previous releases have been recorded at home on a four track. in addition to recording, fursaxa has played live music at venues in the us, uk, and europe, touring with bardo pond, black forest/black sea, christina carter, jack rose, spires that in the sunset rise, and brightblack morning light to name a few. over the last couple of years fursaxa has been collaborating more and more with other musicians as well. espers member helena espvall and tara have a duo called anahita, and sharron kraus and tara have the duo tau emerald. and in september of 2006 fursaxa became part of the valerie project, which was a live soundtrack for the 1970 czech film valerie and her week of wonders. tara really enjoyed playing with these musicians and decided to engage greg weeks, mary lattimore, and helena espvall, all fellow valerians, for her next album. greg recorded the album at his studio, mary played harp on 4 songs and also co-wrote 2 of the songs, and helena played cello on 3 songs. it is an exercise in symbiosis… limited vinyl version. awesome.
the transmutation of el din and jansch into the boiling earth waves of ogdoad. the light shines on the other side of the spectrum. no raga. 70 copies.
an angelic force, delivering a unique thrash-bliss sound to the world. sparkeling synths and homemade glitter electronics are combined with whirlwind drums, screaming vocals, and aluminum spring guitars. a fantasy of blindness cycling through your lungs… members of foot village, rose for bohdan, and many other bands. edition of 300 on black vinyl with minimalist cover… out of print.
21st century harry pussy scuzz… nice imvated style fucked-up packaging.
if you liked the 12″ ep and lp by these sacramento weird-poppers, then you’ll love this, their first non-split 7″. two equally amazing tracks, and in our opinion, two of their best.
sacramento’s ganglians want an island somewhere where they can soak in the sun and prowl the canopy by night. it’s not often that they do get out, but they can get down for that. recording sometimes as one, sometimes as four it’s a real game to figure out where the entity comes from and where it’s going. first and foremost it’s about uncertain pleasures. it’s a bit like choose your own adventure. there’s ‘codeine balladry’; a slightly upsetting tempo that is quickly flushed into an aural high, the next moment you’re in the toy strewn abyss of the bedroom and then out to the tribal caves of the natives. the planets align and the sun beats down, palms tingling, and you are on the island they’ve built, the scenery constantly shifting for a better view, of you.
new garbage from the young musical genious ryan garbes (perhaps best known for his drum and percussion contributions to raccoo-oo-oon). side a revels in redlined blown out drumming, finding eventual accompaniment from a drunken slide guitar fury, resulting in what can be properly described as the fucked blues. side b brings together the holy trinity of drums, guitar and more guitar into a kind of distorted raga with each element taking turns, trading fours, evoking an eternity of summer fun in the mouth of inevitable oblivion. sleeve and label screenprinted by ryan… long out of print! last 2 copies
previously issued as a download only release via the night people website, home of many if ryan’s physical releases, this superb recording of fragmented blown out percussion, loose guitar ragers and feedback frenzied weaved with church organ, it’s gotta be said that ryan garbes has got some wild and weird shit going on what was one of my highlights of, well i can’t remember when it first appeared on the np site, maybe 2007 or 2008? get ready to have you mind squelched by this former member of raccoo-oo-oon and current jammer with shawn reed in wet hair. issued in an edition of only 100 copies with paste on covers and insert, stamped labels and pressed on heavyweight black virgin vinyl.
sweet hassle is the debut lp from ryan garbes (wet hair, raccoo-oo-oon), fresh from his 7-inch on arbor and his cassette on nna. a man in a small college town hours away from the influences that foul a musician’s mind, garbes has a lot of time to hang, especially in the recording studio. on sweet hassle, he incorporates heavy velvets live bootleg vibes straight from the bedroom soundboard, with a touch of melodic electronic drone and a byrds dusting. “… as if lou reed had done a record for creation…” – raven sings the blues. limited edition of 500 copies.
ryan garbes is the drummer of iowa city bands such as wet hair, dunebuggy, trash dog, and formerly raccoo-oo-oon. his recordings under his own name represent a unique brand of solo multi-track recording with a seamless integrity; through a skillful use of instrumentation and recording technique, garbes eschews notions of low fidelity for songs reminiscent of traditional american garage rock produced in the haze of an early 90’s uk aesthetic. genuine pop songs, cloaked in a comforting wash of reverb, as if lou reed had done a record for creation; more ecstatic than obstructed garbes’ voice is a refreshing one outside the continuum of the contemporary four-track bedroom pop. in an edition of 300 copies with full color sleeve and printed labels by ryan.
real sweet new solo release from b.r. garm of visitations, attar cups, am frank, etc. if yr ears were bent by his ’acid skull’ cdr on time-lag a couple years back you’ll find a lot more to love here. maybe a bit more hi-fi this time around, but still whole heartedly home-fi, and just as full of crude, simple, and half cracked stream of consciousness song gush. totally damaged fuzz soaked folk tales of animals, strangers, love, new england, deep thoughts, demons, diseases, paranoia and just about everything else. nice fold around b&w vellum packaging, with insert & printed disc tops. on big blood’s micro label. recommended.
here it is our first vinyl release. br. garm is a member of visitations and founder and owner of our local universe “strange maine”. “the 78thmorning tide” is truly a fantastical listen that is simultaneously foreboding and inviting. side a opens with the title track and is a complete psychedelic journey unto itself, followed by a lady losing her mind and smokin’ on rainbows, a face off with jesus and the devil, a tale of windham maine, a bombed out apocalyptic country song and a fuzzed out doomy cover of gordon lightfoot’s “wreck of the edmund fitzgerald”. side b begins with “can you feel it” which sounds like a loners take on damo era can. followed rapidly by a duo of songs that cover the apocalypse and getting stoned, a song that sounds as if black sabbath never made it out of the bedroom, a sort of childs prayer called “so many men” (which we got to play on!), a deceivingly dark folk song called “pretty red pony”, and finally a truly haunting and beautiful song called “at the end of the world”. locked grooves end both sides! this whole record is a complete joy to listen too, infectious and hard to get off the record player. one of our all time favorites! this is garm’s second release on dttr (other releases can be found on mangedisc, and time-lag). cover artwork by hillary irons, printed on thick old style jackets, accompanied by a pamphlet with lyrics and chords for those who want to play along. limited to 500 copies… great first vinyl release on big blood’s rad micro label. nice!
one copy only.
an earwig’s guide to traveling is a new cd collection of previously out-of-print and unreleased material by the southern california band gasp. gasp used elements of grindcore, power violence, psych, ambient noise, tape manipulations and down-tuned sludge to create a sound that will never be duplicated. they released records on some of the most influential punk and hardcore labels of the past decade, including slap a ham, witching hour, clean plate and deep six. this cd includes all of the songs from gasp’s split records as well as tracks from compilations and demos. as a bonus the cd features the first chance to hear the four songs from gasp’s unreleased “lepidostomatid” ep. 25 tracks in total.
this is the sounds of summer honesty and partnership, when biking across the city to sit in a poorly ventilated room to compare 1/4 reels is not such a clamorous premise. when the timing is right we can be very productive. these are primarily live to tape jams replete with found recordings, lousy keyboard lines, unearthed cut-up and cartoon bellowing set to delay hyper-warp speed. we don’t get along very well when it comes to making music like this. jacob has entitlement issues that have to be resolved, and so our deplorable attitudes towards each other’s approaches are resolved in a round of sonic posturing from beyond the grave. sounds a lot like penis envy, if penis envy was a flanger – comes in sloppy marbled watchshmacallit folding over another doohicky tied together with a piece of twine.
new full-length outing from torontosaurs gastric female reflex. exposing their vulnerable underbellies by offering the gift of song, as transmitted through the cackle of thirty meter bronze age jump ropes, and then swatted with limitless spools of tape culled from businessmen’s faculty tape recorders – very limited pressing in totally insane heavy marbled/screenprinted cover.
with gazheart, celebrated visual artist rita ackermann (voice) & the no neck blues band’s dave nuss (found percussion) created a playful spontaneous sound that seemingly bridged the gap between the broken pop sounds of certain strains of the no wave movement, sound poetry and catchy, otherworldly art folk using the barest of resources available to them. one time pressing of this special edition one-sided lp features an original etching by visual artist rita ackermann on the flip side. gazheart is housed in a plain jacket with two opposing drawings for front & back by ackermann.
hartmut geerken is an incredible and misterious writer, filmaker, musician, composer and big traveller coming from the south of germany. his musical work is unfortunately not well-known by the mosts: during the last 40 years he was working stablely with famodou don moye, art ensemble of chicago, john tchicai and many others, and in 1971 he invited sun ra and the arkestra in egypt, where hartmut was living at the time, being also the founder of the cairo free jazz ensemble. on this live recording from 1989, he’s performing on prepared piano and short waves receiver, with the collaboration of grace yoon dancing and playing percussions. “mappa” was a series of long performances (lasting usually around 4 hours each) the duo was acting on those years, and “mappa #9″ is the first released witness of this experience. the sound is a burning and explosive vortex of fire, without a single moment of breath. one-sided pink vinyl (some are sprayed!) unique pieces ltd edition of 117 numbered copies.
florian tositti and jacob garret’s ghost brames brings a handful of magic mushrooms to the party. it is woozy music, as patterned as an acid high. simultaneously breaking apart and sewing itself back together again, “eagle arpegi” encapsulates the infinitism of the universe. slowly, the leviathan raises its head and sinks in its teeth, without alarming its prey. this is the true measure of great music. your blood will boil and your skull crack at its base, but in the end you’re better for it. because really, how can you actually free your mind when it’s trapped inside a bony prison?
debut release. dark ambient folk noise that hovers between awake and asleep. echoes sift up from the floor boards, voices delay in a dream… packaged in a fabric bag.
this is ghost hand’s second release, features seven compositions ranging from harsh walls of noise to shimmering acoustics. edition of 25 in handmade frosted mylar slipcases with screenprinted insert.
released 27.11.2006, limited edition of 61 copies in handpainted sleeves, features an insert, sold out… ghosts brâmes of the cerf are jacob garet and florian tositti and they play theremin, oldcrock, guitars, harmonica, effects, percussions, flutes – songs are played and recorded during different live sessions, july and august 2006 in france.
is the duo of the reggaee and jacob the “magick skull of noise” master : intricated jams for the sabbath ; praise the beast – future releases on the magnificientfoxglove and 267 lattajjaa labels… limited to 49 copies!
we will go ahead and say it now – we are lucky enough to be able to release ghq’s strongest collection of studio material to date. “crystal healing” is a massive collection of the band’s unique and mesmerizing brand of acoustic drone goodness. get ready to have your socks knocked off. like all of our other recent vinyl projects, this record has been wonderfully mastered and pressed onto some super-sweet sounding rti 180g vinyl. the record will be housed within hand-numbered heavy stock “old style” one-pocket gatefold sleeves and come from an edition of 855 copies. the jacket itself features some stunning new artwork by michael pare. “crystal healing” was be our second vinyl release to feature a special pressed cd (not a cd-r) of exclusive additional material accompanying all pre-ordered copies. the numbered edition of 212 bonus cds that accompanied pre-order copies of the lp contained two exclusive tracks (titled “pyramid merchandise” and “blue silence”, both from the “crystal healing” sessions) are out of print and no longer available direct from three lobed… another lifted slab from the burning trio of marcia bassett, pete nolan & steve gunn. very sweet and really done right production wise.
released 15 august, 2006. following on the heels of their fantastic 2006 release cosmology of the eye, ghq and three lobed recordings are proud to release the aptly titled heavy elements. culled together from a live performance in brooklyn (january 2006), the trio continues to explore the intricacies of electric/acoustic drones and ragas in what is their most intense set of recordings to date. for this recording the band consisted of marcia bassett (double leopards, hototogisu, zaimph), steve gunn and pete nolan (magik markers, spectre folk, the vanishing voice, etc). heavy elements churns with the deeply layered drones that marked previous ghq releases. while these sounds are present, this album differentiates itself from the band’s prior outings through the addition of nearly-tribal drums and a more intense overall aural atmosphere. this is music that, while blissfully transcendent and beautiful, is not for the faint of heart. from a one-time pressing of 1000 copies.
this brooklyn all-star duo of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika) and steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner) have been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there’s definitely enough noise to remind you this ain’t just about good vibes. black 7″ vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
limited edition of 300 copies in a heavy stock screen printed jacket. a zamuro is a dark south american vulture of great size. zamuro is also a solo composition piece for portable synth and analog filter. side a on this lp is a live realization of this piece recorded at the compound in san francisco in 2006 (mastered by lasse marhaug). carlos composed and performed this piece live on several tours in the us/europe/japan all trough out 2006 and 2007, if you saw him live in those two years this is the piece he performed. this was the most complete version of it that made it to tape. side b is a studio piece recorded live on a much larger modular synth, based around the same theme, but with structural and tonal variations not in the original composition. .this is pure psychedelic electronic music. cover illustration by megan ellis. screen printed at monoroid.
one copy only.
four-song 7″ by marianne nowottny & donna. 33 rpm ep pressed on cherry pink vinyl, limited edition 500.
now 3 tapes in the duo of glass organ continues on from previous efforts creating a sound their own. crackling prisms of guitar drone flow forward, carried by minimal tape loops and a penchant for abrupt editing. dreamy and dreary at the same time. these tracks were both caught live in the fall of 2006. color cover on white gold cardstock, individualized clear color labels. hi-bias chrome tapes in an edition of 130.
the sky done clouded over after glory fckn sun’s debut album, yielding this brooding and corrosive follow-up. the new zealand sorta-super group of antony milton , ben spiers, and simon o’rorke concoct a slow-burning behemoth of metallic shivers and distortion churn, dark enough to invoke the dread name haino. spectra is an unsettling mind-meld: spiers desolate soundscapes bleed into milton’s heavy drones, which are complemented perfectly by o’rorke’s restless percussion. group improvisation is the natural language of these three; even listing their solo and collaborative albums over the past decade would take way more effort than i can muster. suffice to say this is a stellar and unique record to add to their massive discographies. in an edition of 300 red 160 gm. vinyl records, housed in silk-screened, heavy-gauge recycled stock jackets.
throw mutations-era beck, the monkees, and gram parsons into a blender and you would get something roughly equivalent to tucson, az’s the golden boots. this is a double ep 12″ that is comprised of coyote deathbed surprize tour-only ep, and the ev ep, which was originally intended to be released on the trust series. when i received those tracks, i couldn’t, in good conscience, allow there to be only 25 copies. i feel that way with a lot of the lathe cuts i release, but this one was just too good! so here it is… deluxe, expanded release of ev/cds + cassette. because of the foul-up at the pressing plant during the initial run, we never got any of the “swirl” vinyl that i really wanted for this release. so, i ordered an additional 250 on pink and orange vinyl. and they look great! unfortunately, i had already cleaned off the screens for the covers before i knew i would need more. dmitri from golden boots suggested doing an alternate cover and including a new cassette as part of the packaging. and thus, ev/cds/tf was born!
raucous, whiskey-drenched austin, tx, psych-country demigods.the golden boys’, who formed in spring branch, tx, in 2003, “set the summer on fire,” according to the austin chronicle, with the release of their july ’07 lp “whiskey flower,” and garnered mentions on “best of…” lists from the omaha, neb., city weekly to the new york city-based matador records. most recently, the boys were featured on the cover of the austin chronicle with fellow austinites the strange boys. the golden boys are comprised of matt hoopengardner (formerly of the san antonio garage-rock heroes the white heat), lead vocals and guitar; wes coleman, lead vocals and guitar; bryan schmitz, vocals and bass; nathan arbeitman, organ and trumpet; and pat troxel, drums.
document of 2 of l.a.’s more esoteric basement metal crews. gbe is a one-note highway to hell, with eagle rock expat nels cline stepping in to rip an absurd guitar solo. sasqrotch go for a scummier and rawer approach, amp haze, low-end lurking, and hairy drums. hand-numbered edition of 400.
gown (aka andrew macgregor and otherwise known as one-half of the bark haze with thurston moore) moved from western wassachusetts to nova scotia in mid-2007. before he moved, he wanted to have one big audio blow-out to remember the grand old mass times. with that goal in mind, gown went into the studio with the sunburned hand of the man gang (represented this time out by john moloney, sarah o’shea, ron schneiderman and taylor richardson) to melt some audio consoles. for the maples represents a portion of that recorded output and believe us, it’s some massive stuff. sunburned’s thick funk presents the perfect background for gown’s shredding guitar-play. extremely hot stuff, especially the massive side-long “bending close.” as per the three lobed standard, for the maples is pressed on 180g rti vinyl. it is housed within silkscreened jackets (screen work by alan sherry / siwa) bearing new artwork by gown. the record is from an edition of 698 copies and, and as an added convenience for our vinyl friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered cd (not cd-r) of the material present on the wax. pre-ordered copies were accompanied by a bonus cd (tlr-059) of previously unreleased gown material… all our copies include the very limited bonus cd.
gown is gown is gown. we love it. 3 tracks of earthquake balladeering. packaged in a double sided 11×17 3-color poster folded to hold the gown sounds in mothering fashion. darryl norsen has created something both lush and arresting in his art for this release, ideal and deserving housing for this magisterial music. the guitar doesn’t weep, it sobs. edition of 130.
new 3 track 26 minute cdr from andrew macgregor. really incredible free psychedelic guitar strummz with vocal howls weaved in and out. andrew is also of the bark haze with thurston moore and occasional collaborator with christina carter of charalambides, so you know he’s got the goods if you ain’t checked him yet! limited to 80 copies with artwork by andrew, packaged in mini dvd cases.
ritualistic psychfolk drone – another unknown name and another winner from the eclectic 267 lattajjaa label: this opens with soporific layers of blissed-out folk – minor-key guitar arpeggios and murmurred vocals, then deviates into a more ritualistic sound of pounding percussion with psych-guitar trying to tunnel its way through the smothering thunder. the last track delves deeper into abstract noise: guitar-based drone / repeptition and vaguely industrial clunking. – boa melody bar.
this lp features members of the skaters, jewelled antler collective and davenport, all kicking up dust in a rickety old barn. a spontaneous happening, the few hazy nights leading up to pasturefest 2004 may not be easily recalled, but the christening sounds, emanating from a ramshackle farm in the vales of southeast wisconsin, are imprinted here on this unassuming lp. featuring an alternate b-side jam (of music pulled from the same session) not found on the cassette version. otherworldly and just down right cosmic! … very limited vinyl in inside-out recycled old lp covers, with screen printed art.
the second ep (previous self-titled 12-inch on make a mess) from this san francisco based all-female power-trio. the captured tracks guys can’t stop gushing about this band. killer harmonies, move meets neo boys meets jesse garon and the desperados songwriting. about to have a feature on pitchfork, put your order in before the mania starts. no joke. co-released with cape shok records.
two new tracks of brutal synth minimalism from jonas asher, the man behind grasslung and also the excellent phaserprone. this release finds him operating under a tense, fearful, and lonely sound environment, a trait hinted at on older releases, but i feel realized to an even fuller extent here. this is his first work off his own label, and the packaging was something that i felt was very important for this release in particular, given the peerless visual aesthetic the artist has already set forth; obis, letterpressing, diecuts, etc. all packaging is offset printed in silver ink, on metallic black cardstock. there is an obi, with 3 asymmetric cut outs done by hand, as well as a 2-panel j-card with more curved edges. labels are blank silver, and each copy comes with a blackened nail. edition of 100 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
new project from half of quilts and sleeping babies. tape-looped gutter-dub and psychedelic electronics.
it was important we get this out in the heart of summer because “whiskey leaves” its familiar melodies and breezy instrumentation are the perfect accompaniment to your hot, humid nights. the duo of aiko koa and anthony guerra first made their presence known on a micro-edition cdr from new zealand’s pseudoarcana. “whiskey leaves,” though, is a different beast entirely. while on the surface these compositions feel simple, once you dig a little deeper you realize the care put into each song. this is intimate music. guerra sets the pace with layers of makeshift percussion and guitar. koga also plays ukelele, but it’s her voice that is the real focal point of the album. soft and restrained, even when you can’t understand her words (some of the lyrics are in japanese), you are hooked from the get-go. hours later, you find yourself humming her melodies whilte her ghostly incantations are stuck in the back of your mind. this is fractured pop perfection. “whiskey leaves” will be a welcome addition to fans of tujiko noriko, tenniscoats and the like. beautiful. limited to 500 copies.
ultra rainbow is a sonic drift of buzz, drones and melancholy provided by green mine, the newest project of emanuele bortoluzzi (aka kabu former of ent). the sound shift from ambient pulsations to harsh landscapes of amplified murmur by the amazing “green” omnichord… in fact the sound source is only that cheap electronic instrument filtered and delayed and gently layered by emanuele in his home/bedroom/studio colle666. each track grows from a static point of departure until his climax is determined, no matter when it comes, after you gain that point all is a remember and every track (or song if you prefer) has the ability to cull the listener until the end of the last buzz. this way of hypnotism is the secret of ultra rainbow, so we have only to let us mesmerize by this perfect flow. the art work was drawed and curated by green mine himself… limited to 74 copies.
the new generation of the finnish electronica, the first official release from this 11-years old wonderkid who is also a member of lamppukello. artwork by the artist.
nick grey and his random orchestra return with what, in recording terms, is the prequel to their critically acclaimed and julian cope endorsed “thieves among thorns” album from 2006. clocking-in at just over 40 minutes, the five-track “candlelight eyes ep” showcases the signature heartbreaking and brooding melancholy of its aforementioned sister-album, and at times incorporates intimate chamber folk arrangements, all of which draw more from the musical heritage of the mid-1970′s german electronic underground, that inspired bowie’s berlin trilogy, than the pastoral musings of 1970′s psychedelic folk. “the candlelight eyes ep” features cover-art by scapegott, is packaged in jewel cases and limited to 200 copies.
over 23 minutes of fresh music by nick grey and english guitarist nicholas davis. les eaux territoriales is the first volume of nick’s mini-series unclear perspectives : each volume of the series will be centered around one or several specific instruments and will revolve around its own original musical axis and its own set of collaborators. all copies are hand-made, numbered and each one features a slightly different inlay. nick grey is a member of the collective 48 cameras, (which have collaborated with prestigious artists such as charlemagne palestine, gerard malanga, michael gira or paul buck), and his other projects include a new full length album (out on hand/eye early 2006) and an ep. nicholas davis is a talented improv guitarist from the uk, and nick’s full-time collaborator – very nice elaborate totally handmade packaging, including a small peice of glass mirror! very limited first release on this new label.
following the in gowan ring 10″ here is the second release in the time is a spiral 10″ series, which is enitirely dedicated to recordings made by, at and for the highly regarded radio show dwars@vpro. larkin grimm, who beyond doubt is one of the most intriguing and talented exponents of the contemporary folk-boom, entered the vpro studio in 2006 to record this extremely intense session. this 10″ captures the very soul of larkin grimm at its purest. truly wonderful and very unique! tracks: ‘entrance’, ‘future friend’, ‘little weeper’, ‘don’t come down darkness’, ‘bollweevil’… very limited, heavy vinyl, nice covers, etc.
horn of plenty is a nostalgic amalgamation of found sounds and layered vocals bound to thrill followers of animal collective, sufjan stevens, nick drake and the unicorns. while the album pushes the boundaries of mellow into undiscovered territory, grizzly bear is not sure if they fall under the newly coined “freak-folk” category or hte new-folk genre, but they’d like to offer up wood-temp or cave-core. v magazine likened them to neil young on cough syrup. for the first time, the full horn of plenty album is available on vinyl. 180gm pressing w/printed inner sleeve. limited 1,000 pressing.
sublime frequencies is honored to be releasing the third lp by the now legendary group doueh. group doueh have been playing in and around their native dakhla, in the western sahara for over 27 years. sublime frequencies’ discovery of the group, via a song heard on a radio broadcast in morocco in 2005 and an exploratory mission in 2006 that landed hisham mayet in the group’s compound after chasing an overland trail all the way to the mauritanian border sealed the band’s relationship with the label. a successful european tour (with label-mate omar souleyman in 2009) ensued and western audiences were finally able to witness the power of the group’s mighty live shows. doueh’s guitar heroics and wife halima jakani and bashiri touballi’s soaring vocal interplay entranced all who were present. this lp showcases a different side to group doueh’s far-reaching arsenal of sounds. the songs represented on this album adhere to the roots of saharoui music — drawing from the classical repertoire of ancestral mauritanian musical modes. using the traditional moorish instruments such as the tinidit (three string mauritanian lute), ardin (kora-like harp played traditionally by women), tbal (clay drum) and the kass (tea glasses) along with guitar and korg synth, group doueh manage to attain heights of spiritual poetry that this music aspires to convey. halima’s ardin playing and most importantly, her vocal prowess, take this music to blissful and exalted realms. doueh’s tinidit and guitar overlays showcase the technical virtuosity and command that this master has over the region’s stringed instruments. this is the music of group doueh’s roots and the band truly takes these traditions to cosmic heights. recorded by group doueh and hisham mayet on location in dakhla, west sahara in 2010. this limited edition vinyl lp comes in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket… recommended!
self-released second vinyl pressing of the split by inca ore and grouper. initially self-released on tape in 2007. this version has new black and white artwork. though it’s a proper split, each side resonates strongly with the other–hissing and dream-sick, songs whispered in the dark. inca ore’s side is feverish and haunted, much of it recorded while on a somewhat nightmarish journey taken through mexico several years ago. grouper’s side is distorted and pitch-twisted wurlitzer and guitar songs, recorded during a rain heavy winter, about unexplainable disappearances, invisible structures.
its not that the 1st track just sounds like cavemen summoning spaceships from the sky, the gryn brvs (pronounced groyne brothers) actually were trying to do just that. recorded round a campfire on a hill in ireland one night, the duo sweated out minimal chops, absolute ‘less is more’ jams of strumming and catatonic tinkling, sauced up with electronic drones. we also get a live basement jam and sweet closer that whiffs of atlantis. now put your arms up, and your brow down.
restock… this record showcases two very talented musicians in their prime. steve’s side clearly displays his guitar wizardry, while remaining honest and heartfelt. after several years with ghq, steve has sharpened his skills and it really shows. if you’ve had the pleasure of seeing him perform live, you know exactly what i mean. shawn’s recent collaborations with warmer milks seep through on his side of the album. bleaker and darker than steve’s side, shawn tells his tale through guitar, piano, synth and tape manipulation. it’s completely engrossing. with it’s many crooked bends and turns, it will lead you to a sort of discomforting fulfillment that gets more intense with each listen. edition of 500 on black vinyl in a pro-printed jacket with full color artwork by mary kidd.
steve gunn’s prodigous talent for fusing traditional american song structures with a raga influence is almost criminally unheralded. gunn’s songcraft is so strong and his playing style so effortlessly beautiful that folks should be shouting his name from every tall building and mountaintop. it is with such high esteem for the man’s work that three lobed recordings is humbled by the association and thrilled to announce the release of boerum palace by steve gunn. without any doubt, boerum palace is a staggering accomplishment and is certainly gunn’s most assured and confident work to date. native philadelphian gunn has been a stalwart of the american experimental scene for closing in on a decade. he is known by many for his contributions as one half of the core duo behind ghq (with marcia bassett) as well as for his many other affiliations with underground luminaries such as tom carter, the magik markers and marc orleans. gunn has slowly cultivated his own solo work alongside his other obligations and involvements. after a few early cdr and cassette releases under the moniker “moongang,” gunn gravitated towards performing and releasing music in his own name, culminating in the exceptional sundowner (digitalis industries, 2008). sundowner was, to that point, the most potent burst of gunn’s songwriting abilities and remarkable playing abilities. following sundowner, gunn bunkered down to further hone his songwriting and boerum palace represents the overwhelming products of that effort. boerum palace represents steve gunn’s first full-length release on vinyl and second album. the album starts off with a headlong rush into the hypnotic “mr. franklin” (a downloadable mp3 of which can be found here). gunn’s fluid playing style, especially as portrayed withing this track, provides ample space for the development of infectious musical themes. the track ends in a dextrous duel between gunn’s guitar and guest marc orleans’ (of d. charles speer & the helix, sunburned hand of the man) vicious pedal steel. the album mixes gunn’s long-form blues / raga / psych explorations alongside briefer cuts that equally display his songcraft. these tracks, such as “variation ii” and “jadin’s dream,” demonstrate that gunn is equally confident with shorter or longer compositions. gunn’s voice is joined by an ethereal turn from the vanishing voice’s heidi diehl on the album’s central and haunting “house of knowledge.” the track opens with a building central guitar theme. this theme allows gunn to layer on further guitar explorations. the tone set by these musical themes builds into the duo’s vocal delivery that delivers volumes despite being uttered in gentle tones. other highlights include “cryin’ eyes,” an inspired reworking of j.j. cale’s “crying eyes” featuring backing instrumentation from marc orleans, and the richly textured album finale “mustapha’s exit.” boerum palace is pressed on 180g rti vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton sleeve bearing new original artwork from mike pare and some of gunn’s photography. the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for high quality drm-free mp3s of the album. boerum palace is from a one-time pressing of 823 copies… all copies here are accompanied by a glass-mastered cd titled too early for the hammer (tlr-074) presenting new, scarce and previously unheard gunn material that is not available separately… recommended!
three lobed recordings is extremely excited to be releasing sand city, a blistering new collection of original compositions from steve gunn and john truscinski, otherwise known as the gunn-truscinski duo. steve gunn is one of the most exciting american guitarists working today. his solo discography, as well as his work with ghq, should be well known to folks who have followed three lobed recordings over the past several years. percussionist john truscinski is a stalwart of the american underground in his own right through his dedicated work in x.o.4 (with bill nace and jake meginsky), slaughterhouse percussion, as well as with ghq (as last seen on the outfit’s everywhere at once from the oscillation iii series). sand city is an extremely mature and thoughtfully-crafted album that conjures some of the most potent moments of both fantasias-era sandy bull and the more guitar-centric sun city girls albums while firmly charting its own raga-based territory. it is an exceptionally strong collection that should leave listeners rapt for years to come. hand-numbered edition of 624… awesome album! recommended.
odd colored carpet of bizarre 3d fields dominate the bright and lurid psychedelic forests you’ll have to run thru to grab a mug a brew at the end of the trip! hop on the back of a giant pink elephant and let go, eventually follow his tiny dick-like tail if u are too small to climb up this pink turt in space! but do give it a try and check out what’s left? thats right: nothing! just a puddle of restless throbbing poop in different colours. the elephant turns out to be a puddle as well and the sounds you’re hearing are all on the most psychedelic hair police lp so far! this is definitely way different then any of their other recordings, way more high bliss, blown out delayed voice and hardly any harshness. originally recorded as a hair police radio special for radio centraal in antwerp! thick black and neon blue eye destructive cover design and a psychic laser etch on the b-side of this 180 grams wax!
wolf eyes / burning star core team-up.
exact reissue of this totally obscure late 60s dutch beat psych album. two covers from the hair musical, but beyond that its all fuzzy psych go-go beat action. nice, cheap, and very limited.
hall of fame is back with three atonal campfire songs. dan and samara split the vocal duties on their first pop outing. this single reveals a more song-based side to the band. whatever it lacks in drone, it provides with rock and hook. the two color screen-printed jackets were done by wiggly printing (brooklyn, ny) edition of 500 – long out of print & very sweet.
unknown to most ’60s/’70s collectors until its discovery a few years ago, this is the beyond rare second album released by loner/downer folk legend dave bixby, recorded around 1969, the same year as his first one, the now-famous ode to quetzalcoatl. musically, second coming is equally as good and very similar to the first one, but this time the recording took place in a professional studio, so the sound is improved. bixby is joined by brian macinness on guitar, sandy johnson on vocals and don degraaf on bass and production duties. don was in fact leader of the, in the end, destructive religious cult known as “the group” or “the movement,” of which bixby and brian were part of. the sound is more up-front and the songs are slightly optimistic compared to the ones on ode to quetzalcoatl, and there’s plenty of acoustic 12-string raga guitars and harmony male/female vocals. the lyrics deal with cosmic imagery, psychedelics and religious/biblical references, but this goes much deeper than any xian record you’ve ever heard — titles such as “cosmic energy,” “time to clear your mind,” “rainbow,” and “circus world” point towards some sort of new age/post-revelations utopian consciousness. reissued for the first time under license from dave bixby himself, and carefully remastered from a clean vinyl (no master tapes exist) at shadoks music studios. includes an insert with extensive and detailed liner notes by matvei procak — the guy who found bixby in 2006 — plus some rare pictures. also includes a free mp3 download code… recommended.
this first album of the turkish band hardal (mustard) with the title nasil? ze raman? (where from? where to?) was recorded in turkey in 1979 by sikri yiksel (guitar), aydin sencan (bass), cahit kukul (guitar) and sedat avci (drums). the band was only known by a very small insider-group, but those fans just adored hardal. the secret of hardal’s small popularity is that in 1979 the turkish rock scene was comatose. cem karaca left to germany, erkin koray moved to canada, edip akbayram got stuck because of his political ambitions. only baris mancho was still on the road. to start a new band was tough in turkey. hardal also recorded 2 albums later. the music is the best turkish progressive underground you can think of. filled with guitars, synth sounds, great eastern vibe vocals and harmonies, pumping rhythms. as good as the best koray tracks for sure. this album was never reissued before, so we are sort of proud to present it to most people for the first time. from turkey, 1978. edition of 500 numbered lps, glossy heavy sleeve, 180gm pressing, with insert.
one copy only. wild solo release from nautical almanac dude. co-released with about 20 other labels. insane fake leather, painted, screen printed, etc. cover. edition of 555. long out of print.
twig harper has been a force in the noise/experimental scene since the mid ’90s with his group nautical almanac, touring worldwide and releasing recordings on hanson, load, and heresee. he also runs tarantula hill in baltimore – a space that includes a performance area, recording studio, esoteric library, and rooftop beehives & gardens. daniel higgs is best known for his work as the lyricist and frontman of lungfish, whose work on dischord records has spanned 3 decades. he is also a very prolific solo artist with works on thrill jockey, holy mountain, northern liberties, open mouth, and ideal recordings. clairaudience fellowship is released on lp-only in an edition of 1,000 copies housed in full-color jackets with a coupon for drm-free mp3 download. the download coupon includes one additional bonus track that is not on the lp.
originally issued as a series of three micro-edition cdrs by wooden wand hassara, “backyard i-iii” presents the majority of this scarce material in one easily handled package. since no more than 100 copies exist of any of the individual original issue cdrs, there are a lot of folks who have not yet been blown away by hassara’s largely instrumental electric guitar blues drone. spin this disc, grab a cold one and let the good times flow. this cd is from a one-time pressing of 500 copies and features some super-intense new artwork by robert beatty (hair police)… already sold out at source!
debut release from the duo of chris and claire who run london’s mighty upset the rhythm label and promotion. deranged messy drums and squelched weirdo vocal. edition of 50 hand numbered copies.
recorded at the bowling green pub in manchester on 17th november 2008, when bridget was on tour with marcia bassett, this is a maximal 25-minute set of epic guitar brutalising and deep, moaned vocal incantations. employing a bow and ‘metal’ effects pedals, the resulting cacophony is orchestral in scope, rendering almost unreliable the memory of one woman and her instrument. somewhat akin to bassett’s duo with matthew bower, hototogisu, the deeply layered tones created by hayden offer, upon first exposure, a somewhat icy auditory experience, but as the recording settles in, the richness and sheer breadth of sound wraps around you like a feather quilt and shifts your perception almost 180 degrees. a truly magnificent set from this former vibracathedral orchestra member that cements her reputation as far more than that alone.
edition of 120 copies cd-r documenting a live performance from paul labrecque (sunburned hand of the man/trees chants and hollers/the other method et al). labrecque’s string work makes reference to the lonesome sound of sandy bull and john fahey while connecting with the experiments in contemporary american primitive drone of paul metzger and matthew valentine. quietly psychedelic and spellbindingly intimate. in full colour gatefold card sleeve. – volcanic tongue.
lunes is the second album by the texas psychedelic duo headdress. written in the desert but recorded during an endless new york city winter, the album is a dark meditation on americana. guitarist caleb coy and organist ethan cook sculpt a cold, expansive sound made ripe for these turbulent times. it’s the blues shaped by the avant-compositions of la monte young and dylan carlson. it’s drone rooted deep in the american tradition… includes download coupon.
nice new mystery recordings that seem to be an extension of the equally mysterious ‘whorl’ tape we had while back. lo-fi bedroom trance amp hum & softly modulated feedback. way limited & each cover it a totally unique hand assembled/painted piece of art. gotta love it.
i’ve been wanting to put out something by heavy eye of the sun for years and now, nearly two years after their last self-released cd-r, “iii” is locked & loaded. this montreal-based duo create sprawling, monolithic landscapes of sound, barely held together by the flickering of their voices. this is their most involved and evocative work yet. sparse forests of acoustic instrumentation conjure up ancient spirits that the duo channel without abandon. the hypnotic nature of their collective vocals lull you into a trance. bowed zithers and guitars drone and creak into oblivion. heavy eye of the sun suck you into their world and don’t let go until they are good and ready. this is enchanted music. limited to 80 handnumbered copies, packaged in oversized hand-stamped envelopes w/ two inserts handstamped cd-rs.
wild collaborative lp by these 2 deep psych visionaries. one side is a studio collab merging hw’s pummeling psych-frenzy with cascading waves of io-keyboard bliss. the other side is a rare, unhinged live recording of the single time these outfits ever performed together…imagine hw with a freaked out lead singer. strange and great.
last summer’s cd release for heavy winged, blacc lust, flew out of here and really seemed to find a good home with folks. following up on that response comes the massive and dense blowout that is alive in my mouth. comprised of two of the band’s dirtiest and, quite simply, heaviest tracks, it is music for tearing down physical walls. in a small departure from some of our recent vinyl titles, there will not be a bonus cd for pre-ordering the record. instead, every copy of the album will come complete with a cd that features both of the album tracks in addition to a “bonus” 17 minute track. everyone wins! alive in my mouth is be from an edition of 647 copies pressed on 180g rti vinyl. the record is housed within heavy art sleeves bearing new artwork by michael canich and letterpressed by dexterity press (the same folks who we teamed with on sarin smoke’s smokescreen).
brand new three trax release from portland/ brooklyn based unit which comes on the heels of the bands recently re-issue disc, and highly excellent three lobed release “blacc lust”, comes three long playing journeys into psych noise dronedom. i’m not a huge fan of the press release description game where the label goes on to babble and make absurd quotes like “sounds like every band that has sold a shit load of records this past month if you combine sunno))) with your mamma then you know exactly how great this record is”. i’d just like to humbly state to me it comes off like the bardo pond brothers recording in the lo-fi high fuzz induced kitchen of the goslings. package comes packed in a double cover center opening sleeves with the outer shell being a vellum overlay wonderfully executed graphically by chase middaugh. single pressing of 600 copies.
they’re back. heavy winged has continued to stretch their leathery, scarred, er, wings and grow since their last release for three lobed recordings, 2008′s alive in my mouth. from that time to the present the group has ventured to release three complete albums (spreading center, shaking, waking and the thinner the air) and a full-length collaboration with inca ore, each displaying a few additional wrinkles to heavy winged’s sonic palette. while these additions to the band’s distorto-electro-bombast may be most apparent to those who have closely tracked their total output, fields within fields, their latest and, all hyperbole aside, greatest album to date, displays the band’s grand developments in a fashion apparent to even casual outside observer. every great band has that one totally assured statement album. for heavy winged, it is fields within fields. the band was determined to make fields within fields into a significant part of their discography from the very outset. in october 2009, the band decided to enter the 5d studios in brooklyn to engage in what would be a first-time experiment – recording in a multi-track studio with overdubs planned from the session’s start. prior to this experience their entire catalog was centered on displaying the band’s ferocious live spirit. having already proven themselves to be adept at creating grand and heavy statements in an improvised, one-take-only setting, they felt that were ready for the challenge of being both improvisational and composition-minded. the band hunkered down for the session and even brought in some friends to help augment the heavy winged vibe. their time in 5d yielded the two dark fruits which combine to form fields within fields. brutal and hard, “among the maori” leads the album off and encompasses the entire first side of vinyl. the track opens with a slow, deliberate fade into jed bindeman’s tribal drumbeat. this beat may start controlled but the track’s velocity and volume continue to accelerate, eventually turning “among the maori” into a highly tuned jet engine. ryan hebert’s guitar playing is exceptional throughout, beginning with an initial prolonged banshee-like wailing and slowly building and fully giving way to a fantastically cranking and grinding post-metallic din by the track’s conclusion. “among the maori” stands out among the band’s entire catalog as perhaps their truest moment. the album’s second side is fully dedicated to the drone doom opus “the hum of the universe.” “the hum…” adds bob jones on viola to the band’s three piece lineup. the results of this pairing are epic and haunting. jones’ viola couples nicely with brady sansone’s low-end work to create a churning sound vortex that will pull you in and release you only when the stylus reaches the run-out groove. fields within fields is a powerful and assured statement, one that strongly rings “death to the new flesh – long live heavy winged’s drone!” fields within fields is pressed on rti vinyl and housed within a textured old-style stoughton tip-on sleeve bearing new artwork from rebecca carlisle-healy. the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album…. edition of 994 copies. all copies here include the pre-order only bonus cd with extra tracks and a guest appearence from one of the white hills dudes.
very pleased to announce that after much ongoing talk between me and the band, blackest rainbow will be issuing the very first heavy winged cassette. a total beast from this cross country american trio of ryan, jed and brady recorded just after a 4 day east coast tour in november 2007 at ryan’s house in vermont. the music switches between pure heavy repetitive riffing, drum kit massacre and shredding bass to more melancholy weird minimal bits, which actually co-inside with the last jam the band did before parting ways across the map. nevertheless, this is another totally amazing and essential release from one of my favourite bands around right now. limited to 200. pro-dubbed cassettes.
heavy winged are a sprawling north american trio made up of drummer jed bindeman, bassist brady sansone and guitarist ryan hebert. over the last few years, the band have released a cacophonous splatter of cassettes, vinyl and cd-rs for not not fun, digitalis, aurora borealis and a handful of other esteemed imprints. most of these have been mercilessly grimy signifiers of their buzzing free-rock style, and were recorded poorly to almost accentuate the harsh guitar tones and double-time blast beats. this latest jagged offering, however, is a rare beast in the heavy winged canon, offering a higher-fidelity peek into their muddled world. this time around, the band escaped to a “real” studio to record two slices of extended sludge rock, which come across as wider than ever, thanks to some fresh recording techniques. something like an unholy union between the sheet-noise of yellow swans and the blissful sub-harmonic transcendence of early mogwai or sonic youth, sunspotted is an album that takes tried-and-tested sounds and bends them beyond recognition. sure, plenty of bands have made distorted, blurred, guitar noise before, but rarely with the conviction and wit of heavy winged. with their early explorations into doom and metal, we find the band on a high, framing their high-octane jitter into something that could almost be mistaken for beautiful. just as the aforementioned yellow swans took their sound from the outer reaches of noise to something, dare i say it, pretty, heavy winged have focused their three individual powers to come up with an album that revels in its depth and shimmering beauty. it might take a few listens to reveal its layers, but sunspotted is a challenging and rewarding listening experience. standing at the top of the band’s already estimable catalog of albums and eps, this album finds them at a key moment, a moment where they have found a balance between fidelity and grit, harmony and discord. step in, turn it up and let yourself descend. cut at berlin’s d+m.
found a few last copies of this out of print title. most copies have a very small top right corner dent, but nothing major at all. grab one now if you missed it!
fully licensed legit deluxe reissue of this completely unique slab of outsider private press psychedelia. long whispered about by the most inner circle of obsessive psych collectors, but up till now heard only by a lucky few. a true legend for sure, and rightfully so, as the bizarre story surrounding the lp is nearly as twisted as the music itself. ex-road runners drummer stephen david heitkotter recorded and pressed the lp in california sometime before 1971 as a demo only edition of no more then two dozen copies in blank white covers, then distributed it only to a handful of local san joaquin radio stations before the pressing plant destroyed the masters due to non-payment. within months of his failed attempt at radio stardom stephen was committed to the state mental ward, and that was that… but what an album he left behind… deeply damaged outsider/real people westcoast basement loner acid-garage-blues from a genuinely insane person, recorded at the very edge of oblivion. the sound of a last gasp at the teetering edge of the darkest void. a murky disjointed trip wobbling between acid-scorched un-reality and pure all-encompasing blankness… full electric band setting, but whether this was a purely solo endeavor or an actual band recording will remain a mystery forever. those close to stephen at the time swear he was already too far gone to assemble even a jam session, so the solo theory seems likely, making the musical deconstruction meltdown that much more disturbing. semi-tight playing disintegrates into meandering sonic smear at every turn, then somehow resolidifies and churns onward while bent deadpan vocals funnel garbled surrealisms from nowhere to nowhere. the scarily hyper-real yet ultra-weird otherworldly presence is as thick as it comes, and only enhanced by the raw/crude/muffled recording fidelity… not recommended for the weak of heart… co-released with earmonger records. mastered from the best possible original copy and pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl. exact reproduction labels, including some wild hand embellishment from the man himself. heavy blank white 60s style art paper covers with hand stamped title. heavy insert with extensive liner notes. one time vinyl only limited edition of 1000 copies. no cd, no repress.
long time coming release from this towering breaker offshoot. like some total weirdo bluesy jams – in the most loose possible. most recently these guys were seen on the incredible 4×3″ cdr set on psykick dancehall, and also a split lp last year on upset the rhythm. limited to 100 with colour sleeve by the band. limited to 100.
autumn 2009, french canadian experimental rap duo heliodrome, concludes an european tour in berlin. during this tour they offered three different sets of music, either improvised folk of electronic. each concert was seen as a possibility to expand their vision of their own music. in berlin, they met labelmate jayrope, who’s about the release on endemik his collaboration with american rapper bleubird called prinzenallee. after assisting at an heliodrome concert in berlin, he promptly suggested that they record together, in the format of a small show for some friends in his appartement. this improvised concert led to this release. a really intimate improv session between likeminded artsits that gave birth to “swearing at the sun”, a modern play of schreber’s delirium, where rap and rhythm fades away giving place to instant improvisation. the result is unclassifiable, sitting somewhere between avant folk, noise and free improv.
the second release from the sacred harp library label (following the sold-out dr. ragtime 7-inch) is the stunning debut from extraordinary london based 7-piece hellicar, crago, lewis lloyd & friends. ‘chicken or pills’ is an utterly infectious barnstorming romp mixing folk, blues and riotous rock ‘n roll, like 70s richard thompson fronting a bluesy neutral milk hotel. flip it over for ‘the truth’ showing a completely different side to the band breaking out the ukelele, clarinet and three part harmonies. utterly wonderful. limited to 500 copies, packaged in sacred harp’s die-cut, letterpressed, silk-screened sleeves.
solo noise psych gush from luke of bird of delay. debut release on this promising new label. sweet pro-printed fold out covers wrapped up in a hand written and numbered kraft paper envelope. numbered edition of only 50 copies. instantly out of print!
hematic sunsets is an alias (an anagram to be exact) for german soundartist asmus tietchens from hamburg. tietchens is a self taught artist with more than 50 lp and cd releases on numerous labels (nurse with wound’s united dairies, sky records, the mille plateaux sub-label ritornell, staalplaat, selektion, recent albums on richard chartier’s line label and a massive reissue series on die stadt, to name but a few). his solo works are mainly concerned with the manipulation of concrete sounds and (most recently) pure sine waves (on his mengen series) and their placement (assemblage?) in time and space. while his solo efforts are often austere formal works (yet never lacking a twisted humour), hematic sunsets is a different beast altogether. reminiscent of his sky-era attempts with rhythm and melody, the aroma club series is tietchens warped, almost parodic (per)version of lounge music. each record of the series is based on the sounds and rhythms of one particular (preferredly cheap) organ/keyboard, usually a yamaha product (this time it’s the psr 36). while the last club lp was recorded with several guests (felix kubin, michael rother…) and the 2007 x-mas 7″ was a collaboration with long-time “producer” okko bekker, “aroma club paradox” is another solo effort (collaborating with several fictitious anagrams/characters though). the result is a timeless and completely unique take on muzak using cheap keyboard sounds usually associated to drunk wedding bands or your grandmother’s home organ family music. tietchens elaborately transforms the cheesy associations into cold, bloodless, almost unhuman pop tunes totally lacking the sensationalism and pseudo-fervour of most music, especially modern pop music. limited edition of 500 copies in baby blue heavy vinyl!
contains the audio from jason’s ‘first announcements’ lathe cut, plus other pieces – we cut the lathe 78 for jason last year here at time-lag and had a few for sale then, this cdr versions adds extra stuff. great fractured noise/hum/piano cut-up goodness. experimental music that goes somewhere – from elephant micah member.
culled from a large mess of untitled computer music that jason had stashed away for quite some time, the peace drills cycle was improvised and edited together in a loose tribute to conlon nancarrow. employing the notation software finale as a sort of 21st century player piano, henn stacked, squeezed and quantized a year’s worth of off-hand, amateurish piano solos into several chaotic minutes of digital soul-spew. additional tracks, which sound something like sterilized milton babbit, feature the midi contributions of microwave background mainman will ryerson, as manually altered and tweaked into oblivion by henn, ultimately realized as piles of keyboards and drums. it’s a dense 30-some minutes. oh, and for the curious, the disc’s title refers to one of several aborted attempts to find grant money to release the abovementioned music, its author assuming that the vaguely jazz-based/new classical pretensions of the material might actually confuse someone into funding its release despite its irrelevance to any/everything. one such proposal was addressed to a non-profit that claimed to support daring and exciting peace/soc. justice-type projects. so, our maestro set about writing detailed programs for the six “peace drills,” claiming that each was performed as a meditation on a particular geopolitical/historical/social something-or-other (ex., “peace drill 2: journey through gaza”) when, in fact, jason really just wanted the scratch for nice pressed discs and a color booklet. the org didn’t buy it, but, when third uncle agreed to do the thing as a handmade edition, the name stuck… crazy oversized lp cover packing with all sorts of inserts & stuff. elephant micah member.
one of the most gifted abstract sonic pilots from the vacationland stable, portland, maine, artist matt lajoie enjoys a larger-than-
sasquatch reputation for his free folk personality and unpredictable takes on spectrasound techniques. although he and his merry band are one of the most charismatic tribes of the new england underground you gotta see them live they blossom from psychedelic occurrences that lead to bursts of pacifist oblivion which can only be redeemed inside their studio output. the momentum lajoie deploys in his polar expressions indicates a supply of time-manipulated balance. an accretion of bucket brigades warping wildly at first breath, generally considered a condition of primitivism, this is searchlight abandonment
with purely spirited jams more akin to the tapers pit than slam continuance. in fact, the only thing slammed here (other than the
muted poetry echoing like buoys in golowins harbor) are the in the red meters on fire signs from fire music providing ease with earth, wind and air. long may we inhale. this is a heady atmosphere, an atmosphere for heads, and it not only delivers the contempo dreamlike aspect at the apex of its form, but transcends it to those revolving with them. take this fucker for a spin. – matt valentine, vermont, 2011.
gnomic no-fi plunk, wheeze, rattle and moan courtesy of an unfortunately monikered (well… at least to english language readers anyway…it probably means something just lovely in finnish…) supergroup comprised of jonna karanka aka kuupuu, laura naukkarinen aka lau nau and merja kokkonen aka islaja that draws from the seemingly eternal well of stoned detuned mischief that feeds the viaducts of the finnish underground. the sheer density of acts positing variants on this same post-amon duul/siloah-like freakout stylee there gives rise to questions of bandwagon hopping, but that’s a discussion for another time. for the here and now, this first release of theirs is a choice manifestation of heavy-lidded third-mind acoustic weirdity that’s as ungainly as it is mystically/chemically blasted… yay to hertta lussu ässä finally on wax!
both carolyn hester coalition albums are fine examples of u.s. west coast-style hippie fuzz psychedelic folk rock, like neighb’rhood children, birmingham sunday and similar outfits. they were recorded in 1969 and 1970 on the metromedia label and are considered to be a must have for u.s. dreamy folk-psych music collectors. first ever reissue on vinyl. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
must have for u.s. dreamy folk psych music collectors. first ever reissue on vinyl. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
hevoset is the duo of two of the most enigmatic individuals of the finnish underground, namely jan anderzen and jani hirvonen, both hailing from tampere. anderzen is ringleader of a mysterious multitudinous beast known as kemialliset ystevet (fonal records), a part-time member of avarus and islaja and records solo as tomutonttu (ultra exzema, beta-lactam ring records) with a new album coming out on dekorder this year (hopefully). hirvonen is best-known under his uton monicker with two lp’s on dekorder and a stream of releases on last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna, jewelled antler, pseudo arcana and his own ikuisuus label. while most one-off meetings between so-called experimental and improvising musicians often sound like bad excuses for a few beers and endless jams this is quite the opposite – a heavy weight championship finale of two like-minded whizkids cross-fertilizing each other with idea after idea, leading to some of the weirdest and quixotic recordings you will have heard of the two. everything you loved about kemialliset ystevet, uton and tomutonttu is contained in hevoset…..and more. rural psychedelia, out-of-tune plucked and strummed strings, overloaded organs and effect pedals, jani hirvonen’s sweet wordless vocals, ecstatic improvised drone collages, bells, backward loops, jungle percussion and tons of unidentifiable sounds and noises shaped into tight 4 – 6 minute tracks…. awesome.
limited/numbered edition of 1000 copies from ages ago. nice stamped & di-cut chipboard cover & cool splater vinyl. out of print. one copy only.
nice looking picture disc version of their 2001 debut. hand painted card insert, numbered edition of 650 copies.
daniel “aiu” higgs is a shaman, an anarchist with radical messages from strange worlds. he is a dervish, treading on borderlines, whose thematic native territory is the very borderline of human existence. the musical presentation of his work is crystal clear and razor sharp: either higgs plays his banjo like an indian sitar, or he creates a monotone carpet of sounds which he weaves out of his shruti-box—and with demonic ruthlessness, he sheds light on the human abyss. the aphoristic elements remain metaphorical and the meanings are clear, the images that higgs produces in the imagination of his listeners through his verse are brutally explicit and leave no trace of ambiguity. his unforgettable performance in unrock was one of the major highlights of the entire series. higgs captivated his awe-struck audience like no other performer in the unrock studio had done before. on the one hand, he was highly fascinating and resonated with strong charisma; on the other hand he was an enigmatic sphinx. his music is a hymn to the doors of perception, to the borderline between clarity and insanity, a scurrile dream of the dawn of being—the thin line on which higgs offers us to dance with him, always with one foot in the bottomless pit. manic, hypnotic and dangerous, all at the same time. 150 hand-numbered, limited edition cdr copies boast a one-of-a-kind cover, a handmade silkscreen from rike stephani (antipesto) which shows an original drawing from daniel higgs, which he created especially for this special recording at unrock… nice one in a sweet yellow on black screenprinted cover.
in recent years, higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band, lungfish. higgs follows up the 2007 album/book release atomic yggdrasil tarot with his new double album say god. say god is an album of gospel songs and poems as presently received by this daniel higgs. recorded with the help and enthusiasm of david andrew sitek, who graciously provided this daniel higgs with an environment in which to prosper and enjoy the adventure of recording, or, if you will, the ensnaring of songs as they migrate through time and mind, that they might be heard many places at once, with the singer absent. song seeds cast abroad, that their message, the advent of the songway, the way across, might take root, twist and fruit, light for all. it is the simple hope of this daniel higgs that the album say god may be of any use to the listener, may serve the listener, may accompany the listener in clairaudient fellowship… limited gatefold vinyl version with insert.
often considered the holy grail of “real people” records, kenneth higney’s “attic demonstration” was never actually intended to be an official release. it was recorded in new york city by higney and his accompanist gordon gaines (r.i.p.) as a vehicle with which to sell higney’s songs to other artists and was only pressed to vinyl in 1976 when he grew tired of duplicating cassette tapes. apparently the jandekian dissonance of the “a. demo.” sound was an unintended by-product of the one take demo sessions. be that as it may, “attic demonstration” is a strange sonic world all of it’s own. it is neither too weird to be unappealing to “regular” music listeners nor is it one of those “discoveries” that leaves you wondering what all the hype was about. acoustic guitar ballads of nearly atonal desolation mix readily with rock ‘n’ roll numbers featuring hiccuping drums and alien sounding electric guitar. hingey’s vocals are by turns sneering and mournful as he sings about lost love and the desire for fame all filtered through his uniquely bent worldview. although a few ads were placed for the record in the village voice and the aquarian, the fame that higney sought illuded him (a semi-positive review in trouser press notwithstanding). that is, until the album was discovered and distributed by record dealer paul major. “attic demonstration” has been featured in the acid archives and copies of the original lp have soared in price over the years, but you no longer have to pay $100, $200 or even $300 to obtain a copy of this monumental album on vinyl. one kind favor and kenneth higney have teamed up to bring you an official reissue of “attic demonstration” remastered and with all the original artwork. lp edition of 500 copies
over the past few years higuma’s evan caminiti (of barn owl) and lisa mcgee have slowly evolved their sound from shamanistic acoustic dirges into shimmering metallic blast-off hymns, hair-raising eulogies to the cosmos. pacific fog dreams is a set of seven such songs, all beautifully distant and drenched in layers of earth-toned echo, balanced in dream time between melodies and all out electric whitewash. delayed strums hang in a beyond background, a ghost world of songs from some other place and time, channeled onto the hiss of a cassette tape to remind you. caminiti’s guitar is often on the verge of taking the whole thing down, sporadically billowing into colorful feedback, huge blocks of impenetrable sound. mcgee’s vocals are sometimes discovered, but just as distant smears, or riding the peaks, coaxing out phrases of hidden origin, maybe singing of intimacy, memory, nature or magic.
two sweating side-long jams along the itching lines of fellow mind-travellers sunburned hand of the man, astral blessing and dredd foole. recorded smack in the middle of bible belt country, inspired by the wicked deeds of psyched master rick and his friends who used to be giving voluntary castrations in their own private creepy sm dungeon.
one of the all-time 60′s classics, coming out from the california desert of antelope valley where hms leader merrell fankhauser lived for a couple of yyears. this was released on uni in late 1968, and gosh it’s a killer!!!! flower power psychedelia, great all original songs, this is one of these albums you shouldn’t miss under any circumstance. make yyourself a favour and get one of these wonderful reissues we have for you, with remastered sound, original artwork and an insert with liners by merrell and a great photo from his own archive.
one lap steel through two amps, one keyboard, one drum kit, one chord. 17 minutes of tripped-out string popping and drum scatter on one side. 16.5 mins of scraped and sustained lap steel on the other.
we’re proud to announce the first-ever vinyl reissue of homestead & wolfe’s lone and excellent album. one of the most unknown artifacts that ever came from the american psych-folk land. originally released in 1975 by topo records. this is an official reissue, fully licensed by ernie bringas (h&w founder) and anopheles records. it has an exact reproduction of the original cover, label, 4-page insert and poster as well as extra triptych insert with bio and photos. two extra tracks are also included… despite being recorded at gold star in l.a. and featuring heavy session names such as hal blaine and al casey, this irresistible femme-vox melodic folk rock/psych delight has remained mysteriously unknown for 30 years. you’ll be hard-pressed to find faults with its mix of various late 1960s california styles, ranging from lyte neighb’rhood child’n top 40 psych over carolyn hester coalition/yankee dollar folk moves into all-out west coast acid rock a la ill wind. – acid archives… beautifully done deluxe reissue! recommended & highly limited.
treetop moon hollers and american primitive star gobbling, bedroom gagaku and cold hardy foole-jazz techniques. folk music for wherever arthur doyle or little howlin wolf were the ‘new’ pete seeger. bongos, voice, wood flute, triangle. screen printed nightime covers with hand lettered text, numbered edition of 112… new solo project from rafi bookstaber of death chants / aswara / etc.
casual late night camfire jams by robert horton and tom carter, with laidback appearances by natacha robinson, janet and mary carter. baked guitars, boot and percussion. on special request there’s only 40 copies of this one.
one copy only. out of print.
wild and eclectic mail collaborations from one of america’s most recently on fire jammers robert horton, and norway’s drone master sindre bjerga. both have incredibly solid resumes of collaborations and releases, what with sindre’s ongoing collaboration with jan iversen, and robert’s collaborations with tom carter and the mudsuckers crew of pete and gabe (of yellow swans), which also includes carter. ‘can’t go faster enough to get there early’ features a massive range of instruments and sounds, from multiple instrument based layered drone to down right weirdness, and total outsider vibes. also features hal hughes, lisa graves and jan iversen. glass mastered cds, limited to 264 in white digipaks with stickered covers and a small 4 page insert of liner notes. please note some tracks feature digital clicks and pops, this is meant to be there.
out of print. one copy only. edition of 108 copies.
reissue of classic robert horton now with new artwork and shiny plastic jewel case. again robert horton amazes and dazzles. this recording spans from 1983 until yesterday before dinner. it is so amazing to hear robert’s thought process evolve over the years yet be so cohesive to never stray from robert’s life vision. i never knew what visionary meant in the 21 century until i met robert horton.
robert founded the appliances, part of sf’s first wave of punk bands in 1979. then later formed the plateau ensemble in 1983, a tribal noise drone group who played in the bay area until 1987. from the early 90′s until 2004 horton continued to compose and record, but didn’t release any of it publicly until 2005, when he put together first light. originally released on the finish label outta (now defunct), in a tiny edition of 50 copies. anyways we’re all glad robert has opened up the floodgates, and i’m pretty excited to get to re-issue this thing in a slightly larger edition. edition of 100, photo/screen-print cover, inserts, black cds, heavy vinyl sleeves.
“warmth” is the fourth volume in robert horton’s archives series of releases (previous volumes on 23 productions, sloow tapes, & jyrk). this single, monolithic piece unfolds at snailspeed, but succeeds in wrapping itself around you like an old, familiar blanket.”warmth” is the most appropriate title, as these drones emit sonic beams of silver light. using only two reel-to-reel tape recordings and a loop, horton’s artistry is on full display. the fact he was doing this 20 years ago is a testament to his immeasurable talent.
one copy only. out of print.
robert horton is an amazing multi-instrumentalist/genius/alien whisperer from san francisco. he has worked with tom carter and an assortment of folks. 2nd pressing now available!!! robert horton is a sound producer of the highest order. when i received this recording i was almost instantly put in a trance. all of a sudden i was in my back yard on a mission – building string instruments triggered by wind chimes and tall totem pole flute like instruments that were played by the arctic winds. robert horton has a musical language that no one else speaks. he builds his own instruments and conjures an alien harmonic orchestra out of the instruments that existed before he arrived on our planet. in the last year he has released a slew of amazing recordings both solo and in collaborations (with tom carter and loren chase among others). this was one of the first of robert’s recordings to land on earth. it is now finally available again.
hotem is one incarnation of kheta hotem, one of finland’s finest. backed by the neverending talents of keijo virtanen, hotem is an adventure through cavernous echoes and enchanted forests. sparse acolades transcend through the overcast skies and hover above your head like a guillotine waiting to drop. this is music full of open spaces, and it is in those spaces where the true magic happens. sounds dance like fireflies in the lunar haze. didjeridu drone and walls of chromatic percussion bounce off each other in a soothing fit. hotem are quite the experience. 100 copies.
live in person collaboration of mid ranged feedback hell laden with raw human drones of cosmic existential turbulence from from matthew bower (legend of total, skullflower, ramleh etc) marcia bassett (double leopards, zaimph, ghq etc.) and dominick fernow (vegas martyrs, nihilist assault group, ash pool, etc).
green metal music, decanted collage of fuzzy scream vocal loops and mangled buried riffing, bursting w/ vivid colour power electronics and chilly black metal soundscaping. studio prototyping of the hg signature sound, shorter pieces than the usual jams, even denser than the live version, with blatant referencing of the black metal/ tibetan devotional strands that run like veins of lightning through the dense mesh of noise. out of printed edition of 1000 copies. nice full color 8 page booklet.
long out of print… double lp pressing housed in a gatefold jacket. being a nabokovian and visceral garden of delights, a musical evocation of memory and desire spread over four sides of vinyl. the sound is conjured forth from dark wells to be birthed, twisting and screaming in silver winds. recorded at black dirt studios, over an intensive three day period of hermetic isolation, whilst snow blanketed the surrounding fields, this work is both more detailed and conjures a heavier, more brooding occult atmosphere and sound, than any previous hototogisu release. limited edition of 700 copies.
hototogisu is the duo of marcia bassett (double leopards, ghq, un) and matthew bower (skullflower, sunroof!, total). for the past few years, they have been delivering intense guitar/electronics based drones of gargantuesque scales. robed in verdigris is their 16th release and only the third on vinyl. 3 tracks spread over both sides of extreme sunshine and ecstasy. a total assault of metaphysical vibrations. limited to 500…this one vanished in a wink, so act fast if you don’t wanna miss it forever!
since arriving on london racks in the summer of 1970, catherine howe’s debut album has been unavailable in its original format. less than 20 lp copies survived reflection records’ demise, and the album sat in the can until numero’s 2007 cd issue. produced by the legendary jazz pianist bobby scott, this orchestral-folk master stroke has once again been set to lacquer, remastered and restored directly from the original master tapes specifically for this deluxe vinyl release. gatefold package includes replica lp art and complete annotation on the sessions and history of this forgotten brit-folk treasure. “it’s like some missing link between sandy denny and karen carpenter, or between ladies of the canyon and dusty in memphis. if you buy no other reissue this year, buy this.” – barney hoskyns, guardian uk.
released march 3, 2008 as an installment in the oscillation iii series. sold only as a part of the set. lp released december 8, 2008 from a limited edition of 998 copies. wild life, howlin rain’s contribution to oscillation iii, consists of two fifteen minute plus monster jams. the first is an amazingly inspired and completely improvised wailing twin guitar, rock meditation on paul mccartney’s “wild life.” “black sangria” rounds out the disc with a completely improvised piece covered in heavy jazz fusion and free, latin jazz rock overtones. the band featured a slightly different lineup for these session, a lineup that in part feels like a comets on fire mini-reunion (above and beyond ethan miller on guitar/vocals is ben chasny on guitar, utrillo kushner on drums, ian gradek on bass and joel robinow on wurlitzer electric piano/nord keyboard). wrapped delicately in two paintings by raeni miller (ethan’s wife). 180g rti vinyl and housed within an “old style” lp cover.
finally the official vinyl reissue of stan hubb’s 1982 crystal lp is available. 500 faithful repros were made of this confounding slab of stoner rock, each including a replica of the original 16 page booklet. crystal was recorded in hubb’s rural sonoma county living room and just like the original, this reissue was mastered and cut by paul stubblebine, pressed by rti and housed in heavy, old-style jackets… limited to 500. great high quality reissue of this killer unknown slab. recommended!
here is a man who creates extraordinarily complete pieces of sonic tapestry, as has been evident on a number of earlier hotd releases on vinyl and cdr. this tape brings you more than one hour of tonal and textural mastery. from thundering tnb-like cavernous metal noises, through deeply vibrant slabs of shimmering tonal bliss, always moving ahead into new areas of gritty textural explorations. attentive listening is rewarding listening, and will most likely lead to repeat listening. this piece of music demands to be experienced more than one time. 200 copies, on type ii chrome tape.
human skab was a 10-year old boy from elma, washington who played african music with buckets and spoons. thunder hips and saddle bags is a 1986 cassette recorded by young travis roberts with his neighborhood pals and siblings. it was injected into the underground network of tape traders, zine scribes, college djs, and freak seekers who were universally bowled over by its bewildering and utterly poignant snapshot of the mid-1980s. skab’s music — an orchestration of pots n’ pans, three string guitar, poorly-tuned upright piano, broken bottles, toy guns, a garden rake, and a “snake mountain” microphone — is a response to fear of nuclear war with the soviet union, he-man cartoons, twisted sister, the coolness of dinosaurs, the uncoolness of john wayne, and ronald reagan. roberts captures the fervor of do-it yourself ethos, punk energy and the rawness of early american folk by acting on his wild child imagination and enigmatic sense of song. these rare recordings have never been made widely available until now. this reissue includes the complete 1986 cassette. the cd and mp3 version contain a bonus 1987 radio interview. the 16-page booklet in the 500 edition lp and cd contains liner notes by roberts and cousin franky along with many full-color photographs and news clippings. as bruce pavitt wrote in the 1986 sub pop zine: the skab zips around the living room shooting toy guns. he hits the family piano with his fists. he tries real hard to play guitar. he makes up songs about terrorism and radiation and throwing rocks at windows. cool!
50 copies, full color covers.
landing out of nowhere and traversing historical sonic planes with freeform light-speed, the hunter gracchus arrived at my desk. continuing the recent leaking tap, (so obscure and secretive no one seems to have really cottoned on yet), of european free-music, folk and psych that has been seeping into the underground, hunter gracchus sound both fresh and devastatingly contorted. listening to the fragile and intoxicating sounds generated by the hunter gracchus, your surroundings are skewed into displacement. when describing the output and production of sound experienced on the record, hg used the foundation of non-studio based recordings, stating “where the microphone’s presence seems inconsequential to the performance you hear and its placement is determined more by remaining inconspicuous than maximising fidelity.” this is a keen observation and sits well with the overall experience that the collective creates. spatial awareness is delivered through raga styled drones, but also, more inventively, through anarchic freeform playing. hg also site the bedouin music by deben bhattacharya and the vibracathedral orchestra as having influenced their sound; this alludes to what you will hear, but be prepared for a unique sound-world, all of its own (and straight out of sheffield!) an abundance of acoustic instruments are blown, strummed and plucked alongside inventive percussion that clangs both traditional and (seemingly) found objects. the improvised nature has a difficult narrative that paddles murky water through perilous terrain. this is imagined through the music, but also signified through lengthy and descriptive song titles, e.g. “elkadia priests’ ransacking of the pnac offices”. a mythology is an adequate accompaniment to a challenging and overwrought listen. there are moments where the peaceful rolling of hypnotic free folk is suddenly disrupted by chaotic, (close to a nervous breakdown), improvised attack. the de-tuned gypsy-shanty of the final track on side a, twists and turns like a serpent of rust and soiled canvas. the tort strings scrape and roll in unwavering tones that arch beyond the inevitable outcome one might assume, (then again this is the point of freeform music). side b has pastoral marches with balkan overtones that allude to foreign tradesmen and portside harlots. this has a similar disjointed glow that fans of lauhkeat lampaat will immediately warm to. this has a similar, yet rawer, feel to the recent part wild horses mane on both sides record. the record displays a combination of deep folk understanding, along with a distinctly western european ability to juxtapose misery and hope. the closing track hits a fantastic high with a mix of subtlety, drone, vocal wavering and distortion. the sounds implode in glorious sonic hollers that over lap and consume themselves in the form of an ouroboros. 8/10 — peter taylor, foxy digitalis.
half of the six songs on jana hunter’s carrion are unreleased hangers-on from the writing sessions that produced her most recent full-length, there’s no home, while the other half are alternate renditions of works that appeared on that release. but this is no mere grab bag of remnants; it’s a real tight product, all around. “paint a babe” is a throw-back to hunter’s earlier material, written and recorded simultaneously on a borrowed four-track recorder. a real sad, longing song. “a goblin, a goblin” took a little more time to create: this strong, sturdy number, replete with violins and creepy harmony, tells the tale of an indignant outcast. “you will take it and like it,” turns one central, pretty and proud guitar part over and over and over, with others mirroring it, leeching from it, grabbing on like little parasitic danglers. the original version of “there’s no home” is here, the track that spawned an entire record title, followed by “sleep” (titled, as it was originally, “ooh uuh”), from the recording that ended up on a lullaby compilation. concluding carrion is an acoustic re-presentation of the country-minded “oracle,” stripped down to one guitar, one melody, and one harmony, as it was originally conceived in its creation as homage. cd on gnomonsong. limited to 500.
finnish psychedelic masters uton and anti unleash a new beast as the hunton quintet. heavy hazy woven jams as zelig concrete and agent stepanoff. clay whistles, wooden electronics, animal hide drums. serious carpet tripping deep in the dark woods. 6 tracks straight outa porvoo, finland – namecheck all things finnish and hard to pronounce: www.myspace.com/huntonquintet. deluxe handcrafted gatefold sleeves. limited edition of 99.
new recordings by michael. on this lp we find hurley stretching out on six longer than usual compositions that are heartbreaking & beautiful as anything he’s ever done. side one features hurley on a creaky pump organ. side two starts out with two newer compositions – just michael on guitar & vocals. the record ends with a stunning version of tea song (which michael originally wrote & recorded way back in 1963). a sustained feeling of loss & need for redemption haunts this record.
michael hurley is one of the most beloved cult figures of the greenwich village folk scene and his songs have been recorded by everyone from the holy modal rounders and the youngbloods, to vetiver and cat power. first songs, recorded in 1964 when hurley was only 22 years old, shows that his charming, bumming, hippie, wino persona was fully formed at an early age. the album features the first recorded versions of such snock classics as ‘the werewolf song’ and ‘captain kidd.’ reissued on lp for the first time ever, with deluxe packaging including faithful reproductions of the original jacket and insert… about time this was on vinyl again! highly recommended.
a mighty 45 pairing longtime missouri friends jerusalem and the starbaskets and hush arbors. a fabulous band, jats debut here with the formidable ‘i cannot radiato without you’. a spiky 2 chord blast clocking in at under 2 minutes of perfect pop. acting as a taster for the stunning ‘battle of the orchids’ imminent full length (on the gps soon), the band merge the ferocity of the sonics with the tenderness of galaxie 500 or 3rd album velvets. wacked out, often ferocious, psych blues- a taster from which appears here. hush arbors’ recent expansion to a two piece, debut here on vinyl, with ‘mr. bones’, another gem from the songwriting genius of keith wood. a gentle acoustic opening gives way to a fuller, perhaps busier, 12 string laced sound- not unlike some unreleased nugget from the gene clark ‘roadmaster’ sessions where he coaxed the original byrds to reconvene for one last time on wax… very limited vinyl only 45, on split ‘one half orange, one half green’ vinyl. get on it!
never one to go overboard with wildly overblown statements, the gps *thinks* it is about to unleash the first uk release by the greatest singer songwriter in the world. james jackson toth aka wooden wand shares a mighty split single with the equally great keith wood aka hush arbors. the single has an overall title “swappin’” and it is pretty much essential if we may say so. cunningly sleeved with each others’ other halves in “swappin’” guise and with a picture of a neatly made bed on it’s insert! … another must have single on this great uk imprint.
keith wood and his hush arbors project had a good year in 2006. after multiple solo tours and stints with wooden wand & the vanishing voice, his first cd and lp were released earlier in the year. he ended the year relocating to england and plying his trade across the pond. with all this in mind, it was decided that a re-release of his first full-length for digitalis was in order, and thus this expanded version of “under bent limb trees” was born. keith wood concocts massive emotional releases in his head and transfers them to tape using the most organic means possible. bowed dulcimer, singing bowl, banjo, and a his trademark falsetto dot the horizon of this majestic album. this graceful and subdued music has been extracted from the earth and laden with golden spirits. this two cd set, housed in gatefold cardboard jackets, is the perfect embodiment of wood’s delicate take on shy melancholia that has one foot in the forest and one on a log fire, burning with passion. his experience as the go-to guy of not only ben chasny (six organs of admittance) but massachussets god-botherers sunburned hand of the man for live appearances has clearly set him in good stead for his own recordings, and this collection only serves to magnify his deft talent and unique voice. disc one features the whole of “under bent limb trees”, newly remastered and sounding better than ever. the real prize is in the second disc, which features out-of-print, rare, and unreleased tracks culled from wood’s own collection and various limited and obscure releases. includes the long out-of-print “if there be spirits, let them come” 3″ among other things – nice full color gatefold covers.
key duo from the catalan folk scene, result of the union between ia clua (from”2+1″) and jordi batiste (one of the leading forces of màquina! together with enric herrera), after the later one’s return from military service.”un gran dìa”.the duo’s first album, was recorded at the end of 1972 with the help of such outstanding musicians as manel joseph (ex”2+1″, ia’s early band), joaquìn”max” suñer (vèrtice, tapimàn, iceberg y a neverding etc) & albert batiste (musica dispersa). the result is an amazing & varied musical tapestry, best heard in the record’s first side, a long suite covering from orchestral folk-pop with some psych leanings (“un gran dìa”,”max”) to straight in-your-face hard rock (“sleeping rock”) via typical early 70s prog rock (“oliba”) or uncathegorisable experiments which defy all rules (“reprise”) and show perfectly the freaky stage reached by the catalan scene in it’s early years (as a matter of fact, the record is sung in english and catalan – ). a piece of wax which went totally unnoticed when first released in a tiny pressing back in the days (thus becoming a big ticket item in the collector’s market) and which wah wah rescues from oblivion thirty years after it’s original release. an excellent work which deserves to be discovered by a wider public – limited issue of 500 numbered copies in gatefold cover reproducing the original artwork, including a colour insert, a colour poster and a bonus 7″ single w/ one previously unreleased song… very hip sounds & beautifully done reissue. recommended.
i got a strange tape wrapped in brown paper with nasty dirt and blood stains in the mail; postmarked from finland. i opened it up and heard some wild sounds from a lone magus called ihminen. the only info inside was: ihminen, rec 26.08.04, many thanks. this tape is over 30 minutes of broken folk musings, incantations, astral meditations, and other completely undefinable musical and atmospheric creations.
ihre kinder, formed in 1968, were the pioneers among the politically and socially engaged groups in germany. their third album, 2357004 (also known as jeanscover) was originally released on kuckuck in 1971 and it is considered to be their best. a great german progressive krautrock effort, that should be part of every serious ’70s progressive rock collection. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, original jeans cover and insert, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
superastral team, iibiis rooge is the proof that the famous 1+1=3 equation is correct. modern psychedelic high wolf jams + astral social club fucked up improv electronics = something we don’t have a name for. better than a one shot collab this duo is made to last. forthcoming debut lp on dekorder.
post-pilz folk instrumentals from the mountains of tyrol. jahral is the one-man project of ewald spiss, who has been involved in music and art since the early eighties. tranquil melodies, exotic instrumentation and barking dogs echoing peaceful mountains and forests. 70 copies.
the path of spectrolite is the latest full length recording from imaginary softwoods. early comments have praised this album and state that while this recording retains some of the icy drone sound from some previous softwoods releases, this is a great progression and a bit more active. an extremely beautiful album entirely of sounds created by synthesizer and voice, this is an essential piece of the imaginary softwoods discography that you are sure to love… first pressing.
ever been hypnotized? taken back to some distant memory as if it were real? well, imperfect masters is straight from the womb. this duo of robert horton and dan plonsey is a disheveled mess of spiderweb drones and floating jazz curses. these compositions are a breath of fresh air from the sea, tingling all your senses like the day you were born. as horton deconstructs plonsey’s magical saxophone playing, you are flushed from your perch like a night owl running from dawn. at times it’s like being chased through a fantasy land and at others it’s like finding nirvana.”strike out” is a mundane mystical interpretation of the baseball season and too many beers. one thing is for sure, imperfect masters wears the crown. 100 copies.
facilidad? is impractical cockpit’s 7th full length lp since their inception more than 10 years ago in the cold and blustery minneapolis winter of 1998. after several “relocation efforts,” the band settled for 6 years in the vibrant port of new orleans just after the turn of the new millennium, honing in on their signature approach to noise infused songwriting. always brewing up their own slog of psychedelic punk the cockpits have managed to stay true to their all-analog asthetic no matter how difficult this can be on shoe string budgets. after their crew was totally displaced by the horrific events of hurricane katrina, the band re-formed in new orleans in the spring of 2006 to spend a month writing a new album, unavoidably inspired by the desolate depressed post katrina landscape. mountains of molding garbage lined the streets as cats claw and ivy tore through watermarked walls of recently abandoned buildings. the national guard paced through the streets in armored vehicles, and constant gunshots rang through the thick stillness of decay and toppled over trees. after putting together a live set there, which was to later become this album known as facilidad?, the cockpits embarked on a 2 month tour, with a 2 week recording session scheduled right in the middle. traveling in a home made vegetable oil powered motor home as a 5 piece band, with 2 dogs, and a battery of instruments, they played the album all the way through every night of the tour. the set varied wildly from night to night. the result is this multi-track recording, a culmination of all of their previous efforts summed up in an opus. balkan informed brass arrangements get smacked to tape alongside the thick improvisational gumbo of triaged hand crafted paper reed horns and drum machines. plywood gets smashed to shit and an abandoned warehouse stairwell provides an echochamber for choral arrangements complete with barking dog. on the albums closer “guru’s plume,” a homemade electric violin gets heavy usage, played in the northern louisiana michot family tuning of ebeb. shrill reverb drenched vocals are softened by intense but loosely slung rubber band looped keyboards while talismans are shaken is a steel tea cup. now somewhat disbanded, each member of impractical cockpit seems to be digging themselves deeper into whatever sonic obsession they see fit for these crucial times. but that’s not to say that this is the last time we’re likely to hear from impractical cockpit. produced and engineered by ipcp, jeremy harris and ryan fontaine. recorded to 8 track 1/2 inch tape. mastered by peerless mastering. 500 pressed. full color covers.
600 pressed 5 color silkscreened cover and extensive booklet. recorded to 1/2 inch 8 track in minneapolis wintertime after a long tour with band fluency/solvency at an all-time high, even though a serious bicycle/carwreck and subsequent surgery made drummer don godwin dust off his drum machines and stow away the ludwigs. this is one of ipcp’s more structured albums to date despite maximum rock and roll magazine saying “its’ like confusion is sex era sonic youth only without the songs.” sounds like they skimmed it. this album has been likened to black humor, flipper and early cabaret voltaire… cool spaced sounds in an awesome cover.
recorded in new orleans and originally released by trd/wd in 2001 on very limited cassette. remastered by don godwin summer 2010. edition of 295 copies in recycled german thrift shop record sleeves. includes insert.
the 12″ in dedication to alarmist, a post-animal band from portland or from 2004-2005. they influenced the people that saw them play and took your carpet for a joy ride once or twice while you knew them. nick b (drums) aka tunnels donates some tracks of psychedelic pop unlike other recordings under the same name. recorded during the last few days of the band and after the break up. eric c.(guitar) aka ghost to falco brings you 2 tracks one almost like a 1 minute western dirge the other more in the traditions of ghost to falco style recordings. james s.(vocals) aka argumentix dabbles in the world of industrial beats and stories of a world left behind in 3034. assisted on these recordings by hando on sax. eva aka inca ore(vocals) delivers a chopped and screwed version of some of her recordings mixed with clips of alarmist live shows she picked up from friend mansion a few years after the fact. on the first track of side crocodile you can hear the ode to alarmist by m.remy (u.s. girls) as she calls in to a radio interview the band was doing. non of the 4 solo artist sound anything like what alarmist was doing and non of the solo projects sound a like. this is a great collection of eclectic music. pressing of 300. 12″ black vinyl.
eva saelens’ life quest has taken her from michigan to oregon to oakland back to portland and back again, with several overseas explorations and inner journey road trips thrown in for good measure. whatever path she’s on is long and winding and hidden in the shadow of overhanging cherimoya trees. fortunately she maps her migrations with haunted, exotic breath-and-electricity sphinxes ranging from 2006′s brute nature vs. wild magic to last year’s brainwashing birthday of bless you lp. 2009 finds her offering up another psychic harvest unto the world, silver sea surfer school, a new nine-song pipeline ride that floats through a whole new web of voice orbs and tape hiss and keyboard balladry. if anything, silver sea is saelens’ weirdest hour, layered in abstract environments, whispers, distant poetry, free percussion loops, with sudden passages of heart-dissolving ghost-piano beauty (“shine on from the heaven above,” “adventure in light”). heavily impressive, and a brave pearl-dive into even more personal waters for the inca ore lifeforce. lps come in jackets with art by saelens, plus a full-color insert. edition of 500 (40 on clear ocean-water vinyl, 180 on marbled blue/white, 280 on black).
the soundtrack to houston at night. synths as guitar attack, phased out beats pummeling your tired brain. your head is swimming and there is nothing but concrete jungle and stucco as far as the eye can see. there is nowhere else you would rather be.
rookie railcar leaper rory dalley channels the athletic parabola energies on this uprooted and winged heap of cremated beats, petrology funk and heavily composted cadillac fleetwood groove. tape treks off in the lower paleolithic grotto mind, coalmining and telecombing the sumner beach fluorescence, shifting from shuffled sandhopper trapeze to iridized octopus kit-splash somewhere further down the floating coastline. medicated contra-fizz and sunstroke splatter dubbed straight to the ebbing tide, then windswept to tape live over the unlearned spirits of ginger baker, keith moon, mitch mitchell and levi eshleman. second side drifts the emblazoned offworld breeze of interrogated mini-koto and amethyst-clustered gunk-gaku. explict hex scenes, rug use, duck language, and totally rated basic instinct. c20. 50 copies.
cd version of the lp. includes slipcase packaging & bonus tracks… the inner space is the stuff of legend. this obscure outfit is best known as the antecessor band of can and not much is known about them except it featured the core members of can (irmin schmidt, holger czukay, michael karoli and jaki liebezeit) and lasted just a few months before renaming themselves the can and releasing monster movie. they left two ultra-obscure seven inches as their only recorded legacy and only the first of them is credited to the inner space, it contained two songs taken from the soundtrack of 1969′s underground film agilok & blubbo. originally released by the german vogue label in 1969, it currently fetches prices around the 300 euro mark in the collector’s circuit. given the obscurity of both the band and its recorded output, we’re proud to present, for the first time to the public, not only the aforementioned singles but the complete soundtrack to peter f. scheneider’s offbeat political satire agilok & blubbo. previously unavailable until now, the original master tapes of this soundtrack have been stored in the archives of legendary german producer and music publisher hans wewerka who produced the recording sessions back in 1969. here you can hear history in the making, the first step of a group of musicians who’ll go on to achieve fame, success and recognition over the ’70s, helping define a sound (often called krautrock) that has been highly influential to this day. those familiar with can’s output will recognize some of the band’s characteristic sound, albeit in an embryonic form. songs like ‘agilok & blubbo’ or ‘kamera song’ already hint at their later pop brilliance whereas the short cues and extended free jams found elsewhere in this soundtrack reminds us from the heterogeneous roots of a bunch of musicians coming from rock, jazz and avant-garde backgrounds. all in all, an excellent glimpse into the early stages of an innovative band developing its own musical language. this reissue includes detailed liner notes by wah wah’s very own raül g.pratginestós and comes illustrated by original b/w shoots from the movie production… a very cool document and pretty essential for any serious can / krautrock fan.
the inner space is the stuff of legend. this obscure outfit is best known as the antecessor band of can and not much is known about them except it featured the core members of can (irmin schmidt, holger czukay, michael karoli and jaki liebezeit) and lasted just a few months before renaming themselves the can and releasing monster movie. they left two ultra-obscure seven inches as their only recorded legacy and only the first of them is credited to the inner space, it contained two songs taken from the soundtrack of 1969′s underground film agilok & blubbo. originally released by the german vogue label in 1969, it currently fetches prices around the 300 euro mark in the collector’s circuit. given the obscurity of both the band and its recorded output, we’re proud to present, for the first time to the public, not only the aforementioned singles but the complete soundtrack to peter f. scheneider’s offbeat political satire agilok & blubbo. previously unavailable until now, the original master tapes of this soundtrack have been stored in the archives of legendary german producer and music publisher hans wewerka who produced the recording sessions back in 1969. here you can hear history in the making, the first step of a group of musicians who’ll go on to achieve fame, success and recognition over the ’70s, helping define a sound (often called krautrock) that has been highly influential to this day. those familiar with can’s output will recognize some of the band’s characteristic sound, albeit in an embryonic form. songs like ‘agilok & blubbo’ or ‘kamera song’ already hint at their later pop brilliance whereas the short cues and extended free jams found elsewhere in this soundtrack reminds us from the heterogeneous roots of a bunch of musicians coming from rock, jazz and avant-garde backgrounds. all in all, an excellent glimpse into the early stages of an innovative band developing its own musical language. this reissue includes detailed liner notes by wah wah’s very own raül g.pratginestós and comes illustrated by original b/w shoots from the movie production… a very cool document and pretty essential for any serious can / krautrock fan.
inside is the one man psychedelic drone outfit of sandy schaare who hails from new zealand.”celestial telepathy” is inside’s debut release on 3″cdr, featuring a single 20 minute piece constructed entirely on electric guitar. to call”celestial telepathy” an electric guitar piece is probably a misnomer, as schaare manages to mutate the sound of the instrument into something completely unrecognisable as guitar. drifting waves and curling smoke trails float around as if propelled by schaare’s trademark guitar chime that appears to have more in common sonically speaking with singing bowls or bells. the disc is limited to 100 copies, packaged in pvc slipcases with an insert, features beautiful psychedelic cover-art by schaare himself… long sold out.
inspector 22 is the solo-project of todd emmert. he has both recorded and performed under that name in the chapel hill, nc area since 1997. “…lost somewhere in the limbo of folk an’ punk very much in the vein of little stevie mccabe an’ the axemen.”-roland woodbe “…a great blend of stark loner-folk disturbance and wigged out, assemblage oriented cheese.”-byron coley… nice new release on big blood’s micro label. beautifully packaged screen printed art paper covers, with inserts, etc.
inspector 22 is the solo-project of todd emmert. he has both recorded and performed under that name in the chapel hill, nc area since 1997…. ‘lost somewhere in the limbo of folk an’ punk very much in the vein of little stevie mccabe an’ the axemen.” – roland woodbe… ‘a great blend of stark loner-folk disturbance and wigged out, assemblage oriented cheese.” – byron coley… on big blood’s micro label. beautifully packaged screen printed art paper covers with vellum overlay, with insert, etc.
besides home to the hells angels, farmers and citrus grooves, san bernardino, california was also where instant orange lived and released their first single in 1968. the band forged ahead and released another single (1973), album (1973) and two 10″ eps (1974 & 1975). all of their releases were small pressings of 100 copies and to this day, instant orange remains virtually unknown. their homemade sound is a refreshing reflection of their west coast folk-rock influences that were so prevalent during the ’60s and early ’70s. all original tracks with inspiration from bands like the byrds, buffalo springfield, love, sandy bull and others. songs full of electric and acoustic guitars with nice doses of mcguinnesque 12-string riffing as well as many unsuspecting surprises (antiquated electronic effects, rambling rural explorations, long jams, experimental moves, stoner banter and other weirdness between songs, caveman fuzz, etc). a solid listen with enough original imagination to keep it interesting without the band creating an identity crisis by trying too hard to be something else than themselves. hear it all on this limited double album, but grab it before it becomes elusive like some of san bernardino’s motorcycle riding inhabitants. 450 numbered/glossy heavy gatefold sleeve/180 gram pressing/insert… one last copy of this cool one.
debut vinyl release from natural snow buildings’ solange gularte’s solo project, isengrind. modlitewnik continues solange’s fantasticly far out occult psych-folk-drone trip outs, 12 tracks across the length of this lp, considerably shorter pieces in comparison to her work with mehdi in natural snow buildings, isengrind retains a certain amount of the sound of the duo, but it is a whole other beast, in many ways much stranger and darker, but still hauntingly beautiful with some fantastic blissed out vocal drones, dreamy guitars, and psyche soaked dark drone zones. heavyweight vinyl, housed in a pro-printed full colour fold over sleeve with all 4 panels featuring stunning artwork by solange, the inside of the cover is especially spectacular. one time pressing of approx 600 copies… already sold out at source.
islaja’s third album is a journey deeper into the world that for us is a dream and a fairytale, but to her a reality. islaja as a concept has turned into a star that is expected to shine with brilliance. but she is something else. the songs tell us about the decay of our age, its demise and immorality, its plunge into heartless consumer culture. islaja herself does not burn in that same fire. her fire is an inner fire. behind her eyes and in her heart you can see and hear her true charisma. true dedication and utter disrespect for the artificial authority made by men. yet she is not the self-destructive nico or the eccentric bjerk. but a good woman. a tough one. her eyes can burn a hole in you. her songs are poems and stabbing knives.’ –sami senpekkile; islaja is merja kokkonen, a young visual artist and musician living and working in helsinki, finland. islaja records her music at home using a rainbow of instruments to accompany her personal vocal delivery sung in finnish. she has performed with avarus, kemialliset ystevet and is also a member of hertta lussu esse, a free-folk super trio with lau nau and kuupuu very sweet one.
one copy only. out of print.
the first jomf studio release since the critically acclaimed 2005 cd, flags of the sacred harp. produced by adam forkner, valley of fire contains three brand new finely crafted songs and a 20 minute classic psychedelic dirt road journey. the record represents two equally fascinating aspects of jomf, songwriting and musical arrangement. over the years jomf have spent equal time writing and arranging classic american folk and blues and long, freeform compositions, drawing comparisons to 1960s and 70s ensembles like ash ra temple, amon duul, amm, faust, can and the art ensemble of chicago, while at the same time developing a song crafting style passed down through generations. valley of fire picks up the trail of flags of the sacred harp and wanders down a similar path, adding elements of krautrock and classic west coast american production to create an incredible, original album. the cover of valley of fire is an original watercolour painting by american artist jo jackson, who creates mystical paintings and shows her work around the world… covers have banged corners, so reduced price.
jackwacker crawled out of the bleak bubble of the early 90′s bloomington, indiana followed by a short lived relocation to madison, wisconsin, where they soon dissolved. thriving briefly as outsiders of the midwest no-wave scene, they shared bills amongst folks like couch, duotron, the scissor girls, the flying luttenbachers, to live and shave in l.a., zerobot and lake of dracula. stearing clear of flacid progressive rock virtuoso noodling, jackwacker have instead created the perfect juxtaposition of primal noise and know-how rock sounds. plainly speaking, they just fucking rock.
another brad rose project. out of print. one copy only.
this album is a legendary artifact for all 60s and 70s music collectors, original copies in good condition change hands for about 500 us$. the spirit of the music is a tasty combination between aggressive groovy fuzz-garage-hard rock and atmospheric psych-folk with moody vocals and a poetic message, comparable to world in sound’s legendary phantasia or dr. hooker. in between perfectly arranged songs like ’you don’t walk on my street,’ ’i remember’ and the psych-trip ’sleepers,’ you’ll hear weird spoken word themes as guatamalan strange, electronic silver and heavy-riff instrumentals. this was the debut release by michael james, who’s still active in the music business with his own label, empath records, and the groups children of the risk, michael yonkers and mounting santa feat. dr. fink of prince’s revolution. this lp-reissue is produced from the original analog master tapes… deluxe reissue of this total obscurity.
the 1978 release of corwood industries #0739, ready for the house, began one of the most compelling, disturbed, and singular legacies in musical history. in the 30 years since this unique debut, jandek has released 53 albums of mournful, atonal music that continues to defy classification and accessibility. and while the past three decades of intense productivity have yielded a depth of discussion, a handful of legendary live performances and even a film documentary, no amount of time or experience can prepare a listener for the experience of ready for the house. beyond stark, beyond oblique, beyond outsider, the first jandek lp (originally credited to the units) explores musical territories no one even knew existed, with just a hollowed-out voice and a lonely, detuned guitar. in 1985, it had infamously sold less than ten of the 1000 copies originally pressed, however by 1999, when it was issued on cd, the vinyl had completely disappeared, with original copies changing hands for hundreds of dollars. this exact vinyl repress on corwood industries, is the first time ready for the house has been available on vinyl for nearly 20 years, finally giving collectors and fans the opportunity to own one of the most peculiar, solitary, and strangely magnetic records of all time.
hip uk private press from one half of the excellent red kites. solo guitar trance with plenty velvets damaged drone and feedback. obscure all silver metallic covers. way limited.
a totally unreleased album from 1969. this birmingham based and velvett fogg connected “underground” quartet, recorded an album back in 1969 which was intended to be released by polydor uk. that never happened and the material shelved. now, almost 40 years after the recordings finished, you’ll be able to listen to a lost jewel from the late 60′s uk psychedelic scene. excellent poetic lyrics, with a particular 60’s feeling, by keith law, agreeable singing by both the male voices, heavy guitar solos, and occasional organ, flutes, recorder, sitar. with guest appearances by andy bown, peter frampton, michael berg, brian appleyeard. marvelous stuff…!!! this is an official, fully licenced, vinyl edition taken from the original master tapes. it has a gimmick cover (a window opens and presents a group-photo). and contains a, 4-pages full coloured, insert with lyrics, photos and bio and a big sized psychedelic poster (40x60cm); all in high quality paper. limited to 400 copies. 180gm black vinyl, in pvc protective outer sleeve.
spider reincarnated into a master-burning bunch of cheap whiskey drinkers. little popsong melodiebook. pink. style pink. very little plastic. kick off time in distortion. medley melodies.”pulp voxtrotter vocal/mental institution blues – i’m feelin’ it — whothe fuck is neil clucax?” both wagstaff (aka joincey) and jarvis are wellknown for their work in several bands like a warm palindrome and their collabs with people like neil campbell, phill todd etc – the usual trashed & thrashed imvated packaging. limited to 63.
a truely dedicated cassette of recordings done in august. icy synth tone-shards tunneling themselves through immense layers of ice before melting into a beautiful, jaw dropping audiovisual landscape which then again warps itself into guitar chords spreading warm waves of greatness dedicated to his newly born son. edition of 50. skull drawing by jarvis himself… another nice one this too overlooked uk figure.
the 12” ep is limited to 500 copies worldwide. each record comes in a one of a kind vintage record jacket. the front side is silk-screened and the back has a hand pasted track listing which is also silk-screened. also included is a free mp3 download coupon. 2 is the second 12” from javelin. their debut 12” released by thrill jockey last november sold out the week of release javelin consists of two cousins, tom van buskirk and george langford. they started making music together in providence, ri in 2004, although their earliest collaborative tapes date back to a bunk bedroom near the sea shore. they now live in new york. in performance, javelin will use colorfully painted boomboxes that form large speaker totems (“boombaatas”) which can hang from the ceiling or stack up on the floor like pyramids. the signal from the show is broadcast via fm transmitter, thereby fostering audience participation (b.y.o.boombox) or fueling battery-powered, mobile parties. the duo has played venues as diverse as the children’s branch of the olneyville public library (ri), to the museum of modern art (ny), both of which happened in the same week. when not performing, javelin is busy producing. together they have amassed a vast catalogue of music, varying in its aesthetic range. songs resemble the record collection from whence they spring, if not literally as when sampling, then figuratively as when past forms are cited and re-contextualized. sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their mpcs. long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. the result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical “dollar bins of the future”), where r & b impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and andean flautists hold equal sway.
beautiful 7″ by this cool duo from providence! their sound although is not much like their colleagues’ in the super city usa. in javelin’s music samples and their own playing melt into a great whole of genius groovy living room music. perfect music for summer night after-parties in amusement parks. it’s so incredibly fresh you want to explode when it’s over! to avoid explosion you want to listen to the 7″ forever! not exploding means that you can enjoy your life and love this beautiful world – whoa – now this is not quite what you’d expect maybe, but pretty damn fun non the less, especially at 45rpms!
long awaited follow up to the “true story of abner jay” lp. abner jay was a man who had a grand sweeping vision of what folk music was. in his lifetime his expression of what folk music could be encompassed some serious stylistic variations. sometimes he was a one man band traveling troubadour playing an electric banjo, harmonica, & drums who tried to hoodwink audiences into believing that he was 150 years old & the standard bearer for authentic americana. sometimes he played in electric straight up r&b bands such as “koko joe & the jobhunters”. sometimes he claimed to be the “black bob dylan” strumming an acoustic guitar & singing socially conscious urban folk. on this lp we find abner in all of these modes & more. (he also does a pop song about a submarine disaster & a beautiful gospel song) culled from a mix of abners’ 45′s & lps spanning the period 1964 – 1973, including abner’s first long lost lp, which we reproduced the cover image for this lp from. we hope that this release will help to further the current wave of understanding that abner jay is an important artist who deserves a wider audience than he ever received during his lifetime. comes with a self promotional pamphlet penned by abner & a color photo of abner. housed in an old school tip on sleeve. we are very proud to get this incredibly hard to find material out into the world.
restock/repressed… compilation culled from abners’ self released lps & 7″s featuring hits such as ‘i’m so depressed,’ ‘cocaine’, ‘vietnam,’ & ‘the reason young people do drugs.’ abner jay was a one-man band singer/songwriter deserving of a wider listening audience than he received in his day. this is the first vinyl release of his material since the 1970s. great soulful folk & r&b music. most copies of the lp include a press photo of abner, transcriptions of his spoken word pieces, a reproduction of an informative pamphlet about abner & a press statement penned by abner himself. tip on jacket.
debut vinyl lp from manchester’s david a. jaycock (who is also a member of big eye family players), david had a 7″ on the excellent great pop supplement and presets follows on from that fine release. presets features 12 tracks of melancholic folk almost entirely performed by david on a variety of instruments, and it’s a real step forward to darker areas than his previous releases on great pop supplement, early winter recordings and the red deer club. the record retains some of the more haunting vocal and guitar moments from aforementioned excursions, and at times is comparable to ben chasny’s six organs of admittance, but it has a much stranger and hard to place approach and sound, with some fantastic dark creepy tracks, blurring creaking, clunking objects with something that sounds like guitar, transformed into something far more sinister… but somehow at the same time retains a feeling that everything isn’t quite as bleak as it seems. edition of 250 with pro printed sleeves. pressed on virgin vinyl.
in which noise abounds, melody and beauty are found incidentally, and visceral sounds reach for visceral ears. of the four words in the above heading, only the second and fourth are truly evoked from this disc, silence being the hardest to come by. with guitar tracks that are saturated in feedback ‘n distortion and arhythmic spoken-word vocals over a bedrock of pulsing drones and beats, this album will put the fear in you like a good ital. horror flick. dense noise-rock orchestrations that are minimal yet overflowing. dirt and soul in a grimey oasis of fuzz. limited to 40.
brand new split lp featuring heavy hitting uk bleak dudes… a-side is jazzfinger’s ‘killed in a clear sky’, one solid slab of fucked up tapped guitar drone and distant errie whir… like a storm of electric feedback, slashes and cuts. far out, and a real killer 20 odd minutes to make you lull out. b-side is a collaboration between culver and fordell research unit, another side long piece, that starts off with some bassed up doom chugs and slogs that sound like fucking something that could lay down by some southern lord brutality, but then it punches you in the face with its distorted churning hell. limited to 280 white label lps in black sleeves with hideous brutal artwork by french.
danish label reverse recordings have just released a jazzkammer/opec split lp. our side is a 20 minute turntable freak-out, while opec offer a more subtle but no less intense soundscape. 323 copies, silkscreened covers and a proper vinyl mastering by the good rashad at d+m in berlin. — lasse marhaug (jazzkammer) — another sweet one on this hip label. two color screen printed art on a heavy clear vinyl sleeve, screen printed round art paper insert, numbered to 323.
danish label reverse recordings have just released a jazzkammer/opec split lp. our side is a 20 minute turntable freak-out, while opec offer a more subtle but no less intense soundscape. 323 copies, silkscreened covers and a proper vinyl mastering by the good rashad at d+m in berlin. – lasse marhaug (jazzkammer) – another sweet one on this hip label. two color screen printed art on a heavy clear vinyl sleeve, screen printed round art paper insert, numbered to 323.
portland / oregon-sacramento / california: 580 miles. one of the longest trip for the first jennifer gentle north american tour. they play at the academy of fools, a sort of garage converted as an art gallery: a big open space, low ceiling, completely empty, walls without anything, no stage, no audio system, just a microphone. it seams the beginning of a bad night, on the contrary due to the wonderful view and the beautiful californian sun, or just for themselves and their fans, the jennifer gentle decided to play anyway; not their usual repertory to much noisy but just an improvisation made by their instinct. the result was a hypno jam session, relaxed, honeiric. the day after jennifer gentle play at the davis kdvs radio, where they propose and records the same jam of the previous night, which became the”sacramento session”. back to home, working on marco’s improvisations with different sounds, manipulated, mixed and remixed, they found the specular image from a distorted mirror of the”sacramento session”:”5 of 3″ is the perfect b side, the balance and overturn of that californian night. we would like also to remark you that”sacramento session / 5 of 3″ is not the jennifer gentle new studio album, but is instead a combo of a jam session together with a studio manipulation. packaging in a de-luxe and elegant fold-out cover – opaque red vinyl. very limited edition.
debut full length by this death cult trio. first track is psychotic piece of mind captured on the concrete floor. followed by a parable trilogy about a loved canine’s murder by a zealous rural gunslinger, recorded thick in the asbestos death dust of dreamtime village – very limited and out of print.
drawings, photo’s and lunar stories by eric de jesus. half black & white, half full-color. let your moustache grow easy. bound together by the hand.
hangzhou’s li jianhong has been performing alone and in the duo d!o!d!o!d! for several years, but he only caught western ears last year with the monumental san sheng shi, released by philadelphia’s archive cd. oceanic and desolate, lovers with cloisonné bracelet cements li as a distinctive voice in modern noise. the two halves of this record are an ideal introduction to li’s music: “lovers in misery” offers a restrained, electric swell; “time in the mirror” wallows in hototogisu-an guitar hell. without sacrificing pacing for density, li has crafted an album that decimates the retrograde psychedelic guitar landscape and trivializes the petty violence of much harsh noise. edition of 350 180gm lps in heavy-stock linen-paper sleeves hand-screened, -cut, and –glued by reuben little of 43rd parallel press.
with its immediately recognizable m c escher cover, this intriguing folk/rock/psych release from 1974 is another incredibly rare album enjoying its first legitimate reissue. a joint effort’s final effort was originally recorded and released by canada’s university of new brunswick on its little records label (little records 101); despite its lack of wider recognition, this is generally regarded by those who know as a diverse and eclectic album with a number of outstanding tracks. one pundit described it as ’a weird mix of early csny, with shades of perth county conspiracy and a dash of early eagles thrown in.’ the first side, with the superb ’winter’ is particularly impressive — largely acoustic hippy folk rock with the occasional electric guitar thrown in for good measure. side two, however, is an altogether rockier affair with standout tracks ’greed for goldand,’ an up-tempo fuzzed-out cover of ’a horse with no name’ combining effectively to elevate final effort to a different musical plane. original cover has been reproduced as well as rare original insert.
since 1989, glenn jones has led boston’s “avant -garage” instrumental rock band cul de sac, whose musical adventures are documented on nine albums to date, including a soundtrack for cult-director roger corman (the strangler’s wife, 2003), and collaborations with guitarist john fahey (the epiphany of glenn jones, 1996) and former can vocalist damo suzuki (abhayamudra, 2004). a 30-plus-year devotee of the so-called “takoma school,” jones has written extensively on the steel-string guitar’s leading lights: john fahey, with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years, and robbie basho, who befriended jones during the five years before his untimely death in 1986. in 2001, jones began playing acoustic guitar in earnest, which he hadn’t touched in more than a decade. in 2004, jones stepped out of the long shadow cast by takoma’s guitar visionaries and offered his own “new possibility” — this is the wind that blows it out, an impeccable album of acoustic 6 ¨ 12-string beauty, released to rave review. since then, jones has kept busy performing with many leading lights of the guitar soli movement, past and present, while penning new material for what is destined to be known as his crowning achievement. against which the sea continually beats is an indisputable triumph of acoustic guitar composition, a reverential and innovative melding of sound and form. against which the sea continually beats was recorded over four days during late september 2006 in beautiful west tinsbury, martha’s vineyard, ma. the peaceful, seafaring setting of the island community inspired the recording sessions, lending an air of tranquility that served to coax from glenn jones impeccable performances, most of which were captured in just one take. bookended by the brief slide blues laments “island 1″ and “island 2″, against which the sea continually beats’ eleven tunes travel from delta to appalachia, from classical to a cinematic sort of folk sound in a language that is purely imbued in the artists’ own dialect. “david and the phoenix” unfurls like a robbie basho-style american raga, but with a particular propulsion laden with melodic hooks to keep it from floating away; “little dog’s day”, originally found on imaginational anthem vol. 1 as a previous recording, benefits greatly from the martha’s vineyard sessions as the overall feel is more relaxed and precise, lending a bit of bounce and swagger to the folk ditty. “freedom raga”, a staple in jones’ live set, at 11:04 is the longest tune on the album and although not a raga at all but rather a triumphant 12-string straddling of the mason-dixon line, it is every bit as epic in scope as the title suggests; and “the teething necklace (for john fahey)”, a tune that jones was working on in 2001 when he got the news that john fahey had died, finally fleshed itself out while touring europe with jack rose and is in itself a tremendously nuanced, delicately understated bit of fingerstyle allegory. graceful and subtle, resonating with confidence and at times sheer power, against which the sea continually beats is a masterpiece of guitar soli by a truly singular talent… excellent new solo cd.
guitarist /composer glenn jones claims a lengthy and rich relationship to what his longtime friend john fahey so famously dubbed ‘american primitive guitar.’ aside from being seduced by punk in its latter-’70s heyday and brandishing the electric for a large portion of his career (including 20 years as a founding member of post-rock instrumentalists cul de sac), it was the acoustic steel-string and the seemingly multi-directional genres born from fahey’s homespun takoma imprint that informed much of jones’ early musical vision. he’s also an accomplished writer and producer, penning notes for many of fahey’s reissues as well as his final posthumous album red cross; it was from jones’ personal archive that the robbie basho live concert album bonn 1st supreme he produced for bo’ weavil recordings (entrusted to him by the late basho, whom he befriended in the latter years of his life) was exhumed. in short, he’s an authority on the subject, both as a player and scholar, and with two gorgeous, critically-acclaimed solo albums under his belt, jones is widely and justly recognized as one of the major voices of the international wave of acoustic steel string players that seemingly crested in the wake of fahey’s death. barbecue bob in fishtown is jones’ latest, a disarmingly elegiac foray into wider and deeper streams of ever-chiming steel string. returning to martha’s vineyard where jones recorded his previous masterwork (against which the sea continually beats, strange attractors, 2007), barbecue bob in fishtown explores the possibilities of classical composition within american folk forms and solo instrumentation. it’s precisely this stylistic melding which sets jones apart from his modern-day acoustic underground brethren. jones is able to discover and project wide-screened cinema from just 6 & 12 strings, coaxing vivid panoramic images from his sparkling fingerstyle playing. experimentations with tuning and various capos of his own invention are wed with delicately expressive playing and a remarkable compositional prowess. barbecue bob in fishtown also finds jones’ performing solo on 5-string banjo for the first time on record, exhuming the spirit of clive’s original band as seen through a dock boggs-esque prism. barbecue bob in fishtown distills the best qualities of jones’ musical vision into a finely honed summation of his distinctly singular style. a timeless recording, one to be held up as one of the best examples of the genre by a unique player dubbed by writer bill meyer in signal to noise as ‘…an elder amongst the disciples.’… limited 180gm vinyl version.
western mass / vermont big band folk psych jamming from feathers members and many others. limited to 68 copies.
the first in a series of 5 x 45s as a collaborative project between the gps and bo weavil records. the project runs something like this: a sides feature 5 c joynes originals while b sides feature reworkings / remixes of other c joynes pieces by friends and artists involved with all parties concerned. volume 1 here is in an edition of 350 in die cut tower sleeves, on numbered yellow vinyl.
the first ever release on black petal by japanese musicians… the right people were finally found… and we dont even need to make a fancy explanation – this is pure beautiful pop abstracted by avant-garde tactics and obtuse lyrical concerns (like prince). cdr and seemingly too popular for this little operation.
orange you glad is the debut full-length lp from julian lynch, following a string of self-released cd-r’s and a recent split 7″ with his childhood friend and frequent collaborator matt mondanile of ducktails on the underwater peoples label. a talented multi-instrumentalist, julian has had a busy summer playing countless shows both solo and as a member of predator vision, ducktails, and real estate offshoot alex bleeker & the freaks. this album is comprised of 4-track home recordings made in his hometown of ridgewood, new jersey and also in madison, wisconsin where he is a graduate student in ethnomusicology. his interest in indian & south asian music blossomed several years ago when he was living in washington, d.c. and working for smithsonian folkways recordings. this exposure to their vast library of world music has informed his output, and he blends instruments such as harmonium & tabla with guitar-rock instrumentation. also of note is his use of circular breathing techniques on the clarinet — often a focal point during his meditative live shows.
guerssen records is proud to release on vinyl nothing less than an essential album to anyone with a minimum interest in psychedelic music. this very rare 1968 uk album, originally released on the major minor label, features essential psych classics such as “dandelion seeds” and “my clown.” this is the definitive vinyl reissue of this beauty, pressed on 180 gram vinyl and housed in a high-quality carton cover with old-style backflaps and a fantastic 4-page insert with photos and extensive liner notes by uk psych authority david wells. also included is a full-color reproduction of the rare-as-hell original promo poster… great upgrade of this total classic.
the first legitimate re-issue of this mega rare californian psychedelic monster. this is one of the best and most sought after psychedelic gems ever recorded, with amazing and fluid heavy fuzz guitars, superb organ, drums and fantastic songwriting. recorded in new york in 1969 while the band was living in a farm in vermont. the original was pressed in a run of 50 demo copies only! no names or hints are given on the original lp but after over a decade of excruciating search, miguel rodriguez, the man behind finding darius, garrett lund, stonewall and many more, finally found the band members! so here is your chance to listen to one of the great mystical albums of the psychedelic private press collectors’ realm at the fraction of the cost of the original, in amazing sound. this gem comes in a gatefold cover with unseen pictures and full band history, released in full collaboration with the surviving band members… great to see this finally get a high quality legit reissue! been a long time fave ‘round time-lag since way back. recommended!
denmark is a place teeming with half fried organic drone crews such as sarah’s charity and family underground. kaezm is the solo output for nicolas kauffmann of fu; here he channels electricity through criss-crossing patterns creating a midrange din full of lament. nic’s drones move with static builds from a variety of sources and multiple levels of echoing chorus: airy, buzzing mantras tinged with middle eastern vibes and a deepening sense of time beat down like an incessant rainfall in a storm of hiss. in an edition of 100 labeled tapes with full color art by nic.
first full length solo from nicolas of family underground. two tracks.
more madness from the sprawling mymwly collective comes to us via kageplan. this project is the brainchild of native aussie katrina mcphie. in mymwly fashion, this album is a total manic headfuck. mcphie mixes rhythmic guitar playing with a bevy of samples and hypnotic vocals. this sound world is for acid heavyweights, swirling around your head like a million buzzing bees. mcphie gets help from ian mcintyre (of ffehro, majik, & soarwhole) on most tracks, but this is her show. these spaced out jams will suck you dry and leave you for dead. and really, that’s just the way we like it. 100 copies.
“misora” (which can be roughly translated as beautiful sky), the 1972 debut album by sachiko kanenobu, a woman generally acknowledged as japans first female singer-songwriter. it’s a near-perfect folk masterpiece, alternating full-bodied arrangements (produced by harry hosono of yellow magic orchestra and happy end) with sachiko’s lonesome guitar and pure, soaring vocals. discovered as a precocious 18 year old in osaka, sachiko was signed in 1968 to japan’s first ever independent record company, urc (underground record club), who changed japan’s musical landscape irrevocably in the late 60s and early 70s with artists like happy end, folk crusaders and kenji endo. sachiko was the only female artist on this era-defining label and the very fact that she wrote and sang her own songs made her a rarity among japanese women. limited reissue of 500 copies, in gatefold cover and with a 4 page insert featuring extensive linernotes, lyrics translated into english by sachiko herself, and never before seen photos from the singers own archives.
new reissue of ohio psych, folk, rock and strange from ’71-’72. originality was not an issue with the jammers. they are ‘real.’ 500 legit pressings, black vinyl with bonus non-lp 45! also with band history insert and a real sharp looking glossy cover. ‘waiting for the messiah’, ‘midnight watch’.
debut album from this massive free ensemble from louisville which features a revolving cast of over 50 musicians including members of sapat, valley of ashes, virgin eye blood brothers, son of earth, taiwan death and the belgian waffles. the hermit consists of three extended pieces that offer spaciously abstract atmospheres as well as moments of righteous cacophony. utilizing a multitude of brass, reeds and percussion the album careens through numerous passages where intricate harmonics are created from the densely layered sounds. when the full force of the ensemble is unleashed individual elements appear and quickly recede into the squall. as the music nearly becomes unhinged, the sound disintegrates into a godzilla-like rockist thud propelled by the rhythm section and soaring horns before drifting to a sparse conclusion. the lp comes in a full colour jacket with homespun artifacts gracing the cover – very limited.
the new decade begins with a groovy explosion of sound and colors: ladies and gentlemen, here comes the new rock syndicate. band leader kawaguchi masami is a veteran of the tokyo underground scene, being former miminokoto, broomdusters and lsd march member, both seminal projects in the development of a certain way to make rock, looking back at the tradition with a new approach, open to psychedelia, noise and free improvisation. as it happens, masami’s activities soon became the object of a passionate cult among music lovers and record collectors. ‘the psychedelic sounds of the new rock syndicate‘ is the definitive statement of masami as songwriter and ferocious guitar player, finding in kikuchi akira (bass), kiyasu (drums) and hasegawa yohei (guitar on ‘dazzling light’ and ‘(theme from) new rock syndicate’) the perfect partners in crime for this unbelievable new studio work. the album opens with an almost sabbattesque anthem (‘why’) where a heavy riffage is accompanied by lamentous vocals; second piece (‘affected dance’) is a deconstructed blues jam, with a touch of narcoleptic magic and simply beautiful. side b is where the miracle actually happens: every single track is a banger, a compendium of 50 years of rock music compressed in 18 minutes of fire on wax. songs like ‘repetition’ or ‘tottemo’ have been rotating non stop here since when we got the master recording. every other word is useless: a monument. first edition 250 copies, with spectacular artwork by standard in-fi visuals… nice one!
from all belgian projects maybe the best known. started the köhn project around 1997 and released three full albums on our label. right from the start köhn wasn’t happy with only providing the hip electronica world only an exploration of sounds, but decided to combine these sources to deliver a kind of pop from another angle. you’ll bump into pure electronica, pop melodies, ambient pieces and musique concrete. his soundpalet is music history uptill now. still: he did find his own signature. proof of this can be heard on the epic dble cd ‘koen’ which is mainly a sum of years of experience within a thin field. köhn also provides soundtracks to short movies and animations, produced music for dance performances/theatre plays and commercials. in between all this he tours the world (with or without visuals from hendrik dacquin) setting fire to most stages and plays in de portables. besides all this he also releases albums as jurgen deblonde on tomlab to break in completely into pop-territory. but 2003 is the year that both projects coming together more and more. other projects: jurgen deblonde, ed nolbed, frambooz, de portables, burda moden. the comeback we were all waiting for! ever since his “bruce willis” album (western vinyl, 2003) jürgen de blonde mainly focussed on music for dance and theatre productions. untill recently when he relived his old synthesizer festish. this finally resulted in “we need more space in the cosmos”, an ode to lost hero’s such as klaus schulze and jean-michel jarre. the album recalls eighties electronics, i.e. an era when kraut rock culminated into new space ages and cosmic television soundtracks. but still the köhn trademarks pop up from the very first second. his unique approach to music that made him differ from the likes of aphex twin and oval in the nineties, now shows the man as a cosmic courier of the 21st century. comes in a limited edition sleeve from the yves jeanson geometrical abstraction art collection.
once again, finnish-native keijo virtanen unloads another dirt-stained masterpiece. over the past few years he has assembled a group of artists that have become known as the free players. their collaborative efforts are like a clinic in improvisation. the interplay and spontaneity between them is epic. the free players often include members of finnish free-jazz pawnpins VAPAA, as well as KHETA HOTEM, KUNDALINI SNAKES, and others. ‘after at once’ is the ensemble’s first non-cdr release and finds them in top form. the members of vapaa play an integral role on ‘after at once.’ tiitus petajaniemi is especially key with his vocal wailings and incantantions. tribal percussion and chromatic whimsy often puncuatekeijo’s sarod-laden excursions through the mist. there’s a heavy indian influence on these recordings, stemming from keijo’s many trips its sub-continental shores. musically, ‘after at once’ is spacious, but cohesive. with the addition of the sarod on these recordings, the music takes on a life of its own. as always, keijo’s hand guides the magic and in the end, it’s still his world we’re living in.
wonderfully dreamy and spatious recordings by finnish ambient-mystic keijo virtanen, joined on these sessions by members of the band vapaa. synth and reed-instrument drones are married to discreet plucked strings, abstract percussion, and keijos harmonic singing. a 45 minute series of beautiful slow moments.
first duo collaboration of keijo & uton. here is 7 songs of droney & spacey blues jams, sometimes far away in cosmos, sometimes rockin the ground again. 60 copies.
on this outing the freeplayers move with gentle grace through realms of hazy free flowing rock and psyche spiked jammage. deeply meditative, cyclical and dreamy, perfect for the human nomind.
keijo is a finnish psych guru of sorts and here he is on a brand new label called reverb worship. this is thelabel’s first release and they’ll be doing ltd cdr runs of 50 in hand sprayed sleeves (this one looks a lot like a not not fun release). they’ve got some juicy bits coming up but i can’t say what they are! anyhoo keijo does a blues/ psych thing on guitar which sounds improvised and it’s a rather jolly thing. ‘about around’ is extremely widdly! – norman records… very first release on the label, long out of print. 50 numbered copies in hand painted covers.
out of print. one copy only.
the godfather of the finnish underground is back with his most complete album to date. keijo virtanen’s far-reaching hands can be felt throughout the nordic peninsula from his home in jyväskylä. while he often performs in numerous groups such as the free players and kheta hotem, it is in his solo work that he is most accomplished. virtanen is not just a talented and prolific musician, but also an artist and published author. his inspiration and creativity know no bounds. at 54 years-old, virtanen still rides his motorcycle all over the country and shows no signs of letting up. virtanen finally took his show on the road this past autumn, touring with members of uton and vapaa throughout northern europe. he also released two cds on the much heralded last visible dog imprint. flying over is the culmination of a landmark year for this troubadour. these nine tracks run the gambit of all of keijo’s talents, from the rattling blues transgressions of ‘on the edge,’ to the throat singing-laced organic drone of ‘late night here & far away.’ virtanen’s range is pure magic. while the bulk of flying over is entirely virtanen’s creation, he is joined by two of his closest collaborators on two tracks: sami virtanen and jussi karsikas, two extremely talented finns in their own right. whatever the moment calls for, though, virtanen fills the void and the empty space with exactly what is needed. he is a wizard of sound and a seemingly endless well of magnificent music. it shouldn’t be surprising for someone who makes their home at the center of the universe.
keijo’s songs draw from country-blues sources, as is often the case with his releases, there’s a couple of woody guthrie interpretations included here. harmonicas whine and woe, but also keep up the rhythm of keepin’ on. in these songs, people get up early and travel in a land “that used to be your land.” it’s a place where luck comes and goes, just like the people that you meet. the girl knows how to hit you like rolling thunder, the workers are left unpaid (the boss ain’t), the ones with no work are standing in the welfare line, your “true love” throws you a suitcase and shows you the door, there’s working in the country and in the cities, an anonymous wanderer carries the blues wherever he goes – but it’s bigger than just being down: you don’t see me worrying, ‘cos i’ve got nothing left to lose. that’s why we all share the blues… packaged in a full color 7inch sized cover.
another lovely dose of drone lift-off from finland’s master of the form.
this beautiful super-heavyweight lp, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the uk’s premier free drummer alex neilson, who’s played, amongst others, with motor ghost, directing hand, trembling bells, tight meat duo, josephine foster, bonnie ‘prince’ billy, jandek, mv&ee, richard youngs, baby dee and alastair galbraith, with nmperign member greg kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as anthony braxton’s reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. a screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of greg’s horn, unlike anything we’ve ever heard and he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes. limited to 500 copies.
another exercise in failure. spring 2003: with assistance from vic rawlings, i fill my room at club awesome in somerville ma w/ electri keyboards, synth, a small organ and set them all for drone. a radio plays static. record to md, output md through my stereo for low feedback. an electric fan is aimed at the microphone for the distorted vintage 78 effect (rpm, not the year). vic bowed a single cello note at some point and a cymbal was scraped. the intent: record in mono for 2 hours, communicate with the dead. after 1 hour, i couldn’t take it any more. my intended”two hours as – ” is now”one hour as – ” i fussed over it for a while. it’s kind of boring. i like boring, but – late winter 2004: i must do something with this recording. i decide to look backwards into the archives – january 8, 2000: i send out a call to arms: meet me at twisted village records, cambridge ma at 8pm. it’s scelsi’s birthday and we will play a memorial drone for him. the call was met by oliver alden, mike bullock, james baumgartner, seth cluett, james coleman, david dougan, david gross, tatsuya nakatani, howard stelzer, bhob rainey, vic rawlings. some automatic instruments played themselves. others may have been there, but i don’t remember. and you can’t really hear them anyway. back to late winter 2004: i record a new track onto my 4 track in my bedroom in allston ma. trumpet and radio static. (dj screw’s ghost inhabited my 4 track near the end of this track.) then i record a burning guitar solo for the end of my new and improved”one hour as – ” the mono drone, the scelsi tribute band, the trumpet/radio track and the hott guitar track are all mixed down from 4 track to md under the influence of samuel smith oatmeal stout. a vocal intro and headphone feedback interruptions are then added. the task is complete. it’s a bloodbath. what have i done?
i first met jeremy kelly at bottled smoke back in may and subsequently got to know him via email over the summer. simply put, he’s an incredible artist and musician. there’s a few things you should know… first, he’s an effects-building wizard. he makes a lot of his own stuff, giving his music unique sounds and textures. also, he’s one hell of a guitar player with one hell of a nice guitar. third, his circuit-bending wizardry also lends its hand to his mighty doepfer modular synth, which has its tendrils weaved all throughout his debut cd. so keeping all these things in mind, we’re extremely excited to be offering up jeremy’s first proper cd release. this self-titled effort is a cohesive conglomeration of a dizzying array of styles, recorded beautifully by ged gengras (antique brothers) with help from grant capes ((vxpxc)) out in los angeles. gengras even joins in on saz at one point, concocting a hypnotic middle-eastern jam that feels baked in the scorching desert sand. add in some blues-infused acoustic ragas that throw a nod to ben chasny’s six organs of admittance and glazed walls of analog noise, and you’re somewhere in the ballpark of this album. it’s all over the place, but never too far from the path kelly has laid down for himself. this is some serious magic. limited to 500 copies.
this is the first release from finland’s kemialliset ystävät since 2007. kemialliset ystävät equals jan anderzén. he is one of the few finnish musicians to have achieved renown in the international experimental circuit. in the case of anderzén — who also plies a trade as a visual artist — this is not a matter of juxtaposition between experimental and mainstream, or a calculated career choice. using music and images, he is busy creating a world that is a law unto itself, a world of exceptional freedom and beauty. earlier ky albums have been peppered with contributions by individuals such as islaja, the members of avarus and sami sänpäkkilä. it is not easy to distinguish who plays what on kemialliset ystävät recordings. rather than a side project consisting of solo parts, the band is an ecosystem within anderzén’s reality. one of the essential techniques applied by anderzén is collage, in sound as well as image. he is no conventional instrumental virtuoso; his music is created with a fluctuating array of instruments and equipment. the focus is less on instrumental prowess and more on the overall sound and impression as well as the tension between the various materials. as a manipulator of these elements, anderzén is in a league of his own. his sampler-based solo performances as tomutonttu have left no doubt about that. a close listening of anderzén’s music reveals its near-architectonic precision. he is known for an exceptionally painstaking approach to creating his music. all this hard work is readily evident in the finished product, not as an accentuated complexity but rather as a clear, independent vision. kemialliset ystävät is like a natural phenomenon. it is difficult to imagine anyone having consciously constructed it, such is the ease with which it presents itself to us. to be in the presence of anderzén’s work is captivating in the same way, simple yet inexplicable, as it is to stare into fire. it truly takes a master to create such an experience, but listening to this kemialliset ystävät album evokes just that: a feeling of lightness.
this is the fourth full-length album by kemialliset ystävät on the fonal label, originally released in 2007. pulsating, radiant and turbo-charged, this music shares the groove of a junk pile and a wild foal. it comes with the lovely smell of the chemical they spray on apple trees. it’s a highly ambitious effort originally planned to become a defiant message in a bottle, limited edition of one, addressed to the man. kemialliset ystävät has been rocking out for some time now and there is no end in sight. without all the experiments of the past, this record would not exist, and there’s still plenty of fresh perspective in the mix, too. listen to roope drum his belly, laura play tambura and jaakko go berserk on a chinese flute. lots of energy went into the mixing: a million voices from friends are twisted into one hypnotic, over-the-top sound textile that vibrates and grows in every direction, resembling a living organism, a merry beast. give it a hug and you will gain power — it is like shooting up echinacea. wrap it around you and tune in to the blizzard. sit down and blast as loud as possible.
original compilation of all their singles plus their best unreleased tracks. 20 tracks in total. first vinyl issue… classic american garage!
better late than never (this was originally to be released in december), “winter solstice” finds kheta hotem in rare form, basking in the glow of the midnight sun. this finnish quintet featuring, among others, keijo virtanen and members of the free players and akisa, is a chaotic romp. with elements of free jazz creeping in from the margins to compliment the organic drones and shimmering percussion orchestra, these recordings are woven in solid gold. keijo’s throat singing is the perfect undercurrent for jilted saxophones to dance in the metallic rain. “winter solistice” is perhaps kheta hotem’s finest hour.
so i would imagine that youd have one look at the photo of king darves we have here and think “oh brother! another guy with a beard getting over what looks like a bad case of the clap and an acoustic guitar. wheres my axe?” so were not gonna put it up here. (mystique, dig?) but its really not like that, i tell you! the bedrock of king darves new brunswick based concoction is certainly folk based but theres no headband and hes not singing of pixies in the moss. this is somewhere between rolled cigs and the foggy vision of big pink from somewhere on jersey avenue, or maybe a one-manned meat puppets. this kid has really cobbled something together in his kitchen sink! the sun splits for… the blind swimmer will shock and please when the prettiest sound of his deep, rich voice comes out of yr headphones, and itll make you tap yr toes and nod yr head like a little jersey goil. – tony rettma.
king george discovery – peace of mind, was recorded in sweden in 1968 with the us musician king george clemens on guitar & vocals. a close friendship to jimi hendrix, who toured also sweden in 1968, dropped many tracks from the release plan when the band was recording an album which also came out that year. all tracks who where competing with the music of jimi hendrix was not released, until now. a collector from england found the unknown tracks who where pressed only as a demo lp for the band. what a great find. some tracks where placed on youtube and collectors where starting raving about this album. it is soo good, the guitar work is amazing, as psychedelic as it can get. we could release this album in cooperation with king george clemens and we are proud to have this treasure released on vinyl and later onto cd. it’s just great! one of the most important release this year for sure! 500 numbered / heavy sleeve / 180 gram pressing / 2 page inserts.
KIRBY, DAVID ~ INSIDE IT IS RINGING ~ cdr (students of decay) $10.00
this is it. long in the making, we have here thee definitive statement (for the time being) from atlanta, georgia soundwizard david kirby. and god, it’s a monster. “inside, it is ringing” is born of the same brain erasing dust as his recent “shrieks against the glass pt. 2″ and his work in the wire thicket duo. however, this record transcends those previous outings in every possible way. kirby offers cavernous drones, alien rumblings and static depth
charges here that could level mountains. his recording processes are as hermetic as they are obsessive, and, like the work of all the finest craftsmen, nothing is superfluous. play impossibly loud. inhale the vapors. and float the fuck away… out of print.
kohoutek’s a live experience and this cd-r + dvd-r captures them in that context with an amazing show and video in philadelphia this past year. this comes with amazing, original cover art by scott allison and features video by jim brophy. sweet. pick it up, only 50 copies – sweet damaged psych sounds. follow-up to last years self release debut.
levitating guitar drones and vocal moanin’ creepin’ out the suburbs of the west island of montreal. waves upon waves. dig a hole in the sand and stick your head in. found cover image photocopied on heavy card stock. hand numbered and stamped. spray painted cassettes. edition of 65.
one copy only.
this one’s a real tasty way to kick off a new label. ‘deep distance’ was created as a side project to the great pop supplement, a way of releasing some of the demos and planned releases within gps head dom’s primary love of all things motorik and kosmische themed… the first few releases are broadly based on the killer series of konrad schnitzler private press / gallery edition series of lps from 1974. borrowing the deliberately minimal single colour themes for sleeves and labels with all release details contained over a series of inserts and stickers. with some fabulous releases currently being discussed and negotiated, the series in the meantime kicks off with the incredible first volume of 2 planned ‘kosmonaut’ full lengths. released in a blue edition of 250 lps on vinyl only, kosmonaut is the brainchild of texan patrick r. park, whose stunning cassette and cdr releases on his own “ethereal mother” label point at some holy kosmische collision of schulze, froese, ash ra / gottsching, and latter day celestial synth explorers expo 70, jonas reinhardt and mist, amongst others. a fabulous lp in a numbered edition of 250, not expected to sit around long…. a second volume follows as does the previously gps destined ‘karen novotny x’ full length of killer previously discarded 1978 synth experiments partly inspired by chris carter / tg, cabaret voltaire, the normal et al… contrary to much web based mis-info these are all black vinyl, not blue vinyl… just so you know!
now available on yellow chrome pro-dubbed tape is kosmonaut’s official debut, the dilation of mother cosmos. kosmonaut is patrick r. park, who despite being physically located in texas and on planet earth, possibly inhabits another cerebral realm from within the universe. the sounds of kosmonaut are very heavily influenced by the gorgeous soundscapes of vintage synths of yesteryear and emanate total ashra, heldon, and cluster worship. the dilation of mother cosmos is the epic story of the galactic dilation of the cosmic cervix, resulting in the regeneration and progagation of a new cosmos. journey to the deepest caverns of your mind, and take the voyage with kosmonaut! this cassette was released by ethereal mother tapes, and is available in 75 hand-numbered limited edition cassette tapes.
after quite a while a new private press album from this wonderful finnish crew who seem to operate in their own little world. dreamy, mellow, soothing progfolk with acid flashed, sweet female vocals, mellotron, violin, etc. really lovely subtle stuff. their two earlier lps flew out of here quick years ago, and chances are if you dug those you’ll need this one too. nice. numbered edition of 500 copies with double-sided insert. 180gm vinyl.
for those that don’t know kousokuya are a cult garage pysch rock trio formed in the 70’s in the tokyo underground music scene by main member, and recently deceased jutok kaneko. despite having existed for 20+ years the bands output has been fairly sparse with a few releases on psf and one domestic us release on the forced exposure label. originally the archive release was to be comprised of a fantastic live performance on cd from osaka in 2001 but having discovered the existence of video footage from the same performance, coupled with the efforts of james a bonus dvd was added to the mix. this release represents to date the only video document of jutok and kousokuya released in official capacity and realistically represent a chance for fans of obscure psych to see a band, and artist, that basically played outside of japan only a handful of times. this pressing of 700 copies comes packaged in a ? fold heavy black stock cover with metallic silver and gloss varnish silkscreen work by the wonderful alan sherry of siwa records. the cd and dvd come in black envelopes held together by a silkscreen obi strip… sweet one.
field recordings get a whole new meaning on this album. sharron kraus and michael tanner (of plinth and united bible studies) took their instruments to the rheidol valley in wales and improvised songs, inspired and accompanied by the nature sounds. the result are eight very diverse experimental yet traditional sounding folksongs, that are very much related to both artists’ solo output. comes in beautiful screenprinted sleeves, in an edition of 250 copies. sharron kraus is a singer/musician/songwriter with a gift for beautiful and heartbreaking songs from a deep- seated storytelling mythology. her music, rooted in the folk traditions of england and appalachia, is characterized by soil-rich vocals, haunting banjo, fine acoustic guitar, and visionary word-craft. she is like the roving storyteller, bringing tales of terror, sadness and joy to a stranger’s hearth on a dark and stormy night. not surprising, kraus has been featured in the wire, arthur magazine, ptolemaic terrascope and broken face. her fanbase includes veteran folkies shirley collins and archie fisher as well as indie figureheads michael gira, david tibet , and sonic youth’s thurston moore. her list of collaborations is just as impressive in the past, she worked with the likes of the iditarod, fursaxa and meg baird and helena espvall of espers. though this record is the first one that has michael tanner’s name on the sleeve, he’s far from being a newcomer. most of his solo-output has been released under the name plinth, on labels like second language or apollolaan. he also recorded and played live with the likes of pantaleimon, united bible studies and tex la homa. before this album, he already worked with sharron on her album ‘the fox’s wedding’… quite lovely stuff.
long out of print 1995 private press from this obscure & rather hip italian space rock / psych / drone outfit. two extended tracks. clear yellow vinyl in a plain black cover. very limited.
archive lp of material recorded by tori kudo and some fellow travellers during a stay in new york in the summer of 1981. originally released on cassette the approach on these recordings was a long way from the creepy organ driven “noise tenno” lp that tori and reiko released a year earlier. about half of ‘atlantic city’ consists of songs, teeth bared and falling apart as they come together but still in a style similar to tori’s subsequent work with maher shalal hash baz. the other half is made up mostly of extended guitar jams nodding equally to rock and blues but retaining tori’s rather unique take on the idioms. cover and insert art on the lp is adapted from drawings drawn and photos taken in ny and atlantic city in 1981… beautifully packaged & fully screen printed as always. great stuff. recommended.
unilintu is the second of two vinyl-only lps on the dekorder label compiling the best material from kuupuus first four cd-r and cassette releases, this time presenting a slightly darker and even more coherent sonic vision compared to last years gorgeous yökehrä lp… awesome vinyl slab of kuupuu femme drone folk psych greatness. sweet full color photo cover. highest recommendation!
jonna karanka aka kuupuu is one of the main movers of the (deservedly) much hyped finnish psychedelic free folk scene. originally hailing from tampere she is known as a core member of avarus, anaksimandros, kukkkiva poliisi and maniacs dream. additionally, she has recently started hertta lussu esse with lau nau and islaja and has collaborated with tomutonttu (aka jan anderzen of kemialliset ystevet) and paavi (as lussu ja paavi). “yekehre” is the first of two vinyl-only lp’s on the dekorder label compiling the best material from her first four cd-r and cassette releases, all of which immediately became much sought after collector’s items, fetching ridicolous prices on the ebay market. this lp is a beautifull collection of haunting (sometimes spooky) home baked freeform folk songs, strange lo-fi loops, vocal drones and psychedelic cut-ups, made using weirdly tuned plucked and strummed strings, bells, clattery percussion, unidentifiable wind instruments, backwards tape loops and a ton of other noisemakers all played and recorded by herself; accompanied by her distinctive voice (often looped and layered) with vocals sung and whispered in her native finnish language making the whole atmosphere even more haunting and mysterious. jonna karanka creates an intimate space where the listener feels like sitting next to her in a small chamber or outside in the woods where kuupuu sings a lullaby just for him. we’re proud to say that this has to be one of the most exciting debut albums of the year. housed in a full colour sleeve with beautifull design / drawings / collage artwork by jonna karanka herself… awesome release. highly recommended!
shrine presents a summer of 2004, post-midnight, outdoor field recording made on the footpaths of japan’s largest shinto shrine and documents the first time meeting of japanese improvising duo kuwayama-kijima with nyc’s carter thornton (izititiz, zashiki-warashi, enos slaughter). constructed with a mixture of cellos, violins, guitars, sticks, leaves, rocks, toys, security guards and wind, the music drones, hisses, screeches and whines with the humid japanese dark within which it was created. limited to 500 vinyl copies.
here is one the the best and longest album we ever did. side a has 8 tracks studio (25 minutes) and side b 7 tracks live (28 minutes). this band from guadalajara, mexico never did a complete album (only 7 inches and an comp. on orfeon). la fachada de piedra (the stone facade) is a 6 piece band with 2 guitarists. the cream influenced bluesy underground blows you away. all english vocals, original songs, effects, screaming guitars (like eric clapton & peter green in best action) with hendrix style drug-out psychedelic… long out of print. extra heavy thick covers, 180gm vinyl, only 350 copies.
live to air in lyttelton in may 2009 when the musician pretended to be a duo from kaiapoi and conducted a fake interview with its revenant participants. ominous mists embraced the surrounding hills, before creeping toward the quiescent harbour. apologetic rainbows. c20. pro dubs times 100.
first release on this new label / custom hi-fi creator. adam kriney from owl xounds and co. lay down more deep space psych sounds. hand done full color packaging. limited to only 100 copies.
“the risk of gravitation” is the stunning new summer 08 tour mini-album by brooklyn’s la otracina, who have long wandered and forged sounds in the hidden lands of heavy psychedelia and progressive space music. this 7 track 32+ minute excursion is a major paradigm shift for the group as drummer adam kriney is now on vocal duties as well, adding yet another layer of epic intensity to the swirling chaos of evan sobel’s fender bass vi low-end destruction and new guitarist philippe ortanez’s ecstatically angular bliss-out. this disc shifts between tracks of classic la otracina free-form freakout brilliance and their current vocal-heavy jams, which put the progressive psych back into early heavy metal while exploring realms of dark doom-sludge thunder and the graceful complexity of early canterbury jazz-rock. refusing to be quantified, it is clear that la otracina remain in an orbit of their own, seeking out the cosmic weird and channeling it through hard rock power! first press limited edition of 100 numbered copies.
brand new tour only limited to 100 copies splattered vinyl with signed posters!! shifts between tracks of classic la otracina free-form freak-out brilliance and their current vocal-heavy jams, which put the progressive psych back into early heavy metal while exploring realms of dark doom-sludge thunder and the graceful complexity of early canterbury jazz-rock. refusing to be quantified, it is clear that la otracina remain in an orbit of their own, seeking out the cosmic weird and channeling it through hard rock power!
when their recent “tonal ellipse of the one” cd came out on holy mountain, the boys hit the road and created this limited tour ep to bathe the masses in astral jelly! three tracks featuring extensive collage work and new music by new bassist evan sobel. source material includes new / unreleased recordings of trio improvisations during the adam kriney/ninni morgia/jordon schranz period as well as some material from earlier out-of-print eps. a brilliant mix of acid-rock blowout, early electronic kraut innovations, and lush drones / tones.
brand new studio album! yes, these sonic spacemen have just finished yet another studio album, this one channeling yet even newer ideas into their boundless sphere of psychedelic transmissions! quite different from their current “space-metal” live show, this new studio album swirls between worlds of loner cosmic psych-folk meditations, 70′s european electronic-progressive space music (i.e. – heldon / tangerine dream / cluster / spacecraft / pulsar), overblown freak-rock improvisation and heavy-dark-brooding new music-meets-industrial sound-collage mind warp! 9 songs, 35 minutes, professionally printed cd-rs and full color inserts, 1st edition of 100!
vinyl debut from portland, maine femme indie-pop buzz band on new local label.
lagger blues machine came from belgium and was founded in 1970 by christian duponchell, organ, jean-luc duponcheel, drums, jose cuisset, guitars and michael maes, bass. in 1971 the band joined the musicians vincent mottoulle, organs and carmelo pilotta, flute and saxophone. the band played very interesting progressive-rock and raised up soon to an important live-band at whole of belgium. so they performed with great success at end of october 1970 at the pop-festival, bruselles, together with warhorse and wishbone ash. in 1972 their only album was recorded which was very well done and can be considered today as a very important album in prog-rock history of the seventies. the official reissue, which is presented here, comes with an interesting insert and 180 gram vinyl – slightly banged corner. low price.
crazy psychedelic electronica. the second album from the mysterious lamppukello, a follow-up to auringonpaisteessa hämärtä – ja hämärtessä aurinko paistaa that was released by foxglove last year. crazy vocals, weird loops and some noise, handpainted sleeves, limited edition of 66 copies.
hot new private press single. limited edition of 350 numbered copies. recommended!
outside of philadelphia i was born and raised, and in the playground i spent quite a few of my younger days. at the time i had a preference for brunettes but years pass and we change. when my tendencies turned toward blondes i began to hear the call of the big rotten apple and at eighteen, away i went. gone were the lonely, sweaty summer nights of pa. the crickets were still cricken’ but not in my ears. i was in new york and i was looking for action. some crave love, some seek danger but i was on the hunt for open mics and not to brag—i found ‘em. in a section of the city once referred to as alphabet on the lower east side there lurks a lot of white guys with acoustic guitars. this minor mass of songsters would meet one, two and sometimes three times a week in the back of bars, smoking, drinking and sharing with each other our newest creations. it was there that i met some good friends and came of age beginning to play my own shows and tour. one of the most endearing and standout qualities of slim’s live shows is the sureness that one is always entering a genuine gospel-like musical experience full of little miracles. be set free has captured this charisma and spirit -the “hold your heart” moments and “raise a drink” dance vibes shine throughout with lush string arrangements and the fine sonic talents of drummer malachi delorenzo and new bassist jeff ratner. langhorne’s stronger than ever vocals lead the journey blending his poetry through the beautiful chaos and bearing a wisdom that reflects a broken heart battling the perils of true hope. be set free is langhorne’s most cinematic and cohesive effort to date. slim has truly reached a point of light where these songs come from wide-eyed maturity and mastered craft. gut wrenching lyrics and gorgeous merry melodies-it would be easy to categorize it as folk, but this time-it’s much more complex than just that slice of pie. sweet hallelujah choruses bleed throughout tracks like “land of dreams” and “say yes” and turn to the darkness of blues filled “i love you, but goodbye”.
we’re proud to present the first ever reissue of this monster rarity. one of the best xian psychedelic albums. privately pressed in 1972 in tiny quantities (200 or 500 copies as the band recalls), nowadays is very hard to obtain any and because of its hand-made and fragile cover it’s more common to find it without the cover or just with a trashed one. musically begins as a country-rock flavored band with grateful dead and quicksilver influences. but from the last track on side a and then, the album is “taking off”. a real “killer”. a combination of westcoasty folk-rock and moody psychedelic rock with superb male/ “dreamy”-female vocals and dual-guitar works. here’s an album that’s desperately in need of a reissue. it’s an early christian rock record, which, like wilson mckinley, is basically a record of its time with christian lyrics rather than something that has true roots in any christian musical tradition. much of it is lovely folk-rock, and there are a few very, very beautiful songs. the vocals are dreamy and, dare i say, heavenly. it’s not as consistent as, say, azitis or “spirit of elijah,” but the best songs here are the pinnacle of this genre. [am] taken from acid-archives of interest to the greek music collectors too, as lcs had in their ranks dimitri tsapatori and wis wife viki. our reissue is strictly limited to 400 black & 100 coloured copies. it shares the original cover and labels artwork. extra 16-pages, big shape (30×30 cm) booklet with extensive band bio, photos and lyrics. fully authorized and licenced by the band. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outersleeve.
glasgow drone magic from jani hervoten (uton), chris hladowski (scatter, the one ensemble of daniel padden, nalle) and ben reynolds. a sizzling psych summit to end all sizzling psych summits. edition of 60 numbered copies.
glasgow drone magic from jani hervoten (uton), chris hladowski (scatter, the one ensemble of daniel padden, nalle) and ben reynolds… out of print. one copy only.
many positive reviews have littered the web of this cassingle. bruno from ruralfaune calls this his “song of the year.” recorded in early 2006, the first side sounds eerily contemporary. dense, layered experimental pop music from the stratigraphic future.
once upon a time there was a world famous free jazz band rauhan orkesteri. all their instruments and half of the players were taken away, leaving only two peasant brothers and a pile of garbage. they abandoned melody, rhythm and the shine of chrome and started to build from the garbage the stormy temple of all miniatures, which they open for you right now. this is the top peak of lauhkeat lampaat’s work.
r.keenan lawler has spent the last 25 years developing his own personal sound world, constantly pushing himself in new directions and developing new techniques, while remaining completely focused on his vision. his experiments on 1930 national resonator guitar are the stuff of legend you sometimes hear from town to town by someone who may have had the good fortune to witness one of his performances. words such as cosmic, monolithic and deeply american have been used to describe the experience of his music. he has worked with other like-minded musicians such as matmos, pelt, rhys chatham, john butcher, charalambides, ignaz schick, philip samartzis, my morning jacket, david watson and lukas ligeti. in 1999 he self released ghost of a plane of air, it quickly went out of print and has since been heralded by many as a minimalist masterpiece. it is now available for a larger audience. lawler here pushes the bounds and very definition of the resonator guitar: bowing, picking, scraping, knocking and combining it with electro-acoustic manipulations and on site recordings. the sound that pours from the speakers is dense, affecting, cavernous and like no other, often delving from delicate picking into a flurry of notes and ecstatic drones. ghost of a plane of air is the sound of a man looking deep into his soul and coming out the other side changed, scarred and poetic. this reissue has been remastered, and includes a previously unreleased song recorded during the same time period.
in a genre built on obscured and unsung genius, corridor of faces transcends and stands out as a true psyche masterpiece. rising above any number of recently unearthed late-60s anglo-pop platters, the sole offering from small town massachusetts phenomenon lazy smoke is a cohesive, solid, classic album in every sense. ten songs that weave into one-another, painting some beautifully drifty sonic picture as they go. the first remarkable trait of lazy smoke’s sound is the lead vocals’ uncanny similarity to john lennon. if that likeness was the whole story, we would have a beatles sound-alike on our hands, and that would be that. upon digging just a little deeper below the surface, we instead find a darker tone and a patient, eerie and almost shut-in feeling resonating through the songs. while bands like the beatles and the left banke were singing about love, lament and hallucinated travel experiences, the songs on corridor of faces get sincerely dark right away. even the seemingly-light teenage love-themed ‘sarah saturday’ shares an undercurrent of on-the-edge uncertainty and dread. it’s this undercurrent that calls to mind comparisons to forever changes-era love and the more damaged end of the pop spectrum. originally privately pressed in ma in an edition of only 500 copies in 1968… includes liner notes & photos.
all songs were recorded during a few days in jenkeping early 2007. the recordings took place in viktor’s room in his father’s apartment (god bless tolerant neighbours). help was provided by jonas ottosson (sanchez is driven by demons) who played some, gustav karlsson (log cabin) who mastered the record and robin watkins (dialog cet) who made the beautiful purple (cd-r) and green (net) cover artwork together with jesper canell. the record includes songs that make a stunning impression. the free form tracks samerna hade rett and pink moonlight introduces a new shift in leafes music making. slow, dissonant and lose structured make the songs exciting and haunting. leafes howls with the wolves and bastard son are pop songs at their very best. interesting soundscapes and amazing lyrics brings that extra to the otherwise great songs. autumn storm is a tale inspired by the storm gudrun that caused a lot of destruction in the southern parts of sweden a few years ago. the song will surely bring tears to your eyes as you’ll hear about the animals taking shelter. the closing song wooden lung generates pictures of how modern life shapes us as human beings. the song is not without some sad parts but it’s neither without hope. in the mountain’s belly is a perfect break from the hectic urban life of ours and make you long for more of leafes peculiar direction in pots, drones and sad farmer’s broken hearts… really sweet release from this new project. beautifully packaged with a thick stack of art inserts. recommended.
leafes will finally release their seedland project. an experiment in drums, drones and folktunes… limited to 100 copies. nice covers. nice sounds!
wonderful release of folky pop songs from an american summer stripped down and slowed down to the bare bones. ten pieces about lost friends, angels, ghosts and mountain gods. recorded in a cool room during a hot week in a southern town.
long delayed vinyl reissue of this classic mid-2000s slab of voice-storm magic by pedal steel songstress heather leigh. originally on fag tapes. freshly remastered and with all new art by heath moerland. edition of 400.
promised for a long while now, november finally sees the release of this incredible album of rustic, very english, psych folk. boasting not only the songwriting prowess of adam leonard and the playing of the owl service’ steven collins but the majestic presence of pat gubler (aka pg six) across this beguiling, charming album. drawing from a wide ranging, genre crossing mix of inspirations for the record, adam quotes ’69 roy harper, tower recordings and klaus wchulze’ mighty “irrlicht” album on ohr, alongside a passing nod to syd and robyn hitchcock (check out the killer take on “the man who invented himself”). contractually agreed pressing of just 150 copies in numbered, pro-printed, psych forest sleeves…
phoenix records releases the oft-bootlegged heavier than a death in the family by legendary japanese rock/psychedelic noise band les rallizes denudés. this “album” is in fact, a blistering assemblage of live performances (all recorded in 1977, except for “people can choose,” which was recorded in 1973) which sits at an esteemed #3 position on julian cope’s japrocksampler top 50 list. reverb so heavy, it will split your frontal lobe in two… awesome vinyl upgrade!
one copy only. screen printed cover. from 1999
“hasenlove” is the debut musical release of hamburg visual artist antonia leukers. she’s a founding member of “institut hasenbart”, a 10-piece artist collective dedicated to a meta-scientific research of hares and related social, zoological and aesthetical phenomena in reference to the art world and pop culture. leukers has previously created stitched, sewed and animated sculptures while casually growing cucumbers, working for a local in-vitro fertilization hospital and advising young people on erotic issues as a german dr. ruth for a popular online magazine. inspired by a journey to island, hearing local travel guides spontaneously interweaving their narrations with sudden outbursts of folklore chanting and an encounter with wolfgang miller’s (die tedliche doris) strategy of transforming and combining his (pseudo-)scientific, documentary and social research into a musical and artistic performance she started to elaborate her fellow artist’s lectures with musical renditions. as a passionate diy home-recording artist she has soldered her own microphones, used cheap toy instruments, gameboys and minidisc recordings of kitchen sounds to create her very own bricolage comic universe. by recycling corny aor mainstream rock/pop songs into some oddly disturbing and wonderfully weird rabbit love songs with newly-made german lyrics and combining these with some truly strange original compositions (ranging from freeform collage to distorted techno to deranged singer/songwriter stuff), she has created a musical love story in 7 parts. spiritually influenced by (though not really sounding alike) german “neue deutsche welle” artists such as der plan and theatrical and surreal performance bands like the residents her versions of popular love songs sound like a teenage/female andrew lloyd webber on bad acid. this 1-sided vinyl-only picture-disc lp is a strictly limited edtion of 300 copies. both the gorgeous design and ornamental etching on the b-side have been done by fellow hasenbart founding member renate nikolaus… all copies here include the VOM LIEBREIZ DES HASEN fanzine, an amazing 40-page fanzine accompanying the above lp with gorgeous art, lyrics, illustrations, photos, articles… screen printed & xeroxed… very cool & unusual art object!
a very obscure and nearly impossible-to-find piece of american acid folk-rock recorded in 1968 by mark levine — an underground dylanesque singer-songwriter, here backed by top-notch musicians like ry cooder and mike deasy. a complex and enjoyable piece of music from the outer fringes of the late ’60s featuring explicit lyrics (sex & drugs), and trippy liner notes and cover art.
lichens is rob lowe’s (90 day men) vehicle for performance and recording solo and with collaborators. lichens is a transfixing experience that loops wordless vocals into curtains of ghostly drone which lowe makes witchier with the addition of both acoustic and electric guitars, percussion and other effects. recorded live as a one-time improvisation without overdubs, the three tracks on the psychic nature of being reveal and extend already mesmerizing lichens live performances. holy mountain’s deluxe vinyl edition of the psychic nature of being comes housed in a sturdy old-style tip-on jacket that features original artwork by mr. lowe not available on the cd version… top notch space-out trance sounds. awesome album & great cover art too.
“the moon” kicks off lsl’s vinyl debut with some synth squelch/drum liftoff, until the trademark banjo and extremely-distorted guitar interplay begins the melodic tapestry, joined by four voices around one microphone. “no you won’t” was one of the earliest lsl tracks, recorded in an era before murk and caves. a clean electric guitar, bass, and banjo create the foundation upon which a nonchalant female lead vocal spooks some warnings punctuated by fluttering flute leads. as freaky as these folks come. hand-stamped (from hand-carved linoleum stamp) black 7″ vinyl record held in a chipboard sleeve, with a full-color photo pasted to the front and an in-house screenprinted front and back design. hand-stamped numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
“the moon” kicks off lsl’s vinyl debut with some synth squelch/drum liftoff, until the trademark banjo and extremely-distorted guitar interplay begins the melodic tapestry, joined by four voices around one microphone. “no you won’t” was one of the earliest lsl tracks, recorded in an era before murk and caves. a clean electric guitar, bass, and banjo create the foundation upon which a nonchalant female lead vocal spooks some warnings punctuated by fluttering flute leads. as freaky as these folks come. hand-stamped (from hand-carved linoleum stamp) black 7″ vinyl record held in a chipboard sleeve, with a full-color photo pasted to the front and an in-house screenprinted front and back design. hand-stamped numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
another unsung bunch of krautrock pioneers, limbus had formed in heidelberg in 1968. comprising the trio of odysseus artnerm, bernd henniger and gerd kraus, in 1969 recorded the groundbreaking new atlantis lp (subtitling it ‘cosmic music experience’) for cpm, a spaced-out concoction of free and psychedelic musics with strong folky and ethnical flavors sounding very much like a more ethnic take on free improvisation. in 1970 they become a quartet with the addition of matthias kniepper thus renaming themselves limbus 4 and went to record the puzzling mandalas lp, a further step in their cosmic ethnic improvisations, this time making use of a more varied instrumental palette and taking advantage of the possibilities of the recording studio. a unique album that ranks amongst the most adventurous ever released by ohr and which, to make things even better, spots another of those cool reinhard hippen covers designs made of doll parts (which graced the covers of the first five of the the label’s albums, this being actually the second ever ohr release). you don’t get them much trippier than this. strictly limited to 500 copies, gatefold cover, sealed copies w/info sticker.
although they sprung ready-made from of the ashes of legendary candombe/beat group el kinto, one of the best-kept secrets from uruguay’s musical mythology is nevertheless the group of musicians who recorded one album as limonada. so what happened? the story starts with the end of el kinto, when band leader and iconoclastic maniac eduardo mateo decided to embark on a solo career (see our lion productions collection of his early music for more details), and the other members of el kinto said ‘let’s do something together.’ and so it was that in the middle of 1970, limonada recorded their one and only album, ‘limonada’ (sondor 33.111). it is a strange record, with backwards tape splices and abrupt song changes, that remains at the same time absolutely accessible and very groovy, in a tropicalia sort of way, which might explain why it was an immediate success. in truth, it’s a profound mystery why the limonada lp – one of the ten best sellers of its time within three weeks of its release – seems to have vanished from the consciousness of even the most devoted fans of obscure music. until now, of course. now, on to the presentation – the highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside you will find an insert with historical background on the uruguayan scene, details of the band’s past, plenty of photos, as well as a brief overview of the legendary sondor label, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the sondor originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 500 copies.
lp version. limited edition of 500 copies worldwide. this is the second album from swedish folk siren lisa isaakson and her band lisa o piu. this is the follow-up to 2009′s critically-acclaimed debut album when this was the future. to get inspiration for the creation of behind the bend, lisa spent time in a small cottage located deep in the vast woods of vastmanland, sweden, where she enjoyed the last breath of the summer. every evening she and david svedmyr walked further into the woods to an old rowing boat that lay on the edge of a forest lake. in the light of the magically ever-glowing swedish summer midnight sun they paddled across the lake and then further along a forest creek with lush green trees that hung down over the fresh running water and water lilies. this is the kind of set and setting where you travel into another world… and they did. the initial recordings were made under a vaulted blue ceiling with gold stars in the old 15th century timber church of hjulsjö, sweden. the new album is filled with delicious and bewitching watery woodland folk hymnals — eloquent yet eerie. the harp has been given more space, the violin plays a greater role, the 12-stringed guitar plays graceful melodies and all is led by lisa’s gossamer vocals, as delicate as a wavering candle flame. come along for the ride… very lovely stuff here once again.
portland, or-by-way-of-michigan garage gang little claw first tripped our radar with their self-released why not 7 inch, which was/is raw and physical and swingin’ in all the ways you want a 7” to be. their la live shows proved even more ripping and charged; we were sold. so we sprung at the offer to enshrine their latest (and best) album, human taste, on vinyl for the world’s turntables to adore. packed with classic, cracked anthems (“frozen in the future,” “colors you drown”), basement weirdo stompers (“modern vampire,” “breathing tape,”) and naked art-punk riddles (“lay to waste,” “summerphile”), the lp’s two sides are slyly sequenced to seduce, blind, and devour, demonstrating a rad range of attacks, escapes, claws, tongues. it’s a great late summer record: between styles, beyond genres, and aggressively alive. taste the taste. black vinyl lps in jackets with art designed by the band, plus a pro-printed, double-sided 11×17 poster/insert. edition of 600.
adagio830 is proud to release the debut full lenght lp by our friend christian deroeck. after touring the us this fall for almost 4 weeks and released this album on cd by himself – this is the proper vinyl version. all records come w/ heavy cardboard cover, spot uv, poster inlay and heavy vinyl. christian deroeck spent most of the past decade writing, touring & recording with the brooklyn indie/punk band meneguar. in late 2006, he and bandmate jeremy earl decided to combine their bedroom recordings and release them together, as woods. they recorded two albums together and toured the us and europe. in early 2008, for several reasons, christian left both bands. he spent the summer of 2008 working as a carpenter in eastern long island. inhabiting a tiny basement room, he began working on the songs that shape on the knife. in the fall he moved back to brooklyn and teamed up with his old friend, multi-instrumentalist dylan edrich (chain and the gang), and little gold was born. recorded to tape at emandee studio in brooklyn, on the knife is a deeply personal take on love and loss, and was very much shaped by christian’s departure from his previous bands. like his earlier work with woods, the songwriting is earnest, and of course there are a few indulgent headphone tracks as well. now joined by stand-up drummer patty conway, little gold has begun to incorporate more improvisational and psychedelic sounds into their mellow, country-rock oeuvre, and in the process are becoming a notable live act around nyc… recommended!
weird freedom, the second full-length from brooklyn’s little gold sounds like a celebration, and with good reason. it is the inaugural release for the band’s own loud baby imprint, and it’s little gold’s first lp as a proper band. shortly following his departure from folk feral enthusiasts woods, christian deroeck assumed the little gold moniker and in 2009 released the wayfaring bridge-burner on the knife. in support of the record, deroeck toured for several months, picking up and putting down members along the way. upon returning to brooklyn in the winter of 2009, he teamed up with brian markham and pat broderick of psychedelic shredders ancient sky, and a new sound began to take shape. in stark contrast to the melancholic, country-tinged on the knife, weird freedom is a rock band getting weird in their new skin. while on the knife explored lonesome americana themes of isolation and addiction, weird freedom strips away the overt sad-sucker aesthetic in lieu of fuzzy power pop more akin to deroeck’s earlier work with meneguar. little gold has sped and turned up, plowing through 10 tracks in just over 30 minutes, including a frantic, feedback-drenched cover of “oh, dad!” an unreleased wooden wand gem. while the band is busy kicking the shit outta the barn, deroeck’s cryptic lyrics take the shape of beautiful, multicolored earworms, inching their way into your heart. thanks in equal part to markham’s easy-breezy basslines, washed-out harmonies, and broderick’s powerfully mellow drumming, weird freedom is a warm feeling, a summer record in every way. a record to blast while speeding with the windows down, singing along to tales of bike accidents, chainsaw surgery, and the joy of breaking up with someone you didn’t really love. lp pressed on sky blue vinyl in an edition of 500 copies.
this tape is a direct transmission from the mind of kyle field (a.k.a. little wings)… brain waves reflected off a storm cloud and the nearby ocean… song droplets from kyle and the windy mother. a chill out tape of eclectic covers, little wings classics remixed, a little story telling, and a fully new song to boot. recorded on cassette tape live in the dream yurt, high on the cliffs of big sur, california, above the pacific ocean, one late night in may 2011, in the midst of a gentle but unrelenting rain storm which eventually cut the party short by outing the power. “made it rain” is a wild artifact from the wild west. this volume of echomancy is represented by the meteorological symbol for a rain storm… nice deluxe packaging & includes download version too.
ltd ed of 300 lps in covers that were hand-painted by kyle field of little wings, who is as renowned for his art as he is his incredible songwriting. a split release with the awesome gnome life records in big sur, ca, made it rain was originally released on cassette as part of their echomancy series. piaptk, gnomelife, and kyle each have only 100 copies available. gnome life said it best when they said: made it rain is a direct transmission from the mind of kyle field (a.k.a. little wings)… brain waves reflected off a storm cloud and the nearby ocean… song droplets from kyle and the windy mother. a chill out tape of eclectic covers, little wings classics remixed, a little story telling, and a fully new song to boot. recorded on cassette tape live in the dream yurt, high on the cliffs of big sur, california, above the pacific ocean, one late night in may 2011, in the midst of a gentle but unrelenting rain storm which eventually cut the party short by outing the power. “made it rain” is a wild artifact from the wild west… great stuff and sure to vanish in a wink. very limited stock.
the living sacrifice band was the continuity of the legendary last call of shiloh which anazitisi records had released some months ago (see arlp70-40f). in 1975 pastor john murray founded the living sacrifice band with john rosenberry, member of the last call of shiloh too. the band headquartered in spokane washington. the band would play out of the sonshine inn, a coffeehouse that would pack out hundreds of young people. often people were turned away in great number for there was no room to enter. a more detailed account of this time can be found in pastor murray’s book of his life story, chosen to honour thee. from 1975 to 1982 the living sacrifice band would play literally hundreds of concerts from the west coast to the east coast and privately produce 3 albums between 1977 and 1981. “beauty for ashes” is their second one, from 1979. side a contains 5 pleasant xian folk-rock ballads, with beautiful female vocals and excellent flute and keyboards work, reminiscent of early 70′s uk bands. side b seems to be different enough, containing 3 extended rock (you could even call them heavy rock) tracks with female and male vocals as well and lots of fuzzy, distorted guitars, and wild flute leads. 3 tracks of the album are (co-)written by jim and vicky tsapatoris of last call of shiloh fame. the “catching away” is a reinterpretation of the “rapture” included in the lcs lp…. “mellow folk praise dominates side one, a more or less pleasant and peaceful sound highlighting acoustic guitar, a pair of flutes and female lead vocals. the title track especially has a lovely minor-key beauty. the three extended tracks that make up side two, however, are where the real edge kicks in. ‘conquered death’ has a mid- tempo classic rock feel with harmonica, hard rock guitar, flute and electric piano each getting a solo turn. more tasty guitar leads follow on ‘the catching away’ and ‘the great day’, both excellent lengthy progressive tracks re-interpreted from last call with positive results (a touch jazzier, with the addition of lead flute and keyboard passages).two cover variations exist: one featuring simple black lettering over a white background, the other an old-fashioned photograph of a girl holding flowers, again both pressed in micro quantities.” (ken scott -archivist)… this is an officialy reissue, represented here with the original b/w cover which is much rarer than the second edition from 1980, with the well-known “flower girl” cover. fully laminated cover. includes extra triptych (6-pages lp-sized) insert with bio, photos, lyrics and memorabilia and a reproduction of the second 1980 edition’s (“flower girl”) front and back cover. reproduction of an lsb original poster is also included. limited to 200 black and 100 coloured copies. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outsleeve… black vinyl version.
long gone early nnf release. pretty rad/weird vocal stuff.
loosers from portugal continues with their psychedelic free noise jams after releases on labels such as qbico, ruby red, meudiademorte and woodsist. a quiet and subtle guitar-driven piece, feels like a slooow and hot sunday afternoon. the flipside has more crude and dirty out there jazz madness from brooklyn’s owl xounds exploding galaxy, featuring adam from holy mountains la otracina. 420 copies, all on black vinyl.
portuguese sidelights seekers finally unveil this thick black dinner plate of drums and mosque smoke. 2-color silkscreen of a jeremy earl drawing on a textile-photocopied sleeve. edition of 340.
long out of print.
in early 2008, thrill jockey released gyromancy, a limited edition art book & cd release from robert a.a. lowe & rose lazar. gyromancy featured a 3″ cd of music from robert a.a. lowe and was accompanied by a 72 page perfect-bound book featuring the art of both lowe and rose lazar. thrill jockey is now happy to present eclipses, a limited edition lp-only release again featuring the music of lowe and the visual artwork of both lowe and lazar. eclipses is an extension of gyromancy. remaining in view of what came before and altering the vision. pushing out beyond natural terrestrial landscapes into those slightly more cosmic or alien in scope. it makes an appropriate addendum to the onset of this particular phase. the music was recorded at home by lowe utilizing semi-modular and polyphonic analogue synthesizers. accompanying the full length lp is a 12″ x 36″ double-sided full color poster showcasing the artwork of both lowe and lazar. this is again included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music.
robert aiki aubrey lowe (lichens, singer, 90 day men) constructs haunting, beautiful, at times hypnotic rhythms and melodies using synthesizers. his love of the warm, bubbling, physical sounds of the synthesizer permeates these seven songs, which seem simultaneously strangely familiar yet also somehow distant and alien. fazo iv: la kvalito de speguloj (phase 4: the quality of mirrors) is a further extension of lowe’s exploration of sonic vocabularies and emotional landscapes. because the modes lowe utilizes are tonally and melodically universal to his ear, he has titled the album in the language of esperanto– the universal language constructed to foster international understanding and peace. this notion of univeral understanding comes through in waves on fazo iv. there is a certain tranquility in these tracks– something very meditative and therapeutic; a calming honesty that leads the mind inward and transcends language. limited edition of 300 lps pressed on 150 gram vinyl with full color 11×17 poster insert.
as the title would suggest represents footage james filmed of all three members of lsd march (shinsuke michishita, ikuro takahashi, masami kawaguchi) performing solo sets at philly’s best book store, bigjar, while on a short us tour in the fall of 2006. shinsuke and masami’s renderings represent a japanese working of psychy folk for guitar and vocals. ikuro offers a contrasted short piece of oscillator assemble that is firmly rooted in the avant-garde, with overtones of conceptualist art, found sound, and experimentalism. the release comes packaged in a 3 fold heavy stock cover with a pressing size of 550 copies design and silkscreen by jason killinger from birds of maya.
with parallel suns samara lubelski has flown into a higher orbit with her merger of the fuels of folk, psychedelia and pop. they combine into a potent mixture that gives her compositions a vibrancy that shimmers in the reflection of their power. the music streams down and ends up in your ear through dappled arrangements that are warm and bright while still having them shaded with darkness from both the lyrics and sound… limited vinyl version. by far her best yet, and thats saying a lot. recommended!
lussu and magneetti are a finnish-american duo from helsinki. they joined forces in early summer of 2006 and began recording in lussu’s appartment shortly thereafter. their debut release is noisy, droney music: vignettes of drum beats laced with ethereal voices and reverbed guitar. at times, it unleashes harsh episodes of distorted rhythms and noise, other times, a dark universe of”spooked-out” earthy tones coming from either the finnish forest or the”spin-cycle” of your washing machine. this limited editon of 150 copies is beautifully decorated with pressed leaves handpicked near the road of a main norwegian highway. delicate and unique, this cd-r release greets its audience with both visual and aural delights – new project from jonna karanka (kuupuu), so you know its gooood! very lovely packaging too.
julian lynch is from ridgewood, new jersey. the songs featured on this 7” single were originally created for the 2008 album, born2run. the recordings contain both acoustic and electric guitar, a drum kit, a keyboard and julian’s voice. everything was recorded on a tascam portastudio 424. while the initial taping began in julian’s family basement (birthplace of the alex bleeker and the freaks debut), the brunt of the work took place in an empty apartment in madison, wisconsin. in a new town with no furniture, julian recorded the album. includes cd-r of born2run in it’s entirety. born2run was originally made available as a tape by wild animal kingdom records, in 2009. julian also produced 75 copies of the album on cd-r. since it’s minimal physical debut, born2run has been lovingly featured on countless mp3 blogs such as dayvanzombear, forlorn-valleys, bee boo bee bop, a cassette cathedral and prisms of fame. julian’s music can now be found all across the world wide web, sweet messages often dangle beneath. julian’s second lp, mare, is coming out on olde english spelling bee this summer.
second full-length album by julian lynch. recorded in madison, wisconsin and ridgewood, new jersey in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. download coupon included… sweet new one. recommended.
standard edition of the dreamweapon exhibit catalog with texts by lou reed, la monte young, ira cohen, plus exhibit curators johan kugelberg and will swofford cameron. this edition includes a laid in memorial letterpress broadside commemorating ira cohen, reprinting a 1976 ode to cohen by angus maclise. printed by jon beacham/the brother in elysium press. edition of 1000… 120 pages, full-color, perfect bound. really cool document. recommended.
dub-revisioning of personal pain. an attempt to abstract himself from sorrow…or intensify the hurt four-fold. 3″ cdr.
the end of january sees this superb new release by the magic carpathians.”gharana” has been specially recorded for reverb worship.the recording consists of three collective improvisations by the band featuring eric arn, anna nacher, marek styczynski and audrey widota. available now in a limited edition of 50 copies.
through a mutual admiration of each other’s work magic lantern & the hop-frog kollectiv have created two stunning masterpieces for a collaborative release. the hop-frog kollectiv’s somba is based on recordings on silvertone and hammond organs donated by shea m. gauer of open books and features yanqin (chinese dulcimer), ruan (moon guitar), been, electric guitar, midi guitar & flutes. the title comes from the regionally known name of three clans in the atakora mountains of the sahara desert who’s ancestral and family ties govern their society through their belief that the dead are permanently among us and constantly influencing us. magic lantern’s underwater dynasty was recorded for ukelele, guitar, flute, piano, bells, hand drums & voices. this piece could alternatively be titled underwater raga. the magic created by the interweaving flute and string melodies creates and epic soundtrack to an atlantis like hesse-esque world that’ll take you to the outer places you’ve always needed to explore. this is magic lantern’s follow up to their highly acclaimed wax release on not not fun entitled high beams. this lp is limited to 300 copies.
companion banger to the platoon lp, this 33 rpm single finds the lanterns firmly in retro motor city rave-up rockist terrain, covering the cult classic “showstopper” on the a, backed with their own james brown soul revue funk-rock shaker “cypress” on the flip. recorded during the platoon sessions and mastered by james plotkin. black vinyl 7 inches in cosmic boogie collage jackets designed by cameron stallones. edition of 500… already out of print.
more markers fuckeree & good times on pete nolan’s own elusive imprint. crude block printed envelope covers with insert. way limited.
documenting last summers tour with lambsbread and featuring guests joshua burkett & steve gunn. on pete nolan’s own elusive imprint. crude block printed envelope covers with insert. way limited.
all hail this new supergroup of finnish mystics. the magick travelling backpack band is no longer showering, but is bathing with rocks and grime all over western europe. they’ve been booted out of that magic forest that burned down years ago, anyway. so who are these moaning, droning superstars? the backpack band on this go around is keijo, uton, j. koho & tiitus (of vapaa, the free players, kulkija, etc), & christelle gualdi. and it’s gualdi who keeps things in check. while the finns do their best to muck everything up, spilling buckets of psychedelic mud skronk and painting the windows and walls as black as coal, gualdi’s crystalline voice calms everything down. sizzle. 100 copies.
a formality and restraint the markers have never exerted on their previously recorded material is present on boss. now the markers are jainists, with their mouths masked so as to not inhale even one tiny insect, here pursuing the killer gentle with a vengeance. recorded in the cavernous dark of echo canyon west, with producer lee ranaldo working the boards like a diviner, boss documents the markers with a previously unheard fidelity and orchestration. idiosyncratic song structure and melodies interspersed with a destructive drum stomp are reminiscent of the early electrified blues of junior kimbrough, or the black hole rhythms of kousokuya. mixing a gentle vulnerability with a winded egomania, the markers have always had a musical tunnel vision; boss is that vision made manifest… self released edition of only 500. screened covers. wicked.
another killer markers gem on pete nolan’s great & elusive arbitray signs label. two more discs in the series that started with the awesome road pussy’ disc a month or two back – these ones are equally great. as burning, damaged, grooving, ridicolous as ever. nice sreenprinted art paper envelope packaging with insert, to match road pussy’. recommended and surely quite limited.
recorded in san francisco a few months ago in a home studio zone.. moves like some kind of deep space taffy pull.. haz from jazzfinger really likes this one… screened covers.
another insane markers release. this includes some of the same stuff as the ’road pussy’ cdr, but is not the same album, rather the entire road pussy session… got it? crude screen printed envelope covers, this time a bit oversized. damn limited, no doubt.
lost in between heaven and hell, sprawling psychedelic grooves picture brothers of the occult sisterhood, terracid and friends painting spirals of red dust on snake dancing bodies in front of a new golden dawn. edition of 83.
feedback drenched guitarnoise drones by rinji fukuda’s majutsu no niwa, his follow-up band to the legendary overhang party. a magical garden of post-velvet doom stripped to the bare essentials by way of the japanese psyche. 100 copies.
hooray! boy am i happy to be putting this cracker out. recorded live, without the cumbersome weight of newfangled techniques such as ‘overdubs’ (gee-whiz!) which may seem a little commonplace for you hip-to-be-square cats until you realise that the good mr malcolm plays two guitars and percussion with his feet. his third guitar, the guitar he actually holds in his hands, has about half a million strings and a number of contact mics imbedded where the sun-don’t-shine to amplify a host of springs, triangles, and other junkyard ephemera. this is a second-to-none ride through a world of sunshine, as viewed through net curtains from a darkened room in suburban new zealand. charming, stupifying, and profoundly accomplished. the noise of music!
manaia is the solo project of jen strickland, who wastes no time in establishing herself with this cdr as one of the more evocative solo artists stepping across the modern garage-psych landscape. “faith” is filled with the kinds of peculiarities that keep me coming back to a disc. the vocal delivery, the recording quality, and the guitar tones, all have a genuine “worked over” quality that gives this album an immediate depth. strickland’s voice cries out and whispers cryptic mantras that speak of spiritual yearning and discovery but all without sounding cliche or cheesy. ~ foxy digitalis. features 2 way-out cover versions of buffy sainte-marie’s ‘he’s a keeper of the fire’ and a creepy a capella translation of townes van zandt’s ‘if i needed you’. amazing hand-assembled packaging – screenprinted silver ink on deep blue metallic-infused paper. limited edition of 100 copies. exceptional packaging as always. nice!
somewhat of a concept album, each disc has a theme : exile, anger & faith, and each disc features a different recording situation. overall the sound comes off something like early pj harvey or sandra bell – emotionally taught female vocals accompanied by often chugging / chrunchy electric guitars, as well as occasional drums, synth, clarinet, slide guitar & electronics. a power dose of soul – amazing hand assembled packaging, each set is housed in a lovely handmade iridescent paper box with metallic embossing, art paper insert, vellum inner sleeves, and stenciled discs. numbered edition of 50 copies, only available here.
subtle and disgusting acoustic/electric lo-fi junk project – . ‘sugar britches’ c-11 on bone tooth horn soon – .future: splits w/quantum twat and blair harris) –
the fabulous third lp by mandrake memorial, one of the best bands of the us psychedelic sounds history, is the release chosen to open our new wah wah deluxe series. this marvelous 1970 lp from the poppy label is reissued for the first time ever on full 180 gram vinyl glory, housed in its original escher gatefold sleeve and complete with a colour insert that reproduces the original lp insert plus contains some interesting texts courtesy of poppy label founder kevin eggers and mandrake memorial member craig anderton. for those unfamiliar to this top band’s sounds, we’ll just add that their three lps shall be up there with the best works of the best bands that came out from the states in the psychedelic era. think of the west coast pop art experimental band, pearls before swine, united states of america and the likes. puzzle is a masterpiece that not only benefits from the master work of the mandrake members, but also from that of producer ron frangipane. the combination of talents delivers a perfect mix of classic psychedelia with beautiful orchestra passages.
new album by the most relentless free-rockers in the solar system. recorded after maniacs dream’s trip to zanzibar, where they succeeded to find the beauty of antiquity. ‘how beautiful! like in the homeric times!’ bella blossa said of the harem that inspired him to write the last song on side a. the song is a speed of light free fall into the orange hole, like the whole album! in time! comes with beautiful psychedelic covers by bema bergman!
dark, poetic beauty mixing cheerful northern californian brightness with the intensity and energy of the feelies, the clean or dream syndicate. frayed and frazzled pop, moody psych/folk, sinister and buzzy guitar squalls sweet enough to bite.
david maranha’s recordings stretch back over 20 years with the portuguese avant trio osso exótico, as well as collaborations with z’ev and minit. a followup to marches of the new world (2007), antarctica is made up of two side-long excursions into monolithic drone-rock. in the vein of tony conrad & faust, “venus in furs,” la monte young and terry riley, maranha’s ensemble is driven by keyboards, strings, and hypnotized-heartbeat percussion. like the great white expanse of the titular continent, it can be taken in simply as a glorious wash of sound; listen to it closely, however, and you’ll hear the smallest details jump out in high relief: a feather can move a mountain. an edition of 300 copies in silkscreened covers. digital download coupon included.
matt is a composer and researcher here in portland. he is a student of speech and hearing science and a co-editor fo a rm magazine. his recorded work is mostly made up of finely tuned field recordings and prepared instruments. if i had to make references i’d drop keith barry, olivia block, and andrew chalk. beyond his works for cd recording, matt is increasingly focused on scoring and performing works for large groups of musicians and ‘non-musicians’ using traditional and self-made instruments. chiasmata is an edition of 90 copies, photo cover, inserts, pink cds, heavy vinyl sleeves.
hard-hitting, hair-raising, afro-fuzz from ghana, this is marijata is the heaviest and most sought-after african funk record of them all! recorded in 1976, this album is the standard by which all other afro-funk albums are measured — its power, vitality and rawness have been emulated, but never equaled. fully licensed and lovingly remastered, the academy lps/voodoo funk re-issue presents this is marijata in all of its rough-hewn glory.
brooklyn-based musician and visual artist jason martin records on 4 track near his upstate ny hometown in a haunted cabin by a lake that used to be a valley of towns and indian settlements. some of them were his ancestors. this album crashes through deconstructed folk, gospel-tinged noise, a nick lowe-esque pop song about women turning men into horses to whip and ride through the woods (actual legend from the region), while soundscapes string it all together. well-researched liner notes explain the history, while the lp puts it into sound. with a nearly 20 year-long discography, jason made music throughout the 90′s with schenectady’s expansive cable-access tele-audio-visual collective brown cuts neighbors, and has been in dozens of groups including atlantic drone, evolution revolution, corcraft (w/ j.mascis of dinosaur jr + suzanne thorpe of mercury rev), the bunnybrains, denim and diamonds. his love of glamorous, paganistic animism surfaces in his music as well as videos, drawings, and performances. this lp is no exception as it creaks, moans and shimmies with voices of the undead in catchy little ditties such as “witch”, ”white horse”, “body in the water” and other hits… tiny private press edition of only 99 copies packaged in a metallic screen printed cover.
travel back in time to 1969 with our official reissue of one of the most highly sought after west coast psychedelic rock records ever recorded. a heady trip, filled with grooving reverb-soaked jams! prized original pressings command more than $1000!! in the tumultuous spring of 1968, the mary butterworth band was formed. contrary to rumors, the group originated from southern california and enjoyed being thrust onto the incredible scene that was developing during this remarkable time for music. after a year or so of performing throughout the region in places like the marina palace in seal beach and others, they decided to record and release a debut album on their own label. in 1969, on a shoestring budget, their album was recorded, manufactured and released. however, the limited pressing was pre-sold to fans and friends only, and never even made it into stores. it disappeared as quickly as it arrived, as did mary butterworth, who disbanded not long after the album’s release, never to perform together again. after a decade or two, word of the album had spread to rabid collectors of vinyl records and late 60s music. somewhere in europe during this time, a bootleg vinyl was released and the legend of mary butterworth continued to grow, driving the price of the original pressing up into the hundreds of dollars. it would go on to be bootlegged a handful more times in various countries, further driving the price of the original pressing through the roof and continuing to enhance the reputation of this long lost piece of 60s psych rock history. here it is 2011 and mary butterworth returns from the past once again, this time in the form of an official licensed, from the master tapes, limited edition vinyl reissue of the impossibly rare and sought after 1969 debut album.
kawaguchi masami (miminokoto, lsd march, broomdusters) returns with his new rock syndicate, recorded live in tokyo. monster guitarpsych feedback screech and heavy dosed garagerock insanity. 100 copies.
echoing like a long lost werner herzog soundtrack, totem two is a record of subtle meditations and deep electric hallucinations from the crystal caves of the northwest to the orchestral desert portals of turkey. totem two finds mmob exploring the disappearance of the mystic and the schisms of our age. in times when forces move against our souls, these are the first sounds of music that can only be described as no-age, a resistance is making itself known. featuring members of earth, asva, burning witch, the diminished men, and more, as well as special guests from secret chiefs 3 and the thriving istanbul music scene. mmob has now solidified into a 7-piece cosmic psych force. like a reverse dark side of the new age sound, on the totem series master musicians of bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches. relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. this totem trilogy echoes with the delusions of a west coast death cult. outer-spaced gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged krishna gathering, and the blurry acoustic guitar majesty of the cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form. master musicians of bukkake’s newest offering in the totem trilogy, totem two marks yet another psychic and sonic shift from their first record visible sign of the invisible order (abduction records 2005/lp via important records 2010) and its predecessor in the trilogy totem one (conspiracy records 2009). on totem two, master musicians explore and meditate deep on the death of the mystics, the forgotten ones, the schisms of our time, and the inability to realize the primary clear light for what it is. totem two shifts from electronically altered bön cult rituals to outer spaced sufi sects. finally succumbing to the fully orchestrated no-age darkness of the religion of the future only to end in delusional ‘enlightenment’ atop mt. shasta, scrawling the deranged rambling of new age psychosis on the crystal walls of a cave. every sound and note played is put to tape by a group with a singular purging purpose. recorded, mixed and produced by randall dunn (six organs of admitance, sunno))), earth ,etc.), at aleph studios in seattle, wa. ‘perede kaldirma’ was recorded in istanbul, turkey at the legendary ada studios, november 2009. featuring a collaboration between mmob and turkish musicians from the istanbul music scene, it features amazing ney solos by serkan bagkenesen. over the years, ada studios in istanbul has been the host for records by erkin koray and baris manco to name a few. inspired by and for lovers of: popul vuh’s work with werner herzog, early vangelis and tangerine dream, as well as philip glass’ kundun soundtrack… limited vinyl version with obi strip.
newcastle seems to be having some kind of insane surge of awesome musical activity in the last few years, and it seems unstoppable. least stoppable is powerhouse mike vest who is creating some serious jams with his outfits bong, blue queen, basillica and now the heavy sludge dual guitar drone beast master slave with pete ryde. 3 tracks of heavy guitar drone, with the last track having an almost weirdo skaters feeling to it. limited to 50 hand numbered copies in bright orange sleeves to burn your eyes while the music burns your mind!
this group has been called mountains of matallama, mountains of matalama, mountains of mata llama, mountains of mattallama, mountains of mata lama, mountains of mattalama, mountains of mattalamma, and on down the line. for the record, this record, and the rest to come this is matta llama. residing in ny matta llama have been playing together longer than they would like to admit. what do they play? blood music. the music works like that of the circulatory system chugging and pounding. at other times it can turn out a wispy, crispy tune of flickering light. all of this delivered via drums, keys, guitar, and bass with the occasional seasoning of vocalizations and in/organic dripping. with this, their first record, they offer 5 cuts culled from years of rehearsals at the hint house. these impromptu rock excursions gleam with but a taste of their musical existence, and with that expect more to come. matta llama. with deluxe foldout poster and fancy matte cover art! 500 copies.
robert fransisco party. very very very cool and dirty and pumpin’. comes with a nice little silkscreen cover by the man max noi himself.
anopheles records is proud to announce our latest archival release, the first ever authorized, high quality vinyl lp reissue of baltimore, maryland’s maypole, whose sole album, & #145;the real,’ was recorded in three days in july 1970, and released in early 1971, shortly before their label folded, dooming the album to stillborn status commercially at the time. the lp is an ambitious, 50-minute feast of tight harmonies, powerful arrangements, fluid improvisation, and flat out great songs, and serves as a touchstone for twin guitar-driven, west coast-styled psychedelia, soaring power pop, and blistering hard rock. if you’ve been looking for an lp to file next to your public nuisance and morgen lps, then this is your tonic. the stature of maypole has been muddied by the previous cd reissues, but this lp edition gets it right. featuring state of the art remastering and pressing, a high quality full color ‘tip on’ jacket featuring original artwork, and a full color insert loaded with lyrics, photos, and complete historical notes by maypole founder, dennis tobell, this is the closest to ‘classic psychedelia’ anopheles records has delved in to date, and we’re glad we didn’t settle for something second rate.
this is, without a doubt, the most outright beautiful tape we’ve ever released. san francisco’s mccann (who’s on a roll of sorts with recent solo killers on stunned, dnt, and his own roll over rover) teams up with longtime friend manata for a full-length collaboration. in the grand tradition of synth/guitar duos like fripp & eno and budd & guthrie, mccann & manata lay down perfectly soothing waves of ethereal ambience. like standing in a tide pool and pondering the vast ocean—infinitely pleasant, yet a strange, otherworldly presence lies beneath. your summer will be a little better with mccann’s synth and viola and manata’s guitar as the soundtrack. with full color art, inserts, and labels by matt yacoub. edition of 75.
lo-res video preview of coppicing. the first video available from sean. twenty minutes of visual and auditory regeneration. features some easter eggs, so look around. comes with a download of the soundtrack. ntsc dvdr, limited to 100 copies.
genesis reminds of the best early ’70s uk progressive records and is practically impossible to find even in bad condition. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
mccully workshop is one of the most important south african rock groups. their 2 first albums, inc. (1970) and genesis (1971) are considered to be among the best, rarest and more expensive south african psychedelic/progressive rock albums — sought after by all serious collectors worldwide. inc, is a great psychedelic album. limited edition, deluxe 180 gram vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
reissue of the arhoolie lp originally titled fred mcdowell – volume 2. a beautiful set by the mississippi blues legend. one of fred’s best. intense delta blues… licensed from arhoolie.
the debut solo release from former ash castles on the ghost coast member and current iron kite and rubble player shawn david mcmillen. five epic, mostly instrumental songs performed with bowed bass and metal, indian goat bells, analog synth, a rusty old autoharp, amplified springs and an abundance of guitars. features guest appearances by bc smith (iron kite, etherea planes indian) and matt martinez (friday group). one-time vinyl-only edition of 500 copies, packaged with eye-blistering artwork by mcmillen reproduced in a sickening black cast created with multiple passes of ink.
this lp was recorded in new zealand in 2004, and is the duo recording of new zealand guitarist donald mcpherson and japanese guitarist tetuzi akiyama. a beautiful meeting of 2 virtuoso acoustic guitarists, both thoroughly schooled in the vast world of improvising. donald mcpherson, a native new zealander has been playing the guitar since the tender age of 12, studied at the otago art school in the ’80s. and in the ’90s he released a number of extremely limited lathe-cut folk records. this record finds tetuzi and donald playing melodic folk improvisations that grow and morph into compositions that on each listening uncover some new layer of beauty. both playing on acoustic guitar, they have a level of communication and understanding of each other’s playing that allows a musical connection to grow and blossom into a full-length recording of delicate melodic mayhem – 180gm vinyl, heavy fold-around covers with insert, hand numbered edition of 550.
debut vinyl release from this new duo that makes up two thirds of jazzfinger (ben jones and sarah sullivan). based around the idea of used broken keyboards, ben and sarah make some totally fucked and pretty heavy noise jams. there’s some searing moments in this beast, particularly across the two part ‘burning of the light fields’ which spans all side a, and most of side b. the closer is ‘planatary wasp,’ which pretty much would be what jeff goldblum would have sounded like if he’d turned into some kind of rancid badass wasp instead of that pussy fly! turn it up and get ready for your neighbors to come knocking with an asbo for ya. limited to 300.
a reissue of a tape that was initially an edition of only 5 copies. blending homemade synths, field recordings, and vocals, an epic recording that requires a closer listen. buried under the tape hiss and piercing highs there is many details that could easily be overlooked, minimal beats, cryptic vocals, radio interference and insect song. isolationist psychedelic noise. color cover on black shimmer cardstock, with an insert containing texts / collage, on silver paper, clear labels. hi-bias chrome tapes in an edition of 56.
this one could easily be described as something of a gps curveball 45. following last year’s rapid fire -4 day- sell out of the band’s debut (lp), the 45 here features 2 tracks of kraut grooves, incessant bubbling moog freakouts like some holy mash up of add n to x, holy fuck vs. cluster, neu! and co., or some imaginary ’70s czech horror flick soundtrack set to an oil wheel backdrop, in tasty psych sleeves, numbered to 300 copies only.
debut lp that came and went in 72 hours. whacked out, moog mayhem that recalls the likes of cluster and harmonia in tandem with early stereolab and holy fuck. 200 numbered copies sold out at source.
switching instruments and experimenting with recording techniques, meneguar has cooked up a totally unique (and surprising) record. the in hour channels the spontaneity and aesthstetics of swell maps, the pop hooks of the zombies, and lyrical collage of guided by voices. everything was home recorded at their little xanadu in brooklyn, rear house, home base to jeremy earl’s woodsist label (blues control, sic alps, wooden wand, jana hunter) and the changing roster of meneguar’s alter egos (woods, shepherds). only six months since their last record, the in hour represents a serious departure that still holds true to the band’s undeniable pop sensibility.
the baby believes the womb is the universe. at birth there is a glimmer of light and a shifting of space. i was there, but now i am here. then there are still but 2 things : me and the universe. and then what happens is other people. from a note sounded in 1960 and held for a long time, a continuum of sound has been sluiced along a diagonal of personal ecstasy, and some have come to call it a drone. surrounding the drone is a genre, and within, wheat and chaff often comingle all too comfortably. but with tones as thick and texturally luxuriant with spiritual resonance as their long, glorious hair, messages are the two worthy gurus currently contributing to the echo. messages evoke the womb. and when the womb smiles, it whispers messages, and then there is the first glimmer of light.
golden trees is a minimalist psych-folk masterpiece. a supergroup of sorts, helen rush, pat gubler and samara lubelski have created seven songs characterized as much by quiet and restraint than by their acclaimed musicianship. the lyrical lines in these songs appear suspended between pregnant pauses of silence and subtle instrumental flourishes. on one side of the gap, samara lubelski’s violin invokes the velvets and other avant string-players. on the other side, p.g. six layers effects and pointillist finger picking, while evoking outright weirdness from his guitar rig. at the center, helen rush has penned songs of delicate beauty and fragile intimacy… really lovely sounds. with matt valentine, helen and pat formed the core nucleus of tower recordings. samara also performed with later incarnations of tower, as well as hall of fame, thurston moore’s band, and as a solo-artist. where the early tower catalogue was characterized by schizophrenic studies in a variety of forms (folk, noise, drone, lo-fi skronk, etc), metal mountains’ songs like “structures in the sun,” “the golden trees that shade us” and “turn to the east” provide us with sonic beauty in high fidelity. though helen gave us a sample of her post-tower recordings-work with “silver sun,” which we released on the and to the disciples that remain compilation, she here provides us with a rearranged treatment of that song, which along with “prisms” opens the folk idiom into a new minimalist terrain. we’ve been waiting more than ten years to explore this sonic space, which in music industry dog years, amounts to almost two centuries. this full-length is well worth the wait.
meth teeth reside in portland or. and in some ways embody the rainy day big country vibe of the city with its youth culture dreamers, old druggies, and rustic history. there is something that is really hard to pin down about meth teeth, the songs rely on simple ramshackle rhythms, upbeat shinny guitar interplay, and big fat chord churners, and a lot of tambourine banging away on the snare drum. ultra catchy summertime rockers keep you sad and lonely, and upbeat and hopeful all at once. – shawn reed/night people.
completely isolated and fully deranged. weathered blasts of feedback and digital rumble. recorded live to cassette in verdun. too many nights spent getting lost in the douglas hospital fields can really make a man turn on himself. tortured screams and unrelenting microphone violence. most likely as a direct result. photocopied artwork on coloured paper. photocopied insert and labels. hand stamped. numbered edition of 100.
filleted over two sides of wax, here we have a rare meet up of three of the brightest lights in the twin cities musical orbit. on march 21, 2009, paul metzger – best known for his transcendental gypsy raga guitar and banjo meditations – jumped in the ring with percussionist davu seru and veteran multi-instrumentalist milo fine for an evening of uncompromising spontaneous composition. medusas lair is stunning, inscrutably wily, living music. one time edition of 300 lps pressed on
180 gram virgin vinyl. milo fine: drum set (bowed cymbals), b flat clarinet, prepared piano remains, voice; paul metzger: modified guitar; davu seru: drum set.
anamnestic tincture is a live album by virtuosic musical carpenter paul metzger, culled from many hours of concert recordings. side one comprises metzger’s public debut on his modified banjo, recorded in 2002 at a former church-turned-underground art space in minneapolis. one of his most memorable compositions, “after milo” later turned up as an untitled improvisation on his cd for the chairkickers label. jumping ahead six years (and several more banjo alterations later) to side two, the glittering “orans” gets a workout at a memorial show for the artist matt zaun. as an acknowledgment of the occasion, metzger also gave a one-time-only performance — “dark green water” — on another of his mutant instruments: an acoustic guitar with the body drilled out to accommodate a cymbal set into its face, and ten assorted strings of varying lengths laid over the top, giving it a particularly metallic and dissonant sound. anamnestic tincture is released in an edition of 425 copies, with an original vintage snapshot mounted on each cover… awesome new album in great looking home made covers. recommended!
minnesota’s paul metzger is an unsung hero of the unaccompanied string instrument and a master musician of an instrument of his own invention. on deliverance – a real time performance on his overhauled 21 string banjo – you’ll be treated to some of the most deeply satisfying & impulsive outer cosmos ragadelia you’re ever likely to hear. clocking in at nearly 60 colossal minutes, deliverance is 3 tracks of unfiltered aural transcendence; a hypnotic raga epic that’s by turns a slow burning meditation & an urgent mind / body duel. paul’s playing may summon up the spirits of sandy bull’s searching inventiveness, billy faier’s out tacoma sides, j.p. pickens’ tweaked americana, henry flynt’s searing harmonic drones or big jim sullivan’s psychedelic exotica, but at the end of the day, metzger is no idolater and we’re all a little luckier to have him around to occupy his own singular post in this post-fahey world… dmm 180gm vinyl housed in a gatefold jacket.
paul metzger continues to pile up the plaudits from critics and peers alike for his virtuosic string-slinging, gaining notice through his cd on chairkickers and his split lp with ben chasny and chris corsano on roaratorio. metzgers modified banjo is tricked out with additional sympathetic raga strings, although the compositions on gedanken splitter are informed by much more than eastern drone music alone. recorded in the same period as 2007s deliverance on locust music, thisis a more agged and aggressive (although no less accessible) affair. metzger winds these improvisations around thornier threads than on his previous releases, and while never turning completely abstract, gedanken splitter moves even further away from anything resembling typical banjo fare. this is mesmerizing and singular playing… excellent new album! recommended.
short recording from a giggo by the breaking world boss.
wow! gorgeous first-ever reissue of this rare spanish band’s lp from 1971. great west coast-influenced guitar sounds, progressive hammond grooves, nice soft pop vocal harmonies (reminiscent of csn¨y), and cool folk-inspired acoustic guitars melt on the sources of the ultra rare lp of the band originally released on the palobal label from barcelona. this lp and two 45s, including the mega rare non lp single ’toma tu parte de felicidad’/’triste y solo’ whose b-side, a killer version of garden odyssey enterprise’s ’sad and lonely,’ makes original copies raise up to the 500/600 euros tag among mod/garage/freakbeat djs and collectors. these were their only releases under the mi generación name (although the band is also known for their studio work on the cover albums sonido eléctrico and sonido acústico, issued by the joint label.) the mi generación lp is a killer gem that will please anyone into the cool sounds of the late ’60s and early ’70s. but for those who want more, they’ll get it: for the first time in many years, here’s a chance to get the mega-rare triste y solo picture sleeve 45 for far less than the 500 euros you will have to pay on the collector’s market. get that top version of ’sad ¨ lonely’ you’ve danced to at parties, which by the way surpasses the original in your vinyl collection! ain’t that enough for you? no problem! in addition to all that, we are ready to include a whole unissued second lp that the band recorded in 1972 but was never released at the time. more cs¨n inspired vocal harmonies, acoustic guitars ¨ beautiful songs by this great, underrated band. a deluxe package! two vinyl lps housed in a colorful sleeve, plus the mega-rare 45 perfectly reproduced with its original color picture sleeve and all. strictly limited edition of 500 copies.
before michael yonkers would revise the history of recorded music with the clarion chords of microminiature love, he was in a band called michael and the mumbles, and they made this self-titled lp in 1966. in the premiere spin, their would-be debut comes off as a naive, teenage trip thru the typified garage band moves of this era. but repeated listening reveals a darkness beneath what some dullard might be deceived by as it’s crisp, winsome visage. it’s only to a slightly less visible degree that the mumbles lp has the same characteristics that would make micro the singularly original piece that is; it’s emotionally bleak themes, dissonant undercurrents, and recklessly wild performance. so, once again we have a michael yonkers lp that is going to turn yr world upside down, make the college girls scream and leave you wondering how many more times this can happen. seriously, pigeon falls up here looked like a riot on the sunset strip. indulge yrself. ps. michael and the mumbles is on the king of all known formats (with a digital download coupon, natch) only, the mastertapes used herein are 45 yrs old and aside from the glitch on “cold town”, they sound amazing.
previously released on cd by sunbeam, now issued as a 180 gram double vinyl release. mighty baby are firmly established as one of the best-loved underground bands in british rock history. combining elements of blues, folk, jazz and psychedelia, their unique brand of experimental rock n’ roll is brilliantly captured on these rare recordings, finally given an official release here. three tracks were captured live at a gig supporting u.s. legends love in march 1970, while the remainder were taped soon afterwards at london’s olympic studios. finding the band midway between the blazing psychedelia of their self-titled november 1969 debut and the mellower sounds of their october 1971 swan song a jug of love, the set comes complete with sleevenotes, rare photographs and an introduction from their bassist, michael evans, making it simply essential for all fans of the band.
this is the 2nd lp by migrantes (jason bill {guitar, air organ, hammond organ, cymbal} & caroline vickers {hammond organ & vocals}) of tucson, az. pressed in an edition of 536 copies and housed in a lovely printed full color jacket, this is a sublime record! “for those that have never been there, the desert signifies space, sand, and nothing. when i (who live nowhere near any deserts) first visited jason & caroline (who live smack in the middle of one), that was what i had thought too. i was a bit surprised that the desert in fact looks nothing like its platonic counterpart – it is in fact interlaced with ropy thorned plants, crawls with life of every species, and is inevitably circumscribed by distant mountains. for some, monsoon moods may capture the real desert, the one where home fires burn under looming stone, where love and life flourish in austerity. for me though this lp somehow encompasses sweaty nights in 100 degree summer warehouses, ghostly drives through norfolk shipyards, the slow crack of datura pods drying in the sun, and all the other things that have grown inside j&c to buoy them up into this warmly inviting space illuminated by their big hearts. a stunning record that camouflages the simplicity of its ingredients with songs of glowing precision and vox-laced hammond drones of vertical majesty.” – tom carter.
new solo studio recording by japan’s reigning surrealist blues poet. forty plus minutes of all new material recorded in france during mikami’s 2008 european tour. numbered heavy weight vinyl only edition of 333 in handpulled screen printed sleeves. includes lyrics in japanese and english (title track alone is a trip through painted omelets and the moon to a rusty french bicycle). while mikami is building up a massive body of work through his long running association with psf records this is the first of his studio dates to be committed to vinyl in decades. singular and essential… another total class siwa release. already sold out at source.
evan miller has been a staple around digitalis hq for the past few years since he busted onto the scene via too many killer night people tapes. over the course of many, many releases, miller has traversed all manner of different landscapes. perhaps he’s best known for his post-takoma acoustic jaunts, but there’s always been elements and vague hints of drones that circle underneath his picking like tonal sharks, looking for any sort of bait to jump out at. well, “three improvisations” puts it all together one in fine package. side a features two short songs for six-string guitar. to the point, they pull in melodies and keep them caged up until the exact, perfect moment when they are set free. it’s deceptive in its simplicity. side b adds electric elements (c/o phil ochs) and field recordings to jumble millers various sides into a cohesive whole. 95 copies with coffee-dyed tape labels.
iowa city’s evan miller is never one to stay in the same rut for too long. his earlier releases were composed of fahey-esque spells, heavily emotional acoustic guitar work emanating tones of nostalgia and simplicity. on transfigurations on lap-steel guitar, a new zone is crafted with lap-steel guitar and tape collage, creating equally nostalgic music from the other end of the spectrum: delicate, minimal drones. tones interweave and textures evolve: it is evan’s most personally progressive work, combining past themes and reinterpreting them on another medium: electric lap-steel guitar. mastered by pete swanson. in an edition of 450 full color pro-printed cardboard lp sleeves and printed labels designed by jeff witscher (secret abuse / callow god).
cole is back and this time on a ton of labels (different versions of this album will be on stop drop, marriage, paw dawns, and arbor). the entertainer extraordinaire brings his playful melodies and clever rhyming in attempts to cheer you up and maybe make you dance a little. cole sings song about how much he loves you, as in, this wasn’t recorded with his girlfriend in mind, but actually you! very similar to the more recent playfulness shown by adrian orange and calvin johnson; totally positive and uplifting. this is a much more cohesive album than cole’s previous arbor release, “no strangers”. in a numbered edition of 50 copies in sewn/stamped sleeves with stamped discs.
one copy only. out of print.
i recorded it in 2000 a few months before i started the pseudoarcana label, and given that my initial idea for p.a. was for it to focus on harsher and more abstract musics the simple melodic folk songiness of ‘short road’ resulted in it sitting on the shelf for much longer than it perhaps should have.there was a great poet who said of his work that all he had ever done was write the same poem again and again, trying to get it right. i’ve sometimes felt that i only have the one song inside me, and i’ve approached that song from a hundred radically different angles and have ultimately become convinced that this song can never in fact be realised in any definitive way. but that one song is still there inside me and there are places on ‘short road’ where i think i come as close to realising that song as anywhere – edition of 500.
much welcome vinyl issue of the 2010 cassette release from john elliott (outer space, emeralds) and sam goldberg (radio people, docile dawn, pizza night) that sold out at the source and distros rather quickly. further exploring the zones on the previously released “mist” lp, the duo take it one step further with their electronics unleashing a record which sounds like it could be the soundtrack to an amazing 70′s / 80′s sci fi movie. the tracks have been remastered for vinyl by james plotkin. vinyl is in an edition of 750 copies.
really wild, psychotic, exotic, progressive psychedelic beast from brasil – all those attributes in an extreme way! long freaked-out tracks driven by furious organ and massive fuzz – wahwah guitar assaults, also added distorted vocals (portuguese lyrics) that creep deep inside your cranium – one of the best ever! comes in usual world in sound quality with original amazing triple fold out cover that is beyond belief… repressed totally deluxe reissue of this great brazilian psych rarity. ultra-heavy textured tri-fold gatefold cover, 180gm vinyl, etc.
for one night only the mongoloid men (connelly, olson, young and nyoukis) came lurching into a brighton basement. cheap beer and indian food in their stomachs, beards and hair full of hash smoke. a swarm of metallic insects shitting debris into ears of those who attended. horrible, horrible noise.
today, ‘garage,’ ‘psych,’ and ‘punk’ are three overused words to say the least. they’re dropped from every direction to brand, market, and sell, but looking back to the mid-1960s, there was only one group of musical mavericks that clearly defined them. the monks were five beat-playing american gis stationed in germany who, after their discharge, decided to stay and continue their musical mission. meeting up with a team of local managers, they transformed themselves and their sound into a holy racket like the world had never known. this five-person order literally birthed the above genres through a fuzz-drenched evolution of sound, bursting with social commentary and future primitive rhythms. krautrock? it started here. do we hear non-believers? we are not making this up. if you aren’t already converted, it won’t take long. light in the attic is ecstatic to present the monks recorded legacy in the lavish and lovingly researched: the early years 1964-1965… brilliant deluxe archival release. 180gm vinyl, heavy gatefold 60s style foil stamped cover, rare photos, etc.
phil from ussr first time on vinyl wackies – silkscreen book madness art by jacob horwood, dylan nyoukis, sekitani norihiro, jeff garcia, andrew zukerman etc. edition of 150… totally mind melting package here. recommended just for the looks of this thing!
more mysterious electrified rainforest trance ocsillations for spencer from the skaters.
monopoly child star searchers nightlife band presents: bamboo for two. a night’s creativity. a parroted companions guided tour to the most romantic details of a jungle’s sensbility. imagine the elements of your most recent landscaped vision coming to life and allowing you to witness a hearts perception of the natural world. charles berlitz has reported this eventful experience in the form of a romantic poem, and the star searchers have invented the soundtrack. olde english spelling bee and pacific city sound visions invite the listener to experience the first studio album in pacific city’s history! featuring james ferraro as rocco martini, lieven martens of dolphins into the future, and eva van deuren of orphan fairytale; playing the most exotic keyboard melodies this side of a parrots hotly lit plumage. this album is the first in series of romantic audio recordings that will later include the titles: “make mine, macaw” and “the garnet tucan”. do enjoy the excitement of this one of kind journey to pacific city’s nightlife and relax your mind’s physical limitations….
more mysterious electrified rainforest trance ocsillations for spencer from the skaters.
more mysterious electrified rainforest trance ocsillations for spencer from the skaters.
her first ‘official’ solo-output since 2005 – after collabs with jessica bailiff and birch book. pretty much focussing on organ sounds and harmonics, in her unique style: scarce, minimal and haunting tracks. somewehere someone is probably more dark and droning than previous works. ltd to 185 copies, comes in handwritten and handstamped sleeves… quite cool & lovely stuff.
in an era when “variety of sound” means a flip of the radio dial and then a burst of blasé melodies, pretty monsieur mo rio has emerged with his fascinating oeuvre. as you listen to his music, you will hear and experience the exciting, warm aural magnificence that is monsieur mo rio. with influences ranging from swinging baroque pop to bossa nova, his songs will remind you of summer, spring smells, and a love that will be. and while we applaud the result of this musical journey through monsieur’s mind, we must not forget that this chèr ami was not only the author, conductor, main musician, and singer on this album, he also was its engineer – really pretty fantastic fake-french pop from this german wonderkid that mixes said french grooviness with kinks damaged pop craft, a heathly dose of experimentation, and supurb studio trickery & talent.
san francisco’s moon duo feature the combined forces of wooden shjips’ erik johnson and sanae yamada. led by, ‘catch as catch can’, a blistering sonic stew and b/w the a cover of the scientists’ classic speaker burner “set it on fire”. taking threads from the fabric of loop, neu, silver apples, the psf canon and the red eye / black eye label oeuvre the band weave a tapestry of droning motorik rock noise… first release on this new label, sure to vanish quick.
san francisco’s moon duo was formed in 2009 by sanae yamada and erik johnson (wooden shjips). inspired initially by the legendary john coltrane and rashied ali, moon duo counts such variant groups as silver apples, royal trux, moolah, suicide, and cluster as touchstones. utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals, the pair plays space against form to create a primordial and disorienting sonic stew. they released two acclaimed records in 2009: the love on the sea 12-inch single on sick thirst and the killing time ep on sacred bones. escape, their debut long-player on woodsist, marks the fullest realization yet of the young group’s evolving sound… sick new full length!
new private press release from the post death chants duo of michael & alison. odd mix of pop, kitsch, psych, improv, etc…
moon pie features alison and michael from death chants. the live band sometimes features fellow ex-death-chanter paul, now of the recording projects aswara and muntjac. the music is psychedelic, prismachromatic, and pan-galactic, with inspiration drawn variously from shoegaze, folk, vaudeville, and albanian urban lyric song of the 1930′s, all presented in a collagey psych/dreampop context. the ep has 6 tracks and is 21 minutes long. each copy is packaged in an individually collage-decorated clothbound cover.
a scabrous grab bag of weirdo recordings assembled by thurston moore: hardcore basement slam jammer with mark ibold (bass) and john moloney of sunburned (drums), a rough demo cue made for an hsbc tv ad (w/ steve shelley-drums – uncredited – sorry steve!), a few noise b-sides from various lost releases and a couple of long psycho-bead kosmi-killers and some subterranean acoustic luv n all wrapped up n a pic disc with art by t moore extracted from his street mouth series of collages… picture disc. edition of 500 copies.
limited to 1000 copies. solo, untreated, 12-string compositions in tribute to one of the greats. an album of instrumentals in requiem… newest volume of this nice solo guitar series. letter press printed cover.
sonic youth’s thurston moore returns with his first solo outing since 1995’s psychic hearts. unlike psychic hearts’ skeletal trio rock, this new jammer has a far fuller bouquet of sonic depth and showscases thurston’s songwriting abilities outside of sy. twelve tracks featuring backing help from steve shelley (sy) and violinist samara lubelski… very limited vinyl version.
i gave a kiss to a giant leech. it sucked me in. with a little effort, i wriggled to its opposite end and out into a different world, but i can’t say how it differed from the one before. likewise, all the atoms and other bits of matter that pass through us – that we swallow and transform – bear more or less fresh fruit, as they are reborn through us. boris morgana’s rotti frutti is not just an oral delight, it’s aimed at the whole organism. it percolates, hisses, comes and goes: gently as well. furtively it infiltrates the brain through the ears and causes reactions. and maybe these inner oscillations move on to the hands, feet and other organs: maybe they carry the germ of a wholly new fruit. when it comes about, it’s too late: everything has changed and one can’t but accept it – allow the rotten fruit to issue forth.
one copy only.
moses was formed in 1969 in esbjerg, denmark by søren højbjerg — guitar / jørgen villadsen — bass / henrik laurvig — drums and vocal. moses played their own heavy and punshy and stoned progressive blues. their record changes from 1971 has now become cult in the collectors market. by the end of 1969 the band got a contact with the independent record company spectator records in denmark and in the summer 1970 they recorded the only album, changes in 2 days in the spectator record studio in ålborg, denmark. finally the rarest and perhaps best album on the rare danish spectator label. the music is strongly influenced by the cream and other hard psychedelic guitar bands. it took us quite a while to get a deal together and we are happy now to close the final chapter of the spectator story with this great release of moses. extra heavy fuzz-guitar madness all over with strong bass and drums and great vocals… numbered edition of 500, heavy sleeves, 180gm vinyl with insert. originally released in denmark 1970.
a loss for words, folks. s…thing…ain’t like nothin i heard period. twisted, gnarled up like the milkweed and splattered like it’s oozy juices. warty and aggressive, like something pullin viciously from every corner. beautifully tremendous, yeah tremendous. like the very end of something. or the very beginning of something. -valhalla. edition of 100 on orangey yellow shells with hand-cut labels, inside folds, and inserts.
very hip private press avant solo guitar stylings from this seriously talented portuguese fellow. one disc is solo acoustic, one disc is solo electric. all recorded at home.
electric guitar 1-9. rec 2008… guitarist born in lisbon, with public activity since 1989. from that to 1997 he studies and experiments with prepared guitar, mainly acoustic. since then his interests shifted to the development of a personal language for fingerstyle electric guitar and started working in a regular basis with bassist margarida garcia. a lot of acoustic guitar has been played at home in the last years, and it has also been possible to find him playing with bands osso exótico, curia, dru, and collaborating with david maranha and afonso simões. worked with sei miguel from 1997 to 2005. founds the record label headlights in 1998. draws and shoots… newest solo outing from this rather amazing guitar player. limited to only 300 copies and packaged in a nice mysterious letter press printed heavy black paper cover, to match the curia lp. nice.
troubling rituals are gathering. haggling skills are becoming golden chisels, and granite belts grind them to sparks. turning with traction, these sparks gather like flies. the kinetic tones of acceleration found within mother of fire combs the psyche for hints of panic and replaces it with an imperative momentum. drive away superficial doubt like a herd of unwanted beasts, and allow the sagacious freedom our instinct rightfully deserves, it’s requisite course. channeling this responsibility with confident sincerity, the troubling is at once the relaxing. this conviction and tolerance is persistent, enabling a bloodletting which battles to cure and to cull. without the contemporary irony used to punctuate and justify in distanced safety, mother of fire instead creates an honest reflection through brave hand forged lenses. churned in memory-like cycles the ritual is commanded by searing bow strokes and a muscovy glass voice. silhouette elements pass decree through almost ancient melodic incantation. the stable hand of song in a world saturated with scattering distraction. beside these earnest standards a rich understandable darkness, like the pulse of frozen lakes and failing factories, urges us toward the terrible, daunting and sublime. it is here in the folds of both endurance and remedy that mother of fire sways with darkness until darkness swoons. – asa irons.
motor ghost is the new project of drummer / vocalist alex neilson and multi-instrumentalist ben reynolds. & #145;a gold chain round her breast’ is their first recorded document as a duo. from the brooding opener through tracks of soaring electricity to the beautifully fragile a capella rendition of the folk song & #145;leaves of life’, this album sees alex and ben exploring darkness and light and all shades in between. alex’ drumming provides much of the backbone of the album supporting and conversing with ben’s acoustic and electric guitars, loops and the call of the dümuk (a greek horn). the album comes in screenprinted sleeves, all of which have been hand embellished and are individually numbered. the first 100 copies of the album include a 3& #148; bonus cd-r containing a 4 song solo vocal set alex performed at the macbeth in london the day before the motor ghost studio session and feature exclusive and extensive liner notes by scottish folk singer alasdair roberts. these will sell on a first come first serve basis… killer new lp on a new label. lovely hand printed covers. limited to only 300 copies.
in high summer of 2007, phil elverum, in the guise of mount eerie, found his way to southern studios, armed with a borrowed guitar, some notebook paper, & with little time before an evening gig, mount eerie & southern’s engineer harvey birrell recorded the six songs of black wooden. black wooden is the coming together of ideas that had travelled with mount eerie for months & had solidified into compositions in the days & hours before the studio session. the title itself refers acutely to the genre black metal — perhaps less surprising a reference considering black metal often shares mount eerie’s appreciation with low fidelity production aesthetics (among many other things), and that phil elverum had just been in norway before arriving in the uk… very limited vinyl version.
third full length release from this new haven, connecticut rock band, but the first on the band’s own label. the mountain movers went into the studio with 10 new hits and some serious psyched out guitars. the results were documented to 2 inch 16 track reel to reel and put onto vinyl for your listening pleasure. “the day calls out for you” finds the band focusing on guitar driven songs, which is a departure from their previous piano and horn colored albums. heavy echoes, heady tones, and strong songwriting really make this a gem. vinyl only, hand-numbered, and limited to 270, the front and back covers feature the beautiful artwork of head mountain mover daniel greene. included is a cd of the album, courtesy of the band. the line-up for this recording includes: dan greene (singing, guitar, art), rick omonte (bass, noises), joey maddalena (lead guitar) and john miller (drums).
our very first one sided lp, which is a bizarre trip from michael curtis hilde’s mountainhood project. this one follows on from the two lps on time-lag’s red records label a few months back which vanished super fast, as well as other releases on reverb worships and yod. total outsider midnight missions into weirdness… strange strings twang and rattle into the darkness, a very strange experience spread across one side of black wax. limited to 300 copies in pro-printed wrap around sleeve featuring art by michael… ultra-zoned stuff. nice.
last year i discussed with michael hilde the idea of doing something special for my 100th release on reverb worship. michael very kindly agreed to do something memorable and very worthwhile. “live at dearborn house” is a 5 track 3″ cdr ep. we are very proud to announce this release which both michael and myself have spent a lot of time and effort preparing and working on. michael spent roughly three months doing the artwork. each and every one of the 100 covers has been hand drawn, painted and numbered by michael himself. the artwork is totally gorgeous and straight from a very talented and creative mind. you can see all of the cover designs on the “mountainhood” page on this website and on my myspace page too. no doubt michael will be posting up images too on his website www.mountainhood.com. made in a limited edition of 100 hand numbered copies. each cd is individually titled. this release has been priced to compliment the hard graft, labour and artistic input involved to create such lovely collectables such as these. you are not only getting a twenty plus minute “live” cdr but a individual work of art as well… far-out sounds & totally great hand done packaging with michael’s unique a wonderful artwork all over.
northern california’s mountainhood has a long long long discography, and we’re psyched about the latest. shine shine is sometimes sweet folk songs, sometimes a wild party (like a bunch of horsemen dancing around a stump), and just about always full of plenty of goblin voices. take it on your roadtrip and get nostalgic about redwoods and the moon. with an 8-page minibook of art by michael hilde. edition of 200.
the boat-maker’s daughter is a record about transition and transformation. it is an expression of total breakage from all prior forms of thought and action–your parents, your government, your faith–and blazing a new path through doomsday to the other side. the songs range from the quiet, fragile, and distant “geodesic dome, oregon” to the anthemic folk sing-along of “jaine,” one of the most accessible songs in the mountainhood catalog. with the boat-maker’s daughter, mountainhood has transformed and shed much of the tape hiss that defined his earlier recordings, and let these very special songs of rapture shine through. this is not only a singular release for hilde, but for the entire psych-folk genre. poster designed by hilde included. edition of 500… really sweet.
300 exquisitely handmade copies. part 2 in the larger multivisorial dreamsaga called: the light, the road, recorded in nyc, continues the epic narrative of kria blisses’ journey to/through the chrystal palace first introduced in goldenness, part 1. packaging painted, pencilled, photographed in new almaden, northern california or point lobos, big sur, also forms a narrative whole broken down into several acts or series perceivable only by over-eye. this record follows his sold out records on time lag, ecstatic yod & reverb worship. this is volume ten in our arts & crafts series. each record in the series is released in handmade packaging by the artist on the record. it’s clear that michael hilde poured countless hours into these jackets so we’ve documented each one. there wasn’t enough time to photograph the inside covers which are as detailed as the outside. hilde went beyond all expectations… great new single, each copy with hand drawn/painted packaging. nice.
the wonderful san francisco psychedelic folk troubadour mountainhood. 30 minute six track cdr. mountainhood has recently changed his name from almaden… repress of only 50 copies with nice new artwork. sweet.
lovely free sounds from taiwan. wind blew the sea & brought many circles with drops. moon married the sea & reflected in the surface. he asked the reflection: where is my best friend? wind played his flute & the sound brought him to the brightening woods of the giants to see the god of mountain. the god of mountain told him loudly through all animals’ voices in the woods: it’s wind! edition of 90.
really nice private press canadian solo acoustic based sounds. edition of only 300 copies. nice color covers. a good one, and i doubt these will hang around long.
as organ scientist mudboy is back in europe, lexi disques is happy to present his new 7-inch. mudboy comes from providence, rhode island, the town of lightning bolt and hp lovecraft. he released cassettes, cdrs, vinyls, texts on various european, belgian and american labels including his own free matter for the blind label. he’s also making sound/light installations and silkscreen visuals. a short cv is here if needed. music for any speed is based on a reflexion on time. artwork: mudboy (printed on newspaper). with poster & download code.
crashing circles in the midnight horn cdr (about 45 minutes) a collection of all-acoustic improvisations by sam hamilton, mark sadgrove, andrew scott & eve gordon. droning bowed-strings are the predominant sound, with a few gentle percussive sections. very cave-man, very hippie, but very beautiful too – these two pieces were recorded in the dead of night, in concrete echoey spaces in the urban environment (too close to the neighbours at times). 1st edition of 50 copies, and sewn and stamped covers, each disc with a unique wordfind – just found a few copies of this long out of print disc.
cd reissue of siwa #6 in screenprinted gatefold sleeve. first released on lp in 2000 in an edition of 300 which sold out pretty much overnight. three tracks recorded at kid ailack art hall in tokyo in the late 90′s. just over 40 minutes of solo improvisations for er-hu, voice, kengali, rings, cymbals. the recording has been remastered for the digital format but contains the same material as the original lp.
fuzz and buzz improvisations tuning in with the higher forms of new england reverb. turning deep, lonesome abstract guitar feedback modulations upside down into mad psych blues of the dog. edition of 100 copies.
with highrise being basically an in-active band the last few years narita munehiro has been keeping his electric guitar skills sharp with gigging around tokyo in varies duo’s and other small groupings. (as evidenced by the fantastic cd between narita and drummer hano on psf) this archive release documents 2 live sets from narita recorded in late 2005 and the summer of 2006 that put on display the recent solo works of the man who the term psychedelic speed freaks was really captured from. running time of around 40mins one time pressing of 600 copies packed in an extra glossy 2.5 panel sleeve with appropriately chemically treated photographic work from the live dates.
sweet early solo one from paul of death chants, aswara, etc… new age / cosmic / nature analog spaces. hand colored, numbered edition of 88.
paul grimes, member of the now defunct death chants walks a surprisingly personal path on this album. very outside the common psychedelic genre he draws a path of his own. on warp, grimes scrapes together a faboulous blend of easy listening, light marbles and more retro space tunes. a hot mix of elements of kitaro, joe meek, and even some hits of an introspective dennis wize. fantastic stuff for the upcoming summer hangovers.
second mystery release from paul of death chants. layered modular synth, flute and more with drifting echo waves… way out there. nice double sided color covers. green tapes. numbered edition of 95. sweet.
murphy blend’s (named after a pipe tobacco) only album, is one of the best and rarest early german progressive rock records. excellent hammond organ, that delivers a unique heavy psychedelic krautrock sound. it was originally released on the legendary kuckuck label in 1970. english lyrics. limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, heavy exact texture cover.
debut vinyl full length by this long-time h-town expat/pedalsteel visionary. past cdrs on her and dave keenan’s volcanic tongue imprint have sketched out the breadth of her possessed solitary vigils, but her three pieces here are even more untamed and unique. voice, electric strings, song tendrils blowing in the soul’s breeze. edition of 500… sweet…
mutantea is anla courtis (reynols), j.koho (kulkija, aan, vapaa, keijo & free players) and jani hirvonen (uton, aan, last night on earth) — recorded early 2006 in helsinki, at the night time, in the middle of darkest winter, after the show in gallery, just before going to sleep. three electric guitars, with differert effects and styles to play, together in this mass, which gave us this wave called ‘mutantea’. includes also arts by bart de paepe (sloow tapes).
matt earle, from siltbreeze band ‘xnobbqx’. this is a great fucked up and kinda dubbed-out rock record!
trio set (matthew valentine, erika elder and michael flower) from their appearance at volcanic tongue’s subcurrent festival in august 2010.
trio set (matthew valentine, erika elder and michael flower) from the the final show ‘steal yr slice’ tour from copenhagen.
real raw ‘you are here’ sound captured live in the deep tapers pit by number one uk golden road archivist pete coward. this disck is a window into sweet harvests from a handful of shows, most notably an electric “easy livin” eye opener from a back room in brighton from the ‘gettin’ gone in aquarius’ tour, plus a soaked “tea devil” from dylan nyoukis’ ‘colour out of space festival’ as well as a blown out epic “canned happiness” from this years ‘golden cherry ball’ jam at instal. fasten yr jaw on the big league chew-z “environments” bubble featuring the usual heads (mv/ee/doc dunn/samara/chris davis) along with mick flower, chris corsano, the cherry blossoms and phil todd. child of microtones and ecstatic peace joint release – golden roadies unite! edition of 199… metallic printed art paper covers.
orbiting the earth in vermont is matt “mv” valentine, once the brawn of the tower recordings, and erika “ee” elder, ceo of heroine celestial agriculture and the mv & ee medicine show. together with their dog zuma, they run the child of microtones library of exploratory music–sometimes their own lunar blues, sometimes finger-picking-style noise/space, sometimes lonesome frontier folk. mv & ee have landed at the dicristina building bearing drone trailer, featuring the golden road: doc dunn (pedal steel, guitar, harmony), mike smith (bass, fender rhodes, harmony), and james anderson (drums, engineer). you may recognize these names as part of mv & ee’s touring band when they scorched across new england and the rust belt en route to terrastock this past june. drone trailer is a consolidation of the previous musical high-life of the duo’s space shanties for the 21st century. in other words, mv & ee explore their unique mix of lunar raga and astral string band music, with a couple deep-space burners/covert jams such as opening blast “anyway” thrown in to bust it all open. nobody is gonna mind if they hear a little crazy horse and prime-era dead here as well! previous releases on their own child of microtones label, along with notable albums on time-lag and ecstatic peace.
still riding high on the glorious steed that was green blues, matt valentine and erika elder entered a western mass studio armed with enough fresh material to choke a whole team of horses. you may ask, “how can this be?” well, since recording their ecstatic peace debut the duo has toured extensively, all the while writing tunes, scavenging esoteric guitar equipment and revamping their backing band to suit the environment of gettin’ gone. a new sound has organically evolved that will most certainly astonish listeners new and old… deluxe limited heavy vinyl edition. gatefold cover.
side a is called ‘limits’ and it’s a full golden road blaster with riffs as meaty as a new york deli sandwich, ripped-up mv vocals and swirling ee vocals through a fat leslie speaker. side b is a sleww, stonnnned (possibly 4-track) recording called ‘jacked-up’ with a haunting, almost dissonant vocal from mv and one of the greatest examples of erika elder’s intuitive, whacked-out electric mandobird playing we’ve yet heard… limited to only 300 copies!
this summer loving bliss festival of a record is everything we hoped it could be and more. side a, “moment spacing” is a two-and-a-half-minute blast of “ooh-la-la-la-la-la” joy that wraps a posi+ aura around the world. b-side, ‘bong judge’ is the stoned, slowed down, phaser-drenched, stretched-out basement tapes version of (almost unrecognisably) the same song running at six+ minutes. the most beautiful record we think we’ll hear all year. featuring: mv – guitars/vox, ee – lap steel/vox, willie lane – guitar, sparrow wildchild – vox, janane tripp – vox, chris livingood – vox, samara lubelski – bass, john moloney – drums… last copies.
brand new deluxe box set from mv & ee featuring 8 shows from their no floor tour in usa & canada in april 2010. the line up for this tour was mv & ee with mick flower (vibracathedral orchestra / flower-corsano duo) and john moloney (sunburned hand of the man). there’s also guest appearance from j. mascis (dinosaur jr), eric chenaux and doc dunn. the 8 shows were from hadley (ma), ridgewood (ny), oberlin (oh), detroit (mi), toronto (on), montreal (qc), saratoga springs (ny), and boston (ma). housed in an old style tape pack box (keepin’ it in the road trips family), pro dubbed tapes with printed shells, full colour cover artwork by jake blanchard, and a full colour pro-printed a6 size booklet. edition of only 150 copies… instantly sold out at source, very limited stock.
still harvesting and sustaining in the deep woods of vermont , mv & ee (matt ‘mv’ valentine, once the brawn of the tower recordings, and erika ‘ee’ elder, ceo of heroine celestial agriculture and the mv & ee medicine show) are following their 2008 release drone trailer with their feature-film-for-the-blind barn nova, which marks their return to the ecstatic peace! label. mv & ee aspire to the sort of beautifully rewarding standard in their documented output that sun ra or the grateful dead achieved. it is with ecstatic peace! that their most consistent works have been born and continue reach fans with the golden road, their most constant band. together with doc dunn (pedal steel, rhythm guitar, vocals, drums) and mike smith (rickenbacker 4001, vocals), who appeared on drone trailer, as well as j mascis (drums, guitar, plate reverb) and woods’ jeremy earl (vocal, drums) they take you on the ride now known as barn nova and here they jam. justin pizzoferrato also appears contributing percussion, space echo and aiding once again at the controls. this album was recorded at mv & ee’s own home studio ‘maximum arousal farm’ as well as their current local new england rooms of choice, ‘bank row’ (an old mid 1900s bank) and j’s home studio ‘bisquiteen.’ these kindred spirits share a wealth of ideas including a serious reverence and desire to upgrade/expand the classic-rock idiom. barn nova marks the return of ‘spectrasound,’ mv’s production technique that places tones dancing all around the stereo sound field: it has to be heard to be believed. this effect is all the more impressive that the majority of it was created recording live, rather than conjured through studio post-production during mixing. especially potent on the a side-ending stomp ‘summer magic,’ where erika’s economical leads go head-to-head with j’s on a particularly mind-blowing live-in-studio effort; it brings to mind the vibe of green blues, mother of thousands and even an electric moon jook with matured songwriting. inspired by the likes of jerry garcia, john cipollina and tom verlaine, matt valentine displays an insatiable appetite to play in various idioms with constant exploration and development. meanwhile, elder’s harmony leads recall the glorious twinned guitar lines of canned heat’s al wilson & henry vestine at their most potent… limited vinyl version with poster.
country stash is from an edition of around 600 copies and is pressed on 140 gram dutch vinyl. the album is housed within gorgeous multi-color silkscreened jackets bearing new original artwork by both jenny mcgee dougherty and lucy isabel graves. the album is accompanied by both a collage/text insert and a download coupon for drm-free mp3s of the album. country stash is a joint release between three lobed recordings and blatant obviousness… first press version.
finally! this was originally released by com in an edition of 99 copies on cdr. here it is for manhand’s new vinyl campaign remastered and re-edtited by mv in spectrsound. comes in a one-side screenprinted / one side paste on with an insert, bagged. featuring contributions from the golden road (doc dunn/mike smith), jeremy earl (woods), asa irons (feathers, witch)… edition of only 300 copies. sweet vinyl upgrade!
here is the first ever all live lp of “mv & ee” material and it is the perfect example of the scene in the tapers pit. the familiar tunes which have become staples in their set shine with an unheard intensity with killer solos and sonic excursions into the unknown, and then there is the deep of their singular ‘environments’, their space which manages to showcase the pastoral freakouts and cosmic raga forms so singular to this unique band. just as their recent run of releases on ecstatic peace! and dicristina consolidates the mv & ee private press universe and child of microtones orbit with the essence of the maximum arousal farm sound “home comfort” does the same to distill the gems of their live shows onto sweet wax. for those familiar with matt and erika’s cottage label “heroine celestial agriculture”, known to the heads as “heroine”, this lp reads like a best of curated by the ‘you are there’ swingin’ pig and the results are a stunning cross section of their duo exchange, funky trio with woods’ jeremy earl and big band exploratory stomp with doc dunn, muskox and willie lane of the golden road. here is the true sound of “mv & ee” with the songs, the extended jams and the feeling. this seminal duo and all they sail with need to be heard live and need to be heard live often, what a glorious document from the tapers pit. that’s tapers pit twice in a paragraph, class. peace. full color jackets with insert. limited to 550.
arbitrary signs is turbo stoked to announce the august 1st release of “liberty rose” the brand new lp by contemporary psychic blues visionaries mv & ee. the duo spent 40 days and 40 nights under the twisted trees and endless sky of the mojave desert via a vermont homestead, freedom and unity. thats where these songs were unformed in dreams, floating off to mingle with the collective unconscious of coyotes and rattlesnakes, before they were re-birthed as smoke signals channeled through shaky hands, an old tele, germanium transistors and a bucket brigade. we at arbitrary signs feel that this is the purest distillation of the mv & ee “ s p e c t r a s o u n d ” to date. embedded within the grooves of this record are 6 streams to dip into as respite from the punishing rays of the hot summer sun… very small pressing in screen printed covers.
ragas of the culvert, previously self-released as a cd-r in an edition of less than 50 copies as well as a quickly sold out cassette on fuck it tapes, is a glorious revisiting of the lunar raga style that created so much of mv+ee’s past. this meditative and purely instrumental six track voyage is guaranteed to transport you to distant worlds. ragas of the culvert will be from an edition of 840 copies pressed on 180gm rti vinyl. the record will be housed within “old style” stoughton lp sleeves bearing a new design by both matt and erika… all copies here include the pre-order only bonus cd, ‘total loss songs’, that featuring 50 minutes of previously unreleased and newly recorded material, complete with b&w cover art. sold out at source.
the box set documents the mv & ee live experience in various incarnations between 2002 and 2009. the music is entirely unreleased material (with the exception of guitar barn featuring j mascis and tom carter, which was issued as a bootleg cdr in the heroine style, but was actually unofficial). highlights include a 2002 mv & ee medicine show performance, the guitar barn jam with j mascis and tom carter, a new band, mv & ee with the wolfpack, a recent set with jeremy earl of woods, as well as classic bummer road and golden road jams. the box set will be presented chronologically and culminates in a pete’s pix vol. 2 featuring 7 tracks from various dates mainly in the uk (including tracks from the thurston moore curated atp in 2006, and dylan nyoukis’ 2006 colour out of space fest – both of which feature chris corsano). limited to 250 copies. the tapes: the mv & ee medicine show ‘citybillies’ brooklyn, ny 5/23/02 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘the suncatcher blossoms a novatone’ tonic, nyc 7/18/2005 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘abstract blues and egyptian mud’ campfire sounds, acra, ny 7/15/06 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the bummer road ‘pastis king’ paris, november 11th, 2006 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘barn joint’ red barn, amherst, ma, 10/16/07 (feat. j mascis and tom carter) (previously out as an unofficial bootleg) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘lobstora vs tone crabs’ floristree auditorium baltimore, md, 6/14/08 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the wolfpack ‘yurt aspects/rural centrifuge’ wickermania festival, the yurt, goshen, ma 8/2/08 / tinderbox, brattleboro, vt, 8/3/08 (unreleased) – mv & ee with jeremy earl ‘”he’s on tonight, saddleback”/”multiple gravitrons” cakeshop, nyc, 1/20/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the wolfpack ‘mamma zooed’ the triple, richmond, va, 1/23/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee ‘smoked bossier’ art space, shreveport, la, 1/29/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee with the golden road ‘sequential circuits’ vintage by the pound, toronto, on, canada, 2/7/09 (previously unreleased) – mv & ee ‘pete’s pix vol. 2′ 2004 – 2006 (tracks from cambridge uk, colour out of space, thurston’s atp, oxford, london, and more. features nemo, chris corsano, samara, willie, jiggs, sparrow, simoes) (previously unreleased)… beautifully done & already sold out at source. very limited stock.
i was lookin’ for myself in this celestial agriculture and came upon this country store. i was informed. i was told by certain sources that this was the place. you can hear why. i mean from the outside it looked like any other joint. tho’ you don’t need to cut the cord to know that a c.o.m. is not like anything else. this sounds and feels analog – because it is and was created with warm technology in every possible stage. you don’t need to jettison awareness to realize that this is handmade. would be “good” by the woodstove, in yr ear, for yr pipe – stuff like that. so i went inside and asked if they’d heard us and thought about diy, keepin’ it sustainable. i just asked straight out like that. you can wait right there and look or you can “hear” it while supplies last. limited to 99 copies… 8 discs packaged in a handmade/handbound wallet offset printed with silver and black ink, stamping and a 16 page book with a color cover repro of the tour poster. “you are there” vibe of the tapers pit recorded live, up close and personal. all this housed in an archival quality poly sleeve – lovingly assembled / mastered / restored in spectrasound. peace… maybe the most epic com release yet! totally cool one here folks. 99 copies only and very limited stock.
tribute album to alan lomax, the man who, more than any other, have worked to “bring the music to light”, in the widest and most absolute meaning of the word. a record that the space brothers maurizio and roberto opalio, aka my cat is an alien, share with fabio orsi, considered by the impro duo as the most interesting emerging italian musician, from the “bloody heart of naples”. in his track, orsi inserts lots of voices “stolen” from the infinite recordings made by lomax along decades of meticulous and continuous work, and makes them hinge and nucleus of “spring no more and love come in the wind”, giving them new shape in order to make them his own; like for example a sicilian fisherman’s chant from the middle of the twentieth century, which orsi stretches into a low and hearthbreaking prayer, submitted to the personal and sensitive logic of his own elettroacoustic aesthetics. though so different from each other, orsi’s and mciaa’s tracks sound complementary, and build up an original, complex and really unitary work. mciaa’s “heart of the earth” starts with an harmonica floating throughout cosmic sounds, while alien cosmic blues guitar chords slowly increase until an explosion of tumultuous space-noise, enhanced by roberto opalio’s estranged vocal tune, which rises on the great void to celebrate the spirit of the artists which hav e always represented mciaa’s heroes, from leadbelly to blind lemon jefferson and charlie patton. the listener won’t find difficult to see the great alan lomax materializing from the deepest cosmos, as undiscussed discoverer of the american primitive music. released in an elegant matt varnished digi-sleeve. limited edition of 500 copies… out of print.
limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies packaged in heavy duty screenprinted metallic ink jackets done by neil burke at monoroid. my cat is an alien’s new surprising master work is a concept-album split with their side project, praxinoscope. as always, in a world full of compromises, mciaa represent fierce independence and complete freedom. take roberto’s own words in the liner notes as the best introduction to this work: ‘one day we realized it was no more possible to discern archaic art and post-modern art in our palette; it was clear that they were both reflected in the same hall of mirrors. in other words, alien art and archaic art are the same thing. all archaic art deals with death, sex, transcendence and eternity. we’re all living days suspended in the void. the difference is in consciousness: this is real artists’ duty. beyond and other than this, only oblivion.
entire session of one of the latest mciaa’s live killer performances, recorded at feedback festival in dijon on september 29th, 2007. split over 6 sides of c20 analog tape cassettes, the duo’s performance couldn’t but draw inspiration by the name of the event, launching a massive attack of feedbacks from the highest spheres. private edition of 60 handnumbered copies; in heavy cardboard with paisted artwork.
another voyage into the inky blackness with the cosmos-loving italians and another gem. mciaa have gone from making dronescapes that were merely beautiful to listen to (merely!) to vast vistas of sound that seem to exert an almost gravitational pull into their depths. this opens with roberto opalio’s parched vocal trances and the calming ching of oriental bells and builds into a soporific sea of echoing guitar notes with bells rippling through it like a warm wind. for some reason, the line from”astronomy domine” about”the blue you once knew” comes to mind. the sound then appears to collapse in on itself before ebbing into freefall. divinely beautiful. — boa melody bar.
“here we are/ dancing with the dark shadows/ here we are/ dancing with the dark shadows” this is the incipit of the first side of”when the windmill’s whirl dies”, the new work by the space-brothers maurizio and roberto opalio, alias my cat is an alien; and here we are indeed, ready to dance with the shadows which surround the light, as the intimate and vividly estranged mood originated by the floating guitar tunes will enter the furthest meanders of your mind. both the words, recited and shaped by roberto from his own homonymous poem that suggested the title of the album, and the oblique minimalism of the complex musical texture made of flowing space sounds, represent the abstract neo-expressionistic substratum of the whole corpus of the work. moving throughout a nebula of space dust and debris, the starting spoken-word vocals alongside the percussive section sound as powerfully impressive as the violent imagery of trees beaten down by the storm, while the whispered silence of”perspective of time” and”fallin’”, on side two, discloses the emotional and existential universe of an isolated broken soul, lost in a world of inanity. this is the center of the no-thing universe, where each single word or sound assumes the aspect of a sort of pagan prayer that speaks the language of astral folk-blues. in this context, mciaa’s outer space becomes a re-found uterus, meant to be the form of a new self-biogenesis. at the same time, space is conceived as symbol of the eternal theatre surrounding the mysterious cycle of life & death; such infinite space, despite such limited time. this cosmic-chant of the new millennium may heat our nights like a flame left to enlighten the shadows of the coldest darkness. at the end of it all, some words will still be ringing in our minds:”so, we’ll never forget the light”. after 2004′s key-work”the rest is silence”, mciaa’s”when the windmill’s whirl dies” comes as the second act of a trilogy dedicated to the great void. a beautiful recording housed in a thick, heavy duty gatefold sleeve. edition of 600 copies.
the follow up to their excellent debut cdr, the mystery water saloon boys is phil todd’s vehicle for group workouts in atmospheric and psychedelic jams. this disc features the duo of PHIL TODD (ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS) and CHRIS HLADOWSKI (SCATTER, NALLE) exploring everywhere from twisted deep space raga to edgy paranoid ramblings using strings, effects, voice, reeds, wind, and percussion all mixed and mangled onto a very damaged old tape deck – limited.
vinyl edition of this nomadic psych-soul trio’s beloved 2008 studio debut, released on cd on greg weeks’ (of espers) language of stone label. this edition has swank glossy jackets, plus an 11×11 pro-printed insert, on colored vinyl. one time pressing of 500.
debut vinyl album by contemporary electric guitar wizard bill nace, ‘too dead for dreaming’ begins in the form of a deconstructed blues piece, slowly exploring the territories of atonal composition, string–scraping and feedback, crashing all these styles in an instinctive, personal way. his affiliations with x04, northampton wools and vampire belt converge here in a unique flux. bill’s ability in creating sounds, follows a clear logic of ‘construction of tension’ that eventually explodes into pure sonic mayhem (part 2) then switching the attention from your blowing ears into new, obscure tonalities, with a spectral meditation that develops in the last part of the album and mirably closes the circle. it’s all here: one man, one guitar. a bulldozer. limited to 200 copies , hand printed and numbered.
mr. ruaradidh sanachen has been getting a name for himself recently with his one man kosmische metal space ritual project nackt insecten, releasing plenty of limited edition “stuff” on a whole bunch of labels. in february 2008, as part of glasgow’s wonderful instal festival, he was seen cradling a suitcase full of howling drone/noise aboard glasgow’s tube trains, and what a show it was – check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v5nrb6nllo for a glimpse of the fun. as nackt insecten’s relentless sounds meshed in perfectly with the locomotive rumblings, i thought to myself what a fine 7 inch single it would make. and sure enough, over a year later, here it is. an explanation made by a member of the “audience” to a worried fellow traveller provides the title. this package also contains a cd of new nackt insecten studio concoctions, a conceptual sequel to the recent lp on blackest rainbow records. a real cd too, not a cdr! cover art by goldenlab’s fliss horrocks and the inclusion of a genuine glasgow tube train ticket completes this handsome package. limited to 200 copies.
side a features 4 tracks, sort of snippets of larger drone landscapes build from what sounds like burnt-out spacestations and lost may-day transmissions of shuttles travelling into the unknown. side b is one long 15 min drone piece that slowly works its way into total blacked-out nothingness. the atmosphere of the whole release warps you into some creepy sci-fi movie with the sound of xenomorphed arachnid hordes slowly eating it’s way through ancient space waste and abandoned spacecrafts. all in all, a haunting and throughout focused release by this insect! edition of 60 with artwork by jf.
the rumors are true. marissa nadler delivers her kickstarter funded debut release on her own box of cedar label. brian mctear produced the album, which nadler says is the “most honest, natural record” of her career.
across these seven tracks, tuulikki adopts different personae to act out variations on the mythic themes of love and death that have informed british indigenous music for centuries. accompanied by multi-instrumentalist chris hladowski (with whom she also performs in the family elan) and viola player aby vulliamy, tuulikki constructs poetic, timeless tales with arrangements that draw as much on 1960s acid folk and its 21st century descendants as they do on traditional music. in the ballad “sunne’s return” her longing for physical dissolution, coupled with hladowski’s spidery, off-key electric guitar, creates something as creepy and haunted as an empty playground swing rocking by itself. “lilly” is a dark vision of extinction and exile built around a heavy, comus-like acoustic riff and hotwired with a spitting fuzz-guitar solo, in a similar vein to some of ben chasny’s louder six organs of admittance moments. the stand-out track, “songthrush” – which also features scottish saxophonist raymond mcdonald and alex nielsen on drums, reprising the free jazz inflected playing that powered his own psych folk song project, directing hand – is a broiling, formless freak-out, borne aloft on tuulikki’s ecstatic, birdlike trilling. it’s a breathtaking burst of magical energy, and easily some of the most convincing free-folk the uk has ever produced. daniel spicer/ wire magazine. 180gm lp ltd to 500 copies… another lovely lp on this label, with top notch presentation as always : massively thick textured cover & super heavy wax.
nautilus is the solo project of heidi diehl of vanishing voice/time life, long-time br transatlantic e-mail buddy who we finally got to meet just over a year ago on the very brief vanishing voice tour. since then, she has begun recording solo material under this alias, and has self-released one cd-r which blew our minds, and likewise blew local long-time br friend ben nashs cranium apart. the nautilus side opens with still rings, a far-out trip of weirdo outsider dripping mind-fuzz, like some kind of spatial insect gathering. tallahasse woman rings more bells with the sound of vanishing voice and heidis psychedelic string playing, and subtle vocals buried below it. jeans theme is another sweet track of tranced-out guitar with approaching percussion and waves of vocal drones. ben nash holds his side with two nearly 8-minute tracks, opener plymouth bredren blues has definitely got the blues, as mentioned in the title, theres some serious woe in the wah right here, and some almost paris, texas moments. interloper / latch also starts off pretty bluesy, but halfway through goes to a speaker-shredding guitar shaker, with some seriously serious riffs, that are almost breaking up as they begin, and then reverting back to the blues mediation of the beginning of the track. a great release, in an edition of 300 copies… great stuff! recommended for sure.
new self releases gem from solo uk wonderkid. two long tracks. numbered edition of 96 copies, already sold out at source. recommended!
subterranean substances flipping over into parallel visions of increased awareness. bringing the aura of inspired nakedness to fruition. exposing percussion by brett womersley. 70 copies… another great release from this dude! hot stuff. recommended.
it’s been quite some time since a full length solo ben nash release, and it’s finally here, and so,what different from his more psychedelic folk drones he showcased way back on ‘the seventh goodbye’. probably best left for ben to explain this one for you… “i recorded this new full-length record during downtime from playing with chora and after a long break from recording any solo music. having become somewhat disillusioned with the process of overdubbing conventional “physical” instruments repeatedly in my solo work i have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ways of inputting, manipulating and arranging sound electronically, both in a variety of computer based environments and also using an apple ipad. this release is the first in a series that will document these experiments. all sounds on the album stem from and are sequenced within yamaha’s tnr-i app with some minimal mix processing in logic” – ben nash, camberwell green, september 2011. edition of 250 copies pressed on heavy weight black virgin vinyl.
vinyl debut for long term blackest rainbow brother ben… i’m extremly happy with this one. 8 tracks, 34 minutes. opening with a reworking of ‘kuad 9873′ from his blackest rainbow debut cassette… bleak drones smothered in vocal lulling, and finishing with a sweet guitar piece swirling in a lake of percussion, vocal and drone. ‘nightcall’ shows a more middle eastern psychedelic droning, bowing, wailing, and satanic mutterings. track 3 is the title track ‘the seventh goodbye’, and is the most ‘full band’ approach of ben’s acoustic psychedelic folk jams, but this blurs into sax blurts, waves of melancholic vocal drone and writhing riffery. perhaps similar to voice of the seven woods or six organs of admittance. side b opener ‘smoke and flattery’ is the most experimental – multi percussion, echoes of whispers, finger grating guitars. ‘magnetophon pt iv’ is not ben’s recent sloow tape of a similar name, but a bluesy haze lsd dream, building into a drenched ecstatic guitar drone. following this is ‘what will always be pt.ii’ which is reminiscent of jack rose, or james blackshaw, the most beautiful composition on the lp. this bleeds into the final surrealness of ‘angel no. 7′ field recordings, bleak, fearful and empty. i’m honoured to release this gem. limited to 250 hand numbered copies on virgin vinyl, with black, white and red pasted on covers, plus a black and white insert. all artwork designed by darryl norsen who designed our (vxpxc) sleeve, and done a few beauties for important records, as well as posters for sunburned, six organs, hush arbors, magik markers and more… killer vinyl debut from this great under the radar uk dude. paste-on color art, insert, etc. limited to only 250 copies and sold out at source. recommended & act fast.
formless, yet totally purposeful impressionism from travis of warmer milks; totally blow out guitars layered over mysterious might, it’s almost meteorological. the tape’s totally autumn: breezy synths, rain-drop-drop percussive jewels, air-shifting riffs; when a recording reveals an certain experiential wisdom, (here through some sort of kaleidoscopic spasmodic vermism) it’s clear t-t-t-totally precise artistry was necessary–totally “next level” material. in addition of fifty (and numbered) totallly full-color “double cover insert” tape.
this might sound like hyperbole, but i’m not exaggerating when i say that “the dance of the moon & the sun” was the greatest cdr release of all-time. the packaging, the music, the overarching feel of the whole release was nothing short of perfection. it was criminally limited (though understandably so with the intricate packaging & booklet) and eventually found its way onto various mp3 blogs and other file-sharing resources online, and it became the stuff of legend. but what of the music? it’s the rarest of cases that one would want to listen to 2.5 hours of music by a single band in a single sitting, but natural snow buildings is that rare exception. there is no filler on this monumental masterpiece. it is the history of all things. it is an epic poem. it is a love letter to the world. nsb find their way through dense forests and towering peaks using every weapon in their arsenal. the aching beauty of “wisconsin” is the perfect piece of ambience in the tradition of windy & carl. “john carpenter” is loose and subdued, washed in reverb with a nod to the dirty three. the title track flickers in the night sky like the north star, beckoning those who hear it’s heady call. the 25 minute stunner, “felt presence, ghostlyhumming” takes flight and never returns to earth, losing you in the darkness. it’s desolation will rip your heart out, while putting much drone-based music to shame. in the end, though, words can’t do something this special, this important justice. it is perfection defined. packaged with all new artwork in arigato packs from stumptown printers with 6-panel insert, featuring new liner notes from time-lag’s nemo bidstrup. limited to 500 copies… long sold out at source, we scored a few last copies. if you don’t have it yet, better go for it, cuz this one is a real stunner. highly recommended.
stunning new record from natural snow buildings, the collaborative project between mehdi ameziane and solange gularte, the minds behind twinsistermoon and isengrind respectively. this new epic from the french duo is their first physical release since 2009′s well received ‘shadow kingdom’, also issued by us here at blackest rainbow, and it follows on from 2010′s download only ‘the centauri agent’ and both twinsistermoon and isengrind full length lps. so 2010 has been a relatively quiet year for natural snow buildings in comparison to 2008 and 2009. mehdi and solange have been working on ‘waves of the random sea’ for us for quite sometime, both in terms of art and audio, and it really has come together beautifully. solange has created a truly stunning series of artworks that spread across the 4 panels of the gatefold sleeve, and the music is a gorgeous tapestry of dreamy drone blurred with their enchanting ethereal folk balladry. this release continues to show how important every aspect of a natural snow buildings release means to them, i was blown away by the standard of the music and artwork. pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl, and housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve featuring artwork by solange. the vinyl edition features an extra track not on the cd and all tracks in their entirety.
two of the most intense young “free” dudes from different parts of the globe (kelley from boston, neilson from leeds) unite for this completely weird record, taking free music to a different level, recorded on top of eachother via mail. this sounds like moving the heaviest metal closet on a little rubber boat from brighton to the east coast of the united states, kicking off with a heavy free jazzy tune full of retarded trumpets stuffed with little babies screaming for a change slightly changing into ice cold acoustic metal scraping ambience. tons of different sounds to discover and very unclear whether they came out of a trumpet, a drumset, a mouth or a whale. comes in a black and silver fine line drawn cover by dennis tyfus. limited to 400 copies – sweet!
filthy, ragged, drone-damage from the mastermind behind the insanely credible pseudoarcana label, and recently crowned third member of black boned angel. crackle and smoldering fuzz turn over and over on itself at ever more terrifying pace until everything within its gravitational grasp begins to smell of burning plastic. frightening, shamanic, and dare-i-suggest bluesy (think fushitsusha not gary moore!) yet set within a down-on-the-farm, antipodean, post-xpressway context. the future of drone. the future of rock. the future of goddamn everything!
neu’s third album repressed on super thick, 200g vinyl. ’75 is a unique entry in neu’s discography, mainly due to the fact that the album was created while band was going through growing pains and creative differences (this was their last album till much later in the 80′s). it had been a few years since the second album, and keyboardist/guitarist michael rother had grown very fond of the ambient style, while his band-mate klaus dinger (ex-drummer for kraftwerk) preferred a more aggressive, rock sound. as a compromise, they decided to record one side of the record (side a) in the old neu! style with dinger on drums and rother on keys. side b however, was a much more radical change in style with dinger on lead guitar and vocals leading to a much more experimental punk sound. both sides are equally fantastic listens and together they give a great variety to the album, reminiscent to the varied styles found in some of their peers albums at the time (such as ‘faust iv’). to aid with performing on the album, and more importantly, live, hans lampe and brother thomas dinger were enlisted to help execute more music than was possible by two men. upon its release, and arguably to this day, ‘neu! ’75’ is one of the most diverse records available from the krautrock scene. while this can be seen as a positive point, the differences in musical direction (as well as personal issues) not only isolated the dinger/rother duo, it isolated their already small fan base. neu! broke up (for the moment). excellent space-out music for the cosmic heads in original gatefold sleeve, and on extra-high grade vinyl too.
new yaki is gown and partli cloudi, culled from fahey tributes, grain elevators, jazz vangaurds, and apartment recordings towering above blackball records. exotic drones and percussive memory loss. analog delayed reactions. also guests babel and matt o))) on a couple tracks. vintage folkwaste library covers, limited edition 69.
first release on new portland maine label, started by the fine folks running the great venue of the same name… really sweet lonesome stripped down folk & folk blues from this local fellow. mostly slow paced & but pretty on the edge, its a intense listen if given real focus. certainly will appeal fan of the area’s other folk hero, micah blue smaldone. packaged in a nice screen printed cover with paste-on photo, plus thick board printed art insert. limited edition of only 100 copies, so not going to hang around long!
our first split cd, two complementary mini-albums merged into one mind-altering whole. philadelphia-based niagara falls follow up two fine cds on their own honeymoon music label with perhaps their most evocative electro-acoustic drones to date, an aural tour of a misty archipelago located just off the coast of dreamland; 3 tracks, 30 minutes. meanwhile, the clear spots roll up one of their most fried rural noise fatties yet, assembling various wreckage from last year’s successful orbital barn launch into an imposing edifice that towers over the scree on the far side of the ridge; 1 25-minute track in 4 parts.
sequence of prophets, the third full-length album from niagara falls, finds the band once again radically altering their instrumentation and composition methods. upon the exit of erich breimhurst and jeff carpineta, sam cusumano and noah levey joined norman fetter in the latest incarnation of the group. the trio of norman fetter (ex-golden ball) (percussion, keyboards, and guitar) noah levey (keyboards and guitar) and sam cusumano (synthesizers and electronics) self-recorded the album in spring of 2008 at the band’s own honeymoon compound in the fishtown section of philadelphia, which has also been home to espers, golden ball, ex reverie, fursaxa, sharron kraus, heather leigh murray and christina carter. on the opening track, flatlands, the band employs a cacophony of insect nosies, long sustained keyboard drones, and tribal drumming, as well as sam cusumano’s hand-made acousto-electric devices and circuit-bent keyboards, to create a symphony of fluctuating electronic weather patterns. sequence of prophets is an illustratration of the band’s journey from free-form improvisation towards a more solid sonic anatomy. calling to mind the early experimental albums of tangerine dream and popol vuh, niagara falls has created a new synthesis of ambient new age experimentalism and neo noise. limited edition of 500.
ninni morgia: guitar, bass, el.autoharp, el.sitar, keyboard, percussion, kalimba. daniel carter: saxophones, trumpet, clarinet, flute, voice. jeff arnal: drums, percussion, thumb piano. brooklyn-based guitarist ninni morgia (quivers, the right moves), in this occasion with multi-instrumentalist daniel carter, one of the most active and talented musicians of new york’s free jazz community, who has played, among others, with: sun ra, sunny murray, test, matthew shipp, other dimensions in music, plastic ono band… and drummer/percussionist jeff arnal, create a beautiful mix of psychedelic free jazz and indian raga with a wide range of instruments like thumb piano, kalimba, bells, gongs, all centered around morgia’s versatile guitar work, previously compared to great masters like keiji haino, sonny sharrock and hendrix. on the various tracks of this 2lp, morgia’s guitar goes from miles-electric style funky-wah and the acid trips of jerry garcia, to the fury of haino and sharrock, and finally reaches the ecstatic visions of the great kosmische bands popol vuh and ash ra tempel. the record has been mastered by audio wizard scott colburn (sun city girls, magik markers, animal collective).
not too long ago, john clyde-evans made a huge splash with his phenomenal solo lp on england’s fisheye imprint. he also performed as an collaborator with the seminal uk group, hood. after taking a seven year hiatus and committing to the path of sikhism, he returned as tirath singh nirmala. his continually unfolding backstory is interesting enough, but it’s his music where the real magic and mystery stretch their silver wings. nirmala returned to making music after his close friend and collaborator, vibracathedral orchestra’s neil campbell, gave him some free software and set him on his way. nirmala responded with nearly a dozen self-released, highly limited cdrs. the releases were filled to the brim with eastern-influenced, transcendental drones and uplifting spiritual sound explorations. his manipulation of sine waves and use of obscure asian instruments creates a wholly original and unique sound. as on his solo lp as john clyde-evans, nirmala’s ability to concoct sprawling, majestic drones using such simple terms is unmatched.”bluster, cragg, & awe,” nirmala’s first non-cdr release, is the perfect beginning. it collects the best tracks from those now impossible-to-find releases and adds one new song and one collaborative piece with scottish guitar guru, richard youngs. it is a journey that lasts less than an hour, but contains a lifetime of aural experience, wrapped into one, shimmering golden package. oh yes, tirath singh nirmala has returned.
from elevated drones to gut-spit vocal edits, blown woodwinds and heavy electronics, this is one of the finest summations of music made in ‘the tirath era’ – english artist john clyde-evans has retired his tirath singh nirmala name and now flies under the jce banner. tirath/john has also recently worked with neil campbell in astral social club, released a collaborative lp with richard youngs, and was previously a member of the hood crew. edition of 100.
another well-smoked slab of glorious “what the fuck?” by visionary caterwaulers of chaos and ex-chicago blues cruisers, no doctors. equal parts backwards boogie and straight skullfucking confusion, “t-bone pt. 1″ stomps one through hard and thick, slinging broken barn-boned riffs that collide head on with sputtering cross-eyed measures of brilliance and back again. “t-bone pt. 2″ ensues after a quick flip to side b as you and your square-minded notions are slapped straight in the face with a wet hose spewing talkin box (!) snarl and ultimately delivers your blown mind on a broken piece of hobo-stew stained porcelain.” – noel von harmonson (comets on fire). “like the grateful dead and royal trux, no doctors possess the ability to start off playing the most rudimentary of folk forms and then subtly shift into exploded, free-form sonic excursions.” – justin f. farrar (east bay express).
recorded close to the group’s inception in 1994, languid red marchetti is the nnck sound in its empirical form, rhythmically a-linear and fundamentally abstract. while nnck would go on to become a seven piece performing group, recording and touring extensively, this recording documents a smaller group of four original members engaged in the hermetically sealed sonic exploration which best locates their aesthetic origins. from the group’s statement on languid red marchetti: ‘a proto-intuitive latihan of feedback + pre-scaffold juxtaposition of layers which would come to constitute edifice, and eventually dwelling. where we would soon occupy this sound, it here was a force in and of itself, its directionless propulsion compounding into substance and landscape.’ this deluxe edition planam lp comes with a nnck generated essay on sound imaging through improvisation and is packaged in a full color jacket depicting ‘the hypothetical dissolve/corruption + subsequent inevitable repetition of suprematism.’ edition limited to 340 copies, with full-color cover, infra-suprematist inner sleeve and ultra-liner notes insert by keith connolly.
the first release of dokuro is the 7″ of nodolby, two tracks of guitar ferocity melted with blasted synths and tape manipulation of howling voices. the b side featured the droning trumpets played by demis da rold. the art work was drawed and curated by merlo and hand printed by canedicoda. nodolby is the sound’s onanist expression of michele scariot (part-time lover of emanuele “kabu” bortoluzzi in the electronic combo ent) , he run this project privately since ’98, during all these years nodolby was like a slumbering creature that wait in his lair the right moment to attack you. his sound archive goes from guitar abuse to computer scorias through turntable detonations and it will be release in the future by dokuro… purple vinyl edition of only 66 copies.
as a wee lad – i would make these treks up to portland from my smaller home-town down south – i’d hit these spots like the x-ray and thee o hell cafe – and suburbia – and catch all these weirdos doing their thing – i saw jacike o motherfucker, smegma, daniel menche – all the og motherfuckers here in puddletown – . and i saw noggin – who were probably the least forgiving, most punishing slab of skree my virgin ears had heard – seriously rough guitar/violin scrapes and feedback – i still don’t have any idea how they made all of the sounds they pulled out of those little twigs – fast forward ten plus years, and i’m a bit older and making a small racket of my own – we’re on tour with gang wiz and playing up in bellingham, wa with noggin – all are stoked. the noggin bros rock up with no amps and two violin cases – so – now noggin’s as abrasive as ever, but totally acoustic – now – a few years further down the road – and jyrk is releasing their return to electric playing, which is a great amalgam of their intense electric skree and their acoustic athletics. all smashed up into this lil cdr – edition of 150.
g lucas crane. the breakdancer. g lucas crane. the tapemanipulator. g lucas crane. the new york city guide. g lucas crane brings us a 60 minutes roundtrip of weird fidelities and strange sounds. i enclose what the mind of lucas communicated me through resonating electric wires. i wrote down this given information using the technique of automatic writing: “its tape one in the goblin universe series. the rare zero tape is the only tape to survive the arson of rozwell labs 2029. it was one of 6, the rare one through rare 6 were all holding sound patterns corresponding to analysis levels, the audio detritus left over from mental examinations. the exposure to these tapes responds to latent interdimentional experiances, womb style, aeomeba style. the silver disk is the symbol of the gobiln universe and altered opened mind in general. its yer “classic” unidentified flying object. a smooth, silver disk that turns pink red orange hues when its about to punch through off into the multiverse. apparently, it also turns blueish purpleish when landing. awesome mode! anyway. the rare zero tape survived and was taken to the quarentine site in los alamos nv, approching the rare zero tape causes an audiable “swarm of bees” sound to increase in anger and intensity the closer one gets. touching the rare zero tape with skin causes negative aura proxisms and results in instant death. listening to the rare zero tape does not kill, just touching the original. a military robot was charged with dubing the master and sending it to you. it is the sound of perliminary examination. the further 6 levels have been lost. good god.
two ten minute tracks come smeared across this tape from brad rose’s the north sea. drone music, slowly shifting, and peppered with acoustic folk-oriented instruments and percussion, hinting at this artist’s background, but obviously looking forward to a drastic change in sound that is obvious from his recent releases under this project as well as activity in ajilvsga. color digital printing on a royal arsenal of metallic vellums; silver, gold, plum, purple. 2-panel j-card, 1 panel of real marble, an internal horizontal obi, and silver labels. edition of 100 on hi-bias chrome tapes.
brad rose of digitalis has been busting the north sea jams for quite sometime, and in the last year or so its developed from being a luscious garden, to a complete metallic desert of industrial waste land, christian bale and his co-stars would probably feel at home with this being the soundtrack to the next terminator flick, and who knows, maybe it will be? the a side, cyclones, is a pure doom soaked 11 minute beast. side b’s milk money is a fuzz layered nightmare of scolding blowtorches burning at your face and mind… intense and bleak. bleak forestry cover art, pro dubbed cassettes, limited to 100 copies.
this is the first official solo full-length release from tulsa’s the north sea (brad rose). rose is easily one of the free-folk movement’s busiest exponents, splitting his time between running the digitalis and foxglove labels, the foxy digitalis webzine and writing his own music under a variety of different monikers with a host of collaborators. somehow, he has found the time to craft exquisite idols, which elegantly follows a hugely acclaimed collaboration with uk’s rameses iii, night of the ankou. however, whereas night of the ankou explored both acts’ occasional leanings towards ambience and drone, exquisite idols shows rose digging deep into the dusty vaults of his american heritage and drumming up an album dripping with blues, folk and free experimentation. this is folk music as played from a snow-drift in tulsa, in a midwest wasteland or a forgotten forest drenched in moonlight. it is personal, secluded and almost lonely, but rose never allows the melancholy to take over. from the jubilant opening crackles of “eternal birds” right up until the rockin’ stomp of “feather-cloaked silver priestess,” there is the distinct feeling that although this might be labeled free folk, there’s a barn somewhere full of like-minded drunkards waiting eagerly to get dancing on them there hay-bales. just flip to the rip-roaring folk stomp of “take it from me brother moses,” take a swig of moonshine and let your feet do the talking. exquisite idols is an album steeped in tradition, yet its greatness comes from rose’s ability to absorb other cultures so easily — there are traces of indian traditional music, greek music and more, all hidden within the cacophony of banjo, guitar and clanging percussion. this is what sets him apart from his contemporaries and makes his music so absorbing… limited vinyl version.
brad rose as been channeling some seriously heavy vibes lately. picking up where ajilvsga left off, rose spews forth even more thick unholy shimmer. hints of past pursuits loom just beneath the surface, lush forest drones are completely overpowered by caustic metallic doom. c30 edition of 100.
brad rose joins the black petal family, with contributions from valerio cosi. tender earth-bound songs for hand and hoof eventually grow wings and scramble straight into the core of the sun. cdr with handpainted covers… very limited & out of print.
you thought you knew what digitalis industry honcho brad rose played the bouzouki? well, you haven’t this set of recordings yet. thought lost in the postal system or perhaps at the bottom of a pile of packages on some other label’s desk, it is now time for this incredible acoustic document to be unleashed. reverbed-out folk tunes at their finest. this release is housed in a sturdy cardboard package, stamped with the north sea seal, and contains a printed insert and a non-spraypainted cd-r (cuz brad hates that stuff)… very limited.
lo-fi guitars, drum & textured noise from leif svensson & craig peade (ex 2litredolby)… nice oz private press.
grey-area exact lp repro edition, originally released on fahey’s takoma label in 1967. charlie nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, organic farmer, beekeeper and philosopher/clown charles martin simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out the metal from american cars). the psychedelic saxophone of charlie nothing made
a minor splash in the european free jazz melting pot upon its initial release, but the albums non-dingulating psych sax improvisation, accompanied by gong, conga drum and banjo (supposedly borrowed from tiny tim), is highly sought-after by the adventurous and heavily medicated. limited to 500 copies.
these tunes turned up on cassette recently at gps hq from an associate of kn x founder cy levine. recorded back in the winter of 1978 in various london locations, on original analogue equipment often borrowed from friends such as throbbing gristle’s chris carter and other sonic diy/minimal synth luminaries. they remain unreleased until now due to fractures within the band in late 1978. credited to cy levene: voice, synths. anna bloom: voice, electronics. niko: tapes and rhythm machines. taking their cue from tonto’s expanding head band, throbbing gristle, silver apples, suicide, fifty foot hose, kraftwerk and the burgeoning industrial sheffield sound, this ep is an absolute must for fans of the normal, thomas leer, tg and early human league. dressed in original collage artwork by ruth levene, depicting a host of 70s underground icons. more recordings are being released from the kn x vault, appearing as a gps lp in 2011. total killer ep, the tracks on which have been re-mastered from original cassette tape. released as a limited numbered pressing of 300 7” singles and 30 cassette tapes.
one of the newest and most surprising discoveries in the 60′s & 70′s rock rarities field, this caused big hype among collectors in the last months. certainly easy to understand, as it’s an ace album no one had heard of before. guitarist william nowik recorded this obscure instrumental record back in 1974 in the ny area. psychedelic, progressive, very early floyd sounding at times, crimson-esque, and a kind of sound that reminds on the british early 70′s underground but with an experimental, trippy touch. fourteen tracks in total, but played and arranged in suites. seems that only 200 copies were pressed and never distributed, so it has taken 35 years to be discovered for the first time. this wonderful reissue comes with the intended original artwork (it came out in green and black cover instead of the black and white that william wanted), has nice remastered sound and includes an insert with rare unseen photos and extended liner-notes.
45 rpm jesus-in-a-jiffy and sequin serenade on white vinyl. very limited.
finland and new zealand meets again on this second collaborative album from uton and antony milton (first one under the nthnthsthsth moniker was released as a limited cdr on celebrate psi phenomenon back in 2004). a perfect clash of two beautiful worlds over 2 sidelong tracks divided into several shorter segments. layers of majestic droning sounds, field recordings, voices, guitars, percussion… full colour artwork by jani hirvonen and liner notes by jon dale. limited to 520 copies.
continuing in the series, nudge deliver a smoky dirge perfect for autumn. lineup consists of honey owens (of valet, former jomf) alongside brian foote and paul dickow (ex-fontanelle, foote et al) – limited to 214 copies in a sweet embossed, hand-stamped, sewn art paper jacket.
dublin-based guitarist cian nugent excells here with meditative guitar compositions. 19 year old nugent’s originals (plus a cover of buell kazee’s anthology of american music staple “the wagoner’s lad”) are well served in this recording of nugent 4th ever live concert. ranging from the jug band bounce of “baka danse” to the eerie squeaks of “the ceremony,” nugent’s music boasts a rare breadth.
doubles, the first widely available release by irish guitarist cian nugent, showcases a major talent in the audacious setting of two side-long epics. clearly inspired by the takoma classics and the recent generation of greats (jack rose, glenn jones, etc.), nugent delivers a pair of perfectly formed takes on the classic steel-string sound, one (mostly) unaccompanied, the other an expertly arranged full-band throw-down. “peaks and troughs” is a slow-building solo piece in the style of fahey’s “fare forward voyagers,” with each part perfectly connected to the previous. nugent has ample technique, but the virtuosity here is all in service of the mood and the build-up. his guitar has a darker, more intimate sound than many current players, without the brittle ring common to fingerstyle. the emergence of a deep drone after fifteen minutes shakes up the track, like a swarm of bees spilling out of the speakers. in contrast, “sixes and sevens” is a percolating jam in the style of jim o’rourke’s classic bad timing lp, with nugent’s steel-string riding an inventive wave of drums, organ, viola, woodwinds and brass in an ambitious, filmic masterpiece. the main tune of the song is instantly memorable, building momentum before a subdued interlude that resets things for an elegant, orchestrated finish. vinyl includes digital download code
number none’s tentacles stretch out deep into the deepest depths of the wild oceans crawling along deformed creatures deprived of all oxygen who get some heavy hallucinating going ending into a tranquil state of sonic watery bliss. each copy comes with handmade papercut of a green exotic looking squidopus. numbered edition of 65 copies…. looong gone one.
great, causal yet commanding drones from this chicago duo. extremely well done twilight ghost drones. there’s something really unnerving about these subterranean transmissions – like landing on a newly discovered planet, and realising it’s all quicksand – edition of 50.
numinous eye is an improvised psychadelic-cosmic-noise-rock project based around mason jones (trance), and generally featuring the participation of various collaborators. side a is from a live set in tokyo at the end of 2005, with koji shimura (acid mothers temple, high rise, mainliner, white heaven) on drums and higo hiroshi (friction, shibusashirazu orchestra) on bass. side b was recorded live in the studio with chris van huffle (ex-subarachnoid space, gay barbarians, etc) on drums. limited to 490 copies on orange vinyl with insert and sticker.
the debut by roope from avarus, pylon and maniacs dream. nuslux plays good-humoured and chilled out electronic minimalism by mostly self-built analogue instruments. on this cd-r you can also hear some violin and the last sounds of a now passed out old yamaha sampler. the result is a celebration of sound waves, dry pulses, and harsh harmonies. the main mission is to try to get (back) near the listeners ear. this cd-r contains the very best 14 short songs of the enthusiastic and productive first sessions in the spring 2007. edition of 200.
100% minimalistic short circuit grooves! the pots of two d.i.y. oscillators are placed in three glasses of water to create parallel and random pulses and beats. the result is brutal, cheesy, funny and minimalistic dance party. probably the best nuslux item so far! … way out sounds from roope of avarus!
two solo pieces for voice and reel to reels (well one also has oscillator), plus one interlude. includes the first ever solo live joint. like if terry riley had down syndrome when he hooked up his time-lag accumulator. ‘like he was being eaten alive by goblins.’ – audience member.
forty-four short poems for amusement and contemplation, hand-bound and packaged as a “cd without a cd.” compiled from several years-worth of word experiments and traditional american pseudo-haiku. populated mosaics wonders, for one, “what do things look like from above?” … really sweet little book from elephant micah mastermind. recommended reading.
a rather appropriate unearthing takes place on this record, as yellow swans are posthumously paired up with chicago’s oakeater. first up is yellow swans, with a single side-long track that should please fans of their later, brighter more psychedelic sound as well as those of the more rigid, structured and even melodic sound found on their final lp. masterfully mixing huge guitars, shards of mixer feedback and discreet loops. oakeater on the flip side performs the funerary rights with three tracks that fall somewhere between a satanic ritual and a cosmic synth trip, with meditative vocals, throbbing synthesizers, and distant piano lines. on the label and art/design end this was a collaborative effort between black horizons and dead accents. comes packaged in a custom euro-style sleeve, offset silver ink on black linen paper. black vinyl with silver on black center labels in an edition of 500 copies.
the first full-length album from east coast doom lords ocean. three rogue waves clocking in at a full 65 fathoms, unleashed with the deep low-end drone of sunn o))), burzum’s screams, the crushing heaviness of buried at sea, and the art rock of mogwai. slothful and suffocating. includes a non-cd bonus track-a cover of the cure’s “siamese dream.”… deluxe uk import of the out of print important label release. portland maine’s finest doom unit! silver embossed cover, 180gm splatter purple vinyl. limited edition.
space cassette by a real human genius. dr bibber (a dutch guy going strong from 1985, releasing enema syringe in 1987!!!) delivers 60 minutes of space and noise. welcome in his head – limited. seriously fucked packaging!
a thousand years ago, in 2006, michigan moonlighters odd clouds drizzled down their lp opus, the cavernous end. within the sphere of open-eyed freeform organized psych-jazz sprawl, nothing compared. years later that album still kills, but not much has followed in its wake (there have been some loose tapes but those roll in a cruder basement fuckaround vein). so we are personally xxtremely pleased to be able to finally offer up the band’s latest album-length affair, deceiving illusion. a six-song spelunk into the deranged group brain responsible for noise scene mainstays like fag tapes and tasty soil records, illusion rumbles through a hall of mirrors of zones/styles, from freaky garbage punk to robot throat games to motorik brass meditations to unhinged 70s german commune beardo psych-blazers. the journey is the destination and all that. abuse yr illusion. black vinyl lps in stunning 4-color pro-silkscreened jackets with artwork by chris pottinger and jamie easter, plus a double-sided photocopied insert. edition of 400.
this self-titled album was the only one that icelandic progressive rock trio odmenn ever released. it was made at a critical point in odmenn’s history when the band members had agreed to take a sabbatical year while the guitarist studied law at the university of iceland. they got together for the last time a year after the album was released and split up directly after having played only one gig. odmenn was formed in early 1966 by the johannsson brothers playing the most popular music clubs in reykjavik. most of odmenn’s music could be categorized as protest songs or social studies, touching topics like anti-war protest and fights against pollution, greed and deception balanced with more positive stances like hope for a better world with love and eternal brotherhood. ‘psychedelic guitar pieces had become their trademark.’ odmenn recorded this double album in copenhagen with a release late december 1970. odmenn made a great impression with their blooming mixture of energetic blues rock and was probably one of the best progressive rock bands in northern europe. 15 great songs released as a double album with massive 4 page insert and many photos never shown plus long liner notes… numbered edition of 500, ultra heavy gatefold sleeve on 180gm vinyl. originally released in iceland, 1970.
thee oh sees are back again with this brand new full length. by john dwyer’s own description, castlemania is the band’s “summery poppy” album. castlemania finds the band introducing more baroque instrumentation to gild their swirling attack. the vinyl is comes in a beautiful, colorful gatefold sleeve that houses this three sided double lp. the fourth side features an etching. very swank indeed… first lp is beer colored vinyl. plays at 45. best one from them in awhile.
featuring a 13-piece band of multiple drummers, reed & brass sections, junk percussionists, banjo, a saw trio, and a vacuum, with members from evolutionary jass band, au, cexfucx, hammer of hathor, old time relijun, castanets, eternal tapestry and others. long-form compositions with free-improvising, group sing-a-longs, ecstatic shouts and new orleans funeral horns.4 songs, averaging at 12 minutes each. like the band playing backwoods tone-poems in a rotting swamp. limited pressing of 300 lps, hand-screened.
at some point all great explorers, from amundsen to kishan singh rawat, come to an opening up and cast their minds across a big space. a clearing, a promontory, a look out from a place no one’s been before. jakob olausson ventured deep on moonlight farm, his debut for de stijl in the winter of 2005. his singular expression returns on morning and sunrise, an explorer’s codex, a gaze through to what’s more important and less seen. the path yet traveled and the sun arcing over it. morning and sunrise is a different record from moonlight farm. neither “progression” nor the preferred “natural progression” describe how. there is more electric guitar and it really whisks at your earbones, the playing is beautiful. jakob’s singing glows more. it gives light and shows love as it reassures, makes no false promises, says: you can be understood. honest as the elements, whether you count four or 118. words like “loner” will be hung on morning and sunrise, and that’s okay, we associate clarity this potent with solitude. and this could be the most lucid psychedelic record ever, morning is just so clear, and anyway, it’s not really loner, because you are there all along. don’t we all just want to know how the next person gets along? come out into the morning and see… fantastic new album, at last! highly recommended!
it’s been years now — just about two, judging from the sun. om have done their time in the desert, and ever-changing, are returned. today, they say, god is good. are you surprised? perhaps you’ve haven’t understood what om was saying to you. but perhaps you felt something… it’s true that the one way pursued by om leads in many different directions. it is a mystic path. songs come from innumerable sources, filtering through the external and the internal. om albums are rituals, personal convictions transcripted into verse. playing the music is visceral, emotional, a catharsis of soul and spirit. as the ghat liberates soul from body to the ultimate, so too do om strive to disengage from the finite object of their objective mortal self to rest in the empty and timeless witness. and in doing so, they seek to release you as well. as ever, dynamic relationships and the slow building of mood are attenuations that shape the structures of god is good. with careful microscopic increase, the energy grows through the four songs, leading towards moments that one could interpret…revelation? oblivion? awakening? since 2004, om have burned their name into the annals, trolled the fertile crescent, faithfully made more out of what little was put into their hands, forged three full-length albums from white-hot evaluations of the infinite. the duo that is om is composed of bass and drums and whatever else comes into their mind that will serve the song and do it justice. al cisneros has been pursuing the pure note as om (and previously with sleep) for many years now, but this is the first om record to feature the battery of emil amos, who replaces chris haikus in the chair. you can go to the shelf and study it: there are comparative religions, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology, and history. turn around, and there is om. their vibrations of the philosophical and the physical are meant to move you. believe… limited vinyl version in a heavy old style cover with foil embossing.
in december of 2007 the mighty duo that is om made a pilgrimage to israel to play for its people. their pinnacle performance unfolded at 4 aristobolus street in jerusalem the site of uganda records. the band played for over 4 hours on this evening! the tracks: “flight of the eagle” and “bhimas’ theme” were captured and the transmission of these recordings were flown back to the united states where the vinyl lacquers were made by bob weston. southern lord in cooperation with om present you the listener with this 180-gram black vinyl transcendental offering: om live at jerusalem. limited to 3,000 machine numbered copies.
oneida has delivered a monster named rated o which happens to be the crowning achievement of their storied creative lives. by producing this colossus they have also created the necessity of its destruction — which within the confines of this tremendous accomplishment — they do so handily and with utter fluency. perhaps rated o represents the encyclopedic representation of oneida music, oneida creativity and oneida insatiability. as the leviathan rises from the murky depths to endow the idle watch with illusion, disillusionment and mortal terror — thus oneida leaves a hieroglyphic spume upon the glassy surface of what is known and unknown. the music contained within the covers of rated o must be seen as a gifted wilderness that when traversed will grant the traveler both a fractured mirror and a demolished and worried pathway deeper into the abyss. this album is an attempt to contain the entirety of oneida and thus it points the way to infinite rebirth and boundless creativity. it is a finite map and the suggestion of unknown worlds. we finally have in our hands the album that oneida has often gestured towards. ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the greatest triple albums ever recorded.
edition of only 480 copies. sweet screen printed covers, etched vinyl b-side, hand numbered, hand done labels, etc. live studio version of ‘the human factor’ from the ‘rated o’ triple lp. really nicely done art release. gonna vanish, so…
gatefold lp version. returnal is the fourth album from daniel lopatin’s oneohtrix point never project, after betrayed in the octagon (deception island, 2007), zones without people (arbor, 2009) and russian mind (no fun, 2009). all 3 albums being superbly compiled on the rifts double cd set (no fun, 2009). it sees lopatin fine-tune his craft for the creation of deep atmospheres and textures even further. starting off with the mind-blowing triptych of “nil admiari”/”describing bodies”/”stress waves,” which fires off into a noise/rhythm excess before entering a zone of relative calm, building to the melancholy of the final part. this sets the tone perfectly for the album’s title track, a stunning, out-of-this-world ballad featuring lopatin’s near-desperate vocal delivery, ending what could be seen as one of his most chilling and thought-provoking sides to-date. the atmosphere is slightly lifted as the darkened sun comes up over the ruins on “pelham island road” and “where does time go,” with the album closing with edgy broken beats and the fourth-world possible landscapes of “preyouandi,” which fades into the distance with echoes of the “returnal” chorus closing the loop. what’s burnt into memory here is lopatin’s love affair with the long, slow path back home… the cycle… the hypnotic sector… the ghost in the machine… and whether people are making dance music or hip-hop or space head-music or metal, the ouroboros is present in every sector — as it was in bach’s study, and in the elephant songs of the ituri forests. instrumentation: akai ax-60, roland juno-60, roland msq-700, korg electribe es-1, voice. recorded using a personal computer. mastered by james plotkin. tape-op & additional engineering by al carlson. awesome spot-varnished cover design by stephen o’malley.
first soloist release by one-half of my cat is an alien, space brother maurizio opalio. way up to enfer is the entire recording of an acoustic, totally improvised session performed on december 31th, 2005 at my cat is an alien’s new alien zone headquarters, located somewhere in the italian western alps. along the two tracks featured in way up to enfer, maurizio’s acoustic guitar notes create subtle killer tunes woven in a richly textured harp-like fingerpicked style, like the charming sound of a lyre emerging from a spinning maelstrom in the sea. there are no space sounds here, but clearly emotional rises, an acoustic resistance to the falling darkness, or maybe just the right way up to enfer. special handmade ltd. ed. of 100; handnumbered, look-like-vinyl black-bottom cd-r in nice-textured cardboard tri-fold sleeve, with charcoal drawing by maurizio opalio – these new acoustic releases are quite beautiful!
limited edition of 300 copies packaged in heavy duty screenprinted jackets done by neil burke at monoroid. each side features a 20-minute solo track from both brotherly halves of the acclaimed my cat is an alien. both brothers were quiet about the inspiration for their tracks. dig in and find your own meaning in the comfortable alien world of the opalio space brothers.
recorded in 1970 as part of the first biennale of arts and culture for the young in mali. the regional orchestra of mopti was a state funded orchestra that participated in country wide music festivals and competitions. a hypnotic band featuring electric guitars & a large horn section. this is the first in a series of six mali music lps we will be reissuing this summer from sterns. a serene and droning record that is both sorrowful & celebratory.
these three 7inches were originally released separately, but due to the very limited stock and unified nature of the trio we’re offering them as a bundle all together. more amazing raw solo guitar action. each 7inch limited to only 200. released of orcutt’s own private label. recommended but very few on hand.
yet another essential, cracking new set of songs from bill orcutt, showcasing a further development of his unique, visceral acoustic style. the language that orcutt uses looks familiar at first glance, but cuts deeper and it’s a myriad of twisted audio that’s both full-on and drenched in melancholy, usually in the same gasping breath. while a lot of it is the classic face-melting style, some quieter segments counter balance on the title track as well the epic closer “a line from ol’man river” and “heaven is closed to me now.” recorded spring 2011 in the living room, san francisco. gatefold lp version.
one-sided lp. originally a tour only release, but now repressed in only slightly larger quantities… recorded may 22, 2010 at high street project, christchurch, new zealand. clear vinyl with silkscreened cover art… recommended!
after a long wait… the tale finally arrives, one insane trip of moon safari keyz from belgian frozen corpser eva. one side of pink cassette acid fuelled child like far outness that only the of can jam so well. one of the most psychedelic-ly far out surreal trips to come out on the label so far, each one comes in individual space covers with a hand numbered black and white insert of crackle screen space weirdness. limited to 100.
eric is probably best known for being half of noggin – he also dropped the “e” cd/dvd in 2005, which is quite a heavy load – cyanonide is four short film pieces of beautiful bright blue takes in his usual painted film/organic matter exposure techniques. these films cover a great breadth despite their singular spectral focus – some are static blasts with other colors consuming the various washes of blues, approaching the most abstract hypercolor visions of the paper-rad sect – other pieces are meditative drifts featuring suspended plant matter in crystal blue – limited to 90 copies.
eric is probably best known for being half of noggin – he also dropped the “e” cd/dvd in 2005, which is quite a heavy load – cyanonide is four short film pieces of beautiful bright blue takes in his usual painted film/organic matter exposure techniques. these films cover a great breadth despite their singular spectral focus – some are static blasts with other colors consuming the various washes of blues, approaching the most abstract hypercolor visions of the paper-rad sect – other pieces are meditative drifts featuring suspended plant matter in crystal blue – limited to 90 copies.
it was the worst of times in johannesburg white suburbs. the beatles were banned on state radio. haircut regulations were merciless. life was an unutterable hell of boredom and conformity, but lo: salvation awaited. they came from the north in the summer of ’69, armed with axes and scarabs, long hair streaming behind them, and proceeded to slay the youth of the nation with an arsenal of murderous rock tunes. they were the biggest thing our small world had ever seen, our led zeppelin, our black sabbath, maybe even our rolling stones. they were otis waygood. after two albums released on emi s.a. the album ten light claps and a scream was simply the best otis waygood record and among collectors the most sought after. the music is influenced by the british underground for sure. bloodwin pig, steamhammer, if are working in the same field. great guitars and vocals, blues-influenced underground rock, sax, organs and well-crafted composition and arrangements making this album a unique masterpiece. julian laxton of freedoms children was the producer. rob zipper (vocals, guitars, saxophones); ivor rubenstein (vocals, percussion); leigh sagar (guitars, organ, hawaiian guitar); benny miller (guitars); alan zipper (bass)… recorded south africa, 1971. edition of 600 numbered lps, glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing.
stunning new lp from campbell kneale’s post birchville cat motel project. continues with the vibes set on his superb lp for dekorder, total psychedelic filth noise. two side long heavy pieces of gushing electric destruction, one sound lurches in and tears down another one, which it rebuilds an even more ferocious version of the original sound. pressed on 180gram vinyl. limited to 400 copies in pro printed wrap around sleeve on 400gsm silk card.
debut single of the new project by campbell kneale (birchville cat motel / black boned angel) sure to pack the dance floors in hades. -dirty knobby… shoot. the goddamn funkiest noise record ever? like a bop-off between rudolph grey and terminator x. grinding psychedirgecore plastered over tasteless and ghastly electrosplatter and ambivalent fake-folk strummage. (everybodydancenow!) – campbell kneale.
the gates of birchville cat motel crack, creak wide, and crash, unleashing a gush of soul-fried bleakness and love-damage stained with a defiantly metallic pose. thats ‘metallic… as in, has the surface qualities of metal’ not ‘metal… as in, has the surface qualities of metallica’… step back you fucking freaks. although the broken bricks of bcm are still plain to see amid the burning wreck and ruin, ‘stillborn plague angels’ represents the first fully formed sentence in a new chapter of campbell kneale’s ongoing tome of star-spangled, psychedelic, noise-om. cholesterol-shaving guitar peeks over the trench to survey an adrenalised landscape of endless roaring catastrophy… everything louder than everything else! our love will destroy the world is the new one-man project by new zealander campbell kneale after disbanding birchville cat motel. in the past kneale has released albums on ecstatic peace, corpus hermeticum, last visible dog, conspiracy and his own celebrate psi phenomena label. he has colllaborated with lee ranaldo, neil campbell, bruce russel, john olson (wolf eyes), yellow swans, has toured throughout japan, europe, america and australia and also records und the names black boned angel and ming. “stillborn plague angels” is the debut lp by this new project.
the gates of birchville cat motel crack, creak wide, and crash, unleashing a gush of soul-fried bleakness and love-damage stained with a defiantly metallic pose. thats ‘metallic… as in, has the surface qualities of metal’ not ‘metal… as in, has the surface qualities of metallica’… step back you fucking freaks. although the broken bricks of bcm are still plain to see amid the burning wreck and ruin, ‘stillborn plague angels’ represents the first fully formed sentence in a new chapter of campbell kneale’s ongoing tome of star-spangled, psychedelic, noise-om. cholesterol-shaving guitar peeks over the trench to survey an adrenalised landscape of endless roaring catastrophy… everything louder than everything else! our love will destroy the world is the new one-man project by new zealander campbell kneale after disbanding birchville cat motel. in the past kneale has released albums on ecstatic peace, corpus hermeticum, last visible dog, conspiracy and his own celebrate psi phenomena label. he has colllaborated with lee ranaldo, neil campbell, bruce russel, john olson (wolf eyes), yellow swans, has toured throughout japan, europe, america and australia and also records und the names black boned angel and ming. “stillborn plague angels” is the debut lp by this new project.
japan’s overhang party were always one of their country’s most interesting, multifaceted and imaginative musical units, and we at mutant music are honored to be able to make their long out-of-print debut lp available once more. overhang party and its members, who revolve around founder rinji fukuoka, have always shown a wide range of musical interest and ability, and this lp shows them all at their formative nucleus, offering a glimpse into what would come in later years in addition to enormous immediate aural gratification. initially released privately by the group in 1993 (prior to rinji’s formation of his pataphysique imprint, which would release the rest of the group’s output in addition to many other interesting recordings), this lp was limited to just 200 copies and has long been sought-after by aficionados of the japanese underground. needless to say, until now, if one were to be lucky enough to find a copy of this lp, it would come with a somewhat prohibitive price tag; we offer it once again in the vinyl format with its original presentation for those of us for whom the depth of our fanaticism may not always equal that of our bank accounts. this lp shows the group’s long-standing interest in the avant-garde and improvisation, featuring some amazing soundscapes which find their way through both the beautiful and the abrasive; they definitely explore some far-out territory, but there are also glimpses into the beautiful saturation of their more ‘rock’ side on occasion, with some particularly expressionistic guitar work from rinji within the context of a slow-burning psych blowout. this lp features the initial lineup of rinji fukuoka (guitar, voice), iwao yamazaki (drums), kouji nishino (bass) and kunukunu as guest on vcs3 synthesizer during the track ‘air.’ this vinyl reissue is limited to 500 copies and it is presented with its original artwork which features a stark plain white jacket with ‘overhang party’ simply printed on the front.
reissue of the arhoolie lp recorded in 1962 at overstreet’s church in phoenix, arizona with a slightly altered track listing. includes two tracks previously unissued on vinyl. recorded very live during a church service. rev. overstreet plays electric guitar and bass drum in his own driving & intense style while his four sons and the congregation take care of tambourine, backup singing and hand claps. a powerful record of gospel energy and testament.
creaking basement prayers from a few sides of the dust era. owl head, wooden man, otherwise known as shon mahoney (s. br. oak, soft peace, etc.) slips right into a long buzzing drone piece, full of half-heard layers and imagined howls, the subtle melody of a horn on the radio. a dream in dust, for sure. then he let’s it ride a little easier on a simply folky song blown out and roaring in the most gentle way possible, building into a strange loop of misheard melody. the flip side sees a series of shorter cut works from night music’s christopher kline (wooden veil, soft peace, etc.) tossing banjos, guitars, jaw harp, old electronics and whatever else he can find into an old trunk, shaking it up, and dumping it out. sounding like a television made of stones on the fritz during a storm, chopping up flooded gray static and deep woods fortune teller stories. in an edition of 50 painted-label tapes tied with thread to a seed packet designed by the artists and filled with cosmos flower seeds.
we here at mad monk have been fans of adam kriney’s many projects over the past few years and feel deeply honored to offer the vinyl debut of his long-running fucked-jazz unit owl xounds (formerly owl sounds). taking their psychedelic rhyhmic core of drummer kriney (la otracina / blizzards / rust ionics / castanets / the places) and upright bassist gene janas (screamin jaw hawkins/bern nix’s sedition ensemble) to any reedsman up for the challenge, the boys explode it all with austrian sax-ist mario rechtern, who has been invlolved with free-music since the late 60′s playing in the reform art unit (with sunny murray, linda sharrock, & leena conquest) and more recently as a guest in the weasel walter quartet / sextet / trio. truly and honorably a post-esp expression, it is much a post-sst expression. while the instrumentation and framework are a staple of the jazz/improvisaion tradition, the directions and velocities at which owl xounds exist are just as informed of the worlds of hardcore/punk and experimental noise. citing the misfits as the most important band in his musical education, drummer/leader kriney always felt the connection between the punk he grew up on and the free-jazz he became aware of later in life, the energy, the volume, the commitment, and most importantly the undeniability of them both! and similarly the ostracism of the two is not to be ignored, being an outsider, the alienation from popular music, from popular culture, and from everyone around who just ‘didn’t get it’ were also of significance. it is with these considerations that this lp was named, for after all, from albert ayler to thurston moore to glenn danzig to kawabata makoto to peter brotzmann, ‘they’ and ‘we’ are all teenagers from mars, and we don’t care! – limited to only 400 copies i think. awesome packaging with cutout neon stickers on a heavy vinyl clear covers and bright orange vinyl. nice.
oxfords sole 1970 privately pressed album is one of the best late 60s us psychedelic soft rock albums. excellent male female vocals and complex original songs. it contains 4 bonus tracks from their pre-lp 45, which were not included in the original album. highly recommended! limited edition, gatefold, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
p. a. r. a. represents pre-atlantean ritual artifacts. it was channeled in deep sea space by labanna bly, in the celestial summer of 2008. dedicated to my knight, james ferraro. mermalien is a three-part suite for three deaths to supreme consciousness: ‘mercury overdose,’ ‘abyss retreat,’ & ‘seaspace chrysalis.’ limited edition of 200 copies. paste-on covers.
we created this record during 2001-2005. also many other things happened. mostly “yhä hämärää” is trying to reflect inner landscapes. ofcourse concrete places are forming and partly creating those inner views. some highly inspiring places: durde, densis, my home, pöllänlahti, toilet, graveyard, sewers, disco, the beach at redpoint, rooftops at night, alcoholic’s home, churches, uukuniemi, foggy fields, sauna, my bed. everything the light touches (and doesn’t touch) is our kingdom. we like “yhä hämärää” very much. -lauri ainala / paavoharju… limited 180gm vinyl version.
fricara pacchu is a man whose quest is the ‘real’. the same quest that made him quit his profession as a photographer and become a welder. this maniacs dream member’s sixth solo release ‘lucy’ contains five tracks recorded on his four tracker, using electronic keyboards, presets, guitar, stylophone and effects. hard driving psychedelic synthesizer music.
super limited debut vinyl release from this uk based duo creating some really gorgeous minimal americana-folk for field recoridings, guitars, banjo and piano. bleak and almost epic-ly empty at times, personally it gives me a real feeling of old american western times, dusty deserts, desolate old towns… it would be the perfect soundtrack to a modern tale of these lands from the past. ‘born music’ is an extremely well assembled collection of 10 tracks totaling in at just over 30 minutes. edition of only 100 copies, pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl, with paste on full colour covers and full colour inserts… instantly out of print first pressing.
mind melting tribal ghost jams and full tilt punk skronk rock of the highest order from the melbourne based inverted crux horde. not your blab blab bullshit punk either – i’m talking old school/new school past eating the future type shit. comes in hand-colored sleeves made by the artists themselves – yummy.
excellent new solo guitar album from frequent richard youngs collaborator andrew paine. this is one huge laminal guitar construct that takes off on a vaguely keith rowe-esque tangent of bowed/e-bowed guitar strings before the sizzle of lead guitar and the gravity of overloaded pick-ups fixes the whole thing to the ceiling in a mass of competing fuzz architectures. definitely a touch of matthew bower to the delirious high-end shots at heaven feel of the more rock-informed passages but there are also hints of keiji haino, mazzacane connors and even the flashing industrial stasis of mev. – volcanic tongue.
transparent winter follows on from the debut release on the always excellent time-lag label and releases on the equally great psf, opax and a silent place. painting petals on planet ghost is the trio of ramona ponzini with roberto & maurizio opalio (aka my cat is an alien). here they return for a new full length vinyl release on blackest rainbow. ppopg create some wonderfully fragile and unusual experiments that fall somewhere between folk, psychedelia and drone. ramono ponzini sings in japanese as well as contributing ‘furin, metal and wooden japanese wind chimes’. these are combined with maurizio opalio on acoustic guitar, and roberto opalio on ‘mini keyboard, bodhran, alientronics, and wordless vocalizations’. the trio’s eclectic setup helps them create some truly luscious and mysterious music that is perfectly fragile, strange, distant and delicate. ‘mars appears’ is a hazy dream piece with layered guitars, strange electronics and ramono’s perfectly delivered japanese vocals drawing the listener in surrounded by a strange but perfect fitting created by the opalio brothers musical output. ‘the mountain’ is equally as otherworldy as the previous sides track, with swirling strings and out of this world electronics created by roberto and maurizio. whilst ramona’s vocal are almost delivered in a trance like state. a extremely beautiful record with a gorgeous organic feel to it. the record is housed in a sleeve featuring film photographs of flowers. edition of 250 copies pressed on 140gram virgin vinyl.
pale blue sky is the new project from mike pollard (formerly treetops). shades of grey is the project’s genesis; a long considered transition uniting the organic drone-work of the former project with compositional structures. the recordings embody a delicate sense of distance; staring out at the moving landscape obscured by the mediation of the window. through blurred fidelity the origin of melody is placed under microscopic inquiry; an exploration into the moment of tonal interaction. pale blue sky utilizes repetition and non-linear movements, attempting to reconcile simplicity, form, and sentiment through modes of difference. placing focus on spatial concerns, as well as emotive potential, the five songs contained within are each different embodiments of the possibility of the transformative decay of remembrance. an ephemeral glimpse; the moment has already passed. for quiet, distanced listening. in an edition of 400 copies with full color glossy jackets, printed inner sleeves, and printed labels.
side a of this cassette single is an experiment in brainwave synchronisation. a mind machine with strobe light goggles was attached to each musicians head to help synchronize the two hemispheres of their brains. the stimulus was intense and the alpha frequencies almost triggered photosensitive epilepsy before they crashed down and passed out. side b is just like the lightbike scene in tron. it is about losing yourself in a maze where speed, space and time change at every turn. recorded in an old-school time pod. straight up bendy collage by felix morel. black spray painted cassettes with gold splatter, just like the future. numbered edition of 100.
more sounds from the above listed group… no other info, sorry…
the paper hats is william tyler from nashville, tennesee. you have seen and heard him play guitar with lambchop, silver jews or — if you are lucky — with the spiritual family reunion. deseret canyon is a psychedelic record and psychedelic is when one drops the google and let the music do its thing and moves in time to imaginary spaces. and since its meant to appear in vinyl this move has two opposite spiral tracks. flip it, screengazer. deseret canyon is finger picking folk. tuning secrets and mesmerist magic. country soul on a carrousel. magnetic front porch symphonies with a drone. the apalachian meets raga meets vienna classic meets hawaiian slack. the fahey thing, the loren mazzacane conners thing, the ribot thing, the jansch thing, the o’rourke ding, the datashock dthing. ding music that makes you concern, consider, regard, and bear in mind, also waltz sleepy in serpentines with your augur self… real nice album.
supposedly there are nineteen sisters and they all play together and never ever look at each other. continual transgression and vacation woery. all this in preparation for an lp on de stijl recs… great high quality packaging as always.
part wild horses mane on both sides is the duo of kelly jones and pascal nichols. proclaiming a context far greater than the sum of their instruments, low fired clay escape is a remarkable record of visceral beauty, stark decay and translucence. one that inhales the smoke of martyrs and advances towards an unknown vocabulary, depicting barren worlds as lost as they are found. limited to 530 copies and housed in the intricate work of darren adcock.
new hyms by bram borloo, member of belgian junkpsych bands like dirk freenoise and r.o.t. bram is a prolific belgian fluxus artist that makes his owninstruments. this is a collection of recent quiet recordings he did. ballads for broken metal and shortcircuit radios.
ritual recordings from partli cloudi (one half/third of the newyaki duo/trio with gown). a missing jorodowsky soundtrack by rainforest dwellers. self medicated ragas, peyote tom tom percussion, bells, wah, mysterious strings plucked like chickens by a slow motion raccooon. recorded by alien lomax and vishnu woods- a true labour of loveliness. handmade collages assembled by meadow sweetie, each one beautifully unique. limited edition of 34.
after years of prodding by fans and reviewers, the patron saints have released a 2-cd, 45-song set of cover tunes recorded from september, 1966 to late spring/early summer 1968, entitled before bohob, vol. 1 (subtitled birth of a basement band). here are the liner notes from the cd package: once i actually held a tape recorder in my hands, it was all over. i was probably about ten or eleven years old, and had received a cute, toy-like little 3-inch reel-to-reel from my grandmother for my birthday. i was absolutely fascinated with it, spending hour after hour recording errant noises, household sounds and family members ad nauseum. i used to love to flip the tape over and play stuff backwards (predating john lennon by years!). when the patron saints formed in 1966, i was able to couple my love for tape recorders with my other obsessions, electric guitars and rock ’n’ roll, and record us at various stages in our ‘career’, culminating in our most famous project, our 1969 independently written, produced and distributed lp, fohhoh bohob, now an unexpected cult classic. when our musical genre is listed in numerous musical websites and catalogs, it is invariably ‘psychedelic garage rock’ or something equally obtuse. we’re usually presented as three dorky ‘emo’-like teenagers who must have spent all of our formative years in our bedrooms penning our angst-ridden musical ideas and who, finally, painfully, put them down on tape. often, reviewers will attempt to ‘nail down’ our musical influences, often naming groups we’d never heard of, let alone were influenced by. the truth, as you will hear in this musical chronicle, is that the early patron saints were never a psych band’85we were a hardcore r & b/blues/pop/rock/folk rock/country/surf band. well, maybe a little psych, too, i guess. and we weren’t a garage band, either’85we were, in reality, a basement band. i don’t recall ever playing in anyone’s garage, quite honestly; we honed our craft in each other’s basements. over the years, a surprising number of fans and reviewers have written to ask me if there were any recordings of the patron saints made before fohhoh bohob. as well-known as the threesome on the fohhoh bohob sessions are, and the four patron saints who recorded the latimer sessions in 1970-71, for me, the real patron saints are the original five who started the group together in ’66; me, frank stapleton, jeff alfaro, jon tuttle and bruce miller. the songs presented in this cd set are all live recordings made by the five of us, presented chronologically, spanning the period from september, 1966 to late spring/early summer, 1968. recorded in a number of different situations with tape recorders of varying features and quality, i believe that our energy and ability shines through, despite any equipment limitations and engineering inadequacies. for a bunch of teenagers, we had a remarkable work ethic. we were all fiercely dedicated to learning and mimicking our musical heroes’ recordings as closely as possible, until we felt comfortable enough to stray from that formula and start developing our own distinct sound. we all liked working in a group context, and really enjoyed each other’s company. while most of the groups in our local musical universe played it safe with the hits of the day, the vast majority of our repertoire was rolling stones songs (and a lot of obscure ones, at that), which gave us, by proxy, a ‘bad boy’ image. to this day, members of local bands from back in the day will tell us how much they used to look up to us. pretty amazing. each band member seemed comfortable with his role; as patron saint founder, i was pretty much the anchor, politically and, as bass player, musically. i was really into the details; “no, i think keith actually played this note, not that one’85″. frank, on rhythm guitar, had an amazing ability to see into the musical future; he was the one who first discovered jimi hendrix, for instance, and turned us all on to him, ages before the rest of the world had caught on. he also introduced me to the john mayall and the bluesbreakers with eric clapton lp, for which i am forever grateful. jeff, on drums, was the baby of the group; he was (and pretty much still is) the highenergy, positive ‘keith moon’ core of the group. i’ve known him for over fifty years (!), and i don’t recall ever seeing him angry. jon, on lead guitar, was a musical force of nature. incredibly gifted, his superlative guitar playing elevated our group stature quite a few notches over our local contemporaries. forty years on, i still marvel at the skill and maturity in his playing back then. bruce, on lead vocals, organ, harmonica and tambourine, was supremely confident as the front man. he had the voice, the chops and the looks to add the icing to the cake. so often nowadays, the mid-to-late sixties is remembered musically as a period of drug-induced, psychedelic “summer of love” hippie music. i hope that this cd set helps to dispel that absurd myth, and prove that there was a huge variety of music genres to experience and tap into back then. in preparing these songs for inclusion here, i have done some harmonic balancing, a little click and pop removal, and a modicum of noise reduction, but i’ve attempted to leave them as “analog” and close to the original vibe as possible. so sit down, crank it up and listen to what a true garage, err, basement band from the sixties was all about.- eric bergman, october, 2007… fantastic new archival release! highly recommended listening!
the patron saints, creators of the legendary 1969 lp fohhoh bohob, had a long-anticipated reunion in 2000. that event sparked a strong desire to go into the studio and record a brand new patron saints album, and the following crew happily signed on for the project: eric bergman (original member),and other ex members made it a real patron saints album.they decided to revisit a couple of songs from the latimer sessions,”fly away” and”in the mourning”, both of which they felt deserved a rethinking from a”grown-up” perspective,”good friday”, an old live favorite from the ’70s which was never recorded in the studio, a few from the ’80s which had never been recorded, and some brand new songs. as a special treat for fohhoh/proto bohob fans, there’s also an early ’70s demo recording by original patron saint and fohhoh bohob co-writer, the late jon tuttle, which was given the”beatles-free as a bird” treatment, i.e., other instruments were added to jon’s demo to make it a finished production – solid reunion album from the makers of one of the greatest ‘lost album’ private press lps of the 60s.
sometimes it feels so simple: two of our favorite people in one of our favorite bands release one of our favorite records of all time. 2009’s imaginary falcons was its own genius slushpile of tape-hissy drift-dub haze anthems, no question, but 936 takes every facet of the peaking lights mighty diamond and shines it to fluorescent perfection. the songwriting is insane; “all the sun that shines,” “amazing & wonderful,” “tiger eyes (laid back),” etc, all seep into yr mindstream and float there like melodic gold dust. indra dunis’ silky soul-jazz keys and tranced vocals have never sounded so exquisite, and aaron coyes busts out the best bass/drum loops and sneaky dub guitar of his musical lifetime. recorded by luke tweedy at flat black studios in iowa city (where both the nnf wet hair lps were tracked) and mastered in berlin, 936 retains the cool crate-digger grit of their earlier highlights, but within a much more vivid spectrum of sound. could not be more jazzed and honored to unveil this total groove-wave classic. black vinyl lps in jackets with vintage/bootleg art by the band. edition of 600.
peaking lights return with a follow up ep to their excellent night-people full length imaginary falcons and a teaser to lead into their killer next full length album set to drop on not not fun later this winter. space primitive was originally released as a limited cassette on fuck it tapes but needed a bit more shelf life so night-people set to work to make this release a reality on vinyl. aesthetically very similar to imaginary falcons, the same haunted low fi electronics surfacing throughout, cascading shimmering layers of guitar, and indras ethereal vocals moving through the sound like a surfer on a wave. this 12” comes on clear 1 sided vinyl with a silkscreen on the b side, the best looking 1 sided homemade picture disc night-people has made yet. artwork by shawn reed… great to see this one on wax!
pefkin is the scotland based solo project of gayle brogan (ex electroscope member and owner/operator of the amazing boa melody bar mailorder). pingle pangle is the 2nd album for this project and picks up where the similarly astonishing ‘asa nisi masa’ (foxglove cdr) left off. pefkins music flows easily between swirling melodic psychedelic ‘almost-pop’ songs, tonal electronic experimentation through to eerie whispered ancient forest folk. melodica, violin, percussion, guitar and voice are built up with a crystal clear use of delay and other effects to produce a fragile beautiful whole. pefkin has been compared favouably with nico and alastair galbraith. such comparisons are well deserved.
now available to all, a new pressing of the extremely limited edition live cd previously attainable only on the band’s 2006 european tour. contrary to the grateful dead reference in the title, skullfuck is a tight recording of a single, intense november 2005 performance from nyc’s knitting factory. the set begins with an epic group arrangement of jack rose’s ‘calais to dover,’ with rose’s 12-string shadowed by mike gangloff’s fiddle, and the thick drone of mikel dimmick and pat best’s harmonium and srutis. the three-part ‘bestio’ suite follows, with the group moving to tibetan bowls and gongs, building up a huge sheet of sound which peaks in a brief ‘encore’ of wild gong smashing. this new edition is packaged in a gatefold ‘eco-wallet’ with cover art designed by fabric and fiber-artist emily keown.
rochesters pengo is john schoen, r. nuuja and jason finkbeiner. 2/3 of them have previously played with arthur doyle. hailed as the worlds most psychedelic band, they come back with “counterfeit memories” which could be their darkest statement so far. a departure from 1970s ugandan extravaganza into possibly the synapses of its then leader. limited to 500.
pengo is: john schoen, jason finkbeiner, r. nuuja. pengo comes from rochester, ny and are simply a dark-bright beacon of madness in the subterranean swamp of psychedelic junk collectors. they’re kind of elusive, having issued only an lp prior to this release (it had been a year since we’re working on this album) + a few cd-rs and tapes. got affiliations with coffee & the doyle eae – wild stuff/weird vibes! – green & gray vinyl. way limited as always.
blazing, distorted guitar-driven mayhem straight from the uk. it is literally unreal how angular, ample and amped these sounds are. be prepared for complete brain dis-fucntion. take your pets to the kennel before playing this one, ’cause you won’t be back for awhile. edition of 123… amazing deluxe packaging & highly recommended!
originally released in 1971 in japan. nobody’s sure if the musicians on this recording ever performed as a group or whether ceremony was simply a studio super-project. certainly, guitarist kimio mizutani had already enjoyed a certain amount of critical exposure following stints with love live life + one and masahiko satoh’s sound brakers, and it is satoh’s jazzy fuzz guitar licks that help to lift this album to a higher level. unfortunately, this was the ensemble’s only output, but this conceptual album is an absolute classic. as the title suggests, this recording was an attempt to fuse a buddhist-influenced spiritual vibe into an innovative form of hypnotic, psychedelic prog rock. all in all, a rather weird record, but the sound is mindblowing — experimental and trippy, but never too free or over the top, and at times a more traditional japanese style of music lurks in the background. a monumental album that’s never going to go out of style. numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies only.
incredible second album by welsh psychedelic folk-rockers pererin. here we have traditional welsh folk-meets-rock with psychedelic guitar leads, flute, and male/female vocals. this was originally released in 1981 on the gwerin label?for many it is the band’s best work, and yet as is often the case, it’s their rarest release. exact repro of the original, including the insert. definitely one of the best albums of the genre, another superb rarity brought to you with a legitimate reissue by guerssen.
the third album from welsh folk/psych/prog legends pererin is finally made available again. many of you have already purchased guerssen’s previous pererin reissue of their second album “teithgan,’’ so you know what to expect from this platter; those who didn’t buy the previous reissue can expect a brilliant set of traditional songs played in the band’s very own contemporary electrified folk style. guitars, bass, mandolin, synths, mellow percussions, flute. and so forth. this might well be the folkiest of all their albums, but there’s still a strong progressive feel on it and some killer electric guitar leads. another must-have for anyone into folk-prog, this is the last of the band’s vinyl offerings, released in 1983, followed only by their last work that was only released on cassette. this brand new, first ever reissue of this wonderful album, is licensed from arfon wyn and comes with a replica of the original insert as well. strictly limited to 500 copies.
first pressing… deluxe 2lp format, 180 gram pressing. combining fragile and beautifully melodic acid folk with perfectly-rendered electronic effects, this remarkable album consists of what its creator describes as “visual music.” first released in 1970, parallelograms by california’s linda perhacs has gone on to become one of the most legendary and well-loved recordings of its time, assuredly sitting alongside vashti bunyan’s just another diamond day as a lost folk gem that should never have been cast aside. summoning the shimmering sunlight of topanga canyon, and resonating with the same strength-in-fragility as joni mitchell, it’s presented here for the first time as a double lp, with the full collaboration of its enigmatic creator. the deluxe gatefold sleeve contains her own detailed liner notes, as well as rare illustrations and eight bonus tracks (including one previously-unheard out-take), making it the most definitive vinyl edition of this timeless classic ever released.
finally this lost gem of austrian psych folk is reissued after being lost for over 34 years! this is probably the rarest austrian lp, and one of the most elusive records ever. the music is honest and spontaneous, crossing paths between fragile folk and psychedelic dark undertones with a touch of glam, expressive lyrics and fleeting guitar lines. the 200 copies privately pressed in 1976 (two runs of 100 copies each) were mostly given to friends and sporadically sold at concerts. this reissue is fully licensed, limited to 600 copies in black vinyl and 100 copies in coloured golden brown vinyl. a must for all psych-folk lovers… all copies here are the golden vinyl edition of 100! special low price.
debut 45 from one man, record at home swedish outfit. 3 ridiculously catchy lo-fi pop gems, hooks a plenty- great sunshine psych pop kinda stuff, in ace round, shell like sleeves. numbered to 300.
in spite of its minimalistic appearance, is a most intricate light work which, in its scope and originality, defines its own aesthetic. the number of persons involved may vary. although thirteen has been suggested as the optimum number, two would usually be referred to as a working couple (in any combination of sexes.) within the community, many believe that a number larger than thirteen is unwieldy, citing unwieldy group dynamics and an unfair burden on the leadership. when this has grown too large to be manageable, it may split, or “hive”. most often utilizing electronic instruments or electronic processing of acoustic instruments, they typically create dense, unmoving harmonies and a stilled or “hovering” sense of time… 250 copies only.
debauche hedonism a la early 1970s rock… a party album for excavating your libido. krautrock lock grooves give way to full throttle alice cooper/black sabbath moves but mid-tempo scott walker fronting early roxy music is closest to the core; with occassional flickers of tangerine dream synth-glaciers and marc bolan bare-bones. dominic mario santo cipolla also sings in dead child (venom/judas priest veined metal band with david pajo on guitar; ep forthcoming) and plays drums and sings some with sapat (forthcoming lp/cd on siltbreeze). phantom family halo guitarist michael mcmahan was also a touring member of the slint reunion band and founding member of the for carnation along with his older brother brian mcmahan. vinyl only silk-screened first edition.
the return of the mighty finnish octane grammophon label and a new disc by phosphene gives us two reasons to be cheerful at boa hq. phosphene, of course, is boa reviewer john cavanagh, who also used to be half of electroscope, wrote a book on “piper at the gates of dawn”, makes a mean christmas dumpling and once featured on page 3 of the sun next to corrie’s reg holdsworth, pamela anderson and a sun stunna. this excellent 3″ features two ocean-inspired tracks: the first a collaboration with drew mulholland (mount vernon arts lab) – a short piece featuring drew on harmonium, john on long silvery lines of e-bow guitar and sounding like a long lost track from eno’s “another green world”. the second track is an epic semi-freeform re-imagining of the folk song “the captain’s apprentice” which features me (on harmonium and vocals) as well as some of glasgow’s finest improvising musicians aby vulliamy, george burt and raymond macdonald. burt and macdonald’s guitar / sax in the latter part of the track ramp up the intensity as the water closes over the boy’s head, descending notes and bubbling guitar runs evoking the chilling end he meets. cavanagh’s dramatic vocals have rarely sounded finer. – boa melody bar.
the pedal steel is an underused instrument in experimental and psychedelic music (current and former members of charalambides being the exception). oakland resident joel pickard does a lot to change that on his fantastic debut, “songs of the nightlife.” having studied with the likes of alvin curan and fred frith, pickard’s approach to the pedal steel is wholly his own. from raucous, skronk jamborees to pastoral ambient promenades, there’s endless possibilities during the album’s 36 minutes. hypnotic and beautiful, “songs of the nightlife” will make sure you reach dawn safe and sound. this is the pedal steel like you’ve never heard it. 100 copies.
pigeons make sublimely blasted / incredibly hallucinogenic songs from their base up in bronx, ny. the trio of wednesday knudsen (in disguise on the sleeve), clark griffin and carter thornton have been active for a few years, releasing miniture-run cassettes and lathe cuts for griffin’s sub-underground moran tape label that dealt in skronk, warp & mystery. their wayward song-based creations are just as ambitious, melding dissonance, crude electronics & chanson pop . the pop element in their tunes, fully introduced on their brilliant virgin spectacle lp, firmly rests as the oddest element in the mix. connections to the no neck / sound @ 1 crew & the sea donkeys exist, but pigeons are wholly on their own plane. lunettes, their first release since virgin spectacle, features four new song creations, arrives in lieu of their forthcoming lp si faustine (to be released by black dirt), and provides a notion of what they’re moving towards.
beautiful dream-dementia pop from a couple tangentially related to the sea donkeys/sublime frequencies camp in seattle. -s@1. pigeons and doves are so closely related, they are practically interchangeable in the minds of the people who classify such fowl. but in the eyes of the general public, the dove is a beautiful bird symbolizing freedom and peace while the pigeon is a dirty rat with wings that eats our city’s garbage and craps on our cars. but maybe the pigeon is a crafty bird, content with its own beauty and happy to obscure it to avoid the glare of our ever intrusive public eye. virgin spectacle is a distorted, hungover, and elusive statement. and it’s in french. except one word at the end. or more, if you are to believe those responsible. regardless, amongst all the fog and feathers is a collection of comely pop and sonic excursions guaranteed to lodge itself in your waking subconscious. hell, you might even dream of a few of these songs. the fine people who constitute the band named pigeons would like you to believe that they have stumbled incidentally upon such charm, like a diamond in the mine. don’t believe it. take yourself out of your particular urban situation. look toward the skies, and see the besmirched bird for what it really is. they have laid out a sonic journey meant to disorient on the surface, but if you follow their flight you’ll find yourself cruising along and singing in a language you may not understand… sweet screen printed flipback covers, 180gm vinyl, etc.
the eagle has strayed in this 48-minute opus of lunar musique concrete right out of the late 60s in hastings, nz. these squiggly prescient jams emerge on the very 40th anniversary of apollo 11′s inaugural moonlanding, having originally sampled and plunged that stuttering, televized transmission into another sea of tranquility and magnificent desolation right out here in an even more remote solar system. but that reference ends there. stellar tapezones joyously light years ahead of time. cds. mastered by surface of the earth’s paul toohey… really wild & great stuff!
still unknown incredible rare album of mellow underground with english vocals. good and rare as gold dust. a beautiful concept album, far away from any avant garde tunes. the recording was great but the mixing was weak. this album make you shiver. great artists and performers, electric guitar, piano, drums, bass, beautiful english vocals, all original compositions influenced by the london underground scene and bands such as procol harum. if you think martha is a good album you will like this one a lot – original released on polydor japan 1972. heavy laminated sleeve, 180gm vinyl, numbered to 450 copies.
following volume i (8mm, 2008) and ii (presto?!, 2009), and previously released in a super small cassette edition on tulip, stefano pilia’s last days iii is finally available in a new remastered one sided lp edition. the intuitions of the first two chapters of this series of ‘last days’ shine in ‘atlantic city’ in all their beauty. stefano’s touch is so warm and gentle, always unique in creating that feeling of soft, warm nostalgia, loud, and passionate as he’s strumming his strings with exceptional fervor like a howl to the sky. pilia can create emotions out of a guitar riff like no one else around and this beautiful piece, directly inspired by the same titled springsteen song, will make you feel shivers up your spine. limited edition of 250 copies, with only 100 available for mail order, the other half will only be available at performances directly from the artist. professionally printed covers with original photo artwork by canedicoda… very last copies.
recorded between bologna and providence, last days is just pilia and his nude guitar. five new pieces that will bring you up to the sky in a climax of infinite grace and beauty. if you followed his previous works, you already know that stefano is a rare voice, within his fingers, improvisation and composition meet each other in perfect harmony. this new lp offers some of the most emotionally intense guitar music we have listened to, to date. last days is in fact apart from stefano’s previous efforts for a series of reasons. each song is an adventure into a different style, combing elements of noise, rock, folk and drone as part of the same sound painting. but the main focus here is that his sound on vinyl comes out revealed: naked, rough, and ‘primitive’ as we commented listening together to this record. this music comes from the heart, doesn’t need any overdubbs. 140 grams vinyl, edition of 110 numbered copies. silkscreened covers.
dear family & friends, this announcement is long enough, so i won’t inundate you with yet another flowery description. i’m just gonna say this, the first time i ever heard pill wonder was in ari’s bedroom. me, archibald, mimoun and brody were all crowded in there, perched on his bed, listening to the tracks that would eventually go on to become the summer showcase. when “wishing whale” came on, i remember my face wrinkling up into a confused glee then spinning round to see brody smiling like a jester, nodding his head as if to say “yea buddy!” from that moment on i knew i was in some pretty special company… i’m fantastically excited to be presenting this album to you now.
excellent new cassette from this eerie drone act from portland, maine that there seems to be very little information on. this four track 60 minute beast takes you one dark earthy drone excursions into bleak trip-outs of lord knows what. very dark and mystical, and probably one of the most interesting drone acts i’ve heard in quite some time. pro dubbed cassettes with stark black and white woodland cover art. edition of 80.
your guess is as good as mine….
debut release from new portland, maine outfit featuring members of seekonk. gentle drifty folk psych with female vocals. very nice nice. limited edition of 50 copies in hand painted / screen printed art paper covers.
it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the second reverb worship release of 2011. it comes in the form of the latest recording from plankton wat entitled “in magical light”. plankton wat is of course the multi talented musician dewey mahood. you may know his other musical projects like eternal tapestry, edibles and recent project garden sound’s “black summit” lp on digitalis (with barn owl dudes jon porras and evan caminiti and jed bindeman from eternal tapestry). dewey seemed pleased and rather excited to record this album. indeed he thought that the recording was “a bit different from anything he had done, retaining the very calm vibe of the “shadows” cassette on sloow tapes, but is mostly electric guitar, and everything is stretched way out”. dewey has tried to capture the feeling of being in the middle of a vast forest as the sun is setting! all i’m gonna say is that this is truly a lovely album with four superb tracks. nice one !!!! this cd is available now in an edition of 82 hand numbered copies.
repressed… in 1968, the plastic cloud recorded, quite simply, one of the greatest psychedelic albums ever made. this is one hip album, full of catchy melodies and hippie harmonies, as well as some of the most superb (and trippiest) fuzz guitar ever recorded. there is no point singling out a specific track, they are all excellent—one is equally as good as the next. essential psychedelia! deluxe limited edition lp version in heavy cardboard gatefold jacket… great reissue of this fuzz psych monster. been out of print for years. this new repress is just as nice & limited to less then a couple hundred copies, so act fast if you missed it before.
one copy only. long out of print. numbered edition of 33!
after a six-month hiatus, a complete line-up overhaul, a trip to sxsw, a uk/euro tour, and a full year-plus of only playing shows and writing songs and amassing totemic objects, finally pocahaunted return to the recorded realm with their first album since 2008. time flies when yr having not not fun and all that. make it real collects seven of the band’s 2009 live staples for a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment. recorded barefoot and shirtless and direct to tape at green machine studio in summer ’09 by m. geddes gengras and featuring guest bamboo sax by jazzmaster alex gray (of dreamcolour/deep magic) and mastered by james plotkin. black vinyl lps in jackets with warped la post-parliament utopia artwork by vision wizard spencer longo. edition of 500.
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bands to solo projects – it’s all the same arc. and here it is, the final rip action by star-crossed nnf institution pocahaunted and the only recorded document of the final triforce-vocal line-up featuring leyna noel on keys/crooning/dance magic. on the final day of their 3-week spring ’10 us tour, the band booked a session at louder studios in san francisco with tim green (nation of ulyssess/fucking champs, etc) and it marks poca’s first & last time working in a proper studio setting. the results blaze/amaze. “threshold” was written on the road and melts through a river mistress intro before revving into a tense kraut-funk burner with catchy (and surprisingly non-fx-soaked) femme-soul vocables cascading down from every side. the b, “echolocation,” is a tranced ghost-reggae comedown ballad and classic slow-dance live staple. nimble bass maneuvering by whimsy princess diva dompe leads the melody up through the choruses into the torch-song bridge climax that leaves everybody on the floor. roll the credits, this is the end. black vinyl 7 inches in sleeves with collage/paint artwork by manda b brown and diva dompe, plus a photocopied insert. edition of 500… already out of print.
69 hallucinatory, ghostly and otherworldly minutes of solo freak from this burnt hills member, recorded with bongos, floor drum, triola, acoustic guitar, kiddie accordion, broken kiddie electric guitar, cello, piano, electric guitar, kick drum, electric mandolin, wah wah, giant metal tweezers, pocket rocket and little big muff on a variety of boom boxes, tape decks and dictaphones with hand decorated mini lp gatefold jackets and “vinyl” cdrs in an edition of 99 copies… cool ‘pop-up’ covers!
two finnish groups that on the surface are very different, but in the end actually find themselves to be distant cousins connected through the mighty cahier. the polka dot clan’s half of this split is a sprawling piece of magic. it’s the blood running through your veins, bringing life to everything it touches. mountainous drones and pulsating walls of guitars fill your arteries and pour out through open sores. but in some odd and unexplained way, this track is showered in ultraviolet warmth. body odour, on the other hand, is salt in the wounds. thick rivers of sludge doom and riot-worthy drums. this tepid cocktail is steeped in metal and it’s heavy-handedness will stuck all the air out of the room. you’re going to wanna die.
the mystic atmosphere of the finnish woods continues to grace the corners of our ears. out of the shadows steps the polka dot sunflower bed orchestra. having almost no connection to tampere’s free-folk scene. dwelling in crackling bedroom nostalgia and chanting psychedelic pop. with their second album they craft a dense psychedelic universe where toy instruments and hissing tape are statues amongst an oceanic blanket of acoustics. slightly twisted vocals over guitar murk. chiming percussion and unexpected turns to let your mind wander through sinister forests. primitive but so whole heartedly pure they’re summoning a ghost both far-out and cosy. they’ve been described as a gentle cross between the elephant 6 collective. syd barrett and kemialliset ystavat’s psych/folk escapes. limited to only 150 copies. packaged in stencil-printed sewn covers by jelle crama… awesome!
when i first heard the polyps i was immediately drawn in. this solo/sideproject from raf spielman of the golden hours is perfect, disjointed bedroom pop. over the course of more than a dozen songs spielman weaves a basket of hooks that you will find yourself humming until dawn. mostly written on guitar, the accompaniment of melodica, ramshackle percussion, and of course spielman’s distinct voice bring these songs to life. “isla & emma” is a short and deliciously sweet journey. while many of us anxiously await the next installment of the golden hours, this is just the sugarfix needed to get you through. so simple, so good. limited to 95 copies in handpainted sleeves and handpainted wraparound covers, each one different.
born on valentines day 1911, in maine’s northernmost county, bern porter was a north american artist, writer, publisher, free thinker and scientist who found meaning in the things that others discarded or ignored. porter is known in mostly underground circles as one of the earliest and most prolific practitioners of found poetry. through his gleaning of founds in recycle bins, telephone books, and repair manuals, he created hilariously cunning, sometimes irreverent works of art that often bear his signature, as well as an anti-copyright statement. many of these works have been published in collections over the past 70 years. on top of all this he was a sharer of knowledge who opened his home, “the institute of advanced thinking,” in belfast, maine, to dropouts, artists, children of all ages, and anyone who felt like dropping by. in celebration of the 100th anniversary of bern’s birthday, turned word records presents this 34 minute lp of performed poetry, philosophical musings, and general word play, by bern porter and longtime collaborator, mark melnicove. though porter is not known for his sonic explorations, this lp is quite musical, channeling improvisational song chant modality and rhythm oriented slamesque poetry. on side b we hear what should be bern’s most famous work “the last acts of st. fuck you.” while a child is gently cooing in the background, the acts are presented in alphabetical order. all this is on vinyl for the first time ever. many of the pieces have never been heard outside of a small circle of friends. includes loose leaf booklet of rare photos and 20 founds, most never before published. hand stamped offset printed covers on re-cycled jackets. mastered by caleb mulkerien. edited by dan beckman-moon. 300 pressed… awesome & totally out there. recommended.
new loose group of folks that have been playing under a bridge and living rooms over the past year… another mysterious release on this private label also behind the whorl & heavy dew cassettes that came out over the last few years.
2006 private press from MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST folks. edition of only 130 copies. nice heavy packaging.
‘epocsonixarp’ is the second full-lenght album of the praxinoscope duo formed by roberto opalio (my cat is an alien) and ramona ponzini (painting petals on planet ghost). this work is even more lyrical and ecstatic than the debut; here roberto’s use of a mini-keyboard and astral effects collides with ramona’s hypnotic use of several handmade wood percussions and her japanese wind chimes and bells, creating such an infinite and intimate ‘space’ so that you cannot but loose yourself inside. a whirlpool of roberto’s whispered wordless vocals will live till the evening dies, and the black of the night will come to surround everything. as the duo asks, ‘play it in the dark!’ – special private press edition of only 130, with heavy textured cardboard sleeve + sticked art on cover, individually numbered – nice!
2005 private press from MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST folks. numbered edition of only 125 copies.
1969, sf sorrow is done and dusted. parachute is yet to come. the pretty things are at their creative peak with no outlet in sight. enter philippe debarge: frenchman, playboy, and pretty things superfan. he commissions the band to write and produce an album for him. debarge and the five pretty things duly enter nova studios, one of london’s first eight-track facilities. with access to this new technology they experiment with multi-tracking and an array of psychedelic effects. debarge sings lead, and the pretty things play and sing everything else on a stunning set of 12 may/waller originals in the classic late ’60s pretty things style, many of them never recorded by the band before or since. acoustic, fuzz and backwards guitars abound, along with mellotron, harpsichord and the unmistakable heavenly three-part harmonies of phil may, wally waller and jon povey. the album is completed, but never released. until now. limited edition deluxe vinyl edition. just 1,000 pressed. heavy duty glossy color lp jacket with insert and full liner notes by mike stax. cover art by phil smee. fully re-mastered in magnificent full stereo hi-fidelity sound with the close collaboration of original co-producer wally waller. fully sanctioned and approved by the pretty things… highly recommended!
sonic-utopian synth mystics and pretend pop make-believers don’t always sound so good side by side as prince rama of ayodhya and the great valley do. prince rama’s twelve-minute earth-shaker “aeolian divine” winds its way to eternity, from the floating island atlantis, through some kind of cosmic dancehall, and into an infinite-space ecstatic-calm of heartbeat drums and swimming synth lines. then the great valley descends with ukuleles and guitars down from space, through a tree in the forest, and into their underground home… paste-on art on recycled lp covers. very limited.
restock… the two spectral ladies of prisma mark their debut release with this 7″ split with drona parva. prisma has been performing the quietest shows in and around portland for a couple years now, mixing softly echoing vocals with flute drones, only the gentlest plucking of various stringed instruments, and the occasional analog noise rumble. their a-side track resonates with beautiful restraint and delicacy; the stunning debut all of us entranced by their live show have hoped for. on the b-side, drona parva–the long-running solo project of time-lag records’ nemo bidstrup–turns in a blissed-out muti-tracked free-flowing guitar composition. trance-inducing acoustic plucks and strums eventually give way to shimmering waves of fuzz guitar until the whole thing becomes impossibly beautiful. the minimal packaging for the record complements the gentle touch of the recordings held within: the 45rpm 7″ record is a custom, slightly-marbled avocado green color with a yellow-green mandala-design center-label. the record is held in a semi-transparent vellum sleeve that has been hand-punched on the corners, giving a soft mask to the striking colors on the record itself, and hand-numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
nice price digital version of the lp in a two color offset printed double-sided foldout cover, with woven inner sleeve. limited to 600 copies.
the feminine entities of visitations / attar cups step forward, duo style, for their debut longplayer… and what a debut it is… these magical ladies have been oh so subtly wowing locals with their rare live sets for a few years now, and as hard as it is to imagine, this album manages to surpass their live wonder in both intimacy & intensity… a mesmerizing cycle of ultra-hush dreamtime lullabies, ethereal ghost pop, lost folk, and trance-state sonic whirlpools. the songs are hazy shimmerings of dusty splendor, delivered with utter beauty & fragility, yet shrouded in a thick veil of mystery & sadness. the drones seem to be pulled from between the cracks in silence by some woozy late-night ritual, summoning an edgy & ecstatic presence into the very spirit of the sound… recorded to analog tape with minimal equipment and much spontaneity, the rural autumn / winter setting of the process has no doubt penetrated the creation, and suits the cozy / lonely vibe perfectly… packaged in a truly cool & unusual three color screen printed double-sided foldout art paper cover, with a flocked / screen printed fuzzy mini-poster insert. pressed on highest quality 180gm vinyl with full color photo printed labels. each copy also includes a bonus cd version of the album in its own metallic printed cover (different from the standard cd cover) for easy all night repeat-o-play. hand numbered edition of 400 copies.
killer hard rock from 1972, sounds like a mix of bolder damn and allman brothers, with maybe a little feather da gamba. lost music from a lost time. ‘water song,’ ‘right on.’ new.” “the mystery and music of the prodigal sons continues to thrill and mesmerize listeners to this day. who are they? where are they? the answers my friend lay in the vault of the void. one thing is for certain… they know how to play kickass rock ‘n’ roll early ’70s style before all the head bangin’ mumbo jumbo. listen on, as many have already… to the power and the glory that is and was… the prodigal sons as they emerge from the void.
psychedelic improvisations, released 28.1.2008, features an insert printed on transparent paper. garden-recorded, fully acoustic, minimalist improvs, half-awake in summer’s afternoon sun. recorded during summer 2007 using glasses, harmonicas, seeds, cymbal, ebow, guitars, bowls, mandolin, violin bow. “good christians gather and roam the streets. fly around and sing their songs. sun shines softly in mid-day air, a warm breeze in the leaves. same thing every year on and on. setting up. blending in… improvising a couple of broken tunes, half accomplished, half awake. tunes for the grass to grow.”
a split cdr, with 2x20mn improvisations, from the fresh bands polder (benjamin laurent aman, french artist from berlin who runs the razzle dazzle imprint) and przewalski’s horses (duo with a french artist ¨ the n.o.t. belgian head). polder is cold and clinic like its name, and he comes here with a great 20mn of broken blues, like recorded by a blind old jack lost in a dead factory. przewalski recorded in their country shelter, and turned everything rural weird, keeping in their minds the old folks in frozen east europa while grabbing their harmonica, acoustic guitars and loop station… artwork wise..… 40 different copies with handmade drawings/collages from the artists – they look like the mishaps of a hippy amazed in a dusty grey library.… a5 format & – great looking black/red cdrs.
after about a 2 year absence, psychedelic horseshit is back with an ep of alleged b-sides from an upcoming full length. and what has happened since we last peeked in on these ‘shitgaze’ innovators? well, in parts all over the world that famous ‘distorto-lo-fi-sound’ has been popping up in quite open spaces. no age has become the new brittany spears, wavves crashed in outta nowhere like a mid-nineties major label grunge signing, and cute and sweet vivian girls are playing on the speakers in target stores nationwide. what does this have to do with the new psychedelic horseshit ep? well, nothing really, except that if you expect to hear that tried and true lo-fi sound, that is now so en vouge, you might be a little disappointed cause these boys have cleaned up a little bit, and from the sound of things this might only be the beginning. ‘i only listen to ok computer and cranes. the fall sucks, diy sucks, we suck, you suck.’ said matt horseshit in a recent interview. ‘why should anyone listen to you then?’ replied the reporter. ‘because we’re fun, duh.’ and even though you wanna hate ‘em, you gotta admit, they kinda are fun. matt is a dick, of course, and rich is hilariously clueless mostly, and by all means most of the stuff on this shitgaze anthems ep shouldn’t work, whether it be the white-boy dub section, the cliche acoustic ballad with backwards guitar, the blatant dylan rips or the overall amateur playing, but for some reason these elements that usually reek of pretention and failure actually endear you to the band and their songs. yes, they’re called psychedelic horseshit. yes, they do suck, but i’ll be damned if they aren’t one of my favorite bands in the world, and they’re only getting better, but if i tried to tell you why it’d only make ‘em sound worse. so it goes.
a surprising cd by a german musician living in utrecht, containing 35 minutes of very minimal, hissy and adventurous popsongs. her influences range from experimental analogue electronics to mid-nineties lo-fi, with melodic sound-sketches put together as an audio-notebook… screen printed chipboard cover. rather limited.
playfull lonerfolk and mangled tricks by stoke city forward joincey. the figure that also brought you inca eyeball, wagstaff, saboteuse and a warm palindrome among others… full color cardstock cover – nice!
does anyone remember a remarkable piece of psych-styled rubbish called “god is free”, released on chocolate monk back in 2004? of all the odd wonders and incestuous secrets to emerge from finland in the last 20 years, the puke eaters could be thee greatest. “hello walhalla” is the first long playing record by this anti-prolific group. the applied methods range from accidental to free and from psycho-motorik to ritual. for any points of reference think of the swamp into which fille qui mousse, cromagnon and ‘jesus christ’ era smell & quim were dumped. after years of tireless experimentation in the cynical utopian ruinscape of their collective butterfly mind, the puke eaters have loosened their belts and finally unleashed their deadliest recordings for thee future caveman. endless volcano-brain spewing on the ur-limits of limitless psycho-dynamic sound clash, totally high on scandinavian pussy juice.
two tracks by the puke eaters, the a side was originally conceived as a theme for an album dealing with deihoma, the man who wandered inside “the worm that ate the world” in order to slay it. strictly steen & rusty, as inept as ever. b side has rusty involved in the act of synthesizer desecration with some nameless slave. steen guru vocals were added later via the method of overdubbing. – ralf normaali.
finally pulse emitter gets the treatment he deserves, a full 12″ of vinyl to lay down two prog flavoured tracks of synth drone. created using homebuilt synth modules, and meticulously contructed into a sci fi storyline, this could be a soundtrack. suffocating layered heavyness, dry synth hiss, oscillator click terror meets equally with beauty, a quality rare among pulse emitter’s peers. each cover and insert is a unique paint marbled design, silkscreened / designed over by nick of seizure palace. edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
“its always a struggle. the instruments are wearing out, the guitar gets harder and harder to tune, the tape loops get sicker and the batteries get flatter, but pumice perseveres.” – stefan neville. following a mammoth tour of europe, japan & the us in 2007-2008, stefan geoffrey neville took a sabbatical from pumice. after a silence of several months, stefan slowly began to re-emerge in new zealand, playing (the drums) with a few bands in auckland. slowly, a few proper pumice gigs were played & soon thereafter, in january 2009, neville started work on a new batch of recordings. one of those found a home on the split single with grouper, while the others, appear on persevere; a befitting title for neville’s first new grip of songs following his hiatus. three songs comprise persevere: ‘the dawn chorus of kina,’ an ode to (alleged) singing sea urchin, and covers from two vision-sharing kindred spirits: the axemen (‘pacific ocean’) and michael hurley (‘open up’). persevere is released in an edition of 500 copies, housed in textured paper sleeves adorned with neville’s signature dog drawings.
180gm. vinyl version of stefan neville’ latest opus. covers are two-color silkscreens by vg kids on heavy-gauge recycled stock. edition of 300. here’s what soft abuse had to say about quo: as the title self-effacingly implies, quo proffers a triumphant, primo slice of past pumiceisms: uncertain progressions, anomalous structure, inimitable guitar buzz, sublime melancholy, and distorted vocals (crooned, spoken & moaned). quo once more finds pumice cruising the convergence of pop, folk and noise strains with bona fide inner mystique. sputtering sub-underground skiffle aims for outer zones, diamond cuts of nervous guitar with pesky hooks that sting and tickle tread rough hewn punk turf, pop tangents charm with echoes of kilgour or knox, and woozy synth blurts & drones thread the patchwork patterns with hulk-like grace. with quo, neville’s palette has shifted to include traces of useless hardcore, doo wop, and modern loner/lunar blues. stefan neville, shamblin’ on unhinged like a modern day hasil adkins, has been making music as pumice now for most of his life. through a steadily spewed stream of unique diy thud & ooze, mostly created on his insular own, neville has burrowed an incomparable place in the post-everything new zealand landscape, all the while making music that’s his.
wild finnish psych-punk-kraut? one copy only. out of print.
a psychedelic afrojazz stunner that capped off a feverish diaspora from the midwest to the bay area by way of africa. cut in 1975, birth/speed/merging was the band’s highest end production to date and their final recorded act. the mood was celebratory, carnivalesque and wholly in the groove. features the burning classic ‘black man & woman of the nile.’ remastered from the original source tapes. 180 gram virgin vinyl pressing.
one copy only. full color cover version.
ireland’s timothy hurley has carved out his own ocean in the back alleys of dublin as quetzolcoatl and as 1/2 of bonecloud. “forever bleeding canyon cloud” is a fuzzed-out parlay of ghost drones and atmospheric wreckage. hurley bends and twists minimal instrumentation and chants into a massive, bubbling concoction of stuck souls wailing for freedom. it’s a murky proposition, but in the end the bliss will come. looped walls of feedback scorch the walls surrounding the kingdom, and by the time the last track fades away, the organic ruins left behind are nothing short of beautiful.
a personal, meditative, moving journey, through time, mind, worlds and dreams. crafted from piano artifacts played over a time period stretching several years and in more recent months channeled through loud fractured and working speakers in empty rooms and a cabin, combined with my voice and detritus to create 10 blissful, hopeful yet melancholic pieces that all combine to create the world that is living. -tim hurley… oversized color covers with inserts. quite limited.
easily one of the hardest working young artists in the free-form music world today, tim hurley, aka quetzolcoatl, has been releasing his sonic bliss like a hundred flowers blooming. luckily, he stopped by our garden and gave us this collection of works, a cosmic swirl of keyboard pulses and vocal loops. guaranteed to make you nod out and then undergo some powerfully transformative dreaming. and you can check out tim’s lovely manipulated photography on the printed insert… nice covers!
long out of print, last copy.
san francisco songwriter donovan quinn is anything but direct. with an enigmatic deadpan he delivers lyrics written in a dense and fragmentary style; the influence of writers such as malcolm lowry and thomas pynchon figures just as heavily on his craft as robyn hitchcock, pavement, robert forster and skip spence. your wicked man is the second album from his primary band, donovan quinn & the 13th month, created in collaboration with nick marcantonio on bass and jason quever (papercuts) as producer and multi-instrumentalist. in much the same way his presence molded cass mccombs’ early efforts, quever’s contributions to your wicked man serve quinn’s narratives with arrangements that range from ornamental to rollicking to bare, pushing quinn’s embrace of rustic, poetic popcraft to the fore. the band’s distinct take on art-pop forms re-imagines early efforts from mekons, nikki sudden and john cale as filtered through californian folk-rock… includes free download. edition of 500.
this onesided 12″ is maybe the most minimal but yet slightly melodic output by this analog dronebigband thusfar. these are two lenghty tracks recorded throughout 2007. this is their first vinyl release since their celebrated album on (k-raa-k)3, and their second one on morc. what to expect? as vital weekly wrote about one of their earlier releases: ‘a noisy form of ambient music. (). the music is not overtly present, but ‘reduced’ and ‘quiet’, with sounds arriving from a vast swamp of sounds..’ comes as a onesided, amazing sounding 12″ ep, in a beautiful silkscreened jacket. ltd. edition of 175 copies.
r.o.t. has gained a quality reputation in the underground scene during their six years of existence. this led to a splendid cdr- and tape discography. ‘l’écurie’ is their first long player. each side contains two jams that sound like calm and fluently movements through sound at one time, then like a somewhat more brutal treatment at another point. the album shows nicely how r.o.t. works as a (live) band. it’s not about well-thought sound poetry here, but about spontaneous improvisation where random incidents are considered as an extra band member. a slow bass that wanders gently through the acoustic droning, when suddenly an alarm clock starts to ring, followed by new almost-quietness and laidback noise. r.o.t. stands for an original approach of sound sources and a continuously seeking for the ‘moment’. side a was recorded in an abandoned administration building in jette, a small town near brussels. the space was run by young students for six months and renamed the place ‘l’écurie’, the french for stable. r.o.t. improvised in the dusty kitchen during three long days, mostly during the nights as well. the tracks on the b side are takes from improvisations in an horse stable. there again the album’s title refers to l’écurie. this time at an old farm which is called ferme du biereau (louvain la neuve). the farm is also known as a nice venue and spot for artists en musicians.
summer 2006: r.o.t. is invited to play 2 shows in rome. side a was recorded in preparation of this excursion while the flipside is a monsterjam recorded on location together with our italian friends from noise from the cellar and manolo stimmungblend. (“r.o.t. went to rome in 2006, all i got was this lousy side b”) – 20 copies only!
new live raccoo-oo-oon document, recorded one early jan. winter afternoon at the cave of spirits in iowa city by ryan garbes to stereo cassette deck. a side is groovy future fusion scramble, melodic vocal chants rolling over tight percussion flows that ride like kenetic energy blasting into the atmosphere. b side is blown out guitar burners giving way to dark night ride vibes. in general think about starring out of your sunglasses at the end of the world and thinking this is alright. artwork by sdreed and rgarbes… recommended!
released along side their newest full length, “behold secret kingdom”, iowa city’s raccoo-oo-oon’s self titled 7″ has three new and exclusive songs, going from dark, erie broken layers of cello, vocals and percussion (mud mound), to the precise, triumphant and uplifting, post-everything feelings of the actual song, “behold secret kingdom”… awesome.
the radiation line are an experimental collective based in central scotland. at their core, the duo of euan meikle and james t mckay constantly record and perform with each other and different musicians. they create different blends of sound, heavily utilising elements of the drone, folk, feedback and a raw channeling of tribal psychedelia.
tumbling weirdness of noise from this san francisco based duo of nate archer and aaron coyes. fuzzing feedback walls of metallic drone stabbing at your ears making them bleed, and the sound of the blood trickles into the recording of these recordings or something? but in a more documentation descriptive approach, this is a bunch of live recordings from a bunch of recent shows. fully doom drone scapes… somewhere between black boned angel and mouthus maybe? they got an lp on emporer jones out now, and a lp coming on qbico in the new year along with a lp on ecstatic yod. ripping stuff. 3 panel wrap around cover designed by the band. limited to 80 copies.
underrated uk psych-pop album from 1968 originally released on the parlophone label. this is one of the most sought-after artifacts from the british psychedelic scene. sallies fforth will transport you to the swingin london-era in its full glory: well-crafted songs, inventive arrangements, charming home-made sound, nice vocal harmonies, crazy sound effects and more. highly recommended to fans of toytown pop-sike and sunshine-pop. file next to koobas, forever amber, ora, kinks, millennium-sagittarius and the likes. housed in a high quality carton cover with old-style backflaps and pressed on 180
gram vinyl. mastertape sound quality. includes one bonus track taken from their rare non-lp 45 and an insert with extensive liner notes by brian hogg.
recorded at old slaughterhouse in keljo jyväskylä finland 2009. rambling boys on this lp: keijo virtanen, jukka nousiainen, sami virtanen, j. koho… great lo-fi underground folkrock that sounds 80 years old. very limited pressing in screen printed recycled lp covers.
cdr debut solo release from eric hardiman of century plants and burnt hills. from ghostly noisescapes to swirling organic drone plateaus to pure guitar improvisations, hardiman floats in and out of various sound worlds on this one, yet always ties things together with a thoughtful and compelling sonic thread. four tracks recorded basement style deep in the night, and it shows. dig in, yet another surprise from the century plants camp.
when witch-gods collide, it might sound something like this. six organs of admittance…richard bishop…chris corsano. riders of the apocalypse, it’s them vs. us. after absorbing their über-holy dynamo, you’ll be prepared to join up with these wraiths, making it all of us against…well, whomever’s fool enough to stand in our way. to evil! rangda’s been building up behind the scenes for some time now. as label mates and members of an exclusive mutual admiration society, sir rick and kid chasny thirsted for a conflagration involving two electric guitars plus a drummer. in such an environment requiring excellent survival skills as well as composition and improvisation rhythms, who better than chris corsano to work the skins… on paper, this was colossal, but actually getting everyone together proved awesomely impossible, with each man in a different city sprawled across the vastness of the united states — not to mention each man’s diverse state of mind sprawled across the vastness of inner space. and so, time passed. chuckling, the guitar men dreamed of visiting rangda on our world, working figures on their necks in anticipation. finally, with the desperate recklessness of the ancient witchsoul herself, they booked a live show, followed by a studio session with seattle sound guru scott colburn. beforehand, a mere ninety minutes was allotted for the three to further discuss ideas and play together for the very first time. what would happen… what do you think happened, stupid… of course they planted a garden of lyricism seeded with several compositions and several improvisations! placed end-to-end, the six pieces of the rangda saga (part the first) rock from splintering onslaught to soulful meditation and back again with manifest precision — this was a planned attack. unceasing battery slides suddenly into ritual form with elemental ease. the fretworks of richard bishop and ben chasny split time while corsano shapes the air around them. each players moves as part of the whole of rangda, and whether surging, cycling, or in pastoral, they are never less than explosive. this initial foray flies under the banner of false flag. yet this is only the beginning, for rangda is alive. to ensure your future in the endless cosmos, march forward with the forces of rangda, heart and soul, now and forever.
recorded in 1986 & completely unreleased until now – this is fred & toody cole’s (weeds, lollipop shoppe, zipper, torpedoes, rats, western front, desperate edge, dead moon, pierced arrows, & so on) great lost country lp! all original compositions…some sad lilting ballads & some punk as hell. two songs feature fred & toddy playing with “rollie”, a janky roland drum machine that didn’t keep a consistent meter very well. the rest of the songs were recorded with a lean mean band. we are very proud to bring this lp into the world for the first time – another facet of the genius of fred & toody cole & lowfi as cadn be. housed in an old school tip on sleeve.
rangers is joe knight. “suburban tours” is his debut vinyl release after a string of popular cassette albums last year – including “low cut fades” on not not fun. his sound has been referred to out in blogland as “elevator psyche” and “mirrorball funknagogic pop” – and that’s not a bad start considering his music is often bass-driven with washes of synth and prog-psych guitar riding over the top. unlike the extended side-long collages of his cassette releases, “suburban tours” is a collection of eleven concise “pop” songs that were written and recorded after moving to san francisco from his native texas. not knowing anyone in this new locale, he describes the period after the move as being extremely lonely and plagued with near-constant rainfall. so he holed up and focused his attentions on recording a batch of songs that reflected on his suburban upbringing outside of dallas and what he calls the “failed connections with nature” that exist in these suburban zones (fake lighting, cranked-up air conditioning, golf courses, and gated “communities” where everyone keeps to themselves). but despite the loneliness and melancholic themes there is a remarkable amount of color to his music. like it’s the sound of what he’d want to have playing on his headphones while riding a bike thru these neighborhoods — the sound necessary to make these places seem lively and fun. music blog visitation rites hits the nail on the head when saying “his music reflects a parallel fixation with the tape reel as a cutting board for the psychic trappings of middle class american youth.” rangers is drawing from an entirely different set of musical influences than the rest of his peers – combining a passion for manchester’s northern soul sound with early 80′s rock radio staples like rush and the police and the 70′s prog-fusion of weather report. plus he’s got the chops to pull off this unlikely union — in fact the cutting engineer for “suburban tours” was utterly baffled and commented that it sounded to him like a lost steely dan session recorded onto a mangled microcassette tape. that’s a good thing, right? full color pro-printed covers and insert – also includes a download coupon for the mp3 version.
micro quantity solo release from shiggajon member. dannish underground drone raga sounds packaged in a black card cover sealed with stamped wax & twine.
material taken from various cdr releases. crazed noise action. edition of only 200 copies in three different coloured sleeves (white, yellow, silver) with a microwaved anti-cd in the front.
the second release by portland’s own rats, fred and toody’s pre-dead moon outfit. this record hails from 1981 and holds a place in portland punk history. considerably better sound quality compared to the first record. poster included and tip-on jacket… nice!
mellow but mind-blowing free-jazz. second edition in yellow sleeve.
it is the long-awaited return of ray off (jim currin of united fairy moons, with tim cornelius of sandoz lab technicians and other peoples). this one is a really great ray off release.. there has been some lineup changes and there are some new vocalists in the band.. some of it is in the dreamy tone float vein of their previous album, but they are also rocking out a bit more… totally classy packaging as always.
albumful of recordings from the late 90′s by this wonderful swedish trio closely connected to johannes nilsson. packed with folkish wibes and hypnotic hi & lo-fi grooves they sound like the summer sun shining through the smoke of tar production. at the same time it gives you a feeling of eating well and starting to get drunk afte a long day in the tar fields. every song is great like every dance you dance on the dancefloor on a cruiser on the same night. the tape stops just before the police takes you to prison becaus of otherworldly dancing and wrestling with your beloved ones – limited new release. nice stuff.
here we have a couple names new to the l’animaux tryst family, but no doubt familiar to those in the southern-maine know, here presented in split-single form as the official solo debut for both artists. the red f is the solo project of phantom buffalo guitarist tim burns, and there are shadows of his group’s gentle and sweetly skewed indie-pop on “fingers”. but pared down to just a voice, a creaky acoustic guitar, and the reverbed ghosts in the room, burns turns out one of the most affecting folk ballads we’ve heard in some time. on the b-side, sarah ramey (lead vocals and guitar for seekonk) presents two similarly pared-down tracks of acoustic strings and double-tracked vocals. the incredible intimacy with which she delivers each half-whispered word and melody alludes to warmth like the crackle of a woodfire on the coldest night. black 7″ vinyl record with hand-stamped center labels, held in a heavy white cotton paper sleeve, with offset-printed art with watercolor washes applied by tim burns’ hand. hand-numbered to 300 and embossed… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
fifteen-plus minutes of astral debris from the reggaee, aka florian tositti of angers, france. with previous releases on ruralfaune and his own vilaaaviivivi imprint, tosittiti has mapped a space of eternal-drone now sound channeled through a roomful of instruments and old tape decks. balthar’s two side-long tracks of blissful whirring and buried, distant percussion catch the reggaee at his best. the a-side is lodged inside a dream of vocal clouds and scattered bells, with the nocturnal kicking of the dreamer audible in the fog. the b-side ebbs to nightmare, ending in bleak tonal decay. full-color cardstock covers with two inserts and sprayed tapes. edition of 72.
53mn of a music that invokes the subtle lifes of nature, clicking sounds, folksy guitar lines wrapped by ethereal voices, these melancholic chants go on the traces of the sons of the creek – in the life the reggaee is the boyfriend of the rome chell, here their first child. edition of only 40 copies.
new up on the gps is a beautiful new jonas reinhardt 12″ ep – following hot on the heels of their acclaimed not not fun lp “music for the tactile dome” earlier this year (not to mention earlier essential outings on kranky and kraak). initially a project launched by san francisco based jesse reiner, who began writing and creating analog synthesiser music over 10 years ago whilst studying music synthesis at the harvard electronic music centre (recently extended to a 4 piece for the road and future recording, by one time and current members of trans am, mi ami, citay and 3 leafs amongst others). 2 deep trip kosmische pieces, heavy on rich cyborg-esque swells and pulsing drones, expansive simmer and swelling kraut soundscapes aimed for the stars. hypnotic, warm and melodic with a celestial eeriness. shades of froese and schulze figure for sure, with passing nods also perhaps to some of the later sky oeuvre; “sonnenlicht”, “synthesist”, later cluster etc…. cut and mastered at abbey road, this one looks just beautiful too. side a of this 12 is cut as a 7″ played at 45 and side b cut as a 10″ at 33. 11+ mins of music overall. both sides featuring on disc etching from gps head, dom, also at abbey road. an incredible record in top opening pro-printed sleeves in a numbered edition of 500 on vinyl only… really nice unusual art vinyl.
long gone release.
the brain child of adam payne, residual echoes pave a psych-sound unique to themselves. recorded late 2005, this album features four long excursions into psychedelia that brings to mind the experimentation of early pink floyd, the guitar heroics of you’re living all over me-era dinosaur dir and the sonic groove of the velvet underground. ‘as the american underground coalesces around vague notions of ‘free rock’ residual echoes are one of the precious few units that truly sound free in their own music. — time out new york… uk only limited vinyl release pressed on clear wax.
naive paralysing melodies from a new finnish talent.
for this spectacularly knarly live recording, the restless dead chose to perform a set comprised entirely of tunes originally composed by frequent collaborator c.joynes. filling the room with a slowburning aural smog, the stark folk structures of the originals are filtered through a sea of fluctuating frequencies and fluttering speakertone. as the performance gains charge and momentum, the sound blossoms to take in reverb-laden slowcore, middle-eastern modes, ecstatic garage primitivism and barely-there drag-racer rock moves, all generated by equipment of uncertain provenance. enveloped in the murk, the audience for the most part maintain a zoned silence throughout, giving sections of the recording an eerie disembodied quality. while the sonics might give the impression of a rudimentary cassette bootleg, with audio fidelity struggling to emerge through layers of magnetic tape crud and dictaphone hiss, it is claimed that this is a detailed and accurate document of the sound in that room on the night… 60 numbered copies.
the followup to last year’s uncabineted collaboration was recorded in preparation for an appearance at the hard gaan festival in belgium and holland last october. fail’s interest in tape work finds a welcome complement in reynolds’ electric guitar wanderings; the pieces are all atmosphere, recording both the sounds and the sounds’ interaction with thin walls.
ben reynolds and john w. fail collated several recordings to compile uncabineted, covering the period between september 2005 (when they met) and march 2006. reynolds work is well-documented on labels such as ikuisuss, memoirs of an aesthete, time-lag and 267 lattajjaa while fail has dabbled in myriad projects including lied music, intro to pterodactyl and land. ranging from screaming acoustics to dirgy fuzzfests, the real document is that of experience, joy and camaraderie.
ben from ashtray navigations, uncabineted duo, etc – a real circular psych dreamer. 4 songs of muddy water – weird baggy style packaging.
a lot of the stuff coming out of that sphere marries acoustic folk stylings to a grander holy noise and reynolds is one of the more adept at generating truely wonderful mutant offspring… the disk starts off with sustained bowings, guitars and keyboards setting up beautifully rich rumbling drones that serve to give flight to the entranced keenings of reynolds voice. gradually the drones recede as acoustic guitar movements bring the whole back to terra firma. like the title suggests this is all about magic, the warmth of earth and the chill of space… now out of print.
great 2005 release, his first ‘proper’ cd… in the spring months of 2005 ben reynolds began taking yet more jabs from mankind’s collective unconscious and turning them into sounds that love being in your ears. they have since been collected under the title ‘music is the music language’ and kindly unleashed by new finnish label ikuisuus. this is the first cd release from ben after a torrent of cdrs bearing his name came flowing from various corners of the globe throughout 2004/2005. the sounds contained within the present release were moulded with less care but an equal if not greater amount of love as previous creations; the age old fight between the human controlling impulse and the natural (non) laws of chance ceased momentarily and a brief collaboration between the usually warring factions ensued. the results were welcomed by the overseer of this collaboration as a job well done and has since continued to pursue methods of creation whereby this fight will be done with once and for all. as for how all this sounds, that’s for your ears to decide.
latest instalment of swirling psychedelic madness from this prolific and consistently impressive brain tickler – clear/xerox stapled sleeves.
usa 1971 obscure christian folk-rock album with an appealing, understated feel. close male/female vocal harmonies and ringing guitars create a secular late ’60s california sound, with strong songwriting that reaches back to a byrds / simon & garfunkel hook sensibility. fully licensed, first ever vinyl reissue. monster rarity going for $700+ when showing up. limited reissue of 500 copies, printed in hq 350g carton and 180g vinyl. unbeatable 24bit remastered sound quality. including an insert with liner notes by patrick lundborg… lovely album, great to see it reissued on wax.
top quality official reissue of this wonderful album. this project is a bit different from other time-lag reissues, as the original isn’t exactly a mega-rarity. that’s not to say that they’re easy to find, but our motives for the reissue have more to do with the fact that this great lp has been seriously overlooked by so many, and feels very ripe to reach some new ears. this one’s got a pretty wild backstory too, being a rather undiscussed piece of 60s texas underground history : in 1966 larry ‘sunshine’ rice was feeling burnt by the increasingly superficial hippy scene in san francisco, so headed to dallas, texas, the “center of darkness” and the place he was raised, with a vision to transform minds. a random gig doing psychedelic light shows at a local bar led to a job managing a new “hip” church… and so the ‘satori house’ was founded. through this outlet sunshine held experimental light & sound worship sessions, began hosting underground rock concerts, launched a free press, and just about any & all other activities towards the goal of turning on dallas. it was, of course, a great success while it lasted… which was not long once a federal drug bust (total set-up) went down, and the higher-ups in the parent church organization got wind of just exactly what their cash had been backing. during the extended trial that followed sunshine split the city for tiny justin, texas and founded ‘the church of changes’ texas’ first marijuana church, claiming grass as their sacrament and legal right… it was at this point that a series of truly unlikely synchronicities led to a record deal & recording session, but by the time “here’s sunshine” was released in the summer of 1969, sunshine was back in california living as a fugitive. he never showed up at his meeting with the bigwigs at blue thumb records who were planning to release his follow up album, thus quickly and purposely ending his connection to the music industry…. if that’s got your head turned, you’ll almost certainly dig the music… it’s a mystical and convoluted folk trip, executed with the lonesome single-mindedness of a true searcher. warm intense vocals are delivered in a magically loose, flowing style. tim buckley comparisons pop up, and that’s not totally off the mark if you replaced any avant / jazz leanings with more of a tripping-in-the-desert vibe. lyrically things get truly bent, venturing into some deeply surreal & glassy-eyed zones. there are a few grasps towards religious ponderance, but it’s very far from a “xian” album. stream of consciousness broodings on nature, work, love, god, satan, sex, hallucinations, and so forth. it’s a totally solo recording centered on understated but effective acoustic guitar, and fleshed out via overdub with rather unusual use of electric bass, organ, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica. things get especially psychedelic when the bass comes in, either as an ultra-minimal echo-drenched pulse or a flowing tonal improvisation. the hyper compressed and reverb saturated production somehow suites the material perfectly, and the combination of elements creates quite an immersive, mirage-like and exploratory space. this one is far stronger, more hallucinogenic, and has gobs more personally then most of the over-hyped, mega-bucks coffee house folk strummers passed off as loner / downer / acidfolk these days. this record’s got a real spirit of it’s own, that with repeated listens will sneak right into your mind before you even know it… and i’m sure that’s the way sunshine intended it… beautiful exact reproduction art packaged in a lovely heavy 60s style cover and pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl. includes an insert with new notes from the artist, as well as a short except from his book ‘morning glory’ which was written in 1968 and tells the story behind the album, but has yet to be published. one time vinyl only edition of 500 copies.
nice italian avant folk. deluxe hand done packaging. numbered edition of 80 copies.
risto from tampere, finland releases a seven inch ep hessu kostaa ja muita hiiritarinoita under an alias ris-to. with this new product the ‘saviours of finnish indie-pop’ broadens their output. this time in the direction of children’s songs. it should be clear however that this is not to be played to the minors. the title translates as goofy avenges and other mouse stories. i tell you it’s tough stuff – nice covers and massivelly heavy vinyl.
a psychedelic brew of catchy guitartunes spiced with abstract meditations on electronics, sitar, moog etc. features contributions by david hayward, stephen clarke, ben reynolds and andy jarvis. art by robbins, 70 copies.
massively epic new release from this american duo of stark echoing multi-instrumental drone, layers of charcoal to black emptiness that has gathered pretty solid sound throughout the releases they’ve unleashed last year, this is bleak, not harsh, just dark, and unrelenting for it’s immense near 80 minute duration… fans of sunn o))), robedoor, and occult ritual nightmares will zone into this. limited to 150.
here it is. crouched cloud-summoning from two of the west coast’s most coma-coaxing cloak teams. both have been questing/crawling after the holy drug-drone grail for years now, but this vinyl union is an even deeper step into their respective fog/smog voids. ghosting’s a-side, “rivermouth,” might be the most awesomely charged piece of weather-stricken wire-séance the portland duo’s ever recorded. roiling banks of suspended densities and white-hot metals are shot through with flickering loops of lightning, lances of light beams. stunning spiral sky-welding. the b-side (“roving shaman”) is more of a white-eyed trance, with robedoor throwing bones under a thatched roof, eyes sewn shut. smoke-tones spin and wobble while sixth sense frequencies chime in the distance. a no-mind ritual of atmospheric fear. white vinyl 7 inches with hand-stamped labels in 2-color silkscreened fold-over cardstock sleeves. limited to 325… long out of print early robedoor jams! rad packaging.
slow smoke jams from californian sloth worshipers. total monochrome lurches into the feedback hole. like a mouthful of black strawberries. great dementia. voices, confusion, poisons. an endless fade to grey.
eagle rock, ca’s robedoor are back with another doomed out k-hole. slow creeping drones building to some nice loner caveman pound / real song territory. three tracks in just under 40 minutes. edition of 500 with full color jacket. artwork by jeremy earl.
way too much is made these days of looking back, memory, social network fantasias. what a bummer, cause reality’s a bad experience and 2012 is on deck; we deserve whatever we get. evolve or erode, dudes. la visigoths robedoor slip into another sinkhole of voidist shadow-rock with pacific drift, three new tracks recorded across the last greylight winter. the a side stirs into a jazzy apocalypto depression with flute-keys and an overdriven om groove that spirals in a web of distortion before drifting out to sea/silence. the flip finds a pair of deeply mutated rbdr genetic codes, one a mantric death-punk protest song cloaked in smoke and speed, the other a 3 am slow-motion soul implosion set to upright piano, descending bass, tear garden guitar, and acid rain. the coast is a ghost, the city seethes. mixed and mastered by m. geddes gengras at green machine in east la. black vinyl 7 inches in sleeves with corpse-diver artwork and a band photo by caitlin c. mitchell. edition of 500… already out of print.
following their 2008 east coast tour with woods and pocahaunted the robedoor agenda has mainly been: hibernating in the city terrace zone above east la, adding a drummer/modular synth dealer, and letting the smoke rise. raiders is the first rbdr lp since 2008′s endlessly blazing and is the result of almost six months of slow-burn transformative tape machine meditation helmed by ged genras. bummed guitars, loner drone tones, low caverns of reverbed drums and rumble, echo dislocation, and dead voices cascade down into the isolated highways. song modes are carved out and then left to rot. features early trio live set staples like “indo shadow” and “the downcast eye.” you can’t stick your hand in the same black river twice. change or be changed. lps in jackets with cover photo by caitlin c. mitchell. edition of 500 (250 on marbled gray, 250 on black).
excited to offer our first release: this is robedoor’s “rancor keeper” on vinyl in an edition of 500. pete swanson did an awesome job mastering this for vinyl. it also features all new artwork put together by the the rbdr dudes.
shapeshifters are messengers and imitators of the gods. shapeshifters can be divine or human. crossing boundaries between sacred and evil, they often bring messages, power or punishment from the gods. shapeshifting is used to gain access to the tower. they are able to turn any situation around. nothing is too much or too little. the shapeshifter can invert a life-threatening situation into one where he triumphs. this form of shapeshifting is most commonly painless but can be traumatic if the change was unintentional; clothing is rarely lost in this process. edited, assembled, and mastered with assistance from pete swanson of the yellow swans. ectoplasmic cover art conjured by france’s parisse bruno. pro-printed black and white covers and insert. limited edition of 425 copies.
long awaited solo guitar release from mr michael rodgers of broken hands. pure nightime ritual music.. the street enters the house.. and the guitar weaves around the sounds of london which intrude from every window and every door.
formerly of 1960’s us psych-folk band euphoria, roger & wendy financed this privately pressed album for family and friends in 1971, in an edition of 50 copies. they later renamed themselves bermuda triangle (their recently reissued 1977 album has garnered terrific reviews throughout the years). the roger & wendy album is the rarest of the lot ($900+), and is a top notch collection of psych-folk gems. a superb artifact from the early 1970’s us underground psych folk scene. taken from the original master tapes, and using the original sleeve artwork, this is a strict limited edition of 450 copies pressed on virgin dmm vinyl.
originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of cut hands waaay back in januscary but since it’s never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn’t worth the goddamning wait. jason rohm paints a grim picture that’s both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. the tale of a desperate soul in a world that’s tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in english and awkward dutch. the compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack. tunes by andrew coltrane, sick llama, warmth, droughter, bottom feeder, raperies (like draperies), ex-cocaine, robedoor and josh lay.125 copies made, limited availibility, so act fassssssst.
lo-fi pop-folk, released 28.2.2007, features an insert. musically challenged teenagers dreaming of world domination. faux-naive pop songs and formless folk recorded with a microphone.
1971 heavy private press free blues/psych from the left coast cortical geo zone of the us underground chain spearheaded by don campau and essentially the californian amalgam of the gate 5 as esp disk punk/jazz 3rd eye. a higher key farrago of hypercosmic extended runs that oscillate between the tubular philosophy of the sun city girls sound/art and the aloneness of stoned blues concrete. a refreshing lost artifact of pure american fizz resurrected from the iconoclasm void and perfectly reissued in a joint effort from de stijl and child of microtones. an essential lp for anyone concerned with the paramount energy fields of all the above ground sound subterrains – very recommended.
raw and rocking collaboration between jack rose and the black twigs with some of the most swinging, hard-hitting string music waxed in many a decade. rose’s solo playing has always had a tough edge, with his prodigious technique often employed in the service of dropping right-hand bombs – his use of a thumbpick originates from his years of duets with twig mike gangloff, struggling to make his guitar heard over gangloff’s crashing banjo. the front line of rose and gangloff’s strings are joined by isak howell’s no-nonsense guitar and harmonica and nate bowles’ variety of expert percussion. the four players lock together with a sure-footedness honed by frequent touring and a singularity of intent to rock. gangloff takes the vocals, howling out standards like “little sadie” firmly in the old-time tradition – without reserve. a few of the tracks here are updates of rose & family classics, with the group turning the stately “kensington blues” upbeat and an issuing an assured take on “bright sunny south,” first recorded by pelt (w/rose and gangloff) back in 2001 on their gonzo classic double “ayahuasca.”
jack rose and david charles shuford both rose to musical prominence as early and influential pruveyors of noise and drone music – rose as a member of pelt, shuford with no neck blues band. later, each would return to more lowdown americana stylings – jack rose on a masterful series of acoustic guitar recordings, and dave shuford as the leader of honky tonk quintet d. charles speer & the helix. so it was fitting that jack rose and d. charles speer & the helix would tour and make a record together. “ragged and right” was germinated while rose was traveling through the heartland on a tour with the band in spring 2008, inspired by the mordicai jones/link wray 3 track shack sessions. jack got so excited by the vibes emanating from these songs that he thought to break with his usual acoustic approach and get some electricity in his life again. the recording features the original lineup of d. charles speer & the helix in peak form, and rare electric lap steel and telecaster stylings from rose. the songs bear a vibrancy and depth of feeling that is striking and unforgettable. lp version comes in a full color jacket with spot uv gloss printing and is limited to a first pressing of 1,000 copies with download coupon.
4 songs of noisy, delicate, barely there pop songs–all hanging together by a thread. the baltimore duo of katherine plummer and william hardy have a sound that harkens back to a time when twee wasn’t a bad word and lo-fi wasn’t marketing jargon. rosemary krust seemlesly blend the fuzz and fumble of charalambides with the naive pop of beat happening, finding their own charming niche. they’ve even been called an american garbage & the flowers, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. 300 hand-numbered copies… real good stuff from this fresh young group.
in which rroc’s main man handpicks twelve of the best bedroom tones to have come from his 4-track in the past few years, presenting an accomplished whole assembled from the various, consistently impressive individual parts. stylistically floating between lo-fi folk strummers, mantra chants, and warm drones, streamliner’s beautiful double-tracked poem vox hit a perfect balance between haunting closeness and warm invitation. blanketed in close-mic’ed analog warmth, these songs are like blowing the dust off your favorite songwriter’s shoebox demo tape collection; singular, immediate, private and timeless. 5″ cdr: orange-topped cdr, with hand-stamped title in black ink. packaging: handstamped cover image in black ink, on chipboard arigato pak. insert: printed collage insert with track titles. edition: limited, 50 copies.
28 minute whirlwind exercise touching on various american folk musics, traditional greek melodies, and a ‘sister ray’ like freakout for an exclamation mark. a real gem of a modern, not-so-modern pop record. you’re zigging, they’re zagging. includes a coupon for mp3 download.
lovely solo acoustic guitar. long out of print.
ruchalski continues the series begun on humbug last year, 3 tracks of singing tones and drones like onkly he knows how. excellent cd’s on pseudoarcana and digitalis also worth tracking down – transparent xeroxed/stapled covers.
three tri-polar waste cases get together to smoke toxic telecaster scuzz rock and in the meantime do some home recording of the resultant epic misadventures. several opossums ‘beached’ themselves on the grill of my car due to the garbled neurosis of these recordings – and to top it off, the ill-advised attempt at judas priest, which certainly displays a profound mental deficiency! edition of 50 copies.
an unearthed treasure of the golden era, ripe for the fucking. group sounds for a new millennium; flowery music for flowery people; tropical sounds of a distant paradise. entertain no one. “of all the fucked up, nasty ass, deliriously damaged rock bands in the recent history of the american underground wonderland (particularly texas), none come close to the squirm and hellacious sqwunk of rusted shut. from the incinerated skum of houston weirdness improv outfit grinding teeth arose rusted shut in 1986. their shows were a notorious mess, drunken and fueled by cheap-jack acid. after years of slovenly survival they’ve been somewhat rescued from universal distaste by the current noise legions. the emperor jones label released the rehab cd in 2003 and aa records did a sick lathe (“bring out your dead”) last year and their notorious “fuckin’” track off the 2006 end times festival live comp is still the only loop that matters (check their myspace page for that one). it was with some apprehension of being held up by knife point that we unzipped their new hot sex ep (dull knife). but goddamn if this is not a great goddamned beast of a record. the core duo of don walsh and sybil chance (the original still alive members of grinding teeth) and domokos (on drums and ‘earthscreamer’) just lay it out in an unctious smear of rawk n roll decimating any obvious pretence of hardcore, black metal, death metal, sludge, punk, avant improv goop etc.—shit is the real amerika full on. salute and die.” – thurston moore/byron coley – arthur magazine.
collie ryan privately pressed three albums in the early ’70s-taking your turn round the corner of day, indian harvest, and the giving tree. the records were funded in part by collie’s friends at the new age farms carrot and fresh juice company in lompoc, california and her mesmerizing music remained largely a secret until “cricket,” one of the tracks from indian harvest surfaced on the numero group’s stellar compilation ladies from the canyon in 2006. collie’s music is almost solely based around her cosmic and birdlike voice and nylon guitar picking, and her lyrics reflect her lifelong study of theosophy and naturalist living. the hour is now collects tracks from her first three lps and is packaged with collie’s own artwork. for fans of buffy sainte-marie, joni mitchell, sibelle baier and ruthann friedman… lovingly presented collection in a heavy 60s style cover with thick insert. great music too. nice.
restored to one is a modern response to the musical activities of a cult known as the process church of the final judgment, who used music to spread their visions of gnostic reconciliation in a time of cataclysmic change. sabbath assembly has re-charged the original hymns of the process church and worked them into moving renditions that unite the trinity of rock, psychedelic and gospel into one triumphant re-awakening. the process church was an intensely creative, apocalyptic shadow side to the flower-powered ’60s and new age ’70s. the influential group opened chapters in london, europe and across the united states. dressing in black cloaks and walking the streets with german shepherds, they created their own intricately designed magazines, and promoted a controversial, quasi-gnostic theology that reconciled christ and satan through deeper awareness and love. funkadelic reproduced process writings in two of its albums. the process church was accused of being part of a satanic underground conspiracy by true crime pulps, most notably ed sanders’ the family, which linked the church to the manson murders. the insider’s perspective of this secretive group and its true leadership recently emerged with feral house’s love sex fear death: the inside story of the process church of the final judgment, written by former members including timothy wyllie, and edited by adam parfrey. restored to one features the following: jex – jex thoth (i hate records). xtian a.k.a. dave nuss – no-neck blues band (sound at one records); curator of source family’s magnificence in the memory archival release (drag city); boredoms drum leader for boadrum 777, 888, 999 concerts. randall dunn – producer (sunn0))), earth, boris, etc.)… 180gm metallic gold vinyl, super thick old style cover. cool.
you guys are probably familiar with this dude as a former member of axolotl, as ball lightning or as a member of bulbs – william is not only a totally visionary percussionist, he’s also a spectacular video artist. this release is a trilogy of his pixelvision work – everything is super blown, black and white and low contrast – it all feels like living x-rays, electrical storms and flying saucer hallucinations – all of the films feature william’s music as a soundtrack. limited to 90 copies.
stellar vocals and drones by sachiko of overhang party; three pieces of hypnotic, gliding delight. this is sachiko’s first —all-drone— vinyl release, in an edition of 350. heavy-weight vinyl & paste-on sleeve with artwork created by johan de wilde… very beautiful release.
new album by one of japan’s key players in the psychedelic underground. sachiko was also a member of legendary bands such as overhang party and kousokuya among others. ‘with lament’ finds itself in the lost worlds of eerie devotional chants drowned in eternal reflections of kaleidoscopic electronic powers. paste-on cover, silkscreened insert and edition of 100 copies.
hometown meets out of town in a blow out jangle of sounds. recorded last fall in portland, sacred basil brings together cursillistas, gorman, planets around the sun, and tempera for a living room improv after breakfast. grooving organ, trumpet wails, building drum circle pounds, singing bowls, etc. a treasure chest of instruments dumped on the floor and a rotating cast picking them all up to work out the tones. packaged in a tri-folded art paper ‘booklet’ that opens to reveal a full-color collage and pasted on vellum insert. tapes painted & stamped and tied with twine. limited to 50.
sacros (‘the sacred’) was a chilean rock band inspired by the spiritual passion and veneration for the great gods of south america, such as quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent, god of the ancient mayas and viracocha, lord of tiahuanaku in the andes mountains. sacros recorded the debut lp on the state label irt and the production was destroyed by the militaries. only very few copies survived from destruction. the music goes in the same direction as los jaivas, los blops and el congreso (all from chile) and lula cortez from brazil. it has a great 12 string rickenbacker sounds, effects, great vocals and rhythms with an experimental touch. you can call this easy one of the rarest albums from latin america since only a handful of copies survived. patricio panussis (guitar & vocals) hernan valdovinos (bass & vocals) and tomas r. herrera (percussion). the band recorded only this one album in 1973… from chile, 1973. lp in an edition of 450 numbered copies, with glossy heavy sleeve, 180 gram pressing, insert.
here at last is a chance to discover why people have been willing to pay a very steep price to hear sandhy & mandhy, the duo who were not a duo, the band who were not a band, creators of perhaps the rarest and most expensive album from argentina. to tell the story of sandhy & mandhy, we have to go back to 1967, when alberto infusino (sandhy) and alberto vanasco (mandhy) began their musical partnership in the beat band the new free men. like many bands of that time, los shaker’s and los walkers, for example, the new free men played covers of songs by the zombies, animals, kinks, yardbirds, doors, and so on, in clubs and at parties. yet at the same time, infusino and vanasco started to play their own compositions, with a national touch to the music. let’s let vanasco (mandhy) take up the story: ‘in 1969, we went to talk with billy bond, chief of ‘la pesada del rock roll,’ to ask about the chance to make an album. bond said that he was not looking for a band, but for a duo who sang songs in spanish… so, we called some friends to play together, and we called the project sandhy & mandhy.’ they recorded the album in three hours, with a full band (farfisa organ, congas, drums, bass, and guitars) – one take of each song. instead of a demo, they decided to press an lp: the company (phonalex) pressed 110 lps in total, which the band gave out at gigs. sandhy & mandhy were one of the first bands in south america bring a rebellious attitude to the music scenenall this in a period of military repression, when forced haircuts in the streets were a common occurrence. although they broke new ground, success was not their fate. and so thirty-eight years after the burst of improvisation that was sandhy & mandhy, the rest of the world can finally take a taste of their dark, groovy, beat-influenced psychedelia (that fuzz guitar on the excellent ‘lluvia’!). at times introspective and acoustic, at others manic and ramshackle in the best way, it’s quite a discovery. now, on to the presentationnthe highest quality mastering and pressing (done at acoustech mastering/rti in california, the same people who master and press every title that audiophile label classic records makes); the resulting lp is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, inside an ultra-heavy 1960′s style gatefold jacket, which is housed in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. inside the sleeve, you will find an insert with full details on sandhy & mandhy, including lyrics in spanish and english, printed on 100% recycled paper. the lp labels are replicas of the originals. a top of the line pressing all the way. limited edition of 800 copies.
sandstones sole 1971 privately pressed album is one of the best and rarest early 70s us psychedelic folk rock records. although only recently rediscovered, it is very sought after from worldwide collectors both for its rarity and musical quality. great male female vocals in an early 70s uk psychedelic acid folk rock sound similar to tudor lodge, jade etc. it contains 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks, not included in the original album. highly recommended! limited edition, deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.
imagine if the edgar broughton band spent their formative years in a crack house on the bayou swamping out the rock in desperate need of a shot of penicillin. now exit that doorpass and enter again: peak to peak of mainliner, psychosexual rnb, eric dolphy-gagaku, william s. burroughs ghost writing a straight line diatribe for a vertiginous howlin wolf and tony joe white’s wah bleaching on the beach with a sassquatch. while sapat’s forthcoming lp/cd on siltbreeze is a bong shot of dusty sunlight vitamin c enveloper rays, this 7″ single is a quarantined crater of wasabi soup strainer knock your dick in the dirt dixie raunch. spins at 33rpm and clocks in at nearly 15 minutes. members of various kentucky head units: valley of ashes, virgin eye blood brothers, phantom family halo, dead child, son of earth and kark – killer lo-fi psych damage!
self released stab from christian stadsgaard’s solo oscillator psych drone harmonic raga zone-out. flat out meditative intensity for the electronic sect. limited to 70 copies in spray painted covers. previous releases on into the lunar night & heavy blossom.
denmark’s sarah’s charity has been cranking out some serious walls of sound over the past few years. churning black guitars that get sucked into the bottomless depths of ice-cold oceans. each track builds on the previous, leaving your ears white hot and begging for more. there’s so much distortion that it feels like the tape can’t even hold it all in. the best way to experience “fear of sound” is head-on. crank the volume up as loud as you can, pour it in and make your ears bleed. eventually you’ll be absorbed and drift away on a cloud of burnt dust. good fucketimes. limited to 87 copies with full-color sleeves designed by peter friel.
danish electronic drone.
the second ever wholly other vinyl outing is a duo of peter swanson (d. yellow swans) and tom carter (charalambides etcetera). despite the noisy pedigree of mr. swanson, and the latter day scrape of tc’s horton collaborations, this is a deceptively serene collection of electric guitar trance-outs, gently building to a spiders-down-the shirt climax full of hiss and slithering menace. eye-popping silkscreened crypto mandala art by liz harris (grouper) on the blank side, on clear vinyl so you can stare while it spins (and you’ll want to)… packaged in a heavy clear sleeve. edition of 308.
a meditative dual guitar exploration from pete swanson (yellow swans) and tom carter (charalambides). totally gorgeous stuff that is not to be missed. like our other vinyl releases, this one will be pressed on 180g rti black vinyl and will come from an edition of 652 copies. it will be housed within heavy letterpress sleeves (letterpress work performed by dexterity press) featuring original artwork by liz harris… includes pre-order only bonus cd “live at the yacht house, sacramento, in april 2006″.
this one has been on the cards for a long time, and after over a year of waiting the master dropped through my mail box. these dudes have had releases on br label buddies not not fun and dnt, and this is a steady paced doom tinged rock out beast, there’s no joy found here. two tracks, one studio, and a nasty live piece recorded at la’s echo curio, lined with sax blurts, guitar shreds, psychedelic swirls, and smouldering drums. limited to 75 copies in bleak black envelopes with paste on japanese art paper and packaged with a skeletal leave and a hand numbered insert.
perhaps, one of the rarest and most expensive, major company, releases from greece. released back in 1971, by polydor. it was a tiny pressing (probably 200 or 300 copies) and it has never been rereleased on vinyl. even the 1996 cd reissue (500 copies only) is very rare nowadays. “episodio” is one of the hidden treasures of the greek rock/folk music scene. an album not easy to categorise. ok, folk is probably the “right” word but what kind of folk?? powerful, anarchic, experimental, revolutionary but also polite, sophisticated, melodic, poetic even psychedelic and avant-gardish…!!! you have to listen to it… acoustic & electric guitars, heavy percussion, bass, flute, cello, clarinet, bass, lot of reverse tapes and sound effects and….some wild, real angry vocals. his first “domatio” album from 1968, will follow soon… first ever official reissue licenced by universal, greece. exact reproduction for the gatefold cover and the labels. it includes extra 8-pages, fully laminated, booklet (a4 size) with bio, lyrics and photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gr. vinyl as usual. limited to 350 copies… nice album & beautifully presented.
performed by: mark bajuk, tony fasce, silvia feriozzi, eric mauer, brent peich, russ waterhouse. the next evolutionary step from double leopards and family underground, very subtle and psychedelic music.
johnny is from nottingham, england and has been making weird noise for all the time i’ve known him, as well as pretty much single handedly trying to keep the small nottingham noise scene going with countless shows… this release follows his two recent releases on mjc and collaborative release with luke younger of birds of delay on audiobot. a trip into the squelching, droney, scratchy world of scarr’s soggy brain… comes in case with lame insert by me and amazing eye pulsating sleeve by pascal of stuckometer, cars etc.. edition of 29 copies.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. when robin scott’s electro anthem “pop muzik” hit no.1 in the us in 1979, few could have guessed that his debut had appeared on an obscure english underground label, head records a whole decade earlier, with backing from psychedelic legends mighty baby. now, with original copies changing hands for hundreds of pounds, it’s finally available on vinyl again, complete with a lavish reproduction of the original insert and showing itself to be a lost gem of british acid folk.
traba is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in an edition of 500 copies for the world. included is a free mp3 download coupon. traba is a brand new mini-lp from the uk’s simon scott. in the early ‘90s scott was the drummer for renowned shoegaze band slowdive. recent years have seen scott running the kesh recordings label from his base in cambridge, performing in the group seavault with anthony ryan (isan) on morr music, and also working as a sound designer for television, film and sonic art installation. 2009 saw the release of scott’s debut solo album navigare released on miasmah recordings (run by erik skodvin of svarte greiner/deaf center). scott has shared studio and stage with brian eno, klimek, the caretaker, machinefabriek, jasper tx, nils frahm, seasons (pre-din), rafael anton irisarri, xela, fever ray, svarte greiner, marcus fjellstrom, lawrence english, fennesz, leyland kirby and taylor deupree. he has also remixed on, autistici and isan and provided production assistance for hannu’s album hintergarten. scott also performs live with the sight below and co-wrote songs on the new album it all falls apart (ghostly international). traba contains four tracks that were written at the end of the sessions for navigare. when the deadline for completion of the album came and went these compositions were unfinished, but over the course of the summer and autumn of 2009 they were completed in scott’s o3o3o studio in cambridge. traba continues and expands on the themes of submergence, being lost at sea, and intoxication. opening track “she came from the sea”, with it’s distant swirling brush stroke drumming, haunting vocals and deep processed textures, captures the almost overwhelming physicality of being at sea, miles from home, yearning for loved ones and a physical embrace. though this is the first track on the record it was the last one to be written and completed after the navigare sessions. “the water loop” tackles themes of addiction, obsession and urban decay via a max/msp manipulated loop that initially feels warmly narcoleptic but grows into something anxious and intimidating. the music evokes warmth and adventure but slowly unfolds into a dark tone of emotional weakness and paranoia. an influence of stanley kubrick shines out here as this is a musical landscape occupied by droogs on molotov cocktails threatening to impose themselves on you. “lamina” is about a short spell of tinnitus that scott had which resulted in a brain scan. the uncertainty of what caused the hearing damage mixed with the possibility that something had indeed grown inside his brain affected scott in a heavy way. “feeling like i had half of my head submerged underwater somehow matched the themes i was writing about so it inspired me to finish the track. luckily my head was fine and the frequencies returned just in time to mix the piece”. the digitally processed acoustic instruments are blended together with field recordings taken from his local east anglian coast line as well as vocal samples. these elements ebb and flow until the smoldering finale that recalls the sinister imagery of the quay brothers, david lynch or the brothers grim. scott’s uncle was a submarine officer in the british navy who died of alcoholism. his life away at sea fueled his fraught family life and kept his battle with drink alive until his death. traba’s closing track “an avalanche” is directly inspired by the moment his uncle’s heart stopped. coming ashore after months at sea, his uncle drank himself to death. he was brought to a hospital where he was shortly brought back to life, but quickly returned to his death bed as a direct result of his eldest son’s disapproval. traba is truly a dense collection of songs from simon scott.
6 songs, nearly 13 minutes of bi-polar music made especially for scibbler’s extensive canadian tour in march. one side beautiful and moving folk, the other an electrified aural thrashing of your senses. is it really the same band? full run edition of 300 (!) on black vinyl with hand-silkscreened jackets and hand-drawn labels.
a live recording of the stoke-on-trent based improvising unit, here operating as a trio of melanie delaney (ashtray navigations), joincey (inca eyeball, wagstaff, target shoppers etc etc – ) & andy jarvis (anna planeta) over 20 minutes they slowly weave a trance-inducing web using clarinet, acoustic gtr, electric gtr, percussion & toys. this is the first available document of the group’s continued & varied live work over the last 2 years – package in a stapled transparent cover.
2001 private press debut.
second family band is a musical collective from madison, wisconsin which rose from the ashes of legendary free-folk outfit davenport. they’ve had releases on sloow tapes, earjerk, gods of tundra, bumtapes and a whole host of other crucial underground labels. alt.vinyl records is proud to release ‘good blood’, an absolutely necessary slice of bold psychedelic absurdism from a tribe of musician-magicians operating at the very peak of their dark powers. line-up: endless, woodman, nico kain, clay ruby, dave 3000, ivan mariesse, tyler ol’son, lliam lee zian. opening scuzz-haiku ‘below the arch’ instantly enthralls with some throbbing maltronics circling a quivering cardboard totem , a sky of sound pinpricked open with some gently rabid ponca drumming and delicate wafts of fragrant fuzz. in seven minutes we are ascended beyond cloud level onto a crytalline plateau of ringing light and trembling breath. it’s a shamanistic free-drone space-jam in miniature, rather like some strange confluence of the necks, sunburned hand of the man and circle at their most obtuse. the next track ‘night graces of the morning temple’ slowly balloons us back to earth, the music seemingly deflating the speakers as she goes. a choir of rusty radiators throb, moan, creak and boing along a half-dreamed corridor of mournful wah-wah. it sounds like morphogenesis playing berio at the bottom of a sewer, or the soundtrack to some lynchian nightmare – very cool and grubby, bathed in a sort of undulating aural moonlight. total deep listening mirage-music. side 2 is comprised of a single 23-minute track, ‘good blood’, a delightfully pungent slab of relentless exotica blending elements of les baxter and martin denny with a nice wooden shjips-esque vibe, the whole mad soup bled through with some really sensitive electronic splashes and splutters. at about seventeen minutes we emerge from hypnosis into a clearing, bleary-eyed and stomach-cramped, and face a dramatic climax. the boulder-strewn groove threatens to topple at any moment, the air is awash with the flash and hiss of cymbals and feedback, it just rocks harder and harder. then it’s over, and my hand is reaching for the needle to spin it again.deluxe edition ltd to 300 copies. hand screened sleeves by levi seeldraeyers, artwork by wouter vanhaelemeesch. ‘good blood’ is a a towering piece of psych-prog ritualism. bloody brilliant!
crunching, raw and abstract psychedelic blues improvisations by this collective featuring clay ruby of davenport and burial hex fame. tasty keys, moody rhythms and two long, relaxing and dirty tunes. edition of 70.
ty seagall’s self-titled album broadens the horizon of punk, paying deserved homage to the roots of rock and roll, while rejuvenating the music for today. as anticipated, the album holds the classic 60s pop-meets-california surf to a fast tempo that pushes the boundaries of punk. while the lo-fi claustrophobia keeps the undercurrent harsh and real, the upbeat melodies and psychedelic, reverb-laden vocals keep it buoyant and hypnotic. native to southern california, ty segalls solo project began as an attempt to keep his live performances in tune with his recordings.
brrrrr, its gettin cold in here – don’t fall asleep cause you may never wake up. like its namesake, antarctica – ‘ comes on like a vast cathedral of suspended ice-prongs dripping out action at a pace roughly comparable to the formation of a glacier. natures fractured architecture pixelated and amplified through the green luminescence of night vision goggles – almost too beautiful to be real? my esteemed friends, this hugely confident release falls well inside the parameters of effortless’ and represents a pinnacle of sensual, hypothermic dream-states. file under near death’.
application antarctica’s sister release, performing a function akin to an exclamation mark at the end of stephen clovers brilliance. the routine transfer of electrons from wire to amplifier (resulting in tiny pulses of air that can only be detected by your eardrums and the hairs on the back of your neck). golly, it never seemed quite so important before. further proof of my theory that states if you leave a tap on for long enough, you can carve your own grand canyon”.
one copy only.
members of sejayno release a morphic aura into the air through the utilization of therapeutic breathing techniques, fumblings, and fantasies about sexual tourism. the swedenbourgian airplane becomes reality along with the use of tubas and guitars and poetic resonance. you may know peter blasser as “ciat-lonbarde” or the next incarnation of dr.who imagining bob moog as interpreted by the paper circuit in the form of the seed of life. carson garhart is not only “cute” but was also the phantasmal skeleton in the skeletons and severiano. martinez is the man behind it all. limited lp screenprinted covers.
psychedelic pop freakout. limited numbered edition of 80 copies, features an insert.
septemberist is andrew johnson from hood. this is his own sound performance in a very melancholic electronic drone mood. the vinyl is housed in a printed jacket that’s been inserted into a poster folded to 7″ size. edition of 323. recorded in manchester/maastricht, november 2002.
duo recordings by tara burke (fursaxa, anahita, tau emerald) and grant acker (slurp dogs), smoking one late-period un/early fursaxa style. a scorching blend of distorted psychedelia, hypnotic riffing and mellow vocals trapped inside a very trippy atmosphere. edition of 170 copies with silkscreened fold-out booklet… awesome!
out of print. one copy only.
spooky and fragile british sounding folk record from the usa, with some progressive and psychedelic hints. recorded between 1970 and 1976 and privately released in 1976, original copies reach four figures. high-quality reissue in 180g vinyl, nice carton with original artwork, unbeatable remastered sound quality and also including a repro of the original sticker, the original insert and a new insert with photos and liners by bandleader heff munson. 500 copies limited release. the seventh dawn is like few other american folk albums. maybe it’s because all four members of seventh dawn had written these songs when they were between 11 and 17 years old. ann & heff were taking classes in electronic music, which gave them access to the labs with two synthesizers, two stereo records and one four track recorder. this protected opportunity was unspoiled by any style-pushed fashions, and the results have a comparable sweetness, innocence and almost pastoral purity to the best moments of the uk album of sallyangie (with mike oldfield, also then only 15). the same reason why ithaca was compared to moody blues (a reference which always is more symbolic, because mb never had that much of its own style-reference uniqueness in many songs), can be given here as a reference too. just listen to the nice sweet-fuzzed guitars which flow softly like keyboards on ‘such a lonely”. another reference point, relevant on one track, ‘latecoming,’ is emtidi for its piano arrangements in combination with the song.
one copy only. out of print. members of double leopards & son of earth.
one copy only.
it’s been almost a year since justin shay initially introduced himself to the world of digitalis, and a lot has happened since then. first we made plans to release this cd-r, and then time passed along, we met up at bottled smoke and it turned out he was friends with gregg kowalsky. happy accidents and small worlds like these collide “vocalizations.” as the title suggests, each of these tracks is constructed entirely from vocals and effects. shay’s ability to script and manipulate his voice into a magic show of drones and melodies is masterful. “vocalizations” isn’t just a lot of fun, it’s hypnotic. shays has such a rare talent that i can only imagine what’s coming next.
vancouver’s shearing pinx have been on fire lately, releasing one tripped out slab of no-wave goodness after another. this latest offering pushes onward with some of their most doped up freak-outs and weirdo jams. until recently, the pinx saved the wildest material for tapes, cdrs and the road, but as proved on their recent split with the mutators, they can let loose on wax too. haruspex is the next open door. artwork by nicholas macmillian. limited to 500.
i met matt himes, the man behind shep and me, in belfast, maine last spring and i was instantly captivated by his music. using a mix of incredible folk inspired guitar playing, tape loops, field recordings and his unique voice, he makes some of the eeriest, most engaging folk infused soundscapes i have ever heard. i imagine that shep and me sounds like a collection of old dust-bowl folk recordings that have been melted corroded and then discovered seventy five years later. ghostly, haunting and beautiful are all adjectives that can be used to describe this tape.
vinyl debut by brooklyn’s shepherds. originally this was going to be used for the dnt 3″ series, but it was far too long to be used for a 3″ split, so we decided to upgrade it to a 7″! the best way to describe them would be free-form psych-drone, with different tape effects thrown in their too. members of woods, non-horse, wooden wans and others. pro-printed full-color glue pocket sleeves. pressing of 500. 50ish on black. 100 on gold. 350ish on white.
great WOODS related jams. one copy only. out of print.
shiggajon are a danish free music collective with a shifting identity, built around nikolai brix vartenberg and mikkel reher-langberg. here, that core duo play sax and clarinet in an expanded, nine-piece ensemble also featuring guitar, violin, drums, and electronics, as well as the unmistakably haunted, questing flute wor of kelly-jayne jones from part wild horses mane on both sides. asconema was recorded at a 2009 gig in sheffield organised by singing knives records. the resulting lp seals the shared aesthetic shaping the music of not just part wild horses, but other units associated with singing knives, including chora and the hunter gracchus. essentially, this means music made with an emphasis on the communal experience and an urge towards the ecstatic, filtered through a post-noise instinct for volume and white-out drones. shiggajon’s previous live tapes and cd-rs made room for more overtly psychedelic electronic, but their debut on vinyl sticks closer to the methods of 1960s free jazz, john coltrane’s ascension sessions being the obvious template for the flatlining cacophony of the set’s more intensely sustained moments. yet you wouldn’t really call this free jazz, any more than you would suggest the danes are trying to communicate the same feverishe, southern baptist christian-inspired devotions that gripped coltrane. similarly, when the cymbal scrapes and bells accompanying jones’ flute conjure a quieter ‘monastery jam’ vibe, the music superficially touches on the fourth world meditations inspired by don cherry and ed blackwell on their mu albums. which isn’t to say that this is a hollow forgery. spiritual significance resides in the ear of the beholder. ragged energy can plunge any soul that’s ready into the light. if shiggajon’s joyous noise gets you there, why fight the feeling? – the wire, uk.
‘one we heard is a real rock n’ roll monkey called fly so high by the shining path, a duo comprised of ilya monosov and preston swirnoff. more known for their weirdo psych minimalism as monsov swirnoff, documented heavily by eclipse records the last few years, here they get down to some confused and slippery boogie-spazz with the finer elements of free spirit futurism informing the process. fucking out there and great.” –byron coley and thurston moore, arthur magazine. side a is a reissue of the cassette released by tbtd tapes. side b is a bombastic unreleased live cut of the path with little howlin wolf and peter barry at marquise dance hall (brooklyn, nyc, 2006).
the first ever cd released by ruralfaune is the new output from the shitty listener aka jason honea; multi-faceted moon chaser who wanders through myriad activities that include: his personal label 3rd acre floor, being one of the founding members of the jewelled anter collective, whisperings inside of the child readers (with loren chasse), singing for the knit separates (with glenn donaldson)… recorded in berlin by michael northam, the shitty listener is a lo-fi, bedroom folk project, deeply connected to poetry. incredibly intimate. the music incorporates whatever ambient sound happens to occur in the background, and it all just becomes part of the wound, becoming as much a part of the song as the song itself. melancholic piano, gentle guitars, plaintive and emotive voices… a sort of drifty fuzzy dreamy melody crosses each song.
shelly short is a portland musician born & raised who plays pretty songs. this lp finds her doing a bit more orchestrated works than her usual stripped down approach. a nice record to wake up in the morning to. each copy of the lp is lovingly hand glued together over old defectively printed “bongo joe” lps with a silk screen & a 10” by 10” photo print by shellys’ brother faulkner short. there are 50 variations of the photos spread over the 350 copies of this lp. a true hand made family affair… really lovely private press fragile femme folk album, released with help from mississippi records. stunning hand assembled covers. 350 copies so better grab one quick, as its sure to vanish soon.
split 12” anticipating their upcoming december 2009 west coast tour together. sic alps give up three tracks with help from lars finberg (intelligence) and ty segall, the highlight being a great punched-in guitar solo from matt hartman that makes one song reminiscent of a safe as milk outtake. markers show up with a 7ft bass player who throws the band into guru guru mode. great all around… slightly different cover art then the instantly sold out first edition.
ever shrouded, serpentine by design, the legend of the sic alps has at last made its way to the gates of drag city. the new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl 2xlp reissue of a long way around to a shortcut is somehow a ‘greatest hits’ of the golden not-quite-decade of sic alps. well, not quite golden, either. can gold be tarnished? can it be done on purpose? if so, sic alps are artisans of the highest order — for their music is the bright, surging sound of ye olde rock and roll radio (and the garages that tuned in), but heard through air darkened with specks of nameless obstruction. in and amongst their ingrown sounds, sic alps take on classic tunes from strapping fieldhands, throbbing gristle and the zipps on a long way around to a shortcut. it is to their credit that they completely absorb their estimated predecessors and create the only sound left to them: the sound of the sic alps. a long way around to a shortcut was issued as a cd in 2008. it collected songs that were first issued throughout the epic years of 2006 and 2007 on two 12″eps, three 7″ singles and a cassette, plus a song from a compilation cd-r and a song released nowhere else but on the alwatas compilation. the records were originally given titles like united, strawberry guillotine, semi- streets, hip-hop sweepers vol 1, teenage alps, the soft tour in rough form– but all these original releases are long gone, and the cds fairly much oop as well. can this vinyl version be far behind? the hordes are coming, so heed well and get your own copi(es) in stock now… ultra vague cover art with full color innersleeves.
sic alps make music with their eyes on the past but their feet firmly in the present. bits of psychedelia, folk, garage, punk, and other fuh fairly well flow from their fingers, seamlessly worked together to render easy categorizations pointless. over the course of numerous singles and albums, sic alps’ mike donovan and matt hartman have carved themselves a snug niche filled with fuzz, crackle, vibes, and most of all, cracking tunes. continuing this fine tradition is “l. mansion,” a swinging little folk / beat tune that is totally timeless / out of time in the way of sic alps’ best songs. it’s as straightforwardly “pop” as anything they’ve done, and a totally effective summertime single. on the flip is a banging cover of the other donovan’s ode to puff-”superlungs.” wild and thumping, the pair have definitely taken the sunshine superman on a little side trip to detroit rock city.
…from the “space guitarist” of comet iii, a pure gift of sounds joy directly from the pulsating and deadly mother heart… 5 songs that go from melanchony and delicates drones thou strings resonance… handmade hard cardboard limited to 115 copies.
orig WHITE LABEL PROMO copy. pop/rock/psych with some interesting touches. thick foldout insert. promo sticker on cover. real clean. EX++/NM-.
san marcos based silver pines inhabit a beautifully translucent space between dark hollows and an airy evening glow. under the soulful sway of stefanie franciotti’s mesmerizing vocals, the songs linger breathlessly, slide guitar and softly eerie beats unfolding a dreamscape that justifies the band’s comparisons to mazzy star, but evoking a rich expanse of the texas horizon… nice new texas private press for these folks who otfen share stages with silent land time machine… nice screen printed chipboard covers. numbered edition of 250, and these are the last of ‘em.
sara and nicolas of family underground hit it for stoners all around the globe – heavy drone psych action in a lovely hand made gatefold package. limited to only 85 copies on the band’s private imprint. nice!
the follow up to the time-lag cdr of heaviness. this one is a bit more harsh and not as drone heavy as earlier efforts.
first ever vinyl release and this is fully lisenced. this garage-driven heavy psychedelic band formed in 1968 out of the ashes of the marc 5 and sonix in colonia, nj. they captured the changing times and sociological upheaval of the pre-woodstock nation and like the jefferson airplane, neighb’rhood childr’n and united states of america, 6 feet under was blessed with a dynamic diva who soared amidst searing fuzz leads, swirling organ chords, and gifted songwriting with prophetic lyrics. this release contains 3 tracks from their singles, one alternate version of the 4th single track and 6 unreleased -back in the late 60′s- songs. all recordings made between 1969-1970. a must have album!!! high-quality paper (canvas-like) cover. includes 4-pages full-coloured insert with story, photos and comics. limited to 300 black and 200 coloured copies. 180gr vinyl as usual. pvc protective outsleeve… black vinyl version.
through dark days and glowing nights, six organs of admittance continues to step to the far rim of the world with purposeful strides. indeed, new horizons are visible throughout luminous night. be it in the face of spiritual crisis or catharsis, ben chasny as six organs refuses to stagnate, or to evolve in predictable fashion; in response, he keeps moving on. this is the first six organs of admittance albums with such a lengthy gap between it and its former number. in the past two years chasny has kept busy writing this new epic, moving house to seattle, composing soundtracks for novels and movies, and touring constantly in america and europe (with bands like the dead c and om) as well as being invited by legendary post-metal group neurosis to play their beyond the pale festival in belgium. six organs of admittance is such a singular experience that it is sometimes easy to forget that ben was the lead guitarist in comets on fire, as well as a songwriter and guitarist for current 93′s black ships ate the sky album and half of the pan-pacific psych-folk duo august born. but clearly, chasny knows heavy, having grown through times of heavy and times of light. and in answer to the question what’s heavier, a pound of rock or a pound of feathers, six organs of admittance has devised this for luminous night: a pound of rock covered with a pound of feathers — twice as heavy, but feathery light to the human eye. with luminous night, chasny’s working with some heavy dudes, like producer randall dunn and eyvind kang, whose sound on viola shines with a guiding glow throughout the album (both dunn and kang contributed their talents to the outré arrangements of the recent sunn o))) album). the other invaluable contributors to the album are hans teuber on flute, tor dietrichson on tabla, matt chamberlin on drums, and dave abramson on percussion. occupying their spots with care, they’ve collaborated to create something rich and vibrant, aching and new, in the world of six organs of admittance. the arc of luminous night is wide as the sky, commencing with a stirring instrumental evocation of the greek myth of poor actaeon before flowing into the vocal, the vengeful, the ancient, the divine and celestial, scored with guitars, bass, viola, flute, tabla, electronics and synthesizer, as well as a buried-in-the-rain-soaked-earth-of- seattle-then-exhumed four-track cassette that formed the basis of the instrumental ‘cover your wounds with the sky.’ for its blanketing sound, luminous night draws inspiration from such cinematic sources as jodorowky’s el topo soundtrack and the scores of kurosawa’s samurai films, but is at the same time music that could only have come from the singular sound world of six organs of admittance. what is it about the man that buries his sound in the ground? he has faith in the earth, for one. when we think of six organs of admittance, we think of a man with six-string ambitions, a rambler with mystic beliefs and dark electric visions. it’s a big universe and we’re only human, which basically means that we’ve got spirit and that we’re going to die. but until then, we live. six organs of admittance has lived to tell about it on luminous night.
awesome new private press album. after years of bigger label projects its a real treat to see ben’s pavilion imprint in action again. easily the most beautiful and intense in quite some time, this is a real gem. hand packaged in classic pavilion style with hand painted white on white covers with graphite powder stencil art. limited to only 500 and sure to vanish without a trace. highly recommended.
triple-lp epic called rtz (named after the button on a tascam 484 that “returns to zero”) fashions several lesser-known pieces from six organs of admittance’s early years into a massive prismatic arc, colossal and organic like some wonder of the ancient world. even when existing as only one half of a record, as many of these pieces once did (and still do, somewhere), mr. 6ooa (ben chasny) leans into the eternal-letting the winds of time scar his face and the light of all there is burn his skin black. rtz is an iridescent chimera in full flight, viewed through stained glass. rich with excursions to exotic musical climes and rhythmic with prayerful chants from the dark shadows of the earth, rtz uses strings and bells, riffs both warm and icy, glowing lead guitars, massed voices and the pure, open for its mantras and rituals… 4 out of 6 lp sides here are made up of out of print time-lag releases, so you know its good! recommended.
one copy only.
man – one of the first times we rolled down to oakland, we met up with this dude and his intensely dark steez – dude reminded me of my buddies up in portland who had first told me about”the temple,” which mr. sixes calls home – my friends told me that their show at”the temple” was one of the most chaotic evenings of their band’s career – tons of smashed glass, fights – debauch – a fierce mess – when we finally got to see sixes – or more importantly, when we moved to the bay and got to see sixes a lot, dude was repeatedly crushing – on par with other westen freaks like wiese and gerritt – totally gross intensity – so – we bug him to do a release – and he takes his time – but – now we’re finally holding onto this sick live recording of a set in seattle from 2005 – it’s perfect for jyrk too – totally a slow burner. you can’t tell it’s creeping up on you until it’s too late. edition of 200.
uncalculated unconscious expectations within an involuntary interception (system) of detached fantasy detached provided the fantasy is born of ingredients outside of the body but determined by the unpenetrated unconsciousness this in combination with the minds ability to sight illusions creates a world in which the consciousness can travel in and out of realisation of the event arising as with the tangible actions of the ceremony ascending and descending within the spectators consciousness manifest exchanged illusions. the unknowing of levels of consciousness as the procession of the ceremony transforms the imagination from inner and outer experience to one a whole motion of physical and mental interaction. recorded in universal city, mexico by spencer clark and james ferraro. limited edition – one time pressing.
taste the blood of the deceiver, the first full-length skullflower album to be pressed on vinyl since forever (at least the early ’90s), finds matthew bower in the more blackened, doom-damaged terrains like those strip mined on the recent desire for a holy war or pure imperial reform: abrupt vertical baths of blinding distortion and harmonic override spiked with cavernous cultish riffs and deeply bleak ritual moods. the blood is fresh, but the body’s unrecognizable. charred and forgotten, this is another stepping stone on the path to the upturned altar. black vinyl lps in fucked-up-and-photocopied matte jackets. edition of 500… out of print.
edition of 300 made for sale at no fun. the kings of uk guitar noise return with vile veil in their never ending search to see just how much a guitar can be tortured. brilliantly debased.
totally far out live synth from my man josh over in chicago whose had releases on fag tapes, avocado jungle and sound holes… totally killer freestyle jams recorded last month, real deal blissed out zoned sounds, raw and ready. regular cased tapes with fuzzy psyche sleeve… limited to 40 copies.
18 minutes of drugged out bedroom folk strained through cheap computers. think low on more pain killers and newcastles. comes in a sickly sweet sky blue and clouds spraypainted plastic case, with printed insert and spraypainted 3 inch cd-r.
echo-dyed space chanteys dwelling into cosmic generosity, homebrewed by high sky couriers willie lane (golden road) and grant acker (un). have another sip of the lion’s head and get with the beam. silkscreened visions in 101 copies… sweet one!
the red river is the fourth solo offering from portland, maine’s micah blue smaldone and the first to be released on chicago label immune. here’s what micah has to say about it: ‘rather than construct a thick frame of reference for this new album, i’d prefer to describe simply where i’ve come from in the past few years, and then let this music speak for itself. my first solo effort, 2003′s some sweet day, was a collection of ragtime and country-blues, a fervently authentic homage to great influences — john jackson, blind blake, robert wilkins, etc., who all helped me through some tough times. 2005′s hither and thither was much more internal, an urgent telling of germination in a harsh climate. this new one reaches a little further both into the past and the future. the title is borrowed from ‘red river blues,’ an old chestnut that goes ‘which way, which way do that blood red river run? from my back window home to the rising sun.’ i suppose this is the big theme of the album – ‘never fight evil as if it were something that arose totally outside of yourself.’ it is simple faith in the goodness of people, the depth of love, and the infinite wisdom of nature, which allows for this path to be cut with patience, humility, and an eagerness to share. so let this album be a little way-mark, and never a hitching post… lovely new album. limited edition heavy vinyl version. includes coupon for free download of the album.
i used to buy and collect smegma rockets when younger, so i’m really happy to release an lp by this really far out band, especially since they played with my friend perry, who is one of the most versatile musicians i had ever met! smegma is a kind of cult mob in the us experimental underground, based in portland, oregon, they started back in the early ’70s and got connections with the los angeles free music society (tom recchion, joe potts, le forte four, airways, doo-dooettes, ace farren ford and even the residents); they also got an amazing label called pigface… here they played some jazz for the year 3018… clear orange vinyl with white and red effects. artwork by ju suk reet meate.
restock… sean smith is a modern composer of ageless guitar folketry [instrumental poetry]. with several masterful solo-guitar albums behind him, smith has been drawn out of his hermetic recording life by the power and potential of collaboration, presented here on this record! sean smith becomes more fully fructified in the company of his friends, one voice becomes many (instruments)… 6-string steel, weissenborn [slide], & nylon-string guitars, with dulcimer, banjo, violin, organ, drums, & electric wall of sound… his guitar breathes deeply in this new depth of field and altered sonic state, giving bright light and love to his powerfully emotive instrumental songs. limited to 300, with letter pressed sleeves! this is a pure analog recording, recorded and mixed to 2 inch reel-to-reel tape, mastered directly from tape to vinyl by john golden! … great most recent album, beautifully packaged.
limited edition of 500. screen printed at monoroid on heavy duty board stock. in may of 2008, amsterdam-based clarinetist gareth davis and american guitarist steven r. smith convened at worstward studios, in los angeles to collaborate and create music together, the results of which have been titled westering. gareth davis is a dedicated performer of contemporary music while at the same time works with improvising musicians such as jon balke and terje rypdal as well as electronic artists including machinefabriek and ryan teague (type records) and has recently completed the rabbit at the airport series of lps with martin stig andersen and robin rimbaud (aka scanner). steven r. smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for over the last decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including thuja, hala strana, and most recently ulaan khol. this fruitful collaboration has created the perfect meeting place between the scrapings and various layers of musical detritus steven r. smith has been known for and the textural, guttural and almost feedback laden bass clarinet of gareth davis to create a delicate and abstract musical language of shifting moods and textures.
cities is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at rti in an edition of 900 copies for the world. included is a free mp3 download coupon. american multi-instrumentalist steven r. smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for well over a decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including thuja, hala strana, and most recently ulaan khol. this music has ranged from sparse solo guitar improvisations to hala strana’s reworkings of eastern european traditional folk tunes to the dense, psychedelic fuzz guitar workouts of ulaan khol. on his latest full-length solo release, cities, smith combines the composed with the improvisational and the result is a beautiful and desolate collection of songs evoking a crumbling landscape reminiscent of cormac mccarthy’s novel “the road” or the films of hungarian director béla tarr. cities was recorded in smith’s worstward studios on all analog equipment and features a wide variety of instrumentation including fretted spike fiddle, baritone psaltery, electric and nylon stringed guitars, cello, melodica, electric piano and organ. musically, smith’s work over the years could be summed up as a struggle to contain a series of opposites: light and darkness, sorrow and joy, despair and hope. it is this balance, or at least the effort to create or maintain this balance, that informs cities as well. smith has recorded for numerous labels including important records, catsup plate, soft abuse, emperor jones, last visible dog, jewelled antler, digitalis and darla. cities is his first release for immune recordings.
steven r. smith’s name has become more commonplace over the last half-decade, and that’s a very good thing. from his monumental works as hala strana to being a prominent contributor to many jewelled antler projects, his sound is distinct. this is the first brand new solo album from steven r. smith since last year’s epic the anchorite. on here, you’ll find some of the things you expect with a new steven r. smith record: sparse, angular walls of his trademark guitar playing with embellishments from an array of acoustic instrumentation. but there’s a new twist here: vocals. yep, vocals. smith unleashes his voice on owl and does so in such an impressive fashion that it leaves one asking ’what took so long’? owl is full of desolate but hopeful aural landscapes. there’s a tinge of regret and longing in his voice when he belts out the words, ’this is the world we know…’ and in those six words, smith sums up what owl brings to the table. there is something recognizable about this terrain; the paint is just worn down enough to expose the raw wood underneath. but carefully placed in each corner, in each nook is something new that breathes life into the familiar. this is a bold step for someone who has already accomplished a great deal, and leaves us listeners without a clue as to what will happen next. this is magic, indeed… nice fancy packaging. limited pressing.
holyblood was santa sangre but has now become snow fox. songs of love and loss, smothered in rich creamery psychedelia and executed like a wounded animal.
daily dance is a genuinely unique artifact from rural ohio; a mythical frenzy of distorted guitar and improvised drums creating walls of psychedelic noise. originally released in 1973, its sound is unparalleled for its time and precedes its closest kin, new york’s no-wave explosion, by a solid 5 years. ‘they generate waves of energy through cascading feedback squall and drumbo bash and shimmer. a few tracks will start with something vaguely resembling a ‘groove,’ before they quickly deteriorate into their lonely buckeye din.’ – dante carfagna. cantor records is proud to make daily dance available on vinyl for the first time in 35 years. daily dance was remastered from the original tapes, pressed at rti, and is lavishly packaged with a heavy stoughton paste-on jacket, informative obi/u-card, and an extensive 20-page booklet of liner notes.
twisted sounds from brothers of the occult sisterhood mainman michael. two rong reasons to waste your mind.. way damaged oz psych.
philly residents noah and heather recorded on two trips down south in 2007 and 2008. don’t know if this is intended as a funk-less tribute to miles davis’ 1972 classic. instead you get queasy pulsing electronics, vocal hoodoo and some primitive percussive clatter courtesy of guest, jasper justice. it’s got a nicer cover than the davis record. edition of 50.
the superb greek band hits again. this is their second effort, also from 1972, originally released on black polydor international. heavy progressive and more blues oriented this time, it contains nine songs; the eye-opener is a frenzied and”wild” re-arrangement of the rolling stones’ satisfaction’. for 13+ minutes, socrates jam and improvise with endless guitar solos and fuzzy bass riffs while thunderous drumming accompanies the orgy. good morning blues’ is an original heavy-blues number, while the traditional c.c. rider’ (represented here as see see rider’) takes life thanks to the demonic treatment from the band’s guitarist john spathas. side 2 of the lp, with six original compositions, is more like the heavy progressive direction of their first”same-titled” album. comes with a two page b/w insert (30x30cm) full of photos and memorabilia, and an over-sized (40x60cm) poster (that was prepared for the original lp, but was never released back in the early 70′s). a 7″ single has been added as an extra bonus, containing the tracks my only fellow’ and friends blues,’ originally released in 1971 on the red polydor label – great high quality exact reissue of this wild & mega rare dose of greek psych rock. perfect right down to the reproduction of the 7inch factory sleeve. recommended.
when the kids in town get together, it could become anything. sometimes they get smoke pumpkin, other times it will be burnt harvest. like anybody anyplace else, the only answer is to make music to blow people’s minds open with. on those nights when plum takes them there it is soil sing through me. here is the first album. oversized, hand-folded, xeroxed sleeve – we hear this is ruth and kyle from feathers with paul labrecque and ron schneiderman of sunburned hand of the man – but who really knows. a beautifully wasted lo-fi mess
son of earth began life in early 2000 as son of earth-flesh on bone trio. aaron rosenblum, matt krefting, and john shaw, inspired by many spirited late-night experimenting sessions, began to play out using wild arrays of sound-making devices. as the years have gone on, the group has chisled away at the number of instruments used and brought their once maximalist and varied sound creation down to a whisper, a murmer, a sound that hints at and flirts with texture and atmosphere; a music made from almost nothing. seven full years into their life-span, son of earth offer their first full-length lp, pet. the record represents a culmination of sorts of a certain arc in the son of earth sound, one where simple electronics and oddly-played instruments are combined to create a music that walks a tight-rope between easily definable atmospheres and emotions. the results are so delicate that at times the music seems to cease to exist at all… right on!
after releasing two unique lps back in the ’60s for the legendary esp label with his ritual all 770 and another one for riverboat, finally alan sondheim is back! this is his 1st lp after nearly 35 years and here he plays guitar, alpine zither, electronics, field recordings – as usual he presents us an eclectic mix of fascinating sounds – dark red vinyl.
self released old ep from volcano the bear side project.
sonic youth’s eponymous debut ep, reissued in a deluxe double-lp edition on the band’s own goofin’ imprint, was recorded in late 1981 at radio city music hall in nyc and originally released on composer glenn branca’s neutral label. the album is loosely based on compositions the newly formed group had performed at that year’s week-long noisefest event (and remains the only recorded document of an early line-up featuring actor richard edson on drums). the newly remastered vinyl also features extra live material from a 1981 gig, and a track from a previously unheard studio session… awesome landmark album finally back in print, and with the deluxe treatment even. every collection needs this album in some form!
i am a filmmaker/photographer currently filming on the s-bahn and in the train stations of berlin. my films are part of an ongoing project filming the city of berlin through the windows of the trains. there are no effects and everything is as it appears within the glass. each film is made up of scenes or takes, with each one beginning as the train leaves one station and ending after it arrives at the next. please, if possible, view them full frame in a darkened room… pretty trance inducing silent visual minimmalisism. nice hand packaging. all region.
deluxe gatefold 2lp version. omar souleyman is a folk-pop singer from rural northeastern syria. like many syrian musicians, he made his name as a singer for wedding parties in the region, with hundreds of cassettes and cds documenting his performances distributed throughout the country. these, along with several studio albums, earned him legendary status in the syrian dabke scene throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. after his 2005 breakthrough folk-hit “khataba,” omar gained wider recognition throughout the arab world. after collecting his tapes for a decade, sublime frequencies released the first compilation of omar souleyman tracks to be distributed in the west. the success of highway to hassake (sf 031cd, 2007), and the enthusiastic online reaction to the promotional clip for his track “leh jani,” led to omar being invited to tour the uk and europe in the summer of 2009. it would be his first time performing or travelling outside of the arab world. he and his group, comprised of two longtime collaborators — rizan sa’id on keyboards, and electric saz player ali shaker — set off on a six-week sublime frequencies tour with label-mates group doueh. by the end of 2009, omar had proven that his unique and charismatic delivery of syrian electrified folkloric dabke, iraqi choubi and arabic shaabi had the ability to appeal to the most diverse of western audiences. his success has continued, with further tours throughout europe, america and australia drawing rave reviews and leaving a trail of fervor across the globe. the rise of omar’s success has transcended the wedding halls and cassette stalls of syria and slipped into western popular consciousness. despite there being no shortage of musical talent in syria, dabke and otherwise, omar souleyman is the first syrian musical export to have won the hearts of westerners and arabs alike on this scale. his trademark checkered khaffya, sunglasses and elegant jalaba are not uncommon male attire in the arab world, but for years in the west, it is that exact image which has been excessively demonized. perhaps one of the most striking achievements of omar’s rise has been watching that iconic image transformed from comic book villainy to something positively regal. the recordings on haflat gharbia: the western concerts, omar souleyman’s fourth release on sublime frequencies, represent an hour of the best moments from the western tours between 2009 and 2011, captured in striking fidelity and intensity. fans will recognize familiar songs, as well as previously-unreleased material presented here for the first time, in what is the biggest sounding omar record yet. compiled and recorded by mark gergis.
canadian born guitarist and songwriter ron warren ganderton self-released three lps with his group sound ceremony while living in the united kingdom during the 1970s and 80s. first came “guitar star” (1973), then “sound ceremony” (1979) and finally “precious as england” (1981). despite some modest distribution and frequent gigs, the band never seemed to really take off and ganderton eventually returned to his native vancouver (where he still resides), leaving hundreds of unsold records in the attic of his house. while these copies seem to have been lost to the ravages of time, the second sound ceremony lp will now be reissued by one kind favor. while all of the group’s efforts are undeniably unique, “sound ceremony” (1979) is the true brain-damaged winner of the bunch. the record surely fits somewhere into the uk punk explosion of the day, but it’s also looks back to the mid-sixties rock that ron cut his teeth on and ahead to some sort of maniac future form of entertainment that perhaps has not been invented yet. ganderton’s truly “out of it” stream of consciousness lyrics show a clear lack of self-censorship and that’s really one of the albums strongest assets. he has created this character of himself as a huge rock star and a sex symbol, and who are we to deny his claims? this stuff is eerily convincing. like lou reed, the man’s ideas can’t be contained by something so limiting as the bar line. the band chugs amiably along as ganderton’s vocals wander all over the place. if you’ve never heard a singer do a count-off all the way up to seven, then now is your big chance! features what is perhaps the greatest anti-cigarette song of all time. lp edition of 500 copies.
first ever release from jutlandish shiggajon and the to date most ragapsychish release from the marvellous soyc of sjælland. the soyc side is one track of great shruti box-folk. like eastern chanting with a groovy psych-folk twist. hippie-trance-folk just the way you like it. the shiggajon side is the composition ’forklarelsen på bjerget’ (the transfiguration on the mountain for the biblically oriented to spot the christian undercurrent). going from drone-folk through more jazzy/gospel-like parts to pure atmospheric psych and collage, this is no usual folk-track. all in all endash a piece of more western folk from western denmark and one of more eastern folk from eastern denmark… really sweet one here! great hand painted/screen canvas covers tied up with a leafy vine. way limited & quite cool.
in this extended 3 song jammer, folk spectre’s arabesque acoustic and electric guitar are joined by diamond dusty’s zoned synth moves and the pulse beat shuffles of chill will. guitars wander over all different landscapes from early morning dawn… mean grinding streets and even desert ozones. the liquid swords have a sharp edge here… crude screen printed covers.
ex-angel – fuzz up – gpro blankest meds… solo psych sounds from pete nolan of magik markers, ghq, the vanishing voice, etc., etc., etc… hand colored xerox black box covers.
this cdr explores new sonic possibilities of home 16 track technology and early formation of the new band phase of spectre folk as pete is joined by j.t. sodas on synth. a few songs, new and old, are given the band treatment. thers also some very glopy stuff and some extendo blooz stuff, as well as some solo synth action. a long disc full of dripping mind exploration.
“as anxiety encroaches with the cold air of winter thank the stars for the whiskey/weed warmth of compass, blanket, lantern, mojo – it flows through you like a liquid howl of light.” – thurston moore. “for an out-of-it fogie like myself, its tough to keep up with the many musical hats our boy peter nolan sports. theres of course the magik markers and then theres lil dusty, spectre flux, spectre folk, folk spectre, cops, etc. i gotta admit i sorta lost the thread on petes musical output for awhile there due to the simple fact i couldnt keep up with it all. my chrome dome would literally throb with all the names and phony catalogue numbers that must accompany all these sound whims that must fly off his ginger head like bats from a belfry. luckily, i put down the brupenex long enough to catch up with compass, blanket, lantern, mojo, nolans latest expulsion under his spectre folk moniker. as expected, the album reeks of the musty homespun psychedelic scent that would make both al simones and uncle neil young red as a beet. the tunes are hazy with hope and bobbing audio to spare. seagulls or rusty bedsprings sound off in the crackly distance on one track and i get a salty taste in my mouth like i licked the third pier boardwalk in wildwood circa 79. and check out the track burning bridge where petes voice soars and wavers like a wounded dove flying to the safety of a clean cage and the awaiting name of walter. the whole thing is a gorgeous, fully conscious stumble into a self made sunset and it just reminds me of something someone never said to me its not over until you declare everyone a loser and paint yourself in a corner. – tony rettman.
released march, 2006. leaping forth from a prior discography consisting of cdrs and cassettes, spectre folk’s requiem for ming aralia is a powerfully assured psychedelic folk statement. spectre folk is a one-man operation consisting of pete nolan (drums for the magik markers, shackamaxon, ghq, virgin eye blood brothers, wooden wand & the vanishing voice, etc.). nolan’s significant responsibilities elsewhere have made him into a man who rarely has a chance to slow down. spectre folk offers the listener the ability to glimpse at one of those rare calm moments and it showcases the delicately twisted calm bubbling underneath the drumming furor nolan unleashes elsewhere. the beauty present in this uneasy tranquility certainly makes three lobed recordings proud to release requiem for ming aralia as spectre folk’s first full-length cd. ranging from atmospheric instrumental explorations to dark and moody sing-alongs, requiem for ming aralia offers a little bit of everything for fans of “out” music. from the opening moments of the first track to the final notes of the album-closing “bindi clip,” spectre folk has crafted an extremely solid album packed with rich, full sounds. “tendrils floating fastly,” the album’s first song, is an epic where textured crystalline guitars and various pulsing tones engaged in a prolonged ten minute battle. drone revisionist c. spencer yeh (burning star core) contributes to the joyful din by adding some tweaked electronics to nolan’s guitar work on “indianana.” not content to rest exclusively with instrumentation alone,”been here and gone”,”you showed me” and “drowning” all reveal a gentle, natural vocal delivery which results in a trio of delicate folk goodness. unwilling to leave things calm and complacent, nolan turns in a truly inspired and evil performance for guitar, drums, and voice while simultaneously upping the ante near the album’s conclusion with “the pointed horn.”
featuring lil diamond dusty and chill will. “in this extended 3 song jammer, folk spectres arabesque acoustic and electric guitar are joined by diamond dustys zoned synth moves and the pulse beat shuffles of chill will. guitars wander over all different landscapes from early morning dawn .. mean grinding streets and even desert ozones. the liquid swords have a sharp edge here.
new solo smooch from pete nolan (magik markers / virgin eye blood brothers / ghq) letting out some primitive apartment style electronic/raga strangeness – recommended solo zone-out.
brain delay psych noise team action from pete nolan and company. crude block printed envelope covers. limited to be sure.
grey area exact reproduction lp of a swedish release from 1970… a bit of confusion surrounds this release: the album has been credited to träd, gräs och stenar, but they aren’t featured on it. bo anders persson did, in fact, in collaboration with solvieg bark, compile, edit and released this album. bo anders persson, was a member of the legendary swedish bands harvester, international harvester, pärson sound, träd, gräs och stenar. solveig bark was one of a few young composers that through the unm (young nordic music festivals) would become a contemporary of erkki kurenniemi, folke rabe, etc. “reportage: spela själv” roughly translates to play yourself. it contains field recordings of amateurs playing / making sounds. raga concrète, if you will. a fine, rare, and lovely piece to behold.
reissue of the arhoolie lp recorded in 1971. joseph spence was a highly original guitarist & vocalist from the bahamas. his music is hard to describe – extreme guitar runs with joyful vocalese rambled along with it. this album includes hits such as “out on the rolling sea” & “sloop john b”. one of our favorite lps of all time. silk screened cover glued over a hand manufactured folkways style cover.
it’s taken a long fucking time, and finally, a fully legit lp ~ only reissue of this amazing helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. shh ! is highly collectable in it’s original form on the band’s own o records imprint (home of 3rd erection, samsa trio, one point music, etc). in a non ~ dream state, i’ve seen 2 copies and both were in a condition slightly more well kempt than “hammered ++”… shh ! is primarily a document of pekka airaksinen’s experimental compostions, consisting of primitive samples, guitar loop feedback and musique concrete. probably inspired by a cage / stockhausen / et al, but actually more easily peeped in pre ~ lafms world, perhaps sitting aside ju suk reet meate’s do unseen hands make you dumb? also involved were jan olof mallander, who has been active in and around art in several roles; as the editor of iris, writing reviews for hufvudstadsbladet, contributing to taide, and as the art critic of dagens nyheter. inspired, perhaps, by gordon matta clark’s food he converted his cheap thrills gallery into a restaurant and instead of art, served the public vegetarian and macrobiotic cuisine. and mattijuhani koponen, a poet, composer, musician, painter, photographer, performance artist, a gardener, activist in men’s postmodern liberation movement (the what?!), he was the primus dramatic motor for the sperm. in december of 1968, during a symphonic poem of reconciliation made by cain and abel, he fucked atop a grand piano and, for it, spent 8 months in the clink. aside from serving a brief stint in wigwam, i know little of vladimir nikamo but his presence makes sense; wigwam’s first lp is titled hard n’ horny. you get the idea. ooh la la..
spider trio are wally shoup (alto sax), jeffery taylor (guitar) and dave abramson (drums). wally shoup is a legend in the free jazz/improv scene. he has been well documented over the years, releasing records with thurston moore, chris corsano, paul flathery, nels cline, bill horist and many others in various combos. jeffery taylor and dave abramson are key players in the ever incestuous seattle subunderground musical community. taylor is one half of climax golden twins and abramson leads the diminished men. this lp is a live document that blew all the minds in attendance. take your byg/fmp/esp/ sun/ america/akba imprints and the sounds they represented and you’ll have an idea of the force and power of this amazing trio. this is some of the finest free jazz of the modern era! ed. of 400 copies.
new release from this ultra mysterious welsh born duo… 3 tracks improvised live with guitars, microphones, voice and effects. swirls of feedback, weirdo pops and glitches, distorted decaying walls of fuzz and barely recognizable voices. packaged in black/white classic br style sleeve designed by the band with insane black mental logo and blackened psyche art, and a bizarre loved up photograph insert. definitely a weird one. limited to 50 copies.
featuring two members of the most excellent pelt, the spiral joy band swells forth from blacksburg, virginia, with a follow up to their album “wake of the dying sun king” and now hitting the streets along side their new album “little sparrow”, both on vhf records. this double lp set features recordings from two eras of the spiral joy band. the first is from 2005, the second 2007. a cacophony of gongs, bowls, bells, chimes, electronics, fiddle, bowed cymbals, esraj, harmonium, sruti and electronics played by mikel dimmik, michael gangloff, amy shea and nathan bowles, along with a guest or two, here and there. “pleasure is the headlight” features 5 tracks in total spread over 4 sides. the first three being long trance inducing meditations recorded in blacksburg and ironto. the fourth side features unique recordings, the first is a solo wind chime performance recorded in a gift shop, featuring the murmur of confused patrons and what is likely some truly wonderful am radio piped in over the store’s stereo system. the second track is a slow hazy day at the beach, with gongs, seagulls, and the gentle roar of the ocean. pressed on 180 gram black vinyl and limited to about 400 copies, this album comes in a custom gatefold jacket with letter pressed cover art and silk screened inside art… another real high quality release on this young label. nice.
spiral joy band adventures farther into epic rolling drone percussion clang, resonating it’s way through meditative and psychedelic tones and drones. featuring pelt’s mikel dimmick and mike gangloff. artwork by emily keown. 150 copies.
very limited high quality import vinyl edition. one copy only.
new release from these nottingham based dudes, scarr is an occasional member of fossils, and has also collaborated with luke younger of birds of delay/helm. this newbie is a minimal electronics weirdo… like some kinda insane prehistoric midnight insect war… churning bleeps, scratching, fuzzed drenched buzzes…. sleeve by patrick milsom, hand numbered edition of 60.
solo guitar tunes from jack of towering breaker, which sound has really developed vastly since i heard material back in 2006. smooth, and very well produced indeed, blew me away when i first sat and listened to it… some serious fast finger picking goes on here. people who dug last months cam deas ‘silver waters’ cdr will probably dig this… black and white sleeves with artwork by paul sammut. limited to 130 copies.
following a pair of fabulous releases on blackest rainbow, camberwell based jack allett aka spoono unleashes his debut 45. 2 stunning solo guitar pieces that initially bring to mind say, james blackshaw but descend into some backwards recorded, eastern fuelled drone finale. over 12 minutes over what we believe to be 2 epic sides of wax…. cool tri fold sleeves with tracing paper inserts, hand numbered to just 300 copies.
so, you love english folk/rock, but you’ve never heard of spriguns? don’t feel bad. many people outside of england don’t know this group, or their singer, mandy morton, even though in her homeland she is considered on a par with such well-known english female folk singers of the 1970s as sandy denny (fairport convention), and maddy prior (steeleye span); during her scenic career morton has released six albums in total, including two for decca under the name of spriguns. what we have here is the first non-japanese reissue of album one for decca, from 1976, issued by acme as a 24-bit digital re-master, taken from the original tapes. perhaps not quite as rare as mellow candle’s sole decca lp (& #147;revel& #148; commands a $400+ price tag, vs $1,000+ for mc); even so, both spriguns albums are in the same league musically as that of their irish label-mates. morton’s voice is lovely and captivating, the songs lilting and celtic-ish— if this is a sound you like, these albums are for you! … limited vinyl version with exact repro cover. nice!
so, you love english folk/rock, but you’ve never heard of spriguns? don’t feel bad… many people outside of england don’t know this group, or their singer, mandy morton, even though in her homeland she is considered on a par with such well-known english female folk singers of the 1970s as sandy denny (fairport convention), and maddy prior (steeleye span); during her career, morton released six albums in total, including two for decca under the name of spriguns. what we have here is the first non-japanese reissue of album number two for decca, from 1977, issued by acme as a 24-bit digital re-master, taken from the original tapes. perhaps not quite as rare as mellow candle’s sole decca lp; even so, both spriguns albums are in the same league musically as that of their irish label-mates. morton’s voice is lovely and captivating, the songs lilting and celtic-ish— if this is a sound you like, these albums are for you! … limited vinyl version with exact repro cover. nice!
crawling through quicksand and dirt piles after a gang of 89 hells angels followed you with broken bottles, running through fields of mud covered with red ants, spilling boiling water over a cute little babies’ head, or getting raped with an open tabasco bottle, that’s exactly the feeling i had while listening to the first side of this black and white 12″ skateboard wheel!!! you can smell the horrific fumes from john olson’s mouth through your speakers, escape is hard but worth the try! side b is even harder to escape horror!!! aaron dilloway and olson (aka the casket sinkers) join forces on a cathedral organ and a filthy synth, this sounds like the dirtiest horror film soundtrack ever!! imagine yourself fingerfucking your grandmom’s ass while listening to this side. seriously (close your eyes) euh – pure audio filth! limted to 400 copies, this black and white filth picture disc comes in a dirty black printed cardboard cover – totally eye/ear melting. vanished!
anthropological aural envisioning to flaherty’s real fiction cinema inuit epos by starbird’s carson arnold. lonesome drifting icebergs of frozen guitars, distant percussion and cold midnight dog howls from another time and place. 80 copies.
now available on vinyl! starless & bible black make beautiful, spirited & catchy songs in the grand tradition of classic british folk rockers pentangle and john & beverly martyn straight on up through the halcyon days of early 4ad records. on their debut self-titled outing, the diverse manchester 3 piece brings to bear much of the lively attitude, passion and rain, rain, rain of the old textile city they’ve all come to call home for the last several years. the result is a great collection of 11 songs — at once earthen and elevated — that are given added mood & flavor by the charcoal vocals of french chanteuse hélène gautier. the other contributing members are the main rhythm men in the manchester music scene — paul blakesley on bass and brian edwards on drums — they have perfected their craft playing with the likes of local heroes such as aidan smith, john stammers and jane weaver.
the first vinyl side from these northern california mushroom farmers is a real doozy. a live soundtrack to the silent psychedelic films of american hero harry smith, this one sided lp is more free drift than free jazz – taking off from a shot in the dark and never touching ground again. each one with punk rock paste on black & white collage art – edition of 300.
first off, this 2xlp set has thee best cover i’ve laid my sockets on in many moons. it is soooo eye-burningly great that i’m tempted to run out and buy a van just to have the image painted on it. it’s about time the art world came around to the lucrative ‘ray-gun touting topless women riding giant tarantulas through darkened valleys’ market. bra-fuckin’-vo! but i’m not getting off my high horse just yet. i must say that this latest from norcal’s finest, starving weirdos, is one of their most swell/swollen yet to date. four flippin’ sides of confuse-adelia for both the farm-fresh kid to the well-heeled cad. way noisier than the releases on root strata, path of lighting is chock full of mystery moves and dynamo hums, from the tripped-out textural flips on ‘into the flatlands’ flickering in and out of foci to the almost-an-environmental-statement of ‘n.y. blues’ with talk show jibber jabbing into the corrosive static as the grooves run out. the two dudes in starving weirdos are joined by yet another dude for two tracks and it’s tough to know exactly what he’s adding (besides another layer of ecstasy gush) but they’re my fave sides. for sure. these two sides sound like the fine line that separates no neck blues band from sunburned hand of the man. the final track could/should have been in the movie rosemary’s baby, right around the time mia farrow is screaming ‘what have you done to his eyes!’ as the kids these days say, ‘fuck you, dad!’ — no wait, ‘dude, that would rule!’ yeah, that’s it. so, let recap — you get the deluxe gatefold jacket courtesy of the always peachy weird forest label, twin slabs of head-spinning secret laboratory recordings and man — that cover is making me so hot!. — dennis yudt. gatefold cover.
what’s going on here? well, a couple sides of self-hypnosis were recorded in a concrete racquetball court (and a couple of sides weren’t) which has been mysteriously transformed into the legendary black ark studios and lee perry is going nuts with the ol’ echo effects. a tiny clatter in the background suddenly rushes up to your ear-bones, magnified into giant sheets of rubberized steel plates which bounces as high as you are. the backwards flow-motion is set on fire as the storm approaches. various liquids are aerated while dub insects skitter about the killing floor. little crashes, hither and thither, mostly between the buildings — not causing much damage at all. oh oh, those voices sound pretty serious. time to go? nope. these here farming combines sure are hard to start up but, boy, when they do you’re in for a thrashing. ham radio on rye. moldy rye. mutter all you want and loop it, why don’tcha? the other two sides are not rock and roll or hoochie-coo. the mystery is killin’ me! is that a giant wet thumb rubbing on a window? aren’t you the big man, buster! i like how the guitar gets sucked into a vortex and then keeps popping out and scaring me. it’s all bone saws and throwing stars. ducks and covers. and where is that humming noise coming from? oh, now i get it. awesome! lemme play this again! — dennis yudt. gatefold sleeve; white vinyl.
more heavy head trips from the weirdos camp. shrine-of the post hypnotic is the second real cd released by the group, and by far the most coherent one to date. flowing like an epic nighttime hike through the damp forest of the northern california cost, it’s packed to the brim with acoustic sound worlds and moon beams of electricity. unfolding slowly, it never peaks out, instead drifting along like a dense patch of heavy coastal fog… edition of 1000 in a sweet gatefold cover.
psyched on this beast of psyche-ness from this cali crew. total dreamy wood vibes flowing through to a mist covered opening with some kind of gathering of creatures unknown to the everyday dude. totally far out, and totally killer. just in time for the uk tour. bleak black and white landscape cover, hand numbered with silver ink, and silver inked signature style ‘sw’ on the tapes. limited to 120.
the first ever official reissue of this highly-rated and very rare us album. don l. patterson (aka one st. stephen) wrote the music and lyrics, was lead vocalist, played electric guitars, directed and produced the album ‘one st. stephen’ in march of 1975. the music was originally intended for a film don was developing with the working title ‘the devil’s reservation’. due to a famous jazz musician with the same name, don used the alias of one st. stephen. the music was recorded at the legendary owl studios (columbus, ohio), using the same 8-channel analog recording deck that was used to tape the audio at woodstock in 1969. because everyone who heard the lp wanted a copy, don pressed a very limited amount from queen city record company (cincinnati ohio). he also designed the album sleeve and label. the response by regional disc jockeys was phenomenal. the album got a lot of regional air play. a few months later, don was offered a recording contract from two major record companies in new york city. don was asked to tour. don was never interested in the world of rock and walked away from a music future. since then, the album has been sought by many record collectors around the world and bootlegged several times on cd and vinyl in europe. one of the finest examples of mid-70′s us psych-acid music. great vocals with some jim morrison “colour”, heavy and sometimes fuzzy acidelic guitar work and excellent musicianship overall. fully licenced by don patterson (who did half of the remastering work). exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra poster/painting (45x65cm) and large 12-pages booklet (30x30cm) with bio, lyrics, paintings, drawings and photos. all fully laminated. pvc protective outersleeve.180gm vinyl as usual. it will be a 400 black and 100 coloured copies, vinyl edition… black vinyl version.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. when his classic outlander lp failed to break through in 1970, welsh singer-songwriter meic stevens’ major label days were over. gwymon (“seaweed”), his legendary second lp, was recorded on his own terms in london in the summer of 1972, and highlights his pop sensibilities, with folk and blues influences also to the fore. it was only released in wales in a tiny pressing, and has barely been heard since. the album makes its long-awaited lp reissue here in a deluxe gatefold sleeve containing complete liner notes, previously unseen photos, rare contemporary press cuttings and an introduction from the man himself, making it an essential purchase for all fans of psychedelic singer-songwriting. 180 gram virgin vinyl; mastered at abbey road: all-analog audiophile pressing.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe double lp format as well; 180 gram pressing. following its rapturous reception on cd, sunbeam is delighted to announce the vinyl reissue of this haunting collection, which proves once and for all why meic stevens is so often called “the welsh bob dylan.” as well as gathering for the first time the ultra-rare eps he recorded between 1967 and 1970 (mike stevens, rhif2, mwg and meic stevens), the package comes complete with a full-color gatefold sleeve incorporating full sleevenotes, rare photographs and an introduction by the man himself, making it an essential purchase for all fans of acid folk and psychedelia… highly recommended limited analog version!
long-lost demo album from this welsh folk legend, recorded soon after his debut single for decca but never issued. eleven previously-unheard original songs like ’winter of the clan’ and ’not for me mr. mp,’ and a great companion piece to the now sold-out ghost town. 1,000 copies, 190 gram vinyl… recorded at the tony pike studio, in 1965. original; copies of this nice 2002 release.
early one of this solid uk underground label.
master box ep is the latest installment of archeo-futuristic music and sound from robert stillman. like past work by the composer/multi-instrumentalist, master box combines pre-jazz american folk-form, surreal sound-collage, and evocative, unfolding melodies. the material emerges from a hazy tape-hiss canvas like a radio broadcast from beyond, an unearthed sonic relic that might have been buried at some point between 1878 and 2178. recorded during a one-year stint as an apprentice in a player-piano workshop, master box is about the piano as contraption- it portrays the instrument, traditionally (classically) associated with the ‘sublime,’ as the sum of all those wood and metal parts stillman saw lying around the workshop floor (the ‘collages’ on master box are sonic studies of these piano innards). the ep is not only a salute to the ‘physical’ attributes of piano, but to the maverick musical styles that exploited them (ragtime, boogie, etc.). the album also contains some more directed salutes: to an inventor (the talking clock 2008, for pre-edisonian inventor of sound, frank lambert); to a ragtime guitarist (‘micah blue smaldone’); to a prolific griller ( old friend ‘bbq dave’ sheinkopf of the band the subjects). the same evocative, timeless quality that characterizes master box has become something of a calling card for stillman’s work. his first solo release, robert stillman’s horses (mill pond record), was a genre-stradling studio production that garnered considerable critical acclaim for its subtle, soundtrack-esque sound. venturing into the realm of multi-media 3 early maine films (l’animaux tryst field recordings) was a cd/ dvd release comprised of turn-of-the-centery archival footage from stillman’s native state, scored with his own music and sound-scape. in 2007, the work was projected / played live at the h&m high line festival (curated by david bowie). stillman has performed his music at venues and festivals all over the world, both with ensembles of various sizes, and solo in a format that incorporates piano, percussion modified for the feet, and tape-collage in a real-time man-machine merger. in addition to his own projects, he has also collaborated with various other musicians in performance and recordings, including kurt weisman (feathers), luke temple (here we go magic), glass ghost, and the subjects. master box is the first catalogue entry for archaic future recordings, stillman’s newly launched ’boutique’ label specializing in limited-run art-edition cd’s and lp’s. the ep is available as hard copy in a package assembled from player-piano rolls, hand- printed on a letterpress, and includes a type-written essay ‘the mystery and player pianos,.’ it is also available as a download. his forthcoming lp, machine’s song, the ‘companion piece’ to master box, will be released this winter.
the strange girls was a band to be reckoned with the members were cja (of armpit and on and on) sugar jon, and motty ’kat’ smokehouse. i released this after f.l.o.w.e.r had done a split lathe lp with armpit and a warm overseas friendship had blossomed through the satelite conversations on the web, f.l.o.w.e.r later mutated into family underground… totally unique hand painted art covers, crazy limited release from years back.
the strange are from olympia, wa, close to the canadian border. the strange are tom hackett, robert rensel, david chamberlain, rick rackleff plus mike pitcher, don morris & carl dexter. this art-rock underground band recorded the souvenir album over a period of several years released in a tiny pressing in 1976 on the yantis record label. with a touch of west coast music and lots of mothers of invention influences, this album is really something special. as special as the spoils of war and as complex as time and think dog, with frank zappa style wah-wah guitar, great vocals, piano, effects, some horns, and a well-balanced mixture of heavy psych guitar tracks and twisted underground folk tunes. if you think the first spoils of war album on shadoks is a great album and the early mothers albums are the ones you always kept you will be very very happy with this album…. extra heavy cardboard sleeve, numbered edition of 450 copies.
live recording of a killer collaboration between andrea stroud (solo tape out on hot releases) and laurie (of yohimbe, quiokn) from summer 2008. walls of electronic sound collide with effected vocals, beers, kiddie pools. this is volume one, look for number two before next summer… real nice hand made covers.
suck were from johannesburg, s.a. in their short history (only eight months) suck made one album and created more mayhem than most bands do over a ten year career. but what an album. time to suck is a highly-charged package of manic drumming, scorching guitars and sublime, wailing vocals. political statements on stage (in south africa) against the war. this one is not for folk fans, no moonshine mellow candle, this one kicks ass and is pure adrenaline, a real pusher. if you think black sabbath, uriah heap, deep purple, mc 5 and grand funk railroad are your tip of the iceberg, you might consider this one as your future favorite album. full of hard, psychedelic tracks with louis ‘moose’ forer on bass, steve ‘gil’ gilroy on guitar, who worked in the uk with mick abrahams from jethro tull, saverio grande on drums and andrew ionnides on vocals. again, julian laxton from freedoms children was the producer. from south africa, 1971. 600 numbered lps, matte-varnish heavy gatefold sleeve, 180 gram pressing. plus a one-sided 7inch ep.
earliest, most innovative suicide material. nyc’s pioneer electronic punk rockers with never before available ’75 to ’79 tracks. original liner notes by lester bangs. 3 bonus tracks! “what we got here is vintage studio suicide from the archives and live tapes on a par in atmosphere if not violence with ’23 minutes in brussels,’ their own notorious metallic k.o. there is none of the onstage carnage which frightened early audiences, but maybe that wouldn’t have transferred to tape anyway. ‘space blue,’ ‘long talk’ and ‘speed queen’ were recorded at suicide home studios in 1974/5, ‘dreams’ at sun dragon studio in ’75, and are not all that different from their later work except perhaps in murkiness which is all to the good. ‘dreams’ is very close to their later island single ‘dream baby dream,’ and also sounds a lot like certain things eno would be doing in the mid-to-late seventies. similarly, ‘love you,’ recorded at suicide home studios in ’79, displays suicide’s little recognized sense of (no joke) pure pop. play the velvet’s original ‘waiting for the man’ back to back with the ohio express’ ‘yummy yummy yummy,’ then this back to back with archives’ ‘sugar sugar’ and the connections are clear. ‘cool as ice’ from the same sessions is the coolest (only?) take on stooges’ ‘penetration’ ever, and proves once again that alan can scream like nobody since iggy at his pinnacles.” – lester bangs, 1981.
the new installment from pirako kurenai and kageo’s suishou no fune is finally ready, and it’s a true gem. recorded in a bonsai shop in tokyo, summer 2010, ‘bonsai no ie’ is a dream made out of floating guitar textures and vanishing vocal lines. four spectral, naked pieces that stand as the core of suishou no fune’s poetry, where delicate folk moments, abstract blues riffs and oniric ballads concur in the realisation of the definitive psych experience. close your eyes and abandon your senses to a journey through the land of ethereal joy and endless abandon. comes in a beautiful professionally printed cover, specifically designed by artist anya kuts. edition of 250 copies.
a collection of material filmed and edited by james plotkin from 2007 us east coast dates from nyc, and philadelphia. also includes a short clip of a jam session from the lemur house with bardo pond guys and harmonica dan. total run time of about an hour. comes housed in a large four panel foldout cover slipped inside a custom sized 10mil pvc sleeve. pressing of 600.
a wonderfully dripping in echo single trax live set played during the bands last small batch of shows from their first trip to philadelphia. a duo drumless performance on this given night finds sishou no fune doing what they do best bringing the darkness. package comes packed in a double cover center opening sleeves with the outer shell being a vellum overlay all graphics by chase middaugh. single pressing of 600 released in conjunction with current us tour dates… more cool sounds from this great japanese unit, following their awesome sloow tape release.
mega rare album from the dartmouth, massachusetts fivepiece outfit which was released originally on the laurel label (laurel 331098) in 1969. up-down is an album of largely self-penned material (only 2 covers, one of which is a strong version of the spencer davis group’s hit, ‘gimme some lovin’) with the leaves are turning brown, complete with cheesy psych organ and wonderful earnest vocals, is the stand out track. up-down is a beat-garage concept album detailing the highs and lows of a summer vacation romance, with, as you would expect, loads of moody teenage angst and lashings of self pity. the songs are all catchy, and there’s a couple of good ballads – sweet new england moody teenage garage rock on this very sketchy label. oh well…
when the on patrol test presses hit the turntables, an epilogue burst from the side of the sun araw cranium immediately, before it was even cold on wax. the camera jumped all by itself, spontaneous framing and
new perspectives: “last chants” grips you in heavy, end-of-shift panic; who knew “holodeck blues” got so rowdy? surrounded and staringdown the barrels of some serious forces, the scum is rising. no worries: you got backup, don’t forget who’s wearing the badge. flip the vision and make it all the way down, it’s your party. “midnight locker” is one chilled exhalation, all cold sweat and steam vents. the cab ride home comes with am radio ghosts, whispering again of that heavier zone, it’s time to get back. the flip side is pure secret sun-day, sacred rest: the stairway to the stars. “deep temple,” float on up, the heavy deeds are waiting. – aristocrat p. child… vinyl includes free download coupon for all five tracks from the cd version.
autumn records is back with a lp reissue of the debut cdr by sun circle on lichen records. this lp is a musical offering by the duo of zach wallace and greg davis. side a features ecstatic full wail vocals and organ drones peace noise. side b soothes with repetitive washes of bells gongs and chimes… numbered edition of 525 copies in paste-on chipboard covers.
sunburned hand of the man is a band in the loose sense of the word; it’s better described as a banner under which a collective of musical freaks have gathered. so when they toured europe in september 2006, and ended up in the same room as psych/kraut/hard-rockers circle in tampere-finland, they decide to jam together and record all of it. this session was edited down to a total of 40-minutes which wanders ongoing through free folk, psych, improv, spaced out- hippy jamming & noisy-rock bizareness . the collaboration of both america’s & finland’s weirdest, is nothing less than sensational… quite limited, out of print, and totally deluxe vinyl version. full color art, insert, and inner sleeve, heavy vinyl, etc. gonna fly quick…
produced by four tet with artwork by eye. the relationship between four tet & shotm began in august 2003 when kieran hebden read the cover story of the wire, which touted shotm as leaders of the ‘new weird america.’ that story sent hebden on a search for sunburned records & he’s been a fan ever since. in 2004, hebden asked sunburned to tour with him. a couple of years later in march 2006, hebden asked the band if they would like him to record them with the idea that he would take the recordings & construct his vision of a sunburned record… very limited. real weird cover artwork by eye from boredoms.
brand new lp (and first on blackest rainbow) from sunburned, vocal splutter weirdness, thrash trash, funk jams, spoken word surreal-ness, you got it all in this lp which i’m very proud to be releasing with the good man tom at lost treasures of the underworld. picture disc jackets with insert, a bunch of different colour vinyls, edition of 500 copies.
mind rattling collaboration of keith wood, brad rose and eden hemming rose. truly the stuff of psychedelic dreams – lost in the woods with only wild mushrooms for sustinance. is it any wonder?
last year sunn o))) was invited to perform at a ancient cathedral in bergen norway. the performance was captured via 24 track mobile recording and the results were pressed onto double 180-gram black vinyl. this recording will be available exclusively on vinyl only. there will not be a digital release (cd or downloads). pure analog! the o))) lineup for this performance includes attila csihar (mayhem) on vocals, steve moore (earth, ascend) on the church’s legendary pipe organ and norwegian native lasse marhaug on electronics. behold the glory!
fews copies of this nice 2006 release… the latest collaboration between the mighty sunray and sonic boom. you get a phenomenal 13-minute take on the velvet underground’s “the ocean,” loaded with two-chord drones, farfisa organ, buzzing moogs, and mr. boom’s hushed vocals. the b-side features the bluesy spiritualized-esque cut “i wish,” and the fuzz-drenched “one note jam.” packaged with a psychedelic sleeve.
gorgeous solar aquatic noise scapes from this joel stern led ensemble – lovely stenciled art paper covers with metallic obi strip. limited.
surface of eceyon continue their dohym saga with revenge of dragon. featuring the dense and swirling psychedelic sounds of adam forkner (white rainbow/ jackie-o motherfucker/ vvrssnn/ yume bitsu), dick baldwin (towering giant/ landing/ dragon), daron gardner (towering giant/ landing), phil jenkins and aaron snow (paper/ landing). this lp is limited to 500.
probably the most strange band from finland (or over the world?!). i have received the master of this album without any informations except the one that the music has been recorded on a unknown finland’s hill. it’s probably that survon is a project composed of names already known in the n.w.o.f.n.a. (new wave of finland new age) as vapaa and the free players but nothing is sure… it’s very difficult for me to describe their music, first of all it’s extremely lo-fi, without a real structure (pure shamanic improvvisation). a bizzare folk, sometimes almost evil thanks to strange vocals that seem to come from creatures of caves. incredibly fashinating… the tape is limited to 30 numbered copies, inside a little plastic-bag. on the cover there is a drawing find on a very old american children book. in the package there is also some pot-herbs.
last year saw the danish/swedish duo heading over the pond. they rented a car and got a not very detailed road atlas. learned that public payphones are some quarter eating pieces of shit. and that cheap $7 chinatown voltage converter turned out to be a total rip off. they fried their power strip during soundcheck at the first gig in nashville. an overwhelmed klyd watkins was in the audience, and the poet was later reported being “lost for words” when taking off into the night. so what about the music?? people whove seen them play have mentioned patty waters, linda sharrock, brother ahh, strange strings etc as reference points for the drooling gawkers. it sure is recalling the homeburned jazz sounds of the past. they play french horn, flutes and saxophonic vocals over soothing harplike tidal waves. where the last vocalions is the perfect late night/early morning nod out spin, the next album will be the wake up call. we for long thought this was the record that wasnt supposed to happen. the stampers broke a handfull of times, then later the pressing plant sufferd from a power blackout after a storm etc. it was planned for their us tour september 06. now its a new year and here we finally have it. – jacques smoi, lyon france… in stock once again this great private press zoner from jakob olausson (moonlight farm, joshua jugband 5, destijl, etc) and the ineffable sus. recommended.
the icelandic prog-rock band svanfrídur released only one album, recorded six months after they played their first gig. this short-lived band rapidly rose to fame, receiving rave reviews for live performances, but in fact their music was way ahead of its time. they were unable to seal a recording contract so they formed their own label – swan records. when the album what’s hidden there? was released in autumn 1972, it got mixed reviews and sold only a few hundred copies, leaving the band with a great album but, sadly, not the income they had been hoping for. recorded at london’s majestic studios, the album was cut and pressed in england. perhaps one of the best heavy prog/underground albums from scandinavia, with amazing guitar & all english vocals. would have been a famous and successful album on decca uk… numbered edition of 500, heavy gatefold sleeve on 180 gram vinyl with 2 page insert.
reminiscent of later era residents albums such as ‘animal lovers,’ sword of the ancient, with their latest release ‘head of the tide,’ create a world where night and day playfully collide in a swirl of sonic shadows, shards of light, and evervescant sound. chance and chaos intermingle with strict song structures to develop the ‘balancing point,’ of this recording. featuring members of flakmask, uke of spaces corners, and impractical cockpit… edition of 100.
all things must evolve, and given time even the unicellular organisms dwelling in ocean’s deepest fathoms may shift form and take to the skies. in celebration of the mysteries of evolution, aurora borealis proudly presents sylvester anfang ii. in the time since the release of kosmies slachtafval, silvester anfang have grown into sylvester anfang ii, a more psychedelic beast, a more tangible creature in some ways, but one that defies and confounds standard classification. taking their cue from krautrock communes of yore, the flemish troubadours have expanded both ranks and minds and now present this giant new opus for general consumption. with cultish numbers swollen with new blood in the guise of stef anus (kiss the anus of a black cat), father sloow (sloow tapes pontiff), bram (ignatz) and clay ruby (davenport, burial hex), the sound is much fuller and more reminiscent of kraut-ish dope jams than ever before. ruby’s vocal additions create a whole new universe for the band, rather like if dr. john had been born in a plague pit in flanders, and the resulting tracks ‘the devil always shits in the same graves parts 1 & 2′ are masterful examples of flemish voodoo boogie. sure to upset parents and upstanding citizens with their occult themes and liberal european-style artwork, sylvester anfang ii reach new levels of consciousness with their mantras of goat worship and the orthodoxy of denial that states, ‘only analogue is real.’ dust off your robes, sharpen the sacrificial blade, order in some trappist beers — tune in, turn on, evolve… deluxe gatefold sleeve, heavy vinyl, etc.
previously reissued on cd by sunbeam, now issued on deluxe lp format as well; 180 gram pressing, mastered at abbey road. includes the same bonus track as the cd version. london trio synanthesia were only together briefly, but in that time they made an album that has subsequently been hailed as a lost classic. with original copies (from 1969) changing hands for hundreds of pounds, sunbeam is delighted to give it its first official reissue, showing it to be a great lost british acid folk gem and an absolute treat for all lovers of acid folk and psychedelia. named in the top twenty “strange folk classics” in record collector, 2005.
two of america’s finest drone acts come together for this split lp. taiga remains is student of decay’s master mind alex cobb project, if you ain’t picked up his new disc on digitalis ‘wax canopy’ yet, go get it, it is one of the best drone releases i have heard in a long time! the 15 minute track on this is new split lp is entitled ‘mengku from mengsa’. opening with far off chimes upon chimes, this leads to pure bliss dream zones, rather than the more intense material on the aforementioned wax canopy. this is a fantastic piece of drone work, layered to create some beautiful zoning out in the mind. rv paintings is the project of brian pyle of the almighty psychedelia legends starving weirdos, along with his brother jon pyle, and spencer doran, who also plays under the name of cloaks. this is an amazing track, kinda darker and bleaker than the weirdos vibe, with some totally awesome free percussion playing central to the piece, this is hard to top in the drone game. a totally solid slab of sound from both acts. limited to 400 copies.
new full-length cdr by the head of students of decay label. melancholic drones coupled with majestic guitar effects haunt our winter. the moonlight rays of his instrument light the trees of our emotions and send us the ligth we need covers pics taken at versailles, france – limited to 95 copies.
5:45 a.m. tone float. conducted by sunlight and aged puerh and performed with acoustic guitar, electronics, loops, bows, and chopsticks. recorded live at acacia sound, september 2007. music for early mornings. limited to 100 copies.
recorded on 1 july 1971 in the geodesic dome at the ‘utopia & visions 1871-1981′ exhibition at the moderna museet in stockholm, takehisa kosugi’s taj mahal travellers were a japanese experimental improv group active in the 1970s. the group, heavily influenced by fluxus, used electronic effects to create their own unique improvised drones… white vinyl in clear plastic sleeve with red lettering. edition 500 copies. nice.
day two of this historic and rare live performance at the moderna museet in stockholm, sweden.” grey vinyl in clear plastic sleeve with blue lettering. edition 500 copies. nice.
since 2003, nyc’s talibam! have been charting a course through the improv waters in a way that few other groups can pull off. rock, jazz, noise and all stops in between collide in an aggressive mix that defines free music in the best sense of the term: nothing is deemed out of bounds. too much fun to be a po-faced postmodern exercise, and too expertly played to be sunk in a morass of good intentions, the new nixon tapes hurtles through two side-long pieces in an agile cascade of rhythmic and melodic ideas. kevin shea (drums) and matt mottel (synthesizer) have worked with cooper-moore and rhys chatham, among others; here they’re joined by master saxophonist / trumpeter / flautist daniel carter. recorded live in the wfmu studios. mp3 download coupon included.
brooklyn’s finest two piece find their excellent “secret cog” ep on so-so limited vinyl. a one lime only pressing of 500 full color jacket.
since their lightning-strike first appearance, talk normal’s sound has stormed upward & outward, referencing nothing but relating to almost everything, a jarringly songful gale of rhythm & noise supporting pleas & plaints, signal-calls & marching orders. each talk normal show builds on past ones: up-to-the- moment updates of ideas previously stated, new phrasings of old upheavals delivered with increasing focus & joy. darkness & light; fury, silence, space & sound… includes download coupon.
mystical trip from canada, heading for deep exotic zone and ethnic space. acoustic improvisations and clouded forest rhytms on various instruments, including homemade ones. ideal companion to your morning meditation. 70 copies.
someone should start a clan of the instrument builders. and if such a thing existed, talugung (aka ontario resident, ryan waldron) would be one of the leaders of the movement. even though no such organization exists (damnit), there’s still this debut album of waldron’s fractured exploits. “flooded fields” isn’t played on all instruments he’s built, though. he accents this with all sorts of random, ethnic instruments – circular xylophones from god knows where, for example – creating a wonderful cacaphony of sound. the proceedings here are choppy and melodic, but underpinned with an organic sense. at times, it sounds like something you might find on a sublime frequencies release, and is also reminiscent of the work of henry kuntz. 100 copies.
vibratory energy forms dropping out with molecular and cellular guitar phrases in trance-like babble. two pot-smoking guitarists harvesting their daily supply. edition of 70 copies.
excerpt from the liner notes: sayas – you must listen. you must listen through the noise. you must listen through the chaos. if this song is yours then it is in your heart. you must play from your heart, listen from your heart. then you will hear your music. it will play through you and you will not miss a note. what is going on outside does not matter. what matters is that you can be in this moment, that you can be truly with yourself and not out there. to be a great at anything, you must be able to listen. beyond that, you must always find a pleasure in listening. you are not here to please this crowd. you are here to play through this chaos and please yourself and through this you shall attain an infinite awareness of the present… limited to 100 copies in nice stamped chipboard covers.
anders artentoft (bohman family/bimbo sons) squats and lays a super copenhagen retard style egg. full on special needs anti-music with tiny face melt.
synth-duo tarp is made up of joshua burkett (vermonster, believers, solo, etc.) and conrad capistran (sunburned hand of the man, sephiroths knot). two tightly edited masterstrokes flank the sides of this 7″, taking tarp out of their familiar live setting and thrusting them under a sonic microscope. neat and polished, yet still utterly unconstrained. amazing journeys packed into each four-minute track. tarp effortlessly glide through a full spectrum of atmospheres: ’call-and-response’ conversation, brooding ambience, rhythmic pulses, and melodic lullabies. full color sleeve art by george w. myers.
cadillac sitting like a ton of lead, the brand new album from the taurpis tula trio of david keenan (tight meat duo), heather leigh (scorces/dream aktion unit/jandek) and alex neilson (tight meat duo/directing hand/jandek/richard youngs et al), represents the absolute apex of their twin guitar/drums incarnation, with two side-long improvised psychedelic blues that combine the kind of epic string-muscle of fushitsusha, ohkami no jikan, kousokuya and rallizes denudes with a sublime avant-garage sensibility and massive pockets of time-killing freedom. further amplifying the malevolent narcosis of their debut lp on eclipse, cadillac? is a full blown rock record that full delivers on their vision of yoko jamming with red transistor in a world where the conventional middle-brow ’canon’ is pretty much upended in favour of primitive avant garde brut. there are grooves here that are as magnetic and future-visioned as the magic band circa “big eyed beans from venus” or the final seconds of amplifier meltdown on mainliner’s mellow out while the playing is at an all-time esp-channelled high, with the group generating glorious metal-inflected simultaneities without the slightest whiff of ’dialogue’ or even listening with ears.this is a profound statement of the kind of freak-out freedoms inherent in the most primal blues/rock forms and a revitalising connection to the source of *it*, further building on the kind of form the group were packing during their monstrous jam at thurston moore’s nightmare before christmas. features heather leigh on vocals, harmonica and pedal steel, david keenan on electric guitar and alex neilson on drums. packaged in individually silkscreened sleeves by disobedient belgian artist jelle crama and featuring all-original artwork by heather leigh on the front, the insert and the labels, cadillac sitting like a ton of lead comes in a limited edition of 440 copies.
this first recording as a trio (heather and david leigh are joined by alex neilson on drums) is a full on sonic avalanche. a wild exorcism, baby – leaves little fractured patterns scorched onto the memory like acid on glass. taurpis tula’s improvisational magic has taken a stronger but no less delicate and detailed turn. this is an epi excursion. — stylus.
harry taussig’s fate is only once was originally self-released in 1965. taussig’s only other recordings appear on a deleted 1967 takoma records sampler lp entitled contemporary guitar spring ’67, which also featured john fahey, bukka white, max ochs and robbie basho… excellent lp and great to see it reissued on vinyl.
when it comes to quality control and prolificacy, one can’t imagine a band doing much better on either count than portland, maine’s own tempera. considering the thousands of minutes of original material they’ve committed to tape, microcassette, and hard-drive over the past four years, it’s hard to believe that this is still officially tempera’s debut long-playing album. and befitting the band’s thorough self-scrutiny (in itself a rare characteristic amongst experimental improv groups in this era) the music is decidedly top-tier. this self-titled lp contains two side-long, long-form improvisations, with kraut-rock inspired tom-heavy drumming backing ethereal vocals and synth tones and drones; smooth, blissed-out ambient passages building to cymbal-crashing climaxes. here, tempera’s nicholas barker and corinna marshall are joined by electric pianist/drummer robert stillman [of robert stillman's horses] to hit that ecstatic, transcendent zone. pressed onto crystal clear 12″ vinyl (and including a cd version of the album with a bonus track!), packaged in a silkscreened art paper “poster-style” fold-over sleeve, and limited to 300 copies.
terje bandholdt on drums, jesper schmidt on guitar and joachim. this album was recorded in 1970 for the famous spectator records in denmark (moses/bluesaddicts/days). reissued for the first time in original cover plus insert with many photos and band story, this amazing heavy psych album beats most releases from denmark, in quality and rarity. massive guitar action all over, great heavy vocals and pumping rhythms lift this album right out of there. beside moses, the best heavy psych album from northern europe. 450 numbered/glossy/heavy sleeve/180 gram pressing/insert.
“2023″ marks the latest interplanetary excursions by michael donnelly (mymwly/brothers of the occult sisterhood) and it’s a diverse platter of headtripping psych-drone-clatter-rock if ever i’ve heard one. in fact, each of the album’s twelve tracks finds donnelly mining different territory, channeling the psychedelic ghosts of japan and germany through the lens of the sonic traditions of planets light years further away from the sun than our own. limited to 100.
soil then fatness of thinking although the top of the skull is better letting the light out – nice textured paper covers.
michael donnelly of the brothers of the occult sisterhood: the zoned tribal folk of botos in a head-on collision with lo-fi electronics. this is a sort-of reissue of a cdr that was supposed to come out on hiulcity but didn’t and comes in a hand-painted sleeve. — boa melody bar… ultra heavy hand painted board cover. limited.
more dusty acid rot psych from brothers of the occult sisterhood dudes. more lovely packaging with a sweet fold-out art insert.
looong out of print. hand painted canvas covers. one copy only!
three jams coming from the minds of b. hargreaves (dreamcatcher / cousins of reggae / waxathon) and a. moskos (unireverse / et sans / drainolith) recorded in 2005 to 4-track. featuring one of the tracks that came out on the arthur mag. comp. for the suoni per il popolo festival. heavy rumble pack action. twisted guitars and fully bent electronics. thames “logo” photocopied on card stock. hand stamed and numbered. spray painted cassettes. edition of 95.
tom thayer is a ny visual artist who creates paintings, drawings, sculpture, music, puppetry, film and theatrical experiments. these works are often loosely strung, frail objects depicting dilapidated, fantastical scenes of abstract human and animal figures. this is his first record of music, self-titled lp, edition of 550, released on his own cardboard mirror label. from the artist, “this record contains a broken, mildewed darkride of songs and beats held together by adhesive tape and string.” we saw his gig and there were bird puppets playing records with their beaks, speeding up/slowing down, pecking the vinyl. this recordingemdash remember the plonsky record, or the recordings of jean dubuffet? profound minimal electronic manipulation in real time by his own hand, mixed with crude sampling, creates a stunning first offering. check his art at www.tomthayer.net. – sound at one.
mysterious canadian 100 copy private press stoner psych improv slab, featuring mark alexander mcintyre, who has just released a rather great little solo folk psych album as well. this is the follow-up yo ‘biker smell’. wrap around color paste-on cover wth double-sided xerox insert. hand numbered edition of only 100 copies, and very few in stock.
the most inventive and progressive album so far from thee free. at times imaginative and always very free, even when soaked in (sporadic) heavy rhythms or walls of harsh noise. mangled radio output and voice samples blend with abusive storms of coloured noise, drums, clarinet, flutes and heavy electric guitars make twisted and psychedelic appearances. certain tracks show how the total (sometimes very gradual) deterioration of a ‘tune’ can amount to something just as, if not more, engaging. we are also offered hope from the words of a yogi in the midst of this warped sonic landscape during ‘juice bug’ – ‘coily’ was recorded on the day of the announcement of coil artist johnn balance’s passing. the album title is in tribute to mark stewart and the mafia’s track ‘liberty city’, appearing on ‘learning to cope with cowardice’, a hugely significant album of the early eighties, musically and otherwise. seven lengthy tracks (56 mins total) from the archives of 2006 tf’s sessions; stimulating and truly experimental, resulting in a powerful underground album – limited to 50 copies.
the hippie groundswell of the late ’60s left a lot of young people on the road to self-discovery in the new decade of the 1970s. some were true “dropouts,” but there were also a number of artisans and talented people out there, footloose yet fascinated with the workings of the world and determined to make something of the pieces they’d been given. these trails echoes back to us from hawaii, and specifically the world of the nature cult there. hawaii’s (comparatively) unspoiled wilderness bore great fascination to the gentle young people of the west coast back in those days. musicians as diverse as the beach boys, merrell fankhauser, sky saxon, dan hicks and ry cooder all drew vibes and inspiration from the hawaiian mystique and music-but these trails gains distinction having been made by everyday-people-type inhabitants of the islands. hiking, swimming and surfing were the auspices under which margaret morgan and patrick cockett first met. they were local kids, who’d grown up on the island of kaua’i. they’d both been studying native hawaiian music and their shared interests and island upbringing inspired them to write and play new music together. by the time this music got to tape, a greater environment had been created with the addition of dave choy’s arp synthesizer, uruguayan carlos pardeiro’s guitar and sitar, and the soft rhythm of ipu, hawaii’s traditional percussion. the music of these trails is a psychedelic bridging of folk musics that has a natural and melodic flow and a somber, spiritual air. these trails was never really a band; it was an album of music. it wasn’t pressed in any great numbers and created only a few ripples locally when it was released in 1973. nonetheless, it was a powerful expression that stands with up other recently-discovered heroes of the private-press world, such as linda perhacs and gary higgins, whose singular musical endeavors stand with the best of what the hippified 1970s had to offer… nice to see this super blissed-out gem on wax again. great stuff!
co-release between sparrows & wires and horror bag recordings. not live-evil, not evilive, but live evils. these wonderful evils outside reverberation vinyl records, central illinois, august 2011. decaying echo boxes, fuzz by hudson electronics, cats, kids, davy graham tunings… newest private press from this cool folk primitive / loner fuzz psych solo project. crude xerox folkways style wrap-around paste-on covers, with funny insert. pressed on splatter magenta vinyl. hand numbered edition of only 205 copies. nice one!
the debut album from chicago’s these wonderful evils is a dark, psychedelic meditation, echoing richard youngs & nico, as well as the more experimental side of the velvet underground. voices & guitars buried deep in the forest are both familiar and chilling at the same time, from the drowning drone of the opener “north atlantic” through the drifting, forlorn closer “st.jo.” – reckless records… really excellent private press here. if you dug the galbraith / neilson / youngs lp on time-lag you’ll dig this for sure. second numbered edition of only 208 copies, this time in fancy metallic printed covers. highly recommended… if you missed it last time, don’t make the same mistake again cuz these will go quick.
drugged bedroom lo-fi psych. meandering acoustic guitar tones showing occasional signs of fuzz outgrowths while drowning in an overall feeling of obsessive loner harmonies. imagine early six organs jamming with spacemen 3 in new zealand. a real sloow burner. 70 copies.
edition of 111. the record centers are hand stamped and stenciled. record jackets are hand numbered and assembled. comes with a booklet of john’s drawings… oddball punky folk stuff. very limited stock.
great underground acid folk lp by greek singer/songwriter (and a film director today) andreas thomopoulos, who lived in uk for many years. recorded at chalk farm and released in 1971, by mushroom. this is his second album, more acid, sensitive and enigmatic than his first singer/songwriter approach called “songs of the street”. andreas accompanies his melancholic voice with guitars, piano, bouzouki, kalimba and harmonica while his colleagues, from the same label, second hand (ken elliot, george hart and kieran o’connor) help on organ, bass, violin and drums. yet, the well-known barbara thompson guests on flute, malcolm budd on sitar, nick hoare on kalimba, triangle, tony pedroza on electric guitars and raphie on vocals. lyrics are in english and only “the stranger” is in greek (and what a song!!!). a totally vanished album as original and a “must”!!! 400 black copies edition. licenced by andreas thomopoloulos. it includes the original lyric sheet plus one more insert with photos. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gm vinyl as usual… very sweet one.
when the curtain opens on the lone figure at the head of the stage as he blows his harmonica, hoping to conjure spirits from the layers of dust on the floor. wailing vocals light the balconies and waft their way toward the smoky heavens of the lushly decorated ceiling. thousands is the sister of the mighty (vxpxc), but this extended family vision is a much larger beast. on “overflow’d ¨ gush’d out,” thousands are six. disjointed melodies reclaim the horizon from fractured guitar lines and sporadic drum blasts. thousands move like a machine across the landscape, sucking up everything in their path, inviting it all in to join in their revolt. rebelling against what? that’s not all that important when it sounds so damn good.
four seekers went into the joshua tree desert, armed with acoustic instruments, battery powered amps, and a few bottles of whisky. as night descended, the four huddled together and made up songs for protection against the wild darkness. eventually, it was the darkness that feared the sound. this release is housed in a sturdy cardboard pack, with many bedazzled adornments… very limited.
improvisational bay area quartet thuja create aural landscapes that capture the reverberations of wood and wire, the sounds of breaking sticks and scraping stones, and the ambience of their surroundings into a shifting, dynamic musical framework… jewelled antler folks. vinyl limited to only 500 copies, so act quick.
diehl / crane duo drops its long-overdue vinyl debut and it’s great news. memory bank robbing and mechanized appalachian comedowns. manda collage artwork with loopy eyes added. edition of 250.
recorded nearly a year ago in amsterdam, the duo of heidi deihl (of vanishing voice) and g. lucas crane (of nonhorse and vanishing voice) bring together a sound that few others in the scene can compare to. seasoned veterans at this point, the two of them have a wonderful sense of interaction and playing off of each other. this album is beautifully dark and wondrous; terribly serene and introspective. for those of you who know and love time life, this will not disappoint. if you have yet to hear them, then this is a great place to start. c38 edition of 150.
one of the rarest and most mysterious of all 1960’s uk psych/pop albums. the band had released a handful of 45’s on decca between 1967-68. this album was set for release in 1969, but the lp was pulled at the last minute. only a handful of finished copies with covers survived, and now command a hefty £1500+ price tag. taken from the analogue masters this is a superb sounding album. not only this, the original painting used for the lp artwork has also recently come to light, and we are lucky enough to reproduce it for this reissue. this is a superb collection of 1960’s uk sike pop with a mix of american sunshine pop. finally after 40 years the album is seeing the light of day for the first time! this is a strict limited edition of 450 copies only, dmm mastered and pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl.
one copy only. out of print.
tombi is the solo moniker of ry wharton (who runs the great twonicorn tape label). over the course of several limited edition cassettes, including the simply fantastic “forest of three trees” released on tone filth midway through 2006, wharton has sculpted subterranean synth and electronics into obsessive basement hymns. “black humid mist” begins with a calming tide pool of ringing bell tones, which open up into the hypnotic riptide static of the title track – an enchanting live feed from some bleak and beautiful valley far beneath earth’s surface.
the album tomuuntuu, was conjured based on the omnipresent reinterpretation of the project name tomutonttu by press, fans and even its publisher. confused? well, this one sided 21 minute opus may alleviate some of the pressure you’ve put on your self for correctly trying to pronounce acts from the finnish underground. jan anderzen was commissioned to make this album by the aanen lumo fesitval for new sounds. the music debuted at the orion theatre in helsinki 11.10.10. tomuuntuu conveys dozens of ideas in psychadelic electronic composition. each short piece shifts into the next as if it was born out of the last one. fluttering tremolo guitar, percussive hits, manipulated field recordings and electronics all bounce between stereo channels to create a sublime listening experience. lp is pressed as a one sided record, with a direct to vinyl, solvent based high gloss screen print on the blank side. permanent and archival… edition of 300. really sweet multi-layer screen printed white vinyl art piece. nice!
where does tomutonttu begin? from here. we have re-released the hunchback’s first tape (tomutonttu, huutomerkki!, 2003) on 10 inch vinyl that works as a gateway from kemialliset ystävät to the melted seduction song world of tomutonttu. he is one of the most important characters in new music, and even though they say you should avoid looking towards him, everybody’s a bit sweeter when being born… nice!!!
the lp version of the cd released by quecksilber in 2007. presented in a limited edition of 500, mastered direct to metal and pressed on 200g virgin vinyl. the jacket features the rui toscano drawing from the cd version expanded for the 12-inch format printed in black and pantone red on reversed stock with the pocket flooded red.
new collaboration bursts from tb’s duo of jack and ben with dylan nyoukis, chocolate monk label boss and blood stereo man. weird creeped out noise and vocal sickness. hits in at over 50 minutes. hand numbered edition of 100, with exposed brain panda cover art that surely the world wildlife fund would approve of?
50 copies. the follow up to the now sold out tranko debut cd from the later part of 2008.”tranko ii” is again another lovely album containing five tracks of traditional indian and ainu instrumentation and trance raga like programmed keyboards effects.this time the cover features a pink stencilled star design. available in an edition of 50 hand numbered copies.
same titled album by oregon group tree people has finally reached its deserved status after the excellent cd reissue released by japanese label tiliqua a couple years ago. ‘tree people’ is no other than a fantastic piece of hippie acid folk that clearly anticipates today’s ‘freak folk’ movement. very clean production, with an eastern flavour noticeable in many passages and using acoustic guitars, varied percussions and flutes, while the strong vocals of stephen cohen finalize the picture. remastered sound from masters, has insert with rare photos.
long out of print. odd packaging…
subterranean midwest boys sure got some reputation, but treetops and dan marino represent a novel and downright invigoratin’ duality. treetops rips through effects with overwhelmin’ honesty. scrapin’ up amplifier discharge and molding passages of raw sentiment and ageless boon. dan marino pairs truth in field recording with a burbly gurgle and solid crystal synth. less destructo, more dazer. something for everybody, straight from the jabbers of our young future! -valhalla. edition of 100 on imprinted shells with hand-cut inserts and inside folds.
mike pollard is basically the man right now, not only does he do this awesome project called treetops thats had some killer stuff on ecstatic peace, not not fun, dnt and gilgongo, but he runs one of my favourite labels arbor. so i’m psyched to be releasing this disc from him. sounding like some kind of 70s cavern ritual nightmare throughout, tapping, churning weirdness with occasional patterred drums, shattering cymbals, and more full on room engulfing density-intensity. comes in full colour collage sleeves designed by bethany of pocahaunted. handnumbered edition of 100 on black bottomed cdrs.
the 80′s healing scene has found ressurection in the body of arbor head
mike pollard aka treetops. soothing tunes for a new step into the self. i don’t know if anyone remembers aeoliah, but this album made me think about his psychological new age meditation pieces a lot. this iasos affilate made music for a healthy living ™. treetops steps on this path as well, but travels more out there, more vague. synthesized sounds of a new beginning surrounded by the crunch of the media. deep inside this tape, the message of healing is encoded. if psychotronics is a new genre of music, this guy is one of the portholes to the genre’s heart.
time spent alone during the summer; outside. recorded shirtless in the sand, direct to walkman on the beach in northern michigan. an organic ambience; orchestrating the sounds of the earth. in an edition of 50 tapes with full color art, labels and an insert.
a state of mind between sleep and consciousness, where the past gently glides over the future, weaving it’s self into the unknown. an unfamiliar place, surrounded by things you recognized and things you do not. birds in flight, sprinklers, quiet humming of machines, echoing voices blended with strains of haunted melodies that remind you there is a vast world outside your door in a state of constant change.
first three songs on this album are as good as anything; trimble’s music is an utterly unique blend of melodic songwriting, gorgeous high vocals, overwhelmingly echoey and warbly production, synthesized guitar and fuzz guitar, and it’s mesmerizing and life-changing. side two was recorded a few years earlier and is simpler in terms of production, but the songwriting is equally good. over the years it has become apparent that this album has aged very well and is every bit as good as the more heralded second album. trimble’s music is utterly timeless, utterly distinctive, and utterly beautiful. – acid archives… nice reissue of this lost-in-time 80s gem.
trúbrot was the first supergroup ever founded in iceland. it was created in may 1969 when leading members of ‘hljómar’ (sounds) and ‘flowers’ set out to create the finest icelandic rock group of all time. guitarist and composer gunnar thórgarson, bass player and singer rúnar júlíusson and lead vocalist shady owens of hljómar had been plotting this for some months, along with organist karl sighvatsson and drummer gunnar jökull hákonarson of flowers, before the band’s genesis was announced publicly. these were troubled times and trúbrot had countless hurdles to overcome before the band eventually fell apart early in 1973. after the debut album was released in december 1969 by emi, vocalist shady owens announced that she was quitting. trúbrot recorded 3 more albums. tony branwell of apple records was saying these were one of the two best bands he had seen perform on stage in the preceding six months. really cool underground album full of musical ideas and well-crafted music, male & female vocals. the music should hit the same listener of uk bands such as blossom toes, billy nichols; underground with a touch of pop…. numbered edition of 500, heavy gatefold sleeve on 180 gram vinyl with 2 page insert.
the unified duo of che chen (founder of o’sirhan o’sirhan zine) & rolyn hu (operatrix of brooklyn’s glasslands space) are on a mission to reverse the flow of negative energy with their elemental brand of ecstatic pop & anthemic noise, live & on the record. join inn! true primes disinfect disaffection with their brand of elemental buzzing unrock. tp are adding a new chapter to the growing saga of ny’s long, fruitful history of downtown artrock by grafting a smiley face on the body of no wave’s penchant for alienation. we have won is the band’s debut. lp edition of 330 available now, covers done up sweet by che chen… 180gm vinyl. paste-on xerox covers. numbered edition.
long anticipated vinyl version of tsukimonos grandiose time canvas, originally released as a limited cdr on kning disk spring 2007. a true gem when it comes to drone-based music, this recording still stands out as tsukimonos finest moment. each track is based on a sample on one specific instrument. slow and quiet and big and brutal at the same time. incredible beauty indeed. the deluxe 2xlp version also comes with a side-long bonus track recorded in 2008. letterpressed silver ink on black cardboard sleeves. liner notes by matthias andersson (rtb records), pm jönsson (sound of music/sonic), gustav rosengren (kalligrammofon) and musician viktor sjöberg. also comes with a coupon for a digial download of the album, which also includes the lesson, a second bonus track. limited to 525 copies.
the third album from tunng, the pastoral pop band behind the acclaimed mother’s daughter and other songs and comments of the inner chorus albums. good arrows is a totally immersive record, enveloping the listener in tunng’s wyrd world, and is their first to feature the full six-piece band. eleven songs that borrow from icelandinc prog rock, choral music, and film soundtracks… limited vinyl version.
flux is the 1981 debut solo outing of robert turman, an american multi-instrumentalist and avant-garde composer. until recently, turman was perhaps best known for his contributions to the ballistic non project with boyd rice, as well as other obscured u.s. industrial acts such as z.o. voider. in the summer of 1981, turman decided he would take a drastic turn from the noisy/electronic/industrial work of his compatriots, and began work on what is now the classic flux cassette. flux was originally self-released in extremely limited numbers. weary of the noisescapes of old, he set out to create long-form minimalism utilizing kalimba, piano, “mini-pops jr.” drum machine, and tape loops to create a complex bed of interweaving micro-stasis. the results of these new experiments were as beautiful as they were perplexing. a curious, dusty fidelity carries these classic tracks across four sides of vinyl, including all of the original flux content. these compositions glow with a sprawling, slow-motion haze that’s light years ahead of its time. flux reveals wide spectrums of sound from melancholic kalimba and percussion patterns to slowed-down, syrupy exotica. turman had complex ideas in his mind, yet only the simple technologies of the day were at hand. hear the click of the stopping and starting tascam 3340 open-reel tape machine as one hand presses the “record” and “play” buttons and the other plays piano phrases. while there are similarities in style to classical minimalism, turman’s sound and vision is his own and is exclusive to his limited discography. released in a limited edition 2xlp set. lovingly remastered and cut by rashad becker at dubplates & mastering from the original c-60 cassette master. original cassette artwork and scans provided by aaron dilloway… really great deep zoner trance sounds. recommended!
twinsistermoon is the solo project of mehdi ameziane of natural snow buildings. the hollow mountain was originally issued by dull knife records in 2009 as an lp limited to only 105 copies, unsurprisingly it sold out in a matter of hours. widely regarded by many natural snow buildings fans as one of the best releases from their camp, this reissue has been remastered by ben nash, includes new artwork, and brand new unreleased material. the album has a beautiful earthy lo-fi feeling throughout which perfectly compliments its short and sweet folk songs, and occasional wanderings into psychedelic drone ambience. this is an album that really is totally beautiful and probably one of my favorites from mehdi. the cd is packaged in a square artwork booklet and a pro-printed card wallet showcasing the superb original artwork from the lp sleeve. limited to 1000 copies… recommended!
brand new full length vinyl lp from natural snow buildings’ mehdi ameziane’s solo project. this is the third vinyl release from twinsistermoon since last summer’s the hollow mountain lp and bride of spirits 7″ which were both released on the excellent dull knife label. following on from these two gems, as well as various obscure self released discs and cds on digitalis and students of decay, ameziane’s sound has grown somewhat darker at times with this brand new lp featuring nearly 50 minutes of new material. the a side features 6 tracks, where as the b side is a huge almost 25 minute track. the opening track ‘black nebulae’ is a gorgeously textured psychedelic drone based piece, followed by a short, quieter, guitar plucked piece with vocals, but no words entitled ’1976′. ‘ghost that was your life’ is a stunning beautiful layered guitar piece with ameziane’s astounding beautiful vocals shining through. ‘big sand’ opens as one of the darker pieces, with an occult feeling to its sound, swirling vocal drones, almost like a choir at times, and in come those stunning warm and distinctive gutar sounds with layered ghostly sound scapes, that haunt much of ameziane’s solo and nsb recordings. half way through this track it fades into layered field recordings, drones, and distant chimes, the sound of this track at this point just has a real melancholy vintage sound, the last two minutes are again a change of sound with a slow plucking of guitar strings. ‘desert prophecy’ returns of the sound of just ameziane and his guitar, with some lo-fi electric riffing distrotion in the background. its pretty incredible to hear this and think that its from 2010, and not from the 60s or 70s. the sixth and final track on the first side is ‘trailer’, another beautiful somewhat lighter folk sound, which is interesting considering the following is the albums title track ‘then the ashes fell’, a side long track which is a considerably darker and heavier than much of the rest of the lp, but it weaves in some beautiful lighter more reflective moments. pro printed sleeves and labels. heavyweight vinyl… massively thick old style covers.
meghan remy continues her one woman crusade to drain all humankind of bad blood and garbage, refilling our boots with hissed out affection while dousing us in white thunder. hear the sound of a skull full of quartz being pounded by tiny yet powerful hands and listen to her inveigling vocals, the kind of thing phil spector hears in his pill poping nightmares. note to prog logs, this baby is a short and sweet slide (19mins).
the ukes bring us all another butter country moon fried farm folk
bammer to sing or bang a gong along to. once again this release
features a full band of self taught weirdo clinger and clangers
carefully caressing tones out of anything from an effected mandolin to a marble in the bottom if a well tuned 5 gallon bucket. players include andy neubauer, dan b, amy moon o-s, kristen myers, caleb gamble, and ben grubb. cover art by janel beckman and printed by leif goldburg. insert art by amy moon and kristen myers… newest from this great belfast maine bent rural folk crew. maybe their best yet?! beautiful full color offset printed wrap-around paste-on art over a chipboard cover. tons of insert. recommended!
do not expect the “goblinish” umberto that you’ve listen in his past records. the aim of this track, the only one, that compose the record is to accompany the last moments of your life. 15 minutes to reach that peace of mind that you need to abandon the temporal and embrace the great unknown. every b side is needless: who will turn the record? … really cool one here for all space / trance / drone / new age fans. beautifully packaged with metallic ink cover and silver screenprinted vinyl b-side, and limited to only 150 copies! better move on this one…
gloomy psych-folk fuzz, in recycled classical lp sleeves, members of seanceorchstramindzoo, common oracles, hisseaters, mummers, grim spell etc… nice deep underground psych micro press monster for fans of residual echoes and such. awesome one-of-a-kind hand decorated art covers. edition of only 200 copies sure to vanish as quickly as they appeared. nice.
nyc ghost unchained swings his umbilical cord your way with joyful and pleasant but sick internal feedback blues. edition of 50, comes in spraypainted slip-cases with insert… long out of print.
john moloney (sunburned), mick flower (vibracathedral) and tom greenwood (jomf) recorded nov, 2006… nice! cool cover, limited to 150.
teenage home recordings of nrbq’s tom ardolino from 1971… “i made these tapes in my basement…i was 17, still two years away from joining nrbq…..i had some friends who would come to the basement at night and we would smoke and listen to records. they would leave around midnight and i would start to record one track over another using the(kenwood reel to reel) recorder’s sound on sound feature. i would add drums the next day….sometimes i would try to do songs that i just felt like doing(like the nutty squirrels’ “zowee”…) but usually things were just made up. i would just kind of hear things in my head and just try to go for it…i never thought these tapes would be heard by anyone except for a few friends. warning: if out-of-tuneness bothers you, do not listen.”… newest on joshua burkett’s micro label. screen printed / stamped / numbered covers. 500 copies. first 100 or so include a set of magic markers to hand color the cover, we’ve got a few with the markers here so first come…
a re-issue of the out of print 99 five track album from Tokyo pysch. Unit uptight. Audio tracks have been slightly remastered with the addition of two unreleased tracks dating back to the bands earliest years 1994. Comes housed in a 2.5 panel foldout heavy stock sleeve pressing of 600 copies… long out of print.
new studio album by these japanese heads, this one is sure to place your third eye right onto the eternal cosmic plane. feels like spacing out in a hammock set between massively fucked-up, stripped-down mantra rhythms licking that sweet essence of crazed fuzz guitars and beautifully mellow acid ballads. a classic nocturnal journey into deep tokyo psychedelica. full-color artwork by bart de paepe, edition of 300 copies… awesome vinyl debut from the sloow tapes label, and a killer lp. very last copies here. recommended!
“alitaju ylimina” is the first vinyl album by finland’s uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a marvellous fold-out sleeve with a full-colour drawing by uton himself on the outer sleeve and some fierce black¨white illustrations by dutch artist christelle gualdi inside. uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere and currently travelling and recording in india. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystävät, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. the music of uton is no exception there, drawing inspirations from psychedelia to free jazz to pure ecstatic drones and noises using a wide range of acoustic instruments from various parts of the globe and a bulk of electronics. recorded in glorious lo-fi the mystery of hirvonen’s sound is difficult to pinpoint; sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze – gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis and his own ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystävät) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) will be released on lp by dekorder later this year.
one meditation taken from the first live show of the finish master, mrecorded with kulkija and edited at the mouth of life & death; and a second one recorded in the mysterious castle mountain high from springtime to winter 2006. this massive forestdrone leads us on some enchanted paths of mysticism. limited to 100.
uton plays ballads for the new earth. covered under a blanket of tone colors and nature cones, this brain is transferring a total new spectrum of trance. including a super guest-appearance by bridget hayden. full color cover and insert, painted tapecase.
double a-side tape, played in reverse on the b, this documents an uton live show. more abrasive than recorded output. acoustics, vocal mantras, and pulsating drone that leave you confused when it is all over with. offset printed gold on platinum vellum, clear labels “touched by the golden hand” in an edition of 100 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes.
make there beds in the gnome-infested waters throughout the city. uton is perhaps the country’s best kept secret. ‘mystery revolution’ is a sonic excursion through the finnish forests unlike any other. massive drones are balanced by the hypnotic dance of flutes, bells, and keyboards. underneath everything runs a mind-altering stream of fuzzed-out brainwaves. every corner you turn, there’s another smiling nymph, begging you to follow the golden path into the mystic woods. uton’s minimalist rumblings are there to infect and enchant, and hirvonen never fails to impress. the mask is off with ‘mystery revolution,’ and uton will remain shrouded in obscurity no more. this pine-scented excursion may by mysterious on the surface, but overall is a thing of beauty, lying in wait for the perfect time to infect you. ‘mystery revolution’ is proof that uton’s dreamy soundscapes are one of finland’s finest exports – nice art paper covers.
“straight edge xxs” is the 2nd vinyl album by finland’s uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies on the dekorder label. it comes in a gorgeous full-colour collage sleeve assembled by hirvonen himself. while uton’s last dekorder album “alitaju ylimina” (and most of his other recorded works respectively) are hazy lo-fi drone masterpieces for the most part, this is a completely diffferent affair. recorded straight to tape within one month, right after returning from a 6-month trip to india, these songs (if you could call them songs) are completely out-of-this-world; very short and crazed sketch-like pieces sounding like a nonesuch explorer lp of long lost field recordings from an as yet unexplored continent. or is it world music from an unknown planet recorded by those sublime frequencies guys from mysterious short wave transmissions? well, it is all that and more. it is pure ecstatic expression channelized through psychedelia, free jazz, noise and rural ancient folk music from all over the world in a completely naked, predominantly acoustic setting. one of the purest forms of music you could imagine; while all the familiar uton elements remain evident in a hazy backcloth. uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystevet, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna and his own ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystevet) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) is released on lp by dekorder simultaneously. limited edition of 500 copies.
“unexplained objects” is the 3rd vinyl-only lp by finland’s uton for the dekorder label, like his previous dekorder albums released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a beautiful full-colour heavy duty sleeve designed by hirvonen himself. while the last albums explored rural soundworlds from the outer reaches of this planet and hidden places of the inner human (and animal) mind, he has finally left planet earth completely and is now reaching out for outer space and alien communication. hirvonen seems to have traveled the spaceways, bringing home folk music and field recordings from faraway planets and alien cultures. erich von däniken beware! uton is the one-man project of jani hirvonen originally hailing from tampere. hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of kuupuu, kemialliset ystävät, islaja, paavoharju and lau nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. uton has previously released dozens of cd’s, cd-r’s and cassettes on a myriad of labels including jewelled antler, pseudo arcana, last visible dog, digitalis, ruralfauna and his own
ikuisuus. he has collaborated with amon dude (avarus), anla courtis (reynols), antony milton (black boned angel), ben reynolds, peter wright, phil todd (ashtray navigations) and jan anderzen (tomutonttu, kemialliset ystävät) among others. the latter collaboration (under the hevoset moniker) has been released on lp by dekorder as well. limited edition of 500 copies!
for the past five plus years, uton has been one of the most consistent projects to come out of the snowy confines of his native finland. his output has been constant, but the quality is always great. his drones have always been underscored with a sense of melody and a keen utilization of the space where the music was created. these songs are not icy or glacial, though, like one might think. uton’s uncanny ability to inject an inviting sense of warmth and spirit. “we’re only in it for the spirit” is ghost music; barely there and out-of-sight in the blink of an eye. limited to 500 copies with artwork designed by james livingston of black horizons… includes the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
new ultra-minimal string excursions from this finnish artist now resident in india. a ascetic sound pallette of strum and scrawp revealing intense swirling beauty and lost in the woods nordic aurora – very nice. limited to 100 copies only.
uw owl has finally found their first proper release after making numerous small edition cd-rs and contributing a track on united bamboos they keep me smiling compilation curated by hisham bharoocha (x- black dice, soft circle). this lp features ten songs chosen from a mass of recordings between 2003 and 2004. electrical currents, desolate sound scapes, dark tunnels, late night jams and structured waste recorded on a broken dust-filled concrete basement floor in bushwick – brooklyn, ny. 333 copies. 140g vinyl. packaged in a self assembled dye-cut and letterpressed jacket by jonas asher, with insert.
new release from new york based nickolas mohanna, following some fine releases on abandon ship and super minerals/magic lantern’s phil french consistently excellent stunned records imprint. mohanna creates vakhchav through a hazed blur of synth, guitar, electronics and computer, giving this, his first non-us label release, a real nice ambient quality throughout. ‘sequels’ opens the disc with a star-gaze wavering drone, washing in from multiple directions for full immersed bliss. ‘line in motion’ has a deep bass working your brain from the distance with a purely electric droning riff fading in from some unknown source. ‘passage’ is brief with barely audible voices being subjected to pure static destruction, before heading into ‘of a curvature’, which returns to the blissed out multi drones of the opening track. this fine disc finished on ‘the take (at dusk)’ which is a 7 minute piece which somehow seems to blur all the elements of birth to a point’s frenzied dizzying bursts and the euphoric dream like moments.
intense free percussion duo from not the wind, not the flag member. tiny private pressing.
dino valenti was one of the most fascinating figures of the san francisco 60s psychedelic scene. he was the frontman of the quicksilver messenger service, and became famous with his hippie anthem get together, that has reached the usa top-ten, when played by the youngbloods. he made a solo album with columbia, and recorded a lot of other material, that he has been storing in various warehouses in the late 60s. this record comes from some of these tapes, which were recently found and delivered to valenti’s family. they are of superb sound quality, and of even greater musical value – excellent never before issued gems, as well as his own version of get together presented for the first time here on vinyl. it is unknown, who else is performing in these tapes, although sound and great acid guitar in several tracks strongly remind of early qms albums. limited, deluxe 2lp extra heavy gatefold cover, 180g vinyl… pretty great archival release here.
if string theory is correct, this is approximately the thirteenth album matt valentine has released that definitely shouldnt be filed
under a group name (tower recordings, bummer road, golden road, etc.). on the other hand, if string theory is correct, this might also be his 11,000th album. the truth, one suspects, is somewhere in between. since bedding down in southern vermont at the dawn of the century, mv has been as cussedly prolific as anyone. the gout of lps, cassettes, cdrs, singles and 10-inches emerging from maximum arousal farm has dwarfed the output of everyone cept maybe sunburned or thurston. regardless, there can never be enough mv lps in the world, and what i became is a beaut. most of it is as solo as satan, apart from
percussionist jeremy earl (of woods fame), whose presence is sometimes felt more than heard. erika ee elder and mike muskox smith also pop up on a track, but the general approach here is as naked-and-loaded as the soul of icepick slim. as usual, mvs tunes and procedures beggar easy generification. elements of deep forest psychedelia brush against crazy horse guitar / vocal flourishes that explode to reveal volk-based form mayhem at its hickiest. my particular fave here is pk dick,
a paean to nth dimensional logic in the form of a swedish psych-folk readymade. my son prefers the haunted-harvest-vibe (his words) of ave. b. my wife goes for the seventh sons approach offered by sweet little indian girl (always a fave with the ladies). and my daughter nods in the direction of continuing the good life for reasons she will not explain. i suspect its the hooty vocals, reminding her of teen pop giants like the shins and of montreal, but she aint sayin. all this just goes to show that what i became is a fun album for the whole family. it will soothe your savage breasts. it will turn your evil mother-in-law into a porpoise. it will wash yr dishes and darn yr socks. darn them! motherfucker, who else would do that? nobody, jack. cept mv. this guy has the magic touch. and it has never been displayed better than here. just get the fucking rec. or prepare to go sockless. kind of a no-brainer, eh? -byron coley… really sweet one. recommended!
swirling drones smothered in pure electric guitar anthems from two jon’s, one being jon of the hunter gracchus / singing knives, and the other being jon from serfs. this is their debut release and is a real beauty, psyched out blues for a dark back room in hut out in the woods. limited 100 hand numbered copies.
minneapolis’ vampire hands are a rather difficult-to-pigeonhole lot, one with so many disparately abundant ideas bubbling out of their collective skulls that they barely keep pace with them. citing influences as diverse as exuma, can, neil young and simply saucer, vampire hand’s sound might (lazily) be described as marc bolan meets mayo thompson in neil haggerty’s cannabistro. fuzzy, distorted guitars meet tribal, pulsating rhythms. an eerily affecting falsetto melds with a lower, drier voice to create delightfully off-kilter harmonies. get this now before this band assuredly ascends the hype-ladder… super limited tour release in a very cool multi-layer screen printed envelope cover. nice.
made for our wwvv east coast tour with ghq in april. it was an edition of 150.
total can-style audacity from brooklyn drone stew edward goreyean broken house sufic wanderers the vanishing voice. the vanishing voice head down from the mountain for another dip in a lake of elephant seals. a misty warbling leads down a twisted path where molten earth and crust collide. the beginning of the end of the beginning. stone tab is a trip to be sure. mother mark ospovat cracks the whip of dogsled imandi while snarling bad dog pete nolan kept a forward propulsion on skins and molten guitar spew. mad man steve j taveniere of local faves meneguar lent a cool head and a popular sensibility to the proceedings with skills on the acoustic axe to be sure. non horse crane, magnetic wizard and dj, let loose his usual bag of hidden charms and h. “reality” diehl, with a voice said to make many a grown man cry, a magik trash harp and the mind o the other, kept us all in the ethereal realm. don’t worry though, this strange brew rocks out for real and you can be sure it was recorded in the highest fidelity known to man. lp features a bonus track and different mixes than on the cd, and is limited to 500 copies… another killer one from the vanishing voice!!! great heavy screen printed cover. recommended!
next release from vv without ww and ss.. grooving psych jam.. much harsher and rougher as the two last cdrs and the lp. comes with a gold silkscreend cover. limited to 200 copies… lovely little package & more great sounds. recommended.
vapaa, the pawnpins of tampere, finland, turn in absolutely expansive and enchanting live set that will soak through your skin like poison. recorded during the first signs of spring in april 2006 in vaasa, on this session the trio are joined by the kingpin himself, keijo virtanen. a massive squall of hypnotic, organic tones flow underneath keijo’s trademark guitar. it is a spaced-out amalgamation of drones, blues, and free jazz, with no epicenter in sight. the build-up is slow, but the payoff from this freakshow is bliss. 100 copies.
unreleased hits from 2003 – 2007, material recorded in four different sessions. released 24.9.2007, five different sleeves, collect them all!
originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of cut hands waaay back in januscary but since it’s never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn’t worth the goddamning wait. jason rohm paints a grim picture that’s both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. the tale of a desperate soul in a world that’s tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in english and awkward dutch. the compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack. tunes by andrew coltrane, sick llama, warmth, droughter, bottom feeder, raperies (like draperies), ex-cocaine, robedoor and josh lay. 125 copies made, limited availibility, so act fassssssst.
ab-1 is a lp with individually hand painted covers feat. great earthquake, humansixbillion, patinka cha cha and the thimble orchestra, low rise estate, fulton girls club, extreme wheeze, popolice, touch typist, guns for saint sebastion, seagull, johnny saw horses, and oscar’s psuche. live in a bedroom. here’s a review from terrascope… finally from me, one of the most terrascopic items i have received, a self released compilation lp documenting a collection of underground musician working out of melbourne. recorded in one night at a gig in a bedroom, the whole thing was captured live on one microphone into a computer. featuring twelve bands, the music ranges from melodic instrumentals through lo-fi songs in unique styles, and carries on into heavier territory and fuzzed up mayhem. the remarkable thing about this endeavour however is that it is so damn listenable, the recording is excellent considering the circumstances and every piece of music has a spark of something that hold your attention. it seems churlish to pick out individuals so i wont, just to say, this must have been a magical night and the atmosphere has been perfectly captured on this record so go and buy one. oh yes, even the cover is a home made treat fitting the mood with perfection. – simon lewis… pretty great comp with real nice covers.
great out of print early comp. a nice peak into prime era finnish underground, and beyond! featuring: LÖRSSON, AVARUS, PLAT YPUS, GREY PARK, RAKENNUSTUHKAA, PYLON, KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT, BUNSENLAMPPU, BRASPYREET, KUKKIVA POLIISI (pre KUUPUU), DI MAISSINTÄHKÄ, FUTURIANS, TIVOL, THE BURIED CIVILIZATIONS, KULKIJA, RAUHAN ORKESTERI, PEKKO KÄPPI, AÏR, KEIJO, THE FRANCISCAN HOBBIES, SONIC TEMPLE ASSASSINS, AGNOSIA, LAMPPUKELLO, O SAMULI A, CAN CAN HEADS, VAPAA, UTON, CLAY FIGURE… released 7.6.2004. a 267 lattajjaa compilation featuring some old tracks, some remixes, some new versions and mostly new tracks, includes a coloured insert.
piaptk is starting a new series. 4 geographically centralized artists that are good friends on one lp. the inaugural issue is this split between karl blau, gift machine, graves, and nate ashley. comes in a hand-screened jacket (from an amazing pen and ink drawing by nate ashley) and on colored vinyl. 50 copies on swampy green marble, 75 copies on purple, and 375 copies on grey marble.
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, george mitchell recorded extensively in the south. mitchell concentrated mainly on local blues traditions recording some famous bluesmen and many otherwise ignored artists. the george mitchell collection was originally released as a series of forty-five eps on fat possum, this lp contains our favorite fourteen tracks. this lp represents songs from many well known blues musicians such as fred mcdowell, furry lewis and joe calicott as well as some from criminally under represented artists like jessie mae hemphill, rosa lee hill and john lee ziegler. comes with a short booklet of photos, discographical notes and recollections.
recordings made between 1918-1955 compiled by ian nagoski. a compilation of 24 recordings from the first half of the 20th century of music from syria, bali, scotland, thailand, ukraine, china, cameroon, india, turkey, germany, spain, vietnam, yugoslavia, japan, poland, greece, java, portugal, laos, sweden and burma, all newly transferred and mastered from 78 rpm discs, at least 18 of which have never been issued before on cd (all but one never having been previously reissued in the u.s.). influenced by pete whelans origin jazz library, pat contes secret museum of mankind, harry smiths anthology of american folk music, henry cowells music of the worlds people, alan bishop and hisham mayets sublime frequencies label, lance ledbetters goodbye, babylon, michael snows the last lp and much more. sounds like zamr, naa phaat piphat, gong kebyar, northumbrian piping, periya melam, rhumba, carpathian weddings, rulin opera, uilleann piping, bollywood, dan bau, handel, rembetika, gusle, tembang sunds, flamenco, fado, prayer, djanger, kabuki and yien pwe.
mismatched cover/wax here, please take note! cover is orig 1963 vol. 1, wax is 1972 ‘broadside reunion – vol. 6’… cover is rough anyway, with splits, stickers, stamps, so you’re buying this for the wax which includes 4 rare BLIND BOY GRUNT (aka BOB DYLAN) tracks. VG-/EX.
the brief, such as it was, for this double 8″ lathe-cut set was that each artist should submit a track of “vocal exploration.” the artists were free to interpret this however they wished. it was not a condition that tracks should necessarily be a capella. jessica rylan (aka can’t) provides a “cover version” of part of junko’s “sleeping beauty” with heavily processed voice and homemade modular synthesizer. double leopard’s marcia bassett pushes the tolerances of the lathe-cut to breaking (up) point with the intensely distorted vocal loops of “winter lips”. carly ptak’s “activity: brief fugue” offers perhaps the most unexpected interpretation of the brief, being the documentation of a talk the artist gave during a workshop dedicated to creative realisation. finally, on “loch awe”, heather leigh assaults a massively reverberant drum set, all the while wailing like some supernatural creature of scottish legend. stunning cover art by karen constance… nice color covers, individual labels by each artist. mega limited.
cover artwork made by roope eronen from avarus, little drawings inside by jani hirvonen , adam forkner and jonna karanka. featuring: aan, valerio cosi, peter wright, black forest/black sea, ravi padmanabha & leathan hardy, the mighty acts of god, kuupuu, expo 70, ghost brames of le cerf magickal, aaron martin, alligator crystal moth & taiga remains, white rainbow, enfer boreal, oroubos.
for centuries, the jemaa el fna (rendezvous of the dead) has remained the stage for one of the most spectacular social forums on the planet. by day, this central square in the city of marrakesh, one of morocco’s great imperial cities, fosters a kaleidoscope of entertainment for its local inhabitants; storytellers, acrobats, magicians and snake charmers all create intriguing displays of bewitching spectacle. as the sun sets, the evening grows frantic with the pulse of the crowd; it is then that the night musicians set up. free from the restrictions and expectations of light entertainment for a tourist crowd, these musicians manifest ecstatic performances that animate the audience and players alike. the groups represented on this album; troupe majidi, amal saha, and mustapha mahjoub, are working and carrying the torch of their musical heroes nightly in the square. these songs come from the repertoire of morocco’s greatest musical exports: nass el ghiwane, lemchaheb, jil jilala, larssad and many others from the chaabi (moroccan popular music) canon and are given a raw, emotional and fiery interpretation. instruments are powered by car batteries and blown out through megaphone speakers. these recordings represent a rare opportunity to hear this music at such close proximity taking in all the power and passion of the performances. the raw fidelity captures an unflinching immersion of what is simply some of the greatest street music on earth. recorded by hisham mayet in 2005, a few of these performances were featured in his film musical brotherhoods from the trans-saharan highway (sublime frequencies dvd sf041). this collection also contains tracks not present in the film for a more potent snapshot of the ecstatic jemaa el fna. limited edition lp comes in a beautiful full color gatefold jacket with photos of the musicians and liner notes by hisham mayet… limited edition, already out of print. nice one.
over a three year period in the late 1990s, charlie brooks embarked on two long field recording trips in madagasikara. brooks primarily concentrated on the more remote north and west regions of the island. upon his return in 1999 he pressed 200 copies of a triple record and stored them under his bed for the last ten years. the three themed lps: vocal, valiha marovany and miscellaneous instruments were released as the now out of print mr-061 fihavanana. this single lp collection compiles seventeen tracks from fihavanana. comes with a twelve page booklet of photography and notes.
random recordings from 2008 made across india and nepal…everyday sounds, traditional music, religious ceremonies. 60 copies.
also from 2008, birds singing, insects screaming, drums, children, pop music… 40 copies.
limited edition full-color gatefold lp version of the first sublime frequencies cd release from 2003. the equator runs through only ten countries on earth and i bet that you cannot name them all without consulting a map. indonesia is one of them and the only nation in asia with the equatorial stripe impaling it. there are so many different cultures spread out on this chain of islands that it would take several lifetimes to experience them all properly. within this umbrella of diversity is one of the world’s richest and most dazzling sound museums. sumatra is the northwestern entry point to the great archipelago. approximately the size of california, indonesia’s largest island has a wide variety of natural wonders: dense jungles, picturesque mountain peaks, gargantuan lakes, lowland swamps, active volcanoes, and highly frequent seismic activity. populating this gorgeous setting are orangutans, tigers, durian trees, the largest flower on earth, dozens of cultures and languages, myths and folklore, and much more music than you’ve ever been allowed to discover. the style selections on this lp include forms of droning beat pop, early orkes melayu songs, batak tapanuli, traditional minang music, and folk drama soundtracks heard by only a handful of outsiders. the recordings are from old cassette tapes; decaying documents of various sound qualities containing some of the most eccentric artifacts ever uncovered from this fascinating island. assembled and compiled by alan bishop (sun city girls) in july of 1989… great to see this one vinyl!
with the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach used for deep funk (the funky 16 corners, cold heat), now-again records and its owner, stones throw records producer egon tackles global psychedelia with forge your own chains. “those of us birthed into record collecting by the hip hop midwife revered jimi hendrix as well as james brown. we searched for albums by mulatu astatke and power of zeus with the same fervor,” egon writes in his introduction to the comp. forge your own chains showcases music from all corners of the world: colombia, nigeria, sweden, south korea, thailand and iran. the focus – in keeping with now-again’s tradition – is on melody, driving rhythms and accessibility. not one song is included on this compilation because it is from a ‘rare’ album. certainly, many of these songs do spring from albums that exchange hands for many thousands of dollars and many of these songs have never seen reissue. but these songs are all beautiful in their own right and work to form a coherent album. psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors, are giving up new ghosts in the hands of egon and those of his generation. and, with comps like forge your own chains, they are inspiring new investigations into our not so distant (and still very much alive) musical past. american gospel, paranoic soul, loner folk, east-nigerian fuzz, thai rock, iranian ballads, and more. deluxe gatefold jacket contains extensive and detailed liner notes, rare photos, and other ephemera.
gloriously bent compilation of tape manpulation/loop madness/whatever with john wiese, ashtray navigations, justin meyers, ones, smack music 7, julian bradley, luke younger, green mist, neil campbell, aaron dilloway, shakeeb abu hamdan, dylan nyoukis, skaters, sisprum vish & gas shepherds.
getting rid of the glue is a curatorial project by pendu gallery and is available through pendu sound recordings. it is a tribute to the continuing positive influence of john cage on free /improv /creative /& noise music. getting rid of the glue is a phrase first used by henry cowell before introducing the music of christian wolff, earl brown, morton feldman, and john cage at a new school concert in 1950s. john cage in his influential lecture entitled “history of experimental music in the united states& #148; recounts the remarks of henry cowell. “that here were – composers getting rid of glue. that is: where people had felt the necessity to stick sounds together to make a continuity, we – felt the opposite necessity to get rid of the glue so that sounds would beam themselves.” – john cage. this will be the first in a series of “getting rid of the glue” themed lps dedicated to improv / experimental / & noise music. limited to 300 lps so they won’t last long. includes a 11×17 xerox poster with art contributed by each of the bands – heres the track list: 1. dirty churches – eat birth 2. spin-17 – fin fang foom 3. k.p. – birds fucking outside my window 4. big a little a – yves st. sean 5. fessenden – pt. iii/ii 6. eager meek – to accidental crashes and long naps 7. mialessot + daniel carter + old ghost – hemorrhage 8. maria chavez – untitled (live @ spoken word, 04/06) 9. talibam – talibam eat a sound soup 10. excepter – sonja.
fourth installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from blue ridge instrumentalist wade ward performing alongside an eighty-one year old charlie higgins, sought-after mississippi church singers james short and viola james, more from fred mcdowell (“woke up this morning”), a locally composed religious piece written from words spoken by mountain view, arkansas resident joseph looney while on his deathbed, hillsville, virginia’s the mountain ramblers, spiritual singers from the georgia sea island of st. simons and banjo master hobart smith’s “banging breakdown.”… heavy cover with extensive notes.
third installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from fred mcdowell, carlos “bookmiller” shannon’s rendition of “the eighth of january” (another variation of which — “the battle of new orleans” — was a billboard charting hit by johnny horton in 1959), a medley of classic african american spirituals by virginia’s union choir of the church of god and saints of christ, lined hymns from kentucky’s george spangler and a baptist church congregation, ozark balladeer neal morris, work songs from mississippi state penitentiary, a previously unissued version of “moses was a servant of the lord” performed by charles barnett (vocal and washtub) and arkansas’ almeda “granny” riddle performing “rainbow mid life’s willows,” based on a british broadsheet originally published in 1631… heavy cover with extensive notes.
fifth installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from north carolina’s mountaineers, migratory labor songs from fishermen the bright light quartet, a stark religious meditation on the end of days from virginia service station owner e.c. ball, bessie jones (later a touring performer) singing the spiritual “daniel in the lion’s den,” an evening worship service at a pentecostal temple in memphis, emma hammond’s dance tune “shout lula,” an excerpt from alabama religious radio testimony and music performed on caned panpipes (or quills) at a country picnic in senatobia, mississippi… heavy cover with extensive notes.
pretty darn sweet all maine drone/noise/psych/weird comp. featuring exclusive tracks from : aphelion shelter, bird microphone, id m theft able, crank sturgeon, pine tree state mind control, rattle of polar bear teeth, cursillistas, drona parva, visitations, bad bus (members of cursillistas, crank sturgeon, elephant micah, etc.), and nancy scott. dvd style packaging will wild full color art from crank sturgeon plus a screen printed and hand embellished fold out art paper insert. limited to 100 copies. nice!
features: BLACK TO COMM, KEIJO AND JUSSI KARSIKAS, BJERGA / IVERSEN, AJILVSGA, ANLA COURTIS, VLUBÄ, VILLE MOSKIITTO, SILVESTER ANFANG, KULKIJA, ENE KITA, UTON, BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD, VOICE OF THE SEVEN WOODS, EMERALD CLOUD COBRA, INFINITE ARTICLE, DECEMBER, UNITED BIBLE STUDIES, LOACHFILLET, GREIPPI… new compilation of the psychedelic underground, released 26.7.2006, features an insert. limited edition of 100 copies on black cdrs.
a collection of exclusive cuts from the great pop supplement series. tunng kick the ep off with a tune recorded during the sessions for the bands’ new full length, a typically astute blend of folky, glitchy electronica. next up come the woodcraft folk who offer up “them there eyes.” the laughing windows follow with a fabulous blend of film samples, loops, electronics woven around a folk base. shady bard check in with a fine intro to their sound on “what’s behind the door?” ending the ep is a mighty collaboration between adam leonard and p.g. six with a tune that starts as gently strummed blues before heading into an almost syd-era floyd psych nugget. a wonderful ep available on vinyl only, pressed in an edition of 1,000 copies… nice fake vintage 78 covers with paste-on art.
another new compilation of the psychedelic underground featuring : robert horton, the grand hotel, particles collect, ben reynolds and alex neilson, vapaa, grey park, o samuli a, hans grüsel’s krankenkabinet, pefkin, hannu karjalainen, felipe+forte, pumice, leafy green, seán óg, western automatic, rameses iii, and zelienople. limited edition of 100 copies on black cdrs.
insane compilation featuring: lörsson, ! & the hysterians, mixer, musti laiton, robert horton, vihreä tee, melkoinen, henen lähettipalvelu, kiva, klaus herde, lamppukello, twisted krister, sierainparisto, human neutron missile squad, tor tor tor, toni laakso, matti ja seppo, rene kita, tamminiemen pesänjakajat, panssarijuna, toni kandelin, and unidentified sound objects – versions or tracks inspired by j.o. mallander’s legendary tracks”1962″ and”1968″ which are based on the counting of the votes in finnish president election. the winner was urho kaleva kekkonen, who was the president of finland for 25 years. hand-painted sleeves, limited edition of 120 copies, the ultimate party album!
the official compilation that includes all the artists performing at the second annual lal lal lal festival. 60 minutes of deep, uncensored and unreleased sounds by sus & jacob, kiiskinen, lussu & pami, benjamin franklin, good band, buffle, kompleksi and avarus! the tape comes packed in four different kind of found photograph covers (four eyes lady, drinking in the mirror, babysitting and loch wheel chair).
three performances from summer 2009. features sets by ex-chapel hill residents maddie and america reads, as well as a performance by ghost hand. edition of 15 in hand decorated jewel cases.
compilation focusing on mellow dramatic music from around the world. everything from calypso to flamenco to thai ballads to indonesian instrumentals to american country to hawaiian music. designed as a sort of sequel to our i don’t feel at home in this world anymore compilation. cover art by chris johaanson… heavyweight folkways style sleeve with paste-on art.
ultra minimalist comp (both in packaging and sound) featuring : stilluppsteypa, ryoji ikeda, cm von hausswolff, sukora, rehberg & bauer, ultrasound, taku sugimoto, john hudak, jim o rourke, tamaru, m. behrens & loren mazzacane connors. some very lovely tracks. out of print.
the second compilation compiled and conceived by london-based illustrator jake blanchard continues on its strength of eclectic audio vibes paired with visual glory by an array of excellent artists. eight artists were given a track and their finished artwork is based around their assigned track. with the previous cd release of menagerie #1, there was only 100 copies available with the zine. but with this new issue, every single copy comes with a super-slick, pro-printed, full-colour zine of artwork from: jake blanchard, pete fowler, will sweeney, andrew rae, sarah king, solange gularte, james trimmer/mirt, and mat pringle. this time the audio is appearing on vinyl only, with exclusive tracks from: MOON DUO, NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS, WAND (AKA WOODEN WAND), THE SEE SEE, SEADOG, JOANNE ROBERTSON & MATTHEW ASHWORTH, MARRIED IN BERDICHEV, and AKRON/FAMILY. the pro-printed sleeve features artwork by jake blanchard. heavyweight vinyl, with full colour labels. edition of 500. joint release between blackest rainbow, and jake’s new tor press label for zines and music… nice comp already sold out from the label.
jake blanchard’s third volume of menagerie finally shows up just over a year after #2… the concept this time is slightly different, not only do the artists create imagery based on the musicians music, but this time the musicians also create a track based on an image created by the artist. two exclusive new tracks from each of these artists: BEN NASH, ISENGRIND, C JOYNES and TWINSISTERMOON. and exclusive new artwork by jim stoten, simon fowler, adrianne neal and jake blanchard. the sleeve is a collaboration between jake and jim and it is incredible! the lp is pressed on heavyweight black virgin vinyl, packaged with a a5 12 page litho printed full colour booklet. limited to 500 copies… pretty great.
almost two years in the making, “molten strings, train wrecks and birdsong” is an expansive compilation loosely centered around sound made by stringed instruments. strings are the primary sources of sound on all of these recordings, and the majority of the works are generated solely from them. the record offers a wealth of different approaches to these instruments. from the scathing, feedback blasts yielded by fred lonberg-holm’s cello and mini-amplifiers, to the dexterous blur of c. spencer yeh’s violin fretwork, from the pastoral vistas of peter wright’s danelectro 12 string, to the billowy dirges of birchville cat motel, zaimph, family underground, and taiga remains lending the record even further diversity are joyous bouzouki renderings from the north sea, and damaged, eerie and beautiful contributions from robert horton and brothers of the occult sisterhood. presented together, the record is cohesive in the same way that the best compilations are, flowing effortlessly from track to track and, in the process, demonstrating the diversity and immense capability of all things stringed. limited to 1000 copies.
first ever nnf vinyl compilation (more in the future hopefully?) finds the spotlight landing fairly on the fairer sex, and the glare is glorious. 11 diverse femme musical energies corralled across 12 inches of black vinyl, all exclusive contributions, and the breadth of zones and interzones traversed is a beautiful thing to hear. carry on my wayward non-sons. lps in jackets with artwork by pocahaunted bassist/scholar diva dompe, plus a full-color double-sided insert. edition of 500. this year’s estrogeneration includes: zola jesus – tickley feather – pocahaunted (vintage unused track from gold miner’s daughters sessions) – inca ore – topaz rags – hny – talk normal – islaja (featuring samara lubelski and blevin blectum) – l.a. vampires – u.s. girls – valet.
early in 2000, three lobed recordings was born out of the notion that there needed to be a 10” ep included within bardo pond’s discography. late in 2009, with the label’s looming tenth anniversary on the horizon, the label decided that it was time to take the curatorial enjoyment that resulted in its three multi-disc subscription cd series (purposeful availment, modern containment and oscillation iii) and transfer that spirit over to the vinyl format. rather than do this as a series, three lobed decided it would be a lot more fun, efficient, and economical to put the project out as a one-shot box set. from that notion came the dream-team lineup of artists who were also interested in helping assemble this project – sonic youth, sun city girls, bardo pond, comets on fire, eternal tapestry, steve gunn, mouthus, d. charles speer & the helix and wooden wand. think back to the wonder the first time you were sucked into the epic sprawl of such seminal collections as harmony of the spheres and by the fruits you shall know the roots. it’s been several years since one of these time capsules has been created to document the various phases, shapes and sizes of the modern underground psychedelic scene – this box is intended to help fill that void. much like how various label predecessors have shaped their epic compilations into lovingly assembled and presented artifacts, the three lobed vision of not the spaces you know, but between them is bold and brash. three lobed wants this set to both stand as the single coolest title within the label’s catalog and to also be a device to help introduce some new listeners to the various ways psychedelic music is presented in 2011. each artist’s contribution to this set stands alongside the best that artist has previously placed within their respective discographies, almost as if each artist is trying to set the bar even higher for their fellow contributors to the set. this set pretty much has it all – from newly composed and well honed tracks (like steve gunn’s contribution, “the lurker extended”), historically important recordings (the entire sun city girls side presents a glimpse of the band’s final show in the united states) all the way to how- the-hell-has-this-been-hidden-from-the-world-for-so-long gems (such as sonic youth’s “out & in” which was recorded in 2000 with jim o’rourke). sticking with the collection’s title, three lobed is rather confident that the musical threads that run through all of these contributions are strong and natural – folks who are interested in one or two of the contributors should be enthralled by the work from the other artists that surrounds those tracks.” ”befitting of such an intense musical collection, not the spaces you know, but between them will be a pretty lush package. the whole thing will start with a plush, heavy stoughton lid box which will be filled with: (1) four vinyl albums pressed on 140gram dutch vinyl; (2) four different printed inner sleeves each bearing different artwork; (3) a big foldover insert with an extensive liner note essay from marc masters (the wire, pitchfork); (4) audio mastering by patrick klem (with scott colburn having mastered the sun city girls side) and (5) a download card for mp3s of the set. all aspects of the entire set will feature swanky custom artwork by three lobed’s old friend, the super-talented casey burns. only 700 copies of this set will be made available for sale to the public… the few copies all include the very limited hush arbors / key demo split 7inch and mystery artist bonus cd. also includes download version of the entire 4 lps. yowzer. already out of print.
four french and swiss artists dish up solo drone offerings – tamagawa: minimalism musik between earth and lamonte young. oldine: ambient pop between spacemen 3 et brian eno. shit: solo project of vomit for breakfast singer, noise ambiant between merzbow and bastard noise b¬°tong: solo project of cult swiss band mercury 4¬°f, electronica noise between throbbing gristle and lustmord – transparent blue vinyl and hand painted cardboard covers. extremely limited. 200 copies?
spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, stuart ellis of radiodiffusion international has compiled a mind-blowing set of pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. it’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: the panthers, the mods, the bugs, the blue birds, the abstracts, the aay jays, the fore thoughts, nisar bazmi, and sohail rana. situated between afghanistan, india and iran, the collision of cultural influences in pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet. by the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing american and british pop covers became popular in karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties. long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across pakistan. soon, hippies from both north america and europe began flocking to karachi, lahore and peshawar. very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record. like their neighbors in india, the pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music, which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar. pakistan’s musical revolution ended in june 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure islamic state governed by sharia law. this marked the end of the “swinging ’70s” in pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. after the clamp-down, many pakistani musicians left the country and moved to america, canada and england. the audio quality here is top-notch, sourced straight from the original emi pakistan masters. this limited 2lp set is housed in a heavy-duty full-color gatefold jacket with superb photos of the musicians and extended liner notes by compiler stuart ellis.
a very special 3cd set of some of the best new music being made off the grid and under the radar by artists from and/or living in wales. 4 hours of challenging music spread over 3 discs, with 32 page booklet, housed in a custom foil-embossed box. limited edition of 1000. welcome to brave new wales, a personal selection of the best new music being made under the radar and off the grid by musicians from and/or living in the land of song. despite many areas of welsh music being celebrated and well documented, little publicity has so far been given to the more experimental or challenging avenues being pursued by the rule breakers, or perhaps more interestingly, those blissfully unaware of the rules in the first place. theres great variety here: from the murky baritone guitar smears of chuch to the environmental recordings of eirwyn llwyd roberts; from the brick-in-the-face noise of stereo minus one, rose heyworth and edwin pang to the strange beauty of angharad and rhodri davies violin and harp improvisations. we make no attempt to search for welshness within the music, or to investigate parallels between land and sound – our intention is more simple: to showcase music that you are unlikely to have heard before; to give recognition to the creative souls tucked away in bedrooms and studios (and forests) up and down the land making music primarily for their own pleasure, and to show that in this tiny and bewitching country of only 3 million people, theres much to celebrate. we hope you enjoy listening as much as the contributors enjoyed making. and if you like what you hear, spend some time seeking out more. this is a far from comprehensive survey; there are likely volumes more material as yet undiscovered. finally, if you’re making strange and wonderful music, feel you should have been included but weren’t, get in touch. there’s always volume 2… lovely collection, beautifully packaged. all copies here include the limited to 100 copy bonus cdr.
featuring one full 3inch disc each from : BIG BLOOD, VALERIO COSI, GREGG KOWALSKY, SUPER MINERALS, NATURAL SNOW BUILDINGS, THE NORTH SEA, FABIO ORSI, ANDREW PAINE, PILLARS OF HEAVEN, and THROUROOF… 8 hand stamped 3″ cdrs all housed their own jewel case. each cd has its own cover which was designed by an artist from philadelphia. all cds come in a custom cut, full color printed box along with a full color zine with additional art and info. edition of 200. visual artists: kris chau, mike bukowski, melissa farley, josh robison, chris lawrence, zoe soslow, james ulmer, kathryn moran, and sienna freeman… really sweet little release here! instantly out of print so act fast.
limited edition full-color gatefold lp version of the sublime frequencies cd release from 2004. original description from 2004: how do they do it? are they smarter? are they better? how can it be ignored or denied? how is it possible that one of the most unique, perfectly composed and performed, intense and awe-inspiring musical legacies the world has ever known is looming north of the equator physically tucked between world cultural giants india, china, and thailand, without more than a whisper from ethnomusicologists or those who define themselves as “purveyors of world music?” not only are the roots of this music unique, but so are the results after incorporating outside instrumentation from modern colonial and (unavoidable) international influence. what the burmese have done with a piano is so precise in the adaptation to their existing form and melody that one would think they invented it. burmese music has a very distinct sound and whatever instrument is assimilated into its core only seems to magnify the original intent without depending upon outside ideas relating to each component utilized. this collection will immediately bring you up to speed to what you have been missing all along. the time is now to put the real music of myanmar on the map once and for all. here are some of the greatest names from the past 50 years of burmese musical history from the original recordings featuring mar mar aye, bo sein, and the incomparable tonte theintan. listen, and be amazed! compiled by alan bishop (sun city girls) in 1993 and originally released on majora records (lp/1994)… great to see this one vinyl!
rec. live @ dynamo klubi on march 11, 2006 by mikko lagernohm side a: RAKHIM with HANS-JOACHIM IRMLER. side b: LAUHKEAT LAMPAAT with LAU NAU and KUUPUU… two unique sides: on side a you’d hear a rare meeting among rakhim (circle’s more dark side project) and hans-joachim irmler from legendary faust! while on side b, a two male / two female playful affair (qbico’s idea) among brothers tolvi (rahun orkesteri) and antti tolvi’s wife lau nau with kuupuu. true unite spirit and perfect balance between both sides with opposite moods… 200gm clear blue vinyl. quite limited.
the long-awaited foray into the vietnamese rock, pop and soul sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s is finally here. saigon rock & soul delivers the goods international retro collectors have been searching for in vain for many years — and it delivers beyond belief. every song is a mini-masterpiece, be it heavy acid-rock psychedelia, horn- and guitar-drenched funk grooves, or gripping soul ballads reflective of life during wartime. the tracks that form this collection cut a window into a rich musical vietnamese music scene that has long been obscured, and for the most part, forgotten. as the scope of electrified vietnamese music from the 1960s and 1970s begins to be revealed, it becomes evident that this was among the heaviest and most eclectic musical scenes of southeast asia at the time. these songs tell of war, love and what war does to love. all of them were recorded in makeshift studios and even u.s. army facilities while the vietnam war raged — and were issued by a handful of saigon record companies on vinyl 45s and reel or cassette tapes. westernized forms of music in vietnam had appeared during the latter 19th century, and especially during the early 20th century, under the influence of the french colonizers. tan nhac (trans. “modern music”) always incorporated both domestic and international sounds, and continued to develop alongside western musical trends. during the 1960s and 1970s, pulp ballads were being recorded by leading crooners of the time who alternated between modern and traditional forms of regional music. when the electric guitar hit the streets of saigon, vietnamese renditions of contemporary instrumental trends such as surf-rock, beat and twist soon emerged, followed by some pretty deep soul sounds inspired by motown radio hits as well as funk grooves brought on by james brown and his contemporaries. by the mid-1960s, vietnam had been ravaged by war for years. american g.i.s had become a standard fixture in saigon, as did many of the cultural artifacts they brought with them. this certainly included the music. the sounds of rock and roll dominated the radio waves, and saigon nightclubs were teeming with new sounds. musically, the shadows and the ventures soon gave way to the beatles and the rolling stones as an enthusiastic set of young vietnamese rockers signed on to the lifestyle, always eager to hear the latest musical trends the g.i.s would bring in on lp or tape. this era saw the birth of a vibrant rock scene, yet rock music and anything that came close was commonly referred to as “soul” in the vietnamese genre-listings. like many cultures in asia, vietnamese music is recorded, marketed, listened to and disposed of in a relatively quick manner. this level of advanced ephemera ensures a degree of difficulty when trying to unearth and discover cultural histories. literally, most of the music heard here has been brought back from the dead. artists featured include some of vietnam’s most popular at the time: elvis phuong, hung cuong, mai lei huyen, le thu, thai thanh, giao linh, mai lei huyen and the cbc band. this limited edition 2lp vinyl release features 70 minutes of classic original recordings compiled by mark gergis housed in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes.
pretty sweet uk drone/psych/experimental heavies comp on this new label. features exclusive tracks from: tirath singh nirmala – singing at the moon, one ensemble of daniel padden – low clowns, peril hill – vapours in august, chora – live from the inky gazelle gland, bridget hayden – untitled, nalle – are you beautiful inside? are you here?, feather gatherers – leaves, big eyes family players – alenky, michael flower band – santa flauta, tau emerald – the piano key, inecto school – mullard’s third madrigal, james green – ribbon, ben reynolds – golden arm, directing hand – down in yon forest, mcwatt – untitled – full color fold out covers as well.
textile is proud to offer the last copies of this year sonic protest festival double cd sampler including unreleased material or unreleased on cd tracks from no neck blues band, trencher, tetuzi akiyama, hive mind, jazzkamer, carlos giffoni, yellow swans, quintet avant, justice yeldham, astral social club, harry merry, brotzman / pliakas / wertmueller, and more… this 27 tracks double cd compilation is packaged in a beautiful silkscreened 7inch sleeve. illustration by marie caillou based on the textile rds vinyl serie sleeves characters. this year was the last ever edition of the sonic protest festival and was dedicated to the memory of benoit sonnette textile rds and sonic protest founder who passed away earlier this year. may he rest in peace.
out of print. with 6MAGIK9, GOLDEN OAKS, DAVENPORT, THE NORTH SEA, BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD, TERRACID and more.
totally obscure new compilation on a totally obscure (non)label or something, we think – as far as we can tell this features about 30 different bands, whose members seem to overlap quite a bit – but as the liner notes seem to barely grasp the reality of the lp, its pretty hard to say just what’s going on here – we do know that there’s some elephant micah action on here, as well as some sounds from the great kitchen typists, plus lots of other lo-fi, basement loving, entertaining, and plain old head-scratichingly strange bits – all packaged in some totally hand made, collaged, recycled, spraypainted covers, and extremely limited.
expand your experience of space-time with the aid of five continuum-dilating long-form droneworks, contributed by my cat is an alien, taurpis tula, jim haynes, the skaters, and number none. released june 2005.
with THE CLEAR SPOTS, HEAVY WINGED, WOLFSKULL, AND THE LOST DOMAIN. 150 copies. out of print. one copy only!
with ROBERT HORTON, NIAGARA FALLS, GART & SEEKATZE, & SEAN OG’S TRIHORNOPHONE. 150 copies. one copy only!
“people were saying that southern folk song was dead, that the land that had produced american jazz, the blues, the spirituals, the mountain ballads and the work songs had gone sterile.” — alan lomax, 1960.
“in 1959 and 1960, at the height of the folk revival, alan lomax undertook the first-ever stereo field recording trip through the american south to document its still thriving vernacular musical culture. he traveled through virginia, kentucky, tennessee, alabama, mississippi, arkansas, georgia, and north carolina, making over 70 hours of recordings. the trip came to be known as lomax’s ‘southern journey,’ and its recordings were first issued for the atlantic and prestige labels in the early ’60s. those, however, as well as subsequent releases on new world and rounder records, are now all out of print. to remedy this, and to celebrate the southern journey’s 50th anniversary, mississippi records and the alan lomax collection have collaborated on five commemorative lps, spanning the breadth of lomax’s ’59-60 southern recordings, drawing on new transfers of the original 1/4″ tapes, and featuring a considerable amount of previously unreleased material. the five lp volumes feature singing siblings hobart smith and texas gladden from saltville, virginia; menhaden fishermen’s chorus the bright light quartet; the young brothers’ mississippi hill country fife and drum band; blue ridge instrumentalists wade ward and charlie higgins; bessie jones and the georgia sea island singers; work songs and hollers from parchman farm; congregational hymns from african american and white appalachian meeting-houses; alabama’s singing washerwoman vera ward hall; the 1959 united sacred harp convention; and the debut recordings of bluesman fred mcdowell, among much else. each volume is being sold separately with its own distinctive packaging. all come with a 12-page booklet featuring many never before published photos. old school tip on sleeves & beautiful sound. not to be missed!
beautiful vinyl edition (limited to 300) of the seminal basho tribute first released on cd by important records in 2010. released in response to strong demand after being included in acoustic guitar magazine’s best albums of 2010, textura’s best of 2010 and 4 or 5 star reviews everywhere else. featuring the best guitar, folk and new psych artists around and curated by buck curran this album really benefits from the lush re-mastered for vinyl sound and 180gm pressing (vinyl mastering by patrick klem). we are all one, in the sun: a tribute to robbie basho, represents a humble tribute to this truly original and passionate american guitarist, musician and composer curated and realized by musician, producer, and acoustic guitar maker buck curran (who along with his wife shanti performs as the duo arborea). this collection of both original compositions and new interpretations of basho songs befittingly begins with german guitarist and painter steffen basho junghans, who has devoted almost 20 years to composing guitar music in the spirit of robbie basho. there is also a gorgeous composition by glenn jones, a friend of basho and another musician who has dedicated his life to proliferated music composed on the steel string guitar, and the young irish guitarist cian nugent…who represents a new generation of guitarist-composers carrying on the torch. meg baird, arborea and fern knight all represent beautiful female led vocal tributes to robbie basho compositions that feature his passionate and evocative singing. curran’s choice of female led vocal performances is a tribute honoring basho’s own profound spiritual reverence and fantastical love for women. basho’s own singing was said to have been first inspired by the beautiful and powerful voice of peruvian soprano yma sumac. the choice of involving instrumentalists rahim alhaj and helena espvall in this project was simple, in that curran feels basho would have appreciated their roots, virtuosity, and passion and in their sound he also hears a kindred spirit linking all three musicians. rahim alhaj is a grammy nominated iraqi born master of the persian oud. alhaj, a student of the great munir bashir, exhibits great technique and a pure emotional style. cellist helena espvall, a native of sweden, represents a musician with a deep connection to her instrument, a musician who conjures up mysterious and emotionally charged improvisational music from bow and cello, music that is an amalgamation of sounds and textures from her travels all over the world. this record is also dedicated to the memory of philadelphia based guitarist jack rose, who passed away too young (1971 to 2009) and who over the past decade created and recorded some of the most beautiful and powerful guitar music in the tradition pioneered by robbie basho. (excerpted from the original press release from important records)… features meg baird, helena espvall, fern knight, cian nugent, glenn jones, arborea, and basho-junghans. deluxe vinyl edition of only 300 copies.
it’s true–the sons and daughters of homestead, xpressway and first-wave drag city (et al.) are now making good music. the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s are all there, bound together by shitty tape machines, reverb and easy chord changes, but melody is back and so is the joy of jamming a perfectly mangled pop song. welcome home might hit some new kids the way human music or nuggets did back in their day. in any case, it’s one of those rare compilations you can play straight through and over again. -glenn donaldson. all tracks (excepting white fence’s “the love between”) are exclusive to this release… nice vinyl upgrade of this rad comp. features : woods / run dmt / white fence / the fresh & onlys / the mantles / skygreen leopards / alex bleeker / moon duo / city center / cause co motion / art museums / nodzzz / ducktails.
honest jon’s has prepared a series drawing on some of the earliest recordings in the emi hayes archive — recovered from more than 150,000 78s — staggering music from iraq, turkey, caucasia, lebanon, iran (including sides made in old street, london, in 1909), egypt and the belgian congo. this series opener presents the music of the west african underground of 1920s britain, recorded at hayes and released on the zonophone label (which exported nearly all the records to west africa). you can hear caribbean influences here, the promise of highlife there, but living is hard mostly disavows fusion and assimilation. and by contrast with antecedents in the history of black music in britain — minstrelsy and spirituals, for example, ragtime and jazz — these recordings are unhitched from the protocols of a white listenership. these are startling, trenchant, elemental roots — carrying troubled news home, along with signs of the new african nationalism — and an enthralling glimpse of other lives, other times. artists include: oni johnson, isaac jackson, ben simmons, harry e. quashie, douglas papafio, prince zulamkah, the west african instrumental quintet, the ga quartet, domingo justus, james tucker, john mugat, kumasi trio, james thomas, nicholas de heer, george williams aingo and james brown. 2lp version, deluxe gatefold sleeve. with large insert including mark ainley’s liner notes plus photos, etc.
second installment in the field recordings from alan lomax’s “southern journey”, 1959-1960 series, featuring recordings from blues singer sidney carter, seventy year-old norman edmonds, rosa lee (or rosalie) hill performing on fred mcdowell’s porch, two mississippi gospel groups, the united sacred harp convention in 1959 alabama, the first-ever recordings of the fife and drum music of the mississippi hill country and the bright light quartet, a group of fishermen recorded in virginia in 1960… heavy cover with extensive notes.
a limited compilation lp + 7″ of western mass. music. it was made to be released in concurrence with a week-long series of music events in the area. this comp attempted to chronicle 10+ years of music by solo artists, bands, and ex-bands from western mass. like: noise nomads, squidlaunch, chris corsano, laudable pus, sunburned hand of the man, shurt kwitters/bromp treb/chris cooper (all from fat worm of error), head of wantasquit (paul from sunburned), bill nace, red favorite, viking funeral, avocet & kurt weisman (from feathers), aaron rosenbloom, matt krefting, lil dusty (pete from magik markers), gastric lavage, jow jow, mirror/dash (kim & thurston), whyte kastles, and slander puff (dredd foole meets john shaw & tarp). all music is previously-unreleased on vinyl and most has never been released before in any format.” hand-assembled covers, with inserts, byron coley liner notes and a bonus 7″ pressed on clear vinyl.
compilation tape with 1 track each by entente cordiale, my cat is an alien, number none and secrets to the sea. yellow cassette, yellow paper fold-around cover. 40 copies – extremely limited stock.
first release on the label! out of print. with BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD, TERRACID, FFHERO, SOARWHOLE, etc.
of contemp bizarro & acoustic based ‘christmas and seasonal sounds’ by 24+ groups and individuals like: sop, ed askew, prisma, exusamwa (fat day & preggy peggy folks), dawn cook, bromp treb, pat conte (secret museum), ralph white, jack callahan, bunwinkies, flaming dragons of middle earth, defneg & tumblecat duo, big kids, cycles inside, crystaline roses, happy jawbone band, betsy nichols, bengeorge7, richie & the zip code & a bunch more! comes with a cassette with more similar soundz & a big fold-out art cover with seperate pages by jeff hartford, josh verizon, ruth garbus, john moloney,& josh burkett. 350 copies… totally bonkers concept & packaging from joshua burkett’s great mystra label.
4-way split 7” between CASTANETS, OHIOAN, GHOST TO FALCO, and DRAGGING AN OX THROUGH WATER. limited to 300 copies. hand-screened, 3 color covers. featuring artwork from brian mumford (dragging an ox), jeffery bowers (prism index magazine, “american boogie” film), and o ryne warner (ohioan). all exclusive new music. all tracks are in mono, with each song hard panned left (west) or right (east), so to hear separately, pan your stereo accordingly. also, some cross-talk is inevitable on vinyl, so personal equalization is recommended. or just listen to two songs simultaneously and freak out… beautiful looking release & cool concept too.
features: rob mullender, wooden spoon, ladywoodsman, the eidetic band, each given one side of an lp – free london, is a split double lp (heavy weight vinyl), of 4 bands/musicians currently working in london’s growing improvised folk music scene. lp one: wooden spoon is seeking to create a music free from the influence of the contemporary world, to evoke some kind of state of pastoral introspection at once joyful and sad. influenced by the takoma school of guitar players, popol vuh & folk music from around the world. rob mullender, takes the other side of this lp with some solo acoustic pieces that owe much to heroes of the english guitar in jansch, renbourn and others. mullender also spent some time wood shedding with davey graham. his music is delicate wonderings that edge towards a freer conception of folk music. lp 2: eidetic band working throughout the different musical diagrams, those both fictional and unreal (the names of folk, noise, drone, jazz etc) — traditions which inform ways of feeling and playing and showing with sounds. the eidetic band are interested in exploring each in never ending turn, in splicing them, in both respecting and devastating en route to feeling sound and its extent, deeper and deeper. the ladyswoodsman is a london based duo of luke garwood (a.k.a duke garwood) and paul may. using a variety of different instruments from guitars, clarinets to all kinds of percussion in the creation of improvisations that ignites the imagination. some of the tracks have a down home folky feel, while others could find themselves happily nestling amongst the free jazz greats of the late ’60s – nice one. packaged in a heavy fold-around cover with a nice insert. double 180gm vinyl. numbered edition of 500 copies.
this collects a bunch of mostly live tracks from 1966, in the early and most experimental days of the band. from a performance at the factory on jan. 3: “heroin,” “miss joanie lee,” “boom boom,” “green onions,” “there she goes again” (lou singing), “walk alone,” “venus in furs/cracking up,” “there she goes again” (nico singing), and 3 untitled instrumentals. from the factory on march 7: “get it on time”and “i’ll be your mirror” (lou singing). from a performance at nyc filmmakers cinematheque on feb. 6: “heroin,” “ill keep it mine,” and “european son.” from a recording made at john cales loft sometime in the winter of 66: “sheltered life” and “here she comes now.” from the east village others (a nyc underground newspaper) “electric news paper” lp recorded on aug. 6: “noise,” plus a short interview with andy warhol on wnet-tv on feb. 7. sound quality ranges from very good to very primitive. color vinyl pressing.
awesome new live bootleg lp recorded at the gymnasium, new york city, new york, april 1967. includes the never before released track ‘i’m not a young man anymore’ as well as the earliest live performance of ‘sister ray’. great rare vintage photo cover art as well. very limited. highest recommendation.
cool velvets bootleg with all the max’s kansas city live recordings that didn’t make it on to the official album. a must have for any fan hoping to catch a deeper glimps of those last couple gigs before lou reed split the band for good. very limited pressing.
the velvet underground singles 1966-69, is a seven-disc box set honoring the legendary new york combo’s 7″ vinyl output in their rare mono versions. the set features exact reproductions of velvet underground singles, two of them with their original picture sleeves. the singles are packaged in a distinctively designed box, along with rare vintage photos and new liner notes by rolling stone’s david fricke (who also penned the acclaimed notes for the historic 1995 velvets cd box set peel slowly and see). the velvet underground — whose membership included lou reed, john cale, sterling morrison, maureen tucker, doug yule and nico — introduced numerous sonic and thematic innovations that laid much of the groundwork for punk and alternative rock. although they’re now acknowledged as one of the most influential bands in rock history, during their existence the velvets barely registered on mainstream radar, and were often reviled by mainstream observers as well as hippie-era arbiters of cool. but, as fricke writes in the new set’s liner notes, ‘somewhere, in another rock & roll universe, the velvet underground are more than a legendary band. they are stars, with hit singles — the original seven-inch masterpieces inside this box.’ although they never came close to scoring a hit, the velvet underground was ideally suited to the 7″ single format. ‘the velvet underground were a great singles band,’ david fricke notes, adding that the velvets ‘invented modern rock with searing guitar distortion, throbbing improvisation and brutally realistic tales of life on the wild side. but they did it all in these classic pop songs — compact miracles of raw drive, intimate beauty and top 40 ecstasy, heard again in the original, thrilling mono single mixes.’ the seven singles included in the velvet underground singles 1966-69 comprise the four velvets singles originally released in the u.s. on the verve and mgm labels, plus an additional pair of singles that were prepared for release but never made it to the marketplace and a special radio-only promotional single. the singles feature alternate mono versions that differ in significant ways from the songs’ better-known stereo album versions. for instance, the band’s 1966 debut single ‘all tomorrow’s parties’ appears here in a special mono edit that amplifies the song’s melodic beauty and sonic tension, and a mono mix of their sophomore single ‘sunday morning’ emphasizes the song’s haunting quality. meanwhile, the mono single version of ‘white light/white heat’ exemplifies the vintage velvets’ stark, distortion-laden fury, while a mono edit of ‘what goes on’ accentuates that song’s inherent pop jangle. the velvet underground singles 1966-69 also includes two unissued singles, one with a never-released pairing of ‘white light/white heat’ backed by ‘i heard her call my name,’ and the other with ‘temptation inside your heart’ and ‘stephanie says,’ recorded in the waning days of the band’s classic reed/cale/morrison/tucker lineup and unheard by the public for nearly two decades thereafter. the set’s seventh single is a reproduction of a vintage promotional disc, a two-and-a-half minute radio spot promoting the band’s eponymous third album and featuring legendary disc jockey bill ‘rosko’ mercer, with excerpts from ‘i’m set free,’ ‘what goes on’ and ‘beginning to see the light,’ as well as a picture sleeve with an un-airbrushed variation on the album’s iconic cover art. by presenting the velvets as a singles band, the velvet underground singles 1966-69 shows, in david fricke’s words, ‘rock history the way it should have been: the velvet underground as the new york beatles, guaranteed to blow up your radio and your mind.’… essential release for any serious fan! highly recommended.
legenda is on one hand a combination and a continuum of different things, on the other something unique. listener with a sharp ear and enlightened mind should be able to locate the past points of reference for the cd. legenda is a logical continuum of the 1960s and 1970s wild electronic experiments and general recklessness of finnish underground music. legenda is a logical continuum of krautrock as bands like faust, can, neu and amon duul presented it for us legenda is a logical continuum of the multiplicity of golden era pink floyd (ummagumma/atom heart mother) and their perfection in sounds and recording techniques. legenda is a logical continuum of the work that was started back in the day by nurse with wound, throbbing gristle and such industrial music pioneers. legenda is a logical continuum of miles davis masterworks such as bitches brew and his live recordings from the same era. the music of verde is not meant for superficial listening. verde challenge their listeners instead of trying to please them legenda is the second official cd by verde, lead by electronics wizard/madman mika rintala (ex-circle, ektroverde). the first one, vuoronumero, came out in 2004. legenda is co-released by mir, zum teufel and ruma puulaaki – nice full color digipak gatefold covers.
final repress of 250 copies… every family has a freak (or 2). every deck’s got a wild card. we’ve got vibes. ante up. nnf’s loosest cannons return to the recording fray with psychic, a blown-out briar patch of basement garage fantasy masquerading as obscurist protest funk – and the band’s first vinyl statement. recorded in eagle rock on a “last legs”-style 4-track, the ep’s four songs are jacked deep in the red, with fuzz bass, wah shrapnel, vocal sloganeering, and drum racket all fighting for tape room. competition is fierce. recent live faves like “dead horses” and “night court” appear in particularly revved-up form, as do the first two vibes songs ever written, “psychic” and “prisms of fame.” all bases are covered. all soul trains are derailed. here comes the judge. black vinyl 33 rpm singles in full-color fold-over sleeves with collage artwork and lettering by cameron stallones, photographs by caitlin c. mitchell, plus a rant-y revolution scrapbook insert.
the ever-mysterious vibracathedral orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition lps. slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts mick flower and adam davenport with frequent collaborators john godbert (total) and john moloney (sunburned hand of the man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. joka baya offers up a set of shorter pieces on the a-side in a high-fidelity style that contrasts the dark, smoky sound of the rest of the tracks. the percussive grooves are overlaid with sunroof!!-like shimmer, stabbing electric leads, gentle acoustic rain, and droning organ peeking through at opportune moments. the roaring side-long epic on the flip is a droning, phasing slice of psychedelia with moloney’s drums battering the tape in between long stretches of humming stasis.
the third of three new lps from the vibracathedral orchestra. smoke song’s more gentle exposition starts with adam davenport’s santoor (a type of hammered dulcimer) leading the band into a lengthy mid-tempo groove on “smoke song,” followed on the second half of the side by the short, quiet “cholita maria.” the second side’s 17-minute “get it?” lays down the tremolo and phase in a manner reminiscent of the best spacemen 3 comedowns, taking a pulse and riding it into organ- and percussion-fueled bliss.
the second of three new lps from the vibracathedral orchestra. the secret base starts up at full throttle, straight into a raw-sounding live outing, with mick flower’s overdriven guitar occupying the same sonic space that gives his japan banjo / shaahi baaja workouts with chris corsano their urgency. the sound is dark and rough, almost xpressway-like in its claustrophobic atmosphere. the percolating krautrock stylings of “if you can’t smoke ‘em” chugs along hypnotically for over 13 minutes to close out the side. the entire b-side’s 20-plus minutes are devoted to the clanging free sound of “eyes of wood,” where gamelan-like metal percussion dominates the proceedings.
helsinki’s videotrage rise from the ashes of tivol. they are sami kettunen and mika ihanamäki, the latter half of the duo also runs the octane grammophon label. their fondness for ’70s synth-prog shines through here in most delightful ways, whilst sounding fresh and alive. there’s a finnish spoken word part, which may well be the lecture of the title. as far as i was concerned, i had no idea what it was all about, but found it a good trigger to the imagination: if you don’t understand the original words, write your own story and use this as the soundtrack! a fine and welcome disc, handpainted in red. (jc) – boa melody bar.
hailing from gothenburg, viking jews is the brainchild of hannes norrvide (also a member of bleak rascal duo lust for youth), which after a few selfreleased cassettes here offers up 20 shimmering minutes for his vinyl debut. melancholic and rhythmic stuff melted through cheap keyboards, distinguished vocals and some serious cassette-flippin’, somewhat covered under layers of dust, delay and piles of trashed skateboard decks. twisted west coast ambience and scandinavian heat all over. think of monopoly child star searchers, early dolphins into the future and innercity and maybe you are halfways. all new material, except the inclusion of the beautiful ambient-closer from the boneless cassette which we just couldn’t resist to put on vinyl. smycken resides in gothenburg / malmö / copenhagen and consists of rasmus svensson and hanna nilsson. just as with viking jews, this is the first vinyl-apperance from smycken after most notably a cassette on night people and a cd-r on psychic malmö (both released in 2009). 4 tracks of hazy and dreamy music, pushing forward everything towards a more refined pop-sound but without loosing it’s initial fonal-esque psychedelic blurs and almost folky undertones. current popular culture is being demolished and embraced at the same time. tracks like marble slabz will have you, with a big smile, asking yourself what the fuck just happened and the closer mysterious moonlight is the closest thing we have come to a ballad in the rtb discography since… well, ever… edition of only 275 copies, pressed on lovely pale blue vinyl.
constant hitmaker’s songs are varied and twisted in their arrangements, but most often include exquisite melodies floating atop a bed of hissing psych-pop experiments that fall together as nearly perfect pop songs. the album is steeped in an atmosphere of four-track recording and homespun obscurity, however it frequently, almost if by mistake, references a collection of some of pop music’s best: my bloody valentine are felt on ‘space forklift,’ lee hazlewood’s spirit haunts ‘slow talkers,’ and lou reed adorns ‘don’t get cute.’ all this without mentioning the album’s most distinct song, ‘freeway,’ the lone studio recording and a piece of music that will become lodged in every head that hears it. constant hitmaker comes off a bit straighter than anything on the siltbreeze label, but more lovingly deranged than most every other indie rock album. it’s something noteworthy, no doubt, and not just because it lives up to its title. – skyscraper magazine.
more than a mere odds-n-ends collection, kurt vile’s latest lp is a compilation of tracks from overnite kv, a tour-only cdr made in conjunction with a european tour of kurt’s other project (the war on drugs), along with a handful of extra tracks recorded specifically for this release. here we find kurt solo, four-trackin’ as usual, and blowing minds with his mix of bluegrass guitar, blazed singer-songwriterisms, and the knowledge of how to balance these contexts out with laidback precision. psychedelic to its core, these twelve tracks speak to the will of the casual perfectionist, honing his craft with effortless aplomb. you’ll be hearing plenty more from this philadelphian wizard in the months to follow, and we’re happy to keep the ball rolling with god is saying this to you… repressed numbered edition of 2000.
here’s the timeless record for 2009. electric studio (mostly) recordings from philadelphia’s constant hitmaker. new fans of his last cd will cry into their pillows and accuse him of selling out the bedroom rock scene. the initiated few will know he’s been doing it for years… plugging in with a full on rock band called the violators and gigging in all corners of philly. with baritone guitar/bassist adam granduciel, rodeo slide & fuzz guitar from jesse turbo, and perfect percussion from mike zeng, the violators are kurt’s crazy horse, slugging it out with him when he feels like playing with a full band. oddly pleasant singing, in-the-red fingerpicking, twisting swells of feedback, totally pounding drums, and krautlike-zen fill both sides of this record. loud and proud, the hunchback ep looks right filed next to your neil, faust, and spacemen 3 records… includes download coupon.
digital version of the above. 1,000 pressed. packaged in a 6 panel digipak.
having changed their name from uke of phillips, to uke of spaces corners, this time around, on their 4th full length album, we see another moniker shift, to village of spaces. collaborating with michael hurley, big blood, ancestral diet and caethua, “alchemy and trust” might be this crew’s most potent release to date if not their most deliberate and un-compromising. recordings made over the last 3 years make up this 34 minute lp, which was recorded at the pool recording studios in portland, oregon, big blood’s tank 26 studios in so. portland, maine, and by nemo bidstrup at the bands home in midcoast, maine. heavy trance elements are woven throughout the entire lp, as opposed to hinging on the individual songs themselves. neo-traditional, butter fried homesteader volk, with extended vamps on, but not limited to, the g chord… vinyl edition of 500 with heavy screen printed insert. really happy to have helped with this wonderful album. recommended!
folky songs about bubblegum girls and soft explosions – four tracks of psychedelic folk from the north… nice! real limited too.
during summer 1998 ville leinonen & valumo made their first visit in a recording studio in savonlinna, their hometown. now this almost eight years old session of two songs has been released by fonal records.
the sparrow is the same fragile little bird that appears on two old classic finnish christmas carols (freezing to death on the christmas morning and locked in the cage of sylvia). the poor bird is dying, the end is near. will the famous gunslinger save it in time? hey, my sister leads us to late 90´s smalltown-angst, too small circles. to a turningpoint of the darkest sequel of this reality show. big brother is about to lose his mind because of his little sister.
out of print. one copy only.
crackling mumbling free-association drone recorded in the deep and dark caves of turku: drawing inspiration from the dim and snowless winter, sleep deprivation, sickness and alcohol. try and catch the wind – crayon colored covers.
first ever reissue of this hopelessly rare & obscure 1971 rural virginia private press folk masterpiece. a true anomaly in the seemingly bottomless world of self released albums, this one charts a truly unique realm all its own… while the sound itself may draw some clear influence from classics of the day, even lifting the band name from a song by the band, the mood & vibe here is ponderously uncharted territory, seemingly birthed complete from some parallel sonic reality. crude lo-fi metaphysical basement folkrock filtered through a deeply southern gothic / appalachian / americana band aesthetic and executed in the purest, most sincere, spontaneous, vibe-thick sense possible. the atmosphere trapped in these grooves is truly as strong as it gets and is sure to engulf any open-minded listener given half a chance… the near magical power of the album seems to lay in its extreme polarization; on the one hand there is a fully developed lyrical depth and intellect that’s profoundly poetic, even novelistic, yet the music & recording is shockingly raw, unhinged, completely unselfconscious, and downright weird. it’s a dusty, creaky, ebb & flow of clackity percussion, acoustic strum, shaky low-watt electric guitar licks, occasional floorboard rattling bass, and thick southern drawl. even the recording quality has a bizarre lo-fi character of its own, with some sounds seeming to barely hit the tape at all, while others are wildly overblown, wrapping the whole deal in a gauzy tape hiss fog, with hints of garagy distortion. the album progresses with a casual but surprisingly purposeful intent, hitting an intimately mystical, visionary, dream-like arc through the entire second side of the record and ending in complete dissipation… all taken together it’s a seriously teleportive trip to a flicker in time & place that is really quite special… the scratchy textless black & white band photo cover art suites the album perfectly: striking yet vague, timeless yet ancient, simple yet mysterious… pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl and packaged in an exact reproduction heavy old-style cover, with exact repro labels. also includes a double-sided heavy stock insert with new liner notes from main songwriter and vocalist roger mannon, as well as introductory notes from band scholar and devoted fan jack d. fleischer. one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.
new disc from fulltime rocker pete nolan (magic markers, ghq and tons more). spaced out bliss. 80 copies – crazy primitive hand made covers. wicked!
in the true spirit of the occasion, southern maine’s outerworldly psych-folk beacons visitations and big blood decide to forgo the concept of the “split” release and instead launch forth into a mindbending collaborative effort. the bands are not new to performing together: they’ve toured together and have even backed each other up under various names. but this release marks the first physical release by their combined forces, and, unbelievably enough, is big blood’s first vinyl release ever. the ease with which the bands complement each other is astounding – five clear voices reaching together to guide the record through a buzz-guitar singalong, a breathless pastoral folk tune, a chugging nightmare rock-dirge, and a sweetly-lighthearted vocal exercise. this 33rpm 7″ record contains four tracks in a 14-minute official runtime, but will play forever if you let it. in addition, the record comes with a bonus cd-r of tracks from the late-night jam session that pre-dated the recording sessions for the 7″, as well as the four tracks from the 7″ itself in digital form. a one-of-a-kind package, with each record sleeve offset printed with the bands’ artwork in dark blue ink on colorful, individually hand-painted sheets of heavy art paper. embossed, hand-numbered limited edition of 300 record/cdr sets… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series. awesome one!!
brooklyn’s vivian girls are back with everything goes wrong, released almost exactly a year after in the red’s reissue of their self-titled debut. the band have taken their time with this new album and recorded it in six days-rather than the three their debut took-though many of the songs were still recorded in single takes. over the last year, the vivian girls have toured the us and europe extensively and received a considerable amount of national and international press. everything goes wrong is a slightly moodier album than its predecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twice the length of anything on their debut. that said, the influences remain the same; ramones, ’60s girl groups, surf, indie pop, etc., etc. this is immediately classic stuff. watch for constant touring in late ’09 and ’10.
new single on the ladies own label. features kyle of feathers / king tuff / happy birthday. limited pressing.
repressed and hotter than a forklift load of acapulco gold… irresistible mix of shoegaze, punk, and ’60s girl-group sounds with beautiful reverb-drenched vocals. features three self-recorded tracks of lo-fi goodness.
caitlin cook and calder martin, formerly vocalist/players in excepter, resurface as a rock duo with martin weaving holographic guitar riffs around cook’s wails and gloomy poems. the pair spent two years living in the skylight studio of the historic matthew brady daguerreotype building at 359 broadway nyc, recording in the same vaulted rooms where abe lincoln, felicita vestvali, edgar allan poe, frederick douglas, and sitting bull voluntarily screwed their heads into iron stabilizers in order to be photographed. the resulting album conveys a falsely two-sided pattern of epic american triumph, contemplative grooviness, and crumbling disaster in the guise of hyperactive fun. cameo drum appearances blast through at key moments, courtesy of spencer herbst, nathan corbin, and the inimitable fiz. released on seres, a longstanding label cohort of the no-neck blues band. at the right volume, the crackle of the amps will make your ass ripple.
on vlasman recorded this amazing piece of acid euro folk back in 1970, making it sound like an outer space freaked out bob dylan with the help of frans schoonen (organ, flute and harmonica) and leo van vugt (chincha tumba and tambourine). the seven original compositions are stunning, drug inspired psychedelic pieces of acid folk that mix dylan with indian ragas and even add some pink floyd overtones, yet from an acoustic rather than electric point of view. and the album contains also a very cool version of the velvet underground’s ‘pale blue eyes.’ if you ever wondered how dylan would have sounded covering the v.u., here’s a close example! the album, originally released on the small flame label from amsterdam, sold poorly back in the seventies — thus becoming a collector’s piece when it was rediscovered in the eighties. since then it has been gathering new fans that pay small fortunes for a copy, no reissue has been available until now that wah wah offers 500 copies in a lavish edition that will probably sell out soon, so grab your copy before it’s too late! the beautiful cover art and full color poster insert with the lyrics are the work of leendert le duc, and both are here faithfully reproduced as they deserve. the wah wah reissue also features an extra insert with a text by reputed dutch collector jean jöbses and a couple of rare unseen period photos courtesy of the frans schoonen and leo van vugt archives. the album has been carefully remastered by sound wizard denis blackham @ skye mastering, making these songs sound like never before. 500 copies only… great album! beautiful exact repro cover art too.
argentina’s self proclaimed “prehistoric magical psychic band” blast off into the inner space void on this one. electro-accoustic brain burps ringing out through the cosmic ocean. oh mama!
about (((vlube))) : hi ! we are vlube, posted at buenos aires at now, but borned at the lovely chrome moon, circa (since) 1965… our music works consist at psychedelic weird cock, drone rok, free(ak) rock, no music, acid harsh nose, long distant folk, harsh electrons noise; cosmic kingdom music, conceptual art music, free improvisation, magical music for the high kings from the high spheres and i don’t know what’s experimental music (‘) or fuck off… something from this side of the planet and the others planets… comes in green dvd case…
spencer from the skaters. solo electro-tribal trance universe. very limited.
first tchantinler recordings’ vinyl release. “the burning mountain” b/w an alternative version of “dry leaves” from the forthcoming lp. limited to 500 copies in litho-printed fold out sleeves. each copy is individually numbered… pretty awesome new private release from this post voice of the seven woods project. act fast….
voks aka mikkel moir pihl from copenhagen, denmark is a household name on dekorder, being signed to the label since its inception six years ago. though keeping a low profile with only two 3″cd releases in all these years he won over some dedicated fans such as the late john peel, who shortly before his death played a different voks track every week for several weeks in a row. now voks is finally presenting his first full-length album (though only 30 minutes long this is epic in voks’ universe – both 3″cd’s included 10 tracks each within 20 minutes). while keeping his trademark style of hyperactive and nervous high-pitched twisted pop songs a newborn interest in (italo-western) movie soundtracks seems to be evident. the sound of super fast surf guitars is colliding with what seems chinese opera samples, world music is combined with children’s whisteling tunes. think raymond scott, joe meek, ennio morricone or carl stalling collaborating with the residents and then getting an 8-bit remix by the aphex twin. a surprising & amazing record, really! it will leave a huge grin on your face (and a few question marks as well)….
justin vollmar has consistently appeared in the most unlikely sectors of french media, including fashion magazines, tv guides, and even a monograph on the history of rock music (translated title: rock odyssey). in the summer of 2005, justin journeyed overseas to investigate this phenomenon and share a few of his songs in person. surprisingly, the french seemed uninfluenced by what had looked like outright vollmar mania when viewed stateside. the nation went about its business as usual, our hero but another baguette tucked under its collective arm at the day’s end. once, in a moment of painful anonymity, justin stood on a busy metro platform and screamed, ‘i’m the guy from the tv guide!’ repeatedly, before the noise of an incoming train muted his cries for recognition. while the trip did nothing to demystify vollmar’s strange foreign relations, it did yield a couple of great new songs. committed to tape in an open-windowed bordeaux apartment, ‘the runner’ and ‘feels good hurts’ intermingle street-level ambience with justin’s characteristically understated guitar and voice. the effects of a little knob twiddling back in the states help create the sense that vollmar has here reconciled the contrasting extremes of his vision, merging seamlessly his adventurous sense of pure sound with his already distinguished storytelling. like justin vollmar, microwave background mastermind will ryerson is a hoosier transplant, left-handed guitarist, and practiced home taper. prior to their recent reissue, you would have had to send up a microwave telescope on a balloon above antarctica to locate one of ryerson’s homemade cdrs. actually, that’s exactly what led cosmologists to report on the musicality of the real cosmic microwave background, for which the band was named. in 1998, a device called boomerang (balloon observations of millimetric extragalactic radiation and geophysics) floated around the south pole gazing deep into subtle radiation from the beginning of time, still measurable at the universe’s absolute edges. miniscule temperature variations in these big bang remnants indicated in the cmb a ‘harmonic series of angular scales,’ an acoustic structure as enormous as space itself. the music of the earthly microwave background might also be concerned with the spheres, but what the band does best is look through its telescope backwards, creating a skewed miniature of something vast. orchestral moods are played out through the tiny timbres of battery-operated keyboards. noisy rock-outs are crammed back into the boombox. after all, ryerson’s aesthetic is more human than cosmic, even as it evokes the otherworldly. the jubilant ‘wavy oasis’ sounds as if it were a fuzzy pop radio hit broadcast from the very ‘place with all your past and future friends’ imagined in its lyrics. ‘moon and northern cross’ correlates stargazing with songwriting before lifting off on a sonic youth-style guitar implosion. all this suggests a simple moral: when next in antarctica, bring a turntable.
two tracks of abstract sounds recorded live. this disc captures vollmar as a sonic adventurer rather than songwriter… billiant cover art, hand ’bloodied’ by the artist.
new version of this early self released gem. as the title implies, there’s four distinct things going on here, sort of song groups & concepts or something. one of the best vollmar releases out there, mixing, as always, offhanded melancholy folk story songs, cracked folk rock, lo-fi experimentalism & noisy guitar damage. great stuff. new gatefold packaging. limited for sure. recommended.
justin vollmar’s recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who’s got only one person’s ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar’s songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements – modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7″ single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7″ record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
originally released as three 3inch cdr’s and now compiled as a 12inch lp these recordings have appropriately become the first self-titled vollmar album. the approach employed embraces immediacy much like the “4 separate things” cd-r. it’s the most stylistically diverse collection available. players: dorey fox – keyboard, david brant – bass guitar, and distorted keyboard percussion, nathan vollmar – keyboard drums, drums, keyboard, justin vollmar – acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, omnichord, and recording, john ringhofer – sleigh bells, melodica (unheard for all practical purposes)… nice one. screen printed chipboard covers. limited edition.
west virginia native and bloomington, indiana resident justin vollmar has been making leftfield folk-rock for longer than most. he’s toured the western world over with like-minded artists such as half-handed cloud and elephant micah, and released a small library of critically-acclaimed home recordings. a mainstay in the midwest scene, vollmar has also lent his talents to countless bands (mt. gigantic, bronze float, matty pop chart, etc.), and held at least one word-of-mouth music festival in the vacant field beside his house. tell the dirt is vollmar’s newest release as “vollmar,” a band name accommodating two more musicians-drummer/brother/pianist nathan vollmar and bassist david brant. dirt finds the band in a formal studio environment, trying on a slightly more “refined” sound. all the hallmarks of the vollmarian approach, though, remain happily in place. dirt is a characteristically sparse affair, featuring band performances that sound more “live” than “layered.” the brain-twisting songwriting and moments of experimental flourish that have historically set vollmar’s music apart from the indie-folk crowd are likewise here in spades… great new album. numbered edition of 300. hand packaged with hand penciled titles, and a unique large photo print, each a frame from a stop motion film. great concept, right? watch the film here: www.vollmarmusic.com/videos/tell%20the%20dirt-tell%20the%20dirt-h.264.mov
the proprietors of underwater tea party records offered to pay a month of justin vollmar’s rent if he’d make a record for their label. he then went on a family vacation, sat out on the beach late one night, and made some solo recordings straight to simultaneous tape and minidisk recorders. the results make for a kind of sonic portraiture that sets aside ‘objective’ recording aesthetics in favor of a more personal, contextual representation of the songs – we love this guy and we think you should too! very limited edition, with screenprinted chipboard covers and paste-on family vacation’ photo. nice!
this split release originated as a wedding favor. vollmar covers ‘a girl like you’ and ‘chanson d’oh’ on one side – well, he was supposedly lying on his back during most of the takes. on the other side little wings takes a crack at ‘be my baby.’ he’s rumored to have shown up to the sessions with only drums. these guys keep it weird – nice covers. awesome!
von bingen began life when husband and wife duo jenni pace and daniel presnell (astral blessing) temporarily suspended hildegard (their east coast group of clangorous misfits), and relocated to vancouver, bc where they soon met josh stevenson (aka magneticring, and one-time jomf member), and richard smith. influenced by histories of conceptual art practices and electronic and outsider music native to the west coast, von bingens sound is at once reminiscent of distant sonics, such as those found in the labs of 60s sf pioneers, or overheard in berlins zodiac club in the early 70s, while also anticipating the drone of future decades. folk forms gleefully mutate, reborn as new hybrids, dignified by analog modular and semi-modular synthesizer systems from serge, buchla, and ems. instruments such as the flute, clarinet, guitar, and the drum are defamiliarized through quixotic treatments, originating from experimentations in the bands studio. by rescuing tones, processes and technology from dusty desuetude, von bingen happens upon a unique retrofit for advanced audiences that is sure to confound, if not altogether please. within the grooves of this lp, you will not find full-fledged allegiance to current fashions, nor will you find some light loop of cheap sensations, hollow-core historical reenactments, or facsimile sentiments. in fact, we are not sure what you will find at all, and that is the beauty of nature, a potentially infinite system of chances, where the opportunity to un-learn is as important as the opportunity to learn; where memories possess the power to eclipse experience; where all history becomes synesthesia. join von bingen in this new eden, and by all means, have an apple. – f.o.l. ministries, 2009.
much anticipated reissue of obscure kraut masterpiece from this mysterious unit. a classic kosmische sound dream, hitting multiple familiar mind harmonics assembled in stereo polyphony. guru is you… 300 copies in lovely screen printed fancy packaging. sweet.
keith richards once said “it’s not what you play, it’s what you don’t play that matters”. well, w-s burn know it….they know it! pure, minimalist music that secretly traps – and then releases – you in a sense of time-stopping beauty. sweetly haunting vocals by pixie are complemented by hidden lamp chimes and steve gigante’s twisting guitars. violinist marcelle good’s playing on several songs only adds to the ethereal wonder. this collection will leave you breathless. re-issue of a self released cdr. spray painted cdr packaged in a clear pvc case with original insert, a bonus insert (designed by pixie) & a small numbered insert holding a feather from the british pheasent. edition of 60.
while remaining largely unknown to the general public, peter walker was something of a legend along the boston-new york folk axis of the 1960s, releasing a few celebrated albums for vanguard during this period. playing with various folk luminaries like fred neil, joan baez, tim hardin and karen dalton, and studying spanish flamenco and indian classical guitar with none other than ravi shankar, walker was both a true student of his instrument and a pioneer, using not only acoustic guitar, but, as can be heard on this album, also electric. recorded in 1970 at levon helm’s (the band) house in woodstock, with the likes of legendary detroit drummer maruga booker and tabla god badal roy, this is an essential release for fans.
peter walker’s quintessential debut, reissued on vinyl for the very first time since its original 1966 release on vanguard. featuring contributions from jazz flautist jeremy steig and dylan session veteran bruce langhorn, walker’s fusion of psych-folk and traditional indian raga was ahead of its time. “exploring a tonal range that would be best described as the perfect lsd soundtrack, this album is a gentle, evocative affair, and often recalls some of the passages that stephen stills would use for ‘suite: judy blue eyes,’ among others.” – all music guide… finally a vinyl reissue of this gem! heavy cover & vinyl.
glass armonica is the first solo cd by musician zach wallace. when not counting fauna in the montana wilderness, zach can be seen performing across the incense sticks from greg davis in their stoic long form drone duo sun circle. zach’s armonica, based loosely on benjamin franklin’s 1761 design, is built entirely from thrift store bought wine glasses and has been modified to handle multiple players. the performances captured here were recorded in ann arbor, michigan, in the spring of 2007. the results are not too far off from what you might imagine if you’ve ever coxed sound waves from the rim of a wine glass with your finger. now just imagine multiplying that sound a few times over until you arrive at a dense fog of resonant tones that hover in mid air while concurrently penetrating your pituitary glad. that’s getting close. edition of 500 in an offset white case with silver ink.
limited to only 55 copies.
warmth offers a hollow, swaying and moody piece that is probably as heavy as he has ever gone, ending in subtle ringing. guitar and trumpet bleak ambiance from robe., would work perfect in a horror film. offset printed silver on black linen paper sleeves, hand-cut into a cross shape, folded and sealed with a wax stamp in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
after months of attempting to acquire the final (now lost) tour recordings of roxanne jean police (rip), steev thompson presents his most recent incarnation, warmth. fresh out of a brian wilson-esque disappearance steev brings deep visceral layers of synth and electronics that churn and grow. clouds of fog envelope the tones emanating from michigan’s forgotten forests. this tape acts as the precursor to the upcoming warmth lp co-released by arbor and double fantasy. in a numbered edition of 90 tapes in sprayed paste-on manilla envelopes.
even though warmth main man steev thompson still appears to be incommunicado totally epic recordings continue to surface. before roxanne jean police was officially over and steev still lived in chicago, he joined up with another then chicago resident branden diven of quilts / american grizzly records. the jams that were created filled a couple of cdrs and the warmth side of the split with quintana roo on not not fun. this lp consists of a remixed and edited version of the original cdr running at just under 45 minutes. forgotten smog floats through a northside basement. sounds emanate but their source is totally unrecognizable. quiet growing tonal blobs erupt into washes of aural color. a complete union of samplers, synths, vocals, guitar, organs, percussion, and electronics merge to create the sounds contained within; a loss of individual existence. completely serene. in an edition of 300 lps on creamy yellow vinyl with hand stamped labels in pro-printed and screened fold over sleeves with art by roy tatum and an insert by steev.
lovepump united is stoked to release a collaborative 7-inch by washed out and small black: featuring each band re-imagining and remixing a song off the other’s debut ep. the 7-inch follows both acts’ breakthrough records released in late 2009, featuring a killer small black remix of washed out’s “you’ll see it” and a gorgeous, hazy washed out remix of small black’s anthemic “despicable dogs.”
as of today, it’s officially crispy in new york, so we are seeking one last summer solace with the california crust-pop of san diego’s wavves. as you might expect from a socal band named after ocean motion, this shit sounds like a living version of thrilla gorilla & da’ boys. as you might not expect, it is made by one kid named nathan who has a classic rap blog called ghost ramp. wavves has a follow-up coming in 2009 on de stijl which will include ‘so bored’ and ‘wavves’ which is also ridiculously great and streaming on his myspace. – the fader.
from the sooner state via the evergreens comes wax ghost, the solo project of digitalis co-conspirator, eden hemming rose. simple keyboard compositions that simmer in the autumn dust. this is a master deception, as the simplicity is key. haunting rhythms and fluttering whimsy take hold and latch their catchy melodies into your skull. this music is soft like a feather pillow, but also just as warm and comforting. wax ghost is music for all times and all moods. this is the first excursion eden hemming rose has taken on her own. without a trail of breadcrumbs to follow back, the only way to move is ahead. 52 copies.
in the spring of 2007 a tour commenced from latvia to holland called “way of the cross: on the path of the ninefold muse”, titled from robert graves’ book the white goddess. the tour spanned polish clubs, dutch radio, berlin galleries, and the latvian beach; ‘mind of the dolphin’ documents the music spawned at these stops. wotc members include dave nuss (nnck), stellar om source, the skaters, jan anderzen (kemialliset ystavat), kuupuu, mik quantius (embryo), and tiitus petajaniemi and jari koho (uton, keijo). “the white goddess is far more than a long-discredited pagan deity. she is still alive, and her worship takes many strange forms both inside an outside the conventions of western morality. in particular, she continues as the ninefold muse, patroness of the white magic of poetry.”
dreamy music for lazy hot summer afternoons flowing down weaving paths through the forest while laughing hyenas take a shortcut through the valley. 70 copies.
experimental heavyweights adam forkner (white rainbow, rob walmart, atlas sound), honey owens (valet, miracles club, atlas sound), and eva salens (inca ore) collaborate to exploit their highly vibed-out dubby post-yoga practice chilling with the cats killer band that has made a great debut record called proper eats. vinyl version comes with bonus download remixes.
150 copies. professionally duplicated cassette with laser printed j-card. artwork by ruth garbus… chris weisman emerges again with more new vermont music. two stereo albums of multi-colored songs (yen you & i don’t care again) rainbow music (see: aja cover) balanced & varied. the tone is right. white light refracting through a prism. sunshine through trees through curtains, reflecting mind mirrors. this is a white album (or maybe a mccartney iii) and when you take out the 4 picture inserts of the beatles they look like warhol images, silk-screened with the brightest neon colors spray painted / crayon scribbles / paint splatters / computer generated geometry. repeating to infinity. like an 80s local motion advertisement or 90s pbs specials graphics. or 00s paperrad animation retro/bizarro fantasies (in the 50s, every dad was thin) four dimensional. dynamic spectrum of rockers acapella synth guitars electric acoustic drums pedals folk vocals fuzz pop tapes solo bass yamaha dx7 / dx100 (kaleidoscopic sound paintings) fm synthesis on the am dial. crackling static, faint reception. fifth world. (re: magnetic fields, lyle mays, stevie wonder, the beatles, five stairsteps, loggins, fagen, etc…) [if you can, imagine chris in the back of the midi van, wearing a rainbow chris hat, wrapped in an indian blanket, floating just above an oriental rug, eating an heirloom apple, reading richard brautigan, focusing on the flute in the middle of the air, dream catching dream songs] this is some of chris’ best music yet (maybe his best is always now?) the blank page (mind) is alive. steep (sit) for 62 minutes (hours/days/months/years/lifetimes…) take a fresh sip (always) listen deeply. find the feel & get on the trail…
over the shadow’s door is a unified artistic project by the ever creative weisman siblings. a title was chosen and then kurt, chris and emma set about making music / art to correspond with the title. this is the result… kurt open things up on side a with lovely spiralling acoustic guitar patterns with kurt’s trademark high angelic tenor falsetto vocals (along with the ghost of kurt weisman singing even higher vocal harmonies!) “no i can not be a man anymore” on side b, chris slashes and cuts through echoed word raps over spindly guitar licks and drum stick clicks (he’ll explain it to you in the song). the chorus reaches a droney low voice counterpoint stasis. a nice little coda at the end with brazilian guitar tones and a chunky bassline. “who says that i can’t find the floor?” emma’s artwork is a wonderful children’s book style cross hatch illustration. boy crawling on floor trying to open the purple shadow door. boy on the first floor climbing a ladder to peer at the ceiling galaxies / stars. strange paintings on the wall above the orange couch. are there are more questions than answers? 300 hand numbered copies with hand stamped labels on colored vinyl (pink & blue).
repress of 400 copies. when iowa city freak-out free-rockers raccoo-oo-oon called it quits last year it left a bummer scar in the midwest underground scene. but time is a great healer, and so are new bands. so out of the ashes of the rac pack comes wet hair, a synth-punk-trance duo composed of keyboardist/vocalizer shawn reed and keyboardist / drummer ryan garbes, and dream is the band’s debut vinyl full-length after a series of increasingly shredding limited-edition cassettes on their own night people label. piling together an unlikely trash heap of suicide-style drum machine beat-bops, zone-droned krautrock keys, and fucked up outsider crooning, the lp’s four tracks careen across a spectrum of moods and mangled melodies. recorded at flat black studios by luke tweedy and mastered by pete swanson, wet hair’s cult electric annihilation has never gleamed with such razor-edged weirdness; this is their dream made real. black vinyl lps in jackets with artwork by reed and garbes, plus a pro-printed full-color 11×11 insert.
welcome back. one of nnf’s total favorite active bands return with a second full-length (most of which was recorded during the same sessions that birthed their debut lp, dream) and we are pleased as spiked fruit punch. the reed/garbes duo mainly sticks to their guns, mining the same post-suicide art-trance vein they perfected on dream, but with glass fountain there’s an added emphasis on the disembodied, oscillator pop mode that wet hair often toy with. fountain’s five tracks include some of the band’s simplest but catchiest songs (“crucifix in the waves,” “when the right time comes,” etc), mesmerizing organ melodies over plink-plonky vintage drum machines with weirdo soulful singing and outer space electronics, like an outsider-punk silver apples or something. hard to say exactly what universe wet hair are operating in and that’s probably part of why we love it so much. a killer record that gets better each spin. in jackets with art drawn and designed by the band, plus a pro-printed 11×11 insert. edition of 600 (400 on opaque lavendar vinyl, 200 on black).
out there electronics by mike wether and mr. scumbag tapes.
the debut release from the whines… brooklyn garagy, psychy, poppy action. 2nd press on 300.
dark, dank, blissed and pissed jams from a portland all-star cast. members of white light, tempera, cursillistas, visitations, computer at sea, planets around the sun and many more congregating under the full moon for a good ole fashioned howlin’. vocal moans, analog synth tones, dueling crazy horse-style guitar leads, and a crazy wasted drum circle. all in good fun, of course. tracing a line from amon duul i to sun ra to the new weird hypnogogic, this is a celebration of “the now drone” … this is an exploration of “the dub” … this is the story of “the drum” … stay in the rhythm. two extended improvised pieces, pro-recorded by pete nanortes and lovingly pieced together by your emcee, ian paige. 28 minute mini-album, on white-top cd-r, with pro-printed cd insert sleeve on textured art paper, limited to 100 unnumbered copies.
ian paige’s white light project turns in a graceful, drony and jangly piece of classic lo-fi psych-pop, with a subtle galloping rhythm track keeping the good vibes in line. swirls of phasing synth quietly sneak up on the sweet vocals and lead guitars until all ride off on the figurative elephant in the sky. meanwhile, perennial favorite barry burst crashes that elephant back to the earth dirt and kicks up a party that could only be described as bollywood on acid. tablas and a host of handclaps provide the rhythmic thrust, while eastern strings and a chorus of singers (a multi-tracked barry) parade the blissfully gone love-fest through town. black 7″ vinyl record with hand-stamped center labels held in a tri-fold die-cut chipboard sleeve, letterpressed and screenprinted in a multicolor design, with screenprinted chipboard insert. hand-numbered to 300… loose 7inch from the tryst haunt subscription series.
from the fruited plain and the rusted carcasses of ohio’s industrial sea comes the fresh-faced, doe-eyed white mountains.”this timbered choir will sing our collapse” is a pinecone-laden excursion through the soft underbelly of decaying forests and greying thickets. white mountains employs washes of feedback and hum to navigate through the dense tangles of acoustic scree. cool blasts of treated field recordings fill in the gaps. by the end of the albums 41+ minutes, your leaf-covered body will feel all at once exhausted and rested. oh, to be 15 again. 100 copies.
single copy.
emily jane white is a san francisco folk singer/songwriter. armed with little more than an acoustic guitar and her own voice, emily offers complex tales of melancholy and isolation. comparisons to artists like cat power and hope sandoval are frequent, yet emily’s music owes a clear debt to classic female jazz and blues singers such as billie holiday. one of her songs is actually entitled “bessie smith.” catch a rising star. limited edition of 500 copies pressed on clear vinyl with slightly different inserts, lyrics included… nice vinyl edition with huge full color foldout insert. debut release on this tiny label. if you dig brooding femme folk melancholy this one is well recommended. sure to go quick.
excellent new private press release. if you dug his recent lp on joshua burkett’s mytra label, you need this one too. wondefully deep texas folk, here totally centered on kalimba & wooden banjo. new packaging. recommended.
ralph white calls blues, country, folk and other influences to new psychedelic depths. recorded under cold starry texas midnight skies, these kalimba/ banjo/accordion/fiddle arrangements are sure to bring you ‘out there’. ‘atavistic pillow’ compiles the best tracks of the privately issued cdr’s ‘the atavistic waltz’ (2008) and ‘a kalimba pillow’ (2009). featuring amy annelle on a great rendition of ‘the cuckoo’. 100 copies.
ralph white, ex-fiddler for the legendary austin, tx country-punk band, the bad livers, gives us a newly recorded collection of american and caribbean songs, plus one original. ralph is a truly inspirational folk artist. his music could be described as “psychedelic”, but only in the way that his voice cuts straight through your psyche into the very heart of your being, melting away all resistance. no, really, it’s that powerful. white’s voice soars mournfully over interlocking banjo and kalimba parts that are firmly rooted in traditional americana, but belie the influences he garnered on his cross continental african bike trip. this beautiful gem is garnished with a hand-cut stamp and each edition is subtly different. check out ralph’s “navasota river devil squirrel” lp on mystra records. edition of 200… more recommended sounds! nice covers too.
debut self released little nugget of barely there micro sounds, guitars, hum, buzz and rattle. tiny mystery noises flutter. waves of tape hiss. is someone singing? – good stuff. color xerox covers. numbered edition of 30 copies.
6 minutes of beautiful, sprawling acoustic psych from eternally evolving, sunny, californian folk collective whsyp. hazy high end vocal harmonies backed with subtle sitars (courtesy of skygreen leopards, part time wooden wand backing guy glenn donaldson) which aim for the stars yet quickly turn into a darker beast as the piece closes out. a beautiful 45 in fliptop match wallet style sleeves made from linen card and in a run of 300 only… a real beauty here!
first-time ever reissue of rare evil psycho machine-funk from ’80s washington, d.c., including previously-unreleased mixes. now is not the time to doubt your senses — the wicked witch does exist. born and raised in the musical magical cauldron of washington d.c., wicked witch combines elements from alchemical mentors parliament funkadelic, sun ra, esg, run dmc, james brown and jimi hendrix to cast a crazed spell on the innocent listener. an evil mass of machine-funk with lashings of rhythm and blues and fusion delivered direct from the heart of the witch, a misunderstood psycho-genius weaving his solo web deep within the dark studio walls. trained by masters at the duke ellington school of the arts, wicked witch is in full control; he plays all, knows all, tells all. his message will not be denied. believe your ears, believe your eyes: the wicked witch does indeed exist. first-time ever re-issue, remastered from the original master tapes… very limited vinyl version, now out of print. crazy shit!
words are tough when it comes to describing music this astoundingly beautiful. a leading figure in the worldwide experimental music community since the early 90s, simon wickham-smith adds to his sizable body of work with this masterpiece. three tracks clocking in at almost 60 minutes, simon’s new work is the result of years spent honing his craft. his influences are drawn from sources far and wide, but the music that results is uniquely his own. transcending genre altogether but most clearly informed by minimalism, this release is hypnotic, mysterious, and gorgeous. if you’ve followed the arc of his career, you’ll be pleased to see how mature and powerfully focused his musical vision has become. if you’re new to his world, it’s an excellent introduction. to say that it’s an honor for us to be releasing his music would be a massive understatement. a true classic.
new release from doyen of english bedroom underground scene. two epic tracks, the first a very skewed take on religious chant which retains a genuine and relevant reverence at the same time as it forges a whole new path through both laptop electronica and devotional music. the second is a huge track characterised by ripping great digitally distorted drones which seem intent on tearing through the bullshit (maya?) to reveal a clearer world beyond – all recorded on a small island off the coast of scotland.
sparkling 7″ single from mr. wiese, someone whom i’m increasingly finding an essential artist in the cut-up noise genre… i don’t see why fans of venetian snares et.al aren’t all over this guy as he’s making of the most high-energy million-edit-per-second blasts of distorted computer sound. this ep is the first wiese release on the new, tiny meudiademorte label, and is limited to the point that i’m not going to spend much more time writing this blurb here given the amount of copies i was alotted. it’s very good, and if you’re feeling john’s work, buy it. – mimaroglu music… limited to 500 copies.
real cd from magic duo cc&ew. super beautifully dense all percussion / synth set. while listening, the sound will fill different gaps of space on your room that never before were filled. unbelievable stuff! – crazed bulcha synth action!
i was introduced to the music of wild gunmen by russ waterhouse, who handed me a tape wrapped in silver foil and told me i’d love it. he was right, and i immediately wrote to main gunman witt, just telling him how much i liked his band. he wrote me back immediately, promising “years” of more music, and telling me i’d better get ready, because this was some serious shit. he explained that the band – a trio – were ‘bad on the biz end’ because they were all saddled with being drug addicts and had also been dealt the unfortunate blow of all being born under the sign of libra (???). he also told me that two of the members were former fm radio djs on cincinnati’s waif. a few days later, a package arrived containing three unmarked 90 minute cassettes, and a handwritten letter. the letter featured color copies of a sexy drummer who, witt explained, was dead now, and another photo of a very young girl who witt claimed to have taken to see gg allin. the letter, rife with more references to the copious amount of drugs the band takes, quotes from south park, and casual boasting, was still not enough to prepare me for the amazingly twisted sounds contained on the tape. eerie acoustic blues, with oscillator and other various noises, super confessional lyrics sung by what sounds like the demon spawn of jandek’s gal nancy and niagara, and the unmistakable sound of several fucked up adults getting together to rock out in a self-described ‘drug infested nut house.’ this one is hard to explain, and frankly, i’m at a loss – a very authentic psychedelic nightmare that may be a little too ‘real people’ for it’s own good. of all the amazing shit coming out of cowtown lately (and there is a lot!) this is some of the most fried by far. some of it maybe sounds a little like sam esh? i don’t know, man. anyway, this is the first of what we hope will be many releases of wild gunmen material on mad monk. we are super excited to share this with the world! i asked witt to send me cover art and song titles, and he told me to “just make them up, cause no one here can ever agree on them…our singer kristy is a drug addict…half the time i just want to kill her. and surprise us and cook up your own design for a cd cover – title it anything you want.” okay, then! only 150 copies, hurry!
the second volume in this exciting series by this wastoid troupe from the buckeye state is even better than the first. while the highly popular volume one introduced the band as the parole board’s answer to the cherry blossoms, volume two: cocain spyders (the misspelling is the band’s) finds the group more stoned, introspective and deliberate, with oscillators, delay drones, horns, and high pitched feedback squeals taking the place of more ‘traditional’ instruments. singer kristy is, as ever, center stage, singing beautifully harrowing misfit tales of lonely strangers, train wrecks and dreams fading away. volume two also features what is perhaps, in our opinion, the quintessential wild gunmen track thus far – an untitled jam near the middle of the disc begins like any other paranormal wg track, until kristy nonchalantly takes a break from singing to audibly converse with her captive party guests about sex and cocain(e), while witt and ron, undaunted, lock into a supremely fucked clarinet / guitar duet that sounds like a moonlight meeting between rafael toral and little howlin’ wolf. when kristy decides to begin singing again, the track only gets weirder, stretching out over several parts and nearly fifteen minutes like a lost esp side or perhaps the music the guy who left the desperate answering machine message at the beginning of charalambides market square might have made. as if all of this weren’t enough, volume two also includes the soon-to-be-punk-classic “(i’ve got a) washboard (for a stomach).” this is the second in what we hope will be a long running series of releases by wild gunmen on mad monk, but each one could be the last – word has it a few of the band members are dead set against these releases – so treasure and cherish every minute while it lasts!
one of the best from the usa, legit reissue with insert, many photos, extensive liner notes, posters, from master tapes, a killer guitar album. i was searching for an original lp for many many years but never saw one. even the band has no extra copies. california trio wildfire came to austin in 1969. they shared the stage with many performers such as johnny winter, allman brothers, freddy king, shivas headband and many more. after laying down partial tracks at the beach boys’ recording studios (wildfire guitarist randy love is beach boy mike love’s cousin) the trio ended up at sonobeat studios to record this 8-track album. sonobeat became famous for the recording of the first johnny winter album, dark shadow/cold sun and mariani. this album is extra heavy psychedelic rock with dual vocals, great stereo effects, all original songs in moby grape/blue cheer direction. they use to be one of the loudest band’s around on their custom build quilter amps. for the first time officially released direct from copies of the master tapes… way heavy 1970 american private press. deluxe extra heavy laminated gatfold cover, 180gm vinyl. numbered edition of 450 copies.
winter family are the brooklyn based duo of ruth rosenthal and xavier klaine. alt.vinyl is proud to release this double vinyl ltd edition edition (300 copies only) of their latest intensely atmospheric work. artwork by franz vesolt, layout by fabien lehalle. audio mastering by patrick klem. a rare and unique audio worldview expressed by the singular approach of brooklyn based duo ruth rosenthal (spoken words) and xavier klaine (harmonium, organ etc..). from the first bares of searching donkeys this double album creates a glowering and intense atmospheric…part nightmare, part uplifting dreamscape it permeates and builds into a compelling whole. a reference point might be some of the output of constellation records – indeed gybes norsola johnson plays on this record..however it is doubtful whether any of those artists ever produced anything to match the taut tension of the title track red sugar..a spoken hymn to absence. the ambition of winter family is evident on the expansive, orchestral epic dancing in the sun..crank your speakers, sit back and open your mind..it will blow you away. as an entirety this album builds on previous releases on marienbad and sub rosa and demonstrates that rarest of things..a unique voice..once heard never forgotten. essential.
the wire tapper 15 is the latest volume in the wire’s ongoing series of exclusive new music compilations. the cd will be given away free with every copy of the june issue worldwide and will contain a range of new, rare or exclusive tracks that together will span the spectrum of the kind of underground music that gets featured in the magazine each month, from electronic music, avant rock and new jazz, to dub, hiphop, traditional musics and beyond. on the cover: sonic youth (the veteran new york rockers tell nick cain about the raw power of rather ripped, and give an update on their myriad activities, past, present and future). features: terry day (the former people band drummer talks julian cowley through his interrupted improv history); harry rag (from dusseldorf punk to pastoral futurism via wim wenders and can with the syph vocalist); jutta koether (lina dzuverovic unravels the personae and multiple media activities of the new york artist and painter); invisible jukebox: rob mazurek; yellow swans (the prolific portland, oregon noise duo mull over method, motivation and manifestoes for a better world); ekkehard ehlers (the berlin conceptualist reconfigures blues, jazz and african musics in an attempt to reconnect dead voices across continents); the primer: john fahey (david keenan picks his way through a user’s guide to the phantasmagorical folk blues of the original american primitive) – with 20 track free cd.
new solo lute recordings. “once some music dropped through my letter-box; let’s summon their sounds into our world now, and deliver their names as roses or stations. the picture they imagined was both clear and cryptic: the certainties of the 17th century holding tight the ugly beauty that we now see scattered around us. i loved these cds by jozef van wissen, a rose by any other name and stations of the cross. and then i received a new album, a priori, and i immediately played it and heard its stark and repetitive intensity, its stately and glacial march. there is nothing quite like it that i have heard before-it is timeless, breathing deeply and exhaling showers of snow, endless circles, mirrors, spirals, the sea. when jozef plays the lute, he pours out endless space. what can i say but let the rain come, close your eyes and watch the stars fall and rise and fall again.” – david tibet, current 93… recommended.
jozef van wissem continues to liberate the lute. once the most popular of portable instrument, it then entered 250 years of neglect, but today suffers from being regarded as a museum piece, only to be played in accordance with theories about authenticity. van wissem has improvised with guitarists gary lucas and tetuzi akiyama, while his solo objects in mirror are closer than they appear alternated his own palindromic compositions with processed field recordings of airport lounges. the excellent a rose by any other name is a ‘straight’ lute record, though van wissem’s scary monochrome cover photo harks back to a more innocent age when lute playing, like vegetarianism, would have been evidence of mild insanity. all 22 pieces here are anonymous- as van wissem points out, this could have been because the composer was too much of a celebrity to be worth naming, or else an aristocratic amateur unwilling to demean himself by appearing as a professional musician. there’s one 14th century italian drone-dance, but most are from the early 17th century, late renaissance and pre-baroque. many have a forthright and folksy quality, and it’s not until ” en me revenant” ( from the fitzwilliam museum in cambridge) that we hear the tricky contrapuntal lines typical of upmarket renaissance lute. this is straight away followed by “general leslys godnight”, which sounds like the bastard offspring of a sarabande and the blues. rendered still stranger by a sharp tuning (an experiment characteristic of the period, apparently). this scottish melodie illuminates how european tunes were shortly to traverse the atlantic and mutate in the new world. van wissem’s playing is unfetterd and lacks tea-party politeness. he ranges from moody to muscular, and coaxes a good range of colors from his ten-course, canadian-built lute, evoking african kora as well as blues guitar. my favorite, “untitled”, by anonymous, is a stirring, spacious scottish lament, conjuring up windswept wastes.
new cd of solo lute compositions by jozef van wissem mixed in with manipulated airport lounge and train station recordings. more minimal and delicately psychedelic than his previuos a rose by any other name, here van wissem drops solitary single notes deep into stately black space with all of the graceful, slow-motion focus of a feather on the breath of god. there’s an eerie sense of pregnant, occult space here that will surely chime with fans of current 93 circa of ruine… or sandy bull’s more baroque, psychedelic work but it also files nicely alongside your favourite major minimalist, making this another profoundly defiant side from this out-of-time thinker.icuna new release from baroque conceptualist and improviser, jozef van wissem, who, for more than a decade, has been quietly but surely reinventing the vocabulary of that most unlikely of instruments, the lute. with the exception of the odd renaissance preservationist context, the lute, which was once the most popular portable instrument in the western world, has all but disappeared from our musical landscape. despite the arcane associations of his chosen instrument, van wissem is no revivalist; his compositions often marry a deep and self-conscious knowledge of the instrument’s weighty history with a rigorous post-modern sensibility that has encompassed everything from appropriation to minimalist free improvisation, electronic manipulation, and the mirrored or palindrome musical structures for which he is perhaps best known. these palindrome compositions, a group of which are collected on his latest solo release, stations of the cross, are compositions that, like the words “radar” or “wow,” or the phrase, “madam, i’m adam,” read the same forwards or backwards. each composition progresses through a series of notes to the midpoint of the piece, where the sequence then reverses and the pitches are played in retrograde order back to the compositions starting point. the effect is strange and subtle, and oddly psychological — there is a sense that time expands and contracts back to the point of origin, while the exact moment of reversal is difficult to detect. compositional expectations are similarly, subtly undercut and, being that the beginning is always also the end, these pieces tend to come to a close without resolution, which gives them a quietly unsettling, question-like quality. to make things even more interesting, these mirrored structures are often superimposed onto field recordings of airport terminal interiors which are digitally manipulated into mirrored structures of their own. these recordings lend an eerie, impersonal atmosphere, the specificity and contemporary nature of which stands in stark contrast to the timeless, esoteric quality of van wissem’s gut stringed lutes. stations is a record of quiet, stately beauty and concept.
another out-of-nowhere african ’70s rock discovery in the blo mold. completely unknown band from zambia, privately pressed on a small local label, this five-piece electric band plays a strong electric african underground style. tons of wah wah-fuzz guitar in every track, african style beats and vocals and all original songs. after the successful release of the other witch album lazy bones, here is the earlier introduction. crazy & wild fuzz guitars all over, african beats and chanting, as good as it gets. incredible cool and stoned album from the southern african country. again we need to say: if you’re feeling depressed, low, disturbed, out-of-sorts, sad, frustrated or widely demented, then folks, we suggest you seek out a quiet place, indulge in some soothing meditation and cut away that headache by listening to this inspirational album… numbered edition of 500, glossy heavy sleeve, 180gm vinyl. originally released in zambia, 1973… if you dug their other lp, blo, question mark, the peace, ofege, etc. this is highly recommended!
three blokes with goof instrumentarium making fun. witcyst veet mixing it himself. a happy bunch of uncrafty popsongs!! first song on the disc has serious love / hit potential. awesome cocktailparty collage – witcyst had done almost 100 releases by now on several labels like freedom from, humbug and his own imprint lifespace… limited/fucked-up packaging with cocktail spears.
deep inside an abandoned bunker on new zealand’s north island, with throats as fine as needles have perfected their craft. on this, their debut cd release, the group has expanded to a quartet. birchville cat motel’s campell kneale and pseudoarcana chief, antony milton, have joined forces with james kirk (sandoz lab technicians, gate) and richard francis (eso steel) to create a claustrophobic, organic web of massive drones. everything on this cd was recorded outdoors with battery-powered instruments. underneath the ground, the quartet burrows out their own cavern, bouncing sounds off the walls until it becomes a singular, solid mass. each gently sculpted tone floats in humid air. the music is saturated with the dirt and grime from a million a years of human history, wailing out in unison like an excavation turned exorcism. with throats as fine as needles are your guides through this aural fog. co-released with ohio’s students of decay imprint.
also known as the ‘solo’ record. this is a reissue of a double cassette that came out a while ago on gods of tundra. each member of wolf eyes does a side solo, and then the band does a tune together. failing lights = mike. spykes = john. nate young = nate. wolf eyes = wolf eyes. intense double picture disk lp housed in plain black gatefold cover. ltd to 1000 copies – totally insane one here sure to vanish quick.
fuck the old miami is a 12inch featuring the entire live performance on the a side and a b side etching hand carved into the original laquers by wolf eyes. on their home lathe wolf eyes cut playable grooves into and around the etching, playable at your own risk.
this is the vinyl edition of wolfmangler’s cd release on digitalis industries, minus the bonus tracks. the core tracks of the release make for a perfect lp. this has been extensively written up all over the place, so i won’t go into detail, expect avant folk by way of doom metal depression. all acoustic. packaged in a silkscreened glue pocket sleeve, red and silver on black stock, same as the cd version, but with expanded art. includes 3 inserts, screened in the same colors with printed labels. edition of 500, 250 on black and 250 on red.
first full-length cdr from the nz drone-doom masters wolfskull. after a split with wolfmangler and releases on battlecruiser and root done lonie for cash, “tannasg” gives us the primitive sounds we need. slowness and heaviness are the canines of this wolf, let it bite you – limited to 79 copies.
woodcraft folk re-emerge from the hills of lancashire with 2 new tunes for the gps. “quiet, birds…“ is a hazy electronic, vaguely psych work out with vocals by ivan ink and pen. the flip is a wholly different sonic experience. “at home with howls” starts off all strange and hallucinatory but soon the drums, swirling organ and moogs take over, -reminiscent of some kraut themed, motorik 60s horror soundtrack. dressed up in trademark, lovingly created packaging consisting of hand drawn spirograph inserts, hammer card sleeves and half white, half clear wax, numbered to 400 copies, with none of that download or cd nonsense.
one of the most exciting listens i’ve had this year was the skaters and wooden cupboard releases that have come out on nature tape limb.based around the core pair of james ferraro and spencer clark (the wooden cupboard is ferraro’s solo project) they sure manage to make a hell of a joyous and utterly insane ecstatic racket on their disks. the overall sound they capture is reminiscent of the recordings by angus maclise of tripping screaming hippies involved in dodgy rituals in nepal in the early 70s, with crazy drumming and loops of lo-fi noise, except that rather than hippies it sounds more the ritual is being conducted by a cult of hyperactive and demonic elves… but its good! extraordinarily energising music and one of my all time faves for the label so far… now out of print.
repressed… this release is brand a new slab from sf’s incomparable wooden shjips. they are a modern day answer to space rockers like hawkwind, f/i, or just the good parts of van der graaff generator. this band helped to kick off the modern small-press vinyl revival with their debut 10” ep (now a sought-after collectors’ piece) and eking out limited releases one at a time since 2005. for this release the band has cooked up a two-song ep of colossal proportions. “contact” is a cover of a serge gainsbourg classic, made famous by brigitte bardot. the shjips update with their patented thousand yard psych-cosmos stare, transposing the original’s freakbeat tendencies with a krautrock bassline and a transcendental wander that’ll put you in the zone, every time. once there, chill out even harder to the “ez version” of original “i hear the vibrations,” is slower, grander, heavier, and dreamier, and takes full advantage of the for better fidelity and a truly blissful listening experience… limited numbered edition of 500 in a cool multi-color printed disco sleeve. white vinyl. sure to vanish quick again…
wooden veil is a berlin-based art group formed in 2007. inspired by the shared hauntedness of their respective homelands, they combine elements from forgotten and misremembered traditions to create a microcosmic world which only wooden veil inhabits, complete with its own symbols, clothing, food and shelters. performances, installations and videos are characterized by an expansive wardrobe of ritual dress, and the creation of shrines, relics and talismans used to create music. the group consists of artists marcel türkowsky (also a composer, founder of snake figures arkestra, cones, uuhuu, collaborations with datashock and christoph heemann), hanayo (known for her solo work as a photographer and singer, collaborating with the likes of christoph schlingensief, merzbow, red crayola, and kai althoff), christopher kline (valkenburg hermitage, †, night music, and soft peace), dominik noé (member of krautrock legends lustfaust), and jan pfeiffer (songs for rocks, soft peace, purple).to understand: hold right hand, cupped near right ear; turn hand back and forth slightly with wrist. bring left hand to opposite eye with the second finger pointing in the direction one is looking. with index and thumb of right hand, form an incomplete circle, space of one inch between tips; hold hand towards the earth, then move it in a curve across the heavens and back toward the horizon.
last year, james jackson “wooden wand” toth went to alabama to record a split 7″ with the gum creek killers (feat. members of verbena) a while back and had such a good time, he decided to go back and record an entire wooden wand record with the gum creek killers as his backing band. briarwood is the result of that collaboration. another wand album full of great one liners (“we were all at the wal-mart for the irony…”) and down south pomp and swagger. limited to only 500 copies… pressed on nice swirled colored vinyl. totally great album! recommended.
october 2006 west coast tour. limited edition of 277 copies. nice digi-pak cover with paste-on art.
a brand new album from rising folk scene favorite wooden wand and his sky high band-members of skygreen leopards, vanishing voice, and davenport. recorded live on vintage equipment, the album features eleven rollicking tunes that recall such cracked masterpieces as “tonight’s the night” and “mendocino,” as wand blends surreal lyrical imagery with equal amounts of sunshine and grease. unhinged.
brand new live jam from wwvv (formerly wooden wand and the vanishing voice), but with a twist. this features 4 ’phases’ across the one long 30 minute track. 3 duo performances (diehl/taveniere, crane/toth, nolan/toth) and then a fourth phase as wwvv. comes with tour diary extract on double sided a4 sheet on the inside of the package. both the insert and the sleeve are printed on a very thing paper (kinda like newsprint) with tiny red flecks built into the paper. limited to handnumbered 250 copies… recorded right here in portland, at the infamous ’strange maine’… already out of print & quite great, as act fast.
very thrilling and energetic set from wwvv, 45 minutes of blasting psychedelic madness. raging rythms, long fuzzed out guitar solos, spirit voices, poetry rants, crippled boogie, lost groups chants, blissed blues journeys, feedback trances, hootin and hollerin, and a fuck all version of “the flood” tacked on at the end. this wwvv jam really gets us moving, reminding us of every reason why we fell in love with this band; easily one of their most compelling and intense workouts of 2005… more great live action. paste-on art digi-pak covers. quite limited.
we’ve really been soaking up these mid to late 2005 era jams. the band started this ridiculously long tour, hoping to play many of wooden wands songs mixed with the occasional jam. after many long nights on the road, some of wwvvs most cerebral and far out moments started to surface. as we are going through the tapes from this tour, it has become apparent that these kids may have come damn close to losing their minds on this tour. well, this disc is from one hot night in nyc, it is the first day of the last week of a two month long tour and wwvv take to the stage at tonic and drop this dead lecture. starting out with a stunning version of ‘genesis joplin’, featuring satya sais beautiful voicesoaring above the din. then they all flow out into a deep zone jam made up of some of the most sparse and meandering stuff weve ever heard them do. then, right about the time you become convinced that wwvv have forgotten they are on a stage, in front of a packed house, wooden wand grabs the mic and just looses it. i cant spoil it further, but we could not avoid including this unique moment in the series. 36 minutes of straight heavy tension. enjoy… way limited. color paste-on digi-pak covers.
unearthly trance and wooden wand offer up an ultra-limited split 7″ from the songbook of charles manson. unearthly trance reach into the hole of the infinite with their haunting version of “people say i’m nogood” while wooden wand programs the young love with his version of “get on home”. limited to 200 copies.
great live solo sets from 2005/2006. cool early solo action! limited edition of 277 copies. nice digi-pak cover with full color paste-on art.
new solo album featuring guests steve shelley & lee ranaldo (sonic youth), jeremy earl (woods), jarvis taveniere (vanishing voice, woods)… great brooding folkrock goodness.limited vinyl version.
great out of print single, limited to 500.
the latest in a very long line of essential releases from james jackson toth, sees this brand new collection for the gps. following 2 treasures from the mighty wand canon previously released on the label over the last 3 years. “my week beats your year” acts as a follow up to fans favourite “born bad” released 2 years ago on mad monk / people in a position to know. a collection of home recordings and demos from various points since 2002 to the present. an intimate, up close, occasionally stark collection of late night blues, and darkside musings that somehow manage to yet again raise the songwriting bar within the wand catalogue- (check out “tribulation fear” and “pale fire“). includes one of his most in yr face, confessional tracks ever put to wax- an ace take on jimmy rogers’ “sloppy drunk”. an utterly fabulous collection in a sleeve to match- beautiful inside and out pro printed jackets, and brown 70s french lined inners – a killer lp in an edition of 400 numbered copies… great new album, in that nice sorta country folk zone.
after clocking some serious time together on the road, it makes sense that psych rockers kurt vile & the violators would pair up with woods to create a combined 7″ release. the split contains two songs from woods and three from vile… very limited.
cassette version of the above. rock it in your car!
with a title like at echo lake the fifth album from new york’s woods intimates a modern rock aesthetic fully informed by historical manifestations of teenage along with a concomitant feel for the specifics of time and place. the distance between 2007’s at rear house and 2010’s at echo lake may at first seem only semantic but it more properly represents a move from a kind of informal back porch jam ethos to a fully-committed vision of the infinite possibilities of group playing. over the past few years woods have established themselves as an anomaly in a world of freaks. they were an odd proposition even in the outré company of vocalist/guitarist/label owner jeremy earl’s woodsist roster, perpetually out of time, committed to songsmanship in an age of noise, drone and improvisation, to extended soloing, oblique instrumentals and the usurping use of tapes and f/x in an age of dead-end singer-songwriters. recent live shows have seen them best confuse the two, playing beautifully-constructed songs torn apart by fuzztone jams and odd electronics. at echo lake feels like a diamond-sharp distillation of the turbulent power of their live shows, in much the same way that the grateful dead’s “dark star” single amplified and engulfed the planetary aspect of their improvised takes. some of the material here – the opening “blood dries darker”, the euphoric “mornin’ time” – is so lush that lesser brains would’ve succumbed to the appeal of strings and horns but at echo lake is more fifth dimension than notorious byrd brothers, nowhere more so than on “from the horn”, a track that is as beautiful in its assault on form as “eight miles high” or swell maps’ “midget submarines”. but despite the instrumental innovation that the album heralds – g. lucas cranes’ psychedelic tapework on “suffering season”, guest musician matthew valentine’s harmonica and modified banjo/sitar on “time fading lines” – at echo lake is all about the vocals. woods’ secret weapon is the quality of earl’s voice, osmosing the naive style of jad fair, jonathan richman and neil young while re-thinking it as a discipline and a tradition. here he is singing at the peak of his powers, in a high soulful style that is bolstered by heavenly arrangements of backing vocals. at echo lake feels like the transmission point for teenage garage from the past to the future. deformed by contemporary experiments, bolstered by magical traditions from the past, it’s the sound of now, right here, at echo lake. -david keenan/glasgow/march 2010… with free download coupon. awesome!
the woods’ 2005 debut, initially issued as a double-cassette on the fuckittapes label, was recorded in two bedrooms with no intention of being shared with the outside world. how to survive in / in the woods finds the woods family at their most stripped-down and primitive. thirteen cuts of home-cooked measles and grout gingerly pulled out of the spleen of a tape deck are now reissued on the popular lp and cd formats. the woods are in the midst of touring and recording a follow-up long player due out in 2008. check out their almost fully baked humble beginnings on this much sought-after reissue.
woods are a real band. these are two of two of their best songs… great new single to go along with ‘songs of shame’ for a real sweet pair.
the fourth full length by woods, songs of shame, rips deeper with both 90-second and 10-minute forays into skeletal psychedelia. this is not to say the idiosyncratic songwriting style & vocalizing of jeremy earl is not present in spades but expanded, colored, and twisted into a tie-dye of soundscapes. having toured incessantly over the last 12 months as a four piece (jarvis taveniere, g. lucas crane & kevin morby round out the band), many of the songs on shame benefit from having been road worn, windblown, and deeply grooved… awesome!
woods delivers the follow-up to 2010′s amazing at echo lake with another full-length gem. “woods is a two-headed dog asleep on the porch and a butterfly on the windowsill… a janus, a gemini and a screen door. the sun won’t fade and the earworms will not leave, but the jams go on too long for the girl in the back who wonders if her friends are at another bar. still, the ballads always make her cry. woods is up there relaying the woods-feel: folk-rock, fuzz, tambourines, tapes and raw lunch pulled straight from the yard. pop songs and other things: sun and shade. – glenn donaldson.
double leopards offshoot. out of print. one copy only.
this is the absolute pinnacle of the wovoka family jams with spaced chanted voice, melted down mountains of rippling and snarling electric guitars, waves of sweet strummed acoustic guitars and galloping hand percussion torching us all to join them in their journey to the outer limits of time and space, there are massive heavy vibes on this one, supreme paste on gatefold packaging with “;vinyl”; cdrs in a numbered edition of 199 copies… 3rd private press acid folk psych monster from this great project. heavy lp style gatefold covers with full color paste-on art inside & out. hand numbered. highly recommended!!
recorded in the mid seventies, vernon wray’s “wasted” is a prime artifact of sublime country rock, dusted with fuzz and fatigue. though perhaps not as famous as his brother link, vernon was an integral part of his brother’s recordings, including link’s own self titled 1971 record on polydor, with which “wasted” shares a certain kinship. part kristofferson and part hazelwood, “wasted” touches on a broad number of elements; a singular and until now virtually impossible to find collection of perfectly crafted songs. sebastian speaks has undertaken a remastering of the lp, along with an insert featuring track notes by vernon’s daughter sherry.
new 2-song single by new zealand-born, london-based peter wright. aquarius records says peter is ‘one of the most compelling sound makers we have ever heard’ and has released records on celebrate psi phenomenon, drone, last visible dog, digitalis, and pseudoarcana. peter uses a 12-string guitar, effects, amplified mini tambura, bells, chimes, and other gizmos to create powerful, organic noise. for fans of smith and youngs, matthew bower, and birchville cat motel. mastered by john golden for maximum volume and pressed on thick vinyl. 500 pressed.
Five track droner from this New Zealander via London. A mix of ambient guitar work, field recordings, and soundscapes recorded between 2005-2006. Housed in a double sleeve with outer sleeve being semi transparent vellum, all graphic work by Mr. Wright. Single pressing of 500 copies.
you can remove a kiwi from new zealand but you sure as hell can’t remove new zealand from a kiwi. such is the case with christchurch transplant, peter wright. over the course of a decade, wright has etched his name in glass in the annals of drone-world superstardom. and while i’m not sure what that really means, the point is that when it comes to soaring dronescapes, few do it better than peter wright. he has helped pave the way with contemporaries such as birchville cat motel and double leopards, but clearly has his own distinct voice. with his past few albums, wright seems the logical successor to native kiwi, sound manipulator extraordinaire, roy montgomery. red lion is wright’s latest incarnation and, once again, pushes the boundaries of what he can do with his trademark 12 string danelectro to the absolute outer limits. he pushes the limits of simplicity without ever breaking. wright’s albums are a thing of sheer, pure beauty, existing in a vacuum where nothing on the outside can tamper with their grace. even with his lofty intentions, red lion is immediately approachable and grabs the listener from the opening notes. as always, peter wright offers up something wholly infectious and undebatably magnificent.
very last copies of this deleted album!
it would be easy to treat this release as another bead on the freak-folk necklace first strung by incredible string band and vashti bunyan. legard makes no secret of his love of folk, but his music is far too personal to reduce to a genre description. while the chic may have moved on from such a sound, the passionate feel no need to retreat from themselves. – bryan berge, stylus magazine.
the xenis emputae travelling band is mr. phil legard of the hallowe’ed borough of yorkshire, england. he has been hard at work since 2001 making psychedelic folk-concrete inspired by the psychogeography and mythology of various secret regions of the british countryside. xetb has released plenty of cdrs and tapes over the years (all limited editions, long sold out etc etc) but, aside from one track on a cold spring records cd, nothing at all in a “posh” format – something we at memoirs thought we should do something about. we are, after all, classy folks and that. mr. legard is also a writer on various occult and esoteric matters, his most recent publication being a contribution to the new translation of “the consecrated little book of black venus” (waning moon publications). he also has several other music projects, most notably the neon death slittes and pneumonic consort. he is also, for his many sins, a frequent collaborator in ashtray navigations. “the pyrognomic glass” was originally released by us as a ltd. ed cdr back in 2005. by popular demand it is back, this time on vinyl, and including “abital – or conferences with the genii of nocturnal and diurnal dew in vii chapters”, a beautifully-printed 28 page chapbook by mr legard, most profitable to students of natural philosophy. limited to 250 copies… great to see this sweet album on vinyl!
the legendary father yod was a wealthy man, with a rich inner life, a family of disciples that loved him, many, many women and seemingly unlimited power. so why at the height of his success, did he choose to spend his time playing rock and roll? having a band in residency at father house provided him and all his children with another path to travel in their never-ending search for experience and wisdom. taking time out from their busy schedule as father’s students and spiritual seekers in the source family, sunflower, octavius, pythias and djin took instruments in hand and, at a mere gesture from father, turned up the amps and began tapping into the cosmos. first, they recorded themselves. the energy was good. equipped by father with instruments and effects pedals to ensure that they could create music that came ‘from the spheres,’ their sounds provided spiritual growth to everyone in the source family. after a time, father became the lead singer, as ‘a way to record wisdom in a modern, youth-oriented way,’ djin tells us. and yahowha 13 was born with sunflower, octavius and djin. the music was recorded at a studio in the father house on a teac 4-track reel-to-reel machine and was released on the source family’s higher key records label. in a couple short years, nine lps were created, to be sold at the source restaurant and at yahowha 13 shows. much sought-after items today, they’ve all been reissued. even more exciting is the material that wasn’t released – enough music to fill over sixty albums, all of them mind-blowers. skimmed from the riches in isis aquarian’s vaults (by dave nuss of the no-neck blues band), the nine tracks on magnificence in the memory run the gamut of yahowha 13′s rainbow of styles, from the whispered funk of ‘camp of the gypsies’ to the screaming and stomping of, well, ‘camp of the gypsies.’ storming through moments with abandon, father and his sons never repeated themselves, committing everything they did to tape in a single take. the capacity of their riffs and grooves to sound like german prog bands of the same era, psychedelic rock bands of several years previous or the as-yet-uncreated avant sounds from the indie rock movement a decade away is testament to their ability to tap the source of human inspiration. adds octavius, ‘these cuts will always be a source of inspiration.’ the songs on magnificence in the memory were chosen to provide a non-stop exciting listening experience for source fans and neophytes alike – and as sunflower has stated, ‘father’s music is our legacy and represents the voice of the times.’
first studio recordings in 30 years from the incredible underground psych masters! the organic fluctuations of sonic chemistry. wildly primal. jazzy. blues-y. electrical. contagious. always inspired. music is channeled from the divine. unpracticed, unpretentious, and wickedly rockable! fire. water. air. ether. earth. fusing every element; taking you on an energetic cosmic carpet ride. sonic portation is the long awaited result, the first studio recordings in over 30 years by yahowha 13! released in november 2008 by prophase music, original members djin, octavius and sunflower jam out like the ensuing years never happened. incredible improv pieces with mind melting guitar and the psychedelic low end throb that all yod fans will immediately recognize. 2009 saw the band tour extensively for the first time in their fabled career, including performances in seattle, portland, arcata, san francisco, and la (where they were joined at the end of their set by billy corgan !?!). during their run of the east coast, dc, balt, philly, ny and new haven, the band had the opportunity to spend some time at the welfare line studios in royersford pa to record the foundation to their follow up release for sonic portation, “2013″. in july 2009, the band headlined the million tongues festival in chicago and performed at the ottawa blues festival, one of the largest music festivals in n america. additionally the entire east coast tour was professionally documented in high definition film by a very active hollywood filmmaker. a 17 minute short of this document will be debuting at film festivals throughout n america beginning this winter… hand numbered vinyl gatefold limited to 500. multi-color vinyl.
monster rare usa private pressing from 1968, rated with 6 stars in the hans pokora 3001 book. the yays & nays were a groovy, hip group comprised of three guys and three girls. this is a truly unique sounding album, full of creative songwriting and vocal arrangements and a style that defies any categorization. there’s some fab garage folk-rock on it (the opening track ‘gotta keep travelling’ is really astounding!), and also some tracks in a bizarre crooner-lounge incredibly strange music vein. reissued for the first time, in collaboration with band members, and with original artwork… great & unusual album!
second solo full-length from ed yazijian, also known for his long running but sparsely documented collaborations with dredd foole, featuring eight disparate tracks recorded between 1996 and 2009. each side starts off with some slow burning guitar (accented by bowed contrabass and violin on side two) that reverberates with an ease past midnight vibe. the album then weaves through a personalized space featuring eastern percussion, mainlined/cosmic violin drones and intercepted radio transmissions from an unknown origin. the record concludes with a contemplative guitar which is enveloped in tape hiss that eases its way in before fading away. the lp pressed in an edition of 350 copies and is presented in a full colour printed sleeve that is at one itself and with the spirits an opaque facsimile.
2 sides of bent frown jazz from the hardcore supergroup of lorenz, yeh and jewell. side a comes on all fifth dimension hard think: violin scrunch and squeal, hard tom rub and dense harmonic blowing pushed right to the front of your brain box, jams a frantic fanfare with locked horn and strings before giving in with a wheeze and a tinkle. side b’s call and answer shies away as fragments fragment into bowed skin, seesaw string microtone and rasped mouthpiece until spunk rock free jizz looseness explodes in downtown turntable street. artwork by wyvern.
minimal and tense recordings from the man behind burning star core. made up of ten unprocessed live to tape violin experiments edited from the original tapes originally issued as limited edition cdrs on c. spencer yeh’s drone disco imprint. the sounds on this record range from tense scrapes to minimal textural drones. a beautiful statement. edition of 400 copies with three-color screen print on front, one color on back… sweet one.
metal rouge has emerged as los angeles’ best kept secret in 2008, but they’re luckily getting some air underneath those silver wings. yek koo is another side of that same coin, though. this solo project from helga fassonaki, who is half of metal rouge, shimmers under the weight of leaded gold. “psychic atonement for land deaths” is an excursion through the shadowhills, built on a foundation of lapsteel and head-swirling vocals. it is boundless. on this album, fassonaki pushes new boundaries. with hints of the trails traveled by the likes of heather leigh-murray and fursaxa creeping in from the peripheral, yek koo deconstructs these flowing drones into flecks of silver and gold. these are serious times and this is serious stuff for all that ails you. ltd to 81 copies.
first ever vinyl reissue of this rare and sought after us psychedelic folk album from 1977, very much uk folk-styled. limited to 600 copies, all with exact reproduction of the original insert with lyrics… great intense pagan folk psych obscurity, recorded in the same studio within weeks of black flag’s nervous breakdown lp! ***there were warping problems with most copies sold, but these copies included a second lp (no cover) without warping, so you essentially get 2 copies for the price one, one of which may or may not be warped. got it? can’t go wrong, 2 for one…
split single on this cool label. nice covers.
the debut of yeti’s new, larger, square format, with an awesome carson ellis cover, and including a hard vinyl 7-inch ep featuring 4 killer unreleased songs: two 1959 lomax recordings by MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL; the TIKI MEN’s blown-out cover of duane eddy’s “first love, first tears,” recorded ca. 1994; plus a new recording by dreampop slayer GROUPER of dead moon’s “demona.” (there’s also a sweet, 100-minute, free digital download for those who miss the long mixes that came with previous issues.) inside the book: photos from the alan lomax archives ca. his 1959 ‘southern journey’; poet margarita shalina’s recollections of the nyc 1980s hardcore scene; kim spurlock’s annotated trove of neal cassady ephemera; photos by nina dudoladova of abandoned forts in kaliningrad, russia; epic essay on forgotten ‘90s surf band the tiki men; an interview with translator/author susan bernofsky; a great short story by mimi lipson; chris kirkley on african sign-painter thiam bellou; jamaican gospel 7-inch labels; drawings by tim miller, james trotter, and shana cleveland.
the first official vinyl reissue of this highly-rated and very rare us album. yezda urfa was a progressive rock band that formed in the fall of 1973 and existed until the spring of 1981. their “boris”, privately pressed, album came out in 1975 as a demo for giving them a way-out to some major record label. their try had no luck as the album didn’t atract any interest from the record labels, and nowadays this is one of the rarest us pressings. boris is an eclectic progressive/symphonic rock album -although some folky elements are evident here and there- reminiscent of some uk bands such as yes, gentle giant, cirkus and fantasy. but…yezda urfa was a us group and their music influencies and abilities moved them farther, producing a unique, powerful, adventurous, complicated and bizarre final result. powerful rhythm section, superb playing from the synths, keyboard and wind instruments and ingenious use of the guitar, banjo and mandolin. a must for the progressive music aficionados. “legendary local rarity with an interesting mix of styles. opens like a late 60s westcoast folkrock lp, then moves into yes-style symph/prog sounds with tempo shifts, moog leads and frantic playing. basement recording with a live feel and plenty of enthusiasm saves this from the usual prog-rock traps, and the tongue-in-cheek, showtune feel that runs through it is an advantage in this context. excellent, high-pitched vocals is another plus. side 1 is impressive throughout, while some of the unique dementia is missing on the too-proggish side 2. while no great fan of the style this is an lp i’ll probably return to in the future. [pl]” (taken from acid archives). thanx to greg walker (syn-phonic) & fully licenced by yezda urfa members. exact reproduction for the cover and labels. it includes extra 8-pages, fully laminated, booklet (a4 size), with bio, lyrics, memorabilia and unseen photos. a gig-poster is included as well. yet, a 7″ single (with laminated picture sleeve) is included with the previously unreleased -on vinyl- song, “the basis of dubenglazy while dirk does the dance”. pvc protective outersleeve. 180gm vinyl as usual. it will be a 400 black and 100 coloured copies, vinyl edition.
pretty boy daniel mitha serves up a diamond noise goiter. arcade game cut-up hookum meets candle lit face drill romance. dedicated to his future ex-wives 16 bitch pile-up.
300 copies on clear vinyl, numbered in circular die cut sleeves. choice of 3 sleeve colours: green, brown and red (same clear vinyl in each!). stunning debut 45 from amazing israeli slide / picker yair yona. much admired by the likes of glenn jones and the late great jack rose, the single here features 3 fabulous tracks of killer 6 / 12 string acoustic guitar, weissenborn (an acoustic slide guitar), resonator guitar, bass and banjo, over a layered drone backing, an awesome ep in cool circular packaging… really nice stuff.
a chance nightclub pairing of the incomparable michael yonkers with minneapolis noise rockers the blind shake went so exceptionally well that a studio session ensued. the result is this, one of two vinyl documents that represent by far the most exciting new work that yonkers has recorded since his international emergence. the blind shake rock with a sound not unlike latter-day hammerhead (which might be a better thing than you think), with yonkers splattering maniacal guitar shards and impassioned vocals over the top. add the best collection of songs (with great, skewered goddamn hooks) yonkers has come up with since at least the early ’70s and you have a serious contender for rock record of the year. packaged in beautiful silkscreened sleeves designed by zak sally (ex-low). limited edition of 400 copies… totally sweet packaging!
the second of two startling michael yonkers releases is an eight-band lp of solo, modified guitar improvisations. these recordings were picked from a number of tapes representing the entire works recorded by yonkers that utilized a severely altered steinberger knockoff guitar (that has since been retired). the music was recorded on a high-speed four-channel cassette machine, further manipulated during mastering. this is the “noise” record that lucky regional yonkers aficionados have been hoping for since witnessing his infrequent, brain-scrambling, all-instrumental performances-and then some! vinyl-only edition of 303 numbered copies in a gorgeous, four-color hand-screened jacket by minneapolis artist and printer dan black complete the scrumptious package… another real sweet one.
recorded in glasgow, june-july 2006. ap: electric guitar, percussion; ry: electric bass guitar, keys, shakuhachi, percussion.
recorded in glasgow, march 2006. ap: electric bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, theremin, percussion; ry: electric bass guitar, electric guitar, shakuhachi, percussion. highly recommended!
brand new pitch-black live seance style from the duo of richard youngs and andrew paine. recorded with an armoury of unknown instrumentation sprawled around a room in the dark and then overdubbed with vocals without reference to the first recordings, this one combines the logic of the classic durian durian side with a much creepier, low-level ritualistic atmosphere featuring paine and youngs gargling wordless chants like electrified monks while bells, small instruments and thick, hovering silence builds to a crescendo of black-on-black. very psychedelic. – volcanic tongue.
recorded in glasgow, july to august 2006. ap and ry: keys, electric guitar, bass guitar, longwaves, shakuhatchi, percussion, fx.
here the duo use vocals, guitar, keyboards and programming to launch a series of eight intensely detailed paranoiac sci-fi fantasies that sound somewhere between early nurse with wound (with the combination of cut-up malevolent vocals and deep-field drones evoking work circa homotopy to marie in particular), the more electronic prog stylings of ilk, early youngs vocal pieces like the train tickets/postage stamps series, creel pone-esque experiments in concrete sound, steve reich’s different trains, throbbing gristle, harsh power tone and nightmarish, almost disinformation-styled electronic hypnosis. easily one of the darkest, evocative and plain weird releases from youngs and paine to date. – volcanic tongue.
recorded in glasgow, march to may 2006. instrumentation: cymbals, drums, gongs, percussion, ring modulation, shakuhachi and shortwaves.
new limited collaborative album from youngs and paine, on paine’s own sonic oyster imprint. this set is a little more subtle than previous installments, with two short tracks based around flickering vocals, delicate electronic melodies and puffs of flute giving way to a long piano/fuzz guitar instrumental that would reconcile mazzacane-style overdriven string action with lugubrious single note melodies. – volcanic tongue.
more private press duo action. last copy! very limited.
tokyo garden suite is one of the most beautiful, stately and oddly melancholic releases in the sonic oyster catalogue. as well as paine and youngs, the disc sees the return to the fold of steve todd, who the no fans hardcore will immediately recognise as the duo partner youngs cut the great georgians cd with for vhf back in 1996. todd opens the 30 minute piece with a sombre, atmospheric reading of a text which introduces a slow, single note piano motif behind which paine and youngs’ spoken vocals create a feeling of a post-apocalyptic albion, with lyrics that reference the buzz of geiger counters double by overblown shakuhachi. in many ways tokyo garden suite is an extension – or perhaps more accurately a dilation – of the minimal logic of earlier youngs pieces like advent while factoring in the later more prog-tinged aspects of the best ilk recordings. outside of ultrahits, this has probably been the most played sonic oyster disc in the office. highly recommended. – volcanic tongue.
debut album from the duo of richard youngs and tirath singh nirmala (nee john clyde-evans) that has the pair creating a bucolic minimalist meditation. side one interchangeably features hammered strings, gong/cymbal washes, droning vocals, and breathed shackuhachi/flutes. the second side leads with a melodious encounter before delving further into a glimmering psychedelia with sawed strings, fluttering reed organ and electronic drift. the results resemble a non-western approach to traditional musics filtered through the personalized aesthetic that runs through each of the artist’s prior works. the lp is enclosed in a full colour cover with suitable “of the earth” imagery… very limited pressing. beautiful full color cover art.
a reissue of richard young’s debut record, originally released in 1990 on his no fans label in an edition of 300 copies, and then again on table of the elements.”a three-part composition for piano, voice and ultra-nasty oboe and electric guitar. — alan licht… much needed vinyl reissue. very recommended!
richard youngs is a prolific british musician (located in glasgow) with an extremely diverse output. dusted magazine once wrote he is “defying strict genre classifications since the early nineties, swapping labels, styles, partners, motifs, and recording techniques as the desire has struck him”. so his new album for dekorder might not be a surprise to anyone following his career. still, a self-proclaimed all-electronic “ecstatic house record” comes somewhat unexpected. with a line of distinctive synthesizers often used for techno/house music youngs recreates the energy, euphoria and frenzy of these styles without ever trying to recreate the music note by note.the final outcome sounds like recordings made by aliens who have received transmissions about house music but never listened to the music itself. the album reminds of the sound of hallways/corridors inbetween large house parties where you can hear the music from several floors collide. while it’s an emulation, interpretation or replica of house music, it’s still managing to evoke similar feelings even though some might find it difficult to dance to the music. in the past, youngs has released several albums on a dozen labels such as vhf, jagjaguwar, table of the elements, gipsy sphinx, majora, chocolate monk, celebrate psi phenomena, fusetron and his own no fans outlet. he has collaborated with neil campbell (aka astral social club), matthew bower, simon wickham-smith and many others and was a member of the a-band and has performed live and in the studio with sunroof! and skullflower. additionally, youngs played bass for jandek, appearing on three of his live records/dvd’s.
youth of the beast is pure primitive electronics, suffocating saxophone scrawl and epic percussion. acting as the solo output for raccoo-oo-oon’s andy spore, this record is yotb’s first vinyl offering following up a few tapes on night people and fuck it tapes. blistering vocal screeches and mixer feedback blasts meld with stray tones as brass wails and drums are pounded. spore is a master of channeling the spirits right into the basement where he crafts his jams, creating a captivating mass of noise and psychedelic signals crossing for a painfully beautiful 10 minutes. breathless sax solos and massive tribal percussion interspersed throughout. the sum of all these parts is something intense, unknown; an ever evolving sonic creature as bleak as it is restless. in an edition of 315 records with epic xeroxed double sided/double foldover (you’ll understand it when you see it) sleeves and printed labels by spore.
guerssen reissues this mega-rare private pressing from france, 1975, with only 300 copies originally made. pretty unknown album, and a killer! nothing you would expect from a french record, really. this is 100% usa early-’70s sounding stuff: west coast folk-rock with a psychedelic edge, csny feel, acoustic & electric guitars, some fierce fuzz assaults and english vocals. an incredible discovery! the original pressing came with a plain white cover, and a few copies were later pasted-on with a few very low quality photos. for this reissue guerssen used this restored original artwork and also included a booklet with info and photos. fantastic remastered sound.
marcia bassett of double leopards, hototogisu, ghq, fame on her first proper solo full length has given us one of our favorites in the history of hospital productions. sexual infinty stands refreshingly organized into six escalating pieces of her signature guitar, voice, and electronic moodscapes entrancing the listener with sinister seduction. comparisons to early 80s power electronics and industrial acts as uncommunity, mauthausen orchestra and ramleh reside in the underbelly of zaimph’s ability to generate ominous, gritty, and doom laden atmosphere cloaked in a thick lush drone. what begins with raw ethereal guitar shadows of longing delight closes with vital gripping electronic tension.
one copy only. out of print.
very limited. sweet packaging & 180gm vinyl. one copy only.
zaimph is working cover for the solo experiments of marcia bassett, formerly of un and double leopards, currently of ghq and hototogisu. the undetermined dyad functions as the fulcrum of her career to date, looking back towards her experiments in group levitation with double leopards while extrapolating on her recent solo work. most of all it’s a *guitar* record and one that sits comfortably alongside previous six-string monoliths like john fahey’s days have gone by, donald miller’s a little treatise on morals or masayuki takayanagi’s live at zojoji hall while sounding quite unlike any of them. bassett’s re-imagining of the instrument pushes it to the point of almost-translucence, where the physical fact of the guitar itself is almost completely subsumed by echo, f/x, loops and the kind of improvisatory logic that prizes infinite expansion and organic growth over repeated tropes or riffs. aspects of the first side – the eerie ghost voices, the deep space echo – recall the electrified ritual of nomadic japanese avant gardists taj mahal travellers but more immediately it sounds like a magnification of her individual contribution to double leopards, generating towers of electricity that move from malevolent arcs of anti-gravity and spumes of throttled single notes through to deep wormholes that do violence to feeble notions of time and space. the b side is a little more aggressive, with the tactile sound of strings on pick-ups anchoring a gorgeous wash of all-consuming drone and garage band fuzz before bassett cranks the tone into realms of total sonic reducer. if your concept of the guitar begins with jimi hendrix setting the fucking thing on fire and ends with the sound of voltage completely liberated from any kind of tonal or harmonic anchor whatsoever then this record may well be the girl you’ve been praying for. but you won’t wanna introduce her to your parents. edition of 300 copies, with jackets featuring original artwork by marcia bassett, all silkscreened by alan sherry of siwa and with a full-colour insert wrapped in a japanese plastic sleeve. expertly mastered by tom carter of charalambides.
absolute mega-rarity, an incredible discovery and the ultimate folk-psych artifact unearthed directly from teheran! female vocalist pari zangeneh recorded this really amazing album in 1976 with a full backing band, covering a number of traditional persian folk songs and giving them a lovely psychedelic flavor. beautiful strings, flutes, really charming and tasty drumming, some organ and orchestration, percussion. a truly fantastic album, and one of the rarest folk-psych records ever to file along other obscurities as book of am or mellow candle! … deluxe reissue in a super heavy (shadoks style) exact repro textured cover, 180gm vinyl, numbered edition of 350.
two discs, one audio, one video montage by david lee price with a separate zanzibar soundtrack. limited edition of 100 in a vellum sleeve, screen printed by nevada hill. an ebbing series of hypnotic fjords that whisper, banter & barter, commingle, converge & break apart, pile up and explode. michael chamy & nevada hill w/ guest spots from chicago-based saxophonist mike forbes, and austin’s david lee price, who re-imagines the epic opener in flashback form. video: carbage goma, a visual transmission by david lee price. soundtrack by zanzibar snails recorded live in denton, tx on 9/29/2007. a hallucinatory montage by david lee price titled “carbage goma,” with zanzibar snails producing the soundtrack. the audio is taken from a live performance by a five-piece lineup feat. price, seth sherman & josh mcwhirter … a chanting, clattering cry for help giving narrative to price’s shifty, swirling ode to the primeval takeover of a technocratic society by a battalion of mutated hervay villachaize clones & his pet cadre of mutant wombat larva sporting oversized women’s sunglasses.
krakkatowiak is the centerpiece of a sprawling home recording session in early 2007 in the center of dallas-area suburbia. hill’s krakkling ampbuzz and intermittently piercing screetch guitar opens the door into a vertigo-inducing world populated by wildfire free sax explosions, reverberating junkpile percussion, and jarring outbursts of smoking oscillator emissions, transposed with restful ambient daydreams — tonal fortune cookies on a lighly bouncy early elec tronic nest, populated by the friendly electromagnetic denizens of the shortwave. only to erupt again into 31st-century tribal breakdowns. over the course of this ambitious 17-minute piece, the zanzibar snails have managed to fuse the freeform incidentalism of amm with the focused-yet-reckless energy of this heat, and the anything-goes playfulness of sunburned hand of the man. all neatly wrapped in a micro-package of antique paper stock smeared with the distinctively bold style of locally renowned poster artist and designer hill, and a dense antediluvian tissue insert courtesy of hill’s zine collaborator david price.
in 2004 the zashiki warashi organization began sending out pieces of music through the mail to various parties in different geographic locations asking them to interact with it in some way and return it, which would then be assembled into a larger whole. this album is the result. includes battles with: burning star core, alan dubin (khanate, gnaw, old), marcia bassett (double leopards, zaimph), david shuford (nnck, enos slaughter), pigeons, kuwayama kiyoharu, marshall avett (zandosis), greg wildes (gas tank orchestra), carter thornton, carl smith / derek phelps, darwin smith, smith harrison, dr. mijin kim. vinyl only. limited to 550 copies.
zadik zecharia’s zorna playing is a powerful relentless blast of beauty. the drone-like qualities that engulf both the listener and player are unyielding in their intensity from start to finish. the instrument, well known in the middle east, particularly in kurdistan, iraq and turkey, is similar in sound and intensity to the scottish bagpipes. zadik takes few pauses for breath, but wildly plays a continuous flow of melody weaving around the dola drum that provides a pulsating rhythm. zadik zecharia was born in the sharnash village in kurdistan and moved to israel in 1950. zadik has dedicated his whole life to playing the zorna — a traditional, trumpet-like instrument (but longer and narrower), that has been identified with the kurdish people. ‘there are two kinds of melodies: chopie and shechni. the chopie are the fast melodies, tunes for dancing with the high notes of the zorna. the dola drum always accompanies the zorna on chopie tunes. the shechni are slower melodies in the background, sad tunes that are usually played while the celebrators are sitting around the table. it reminds them of their motherland, kurdistan, and serves as an intro to the partying and dancing.’ (tzadik zecharia, jerusalem 2005) first released on cassette in the 1980s, bo’ weavil reissue this with a beautiful digi-pack designed sleeve. limited to 550 – very cool entho-trance ragger. beautiful heavy art paper packaging.
one of the best from this great band! out of print, one last copy here.
we recorded “ink” on two separate days in may and april of 2005. all songs were recorded live to cd, with no overdubs. the instrumentation on all tracks is quite different from zelienople’s previous releases, with most of the instruments being invented. boxes with springs or thick wire were used for percussion, and much of the”string” sounds were made with tuned suspension cable. mike also plays a large artillery shell on two of the tracks. there’s still a fair amount of guitar on the record, but most of it is obscured by the screeching and droning of the new instruments. our reworking of”hard to steal cars” (the first song on our first record,”pajama avenue”) was put through the drone machine as a warm up for the recording session. we liked the way it turned out, and decided to include it with the other songs (no, we’re not just lazy) – limited to 100 copies only, and quite lovely. nice heavy covers too!
reissue of late-90s mail collaboration between phil todd (ashtray navigations) and lasse marhaug (jazzkammer, del etc), originally released in a micro-edition by ordinance tape only. the kids thede days want noise and thats what they’ll get. swirling relentless cosmic electro-spasms of it. packaged in recycled maps, as was the original cassette version, with paste-on gold gocco print. numbered edition of 100.
ziamaluch – cello, gay tastee – vocals and guitar, recorded live in albany in 1998… edition of 41 copies, hand drawn heavy lp style gatefold covers.
twenty dense minutes of one guitar flipping from amp to two dollar box in a small room of sweet tile… one sided with action photo pasted to the wax…. edition of 200 copies… out of print. paste-on/hand made recycled covers.
it’s back to the bathroom for another twenty minute slice – this time four cellos zone and drone around the tiled walls (my bathroom, your brain) – lights out, goodnight – hand embellished recycled cover. long out of print. limited to 200 copies.
this is the zodiac speaking. a collection of early demos from the primal beginnings of the zodiac mountain, a grateful underground process of young and ready saints. lake winnebago holds beautiful songs colliding with twisted jams, all at the edges of their wits, from gone down too long in the zone – new project from clay ruby, james toth & co. nice.
early in the summer of ’06, clay ruby’s zodiac mountain did a short u.s. tour, showering the people with roots rock, heavenly boogie, atmospheric spirituals, cryptic blues and the occasional classic cover tune. this incarnation of zodiac mountain was a collaboration betwee clay ruby and wooden wand, featuring jams with nate nelson (mouthus,religious knives), robert beatty (eyes and arms of smoke, hair police), and maya miller (religious knives, double leopards). 5 songs, over an hour of red, white and blue bliss from two of the heaviest, gun toting, bourbon soaked, bbq breath’d road warriors east of the mississippi.
can you smell burning horse hair and flesh? totally unprecedented and deep scuzz damage from a group that may or may not be none other than clay ruby (davenport, etc), keith wood (hush arbors, etc.), and james jackson toth (wooden wand, etc.) under psuedonymns. long jams that bring to mind such wild ones as german oak, magic muscle and that foggy dream you had where the stooges covered ‘space ritual’ start to finish. led by the mysterious zodiac speedcreep, whos credited as handling drums, organ and vocals all at the same time, zodiacs burn a heavy trail back to the days where outlaw biker clubs roasted and consumed whole horses in celebration of the wild life. come and gone are two cdrs to be released simultaneously, extremely limited so hurry!
debut release of zohnenshein is available now. this 7″ lathe-cut in an edition of 33 features electric melodica music on one side (check out sample from the suite) and mouth music on the flip (note ‘i walk, you follow’). who needs laptops and keyboards to make profound electronic music? who needs a band?
after their world-wide and unexpected hit with time of the season, the somehow announced death of the zombies, who had indeed already disbanded, was put off by an attempt at prolonging this success. using new odyssey & oracle-era recordings, and rescuing some old decca outtakes and demos, a new album was prepared for release. unfortunately the album never saw the light; instead, a couple of singles were released, and the rest of the album was discarded… until some of the material featured here was released in several compilation albums during the ’70s and the ’80s, much to the astonishment of zombies fans. this is the first time that the album is released in the way it was conceived. unlike much of the ‘unreleased’ material of other bands, the content of the lp matches the published work of the zombies, in terms of song-writing and production, confirming the talent of one of the most influential bands of the sixties… very cool item for the serious fan.