digital version of the above album. packaged in a matching fabric textured, golden hued, mini lp style gatefold cover with black & blood red printing, plus insert & woven japanese inner sleeve.
much anticipated first proper release after a string of ear tugging & increasingly impressive private press cdrs. a real shinning spirit in these somewhat goofy times of “folkpsych” abuse, this guy nails it like its in his DNA. way beyond a simple formula, this is a complete tonal voyage. opening the album with a dark ritual of dueling reeds and buzzing drones, things than erupt into some seriously burning psych raga excursion built from totally heavy, jamming, acoustic guitar licks, eastern grooving hand percussions, stoned backwards or fuzzed-out electric guitar splatters, and subtle creaky drones. the vocals are nearly unintelligible but swirl beautifully through most songs like floating smokey ripples. woozy, headbobbing, and completely THERE. yow… pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl & packaged in a custom fabric textured, golden hued, heavy gatefold cover with black & blood red printing, plus insert. un-numbered limited edition of 750 copies… last few copies!
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.
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.
digital version of the lp… much anticipated proper full length release from this wonderful maine duo after a long running string of self released cdrs & a collaborative 7inch with visitations. colleen kinsella & caleb mulkerin have been key personages of the portland / south portland sonic underground for over a decade, as members of cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. while those groups have no doubt left an impressive body of sound, the intimacy and directness of their big blood recordings take things to a higher plane of personal expression, freed from the group mind / “serious” band trapping of their past musical outlets. here they are free to romp in their personal microverse, following whim & fantasy through the gates of acoustic transcendence. all of the off-the-cuff spontaneity, intimate home fidelity, and deep personal charms of their older releases are as present as ever, but the the duo’s scope is now focused to a crystalline clarity of vision. dead songs is as sorrowful & joyful in its mirrored symmetry as the infinite life cycle itself, flowing on cleansing waves of inner release & spirit absorption… wailing fuzzed-up garage folk anthems mesh into twisted poetic acidfolk and drift to expansive melancholic meditations of boundless depth. two voices howl, swoon, alternate & join, lyrical layers peel away endlessly, tiny amps weep in pain, crude percussion booms thunderous, and ragged, beautiful hooks unfurl straight out of the void… packaged in an identical mini-lp style gatefold cover with clear varnish overprinting & offset printed vellum insert. first pressing of 1000 copies.
much anticipated proper full length release from this wonderful maine duo after a long running string of self released cdrs & a collaborative 7inch with visitations. colleen kinsella & caleb mulkerin have been key personages of the portland / south portland sonic underground for over a decade, as members of cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. while those groups have no doubt left an impressive body of sound, the intimacy and directness of their big blood recordings take things to a higher plane of personal expression, freed from the group mind / “serious” band trapping of their past musical outlets. here they are free to romp in their personal microverse, following whim & fantasy through the gates of acoustic transcendence. all of the off-the-cuff spontaneity, intimate home fidelity, and deep personal charms of their older releases are as present as ever, but the the duo’s scope is now focused to a crystalline clarity of vision. dead songs is as sorrowful & joyful in its mirrored symmetry as the infinite life cycle itself, flowing on cleansing waves of inner release & spirit absorption… wailing fuzzed-up garage folk anthems mesh into twisted poetic acidfolk and drift to expansive melancholic meditations of boundless depth. two voices howl, swoon, alternate & join, lyrical layers peel away endlessly, tiny amps weep in pain, crude percussion booms thunderous, and ragged, beautiful hooks unfurl straight out of the void… packaged in a suitably gorgeous full color heavy 60s style gatefold cover with clear varnish overprinting, large offset printed vellum insert, full color art labels, etc. pressed on the highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. limited edition of 700 copies.
digital version of red records #1. a lucky few got to hear this little gem as the tiny self released cdr edition, but here’s the real deal. an absolutely lovely album and surely joshua’s finest dose yet. oozing with a perfectly warm lo-fi bedroom glow, and full of joshua’s most direct & achingly melancholy song forms. totally hitting a whole new level of intimate vibrations, full of fragile hushed vocals, gentle acoustic guitar plucking, somber dirges, and electronic bagpipe mantras. beautifully formed lyrics step u pto the forefront as a rare treat, and the effect is just as stunning as it is simple. we just can’t get enough of this one. the kind of record you’ll want to spin again & again to soothe a busy mind… truly psychedelic folk music for late night soul searching. same music & art as the vinyl version, but packed in a mini lp style heavy gatefold cover with full color art, japanese woven inner sleeve, etc. edition of 1000 copies.
red records #1… a lucky few got to hear this little gem as the tiny self released cdr edition, but here’s the real deal. an absolutely lovely album and surely joshua’s finest dose yet. oozing with a perfectly warm lo-fi bedroom glow, and full of joshua’s most direct & achingly melancholy song forms. totally hitting a whole new level of intimate vibrations, full of fragile hushed vocals, gentle acoustic guitar plucking, somber dirges, and electronic bagpipe mantras. beautifully formed lyrics step up the forefront as a rare treat, and the effect is just as stunning as it is simple. we just can’t get enough of this one. the kind of record you’ll want to spin again & again to soothe a busy mind… truly psychedelic folk music for late night soul searching… lusciously hand packaged in a custom creamy art paper heavy 60s style gatefold cover with full size, full color paste-on front artwork, screen printed back cover & interior, printed labels, hand stamped spine, and pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies.
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.
digital version in a heavy mini lp style cover with exact reproduction original artwork, and a full color foldout mini poster insert with new liner notes by lula cortes. first edition of 1000 copies.
deluxe first ever reissue of this brazilian private press monster rarity. originally custom pressed in 1980, ‘rosa de sangue’ is the closing chapter of the amazing recife psychedelic movement that flourished & centered around the work of lula cortes, beginning in 1973 with the release of satwa, and the creation of ‘abracadabra’, lula’s loose art/music/design collective. leading up to 1980 lula had produced & privately released satwa in 1973 (brazil’s first private press lp) as well as marconi notaro’s ‘no sub reino dos metazoarios’ lp that same year (featuring the recording debut of ze ramalho). he then started the legendary but incredibly short lived ‘solar’ label, releasing only two albums: 1975’s ‘paebiru’ double album, and a year later the lone album by flaviola. as if that wasn’t enough, he was also heavily involved in other productions and performed on many seminal albums coming out of the region, including many collaborations with alceu valenca… by the close of the 70s the heavily utilized rozemblit recording studio / pressing plant had been destroyed by repeated floods, abracadabra had run its course, and along with lula’s marriage, the solar label was no more. so ‘rosa de sangue’ was conceived as a bookend & tribute to this closing era; as lula himself states “i want to close all of this with a golden key”… and a golden key it is. entering a small local studio with a head full of songs and his freshly road tested ‘mountains band’, lula created an album simply overflowing with ideas. along with his power trio backing, he was further assisted by many old friends dropping in, including, among many others : alceu valenca, flaviola, ze de flauta & paulo rafael. with hints of the past era and of things to come, it is a truly wild audio experience, covering many styles & moods. from crazed ethno folkrock, to magical, gentle, jungle folk psych zones, to hard hitting, coke dusted fuzz rock, to insane mutant disco dance floor groove, to tweaked americana, to acid vocal raga trance, and way beyond… all throughout lula’s beautiful tricordio work pins things down, and for the first time he is the main vocalist (this is, after all, his first “solo” album!) his is a smoke & booze steeped voice darting between crazed abandon, deep sadness, and glowing soulful humor. when things are mellow, you could easily imagine you’re hearing an outtake from marconi notaro or paebiru, but the next moment you’re dropped into a raging street party or dimly lit booze drenched bar scene vibe… frenzied guitars all over, including some tough fuzz, as well as powerful rolling bass groove, soaring violin, moog weirdness, dusted backup vocals, and great drum kit / regional percussion interplay. psychedelic at heart, but brimming with flashes of tropicalia, punk, prog, and pure hot blooded rock & roll… a bizarre & amazing album. but of course, the story doesn’t end there… at some point while the album was being recorded & pressed lula signed a major label contact which would produce 1981’s far tamer ‘o gosto novo da vida’ lp. when his new label got wind of ‘rosa de sangue’s eminent release, they were displeased to say the least. as soon as the pressing was complete, the entire small edition was seized & destroyed, making this album by far brazil’s rarest. so rare, in fact, that even among the most hardcore brazilian collectors the original lp is often only rumored to exist, often cited as ‘unreleased’… a few copies did however survive, and now, 29 years later, the world can finally hear this “golden key” from a truly visionary artist… packaged in a heavy vintage style cover with exact reproduction original artwork, including the huge full color, double sided, foldout poster insert, plus an extra insert featuring new liner notes from lula cortes as well as translated song titles. 180gm audiophile virgin vinyl pressing with exact repro label art. limited edition one time pressing of 1000 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp. deluxe & expanded version co-released with matt lajoie’s own l’animaux tryst (field) recordings label. originally presented in 2006 as the first l’animaux tryst release, an extremely limited 3inch cdr. this new version fills out the album with four previously unreleased bonus tracks from the original recording sessions. each track is newly mixed and whole album features super nice warm analog remastering for the ultimate in hi-fi lo-fi. these recordings represent a definite turning point in the cursillisitas trajectory, with the sparser intimate acid-folk-pop sound of the earliest releases blending easily into a more filled-out and improvisation based psychedelia. heavy use of layered overdubs, xylophone, live looping, and more experimental atmospheres added to the reverbed vocals, acoustic guitar, and crude percussion push things towards the more free-wheelin’ full band sound of the present… a drifting trip that wobbles between the dark & the light. packaged in an offset printed tri-fold art paper cover with vellum insert & woven japanese inner sleeve. edition of 700.
red records release #8. deluxe vinyl version of the long gone time-lag cdr from about 4 years back… this group lasted just long enough to leak out a small but highly rewarding series of under-the-radar cassettes & cdrs over a year or two, with this album standing as a clear peak both in terms of scope & execution. as great as the recent offerings from various members have been (aswara, rafi bookstaber, muntjac, moonpie, etc.), there’s a certain youthful charm here that’s hard to miss… a slow & spacious album full of alternating melancholy/ecstatic vibes with raga-esque acoustic guitars, chiming electric guitars, slippery liquid flute, harmonium, sparse percussion, blissed female/male vocal bits, low level bass drone, kosmic synth tickles and damaged tape warble, plus one beauty of a ‘song’… flickering neon smoke rings of sound dissolving into the atmosphere… totally stoned-out, bedroom cult, eyes to the ceiling, half naive, home-fi psychedelia… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl & packaged in a deluxe heavy 60s style black art paper gatefold cover with white ink screen printed interior and full color paste-on art front and back, plus stamped & hand numbered spine & printed labels. limited edition of 288 copies.
digital version of the out of print lp… at long last, there’s finally a full length elephant micah album born into this world. why it took so many years will remain a mystery, cuz as far as we’re concerned elephant micah should have been a household name for years now. stripped of all superfluous sound, and presented with the sort of stark realness that creates a deeply psychedelic mood without being in the least bit overt. joe o’connell has always been at the top of our favorite contemporary songwriters, and here the songs truly take center stage for the first time. recorded direct to hand held cassette recorder using only acoustic guitar and vocals, with just sparse backing from a little percussion, cello, electric piano and double-tracked vocals, the gauzy overdubs of past releases have all but vanished here. at the same time the lyrical depth & intimacy have easily doubled, creating some of the most affecting country-tinged melancholy we’ve ever laid ears on. hushed, heartaching, and utterly timeless. and it just gets better with every listen… the voyeuristic pureness is further enhanced by hissy near haiku spoken fragments of tape that pop up between songs throughout the album… heavy mini-lp-style craft paper gatefold cover with elusive, ghostly two color offset printing, plus a double sided fold out insert & woven japanese inner sleeves.
digital version of this gem of an album. 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 offset printed lyric insert. limited edition of 500 copies.
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.
fully mind-blowing dream collaboration from alastair galbraith, alex neilson & richard youngs. all serious international underground sound weavers in their own right, this trio collaboration lifts things ever higher… for the last 20 years or so alastair galbraith has quietly been releasing some of the most stunning outsider/psych/folk/drone work to ever come out of his new zealand homeland, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him back on the scene. richard youngs makes a nice uk parallel with a vast and equally impressive catalog of sub-underground avant/drone/folk wonderment to his name. and while alex neilson’s name might be a bit new, he’s been bending many a mind under his directing hand solo guise, as well as collaboration with mv & ee, taurpis tula and others. oh yeah, and that small fact that alex & richard backed jandek at his first ever live performance is pretty cool too… musically, things are way fucking deep in the zone here folks. side one glides along in slo-mo dream state hover with richard’s beautiful and unmistakable vocals soaring and refracting in to echoes, quietly fluttering and droning electronics, otherworldly sounding synth melodies, rolling splashes of free percussion, backwards effects, and syrupy sound pools of acoustic strings. beautifully lulling and deeply psychedelic… but the second you flip the lp the bottom drops right out with with a real electro jammer, blasted with throbbingly heavy free drumming, vibrating walls of synth, and yowling bird-of-prey electronic squeal… and things just get more abstract from there… really amazing stuff for those who dig a headspinningly deep listen… packaged in a stark but beautiful full color offset printed & debossed heavy art board cover, with debossed insert. 180 gram virgin vinyl. vinyl only numbered edition of 900 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp. packaged in a miniature tri-fold version of the lp cover, with photo insert and woven japanese inner sleeves. first proper release from this headspinning acid/drone/raga crew thats been quietly haunting the northeast for a couple years now… for this album the band was marcia bassett (double leopards, hototogisu, zaimph, un, etc.) steve gunn, and pete nolan (magik markers, vanishing voice, etc.)… heavily dosed trips into eastcoast trance primitivism, gushing with mantric meshes of strings and voice. centered around bassett & gunn’s acoustic guitar freeflow, and wrapped up in layers of hovering vocal mist, buzzing drones, percussive clatter, and nolan’s subtle but massively psychedelic electric guitar moves. over five extended tracks things slide along from bone rattling minimal vibrations, dip into opiated folk beauty, and then blow things wide open with a full side of fevered, acid soaked raga lift-off… keep that third eye open folks… limited edition of 1000 copies.
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.
although finlander jonna karanka has been slowly leaking out little kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow it’s taken just that long to materialize her first ‘proper’ album. maybe it has something to do with the time she’s devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, included HERTTA LUSSU ASSA (with ISLAJA and LAU NAU), ANAKSIMANDOS, AVARUS, and many others… but, you know, i always figured kuupuu music didn’t have much to do with ‘time’ anyway. it’s music from another reality, to put it bluntly. a beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. you could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much… post-everything? pre-birth folk? bedtime acid-art? naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop… the sound of tiny bioluminescent insects systematically devouring an urban cityscape in hyper-speed, while just as quickly slithering neon flora entwine the metallic gray remains, only to then be gobbled themselves by a leaderless army of pulsating micro-robots. got that? now play backwards in slow motion… surreal might just be an understatement… packaged in a stunning ultra-heavy laminated full color gatefold cover with full color art labels, all created by jonna. pressed on audiophile 180gm vinyl. limited edition of 750 copies.
two stunning exclusive tracks finally unleashed after (too many) years on the shelf, just in time to coincide with samara’s wonderful new album ‘future slip’ on thurston moore’s ecstatic peace! label. a sweet little dose of hushed & fragile melancholy folk-pop-drone fluttering. samara’s unmistakable slow-bliss songforms are at their most stripped down and psychedelically entwined, with thick hovering violin tones, distant reverbed atmospheres & gentle swirls of quivering guitar feedback all lifting things just high enough. totally bleary-eyed & beautiful, hitting that perfect spot just between your heart & gut… to these ears its that golden zone where the sound of her past in bands like HALL OF FAME, TOWER RECORDINGS, METABOLISMUS, etc. merges effortlessly with her sublimely structured solo vision… packaged in silver & black on bright red offset printed art paper covers, with simple hand stamped labels. edition of 400 copies
the counterpart to “wings from a storm”. acid-dripping lo-fi euphoric melancholy west coast folk beauty from michael curtis hilde. this dude is seriously prolific, with a fine string of cdr only release under the moontainhood and almaden names, but this pair is a real apex of his still unfolding musical vision. “thunderpaint the stone horse electric” is a totally intimate & spontaneously vibed little gem. deeply felt, introverted, hallucinatory, and starry-eyed song stories delivered via fuzzy bedroom fourtrack gush. fevered vocals quiver, warble, double, and swoon around gentle or ragged acoustic guitar, foot-stomping tambourine thud & jingle, harmonium, breezy flute, warm tape hiss, and singing crystal cave atmospherics… we know the animals are dancing… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed, hand stamped, and hand numbered labels. packaged in a foldout cream art paper cover with full sized high quality paste-on art front & back, screen printed interior, hand stamping, as well as individually hand drawn rainbows, plus a big art sticker insert & a 2nd xerox track list insert. limited edition of 222 copies.
the counterpart to “thunderpaint the stone horse electric” is equally lovely, lo-fi, and lysergic, but here the somewhat euphoric zone has become ultra lovesick moody. dominated by just piano & vocals, with bits of guitar, tapes, chiming tones and dusty wooden night sounds stirring. definitely glassy-eyed voyeurism… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed, hand stamped, and hand numbered labels. packaged in a foldout whale grey art paper cover with full sized full color high quality paste-on art front & back, screen printed interior, and hand stamping, plus two big art sticker inserts & a 3rd xerox track list insert. limited edition of 222 copies.
double cd digital version of the sold out 2lp. after piles of privately released cdrs & long gone vinyl only releases, here’s the mv/ee album for the masses, who are no doubt quivering for it… don’t be fooled though, this is neither the medicine show zone of recent years, nor a mere echo of the tower recordings flame, but a new beast stirring awake in the beaming sun of now. aided by the bummer road and the omni present erika elder, mv has here pushed his cosmic sounds beyond the apex of high. no doubt there’s plenty of lifted rural raga vibrations, and big woozy doses of haunted folk-blues as well, but the mix of flat-out killer ‘songs’ and extended electric psych-outs is something of a revelation. ‘beautiful mountain’ & ‘sunshine girl’ are tantalizingly close to being something like modern underground hits, while the side-long album closer ‘death don’t have to mercy’ is an epic head-spinning trip loaded with moments of fragile piano lull, layers of serpentine acid guitars, and all-around smoky late-night jam vibes… throughout the album both mv & ee’s vocals are more present & stronger then ever, and the harmonies have a real sweet lonesome glow… surely the finest blossom yet from the mighty maximum arousal farm… features matt valentine & erika elder with mo’ jiggs, sparrow wildchild, nemo bidstrup, tim barnes & samara lubelski adding harmonica, percussion, flute, electric guitar, tambura, violin, ukelin, and more to the usual assortment of mystic strings… packaged in a beautiful heavy old-style gatefold cover with glossy laminated photo outside and silver on white interior. classy sliver/black labels. analog saturation mastering by wojcek czern, poland, for maximum aural radiance. miniature lp style heavy gatefold covers just like the vinyl version, plus a nice insert.
digital version of the out of print vinyl… first ever reissue of this totally brilliant post-satwa 1973 brazilian private press featuring the core trio lula cortes, marconi notaro & ramalho. recorded just months after lula & lailson had released satwa, lula was back in the same recife studio with poet and friend marconi notaro to lay down another equally magical album. ramalho, who would go on to record the paberu 2lp with lula two years later, makes his recording debut here as well… somehow amidst the harsh government restrictions of 70s brazil, lula côrtes and his group of artist friends had managed to bypass the authorities and create a hugely creative micro-world of their own, recording, producing, and releasing this album with complete independence. no small feat in and of itself, no doubt, but the music is what makes this slab a true lost masterpiece… the whole album gushes forth with a sun baked spirit of the highest level, mixing tropicalia tinged folk-beat groovers, satwa style bliss trance ragas, pabiru favored lysergic jungle psych, and even a raging fuzz/wah soaked garage psych rocker. extremely mind melting from start to finish, with huge washes of rippling tape delay, electric & acoustic guitars, 12 string, tranced folk percussion, passionate yet mellow vocals, liquid electric bass, acid effects everywhere, and of course lula’s mercurial & heart melting tricrdio (an instrument he made himself, something like a sitar/dulcimer hybrid). beautiful, melancholy and joyous all at the same moment, this is an album that after 33 years still sounds completely fresh & unique… sadly marconi passed away in 2000 having lived a life of obscurity even in his own town, yet leaving behind 7 published books of poetry and this stunning, lone album. this reissue has been authorized by maconi’s daughter and lula côrtes to insure they receive the credit and funds they deserve, even if it comes 3 decades late… fully reproduced original art, featuring beautiful drawings by lula & layout by katia. heavyweight, old-style, laminated gatefold covers. pressed on 180gm virgin vinyl. original label art. plus a huge full-color 4-page insert featuring fully translated original notes, rare photos and book covers, marconi’s last poem written the day before his death, and extensive new notes & biography by lula côrtes. same deluxe lp style gatefold packaging as the vinyl version, only smaller, with the same big insert. woven japanese inner sleeves. first edition of 1000 copies.
digital version… plushly packaged in a mini version of the original lp packaging, with letterpress printed tri-fold cover. printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried.
debut recording from italy’s opalio brothers (my cat is an alien) and ramona ponzini. an esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism, and emotion. each track recorded at a different mystical location in the western alps, and centered around ramona’s beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional japanese. maurizio & roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. the whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time… while the my cat is an alien moniker might leave some folks scratching their heads, here the painting petals on planet ghost name nails it : fragile, beautiful, cosmically isolationist, and totally spooked… pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl, and lushly packaged with letterpress printed cover & insert. printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried. hand numbered edition of 560 copies.
the full original lp plus the two extra tracks from the 7inch, as well and 4 previously unreleased bonus tracks from private demos and live recordings, as well as an alternate version of the lp’s closing track. heavy miniature lp style gatefold cover with all original lp art, plus notes inside from founding member eric bergman. cd sized version of the original booklet insert complete with metallic printed covers. woven japanese inner sleeves.
deluxe and exact official reissue of one of the rarest & most unique gems of the 60s private press psychedelic underground. home recorded in a suburban new york living room over just a couple weeks in 1969 by three enthused teenagers, and then self released by the band in an edition of only 100 copies complete with hand assembled covers and booklet insert. dreams of rock stardom may have faded quickly, but from such humble beginnings these kids totally transcended their limited resources… an album overflowing with naive creativity, huge ideas, deep bedroom mysticism, and more then a hint of stoned teenage humor, not to mention a rather unusual assortment of instruments and some very unconventional but brilliant “studio” maneuvering. two singers/songwriters both with wonderfully deep, poetic & introspective lyrics and unique voices, chiming 12 string & electric guitars, unusually cool use of piano, crude drum kit, autoharp, banjo, tambourine, subtle bursts of fuzz bass, off kilter unison vocals, washes of reverb modulation, weird tape edits, and a seriously one-of-a-kind vibration. there’s truly been nothing like it before or since… highest quality production throughout with better then ever master tape sounds and warm analog mastering, audiophile 180gm vinyl, exact reproduction of the original heavy weight cover with front & back mind-blowingly cool crude black & white art just like the original, exact reproduction of the thick insert booklet with gold printed covers on multiple colors of construction paper. plus a bonus 7inch of two essential tracks intended for the original lp but left off due to time restrictions, complete with colored construction paper picture sleeve and lyric insert. without a doubt, the definitive reissue of this lost masterpiece. released in full cooperation with founding member eric bergman. strictly limited to 1000 copies.
digital version of red records #3. well, its been a damn long time since we released their debut album, “shishimumu”, back when they were called THE PONYS, but we sure are happy there’s finally a proper follow-up, even if it took six years to happen. if anything, the long wait says something to the greatness & humility of the band; never bending to commercial concerns, ego, hype, or changing trends & changing times. in fact, “take to the trees” picks up just about right where “shishimumu” left off all those years back, another little nugget of timeless psychedelic pop perfection. of course, there is a new level of maturity and depth to the songwriting here, but there’s still plenty of slightly naive & youthful charm… and to be certain, the world these guys create is just as surreal now as its always been… musically, things come together just right, with thick, swirling, chiming triple electric guitar textures, spot-on drumming, liquid but powerful bass, gurgling moog, acoustic strumming, accordion, and sweet soaring fuzz-tones. vocals hover as high & sweet as ever, harmonizing, doubling, and layering heavenly. the mood of the album floats through drifting fragile melancholy, quirky pop, crunchy psychedelic rockers and anthemic rave-ups, often all within the same track. beautifully recorded, but never over polished… just the way a great pop record should be. so forget all pretense, folks, maybe not freak folk enough for kill rock stars ain’t such a bad thing at all. same music and art as the lp, but packaged in a mini lp style gatefold cover, with folded insert & woven japanese inner sleeve. edition of 1000.
red records #3… well, its been a damn long time since we released their debut album, “shishimumu”, back when they were called THE PONYS, but we sure are happy there’s finally a proper follow-up, even if it took six years to happen. if anything, the long wait says something to the greatness & humility of the band; never bending to commercial concerns, ego, hype, or changing trends & changing times. in fact, “take to the trees” picks up just about right where “shishimumu” left off all those years back, another little nugget of timeless psychedelic pop perfection. of course, there is a new level of maturity and depth to the songwriting here, but there’s still plenty of slightly naive & youthful charm… and to be certain, the world these guys create is just as surreal now as its always been… musically, things come together just right, with thick, swirling, chiming triple electric guitar textures, spot-on drumming, liquid but powerful bass, gurgling moog, acoustic strumming, accordion, and sweet soaring fuzz-tones. vocals hover as high & sweet as ever, harmonizing, doubling, and layering heavenly. the mood of the album floats through drifting fragile melancholy, quirky pop, crunchy psychedelic rockers and anthemic rave-ups, often all within the same track. beautifully recorded, but never over polished… just the way a great pop record should be. so forget all pretense, folks, maybe not freak folk enough for kill rock stars ain’t such a bad thing at all… packaged in a lovely heavy weight 60s style gatefold cover with elaborate full color art by the band, plus an insert. pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies… first 150 copies come with a special BONUS CDR SINGLE featuring two outtakes deemed by the band “too downer” for the album. packaged in a color offset printed tri-fold cover with hand stamped disc art.
2002 debut release from our local heroes. featuring a single mix of one track from the full length, plus an exclusive b-side. tri-fold covers offset printed on heavy art paper. numbered to 600 copies… last few copies!
cd version of the sold out 2lp… the long in the works full length is finally complete, and our good friends the ponys have given us a pretty fantastic debut … the sounds of the past and present meeting to create a unique and uplifting timelessness. merging rock instrumentation, acoustic guitar, electric slide, moog, wurlitzer, and gorgeous vocals into a cluster of irresistible, catchy, and haunting songs. flowing through droning psychedelia, velvety instrumentals, quirky indiepop. country twang, and distortion fueled rock. it’s all brought together by the band’s unique sound and youthful energy. 100% analog process used from start to finish, for some extremely high fidelity. packaged in a miniature lp style gatefold cover with fold-out insert. second pressing of 1000.
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.
long in the works reissue of this amazing and little know gem, “beautiful people”, from 1972. born in miami florida to an american father and venezuelan mother, bill split the usa to madrid spain in the early 70s. once there he quickly landed a recording deal with famous producer alain milhaud of the explosion label, and set to work on this, his sole lp release. sessions went down with an impressive cast of up to eleven players in the studio, including salvador dominguez & chema pellico (cerebrum), jess lam (jess & james), and frank rojas (sangre). one of the albums real hidden treasures, though, was the assistance of unknown texan mark gottschall, who co-wrote the title track and adds perfect vocal harmonies as well a second acoustic guitar. a finely balanced mix of sounds that drifts between throbbing electric full band groove and gentle acidfolk. when bill wants to rock, things get downright funky, with a wickedly hard-hitting rhythm section, pumping organ, scorching electric leads, and flipped out acoustic guitars all locking into some seriously tight jams. then the next minute the mood swings and you’re deep into some beautifully fragile and introspective folk meditations; often just two acoustic guitars, bill’s lyrics, and huge, angelic, vocal harmonies all weaving together into lush tapestries of sound. a few tracks fill out a more folkrock vibe with flute, autoharp, piano, slide guitar, banjo, and more. bill’s lyrics (all in english) and vocals always feel deeply sincere, which combined with his unique voice, unusual accent, and loose delivery make for one hell of a cool singer. the whole album has an air of mystical psychedelia, yet never strays far from pop craft, and there’s a real sun-blasted quality to it all that just makes you want to crank the volume… nothing amateur or lo-fi about this one, its a pro recordings and these guys have serious chops. its hard to image why it didn’t become a hit at the time. the album was released only in spain and brazil, to very little interest, and quickly became yet another great album lost to obscurity… at least until now… reissued here for the first time, with the collaboration of producer & explosion label owner alain milhaud. packaged in a heavy weight gloss coated exact reproduction of the original cover, including the the original double sided insert, as well as a huge new full color foldout insert which reproduces at nearly full size the totally different brazilian version of the album art. plus extensive notes by album musicians salvador dominguez & mark gottschall, and alex carretero (guerssen records, spain). also a small photo of some rare picture sleeves 45s, promotional inserts, lyric sheets, etc. even the lp labels reproduce the original psychedelic full color explosion label art. pressed on 180gm audiophile grade vinyl & limited to 1000 copies.
real cd reissue of the long gone cdr version. raccoo-oo-oon are one those rare bands that can somehow shift between seemingly divergent genres while the whole time keeping a sound very much their own. the disc launches with a speed blasted, noise fueled, psych/punk rocker, slides into nearly grooving free-jazz territory, then in to a gorgeous buzzing/floating/tinkling bliss mantra, and that’s just first 3 tracks. things continue unfolding from there, but the overall sound constantly slips back to the sort of mantric, damaged rock thud these guys are clearly fond of. a rather thrilling and quite great ride… remastered by pete swanson (yellow swans) for extra punch. packaged in full color off-set printed tri-fold art paper cover reproducing shawn reed’s original eyeball frying art inside and out. woven japanese innersleeves. limited edition 1000 copies.
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.
cd version is identical to the sold out lp version, only smaller… the first ever reissue of the first private press lp from brazil. recorded and released in 1973 by the duo of lula cortes & lailson. a real lost masterpiece from any angel, and the first release of the fertile recife psych scene of the early 70′s… mesmerizingly beautiful sitar & 12 string psych ragas beaming straight for your third eye, and lifted ever higher by occasional angelic vocals or a burst of fuzz guitar… truly amazing stuff sure to turn the ears of any folk/psych fan, past or present… perfectly reproduced original artwork, double-sided color insert with extensive notes & photos, and comes in a heavyweight mini lp style sleeve, with folded insert. second edition of 1000 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp… here’s something a bit different… a collaborative release with the band’s own indian queen label. pretty hard to pin this one down, but its a trip for sure. a rather mysterious one man band solo outing from texas, who builds up layer upon layer of violin, viola, acoustic guitar, slippery electric slide, percussion, electronics, accordion, buried vocals, and found sounds into haunted, rollicking, thick sonic blankets of sound. many simple parts entwined, looped, and orchestrated into an undulating whole, like naive bedroom folkrock filtered through some blissed out minimalist phase experiment. ecstatic, post-psychedelic chamber rock maybe? really doesn’t sound like much else out there, but its instantly enjoyable, energized, and grooves freely in its own uplifting way. packaged in a tri-fold, double sided, offset printed cover. woven japanese inner sleeves. edition of 500.
the first in a series of split lps loosely in tribute to POPOL VUH, as well as the first release on TIME-LAG RECORDS. DRONA PARVA’S ‘form-constants’ is a minimalist hammond organ meditation inspired by popol vuh’s ‘in den garten pharaos’ and early terry riley. a slow building, trance inducing, improvisation. ULTRASOUND (texas by way of den haag) opens side two with a beautiful reworking of popol vuh’s ‘spirit of peace’, using piano, bass, gong, and viola, then closes the side with a track of shimmering guitar drone. plenty to float away on… audiophile quality 180 gram vinyl, and packaged in a gorgeous custom letterpressed sleeve. hand numbered edition of 800.
‘a’ side is a dusty gem of a solo track, unearthed on a mysterious ‘space shanties’ era tape reel last new years day, and now presented to the masses after quite a time lapse. a prime slice seeped in the lo-fi analog glow of tower recordings, with mv spilling some lucid lyrics & smokey vibes. ‘b’ side is a more recent counterpoint, a bit more bent on the rural/spectra solo wandering of his most zoned & serene acoustic/electric back porch pickings. sweet vibrations, folks… packaged in a two-tone heavy-textured art paper cover, with silver/blue/black offset printing & silver/blue labels. edition of 550 copies… last few copies!
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.
digital version of the sold out lp. well, here you have it. maine’s cosmic mystery trio captured for eternity, just for you… while everyone & their mother seems to have some sort of bedroom folk/psych project going these days, you’d be hard pressed to find another unit as pure in spirit & process as these here bodies/buddies. one of those rare vortexes of creation existing totally apart from all hype, pressure or pretense; in other words, timeless. always balanced on that fine and beautiful line between cosmic joke & aching depth. a simple & unadorned unfurling of strummed & fingered instruments, heartaching female vocals, woodland creatures, earthy male vocals, contrasting half written & totally spontaneous songs, twisting lyrics, haunted melancholy, lysergic joy, and a heavy dose of spooked new england lore. in a way, the recording scene itself is an almost perfect parallel to the sounds & vibes captured here: three shadowy figures laugh & sing around a dim campfire. no ones slept in days. they’re nestled amidst ancient stone buildings, creeping foliage, and mounds of exotic flowers. the sun is setting over the mountains. but its all frozen in time. the clouds aren’t moving. and that campfire, it’s a microphone, isn’t it? and all those flowers: plastic. the stone: paint. is it all fake? well, it is an ancient stone church. and those three really are making some very sweet sounds. in fact, its almost hyper real. almost impossibly so… is that reel-to-reel rolling? yes, it sure is… exquisitely packaged with a tri-fold double thick duotone art paper cover. outside is white paper with edge to edge antique letterpress printed eyeball melting hyper detailed art by the band plus glow-in-the-dark screen printing. inside is black paper with red/orange screen printing. woven japanese inner sleeves. two cover variations, limited to 400 each, for a total cd edition of 800 copies.
another in our RED RECORDS series. this one is especially close to my heart. a deluxe vinyl version of the band’s mega-limited private press cdr debut from about 5 years back… recorded & self released at the very inception of the band, this was an out-of-nowhere 77 minute mind-blower. elements of their more distilled untitled time-lag lp are present in new-born form, but overall this is a far wider ranging & raw trip… a home recorded mix of roughhewed songs & spontaneous improvisation melding together primitive bedroom acidfolk, fuzzy sci-fi psych-outs, bent occult trance ritual, fake xian folk, loose cosmic jamming, spooked drones, pagan mysteries, and some stuff thats just pretty much beyond words… the whole trip is totally psychedelic, deeply textured, dripping vibes, wide-eyed, and more than anything else wickedly fun. one of those rare documents of a young band unselfconsciously doing their thing, and ‘their thing’ pretty much rules… absolutely zero info as always, but this time you get a few rather amusing band photos for extra charm. pressed on two slabs of 180gm bright red vinyl & packaged in an ultra-minimal heavy art paper gatefold cover with raised plastic ink screen printed cover text, paste-on interior polaroid photo sticker, stamped & hand numbered spine. printed & hand stamped labels. plus each copy is enclosed in a two-tone stitched synthetic felt (made from 100% recycled plastic bottles) envelope pouch in various color combinations, hand assembled one at a time by my mom (thanx mom!) limited & numbered edition of 266 copies.
digital version of red records #2. newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… same music as vinyl version, but packed in a mini lp style heavy gatefold cover with somwhat different full color art, japanese woven inner sleeve, etc. edition of 1000 copies.
new vinyl edition of the instantly sold out red records first edition, co-released with the woodsist label… newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… 140gm black vinyl packaged in a heavy 60s style cover with insert. edition of 1000 copies.
red records #2… newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… lusciously hand packaged in a custom black art paper heavy 60s style gatefold cover with full size, full color paste-on front photo artwork, black on black screen printed back cover & interior, printed labels, hand stamped spine, and pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies.
deluxe double vinyl reissue of the first two long gone & very limited private press cdrs from john kevin francis joseph under the wovoka guise. part one hits a wonderful hazy sunbaked acoustic back porch acid folk raga zone. primitive, stripped down, smoked out, laid back, but fully intense. part two takes the acoustic guitar / dulcimer / vocal / echo acid raga themes of part one and launches them ever skyward with the addition of fuzzy serpentine electric guitar runs, zoned hand percussion, creaking cello, and subtle electrified bass. devotional heart songs, thick smoke spirals, and sweaty wide eyelids all the way folks… pressed on double 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed & hand stamped labels. packaged in a heavy 60s style custom cream art paper gatefold cover, with full color photo two layer paste-on front, screen printed interior, hand stamped back, and hand stamped & numbered spine. limited edition of 233 copies.
Time-Lag
digital version of the above album. packaged in a matching fabric textured, golden hued, mini lp style gatefold cover with black & blood red printing, plus insert & woven japanese inner sleeve.
much anticipated first proper release after a string of ear tugging & increasingly impressive private press cdrs. a real shinning spirit in these somewhat goofy times of “folkpsych” abuse, this guy nails it like its in his DNA. way beyond a simple formula, this is a complete tonal voyage. opening the album with a dark ritual of dueling reeds and buzzing drones, things than erupt into some seriously burning psych raga excursion built from totally heavy, jamming, acoustic guitar licks, eastern grooving hand percussions, stoned backwards or fuzzed-out electric guitar splatters, and subtle creaky drones. the vocals are nearly unintelligible but swirl beautifully through most songs like floating smokey ripples. woozy, headbobbing, and completely THERE. yow… pressed on 180gm audiophile vinyl & packaged in a custom fabric textured, golden hued, heavy gatefold cover with black & blood red printing, plus insert. un-numbered limited edition of 750 copies… last few copies!
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.
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.
digital version of the lp… much anticipated proper full length release from this wonderful maine duo after a long running string of self released cdrs & a collaborative 7inch with visitations. colleen kinsella & caleb mulkerin have been key personages of the portland / south portland sonic underground for over a decade, as members of cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. while those groups have no doubt left an impressive body of sound, the intimacy and directness of their big blood recordings take things to a higher plane of personal expression, freed from the group mind / “serious” band trapping of their past musical outlets. here they are free to romp in their personal microverse, following whim & fantasy through the gates of acoustic transcendence. all of the off-the-cuff spontaneity, intimate home fidelity, and deep personal charms of their older releases are as present as ever, but the the duo’s scope is now focused to a crystalline clarity of vision. dead songs is as sorrowful & joyful in its mirrored symmetry as the infinite life cycle itself, flowing on cleansing waves of inner release & spirit absorption… wailing fuzzed-up garage folk anthems mesh into twisted poetic acidfolk and drift to expansive melancholic meditations of boundless depth. two voices howl, swoon, alternate & join, lyrical layers peel away endlessly, tiny amps weep in pain, crude percussion booms thunderous, and ragged, beautiful hooks unfurl straight out of the void… packaged in an identical mini-lp style gatefold cover with clear varnish overprinting & offset printed vellum insert. first pressing of 1000 copies.
much anticipated proper full length release from this wonderful maine duo after a long running string of self released cdrs & a collaborative 7inch with visitations. colleen kinsella & caleb mulkerin have been key personages of the portland / south portland sonic underground for over a decade, as members of cerberus shoal, threads, fire on fire, etc. while those groups have no doubt left an impressive body of sound, the intimacy and directness of their big blood recordings take things to a higher plane of personal expression, freed from the group mind / “serious” band trapping of their past musical outlets. here they are free to romp in their personal microverse, following whim & fantasy through the gates of acoustic transcendence. all of the off-the-cuff spontaneity, intimate home fidelity, and deep personal charms of their older releases are as present as ever, but the the duo’s scope is now focused to a crystalline clarity of vision. dead songs is as sorrowful & joyful in its mirrored symmetry as the infinite life cycle itself, flowing on cleansing waves of inner release & spirit absorption… wailing fuzzed-up garage folk anthems mesh into twisted poetic acidfolk and drift to expansive melancholic meditations of boundless depth. two voices howl, swoon, alternate & join, lyrical layers peel away endlessly, tiny amps weep in pain, crude percussion booms thunderous, and ragged, beautiful hooks unfurl straight out of the void… packaged in a suitably gorgeous full color heavy 60s style gatefold cover with clear varnish overprinting, large offset printed vellum insert, full color art labels, etc. pressed on the highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl. limited edition of 700 copies.
digital version of red records #1. a lucky few got to hear this little gem as the tiny self released cdr edition, but here’s the real deal. an absolutely lovely album and surely joshua’s finest dose yet. oozing with a perfectly warm lo-fi bedroom glow, and full of joshua’s most direct & achingly melancholy song forms. totally hitting a whole new level of intimate vibrations, full of fragile hushed vocals, gentle acoustic guitar plucking, somber dirges, and electronic bagpipe mantras. beautifully formed lyrics step u pto the forefront as a rare treat, and the effect is just as stunning as it is simple. we just can’t get enough of this one. the kind of record you’ll want to spin again & again to soothe a busy mind… truly psychedelic folk music for late night soul searching. same music & art as the vinyl version, but packed in a mini lp style heavy gatefold cover with full color art, japanese woven inner sleeve, etc. edition of 1000 copies.
red records #1… a lucky few got to hear this little gem as the tiny self released cdr edition, but here’s the real deal. an absolutely lovely album and surely joshua’s finest dose yet. oozing with a perfectly warm lo-fi bedroom glow, and full of joshua’s most direct & achingly melancholy song forms. totally hitting a whole new level of intimate vibrations, full of fragile hushed vocals, gentle acoustic guitar plucking, somber dirges, and electronic bagpipe mantras. beautifully formed lyrics step up the forefront as a rare treat, and the effect is just as stunning as it is simple. we just can’t get enough of this one. the kind of record you’ll want to spin again & again to soothe a busy mind… truly psychedelic folk music for late night soul searching… lusciously hand packaged in a custom creamy art paper heavy 60s style gatefold cover with full size, full color paste-on front artwork, screen printed back cover & interior, printed labels, hand stamped spine, and pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies.
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.
digital version in a heavy mini lp style cover with exact reproduction original artwork, and a full color foldout mini poster insert with new liner notes by lula cortes. first edition of 1000 copies.
deluxe first ever reissue of this brazilian private press monster rarity. originally custom pressed in 1980, ‘rosa de sangue’ is the closing chapter of the amazing recife psychedelic movement that flourished & centered around the work of lula cortes, beginning in 1973 with the release of satwa, and the creation of ‘abracadabra’, lula’s loose art/music/design collective. leading up to 1980 lula had produced & privately released satwa in 1973 (brazil’s first private press lp) as well as marconi notaro’s ‘no sub reino dos metazoarios’ lp that same year (featuring the recording debut of ze ramalho). he then started the legendary but incredibly short lived ‘solar’ label, releasing only two albums: 1975’s ‘paebiru’ double album, and a year later the lone album by flaviola. as if that wasn’t enough, he was also heavily involved in other productions and performed on many seminal albums coming out of the region, including many collaborations with alceu valenca… by the close of the 70s the heavily utilized rozemblit recording studio / pressing plant had been destroyed by repeated floods, abracadabra had run its course, and along with lula’s marriage, the solar label was no more. so ‘rosa de sangue’ was conceived as a bookend & tribute to this closing era; as lula himself states “i want to close all of this with a golden key”… and a golden key it is. entering a small local studio with a head full of songs and his freshly road tested ‘mountains band’, lula created an album simply overflowing with ideas. along with his power trio backing, he was further assisted by many old friends dropping in, including, among many others : alceu valenca, flaviola, ze de flauta & paulo rafael. with hints of the past era and of things to come, it is a truly wild audio experience, covering many styles & moods. from crazed ethno folkrock, to magical, gentle, jungle folk psych zones, to hard hitting, coke dusted fuzz rock, to insane mutant disco dance floor groove, to tweaked americana, to acid vocal raga trance, and way beyond… all throughout lula’s beautiful tricordio work pins things down, and for the first time he is the main vocalist (this is, after all, his first “solo” album!) his is a smoke & booze steeped voice darting between crazed abandon, deep sadness, and glowing soulful humor. when things are mellow, you could easily imagine you’re hearing an outtake from marconi notaro or paebiru, but the next moment you’re dropped into a raging street party or dimly lit booze drenched bar scene vibe… frenzied guitars all over, including some tough fuzz, as well as powerful rolling bass groove, soaring violin, moog weirdness, dusted backup vocals, and great drum kit / regional percussion interplay. psychedelic at heart, but brimming with flashes of tropicalia, punk, prog, and pure hot blooded rock & roll… a bizarre & amazing album. but of course, the story doesn’t end there… at some point while the album was being recorded & pressed lula signed a major label contact which would produce 1981’s far tamer ‘o gosto novo da vida’ lp. when his new label got wind of ‘rosa de sangue’s eminent release, they were displeased to say the least. as soon as the pressing was complete, the entire small edition was seized & destroyed, making this album by far brazil’s rarest. so rare, in fact, that even among the most hardcore brazilian collectors the original lp is often only rumored to exist, often cited as ‘unreleased’… a few copies did however survive, and now, 29 years later, the world can finally hear this “golden key” from a truly visionary artist… packaged in a heavy vintage style cover with exact reproduction original artwork, including the huge full color, double sided, foldout poster insert, plus an extra insert featuring new liner notes from lula cortes as well as translated song titles. 180gm audiophile virgin vinyl pressing with exact repro label art. limited edition one time pressing of 1000 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp. deluxe & expanded version co-released with matt lajoie’s own l’animaux tryst (field) recordings label. originally presented in 2006 as the first l’animaux tryst release, an extremely limited 3inch cdr. this new version fills out the album with four previously unreleased bonus tracks from the original recording sessions. each track is newly mixed and whole album features super nice warm analog remastering for the ultimate in hi-fi lo-fi. these recordings represent a definite turning point in the cursillisitas trajectory, with the sparser intimate acid-folk-pop sound of the earliest releases blending easily into a more filled-out and improvisation based psychedelia. heavy use of layered overdubs, xylophone, live looping, and more experimental atmospheres added to the reverbed vocals, acoustic guitar, and crude percussion push things towards the more free-wheelin’ full band sound of the present… a drifting trip that wobbles between the dark & the light. packaged in an offset printed tri-fold art paper cover with vellum insert & woven japanese inner sleeve. edition of 700.
red records release #8. deluxe vinyl version of the long gone time-lag cdr from about 4 years back… this group lasted just long enough to leak out a small but highly rewarding series of under-the-radar cassettes & cdrs over a year or two, with this album standing as a clear peak both in terms of scope & execution. as great as the recent offerings from various members have been (aswara, rafi bookstaber, muntjac, moonpie, etc.), there’s a certain youthful charm here that’s hard to miss… a slow & spacious album full of alternating melancholy/ecstatic vibes with raga-esque acoustic guitars, chiming electric guitars, slippery liquid flute, harmonium, sparse percussion, blissed female/male vocal bits, low level bass drone, kosmic synth tickles and damaged tape warble, plus one beauty of a ‘song’… flickering neon smoke rings of sound dissolving into the atmosphere… totally stoned-out, bedroom cult, eyes to the ceiling, half naive, home-fi psychedelia… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl & packaged in a deluxe heavy 60s style black art paper gatefold cover with white ink screen printed interior and full color paste-on art front and back, plus stamped & hand numbered spine & printed labels. limited edition of 288 copies.
digital version of the out of print lp… at long last, there’s finally a full length elephant micah album born into this world. why it took so many years will remain a mystery, cuz as far as we’re concerned elephant micah should have been a household name for years now. stripped of all superfluous sound, and presented with the sort of stark realness that creates a deeply psychedelic mood without being in the least bit overt. joe o’connell has always been at the top of our favorite contemporary songwriters, and here the songs truly take center stage for the first time. recorded direct to hand held cassette recorder using only acoustic guitar and vocals, with just sparse backing from a little percussion, cello, electric piano and double-tracked vocals, the gauzy overdubs of past releases have all but vanished here. at the same time the lyrical depth & intimacy have easily doubled, creating some of the most affecting country-tinged melancholy we’ve ever laid ears on. hushed, heartaching, and utterly timeless. and it just gets better with every listen… the voyeuristic pureness is further enhanced by hissy near haiku spoken fragments of tape that pop up between songs throughout the album… heavy mini-lp-style craft paper gatefold cover with elusive, ghostly two color offset printing, plus a double sided fold out insert & woven japanese inner sleeves.
digital version of this gem of an album. 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 offset printed lyric insert. limited edition of 500 copies.
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.
fully mind-blowing dream collaboration from alastair galbraith, alex neilson & richard youngs. all serious international underground sound weavers in their own right, this trio collaboration lifts things ever higher… for the last 20 years or so alastair galbraith has quietly been releasing some of the most stunning outsider/psych/folk/drone work to ever come out of his new zealand homeland, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him back on the scene. richard youngs makes a nice uk parallel with a vast and equally impressive catalog of sub-underground avant/drone/folk wonderment to his name. and while alex neilson’s name might be a bit new, he’s been bending many a mind under his directing hand solo guise, as well as collaboration with mv & ee, taurpis tula and others. oh yeah, and that small fact that alex & richard backed jandek at his first ever live performance is pretty cool too… musically, things are way fucking deep in the zone here folks. side one glides along in slo-mo dream state hover with richard’s beautiful and unmistakable vocals soaring and refracting in to echoes, quietly fluttering and droning electronics, otherworldly sounding synth melodies, rolling splashes of free percussion, backwards effects, and syrupy sound pools of acoustic strings. beautifully lulling and deeply psychedelic… but the second you flip the lp the bottom drops right out with with a real electro jammer, blasted with throbbingly heavy free drumming, vibrating walls of synth, and yowling bird-of-prey electronic squeal… and things just get more abstract from there… really amazing stuff for those who dig a headspinningly deep listen… packaged in a stark but beautiful full color offset printed & debossed heavy art board cover, with debossed insert. 180 gram virgin vinyl. vinyl only numbered edition of 900 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp. packaged in a miniature tri-fold version of the lp cover, with photo insert and woven japanese inner sleeves. first proper release from this headspinning acid/drone/raga crew thats been quietly haunting the northeast for a couple years now… for this album the band was marcia bassett (double leopards, hototogisu, zaimph, un, etc.) steve gunn, and pete nolan (magik markers, vanishing voice, etc.)… heavily dosed trips into eastcoast trance primitivism, gushing with mantric meshes of strings and voice. centered around bassett & gunn’s acoustic guitar freeflow, and wrapped up in layers of hovering vocal mist, buzzing drones, percussive clatter, and nolan’s subtle but massively psychedelic electric guitar moves. over five extended tracks things slide along from bone rattling minimal vibrations, dip into opiated folk beauty, and then blow things wide open with a full side of fevered, acid soaked raga lift-off… keep that third eye open folks… limited edition of 1000 copies.
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.
digital version packaged in a miniature laminated lp style gatefold cover. edition of 1000. perfect for recommended extended repeat listening…
although finlander jonna karanka has been slowly leaking out little kuupuu jewels for six years now, somehow it’s taken just that long to materialize her first ‘proper’ album. maybe it has something to do with the time she’s devoted to her beautiful artwork, or her time spent in a highly impressive string of other bands, included HERTTA LUSSU ASSA (with ISLAJA and LAU NAU), ANAKSIMANDOS, AVARUS, and many others… but, you know, i always figured kuupuu music didn’t have much to do with ‘time’ anyway. it’s music from another reality, to put it bluntly. a beautiful place no doubt, but somehow totally other. you could call this music a lot of things, all without really saying much… post-everything? pre-birth folk? bedtime acid-art? naive avant-garde loop witchcraft? maybe something like a thousand memories & vague images folded into each other and spooled out infinitely like a sloppy film loop… the sound of tiny bioluminescent insects systematically devouring an urban cityscape in hyper-speed, while just as quickly slithering neon flora entwine the metallic gray remains, only to then be gobbled themselves by a leaderless army of pulsating micro-robots. got that? now play backwards in slow motion… surreal might just be an understatement… packaged in a stunning ultra-heavy laminated full color gatefold cover with full color art labels, all created by jonna. pressed on audiophile 180gm vinyl. limited edition of 750 copies.
two stunning exclusive tracks finally unleashed after (too many) years on the shelf, just in time to coincide with samara’s wonderful new album ‘future slip’ on thurston moore’s ecstatic peace! label. a sweet little dose of hushed & fragile melancholy folk-pop-drone fluttering. samara’s unmistakable slow-bliss songforms are at their most stripped down and psychedelically entwined, with thick hovering violin tones, distant reverbed atmospheres & gentle swirls of quivering guitar feedback all lifting things just high enough. totally bleary-eyed & beautiful, hitting that perfect spot just between your heart & gut… to these ears its that golden zone where the sound of her past in bands like HALL OF FAME, TOWER RECORDINGS, METABOLISMUS, etc. merges effortlessly with her sublimely structured solo vision… packaged in silver & black on bright red offset printed art paper covers, with simple hand stamped labels. edition of 400 copies
the counterpart to “wings from a storm”. acid-dripping lo-fi euphoric melancholy west coast folk beauty from michael curtis hilde. this dude is seriously prolific, with a fine string of cdr only release under the moontainhood and almaden names, but this pair is a real apex of his still unfolding musical vision. “thunderpaint the stone horse electric” is a totally intimate & spontaneously vibed little gem. deeply felt, introverted, hallucinatory, and starry-eyed song stories delivered via fuzzy bedroom fourtrack gush. fevered vocals quiver, warble, double, and swoon around gentle or ragged acoustic guitar, foot-stomping tambourine thud & jingle, harmonium, breezy flute, warm tape hiss, and singing crystal cave atmospherics… we know the animals are dancing… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed, hand stamped, and hand numbered labels. packaged in a foldout cream art paper cover with full sized high quality paste-on art front & back, screen printed interior, hand stamping, as well as individually hand drawn rainbows, plus a big art sticker insert & a 2nd xerox track list insert. limited edition of 222 copies.
the counterpart to “thunderpaint the stone horse electric” is equally lovely, lo-fi, and lysergic, but here the somewhat euphoric zone has become ultra lovesick moody. dominated by just piano & vocals, with bits of guitar, tapes, chiming tones and dusty wooden night sounds stirring. definitely glassy-eyed voyeurism… pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed, hand stamped, and hand numbered labels. packaged in a foldout whale grey art paper cover with full sized full color high quality paste-on art front & back, screen printed interior, and hand stamping, plus two big art sticker inserts & a 3rd xerox track list insert. limited edition of 222 copies.
double cd digital version of the sold out 2lp. after piles of privately released cdrs & long gone vinyl only releases, here’s the mv/ee album for the masses, who are no doubt quivering for it… don’t be fooled though, this is neither the medicine show zone of recent years, nor a mere echo of the tower recordings flame, but a new beast stirring awake in the beaming sun of now. aided by the bummer road and the omni present erika elder, mv has here pushed his cosmic sounds beyond the apex of high. no doubt there’s plenty of lifted rural raga vibrations, and big woozy doses of haunted folk-blues as well, but the mix of flat-out killer ‘songs’ and extended electric psych-outs is something of a revelation. ‘beautiful mountain’ & ‘sunshine girl’ are tantalizingly close to being something like modern underground hits, while the side-long album closer ‘death don’t have to mercy’ is an epic head-spinning trip loaded with moments of fragile piano lull, layers of serpentine acid guitars, and all-around smoky late-night jam vibes… throughout the album both mv & ee’s vocals are more present & stronger then ever, and the harmonies have a real sweet lonesome glow… surely the finest blossom yet from the mighty maximum arousal farm… features matt valentine & erika elder with mo’ jiggs, sparrow wildchild, nemo bidstrup, tim barnes & samara lubelski adding harmonica, percussion, flute, electric guitar, tambura, violin, ukelin, and more to the usual assortment of mystic strings… packaged in a beautiful heavy old-style gatefold cover with glossy laminated photo outside and silver on white interior. classy sliver/black labels. analog saturation mastering by wojcek czern, poland, for maximum aural radiance. miniature lp style heavy gatefold covers just like the vinyl version, plus a nice insert.
digital version of the out of print vinyl… first ever reissue of this totally brilliant post-satwa 1973 brazilian private press featuring the core trio lula cortes, marconi notaro & ramalho. recorded just months after lula & lailson had released satwa, lula was back in the same recife studio with poet and friend marconi notaro to lay down another equally magical album. ramalho, who would go on to record the paberu 2lp with lula two years later, makes his recording debut here as well… somehow amidst the harsh government restrictions of 70s brazil, lula côrtes and his group of artist friends had managed to bypass the authorities and create a hugely creative micro-world of their own, recording, producing, and releasing this album with complete independence. no small feat in and of itself, no doubt, but the music is what makes this slab a true lost masterpiece… the whole album gushes forth with a sun baked spirit of the highest level, mixing tropicalia tinged folk-beat groovers, satwa style bliss trance ragas, pabiru favored lysergic jungle psych, and even a raging fuzz/wah soaked garage psych rocker. extremely mind melting from start to finish, with huge washes of rippling tape delay, electric & acoustic guitars, 12 string, tranced folk percussion, passionate yet mellow vocals, liquid electric bass, acid effects everywhere, and of course lula’s mercurial & heart melting tricrdio (an instrument he made himself, something like a sitar/dulcimer hybrid). beautiful, melancholy and joyous all at the same moment, this is an album that after 33 years still sounds completely fresh & unique… sadly marconi passed away in 2000 having lived a life of obscurity even in his own town, yet leaving behind 7 published books of poetry and this stunning, lone album. this reissue has been authorized by maconi’s daughter and lula côrtes to insure they receive the credit and funds they deserve, even if it comes 3 decades late… fully reproduced original art, featuring beautiful drawings by lula & layout by katia. heavyweight, old-style, laminated gatefold covers. pressed on 180gm virgin vinyl. original label art. plus a huge full-color 4-page insert featuring fully translated original notes, rare photos and book covers, marconi’s last poem written the day before his death, and extensive new notes & biography by lula côrtes. same deluxe lp style gatefold packaging as the vinyl version, only smaller, with the same big insert. woven japanese inner sleeves. first edition of 1000 copies.
digital version… plushly packaged in a mini version of the original lp packaging, with letterpress printed tri-fold cover. printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried.
debut recording from italy’s opalio brothers (my cat is an alien) and ramona ponzini. an esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism, and emotion. each track recorded at a different mystical location in the western alps, and centered around ramona’s beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional japanese. maurizio & roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. the whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time… while the my cat is an alien moniker might leave some folks scratching their heads, here the painting petals on planet ghost name nails it : fragile, beautiful, cosmically isolationist, and totally spooked… pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl, and lushly packaged with letterpress printed cover & insert. printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried. hand numbered edition of 560 copies.
the full original lp plus the two extra tracks from the 7inch, as well and 4 previously unreleased bonus tracks from private demos and live recordings, as well as an alternate version of the lp’s closing track. heavy miniature lp style gatefold cover with all original lp art, plus notes inside from founding member eric bergman. cd sized version of the original booklet insert complete with metallic printed covers. woven japanese inner sleeves.
deluxe and exact official reissue of one of the rarest & most unique gems of the 60s private press psychedelic underground. home recorded in a suburban new york living room over just a couple weeks in 1969 by three enthused teenagers, and then self released by the band in an edition of only 100 copies complete with hand assembled covers and booklet insert. dreams of rock stardom may have faded quickly, but from such humble beginnings these kids totally transcended their limited resources… an album overflowing with naive creativity, huge ideas, deep bedroom mysticism, and more then a hint of stoned teenage humor, not to mention a rather unusual assortment of instruments and some very unconventional but brilliant “studio” maneuvering. two singers/songwriters both with wonderfully deep, poetic & introspective lyrics and unique voices, chiming 12 string & electric guitars, unusually cool use of piano, crude drum kit, autoharp, banjo, tambourine, subtle bursts of fuzz bass, off kilter unison vocals, washes of reverb modulation, weird tape edits, and a seriously one-of-a-kind vibration. there’s truly been nothing like it before or since… highest quality production throughout with better then ever master tape sounds and warm analog mastering, audiophile 180gm vinyl, exact reproduction of the original heavy weight cover with front & back mind-blowingly cool crude black & white art just like the original, exact reproduction of the thick insert booklet with gold printed covers on multiple colors of construction paper. plus a bonus 7inch of two essential tracks intended for the original lp but left off due to time restrictions, complete with colored construction paper picture sleeve and lyric insert. without a doubt, the definitive reissue of this lost masterpiece. released in full cooperation with founding member eric bergman. strictly limited to 1000 copies.
digital version of red records #3. well, its been a damn long time since we released their debut album, “shishimumu”, back when they were called THE PONYS, but we sure are happy there’s finally a proper follow-up, even if it took six years to happen. if anything, the long wait says something to the greatness & humility of the band; never bending to commercial concerns, ego, hype, or changing trends & changing times. in fact, “take to the trees” picks up just about right where “shishimumu” left off all those years back, another little nugget of timeless psychedelic pop perfection. of course, there is a new level of maturity and depth to the songwriting here, but there’s still plenty of slightly naive & youthful charm… and to be certain, the world these guys create is just as surreal now as its always been… musically, things come together just right, with thick, swirling, chiming triple electric guitar textures, spot-on drumming, liquid but powerful bass, gurgling moog, acoustic strumming, accordion, and sweet soaring fuzz-tones. vocals hover as high & sweet as ever, harmonizing, doubling, and layering heavenly. the mood of the album floats through drifting fragile melancholy, quirky pop, crunchy psychedelic rockers and anthemic rave-ups, often all within the same track. beautifully recorded, but never over polished… just the way a great pop record should be. so forget all pretense, folks, maybe not freak folk enough for kill rock stars ain’t such a bad thing at all. same music and art as the lp, but packaged in a mini lp style gatefold cover, with folded insert & woven japanese inner sleeve. edition of 1000.
red records #3… well, its been a damn long time since we released their debut album, “shishimumu”, back when they were called THE PONYS, but we sure are happy there’s finally a proper follow-up, even if it took six years to happen. if anything, the long wait says something to the greatness & humility of the band; never bending to commercial concerns, ego, hype, or changing trends & changing times. in fact, “take to the trees” picks up just about right where “shishimumu” left off all those years back, another little nugget of timeless psychedelic pop perfection. of course, there is a new level of maturity and depth to the songwriting here, but there’s still plenty of slightly naive & youthful charm… and to be certain, the world these guys create is just as surreal now as its always been… musically, things come together just right, with thick, swirling, chiming triple electric guitar textures, spot-on drumming, liquid but powerful bass, gurgling moog, acoustic strumming, accordion, and sweet soaring fuzz-tones. vocals hover as high & sweet as ever, harmonizing, doubling, and layering heavenly. the mood of the album floats through drifting fragile melancholy, quirky pop, crunchy psychedelic rockers and anthemic rave-ups, often all within the same track. beautifully recorded, but never over polished… just the way a great pop record should be. so forget all pretense, folks, maybe not freak folk enough for kill rock stars ain’t such a bad thing at all… packaged in a lovely heavy weight 60s style gatefold cover with elaborate full color art by the band, plus an insert. pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies… first 150 copies come with a special BONUS CDR SINGLE featuring two outtakes deemed by the band “too downer” for the album. packaged in a color offset printed tri-fold cover with hand stamped disc art.
2002 debut release from our local heroes. featuring a single mix of one track from the full length, plus an exclusive b-side. tri-fold covers offset printed on heavy art paper. numbered to 600 copies… last few copies!
cd version of the sold out 2lp… the long in the works full length is finally complete, and our good friends the ponys have given us a pretty fantastic debut … the sounds of the past and present meeting to create a unique and uplifting timelessness. merging rock instrumentation, acoustic guitar, electric slide, moog, wurlitzer, and gorgeous vocals into a cluster of irresistible, catchy, and haunting songs. flowing through droning psychedelia, velvety instrumentals, quirky indiepop. country twang, and distortion fueled rock. it’s all brought together by the band’s unique sound and youthful energy. 100% analog process used from start to finish, for some extremely high fidelity. packaged in a miniature lp style gatefold cover with fold-out insert. second pressing of 1000.
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.
long in the works reissue of this amazing and little know gem, “beautiful people”, from 1972. born in miami florida to an american father and venezuelan mother, bill split the usa to madrid spain in the early 70s. once there he quickly landed a recording deal with famous producer alain milhaud of the explosion label, and set to work on this, his sole lp release. sessions went down with an impressive cast of up to eleven players in the studio, including salvador dominguez & chema pellico (cerebrum), jess lam (jess & james), and frank rojas (sangre). one of the albums real hidden treasures, though, was the assistance of unknown texan mark gottschall, who co-wrote the title track and adds perfect vocal harmonies as well a second acoustic guitar. a finely balanced mix of sounds that drifts between throbbing electric full band groove and gentle acidfolk. when bill wants to rock, things get downright funky, with a wickedly hard-hitting rhythm section, pumping organ, scorching electric leads, and flipped out acoustic guitars all locking into some seriously tight jams. then the next minute the mood swings and you’re deep into some beautifully fragile and introspective folk meditations; often just two acoustic guitars, bill’s lyrics, and huge, angelic, vocal harmonies all weaving together into lush tapestries of sound. a few tracks fill out a more folkrock vibe with flute, autoharp, piano, slide guitar, banjo, and more. bill’s lyrics (all in english) and vocals always feel deeply sincere, which combined with his unique voice, unusual accent, and loose delivery make for one hell of a cool singer. the whole album has an air of mystical psychedelia, yet never strays far from pop craft, and there’s a real sun-blasted quality to it all that just makes you want to crank the volume… nothing amateur or lo-fi about this one, its a pro recordings and these guys have serious chops. its hard to image why it didn’t become a hit at the time. the album was released only in spain and brazil, to very little interest, and quickly became yet another great album lost to obscurity… at least until now… reissued here for the first time, with the collaboration of producer & explosion label owner alain milhaud. packaged in a heavy weight gloss coated exact reproduction of the original cover, including the the original double sided insert, as well as a huge new full color foldout insert which reproduces at nearly full size the totally different brazilian version of the album art. plus extensive notes by album musicians salvador dominguez & mark gottschall, and alex carretero (guerssen records, spain). also a small photo of some rare picture sleeves 45s, promotional inserts, lyric sheets, etc. even the lp labels reproduce the original psychedelic full color explosion label art. pressed on 180gm audiophile grade vinyl & limited to 1000 copies.
real cd reissue of the long gone cdr version. raccoo-oo-oon are one those rare bands that can somehow shift between seemingly divergent genres while the whole time keeping a sound very much their own. the disc launches with a speed blasted, noise fueled, psych/punk rocker, slides into nearly grooving free-jazz territory, then in to a gorgeous buzzing/floating/tinkling bliss mantra, and that’s just first 3 tracks. things continue unfolding from there, but the overall sound constantly slips back to the sort of mantric, damaged rock thud these guys are clearly fond of. a rather thrilling and quite great ride… remastered by pete swanson (yellow swans) for extra punch. packaged in full color off-set printed tri-fold art paper cover reproducing shawn reed’s original eyeball frying art inside and out. woven japanese innersleeves. limited edition 1000 copies.
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.
cd version is identical to the sold out lp version, only smaller… the first ever reissue of the first private press lp from brazil. recorded and released in 1973 by the duo of lula cortes & lailson. a real lost masterpiece from any angel, and the first release of the fertile recife psych scene of the early 70′s… mesmerizingly beautiful sitar & 12 string psych ragas beaming straight for your third eye, and lifted ever higher by occasional angelic vocals or a burst of fuzz guitar… truly amazing stuff sure to turn the ears of any folk/psych fan, past or present… perfectly reproduced original artwork, double-sided color insert with extensive notes & photos, and comes in a heavyweight mini lp style sleeve, with folded insert. second edition of 1000 copies.
digital version of the sold out lp… here’s something a bit different… a collaborative release with the band’s own indian queen label. pretty hard to pin this one down, but its a trip for sure. a rather mysterious one man band solo outing from texas, who builds up layer upon layer of violin, viola, acoustic guitar, slippery electric slide, percussion, electronics, accordion, buried vocals, and found sounds into haunted, rollicking, thick sonic blankets of sound. many simple parts entwined, looped, and orchestrated into an undulating whole, like naive bedroom folkrock filtered through some blissed out minimalist phase experiment. ecstatic, post-psychedelic chamber rock maybe? really doesn’t sound like much else out there, but its instantly enjoyable, energized, and grooves freely in its own uplifting way. packaged in a tri-fold, double sided, offset printed cover. woven japanese inner sleeves. edition of 500.
the first in a series of split lps loosely in tribute to POPOL VUH, as well as the first release on TIME-LAG RECORDS. DRONA PARVA’S ‘form-constants’ is a minimalist hammond organ meditation inspired by popol vuh’s ‘in den garten pharaos’ and early terry riley. a slow building, trance inducing, improvisation. ULTRASOUND (texas by way of den haag) opens side two with a beautiful reworking of popol vuh’s ‘spirit of peace’, using piano, bass, gong, and viola, then closes the side with a track of shimmering guitar drone. plenty to float away on… audiophile quality 180 gram vinyl, and packaged in a gorgeous custom letterpressed sleeve. hand numbered edition of 800.
‘a’ side is a dusty gem of a solo track, unearthed on a mysterious ‘space shanties’ era tape reel last new years day, and now presented to the masses after quite a time lapse. a prime slice seeped in the lo-fi analog glow of tower recordings, with mv spilling some lucid lyrics & smokey vibes. ‘b’ side is a more recent counterpoint, a bit more bent on the rural/spectra solo wandering of his most zoned & serene acoustic/electric back porch pickings. sweet vibrations, folks… packaged in a two-tone heavy-textured art paper cover, with silver/blue/black offset printing & silver/blue labels. edition of 550 copies… last few copies!
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.
digital version of the sold out lp. well, here you have it. maine’s cosmic mystery trio captured for eternity, just for you… while everyone & their mother seems to have some sort of bedroom folk/psych project going these days, you’d be hard pressed to find another unit as pure in spirit & process as these here bodies/buddies. one of those rare vortexes of creation existing totally apart from all hype, pressure or pretense; in other words, timeless. always balanced on that fine and beautiful line between cosmic joke & aching depth. a simple & unadorned unfurling of strummed & fingered instruments, heartaching female vocals, woodland creatures, earthy male vocals, contrasting half written & totally spontaneous songs, twisting lyrics, haunted melancholy, lysergic joy, and a heavy dose of spooked new england lore. in a way, the recording scene itself is an almost perfect parallel to the sounds & vibes captured here: three shadowy figures laugh & sing around a dim campfire. no ones slept in days. they’re nestled amidst ancient stone buildings, creeping foliage, and mounds of exotic flowers. the sun is setting over the mountains. but its all frozen in time. the clouds aren’t moving. and that campfire, it’s a microphone, isn’t it? and all those flowers: plastic. the stone: paint. is it all fake? well, it is an ancient stone church. and those three really are making some very sweet sounds. in fact, its almost hyper real. almost impossibly so… is that reel-to-reel rolling? yes, it sure is… exquisitely packaged with a tri-fold double thick duotone art paper cover. outside is white paper with edge to edge antique letterpress printed eyeball melting hyper detailed art by the band plus glow-in-the-dark screen printing. inside is black paper with red/orange screen printing. woven japanese inner sleeves. two cover variations, limited to 400 each, for a total cd edition of 800 copies.
another in our RED RECORDS series. this one is especially close to my heart. a deluxe vinyl version of the band’s mega-limited private press cdr debut from about 5 years back… recorded & self released at the very inception of the band, this was an out-of-nowhere 77 minute mind-blower. elements of their more distilled untitled time-lag lp are present in new-born form, but overall this is a far wider ranging & raw trip… a home recorded mix of roughhewed songs & spontaneous improvisation melding together primitive bedroom acidfolk, fuzzy sci-fi psych-outs, bent occult trance ritual, fake xian folk, loose cosmic jamming, spooked drones, pagan mysteries, and some stuff thats just pretty much beyond words… the whole trip is totally psychedelic, deeply textured, dripping vibes, wide-eyed, and more than anything else wickedly fun. one of those rare documents of a young band unselfconsciously doing their thing, and ‘their thing’ pretty much rules… absolutely zero info as always, but this time you get a few rather amusing band photos for extra charm. pressed on two slabs of 180gm bright red vinyl & packaged in an ultra-minimal heavy art paper gatefold cover with raised plastic ink screen printed cover text, paste-on interior polaroid photo sticker, stamped & hand numbered spine. printed & hand stamped labels. plus each copy is enclosed in a two-tone stitched synthetic felt (made from 100% recycled plastic bottles) envelope pouch in various color combinations, hand assembled one at a time by my mom (thanx mom!) limited & numbered edition of 266 copies.
digital version of red records #2. newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… same music as vinyl version, but packed in a mini lp style heavy gatefold cover with somwhat different full color art, japanese woven inner sleeve, etc. edition of 1000 copies.
new vinyl edition of the instantly sold out red records first edition, co-released with the woodsist label… newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… 140gm black vinyl packaged in a heavy 60s style cover with insert. edition of 1000 copies.
red records #2… newest incarnation of nyc’s wondrous woods, as the trio of jeremy earl, jarvis taveniere, and g lucas crane. for sure the finest yet from these folks… lysergic & infectiously bent acidfolk mashed into faust IV style electronically dosed pop grooving, all awash in odd studio effects, motorik percussion, cracked fuzz, unique vocal gush, twisted lyrics, and burning psych jams… plus enough sweet hooks to get yr next freakout party moving right. hell yes, its a wicked one… lusciously hand packaged in a custom black art paper heavy 60s style gatefold cover with full size, full color paste-on front photo artwork, black on black screen printed back cover & interior, printed labels, hand stamped spine, and pressed on 180gm bright red vinyl. hand numbered limited edition of 300 copies.
deluxe double vinyl reissue of the first two long gone & very limited private press cdrs from john kevin francis joseph under the wovoka guise. part one hits a wonderful hazy sunbaked acoustic back porch acid folk raga zone. primitive, stripped down, smoked out, laid back, but fully intense. part two takes the acoustic guitar / dulcimer / vocal / echo acid raga themes of part one and launches them ever skyward with the addition of fuzzy serpentine electric guitar runs, zoned hand percussion, creaking cello, and subtle electrified bass. devotional heart songs, thick smoke spirals, and sweaty wide eyelids all the way folks… pressed on double 180gm bright red vinyl, with printed & hand stamped labels. packaged in a heavy 60s style custom cream art paper gatefold cover, with full color photo two layer paste-on front, screen printed interior, hand stamped back, and hand stamped & numbered spine. limited edition of 233 copies.