Tuesday
Feb232010
Lot's of updates, new releases, and all kinds of great stuff at Eclipse Records!
Tuesday, February 23,2010 
Go to Eclipse Records for ordering information."Hello again! Lots of great stuff arrived since last time - and lots more about to arrive any day now, too (Jack Rose lp, the cd version, new White Hills lp and cd version, too arriving Monday). Vinyl highlights include the Orkustra double lp on Mexican Summer (not many copies left), Mainliner Sonic lp on Assommer, limited Burnt Hills lp on Flipped Out Records, Golden Jooklo Age & Peaking Lights collab lp, White Hills / Heads split lp, restocks of all 3 recent MV & EE lp's on Woodsist, Blackest Rainbow, and Ecstatic Peace, new Nothing People lp, reissue of Cromagnon lp, Doronco Gumo lp on Holy Mountain (also got a killer cd by guitarist Hiragi Fukuda that is recommended - see below), new U.S. Girls lp on Siltbreeze, restocks of Vibracathedral Orchestra lp's - all 3 of them, restocked all 3 double lp's of Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music, restocks of Beatles 'Sweet Apple Trax' plus some My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 lp's, too. Got the 2 new lp's on REL (Usurper lp, Nmperign w/ Jake Meginsky lp), Cairo Gang lp and Guanaco lp on Blackest Rainbow, plus Heather Leigh Murray lp and Psychic Reality / LA Vampires split lp on Not Not Fun. Plus new Jerusalem and The Starbaskets 7" and repress of Sperm lp on DeStijl. Tape highlights include new batch from Deception Island, 2 new ones from Blackest Rainbow label (including Cursillistas / Love Cult split), restocks of excellent Joanna Brouk tapes, killer new 4 x tape box set on Housecraft, plus new batch of 4 tapes from Arbor. CD/CDR highlights include the Hiragi Fukuda self-released cd, new Magic Carpathians cdr and restock of Expo 70 cdr on Reverb Worship, new White Pee cdr and restock of Plastic Crimewave cdr on Apollolaan, Dick Higgins cd and Sten Hanson cdr + Book on Alga Marghen, new P.G. Six cdr on Perhaps Transparent, new batch of cdr's from Winged Sun label, 3 new Sonic Oyster label releases, Alistair Crosbie cdr on Dust, Unsettled and more..."
*Annapurna Illusion - Dance of the Mesozoic CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
"Annapurna Illusion is still confidential but this is like High Wolf alter ego in a darker / krautrock aesthetic, with previous releases on Earjerk and Reverb Worship before cassette coming soon on Peasant Magik . Here is two long tracks alternating kosmiche synthetizer, psychedelic jams and doooom voice mantras. The other side of the Winged Sun looking glass."
*Annapurna Illusion - Dance of the Mesozoic CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
"Annapurna Illusion is still confidential but this is like High Wolf alter ego in a darker / krautrock aesthetic, with previous releases on Earjerk and Reverb Worship before cassette coming soon on Peasant Magik . Here is two long tracks alternating kosmiche synthetizer, psychedelic jams and doooom voice mantras. The other side of the Winged Sun looking glass."
*Archers By The Sea - Eagle Kiss cassette $9.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"New cassette from Vincent of "V" and The Pistol Cosmos, we previously released "V"s The Chanting Path a few years ago to some great reviews, so its a pleasure to be working with Vincent once again with this new project. Five untitled pieces opening with a mediative guitar meandering, leading into more powerful heavy distorted pieces and right back through to a superb final track of layered instrumentation with beautiful distant vocal flowing in and out of the hypnotic sounds laid across the almost 16 minute finale. Full colour covers, limited to 100."
Ashtray Navigations - Six Imaginary Scenes From The Life Of Muhammad Al Aqil LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"This newest candle burning outing from the long going UK Psych project headed by Mr. Phil Todd continues the quest for the farthest possible cosmic frequencies through FX, guitar, synth, and saz on a bed of field recordings. Some tracks in here almost enter the pantheon of NEW AGE MUSIC! Edition of 240 copies."
Jeffry Astin - Stray Dreams Zodiac c20 cassette $5.99 (Housecraft)
"In stride with the no-fi key fidelities established on an earlier summer split c19 with Josh Burke - densely packed and deeply hypnotic, all flows."
Astreinte - C'est pourquoi il importe, aux époques d'adversité, de demeurer intérieurement fort et sobre de paroles LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"No one knows or will ever know who ASTREINTE are and what their story is. If ever told, they'll be immediately elevated to cult status considering their personal backgrounds and live shows (besides the fact that anything remotely French, sounds wonderful in North America nowadays). ASTREINTE is a five to nine members collective delivering a totally deafening sonic wall assault directly inspired by Japanese legends such as Hijokaidan or CCCC. The group mainly consists of hippies, crust punks, industrialists, garage rockers and a jazz fanatic. Dwelling in and around Pau, in the south west of France, near the Pyrenees and the Spanish border, their very scarce and violent live appearances have been greeted with comparatively aggressive and emotionally charged reactions. "C'est pourquoi il importeŠ" is their debut LP as a nine piece (vocals, guitar, bass, trumpet, drums, 2 x synths, electronics). Edition of 190 copies."
*Albert Ayler Trio - Spiritual Unity CD $11.99 (ESP-Disk)
"If you haven't heard this record, you've missed out on one of the most profound artistic statements of the 20th century." Originally recorded July 10, 1964, in the tiny Variety Arts Recording Studio.
The Beatles - Sweet Apple Trax 1: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds LP $18.99 (Vigotone)
"Very likely the last time we'll have these! Recorded at Twickenham Film Studios and Apple Studios throughout January 1969, these are selections from what turned out to be rehearsal sessions for the "Let It Be" rooftop concert film. Originally intended to be part of the film, hundreds of tracks were laid down, including many improvisations and cover versions, with both tape machines and cameras rolling the whole time. What you hear on these 3 LPs is the band live in the studio, loose and relaxed and having fun, with lots of goofing around and experimenting with both music and lyrics, all with excellent sound quality. And forget about the track listings on the covers: they're only a vague approximation, and frequently dead wrong. This first volume opens with a 2-part satirical razzing of rightwing British politician Enoch Powell, and it just gets crazier as the tape rolls on, finally ending with a very beautiful "Let It Be" followed by a very loose version of the old country song "Hey Good Lookin'." Extremely limited edition, full color cover, color vinyl pressing, UK import. "
The Beatles - Sweet Apple Trax 2: Smoking Behind Strawberry Fields LP $18.99 (Vigotone)
"This 2nd volume of live-in-the-studio insanity opens with Paul singing "Get Back" in German, followed by "Don't Let Me Down," then working out parts and lyrics for "On Our Way Home," followed by much more goofing off and loose covers, another severely mutated and over-the-top "Get Back," "I've Got a Feeling," more surprises, some piano improvisations by Paul, and finally ending with another very different "Get Back." Once again, pay little attention to the track listing! Extremely limited edition, full color cover, color vinyl pressing, UK import."
The Beatles - Sweet Apple Trax 3: The Beatles Play Bob Dylan LP $18.99 (Vigotone)
"The final volume of this live-in-the-studio series, recorded towards the end of these January 1969 rehearsal sessions, this has short cover versions of many songs like "All Shook Up," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Three Cool Cats," "Stand By Me," the "Third Man" theme and more, plus a few Dylan covers ("Blowin' in the Wind," "All Along the Watchtower," "Threw It All Away" and "Mama You've Been on My Mind"), as well as a very goofy "Across the Universe," and the unreleased original "Look at the Window," and more. Extremely limited edition, 3-color cover, color vinyl pressing, UK import."
*Bee Mask - In the Balm Yard: the Nth Dream of the Thermo-Hygrometer c24 cassette $9.99 (Deception Island)
"In the Balm Yard" is the first Bee Mask material to see the light of day since last year's "Shimmering Braid" c20, and it's both an indicator of things to come under the tight-screwed studio hermit regime of Tranquility Base and a shout back at some long-neglected corners of the olde discography. This one comprises two dense, slablike new pieces for treated percussion and synths, burying sonic and structural nods to side two of "Hyperborean Trenchtown" and even 2005's "Living's Just Defying the Ocean" under miles of tinted fiberglass, as though you're watching helplessly while your speakers emit a lychee-and-paint-thinner-scented mist that hardens quickly as it cools, encasing your couch in an ersatz McCracken sculpture. Good luck getting that one out to the curb on trash day! The nascent "electroacoustic music as molecular gastronomy of sound" agenda has Bee Mask poised on some post-Wylie Dufresne tip, transubstantiating a garbage bag full of Doritos into four small, jellylike mounds that'll dilate your pupils from here to 2015. Essentially, I blame long, formative hours spent staring at a picture of a rabbit smoking a cig. If Cincinatti-style chili is your idea of "convergence technology," I want off this bus right now!" Hand-numbered edition of 150.
Birds of Delay - A Living Room At The Bottom Of A Lake LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"BIRDS OF DELAY is a Leeds duo whose first half lives in London (and loves Whitehouse and Rush) and the other in Berlin (and loves Farley Jackmaster Funk). With several releases on labels such as Chocolate Monk, American Tapes, Troniks, Hospital Productions, or their own: Alcoholic Narcolepsy, Luke and Steven have been crafting and sculpting their psychedelic-electronic-noise-drone sound for over half a decade. But who cares and what does that sound description mean anyway? If you ask them, they'll simply tell you "A Living Room at the Bottom of a Lake" is a projection into a TOTAL RAINBOW BLISS zone! Edition of 240 copies."
Blank Realm - Heatless Ark LP + bonus cassette $15.99 (Not Not Fun)
"Overdue vinyl debut by this consistently killer Brisbane crew finds them more form-destroying and ambitious than ever before. outsider psych rabble burned through an art-punk eyeball. Comes with a fantastic companion cassette album, DIRTY ARK."
Joanna Brouk - Healing Music cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Two side-length pieces -- Maggis Flute and Healing Music. Maggi is Maggi Payne of Lovely Records fame, today an instructor at Mills College. This long improvisation based on Brouks directions later provided the basis for a short symphonic piece by Brouk in the mid 80s. Healing Music (1976) is one of Brouks first piano works, a self-taught rondo of deep, hypnotic power."
Joanna Brouk - The Space Between cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Early San Francisco experimental music figure Bill Maraldo achieves remarkable, just slightly off piano tones on the side-length title piece. Side two, Chimes and Bells / Winter Chimes / Golden Cloud Layers finds Brouk combining piano tapes with saron, electric piano, and Moog."
Joanna Brouk - Songs Of The Sea cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Brouks most unusual, ambitious, and remarkable recording consists of two side-long suites, Atavesta, and The Sailor And The Nymph. Lonesome whistles, flutes, drones whale songs, and wordless vocal wails suggest the experimental album Kate Bush never made, or a de-progged "Sunborne" by Constance Demby. A startling, haunting work, highly recommended."
Joanna Brouk - The Healing Touch cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Brouks last tape (for now) finds her revisiting old themes explored on earlier recordings with the addition of digital synths. The sounds are still cosmic and weird and way ahead of the curve. Great J card cover photo features Ms. Brouk blissing out in the woods."
*Burnt Hills - Herb Saint LP $17.99 (Flipped Out Records)
"Take a headfirst dive into a boiling pool of wild vibes....side a was vibrated into being on 3/2/09 in the basement of the helderberg house with five heads shredding to live....side b was vibrated into being on 3/19/09 in the smog building of bard college with nine heads living to shred....edition of 99 copies."
*Cairo Gang - Twyxt Wyrd LP $19.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"This was actually the first ever LP I asked someone to do for Blackest Rainbow, way back in early 2007... The Cairo Gang previously had a CD released several years ago on Narnack Records, and the main man behind The Cairo Gang, Emmett Kelly, came over and toured with John Dwyer's OCS (now currently known as Thee Oh Sees), which was actually the first ever show I put on... After meeting Emmett back then he made several reappearances in the UK playing guitar for Beth Orton and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. This new record was recorded back in 2007, and in some ways is a slight departure for the roster on Blackest Rainbow. The record features 8 proper songs of loose relaxed Chicago style songs, if you're into the trademark sounds of labels like of Thrill Jockey you'll definitely dig this. The line-up for the release is also pretty damn sweet, featuring Rob Lowe (Lichens, 90 Day Men), Ben Vida and Joshua Abrams (both of Town & Country, Vida also performs solo as Bird Show). Limited to only 300 copies, with paste in covers and insert."
*Charalambides - Three-Lane Blacktop LP $12.99 (Two-Lane Blacktop)
Joanna Brouk - Songs Of The Sea cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Brouks most unusual, ambitious, and remarkable recording consists of two side-long suites, Atavesta, and The Sailor And The Nymph. Lonesome whistles, flutes, drones whale songs, and wordless vocal wails suggest the experimental album Kate Bush never made, or a de-progged "Sunborne" by Constance Demby. A startling, haunting work, highly recommended."
Joanna Brouk - The Healing Touch cassette $9.99 (Hummingbird Productions)
"(Joanna Brouk) was an extremely early new age type musician who had a radio show on KPFA even before Hearts of Space. She put out five tapes of music recorded between 1976 and 1982. You can hear an early interview (1972) and some of her most minimal and severe drone music via this link: http://disquiet.com/2008/02/28/joanna-brouk/ (These are) original, sealed tapes from the 80s, although she updated the dates every time she did a new pressing (Sounds of the Sea is from 1981 but says 1990)." - Douglas Mcgowan. "Brouks last tape (for now) finds her revisiting old themes explored on earlier recordings with the addition of digital synths. The sounds are still cosmic and weird and way ahead of the curve. Great J card cover photo features Ms. Brouk blissing out in the woods."
*Burnt Hills - Herb Saint LP $17.99 (Flipped Out Records)
"Take a headfirst dive into a boiling pool of wild vibes....side a was vibrated into being on 3/2/09 in the basement of the helderberg house with five heads shredding to live....side b was vibrated into being on 3/19/09 in the smog building of bard college with nine heads living to shred....edition of 99 copies."
*Cairo Gang - Twyxt Wyrd LP $19.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"This was actually the first ever LP I asked someone to do for Blackest Rainbow, way back in early 2007... The Cairo Gang previously had a CD released several years ago on Narnack Records, and the main man behind The Cairo Gang, Emmett Kelly, came over and toured with John Dwyer's OCS (now currently known as Thee Oh Sees), which was actually the first ever show I put on... After meeting Emmett back then he made several reappearances in the UK playing guitar for Beth Orton and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. This new record was recorded back in 2007, and in some ways is a slight departure for the roster on Blackest Rainbow. The record features 8 proper songs of loose relaxed Chicago style songs, if you're into the trademark sounds of labels like of Thrill Jockey you'll definitely dig this. The line-up for the release is also pretty damn sweet, featuring Rob Lowe (Lichens, 90 Day Men), Ben Vida and Joshua Abrams (both of Town & Country, Vida also performs solo as Bird Show). Limited to only 300 copies, with paste in covers and insert."
*Charalambides - Three-Lane Blacktop LP $12.99 (Two-Lane Blacktop)
"New release of eldritch origin featuring historic recordings of two nearly-complete sets from the "market square"-era charalambides lineup, featuring the core duo of tom & christina carter + jason bill. one side is from the cooler, NYC, at the 1995 CMJ fest (swirling vox sound courtesy kurt wolf), where strapping fieldhands got their fender twin stolen, and bill orcutt & i witnessed the unrepentant use of string-eze by the gtrist from cobra verde. the other side is from the 1994 siltbreeze festival at the khyber pass in philly. both sets consist of freak-rock tracks from "market square" & "strangle the wretched heavens," heavy on analog atmosphere & ecstatic/blown-out gtr/vox interconnectivity."
*Hans Chew - New Cypress Grove Boogie / Forever Again 7" picture disc $6.99 (Three Lobed Recordings)
"Hans Chew's skill as a piano player has previously been on display both in a complementary fashion to Jack Rose (appearing as a member of Jack's live backing band at Arthurdesh as well as on both The Black Dirt Sessions and Luck in the Valley) and as a integral member of D. Charles Speer & the Helix (including his vocal turns on both 'Life Insurance' off Distillation and 'Bar-Abbas Blues' off the In Madagascar 7"). This new single offers an expanded glimpse at not only Chew's songwriting prowess but also his powerful boogie-blues, bar-rockin' piano skills. Both tracks presented on this 7" are slated to appear on Chew's debut album, Tennessee and Other Stories, but appear in different versions exclusive to this release. The 7" itself is a vivid picture disc bearing stunning shots by Jake Cunningham and comes from a limited edition of 500 copies. This record is a joint release between Three Lobed and Divide By Zero."
*Cloaked Light - Plain Curtain c15 cassette $5.99 (Arbor)
"These early four-track experiments from Peter Friel's Cloaked Light project offer a look into focus. With the slowest subtlety changes grow, only perceptible through reflection. A new form of seeking to understand; a non-linear music, offering a space of contemplation to look forward and behind. On A Long Green Hall Friel shifts meaning and reorients the place of speech in a Lucierian experiment with self-help tapes. On But I'm Trying, subtle tonal expansions mirror the manipulation of speech on the previous track, though without the recognizable markers of language the result is more obscured. Each track offers insight to the others processes. Recorded in Summer 2009, these tracks are some of the earliest from the project, a precursory inquiry to the tapes on Ekhein and Monorail. Upcoming split 12" EP with Pale Blue Sky further explores the nature of tonal interactions and non-linear explorations of sound. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes."
*Cromagnon - Cave Rock LP $19.99 (Jackpot Records)
"Originally released in 1969, Cromagnon's Cave Rock strings together a patchwork of untamed sounds and mental images which perfectly articulate the boundary-breaking psychedelic revolution that was occurring at the time -- musically and socially. Widely heralded as the best freak-out record of all time, Cromagnon's Cave Rock is a captivating experience that engages the listener. The album surpassed even the most out there psychedelia of its day, predicting what would soon become the disjointed aural landscapes of Faust and the violent scuzz of Throbbing Gristle. Vivid elements of Cromagnon's influence continues to shine in the lysergic rhythms of the Sun City Girls, Nurse With Wound, Ghost, and Animal Collective." Includes insert with the first documented history of Cromagnon.
*Alistair Crosbie - I've Never Had A Face CDR $10.99 (Dust, Unsettled)
"I've Never Had A Face comprises a single 50 minute composition, which glides effortlessly across five sections, juxtaposing oblique electronic melodies and distant, menacing droneclouds to thrilling effect. The album heralds a new maturity of approach to Alistair's palette, its understated stellar minimalism requiring-and rewarding-detailed and multiple listening. This is absolutely not background-sound work; rather, I've Never Had A Face could be the saddest, most poignant, most personal piece of music Alistair has ever produced." One track. Running time: 49:53
*Hans Chew - New Cypress Grove Boogie / Forever Again 7" picture disc $6.99 (Three Lobed Recordings)
"Hans Chew's skill as a piano player has previously been on display both in a complementary fashion to Jack Rose (appearing as a member of Jack's live backing band at Arthurdesh as well as on both The Black Dirt Sessions and Luck in the Valley) and as a integral member of D. Charles Speer & the Helix (including his vocal turns on both 'Life Insurance' off Distillation and 'Bar-Abbas Blues' off the In Madagascar 7"). This new single offers an expanded glimpse at not only Chew's songwriting prowess but also his powerful boogie-blues, bar-rockin' piano skills. Both tracks presented on this 7" are slated to appear on Chew's debut album, Tennessee and Other Stories, but appear in different versions exclusive to this release. The 7" itself is a vivid picture disc bearing stunning shots by Jake Cunningham and comes from a limited edition of 500 copies. This record is a joint release between Three Lobed and Divide By Zero."
*Cloaked Light - Plain Curtain c15 cassette $5.99 (Arbor)
"These early four-track experiments from Peter Friel's Cloaked Light project offer a look into focus. With the slowest subtlety changes grow, only perceptible through reflection. A new form of seeking to understand; a non-linear music, offering a space of contemplation to look forward and behind. On A Long Green Hall Friel shifts meaning and reorients the place of speech in a Lucierian experiment with self-help tapes. On But I'm Trying, subtle tonal expansions mirror the manipulation of speech on the previous track, though without the recognizable markers of language the result is more obscured. Each track offers insight to the others processes. Recorded in Summer 2009, these tracks are some of the earliest from the project, a precursory inquiry to the tapes on Ekhein and Monorail. Upcoming split 12" EP with Pale Blue Sky further explores the nature of tonal interactions and non-linear explorations of sound. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes."
*Cromagnon - Cave Rock LP $19.99 (Jackpot Records)
"Originally released in 1969, Cromagnon's Cave Rock strings together a patchwork of untamed sounds and mental images which perfectly articulate the boundary-breaking psychedelic revolution that was occurring at the time -- musically and socially. Widely heralded as the best freak-out record of all time, Cromagnon's Cave Rock is a captivating experience that engages the listener. The album surpassed even the most out there psychedelia of its day, predicting what would soon become the disjointed aural landscapes of Faust and the violent scuzz of Throbbing Gristle. Vivid elements of Cromagnon's influence continues to shine in the lysergic rhythms of the Sun City Girls, Nurse With Wound, Ghost, and Animal Collective." Includes insert with the first documented history of Cromagnon.
*Alistair Crosbie - I've Never Had A Face CDR $10.99 (Dust, Unsettled)
"I've Never Had A Face comprises a single 50 minute composition, which glides effortlessly across five sections, juxtaposing oblique electronic melodies and distant, menacing droneclouds to thrilling effect. The album heralds a new maturity of approach to Alistair's palette, its understated stellar minimalism requiring-and rewarding-detailed and multiple listening. This is absolutely not background-sound work; rather, I've Never Had A Face could be the saddest, most poignant, most personal piece of music Alistair has ever produced." One track. Running time: 49:53
*Cursillistas / Love Cult - split cassette $9.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"Brand new split cassette from Portland, Maine based Cursillistas, who recently had superb LPs on Time-Lag and Digitalis, and Love Cult from Petrozavodsk, Russia. First up is Cursillistas' epic 23 minute 'Great Salt Desert', a superb weirded out blues drenched, desert dried, psychedelic mirage. A real fine side summing up how awesome Cursillistas are, if you haven't checked them yet, don't miss this side! The b side opens with Love Cult's 'Breadcrumb Pony Tail', a swirling blissful distortion dripping psyche dream, a really beautiful 11 minute wonder. This is followed by 'Somn' a more crushing electrifying piece with tinkering and rattling from unrecognizable objects, distorted feedback blurts and what sounds like then objects trying to communicate. Limited to 100 copies with parchment paper (either gold or ivory) cover with black and white print."
*Doronco Gumo - Old Punks LP $14.99 (Holy Mountain)
"Doronco Gumo is led by Doronco, a bass player most well known for his stints with Les Rallizes Dénudés, Suishou no Fune, and Keiji Haino. Translated as 'Mud Cloud,' the name is actually poetic in a Zen beggar / wandering monk kind of way. On Old Punks, Doronco is joined by members of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, a Frenchman, and an additional female vocalist. The band uses vocals, bassoon, and trumpet over a seesawing battle of piano / guitar shrill balanced against warm rhythms. Their avant bar-rock style is not unlike Cinderella's Revenge recorded in the same studio as Vintage Violence with the conscious heartbreak of something like Even Serpents Shine. A bright-to-bummer-and-back-to-bright narrative flows throughout the album's nine songs. Resequenced to include an additional track not on the Japanese CD version, Old Punks nails down something you didn't know needed to be nailed down."
Eat Skull - Jerusalem Mall 7" $5.99 (Woodsist)
"Eat Skull return with a follow-up of sorts to last year's Siltbreeze released debut, Sick To Death. Three new tracks. "Don't put baby in the corner. "Jerusalem Mall" is a newer Christmas time jingle for these hopeful times. Backed with two Sick to Death outtakes unavailable on vinyl till now. No one puts baby in the corner." Limited edition pressing.
Él-G - Capitaine Présent 5 LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"Monsieur Laurent Gerard, aka Él-g, aka one third of Ghedalia Tazartes' Reines d'Angleterre has been slowly building a little world of his own with several homemade records, cassettes and CDr's through the past few years and also through several interesting collaborations. Capitaine Present is his most intimate project with already 4 volumes released on CD, cassette and DVD. This fifth outing (and first on vinyl) consists of a hallucinogenic promenade inside his psyche. Cut up spoken words, poetry, cosmic standup comedy from the afterlife, synth insanity, make up this, sometimes very eerie, personal release. ONE SIDED LP - Edition of 190 copies."
Expo 70 - Galaxy Of Mysticism CDR $13.99 (Reverb Worship)
"I have been a fan of the music of Expo 70 for sometime.We started discussions about doing this album many months ago.Justin went away and recorded this wonderful piece of music specially for Reverb Worship.On hearing "Galaxy Of Mysticism" I was very impressed and highly delighted.On this recording you will hear Justin Wright (electric guitar and analogue drum machine) and McKinley Jones (voices and realistic moog).The album is made up of three long psychedelic improvisations that take you to another dimension.Like some lost soundtrack to a science fiction movie.The music pulsates, floats and reverberates to the centre of your mind." 2nd edition - sold out at label.
Expo '70 - Psychosis LP $16.99 (Peasant Magik)
"Random alien noises drift in and out, distracting you from the hellish static brewing. Melodies begin to creep out of the murk, still covered in filth, trying desperately to escape, forever being pulled back down. Guitars lament for their fallen brothers, and the battle begins. Standard edition consists of 180 gram black vinyl, silk screened 12" x 24" insert, and pro-printed covers and OBI."
*Flower Travellin' Band - Satori LP $22.99 (Phoenix Records)
"New repress. Previously issued on CD by Phoenix Records, now issued on deluxe LP format as well; 180 gram pressing. Reissue of the second Flower Travellin' Band album, originally issued by Atlantic Records in Japan in 1971. Satori is a conceptual hard rock/psych album driven by Hideki Ishima's furious guitar licks which erupt and explode over the harmonic heart beat of the drums and bass. Yamanaka's banshee-like vocal style turned him into an occidental Iggy Pop or Robert Plant while the band itself was rapidly becoming Japan's answer to Led Zeppelin. Satori is a huge album in every way. From power chords to Eastern-tinged North African six-string freak-outs and crashing tom-toms, the band flexes its collective muscle from start to finish. In short, this is a real rock classic of the type they simply don't make any more." - FE
*Robert Lester Folsom - Music And Dreams LP 20.99 (Mexican Summer)
"The first of many reissues on the Mexican Summer slate brings forth a 1976 private press affair from Georgia's Robert Lester Folsom, a high-quality and shimmering, unbuttoned-collar collection of marina rock and sunset ballads. Vaguely psychedelic and professionally rendered, this is a strong and consistent brace of soft rock, staid yet breezy."
*Josephine Foster - Graphic As A Star CD $15.99 (Fire)
"This is the first record from U.S. minstrel-folk chanteuse Josephine Foster on Fire Records. Graphic As A Star is based upon the poems of the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. Josephine lays stair-steppy melodies beneath a collection of Dickinson gems and sings them with a burnished soulfulness like the purple sunsets so often described in the poems. Massachusetts mountains, pearled spider-webs and folk hero William Tell, are all present in this unforgettable meeting of Dickinson's poesy and Foster's music, making a natural and inevitable whole. Ms. Foster is a Colorado-born artist whose songwriting draws from far corners of the musical spectrum to form a truly singular body of work. Her voice is sometimes compared to singers as disparate as Grace Slick, Shirley Collins or Tiny Tim, and it's certainly difficult to pigeonhole her varied music. She says her craft is strongly shaped by "Tin Pan Alley on my maternal side, rock and roll on the paternal side, Western folk music by birth, art-song and classical music via my adolescent passions." A personal introduction to Graphic As A Star from Josephine herself: "As to the source of these interludes, I wrote them this past winter while living in this remote, half-abandoned Spanish mountain village, a deadly quiet place with occasional interruptions of goats' bells, donkey brays, and the church bell announcing the passing of another old neighbor every day or so. I had just a few books with me, and one was the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Her poemsproved such good company, that in a few short weeks appeared this 'song cycle.' Whether for the irony of distance and homesickness being 3 years away, or through inevitable kinship with this long-dead lady, these songs seem to veer more towards America than ever before. Back in music school, I heard a few musical settings of Dickinson made by classical composers, but it's my hope to unite some of her poems into more intimate and intuitive musical settings, being so lyrical and transparent as they are.'"
Josephine Foster - Graphic As A Star LP $22.99 (Fire)
"This is the first record from U.S. minstrel-folk chanteuse Josephine Foster on Fire Records. Graphic As A Star is based upon the poems of the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson. Josephine lays stair-steppy melodies beneath a collection of Dickinson gems and sings them with a burnished soulfulness like the purple sunsets so often described in the poems. Massachusetts mountains, pearled spider-webs and folk hero William Tell, are all present in this unforgettable meeting of Dickinson's poesy and Foster's music, making a natural and inevitable whole. Ms. Foster is a Colorado-born artist whose songwriting draws from far corners of the musical spectrum to form a truly singular body of work. Her voice is sometimes compared to singers as disparate as Grace Slick, Shirley Collins or Tiny Tim, and it's certainly difficult to pigeonhole her varied music. She says her craft is strongly shaped by "Tin Pan Alley on my maternal side, rock and roll on the paternal side, Western folk music by birth, art-song and classical music via my adolescent passions." A personal introduction to Graphic As A Star from Josephine herself: "As to the source of these interludes, I wrote them this past winter while living in this remote, half-abandoned Spanish mountain village, a deadly quiet place with occasional interruptions of goats' bells, donkey brays, and the church bell announcing the passing of another old neighbor every day or so. I had just a few books with me, and one was the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Her poems proved such good company, that in a few short weeks appeared this 'song cycle.' Whether for the irony of distance and homesickness being 3 years away, or through inevitable kinship with this long-dead lady, these songs seem to veer more towards America than ever before. Back in music school, I heard a few musical settings of Dickinson made by classical composers, but it's my hope to unite some of her poems into more intimate and intuitive musical settings, being so lyrical and transparent as they are.'" One copy available.
*Golden Jooklo Age & Peaking Lights - s/t collaborative LP $20.99 (Holiday Records)
"An incredible instrumental jam in three chapters recorded at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York in May 2008 when the two bands met for a tour in the East Coast of the United States. Golden Jooklo Age and Peaking Lights melted their fluxes travelling the astral ways of sound and this is the postcard they sent us from the lands of future psychedelia. Peaking Lights released the album "Imaginary Falcons" on Night People last year and have upcoming releases on Ecstatic Peace, Not Not Fun, Woodsist, and Fuck It Tapes."
*Golden Retriever - Golden Retriever CDR $7.99 (Root Strata)
"First outing by this new Portland duo of RS Alum Matt Carlson (Bonus) on synthesizer and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Sielaff on Bass Clarinet. A cosmic paring if there ever was one, the duo takes to an all night flight straight from the opening scene of Blade Runner into a portal of kinetic melodies that overlap and interview like some kind of sacred geometry. Transfixing transmissions from a future that never was. Edition of 100 CD-Rs with full color faces wrapped in velum."
*Darin Gray & Loren Connors - The Lost Mariner / At the Old Factory LP + 7" $16.99 (Family Vineyard)
"Just past 10 years ago this debut collaboration between primitive American blues guitarist Loren Connors and the confounding electric bassist Darin Gray was issued on CD. The Lost Mariner was the first in a pair of releases by the upstart Family Vineyard label. Now with a decade of hindsight and a nod to looking ahead, here is a a 700 edition LP reissue of the studio session considered by Connors to be one of his finest. Since this album's 1999 release Connors has released a series of sorrowful solo albums and multi-disc collections on Family Vineyard while Gray formed the cinematic On Fillmore (with Wilco's Glen Kotche) and continued collaborations with Jim O'Rourke, Akira Sakata, Chris Corsano and others. The Lost Mariner is an improvised dialogue between these two
musicians. Structure is there, but it roams as it sways, constantly adjusting and reinventing itself as the two react to its mysterious design. For this reissue the LP is sleeved inside stunning cover art (an Albert Pinkham Ryder painting) and contains the bonus At The Old Factory 7-inch. This raw, snapshot from a 1999 performance from this duo comes on colored vinyl in a full-color sleeve designed by Katie Leming (Cro Magnon, Bird)."
*Danny Paul Grody - Fountain CD $11.99 (Root Strata)
"Fountain is the first solo recording by Danny Paul Grody, founding member of both San Francisco-based bands Tarentel and The Drift. Centered around sparkling acoustic guitar motifs, the album unfolds as a series of hypnotic mood pieces and evening hymns with a spectral lyricism invoking scenes of moving images and passing landscapes. Conceived from a collection of home recordings made over the course of a year, the album perfectly distills many of the musical forms from which Grody gravitates towards, namely the chiming kora music of West Africa, the 70's wave of American underground guitar soli, and a number of long form / drone composers and performers. Together these influences combine to produce something unique and personal. Many of the songs are formed around mantra-like figures, small clusters of notes stacked upon one another like building blocks. Bell-like harmonics, organ beds, location recordings, and backgrounds of feedback are textured throughout, giving the record a lovely patina of earth tones and moments of shimmering bright light. CD in an edition of 500."
*Guanaco - Sky Burials LP $19.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"Debut LP from England's Lex Panayi who also plays in Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan, this however is his solo project, which focuses on psychedelic acid drenched folk and dark grey area drones for a monolith landscape. The whole records blends beautifully together to create an excellent album from a relatively unknown artist. This is one fine example of current underground UK music which I'm really pleased to be releasing. This is a must for fans of early Six Organs of Admittance, Cam Deas, Voice of the Seven Woods and such... Paste on cover and insert, edition of only 300."
*Sten Hanson - The Sonosopher Retrospective CDR + heavy cardboard book $69.99 (Alga Margen)
"This edition is the digital version of the LP issued some years ago in the VocSon series and is only available with the alga marghen copies of Sten Hanson's heavy carboard luxury book titled "Works / Oeuvres / Werke /Arbeten". The cd contains works from more than three decades, thus covering almost the entire career of Sten Hanson as a sound artist. All these works were previously released on record by alga marghen on the now sold out LP with the same title, as well as in various "Text Sound Composition" rare LP anthologies issued in Sweden between 1968 and 1970. The oldest work on the record is "Danse figure (for EP)" which was first performed at the Pistol Theatre, Stockholm in 1965. The work is inspired by a poem by Ezra Pound with the same title and is made out of recording of the first two lines in that poem. This work is followed by three examples of Hanson's "shamanistic" poems: "Hermetic Back Piece", "The New York Lament" and "Skärp dig, för fan!". "Lettre d'un etranger" deals with the problems of communication between people close to one other and was first performed in the framwork of Polyphonix 13, Paris in 1988. "Am strengsten verboten" is the contribution to an intermedia event by Charlie Morrow, Carles Santos and Sten Hanson himself performed in two boxing rings at Bobby Gleasons Gym, in the shadow of Madison Square Garden, New York in 1981. "Les Martyrs" was a part of the intermedia opera "Robespierre's Last Night", first performed in Hudiksvall, Sweden in 1975. "Les sabots de bouc" is a poem without words telling a story like a medieval morality from the times when the cathedrals were built and the devil was a force to be reckoned with. "Che" is a pamphlet based on a speech by Ernesto Che Guevara, while "Coucher et soufler" is a play on the problems of human communication. "Western Europe 1969" is a satire on superficiality. "The Destruction of Your Genetical Code by Drugs, Poisons and Radiation" is based on a visual poem already conceived in 1960, when the idea that genetic damage could affect man's offspring for coming generations was a fairly new and shocking one. "Au 197.0" was composed at the request of choreographer Susanne Valentin, who wanted a piece for a work on rites; as rite demands religion and it seemed clear to the composer that materialism is the only real living religion of our time. "Finale", a piece to end with, was first performed in Annecy, France in 1995. Edition limited to 90 copies, including a 12 page booklet with liner notes, photos as well as concrete and visual poems."
*Dick Higgins - The Thousand Symphonies CD $19.99 (Alga Margen)
"Alga Marghen presents the first edition ever issued of Dick Higgins' music. Fluxus founding member, in 1958 Dick Higgins studied Composition and Experimental Music with John Cage in his class at the New School for Social Research in New York together with, among others, La Monte Young, Richard Maxfield, Toshi Ichiyanaghi, George Brecht, Allan Kaprow, Al Hansen, Jackson Mac Low. In the Spring of 1968 Geoffrey Hendricks and Robert Watts told Dick Higgins of a project that was afoot at Douglass College, where both were teaching at the time, to organize a show around guns. At that time the USA police seemed to have nothing better to do than to chase down teenagers for possessing miniscule amounts of marijuana and throwing them in jail, thus ruining their lives. Dick Higgins decided it would be more worthy if one could set all the policemen in the USA to composing symphonies themselves. So he proposed that the beautiful music paper be machine gunned and that symphonies be derived from the result. Geoffrey Hendricks arranged for Captain Toby of the South Brunswick Police to do this, which duly happened with a 9mm MP40 Schmeisser submachine gun, filmed by Alison Knowles. A volunteer orchestra, conducted by Philip Corner and including Charlotte Moorman, performed nine of the resulting symphonies at Douglass College on December 9th. The Douglass concert was taped, but the only copy disappeared when the Ars Viva! Gallery in Berlin, Germany, went bankrupt in 1984. The whole situation was documented with photographs in Source Magazine in 1970. As Philip Corner, conductor of the recordings presented here, said: "Leave it to Dick Higgins to come up with the most spectacular way to generate a page of patternless notes. Once over this dramatic gesture with machine-gun bullets leaves a stack of paper full of holes. I had not thought of this before but there must have been a conscious connection to the social turmoil of the 60's - all too unfortunately, come back around to high relevance these days". First press limited to 500 copies with digipack sleeve, also including a 16 page booklet with full documentation presenting 2 texts by Dick Higgins from the 1960s as well as a Philip Corner testimony, original photos and original scores.
High Wolf - Incapulco CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
2nd edition. "New Cdr only release. Random jams recorded after those releases you enjoyed (animal totem on Not Not Fun / gabon on Winged Sun / digital heaven on Stunned) . Expect some fuzzy wah guitars, trancey keyboards, delayed vocals, groovy percussions and jungle spirit! Forthcoming LP's on Not Not Fun and Group Tightener."
*Hiragi Fukuda - Oya Wa Touhoku, Oto Kumori CD $15.99 (Fuyusouri Music Publishing)
"Fantastic new Japan-only CD from Hiragi Fukuda, who you might have spotted as a member of Doronco Gumo on their Old Punks LP. With this new album, Fukuda expands the Doronco Gumo line-up with *two* ex members of Les Rallizes Denudes, bassist Doronco and drummer Mimaki Toshirou alongside violinist Eriko Sato of Maher Shalal Hash Baz. The sound kind of takes off on Doronco Gumo's weird amalgam of death-decadent balladeering, idiotically stupe destructo rock and Hiroshi Nar styled primitivism but overall the group rock harder and wilder than on their previous outing, even dropping into a classic mirrorshades La Dusseldorf/Suicide style groove on the blasted opener "TV Dinner". Pretty impressive that Rallizes members are still involved in radical reformulations of the urge to ugh a whole bunch of decades later. More please. Recommended." - Volcanic Tongue. I double that recommendation!
*Human Skab - Thunder Hips & Saddle Bags LP $13.99 (Family Vineyard)
"Human Skab was a 10-year old boy from Elma, Washington who played African music with buckets and spoons. Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags is a 1986 cassette recorded by young Travis Roberts with his neighborhood pals and siblings. It was injected into the underground network of tape traders, zine scribes, college DJs, and freak seekers who were universally bowled over by its bewildering and utterly poignant snapshot of the mid-1980s. Skab's music -- an orchestration of pots n' pans, three string guitar, poorly-tuned upright piano, broken bottles, toy guns, a garden rake, and a "Snake Mountain" microphone -- is a response to fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, He-Man cartoons, Twisted Sister, the coolness of dinosaurs, the uncoolness of John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan. Roberts captures the fervor of do-it yourself ethos, punk energy and the rawness of early American folk by acting on his wild child imagination and enigmatic sense of song. These rare recordings have never been made widely available until now. This reissue includes the complete 1986 cassette. The CD and MP3 version contain a bonus 1987 radio interview. The 16-page booklet in the 500 edition LP and CD contains liner notes by Roberts and Cousin Franky along with many full-color photographs and news clippings. As Bruce Pavitt wrote in the 1986 Sub Pop zine: the Skab zips around the living room shooting toy guns. He hits the family piano with his fists. He tries real hard to play guitar. He makes up songs about terrorism and radiation and throwing rocks at windows. Cool! This reissue "restores a really obscure real people/disobedient kid/nascent punk rocker cassette that was issued as part of a prodigious run of weirdo documents recorded by an out-of-control 10 year old in Elma, Washington in the mid to late 80s. This is the first full release of his best known cassette, Thunder Hips And Saddle Bags, the release that put him on the weirdo radar after it made it through to tastemakers like Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop. The Skab recordings are much more interesting than just some maniac kid goofing off. His lyrics are funny, sharp and often inspired and there's a precocious confidence and energy to the tracks, with inventive non-musical settings and primitive interventions on various instruments and household appliances." -- David Kennan, Volcanic Tongue
*Human Skab - Thunder Hips & Saddle Bags CD $12.99 (Family Vineyard)
"Human Skab was a 10-year old boy from Elma, Washington who played African music with buckets and spoons. Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags is a 1986 cassette recorded by young Travis Roberts with his neighborhood pals and siblings. It was injected into the underground network of tape traders, zine scribes, college DJs, and freak seekers who were universally bowled over by its bewildering and utterly poignant snapshot of the mid-1980s. Skab's music -- an orchestration of pots n' pans, three string guitar, poorly-tuned upright piano, broken bottles, toy guns, a garden rake, and a "Snake Mountain" microphone -- is a response to fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, He-Man cartoons, Twisted Sister, the coolness of dinosaurs, the uncoolness of John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan. Roberts captures the fervor of do-it yourself ethos, punk energy and the rawness of early American folk by acting on his wild child imagination and enigmatic sense of song. These rare recordings have never been made widely available until now. This reissue includes the complete 1986 cassette. The CD and MP3 version contain a bonus 1987 radio interview. The 16-page booklet in the 500 edition LP and CD contains liner notes by Roberts and Cousin Franky along with many full-color photographs and news clippings. As Bruce Pavitt wrote in the 1986 Sub Pop zine: the Skab zips around the living room shooting toy guns. He hits the family piano with his fists. He tries real hard to play guitar. He makes up songs about terrorism and radiation and throwing rocks at windows. Cool! This reissue "restores a really obscure real people/disobedient kid/nascent punk rocker cassette that was issued as part of a prodigious run of weirdo documents recorded by an out-of-control 10 year old in Elma, Washington in the mid to late 80s. This is the first full release of his best known cassette, Thunder Hips And Saddle Bags, the release that put him on the weirdo radar after it made it through to tastemakers like Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop. The Skab recordings are much more interesting than just some maniac kid goofing off. His lyrics are funny, sharp and often inspired and there's a precocious confidence and energy to the tracks, with inventive non-musical settings and primitive interventions on various instruments and household appliances." -- David Kennan, Volcanic Tongue
Iibiis Rooge (Astral Social Club + High Wolf) - Ilbiis Rooge CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
"Superastral team, iibiis rooge is the proof that the famous 1+1=3 equation is correct. Modern psychedelic High Wolf jams + Astral Social Club fucked up improv electronics = something we don't have a name for. Better than a one shot collab this duo is made to last. Forthcoming debut LP on Dekorder." - label. Edition of 99 copies.
*Jailbreak - The Rocker LP $13.99 (Family Vineyard)
"Jailbreak is the duo of pedal steel/vocalist Heather Leigh and drummer Chris Corsano. The name foregrounds the kind of outlaw violence with which the two reformulate rock/roll instants by bringing free jazz fire power to amp-humping sex beats. Their musical alliance goes all the way back to the legendary Brattleboro Free Folk Fest, the birthplace of the 'New Weird America', where Corsano and his long-term saxophone partner Paul Flaherty joined Leigh and Christina Carter for a quartet show that took the roof off the building and the skin off their fingers. Since then Corsano and Leigh have worked together as part of Taurpis Tula and as members of Thurston Moore's Dream/Aktion Unit. So, who better to describe this 700 edition debut LP, than Mr. Flaherty: For those of you who've been worried that the Free Power Noize scene has become a little too tame, (and seriously who isn't somewhat concerned about that), a new screamin' creamin' duo -- Jailbreak -- expoldes to the rescue. The Rocker is a blast-furnace of blisteringly joyous witch-howling assaults on the essence of whips and chains and repressive injustice gone legal. Both of these magisterial musicians are capable of extreme dynamics and subtleties, but those concepts don't get in the way of this monster-truck of a record. And
why should they when drums and guitar can slash and burn in a riotous electric smash fest like this crazed merry madcap of an album. Over the top . . . Way!"
*Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - Room 8 / Swingin' Vine 7" $4.99 (DeStijl)
"The great Rock Writer James Jackson Toth has regarded Jerusalem and the Starbaskets as being on the verge of sounding like the third Velvets LP as played by The Terminals. We couldn't agree more, but this could be twisted around rightfully if anyone feels like it to provide an analogy that would make the Terminals feel pretty good abt playing the Velvets third to sound like what the Starbaskets just might be on the verge of sounding like. First, there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is. Crypto rock illiteration, like fear over Columbia Regional."
Kawabata Makoto & Michishita Shinsuke - Maru Sankaku Shikaku LP $24.99 (Prophase)
"ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE main man KAWABATA MAKOTO links up with LSD MARCH guitarist MICHISHITA SHINSUKE to create another amazing platter of fantastic sounds and vibes. Maru Sankaku Shikaku (Circle Triangle Square) finds the duo moving on from the electric guitars of their previous duo releases to an all acoustic album featuring ethnic instruments from around the globe. Two side-long pieces mesh drone music with an ebb and a flow usually found on soundtracks or the soundtrack in one's head. New psychic territorial landscapes the cosmic cartographer mapped yesterday before tomorrow. Limited to 500 copies on swirled colored vinyl in gorgeous gatefold sleeves." Recommended!
*Gregg Kowalsky - Tape Chants: Early Experiments c30 cassette $5.99 (Arbor)
"Bay Area composer Gregg Kowalsky has spent the past few years experimenting with the cassette tape as an instrument; utilizing the placement of portable walkmen and the psychoacoustic effect of their natural interactions. This, Gregg's first cassette release, presents experiments from his most recent record on Kranky, Tape Chants. On Early Experiments he uses cassettes as a way to transfer and manipulate environments. Through mechanisms of the tape player he can adjust pitch and amplitude, while through mixing he combines various sources and field recordings creating new, recontexualized moments. This simple though calculated approach harkens back to the earliest days of tape music and recorded sound; creation with what already exists, reorganizing natural occurrences. In an edition of 125 copies with cardstock covers and labeled tapes."
*Willie Lane - Sleepy Hands / Arrested For Decay 7" $4.99 (Cord-Art)
New single - limited edition of 350 copies.
*Lazy Magnet / Social Junk - split c60 cassette $5.99 (Arbor)
"Jeremy Harris' Lazy Magnet project has been active for well over a decade though the work has remained relatively shrouded in mystery. A true nomad; shifting location and inspiration, following whatever path may prevent itself. Under the Lazy Magnet guise, Harris has explored an innumerable amount of musical styles, adapting each to his uses. On "Yet From The Highest Crown No Blossom Fell" Harris (along with Sakiko Mori of Daily Life) explores the Sci-Fi textures of digital synthesizers. A drifting score from the Providence Futuristic District where man and machine meet to look inside each other. Philadelphia's Social Junk present four tracks operating from a similarly paired Industrial Sci-Fi stance. Some of the groups strongest work, recorded in December 2008 while still living in Oakland, CA. Feedback is tamed into a smooth element, as pliable as the human voice. The union of these organic/inorganic elements create a unique sense of melody from within the warehouse; clearing away the trash, polishing the concrete. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes."
*Alan Licht & Loren Connors - Into the Night Sky CD $12.99 (Family Vineyard)
"Into the Night Sky is the sixth album from avant guitarists Alan Licht and Loren Connors, the first after 2003's In France (FBWL). Since 1993 these New York City artists have evolved an instrumental dialogue merging shades of electric blues and minimalism. These two epic pieces -- one from 1996, the other 2006 -- recorded live in concert clearly show far their desolate sound world grew over a decade of collaboration while the core of layered guitar complexities and alien melodies remain. The atmosphere conjured by the Licht-Connors duo is unmistakable -- the ebb of eloquently shaped feedback -- while the harmonic patterns recall 20th century classical music. Active since the early 1990s, Licht has worked with a veritable who's who of the experimental world, from free jazz legends to iconic composers while performing in Text of Light and an ongoing duo with Aki Onda. Since 1978 Connors has released dozens of acclaimed and sought after LPs documenting his singular adaption of the blues and forging his place as one of America's most iconoclastic artists."
The Litter - Emerge LP $22.99 (Lilith)
"Released in 1969, two years after the garage rock oriented debut LP by this Minneapolis band, this album combines influences from many late-'60s bands with a more psych-rock and hard rock sound, especially THE AMBOY DUKES, BLUE CHEER, CREAM, and IRON BUTTERFLY. Original BLUE CHEER-inspired artwork, 180 gram vinyl LP pressing, Russian/Italian import."
Love Cry Want - Love Cry Want double LP $22.99 (Weird Forest)
"Nearly 40 years after its creation, Weird Forest is proud to release this seminal jazz album for the first time ever on vinyl. The incendiary grooves captured in this wax defy description. It is not free, funk, fusion or fire music, it encompasses all of these sounds and then blasts far beyond them. Featuring the late great organist, Larry Young (Miles Davis circa Bitches Brew, Tony Williams Lifetime, etc), this album is mandatory listening for fans of Miles Davis' Live Evil-fusion era, Young's own "Lawrence Of Newark", Sun Ra's cosmic explorations and even Japanese guitar terrorists like Keiji Haino and Masayuki Takayanagi. Beautifully packaged, Weird Forest-style, in a deluxe double-gatefold cover and remastered for vinyl by Weasel Walter, the Love Cry Want 2xLP is an essential document of a criminally unheralded group. Here's the scoop:
June 1972.
The times were filled with darkness and turmoil. This music, of loving, of crying, of wanting, makes a powerful statement. It is awash with the anguish of the times, yet it heralds the promise of better days to come.
Love Cry Want was a legendary jazz fusion group based in Washington D.C., and led by guitarist, Nicholas. This recording took place during a series of concerts in Washington, held across from the White House in Lafayette Park, and featured the late, great jazz organist Larry Young, who had just recorded the historic Bitches Brew LP with Miles Davis and had left the Tony Williams Lifetime and guitarist John McLaughlin to combine forces with Nicholas and drummer, Joe Gallivan.
This second incarnation of Love Cry Want featured the triumvirate of Nicholas, Gallivan, and Young performing some of the most important music in the history of jazz. No record company would release this music, which was ahead of it's time..
Nicholas, who pioneered the development of the first guitar synthesizer (in association with Electronic Music Laboratories) performs on the first prototype guitar 'synth' along with fellow musician, Joe Gallivan, who pioneered the development of the drum synthesizer with inventor, Robert Moog.
June 1972, Lafayette Park.
Richard Nixon was President. There was a nasty war going on in Vietnam, good people were rioting in the streets and cities were aflame. During this series of concerts outside the White House, President Nixon ordered aide, J.R. Haldeman, to pull the plug on the concert fearing that this strange music would levitate the White House. This is that music, remastered for this first time-vinyl release by Weasel Walter.
Personnel:
* Nicholas: prototype guitar synthesizer, ring modulator, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, water, hi-tension wires and wailing dervish
* Joe Gallivan: drums, steel guitar, moog synthesizer, and percussion
* Jimmy Molneiri: drums and percussion
* Larry Young: Hammond organ.
Package design by Aaron Winters. Mastered for vinyl release by Weasel Walter. Limited to 500 copies with deluxe Stoughton tip-on style gatefold jacktets." Last copies of 1st pressing.
*Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar - Eclipses LP $13.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"In early 2008, Thrill Jockey released Gyromancy, a limited edition art book & CD release from Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar. Gyromancy featured a 3" CD of music from Robert A.A. Lowe and was accompanied by a 72 page perfect-bound book featuring the art of both Lowe and Rose Lazar. Thrill Jockey is now happy to present Eclipses, a limited edition LP-only release again featuring the music of Lowe and the visual artwork of both Lowe and Lazar. Eclipses is an extension of Gyromancy. Remaining in view of what came before and altering the vision. Pushing out beyond natural terrestrial landscapes into those slightly more cosmic or alien in scope. It makes an appropriate addendum to the onset of this particular phase. The music was recorded at home by Lowe utilizing semi-modular and polyphonic analogue synthesizers. Accompanying the full length LP is a 12" x 36" double-sided full color poster showcasing the artwork of both Lowe and Lazar. This is again included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music."
*M.B. - Mectpyo/Blut double LP $46.99 (Marquis Records)
"At the beginning of the metabolic year 1980, after Maurizio Bianchi finished the embryonal experience as Sacher-Pelz, he decided to undertake the concrete-synchronized course as M.B., a long-lived acronym that will accompany him along his next way of neuro-synthetic experimenter. His first ever release was the private cassette-tape entitled "Metcpyo/Blut". An hematopoietic experiment decomposed during the months of March and beginning of April 1980 at Mectpyo Studio. Proposed here in its original layout, this 2LP set holds intact, at a distance of almost three decades, the epicentre of M.B. sonorous universe, projected towards an euphonic cacophony. "Mectpyo/Blut" consists of two tragic sections imbued with synthetic chloroform: the 1st, "Maidanek Bakterium / Musique Belzec", exhales an icy atmosphere conveying a sense of mystery and annihilation. The 2nd, "Mutant Brain / Mord Banhof" assembled the most disparate electro-hypnotic levitation's into a vertical rationality, bold, morbid and haunting. Psychic-cerebral works, they seem to spring from a neuro-atomic continent, with unreal outlines, where its influence artificially expands the ankylotic tissues by environmental arthrosis. Edition limited to 300 copies in full colour gatefold sleeve, reproducing various graphic materials from the original cassette edition. Attention: this is the real thing, top powerful and modern in its integral length (and not a meaningless edited excerpt as other unexperienced labels in demand would have cheaply proposed you!)."
Nicholas, who pioneered the development of the first guitar synthesizer (in association with Electronic Music Laboratories) performs on the first prototype guitar 'synth' along with fellow musician, Joe Gallivan, who pioneered the development of the drum synthesizer with inventor, Robert Moog.
June 1972, Lafayette Park.
Richard Nixon was President. There was a nasty war going on in Vietnam, good people were rioting in the streets and cities were aflame. During this series of concerts outside the White House, President Nixon ordered aide, J.R. Haldeman, to pull the plug on the concert fearing that this strange music would levitate the White House. This is that music, remastered for this first time-vinyl release by Weasel Walter.
Personnel:
* Nicholas: prototype guitar synthesizer, ring modulator, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, water, hi-tension wires and wailing dervish
* Joe Gallivan: drums, steel guitar, moog synthesizer, and percussion
* Jimmy Molneiri: drums and percussion
* Larry Young: Hammond organ.
Package design by Aaron Winters. Mastered for vinyl release by Weasel Walter. Limited to 500 copies with deluxe Stoughton tip-on style gatefold jacktets." Last copies of 1st pressing.
*Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar - Eclipses LP $13.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"In early 2008, Thrill Jockey released Gyromancy, a limited edition art book & CD release from Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar. Gyromancy featured a 3" CD of music from Robert A.A. Lowe and was accompanied by a 72 page perfect-bound book featuring the art of both Lowe and Rose Lazar. Thrill Jockey is now happy to present Eclipses, a limited edition LP-only release again featuring the music of Lowe and the visual artwork of both Lowe and Lazar. Eclipses is an extension of Gyromancy. Remaining in view of what came before and altering the vision. Pushing out beyond natural terrestrial landscapes into those slightly more cosmic or alien in scope. It makes an appropriate addendum to the onset of this particular phase. The music was recorded at home by Lowe utilizing semi-modular and polyphonic analogue synthesizers. Accompanying the full length LP is a 12" x 36" double-sided full color poster showcasing the artwork of both Lowe and Lazar. This is again included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music."
*M.B. - Mectpyo/Blut double LP $46.99 (Marquis Records)
"At the beginning of the metabolic year 1980, after Maurizio Bianchi finished the embryonal experience as Sacher-Pelz, he decided to undertake the concrete-synchronized course as M.B., a long-lived acronym that will accompany him along his next way of neuro-synthetic experimenter. His first ever release was the private cassette-tape entitled "Metcpyo/Blut". An hematopoietic experiment decomposed during the months of March and beginning of April 1980 at Mectpyo Studio. Proposed here in its original layout, this 2LP set holds intact, at a distance of almost three decades, the epicentre of M.B. sonorous universe, projected towards an euphonic cacophony. "Mectpyo/Blut" consists of two tragic sections imbued with synthetic chloroform: the 1st, "Maidanek Bakterium / Musique Belzec", exhales an icy atmosphere conveying a sense of mystery and annihilation. The 2nd, "Mutant Brain / Mord Banhof" assembled the most disparate electro-hypnotic levitation's into a vertical rationality, bold, morbid and haunting. Psychic-cerebral works, they seem to spring from a neuro-atomic continent, with unreal outlines, where its influence artificially expands the ankylotic tissues by environmental arthrosis. Edition limited to 300 copies in full colour gatefold sleeve, reproducing various graphic materials from the original cassette edition. Attention: this is the real thing, top powerful and modern in its integral length (and not a meaningless edited excerpt as other unexperienced labels in demand would have cheaply proposed you!)."
*Magic Carpathians - Gharana CDR $13.99 (Reverb Worship)
"The end of January sees this superb new release by the Magic Carpathians."Gharana" has been specially recorded for Reverb Worship.The recording consists of three collective improvisations by the band featuring Eric Arn, Anna Nacher, Marek Styczynski and Audrey Widota.Available now in a limited edition of 50 copies."
*Magic Lantern - Magic Lantern LP $13.99 (Woodsist)
"Magic Lantern came into being at the midpoint of the decade, sparked into existence by a simultaneous period of musical discovery. Inspired by the psychedelic approach to musical tone and structure in various eras and genres of rock (not at all excluding Germany and Japan in the '70s), the band realized they ought to make use of the new creative tools they'd stumbled upon, and began jamming the summer away in twin poles of Long Beach and Whittier, CA. Their influences provided blueprints for the band to develop a raw, stripped-down sound that emphasized hypnotic rhythms and improvised guitar duels." Repressed.
*Mainliner - Mainliner Sonic LP $19.99 (Assommer)
"The reissue of Mainliner Sonic is now available from the new fuzzbomb speedfreak psych label Assommer, in a full color jacket and pressed on heavy clear vinyl. This classic 1997 album from Mainliner came out on Charnel Music and has been out of print for several years, and has just been reissued on cd by the Chinese label Collapsar Records. This was album number two from the self-styled "psychedelic solid free attack group", who during their short five year career created some of the most obliterating, maxed-out powerpsych that's ever crashed through my eardrums, electrocuting their aggro ultra-psych freakouts with a ridiculously in-the-red recording/performing style that makes their music sound like classic High Rise/freakout rock filtered through a haze of blistering distorted noise, like Hendrix at his most inhinged being fed into a tidal wave of Merzbowian blast. This followed their classic Mellow Out and saw founding members Nanjo Asahito (High Rise / Splendor Mystic Solis) and "motor psycho" guitarist Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple) now joined by drum-diety Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins fame. It's a five song attack of extremely distorted and noise-damaged psych-rock mayhem that might even exceed the insane overdriven distortion of their debut. How that can even be possible, I dunno, but songs like "Tsukisasaru" and "Blue Pieces" take that blown-out Sabbath/Stooges/Blue Cheer influence and jam it into a total black hole of fuzz and distortion, the bloozy mongoloid riffing and searing solos blaring through a blizzard of melting amplifier muck that makes these jams stick to the inside of your skull in huge greasy chunks. Yoshida's drumming is both punishing and complex as he swerves between aggressive polyrhytmic pounding and huge grooves, but he's almost totally subsumed by the waves of guitar noise and feedback and CRUNCH that drench this album. Easily some of the most distorted and brutal psych ever recorded, this reaches some truly terrifying levels of fried-out brutality when cranked to maximum levels of volume. A big thumbs up goues out to Collapsar for reissuing this crucial Mainliner slab, which any fan of psychedelic rock of the Japanese and/or extreme/insane variety is going to want to add to their collection pronto. Crushing !!!!" - Crucial Blast.
*Justin Meyers - The Amplitude of Neighbors c20 cassette $5.99 (Arbor)
Minneapolis' Justin Meyers has been producing extremely discreet musique concrete for the past few years. Through field recordings Meyers achieves a double sided voyeurism; his capturing of another's space, and the listeners glimpse into his space. His care and precision demands attention with an unconscious magnetism; on Both Sides the recording of an outdoor summer's evening is paired with subtle beating frequencies symbiotically shifting in and out of the other, producing a deeply compelling command over space. This same phenomena is explored on A Visitor. Composed solely of sine waves, infinite variations of listening interaction are possible, imposing the piece directly within the space of the listener. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.
*Kimio Mizutani - A Path Through Haze LP $29.99 (Therapeutic Records)
"Regarded as one of the absolute best albums from the Japanese 70s scene, this 1971 release by Japanese rock guitar hero Kimio Mizutani is a psychedelic-progressive masterpiece. Tons of fuzz guitar, moog, keys, impressive drumming. Something like a wilder King Crimson."
*Monofonicorchestra - musicdesign CD $19.99 (Alga Margen)
"Monofonicorchestra is not a disc recorded in mono / is not ambient music / is not funky / is not experimental music / is not funny / Monofonicorchestra is not avant-garde / is not pop / is not op / is not dada / Monofonicorchestra is not fashion / is not hard-core / is not horror / is not Frigidaire was writing Maurizio Marsico at 10h20 on wednesday, december 23rd, 1981. A country: Italy. Several countries: Italies. Late seventies, early eighties. The ether of punk is in everyone's nose and disco virus invades even the most reticent legs. New-wave for sure rules the underground. Neo dandyism attitude applied to the italian post-rock era; Dolce Vita with a dreamed revolution in the background. United Countries of Italy! Bologna and the Confusional Quartet, Gaznevada, The Stupid Set. Not to forget the Naif Orchestra from Florence and all trans-borders adventurous navigators such as Piermario Ciani, Vittore Baroni (Lieutenant Murnau, Trax), the members of the musical theatre Magazzini Criminali. The vivid eclecticism of the above mentioned is to be compared to the aesthetic manifesto of the AtaTak crew from Düsseldorf (Der Plan, DAF, Tödliche Doris, Pyrolator). or the Vanity label japanese explorers (Tolerance, Aunt Sally, Normal Brain, BGM, RNA Organism). These bands were not leading the italo disco movement neither were they really punk or industrial nor waving cold-wave banners. They went off the industrial darkness adolescent like romanticism to assert humor, may it be black, as a revolutionary weapon throbbing over the ruins of radicalism. It's getting cold in here. The dreams have moved toward conscious needs: the desperate hope of having fun. And so is the Monofonicorchestra. The music of Maurizio Marsico is repetitive music. Mi. La. Short pieces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,... Every record Marsico makes is a conceptual sequence of drawings. Casual Casio-jazz cartoon soundtrack like. There is nothing to decipher here, it's all given already, all referenced. The appearances are pleasant and you get trapped into the depth of some cynical easy listening rhizome where ZNR merges with Steve Reich and Blue Gene Tiranny. Indeed, it has something of the Lovely Music elegance. First pressing limited to 500 copies with full color digipack sleeve. Also including a 12 page full color booklet with original graphics, photos as well as liner notes by Samon Takahashi."
*Moon Duo - Escape LP $13.99 (Woodsist)
"San Francisco's Moon Duo was formed in 2009 by SANAE YAMADA and ERIK JOHNSON (WOODEN SHJIPS). Inspired initially by the legendary John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, Moon Duo counts such variant groups as Silver Apples, Royal Trux, Moolah, Suicide, and Cluster as touchstones. Utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals, the pair plays space against form to create a primordial and disorienting sonic stew. They released two acclaimed records in 2009: the Love on the Sea 12-inch single on Sick Thirst and the Killing Time EP on Sacred Bones. Escape, their debut long-player on Woodsist, marks the fullest realization yet of the young group's evolving sound."
*Moon Duo - Escape CD $12.99 (Woodsist)
"San Francisco's Moon Duo was formed in 2009 by SANAE YAMADA and ERIK JOHNSON (WOODEN SHJIPS). Inspired initially by the legendary John Coltrane and Rashied Ali, Moon Duo counts such variant groups as Silver Apples, Royal Trux, Moolah, Suicide, and Cluster as touchstones. Utilizing primarily guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals, the pair plays space against form to create a primordial and disorienting sonic stew. They released two acclaimed records in 2009: the Love on the Sea 12-inch single on Sick Thirst and the Killing Time EP on Sacred Bones. Escape, their debut long-player on Woodsist, marks the fullest realization yet of the young group's evolving sound."
*Heather Leigh Murray - Jailhouse Rock LP $11.99 (Not Not Fun)
"It's been a while since Scorces sorceress, Jandek collaborator, and Volcanic Tongue branch manager Heather Leigh has ventured out on vinyl under her own name. And it may be a while longer, as Jailhouse Rock is in fact a wax reissue of a long OOP 2006 cassette classic on Michigan crud factory Fag Tapes. It was a fave of ours that year (and every year), so it feels extra celebratory to be able to offer up a freshly remastered (by Pete Swanson) LP edition of the album for global re-appreciation. Sprawling, long-form descent/ascents into mythic electric disorientation, powered by her trademark recipe of FX-soaked pedal steel and voice. Jailhouse feels loosely more aligned with a mid-aughts drone/noise aesthetic than the outsider dirt road Americana of her Devil If You Can Hear Me LP (also on NNF), but the distinction is a slight one. Side A swims in swooping sheets of vox and tempestuous wind tunnel dynamics before slowly dying away to wheezing disembodied harmonica. The B piece begins in a more overtly beautiful mode, a trinity of crystalline notes picked and stretched until they're transformed into a rapturous sky of textural distortion. Sensual and vertigo-inducing in equal measure. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with brand new paint/collage artwork by Heath Moerland (of Sick Llama, Slither, Odd Clouds, etc). Edition of 400."
MV & EE - Barn Nova LP $15.99 (Ecstatic Peace)
"Matt Valentine and Erika Elder continue their inexorable journey into the heart of the American Universal Cosmic Music. As a title, Barn Nova perfectly captures the melding of the deep rural and deep space that gives this album its charm. The slap and slide boogie of "Get Right Church" is earthbound in its dance shuffle, while "Summer Magic" has the same epic star-spangled grandeur that defined Neil Young's finest mid-70s albums (J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr's guitar and drum contribution is a significant influence on this album). The sheer weight of releases from this duo mean their style is only slowly cohering as they pendulum from acoustic free folk drones to full on electric assaults. However, if Barn Nova does usher in their mature style, there is much to celebrate." - Nick Southgate/The Wire December. "After five years and 20-plus albums-- most released on their own Child of Microtones label-- MV & EE's 2006 move to Ecstatic Peace began on a high note. "East Mountain Joint", the opening track on Green Blues, is a hypnotic hymn to unscheduled freedom, and it's catchy without losing the duo's loose, do-what-we-feel-like vibe Š Like Green Blues, it starts with the strongest material, the kind of songs that cohere without constricting. "Feelin' Fine" is like a skeletal version of "East Mountain Joint", with a steady shuffle that gives Valentine's ghostly moans a pulse. The swaying "Get Right Church" is even better. Here Elder's chants about journeys home and evening trains support a web of overlapping guitars, presumably belonging to Valentine and longtime producer/collaborator J MascisŠthey continue to float freely through space, shooting at stars of every size and occasionally connecting squarely with some big ones." ŠMarc Masters/Pitchfork.com, October 22, 2009. Edition of 500 copies and comes with 11 x 17 poster. Recommended!
MV & EE - Home Comfort LP $15.99 (Woodsist)
"Here is the first ever all live LP of MV & EE material and it is the perfect example of the scene in the tapers pit. The familiar tunes which have become staples in their set shine with an unheard intensity with killer solos and sonic excursions into the unknown, and then there is the deep of their singular 'environments', their space which manages to showcase the pastoral freakouts and cosmic raga forms so singular to this unique band. Home Comfort distills the gems of their live shows onto sweet wax. For those familiar with MATT and ERIKA's cottage label Heroine Celestial Agriculture, known to the heads as 'Heroine,' this LP reads like a best of curated by the 'you are there' Swingin' Pig and the results are a stunning cross section of their duo exchange, funky trio with WOODS' JEREMY EARL and big band exploratory stomp with DOC DUNN, MUSKOX, and WILLIE LANE of the GOLDEN ROAD. Here is the true sound of MV & EE with the songs, the extended jams and the feeling. This seminal duo and all they sail with need to be heard live and need to be heard live often, what a glorious document from the tapers pit. That's tapers pit twice in a paragraph, class. Peace."- Woodsist. Limited to 550 copies.
MV & EE - Live Road LP $22.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"Collection of very recent live excursions with MV & EE, all high quality recordings from shows in November 2009. The A side opens with a MV/EE duo perfromance of 'Mine All Troubled Blues' from Art Damage Lodge, Cinncinnatti, OH on 20/11/09. This heads straight into two interprations of 'Environments', one from Project Lodge, Madison, WI which again is just raw MV/EE action, but the second features an enhanced line up with Muskox and Doc Dunn. The two versions are blurred together into one log blazing 11 minute space jam. The flip side opens with the classic blues soaked 'Tea Devil' with Erika's laid back vocals backed with MV's rippling guitar shreds, Rongoose's (Ron Schneidermann of Sunburned/Spirit of Orr/Pewt'r) heavy bass bliss outs, and Chris Corsano's showcasing a slow moving stoned out drum kit. Straight from hear we head into a completely trance inducing psychedelic haze of wild jamming with a totally different version of 'Environments'. The whole of the Bside was recorded with Chris and Ron at Bank Row, Greenfield, MA. Edition of 400 pressed on heavyweight vinyl with hand stamped labels in black and white pro printed wrap around jackets with cover art by Jeremy Earl of Woods/Woodsist Records." Recommended!
My Bloody Valentine - Ecstasy LP $18.99
"Their 1987 seven-song mini-LP on the Lazy label, this includes "She Loves You No Less," "The Things I Miss," "I Don't Need You," "Safe in Your Sleep," "Clair," "You've Got Nothing," and "(Please) Lose Yourself in Me." Original artwork, UK import."
My Bloody Valentine - Geek LP $18.99
"A reissue of their 1986 4-song mini-LP on the Fever label, this features original vocalist David Conway, and represents a midway point in their sound between 1985's punky "This is Your Bloody Valentine" and the 1988 breakout LP, "Isn't Anything." The beat is driving and relentless, but Kevin Shields has already developed that distinctive shimmering guitar sound. Original artwork, UK import."
My Bloody Valentine - Sunny Sundae Smile LP $18.99
"This collects all 7 tracks from the "Sunny Sundae Smile" and "Strawberry Wine" 12" EPs, both of which were originally released in 1987 on the Lazy label: "Sunny Sundae Smile," "Paint a Rainbow," "Kiss the Eclipse," "Sylvie's Head," "Strawberry Wine," "Never Say Goodbye," and "Can I Touch You." Cover art is from "Sunny Sundae Smile." UK import."
My Bloody Valentine - This is Your Bloody Valentine LP $18.99 (Dossier)
"Their 1985 debut album on the Tycoon label, recorded years before they developed the shoegazer sound that made them famous, is more like a back-alley collision of JOY DIVISION, THE CRAMPS and THE DOORS. The edgy and nearly deranged vocals of Kevin Shields drive the rockabilly-beat songs of the first side, and the more post-punk sound of the 2nd side. German import."
*Nmperign w/ Jake Meginsky - Selected Occasions Of Handsome Deceit one-sided LP $16.99 (REL)
"The recorded debut of the trio Nmperign with Jake Meginsky. Pressed on 160 gram copper plate mastered vinyl, REL012 features Nmperign in an energized, turn-on-a-dime form. Prodded by Meginsky into unnamable, angular textures, the trio is agile and unpredictable, occupying many angles of musical extremes. REL012 is a one-sided LP cut to 45 for Maximum Dynamic range. Featuring a striking cover, designed by Eli Keszler, printed by Ashley Paul. A light blue fold-over paper is integrated in to a heavy picture disc sleeve, labeled with a color sticker. Screened notes are featured on the inside. A one-time, hand-numbered edition of 300 copies."
*Nothing People - Soft Crash LP + Download $14.99 (S-S Records)
"Lots of bands, lots of records and usually by record two most bands crap out. Not the Nothing People. Since their first EP was released on S.S some four years ago, every subsequent Nothing People/S.S. release has gotten better and better. Soft Crash is no exception. And like the jump between their first album (Anonymous) and their second (Late Night), Soft Crash both expands and secures the Nothing People's sound. A proto-punk pulse mixes with a dark synth throb for something that sounds both of yesterday and tomorrow or in the words of Z Gun's Ryan Wells, 'These guys are science fiction!' Sci fi? As in Chrome, Von Lmo, and Simply Saucer? 'Natch.' And the man is right. However, unlike the ton of bands who get rifled in with classic underground names and cannot deliver, the Nothing People do their comrades justice. Last year's Late Night LP made a ton of year end 'Best Of' lists. The year before Anonymous hit a bunch of 'Best Ofs.' While it is only February, might as well add Soft Crash to your "Best of 2010" list. Soft Crash is a great record." -S.S. Includes download code.
Nurse With Wound - Chance Meeting (Reissue / Special Edition) CD $13.99 (United Jnana)
"United Jnana is pleased to reissue the debut album from NURSE WITH WOUND, Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella, originally released on United Dairies in 1979. This special edition CD features a digipack with the original artwork restored and an expanded booklet with archival material chosen by STEVEN STAPLETON. The disc has been remastered from the original analog tapes and features bonus material. Chance Meeting enjoys a reputation as one of the most singular debuts of all time. AllMusic describes it as "one of the more glowing examples of late-'70s industrial noise," and the now-defunct UK music magazine Sounds summed up their response by abandoning their usual star rating system to award the album a full five question marks."
Nurse With Wound - Space Music LP $22.99 (BLR)
"Tears for spheres. Be warned: the sounds you are hearing are NOT marmots eating your tweeters, though you are best advised to apply volume lightly at first. STEVEN STAPLETON's astral weeks have been spent distilling sounds into sipping moonshine. LITERAL moonshine. After a viscerally present launch cycle, the Voyager Nurse Module is designed to be piloted by the out-of-body listener. With Lilith-like subtlety, the concrete powered craft makes its way ever closer to the edge of the galaxy. Which one? Who knows? Whichever it is, Vaclav Helhybel (Outer Space: Music) and Frank Perry (Deep Peace) are there, waiting to celebrate the space escapade with chilled cocktails and green friends. Packaged in deluxe custom designed book bound gatefold sleeves and pressed on 220-gram vinyl."
Nurse With Wound - Space Music CD $15.99 (BLR)
"Tears for spheres. Be warned: the sounds you are hearing are NOT marmots eating your tweeters, though you are best advised to apply volume lightly at first. STEVEN STAPLETON's astral weeks have been spent distilling sounds into sipping moonshine. LITERAL moonshine. After a viscerally present launch cycle, the Voyager Nurse Module is designed to be piloted by the out-of-body listener. With Lilith-like subtlety, the concrete powered craft makes its way ever closer to the edge of the galaxy. Which one? Who knows? Whichever it is, Vaclav Helhybel (Outer Space: Music) and Frank Perry (Deep Peace) are there, waiting to celebrate the space escapade with chilled cocktails and green friends. Packaged in deluxe custom designed book bound gatefold sleeves"
*The Orkustra - Adventures In Experimental Electric Orchestra From The San Francisco Psychedelic Underground double LP + booklet $35.99 (Mexican Summer)
"Greetings to everyone who craves an authentic Haight-Ashbury experience. Bobby BeauSoleil now has the pleasure of offering you the opportunity to hear these uncommon recordings from his past band. This will be the definitive Orkustra release, compiling almost all of the recordings the band made (on a 4 track in their rehearsal space) and will feature paintings and liner notes from composer of Lucifer Rising Soundtrack, Bobby BeauSoleil." Edition of 1000 copies (Jan. 2010 release date).
*Rev. Louis Overstreet - His Guitar, His Four Sons, and the Congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God in Christ LP $15.99 (Mississippi Records)
"Reissue of the Arhoolie LP recorded in 1962 at Overstreet's church in Phoenix, Arizona with a slightly altered track listing. Includes two tracks previously unissued on vinyl. Recorded very live during a church service. Rev. Overstreet plays electric guitar and bass drum in his own driving & intense style while his four sons and the congregation take care of tambourine, backup singing and hand claps. A powerful record of gospel energy and testament. Packaged in an old-style tip-on sleeve."
*Outer Space - Lightyear Demonstrations double c60 cassette $15.99 (Deception Island)
"So, there's this site in the New Mexico desert where they apparently store the worst kind of radioactive waste there is, the mindbending half-life of which is such that it's moved the US government to commission a series of massive granite obelisks, intended, no matter what might intervene between now and 14010 AD, to communicate in no uncertain terms, "You're fucked!" Per Julia Bryan-Wilson, who wrote on the topic in October last year: "Each will be inscribed with messages in seven languages about the poisonous waste underneath; they are meant to withstand any climate changes, as well as the likely evolution of the written word over the next ten centuries. Room has been left on the surface of each tower for future viewers to translate the warning into their own language and chisel it into the rock, with the anticipation that it will become a sort of Rosetta stone. ...on the right, an image from a textbook on human ethology showing the 'universal' facial registration of disgust or nausea." The phonographic equivalent of these tablets, "Lightyear Demonstrations" is a collection of four massive pieces the cumulative effect of which forms some sort of Library of Babel of generative synth churn and sputter, like you just brought your own case of shitty beers, a couple stiff doses, some rusted-out lawn chairs, and a busted sequencer (John has requested that I note that so many releases promise a broken sequencer, while this one actually delivers. I've seen it, and it is indeed pretty mangled, so there you have it.) to some celestial casino. There are no clocks and endless refelctive surfaces at every point of entry as DI mainstays and veteran Cleveland jammers John Elliott of Emeralds and Jeff Hatfield of Fragments lock into deep memory loss territory and fry dual Moog burble and splatter for two hours without interruption. Essential for devotees of any of Elliott and Hatfield's numerous other endeavors, the work of like-minded precursors from Conrad Schnitzler to C.C.C.C., and the general possibility of records that sound like timestretched bong hits." Hand-numbered edition of 200.
*P.G. Six - Live At VPRO Amsterdam CDR $7.99 (Perhaps Transparent)
"In 2001 Amish Records (CD) and Perhaps Transparent Records (LP) released P.G. Six's acclaimed debut full length "Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites". The album which reflects the pastoral sounds of late sixties and early seventies British folk groups like The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention was mixed by Tim Barnes and was received with great reviews. Besides mixing the album, Tim also added his flavor of percussion on tracks like 'When I Was A Young Man", "The Divine Invasion", "Go Your Way" and "The Shepard" - all of which are also featured on this Live recording from VPRO radio in Amsterdam. Since "Parlor Tricks..", the collaborations between P.G. Six and Tim Barnes were frequent but rarely fully documented. This Live CDr is one of those rare moments."
*Andrew Paine - Functions of Hedgerow CDR $10.99 (Sonic Oyster Records)
"Limited edition of 50 copies solo CD-R from frequent Richard Youngs collaborator Andrew Paine. Functions Of Hedgerow is intended as the third installment in the trilogy that includes Five Perspectives and Weekend World. Here Paine uses spoken word and drone to conjure the kind of pastoral violence of early Flying Saucer Attack while modulating and distorting vocals to macabre effect." (Volcanic Tongue)
Plastic Crimewave - Fire In The Hole CDR $11.99 (Apollolaan)
"If you have been following carefully then you will already know the name Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow). Plastic Crimewave Expanse was the very first release on apollolaan recordings, and Steve has since appeared on apollolaan as part of DRMWPN and Folk and Violence. This latest 13 track album is Plastic Crimewave in solo song mode, and this is pure Plastic Crimewave at its very best. The album is called Fire In The Whole and comes in an edition of 100 copies on cdr. Each and every cover is individually hand painted and unique. Each copy is hand numbered and the package is completed with an insert with the cover art from the original tape from PCW's private collection. "Recorded on a 4 track in thee bedroom (of course) of one Plastic Crimewave over a decade ago, these tracks were intended as a demo for a PCW solo album that only ever sort-of materialized. The cuts here ended up having a charm and distinct sound of their own, as PCW played all instruments and tweaked all knobs and sounds. Backwards guitars, broke-ass sitar, and even a crude human beatbox all were employed to convey these songs, which were largely transcribed from dreams or written on the creaking steel streets of Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by all from Syd, Eno, Ayers, Simon Finn, Alastair Galbraith, Daniel Johnston and the gooiest of shoegazes, this document captures a certain dystopian bliss not present in the later sanistized studio versions of these tracks with a full band--which would in fact lead to Plastic Crimewave Sound being formed. Some of these songs were not even attempted again, so what materialized was in fact a nice lil album of lo-fi snapshots of the moods of 1999..." - Steve Krakow. Steve is probably best known for the band Plastic Crimewave Sound, the Chicago spacepunk unit in operation since 2001, which has been lauded in Mojo, Wire, Julian Cope's Head Heritage, etc. PCWS delivers blasts of motor-city acid-rock, Japanese-style psychedelic scree, yet touching on cosmic krautrock and eastern folk-blues at times. Plastic Crimewave also does the Galactic Zoo Dossier mag, Secret History of Chicago Music newspaper strip and radio show, Million Tongues Festivals, and plays with DRMWPN and Moonrises.....and did we mention he is also known in some circles as Pythagoras, after being inducted into the Source family. "Hand-numbered edition of 100 copies CD-R that bundles a bunch of demos cut solo by Steve Krakow aka Plastic Crimewave of Plastic Crimewave Sound. The sound is primitive straight-to-tape nada fidelity psych, with Krakow's vocals barely decipherable outside of tonal mumps and uh-huh yeahs. The backing ranges from fuzz guitar through pirouetting acoustic and doomy synth. The feel is a mile away from the lurid comic book psych appeal of his big band records and closer to a damaged real people/loner psych broadcast from out of nowhere. Hand-painted sleeves, every one unique." - David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue.
*Psychic Reality / LA Vampires - split LP $11.99 (Not Not Fun)
"Every day's as new as you want it to be so take up the torch and light something unlit. Definite off-the-grid mentalities prevail on this genre-dissolving split 12" between San Fran anima soul voyager Leyna Noel aka Psychic Reality and So-Cal acid-jazz crate-digger LA Vampires. Noel's toured the states coast-to-coast and dropped a couple potent tape/CDR effigies, but this is her vinyl debut and it captures everything searing and singular about her live alchemy in glowing, glorious detail. Four inter-flowing songs of tone-float piano keys, bedroom drum machines, and white light amplifier vox. Trance-damaged and truth-seeking. LA Vampires' side madlibs through a more mercurial matrix, using slowed/screwed tapes, boombox Casio FX, low end theories, and bleached voice patterns to conjure a reverb chamber's worth of dance floor mirages. Future collabs with Zola Jesus and Sun Araw should expound her rhythm method mission. Abuse yr illusion. Black vinyl LPs in glossy jackets with a boldly disrobed duo cover portrait by Caitlin C. Mitchell. Edition of 450."
*Real Estate - Heights 12" EP $20.99 (Mexican Summer)
"Real Estate's Martin Courtney (songwriter, vocals, guitar), Alex Beeker (bass) and Matthew Mondanile (guitar; also of Ducktails and Predator Vision) all hail from suburban New Jersey and their songs evoke the soft bliss of giving your formative, teenage years enough time to waste and beer upon which to glug. Joined now by suburban Massachusetts' Etienne Duguay on drums, the fact that Real Estate only ever sound like a gaggle of grown-up teenage pals is testament to the ease of carving out your own niche in a town that's the same as countless others across America." One copy available.
*Clara Rockmore - The Art of the Theremin LP $16.99 (Mississippi Records)
"This LP, originally recorded and released by Delos International in 1977, features the eerily beautiful theremin accompanied by piano. A record of stark simplicity & emotional intensity. We are proud to present the first ever vinyl reissue of this material.
Gatefold tip-on cover with extensive liner notes detailing the history & inner workings of the theremin & Clara Rockmore. Presented by Shirleigh and Robert Moog with Nadia Reisenberg on piano
Skullflower - Strange Keys to Untune Gods' Firmament double CD $18.99 (Neurot)
"All must bow before the pagan wall of drone..." So reads the opening line of Skullflower's website. Hearing their tortured, distorted, and eerily shamanic sounds emanate from the stereo for the first time in the early '90s was truly a revelation. IIIrd Gatekeeper and Obsidian Shaking Codex are two of my all-time favorite albums and have been extremely influential on the way my brothers and I approach guitar-based heavy music. To grab an instrument, drive a loud amplifier to its physical limit, and ride the drone into oblivion is ecstasy, and Matthew Bower has been showing us all how it is done for 20-odd years. Strange Keys to Untune Gods' Firmament evokes Wagnerian sonic bombast, a Nietzchean worldview, and a warlike cry of rebellion against the false, encased in a whirlwind both psychotropic and psychoacoustic. Each spin brings new themes to the forefront. Not easy listening by anyone's standards, Strange Keys is not for the faint of heart--but those willing to submit and immerse themselves in the deep, thick waters of self-transformation will be greatly rewarded."
Slither - Alien Column LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"Alien Column" is the first full length LP by the thick-smoke-filled-Michigan-basement duo of Chris Pottinger (Odd Clouds, Cotton Museum and the Tasty Soil label) and Heath Moerland (Sick Llama, Cygnus, Drug Abuse and the Fag Tapes label). Often described as a post-Wolf Eyes combo, SLITHER offer a mutant take on free jazz through their multiple electronics manipulations and dual horn tandem (alto saxophone and clarinet). An additional proof to why Michigan is currently the BEST place to be on earth! Edition of 240 copies.
Harry Smith - Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 1 double LP $31.99 (Doxy)
On clear vinyl with insert. Volume 1: Ballads. "The importance of Harry Smith's work can not be overstated. Not only did he single-handedly save much of American folk music from extinction, but when he handed his record collection over to Smithsonian Folkways in 1952, he opened the floodgates for the American folk revival of the following decade. Not since John and Alan Lomax had anyone paid so much attention to saving the American folk song from extinction, but unlike the Lomaxes, Smith was not a government worker armed with a tape recorder, he was just a guy from Portland, Oregon armed with a love for music and an insatiably curious mind. So, when the U.S. Government began melting down old records to be used as shellac during WWII, Smith kicked into high gear, buying up as many old 78s from the '20s and '30s as he could find. Much of the music found here then, comes from a time before television, arm-in-arm with rock & roll, began beaming its über-culture into every household in America erasing much of what had grown up locally in each area. As can be heard so beautifully on these ballads, prior to WWII America was in many ways no more than a patchwork of territories, with local cultures and musical traditions reaching both far into the immigrant past of each area's inhabitants, but also into the future to create something wonderful and firmly rooted in the newness and adventure of life on this new continent."
Harry Smith - Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 2 double LP $31.99 (Doxy)
On red vinyl with insert. Volume 2: Social Music. "The 'social music' that grew up in this time period was both 'social' in the sense of 'social gathering' (barn dances, religious gatherings, etc.), but also in the sense of 'social issues' (labor rights, migration, money troubles, etc.). Their music was, therefore, a reflection of their lives, serving both as respite from their troubles (these were desperate times: the dust bowl, the depression, tenement housing, sweat shops, etc., were all part of the these people's everyday lives), but also as a vehicle for their discontent." Tracks - Side A: 1. Sail Away Lady - Uncle Bunt Stephens 2. The Wild Wagoner - Jilson Setters 3. Wake Up Jacob - Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers 4. La Danseuse - Delma Lachney And Blind Uncle Gaspard 5. Georgia Stomp - Andrew & Jim Baxter 6. Brilliancy Medley - Eck Robertson 7. Indian War Whoop - Hoyt Ming And His Pep-Steppers (3:13) Side B: 1. Old Country Stomp - Henry Thomas 2. Old Dog Blue - Jim Jackson 3. Saut Crapaud - Columbus Fruge 4. Acadian One-Step - Joseph Falcon 5. Home Sweet Home - The Breaux Freres 6. Newport Blues - The Cincinnati Jug Band 7. Moonshiner's Dance Pt.1 - Frank Cloutier And The Victoria Cafe Orchestra Side C: 1. Must Be Born Again - Rev. J.M. Gates 2. Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting - Rev. J.M. Gates 3. Rocky Road - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers 4. Present Joys - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers 5. This Song Of Love - The Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 6. Judgement - Sister Mary Nelson 7. He Got Better Things For You - Memphis Sanctified Singers 8. Since I Laid My Burden Down - The Elders Mcintorsh & Edwards' Sanctified Singers Side D: 1. John The Baptist - Rev. Moses Mason 2. Dry Bones - Bascom Lamar Lunsford 3. John The Revelator - Blind Willie Johnson 4. Little Moses - The Carter Family 5. Shine On Me - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers 6. Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room - Rev. F.W. Mcgee 7. I'm In The Battlefield For My Lord - Rev. D.C. Rice & His Sanctified Congregation
Harry Smith - Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 3 double LP $31.99 (Doxy)
On blue vinyl with insert. Volume 3: Songs. "In this volume we see songs by legends like: The Carter Family, Dock Boggs, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, and we gasp in horror when we remember that had it not been for Harry Smith, this great music may have very well ended up as shellac!" Tracks - Side A: 1. The Coo Coo Bird - Clarence Ashley 2. East Virginia - Buell Kazee 3. Minglewood Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers 4. I Woke Up One Morning In May - Didier Hébert 5. James Alley Blues - Richard "Rabbit" Brown 6. Sugar Baby - Dock Boggs 7. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Bascom Lamar Lunsford Side B: 1. Mountaineer's Courtship - Ernest And Hattie Stoneman 2. The Spanish Merchant's Daughter - The Stoneman Family 3. Bob Lee Junior Blues - The Memphis Jug Band 4. Single Girl, Married Girl - The Carter Family 5. Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme - Cleoma Breaux And Joseph Falcon 6. Rabbit Foot Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson 7. Expressman Blues - Sleepy John Estes And Yank Rachell Side C: 1. Poor Boy Blues - Ramblin' Thomas 2. Feather Bed - Cannon's Jug Stompers 3. Country Blues - Dock Boggs 4. 99 Year Blues - Julius Daniels 5. Prison Cell Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson 6. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson 7. C'est Si Triste Sans Lui - Cleoma And Ophy Breaux And Joseph Falcon Side D: 1. Way Down The Old Plank Road - Uncle Dave Macon 2. Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line - Uncle Dave Macon 3. Spike Driver Blues - Mississippi John Hurt 4. K.C. Moan - The Memphis Jug Band 5. Train On The Island - J.P. Nestor 6. The Lone Star Trail - Ken Maynard 7. Fishing Blues - Henry Thomas
Harry Smith - Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 2 double LP $31.99 (Doxy)
On red vinyl with insert. Volume 2: Social Music. "The 'social music' that grew up in this time period was both 'social' in the sense of 'social gathering' (barn dances, religious gatherings, etc.), but also in the sense of 'social issues' (labor rights, migration, money troubles, etc.). Their music was, therefore, a reflection of their lives, serving both as respite from their troubles (these were desperate times: the dust bowl, the depression, tenement housing, sweat shops, etc., were all part of the these people's everyday lives), but also as a vehicle for their discontent." Tracks - Side A: 1. Sail Away Lady - Uncle Bunt Stephens 2. The Wild Wagoner - Jilson Setters 3. Wake Up Jacob - Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers 4. La Danseuse - Delma Lachney And Blind Uncle Gaspard 5. Georgia Stomp - Andrew & Jim Baxter 6. Brilliancy Medley - Eck Robertson 7. Indian War Whoop - Hoyt Ming And His Pep-Steppers (3:13) Side B: 1. Old Country Stomp - Henry Thomas 2. Old Dog Blue - Jim Jackson 3. Saut Crapaud - Columbus Fruge 4. Acadian One-Step - Joseph Falcon 5. Home Sweet Home - The Breaux Freres 6. Newport Blues - The Cincinnati Jug Band 7. Moonshiner's Dance Pt.1 - Frank Cloutier And The Victoria Cafe Orchestra Side C: 1. Must Be Born Again - Rev. J.M. Gates 2. Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting - Rev. J.M. Gates 3. Rocky Road - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers 4. Present Joys - Alabama Sacred Harp Singers 5. This Song Of Love - The Middle Georgia Singing Convention No. 1 6. Judgement - Sister Mary Nelson 7. He Got Better Things For You - Memphis Sanctified Singers 8. Since I Laid My Burden Down - The Elders Mcintorsh & Edwards' Sanctified Singers Side D: 1. John The Baptist - Rev. Moses Mason 2. Dry Bones - Bascom Lamar Lunsford 3. John The Revelator - Blind Willie Johnson 4. Little Moses - The Carter Family 5. Shine On Me - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers 6. Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room - Rev. F.W. Mcgee 7. I'm In The Battlefield For My Lord - Rev. D.C. Rice & His Sanctified Congregation
Harry Smith - Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music Vol. 3 double LP $31.99 (Doxy)
On blue vinyl with insert. Volume 3: Songs. "In this volume we see songs by legends like: The Carter Family, Dock Boggs, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, and we gasp in horror when we remember that had it not been for Harry Smith, this great music may have very well ended up as shellac!" Tracks - Side A: 1. The Coo Coo Bird - Clarence Ashley 2. East Virginia - Buell Kazee 3. Minglewood Blues - Cannon's Jug Stompers 4. I Woke Up One Morning In May - Didier Hébert 5. James Alley Blues - Richard "Rabbit" Brown 6. Sugar Baby - Dock Boggs 7. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Bascom Lamar Lunsford Side B: 1. Mountaineer's Courtship - Ernest And Hattie Stoneman 2. The Spanish Merchant's Daughter - The Stoneman Family 3. Bob Lee Junior Blues - The Memphis Jug Band 4. Single Girl, Married Girl - The Carter Family 5. Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme - Cleoma Breaux And Joseph Falcon 6. Rabbit Foot Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson 7. Expressman Blues - Sleepy John Estes And Yank Rachell Side C: 1. Poor Boy Blues - Ramblin' Thomas 2. Feather Bed - Cannon's Jug Stompers 3. Country Blues - Dock Boggs 4. 99 Year Blues - Julius Daniels 5. Prison Cell Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson 6. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson 7. C'est Si Triste Sans Lui - Cleoma And Ophy Breaux And Joseph Falcon Side D: 1. Way Down The Old Plank Road - Uncle Dave Macon 2. Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line - Uncle Dave Macon 3. Spike Driver Blues - Mississippi John Hurt 4. K.C. Moan - The Memphis Jug Band 5. Train On The Island - J.P. Nestor 6. The Lone Star Trail - Ken Maynard 7. Fishing Blues - Henry Thomas
Spacemen 3 - Sound of Confusion LP $17.99 (Fire)
"Originally released on the Glass label in 1986, this is the debut album from the group led by Sonic Boom of SPECTRUM and Jason Pierce of SPIRITUALIZED. Featuring covers of 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS, THE STOOGES, and JUICY LUCY among some classic originals, this is the band's first foray into the deep, stoned, trance-inducing, psychedelic sound they would master on later albums. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl." Highly recommended! Very sturdy jackets, too.
Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription LP $17.99 (Fire)
"This 1987 album is where the group perfected their woozy, psychedelic drone-pop, moving beyond mere tribute to their influences into a world all their own. A concept record about a drug trip, from the euphoric high of album opener "Take Me to the Other Side," to the drowsy, disturbed finish of "Call the Doctor," this is arguably their finest moment. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl." Highly recommended! Very sturdy jackets, too.
Spacemen 3 - Performance LP $17.99 (Fire)
"Live in Amsterdam in 1988 on tour to support the "Perfect Prescription" album, this features 7 songs: "Mary-Anne," "Come Together," "Things'll Never Be the Same," "Take Me to the Other Side," "Rollercoaster," "Starship," and "Walkin' with Jesus." Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl." Highly recommended! Very sturdy jackets, too.
Sperm - Shh! LP $14.99 (DeStij)
"A totally legit LP only reissue of this amazing Helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. Shh! is primarily a document of Pekka Airaksinen's experimental compositions, consisting of primitive samples, guitar loop feedback and musique concrete. Sperm also functioned as a wildly theatrical live act a la Dionysis in '69 and would arrange underground happenings which would occasionally inspire a rallied public outcry against the derisive act of public humping atop a grand piano. Ooh la la." 2010 repress. Originally released in 1970 on O Records from Finland, Pekka's private label.
*Sun Araw - The Phynx LP $14.99 (Not Not Fun)
"Cameron Stallones' debut full-length was originally released on NNF in early 2008 as a CDR in an edition of 150. In the wake of his successful Beach Head LP and Boat Trip EP it was decided this needed the wax treatment. So here it is, fully re-mastered by James Plotkin and housed in nice matte jackets."
*Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Vol. 2 LP $17.99 (ESP-Disk)
"Volume two of Sun Ra's classic Heliocentric recordings from the 1960s. The astonishing sessions that went light years beyond 'free jazz' improvisation to create a music of deeply-felt, explosive and gentle gesture made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony are now reissued on 180 gram vinyl with Sun Ra's original, self-created cover art. Recorded by Richard Alderson on April 20, 1965, this set of tunes finds Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. More explorations of outer space by the spokesman for the space age. Manufactured in the U.S. by the original label. Digitally re-mastered." Numbered edition of 1000.
Talugung - Adelosa Glare c30 cassette $5.99 (Housecraft)
"Ryan Waldron has a keen sense for the ethereal. The sounds he conjures from household glasses to rickety old strung things reflect a fair and balanced illustration of the nature of our reality. Minors and majors gently twist and curl in organic harmonics. No attempt is made to beautify or perfect the output for the objects resound in their own subtle inherited vibration, harmonious even in dissonance."
*Tape & Bill Wells - Fugue LP $13.99 (Immune)
"A brand new mini-album from Tape & Bill Wells. Tape and Bill Wells first met in Stockholm while Bill was performing his music with The Concretes and Jens Lekman. Both artists were aware of each other's work and upon this first meeting they spoke of collaborating together on a recording. A year later Bill invited Tape to perform three concerts together at Triptych Festival in Scotland. During their visit a day was spent recording at Ca Va Sound in Glasgow. Those recordings were the start of something truly special. In 2008, Bill traveled to Stockholm to again perform some concerts with Tape and it was during this visit that a week was spent recording at Tape's own Summa Studio. It was the recordings from this session that became Fugue. The four tracks selected were the ones where the music sounded like something completely of its own, something other than Bill Wells or Tape. With the use of piano, organ, Fender Rhodes, guitar, bass, electronics, drums and synthesizer Fugue is truly a unique and timeless recording from these legendary and prolific artists. Simplistic, searching and fragile."
Sperm - Shh! LP $14.99 (DeStij)
"A totally legit LP only reissue of this amazing Helsinki monsterpiece from 1970. Shh! is primarily a document of Pekka Airaksinen's experimental compositions, consisting of primitive samples, guitar loop feedback and musique concrete. Sperm also functioned as a wildly theatrical live act a la Dionysis in '69 and would arrange underground happenings which would occasionally inspire a rallied public outcry against the derisive act of public humping atop a grand piano. Ooh la la." 2010 repress. Originally released in 1970 on O Records from Finland, Pekka's private label.
*Sun Araw - The Phynx LP $14.99 (Not Not Fun)
"Cameron Stallones' debut full-length was originally released on NNF in early 2008 as a CDR in an edition of 150. In the wake of his successful Beach Head LP and Boat Trip EP it was decided this needed the wax treatment. So here it is, fully re-mastered by James Plotkin and housed in nice matte jackets."
*Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Vol. 2 LP $17.99 (ESP-Disk)
"Volume two of Sun Ra's classic Heliocentric recordings from the 1960s. The astonishing sessions that went light years beyond 'free jazz' improvisation to create a music of deeply-felt, explosive and gentle gesture made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony are now reissued on 180 gram vinyl with Sun Ra's original, self-created cover art. Recorded by Richard Alderson on April 20, 1965, this set of tunes finds Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. More explorations of outer space by the spokesman for the space age. Manufactured in the U.S. by the original label. Digitally re-mastered." Numbered edition of 1000.
Talugung - Adelosa Glare c30 cassette $5.99 (Housecraft)
"Ryan Waldron has a keen sense for the ethereal. The sounds he conjures from household glasses to rickety old strung things reflect a fair and balanced illustration of the nature of our reality. Minors and majors gently twist and curl in organic harmonics. No attempt is made to beautify or perfect the output for the objects resound in their own subtle inherited vibration, harmonious even in dissonance."
*Tape & Bill Wells - Fugue LP $13.99 (Immune)
"A brand new mini-album from Tape & Bill Wells. Tape and Bill Wells first met in Stockholm while Bill was performing his music with The Concretes and Jens Lekman. Both artists were aware of each other's work and upon this first meeting they spoke of collaborating together on a recording. A year later Bill invited Tape to perform three concerts together at Triptych Festival in Scotland. During their visit a day was spent recording at Ca Va Sound in Glasgow. Those recordings were the start of something truly special. In 2008, Bill traveled to Stockholm to again perform some concerts with Tape and it was during this visit that a week was spent recording at Tape's own Summa Studio. It was the recordings from this session that became Fugue. The four tracks selected were the ones where the music sounded like something completely of its own, something other than Bill Wells or Tape. With the use of piano, organ, Fender Rhodes, guitar, bass, electronics, drums and synthesizer Fugue is truly a unique and timeless recording from these legendary and prolific artists. Simplistic, searching and fragile."
*Telecult Powers - Orgone Freakout: a Happening with the Telecult Powers c40 cassette $9.99 (Deception Island)
"Like a forgotten Sonic Arts Union-era session heard from the business end of an opiated rabbithole, "Orgone Freakout" is an album-length synthesis of all the most fucked transcendent peaks on the releases (e.g. "Amazing Laws" and "A Beginner's Guide to Hoodotronix") that have formed the apex of the Telecult Powers catalog to date, boiled down to their strangely arching bones. It's a phenomenal codex of resinous creaks, empty cisterns, reflected moonlight, phantom choirs, and tendril-like percussive afterimages from a duo of Cleveland-to-Brooklyn transplants that's spent the past three years becoming one of the best and strangest live acts in the world, establishing a well-deserved reputation as a cornerstone of the contemporary New York underground, issuing a viscous drip of bizarre missives through their unerringly curated Temple of Pei imprint, and cultivating the masterfully honed feedback between their live and studio incarnations that reaches critical velocity with this release. As ever, Mister Matthews' handcrafted electronics are at the center of the proceedings and measured expansion of a shared timbral vocabulary continues to be a huge part of his and Witchbeam's raison d'etre, while the paranoid opacity and sheer idiosyncracy of their improvising grammar hasn't yielded an inch. This productive tension is at once an indicator of the rewards that await the devoted acolyte and the audible stamp of their rust belt origins. Writing about Telecult Powers back in 2008, I said that "Witchbeam and Mister Matthews lock into their particular skewed orbit, which has something of the unhinged forelornness of Nik Pascal Raicevic's work, only even more fucked and disturbing, because there's actually two people giggling at each other out on that ledge. ...one could revisit it a thousand times without ever really getting a handle on it or parsing it successfully. In short, it's necessary, rewarding, and fantastically heavy work." That still pretty much sums it up, I believe, and it's only gotten more true with time." Hand-numbered edition of 150.
*TexlaHoma - Driebergen Zeist CDR $10.99 (Sonic Oyster Records)
CDR - Limited Edition Edition 50 copies. Tex La Homa is the songwriting and recording project of Matthew Shaw who also makes music with 230 Divisadero with Nick Grey, The Blue Tree with Andrew Paine, Fougou with Brian Lavelle, Cat Lady with Michael Tanner and Grand Feast of the Dead with Mark Fry. Matthew also runs the label Apollolaan Recordings, releasing music by Kawabata Makoto, White Hills, The A Band, Andrew Paine, Plastic Crimewave, Plinth, Brian Lavelle, Directorsound & many others.
*Tiger Hatchery - Lemon Crystal Sunshine c40 cassette $9.99 (Deception Island)
"Lemon Crystal Sunshine" is both the first release by Chicago's Tiger Hatchery outside the orbit of their in-house imprints and their most coherent, lovingly realized, and hi-fidelity statement to date, with all the makings of a proper public debut. It's no small thing to say that, in a world of massively hyped ad hoc collabs, Mike Forbes (tenor sax), Andrew Scott Young (double bass), and Ben Billington (drums) are a genuine, dedicated, and hard-touring ensemble, and a stunningly matched one at that; while all three players have turned in head-spinning cult sessions in the past few years (Forbes with J. Guy Laughlin, Forbes and Young as a duo and with Weasel Walter on 2009's skullsplitting "American Free" lp, and Billington solo and in duos with Jason Soliday and Brett Naucke), I knew from the first seconds of their set at Champagne of Fests III last year that this was something special, and the performances of theirs that I've caught since then, at Voice of the Valley, Philly's Danger Danger, and Cleveland's The Cool Ranch have only reinforced that notion. At once too formalist, too perversely ludic, and too explicitly conscious of all the resonant objects they're wrangling to tolerate an easy lumping-in with the neo-fire music camp and too focused on actual asskicking and immersive sheets of lusciously corroded timbral wonder to permit their reduction to ego-fodder for the plausibly bed-wetting highbrow improv set, Tiger Hatchery got those legs underneath 'em amid a grueling mise en abime of basement fistpumpers, and it shows. Refreshingly indifferent to any/all tired, eyeball-glazing handwringing over the moral hazards of idiom, as only a band too adept and committed to bother with such rhetorical crutches can afford to be, they are, quite simply, one of the best free jazz outfits operating today. Forbes' bloody, eviscerating tone and Evan Parker-level circular breathing chops are already the talk of the proverbial town, but what's most impressive is the integration of these traits into a complete and highly personal style characterized by flinty reserve, strikingly antihuman phrasing, obsessively Slonimskyian cellular/permutational construction, and the occasional, tantalizing glimpse of a bent, neomodern lyrical sensibility, evidenced at the start of side two as he comes on like Ornette Coleman disintegrating in a hail of cough syrup. What glues this all together is Young and Billington's strikingly congruent rhythmic vocabularies, the sum of which is often rich in loose-limbed, muppety thwack, though "Lemon Crystal Sunshine" offers each of them ample opportunity to stretch out into more nuanced territory as well. Midway through side one, Billington takes his finest recorded solo to date, a nearly whisper-quiet manifesto of gradually ratcheted-up tension that deftly sidesteps the cliches of contemporary free drumming, drawing to a close as Young picks up the bow for a spiraling, kaleidoscopic duet with Forbes, showing off a gently weathered approach to the higher partials that's both commendably focused and almost shockingly lovely. I promised myself that I'd never end a writeup with the phrase "must grip," but seriously." Hand-numbered edition of 150.
*Tsigoti - Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party CD $11.99 (ESP-Disk)
"Tsigoti (previously known as Waristerror Terroriswar) is an experimental improvising quazi-punk band dedicated to expressing their opposition for war, authoritarian regimes,and violent religious extremes. The band is made up of members from two different continents, each with much experience in a wide variety of musical/life situations. Their first album The Brutal Reality Of Modern Brutality (Edgetone Records) was written and recorded in 3 days. It was birthed spontaneously through a collective urgency. They met again this past year to record a second album, play their first shows to wildly enthusiastic audiences, and reconfirm their collective skeptical optimism. Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party was created with more involvement and time to craft songs, though the raw spirit and spontaneity is still embraced as the fundamental elements of the overall experience. This time war is seen from the inside: from people who suffer being attacked, imprisoned, terrorized, tortured, brainwashed, and tricked. A collaborative and explorational approach to protest music brings Tsigoti's sound to your ears exploding with all its controversial spikes. Recommended if you like ESP 4055, Talibam!, Boogie In The Breeze Blocks."
*U.S. Girls - Go Grey LP + Download $14.99 (Siltbreeze)
"The second full-length release by U.S. Girls is an even more fully realized excursion into a hazy alternate universe where pop vocals and muzzy scree fuse in harmony. Go Grey conjures up ambient aerosols while luminous kaleidoscopes of sound sizzle, peak, and explode. Megan Remy is a chanteuse from (perhaps) the future, guiding all who choose to sail an evocative trip through her unique aural hallucinogenic landscapes. It's a journey of lush vistas, warm currents, and complex beauties. 23nd-Century-style, of course. So come aboard and see why U.S. Girls is being hailed the Eno of the '50s--the 2250s! Can you imagine? Let's hope so."
*Uke of Phillips - Peppermint Birdhouse Shanty Shack LP $13.99 (Mississippi Records)
"Reissue of the first LP by Dan Beckman, Amy Moon, & friends. Recorded in a shack in New Orleans, this LP features folk songs with a psychedelic edge. Cover is a silk screen glued over unsold dollar records from our retail store. Limited one time edition of 400 copies. A cultural artifact from our small community of friends." Nice!
*Usurper - Let's Just See What Happens LP $16.99 (REL)
"REL is proud to present the debut LP of the scottish duo Usurper (Ali Robertson and Malcy Duff). Creating a sound nearly impossible to describe, Usurper combines obsessive metallic clunk, destroyed voices, broken horns and dropped marbles (?), into dense fields of activity. Working towards an intuitive sound logic all it's own, Usurper creates a surreal, comic structure that is unmatched and an energy that will make you laugh as soon as you shake your head in bafflement. The B side features a trio set with the addition of Sticky Foster (A Band, Prick Decay, Coffee) who blends seamlessly into the group. The LP is a one time, hand numbered edition of 200 copies with bold design featuring Malcy Duff's illustrations silk screened by Ashley Paul. The inside features a liner note pocket Housing the full 16 page comic "2.1.3" by Duff."
*V/A - Good Wheel Tea Carpentry - split 4 x c30 cassette box $19.99 (Housecraft)
"Eight spokes from seven folks comprised of four segments each in collaborations and lone sessions - spanning two continents, spoken in three languages, and housed in one embellished box: Royallen, Cyquoia, Tricorn and Queue, Tuluum Shimmering, Do Tell, 1994, Peat Raamur, Xiphiidae." Edition of 96 copies - out of print. Super nice package!
V/A - Mortika: Recordings From A Greek Underworld double LP Box Set $20.99 (Mississippi)
"Amazing 2LP set of Greek underground folk music sometimes called "rembetica" &/ or "Greek Oriental Music." Compiled by Tony Cline. Songs about drugs, sex, crime, poverty, & heartbreak. Housed in a box & includes 20 page notes with extensive archival photos & full lyric translations."
*V/A - A Musical Journey In India CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
"Recorded late 2009, those recordings took place in various places of India, from the down south to the north of the country, from the burning sand and warm sea to the holy ganga and the mountains. Indian classical and traditionnal music, holy chants, transey percussions, wheeping sitars...One hour of spicy music.If you're not made of stone this will speak to your mind."
*V/A - Ritual Music From Kojara Islands CDR $9.99 (Winged Sun)
"Kojara Islands ritual music is strictly percussive, using gongs, bells, drums in gamelan style, for a repetitive and hypnotic feeling. Previously only documented on a vinyl LP in the 70's this reissue brings you back this mysterious traditionnal music. 40 minutes, 6 tracks from 2 different ceremonies, the two most importants holy rites for Kojaran inhabitants : the shark sacrifice and the funeral rite. Original artwork cover (we've only added winged sun logo)."
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Joka Baya LP $14.99 (Vhf)
"The ever-mysterious Vibracathedral Orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition LPs. Slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts Mick Flower and Adam Davenport with frequent collaborators John Godbert (Total) and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. Joka Baya offers up a set of shorter pieces on the A-side in a high-fidelity style that contrasts the dark, smoky sound of the rest of the tracks. The percussive grooves are overlaid with Sunroof!-like shimmer, stabbing electric leads, gentle acoustic rain, and droning organ peeking through at opportune moments. The roaring side-long epic on the flip is a droning, phasing slice of psychedelia with Moloney's drums battering the tape in between long stretches of humming stasis."
Vibracathedral Orchestra - The Secret Base LP $14.99 (Vhf)
"The ever-mysterious Vibracathedral Orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition LPs. Slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts Mick Flower and Adam Davenport with frequent collaborators John Godbert (Total) and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. The Secret Base starts up at full throttle, straight into a raw-sounding live outing, with Flower's overdriven guitar occupying the same sonic space that gives his Japan banjo / shaahi baaja workouts with Chris Corsano their urgency. The sound is dark and rough, almost Xpressway-like in its claustrophobic atmosphere. The percolating krautrock stylings of "If You Can't Smoke 'Em" chugs along hypnotically for over 13 minutes to close out the side. The entire B-side's 20+ minutes are devoted to the clanging free sound of "Eyes of Wood," where gamelan-like metal percussion dominates the proceedings."
Vibracathedral Orchestra - Smoke Song LP $14.99 (Vhf)
The ever-mysterious Vibracathedral Orchestra returns from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre jams on a trio of limited-edition LPs. Slightly reorganized around a line-up of stalwarts Mick Flower and Adam Davenport with frequent collaborators John Godbert (Total) and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides. Smoke Song's more gentle exposition starts with Davenport's santoor (a type of hammered dulcimer) leading the band into a lengthy mid-tempo groove on "Smoke Song," followed on the second half of the side by the short, quiet "Cholita Maria." The second side's 17-minute "Get It?" lays down the tremolo and phase in a manner reminiscent of the best Spacemen 3 comedowns, taking a pulse and riding it into organ- and percussion-fueled bliss."
Wasteland Jazz Unit - Space Denial LP $29.99 (Nashazphone)
"WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT is Jon Lorenz and John Rich on saxophone and clarinet. The first full length of this apocalyptic Cincinnati duo is simply akin to the sonic equivalent of pouring molten silver (at 700°C) inside an ear. "Space Denial" is a powerful destruction trip pushing all the limits of reed electronic manipulations to areas and heights only explored by the mighty Borbetomagus. Edition of 190 copies."
*Patty Watters - College Tour LP $17.99 (ESP-Disk)
"In the Spring of 1966, ESP was given a grant by the New York State Council on the Arts, to tour the five colleges in the state with music departments. Artists for this tour included the Sun Ra Arkestra, Burton Greene, Patty Waters, Giuseppi Logan and Ran Blake. Accompanied by an all-star backup group from among the participants, Patty's performances resulted in the album, College Tour, her second recording for ESP Disk. The album expands upon the vocal acrobatics that were heard on her first recording, Sings. College Tour won second place for Vocal Recording in Jazz and Pop Magazine in 1970. Patty Waters is internationally recognized as one of the first major avant-garde vocalists. Her ESP-Disk recordings cemented her reputation as a vocal innovator, and according to liner notes and public opinion, one whose influence extended beyond jazz to Yoko Ono and Diamanda Galas. Pressed on 180 gram transparent, virgin vinyl. Free 320 kbps MP3 Download of the album. First official U.S. reissue of an album that has been out of print for over 40 years. Features pianists Ran Blake and Burton Greene, plus a rare appearance by Giuseppi Logan, another avant-garde musician who has been making a comeback." Numbered edition of 1000 on maroon-colored vinyl.
*Scott Wells - Day Songs CDR $7.99 (Root Strata)
"This one came to us from the great unknown a few months back. A really lovely suite of electric guitar from the floating world. No idea what's happening here, but Well's delicate touch of the strings generates a soft focus sound that's brimming with shiny harmonics and flecks of metallic gold. The only let down here is that at 20 minutes running time, this disc feels like it's just getting going when it comes to an end. Looking forward to hearing more from this one. Edition of 100 in a chipboard sleeve with a watercolor insert, each one different."
*White Hills / The Heads - Collisions Volume 1 LP $18.99 (Rocket Recordings)
"Rocket Recordings are proud to announce the release of the all new Collision Series. We celebrate Volume 1 of this series by coupling together two monolithic fuzzed transmissions by gods of heavy psychedelia, New Yorks White Hills and the UK legends The Heads. The record survey's both bands voyage towards a single lengthy Incursion, a whole side of burnout bliss. Each track will navigate the listener to explore Rocket flight paths until he/she is gasping for time in the air lock. White Hills 'I Will Find Peace of Mind' traces paths explored on previous Rocket favourite Heads on Fire (Launch 029), but this time the journey expands till it kicks the dust storms into a spacerock void. The slow pulse of pounding bass and pendulums of fuzz guitar swirl like a battle against unleashed elements, lost in the bottomless depths of the cosmos. Head for the wind, dark and frozen. Finally the whole piece concludes with a field recording gradually fading out into eternity. A parallel previously harvested by the freaks of Finland in the early 70's. (Vocal Track). With an all together heavier payload, The Heads 'Camden Brain Slurry' pilots further uncharted territory. From the off, the thrust of the entire band pummel the onboard circuits until the propulsion dials are teetering in the red, until it's eventually time to bailout in a free fall haze of fuzz and feeback. Then the fun begins. In microbursts of repetitive transmission's The Heads signal the ether before the engines are re-fired in hypnotic thrusts of distortion, eventually suffocating you until your brain screams for release. This is when we resume our journey with The Heads marching on in a Krautrock blitz until red eyes have taken them and you have to lower your landing gear. (Instrumental)"
*White Pee - Wing Off A Plane CDR $9.99 (Apollolaan)
"We at apollolaan recordings are very happy to be starting 2010 with a new release by White Pee. Wing Off A Plane is an interesting document, featuring some of the earliest "brown lsd magic" created by the band, originally available as a very limited cd available from one shop in the Bay area of San Francisco, and now available from apollolaan. The album is a single track, and just under three quarters of an hour in length." "...ahahahahaha, the apollolaan is the definitive as well as the final version, there will be no repress" - Michael Boul. This numbered cdr edition is limited to 50 copies with hand painted sleeves. It comes with a wrap around cover and insert."
Xiphiidae - Sewn Within a Circle double c60 cassette $8.99 (Housecraft)
"Recalls recordings passed, circa 2002 to 2009 - has the same kind of "feel" as 'Crystal Marvelous Fruit' (released late in '08 on ExBx) in that it's a collection of older material sorting through a wide array of instrumentation and sourcing but this also includes select tracks from the first few Xiphiidae releases on Housecraft like: 'Honeyguide', 'Our Bodies Anointed With Lightning', Royallen split CDr, and 'Celestial Rag Rug', as well as a couple tracks from the s/t cassette release on Scumbag early in 2006 - all with a pinch of virgin material/fold-out art and here's our #100!"
*Richard Youngs & Andrew Paine - Guide to Music CDR $10.99 (Sonic Oyster Records)
CDR - Strictly Limited Edition (Numbered) 100 Copies. A range of oblique and idiosyncratic references from the musical spectrum. The whole thing represents a collision of popular styles, providing an energetic, exciting tour of undiscovered musical hinterlands.
FORTHCOMING RELEASES
AMETHYST SUNSET
Mist - Mist LP $15.99 (Amethyst Sunset)
"Vinyl debut from the Ohio duo of MIST (john elliot and sam goldberg). Following up their "certain expansion" and "stole colors" cassette releases on pizza wagon, MIST offer up two full sides of their best material yet. Electric Organs. Beautiful and dreamy preogressive synths, kosmik string synth zone. Mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin. Limited to 500. Pro printed covers. front cover photo by Ashley Krantz." Recommended! Restocked - last copies.
ART FAG
*Best Coast - She Was High (So Was I) 7" $7.99 (Art Fag)
"Former Pocahaunted member Bethany Cosentino (aka Best Coast) embodies California. Her songs are effortlessly ramshackle, layers of fuzzed guitar and a voice with enough heft and soul that it brings to mind 1950s girl soul groups or even a female-centric Beach Boys. There's also a sense of permanent longing, an inescapable melancholy that can only come from living near the beach, perpetually sunny but a little sad too.Features the songs "The Sun Was High (So Was I)," "So Gone" and "That's the Way Boys." Repress.
AVITOM
*The Beatles - I Told You Before LP $19.99 (Avitom)
"Superb outtakes from the January 1969 Get Back sessions, here for the first time on vinyl, this includes the 21-minute John Lennon song "I Told You Before" (a completely different song from the one of the same title on the Plastic Ono Band album!), another Lennon song "Madman" that comes in at over 7 minutes, plus 2 long Paul McCartney songs, the fast rockers "My Imagination" and "You Wear Your Women Out." Mastered from first generation studio tapes for excellent sound, this also comes with great full color artwork featuring photos of the band in the studio. Israeli import."
BLACKEST RAINBOW
*Sylvester Anfang II - Commune Cassetten LP $22.99 (Blackest Rainbow)
"A new slab of wax of tranced out psychotic psychedelic-ness from the occult loving Belgium based clan. This new incarnation being SYLVESTER ANFANG II (as opposed to Silvester Anfang) reached a new level of sheer awesomeness last year with the incredible double LP on Aurora Borealis, on Commume Cassetten they continue their bizarre trip into the darker - but somehow super psychedelic - realm of the occult obsessed mind. There's a real fucked up krautrock boogie vibe throughout but retaining some of the doomed funeral folk qualities of the original Anfang guise, as well as some loose as hell, total stoned out ritualistic baked grooves. The LP comes housed in a techni-colour collaged artwork with a black and white image of a lady, which we can presume is a witch, with a dagger and chalice... a sleeve that really sums up the music enclosed. The sleeves are pro-printed and wrap around the deep black wax which has some sweet full colour labels. This is one hell of a 40 minute trip...The LP will be pressed on black heavyweight vinyl, with full colour sleeves and labels.
BURKA FOR EVERYONE
*Michael Yonkers - Gr LP $20.99 (Burka For Everyone)
"A new recording from this reclusive Minneapolis psychedelic noise guitarist madman, who has been playing since the late 1960s. Sometimes compared to CAPTAIN BEEFHEART or THE GODZ, his very raw experimentalism, combining garage psych, surf and extreme distortion, has won him legendary status. This album is apparently true to form, with his wall-of-noise psychedelia mixed with primitive blues wails. Spanish import."
CORWOOD INDUSTRIES:
*Jandek - Camber Sands Sunday CD $6.99 (Corwood Industries)
"Recorded live at Camber Sands Holiday Park, England on May 14, 2006. Continues the Corwood representative's "Mannequin series" of album covers, started in 2003 with The Place (COR 0772) and The Gone Wait (COR 0773)." - FE
DESTIJL
*Charlie Nothing - Outside / Inside LP $15.99 (DeStijl)
"Charlie Nothing was the fractured-psyche pseudonym of author, father, horsekeeper, organic farmer, beekeeper, philosopher and clown Charles Martin Simon, inventor of the dingulator (guitar sculptures made out the metal from American cars). Charlie's only visible offering to the record buying public was really anything but. Due to it's rarity, "The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing", issued by Takoma Records in 1967, has been a source of consternation for in-the-know types for years. "Outside/Inside", the second and only other Charlie Nothing LP, originally issued by Everitt Enterprises, thematically follows with two sidelong flute-based instrumentals. Nowhere on wax will you find more palpable preserved air of a real-time dropout scene than with these sides of Nothing. It is a wonder that these records circulated at all outside the vacuum in which they were created. Nothingness, a California existentiality looping back on itself, preserved and disseminated as evidence. There are indeed very few records like these."
*The Parasites Of The Western World - The Parasites Of The Western World LP $15.99 (DeStijl)
"The Parasites Of The Western World are a band from Portland OR who released their recorded debut in 1978. It's a fascinating spin, a galactic ramble across the otherworldly themes of alienation and paranoia, seemingly inspired by LSD and Philip Dick. Primarily the creation of Patrick Burke and Terry Censky, the Parasites were limitless with invention and completely DIY. This is a record that was recorded in an apartment, by a crew thoughtful enough to curtail its loud excursions for the daylight hours. Its rockist moves are surprisingly informed by the typical institutions of this era : Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Hawkwind and it's many electronic flourishes are an above ground sound that would presage the likes of Vertical Slit, F/I and Vertigo. The Parasites remain to be light years ahead of a time that has yet to come. This swank, one time vinyl pressing of 1000 copies will contain a digital download coupon so you'll be pleased if that's yr thing."
DIGITALIS LIMITED
*EAGLE ALTAR / Bugskull - split c23 cassette $7.99 (Digitalis Limited)
"Finally done, this little split guy has been on the books for a while. EAGLE ALTAR offers up a thanksgeever slice of synthed out space. barely methodic, crawling along linear lines we search for hooks in the frozen undergrowth. hypnotic on some level, but always a good time. bugskull gives us three dishes from the "communication" sessions that had to be cut from the final album to fit it on vinyl. more glowing electronic reverie that fades into the background, turning it into pure, psyched-up magic. good times again. edition of 100, pro-dubbed."
DUST, UNSETTLED
*Andrew Paine - After Wednesday CDR $10.99 (Dust, Unsettled)
"This new release from Andrew Paine will surprise those who've heard his other releases - either as a solo artist, or recording together with Richard Youngs, Alistair Crosbie and others. 'After Wednesday' is a single composition, a contemplative, yet haunting, soundscape, composed only from several layers of minimalistic piano and subtle, processed field recordings. Recorded in Glasgow and on Holy Isle, it represents a turning point, a looking-outwards-and-onwards, and not just in musical terms. A very personal release, stunning in its simplicity. One track. Running time: 26:49" Edition of 100 copies - professionally duplicated colour print disc, packaged in a printed 4 panel colour and black and white booklet, inside a plastic outer sleeve.
8MM RECORDS
*Bill Nace - Too Dead For Dreaming one-sided LP $25.99 (8mm Records)
"Debut vinyl album by contemporary electric guitar wizard Bill Nace, 'Too Dead for Dreaming' begins in the form of a deconstructed blues piece, slowly exploring the territories of atonal composition, string-scraping and feedback, crashing all these styles in an instinctive, personal way. His affiliations with X04, Northampton Wools and Vampire Belt converge here in a unique flux. Bill's ability in creating sounds, follows a clear logic of 'construction of tension' that eventually explodes into pure sonic mayhem (part 2) then switching the attention from your blowing ears into new, obscure tonalities, with a spectral meditation that develops in the last part of the album and mirably closes the circle. It's all here: one man, one guitar. A bulldozer. Limited to 200 copies , hand printed and numbered."
ELSIE AND JACK RECORDINGS
*Brume - The Sun // The Moon double CD $? (Elsie and Jack Recordings)
"In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, elsie and jack are proud to present two new releases of cosmic delight by the French artist BRUME :
THE SUN //
THE MOON
This is the rebirth of BRUME: something old (THE SUN) and something new (THE MOON)!!! The Sun may be familiar to some of you who follow Renou's work, as this is a remastered release of one of his early cassette pieces, originally issued on Old Europa Café. The Sun is an incredibly engaging exploration into ring modulated electronic sounds, electroacoustic drones and tribal pounding, recorded as an invocation to the sun. This alone should appeal to those of you who love primetime Muslimgauze, but it continues with melodic skronk aplenty combined with the ominous porn squelch of fretless bass over / under looped voice treatments reminiscent of 80's straight-to-video soundtrack splurge that a certain Skater [JF] would be proud of.
The Moon is a new recording from March / April of 2009, where Renou is joined by co-conspirators James & Phil Rodriguez [of MONERA]. These new recordings perfectly compliment The Sun and reveal man's folly in attempting to reach the Moon, back in 1967Š Musique concrète? maybe so, but Renou's music has an oft overlooked wonderful lyrical depth - his previous two releases on e&j have excelled in this genre - the new recording only goes to emphasise his standing alongside other electro-acoustic pioneers such as Andrew Liles, Steven Stapleton and Coil."
FAG TAPES
*Sick Llama - Must Counter cassette $7.99 (Fag Tapes)
"Making new sick llama sounds on the newly formed Tapesynth Tower. your older brother told you to throw this tape on when you went to make-out-point w/ your girlfriend. it worked! but then some crazy fucker w/ a shotgun jumped on the hood of your car and blew ya'll brains out!!! hand-painted/numbered limited edition 30.
*Slither - Burnt Offerings IV cassette $7.99 (Fag Tapes)
"Fourth installment from reeds / electronics duo C. pottinger / H. moerland. in th' basement of your mind recorded in a basement. amazing free calculating recordings. hand-painted/numbered edition 25.
*Swept Off Th' Land - Sick Pledge cassette $7.99 (Fag Tapes)
"Damaged new duo sounds like something you would hear coming from behind an auto graveyard. hillbilly, primitive outsiders trying to keep warm playing homemade instruments; training their dogs to fetch road kill. electronics and acoustics. hand-painted/numbered edition 30."
FIRE RECORDS
*Bardo Pond - Bufo Alvarius LP+CD $22.99 (Fire)
"There will always be naysayers declaring that we have reached the boundaries of what it is possible to do within various genres of music. And there will always be fearless souls ready to prove them wrong. Bardo Pond, a wide-eyed Philadelphian psychedelic rock unit, exist as a shining point on a graph. A scintillating cross drawn on a celestial arc, marking their place among the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Calico Wall, The Stooges, Lift To Experience, Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev and, more recently, Jackie O Motherfucker and MV&EE. Explicitly narcotic ? there's no room for coyness or prissiness in space rock! ? the band was initially an excuse for abyssal guitar drone exploration by brothers Michael and John Gibbons. But 'Bufo Alvarius' (named after a potently hallucinogenic toad) their classic 1995 album marked an important turning point. It was like the flickering cine 8 film of someone falling off a cliff played backwards. A hazy figure leaping out of the void, pausing at the second their foot touched terra firma. It was the juncture where their music clarified out of chaos and started to coalesce around formations of post rock, shoegaze and psych structure while always threatening to dissolve into a blizzard of reverb, white noise, fuzz drone and echoplex. Sure there were others doing similar things but no one quite like this. They nudged ahead and nuzzled at the listener with snatches of sweet harmony filtering through the haze, like random sentences of a radio show puncturing a dream. This was the album that saw them graduate from cult local concern to cult global passion, stepping out from the monolithic shadows cast by their influences. It is difficult to pick out individual high points on something so clearly designed to be listened to as a whole but the lysergic ebb and flow of 'Capillary River', the aqueous beauty of 'Absence' and, of course, the half hour long centrepiece of 'Amen' demand full attention from the listener. The previously-unreleased "Fixed" rounds off an album that is transcendent in all the right meanings of the word.
meanings of the word." LP version, with CD. Deluxe remastered reissue of Bardo Pond's first Album with bonus track, part of Fire Records Embers series.
*Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription CD $14.99 (Fire)
"2009 release. Originally released in 1989, The Perfect Prescription is the album on which the British trio Spacemen 3 crafted some of their most dazzlingly layered psych guitar devastation. Before splitting into Spiritualized and Spectrum/EAR, Spacemen 3 created some of the most genuinely psychedelic music of the '80s and '90s, and it's on this album that they take the listener to the very center of the mind. While it's a concept album about a drug trip, no drugs are required to experience the euphoric high of opening track "Take Me To The Other Side." The cover of The Red Krayola's "Transparent Radiation" is brilliantly deranged and closer "Call The Doctor" cements this album's status as the ultimate monster come-down artifact. Sublime non-stop guitar oscillation, radiant feedback and inspired ecclesiastical channeling will sink into your brain faster than high power blotter acid. Gatefold mini-LP style packaging. "...a bona fide classic." -- Drowned In Sound
*Spacemen 3 - Performance CD $14.99 (Fire)
"2009 release. Originally released in 1988, Performance captures a jaw-dropping live recording from the Perfect Prescription tour, recorded on February 6, 1988 at De Melkweg, Amsterdam. The emphasis here is on the group's loud, noisy origins, with plenty of the hypno-monotonous distorted bombast of the band's unique droning guitars, feedback and pounding drums on tracks like "Starship," "Take Me To The Other Side" and "Rollercoaster." An essential document of the band's powerful sonic assault. The drug-drenched bliss of closer "Walkin' With Jesus" will take you to the other side. Gatefold mini-LP style packaging.
FLIPPED OUT RECORDS
Not much info yet but there will be a new Wovoka lp (edition of 99 copies) available before too long. More info as I get it...
FONAL RECORDS
*Es - Kesämaan Lapset LP $16.99 (Fonal Records)
"This is Fonal label-head and filmmaker Sami Sänpäkkilä's fifth solo album under the name Es. Recorded during a 3-year period, it is a mixture of pop and sacred soundscapes with influences varying from contemporary indie-rock to ancient classical music. The name translates to "The Children Of The Summerland," and is an homage to Finnish cult folk legend Pekka Streng's album Kesämaa ("Summerland"), which is one of the artist's favorite Finnish albums ever made. Various quirky instrumentation is used on Kesämaan Lapset; from high-end analog synthesizers and upright pianos to cheap flea market Casios. A few special guests make an appearance on this record, including Laura Laurila (violin), Tuomas Eriksson (Risto) (trombone) and Elissa Määttänen (vocals). On "Ennen Oli Huonommin," squiggling, rapid-fire synth noises battle a chorus of angels against a droning and static-y backdrop. On "Haamut Sun Sydämestä," high-pitched cries ride on top of a melancholy piano line, while what seems like thousands of pitched-shifted orchestras and bleeps multiply and rise atonally. The title track is a stunning, epic drone-piece with chanting vocals in a golden forest of sound: strings and horn lines, sinuous, ethereal synths and organ mantras. Recorded at home in the bedroom and abroad on various travels, Es has crafted a haunting summer album that evokes a strange, nostalgic, visceral response, like gazing at childhood photographs." - FE
GET BACK
*Embryo - Opal LP $22.99 (Get Back)
"A vinyl reissue of the well-known German progressive band's debut album, first out on the Ohr label in 1970. With a raw, sometimes almost '60s-garage-psych sound, a jam-heavy spacerock sensibility and catchy guitar and sax riffs, this largely instrumental record is probably their most rock & roll effort, as later albums quickly went off in a much more ethnojazz fusion direction. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl pressing, Italian import."
GODS OF TUNDRA
*Failing Lights - The Ghosts of Navigators cassette $5.99 (Gods Of Tundra)
"New sounds with old things for the winter that is falling over the land."
*Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription CD $14.99 (Fire)
"2009 release. Originally released in 1989, The Perfect Prescription is the album on which the British trio Spacemen 3 crafted some of their most dazzlingly layered psych guitar devastation. Before splitting into Spiritualized and Spectrum/EAR, Spacemen 3 created some of the most genuinely psychedelic music of the '80s and '90s, and it's on this album that they take the listener to the very center of the mind. While it's a concept album about a drug trip, no drugs are required to experience the euphoric high of opening track "Take Me To The Other Side." The cover of The Red Krayola's "Transparent Radiation" is brilliantly deranged and closer "Call The Doctor" cements this album's status as the ultimate monster come-down artifact. Sublime non-stop guitar oscillation, radiant feedback and inspired ecclesiastical channeling will sink into your brain faster than high power blotter acid. Gatefold mini-LP style packaging. "...a bona fide classic." -- Drowned In Sound
*Spacemen 3 - Performance CD $14.99 (Fire)
"2009 release. Originally released in 1988, Performance captures a jaw-dropping live recording from the Perfect Prescription tour, recorded on February 6, 1988 at De Melkweg, Amsterdam. The emphasis here is on the group's loud, noisy origins, with plenty of the hypno-monotonous distorted bombast of the band's unique droning guitars, feedback and pounding drums on tracks like "Starship," "Take Me To The Other Side" and "Rollercoaster." An essential document of the band's powerful sonic assault. The drug-drenched bliss of closer "Walkin' With Jesus" will take you to the other side. Gatefold mini-LP style packaging.
FLIPPED OUT RECORDS
Not much info yet but there will be a new Wovoka lp (edition of 99 copies) available before too long. More info as I get it...
FONAL RECORDS
*Es - Kesämaan Lapset LP $16.99 (Fonal Records)
"This is Fonal label-head and filmmaker Sami Sänpäkkilä's fifth solo album under the name Es. Recorded during a 3-year period, it is a mixture of pop and sacred soundscapes with influences varying from contemporary indie-rock to ancient classical music. The name translates to "The Children Of The Summerland," and is an homage to Finnish cult folk legend Pekka Streng's album Kesämaa ("Summerland"), which is one of the artist's favorite Finnish albums ever made. Various quirky instrumentation is used on Kesämaan Lapset; from high-end analog synthesizers and upright pianos to cheap flea market Casios. A few special guests make an appearance on this record, including Laura Laurila (violin), Tuomas Eriksson (Risto) (trombone) and Elissa Määttänen (vocals). On "Ennen Oli Huonommin," squiggling, rapid-fire synth noises battle a chorus of angels against a droning and static-y backdrop. On "Haamut Sun Sydämestä," high-pitched cries ride on top of a melancholy piano line, while what seems like thousands of pitched-shifted orchestras and bleeps multiply and rise atonally. The title track is a stunning, epic drone-piece with chanting vocals in a golden forest of sound: strings and horn lines, sinuous, ethereal synths and organ mantras. Recorded at home in the bedroom and abroad on various travels, Es has crafted a haunting summer album that evokes a strange, nostalgic, visceral response, like gazing at childhood photographs." - FE
GET BACK
*Embryo - Opal LP $22.99 (Get Back)
"A vinyl reissue of the well-known German progressive band's debut album, first out on the Ohr label in 1970. With a raw, sometimes almost '60s-garage-psych sound, a jam-heavy spacerock sensibility and catchy guitar and sax riffs, this largely instrumental record is probably their most rock & roll effort, as later albums quickly went off in a much more ethnojazz fusion direction. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl pressing, Italian import."
GODS OF TUNDRA
*Failing Lights - The Ghosts of Navigators cassette $5.99 (Gods Of Tundra)
"New sounds with old things for the winter that is falling over the land."
*Human Liberation Technology - Sea Organization cassette $5.99 (Gods Of Tundra)
"The elite of Scientology's workers, at least 3,000 of them, belong to a zealous faction known as the Sea Organization and are given room, board and a small weekly allowance. They sign contracts to serve Scientology in this and future lifetimes--for a billion years. Their motto is: 'We come back.' Dressed in mock navy uniforms adorned with ribbons, they bark orders with a clipped, military cadence. They hold ranks such as captain, lieutenant and ensign. Officers, including women, are addressed as 'Sir.'"
*Jazzfinger - Gates of Failure cassette $5.99 (Gods Of Tundra)
"Haze drenched rotten rumblings from these long running brits. Descending from high above, in the cradle of success, straight on thru the gates of failure."
*Virgin Spring - Absolute Decline cassette $5.99 (Gods Of Tundra)
"Alert. New project. First tape made public. Alert. Virgin Spring recalls the great days of noise when anything could and did happen on a noise tape. A truly mysterious journey reaching many highs, lows, empty planes and shifting grounds. The most excited I've been about a new jammer in a long time. and by the way, Virgin Spring is one half of K.P., who just released an incredible tape on Hospital. New noise now."
GREAT POP SUPPLEMENT
*Jerusalem and the Starbaskets - Battle of the Orchids LP $17.99 (Great Pop Supplement)
"Formidable full length of utterly whacked out, psych blues where the ferocity of The Sonics meets the tenderness of Galaxie 500, where the Velvets meet The Modern Lovers via the scuzz of first album Neutral Milk Hotel. A beguiling mix of beautifully tender pop which often descends into fuzz drenched, freakout mayhem courtesy of the most out there, incendiary guitar vibe presently doing the rounds. JATS core duo consists of Kim and Jeremy from Columbia, MO. Kim's Moe style drums lending perfectly to Jeremy's riotous, devastating guitar mash up. Infectious, unforgettable tunes that you will return to over and over. Previous GPS releases with the band were shared 45s with longterm Missouri friends Hush Arbors, and Wooden Wand, and both disappeared in the blink of an eye. 320 copies on numbered, split duo tone coloured wax. Packaged as ever with a loving GPS eye. It truly stands alone. Get on it!"
'GREY AREA' LP's
*Friedhof - Friedhof LP $19.99
"A reissue of a very rare and obscure Krautrock gem from the early 1970s (various sources say 1971-73), this was the band's sole release, and combines relatively lo-fi recording with what Crack in the Cosmic Egg called "totally freaked-out guitar, bass and drums instrumentals, charged to the power of mind-numbing intensity." Original artwork, German import."
*Gift - Blue Apple LP $19.99
"A limited vinyl reissue of a rare Krautrock release from 1974 on the Nova label. Their 2nd album, it continues with the excellent heavy, hard-charging guitar riffing of the first, but adds substantial progressive keyboard parts with organ, mellotron, piano and moog, plus some very tasty flute parts. This has the original, really grotesque artwork, and before we get too hippy-dippy here, let's recall that "Gift" means "poison" in German. German import."
*Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4 LP $19.99
"A nice reissue of the groundbreaking and influential 1984 solo album by the ASH RA TEMPEL guitarist and mastermind. This is one long composition for guitar and electronics that spreads over both LP sides, broken down into 9 parts, and has been credited for inspiring much of the techno and electronica that followed in later years. Original artwork, German import."
*Pink Floyd - Shine On Tour 1977 LP $19.99
"Five songs recorded in July 1977 in New York: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Part 1," "Welcome to the Machine," "Have a Cigar," "Wish You Were Here," and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Part 2." Details to come. Euro import."
HANSON RECORDS
*Darksmith - Total Vacuum LP $16.99 (Hanson)
"Debut vinyl from California sound artist Tom Darksmith. Crude musique concrète made using tapes, voice, records, radio, guitar, drums, objects, domestic and field recordings. Assembled on cassette four track 2008-2009. A disturbing collection of sounds...lots of sounds...unknown sounds...I have no clue what is going on on this record....Tom says there is guitar, drums, etc on this...but I don't hear them...what I hear is: The sound of my neighbor weedwacking, the sound of being zipped into a suitcase then shipped via train, ghost voices roaming in sewers, the sound of riding in a helicopter with mid-grade noise reduction earmuffs on, a shitty metal door being locked on a crew of mumbling idiots...and every now and again...a garbage disposal....this is what I hear....no clue what you will hear. A total mystery of perfectly paced organization of dirt sound...not harsh...not mellow...just dirty, weird, and confusing...and to quote the sleevenotes of the first few Queen LP's....'No Synthesizers!'. Recommended for fans of Yeast Culture, Agog, Joe Colley, Graham Lambkin, Jason Lescalleet, Hands To, etc... Limited to 300 copies with hand-stamped labels, heavy duty two color silkscreened sleeves with the classic 'Hanson Droll Flaps' featuring hilariously dark artwork by the man himself, Tom Darksmith."
HOSPITAL PRODUCTIONS - arriving Monday
*Prurient - The History Of Aids LP $17.99 (Hospital)
"Massive, textural, throbbing, destructive, electronic, feedback-drenched power electronics and industrial noise with heavily processed vocals and field recordings dealing with vulnerability. Uses some of the thirteenth century love poems of the Persian poet Rumi as lyrics. Originally created in 2000 on CD with the Armageddon label, this was the first widely distributed prurient full length and appears on vinyl for the first time now."
HUNDEBISS - please pre-order if you want this one.
*Mudboy - Impossible Duets LP $27.99 (Hundebiss Records)
"Last temptation by Raphael Lyon's Mudboy, after dozen recordings as the seminal This is Folk Music (Last Visible Dog) and exciting Hungry Ghost (Not Not Fun) the doctor of experimental organomics explores new approaches to his personal hallucinations.
The works on this album are only the hapless product of stumbling fingers, hammered out by so many orangutans fighting over garbage. In these four small handholding adventures, Mudboy takes no more than he can give. If he had the opportunity to sit down with Brian Eno or Philip K Dick and talked through their collaboration, he would have said: "You have done your half, please allow me to do mine". Edition of 500 copies - no repress. Artwork: Hand cut and folded recycled paper.
IMPORTANT
*Bulbs / Mouthus - split LP $19.99 (Important)
"MOUTHUS: Drum and guitar explosion through tape manipulation and a total synth bath. Collided through a number of recording sessions and strings of modulation to elevate the particle riffage to a heightened state of platectonic rock. BULBS: Like tuning your radio slowly between far off New Age stations in the most serene way possible. The marriage of muted melodies existing below feedback skwerls and electronic swerls. Transmissions from a better place. Bulbs features WILLIAM SABISTON formerly of AXOLOTL. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies. Screenprinted at Monoroid."
INFRACTION - please pre-order if you want these
*Concert Silence - 9.22.07 CD $13.99 (Infraction)
*Concert Silence - 9.22.07 double LP $29.99 (Infraction)
"We've been fans of Eluvium for quite some time, so when the opportunity to work with Matthew Cooper came up, I jumped at the chance. This recording is a collaboration with Charles Buckingham and Eluvium under the name Concert Silence. It was originally a live set on 9.22.07 and then the recording assumed that name. It was mastered (by Carl Saff) and touched up a bit by both Cooper and Buckingham. The release is going to be available as a CD as well as a 2LP set. The LPs are 180g pressings, with a D-side vinyl etching. The sleeves will be Stoughton tip-on gatefold style with full color printed inner sleeves and an OBI. The CD will be a 6 panel digipak. Both editions limited to 900 copies each.
*Concert Silence - Rain Furniture ep CD $9.99 (Infraction)
*Concert Silence - Rain Furniture ep 12" $14.99 (Infraction)
"Matthew and Charles did not want Concert Silence to be a one-hit wonder, so they recorded the 'rain furniture' ep in 2008. This was not a live recording, instead an exchange of ideas in a home studio setting. Fuzzy ambient with buried muffled minimal orchestral interludes."
KRAAK - arriving Wednesday the 24th
*Afternoon Saints - The Shirley Jangle double LP $24.99 (Kraak)
"The three-sided LP "The Shirley Jangle" is a unique collaboration by some extraordinary talents, working under the moniker of The Afternoon Saints, better known individually as Lee Ranaldo, Christian Marclay, Günter Müller and David Watson. "The Shirley Jangle" is an intimate and subtle meeting place of noise, sound art, and experimental improvisation. Three sides of bubbling audio biosphere and a fourth-side etching by Lee Ranaldo, made specifically for the project. The Afternoon Saints have worked together in many combinations over a long period of time. "The Shirley Jangle" was recorded in the famed Echo Canyon Studio, on Murray Street in downtown New York, mixed and edited by Jim O'Rourke. Shirley. Surely we've met some place before?
LEE RANALDO, guitar. The legendary guitarist from Sonic Youth, amongst these Saints in a different light. In addition he works as a solo artist, writer, performer and visual artist.
DAVID WATSON, bagpipes, guitar. A major figure in the development of New Zealand's experimental scene, and guitar player in New York's downtown, Watson switched to bagpipes in the early nineties. He has had an ongoing collaboration with Lee Ranaldo for more than ten years.
CHRISTIAN MARCLAY, turntables. As performer and sound artist Christian Marclay has been experimenting and performing with phonograph records and turntables since the late '70's. Marclay creates universes, theaters of found sound and dada hi-jinks. No other artist has so masterfully erased the borders between the sonic and the visual arts.
GÜNTER MÜLLER, percussion, electronics. Extraordinary Swiss musician Günter Müller played a pivotal role in The Shirley Jangle. His subtle, spare, and meditative playing turning sound into liquid textures.
This unique collectors item with exclusive art work by Leah Singer is limited to 500 copies."
*Hellvete - De Gek LP $16.99 (Kraak)
"Hellvete is one of the three members who founded the Flemish Funeral Folk collective and a key figure of the satanadelic combo Sylvester Anfang II. Similar to the mothership, his solo work spans from folk-inspired guitar drones to minimalist keyboard esoterica. The significant difference is that his solo songs are more composed and less improvised. "De Gek" (meaning "The Fool") is an epic trip through the different zones of the Hellvete Empire: layered guitar eruptions mix in with modern classical orchestration and dark folk tales. Influences such as Stephen R. Smith and Manuel Göttsching result in abstract sound narrations, that might just as well make one think of medieval folk or Rock In Opposition. On this debut LP all the aspects of what has been baptized the "Belgian dronevolkscene" culminate in an extraordinary exploration of the Self: a sonic exorcization of old demons and a return to the nostalgic peace of the country side. "De Gek" is a new interpretation of the modern psychedelic idylle. The Rochefort 10 of the new Belgian guitar folk tradition."
LES DISQUES MONDIALES
*V/A - Sin-sa-tion!, Vol. 2 LP $17.99 (Les Disques Mondiales)
"A crazed collection of beat, retro-groove, garage, exotica, instro, soul, cool weirdness and more from thee wylde syde! Sixteen tracks from BABE PEREIRA, EL CHICLES, KIKI, LES BOURREAUX, ALAIN RICARD, JO BOSSA, ROY LEE JOHNSON, JEAN BERNARD DE LIBREVILLE, THE BLUE JEAN, EZRA & THE IVEYS, GIANNA, THE IMPACTS, KING SET, LES GUITARES DU DIMANCHE, LUCKY JONES, and FALLOWS. Groovy pulp/horror artwork, limited pressing of 500, French import."
LOST
*Iron Bong - The Witchwoods LP $17.99 (Lost)
"The 3rd album from this long-running Texas underground psych/stoner outfit, this one comes on like a collision of LED ZEPPELIN heaviness, BUTTHOLE SURFERS darkness, and CHROME weirdness. Ptolemaic Terrascope said of their previous efforts "positively a bong load of Texan acid psychedelic then, heading for your head and primed to cause maximum disruption on contact... a trip through every known psychedelic signature, all milled together into a hash cake of staggering proportions." Limited and numbered pressing of 500 copies."
NO LABEL
*Astral Social Club - #21 CDR $9.99
"Seven more slabs from the basement lab, recorded 2008-10 - ersatz birdsong, scalpel electronics, super-trem strings, blunt instrument digital mutations, fried static constructions, throbs, clicks, choirs of angels + the sound of haywire. Edition of 100. 7 tracks, 37 minutes."
PALILALIA RECORDS
Bill Orcutt - A New Way To Pay Old Debts LP $12.99 (Palilalia Records)
"When guitarist Bill Orcutt dropped off the edge of the world after his band, Harry Pussy, imploded sometime in the late-90s, a buncha people were really fucking sorry. His guitar playing in that group, alongside Adris Hoyos's phenomenal drums and vocals, pretty much established a whole new blueprint for post-hardcore avant rock destruction. The fact that there isn't a Harry Pussy tribute band in every fucking suburban town the world over is only down to that fact that Orcutt and Hoyos's playing was so far beyond technique that no one could hope to even ape em, so in their absence everyone went back to jamming drones, triggering loops and gargling random alphabets. And while Hoyos fell in with the whole Swill Radio cabal for a while, Orcutt's lack of a profile led to a buncha rumours, the most popular one being something to do with how he had jacked in music cause the underground was strictly for jerks and he was now working on some experimental movie in the wilds of nowhere. So it was as shocking as a power electronics fan turning up with a girlfriend when a solo 7" from Orcutt came out of nowhere earlier this year before being hoovered up by lovers of the good stuff and locked away in secure record vaults the world over. Then came the news that he was only going to be jamming at Nyoukis's Colour Out Of Space with the best free jazz drummer in the UK, Mr Paul Hession and then - now (!) -- comes this motherfucker, a full-length solo album privately issued by Orcutt himself with virtually nada in terms of inside info. On A New Way To Pay Old Debts Orcutt is playing a four-string acoustic guitar - and he is fucking *playing* it. Like the "High-Waisted" 7", the material picks up where Sonny Sharrock left the instrument hanging on Black Woman's "Blind Willie", with an amphetamine-blues style that combines feral vocal grunts and squeals (almost in the style of early Mazzacane), the kind of aggressive raga form of Roger McGuinn's furthest navigations of "Eight Miles High", the formally staggering, postcard-from-another-world feel of Joseph Spence's Folkways recordings and a spike of hardcore adrenaline. The music retains the incredible dynamism of Harry Pussy, from the dive-bombing bass strings that resound like sprung traps through the lightning flash of the treble. Like Derek Bailey, a player that Orcutt has a lot in common with, Orcutt's technique comes from the inside, it's not about F/X or loops or fuzz or any kind of extended technique, it's one man wrestling with the idea of guitar as sonic reducer. His approach is so tactile, so monomaniacal in its blunt physicality, like when he obsesses over the same screaming single note again and again, shadowing it with the same vocal cry before dropping into sagging barbed-wire repeats, that it feels like the most exciting free/rock/jazz/blues of your lifetime. Indeed, this LP shows up alla the solo acoustic guitar artists of the past whenever as a buncha dull furniture polishers. The ultimate solo guitar record form the greatest rock guitarist of the 'noise' era. A no-brainer for album of the year. Comes with pro-printed sleeves, self-released on Orcutt's own private press. Highest possible recommendation." - Volcanic Tongue. Last copies - restock.
DAVID WATSON, bagpipes, guitar. A major figure in the development of New Zealand's experimental scene, and guitar player in New York's downtown, Watson switched to bagpipes in the early nineties. He has had an ongoing collaboration with Lee Ranaldo for more than ten years.
CHRISTIAN MARCLAY, turntables. As performer and sound artist Christian Marclay has been experimenting and performing with phonograph records and turntables since the late '70's. Marclay creates universes, theaters of found sound and dada hi-jinks. No other artist has so masterfully erased the borders between the sonic and the visual arts.
GÜNTER MÜLLER, percussion, electronics. Extraordinary Swiss musician Günter Müller played a pivotal role in The Shirley Jangle. His subtle, spare, and meditative playing turning sound into liquid textures.
This unique collectors item with exclusive art work by Leah Singer is limited to 500 copies."
*Hellvete - De Gek LP $16.99 (Kraak)
"Hellvete is one of the three members who founded the Flemish Funeral Folk collective and a key figure of the satanadelic combo Sylvester Anfang II. Similar to the mothership, his solo work spans from folk-inspired guitar drones to minimalist keyboard esoterica. The significant difference is that his solo songs are more composed and less improvised. "De Gek" (meaning "The Fool") is an epic trip through the different zones of the Hellvete Empire: layered guitar eruptions mix in with modern classical orchestration and dark folk tales. Influences such as Stephen R. Smith and Manuel Göttsching result in abstract sound narrations, that might just as well make one think of medieval folk or Rock In Opposition. On this debut LP all the aspects of what has been baptized the "Belgian dronevolkscene" culminate in an extraordinary exploration of the Self: a sonic exorcization of old demons and a return to the nostalgic peace of the country side. "De Gek" is a new interpretation of the modern psychedelic idylle. The Rochefort 10 of the new Belgian guitar folk tradition."
LES DISQUES MONDIALES
*V/A - Sin-sa-tion!, Vol. 2 LP $17.99 (Les Disques Mondiales)
"A crazed collection of beat, retro-groove, garage, exotica, instro, soul, cool weirdness and more from thee wylde syde! Sixteen tracks from BABE PEREIRA, EL CHICLES, KIKI, LES BOURREAUX, ALAIN RICARD, JO BOSSA, ROY LEE JOHNSON, JEAN BERNARD DE LIBREVILLE, THE BLUE JEAN, EZRA & THE IVEYS, GIANNA, THE IMPACTS, KING SET, LES GUITARES DU DIMANCHE, LUCKY JONES, and FALLOWS. Groovy pulp/horror artwork, limited pressing of 500, French import."
LOST
*Iron Bong - The Witchwoods LP $17.99 (Lost)
"The 3rd album from this long-running Texas underground psych/stoner outfit, this one comes on like a collision of LED ZEPPELIN heaviness, BUTTHOLE SURFERS darkness, and CHROME weirdness. Ptolemaic Terrascope said of their previous efforts "positively a bong load of Texan acid psychedelic then, heading for your head and primed to cause maximum disruption on contact... a trip through every known psychedelic signature, all milled together into a hash cake of staggering proportions." Limited and numbered pressing of 500 copies."
NO LABEL
*Astral Social Club - #21 CDR $9.99
"Seven more slabs from the basement lab, recorded 2008-10 - ersatz birdsong, scalpel electronics, super-trem strings, blunt instrument digital mutations, fried static constructions, throbs, clicks, choirs of angels + the sound of haywire. Edition of 100. 7 tracks, 37 minutes."
PALILALIA RECORDS
Bill Orcutt - A New Way To Pay Old Debts LP $12.99 (Palilalia Records)
"When guitarist Bill Orcutt dropped off the edge of the world after his band, Harry Pussy, imploded sometime in the late-90s, a buncha people were really fucking sorry. His guitar playing in that group, alongside Adris Hoyos's phenomenal drums and vocals, pretty much established a whole new blueprint for post-hardcore avant rock destruction. The fact that there isn't a Harry Pussy tribute band in every fucking suburban town the world over is only down to that fact that Orcutt and Hoyos's playing was so far beyond technique that no one could hope to even ape em, so in their absence everyone went back to jamming drones, triggering loops and gargling random alphabets. And while Hoyos fell in with the whole Swill Radio cabal for a while, Orcutt's lack of a profile led to a buncha rumours, the most popular one being something to do with how he had jacked in music cause the underground was strictly for jerks and he was now working on some experimental movie in the wilds of nowhere. So it was as shocking as a power electronics fan turning up with a girlfriend when a solo 7" from Orcutt came out of nowhere earlier this year before being hoovered up by lovers of the good stuff and locked away in secure record vaults the world over. Then came the news that he was only going to be jamming at Nyoukis's Colour Out Of Space with the best free jazz drummer in the UK, Mr Paul Hession and then - now (!) -- comes this motherfucker, a full-length solo album privately issued by Orcutt himself with virtually nada in terms of inside info. On A New Way To Pay Old Debts Orcutt is playing a four-string acoustic guitar - and he is fucking *playing* it. Like the "High-Waisted" 7", the material picks up where Sonny Sharrock left the instrument hanging on Black Woman's "Blind Willie", with an amphetamine-blues style that combines feral vocal grunts and squeals (almost in the style of early Mazzacane), the kind of aggressive raga form of Roger McGuinn's furthest navigations of "Eight Miles High", the formally staggering, postcard-from-another-world feel of Joseph Spence's Folkways recordings and a spike of hardcore adrenaline. The music retains the incredible dynamism of Harry Pussy, from the dive-bombing bass strings that resound like sprung traps through the lightning flash of the treble. Like Derek Bailey, a player that Orcutt has a lot in common with, Orcutt's technique comes from the inside, it's not about F/X or loops or fuzz or any kind of extended technique, it's one man wrestling with the idea of guitar as sonic reducer. His approach is so tactile, so monomaniacal in its blunt physicality, like when he obsesses over the same screaming single note again and again, shadowing it with the same vocal cry before dropping into sagging barbed-wire repeats, that it feels like the most exciting free/rock/jazz/blues of your lifetime. Indeed, this LP shows up alla the solo acoustic guitar artists of the past whenever as a buncha dull furniture polishers. The ultimate solo guitar record form the greatest rock guitarist of the 'noise' era. A no-brainer for album of the year. Comes with pro-printed sleeves, self-released on Orcutt's own private press. Highest possible recommendation." - Volcanic Tongue. Last copies - restock.
PAN - Not much info yet - I'll post more when I have it...
*Billy Bao LP
"New radical LP by Mattin, Tim Barnes, Taku Unami, Barry Weisblat, Margarida Garcia and artwork by Henry Flynt."
*Joseph Hammer LP
"Original LAFMS member, In Groups: Dimmer, Dinosaurs With Horns, Joe & Joe, Points Of Friction, Solid Eye, more.. All tape loop madness, audio collage, etc."
*Sewer Election LP
"His follow up to iDEAL's Kassettemusik. all acoustic sounds and vocal loops. think dilloway - the new blockaders - outsider sound poetry in a way / less harsh than his usual earlier work and more focused electro-acoustic noise and weird processing."
*John Wiese & Evan Parker LP
"LP version of C-SECTION, but the final edits. plus new + more intense mastering."
PEASANT MAGIK - not sure how soon these will arrive - price is not definite but will probably be $40-$42. I have already reached the max amount of pre-orders so I am no longer accepting any more pre-orders for this one
*V/A - Peasant Magik 8 x 3" CDR Box Set $? (Peasant Magik)
ABOUT THE BOX
8 hand stamped 3" cdrs all housed their own jewel case. Each cd has its own cover which was designed by an artist from Philadelphia. All cds come in a custom cut, full color printed box along with a full color zine with additional art and info. Edition of 200. Here are the artists involved:
SOUNDS
Big Blood
Valerio Cosi / Gregg Kowalsky / Fabio Orsi collab
Super Minerals
Natural Snow Buildings
The North Sea
Fabio Orsi / Throuroof split
Andrew Paine
Pillars of Heaven
VISUALS
Kris Chau
Mike Bukowski
Melissa Farley
Josh Robison
Chris Lawrence
Zoe Soslow
James Ulmer
Kathryn Moran
Sienna Freeman
PLAIN
*The Jesus And Mary Chain - Darklands LP $16.99 (Plain)
"First out in 1987, their second album toned down the washes of white noise for a greater emphasis on strong melodies, rhythms, and even twang, but the all-enveloping reverb is still there. Original artwork, 180 gram vinyl pressing."
PROPHASE MUSIC
*Kohoutek - Lossless Loss LP $24.99 (Prophase)
"Lossless Loss, the second studio album from Mid-Atlantic improv collective Kohoutek, covers most of the dynamic stylistic range Kohoutek is known for: abstract and textural sound, atmospheric rock, harsh noise freakouts, clattering percussion, guitar heroics, and alien electronics congealing to form a multihued psychedelic extravaganza. Recorded deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in September 2007, the five members embarked on a psilocybic twilight journey, and this 44-minute aural excursion is the result. No overdubs and minimal editing create an experience as close as possible to a Kohoutek performance. With longtime core members Scott Verrastro (percussion, flute), Craig Garrett (bass) and Scott Allison (electronics) augmented by Vic Salazar (electric guitar) and Damian Languell (vocals, harmonica, clarinet, didgeridoo, Space Echo), Kohoutek forge their own path in the improv universe, and Lossless Loss is another burning fragment of this fleeting sonic comet."
*Ya Ho Wha - Sonic Portation LP $24.99 (Prophase)
"If Oliver Stone decided to make another movie featuring the psychedelic period of the late sixties, Sonic Portation would be the perfect soundtrack" - Marc Roy, Proggnosis. "...say turn it up loud, close your eyes, and feel the divinity of sound itself." - Todd Zacharitz, Goatsden. "Seldom has 'religious' music sounded so simultaneously earthy, spacy, guttural and evil. This sure ain't the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.' " - LA Weekly. Gatefold LP version, edition 500 copies.
QBICO - expected any day now. James Gurley / Muruga lp already sold out on pre-orders
*The Orkustra / Arthur Doyle Trio - split picture disc LP $24.99 (QBICO)
Pressed on 200 gram vinyl - split picture disk, exclusive artworks by Bobby BeauSoleil (three versions: gold, grey and green border). "Bobby sent me 10 Orkustra CDs to choose the right music for the qbico #100 and i finally choose a single track, the most heart breaking for me... Arthur's totally poignant version of Nature Boy cover a period which had not been documented before, where he was at the apex of his wildness... exclusive artworks by Bobby BeauSoleil... the top of the pyramid is reached... " - EP.
Arthur Doyle Trio- Nature boy
Arthur Doyle- tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute
Charles Stephens- trombone
Rashied Sinan- drums
rec. live @ Studio RivBea, NYC, August 26, 1972
The Orkustra
Bobby BeauSoleil- electric guitar
David LaFlamme- electrified violin
Jaime Leopold- electrified bass
Henry Rasof- electrified oboe
Terry Wilson- drums, percussion
rec. October 27, 1966, San Francisco
*V/A - QBICO U-Nite VI & VII, Detroit & Buffalo, USA triple LP $52.99 (QBICO)
3LP, black vinyls, insert, artworks by Muruga, mastering Maurizio Abate
"Memorable and probably unrepeatable two qbico u-nites rec. in Detroit & Buffalo in 2006. worths mentioning: Perry Robinson jamming with Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisors, Muruga Free Funk Band in full glory with the lovely Belita Woods and members of P-Funk, like Louie "Babblin" Kabbabie from Lebanon or Treylewd, Perry too (audience got carried away and i saw people dancing on top of other people shoulders ?!) ! Odu Afrobeat Orchestra led by Fela's alumni Adeboye Adegbenro (sax/vocals/real deal) in which also Faruq played that night, Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha with an hypnotic pungi duo, a long and fascinating improvisation by Andrew Barker/Daniel Carter (qbico 02) and finally what'd be one of the very last rec. of the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with nearly all his original members. from afro-jazz, funk and afro-beat to free jazz/free music and outer space... more then two hours of great lake music !" More details available (tracklisting, players, etc) on request...
*Direct Current featuring Atiba N. Kwabena and Dave Nuss LP $40.99 (QBICO)
Black vinyl, cover Aki Goto/Sound @ One; 99 copies ONLY. "the original music was rec. @ the qbico u-nite XIII which took place @ Issue Project Room in NYC back in Feb. 2009. for sure the opening set by Atiba & Dave Nuss was one of the most original live set i had the pleasure to... see i remember talking with Dave, trying to set up this gig... he came out with this duo, saying that Atiba is the best well kept secret in the NYC... he spotted him playing in Harlem Clubs... nobody knows him, Andrew Barker or Steve... nobody ?! time to hear his message, jah hh music music steps music steps right on in right ooon ! afrodelic voodoo hip jazz for the next generation..."
"it's a kind of psychedelic african record filled with beautiful layers of traditional rhythms and has a sort of hypno trance vibe, with Atiba's odd loop pedals and voice/flute jazziness/poetry. atiba is really the MASTER of the african percussion and i learned so much working with him in the studio. i think it's a one-of-a-kind record for sure !" dave nuss
Atiba - flutes, percussion, voice, effects
Dave Nuss - percussion
Rec. live @ the Qbico U-nite XIII, realized @ RAW Studios, August 2009; NYC
side A
from one dream to....
rainforest rag (for Scott Joplin)
if i smile
side B
Olatunji's Kirk works
the word
*James Gurley / Muruga - It's Big Huge LP $40.99 (QBICO)
Paste-on covers, black vinyl; 99 copies ONLY. "One night i got a very excited mail from Muruga, saying his old pal James Gurley (Janis Joplin, Big Brother & The Holding Co) was visiting... he asked me if i'd have been interested in doing an album + hand-paint some cover right on the spot... without hesitation i/we followed the flow, so i said YES ! Muruga told me that it'd have been a RARE chance to catch James in the NOW (most of the tracks on the qbico xi were rec. on Nov. 25, 2009) ! few days, after i received the audio master and the hand-made covers (some of the most colorful and psychedelic i ever got !), Muruga brought me the sad news that James passed away after an heart attack ?! sad and unexpected news... SO glad that he's part of the qbico family ! rest in p big bro, it's huge !"
"James Gurley was the Yuri Gagarin of rock & roll -- the first man... in space ! There was only handful of us that created our mini-genre of psychedelic guitar, and James was the avatar who blazed the path for the rest of us." Barry Melton, Country Joe and the Fish
rec. Nov. 2009
side A
Big Bang super string blues
Cosmic triune
side B
Arthur Doyle- tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute
Charles Stephens- trombone
Rashied Sinan- drums
rec. live @ Studio RivBea, NYC, August 26, 1972
The Orkustra
Bobby BeauSoleil- electric guitar
David LaFlamme- electrified violin
Jaime Leopold- electrified bass
Henry Rasof- electrified oboe
Terry Wilson- drums, percussion
rec. October 27, 1966, San Francisco
*V/A - QBICO U-Nite VI & VII, Detroit & Buffalo, USA triple LP $52.99 (QBICO)
3LP, black vinyls, insert, artworks by Muruga, mastering Maurizio Abate
"Memorable and probably unrepeatable two qbico u-nites rec. in Detroit & Buffalo in 2006. worths mentioning: Perry Robinson jamming with Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisors, Muruga Free Funk Band in full glory with the lovely Belita Woods and members of P-Funk, like Louie "Babblin" Kabbabie from Lebanon or Treylewd, Perry too (audience got carried away and i saw people dancing on top of other people shoulders ?!) ! Odu Afrobeat Orchestra led by Fela's alumni Adeboye Adegbenro (sax/vocals/real deal) in which also Faruq played that night, Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha with an hypnotic pungi duo, a long and fascinating improvisation by Andrew Barker/Daniel Carter (qbico 02) and finally what'd be one of the very last rec. of the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with nearly all his original members. from afro-jazz, funk and afro-beat to free jazz/free music and outer space... more then two hours of great lake music !" More details available (tracklisting, players, etc) on request...
*Direct Current featuring Atiba N. Kwabena and Dave Nuss LP $40.99 (QBICO)
Black vinyl, cover Aki Goto/Sound @ One; 99 copies ONLY. "the original music was rec. @ the qbico u-nite XIII which took place @ Issue Project Room in NYC back in Feb. 2009. for sure the opening set by Atiba & Dave Nuss was one of the most original live set i had the pleasure to... see i remember talking with Dave, trying to set up this gig... he came out with this duo, saying that Atiba is the best well kept secret in the NYC... he spotted him playing in Harlem Clubs... nobody knows him, Andrew Barker or Steve... nobody ?! time to hear his message, jah hh music music steps music steps right on in right ooon ! afrodelic voodoo hip jazz for the next generation..."
"it's a kind of psychedelic african record filled with beautiful layers of traditional rhythms and has a sort of hypno trance vibe, with Atiba's odd loop pedals and voice/flute jazziness/poetry. atiba is really the MASTER of the african percussion and i learned so much working with him in the studio. i think it's a one-of-a-kind record for sure !" dave nuss
Atiba - flutes, percussion, voice, effects
Dave Nuss - percussion
Rec. live @ the Qbico U-nite XIII, realized @ RAW Studios, August 2009; NYC
side A
from one dream to....
rainforest rag (for Scott Joplin)
if i smile
side B
Olatunji's Kirk works
the word
*James Gurley / Muruga - It's Big Huge LP $40.99 (QBICO)
Paste-on covers, black vinyl; 99 copies ONLY. "One night i got a very excited mail from Muruga, saying his old pal James Gurley (Janis Joplin, Big Brother & The Holding Co) was visiting... he asked me if i'd have been interested in doing an album + hand-paint some cover right on the spot... without hesitation i/we followed the flow, so i said YES ! Muruga told me that it'd have been a RARE chance to catch James in the NOW (most of the tracks on the qbico xi were rec. on Nov. 25, 2009) ! few days, after i received the audio master and the hand-made covers (some of the most colorful and psychedelic i ever got !), Muruga brought me the sad news that James passed away after an heart attack ?! sad and unexpected news... SO glad that he's part of the qbico family ! rest in p big bro, it's huge !"
"James Gurley was the Yuri Gagarin of rock & roll -- the first man... in space ! There was only handful of us that created our mini-genre of psychedelic guitar, and James was the avatar who blazed the path for the rest of us." Barry Melton, Country Joe and the Fish
rec. Nov. 2009
side A
Big Bang super string blues
Cosmic triune
side B
Esonic rapture
Takeing the time to tell you
RELEASE THE BATS
*Blessure Grave - Judged By 12, Carried By 6 LP $18.99 (Release The Bats)
Founded as a duo by T. Graves and Reyna Kay in September 2008, Blessure Grave blurs the lines between the goth, postpunk and neofolk genres. The pair has since developed the project into a full band while building a cult-like following, scattering various vinyl and tape releases on boutique labels around the globe. Citing Killing Joke, Death in June, March Violets and The Cure as influences, Blessure Grave injects a pop sensibility into songs otherwise doomed to dreariness, creating an interesting mix of old and new but dark all around. The music initially appears rather simple, but quickly reveals the fact that the songs are fully fleshed-out and genuinely memorable. The album provides the perfect soundtrack for contemplating today's troubled times or for simply being swept away with the nostalgic 80's vibe that permeates much of the recording. The band does not waste a lot a time allowing tracks to drone on: the songs are short and to the point, with the average track approximately three minutes in length. 12 tracks. Vinyl edition of 500 copies, mastered by Viktor Ottosson, while the CD will be released on Alien 8 Recordings (CD-version will also include the tracks from the Captured Tracks 12"). Previous releases out on Night People, Captured Tracks and Holidays.
*Dolphins Into The Future - The Music of Belief CD $13.99 (Release The Bats)
"Second album from Belgian artist Lieven Martens, following up 2009's On Sea-Faring Isolation (Not Not Fun). The Voice Of Incorporeality: one long piece based on the radiating work "The Voice Of The Silence" by H.P. Blavatsky. Observations Through The Halocline Of The Worlds: 10 shorter pieces, a companion to the 7 stanzas of Dzyan. Music made to awake the listener's inner-seeing or God-vision. 60 minutes. 500 copies."
REVERB WORSHIP
*Mountainhood - Live At Dearborn House 3" CDR $15.99 (Reverb Worship)
"Last year I discussed with Michael Hilde the idea of doing something special for my 100th release on Reverb Worship.Michael very kindly agreed to do something memorable and very worthwhile."Live At Dearborn House" is a 5 track 3" cdr EP.We are very proud to announce this release which both Michael and myself have spent a lot of time and effort preparing and working on.Michael spent roughly three months doing the artwork.Each and every one of the 100 covers has been hand drawn,painted and numbered by Michael himself.The artwork is totally gorgeous and straight from a very talented and creative mind.You can see all of the cover designs on the "Mountainhood" page on this website and on my myspace page too.No doubt Michael will be posting up images too on his website www.mountainhood.com. Made in a limited edition of 100 hand numbered copies.Each cd is individually titled.This release has been priced to compliment the hard graft, labour and artistic input involved to create such lovely collectables such as these.You are not only getting a twenty plus minute "live" cdr but a individual work of art as well." Will be getting limited stock so please pre-order if you want this one.
SCUMBAG RELATIONS - Both Audial Weavings tapes may be issued as cdr's - waiting to hear definitively...Suishou No Fune IS tape only.
*Audial Weavings - Vol. 1 c45 cassette $10.99 (Scumbag Relations)
"First in a series of several long form / wave / drone studies. No processing, feedback or effects used on this installment. Recorded in real time. Use of headphones and/or increased/decreased volume recommended to aid in various listening possibilities. Each cassette is dubbed in real time, 1 to 1 from the original chrome master cassette. This production technique causes each dub to be slightly different from the rest. No digital equipment used."
*Audial Weavings - Vol. 2 c45 cassette $10.99 (Scumbag Relations)
"Second in a series of several long form / wave / drone studies. Minimal processing was used on this installment. Recorded in real time.Examinations of the correlation of various wave and tonal forms which, when placed side by side, create the illusion of something more intricate and engaging than when left to function on their own. Each cassette is dubbed in real time, 1 to 1 from the original chrome master cassette. This production technique causes each dub to be slightly different from the rest. No digital equipment used."
Takeing the time to tell you
RELEASE THE BATS
*Blessure Grave - Judged By 12, Carried By 6 LP $18.99 (Release The Bats)
Founded as a duo by T. Graves and Reyna Kay in September 2008, Blessure Grave blurs the lines between the goth, postpunk and neofolk genres. The pair has since developed the project into a full band while building a cult-like following, scattering various vinyl and tape releases on boutique labels around the globe. Citing Killing Joke, Death in June, March Violets and The Cure as influences, Blessure Grave injects a pop sensibility into songs otherwise doomed to dreariness, creating an interesting mix of old and new but dark all around. The music initially appears rather simple, but quickly reveals the fact that the songs are fully fleshed-out and genuinely memorable. The album provides the perfect soundtrack for contemplating today's troubled times or for simply being swept away with the nostalgic 80's vibe that permeates much of the recording. The band does not waste a lot a time allowing tracks to drone on: the songs are short and to the point, with the average track approximately three minutes in length. 12 tracks. Vinyl edition of 500 copies, mastered by Viktor Ottosson, while the CD will be released on Alien 8 Recordings (CD-version will also include the tracks from the Captured Tracks 12"). Previous releases out on Night People, Captured Tracks and Holidays.
*Dolphins Into The Future - The Music of Belief CD $13.99 (Release The Bats)
"Second album from Belgian artist Lieven Martens, following up 2009's On Sea-Faring Isolation (Not Not Fun). The Voice Of Incorporeality: one long piece based on the radiating work "The Voice Of The Silence" by H.P. Blavatsky. Observations Through The Halocline Of The Worlds: 10 shorter pieces, a companion to the 7 stanzas of Dzyan. Music made to awake the listener's inner-seeing or God-vision. 60 minutes. 500 copies."
REVERB WORSHIP
*Mountainhood - Live At Dearborn House 3" CDR $15.99 (Reverb Worship)
"Last year I discussed with Michael Hilde the idea of doing something special for my 100th release on Reverb Worship.Michael very kindly agreed to do something memorable and very worthwhile."Live At Dearborn House" is a 5 track 3" cdr EP.We are very proud to announce this release which both Michael and myself have spent a lot of time and effort preparing and working on.Michael spent roughly three months doing the artwork.Each and every one of the 100 covers has been hand drawn,painted and numbered by Michael himself.The artwork is totally gorgeous and straight from a very talented and creative mind.You can see all of the cover designs on the "Mountainhood" page on this website and on my myspace page too.No doubt Michael will be posting up images too on his website www.mountainhood.com. Made in a limited edition of 100 hand numbered copies.Each cd is individually titled.This release has been priced to compliment the hard graft, labour and artistic input involved to create such lovely collectables such as these.You are not only getting a twenty plus minute "live" cdr but a individual work of art as well." Will be getting limited stock so please pre-order if you want this one.
SCUMBAG RELATIONS - Both Audial Weavings tapes may be issued as cdr's - waiting to hear definitively...Suishou No Fune IS tape only.
*Audial Weavings - Vol. 1 c45 cassette $10.99 (Scumbag Relations)
"First in a series of several long form / wave / drone studies. No processing, feedback or effects used on this installment. Recorded in real time. Use of headphones and/or increased/decreased volume recommended to aid in various listening possibilities. Each cassette is dubbed in real time, 1 to 1 from the original chrome master cassette. This production technique causes each dub to be slightly different from the rest. No digital equipment used."
*Audial Weavings - Vol. 2 c45 cassette $10.99 (Scumbag Relations)
"Second in a series of several long form / wave / drone studies. Minimal processing was used on this installment. Recorded in real time.Examinations of the correlation of various wave and tonal forms which, when placed side by side, create the illusion of something more intricate and engaging than when left to function on their own. Each cassette is dubbed in real time, 1 to 1 from the original chrome master cassette. This production technique causes each dub to be slightly different from the rest. No digital equipment used."
*Suishou No Fune - Secret Entrance c45 cassette $10.99 (Scumbag Relations)
"Majestic twin guitar levitations. Slow building echo/reverb laden washes of spectral ambiance flow into a beautifully writhing, tumbling ball of darkness and light. Double-sided laser print covers featuring photography by Suzy Poling. Chrome cassettes with laser print labels."
SHADOKS MUSIC - arriving Monday
Maitreya Kail - Apache / Inca double CD $18.99 (Shadoks)
""California deep Psychedelic loner. Acid leads, mystical vocals, tons of effects, completely stoned feeling. Came out as 2 single albums and even more limited as a double album. Only 3 copies known. The music is outta space psychedelic with great songs and beautiful vocals. A real killer from beginning to end." This record is in Paul Major's "Top Five of Weird Underground Psych/Folk", as revealed in Vice magazine. First CD reissue of this strange late 60s set of artifacts (previously reissued as an elaborate 2LP set on Little Indians)." - FE
SICK THIRST - available late March
*Wooden Shjips - Vol. 2 LP + Download $13.99 (Sick Thirst)
"Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy to tranced-out cosmic bliss! Sick Thirst presents Vol. 2, the second compilation of hard-to-find Wooden Shjips tracks. Vol. 2 digs deep to collect the band's Sub Pop and Mexican Summer singles, two self-released European tour singles, and a track from Yeti magazine, for nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams. Not just for completists, Vol. 2 contains the essential live standards "Loose Lips," "Death's Not Your Friend (Live)", and "I Hear the Vibrations (E-Z Version)," plus savage covers of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" and Serge Gainsbourg's "Contact." Wooden Shjips is a trance-rock quartet from San Francisco consisting of Omar Ahsanuddin (drums), Dusty Jermier (bass), Nash Whalen (organ), and Ripley Johnson (guitar and vocals). Their sound crosses the icy garage rock of early Echo and the Bunnymen with the sun-bleached tremolo-punk of the Scientists. Hints of krautrock, the trance-inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance-drone, classic desert-fried garage psych, and the mysterious, obscure Japanese lysergic-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes are all mixed into one explosive whole." LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON.
*Wooden Shjips - Vol. 2 CD $13.99 (Sick Thirst)
"Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy to tranced-out cosmic bliss! Sick Thirst presents Vol. 2, the second compilation of hard-to-find Wooden Shjips tracks. Vol. 2 digs deep to collect the band's Sub Pop and Mexican Summer singles, two self-released European tour singles, and a track from Yeti magazine, for nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams. Not just for completists, Vol. 2 contains the essential live standards "Loose Lips," "Death's Not Your Friend (Live)", and "I Hear the Vibrations (E-Z Version)," plus savage covers of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" and Serge Gainsbourg's "Contact." Wooden Shjips is a trance-rock quartet from San Francisco consisting of Omar Ahsanuddin (drums), Dusty Jermier (bass), Nash Whalen (organ), and Ripley Johnson (guitar and vocals). Their sound crosses the icy garage rock of early Echo and the Bunnymen with the sun-bleached tremolo-punk of the Scientists. Hints of krautrock, the trance-inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance-drone, classic desert-fried garage psych, and the mysterious, obscure Japanese lysergic-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes are all mixed into one explosive whole."
SLOOW TAPES
*The Doozer - Error Engerumong c30 cassette $8.99 (Sloow Tapes)
"Zonked lullabies and exotic travelogues towards inner hairy space. Taste the saliva carried on the winds that purify these coastal gamelan hymns and watch a new dawn. 70 copies."
*These Wonderful Evils - Vermilion Sands c40 cassette $8.99 (Sloow Tapes)
"Drugged bedroom lo-fi psych. Meandering acoustic guitar tones showing occasional signs of fuzz outgrowths while drowning in an overall feeling of obsessive loner harmonies. A real sloow burner. 70 copies."
SLOW FLOW REC
*Fabio Orsi - Winterreise CD $12.99 (Slow Flow Rec)
"With an entrance that displays the cold reaches of a surrounding, creeping fog, Fabio Orsi's 'Winterreise' is an immediate, enchanting production, reaching with the building swells of instrumental openness, and climactic ascendance. Fabio Orsi is an Italian electronic musician, reknowned for his work in the combination of the languages of popular tradition, and the avant-garde, while using field recordings, found sounds, guitar, piano, and synthesizer. After releasing on such labels as Digitalis Industries, A Silent Place, Last Visible Dog, Preservation, Low Point, Small Voices, and Ruralfaune, Orsi contributes his new work here to the Japanese label Slow Flow, for their second CD release. Throughout the nearly 50-minute release, 'Winterreise' proceeds through hollows of inward movement, amounting in sonorous reaches to the realism of the field recordings of the natural world within, soundtracked by a delicate, free richness. With no less than mythical symbolism leaning in through the natural above, there is little left without a nonplussed pacification, while still proceeding to the far limits of overcoming interference. Orsi's 'Winterreise' breathes just as easily as it gives way, in ultra exception of impressionism into the listeners' ears, not only, but into their surroundings, and resting there within them, with unembellished grandeur." - Will Long [Celer]
SHADOKS MUSIC - arriving Monday
Maitreya Kail - Apache / Inca double CD $18.99 (Shadoks)
""California deep Psychedelic loner. Acid leads, mystical vocals, tons of effects, completely stoned feeling. Came out as 2 single albums and even more limited as a double album. Only 3 copies known. The music is outta space psychedelic with great songs and beautiful vocals. A real killer from beginning to end." This record is in Paul Major's "Top Five of Weird Underground Psych/Folk", as revealed in Vice magazine. First CD reissue of this strange late 60s set of artifacts (previously reissued as an elaborate 2LP set on Little Indians)." - FE
SICK THIRST - available late March
*Wooden Shjips - Vol. 2 LP + Download $13.99 (Sick Thirst)
"Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy to tranced-out cosmic bliss! Sick Thirst presents Vol. 2, the second compilation of hard-to-find Wooden Shjips tracks. Vol. 2 digs deep to collect the band's Sub Pop and Mexican Summer singles, two self-released European tour singles, and a track from Yeti magazine, for nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams. Not just for completists, Vol. 2 contains the essential live standards "Loose Lips," "Death's Not Your Friend (Live)", and "I Hear the Vibrations (E-Z Version)," plus savage covers of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" and Serge Gainsbourg's "Contact." Wooden Shjips is a trance-rock quartet from San Francisco consisting of Omar Ahsanuddin (drums), Dusty Jermier (bass), Nash Whalen (organ), and Ripley Johnson (guitar and vocals). Their sound crosses the icy garage rock of early Echo and the Bunnymen with the sun-bleached tremolo-punk of the Scientists. Hints of krautrock, the trance-inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance-drone, classic desert-fried garage psych, and the mysterious, obscure Japanese lysergic-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes are all mixed into one explosive whole." LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON.
*Wooden Shjips - Vol. 2 CD $13.99 (Sick Thirst)
"Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy to tranced-out cosmic bliss! Sick Thirst presents Vol. 2, the second compilation of hard-to-find Wooden Shjips tracks. Vol. 2 digs deep to collect the band's Sub Pop and Mexican Summer singles, two self-released European tour singles, and a track from Yeti magazine, for nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams. Not just for completists, Vol. 2 contains the essential live standards "Loose Lips," "Death's Not Your Friend (Live)", and "I Hear the Vibrations (E-Z Version)," plus savage covers of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" and Serge Gainsbourg's "Contact." Wooden Shjips is a trance-rock quartet from San Francisco consisting of Omar Ahsanuddin (drums), Dusty Jermier (bass), Nash Whalen (organ), and Ripley Johnson (guitar and vocals). Their sound crosses the icy garage rock of early Echo and the Bunnymen with the sun-bleached tremolo-punk of the Scientists. Hints of krautrock, the trance-inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance-drone, classic desert-fried garage psych, and the mysterious, obscure Japanese lysergic-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes are all mixed into one explosive whole."
SLOOW TAPES
*The Doozer - Error Engerumong c30 cassette $8.99 (Sloow Tapes)
"Zonked lullabies and exotic travelogues towards inner hairy space. Taste the saliva carried on the winds that purify these coastal gamelan hymns and watch a new dawn. 70 copies."
*These Wonderful Evils - Vermilion Sands c40 cassette $8.99 (Sloow Tapes)
"Drugged bedroom lo-fi psych. Meandering acoustic guitar tones showing occasional signs of fuzz outgrowths while drowning in an overall feeling of obsessive loner harmonies. A real sloow burner. 70 copies."
SLOW FLOW REC
*Fabio Orsi - Winterreise CD $12.99 (Slow Flow Rec)
"With an entrance that displays the cold reaches of a surrounding, creeping fog, Fabio Orsi's 'Winterreise' is an immediate, enchanting production, reaching with the building swells of instrumental openness, and climactic ascendance. Fabio Orsi is an Italian electronic musician, reknowned for his work in the combination of the languages of popular tradition, and the avant-garde, while using field recordings, found sounds, guitar, piano, and synthesizer. After releasing on such labels as Digitalis Industries, A Silent Place, Last Visible Dog, Preservation, Low Point, Small Voices, and Ruralfaune, Orsi contributes his new work here to the Japanese label Slow Flow, for their second CD release. Throughout the nearly 50-minute release, 'Winterreise' proceeds through hollows of inward movement, amounting in sonorous reaches to the realism of the field recordings of the natural world within, soundtracked by a delicate, free richness. With no less than mythical symbolism leaning in through the natural above, there is little left without a nonplussed pacification, while still proceeding to the far limits of overcoming interference. Orsi's 'Winterreise' breathes just as easily as it gives way, in ultra exception of impressionism into the listeners' ears, not only, but into their surroundings, and resting there within them, with unembellished grandeur." - Will Long [Celer]
STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE:
*Jack Rose & Glenn Jones - The Things That We Used To Do DVD $16.99 (Strange Attractors Audio House)
"There are a number of forward-thinking musicians performing today as part of a 'new guard' of solo acoustic steel string players, valiantly carrying forward the tradition forged by the likes of innovators John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Sandy Bull, etc. Of these players, leading the way is the music of Jack Rose and Glenn Jones, two people who represent a most unique tandem. Best of friends and collaborators spanning two generations of the idiom, Rose and Jones influenced one another, sharing many similarities in their styles, but also sharing just as many marked differences. Collectively, their body of work offers the most purely distilled representation of the style as it has transformed over the years. The Things That We Used To Do is a celebration of their art, a moving picture
snapshot of two players whose passionate devotion to the solo steel-string tradition is equally important today as their mentors Fahey and Basho were in their lifetimes. Shot expressly for this project in a loft in Brooklyn, NY, The Things That We Used To Do is a very special, intimate performance DVD of Jack Rose and Glenn Jones, capturing the artists playing solo and together with gorgeously shot visual lyricism. The takes are live, but the performances are not in front of an audience; three cameras, two musicians, and a home transformed into a studio for a day created the perfect backdrop for the players and their very personal music. The result is an astounding, one-of-a-kind document of two leading lights of solo acoustic steel string guitar music in their prime, turning in stellar performances." Region free format; total running time: 2 hours, 27 min.
SUBLIME FREQUENCIES - I've reached my max. on guaranteed pre-orders but I should be able to get more once avail.
*Omar Khorshid - Guitar El Chark (Guitar Of The Orient) double LP $29.99 (Sublime Frequencies)
"The late Omar Khorshid remains an iconic legend of the Arab world, though he's received criminally little international acclaim. Born in Cairo in 1945, the glittering age of Egypt's cultural reinvention, Khorshid was soon to become one of its luminaries and most well-known, if short-lived, voices. He is regarded as the greatest guitarist the Arab world has ever known. By the mid-'60s, Khorshid was established with his group Le Petit Chats, an Egyptian beat group modeled after the prevailing influence of Elvis and The Beatles. It was at this time that one of the reigning figures of contemporary Arabic music, Abdel Halim Hafez, asked Omar Khorshid to join his orchestra. With Baligh Hamdi composing, Hafez with Khorshid in place would create some of the most innovative modern sounds in the Arabic musical canon. Time with the Hafez orchestra offered Khorshid instant fame, and it wasn't long before he was asked to play with the queen of Arab music, the voice of Egypt herself, Oum Kalthoum. Over the next few years, Khorshid became a well-established and integral part of the Arab musical landscape. He was featured heavily in live concerts, national TV and radio and studio recordings, playing for the leading artists of the day. The guitar had now become an essential ingredient in the Oriental orchestra. Khorshid began recording albums under his own name for the prestigious Lebanese record labels Voice Of The Orient and Voice Of Lebanon. Working with visionary engineer Nabil Moumtaz at Polysound studios in Beirut, Khorshid would take his music into some of the most progressive musical terrain of its time. The tracks included here in this retrospective are from the prolific span of Khorshid's career in Beirut from 1973 to 1977. The venerable Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish best encapsulated this time in Lebanon: "unfortunately, it was paradise." Khorshid's prolific instrumental music enjoyed recognition that transcended class and status during the brief period he shone. It's a testament to his immense talent and some of the finest guitar music the world has ever heard. This limited edition 2LP vinyl release features over 80 minutes of classic original recordings compiled by Sublime Frequencies housed in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes."
SUTRO PARK
Sun Ra - Space is the Place OST double LP $24.99 (Sutro Park)
"The soundtrack to the legendary "Space is the Place" movie featuring some of Sun Ra's most adventurous and uncompromising compositions ever: vocal chants, harsh synthesizer and organ blasts along with film dialogue, heavy percussion and just all around weirdness. Front cover design is by Curtis Schreier (a founding member of the Ant Farm art collective). An amazing, and important piece from the extensive Sun Ra catalog and a must have for Sun Ra and avant-garde cinema collectors alike. Gatefold jacket, 180 gram vinyl pressing."
THERAPEUTIC RECORDS
*Three Souls In My Mind - Rock & Roll Band, Mexico City 1970-71 LP $28.99 (Therapeutic Records)
"Well known in Mexico as 'El Tri', Three Souls In My Mind delivered some of the wildest '70s psychedelic hard-rock you'll ever have the chance to listen. Therapeutic Records brings you a selection of their absolute best, all recorded in 1970-71. Entirely sung in English with brutal screaming vocals, this is dirty sounding psych-rock with a bluesy edge, killer psych guitar all over and controversial lyrics ('Amphetamine -- makes me feel fine', 'Raped my mother...'). Amazing stuff, some of the best from Central America and an absolute must-have!"
13 O'CLOCK
*The Higher State - Song of the Autumn 7" $5.99 (13 O'Clock)
"Two new tracks from one of the UK's finest contemporary garage-psych bands, with plenty of '60s-style fuzz mixed with folk-punk jangle and great vocal harmonies. Featuring former members of The Mystreated and The Embrooks.
*Paul Messis - Lost and Found 7" $5.99 (13 O'Clock)
"Stepping off the Wayback Machine from 1966, this new UK talent (backed by two members of The Higher State) delivers two tracks of lethal snarly fuzz guitar and angst-ridden vocals with the primal energy of unrefined psych garage."
THRILL JOCKEY - here on Monday!
*Jack Rose - Luck In The Valley LP + Download $15.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"A native of Virginia and resident of Philadelphia since 1998, Jack Rose first rose to prominence with the drone/noise/folk unit, Pelt. Pelt can be counted among the early influential new music underground bands such as UN, No Neck Blues Band, Charalambides, Tower Recordings and Six Organs of Admittance. Rose recorded and toured with the band up until 2006. Rose released his first solo LP in 2002, "Red Horse, White Mule", of post-Takoma, American primitive guitar. Along with the influences of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, Rose also incorporated North Indian classical, early American blues, bluegrass and minimalism into his singular style. 2005 saw the release of his fourth LP, "Kensington Blues", which incorporated all of the aforementioned influences and his playing/composing fully flowered. That LP is now considered a classic of contemporary guitar music. In 2008 and 2009 Rose released "Dr. Ragtime and Pals" and "Jack Rose and the Black Twig Pickers" respectively. Those recordings featured many additional players like Glenn Jones, Micah Smaldone, Harmonica Dan and the Black Twig Pickers. The songs drew heavily on pre-war influences, either written by Rose or were his arrangements of early American classics. "Luck in the Valley " will be the third album in this set of recordings that Rose jokingly refers to as his "Ditch Trilogy". Rose continues his exploration of pre-war American music with a set brand new material featuring the Twigs, Jones, Harmonica Dan and Hans Chew along with a handful of solo pieces. This recording set out to capture the energy and feel of the classic three-track shack recordings by the Wray Brothers and Mordicai Jones. "Luck In The Valley" was written and recorded over a period of nine months off the road, an unusually long time for Rose to be at home and woodshedding. The album finds Rose employing new themes and techniques that haven't appeared on previous releases. Like all pre-war recordings and all of Rose's releases, this album was recorded live. It was not created using overdubs but rather by recording a few "takes" and selecting the best performance out of those. Rose stated, "I wanted the songs to have an immediacy and spontaneity as they were being recorded. All the musicians chosen for the record know how to play the songs without overworking the material, but at the same time creating memorable accompaniments on the spot." Several of the songs are in fact the first takes like "Blues for Percy Danforth", "Lick Mountain Ramble" and "Woodpiles on the Side of the Road". Also Included in the set are three covers: "St. Louis Blues", "Everybody Ought to Pray Sometime" and "West Coast Blues". All of these pre-war classics are Rose's unique arrangements. The album title refers to the old red light section of St. Louis and was a code for procuring the services of a prostitute. Says Rose "I read about it on some liner notes to a reissue of pre-war St. Louis recordings and I liked the ring of it." An avid record collector with an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-war American music, Rose has been acknowledged as a rising star among contemporary guitar players. "Luck in the Valley" finds Rose at his best surrounded by like-minded friends on a recording that is enriched by a sense of history but entirely new, vibrant and warm." CD version is presented in a 4 panel mini-LP style jacket. LP version is presented in an old-style tip-on jacket with a hand-pasted letterpressed cover. The LP is limited to 1,000 copies and includes a free MP3 download coupon
*Jack Rose - Luck In The Valley CD $14.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"A native of Virginia and resident of Philadelphia since 1998, Jack Rose first rose to prominence with the drone/noise/folk unit, Pelt. Pelt can be counted among the early influential new music underground bands such as UN, No Neck Blues Band, Charalambides, Tower Recordings and Six Organs of Admittance. Rose recorded and toured with the band up until 2006. Rose released his first solo LP in 2002, "Red Horse, White Mule", of post-Takoma, American primitive guitar. Along with the influences of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, Rose also incorporated North Indian classical, early American blues, bluegrass and minimalism into his singular style. 2005 saw the release of his fourth LP, "Kensington Blues", which incorporated all of the aforementioned influences and his playing/composing fully flowered. That LP is now considered a classic of contemporary guitar music. In 2008 and 2009 Rose released "Dr. Ragtime and Pals" and "Jack Rose and the Black Twig Pickers" respectively. Those recordings featured many additional players like Glenn Jones, Micah Smaldone, Harmonica Dan and the Black Twig Pickers. The songs drew heavily on pre-war influences, either written by Rose or were his arrangements of early American classics. "Luck in the Valley " will be the third album in this set of recordings that Rose jokingly refers to as his "Ditch Trilogy". Rose continues his exploration of pre-war American music with a set brand new material featuring the Twigs, Jones, Harmonica Dan and Hans Chew along with a handful of solo pieces. This recording set out to capture the energy and feel of the classic three-track shack recordings by the Wray Brothers and Mordicai Jones. "Luck In The Valley" was written and recorded over a period of nine months off the road, an unusually long time for Rose to be at home and woodshedding. The album finds Rose employing new themes and techniques that haven't appeared on previous releases. Like all pre-war recordings and all of Rose's releases, this album was recorded live. It was not created using overdubs but rather by recording a few "takes" and selecting the best performance out of those. Rose stated, "I wanted the songs to have an immediacy and spontaneity as they were being recorded. All the musicians chosen for the record know how to play the songs without overworking the material, but at the same time creating memorable accompaniments on the spot." Several of the songs are in fact the first takes like "Blues for Percy Danforth", "Lick Mountain Ramble" and "Woodpiles on the Side of the Road". Also Included in the set are three covers: "St. Louis Blues", "Everybody Ought to Pray Sometime" and "West Coast Blues". All of these pre-war classics are Rose's unique arrangements. The album title refers to the old red light section of St. Louis and was a code for procuring the services of a prostitute. Says Rose "I read about it on some liner notes to a reissue of pre-war St. Louis recordings and I liked the ring of it." An avid record collector with an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-war American music, Rose has been acknowledged as a rising star among contemporary guitar players. "Luck in the Valley" finds Rose at his best surrounded by like-minded friends on a recording that is enriched by a sense of history but entirely new, vibrant and warm." CD version is presented in a 4 panel mini-LP style jacket. LP version is presented in an old-style tip-on jacket with a hand-pasted letterpressed cover. The LP is limited to 1,000 copies and includes a free MP3 download coupon
*White Hills - White Hills LP $17.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"Formed by Dave W. on guitar and Ego Sensation on bass, White Hills are an ever changing entity and always striving to push the envelope. "Heads On Fire", out of print on vinyl and CD, was Thrill Jockey's first White Hills release in partnership with London's Rocket Recordings. The album winds through a sonic maze a la Hawkwind, with a nod to the more gritty fuzzed out playing of Mudhoney. The out of print "Dead" EP that followed, explored more drone heavy territory and textured soundscapes. "White Hills" finds the band at a break through point musically. It is still heavy and would certainly be labeled "Space Rock" but it finds the band employing a more open and free flowing style of playing. Recorded over the course of three days in the summer of 2009, basic tracks for the album were laid down at The Ocropolis, Oneida's studio located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. All drums on the album were played by Kid Millions of Oneida. Later some overdubbing, vocal tracking and mixing were done at 60B in Manhattan. In contrast to previous recordings that were very rigid and adhering to the rehearsed versions, the self-titled album is loose and open. Dave W. wanted to "let things fly" in the studio. The focus was not so much on precision but on capturing the emotion in the playing. At one point while recording the track "Dead", Kid dropped one of his sticks but kept on barreling through the track. What was a mess up ended up adding an new dimension to the song. Everyone thought it was amazing so it was kept in. Dave W. is a very guttural guitar player and whether it's live or in the studio, his goal is to create an emotive experience for the listener. "White Hills" stands apart from previous albums in that there's a certain intimacy to it, a toughness and brutality. In the mind of the band, it is a rebirth, a new beginning, and the eponymous title reflects this. The LP and CD versions are not only different in artwork, they are sequenced differently with the respective formats in mind. The CD will have three exclusive tracks and is in a deluxe mini-gatefold LP jacket with a full-color booklet. The LP will have two exclusive tracks, come with a download that includes the CD tracks, and have a silver foil embossed sleeve."
*White Hills - White Hills CD $13.99 (Thrill Jockey)
"Formed by Dave W. on guitar and Ego Sensation on bass, White Hills are an ever changing entity and always striving to push the envelope. "Heads On Fire", out of print on vinyl and CD, was Thrill Jockey's first White Hills release in partnership with London's Rocket Recordings. The album winds through a sonic maze a la Hawkwind, with a nod to the more gritty fuzzed out playing of Mudhoney. The out of print "Dead" EP that followed, explored more drone heavy territory and textured soundscapes. "White Hills" finds the band at a break through point musically. It is still heavy and would certainly be labeled "Space Rock" but it finds the band employing a more open and free flowing style of playing. Recorded over the course of three days in the summer of 2009, basic tracks for the album were laid down at The Ocropolis, Oneida's studio located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. All drums on the album were played by Kid Millions of Oneida. Later some overdubbing, vocal tracking and mixing were done at 60B in Manhattan. In contrast to previous recordings that were very rigid and adhering to the rehearsed versions, the self-titled album is loose and open. Dave W. wanted to "let things fly" in the studio. The focus was not so much on precision but on capturing the emotion in the playing. At one point while recording the track "Dead", Kid dropped one of his sticks but kept on barreling through the track. What was a mess up ended up adding an new dimension to the song. Everyone thought it was amazing so it was kept in. Dave W. is a very guttural guitar player and whether it's live or in the studio, his goal is to create an emotive experience for the listener. "White Hills" stands apart from previous albums in that there's a certain intimacy to it, a toughness and brutality. In the mind of the band, it is a rebirth, a new beginning, and the eponymous title reflects this. The LP and CD versions are not only different in artwork, they are sequenced differently with the respective formats in mind. The CD will have three exclusive tracks and is in a deluxe mini-gatefold LP jacket with a full-color booklet. The LP will have two exclusive tracks, come with a download that includes the CD tracks, and have a silver foil embossed sleeve."
TJÅRNEN
VIinter - Vinter II LP $25-28 - price still to be determined (Tjärnen)
"Long awaited follow-up to their debut record. From the liner notes: "...these new songs weren't found in one place, they didn't just flow from some horn of plenty, they were slowly plucked like flowers along the road-side, dried in the sun and put next to each other in an album that grew in the months that followed that first session, while winter turned into spring, and spring into summer. ... some turned out to be small gems of a song that belie their impromptu origins, others wear their spontaneous creation proudly like a crown of fallen petals. Some are kalimba and banjo back of the woods folk music, others two chord pop songs with pump organ or plucked cello. ... and Martina's sad, gentle, shimmering vocals fill the room from end to end, every little nook and cranny, with a language of vaguely familiar words, whose sense is obscured like something seen through an old broken and dusty window-pane. This new record is another spell-book of the fey and brittle magic that Vinter cast upon the listener..." Edition of 266 copies, with screenprinted covers and an insert."
TYPE - arriving Monday
*Yellow Swans - Going Places LP+CD $21.99 (Type)
"LP version. Includes a bonus 70-minute CD of extra material. In April 2008, American noise duo Yellow Swans (comprised of Peter Swanson and Gabriel Mindel) announced their decision to split. The news was a shock to the noise community, not least because the band had become a regular fixture in the live arena -- touring incessantly and garnering a huge, dedicated following in the process. What the duo neglected to announce, however, was that a final album was already in the works, and while they would not tour together again, steps were being taken to finish off their crowning achievement. Going Places is Yellow Swans' conclusion as an entity, and sees the duo looking inward to create their most introspective work to-date. It shouldn't be surprising given the climate in which the record was put together, but without the constant touring, Swanson and Mindel allowed themselves to take their time on the record and allow the tracks to breathe somewhat. The resulting collection is distilled and reflective, retaining the grit and damage of their earlier work but adding layers of harmony and, maybe more surprisingly, pulsing rhythms. The improvisational, psychedelic washes that have always enriched their sound are tempered and controlled, leaving an almost Kosmische narrative. The drifting, subtle beauty that characterized 2007's At All Ends has emerged even further in the mix, and Mindel's guitar is allowed to play foil to Swanson's piercing noise. Comparisons could be made to Tim Hecker or even Brian Eno in parts, but Yellow Swans' harsher edge sets them apart from many of their peers. No doubt some listeners might be put off by Yellow Swans' noise background, but make no mistake, Going Places is one of the most haunting and engrossing albums yet to appear on the Type label. Swanson and Mindel prove, if proof was ever needed, that there is beauty in dense cacophony, and Going Places is the perfect way to close a startling career." - FE
ULTRA ECZEMA - please pre-order if interested
*Agathocles / Sissy Spacek - Unpleasant Size 01 7" $11.99 (Ultra Eczema)
"About 15 years too late! Finally out. This is the first 7" in a year long monthly series of limited 7"s that will really be all over the place. Anything goes: from the acid of Pierre Elitair to the Mincecore of Agathocles or a prank by Frieder Butzmann! This first one could actually be an LP! As usual with noisecore, grind or mince, this one has more tracks on it than 5 LPs together! 10 songs by each band, Agathocles drills holes in your skull and pours in a cocktail of assgrinding diarrhea recorded on a rehearsal right before their Mexican tour! This is no fancy pants studio recordings but the raw tapedeck deal, muffled grunts and painful fastness. On the flip side Sissy takes it away with some Gerogerigegege styled noisecore shaving off your nose and eyelashes, feels like the recording is actually sitting in a giant amp!!!!! A brutal slap of preparé right there! Comes in a fold open cover design by Debby Tyfus, with lyrics etc. Limited to 300 copies."
*Cassis Cornuta - Mag Ik Eens Even In Uw Broek Pissen LP $29.99 (Ultra Eczema)
"Since 69 years I've been begging Daniel De Wereldvermaarde Botanicus, aka Cassis Cornuta, if I could please start a second record label which only releases recordings from his archive. This Botanic's modesty is an absolute exception in times of a overdose of recorded farts, since 1974 CASSIS combines musique concrète, analog synthesizer carpets, weirdo acid, noise, field recordings, tape music, free jazz etc. in a puddle of madness spiced with odd staring, dozens of plants (cacti to be more specific), a encyclopedic knowledge about soundart, and a insane collection of hats! Besides that Daniel does a weekly radioshow on Radio Centraal in Antwerp since 25 years, mainly playing a combination of recycled music, home recordings and a hell lot of noise! This LP is playable
on more than 4 different ways, depending on how many extra holes Daniel drilled in each record by hand! Some records contain 3 extra holes, some around 20. None of the LPs have just one hole, that would be selfish. Another beautiful collection of loner synth sound that makes your hangovers or LSD trips worth going for, the strangest beat oriented 303 and 808 acid snoop, and a combination of piss, wind and wood to bring back the good old plunderblur of The New Blockaders. This LP comes in a collaged cover design made with pictures from Daniel's archive, with an insert and an extra photo. Limited to 300 copies!"
*Noise Nomads - Noise Nomads LP $29.99 (Ultra Eczema)
"The first time I've met Jeff Hartford aka Moose Jaw aka Noise Nomads was around 4 years ago in providence, a tense looking bear putting a mic in front of a amp, leaving the audience alone with a whale of feedback, pretty pretty pretty confused!! He walks out after kranking open the amp, a minute later a giant REAL Christmas tree walks thru the audience trying to find the way back to the amp, kicking people over, I guess this show was right after Christmas time and Jeff fount it somewhere or he stared at a young kid that was about to decorate it.. I was very impressed by his show, both sound and performance wise, there was a seriously intense vibe there, felt like he could snap at any given moment and squeeze you to death with a Christmas tree.. Noise Nomads' live sets are always strange, confusing and amazing, an amp iiiiiiiiiiiiiii-ing while the man goes running around the block, a mountain of amps that start talking after he picked a fight with them, a sludgier drummer does not exist. It was definitely not the last time the man amazed me, his duo set with PAUL FLAHERTY (which is released on American tapes), the loner car rides I shared with him to his area in the valleys of Northampton, his amazing monthly zines and tapes, his drumming with Grey Skull, his drawings etc.. It's a total psycho package; everything is there; visuals, sounds and a great dude! The first side of this record was recorded a bunch of years ago and is just voice and Tascam! A amazing swollen beast of sound poetry, gargling waanzin, and muffled barking! The b side is the same dude a few years later on his knees in my living room screaming thru a bass drum and a contact mic attached to a bunch of pedals, harsher than a prison full of parrots to be released! There should be more paintings like Kim Gordon's Noise Nomads!!! Limited to 300 copies."
*Dennis Tyfus - Vecchia Signora Che Viene Aggredita Da Un Cane zine $14.99 (Ultra Eczema)
"A 60 pages zine made as a contribution to the Changez, Een Belgenshow exhibition at 21 Rozendaal in Een Schede/Holland. This zine collects the short period right before this exhibition. All work is made or found between November 4th, when Tyfus joined the subhumans of Hair Police on a tour through Europe and December 31st. Besides a lot of drawing in the tour van, this period included a residency at Codalunga in Vittorio Veneto (which also resulted in a exhibition), a Sinterklaas performance with Benjamin Verdonck, great second hand store found imagery, a ceiling fan party, a Jacques Beloeil show, a Ludo Mich show, and the first ever baking cookies attempt. Well collected in a 60 pages black and white zine (with a full color cover) limited to 600 copies."
UPSTAIRS
*Flower Man - Exotic Cameo CDR $7.99 (Upstairs)
"Occasionally a synth record comes around that changes the game for me -- a while back it was my post facto discovery of Suzanne Ciani's Seven Waves -- a record that brought a level of emotionality to synth music that was rare in the Trancealot days of post-Berlin School new age.Exotic Cameo carries none of the genre-specific traits of Seven Waves, but the sincerity and natural weirdness that drives the record is much the same, putting it leagues above its contemporary brethren. If the current climate of out music here in the US feels decidedly post-noise, the overriding vibe polarizes new age kraut jams against lo fi pop -- the problem with a lot of it being the nostalgia redux factor tends more towards surfaces than substances. Enter Chris Bush aka Flower Man (also a member of Caboladies) who has constructed a bedroom synth classic with Exotic Cameo -- one that merges the lucid grey/bent melodicism of Bruce Haack, Claude Larson, and Enno Velthuys with a heavy dose of Radiophonic Workshop-style library record aerobics. The overall effect is that of a nightmare Jim Henson may have had one night -- scenario: spacing out at the townhouse with a glass of scotch on his knee/tube of ash between his fingers, listening to Nic Raicevic's Beyond The End, perhaps dreaming of an old flame or a pair of eyes. Nostalgic yes certainly, but conflated and made bleak in such a way that speaks directly from Flower Man's inner repository... a strange and dreary trip that takes the voyeur through a grayscale city of upside down salixi and softcore store fronts, only to roll credits with a haunting sonata that aptly offers no resolve. Flower Man is here."
*Innercity - In Fetal Aura CDR $7.99 (Upstairs)
"Innercity is the brainchild of Belgium's Hans Dens, a wiz from the Dreamtime think tank who has been prodigiously translating his vision journeys to DAT since 2008... anyone familiar with 666 MINUTES AT BOTTOMS OF BLACK LAKES will understand IN FETAL AURA as a natural outgrowth of his process, refined via the destruction and adaptation of loop based bedroom concrete, kraut and new age towards an auditory dreamsystem language all his own. He's also the barron of nu school Bontempi BT series jammage; the Italian stepchildren of the Casio MT series, imbued with aliased, bit damaged refuse from a time when things were simpler. IN FETAL AURA is a trip; a moving picture of animate life in pre-semiotic states of development. Within that trip Innercity reflects biological diversity in spirit form, beautifully shifting from one amorpha to to the next via repetition and mutation, like spirits basking in the coptic glow of life before consciousness. Don't fear the path to amnesia; an infinite patch wipe.. the incomplete return."
*Manic Shooter - Dog Master Teleportation CDR $7.99 (Upstairs)
"Manic Shooter's DMT is sonic weird hieroglyphs from combination Taos, New Mexico and Long Island; the hybrid of which mirrors the effect... bent clues will set you on a path while others are meant to deceive you. Powerlines whisper instructions in a non gendered voice. Mystical Hasid rapper vaporizedendlessly in interlocking dimensional mechanism. Remember this was during the initial Bush era, pre-dating 911 and thus Junior's eyeballs hadn't yet been upgraded to format terrestrial. Mirror plates in the eye cavity is how they found terrorists. Shooter was the first to command green missle control, similar to a Tartan warrior he refracted the beams himself and thus took the problem into his own hands. DMT is an in and out enhancement of this frightening time, as if the lingering confusion of a post-Inside Edition childhood had naturally spawned the devastated political mis-en-scene, building up to the 911 simulation telecast we witnessed while en route to Yusef Lateef's class when we got word of the attacks. This is also a historic document containing some of the first ever KGB MAN overdubs, as well as marking the first time in RIAA history that anyone has ever exclusively fucked with Prince of Darkness and Alphaville on a sampling level, but beyond recognition, musique concret style, plus a touch of cartoon Skinny Puppy meets Mike Patton isolated in a hotel room with a portastudio while on tour with Bungle in '97 vibes. I have recommended Trujillo to be committed to the Material Eye Institute for dog master evaluation. Enjoy it while you can and as Lou said, "watch out for worlds behind you."
*Geoff Mullen & Keith Fullerton Whitman - November 28, 2009 CDR $7.99 (Upstairs)
"Geoff Mullen and Keith Fullerton Whitman welcome you to the new-domestic. The moving hallway is dotted with TIF frames and leads you to a center room location radiating with CMYK hum. This sonic-grand-tour was recorded live to glass, over one day in Providence, Rhode Island; a machine groove epic in movements that offers up total sonoronarrative immersion while kindling thoughts of Paul Verhoven-like industrial safehouses in which doomed plans are made. Coming from inside the walls of this micro-future, GM/KFW surge a permeating drive that shows lost footage and reveals forgotten locations, levels below. The CS-50/MT-68 combo-splices finally unveil the screen -- tomorrow into Gateway. The chimes from within lead you deeper and the screen behind you shuts off. The finale take on almost a dare I say Haruomi vibe; west meets east without overt crystallization of dialectic black helicopters and blurred out kanji. Nice and wide and deep stereo balance to boot. Seminal synth war/drama action from East coast legends that commit to the landing and stick it."
*Nonhorse - Shadow World CDR $7.99 (Upstairs)
"Nonhorse is G. Lucas Crane (also of Woods & Vanishing Voice) -- the anointed doors-ajar tape champ of 2009 whose mysterious pastiche decorates interior minds with an acutely virtuosic slather -- similar in vibe to hearing a 3rd gen dub of a Technics battle mix from across a Gregorian yoga studio courtyard in Second Life. Shadow World is an epic 45 minute slab of exorcism enacted upon dead field transmissions from a nuked America. Listen as Crane bushwacks through twisted metal, phantom greys and clusters of question marks that hang in the sky like polluted simulacra. As opposed to traditional characterizations of Satan as an individual being -- Crane envisions a Lucifercrum that is disguised holistically throughout the social fabric. Some lines you don't cross on purpose, it's just the environment generating variety where we'd rather there be predictability. It is in that demarcated zone where the sensuality of Shadow World makes itself most apparent. Using the barest array of items in his inventory, Crane swiftly reconciles scratch/warble riddims with pure American floorcore haunt in such a way that narration and ambiguity are forced on the listener at once, impulsively and with passion. Feel the zone between your ears -- search for a column to lean against if only for a moment before she whispers you the punchline, "power... power... power." It's not a safe place for searchers, but those that do will be compelled to search every room for answers."
UZU AUDIO
*Messenger Girls Trio - Excelsior Salon Trio LP $21.99 (Uzu Audio)
"Messenger Girls Trio, The Excelsior Salon Trio... comprised of Sir Richard Bishop (by appointment to her majesty-what the old broad did to deserve that, we'll never know) and David Knott (improvisationally board certified music therapist), in congress with Robert Millis and Jeffery Taylor (often known for their recreational duties in both Climax Golden Twins and AFCGT). The quartet last released a trio album in 2002 for the Anomalous Record label. Or perhaps the trio released a quartet album. After that Richard Bishop toured. Dave Knott put people's minds back together or took them apart--it just depends on your point of view. Climax Golden Twins devoured 78rpm records and other Victrola favorites. Meanwhile the quartet trio tape kept rolling-cassette players, digital devices, dictaphones, micro cassette, wire recorders, phonautographs, notes on paper. Edited from hours of material recorded between 2002 and 2008. Mostly improvised in living rooms and on front porches. Mostly in Seattle: on Goat Hill, at the Shabby Greenwood Grotto Studio and at the Sun City Girls' cavernous Blue West headquarters, may it rest in pieces. Mostly with acoustic guitars and percussion. Occasional insects were wrangled into the proceedings. Layered. Sliced. Stretched. Messed, tweaked, poked, prodded, beaten and slipped luxuriously onto a vinyl platter for our listing enjoyment and listening pleasure by the epicureans at Uzu Audio. 545 copies of 180 gram vinyl, packaged in a custom made gatefold jacket, silkscreened, stamped, numbered."
YIK YAK
*Basshaters - Harsh Lovers Sick Zoo c40 cassette $4.99 (Yik Yak)
"Totally seamless electric/acoustic mindmeld from the duo of Jacob Heule (Ettrick) and Tony Dryer. Double bass, floor tom and cymbals trigger electronics, which are processed to create spontaneous compositions ranging from articulate harsh noise to quiet moments reminiscent of Comus, U.S Maple and Brigitte Fontaine."
Sic Alps / Magik Markers - Tour 12" $12.99 (Yik Yak)
Repress. Split 12" anticipating their December 2009 west coast tour together. Sic Alps give up three tracks with help from Lars Finberg (Intelligence) and Ty Segall, the highlight being a great punched-in guitar solo from Matt Hartman that makes one song reminiscent of a Safe As Milk outtake. Markers show up with a 7ft bass player who throws the band into Guru Guru mode. Great all around.
YOU ARE YOUR ONLY MACHINE
*Joe Morris / Chris Riggs / Ben Hall - Glass Key LP $14.99 (You Are Your Only Machine)
"Perhaps the most brutal and barbed recording in Joe Morris's catalog, this LP documents the new working trio of drummer and timpanist Ben Hall, young guitar phenom Chris Riggs, slightly older guitar phenom and New England Conservatory contemporary improvisation teacher Morris. This LP is first release of Morris, perhaps the most important American improvising guitarist ever, recording with another guitarist. Riggs, for his part, is putting all the other stomp box "preparers" to shame with his intensely personal and creative solo output- think human Remko Scha machine. In addition to his solo output he's one half of the, ahem, lowercase but wearing brass knuckles extended technique unit Trauma. The communication between the two guitarists, Riggs providing huge swathes of tectonic chordal movement and Morris providing fiddle filigree that weaves, cuts, and pierces, is unexplored post-Blue Humans-guitar v. guitar territory that has become a thoroughly beaten dead horse amongst the rock coterie but has never really been taken up in a post-jazz setting. Here with Hall providing ample snare-and-bell patterns, as played by a Tony Williams/Xenakis wannabee, the two do the push-and-pull to great extreme- all visceral extension without succumbing to the whole improv guitar chest-beating/wank thing. Natch." LP/Custom stay flat sleeve with gloss sticker/hand numbered edition of 300. New label by Chris Riggs & Ben Hall.
Go to Eclipse Records for ordering information.
--
Ed Hardy
Eclipse Records
PO Box 1438
San Jacinto, CA 92581-1438
USA
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