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International: If you are buying any LPs, please add an additional$7 to your order. (This is on top of the automatic postage paypal checkout will charge) If you think your order is over 4lbs (equivalent weight of around 8 lps) please add $15. So check this out: the distro keeps growing and GROWING. so I mean, lots of stuff is added constantly, almost daily. (newest newest stuff always at the top, and it goes down from there). But think about it, if you only look at the first dozen or so releases, you're really only looking at what I've added in the past week or two. You could be really missing out on ancient records from like, SEPTEMBER or earlier. So please, help yourself help yourself, and scroll baby, scroll!
Last Updated 2:00 PM PT 1/21/12
********************************************************************* Yellow Swans/Oakeater split LP $14
"A rather appropriate unearthing takes place on this record, as Yellow Swans are posthumously paired up with Chicago's Oakeater. First up is Yellow Swans, with a single side-long track that should please fans of their later, brighter more psychedelic sound as well as those of the more rigid, structured and even melodic sound found on their final LP. Masterfully mixing huge guitars, shards of mixer feedback and discreet loops. Oakeater on the flip side performs the funerary rights with three tracks that fall somewhere between a satanic ritual and a cosmic synth trip, with meditative vocals, throbbing synthesizers, and distant piano lines. On the label and art/design end this was a collaborative effort between Black Horizons and Dead Accents. Comes packaged in a custom euro-style sleeve, offset silver ink on black linen paper. Black vinyl with silver on black center labels in an edition of 500 copies." -black horizons
**************************************** CAETHUA / SHEP and ME split LP $13
"Originally released on cassette in 2008, these fantastic recordings finally get the deluxe vinyl treatment they deserve. These newly remastered tracks reveal a remarkable subtlety, having been previously obscured by poor dubbing techniques and the inherent limitations of the cassette format.
All has been clarified. Clare Hubbard stays busy with her musical projects Ancestral Diet and Sports, but she might be best known for her folk-based work as Caethua. Her side is entitled "Wrecks and Rescues", and is an epic and dusty side-long track of beautiful creaking folk-craft. In the winter of 2008, Clare recorded herself at home in Bloomington, IN. She delicately layers synth, strings, horns, electronics, percussion and vocals, along with 5 years worth of field recordings taken from the St. Lawrence River and her wanderings through swamps, fields and forests. Soft tones and organic rustlings blend beautifully with melancholy string plunk and blown-out electro growl to create a brilliantly shimmering psychedelic-folk masterpiece. Shep and Me's side entitled "Tube Mind" is more firmly rooted in traditional Americana folk and blues music, yet still manages to keep itself wedged into a pretty strange corner. All five tracks feature Matthew Himes collaborating with H. Caleb Gamble. Both sing and play nylon and steel stringed guitars in addition to using tape loops, french horn, lap steel, live percussion, drum machines, electronics and waveform oscillators to present a uniquely twisted vision of contemporary folk music. Masterfully recorded to 1/2" 8 track tape by Ryan Fontaine in Minneapolis MN, May of 2008. Plaintive and stark gutter-country songs about seasonal shifts and the horrors of these modern times." -lighten up sounds
**************************************** Li Jianhong "Lovers with Cloisonne Bracelet" LP $13
"Hangzhou's Li Jianhong has been performing alone and in the duo D!O!D!O!D! for several years, but he only caught Western ears last year with the monumental San Sheng Shi, released by Philadelphia's Archive CD. Oceanic and desolate, Lovers with Cloisonne Bracelet cements Li as a distinctive voice in modern noise. The two halves of this record are an ideal introduction to Li's music: "Lovers in Misery" offers a restrained, electric swell; "Time in the Mirror" wallows in Hototogisu-an guitar hell. Without sacrificing pacing for density, Li has crafted an album that decimates the retrograde psychedelic guitar landscape and trivializes the petty violence of much harsh noise.
Edition of 350 180 gm. LPs in heavy-stock linen-paper sleeves hand-screened, -cut, and glued by Reuben Little of 43rd Parallel Press." -tipped bowler
**************************************** Nova Scotia / Eye "A Million Corpses of Dead Bees" b/w "High Road" split 12" $13
"Tipped Bowler returns to the fertile soil of New Zealand to cull two choice improvisations. On the A-side, Wellington’s Nova Scotia delivers “A Million Corpses of Dead Bees,” an eighteen minute free-rock burner. Growing from violin sine-squeak and distant shortwave, the piece gains momentum with its patient drumming and resolves into a saxophone swarm shot through with synthetic scrabble. On the reverse, Dunedin’s Eye comes off colder and more aggressive. “High Road” throttles the listener with Schnitzler-ian electronics, militant percussion, and guitar strangulation before collapsing into coda of cymbal taps and glassy string-work. Rigorous yet unbound, these pieces shine a light on a musical community few of us can witness firsthand.Issued in an edition of 250 150-gram black LPs in elegant black-and-white matte sleeves screened with consummate skill by Siwa." -tipped bowler
**************************************** Astral Social Club / Tomutonttu "Wet Wheel/ Hot Wheel" b/w "Syvät Svyät" split 12" $13
"Two of Europe’s finest collide on a 12” 45 RPM platter loosely inspired by the club single. On “Wet Wheel / Hot Wheel,” Neil Campbell of Astral Social Club succumbs to the heartbeat throb of house, but tops the bass with a frenetic squall of darting alien melodies. On cursory listen, the elements congeal into honest-to-goodness body music, but the track is riddled with stutters and gaps that the flooded synapses fill with aural afterimages. On the reverse, Jan Anderzén of Tomutonttu buries the dance influence, retaining only the genre’s neon shimmer and linear logic. “Syvät Svyät” overflows with cuckoo loops that briefly cohere into musical shapes before casting off, replaced by an ecstatic march of manic squiggles. One must focus to follow the train of musical thought, but Anderzén’s humor and intuition reward the effort." -tipped bowler
**************************************** Bitchin' Bajas/ Faceplant split 12" $12
"The Bitchin Bajas & Faceplant projects really need no introduction. Bitchin Bajas is the solo synthscapes of one Cooper Crain, maybe better known as a member of modern krautrock masters CAVE. With Bitchin Bajas, Crain creates worlds of sound, crafted from analog synthesizer and organ tones, not entirely too far removed from certain elements of Harmonia, Edgar Froese, or Cluster. Crain is definitely bringing a vintage sound to the table here. Clean, distinct arppegiated tones floating and bouncing, drifting and forming zones of their own. This is real deal psychadelia at its finest.Faceplant is the solo work of one Aaron Coyes, of Peaking Lights and Rahdunes fame. Peaking Lights have made a sturdy name for themselves playing homemade synth-driven psychedelic, dub-infused drone-pop. With Faceplant -- described as Coyes' ''solo modular hessian noise trance project,'' he is mining a somewhat similar terrain. Driving percussive beats are slathered in dubby echo, while sweet synthesizers hover and chime; it's definitely a groovy affair. You can't listen to this and not shake your ass, just a little bit." -bathetic
**************************************** Listening Mirror "The Heart of the Sky" cassette $6
"UK-based artist Jeff Stonehouse veils himself quietly under the moniker Listening Mirror to create a vaporous, drifting wall of subtle ambiance and spirited drones. This is the heaviest of washed out texture, blissful, and sweeps across you like an autumn wind. Guitar tones stretch for miles into wisps lost in the ether, plucking keys disintegrate in the ground below your feet, field recordings blanket the expansive sound with worldly aura. The Heart Of The Sky comes based around field recordings from a trip Stonehouse took to mexico, and therein he works to recreate the general tenor and aesthetic he found. The recordings, taken from a variety of zones -- a porch overlooking Mexico City, a shore of an inland lake at Tequesquitengo -- evoke the mood of a beautiful country. Also, featured on the track "Mixtli Sleeps" is Alicia Merz, better known as Birds Of Passage (who just so happens to have a cassette release in the works for Bathetic, as well) adds her gorgeous vocals, helping to send what was already beautiful into an otherworldly realm of enchanting virtuosity. " -bathetic
**************************************** DAIN DALLER "The Tirehouse Tapes Vol. 1" cassette $6
"Dain Daller was part of the Chicago based electro-acoustic group Tiny Music, who have released a few great cassettes of epic machine music on Notice Recordings and Nihilist Records, as well as a few self released full length smokers. These days Dain has been keeping himself busy out in the desert of rural New Mexico, building a house out of recycled automobile tires. He is hunched over in full-on solo mode here, playing remarkable non-music seemingly without any instruments at all. Snippets of crackling vinyl and magnetic tape, bits of radio static, air compressors or whatever else got dragged in from the tool shed. Occasionally rhythmic, but proudly abrasive and atonal, perhaps a hint of garden hose or running motors? Seven sprawling serenades span these sides yielding a skewed sense of plunder-phonic/concrete structures carefully piled and stacked, resulting in a remarkably engaging narrative of squealing shortwave and relentlessly skipping 78’s. Desert dweller creak-howls, from a whisper to a roar. Dank opaque olive-green shell cassette comes beautifully packaged with full color labels and matching double sided full color wrap around U-card featuring photography of the actual Tirehouse shot by D.D. himself, and a stamped b/w photo insert printed on recycled sand colored art paper. Dry heat." -lighten up sounds
**************************************** METAL ROUGE – “Then In Shadow” cassette $6
"The year 2010 was quite the time for Metal Rouge: their emergence into the world as a trio; an intra-band marriage (as a duo); a few scorching festival dates around California; an econo-tour that reached into most crevices of the US of A; a voyage for some dates around New Zealand (where the band’s initial notions were first planted back in the mid-2000s); and the dissemination of the fantastic “Trails” LP, the first widespread document of the band’s recent three-piece formation. If the earlier version of the band channeled a Kosugi-bootleg-via-Corpus-Hermeticum kind of vibe, with the matrimonial duo of Andrew Scott and Helga Fassonaki on drifting electric strings, floating vocal tones and a buoyant dosage of amp particles, the addition of Caitlin Mitchell on drums tethered the unit deep into the soil, the group’s free-jazz ingestions and out-rock intentions now made explicit. The band’s new output with “Then In Shadow” gives the listener both aspects of this environment: there are the airborne threads of guitar and lap-steel ecstasy/wailed vox/luminous distortion of the duo angle (as witnessed on the long fractalization of ‘Lucid Dreaming at Bohemian Grove’ and the gradual rise of ‘Haze Underbelly’), as well as the basalt thud/tectonic feedback/molten string fury of the triad version (is the opener ‘Fast Flora Lights II ‘ a lost and truncated PSF side? Is the halfway point of ‘Grey Area II’ the group’s interpretation of Band of Gypsys as seen through the Ayler brothers’ kaleidoscope?). If Metal Rouge is art brut made sonic, “Then In Shadow” casts a different light on Dubuffet’s “flourishings of an exalted feverishness”. Is it heavy? Obviously. Can it soar? Of course…" -bezoar formations
**************************************** RAW THUG – “Sugar Pills” cassette $6
"Bold as it might seem, we feel that it’s safe to proclaim Alan aka Raw Thug (aka Arsenio Zignoto aka Arthur Kalow aka The Brothers San Angeliquez aka…) to be Louisville, Kentucky’s very own Magical Power Mako (from the earlier end of that spectrum, of course). Yes, we all know that in this post-Pessoa musical landscape the usage of shifting pseudonyms and heteronyms are quite the fashion. Who doesn't like sporting a new mask every once in a while, right? Raw Thug, however, is just one of many distinct and self-contained musical cosmologies blooming from this good gentleman’s noggin. Having done time in many of Louisville’s finer subterranean outfits, most notably as a mainstay in Sapat (whose “Mortise and Tenon” LP on Siltbreeze from a while back was a real gem of head-spinning, free-spirit group-think), it’s safe to say that Alan is fully comfortable occupying his own musical territory. We initially met Alan on his first-ever visit to San Francisco, through a mutual friend’s whole-hearted recommendation. Before we knew it, he was sitting on our floor playing computer music that he had made during his multi-day train ride out west that sounded a lot like Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano inside of a deserted Bell Labs basement. After that, we knew it was all sunshine. Eventually, Alan started to send us regular cd-r packages, each being a new window into his creative universe. It didn’t take long before we insisted on dispersing something into the world for a wider discerning audience. “Sugar Pills” indeed has that Mako blueprint of morphing genres within the arc of a song or two (pieces of outer-realm reed playing, laid-back porch-sitter psych, electro-acoustic composition, some near-Parliament funk-modes, etc.), trailing bursts of inspiration and genius modes of keen imitation, though now transported from Shibuya to Butchertown. Though we’ve spent only a couple of days in Louisville in our time, “Sugar Pills” seems to sound the way the town felt to us as outsiders: relaxed and leisurely, distinctive and idiosyncratic, and inexplicably strange in all the very best ways." -bezoar formations
**************************************** BYSSUS – “Hunting the Bitter Rose” cassette $6
"During a long fallow period following the release of her self-titled debut on Apostasy Recordings back in 2005, as The Opera Glove Sinks in the Sea, Gwyneth Merner started suffering from abrupt hearing loss ¬– tinnitus and crackling in her ears. Though she eventually recovered most of her full range of hearing, this lengthy period of muffled sound greatly altered her approach to making sound. Where her earlier recordings were more reliant on field recordings alongside traces of violin-tinged theremin playing, Merner’s new work under the Byssus moniker explores more seriously the deep basins of her semi-restored hearing threshold. On “Hunting the Bitter Rose,” the theremin is now brought fully to the forefront as a monophonic tone generator, a key holding many potential corridors. The current model, however, is less Clara Rockmore and more “Zeit”-era Tangerine Dream, with a sidelong glance towards Eliane Radigue. This new output could be viewed as an exploration of her instrument’s many permutations of sonic mimicry: elements of scuzzed-out pipe organ, drastically elongated psych-guitar shredding, the long-form meditations of “No Pussyfooting”. Partly a journal of heated melancholy and partly a self-examination of one woman’s inner ear canal, “Hunting the Bitter Rose” is a work that unfurls gradually, revealing a sound puzzle that contains echoes of familiar emotions yet lacks any single defined framework.
" -bezoar formations
**************************************** ANEMONE LODGE – “II” cassette $6
"Having lost a member since the initial Anemone Lodge sessions of 2006, the now-trio’d version of Chris Miller (Golden Sores, Number None), Gwyneth Merner (Byssus) and Matt Erickson (Radiant Husk, Sudden Oak) decided to bunker down in Chicago once again, this time in the sweltering July heat of 2009. Using myriad instruments to minimal affect, the trio attempted to navigate the continuum between magnifying slight gestures and constraining more expansive swaths of clatter. Would it be agreeable to claim their intentions to be akin to those of the East Bionic Symphonia, though with only a third of the members and with much of the rough-hewn edges snipped away, only to be gathered and polished into mirror form? Perhaps. Or could one state that what was once a three-hour session of assembly-defined, free-sound troubleshooting has now been condensed, groomed and catalogued into a set of auditory star charts? Indeed. Or could it be that the borders between spontaneous composition, elastic cosmos-echo and the fluid passage of long-tone regeneration were blurred, if only for a temporary moment in a cool basement on one muggy Illinois night?" -bezoar formations
**************************************** Radiant Husk "Optics" cassette $6
"Where the previous Radiant Husk output has taken the form of loose diagrams, sketches and notebooks, Matt Erickson's (Sudden Oak, Bezoar Formations label) 'Optics' finds the project moving into a somewhat different territory. If pencil-on-paper was an earlier metaphor, light-through-lens is the prime motivator for these new recordings. Fragments are still the mode of choice, but they are now double-exposed, painted over, cross-faded with flashes of shadow and reeling forward in gradual movement. Saxophone, tapes, fx, keyboards, wave machine. Recorded fall/winter 2010 in San Francisco. " -brunch groupe
**************************************** Black Eagle Child "Born Underwater" b/w "The Arquebus" cassette $6
"From the artist: "Composition has always been a difficult process. When I decided to stick close to my comfort zone and start building music from foundations of guitar, writing music became a little easier. Before Black Eagle Child reached this point, my composition process did not exist. Mostly the result was failure, but from this lack of discipline also came a couple pieces I really felt proud of. Here they are finally in an official production."
" -avant archive
**************************************** Ajilvsga "Massacre Canyon" double cassette $10
"If you've been hanging around the tiny experimental voids that have been surfacing in North America over the past five-or-so years, there is some chance that you've brushed up against the rolling thunderhead called Ajilvsga. The duo's body of work is massive, and so even though it's only a glimpse, Massacre Canyon is nonetheless a necessary document in the evolution of this musical icon. This soaring double-cassette collects tracks from Ajilvsga's past—some pieces more ephemeral than others, but everything worthy of a second (or tenth) glance. What these selections have in common is only a certain ability to succinctly (as much as one can, given the nature of the music, both in density and in length) define this Oklahoman tag-team's oeuvre: an animal darkness, tainted with imagery both accusatory and mournful. Through their own multitude of sonic approaches, may you find Ajilvsga's essence living in the spaces of Massacre Canyon. Alas, it's not the end: Side D contains 40 minutes of new music. Onward!" -avant archive
**************************************** Emuul "Waiting for Winter" cassette $6
"Emuul's Kyle Iman is a quiet champion of quietness. His works to date have exhibited this kind of subtle presence wherein time slows down a little and reference points are not easily set. Often working with synthesizers, some of Emuul's most effective pieces have been those in which the least movement occurs. On Waiting for Winter, Iman eschews his synthesizers in favor of the electric guitar and some variation on his synthetic stasis. This album's side-long introduction, "Blurring the Nights" is a terrifically dynamic piece that stretches from the quiet guitar hum you might recognize into a frantic sonic mantra, culminating in the integration of some expert guest drumming. On the B-side Kyle airs it out a bit with four short pieces that set more somber moods. Naturally driven guitars are dipped in equal parts delay and reverb. With these airs, Emuul returns to the kind of stasis that you might have recognized from his past excursions, but perhaps these are his most successful pieces yet. Not only do they captivate and affect the slowing of time, they're also incredibly sweet and natural sounding, fully identifiable and earnest. Here is simply a man playing guitar simply, with no shroud of mystery or murk. Waiting for Winter is a guitar album and it demonstrates that the success of this musician comes from him, not his tools.
" -avant archive
**************************************** Bret Schneider "Model of a Garden Scene With Watering Can" cassette $6
"Bret Schneider has created a world of chaos from the helm of his digital workstation. Model of a Garden Scene With Watering Can is on the surface a simple exploration into abstract sound by way of (and perhaps limited by) his digital means, though Schneider brings into this sound collage many sources of sound. The root of this dense structure is still quite simple: play. About his creative process, Schneider says, "I tried to make a situation where the music is like the inverse space of the known world. . .in a sense it is me making all the wrong decisions, going against my intuition, being the negative space of intuition." If you're not interested in process or philosophy, perhaps you'll at least be turned on by the ear-tickling sonic concoction that is the manifestation of Schneider's approach to creative sound. If there is anything left of your brain by the time you're through listening, you'll certainly receive a gracious 'thank you' from your ears.
" -avant archive
**************************************** Talk West "To Hope is to Hanker" cassette $6
"Talk West's Dylan Aycock offers us To Hope is to Hanker, a septet of wispy midwestern vignettes. The simplicity found on these brief songs is something of note, perhaps trumped only by Aycock's ability to take what would otherwise be a charmingly gentle sound and molest it into an equally charming iteration of itself. It's as though Jerry, your cousin's country band's steel player has been accidentally buried alive, exhumed and reanimated. Now he can't remember exactly what he's supposed to be playing or doing, but he still has the sinking, ambiguous well of emotion that drew him to the instrument to begin with. And so To Hope is to Hanker presents this balance between a dusty stasis and something more akin to a wordless, heartfelt midwestern ballad. It is, of course, utterly charming." -avant archive
**************************************** HMS "Cascades" cassette $6
"Live improvisation can be gruesome or gorgeous. At the soul of any such performance are those concepts of play and chaos, two things that (let's be honest) tend to appeal to most listeners much more as mere concepts, and much less in the midst of actual realization. HMS defies this expectation within seconds of the beginning of Cascades' beginning. The trio—Joe Houpert, Nathan McLaughlin, and Erich Steiger—bring to this hour-long set a host of ambitious creative personalities that one could easily visualize as individual bodies of sound. To make things even easier, simply take a look at each performer's individual catalog of works. When the three combine, there happens to be something very special that is born. HMS is the combination of three soloists bent toward experimentation, and what they've recorded for Cascades is a surprising exhibition of harmony and unification inside a realm that is by nature chaotic. These pieces are moody, eerie, and most importantly, engrossing." -avant archive
**************************************** Rogue Cop "Act of Violence" cassette $6
"Drew Dahle, meet Electric Guitar. Electric Guitar, meet your abuser. Mr. Dahle, aka Rogue Cop, is badder than any wing-nut in a trench coat and fedora you've ever encountered. The brazenness with which Dahle handles his axe is insisted upon with every second of Act of Violence. This album is vindication for both the hard-headed purists and the die-hard experimentalists. No frills required, no rule book exists. Act of Violence is difficult to discuss simply because it has very few points of reference. It is simply the sound of a guitar being mangled. Though if you listen closely and perhaps long enough, you can certainly begin to create your own frame of reference. Rogue Cop has his own way of doing things, and if you give him a chance, you'll start to come around to the idea that his way could be your way too.
" -avant archive
**************************************** Horse Marriage "Pee-Chee" / "I Need to Tell You..." b/w "Lay Your Hands on Me" 7" $6
"After their beautifully subdued and dusty Mr. Tower's Dead Trophy (2010), the San Francisco band Horse Marriage returned this year with Eisenhower Interstate, an altogether different iteration of Stewart Adams' grainy and distorted pop visions. Avant Archive is pleased to present the first 'single' from Eisenhower Interstate, "Pee-Chee", alongside two additional and exclusive tracks. Horse Marriage has almost entirely shed their calm western reveries, laying aside the acoustic guitars in favor of deep distortion, detuned strings, and a whole new kind of energy. Adams' delay-touched vocals perfectly float above the band's fuzzed-out guitars and simple, yet unforgettable compositions sounding simultaneously obscured and unmistakable. Rock and roll is back, and don't come expecting gimmicks—you'll find no 'lo-fi' or 'x-wave' here. This is old-fashioned rock and roll the way you might remember it. Remember it again!" -avant archive
**************************************** Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry "Marker/Magnet" double cassette $10
"Originally released individually via Germany's Gruenrekorder, Bible & Henry's Marker and Magnet are two complimentary volumes in a set that covers quite a bit of ground, and covers it quite masterfully. The duo's work here is mostly in the area of electroacoustic improvisation and musique concrète. Jeremy and Jason manage to utilize the tiny musical space they've alotted themselves and stretch it out to a length of over two hours. Typically I'd say this is an accident waiting to happen, but these fellows have pulled it off with class to spare. Never does anything sound recycled or looped, never is there a moment where the music returns to a point. It is always winnowing, sifting, threshing through waves of electronic abstractions and obscured acousmatic sounds. The result is a confounding experience in which I find myself searching for some familiarity and finding little. There are moments of potential clarity, but those are seldom and surprising when they arrive. The rest of these compositions are steeped in mystery and endless engagement. This is not background music; please listen with care." -avant archive
**************************************** Olli Aarni "Ylitse"cassette $6
"Olli Arni's work as Ous Mal has had a kind of entrancing effect on me ever since I first pressed 'play' on his 2010 album Nuojuva Halava. Since then, I've been drawn to Olli's music almost magnetically. Throughout all his music, there is an apparent lightness, perhaps a statement that says something like, "just enjoy this". There is no pretense. Ylitse presents the same assortment of candid expressions as Olli's other works. In 4 pieces, Olli weaves blankets of sorts that sound like panoramic vistas of mountains or snowy plains. The scenes are nearly still, and most of the movement you perceive while listening will come from within you. These pieces are composed in much the same way as Ous Mal works, but the end results are quite different. Instead of jovial and poppy loops, these are long, simple pieces that sound like scores for silent films. This is music that can be repeated many times with little or no listener fatigue. Listening to Ylitse feels much like standing in a frozen field for hours, feeling all the effects of the cold and wind, but somehow still managing to resist decomposition.
" -avant archive
**************************************** Will Long "Rosy Reflections" cassette $6
"Celer's Will Long takes a rare break from that prolific and now universally renowned moniker, and he gives us Rosy Reflections. This pair of pieces wallows in minimalism, churning slowly through loops of obscurity and lulling us into a daze under which we can't quite tell whether this next bit has changed in texture from the last. Pure, simple, and hypnotic drone music by a man who is easily identified as a master of the style. Rosy Reflections is the first in a series of limited-edition releases from Avant Archive, produced in an edition of forty-eight with full-color glossy j-card that features some of Milwaukee's finest flora in rosy blossom.
" -avant archive
**************************************** Blues Control & Laraaji "Frkwys Vol. 8 - That Healing Feeling" double cassette $13*cassette version, NOT vinyl*
"Volume 8 in the ongoing FRKWYS series on RVNG Intl. is a double album-length collaboration between BLUES CONTROL and LARAAJI. Following the "fodder first" tradition of previous FRKWYS installments, Vol. 8 was birthed over e-mail dialogue between RVNG and RUSS WATERHOUSE and LEA CHO of Blues Control. Blues Control's evolved output gracefully arcs with influence and innovation that gleams electronic, New Age, and hard rock terrains. LARAAJI’s name came up early in that conversation and felt intrinsic to Waterhouse and Cho's own musical calling. Blues Control and Laraaji convened at Black Dirt Studio in upstate New York on December 9th, 2010. Over the course of a single studio day, the three musicians (accompanied on certain jams by Laraaji's "musical friend" ARJI CAKOUROS) improvised on several themes, providing nearly four hours of material and the basis for FRKWYS Vol. 8. After meticulous note taking, sharing, and rough edits among Blues Control and Laraaji, the album was fully fleshed out. Without context, it's hard to imagine that these musicians never creatively collaborated before this juncture. The dynamic breadth (and breath) of the album feels both effortless and epic, a line usually straddled only after years of playing together. It's clear a cosmic force is at play, and that this playfulness is the creative mediator of the music. Over two album sides, the listener is transported from the urban sound garden of "Awakening Day," through the soulful yow of "Light Ships," into the texture bliss of "City of Love," and finally the reflective pool of "Freeflow". The first bonus track "Somebody Scream" demonstrates Laraaji's dexterous zither-playing over thirty-five minutes of music, while the second, "Astral Jam," starts with a Wu-like beat (courtesy of Laraaji) and warps into a rolling snare trance." -Rvng Intl
******************************************************** Josh Mason "Temple Bell" cassette $6
"Temple Bell’ examines fragmented memory recall during meditation. Using a combination of electronics and acoustic instruments, Mason sweeps up all the bits and shards of discarded thought and weaves them back together. " - sunshine ltd
******************************************************** Phos Hilaron "Break In The Sun Till The Sun Breaks Down" cassette $6
"2 long form burners for guitars, synth, voice and computers. Recorded live inside a church by two brothers who haven’t seen each other in quite some time. Includes download code for a reworked track by the duo of an outtake from the session. All hail gladdening light! " - sunshine ltd
******************************************************** Mini Prophets "Sirens, Loops and Whistles" cassette $6
"Sophmore release from this wonked out Floridian experimental/jazz/rock sextet. Weird time signatures, dual drummers, jangly guitars, saxophones…need we really say more? How about a digital download included with the tape? Alrighty! " - sunshine ltd
******************************************************** White Fir "Lake Seeds Volume 2" cassette $6
"Outback tape loops and found sound arrangements by R Franklin, dragging the mic through the dried leaves and warping am radio waves. A continuation of the Lake Seeds series of lo-fi tape assembly cut-ups." - house of sun
******************************************************** Pink Desert "Daytime Series" cassette $6
"Glistening shimmer from one the the finest; B Douglas (Different Lands label) delivers another thoughtful moment from his carefully released Pink Desert project. Circular soothing passages that recall past experiences. Meditation through synthesis." - house of sun
******************************************************** DEVELOPER cassette $6
"Harsh music concrete and tape assemblage from Matthew Reis. A prominent member of Ohio's experimental music scene, Reis (Teeth Collection, Factotum Tapes) has become synonymous for his explorations of electro-acoustic music. First with his Teeth Collection project and now under the guise of Developer, Reis has moved into exploring the areas of tape-based harsh noise and music concrete. Reis's style of improv tape music takes cues from Burrough's cut-ups while forging a new kind of (harsh) experimentation." - imminent frequencies
******************************************************** COLLAPSED ARC "IN CURSIVE" cassette $6
"Kinetic blown out sound loops by Cleveland, Ohio sound and visual artist David Russell. Collapsed Arc finds Russell's (Jerk, The David Russell Snake, Relentless Corpse) latest project immersed in an amalgamation of field recordings, contact mic experiments and appropriated vocal banter- masterfully melded together into loops of auditory chaos. Despite the non-musical nature of many of these sounds like any good pop song they lure you in. Disjointed sound sculpture for the musical masses." - imminent frequencies
******************************************************** SLAG HEAP "MAR" cassette $6
"Minimal pulsating synthesizer music by Chicago native Connor Camburn. The repetitive tonal progressions heard here slowly evolve creating mathematical vortexes of the mind. These simple rhythmic patterns are strangely reminiscent of the early electronic work of Alvin Lucier and David Tudor while forging new ground. Each copy comes with a handmade art book by Connor Camburn. " - imminent frequencies
******************************************************** Various Artists- "Regolith Vol.1" cassette $6
"“Regolith” is a term used by lunar scientists to describe the loose scree of stones covering the solid rock of the moon. From the scrappy fuzzabilly of the Leisure Birds’ “Burn the Beach” to Moonstone’s pontificate-n-jam, Moon Glyph have found an apt title for their first compilation of local bands. Regolith Vol.1 is a wide sampling of songs scattershot across a solid foundation of rock by artists committed to the exploration of new vibrations and frequencies. The listener will find all forms of psychedelia on this record: laid back odes to laid-back women from Magic Castles and Velvet Davenport (with a little help from Ariel Pink and Gary War), a rave-up from Vampire Hands, a spaced out war-drum workout from the Daughters of the Sun, and a pair of face-melters courtesy of The Blind Shake and Skoal Kodiak amongst others." - moon glyph
******************************************************** Deep Magic "Altars of Veneration" cassette $6
"Alex Gray is a man who's been burning up the west coast with his subtle & euphoric psychedelics, either alongside Sun Araw or in his solo project, Deep Magic. For Moon Glyph's 35th release we're pleased to liberate Deep Magic's nuanced drifting as a cassette entitled "Altars of Veneration". Recorded at home in Los Angeles, "Altars" consists of the kind of wide-eyed panoramic ambience usually reserved for introspective & naturalistic time/space films. Infused with Gray's particular sense of spatial relations, he fills his multi-colored spheres with flickering synths, glossy bottomless guitar ripples & shaded, abstract loops. Rapturous in its execution & cleansing for the spirit "Altars of Veneration" is a life-affirming, intimate expression of our universal vision. " - moon glyph
******************************************************** Roy Orb D.MT. "Doctor of Metaphysical Healing" cassette $6
"With his first Moon Glyph release, Roy Orb D.MT. beckons you to a peaceful, pleasurable synthetic journey. A certified practitioner with countless years of metaphysical therapy, Roy gives great attention to the hues and textures he prescribes, conjuring sonic salves to balance body and soul alike. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and drift away as Oberheim soundwaves carry you to realms of health and wholeness heretofore unimagined. Admittedly no sorcerer, but certainly no common “doctor”, Roy Orb D.MT. materializes healing tones for ailing minds. " - moon glyph
******************************************************** Dylan Ettinger "Pattern Recursion" cassette $6
"Geometric minimalism is an inherent component in synthesist Dylan Ettinger's latest release, "Pattern Recursion" – a collection of side-long scapes produced using solely square wave forms. A work as indebted to concept, as it is enabled by it, Ettinger's square precession is largely based on his connection with analogue machines–specifically, a Moog Rogue, Korg Poly 61 and Funkhouser 1. In turn, "Pattern Recursion" is machinist music for the 21st century, replacing mammal intuition with mechanical ingenuity to create a wholly new definition of "computer musick."" - moon glyph
******************************************************** Lee Noble "Our Star, The Sun" cassette $6
"Lee Noble’s "Our Star, the Sun" marks Moon Glyph’s eighteenth release. Recorded in his Los Angeles bedroom, Noble’s album is an epic drone encounter with big concepts as well as an expansive emotional spectrum. Implementing an array of instruments such as harmonium, korg ms-10, and guitar, the songs spiral around a notion the instrumentalist describes as “leaving small memories behind when you look at the scale of the universe” – really one of many touchstones of inspiration cited by Noble himself. By gerrymandering passages of subtle catharsis out of alienating tones, "Our Star, the Sun" is a consummate performance that supports and sustains Noble’s complex themes." - moon glyph
******************************************************** Buffalo Moon "Selva Surreal" LP $12
"In 2010, Buffalo Moon brought you “Wetsuit,” their debut release that made everybody want to go to the beach and get drunk and fall in love. More than a year later — after a stop at the gorgeous melodic shores of the “Black Magic/Low Tide Moon,” 7" — the Buffalo are leading you away from the coastline, waving a pennant that reads Bienvenido a la Selva. If “Wetsuit” was playing love games in the sand, “Selva Surreal” (Surreal Jungle)— the new LP we are proud to release on Moon Glyph— is five young pranksters splashing euphonious paint in the Rainforest, trading in their cool blues for deep velvet and crimson. Fires are blazing. Cannons are blasting. Machine guns are pounding. And that’s just in the first single, “Chica de Luna". “Salt in my Mouth” and “Amores Perros,” take you back to those sandy beaches but with tighter craftsmanship and more sophisticated swagger. “Raspberry Sorbet” and “Moses Baby” consult sexophone aficionado Michael Lewis to accomplish their schmoozy bedroom peccadillos. Indeed, in these hallucinatory wetlands, genre shifts hit you like catapulted coconuts, but if you can duck all the madness and sonic booby traps, you find the album for what it is: a feral portrait of a Blakean Innocence expiring before our ears. The Kids of Irony are alright, America, they’re just entering the Jungles of Experience. And it’s wild out there. " - moon glyph
******************************************************** Dead Luke "Meanwhile... In The Midwest" LP $12
"Amidst pilfering of collective bargaining rights, the storming of public buildings in union protests, and subsequent recalls of elected officials, a bubbling of proletariat discontent in Madison, WI has shed light on a region of the country often overlooked. Emerging from this unrest comes Dead Luke’s second full length and first Moon Glyph release, "Meanwhile… In The Midwest", which takes the portentously hazy half-songs contained within his debut LP and solidifies them into a raw, lysergic-crystalline acid cocoon. In the album’s final moments we are greeted to the triumphant drifting of “Endless High,” a fuzzed-out call to arms for the No Coast. On “God Of Nothing” Luke conjures a hymnal drone of weaving elements peaking into a self-contained nihilist jam. While harkening back to the nebulous "American Haircut", Luke now unleashes his vexed voice in parallel with a movement currently percolating to a once apathetic surface. " - moon glyph
******************************************************** Dead Luke "American Haircut" LP $13
"Its bright and sunny out, the birds are chirping, and summer is in full swing, but in here American Haircut is filling the air with a cold haze of serious downer-vibed psych. No sun in these parts just dead vegitation and an iced over ground where a ghostly voice repeats over and over "You know you're bringing me down." So put on your coat, alter your mind, turn out the lights, and get lost in the nine extended jams that fill this album. DEAD LUKE has released three killer singles (two on Sacred Bones, one on Sweet Rot) as well as a number of tapes, and a collaborative 12-inch with Zola Jesus, and this is his first LP. Limited to 500 copies." -floriday's dying
******************************** Oneohtrix Point Never "Replica" LP $15
"Replica is an electronic song cycle based around audio procured from TV ad compilations. These sample-based meditations are as lyrical as they are ecological, featuring re-purposed “ghost vocals” which serve as narration for Lopatin’s signature amorphous, ambient passages. Lopatin’s Juno-60 is still prominent, but Returnal’s placid, synthetic surroundings are accelerated through darker, more unpredictable terrains via Lopatin’s use of samplers, analog filtering, tape-op, piano, plate reverb and sub-bass. The result is a heightened sense of music as part and parcel of an overall sonic terrain." -software
**************************************** Ford & Lopatin + Shannon Funchess + Tamaryn "Snakes" b/w "Flying Dream" LP $14
"For our 100th release, Mexican Summer proudly presents an extremely special one-off: two productions from Ford & Lopatin quite unlike anything heard from them to date, featuring guest appearances from label mates Tamaryn and Shannon Funchess.In ‘Higher Than Air’ gentle, filtered arpeggio pulses teem and bump up against long-form bursts of orchestral harmony. Between hanging moments of space featured vocalist Tamaryn draws us through the track’s thick layers with a hushed patience, choruses bolstered and split to ribbons by razors of emotional synthesized brass.‘Snakes’ then unexpectedly contrasts this, beating its way out of the speakers as an erratic EBM sweat storm, rave riffs flashing in cycles over stripped down drum machines. Light Asylum’s Shannon Funchess contributes her incredible voice to the fray, grimly intoning and passionately decrying doom-laden promises before a melancholy finale." -mexican summer
**************************************** Ford & Lopatin "Channel Pressure" LP $14
"Channel Pressure is the full length debut from Brooklyn-based production duo Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Joel Ford (Tigercity), formerly known as Games. Improvised sessions were instead recorded over 3 months at Mexican Summer’s headquarters and synthesizer legend Jan Hammer’s home studio in upstate NYC. The recordings of these were then spliced, sampled and reconstructed, growing unexpectedly into an imaginary soundtrack for the adventure of Joey Rogers, a kid who gets brainwashed by a gigantic television.Talent was enlisted from childhood pal Al Carlson for engineering, Prefuse 73 for mixing, and guest vocals from friends Autre Ne Veut and Jeff Gitelman of Stepkids. The result is a pristine presentation of chaotic material; layers of glitch, Krautrock, synthpop, ambient, prog-fusion and hardware shredding melded into just 14 tracks of multi-focus post-pop edits. " -software
**************************************** Real Estate "Reality" 12" $18(expensive wholesale)
"New Jersey’s Real Estate has successfully captured the sound of a late Sunday afternoon, in the dreaded hours before work or school claims your life again. The band’s sweet, loose pop ballads recall a modern-day Everly Brothers, drifting and dreamlike, as their tales of suburban indifference and insecurity mask your own fears. Six new songs, and not a moment too soon." -mexican summer
**************************************** Ducktails "Killin The Vibe" 12" $15
"A new EP from MATT MONDANILE’s DUCKTAILS. Basically a single for the song “Killin the Vibe” featuring PANDA BEAR, DENT MAY and JARVIS TAVANIERE, this EP also includes two exclusive unreleased tracks and a live version of “Killin the Vibe” featuring SPECTRALS (UK, Slumberland) as the backing band. Beautiful hand drawn art by LAUREN PAKRADOONI. Limited Edition of 500 copies. First record on New Images Ltd. Plays at 45rpm." -new images
**************************************** Jonas Reinhardt "Powers Of Audition" LP $13
"JONAS REINHARDT continues his cosmic flight inward on this latest release. The instrumentation from his debut album expands here to include acoustic drum patterns, guitars, and woodwinds alongside synthesizers and electronics. Together, these voices seamlessly twist and meld into a singular aural journey. This is music of the spheres for an electronic era where new age visions are re-imagined through a lens of experimental rock. The titular concept behind the album, drawn from ideas of the post-war avant-garde, refers simply to the human capacity to audition sound and fill in blanks where the composer leaves space for interpretation. Jonas explains: "Each of the songs is meant to engage the listener's innate power of audition to fill in intentionally left blanks. These occur throughout the recording where there is either diminished narrative resolution or explicit sectional movement meant to provoke an auditory response." The result is a mesmerizing journey to cracked and digitized moonscapes where Reinhardt's transparent relationship with instruments, sound, and form are made whole and hints of a beat-centered future are just around the corner. " -kranky
**************************************** Steve Hauschildt "Tragedy & Geometry" 2XLP $18
"Perhaps the least prolific and quietest of the three members of Cleveland trio EMERALDS, STEVE HAUSCHILDT is usually found at their live performances playing the serious scientist as foil to the other two members more animated stage presence. As a teen, Steve bypassed the typical young music fan obsessions over punk and hardcore musics, drawn instead towards mid-late ‘90s techno/electro-revivalism and finding himself alone in an electronic universe of his own choosing. Steve has always considered himself more of an artist than a musician, and sees his work both in group and solo settings as much a visual experience as it is an aural one. The title Tragedy & Geometry is an ambiguous but subtle reference to Melpomene (Muse of Tragedy) and Polyhymnia (Muse of Geometry), or more specifically the collision/overlap of what they invoke. The opening track is also a direct reference to “Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence”, the painting by the French artist Charles Meynier on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The album is a treatise on the idea that technology is becoming more disposable as it's becoming more accessible, and how this circumstance has a more evident/direct effect on the interpersonal, i.e. relations, with others in the so-called 'Age of Information.' What results is a gorgeous, flowing, floating world of post-kosmische musik, Steve Hauschildt’s first widely available release, and his first major statement as a solo artist. " -kranky
**************************************** Mark Mcguire "Get Lost" LP $18 (import)
"And yet another killer album from the ever-productive MARK MCGUIRE (EMERALDS). It just keeps getting better, as he delivers another fine set of tunes in his perfected style. A few more electronic elements than usual and even some voices, but still the unique blend of feel-good riffs, electric and acoustic loops and melodies that just stick in the head. This album is chockablock with short hits and one long jam of blissed-out McGuire ambience. Awesome. Electric and acoustic guitar, vocals, and guitar-synthesizer recorded digitally between June 2010 and July 2011 in Westlake, Ohio and Portland, Oregon. Mixed at Hardbodies, July 2011 by Mark McGuire. Mastered and cut by HELMUT ERLER at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Photography and art by Mark McGuire, 2011." " -editions mego
**************************************** Mark Mcguire "Solo Acoustic Vol. 2" LP $16BACK IN STOCK!
"The second installment in VDSQ’s (Vin Du Select Qualitite) Solo Acoustic guitar series curated by STEVE LOWENTHAL of Swingset Magazine. Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 features melodic ballads and new songs from EMERALDS guitarist MARK MCGUIRE that spark new innovations and memories thought to be lost. Packaged in letterpress sleeves with a picture of the guitar used on the recording." -vdsq
**************************************** Outer Space "s/t" LP $15
"John Elliott’s Outer Space project is a laboratory for electronic investigation. Acting as a continuance of the studies of mid 20th century electronic music composers such as Nik Pascal and Laurie Spiegel, Elliott’s music is deeply indebted to the inner workings of the electric signal. Acting almost as a meditation, through the simple gesture of translation Elliott’s process begins to reveal itself as electricity is converted into acoustic pressure and potential; the melody of physics. The six recordings on the album are each a microcosmic view into Elliott’s practice; a keystone, illuminating his solo practice as well as his work as a member of Emeralds. Composed and recorded over the past three years without the use of digital synthesizers and arpeggiation; a record closely connected to a personal path, attempting to make sense, to understand one’s journey. Mastered by Keith Fullerton Whitman; pressed in a second edition of 350 copies on black vinyl with full color gloss covers and black and white printed inner sleeves." -arbor
**************************************** PALE BLUE SKY SHADES OF GREY" 12" $13
"Pale Blue Sky is the new project from Mike Pollard (formerly Treetops). Shades Of Grey is the project’s genesis; a long considered transition uniting the organic drone-work of the former project with compositional structures. The recordings embody a delicate sense of distance; staring out at the moving landscape obscured by the mediation of the window. Through blurred fidelity the origin of melody is placed under microscopic inquiry; an exploration into the moment of tonal interaction. Pale Blue Sky utilizes repetition and non-linear movements, attempting to reconcile simplicity, form, and sentiment through modes of difference. Placing focus on spatial concerns, as well as emotive potential, the five songs contained within are each different embodiments of the possibility of the transformative decay of remembrance. An ephemeral glimpse; the moment has already passed. For quiet, distanced listening. Mastered by William Hutson, cut at 45 rpm. In an edition of 400 copies with full color glossy jackets, printed inner sleeves, and printed labels." -arbor
**************************************** Rangers "Pan Am Stories" 2XLP $23
"Tape-warped phantom band Rangers finally unleashes the grainy, soaring, expansive prog-pop opus we always knew was floating inside the fretboard (and imagination) of multi-instrumentalist mystery maestro Joe Knight. The north Dallas-raised, San Fran-residing head Ranger grew up taking classical guitar lessons from a dude who claimed to have ‘toured with the Dead,’ and some of that brain-wonked jam agenda obviously seeped into the young Knight, who began recording his own loose, lo-fi jangle sprawls in 2005. But whereas last year’s critically lauded Suburban Tours LP found him condensing his cassette-crushed alien pop into 3 minute radio nuggets, Pan Am Stories uses the reverse strategy, letting each blurry strum pattern coast away and ride the breeze a bit before steering it into a fresh counter-melody or flanged-out guitar comedown. The extra breath and space gives the 13 songs a real sense of freedom and lightness and flight, layered in gentle blankets of fuzz, silky reverb, and audio collage riddles. A total saga, and a summit achievement of next-level invention for Knight as a musician (it’s insane he played/recorded every instrument on this thing!) and artist. Have been soaking in these tracks non-stop since we first heard ‘em this summer and are thrilled to get to share Stories with the world. Black vinyl LPs (mastered by Carl Saff, who worked on Suburban Tours too) in gatefold jackets with micro-detailed collage art by Mr. Rangers himself; interior artwork by Knight and Anthony Yuen. Edition of 850." - not not fun
******************************************************** Sapphire Slows "True Breath" 12" $13
"A fresh voice is hard to find – especially in these days of such dense digital air (‘in the Shadow of the Power of Babble’ internet philosophers say). So it was with nuanced joy that we found ourselves spellbound and seduced by this young Tokyo gem-gleaner’s neon gallery of dynamic Casio nightlife masks, each of which is impeccably crafted and swathed in a fog basket of her effortlessly haunting Cocteau Twins-y shadow vox. There’s a wonderfully hushed vibe to Sapphire Slows’ most translucent tracks, beats materializing out of stray radio waves and metropolis static, electric piano memories washing away into the silent skyline of skyscrapers, synths congealing like synthetic whispers. The perfect soundtrack to urban insomniac wandering and wondering and lingering too long; almost like a Toyko take on Night Bus. True Breath is her stateside debut EP after one previous 7 inch on Big Love, and 2012 should see a full-length plus some global gigging so soak in her subtle night moves now while the breath is still warm. Black vinyl 12 inches in bilingual new wave patterned shadow portrait jackets designed by A & B Brown. Edition of 500. " - not not fun
******************************************************** Maria Minerva "Cabaret Cixous" LP $13
"Estonian Euro-beat enchantress Maria Juur aka Maria Minerva has had a lively 2011 already – releasing a chic suite of glamour-pop abstractions via her debut, Tallinn At Dawn, as well as a sultry, sideways bedroom disco EP (Noble Savage) on 100% Silk – and it’s still summer. But time is money and money talks (or something) so rather than let a hot streak go cold Ms. Maria has crafted a fresh 11-song dream ride down fascination street, which we’re pumped and proud to unveil: Cabaret Cixous. Apparently there’s a tradition/inside joke amongst a fringe strain of Estonian bands where you have to name yr album something with ‘cabaret’ in the title, but regardless of one’s knowledge of this micro-custom, Cab Cixous is a gorgeous, gauzy thrill, slip-streaming from cracked-crystal karaoke pop singles (“These Days,” “Ruff Trade,” “Soo High”) to slow-motion synth-washed ballads (“Lovecool,” “Spiral”) to radical miscellzanies (the alien soundsystem banger, “Laulan Paikse Kaes,” a cellphone-fidelity Abba cover, etc) and beyond. A beautiful, bizarre record, full of the weird vision and hazed-out soulfulness that’s everything we love about music. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with retro-CGI landscape art designed by Estonian visualist Ronald Pihlapson, plus a full-color insert. Edition of 700." - not not fun
******************************************************** KWJAZ s/t LP $13
"San Franciscan Peter Berend’s mystery mixtape unit, KWJAZ, flashed forth this debut self-titled slab of “post-plastic sublime decomposed luxury grooves” on cassette via his own rarified Brunch Groupe imprint early in 2011 and the 120 listeners lucky enough to grip a copy know who they are. It only took half a listen before we green-lit this tape-degraded gem for vinyl treatment and we are dee-lighted to present it thusly. Comprised of two side-long suites, “Once In Babylon” and the oddly monikered “Frighteous Wane,” KWJAZ nimbly ebbs and flows the proceedings through airy cloud-jazz passages (complete with smoky crystal vibes keys and narcotic hiss-hazed horn sections), bouncy weirdo dub-funk vignettes, stretched-out syrupy synth stews, and smooth faux-Steely D soft-rock abstractions, all without ever sounding schizo or style-hoppy. A major feat, and a real riddle of an LP that deepens and ripens with each spin. Hopefully you were savvy enough to catch him on his recent coast-to-coast summer tour with Swanox and Sudden Oak; if not, tune in to this. Black vinyl LPs (mastered at Dubplates in Berlin) in jackets with cosmic floral artwork by Austin Cho/Casey Grr. Edition of 700." - not not fun
******************************************************** Robedoor "Too Down To Die" LP $13
"LA’s most downer erosion architects continue their 6-year-deep narco drip into psych-streaked bleak house, the latest saga of which is Too Down To Die, the band’s first full-length since March 2010’s Burners LP and the journey there-and-back was a cryptic and crooked crawl. The entirety of Side A is dominated by “Parallel Wanderer,” a lumbering kosmische bruiser triptych and consistent live staple that spills from astral ambient dread (bathed in crystal piano and trademark MGG modular synth textures) into a loner riff march before detonating into a wasted ghost-rock vacuum. The B features a suite of songs new and less-so, from the industrial headbanger “Universal Migration” to the nod-out braindead negative throb closer, “Afterburners.” Out of step and out on the ledge. Recorded at Green Machine in East LA and cut at Dubplates in Berlin. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with blasted orb artwork plus a photocopied insert. Edition of 600." - not not fun
******************************************************** Robedoor "Raiders" LP $13 BACK IN STOCK!
"Following their 2008 East Coast tour with Woods and Pocahaunted the Robedoor agenda has mainly been: hibernating in the City Terrace zone above east LA, adding a drummer/modular synth dealer, and letting the smoke rise. Raiders is the first RBDR LP since 2008’s Endlessly Blazing and is the result of almost six months of slow-burn transformative tape machine meditation helmed by Mr. Ged Gengras. Bummed guitars, loner drone tones, low caverns of reverbed drums and rumble, echo dislocation, and dead voices cascade down into the isolated highways. Song modes are carved out and then left to rot. Features early trio live set staples like “Indo Shadow” and “The Downcast Eye.” You can’t stick your hand in the same black river twice. Change or be changed. LPs in jackets with cover photo by Caitlin C. Mitchell. Edition of 500 (250 on marbled grey, 250 on black)." - not not fun
******************************************************** Robedoor "Burners" LP $13
"Recorded and mixed from April-September of '09 at the same East LA hillside studio (Green Machine) where Raiders was tracked. The goal with Burners was to make a record fusing the recent-ish song-based structures of Raiders and the Pagan Drugs 7-inch into some of the older-style ROBEDOOR drone-sprawl architectures. All songs were written/sculpted over the course of constant live shows ("Burning Man" in particular was an '09 live staple). Mastered by JAMES PLOTKIN. Limited edition of 500 copies." -important
***************** Jonas Reinhardt "Music For The Tactile Dome" LP $13 BACK IN STOCK!
"The hermetic kosmische lexicon of San Fran-based synth synthesist/composer Jesse Reiner (Jonas Reinhardt’s founder and principal architect) has been simmering and swelling at a steady clip the past few years (2010’s Powers Of Audition was def a highlight), but the added talents of drummer Damon Palermo (Mi Ami), bassist Diego Gonzalez (Citay, 3 Leafs), and guitarist Phil Manley (Trans Am, more) has levitated the JR Experience to a whole new head-music hall o’ fame. Recorded in Berlin, mixed in SF, then mastered/cut back in Berlin at Dubplates, Music For The Tactile Dome is easily the most deep-trip micro-focus Jonas odyssey to date, nine technicolor fractals of glittering synthesizer skyways and master-crafted pulsing kraut terrariums. A handful of tracks (“Smokey Jotus,” “Hander Zader,” etc) invoke more of the classic live JR vibe, with propulsive cold-grooved rhythm sectioning, but by and large Dome is designed for heavy headphone communion, an expanding magic eye tapestry of brainwave activity constellations. Those who caught their Euro tour last year with Rene Hell know how expert this crew reigns in the live environment so go see them if/when they pass through your area code; on tour with Cloudland Canyon currently. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with beautiful spectrum-assemblage cover art by Sean Patrick. Edition of 650." - not not fun
******************************************************** Peaking Lights "936" LP $14 BACK IN STOCK!*album of the year*
"Sometimes it feels so simple: two of our favorite people in one of our favorite bands release one of our favorite records of all time. 2009’s Imaginary Falcons was its own genius slushpile of tape-hissy drift-dub haze anthems, no question, but 936 takes every facet of the Peaking Lights mighty diamond and shines it to fluorescent perfection. The songwriting is insane; “All The Sun That Shines,” “Amazing & Wonderful,” “Tiger Eyes (Laid Back),” etc, all seep into yr mindstream and float there like melodic gold dust. Indra Dunis’ silky soul-jazz keys and tranced vocals have never sounded so exquisite, and Aaron Coyes busts out the best bass/drum loops and sneaky dub guitar of his musical lifetime. Recorded by Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studios in Iowa City (where both the NNF Wet Hair LPs were tracked) and mastered in Berlin, 936 retains the cool crate-digger grit of their earlier highlights, but within a much more vivid spectrum of sound. Could not be more jazzed and honored to unveil this total groove-wave classic. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with vintage/bootleg art by the band. Edition of 600. " - not not fun
******************************************************** Peaking Lights "Imaginary Falcons" LP $15
"This is the debut full length LP by Madison Wisconsin's Peaking Lights. Members Indra Dunis (Numbers/Rah Dunes) and Aaron Coyes (Rah Dunes) created a stunner that's full of hypnotic analog electronics, pulsing drum sounds, perfectly somber pop layered keys, blown psych guitar, and Indra's warm drifting vocals. This record is all its own, everything it needs to be, and it won't disappoint any expectations of its harmony and beauty. Groovy, spacey, heartfelt music for a new age. Art work and silkscreen by Shawn Reed." -night people
************************************************ Topaz Rags "Capricorn Born Again" LP $13 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
*members of robedoor/pocahaunted* "Grey clouds stay grey. Low light situations birth low-lit moods. It's all bummer clockwork. West Coast lurk-jazz triad Topaz Rags return to vinyl with their debut long player, Capricorn Born Again, an eight-song comedown recorded/mixed from spring-to-fall of '09 via a complex 4-track/boombox assemblage method. Everything creaks and hisses, there's smoke in the air, players at the end of their ropes, lyrics washing over faded raga ballads, slinky electric piano bar depressions, shadow gauze cavern pop. The bell jar is half empty, obviously. Slow dive and sink in. Black vinyl LPs (mastered by Pete Swanson) in jackets designed by Amanda. Edition of 400." - not not fun
******************************************************** Blank Realm "Heatless Ark" LP $13 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
"We’ve touted this Brisbane clan on multiple occasions in the past (the Mind Peril and The Returner tapes on NNF) but they say the third time’s the charm and clearly that’s true because not only is Heatless Ark Blank Realm’s vinyl debut, it’s also by far the weirdest, deepest, punkest, freakiest, aka BEST album the band’s ever made. And so for all these reasons (and more) we are happy as heaven to offer it up for the world. The porous BR line-up allows for a lot of instrumentation flux and this transience translates on record here to a strange range of agendas: open electric ecstasies (“Fabulous Terror Index”), dissonant outsider-wave art-punk (“Saint Tegram,” “Heatless Ark”), loner Jandek-y demos (“Blues Helix,” “Blues Helix 2”), slow-diving femme-sung dream-gaze (“Till I Clear My Own Name”), and beyond. Varied, wild, and intensely ambitious, this LP establishes Blank Realm as high on the high heap of the rich Australian underground, with miles more expansion potential. Hopefully western world touring plans can congeal soonishly to drive the point home. Black vinyl LPs in beautiful metallic ink smoke-ritual jackets (these jpegs don't do them justice) screenprinted by art-wizard Ryo from Topping Bottoms. Edition of 400." - not not fun
******************************************************** Inca Ore "Silver Sea Surfer School" LP $15 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
"Eva Saelens’ life-quest has taken her from Michigan to Oregon to Oakland back to Portland and back again, with several overseas explorations and inner journey roadtrips thrown in for good measure. Whatever path she’s on is long and winding and hidden in the shadow of overhanging cherimoya trees. Fortunately she maps her migrations with haunted, exotic breath-and-electricity sphinxes ranging from 2006’s Brute Nature Vs. Wild Magic to last year’s brainwashing Birthday Of Bless You LP. 2009 finds her offering up another psychic harvest unto the world, Silver Sea Surfer School, a new nine-song pipeline ride that floats through a whole new web of voice orbs and tape hiss and keyboard balladry. If anything, Silver Sea is Saelens’ weirdest hour, layered in abstract environments, whispers, distant poetry, free percussion loops, with sudden passages of heart-dissolving ghost-piano beauty (“Shine On From The Heaven Above,” “Adventure In Light”). Heavily impressive, and a brave pearl-dive into even more personal waters for the Inca Ore lifeforce. LPs come in jackets with art by Saelens, plus a full-color insert. Edition of 500 (40 on clear ocean-water vinyl, 180 on marbled blue/white, 280 on black)." - not not fun
******************************************************** Wet Hair "Glass Fountain" LP $15 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
"Welcome back. One of NNF’s total favorite active bands return with a second full-length (most of which was recorded during the same sessions that birthed their debut LP, Dream) and we are pleased as spiked fruit punch. The Reed/Garbes duo mainly sticks to their guns, mining the same post-Suicide art-trance vein they perfected on Dream, but with Glass Fountain there’s an added emphasis on the disembodied, oscillator pop mode that Wet Hair often toy with. Fountain’s five tracks include some of the band’s simplest but catchiest songs (“Crucifix In The Waves,” “When The Right Time Comes,” etc), mesmerizing organ melodies over plink-plonky vintage drum machines with weirdo soulful singing and outer space electronics, like an outsider-punk Silver Apples or something. Hard to say exactly what universe Wet Hair are operating in and that’s probably part of why we love it so much. A killer record that gets better each spin. In jackets with art drawn and designed by the band, plus a pro-printed 11x11 insert. Edition of 600 (400 on opaque lavendar vinyl, 200 on black). " - not not fun
******************************************************** Heavy Winged + Inca Ore "Ring Mining" LP $15 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
"Been waiting multiple years for this mind-melting meeting-of-minds to finally manifest itself in physical form, and there’s actually a story behind it. Rewind to 2006: Heavy Winged is an active, Brooklyn-based psych-rock band who’ve yet to dissolve into the bi-coastal logistical tangle they are now; meanwhile, Eva/Inca Ore is on tour (for The Birds And The Bees maybe); meanwhile, Nick Bindeman happens to also be in NY hanging out. Since all are friends or friends-of-friends, Heavy Winged ask Nick and Eva to come jam with them at a show at Northsix for the heck of it. They do. The set is a charged, psychotropic cyclone of ragged electric weight and possessed pixie shriek, stomping up and down over several damaged mountains of riff-wreckage. Miraculously, someone thinks to record the performance. Jed Bindeman sends us a copy. Our speakers implode, we high five. Fast forward to Fall 2008: Heavy Winged record a new 20-minute epic (“Into The Fog”), send it to Eva, and she records her own hypno-bliss keyboard mirage over the top. Eureka. So goes the nearly three-year history of Ring Mining, a slow-burn triumph of long-distance collaborative patience and alchemy between two of our favorite creative institutions. Mine on, you crazy diamonds. Black vinyl LPs mastered by James Plotkin and housed in jackets with mountain-collage artwork by Eva Saelens, plus a photocopied insert. Edition of 500. " - not not fun
******************************************************** Heather Leigh "Jailhouse Rock" LP $13 BACK IN STOCK/OOP!
"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 descents/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. " - not not fun
******************************************************** Blank Realm "Deja What?" LP $17 (expensive wholesale)
"BLANK REALM’s wax follow up to their debut LP on Not Not Fun. This second album sees the band delving deeper into pop territory while still keeping their feet firmly rooted in the shimmering haze of garage rock psychedelia. Sounds like something you would find hidden at the bottom of your dad’s dusty collection. Your dad is a stoner. " - bedroom suck
******************************************************** Blues Control "Puff" LP $13ABSOLUTE CLASSIC! TOP 10 LPS OF PAST DECADE
"RE-PRESSED!!! Blues Control is Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, a piano, guitar, and tapes duo from New York. Puff is their first full-length record, after two cassette-only releases. "Puff is the work of two modern gris gris chefs, and the most righteously authentic stoner gumbo this side of Twin Infinitives or Jungle Rot. Glittery framed sunglasses and doper's remorse. The finest racket of 2007 so far."—James Jackson Toth" -Woodsist
******************************************************** Blues Control "Local Flavor " LP $13 BACK IN STOCK!
"While past releases have been beauteous extrapolations into the miasmic core of psychedelia and billowing fog of ambient space, Local Flavor is the one where all the chickens have come home to roost.
The opening track "Good Morning" is practically a sideways step into boogie rock (horn accompaniment provided by none other than Jesse Trbovich and Kurt Vile); with the proper seismic shift, it could almost be heard as an alternate reality take on "Re-make/Re-model." It's easily the band's longest stomp in the forest of rock since their debut cassette, and, man, them boots leave a bruise!
The remaining three tracks morph and ebb harmoniously--in true Blues Control fashion--the timbre occasionally elegiac, yet more often riffing on a plane that has yet to be transcribed. Local Flavor is 801 plus an extra one (8101, if you will), providing an unimaginable future that will take your breath away. So make sure you've paid your oxygen bill, because there are no free rides in the 82nd Century." - siltbreeze
******************************************************** Miles Davis "Live-evil" 2XLP $23
"Originally released in 1971, Live-Evil is one of MILES DAVIS' most extraordinary records. Here, on a double album comprised of both live and studio recordings, the electric sound that Davis first unveiled the year previous emerges as a fully formed and powerful beast. Featuring one of his finest bands, which included JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, KEITH JARRETT, GARY BARTZ, JACK DEJOHNETTE, and Brazilian percussionist AIRTO, LIve-Evil is a stunning exploration of the outer limits of Jazz, and one of the most influential records of the '70s. Absolutely essential. 180-gram vinyl pressing. Gatefold sleeves." - 4 Men With Beards
******************************************************** Sun Ra "Space Is The Place" 2XLP $22
*note: email if you would like us to carry other Sun Ra reissues (they are indeed a little pricey, but worth it! we only want to order them to meet demand, as they are pricey)
"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. Featuring front cover design 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." - sutro park
******************************************************** gärden sound "black summit" LP $13
"When it comes to blown-out psychedelia, the first current band I want to hear is Eternal Tapestry. When it comes to desolate desert blues, that band is Barn Owl. Those are two pretty potent names in the world of experimental music right now so when 4/5 of them join up for some Portland sessions, that's good news for us all. Gärden Sound is the quartet of Dewey Mahood and Jed Bindeman of Eternal Tapestry (as well as Plankton Wat & Heavy Winged, respectively) and Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti of Barn Owl. "Black Summit" is their first charcoal-lined foray into the deep and if you can't get lost in this haze, there's not much hope.
Immediately evident is the incredible restraint shown by all four players. They're not being timid or trying to feel each other out, but there's an obvious level of comfort and understanding between each. With three guitars and Bindeman's trademark drumming, it would be easy to drown everything in full-on sludge but Gärden Sound are too damn good to play that game. Opener, "Forbidden Paradise," sets the scene. Methodical guitar works lull the listener into a solemn state of comfort while Bindeman adds to the hypnosis with tribal-infused narcotic rhythms. The build-up is slow but gets you ready for the knock-down blasts of "Beast of Burden." Heavy stomp and zoned-out, smoked-out guitar riffs that blow the roof to oblivion. This is music that needs to be played as loud as you can stand it.
"Hidden Origin" calms things back down, contemplating the next move while finding its way through the blackened labryinth concocted by Porras, Caminiti and Mahood. Each guitarist finds his own path as they lead each other to the prize. The 14-minute closer, "Obsidian Sky," brings everything home. Sprawling riffage like a dense forest of apocalyptic crumble. Desolation takes hold as the molasses drones take shape and form themselves into an unpassable mountain of debris. It's mind-bending and cathartic; a sonic temple crushed to ash so it can rise again. Gärden Sound prove worthy opponents, ably standing on their own and stomping out their own trail toward the stars." - digitalis
******************************************************** Duppy Gun Productions "Multiply/Earth" 12" $13
"The first in a series of new outer orbit dancehall 12-inches recorded in Los Angeles and Portmore, Jamaica by DUPPY GUN PRODUCTIONS (aka CAMERON STALLONES of SUN ARAW and M.G. GENGRAS). Features DAYONE’s cut “Multiply” backed with EARLY ONE’s “Earth.” Includes vocal and instrumental versions of each. Mastered, cut and pressed on 45 rpm vinyl at Capsule Labs, LA. Packaged with a silkscreened poster insert. Another bullet from the Duppy Gun." - duppy gun
******************************************************** High Wolf "Atlas Nation" LP $14
"France’s High Wolf possesses a natural-born ability to zero in on the tones most conducive to inducing transcendental states. Prolific without wearing out his welcome, this guitarist and manipulator of effects boxes looses fervid streams of fever-dreamy drones that suffuse any room they enter with mystery. High Wolf’s tracks carry the uncanny sense of sounding as if they’ve been sluicing since the beginning of time, and that he had the graciousness to siphon them for teasingly brief absorption before they shimmer off to the vanishing point. This elite droneur is one of the few musicians who could title a release A Guide To Healing without it coming off as an ironic gesture or a laughable boast. (Cop that 7” and try not to get a spring in your chakras.)
Atlas Nation—recorded in 2010 after a long trip to India and Nepal—deepens High Wolf’s penetration into the mystic. He evokes an uneasy peace with a new breed of tribal psychedelia shorn of all hokey signifiers. “Fuji Descent” starts the album with what could be a languid, paradisiacal soundtrack to a scrapped Alejandro Jodorowsky film. “The Dawn of Man” is a stark, stoned processional burrowing into malarial climes where guitars squawk in ominous tongues and congas cave in chests and clear brush with a vengeance. “Raagni” magnifies and psychedelicizes Rapoon’s mantric, ritualistic hand-drum patter and tropical-forest drones while hinting at Don Cherry’s jazz-raga peregrinations. High Wolf claims that “Haiti” was “recorded in a couple of hours [on] the day of the big earthquake in Haiti, so it's the darkest/saddest HW track ever.” It’s a fittingly miasmic, climactic threnody.
Think of Atlas Nation as a surreal aural travelogue that takes a giant step beyond Jon Hassell’s Fourth World music—a humid milieu teeming with alien tonalities and oracular currents. It’s as welcome as a new, improved entheogen on the streets. " - holy mountain
******************************************************** James Ferraro "Clear " LP $15 BACK IN STOCK!
""Clear" and "Discovery" were originally released as two companion CDRs by James Ferraro (of the whole Skaters / Lamborghini Crystal / 90120 / Splash / Nirvana axis) and comprise the August 1974 (Taj-Mahal Travellers) of his discography. Both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference Klaus Schulze or Bobby Beausoleil. "Clear" bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while Discovery is comparable to Daft Punk's album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room.
These two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious Giorgio Moroder songs for the upcoming Olympics in Atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from "Revenge of the Nerds"--or is it "Wonderwall"--into a theme for a future ski jump at the Great Pyramids. Are you ready for the lizard people to compete? Now available as mastered vinyl LPs with a digital download." - holy mountain
******************************************************** James Ferraro "Discovery" LP $15 BACK IN STOCK!
""Clear" and "Discovery" were originally released as two companion CDRs by James Ferraro (of the whole Skaters / Lamborghini Crystal / 90120 / Splash / Nirvana axis) and comprise the August 1974 (Taj-Mahal Travellers) of his discography. Both albums contain absolutely beautiful whirling hall-of-knives-style synth drone that makes one want to reference Klaus Schulze or Bobby Beausoleil. "Clear" bursts with flam beats and a cluster of melodies muffled like a calliope wrapped in a soggy tarp, while Discovery is comparable to Daft Punk's album of the same name but played in reverse at 16 rpm through a boombox in a boiler room.
These two records contain the sounds of pulling out with tapping beats of fluid dropped on a soft convertible top (open), much like those fictitious Giorgio Moroder songs for the upcoming Olympics in Atlantis or a reworking of that award-winning song from "Revenge of the Nerds"--or is it "Wonderwall"--into a theme for a future ski jump at the Great Pyramids. Are you ready for the lizard people to compete? Now available as mastered vinyl LPs with a digital download." - holy mountain
******************************************************** James Ferraro "Far Side Virtual" LP $17 (expensive wholesale)
"JAMES FERRARO paints a 21st century still life on his debut album for Hippos In Tanks. The record is called Far Side Virtual. Each song, a melodious reflection of the moment NOW, comes shrink-wrapped in HD fidelity as glossy as a 2012 Toyota Prius. Ferraro’s muse is some enigmatic modern metropolis, where the streets are as slick as iPads, and where the symphonies ring with Macbook message alerts. Through the steam rising from our latte mocha chinos, he invites us to gaze out at the dreamy disorientation of our digital lives. Imagine a Darius Milhuad-guided tour of 5th Avenue. Imagine a Whole Foods bakery that sells only cakes emblazoned with frosting replicas of Camille Pissarro's “Haying at Eragny.” These are the surreal utopias Ferraro brings to life with sixteen swirly-pop concoctions sure to sell out at the candy stores. So slip in your ear buds, and welcome to Far Side Virtual." - hippos in tanks
******************************************************** James Ferraro "On Air" 2xlp $24
"Electrocuted Moon Hair, Cone Headed Space Punks in Fast Forward Neo Tokyo's Virtual Flat Screen Pop Stars, Jetset Tabloids Zebra Print Moon Boats Splattering Ketchup Packets are just some of the themes that pour out of the Musical Imaginarium of JAMES FERRARO’s highly anticipated Fully Restored and Remastered Version of the 2009 Limited Edition CDR Classic On Air, featuring the online hit singles “Cinderella,” “On Air,” “Flashy Kamikaze” and more. Take a electric bite out of the Space Age Glam Sound of Metal Spaz Punks combing their 30 ft Tall Green Mohawks under Saturn's Post-American Desert Skies and find out what happened after MTV laser-ed their logo into the moon. Made available by Underwater Peoples Records, two LPs fully loaded with Pop Art Mania guaranteed to give all the 21st Century Digital Children a fresh breath of Glam Rock Magic! Twenty-five tracks." - underwater peoples
******************************************************** Flower Man "Inversion Fortuite" 1-sided 10" $11
"Chicago-based FLOWER MAN (aka CABOLADIES’ CHRIS BUSH) gives us his latest, an electronic suite weaving motorik vibes into Badalamenti ambience. One-sided 10″ record with silkscreened artwork on the B-side." -Monofonus Press
******************************************************** JOVONTAES "Things Are Different Here" LP $13
"Jovantaes are Lexington, KY. They emerge from (and possibly define) my town's peculiar skate/Kraut/nihil/garage axis, evoking the smell of stale Miller High Life and burning couches: stumbling match-grip surf rolls, howling chorused-out guitar, droning Adderall haze, and a singer who makes Will Shatter sound like Scott Walker. Imagine Moolah playing at a beach party on the edge of the Kentucky River, big gray globs of unidentifiable garbage drifting silently past and the dense wet air becomes gridlocked with mosquitoes"- Trevor Tremaine (Hair Police)
The current line up, and longest running, consists of Mark Murray on guitar and electronics, Reid Small on drums and vocals, and Josh Blaine playing bass and home modified electronics. Recorded mostly at Small's Void Skateshop in Lexington, "Things Are Different Here" is a fresh look at the future of underground improvised music." - hello sunshine
******************************************************** THE POLYPS "Ants On The Golden Cone" LP $13
"Raf Spielman was born and raised on the West Coast. He is active in the fringe music community through his Eggy Records label, and has released music on the Night-People, Digitalis and Not Not Fun labels, among others. After a handful of cassettes and a 7" under the Polyps moniker, this debut LP is his most realized statement to date, having been assembled from a year and half's worth of sound and field recordings. "It's never right, because it doesn't have everything in it," de Kooning. A book of his drawings was recently published by Container Corps Arts Press. " - hello sunshine
******************************************************** Shearing Pinx "Night Danger" LP $13
"Finally! Part two of the SHEARING PINX epic masterwork of scuzz guitar worship. Night Danger drills even deeper into the sonic chasm opened up with Weaponry—abstract visions of punk, noise, and aural violence of all sorts stabbing through the psychic crust. Far underground, the Shearing Pinx once again carve out a brave musical universe to disfigure and rule. Art by RICK WHITE. Co-released with Isolated Now Waves." - divorce
******************************************************** Stellar Om Source "Trilogy Select" LP $16 (expensive wholesale)
"Trilogy Select is the second full-length vinyl LP from Netherlands-based electronic musician CHRISTELLE GUALDI under her STELLAR OM SOURCE moniker. The album consists of a selection of tracks from her CDR trilogy released last year ("Crusader," "Alliance," and "Ocean Woman") hence the title Trilogy Select. It was recorded between 2006 and 2009 in a variety of locations including The Hague, Lisbon, Paris, and New York and features the track "Rites Of Fusion," which is a collaboration with DAN LOPATIN of ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER. The original CDR tracks were re-edited and meticulously sequenced and then remastered by CARL SAFF in Chicago. Packaged in amazing full color high-gloss jackets designed by Christelle along with a double-sided color insert that features the artwork from the original 3-CD set. Also includes a download coupon. " - olde english spelling bee
******************************************************** Tomutonttu s/t LP $20 (expensive wholesale)
"Kemialliset Ystävät member Tomutonttu (Jan Anderzén) goes it alone on this intriguing release. The Ystävät-ness is there, but stripped down to the frame with a minimal synth breeze blowing through it. Beautifully lyrical and layered abstractions combined with a finely hewn composite of experimental dada electronics (ala early Die Todliche Doris or P16.D4). A few little Kraut-isms top off the tonic at no extra charge. “This is the music that the mothership had in the tape deck just before dropping Kemialliset Ystävät off in the 12th century.” Limited to 300 copies on 220 gram vinyl." - beta-lactum ring
******************************************************** Tomutonttu "Elavana Planeetalla" LP $16 (expensive wholesale)
"The second release on MATT MONDANILE’s (REAL ESTATE, DUCKTAILS) just-launched New Images imprint. “JAN ANDERZEN is a Tampere based artist who rearranges images and sounds and makes the music of TOMUTONTTU audible. Read streams, mutilated voices, groovy animal noises and records other people have made are some of the ingredients Anderzen uses to mold his ecstatic music. Someone described it like this: a confusing close-up of music, a microcosmos of strange sound events and dirt flying around in stereo space, interacting with a logic all of their own. Elavana Planeetall is his newest work and his most accessible to date."—New Images. Plays at 45rpm." - new images
******************************************************** MARIA MINERVA "SACRED & PROFANE LOVE" 12" $13
"Producer and chanteuse (and fashion icon and social satirist and heartbreaker) Maria Minerva is the groove-gift that keeps on shimmy-givin.’ Her forth effort this year – after the wildly weird, how-low-fi-can-you-cry ‘Tallinn At Dawn,’ the boy-you-turn-me upside down disco EP ‘Noble Savage,’ AND the salty sweet gauze-ahh strip tease ‘Cabaret Cixous’ – comes just in time for Santa, baby. ‘Sacred and Profane Love’ wraps it up with a bow: drugged-out drag choruses, saucy pans, lines of echo-coke, head-trippy candy flips, layered bangs, crooked hooks, top forty flirting, pop weaseling, sand dune sparkle, dream reels. With a wily wink Minerva serves allusions to the other gay nineties, reminding one of a ‘Post’-era Bjork or a Sampladelic Lady Miss Kier or a Deeper and Deeper Madonna. Sensual in every sense of the word. Maria Minerva just turned it up, so you better bring your M game. * spiced with special guest remix-er Ital’s flamboyant he-gives-me-fever flavor on ‘Luv So Strong.’" -100% Silk
******************************************************** MAGIC TOUCH "I CAN FEEL THE HEAT" 12" $11
"Groove into Magic Touch’s pleasure factory, a floor-to-ceiling inventory of disco-covalence, guitar gush rush, even-better-than-the-real-thing sample soaring, and jumpin’ jackin’ flash. The A side has you feeling the burn after a serious night of get-down. Or tasting the burn after a serious night of get-up. Flip to the B side when you’re looking for love in all the ripe places. A vice is nice, but pills will never thrill you like the sensation of Magic Touch, that feverish fantasia of sweet heat. Let his fingers do the work, let the magic take you away, and please pump up these jams. If only to stop the longing…“I Can Feel The Heat” features bonus shredding by So-Cal amigo Josh Anzano and “Clubhouse” stars additional instrumentation by Miracle Clubber Honey Owens." -100% Silk
******************************************************** INNERGAZE "SHADOW DISCO" 12" $11
"Innergaze your innerself – it’s a Rorshark shock of broken dreams and disco balls, cracked make-up mirrors for lipstick stains and smears, and sugary sweet Tom Collins highballs to spill and then slip on. Innergaze makes dance music to stumble around to, at 3 a.m., when the dry ice is dried out and you can’t find your fur coat. There’s taking candy from a baby and then there’s taking candy-colored cocktails from a stranger who’s dosed you with Innergaze’s bump and fuzz and slo-mo vo-co’s. For writhing on a cold white leather couch in the air-conditioned club. Or for wearin’ white leather and gettin’ way laced. For Brooklyn Babes and Waldorf Astoria Queens and Bushwick Billionaires. Bubbles and trance for the Bridge and Tunnel set. Based on a lifetime of nighttimes, the syrup n’ synth soundstage for romance, tragedy, and a few glassy-eyed, glossy-mag’ed dream sequins. Strictly ballroom, strictly Freudian, and strictly speaking from the Innergaze Shadow Disco: Are you my mother, lover?" -100% Silk
******************************************************** JD EMMANUEL "Trance Formations: Ancient Minimal Meditations" LP $15
"Re-issue of the AMM tape recorded between 1981 and 1985 by JD Emmanuel, a new age composer who has received a lot of praise from people like Lieven Martens and John Olsen. These recordings signify Emmanuel's praise to the course of the day. Starting off slowly, with morning synth meanderings, walking through midday, running in the evening and closing the day with midnight meditation. "Somewhere hidden in the deepest part of the Self is that special place, where One can go within to the most ancient part of one's Self and connect with the origin of Self. Ancien Minimal Meditations reaches into that special place of creation of the Self and its Oneness with the Creator of All." -aguirre
******************************** LIEVEN MARTENS & ADA VAN HOORENBEKE "ETERNAL LANDSCAPES" LP $15
"Collage of continuous sound recordings by Lieven Martens (Dolphins Into The Future). Created for two expo's by Ada Van Hoorebeke and re-worked for release on vinyl in March 2011." -aguirre
******************************** Stellar Om Source "Heartland's Suite LP $15
"LP by Christelle Gualdi which compiles little masterpieces from the same time period when "Trilogy Tapes" was released. With influences ranging from new age to experimental electronic music Christelle creates a wonderful and carefully layered album. After the release of the Trilogy Tapes on Olde English Spelling Bee last year and the Rise In Planes from 2009 this is Stellar Om Source's second third vinyl release to date. More to come!" -aguirre
******************************** EXPO '70 "INAUDIBLE BICOASTAL TRAJECTORY" LP $15
"New LP with two looong Improvised tracks by Justin Wright, recorded during his tour last fall 2010. The A side was recorded at Zebulon Bar, New York with accompanying visuals of the film Fantastic Planet. The B side is a live performance from KJFC in California. Dedicated to the open road and lush landscapes of Earth, you are a great wonder." -aguirre
******************************** Sean McCann "OPEN RESOLVE" LP $15
"We are proud to announce the vinyl release of Sean McCann’s OPEN RESOLVE, a seminal recording of sound collage and experimental synthesizer music from one of the brightest musicians in underground America. “[A] hodgepodge of found and created sounds, swirling into McCann’s black hole at their own leisurely pace. While McCann is quite adept at churning out dynamic textures from more conventional instruments, manipulations such as those on Open Resolve offer an enriching look into his creative process.” - tinymixtapes" -orange milk
******************************** Piper Spray "Omnicron Girls" cassette $6
"Russia’s Piper Spray gives us bizarre electronic cosmic pop. This is experimental stuff when it works on an established and trodden musical realm and subverts from within. -orange milk
******************************** Developer/Henry Dawson split cassette $6
"Henry Dawson’s side is a delicate combination of guitar, sounds layered with subtle harmonies congealing into small pockets of bliss and glitch. Developer’s side is common to Matt’s style (Foot Binder, Yes Collapse, Teeth Collection, etc.) — sounds of unknown origin put into a controlled context, dynamic sounds and noise, never a dull moment." -orange milk
******************************** TRAILBLAZER "S/T" cassette $6
"Following the Lexington, Kentucky thread from the sludgy krautrock of Jovontaes to the effortless pop of Street Gnar led ultimately to the blasted Americana of Trailblazer (Night-People), making a trilogy of work based around the beloved Void Skateshop. Trailblazer belongs to a group of artists like Wet Hair and Dirty Beaches who have turned to the classic records of Suicide as the starting point of their explorations. These musicians place a great deal of emphasis on rhythm, finding beats that cruise into infinity, and use their voices as a foil -- brief words that quickly fade into the distance. American Motorik.
Art by Adam Zeek" -eggy
******************************** POST-MATERIALISTS "LOVE" cassette $6
"The world is a big place and Russia is long way away. Post-Materialists hail from Moscow and their style of fringe music is as far removed from what I'm used to as their location is removed from me geographically. I dig how "classically weird" they sound -- no reverb, very little delay, relatively clean recordings, lots of backwards sounds and an emphasis on odd textures, plain and simple. So if you're concerned about whether the music you listen to sounds "cool" or not, you can skip this one. For real. But if you're ok with things being playful and a little odd, you will get some enjoyment out of this tape. It's definitely out of the ordinary. The singing is in Russian! Art by Sam Gaskin" -eggy
******************************** SKY THING "COOLER HEADS PREVAIL" cassette $6
"In a lot of ways, Cooler Heads Prevail is exactly the kind of tape I like to release on Eggy. Sky Thing's work defies easy categorization and is certainly operating outside the realm of trends. After hearing their tape on Friends and Relatives, I was intrigued by the unique focus on rhythm in their particular style of "drone" music and was happy to have Eggy as a means of furthering the development of their sound. John would send over drafts of the material they where working on and I would email back my thoughts until we arrived at the tape I'm very happy to be releasing now. Cooler Heads Prevail is a thought-provoking document -- the patter of drums becomes texture and overlapping rhythms drift in and out of focus, the recordings are clean and considered, short bursts of sound share space with extended meditations. I am trying to grasp at an easy reference point but am coming up empty handed -- and I am very glad to have it that way. Art by Josh Kermiet" -eggy
******************************** PETE FOSCO "VACATIONLANDED" cassette $6
"While electric guitar mangler / vibe-generator Pete Fosco may call Kentucky home, he is nonetheless a man smitten with Maine. After a trip up the coast to Acadia and Belfast last summer (which included a show with MV & EE and Herbcraft at the now-sadly-defunt Roots & Tendrils), Fosco was so inspired that when he returned home he sat down in front of some warm tubes, strapp’d on a six-string, and let rip on some true Vacationland meditations. What we’ve got here are four extended improvisations/compositions for solo electric guitar, with Fosco bending, growling, coaxing, and summoning tones with fingers, slides, and other mystery implements. The sounds evoke dusty winds streaking across the Desert of Maine, Northern Lights shimmering from atop Cadillac Mountain, and vertiginous views from Pemetic. Sometimes sparse (Fosco is a master at the pregnant pause), sometimes as swirling and dense as a January blizzard, the soundtrack Fosco creates is a heavy homage to the dark mystery and latent wonder of exploration in the Maine wilds. Black shell cassettes with hand-painted and typed labels, held in polybox with full-color, pro-printed insert on vellum, enclosed in a piece of a vintage map of Maine. Limited to 75." -l'animaux tryst field recordings
******************************** PLANETS AROUND THE SUN "WE O WE" cassette $6
"Ditching the domestic life for a stint of wild-abandon nomad drift, Planets Around the Sun departed from Maine in July to unplug and roll on down the line… WE O WE is their parting gift to the musical community that launched them into new orbits. Drawing from every era of the band’s career and pointing forward to new phases, it is a carefully crafted full-length mixtape of past trysts and future haunts. From the opening acousto-electro instrumental shimmer we move to a stretched-out heavy drone-folk version of the classic White Light side “Saraswati”, here completely re-figured with the addition of guest baritone guitar and cello from local duo South China. The Ian Paige solo excursion “Agnes” follows, with drones and steel strings lulling raga moves into your atmosphere; once the tablas and electric guitar hits, you’re halfway between Demolition Derby and Country Stash, truly a vapor to be savored and returned to often. The B-side hits with “We Owe”, a possession-ceremony standard with netherworld vocal chants circling around watery bass wobbles and wah’ed synth stabs. This flows into “May Day” and its extended doom-dub treatment “Version”, moving from Velvety melodic guitar-scorched psych to a half-tempo high-stepping astral-funk groove. But enough about the past. Planets point to their present/future with the closing track, a cracked lo-fi country-folk tune that serves as their on-the-road calling card. Sure to be a counterculture hit in 22nd-Century America. Hand-written (in white paint) cassettes held in a case with full-color pro-printed art, featuring a reproduction of a totally psychedelic needlepoint by Paige’s grandmother. Limited to 75." -l'animaux tryst field recordings
******************************** ALTERED GEE "EUROPEAN GEES" cassette $6
"It may be counter-intuitive to think of “G-funk instrumentals” as a possible product of an icy and blizzed-out Maine winter, but holed up at the House of Hits (aka Hit Factory) in Winter 2011 with an array of analog synths (SEIL OR 400 for the highs, Moog Taurus II for the lows) and hip-hop golden-age drum machines (E-mu SP-1200, Drumulator, and Korg DDD-1), Key Jr. Dee Jay and Slouch formed Altered Gee amid a thick cloud of purple smoke and didn’t stop making hits til the tape ran out. Recorded entirely on 8-track cassette(!), the deep-grooved trunk-rattlers on European Gees ride that line between suave Euro electro-futurism and dank, dirty, post-Zapp R&B boogie and G-funk, all stretched out, heavy-lidded and dazed. Weightless, pitch-shifting, portamentoed synth lines arc over and around each other, anchored by heavy-bounce syrupy-thick bass and Slouch’s ace reverbed-out kick’n’clap beats. This is dance music with runtimes long enough (in the case of “Magnum Opus”, 15+minutes of synth-funk ecstasy) to get lost in the transcendence of the groove. The song titles say it all: “Dowsed”, “Funky Airs”, “I Wanna Lay You Down And Feel You Up”… this is some sexy, fonky shit, ideal for sittin low in your Coupe de Ville and gettin scandalous in some sweaty bedsheets. 69-minute white cassettes with individually-chrome-painted and typewriter-engraved labels, held in a case with full-color pro-printed j-card designed by the band. Limited to 75." -l'animaux tryst field recordings
******************************** RAGS/The Ether Staircase split cassette $6
"Separated at birth, these two projects were bound to meet further down the road and here present an engaging dialogue in sound. On Side A, the inimitable Oakland artist and musician James Seevers under his solo RAGS banner issues a patchwork of melody and noise--clear blasts of interwoven darkness and beauty hold the listener rapt throughout the side-long journey. The Ether Staircase offers a murkier affair on Side B--something is quivering to life beneath the surface of a turbid pond. Edition of 20" -cave recordings
******************************** Traces "s/t" cassette $6
"Little explanation provided, but from the first blasts of feedback it is clear that this tape chronicles bad times, but the initial violence pushes into more introspective moments of tape garble, and found sound.
Edition of 20" -cave recordings
******************************** The Lesser Siren "Rowan Ash" cassette $6
"Evoking excursions into California’s North Coast where the summers pass like forgotten promises, cold and hazy. Occasionally, there is light that filters down through the trees, warming the mulch, prompting the seeds of slow time. Edition of 20" -cave recordings
******************************** Indian Weapons "Trance" cassette $6
Eternal Riders on the Storm, Indian Weapons, concoct a shaman’s brew of spirit world communications and spectral rites of the ancient ones. " -hooker vision
************************ Pierrot Lunaire "Turn Back the Hands of Time" cassette $6
Using saxophone and tape loops, entheogenic explorer, Pierrot Lunaire, unearths and reinterprets the music from some lost hallucinatory civilization. " -hooker vision
************************ MARK BRADLEY 'SPECTRAL ELECTRICITY' cassette $6
"Mark Bradley lets loose an array of synthesizer exploration on Spectral Electricity. A sonic stew of rippling vistas, nightmare windscapes, patient pulses, and flashes of future psych club bounce... a somatic stream of unstable pulsations and cryptic realms will soundtrack your late night/early morning episodes...." -gold timers
************************ Lolly Gesserit "Reinstall Windows" cassette $6
“…Shaping Lolly as a character. I set out to make music and design clothing for an actor to perform without me. The sound took shape quickly, sort of trash art mood music with industrial and dub overtones. … Total fiction, right?” Synth vapor and rhythms chasing back and forth. Tape collage taking center stage. This is a soundtrack for a fucked up alternate universe. Which is a good thing, right?" -beach house
************************ Orbless "Bergamot Sequence" cassette $6
"With ‘Bergamot Sequence’, Orbless presents a suite of three modular arrangments. With each ‘sequence’ presenting a distinct mood, this new release further showcases McKelvey’s unique exploration and compositional techniques lending a distinct voice to the world of contemporary synthesizer music." -beach house
************************ Orbless "Ruin Machine" cassette $6
"Ruin Machine is the third release from Orbless, the solo sonic explorations of Collin McKelvey. Created entirely with modular synthesizers and analog delay and rhythm machine, Ruin Machine takes the listener on a slow journey through deep space. Two side-long tracks usher the listener into a contemplative space where their imagination can bring up a multitude of scenarios. Ruin Machine was created with the idea of the man made objects slowly decaying in orbit around the solar system. " -beach house
************************ Phantom Pains "Obelisk" cassette $6
"Eric Haney of SF has been churning out a steady string of tapes this past year on his Beach House label. Two sides of dark drift, overtaken and swarmed by distant-sounding noise and even more distant chords. This is dark ambient, expanded, without the cringeworthy cultural baggage.
" -monorail trespassing
************************ Polluted Water "Nature Man Woman" cassette $6
"A Side/Nature Man Woman: A fan boat ride through post-meltdown acid pools. Drifting rhythms, decaying beats, and loose connects bubble and feed in the murk like sturgeon mutations.
B Side/Black Creek: Swimming up for breath, we say a prayer through sun burnt tinted lenses. Melting, mercurial and sad, Polluted Water is what we have become." -gold timers
**************************************** Street Gnar "Street Gnar" cassette $6 BACK IN STOCK!
"Totally breezy, effortless pop. You just slip into it like talking to an old friend. This is the latest missive from the Void Skateshop crew who are ripping it up in Kentucky, totally on a roll right now. Check out the Jovontaes tape if you haven't yet. Silk screened covers, pro-dubbed tapes." -eggy
****************************** Watersports "Natural History" double cassette $11
"Watersports is the long running new age duo of Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, who also play together in the band Blues Control. “Natural History” collects tracks from their out of print releases on Not Not Fun, Arbor, White Tapes, Breaking World Records, Hank Recordings, and Ore Records plus a live performance on WFMU. You can think of this as their greatest hits album. Featuring double j card art of Lea and Russ playing for a bunch of dogs and ladies practicing yoga. Pro dubbed and imprinted chrome tapes with mp3 dogload code." -Dog Daze Tapes
*************************************** MARNIE STERN cassette $6
"2006 solo home recordings from the #1 DYI SHREDDER of all time. Different versions of some of these songs ended up on Marnie's 2007 debut In Advance of the Broken Arm.
pro-dubbed and imprinted green cassette includes mp3 dogload." -dog daze
************************* COMOROS "On Abjection" cassette $6
"Comoros are Adam and Jennifer Melinn who run Fedora Corpse Records in Philadelphia. "On Abjection" collects 10 tracks of improvised spaced out Krautrock-styled drone pieces that seem to be culled out of longer improvisational jams. Touches on guitar melodies with synth loops and swooshes sporadically intertwining shifting phases forming washed out drone compositions. Recorded in their basement in Philly, it's hard not to believe these weren't jams from ancient hippy in an underground bunker in Europe. Comoros begain in 2007 and have had an LP and a handful of CDr's as well on their imprint label. " - sonic meditations
************************** Gremlynz “Forgive Me” cassette $6
"Pristine and delicate field recordings on one side, warm analog ebb tides on the other. Beneath it all are intricately woven bass tones, personified as a malevolent omnipresent observer who is always watching, never striking." - different lands
************************** KR Jackson “Linearity Into Obscurity” cassette $6
"Analog electronic music with no jamming or noodling. Just well composed, deftly executed synth music from the purely human perspective. Cold music with warm feel. " - different lands
************************** Madalyn Merkey “Please Don’t Keep Me Waiting” cassette $6 sound sample " - different lands
************************** Cyque-Sage “Woven Hare” cassette $6 Sound Sample 1" - different lands
************************** Rambutan/Cruudeuces Split cassette $6 Sound Sample (Cruudeuces) " - different lands
************************** Wet Hair "Radiant Lines" 7" + art book $15
"Wet Hair heads Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes have been jamming sideways strains of long-lensed electricity music for years now, but their trajectories as visual artists arc back even farther. So after a small infinity of J-cards and zines and LP sleeves designs, it’s a real pleasure to finally be able to present a preferential suite of some of their finest (and, till now, unseen) compositions in a glossy, full-color, pro-printed 22-panel art volume, bookended by a brand new black vinyl 33 RPM single of joyously multi-hued keys/drums merry-go-rounding. “Radiant Lines,” a longtime live favorite. spirals a fuzzy circus organ riff around a splashy-crashy kit pummeling till it dissolves into burbling kaleidoscopic come-down bliss. The B, “Decay,” is more like their songs from the Naked On The Vague split 12”, a slow-motion Suicide-style sweetheart blues trance, buried vocals crooning in a gentle sea of woozy keyboard grooves. A nice warm-up for their upcoming De Stijl full-length and U.S. summer tour with Rene Hell. One-time pressing/printing of 500 copies." -not not fun
*************************************** Dylan Ettinger "Lion Of Judah" 7" $5
"After last year’s New Age Outlaws LP, Bloomington Korg king Dylan Ettinger claimed he was gonna take a break from the robot sleaze/soundtrack-y sprawl style he had been mining for a while and pivot into a new zone. Lion Of Judah is the proof. A cool distillation of old modes and fresh focus, “Lion” slow-rides a deeply low-end syrup throb under a melancholic gauze of melodic synth leads and dubby melodica warblings (courtesy of Drekka), spiked with reverbed echo FX and echo MC vox. A total killer, easy to let roll on repeat. The flip, “Baptism,” stomps with a more brainfried new wave approach, like some rejected Mute Records synth demo from ’81, splatterpainted with outer space oscillations and garbled spoken tongues. Radical alien radio for aliens and radicals. Black vinyl big-hole 45 RPM 7 inches in stark silkscreened recycled sleeves with minimalist faux-Factory design/lettering by Manda Brown, plus a photocopied insert. Edition of 360." -not not fun
*************************************** Weyes Blood "The Outside Room" LP $13
"Natalie Weyes Blood (originally Weyes Bluhd) has existed in the grime-ghost fringe-music catacombs since at least 2006, starting as a conventional folk singer in an unamplified universe, then transforming into a more a crouched/hieroglyphic electronic chasm style, culminating in a European tour with Axolotl. After two seasons of hibernation and a relocation to Baltimore, she materialized her ‘Blood In Bluhd Out’ evolution and began writing/playing the darkly haunted narcotic drifter ballads that make up The Outside Room, her first official full-length. The entire album was recorded, mixed and produced by Mering herself, then mastered by good friend Graham Lambkin. The record has shadows of The Shadow Ring in the oddly creaking ambient sounds and stark, nuanced production, which lend the eerily beautiful neo-Nico death-folk laments a more modern, art-skewed sheen. There’s still echoes of her old drone/tape-ghost-clouds moods on tracks like “In The Isle Of Agnitio” and the long, bells-laden outro to “Romneydale,” but the bulk of the LP is swooning and sweeping, with Natalie’s gorgeous, quasi-Teutonic vox leading the way. A subtly mesmerizing long-player, very “out of time,” and strangely untouched by contempo influences. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with cool screengrab/photocopied artwork by the artist, plus an 11x17 lyric sheet/mini poster. Edition of 480." -not not fun
*************************************** SPECTRUM TICKETS "LAMB PATTERNS" cassette $6
"spectrum tickets, named after a neon sign in the window of ticket town down on 9th street in wilmington, is a solo synth project i've been jamming on for a bit, but never released anything until now. five tracks of arpeggio escalation, cool pulses, and gleaming swells. definitely the most "musical" haley project to date. pro dubbed on chrome tapes. (edition of 57)." -905
*************************************** MEANING "THE BEGINNING IS THE END OF THE BEGINNING OF THE END" cassette $6
"the dayton trio of matt ries (teeth collection), josh fink (plamsmic formations), and eli caudill (original tongue) strut out the bat shit free-imrpov sessions. imagine your upstairs neighbors are pumping a pink floyd vhs bootleg while your downstairs neighbors (who, for whatever reason, are crazy-nervous about earth quakes) are doing another one of their mid-night drills. and while the weirdo dad in 2f is throwing pots and pans at his kids, and sage keeps telling trey to "whoa! whoa! rewind that part one more time!" up in 4f, you're eating cold pizza and smoking resin off of a clothes hanger in 3f. what's it all f'n mean? f'n meaning. (edition of 50))." -905
*************************************** DEREK ROGERS "FROM THE WORLD WE HID" cassette $6
"nobody with a freshly packed brain in their skull is gonna argue with new derek rogers material floating out into the universe, and here we have six new jams to latch onto. from the world we hid is a neurological collection of condensed noise/static crunch that dances with it's optic synth partner. rogers brings a sonic splattering that is both calm and corroding. a perfect numbness with and ardent odor. (edition of 50))." -905
*************************************** DIRTY HOLE "FUDGE BOX" cassette $6
"newish delaware unit dispensing gnarled electronics, flat tire beats, and lo-fi guitar chomps. total technicians of mixing off the wall bonkerness with on the spot, structured brainstorms. it's like living on sesame street, in more ways than one. (edition of 40))." -905
*************************************** ANDREAS BRANDAL "MORE OR LESS" cassette $6
"fairy tale chill-zones from norwegian noise mogul andreas brandal. ten cuts in 49 minutes, fully prepared to shock you into sandstorm state of mind. be sure you got your twilight luggage packed for the diplomatic journey into the center of yourself. (edition of 50))." -905
*************************************** WINTER RITUAL "BETWEEN LIGHT" cassette $6
"four pulsing, warped cuts from max gambill. dude dropped a 25 minute jammer last year on 905 under the name cave. he has since ditched that handle has been recording obtuse brain dwellers as winter ritual, bellowing that bleak muddiness by way of guitar and synth. (edition of 40))." -905
*************************************** CHAPELS "CALL IT KILLING YOU OFF" cassette $6
"If you have ever wondered what it would sound like to sneak into an abandoned Victorian mansion during a blizzard this is it. Translucent voices, bits of metal debris, found sounds and what sounds like some percussion all meld into a collage of frigid archaic beauty. When not running his House of Alchemy label Adam Richards has stayed rather busy the last couple of years maintaining a strong body of work with his Chapels project, creating hauntingly striking sound compositions. Like many Chapels releases the sounds within are opaque and eerie often hard to decipher but I think I like it better that way. " -imminent frequencies
*************************************** Aleph Naught "La Conjuration Sacree" cassette $6
"A beautiful line of distant, sorrowful piano ushers you into a frigid landscape of haunting feedback, somber, reflective drone and electronic tension on "Let the Corpse of Mind Lie Unburied at the Edge of The Great Sea", which manages to pull off a tone of ritualism while still using some abrupt, concrete arrangements. "L'acephale" brings more dark and ancient ambiance that would suit well as a backdrop to sacrifice, the nod to Bataille becoming all the more relevant. Subtle, intellectual, yet intensely dark sounds here. Hailing from the unexpected location of Honduras, and having worked with a solid roster of labels thus far, Aleph Naught finds a welcome home in the Black Horizons Catalogue. Edition of 84 copies, on hi-bias white tapes donated by Mr. Bickel. Full-color 3-panel J-card on metallic vellum. Full cover art here. " -black horizons
*************************************** Six Heads "The Popeye Scat" cassette $6
"This cassette moves with surprising fragility and restraint for a six member experimental project, the sound infected with a surrealist vibe, not too dissimilar to the audio equivalent of a Tanguy painting, or maybe Mlehst on quaaludes. Floating through blue green vapors, only occasionally does concrete reality come to the forefront. Two sidelong tracks filled with alien instrumentation, and title appropriate tape collage. Few releases and some high profile collaborating make this a release to investigate further. Color digital printed three panel transparent j-card, and a one panel unique art for each copy, floating orchids over rainbow blood on gray cardstock. Silver labels, black hi-bias chrome tapes. Edition of 100. " -black horizons
*************************************** Tecumseh "Sea(s)" 12" EP $10
"Tecumseh presents here their second vinyl release for Black Horizons, two concise and highly listenable tracks clocking in at 11:00 and 10:00 minutes for the A and B sides, respectively. The first track starts with singular sub bass, plodding forward in the trademark meditative manner the band has gained a reputation for, fading into the dual guitar attack with a riff that sounds locked into place like a freight train and electronics that are as always subtle and tasteful. On the other side the band moves into some weirder territory, with faint mumbled, almost mechanical and somehow processed vocals, this time giving way to pure minimal drone, accentuated by more window shaking low end. Then suddenly, the riff kicks in, and it is possibly the thickest, most expansive example they have put forth yet, drowning out any sound within it's vicinity, a black hole for anything positive. The rift fades out, and we are left with acid rain electronics, making muddy the charred Earth that remains. Limited to 333 copies in 3-color screen printed sleeves courtesy of Seizure Palace. " -black horizons
*************************************** Arcseconds/Sundrips split cassette $6
"After months of preparation, the c40 split from Berlin-based cosmonaut Arcseconds and Montreal’s dreamiest drone duo Sundrips is ripe for the gripping. With his debut transmission, Arcseconds’ side is a four-song suite on the theme of space crafted from eerie vocal samples, stuttering beats and computers gone haywire. Sundrips fill side 2 with the 18-minute drifter “Soft Span", utilizing their trademark array of cascading synths, time sculpting pedal effects and tickling flickers of guitar scorch, meditating at the temple of Kosmische Musik. Available in a black on black or purple/silver sleeve.“-planet of the tapes
************************ yellow crystal star "rainbow bridge to dream mirror orb" cassette $6
"unrestrained walls of guitar from mark billings. field recordings and guitar
with more collage and straight drone than his previous tape on jugular forest.
hidden mardi-gras energy. this is a different version of mark's upcoming LP on oms-b.
edition of 75 cassettes.“-jugular forest
************************ Nathan McLaughlin "Echolocation #5" cassette $6
"This is Nathan McLaughlin’s latest installment of his Echolocation series. Following releases on Digitalis and Gift Tapes, #5 also continues the organic and thoughtful work of his duo Loud & Sad. Focused around tape loops, layers of delay, and some chordal forms, each piece is meticulously and methodically built, with each sonic element given its due. This sense of pacing and care given to every moment is a crucial element of McLaughlin’s work, and it’s deeply attuned here. The pieces reflect the environment in which they were composed, tight-knit and rural; they mass like storm clouds, and then are barely there, leaving just the fluttering of a distant echo. Stretches of silence, and windblown expanses. Rich chords swell into deeply contemplative passages that are gradually stripped away. A gorgeous, hushed set of tape music.
-Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery and N. McLaughlin, foil stamped on heavy card stock.
-Edition of 100 -Pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with classic Notice attire. " -notice recordings
********************************* Godseye "No More Cake Here" cassette $6
"Godseye (Eden Hemming Rose, Brad Rose, and Nathan Young) continues its work with lush, dark synth textures focused around spoken-word readings. Texts from Natalie Diaz, Edward Kuznetsov, Emma Goldman, and Seth Abramson are read in these four tracks. From the opening words, the intensity present in the slow, even readings and barely concealed chaos is unmistakable. Beneath wells of feedback and roiling synths, occasional bursts of light emerge to complement the distinctive readings. This tape mines beauty in the darkness lurking in all corners. -Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery, foil stamped on heavy card stock.
-Edition of 100 -Pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with classic Notice attire." -notice recordings
********************************* Red Electric Rainbow "Sky Underneath" cassette $6
"Full omnipresent aerial convergence throughout and within the skies below and above, from Dan Smith's prolific Red Electric Rainbow project. Dan kicks out the lengthy synth pieces that are his trademark — sparkling, simultaneously dense and airy, familiar and mysterious. -Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery. Foil stamped on heavy stock. -Edition of 45 -Pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with classic Notice attire." -notice recordings
********************************* Yellow Crystal Star "Pathway To Celestial Towers" cassette $6
"The old wisdom is still here ; music is a bridge to timeless realities. This cassette was conceived not as the music of Yellow Crystal Star, but as a manifestation to point the way while being in transition. It is not intended to be a personal or emotional expression." Recorded while in Thailand.
-Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery, photograph by Mark Billings. 2-colour foil stamped on heavy stock.
-Edition of 45 -Pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with classic Notice attire." -notice recordings
********************************* The North Sea "Relinquished Sparks" cassette $6
"The North Sea presented here as more minimal and delicate, yet maintaining a great degree of intensity and grace. Sparks fly forth in slow motion, their ephemeral luminescence dependent upon the surrounding darkness, gradually landing on new grounds.
-Pro-dubbed, imprinted tapes.
-Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery, foil stamped in either black or white on graphite-gray weave stock.
-Edition of 50 : 25 in Black, 52 in White." -notice recordings
********************************* tobin's spirit guide "homesick" cassette $6
"nick from sundrips resurrects his tobin's spirit guide project with a collection of short pieces for processed guitar, combining simple melodies with heavy doses of reverb. music to sleepwalk to. edition of 60, pro-printed and pro-dubbed cassettes..." -fadeaway
********************************* J. HANSON "NEW RUINED MAPS" cassette $6
"Over the past few years, Portland resident Josh Hanson has developed his own completely unique voice, crafting beautiful music with a Blacet modular synthesizer and tape loops. Josh Hanson follows up last year’s Gift Tapes release with his latest album, New Ruined Maps (Collected 2009-2010), is a collection of compositional ideas wound together to form unfamiliar terrestrial landscapes that feel as futuristic as they do ancient. Taking inspiration from '70s synth music and ethnic musics, New Ruined Maps travels through melodic passages, soft timbres and moments of complex rhythmic patterns like a lucid dream. Captured in pristine fidelity and professionally mastered to tape by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Sound." -draft
*********************************** JOEL BRINDEFALK "A ROUGH PATCH" cassette $6
"Swedish composer Joel Brindefalk has been working in the realm of electronic music since the early 90’s, creating techno, sound art and electroacoustic music. Among the many aliases he has operated under over the years, his early techno project Ü and more recent cutup noise collage works as C.P.U. (Contemporary Punk Unit) are often cited as some of his best work, released on labels such as Börft and Ideal Recordings. He is currently focused on creating computer music, sound art and installation while pursing an MFA at the Gothenburg University. Brindefalk’s recent explorations in the areas of generative music have yielded his beautiful new work, A Rough Patch. Created with an extensive MAX/MSP patch while under the influence of painkillers (prescribed for back pain), Brindefalk has woven gestural fields of electricity into a rich sonic environment. Heavy arcs of gray matter resonance cut through the icy freeze-frame reverberations of an abandoned warehouse. This is music for collapsing concrete structures, a wholly original vision and fresh approach to computer music.." -draft
*********************************** KPLR "VOLTAIC FITS" cassette $6
"KPLR takes synth music and electronics to a new extreme. This San Francisco based duo blends analog electronics with digital processing to create an odd cutup of semi-random, sometimes harsh, particles of sound. KPLR ventures into cold, uninhabited, automated realms that seem to shift focus from one second to the next. Voltaic Fits moves like a free jazz drummer at maximum speed, but sounds like a computer OD'n on amperes. KPLR (pronounced Kepler after the Kepler Mission) is Dexter Brightman and Jair Espinoza.." -draft
*********************************** A. DILLER "STILL LIFE" cassette $6
"Still Life is an outsider's sampling of half forgotten urban environments, cracked electronic soundscapes that form abandoned cities replete with radioactive fallout. Brooklyn-based Adam Diller leans toward his more experimental side, creating his first cassette release from a variety of sound sources: field recordings, synth, electric piano & sampling keyboards. Layered synth passages, textures, and melodies seamlessly mix, often making it difficult to distinguish the source. The result is a truly innovative soundscape work.
Diller's diverse background consists of free improvised music (BNSF on Locust), ultra minimal acoustic improv (Doublends Vert on Line/12K), deformed free jazz/hip hop fusion ($.99 Dreams, self-released CDs & LPs), and audio production.." -draft
*********************************** FRAK "DRY VANADIS/TOURNAMENT CITY" cassette $6
"Swedish electronic music project FRAK has been releasing experimental music since 1987. Back then, their first release jump started Börft Records, initiated by Jan Svensson. Twenty-three years later, in homage to Börft, FRAK's most recent release launches DRAFT.
Bouncing back and forth between techno, electro, and sound collage, FRAK approaches dance music from an alien perspective. As experimentalists and DJs in their own right, FRAK tends to teeter on the edge between minimal beat driven music and frenetic tendencies often associated with noise music.
Essentially two tapes in one, FRAK offers up a tape of underground, schizoid dance music, produced by the classic FRAK lineup: Birre, Zwarre and Sture. Keeping true to the DIY tradition of recording to 4-track, FRAK's tape is a hybrid of analog and digital recording: side A's Dry Vanadis was recorded to a 4-track analog cassette recorder, while side B's Tournament City was recorded to a 4-track digital recorder.." -draft
*********************************** summerTales / Knit Prism split cassette $7
"Last year a rather strange tape by Sicilian group Armali Lari surfaced on Stunned (later re-issued on A Beard of Snails), and the response to it was a bit surprising considering it was a debut release. Simply, many of you wanted to hear even more of this unabashedly fun eye-tied weirdness. summerTales comes very near to fulfilling that wish, as it shares Armali Lari’s primary member Nicola Giunta, whose repertoire of effects will be familiar to fans of ‘Ma tu la pasta la vò?’. Here, Nicola is joined by sound artist Guido Broglio, and the two drive summerTales away from the free-electro-spazz of Armali Lari and closer toward head-nodding island dub loops and fractured melodies drifting in on ocean breeze. Not without its own challenging internal logic, it keeps a distinct levity that we’ve come to appreciate not only from Nicola’s work, but from the contemporary Italian improv underground in general. After this engrossing first side, we are greeted by Knit Prism, who needs little introduction for anyone keeping abreast with current cassette culture. The naturescape/ambient dreamchild of Canada’s Mike Pouw (proprietor of the House of Sun imprint), Knit Prism is a consistently refreshing project — poignant with its calming way of drawing in the carefree listener. It’s the kind of soundtrack we want handy for thawing by a fire after a hard day’s work, or for those lazy weekend sunrises we just don’t want to forget. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c56 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.“ -stunned
************************ yellow crystal star "rainbow bridge to dream mirror orb" cassette $6
"unrestrained walls of guitar from mark billings. field recordings and guitar with more collage and straight drone than his previous tape on jugular forest. hidden mardi-gras energy. this is a different version of mark's upcoming LP on oms-b. edition of 75 cassettes. “-jugular forest
************************ sir isaf gul s/t cassette $6
"Deranged free improvisations for homemade 4 stringed guitar and voice.
B.B. (of Styrofoam Duck, Free Boys) plugged in, hit record and went totally ape-shit bonkers. Circular uber skronk anti-riffs and garbled stream of consciousness shrieking. Dark catharsis for isolation tanks. Black out the windows baby, I think I'm gonna puke. These bizarre solo recordings were originally self-released as a ridiculously limited cassette (...like 10 copies?) and absolutely deserve to be bounced off a few more foreheads. Deeply strange freak-fest, indeed. Bizarre falsetto screeching and tourette's syndrome growls over de-tuned string torture and distinct non-structures. Sounds for the nuclear age, and strictly off the cuff. New artwork this time around with all tracks freshly mixed and mastered for the ultimate Isaf-fidelity. Made newly available in time for the greatly anticipated "Free Boys" appearance at the upcoming "Heavy Focus" festival in Minneapolis, MN. Real time duplicated black shell cassette with bright ocean blue labels comes packaged with fold out double sided cardstock J-card. Artwork features an evocative full color photograph by Paul Borman portraying the good Sir himself crawling on the floor wearing his Janet Reno outfit and digging through a half empty refrigerator. Classic. After a recent solo performance in NC, a random gentleman from the audience commented, "What you just did, what I just saw, was quite possibly the worst thing that I have seen in my entire life". He must be doing something right. Don't sleep on this one. “-lighten up sounds
************************ john zuma st. pelvyn "Ampex, Stolaroff, Dogwood, Rain" cassette $6
"Third eye guitar/theremin/feedback transcendentalism. A delicate balance of lovely and bizarre finger-picking mixed with theremin whine, whammy bar wobble, dense swirling feedback drones and belching electronics. Three amazing tracks of solo bliss sessions for six string and electronics. Visionary and truly beautiful work from this awesome contemporary player. Stunningly emotional and visceral playing that evokes serene pastural landscapes as filtered through lens-flares and blinding white light. Masterfully recorded in Oakland, CA 2010-2011 by friend and collaborator Peter Conheim (of Negativland and Neung Phak). Real time duplicated clear shell cassette with printed and stenciled labels comes beautifully packaged in a deluxe oversized clear vinyl album with double sided full color artwork, and a 4"x 6"sealed plastic bag containing a small handful of wood shavings and a hand numbered vellum insert. This is essential listening for the upcoming seasonal emergence from our bleak winter hibernation chambers.
Highest possible recommendation!“-lighten up sounds
************************ The Alters "Blue Hole"cassette $6
"Cosmonaut snake charmer reed/synth/electronics freak-ness from KC. Not entirely unlike MRP on PCP w/ a zurna firmly clenched in jaws. Strangeness projects into the stratosphere, and everyone dreams about their teeth falling out. On their previous cassette "Apples of Gold", The Alters brought to mind a massively psychedelic early organic Residents vibe, reciting disturbing excerpts of Grimm's Fairy Tales as interpreted by damaged space cadets. Helmets intact, on these jams they strap in and strip down to the essential duo form and deliver aquatic wake-and-bake groovers. Clarinet / synth workouts for underwater hibernation rituals. Real time duplicated clear cassette with full color lacquer sealed labels comes packaged with matching full color double sided fold out cardstock J-card in a clear Norelco case.
The porthole is fogging up kiddies, and the sonar is on the fritz. “-lighten up sounds
************************ andreas brandal "Autumn Drama" cassette $6
"Dense yet spacious slow drift / scrape abrasions from Norway. The heavy pound of blood in your ears. Circular and beautiful noise from the contemporary sound-smith behind the harsh "Flesh Coffin" project, and with an impressive back catalog of solo releases on such small independent labels as Rotifer, Stunned, Tape Drift, Small Doses, Sweat Lodge Guru and 2AM. Brandal delivers clear howling tones and mechanical clatter amidst thick looping throbs. A sense of dread and serenity hangs in the air of these strange industrial soundscapes. Buried melodies and bass plunks lurk behind heady drones, scratchy abrasions and heavily rhythmic crackling. Lighten Up Sounds is proud to make these remarkable recordings now available for your very own personal psychic sauna. Clear shell with dirt orange and brown labels comes packaged with a full color fold out double sided cardstock J-card in a clear Norelco case. A warm journey for a frozen head.“-lighten up sounds
************************ GAY BEAST "To Smithereens" LP $10
Gay Beast formed mid-2005 during a fit of anxiety towards Midwestern passive aggression and as an attempt to make music that was queer in composition and aesthetic. Wielding a battery of drums, scraped and hammered guitars, chanted vocals, retro-future synths, saxophone, and other electronics, the trio (Angela Gerend, Daniel Luedtke, Isaac Rotto) build songs on grounds that adjoin complexity and catchiness, a space where both abrasion and tunefulness inhabit. With releases on DNT, Gilgongo, and Skin Graft, Gay Beast have garnered a reputation for uniqueness on the rock fringe, their sound being both too weird for the stereotype of a “gay band” and “too gay” for the noise-rock set. Upon examination of the influence blender, one finds remnants of Devo, Captain Beefheart, equatorial pop-rock from the 60s and 70s, no wave, and feminist theory. This concoction, delivered via Gay Beast’s unique political approach to composition, is explored heavily on their third album “To Smithereens”, appearing on Skin Graft Records. “-skingraft
************************ ARAB ON RADAR "Soak The Saddle" LP $10
"Arab On Radar were one of those rare groups to rise out of the muck of '90s post-Grunge with a unique sound and presentation. They were equal parts simian punk rock (complete with demented ass-touching and other monkey-like rituals) and cutting-edge psychedelia (the band mapped out a new synaethesial frontier that Frank Zappa or Faust would no doubt have been eager to explore). “-skingraft
************************ MADE IN MEXICO "Guerillaton" diecut gatefold LP $10
Short description: Providence-based No Wave influenced punk, combined with Reggaeton sounds.... Like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks mixed with Calle 13, or Daddy Yankee. Post-Punk with a Dem Bow beat, and a revolutionary flavor… the soundtrack to Simon Bolivar’s march through The Americas.
includes former members of La Machine, and Arab On Radar. Guerillaton is the highly anticipated follow up to MADE IN MEXICO's debut LP "Zodiac Zoo". Available on compact disc and as a limited edition Diecut Gatefold Vinyl LP. “-skingraft
************************ GAY BEAST "Charm" 7" $5
"Charm" and "We Keep Our Victims Ready". Gay Beast's first new studio recordings since the release of their acclaimed "Second Wave" album. Previously only-available on tour, each copy sports hand silk-screened covers. “-skingraft
************************ AIDS WOLF "Dustin' Off The Sphynx" 7" $5
"At the farthest reaches of modernity, we still somehow pine for an aesthetic that borders on sociopathy. The badass has long brought this aesthetic principle forward, but barely manages to deliver it to us here in the 21st century. The badass, though common in the vernacular, hyperbolically applied wherever, has sadly gone the way of the fucking chucking spear. Clearly a distinction is necessary to distinguish real badassery from its overuse in language today if there is any hope of salvaging this treasured relic of our cultural past.
Badassery cannot be separated from its roots in death, the overriding theme (aesthetically and politically) of the 20th century. Badass simply cannot describe goofball sneakers, a kid in a Michael Jackson video, or scroungy hobo jammers living in an abandoned water tank. Because badassery, like Annie Oakley's nightly routine, requires a delicate precision - predicated on getting the danger on “-skingraft
************************ The Ether Staircase "Medicnoid" cassette $6
"Late night swatches of guitar and keys stitched together in dream logic" -cave recordings
**************** The Lesser Siren "Clouds in Static Pools" cassette $6
"Guitar and tapes dredge up a child's sense of the sublime: The vast echoes of a museum. Trails forever forking in dirt lots. Vast storms in mud puddles" -cave recordings
**************** Hoefizer & Quilt split cassette $6
"Our first release is Hoefizer (David Mitchell) from Montreal. 3 tracks of bass loops and drone. Quilt is Seth Graham from Brooklyn. 4 Tracks of relentless oscillation, filters, sounds, random notes and over all feeling of schizophrenia. This split plays like a full record when listened to all the way through." -orange milk
******************* Pregnant Spore "Letting Go Isn't Living With The Heartache-filled Dreams Of What Might Have Been" cassette $6
"I rarely contribute to or put out tapes this long. However, the approach I wanted to take toward this recording specifically called for length. This tape is centered around the painstakingly slow process of having no choice but to mentally let go of something held dear. One of the elements of healthily coping with loss is to accept what is not in one's power to change. To manifest this concept audibly, I decided to let the instruments play themselves while I stepped back and "accepted" what I was hearing. Before recording, I routed and tweaked electronics so that there would be constant, out-of-sync, mysterious, apparent audible movement when initiated; oscillation and waveforms soaring against and within each other at a sluggish rate. Although I feel that these recordings could have been better composed and more dynamic, I let things operate naturally in order stay true to the concept. What you will hear on this tape is a form of nature uniquely taking it's course. Soft poly cases. J-cards are hand-cut from Martha Stewart signature card stock, hand-stamped with a rainbow ink pad, hand-painted with neon orange and yellow fabric paint and hand-stamped with psychedelic duct tape. Includes hand-numbered liner notes. Each j-card is unique. Limited to 14." -rainbow bridge
******************* Andrew Coltrane "Persuasion" cassette $6
"Andrew Coltrane is at it yet again. This is probably his millionth tape release, but it is the first one on Rainbow Bridge. Junk noise, synth disgust and programmed "drums," all completely saturated, concluded with a surprise sound clip at the end. This tape drones but it's never uninteresting and is always unrelentingly harsh. Bright yellow tapes with pink, hand-painted labels and full-color inserts. Limited to 41." -rainbow bridge
******************* Millions "Goldmouth " cassette $6
"Dave Suss, from NYC, delivers the goods on this tape, using minimalist means to construct two towering sides of stunningly heavy drone. Majestic and beautiful in scope, these are reminiscent of the best of Campbell Kneale's BCM work, and astound with their multiple layers and levels of nuance. Suss is a master of his trade, and time suspends itself over and over again while his tapes are in the deck. Blurry and noisy soundscapes that traffic in razor sharp detail. This is his best yet, and it's a massive winner." -tape drift
******************* M. Geddes Gengras "Aural Mimesis" cassette $6
"You may know him as half of the Antique Brothers, a quarter of Pocahaunted, or a third of Robedoor, but however you slice things up, they're always better when Ged's involved. Following great releases on Stunned and Digitalis, this tape is the heaviest and most fully realized piece of music Ged has made yet. Topping all expectations by a few thousand miles, We have yet to hear a better record this year. Ged works an alchemical magic here, using modular synth and more traditional instruments to carry us to dizzying new levels of bliss. Undeniably heavy and dark, but also subtle, melodic, and sonically rich. Two complex 30-minute pieces designed for maximum hypnosis that will have you addicted in no time flat. Essential in every sense. Edition of 100, pro-dubbed on purple cassettes. " -tape drift
******************* Ophibre/Katchmare "Divided Transmissions" cassette $6
"A perfectly matched split tape. First side is Ophibre from Boston. Usually known for his buzzing drone masterpieces, this one delves more into the electroacoustic vein, and finds rich treasures there. A live performance entitled "rowboat for laptop", it's a very very compelling listen, accumulating power as it goes along to its final conclusion. Second side is Katchmare, solo project of Nick Hoffman from Normal, Illinois. Anything but normal, this is a beautiful set of ghostly tones, haunted space, and electroacoustic invention. Very minimal yet very addictive." -tape drift
******************* Locrian/Century Plants split LP $12
"Tape Drift’s first excursion into vinyl presents this massive split LP from two duos, one from Chicago, one upstate New York. These groups have been honing their unique and personal brands of sound for years, and both approach the task in similar ways, drawing equally from noise, drone, psych, kraut, minimalism, and metal influences. Each band offers up their best recorded work yet here, raising the stakes another huge notch. The Locrian side demonstrates their phenomenal range, and beautifully adds to their well established oeuvre with new and complex elements. Century Plants make their first appearance on wax, and show how far they’ve progressed in a few short years, bringing two subtly dark tracks that build in intensity. A slow burner, this LP is the rare split that sounds like a unified whole, and the pairing makes perfect sense. Intense building waves of sound, dense drones, feedback, power electronics, noise, psychedelic guitars, swirling synths and vox are all in the mix in ways only these two bands could pull off. A dark, dense, and ominous record, Dissolvers is also deeply cloaked in mystery and spaciousness. Mastered by James Plotkin for maximum heavy spectral sound, this is a must own record for noise, drone, psych, and metal heads alike. With design by Terence Hannum of Locrian, and art by Scott Treleaven, the LP is packaged in a black jacket with silkscreened silver leaf ink, and a special double-sided color insert. " -tape drift
******************* Sadistic Candle cassette $8 (high wholesale cost)
SADISTIC CANDLE is straight from the heart of a man, broadcast from an expanse of quilted bedroom somewhere deep in Los Angeles, fueled with the dust hanging motionless in window-light over a stack of Hawkwind LPs, made crooked by the pure-hearted trickster, sighing with troubadour spirit, revealed with a 4-track. A statement of purpose.*member of sun araw/magic lantern* " -sun ark editions
********************************************* Red Electric Rainbow / Reptile Brain split cassette $7 (irish import)
"Nearly 30 minutes of that fingersmith action! Chicago's 21st century facemelter Neon Blossom main 'the man', Dan Smith, meets Dublins 18th century fancy boy Dandrew Dogarty. Produped, c30s" -munitions family
********************************************* Paul Vogel "Godwit Songs" cassette $7 (irish import)
"You may know him from euroboys, Chipshopmusic or 2009's Phil Durrant, Lee Patterson, Paul Vogel - Buoy but if you don't, let me introduce Dublin's monster of microsound, the lord of lowercase, PAUL VOGEL! (crowd goes wild)
Making his munfam debut with some Messaienic songs about the GODWIT! Poo-tee-weet? Poo-tee-weet?
Paul Vogel is an improviser based in Ireland. His original instruments were piano and clarinet, but in recent years, he has incorporated electronics into his set up. He was a member of the Bristol Musicians Co-op in the late seventies and is currently co-curator (with David Lacey) of i-and-e, an organisation which promotes improvised and
contemporary music in Dublin. He has composed music for radio and contemporary dance groups and has worked with Phil Durrant, Angharad Davies, Lee Patterson, Keith Rowe, David Lacey, Toshi Nakamura and Mark Wastell, amongst others. He has released recordings on Cathnor, Confront and Homefront." -munitions family
********************************************* Sindre Bjerga "Portals of Eternal Sustain" cassette $6
"Cloaked in a shroud of darkness, these two live performances from Norwegian recording artist, Sindre Bjerga, document deep, meditative drones from the icy north. " -hooker vision
********************************************* JON SCOTT DENNIS/FIBROUS BLONDE "MEDICINE MEN" split cassette $6
"The newest addition to the Early Morning archives has emerged. Over forty minutes of introspection and expansion captured on cassette tape. The first side is from EM newcomer Jon Scott Dennis, when i first heard these tracks i was utterly blown away by the sparse and compelling sounds coming from this guy. These tracks play like a bleak landscape from an old western film, terrestrial sounds and textures invoking the loneliness and subtle hallucinations of a peyote healer wandering the desert. Fibrous Blonde is the reincarnation of the fading project Guyute, and the sidelong track presented here is a transition from a visceral world of humoral imbalances to cerebral atmospherics washed in hermetic imagery. Oversized J-cards and full color inserts featuring artwork by Fibrous Blonde, on clear c44's." -early mourning recordings
********************************************* DIM DUSK MOVING GLOOM "SUMMER LABIUM" cassette $6
"First up, I'm proud to add Dim Dusk Moving Gloom to the EMR menagerie. Rising from the ashes of Rainbow Bridge guru's eclectic Sensible Nectar project, Dim Dusk Moving Gloom shakes off the skin of it's previous form, and presents "Summer Labium", a ground shaking onslaught of texture and sound. Two sides of hidden calm amongst utter brutality, this tape will show you that rolling heads don't shrink. Clear blue c38's, Lady Death card-stock j-cards and hand stamped labels." -early mourning recordings
********************************************* JIVAS - "SKYBURIAL" cassette $6
"Next is a long awaited tape "Skyburial" from Jivas, a two piece inspired by Jain and Hindu mysticism. The tape was originally made in an edition of 10 for a show with All Tiny Creatures, but the record deserved a proper release. Side A features two untitled pieces, both swirling meshes of electronics and minimal synth work with tinges of tape loops and processed oscillator grit. Side B is "Skyburial", a two movement concept piece reflecting the ritual dissesction funerals of Tibet. Opening with the thunderous and ugly sounds of decay and Prometheus style vulture picking, the piece evolves into a blissed out transcendence of corporeal form. White c37's, card-stock j-cards, and hand painted labels. " -early mourning recordings
********************************************* Guyute/Terrortank - "Severed Sons" split cassette $6
"Odd sounds for your future from early mourning. Edition of 40 clear black tapes, double-sided card stock inserts, and hand stamped labels." -early mourning recordings
********************************************* Headboggle "Dual Phaser" cassette $6
"California's Derek Gedalecia has been on a serious bender of putting out some insane sounding analog jams. This is album is another incredible offering of that. When your gear list reads "EMS, Moog & Wiard Synths," it is clear you are not fucking around. Spine shattering analog sounds vomit through the speakers in controlled chaos. Limited to 100 copies on clear cassettes with a blue shell insert and full color J-Card." -hyperdelic
***************************************** Netherfriends "Alap" cassette $6
"Chicago's Shawn Rosenblatts Netherfriends project has been touring this great country of ours almost non-stop for as long as I have know him. Stopping back in Chicago only briefly, he managed to take a break from his 50 Songs in States concept to make an album of heavy drones and sonic architecture. Recorded in seven days, these seven tracks are filled with polyphonic keys, shimmering guitars, piano trills, and quiet chirps to make for a relaxing listen. This is a huge departure from most Netherfriends albums, leaving the pop at Pitchfork Fest and coming out for an new-age bullshit night at your local DIY loft space. Limited to 75 copies on clear cassettes with a smoke shell insert and full color J-Card. Also, comes with an additional insert with art by the artist." -hyperdelic
***************************************** nonhorse "winters grip" cassette $6
"Nonhorse is the tape collage project of Brooklyn's G. Lucas Crane (Woods, Vanishing Voice). Bringing a multi-mix of found sounds, effects, and nostalgic psych to the forefront of this project, Nonhorse can do no wrong. This cassette in quivering and blinding. Limited to 75 copies." -neon blossom
***************************************** The Haters "Sonic Hair Ice To Go" cassette $6
"I am pleased to bring a tape by noise lords The Haters. This tape is great blend of mayhem, hate, pain, and beauty. It sounds like a pillow fight using trash cans in a dark alley. But it is still very fun. Its a party I wish I was invited to. Dont miss out. Full color J-Card with a white shell on Chrome." -neon blossom
***************************************** coventry music "sewer wisdom" cassette $6
"Scattered notes, fragmented, circulate around this auditory eddy. Amidst the sooty turbid sounds, a repetitive astral lariat presents itself, at first close and then far off, pulling itself in towards the listeners and then drifting away again. ltd. 100, art by adam. " -sacred phrases
***************************************** Dry Valleys "Aqua Aura" cassette $6
"Digging deeper into hidden colors, Dry Valleys discovers a mysterious new world and sets it adrift inside a bubble of light." -hooker vision
***************************************** L.R. Padgett "Embossed Earth" cassette $6
"The sound of prepared tapes dissolving into thick textural drones. Recorded & compiled by Loyd
Padgett (Defenestrated Records) summer 2010.
Screened Art. Edition of 50." -throne heap
***************************************************** Endless Time "Escape" cassette $6
"Intense TERROR drones and galloping oscillators overtake you in the venomous forest. Hope for
ESCAPE, but prepare to SURRENDER!
Screened Art. Edition of 50. " -throne heap
***************************************************** Shep and Me / Tracey Trance split cassette $6
"Psych-folk troubadour and Minnesota viking Matthew Himes opens up with some drifting ditties and outer world caterwauling (and even a Throbbing Gristle cover), and Tracey gathers a band on the B side, a quartet of Bloomington heavy-hitters covering the roamin’ gnome’s greatest hits. Edition of 100, labels are hand-painted with coffee! "-faux-pas records
************************************** Color Zoning "A Series of Seriously Flawed Landscapes” cassette $6
"New Delaware synth/bass duo of Andy Lees and Mike Haley (Wether) craft an immersing debut cassette. Phased spaces and chattering rhythms grounded by rumbling bass swells and drones. Deep oceanic explorations on distant planets. Pro dubbed chrome tapes. Limited to 50 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Death In Death Valley "Fossil” cassette $6
"Olivier Dumont and Nicolas Thirion craft a meticulously focused tour de force on Fossil. Hailing from France, this duo achieves masterful results through the use of unnamed objects and live data processing. Textures abound in a tangible framework, painting vivid abstract pictures of mechanical collapse. Stunning. Pro dubbed chrome tapes. Limited to 50 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Chefkirk + Staplerfahrer "Crystal Memory Shreds” cassette $6
"Live collaboration between Roger H. Smith (Chefkirk) and Steffan de Turck (Staplerfahrer) recorded in Tilburg in March of 2010. Hypnotic murmuring rhythms, caustic metallic blasts , and wavering drones all meld together beautifully in a raw room mic’d audio document. Pro dubbed chrome tapes. Limited to 50 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Winter Ritual + Vales split cassette $6
"Delawarean Max Gambill, formerly known as “Cave” tries on his new moniker “Winter Ritual” with this debut track of bottom end scuzz warble. The tape sounds like its going to vibrate off of the spool, but I’m pretty sure it won’t. (No refunds if it does). Vales tries some blustery cold modular synth caroling on the B side. Melodic drone ghosts haunting the neighborhood. Pro dubbed chrome tapes. Limited to 50 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Wether+Vales+Roped Off "Pure Isolation” cassette $6
"Wether crafts a 12 minute ascent into cosmic dirt while Vales riffs on a box of imported Arturo Fuentes and stock animal sounds; dripping red smoke and gold tokens. The two combine as Roped Off for a 30 minute no-edit jam session between a few brewskis and some god-awful Chinese food. Limited to 45 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Joe Breitenbach "Outlander” cassette $6
"Those who aren’t familiar with Joe Breitenbach’s work really should be. No matter what name he’s releasing under (Methadrone, Gallows, and my sources tell me he’s got another few hidden up his sleeve) his releases are consistantly great; this tape being no exception. Side A is a gorgeous white powdery textured drifter decorated with christmas light synth patterns. Side B is wet black muck washed down with a bubbly orange soda. Limited to 50 copies." -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* VALES "Sighting/Desert Surgery” cassette $6
"Low end synthy arpeggios, airy atmospherics, tense and sharp feedback swells. This is what happens when you play in the corn. Limited to 20 copies. " -2:00AM tapes
******************************************* Roped Off "Blows Glass In Space/Discovers A New Angle" cassette $6
"Forces to be reckoned with in their own right as farmers of prime Delaware sound crop, Mike Haley (Wether, 905 Tapes) and Dave Doyen (2:00AM Tapes, Vales) tag team a set of bent synthesizers on this c40, bringing their new duo Roped Off into snarling maturity. We presume that blowing glass in space leads one to smoke something especially dank out of that glass in space. Let’s further assume that the discovery of a new angle was not only novel, but an inevitable consequence of these actions. No matter how it’s sliced, or slices through the listener, it’s an entirely unpredictable ride in the opposite direction of a safe synth reality. These boyz mean biz. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert." -stunned
******************************************* Sound Out Light "Ornamental Skies" cassette $6
"Transmissions from distant planes pulse, transferring energy, propagating their call, inviting all who hear to join on their total journey into other realms. ltd. 100" -sacred phases
******************************************* M. Geddes Gengras "This Could Be the Last Time" cassette $7
"You’re only a moment from pressing play on M. Geddes Gengras’ newest cassette, but nothing can prepare you for the irresistibly lush world that awaits you on the other side of such a simple action. ‘This Could Be the Last Time’ features star-guided tones of gold, silver, and crystal orbiting each other in pure moog magnetism – startling proof of MGG’s commitment to draw listeners to ever-higher elevations of body and mind. A fascinating stage of this maestro’s unfolding synthesizer odyssey. Special edition of 222 pro-dubbed & imprinted c69 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert." -stunned
******************************************************** Afterlife "Hypnautic Rinse" cassette $7
"Yes, the blood-brain barrier has been penetrated. Relax. It’s the Afterlife kicking in. Though familiar to many of us, this particular strain produced by the Teagle/McGill duo is a most potent dose. Patiently drawing us far from the shoreline for its first few minutes, soon we are enveloped in a powerful scalar field where beautiful synth alchemy is being conducted. Everything is jettisoned except for the most medicinal bits, concentrated here in this essential half-hour of analog bliss. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes w/ double-sided color jcard." -stunned
******************************************************** Parashi "Troika" cassette $7
"Using guitar, synthesizers, metal objects, pieces of wood, kalimba and contact mics, Parashi summons eerie shadows and drops anchor in the underworld. Here, crumbling circuitry hums alongside lone wolf cries and whispers from subterranean ruins. With masterful focus and deliberation, ‘Troika’ finds New York’s Parashi in top form after an impressive three album run-up on his home label Skell LLC. Few are willing to align their ship straight into the gritty unknown, but Parashi does just that with an array of entropic frequencies as his travel companions. When the hammer comes down during Side B’s 18-minute long apex, watch for the white-hot sparks emitting from your electronics. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c54 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert." -stunned
******************************************************** Garrincha & The Stolen Elk "We Were Wyoming" cassette $7
"Following up their recent 905 Tapes burner, Garrincha & The Stolen Elk’s members Davy Bui (Weird Forest Records) and Matt Kretzmann uncork a bottle of straight up rock & roll. It’s pretty damn refreshing having a band like this around, ready to rip through four tremendous songs in twenty minutes and still managing to cover all the right bases along the way. G+SE’s chops are unarguably tight and not a second is wasted as fun house blurt and a wicked sax (!!) spice up the group’s own totally original brand of rock madness. It’ll be hard putting the cork back on this one for a long, long while. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c20 tapes w/ double-sided color jcard." -stunned
******************************************************** Air Sign "Our Galactic Covered Wagons to the Stars" cassette $7
"When reminiscing on the unsung champions of Los Angeles’ underground arts community (and trust us – there are many), one of the figures that most consistently springs to our mind is Justin McInteer. Founder of the seminal Echo Curio performance space, accomplished visual artist & gallery installation wiz, urban gardening expert, and heart-wrenching bard of the harmonium: this is a mere sample of the many roles the guy slips into with equal ease. His debut here under the Air Sign name is a relatively new endeavor in McInteer’s extensive home recording lineage, as he turns to multiple keyboards, drum machines, and samples of nature and pop music ephemera. A thing of complexity springs forth as Air Sign’s altered instrumentation helps him braid nostalgia, catharsis, and celebration into a single alluring strand. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c38 tapes w/ double sided jcard and insert." -stunned
******************************************************** Toning "Pitch the Drone" cassette $7
"Cody Brant is a man of many talents, known best for his involvement with renowned Portland groups Flaspar and Smegma as well as helming the Meandering Recordings label. Most recently, he’s honed his solo game and has apparently pitched the drone in favor of sounds with a decidedly strange bounce. Cody resumes the unpredictable Toning program here on the heels of his Eggy Records debut. With the help of a handful of buds along the way, nine numbers are stacked end-to-end which forms a chain of wheezing analog electronics and disembodied chant. Acetate patterns are diced and dried in the sun, then spliced and reconstituted from their dehydrated state back into gelatinous electro-tribal tape goo. Sound weird? It is. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c31 tapes w/ double sided jcard and insert." -stunned
******************************************************** Steel Dangerous s/t cassette $6
"Spoken word about my favorite powedered drinks, the wnba, and tim mcgraw shows at blossom sold out" -fairchild tapes
************************************************** Moth Cock "Spring 2011" cassette $6
"mothcock playing in the spring of 2011" -fairchild tapes
**************************************************
. Isle of Sodor "Still Point" cassette $6
"Super Focused laser beam from Adam Miller d.d.s one of ohio's current champions. Kid is beasting it these days check it out." -fairchild tapes
************************************************** Daughters Of The Sun "Ghost With Chains" LP $14
"Long-running Twin Cities horsepower trio Daughters Of The Sun have been subtly chugging out their faded-tattoo spirit-in-the-sky psych exhaust for at least half a decade now but we didn’t catch the drift till March ’09, when we got to witness a packed post-midnight smoke-soaked Minneapolis loft set and waved our lighter with the masses. Ghost With Chains is their third official full-length (not including some EPs and a killer split) and it’s as beautifully moon-burnt and highway-swept as anything they’ve done. Recorded in August of ’09 at Nicollet Park, the LP’s seven songs swerve from spectral Sturgis road-burners (“Hexagram,” “Bell Of The Barrier”) to lower-keyed percussion meditationals (“Busted Realm,” “Ghost With Chains”), spiced with the occasional earth-toned ghost drone piece or floating flower acoustic mantra-ballad. The magic is, it all works. The D.O.T.S. gang co-run a tape label, Never Ender, and each helm their own exile-consciousness solo project (Camden, Elven Thief, Wavepool), so roots run deep. Unbreak the Chains and scope ‘em on tour next time they pass through yr local badlands. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with artwork by Oakley Tapioca, plus a full-color pro-printed insert. Edition of 490." -nnf
******************************************************************* Daughters of the Sun "Visions of the Ocean Head" LP $13
Visions of the Ocean Head was originally self-released in 2007 as a limited screen printed CD. The lineup consisted of Bennett, Nick and Ryan. Chris Rose (Vampire Hands) was in a early incarnation of the band and helped write some of the material. Several of the songs are fan favorites that are still included in the band s live set today. The record was recorded at Old Blackberry Way with Neil Weir and was mastered at Magneto by Brooce Templeton. Now this classic debut full length is finally available on vinyl in a limited pressing of 300. Jacket artwork was painted and designed by Lisa Luck. Daughters of the Sun have rapidly become one of the best psych-rock bands in the Midwest which eventually caught the attention of Los Angeles label Not Not Fun who will release the band s new LP Ghost with Chains . DotS have been road warriors the last 4 years touring the entire country several times over. They have been featured in the Black Angels curated Austin Psych Fest for the last two years and will be headed down to Austin in the Spring of 2011 to play a number of shows as part of SXSW." -modern radio
******************************************************************* Vampire Hands / Daughters of the Sun "Skull Judge" split 12" $13
"When Colin Johnson left local psychedelic powerhouse Vampire Hands last year many people wrote off the band as finished. The now three-piece however, continued to play on – lacking the frenzied energy of their dual percussion sets perhaps, but still drawing crowds. Now the group has released their first EP as a new entity, Skull Judge, and having listened to it, I am happy to report that Vampire Hands is anything but finished. Where the band’s signature sound no longer has Colin’s eerie high pitched vocals, bassist Chris Bierden is more than able to fill in with a howl of his own. Guitarist Chris Rose’s singing struggles a bit under the added weight, but his vocals too give the songs a rough hewn quality that is listenable in its own right. Skull Judge is actually a split EP with the B-Side taken up by one epic seventeen minute track of distortion-fest from Daughters of the Sun. “Dry Ice” takes a little while to get its legs, starting with about six minutes of distortion and minimal guitar before the drum and maraca rhythm kicks in and the thing begins to take off. Add in some more drums eventually, as well as discernible guitar licks, and reverb-laden vocals, and at around the nine minute mark the tune has built into an epic piece of slightly tribal sounding psychedelia. It’s a rewarding, if bizarre, listen if you have the patience for its length. DOS’s live shows have started to turn them into a must-see local band lately, so I am happy to see that their massive sound translates well to magnetic tape. Hopefully this single will lead to lengthier studio releases in the future. — Jon Behm " -modern radio
******************************************************************* AIEYIYIYI "MANNERS" cassette $6
"half of pine smoke lodge belts out some ludicrously melancholy dream sequences. soft strings, chimes, and chants ripple on by. seriously, when you listen to this, all you're gonna be able to envision is a panning shot of a dust busted, wasted earth and some bummed out loner saying "there used to be life here. there used to be something." or some shit. it's like these sounds make nature so woebegone that it doesn't even feel like supporting itself anymore. or maybe the material is just so uplifting that brains get baffled by the beauty. who knows? either way, we'll all come out okay as long as we have manners." -905 tapes
******************************************************************* CORNUCOPIA "QUASAR" cassette $6
"plush drone rides from jorge castro and claudio chea. the duo keep the tones crunchy and on a oscillating bender, delivering lacquered tremors with sonic saturation. the kind of contributions you tune in on and just let time pass." -905 tapes
******************************************************************* QUICKSAILS "VERMILLION" cassette $6
"quicksails celestial rippers make ben "the baker" billington the cosmos answer the our humble world's brutus "the barber" beefcake. dude is straight giving the high knee to ear bones via reverb swamped synth/percussion charmers and gravity rotters. four spine surfers to definitely chill out to. hard." -905 tapes
******************************************************************* V/A "BRAINS ON BACKWASH III: BACKWASH TO THE FUTURE!" C100 cassette $7
"backwash to the future! the third in the ongoing series of burners is here, this time pro dubbed on chrome tapes. 100 minutes of audio from opponents, circuit wound, 2673, isa christ, deep magic, gx jupitter-larson, dead pilots, quicksails, c.lavender, vestigial limb, derek rogers, thom elliot, plasmic formations, m.geddes gengras, roped off, cornucopia, mccord, jon lorenz, ophibre, dry valleys, skin graft, dads against vietnam, al qaeda, malibu wands, colorguard, red electric rainbow, and cruudeuces." -905 tapes
******************************************************************* BATTLESHIP "NEON RANCH" cassette $6
"chicago duo battleship harness smooth satellite signals here on "neon ranch". layers of mist-like drone and scattered buzz shots go back and forth on the neon side. ranch, though pretty much a continuation of the jam, gets a bit more flustered as the steady winds turn into typhoons." -905 tapes
******************************************************************* ARBOL TRANCEMISSIONS/FLOATING "RELIC GROVE BLISS" split 7" $6
"Gabriel Ortiz's 2006 dawning, Relic Grove Bliss in full bloom on Rotifer's first vinyl. Remix on the B side by Dillard Wiseheart (Floating). More from Gabriel soon with label/distro Elestial Sound. Edition of 200 on clear vinyl" -rotifer/elestial sound
******************************************************************* SEZIKI TETRASHEAF/PERSPECTIVES split cassette $6
"Seziki Tetrasheaf and Perspectives' third appearance on Rotifer." -rotifer
******************************************************************* IASOS "INTER-DIMENSIONAL MUSIC" cassette $7 *second edition*
"This is the album that began both the legacy of Iasos and the genre of "New Age" Music in 1975. This can be thought of as a sonic journey through a great many realms - from etheric tropical to inter-planetary - great for "consciousness-travelling" via sound. Professionally duplicated on cassette for the first time in over 30 years onto type II, chrome format.
Designed for focused listening - definitely not as "background music"." -rotifer
******************************************************************* Pine Smoke Lodge "Season Above Lakes" cassette $6
"With the sonorous bray of the hunting horn Pine Smoke Lodge transport their audience back in time to ancient primeval forests and mist-enshrouded landscapes. Season above Lakes is an earthy pagan byway where semi-identifiable sounds shimmer around the periphery creating a sense of unease and wonder. Recorded live at Sugar City in Buffalo New York, 30of May 2010. Hand numbered edition of 100." -cae-sur-a
******************************************************************* Steve Baczkowski "Tone Arm" cassette $6
"Known primarily for his work on baritone sax in a variety of duo and trio formats with the likes of Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, Ravi Padmanabha and most recently Bill Nace, Steve Baczkowski unleashes his first recorded solo outing—pushing his improv techniques and sonic palette to a whole new level on Tone Arm. This piece was created and maintained through tone arm manipulation and loops of home modified vinyl records over which Baczkowski introduces melodies, whistles, scratches, squeaks, squawks and bellows implementing bird whistles, baritone sax, flutes, and bells. Recorded live Sugar City, Buffalo New York, May 30th 2010. Hand numbered Edition of 100." -cae-sur-a
******************************************************************* Hering und seine sieben Sachen "Nautical Twilight" cassette $6
"Hering und seine sieben Sachen is the kosmisch solo vehicle of one Daniel Voigt (Autistic Argonauts, Pawned Pajamas, Horzes, Phantom Limbo). Nautical Twilight is five compositions submerged under a deep gauzy surface of rippling bass frequencies and shimmering pulses that float their way to the ear as if transmitted from the dark recesses of the ocean thousands of miles away. Recorded in July 2010. Hand numbered edition of 100." -cae-sur-a
******************************************************************* High Wolf "A Guide To Healing" 7" $6
"If you dive into the Ganges River - the purest water on earth according to the Hindus, the most polluted and unhealthy according to science - hold your breath and open your ears, this music is what you'll hear. Edition of 300." -bathetic
************************************* Scott Tuma/ The Brothers Pus cassette $6
"Deep in the field, living and digging, scoring the sunsets, reaching across the table to hold the hand of a loved one for familial prayer. We share a life in love and hope. Edition of 150." -bathetic
************************************** MY CAT IS AN ALIEN & BJERGA/IVERSEN: s/t - LP $15
"2 psyched-out sides from the collaboration between mighty Aliens and Norways own answer to Hall & Oates - Bjerga/Iversen. These sides are boiled down from about 2+ hours worth of material recorded last summer in the stunning alpine village of Luserna San Giovanni, just outside of Torino, Italy.
Space electronics, weightless freestyle strings, buzzing voices from the outer heliospheres and garbled and warped messages from the great beyond handed down on recycled trashcan tapes.... celestial harmonies from a neon universe...
There was a double-exposed rainbow over the foot of the Western Alps this evening in late June, and you can hear the colors seeping through the cracks...
Both My Cat Is An Alien and Bjerga/Iversen have extensive discographies and both units have collaborated a lot with others, as this is an important part of our musical universes. So we were all happy to work on these recordings together in a full-blown extensive and focused session.... The recordings are edited by MCIAA.
Edition of 268 copies in ultra-cool neon-colored silkscreened jackets, 5 different varieties.". -Ikuisuus
************************************************************************** MONKS OF MALASPINA: Volume One - LP $15
"The MONKS OF MALASPINA debut release is a phantastical psychedelic mystery musical filled with dark woods wonder and honey comb clouds over sparkling fjords from deep within the mountains of Canada's British Columbia. Highway 101 ends here, or like this new record, begins. Members of the band call up roots from First Nation relations with Jesuit missionaries co-mingled with a diverse offspring from a free love commune started in the 1970's. Most of the music on this record is gloriously strange with a capella outbursts both finely tuned and guttural. Decomposing abstract rock anthems stretch out alongside primitive beat-boxing. There are more familiar sounding songs as well giving the whole album an aura of storytelling magic, like it is all based on some fabulous old book. M.O.M. was produced and arranged by Theo Angell who lead the group into some pretty tripped out improvisations. Quotes Theo: "The film, I mean the album, is like an abstract musical of sorts. There are some lyric-less 'soungs' where Raven meets Hanuman for instance and they tangle in an epic battle in the sky. Or the one where they try to conjure up the feeling of a month of rain in their mind. The world of the Monks is populated by a drinking man-beast who is missing a foot and a bear who ravishes the garden and fruit trees of the Cryptic Master and the Kinetic Gardener of Ronanda. Some of the songs address particular members of the band, "Forthwith Lorraine" for instance. "Taking Off Your Feet" is a re-occuring theme, by which they mean trippin' the way out or getting seriously unsettled. They've really come up with their own syntax and insider myths where even the humor is mystical in nature. They're an odd group of C.O.P. s (children of hippies) with very little outside references. I played this for someone and they said it reminded them of the Holy Modal Rounder's 'Moray Eel' album. Besides using their voices they also play the autoharp and guitars, as well as "the staff". I tried to get them to play a live show but they insist on recording the sequel first. We'll see. I told them they were Fjord Folk." The Monks of Malaspina are Sofar Lorraine, Pournt Falster, Freel Bequelle, Frist Clupps and Thlowlth Fissure. The album was engineered by Dreetmont Accel with mastering by Josh Stevenson. ." -Ikuisuus
************************************************************************** COLOR RABBIT / TRETETAM: split cassette $8 (finnish import)
"More improvised sounds coming through the channeling of Color Rabbit. These rabbit tracks are a more simple and minimilist approach than his past releases, but will still take you on colorful rides.
You are invited to take the door marked ‘Unknown’ into the layered hazed of Tretetam’s second release on Ikuisuus. All denominations have congregated underneath a slate gray ocean to discuss the cause of the universe and the purpose of ones self. Gentle days drift by while dusty memories and vague dreams release the sounds of broken conversations and lost childhood. Tretetam’s side of this split is a blend of found sounds, home field recordings, and a strange eel orchestra attempting a de-accompaniment. ." -Ikuisuus
************************************************************************** AOSUKE / UTON: split cassette $8 (finnish import)
"Aosuke's "Pancaked" was recorded live at The Avantgarde Festival, 2007 in Schiphorst, Germany resembling Aosuke's 2 piece pagodas peak with Ulf Schütte on tapes and tech and Tobert Knopp on guitar + electronics.
It displays Aosuke's most sincere attempt at sounding like freshly baked cookies, occuring pregnant women, snoring dogs, a swine and a wireless full sleeve mic presentation from Faust and avant-festivals c.e.o. Jean Hervé. Uton's "Outer Space Inner Aquarium" is a psychedelic trip in sound to the abyssian wonders. Teleportal holes and dive to the other dimensions of time and focus in the free space with surreal and dreamy odd creatures. Like a soundtrack of some mysterious low-budget sci-fi movie from 23rd century "new cinema". Cover art by Jeff Astin/Housecraft. ." -Ikuisuus
************************************************************************** MAGNETIC NORTH DUO / GREY PARK: split cassette $8 (finnish import)
"Magnetic North Duo:Sindre Bjerga & Nils Rostad from Norway are the Magnetic North Duo. Constructing layers of improvised guitar strumming and warbling drone reverberation, textured density and distorted hazy sonics... These recordings, from April and June 2010 are more sparse, but more intense... guitar shivering and contact-miked uneasiness.... Magnetic North Duo has previously released discs on Stunned Records and Tape Drift, so make sure to hunt down these as well." -Ikuisuus
************************************************************************** Toning "Drained Brains" cassette $6
"First solo tape from Cody Brandt -- Meandering Tapes main-man, current Smegma member, sometime Kommisar Hjular collaborator and formerly of Flaspar. Culled from literately hours of home recordings made over the last couple years, Drained Brains is the work of a restless experimenter working in a more classic 'experimental' music idiom, utilizing tape-speed manipulation and the juxtaposition of textures. Really proud to be issuing the debut missive. Pro-dubbed tapes, hand-colored sleeves." -eggy
***************************** Ghost To Falco "Two EPs" cassette $6
"Two very limited edition CDR EPs collected and reissued. Late-night folk -- stark and strange. These songs were written as they were being recorded and posses a weird, immediate energy, unadorned by reverb or delay. Strong, weird songs. Pro-dubbed tapes, off-set lithograph covers printed by Container Corps" -eggy
***************************** Lab Coast "Pictures On the Wall" cassette $6
"Disarming, muted pop from Canada. 1960s sound by way of the 1990s, chiming melodies and snappy drumming. Kith and kin with the excellent Australian pop being issued by Night-People as of late(The Twerps, Pageants, White Woods), a short and sweet tape that blazes through close to a dozen tracks in twenty minutes. Pro-dubbed tapes, off-set lithograph covers printed by Container Corps." -eggy
***************************** REMNANTS - "DECAYED TONES" cassette $6
"Second release by this Brooklyn based project. Blown-out synth and tape manipulations evolve at a glacial pace, often transitioning from excessive low-end to sweeping high-end before fading off. " - imminent frequencies
******************************************************* REMNANTS- "Vision Being" cassette $6
"Two side long recordings of recent vocal-based drone experiments. Passages consist of mangled gregorian chants, field recordings and feedback loops all sifted through a pair of contact mics. There are no synths on this tape." -imminent frequencies
******************************************************* JAMES FERRARO CITRAC 2XLP $22
"The CITRAC collection presents one of James Ferraro’s most cinematic visions; showing his recent mode of soundworld creation in top form. By shying away from pure musical creation and opting towards the organic birth of sonic universes James finds a new way to tell a story. Evoking vastly imaginative imagery, this 80+ minute suite spanning two LPs, contains the previously released “Postremo Techno Mundus Symposium”, excerpts and alternative edits from Liquid Metal’s Alternative Soundtrack to “Digital Overdrive”, and the all new “Digital Tribe”. Presenting deep-nightmarish atmospheres of surveillance and captivity on through the rush of the open road; the hypnotic, lo-fi result is one that could only come from Ferraro’s alien mind, eternally stuck in a 1980s vision of an impossibly archaic future. In an edition of 400 double LPs with full color printed inner-sleeves in pro-printed black and white cardboard sleeves and printed labels by James." -arbor infinity
********************************************* Wet Hair/Rene Hell split 7" $6
"Two celestial bodies from a distant galaxy combine their chemicals and produce a cosmic cloud of purple and gold. We received the audio samples of this event and pressed them to vinyl. Please play loud through the PA of your local church or Masonic lodge. For best affect, lay down on your back in the pew and stair at a stained glass ceiling. Edition of 300." -bathetic records
************************************************* DATASHOCK "para dieswarts dull" cassette $8 (uk import)
"PDD sees the band develop its sound via collective spirit but to new planes of energy, like a Popol Vuh/Amon Duul extended jam band. Separated over 4 tracks, each segment merges together on repeated lessons into a 60 minute whole. 150 copies; pro-dubbed white cassettes; printed labels; pro-printed j-cards.." -colour ride
*********************************************** WATERSIDE GALA "ON THE VERANDA" cassette $8 (uk import)
"WG consists of Kellen Shipley on keyboard and trumpet, and Sean McCann on alto sax, viola and keyboards. This is a worthy addition to SM’s outstanding discography to date; perfect autumnal timbres emerge from the interaction between two similarly-minded and in-tune musicians at their peak. 75 copies; pro-dubbed white cassettes; printed labels; pro-printed j-cards.." -colour ride
*********************************************** The N.E.C. / Jovontaes -Split 10" $10
"Layers of rich, sonic depth crowd the simple songwriting at the center
of the N.E.C.'s side of this split 10-inch EP. A spiral of guitars,
hiss and reverb melt into a thick shag carpet of sound with "Old
Medicine." "Aria Girl" drags out a haunting and hypnotic rock mantra
that mutates into a morphine tribal haze. On the flip side, Jovontaes'
"Paradise City" holds a formless, experimental quality as it lumbers
like a freight train, focusing on a single, plodding pace where all of
the action happens in the periphery. Each side counters the other with
a slur of damaged, psychedelic dirge. The N.E.C. side stretches out
into the ether, while Jovontaes guides its song on an intensely inward
journey." -creative loafing review. released on double phantom records
************************************************ Psychic Reality/Sex Worker split 7" $6
"Farmer’s market zen learner Leyna Noel channels the swaggering lust of Jimi’s finest hour via stumbling drum machines and amplifier howls while her beau Sex Worker mines Debbie Harry’s telephonic anxieties for deeper fears, darker secrets: “I can’t control myself.” Sleeve art by Julien Langendorff. " -not not fun
*********************************************** Gnod/Robedoor split 7" $6
"Manchester’s choicest chain gang lumber through the mildewed concrete of some abandoned-bomb-shelter-turned-hippie-commune, spewing molten wah and echo-vocal polemics. Turn off, dig in. The B sees LA drone thugs Robedoor pitching Molotov cocktails of pure wraith blood through stained glass windows. Sleeve art by Zully Adler. " -not not fun
*********************************************** Infinite Body/No Age split 7" $6
"West coast light-breather Infinite Body emits a dense harmonic sound cloud that condenses in yr ear before evaporating into the ether. California DIY heroes No Age get minimal on the instrumental “Wintry KK,” burrowing into tom-rolls and the poetry of distortion pedals. Sleeve art by Cody De Franco. " -not not fun
*********************************************** Emeralds "What Happened" 2XLP $24 (austrian import)
"After the runaway success of their 'Does It Look Like I'm Here?' album Editions Mego is chuffed to release these vintage synth-guitar improvisation jams recorded straight to tape 2007-2008. Previously released as a CD by No Fun this is now the definitive vinyl edition of this material, and serves as archival insight into the development of their sound over the last years." -emego
********************************************************* UTON "Unexplained Objects" LP (german import) $16
"Unexplained Objects“ is the 3rd vinyl-only LP by Finland’s Uton for the Dekorder label, like his previous Dekorder albums released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a beautiful full-colour heavy duty sleeve designed by Hirvonen himself.
While the last albums explored rural soundworlds from the outer reaches of this planet and hidden places of the inner human (and animal) mind, he has finally left planet earth completely and is now reaching out for outer space and alien communication. Hirvonen seems to have traveled the spaceways, bringing home folk music and field recordings from faraway planets and alien cultures. Erich von Däniken beware!
Uton is the one-man project of Jani Hirvonen originally hailing from Tampere. Hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the Finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Paavoharju and Lau Nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases.
Uton has previously released dozens of CD’s, CD-R's and Cassettes on a myriad of labels including Jewelled Antler, Pseudo Arcana, Last Visible Dog, Digitalis, Ruralfauna and his own Ikuisuus. He has collaborated with Amon Dude (Avarus), Anla Courtis (Reynols), Antony Milton (Black Boned Angel), Ben Reynolds, Peter Wright, Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystävät) among others. The latter collaboration (under the Hevoset moniker) has been released on LP by Dekorder as well. "-dekorder
******************************************************************** XELA "The Divine" LP $16 (german import)
"Limited edition of 500 copies!
"The Divine" marks the second phase in the trilogy proposed by John Twells aka Xela. Crawling out of a castle dungeon in pursuit of its predecessor, "The Illuminated", this LP finds itself trapped in an abandoned church somewhere in a damp Southern wilderness. Church bells chime and rattle through the record's first piece, echoing and distorting through a fog of chattering voices and prayers. Tape loops stumble over tape loops and the solemn, ecclesiastical drone slowly decomposes into thick, crackling noise. Through the mists choirs sing, heralding the introduction of the second side of "The Divine" which takes the human voice into cavernous and smudged, yet strangely alluring territories. There is almost a Basinski-like charm to this work as the choirs effortlessly degrade into an unrecognisable mud of harmony and abrasiveness. This is music informed by a religious world; Xela has edged from the scriptures of cults and secret societies to the spires of organisation and power. God is in the detail. "-dekorder
******************************************************************** Mark McGuire "Living With Yourself" LP $19 (german import)
"Mark McGuire operates chiefly as guitarist in the legendary Emeralds., however he also has racked up an impressive set of solo releases over the last few years (albeit mainly in small to micro print runs).
Living With Yourself is his new album and we at Editions Mego hope to meet any demand which may arise from this fine selection of modern crafted guitar tunes. Focusing on his family, early friendships and the problems that inevitably develop through years of knowing someone, it takes McGuires sound even further out, and contains some his most accomplished songs to date.
The opening track is fine example of McGuires magic technique of taking a lone acoustic guitar then transforming the track into bliss-out electro wash looping off into the distance. And tracks like ‘Clouds Rolling In’ and ‘Brain Storm’ take off where such McGuire classics as ‘The Marfa Lights’ (which incidentally is planned for a future reissue) left off. While connoisseurs of his sound will find all they desire in here, many superb surprises await around every corner. These are songs that cruise, bubble and rise to the top." emego
************************************************** CLOUDLAND CANYON "Mothlight, Part nova gainner
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Watersports "Natural History" double cassette $11
Dylan Ettinger "Lion Of Judah" 7" $5
