First Blush
First Blush is the first album by a wild improv trio formed by Argentinian musician Javier Areal Vélez (guitar), and New Yorkers Kevin Murray (drums) and Chris Pitsiokos (alto sax). This is a joint release, coming on CD and digital as the first album of brand new label 1039 Records (NYC) and on cassette by Lurker Bias (Chicago). This live document of the three musicians' only recording session so far proves to be hellish 20' drive down a terrible road, with all the windows locked up. Within the …
Onomat
*43 copies limited edition* 'On his first solo album 'Onomat', Bill Harris, from Pittsburgh, who lives in Chicago, who is also the founder of the collective Amalgam, limits himself to his drum kit, microphones and amplification, producing a collection of striking sound sculptures. A good example where this approach leads is 'Mangosteen', in which the percussion movements are creatively distorted into an alienating stream of gritty sounds. We also find it in pieces like 'Razbliuto', only here it …
Clap. An Anatomy of Applause
Clap. An Anatomy of Applause is a compilation of original works by a group of musicians and composers brought together by Andrea Stillacci and Unsounds. The project goal is to highlight the radically different forms and meanings that the sound of applause can take according to its context. The principle was to work from original recordings of each artist’s choice, with sources ranging from the thunderous applause celebrating Maria Callas’ last public appearance to the crowds cheering at the fall…
Superpositions
*2022 stock. Limited edition of 100 copies.* Witness the common phenomenon of feedback such as produced inadvertently through poorly configured microphones and loudspeakers in public amplification situations: the sound coming from the speakers finds its way back into the microphones and produces an uncomfortable squealing sound. The component elements are electronic and acoustic, the latter involving air movement and vibration of physical objects. But internal electronic feedback is quite a curi…
Two Dream Sequences (ep)
* Edition of 250 *"These two sides were recorded at home in Stockholm in April last year, and are part of a series of recordings that I was making around that time that I called dream sequences for a number of reasons, but partly because they mixed attempts at unconscious playing of music with intentional recordings of external sounds e.g. drilling through walls, street noise, that were affecting my consciousness at the time of recording. Also I like dreams but not so much talking about them." -…
Arbor
Stoned to Death is happy to join forces with Stefan Christensen. Stefan is a huge inspiration for our label and our musical trips. He is based in New Haven, Connecticut and if you don't know his work yet, you are up for a nice discovery. His solo outfit is guitar based and very prolific, very idiosyncratic and very surprising. Stefan's discography is a journey through various forms and styles ranging from minimal drones through outsider folk to loud guitar improv and broken free rock anthems. S…
Women as Lovers
We are proud to present a new edition of Xiu Xiu's cult classic Women as Lovers. Originally released on budget vinyl in 2008, this is its first high quality edition on vinyl ever pressed. Named after Elfriede Jelinek’s seminal novel, this album contains 14 slabs of tortured, avant pop at its best. It includes a lauded cover of the Queen/ David Bowie's single “Under Pressure” featuring Swans leader Michael Gira. The album was recorded by a legendary line up consisting of Caralee McElroy, Ches Smi…
Oh No
Stoned to Death is super happy to be part of this again. We are releasing a cassette edition of Xiu Xiu's new album called Oh No. This album is a collection of 15 killer duets and collaboration with the likes of Haley Fohr, Fabrizio Modenese Palumbo, Chelsea Wolfe or Liz Harris. Xiu Xiu is one of the hardest working bands of this century. Oh No is their 15th studio album (and we don't count all the collaborations such as XXL, boxes of seven inches, eps, experimental outputs etc.). They are alway…
Issue 465, November 2022, Tyshawn Sorey (Magazine + CD)
*The latest Wire Tapper CD, free to all readers with The Wire 465 November 2022 issue.* On the cover... Tyshawn Sorey: The genre straddling polymath unifies improvisation and composition into his own rigorous and powerful sense of expression. Plus: Black Composers: After a century of racist and Eurocentric marginalisation, the AACM and others forged new strategies for creative experimentation. Horse Lords: The Baltimore noise rock quartet gallop through a panoply of tunings and philosophical ide…
Visions of Krychlic
Edition of 70 copies. We are back with good old fashion live recording of two jingling guitars, just the way you like it. Two long tracks, some jokes in the middle and long loooong applause at the end, of course, because this show was so good, that it just had to be transferred onto tape. This recording is a perfect showcase of Arn's and Bogner's (aka Margaret Unknown) artistic versatility. On this eerie two acoustic guitar bonanza, they are giving a big nod to Derek Bailey with their mind boggl…
Covered in Mud
*140 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* Japanese electronica and ambient composer Morimoto Naoki presents his 3rd album for Seil Records. »Kotoba« is a mesmerizing collage of sounds and the most beautiful, gentle phrases. Each sound tells a story, each word has a sound.
L'incendie
* Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1973 BYG album facsimile-edition * Vocalist-multi-instrumentalist Areski and singer Brigitte Fontaine are a legendary French musical couple that rose to prominence in the ‘60s, making a series of albums that showcased a boldly unorthodox approach to the art of song.
Taken as a whole the 13 pieces on L’Incendie stand as high-impact scenes or episodes in a theatre or TV production as much as they represent another take on the concept alb…
Upon This Fleeting Dream
'On 'Upon This Fleeting Dream' Clive Bell's Twinkle3 embraces medieval and 16th-century Japanese poems and haiku about death and saying farewell. Bell and his trio, consisting of Dave Ross and Richard Scott, expand their sonic borders: bringing these pithy epigrams to a new Fourth World where electro-acoustic sounds glitches into a hypnagogic, if not the unconscious level of fragile beauty.
The distinctive voice of David Sylvian (ex-singer of Japan and known for his highly acclaimed solo work (B…
Environmental Meditation Music
*Limited edition of 305 copies, each copy is unique.* Environmental Meditation Music (EMM) is a collaborative project with the natural world. Developed by the artists Sam McLoughlin (N.Racker, Sam and the plants) and David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes) since 2017, the project has collected many hours of recorded material, which has been hewn into a long form digital edition and this two sided 46min long playing record.“Water and air dance and sing. a play of constant ecstasy. We are forever em…
I Really Want To Bomb You: 1972 - 1984
The first ever collection of Jill Kroesen's wildly inventive and often dystopian compositions from '72 through '84. Includes her art rock masterpiece Stop Vicious Cycles, her coveted '80 single, an equal amount of unissued treasures, and copious liner notes. Jill Kroesen is probably best known for her 'no wave' compositions throughout the 1970s and early '80s. It's a fascinating and theatrical sound that sort of defies categorization. This compilation should help this music of real historical si…
Who Remembers Light
*In process of stocking. Limited edition 340 copies.* "Four years after their magnificent, eponymous debut, this Connecticut trio returns to vinyl with another brain-blurring set of tunes. Picking up where that last LP left off, drummer Michael Kiefer, guitarist/vocalist Jon Schlesinger and guitarist/bassist/mandolinist/electronics/mark tree-rep, Steubs, dig ever deeper into the pulse of the Earth. The first track here, 'Hot Peace,' sounds like stuttering, shimmering emanations from the core of …
Musical Instruments from Prehistory: the Paleolithic
Tip! Art of Primitive Sound is a sensational journey to the origin of Music. In his crucial research chapter on the Paleolithic, between 1986 and 1991 Walter Maioli investigated the soundscape of different geographical, climatic and botanical environments, in which the mystery of the ancient human-nature relationship resides. What emerges is an expanded and unprecedented Paleorganology, with a range of acoustic and natural instruments from all over the World. Rubbing of fossils, animal artefacts…
Visions Of Darkness (In Iranian Contemporary Music): Volume II
When the anthology "Visions Of Darkness (In Iranian Contemporary Music)" was released in 2017 (co-published in collaboration between Cold Spring and Unexplained Sounds Group), it was immediately clear that the Iranian music scene was not just promising, but already a rich chest of treasures. Years later, we have further confirmation of the creative excellence and variety of musical languages that flourished in the Persian land.
In spite of the title, this second volume of the legendary anthology…
Promise & Illusion
Promise & Illusion is the first LP from Ecka Mordecai, following the release of her solo Critique + Prosper on Takuroku in 2020. Cello, voice, horsehair harp, violin and field recordings combine to spin narrative melody, rich intimacy and melancholic landscapes.
Composed around an exploration of la charnière (from the French ‘hinge’), Promise & Illusion begins with the sound of footsteps and a door opening and closing repeatedly, unsure whether to let us into the mysterious interior beyond. We a…
Loud Object
Loud Object is the second solo release from artist Billy Steiger, following his self released 'Recordings, drawings and photographs from in and around Frîdd Newydd' in 2016. Both a visual artist and a musician, Steiger’s Loud Object plays as a two sided experiment in markmarking and sound, as a kind of writing by ear - metallic, brushed, wooden - lines imprinted and pressed circular.
The record takes its name from the discarded title of the several-hundred-page draft of Clarice Lispector’s ev…