★VHF Records
The Physic Garden
Third in a trilogy of albums of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This Is Not This Heat, etc.) following 2020's Electric Māyā and 2021's Fourth Density. For heads, the term 'library music' in 2021 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate-diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. The fifteen tra…
Evening Measures
First solo LP in a decade from long-time Pelt/Black Twigs/Eight Point Star leader, presenting a remarkable program of solo Hardanger and octave fiddle music. Evening Measures is a bold and unique statement, a direct and disarming individual expression of a musician’s inner thoughts and inspirations. Like some of Mike Gangloff’s work in other projects, this ricochets back and forth across the line between the most traditional and the most “out” music, blending drone, melody, and the pure tactile …
The Halcyon
Who else exactly is looking to build a power duo from improv drums and electrified shahi baaja sounds?
Electric Maya: Dream Flotsam And Astral Hinterlands (LP)
* Yellow Vinyl * First in a series of three records of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This is Not This Heat, etc). For heads, the term 'library music' in 2020 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. Electric Māyā includes eighteen gems, beautifully …
Talking with a Dinosaur
Ångström Records presents Talking with a Dinosaur by Aymeric de Tapol. Materials composed by Aymeric de Tapol at GRM, Paris, november 2009. Composed in Bruxelles between november 2009 and april 2011. Digital mailing with Valérie Vivancos, february 2011. English text translation: Chris Farmer.
Ein Klein Nein
** 2021 Stock ** Mysterious and minimal instrumental album by Richard Youngs, dreamt at home and recorded quickly in Glasgow's Green Door Studio. Centered on a single piano chord and bare snare strikes, Richard builds a haunting atmosphere in 4 episodes, featuring his guitar, organ, harmonica, and voice. Another essential work from the prolific and truly unique musician.
Distance
Originally released on VHF as a CD at the end of 1994, this was the second Flying Saucer Attack album, compiling 5 tracks from impossible to get 7" with 20 mins of previously unreleased (and good) material.Similar in blend to the band’s first LP (also newly issued in the USA on deluxe vinyl), the songs hang together as a collection that improves on the individual singles. The two proper singles that make up half of Distance - Soaring High b/w Standing Stone and Crystal Shade b/w Distance were in…
Pearls From the River
VHF presents the first time on vinyl for Pearls From the River, the all acoustic epics album from the “classic” Pelt trio lineup of Jack Rose, Mike Gangloff and Patrick Best. Recorded in a single March 2003 session in Virginia by Mikel Dimmick, this was a superb distillation of their interests at the time (both alone and together —Rose’s first solo records, the emergence of the Black Twigs as a busy working band, etc). Up the North Fork is a trio for banjo, baritone banjo, and cello —after the s…
Visceral Realists
Debut LP by the New Zealand duo of Bruce Russell (Dead C, Handful of Dust, etc) and Luke Wood. Visceral Realists is a high-concept commentary on the state of vinyl, analogue recording, music culture, art, etc. A 45-rpm bullet of short bursts of free electric sound, the music here is tactile and rough but not “noise music.” Russell and Wood play over loops of scratchy records, with their guitars and electronics surging to get over the wall. Russell’s guitar sound from his vintage transistor amp a…
Plasma Splice Trifle
Debut collaboration between these like-minded English underground titans, perfectly mixing the long-form pop eccentricities of Grumbling Fur with the free electric sound of Astral Social Club to produce four epic and memorable tracks. The music is dense and layered, with hidden hooks, haunting vocals, unidentifiable electronic shuddering, delicate ambience, etc. Challenging but completely accessible and beautiful stuff. After a brief vocal declaration of purpose, Back To the Egg rides a motorik …
Like Sunburned Snowflakes
Limited edition 45 RPM 12” of Alex Turnquist’s not-like-anyone-else guitar stylings, with 5 tracks using only plucked harmonics on his 12 string guitar. Using this limited palate of sounds, Turnquist crafts sparkling waves of notes, employing the minimalist sensibilities that have informed his more recent work (e.g. his 2011 VHF LP/CD release Hallway of Mirrors) on a smaller scale. The harmonics here are frequently struck hard and in complex patterns - this is arguably “new age” but not drifty-a…
Raag Manifestos
Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate…
Red Horse, White Mule
Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on…
Opium Music
Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on…
Hazel
Amazing psych invocations from the psych/improv supergroup Æthenor, arguably amounting to their most surprising and wide-reaching work to date. "Hazel is the fifth record from Æthenor, the group of eclectic travelers that includes Stephen O'Malley (SunnO))), KTL), Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, This is Not This Heat, Grumbling Fur, etc.), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), and Steve Noble (Brötzmann Trio, N.E.W.) Together they bring their considerable pedigrees into play with unexpected and original result…
A Shimmering Replica
This first-ever VHF release by the 21-years-running Ashtray Navigations brings one more core piece of the UK freakout underground back to the mothership. With a discography that boggles even the most ardent Discogs user and an on-point WTF graphic sensibility, Ash Nav fits perfectly into the extremely fertile and prolific scene that has produced titans like Sunroof! and Vibracathedral Orchestra. On this generous 100-minute package, Phil Todd and Melanie O'Dubshlaine essay a kind of guitaran…
Rec Blast Motorbike
"The mighty 'classic' lineup of the Vibracathedral Orchestra returns with their first new music in many years. Here the quintet of Michael Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport and Julian Bradley (joined by raconteur John Godbert) feature in a set of upbeat tracks that put the group's radical instrumental strategies into a package of full-on rock action. Recorded live using a binaural head system, the sound is nicely ragged in a you-are-there way, with scouring guitars and …
Astro Love & Infinite Kisses
**restocked** Kawabata Makoto emerges from a period of relative quiet with his first widely available solo release in several years, the blockbuster Krautrock-flavored Astro Love & Infinite Kisses. This lovely and impressionistic record showcases the other side of Makoto's outrageous works with Acid Mothers Temple. Taking cues from classics of the genre like Tangerine Dream's Phaedra and Steve Hillage's Rainbow Dome Musick, 'Dos Nurages' is the album's centerpiece, a 41-minute hypnotic epic, wit…
Ourselves
Ourselves was originally recorded as a one-hour special for broadcast on London's Resonance FM but was too good to leave to the aether. Ourselves is the first collaboration between Richard and octopus-armed percussionist Neilson. The music here represents something of a return to the extended psychedelic mania of mid 90-s outings such as Asthma and Diabetes and Endekeg. "Beam" kicks off the CD with Richard ripping it up on electric guitar over a thick blanket of hand percussion, plucked…