New Arrivals
H\'Art Songs
Moondog's fanbase seems to be righteously on the up nowadays, with reissue after reissue re-illuminating his singularly out-there musical genius. This is a stranger album than most however: on this one Moondog sings. Yes, this is possibly the only entry into the blind Viking impersonator/singer/songwriter sub genre. Inevitably, it's really good. Even though this album (recorded in 1969, incidentally) reduces the composer's ordinarily expanded palette to little more than voice and piano, there's …
Met life - Underpass
"With the release of Dartmouth street underpass, Keith Fullerton Whitman inaugurates our Met Life series. for his efforts, Whitman sat in on the acoustic world of the tunnel that connects Boston's back bay station to Copley Plaza under Dartmouth street. The sounds are a combination of pumped in muzak, children's voices bouncing off the glass walls, the sudden rush of commuters, and the glorious, rumbling low end buzz and rattle of the train ushering in and out of the station. Whitman electronica…
The Tale Of The Heike
An epic concept album narrated and performed by Akira Sakata, Heike Monogatari ("Tale of the Heike") is the most disturbing entry so far in the DoubtMusic catalogue. This work is an expression of the philosophy of impermanence. It's also a vision of Hell. Woodwinds signify madness. Bells accentuate silence. And Sakata's voice unleashes a phantasmagoric torrent of shomyo (Japanese Tantric Buddhist chanting), death metal growls, and pure pandemonium. Is he serious? Or not? One thing is cert…
Moss
Moss, is a live recording from a unique collaboration by sound artists/musicians Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello. This was a midnight concert at the beautiful Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, CA which was part of the 01SJ Biennial. Olivia and Steve had performed solo sets on the previous nights. The final night was meant to be a duo with Molly and Stephen but the opportunity to play with musicians/friends who we admire so much called out for an invitation to play …
The Resurrection And Revenge Of The Clayton Peacock
Michael Chapman, one of the finest acoustic guitar innovators borne of the late '70s UK folk scene, was in Philadelphia early 2010, paying tribute to his good friend, the late Jack Rose, a mighty six-string alchemist in his own right, and a youngster wholly inspired by Chapman's critical recordings. While sharing in the good light of friendship backstage, we asked Michael if he'd ever recorded an LP of purely improvised guitar music. It seemed feasible, as the current state of acou…
Nuojuva halava
The Preservation label presents Nuojuva Halava, the debut album from Helsinki, Finland’s Ous Mal. Ous Mal is the recording project for 22-year old Olli Aarni. With previous CD-R releases for both Finland’s 267-Lattajjaa and the UK’s Under The Spire, Ous Mal has already gained fine notice for his expansive sound, further developed in widescreen ways on Nuojuva Halava, his first full-length. Finding common ground between the dusty tenor of old-school hip hop cassettes and the fog of deep ambience …
Megafauna
Dispenses a sinister frailty of howling swells in hissing static that combusts into crawling shock heaps, to the effect of Mayhem performing Twin Peaks incidentals in a prairie recorded by The KLF. A brief description casts them as black metal's answer to Throbbing Gristle.
Kippschwingungen
In 2007, Frank Bretschneider was invited to compose music for the Subharchord, a unique electronic instrument developed during the 1960’s at the RFZ, the technical center for radio and television of the East German postal service. Built in a limited edition of eight machines total, only three Subharcords (in Vienna, Trondheim and Berlin) are believed to survive to this day. The Subharchord is, broadly defined, a subharmonic sound generator, comparable soundwise to the Mixturtrautonium. It’s sugg…
Near And Faraway
Joint release by Italian ambient musician FABIO ORSI & SEAWORTHY, a 3 piece collective from Sydney. Each artist contributes a solo track which in turn bookend a collaborative composition that forms the album's centerpiece.
Hairdryer Peace
Finally available on CD. Ranked 3rd best album of 2008 in The Wire magazine. Intensely psychedelic and mixed for maximum hallucinations, this marks a pretty heavy departure from the Hospitals of old. Heavy tranced-out riffs, weird pop, cracked folk, disorienting noise, paranoid vibes. Main Hospital Adam Stonehouse with Rob Enbom & Rod Meyer from Eat Skull and Chris Gunn from The Hunches. The most forward-thinking album of 2008 but also an album of songs with actual emotional intensity. Not a par…
Book Of Angels Volume 13
Four exotic and talented women doing the Book of Angels. A capella. “Mycale” is definitely not my favorite entry in the already 13 albums long series (even though I only have half of those yet), but it is an entirely new approach to the material and therefore about as fresh and original as I suspect it can get after versions over versions of these kind of compositions. But mainly it’s just a lot of fun.
Harmony In Ultraviolet
This is the first proper vinyl release for Tim Hecker's breakthrough 2006 album. At the time of original issue, there was a small run of a few hundred vinyl copies done by a small German label, but this was pressed on an inferior sounding single LP which was much too short for the length of the album, not to mention the wide dynamic range of the recording. This new version is mastered at 45rpm over four sides for maximum sound quality. Full color gatefold sleeve.
Shunt
Strøm are Gaudenz Badrutt, pianist and electronic musician (1972) and Christian Müller (1971), clarinettist and electronic musician. Under the name of strøm the two artists from Biel mix since 2001 various ingredients: free improvisation with conceptual music, contemporary music ideas with free jazz explosions, down to earth, drifty energy with spherical sound. The duo mixes electro-acoustic chamber music skillfully with allusions to contemporary pop-aesthetics. Both musicians studied at …
Fancies, forbearance
Fancy: a 17th century term generally describing a composition in which form is of secondary importance. Fancies were usually contra-puntal and in several sections. (The Oxford Dictionary of Music)Fancies (2009) served to reconcile previously unsettled material, based upon a scheme that condones disparity between its constituent parts. In the period since its completion, and subsequent issue on cassette, Fancies has come to represent an antithesis to what I originally termed ‘a work in parenthesi…
Ullakkopalo
This is the first release from Finland's Kemialliset Ystävät since 2007. Kemialliset Ystävät equals Jan Anderzén. He is one of the few Finnish musicians to have achieved renown in the international experimental circuit. In the case of Anderzén -- who also plies a trade as a visual artist -- this is not a matter of juxtaposition between experimental and mainstream, or a calculated career choice. Using music and images, he is busy creating a world that is a law unto itself, a world of exceptional …
If You Want To Fuck The Sky, Teach Your Cock To Fly
Andy Bolus (Evil Moisture) armé d'électroniques maison et autres oscillateurs, Korg 800DV ou Revox (!) est accompagné de la voix de BB soit Brigitte Bordelle, qui crie quand on la chatouille et qui crie aussi quand on la cogne. If you want to fuck the sky, teach your cock to fly Ñou si tu veux un frère, dis à ton père de baiser ta mère Ñ ou quand les cons voleront, tu seras chef d'escadrille Ñ est un excellent disque de bruits divers et variés avec moults rebondissements dynamiques, cut-u…
Devin & Gary Go Outside!
What’s this? A rockin’ new album by Devin Flynn and Gary Panter? Yes, it’s a breezy country/psych full length jam from Devin and Gary. Gary sings lead and guitar and Devin conjures forth ambitious, omnivorous and altogether ambidextrous soundscapes, not to mention some sweet harmonizing. The sound of this record is the sound of two dudes hanging out on a Spring day, having fun. Devin and Gary: they don’t just go outside, they go all the way. - Picture Box
Returnal
'Returnal' is the fourth album from Daniel Lopatin's Oneohtrix Point Never project, after 'Betrayed In The Octagon' (Deception Island, 2007), ÔZones Without People' (Arbor, 2009) and 'Russian Mind' (No Fun, 2009). All 3 albums being superbly compiled on the 'Rifts' double CD set (No Fun, 2009). It sees Lopatin fine tune his craft for creation of deep atmospheres and texture even further. Starting off with the mind blowing triptych of 'Nil Admiari'-'Describing Bodies'-'Stress Waves', which …
1973
1973. Alfred Harth, tenor and sopransaxophon, lur. Nicole van den Plas, piano. Sven-ke Johansson, drums.
A Young Person\'s Guide
I can't listen to Kyle's music without thinking about Stars of the Lid. And for the same reasons I am reminded of Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, and even Richard D. James. As such, Mr. Dunn's vocabulary is probably familiar to anyone who has heard any of those musicians. He combines violins, guitars, and other strings to paint long, gossamer tones, utilizes low frequency vibrations to generate weight, and creates forward movement with concise and appealing melodies and harmonies. On the other hand, Kyle'…