New Arrivals
Bermuda Drain
This eagerly awaited new LP from Prurient begins with a blood-curdling scream - but thereafter all expectations are defied. If like us you've always been fascinated by the more reflective, electronic side of Dominick Fernow's catalogue - thus far restricted to the odd album track, his work with Cold Cave and a couple of choice side projects - then all your Christmases have come at once. Reportedly inspired by long drives around mainland Europe listening to minimal techno, Bermuda Drain pu…
Direct Current
Again, ultralimet release on qbico, the original music was rec. @ the qbico u-nite XIII which took place @ Issue Project Room in NYC back in Feb. 2009. for sure the opening set by Atiba & Dave Nuss was one of the most original live set i had the pleasure to... see i remember talking with Dave, trying to set up this gig... he came out with this duo, saying that Atiba is the best well kept secret in the NYC... he spotted him playing in Harlem Clubs... nobody knows him, Andrew Barker or Steve... no…
The outer darkness
"Our third volume of Sun Ra spoken word opens with a rare space story that I discovered on an unmarked five inch reel of tape. When I played the recording, I discovered an incredible story recited by an unknown artist, with Sun Ra going beyond the call of duty on keyboard. Included are two complete lengthy performances from this 1967 session.... The group recitation, 'The Outer Darkness,' is a reworking of the poem 'I Seek A Better World' originally recited by Ray Stubbs on the first volume.... …
Decaying ships
The road is long, sweaty and tense when your shoes are made of metal and you have to walk through a labyrinth with a magnetic floor to reach a brown sea full of hungry lobsters. The ship is waiting though, and the tension is building up heavily with every spin of this record, heavy meditative aircraft static blurr slowing down your usual codeine rhythm! modular synth carpets at its nastiest! you'll be purring when you're on the actual boat.. thick like your mommy's wallet, yet sparse droning tha…
Against the Day
Since Sam Shalabi enjoyed his mini-breakout in 2004 with the Shalabi Effect's The Trial of St. Orange, the Montreal composer has explored the overlap between popular Western music and traditional Middle Eastern musics, particularly those from Egypt, the country from which Shalabi's parents hailed. These projects tend to be diffuse and ambitious: Shalabi works with dozens of musicians on long, brash drones, or plays meditative oud pieces in comfy theaters. Land of Kush, …
Anthem
Presented here for the first time on vinyl, Joe Colley's 'Anthem' LP gathers material from limited edition releases issued between 2001-2006. Side A presents Anthem a long form tonal study with contrasting climax. Side B edits together 4 shorter explorations culled from the Triptych triple business card cdr release and inserts a track from the 2001 compilation CD Coalescence. Mastered for vinyl by Giuseppe Ielasi. Pressed in a limited edition of 200 copies housed in a deluxe tip-on jacket…
The Second Stop Is Jupiter
nterstellar vocal group numbers and doo wop from the Sun Ra vaults – a couple rare release and a bunch of previously unissued numbers featuring The Cosmic Rays, Crystals, Nu Sounds and Juanita Rogers – teenage vocal group numbers, bits of bebop and spacey doo wop released for the first time ever! The Second Stop Is Jupiter is Volume 2 in Norton's compilations of early, vocals centered Sun Ra material – beautifully done, and worthy for more than just Ra completists – it's a treasure trove…
Slime Code
Fractured bleep techno and de-composed electronics for followers of Container, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Konono No.1, Ekoplekz, Harmonious Thelonious - Edition of 500, initial copies on olive green wax* Following a pair of strong LPs for Dekorder, Dan Hayhurst (audio) and Reuben Sutherland (visuals) released 'Slime Code' on cassette for Patten's Kaleidoscope label last year - and it's a peach. The music was performed live to 8-track tape from which a digital edit was compiled and from that…
Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz
Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz is the exceptional and ephemeral reunion of two cult guitarists, Marc Ribot & Arto Lindsay and two inspired and engaged rappers, Sensational & Mike Ladd, with Seb el Zin at the helm. The group displays a level of urgency too rare nowadays. These five musicians break free from all the music rules and transcend all styles. This isn't free jazz per se, nor free improvisation or dub or hip-hop -- actually, the Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz's sonic manifesto is simultan…
Human hips and saddle bags
'Human Skab was a 10-year old boy from Elma, Washington who played African music with buckets and spoons. Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags is a 1986 cassette recorded by young Travis Roberts with his neighborhood pals and siblings. It was injected into the underground network of tape traders, zine scribes, college DJs, and freak seekers who were universally bowled over by its bewildering and utterly poignant snapshot of the mid-1980s. Skab's music -- an orchestration of pots n' pans, three string gu…
Ex Patris
The title Ex Patris (from the fathers) plays on the idiomatic baroque lute compositions presented here which emulate the classical repertoire. It also refers to this almost forgotten instrument, which was passed on by the fathers. The aim is to bring back and liberate the lute. The four compositions on Ex Patris form a circular narrative of interlocking repetitive melodic series. The follow up to Important release “ It is all that is made” kicks off with the pro apocalyptic track “The Day is Com…
Shaking, Waking
Clear Vinyl. Anyone who grabbed hold of the recent 'Alive in my Mouth' LP from ex-Baltimore trio Heavy Winged will know just how essential their tunes are. Made up of the classic bass, drums and guitar combo, the noise they generate is anything but predictable - the guitars rasp and drone, the bass bubbles and resonates and the drums rise and fall like tidal waves hitting a doomed continent. This is not your average white band, and 'Waking, Shaking' is possibly their finest release to date as th…
True Breath
Stunning five-song debut EP by this young Tokyo producer. Ghost-in-the-drum-machine rhythms layered with her exquisite Cocteau Twins vocal haze, but impeccably crafted into nuanced multi-movement compositions. Will be doing a full-length later in 2012 as well. Our fave new female artist
Our Anthems
a duo project by Karla Borecky and Scott Foust from the Idea Fire Company plus long-time collab-orator Mike Popovich. They were actice in the mid- to late-1990s and released the album »Our Pledge« on SWILL RADIO at the time. »Our Anthems« was recorded in 1996 but remained unreleased until now. The sound is somewhat similar to IFCO, although within at least some sort of a song structure. The 12 pieces on the LP present themes and sketches of atmospheric musical beauty created by synths, haunting …
Brand
“Brand” is the new trio of Gary Smith (guitar), Silvia Kastel (voice and synth), Ninni Morgia (guitar). On this recording Gary Smith produces the playing for which he’s considered a master of avant guitar: multiple layering, complex grainy textures, dense counterpoint, influences of birdsong. Fused with the guitar of Ninni Morgia, which floats between minimal movements of primordial electronics, pre-war slide blues and Hendrix-esque feedback. Over, and blending with them, Silvia Kastel’s mo…
Rain in skull
Australian Charles Curse's music is one of the weirdest things I've come across all year. On Rain In Skull, fragments of disjointed folk melodies move across a plain of wheezing chords, tape hiss, children's voices, ambient washes, amp hum, electronic glitch and bits of buzz in general. The contrast between downcast guitar playing and the physical claustrophobia-inducing weight of sound is equally perplexing and intriguing. It's all presented in a decidedly lo-fi environment but the sound constr…
Spirits of the Sun
The Slaves may well have gone and made one of the standout debuts of the year - a layered mass of ethereal vocals most reminiscent of Grouper with a brutal, doom-stricken underbelly that at turns sounds like My Bloody Valentine, Sunn O))) and Slowdive, massively recommended if you're into any of the above and available in a limited edition run of 500, with initial copies on pure white vinyl* The Portland, Oregon duo of Barbara Kinzle and Birch Cooper, aka The Slaves, operate in the void …
Awakening
Long out-of-print cassette originally released on Sloow Tapes (Belgium) in an edition of 70 with hand colored inserts. Cassette sold out within a week and has become quite collectible. Recorded after Expo '70 played France in 2008, just weeks after the IAO festival where the label owner and musician met. Upon returning to the states, the experience spawned the 2 day recording session materializing these 2 improvised tracks with no overdubs. Both tracks begin with rhythmic beats and slowly …
Live at the Squat Theatre
LP, heavy fluorescent orange vinyl; ltd and numbered 1/99 only, rec. August 24, 1979; first landing of the Arkestra at Squat ! on back cover there's even an elusive photo of original Squat entrance/building. Arkestra personnel during that period:John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Elo Omoe, Danny Thompson, Michael Ray, June Tyson, Pat Patrick, Hayes Burnett, and James Jackson, Jr."So many fond, fun memories of those magical, wonderfully endless Nights Of Ra at Squat - the time there was a massive b…
Double Demon
What mischief can be made with just cornet, vibraphone and drums. Rob Mazurek has scaled back considerably since Stars Have Shapes, the 2010 record from his Exploding Star Orchestra. His new project, the curiously named Starlicker, is a mere trio, with Chicago vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and Tortoise drummer John Herndon. But this group emits more sound and energy than do some sextets. Double Demon is Out to Lunch! for a new generation. Powered by Herndon’s hyperkinet…