New Arrivals
Shadow, Thief of the Sun
**300 copies** Released just before a four-year layoff, Shadow, Thief of the Sun is both one of Zoviet France:'s better releases as well as one of its rarer albums (the label it was on, Death of Vinyl, had limited distribution and eventually went out of business). While :zoviet*france: often wanders out into fairly random soundscapes, most of the material here is grounded by a drone of some sort, with atmospheric chanting and other instrumentation designed to complement the drone. The drones are…
Collusion
**300 copies** Zoviet France's Collusion released on the short-lived Mute imprint The Grey Area, is a collection of pieces Zoviet France contributed to compilations between 1984 and 1990. While none of the tracks stands out, they collectively provide a reasonable précis of the band’s various approaches
Vienna 1990
**300 copies**One long, slowly-unfolding live track, Vienna 1990, originally released as a CD-R, is a single disc-length improvisation which explores the outer limits of ominous minimalism. These recordings are taken from two performances at Szene Wien, Austria, 9 and 10 November 1990 as part of the 'Ohrenschrauben' festival
What Is Not True
**300 copies** For a band which had performed only a handful of live shows during its first decade, the bulk of Zoviet France’s ’90s releases are performance documents. What Is Not True assembles three long tracks from shows in Sheffield and Nottingham into a work of album-like cohesion. The 54-minute closer “Cyclonic Sub Alien” is a masterpiece of shifting drones that develop slowly into an ungodly cavern of noise before ending with the ghostly floating voices of a distant broadcast. Magnificen…
Further Collusion
**300 copies** Constructed from an array of samples and environmental recordings plus plenty of feedback, Zoviet France's Collusion exudes a rare beauty for an album of such varied sounds (each track was originally released on a different compilation). A wide range of stylistic choices are on display, from the chilling account of the brutal murder/suicides from Jonestown on Ram to the surprisingly sedated and subtly beautiful Something This Beautiful, the album is a pretty great find for those l…
To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl + Merzbild Schwet
**Special Bundle. Exclusive United Diaries edition, 300 copies, on green and red vinyls. Very few copies available** Two absolutely stunning, long out of print early artifacts from Nurse With Wound's seminal catalog - 1980's To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl and Merzbild Schwet - reissued on vinyl in limited editions from Dirter, that can't be missed. Both take huge strides toward rethinking notions of avant-garde music was during the dawn of the 80s, and remain as pregnant with the potential fo…
I'll Remember
LP version. Tip-on sleeve. For every celebrated name in jazz, soul and related music, there are probably another 1000 musicians who had all the talent and potential but for whom widespread recognition remained elusive. Roscoe Weathers is one such figure, a jazzman who earned his chops the hard way, a sideman in smoky clubs from Memphis to Seattle, before finally settling in LA. He recorded a significant amount of music through the 1960s, but never found the slightest modicum of commercial acclai…
The Invention of the Human
"The Invention of The Human" is designed as a response to the question "what makes us human?" The question has become increasingly important in this period of history, in that many of the answers aren't good enough. "Civilisation" could be one answer; but what good is civilization where there is so much misery within it?
"Progress" could be another; but what good is progress without kindness and empathy to sustain it? Taking the thought of man's relationship with technology as a measure of human…
Merzbild Schwet
**300 copies, exclusive United Diaries green vinyl. Very few copies available** The long awaited vinyl reissue of NWWs classic third album is finally available. Nurse With Wound began as a trio, but by Merzbild Schwet, its third album, Steve Stapleton's singular vision took over, with no compromises to other band members. As such it can be considered the first fully realized NWW. record and is a far more mature effort than its predecessors. Stapleton's editing techniques come to the fore, with a…
To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl
**300 copies, exclusive United Diaries red vinyl. Very few copies available** The long awaited vinyl reissue of NWWs classic second album is finally available. Following on the footsteps of Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table, To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl was Nurse With Wound's second album and shows the group refining itself from the debut and adding a lot more dynamics. The record starts off with the very short Umbrella Link, really just some guitar riffing from engineer Nicky Rodgers as…
Tissue of Lies
Mannequin Records celebrates 40 years of Nocturnal Emissions a reissue their first album, Tissue Of Lies, released on the band's own Sterile Records label in 1980. Tissue Of Lies shows you Nocturnal Emissions' industrial roots, from noisy collages to classic power noise, reminding the early Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, Faust (Tapes period) or Conrad Schitzler's Schwarz. The Nocturnal Emissions project, masterminded by Nigel Ayers, has been on the cutting edge of new music since the 19…
America Lament
**Edition of 300. It comes with a 20-page booklet, with program notes, scores, and an interview between Morrow & McCann** America Lament is a panoramic musical survey of legendary experimental composer/event-maker Charlie Morrow’s eclectic works. At just over 40-minutes, America Lament is mysterious, beguiling, and jubilant, comprised of pieces employing everything from hand-made electronics to Irish lap pipes, ecstatic jazz to Schubert recompositions, ambient flutes, and a string quartet.
Charl…
De Ossibus 20
**Limited edition of 100. Includes 12-page booklet** De ossibus 20 is the debut LP by sound artist and poet Kiera Mulhern (b.1992). Bridging classic sound poetry elements with micro studies of the artist’s body and environment. Burying a microphone in a book, this LP picks up fragments of words and memories, humming the rustles of parchment. It reminds me of Henri Chopin at times, busy mouth clusters bang against the air. Kiera made this album as a means of organizing loss after her mother’s…
Freedom Power
**small repress soon available** Outstanding and legendary Italian Library originally released in 1976 on the glorious Cometa label on a very limited run. A totally killer album with tones of mental Jazz-Funk and Psychedelic beats. The listener is constantly catched by the incredible music that swings between Psychedelic Funk, Esoteric Jazz and Cinematic/Love themes. Tracks like Love For Sale, Privacy, Metropolis Notte and Dopping 2000 are simply timeless, with a stunning sound that perfectly pl…
U.F.O.
*2020 stock* In March 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost in the desert. Some think he fell foul of a local family with alleged mafia ties. Some think he was abducted by aliens.
By coincidence – or perhaps not – Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost, until Seattle’s Light In The Attic Records begun a years-l…
400 Miles from L.A. 1955-56
*2020 stock. Gold LP Limited Edition* Phoenix, Arizona 1955…a twenty-five year old disc jockey and fledgling songwriter, Lee Hazlewood, is trying to break into the music industry. He takes Greyhound bus trips to Los Angeles to pitch songs, only to be rejected each time. Undeterred, Lee starts a record label called Viv Records. Running the label out of his house, Lee finds the artists, writes the songs, produces the sessions, arranges the pressings of the records and handles distribution. Recentl…
Jim Sullivan
*2020 stock* On March 4, 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost. Some think the mafia bumped him. Some even think he was abducted by aliens.
By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of …
Shaggs' Own Thing
*Red coloured LP* When The Shaggs’ Philosophy Of The World came out in 1969, some people couldn’t or wouldn’t understand it. But many musicians, including Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain, cited the Shaggs as a major influence. Heck, Zappa exclaimed they were “better than the Beatles!” NRBQ’s Terry Adams and Keith Spring were such fans, and after reissuing Philosophy in 1980 on their own Red Rooster label, Adams began work on a collection of recordings the Wiggin sisters had made in the years followi…
BOW
Brussels-based string quintet BOW celebrates musical freedom. Juggling between their own written music and pure improvisation, the ensemble has worked since its creation on a personal and modern approach, digging into their instruments' capabilities and blending a large scope of influences.
Its debut eponym LP, due to be released on Sub Rosa, gathers five instantly-composed pieces that were recorded live by Christine Verschorren in the Echo Collective studio in Brussels. During the day, BOW repe…
Imagined Commonities: Live At La Cave 12, Genève
FEN is an improvised music quartet. Comprising Otomo Yoshihide (Japan), Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore), Yan Jun (China) and Ryu Hankil (Korea), it was formed in 2008 in Marseille.
The initial intent of forming FEN was not based on a particular pursuit of any specific form of musical aesthetic, but rather to develop and deepen the improvised music networks of Asia. This desire was furthered by these 4 individuals, each with their individual endeavours to organise music-related activities and bridge co…