New Arrivals
III
I don't care how many goddamn cute hobo bands there are out there right now. Not two runny shits. There's something Hank IV knows that few other current "of interest" bands realize, and it's a painfully simple thing: guitars were meant to sound like this, not that (pick something). That's as plainly as it can be put. This is twin-guitar punk rock in a class of its own, driving more than dueling and hot-sauce-free. I'd say "power with taste" but then I'd have to kill myself. I will say that…
Afro Noise I (Volume 2)
Volume 2. A bludgeoning mix of machine and vaudou / Central African percussion plus other acoustic instruments combine to create one of the most physically intense musical experiences ever. Songs featured in VBS's films 'Vice Guide To Liberia' and 'Mandingo'. Since 2007's Whitehouse album Racket, and after his original 'Afro Noise' mix became one of the most downloaded experimental mixes ever made, William Bennett's remarkable Cut Hands album has seen 4 long years of meticulously obsessiv…
A
A is Sunburned's second album with producer Kieran Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet. Directed by Kieran like actors in a film, Sunburned is taken off the bandana smokestage of their previous collaboration -- Fire Escape -- and put onto a sweat-soaked 4am lysergic dance floor. Kieran uses the band like his live instrument laptop and sampler. The results are truly stunning which makes this record into one of the best moments of each artist's respective musical careers. With artwork by California vis…
Emergency Stairway
Emergency Stairway could have been Thought Broadcast's debut vinyl full-length. In fact, when commissioned in early 2012, only one 7" and two super-limited tapes were in existence, until some other label snapped to the finish with an even older commission. So, let's say an "almost-debut." Confused? Well, yes, that's probably the point. Ravi Binning's Thought Broadcast project oozes out a dank and confused audio experience isolated way beyond the city limits. A glance at the titles suggests…
G.R.
Deathpile's latest power noise excursion extrapolates the mind of the Green River killer; Washington State's most notorious - and at the time of writing - unsolved serial killer case. This is harsh power electronics with sadistic lyrics delivered in a frenzied manner. Deathpile is an outlet for the twisted mind of Jonathan Canady. On G.R. he is aided by the undisputed talent of twisted musical troubadour David E. Williams who provides the lashings of non-rhythmic noise. There's a defin…
Didascalies 2
Vinyl-only release. Performers: Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven (piano); Claude Berset (piano); Vincent Royer (viola). Sub Rosa presents the first release after their Luc Ferrari trilogy. Didascalies 2 is not to be confused with 2007's Didascalies (SR 261CD) -- this is another composition entirely, never published before. "The other day I found a file from 1993, a score for two pianos entitled 'Revenir à la Note de Départ' (trans. 'Getting Back To The Initial Note'). So I decided to turn it i…
No Pressure
Pete um, a breeder of horses and creator of quirky tape loops, had already created a proud number of tracks scattered over a series of cd-rs, a 7" and a split lp, when he happened to run into the talent scouts of gagarin records in a small pub of his hometown cambridge. the fateful encounter set the clock ticking for a release but it would be five years before the essence of um's vast output was distilled into a flock of 18 tracks that now dazzle silvery on this very record. meanwhile, his music…
Irregularity/Homogeneity: Emerging from the Perturbation Field
one-sided lp of recordings from the installation of the same name (from a series of works, started in 1991, using fluorescent lamps). Description: an irregular state, when it surrounds us, makes us unable to identify individual things, or to find any law of variations within it. We usually regard it as having no significant nature more than the specific nature from which emerges repetition. It seems homogeneous rather than heterogeneous because we feel it as a form of flatness without spec…
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…
September Cell
Absolutely KILLER new twelve from Vatican Shadow on Dominick Fernow's own, newly minted Bed of Nails imprint - his most direct dancefloor productions to date. Edition of 700* Bed Of Nails is a new label curated by Dominick Fernow of Vatican Shadow and Prurient fame. Operating from his recently consecrated L.A. compound - the label will focus on his reorientation towards industrial dancefloor rhythms and seductively isolated electronics. Fernow christens the label with 'September Cell', a…
Frkwys Vol. 07
2015 Repress. The full-length player of FRKWYS Vol. 7 features pieces improvised in various forms by David Borden, James Ferraro, Samuel Godin, Laurel Halo, and Daniel Lopatin. When Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never, Ford & Lopatin) and RVNG Intl. began discussing this FRKWYS collaboration, Borden's work in Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. and his seminal Music For Amplified Keyboard Instruments album were mutually / ecstatically acknowledged. While rooted in academia, Borden's minimalis…
Nicht
"Well, here it is! The moment you have all been waiting for.... the arrival of the debut album release by Peterlicker. Despite following on in that terrible tradition of Butthole Surfers and Throbbing Gristle of stupid band names, Peterlicker (newly reformed after 20 years of inactivity) have, against all odds, come up with a serious slab of modern electronic rock.NICHT comprises of five well crafted selections recorded over the summer of 2010. Having got their previous noise free fall style out…
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, …
Outdoor Spell
Rhys Chatham has trail-blazed a course through late 20th century music, equally aplomb in post-minimalist composition as he is in punk. Not since Roebling laid his span across the East River has there been an artist who builds bridges in both how we hear music and how we can appreciate art. His latest album, Outdoor Spell, is a further document in that direction. Here has has eschewed 100 guitars, or even himself playing a single guitar, for the trumpet and voice, both electrified and dry. It is…
Six imaginary scenes from the life of Muhammad Ali
This newest candle burning outing from the long going UK Psych project headed by Mr. Phil Todd continues the quest for the farthest possible cosmic frequencies through FX, guitar, synth, and saz on a bed of field recordings. Some tracks in here almost enter the pantheon of new age music ! Edition of 240 copies.
There Is A Part Of Me That You Will Never Know
Already out of print, this is the first-ever collaboration between these two legends, Wolf Eyes and Sickness. This is not haphazard but a symbiotic collaboration bridging distant roads. This full length LP is a dark casket of scorched earth sounds, the remains of the cracks at the after shock of discovery. Reminding us of the peaks in either artists' catalog, There Is A Part Of Me That You Will Never Know processes the deepest sounds of these four masters in a haze of lone atmosphere and true no…
Sun Circle
The most recent release on the lichen label; all releases are hand-assembled by zach wallace in his native ann arbor environs and offer of a lovely wave of art-sound, field recordings, improvisation with natural non-instruments, and, in the case of this particular title, a pair of pieces by greg davis and zach himself on farfisa, distorted vocals, and bells. the first appears to be a zonked “cover” of lamonte young’s “31 vii 69 10:26 - 10:49 pm munich from map of 49's dream the two systems of el…
In
'Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto saxophone), Will Guthrie (drums) and Clayton Thomas (double bass). Taking the form of a minimalist power trio of saxophone, bass and drums. Recorded in 2009, IN focuses on the tour that nearly killed them - Jean-Luc couldn't eat, Will couldn't walk and Clayton couldn't call an elevator. Niort - recorded at the festival NPAI, caused METEO festival director Adrien Chiquet to complain that the best gig of the festival was 'fucking jazz!'. In Poznan they were attacked…
Rewolf
Remix albums might be the new live albums, but over the past few years, "sessions" have also come to prominence as a way for artists to reimagine or repurpose their music in a variety of different scenarios. Things like Daytrotter, La Blogotheque, Black Cab Sessions, "Don't Look Down" and other Pitchfork.tv shows, and AOL Sessions, have become the "MTV Unplugged" for the era of inexpensive digital technology, constantly shifting economic imperatives, and small-but-fervent online publ…
B/P/M Series 1
Absolutely mind melting release from this consistently amazing American duo. This release has a very different sound to the superb drone recordings of their recent releases, yet it is still totally immense but really quite unexpected. This was previously issued as a tour-only CDR in a press of somewhere between 20 and 30 copies. Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay spent sometime recording legendary Humboldt based pianist Darius Brottman, who also happens to have a radio show before Brian's own show …