New Arrivals
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…
Under Stellar Stream
For his latest album, UK avant-folk maverick Richard Youngs seems to be converging on some of the most assured and firm-footed vocal work of his career to date, fashioning rock-solid songs from typically leftfield instrumental tactics. On 'Broke Up By Night', Youngs sounds like a gnarled old folkie of almost Ewan MacColl proportions, albeit accompanied by organ drone and wispy electronics. It's a rather magical, mantra-like cadence he elicits, and the album springboards nicely from this point. S…
Symphonie Pour Le Jour Ou Bruleront Les Cites
LP version. Sub Rosa presents this cult album that has not been available in years. Re-released with new artwork, this is the 1980 version of Symphonie Pour Le Jour Où Brûleront Les Cités (the original version was released in 1976 and was later re-recorded). Pioneering Rock In Opposition filled with clashing percussion, frenetic orchestral motifs and apocalyptic brass. Not for the squeamish. It features the line-up of Thierry Zaboïtzeff (cello), Alain Eckert (guitar), Gilles Renard (saxoph…
Luminous Night
Luminous Night is the first set of new Six Organs Of Admittance material to leap forth from Ben Chasnys' cerebral cortex in 18 months, and what a joy it is. With the release of odds-and-sods collection RTZ earlier in the year there to bridge the gap between 2007s Shelter From The Ash it doesn't seem like he's been away for long per se but for serious Chasny-heads a new album is something to get pretty excited about and with his other musical outlet Comets On Fire either on extended hiatus or spl…
beet5 / Nervures
Limited edition of 200 copies. beet5 takes Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto as its starting point. The slow movement was recorded using a special turntable for the blind that plays back records at quarter speed. I had an old recording of the piece lying around; I forget who the pianist was. The slowed down version was very striking, recognisable as Beethoven’s music but much sadder, more fragile. I developed a piece around this, using my usual array of synthesized sounds, field recordings, ‘borr…
A Year In The Kingdom
Since Joshua Tillman had his profile raised by association with Seattle folk favourites Fleet Foxes, whose drumsticks he wields, he hasn't exactly been making an attention-seeking racket in his solo career. In contrast to Fleet Foxes' dawn-chorus harmonising, Tillman favours a spare style, and his sixth solo album may be the year's most subdued record. "I possess a taste for blood. I have numbered mankind's days," the 28-year-old murmurs on "There Is no Good in Me", throwing in a reference to fi…
The Crystal World
LP version. A marked change had come over the forest, as if dusk had begun to fall. Everywhere the glacé sheaths which enveloped the trees and vegetation had become duller and more opaque. The crystal floor underfoot was occluded and gray, turning the needles into spurs of basalt. The brilliant panoply of colored light had gone, and a dim amber glow moved across the trees, shadowing the sequined floor. At the same time it had become considerably colder.The Crystal World, the third studio album f…
Throat
In view of the band's assertion that this is a program designed to be listened to in one sitting, it seems a little impertinent to discuss highlights. The seven tracks that make up "Throat" seem a little arbitrary in view of the overall discontinuity of the release, but in as much as this is music which has no time for a lot of preconceptions, that might be an inherent part of the band's intentions. The opening is where the Brotzmann reference comes into its own, but before the piece is o…
Daydreaming
When you think of Seattle, what do you see? No doubt it revolves around Grunge, rain or Frasier... Well prepare to have your cultural preconceptions realigned by the stunning new album 'Daydreaming' from Seattle's Rafael Anton Irisarri, an artist better known under his 'The Sight Below' moniker. Whilst the notion of another record combining modern production with a set of ivories may seem something of a cliché, Rafael Anton Irisarri ensures any such misgivings are dispensed with soon afte…
Split
Brand new split LP from fellow Manchester weirdos A Middle Sex and Gnod. Gnod follow on from some killer releases over the last couple of years, a split 7" with Bong, a tape on Not Not Fun, and most recently a collaborative LP with White Hills. The oddly titled 15 minute 'Why Don't You Smile Like The Other Children?' opens with hazy strings and cosmicly far out voices, this slow groove packs a multi-coloured burst of rhythmic psychedelic vibes. On the flip side, A Middle Sex take up duties of do…
Cosmos
One of the best-remembered Sun Ra albums from the 70s – a really cool little session that features Ra playing the unusual "rocksichord" all the way through! The instrument's a very weird one – kind of like a messed-up electric piano, with lots of cool broken notes and a weird fuzzed-out tone – one that almost feels like a guitar's being fitted into a keyboard, with almost psychedelic results! Ra's use of the rocksichord gives the album a really eerie, outer spacey sound – one that mixes strongly…
Debris
Field recordists Douglas Quin and Cheryl Leonard have gone to great lengths to capture their Arctic and Antarctic field recordings, spending countless frigid days with frozen fingers trying to hold tightly to hydrophones dangling amidst the ice floes and slushy waters. It's no wonder those two present their work in such an unadulterated fashion when the work came at such cost and at such peril. But Jana Winderen is far more creative in her approach to field recordings, only too happy to …
Connected
Presenting a new collaboration featuring Oren Ambarchi on guitar, the electronics of Robin Fox, and both performing on various other instruments. The music on this album came about as the result of the two being asked to co-compose the soundtrack for a new production by renowned Australian contemporary dance company Chunky Move for their Connected production. 'Chunky Move's artistic director Gideon Obarzanek was drawn to the organic and deeply musical qualities of Ambarchi's work and the digital…
Hyperborean Trenchtown
The album resonates a future sound vision that can only come from an old soul destined to further pave the paths laid by electronic & minimalist pioneers. Undeniably pure processes of creating & sustaining sound visually, sonically & otherwise brings a mathematical & scientific accuracy that hasn't been seen since the days of lovely music ltd. or GRM. Brilliant textures & audio hallucinogenic time/space wormholes create infinite listening possibilities
False Flag
"When witch-gods collide, it might sound something like this. Six Organs of Admittance...Richard Bishop...Chris Corsano. Riders of the apocalypse, it's them vs. us. After absorbing their über-holy dynamo, you'll be prepared to join up with these wraiths, making it all of us against...well, whomever's fool enough to stand in our way. To evil! Rangda's been building up behind the scenes for some time now. As label mates and members of an exclusive mutual admiration society, Sir Rick …
More Moondog
2nd LP, originally released in 1956. Continues the NYC street performer's exploration of minimalist composition & field recording, mixing percussion & sparse melodies w/ piano solos, street sounds, & monologues. Surprisingly accessible despite it's avant-garde nature, bridging the gap between the familiar & the bizarre. Another all out masterwork from one of 20th century America's most unique minds.
Live 1982
Marbled dark-red vinyl, limited to 150 handnumbered copies. Handmade gatefold cover with latexpainting + 2 photos. Listing this record as "Nurse With Wound" in the title is not totally wrong as this is a great live performance (1982) of Steven Stapleton's wife Diana Rogerson aka Chrystal Belle Scrodd, she also released 2 wonderful records on United Dairies in the early/middle of the '80 (Belle De Jour & The Inevitable Chrystal Belle Scrodd Record). This is a really fantastic release by this Aust…
Le retour de
Jac Berrocal, voice & trumpet, Jean-Noël Cognard, drums & percussion, Philippe Thiphaine, guitar (from Heliogabale), Quentin Rollet, alto saxophone, Ben Ajrab, bass, Rivkah, voice & keyboard.
Split
Limited vinyl pressing of this excellent split LP self-released by Grouper in this scarce second edition* The music on this split release arrives remastered after its initial release via C40 cassette a while back. Likeminded souls Eva Saelens (inca Ore) and Liz Harris (Grouper) are in brilliant form on these recordings, so it's great to hear them in a cleaned up format - though of course with these two, it's fairly difficult to tell where the muddy cassette hiss ends and the foggy, dusty …
Here's Sunshine
This is another lost private-press gem, from a Texas singer/songwriter who is remembered for “looping, melodically through often surrealist lyrics with a strong Tim Buckley influence.” Another description drops the always-intriguing “downer” folk tag on this record, calling it “stark, edgy real-people loner vibe, reverb, acoustic instrumentation, occasional hand percussion, piano, harmonica, as that off-the-chain Texas feel that approaches solo Roky Erickson territory.” The record label, Backbea…