New Arrivals
Split
The third LP in the series produced by Kommisar Hjuler and Mama Baer has just Mama Baer on one side and on the other side we find the highly respectable Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock. This originally Swiss project has moved to Japan ages ago, and there (and most likely anywhere else) he performs his pieces, aktions as they are called in the best performance tradition. Here a piece from April 2009 in Osaka and its quite a surprising one, if you know their previous work. Much of that older work consis…
Le Couperet: Music For The Crimes Of Dr. Petiot
Near-mythical compilation originally released on Broken Flag as a cassette in 1983. Around this time there were compilations coming out all over the place, usually featuring at least one of Whitehouse, Ramleh, The New Blockaders or Sutcliffe Jugend along with a bunch of other obscure noise bands. This one's been completely unattainable and I've never even seen a copy come up for sale anywhere so having a viyl reissue is great! Featured on here are Ramleh, TNB and Vortex Campaign, along with Sir …
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 …
Shot
ultralimited lavishly packaged LP (100 handnumbered copies only!), this ground-breaking electro-acoustic trio made my day. The album is largely improvised, with extracts of Charles Bukowski’s poetic works overlapping on the interweavings and multiple stratiï¬Âed references in the trio’s music. It features a faceted palette of acoustic, analogue and digital colours: drums, metallic objects, ethnical instruments, samples, sequences, filtered voice, pedal effects, vinyls, digital electronic…
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…
Occupied With The Unspoke
Golden Retriever was started in 2008 by Jonathan Sielaff and Matt Carlson whose paths first crossed in the early 00’s when Sielaff and Carlson were in experimental pop bands that frequently worked together, Au and Parenthetical Girls respectively. Through collaboration, they developed a deep understanding of each other’s musical voice and sensibilities. After exchanging a few solo recordings, it became clear that they had remarkably similar aspirations for and theories on music, th…
Absent Coast
Another sublime drone album from the unshakably good Root Strata camp, En's The Absent Coast is a real upper tier ambient release. Distinguished by its depth and effortless musicality, this album is one for genre fans to really savour. After the sandblasting noise/tonal onslaught of 'A Dying Sun/Return To Holyoke', the album calibrates itself to a stately simmer that comes to life during the quite sublime 'Honeysuckle Heart', which combines glassy sustains with crackl…
Heaven's Youth (Reptilians Demos)
Starfucker’s highly regarded full-length LP Reptilians was originally titled “Heaven’s Youth”. Like most artists, song ideas, the album concept and even the artwork continued to evolve. The band changed the title, continued to edit and develop the songs until the final version (Reptilians) was released in 2011. The original versions of the songs, that were until now only heard by the band, are being released for the first time in a very limited edition of white vinyl. Heaven’s Youth (Re…
Ombrophilia
Ombrophilia is a collection of sound experiments I made with porcelain bowls filled with water between 2006 and 2008. Inspired by Jalatarangam, traditional Indian instrument, I started to play the 'waterbowls' with wooden spoons and metal wire (Mylapore, Jalatarangam Revisited). Since I immersed hydrophones in them, I have tried various ways of resonating the bowls without touching their surface : flicking, stirring, waving and dripping water All the compositions here are multitracked and…
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…
Warmth
Even though Warmth main man Steev Thompson still appears to be incommunicado, totally epic recordings continue to surface. Before Roxanne Jean Polise was officially over and Steev still lived in Chicago, he joined up with another then-Chicago resident Branden Diven of Quilts/American Grizzly Records. The jams that were created filled a couple of CD-Rs and the Warmth side of the split with Quintana Roo on Not Not Fun. This LP consists of a remixed and edited version of the original CD-R ru…
Boca Negra
LP version, ultralimited: For a band with only two members, this group gets an impressive variety of sounds. Rob Mazurek on cornet and Chad Taylor drummer also use the studio as an instrument, alternating between post bop jazz and near ambient soundscapes. Taylor's rhythmic sense is unerring throughout the album, whatever the tempo. Electronics are added at times, and add effect, especially at slower tempos making for spooky music along with slurred horn. "Green Ants" has sputtering …
Bounced Check
Wally Shoup, Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty make up this screamin' free punk jazz liquid solid noize trio captured LIVE 'in your face' style in Seattle, WA. Totally improvised double sax and drum explosions that break down into duos and solos and re-ignite as trio howlin' paint splattered madness gone butt-naked wilder. Recorded at an art gallery with artwork melting off the walls and frightened fans nervously mopping their furrowed blood-stained brows (they were especially afraid one or both o…
untitled
Five tracks, totalling approximately fifty minutes. Packed into the small horrible room (rip) inside the cedar house (rip) down in Lexington ky (still alive), individuals huddled in every corner, painting the room in colored cables, glossy wood and metal boxes. Deafness and disorientation was administered through the afternoon on into the night. Summoning over two hours of recorded tape, it was decided to cut the baby in half for adoption between two imprints. Heavy blossom ferried away the long…
Amateur Doubles
amateur doubles is the brand new solo lp by graham lambkin - a two-part improvisation recorded in a honda civic. dangerous, tedious, pointless and timeless, amateur doubles is a perfect snapshot of life on the open road. expertly mastered by jason lescalleet, amateur doubles arrives in a high gloss full color gatefold, on clear vinyl, in an edition of 500
Slit And Pre-Slit
Reissue limited to 200 copies, originally released as private press in a limited edition of 100 copies in 1977, this ia a Major historical reissue: Slit And Pre-Slit was Jim Shepard’s first ever release, privately pressed in an edition of only 100 copies in 1977 and mostly given away to friends and musical/cultural heroes like Lester Bangs, Todd Rundgren, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Brian Eno, John Cale etc. Its extreme rarity has meant that few have had the chance to wrap their ears around it, …
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 …
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.... …
Alphabet 1968
Black to Comm's Marc Richter is an artist that perpetually seems to be on the verge of releasing an absolute masterwork, always creeping closer and closer but never quite nailing it. Alphabet 1968 does not quite buck that trend completely, but it is an oft-brilliant and unforgettable album nonetheless. Richter's impressive artistic evolution is showing no sign of slowing.
Lifetime Of Romance
LP version. "Heartland synthesist Dylan Ettinger follows up 2010's widely lauded New Age Outlaws imaginary cyber-soundtrack with a stark, dark, and intensely different collection of misshapen new wave weirdnesses, Lifetime Of Romance. Recorded at a proper studio, and written over the course of a year, the seven songs of Romance reflect a heavy influence from the fringier strains of bummed out quasi-industrial synth-pop in the vein of Fad Gadget, certain Cabaret Voltaire, early Human League,…