Reissues
Journey from Anywhere
Compound Eye is Drew McDowall (formerly of Coil) and Tres Warren (Psychic Ills and Messages). Journey from Anywhere is their second album release following Origin of Silence, an art edition LP on The Spring Press label. This double LP features four sides of improvised electronics that lead the listener into the dark recesses of the duo's subterranean explorations. Each of these works move at a slow and considered pace, gradually unfolding into a transportative blur of dark psychedelic minim…
Red Man K's Bedrifter
In 2001, Peter Rehberg (then of Mego) asked Parl Kristian Bjørn Vester aka Goodiepal if he would be interested in doing something for the label. Despite meeting on numerous occasions at various events and happenings around Europe, nothing was delivered. One hot August day in 2013, a large package arrived containing lacquers for a double vinyl LP. Here it was: the Goodiepal Mego album delivered as lacquers and not a WeTransfer link. The lacquers were sent to plant and made into test-p…
Nommos
Restocked! First appearing incongruously on John Fahey's Takoma label in 1981, Nommos remains enshrouded in impenetrable mystery – from its understated artwork to the rich assemblage of analog synths contained inside. According to Head Heritage, Nommos is the "missing link between the proto-industrial rhythm and drone of Suicide and the whole minimalist drone / static / repetition method of Terry Riley and La Monte Young." Best known as a producer, CRAIG LEON worked on landmark debuts from SUICI…
Fragments Of Light
Facsimile reissue of Franco Falsini's stellar debut album of proggy krautrock "Sensations' Fix guitarist, keyboardist and occasional vocalist Franco Falsini cut his teeth with Italian groups in the '60s before assimilating the heady guitar virtuosity of English rock. In 1969, he moved to Virginia and built a recording studio in his girlfriend's basement, employing little more than his guitar, the newly available Minimoog synthesizer and a 4-track machine. These raw tracks, intended to be simple …
Old News 9
Jim O'Rourke's Old News series continues with this, the ninth installment. This new release is unique in the series in that it is the first to feature an all-new composition. The work here showcases the kind of experimental concrete drift which O'Rourke has been exploring for a number of years, resulting in a magical blend of musical abstraction. With the measured hand and alchemical technique of a François Bayle classic, Jim has us spellbound with A-side, transmuting spectral whistles in…
Interface
Awesome, monolithic slab of metal machine music from 1977, France, Paris...Heldon! A prog/early electronic holy grail replete with breathtaking and far-out Heldon's most crystalline work, building to the epic crescendo of the title track. Many fans consider this to be their masterpiece, but more importantly, Interface is a record that will continue to unfold for centuries to come. Richard Pinhas is an artistic iconoclast. A French intellectual as likely to collaborate with MAGMA as the radica…
King Of Kings
The Pyramids' psychedelic Afro-jazz masterpiece finally lands thanks to Disko B. Originally cut in 1975 before they disbanded, 'Birth/Speed/Merging' marks a highpoint of the group's production values and was their last recording together. Since then the LP's achieved cult status for its celebratory fusion of carnivalesque groove with Sun-Ra-like cosmic vibes and progressive values; a worldly and entirely enchanting sound blessed with a real tangible sorta magic. The one to check is 'Black Man An…
Birth/Speed/Merging
The Pyramids' psychedelic Afro-jazz masterpiece finally lands thanks to Disko B. Originally cut in 1975 before they disbanded, 'Birth/Speed/Merging' marks a highpoint of the group's production values and was their last recording together. Since then the LP's achieved cult status for its celebratory fusion of carnivalesque groove with Sun-Ra-like cosmic vibes and progressive values; a worldly and entirely enchanting sound blessed with a real tangible sorta magic. The one to check is 'Black Man An…
Lalibela
Founded 40 years ago in 1972 The Pyramids released three albums before splitting up in 1977: Lalibela (1973), King Of Kings (1974) followed by the seminal Birth/Speed/Merging LP (1976). Three albums that made them one of the most mysterious and legendary of all the spiritual cosmic jazz collectives of the early 70s, like the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra. Lalibela (1973) was the first album recorded by The Pyramids following their landmark journey throughout Africa as students from Antioch …
Otherworldy
Founded 40 years ago in 1972 “Otherworldlyâ€Â is the first Pyramids’ album in over 35 years. They released three albums before splitting up in 1977 – albums that made them one of the most mysterious and legendary of all the spiritual cosmic jazz collectives of the early 70s. Reunion? Re-Incarnation!!!
 The new album contains 14 never before released tracks. The Pyramids’ signature sound is still percussion driven, no surprise with Nash and Speller being two of the mo…
Parapsycho
Doris Norton, founder member and keyboardist of the esoteric legends Jacula and Antonius Rex, was a pioneer in the early electronic/computer music. She began her musical carrer playing avant-garde and progressive music using synthesizers such as Roland System 700, Roland system 100M and Minimoog (Jacula, Antonius Rex). In december 1980 she recorded, at the Fontana Studio 7 (Milan), her first solo album entitled "Under Ground" (Musik Research). Sponsored by Apple computer and the Roland Corporati…
Central Unit
Back together a few years ago, after a silence that lasted about 20 years, Central Unit were a unique case in the Italian scene of the ‘80s. Coming from Bologna and active during the years of the so-called 'post-new wave', the group did not take long to get noticed by the press and television, due to the release of the EP debut "Loving Machinery" and a self-titled LP. Since the beginning it was clear that Central Unit would not settle on the small Italian scene, given the internatio…
The last house on the left O.S.T.
Born in 1936 in New York City, David Hess began his career when he recorded the original version of the Otis Blackwell composition "All Shook Up" under the stage name Dave Hill in 1956. The song became a Number 1 hit for Elvis Presley a year later and Hess became a songwriter at Shalimar Music. David went on to compose "Start Movin'" for Sal Mineo and "Rockin' Shoes" for the Ames Brothers. He continued to write songs for Elvis throughout the '50s and '60s, (including the Presley hit "I Got Stung…
The world is fucked
The first ever stdio album by the Melbourne based synth-punk band who first crawled out of the dark 35 years ago. Recorded with Neil Thomason (My Disco, the Slits) and mastered by David Walker (Lost Animal, Pikelet, Twerps etc), 'The World Is Fucked' pulls no punches across its nine one-word songs. The sound is a kind of shimmering ball of white noise and malice, a floating miasma filled with all the bile most people never let emerge from their subconscious. The album also includes their version…
Electroacoustique (1980-1987)
Born into a musical family, Gisèle Ricard found herself drawn to the piano at an early age. In the mid-1960s, she undertook studies in performance and music education at Laval University’s School of Music in Quebec City. It is there that she was first introduced to electroacoustic composition. Created in 1969 by Nil Parent, the university’s electronic music studio (SMEUL) offered Quebec’s francophone experimentalists a stimulating environment in which to create. In 1974, Ricard cofounded the Gro…
Studies for stradbroke
Letterpress sleeve, 2 color. Designed and printed by Ben Owen. Cover image from a photograph by Lawrence English. Hydrophonic recordings made january and august 2007, Stradbroke Island, Queensland.
Locust Abortion Technician
The aural equivalent of a nightmarish acid trip and arguably the band's best album (or worst, depending on your point of view), Locust Abortion Technician tops the psychedelic, artsy sonic experimentation of Rembrandt Pussyhorse while keeping one foot planted firmly in the gutter. The record veers from heavy Sabbath sludge (even parodying that band on "Sweat Loaf") to grungy noise rock to progressive guitar and tape effects to almost folky numbers in one big, gloriously schizophrenic mess. Gibby…
Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Everything seems to start almost normally on Pussyhorse with "Creep in the Cellar," even with the rather gone violin line -- Haynes is intelligible, the piano part is quiet serene. Then again, Haynes is talking about the creep in question doing things like taking off his skin, so clearly all is still at least somewhat tweaked in Surferland. The rest of the album makes that pretty clear; if not quite as strong as Psychic...Powerless, Pussyhorse is still a strong slice of homegrown art/psychedelia…
Psychic, Powerless... Another Man Sac
The Surfers' Touch and Go debut remains their highlight for many fans, an inspired blast of ugly noise, knowing idiocy, drugged-out insanity and some backhanded surprises. Haynes is still relatively interpretable here; the vocal distortions are only on a few songs, like the opening "Concubine," and what one can't quite understand one can still sense. The band's self-production brings out the mighty rumbles of drummers Coffey and Nervosa and Leary's avant-junkyard guitar work with clarity and a b…
Hairway To Steven
The final album for the Surfers' legendary run on Touch and Go got a reception probably not even the band figured on -- lead reviews in major music magazines, increasingly higher profiles, and more. As it is, though, Hairway is actually a touch lazy in comparison to the previous releases, sometimes sounding almost all too normal. When it connects, though, Steven works wonders, whether continuing in the punk/psychedelic fusion vein of the past or exploring a gentler, tuneful side. The lengthy ope…