Experimental / Psychedelic

'I’ll set the scene – we’re all passed out face-down in the lawn of the first Bush term, scratching our heads after 9/11 and wondering how much more dystopian it’s about to get. Ash hangs in the air as we march toward endless war, and the activities of the post-hippie, post-beat, post-punk, post-jazz, post-industrial, post-experimental bohemian underground flail against the avalanche with a mystic fire you can’t get your arms around, let alone bottle up for consumption. Jars of tears, rockets fr…

Double LP reissue of this legendary dark psych minimal masterpiece! "The music on this bizarre double album from 1972 is somewhere between gothic horror and psychedelic. Don Bradshaw Leather was apparently some kind of British occult group who self-released this album with no credits. (Also, on the record cover the name is spelled “Bradsham-Leather,” not Bradshaw Leather, as it is referred to in everything from the Nurse With Wound list to the book and web guide on early U.K. psychedelic rock -T…

Vocalist-multi-instrumentalist Areski and singer Brigitte Fontaine are a legendary French musical couple that rose to prominence in the ‘60s, making a series of albums that showcased a boldly unorthodox approach to the art of song. Taken as a whole the 13 pieces on L’Incendie stand as high-impact scenes or episodes in a theatre or TV production as much as they represent another take on the concept album. Translated from French L’Incendie means fire, but Areski & Fontaine give it admirably broad …

Super Tip! The musical world of Sonorhc is oriented to collective improvisation and the research of tones; they create a sound full of invention, rich technically, made by many differents instruments which incorporated judiciously elements from the rock music, free-jazz, acid-psych, concrete, ethnic and experimental making them as one of the most atypical French Underground group, and seems somewhere more closer to the German “krautrock” bands like Between, Agitation Free, Deuter, Limbus 3, Dzya…

2025 Repress. "August 1988, Spacemen 3 embark on one of the strangest events in the band's already strange history. Billed as 'An Evening Of Contemporary Sitar Music' (although consciously omitting the sitar), the group would play in the foyer of Watermans Arts Centre in Brentford, Middlesex to a largely unsuspecting and unsympathetic audience waiting to take their seats for Wim Wenders' film Wings Of Desire. Spacemen 3's proceeding set, forty-five minutes of repetitive drone-like guitar riffs, …

"Encore 72 Hours is a special project including some remarkable Chinese domestic musicians. This release is a live recording compilation of the project. All mixing and mastering are done by famous mixing engineer Liu Ying’s studio thus possess extraordinary quality. The album is not only a recording and a reproduction but also a necessary supplement to a live performance, even an artistic reinvention of acoustic. We hope to strike resonance among some listeners." - Tu Fei

Brooding psychedelic revelations from the Stavangerian outsidercore. The uncanny is never out of bounds in the debut release by shadowy Norwegian duo Firmaet Forvoksen. Gaute Granli and Thore Warland, two archetypes of the Stavanger experimental scene long active through solo work (Gaute Granli’s recent Ultra Eczema notoriety, for one) and other collaborative projects (Thore Warland’s ongoing drum devolutions with Golden Oriole, for another), have joined forces under multiple configurations over…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 300 copies.* This release from Astral Editions, the rock offshoot of Astral Spirits, promises a lot of gems and this collaboration from Chris Cochrane (No Safety, Weird Little Boy) and John Thayer (Drunken Sufis, YAI) sits high atop the pile. Cochrane’s guitars crumple and crush, they squelch against Thayer’s rhythms with a gleeful sickness. “Zinc” chews through layers of tin and turbulence until Stan Zenkov’s sax enters the scene, throwing notes like …

*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Paradise Of Delusion, the first vinyl release of the music of Japan’s legendary psych-pop group Shizuka, originally appeared in June 2021. Long-awaited, the LP sold out almost immediately, and already changes hands for three-figure amounts. An’archives is pleased to announce a CD edition of Paradise Of Delusion, making this music accessible again to a wider audience. Drawn from a 2001 performance at Binspark, Nishi Ogikubo, Paradise Of Delusion is gorgeous and ot…

*Limited edition of 550 copies.* Following the long-awaited Paradise Of Delusion LP from 2021, An’archives announces Lunatic Pearl, a 10” EP by Japanese psych-pop legends Shizuka. As with the material on Paradise, 狂気の真珠 [Lunatic Pearl] draws from the deep well of music the quartet recorded in 2001, this time from two studio sessions. Here, though, the group’s classic line-up of Shizuka, Maki Miura, Jun Kosugi and Seven is augmented –on the a-side, they’re joined by Yasushi Nagata on guitar; flip…

Representing Ahad's Flux Worlds 1, the lengthily titled 'Nemo Point Soundmap...' album is the very latest solo offering from this Hungarian sonic traveller now based in Berlin, Zsolt Sőrés. Spread over the two discs are seven pieces that take a combination of viola, bass, piano strings, voice, mellotron, dictaphone, percussion and all manner of other instrumentation and objects into a realm where inner space folds in on itself and unwittingly assumes the guise of multitudinous journeys to those …

“Only this is Rock” Keiji Haino has said of new studio album You're Either Standing Facing Me Or Next To Me. “Treat what I call rock like breaking the seal of old manuscripts.” Since his beginnings in 1970 as the vocalist of the band Lost Alaaf, Haino has spread his work across multiple genres, pushing the limits as a tireless explorer of free-form experimentation. It was with the intense psychedelic soundscapes of Fushitsusha, formed in 1978, that his live set earned a formidable reputation. Th…

Stoned to Death is happy to join forces with Stefan Christensen. Stefan is a huge inspiration for our label and our musical trips. He is based in New Haven, Connecticut and if you don't know his work yet, you are up for a nice discovery. His solo outfit is guitar based and very prolific, very idiosyncratic and very surprising. Stefan's discography is a journey through various forms and styles ranging from minimal drones through outsider folk to loud guitar improv and broken free rock anthems.  S…

*140 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* Japanese electronica and ambient composer Morimoto Naoki presents his 3rd album for Seil Records. »Kotoba« is a mesmerizing collage of sounds and the most beautiful, gentle phrases. Each sound tells a story, each word has a sound.

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 400 copies.* "Here we have the third solo LP by London's Alison Cotton, following on previous successes, All Quiet at the Ancient Theatre (FTR 424LP, 2019) and Only Darkness Now (FTR 564LP, 2020). And as with each of Cotton's projects it is a stylistic advance as well as another example of her dark signature sound. Alison's work with bands is well documented by recordings with Saloon, 18th Day of May, Trimdon Grange Explosion, and her current, ecstatic…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition 340 copies.* "Four years after their magnificent, eponymous debut, this Connecticut trio returns to vinyl with another brain-blurring set of tunes. Picking up where that last LP left off, drummer Michael Kiefer, guitarist/vocalist Jon Schlesinger and guitarist/bassist/mandolinist/electronics/mark tree-rep, Steubs, dig ever deeper into the pulse of the Earth. The first track here, 'Hot Peace,' sounds like stuttering, shimmering emanations from the core of …

Tip! *99 copies limited edition* “This particular brand of home brew lysergia falls in and out of underground fashion, but it's to Todd's credit that he doesn't seem to give a shit, carrying on as he would regardless. That's what legends are made of, kid… if the hall of fame doesn't give my dude a lifetime achievement award soon, the whole of Greatest Imaginary Hits might be reason enough to start storming the gates and demanding action.” – The Quietus   “AN remain a puzzlingly underrated but in…

*Limited edition of 100 copies.* Dream Weapon Ritual was born in November 2006 as a duo made up of Simon Balestrazzi and Monica Serra. In September 2020 the line-up expands into a trio with the entry of Laura Farneti. Often accumulated in the Italian Occult Psychedelia, the sound of DWR is articulated in a free-from sound that draws in equal measure from drone music, from electro-acoustic improvisation and from an imaginary folk visionary.

Another unsung hero of the long lost british prog history, Julian Jay Savarin is a keyboard player and composer, poet and science fiction author, hence the association with the most epic and romantic tendencies of the genre. He was born in Dominica (an island between Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean) and moved to the UK in 1962. He debuted in 1970 with Julian's Treatment, a short-lived progressive rock band which his sole album – A Time Before This – soon became a sought after collecto…

*Limited edition of 199 copies.* Legendary Pink Dots open-air live-section at "Parzkricht / Rotterdam" in 1983. These recordings from the park have been floating around the World Wide Web for some time, but never as a complete show. This offering fills in the gaps and completes the puzzle. Tracks 1-3 are taken from the Vpro Radio recording of the show, while the rest was never broadcasted in full. "They Don't Horses.." did appear on a compilation cassette many years ago (Recloose Live Series Num…

This 4CD luxury set is the second installment in an ongoing series of Motorpsycho re-issues that started with Timothy´s Monster in 2010. In a 2011 poll Blissard (released in 1996) was voted the 25th best Norwegian album of all time by 100 Norwegian artists, making it the third most highly rated Motorpsycho album on the list after Timothy´s Monster (which came in at 13) and Demon Box (placed at 21). There's no doubt that Blissard is one of their most experimental and alien albums. As Tommy Olsson…

Repossessed by the past, bitten once again and forced to relive drama, history, memories, tradition and roots. A past that needs exorcizing, bending and re-imagining in order to move forward and depend on. This is ‘Rimorso’, Mai Mai Mai’s colossal mediterranean gothic album. Known for his incredible blend of Southern Italian Folklore, industrial drone, proto-techno & punishing miasmic electronic music, Toni Cutrone aka Mai Mai Mai approached ‘Rimorso’ with a clean slate. Following ‘Nel Sud’ (La …

*2022 stock.* Four years after the opus Jovem Excelso Happy (heralded as instant classic by certified sommeliers such as Julian Cope, Doug Mosurock or Brian Turner), sparse intense live shows, and studio mishappenings, the hung torchbearers of the new stretchings of the rock spectre are back! Forged in Lisbon over three years, “Orgulho de Ex-Buds” explodes in minty tones of will, pride, and craftsmanship, and presents the listeners with a clear picture of the forces that need be, righting the wr…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 100 copies.* There is no body without flesh, no physical presence without its most obvious substance. In a continuous process of revealing what that substance is regarding to its own sound practice, Fera has produced this Corpo Senza Carne as a transient audio document about researching new and perhaps more intimate possibilities for a bare, naked, brutally honest and direct sonic expression. After Stupidamutaforma’s recollection of ten years of resear…

"It’s been a minute since we’ve thought much about ‘evolution.’ Most folks these days seem focused more on change, which perhaps is as it should be—change involves things we can more readily control, or so we think. Surrounded by more global catastrophe and local collapse than we can measure, the idea of ‘evolution’ feels almost quaint, like something we literally might not have time for. But Chris Forsyth’s Evolution Here We Come suggests that we do. It reminds us that we can fight for the futu…

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 100 copies.* Headlights Recordings presents Manuel Mota's new work Lux. Manuel Mota is known for the personal vocabulary he has developed for the guitar. His music draws inspiration from a multitude of references loosely rooted in the blues tradition to craft a sound which was highly regarded by Derek Bailey. Actual but transmitting an enigmatic sense of timelessness. The moment of creation- composition, and the instrumental execution- playing, are to …

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 100 copies.* Headlights Recordings presents Manuel Mota's new work Via. Manuel Mota is known for the personal vocabulary he has developed for the guitar. His music draws inspiration from a multitude of references loosely rooted in the blues tradition to craft a sound which was highly regarded by Derek Bailey. Actual but transmitting an enigmatic sense of timelessness. The moment of creation- composition, and the instrumental execution- playing, are to …

*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 100 copies.* Headlights Recordings presents Manuel Mota's new work Hieme. Manuel Mota is known for the personal vocabulary he has developed for the guitar. His music draws inspiration from a multitude of references loosely rooted in the blues tradition to craft a sound which was highly regarded by Derek Bailey. Actual but transmitting an enigmatic sense of timelessness. The moment of creation- composition, and the instrumental execution- playing, are t…

"Gorgeous debut LP by a new Belgian duo made up of Annelies Monseré and Steve Marreyt. Steve has been active in a lot of places. I believe I first ran into his work as a member of the folk-psych collective, Silvester Anfang, but he has had his hands in a lot of pots (as it were). Annelies has a long recording history as well, with many fine and floating sides out there to prove it. The pair have known each other for a good long while. Steve appears on a couple of Annelies' albums, and they previ…

In 2009, Klaus D. Mueller and Schulze began releasing La Vie Electronique ("The Electronic Life"), a series of three-CD sets that reissued all the material previously released in these long-deleted box sets, plus a few unreleased tracks, with all the material put back in chronological sequence (the Edition sets mixed things up, time line-wise). Volume 1 covers the years 1968-1972 and is mainly very interesting. One highlight is "I Was Dreaming I Was Awake and Then I Woke Up and Found Myself Asle…

*Printed inner sleeve and an additional lyric sheet. A download card via Bandcamp is also included.* This is the second album by Cologne-based musician Vomit Heat. The sound and structure of this ten-part masterpiece reveal themselves abstractly in an exceedingly dense surface, in dynamic rhythms, in driving bass runs, flat guitars and synthesizers, combined with a confident and multi-faceted voice. They resound with a density that Vomit Heat created from the countless layers of layered sound he…

Vomit Heat and International Music are artistic relatives. Both come from the Ruhr area in Germany, both love psychedelic rock music and at the same time are also involved in avant-garde projects. Heute is something like a concept single, a multi-layered journey full of hints, references and danceable psychedelia. The title track is taken from the upcoming Vomit Heat album Second Skin, to be released spring 2022.

*In process of stocking* Rotorelief present an expanded reissue of Shiny Battles by The Bonaparte's, originally released in 1985. The Bonaparte's trio was born after the split of two bands, Kan Ji Zai founded by Pat Griffiths from 23 Skidoo, Ruben Azca, and Baroque Bordello. According to Giri, the boss of the Gibus, the punk public usually became agitated sitting very attentively at the Kan Ji Zai gig on October 4th, 1983. In 1984 after their first record the EP Today, the drummer Prad and the b…

*In process of stocking* Soft Machine performing two continuous sets of compositions, improvisations and dynamisms. All instruments, except saxes, variously processed with electronic effect devices Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway, 28th of February, 1971. Stereophonic ambient recording technique to Studer A62 Reel-to-Reel.

Over seven tracks that span 80 minutes, the expansive, looping, shifting synths and rhythms of Bajas Fresh mark the trio’s most diverse and ambitious record.

*250 copies limited edition* "I’ll definitely listen to Eric Arn & Margeret Unknown’s frantic, two-guitar improvisation LP Paranza Corta again for sure. When these two really get going with their unusually-tuned, well mic’d acoustic interplay, it sounds like the perfect soundtrack to an ant colony documentary, sped up 100x. It’s pretty berserk." - Jay Hinman, Dynamite Hemorrhage

There are enough ideas in the first couple of numbers to fill a whole album, with wailing sax and clarinet and lightning propelled guitar in the brief opener ‘Heat Patch’- think Zappa- then Fripp in ‘The Celebration Restriction’. It’s a whirlwind, visceral listen with the free spirit of experimental jazz and the nous of heavy rock." Phil Jackson. Conceived and realised over an 8-month period of intense solitary work, "Gated" is Alex Ward's most ambitious musical statement to date. The ten pieces…

We're heading for the dark side of the krautrock kaleidoscope with this month's Electronic Sound cover stars, the inimitable Can. Prompted by the release of 'Live In Stuttgart 1975', the first in a series of archive Can gig recordings, we speak to Irmin Schmidt about the band he created with Michael Karoli, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit towards the end of the 1960s. As we try to deconstruct their wholly unique brand of sonic voodoo, Schmidt reveals the inner workings of Can, together with his…

Nicola Giunta and Gioele Valenti (the musicians creating the Lay Llamas dimension) seem to communicate from a different solar system their ecstatic gaze towards an imaginary future world. They rely mainly on a narrative tone of mysterious and spectral dark-psych shades, digging abyss of glacial depht of the self, where light filters through lysergic languors and radiant progressions of luminous dust. Oneiric voices refer to the hybrid chaos of a metropolitan jungle, as a hypnotic and psychic di…

*In process of stocking* With Sonescent, Matchess unifies her folk-psych pop and experimental styles in a transcendent full-album trip unlike anything she's done before. After hearing songs in her head during a 10-day silent meditation retreat, Whitney Johnson gathered a band of Chicago contemporaries (Haley Fohr, Rob Frye, Tim Kinsella, Kalina Malyszko, Brian Sulpizio) to realize her arranged recollections of the tunes, the sounds of which she then passed through an atmosphere resembling the on…