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Silent Land Time Machine ‘Summer 2011 Tour EP’ Cassette
A beautiful, self-released tour EP by Austin’s Silent Land Time Machine. Made with just as much love and attention as his amazing full-length from 2009. All-new material, limited to only 44 copies. Here, then gone forever.
Silent Land Time Machine ‘Summer 2011 Tour EP’ CD-R
A beautiful, self-released tour EP by Austin’s Silent Land Time Machine. Made with just as much love and attention as his amazing full-length from 2009. All-new material, limited to only 44 copies. Here, then gone forever.
Concern ‘Truth & Distance’ LP – $18
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Gordon Ashworth is Concern and this is his manifesto. “Truth & Distance” is a mini-epic, a minor masterpiece. Within these sonic walls lies a stunning landscape, adrift in golden tones and silver siren songs. Ashworth creates beautiful, shimmering music that defies categorization. It stands on its own, droning away into the furthest reaches of the night. Using only acoustic instrumentation, Ashworth conceives pieces of music in which resonance and timbre mutate and in the air and unfold naturally, organically. Hints of piano glisten like night shadows whispering through the leaves. Strings are bowed and plucked into oblivion. Everything is turned into a pile of reverb. Everyone is a ghost. The title track starts with frayed edges and continually dials back, trying to not to fall apart. Ashworth’s skill in wrangling discordant sounds out of his array of acoustics seems to grow as the piece flows along. Daunting as the seemingly endless layers of droning tones may be, its the all-enveloping nature of this music that makes it so engaging. Like hearing Basinski destroy and rework Peter Broderick’s deepest compositions, “Truth & Distance” feels familiar while sounding new. As the final, looping piano chords of “Heartsink” disintegrate into oblovion, Concern has gone all in. This is music that trades in immediacy for reservation and restraint. Ashworth is able to combine all these elements into towering aural monuments that he scatters through the air and down into the soil. It’s all coming up roses this time. New vinyl edition features extended cuts of all three pieces from the original CD, adding 10 minutes of new music that pushes the album to another level. In addition there is all new art and a cut by Berlin’s D+M. (Description from Digitalis)
Ural Umbo ‘Fog Tapes’ LP – $15
Ural Umbo was formed in 2008 by Reto Mäder (Bern/Switzerland) and Steven Hess (Chicago/USA). Following their mystical, dark and haunting self titled debut album on Utech Records (home of Aluk Todolo, Horseback, Final, Skullflower, Runhild Gammelsaeter, James Plotkin…), Ural Umbo return with their follow-up release, an even more dense, forward-thinking, nebulous post doom record. Ural Umbo cannot conceal their love for the modern forms of Doom and Black Metal. Still, they are far away from just adding another part to the Experimental Metal or Drone Doom catalogue. They rather focus on film score-ish compositions, bizzare atmospheres and haunting melodies coming from somewhere beyond, plus they use a broad spectrum of instruments instead of limiting themselves to downtuned metal guitars or sluggish drums. As the name Fog Tapes implies, the basic tracks were recorded directely to analog tapes. In a second step they enriched the raw material with layers of filigree percussion from bowed cymbals, wind chimes, glockenspiel and the like. This resulted in an organic and hypnotic mixture of lurking electro-acoustics, atmospheric black metal approaches, epic drones, slowly evolving melodies, doom mantras and an overall psychedelic atmosphere. Sometimes it sounds like a poltergeist tapping and scraping in the speakers. But even when Fog Tapes is monolithical in its nature, the overall sound is surprisingly fresh and suffused with light.
Garden Sound (Barn Owl + Eternal Tapestry) ‘Black Summit’ LP – $18
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
When it comes to blown-out psychedelia, the first current band I want to hear is Eternal Tapestry. When it comes to desolate desert blues, that band is Barn Owl. Those are two pretty potent names in the world of experimental music right now so when 4/5 of them join up for some Portland sessions, that’s good news for us all. Gärden Sound is the quartet of Dewey Mahood and Jed Bindeman of Eternal Tapestry (as well as Plankton Wat & Heavy Winged, respectively) and Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti of Barn Owl. “Black Summit” is their first charcoal-lined foray into the deep and if you can’t get lost in this haze, there’s not much hope. Immediately evident is the incredible restraint shown by all four players. They’re not being timid or trying to feel each other out, but there’s an obvious level of comfort and understanding between each. With three guitars and Bindeman’s trademark drumming, it would be easy to drown everything in full-on sludge but Gärden Sound are too damn good to play that game. Opener, “Forbidden Paradise,” sets the scene. Methodical guitar works lull the listener into a solemn state of comfort while Bindeman adds to the hypnosis with tribal-infused narcotic rhythms. The build-up is slow but gets you ready for the knock-down blasts of “Beast of Burden.” Heavy stomp and zoned-out, smoked-out guitar riffs that blow the roof to oblivion. This is music that needs to be played as loud as you can stand it. “Hidden Origin” calms things back down, contemplating the next move while finding its way through the blackened labryinth concocted by Porras, Caminiti and Mahood. Each guitarist finds his own path as they lead each other to the prize. The 14-minute closer, “Obsidian Sky,” brings everything home. Sprawling riffage like a dense forest of apocalyptic crumble. Desolation takes hold as the molasses drones take shape and form themselves into an unpassable mountain of debris. It’s mind-bending and cathartic; a sonic temple crushed to ash so it can rise again. Gärden Sound prove worthy opponents, ably standing on their own and stomping out their own trail toward the stars. Mastered by James Plotkin. Vinyl only edition of 400 copies w/ original cover art by Evan Caminiti. (From Digitalis)
Caboladies ‘Caboladies’ LP – $11
As a pixel leaves the screen, and dissolves back into the field of visual static, a small measure of air is released in the transaction. Most often, this newly liberated measure of air will seek either to expand it’s moisture or to expand it’s heat. Though, in a smaller percentage of cases the air will attempt to expand it’s phosphorescence. By reversing it’s course and attempting to dissolve back into the screen, the air endeavors, against all chemical possibility, to reconstitute with it’s severed pixels. What the air finds, is that the original pixils have themselves reconstitueted with the realm of natural static. With not a pixel to bond, the air is thus nudged to remain in the atmosphere surrounding the screen. A similarly emotional exchange bubbles through the uniquely hyper-dense surfaces sculpted by Caboladies. Theirs is a study of fatigued electronic code, magnified and multiplied. A mutant minimalist calculus of key generated go-zones and opaque technological patchworks, where machines self-destruct in pursuit of their own Walden equivalent. As plasma leaks from behind the monitor’s buttons, light reconvenes with the screenless realm. It is with great pleasure that DNT Records presents the self-titled long player from CABOLADIES. Recorded by the three piece of Chris Bush, Eric Lanham, and Ben Zoeller, this collection draws a narrative thread through their past releases on Arbor, Students of Decay, Mountaain, and their own Smooth Tapes imprint. It’s not so much a summation of their back catalog as it is a spotlight on a particularly fluid and holographic area of their sound. The result is a flowing and coherent collection of nuanced electronic mess. A real trip and an excellent demonstration of the Cabo ethos. Remastered from the original source materials by Pete Swanson. Artwork and Design by Robert Beatty in an edition of 500 on randomly colored vinyl. Pro-printed matte jackets with doubled sided 11×11 poster. (Description from DNT)
Family Underground ‘Demon Parade’ LP – $11
“Think I will set up a booth to sell fried infant fat to the evil parade peeps. But as the demons fly & buzz around the street doing they circus stunting, i would lift open a sewer cap with a rusty iron and slowly creep into the sewers cause who the f**uck is gonna wanna sell ANYTHING at a Demon Parade. You just gonna loose, prob. everything. They don’t necessarily carry around change in a chain wallet do they? Or want overpriced Demon Cokes? No way hose.’ AND it would be mad LATE at night. No thanks. So, I would gander, the real party (human at least) would be UNDER the demon parade. With total weirdo’s. Taking the most of the awful echoey, grating, strange acoustics that lie under the cement streets under the prancing of the demon hooves/feet. I have in my brain an imagine of a m-f duo, comfortable to the street chaos as they are from the free-anarchy of K-town, huddled around the sewer basement by trash can firelight making a slow-MO nerve numbing in tune/outta tune semitone racket to the soundtrack of their busy brain/nuggets. Would sound amazing, slow and mean, thick and meaty but uncluttered, strange and comfortable, KINDA. Like a mystery w/o a mellow ending. Would sound like…..DEMON PARADE. Duh. But like, under the streets to a DEMON PARADE. Cause: See ABOVE. True Family Underground story: One rainy spring night outside a punk club in K-town, some young freeker jammers punkers were looting brew from a Korean Nail Saloon / Party store right next door that left their door unlocked. As scattering happy punkers were cleaning this joint out and stuffing as many tall boys into band-adourned flannel shirts, the two relaxed m-f members of FAMILY UNDERGROUND thought it would be more kosher to do a super quiet set inside, a challenge to high volume AKA being caught. Me & wolf boys were the only ones in attendance to this theft-gig and were blown away by watching the FU’s wave papers, move cutlery around, and get UNSOUND from Korean nail equipment NOT plugged in. It was amazing. It was, in my simple brain, what seeing the mythical SOUTHFIELD CAFETERIA FORK BAND live on the coldest night in winter must’ve been like. Super kool. After they did this NON SOUND FAMILY UNDERGROUND concert, the duo went peacefully to the cooler, gripped FIVE tall boys and we went black outside, UNCAUGHT. Life on the edge, HOW WE DO IT YO. So anyway, Dig this LP. Its real frozen/wild/weird. Sounds good pitched down. UNLIKE: the trees, mob 47, or System Fucker. My fave recs. are A: by my friends & B: portals to another wild/weird world cause this plane SUX. But this here DEMON PARADE. ACE.” (Description from DNT)
Buchikamashi ‘Message From Space’ Cassette
The third work of Buchikamashi is message from outer space. He has reseived some S.O.S signals at every midnight and he make graphic score based on the signals. Also he composed it while repeating channeling with an alien. C30, Limited to 100.
Buchikamashi ‘Yutairidatsu’ Cassette
This is a debut album of the Japanese psychedelic drone unit. “YUTAIRIDATSU” of the album title is the meaning of the astral projection, and work which had a strong hypnosis effect!! C20, Limited to 50.
YOSHIHIRO SAWASAKI ‘Ginjo Onsen’ Cassette
The new album of YS is Nu Age music inspired of the Onsen of heaven!!!!!! YS : Kyoto native Japanese techno/electronic music artist Yoshihiro Sawasaki has started his musical career in 1993. In 1994, his friend and one of the most famous Japanese techno artist Ken Ishii has recommended Yoshihiro to send the demo tape to R&S Records (Belgium) and it was soon released from Apollo/ R&S as a self-titled single “MeditationYS”. Limited to 100 copies, C30
TAIYOUTOU ‘Symbol Zone’ Cassette
TAIYOUTOU is a unit to make each pavilion sound about Osaka World Exposition 1970. This album is a theme in the center of an international exposition called “symbol zone” including a Taro Okamoto’s Taiyou-no tou (solar tower). Limited to 100 copies, C30.
Geoff Mullen ‘Bongo Closet’ LP – $19
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Providence, Rhode Island operative Geoff Mullen has been working beneath the popular music radar for some time now, putting his name to a number of limited cassettes, CD-Rs and vinyl albums. It is hardly surprising that in that time he has developed something of a cult following in the New England scene, with live performances (solo and together with Keith Fullerton Whitman) and his own Rare Youth label garnering him a loyal throng of rabid fans. Using the guitar, synthesizer and a selection of well-developed processes, Mullen has come up with a unique sound difficult to pigeonhole. Throughout the album, the sounds feel so effortlessly unified that one can completely forget the individual instruments themselves. It is hard to believe that the synthesizer used (the legendary Yamaha CS50) is the baby brother of the CS80, heard so distinctively piped into Deckard’s electric dreams in Blade Runner. The distant, dusty tones and pulsating rhythms bring to mind instead memories of early Popol Vuh or something altogether more defiant. As a veteran guitarist, writing Bongo Closet was Mullen’s search for different ways of playing music, and these weathered, deeply personal songs are the result. Rich with emotion and surprisingly detailed, there is the sense that the technology never informs the creative process. Mullen is using his chosen instruments without a care for what they can and can’t do — they are tools in the creation of his music, never the other way around. Bongo Closet is an intensely human listening experience. Teeming with life and breathing as it coughs and splutters, there is an unavoidable attachment felt almost instantly as a listener. This is music that drags you in and simply refuses to let go. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering. (Description from Forced Exposure).
Ilyas Ahmed ‘Between Two Skies / Towards The Night’ 2xLP – $20
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Between Two Skies/Towards The Night is now available on vinyl for the very first time, presenting the first two full length albums from Ilyas Ahmed in one gorgeous package. Featuring brand new gatefold collage art created by Ahmed especially for this release. Limited to 987 copies pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at RTI and housed in an old-style tip-on gatefold jacket printed by Stoughton. Included is a coupon for DRM-free MP3 download. Pakistani-born musician Ilyas Ahmed traffics a sound that borders on the folk/drone/raga/rock axis, one that Scottish critic David Keenan has called “gone”. Currently residing in Portland, OR, Ahmed has released recordings on Time-Lag, Digitalis, and Root Strata. He is known to perform live with Honey Owens (Valet) and Jed Bindeman (Eternal Tapestry, Heavy Winged) and his recent recordings have featured Liz Harris (Grouper). He first appeared in the Fall of 2005 with Between Two Skies & Towards The Night two albums that were released on CDr in editions of 50 copies. Even in editions so small these records quickly made waves and impacted anyone who was lucky enough to hear them. In 2007, Between Two Skies & Towards The Night were given a proper CD release by Digitalis. Immune Recordings is now proud to present the ultimate edition of these two modern classics presented as a deluxe gatefold double LP. Featuring the original collage artwork printed in full color as well as brand new gatefold artwork created especially for this release by Ilyas Ahmed. The music was meticulously cut to vinyl by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering in Phoenix, AZ and pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at RTI in Camarillo, CA. (Description from Immune).
Moon Unit ‘Hell Horse and Heady Stratus’ LP – $20
Where to start? Upon hearing this new LP from Moon Unit it is immediately apparent that this Glaswegian trio stand apart from a lot of the psyche out new boys on the block. Perhaps because they feature Nackt Insecten himself, Ruaraidh Sanachan, Andreas Jonsson of Lanterns, and Peter Kelly. When I first heard this completed LP after a few different incarnations, I was really blown away… the previous versions that had dropped through my mailbox were really something, but this, the final version, is unreal in its sheer goodness. The five jams on this LP make up one of the best psyche out, freak out full lengths I’ve heard this year. It’s an incredible record filled with furiously wild drum explosions, keyboard zone outs, sci-fi guitar shredding, and wailing feedback. It really seems to perfectly blend some of the best sounds that have occurred in the UK over the last few years, cannot recommend highly enough. Play as loud as you can! If you were into Nacket Insecten’s Quantum Odyssey LP on Blackest Rainbow, you will love this for sure, and if you’re just into wild free music such as Vibracathedral Orchestra, grab a copy of this beast! Edition of 500, with cover design by Jake Blanchard (the man behind Menagerie). Pressed on heavyweight virgin vinyl. (Description from Forced Exposure).
Mark McGuire ‘Living With Yourself’ LP – $20
LP version. Mark McGuire operates chiefly as guitarist in the legendary Emeralds; however, he also has racked up an impressive set of solo releases over the last few years (albeit mainly in small- to micro- print runs). Living With Yourself is his new album and Editions Mego hope to meet any demand which may arise from this fine selection of modern crafted guitar tunes. Focusing on his family, early friendships and the problems that inevitably develop through years of knowing someone, it takes McGuire’s sound even further out, and contains some of his most accomplished songs to-date. The opening track is a fine example of McGuire’s magical technique of taking a lone acoustic guitar then transforming the track into bliss-out electro wash looping off into the distance. And tracks like “Clouds Rolling In” and “Brain Storm” take off where such McGuire classics as “The Marfa Lights” (which incidentally is planned for a future reissue) left off. While connoisseurs of his sound will find all they desire in here, many superb surprises await around every corner. These are songs that cruise, bubble and rise to the top.. (Description from Forced Exposure).
Svarte Greiner ‘Penpals Forever (&ever)’ LP – $15
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Svarte Greiner is the nom de plume of Deaf Center’s Erik K. Skodvin. Hailing from Norway, his solo efforts are always stripped bare, white-knuckle sojourns through dark, haunted ambient sonic corridors. “Penpals Forever (and Ever)” is the imaginary tale of a long dead Baroque painter and his telekinetic correspondence with a flightless bird. It feels archaic; experimental death marches circa 1622. Like Guercino’s Et in Arcadia Ego, once the end is realized there’s nowhere left to go. It’s beyond our experience and sometimes you never recover from the shock. Despite its rather cheery title, “Penpals Forever (and Ever),” is another step toward the abyss. Musically sparse, Svarte Greiner finds new channels connecting desolate landscapes through ethereal nightmares. It is music best served cold. Chattering, looping guitar lines that feel like muscle being separated from bone slowly build into aching piles of aural dissonance. It’s painful to a point. Recorded voices speak a language you can’t understand underneath ominous, echoing single notes. Distant metal fragments scrape the dirt from detuned strings while a nefarious feathered minstrel bows dying instruments in the background. No hope left, death is just around the corner. As it ever was, Svarte Greiner is again weaving something deliciously sinister. This is music that is uncomfortably bare. Within its blood-stained confines there is nowhere to hide. Skodvin’s tangled, gnarled tale goes back and forth into infinity until it becomes clear that the flightless bird in question lives inside your skull. Drowning slowly into one’s own twisted mind, “Penpals” is the soundtrack of loss; the procession of fears gradually becoming so overbearing that you can’t escape your own demons. (Description from Digitalis).
Radio People ‘S/T’ LP – $18
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Vinyl only. Edition of 450 copies. Radio People is the latest project from Ohio-stalwart, Sam Goldberg. After a handful of solo releases under his own name on Weird Forest, 905 Tapes and the Emeralds-run Wagon & Gneiss Things labels, he debuted Radio People on an ultra-limited self-titled cassette on his own Pizza Night imprint. At that point, there was no way back and the only move was to push forward with this new cosmic beast. Two more short-run tapes followed and it was clear that this new chemically imbalanced synthesizer project wasn’t just a quick hit one-off. Radio People is here to stay. On this, his debut vinyl effort, Goldberg has compiled the best elements of those three, long-gone cassettes. This Dubplates & Mastering cut slab of wax is the strongest statement Goldberg has made, proving his talent lies far beyond ambient soundscapes and well into the world of pop-infused synthesizer chaos and kraut-inspired composition. Major hooks sit alongside dense planetary drones. Goldberg pairs rivers of polysynth tracery with deep shards of droning organs, minimal live percussion and a whole host of drum machine backbone. This really is the best of both worlds. Melodies suck you in, beats get your head bobbing and then you’re sucked down a complex tonal wormhole of introspective loops and ambient synthscapes. Pop song frameworks nestle themselves neatly beside somber soundscapes, sometimes jumping back and forth in the same track. Barely-there vocals foil the stasis, leaving the listener guessing and wondering if there’s a ghost in the mix. Radio People’s embracing of simple kraut rhythms to underscore the catchy, kosmische wanderings give this music an accessibility not present in much of Goldberg’s previous work. It crosses boundaries and comes back and shows still untapped wells of talent and ideas in Goldberg’s bag of tricks. (Description from Digitalis).
King Midas Sound ‘Waiting For You’ 2xLP – $23
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Finally available on Deluxe gatefold vinyl – 1000 copies only, never to be repressed* Regarded by many as the source of his finest material, in his King Midas Sound guise Kevin Martin (in collaboration with Roger Robinson) concentrates on the haunted and somnambulistic qualities of dub music, like a tracing paper facsimilie of his Bug project dialled from 6 feet below the rave, still feeling the choking bass weight, but filtering the vocals, sirens and atmospheres to a frosted shade of his other self. The magnificent teaser single ‘Cool Out’ is still resplendant in it’s austere majesty, leading the ghostly carnival procession through 12 tracks united by an ethereally themed concept. Title track ‘Waiting For You’ strips the juicy flesh of what could be a bittersweet Lovers Rock track down to the shuddering bones, offering scant melodic light from Roger Robinson’s floating falsetto, while the Tricky alike moods and male/female vocal counterpoints of ‘Earth A Kill Ya’ perfectly encapsulates that sense of dread paranoia that lurks large over this whole set. The outstanding ‘I Man’ fleshes out the previous dub version included on the preceding single with achingly soulful vox from Robinson, while bass fiends are in for a serious treat with the all too short ‘Blue’ and ‘Lost’ perhaps gives a nod to RZA’s Ghost Dog soundtrack with a crooked leaning hiphop killer. Like the best of Martin’s productions, this is just intensely heavy, but with a twist of densely smoked paranoia that makes it something of a modern classic for the late 00′s. Highly Recommended! (Description from Boomkat).
Ossining ‘I Will Be Missed’ LP – $15
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Fresh from the sunny cascades that split the mountains into pieces, the duo of Brad Rose (Altar Eagle, The North Sea, etc) and Kevin Danchisko (Sovetskaya Gone) rip into the bliss that drips from synthetic space nebulae. “I Will Be Missed” is the first vinyl release following up a handful of cassettes. With nods to ’60s Americana via laced cocktails and theoretical academic roots, Ossining takes this drag race to the moon. “I Will Be Missed” collects three synth-driven underwater vision quests. Crystal sequences are force-fed through strings of filters resulting in flourescent, smoldering towers of muddy ambience. The idea is to make something inherently beautiful that sucks the air from your lungs resulting in a wobbly, unclear treatise. With the cracks smoothed over, each sharp jolt takes on a life of its own turning up the temperature and morphing into a pure white heaven. It’s all hands-on-deck if you don’t want to get dropped into the boiling seas below. The flipside brings the lightshow to its peak, taking things positively solar. Backed by walls of bloop-infested waters and arpeggiated madness, the duo let the vocals fly. Each run through exudes an underlying tension searching for any hole to escape. As melodies loop and feedback on top of each other, the beginnings are consumed by the ends. Nothing is left to chance and nobody is hoping for perfection. In the end, Ossining deliver two sides of silver-soaked dreams blasted in a holographic glow. Mad men, the lot of them. (Description from Digitalis).
Simon Scott ‘Traba’ LP – $14.50
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Traba is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at RTI in an edition of 500 copies for the world. Included is a free MP3 download coupon. Traba is a brand new mini-LP from the UK’s Simon Scott. In the early ‘90s Scott was the drummer for renowned shoegaze band Slowdive. Recent years have seen Scott running the KESH recordings label from his base in Cambridge, performing in the group Seavault with Anthony Ryan (ISAN) on Morr Music, and also working as a sound designer for television, film and sonic art installation. 2009 saw the release of Scott’s debut solo album Navigare released on Miasmah Recordings (run by Erik Skodvin of Svarte Greiner/Deaf Center). Scott has shared studio and stage with Brian Eno, Klimek, The Caretaker, Machinefabriek, Jasper TX, Nils Frahm, Seasons (Pre-Din), Rafael Anton Irisarri, Xela, Fever Ray, Svarte Greiner, Marcus Fjellstrom, Lawrence English, Fennesz, Leyland Kirby and Taylor Deupree. He has also remixed ON, Autistici and ISAN and provided production assistance for Hannu’s album Hintergarten. Scott also performs live with The Sight Below and co-wrote songs on the new album It All Falls Apart (Ghostly International). Traba contains four tracks that were written at the end of the sessions for Navigare. When the deadline for completion of the album came and went these compositions were unfinished, but over the course of the summer and autumn of 2009 they were completed in Scott’s o3o3o Studio in Cambridge. Traba continues and expands on the themes of submergence, being lost at sea, and intoxication. (Description from Immune).
Celer ‘Dwell In Possibility’ LP – $20
“Dwell In Possibility is the debut vinyl LP by the formerly active American husband and wife duo Celer, and is also their first release for Blackest Rainbow. Consisting of 15 different sections sprayed across two sides of vinyl, with little if any distinctions, Dwell In Possibility is arranged as a muted patchwork of keyless voices blinded by sunlight, hollow echoes from unlit interiors, and scrolls of unrolled piano tunes. Enclosed in empty shadows, with vague slides of unanswered prayers, these two sides etch a dateless form into weak ends, and pyrrhic dells. Everydays are left empty-handed, and enjoyed only then. Positions change, and rely only on your imagination to wake from this, to sleep, in hope to feel again. Full-colour fold-over pro-printed covers featuring vintage photography. Limited to approx. 420 copies.” (Description from FE).
Scuba ‘Aesaunic’ 2×12″ EP – $20
Hotflush Recordings presents a new EP from Scuba, following on from the success of his Klinik/Hundreds and Thousands 12″ (HF022). Over the five tracks, Scuba covers the full spectrum of his sound, developing the house and techno influenced dubstep that has been such a feature of 2009 and wading into new territory with ‘Symbiosis,’ a half-time 170bpm excursion that has been supported by DBridge and Instra:mental on their seminal Autonomic podcast. (Description from FE).
Javelin ’2′ 12″ – $15
Click to hear a song in our writeup.
2 is the second 12” from Javelin. Their debut 12” released by Thrill Jockey last November sold out the week of release. Javelin consists of two cousins, Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford. They started making music together in Providence, RI in 2004, although their earliest collaborative tapes date back to a bunk bedroom near the sea shore. They now live in New York. In performance, Javelin will use colorfully painted boomboxes that form large speaker totems (“boombaatas”) which can hang from the ceiling or stack up on the floor like pyramids. The signal from the show is broadcast via FM transmitter, thereby fostering audience participation (B.Y.O.Boombox) or fueling battery-powered, mobile parties. The duo has played venues as diverse as the children’s branch of the Olneyville Public Library (RI), to the Museum of Modern Art (NY), both of which happened in the same week. When not performing, Javelin is busy producing. Together they have amassed a vast catalogue of music, varying in its aesthetic range. Songs resemble the record collection from whence they spring, if not literally as when sampling, then figuratively as when past forms are cited and re-contextualized. Sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their MPCs. Long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. The result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical “dollar bins of the future”), where R & B impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and Andean flautists hold equal sway. The 12” EP is limited to 500 copies worldwide. Each record comes in a one of a kind vintage record jacket. The front side is silk-screened and the back has a hand pasted track listing which is also silk-screened. Also included is a free MP3 download coupon. (Description from Thrill Jockey).
Javelin ‘S/T’ 12″ – $16
Click to hear a song in our writeup.
Javelin consists of two cousins, Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford. They started making music together in Providence, RI in 2004, although their earliest collaborative tapes date back to a bunk bedroom near the sea shore. The duo currently live in the booming metropolis of New York. In performance, Javelin use colorfully painted boomboxes that form large speaker totems (“boombaatas”) which can hang from the ceiling or stack up on the floor like pyramids. The signal from the show is broadcast via FM transmitter, thereby fostering audience participation (B.Y.O.Boombox) or fueling battery-powered, mobile parties. The duo has played venues as diverse as the children’s branch of the Olneyville Public Library (RI), to the Museum of Modern Art (NY), both of which happened in the same week. When not performing, Javelin is busy producing. Together they have amassed a vast catalogue of music, varying in its aesthetic range. Songs resemble the record collection from whence they spring, if not literally as when sampling, then figuratively as when past forms are cited and re-contextualized. Sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their MPCs. Long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. The result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical “dollar bins of the future”), where R&B impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and Andean flautists hold equal sway. Their first release is a self-titled 12” limited to 500 copies and housed in old used-bin record sleeves with hand-screened artwork. Some sleeves are willfully obscure and some are easily identifiable but all are unique! Keep an eye out for a second Thrill Jockey 12″ early next year and then a full-length on Luaka Bop shortly thereafter. The completely unique jackets were hand picked by the band and silk-screened by Crosshair here in Chicago. Limited to 500 copies and housed in thrifted record sleeves. Some sleeves are willfully obscure and some are easily identifiable but all are unique! Also included is a free download coupon. (Description from Thrill Jockey).
Golden Jooklo Age & Peaking Lights ‘S/T’ LP – $20
An incredible instrumental jam in three chapters recorded at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York in May 2008 when the two bands met for a tour in the East Coast of the United States. Golden Jooklo Age and Peaking Lights melted their fluxes travelling the astral ways of sound and this is the postcard they sent us from the lands of future psychedelia.
Tape and Bill Wells ‘Fugue’ LP – $14
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Tape and Bill Wells first met in Stockholm while Bill was performing his music with The Concretes and Jens Lekman. Both artists were aware of each other’s work and upon this first meeting they spoke of collaborating together on a recording. A year later Bill invited Tape to perform three concerts together at Triptych Festival in Scotland. During their visit a day was spent recording at Ca Va Sound in Glasgow. Those recordings were the start of something truly special. In 2008 Bill traveled to Stockholm to again perform some concerts with Tape and it was during this visit that a week was spent recording at Tape’s own Summa Studio. It was the recordings from this session that became Fugue. The four tracks selected were the ones where the music sounded like something completely of it’s own, something other than Bill Wells or Tape. With the use of piano, organ, Fender Rhodes, guitar, bass, electronics, drums and synthesizer Fugue is truly a unique and timeless recording from these legendary and prolific artists. Simplistic, searching and fragile. Fugue is pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at RTI in an edition of 900 copies for the world. Included is a free MP3 download coupon. (Description from Immune).
Simon Scott ‘Navigare’ LP – $18
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
This is the debut full-length release by the UK’s Simon Scott. Scott has had a notable musical past: in the early ’90s he was the drummer for the renowned shoegaze band Slowdive. Upon leaving Slowdive, he formed the more electronic-based group Televise. He also set up his own label, Kesh Recordings, and has so far released titles by the likes of Hannu, Sebastian Roux, Aus and Mark Templeton. More recently, Scott has been involved in several diverse projects, including his work as a member of Seavault (with Antony Ryan from Isan), and collaborations with Machinefabriek, Jasper TX and Emmanuele Errante. With Navigare, there are shades of Scott’s previous output and musical interests, but as a whole, the album marks a bold new direction. Navigare opens with “Introduction Of Cambridge,” a shimmering wall of sound, its ethereal tones and slow-burning drones gradually drawing closer and closer, creating gorgeous uplifting melodies and textures. The processed guitar combined with gentle swathes of interference and underlying rhythms echoes the processes of Chain Reaction’s productions as much as it does the screeching, arcing feedback lines of Kevin Shield’s guitar work. Navigare shares an affinity with the melodic content of Fennesz’s work, the dark beauty of Tim Hecker’s sound, and houses elements of the restraint found in Andrew Chalk’s drone compositions. What really devastates here is Scott’s ability to merge ambient passages with such memorable melodic cycles, taking the simplest of ideas and building on them, generating murky hooks and submerged “riffs.” Scott explores textures using a variety of instruments including sitar, violin, cello, and flute, merging them with excerpts from field recordings; it all sounds so effortless. The looping rhythms and slow guitars rise and grow, at times approaching something oppressive; select pieces such as “Flood Inn” house an underlying weight, comparable to Justin K. Broderick’s Jesu and Final projects. Perhaps the hazy drums, bass and guitar drift of “The ACC” presents the most recognizable of stylistic qualities from Scott’s back catalog; a groove that recalls the Souvlaki-era sound in all its glory, re-imagined in a new, darker and more expansive form. Additionally, a guest appearance from label mate Jasper TX, a vocal contribution from Moskitoo, and a track co-written with Rafael Anton Irisarri, adds even more depth to Scott’s already ambitious vision. LP version, featuring exclusive vinyl track “Dissolving Memories.” (Description from FE).
Leyland Kirby ‘Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (Part Three: Memories Live Longer Than Dreams)’ 2xLP – $24
Previously released on CD as part of a 3CD package, this is the third of the three 2LP editions of When We Parted My Heart Wanted To Die series. The final volume in this limited edition brings proceedings to a harrowing, moving close. A sense of nostalgia, introspection and loss seeps through every pore of these seven long pieces, starting with “Memories Live Longer Than Dreams,” a blue-hued piano piece that conjures an old vinyl pressing, spinning ever-so-slightly off-center for an added sense of wooziness and alienation. “A Longing To Be Absorbed…” comes next and employs a radically-altered palette. Layered drones and distorted crescendos somehow sound like Yellow Swans and Vangelis battling it out for supremacy over 13 minutes of immense, visceral music. “Don’t Sleep I’m Not What I Seem, I’m A Very Quiet Storm” is a 14-minute piano treatment that’s at once deeply beautiful and somehow strangely disturbing — evoking long-submerged memories. A fitting end to this substantial, important body of work. Featuring artwork by Ivan Seal, and beautifully mastered at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering. (Description from FE).
Leyland Kirby ‘Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (Part Two: Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was)’ 2xLP – $27
*PART 2 OF 3 INCREDIBLY LIMITED VINYL EDITIONS – 450 COPIES ONLY FOR THE WORLD* While the profound impact of the first edition in this series has now had time to seep into the consciousness of anyone lucky enough to have grabbed one of the few copies made available, the scene is now ripe for James Leyland Kirby to deliver a beautiful second set of transmissions under the deeply pessimistic title ‘Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was’. We may be a little biased towards Kirby’s work, having rabidly followed his arc for over 10 years now, but in our opinion this is quite possibly his most full-bodied and well-realised body of work to date, featuring the composer in the midst of a deep melancholy. It’s a personal issue, one that Kirby has bravely opened himself up to, in order share with a faithful and understanding audience the tangible feelings of nostalgia, or a “sehnsucht” connected to those pieces of music which have shaped our world and ellicited the most visceral but often confusing inner responses. Although it’s not stated by the artist, we can largely assume some influence from the neon-etched synthscapes of Vangelis on the title track. It features a sweeping motif reminiscent of the Yamaha CS-80 synthline used to score the Bladerunner ‘End Titles’, only morphed, submerged and heard through different ears, while attempting to savour that shared experience of dystopian and deeply evocative industrial sci-fi imagery that’s been embedded onto the longterm memory of this generation. On ‘And Nothing Comes Between The Sadness And The Scream’, swells of symphonic strings, piano keys from the very lowest registers and wispy theremins recall classic Harold Budd, or the surreal melodrama of David Lynch and his accompanying soundtracks from Badalamenti, and selected pieces of Penderecki from his ‘Inland Empire’ enigma. The Lynch influence is omnipresent in Kirby’s work, signifying an intuitive, observant and sensitive sense of humour which perceives human nature and emotion in sharp focus on the drama scores of ‘When Did Our Dreams And Futures Drift So Far Apart’, or the washed-out grain of ‘Not Even Nostalgia Is As Good As It Used To Be’. Once again, with the sublime mastering job from D&M, and originally painted artwork from Ivan Seal, this is simply a package of music that we think you’ll cherish for a long time to come, something which can’t be said about many things in life. A must. (Description from Boomkat).
Cougar Den ‘Keepondrifter’ LP – $12
The debut full-length from Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s COUGAR DEN finally gets the vinyl treatment! And treatment it is. The LP is pressed on 140 gram opaque light blue vinyl and housed in an incredible 3-color screen printed french paper cover, screen printed by Burlesque Design of North America featuring stunning cover artwork by Aaron Horkey. Plus there’s a download card included for free MP3′s of the entire album! Limited to just 524 copies! (Description from Init).
Hudson Mohawke ‘Butter’ 2xLP – $20
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Megawatt R’n'B stars won’t be the only ones to take note of Butter, as the ever-growing global network of bass-craving music fans have been clamoring for new material since Hudson Mohwake’s lauded Polyfolk Dance EP earlier this year. On that record, HudMo’s hyper melodic drum-and-synth sidewinders only hinted at the panoramic pop magic that was to come and with it he found himself name checked by the likes of Rihanna, Goldie, Sa Ra, Busy P, Flying Lotus, Mars Volta & Crookers. (Description from FE).
Hyperdub 5.1 12″ EP – $12
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
5.1 EP contains three previously unreleased tracks: A1. Kode9 & The Spaceape ft. ChaCha – ‘Time Patrol’ B1. Black Chow – ‘Purple Smoke’ B2. Flying Lotus – ‘Disco Balls.’
Hyperdub 5.2 12″ EP – $12
5.2 EP contains three previously unreleased tracks: A1. Joker & Ginz – ‘Stash’ B1. Zomby – ‘Tarantula’ B2. Samiyam – ‘Roller Skates.
Hyperdub 5.3 12″ EP – $12
“5.3 EP contains two previously unreleased tracks: Quarta330 – ‘Bleeps from Outer Space,’ LV – ‘Turn Away.’”
Hyperdub 5.4 12″ EP – $12
5.4 EP contains two previously unreleased tracks: A1. Martyn – ‘Mega Drive Generation’ and B1. LD – ‘Shake It.’”
David Daniell & Douglas McCombs ‘Sycamore’ LP – $13
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Sycamore is a delicate tapestry of spacious and ethereal guitar lines woven into abstract, slow-burning and multi-layered textural improvisations. The sounds blend and overlap to create richly faceted and thickly psychedelic passages, unveiling new layers of detail with each and every listen. The LP comes in a deluxe limited edition for each format with artwork by illustrator and painter Arik Roper. David Daniell is a member of San Agustin and has collaborated with Loren Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and Jonathan Kane Douglas McCombs is a member of Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, Pullman, and Brokeback and has worked with Tom Ze, Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico. Limited to 1,000.
Lokai ‘Transition’ LP – $13
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Stefan Németh is a member of Radian and has collaborated with Martin Siewert, Werner Dafeldecker, Christian Fennesz, and Florian Hecker. He is also the co-founder of the Mosz label. Florian Kmet is a member of Superlooper and has collaborated with Martin Brandlmayr, Wolfgang Mitterer, Gunter Schneider, Max Nagl, Franz Hautzinger, Ludwig Bekic, and Jorge Sanchéz-Chiong. Both Németh and Kmet are major players in the avant-electronic music scene and have a cultish underground following. Transition will appeal to fans of John Zorn, AAM, and other avant-garde composers. Limited to 500.
White Hills ‘Dead’ 12″ EP – $14
Hailing from Brooklyn, White Hills were originally formed to help bring space rock into the 21st century and on October 6th, they’ll be one step closer with the release of their limited edition “Dead” EP. Straddling the chasm between Hawkwind and Mudhoney, White Hills craft psychedelic swirls of feedback, bottom heavy bass riffs and soaring guitar solos that take listeners on journeys into the farthest reaches of the mind. This vinyl only release will feature three new tracks and a new remix of “Oceans of Sound” and is limited to 1,000 copies.
Pontiak ‘Sea Voids’ LP – $14
Pontiak wrote, recorded and mixed Sea Voids in eight evening sessions over the course of three weeks. The brothers sketched out what kind of album they wanted to make while on a two month US tour. It would be visual, it would be expressive, and it would be inspired by what the brothers had seen. When they returned home from tour they had just four weeks to write and record the album before disembarking on a European tour. They spent many long nights, amps blazing into the summer darkness, drums echoing off the surrounding hills, working to finish. They tuned the bass and the guitar down to B, cranked their amps and let the air open up. Hardly any distortion pedals were used. It was just LOUD. Pontiak finished Sea Voids the day they left for Europe. The record benefited greatly from the work of Richard Prince and Chris Burden, and to them the band gives a huge thanks! Sea Voids is limited to 1,000 copies on vinyl only and the jackets are hand screened by Crosshair.
Mountains ‘Etching’ LP – $16
To follow up the release of their highly acclaimed album Choral, Mountains is please to present Etching. Before embarking on tour earlier this year Mountains recorded Etching at Brendon’s studio in real time with no overdubs. The band then sold the music on that tour as a limited edition CDr with hand-stamped sleeves. The music on Etching parallels the live sets the band performed on that tour. To translate the recording to the vinyl format the band re-sequenced the recordings to fit more appropriately on the LP. Etching is limited to 1,000 copies and comes in a hand-stamped LP jacket. Included is a free MP3 download coupon! Each jacket is completely unique!
Shackleton ’3 EPs’ 3xLP – $25
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
Surprise, surprise…. after several excellent releases on his imprint Skull Disco, Berlin transplant Sam Shackleton sends out some drones through Perlon. Shackleton’s maverick take on big bass lines and complex beats doesn’t fit into any easy categories. Shackleton has been carving out his own brand of eclecticism so far with intricate, snaking percussion, hypnotic melodies, seriously deep bass lines and dubwise sensibilities. With tribal percussion up against electronic screeeeeee, and some bass-y low-end backing ring modulators and other avant garde accessories, Three EPs is a milestone already. (Description from FE).
Alva Noto ‘Xerrox Vol. 2′ 2xLP – $22
Click to hear a clip in our writeup.
2×12″ gatefold version. Previously-released on CD by Raster-Noton, now available on vinyl. This is the second volume in the planned 5-volume Xerrox series by Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), the follow-up to Xerrox Vol. 1, released in 2007 on Raster-Noton. While Xerrox Vol. 1 referred to the “old world” with its tradition deeply rooted in classical music, Xerrox Vol. 2 tries to access a “new world.” It works with samples (from Michael Nyman and Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley) that have been gathered in the U.S.A., the so-called “new world” where the album was largely recorded. Vol. 2 develops an overall, linear aesthetic that refers to musical strategies of film music. Hence there are no implicitly singular pieces, but open musical structures — a journey without a predetermined target. The eleven tracks on Xerrox Vol. 2 serve as documents of an immediately experienced time or as attempts to unfold in an endless space. (Description from FE).