Hexlove/Faulouah 2xLP out now!
Fusetron — Superb New York record label and distro that stocks tons of limited, hard-to-find and obscure musics. If you're looking for something, chances are they've got it. Highly recommended.
Aquarius Records — Simply put, the best record store on the planet and a vast source of arcane musical knowledge..and continuous inspiration.
AVMJ — Abide Visuals is the Sacramento design firm that handles all the Weird Forest packaging, web and design duties. Check out their Exit Strategy Art Annual!
SS Records — Great label here in sacto that releases the genre bending music of the already outlandish genres.
Eremite Records — Probably my favorite free jazz label that releases current music by greats on the scene.
Eclipse Records — Ed Hardy's fantastic pysch-out-noise distribution and record label. He gets all the great stuff and some stuff you wont find anywhere else.
Tonevendor — Dan's store is the place to go for the indie rock but he also carries stuff that blazes off the beaten path. Check them out!
Qbico Records — Emanuele Pinotti's awesome label focusing on free improv and drone pysch stuff. He also auctions really rare free jazz, improv, noise pysch LPs, too.
Jyrk — Where you can get info and releases from D, Yellow Swans and other ragin' arteests.
European Free Improv — The greatest of allwebsites devoted to european improvisors. Just an amazing resource. Lists upcoming concerts and new music releases.
Ecstatic Yod — Super online music and book store run by Corsano, Coley and Moore. they specialize in lots of out of print goodies you may have trouble finding.
Bay Area Improvisers Network — covers the improvisational, creative, and experimental music scenes in the bay area.
KDVS 90.3 FM — Amazing college radio station in Davis, California. Where I learned all about incredible music.
Weird Forest Records
If one were dim enough to go about explaining the new double LP from Hexlove/Faulouah by pointing up parallels between it and the future-thinking music which has surely influenced its creator, I imagine the task wouldn't be too daunting. One may first notice that Free Jazz from Slavery is awash in the sublimely complex percussion patterns of 20th century composers like Harry Partch, Eugene Kurtz, and Iannis Xenakis. Or one might wonder if Zac Nelson, the man in the cockpit of this thing, hadn't been listening to Another Green World since he was in the womb. And certainly it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the jibing spirit of early-eighties Pere Ubu experimentation is all over the more flippant efforts like Don't Say I Didn't Warm Yah and the watery blurb that opens the record, Aztec vs. Dolphin.
This, though, is the wrong way to go about listening to or talking about any of Hexlove/Faulouah's work. Musical ancestors are worn proudly on Nelson's sleeve, but as eagerly as he celebrates them, he also delights in taking them, along with himself, down a peg. The snarky punning of the album's title, the faux-shamanic chanting and cooing, the deliberately murked-up and buzzing arrangements all belie an agenda that involves not only a glad embrace of the less austere reaches of avant-gardism but a pointed critique of its elitism and intellectual posturing. Tracks like the doom-laden Lots of Wings Carry Seeds, which pulses like the metabolism of some slumbering extinct beast, display a staggering sense of grey beauty but are quickly undercut when Nelson begins to take a more blithe and self-deprecating tack. This, though, is not to the record's detriment; it never falls into mere novelty or self-parody. The sheer technical brilliance, evident on every track, earns quite a big spot on Nelson's cheek to put his tongue in. The most glorious moments, though, are those in which he is able to marry these two tendencies, as on the desperate and busy Grump up the Volume, which opens the second side of the first record. And this is just the first record.
All doubts that may have been lingering about Nelson's seriousness or capabilities vanish completely after even the most cursory listen to the second record. Alone it is a startlingly focused and beautiful ambient masterwork, but it shines all the more when it is coupled with the chaos of the first record. The long, breathing pieces are tranquil and meditative yet never naive or on the look-out for a place in The New Age. Under every track, however spare and delicate, lurks an anxiety that constantly threatens to swallow all delusions of well-being. Though it drones and broods, it is never without texture. Alive with the haunting organ of Exits Very Damp or the subtle xylophone flourishes of Big Happy Lotus, it manages to maintain a clean, coherent spirit without becoming sterile or devolving into massage music. The sidelong closer and centerpiece of the album, Psychopomp, though, is as sparse and heavenly as music gets, but it still attains such a raw human beauty that after you hear it, the last thing you want to do is lie down for a massage. Rather, you want to run out and find the human who created it and thank him. —Steve Rodgers
Limited to 500 copies on green and orange vinyl with full color gatefold jackets. $18.
Hi there, response to the Pocahaunted record has been massive and I thank you. Please bear with me as its taking longer than usual to get the records shipped due to my full time day job being very busy right now. Rest assured you will get your order soon. Thanks for your patience.
We meet again. Pocahaunted color vinyl lps are now available in the store. Theres translucent yellow or white available, most likely for a limited time. When you order please send me a message in paypal or by a separate email stating which color you'd like. Also the band has copies so check out the Not Not Fun website for goodies galore.
The Can't LP will be sold out soon. Note that Jessica herself has copies for sale and you can reach her through her Myspace profile or her IRFP site. Also should note Grouper is selling copies of Wide directly as well. Check her Yellowelectric page for more info.
Hexlove 2xlp is done and on sale in the shop! Its pretty amazing folks, if you dug his first release on the Holy Mountain label be prepared to go to a whole new moon on this one. Pocahaunted LP is done too. Important to note that our pressing plants are suffering a shortage of color vinyl right now so we are pressing 300 copies of the LP on black vinyl right now and as soon as color vinyl is available we will press 100 on white and 100 on yellow so, if you want color, its gonna be a while longer.
Coming soon are records from Bee Mask, Starving Weirdos, Emeralds, and more!