- Ava Mendoza / Mucky The Ducky split Tape
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Special tour edition tape of Mendoza's upcoming CD release on Weird Forest. Joined by Nick Tamburro on drums, the duo meld heavy metal riffage with free jazz energy for a spectacular musical eruption.
Helmed by Sean Johennessen, Mucky the Ducky is definitely a collective of the 21st century. Raised on a bevy of underground musical influences, their side of the split finds the group seamlessly blending free improv, drone and drummer Jon Bafus' propulsive rhythms into a coherent, compelling listen.
- Special tour edition release limited to 75 copies.
- Roped Off / Garrincha split Tape
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Channelling the ghost of Carl Sagan, Roped Off rip through the space-time continuum on their return to Weird Forest. On their side of the split, Mike Haley and Dave Doyen deliver a moodier piece than was found on their first Weird Forest tape.. This time out is all grimy atmospheric sci-f soundscape that focuses on mood and develops at a leisurely pace.
The other side of the split finds Garrincha dropping their first sounds since shortening their name. After a brief encounter with the supernatural, Garrincha present a travelogue of sorts, with two pieces built around field recordings from their July 2011 national tour.
- Special tour edition release limited to 75 copies.
- Iibiis Rooge Hespherides LP
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Iibiis Rooge is the high-powered collaboration of Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club, Vibracathedral Orchestra and A Band) and High Wolf (releases on Holy Mountain, Not Not Fun, and his own Winged Sun label). Their new album, Hespherides, is a welcome development in the duo's trajectory, with its immersive propulsion more refined and synthesized than their 2009 self-titled debut. That earlier effort showcased the possibilities and capacities of the two artists' collaborative spirit, each track exploring the individual aspects of a shared sense of sound with discernible cues from either Campbell's or High Wolf's discography. In contrast, Hespherides is a meticulously sculpted document that embraces a total sound -- one that denies prominence of each contributor by melding the psychic duality of the pair. Shifting industrialized ethno-polyrhythmic structures are transformed by droning, blissed-out textural threads that seamlessly coexist and contradict one another; Through two side-long process-driven mechanical meditations, a shared space is constructed, one that satiates anyone willing to gorge on the global, post-acid house, rainbow hypnotism that is Iibiis Rooge.
- Mastered by Pete Swanson with artwork by Jamie Potter and layout by Sean Johannessen.
- Limited vinyl edition. Also available for digital download.
- $14
- Excavacations Object Permanence CD
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What to make of Excavacations? Are they a pop band? Perhaps, except they spend as much time zoning out and embedding weird sounds into extended soundscapes as delivering infectious payloads loaded with hooks. Are they drone? If so, this is the catchiest drone you'll ever hear. Are they rock? Maybe -- they rock hard at times but not often. Are they bad spellers? Probably (don't miss that extra 'ca' in the name). But if we live in a post-post-everything world, then Excavacations is simply music for the 21st century.
Object Permanence is one of the catchiest releases in the Weird Forest catalog but this isn't empty-calorie Diet Mountain Dew for the ears. The hooks will stand out initially but repeated listens reveal nuances embedded in the music and the care that went into creating these compositions. The boys aren't afraid of big hooks and choruses but they warp traditional song structures and abandon verse-chorus-verse. Indeed, Excavacations don't write songs as much as they craft delicate sonic vignettes, song miniatures that ebb and flow, often interweaving and bleeding into each other. Maximalists by nature, nearly every track incorporates overdubbed layers and unusual sonic elements into its core but somehow it all just works -- the songs never sound overcrowded or weird for the sake of it.
Object Permanence comprises of songs culled from a string of underground cassette releases on the venerable Stunned, Avant Archive and Paramita labels plus 4 new exclusive tracks but the album sounds like a cohesive statement. Partially re-recorded, mixed and mastered specifically for this release, these songs have never sounded better.
Excavacations - Object Permanence Preview by Weird Forest - Exquisite color pencil art by Phil French of Stunned Records.
- Deluxe CD digipak edition.
- Dead Reptile Shrine The Sun of Circles And Wood 2LP
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Finally, the legendary Finnish black metal project returns with the first full-length album in years! With a unique and encompassing sound, Dead Reptile Shrine has always been uncomfortably slotted in the black metal genre but DRS fits right into the Weird Forest catalog. "The Sun of Circles and Wood" encapsulates all spects of the Dead Reptile Shrine sound: primitive riffs, ambient synth pieces, droning backdrops, snarled vocals, plaintive cries, Satanic chants, the works. But this album isn't a celebration of darkness -- it's a portrait of a soul being torn apart by dark and light elements. The poor listener is dropped down a well and left to wallow in the stench of her own soul's filthy excrement and only occasionally alleviated by glimpses of light at the top of the well that seems so far, far away.
The Sun of Circles and Wood was mastered by Pete Swanson and comes in a beautiful full-color deluxe gatefold vinyl edition limited to 500 copies.
- Mastered by Pete Swanson. Deluxe double-vinyl edition with full-color gatefold and insert.
- Preorder now and save 10% of the regular $22 price.
- $22
- Mudboy This Is Folk Music LP
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Raphael Lyon is the enigma known as Mudboy. From the incredibly detailed art/packaging to bizarre mp3 releases attached to scrap metal or plant matter to Freddy Krueger-inspired art installations, Lyon has always been one of the strangest cats on the scene.
This unique perspective also infects his music. Whereas many of today's kosmiche-influenced artists bubble up from the noise scene (with knob-twiddling pedal pusher seemingly a prequisite to sequencing synth jammer these days), Mudboy's work hints more toward the avant-garde as well as a touch of the classical.
Originally released on CD in 2005, This Is Folk Music finds Lyon placing each sound with purpose and carefully sequencing the songs to create a dark, slightly twisted yet strangely beautiful soundscape. Listen to the gunshot crack that kicks the album into high gear on "Solitron Wave", the seamless transition from the sparkling melody of "Running" into the jungle rhythms of "Beirut Dance Party", even commonplace field recordings of waves and night sounds take on a different dimension in Lyon's hands.
This Is Folk Music may have been his first major release but already, all the trademark elements are present: the skewed aesthetic, the attention to detail and especially, the strong compositional sense. This is Mudboy.
- Art/layout by Raphael Lyon. Vinyl reissue specially re-sequenced by the artist.
- Limited edition of 500 includes 22" x 22" insert with mp3 download of the album in its original form.
- $14
