Releases From Other Labels
Coming soon
OLD WOLVES Guardian Of Time tape
NEW Eggy Tapes
CARETAKER Patience (After Sebald) LP
DEMDIKE STARE Elemental Part 4: Iris "12"""
ROBERT TURMAN Flux 2LP
Just arrived, click on title to add to Paypal cart
DEMDIKE STARE Elemental Part 3: Rose "12""" - $18.00
V/A (KOMPAKT) Pop Ambient 2012 LP+CD - $18.00
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- Cut Hands
- Afro Noise I & II bundle
(Dirtier Promotions) - 2LP
Buy both Cut Hands Afro Noise volumes for a special post-paid price and save! More info on the records below.
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- Cut Hands
- Afro Noise Vol 2
(Dirtier Promotions) - LP
- $25
- Highly acclaimed offering from Whitehouse's William Bennett, based on African percussion sounds. This is a bit of a (pleasant) surprise that Afro Noise doesn't fully resemble "ethnic" music given the source inspiration nor noise considering Bennett's storied background. Instead, Bennett masterfully weaves a musical thread that connects African percussion to safari soundtrack pieces to piercing high pitched drones. Given the artist, most will compare Afro Noise to Whitehouse but I find the album(s) more reminiscent of say a more adventurous Demdike Stare than much of that legendary noise outfit's discography, which gives some indication of the accessibility of this music. Impressive work.
A bludgeoning mix of machine and vaudou/Central African percussion plus other acoustic instruments combine to create one of the most physically intense musical experiences ever. Since 2007's Whitehouse album Racket, and after his original Afro Noise mix became one of the most downloaded experimental mixes ever made, William Bennett's remarkable Cut Hands album has seen four long years of meticulously obsessive studio work in the making, notably deploying his special collection of Congolese and Ghanaian percussion instruments. All songs written and produced by William Bennett; mastering and remastering by Denis Blackham. - Limited edition vinyl pressing with bonus tracks.
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- Cut Hands
- Afro Noise Vol 1
(Dirtier Promotions) - LP
- $25
- Highly acclaimed offering from Whitehouse's William Bennett, based on African percussion sounds. This is a bit of a (pleasant) surprise that Afro Noise doesn't fully resemble "ethnic" music given the source inspiration nor noise considering Bennett's storied background. Instead, Bennett masterfully weaves a musical thread that connects African percussion to safari soundtrack pieces to piercing high pitched drones. Given the artist, most will compare Afro Noise to Whitehouse but I find the album(s) more reminiscent of say a more adventurous Demdike Stare than much of that legendary noise outfit's discography, which gives some indication of the accessibility of this music. Impressive work.
A bludgeoning mix of machine and vaudou/Central African percussion plus other acoustic instruments combine to create one of the most physically intense musical experiences ever. Since 2007's Whitehouse album Racket, and after his original Afro Noise mix became one of the most downloaded experimental mixes ever made, William Bennett's remarkable Cut Hands album has seen four long years of meticulously obsessive studio work in the making, notably deploying his special collection of Congolese and Ghanaian percussion instruments. All songs written and produced by William Bennett; mastering and remastering by Denis Blackham. - Limited edition vinyl pressing with bonus tracks.
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- Starving Weirdos
- Land Lines
(Amish) - LP
- $19
- Weird Forest alum Starving Weirdos fully embrace rhythm on their newest LP and the results are pretty spectacular. Land Lines is groovy and moody but don't think it's gone too far in the direction of Brian Pyle's Ensemble Economique project. Land Lines still oozes plenty of haunted spirits and free forested atmosphere. Check the sound samples and then buy the record -- it may be their best one yet.
Amish is pleased to officially announce a new release from Humboldt County's finest contemporary experimental unit, Starving Weirdos. A couple of years in the making, Land Lines documents a vital step in the evolution and refinement of Starving Weirdos' freeform improvisational practices, as well as its infamous and highly disciplined studio practices. Land Lines chronicles Starving Weirdos' most focused and structured release to date, with pieces that import a distinctly European flavor into the sound of what, until now, has been a uniquely Northern Californian form of sonic experimentation. -
- Sound Samples:
- StarvingWeirdos-LandlinesA2.mp3
- StarvingWeirdos-LandlinesB2.mp3
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- Willamette
- Echo Park
(Infraction) - LP
- $15
- Serene, floating soundscapes … gorgeously, soothing and absolutely perfect for a rainy, lazy Sun afternoon as I'm typing this. Probably a great choice for drifting off to sleep as well. Should be right up the alley of anyone who digs Kyle Bobby Dunn or the mellow Kranky stuff. As usual, Infraction does a bang-up job with the packaging as well as the sounds … comes in a deluxe Stoughton gatefold (!) jacket with OBI strip and download coupon.
This is a side-project by the brothers Chong better known as Northern. The brothers are joined by Joseph Edward with contributions by Danny Norbury & Ryan Navassa Boa. Willamette composes minimal works for tape, silence, voice and various stringed instrumentation... "your music brings various images in my mind. so calm, so sad and so beautiful. best wishes from tokyo..." - Pressed in an edition of 500 copies -- cream colored vinyl. 180 gram vinyls, OBI, Stoughton gatefold matte sleeves.
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- Sound Samples:
- Willamette-02MeasuringHeartbreak.mp3
- Willamette-09EchoPark.mp3
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- Ursula Bogner
- Sonne = Blackbox
(Faitiche) - LP
- $18
- Limited re-press of the mysterious early electronic project that may or may not be Jan Jelinek & friends.
Subtitled: Voice And Tape Music. The world first learned of unknown housewife/mother/pharmacist/electronic experimentalist Ursula Bogner's work in 2008. Since then, her identity has been surrounded by rumors, her graphic work has been exhibited (CEACC, Strasbourg, France, 2011 and elsewhere) and her compositional instructions have been performed (by Mo Loschelder, Andrew Pekler, Kassian Troyer, Jan Jelinek, among others).
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- A Winged Victory For the Sullen
- S/T
(Kranky) - LP
- $12.50
- Unabashedly romantic set, gorgeous yet tinged with a touch of melancholy. At times, this record could sound like a 21st addition to Brian Eno's famous Ambient series, especially when the pianos come to the forefront … AMBIENT 5: Music For Texting At Funerals, perhaps? If it was part of the Ambient issues, it'd be one of the better ones & that's saying something as that stuff is some of my favorite in the Eno discography.
A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN is the first installment of the new collaboration between STARS OF THE LID member ADAM WILTZIE and composer DUSTIN O'HALLORAN. The duo agreed to leave their normal home studio comfort zone and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, and to hunt down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies. The recordings began in one late night session in the famed Grunewald Church in west Berlin on a 1950s imperial Boesendorfer piano and strings were added in the historic East Berlin DDR radio studios along the River Spree. One last final session in a private studio deep in the norther cusp of Italy on a handmade Fazioli piano, and the final mixes took place in a 17th century villa near Ferrara, Italy, with the assistance of FRANCESCO DONADELLO. All songs were processed completely analogue straight to magnetic tape. Their secret to harvesting new melodic structures from the thin air of existence was for the duo to push themselves to live dangerously, realizing that clear thinking at the wrong moment could stifle the compositions. The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic replicating ingemination. In "Requiem for the Static King Part 1" (created in memory of the untimely passing of Mark Linkous) they have taken the age old idea of a string quartet and then shot it out a cannon to reveal exquisite new levels of mellow bliss. Of the 13 minute track "Symphony Pathetique," Wiltzie says "after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing." Notable guest musicians include Icelandic cellist HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR and violinist PETER BRODERICK. A Winged Victory for the Sullen is not a side project. This is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of.
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- Antithetic Records
- 3 Album Bundle
(Antithetic) - 3LPs
Buy the whole batch from Antithetic: one double LP + two single LPs for a special post-paid price.-
- Sound Samples:
- YoungInTheWay-B.mp3
- KayoDot-StainedA.mp3
- EastOfTheWall-ApologistA.mp3
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- Young and In The Way
- V. Eternal Depression
(Antithetic) - LP
- $12
- Of the recent Antithetic batch, this one's the most "metal" of the bunch but it's a banger for sure. The A side is straight sludginess with heavy riffs and darkened vocals. Side B is more spacious adventurous, at times incorporating a bit of tribal rhythms, piano and even some free jazz skronk -- this side alone makes the record a keeper!
Young and in the Way return with their heaviest and most experimental album yet. This album is devastating. The guitar tone is downright ruthless. The vocals are scathing and brutal. From the opening solemn piano, to the sound of a distant train that brings the album to a close, you will be absolutely pummeled by everything in between. The band has pushed themselves harder than ever before, both as musicians and as song writers, and it is clearly evident here. - Includes 2 sided insert. Limited edition of 250.
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- Sound Samples:
- YoungInTheWay-B.mp3
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- Kayo Dot
- Stained Glass
(Antithetic) - LP
- $12
- Today's scene is filled with young cassette jammers discovering their sounds and voices and documenting them almost in real-time via tapes or online releases, which makes this LP from Kayo Dot stand out all the more. Nevermind the copious presence of vibraphone (did someone exhume Ed Marimba?) which would be enough to set it apart from most offerings, Stained Glass just sounds like a more composed and thought-out statement from a mature artist. This observation seems confirmed by the 2 different mixes of Stained Glass contained on this record. Aesthetically and musically, Kayo Dot come from a slightly different space -- Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle fame pops up on this record -- impressive record.
Kayo Dot's Stained Glass. 20 minutes of beautiful, synth heavy avant experimentalism. Includes a vinyl exclusive "de-mix" on the B side, lyrics insert and 11x17 poster. Features the return of original Kayo Dot lyricist Jason Byron, as well as a guest appearance by electric guitar genius Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle). -
- Sound Samples:
- KayoDot-StainedA.mp3
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- East of the Wall
- The Apologist
(Antithetic) - 2LP
- $17
- Apparently, East of the Wall have lived countless past lives in bands like Postman Syndrome and Day Without Dawn. I'm unfamiliar with those names so am left to judge EotW on their own merits, which if I had to boil it down to essentials, would be mathy metal of EPIC proportions. Math, the offshoot of that other four letter genre prog, seems to be a pretty solid delineater when it comes to discerning music listeners -- people seem to love or leave it. Being from Sacramento, where Hella has reigned near a decade now, this record hits a fine spot. Check out the samples and decide for yourself.
A progressive jazzy metal masterpiece. The talent of these 5 musicians knows no end. -
- Sound Samples:
- EastOfTheWall-ApologistA.mp3
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- Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier
- L'enfant Sauvage
(Aguirre) - LP
- $20
- First encountered this artist on a Stunned split tape and thoroughly enjoyed it so was pleased to see a vinyl offering in the works. The label references Grouper, which is gonna hit any artist with reverb-laden female vox, but the first side on this album is far, far darker than anything on A I A Dream Loss/Alien Observer. If Atkinson's art is inspired by travels and night visions, her cover painting must reflect the travels because its bright colors barely suggest the sinister sounds lurking on the wax. It starts with murky ominous drones and moaning vocals before erupting into blackened rhythms that would fit on an adventurous (& brilliant) black metal record. This song must be inspired by night visions and Atkinson's dreams must be terrifying. The 2nd side lightens up a bit, consisting of repetitive, minimal bass/piano lines and droning desert guitars laid over but still a sense of unease pervades.
Felicia Atkinson is having a very productive 2011. She has released tapes and cd's under her own name and the moniker Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier. Currently based in Brussels, Felicia is a French musician, artist & writer who is making an increasing impact in experimental music circles as of late. Her music pieces and drawings are often improvised and inspired by her travels and her night visions. Fans of Grouper, Motion Sickness of Time Travel, and other forestdroners should definitely check her out. The sleeve, an aquarel painting made by Felicia, is a rough impression of the savage child and adds to the music's magic. - Limited to 300 copies
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- Sound Samples:
- JeSuisLePetitChevalier-A1NoTalisman.mp3
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- Ajna Offensive
- Vinyl Bundle
(Ajna Offensive) - 2 Albums
- AJ3
Get two rad Ajna Offensive albums for a special bundle price.-
- Sound Samples:
- NecrosChristos-A2.mp3
- NecrosChristos-A4.mp3
- technicolor-skull.mp3
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- Necros Christos
- Doom Of The Occult
(Ajna Offensive) - 2LP
- $17
- Awesome metal record that integrates straight up riffage and growling vocals with delightful acoustic interludes (a tabla even makes an appearance).
Entering its 10th year of existence, the entity known as Necros Christos unleashes its second full length album entitled Doom of the Occult. Features nine new tracks such as Necromantique Nun, The Pharaonic Dead and Descending into the Kingly Tomba alongside numerous acoustic interludes for which the band is infamously known for since its creation in 2001. Expect nothing but one of the most dark, occult and disturbing Death/Doom Metal records of all time. - 5 color gatefold, b/w poster, 12 pp. booklet.
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- Sound Samples:
- NecrosChristos-A2.mp3
- NecrosChristos-A4.mp3
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- Brian Butler & Kenneth Anger
- Technicolor Skull
(Ajna Offensive) - 1-sided LP
- $14
- Semi-industrial atmospherics & drone layered with synthetic sirens, calls, samples and occasional bursts of free percussion, piano & guitar interjecting themselves. A thoroughly enjoyable updated take on the classic free improv build/wave template that I personally grew up on. Wish there was more music on the other side of this 1-sided gem.
Technicolor Skull is an experiment in light and sound, exploring the psychic impact of a magick ritual in the context of an improvised performance. With Brian Butler on guitar and electronic instruments, and Kenneth Anger on theremin, their collaboration is a performance contained inside a ritual of unknown origin, tapping into occult stories that extend musical language into initiation. Hidden messages escape through gesture and light, manifesting as a one-time-only event. Technicolor Skull performed their first West Coast appearance at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles on November 19, 2011, as part of the opening reception for Kenneth Anger: ICONS. This exhibition will showcase the films, books, and artwork of one of the most original and enigmatic filmmakers of post-war American cinema. This coincided with the release of Technicolor Skull's self-titled recorded debut -
- Sound Samples:
- technicolor-skull.mp3
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- Rangers
- Pan Am Stories
(Not Not Fun) - 2LP
- $24
"After clocking up huge plaudits from Fact Magazine, The Wire, SImon Reynolds and Altered Zones for their 'Suburban Tours' release, RANGERS arrives on Not Not Fun with his 2nd album proper, Pan Am Stories. The mind-child of one JOE KNIGHT, Rangers deal in especially evocative soft-psych charms which share a clear love of '80s MOR culture with James Ferraro and Ducktails. It's reflective of the music most Americans (we'd imagine) have absorbed by some kind of as-yet-unidentified radiopathic osmosis; the soul-absorption of thousands of criss-crossing radio transmissions beaming 24 hour soft rock and cable stations emitting unending re-runs of mood-manipulating TV theme music and vibes. But most crucially Joe's music has filtered only those most warbly, hooky parts and sifted out the cloying earnestness of so much coffee table Americana, yet retained its sun-smacked and soulful intentions. And it's the sly, wry glaze of electronics and occasional overblown noise which gets warped in transmission that does it for us, an empathic hypnagogic affect which translates to European tastes very well. If there's anything to distinguish this album from the last, there's perhaps a more blown-out grunginess, not in terms of fidelity, which is actually higher here, but just a burnt twilight tone which feels moodier and more autumnal than say the last Ducktails, and like a pop refined version of Ferraro's immense Last American Hero."—Boomkat-
- Sound Samples:
- Rangers-01Zombies.mp3
- Rangers-09KhyberPass.mp3
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- Water Borders
- Harbored Mantras
(Tri Angle) - LP
- $18
Tri Angle presents the debut album by San Franciscan duo Water Borders. Primarily inspired by their lifelong passion for '80s industrial legends Coil and the kind of underground UK dance productions often heard on Rinse FM, Harbored Mantras is a dense and dizzying soundworld; a dank, tribal and often disorientating dance record which, as the two piece state, was intended to be "a coalescence of digital and analog sounds and textures." As well as looking to Coil and the UK dance scene for inspiration, Harbored Mantras also incorporates a vast array of Water Border's influences, including Gamelan rhythms, proto-techno, Scott Walker, African drum patterns, dub, Popul Vuh and Glasser, who actually designed the artwork for the album. Harbored Mantras sounds like nothing else you'll hear all year.
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- Mattress
- Low Blows
(MaltDuck) - LP
- $12
Review from Still Single: Legitimate minimal synth gets recorded, and the tapes are left to melt in a hot car like a Snickers. That’s the figurative M.O. of Rex Marshall, as Mattress – genuine weirdness, besmirched by these times of shitty lo-fi crap, but coming out as its own thing. Marshall employs that sort of vocal blandishment like Jon Glaser on TV’s “Delocated,” which informs the martial, clampdown synthesizer in long, arduous strokes, and plays more like one in a long line of isolationist innovators, from the Xex people to John Bender and Neil Hamburger. There’s a little bit of sleaziness to the whole thing, like it could slip into some seedy, non-existent cocktail lounge or the middle of a Ween record, that really helps you notice that Marshall has written real songs and is not just dicking around with spontaneous, uninspired notions. Favorites are “Gone to Waste,” a hipgrinder out of DEVO Corporate Headquarters, and “Roll Roll Roll,” which sounds like a Cars record baked into one of those record bowls from, like, Readymade magazine, and gets satisfyingly crunchy at the end. Bottom line is that the songs are great, and the delivery funny and weird, but with confidence. Put down the Digital Leather records and step to the real. -- Doug Mosurock
Listen to a sample track.- 500 copies, clear vinyl.
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- Mattress
- Eldorado
(MaltDuck) - LP
- $12
Eldorado is an incredibly minimal, raw, and sometimes frantic record, yet it some how creates a sense that hope can prevail even in the dire post-apocalyptic vision formed by its beats. This is definitely synth done raw – which is often times synth at its finest. Rex’s vocal styling is what makes this record incredibly unique though. The crony vocals, reminiscent of a gin guzzling lounge singer, reveal his true Vegas roots. He’s one of those people who dare to sing - with most excellent results.
Listen to a sample on Soundcloud.- Pressed on red vinyl – 330 in print
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- They Themselves Or They
- Ribbons & Bows...Angel Dust & Magick Wands
(MaltDuck) - 7"
Featuring SALLY STROBELIGHT! Review from Siltblog: Lastly (& bestly), I wanna let yous all know about the 2nd release on the already esteemed Malt Duck label. Entitled Them, Themselves or They, this is a crucial swab of cracked weirdo experimentalism with stunning rich undertones that is as tranfixing & eerily bewildering-in real time-as DDAA, The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Ludus or Kosmonautentraum was back in halcyon yore. Made up of former members of Eat The People, Sally Strobelight + others I have never heard of (either), I am very curious & anxious for someone to get the ball rollin on releasin MORE Them, Themselves or They as well as delvin into the vaults to get these other Sac-Town whackers works into the ears 'n arms of us appreciaters. Thankfully this too comes w/a a bonus cdr so I'll have somethin soothin to listen to later while that lamb rolls around on the spit. Shit, this thing has got me so giddy w/delight that I'm gonna have to call it one of my favorite 7"ers of the year thus far.- Edition of 300.
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- Alak
- Groups
(KDVS Recordings) - tape
ALAK is the moniker for Placerville, CA based artist and musician Jocelyn Jade Noir. Largely inspired by the environment in which she grew up, Jocelyn writes songs in a surreal but accessible way about dream imagery, the inadvertent loss of physical and spiritual control and the mysteries of all things natural. GRØUPS is the amalgamation of all of this in one experimental folk-influenced pop cassette. Beat-driven electronics decompose into melancholy acoustic guitar and reconstruct back into poppy jams questioning how this could only be ALAK's first official full length release.-
- Sound Samples:
- Alak-03myloveisthebest.mp3
- Alak07ButterflyKnife.mp3
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- JEREMY BIBLE & JASON HENRY
- Vryashn
(Infraction) - LP
- $13
A vinyl-only release of a fantastic underwater dark ambient piano piece by a local duo of musicians -- Jeremy Bible (he of Experimedia) and Jason Henry. WIRE (UK) review: "Two lengthy, sonorous tracks with looming, viscous currents offset by a seductive parade of pattering detail. Fluttering piano notes pierce shifting planes of texture, catspaws of white noise skip across the swell, and Echoplexed flurries float, like distant birdsong, back and forth across the threshold of audibility. Vryashn reveals a perfect balance between fluidity and architecture before disappearing into a haze of chiming bells."- This vinyl remaster (by 12k's Taylor Deupree) is limited to 500 copies. 180g vinyl, printed on a reverse board gatefold sleeve with an OBI. Comes with an exclusive download code featuring an expanded version of 'Vryashn.'
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- Sound Samples:
- BibleHenry-VryashinExcerpt.mp3
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- Clang Quartet
- Joyful Noise
(Hanson) - tape
Electronic noise and percussion from one of the most intense performers in the states, Scotty Irving. The dude and I definitely have some different beliefs, but that doesn't stop my mind from being blown every time I see him. He is a true believer in what he does and you can tell by his very intense and passionate performances. He also utilizes some awesome homemade props and elaborate costumes that really take the gigs OVER THE TOP... He's one of a kind. Both sides recorded during live gigs. Side A from the Voice Of The Valley noise rally 2009, Side B from the International Noise Conference, Brooklyn, 2010.-
- Sound Samples:
- ClangQuartet-JoyfulSideAExcerpt.mp3
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- Garrincha & The Stolen Elk
- We Were Wyoming
(Stunned) - tape
Following up their recent 905 Tapes burner, Garrincha & The Stolen Elk's members Davy Bui (Weird Forest Records) and Matt Kretzmann uncork a bottle of straight up rock & roll. It's pretty damn refreshing having a band like this around, ready to rip through four tremendous songs in twenty minutes and still managing to cover all the right bases along the way. G+SE's chops are unarguably tight and not a second is wasted as fun house blurt and a wicked sax (!!) spice up the group's own totally original brand of rock madness. It'll be hard putting the cork back on this one for a long, long while.- Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c20 tapes w/ double-sided color jcard.
Sample available at the G+SE website.
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- Concert Silence
- 09.22.07
(Infraction) - 2LP
- $20
The sound of piano, both pure and processed, has become almost a sub-genre of its own within ambient electronica. There's a Satie-authored lineage stretching from Budd/Eno through to Sakamoto's collabs with Alva Noto and Fennesz, with signs to other off-beat sites. Buckingham's background in visual art makes his contribution to Concert Silence somewhat enigmatic. He had previously co-opted Cooper for the audio of an online ambient audio-visual collaboration in the 'Window Exchange' project; Cooper's signature is clearly recognizable, for all that the pianism of his earlier Eluvium work are tweaked and tampered with here. Six discrete movements, an affair of edgy ambience, with lilting lulling passages ceding to digital depredations. Some parts subtly infiltrated, others strewn with the detritus of error-smithery. "Part Two," for example, sounds as if it's slowly spontaneously combusting in the player, gradually growing into a larger conflagration, culminating in a veritable firework display of pops, crackles and wayward woozy pitch shifts, eating itself in echo and fuzz, before returning to the opening lull of barely audible soft-pedaled piano purism. Overall the Cooper-Buckingham pairing puts a distinctive slant on the compositional tradition mentioned above, finding a beguiling blend of the worlds of piano concerto and that of digital signal processing, with its random reversals, glitch flurries, and drone. Yet, for all its peculiarities of pitch and microsonic mist, strong melodic lines serve as binding, stiched together, lending poise to noise. – Alan Lockett- Limited to 500 copies with thick Stoughton tip-on style gatefold sleeve, full color inner sleeves, 180 gram vinyls, and an OBI strip. D side features a vinyl etching.
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- Drafted By Minotaurs
- Aversion Therapy
(Infraction) - LP
- $14
Drafted by Minotaurs mainstays are guitarist Ryan Wilson and Ian Fulcher, who contributes trumpet and glockenspiel. Meanwhile members of a floating cast chip in with added textures from cello and violin. Opener Blueprints for Sunbuilding" spools out a hail of plucked and bowed strings, webs of sound solidifying then melting into steely flow, stall set out somewhere around cultivated Constellation post-rockeries, a mood and sound that may feel familiar to those acquainted with the new backwoods chamberisms and neo-folk drone of UK cottage industrialites such as Richard Skelton (aka A Broken Consort/Clouwbeck) and Seasons (Pre-din). "Sault Locks" proposes cyclical patterns of stringed things that seem to hover shyly apart, before swarming to swell and billow over the listener - not so much a Storm of Drones as a squall of tones. "Skin the Night and Fog," a more veiled sister of the previous pluckings and bowings, plays out a psych-infused dream sequence. These three tracks forming Side A work with their own distinct harmonic and textural patterns, while seeming like movements of something overarching. Miasmic minor chord tidal flow abounds, the music's motion determined by languorous bow-strokes, its textures by warm-prickly needles of guitar pizzicatos. Side B's single extended track, "Sunday's Morning Ghost," is wrought from similar materials, but aspires to more transcendant levels, led by the celestial harmonics of Fulcher's treated trumpet. It takes on atavistic echoes redolent of some distant Miles Davis or Jon Hassell blowback, as if viewing In a Silent Way through a post-Kosmische kaleidoscope, or channeled through Eno/Budd cathedrals to meet today's psych-drone and ambient trajectories. Overall, Aversion Therapy thrives on such productive tensions between genres and eras, as it does between live and recorded, spontaneous and pre-structured, making for engaging, at times thrillingly psychotropic, listening." - alan lockett- Limited edition of 489 copies with old-style Stoughton tip-on gatefold jackets, OBI strip, 180 gram pressing.
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- Buk Buk Bigups
- big big fuckups
(none) - tape
Aaron Zeff follows up his Weird Forest debut with 10 brand new songs dubbed fresh to cassette. Zeff fills out the tape with some live set staples and a bunch of new jams that show just how developed the Buk Buk sound has become since the "Hot Mess" 12" dropped a year ago and this tape is recommended to anyone who dug that 12". There may be some bias here but that's what the sound samples are for so check it out!- 100 pro-dubbed tapes.
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- Mucky The Ducky / Hexlove
- Split
(Arecord) - 7"
- $8
Mucky the Ducky is a collective of several Californian sound artists. Here they make quite a stirring racket that begins like a tornado and ends like a calm sky. The drumming is a particular standout; its frantic pace really gets the mood going and then just as easily falls away. This side is fairly abstract, employing some loose structure, but relying on the mood of the piece to guide the musicians. Hexlove is the work of Zac Nelson. His side starts off with a brief segment of abstract electronics before breaking into a bizarre vocally driven piece that really sticks out as a bold statement. I admire him for utilizing melodic vocals so directly in a song built out of synch synth beats and squiggles. The final segment of his work is a long melodic drone piece filled with an understated mood of calm, a nice way to end the split. These two bands are able to do a lot with the time given to them. Each one complements the other and I'm intrigued enough to put the needle back on the record again and again. The release is made even better by the great hand-screened packaging. It feels great to hold and you can tell a lot of care went into it. Well done. 10/10 -- Foxy Digitalis- Limited to 300 encased in one of a kind hand screened covers by Weird Forest alum, Zac Nelson.
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- Sound Samples:
- A1MuckyTheDucky.mp3
- B2Hexlove.mp3
SOLD OUT Releases
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- C Spencer Yeh
- 1975
(Intransitive) - CD
- Debut solo album of unsettling electro-acoustic miniatures and tightly-coiled, crackling electronic ambience, more vertical than horizontal, a step away from C. SPENCER YEH’s familiar violin-and-vocal improv, the rock/noise BURNING STAR CORE, and recent forays into pop music. This is sensual abstract music with a light touch, a confident minimalism that reveals unsettling depth, sharp corners, and playful malevolence with repeat listens.
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- Sound Samples:
- CSYeh-1975-sample1.mp3
- CSYeh-1975-sample2.mp3
SOLD OUT
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- Demdike Stare
- Elemental Parts 1 & 2
(Modern Love) - 2x12"
- $47.50
- Ever since Demdike Stare finished their Tryptych (LOVE 067CD) of releases, Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty have been busy touring and gradually piecing together sounds for this new series: Elemental. Made up of four parts: Chrysanthe, Violetta, Rose and Iris, parts One and Two are now available and come housed inside a lavish quad-gatefold book style cover that will hold all four parts when the series is complete in early 2012. The material itself features some of the most dense, eerie and evocative pieces ever recorded by Demdike, leavened by an almost industrial sense of rhythmic structure and atmosphere-building that creates a jet-black aesthetic only intermittently illuminated by shards of light. A double CD version of Elemental will be available in early 2012, although most of the tracks will appear as alternate versions on each format. That means that the majority of the tracks on this vinyl edition will not be available anywhere else in their present form.
- Mastered and cut at Dubplates + Mastering (including some hidden locked grooves), the packaging features specially commissioned artwork by Andy Votel. Parts 1 & 2 are available together now and come housed inside a deluxe quadruple gatefold book-style outer that will house all four parts. Each part is pressed up on different coloured vinyl - limited to 1000 copies only
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- Sound Samples:
- DemdikeStare-B1Kommunion.mp3
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- Ensemble Economique
- Crossing The Pass, By Torchlight
(Dekorder) - LP
- $17
- It's an exquisite feeling, to taste the truth, to let it wrap you completely, to feel it's ecstatic warmth, to let it ripple through you, to let you feel life with every breath, as if day and night are colliding, and sparks exploding, and the sky turning deep red, and night falls like a blanket, and the wind is a soft whisper, and the dune grass are like blades, piercing blackness.
Ensemble Economique is Brian Pyle of Starving Weirdos and RV Painting. His solo project (hence the slightly ironic moniker) has previously released a CD on Digitalis in 2008 and two recent LP's on Amish and Not Not Fun Records. His music is highly narrative and cinematic mixing synth loops and electronic rhythms with epic organic structures. Crossing The Pass, By Torchlight is the culmination of Pyle's previous works presenting his most refined album so far.
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- Fourth World Magazine (Spencer Clark of Skaters)
- The Spectacle of Light Abductions
(Pacific City Sound Visions) - LP+book
- $16.50
- After many years as half of the highly influential SKATERS with James Ferraro, 2 solo albums on Olde English Spelling Bee (BLACK JOKER and MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS) and countless tapes and CDs, SPENCER CLARK has taken it to the next level. Layers of cosmic and alien sounds inhabit their own world and act as metaphors you can access subconsciously or explicitly. Clearer and more lucid than previous releases of his, this is a singular record of inner space exploration that operates completely outside the retro kraut-new age-synth trend so prevalent right now. Being more hi-fi than his past recordings, Spencer says 'I have made an Alien Space Fusion Music that is an Aural Symbol for the pre-birth outer space-self's new Arrival.' In this new zone, Spencer channels a more personal and spacious side of his vision, combining the rhythmic side of Monopoly Child with the abstractions of his VODKA SOAP project. 12 full-color pages of art, text and photos in the full size LP format. This marks the first LP release on Clark's Pacific City Sound Visions label. It stands as his biggest statement yet and will surprise and please. A beautiful record. Now it's yours to explore.
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- Bruce Haack & Miss Nelson
- The Electronic Music Record For Children
(Mississippi) - LP
- $13.50
- Recorded in 1969—early electronic music pioneer BRUCE HAACK and child educator MS. NELSON go bravely and deeply into psychedelic music compositions designed to open the minds & hearts of the young. Truly far out electronic music that evokes a space age alternate universe. Bruce & Ms. Nelson are joined by pianist PRAXIETELLIS PANDIT and their relaxed sounding friend CHRIS to bring you songs about everything from ancient folk tales to outerspace to what the world sounds like when you listen with your inner self. Real great stuff, not for the faint of heart. Avante garde music by and for the people.
- Old school tip on cover.
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- Sound Samples:
- Haack-ElectronicA4Listen.mp3
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- Bruce Haack & Miss Nelson
- The Way Out Record For Children
(Mississippi) - LP
- $13.50
- Recorded in 1968—a true psychedelic masterpiece for the kids. MS. NELSON (a child educator) and BRUCE HAACK (an early electronic music pioneer) designed this record to open the minds & hearts of children to deeper levels of insight & culture. Not condesending in the least and with a childlike sense of wonder, Bruce and Ms. Nelson lay into some heavy songs about everything from Robots to Indian Mysticism to Motorcycle riding fantasies. It's all in here. The music is all generated by Bruces' homemade electronic instruments which churn out proto hip hop beats and straight up avante garde moments left and right. The kids in Ms. Nelsons community chime in with their voices here & there and the record ends with a haunting existential twist that'll leave you screamin' for more. A great record for children and adults of all ages.
- Old school tip on cover.
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- Sound Samples:
- Haack-WayA2MotorcycleRide.mp3
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- Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp
- Early Astral
(Blackest Rainbow) - LP
- $22
- Chris Forsyth has recently been touring around Europe with his Paranoid Cat Band in support of their excellent LP on Family Vineyard as well as playing with Meg Baird on her recent record and a continuing member of the Peeesseye. Koen Holtkamp plays as part of Thrill Jockey's Mountains, as well as releasing solo material on aformentioned Thrill Jockey and Type. On Early Astral Forsyth and Holtkamp team up, playing guitar and synthesizer and modular electronics respectively. The record consists to two tracks, each with a great kraut guitar groove, but frequently rocking into a blissed out epic psychedelic smog of wailing riffs and bubbling electronics.
- Limited to 500 copies.
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- Sound Samples:
- holtkamp-forsythA1.mp3
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- Isengrind
- Night of Raining Fire
(Blackest Rainbow) - LP
- $22
- Solange Gularte (Natural Snow Buildings) returns for her second solo LP for Blackest Rainbow. A dreamy psychedelic haze of shimmering drones, minimal string plucking with barely-there vocals, Gularte's sound is somewhat more far out in comparison to say Twinsistermoon or Natural Snow Buildings. Night Of Raining Fire showcases this with tracks like the almost medieval sounding Still Voyager, or the outsider folk sound of Nadirs of the Sun. The record comes packaged in a stunning full colour sleeve covered in Gularte's strange surreal illustrators. Limited to 500 copies.
- Limited to 500 copies.
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- Sound Samples:
- Isengrind-NightA1.mp3
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- Jerusalem & The Starbaskets
- DOST
(DeStijl) - LP
- $14
- Jeremy Freeze is a Memphis born songwriter who has spent the last few years in Columbia, Missouri playing and recording with Kim Sherman as Jerusalem and the Starbaskets. Before yr preconceived notions of Missouri make things cloudy, consider the Black Artist Group, Screamin' Mee Mees, Drunks with Guns, Gene Clark and a whole lot of other shit that you don't know about get in the way. Lest there be other confusion, my friend Oliver, this 65 year old dude from Kashmir, told me _DOST_ means "brother man". So basically, _DOST_ is "friend" but a more familiar way of the word. Just so happens that it's the phonetic same as "dosed". One crystalline thing herein is the Jams. Freeze has reached that point where he's saying more by saying less and that's a level that many songwriters never reach. After a few yrs of playing gigs with Times New Viking, Wooden Wand and a short list of more or less limited releases, _DOST_ is the bands first readily available release and we're going to do our best to get it everywhere.
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- Kyle Bobby Dunn
- The Intimate Rituals Of
(Intransitive) - CDr
- Dark, brooding feedback drone that envelops a room and shakes it until the walls crack. By turns placid and malevolent, Kyle Bobby Dunn's latest album seems to teeter at the edge of an explosion, barely able to contain its unstable electric power. Intimate Rituals was assembled from the resonance of pipes in Dunn's Brooklyn basement studio, as well as from overheard noise filtered through walls and floors (particularly at No Fun Festival 2009, with rumbling residue rescued from the bar beneath the stage where noise bands were blasting), and from a mixing desk feeding back on itself. Warning: you may want to listen to this on headphones while drifting off to sleep... but trust me, don't do it.
- Limited edition CDr of 100 copies in gorgeous, full color three-panel sleeve.
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- Sound Samples:
- kbdunn-intimate01.mp3
- kbdunn-intimate02.mp3
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- Ben Nash
- Oh Lordy Me! (My Heart Is Wandering Again)
(Blackest Rainbow) - LP
- $22
- It's been quite some time since a full length solo Ben Nash release, and it's finally here, and so,what different from his more psychedelic folk drones he showcased way back on 'The Seventh Goodbye'. Probably best left for Ben to explain this one for you... "I recorded this new full-length record during downtime from playing with Chora and after a long break from recording any solo music. Having become somewhat disillusioned with the process of overdubbing conventional "physical" instruments repeatedly in my solo work I have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ways of inputting, manipulating and arranging sound electronically, both in a variety of computer based environments and also using an Apple iPad. This release is the first in a series that will document these experiments. All sounds on the album stem from and are sequenced within Yamaha's TNR-I app with some minimal mix processing in Logic" - Ben Nash, Camberwell Green, September 2011.
- Edition of 250 copies pressed on heavy weight black virgin vinyl.
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- Sound Samples:
- Nash-LordyA1.mp3
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- V/A
- Menagerie Vol 3
(Blackest Rainbow) - LP+booklet
- $22
- Jake Blanchard's third volume of Menagerie finally shows up just over a year after #2... The concept this time is slightly different, not only do the artists create imagery based on the musicians music, but this time the musicians also create a track based on an image created by the artist. Two exclusive new tracks from each of these artists: Ben Nash, Isengrind, C Joynes and Twinsistermoon. And exclusive new artwork by Jim Stoten, Simon Fowler, Adrianne Neil and Jake Blanchard. The sleeve is a collaboration between Jake and Jim and it is incredible!
- The LP is pressed on heavyweight black virgin vinyl, packaged with a A5 12 page litho printed full colour booklet. Limited to 500 copies.
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- Sound Samples:
- Menagerie3-NashA1.mp3
- Menagerie3-CJoynesA4.mp3
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- V/A
- Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol 1
(Sahel Sounds) - LP
- $13.50
- A compilation of the most popular music circulating the Sahara desert on the unofficial network of cellphones -- where mp3s are stored, played, and traded in very literal peer to peer bluetooth transfers. The contemporary West African sound from the new school of DIY production with little or no commercial release outside of their locales, from spaced out Tuareg Autotune, Ivorian Club Jams, Mauritanian Synth, and Malian Hip Hop electro. Collected from memory cards by and released on cassette, the vinyl comes after a years plus of tracking down the composers.
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- Sound Samples:
- Saharan-A4Negib.mp3
- Saharan-A5Papito.mp3
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- Xela
- The Sublime
(Dekorder) - LP
- $17
- This third and final part of a trilogy (along with the previously released 'The Illuminated' and 'The Divine'), 'The Sublime takes John Twells' sound into the sickly afterlife, and dives into our misplaced perceptions of heaven and hell. While its predecessor was made up of voices and bells, 'The Sublime' is an exercise in synthesis; with Twells' arsenal of analogue equipment pushed into overdrive, wheezing and heaving over the two extended pieces. These compositions could be labeled as 'ambient', but 'The Sublime' is ambience laced with a creeping torment and itching hedonism that is as impossible to ignore as it is dangerously inviting. Swooping synthetic pads and crunching textures don't ever distract from the fact that you are soaking up music that has been carefully considered to drag your mind into an dampened opium-laced torture chamber. Think early Aphex Twin or Kevin Drumm at his most restrained and you'll be half way there.
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- Sound Samples:
- Xela-01LustParadise.mp3
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- maudlin of the Well
- Part the Second
(Antithetic) - 2LP
- $17
- The fan funded progressive/experimental masterpiece by maudlin of the Well. Songs that were originally written as early as 1997 have been fully realized here, over a decade later. A testament to what truly original music can be.
- Double LP, includes 2 sided insert
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- Sound Samples:
- maudlinOfTheWell-Asample.mp3