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Pine Meoquanee: An Anthology Of Poetry Digitalis 2005 Bk £8.99 Nice anthology of pomes from some modern days heads/musicians, the highlight of which is Christina Carter’s wonderful “Center Of Exits”. Also features work by Michael Anderson, Michelle Angelini, James Barrett, James Blackshaw, Julie Cook, Michael Donnelly (Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood et al), Sid Fallon, Spencer Grady, Denton Harris, Denton Harris, Robert Horton, Paganini Jones, Eden Hemming Rose, Brad Rose, Mainon Alexandra Schwartz, Indigo Tempesta, Kade L. Twist and Keith Wood (Hush Arbors). Hand-numbered edition of 120 copies. Each book hand-bound with cloth tape and a hard cover with a design by Keith Wood. |
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The Honeymoon Music Compilation Honeymoon Music HMM-005 CD £9.99 Brand new compilation from out of the Espers’ communal space in Fishtown, Philadelphia (an old VT stomping ground) on a new label run by Mr Norm Fetter dedicated to documenting local mutant strains and associated international orbits. Features exclusive tracks by Fursaxa (“March Hare”), Chris Bozzone, Eric Carbonara (who recorded Taurpis Tula’s Sparrows), Sharron Kraus, Trollslända (the duo of Meg Baird and Helena Espvall of Espers), Niagara Falls (featuring Fetter himself), Glasgow’s Phosphene, Stainless Japan, Peace Feather, The Watery Graves Of Portland, Sharks With Wings, Thom Zephyr Roach, The Doctor And Philip and Noah Raymond Levey. Comes in a beautifully screened hard card gatefold sleeve with insert. |
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Simply Good Taste: The Sounds Of Slippy Town Gulcher 413 CD £6.99 Thumping label sampler from this suave imprint run by Eddie Flowers, brought to you courtesy of their sister/brother label, Gulcher. A bunch of otherwise unavailable tracks – including a first take of The Gizmos’ “Hey Beat Mon” with MX-80’s Rich Stim on the horn and a destroyed version of The Yardbirds’ “Shapes Of Things” by the semi-mythical O.Rex (featuring Solomon and Jay Gruberger, Kenne Highland and Eddie Flowers), some solo thought from Joe Tunis aka Joe + N – as well as a clutch of tracks from alla the various limited CD-Rs Flowers has burned over the years, from whacked UK bedroom zoners like Neil Campbell, Stewart Walden, Phil Todd and Ian Middleton through Crawlspace, Not A Sonata, Blackthorne Stick, OvO, Big Whiskey, Allun, Lebedung, Joshua Jugband 5 and The Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer. A whole fistful of fucked up fun and a great way in for Gulcher/Slippytown neophytes. |
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Music From The Lost Provinces Old Hat CD-1001 CD £13.99 Subtitled “Old-Time Stringbands from Ashe County, North Carolina & Vicinity, 1927-1931”, Music From The Lost Provinces is another glorious trawl through the never-ending spirit-pot of early 20th century American esotera from one of its premier exponents, Old Hat. This one focuses on string band, git-fiddle, guitar and vocal performances, mostly white, that were recorded in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the mountainous ‘lost provinces’ of Ashe County. Fans of high lonesome sound will find plenty to haunt them here, with bleak/beautiful sides from players like Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, The Hill Billies, Smyth County Ramblers, Grayson & Whitter, Carolina Night Hawks et al. Another great booklet with an assortment of snaps that have to be seen to be believed. Too much, highly recommended. |
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Time And Relative Dimensions In Space Rebis 005 CD £8.99 Compilation of a bunch of next generation heads out to trash flimsy concepts of time and space with a series of otherwise unavailable long-forms works. Includes exclusive tracks from Taurpis Tula (“Lonely Woman”), My Cat Is An Alien (“Alien Substratum 1.0/1.2”), The Skaters (“Fleeing Pavilions For Celestial Clouds”), Number None (“The Pole I’m Furthest From”) and Jim Haynes (“A Sense Of Levitation’). From new Chicago label Rebis. Recommended. |
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Tone of the Universe Pseudo Arcana PACD-64/65 2xCD £10.99 Killer, coherently-themed double CD (not CD-R – first ever on this label) compilation from this always-reliable New Zealand label, based around inspired extrapolations on the steady B flat drone (albeit 57 octaves below anything discernable by the human ear) said to resonate from the galaxy cluster Perseus. Think of it as another Harmony Of The Spheres. Either way there are some fantastically distended performances here from VT faves like Neil Campbell, Birchville Cat Motel, The Skaters, Keijo, Vibracathedral Orchestra, My Cat Is An Alien and Peter Wright as well as Blithe Sons, Eugene Carhesio & Leighton Craig, CJA, Anla Courtis, Hands Of Satisfaction, A.M/Uton, Moglass, seht, 1/3 Octave Band and The Nether Dawn. Comes in a fold-out three-panel sleeve with artwork by Jani Hirvonen and James Kirk. |
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Viva Negativa! A Tribute To The New Blockaders Volume One Vinyl On Demand VOD-24 4xLP £42.99 Another major milestone in Vinyl On Demand's on-going deluxe documentation of the furthest fringes of the European underground, Viva Negativa is the culmination of several years worth of commissioned remixes, extrapolations on and collaborations with the work of The New Blockaders, the UK's most consistently feral noise group. The quality of the track listing is pretty staggering – a testament to the liberating effect those early TNB sides had on a whole generation of otherwise culturally disenfranchised post-punks – and plays even better as a state-of-disunion round-up than recent attempts at void-articulation like Gold Leaf Branches, Invisible Pyramid et al. Almost every major contemporary noise artist is featured and Volume One has tracks from Oren Ambarchi, Anomali, Ashtray Navigations (a beautiful slice of slow blown-to-smoke tone), Emil Beaulieau, Benzo, Cisfinitum, Controlled Bleeding, Dieter Muh, Evil Moisture, Freiband, Grunt, The Haters, Jason Kahn, Zbigniew Karkowski, Komafuzz, Kraang, Lockweld, Massimo, Daniel Menche, Thurston Moore, MSBR, Nocturnal Emissions, KK Null, Pita, Plethora, Prurient, Richard Ramirez, Scanner, Silvum, srmeixner, Asmus Tietchens, Treriksroset, uh…V/VM (woops!), Vortex Campaign, Keith Fullerton Whitman, John Wiese, Nobuo Yamada and Z'ev. The whole deal comes packaged in a beautiful full-colour/laminated hard card box with the LPs pressed on 180g vinyl in hand-numbered sleeves and bundled with a poster/manifesto. This one knocked us clear on our asses, a staggering document. Highest recommendation. |
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Viva Negativa! A Tribute To The New Blockaders Volume Two Vinyl On Demand VOD-25 4xLP £42.99 Another major milestone in Vinyl On Demand's on-going deluxe documentation of the furthest fringes of the European underground, Viva Negativa is the culmination of several years worth of commissioned remixes, extrapolations on and collaborations with the work of The New Blockaders, the UK's most consistently feral noise group. The quality of the track listing is pretty staggering – a testament to the liberating effect those early TNB sides had on a whole generation of otherwise culturally disenfranchised post-punks – and plays even better as a state-of-disunion round-up than recent attempts at void-articulation like Gold Leaf Branches, Invisible Pyramid et al. Almost every major contemporary noise artist is featured and Volume Two has tracks from AMK, Art Break, Aube, Bloxus, Alexei Borisov, Broken Penis Orchestra, Cheapmachines, Courtis, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Aaron Dilloway, Embudagonn 108, Government Alpha, Idea Fire Company (great quartet line-up track with slow choral vocals and droning machine dreams), Incapacitants, Lasse Marhaug, Merzbow, mnortham, Jim O'Rourke, Dave Phillips, Plexia, Putrefier, Christian Renou, RLW, Damion Romero, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Spiracle, Sudden Infant, Giancarlo Toniutti, Violent Onsen Geisha, Brendan Walls, Withdrawal Method, Wolf Eyes & Achim Wollscheid. The whole deal comes packaged in a beautiful full-colour/laminated hard card box with the LPs pressed on 180g vinyl in hand-numbered sleeves and bundled with a poster/manifesto. This one knocked us clear on our asses, a staggering document. Highest recommendation. |
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Number Eight Out Loud Productions #8 LP £12.99 1974. A solo Harlemans set with an appearance from Bernard Heidsieck. Tracks: WARM UP (2:22) The Harlemans, NEW YORK (3:03) Bernard Heidsieck and Francoise Janicot with the Harlemans, EVERYWHERE (2:52) The Harlemans, DRAW A CIRCLE (3:01) The Harlemans, YOU (1:19) The Harlemans, TIGER (4:37) The Harlemans, SHAMAN (4:27) The Harlemans, SOMEWHERE (1:50) The Harlemans, TAMBOURINE (3:21) The Harlemans, SNOWSONG (2:10) The Harlemans, PUSH ON (2:33) The Harlemans, FOR KLYD AND LINDA (3:10) The Harlemans. Tiger is taken from a dream by Jerome C. Romy Pollonto. |
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Number Nine Out Loud Productions #9 LP £12.99 1975. Another solo set from the Harlemans. Notes by Robert Palmer (Rolling Stone/Downbeat et al): “With this ninth volume of their “magazine” of oral poetry, the Harlemans penetrate more deeply into the resonances of speaking, chanting, and singing voices, and into themselves. Connections with the “ritual of the irrational,” the cultivation of states of disassociation or trance. were present in their earlier work, but here, in the sound pieces “Trance,” “Fear For My Body,” and “I Give My Body To The Drum,” they are explicit. Using the narrow melodic range, chant-like insistence, drum and metallophone accompaniment, and out-of-body flight images so central to shamanist tradition, the Harlemans confront a “new” use of oral poetry which is, of course, an old use also. The recitation of written texts of written texts – the “modern” way – has been superseded by the creation of poetry in sound and, in these new compositions, by the deliberate use of some of the effects tape makes possible with the idea of affecting the listener quite directly. All poetry, all art in fact, aims at a similar ordering of “thought, feeling, and apparent sensory impressions” (in the words of William S. Burroughs), but certain music, dance and other art attempts to actually trigger and control various psychological experiences. The ritual of the Central Asian shaman is an example. It is the shaman's task to pass into a trance state and report back to his community of the spirit world. In order to achieve his altered state of consciousness he resorts primarily to various organized sounds. He chant/sings, using a restricted melodic range in a repetitive pattern, a process which helps create a trance state because of the nature of hearing. The basilar membrane, a structure in the inner ear where soundwave vibrations are translated into neural impulses, is pitch sensitive and pitch discriminatory. That is, various areas of the membrane respond to various specific pitches by sending electrical “charges” along specific nerve pathways to the brain. When these areas of the membrane are “massaged” regularly and in sequence, as in strictly modal music or in much chant, the repetition sets up a hypnotic pattern of impulses. The shaman accompanies his voice with a drum and some sort of metal instrument, both of which produce the kind of sound physicists refer to as “steep fronted,” that is a “noise” sound with tightly packed overtones. In addition, drum sounds have an extremely rapid decay time. Such sounds, with their welter of enharmonic pitches, stimulate most of the surface of the basilar membrane, thus ensuring the transmission of as many simultaneous neural impulses as possible to as much of the brain as possible. And the neurons are able to rest between firings because of the rapid decay time of the sounds, thus insuring continuing peak effects for the sound and allowing changed or other sung material to periodically resume its own hypnotic pattern. In other words, the shaman's basic equipment – voice, drum, rattle – is actually a sophisticated tool for self-induced hypnosis, or trance. This self-programmed, inner-directed cultivation of dissociation, which is at the heart of magico-religious traditions the world over, is contrasted on the present recording with involuntary disassociation from each other and from the wellsprings of their own thought and actions. The first kind, practiced as a rite, puts one in touch with worlds within. The second, accepted by many as the price of living, is the source of much unhappiness and pain. Thus the narrator in “Take A Sip Of Me” casts herself in the extreme role of a disembodied cup of coffee in order to reach out to another person: “I won't burn you,” she is forced to add to her invitation. Thus the quintessential evocation of mortal fear, “Fear For My Body,” which in its more morbid manifestations bespeaks a dissociation bordering on the pathological. “I Forgot Your Name” is a somewhat lighter treatment of disassociation; as a vision of the widening gulf between the sexes it is a little reminiscent of a Rolling Stones put-down song, with echoes of Elvis in the delivery. The musical comparisons are apt ones, because with this album the Harlemans move closer to music, just as music is moving closer to the inflections of the voice. In “Curing,” which Peter proposed as an antidote to the malady of separation, Patricia's opening whines sound like an electronic synthesizer, until one recalls that the synthesizer was originally designed to give computers a “voice” and is thus an imitation of the Real Thing. And while “Trance” has the proscribed melodic vocabulary of the chant, “I Give My Body To The Drum” makes use of that most musical of devices, the well-timed modulation. But this use of music, and again it is a very old one, has to do with the creation of magical effects for the purpose of achieving magical results. In his The Wellsprings of Music Curt Sachs wrote that “Everything that sounds, be it in the cruder form of frightening noise or the organised patterns of music, bears the brunt of mankind's eternal strife against the hostile forces that threaten his life and welfare; and, just as well, nothing better than sound can summon the powers of luck and prosperity . . . Even language stresses unity of singing and magics as the Latin word incantation, ‘magic formula,' derived from cantare, and the English charm, from carmen. Whenever singing is an act of ecstasy and depersonalization, it moves away from ordinary human expression. The voice is often remote from being as ‘natural' as we believe our own execution to be. It is coloured by pulsating, yodelling, ventriloquizing, or bleating. One screams, yells, squeaks, mumbles, and nasals.” Sachs sentences on the origins of music are strikingly descriptive of what the Harlemans are up to They've been pioneering in this area of speech / music / magic with each successive album, and with # 9 they've done it again.” |
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Number Ten Out Loud Productions #10 LP £12.99 1977. Final volume of this incredible set, very affecting. Trio recordings by the Harlemans with Klyd Watkins and one solo Peter Harleman invocation. Cover by Patricia Harleman, produced by Klyd Watkins and Peter Harleman. Tracks: LET'S GO HEAR THE HOLY ROLLERS SING (3:48) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, BAD MAN (1:59) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, WILDERNESS (4:49) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, I CAN SING FALSETTO (3:05) Peter Harleman, MAYBE (4:09) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, YOUR LOVE IS A WEAPON (AFTER A THEME FROM HOWLING WOLF) ((1:29) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, LET'S LET THE WORLD GO DOWN (2:41) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins, GOING BELOW (12:25) The Harlemans with Klyd Watkins. |
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DIY Canons Pogus 21036-2 2xCD £14.99 Fantastic series of DIY canons based on concepts first elucidated by modern composer Larry Polansky in his Four Voice Canons series. Wickham-Smith (Tibetanist/ex-monk/juggler/Richard Youngs collaborator) describes Polansky's Four Voice Canon #13 as “a kind of open source meta canon score”. Polansky distributed this score to various composers and made it available at talks and on the web and a number of composers took up his tools and created their own canons using a wild assortment of source material. For this beautiful double CD set Wickham-Smith has gathered a selection of the most beautifully whacked interpretations, with players like Philip Corner, Kyoko Kobayashi, Mike Winter, Steven M Miller, Drew Krause and Wickham-Smith himself. Source/voice material includes phones, ringtones, flutes, clarinet, Barbie phone, cats… “The pieces on this CD are all based on the ideas in Larry Polansky's four voice canons, a series of pieces he began in 1975. These canons are usually “mensuration canons”, which means that the tempi of successive voices is proportional to their start times, so that the voices end together. They also use simple ideas of moving through a list of permutations, and applying the elements of those permutations to various musical parameters. A set of Polansky's canons was produced on Cold Blue Records as four voice canons (CB0011).” - from Wickham-Smith's notes. A great weird/avant/psychedelic/sound art series, with a booklet including notes from all of the contributors. Recommended. |
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Playword Onomatopee No Cat 7" £5.99 "Take two electronic musicians, two noise guitarists and two poems, put them in some rooms and what do you get? A compilation called Playword. Machinefabriek, Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen, Erwin Van Looveren and Freiband all received texts from Freek Lomme, and were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted with them. The results are cool, and the four pieces comprise a nicely congruent whole. Van Looveren's noisy-ass track is perhaps my fave, but they're all interesting. Freiband grate amp-cheese around the edges of the words'shadow, Machinefabriek runs the words through a chainsaw sequencer, and Dobbelsteen surrounds them with a bushy load of acoustic guitar scrapings." - Byron Coley. |
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Alchemism: Alchemy Records 20th Anniversary Twin Best Collection Alchemy/Imperial TECI-1073/ CD £23.99 Totally sick: celebrating Alchemy Records' 20th anniversary - and Japanese noise/rock legends Hijokaidan's 25th - major label bozos Imperial have stepped into the gulf with a series of definitive birthday sets. Alchemism is a massive two-disc overview of the activities of this consistently dazzling underground label complete with a fold-out sleeve that has colour cover shots of all the action, especially noteable for the lovingly executed Modern Lovers and Ash Ra take-offs from Ultra Bide and Christine 23 Onna. All tracks previously released except for exclusives from Tongue favourites Oshiri-PenPenz and Doodles. Also includes: Jojo Hiroshige, Ultra Bide, SS, Inu, Hoburakin, Idiot O'Clock, Sekiri, The Genbaku Onanies, The Continental Kids, Danse Macabre, Sob Kaidan, Genbaku Kaidan, Subvert Blaze, Sperma, Hanadensha, Garadama, Angel'In Heavy Syrup, Auschwitz, Tatsuya Kitajima, Tsumetai Iki No Mama, Miki Sawaguchi, Masonna, Merzbow, Incapacitants, Solmania, Hijokaidan, Seiichi Yamamoto, Omoide Hatoba, Totsuzen Dan-Ball, Christine 23 Onna and Chouzu. Highly recommended, naturally. |
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U-Sound Volume 1 Parallelism/U-Sound PAR-009-2/ 2xCD £8.99 Found a bunch of this great Tom Greenwood-curated double CD comp that beautifully articulates the nascent underground sound of 1999 via performances from Greg Anderson/Rob Hall Duo, Army Of Ghosts, Tim Barnes & Glen Kotche, Black Magic, Joshua Burkett, Daniel Carter Ensemble, Decaer Pinga, Double Leopards, The Doves, Eagle Blood, Far Fetched, Sai Flora, Furchick w/The Armaround, Glands Of External Secretion, Michael Hurley, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Lady E Quartet, Tara Jane O’Neil, Jeff Perkins & PG 6, Sewerz, Tono-Bungay, Unity Sound Ensemble and Matthew Valentine. A historically potent collection and highly recommended. |
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Xmas Snertz: Have A Very Gulcher Christmas Gulcher 420 CD £8.99 If I know Christmas – and I think I do – it’s gonna be here soon as fuck, so better bone up on the presbos front while you can. Gulcher – god bless em – have only gone and made it easy on alla us with a one-size-kills-all compilation of seasonally themed stupidity that’ll have the entire family guzzling Drano without the help of any Perry Como videos. Result! Features Angel Corpus Christi, The Automatics, Mach Bell & His Elves (good job he ain’t travelling with fairies), Crawlspace, Phil Hendricks/The Stiffs (they’re from the UK!), Kenne Highland & His Vatican Sex Kittens, Phil Hundley, The Korps, Monsterpop, MX-80, Ted Niemiec, Pansy Divison, Stalingrad Symphony, Rich Stim, The Walking Ruins and X-Ray Tango. |
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White Bicycles – Making Music In The 1960s Fledgling Fled-3061 CD £10.99 Released to coincide with the publication of Witchseason producer/label mastermind Joe Boyd, White Bicycles makes for a great, functional overview of the arc of his trails across various 1960s psych, folk, jazz and rock forms. Totally listenable from start to finish, the programming is maximalist and features great tracks from Eric Clapton & Powerhouse, The Pink Floyd, The Incredible String Band, Nick Drake, The Purple Gang, Soft Machine, Shirley Collins, Fairport Convention, Johnny Handle, Fotheringay (w/Sandy Denny), Mike Heron, Vashti Bunyan, John & Beverley Martyn, Nico, Geoff & Maria Muldaur, Dave Swarbick, Martin Carthy & Diz Disley, Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath, Dudu Pukwana & Spear and The New Nadir. Comes with a great full-colour booklet with comprehensive notes, pics, sleeve repros and more. |
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Love, Peace & Poetry: Chilean Psychedelic Music QDK Media 049 CD £13.99 Excellent overview and the ideal way ‘in’ to the beautiful comedown sounds of classic Chilean psychedelic music. Packaged in the usual great cheesecake sleeves, this one bundles tracks from all of the main players from this fascinating late-60s/early-70s scene: the God-like Blops, Kissing Spell, Los Jaivas, Sacros, Aguaturbia, Los Mac’s, Embrujo, Los Beat 4, Tumulto, Escombros, El Congreso and Congregacion. Highly recommended. |
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In The Pines: Tar Heel Folk Songs & Fiddle Tunes Old Hat CD-1006 CD £13.99 Great new comp of folk and fiddle based blasters from North Carolina 1926-1936 from a label that consistently delivers the cream of unknown American Primitive. This is another ass-flattening postcard from a gone world that features a ton of tough to find, rarely compiled material that runs through murder ballads, gospel hymns, mountain blues and railroad songs, the bulk of which have never been available on CD before. Features tracks by “Dock” Walsh, The Red Fox Chasers, Carolina Buddies, Carolina Ramblers String Band, Dixon Brothers & Mutt Evans, North Carolina Cooper Boys, Ben Jarrell, Cranford & Thompson, The Highlanders, Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, Proximity String Quartet, Blankenship Family, The Grady Family, Wilmer Watts & The Lonely Eagles, Cauley Family, Clarence Greene, Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers, Whitter-Hendley-Small, Grayson & Whitter, Mainer’s Mountaineers, E.R. Nance Family with Clarence Dooley, Frank Jenkins’ Pilot Mountaineers and Carolina Tar Heels. |
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Insane Music Box Vinyl On Demand VOD-59 4xLP + 7” Box Set £66.99 Beautifully assembled four LP box set with bonus 7” and t-shirt that compiles alla the most interesting work from the Insane Music imprint, one of the most prolific and undersung of 1980s Industrial/cassette imprints. Run by Alian Neffe, Neffe’s many projects took off from the ground-levelling work of Throbbing Gristle et al but soon diversified into a future-primitive hybrid that combined tapes, electronics, rock rhythms, free improvisation and a feel for theatre and ritual that touches on aspects of contemporary investigators from the Sudden Infant/Schlimpfuch axis through The No-Neck Blues Band. The box features material by I Scream, Bene Gesserit, Subject, Human Flesh and Pseudo Code. Hand-numbered edition of 600 copies in heavy-duty box. |
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Attic Recordings Attic Cassettes No Cat CD-R £6.99 First ever CD-R release on Marc Pilley’s Attic imprint, with his choice of the best tracks from the label’s first year of cassette releases. Features The Upskirts, Black Sparrow Dress, The Zees, Tarra, Telegraph Meltz, Dustbowl, Zach Kerouac, Speakeasy, The Sermon, Saw and Holly Hollis. |
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Imaginational Anthem 2 Tompkins Square TSQ-1424 CD £8.99 Follow-up to the first volume of this on-going series that joins the dots between an earlier generation of American Primitive guitarists and contemporary intuitive sound-as-thought players. Once again Jack Rose is featured (with an absolutely gorgeous 6 string re-think of "Cross The North Fork 2") but every other player puts in a first-time appearance on this volume. The inclusion of Christina Carter is a particularly inspired move and one that speaks of the liberated range of the series in general and her track is a beauty, a stubby acoustic guitar miniature. Nice cover snap too. Other tracks include a particularly mesmeric recording from UK guitarist James Blackshaw and contributions from Peter Lang, Jesse Sparhawk, Michael Chapman, Sean Smith, Fred Gerlach, Billy Faier, Sharron Kraus, Robbie Basho and...uh...Jose Gonzalez. Another rich, far-sighted assortment from this great label. |
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Festival Der Genialen Dissidenten Enfant Terrible Enfant-11 LP + 7" £18.99 Excellent compilation of contemporary dissident European electronic/synth/Industrial/new wave sounds from this synth-focussed label. The follow-up to their epochal Electronic Renaissance LP, this one bundles a bunch of current Euro-heads with a serious jones for the early Industrial sounds of DAF/Absolute Body Control/S.P.K./Throbbing Gristle/Kraftwerk along with touches of Suicide, Public Image Limited, Minimal Man et al. There isn’t a duff track on the album but some of the highlights include Agent Side Grinder’s evocative/magickal “There Is A Sound That Always Goes Out” that mirrors Coil’s work circa “The New Backwards”/later-TG, the amazing Vincent K’s “White Sheet Glory” that crosses Billy Synth-style keyboards with an amphetamine motorik appeal and throat-shredding vocals that make it sound like the most manic La Dusseldorf track of your life and the midnight stylings of Adolf Filter’s beautiful Harmonia/DAF/Kraftwerk-esque “Inner Walls” cut up with the kinda fractured loner vocal that could almost be Peter Jeffries. Other artists featured include Dolina, Nosztalgia Direktiva, Codes, Le Triangle De L’Androgyne, the fantastically named Pierre Normal and Yseult Descieux. A great way in to the current underground Euro synth scene – which seems to have the same relation to its source material as the 80s garage explosion had to Nuggets et al – and an excellent companion piece to Poutre Apparent’s historical survey of the French new wave scene. The set comes in a handsome gatefold sleeve with a bonus 7” and is highly recommended. |
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A Tribute To Jojo Hiroshige Alchemy ARCD-167 CD £14.99 Brand new tribute set of cover versions and punk extrapolations based around the phenomenal body of work birthed by Mr Jojo Hiroshige aka Alchemy label boss and Hijokaidan mainman. Features a totally disobedient Beefheart-style rave-up from the Oshiri PenPenz, microphone-gobbling action from Masonna (first new recording in years), great psych/pop stylings from Doodles, monstrously deformed guitar/noise from Solmania, GaramonKakinoki +AOL and a whole bunch of other punk Kansai Industrialists. Think of it as a particularly focussed Night Gallery instalment. Highly recommended. |
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Lead Into Gold Rebis 008 2xCD £10.99 Follow-up to the great Time And Relative Dimensions In Space compilation with a two CD set once again dedicated to long-form drone works. Exclusive tracks from Birds Of Delay, Bruce Russell, Son Of Earth, The Opera Glove Sinks In The Sea, White/Light, Keenan Lawler, Bird Show/Lichens, Of…Ohv, The Zoo Wheel and The Gray Field Recordings. |
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Super Street 24 Fag Tapes FT-229 Cassette £6.99 Three-way split of extended live sets for this volume of Heath Moerland’s (Sick Llama) compilation series, with jams from New Pledegemaster, Steve Kenney (Demons) and Slither all drawn from their recent tour. Hand-numbered edition of 50 copies. |
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Tokyo Flashback 7 PSF PSFD-189 CD £14.99 Brand new instalment in this legendary compilation series from PSF, now in its seventh volume. For this latest survey of the state of the contemporary Japanese psychedelic underground the label ran a special live night at Koenji Show Boat in May of 2009 and recorded all of the players’ sets. The disc opens with the outer space choral folk of Le Son De L’os, a trio that features Yuko Hasegawa of Onna-Kodomo on guitar and vocal, Masahiro Deguchi of Gendai Sokkyo on flute and guitar and Shizuo Uchida on bass. Bo No Kubo are a drums/acoustic bass/guitar improvisatory unit that translate the Incus aesthetic to Tokyo. Derakushi are a phenomenal free jazz/psych ensemble who use electric rock firepower to propel the furious saxophone of Shun Suzuki; expect a full-length album from these guys on PSF very soon. There’s a great, minimal tracks from shakuhachi player Sabu Orimo, here with his new unit that features drummer/harmonica player Tomohiko Namiki. Touyounomajyo are a classic guitar/bass/drums power trio that would have fit in just as well on some of the earlier volumes and Hasegawa-Shizuo, who have had a bunch of previous releases on labels like PSF and Tiliqua, close the set with an epic drone imagining. Nothing cuts to the heart of the Tokyo underground like PSF’s Flashback series. Recommended. |
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Learning For Insipid Zeal Volume 2 American Tapes AM-840 one-sided LP £12.99 “Maths Balance Volumes, Dog Lady, Infecto, Olson/Rammer, Oil of Beauty one-sided LP / WHOA!! New Heavy Unitz Alert! Second installment of this new series of young bloodz, boiling to destroy! NEW NEW!!This wax is a hyper stoker. Complete "story for your ears" comp style with lurking flow holding all the sounds together. Here's some audio clay to mold your own twisted soundtrack: In order: Track One: MATHS BALANCE VOLUMES = Super weirdo personal mumble-piano strum-slow clanging empty space piece. If you aint partied with these two MN/OH transplants mega maniac's, then jump on board. Surreal central kick off, amazing ???? Tape collage from the only mugs that can pull off just playing tapes and staring at each other live. If your imagination is a big grimace of a pumpkin, this unit gives much of a convexed unusual surface to carve upon. Track Two: OIL OF BEAUTY = New electronic mangle from this (and Beauty Liquid) consumable face lotion that is as pungent as it is flammable. Gross stuff to coat your face with! Doesn't do anything but leave a film of gritty film all over yr. grill, figures: cheapest = on sale its: 94 cents. Nasty! Tapes soon on Chondritic Sound. Sharp short track of greasy face electronic coverings in smatter stylee. Track Three: RAMMER/ OLSON = Bryan "Rammer" Ramirez (Ex Cocaine, Poor School, Universal Indians, Killer Tree, Plants) and Zone One (Boiling Seas, Man Who Ate Himself, Sad Policeman) reconnect in a Missoula basement bar for a Reed/Guitar workout recorded live on the last WE/Black Dice tour over the summer. Super weirdo sheen of fuzz and squash. We had a super killer BBQ at the Rammer HQ with the family before das gig complete with Frisbee golf and uber strong ale. Like the Breckman Duo w/o the anger guerrilla high school mask attack. Ruling. Track Four: DOG LADY= Dude, COLLINO! The newest mover and shaker/skater from the mitten and completely on fire. This track, RULES. Song-ish violin and tape scrape warbling in and outta tune clouded in a mist that'll lure you in and grow under your skin like a shadow of a skin-cell hunter at midnight, early during the workweek w/o a lunch break. The only jammer I know that has a "Legit" secretary. Chances of this player playin your town this weekend: GOOD. Chances of it ruling: BETTER. A pro note taker and a pro note RIPPER. Slime Ball Violin Au Go Go!!! Boosh!! Track Five: INFECTO = Bookending the crew is this new mysterious tape unit. Mysterious unless you were walking behind me and princess on Howard St. when the Tovinator thought she was getting the cold I just got rid of and called me INFECTO for a day. So, a mug booked some hrs in INZANE STUDIOS and gave birth to this track. Blackwards tape treble magnetic tomfoolery, infecting style. Good thing she didn't call me SLOBBER MAN for a day. So theres the lineup. Wicked weird flow, all dark moody non-rockers, surely to set your idea pot a' boiling strong. An audio report from front n center on the crazy camp, Midwest style. Edition of 100 in handmade sleeves, numbered.” – John Olson. |
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Qbico U-Nite 6 & &7: Detroit & Buffalo Qbico #99 3xLP £36.99 Great limited triple LP set that bundles two nights of wild free jazz that Qbico presented in Detroit and Buffalo back in 2006. High energy sets from Arthur Doyle & Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Andrew Barker & Daniel Carter, Steve Baczkowski & Ravi Padmanabha, Muruga Free Funk (with Perry Robinson), Faruq Z Bey & Northwoods Improvisers and Odu Afrobeat Orchestra. |
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Fanajana: A Collection Of Recordings And Photography From Madagasikara Mississippi Records 067 LP £13.99 Compilation of the best of the privately pressed triple LP that Charlie Brooks put together in 1999 that featured his field recordings gathered on trips to Madagasikara in the late 1990s. The three LPs were originally themed around Vocal, Valiha Marovany and Miscellaneous Instruments but this LP compiles highlights from all three, taking in traditional and modern instruments including the jejy voatavo, jejy lava, accordion, sodinas, harmonica, the kabosy and the guitar. Comes with a twelve page booklet of photography and notes. |
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Underwater Peoples Winter Review 2010 Underwater Peoples Records UPC-002 CD £6.99 Fantastic compilation of all unreleased tracks from this great NJ label. Exclusive jams from Julian Lynch, Pill Wonder, Ducktails, Fluffy Lumbers, Big Troubles, Andrew Cedermark, Frat Dad , Dana Jewell, Air Waves, Family Portrait, Alex Bleeker, Mountain Man, Real Estate, Rainbow Bridge and Liam the Younger. |
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Sunday Matinee At The Frying Pan American Tapes AM-855 one-sided LP £11.99 Compilation featuring unreleased tracks from Connelly & The Machines, Body Morph, Hive Mind, Dog Lady and Drainolith: “So the other day, me and my lab buddy supreme Scott were knee f'in deep in trying to find out if a huge craggly motor was delta or wye three phase connected, and needless to say, was NOT having luck. It was a one of them RAW bologna built motors that has wire numbers, but its pointless cause its all on its own weirdo system. Whatever. So as usual, we shot the shit. |
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Eli The Ice Man American Tapes AM-862 CD-R £7.99 Compilation featuring unreleased tracks from Full Scales, Spykes and Pool Water: “Is the Voltages Leads in Inductance or Induction leads Current in Capacitance? ?? Huh? Always forget this easy breeze system code to know which is leading in the Induct/Capt current game...Yeah: three tracks of attack: |
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Mixed Above Emotions American Tapes AM-872 C90 Cassette £7.99 Compilation featuring unreleased tracks from Dwelling Unit, Madness, Influx, Immune Future Problems, First Responder and Cripple Crime’s Triangle: “Massive new comp of all short tracks of all sorts of styles. Weirdo flow, new blood, all heated and raw. Mysterious Island swamped and flanked in all sides by a tidal wave of consuming statics. More to come from each of these creatures, stirring and pacing in a sound cell waiting and plotting to bust out. Color covers, slip case.” – John Olson. |
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Nichi-Yobi no Uta Alchemy/Uplink ULR-020/ULR-020 CD £15.99 Irresistible new compilation CD from the reactivated Alchemy Records, an all-female psych set curated by Jojo Hiroshige of Hijokaidan. Features fragile, breathless song stylings from a bunch of upcoming femmes including Akiko Hodaka (formerly of Maher Shalal Hash Baz), Mai Mishio of Uzumibi, Hirachin of Oninko! and Totsuzen Danboru, Shiho of Ten-No.5 and Yuka Fujita of the excellent Chozu. “Produced by Jojo Hiroshige of Hijokaidan (The King Of Noise), the godfather of Japanese noise music and the owner of Alchemy Records. He realized the strength, fragileness, delicateness and other elements that only women could have are the keyword for this decade. This album contains 11 tunes from emerging female musicians that Hiroshige picked out from the Japanese underground music scene.” – Alchemy. |
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Menagerie 2 Blackest Rainbow Recordings No Cat LP £13.99 Edition of 500 copies compilation LP with exclusive tracks from Akron/Family, Joanne Robertson & Matthew Ashworth, Wand, Natural Snow Buildings, Married In Berdichev, Moon Duo, The See See and Seadog. Comes with a full colour zine featuring artwork by Jake Blanchard, Pete Fowler, Andrew Rae, Will Sweeney, Sarah King, Olange Gularte, James Trimmer/Mirt and Mat Pringle. |
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Been Here All My Days Mississippi Records MR-064 LP £13.99 Excellent and much-needed round-up of a bunch of 45s originally issued w/cool sleeves by Fat Possum that featured tracks from the George Mitchell collection. Mitchell wandered the South throughout the 60s and 70s capturing blues recordings from across the States and the cream of them are rounded up here. There’s some fantastic, raggedy-assed blues, not least from the bandstand rocking Jessie Mae Hemphill who comes over like a sassy trailer-park Abner Jay. Plus meaty sides from Fred McDowell, John Lee Ziegler, Rosa Lee Hill, Jimmy Lee Williams, James Davis, Houston Stackhouse, James Shorter, Precious Bryant, Joe Callicott, Lonzie Thomas, Green Paschal, Furry Lewis and Robert Johnson. This is some wild house-rocking shit. Highly recommended. |
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Blackburn Recordings Presents: Various Deficiencies Vol. 1 Blackburn Recordings No Cat Cassette £3.99 Hand-numbered edition of 130 copies compilation with unreleased tracks from a buncha VT faves including Metal Rouge, Cursillistas, Cloud Nothings, Sore Eros, Coasting, Big Troubles, City Center, Campfires, Brett Marren, Possum, Lame Drivers, Sleep In Sundays, Falsetto Boy, Mountainhood, Island’s Eyelids and Sultan. |
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The Report V.II The Curatorial Club No Cat Book + CD-R + DVD-R £16.99 New issue of this excellent underground/H-Pop journal, perfectly bound 110 pages w/colour and b/w printing and bundled with a CD-R and a DVD-R. Articles by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw), Michael McGregor interviews Velvet Davenport, Jesse Jarnow on Recording The Cosmos with Greg Davis, an interview with new age keyboard legend Iasos and more by Daniel Bachman, Nate Grace, Emilie Friedlander and Curtis Knapp. Artwork from Camilla Padgitt-Coles, Brenna Murphy, Christelle Gualdi, Christian “Megazord” Oldham, Daniel White, E*Rock, Hydrothermal Emerald, Jon Rafman, Julien Laugier, Massimiliano Bomba/Rawraw, Michelle Ceja, Productlaneevol, Push the Button, Stephanie Davidson, Yannick Val Gesto. The CD-R comes with tracks from La Big Vic, Airbird, Laurel Halo, Dent May, Ducktails, Buffalo Moon, Velvet Davenport, The Twerps, Young Prisms, Big Troubles, Alex Bleeker, Chuck Person, Zonotope ™, Sacred Harp and Dolphins into the Future while the DVD-R features video art from Amy Ruhl (excerpts from How Mata Hari Lost Her Head & Found Her Body, scored by Julian Lynch, Samantha Cromwell (live video of Speculator), Laurel Halo (video feedback piece), Ray Concepcion (live video of Julian Lynch), Christian “Megazord” Oldham (video for Dolphins into the Future), Maia Stern (live video of La Big Vic) and Ryan Hover (video remix of Candy Claws song). |
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Bloodstains Across Sweden Bloodstains 04 LP £14.99 Still one of the wildest of the legendary Bloodstains comps, with a round-up of classic disobedient wastoid DIY from Sweden, inclduing classic sides like Kriminella Gitarrer's "Sylvias Unge", Rude Kids' amazing "Raggare Is A Bunch Of Motherfuckers", Watabout, Bugs, Glo, Usch, Brulbajz, Mizz Nobody, Butter Utter, Vicious Visions, Liket Lever, Blodarna... |
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We Are All One, In The Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho Alt Vinyl AV-030 LP £14.99 Vinyl edition of this excellent tribute to the American Primitive genius of the late Robbie Basho from a bunch of players with a deep connection to the source including Glenn Jones, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Helena Espvall (Ghost/Espers), Meg Baird (Espers), Arborea, Fern Knight, Cian Nugent and Rahim AlHaj. Buncha female vocal tracks are particularly choice here, highlighting Basho’s gift as a highly idiosyncratic singer as well as a visionary instrumentalist. Dedicated to the memory of Jack Rose. 180g vinyl, edition of 300 copies. |
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Ongaku 80: Alternative Waves From Japan Hiruko Records No Cat LP £21.99 Fabulous follow-up to the same label’s Ongaku 70, this set takes in a buncha obscurities from the Japanese underground of the 1980s, all of which would contribute to the momentum that gave birth to the scene’s explosion in the 1990s. Alongside stuff that some heads might know - Phew of Aunt Sally’s “Urahara” from 1980, schizophrenic Pinakotheca recordings artists Tako, the mutant techno of Riuichi Sakamoto’s “Riot In Lagos” – there’s a ton of alien tongue, ranging from EP-4’s thudding tape-damaged Industrial punk through Lizard’s acid-damaged prog-pop, Portray Heads’ transplanted Trans-Europe Express, Gunjogacrayon’s usurping of James Chance & The Contortions and prefiguring of The Boredoms, the amazingly titled Daisuck & Prostitute’s blunt punk/funk, Shinobu’s psychedelic cold wave and Pta’s epic unclassifiable Josef K-play-Can-play-“Rapture” 1982 8 minute masterpiece “Woo-Guy After Dark”. Another phenomenal set that is sure to blindside anyone who considers themselves an expert on this endlessly inventive scene. On pink/white splattered vinyl. Recommended! |
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Love, Peace & Poetry: Mexican Psychedelic Music QDK Media LP-045 LP £12.99 Still one of the greatest volumes of this killer series of geographically themed private press psych comps complete w/cool Bunny Yeager snaps on the sleeve. The focus here is on Mexican psych and we get glorious sunbleached psych/folk/punk comedowns from legendary no-counts like Dug Dug’s The Kaleidoscope, La Fachada De Piedra, El Tarro De Mostaza, La Vida, La Libre Expresion, The Flying Karpets, La Revolucion De Emiliano Zapata, The Spiders, Three Souls In My Mind, Toncho Pilatos, Renaissance, Ernan Roch, Grupo Ciruela, Los Ovnis, The Survival and Nahuat. Recommended. |
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Killed By Epitaph: Dutch Punk Rock '77-'82 No Label No Cat 2xLP £29.99 Ass-blasting double LP compilation of wild Dutch punk, still some of the crudest ever spat to wax. Amazing tracks from Ivy Green (“I’m Sure We’re Gonna Make It”), Helmettes, Panic (“Requiem For Martin Heidegger”), Flyin’ Spiderz, Speedtwins, Paul Tornado, Suzannes, Tits, Mollesters, Filth, God’s Heart Attack, Mecano Ltd, Subway, Mort Subite, The Brommers, Shith, Coitus Int. Vopo’s, The Ex, Nixe, Rondos, Nitwitz, Trockener Kecks and Frites Modern. Excellent sleeve notes too. |
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Tally Ho!: Flying Nun’s Greatest Bits Flying Nun FNCD-517 2xCD £19.99 Stunning compilation that marks 30 years of one of the hands-down greatest underground record labels of the modern age, New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records. Two discs that remind you just how much of your favourite jams came out of a single imprint. Amazing tracks from The Clean, The Verlaines, The Chills, The Dead C, Pin Group, The Bats, Sneaky Feelings, Look Blue Go Purple, Bird Nest Roys, The Great Unwashed, Straitjacket Fits, Able Tasmans, Fetus Productions, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, Garageland, Bressa Creeting Cake, Chris Knox, Headless Chickens, The Mint Chicks, The Phoenix Foundation, Robert Scott, Grayson Gilmour, The Gordons, The Stones, Children’s Hour, Doublehappys, Tall Dwarfs, Snapper, The 3Ds, Shayne Carter & Peter Jefferies, Bailter Space, Skeptics, Solid Gold Hell, Dimmer, Loves Ugly Children, High Dependency Unit, Ghost Club, The Subliminals, Shocking Pinks and F In Math. If you’ve yet to check in with the label then this is the perfect primer and if you’re already a devotee this might just be the mix tape of your life. Highly recommended! |
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Menagerie #3 Blackest Rainbow Recordings TORLP-002 LP + Zine £15.99 A co-release with Tor Press, Menagerie #3 presents a compilation and zine put together by Jake Blanchard with the concept that the artists make music inspired by the visuals and vice-versa. This one features exclusive new tracks from Ben Nash, Isengrind, C.Joynes and Twinsistermoon and the A5 12 page litho-printed booklet features visuals from Jim Stoten, Simon Fowler, Adrianne Neal and Jake Blanchard. Edition of 500 copies. |
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Michigan Meltdown Coney Dog Records CDR-313 LP £14.99 Idiotically amazing compilation subtitled “Post-Garage Pandemonium And Pre-Punk Fuzz Freaks From The Mitten State’s Miliken Era” that comps a buncha rare never-previously-compiled 7s from the wasteland years of the late 60s/early 70s in and around Michigan. Think Stooges, MC5, Blue Cheer et al as filtered through a suburban punk w/dreams of wastoid rock glory aesthetic and with alla the dials set to excess. Some amazing finds in here: Robert Starks And The Geniuses’ “Space Travelling (Part 2)” has to be heard to be believed, with a zonked bongo groove that’s high on reverb suddenly bisected by the most outrageously loud fuzz wah solo since Bowie mixed Raw Power. Metropolis’s “Age Of Evolution” spins a vision of the earth in space that Lothar & The Hand People would’ve been proud of while ripping – or somehow channelling – The MC5’s take on Sun Ra’s “Starship”. Master Danse’s “Feelin Dead” turns dog-killing volume on a paean to death and self murder that shoots smack along the way and ends with the sound of a gunshot. Astaroth’s “Salanispiritus” is a classic proto-metal hymn to Lucifer while both the Master Danse tracks – released on the equally outrageous Brown Whole Jams – take two-chord Motor City punk hypnotics to the brink thanks to an outrageously keen free-form drummer. This is a phenomenal collection that resurrects some of the daffiest moves ever made in pursuit of rock stardom with outrageous levels of fuzz, wah-wah and doofs. A very heavy spin in VT – best off-the-radar psych/punk/fuzz comp since High All The Time? Comes with track commentary and label repros. Highly recommended! |
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Fuck The Old Miami Important Records Imprec-048 LP £12.99 Killer vinyl reissue of a long-gone highlight of the Wolf Eyes back catalogue, the Fuck The Old Miami CD-R that came out on Chondritic Sound in an edition of only 222 copies. Recorded live on May 3rd, 2003, this is the Wolf Eyes trio at their most unanchored, a juddering system of tectonic electronics, free jazz boo and claustrophobic, hand-torn wormholes. Comes with an etched B side courtesy of Nathan Young complete with reputedly playable grooves hand-cut around the etching on the group’s own home lathe. Limited. |
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The Driller/Psychogeist Sub Pop SP-721 12" £5.99 Brand new limited to 2000 Wolf Eyes single, a primer for their forthcoming Sub Pop album, Human Animal. More overtly tonal aspect to the jams here, with complex, hallucinatory arrangements of machine thud, horns, machine-braided feedback spirals and Nate's infernal vocal stylings that cross the thug-dynamism of Burned Mind with a deeper, more psychedelic, sound-field. B-side is exclusive to this release. Artwork by Olson, mixed by Aaron Dilloway. Fantastic. |
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Night In A Graveyard Rococo Records RCC-0011 one-sided LP £13.99 First release in Rococo's "Me Gusta Me Gusta" series of subscription-only one-sided LPs comes from the Graveyards trio of John Olson (Wolf Eyes) on reeds, Hans Buetow on cello and Ben Hall on drums. Beautifully articulate post-fire music moves that cut huge swathes through tense, thick air. Another beauty, hand-numbered edition of only 200 copies. |
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Black Wings Over The Sand Kning Disk/Ideal Recordings 017/046 CD £10.99 New CD edition of this Wolf Eyes Lp made up of a single eerie, minimal track that mingles identifiable sound sources - glisses of guitar, slow blooms of bass - with luminous coronas of high, lonesome tone, rusty death factory rhythms and punk metal eroticism. Heavy early Throbbing Gristle vibe to this - somewhere between Live At The Rat and Live At Oundle School with a little of the psychological horror feel of River Slaughter. Slow moving, grimy and full of implied threat. Recommended. |
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Black Paintings Vol.3 Lost Treasures Of The Underworld No Cat one-sided LP £10.99 Numbered edition of 300 copies one-sided LP featuring Graveyards in duo mode, with John Olson (Wolf Eyes) on saxophone and electronics and Ben Hall on drums. Comes with an etched B-side and a full colour mini poster, both featuring art by Olson. Very minimal shadowplay style with the slightest butterflies of bowed confusion cutting swathes through still, black silence before building to a primal, echo-heavy climax that sounds like a pair of mammoths dropped deep into a canyon. Recommended. |
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There Is A Part Of Me That You Will Never Know Hospital Productions HOS-209 LP £12.99 New collaboration LP from the trio of John Olson, Nate Young and Mike Connelly with Chris Goudreau aka Sickness. Goudreau takes original Wolf Eyes material and sculpts it into a massive, constantly shifting pulse-based piece that feels like an inspired plunderphonic take on the organic, evolving logic of their live shows. It starts off with a classic section of minimal, grinding electronics, given an otherworldly gliss of F/X by Goudreau that makes it dazzle like a primitive Heemann/Chalk creation before building into torrents of sheet metal melodies and squelching rhythms, with parallel sounds given enough electronic treatments to lend them a very hallucinatory, instantly dissolving feel. Indeed, it's one of Wolf Eyes most psychedelic sides, if your definition of psychedelia takes in Throbbing Gristle and CCCC as well as electricity and LSD. Recommended. |
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Futures Troubleman TMU-151 10" £9.99 Beautiful/limited 10” vinyl edition of this brand new collection of homemade electronic grudge and tape-lurch from the always flattening duo of John Olsen (Wolf Eyes) and Tovah O’Rourke (Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice). Parts of this sound like The New Blockaders in denim cut-offs and Reign In Blood patches with a penchant for Roxy-era Eno. Recommended. |
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Plays Kwaidan Ideal Recordings Ideal-049 7" £5.99 Limited to 600 copies 7" from the duo of John and Tovah Olson (Wolf Eyes et al) is one of their most straight-forwardly gorgeous approximations of the nowhere zone to date. Black and white sleeves with full colour inserts. |
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Chain Shot Throne Heap TH-OS-01 LP £16.99 Massive new LP from Dilloway that follows-up on the apocalyptic brass blasts of Infinite Lucifer. This one works from a similar base, using 8-track loops and delay to generate endlessly sleazy cycles of Industrial rhythms, staggering smears of sandpaper drone and illuminated cascades of exploded tones. The basic mode is repeat-o minimalism but the actual sound is a whole universe removed from any of the 20th century experiments in sustained hypnosis. Rather, there are elements of Throbbing Gristle’s Discipline, the bastardised electronics of Tolerance, Nurse With Wound’s A Salt Marie Celeste and even the grid-soundings of Basic Channel. Either way it’s a fucking trip and another beauty from a singular modern sound artist. |
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Coming Out Slowly Animal Disguise ADR-085 LP £8.99 Debut album from this Detroit synth-punk duo with some kinda historical connection to Wolf Eyes. Featuring K. Michael and Nate S., the group build from a base that would take the malevolent electro-threat of early Suicide and ply it with amphetamine-charged Cramps riffs, the kind of drum machine batteries most associated with Big Black and a claustrophobic, assaultive style that is somewhere between early Industrial rock and contemporary minimal synth stylings, with murky, convulsive songs that are somehow uniquely Detroit but that have tendons that stretch alla the way to both coasts, taking-in aspects of CBGBs-era NY scum and peroxide LA glam punk. A beauty. |
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Plays Invasion Of The Body Snatchers Arbor #97 one-sided LP £11.99 New edition of 450 copies one-sided LP with a gorgeous full-colour sleeve by John Olson (Wolf Eyes). Here the duo of John and Tovah Olson move deeper into the kind of liminal, broke back electronics zone that defined their great run of collaborations with John Wiese, with creeped-out midnight soundtracks populated by shadowy nocturnal forms, firefly drones and a murky, drug-addled atmosphere. This feels like the beginning of a whole new phase for Dead Machines and it makes for a subtle but powerful trip. |
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Dedicated To Rochester Charles American Tapes AM-540 one-sided LP £10.99 Limited edition new solo album from Jason Finkbeiner of Rochester avant-garage monsters Pengo on John Olson's American Tapes imprint with paste-on B-side art, corrugated card sleeve and insert featuring a repro of a letter to Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes) from Rochester Charles detailing various formative drum influences, including Al Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult, Jim Fox of The James Gang, Mitch Mitchell from The Experience, Motorhead's Filthy Phil Taylor, fucking Phil Ehart from Kansas, et al. Sounds are based around sick, oscillating tape work that sounds like an elastic band and wah-wah pedal running a turntable that's playing a slowly melting copy of Yatha Sidhra's A Meditation Mass re-recorded by Chie Mukai and Matthew Valentine, the way you always wanted to hear it 'done'. |
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Worm Hole Cut Hands CH-045 CD-R £8.99 “It’s still a damn shame Haunted Castle is no more but sometimes something great has to make way for something awesome. And at this point, the unbridled rawness of Uneven Universe is a fair match for the brooding beauty of Haunted Castle. Comfortable in the grimiest parts of Michigan’s underground gutters, Dan (Haunted Castle, Cardboard Sax) and Holly (Cardboard Sax, with John Olson too) put a twisted dirge into the world of fucked up freejazz. Raw and uncompromised chunks of saxophone collide with a barrage of molten electronics. Often creating an Industrial vibe but transferred to the free jazz wastelands so many great bands of today roam in. Edition of 50 with art by Matthew Junkin.” – CH. |
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Human Animal Sub Pop SP-688 LP £13.99 2006 Sub Pop album from the Wolf Eyes trio of John Olson, Nate Young and Mike Connelly, mixed by former member Aaron Dilloway, the official follow-up to Burned Mind. The preceding Human Animal 12" gives a good snapshot of the kind of blasted topography that the group map out here, with the first half of the album given over to the kind of eerie midnight stasis sound of the group circa River Slaughter albeit given a hi-fi upgrade and new depth of field via slow smokes of drone and viper-shots of electronics. The drum machine is at its most space-puncturing, firing repeat beats into cloaks of doom while Olson works serpentine sax patterns into steel helixes somewhere at the bottom of a ventilation shaft. One track features creeped-out spoken word narration, while over on the flip/later tracks the group move into full pit-pounding mode with assaultive nod-out rhythms and Nate's insane post-Iggy vocal shred moves foregrounded by a ton of metal. Exactingly programmed, this is the one to peak with. Highly recommended. Vinyl edition limited. |
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Split Musikzimmer No Cat 7” £7.99 Split single that pairs a particularly dark track from Wolf Eyes that starts off with a mangled little girl vocal before the beats kick in for an alien vox/locomotive noise juggernaut. Massively fucked vocals/electronics from Prurient on the flip. Full colour covers with double-sided insert. |
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Summer Acoustic American Tapes AM-861 CD-R £7.99 “Connelly & Oldzone Refusal Unit: Two complete gigs from the mid summer tour with Uneven Universe, Evenings & Hive Mind. All acoustic, no amps, no electricity, nothing. Horrible scrape, empty litter containers with glass, bottle caps, metal, reeds, acoustic clutter supreme. One set from Gabe's killer Toledo Den of Death, the other from the amazing GOOD STYLE shop in Madison. Killer tour, ended in the woods jammin THE CHIEFTANS x 2 45s on 3rpm. Summer simmer acoustic. Racket to rocket to uncharted ear trails. Color Covers.” – John Olson. |
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Relocated Cooling Towers American Tapes AM-860 one-sided LP £13.99 Massively extended long form string/drone/Industrial jams from Midwest free jazz outfit Graveyards that push beyond the whole screwed spectral/orchestral arc of their recent work into new zones of lonesome tone : “What is up with the mail these days? Sometimes you get the weirdest things. Are "Dog Missing" flyers illegal now? Seems like it, cause just the other Tuesday I lurched out to check the daily box to see if my new copies of DIRGE or EVIL MINDED shown up yet, and there was this lone LP resting there. Had a post it note stuck to it that read: |
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Live In Pittsburgh, Philly, Rochest, Detroit 1998 Music Mundane No Cat CD-R £7.99 Hand-numbered ‘bootleg’ edition of only 30 copies reissue of what was originally released in a run of 32 copies on American Tapes in 2000. Universal Indians were the trio of John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Aaron Dilloway and Gretchen Gonzales, playing hardcore free jazz/psych from the early 90s. This disc collects a bunch of live jams where they are joined by Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra/Astral Social Club et al), some of which are variously fucked with in post-production by Olson. It’s a fantastic collection, moving through violent hovering drone work ala Vibracathedral with junk percussion, wailing atonal foghorn jazz moves ala Borbetomagus and classic twonked string confusion. This still sounds great and only confirms what an amazing time the 1990s were for underground music. Highly recommended. |
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s/t Hanson HN-237 CD £9.99 Edition of 500 copies solo album from Twig Harper of Nautical Almanac in the mode of his classic Intuitive American Esoteric series. This is a massively psychedelic/continually unfolding series of tape works that move from moments of single string acoustic blues guitar through chattering voices, glitches, weird snatches of audio verite, what could almost be Industrial re-thinks of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider”, piano demolition ala Philip Corner… in many ways it makes me think of the place that John Fahey might have ended up if he had pushed through with the more extended experiments in concrete ragas that he was involved with near the end of his life, formulating a particularly personal and future-visioned take on American Primitive that came from the sounds of his surroundings and the landscape itself and the way they operated within his own personal mythology. Few people can make tape work sound so musically expressive and, yeah, intuitively America as Harper and this is a real treat. “First proper CD release from Nautical Almanac’s Twig Harper. Twig was a big part in Hanson Records getting off the ground back in the mid-90's, so I'm very excited to release his debut solo glass mastered CD! Hot off the barefoot of his collaboration release with Daniel Higgs on Thrill Jockey... Twig Harper continues in the alternate universe tradition of his three volume Intuitive American Esoteric LP series, with 43 minutes psychedelic tape manipulations and droning synthesizer… electronic and organic sound mixed to brain warping perfection. Bell's, homemade electronics, synth, piano, strings, junk, horns and voice treated with tape for "full-on" musique concrete/sound poetry/electronic trance inducing confusion. Recommended for fans of Albert Hoffmann, Smegma, Pierre Henry, The Butthole Surfers, Maria Sabina, Dylan Nyoukis, Tobe Hooper, Criswell, Tod Dockstader, Sirhan Sirhan, The 13th Floor Elevators, Aliens, Humans, Jokes, and OBE's. 500 copies packaged in black poly jewelcases.” – Aaron Dilloway. |
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Lip Synching To Verme Hundebiss Records No Cat LP £18.99 A new solo Dilloway LP is always cause for celebration round these parts: Infinite Lucifer, Chain Shot and Rotting Nepal are still regular spins and it’s hard to think of anyone with such a peculiarly personal approach to the accumulated strata of degraded loops. This one comes in an edition of 500 copies with a fold-out sleeve and takes as its ‘theme’ satanic biker gangs and associated culture. It opens with one of Dilloway’s more pastoral and eerily evocative pieces, with the sound of wind through grass and music box/wind chime sounds that come on like The New Blockaders running on empty, before a lonely female voice hymns a post-apocalyptic landscape completely denuded of people and Dilloway ramps up the metal percussion. Fantastic. The second side expands on the atmosphere of implied amplifier violence before dropping to a hypnotic twilight zone where cosmo-keys and arcs of classical tone flit past in what sounds like the initiation soundtrack of Satan’s Slaves. So file it next to Infinite Lucifer for maximal light. Recommended! |
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Erotic Empire Hospital Productions HOS-115 C10 Cassette £6.99 Duo work from Mike Connelly of Wolf Eyes and Carlos Giffoni, fucked-up single speaker hypnotics with Giffoni's cycles of almost fluent tongue irradiated by a crust of hard circuits. Comes in cool shrunken video case packaging. Limited. |
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Psychic Driving Tapes Hanson No Cat Cassette £6.99 Dazzling disturbing/psychedelic loop/noise from Aaron Dilloway, with wild subliminals buried in an ululating mix of electronic confusion in the mode of classic Dillo sides like Infinite Lucifer: “Psychic driving was a psychiatric procedure in which patients were subjected to a continuously repeated audio message on a looped tape, in order to alter their behaviour. In psychic driving, patients were often exposed to hundreds of thousands of repetitions of a single statement over the course of their treatment. They were also concurrently administered muscular paralytic drugs such as curare in order to subdue them for the purposes of exposure to the looped message(s). The procedure was pioneered by Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, and utilised and funded by the U.S. CIA's MKULTRA program in Canada. The psychic driving procedure was a chronological precursor to Cameron's depatterning, the latter involving massive doses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) combined with similarly large doses of psychedelic drugs (such as L.S.D.). The intent was to break down the subject's personality — theoretically psychic driving could then be used with some efficacy in establishing a new personality. In Cameron's depatterning, the ECT would often continue to be administered despite the manifestation of convulsive fits, which were consensually considered to be contraindications to normal and safe ECT procedure. Such biologically and psychologically devastating procedures, adopted internationally by the psychiatric establishment, were largely abolished by the time the CIA was brought before a Senate Hearing (1977) for its involvement and funding of Cameron's experimental activities — as part of the MKULTRA program.” |
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Live Rococo Records RCC-0012 one-sided LP £14.99 Second release in Rococo's "Me Gusta Me Gusta" series of subscription-only one-sided LPs presents as killer set of aural pugilism from Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core and John Olson of Wolf Eyes/Graveyards et al. Hand-numbered edition of 200 copies. Moves from gunky, Dead Machines-style punk electronic wrassle through epic synth/goth peaks that sound like early Tangerine Dream re-scored for Nico performance by Brian Eno, John Cale and Yasunao Tone. Wild. |
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Stay Asleep (Regression Vol. 2) NNA Tapes NNA-039 LP £17.99 Stunning new solo album from Nate Young of Wolf Eyes: Stay Asleep represents the fullest realisation of the kinda experiments in electronic form that Nate took out on the road a few years back when he toured on the same bill with Aaron Dilloway. It was there that the initial seeds were set for what would fully flower in his duo with John Olson as Stare Case, incorporating clean, up-front vocals in a classic desperate man style. Instrumentally that tour also represented a musical detour and Stay Asleep represents the first full articulation of his new style. Releases under the Demons and Moon Pool & Dead Band banners have seen him explore heavy/cosmo-gothick synth drone but here he plays it much more minimally, using re-wired electronics to create a series of muted, elegantly wasted constructs that trade simple melodic motifs for an atmosphere that is thick with dread. Here he seems to be connecting more with European avant traditions, incorporating aspects of MEV, Dome, Asmus Tietchens and Heldon as well as 20th century classical modes. There are stark piano lines that could almost have been lifted from Lou Reed’s Berlin illuminated by slithers of electricity, odd baroque synth zones and random stabs of interference that are as zonked as ZNR’s Barricade 3, even a hint of Belgium’s Univers Zero. Both John Olson and Aaron Dilloway guest on the album, with Olson adding some beautiful reed work that further bolsters the weird decadent atmosphere and Dilloway contributing a particularly delirious tape pile-up. But it’s Nate’s show all the way and it’s a stunner, one of the most personal, strikingly odd and rigorously conceived solo electronics albums of the post-Noise underground and an instant weirdo classic. Plays at 45rpm, with full-colour printed inner sleeves. Highly recommended! |
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Live Before 99 AA Records 021408 CD-R £6.99 Live recording of a pre-Basketcase group called Mr Asthma from sometime before 1999, re-worked and edited by Nate Young of Wolf Eyes in 2008. Their sound was more Industrial and junk yard than many of their contemporaries, applying blast furnace walls of feedback and F/X to the clank of metal on metal, hulking rhythms, bowed strings, loops and TG-styled head-hunting horns, all applied with a classic American Tapes-style feel for dislocated drone thunder. |
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Pitted Water AA Records 030908 CD-R £7.99 New album from this solo synth/electronics project of Nate Young of Wolf Eyes. Two tracks, one an eerie duo performance from Young and Max Eisenberg recorded live in Detroit 2008, the second a trio set featuring Young, Eisenberg and Twig Harper of Nautical Almanac. |
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Gossypol AA Records No Cat CD-R £7.99 New jams from the duo of Nate Young (Stare Case/Wolf Eyes et al) and David Shettler. They call it ‘new British blues’ but the sound draws more on early Heldon’s combination of propulsive electro/rock dynamics and dark/kosmische synth damage. The drum machines have a lightness of touch that situates them in a parallel universe to Wolf Eyes’ pummelling beats, w/a trippy, psychedelic edge while the keys skirt infinite repeat patterns and nagging two/three note melodies before dissolving in chattering clouds of delay. Aspects of Nurse With Wound and Nord combine to knock the set sideways into an exploratory/surreal Industrial tributary. |
