Visceral Realists
Debut LP by the New Zealand duo of Bruce Russell (Dead C, Handful of Dust, etc) and Luke Wood. Visceral Realists is a high-concept commentary on the state of vinyl, analogue recording, music culture, art, etc. A 45-rpm bullet of short bursts of free electric sound, the music here is tactile and rough but not “noise music.” Russell and Wood play over loops of scratchy records, with their guitars and electronics surging to get over the wall. Russell’s guitar sound from his vintage transistor amp a…
Plasma Splice Trifle
Debut collaboration between these like-minded English underground titans, perfectly mixing the long-form pop eccentricities of Grumbling Fur with the free electric sound of Astral Social Club to produce four epic and memorable tracks. The music is dense and layered, with hidden hooks, haunting vocals, unidentifiable electronic shuddering, delicate ambience, etc. Challenging but completely accessible and beautiful stuff. After a brief vocal declaration of purpose, Back To the Egg rides a motorik …
Musique Irritante
**numbered edition of 10 copies** "Between 2008 and 2016, I’ve worked on a Series called Catalogue du Bruit / Musique Irritante, which was published in the same period on 3" and 5" vinyl records on my own imprint Le Souffleur. The Music was an Attempt to break through certain Types of Self-Confinement, by repetitive Behavior. As a Child I’ve suffered from Tics and compulsive Behavior, like blinking with my Eyes, making Sounds with Throat and Face Contortions. I also had to repeat certain Kind of…
Clarity Cycles
**numbered edition of 25 copies** Clarity Cycles focuses on various sized glass instruments made by Jeremy Popelka in mid to late 2018. They were played by Jon Mueller using various drum, gong and cymbal mallets and recorded and mixed throughout late 2018 and early 2019. The cover photographs were taken by Jeremy Popelka at his studio in Sturgeon Bay, WI, where the instruments were made and the recording session took place. Jeremy Popelka is an artist based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Over …
The Mirror and the Lamp
**numbered edition of 40 copies** Recordings from 1977, 1980, 1986 and 2000 by Max Eastley: Imagine I Am - Composition with Arc, invented electro acoustic monochord instrument, mixed with sampled Arc played from a keyboard, 1986. Recorded by Dave Hunt, composed and played by Max Eastley. The Violet Well - Installation of motors playing metal rods with changes to the speed of the motors but otherwise autonomous chance combinations, 1980. Recorded at Spectro Arts Centre, Newcastle by Max Eastley. …
Impressions de Meccano
**numbered edition of 40 copies** This Album is a Unicum in the Œuvre of Pierre Bastien... He has always played together with the Meccano Orchestra, in these Pieces however, the Music contains the mechanical Sounds by the Meccano Orchestra only, with the Artist only observing the Orchestra as the sole Spectator in a vast and empty Circus Arena… A wonderful Collection of automated music, pure Poetry of a tiny mechanical Orchestra, fragile and touching in it’s primitive Mechanics... An absolute Hi…
Dialling For Smegma
**numbered edition of 40 copies** This LP contains one Side with fantastic new Smegma Material and one Side with superb previously unreleased 1970’s Material. Side A Recorded at Smegma’s Studio 2011-2018, except LSD Bomb recorded Live at Tusk Festival in Newcastle UK 2013. Featuring: Ace Farren Ford (Ace), Donkey Flybye (Fats), Dennis Duck, Ju Suk Reet Meate, Oblivia, Maddy (Guzo) and Al the Anti-Pal (Cheez-it-Ritz). Side B Recorded in Pasadena 1974, except for 3/78 recorded in Portland 1978. Fe…
Library Music
**numbered edition of 25 copies** The Bohman Brothers are the creators of a unique and impure experimental music. Traces of Fluxus japery, musique concrete, sound poetry and free improvisation can be detected, yet ultimately the whole is greater and more arcane than the sum of its parts. As a performing duo Adam and Jonathan Bohman have been operative since 1996 (Adam Bohman is also a member of Morphogenesis and The London Improvisors Orchestra). Their sound art oscillates between states of the …
Down / Up
**numbered edition of 25 copies** The Tenses (Side Project of Smegma) are Ju Suk Reet Meate and Jackie Oblivia Stewart. The Tenses is a Title of a Story in the Book The Dream World of Dion McGregor from 1964. It is a unique Book in that the Stories are not “Written”, but Transcribed from Stories told while asleep! In 2008 we began a new Live Act using Musical Concepts developed with Smegma. The Tenses are a more intimate ”Live” Experiment that is greatly influenced by the Room / Audience “Feel”.…
Coscienza di sé (MiniLP)
**300 copies** ?Alos and Xabier Iriondo's Coscienza di sé is a new esoteric cyberpunk record dedicated to the feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman. ?Alos, born Stefania Pedretti, and Xabier Iriondo need no introduction. She is active since 2003 with her solo project ?Alos, as a member of OvO and of the historical female band Allun. He was part of Six Minute War Madness and actually is guitarist of Afterhours, as well as sound manipulator for projects like Uncode Duello, A Short Apnea, Bunuel, The…
Tinkle Twang ‘n Tootle
Pierre Bastien orchestrates his meccano marionettes on Tinkle Twang 'n Tootle to form the charming imaginative ensemble that he’s been known for since the late '80s. Equal parts composer, inventor, mechanic, and performer, Bastien translates his imagination into instruments and compositions that defy any musical categories. Whether it’s preparing instruments like playing a trumpet underwater or through a kazoo, using belt-driven motors and mechanical components to perform cumbersome yet surprisi…
Knotting
Since its debut on two releases from 2011 and 2012 (the live Hit & Run with Joe Talia and the studio Audience of One), the epic structured improvisational piece ‘Knots’ has formed a staple of Oren Ambarchi’s live performances. Like a jazz musician searching for ever-new ways to play a standard, the guitarist has repeatedly brought the piece to life in a variety of settings ranging from guitar/drums duets to a large ensemble replete with string section, with each iteration bringing with it new va…
Achwghâ Ney Wodei
**300 copies** Achwghâ Ney Wodei was a quartet of François Boitière (drums, keyboards, vocals), Didier ‘Higgins’ Copp (bass, percussion, vocals), Eric ‘Riton’ Sterenfield (guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals) and Phillippe ‘Wodi’ Royer (percussion, trumpet, bass, vocals). They released a cassette for the French label V.I.S.A. and later, in 1987, a triple 12″ for New International Recordings, a short-lived label by Simon Crab, of Bourbonese Qualk (maybe that should serve as an explanation?). Th…
Sound American no. 21
The 127-page book was designed by Remake Design (who also created the now iconic Donald Judd: Writings book) and features words by or about Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Ornette Coleman, Nicole Kaack, Bradford Bailey, G. Lucas Crane, Jennie Gottschalk, Ambrose Akinmusire, Mats Gustafsson, Peter Margasak, Terry Riley, Kim Brandt, John Cage, Josh Sinton, Edgard Varése, Marc Hannaford, John Zorn, Matthew Mehlan, Million Tongues Festival, Alex Mincek, Lester St. Louis, and Steve Lehman. Each book is th…
Vibe
Important Records announces Vibe, the new LP from Extended Organ, the Los Angeles-based quintet associated with the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS). Vibe, Extended Organ's first full-length studio LP since 2000's XOXO was recorded in April 2016 by members Joe Potts, Fredrik Nilsen, Paul McCarthy, Tom Recchion, and Alex Stevens. The album consists of two side-long tracks, Hate and Vibe, recorded live at LACM Studio in Pasadena, California by acclaimed engineer André Knecht. On Vibe, the gr…
The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen
In process of stocking. After two singles for Fast Product, Leeds art-punk collective The Mekons signed with Virgin Records in 1979. The band would have to borrow gear from their mates Gang Of Four to record their major label debut. In classic Mekons style, the album’s back cover featured a photo of Gang Of Four instead of themselves. As Simon Reynolds writes, “The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen got a mixed reception at the time. Listening to it now, though, the first LP sounds more of a piece w…
Tree Dancing
This recording from the earlier years of Cafe Oto documents the impossible pairing of four contemporary giants. It's the reason the venue opened in the first place, for miraculous one-off groupings like this. "The magic of the first minutes -- an alto solo by Joe McPhee of true purity -- soft-spoken, masterful and accomplished -- brought back to mind the blissful Coleman/Haden duet last year at the Royal Festival Hall. 'Ornette gave me freedom to move in a certain way,' said McPhee. He searched …
Seasons Changing
Charles Gayle is a saxophonist, pianist, sometimes a clown and
radical musical performer wrapped into the body of a humble person
living in Downtown Manhattan since the 1960s. As this set attests to, it
is sometimes hard to predict what he will do on stage... In all his
musical (and personal) life Charles Gayle has remained outside of any
form of mainstream, carving his own singular path. There is no player on
the scene today with the emotional wallop of Charles Gayle. John Edwards
is a t…
Begin Anywhere
Charles Hayward is an English drummer and was a founding member of the experimental rock groups This Heat and Camberwell Now. He also played with Mal Dean's Amazing Band, Dolphin Logic, and gigged and recorded with Phil Manzanera in the group Quiet Sun as well as a short stint with Gong. He was a session musician on The Raincoats' second album, Odyshape (1981), and on one occasion played drums for the anarchist punk band Crass. Since the late 1980s he has concentrated on solo projects and collab…
Simian Angel
LP version. After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms -- Sagittarian Domain, Quixotism, and Hubris -- Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes From The Estate (BT 036LP/TO 061CD) while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways. Reflecting Ambarchi's profound love of Brazilian music, Simian Angel features the remar…