Rock /
Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Cute doesn’t cut it, at least not all the time. But take cute, add drum machines, and put him (yes, for our purposes, “cute” is a dude) in short-shorts, smear him with trashy makeup, wrap him in cellophane and bind him in handcuffs—as Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes has been doing onstage lately—and suddenly this thing called “cute” undergoes a transfiguration. It’s a whole new beast.Once the most overtly precious of the Elephant 6 menagerie, Barnes has since jettisoned the everybody-and-his-roommate…
From Our Mouths A Perpetual Light
Given that this band are called Barn Owl, and have that righteous mythical beast scrawled on their album sleeve, I think it's pretty clear what direction this LP is going to take. Tranced-out psych studies are the order of the day, and wielding an arsenal of guitars, harmonium, harmonica, rhodes and synthesizer, this quartet (well, there are four of them this time around - apparently they have a floating, variable roster of chums to call upon) tap into some creepy pagan atmospheres, and ceremoni…
Oscillate Wisely
The wit and candor of Roger Miller and Morrissey… the faint-inducing crooning of Roy Orbison and Chris Isaac… the ethereal transcendence of Talk Talk and Starflyer 59… the dash-pounding drive of Neu! and The Ramones… the pop ingenuity of Badfinger and Big Star… they all seem to be present in one way or another on OscillateWisely. And, not unlike the Cocteau Twins’ "Tiny Dynamite" EP, these captivating jams are blanketed in rich sonic whirlpools that make you feel as though you’ve finally mastere…
Split
Brand new split LP from fellow Manchester weirdos A Middle Sex and Gnod. Gnod follow on from some killer releases over the last couple of years, a split 7" with Bong, a tape on Not Not Fun, and most recently a collaborative LP with White Hills. The oddly titled 15 minute 'Why Don't You Smile Like The Other Children?' opens with hazy strings and cosmicly far out voices, this slow groove packs a multi-coloured burst of rhythmic psychedelic vibes. On the flip side, A Middle Sex take up duties of do…
The Operetta
"The psychedelic find of the decade-their long-lost final magnum opus. Rumored to exist for years-often put down as just rumor though. Here it is, unearthed from tapes thought lost forever but now found after nearly 30 years. The first thing to be released from Ya Ho Wha 13 since 1975. In the spring of 1975 the Family was homeless and was travelling on the West Coast after having been driven out of Hawaii by local laws (they would return later that year for what would be the final time wi…
Second Ascension
"Thunderbolt Pagoda is a heavy space rock group illuminating the darker reaches of the cosmos at high volume. Their approach to long-form rock and heavy ambience (realized through large amplifiers, Mellotron and vintage analogue electronics) has gained them a modest but fervent audience in the Twin Cities and among space rock connoisseurs in other parts of the world since the release of their debut LP in 2008. Their new LP, Second Ascension, builds on the template of the first LP; one sid…
silver apples
180 gram reissue. Officially licensed through Universal. "N.Y. sound... Just two guys.. The amazing thing is they make absolutely mind shattering music with all this junky equipment." -- Jules Freemond, East Village Other
Alchemic Heart
"Alchemic Heart is a special project presented by Vampillia who have colored these two colossal compositions with beautiful contributions by members of the Boredoms, Jarboe (ex-Swans), Inswarm and Japanese Noise-God Merzbow. Layered strings, piano, bass, noise and voices are weaved mysteriously and expand as two magnificently parallel aesthetic worlds. Comprised of two pieces, 'Sea'/'Land,' a primitive landscape is created via listening and destroyed when the pieces are complete. Vampilli…
Ecotono
“The word Ecotono is built from two roots. Eco (oikos/casa) and tono (tonos/ tensión). An ecotono, or ecotone, is a habitat created by the juxtaposition of distinctly different habitats; an edge habitat; or an ecological zone or boundary where two or more ecosystems meet. It is a transition area between two distinct habitats, where the ranges of the organisms in each bordering habitat overlap, and where there are organisms unique to the transition area. An ecotone region provides conditions of b…
Shining on Graveposts
In the all-female duo Coa, Eddie Corman trades on volume and velocity in a howling rock beast that could well fit the bill soundtracking an apocalyptic horror movie. Both Eddie and Marcon first played together in an early incarnation of LSD-March, pysch-blasted legends of the Japanese underground. Combining their names to form a new endeavour into Japanese acid folk, Eddie and Marcon – as Eddie Marcon – have been working in much quieter tones to make delicate, gorgeous and esoteric music. Shinin…
Bones
After playing bass with Rodan, pioneers of post-rock and post-hardcore, the long-respected and much-lauded Tara Jane ONeil has formed bands like The Sonora Pine and Retsin and has collaborated with Sebadoh, Papa M, Come, Low and Ida. Her first two solo albums for the Quarterstick label (Calexico, Rachels, June of ‘44), Peregrine and In The Sun Lines drew great acclaim for a rich musical tapestry The Wire has called “evocative dream music”. Consistently on the move, ONeil records all over the US,…
Asleep On The Floodplain
Ben Chasny has spent many years at this point perfecting his very personal vision of the American landscape. With his early LPs he managed to grab a groundswell of support for his distinctly lo-fi recordings, and since hitting the Drag City label with the breathtaking 'School of Flower' he has managed to extend his vision to countless others. 'Asleep on the Floodplain' continues his exploration, and while it doesn't change up the formula too much (apart from the odd analogue synth blurt here and…
Electric Fruit
"Electric Fruit" alludes to the vexing encounter between nature and technology, one of the most complex issues that we face as a global society. The album brings together a powerhouse of innovators—Weasel Walter, Mary Halvorson and Peter Evans—to emphatically capture, question and explore the throes of this crucial contradiction. "Electric Fruit" is a stirring and potent recording of the dangerous confrontation between the innate and the artificial, the organic and the robotic. Each member of th…
s/t
Church was always a drag when I was a child. Dressed in Sunday best, I struggled to enact respect and silence throughout the entire mass. However, if church had sounded more like GA’AN, I would have been there any day of the week. Nothing in Peoria sounded like this. This is music to sacrifice virgins to. This is the soundtrack to Everyman’s epic Norse BDSM fantasy of destruction and rebirth. The scenarios conjured by these jams make the death of Sardanopolus look like kid stuff. Captcha Records…
Black wooden
6 songs, 21 minutes. In high summer of 2007, Phil Elverum, in the guise of Mount Eerie, found his way to Southern Studios. Armed with a borrowed guitar and some notebook paper, and with little time before an evening gig, Mount Eerie and Southern's engineer Harvey Birrell recorded the six songs of Black Wooden.Black Wooden is the coming together of ideas that had travelled with Mount Eerie for months and had solidified into compositions in the days and hours before the studio session. The title i…
Elogia De La Sombra
Two tracks, 31 minutes. Southern are very excited to present the latest release in our Latitudes series from Master Musicians of Bukkake. Recorded at Southern Studios by Harvey Birrell on 17 April 2010. Additional tracking and mixing at Aleph Studios in Seattle. Produced by Randall Dunn. Mastered by Mell Dettmer. Artwork by Randall Dunn and A.Turner. Elogia de la sombra is the 24th recording in the Latitudes series.Master Musicians Of Bukkake are an enchanting collective, comprising a fine pedig…
Is growing faith
“Those who expect Tim Presley’s White Fence project to be an extension of Darker My Love are in for a lysergic surprise. Sure, listen to Is Growing Faith, and you’ll hear the same ’60s love that’s in Presley’s day-job band. But replace the boogie bass with The Velvet Underground and Nico guitars, ramp up the weirdness—you’ll start to feel all the brown acid in your brain melting into your pineal gland just in time for the bad trip lyrics to kick in. That and the laughter, and the reverb, and the…
Piece Of Mind
"As K.J. Gustin wrote, Piece Of Mind is a work of 'exotic psychedelic free-jazz-meets-rock, East-meets-West, progressive and smoky moment in late Twentieth Century music history'. Add to that a spice of jazzy brassed R&B and a touch of minor-key popsike sensitivity and you get an accurate description of the sounds contained in Roger Bunn's astonishing 1969 LP, originally released in the UK on the Major Minor budget label, but issued in some European countries (Ohr label in Germany or Phil…
Fantastic Party
"Probably one of the weirdest discoveries in the field of collectable German albums in recent years, Staff Carpenborg's sole output was first brought to the spotlight by the compilers of the celebrated Kraut! Demons! Kraut! CD series in the mid-'90s. Since then, rumors and interest about the album have risen exponentially since this weird record (and we mean WEIRD) is one of the earliest known examples of Kraut rock. How such a demented collection of tunes found their way on the budget Ma…
Ufo
The first 2 Guru Guru releases, both from 1971. Musically, these 2 represent (along with their 3rd, Kanguru) the reigning moments of this acid-destroyed-jamming Krautrock outfit, and are essential artifacts of pure thunder.