★Drag City

"The tone of the guitar and Sir Richard's gentle, loving touch with it hold forth from the first moment of Tangier Sessions, sitting clear and true in the home-recorded night air above the city. The album sequence is the precise order of the songs as they were conceived and recorded. Rick's all over the neck in the early going while sorting through the dynamics of the instrument -- in fact, guitarophiles, the first couple of songs feature Sir Richard Bishop playing without a plectrum for the fir…

" The only constant in Ben Chasny's longstanding Six Organs of Admittance project is change. Since 1998 he has engaged in composing, playing, improvising, and recording based on whatever aesthetic or philosophic principles appeal to him regardless of genre. More often than not, his records have existed between rather than within them, though there has always been a thread that marked a unique, if mercurial, signifier woven throughout to connect them. Hexadic is a different animal. Chasny spent s…

"Yes, Simple Songs is an album of songs sung by Jim O'Rourke all the way through! It has been ten years since Jim's voice rang out from a new album. Ah, when James Michael was just a wee lad, he sang all the time, with a lovely little lilt to his voice, like all the children do. But the songs he sang gave his parents no end of consternation: 'Great Decei-verrr! Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines... of the Vir-gin Mar-eeee!' Aye, if only we'd-a been there -- little Jimmy's career would have started…

‘Black Snakes’ was issued in 1983 as a co-release by Switzerland’s Rec Rec and Germany’s Pure Freunde label. With a quartet featuring synthist Allen Ravenstine doubling on soprano sax, this was a smaller group than had appeared on either of the Crayola’s two previous releases, ‘Soldier-Talk’ and ‘Kangaroo?’. Mayo Thompson’s guitar in particular shines in the space allowed by this configuration.

Amor and Language was one of three Red Krayola releases on Drag City in 1995 (two were from the vault: Coconut Hotel and Kangaroo?). After returning to America in 1994 and producing the first Red Krayola record since Malefactor (it was appropriately self-titled), Thompson was producing new Red Krayola material at a prolific rate -- Hazel was released the following year. When Amor and Language was in production, the pressing plant claimed to hear imperfections in the CD master.

In 1989, ‘Malefactor, Ade’ was issued on the UK’s Glass Records, which had arranged several years earlier for the first actual release of Mayo Thompson’s 1970 solo LP, ‘Corky’s Debt To His Father’. This was the first Red Crayola record release in five years. The fearlessness with which genres are converted can be disarming, but stick to it - you’ll find listening an utter triumph. ‘Malefactor, Ade’ was reissued on CD by Drag City in the year 2000. Now it's on lovely vinyl.

Introducing a new approach to playing and composing music - The Hexadic System doesn’t require the use of a computer or an internet hookup. All that the interested player will need is a copy of ‘The Hexadic System’ book and a regular deck of playing cards. The struggle of habit is a problem in all walks of life, particularly creative work. We don’t always have an instinct to question the systems we are taught but consider the old adage about history being written by the winners. What does that i…

* 2021 Stock * Drag City presents Songs of Love and Horror by Will Oldham. Songwriter Oldham, guitar and voice operating in quiet tension and ultimate accord, revisits songs that made him (that he made) and others in new versions that quiver like fresh young things in the air of today.

* 2021 Stock * Drag City presents Car and Freezer by Eiko Ishibashi. J-Pop, if the J stands for Jazz. Eiko loosens the instrumental reins and cracks her songwriter's code, writing in two languages to achieve the proper remove from her subjects. You can only regain life when you accept death, and throw yourself into the sea!

Bitchin Bajas' second, self-titled album finds the experimental trio blending musicial personalities of the past to create their own sonic identity. There are no forced attempts at edginess, even though their simple techniques keep the music loose and live-sounding.

*2025 stock* Aerial M as in mysterious. A group of sounds recorded in Louisville KY. Smooth blue instrumental guitar music. In the musical alphabet, what comes after rock?

The voices are two, spinning harmonies both heavenly and salt-pickled. Picking their direction and floating along on a pair of acoustics, New Bums are the sound of old drunk America, dancing out of the shadows, coming forth again to stand in the light, in the hopes of repopulating those sad old single-occupancy hotels before they're all torn down. New Bums is the grudging match-up of Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets on Fire, 200 Years, Rangda and…

Reissue of this 1981 album. Dating back to '81 and the apex of the Brian Eno / Berlin schools' influence over a myriad of American followers, Young created eight EMS/Rhodes pieces solo, subtly weaving in variable speed Revox manipulation of traditional Rock instrumentation with the lightest of touches. "Matthew Young's genre-bending, acclaimed 1986 release Traveler's Advisory reappeared as a reissue on Drag City/Yoga in 2010 and quickly sold out. We now return to Young's first effort, Recurr…

"Shade Themes from Kairos is a new iteration of the dream for all the guitar freaks out there, bringing together a couple of singular players together, just to see what happens. In this case, the players were old friends and collaborators Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley, playing in a space engineered and co-populated by Randall Dunn. From the top, Shade Themes from Kairos is resonant as a collective inquest in sound, with all the players deeply immersed within the panorama they are creating. …

Finally, after 15 years, Big Mick Turner has turned in the big rock record we always knew he had in him. Yeah, Don't Tell the Driver is a different kind of record from all the Mick Turner records -- not just his own, but the ones he's done with Dirty Three, Bonny Billy, Cat Power, Fungus Brains, and Venom P. Stinger put together. So, what's so different about Don't Tell the Driver anyway? Well, Mick grew a mustache for this one. That must mean it's his Sgt. Pepper; a consolidation and developmen…

Drag City presents the first domestic release of any kind from the Japanese singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi -- and the first vinyl release of any kind on this already accomplished performer. And what a release! Imitation of Life isn't just another pop record from another part of the world -- it's got a sci-fi theme and is produced by none other than Drag City's old friend, Jim O'Rourke. With an understanding of band dynamics developed through her many live shows and recordings, Eiko's delicate,…

Stop right there, hands in the air! If you want to know what Magik Markers think is good for you, you'll Surrender to the Fantasy. For this long-desired alpus, they've been working in threes and stuff. Triangles. The hermetic trifecta of knowledge, Christ and the two thieves, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and the original tagline of the Markers' symbol: '3 down, no to go.' Meaning, these three get it and literally no one else needs to, 'cept the record-buying public, tra la la, ha ha ha ha. STTF (nev…

Gastr Del Sol emerged from the remains of Bastro in 1992 with the brooding, mostly drumless album, ‘The Serpentine Similar’. This represented an unlikely evolution from the fury of Bastro, but evolution was only getting started - and ‘unlikely’ was one of the ongoing principles in Gastr Del Sol’s approach. Before the sessions for the second album, Bundy Brown left the group and David Grubbs asked Jim O’Rourke to come play. 1994’s ‘Crookt, Crackt Or Fly’ tangled the clean lines of the original ba…

"The Venom P. Stinger retrospective is on. One of the roughest groups of the '80s is back in print on vinyl and for the first time ever on CD, and still nice and hard and rough and wild on either format. File under: punk rock/noise rock/free-of-constraints rock. If you think of Venom P. Stinger simply as the proving ground for 2/3rds of the Dirty Three first, then you're seriously missing it, and fuck you. It was the mid-'80s and everything was going fine. The music underground was its own world…

"The Venom P. Stinger retrospective is on. One of the roughest groups of the '80s is back in print on vinyl and for the first time ever on CD, and still nice and hard and rough and wild on either format. File under: punk rock/noise rock/free-of-constraints rock. If you think of Venom P. Stinger simply as the proving ground for 2/3rds of the Dirty Three first, then you're seriously missing it, and fuck you."

Four song EP from Venom P. Originally released in 1991 by Au Go Go. A mini-dose from the What's Yours is Mine era, restored to it's full fury on 12" vinyl for the first time.

Al Cisneros is no stranger to the deep meditations of a minimalist, sub-sonic song. We've all been totally faced by the ritual low-end thunder his band, OM, bestow as gospel both live and on record on the regular, a sound source which can hardly be described as minimal yet never needs more than a smattering of accompaniment beyond its usual, steady drumming. Perhaps a bit of guitar here, some keys there, or maybe just some extra tambo to provide color, but first and foremost, you get full…

Andy Kaufman changed the worlds of comedy and performance in the 1970s, showing fans and friends alike a determination to follow put-ons into territory no one had ever even considered 'comic' before. His fervor was so intense that when he passed away suddenly in 1984, it seemed as if the ultimate disappearing act had been staged; one that some people believe is still ongoing, with the reveal soon to come. This makes him the quintessential entertainer of our generation, a man ahead of his …

Bitchin Bajas are back... Bitchitronics, is ready with the quickness we expect from the Chi-based duo -- which is funny, since their area of expertise and mastery is in the area of synthetic ephemeral sonic languid-ity known more instinctively, inclusively (and let's face it, irresponsibly) as drone music. They make slow music at a fast pace is what we're saying. Now these guys are paying attention to this on the micro-level because that's where their fun is, so how will you react when we…

"Awareness of The Source Family, YaHoWa13 and Father Yod has been growing since their early 1970s heyday. A spiritual commune dedicated to a wide-ranging blend of eastern and western mysticism, The Source Family were very much a part of the infamous era of tuning in, turning on and dropping out in the late 1960s and '70s. The Source Family's celebrity-hang-out vegetarian restaurant, rock band, utopian commune, and beautiful women made them darlings of Hollywood's Sunset Strip; but their outsider…

First authorized CD reissue of this album, originally issued by Higher Key in 1974. "The legendary and ultra-rare Father Yod And The Spirit Of '76's second album fully remastered and presented in the original full color sleeve. Includes new notes from various family members especially written for this release. The extremely positive & instructive nature of the Contraction period lyrically is amazing. Father is like a marine taking a beachhead in WWII and we were the beachhead. Our previous 'Pavl…

"For the soundtrack to The Source Family documentary, a selection of material was chosen to include the widest variety of Source Family members, showcasing the talents of many not previously showcased. And so, in addition to Ya Ho Wa 13 members Djin, Sunflower and Octavius, we also hear the contributions of Cinderella, Ahom, Aquariana, Anastasia, Rhythm, Horn, Electron, Zoroaster, Vibration, Pythias, Damian, and Zinaru -- as well as the omnipotent Yahowa himself, Father Yod. Their music ranges f…

The 'Prince' & the Marquis (Mick Turner of DIRTY THREE) unfurled the scroll together, with Tren Brother Jim White (DIRTY THREE, CAT POWER) rumbling & banging things & playing drums, & the Bonny gang crew of Van Campbell, Emmett Kelly & Angel Olsen added invaluable dimensions to the moments herein.

Drag City drops the sixth and latest David Grubbs pop album, The Plain Where the Palace Stood, which finds David once again twining together the diverse strands of his vast interests. Working with Andrea Belfi (drums, electronics) and Stefano Pilia (guitar) - plus Attila Faravelli on electronics - creates a sympathetic groupthink that David expects more and greater from in the years to come. The welcome return of his distinctive overdriven guitar tone is a highlight of the record. And C. S…

! NOTE NEW PRICING! Alasdair Roberts is bidding farewell to his nom-de-musique, APPENDIX OUT. What once was Appendix Out is now & forever Alasdair Roberts. The broadest work in young Roberts' canon so far. Heavily steeped in the lineage of European folk, the words & music of "Farewell Sorrow" evoke a spirit of youth, an air of reckless abandon, a passion not meant to stay in this world.

"'It's about a race war and it happens in Florida. And the Jewish people sit in trees. And the black people are run by M.C. Hammer. And the whites are run by Vanilla Ice. I wanted to write the Great American Choose Your Own Adventure novel.' -- Harmony Korine, addressing a national television audience, 10/17/97. Back in print from Harmony Korine, A Crack-Up at the Race Riots was originally published by Mainstreet/Doubleday in 1998. Korine's first novel presents fragments of a portrait in …

Double LP edition. Cosmic, heavy amplified rock drops and ripples, auras radiate and expand into cloud forms, through which lightning bolts. Tides rise, the moons wax upon a place somewhere between Link Wray, Hex-era Earth and early Tangerine Dream. The echoes return, leaving a trail that blows and drifts, creating a separate piece. Ensemble Pearl are Atsuo, William Herzog, Michio Kurihara and Stephen O'Malley. Their debut album also features the elemental forces of Eyvind Kang and Timba H…

Alasdair Roberts continues to do his bit for Scottish folk heritage on a fyne suite of augmented standards and new songs accompanied by his pals. Alasdair brings his undoubted charm, skill and imagination to ten songs ranging from celebratory elegies ('The Merry Wake') to doom-laden laments ('The Laverock in the Blackthorn'), distilling the passion, pain and yearning of hundreds of years of tradition with a timeless voice, perfectly summed up by fellow countryman and poet Robin Robertson: …

No one ever accused the Trux of being one-sided. You're living in the fabled land of knobs. UnEarth'd: half-formed diamonds swimming in sludgebuckets from the time of the Ultra-Dinosaurs! Nugs of 90s Ur-glam; in the light of this new century, they opalesce an eerie gleam. Trux forever, haters whatever! One sided LP.

At the invitation of KPM Music, guitarist Ben Chasny (aka Six Organs of Admittance) whips up an emotive suite of psych-folk library music on "The Intimate Landscape". A sharp and lushly cinematic set of acoustic vignettes for fans of John Fahey, Robbie Basho et al.  Since the late 1990s, Chasny's name has been synonymous with the resurgence of American folk wyrdness that saw a grip of artists across the continent pick up where John Fahey and his contemporary accolytes left off. "The Intimate Lan…

Something happened in Boston in the late 70s that nobody can explain. No, we're not talking about The Soiling of Old Glory. It's this Mad Music record, truly beautiful mutant strain of hi-fi/ambient/post-psych minimalism packaged exquisitely and randomly by parties unknown but well endowed with ideas for freaky juxapositions. Over 30 years later, it's still mysterious - but since you missed your first chance, here's your shot at one of the music world's rare records. Get even - get Mad Music! "L…

Six Organs goes stomping wordlessly into the next phase with heavy gravity boots on. This is full-bore, petals-to-the-metals Six Organs, featuring Ben Chasny backed with his erstwhile bandmates known as Comets on Fire

Six Organs mainstay Ben Chasny has become one of the high shamen of the US psychedelic underground, disseminating his hairy vision between at least three bands and a couple of genres over the past decade. His umpteenth album begins with a sonic white-out called Waswasa – a thrilling myocardial infarction of guitar more in keeping with another of his bands, Comets on Fire, who are, in fact, on board here. How Chasny tells his sprawling, incandescent guitar solos apart, we may never know; this is …

Well further gifts abound, as this 1976 concert on Galactic Zoo Disk/Drag City will attest. Clearly, the explorations of Sandy Bull were not lost on the far-out audiences of the Bay Area, and though the heady days of the '60s have gone, the Berkeley heads are still in full force, hanging on Sandy's every note with a clearly expressed delight as they wait for headliner Leo Kottke to take the stage. Even though there were no further albums after 1972's Demolition Derby (a candidate for unhi…

Don't lose control — dig Blues Control! Following a circular path in order to access the unknown, Russ and Lea nab chaos in a plastic cup and crush rock into diamonds, or something that looks like them anyway. Valley ho! This new record is like drugs for your ears.