New Arrivals
Gelb
Conrad Schnitzler's yellow album (aka Gelb), originally released in 1981 on Edition Block. "The chronology of Schnitzler's solo releases in the 1970s -- and even more so in the '80s -- resembles a book with seven seals. Schnitzler regularly issued his music on analogue cassette or LP, often on his own as 'private releases', without any help from a label or professional distributor. The yellow album, for example, was issued on vinyl in 1981 by René Block in Berlin on his art gallery label …
The Natural Order
Guitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques.
Though they’ve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, …
Sign of the Myth
"In 1972, Sun Ra inked a high-profile deal with ABC / Impulse, bringing his recorded work to the widest audience he’d had to date. A slew of Saturn back catalog titles and two newly-recorded albums (Astro Black, Pathways To Unknown Worlds) were issued before ABC cancelled the contract, dumped the records into the cut-out bins, and left the unreleased albums to languish. Now, over four decades later, Roaratorio is proud to offer one of the lost Impulse recordings for the first time. Sign…
Abstract Expressionism For The Ears
Debut release of the new collaborative project of outsider duo of musicians and visual artists MY CAT IS AN ALIEN and Belgian electronic composer CÉDRIC STEVENS. Over 2 hours of new music as human ears have never heard before and will never do if you miss this unique chance! In February 2014 brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio aka My Cat Is An Alien spent a residency in Brussels for a long studio session in trio with Cédric Stevens (aka Acid Kirk), who recently collaborated in Fennesz's new alb…
Ghostriders In The Sky
"In the recent past we have decently abused "songs" such as "La Bamba", "Popcorn" and "Fever" by inviting some of the most lawless folks on this planet to do whatever they want with "it", which resulted in nightmares all around, and maybe some of the worst records ever made!The idea of this lp is pretty much the same as the above mentioned results of faillure: in this case the 'orginally written by Stan Jones' cowboy knakker gets grilled, turned over, slapped around and puked on by Sjors Bral, B…
Krampen Voor Beginners
"About the only "band" or solo act (or whatever it is) that we would get on our knees for, begging for more pain de sucre or any other aural syrup! Daniel De Wereldvermaarde Botanicus aka Cassis Cornuta has been pouring a thick goo of harsh electronics, acid bleeps, analog synth afval and slap stick acoustics over our heads for over 30 years now, one would get sick of it, though right when you wanna kick him out he brings you a cactus to sit on and a hat to wear when it is raining green piss.The…
Hippocosmos - Onuitgegeven Opnames 1967-1979
"A monster in the ultra eczema archival series, we have been wanting to put this out since some years now and are really proud of this great document!Paul De Vree was a very active man, a visual artist, a publisher of various books, editor of the international visual poetry revue "de tafelronde", and a intense international communicator with other artists and poets such as Sarenco from Italy, Henri Chopin from France, etc.this lp was released at the Symposium about Paul de Vree (1909-1982) under…
The Golden Hour
Portland guitar wizard Marisa Anderson's long-awaited solo guitar record. Marisa has been a fixture on many a music scene for years and years, playing with everyone from the Evolutionary Jass Band to Tara Jane O'Neil to The Dolly Ranchers. In any context, she can't escape her rag/blues/folk roots, no matter how hard she tries. On this LP featuring only guitar, no vocals, no overdubs, we are treated to a very intimate-sounding home recording filled with delicate grace. Comparisons to John F…
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…
Chronological Compression II
Arranged sound for the purpose of preservation.The meticulous organization of memory and vibrations evoke the feelings of experience. All becomes one. Cassette is packaged in a handmade O-card with a 3 color screen print on both the inside and the outside of the heavy paper stock. An inner OBI card holds the cassette and is blind stamped on one side with a 6 color lino-cut on the other.
Primaire
Thomas Barriere's Primaire is nourished by various ethnical inspirations : Baluchistan, Mediterranean, Namibi bent into a contemporary shape of experimentation and progressive rock.For this project, Thomas uses a double-neck guitar (six and twelve strings) with two outputs independently connected to each an tube amp. Each channel has its own volume and distorsion and a switch on a guitar allows several combinations and musical effects; stereo, resonance, ping pong-effect.
Barriere uses several o…
Melodies For A Savage Fix
Steve Gunn and Mike Gangloff (Pelt) combine six-and 12-string guitars with gongs, tanpura, singing bowls, shruti box, and banjo fora gorgeous collection of improvised compositions. The two artists took it pretty far off the beaten path for Melodies for a Savage Fix, sequestering themselves for an overnight session in the remote farmhouse/recording studio of noted roots-music engineer Joseph Dejarnette (Carolina Chocolate Drops, Bruce Greene, Curtis Eller) in the countryside of Floyd Count…
Mercury
CD version of the 2009 Mississippi Records release. Highly recommended to followers of the Blackshaw/Wissem line of acoustic instrumental composition that runs through the Imprec catalog. From the original notes: "Portland guitar virtuoso Marisa Anderson is back with a new set of home-recorded instrumentals. This time around we find Marisa exploring structures more based on the Appalachian folk tradition. The bluesy cadences of Marisa's other previous release -- Golden Hour -- are still the…
Blood/Lines
Blood Lines is Emily Jane White's first album for Important since 2009's Dark Undercoat. Featuring vocal contributions from Marissa Nadler. This American version of the CD contains two bonus tracks not available elsewhere.
After releasing three albums in three years, Emily Jane White wrote over 100 sketches between January 2011 and October 2012. Her new album "Blood / Lines" is a selected compilation of these songs. Recorded in a secluded studio in Sonoma County, California, the quiet envi…
Liebestod
Liebestod, by Polish composer Stefan Wesolowski, consists of repetitive compositions written for piano, brass instruments, strings, and electronics. The title itself is derived from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, which says a lot about Wesolowski's primary inspirations. Liebestod shows a tremendous amount of respect for classical music but Wesolowski is far from making literal references to it. He shows his own unique musical language; rough and radical at some points, yet full of intense nos…
I Line My Days Along Your Weight
Brooklyn duo Mark Rogers and Mary Byrne recorded their debut, I Line My Days Along Your Weight, as a true duet: facing each other inches apart, intent upon listening. They wove together archaic instruments -- baritone acoustic, tricone resonator, golden-era flattop, space-age lap steel, upright piano, and hundred-year-old mandolin -- into a new and vibrant third voice. All the songs were recorded live to two-inch analog tape, the studio equivalent of tightrope-walking without a net. Mar…
Tryptichs: Variations On A Melody
Aidan Baker's (Nadja) Triptychs takes inspiration from Erik Satie's compositions Gymnopédies and his notion of "furniture music," which many consider a precursor to contemporary ambient music. Each "triptych" is based around a simple, slow-moving melodic line, which repeats three times with the addition of a harmonic line upon each repetition, culminating in a three part harmony. Various musicians from different ensembles and musical backgrounds -- Peter Broderick, Julia Kent, Leah Buckaref…
Heat Source
Ashley Paul's Heat Source was recorded during a challenging year of transience between New York and London. During this year of impermanence Paul performed regularly and the effects of frequent performance and traveling can be heard in the intentionally pared back emptiness of Heat Source. making it an emotionally challenging and fascinatingly personal listening experience.Heat Source finds Ashley Paul working using her brilliant ears to find a zen like balance between her voice and a sp…
Fingers
Alberto Boccardi's minimalist orchestral piece, titled Fingers, is an electro-acoustic journey that has been innerved by the contribution of multiple instrumentalists. The result is a contrast between repetitive elements and hypnotic loops with electronic and acoustic layers moving to the surface before disappearing into the variable and floating element known as time. The material has been recorded between Kazakhstan, Italy and Iceland, over a period of 8 months: from the field recording …
Looking Ahead!
"One of Cecil Taylor's earliest recordings, Looking Ahead! (1959) does just that while still keeping several toes in the tradition. It's an amazing document of a talent fairly straining at the reins, a meteor about to burst onto the jazz scene and render it forever changed. Looking Ahead! is a vital recording from the nascence of one of the towering geniuses of modern music and belongs in any jazz fan's collection." --AllMusic