New Arrivals
Skylogue
Following the ambitious all-analog explorations of “Imperfect Space Journeys” (1988) and “Live Electronic Music” (1989), Jeff Carney was determined to push further into new sonic territories and to continue to strive for even more originality while not yielding to the prevailing trend towards digital synthesis. And so, in 1990, Jeff Carney recorded some of his most ambitious analog electronic music. Those recordings were once thought to be lost — rumors about their existence made the rounds — bu…
Io Sto Con Gli Ippopotami
"It was 1979, and I was barely 5 years old. Some memories are impressed on my mind with a sort of solarized texture, like in the photographs of the period, full of icons and myths. My father Franco and mother Luciana were like crazy pinballs, touring the world: America, France and Germany were the sides against which they continuously bumped and Italy's capital the hole to which they always returned. I was really young, but I remember very well the period in which my father worked on this little…
Medietas
Brian Marsella is one of the most accomplished keyboard virtuosos in the Downtown scene. A vital member of projects by Cyro Baptista and John Zorn for decades, his fluid keyboard stylings and intense energy is legendary—and Medietas is his masterwork: a sprawling three-hour long work that embraces jazz, rock, funk, classical, world music, exotica, folk, soundtrack moods, and so much more. Segueing from song to song seamlessly, this is a work that puts you into an ecstatic dream world—a psychedel…
Samsara
Thirty-three years after their first meeting, Samsara is a spectacular reunion of three of the world's most extreme musical explorers—John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris.
New Masada Quartet, Volume Three
This long-awaited third volume featuring John Zorn's newest and most exciting ensemble, New Masada Quartet was recorded live at Roulette, one of Zorn's home bases in NYC. White hot and razor sharp, an intense electricity is in the air from the very first note. Resplendent with burning solos, telepathic group interaction, heartfelt lyricism, hypnotic grooves, and of course Zorn’s ever-surprising conducting techniques, this is truly one of the most transcendent sets they have yet performed. With a…
A Journal of Militant Sound Inquiry – Vol. 1 – Naming the Moment
For their thirtieth anniversary, Ultra-Red, the international sound art and popular education collective is releasing the first volume of Ulta-red: A Journal of Militant Sound Inquiry, investigating movement-based listening practices that take the forms of militant inquiry and political education. In the words of Ultra-red, "No movement without listening!"The initial issue of Ulta-red examines "conjunctural analysis," or "naming the moment," as a practice of collective inquiry. The issue begins …
Straight up, Without Wings, The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee (Book)
In Straight Up, Without Wings, Joe McPhee surveys sixty years in creative music. Starting with his trumpeter-father's influence and formative years in the U.S. Army, McPhee recounts experiences as a Black-hippy-cum-budding-musician based in upstate New York, perched at an ideal distance from Manhattan’s free jazz demimonde of the 1960s and its loft scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, revealing never-told tales and reveling in the joys of noise, McPhee puts the influence of – and encounter…
Maggot Brain #18 (Sep/Oct/Nov 2024)
"On the cover: Grace Jones by Tamara Palmer: Palmer delves into the entire history of this remarkable artist, who will naturally deliver us a stunning cover image. Jones is even more of a one-of-a-kind musician and persona than most of us realize, so we're extra excited to feature her on the cover of this issue. Deep Archival Dives With Living Luminaries -- PULP: Peeling back the onion of time, we are graced with a fine selection of ephemera and rare images from the forthcoming Hat + Beard book …
Looking For My Value: Prologue To A Blade (Signed Copies)
Alabaster DePlume’s debut poetry collection, Looking For My Value: Prologue To A Blade, offers readers a deeper exploration of the themes of dignity, sovereignty, and the work of healing that are present in his music. Arriving as a limited gatefold custom A6 pocket book featuring cover art by British illustrator Ian Wright and design by London-based Jamie Coull, this collection features raw and vulnerable prose that reflects DePlume’s journey toward finding and taking responsibility for his own …
Snowbug
After the high times and critical-mass arrangements of the previous two records, Snowbug exuded a breezy, spare, morning-after vibe. Edified by all manner of world-folk, classic Brazilian pop and the first volumes of the Ethiopiques comp, the Llamas recorded in London with Fulton Dingley and in Chicago with Bundy Brown and Jim O’Rourke engineering at Electrical Audio and John McEntire mixing at Soma. Snowbug is an understated, underrated gem.
Lollo Rosso
The remix album, with marvelously creative EDM remakes from some of the best powerbook players of the day: Mouse On Mars, Jim O’Rourke, Kid Loco, Schneider TM, Stock, Hausen & Walkman, Cornelius and The High Llamas themselves. In addition to showcasing this emerging new generation of digital masters, the treatments here also highlight an oft-undersung aspect of The High Llamas’ sound – the influence of Krautrock.
Cold And Bouncy
Having passed – at least figuratively – through hundreds of years over the course of their previous two albums, the good ship High Llamas docked, fully loaded, into a congenial present moment for once in its life. O’Hagan’s continued work with Tim Gane and Stereolab caused a healthy dose of electronica to spike the Llamas’ already heady brew, creating an apex of late 90s-style neo-exotica. RIYL: Mouse On Mars, Oval, Grand Royal, Dots and Loops.
Hawaii
The High Llamas discover America – yes, it had been done before, but not via their envisaged pilgrims’ passage. Energized by the breakthroughs of Gideon Gaye, they went all-in, producing a wide-screen epic further exploring their unique agenda. The reference points multiplied, stretching through realms of classic pop and jazz, soundtrack music, exotica and neo-Americana, while charting a journey through musical landscapes of abiding lightness.
Gideon Gaye
This brave foray into conceptual art music produced a jaw-dropping reset on the 20th century pop perspective. The High Llamas engaged songwriting and production with an eye toward filmmaking. Digging through ephemera of choice vintages with post-modern zest, they struck a rich vein they could call their own – a kind of gothic Americana, formal aspects pushed to extremes. The spirit of discovery here can be vibrantly felt over 30 years later.
Santa Barbara
*1st ever LP pressing!* For The Llamas’ 1992 debut, Sean O’Hagan, working the sextant to navigate a post-Microdisney course in the musical world, posted them up as a guitar pop band (RIYL: NRBQ, Big Star, Steely Dan), with nine exquisitely crafted examples of the oft out-of-step sound. Had there been no more after this, Santa Barbara would still be sought-after buried treasure by the perennial waves of voyagers seeking these sweet, jangling spices to this very day.
I-A-K Interplanetary-Abyssal-Kite
** Collector's edition of 35 copies, each accompanied by a foulard-kite designed by the artist **
Xing presents the new LP I-A-K Interplanetary-Abyssal-Kite by Francesco Cavaliere, fifteenth release of XONG collection - artist records. I-A-K Interplanetary-Abyssal-Kite is a composition by Francesco Cavaliere, part of his Abyssal Creatures project based on an ensemble of concave blown glass sculptures that recall transparent creatures far from human representation: beings that inhale sound and …
Popoli di Vetro (Book)
112 pages. Italian language.Popoli di Vetro (Peoples of Glass) is a new publication by Francesco Cavaliere published by Viaindustriae and produced by Xing, in the frame of the project Abyssal Creatures supported by Italian Council.Popoli di Vetro is an artist’s book in the form of a fantastical novella. Here, the writing generates an imaginative world in which glass is the pervasive element the protagonist must deal with.
Tan – also known as Metastasio – moves freely in an abyssal setting, searc…
Sleepy Jazz For Tired Cats
300 copies only! First-ever vinyl pressing of the band's inaugural EP, 'Sleepy Jazz for Tired Cats', featuring new artwork and mastering by Marta Salogni.
Established in 2013 by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen, the duo operated until 2020 as a creative laboratory for the London-based musicians to explore beyond their traditional musical endeavours. They sought to deconstruct their usual sonic frameworks, venturing into a novel and unfamiliar auditory landscape. Their work seamlessly integrat…
Mental Detentions
Robert Rental takes up residence with Dark Entries again for a reissue of Mental Detentions. Robert Rental was a Scottish pioneer of DIY electronic music. Along with his illustrious collaborators like Thomas Leer and Daniel Miller, Rental helped shape the countercultural sound of the UK with his timely melding of Krautrock, dub, and punk. Originally from Port Glasgow, he moved to the south of England with Thomas Leer in the late 1970s, and became involved with the local music scene. Robert Renta…
Shri Camel
Terry Riley’s Shri Camel is a meditative masterwork blending the feeling of eastern music with repetitive electronic patterns, obtained using a modified Yamaha YC-45D combo organ tuned in just intonation and augmented with digital delay. In C and Rainbow in Curved Air get all the ink (inc?), but its own somewhat subtle way, 1980’s Shri Camel, the last of the three brilliant albums Terry Riley recorded for CBS, is every bit as groundbreaking as its hallowed predecessors. Not content to rest on hi…