New Arrivals
Five Wooden Frames
*2023 stock* Five Wooden Frames marks the return of Italian artist Giueppe Ielasi to 12k after his captivating polyrhythmic explorations on Aix (12k1051, 2009). He completely abandoned the guitar in the mid 2000’s to explore minimal electro-acoustic abstractions (see his releases on his own Senufo Editions) or rhythmic and groove-based music (see his Stunt series, the Inventing Masks project, and Aix and Tools on 12k).
Once again, however, the guitar has become his main focus, both as an instrum…
Salt Og Vind
*2023 stock* With Salt og Vind Pjusk retums from an eight year album hiatus. This release is also the first seeing Pjusk as a solo project consisting of Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik. Salt og Vind (Salt and Wind) is, not surprisingly, about the forces of nature and the contrast between the volatile and the existing. In a wider sense it is about man’s inability or struggle to grasp the eternal and instead seek temporary fulfillment.
Salt og Vind is Pjusk’s 4th album for 12k and comes in with an urgency a…
Skal_Ghost
*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* 12k continues in its tradition of collaborative releases presenting a first-time pairing between German artist Arovane and 12k’s Taylor Deupree. Having become aquainted through their shared love of music technology, Uwe Zahn (Arovane) and Taylor Deupree only found it natural to work on a project together based around one of their favorite synthesizers. As Zahn recalls: “After a long email conversation, Taylor and I came up with the idea of recording an albu…
Stella Epoca
*2023 stock* Stella Epoca references star time and moving into a new age. The ideas of sky maps and planetary frequencies were the inspirations behind Sawako’s dreamlike sounds. She references orbits, sound waves and light that shower the earth and all living things in ephemeral encounters of sparkle and resonance. Sawako’s sound has always been fragile and amorphous. Watercolor paint sublimating and fading. Here she collapses eight years of memories and records into layers of sounds intended to…
Tail Of Diffraction
*2023 stock* Minamo returns to 12k following 2020’s Superstition where they paried up with singer/songwriter Moskitoo. On Tail of Diffraction the duo joins long-time friend Asuna. A new name to 12k but not to the world of ambient and experimental music where Asuna’s 100 Keyboards has toured stages around the world. Minamo and Asuna have shared the stage many times in concerts and tours over years, however, this is their first recording together. These artists are well known for their mix of elec…
The Prospect
*2023 stock* Giuseppe Ielasi is back following his 2020 release Five Wooden Frames. There he returned to the guitar exploring shifting and modulating loops and the interplay of tuning and drifting to create five stark yet ethereal pieces. On The Prospect, Ielasi sticks to solo guitar but this time in a much more pure form. Each of the two pieces consists of parallel electric guitar lines recorded simply through a tube amplifier free of studio tricks or heavy editing. Like much music written over…
All Bad Boy & All Good Girl - Manchester Street Soul Soundtapes, 1988-1996
*200 copies limited edition* A mixtape pulling together extracts from soundsystem tapes out of Manchester's storied street soul scene of the late 1980s to mid-1990s. Featuring DIY cassette recordings of sounds such as Broadway, Stereo Dan & Soul Control playing live at dances and blues parties in south & central Manchester from 1988 through to 1996.
River of Revenge: Brazilian Country Music 1929-1961, Vol. 2
The second volume in Death Is Not The End's survey of a form of Brazilian country music known as música caipira ("hillbilly music") - a stripped-back forerunner to música sertaneja, the Brazilian equivalent to US country & western which in it's contemporary form has come to dominate the domestic music industry in recent decades. This collection covers some of the earliest recordings made by the pioneering folklorist Cornélio Pires at the end of the 1920s, through to records from the 30s, 40s & 5…
Hide Behind The Silence EP 1
Vladislav Delay presents Hide Behind The Silence EP 1 - 5, a series of five 10" releases coming throughout 2023. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton". Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops b…
No Mathematics
Hailing from Geel, Jef Mertens has been researching, documenting and subtly exploring the experimental music scene in Belgium and beyond for the better part of two decades. As a filmmaker, he’s dug deep in the realm of Flemish primitive fringe (Dronevolk) and chronicled the makings of giants like Sonic Youth and Borbetomagus. After running the now-defunct free tape label Dadaist Tapes, Mertens comes with a release of his own: No Mathematics, the first record collab between KRAAK and Feeding Tube…
Eidetic
American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn…
El Pasaje Del Aumento
*300 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* "El Pasaje del Aumento" is a collection of syncopated rhythms for hypnotic slow dance. An accident of oppressive atmospheres with a humorous sense of rhythm and composition, which moves between downtempo, African rhythms and dub. With a certain oriental softness, it introduces you into a state of enchantment, spell... a hypnotic and mysterious restlessness, almost uncomfortable. Sentuhlà squeezes his Yamaha Rm1x on this second album, creating …
The Box
*In process of stocking* "The Box" is a collection of the earliest and perhaps most cherished recordings by UK producer Dennis Huddleston, better known as 36. Written between 2005 and 2012, it compiles the albums Hypersona (2009), Hollow (2010) and Lithea (2012) into a 6LP boxset, alongside a bonus LP of exclusive and unreleased tracks titled Orphans. Originally written as a triptych, The Box showcases an incredibly eclectic, deeply emotional range of tracks, bridged together by that optimistic …
Hidden Parasites
*100 copies limted edition. In process of stocking* "Hidden Parasites is a collection of electronic pieces pretty minimal and simple for those I tried to conserve the intensity of harsh and abrasive noise and the subtlety and narrativity of electroacoustic compositions. Hidden Parasites is an immersive work into subtle high feedbacks, destroyed samples, bass drones and weird raw recordings. It’s not meditative, but all the tracks explore modulation and change into a range of long durations where…
Stakes
Philipp Matalla lives and works in the triangle of Halle, Leipzig and Berlin, in Germany. He has previously released music on labels such as Optimo Music, KANN and Kashual Plastik. His new album on Meakusma delves into some of the themes that have so far defined his work, this time increasing the tension between moments of musical harshness and flickers of introspection, ease and downright beauty. Matalla aims not for perfection, instead deploying the listener's sense of imagination. His work to…
I Don't Want To Be An Individual All On My Own
*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* I Don't Want To Be An Individual All On My Own relates the powerful yet incomplete impressions of a childhood memory. The story takes us to a garden party where Genevieve, turning 8, and her mother, are celebrating their birthdays with friends and family. Various characters will come into focus during the evening as young Genevieve moves between her childlike world and that of the adults. We discover the people around her as she experiences them in a new ligh…
Unprotected Sleep
Tip! *In process of stocking* Christine Abdnelnour and Andy Moor have explored the notion of hypnagogia or ‘Unprotected Sleep’ to drive their process for this improvised album, delving in their own experience and memories. Unprotected sleep is commonly defined as an altered state of consciousness that occurs beyond the proper or intended time of waking up, not sleeping in your own safe bed, or even sleeping without a blanket. Being slightly out of phase, one is vulnerable, fragile, but the mind …
Rocco e Rollo
*In process of stocking. 2023 stock* "Gottschalk’s works and if you are looking for new-to-you works, this album would be a welcome one to the audio library. The title work of the album starts an eerie flicker of sound from hollow trills that swell to the orchestra’s entrance with a similar character and trills echoed. As the first movement continues, Parisi’s aptitude for both conventional and contemporary techniques are apparent with technical passages sounding effortless as he spans the range…
From Degeneration To Degeneration
12 cassettes housed in black wooden 12" x 12" box set + Book + Poster Marco Corbelli’s artistic journey began in the early 90’s. Under the pseudonym of Marco Rotula, he started to release a series of fanzines in a very limited edition. The first was “The pleasure agony”, followed by “Sick” and “Murders”. Desires, pleasures, hate, and disgust are laid out and displayed for us to inspect. The aesthetics of these first fanzines were very sophisticated and the content deals with topics that will fo…
Un Phénomène De Reliance
*300 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* After a few years, Maninkari returns to Zoharum with a new, already third studio album for the label. "Un Phenomene De Reliance" is a kind of concept album, it's something like a suite, consisting of four separate compositions. There are no spectacular twists or unexpected musical revolts here. The duo of Charlot brothers continues to follow the path chosen by them, masterfully developing the formula they developed years ago. We are dealing he…