New Arrivals
Bounced Check
Wally Shoup, Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty make up this screamin' free punk jazz liquid solid noize trio captured LIVE 'in your face' style in Seattle, WA. Totally improvised double sax and drum explosions that break down into duos and solos and re-ignite as trio howlin' paint splattered madness gone butt-naked wilder. Recorded at an art gallery with artwork melting off the walls and frightened fans nervously mopping their furrowed blood-stained brows (they were especially afraid one or both o…
Plague Of Fantasies
Brand new solo material from Aidan Baker, one of the most prolific musicians recording at the moment, Aidan creates such a wide array of musical sound its hard to keep track, not only does he perform as part of the fantastic Nadja, as well as in projects such as ARC, and collaborating with other luminaries such as Tim Hecker, he releases a whole host of solo material. This new solo record is really something, pulling together all the genres he works in, fusing heavy drones, with broken drums bea…
Double Demon
What mischief can be made with just cornet, vibraphone and drums. Rob Mazurek has scaled back considerably since Stars Have Shapes, the 2010 record from his Exploding Star Orchestra. His new project, the curiously named Starlicker, is a mere trio, with Chicago vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and Tortoise drummer John Herndon. But this group emits more sound and energy than do some sextets. Double Demon is Out to Lunch! for a new generation. Powered by Herndon’s hyperkinet…
Primitive North
A mighty split release from two of today's most progressive underground metal bands, bringing together the formidable post-doom of Brooklyn's A Storm Of Light and the luminous sludge of Canadian duo Nadja. The real question here is whether or not the music can come anywhere close to the awesome sleeve art, and while that may not even be possible, the twenty-two minute epic from Nadja has a decent go at it. While A Storm Of Light throw everything at their plodding, Wagnerian outings 'Bro…
Alignment
Incredible, seemingly out-of-left-field debut release from tashi wada, a west coast composer perhaps best known as the accomplice / son of yoshi wada ...a gorgeously executed display of upper-harmonic-series movement & the psycho-acoustic properties of carefully controlled tuning systems (a medal has assuredly already gone out to violinist marc sabat for his performance here ; channeling the painstaking adherence to micro-tonal accuracy of phill niblock’s music ... only in a real-time, live-play…
Alpi
oreledigneur is the duo of giuseppe ielasi and renato rinaldi and “alpi” is the new film by photographer and filmmaker Armin Linke. rinaldi followed linke’s shooting sessions between 2004 and 2009, recording on-location sound for the film, which was then edited and sound-designed by oreledigneur. the whole sound archive was used by ielasi to edit and compose (without any additional processing) those two sides, which bear very little resemblance to the final soundtrack of the film. the lp consist…
Split
Much time has passed since the release of "Can't Illumination" in 2003, and Anna Zaradny and Burkhard Stangl meet yet again, now on each side of a vinyl record on the Bocian Records label. There were, however, many various encounters in various circumstances in between those two official events, and one of them is shown in the photos on the cover. This is hardly a chance meeting as the two compositions have more in common than it might seem at first sight. Take the misguiding beginnings, f…
Fugue
I began writing about this Tape & Bill Wells 'Fugue' record yesterday but I gave up as the words just were not coming to me. I guess that's probably a good sign though as I was just kind of getting into the melancholy zone of the record, which certainly is a thing of beauty. Wells' guitar playing is delicate and magical. The Tape guys really give him space to do his thing adding wonderful little details and twinkles into the mix. This quite simply is the prettiest, most charming record I …
Loving Machinery EP
Formed in 1981, Central Unit were among the first in Italy to manipulate synths, drum machines and other electronic devices (as far as we know they were one of the few bands in the world able to program a Korg-KR55 drum machine) to create atmospheric soundscapes combined with mechanical basslines and relentless bass guitar meanderings, with slothy saxophone murmurs peeping out here and there
No Pressure
Pete um, a breeder of horses and creator of quirky tape loops, had already created a proud number of tracks scattered over a series of cd-rs, a 7" and a split lp, when he happened to run into the talent scouts of gagarin records in a small pub of his hometown cambridge. the fateful encounter set the clock ticking for a release but it would be five years before the essence of um's vast output was distilled into a flock of 18 tracks that now dazzle silvery on this very record. meanwhile, his music…
Foetus
An internationally known artist, Franco Battiato has been everything in his long career, from beat singer to avantgarde performer, producer, contemporary music composer.His beginnings lay in the mid 60's, with many singles released with no particular success, the first two under his real name of Francesco. He had left the native Sicily (he was born in Jonia, near Catania in 1945) moving to Milan around 1965.Fetus, housed in a outrageous cover (reproducing a foetus) was definitely a prog al…
Voice of the Seven Thunders
Already drawing comparison to the heyday of '70s acid rock & the likes of Amon Duul II, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Japan's Flower Travelin' Band, early Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground's drone jams, the electronic kosmische of Cluster & the unhinged organic grooves of International Harvester
The Second Stop Is Jupiter
nterstellar vocal group numbers and doo wop from the Sun Ra vaults – a couple rare release and a bunch of previously unissued numbers featuring The Cosmic Rays, Crystals, Nu Sounds and Juanita Rogers – teenage vocal group numbers, bits of bebop and spacey doo wop released for the first time ever! The Second Stop Is Jupiter is Volume 2 in Norton's compilations of early, vocals centered Sun Ra material – beautifully done, and worthy for more than just Ra completists – it's a treasure trove…
Blue eyes are my reward
Jawdropping new collection of crop circles etched in sonic candy-floss by New Zealand’s beardsmith / noise-farmer Campbell Kneale. Rated by the horses mouth as the best thing he ever made, EVER, ‘Blue Eyes Are My Reward’ shimmers like an icicle-clad forest resplendent in its own crystalline magnificence. Snakecharming groove, dublike boomph, and bleary eyed strum blast the path out of a decidedly greying world of so-so metalized myspace drone, into a miniaturized drone-prairie of superpow…
New Sky Dragon
Top flight three man cosmic research team further investigations on galactic flux and refraction with two transmissions of synesthetic mind-fold. Lift off with skyward string stasis cutting through buffeted drum-clouds and synthesiser atmosphere, cosmic forever vision peaks at warp-speed rocket drone, anti-gravity percussion accents and star scraping rainbow universes. Saturating feedback zones spread webs of dimension amidst asteroid belt orbits, where two-way trips initiate zero g shimm…
The Shepherdess and the Bone-White Bird
Stone Breath returns with their first new album in over 5 years. A visionary creation of Eastern-influenced rural acid folk. From fingerpicked acoustics; to clawhammer banjo excursions; to the side-long exaltation that is “The Shepherdess of the Fiery Wheels,” Stone Breath manifest their best work to date; an entire set of originals with the strange and beautiful harmonies and instrumentation which graced their past work. They are clear in sight, united in purpose, and shining in the darkness. C…
Human Taste
Portland, OR-by-way-of-Michigan garage gang Little Claw first tripped our radar with their self-released Why Not 7 inch, which was/is raw and physical and swingin’ in all the ways you want a 7” to be. Their LA live shows proved even more ripping and charged; we were sold. So we sprung at the offer to enshrine their latest (and best) album, Human Taste, on vinyl for the world’s turntables to adore. Packed with classic, cracked anthems (“Frozen In The Future,” “Colors You Drown”), basement weirdo …
Don't Ollie On Thin Ice!
Hand-numbered edition of only 100 copies LP from Belgian visual artist Dennis Tyfus’s Vom Grill project: two tracks of non-spazz electronics, keyboard and profoundly deformed tongue, moving from scraping, skittering sound werks that come over like Blood Stereo play John Cage’s cartridge music to a fantastic fat, doomy synth solo that makes like Heldon hymning Lucifer. Less madman and a lot more moody than you might expect, this makes for a consistently bent atmosphere from start to finish.…
The sacrifice for the music became our lifestyle
Chris Abrahams, upright piano. Kai Fagaschinski, b-flat clarinet. Cover painting & sleeve design by Zev Langer. How do you run a duo when both of its protagonists are living at two opposite ends of the planet ? Well, it's not that dramatic. For many years Chris has used his European tours as a springboard for extended stays in Kai's hometown of choice, Berlin. After appreciating each other's work for quite a while they began collaborating at a friend's piano-armed kitchen in 2007. While C…
VPRO RadioNome
Kaa Antilope from Belgium is possibly one of the better kept secrets from the 1980's. Known to few people but loved by those. The reason is simple... this band was unique with their wonderful neo romantic, playful and melancholy sound. Their songs are best described as experimental synthpop with a poetic touch. Only one 7" record was released in 1982. Even today their music stands out with its very special sound of its own. There has not been a single other band since the 1980's that can be comp…