New Arrivals
Progression
Featuring members of Pelican & X-Bax. For the new album three single-chord compositions were charted out, one freeform and tone driven, one long-form piece with charts dictating the players' intensity of performance, and one grid-like chart where each players' note continually shifts, though the combination of voices continue to maintain the chord. Six chords were chosen and arranged in a progression that encompasses two separate performances of each of the three compositions. Though the…
Black Mill Tapes Volumes 1 & 2
Not much is known about the shadowy figure of the Head Technician, the man supposedly behind Pye Corner Audio. There are rumors that in another life he was an engineer to the stars, and while that can't be verified, there's certainly an air of expertise in this bumper set of productions. Black Mill Tapes Volumes 1 & 2 were originally released by the Technician himself, and have been picked up for a very special vinyl release. These collect the first handfuls of tracks from the Pye Corner A…
Drums Between The Bells
Gatefold 2LP version. "Pairing prickly electronics with live drum patterns, Eno dumps great globs of blotchy machine -- malfunction into the mix. Holland's poetry is interlaced courtesy of [a] monotone voice...the combined effect makes the whole undertaking sound like a wild William Gibson fantasy come to life." --Pitchfork "Brian Eno first came across the work of Rick Holland in the late '90s during the Map-Making project; a series of collaborative works between students of the Royal College, t…
Nova\'Billy
"I want to be a rocker. everybody else has walked away from rock. I wantto walk towards it." - Henry Flynt Taste the magic! Nova’Billy is another edible audible from Henry Flynt's dusty lower Manhattan bunker and it stands as one of the fullest, most beauteous document of Flynt's tenure with a full working rock band to date. For less than one calendar year between 1974 and 1975, Henry Flynt's hard driving, heavy jamming agit country rock band, Nova'Billy embraced bareknuckled deep fried groove a…
The Ballasted Orchestra
The much-in-demand vinyl version of the second (or third, depending on how you calculate) Stars of the Lid album, their first for Kranky, now finally reissued on vinyl. The original 4 track cassette recordings were remastered and new lacquers were cut, and the original artwork has been updated* When it comes to genre-defining releases, even releases that define a band's career, few sum up ambient music, and the work of Stars of the Lid in general like 'The Ballasted Orchestra'. Released in 1…
Palace of marvels (queered pitch)
Edition of 500. Composed by Marcus Schmickler. Recorded and Mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln. January-August 2010. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, October 14th 2010. Artwork by Tim Berresheim. Marcus Schmickler's new release following his acclaimed 'Altars of Science' is a must have for those interested in the rising field of contemporary Computer Music. It reconfirms Schmickler's interest in the liaison of sound, phenomenology and cognitive sciences. Schmickler therefore utilizes a n…
Gramercy
On 'Gramercy', we find clarinet abuser Gareth Davis (who might be best known for collaborations with Machinefabriek and Steven R. Smith) paired with virtuoso cellist Frances-Marie Uitti. Uitti is widely revered for her unusual and original twin bow technique, which allows her to eke out far more sounds from the humble cello that you might initially expect. These sweeps and drones are matched perfectly with Davis's patented haunted drones and breathy chokes resulting in a deftly academic yet unne…
Tidings / Amethyst Waves
Mark McGuire has been a member of triadic mega-unit Emeralds since their inception. Besides contributing to their ever growing catalogue, he's also worked with Daniel "Oneohtrix Point Never" Lopatin as Skyramp and a prolific number of other solo projects. His most recent album for Weird Forest (originally released on Cassette by the Wagon label) has been hailed as his most definitive to date, crossing astral lines and psychedelic boundaries between noise squalls, lush-out synth washes and …
Fire Escape
EXCLUSIVE! Produced by FOUR TET. The relationship between Four Tet & SHOTM began in August 2003 when Kieran Hebden, read the cover story of The Wire, which touted SHOTM as leaders of the "New Weird America." That story sent Hebden on a search for Sunburned records & he's been a fan ever since. In 2004, Hebden asked Sunburned to tour with them. A couple of years later in March 2006, Hebden asked the band if they would like him to record them with the idea that he would take the recordings & const…
V
Finally the fifth KTL studio album is ready for release. Whereas their previous album IV (EMEGO 089CD) was recorded and made in a relatively short period in a more traditional rock environment, V turns full circle, takes its time and tackles the complex working processes of the European avant-garde. Rooting themselves in such legendary electronic music studios such as EMS in Stockholm and GRM in Paris, Stephen O'Malley (SunnO))), Khanate, etc.) and Peter Rehberg (Pita, etc.) have delivered …
Live At Praxis 1984
Decades before his time, political and musical revolutionary, Sun Ra, developed a new plane of cultural existence where black people were all-powerful beings from outer space, sending their intergalactic message through jazz music. Recorded live in 1975 at Cleveland's legendary jazz club, the Smiling Dog Saloon, when Sun Ra and his Arkestra descended on the city for a week-long residency. You can imagine how the uninitiated's jaw must have dropped when Ra and his 15 musicians marched out onto th…
On fire
Norway's Smalltown Supersound label is just one of those imprints that you have to keep an eye on, because if not you're sure to miss out on some nugget of psyched avant-metal or North European disco that you'll be kicking yourself over neglecting in 10 years time. 'Smalltown Supersound On Fire' is a very handy and rather essential compendium of forthcoming releases on the label, including tracks from Arp, Meanderthals, Diskjokke and Tussle alongside remixes from the likes of Prins Thomas and Bj…
A Long Way Around To A Shortcut
Ever shrouded, serpentine by design, the legend of the Sic Alps has at last made its way to the gates of Drag City. The new, first-time-ever-on-vinyl 2xLP reissue of A Long Way Around To A Shortcut is somehow a 'greatest hits' of the golden not-quite-decade of Sic Alps. Well, not quite golden, either. Can gold be tarnished? Can it be done on purpose? If so, Sic Alps are artisans of the highest order -- for their music is the bright, surging sound of ye olde rock and roll radio (and the garages t…
A Double Promo Album By CAN
Vocalist Damo Suzuki’s departure from CAN in 1973 had forced the band to re-evaluate their sound. Now with Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt sharing vocal duties, the band had also begun drawing on influences from disco and glam. While still remaining staunchly outside the mainstream, they undoubtedly became more accessible to a wider audience, and soon had a huge fan base in the UK. In fact, just a few months after playing the live show found on this double LP (recorded in Lyon in January …
Narc Beacon/Nag Nag Bacon
Goodiepal or Gæoudjiparl van den Dobbelsteen, whose real name is Parl Kristian Bjørn Vester, is a controversial Danish/Faroese musician and composer. The eccentric and self-made Goodiepal has influenced the course of modern music through radical excursions into computer technology and media art. Until recently he has been employed as a teacher at DIEM (Danish Institute for Electro-acoustic Music) at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. Goodiepal declared intellectual war against …
Endtime
It's a great honour for us to be able to present conrad schnitzler's last work. endtime will be released as dlp, cd and download. only a few days before he passed away last august, he created this unique, almost 70 minutes long work. 36 parts mixed into each other create a walk through his entire work. this record is not only for fans of conrad schnitzler. it's like a trip through 40 years of electronic music. conrad schnitzler once more shows how strong his influence has marked young art…
Repo
The frazzled and fractured electronic rhythms of Brooklyn noisemakers Black Dice are bent into shape once again on this fifth studio album from the band. The album, titled Repo, is comprised of home recordings and sessions from New York’s Rare Book Room studios. It’s another fine example of Black Dice’s singular aesthetic, which has been carefully honed through years of equipment abuse in low rent venues, art galleries and other improvised performance spaces. The record comes with a 20-page book…
On Patrol
Gorgeous double LP version "If a tree falls in a forest and no one's around, shit still gets crushed. If Cameron Stallones holes up solo-style in a suburban cave and wah-riffs over canned bongos for five straight months, double LPs still get dropped. These are basic life laws. The latest from Mr. Araw is easily his least compromising audio self-portrait to date. Three minute rhythm sketches are stretched into ten minute loop pedal odysseys. Organ solos last for entire vinyl sides. Ambiguou…
Life (...It eats you up)
Whereas previous works by Mika Vainio have utilised guitar Life (… It Eats You Up) is the first to use the instrument as its primary sound source. A fascinating, sometimes disturbing and deeply personal work this new 10 track set bears all the hallmarks (exacting attention to detail of tone, rhythm and texture) of Vainio's previous works with some stunning surprises, such as his cover version of The Stooges' 'Open Up and Bleed'.Tracks such as ‘Mining’ hark bark to the banging beat exces…
Lessness
Following in the tradition of minimalist composers such as La Monte Young, Yoshi Wada, and Charlemagne Palestine, Sun Circle exemplifies a contemporary focus on long form drone music. Members Greg Davis and Zach Wallace have shown their interest in the field most recently with extended works on Kranky and Root Strata respectively; together on Lessness, they show a deep-rooted interest in the power of simple forms. Building upon themes from their recent solo work (Davis’ subtly shifting tonal w…