New Arrivals
La Bamba
Over 15 years ago Daniël de Wereldvermaarde Botanicus (hat and cacti collector Cassis Cornuta) deejayed a ton of horrible la bamba versions for 2 hours in the now defunct situationist radioshow RTVS (Radio Centraal-Antwerp). The 'galdezen' of RTVS yelled-sung along, creating their own versions of la bamba while getting more and more hammered or naturally gone from a bamba trance! After telling me this short story Daniël mumbled 'I always wanted to dj all night long la bamba, I think it will driv…
Luminous Night
Luminous Night is the first set of new Six Organs Of Admittance material to leap forth from Ben Chasnys' cerebral cortex in 18 months, and what a joy it is. With the release of odds-and-sods collection RTZ earlier in the year there to bridge the gap between 2007s Shelter From The Ash it doesn't seem like he's been away for long per se but for serious Chasny-heads a new album is something to get pretty excited about and with his other musical outlet Comets On Fire either on extended hiatus or spl…
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…
LA Vampires & Zola Jesus
Easily one of the releases of the year so far, finally available on limited edition vinyl* Ghostly goings on from gothic psych queen Zola Jesus and kindred spirit LA Vampires (the current guise of Amanda Brown from Pocahaunted), who collaborate across this killer new mini album. 'Bone Is Bloodstone' rumbles into motion with those familiarly smudged out, indecipherable vocals and evaporating drum machines but there's a heavy bass groove and some ghoulish melodic developments set to balance …
Introducing
The Drag City / Galactic Zoo team delve deeply into the recesses of private press obscurity once again, further revealing the underbelly of American music's recorded history - this time the little known songwriter Ryan Trevor is in the spotlight, who released just one incredibly rare, homespun LP (this one, if you're wondering) which surfaced originally in 1977. Not much is known about Trevor, though the guys at Drag City bill him as a "loner genius", whose work is to be filed somewhere between …
Red Horse
Red Horse is the blistering free-post-everything project of drummer/multi-percussionist Eli Keszler and guitarist/mad-scientist Steve Pyne. While both musicians are active in a number of different projects (you probably wouldn't believe Pyne's day job even if we told you), Red Horse catches them working with a distilled sense of focus and is for many their breakthrough project. Red Horse (not to be confused with the similarly-titled debut) is the duo's second album, and follows the rush of…
Lifetime Of Romance
LP version. "Heartland synthesist Dylan Ettinger follows up 2010's widely lauded New Age Outlaws imaginary cyber-soundtrack with a stark, dark, and intensely different collection of misshapen new wave weirdnesses, Lifetime Of Romance. Recorded at a proper studio, and written over the course of a year, the seven songs of Romance reflect a heavy influence from the fringier strains of bummed out quasi-industrial synth-pop in the vein of Fad Gadget, certain Cabaret Voltaire, early Human League,…
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
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…
Elklink
Reissue of 'The Rise of Elklink' cassette (Polyamory) 1999 with one bonus track. "The Rise of Elklink originally appeared as a cassette on the storied Polyamory label in '1999. Behind the ambiguous moniker lurked core Shadow Ring member Graham Lambkin, aided by Adris Hoyos with a cameo from fellow Shadow Ring bandmate Tim Goss. Although The Rise of Elklink was produced in tandum with The Shadow Ring's Lindus LP, the two projects were different in intent. Song form and narration are replace…
At the cut
Spilling over with trembling strings and thunderous crescendos, "Coward" foreshadows the electric energy that is to be found throughout Vic Chesnutt's newest record. With members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Fugazi once again contributing, At the Cut is populated by giant melodies, quiet meditations, and intense studies on mortality and memory. But, for all its bombast, At the Cut is probably most notable for Chesnutt's unwavering honesty and cathartic powe…
ladybird labyrinth
orphan fairytale is the solo monniker of eva van deuren, member of the lady folk troupe MASKESMACHINE, who started blowing my mind 12 years ago as a street performance troupe in antwerp. besides my own ladyfriend, i don't think i know anyone better than eva, and her boyfriend (audiobot madman) carlo steegen. for some reason this makes it even more difficult to write a decent description for this record, we live in the same mansion, and i could write a lot of stories about doing the dishes togeth…
About To Choke
His only album for Capitol Records (originally released in 1996) was another exceptional batch of songs. An edgy slice of country-folk showing his unique version of Americana that was usually several things at once: his craggy voice, raw honesty, an acoustic guitar (or a piano) and an outrageous imagination. Vic Chesnutt was a rare kind of artist and definitely one of the most relevant songwriters of the last 20 years.
Slime Code
Fractured bleep techno and de-composed electronics for followers of Container, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Konono No.1, Ekoplekz, Harmonious Thelonious - Edition of 500, initial copies on olive green wax* Following a pair of strong LPs for Dekorder, Dan Hayhurst (audio) and Reuben Sutherland (visuals) released 'Slime Code' on cassette for Patten's Kaleidoscope label last year - and it's a peach. The music was performed live to 8-track tape from which a digital edit was compiled and from that…
Something That Has Form And Something That Does Not
Regrouping for a third album under their 'On' moniker, Steven Hess and Sylvain Chaveau have created another body of chilling improvised recordings at their Chicago studio. As with previous records the results were passed to a guest musician for rearrangement of perspective and mixing techniques. Following Deathprod's work on 'Your Naked Ghost...', the material for this album was handed to experimental virtuoso Christian Fennesz, who transforms the source sounds into a display of stripped,…
Outdoor Spell
Rhys Chatham has trail-blazed a course through late 20th century music, equally aplomb in post-minimalist composition as he is in punk. Not since Roebling laid his span across the East River has there been an artist who builds bridges in both how we hear music and how we can appreciate art. His latest album, Outdoor Spell, is a further document in that direction. Here has has eschewed 100 guitars, or even himself playing a single guitar, for the trumpet and voice, both electrified and dry. It is…
Alien column
Alien Column' is the first full length LP by the thick-smoke-filled-Michigan-basement duo of Chris Pottinger (Odd Clouds, Cotton Museum and the Tasty Soil label) and Heath Moerland (Sick Llama, Cygnus, Drug Abuse and the Fag Tapes label). Often described as a post-Wolf Eyes combo, Slither offer a mutant take on free jazz through their multiple electronics manipulations and dual horn tandem (alto saxophone and clarinet). An additional proof to why Michigan is currently the best place to be on ear…
Retrieval
Formed by Richard Chartier at music research centre, York University (York, UK). These works utilize original loops and recordings from 1990-1993 as source material.
The Lost Jockeys
The Lost Jockey was a large aggregate of British new music performers who came together on this LP to play compositions by three of its members: Andrew Poppy, John Barker and Orlando Gough. Poppy is the best known of the three-he worked with Psychic TV on their first two albums and made two rather dated EPs for ZTT in the mid-80s-and his pieces here are better than the later works but still forgettable. It’s Gough’s side-long “Hoovering the Beach I & II” that’s worth the price of admission-with …