| DateAdded | Artist | Title | Format | Price | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/17/2003 | Baby Woodrose | Blows Your Mind! | CD | $18.99 | Bad Afro | “Baby Woodrose is Lorenzo, drummer from Danish heavy stoner/psych rockers, On Trial. Here, he plays all the instruments (guitars, drums, organ & electric piano), performing songs very much in the retro-garage blazing fuzz-psych tradition, more 1966 than either later-60s acid rock psychedelia, or the 70s heavy rock that inspired today's ‘stoner’ scene. The influences of that era are abundant and pretty readily apparent, referencing everything from the Thirteenth Floor Elevators to the Strawberry Alarm Clock, by way of the Yardbirds, Electric Prunes, Seeds, Chocolate Watchband; even the Stooges and Sonics. The guitars are either twangy & reverb-drenched or maximally fuzzed, the vocals snarl in your face or ooze from the murk deep in the back of the reverb chamber; all of the expected period nuances are there. Not much in the way of ‘space’ (nice seagull screams on ‘Living A Dream’, though) or ‘progressive’ (it's far too greasy) music here, but fans of earlier ‘head’ music ought to get into this album. After all, how can you argue with a song like ‘Right To Get High’?” – Aural Innovations |
| 1/13/2004 | Baby Woodrose | Disconnected | 7" | $6.99 | Bad Afro | "The Danish music scene is finally getting somewhere and Baby Woodrose is the latest proof. They create a unique sound that takes them to the 60's and back leaving the music being influenced by many shades of rock'n'roll and psych but played with heartfelt punk attitude. ‘Disconnected’ is the first single from the new album ‘Money For Soul’ and is backed with the exclusive ‘Too Far Gone’." |
| 1/13/2004 | Baby Woodrose | Money For Soul | CD | $18.99 | Bad Afro | "The Danish music scene is finally getting somewhere and Baby Woodrose is the latest proof. They create a unique sound that takes them to the 60's and back leaving the music being influenced by many shades of rock'n'roll and psych but played with heartfelt punk attitude. Baby Woodrose are: Lorenzo Woodrose alias Guf Lorenzen on guitar/vocals (ex-drummer for OnTrial and main man behind side projects like Disconnected Flowers, Pandemonica, Spids Nøgenhat a.o.) Riky Woodrose alias Anders Skjødt on bass (ex-guitar player in On Trial) Rocco Woodrose alias Anders Grøn on drums (drummer in an early incarnation of The Raveonettes). Baby Woodrose received quite a lot of attention outside Denmark with their self-released debut album ‘Blows Your Mind’ from 2001. In reality a one-man operation by Lorenzo Woodrose who wrote the songs, played all the instruments, produced the record and put it out on his own Pan Records. Baby Woodrose is now a real band and the next album is quite different. Baby Woodrose have only been playing live for 2 years but they already have a reputation of being a sweaty, jaw-dropping live experience. During the summer 2002 they played festivals like Roskilde Festival, Gutter Island, Barbarella, By:Larm, Swamp Room Happening and a showcase at Popkomm with Flaming Sideburns and Sweatmaster. In 2003 they have toured in Norway twice and in Germany with Sweatmaster, played SXSW in Texas and New York and in June they opened the main stage at the biggest festival in Northern Europe: Roskilde Festival." |
| 1/13/2004 | Baby Woodrose | Money For Soul | LP | $18.99 | Bad Afro | "The Danish music scene is finally getting somewhere and Baby Woodrose is the latest proof. They create a unique sound that takes them to the 60's and back leaving the music being influenced by many shades of rock'n'roll and psych but played with heartfelt punk attitude. Baby Woodrose are: Lorenzo Woodrose alias Guf Lorenzen on guitar/vocals (ex-drummer for OnTrial and main man behind side projects like Disconnected Flowers, Pandemonica, Spids Nøgenhat a.o.) Riky Woodrose alias Anders Skjødt on bass (ex-guitar player in On Trial) Rocco Woodrose alias Anders Grøn on drums (drummer in an early incarnation of The Raveonettes). Baby Woodrose received quite a lot of attention outside Denmark with their self-released debut album ‘Blows Your Mind’ from 2001. In reality a one-man operation by Lorenzo Woodrose who wrote the songs, played all the instruments, produced the record and put it out on his own Pan Records. Baby Woodrose is now a real band and the next album is quite different. Baby Woodrose have only been playing live for 2 years but they already have a reputation of being a sweaty, jaw-dropping live experience. During the summer 2002 they played festivals like Roskilde Festival, Gutter Island, Barbarella, By:Larm, Swamp Room Happening and a showcase at Popkomm with Flaming Sideburns and Sweatmaster. In 2003 they have toured in Norway twice and in Germany with Sweatmaster, played SXSW in Texas and New York and in June they opened the main stage at the biggest festival in Northern Europe: Roskilde Festival." |
| 11/4/2006 | Bad Brains | Live At CBGB 1982 | DVD | $16.99 | MVD | Culled from footage filmed over the course of three days at CBGB's legendary Hardcore Festival, this stunning performance from punk/reggae pioneers Bad Brains showcases their unique sound and unforgettable stage presence. Songs include "Big Takeover," "Attitude," "Right Brigade," "Riot Squad," "At the Movies," "Redbone in the City," "Pay to Cum," and more. |
| 9/30/2005 | Bad Drumlin Grass | Bad Drumlin Grass | CDR | $8.99 | Milvia Son Records | "The 24 minute opening track is born of a clear deep stream. Once ashore, its pulsating sighs feedback languidly over the faintly brittle sounds of its kaleidoscopically hardening shell. Track 2 arrives with the rains, swelling and exploding all that has gone before, and imparting upon the listener the vaguely disturbing impression of Bootsy horse-whipping an instrumental version of "Do What You Like" out of a nude and wasted Terry Riley." "Bad Drumlin Grass is the first release on Milvia Son Records, a nascent label which exists to document the personal expression of a two discrete musicians who stumbled through years of post-adolescence under the influence of acid, beer and analog feedback. In the beginning, BDG limited itself to performance art pieces before small unwilling audiences (e.g., playing frisbee stoned in the front of one member's apartment complex as the strains of Revolution Number 9 blasted out of his bedroom window). Later pieces in a similar vein included the endless playing of the choicest and most sublime Grateful Dead bootlegs for two of Black Flag's ugliest fans who happened upon BDG's hotel suite. Now, at last, their self-titled CDR presents Bad Drumlin Grass doing what they were born to do: mutually destroying and recreating their egos via the deliberate or accidental contact of acoustic and electrical musical instruments with their hands, feet and lips." Numbered edition of 175 copies. |
| 10/6/2007 | Bad Drumlin Grass | The Invigorating Scent of… | LP | $9.99 | Milvia Son Records | "The second Bad Drumlin Grass record is the first vinyl release on Milvia Son Records. Way back in July of 2006, Sensei Rebel chose the band's schizophrenic inaugural CDR (Birth/Afterbirth) as his 'Ambient Pick of the Week.' Forsaking the drone (at least temporarily), Bad Drumlin Grass presents two solid sides of junk 'n' roll instrumental freakouts that careen into the void like cigarette cherries dropping into the fake beard of a paranoid neo-folkie where, like Sonny Bono, they just sit there and *burn*. These are not the lost Hams rehearsals tapes. Imagine Richard Thompson and Garth Hudson rehearsing for 10,000 hours and touring with This Heat. This record is the exact opposite of that, except for being recorded live without overdubs. 300 copies for the world." |
| 1/29/2003 | Bad Girls | Unauthorized Recordings | CD | $8.99 | Public Eyesore | "Unauthorized Recordings is the collected recordings from a series of improvisational sessions between Mike Khoury (Entropy Stereo. violin), Ben Bracken (Flashpaper. guitar, organ), and Michigan experimenter Wade Kergan. A widely varying series of unsettling recordings from eerie frigid electronic pieces to crunchy minimalism to dizzying start/stop interplays approaching free jazz." |
| 8/22/2008 | Bad Statistics, The | Lucky Town Gone | CD | $12.99 | Pseudoarcana | "On the follow up to last years debut "Static" LP ((Kr-aa-k)3) The Bad Statistics have set about laying waste to the New Zealand suburban dream with this album, a much darker and heavier affair than their debut. Led by a bald suit clad psychopath named Thebis Mutante who chants and howls and grunts throughout their doom laden droning rock mantra the closest comparison I have been able to come up with is some sort of hybrid of The Birthday Party, Circle, and The Reynols. If the debut LP were to be regarded as the Mission Statement of Bad Statistics Great Annual Report in the Sky, "Lucky Town Gone" is not the Business Highlights chapter to be expected next, but a sideways lurch straight to Appendix 17: Corrupted Data. Recorded onto degraded old cassette tape, "Lucky Town Gone" is a collection of mean-spirited practice room jams that sees the core four-piece of Bad Statistics further embracing the stoner doom drone rock that already defined large parts of "Static". The seven tracks of "Lucky Town Gone" are again spearheaded by the abrasive, sense-eluding vocal emissions of Thebis Mutante. Critical response to Mutante's contributions on "Static" was deeply divided, and the new album is expected to further polarise opinions. Mutante is backed by Mark Williams (Marineville, Idle Suite, Cookie Brooklyn) on guitar, Justin Barr (Raskolnikovs, Users, Wrongdoings, Delaney Ghost Orchestra) on bass, and Johannes Contag (Jay Clarkson, Cloudboy, Sleepytime) on drums and production." |
| 12/24/2005 | Badgerlore | Stories for Owls | LP | $12.99 | Yik Yak | The second full-length release from psychedelic bread bakers and bird whisperers Badgerlore -- represented on this release by beard-core ambassadors Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance, Comets On Fire), Tom Carter (Charalambides), Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans), and Rob Fisk (7 Year Rabbit Cycle, ex-Deerhoof) -- Stories For Owls features six beautifully lush, organic pieces that rise and fall with the group's broke-down, burned-up improv and the interplay of piano, vocals, and dual guitars. The music is organized around the conceptual theme of birds constructing nests, and each track explores this idea differently. Stories For Owls also showcases the talents of two newcomers; Tom Carter, whose playing seems beamed in from some entirely off-kilter universe; and Pete Swanson, who by grabbing and processing live sound, both in real time and through tape-delay, gives the already rickety skeletons of these songs an even greater fragility and tenderness. Beautiful and devastating." |
| 11/23/2004 | Bahrain | Bahrain | CDR | $12.99 | Blue Circle | "The band first emerged from Austin's psychic inner ear in July, 2000. A year later they'd finalized their lineup and were honing what was becoming a very distinct approach to postpunk's high-strung musical palette. The foursome has the net effect of a carload of grad students (with great record collections), who've picked up instruments and marched forward to slay the dumbed-down cartoon that pop has become. It's been a quick year. The results are showing and the rewards are there for the hearing. Singer Scott Telles (ST 37) has a vocal range not heard since the days of David Byrne and Feargal Sharkey. T. helms the keyboards but also plays bass: this in combination with bassist / backing vocalist Colleen G. makes for a deep, rich, undulating groove. Drummer Melissa J. adds the substantial (read: heavy) underpinning for the emergent, hypnotic bedrock. Guitarist Doug B. has plenty of room to further punch up the song's lick or skitter over its top, wild-eyed, and create plenty of nice, jagged spaces. He's the counterweight, wearing away his frets for the cause." - Dave Bottoms |
| 4/20/2008 | Bailiff, Jessica & Annelies Monseré | untitled | CD | $11.99 | Morc | "Although it's just the two of them, this ep has a very built-up sound, not unlike Jessica's earliest output and Annelies' most recent live shows. the songs are built on vocals, guitars, cello- and keyboard drones. ltd to 310 copies." |
| 2/4/2007 | Baird, Kathleen | Lullaby For Strangers | CD | $12.99 | Secret Eye | "I already knew that Chicago's Spires That in the Sunset Rise is an amazing band, but I was still blown away by their sheer brilliance at the recent Terrastock festival in Providence, RI. Given that, it was with great excitement that I received another solo disk from Kathleen Baird, this time dropping the Traveling Bell moniker she’s been using before. Fans of Spires That in the Sunset Rise’s eclectic, Comus-inspired free folk meanderings will enjoy this but ’Lullaby for Strangers’ is despite its bleak tone not quite as disturbingly dark and fractured. Let’s just say that this gently meandering slice of mystical folk for the most time has more to do with Incredible String Band than Comus and Current 93. Baird takes the late 60s work of ISB as a starting point and adds her own unique voice in the form of various exotic instruments (bells, mbira, guitars, flutes, synthesizers and more) as well as ocean deep female vocals that honestly is worth the price of admission alone. There’s something deeply spiritual about Baird’s droney folk arrangements and evocative lyrical phrasing that somehow completely transcends what we think we know. Her stories and worlds aren’t just trapped in another time; they’re born from another dimension. The end result is temple-like bliss of the highest order, easily ranking with the brightest hopes in the genre." - Mats Gustafsson for Terrascope Online |
| Baltic Whisperings | Baltyckie Szepty | CD | $15.99 | Plus GSM | Marek Styczynski and Anna Nacher of Magic Carpathians (ex-Atman) create a beautiful soundtrack to a documentary produced by Polish TV about the Baltic Sea and its endangered wildlife. Mixing their usual arsenal of exotic, natural instruments (voice, didjeridu, fujara, clarinet, mouth harp) with time-stopping electronic soundscapes, guitar loops and sea samples they create an evocative musical journey. An excellent side project that is as fine on a rainy afternoon as it does during a late night headphone excursion. Imported from Poland." Also be on the lookout for a forthcoming cd by the Magic Carpathians that will be released 'soon' by Drunken Fish (and I am told the recordings for this cd are incredible!) and look for them to tour near your town this Spring as they play the SXSW festival in Austin and will also play as they travel West and Northwest hitting San Francisco & Seattle. Possible show in Chicago, too. Contact Drunken Fish for more info. | |
| Bananafish | #14 | zine with CD | $10.99 | Tedium House | "The latest issue in the Glass-Monroe-Beezer family's long-running magazine dedicated to that which cannot be spoken (but certainly read). Includes print and audio material from outsiders like Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle, Peg Murray of U.S. Saucer, John Wiese of Bastard Noise, James Goode, Reynols, Panicsville, Vote Robot, Polar Goldie Cats (doing a feline version of Edgar Winter's 'Frankenstein,' and 'others.' 164-page magazine with a 14-track CD companion. Beautiful cover art (the best yet)." | |
| 11/18/2004 | Bananafish | Issue #18 | Magazine + CD | $10.99 | Tedium House | “The final issue of this long-running haven for avant-garde mavericks of all flavors checks in with in depth features on artist, musican DAVID LESTER (MECCA NORMAL); NYC acid-headed improv tour guides MONOTRACT (interviewed by DYLAN NYOUKIS); avant violin/electronics/voice iconoclast and author BURNING STAR CORE (aka C. SPENCER YEH); lost and overlooked Argentinean psychospatial composer NELSON GASTALDI (found and restored by South American sideshow barkers REYNOLS); CRAWL UNIT noise mumbler JOE COLLEY; and experimental writer, visual poet, xtant editor and Juxta publisher JIM LEFTWICH. Packaged with a CD featuring exclusive music from all the above. Bye-bye, Miss American Piehole.” |
| 5/7/2004 | Banhart, Devendra | Rejoicing In The Hands | CD | $14.99 | Young God | "With songwriting and guitar-playing that have progressed since Oh Me Oh My The Way The Day Goes By The Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs Of The Christmas Spirit, and determined not to be ghettoized as a low-fi crank, Devendra Banhart and Michael Gira agreed it was best to move on to professional recording studios. Banhart sat on a stool in that living room for ten days, twelve hours per, playing constantly, sometimes with a chorus of cicadas when they recorded at night with open windows. Overdubs were later added back in NYC. The title tune, a duet with the legendary '60s English folk gamin (one of Banhart idols) Vashti Bunyan -- is an obvious highlight, but Banhart's uncanny ability to transport the listener through words, voice, and pretty amazing finger-picked acoustic guitar is where the album's magic lies." |
| 9/30/2005 | Banhart, Devendra / Jana Hunter | s/t | LP | $11.99 | Troubleman Unlimited | "Vinyl-Only Release!! With a right convoluted story as to how they ended up on this vinyl-only split release (the common denominator revolves around Vetiver...), Devendra Banhart and Jana Hunter are pleasingly complimentary to each others sounds, without either straying too far into unknown territory. First up is Hunter (looking frighteningly Jarvis Cocker-esque on one cover shot) and her sparse yet ocean deep compositions, all playing second fiddle to a slightly off kilter vocal that teeters perilously close to the Bob Dylan precipice. With a sound that heavily references the psychedelic guitar-pop of the 1960's, without ever feeling the need to actually sound like it, songs such as 'Black Haven' and 'That Dragon Is My Husband' have a heavy lidded demeanour that sucks you reet in. On the flip, Ol' Dirty Beard serves up an exclusive version of 'At The Hop', made all the more affecting by it's lack of furnishings, whilst the likes of 'In Golden Empress Hands' and 'We All Know' prove why Devendra's held in such universal high praise. Lovely." |
| 12/24/2005 | Banhart, Devendra / Xiu Xiu | split | 7" | $6.99 | 5 Rue Christine | "A brand new 7-inch split between two unique songwriting talents. DEVENDRA BANHART delivers a revivalist hymn version of XIU XIU's "Support Out Troops! OH!," backed by Xiu Xiu's deconstructed/dance-blipped version of Banhart's "The Body Breaks," complete with signature freak-out vocals." |
| 5/13/2003 | Bannister, Bob | Easterly | 7" | $4.99 | Remora | 1994 release features Bob Bannister on all instruments (guitars, bass, keyboard, violin, fuzz flute, voice, and pseud-organ) over the 4 tracks on the EP. |
| 9/29/2003 | Barbed | Pocket Reminders | 7" | $4.99 | Elevator Bath | "Barbed is the London based duo Alex McKechnie and Alex Burrow. They've appeared on numerous compilations (and most recently on the People Like Us Hate People Like Us remix project) and have released a full-length on These Records, but this is the first I have heard from them. These two tracks are teeming with intensity and energy, defined by their strong rhythms, heavy loops, bizarre vocal manipulations, feedback and lots of sound interference. These tracks impel me to turn the volume way up to fully experience these cathartic and energetic sounds, but this is especially so in the case of "Pocket Reminders" on side A, my favourite of the two tracks. Barbed has produced a wonderful and impactful little single, and makes me very glad to see that Elevator Bath seems to be committed to presenting records that are high on quality and short on duration (thus far their catalogue is composed of 7, 10 and 12" records). This edition is limited to 800." - Richard di Santo |
| 4/25/2008 | Bardo Pond | Batholith | LP + CD | $20.99 | Three Lobed Recordings | "Batholith is a collection of six tracks that are near and dear to Bardo Pond but, for some reason or another, have never previously been released. That one-sentence description might lead one to think that these tracks are "outtakes" or cutting-room floor type material - neither conclusion could be further from the truth. The tracks included on "Batholith" range from previous live staples ("A Tune," one made 'famous' by opening Bardo's set at Terrastock II in San Francisco as joined by Roy Montgomery [and a recording of which was featured on the KFJC compilation "Live from the Devil's Triangle, Volume 2"]) to tracks the band recorded in John Peel sessions ("Slip Away"). Collected as a whole, these tracks form a fluid and cohesive album. "Batholith" is not just an exciting moment for long time Bardo Pond fans, but a great jumping on point for folks who are relatively new to their craft. As per the Three Lobed standard, "Batholith" is pressed on 180g RTI vinyl. It will be housed within heavy "old-style" one-pocket Stoughton gatefold jackets bearing new artwork by John Gibbons and Isobel Sollenberger. The record will be from an edition of close to 1000 copies and, and as an added convenience for our vinyl friends, will come packaged with a glass-mastered CD (not CD-R) of the material present on the wax." This is now out of print. These remaining copies are the 'standard edition' - it does not include the bonus (2nd) cd. |
| 7/8/2003 | Bardo Pond | On The Ellipse | CD | $12.99 | All Tomorrow's Parties | "The sixth album from Philadelphia psych lords and deep-lung THC rockers Bardo Pond. Six brand new tracks that come off like a leaden mix of Sabbathian riffs blended with the folk beauty of Led Zeppelin III, rocked heavier and fresher sounding than anything the band's done prior." Recommended! |
| Bardo Pond | Set and Setting | CD | $13.99 | Matador | "They may no longer name their records after psychedelic toads and Indian magic mushrooms, but when it comes to locating the lysergic mainline to the soul, Bardo Pond have few peers. The Philadelphia quartet's sixth album achieves the noble feat of heightening the charred intensity of 1997's 'Lapsed' while evincing a peculiar clarity at the eye of their slo-mo distortion hurricane. Bardo Pond have long since given up on merely making noise for its own sake. 'Set And Setting' is an aural travel documentary featuring four people and how far they can get without moving from behind their amps. Opener 'Walking Stick Man' sucks its cheeks for 11 minutes, sluicing around the whacked-out slivers of John and Michael Gibbons' black-hole guitar tracings until, exhausted and delirious, it collapses into a wheezy harmonica outro and, finally, the next track. Which is called 'This Time (So Fucked)'. Jesus, it's heavy. Meanwhile, Isobel Sollenberger has been groaning like a feral Kim Gordon about, oh y'know, stuff that comes down. Never hitherto properly audible, her voice is crucial in humanising Pond life." - NME | |
| 9/17/2006 | Barf Thoth | Dark Speech | cassette | $8.99 | Fag Tapes | "sick llama presents : more ancient tongues unforgotten as they rise through th ground up from the grave. edition 77." |
| 7/16/2006 | Barf Thoth | Peep Roky | cassette | $8.99 | Fag Tapes | "sick llama presents more from behind the scab curtain. the elevator lights went out and the only other dude in there w/ me kept complaining about the silence. said at his crib 13 televisions and radios would be on all the time 25 / 8, all set to different stations. he busted me this tape. edition 77." |
| 3/20/2007 | Barf Thoth / The Cases | split | cassette | $8.99 | Fag Tapes | "Well, i can't say that this tape is boring, that's fer sure. edition 77." |
| 10/25/2008 | Bark Haze / Traum | Monolith: Jupiter | LP + CD | $19.99 | Music Fellowship | "After Dave shuts down HAL and finds the true objective of their mission to Jupiter, he boards a pod and descends towards a monolith in search of the destination of the transmission mankind discovered on the Moon. As he reaches the Jupiter monolith, he begins to travel through a tunnel of lights, projected through space and time until he ends up in an ornately decorated bedroom with Renaissance artwork and molding. In the bedroom, Dave starts to rapidly age. As he lies in his deathbed another monolith appears. Just as the apes did in the opening sequence, he reaches out to it, echoing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and is evolved; the starchild is born. The Monolith series combines two like-minded artists on the same one-sided, reverse-cut LP by hard-panning one recording to the right and the other recording to the left. By adjusting the panning controls on his or her turntable, the listener is free to control the degree to which the two recordings melt into one. Each edition in the series is limited to a one-time pressing of 500 picture disc LPs featuring a Monolith inspired painting by Ned Clayton and includes a CD with stereo mixes. Monolith: Jupiter is realized by two fre(e/ak)-jazz duos: Traum and Bark Haze. On the right is Bark Haze, the duo of Gown (Andrew MacGregor) and Thurston Moore. Bark Haze explores the interplay between two unbridled electric guitars. This recording focuses on restraint: an intimate melding of the minds through careful abuse of the strings. On the left is Traum, in this recording the duo of Hell Hall (Graveyards) and Zac Davis (Lambsbread). The project is Hall's continuation of Graveyards' from the gutter ode to jazz's influence on noise. This recording combines Hall's creative and controlled drumwork and percussion with Davis' schizophrenic/ADHD guitar hallucinations. The combination of the two recordings is either interstellar kismet or pure trash or at least interstellar trash." |
| 3/20/2007 | Bark Haze, The | The Bark Haze | LP | $15.99 | Important Records | "This limited edition LP is pressed in an edition of 1000. These are completely different recordings than The Bark Haze compact disc, also on Important Records. The Bark Haze is primarily a guitar duo of GOWN (nom de plume of one Andrew Macgregor) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth etfuckingcetera). Auxiliary members have been know to include Pete Nolan (Magik Markers, Virgin Eye Blood Brothers, Cops, et al). Their name came from a mis-hearing of the radical early '70s R+B group the Bar-Kays and from that moment the concept of mis-hearing and allegiance to presenting the mis-hearing as some open-ended musical course became The Bark Haze's identity." |
| 3/2/2004 | Barker, Andrew / Charles Waters | Dialogues in Now! | LP | $19.99 | QBICO | "Inspiring compositions + aggressive playing = suggestive creative music from two of the most exciting young blood of the NYC scene! Members of William Parker & The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and half of the Gold Sparkle Band." Andrew Barker (drums, percussion, indian folk fiddle, wood flute) and Charles Waters (alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, percussion) recorded April 24th, 2000. Edition of 225 copies on white vinyl. |
| 11/6/2002 | Barlow / Petersen / Wivinus | The Transparent World | CD | $9.99 | Hand/Eye | "The Transparent World CD finds Barlow / Petersen / Wivinus working exclusively with acoustic instrumentation to achieve a sonic landscape that is at turns lush and austere, meditative and menacing. All tracks on the disc are improvised at their core and utilize a wide variety of instruments and techniques, creating many sounds not normally associated with ‘acoustic’ recordings. Of course there are guitars (both six- and twelve-string), but often unusually tuned and occasionally bowed. Piano, dulcimer, mandolin (occasionally augmented by e-bow and slide) bowed cymbals, the Freeman Monostring (played with a ballpeen hammer) the ‘rattletrap,’ bagpipe chanter and various other peripheral devices are all used to create a very singular and evocative whole. Musically, the disc ranges across a wide variety of styles and influences, but still retains a unified vision and a cohesive sound. Any number of genres can be seen in fleeting glimpses throughout the recordings: menacing blues from the deepest edges of a swamp swimming with spirits and psychosis, avant soundscapes conjuring images of a creaking old house with a will all its own and possible ill intent, long and languid soundtracks toward the horizon at the end of a lengthy and perhaps lucid dream. This release rests somewhere between the experimental avant-garde, the darkest psychedelic folk music, and the epic 360 degree horizons of pure drone/dream music. Fans of Third Ear Band, Makoto Kawabata’s ‘Inui’ project, Six Organs of Admittance and select movie soundtracks will surely find something to appreciate here." |
| 6/4/2004 | Barlow, Rich | Black Diamond Baby | CD | $9.99 | Stick It To the Man Records | "In April of 2004 Flaneur Productions presented ‘Black Diamond Baby,’ a new play by Jim Bovino. The soundtrack was written and recorded by Rich Barlow (The Pins, Barlow / Petersen / Wivinus, Molloy) and features theme music and dronescapes for Hammond organ and electric guitar, as well as spoken word and music interludes from the play." More info at http://www.geocities.com/flaneur_productions |
| Barlow, Rich | Inventory | CD | $8.99 | Stick It To The Man Records | “In October of 2001 Flaneur Productions presented the world premiere of ‘Inventory’, a new play by playwright John O’Donoghue at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis. The soundtrack was recorded by Rich Barlow (The Pins, Molloy, Barlow/Petersen/Wivinius) and is now available as limited edition cdr from Stick It To The Man. The soundtracks creepy ambience perfectly matches the subject matter of the play, a psychiatric ward where it’s unclear who is the doctor and who is the patient, or whether the building itself is making the inhabitants sick. It was recorded using almost exclusively non-traditional sound sources: fluorescent lights, motors, ground hum and feedback.” | |
| 8/20/2004 | Barlowe, John & Surface of Eceyon | John Barlowe's Reading of "Myths From the Surface of Eceyon," Accompanied By Syrfyyc yf Ycyon's Dragyyn | CDR | $9.99 | Spirit of Orr | “Mysterious poet John Barlow reads the Franz Prichard penned myth that was originally printed in the Surface of Eceyon ‘Dragyyn’ cd packaging...with the audio from Dragyyn as the audio landscape background. The story and music are synced up perfectly for an awesome audio-story sonic adventure.” Limited edition of 100 copies. |
| Barnes, Tim | All Acoustics | CD | $12.99 | Quakebasket | Solo disc from Tim Barnes (Tower Recordings and lots of other projects including the great Quakebasket label). These two improvisations were performed on July 18, 2001 at Lost Planet Editorial, between 9pm and 11pm. There has been no editing or overdubbing done to these performances. “All Acoustics is now pressed as a full-on CD and contains additional art from the original release. However, the music is the same - two lengthy percussion improvisation - cut live with no overdubbing or editing. Barnes attack (and restraint) in line with Cecil Taylor, Derek Bailey, or Toru Takemitsu. But as Tony Oxley, Milford Graves, and Paul Lovins did before him, Barnes searches out all the possible sounds of any object he chooses to play. A recording for non-cynical people everywhere.” | |
| 12/24/2005 | Baroque Bordello | Abnormal Songs | LP | $22.99 | QBICO | Originally issued on cassette on the R.E.P. label in the 80's in very limited quantities, then re-issued on a 10 CD-R box set entitled "Makoto Kawabata Early Works 1978-1981" (ltd. ed. 100 copies only, numbered, sold out). "This is a music that i originally composed for a play called Alice in Nakedland. The play was some erotic expressionist nonsense, sort of like Alice in Wonderland and Dr. Caligari's Crime added together then divided by two. My script was used, but my music was rejected by the other staff members" M. Kawabata. These are recordings from 1980 pressed on light blue clear vinyl. |
| 1/15/2005 | Barrett, Syd | Barrett | CD | $13.99 | Harvest | CD issue of Syd Barrett’s 2nd and last official release from 1970. This reissue features 6 bonus tracks in addition to the 12 on the original recording. "On his second solo album, Barrett was joined by Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and Pink Floyd members Rick Wright (organ) and Dave Gilmour (guitar). Gilmour and Wright acted as producers as well. Instrumentally, the result is a bit fuller and smoother than the first album, although it's since been revealed that Gilmour and Wright embellished these songs as best they could without much involvement from Barrett, who was often unable or unwilling to perfect his performance. The songs, however, are just as fractured as on his debut, if not more so. 'Baby Lemonade,' 'Gigolo Aunt,' and the nursery rhyming 'Effervescing Elephant' rank among his peppiest and best-loved tunes. Elsewhere, the tone is darker and more meandering. It was regarded as something of a charming but unfocused throwaway at the time of its release, but Barrett's singularly whimsical and unsettling vision holds up well." – Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide |
| 10/25/2008 | Barrett, Syd | Opel | LP | $19.99 | "This excellent collection of Syd's psychedelicly whimsical, mostly-acoustic alternate versions and demo tracks was recorded between 1968 and 1970 at Abbey Road Studios, though not compiled and released until 1989. With 8 never-before-heard songs and 6 alternate versions (9 of them produced by David Gilmour), this includes "Opel," "Clowns & Jugglers (Octopus)" (with SOFT MACHINE backing), "Rats," "Golden Hair" (vocal version), "Dolly Rocker," "Word Song," "Wined and Dined," "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)," "Birdie Hop," "Let's Split," "Lanky (Part One)," "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)," "Milky Way," and "Golden Hair" (instrumental version). The 2-color printed board innersleeve includes extensive liner notes and recording details. Original artwork, UK import." | |
| Barrett, Syd | Return of the Crazy Diamond | LP | $18.99 | "A collection of demos and rarities 1968-70 from the psychedelic madcap, it's mostly Syd and his acoustic guitar, with electric guitar and drums accompaniment on a few tunes. 16 tracks, including versions of songs like ‘Baby Lemonade,’ ‘It is Obvious,’ ‘Clowns and Jugglers,’ ‘Gigolo Aunt,’ ‘Effervescing Elephant,’ and several more, with minimal production mostly by Dave Gilmour." | ||
| 1/1/2008 | Barrett, Syd | The Madcap Laughs | LP | $19.99 | "His first 1970 post-FLOYD album (recorded the previous year), with half of the tracks produced by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, and half by Malcolm Jones of Harvest Records, and including some with overdubs by members of SOFT MACHINE. Original artwork, Euro import." | |
| 1/15/2005 | Barrett, Syd | Wouldn’t You Miss Me?: The Best of Syd Barrett | CD | $15.99 | Harvest | "What is it about depravity that demands attention? From disaster porn to Lifetime movies, our culture loves to vicariously exorcise their diminutive traumas through those whose lives have been wrought with pain. This carries over to the world of music where the dynamic between tragedy and reverence is exalted, rather than critiqued, and personified by such talents as Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, Johnny Ace and, more recently, Mark Sandman. The macabre tales and images of their self-destruction are indelibly linked to the bodies of work they left behind, forever blurring the lines that separate an impartial assessment of their talents from the content of their character. The truth is that the music of those who burn out isn't necessarily judged by a different set of standards so much as it's judged by the standards the artists set for themselves during their creative zeniths. After all, these modern legends posthumously govern a world where rumors and hearsay reach mythical proportions and idolaters devote their entire lives to collecting every shred of sound their own personal God/Goddess ever committed to tape. 'Syd' Roger Barrett is one of those golden calves, though fashioned by a much different maker. The infamous story of his rise to the forefront of the burgeoning British psychedelic scene in the late 60s - for those of you not up on your Syd, he was the premier singer/songwriter of Pink Floyd that fell into a drug-induced mania catalyzed by already-prevalent schizophrenic conditions - has been reiterated, exaggerated, invoked, and novelized so many times that it's arguably overshadowed his seminal contributions to popular music. These contributions - his two solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, both released in 1970 - transcend his work with late-60s Pink Floyd and make for haunting aural documents of a prolific talent's dilapidating psyche while paradoxically managing to retain a rich charm and hooks sharp enough to make Peter Pan wet his tights. Discounting a few independently distributed releases and Cleopatra's Octopus, no serious attempt has ever been made to compile the 'best of' Syd Barrett, let alone to confine the content to his solo material. This may be partially due to the Herculean nature of the task. Though the Madcap's output as a solo artist only adds up to roughly 45 songs (22 of which are contained here), it would be easy for the compiler to fail in their intention, given Syd's penchant for an enduring arrangement and melody. The release of Wouldn't You Miss Me, which draws from every facet of Barrett's available recorded output, is certainly no exception, notably omitting 'No Man's Land,' a common fan favorite, and the stark acoustic demo of 'Rats,' which is home to some of Barrett's most self-effacing (and successful) stream-of-consciousness, and was originally released with fuller instrumentation on Barrett before finding its way onto Opel, a collection of rarities and outtakes. Regardless, the collection itself is a long overdue acknowledgment of the disarming beauty found in Syd's work outside the psychedelic stratum." - Kevin Adickes, February 13th, 2002, Pitchfork Magazine. It is also worth noting that this cd includes 'Bob Dylan Blues'which has not been released anywhere before or since. |
| 7/10/2008 | Barrett, Syd | You Got It Now | LP | $20.99 | "This collects 6 rare studio outtakes from 1968-70 on side 1 ("Wouldn't You Miss Me," "She Took a Long Cold Look at Me," "Wined and Dined," "Golden Hair," "Dylan Blues," and "Religious Experience"). The real treat however is his final recording session from 1974, as far as we know previously unreleased: "Boogie #1," "Boogie #2," "Boogie #3," "If You Go," "Ballad," "Chooka Chooka Chug Chug," "If You Go #2," "Slow Boogie," "John Lee Hooker," "Fast Boogie," and an untitled track! UK import." |
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| 3/27/2004 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | 7 Books | DBL CD | $16.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "With over two hours of music spread across two discs, 7 Books finds Basho-Junghans stretching way out, mutating the steel string tradition into the most elaborate excursion into sound and composition that has ever fluttered from his fingertips. Basho-Junghans' experimental works are microcosms of his chance discoveries with the acoustic steel string guitar, focusing in on a particular aspect of his epiphanies; 7 Books gathers all of these microcosms into one Big Bang, erupting into a vast universe of subtle and complex sound galaxies. Six-string guitar provides the template for Disc One, and each 'book' (composition) opens and closes with a deep array of chapters and passages. Chiming tones, pulsating percussive runs, finger scrapes and dazzling finger techniques build and build in raga-like fashion. Disc Two focuses on music composed with slide guitar, and Basho-Junghans' particular alien glissandos dance like refracted light, a gloriously disorienting sound broadcast seemingly from a foreign land. Minimalism, Eastern raga, trance-inducing repetition, Spectralist tonal investigations, folk and American fingerstyle steel-string tradition coalesce into one astounding epic for the solo acoustic guitar. Steffen Basho-Junghans follows his instincts above everything else and discovers a myriad of universes within a solitary instrument, inventing a new language in the process." |
| Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Inside | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Evolving amorphously from the New Folk tradition inspired by Takoma Records artists John Fahey, Peter Lang and especially Robbie Basho, Berlin's most enigmatic steel-string guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans exorcises radically new voices and perspectives out of the acoustic steel string guitar. Possessing an impeccable instinct and insatiable curiosity, this innovative guitar master is on a constant search to discover new possibilities for the instrument. Conceptually, Inside is a metaphysical excursion exploring the idea 'inside the outside'. Using 'wrong' playing techniques as the basic launching point, Inside casts aside the inhibitive shackles of theory and develops the basic idea via a meditative and utterly minimalist approach. Hypnotizing soundscapes emerge from the depths, enveloping and distorting any semblance of time to the point of blissful disorientation. Broken into three movements, '1st Movement' establishes the very essence of the piece as a subtly shifting meander through space, building in a somewhat percussive, raga-like manner. '2nd Movement, Part 1, 2 & 3' seem to hit a sojourn in the trip, dancing around a universe where Derek Bailey and Rod Poole incessantly debate the merits of John Fahey's America album. '3rd Movement' moves back into the saturating theme, galloping through various minute manifestations, ebbing and flowing effortlessly. An astonishing array of sounds are coaxed out of his acoustic steel string, remarkable considering Inside was recorded solo, with no overdubs whatsoever. Standing uniquely apart as a singular suite of minimal-trance for solo acoustic guitar, Inside sets folk standards collectively on it's ear. With this record, Steffen Basho-Junghans makes a radical statement on the potential of acoustic guitar music. His ultimate achievement, however, is the creation of absolute beauty." | |
| 11/4/2006 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Late Summer Morning | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Much in the vein of his pastorale epic Rivers and Bridges, Steffen Basho-Junghans harkens back to the heyday of American Primitive guitar, as defined by John Fahey circa Fare Forward Voyagers and America, and the American raga structures of Robbie Basho. 'Late Summer Morning,' the title track, is an unabashedly beautiful extended composition for 6-string guitar, stretching out languidly and effortlessly like a morning raga saturated in crisp, warming hues. With the steel string tradition as a steadfast reference point, Basho-Junghans utilizes unorthodox pacing, picking and rhythms as Late Summer Morning progresses. 'Woodland Orchestra' discreetly harkens to themes of tone and minimalism as found on 7 Books or any one of his experimental albums, while 'Azure No. 3' wraps glistening guitar lines into circular patterns to create lovely trance-inducing color wheels. A key component to Late Summer Morning, however, is Basho-Junghans' ability to strike out into the unknown while keeping the sounds and tones grounded, something that is evident as multiple sound forms hit the ear with calming bliss. American folk and classical, East Indian raga, Native American linearity, the resonance of Middle Eastern folk and melodic minimalism (i.e. Steve Reich) meld together in a fashion that is tremendously cinematic and allegorically vivid." |
| 2/13/2003 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Rivers and Bridges | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Rivers and Bridges is a pastoral experience, rich in color and texture, coursing through various moods with river allegory at its' core. Impressionist six-string dramaturgy cascade forth, ebbing and flowing in steady rage-like waves, across placid sound pools and frothing rapids. Through each piece a myriad of sounds styles are explored, touching upon American folk, Native American linearity. Middle Eastern resonance, East Indian raga, and Western classical with heartfelt ease - and often within the same tune. Propelled all the while by an intricate sense of melodic invention, the depth of imagery and complexity of texture is remarkable and simply gorgeous. Reminiscent of his Songs of The Earth and the timeless Takoma Records sound, Rivers and Bridges is an instant classic acoustic guitar record, sounding familiar and yet imbued with subtleties unlike anything else you've heard before." |
| 4/10/2005 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Unknown Music 1: Alien Letter | CD | $14.99 | Sillyboy | "'Alien Letter is the 1st project of a series of guitar 'excursions into the Unknown', most of them dialogues with one guitar, recorded live and pure (in my living room) to dat and edited gently. Into this one I came deep at night, when I took a guitar to close the 'day' with some sounds. The channel characteristics are those of the player position. No overdubs or reverb have been added.' - SBJ, Berlin, August 2004. This is how Steffen describes his brand new album, the first one for Sillyboy Records. For us, Alien Letter is another fascinating chapter in Junghans' outstanding musical career - and one of the most mysteriously intriguing. This time, the Berlin-based acoustic guitarist is really mapping uncharted territories and the result is this dense, massive album, linked to the tradition of both Derek Bailey and John Fahey, but also one step forward, out in the unknown. Quite literally beyond description, spiritual and out-there, Alien Letter has probably more in common with the healing power of Albert Ayler and surely it is a deeply personal missive from one of today's greatest acoustic guitarists." |
| 9/30/2005 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Unknown Music II | CD | $14.99 | Preservation | "The Preservation label presents Unknown Music II - Transwarp Meditation, from Steffen Basho-Junghans. The passion for exploratory acoustic music currently in grip has been with Steffen Basho-Junghans for a long time. Based in Berlin, Steffen has been one of the most searching artists in the ever-increasingly loose folk idiom for over two decades. His work on the six and twelve-string guitar makes him a modern-day counterpart to great trailblazers John Fahey and Robbie Basho, from who he takes his name as a creative talisman. Unknown Music II is much more than just a set of psychedelic overtures. It's a work of deep spiritual vision that comes from having travelled far down an exceptionally individual path. |
| 2/2/2002 | Basho-Junghans, Steffen | Waters in Azure | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Steffen Basho-Junghans of Berlin, Germany is certainly the most expansive guitarist working solely within the medium of solo acoustic steel string guitar today. Seeking to understand and absorb every language, every dialect, every ounce of slang that could possibly be uttered from the mouth of the acoustic guitar has led him on a diligent, far-reaching campaign of search and discovery. And the results have been fantastic. Waters in Azure, Steffen's latest exploration since 2001's lauded Inside (SAAH002), takes the next logical step beyond the minimalist free-raga of the aforementioned CD into further uncharted terrain...with even wilder, confounding, but no less gorgeous sonic results. Waters in Azure is an album of sound sculptures, coursing through themes of structure, space and state. Inaugurating the album is 'Waters', a winding, amorphous meditation upon waters' various characteristics. Broken into three distinct parts, the composition coaxes blissfully disorientating shrapnel from the guitar, slithering under Steffen's alien 12-string slide techniques. 'Waters' dances drunkenly like a burbling creek, building, cresting, then breaking into a spacious trickle, only to swell again as it spills forth across some eerie landscape. Harkening back to INSIDE's raga-pulse is 'Inside The Rain', the absolute centerpiece of the album. Shimmering fractals glisten with fantastic beauty, expanding determinedly towards an ecstatic plateau, propelled by the rhythmic, vibrant sparkle of SBJ's 12-string. 'One no. 1' displays (to the extreme) Steffen's penchant for imposing limitations onto his technique as he searches diligently for new planes of discovery. Played entirely with only one finger on the left hand, what once began as a joke (inspired by exaggerated photos of players proving their chops via difficult chord structures) has evolved into a remarkable netherworld. This stark, spacious, otherworldly soundscape ebbs and flows glacially, chiming with tone and color across three parts. The subtly-shifting 'Azure No. 1 - The Suntreader' rounds out the disc with a 'plain color' splash of incessant 6-string strumming. Multiple sound microcosms inhale/exhale methodically, manipulating odd tricks upon the ear from minute variations of attack. You would swear there was a keyboard in there! But no...Waters in Azure was recorded, as always, totally solo, in real time, with absolutely no overdubs, implements or effects used. Experimenting with technique, form, and sound by merging minimalist composition, Eastern raga and the acoustic steel string/folk tradition pioneered by Robbie Basho, John Fahey and Sandy Bull, indifferent to the inherent disparity between those genres, Steffen Basho-Junghans transcends any easy pigeonholing to sit perched high atop a musical plane entirely of his own vision. Water is Azure is his latest volley at the gods and goddesses of sound, pelting them mercilessly with his elaborately foreign, yet utterly beautiful brand of minimalist solo guitar." |
| 2/3/2005 | Basinski, William | Silent Night | CD | $13.99 | 2062 | “Basinski's long anticipated followup to The Disintegration Loops series. Elegant and mind-numbingly good, what the world has been waiting for.” - FE "Newest work by Basinski. Very tranquil, somnolent ambient meditation, 60 min. Composed using the Voyetra 8 synthesizer. In clear plastic sleeve with ink jet printed folder featuring a drawing by James Elaine." |
| 7/1/2004 | Basinski, William | The Disintegration Loops III | CD | $13.99 | 2062 | "As time passes by, one feels like trapped in quicksand: the more you try to liberate your mind from the echo of memories, the worse you get entangled into that certain 'something' thought to be completely forgotten, but still there in your very 'me'. This image came to my mind while listening to the fifth movement of Basinski's work-in-progress on these heartbreaking loops, probably the absolute top of the series as far as a simple concept of 'beauty' is usable. A few orchestral chords stretch one over another while the rolling tape shows here his worst kind of deteriorating, transforming a throbbing atmosphere of delicate infancy rememberings into a flesh-tearing interruption, then again getting into an almost complete silence, broken only by tape hiss and the last remnants of original sound: let me tell you, truly memorable. Part 6 begins right there where the other ends - more chordal superimpositions in infinite repeat - this time with minor damage to the tape during its course. This particular piece sounds like a long reflection on what's become of us after so many beautiful moments of our life; what should we try to do to the ones we care about to let them feel our love and respect? William's music is certainly a sign to all of us, he's opening his chest and letting us see what's in there: unbelievably, I - for one - have been able to look into a good portion of my own past thanks to his sad yet wondrous recalls." - Massimo Ricci |
| 11/9/2004 | Basinski, William | Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive | DBL CD | $27.99 | Durtro | "William Basinski is a musician and composer who has worked in experimental media for over twenty years in NYC, expanding the boundaries of the aural landscape. A classically trained clarinetist, he studied jazz saxophone and composition at North Texas State University in the late 70s. He developed his meditative, melancholy style experimenting with short looped melodies played against themselves, creating feedback loops. His early studies with piano and tape, from 1980–82, 'Variations: A Movement in Chrome Primitive', has finally been made available." |
| 10/5/2004 | Batoh, Masaki | Collected Works 1995-1996 | CD | $14.99 | Drag City | "The works that Collected Works collects are A Ghost From The Darkened Sea and Kikaokubeshi, two albums recorded and released in 1995 and 1996, during the final period of conceptualization for Ghost's Lama Rabi Rabi album. These two solo records allowed Batoh to explore musics and textures in an entirely free space from the already quite free (and rapidly morphing) Ghost. This is a solo record in a very complete sense: acoustic guitar, marimba, harmonium, voodoo drum, bells, hurdy gurdy, organ, drums, horns, duff, Moog synthesizer and the mysterious 'giri giri pee' are all played by Batoh. In addition, field recordings done by Batoh are in the mix - birds, seashore, winds on a bluff, industrial noise, metro, mountains, etc. The two works are fundamentally different: A Ghost From The Darkened Sea being an earthy collection of folk-songs; Kikaokubeshi composed almost entirely of a dreamy ambience." |
| 10/5/2004 | Batoh, Masaki | Collected Works 1995-1996 LP | LP | $14.99 | Drag City | "The works that Collected Works collects are A Ghost From The Darkened Sea and Kikaokubeshi, two albums recorded and released in 1995 and 1996, during the final period of conceptualization for Ghost's Lama Rabi Rabi album. These two solo records allowed Batoh to explore musics and textures in an entirely free space from the already quite free (and rapidly morphing) Ghost. This is a solo record in a very complete sense: acoustic guitar, marimba, harmonium, voodoo drum, bells, hurdy gurdy, organ, drums, horns, duff, Moog synthesizer and the mysterious 'giri giri pee' are all played by Batoh. In addition, field recordings done by Batoh are in the mix - birds, seashore, winds on a bluff, industrial noise, metro, mountains, etc. The two works are fundamentally different: A Ghost From The Darkened Sea being an earthy collection of folk-songs; Kikaokubeshi composed almost entirely of a dreamy ambience." |
| 10/25/2008 | Baumann, Matt | An Island | CDR | $12.99 | Reverb Worship | "This is "An Island" by saxophonist Matt Baumann. Over the summer months we talked about releasing an album. Matt's response was to send me this wonderful solo recording. The cd is split into eight tracks.Imagine the waves breaking on the beach of some remote deserted island with echoing calls of a lyrical,mournful and lonely saxophone crying from a inner soul. I wanted to combine the release with a recollection from my past. I always loved the music of saxophonist Jan Garbarek and cover designs of the german ECM record label he was on. So this is the result." |
| 1/13/2004 | Baz / Edith Bunker's Demonized Vomit Insurance | split | LP | $8.99 | Nauscopy Records | "Imagine if an ant the size of a golden retriever and an elephant the size of an ant haunted you at night in an effort to get you to smear your naked body with electricity and deli mustard in the stratosphere, only to be directly transported to a very dark place. You fumble around and find a doorknob. Won't open. Your vision adjusts to the darkness and you slowly realize you are in your own closet. Whose idea was it to lock the closet anyway?" Handmade jackets. Lot of inserts. A strange record. Edition of 200 copies. |
| 1/1/2008 | Beach Boys | Smile | LP | $20.99 | "A great collection of unreleased outtakes and demos from their psychedelic "Smiley Smile" period: "Prayer," "Heroes & Villains," "Barnyard," "Do You Like Worms," "The Old Masterpainter / You are My Sunshine," "He Gives Speeches," "Wonderful," Child is Father of the Man," "Cabin Essence," "Look," "Good Vibrations," "I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night," "Vega-Tables," "Wind Chimes," "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow," "I Love to Say DaDa," "You're Welcome," and "Surf's Up." Very informative liner notes on each track, and a nice full color cover. UK import." | |
| 11/17/2007 | Beak Full of Rubies | Beak Full of Rubies | one sided LP | $12.99 | Ypsilanti Records | "An entire year after they were initially pressed, the Beak Full Of Rubies one-sided LPs are finally finished, printed, amazing and ready for the world. There were only 100 copies made, and they'll be gone in a lot less than a year! If you have no idea who BFOR are, don't worry, they're kinda under the radar. It's Scott Deroche, Chuck Sipperly & Chandan Narayan, three sweet dudes who improvise and rustle in an elctro-acoustic via sampled noise and prepared instruments style." |
| 7/14/2007 | Bear Bones Lay Low | Djid Hums | LP | $19.99 | Gipsy Sphinx | "Its the debut LP of Bear Bones Lay Low, the psych noise power drone project of Ernesto González, an 18 year old Venezuelan kid who moved to Belgium with his family three years ago. Thick layers of Hototogisu-like guitar drones interfere with endless tape loops and warm washes of analogue jungle color tone to work up to an overwhelming fuzz guitar climax, leaving listeners helpless, ecstatic, puzzled and bemused. Ernesto has been making music for three years now, has various solo as well as collaboration projects going on, has released a slew of amazing selfmade cdrs and has recently also become a full time member of Belgiums best: freefolk/krautrock outfit Silvester Anfang, whove got an LP out on Eclipse now. A promising new star in the psych drone skies." |
| 12/25/2005 | Beast People, The | Special Edition | DVD-R | $12.99 | Hanson | "DVDr reissue of THE BEAST PEOPLE vhs video released in 1999. This contains the entire video, plus commentary by drunk college girls! Also in the extras are the 1996 & 1997 HANSON promotional videos with clips from ISIS & WEREWOLVES, AWK, NAUTICAL ALMANAC, and more...1997 promo can also be played backwards! DVD authored by C. Spencer Yeh." |
| 2/26/2006 | Beast People, The | The Beast People | 10" | $8.99 | Hanson | Recorded in 1999. One-sided 10" in generic green sleeve. No other information available. Ltd. to 300 copies only. |
| 4/5/2008 | Bee Mask | Elusive Lunar Bow | cassette | $7.99 | Together Tapes | "Cleveland based Bee Mask gives us two sloth speed arcs of homemade synth intensity. Everytime the bottom drops out on this tape I lose my brain... and my guts if its loud enough. You know how in a blackhole space is moving really fast all around you but you're stuck in perpetual stillness, yeah. Edition of 100 with heavy printed 4C art and mag scrap all over labels." |
| 3/27/2004 | Beequeen | A Touch of Brimstone | CD | $14.99 | Staalplaat | “Beequeen planned to celebrate their tenth anniversary in 1999 with two releases. The first was 'Do Be Do - an anthology of live recordings', which was released as a limited 2LP set on Plinkity Plonk in 1999 (now available as a CDR). The second one was an anthology of recordings that were hard to get and/or previously unreleased - a CD called 'A Touch Of Brimstone'. 'Brimstone' was sent to various labels who expressed their interest in releasing it, but somehow and somewhere lost interest. So merely three years in the process of making, it's now finally available. 'A Touch of Brimstone' features many unreleased recordings from 1989 to1995, aswell as a one cut from the now long-deleted Scala Destillans LP. This release comes with a 32-page booklet, with many exclusive flyers from concerts and hilarious, not seen before, photographs of the band and a fully updated discography. The texts in this booklet are by Till Kniola (Auf Abwegen magazine), Baraka[H] (Troum), Terry Bennett (Beequeen's webmaster), Elenka Freikkar (longest dedicated fan) and Seward D. Faran (Institute for Electrical Music).” |
| 8/22/2008 | Beequeen | Sandancing | CD | $13.99 | Important | "After the by now usual gap of some two years, Beequeen is ready to present their latest album, further maturing their sound from The Bodyshop (also on Important Records). More song-based, this album features new vocals by Olga Wallis solely (with some backing by Freek Kinkelaar). Well rounded pop songs in some places, but Beequeen never forgets to put in some strange element, without leaping in the dark alley of pointless experiment." |
| 3/27/2004 | Beequeen | Sugarbush | CD | $14.99 | Raum 312 | 1996 release of industrial veterans Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar is inspired by and dedicated to Joseph Beuys, the German visual artist whose unconventional and transitory works of art were an attempt to break through society's rationality. This third, Beequeen album is conceptually very much in line with Beuys' philosophy. Coveting the titles of some of their favourite Frank Sinatra, Nell Diamond and Presley songs they start from a commonly known theme, but the great thing about it is they allow a whole new world of musical forms and matters to flourish from it in a composition that radiates positive ambiences from beginning to end. 'Sugarbush' is one huge organic flow of constantly shifting moods, with music that ranges from softer ambiental textures with a quiet rhythmic undercurrent, over more extreme metallic noise acoustics and semi-melodic collages of recuperated and manipulated sounds. Beautiful soundscapes for your cold winter evenings, and - in my opinion - the best Beequeen album to date. An experience that is not to be missed...” - GR - from Tanz Der Rozen No. 4 |
| 3/11/2005 | Beequeen | The Bodyshop | CD | $10.99 | Important Records | "It took Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar two years to complete the recordings for The Bodyshop, the successor to their much-acclaimed CD Ownliness from 2002. The Bodyshop continues where Ownliness left off. Ownliness marked a distinct break with Beequeen's past. The ambient-industrial drone music of yesteryear was said goodbye and the Beequeen's love of pop music returned. The instruments changed from organs, synthesizers and sound effects to guitars, drums, bass and guest musicians on cello and even vocals (a distinctive first for Beequeen). The Bodyshop features two of these remarkable vocals tracks; a cover of Nick Drake's 'Black Eyed Dog' (sung by Antenne's Marie-Louise Munck) and the indeed very sad track 'Sad Sheep'. Although Beequeen never cites influences, it's easy spot their interest in the Beatles' psychedelic period and latter day Talk Talk in combination with a love for krautrock and microsound - not the most likely of combinations, but somehow it all makes sense on The Bodyshop." |
| 8/22/2008 | Beequeen | Time Waits For No One | CD | $13.99 | Herbal | "Time Waits For No One's material isn't new, having been recorded in Nijmegen in 1992-93 and originally released in 1994 on Staalplaat, but the genre of experimental drone-based exploration is one of those most capable of transcending time. Beequeen members Freek Kinkelaar (Brunnen) and Frans de Waard (Kapotte Muziek, Goem) use electronics, voices, and unidentified instruments to scatter two long tracks (ten and twenty minutes) amongst seven more modest settings. Whether long or short, the pieces are largely hazy meditations whose industrial churn is speckled with string plucks, percussive patterns, and electronic effects. Not surprisingly, the long tracks make the strongest impression: in the episodic "Six Notes on Blank Tape," bowed scrapes of string instruments groan over a throbbing bass drone and the simulated roar of a train clatters along its tracks, and in the album's most fully-realized piece, the a doomscape "Rupert Writes a Rainbow," a '50s sci-fi synthesizer floats atop a droning unfurl of whooshes and gaseous emissions. The album's material unfurls organically in subtle strokes, sometimes so quietly it verges on microsound, and the generally relaxed feel suggests the collaborators had ample studio time with which to pursue their playful explorations." - textura.org |
| 6/7/2005 | Beets, The | Say Yes | CDR | $5.99 | Colour Sound Recordings | "This 6 track 54+ minute album from Brooklyn noise-improv-textural-sound duo THE BEETS is a plea for all of us and even YOU to "Say Yes"! Say yes to the "No's" to the "I Don't Knows" to the "Maybe's" and to the lust of life. On a musical level, THE BEETS reside in a world that crosses the lines of noise, European free-improvsation, abstract yet lush electronics, and focused chance taking?! "Say Yes" was recorded in one night, all complete 100% improvisations, and with NO overdubs, and yet all tracks form stories of their own languages, non-synonymous with each-other, yes somehow, globally cohesive. Think of the edgy noise-improv of AMM fused with lush synths ala TANGERINE DREAM, random cassette samples clashing with chimes and a bass feeding back, and even one track of nothing but distorted cymbals...yup that's just a hint of the madness and confusion within, and its a fucking mind-scramble of beautiful proportions. THE BEETS is John Dalessi on keyboard, 4-track w/ cassettes, electronics, and cymbal and Adam Kriney on drums, percussion, electric bass, and electronics. You may also know John from his noisy distortions in his freak-rock collective DIRTY CHURCHES and you may have heard Adam banging away with his psych/prog duo LA OTRACINA or his free-jazz group OWL SOUNDS." Limited edition of 100 copies. |
| 8/4/2007 | Begushkin | Nightly Things | LP | $15.99 | Locust | "Begushkin is Brooklyn swinging sultan, multi-instrumentalist and masterful songwriter Dan Smith & friends. Begushkin's debut full length Nightly Things is an 8 track journey into a creepy & disturbing surreal nightlife full of enemies, coarse love, and violence delivered with both a manic desperation and deadpanned absurdity that's augmented by Smith's intricate guitar picking & a woman's mournful harmonies." |
| 6/26/2002 | Behrens, M. | Architectural Commentaries | CD | $10.99 | CMR | "German composer and sound artist Marc Behrens has put forth a beautiful installment of sound work for cmr's second CD release, entitled Architectural Commentaries. Marc has been working with sound (in one form or another) since 1986 and is probably most recognised for his digitally re-worked field material and composition. With a long history of installation work and live performance, he has exhibited alone and in group exhibitions; and performed live internationally in locations such as Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK. He has completed tours with fellow sound artists Francisco Lopez, Bernhard Gunter and John Duncan and has had notable CD releases on Gunter's label Trente Oiseaux (Germany), Digital Narcis (Japan), Raster Music (Germany) and Intransitive Recordings (USA). Architectural Commentaries is comprised of five tracks. The first three pieces, entitled Architectural Commentaries 1-3', are some of Marc's most recent compositions arranged in 2001 using basic material recorded from 1990- 2000 in various global locations. Taking title, sleeve images and sound together we are left with new audible environments for architectural structures; jets of forced air and amplified nothing, distant machinery and tiny bites of frequency, faded and cut together to create beautifully atmospheric soundscapes. Track 4 was previously released on RLW's 'Tulpas' 5 CD set (Selektion 024) and was constructed using source material from Ralf Wehowsky. Track 5 was composed in 1992 as a soundtrack to accompany the video Der Raum by Torsten Grosch - stills of which feature on the CD sleeve. The album permits a smooth flow between Marc's earlier and more recent work and shows the artists' continuing exploration into the depth and dimensions of sound recording." |
| 2/15/2005 | Believers, The | Brontoursaurus | CDR | $8.99 | Apostasy Recordings | From Hadley, Massachusetts we have a new six track cdr from The Believers (Anna Klein, Jessi Swanson, and from both Son of Earth and Shackamaxon Matt Krefting and John Shaw). "Packaged in handmade, elongated cardstock envelopes; with hand-stamped cover and informative insert." |
| 7/16/2006 | Believers, The | Forgotten Tracks | CDR | $9.99 | Blueberry Honey | "A long three track CDR collecting a particularly insulated and homespun era of the BELIEVERS development. Especially the longer-than-album-side rendition of their standard, ëThe Lakeí. Step inside, take a breath, get to know this album. Perhaps you will glimpse the reasons why so many in the valley are holding their breath for the BELIEVERS debut LP. Features members of SON OF EARTH, SHACKAMAXON, DUCK, IDEA FIRE COMPANY, SAPAT, so many other spins, the whole meatball is here. Packaged in simple xerox folded jackets, origami style." |
| Bensen, Nick | No Resistance | CD | $12.99 | Free City Media | "The San Francisco iconoclast is back to settle old scores and forge new directions on his second solo CD. More straight psychedelic rock than the first album, No Resistance also ventures further into uncharted territory. 'I listened to a lot of music by the Dipsomaniacs, Lucky Bishops, Motorpsycho and Spirit while recording the album. Those of you familiar with these groups may detect their influences in my work. As always, my usual favorites The Bevis Frond, Guided by Voices and Pavement, and lifelong musical heroes John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix were never far from my consciousness. At any rate, this CD is a labor of love and I hope it blows your mind.'" | |
| Bensen, Nick | Psychedelic Juggernaut | CD | $12.99 | Free City Media | "Nick Bensen is a San Francisco-based musician and composer originally from New York, and a veteran of the New England jam scene. His first album, Psychedelic Juggernaut, released on the Free City Media label, is definitely worth checking out. The album is, in Bensen's words, a 10-track exploration of 'the acid rock thread running through Britpop, heavy blues, progressive, alternative and techno.' As 1960's acid-rock bands mined the catalogues of blues musicians and interpreted their music through a modern, psychedelic sound, so Bensen, using entirely original songs, has interpreted 'the acid rock' in an entirely contemporary mode, combining electronica and indie sounds to create something new. What results is a progressive fusion of today's 'science fiction' techno with 60's psychedelia, a sound reminiscent of Beck, or the British artists The Bevis Frond and The Lucky Bishops." | |
| 3/2/2007 | Bernstein, Michael R. & Mike Shiftlet | Live, New York | CDR | $8.99 | Gameboy | "Heavy Tapes & GMBY co-sponsored wrestling match. Recorded live at the ErstQuake Festival at Tonic., this one's a set of heavy and focused modulation. The improv crowd hated it, maybe you will too." |
| Bertoia, Harry | Unfolding | CD | $16.99 | PSF | "The 1st release from Japan of the late great sound sculptor. Ambient and strange atmosphere." | |
| 7/31/2006 | Besombes, Philippe | Cesi est Cela | CD | $13.99 | Mio Records | "Third volume in MIO's Besombes reissue program, following Libra & Pole. First time on CD. Features recordings made in France 1972-1979. "A chemist by training, Philippe Besombes was engaged in the French avant-garde scene from the early 1970s. Abandoning his doctoral degree for his pioneering work with new electronics in different musical contexts, he supported himself through the seventies creating the sounds for theater and ballet, and was a well-known audio engineer in the French contemporary concert scene. Perhaps best known for his group Hydravion, Besombes still records and releases music at his studio in Versailles. This 1976 release includes early ballet music that was originally recorded between 1974-1975 for several contemporary ballet groups in Paris. The recording was assisted by Jean Louis Rizet, with whom Besombes was then working in his recording studio. Bonus tracks include 2 early pieces from 1972 (recorded during his time engineering for Stockhausen, Nono and others at the Festival d?Art Contemporain de La Rochelle) and thirty additional minutes of unreleased ballet music from 1975, which is among his best work for theater." |
| 1/21/2005 | Bevis Frond | Through The Looking Glass | CD | $14.99 | Rubric | "A CD reissue of the Bevis Frond's 1987 double-LP odds'n'sods album, originally released as a private press item in an edition of 500. Thirteen tracks in all, including 'Alistair Jones' - which Nick Saloman recorded in 1967 at the tender age of 14 - and the epic lysergic workouts 'The Shrine,' '1970 Home Improvements' and 'Purple Shine.'" Nice collection to finally be available again! |
| 7/29/2004 | Bianchi, Maurizio | Cycles | CDR | $17.99 | Alga Marghen | "The terminal concept of 'Cycles' is matured after the sharp "Fragments" and the "Glacial Mosaics" of MB's recent artistic reproduction, at the end of a triennial project, aiming to exacerbate the routine of prefab sound, the common and forgone sound created to be exclusively consumed by an amorphous and servile mass, sunken in a sullen entertainment. The approach here is totally new and the fragment is isolated and costantly repeated in order to build an aural minimal architecture. As MB states: 'Our whole existence is subordinated to intense and mathematical cycles, from the biological to the technological one, from the solar to the lunar one, from the historical to the legendary one. The cyclicity of the sonorous meanders of 'Cycles' is, probably, the unique example of cyclic music. Particular and interatomic sonorous repercussions infinitely and distinctly repeating themselves, captured in a spectroscopy of atavic and coriaceous notes'. And in the classic mood of the early 80s style, MB continues: 'The establishment will disagree. Such an experiment will be considered tedious and banal. What matters to me is not the ephemeral judgement of this sick and condemned reality. Finally the nine cycles included in this minimal work could be considered my appropriate epitaph. I have already entirely expressed my own artistic freedom and I wonder whether this might be nothig but the end of another cycle, in anxious expectation of the... eternal cycle'. Due to the extreme nature of the material included, the reproduction of this edition has been limited to 200 copies only." |
| 11/2/2008 | Bianchi, Maurizio (M.B.) | Mectpyo Box | 10xCD Boxset | $224.99 | Alga Marghen | "Exclusive presentation of the complete M.B. / Maurizio Bianchi recordings from the early 1980s originally issued on LP. Starting from Sterile Records' "Symphony for a Genocide" to Broken Flag's "The Plain Truth", passing through DYS' "Mectpyo Bakterium" and all the records privately issued by M.B. on his Mectpyo Sound. A slipcase with 10 CDs reproducing the 10 LP issued between 1981 and 1984, plus all the tracks by M.B. from international LP compilations and a large selection of tracks from international K7 compilations. Each CD reproduces the original artwork and layout, with a new numbered inlay card. Also included is a 84 page booklet with original atworks and collages, M.B. playlists, interviews and reviews, as well as essays by M.B. on S.P.K., Whitehouse and Come, T.G., Monte Cazazza, Metabolists, Conrad Schnitzler and excerpts from the "Dictionary of the Ultra-Glaciality". Edition limited to 200 numbered copies, including the following CDs: "Symphony for a Genocide" (1981) CD: M.B. Electronics, Effects, Rhythms. The most extreme music you're ever likely to hear, the sound of industrial music, a sound that is totally devastating in all senses of the term. Harsh waves of electronic pulsations overload the circuitry causing sensory breakdown. Maximum electronics! Also included are the 3 tracks from the 1980 "International Compilation 1" on Die Form's Bain Total. "Menses" (1981) CD: all selections by M.B. The two long siutes "Yra" and "Scent" pessimistically excludes any possibility to survive. Suicidal album. Death is a pleasure after a side of this record. Let M.B. be your executioner! Also included are the two tracks from the Hater's "Nowhere to Play" compilation (1982), as well as the very early "Milan Bruits" from Der Plan's "Fix Planet" compilation (1981). "Neuro Habitat / Moerter Unter Uns" (1982) CD: M.B.'s at his creative peak. There are actually melodies present, dense and dark that mutate into harsh electronic outbursts. The molecular misfortunes of a life close to the bounds ("Neuro habitat"), and the revealed asynchronism of the organized murder ("Moerter Unter Uns"). Also included is "Plutoniumetrio" from the Come Organisation's "Fuer Ilse Koch" compilation (1982). "Regel" (1982) CD: M.B. experimentation with noise syndrome has developed into a powerful stylistic electronic music, coherent and dynamic. A dense synthetic melange sets the backdrop over which he uses various rhythms/effects to achieve maximum intensity. Very like some Conrad Schnitzler best efforts. Also includes "Acido Prussico" from Broken Flag's "Neuengamme" compilation (1982). "Mectpyo Bakterium" (1981) CD: M.B. protoelctronics, compositions, arrangements. Two extended electronic pieces which may prove to be the best compositions M.B. has created. "Mectpyo Bakterium" is a vision of the aftermath of technological society driven to its destruction. A vivid expression of a world in extintion. Also included are two tracks from "40 days/40 Nights" and "International Frienship" compilations (1983). "Das Testament" (1982) CD: M.B. electronics, rhuthms, neutronic effects. All titles de-composed and performed by M.B. A pulsating and visionary work dedicated to those who will suffer in the future for our choice to ireparably spoil our natural and social ambient. Also included in 30 minutes of M.B. live in Milano on January 1st, 1983. "Endometrio" (1980-81) CD: M.B. takes the distance from the movement of the industrial bruitists, presenting what he calls "biologic music", sounds synthetically produced by the manipulation and transformation of pre-recorded electronic sources. The pre-apocalyptic music uncompromisingly refuses any kind of neo-avantgardism in order to state the reasons of a profound biological/human and physiologic/evolutive engagement. Also included are excerpts from various international compilations on cassette (1980/1983). "Carcinosi" (1979/1982) CD: this record represents an injection of new, more open-minded and anti-conformist methodologies. A disquieting sound dilutes and coagulates. The structure eludes the listener with minimal variations, trated and filtered synthetical sounds that become new organisms, sound cells analysed under the microscope. Also included are two tracks from Broken Flag's "Axis Sally" (1983) and "Frankenstein Juke Box" compilation tapes. "The Plain Truth" (1983) CD: all track de-composed by M.B. at Mecptyo studio in Milano. A very atmospheric records including two long suites titled "The Plain Truth" and "M.B. 55 T.D. 56". The first sign of M.B. new spiritual orientation marking the end of a very intense period of experimetations. Also included is an exclusive interview recorded at Radio popolare, Milano, on January 1st, 1983. "Armaghedon" (1984) CD: produced and directed by Maurizio Bianchi, soundtrack to the film with the same title. The most obscure and elusive M.B. output. The original LP was never distributed, most of the copies were destroyed by M.B. after its release." One copy available. |
| 2/12/2008 | Bianchi, Maurizio / Fhievel / Hue | Erimos | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "This release is quite special as it has given us the opportunity to work with one of our all-time favorite artists (and one of the true all-time greats), Maurizio Bianchi. "Erimos" is the first in a series of works about the spaces "between the elements." This album contains a single, 40+ minute exploration. Heavy on electronics, the amazing thing is how warm the whole piece feels. Bianchi is joined by two of the next generation of Italian sound sculptors, Hue (aka Matteo Uggeri) and Fhievel (aka Luca Bergero). The two have breathed new life into Bianchi's music, showing that the future of the Italian underground is brighter than ever. Bianchi began producing music almost 30 years ago in 1979, and since 1980 has used electronic equipment with the avowed goal "to produce technological sounds and in such a way to work on complete realising of the modern decadence." His best known work, "Symphony for a Genocide" was recently reissued by New York-based Hospital Productions. This seminal wor |