| DateAdded | Artist | Title | Format | Price | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/8/2005 | C.O.B. | Moyshe McStiff & The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart | CD | $18.99 | Radioactive Records | First official reissue of the one of the true pinnacles of British Psychedelic Folk, orginally issued by Polydor in 1972. This, their 2nd and final record after Spirt Of Love, is truly 'as good as it gets' and Radioactive have really bumped up the quality ratio for this release. "Formed by Clive Palmer (folk legend and founder of the Incredible String Band) and championed today by figures as diverse as Billy Connolly, Johnny Marr and Bert Jansch, COB's music was neglected in its time but has come to be regarded as the epitome of acid folk. Radioactive is delighted to announce the first ever official reissue of their 1972 masterpiece, Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers Of the Sacred Heart. Soulful, reflective, joyous and utterly musicianly, its reappearance is way overdue. Fully licensed from the band. Featuring the legendary Danny Thompson on bass. Remastered at Abbey Road by NickWebb from the original master tapes. Featuring full participation from all musicians involved. Complete with fully annotated and illustrated 8 page booklet. This issue is not only set to be definitive, but also to place Moyshe McStiff firmly where it should always have been - in the pantheon of truly classic albums." |
| 9/30/2005 | C.O.B. | Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart | LP | $25.99 | Radioactive Records | "Formed by Clive Palmer (folk legend and founder of the Incredible String Band) and championed today by figures as diverse as Billy Connolly, Johnny Marr and Bert Jansch, COB's music was neglected in its time but has come to be regarded as the epitome of acid folk." Comes in a deluxe gatefold sleeve - reissue of 1972 release. |
| 2/7/2009 | Cabinet of Natural Curiosities | Searchlight Needles | CD | $8.99 | For Arbors | "It was November 2006 when I first heard "Vineland" and fell in love with the intoxicating music of Jasmine Dreame Wagner, the album filled with dream-laden folk and whispering melodies. Now, two years later, I am hypnotised again, the beautiful sounds of this album even eclipsing what has gone before, a mature and confident records that manages to awaken my very soul. Opening with a chiming guitar, "little Ice Age" is quickly enveloped in a sonic mist that falls from the mountainside, chilly whispered vocals creating tension that is not released by the persistent percussion and insistent echoed flutes. Following on, "Sun" follows a similar path, although this time the guitar and melody remain at the front, dancing above the mist, the gorgeous chorus refrain shining like a jewel within the song. Sounding like Banhart covering Pink Floyd (almost), "For Sparrow" is possibly the finest track on the album, the soft folk beginnings of the song soothing the listener before the strange things happen, the tune drifting into a slice of electronic psych-drone, destroying time and any memory of what has gone before. All of a sudden, guitar and vocals return, the haunting "Cities", beautifully simple and simply beautiful. More psych than folk, "moon" is a whispering lament seemingly as ancient as the world itself, a wisp of smoke that curls across the room and vanishes. Building from a rattle of bells, "Glass" utilises every second of its eleven minutes, rising from experimental roots to become an electric monster, featuring raw drumming and banshee guitar, demonstrating a rare sense of abandon within its fractured groove, before finally decaying into the forest floor. Offering sweet rest "Grass" relaxes the senses, calming the very earth with poetic charm. After the drone of "Fabulist Decay", a stuttering cloud of noise, "Black Water" emerges slowly, blinking in the pale sun, a minimalist guitar line frosted with a gorgeous vocal performance, slow and delicious. Finally "Owllullaby" end as it began, a chiming guitar and wonderful lyrics bringing a smile to your face and warmth to your heart." - Simon Lewis, Terrascope Online |
| 11/2/2008 | Cadena Muerto | Paranoia is Total Awareness | CDR | $8.99 | Cut Hands | "Cadena Muerto is a new demon brought to life by Slow Listener's Robin Dickinson. Dickinson's harsher alter ego if you will, the rage inside in the shape of wretched guitarnoise, deformed pieces of snare fuck, mangled metal and visions of Derek Baily recording inside metal shredders." edition of 40 copies, black and white artwork and insert. |
| 3/1/2007 | Cahier | Jour Ouvrable II | CDR | $7.99 | Foxglove | "Finland's marko neumann aka cahier returns with his second blast of warm air straight from the arctic. lilting drones that are conjured from a variety of sources, some electronic, some acoustic, dance like magical lights just out of reach, but close enough to feel. this sequel to cahier's first foxglove offering puts the puzzle pieces in place so that the listener can hear the full scope of his range. the short bursts are like chance meetings in the street; like a place of refuge from the cold. cahier's latest continues neumann's quest to touch the sun." Edition of 100 copies. |
| 5/14/2007 | Cahier | Jour Ouvrable III | CDR | $13.99 | Cut Hands | "Third and final edition in Marko Neumann's Jour Ouvrable series and without a doubt the heaviest and most intense Cahier so far. Ashened glaciers of droning feedback crashing with insane, electrocuted pianoloops, muffled vocal scum and organs being torn out. It all builds up real nice from drawn out noisescapes to intenser, filthier heights before falling face down in a pool made of the sweetest piano melody ever. Comes in chalk paper sleeves with insert. Cover art by Mako Sushi, limited to 60 copies." |
| 7/14/2007 | Cahier (Orchestra) | Ciudad | CDR | $7.99 | Phantom Limb Recordings | "Marko of FInland has been making music for a long time (with releases on Foxglove, Cut Hand and Sloow Tapes). But he has never made a collection of sounds as brutal and intense at this yet. Phantom Limb is honored to release this truly epic set of sonic mayhem, blasted rhythms and blurred soundscapes. Glitched out bliss from across the sea!" Limited edition of 90 copies. |
| 8/13/2004 | Cale, John | New York in the 1960's | 5 x LP Box | $89.99 | Table of the Elements | "John Cale's great credit, both inside and outside the Velvet Underground, was to have found the inoculation dosage that would addict the music industry to SOUND without alienating one world from the other. But outside the 'official' VU there was also an uncut version of the virus, incubated behind the slum walls of the 1960s Lower East Side, and maintained live in the liquid nitrogen of these insolently recorded reel-to-reel audiotapes, recorded and produced by Tony Conrad and now available in the massive Table of the Elements 5xLP boxed set, New York in the 1960s. This box collects Sun Blindness Music, Dream Interpretation: Inside the Dream Syndicate Vol. II, and Stainless Gamelan: Inside the Dream Syndicate Vol. III on vinyl with bonus tracks." Housed inside a black-lacquered wood box in an edition of 1000 copies. Essential. |
| 11/9/2004 | Cale, John & Terry Riley | Church of Anthrax | LP | $15.99 | Columbia | "A one-time-only collaboration between former Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale and minimalist composer Terry Riley, 1971's Church of Anthrax doesn't sound too much like the solo work of either. Around this time, Riley's works were along the lines of ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’ or ‘Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band’: pattern music with an obsessive attention to repetition and tricks with an analogue delay machine that gave his music a refractory, almost hallucinogenic quality. Though Cale was trained in a similar aesthetic (he played with La Monte Young, surely the most minimal of all minimalist composers), he had largely left it behind by 1971, and so Church of Anthrax mixes Riley's drones and patterns with a more muscular and melodic bent versed in both free jazz and experimental rock. Not quite modern classical music, but not at all rock & roll either, Church of Anthrax sounds in retrospect like it was a huge influence on later post-minimalist composers like Andrew Poppy, Wim Mertens, and Michael Nyman, who mix similar doses of minimalism, rock, and jazz. On its own merits, the album is always interesting, and the centerpiece ‘The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles’ is probably the point where Riley and Cale approach each other on the most equal footing. The low point is Cale's solo writing credit, ‘The Soul of Patrick Lee,’ a slight vocal interlude by Adam Miller that feels out of place in these surroundings.” – Stewart Mason, All Music Guide. 180 gram vinyl reissue of 1971 LP. |
| 7/30/2006 | Calvinist, John Henry | King Solomon Hill | CDR | $7.99 | Foxglove | "Traditions don't often go softly into the night. they may fest under the surface of things for a while, but they don't truly disappear. the lost domain's john henry calvinist prepares a set of limestone-dusted originals which snake their way through the muddy rivers of days gone by. dirt-soaked radio transmissions from distant dimensions scorch the reels and get things moving. there's enough space in these towering guitar explorations to suck marrow from the sky. these back porch acoustic blues sing to the heavens, "come down and get me, i'm just waiting..." - label |
| 10/25/2008 | Camellia | 23'39- EP | CDR | $12.99 | Reverb Worship | "Camellia are an excellent trio from Japan.The band play instumental post/progressive rock with some interesting time signatures reminding me a little of a more commercial version of Koenjihyakkei or Ruins.The cd features three excellent tracks and comes in an edition of 50 hand numbered copies." |
| 10/21/2009 | Caminiti, Evan | Psychic Mud Shrine | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis Arts & Crafts | "For my money, Barn Owl is the best new band to emerge in the last five years. Their trajectory has been meteoric, progressing musically and conceptually in leaps and bounds. I've been thrilled to be there from the beginning, watching and listening in awe as the duo of Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti have carved out an impressive niche of their own. Heavy doses of guitar savagery and tribal essence have them firmly planted at the top of the mountain. So it makes sense to deconstruct the duo and present each as a solo entity, soaring on their own. In a perfect world, Evan Caminiti would be a guitar god worshipped by hordes of spike-wearing metalheads. Seriously. Caminiti's newest solo offering (and first large-scale release) is a big, smoldering mass of guitar sacrifices. We're deep down in the hollows now. "Psychic Mud Shrine" is epic in every way. Thick, massive walls of lava-flow guitars bow down at an altar of excess. Caminiti creates jagged drones like no other. Distorted guitars sound simultaneously tortured and energized like it's unsure if this hell on earth brings pleasure or pain. It's just so fucking massive. With titles like "Melting Temple/Plumes of Babylon," you know what direction this is heading and it's a train you don't want to miss. "Psychic Mud Shrine" is a powerful statement from an artist coming into his own. Over the course of four sprawling masterpieces, you'll be entranced and exalted. This album rings out from the deep valleys carved straight to the fucking core. Edition of 500 in gatefold jackets with all art designed by Caminiti." |
| 2/23/2004 | Campbell, Neil | Lost Predelic Moonshine Music | CDR | $9.99 | Chocolate Monk | “One hour of Neil rippling free over a pot of bubbling kenyan lard.” |
| 6/19/2007 | Campbell, Neil | Sol Powr | CD | $14.99 | Music Mundane | "A timely reissue of an LP that originally saw the light of day on vinyl, courtesy of the esteemed Finnish label Lal Lal Lal, some time toward the start of this millennium. Well, the 300 copies soon disappeared, Campbell and Lal Lal Lal moved on to further releases and everyone was happy. That is, all apart from those who missed out and had to trawl ebay and rare record lists if they wanted to hear what amounted to only the second Neil Campbell solo record, after 1997's "These premises are no longer bugged". Campbell is of course familiar from his recordings with Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof!, Richard Youngs, The A Band and many more over the past two decades. His current project, Astral Social Club, goes from strength to strength, prompting Dusted magazine to call it "the purest expression of his art of the ecstatic on record". In many ways, "SOL POWR" is the logical precursor to Astral Social Club, with its heavy focus on keyboard-driven electronic pulse flotation - when it was originally released Julian Cope remarked that it "sounds as though Martin Rev had teamed up with Moebius and Roedelius, during their CLUSTER 2 period". This reissue, the first release on Campbell's own Music Mundane label, supplements the original vinyl LP with three additional tracks from the same period. Two of them were originally released on a miniscule-edition 7" lathe-cut by Stavanger's Gold Soundz Records, while the third was commissioned for download on Brian Lavelle's online TechNOH label. They fit right in with the LP's original seven tracks, forming fifty of the most glorious minutes in Campbell's not-inconsiderable discography." Edition of 500 in hard DVD style case. |
| 5/27/2003 | Campbell, Neil | The Hearing Force of the Humanverse | CDR | $11.99 | fencing flatworm recordings | "Neil Campbell may be more recently known as part of local resonant experts Vibracathdral Orchestra, but Hearing Force shows three years of worth of equally absorbing solo work. Less guitar based than when with Vibracathedral, Campbell continues in their semi-improv, intuitive vein, using windchime-like bells, cut-up tapes of opera, Velvet Underground-style violin groans and radio tuning trills to create both beautiful disquiet and contemplative melancholy." - from The Leeds Guide, May 2001 |
| 5/27/2003 | Campbell, Neil & Rob Hayler | In Luck | CDR | $9.99 | fencing flatworm recordings | Neil Campbell + - CD $9.99 () "6 tracks, 34 minutes of electro-loopage, starting fairly minimal, then spilling over into glorious drunken forest swirl. Not so much a midway point between Campbell solo and Hayler's Midwich project, more another door opening into somewhere new." |
| 1/13/2002 | Campbell, Neil & Stewart Walden | Here Comes Fun | CD | $11.99 | Slippy Town | "Back yonder in 1992, before he got around to dronin' with the VibraCathedral Orchestra, Neil Campbell recorded this set of 21 improvised songs with collaborator Stewart Walden. The sound is hard to describe, but how about this: the Godz timewarp to the early 90s, obtain electronic keyboards, and imbibe the substances necessary to produce this kinda twisted FUN! There are also similarities to Slippy Town faves the Screamin' Mee-Mees. Dance to the beat of 'Really Nasty Stain,' 'Dog Song,' 'Hello Bastard,' 'Edmund Sparkler, Sun Ra Fan,' 'Vegan Vampires,' and many mo'! Edition of 120." |
| 9/18/2006 | Can | Future Days | LP | $17.99 | The first ever vinyl reissue of their 1973 fifth studio album, which was recorded in 1972. Tracks are "Future Days," "Spray," "Moonshake," and "Bel Air." Euro import. | |
| Can | Monster Movie | LP | $17.99 | Spoon | Limited vinyl reissue of their very first LP, originally privately pressed, then later on major label United Artists, and now back on their own Spoon label. Recorded in 1969 and featuring vocalist Malcolm Mooney, this has some wonderful free form jamming Krautrock like the side long ‘Yoo Doo Right’ | |
| Can | Radio Waves | LP | $17.99 | "Five tracks from the krautrock pioneers: studio and TV show recordings from 1969-71, including two non-LP 7" sides, plus one uncredited bonus track, edited from a longer jam. Great stuff, ranging from the relentless attack of 'Entropy' to the trippy playfulness of 'Turtles Have Short Legs.'" | ||
| 2/14/2008 | Can't | Private Time Part 2 | LP | $15.99 | Weird Forest | "For me this is the ultimate Can't LP. Its a sound cornucopia of everything Jessica Rylan does so beautifully... amazing scraped and destroyed analog synth-laden vocals, lovely singer/songwriter stylings with acoustic guitar, and Shaggs-style garage gusto! This record features Jessica's own homemade synthesizers including the Little Boy Blue! One of my favorite Weird Forest releases to date! Beautiful color covers by Abide Visuals and a fabulous inner sleeve with artwork by Jessica." - label. Limited edition of 500 copies. |
| 11/17/2007 | Can't / Carly Ptak / Heather Leigh / Zaimph | Can't / Carly Ptak / Heather Leigh / Zaimph | dbl lathe cut 8" | $29.99 | Curor Recordings | "New limited to 100 copies double lathe set (plays at 45rpm) that bundles four of the foremost female avant/noise insurgents this side of Yoko fucking Ono. And that's the only side to be on. Heather Leigh's "Loch Awe" is the first recorded evidence of her profound post-Adris Hoyos approach to drums and vocal disobedience, with a bandstand rocking sound that references Robbie Yeats's machine gun stagger as much as The Shaggs or Harry Pussy. The Zaimph track is a tornado of levitation with vocals sucked through tiny collapsing galaxies. Can't aka Jessica Rylan presents a synth and vocal piece that draws on all of the most magical aspects of her live shows while Carly Patak of Nautical Almanac presents an excerpt from a conceptual work entitled "Activity: brief fugue", intended to "create change through the process of focussed intent". The whole set comes wrapped up in some particularly fine art by Karen Constance of Blo od Stereo/Chocolate Monk/Polly Shang Kuan Band etc. Highly recommended." - Volcanic Tongue. "The brief, such as it was, for this double 8" lathe-cut set was that each artist should submit a track of 'vocal exploration.' The artists were free to interpret this however they wished. It was not a condition that tracks should necessarily be a capella. Jessica Rylan (aka Can't) provides a 'cover version' of part of Junko's 'Sleeping Beauty' with heavily processed voice and homemade modular synthesizer. Double Leopard's Marcia Bassett pushes the tolerances of the lathe-cut to breaking (up) point with the intensely distorted vocal loops of 'Winter Lips'. Carly Ptak's 'Activity: Brief Fugue' offers perhaps the most unexpected interpretation of the brief, being the documentation of a talk the artist gave during a workshop dedicated to creative realisation. Finally, on 'Loch Awe', Heather Leigh assaults a massively reverberant drum set, all the while wailing like some supernatural creature of Scottish legend. Stunning cover art by Karen Constance." - label |
| 3/26/2006 | Can't / Nipple Creek | split | CDR | $12.99 | U-Sound Records | "Can't is Jessica Rylan, here in live performance from 2004. enter this sweet chirping composition, and become lost in her zonked home-made synth world. Nipple Creek is Thurston and Gene Moore running wild with their guitars open. full on!! joined by lottsa familly members, and Tom Greenwood to boot. like a big barney with a deluxe almond joy division!" |
| 12/2/2008 | Cannibal Frequencies | Cannibal Frequencies | cassette | $6.99 | Gods of Tundra | "I found this master buried underneath the dirt in the woods next to my builiding. It was covered in mud and mostly rotted. Turns out MIKE SHIFLET recorded this, dug a hole and threw it in there 2 years ago. Now its been unearthed and its time to for the rot to soak into your stereos. Fans of Shiflet's eariler GOT tape "Drones and Spits" should be chomping at the bits for this one. Edition of 50." |
| 11/16/2004 | Canterbury Music Festival | Rain & Shine | LP | $22.99 | Beatball | "Top quality LP version of only recordings from New York quaret, whose album was an ultra obscure release on The Tokens’ B.T. Puppy Records label; like most soft pop/psych from New York (ie: Left Banke) there is a melancholic underpinning to the sunshine, as you'll hear on mournful sounding ballads like 'First Spring Rain', 'Why Does Everybody Run To Home', 'You're The Only Good For Me', and 'Poor Man'. Unlike most soft pop groups, however, these guys could rock when they wanted, as they do on 'Super Duper Trooper' and an unlikely instrumental take on 'The Son Of A Preacherman'. The crown jewel of the album is the snappy 'Angelina', which is the best song that the Epic-era Don & The Goodtimes never did." - Lion Productions |
| 8/4/2007 | Capece, Lucio | BB. | DVD-R | $11.99 | a question of re_entry | "the dvdr contains two performances for solo saxophone and assorted utilities, filmed in berlin & buenos aires. for those who have grown weary of audio & visuals releases, fear not! these are videos of a man doing his work, nothing to distract you from your listening habits (you'll be missing the point of course but what more could we do..). i should pause here and mention two or three other discs lucio has been involved in lately. first of all there is his duo disc with toshimaru nakamura - IJ on formed, this is not out yet but should be pretty soon according to reliable sources. what is out and circulating on the net though is reviews, ranging from great to ecstatic, from some duo dates these two have been playing during the past weeks. needless to say this is a document that's been generating some expectation. out on azul discographica is the trio of lucio capece/robin hayward/axel dörner - "Kammerlärm". and last but not least, on l'innomable, there is the duo record of lucio capece & axel dörner. i am writing all this info on lucio's projects just to get to this last one, the disc on l'innomable, which you should be by now getting up your lazy asses and buying, it's that good. don't say i didn't warn you." |
| 5/1/2003 | Captain Beefheart | Some YoYo Stuff - Don Van Vliet | DVD | $9.99 | MVD | "A short film by Anton Corbijn revealing the thoughts on many subjects of Captain Beefheart / Don Van Vliet. Includes questions posed by David Lynch, footage of Van Vliet's mother Sue, and Corbijn explaining why he made the film in the first place." |
| 7/16/2004 | Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | Grow Fins Vol. II: Trout Mask House Sessions | DBL LP | $18.99 | Xeric | "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band set rock on its ear from 1965 until 1982, when leader Don Van Vliet retired from music. Engineering a mutant strain of musical DNA (tuff-ass garage punk R&B, extraterrestrial field hollers, austere 'classical' miniatures, loping sea chanties, scorched-earth delta blues, free-blowing skronk, fat-bottom groove and post-everything clangor all found their way into the soup). CB&HMB are now regarded as one of the most original and consistently compelling bands ever waxed." 1969 recordings. |
| 8/13/2004 | Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | Grow Fins Vol. III: Grow Fins | DBL LP | $18.99 | Xeric | "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band set rock on its ear from 1965 until 1982, when leader Don Van Vliet retired from music. Engineering a mutant strain of musical DNA (tuff-ass garage punk R&B, extraterrestrial field hollers, austere 'classical' miniatures, loping sea chanties, scorched-earth delta blues, free-blowing skronk, fat-bottom groove and post-everything clangor all found their way into the soup). CB&HMB are now regarded as one of the most original and consistently compelling bands ever waxed." These recordings are from 1969-1982 with the majority from 1971-1975. |
| 12/2/2008 | Car Commericals | Eric's Diary | LP | $14.99 | Soft Abuse | "Car Commericals are generally uncomfortable; probably shifty-eyed loners that barely leave the basement. Their brand of strictly personal suburban ooze was borne deep within the recesses of New Jersey, just east of I-95. More specifically, this music springs from inside that unspeakable zone deep within the mind where feelings get very messy.David Sutton and Daniel DiMaggio, the duo known as Car Commercials, make mysterious fake rock clatter for heavy petting (yeah right). Following a brief stint as GT Performers, Daniel and David began to make duo recordings as Car Commercials a few years ago, releasing their creepy missives in small runs, mostly for Sutton's Leaf Leaf label. The two have tapped into an aspect of nonsensical nihilism that makes Jad Fair's early recordings so alluring, but have forgone his obsession with cartoon horror and monster movies in favor of Faces of Death I thru VI. Eric's Diary is the second LP release from Car Commericals, following the out-of-print Judy's Dust LP (Cenotaph) from early 2008. Those confounded by Judy's Dust will be pleased to know that Eric's Diary is where things get...intense. Breathe deep, and prepare to scratch yr head faster than you can say 'Home Blitz.' LP edition of 200 with full color paste-on sleeves." |
| 4/22/2009 | Carbonara, Eric | Towards a Center of Infinite Flux | CDR | $6.99 | Majmua Music | "Eric Carbonara is a Philadelphia based multi-instrumentalist & recording engineer, whose search for raw aural expression has led him far and wide - from noise & electro-acoustic music to taking deep root in the bounty of the wooden guitar. Carbonara's playing draws on the rich musical styles from Andalusian Roma-Flamenco to Hindustani & North African folk to form a kind of exalted pidgin style of playing that covers a wide emotional terrain from meditative calm to restless unease. On Towards a Center of Infinite Flux, Carbonara brings the many facets of his playing together and makes these seemingly disparate elements work together as a focused whole. Meditative workouts flow into electronic excursions and back again, reminding the listener that dichotomies in the world of sound only exist when we create them, and those that are receptive are richly rewarded." |
| 2/26/2006 | Carchesio, Eugene | Garden of Souls | 3" CDR | $7.99 | Kindling | "Eugene Carchesio's timeless work as a visual artist has unjustly eclipsed his extraordinary output as a soundmaker. Since the early '80s, Mr E has steadfastly proliferated a sackful of barely-released cassettes and cdrs under the D.N.E moniker. Garden of Souls is Mr E's most recent recording and his first widely’ available work since the landmark DNE LP released in 1990. It seamlessly melds his recent explorations of percussion and electronic sound in a typically playful suite of organic and minimal compositions. Another small but precious drop in the pond." |
| 4/10/2005 | Carchesio, Eugene / Leighton Craig | Community of Opposites | 3" CDR | $6.99 | Kindling | "Capital A ambient. 19 minute real time keyboard cycle dripped through a computer to produce crystalline electronic music. Delicate and hypnotic. Play at low volume." |
| 12/24/2005 | Cardoen, Christope / Lionel Marchetti / Emmanuel Petit | Mere Feu 40 Tetes | CDR | $12.99 | Absurd | "it was back in september 2003 when christophe cardoen (forge) & lionel marchetti / emmanuele petit (musicians) were invited for the cremation mass of mr. pierre de la faye (1917-2003), the short (around 32 min) sound farewell was recorded and issued here on the occasion of what absurd considers as the end of its 'mark II' era. as if the cremation ceremony and its almost 'nihilistic' soundscape farewell is both for mr. pierre de la faye and a piece of absurd's history. upon the ashes of which its 'mark III' is soon to be born." Edition of 127 copies. |
| 12/12/2009 | Carefree Eturnum | Deep Cleaning With Roger Linn | c52 cassette | $7.99 | Bumtapes | "Carefree Eturnum is the solo project of Ian Murphy, known for being one half of Gryn Brvs and numerous other noise based projects like Hobo Sonn. Ian slides back into pure drone basics with this release, delivering two sides of drifting tape echoes, organic percussion and gentle shimmering feedback. One to keep an eye out for at this years Colour out of Space. Limited to 20 copies." |
| 6/11/2006 | Carson, Walter & The Three Legged Race | Nocturnal Hymn | cassette | $9.99 | Heavy Tapes | |
| 12/25/2005 | Carson, Walter and the Three Legged Race | Primitive Ash | CDR | $12.99 | Mountaain | "A collaboration between the Three Legged Race (Robert Beatty of Hair Police) and Walter Carson, who has done releases for Rampart and Gods of Tundra. Uplifting drones and underwater junk gamelan, with punctuated triumph racket." |
| 8/28/2007 | Carter, Christina | Electrice | LP | $17.99 | Wholly Other | "Long anticipated licensed vinyl reissue of Christina Carter's most recent kranky CD release, with beautifully hand-painted, signed, and numbered covers. An experiment in palette limitation, using only the barest match-sticks of form and lyrics, Christina constructs a shimmering puzzle of austere beauty. Edition of 500, almost gone already. "Subterranean song writing ... eliminating excess elements ... more cinematic or sculptural, feeling of being a human body... piano-like guitar... two personal songs, two universal songs ... idealization and memory... songs created instantly, not knowing what i was going to sing about until i sang... inspired by 60's album art and band photos of floating heads, slight physical 'defects' and skeletal uncoordination, anachronistic futurisms, the idea of 'drone' (4 different songs from the same basic musical elements), dance choreography, and living with chronic pain..." - Christina Carter |
| 8/8/2009 | Carter, Christina | Lace Heart | double LP | $22.99 | Root Strata | "Double LP reissue of a 2005 CD-R released on Christina's own Many Breaths imprint. Six love songs comprised of elliptical bell like guitar phrases, barely there, sometimes even coaxing silence, set behind the extended vowel sounds of voice. Soft gentle performances here, like this whole record was cut very very late at night or in the early hours of the morning. An unhinged 'nowness' is pervasive in Christina's work, and 'Lace Heart' is no exception. There is a very private feeling here, some kinda intimacy that just feels really rare. Lovers of past, present & future all collapse into one. Memories of smells, tastes & textures all channelled into wide open song. No one really does it like this. Three sides of music & and an etching of one of Christina's drawings on the fourth side. Red vinyl with maroon splatter. Edition of 500." |
| 11/9/2004 | Carter, Christina | Living Contact | CD | $13.99 | kranky | "The material on Living Contact is made up solely of Christina Carter on acoustic guitar and occasional vocals. It was recorded on boombox and four track tape from 1994-98, the period between Charalambides' Union and Houston albums, with most of the material recorded in 1995 and 1996. Wholly Other originally released Living Contact as an edition of 100 CDRs in 2001 and the label's catalog describes the music as 'The primitive and spectral underpinnings of Charalambides rendered with mysterious simplicity'." Recommended! |
| 4/25/2008 | Carter, Christina | Texas Working Blues | cassete | $12.99 | Blackest Rainbow | "Stunning new limited edition cassette album from Christina Carter, in a run of only 200 hand-numbered copies, with liners from Christina, full colour covers and pro-printed tapes. It feels like we have been pretty much constantly drooling over new Christina releases of late but she seems to be in the middle of one of the most creatively-accelerated phases of her career right now and Texas Working Blues is yet another monster in a dazzling run of blats. This one matches choirs of overdubbed voice soaked in a ton of mystery and F/X over electric guitar shapes that move from knotty, almost Jandekian chord puzzles through lucid single-note heartbreak that feels closest to Loren Mazzacane's amazing form circa Hells Kitchen Park or Keiji Haino's recent midnight loop work. But it's the vocals that really grab you by the back of the neck, with supernaturally mournful wordless cries echoing through deep space and lucid sunbursts of west coast-style psychedelic oblivion (something of Jefferson Airplane circa After Bathing At Baxters/Volunteers) carved into some of the most emotionally barren and personally spooked song forms. Haunting and unforgettable, another masterpiece from Christina. Highly recommended." - Volcanic Tongue. Sold out at source. |
| 2/26/2003 | Carter, Daniel / Randall Colbourne / Paul Flaherty / Ralph Malik / Sabir Mateen | Resonance | CD | $12.99 | Zaabway Music | "’Truth’ is a concept I lost touch with long ago, but ‘truths’ I've still got a handful of; two that've seemed particularly durable are that the three greatest collective improv recs ever are Free Jazz, Ascension, and New York Eye & Ear Control, and that I won't live to hear a fourth. Not that the number of superior free-playing individuals isn't currently at an all-time high; but as most of today's worthwhile recs are inhabited by at most four people, the saintly mix of mutual leadership and all-star collectivism uncannily shared by the Holy Trinity seems unlikely to re-arise. And while I haven't yet burned that last scrap of personal Bible, Resonance has me considering it. That these six individuals actually inhabited one building simultaneously (Amherst Unitarian Meeting House, Amherst, MA, May 16 1997) is history enough; that they proceeded to turn their flaming insides fully outward next to a fire-proof tape recorder is the kind of ulti-moment civilizations build archives for. Of the 10 or so climaxes spread out among the 70 raging minutes of what may be jazz's Fourth World War, the eye-stretching outburst of gut-yelps, throat-calls, and heart-hacks that arises about 2/3rds into 'Piece II' is the candidate most likely to reintroduce you to every millimeter of your skull. Tempting to isolate individuals for appraisal (particularly Flaherty and his virus-carrying tenor coughs), but, much like three other albums I've heard, Resonance's group weight wipes out the concept of sound-separation. Nothing here exists in and of itself; everything is defined by that which it surrounds (and is surrounded by). The only work left is to figure how we're going to wrestle the remaining 37 minutes that Flaherty couldn't fit on this CD from his endlessly strong hands.” - Marc Masters, Opprobrium |
| 9/30/2008 | Carter, Tom | After Lunch, Only Devils | CDR | $10.99 | Wholly Other | "Relentlessly looped fuzz wah spun into muzzy knots around dazed spectators' heads, crumbling into fragmenting crumbs of varying bit depth. presented in two longish improv settings (recorded during a residency in louvain-la-neuve belgium by daniel duchamp, in paul labrecque's basement), and one short blast recorded before a very zoned audience in berlin by steve gunn, laid down during the massively psyched out GHQ/ tom carter tour in europe, spring 2008. edition of 100, gatefold silkscreen covers." |
| 4/17/2003 | Carter, Tom | For Four C's | CDR | $14.99 | Wholly Other | "Three variations on a song by Christina enclosing more abstract explorations of the properties of vibrating strings. Same ballpark as Root King, more documentarian approach. Hand folded & painted covers, edition of 200." Highly recommended! |
| 6/11/2006 | Carter, Tom | Glyph | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "Since the early '90s, Tom Carter has played as one-half of the essential Charalambides. During that time, Carter also released a handful of solo albums on his own Wholly Other imprint as well as a recent reissue on the seminal Kranky Records. With these he also proved to be an extremely capable solo artist. Since relocating to Oakland, Carter has also joined forces with Ben Chasny and Rob Fisk as a regular member of Badgerlore, while also playing in various outfits with Robert Horton. "Glyph" was originally issued as a limited-edition CD-R on the aforementioned Wholly Other. It is long-since out-of-print. This reissue of these remastered tracks breathes new life into the pieces. What is most striking is the warmth that pervades this entire album. With one piece for steel string acoustic guitar, another for lap steel, and the final (and shortest) on nylon string acoustic, there is diversity amongst the cogent thread that holds it all together. Carter's improvisations speak volumes without saying a word, and "Glyph" is one of his finest achievements to date. It is an ode to the last year of his life in Austin, Texas and all that it contained. As stated in Tom's liner notes for the reissue, "I regret nothing yet I miss Texas and its unpressured passage of time, the ability to create an oppositional universe under the nose of redneck reality, the cicadas, the hot green light through afternoon trees, rolling joints in a lawn chair." "Glyph" is all of these things and more, depicted in an aural form that only Tom Carter could create. First 500 come in gatefold sleeves, silk-screened on one side by Rob Fisk (Free Porcupine Society) and spraypainted on the other by Tom." |
| 6/25/2004 | Carter, Tom | Monument | CD | $13.99 | kranky | "Monument is a recording of guitar music from Tom Carter of Charalambides and is the second in a series of Charalambides-related reissues by Kranky. The two tracks of solo lap steel guitar were recorded live to DAT by Tom Carter a few days before a live performance in March, 2001. Monument was originally released by Wholly Other in an edition of 55 CDRs. The first track, 'Monument 1 (Memorial)' is slightly longer than two minutes and barely reveals itself. The second, 'Monument 2', is 47 minutes in length and considerably more expansive and louder than the opening cut. The album was made using lap steel guitar, glass slides, digitech tsr-12 stereo reverb, a rat distortion pedal and craftsman screwdrivers." |
| 11/4/2006 | Carter, Tom | Phantom Lung | 7" | $6.99 | Anthem | "An extremely limited one-sided 7-inch from TOM CARTER of CHARALAMBIDES. Features two tracks, "Phantom Lung" and "Temescal Blues," packaged in sewn paper sleeves and pressed in a numbered edition of 211 copies." |
| 4/3/2003 | Carter, Tom | Root King | LP | $10.99 | Eclipse | "Second solo release (first if CDRs don't count) by Charalambides member Tom Carter. White Les Paul copy, lap steel, and a purloined bell collection layered into three long tracks of string moan and slithering hum. A manifesto of grounding during an uprooted time, an attempt to bend in the wind. A slice of a long winter and a momentary flash of cranially pooled guitar sound suddenly scattered by unexpected freedom. A guitar album (mostly)." – Tom Carter. Really great LP pressed in an edition of 533 copies with printed sleeves and very nice artwork by Tom Carter. This is highly recommended! |
| 8/31/2008 | Carter, Tom | Shots at Infinity 1 | CD | $15.99 | Important | "Shots at Infinity 1 is comprised of recordings from various basements in the northeastern US from late 2007. Steering away from the more delicate string environments and modal folk improvisations of previous CDs, the disc features maximum loop delay drone overload stretched over long, densely harmonic tracks, retaining the melodic content and flow of earlier releases. Carter's solo work covers a lot of territory, but latter-day sightings show him concentrating on looped guitar drones of immensely stacked beauty, with heaps of psychedelic melodic content missing from the repertoires of many noise and drone bands." |
| 8/31/2008 | Carter, Tom | Shots at Infinity 2 | LP | $18.99 | Important | "Shots at Infinity 2 contains two long live tracks in the same mode as volume one, but more cut loose and blown out, recorded in Nemo Bidstrup's record store and Burnt Hills' basement jam zone. Tom Carter is a guitar player best known for his work with acclaimed psych-drone iconoclasts Charalambides. Since 2000, however, he has become increasingly active as not only a solo artist but as a collaborator. He has performed with improvising musicians as diverse as Thurston Moore, Jandek, Tetuzi Akiyama, Matt Valentine, and many others, as well as being a key member of groups like Badgerlore (with Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance), Friday Group, Mudsuckers (with Robert Horton and the Yellow Swans), and Zaika (with Marcia Bassett of the Double Leopards and Hototogisu)." |
| 9/17/2006 | Carter, Tom | Sun Swallower | CDR | $12.99 | Wholly Other | "Great solo set from Tom Carter recorded live at the Ecstatic Yod Mill Outlet on a hand held in 2001. Heavy magnetic blues/drone on the same bill as Scorces. No liners from eye-witness Matt Krefting tho. Limited edition in screened sleeves." - Volcanic Tongue |
| 8/8/2009 | Carter, Tom | The Dance From Which All Dances Come | LP | $21.99 | Wholly Other | "Brand new 2009 recordings of galactic guitar ooze, laid down in NYC USA, and drawn from the same vertically stacked west coast psych loopage motherlode that spawned earlier recordings like the pair of Shots At Infinity releases on Important Records. Hand silkscreened gold or white techno tantra artwork on matte black covers." Edition of 258 copies. |
| 12/24/2005 | Carter, Tom & Robert Horton | Lunar Eclipse | CD | $13.99 | Important Records | "Lunar Eclipse was culled from over 30 hours of recordings taking place, inadvertently, on the equinox, lunar eclipse and winter solstice of 2004.The duo of Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Robert Horton sound as if they are channeling the natural power of these significant calender days into the music. They both noticed something special was happening during the initial recording session when they looked at a clock and realised that they'd been playing for over 5 hours. Throughout the album Carter slowly plays louder and more powerfully than usual over drone-master Robert Horton's organic & electronic chimes, drones, jangles, dangles and splendor. The result is a vast, expansive sound cavern full of hidden melody, slow drones, textured tribal gong and hidden mystic rhythm." |
| 10/6/2007 | Carter, Tom & Vanessa Arn | What is here for | LP | $17.99 | A Silent Place | "Contains two long and deep duo cuts of univibe-era lap steel / electronic tone generator improvisation, one side recorded live and stamped w/ the indelible mark (ie, the #15 bus rumbling by) of Bullbabe Studios, Austin TX (the odor of sweat, lone star, and barbeque is palpable). The sounds: monolithic serenity infused with a deep breath from the void, as peaceful and violent as a mountain range. A shame that this configuration is so underrepresented in the discography, as the mesh of T&V's playing is so instantly seismic...Tom Carter is best known for his work with Charalambides, which he co-founded with longtime creative partner Christina Carter in 1991. Since 2002, Carter has also undertaken solo work and collaborations. His 2003 solo tour, centered around the seminal Brattleboro FreeFolk festival, featured unaccompanied solo shows and musical excursions (on stage and tape) with Bardo Pond, Thurston Moore, Dredd Foole, the MVEE Medicine Show, Ian Nagoski, Tower Recordings, and Double Leopards, among others. Vanessa Arn became a member of Boston/California/Texas group Primordial Undermind soon after Tom's brief tenure in the group. The potential for mountainous difference tones between the lap steel and the triwave tone generator (a custom built synthesizer) was immediately apparent to all parties, and Tom suggested a collaboration (which was greatly assisted by the fact that Tom and Vanessa were at the time next door neighbors). A sole performance and a handful of recordings ensued and the results are here for your perusal." Limited edition of 515 copies. |
| 12/21/2004 | Carter, Tom and Vanessa Arn / The Moglass | Snake-Tongued, Swallow-Tailed | CD | $14.99 | Nexsound | "Tom Carter (Charalambides) & Vanessa Arn (Primordial Undermind, Gourmet Chef) combined their powers to tap the reverberant waves of the ether on this split release with improv trio from Ukraine - the Moglass. While Carter / Arn part made with lap-steel guitars and triwave picogenerator sounds very soft, cajolingly and tensely at times, the Moglass part sounds more dense and brighter." |
| 7/16/2006 | Cases, The | The Cases (#4) | cassette | $8.99 | Fag Tapes | 4th release from michigan basement cult band. snowed in. midnight incantations. prayers for the Black Fog. |
| 6/11/2006 | Cases, The | untitled | casette | $8.99 | Fag Tapes | "third release from the cases...more sounds from the instrument filled down-stairs of the Michigan Black Mass cult compound. wasted all night winter worship. snowed in speakers." |
| 11/17/2007 | Casket Sinkers, The | Baked Beans, Brains, and Spiders | one-sided 7" & CDR | $12.99 | American Tapes | "Wacked Duo of Coorz on downtown soprano sax and Rad Dad Dillowaysted on synth and processing. Some of the last recordingz in his basement of the crib right by the sacred temple Banfields, where Greh and Undressa reside now. Jamz are short blasts of lurking, churning synth creepers with echo'd reeds hidden within, ending in a time rattling lock groove. CD includes some outtakes from the session, some dillo re: Spine Scav tracks, and full basement weirdnezzz. The title is taken from a strange hand during an Apples to Apples session. Edition of 200, color art, color vinyl, jammable at any speed. No info, at all." |
| Castro, Jorge | The Joys and Rewards of Repetition | CD | $7.99 | Public Eyesore | "The title is not misleading, folks: there's some heavy repetitive mantra action going down on these four long tracks. Not that this is a bad thing. O my no. I don't know what instruments Castro is using on this release - whatever it is, it's fed through banks of reverb and delay until it emerges as different- sounding drones, basically. This is hardcore drone music that wouldn't be out of place on the Drone label (home of the mighty Troum). A lot of this actually reminds me of Troum's more recent material, come to think of it. So the man must be doing something right.... The only real difference between the four tracks (no titles, so sorry) is in the textures of the drones and the delay speeds, but even accounting for such minimal adjustments he gets a pretty surprising amount of variety from his oscillating drone-o- tron. The high-pitched shimmering drones of the third track are particularly interesting, sounding like the singing of high-tension wires - Alan Lamb fans take note - and more of these sounds appear on the fourth track, where the drones 'n whines interact to form eddies and whirls. This is pretty swank stuff for drone fanatics, but the rest of the world should probably approach with caution." | |
| Castro, Jorge / Carlos Giffoni | Guitarras del olivido y pensamientos Dimensionales | CD | $9.99 | Public Eyesore | Collaboration between New York free rock guitarist Carlos Giffoni (of Monotract) and Puerto Rican ambient guitarist Jorge Castro. | |
| 7/16/2006 | Castro, Nick & The Young Elders | Come Into Our House | CD | $13.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "West Coast psychedelic folkie Nick Castro is currently making some of most dynamic and truly original sounds to emerge from the much-ballyhooed new folk movement. As 'freak-folk' and assorted hairy-fairy type labels grab the headlines in the underground, Castro strives for a solemn, serene sort of beauty, summoning utterly melodic incantations in song and sound. Gracefully immersing '60s/'70s British Isles acid balladry with Middle-Eastern traditional music and heady, pan-cultural communal jams, Castro succeeds in reaching otherworldly vistas and ocean-spanning folk transcendence. Following up 2005's lauded Further From Grace, Castro unfurls his sprawling third album Come Into Our House, easily his most far-reaching and deeply molecular outing yet." |
| 6/5/2004 | Castro, Nick and the Poison Tree | Further From Grace | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Beaming warmly from the underground enclaves of Los Angeles, CA like a lambent ray of soft sunlight, the music of Nick Castro is breathing fresh life and pristine wonderment into an old sound. Castro released a beguiling album called A Spy in the House of God in 2004 on his own imprint Records of Ghaud, and it caused quite a stir in the new acid folk circles. Imagine a melding of More-era Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett solo and a touch of Incredible String Band with modern fractured folk sound-weavers like the Tower Recordings and maybe you are in the right sphere. For his follow up, Castro has assembled a cast of players calling themselves The Poison Tree, boasting amongst its ranks underground folk icons Josephine Foster and members of Espers. It is a heavenly match as evidenced on Further From Grace, a simply mystical sophomore effort illustrating with a feathery wallop that Castro is a major voice amongst the new insurgence of THC troubadours. Induced by flourishes of psychedelic '60s folk bards like Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine) and Bert Jansch, laced with flashes of Amon Duul-like acoustic communal atmosphere (circa Paradieswarts Duul), Further From Grace is a graceful tab of Nick Castro's own heady universe, an acid-folk masterpiece advancing today's sound into sparkling new frontiers." |
| 11/15/2008 | Cave / California Raisins | split | 10" + CD | $13.99 | Permanent Record | "This limited edition vinyl 10" with CD is the latest release by Chicago's most exciting psychedelic band, Cave. The Cave side includes two epic psychedelic jams, possibly their best work to date. The California Raisins side is their first release. The CD includes the same music that's on the 10". The jackets are hand-screen printed by members of Cave. In case you missed their first release, the limited edition "Hunt Like Devil/Jamz" LP + CD (the pressing of 650 sold out immediately), Cave plays the kind of psychedelic rock every person who scans one-sheets looking for the word psychedelic wants to hear. Psych-experts Aquarius Records dropped band names such as Hawkwind, Can, Neu!, Circle, and Pharoah Overlord to describe Cave's first LP "Hunt Like Devil/Jamz" and went on to say that it was "some seriously kick ass, aQ freakout worthy shit". Well, Cave is back and this time they're sharing the limelight with Columbia, Missouri's newest group, California Raisins. The Raisins share nothing in common with the fictional R&B animated Raisins of the late-80s. These dudes get down and dirty on some groove-a-delic punk rock. They share a riff-loving mindset with Cave, but unlike Cave they have a full-time vocalist and a less overtly psychedelic sound. We'll leave the name-dropping up to the critics because their sound is so unique; we're having a hard time thinking of any bands they sound like." Limited edition with hand-screened artwork. |
| 10/31/2009 | Ceasar, J.A. | Kokkyo Junreika | CD | $34.99 | Belle Antique | "A legendary musician. He has made music for Shuji Terayama's performance group called 'Tenjo Sajiki.' His style is often compared to Magma for the heaviness and religious sound." J.A. Caesar is one of thee mythical figures from the Japanese '70s scene; it's hard to know exactly how many records he's involved with, but this is commonly referred to as the 2nd album he is featured on, from 1973. It is one of the coolest, most outre records from this period in Japan's music scene, and the above description is more than fitting; heavy, surreal-naivete a la early MPM, etc." - FE |
| 10/31/2009 | Ceasar, J.A. | Shintokumaru | CD | $34.99 | Belle Antique | "Fourth J.A. Caesar album, originally issued on Victor in 1978. More crazy theatrical prog, but less bombed than Kokkyo Junreika, and seemingly more reliant on missing visual imagery." - FE. "This is another J. A. Caesar's album. Though we can not find his name on the cover, he composed all the tunes. A recorded live album and the music in the album must be very magical. Now is the time you have to estimate his genius for this unknown Japanese artist." |
| 9/30/2008 | Celer | Discourses of the Withered | CD | $12.99 | Infraction | "Celer is a husband (Will) and wife (Danielle) duo from California that use a variety of strings as the basis for their sound. Cello, viola, violin and the sounds are mixed in with field recordings, choir. live theremin and then tape spliced and re-assembled in varying lengths to create a loop base. Those sounds are then sampled, layered and processed. The result is a shimmering orchestra. Periods of silence between the notes only enhance the sound. Though at times very haunting, it's brightly hazy ambient. Initially "Discourses..." was to be 1 full-length CD with a bonus CDR ("The Everything and the Nothing") to accompany the first 100 copies. When Celer presented the bonus material, with field recordings mixed in obtained by Danielle over several months in India, the quality of the material was so high that it was suggested and agreed to instead be a concurrent release of two full-length discs. Edition of 500." |
| 9/30/2008 | Celer | The Everything and the Nothing | CD | $11.99 | Infraction | "Celer is a husband (Will) and wife (Danielle) duo from California that use a variety of strings as the basis for their sound. Cello, viola, violin and the sounds are mixed in with field recordings, choir, live theremin and then tape spliced and re-assembled in varying lengths to create a loop base. Those sounds are then sampled, layered and processed. The result is a shimmering orchestra. Periods of silence between the notes only enhance the sound. Though at times very haunting, it's brightly hazy ambient. Initially "Discourses..." was to be 1 full-length CD with a bonus CDR ("The Everything and the Nothing") to accompany the first 100 copies. When Celer presented the bonus material, with field recordings mixed in obtained by Danielle over several months in India, the quality of the material was so high that it was suggested and agreed to instead be a concurrent release of two full-length discs." 2nd edition. |
| 7/30/2006 | Celesteville | Kohoutek | CDR | $7.99 | Tape Mountain | "It takes a million bees a lifetime to make one pound of honey. This is sweeter and sadder. Ancient and musty sounds from my days in grad school in California, this is easily the darkest record on Tape Mountain, with the possible exception of the Charlie McAlister record." - label. |
| 1/24/2009 | Century Plants | Circular Spaces, Vol. 1 | CDR | $7.99 | Tape Drift | "The tenth release on Tape Drift brings us back to the first, with a brand new offering from Century Plants. The first in a multiple volume series, "Circular Spaces, Vol. 1" finds Hardiman and hare in particularly fine form, showing how far they've come since their debut. This one splits the difference between their melodic and noisy extremes, with two beautifully intense guitar workouts and a long excursion into the depths of sonic abstraction unlike anything else they've committed to tape yet. Debut LP out soon on Music Fellowship!" |
| 1/24/2009 | Century Plants | Electrics | CDR | $7.99 | House of Alchemy | "Last November we put together an amazing show here in Buffalo featuring a spectrum of -house and alchemy- friends/partners, past, present and future. Century Plants were the future. And, that future is now. Featuring their set from that wonderful night in Buffalo and another live set, Electrics is Century Plants in top form. Cd-r edition of 123 in sleeves with full color artwork by Katheryn Richards." |
| 7/16/2009 | Century Plants | Frozen Generation | c32 cassette | $4.99 | 905 Tapes | "Eric Hardiman (rambutan) and Ray Hare make up the experimental-psychedelic unit of new york's Century Plants. these dudes squeeze a mixture of 70's slow motion riffs and irrational distortion out of their guitars like narcotics coated pop rocks. wheezy and ugly, breezy and celestial. two tracks here; a remix of their track frozen generation from their inversions cdr and a stone cold cruiser called ice land." Edition of 40 copies. |
| 10/25/2008 | Century Plants | Inversions | CDR | $8.99 | Ikuisuus | "Latest from Albany guitar duo whose six string damaging has often shred the guitar beyond recognition. For this outing, however, Century Plants plug in, and allow their guitars to be guitars. Psych raga, melting icebergs of roaring drone, metallic strum and clang, oceanic melody and even a helping of pastoral song melody separate this from previous smash ups. Hardiman and Hare create these hypnotic states from the ground up, building their sound out of pure improvisation. Oh yeah, the guitars don't always sound like guitars!" |
| 7/14/2007 | Century Plants | Sound System Sound | CDR | $8.99 | Tape Drift Records | "Two long tracks of windswept noise, hidden melodies, amp rumble, scraping, and utterly beautiful droned out bliss. Also look for summer 2007 Century Plants releases on Phantom Limb, Cut Hands, Music Your Mind Will Love You, and Abandon Ship Records." Edition of 50 copies |
| 8/31/2008 | Century Plants / The Quost | split | CDR | $9.99 | Deep Water | "Our latest shared release continues the transatlantic theme, featuring a pair of duos who follow different but complementary routes to lost lands of avant-psych-drone overload. Century Plants is a two-headed guitar monster from upstate New York, both also serving in the larger Burnt Hills collectivity; gtrs plugged directly into hi-tension wires mainline pure raw overbleed, calling to mind the finest Japanese and New Zealand noise masters w/o sounding like anyone but themselves. French twosome the Qoast have a number of releases under their belts under the name Ghost Brames; here they kick things up a good few notches, doubling up each on swirling gtrs & bash-tastic drums for a Gallic free-psych whirlwind epic that manages to be simultaneously atomically heavy and woozily levitational. Three tracks total, 50 minutes." |
| 5/7/2004 | Cerebral Pals | Throb For Me | CDR | $8.99 | Musically Incorrect Records | "Do you like guitar noise? Melvins-meets-Cosmonauts Hail Satan-like 'rock'? Industrial screech? The 'Pals offer them all! Limited edition of 70 copies." |
| 2/11/2006 | Ceylon Mange | The Maiming Path | LP | $15.99 | HP Cycle | "Ceylon Mange is the trio of Dylan Nyoukis (Chocolate Monk proprietor and sound molder in Blood Stereo, Decaer Pinga), Karen Constance (Blood Stereo, Smack Music 7) and Bill Nace (X.O.4, Vampire Belt). The Maiming Path extends from the group's previous mind melts with two side long (de)constructions that are assembled from a variety of mangled loops and electronics, guitar feedback/slaughter and cromagnon vocals. The results are a murky stew, as each emerging sound creeps upon the listener like a blackened sloth nightmare. It's the type of organic brain tangle that is rarely unleashed by the spirits these days. The LP is housed in a full-colour printed sleeve featuring Karen's outsider artwork." 2nd edition. |
| Chadbourne, Eugene | Guitar Freakout | CD | $15.99 | "From Dr. Chadbourne's archives comes this beauty: solo recordings, 1982-84, originally released by Eugene on cassette in the 80s. The title track is a brilliant fugged-up 24-minute mostly-guitar collage, with bits of TV, household conversation, radio interview, etc. Plus the sounds of Jimi and dogs and noise and Fab 4 and guitars and more guitars and harmonicas and etc. on 'Secret of the Cooler' (18:12), 'The Bird Cage' (10:57), 'The Porthole' (10:21), and of course,'The Rake II' (9:09). Non-jewel case custom package design by Dr. Chadbourne." | ||
| 12/24/2005 | Chainsaw Gutsfuck / The Gateless Gate | split | cassette | $6.99 | Skullfucking Tapes | "Belgiums unsilent necrotic death squadron lets loose the voodoom curse. On the B-side, local outcast one man psych doom unit captures first live take playing drums, guitar, vocals, and effects all at once." |
| 5/14/2007 | Chainsaw Paws | This Light | CDR | $7.99 | Foxglove | "Tennessee's chainsaw paws come at you from a million different directions. after a release on alamagator (not to mention numerous offshoots like broken tape choir, beesty, mild red sorrow, and more), "this light" is the bands most fully-realized album. deconstructed, whimsical pop with hooks galore build around varying stringed instruments, vocals, and percussion that, at times, brings to mind groups like animal collective. but this is catchy, surreal, and psychedelic all wrapped into one tight little ball. delightful in every way." |
| 7/16/2009 | Chalice | Chalice | CDR | $10.99 | High Spirits | "Weird jams from stange guests to visit cosmos farm." |
| 2/7/2009 | Chambers | Soon | cassette | $8.99 | Tone Filth | "Gentle and restrained tape movements from the one behind Ides Recordings. I've never been to Chicago, but I'd imagine it would feel a lot like this tape. Minimal lo-fi dirt. Edition of 100 with 2 color screen printed inserts and professional printed chrome cassettes." |
| 2/19/2007 | Changeling / Quetzolcoatl | split | cassette | $6.99 | Arbor | "Scientists say that sound travels better through water and rocks than it does through air. LA's Changeling and Dublin, Ireland's Quetzocaotl challenge these scientists. In a split tape of international proportions, airy loftiness and spiritual mist-icism play the key roles. Changeling's guitar-centric drones become one with the ambience of the mist surrounding them. Quetzocoatl uses a multitude of instruments and delay to build a drone which floats across the sky next to the birds. Each piece ends too soon, almost evaporating into the clouds from which they were born on a constant migratory path to rad. In a numbered edition of 100 tapes in sprayed/screened/stamped linen bags with art/insert by Roy Tatum (aka Changeling)." |
| 3/1/2007 | Chaob | Chaob | CDR | $7.99 | Foxglove | "This supergroup of sorts recorded this, their first album, in october of 2005 in portland, oregon. consisting of mike tamburo, matt mcdowell, and world's honey owens and adam forkner. the results are monolithic. two sprawling jams that illuminate the night sky with their own vivid lightshow. these massive drones are dense and subtle, with each hypnotic change commanding the listener's full attention. on their own, each of these artists are major league talents, but put them in a room together and they're a different monster. just one listen to chaob and you'll feel the electricity in the air." Edition of 100 copies. |
| 4/24/2006 | Chapel Soil Tunnel | Tongue & Song | CDR | $9.99 | Celestial Jars | "emitted directly from nature's own, hidden, soily tunnels, chapel soil tunnel explores the posibilities from a purgatorial point of view. by combining the instrumentation in a unique way, he uses sonic outbursts of ancient warcries to deliver the message of old masters. this is music from one of the tunnels, you cross when being forced to purgatory. eclectic layers of acoustic scrawl weaves in and out of layers of flutes, horns and dense drones, which subsequently end up being replaced by cherub screams and hollers in eternal time. chapel soil tunnel is originally played entirely by mikkel andersen - and then mixed down with help from brad dixon." |
| 9/30/2008 | Chapels | Dust Bells | cassette | $6.99 | Tired Trails | "Here we have a curious exploration of mind, matter and mania. Subtle echoes form mandala like patterns, while surging electricity collapse their efforts. The opening track is a meditative distended sit down stay down, swaying like abandoned swings, grasping but pushing away, an empty heart, a broken nest. The second track starts off discreet, sensitive even, and while it keeps itself refined, it also rips the fabric of fortune, stabbing swords at its purpose, caving in on it's commands. Side B demands the same attention and diligence. it is cunning chaos and loopy destruction. impulsive expeditions. it is the reminder of urgency, the remainder of madness and the recollection of delight. dive in. blue cs housed in hand-made cs pockets with silver bells. comes with a lovely sticker with a curious photo from the 30's. lmt ed of 40!!" |
| 4/10/2009 | Chapels | In Aspic | cassette | $4.99 | Anathema Sound | "This new project sees Buffalo 's Adam Richards (of The Circle and the Point and the House of Alchemy label) playing the role of lo-fi exorcist. In Aspic is a fascinating, addictive listen that extols both warm melodies and eerie vibes in heavy doses at once. Richards juggles guitars, synths, and hand percussion to lift spirits from the tape hiss and cause all the floorboards in the house to creak at once. It's densely-layered and swirling at one moment, sparsely whispering the next, yet always beautiful and engrossing in its own haunting way. With full color art, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub." Edition of 50 copies. |
| 1/24/2009 | Chapels | So Many Blood-Lakes | cassette | $4.99 | House of Alchemy | "Following releases on Tired Trails and Klorofyll Kassetter, Chapels follow the path of drone, synth and hard-lacquered un-music. Pulses, whirrs, stretched tape and banged-up strings mimic drafty, dusty expanses. Approximate Infinite Attic!......c30 cassette edition of 40 with b/w cardstock insert" |
| 6/11/2006 | Charalambides | A Vintage Burden | CD | $13.99 | kranky | "For those desperate to pigeonhole A Vintage Burden into the Charalambides canon, it'd be fair to say it's more of a 'song' type release than nearly all of their past collaborative work. It's to the group's credit that this doesn't mean there is a reduction in the breadth or depth of their music. Filled with exquisite playing, beautifully realized songs, and bona fide emotion A Vintage Burden is not a concession to commercialism. In fact, if it weren't for the miles of music left still to create and the multitudes of paths to take, the album would be looked back on as Charalambides definitive release. It takes a rare talent to channel the sound of a season so exactly, as "Spring" does. The main line of clean electric guitar paces around the other melody lines like twinkling rays of sunlight. There's a hesitance in the playing that creates a languid warm feel. Christina Carter's gorgeous "let it shine...it will shine" refrain is one of hope, after all hope has been dashed. It's a flinging open of doors and windows to take in the first draughts of warm air. The song sounds like a second chance, and it's a wondrous piece of music; picking up the pieces isn't a speedy process. This sense of fragility and resettling your feet are recurring themes in A Vintage Burden. Tom Carter manages to make the guitar work on opener "There Is No End" both step haltingly and slowly unfurl as it progresses. The song, even with the weight of double tracked vocals, slides by with the delicacy of a thin layer of glass underfoot. The mix and production job, done by Tom Carter, retains ingenuousness despite its "hear everything" polish. The almost Cure / Cocteau's sound of "Dormant Love"s lap steel teeters between electronic, organic and something else altogether, insinuating itself through the song's core. The notes waver, bend, and stretch like some chillingly sharp breeze over the relatively loose acoustic guitar strum. Before Christina even mentions snow in her lyrics ("the year of the heaviest snow") you can feel the distance in the music and the cold in Carter's trembling hurt vocals. The instrumental cut, "Black Bed Blues," is the lengthiest piece here, but still keeps itself within a structure. This is the unseen improv of what normally happens when the tape machines don't stop; the extended solo. Building slowly on acoustic pieces of whizzing neon, glinting slide bottleneck blues appear. From this finger-picking swirl comes an unobtrusive vocal drone (from Christina?) that grows under the relaxed Neil Young acoustic rhythms. There's even space for some coiled dueling, whereas most of the other guitar work on the album seems more stunningly dislocated. Ending in backwards sliding drones, this is the closest A Vintage Burden gets to the "old days." Despite the chill of "Dormant Love," A Vintage Burden might just be the best summer LP you'll hear this year-perfect timing." - Stylus Magazine |
| 9/30/2008 | Charalambides | Branches | CD | $10.99 | Wholly Other | "A rare document of a brief arc in Charalambides' 17 year (and counting) trajectory, somewhere between the extreme spatial attenuation of the long gone Crucial Blast CDR Being As Is and the gentle intergalactic trio sway of the kranky disk Unknown Spin- and quite distance from both the exclamatory exhalations of Joy Shapes and the layered songcraft of Likeness. These are spartan duets of formalistic near-symmetry, a reminder that there was a time when Charalambides swung as close to the axis of Incus and FMP as to that of Takoma and ESP. Christina (voice) and Tom Carter (guitar) improvise non-textual melodic lines around an locus of mirror clarity, occasionally overlapping various strands using two DAT machines and a mixing board, in a nod to the pre ProTools digital scrap heap. Originally issued as a Peter King lathe cut LP on Eclipse Records in an edition of 100 in 2000, the reissue of this extreme rarity is remastered from a superior source for maximum clarity. Inkblot artwork courtesy of Heather Leigh Murray. The whole package is dedicated to Bruce Connor (R.I.P.). The reissue at hand is an edition of 500, with fold-over printed sleeves in the style of Electricity Ghosts." |
| 9/17/2006 | Charalambides | Emerald Message | CDR | $12.99 | Wholly Other | "Brand new collection of primo early material from the duo of Tom Carter and Christina Carter in a hand-numbered edition of 250 copies in beautiful, individually painted hand-made sleeves. All material recorded during 1995 as part of the Internal Eternal sessions. Features the duo on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, chord organ, bells and shortwave. Excellent." - Volcanic Tongue |
| 9/17/2006 | Charalambides | Glowing Raw | CDR | $12.99 | Wholly Other | "Another new and equally jaw-dropping collection of archival material from the duo of Tom and Christina Carter with one track from the first trio line-up that also included Jason Bill (now of Migrantes). A huge amount of sonic territory covered here, featuring 1998 material drawn from the original Houston album sessions as well as tracks from late 95, unreleased material from 95's Drilling The Curve sessions and late 95 material from an aborted Siltbreeze album. Tom is on vocals, electric and acoustic guitar and saxophone, Christina on vocals, organ and guitar and Jason on acoustic guitar. Hand-numbered edition of 250 copies in beautiful individually painted hand-made sleeves." - Volcanic Tongue |
| 5/12/2004 | Charalambides | Joy Shapes | CD | $13.99 | kranky | "To say that the words 'unique' and 'singular' are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious. To apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the Texas group Charalambides over the last decade plus would be understatement. To be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. But they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. This new album is certainly not for the faint of heart. Five songs stretch and crawl over 75 minutes, with Christine Carter finding a new fearlessness in her voice that will draw comparisons to Patty Waters or the early work of Meredith Monk. Joy Shapes is the first studio album recorded by Charalambides in a long time." This may be the Charalambides best release yet! Super heavy!! Highly recommended! |
| 11/17/2007 | Charalambides | Likeness | CD | $13.99 | Kranky | "Likeness is the newest release from the duo of Tom and Christina Carter. Recorded over a period of several weeks during the Spring of 2006, the album is a return to the spontaneous composition of previous Charalambides records such as Houston and Union. Lyrical content largely derives from public domain, American popular song from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, edited, rearranged and largely deconstructed by Christina into abstract 'protest' songs for the century at hand. Musically, the album departs from the warm psych of A Vintage Burden in favor of the lush and layered vocal strata of Christina's later solo works, and a chillier, more abrasive guitar sound that favors The Velvets over The Byrds. Though containing much of the compositional concision that gave A Vintage Burden much of its appeal, the sound here just as frequently turns the corner into the abstract echoing spaces that characterize the more discordant sounds of Charalambides at the dawn of their Kranky residency." |
| 9/30/2005 | Charalambides | Our Bed Is Green | DBL LP | $49.99 | Time-Lag Records | "The debut release from texas' favorite psychedelic voyagers, on vinyl for the first time ever. originally self released as an ultra-limited cassette way back in 1992, it was later reissued on the bands own wholly other imprint in a much edited form, only to go out of print again. here the original cassette track list and sequence is restored, minus too covers songs. a historic milestone in the story of the contemporary underground, as well as an extremely mind-melting dose of outsider drone/folk/psych in its own right. the duo of tom & christina carter here managed to wrap their fingers and minds around a whole slew of sonic vibrations, while at the same time clearly charting their own low-key and unique course. tapping into about every slant of damaged texas exploration, this massive recording flows through haunting lo-fi slow motion folk, full-blown, fuzzed-out spacerock, beautiful outsider acid psych, fizzing drone experimentation, loose blues forms and plenty of higher minded guitar improvisation, all with a certain shining wide-eyed bliss. and yes, chistina's voice was just as jaw dropping then as it is now... while worlds away from charalambides recent outings on one level, those sonic tendrils trace a clear line back to the sweet seeds planted here... pressed on two massive slabs of audiophile 180 gram vinyl, and packaged in a beautiful silver & clear ink letterpressed tri-fold cover, on heavy olive green art paper, with extensive notes by tom carter. hand numbered edition of 800 copies." - Time-Lag |
| 3/2/2008 | Charalambides | Rose / Thorn | LP | $19.99 | Klang Industries | "Long-, long-, long-, loooooong-awaited and singular entry in the Charalambides and Klang Industries discographies; one of those "does it really exist?" items that's finally seeing daylight, or moonlight. A stark, unsettling and beautiful slice of duo Charlambides invocation / incantation, taken from the period between Jason Bill and Heather Leigh Murray's tenures with the band and featuring extraordinary chord organ and vocal work from Christina and some signature lap steel mastery from Tom. Fans of the band's most recent, more song-based work will find this relevatory, long-time listeners will say "ahhhh" and settle in for the flight. Heavy vinyl, limited pressing, cover handiwork by Tom, the first release in years from Klang and a sign perhaps of a truly epic revival." - label. "Long awaited klang debut of charalambides. this record has been brewing since 2000, and is now finally available under the auspices of eclipse/ klang. two side long improvisations in much the same vein as IN CR EA SE, a bit more topographical perhaps, but still horizontally serene and horizonless. chord organ, lap steel, vocals." - Wholly Other |
| 9/30/2005 | Charles Balls | progressive furniture totemic | CDR | $12.99 | Beniffer Editions | "Gastric Female Reflex related, concrete slander. Cut up prepared piano, consumed many sleepless nights. Collage gem's, found arguments, directions. A gazette, a document of andrew zukerman's free time. Will make music about how he can no longer desire the affection of another woman. NOT a recovering pervert! Marbled and printed velum gatefold art object. Beautiful, stunning look. Unlimited edition." |
| 4/24/2006 | Charles Curse | Insilverscene | CDR | $12.99 | musicyourmindwillloveyou | "Isolationist folk from the heart of a madness...purely improvised, captured and manipulated into a piece of abstract psychosis. Skeletal truth music interwoven with ecstatic noise and doused with petrol. A skull on fire in the dead of winter. Alone in his kingdom. Burn down the F word." |
| 9/30/2005 | Chasse, Loren | The Air In The Sand | CD | $12.99 | Naturestrip | "The San Francisco based sound artist Loren Chasse is apt to describe the many facets of his work through a simple metaphor. For example, Chasse often qualifies his microphone as a physical extension of the ear, and site-specific environments become his ersatz studio and mixing board. Yet these metaphors extend far beyond the concept of sound construction and into sympathetic relationships with everything around him. On his critically acclaimed 2002 album Hedge of Nerves, he applied the often fetishized sound of vinyl crackle to elemental recordings of wind, sand, fire, wood, and surf for an album bristling with tactility whose complex details amassed into an transcendent, oceanic blur. This was not a mimesis of an antiquated technology dumped upon a digital production with the facade of "making something real," but an abstracted coupling of complementary acoustics hopefully to engage the imagination of the audience. For his most recent album The Air In The Sand, Chasse posits another metaphor: the composition as a diorama. Within his ideas about the sound diorama, Chasse exaggerates those sounds which he feels to be essential for a space and minimizes everything else. Again, the recording process of The Air In The Sand revolves around Chasse's active participation within a particular environment. In these unspecified spaces, he broadcasts an array of drones, textures, and field recordings back into the sonic environment where they intermingle with the ambience of that location. Part of this process is an attempt to move away from the constraints of the digital workstation; but at the same time, Chasse is far more interested in the curious alchemy that occurs when a space listens to itself making sound. The nighttime chorus of crickets gurgles within aqueous percolations and the tectonic crash of surf crashing against rock. Elsewhere, rain vaporizes in a caustic sizzle as it falls upon overhead electrical wires, and this sound is compounded by the sharp crack of branches and the slow hiss of sand. For all of the elemental sounds that dominate his recordings, Chasse extracts subtle musical timbres and fragile half-melodies that haunt The Air In The Sand. While some of Chasse's recording techniques remain similar, it is important to note that Chasse sets this body of work (along with id battery and Coelacanth) outside of his ongoing pastoral contributions to the polyphonic Jewelled Antler constellation (e.g. Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Child Readers, and even his pseudonymous solo project Of.) With an emphasis placed upon location and its sonic ghosts, Chasse exposes something profoundly beautiful lurking in the shadows of the landscape." - Jim Haynes, June 05 |
| 11/2/2008 | Chasse, Loren | The Footpath | CD | $14.99 | Nature Strip | "Loren Chasse places his ear to the earth and becomes a microphone... hands on stones, stones against stones, a cymbal, dust blown, a strum, earth sounding, earth turning, leaves, wind, tones, drones, moments fading in, fields fading out, something from another atmosphere, something as another music, not music of the spheres, but this sphere, a music of the earth rolling, like a cloud floats, like blades of grass walked upon, with gentle tones droning, the music of dirt, the music of dust, the moving back and forth in wind, tones ringing, and more tones ring, quietly, strings are plucked as though moved by wind, and then breeze, and pause, and begin again, in another place. here, sounds move like rolling a coin along the ground on its edge - simple, gentle, yet full of wonder... music at its most tactile nature, quietly rubbing dirt clods in your hands until dust... drift, a whole lot of drift, of small crackling presences, clear wind, field recordings of unknown activities, and tones again but this time more present - more music, and then a feeling like sagebrush rolling in wind, desolate, and then the tones return, and there are all these moments when desolate becomes beauty. there are shifts and also stillness...we are told we are on a footpath, but even more so, we are submerged inside of an ear-path, where the earth is transformed not through handling, but through listening. loren places his ear upon the earth and begins his journey. we've all wished at times that we could present our dreams, or other complex things inside of us, to others exactly as we can see or hear them within us. in this case, loren has given us access to this little listening space inside his head, for we hear things we could only hear if we were inside him - it is the sounds of the world, sometimes manipulated by his hands, resonating through the earth and moving into us through his ears." - steve roden (august 2008) |
| 5/7/2004 | Chatham, Rhys | Echo Solo | LP | $15.99 | Azoth / Table of the Elements | "By 1989, downtown legend Rhys Chatham had been fusing art music and punk rock for almost fourteen years and wanted to try his hand at something else. Accordingly, he set out to combine forms using a diverse vocabulary drawn exclusively from the classic avant-garde; the result is Echo Solo. In it, Chatham appropriates a number of musical styles - serial technique, chance operations, and just intonation - then through a process of amalgamation and superimposition, he transcends their original musical meaning while at the same time imploding it. Only the tiniest pair of critical scissors could isolate the individual elements from the final product; it's a fascinating, paradoxical composition, one which the composer happily describes as 'a rite of decimation.'" |
| 3/11/2004 | Chatham, Rhys | Three Aspects of the Name | LP | $14.99 | Table of the Elements | "From the Table of the Elements¹ 10th anniversary 'Lanthanides' series of single-sided, silkscreened LPs: It was Rhys Chatham who first applied multiple electric guitars to the extended-duration, overtone-drenched minimalism of the 1960s. This amalgamation - of the intellectual experimentalism and textural sophistication of the avant-garde with the rhythmic brashness and visceral punch of punk rock - produced a raucous, ecstatic new type of urban music that energized the downtown New York scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, a music whose influence can be heard in the subsequent work of the many luminaries who participated in Chatham's ensembles, including Glenn Branca and members of Sonic Youth, Mars, Band of Susans and Swans. Three Aspects of the Name is both a departure and return for Chatham. In the composer's words: 'In Three Aspects of the Name I return to my roots as a hard-core minimalist. The musical vocabulary is essentially that of my earlier composition, 'Guitar Trio' (1977), where most of the harmonic and melodic content occurs in the overtones generated by the fundamental pitches being played, primarily one-note. The current piece marks my first use of this particular technique for voice. The three words of text comes from a traditional Hebrew inspirational chant that I chose to work with, for, among other reasons, its highly selective and potent use of vowel sounds, which lend themselves to the unfolding creative story that the overtones tell over the course of the composition." |
| 6/11/2006 | Chaw Mank | Volume 1 | CDR | $11.99 | Our Mouth | "Chaw Mank is Brian Sullivan, guitarist and vocalist with Mouthus in the company of the Sightings duo. Volume 1 presents a muscular spin on established Mouthus stop-motion murk strategies with spools of rusty repeat blown to flesh by some devastating rock damage. Highly recommended." - Volcanic Tongue |
| 8/24/2009 | Cheater Slicks | Bats in the Dead Trees | LP | $13.99 | Lost Treasures of the Underworld | 2nd edition of 500 copies with pro-printed covers. "Four long heavy instrumental total damage meltdown jams. this is the other side of the cheater slicks that until now has never been captured on vinyl!" |
| Chemical | Chemical | LP | $24.99 | Acme | "8 long, spacy extended tracks in the direction of Group 1850, early Pink Floyd and Sundial, and includes mindblowing Arzachel like keyboards, trippy fuzz guitar and phasing." | |
| 4/10/2005 | Cherry Point, The | Grim Company | 3" CDR | $6.99 | P Tapes | Horror and guts harsh unit from Phil Blankenship (LHD / Tronics-Pacrec ). |
| Cherry, Don | Mu 2nd Part | LP | $16.99 | Get Back | "An album recorded at Studio Saravah in Paris on August 22, 1969 by Don Cherry (pocket trumpet, piano, indian flute, bamboo flute, voice, bells, percussions) with Ed Blackwell (drums, percussions, bell). 'His duets with Ed Blackwell, a drummer whose playing Cherry was very conversant with through a shared history in the Coleman group, were the first recordings released in the Actuel series'. Original artwork. Gatefold sleeve. 180 gram HQ vinyl." | |
| Cherry, Don | Mu First Part | LP | $16.99 | Get Back | "Originally recorded on August 22nd, 1969 at Studio Saravah in Paris, this album became the first one of the whole BYG/Actuel series. Don Cherry electrifying duets with Ed Blackwell are memorable. 6 tracks. Original artwork, gatefold sleeve, 180 gram HQ vinyl." | |
| 8/4/2007 | Chessex, Antoine | Lost in Destruction | CDR | $7.99 | editions_zero | "berlin... april 06, while spending their easter vacations editions_zero members attend a real-punch-in-the-stomach set of antoine chessex in stralau 68 as a part of mini fest and get crazily astound w/ his lo-fi 'doom sax' sounds!... berlin, somewhere in kreuzberg, january 07... while sitting in a bar w/ daniel. joke and other pals drinking during a weekend's trip, the same members pop up w/ the idea of a release to remember that instant trip. a proposal for a raionbashi/antoine chessex split 7" is dropped and less than a month later crashes in our po box in amphissa an envelope from antoine including a cdr of his recordings (that stellar set from stralau as well!!!). 5 tunes (+ 1 w/ the necessary silence as well) as spewn from his tenor sax through gtr amps & his shitty efects pedals, from droning passages, to pure 'doom sax' chaos or the lo-fi madness of live sets, this cdr works not only as fine introduction to his world but as a blastin' experience as well (it sets editions_zero's central on fire!!!). housed in an envelope w/ a replica of how usually look like the letters or packs, collective members around greece exchange between them... (as of what happened to the raionbashi thing? be glad for the sound has no ending, up here in the mountain where the editions_zero central lies....)" |
| 7/16/2009 | Chessex, Antoine | Terra Incognita | one-sided LP | $15.99 | Absurd | "Striked accidentally to do a 1sided LP of antoine's work a couple of months ago. turned out to be no more no less but a documentation of recent live stuff recorded in berlin and in asia. 2 sax / electronics blasts and a more frequency like one capturing as much as possible of antoine's live energy and atmosphere. while working on it we found a mutual interest in ancient and medieval maps therefore is housed as such... as if you are opening a map and start examaning an unknown sound origin that lies in front of you with all its known, unknown, hidden or not places... simply play loud and get sucked into it!" "Recently I found that Antoine Chessex is/was a member of a band who I actually saw a couple of times: Monno. He told me that himself, when he played at Extrapool. That concert was short, powerful and noisy, but it worked really well, with Chessex using the dynamics of the space. Here he has a solo one sided LP, but with a hidden track (think New Order's 12" on Touch) on the other side. It is a kind of documentation of stuff he has done recently, using saxophone and electronics. It starts out in known land (nodding to the title here), of heavy noise: piercing electronics and sustained saxophones. Then there is a somewhat quieter piece of saxophones in a larger hall, which create a kind of strange atmosphere. Nice as well. So it goes for the final track of the one side which some heavily controlled playing. In between there is a noise blast and so is the main part of the hidden track. I think I expected a bit more of this, based on what I heard live, but this fits the saxophone brut that he is known for." - FdW, Vital Weekly |
| 9/30/2008 | Cheval Sombre | I Sleep | 7" & CD | $9.99 | Trensmat | "Cheval Sombre is the project of New York-based musician Christopher Porpora. On this release he produces three tracks of hazy, effevescent beauty. On the 7" spread over both sides is 'I Sleep', a hymn of love lost recalling 'Perfect Prescription'-era Spacemen 3, but filtered through that Galaxie 500 summer-sun-space-reverb - all shimmer and throb, oscillating into the ether. The strings languidly build over a gently plucked guitar while all spreads out lazily, like sonic ripples. On the additional CD is the full version of 'I Sleep' along with two exclusive tracks featuring very special collaborators. Sonic Boom, once of the aforementioned Spacemen 3, is on production duty for 'Strangest Thought' and the track bears his unique stamp sounding like a Delta blues broadcast from outer space, twisting & reversed in shimmering air - musical narcotics that flow and drift you right off. Britta Philips, once of Luna and currently of Dean & Britta, provides a remix of 'Troubled Mind' which creates a bleary cloudy atmosphere which is brilliantly broken and carries along with a languid bluesy swagger. Absolutely, perfectly gorgeous. Limited edition package of green vinyl 7" and CD. In full colour wraparound picture sleeve." Recommended! |
| 3/2/2005 | Chicken Legs Weaver | Wishbone Hands | LP | $12.99 | Ecstatic Yod / Shagrat | "Bee-stung guitar, vocals dug up in some gravel pit, Chicken Legs Weaver create some of the most feverishly destroyed R'n'B in recent memory.." - Byron Coley, Arthur Magzine. "The Debut Album Nowhere [produced by Johnny Dowd] has a timeless, stateless feel - equally rendolent of dingy northern cities and the plains of middle America .. essentially, this is international blues of the very highest calibre.." - Joe Cushley, 'Blues Matters' magazine / 'Ballin' the Jack' on Resonance FM 104.4. "Clearly the best band the UK has produced in a while.." - Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth. "Hard times, lost loves, missed connections and dangerous visions, common to all, concealed from none, but each murderously twisted to the tenor of the times. Too true to be any easy, diamond-ring tall-shucking tale - and too good to be ignored by those who know the shouts and moans - the howling of the mighty Wolf and the graveling of the exalted Captain - and all the rest who have moved, red-eyed, in from the special places where the brain and the heart and the hand strike the ever-particular smokestack-sparks - and the words that make strong men weep, women wail, and policeman turn in their badges. Cheap gin will make you blind, but the clear truth will never fail you. The blues will set you free....Chicken Legs Weaver play the blues - and plays it right, right? Not a bad one in the barrel. So help me, Hannah." |
| 8/22/2008 | Child Bride | Reflections On Prism City | CDR | $12.99 | Blackest Rainbow | "OK, so I don't support any kids getting married to old dudes, its not cool... but then this is a new recording by THE Child Bride! Spooked vocals, weird clunks, cut up surreal vibes, this one is a real slayer, almost like some kinda fucked up singer songwriter noise styles. The killer gem here has gotta be 'Rabbit Moon', some far out repetitive churns, some how blurring supremely with some thudding rumbling, and then some killer trance drugged vocal, that'll hypnotize your mind man! Edition of 60 packaged in stamped envelopes with pasted art and an insert." |
| 11/21/2008 | Child of A Creek, The | Unicorns Still Make Me Feel Fine | CDR | $13.99 | Dust Wind Tales | "Unicorns still make me feel fine" is the second 10 song plus an hidden completely self produced album I wrote, sung, composed, arranged, performed, recorded, produced and mixed together in my home recording studio and mics through various rooms, bedrooms and gardens neighbour between February and May 2006. I've performed singing, acoustic old folk electric and slide guitars, harmonica, flute, organ, electric piano, Steiner wall piano, bohdran, timpanoes, wooden boxes, little russian balalaika, crashes and electronics. All lyrics, All songs by The Child of A Creek. Front and back cover Art by The Child of A Creek." "When I first heard this collection of songs I wanted to cry tears of happiness. The feeling that Lorenzo Bracaloni creates on this album is truly amazing. Beautiful melodies that twist & turn like twine around a tree. Melodies that pick you up & melodies that lift you to a view of dusty meadows & landscapes. This is pure...Spray painted cdr packaged in a clear pvc case together with a cover featuring artwork by Lorenzo himself. Four inserts are also included featuring lyrics, credits & a small photo. As a bonus there is a badge (made especially for this release) that is held to a piece of curtain from The Child of A Creeks house." - label. Edition of 60 copies. |
| 4/29/2008 | Child Readers, The | Music Heard Far Off | CD | $11.99 | Soft Abuse | "The Child Readers tread the implied ground that lies somewhere between a music heard far off and a music finally pulled together. Active since 2000, Loren Chasse and Jason Honea, The Child Readers, present the disparate dualities of metaphysical improvisation and meticulous composition in their otherworldly recordings, an adventurous & dense take on art-pop songwriting unheard since the heyday of Cherry Red and 4AD (imagine Eyeless in Gaza nicking from the Xiu Xiu or Richard Youngs songbook). Rather than solely draw from any musical discourse, The Child Readers found inspiration in the creative adventures of Rockwell Kent, Lawren Harris, Charles Burchfield and Sherwood Anderson in making their fourth & best album, Music Heard Far Off. Presenting music bathed in the beauty of everyday things, The CRs' avant-pastiche approach touches upon musique concrète, pastoral pop, new romanticism, fractured folk & minimal techno with equal prejudice. Sonic prayers to country, wastes of sea, songs, drawings, particular times of day and different furs are all presented here as esoteric sing-a-longs. Aiding Honea & Chasse's vision are three short films (the video album 'Superstition Island,' contained on the disc), eye-popping album artwork, and contributions from Mark Williams (Mirza), Rob Reger (Thuja) and Christine Boepple (Ov). Music Heard Far Off was recorded, played back, re-recorded and collaged in various locales, including the California redwoods and coastlines, Estonia, Berlin, Madrid and Portugal. The true stories contained therein unite listener and creator for a unique musical experience; the duo's confessional torch songs offer an intimacy that may embarrass the untrue of heart." |
| 7/10/2008 | Children of the Sixth Root Race | Songs From The Source | LP | $16.99 | Drag City | "A lost-and-found 1973 recording of THE SOURCE FAMILY. These twelve songs were recorded live in the Hollywood Hills as a rehearsal for a concert date that SPIRIT OF '76--aka YAHOWAH 13, THE SAVAGE SONS OF YAHOWA, YODSHIP, AND FIREWATERAIR, now known as CHILDREN OF THE SIXTH ROOT RACE--had at the Whisky. A 1/4" tape copy of the recording was found in Chicago in 2006, though no-one is really sure how it got there. Songs From The Source has more R&B--grooved energy, with splashes of synth and organ, a female vocal chorus and streamlined fusion rhythms backing the uniquely Yahowan lyrical populism of songs like "Godmen" and "Lost Dead But Hoping." The ebullient, ever-climbing power of the climactic "We Are the Dinosaurs," has few analogues in the other Source recordings and is furthermore an outstanding piece of music from the entire era. Songs From The Source is a miraculous missing piece of The Source's positive musical movement." - Revolver |
| 5/14/2007 | Chingar Mimi & Leslie Keffer | Live At The Embassy, Cleveland, Ohio 3/3/07 | cassette | $7.99 | Action Claw Records | Split live release from Ohio's Chingar Mimi (with Leslie Keffer on part of it) and the other side is Leslie Keffer solo. Packaged in sewn paper sleeves. |
| 5/14/2007 | Chingar Mimi / d.i.b. | split | cassette | $7.99 | Action Claw Records | "Chingar Mimi is a 2 piece keyboard / guitar noise in your face pussy power ensemble with songs such as "men, menstration", "once upon a hippie", "inverted cupcake" and lindsay lohan tributes "roast beef pussy". d.i.b. was recently listed in bulltongues top 80 of 2006--66. DO IT BIG - Coke Dick cassette (milk tart records) From what we can tell the members of this elusive outfit are heralded as "murder," "kuss," "blood," "creampuff" and "brookie g." They are supremely addled. This, presumably their debut recording, sounds like an LSD playground riot which runs through a good trip / bad trip journey unlike anything we've encountered in a while. Regardless it's outstanding in its wastedness." Packaged in a sewn sleeve. |
| 7/16/2006 | Chopin, Henri | Revue OU | 4 x CD & Book | $89.99 | Alga Marghen | "Alga Marghen proudly presents a new edition of the already historical Chopin's Revue OU. All the original contents (4CDs + book + complete inserts) have also been included here, but presented now in a more modern and flexible way. The first press heavy boxset had been substituted with a lighter and colour slipcase while many important details and info about the contents of this anthology (missing in the original layout) are presented on a new colour obi." Incredible that this has been reissued again, at a slightly cheaper cost even! Miraculously over-the-top presentation of Henri Chopin's famous sound-poetry "magazine", issued on 4CDs (or 6 LPs - a few copies of the original LP reissue box still available). "Since the end of the fifties, Henri Chopin, an explorer in the new recorded sound poetry field, has never ceased, through hid own work as well as through his publishing activities (Revue OU, a magazine with record from 1963 to 1974) to defend the electronic exploration of the voice and the body. Many manifestos and theoretical texts, as well as original photos, have been published in a 76 page book. Also included are 30 fold-out black and white OU inserts reproducing the original scores of the audio works featured on the 4 CDs (by Chopin, Heidsieck, de Vree, Davies, Cobbing, Bekaert) as well as graphic works by John Cage, Tom Phillips, Arrigo Lora-Totino, Michel Seuphor, Ben Vautier, Stefan Themerson, Richard Orton, Pierre Albert-Birot." |
| 9/30/2005 | Chora | Burn In Hell | 3" CDR | $7.99 | Firstperson | "First release by young upstarts from Sheffield and what a fine racket it is too. This live recording gives a fair estimation of the damage they've been doing along the highways of the UK for the past 18 months. Great mixture of high end ear cleaning, nonsensical vocal-isms and eventual lapses into metronomic rythym. A mixture of noise and repitition that is not a million miles away from the area that This Heat so successfully cultivated. The future is very bright indeed." |
| 3/21/2009 | Chora | Goat Lines | CDR | $8.99 | Seven Hares | "Four tracks recorded April 08 on tour in Europe with our friends Helhesten & The Hunter Gracchus. 3 tracks recorded in collaboration with Pascal Nichols (Stuckometer, Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides, Neon TempleŠ) & 1 duo jam of mainstays Rob Lye and Ben Morris. Instrumentation including: violin/ Shaahi Baaja / drums / percussion / vocals / sax::::::: 'Follow the rise and fall of their kaleidoscopic drone mantras that move through skeletal extended percussive techniques, wormhole found-sound manipulation, kitchen sink gamelan, and elephantine vocal swoops." |
| 3/20/2007 | Chora | Moist Friends | CDR | $8.99 | 267 Lattajjaa | "New CDR release from former Sheffield based 'pretty boys'. Bunches of instruments played into total obscurity. For some reason this makes me think of some old Animal Collective stuff, exactly much it really does though I dunno. maybe with a little bit of Axolotl fuzz thrown in? Comes in a totally DIY looking sleeve with some dude on the front. 3 tracks, 45 minutes!" - Blackest Rainbow. "Recorded in Sheffield summer 2006, performed and recorded by Ben Morris and Robert Wye. Future releases coming up on Gold Soundz, Utech, Singing Knives, Curor et al". |
| 12/12/2009 | Chora | Plume Lake | CDR | $7.99 | Zero Jardins | "Chora is an improvising UK avant-freak group. This record covers a bunch of bases while providing a good snapshot of the group at its best, balancing minimal string-think with alien fourth-world drone resonance, overdriven vocal/electronics oblivions and that 'classic' Sheffield/Singing Knives scattershot musical ambience that we all 'go' for. Chora is: Ben Morris & Rob Lye. 3 tracks, 36 min |
| 5/14/2007 | Christa Min, The | The Devil And Tex Watson | 7" | $6.99 | rundownsun | "Over 12 minuets of lo-fi west coast style psych garage. featuring formers members of some of Vancouver's indie, rock, and weird elite including folks from jackie-o-motherfucker, staked plain, BUG, the nasty on, the cinch, vancouger, video tokyo, the countless jibes, fuck me usa, and more. the christa min are no longer but it's members have gone on to great things and great bands including: ANEMONES (records out soon on jagjaguwar sub labels, and 1777rex!), ESP SNAKE (featuring members of aids wolf), SUN ARISE, and THE PINK MOUNTAIN TOPS!!! one track of suicide influenced down and out garage split over two sides of wax. packaged in 2 piece, silk screened millboard cover. art by nicholas bragg. xerox insert." |
| 8/28/2007 | Christian Family Underground | For the Depth of Your UnionŠ | LP | $12.99 | Woodsist | "Summer 06 Family Underground (DK) recorded with Dave Nuss of NNCK at Black Dirt Studios in the woods of upstate NY. The yield was as characteristically unhinged as one might expect: sweeping electronic sounds backed with wood and bone percussion spirit-conjure. However also harvested was some new and especially tasty crop: sung and spoken song, electric guitar/conga "rock," and an odd ghostly sheen coating the entire proceeding. Nuss comments on the session: "I remember when we were recording, momentarily leaving the studio and going out into the night and feeling it thicken like a partition separating us from this intense state of clear consciousness we had in the recording, which was likeŠ humankind's natural state. And then thinking about Jesper from FU, an adopted Vietnamese living in DK, and how much he resembles Michael Jackson, and realizing that across continents no man can be divided from himself. We had to make this music to provide for us some fantasy of fulfillment that would carry us through the weekend like rejuvenated suns born again climbing to heaven, after being washed in the deepest bluest seaŠ." Another killer Family Underground release - highly recommended! |
| 9/30/2005 | Christopher | What'cha Gonna Do? | LP | $25.99 | Lion Productions | "Deluxe LP reissue of one of the absolute rarest American psychedelic LPs of the '60s - and one of the best. Every song is of the highest quality (all originals too), with an accessible sound that suggests the band could have had more widespread success, had they ever made it out of their native South Carolina. The album was originally pressed in 1969 to use as a demo, but you'd never know it based on the overall quality of the production; the music demands your attention: well-crafted trippy lysergic lyrics about plastic capsules (and more), flanged vocals (among other effects), fine vocal harmonies, extended jamming, and a transcendent quality well expressed by the gutsy and creative guitar work. When you've got blistering acid rock mixed with acid blues, with a couple of thoughtful melodic songs for good measure, you've got a recipe for something special. Had Christopher been a major label release it would be a staple in every record collection. Now, on to the presentation... highest quality mastering and pressing (done at Acoustech Mastering/RTI in California); the resulting LP is housed in a poly-lined sleeve, which is inside an ultra-heavy 1960s Project 3-label style gatefold jacket, which is in a loose-fitting plastic sleeve. Top of the line pressing all the way. Limited by license to exactly 500 copies." |
| 8/8/2009 | Chrome | 3rd From The Sun | LP | $19.99 | Cleopatra | "Limited edition 12" vinyl reissue of the 1982 album by the Bay Area masters of alternative industrial noise rock, Chrome!" Very welcome reissue of Chrome classic! |
| 1/24/2009 | Chrome | Alien Soundtracks | CD | $14.99 | Noiseville | "This is Chromes second album, released in 1978, and comprised of members Gary Spain (bass, guitar, vocals), Damon Edge (drums, synthesizer), and Helios Creed. Alien Soundtracks is the first of their releases that would later mark them as early innovators of post-punk industrial experimentalism. This release is raw punk heavy on the Stoogeian vibe, featuring Creeds flanging, scrawling guitar sounds backed up by Edges use of tape manipulation and samples." - label |
| 9/17/2009 | Chrome | Alien Soundtracks | LP | $19.99 | Cleopatra | "Special limited edition vinyl reissue of the seminal 1978 Chrome album -- the first to feature the aggro-guitar stylings of Helios Creed -- includes the classic 'Chromosome Damage' and 'All Data Lost.'" |
| 1/24/2009 | Chrome | Half Machine Lip Moves | CD | $14.99 | Noiseville | "Originally released in 1979 on Siren/Beggars Banquet, Half Machine Lip Moves is Chromes third album and is considered an absolute classic of raw punk/experimental genius, authored by the duo of Helios Creed and Damon Edge."-Noiseville "Half Machine Lip Moves was a curious and powerful hybrid, which fused a Stooges-styles aggression with a sci-fi and LSD-inspired otherworldliness, reflected in titles that evidenced their interest in aliens and contemporary technology. This album was arguably their finest moment ... Creeds searing, heavily FX-laden guitar and Edges eerie Moog and vocals, underpinned by metallic drums, came together to create what could have become a radical new departure point for a nascent form of post-rock." -The Wire; "One of my Personal Top 25 albums of all time, this is certainly one of those records you can keep returning to and find new things buried in all those layers of ZOUND." - Julian Cope. |
| 9/17/2006 | Chrome & Helios Creed | Dual Forces | DVD | $18.99 | MVD | This DVD features 2 artists: Chrome and Helios Creed. It contains three classic Chrome videos produced between 1980 and 1983: "New Age", "Meet You in the Subway", and "Danger Zone". Also included is the never released video for "Firebomb" and live footage from the 1998 Chrome tour. The Helios Creed videos featured are "The Rant" and "Your Spaceman" originally produced for Amphetamine Reptile Records. There is also live footage from the Deep Blue Love Vacuum tour in 2006. As a bonus, the program "A Timeline" has been included. It spans thirty years, covering the discography and history of Chrome and Helios Creed. |
| 4/10/2009 | Churinga Canaries | untitled | LP | $20.99 | QBICO | Phil Legard, Alexander Neilson, Tirath Singh Nirmala, and Phil Todd. Recorded in Leeds, December 2005. Originally released as a CD-R limited to 100 copies. "Collaborations can be a hell of a gamble. Fortunately, it seems that in the world of the underground music lover, collaborative ventures always seem to turn out to be synergetic exercises that yield amazing results. Churinga Canaries is such an endeavor: a one-off group effort improvised by four of the brightest lights in the UK underground music dog-and-pony show. A rundown of the participants should be more than enough to cause many of you to drool with excitement. Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band), Alex Neilson (Scatter, Richard Youngs collaborator, etc.), Tirath Singh Nirmala (formerly John Clyde-Evans of Hood) and Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) assembled in Leeds in chilly December 2005 to bang out some noise and melt the ice right out from under themselves with a warm bowl of sonic porridge. The results are two stunning long-form tracks of joyful jazz-inflected psych-noise in the vein of some of the wilder Ash Nav moments. Neilson's propulsive yet amazingly free drumming serves as the perfect background for the virtual maelstrom conjured up by the other three improvisers. About five minutes into the leading track, 'Under Heavy Rent,' the sound is so dense and chaotic that it's almost dizzying. The foursome manage to keep themselves and their sound from breaking apart into a million tiny pieces, but just barely. 'A Sovtek Swirl' starts off subdued, with a recurring thematic element gluing the shards of our dumbstruck minds back together again. By the time the disc is finished however, you'll be left panting in a useless heap on the floor. This is powerful stuff, not to be taken lightly. Don't say I didn't warn you!" -- Review of the CD-R by Byron Hayes from July 2006 (Foxy Digitalis) |
| Cinorama | Three Lies And Ding at 5 O'Clock | CD | $15.99 | PSF | "Project featuring Toshi (ex-Brain Police - legendary 70s Japanese cult group). Great complex avant garde sound with female vocal." | |
| 4/24/2006 | Circle | Arkades | LP | $18.99 | Fourth Dimension | "Arkades catches a session Finnish group, Circle, recorded exclusively for WFMU during their US tour, on 19/9/05. Comprising two lengthy pieces taking up a side each, 'The Greatest Kingdom' and 'The Ghost of the Highway', it focuses on their often spacey improv. underpinning and applies new meaning to a vision which strides powerfully over the line dividing apocalyptic dread from a semblance of hope. Agonised wailing, screams and torrents of molten sound dance ghostly shapes over psychedelic keyboard patterns, distant clattering, moonlit guitars and a rhythm section so carefully tempered that it's impossible not to feel the chemistry at work. Coupled to a fantastic sleeve which illustrates a homage to spaghetti western films and includes fitting notes by WFMU's Program Director, Brian Turner, Arkades proves what these New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metallers are capable of when they leave most of the rock at the door. File somewhere near Acid Mothers Temple after having been given the kinda makeover only the Scandinavians have the formula for. Indeed, this is sweet shit..." |
| 4/24/2006 | Circle | Earthworm | CD | $8.99 | No Quarter | "Circle is a band whose sound is constantly evolving. That evolution continues with Earthworm, a four song EP released on the eve of their third US tour. Earthworm finds the band further integrating their love of late seventies/early eighties metal with the 'circular' Kraut-influenced psych that has become their trademark. The songs on Earthworm are heavy and dense with guitar riffs that shred, backed by the intense and hypnotic rhythm section of bassist Jussi Lehtisalo and drummer Tomi Leppanen. The band has invited Bruce Duff (singer of the legendary LA band Jesters of Destiny) to contribute vocals on three tracks." |
| 12/24/2005 | Circle | Forest | CD | $12.99 | No Quarter | "Formed in 1991, Circle is the most visible and prolific name in the Finnish rock underground. With Forest the band have touched on their most accessible sound yet with four lengthy, percussive heavy songs that navigate through dark Kraut-inspired rhythms, whispered vocals and hypnotic repetition." |
| 11/23/2004 | Circle | Forest | CD | $16.99 | Ektro | “Almost as eerie as Guillotine, Circle have forsaken the metal of Sunrise in favor of a return to their rhythmic precision, although of a more subtle variety, along with some seriously dark folk full of disturbing touches. There is no doubt in my mind that these gents should be scoring horror films at this point, just listening recalls terrifying film moments (this album makes a great prelude to Thriller aka They Call Her One Eye, and I also can't stop thinking about the psychological horror of Bruno Dumont's Twentynine Palms). Goblin Shmoblin, Forest will damage your mind.” - Scratch |
| 12/23/2003 | Circle | Guillotine | CD | $16.99 | Ektro | “Born in the bucolic city of Pori, Finland, Circle has been defying expectations since 1991. This unpredictable ensemble led by Jussi Lehtisalo has been reinventing, refining and perfecting its technical drones and heavy riffs over the course of numerous European, American and Japanese releases. The band effortlessly devours and personalizes skewed progressive-rock rhythms, distorted guitar firepower, cosmic sound paintings, gleaming minimalism, Kraut-influenced phrase repetition, and hymnal incantations written in a made-up language called Meronian. Circle’s instantly recognizable albums and frantic live sets have garnered ample international praise while masterfully exploring the outer limits of grinding tension and celestial calm." This is their new December 2003 release! |
| 6/6/2009 | Circle | Meronia | CD | $14.99 | Ektro Records | "1991. We had been running a small indie label called Bad Vugum for a mere four years, but we genuinely felt we had found bands that made a difference, definitely in the budding Finnish scene at least. So in 1991 friends and even total strangers at gigs and festivals suddenly started telling us that the best two undiscovered bands come from a drab small town called Pori - and that they both sounded exactly like they should be on Bad Vugum. Naturally our interest was piqued and we got to hear the self-released 7"s by these bands called Circle and Deep TurtleŠ Alas, we were not overly impressed. "They're still undeveloped, they still sound too much like their apparent musical heroes, and most importantly the songs aren't strong enough", we convinced ourselves. To this day I still thank our lucky stars that Mr. Dassum of Deep Turtle, who recorded in the same small basement as Circle, called me and asked if we were at all interested in hearing some new Deep Turtle demos. Sure we were, and we sure got more than we bargained for: as a bonus he also included some new stuff from their friends Circle - and we were blown away by both bands' progression. We duly agreed to start releasing 7" EP's at first, just to make sure the bands only put out all killer / no filler kinds of records, and to slowly build a following before any financially riskier album productions. During the next 18 months Circle for their part got two awesome EP's out of their system, and absolutely floored live audiences all over the country with their high-intensity gigs. Which were more akin to hypnotic mass rituals, what with their glowing body paints, jarring lighting tricks and various blooddripping props. Sometime in 93 - 94 the guys and we both felt sure Circle were mature enough for a full-length. After unleashing them in the studio we got to hear quite a few mind-boggling new, slower songs they had concocted, then a few more. Then even more. We almost couldn't believe our ears, it was becoming clear that a single LP could not contain these inspired goofballs' creative output. Recently I discovered I still get goosebumps from listening closely to Meronia. Not just because I love just about every track on the album, but also because it brings me back to the days of trying to work out the best possible order for the songs. I'm always on a personal mission to "help" bands with that ( IMHO) essential dimension to any record, but Meronia's sprawling bulk of 15 -16 tracks (we often added bonus tracks on the vinyl versions, even with single LP's, just to mess with CD buyers) proved a daunting task. I spent literally days and weeks immersing myself in the music, switching and changing the song sequence every which way - and those were the gruelling days of a double-deck cassette players, mind you. Then I spent hours on the phone with Circle's Jussi, discussing and speculating what each track might "mean" in any particular order. I felt I truly lived on planet Meronia. In Finland, the album got rave reviews both in the underground zines and, somewhat surprisingly, mainstream press as well. Abroad, it opened some new doors in the underground, but surprisingly was not licensed for a foreign release. In those times small foreign labels still seemed to settle for 7" records for Circle. But it was still early days in what was later to become a global Circle industry as we know itŠ What is it now? Some 20 + albums, half of which on foreign labels? And whenever I talk to Jussi, Circle seem to have at least three albums already recorded and waiting for a release. They've sure succeeded in carving a respectable niche for themselves, while still taking chances and trying new things. Maximum respec'. To wrap this up, a funny Meronia anecdote. In the mid-90's someone claiming to be an A& R executive for the David Geffen Company sent us a fax, complete with letterheads and everything, requesting a promo copy of Meronia. He wrote he was a big fan of the 7" stuff he had heard and was interested in checking out the band's "album potential". We sent the CD, and waited for a reply. I mean c'mon, the label that made Sonic Youth huge, right? Well, since we didn't hear anything, I first faxed the guy back, and then even called the number on the letterhead - but it didn't even connectŠOh the lengths resourceful Circle fans can go to when hunting for an import missing from their collection!" - Heikonen, Bad Vugum / BV 2 Produktions. The 2007 Ektro Records release is a re-mastered version and features updated artwork. |
| 11/4/2006 | Circle | Miljard | DBL CD | $18.99 | Ektro Records | "Exploding walls of psychedelic guitars, "ingenious pop compositions", motorik krautrock, melodic harmonies, intensive riffs and ecstatic vocal performances? This album does NOT contain any of the things previously mentioned! Slow-moving abstract atmospherics, inspiring and determined wandering and a stagnant universe of winter are present on Circle's new double album MILJARD. New Wave of NWOFHWM! The album was produced by Mika Ratto. Rocking has been traded for some quiet reading on the cough at home." |
| 6/6/2009 | Circle | Panic | CD | $14.99 | Ektro Records | "A new release from Circle, once again. This time these experimental veterans study the both ends of the previously unheard static / hyper-active scale. Soundwise they have clearly proceeded to the 21st century, jumping from limpid synthesizer soundscapes to wall-smashing "speed-kraut" bursts. The triptych construction of the album along with the cover art that portrays war and street riots raise various associations on the history and the current state of Western civilization." 2007 release. |
| 6/6/2009 | Circle | Rakennus (Live) | CD | $14.99 | Ektro Records | "Rakennus - approximately the seventh full length Circle release this year - is an hour-long snapshot of the band's recent tour of the USA. The concert (recorded in September in Charlottesville, Virginia) thunders and wobbles onwards with unprocessed autenticity. The recording effectively captures the full spectrum of Circle's contemporary live expression, revealing to us a glimpse of the spiritual landscapes of the most astonishing speedkraut pioneers of our times. There's an abundance of ritualistic rumbling to be discovered between the twitchy hard rock show opener "Uusi uhraus" and "Kaappikellon kummitus", the ravishing Rättö ja Lehtisalo cover song that closes the album. Rakennus displays the joy of playing music in its most pure form." (Eetormentor). 2007 release. |
| 4/10/2009 | Circle | Triumph | double LP | $22.99 | Adverse Effect | "Recorded in 2007 at a WFMU Radio session in New Jersey, the material on this latest LP from Finnish kraut-experimenters Circle includes some of their strongest to date. In addition to a plethora of strange, progged-out passages, Triumph features some incredibly sensitive, far less theatrical work. Tracks like fifteen-minuter 'Skiing' and the similarly slippery 'Dungeon' are full of tumbling piano keys and delay effects, creating an atmosphere that's somewhere between Sunburned Hand Of The Man at their most blissed-out and The Necks when they let Chris Abrahams loose. Always purveyors of superior kosmische fare, this release ranks amongst the Finnish bands finest..." |
| 12/26/2005 | Circle | Tulikoira | CD | $16.99 | Ektro | "The insert proclaims nothing except NWOFHM in huge block text. That is it, a proclamation of the The New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal is upon us. There is no further information aside from track names, line up and when it was recorded... Hmmm, I am skeptical. Circle have a reputation in my mind of being a bit out there at times and for every exquisite piece I have heard there has been some stuff I have found to be patchy at best, so I coming to this brand new album with an open mind. Well, not so much open as slightly excited as Russell, who works in monorail and who convinces me into spending too much money every damn time, described it as a jam between King Crimson and Budgie. Which I admit was enough for me to pick it up instead of just downloading it or overlooking it for something more staid. There is no way I can explain the first two tracks better than the description that Russel gave... Moments of soothing quiet with haunting vocals juxtaposed with some full on metal fantasticness which is just the right side of being considered trite. Totally fist pumping hard rock... Awesome! The third track is more akin to what I would have expected from Circle, meandering, quirky and kind of going nowhere. It has a couple of flashes of riffdom and a few glitchy electronic effects, some vocals that add to the paranoid feeling it creates but it's a bit of a comedown after the opening two tracks. Now with the closing track, the 25 minute epic called Puutiikeri, Circle begin with an intense pounding rock style bit and damn does this sound fucking fantastic when it drifts into being one of their artsy epic jawns! Great album and definitely as good a start point as any for people new to Circle." - Steve Carlin |
| 3/21/2009 | Circle | Tyrant | double LP | $19.99 | Latitudes | "Tyrant sees the band in tranced-out, metallic shoegaze territory, blast beats clash with Krautrock rhythms, disembodied screams pierce the murk as time slips beautifully away... As with all Latitudes sessions, this was recorded and mixed in one day and the resulting album a testament to their singular outsider vision and live prowess." Edition of 1000 copies. |
| 7/16/2009 | Circuit Des Yeux | Fruition | 7" | $6.99 | Dull Knife | "Haley Fohr follows up her cult LP on De Stijl and appearances on the Die Stasi curated XXperiments compilation (as both CDY and as one half of Cro Magnon) with the haunting Fruition 7-inch. This EP finds her exploring more accessible song territory than previous outings while still retaining that late night, under the bridge Jandek loner vibe that made her previous work so striking. The A-side finds right alongside contemporaries like Zola Jesus or US Girls, while the flip find hers doing a torchy folk number that showcases her voice in a way that no previous work has. Hand-numbered edition of just 300. Green vinyl in a glued pocket color sleeve with silkscreened vellum obi strip." - Revolver |
| 11/17/2007 | Circuit Refusal | Circuit Refusal | one-sided LP | $14.99 | American Tapes | "Heavy swirling noise from Circuit Wound and Birth Refusal, west coast and mid coast knockout collabo. CW remixed the Refusal podcast from a while ago, mail style. Thick weirdness but kinda tech with is a nice new angle considering the anti-sound/fidely Coorz/Conn combo. Aint walls, but walls of the schizo ward, closing in.........in. schizo ward, closing in.........in art, and speed, any....." |
| 9/30/2008 | Circuit Wound | Constellations | cassette | $5.99 | 905 Tapes | "I asked jay if he wanted to release a tape on 905 and he said he had a concept piece called constellations that I could check out. he said it was inspired by observing the lights of los angeles at night from the surrounding mountains. i've only been to la a couple of times, and not for a few years now, but I really need to head back west and get the hell up in those midnight mountains. the two ten minute circtuit wound tracks here play to oposite ends of the noise spectrum, but both consistently portray harsh poignancy throughout. lurking withing the light (side a) births a vivid image of scaling said mountains, dirt underneed fingernails. metalic-like feedback that, after 8 minutes, finally gives way to nebula inspired flickers. finally reaching the peak, a beautiful distant flickering tainted by corrosion (side b), is where the light takes over with throbbing gashes that walk the line between ambient and hoarse. so menacing it's like the lights are watching back." |
| 5/29/2008 | City People's Farmer's Music | Afternoon Tea | 3" CDR | $8.99 | Black Petal | "Tender drone damage from NZ's finest, Sam Hamilton and Mark Sadgrove. Drink a cup of the new blood." "A really beautiful 3"CDR, a nice gentle drone with some really beautiful vocals! Both these guys have appeared on PseudoArcana in the past.." |
| 11/15/2008 | CJA | Bruce Lee | 3" CDR | $9.99 | Ruralfaune | "Report of a lost youth, these twin cdr's transport us in the foundations of CJA's sound. An electric side (The Dio Years), another acoustic one (Bruce Lee), two aspects of NZ: the north and the south, the calm and the wild, both different, both essential." Edition of 51 copies. |
| 5/8/2005 | CJA | Ironclad | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "CJA screams, 'I am a fucking monster.' Shout it from on high. CJA's master opus, 'Ironclad,' reeks of monstrous minimalist genius. These songs are unearthed from a secret place, within the depths of New Zealand's green pastures and jagged mountains. This is music that was destroyed and pieced back together so that it can destroy you. 'Ironclad' is a monolith. hell, it caused CJA to stop making solo records. It is that good. Don't take it from me, take it from Glenn Donaldson: 'I've already set all my electric guitars ablaze in tribute to CJA.' Amen to that. |
| 11/15/2008 | CJA | The Dio Years | 3" CDR | $9.99 | Ruranfaune | "Report of a lost youth, these twin cdr's transport us in the foundations of CJA's sound. An electric side (The Dio Years), another acoustic one (Bruce Lee), two aspects of NZ: the north and the south, the calm and the wild, both different, both essential." Edition of 51 copies. |
| 7/16/2006 | CJA | Wolfskullage | CDR | $9.99 | 23 Productions | "Mutant toxic shock and blown-skull get togetherers. Our favorite Armpit mutiny, New Zealand's mighty CJA is a blistering full on live band this time around. Freedom jams up the works, all six barrels are loaded and fired, backfired refried tape hell mastered the sheer joy tone poems of the Wolfskull age." |
| 11/4/2006 | CJA / Witcyst | untitled | cassette | $7.99 | Dutch Beer | "collaborational cassette from two of the finest New-Zealand men. songs, scetches and stories. nice full color cover designed by VEET, M." |
| Clarinette | Haze | LP | $11.99 | Ecstatic Yod | “Regardez-vous the debut recording by clarinette, a solo project that has flowed from the brain of well- known archivist, Daniel Dan Vallor. Utilizing such instruments as guitar, swinehorn and kuck, Mr. Vallor has created a world of scrambled-diz miniatures of disarming variety. Played w/ tiny robot fingers, lacerated by stumps of home-studio fuckery, the five pieces here are as potently frenched a selection of man-handled string readymades as any record collector has ever waxed. Mr. Vallor is probably best known in the subterranean passages of this great planet for work that is involved w/ music in ways that are far more tangential than the protean form-gropes here. Over the yrs, Mr. Vallor has been associated w/ American popular combos as disparate as Panther Burns and Game Theory. More recently, he has worked at codifying and archiving the sounds of underground New Zealand, first as delineated in the fall-out from the Flying Nun concern, then as documented on the lathe cut records made by Peter King and others. Listening to the genteel hum and dribble of Haze it becomes apparent that Mr. Vallor has done more than catalogue the musics of NZ. Indeed, the weirdly shaped instrumentals that comprise the LP might easily be mistaken for the latest sounds from one of the bands on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Root Don Lonie for Cash, or one of the other labels that he has so brilliantly documented.” – Byron Coley | |
| 10/26/2004 | Clarinette | Little Fluttery Screamy Thing | lathe cut 7" + CDR | $19.99 | self-released | “With 2001's ‘Haze’ on Ecstatic Yod and the forthcoming ‘Transmuting Fall’ on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Clarinette has confounded a few, delighted some others and remained completely unheard of by just about everyone else. Drenching everything in blankets of echo (natural and synthetic) Clarinette has effectively evaded creating anything reasonably identifiable as proper music. Dusted's Charlie Wilmoth called Clarinette's ‘Haze’ ‘a bizarre gem of a record’ describing it as ‘like nothing a human being would try to make on purpose’. ‘Haze’ went on to take an impressive 916th place in The Village Voice's Pazz 'n' Jop Poll for 2002. 2004's Little Fluttery Screamy Thing EP and its accompanying album length CD-R explore what happens when too many equipment failures crash into an unhealthy obsession with the recent DNA CD anthology. It is nearly all guitar and echo and just barely appropriate for release. Lathe cut by Peter King in New Zealand and limited to 51 copies.” |
| 7/10/2008 | Claudio Two | Hot Lead | CDR | $12.99 | Mad Monk | "Latest and best from this mysterious tribe finds them in full synthesizer horror mode. Taking cues from the soundtracks of John Carpenter, the mutant space techno of Allan Bryant, the time-lapse mesmerism of Robert Fripp, and the intrepid synthesizer experiments of Ruth White, Hot Lead deals in nightmarish arpeggios, shapeshifting noise and ominous melodic variations. Recorded direct to 8 track - no boring, sterile microhouse polish here - and comprised of mostly solo tracks by individual members. Complete with dreamy Sisters of Mercy fanboy cover art. Limited to 150 copies." |
| 1/1/2008 | Claudio Two | Sniper at The Gates of Dawn | CDR | $11.99 | Mad Monk | "Some folks may claim that improvisation is all about LISTENING, but Claudio Two - a new project starring partners Chazz Improv and Norma Bates (aka James and Jessica Toth, formerly of WWVV), and featuring the first appearance in over ten years by former Golden Calves vocalist Max "Mev" Wicker - is all about the opposite. Recorded in various spurts over the fall of 2007, Sniper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut CDR by Claudio Two, on which the band layers individual single tracks recorded solo and combines them unheard (a la Durian Durian), and, elsewhere, uses this source material to try to recreate this accidental music while in a group setting. Mixed in glorious mono. 150 copies, no reissues." |
| 7/10/2008 | Claudio Two | The Corpse | one sided cassette | $12.99 | Blackest Rainbow | "New band featuring Chazz Improv and Norma Bates (aka James and Jessica Toth aka Wooden Wand and Satya Sai), and Max "Mev" Wicker, so far this little crew has just had two jams out on Toth's own Mad Monk label... Here you got two tracks of weirdo psyche drone blues, compared by James to some of the Hassara jams, pretty damn slick, I played this in my local record and book store and they compared it to the an old skool German loner, although the name slips my mind. Limited to 100 hand numbered copies with black printed pastel paper sleeves." |
| 2/19/2004 | Clay Figure | Eyes Of The Sun God | 3" CDR | $6.99 | 267 Lattajjaa | "Hannu asked me to write a few words about this cdr, so here we go.. During the 10+ years that I've been playing music, I've always liked cover songs. My first serious band played a lot of covers from 1980s and early 1990s Finnish alternative rock bands and such. After that I've drifted into more experimental waters, but the thought of making more covers has always been in my mind. When Hannu told he'd like to release a Clay Figure cd-r on 267 Lattajjaa, I figured out that the time had come. The first track, Back In The Village, was originally made by Iron Maiden. It's a little less known track from their 1984 masterpiece lp Powerslave. I figured out the song's basic chord structure and thought it would translate well into a folk song. I changed the chorus a bit to make it more singable (is that a real word?), and replaced the solo/bridge section with a bunch of samples from The Prisoner tv serial. The song is based on that serial (Maiden also have an earlier song based on the same theme titled The Prisoner) and as I'm also a Prisoner fan, it was an obvious solution. The song (and the serial) is, to put it briefly, about a non-comformist individual repressed by the society around him. 1984, Brave New World, We... The second track, Divine Death, is a classic one from Napalm Death's first lp Scum. In the end of that song there's the repeated scream 'divine death'. I sampled and looped that scream, and recorded it through a couple of effect pedals, added some more sounds to make it a fuller whole and finally spoke the lyrics on top of that. The part 'individuality disabled, blinded by fables' fits well into the theme introduced in the first track. The final track, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, originally appears on Pink Floyd's second lp A Saucerful Of Secrets, as well as on the live section of their Ummagumma double lp. I've been wanting to make a cover of this song ever since I started to play music, so it was about time. I recorded a drum loop and played variations of the basic riff of the song on top of that with a keyboard. Then I layered a whole lot of different things there and manipulated the track on a computer for a rather interesting result, I think. Originally this song is, I think, just a psychedelic space rock song, but I tried to turn it into a description of an Icarus character who is finally blinded by a divine (or whatever) light because he refuses to accept his lousy situation and aims higher. 'Individuality disabled, blinded by fables' again..." - -Pekka PT/Clay Figure |
| 10/26/2004 | Clay Figure | Songs For Friends Of The Past | CDR | $8.99 | Musically Incorrect | “Clay Figure left the 4-track days of folk-industrial-sound collage behind and came up with a shamelessly catchy and straightforward indierock/pop album that's occasionally perhaps a bit reminiscent of 22-Pistepirkko, Nick Cave/Birthday Party, Neil Young, etc. Limited edition of 150 copies.” |
| 12/29/2004 | Clay's Festering Lungs | Clay's Festering Lungs | Cassette | $5.99 | 23 Productions | "One man band rumbling magic. Three tracks of live improvisations in thick rural noise gospel." This is Clay Ruby of Davenport. Edition of 55 copies. |
| 3/26/2006 | Clay's Festering Lungs | Raven's Hyke | DBL Cassette | $11.99 | 23 Productions | "Long awaited collection from heavy sessions in the tomb, same sessions that bore "Silver Skull". All out medicine worship, oily secretions of black sunshine to dampen your hollow bones. 80 minutes thick with whirlwind of mangled audio snapshots, healing rituals, analog psychosis treatment, massaging the dump." |
| 9/15/2004 | Claypipe | Crescent | CDR | $12.99 | Pseudoarcana | "These recordings actually pre-date the releases on Jewelled Antler and catch Claypipe engaged in clattery huge epic dronings which were in no small part fuelled by a peculiarly green tinged cake (ahem..). Organ, sampler, violin, guitar and percussion - not so many vocals on this one – the instruments sang for themselves, with nuanced and articulate tongues…!" |
| 4/24/2006 | Clear People | Clarity | CDR | $11.99 | Manhand | "Limited full-length album from this sci-fi inspired caveman unit secreted in the ranks of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and featuring Don Harney, John Moloney, Rob Thomas and Dave Bohill. These guys turned up alongside Mystery Gypped on NNCK's Live At Ken's Electric Lake LP but this recording is even more devolved than that particular grunt-summit, with various epiglottal extremities plotted (vowels endlessly gurgle, throats floated in bowls of reverb) while tiny sound events (the ping of metal, a comb of bamboo percussion, what sounds like marbles on drums skins and the warp of sheet metal) combine in chains of weird allusive logic. Later tracks ratch up the distortion, with tapes and fuzz making for a suitably grainy backdrop for some beautifully confused acid babble. Recorded in 2005 and one of the more formally challenged shots from their lips to date. Comes in a card envelope with colour art, insert and mylar-printed quote from Octavio Paz." - Volcanic Tongue |
| 9/17/2006 | Clear Spots, The | Electricity For All | DBL CDR | $12.99 | Deep Water | "During the Great Depression, 'Electricity for All' was a slogan of the Tennessee Valley Authority, part of FDR's New Deal, as it strove to bring electric power to isolated communities in the Appalachians. Some 70 years later, the Clear Spots commemorate that wiring process by expanding the concept. Drawing on various energies both natural and otherwise, using the barn as a resonator and the holler as a natural amplifier, the trio (plus specialist aetheric-engineering friends) opens an interplanetary conduit between the dirt and the stars, beaming diverse sonic signals out into the void. Is anyone up there listening? Maybe the mountains could sayŠ Two CDs, 17 tracks, 95 minutes." |
| 6/11/2006 | Clear Spots, The | Mansion on the Sky | CDR | $9.99 | Deep Water | "In which three of our troupe embark on an expedition deeper into the woods, re-establishing their sonic forge in an abandoned barn overlooking a deserted river valley. Divers metallurgical, chemical, and electrical experiments are undertaken and documented. Twelve tracks across forty-nine minutes, a starker and earthier breed of klang." |
| 6/11/2006 | Clear Spots, The | Mountain Rock | CDR | $9.99 | Deep Water | "Ten tracks spread across an hour of born-in-a-barn-falling-down psychedelic noise rock, rural electrification project improvisations, and deep-woods sasquatch rituals, lovingly recorded using tin cans and twine. As raw and ragged as you'd hope, you can smell that Appalachian soil in every blown speaker. (DW001)" |
| 12/26/2005 | Clementi, Aldo | Punctum Contra Punctum | CD | $22.99 | Die Schachtel | "On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Die Schachtel is proud to present Punctum Contra Punctum, a deluxe compact disc box dedicated to Aldo Clementi, one of the most important figures of Italian music of the 20th century. Born in Sicily in 1925, he studied piano and later composition under the guidance of teachers such as Goffredo Petrassi and Bruno Maderna, who also introduced him to electronic music at the RAI Studio of Phonology in Milan. Like many composers of the period, he employed serial technique early in his work, to abandon it later on in favor of a very personal, ingenious and unique method for creating new music. Blessed with extraordinary skills of invention and assimilation, Clementi may be the one living composer for whom 'genius' is not too strong a word. His musical language is extremely articulate and profound, resulting in a fascination with obsessive repetitions, collages, canons, and incredibly complex rhythmic textures which have to be heard to be believed. At the same time his music maintains to stay fresh, dynamic and highly enjoyable. A must-have for all the modern music lovers, and a great discovery for the most adventurous and prepared listener. The CD box -- silver-foil design on a matte white paper CD-box edition, complete with a lovingly designed 64-page booklet in English and Italian." |
| 2/7/2009 | Clerics | Born In A Lake | cassette | $5.99 | 905 Tapes | "The second meeting of Clerics, but only the first time i actually was aware we were even playing. let's go ahead and consider this the first meeting of clerics, which is the duo of sal giorgi (the confused blotch-jock behind peasant magik records and the pillars of heaven project) and mike haley (905 head honcho, local wether man). got together on a weekend at my place, possibly to settle that star wars argument we had earlier in the week. had a nice lunch then broke out the ultra heavy delay. we took some pictures in the tunnel under my house afterwards, but they didn't come out." |
| 5/20/2009 | Cliffsides | Cliffsides | CDR | $6.99 | Small Doses | "Bones of Seabirds' ryan mcgill is back again, but this time with his new cliffsides project. this one is entirely synth based, very ethereal and airy. it called to mind the Vangelis score to Blade Runner at times, both in a shared aesthetic with that music, but definite similarities in its melancholic mood and tone. this is really lush, beautiful stuff. edition of 72 copies in a white-on-white silk screened cover wtith vellum insert." |
| 11/21/2009 | Cliffsides | Singularity | c31 cassette | $4.99 | Anathema Sound | "Now firmly rooted in Brooklyn, Ryan McGill’s (Bones of Seabirds) melodic synth project continues to take full flight. Performed entirely on the Roland Juno 60 analog polysynth, this is one of McGill’s most lush and expansive releases thus far. Both pieces that make up Singularity stretch toward the furthest depths of the galaxy and bath the listener in a wash of gorgeous melody that’s fit to make hearts flutter and spines chill. It’s immaculately composed, perfectly executed, and sure to deliver you straight to the light at the end of the tunnel. With full color artwork, inserts, and labels by Matt Yacoub. Edition of 60." |
| 6/27/2009 | Climax Golden Twins | Eerie Fragrance | LP | $13.99 | Etude Records | "A lovely vinyl reissue on Etude Records of a long obscure Climax Golden Twins gem. Originally issued in 1995, on cassette, Eerie Fragrance or Eyeless Fabrication or Exclude Frank or Eat Fuck or etc (forever) was Climax Golden Twins second official issue after a self-released double seven inch gatefold record. Cassettes--the cockroach of the industry--were a necessity at the poorer end of the music spectrum prior to CDRs and file sharingŠthe good old daysŠEF was a collage of noise, found sounds, punk rock disasters, Chinese climaxes, broken records, and tape failures mastered directly to cassette on a reverberant wooden floor in an old building in Seattle, Washington. It seemed an inauspicious start and little presaged the ambient/dreamy/art installation/field recording/Anomalous Records darlings CGT were to become with releases such as Lovely, Dream Cut Short in the Mysterious Clouds, Locations, etc. However, secret free hillbilly noise epilepsy has always lurked under the button up shirts, white wine sipping and gallery-opening snack-munching. The noise informs the dreams which informs the ambiance which informs the chaos and so back to the beginning and vice-versa. Etude Records discovered CGT through their work on the horror film Session Nine and have been wanting to release something ever since. Part band, part art project, Climax Golden Twins were discovered lurking under a desk in a laboratory in the early 1920s. Reconstituted around 1993 or 4 (just add gin), they perpetrated various audio artifacts on an unsuspecting (and cold) world (see extensive and largely mythical list below). These days they are the CGT in AFCGT. And they released Victrola Favorites recently on Dust to Digital. Their laboratory origins lead to a an unhealthy interest in early recording and the era of music on 78rpm records and cylinders, a time of acoustic sound reproduction when oral traditions ended and the home entertainment industry and the information age devoured our puny lives. That's a mouthful. This era was a pivotal one in understanding how humanity arrived where it is today, though Climax Golden Twins denies all knowledge of where that might be." |
| Climax Golden Twins | untitled | 7" | $19.99 | Road Cone | "Destroyed turntable cut-up and musique concrete style cut-up, with short acoustic interludes. Black on black cover, white vinyl." | |
| 12/24/2005 | Cline, Nels / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano | Immolation / Immersion | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Fans of modern fire-breathing jazz rejoice, for a true meeting and melding of the minds is at play. Immolation/Immersion is the inaugural recording of what will hopefully be more blasts of fury and filigree by three leading lights of improvised music - guitarist Nels Cline, saxophonist Wally Shoup, and young percussionist-on-the-rise Chris Corsano. Nels Cline should need no introduction. Be it the improvised fervor of his Nels Cline Trio or Nels Cline Singers, forward-thinking rock by Geraldine Fibbers, his collaborations with Carla Bozulich in experimental outfit Scarnella and via his weeping lap steel found on her remake of The Red Headed Stranger, or his latest incarnation as a member of Wilco, Cline is a truly versatile and virtuosic avant guitarist par excellence. Wally Shoup has been around the block a few times himself. Over the course of a career spanning three decades, Shoup has been involved with Project W, has collaborated on many recordings and performances with Thurston Moore, and has brushed up against many American and European improvisers, largely documented on the Leo label. Chris Corsano is on a sharp upward trajectory as of late, pummeling flesh and bone with his blitzkrieg drumming and splashes of color alongside saxophonist Paul Flaherty and in Cold Bleak Heat. Corsano has also been performing with the A-team of the "New Weird America", including Matt Valentine (Tower Recordings, MV + EE), Sunburned Hand of the Man and Six Organs of Admittance (most recently appearing on Six Organ's latest Drag City opus School of the Flower). Taken together, the three form a unit of seriously subliminal beauty, displaying a phenomenal degree of interplay that alternates between pummeling mayhem and subtle sonic passages. Out of the gate, Cline's guitar bubbles and broods, Shoup's gritty sax coughs forth both whiskey-drenched blues and supersonic skree, while Corsano turns energy into light with his death-defying drumming. Onwards into the affair, a more gentle trio surfaces to display effects-laden guitar yawns, warm sax purrs and nuanced drum kit explorations of bowed cymbals and quiet patterings. Cline, Corsano and Shoup play off each other like they have been performing together for years, their spontaneous flights spawning fully formed compositions that unfurl from the atmosphere like sudden spring thunderstorms. As indicated by the title, Immolation / Immersion is compellingly dynamic, capturing a full range of destructive force and quiet submersion. Jaw-dropping and essential." |
| Clop Neplat | CD1 | CD | $18.99 | Demonosound Records | Drones, hums, and scrapes from Norwegian Mads Staff Jensen. Like Surface of the Earth at times | |
| 7/16/2006 | Cloudland Canyon | Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004 | CD | $16.99 | Tee Pee | "Spanning three years of studio work, Cloudland Canyon was born when Uhlhorn, touring Europe with Panthers in 2002, met up with German multi-instrumentalist Simon Wojan. Tapes were exchanged, and a handful of improv performances across the Atlantic forged a promising creative pairing, one that would take shape when Wojan made the trek to Brooklyn later that year. Within, strictures of German new age and electronic music of the '70s haze into field recordings mottled with analog burble and echoes of woodwinds. Shambling, modal organ ruminations detour browned-out meditation hang sesh. Blue-eyed drunken soul collapses upon swarms of meticulously composed synthesizers into a yellowed, rejoicing howl." For fans of: Boards of Canada, Animal Collective, The Dead C., Ash Ra Tempel, This Heat, Gong. |
| 4/16/2007 | Cloudland Canyon | The Mind Electric | cassette | $9.99 | Tape Tektoniks | "2 hyper-psychedelic brain wave studies by this hamburg / new york experimentalists. psychedelia is science! |
| 11/17/2007 | Cloudland Canyon / Lichens | Exterminating Angel | CD | $13.99 | Holy Mountain | "This collaboration between the mellow, Memphis-meets-Germany duo of KIP ULHORN and SIMON WOJAN (aka Cloudland Canyon) and Chicago's great rock 'n' roll concierge and knower-of-mystics MR. ROBERT LOWE (aka Lichens) was born on a trip to the West Coast of the United States a few years ago. Exterminating Angel's single 30-minute track uses voice, guitar, samplers, and ARP synthesizer. You've heard of the unmade science fiction epic whose would-be director proposed using different big-name progressive bands to perform a soundtrack for specific planets used in the script; here then are the sounds accompanying a spacecraft that's a combination Death Star and Taco Bell from the 1970s filled with cement Mayan temples and pyramids populated by large, snappily dressed reptilian beings. Every so often a bell goes off to break the spell and presents convincing evidence of this record's special journey." |
| 7/11/2008 | Cloudland Canyon / Lichens | Exterminating Angel | LP | $14.99 | Holy Mountain | "This collaboration between the mellow, Memphis-meets-Germany duo of KIP ULHORN and SIMON WOJAN (aka Cloudland Canyon) and Chicago's great rock 'n' roll concierge and knower-of-mystics MR. ROBERT LOWE (aka Lichens) was born on a trip to the West Coast of the United States a few years ago. Exterminating Angel's single 30-minute track uses voice, guitar, samplers, and ARP synthesizer. You've heard of the unmade science fiction epic whose would-be director proposed using different big-name progressive bands to perform a soundtrack for specific planets used in the script; here then are the sounds accompanying a spacecraft that's a combination Death Star and Taco Bell from the 1970s filled with cement Mayan temples and pyramids populated by large, snappily dressed reptilian beings. Every so often a bell goes off to break the spell and presents convincing evidence of this record's special journey." |
| 6/25/2004 | Club Moral | Instruments Of Attraction | 10" | $15.99 | Kapellmeister Grammofon | “Club Moral was formed in 1981 as a performance group and as an all purpose art space. Analog experiments, raw , insane...The perfect electronics record for all sub people of the Third Wave. One of the best release from Herr kapellmeister Records - We love it - we support it.” – invasionplanete.com This is a very limited release featuring a 12 page booklet (same size as the 10” record) with lots of text and photos…and the booklet is hand sewn. Nice! |
| 7/29/2004 | Club Moral | Living(stone) Concert | CD | $13.99 | Club Moral | "Club Moral Living(stone)concert was recorded live on 23 December 2003 in Berchem. All the tracks were improvised on the spot and the lyrics were taken from 'Gazet van Antwerpen' newspaper of the same day. except for 'On Suicide'. About 35 people witnessed the concert in Lies and Marthe's (real) livingroom. The set was recorded on mini-disc and digital Pro Tools mixer. The final mix on this CD approaches as much as possible the original sound in the room. Club Moral has a 20-year reputation of noise music. performing on various occasions and locations ranging from music venues over art galleries to factory buildings. AMVK has a long history of computer-related art which dissects. re-locates. transforms the human mind and body in a multitude of applications. DDV is known for the protracted displacement of his own body in situations undermining he audience's experience of his and their behavior. Dylan is one of Belgium's leading Drum'n'Bass dj's and master of the Gromophon on 78rpm and backwards. Mauro used to be an Evil Superstar who reincarnated as 'count' Somnabula to tear dead therapists out of the grave by his strings. Packaged in standard jewel case with 16-page full color booklet designed by AMVK. Highly recommended folks!" |
| 2/11/2006 | Cluster | Cluster '71 | CD | $15.99 | Water | "First reissue of this one in many years; this is first Cluster (w/ a "C") album (following the 2 Kluster albums: Klopfzeichen & Zwei-Osterei), originally issued by Philips in, yes, 1971. The 2 equally classic albums that would follow this (II & Zuckerzeit) have pretty much always been available, but 71 has mostly languished (although it was reissued at times by Sky). Reissued here w/ original cover art (not the inferior Sky art), nice booklet of photos and new liner notes, no unnecessary bonus junk. Well done. "On the outer edge of German space rock, Cluster '71 stands as a testament to minimalist 'cosmische' music. The three untitled tracks composed and performed by Moebius and Roedelius are exploratory, ever-changing pieces with focuses on guitar distortion and synthesizer wails, though each goes far beyond. This album deserves the many accolades it's been given, and holds up as an early landmark in the history of beatless ambience." - FE |
| 6/11/2006 | Cluster Duo | Dances | LP | $21.99 | QBICO | 24-carat gold vinyl, cover by shlkr featuring Walter Swanljung (keyboards) and Ville Sahlakari (drums) recorded Winter 2004/2005 in Helsinki, Finland. "imagine if Sun Ra'd have recorded in duo with Milford Graves... and i ain't kidding or exaggerating, totally devastating!" |
| 9/16/2007 | Clyde-Evans, John | Apetal Thunderfall | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "It's been a monumental year for John Clyde-Evans. He recently returned from a year living in the Punjab region of India, and after a slew of releases under his Sikh name of Tirath Singh Nirmala, he's back to the good ol' JCE. That's not all that's changed, though. His latest opus, "apetal thunderfall," spins off into a new web of cacaphony, leaving behind the pastoral anthems of yesteryear and taking aim at a more abrasive ways to leave behind the rust. "apetal thunderfall" was recorded entirely during JCE's stay in Jalandhar in 2007 using found software and audio sources. The resulting recordings feel almost primitive. Evans uses his uncanny ability to blend and mix multitudes of tones into sprawling thickets of sound. It is hard to call this music drone, but at the same time there is a continous flow to these three pieces that works in a similar way. Over the course of 43 minutes, this music etches itself into your skull, drilling itself in deep without drawing blood. Divided into three tracks, "apetal thunderfall" is more a singular entity than a collection of works. This album is cathartic, both musically and as a vehicle for JCE himself. But make no mistake, this is not spiritual music with mystic over/undertones. Simply, it is the new aural vision from one person made while living in India for a year. It is abrasive yet beautiful, and harkens back to a time and place when things were far less complicated." |
| 1/1/2008 | Clyde-Evans, John | Delight in the Streams | LP | $15.99 | Amen Absen | "Delight in the Streams is the first solo vinyl outing for John Clyde-Evans (aka Tirath Singh Nirmala) in close to a decade. Recorded during a year-long stay in India , the album seamlessly weaves together an array of piercing bowed objects, flutes and voice with electronic and audio embellishments over the course of three extended tracks. The scattering of sounds swirl around to disorienting effect yet still manage to mesmerize as the music draws itself out. Pressed in a limited edition of 300 copies." |
| 5/8/2005 | Co., Inc. | Hollows Time | CD | $14.99 | "Just quietly, Jon Chapman has spun through a variety of incarnations in the years leading up to this well tasty cd of electronic delights. From founding the ever-expansionist Double Leopards in Philadelphia and appearing on their first three records, he went on to jam with Pearls Before Swine's Tom Rapp; he's also sat in on the never-ending drum circle of outback Australian life, as well as fronting the world's first Skullflower tribute band. Now resident in Dunedin, New Zealand, Hollows Time marks a maturity of the home-cookin' electro vibe that dates back to the very first Co., Inc. cassette in the mid nineties. Improvised and composed impulses collide in a mess of short-to-middling tracks that display a refreshing simplicity and clarity of purpose. Rough, pitted, obtuse, impossible electronica building blocks are juggled and arranged into floating ocean cities by genius lemurs under Chapman's firm but friendly direction. Housed in a gorgeous handmade and letterpressed (more like letter-hammered) sleeve, this marks out the down-under ex-patriate free-electronica art-folk slicker-trash scene as one to keep a close eye on." | |
| 5/29/2008 | Co., Inc. | Nerve Pluck Game | CDR | $14.99 | "Switched-out surge-and-spike, drum-and-treble, thrum-and-tremble from Co., Inc. (Jon Chapman: ex-Double Leopards, Rory Storm and the Invaders, Ray Off, Sinking Infinities) Unvarnished digital and vintage analog constructs: solo improv dissected and interleaved upon solo improv; all hard-/ no soft-ware. Covers hand-built of cotton rag matboard and gummed linen tape, with woodcut-printed titles, and artwork of shaved willow charcoal and archival book-repair tape. Numbered edition of 100. File Under: Submachine Bells." |
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| Coachmen, The | Ten Compositions New Frontiers In Free Rock | LP | $12.99 | Ecstatic Peace | "Guitarist JD King, the sole remaining original member of the Coachmen (1978-80), is joined by Valerie Boyd (Farfisa organ), Dave Wain (bass guitar) and Simon Quick (drums) for a deft and transcendental blending of Cageian principles, free jazz and psychedelia. it's music that's truly liberating, a sunny avenue of escape from the muck and mire of the illness commonly referred to as 'the music industry'. The LP comes wrapped in neo-Japanese sleeves w/a book of poetry by the beat/avant legend Arthur Childs." | |
| 11/17/2007 | Coal Hook | Coal Hook | CDR | $12.99 | There Is No Trouble In Denmark | "Coal Hook is jørgen teller and ron schneidermann - a bi-continental, willing-to-travel duo hailing from somewhere close to the eye of the storm with news from beyond instant satisfaction. in the heat of copenhagen's post-millennium christiania, ron schneiderman (sunburned hand of the man, aethr myth'd et al) and experimental madman & truth-teller jørgen teller (Š & the empty stairs) discovered the vibe for coal hook during a one-time performance in december, 2006, with causa sui under the moniker pewt'r jjjjj. the famed venue byens lys and it's fire-heated wood-house cult-ambience went straight into the blood of this new being. from there the duo met at teller's city studio a couple of days later for this session of blistering music that proved there was a newly formed bond merely at it's inauguration. the course has been set for this string to be untied and the story to be opened. the music of coal hook has all the nerve of today's free rock movement at hands. both contributors have long lasting relationships with the music of free spirits in both improv, alt rock, psychedelica, dub, noise and folk music. coal hook's autonymous debut offers glances into dark places of insane beauty lighted by flashes of white sonic bolts spewed from two guitars' glowing strings. odds are thurston moore will like this." |
| 8/4/2007 | Cobills, Chris | Two Hams in a Can | CDR | $7.99 | Brothers | "Somehow or rather, Chris Cobilis (b. 1979 in Perth, Australia) began performing pop music and noise music in the same month - May 1997. He isn't really sure how he landed himself in this situation since he had little experience in music aside from being an avid listener & sometimes music journalist. Early noisy performances earnt recognition for Cobilis as an "accomplished musician" which he thought very funny because he felt this was untrue. Early pop performances with the 'good time' pop group, The Tigers, were met with startling reviews also, some suggesting that this new 'party' band were "avant-gard" and "challenging". Cobilis thought this funny also, as he had always imagined The Tigers to be a 'fun' pop band.Cobilis has performed at many of Perth's Totally Huge New Music Festivals. In 1997 he did his regular song and dance routine for the good folk attending the festival club following the percussionist Amy Knowles. Unfortunately, an ant bit him mid set, causing the disorented Cobilis to drop his guitar and scream "I'm an angry young man" over and over. Nobody was impressed. In 1999, Cobilis was asked to support the affable and well-adjusted fellow, Masame Akita and partner Reiko A (aka Merzbow), in the wonderful surrounds of the Players Diskotheq, where the few people actually watching him thought he was the 'disc-jockey'. Cobilis regrets his decision to wear headphones for the duration of said performance. Cobilis has subsequently played on bills featuring Four Tet, Wolf Eyes, Pita, Pimmon, Rik Rue, David Thrussel, Annie Gosfield, Alan Lamb, Ross Bolletter & Cat Hope. In addition he has shared the stage with Damo Suzuki, Ikue Mori & Jon Rose. In 2006, Cobilis intends to pedal his wares across the entire globe, busting heads, making noise and generally having a good time. If you reckon you'd like Cobilis in your town this year, drop him a line. He will come and dance for you." - CHRISCOBILIS.COM |
| 2/1/2005 | Cock E.S.P. | Menaha Red Light District | CD | $9.99 | Betley / Sunship / BBPTC | “Big sausage noise from Emil and Matt plus Adris Hoyos guest spot.” |
| 11/12/2003 | Cock E.S.P. / Panicsville | Last Train to Cocksville | CD | $10.99 | Nihilist Records | "This is exactly what it sounds like...America's two leading noise bands paying homage to the Monkees. What it may have sounded like if Manson did make the cut, simply ear shredding & yet playful. Banjos, beats, melodies & gobs of feedback make this THE party album of the Fall semester! With the hits ‘I Can't Get Her off of My Cock’, ‘She’ & ‘"Last Train to Cocksville’." |
| 8/28/2007 | Cody, Turner | Buds of May | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "'Buds of May' was originally self-released on cdr back in 2004 but has now been lovingly re-mastered and re-packaged by Digitalis so those of you who didn't manage to track down the original issue will finally get to hear this exemplary work. Turner Cody may not yet be a name familiar to many, but thanks to extensive touring of the US and Europe he is causing quite a stir on the underground. Indeed the Herman Dune bassist was spotted by none other than Wooden Wand himself James Toth (who has recently signed to the Nonesuch imprint) who proceeded to bag a full LP for his own Mad Monk imprint. With this buzz around him it comes as perfect timing that Digitalis launch 'Buds of May', an album which in many ways is Cody's most complete and most accessible. Taking influence from the world of classic singer songwriters, from Bob Dylan to Townes Van Zandt with maybe a little of Will Oldham thrown in for good measure, Cody proceeds over the course of the epic 'Buds of May' to vocalize his own views on life. He is firstly a storyteller, and in a world where mainstream lyrical content is more banal than it has ever been, Cody comes as a breath of fresh air. Simply produced with guitar and bass underpinning the tracks, it is Cody's distinctive singing voice which carries each piece as he creates distinctive melodies that stay with you for some time after the record has reached a close. Right now with artists such as Jose Gonzales haunting the mainstream airwaves it seems almost impossible not to stumble across new singer-songwriters whenever you flick through the racks of a high street store, but what Turner Cody offers is a unique voice in a crowd of copyists. Cody is at once cynical and hopeful and should offer an antidote to a tired, apathetic world. Unforgettable music. Packaged in custom three-color arigato packs from the awesome folks at Stumptown Printers. All songs completely remeastered by Stephen Clover (seht) @ Palindrone." |
| 7/31/2006 | Cody, Turner | The Great Migration / Quarter Century | LP | $13.99 | Mad Monk | "Turner has been kicking around the NYC folk scene for quite a few years now, but this is, perhaps inexplicably, his first foray onto wax. While most 'singer / songwriters' these days seem to draw most of their water from Iron and Wine via Pavement and back again, Turner sounds like he began his musical education listening to Gershwin player piano rolls and quit buying records somewhere around the time Dylan brought it all back home. Lyrically, Turner can turn a phrase with the best of 'em, and the gloriously ramshackle accompaniment is Mungo Jerry meets Herman Dune sharing a squat in Tin Pan Alley. This LP combines two of Turner's self-released CDs, and is as good an introduction to his wonderful music as any. Here's what Jeweled Antler head honcho Glenn Donaldson sez about Turner: "Cody is pre-war, Old Testament & A Confederate General from Big Sur." ErrŠnuff said, no?" Completely blown away by this record! Highly recommended! |
| 6/11/2006 | Coelacanth & Keith Evans | Wrack Light in Copper Ruin | CD & DVD | $17.99 | Seal Pool | "Jim Haynes and Loren Chasse have collaborated with Keith Evans to create Coelacanth's fourth and most complex record. Culled from two performances -- a 5-hour recording session during Matmos's 96 hours of performances at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and an audio/visual performance with Keith Evans -- Wrack Light in Copper Ruin explores the the symbiosis of materiality and sound, and its infinite network of metaphors and allegories. Like an abandoned aquarium in which an accidental and incongruous microcosm takes shape, Coelacanth's sound illustrates a constant evolution of decay, encroachment, and repossession of the border space between the natural and the man-made. With Wrack Light in Copper Ruin, Coelacanth also meditates on the space of performance, the tactile nature of the creation of sound, and its ephemeral, elusive and entirely subjective character. The visuals of Keith Evans further the exploration with their organic, nocturnal, energy. Comparatively, Wrack Light is more delicate than Coelacanth's previous recordings, inhabiting a space where artists such as Jonathan Coleclough, Andrew Chalk, Mirror, and MNortham can be found, yet it maintains the mysterious, oceanic nature its name implies." |
| 7/23/2004 | Coffee | dik mik rabbit ear antennae | CDR | $9.99 | Carbon Records | "The sixth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. Almost a full hour of Coffee magic. Consists of two live recordings from 1997 and 1998. Includes the Coffee core of Dave Cross and Tim Poland, along with Brian Shafer (Nod), Phil Marshall, John Olson (Wolf Eyes), Sticky Foster, Neil Campbell and Nuuj." |
| 12/3/2003 | Coffee | Hex Vex And The Lavender Mink | DBL 10" | $26.99 | Elica | "Hex Vex And The Lavender Mink compiles the group's musical obsessions at the turn of the century, droll Brit drone, the magnificent Arthur Doyle, extremely dangerous onstage pyrotechnics, the fabulous Raymond Scott, cheesy electro dub effects and, most of all, competitive and confusing American free improvisation. David Cross and Tim Poland with their friends Arthur Doyle, Nuuj (of Hilkka and Sheet), Neil Campbell (of Vibracathedral Ochestra), Phil Marshall (of Colorblind James Experience), John Schoen (of Pengo), Adam Wilcox, Lawrence Feldman, Mark Martin, John Olson (of Wolf Eyes), Th. Metzger, Sticky Foster (of A Band), Joe Sorriero (of NOD), Coffin Kim, Gregg Boltz (of Left4Dead), Ed Wilcox (of Temple Of Bon Matin), Richard Scott compete with drums, bass, guitar, electronics, saxes, Clavinova, Crummar organ, violin, wood horn, electronic sounds & clips, repeater, Casio, electric birds, an old drum machine, subliminal voice track and hiss, confusing them into various formations and musical styles. With hommages to Arthur Doyle by doing a Conspiracy Nation with him and one without him, and to Raymond Scott with two exquisite covers of Naked City and Coming Down To Earth. The first Coffee in color (coverwise), after an output limited both by a scarce quantity of releases in nine years of activity (one double compact-disc, two LP records and two singles) and by the very underground nature of some of them (it is hard to know of the exsistence of the black single, for example, let alone the possibility to recognize it when you find it!). On this album, the project is also partly confused with the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. This is also the first non-archival Elica release. A double 10" LP record set with color gatefold cover with notes and text about the band and photographs of their dangerously pyrotechnic shows, released in an edition of about 400 copies." |
| 8/23/2009 | Cohen, Alice | Walking Up Walls | LP | $15.99 | Olde English Spelling Bee | "Walking Up Walls" is the second solo album from long-time musician and visual artist Alice Cohen. In contrast to her previous studio efforts these are raw home recordings with an intensely personal vibe. The sixteen short song-sketches alternate between densely layered shoegaze burners and shimmering, ethereal drifters. Exploring shadowy corners and using the musical equivalent of automatic writing - this was considered to be a sonic diary and not originally intended for release. For reference points think "Pink Opaque" era Cocteau Twins filtered through the early 90's lens of New Zealanders like Alastair Galbraith & Sandra Bell." |
| 3/20/2007 | Cohen, Charles & Ed Wilcox | Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes | CD | $15.99 | Ruby Red | "Next up, check out THOSE PEARLS THAT WERE HIS EYES by synthesist Charles Cohen and Ed Wilcox, drummer and leader of the legendary Temple of Bon Matin. Technically, the duo employ the same instrumental line-up as Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid featured in their EXCHANGE SESSION album. But the two achieve remarkably different effects due to Charles Cohen's weapon of choice: a Buchla Music Easel. Longtime Bon Matin fans will recognise Cohen's name from that band's Bulb Records album BULLET INTO MESMER'S BRAIN, a swirling soupy cacophony highly informed by the same Buchla Music Easel, designed by '60s synth boffin Don Buchla. That machine's parps, shudders and all-purpose weirdness alone make this record a treat, but the package is rendered essential by Herr Wilcox's fabulous fine art cover; what a whopper!" - JULIAN COPE in Head Heritage, February 2007. "CHARLES COHEN: Based in the Philadelphia area, Charles Cohen has been amazing and challenging audiences for over 20 years. His music is entirely improvisational and produced solely on a vintage Buchla Music Easel synthesizer. An avid collaborator, Cohen is most well known to [most] listeners from his work with Jeff Cain in their group The Ghostwriters. With few recorded/commercially available works to his credit, Cohen prefers to concentrate on creating Electronic Music in the setting of the live performance space. His music ranges from completely abstract and challenging to pleasantly rhythmic and infectious. Each performance is original and new, to the audience and to Cohen as well. ED WILCOX: Ed Wilcox is an incredibly talented percussionist and artist from the Philadelphia area. For over ten years he has been performing in his own Art Blakey style psyche outfit Temple of Bon Matin as well as producing paintings in prolific quantities. He resides in a condemned tower on the outskirts of Philadelphia, providing shelter for the local raccoon population." |
| Coits | Desire Runs For Me +2 | CDR | $10.99 | Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers | "First CD by this one man project who had a much-coveted LP of knowing guitar primitivism on the Very Good label some years ago, plus a couple of split 7" releases. This CD collects material due for an LP and two 7"EPs, all recorded mid-to-late 90s and unreleased until now. Stark and imposing guitar/raw feedback electronics. First edition ltd.50." | |
| 3/11/2005 | Cold Bleak Heat | It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War | CD | $12.99 | Family Vineyard | "Cold Bleak Heat is the East Coast's maximalist tour de force of spontaneous sound construction. It is a staggering group line-up that raises the eyes and the ante. It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War, is the debut from a subterranean assembly of today's most active: Connecticut's prevailing operator of the alto/ tenor saxophones, Paul Flaherty; the seemingly ten-handed/ footed drummer Chris Corsano (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Six Organs of Admittance), definitely today's leading light in pure spectrum propulsion; sound sculpting trumpeter Greg Kelley (nmperign, Heathen Shame), who opens into full-force gales during this session; and Earth-boom grounding acoustic bassist Matt Heyner (No Neck Blues Band, Test), whose tone/shape-shifting agility wrangles all these wild horses into one field. From the start Flaherty's combusting, scorched tone burrows into the torrential grooves with a bleating and vivid lyricism that never waivers. His 30+ years of New England horn calling is at its apex with these younger brothers-in-arms. The human electric pulse and ecstatic goal of Cold Bleak Heat keeps these four riding the lighting from end to end." |
| 3/21/2009 | Cold Turkey | Contact High | cassette | $7.99 | Middle James Co. | "mjc is proud to bring you our 2nd Cold Turkey release! "contact high" features Andrew Coltrane solo on sax and electronics tho instead of being burnt buried by FX and madness as some previous releases, the sax rings clean and sober clear over a wash of weirdness as only A.C. can manifest. each side is a concentrated movement. side a stretches breath in rusty wind, slight delay in life. side b blows like a dragon sad sax haunted horns a lament for trying catch a buzz...limited to 33." |
| 9/24/2009 | Cold Turkey | Mega Shark | one-sided LP | $11.99 | Hermitage Tapes | "Question? What does the debut Cold Turkey platter sound like? A) A Horn having an exorcism inside a destroyed/ blown out Wendy's in the year 2897 AD after the world has been destroyed to tiny bits FOUR times hundreds of years ago B) The Soundtrack to someone who has inject spraypaint into to his spine for any kind of physical activity, and "cold turkey" is blasted into their headphones as they "spray up" for a bout of tropical heat water skiing. C) the WORST track submission in the history of "THE BOSTON POPS SEND IN YOUR OWN SAX SOLO COMPETITION" D) ALL OF THE ABOVE. Dunno about ya'll but test intuition 101 says go with All of the Above every time. But don't listen to this mug, jamm this COLD TURKEY onesider instead. Screw tests, up the HEARING TESTS!! And what a test this is, just a HORRIBLE SOUNDSCAPE. The sound of things not comfortable where they are placed, just plain freakin' to get outta joint/dodge/town/here. FAST. But they are trapped! Puts the SQUIRM resistance up to: A MILLION until the evil lock groove bookending the sound forces everything into a PERMA JAIL. BOXED IN!!! THE HORROR!! Hearing this over and over I start to lean in to listen to the voices inside the jailed reed bleeding rib cage sound trap, terrible voices emerging from the din. What would they say? Is it even reeds? Is my rec. needle striking back? What? Who is AC anyway? Did they press this record on rotten cottage cheese? Does it come with a free voucher for a priest to break it in half? Can I own this and still live twenty feet from a school??? HELP!!! So. Hermitage vinyl debut. Handpainted. Handrulin. Mine was HANDED to me at a killer party. Where NO ONE HAD HANDS. I would file this killer LP in the "Tales from the Darkside" section of all your Michigan Psycho Mafia wax/platters. I'll brag and say mine is a double YARD wide and contains the beyond rare / priceless ZOMBI lathe cut LP from ages ago (that COLD TURKEY kinda sounds like a BEST BUY version) and the unknown TALL BIRCH COLLAPSED ON FAMILY private weirdo noise LP from MICH. that sounds like a "scrambled" part two of the legendary Paul Feinberg's VACATIONS mind-blowing single. Why all this nerd talk? Cold Turkey LP fits right in, hand done, raw locked inside mental battle SOUND LP. It rages with quiet slow burn, like a relay switch dipped in magic batter and cut with urine. Cold Turkey: best served: BOXED IN!!!! " John Olson Michigan, Capital Fall 2009 Pressed on black. vinyl with handpainted sleeves. Edition of 100 copies. |
| 4/25/2008 | Cold Turkey | Transmission | cassette | $12.99 | Blackest Rainbow | "Cold Turkey is a altar ego for Michigan's Andrew Coltrane, who's had a stack of stuff coming out on labels like Sound Holes, John Olson of Wolf Eyes American Tapes, and his own killer Hemitage Tapes print, he's a fine as fuck example of the noise leaking from that part of the US. Searing sludge electronics and tapes, minimal bleep moments leading into junk jazz sax spillage. Limited to 50 copies, blackened swooshed and splattered gold textured paper, again each individual with hand numbered stamped backs. This release is on insane reel to reel style vintage 80s cassettes, pretty damn fresh... F'real." Sold out at source. |
| 5/29/2008 | Coldstream | Coldstream | cassette | $5.99 | Amp Tower | "Using computers, guitars and field recordings amongst other sound sources, Coldstream presents 4 tracks of drones, and dark atmospheres." Side A 1. Learn - Organ drone recorded in a church in the middle of the night 2. Search - One long depressive drone Side B 1. Taken - Apocalyptic deep drone with harsh electronic overtones 2. Fia - Endlessly looped machinery |
| 7/16/2009 | Collins, Cybele | untitled | Book | $5.99 | Sloow Tapes | "Very pleased to present this collection of beautiful drawings by the amazing Cybele Collins. She also records as Blue Shift and her visions have graced covers for labels such as Last Visible Dog and Rare Youth. Drawings have appeared in dozens of magazines including Morbid Curiosity, Paper Rodeo, Sound Projector, Free Radicals, The Ganzfeld, Cemetery Dance, Shimmer, Dark Animus and Vial. Full color cover, 36 b&w pages." |
| 12/21/2004 | Colophon / 1 Mile North / Wind-Up Bird | Conduction. Convection. Radiation | CD | $12.99 | Music Fellowship | "Named for the scientific terms that define the three methods of heat transfer, Conduction. Convection. Radiation. is the third edition in the Music Fellowship¹s Triptych Series, which combines EP-length recordings from three like-minded bands on a single CD. Electronic, minimalist, and post-rock music is much maligned for being 'cold,' implying the style of composition is more rooted in technique and complexity than the heart. Conduction. Convection. Radiation combines three artists who destroy that stereotype. 1 Mile North is Jon Hills on guitar and Mark Bajuk on synthesizers. Hills' ability to shape subtle melodies out of abstract structures blends beautifully with Bajuk¹s masterful playing of a diverse collection of analogue synthesizers. Colophon is the solo project of Tarentel's Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Colophon¹s music builds off Cantu¹s droning guitar work in Tarentel, but deconstructs it, leaving only the bare essence. The Wind-Up Bird is Joe Grimm sometimes accompanied by Jeff Smith. On their 2nd album, Whips, on the Music Fellowship, Grimm used his Powerbook, guitar, vocals, violin, and horns to musically interpret a post-breakup voicemail message, creating a luxuriant dark dream and a revelatory song suite." |
| 10/23/2003 | Colours | Colours | CD | $17.99 | World Psychedelia | "The liner-notes from this, tha band¹s first album tell us that they 'have the crystalline sharpness of the Beatles before they turned acid' and what's more, it's quite true; an excellent pop-psych album, first released on DOT in 1968; the first track, Bad Day At Black Rock, Baby, must be reckoned among the very best attempts at an orchestrated psych sound, with the band easily switching from key to key and featuring many disturbing time-changes; it's charms are many and varied, with songs like the sitar drone Rather Be Me, and the commune-song Brother Lou's Love Colony , later covered by Moon, and the eerie Cataleptic. An underestimated LP, until now, but not anymore." |
| 1/30/2010 | Coltrane, Andrew | Conflict | c30 cassette | $7.99 | Digitalis Limited | "AC brings his bag of toys back to oklahoma, but this time goes back in time and pulls out a total war bomb from the archives. heavy electronics and thick, bleeding walls of synth skronk are just what you need after a long weekend of drinking with the fam. it feels like there's some serious guitar riffing trying to find its way out of this electronic hell, but half the time there's no fucking telling what's going on here. it's everything all at once. coltrane goes to eleven. i don't even know. sax blasts come in from the deep, sourcing new megacreatures that don't just want your blood, they want your fucken soul. rusted factories breaking down never sounded so damn good. hell, if this isn't cathartic, i don't know what is. edition of 70, pro-dubbed." |
| 9/30/2008 | Coltrane, Andrew | Eternal Cold Turkey | cassette | $8.99 | Sound Holes | "Hailed as the SOUL of the Michigan Underground Basement Sound (MUDS).... AC rips another blat of outsider lurch/vision... loops/krunk/horns + ????? make this release another glimpse into his unique universe..... is there any stopping him????" Edition of 97 copies. |
| 2/21/2009 | Coltrane, Andrew | Plagued Orphans | cassette | $5.99 | Young Tapes | "Organic Cycles of manipulated Earth-bound materials." Printed on silver paper in an oversized clear case. Sold out at label. |
| 12/2/2008 | Coltrane, Andrew | Synth Tapes Vol. 5 | cassette | $8.99 | Digitalis Limited | "I wish i could remember the first stack of bones from michigan superscuz andrew coltrane, but in the past year or so i've been buried under such an epic pile of a.c. fuzz that it'd be near-impossible to figure out where it all began. point is, he is a machine who never sleeps, never eats, i dunno... he just keeps going like his life depends on it. from junkyard electronics to heaps of rotten metal and there and back again, coltrane's always got new tricks up his sleeve. "synth tapes vol. 5" is exactly what it says it is - the fifth volume in an ongoing exploration of analog sound constructed with only, you guessed it: synths and tapes. the sounds on here are looped and stretched and dragged into pits of black mud. underneath the drowning, though, lives the vaguest and most unexpected hints of melodies and hooks, just enough to fool you and suck you in. next thing you know, you're tarred and feathered and dreaming of your next root canal. fucken genius. limited to 91 copies, cassette inspired art by stone baby's cory card." |
| 11/21/2009 | Coltrane, Andrew | Synth Tapes: Volume 7 | c60 cassette | $7.99 | Pizza Night | "man, that's one pissed synth" - wyatt howland |
| 3/21/2009 | Coltrane, Andrew | Terminal Towers | cassette | $7.99 | Middle James Co. | "yet another side/sound of A.C. 'terminal towers' showcases work with tape loops. side a = chord organ tape loop recorded on two channels and mixed in stereo warping out of time with itself. ends up sounding like a haunted ancient broken phonograph deep in the Hermitage dungeon, skipping for eternity and back again, degrading into a hypnotic hiss and buzz. side b= one side selected from a private edition of 'tape loops' 4 cassette boxset A.C. handed to me during our past summer tour. it's a maniac stereo mix of ripping tape squeeze, industrial conveyor belt construction and dirty bombs. limited to 33." |
| Column One | Labyrinth | 7" | $4.99 | Obuh Records | "Disconnected voices fading into piano, violin duet on the flip" | |
| 7/23/2004 | Comets on Fire | Blue Cathedral | CD | $13.99 | Sub Pop | “Blue Cathedral is the third album from Comets on Fire and their first for Sub Pop. It is also the Bay area band’s most varied and richly textured album yet. With their first two albums, (2001’s self-titled debut/self-released and 2002’s Field Recordings from the Sun on Ba Da Bing!) they established themselves as flag-bearers of modern psychedelia. However, where their previous efforts are full-tilt psychedelic affairs, Blue Cathedral is harder to pin down (which elusiveness we heartily support). Their trademark sound is here enriched by more structured, keyboard-driven jams, churning Blue Oyster Cult-ish chooglers and slow burners reminiscent of Harvest-era Pink Floyd. They recently opened a string of dates for Sonic Youth and have also played shows with Rocket From The Tombs, Dead Meadow AND Dead Moon, Sunburned Hand of the Man and more. They also made a BIG fan outta Lord Head on High, Julian Cope, who said of them: ‘Comets on Fire deserve our gratitude…for their distillation of all the best rock riffs since High Rise’s take on Blue Cheer…’” Naturally, we agree.” Highly recommended!! |
| 7/23/2004 | Comets on Fire | Blue Cathedral | LP | $11.99 | Sub Pop | “Blue Cathedral is the third album from Comets on Fire and their first for Sub Pop. It is also the Bay area band’s most varied and richly textured album yet. With their first two albums, (2001’s self-titled debut/self-released and 2002’s Field Recordings from the Sun on Ba Da Bing!) they established themselves as flag-bearers of modern psychedelia. However, where their previous efforts are full-tilt psychedelic affairs, Blue Cathedral is harder to pin down (which elusiveness we heartily support). Their trademark sound is here enriched by more structured, keyboard-driven jams, churning Blue Oyster Cult-ish chooglers and slow burners reminiscent of Harvest-era Pink Floyd. They recently opened a string of dates for Sonic Youth and have also played shows with Rocket From The Tombs, Dead Meadow AND Dead Moon, Sunburned Hand of the Man and more. They also made a BIG fan outta Lord Head on High, Julian Cope, who said of them: ‘Comets on Fire deserve our gratitude…for their distillation of all the best rock riffs since High Rise’s take on Blue Cheer…’” Naturally, we agree.” 180 gram pressing. Highly recommended!! |
| 6/12/2003 | Comets On Fire | Comets On Fire | CD | $13.99 | Alternative Tentacles | "Bringing their tales of drug crazed space travelers, grave robbers in love, and cosmic cannibals, COMETS ON FIRE are ready to initiate unsuspecting audiences into their lair of psychosis. Based in Santa Cruz, CA. this enigmatic group of space rockers consists of Noel Harmonson workin' the Echoplex (a delay and echo device that dates back to the early days of rock), Ethan Miller distorting the guitar and vox, Ben Flashman on bass, Ben Chasny on guitar, and Utrillo Kushner assaulting the drums. COMETS ON FIRE'S first release was a limited edition, vinyl-only project followed by their second masterpiece, Field Recordings from the Sun. Their debut self-titled Alternative Tentacles release is their first full-length album, and contains all the magic from the rare first LP, with six additional bonus tracks. COMETS ON FIRE deliver dark and damaged acid rock served in a crude and blown out speedball of BLUE CHEER, HIGH RISE, JAMES WILLIAMSON, and a shit-faced-drunk BRIAN ENO-era ROXY music. Methamphetamine and Schnapps drenched lullabies take it straight into the sonic shit storm, shifting from 4/4 power rock to imploding free form. COMETS ON FIRE'S live shows often leave audiences with drunken hanging jaws, dazed and disoriented by the exhilaration of a joyful, near-violent intensity brought on by performance and connection between the audience and the band. Though 'garage', 'low-fi', 'punk' and 'psychedelica' are starting points for this band, the trappings of these genres are quickly eclipsed and transcended by the sheer unchecked bombast of the COMETS sound, and the raw energy and frenzy in which it is delivered. So hold onto your eardrums, and be a part of COMETS ON FIRE'S pure sonic destruction!" |
| 8/21/2002 | Comets On Fire | Field Recordings From The Sun | CD | $12.99 | BaDaBing | "'Field recordings from the Sun' is the follow up to Comets On Fire's first album released in a private press of 500 vinyl copies in 2001. With 'Field Recordings', gone is the punk leanings hailed by the underground critical fair upon the first album's release. In its place is left only towering tombs of natural ethereal beauty and pure sonic destruction set above a cosmic freight train of unhinged riffs and jagged grooves. Comets On Fire entered Tim Green’s studio in San Francisco with only bare boned riffs and ideas for the songs of 'Field Recordings...' to enable the precise moments of artistic creation and structural formation to be captured directly to tape in the instant it happens. This recording technique gives the listener a more direct contact with the music and a mainline to the physical transfer of energy through the listening process. Joining Comets On Fire in the studio was an entourage of friends and folk, some musicians known to play live with Comets on Fire in its collective form, some merely grassheads and cheap booze hounds come along to have their desperate voices heard in the context of production. Among the musicians joining Comets on 'Field Recordings...' are Tim Green of The Fucking Champs who partakes in an improvised sky ripping solo battle against three other guitarists including Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance who plays utterly destroyed lead guitar on the album. Chasny also performs acoustically what could be considered the great, lost Six Organs of Admittance song, a piece conceived only for the purpose of its own destruction. Field Recordings From the Sun' is not a psychedelic album in the manner of cheap guitar effects and gentle dorian meanderings served with an oil light show. It is an aggressive attack on a fragile reality, a peeling back of the skull above the brain and a transmigration of the senses to a universal location of beer drunk joy and overwhelming white heat in thundering, all consuming sound. 'Field Recordings From the Sun' is simultaneously a deformation and unabashed celebration of all that is purely grotesque and whorishly beautiful about Rock and Roll music. It is the sound of human expression full of horror, full of joy, full of whiskey and grass, laughing, full of love and full of confusion. If Exuma, Blue Cheer, Albert Ayler, Mitch Mitchell, Nanjo and the zombie of John Cippolina all met on the blue highway, wasted on golden whiskey and cocaine, there they would throw on "Field Recordings From the Sun" on a trashed boombox while shooting pistols at their tracers. This is West Coast Psychedelia, hang onto your eardrums." |
| 8/6/2003 | Comets On Fire | Field Recordings From The Sun | LP | $14.99 | Ba Da Bing! | 2nd edition. "Issued for the first time in a limited run, the Field Recordings From The Sun LP was pressed at RTI and features high quality mastering, Stoughton pressed jackets and top grade vinyl, and a stunning insert. Field Recordings From The Sun is not a psychedelic album in the manner of cheap guitars and gentle dorian meanderings served with an oil light show. It is an aggressive attack on a fragile reality, a peeling back of the skull above the brain and a transmigration of the senses to a universal location of beer drunk joy and overwhelming white heat in thundering, all consuming sound. Field Recordings From The Sun is simultaneously a deformation and unabashed celebration of all that is purely grotesque and whorishly beautiful about Rock and Roll music. It is the sound of human expression full of horror, full of joy, full of whiskey and grass, laughing, full of love and confusion." Highly recommended! |
| 11/15/2008 | Common Eider, King Eider | Figs, Wasps & Monotremes | CD | $12.99 | Root Strata | "Rob Fisk's (Badgerlore / Free Porcupine Society / Deerhoof) second CD under the Common Eider, King Eider name. This one was written last winter in Fairbanks Alaska, which is just under the arctic circle. Comes in offset print, 3 panel paper, silver on white." |
| 9/16/2007 | Common Eider, King Eider | How to Build a Cabin | CD | $9.99 | Yik Yak | "With raw viola, haunting vocals, and noise guitar, Rob Fisk (Badgerlore, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, ex-Deerhoof) has created an exquisite album that sounds perfectly at home in the natural world between dusk and dawn. Packaged in a hand-sewn book of drawings by Fisk entitled "How to Build a Cabin." |
| 1/24/2009 | Communication Palace | Live From An Unopened Room | cassette | $7.99 | American Tapes - AM-796 | "Third release from a sound pyramid in debt to fully strange local communication system in Lansing. What would a Palace of Communication do? Hope language sacrifices? Do dances in unison to shouted rotten verbs? Would it pay rent in long sentences scribbled on moist magic ancient forest logs? What would the king or queen be like? The Queen of Communication Palace? Mouths are magic, no words inside this tape, just the echoes of the halls of the Palace when no one is aroundŠŠultra strange sound for the weird local zone where things are communicatedŠŠ.Wear a vowel gown with a adjective necklace while busting this. Packaged in a new mega color slip case style with full color inzane art." |
| 6/27/2009 | Compassing | Old Woes New Hopes | c50 cassette | $6.99 | Bum Tapes | "There's a hell of a lot going on in this new 10 track cassette by the two guys who make up the band Compassing. A microcosm of sounds, tiny little experimentations click into view then whirl away, an orchestra of warped instruments throb and groove against each other only to be joined together by the occasional chugging krautrock pulse and scattered free form drumming, kind of like Faust jamming with Taj Mahal Travellers and being produced by Louis & Bebe Barron." Edition of 20 copies. |
| 2/28/2006 | Comus | First Utterance | CD | $16.99 | Breathless | "The 1971 first album by this rather strange British band contains an imaginative if elusive brand of experimental folk-rock, with a tense and sometimes distressed vibe that can get positively evil. Although there are elements of traditional British folk music, there's an edginess to the songwriting and arrangements that would be entirely alien in a FAIRPORT CONVENTION or PENTANGLE disc, the haunting supernatural atmosphere enhanced by bursts of what sound like a theramin-like violin, hand drums, flute, oboe, ghostly female backup vocals, and detours into almost tribal rhythms." |
| 7/16/2009 | Concern | Truth & Distance | CD | $11.99 | Digitalis Arts & Crafts | "Gordon Ashworth is Concern and this is his manifesto. "Truth & Distance" is a mini-epic, a minor masterpiece. Within these sonic walls lies a stunning landscape, adrift in golden tones and silver siren songs. Ashworth creates beautiful, shimmering music that defies categorization. It stands on its own, droning away into the furthest reaches of the night. Using only acoustic instrumentation, Ashworth conceives pieces of music in which resonance and timbre mutate and in the air and unfold naturally, organically. Hints of piano glisten like night shadows whispering through the leaves. Strings are bowed and plucked into oblivion. Everything is turned into a pile of reverb. Everyone is a ghost. Concern will shine a light on it all. "Truth & Distance" indeed. It's all coming up roses this time. Co-released with Iatrogenesis. Packaged in custom-designed silkscreened gatefolds by Seizure Palace." |
| 8/22/2008 | Cone | II | CDR | $13.99 | Reverb Worship | "I am delighted to announce this new release on Reverb Worship.Its a really superb album by Cone and called "Cone II".The cd contains six tracks from the mind of Hermann Blaupunkt and recorded @ Casa Cassette Studios in Eindhoven.Cone is a one man project with the addition of drums on the first track.The music features acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, vocals, swirling backwards effects and many feild recordings of speeding cars, passing trains and the screech of rolling stock, birdsongs, voices and other varied sounds. As a way to describe this recording if you like Six Organs of Admittance and/or Jakob Olausson you will really love this.The cd comes in an edition of 50 copies with a PVC coated cotton fabric insert with a grass design." |
| 2/21/2005 | Connaughty, Sean | Five Hands Tall | CD | $10.99 | Mutant Music | “Sean Connaughty hasn't won a neighborhood yet, although the guitarist and painter seems deeply entrenched at Lyn-Lake's Soo Visual Arts Center. A near-legend among near-legends, Connaughty's rep hinges mostly on his fretwork and vocals for Minneapolis-based psychedelic bands Salamander and Vortex Navigation Company. While neither is the touring kind, both outfits boast discs on Camera Obscura--the well-disseminated, Melbourne-based psych, folk, and psych-folk label whose alignment with Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine and the sadly flatlined Terrastock festival have helped make it a favorite among lovers of nouveau acid rock. On Five Hands Tall, his second solo release (and first on Salamander bassist Dave Onnen's Mutant Music label), the righteous snarl he sometimes wields in ensembles is absent, as are the bands' occasional forays into songdom. Low-key and focused, Connaughty plays improvising acoustic troubador, freestyling like Burl Ives on a cocaine and Courvoisier bender over nuanced muleskinner drones. Keeping his playing and singing simple and repetitive affords the mental leeway Connaughty needs to pull the album's spontaneous narrative out of his ass. ‘Glory, glory hallelujah/Teacher hit me with a ruler,’ he begins, by way of introducing one of the album's principal characters on album opener ‘Glory One.’ Glory, a young woman who ‘ran with a wicked crowd and didn't give a damn for you and me,’ comes and goes throughout the disc, like the shadowy Mr. Whittaker, ‘who knows a thing or two about baking.’ At his best--as when he rhymes ‘synapses’ with ‘synopsis’ - Connaughty could give Aesop Rock a run for his money. His occasional faltering moments work better still, endowing the album's bedroom surrealism with a goofy outsider charm.” |
| 1/17/2010 | Connector | STEEL/RUST | c50 cassette | $6.99 | Stunned | "Carnal energy meets primal masculinity meets 360 tons of public-art-installation STEEL. Entering the belly of this beast for two separate midnight sessions, Bryce Loy (Abaddon Records) and Peter Lamons scratch and beat the RUST nearly clean off their instrument of creation/object of destruction. This is Connector — both the name of the experimental percussion project of Bryce & Peter’s, debuting on this cassette, as well as the name of a Richard Serra mega-sculpture erected last year in the belly of yet another beast: Orange County, California. The Connector duo’s pacing and control is tremendous within Serra’s massive acoustical space over both their 25-minute sides. The intimate sounds of crickets, heaving breath, and torqued steel moans are given just as much footing as vocal eruptions & volcanic percussions upon the 66-foot-tall sculpture sides. No electricity. No effects. Just the quickening of sweat, absorption of metallic shock, and shedding of blood in a thrilling attempt to locate one of the deepest ancestral rites — discovery though smashing shit up. Special edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c50 tapes with double-sided jcard and foldout color insert." |
| 9/29/2005 | Connelly | Failing Lights vol. 1 | 3" CDR | $19.99 | Chondritic Sound | "organ grinding from this psychotic growler. a mess of gross, heavy tones. rumbling and rolling through two tracks of mutant wind-hazed drone. a stagnant fog descending and making everything stand still. this is the first in a series of three which were somehow released in backwards order making the puzzle all the more confusing." Edition of 113 copies. |
| 12/24/2005 | Connie Acher | Lovesick Lip Service | CD | $8.99 | Flipped Out Records | "Come kiss the clouds with this debut record from harlem usa….ride the voice of an angel as glorious guitars wrap around home-made percussion and more to soothe the most chattering mind...." "First release by this Brooklyn spinner of lo-fi doughnuts. Ethereal four-track layerage lends her sad cant an air of confused mystery and the guitar is plucked as though someone had spiked the bug juice at girl scout camp w/ a big goddamn sugar cube." - Byon Coley |
| 10/31/2009 | Connie Acher | Spray Me Down | CD | $7.99 | Flipped Out Records | "Amazing grace and beauty abounds on this fourth full length recording by connie acher....this time around strawberry is the foil and he sweetens her stew with precise production and virtuosic instrumentation....connie gushes forth streams of magic honey that slide right down to the sweet spot of the soul....full cover covers....edition of 500 copies." |
| 6/18/2002 | Connie Acher & Blind Drunk John | For The Love Of It | LP | $9.99 | Flipped Out Records | "A mountain of melodie and shimmering strings makes a ghostly trail under sweet vocal clouds with percussion eruption and hot vapor guitar....” The two previous releases by Connie Acher on Flipped Out Records have been outstanding and so is this one! |
| 12/24/2005 | Connie Acher & Jelly | Love Pop | CD | $8.99 | Flipped Out Records | "The rhythm of life in happy harlem spins jelly into the melodie jamming note chomping blur over and under Connie's cascading songs of high beauty...." "It initially went under/over/around my radar, but this time its fragile little folk/pop is sounding just about right. Acher lives in NYC. Her songs are short and kind of sweet and pretty, but also kind of awkward sounding, like they might fall apart any minute. Arrangements are sparse, mainly just her accomplished but delicate and unassuming guitar playing and vocals. Jelly, her backup band, seems to consist of another electric guitar player, a skewed sort of kitchenette-type percussionist, and not much else. (Male vocals appear, but only on one song that I remember.) It might be recorded live -- in the middle of side two Acher is heard introducing a song, though if there's an audience I can't tell from listening. It all goes down pretty nicely, with a fair share of that certain combination of dreamy 'n' skewed that I pretty much demand from my post-folk/psych/rock listening diet." - Blastitude |
| 3/21/2009 | Connors, Loren | The Curse of Midnight Mary | CD | $12.99 | Family Vineyard | "In 1981 guitarist Loren Connors took his tape recorder to the graveyard where the legendary Midnight Mary's grave lies in New Haven, Connecticut. The curse is: Anyone who gets caught in her graveyard past midnight will die the next day. But Connors, like a young fool, taped in that place, making this album. Lost and forgotten, a cassette of this music -- made at Evergreen Cemetery -- was found by chance in 2008. Recorded between Connors' eight volume Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Improvisations LP series and the folk albums he would make with Kath Bloom, these nine pieces meld those distinct, haunting styles. Connors, singing in a trance like moan, reforms the Mississippi Delta blues on acoustic guitar with flashes of melodic hooks and a percussive guitar style that erupts into boogie-woogie riffs and other world spirituals. It's an album for followers of Connors' spine tingling solo albums and his collaborations with Suzanne Langille or Jandek. Devotees of early 20th Century blues artists such as Blind Willie Johnson or Charley Patton will be equally enthralled. A rare and essential peak into the still mysterious early years of this American guitar master." |
| 5/1/2009 | Connors, Loren | The Curse of Midnight Mary | LP | $13.99 | Family Vineyard | "In 1981 guitarist Loren Connors took his tape recorder to the graveyard where the legendary Midnight Mary's grave lies in New Haven, Connecticut. The curse is: Anyone who gets caught in her graveyard past midnight will die the next day. But Connors, like a young fool, taped in that place, making this album. Lost and forgotten, a cassette of this music -- made at Evergreen Cemetery -- was found by chance in 2008. Recorded between Connors' eight volume Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Improvisations LP series and the folk albums he would make with Kath Bloom, these nine pieces meld those distinct, haunting styles. Connors, singing in a trance like moan, reforms the Mississippi Delta blues on acoustic guitar with flashes of melodic hooks and a percussive guitar style that erupts into boogie-woogie riffs and other world spirituals. It's an album for followers of Connors' spine tingling solo albums and his collaborations with Suzanne Langille or Jandek. Devotees of early 20th Century blues artists such as Blind Willie Johnson or Charley Patton will be equally enthralled. A rare and essential peak into the still mysterious early years of this American guitar master. The LP version is a recreation of Connors' Daggett-style releases, featuring pasted on cover art and back liner notes with handstamped labels. Unlike the CD version, the LP is in a stark black sleeve with a reworked black and white cover drawing and limited and hand numbered to 515 numbered copies." |
| 11/2/2008 | Connors, Loren | The Moon Last Night | LP | $15.99 | Family Vineyard | "The Moon Last Night perfectly captures the complex and contemporary guitar style of Loren Connors -- totally desolate yet wound in echoy, rich black clouds that weep of Mississippi ghost blues and chiming strings. This two part suite combines the artist's love of choral music, Giacinto Scelsi and the naked Venusian guitar style he evangelized across a string of private press LPs in the late 1980s. Conjured solely from a Fender six-string and reverb effects, solitary notes swirl and loft gently from distant points before collecting into booming clusters. Recorded in Connors' Brooklyn apartment during the winter of 2008, the rustles of clothes and a creaking chair appear throughout. Like a kaleidoscope or the cover art itself -- a 1973 painting by Connors -- subterranean layers of composition and melodic streams are uncovered in each listen. Pressed in an edition of 500 one-sided translucent yellow LPs." |
| 3/21/2009 | Connors, Loren & Jim O'Rourke | Two Nice Catholic Boys | CD | $12.99 | Family Vineyard | "These two nice Catholic boys, Loren Connors and Jim O'Rourke, met at the crossroads each night during a 1997 European tour. By this time O'Rourke already reissued Connors' seminal heartbreak album In Pittsburgh on his Dexter's Cigar label and was preparing to produce the guitarist's big-band mash-up with Alan Licht, Hoffman Estates. Together, Connors-O'Rourke unravel slow motion ghost blues across three extended pieces that evolve from the elder's Martian style to the thundering, feedback splattered lead grooves of that whippersnapper. The spontaneous melodies shift from devastating, country road intimacy to hypnotic over amped rock. It's ferocious, epic, and an utter beauty capable only from two who know themselves and each other all too well. This live CD is only the second duo release by these musical partners despite performing together since the mid-90s. During the past decade, O'Rourke has repeatedly returned to the hours of recordings captured across Europe to select these 47 minutes." |
| 2/11/2006 | Conrad, Tony | Bryant Park Moratorium Rally (1969) | CD | $14.99 | Table of the Elements | "An October afternoon in 1969. Midtown Manhattan. A rally in Bryant Park against the Vietnam War. Down 42nd Street towards Times Square, Tony Conrad is adjusting microphones in his 5th floor loft, one directed at the TV set -- where it will pick up live local news coverage -- the other pointing out the window, where the echo of speeches and crowd noise mingles with the oceanic rush of crosstown traffic. As the event is about to begin, he rolls tape. Thirty-four years later, we hear what he heard. And the juncture, for so many reasons, could not be more critical. As the Bush Administration pursues a risky military agenda in the Middle East -- one with unsettling long-term implications both at home and abroad -- we see a nation not divided, as in the Vietnam Era, but strangely complacent. Our media-saturated reality functions like a drug, instantly televised warfare a new entertainment, and organized public dissent a novelty at home and a roaring chorus everywhere else. Conrad's recording of the Oct. 15 Vietnam Moratorium Rally is an eerie flashback that offers urgent new insights into our own lives and times, post-9/11 and full on into a new millennium." |
| 2/11/2006 | Conrad, Tony | Fantastic Glissando | CD | $14.99 | Table of the Elements | "It's 1969, and Tony Conrad wants to take you Higher. Celebrated for the thrilling roar of his amplified violin, Conrad is a founding father of 'minimalism' and a giant in the American soundscape. Now Conrad's own Audio ArtKive imprint presents the first in a series of releases that reveal the wild breadth of his 40-year career, including field recordings, piano compositions, film soundtracks and more. Fantastic Glissando (1969) is a series of (d)evolving electronic compositions created with sine-wave oscillators. The instrumentation is different, but the effect is typical Conrad: soaring, aggressively textured and jet-engine massive. This first-time CD release contains an extra ten-minute bonus track not included on the original LP version." |
| 11/4/2006 | Conrad, Tony | Joan of Arc (1968) | CD | $13.99 | Table of the Elements | "TONY CONRAD is a founding father of "minimalism" and a giant in the American soundscape. With help from TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS, Conrad's AUDIO ARTKIVE imprint continues to document the wild breadth of his 40-year career, with an array of releases that includes field recordings, piano compositions, power electronics and more. The indefatigable Conrad kept busy during the Revolution Summer of 1968. In addition to his reunion recordings with JOHN CALE (documented earlier this year in the Cale set "New York in the 1960s"), Conrad starred in IRA COHEN's legendary film "The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda" and made extensive solo recordings, including "Joan of Arc", available here for the first time. One of Conrad's personal favorites, it's a long piece for pump organ, in which he conjures both searing white heat and malignant gothic dread. An excerpt was used as the soundtrack for the PIERO HELICZER film of the same name, but Conrad feels a greater affinity with that year's Cohen film; accordingly, Cohen graciously provided restored stills from "Thunderbolt Pagoda" for the packaging of this release. Cohen's sumptuous imagery -- which JIMI HENDRIX described as "looking through butterfly wings" -- features a blissed-out and shirtless Conrad replete in pencil mustache, mascara and blood-red turban. The man is just downright cool -- about as cool as Hendrix, and almost always louder." |
| 11/4/2006 | Conrad, Tony / Tim Barnes / Mattin | untitled | CD | $16.99 | Celebrate / Psi / Phenomenon | "Time to dig out that old crash-helmet from the back of the wardrobe to meet the challenge of this head-wrecker. No folks, this recording will not go down in history for its subtlety. The obligatory chair-shuffling intro quickly gives way to the most withering scree-ee-ech and grubby microtonal shudder in a near-Stalinist attempt for total mind control. I can see the audience now... blubbering and gripping the chair in front like some kinda airliner catastrophe! A twenty storey Hoover gobbles the entire North East of the USA... pausing only briefly to empty the bag and replace smoldering fuse wire. Hard, harmful, full of choking dust... toasters are shorted out all over the northern hemispere and cassettes are erased in car stereos. Electricity decides upon a new master and casts off its cumbersome rubber shackles... free and burning! All hail the great cosmic soundcheck in the sky." |
| 2/11/2006 | Conrad, Tony with Faust | Outside the Dream Syndicate Alive | CD | $14.99 | Table of the Elements | "Minimalist pioneer Tony Conrad and notorious krautrock progenitors Faust met just three times: in the studio to record the groundbreaking "Outside the Dream Syndicate" in 1972, and twice on the concert stage in the mid-1990s. This recording documents their third and final encounter, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, February 18, 1995. The difference between the original session and this live event is astonishing. While Conrad's aggressive string sound was tamed in the studio by producer Uwe Nettlebeck (Conrad has complained that the mix made him "sound like a hippy"), here it is full of menace and ferocity, and in tandem attack with the equally belligerent violin of Jim O'Rourke, it conjures a raging wall of sound. When the Faust rhythm section finally kicks in, no one is in the mood for restraint, and the whole thing bolts on a merciless, scorched-earth gallop. Bassist Jean-Herve Peron plays with such fury that he snaps a string (no easy feat on a bass guitar), shreds the flesh on his fingers, and is soon covered in blood; meanwhile drummer Werner "Zappi" Diermaier pounds away, standing, in his inimitable, robotic style. After a relentless 40-minute onslaught, Peron signals the set's abrupt conclusion by smashing a brick with a sledgehammer, while Diermaier destroys his drum kit a la Keith Moon. At this point the elegant atmosphere of Queen Elizabeth Hall thoroughly disintegrates, and the antagonized crowd nearly riots. Hecklers and supporters continue to shout each other down -- until they're drowned out by a rollicking encore. The booklet contains brief interviews with Conrad and Peron, and a first-person account from Gang of Four's Andy Gill, who sounds justifiably intimidated by the entire performance. The packaging includes alternate photos from the 1965 photo-booth strip that graced the original studio release, plus stickers and a silver foil stamp." |
| 5/7/2004 | Continental Fruit | Mentor Mentee | CD | $15.99 | Smalltown Supersound | "The latest from eclectic electro-minimalists Continental Fruit. A warm and intense blend of electronica and post-rock magic, flowingly delivered with sleepy/talking vocals, and a cleaner, less lo-fi sound than their quick-to-sell-out debut 7-inch. Includes a cover of the Cocteau Twins' Dear Heart, as well as a collaboration with fellow Norwegian Andreas Brandal (Larmoyant)." – Revolver |
| 9/30/2005 | Contreras, John / Rose McDowall / Nurse With Wound | Afraid 1 & 2 / Geometric Horsehair Cavalclade | CD | $14.99 | Durtro / Jnana | "This CDEP contains three tracks, all featuring the skillful playing of John Contreras, the handsome young cellist and recent Current 93 and Cyclobe collaborator. The first and third tracks on the disc are adaptations of Nico's beautiful song "Afraid" (from her classic 1970 album Desertshore, one of several collaborations with John Cale), with the singular Rose McDowall lending her sweet, lilting vocals to the song. We haven't heard from Rose McDowall in quite a while, that inimitable chanteuse from Strawberry Switchblade, Sorrow and countless collaborations with Current 93, Death in June, Coil and Michael Cashmore, so it was very nice indeed to hear her lovely vocals again. Even though both versions of "Afraid" are brief, insubstantial and slight, they are still very pretty, and a good showcase for McDowall's voice and Contreras' elegiac, vibratory swells of cello. Sandwiched unceremoniously between these two tracks is an unexpected collaboration between Nurse With Wound and John Contreras, surreally entitled "Geometric Horsehair Cavalcade." The horsehair refers perhaps to the rosined fibers of Contreras' bow, and the geometry perhaps to the angularly edited, resculptured strings of Contreras' cello and Steven Stapleton's prepared piano. There's no telling where the cavalcade comes in. The track, not surprisingly, bears a passing resemblance to Stapleton's collaborations with another master of the stringed instrument on Acts of Senseless Beauty and Santoor Lena Bicycle. In fact, Aranos AKA Petr Vastl is listed as the engineer for all three of these tracks, so there's your connection." - Jonathan Dean |
| 1/9/2003 | Control R Workshop | Missing | LP | $12.99 | KOS Recordings | "Daron Key (guitar) and Randy Sutherland (sax) founded Control R Workshop in early 1999 as a means to focus on various branches of music which include composition and free improvisation. Kessel Crocket, the percussionist on this recording, contributed heavily to our structuring of trio works. Crocket’s trap kit style propelled the dynamic range of the music through his use of minimalism, accents and controlled techniques. With a mainstay percussionist, the saxophone, guitar and string elements were able to intensify and minimize in accordance to a self-imposed structure." |
| 1/28/2004 | Cookie Brooklyn | Gets Cute | 3" CDR | $7.99 | Pseudoarcana | "Cookie Brooklyn is the home recording project of Mark Williams of Marineville and The Idle Suite. Sweet small Kilgour brother type melodies butt up against more 'gestural' noise pieces. Nice stuff." |
| 1/17/2010 | Coomans, Lee | Basement Recordings 1978-1982 | LP | $29.99 | Ultra Eczema | "A while ago one of the members of the youngest antwerp based free jazz band SHELDON SIEGEL (all 16 year olds..) visited me, i had just met them and he wanted to come by to get some records. we spoke about free jazz for a while, then he said the magical words "my dad use to play free jazz in the 70's as well".. i was like "ow, and if that was in antwerp, was it with WIM?", he said "yes yes, he's on one of their tapes with fred van hove, ivo van der borght etc". my heartbeat went a little faster, WIM only made one tape as far as i know, which is the weirdest thing they ever did, a bunch of the free dudes from those days playing as a brassband!! it seriously sounds distrurbing. i pull out the tape, open it and asked "is your dad leo coomans?", he starts shivering and his eyeballs turned backwards, i called an ambulance, they pick him up and tell me i can not talk to this guy for a while as he is heavily epileptic! the doctor kept asking me "what the hell did you do the him", i said "i just showed him this tape".. although i wasnt allowed to join him i sneaked into the hospital and woke him up, yelling SO IS THIS YOUR DAAAAD OR WHAT? he said, "yes and he doesnt even have that tape", so i dubbed it for him and asked if he had some other solo recordings from those days? LEO COOMANS then compiled a bunch of unheard and beautiful basement recordings, collecting the period he mainly played in the antwerp jazz and artist bars! when putting it on i expected some decent free music, relating to the other freaks from antwerp from those days, my mouth fell open though that this rather modest man made seriously strange outsider weirdness instead of free jazz from hell. kicking of with AEROSOL, duo undertone singing to a aerosol machine he had to use for his asthma! WATERMUZIEK, playing with a bunch of tubes, saxophones, mouthpieces and his own voice in a bath tub half filled with water! untitled droning harmonica pieces which clearly shows his link with raga folks like wannes van de velde and such! vacuum cleaner attached to metals and soprano saxes!! a wacko paino and vacuumcleaner cover version of LOUIE LOUIE... i hate to say it, but this realy is a tressure! the cover design is 2 live shots, one of which he uses the aerosol machine. it also comes with an insert with more photos!" |
| 4/10/2009 | Cooper, Mike | Live At The Hint House | LP | $20.99 | QBICO | Recorded in NYC, 2000. "Live At The Hint House might be considered a field rec. in as much as it is a recording of an ambience or soundscape. Made on my first ever trip to mainland America to play music this is the 2nd set of that evening, the 1st set had been an acoustic one of songs and slide guitar. At the start of the 2nd set I quickly realized that my guitar was not working and rather than stop and attempt to find out what was wrong I decided to just continue and improvise with what was at hand on the table in front of me. A Casio SK1 sampler keyboard, a Yamaha SU10 sampling unit with some pre-recorded samples loaded, a mini disc with some tropical ambience rec. from Malaysia and a pitch shifter delay pedal. I was not very happy with what happened that night and when Matt Zwed gave me two CD-Rs the next day I don't remember giving much attention to the 2nd set. Five years on, coincidently to the day as I write this, I realized he had captured more than me trying to get through the piece. It was me, the people in the room, the dog that ran around barking, the traffic sounds coming through the door that was open right behind me and a whole host of magically transported tropical birds and insects that suddenly found themselves reciting whatever it was in the loft space on the edge of Harlem, competing or colluding with all of the above to produce a piece of urban exotica." -- Mike Cooper |
| 11/17/2007 | Cope, Julian | Japrocksampler | Book | $49.99 | Bloomsbury | Julian Cope, eccentric and visionary rock musician, hip archaeologist and one time frontman of Teardrop Explodes, follows the runaway underground success of his book Krautrocksampler with Japrocksampler, a cult deconstruction of Japanese rock music. Japrocksampler reveals what really happened when East met West after World War Two and the mayhem that ensued ... and is a must for anybody interested in modern music and Japanese culture. It explores the clash between traditional, conservative Japanese values and the wild rock 'n' roll renegades of the 1960s and 70s and tells the tale of the seminal artists in Japanese post-war culture, from itinerant art-house poets to violent refusenik rock groups with a penchant for plane hijacking. The book concludes with enticing reviews of Julian's Top 50 Jap Rock albums." Over 300 pages / hardback. Very limited stock. |
| 11/21/2008 | Cope, Julian | Preaching Revolution | 7" | $7.99 | Head Heritage | "The new E.P. is entitled Preaching Revolution and the exclusive songs are as follows : Side One : 1. Mother, Where Is My Father? 2. I Wanna Know What's In It For Me 3. Fuck Me USA / Side Two : 1. Preaching Revolution. This very limited 7" is an edition of 1000 copies only. The EP release sits alongside Julians latest album Black Sheep. Black sheep is a musical exploration of what it is to be an outsider in modern Western Culture. Across 11 songs and one epic poem, Cope examines the idea of social outcasts and how they - through their sheer obstinacy and strength of personality - carve a path for themselves in the normal world, often changing societyís own concepts of normality in the process. The album and EP reveal Cope at a pinnacle of songwriting and feature sumptuous lashings of orchestral Mellotron, orchestral percussion and marching bass drums, plus oboe, wah guitar, rumbling synthesizers and gorgeous harmony vocals." - Revolver |
| 6/5/2005 | Cops, The | Fables | CDR | $9.99 | Battlecruiser | "As if from a distance, you watched yourself smash up all the cocktail glasses on the bar and attempt to lick the frosting off the slivers of glass resting in the bleeding flesh of a couple of, now sobbing, girls. A thrashing, crashing, screeeeech-fest that brings all those fragments of ‘christmas-party-gone-wrong' memories together into one embarrassing and frightening whole. I believe Ozzy summed it up nicely when he said 'Ohno...no...pleasegodhelpme'." |
| 10/31/2009 | Cora, Peter | Rosicrucian Enlightenment | CDR | $8.99 | Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam | "Magical medieval new age / meditation & alchemy masterwork by this yet unknown rosicrucian musician. beautiful & stunning!" Edition of 40 copies. |
| 11/16/2004 | Cornucopia | .C. Works | DBL CD | $16.99 | Zeromoon / Locus of the Assemblage / Sonora Disks | "Cornucopia is the premiere sound art project to hail from the island of Puerto Rico. Claudio Chea and Jorge Castro have recorded numerous drone-a-thons on CDR which have been released by small labels from New York to Barcelona to Valencia, Le Mans and Mexico City. 'C.works' is their first full length on the CD format, and to celebrate, they have asked for a little help from their friends. In all, fourteen other artists were asked (and some even asked in themselves!) to use Cornucopia's 37 minute track '.c.' into their own composition. Two years later, this is the end result. Remixers included: Omei, Needle & Sony Mao, Lasse Marhaug, Black Sand Desert, RGV, Ultra Milkmaids, David Wells, TV Pow, duul_drv, Andrew Duke, Kim Cascone, Critikal, Zanstones, & Francisco López. Double CD set packaged in a DVD case." |
| 3/1/2007 | Corsican Paintbrush | Aquarian Hymns | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "Tulsa, Oklahoma is probably one place you would not expect to find a bouzouki or a person who can play one. But thankfully for the spirit of international culture, husband and wife team Brad and Eden Rose live in that very city. They make music under many names (most notably the North Sea but also Wax Ghost, Golden Oaks, and Agilvsga), and with many friends (from Michael Donnelly of Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood to Robert Horton (as Eastern Fox Squirrels)), but Corsican Paintbrush is purely their creation, their musical offspring. Combining lush instrumentation with clattering percussion and ramshackle beats, Corsican Paintbrush creates a new world of sound out of old world technology. Fresh from a sold-out lathe-cut record split with Italy's prolific space-artists My Cat is An Alien, and following up two beautiful CD-r releases on Foxglove and Musicyourmindwillloveyou, Corsican Paintbrush has focused their considerable talents and energies into a "proper" CD release. Swerving feverishly between what could easily be chopped up Native American rhythms, sampled Celtic melodies, and space-age funk played on trash heaps, the music of Corsican Paintbrush is actually all of this and none of it. "Aquarian Hymns" is nine tracks of gorgeously recorded acoustic grace; marked with periodic bursts of lysergic freak-outs, from the sharpened slide guitar strings and tired voice of "Break Through These Branches" to the heavy accordion and woodwind drones of the closing track "Aquarius". The true masterpiece of the release is the expansive and slow-developing "Carbon Revival", taking its sweet time (over fifteen minutes) to uncoil its scaly form and sink its dripping fangs into your mind. Corsican Paintbrush paints an engrossing picture of a folk music never before encountered, and it does so with broad and yet delicate swaths of color and texture. Just don't call this sound New Age or Ethnic Folk, it digs deeper and broader than that, sounding at times like a piece from the richly diverse Sublime Frequencies collection, and at other times like a death march across the desert, carried on the back of the Sunburned Hand of the Man." |
| 12/24/2005 | Corsican Paintbrush | Twilight Blue Skies | CDR | $11.99 | musicyourmindwillloveyou | "gorgeous ethnological forgeries from the husband and wife duo of brad rose and eden hemming rose.these gentle , free improvisations set the lister gently down amidst the dappled sunlight and sweet scents of a long forgotten time.truly beautiful , honest music for the tired ears of a dying civilization." |
| 6/27/2009 | Cortes, Lula | Rosa De Sangue | LP | $25.99 | Time-Lag Records | "Deluxe first ever reissue of this Brazilian private press monster rarity. Originally custom pressed in 1980, Rosa De Sangue is the closing chapter of the amazing Recife psychedelic movement that flourished and centered around the work of Lula Cortes, beginning in 1973 with the release of Satwa, and the creation of 'Abracadabra,' Lula's loose art/music/design collective. Leading up to 1980 Lula had produced and privately released Satwa in 1973 (Brazil's first private press LP) as well as Marconi Notaro's No Sub Reino Dos Metazoarios LP that same year (featuring the recording debut of Ze Ramalho). He then started the legendary but incredibly short lived Solar label, releasing only two albums: 1975's Paebiru double album, and a year later the lone album by Flaviola. As if that wasn't enough, he was also heavily involved in other productions and performed on many seminal albums coming out of the region, including many collaborations with Alceu Valenca. By the close of the '70s the heavily utilized Rozemblit recording studio/pressing plant had been destroyed by repeated floods, Abracadabra had run its course, and along with Lula's marriage, the Solar label was no more. So Rosa De Sangue was conceived as a bookend and tribute to this closing era; as Lula himself states 'I want to close all of this with a golden key.' And a golden key it is. Entering a small local studio with a head full of songs and his freshly road tested 'mountains band,' Lula created an album simply overflowing with ideas. Along with his power trio backing, he was further assisted by many old friends dropping in, including, among many others: Alceu Valenca, Flaviola, Ze De Flauta and Paulo Rafael. With hints of the past era and of things to come, it is a truly wild audio experience, covering many styles and moods. From crazed ethno folkrock, to magical, gentle, jungle folk psych zones, to hard hitting, coke dusted fuzz rock, to insane mutant disco dance floor groove, to tweaked Americana, to acid vocal raga trance, and way beyond. All throughout Lula's beautiful tricordio work pins things down, and for the first time he is the main vocalist (this is, after all, his first 'solo' album!) His is a smoke and booze steeped voice darting between crazed abandon, deep sadness, and glowing soulful humor. When things are mellow, you could easily imagine you're hearing an outtake from Marconi Notaro or Paebiru, but the next moment you're dropped into a raging street party or dimly lit booze drenched bar scene vibe. Frenzied guitars all over, including some tough fuzz, as well as powerful rolling bass groove, soaring violin, moog weirdness, dusted backup vocals, and great drum kit/regional percussion interplay. Psychedelic at heart, but brimming with flashes of tropicalia, punk, prog, and pure hot blooded rock and roll. A bizarre and amazing album. But of course, the story doesn't end there. At some point while the album was being recorded and pressed, Lula signed a major label contact which would produce 1981's far tamer O Gosto Novo Da Vida LP. When his new label got wind of Rosa De Sangue's eminent release, they were displeased to say the least. As soon as the pressing was complete, the entire small edition was seized and destroyed, making this album by far Brazil's rarest. So rare, in fact, that even among the most hardcore Brazilian collectors the original LP is often only rumored to exist, often cited as 'unreleased.' A few copies did however survive, and now, 29 years later, the world can finally hear this 'golden key' from a truly visionary artist. Packaged in a heavy vintage style cover with exact reproduction original artwork, including the huge full color, double sided, foldout poster insert, plus an extra insert featuring new liner notes from Lula Cortes as well as translated song titles. 180gm audiophile virgin vinyl pressing with exact repro label art. Limited edition one time pressing of 1000 copies." |
| 9/30/2008 | Cosi, Valerio | Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock | CD + CDR special edition | $18.99 | Digitalis | "Valerio Cosi may be young at only 22, but his talent is undeniable. He may be mostly known for his exquisite saxophone playing, but this Italian wunderkind doesn't stop there. Cosi composes strings of magic using all sorts of instrumentation and production tricks. "Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock" marks the first CD release in Cosi's ever-expanding discography, and he saved the best for this, his most widely-available release to date. "Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock" is a monster. Clocking in at nearly an hour in length, this kraut-infused ride takes Cosi's modus operandi of juxtaposing multitudes of ideas that generally seem at odds and pushes it to its outer limits. Using techniques and ideas often found in contemporary free-jazz, but blurring them and whitewashing them with buckets of noise and Eastern-inspired rhythms, it is clear Valerio is on a mission. His music is the spaced-out reincarnations of the ghosts of giants. It is an arsenal of unique sonic phrasings built to bend your mind. This is Valerio Cosi at his peak as a performer, young as he is. "Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock" is his finest hour, his opus. Limited to 500 copies. Special edition limited to 100 copies. **extra disc that comes with the special edition features a long suite that accompnies the album, called "heavey electronic pacific loop." this bonus disc should be played at low volumes through speakers in the late night.**" |
| 1/29/2003 | Cosmic Gardeners | Stars and Tears in Melange | CD | $14.99 | Stono Records | "2 x 6 songs and a little sound interlude form the new Cosmic Gardeners CD to a conception of a double mini-album stars - light – hope tears - sorrow –sympathy In a correlation of melancholy moments and colourful folk psychedelic dreams, the Cosmic Gardeners leave the strict spacerock-fields to create new soundscapes by using symphonic timbres , to merge into their useful equipment of electric and acoustic guitars, sitar, mandoguitar, synthesizers , organ and drumcomputers: The listener we wish 13 songs and 73:26 min of pleasant Dive In. Packaged in a handmade hard paper cover + 24 page booklet." Late 2002 release. |
| Cosmic Jokers | Cosmic Jokers | CD | $17.99 | Spalax | “The first of Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser's exploitive cosmic space rock albums is also the best, and certainly kicks the seat out of the many jam bands that arose in the '90s. Unlike most ‘super groups’ who collapse under the weight of their own hubris, the Cosmic Jokers, who were never really a proper group anyway, almost improve upon the sound of their precursors, namely Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze from acid-jam-supreme Ash Ra Tempel, and Jurgen Dollase and Harald Grosskopf from blitzkrieg psychedelic Wallenstein. Structurally, the record is similar to those vintage Ash Ra Tempel albums, with two sidelong suites, the first side representing the peak of the acid freakout and the second side more relaxed, acting as the chill out later in the trip. Thus, the first side, ‘Galactic Joke,’ has more emphasis on Gottsching's freaked-out guitar, as the music slowly builds to full phased-out fury and then subsides and builds again. The flip side, ‘Cosmic Joke,’ is mellower, though no less improvised as it travels with Schulze's keyboard washes at the forefront into deepest space on a similarly slow ebb and flow. The effects are laid on much thicker than on a normal Ash Ra effort, especially on this second track, enhancing the sci-fi aspects as the mixing board of Dieter Dierks adds another dimension to the sound. Unlike later Cosmic Jokers records, where vocals were added in, this album is completely instrumental, letting the music stand by itself.” | |
| Cosmic Jokers | Galactic Supermarket | CD | $17.99 | Spalax | “Starting with a heavy piano-drums groove like John Cale and Terry Riley's ‘The Protégé’ from their classic LP Church of Anthrax, The Cosmic Jokers return to their trip with an un-cosmic dub beginning, melodicas and guitars spinning off all over the place Gille Letmann says a couple of words before the breakdown into Clangerland, a place where goofy synthesizers call to each other over exquisite mellotrons and tinkling spacey grand piano. Again, it's just two huge tracks - this time the ever shifting ‘Kinder Des Als’ and the title track ‘Galactic Supermarket’. The female voices take a while to assimilate after the austerity of the first Cosmic Jokers LP, and the opening track wanders around for a while before ascending to its righteous groove. The women scream ‘Schnell Schnell!’ and the helicopter drums of Harald Grosskopf propel us once more into a hectic frantic major-chord trance out. It's the sheer unbalance that makes this recod such a delight. At times, Klaus Schultze's synthesizer is so loud that it swamps everything in its path. The title track ‘Galactic Supermarket’ begins like one of Van Der Graaf Generator's greatest and most drawn out riffs. A slow 6/4 bass licks over ominous Pawn Hearts style shifting chords. Again, the piece is slow to begin, as though they are searching for harmony but each musician is confused and solitary. Manuel Gottsching freaks out in a fury of wa-guitar madness, forcing the others awake, but this really is a down-in-the-mouth scene and the whole Trip descends further and further until...an inevitable slow burning groove gets itself together and the scene whips itself up into a Shake Appeal Flip Out. The LP takes a little longer to get into than The Cosmic Jokers, but give it time and it's in your head forever. Those piercingly loud Klaus Schultze snythesizers which sound so bizarre the first time? You'll be waking up with them in your head, whistling them in the street, people will think you've lost your fucking mind. Right On.” – Julian Cope | |
| 8/8/2002 | Cosmic Jokers | Gilles Zeitschiff | CD | $14.99 | Spalax | "Not exactly a Cosmic Jokers record, this one contains material plundered from various Kosmische Musik releases, mostly other Jokers tracks as well as those of Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze. Despite its dubious origins, Zeitschiff is another wild ride into the furthest reaches of cosmic space rock, an acid trip set to music and with added narration, mostly by Gille Lettmann and also others, including Timothy Leary and his ominous-voiced cohort, Brian Barritt. With much more mixing and manipulation than the Sci Fi Party compilation, and again with tracks segued together, this one doesn't quite reach the intensity of the first two albums, but comes pretty close. Three snippets from the weak first side of Ash Ra Tempel's Seven-Up, with Timothy Leary's lame blues-rock singing, are more effective in the short doses on this album. Plenty of exceedingly trippy keyboard work from Klaus Schulze, especially on ‘Cosmic Courier Bon Chance’ and ‘The Electric Scene,’ and the usual Ash Ra-style jamming and riffing provide another space rock soundtrack into the cosmos." |
| Cosmic Jokers | Gilles Zeitschiff | LP | $14.99 | Spalax | “Not exactly a Cosmic Jokers record, this one contains material plundered from various Kosmische Musik releases, mostly other Jokers tracks as well as those of Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze. Despite its dubious origins, Zeitschiff is another wild ride into the furthest reaches of cosmic space rock, an acid trip set to music and with added narration, mostly by Gille Lettmann and also others, including Timothy Leary and his ominous-voiced cohort, Brian Barritt. With much more mixing and manipulation than the Sci Fi Party compilation, and again with tracks segued together, this one doesn't quite reach the intensity of the first two albums, but comes pretty close. Three snippets from the weak first side of Ash Ra Tempel's Seven-Up, with Timothy Leary's lame blues-rock singing, are more effective in the short doses on this album. Plenty of exceedingly trippy keyboard work from Klaus Schulze, especially on ‘Cosmic Courier Bon Chance’ and ‘The Electric Scene,’ and the usual Ash Ra-style jamming and riffing provide another space rock soundtrack into the cosmos.” | |
| Cosmic Jokers | Planeten Sit-In | CD | $14.99 | Spalax | “Whereas the two earlier Cosmic Jokers albums, the eponymous first effort and Galactic Supermarket, offered long, intense, free-flowing jams, Planeten Sit-In contains much shorter snippets of music patched together with cross-fades and weird electronic effects. The effects — burbling electro noises, high-pitched twees, and other sci-fi sounds — are even more prevalent, erupting out to drown out the drum, guitar, and bass rhythms, as if to make full use of the quadraphonic sound of the original LP. As a much more disjointed effort, and lacking the sustained grooves of the earlier records, Planeten Sit-In is not quite as successful, but still has many fine moments, from the galloping rhythms and siren-like rising synth tones of ‘Raumschiff Galaxy’ to the rotor-blade electronic patterns and echo effects of ‘Electronic News.’ The longest track, ‘Der Planet des Sternenmädchens,’ adds some vocal trills by Gille Lettmann and moves from loping jam band mode to far more improvisational realms with slow, almost haunting, keyboard tones, to come closest to the prior records. And like those records, Planeten Sit-In represents cosmic space rock in its purest and trippiest distillation.” | |
| Cosmic Jokers | Sci-Fi Party | CD | $14.99 | Spalax | “Originally, this was not a Cosmic Jokers album, but rather a sampler to promote various releases from Kosmische Musik, the record label ran by Jokers mastermind Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser. With a track taken from each of the other four Cosmic Jokers releases, as well as from Ash Ra Tempel's Starring Rosi and Seven-Up, Wallenstein's Cosmic Century, and Walter Wegmüller's Tarot, which all included some members of the Jokers, it's not too far off to consider this with other Cosmic Jokers releases. Also, the Jokers were never more than an exploitation scheme by Kaiser anyway, and this album, with Kaiser and Gille Lettmann beaming from the center photo of the cover like commanders of spaceship surrounded by the satellite photos of their musicians/crewmen, smacked even more of exploitation than usual. The album opens with an excerpt from the first Cosmic Jokers LP, and spoken word from Kaiser and Lettmann is laid on top, as they introduce the cosmic experience. Some tracks are slightly different mixes, with bits of electronic burble and effects added as well. Tracks on each side are segued together for continuous sound, which works OK until the Wallenstein piece, "The Cosmic Couriers Meet South Philly Willy." This pompous piece of instrumental prog rock, the only track without Manuel Göttsching, is far too conventional and structured to fit beside the more free-form cuts. Otherwise there's the usual strange effects and pulsing space rock, though since all of this is available elsewhere in slightly different form, this one is for Krautrock completists only.” | |
| 8/20/2004 | Cosmic Sonic Tag Team | Violence in Birmingham | CDR | $12.99 | Droning-on Records | "The tag team does Birmingham!!! Recorded live in 2003 at the Medicine Bar...from gentle waves to sonic slaughter,the tag team really opened the can of whoop-ass this night...personnel: Monolab (synth, theremin), Cotton Casino (vox, synth, beer & cigarettes), Billawtm (guitar, acid & cannabis). Edition of 100 copies. |
| 12/24/2005 | Coster, Tim | Mornings | 3" CDR | $7.99 | Pseudoarcana | The city of Auckland is rapidly becoming the hub for the more adventurous end of NZ's electronic music. It seems as though there's a festival every other week & there's a constant stream of artists and performers hitting the road to share their work. Tim Coster is a significant figure within this community both as the man behind the CLaud label (which specialises in field recordings) and through his own compositions and performances. 'Mornings' follows on the heels of the recent 7" released by cmr and uses as its main sound source a series of collaborations with various instrumentalists. These raw recordings have been reworked and crafted into a series of drones and discreet expressive moments that encourage one to follow Coster on a warm but sublime cognitive journey." |
| 7/10/2008 | Coster, Tim & Mark Sadgrove | Untitled (35:20) | CDR | $14.99 | Transient Recordings | "Last recordings from this great Auckland duo prior to Sadgrove's departure for Tokyo in 2006. There’s a fine balance between meditative stasis and purposeful activity in these computer / guitar / electronics recordings, conjuring images of a living-dead Douglas Lilburn dropping in to jam with the Improvised Music From Japan crew. Both Coster and Sadgrove are members of the minimalist supergroup Plains (with Rosy Parlane, Richard Francis, Paul Winstanley and Clinton Watkins) and run their own very fine labels (CLaudia and A Binary Datum, respectively)." |
| 7/1/2004 | Cotton & Billawtm | Sweet Sticky Summer Love Suite | CDR | $12.99 | “A Cotton & Billawtm release that features the many faces of c & b !!! Hard acid rock, spacey ballads, and floating kozmick miasma...this recording has it all...” Limited edition of 300 copies. Nice! | |
| 8/21/2003 | Cotton Casino | 100% Pure Cotton | 7" | $7.99 | Riot Season | "Debut solo single from Acid Mothers Temple's synth/vocal goddess Cotton Casino. Completely mad and wonderful as usual. This sounds nothing like Acid Mothers Temple or their offshoots. It's the sound of a mad woman making mad music. Kind of somewhere between Yoko Ono, Pizzicato Five, Hawkwind, Kitsch Jap pop and the Clangers." |
| 11/9/2004 | Cotton Casino & Billawtm | Live Cigarettes & Beer Series Vol. 3: Bring Me the Head of Lancaster Merrin | CDR | $12.99 | c&b | “A blistering live set of 56 minutes recorded this past summer in Lancaster, England...features the international 5 piece metaphysical circus line up of Japan's Cotton Casino (vox,theremin,synth), America's Billawtm (vox,gtr), Norway's Per Gisle Galaaen (bass,tapes) and England's Monolab (synth ,theremin, audio generator) and Edd Brooks (battery)...starts off with a pre-dark side Pink Floyd sound, but after 5 minutes everything gets kicked into high gear with wheels screeching, rear view mirror snapped off, and the rubber only touching enough pavement to reach their destination safely, someplace where very loud guitars and heady synthesizers leave blood and flowers strewn upon the floor...” Limited edition of 200 copies. |
| 5/8/2005 | Cotton Casino & Billawtm | Live Cigarettes & Beer Series Vol.4: Thee Snakeoiler Space Ritual | CDR | $12.99 | c&b | “The last installment in the c&b live c&b series (as rumour has the proud parents are cleaning up their image)...recorded live in fall '04 on their east coast US tour supporting their dear fiend Nik Turner...this disc features the first available sounds from c&b's new full band unit,’Snakeoiler’, featuring Cotton Casino (theremin,vox), Billawtm (gtr,vox), Ian Stevenson (bass vibrations),and Greg Kreis (battery)...the tightest c&b sound to date, high flying gtr and theremin tangled up in love,with a tight-ass rhythm section keepin' it grounded as much as need be...if you love yr psych hard & spacey,this is what you need...mastered by Billawtm and Jason Willett (Half Japanese).” Limited edition of 200 copies. |
| 7/23/2004 | Cotton Casino & Billawtm | Metaphysical Circus UK Tour '04 | CDR | $12.99 | Limited edition of 200 copies featuring 2 exclusive tracks... 1.Under Blanket of Stars (Northern Lights Medley) - by The Birds - recorded live in Bergen, Norway on their tour last year. A half hour of total bliss!!! 2. Speak to Me (the Sky's Crimson T ears) - by Cotton & Billawtm doppelganger - recorded at Wormwood South in June ’04 - this is a 15 minute acid freakout, very heavy!!! | |
| 11/9/2004 | Cotton Casino & Billawtm | Thee Cottonclub Vol.1: Floating Suite | CDR | $12.99 | c&b | “A 48 minute floating opus in 4 parts, featuring sweetly sung Cotton Casino vocals,a s well as her new melodic piano style...this one starts blissfully and ends with a crushing noise outro, with scenic peaks and valleys in between...very different from their past releases...rumoured to go out of print when second volume in the series is released, which is currently being recorded...” |
| 10/25/2008 | Cotton Museum | No Face in the Bog | LP | $24.99 | QBICO | Cow's milk vinyl, artworks and music by Chris Pottinger, with insert. Side A originally released as a ltd ed. CD-R art set in 100 copies on Tasty Soil, Creature. B1 track is unreleased, rec. in 2007. B2 originally released in 2006 on Fag Tapes as a side of a tour cassette with Sick Llama. B3 was played as a loop for 8 months straight on a pirate radio station that broadcast out of the Cloud House on 107.9 fm. "Far out electronic music for the third millennium!" Out of print. |
| 8/17/2009 | Cotton Museum | Pus Pustules | one-sided lp w/ etched B side | $12.99 | Tasty Soil | "'Pus Pustules' is one of the most diseased Cotton Museum recordings to date. Clocking in at 21 minutes on side A, adorned with with a detailed etching of sickly beasts on side B and a five color silk screened album cover designed by Chris Pottinger. Theremin, Synth, and other odd electronic instruments create a bubbling cesspool of rotting sounds that leak from your stereo speakers like a cancerous sludge. Take a trip through a strange world where you can hear these sickly beasts devouring corpses while insects sting their bodies, leaving them covered with infected welts. Cotton Museum is a solo electronic noise project from visual artist Chris Pottinger that has been performing for the past seven years. Limited edition of 400 hand numbered copies, black vinyl with thick chipboard album cover." |
| 5/14/2007 | Cotton Museum | Sick Llama Remixxx | cassette | $7.99 | Fag Tapes | "rescued from the sticky soda pop garbage floor of a movie theater. original recordings never used for anything till now, and now they are stretched and fogged. edition 77." |
| 4/24/2006 | Courtis | (the name of this drone is hidden in your DNA) | CDR | $8.99 | Ikuisuus | "One long hypnotic drone by ex-Reynols member Anla Courtis. This cdr was originally released by Nidnod (2004). Mysterious sound!" |
| 5/9/2004 | Courtis | Greatest Hits | CDR | $10.99 | Lonely Whistle Music | “A collection of untitled experimental pieces from a member of the the Argentinian group Reynols. Very lovely Drone Music from Argentina" |
| 5/7/2004 | Courtis / Marhaug | North & South Neutrino | CD | $17.99 | Antifrost | “The Antifrost label has put out some of the most challenging records of recent times, and this collaboration between Lasse Marhaug, one half of Norwegian noise thugs Jazzkammer and Anla Courtis, the musical mastermind behind the unruly Argentinians Reynols, is as forbidding as they come. For the opening half hour it is a minimalist exercise in the slow motion deployment of a small clutch of extreme frequencies. Then a richer metallic texture emerges from the brittle digital atmosphere recalling the isolationist going pieces of Thomas Koener. This darker, more brooding sound is submerged once more into the digital realm, as if we are viewing the same vast, immobile object from above and below the waterline. Or perhaps it is the subatomic particle referenced in the album title under two different magnifications. It's certainly not an easy listen, but submit yourself to its cold, dramatic logic and you will be rewarded.” – The Wire - May 2004 |
| 9/17/2006 | Courtis / Moglass / Kiritchenko | Courtis / Moglass / Kiritchenko | CD | $11.99 | Nexsound / others | "Collaboration album by Anla Courtis, Andrey Kiritchenko and the Moglass. Drones and improv acoustic by Kiritchenko, psycho-folk by the Moglass, and sound-collages by Courtis." |
| 1/19/2004 | Courtis, Anla | Fractal Albur Solenoide | 3" CDR | $6.99 | 23 Productions | "Anla Courtis is part of the amazing Argentinean music project Reynols. The sounds on this disc are unlike anything Courtis has done in the past. All sounds are composed and created using fractal music generators. The music is cascading electronic wash over the menacing ebb and flow of broken melody lines and scattered musical shards. Very strange and psychedelic, in which sense it is similar to his previous work, but certainly Courtis is navigating new and interesting sonic territory with this piece." |
| 3/31/2008 | Courtis, Anla | Llegaron | lathe cut 8" | $25.99 | alt.vinyl | "This is just so astounding. Symphonic drone otherness on a par with Eliane Radigue, Charlemagne Palestine, and more recently Gareth Hardwick. The music contained herein is a cloud of chalky brine, a warm, distant, fuzzy thing, a thing of absurd purity which easily transcends the boundaries of minimalism to become something entirely cosmic, something universally lovely. We are so glad to present you this miniature masterpiece from a man who used to be one third of the greatest band of all time, Reynols. Limited edition of 100, clear, square, hand-cut by Peter King 8" lathe." |
| 1/24/2009 | Courtis, Anla | Ornitologia | one-sided LP | $22.99 | 8mm Records | "A talisman, a living mandala. Recorded in Buenos Aires, 1992-93 (!) and now brought to life by the chants of birds, this is Anla Courtis 'Ornitology', a poem about the secret forces of nature and the most sublime forms of communication hidden in the forest. Earth, Water, Wind and Fire the elements that are all living inside these three gems, starting with a spectral ballad, "Quetro", and exploding into the second track, 'Escua', 16 minutes of epic guitars flying over an endless sea of visions. The last track, 'Tersina', is the final redemption, and it comes through as a primitive-electronic assault! Pure magic. 140 grams vinyl, limited to 105 copies only, screenprinted artwork by Canedicoda, half of the covers come in yellow with green print, half in green with dark print." Edition of 105 copies. |
| 5/8/2005 | Courtis, Anla | Tribute to Calcium | 7" | $5.99 | Tonschacht | "Tribute to Calcium is the first solo-release on vinyl by Anla Courtis, founding member of the Reynols, who released numerous records on labels such as trente oiseaux, drone records and beta-lactam ring records. After the bands’ life-cycle came to an end in early 2004, Courtis concentrated on his solo works and collaborations with Lasse Marhaug, Kawabata Makoto or Culver. 'Tribute to calcium is a piece in two parts that explores the harmonic resonances generated by the amalgam of electric guitar and toba violin (a one-stringed instrument made with cans by native argentinian indians of the north-east region). This work brings to light a singular sound alchemy that combines: electric-waterfalls, wide-spectrum-drones and just-intonation-entropy. a real journey to re-discover calcium molecules through modern noise-shamanism. Tthese are the first pieces I've ever recorded with the toba violin. I was delighted by the raw sound of this native instrument and my aim was to explore its possiblities beyond the traditional approach, that's why I decided to combine it with layers of electric guitar. The recording documents this exploration process and maybe keeps fresh the spirit of this first encounter." - Anla Courtis |
| 4/16/2007 | Courtis, Anla & Dylan Nyoukis | Fight The Pyramids | CDR | $9.99 | Chocolate Monk | "Anla's solo piece is a sweet ride of ponderous strings, designed to bury deep. Dylan's piece is a electronic drunken swagger straight to tape. The final piece is a live duet which sounds more like an ensemble piece, real fucking strange brain gas emission that confused all in attendance, especially the two performers." |
| 3/24/2008 | Courtis, Anla / Seichi Yamamoto / Yoshimi | Live at Kanadian | CD | $10.99 | Public Eyesore | "A trio with two well known Boredoms stalwarts with the addition of 1/3 of the enigmatic group Reynols. No date listed on cd for time frame reference and only by the title alone can we assume it happened in "kanada". Upon listening to this document, you must focus on the aspect of "live", for it truly is a recording of a live show. No safety net of compression nor any other studio trickery, completely raw sound in the fashion of old Boredoms projects (leaning more towards an ambient Hanatarash or less aggressive 7vo7 ), which sounds like it was recorded straight off the mixing board. True Boredoms fans should still cling to the adventures of these Osaka artists have brought us and continue to bring us. The strangely kinetic freak-outs on this disc ebb and flow in a direction not that well documented for Yoshimi, but more in the territory of Courtis, with guitar riffs by Seichi Yamamoto that stand with confidence on his past offerings. Yet as we bath in the cacophony, we do not feel dirty but cleansed from presumptions of how music should be. An hour's worth of music that is both odd and wonderful. RECOMMENDED!" - Chuck Bettis, Downtown Music Gallery |
| 4/10/2005 | Courtis-Romero | Psychomemory of... | 3" CDR | $6.99 | P Tapes | 2 live radio duos from December 2004 melted together. |
| 5/29/2008 | Cousins of Reggae | Quartz | LP | $21.99 | Spanish Magic | "Cousins of Reggae are Blake Hargraves & Liam Thurston, guitar, drums, turntable, homemade feedback devices and homemade drum triggering systems. There's is a sweat drenched dirty rock from under a sickening haze of overdriven everything!! Brilliant!" "New limited LP from this Canada-based riot squad, best loved for their excellent split with Mouthus. Quartz goes beyond the heavily-barbecued Harry Pussy moves of their previous releases and further into new realms of lurch that would combine riffs that sound like I Wanna Be Your Dog tied to streamrollers and dragged on their face through Industrial warehouse with the deforming use of clotted F/X, endless vistas of crunch and some fucking bandstand rocking moves that make you wonder what The Birthday Party might've sounded like if they dug Demo Moe more than fucking Gene Pitney'....- David Kennan, Volcanic Tongue. Limited edition of 300 copies - the covers and labels are completely handmade utilizing multiple screenprints, stencils, and hand carved stamps. |
| 4/11/2008 | Cousins of Reggae / Lubriphikatttor | split | LP | $17.99 | Galerie Pache | "Brand new lp with dirty sounds from Cousins of Reggae, Montreal based 2 man mind fuck. utilizing guitar, drums, turntables and voice. ( featuring Blake Hargreaves of dreamcatcher, Fluorescent Friends...& liam Thurston of Orphanage...) Go for a trip via 2 different pieces, heavy, loud, hit electric noise & fatal attack. First vinyl release for parisian noise anti brutal pro violence Lubriphikatttor (with members of Zaraz wam Zagram, TG, Napalm Jazz, Ero BABAa...) long tune 'babypute' / death of flowers & elaborated destruction." Split LP - edition of 319 copies in silkscreened cover. |
| 9/17/2006 | Coyote Ugly | The Shining | DBL Cassette | $10.99 | Hanson | "Double c-30 reissue of COYOTE UGLY material recorded in 2000, and originally released on American Tapes in an edition of 10 copies only. Coyote Ugly = duo of John Olson and Aaron Dilloway. Recently relistened to this and played it for Olson...askin him to guess who it was... he guessed Prick Decay....ha! Fully mangled double tape manipulations." |
| 12/19/2002 | Crackhouse | Hard-Core | CD | $8.99 | Mandragora Records | "Pure dose of raw, uncut Crackhouse straight from the lowest of fi jambox master tape. Kicks off with a brutal white noise maelstrom then descends into an endurance test of primal drumming, sick acid-wank guitar, pirate booty bass, and total wah-overload. Earliest known Crackhouse recordings w/ the boys in full-on Grand Fug Railroad mode." |
| 12/19/2002 | Crackhouse | Hoop | CD | $8.99 | Mandragora Records | "Live document of the 1992 Crackhouse Reunion Special, which brought the original members back together for memories, laughs, and maybe a tear or two. Old favorites are reinvented as liquid skronkified hoodoo from the 10th-dimension. Special guest appearances by Salvador Dali, the Manson Family, John Cerkan, Eros, and Chong." |
| 8/7/2002 | Crackhouse | I | CD | $9.99 | Mandragora Records | "Crackhouse was a more purely noise oriented psychedelic band of Erik Amlee's that existed from 1988-1994. Recorded in 1989, 'I' is duo project of Amlee and David Gilden on guitars, synths, and samples. I don't know if it's a coincidence or if Amlee just likes 47 minute long excursions, but 'Black Light Discipline Room' hits that mark being a lengthy freakout that makes me think of Hendrix letting it go in the moments after he discovered feedback. This is pretty tough to take for a full 47 minutes but psycho acid guitar assault fans may find a lot to enjoy here. Crackhouse have lots of interesting ideas and my favorite parts were when the guitars and whirling space synths were serving a backing role to a voice sample monolog about drug sales that sounded like something from Dragnet. But Amlee has clearly come a long way over the years, producing much more cohesive improv excursions with Paradise Camp 23 and utilizing the noise elements as part of something larger and more varied. I did enjoy the remaining three shorter track on the CD. 'Leatherface' features bubbling spaced out acid guitars that produce a chainsaw effect along with blood curdling screams. Hmmmm.... wonder what influenced that one? The remaining tracks are similar to the epic track but make concise statements in several minutes rather than running on for too long." - Jerry Kranitz , Aural Innovations "Originally part of the intial CrackHouse tape-only release from 1989, IAO, gunks of improvised free psych spew forth in the very first 'no music' recordings. Contains the exhausting classic 'Black Light Discipline Room', a 47-minute mushroom seance of over-effected guitars, delay, feedback, and drug movie soundtracks. Like a puppet show of mongoloid Jimi Hendrixes jamming on 'After Cease To Exist'." |
| 8/7/2002 | Crackhouse | The Acid King | CD | $9.99 | Mandragora Records | "Crackhouse was a collaboration between Erik Amlee and David Gilden that took place in the late eighties and early nineties. The duo got together to record experimental soundscapes onto tape. Comprised of guitar noises and tape manipulation, they came up with a number of pieces that were later reissued on the Mandragora label. Thus, two albums were born - the first, I, and now, The Acid King. The Acid King contains eight tracks, ranging from the (surprisingly 'accessible') guitar terror of 'Gary's Rotting Corpse' to the crazed sampling antics of 'Hassan's Rumpus Room'. While the noisy experimentalism may be a strain on the ears to those who aren't familiar with the style, those who are interested in it will find this to be a treat. Influences range from Merzbow to If, Bwana, from Mammal to MSBR, and, of course, everything in between. My favourite piece was definitely the title-track, a haunting soundscape that slides through distorted crashes and electronic roars, constantly shifting the pitch and ringing imaginary bells. During the course of the piece, the duo show their true love for intergalactic soundscapes. It is this lust for sounds and noises that fuels Crackhouse's music. Although there's nothing accessible on The Acid King, and there certainly isn't anything remotely catchy, Amlee and Gilden excel through mood - completely abstract, yet insanely powerful noise emotions. While they aren't the next Merzbow, they're noise masters in their own right." - Matt Shimmer, indieville.com "Re-issue of the 2nd CrackHouse tape released in 1990. An auditory excursion into Satanic Drug Murder. Dense clouds of sound choke improvised noise guitar invoked during black magick rituals. Howling metal meets atonal pre-industrial grunge, dusted burnouts bark at the moon and play hymns to their Main Man. Total psycho mayhem." |
| 4/10/2009 | Craft Bandits | Love Infinity x 1,000 | CDR | $10.99 | Black Petal | Featuring Matt Earle (Muura, Xnobbqx) and Melanie Jade (The Cupcake Club). Nice. |
| 11/4/2006 | Cramps, The | Live at Napa State Mental Hospital | DVD | $17.99 | MVD | In June 1978, The Cramps played a free concert for patients at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa, California. The Cramps were at the peak of their engaging sound. They had just finished recording "Gravest Hits." Midway through the second song, a young woman commands the stage and begins sharing the mic with Lux. By the time the "Human Fly" is played a real ho-down is occurring on and off stage with the audience members dancing about, grabbing at the mic and embracing each other - all of which adds to the spectacle of this once-in-a-lifetime performance! Songs include: "Mystery Plane," "The Way I Walk," "Human Fly," "Domino," "Garbage Man," and more. |
| 8/22/2008 | Crandell, Richard | In the Flower of Our Youth | LP | $13.99 | Tompkins Square | "In The Flower of Our Youth, originally released on the private press label Cutthroat Records in 1980, was Richard Crandell's first LP. His tune 'Rebecca' was famously covered by admirer Leo Kottke on his Chewing Pine album. Crandell has gone on to record several other guitar albums, as well as two mbira recordings for John Zorn's Tzadik label. Crandell's music has recently been featured on Tompkins Square's Imaginational Anthem Vol. 3, as well as the guitar compilation Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli." Reissue of solo acoustic guitar album. |
| 12/24/2005 | Crane / Toth Duo | Live | CDR | $8.99 | Polyamory | "First available recordings by this long-running freak jazz duo. Recorded over various U.S cities during the summer of 2005, Live expertly captures the primitive dynamism of these two sound-obsessed players. James Toth's playing is feral and militantly unsophisticated, but Lucas 'Bones' Crane, on trumpet, is the draw here. It is certain that aficionados will instantly recognize Crane's mastery of his instrument in the traditional sense, but like many great players before him, Crane's unique tone and fluid sense of melody are the byproducts of many years of defiant unlearning in the face of tedium and scholarship. What results is an exciting document of New Music not for the faint of heart or spirit. Strictly limited to 150 copies." |
| Crank | #5 | zine w/ 7" | $5.99 | Crank Automotive | Zine features Ascension, Broken Lightbulb Anal Fetish, Richard Youngs & reviews. 7" features Ascension & Broken Lightbulb Anal Fetish | |
| 2/23/2004 | Crank Sturgeon | E-Z Voiceover Box-Top Living Solutions | 7" | $6.99 | Humbug | "Another super hot 45rpm, this one sees Crank Sturgeon hitting a flabbergasting stride on the A-side with lots of clattering percussives and flailing-about dadaspooge action..... and of course wheezing, sneering voices, 'supplanting saliva where once would've been electronic noises' in the words of our good Reverend. Hell yes! B-side previosly appeared on our 'Cottage Industrial volume 1' compilation and actually contains some semi-coherent ramblings as well as lots of profanity and indigestible out-of-control tape muddle. Precious! 220 copies made." |
| 12/2/2004 | Crank Sturgeon / Gastric Female Reflex | split | 7" | $6.99 | Beniffer Editions / Gold Soundz | "On one side, Torontosaurs Gastric Female Reflex expose their vulnerable underbellies by offering the world the gift of song, as transmitted through the cackle of thirty meter bronze age jump ropes, and then swatted with limitless spools of tape culled from businessmen's faulty tape recorders. The flipside is deepwoods Maine-based Crank Sturgeon, taking a similar story and running it into the side of a convent full of shark-eating nuns. Setting loose the angry hornets, these ladies of the lord respond with high powered leaf blowers, stopping now and again to play a little violin and pee into their dixie cups. Not your typical avant 'electro-acoustic' record, both projects assure this baby can dance like a school of fish, drunk on mercury and TAB cola perhaps, but to an effect that is glorious and spacious; snakey and experimental as all hairy heck, yet an electro-doot we can all blorp and weeze and get primitive with." |
| 5/14/2007 | Crappy Nightmareville | Neutron Dracula | 7" | $5.99 | blackvelvetfuckererecordings | "13 gestating years past and CRAPPY NIGHTMAREVILLE's pod unfolds in full color via this 7" single which is not just their debut but also birth marks the first of a four part vinyl single series: an engraved introduction by way of alien-forcept exacavation of their Old Kentucky Womb. Prior stages spiraled from Public-Prank to Outer-Earth Music-Concret to Scaling-the-Scaur of Bavarian-Salt-Licks. Side A, "NEUTRON DRACULA", imagines the scene from gypsy classic Latcho Drom when children sing "We are the bloody nail in the foot of Jesus on the cross", only reinterpreted as a Saturday morning cartoon. Side B, "BLACK BEAM DUB", is smoke from a wounded nurse surrealing Sun Ra into a new form of dub music that will have you and your headphones installing a seatbelt into your couch for endless round trips. Crappy Nightmareville is one of Louisville's longest running aural magnetic-bananimals and shares drinking water with a huge cast of bands including The Web, Evergreen, The Belgian Waffles, Sapat and Kark. Beautiful post-nuclear fall-out full-color sleeve. Edition of 350." |
| Crawlspace | Ape Scrawl | DBL CD | $14.99 | Slippy Town | "What happens when middle-aged men start finger-painting with sounds? The most 'primitive' Crawlspace material since before Crawlspace started releasing stuff!? Come git scratchy in the concrete bayou while Greg, Joe, and Eddie stomp through 28 'songs' played on drums, bass guitar, electric guitars, wall furnace, portable heater, piping chanter, acoustic guitars, bronze candy dish, metal box, congas, synthesizer, blimp guitars, water bottle, milk crate, cymbals, trumpet, strainer in plastic container, amplified acoustic guitar, unamplified electric guitar, collapsing chair, sleigh bells, electric fan, mixing board, etc. Edition of 88." | |
| Crawlspace | Archive'Space 2: 1990/1991 | CD | $11.99 | Crawlspace | "46 more minutes from Sphere'Space: 'Bleed Jam'; 'Kitty Krawl' improv; 15 minutes of 'Crawl Crappersweet'; 'Sphereality'/'Ocean = You' mutation. | |
| Crawlspace | Archive'Space 3: 1993 | CD | $11.99 | Crawlspace | "57 minutes recorded at a mellowed, spacious rehearsal-studio session - and a chaotic rocked-out 13-minute burst from a Crawlspace 'shroom party with special Backbiter guests." | |
| Crawlspace | Archive'Space 4: 1993/1994 | CD | $11.99 | Crawlspace | "53 minutes of rehearsal jams, and a bit from a live show, by the last 'band' line-up of Crawlspace. With three different versions of 'Lake Daddy Jim'!" | |
| Crawlspace | August/Africa | 7" | $5.99 | Sympathy for the Record Industry | Recorded in 1989. " 'Africa' is a depressing dirge mostly supported by a meandering bass line. The guitars and vocals whine and lament away. 'August' is a heavier, slower tune that sounds like the Stooges on the wrong speed." | |
| Crawlspace | Birds of the Southern Regions | CD | $11.99 | Slippy Town | "'Walk Away Slowly' (4:26) rock-slip; 'Birds of the Southern Regions (33:06) layers of 'Space improv; 'Short Thing April 1' (5:13) a bit o' blimp; 'McKeever' (31:40) takin' it to the street. Handmade torn-cardboard-in-jewel-case package." | |
| Crawlspace | Blimp Music Volume 2: Deep Sea Dives | CD | $11.99 | self-released | "The series of dirigible guitar inflation continues with two more half-hour plunges into the deep end of nada." |
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| Crawlspace | Crawls Pace | DBL CD | $14.99 | Slippy Town | "11 short-ish pieces on disc one; 73 minutes of nonstop crawlsprawl on disc two. Recorded live to CD at the Slippy Town Lifestyle Studio, August/September 2000. Edition of 88." | |
| Crawlspace | Dogs Begin To Crawl, Snakes Begin To Howl | CD | $11.99 | Slippy Town | After 14 cassette releases in '99 and 10 CD releases this year, here comes the long-awaited songs'n'sounds follow-up to Crawlspace's 1997 ¨Et II Bluto? CD. Acoustic-dominated rock songs, swangin' noise, electric-guitar stumble'n'scratch, band improv, funny voices, minimal mockery, and the end of time as we know it. 2000 + 1, remember? With Eddie Flowers, Joe Dean, Greg Hajic, Mark McCormick, Dave Fontana, Allen Clark, and Remora. First edition of 333." | |
| Crawlspace | Sphereality | CD | $11.99 | Sympathy for the Record Industry | " . . . loose, juiced, brilliant acid-mumble-sprawl by the west coat's kings of lost chordage. Allowed 66 minutes to roam the walls at will, Crawlspace conjure up a world where twang=drone= fuzz=bup, and the look of everything melting is as natural as an un-de-fleeced pubis." - Byron Coley | |
| 1/26/2002 | Crawlspace | Static from the Slowdown | CD | $11.99 | Slippy Town | "16 bite-size 'tunes' done with turntable, blank tape + EQ, CD loops, acoustic guitars, trumpet, bird call, jaw harp, percussion, guitar amp, voices, & mac. Ssssss . . . kraaaang! Cover art by Greg circa 1975. Edition of 100." |
| Crawlspace / Mooseheart Faith | On the Tide / Hook In The Gray | split 7" | $5.99 | Forced Exposure | Recorded in 1990. "Featuring the bulk of Crawlspace (L.A.'s premier psilocybin-oriented galactic adventurers) and a sizable portion of M. Faith . . . this wanders much further into regions of primal consciousness-leaping than either group's more ordinarily rockin' tendencies. Exhibiting a Jandek-like flair for capturing a moment with non-existent production, both sides are lighthearted stoner-sensical ramblings. . . . " | |
| 12/13/2008 | Crayon | A House is not a Horse | 7" | $6.99 | Great Pop Supplement | "The third of the GPS debut 45s this week. Leeds based three piece Crayon offer up what some longterm GPS devotees may see as a departure to it's usual output. Sombre synth tones and military like drum rolls give way to an infectious, startling pop rush of a chorus. Perfect pop in a nutshell. 'B' side "Milk" is a slow building, initially, glitchy electronic piece again with a cool pop sensibility as it's underbelly that soon explodesŠA fabulous record and a band to keep yr eye out for. Ace 2 piece sleeves with inserts galore- a hand numbered pressing of just 300 only." |
| 11/21/2008 | Crazy Dreams Band | Crazy Dreams Band | LP | $14.99 | Holy Mountain | "Grooves that confuse? Crazy Dreams Band presents its guitar-free "thug pop" dirge with creeping crooning and brassless horn blasts. Like the best Giallo films, you'll be as turned on as you are terrified. As tender as Coco Rosie, as brutal as Magik Markers, and as cool as Royal Trux' Radio/Video vibe. Imagine if Bruce Springsteen and Martin Rev collaborated on songs for Patti Smith or Catherine Ribeiro. Channeled inner voices are expelled as cave anthems into neon text in Linear A, while bones poke through the skin atop a witch's brew of venomous sludge. Crazy Dreams Band is the urban tribal music that survives whatever "end is nigh" theory you choose." - Revolver |
| 7/16/2006 | Crazy River | Sounds Like a Melon to Me | CD | $12.99 | Apartment Records / Humbug | "Multi-instrumentalist Per Gisle Galåen from Norway play in numerous bands, including Slowburn, DEL, Birds, Kobi and many others. Galåen has been touring Europe, Oceania and Japan partly as Crazy River and partly with DEL and Birds. Birds are a duo consisting of Galåen and Japanese Cotton Casino (former Acid Mothers Temple member) [The Birds debut cd has just been released from Important Records]. He's also done collaborations with Keiji Haino, ultrasound, Alexander Rishaug and Carlos Giffoni to name a few. Galåen has formerly released a split 7" (OHM records) with fellow-Norwegian Fredrik Ness Sevendal and has contributed to a few compilations, but "Sounds like a Melon to Me" is his first solo album. Its ripe for release has been sitting on a dusty shelf for some years, but we are very glad he finally took his time to wipe the dust of these well-seasoned gems. Looking inside this jewel-case you'll find some peeling abstraction and fuzzy heavy organ sounds at first glance. But, if you listen closely you'll be able to catch some whimsical and strange pop-songs dancing the dance of modestly cheerful melancholia somewhere behind the dust. It's a beautiful musty odor to this album that makes you feel good and awoke a smell of nostalgia around the house. The smell of good old lo-fi home-recordings that is. And me oh my, how we have missed that smell! This is a joint release with Humbug Records." |
| 1/24/2009 | Cripple Crime's "Triangle" | Deny Opportunity One | cassette | $7.99 | American Tapes - AM-790 | "New in house unit with a whole new twisted gnarl electronic mangel sound. Double right hand tape abuse. The audio equivalent to seeing someone smile with with fingers instead of teeth. Nasty magnetic. Packaged in a new mega color slip case style with full color inzane art." |
| 8/8/2009 | Cro Magnon / Circuit des Yeux / Bird | split | cassette | $6.99 | Goaty Tapes | "Short tape by Katie and Haley. A-side is their collaborative project, Cro Magnon, conjuring apocalyptic no-core anxiety. B-side features each of their solo projects: Circuit des Yeux (Haley) slows it down with "Fire Signs" and then Bird (Katie) deconstructs/microtunes the acoustic rock song with free, downloadable software on "Swamp Cry". Edition of 100." |
| 9/17/2009 | Crocker, Jay | Joachim On Eggshells | CDR | $9.99 | Bug Incision | "Crocker discards his usual array of guitars, homemade pedals, and keyboards, in favour of six years' worth of home recordings of himself. Mostly recorded on single track cassette tape, and patched through a larger system, these sketches and mini-improvs are woven together on one 'take', an acceptable one of which we have here. Moments here recall the denser sides of Richard Youngs or NWW. A strange one, for sure. Edition of 50, color covers, clear plastic sleeves, in print." - label. |
| 1/1/2008 | Crocker, Jay & Chris Dadge | Humming & Crackling | CDR | $9.99 | Bug Incision | "banjo & percussion improvisations. scratchy, small sounds and lots of high listening skills involved." "The titles say it all, really. Both the name of the album, which describes quite well a lot of the sounds Messrs Crocker (banjo, preparations, percussion) and Dadge (percussion) make here, and the label name, with its attendant associations of insect music and laboratory experiment. Bug Incision is a CDR label run out of Calgary, Canada, which if I remember rightly is where Eugene Chadbourne fled to to avoid the draft. He must have left some kind of lasting impression there, as Crocker's banjo work (inevitably?) recalls some of the good Doctor Chadbourne's thornier outings. But there's more percussion than banjo on offer here, and the musicians' concern for small sounds brings mid-70s John Stevens and the SME to mind - which means I'm definitely not following Brooker Buckinham's instructions in the liner notes: "Zen mind. Forget everything you know about music. Forget every piece of music you've ever heard." But then again neither is he, when he describes it all as "skeletal jazz phantoms from an alternate universe - one where a bizarro Derek Bailey get [sic] drunk on moonshine in the Appalachians and curses the mountains through brittle invectives voiced on a beat-up banjo." That sums it up nicely." - Dan Warburton, February 2007. Limited edition of 150 copies. |
| 6/27/2009 | Cromagnon | Cave Rock | CD | $11.99 | ESP-DISK' | "Already commercially successful as tune-smiths for teenyboppers, Austin Grasmere and Brian Elliot approached Bernard Stollman looking to focus their talents on something more original and unrestrained. Stollman asked, "What would be your theme?" and Elliot replied: "Everything is one." Bernard said, "Go do it." What followed was Cromagnon's (Grasmere, Elliot and the Connecticut Tribe) non-linear journey through the subconscious, weaving together bizarre instrumentation and meter with a psychotic blending of musical styles. Bagpipes, pounding percussion, blood-curdling yelps, chanting, laughing, and billowing subterranean rumblings create the otherworldly soundscape that is Cave Rock. Heralded as one of the best freak-out records of all time, Cave Rock was ridiculously ahead of its time and brings to mind the savage sound-fuckery of Nurse with Wound and Throbbing Gristle as well as the hallucinations of early Red Krayola." "An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the brainchild of Brian Eliot and Austin Grasmere,...They made a truly inspired music, a sort of Dadaist psychedelic folk, tribal and raw, ridiculous but enchanting. It's hard to believe that a record as completely far-out as Orgasm was recorded in 1969. Bands these days can't be this whacked even if they try, especially if they try." - Andee Connors. Housed in digipak with liner notes. |
| 6/5/2005 | Cromagnon | Orgasm | CD | $16.99 | ESP-Disk | "On this 1969 ESP-Disk' dadaist psych-folk release, chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing." |
| 9/24/2009 | Crosbie, Alistair | Learning to Draw | CDR | $11.99 | Sonic Oyster Records | "I have always written songs but it didn't really occur to me to make an album of them until earlier this year - sent home from work due to a heavy snowfall (which was causing intermittent power shortages), I blew the distinctly non-metaphorical dust from my acoustic guitar and wrote "Count Your Quiet Homes". Over the next week or so, this and a further 4 songs were recorded, two newly written and two from the pile I had accumulated. I mentioned this in passing to Andrew Paine and he expressed an interest in hearing the results. So, over the following three or four months, "Learning To Draw" was created with my usual succession of rejects, re-recordings, re-workings, remixes, remasters and the like - the change in musical format certainly didn't change my recording habits...There are 17 songs and they pass in a little under 39 minutes. In a way, this is the most experimental album I've made." - AC. |
| 6/27/2009 | Crosbie, Alistair | Seven Starlings More | c46 cassette | $6.99 | Tape Fiend | "Captivating and beautiful experimental drones from this Glasgow-based sound artist." |
| 3/26/2006 | Crossbred | We Don't Need A Pain! | CDR | $9.99 | Chocolate Monk | "Rie Lambdoll & Mayuko are a Japanese female duo from Osaka, performing their own style of electronic drone noise, heavy flowing. "We direct to fault of the cloudy society, listen to life's scream, catch the feels from bottom of our soul, and make'em beautiful sounds. We active as crossbred for everything..." |
| 4/2/2004 | Crude | Artless Intent Signatures Vol. 1 | CDR | $6.99 | Mental Telemetry | "No-wave chunks of sound/slurry captured during lean times in Auckland City. Demented and at times hopeless. AI Signatures Volume One provides an atmosphere both bleak and deconstructed. Similar at times to 'Bank'. Limited edition of 30, hand numbered, now in sturdy cardboard sleeves w/ paste on covers." Track Listing: ARKADE 1, EFE, MAGLEV MAGLEV, SLURRY KONDUCT, CHANNEL DEVELOPMENT, WARBURG {mp3}, ARKADE 2, XXTRO SKELETAL MIX, THE DEEP PART 2, FUN I EVER HAD, CRYOSTAT |
| 4/2/2004 | Crude | Bank | CDR | $6.99 | Mental Telemetry | "Gothic futurist gurgle leaving everything to the imagination. A perfect companion to any psychoactive situation. Trans-human make-out soundtrack. Glue-like 50 minute noir-film music. Finance themes. Glitch meets doom-metal high on paint fumes. Limited edition of 30, hand numbered, hand made packaging (crude style)." Track Listing: bank one, bank two, bank three {mp3}, american banker, american banker, two, merger reprise, nmr nu_beat |
| 4/2/2004 | Crude | Catalogues of Meaninglessness | CDR | $12.99 | Mental Telemetry | "Previously described as a 'shocking Hill-Billy rock-stomp', and it kind of is, although perhaps a little more sophisticated than that...looking to achieve a kind of Cajun [?] vibe or something with horn, guitar and one shitty drum. Features the songs 'Real Nice', 'Turbo Cum', 'Mitternacht' et al. Most of these songs ended up on the now famed 'Turbo Spunk' acetate triple 7". Limited edition of 30, hand numbered, now in sturdy cardboard sleeves w/ paste on covers." Track Listing: bender {mp3}, leave the building, real nice, der drinker, all electric, catalogues of meaninglessness, this town reprise, dance dance dance, sufi, sax exercise #1, mitternacht, turbo cum, blood, Sunday |
| 5/21/2009 | Crystal Dragon | The Crystal Demos | CDR | $8.99 | Earjerk | "Ever since his initial appearance on the earjerk labels 'Bright and Dark Light' compilation Crystal Dragon Fever has been spreading. Who is this mysterious analog synth warrior/fighter pilot from the Land of Light? For this release he is your guide. Ride along on amazing journeys through quartz caverns with Erik Satie and Klaus Schulze at the helm. So fucking essential! The Crystal demos have been making the rounds and it is clear! There will be some fully realized albums solidifying soon. But these gems can't stay buried forever. Dig these demos! Medieval Musique Kosmiche." |
| 6/19/2007 | Cucumber Sandwich | Cucumber Sandwich | CDR | $12.99 | Music Mundane | "Recorded in 1992 by Stewart Walden, stalwart of the A Band and frequent collaborator with Neil Campbell, and originally just dubbed for friends. Rescued from the vaults by Neil Campbell, who has long held it as one of his favourite recordings, and reissued on his new Music Mundane imprint. Around the time of this recording, Stewart was also cutting the baffling "Durian Durian" LP for Forced Exposure with Campbell, Richard Youngs and Simon Wickham-Smith, and although the approach here is more single-minded than on "Durian Durian", there's a similar level of alien invention going on. All sounds come from a multi-tracked modified cheap casio keyboard that kicks out such a range of ever-changing, seamlessly flowing gargantuan tone-spew you'd be forgiven for thinking Walden was working with some new twenty-first century stochastic software program. The original cassette was a full C90, which is accelerated by the wonders of a Neil Campbell split-stereo mix to 46 minutes of pure bilateral brainiac stimulant." |
| 11/4/2006 | Cul de Sac | Ecim | CD | $12.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "1991 - 'The Year Punk Broke.' The smell of teen spirit was emanating out of the Pacific Northwest, from coast-to-coast the youth were proudly flyin' the flannel, and the term 'alternative' had firmly taken root in the rock critic lexicon. In Boston, however, guitarist Glenn Jones had a radically different agenda brewing, totally at odds to the current climate. Cul de Sac was born in 1990 as the result of Jones' loosely-formed concept pitting melodic, surf/Middle Eastern guitar style with the electronics splatter of Robin Amos (founding member of Boston dada-punk legends The Girls) and the percussive grooves of Chris Guttmacher. Drawing further inspiration from '60s psychedelia, American and Middle Eastern folk music, Krautrock, and the more industrial elements of the avant-garde, Cul de Sac developed and honed this formula as an instrumental quartet, and as it stands today, the band has long-since cemented their status as one of the leading lights of the avant rock underground. But it was the out-of-left-field splash they made in 1991 with their debut ECIM that started the whole undercurrent and the subsequent rubbernecking their way, a debut recording that effectively ushered in a remarkably fresh perspective on instrumental rock music. Today, ECIM almost seems prophetic; its fully realized sound is certainly more in step with recent underground activity than it ever was previously. This special 15-year Anniversary Edition boasts an impeccable digital remastering job and is beefed up with three previously unreleased tunes recorded from the period, archival photos, and liner notes by Glenn Jones and Byron Coley. Features guest appearances by the inimitable Dredd Foole." |
| 11/3/2004 | Cul de Sac / Damo Suzuki | Abhayamudra | DBL CD | $17.99 | Strange Attractors Audio House | "Boston's instrumental innovators Cul de Sac teamed up with infamous ex-Can vocalist Damo Suzuki for a tour of the US and Europe in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Abhayamudra is a 2xCD collection of what Cul de Sac and Damo Suzuki consider to be the best moments of the 45 dates they played together - nearly 138 minutes of stunning psychedelic avant mayhem, performed live and composed entirely on the spot. Cul de Sac refract clusters of electronics, sorrowful violin and genre-defying surf/middle eastern guitar over chugging bass and astounding polyrhythms, while Suzuki concocts his vocal somersaults over the affair, manipulating the direction of the tunes like it was liquid in a vessel. Abhaymudra immortalizes some very special moments captured on stage, a musical genesis that, by its very nature, could only be conceived at its particular moment in time and can never be replicated." |
| 10/25/2008 | Culver | Sugar Tip | CD | $10.99 | BloodLust! | "Last winter, when BLOODYMINDED was preparing to go on tour in the U.K., I was put in contact with Lee Stokoe, who was touring at the same time as us, under the name Inseminoid, with George Proctor of Mutant Ape. Not only was Lee beyond accommodating about letting us piggyback on the Inseminoid/Fecalove tour, but he was kind enough to also drive us around the U.K. for several days. I returned to the States with a thick stack of Culver CDs, which took some time to get through. I was most pleased that I enjoyed the music on the CDs as much as I enjoyed meeting and spending time with Lee, himself. After hearing more and more Culver recordings, as well as a few excellent psychedelic/noise CDs by Stokoe's band Marzuraan, I was convinced that I needed to release something by him. "Sugar Tip" is that thing, packaged in handsome collage artwork created by Stokoe for this release. One of the main things that I have noticed about this CD is that it feels like the air gets sucked out of the room when I listen to it. While it is far denser and more complex a sound than Damion Romero's work, the two share the odd ability to move air around with sound in a fairly unsettling way. "Sugar Tip" is definitely heavier than drone, but it is definitely not simple harsh noise. I might refer to it as blackened psychedelic noise. Oh, and do not forget that this guy plays in Skullflower, these days, too. Professionally duplicated CD, single panel, double-sided insert; color collage artwork; in jewel box with shrink-wrap." |
| 12/21/2004 | Culver-Courtis | Culver-Courtis | LP | $17.99 | Riot Season | "Limited edition, untitled 500 only clear vinyl LP by drone / experimental duo Culver-Courtis. This is a collaboration between Anla Courtis of Reynols (Argentina) and Lee Stokoe aka Culver (England). The album is based around beautiful hypnotic drones, kind of avant-garde and kind of calming at the same time. Slightly similar in style to some of Makoto Kawabata's solo work perhaps. Although there are only four 'songs' on the record, it clocks in at near 50 minutes. The LP is a completely remastered reissue of a previous cassette only self release. For fans of : Makoto Kawabata, Sunn O))), Reynols." |
| 1/19/2003 | Curlew | Gussie | LP | $16.99 | Roartorio | "On a hot Minneapolis night in the summer of 2001, Curlew played a scorching gig at the now-defunct Gus Lucky's Gallery. Gussie documents that evening: the veteran improvising group dispensed with their compositions altogether and took an eminently successful walk along the free-improv tightrope. With a lineup featuring George Cartwright (saxophones), Davey Williams (guitar), Chris Parker (piano), Fred Chalenor (bass), and Bruce Golden (percussion). A limited edition of 436 copies, with handpainted covers by Anne Elias." |
| 5/21/2009 | Current 93 | Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain | CD | $13.99 | Coptic Cat | "The long-awaited Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is Current 93's first album in three years, following their double-platinum-selling Black Ships Ate the Sky. Spinning around epic series of verses written by Current 93 founder David Tibet, the new album sees Tibet back with a new 1972-style supergroup comprised of himself on vocals and July and Gorgon guitars; guitar hero James Blackshaw on 12-string guitar and piano; counter-culture guru William Breeze on electric viola and viola-controlled sampler; Cyclobe and Coil's Ossian Brown on synthesizers, treated organ, and electronics; heavenly musician John Contreras on cello and synthesizers; haunting chanteuse and composer Baby Dee on piano, Hammond organ, and throat song; Pantalemon's enchanted Andria Degens on vocals; world famous porn star Sasha Grey on vocals; Andrew Liles (Nurse With Wound) on electronics and guitars; extraordinary percussionist supreme Alex Neilson (Red Krayola, Trembling Bells, Bonnie "Prince" Billy) on drums and percussion; Grammy award-winning genius Rickie Lee Jones on vocals; Alice and Henry Rousham on vocals; Steven Stapleton on electronics and glands; NYC legend Matt Sweeney (Zwan, Neil Diamond, Superwolf, ZZ Top) on electric guitar and vocals; rock god phenomenon Andrew WK on bass, piano, finger-bells, and vocals; and the beautiful Hush Arbor's Keith Wood on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and bass. Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is the most unique, unpredictable, and powerful release yet from Current 93. Tibet has brought together an amazing and bizarre array of talents and created an album unlike any other." |
| 8/8/2009 | Current 93 | Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain | double LP | $20.99 | Coptic Cat | "The long-awaited Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is Current 93's first album in three years. Spinning around epic series of verses written by Current 93 founder DAVID TIBET, the new album sees Tibet back with a new 1972-style supergroup comprised of himself on vocals and July and Gorgon guitars; JAMES BLACKSHAW on 12-string guitar and piano; WILLIAM BREEZE on electric viola and viola-controlled sampler; CYCLOBE and COIL's OSSIAN BROWN on synthesizers, treated organ, and electronics; JOHN CONTRERAS on cello and synthesizers; BABY DEE on piano, Hammond organ, and throat song; PANTALEMON's ANDRIA DEGENS on vocals; porn star SASHA GREY on vocals; ANDREW LILES (NURSE WITH WOUND) on electronics and guitars; ALEX NEILSON (RED KRAYOLA, TREMBLING BELLS, BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY) on drums and percussion; Grammy award-winning genius RICKIE LEE JONES on vocals; ALICE and HENRY ROUSHAM ON vocals; STEVEN STAPLETON on electronics and glands; MATT SWEENEY (ZWAN, NEIL DIAMOND, SUPERWOLF, ZZ TOP) on electric guitar and vocals; ANDREW WK on bass, piano, finger-bells, and vocals; and HUSH ARBOR's KEITH WOOD on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and bass. Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is the most unique, unpredictable, and powerful release yet from Current 93. Tibet has brought together an amazing and bizarre array of talents and created an album unlike any other. LP packaged in gatefold sleeve with liner notes insert and poster included." |
| 11/15/2008 | Current 93 | Dogs Blood Rising | LP | $19.99 | Durtro Jnana | "Originally issued in 1985, in an edition of 1000 copies, Dogs Blood Rising was Current 93's second full length release. Here, the audio has been significantly restored and remastered and is presented as an exact reproduction of the original as possible. Dog's Blood Rising picks up where Nature Unveiled left off eerie, disturbing, and powerful. In fact, this album is perhaps the finest example of the experimental side of Current 93, and a major influence on the emerging Goth and Industrial scenes of the time. Thanks to Stephen Stapleton's simpatico production and arrangements, David's early themes of Christs, crucifixions, Crowleyan madness and perversions are all here at their most violent and loud. Steve Ignorant of Crass is enlisted on vocals, and Simon & Garfunkel's take on Scarborough Fair is dragged through the mire." |
| 9/4/2003 | Current 93 | Earth Covers Earth | CD | $19.99 | Durtro | "1992 reissue of the classic 1988 album (originally issued on LP by United Dairies) that largely introduced David Tibet's new-found enthusiasm for apocalyptic folk into the world at large. With backing from Tony Wakeford (guitar), Douglas P. (stick guitar), Rose McDowell (vocals, guitar), John Balance (all spirits and smiles), Steven Stapleton (accordion), Lu (flute), Maria Enzell (violin), Chris Wallis (sitar), Dik (piano), Ian Read (horse whispering). Having discovered the interstellar flux of Comus, The Incredible String Band and other tweaked variants on the traditions of folk music, Tibet & Co. created a mesmerizing blend of strummed/buzzing gloom that was unique within the field of downward mobility. This CD version adds 6 bonus tracks to the original LP; 1 leftover from the original session; the three tracks releases by Shock on Portable Altamont & 2 other unreleased tracks. About as classic as a C93 album can get." - FE |
| 7/16/2004 | Current 93 | The Courtyard / Jerusalem | CD | $15.99 | Durtro / Jnana 1971CD | New / sealed copy of this brand new two track cdep by David Tibet, Julie Wood and 60's English Folk legend Simon Finn. These special tracks are new recordings of Finn's tracks: "The Courtyard" and "Jerusalem" - sung By David Tibet. Limited to 500 copies only and were only sold at the recent shows. |
| 7/16/2004 | Current 93 | The Time Of The Last Persecution | 7" | $15.99 | Durtro / Jhana | New two track 7" single that was only for sale at the recent C93 concerts in Toronto. Limited edition of 500 copies on blue vinyl. Features two live tracks recorded in London on October 5th, 2003 featuring David Tibet and pianist Maja Elliott. Tracks are: Time Of The Last Persecution / Black Flowers, Please. |
| 8/31/2008 | Currer Bells | Currer Bells | 3" CDR | $7.99 | Claudia | "Tim Coster is also involved in Currer Bells, a new duo he does with Jane Austen. They have an extensive line up of instruments and sounds to use, ranging from bass, cymbals, acoustic guitar, keyboard, drums, glasses, shaker and glockenspiel. Three songs which all seem to evolve around the use of loops of all of these sound producing devices and over that they add live playing of instruments, mainly the drum parts - or so it seems. The result is a nice combination of improvised playing, along with a whole bunch of computerized loops in 'Vivid Words', but on 'Two Winters' things are down and the vocals make this is a very free singer songwriter piece. Fine start for Currer Bells, and no doubt we'll hear more from them." (FdW) - Vital Weekly |
| 2/10/2004 | Currituck Co. | Ghost Man On First | CD | $14.99 | Lexicon Devil | "Currituck Co. is one Mr. Kevin W. Barker of New York City. An ex-resident of Washington DC, he's been kicking around that good city's underground rock scene for a good half-decade or more, and indeed has a couple of discs on the estimable Teen Beat label to show for it. Currituck Co. is just Kevin, his guitar and a smattering of assorted instruments. With a record collection that undoubtedly contains a few titles on the Topic, Folkways and Takoma labels, Mr. Barker creates an awesome world of sound that thankfully avoids the pitfalls of being cute, overbearing, whitebread or simply the Sounds Of A Man With A Cool Record Collection. With a transatlantic sound that brings together both UK and American folk influences, Currituck Co.'s Ghost Man On First CD is a unique blend of sonics that occasionally brings to mind an imaginary meeting of Bert Jansch and Robbie Basho, the mixture of covers and originals is a mesmerising stew. With a busy show schedule alongside such kindred spirits from the East Coast Out-Folk scene as Devendra Banhart, Animal Collective, Tower Recordings and Fursaxa, previous material on respected labels like Troubleman Unlimited and Teen Beat and raves from the undie press, Lexicon Devil is proud, pleased and excited to announce the release of Currituck Co.'s Ghost Man on First CD to anyone who'll listen." |
| 2/21/2009 | Curse, Charles | Rain In Skull | LP | $17.99 | Olde English Spelling Bee | "Australian Charles Curse's music is one of the weirdest things I've come across all year. On Rain in Skull, fragments of disjointed folk melodies move across a plain of wheezing chords, tape hiss, children's voices, ambient washes, amp hum, electronic glitch and bits of buzz in general. The contrast between downcast guitar playing and the physical claustrophobia-inducing weight of sound is equally perplexing and intriguing. It's all presented in a decidedly lo-fi environment but the sound construction is anything but simple, as this is a complex sonic stew, unique in the true sense of the word. - Mats Gustafsson The Broken Face. Limited pressing of 200 copies, with full-color spraymounted covers, re-worked and remastered issue of an obscure cd-r release from 2007. |
| 1/17/2010 | Cursillistas | Joint Chiefs | LP | $19.99 | Digitalis Vinyl | "Cursillistas has been a longtime Digitalis favorite so we're very, very excited to be offering up their newest creation as a vinyl-only release. "Joint Chiefs" sees originator Matt Lajoie joining spirit and forces with Dawn Russell and burning new ground along the way. This is a new path entirely. Where past Cursillistas efforts have been drenched in sunkissed tones and melodic stirrings, "Joint Chiefs" dredges up muddy waters and dark emanations like a blast from the deep. this is barn owl meets the dust bowl meets peyote music. Loose strings ring out on acoustic guitars while rattling percussion marches toward the river. Lajoie and Russell send their voices out on top as a guide, looking for any light that is seeping through the thick, duststorm clouds. Just when it looks like it's going to clear up a bassed-out blanket of fuzz and synth tones come along to ruin all the progress you've made. "Joint Chiefs" feels like an epic journey, sordid and sweet. If you find yourself lost in these dark woods, all you can do is adapt, suck in the smoke-filled air and toast the charred heavens. Cursillistas reinvented. LP comes in fold-out silkscreened two-sided poster-style sleeve and is strictly limited to 200 copies." |
| 8/17/2009 | Cursillistas | Les Biches | LP & CD | $21.99 | L'animaux Tryst | "L'animaux Tryst's first-ever release, Cursillistas' Les Biches, sold out over two years ago and has remained out-of-print until this deluxe reissue courtesy of Time-Lag Records and L'animaux Tryst. Each track has been remixed and analog-remastered from the original souce audio, with four previously-unreleased bonus tracks from Les Biches-era recording sessions added on. The songs themselves marked a transitional period for Cursillistas, where early folk influences were beginning to be pushed into the realm of psychedelic improvisations, live looping, and bizarre instrument choices [three of the songs are led by toy xylophone]. While still rooted in acid-folk-pop, the album marked a clear shift to more experimental tendencies and a more "full band" sound. Pressed onto 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl, packaged in a letterpressed three-fold art paper jacket (with hand-sewn button enclosure and vellum insert mounted over a silkscreened design), and including a CD version of the album, this pressing is limited to 300 copies." |
| 2/12/2008 | Cursillistas | Wasp Stings the Last Bitter Flavor | CD | $12.99 | Digitalis | "Wasp Stings the Last Bitter Flavor" marks the first widely available release from this Portland, Maine troubadour. The brains behind the project is Matt Lajoie and he is perhaps best known for his enchanted album on Time-Lag Records. His folk-inspired psychedelia reaches new heights on "Wasp Stings" as he puts together an album of lost songs, found hiding in a dank and dusty cellar. Lajoie's approach here is different. It's as if he's taken the negative space of his previous works and hashed them out and spruced them up until they've become epic, flowing songs whitewashed with a basketfull of analog hiss. The whole thing flows together like magic poured straight from the sky. It's haunting, beautiful music. Cursillistas' music is often densely populated with a variety of instrumentation and textures. Lajoie is a master at molding sounds from a variety of sources into a cohesive, organic whole. This music, as with past efforts, sounds like an intimate secret whispered in the listener's ear. You feel as though you're being led into a world where very few lucky souls find their way. Lajoie's distinctive voice is the true weapon here, weaving hypnotic melodies over rivers of delicately strummed acoustic guitars. "Wasp Stings the Last Bitter Flavor" is his message in a bottle. It's a love letter to everyone and no one, and there's a lot to love here, that is for damn sure.Lajoie is joined by the inimitable Nemo Birdstrup (Time-lag Records figurehead and the brains behind Drona Parva) and sometime-MV & EE collaborator, Sparrow Wildchild. Housed in sturdy, white-on-black gatefold jackets." |
| 9/6/2002 | Curtains, The | Fast Talks | LP | $10.99 | Thin Wrist | "Why make up your minds? You have ears! Musical miniaturist the Curtains present their own kind of west coast cool - a muted music that never reaches the proper conclusion. Aloof and alert, these Curtains keep their music sitting right on the edge of hot and cold. Composed using their unique Dynathought method, the pieces are like a stream of musical memos or thought bubble goofs shook out from an IBM punchcard computer. The result? Something in between a weather bureau report and a private confidence: it'd seem nonchalant if it weren't so personal; it'd seem almost warm if it weren't so scientific! Their Debut, from San Fransisco, 180 gram vinyl." |
| 9/10/2003 | Curtains, The | Flybys | CD | $10.99 | Thin Wrist | "The second full-length album from San Francisco hybrid pop whimsy makers the CURTAINS - CHRIS COHEN (DEERHOOF, NATURAL DREAMERS), ANDREW MAXWELL (OPEN CITY), and GREG SAUNIER (DEERHOOF). A wonderfully imaginative collection of personal instrumental compositions that float, fly, twist, and shake at every turn, as the band lets their flights of fancy wander where they may. Touring throughout September 2003 with Maher Shalal Hash Baz." LP version out in a week or two. |
| 9/23/2003 | Curtains, The | Flybys | LP | $10.99 | Thin Wrist | "Second full-length album from San Francisco hybrid pop whimsy makers the CURTAINS - CHRIS COHEN (DEERHOOF, NATURAL DREAMERS), ANDREW MAXWELL (OPEN CITY), and GREG SAUNIER (DEERHOOF). A wonderfully imaginative collection of personal instrumental compositions that float, fly, twist, and shake at every turn, as the band lets their flights of fancy wander where they may." |
| 11/24/2003 | Cvar, Andrew | Soundtracks of Forsaken Space | CDR | $12.99 | U-Sound | "Video and sound artist Andrew Cvar is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, and has become a treasured member of the JOMF constellation since he began working with us in Portland in 1999. Frequently on the road, documenting the environments he passes through with obsessive detail, 'Soundtracks....", his first solo release, is a collection of field recordings. Using the microphone like a camera, Cvar collects sound poems found in the dusty wind of the American landscape. Stopping ocasionally in Portland, Salt Lake, or NYC, Andy dumps out his bag of minidiscs, and edits his work....combining feild recordings with battered electronics, samples and turntable manipulations, creating vast soundscapes with amazing clarity and energy." |
| 5/14/2007 | Cygnus | Abandoned Dreams | cassette | $7.99 | Fag Tapes | "soundtrack guitar duo. h. moerland / g. morren on 13 year old style riff solo madness. abandone yer dreams and see whut happens ! primitive michigan/texas blues?wierdo organ, acoustic/electric guitar.edition 77." |
| 9/17/2006 | Cygnus | Cursed Mounds | CDR | $9.99 | Fag Tapes | "The best / latest from Cygnus. heavy jams, heavy surprises. two dudes studio recordings. wicked sick guitar solos in places that make no sense. edition 77." |
| 6/6/2009 | Cygnus / Night Movie | Steel On Steel | cassette | $7.99 | Fag Tapes | "side A. H. Moerland and G. Morren ( Odd Clouds ) guitar and what-the? duo project. side B. Morren, the better half of Cygnus, throwing down solo recordings. recollections memoir sounding like making something caked in dust only to see it grow young if music had age. and in classic Night Movie style cover art by Mary Morren. edition 35." |
| 6/27/2009 | Cyquoia | Age of Aquarians | c20 cassette | $7.99 | Digitalis Limited | "From the washed-out minds of housecraft head honcho jefry astin and his floridian partner-in-crime evan galbicka comes a late farewell to the tropics before treks to the mountainous north. cyquoia have much in commo |