Lots of stuff this week, including a beauty of a collection from an audiophile who’s moving on. Silly for him, good for you! An eclectic mix of stuff, in immaculate condition. Lots of UK pressings. Come on down and dig!
Alright! This is happening this weekend! The Wyrd Distro launch event! Wyrd Distro is the mail order/distribution arm of Weird Canada. We will be hosting a launch party/Q&A/live show on the 15th. Things will start rolling around 2pm starting with local drone fav’s Pigeon Breeders followed by a Google hangout Q&A with Wyrd Distro exec’s. Then Zebra Pulse will play a quiet sort of set and Jim Cumin will close out the event. This is a free party so come down, hang out and maybe buy some wax.
…..pick of the week…..
Vox Populi!: Cut Chemist Presents Funk Off: Vox Populi!/Pacific 231 (A Stable Sound) LP+7”
In tomorrow… First pressing on LP comes with 7″ containing previously unreleased tracks by Vox Populi! and Pacific 231. Vox Populi!, a 1980s French post-punk/industrial/minimal collective known for circulating cassette-only releases, gets the reissue treatment lovingly curated by turntablist/producer DJ Cut Chemist. In 2004, while on tour/record-digging in Milan, Italy, Jurassic 5 founder and DJ Cut Chemist picked up a compilation featuring a group named Vox Populi!, whose track “Megamix” caught his attention. As familiar as he was with early hip-hop releases that pioneered the megamix (The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Double Dee & Steinski’s Lessons series), this was clearly coming from a different set of cultural reference points. Originally released in the ’80s, the track was not rooted in disco, hip-hop, or in DJ history, but rather in the sounds of post-punk and industrial music. The rudimentary “scratching” present on the song was abrasive, and probably executed with a reel-to-reel tape machine rather than a turntable. Its intended effect was not to bridge two songs or breaks, but to jar the listener out of what was otherwise a seamless club track experience. “Musique concrète” is what the collective (Vox,Pacific 231, H.N.A.S., X Ray Pop, and others) might have called their approach at the time. “Wild Style on dust,” was how Cut’s collaborator Tom Fitzgerald described it. Finding this record ultimately led to Cut Chemist tracking down the group, bonding over shared aesthetics and getting their blessing for this collection, which includes unreleased tracks, photographs and little-seen flyers and art from the group. Their original output was primarily on cassette with the occasional vinyl LP/EP released on their own Vox Man Records imprint, or on other like-minded independent labels. Including extensive insert liner notes.
File Under: Post-Punk, Industrial, Minimal, French
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…..new arrivals…..
Bong: Beyond Ancient Space (Ritual Productions) LP
In tomorrow… After a long wait, listeners will be delighted with the full, uncut version of Bong’s 2011 release Beyond Ancient Space, which has been remixed and remastered specially for vinyl. Housed in a deluxe, gatefold, bronze foiled sleeve. LPs come in two colors: black and bronze, both 180 gram. As with all their music, be it live performance or studio recordings, Beyond Ancient Space follows the same ritualistic path, that is to say the songs are all mesmerizing meditative jams centered around an unfurling guitar riff and gelled by spaced-out drum beats, the occasional crashing cymbals and Dave Terry’s distinctive vocal style. Once again, Bong shun all overdubs and keep the post-production to a minimum. The resulting sound is as deeply hypnotic as ever before and presents Bong at their most prolific, particularly on songs such as “Across the Time-Stream” and “Onward to Perdóndaris,” which surpass even the highest of expectations.
File Under: Doom, Metal, Drone
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Christopher: s/t (Out-Sider) LP
In tomorrow… Christopher were an underground acid-rock trio featuring future Josefus drummer Doug Tull. They evolved from United Gas, a psychedelic band from Houston who rubbed shoulders with legends like The 13th Floor Elevators and Moving Sidewalks. After relocating to Los Angeles, where they changed their name to Christopher, they played at numerous biker parties and recorded their sole album in 1970 for the Metromedia label. It’s an amazing example of West Coast psychedelia/acid-rock featuring strong fuzz-wah guitar, great compositions and superb musicianship. Terrific cover depicting the band at the same hippie crash-pad where some scenes from the The Trip movie were filmed. One of the Holy Grails of American psychedelic-rock and the rarest album originally released by the collectable Metromedia label. Newly remastered sound, original artwork, insert with liner notes. Note: this is the only legitimate, fully-authorized vinyl reissue of Christopher in the current market. Beware of inferior, low-quality bootlegs.
File Under: Psych, Fuzz
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Die Welttraumforscher: Die Singende Sternlaterne / Folklore des Weltalls 1982 (Planam) LP
In tomorrow… Planam very proudly presents you Die singende Sternlaterne / Folklore des Weltalls 1982 by Die Welttraumforscher. This record includes the first-time LP edition of the mysterious Swiss electro-Dada artist’s second cassette as well as previously-unreleased material. Issued in conjunction with Christian Pfluger’s first comprehensive retrospective Ein Sommer in der Wirklichkeit (i.e. “A Summer in Reality”) at Kunsthaus Langenthal and the corresponding monograph “Songs, Signs, Explorations” presenting drawings, music, lyrics, films and other rare material. When Die Welttraumforscher set out on July 14, 1981 no one could have realized that their journey would not be over soon. For more than 30 years now, Christian Pfluger has been working on drawings, texts, films and songs for the fascinating universe of the imaginary trio, which is well populated with figures like Leguan Rätselmann or Kip Eulenmeister and his astronauts of the spirit. In the course of that journey, among other things, over 35 music cassettes, LPs and CDs have been released, presenting minimal songs that the Welttraumforscher themselves call “Bretzelberg pop” and “space folklore.” Planam now re-issues the Welttraumforscher’s second cassette, including the previously-unreleased album Folklore des Weltalls 1982. Translator’s note: The expression “Welttraum” in “Die Welttraumforscher” is a play on the words “Weltraum” (Universe), “Welt” (world) and “Traum” (dream). “Die Welttraumforscher” can both be read as “The Explorers of the Universe” as well as “The Explorers of the Dream of the World.” Edition limited to 350 copies.
File Under: Experimental, Folklore, Dada, Swiss
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Eek: Live at the Cairo High Cinema Institute (Nashazphone) LP
In tomorrow… “I saw him at a street party in Giza where a few hundred people had amassed to dance and scream into the night. Flanked by Khaled Mando and Islam Tata, his two drummers pounding furiously as the signature tone of his synth intensified for almost two hours, Islam Chipsy demonstrated his completely revolutionary take on modern Egyptian Shaabi. The sound was raw and distorted, the volume was deafening, and the energy was high. Thirty minutes into the set, the trio pulled out blindfolds and put them on, only to continue their virtuosic performance without missing a beat, synced to the max, playing forwards, backwards, sideways, psychedelic noise and showmanship projected through the distortion of a jet engine taking flight for some unknown location in the distant future of Shaabi sound. They were smiling and are very nice cats indeed, but when the PA system is blazing with their audio explosions, you best get up off your ass to dance or get the hell out of the way!” –Alan Bishop; 500 copies pressed on red vinyl.
File Under: Egyptian, Shaabi, Electronic, Dance
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Mats Glenngard: Kosterlage (Subliminal Sound) LP
In tomorrow… First-ever vinyl reissue of rare and sought-after Swedish psychedelic/progressive/folk underground treasures from the early 1970s. From Swedish folk to epic full-tilt fuzz guitar jams, it’s all in here. Originally released in 1972 on the obscure Swedish Gump label, with many talented musicians of the time on board. Led by Mats Glenngård on guitar and fiddle, the album shows an interesting musical transition period before he joined the legendary Kebnekajse. One-time only limited pressing of 600 copies. From the original master tapes and with the original artwork, including previously-unpublished archival pictures and liner-notes by Reine Fiske. Don’t miss this one.
File Under: Psych, Prog, Folk, Swedish
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Gnod: The Somnambulist’s Tale (Aguirre) LP
In tomorrow… An early and one of the most special Gnod recordings is out now on Aguirre. The Somnambulist’s Tale consists of two side-long adventurous pieces which are carried by an incredible loop. The haunting ambience in combination with electronics, distant guitar layers, conversations between the band members, a typewriter, and other sounds from found objects makes this quite an atypical Gnod release, but definitely a great one. Influenced by early Krautrock bands like Can, Hawkwind, and Ash Ra Tempel, Gnod brings us back to those days, adding twisted sounds and strange lyrics to the whole, delivering a truly mesmerizing psychedelic drone record. Gnod is a British Krautrock band from Salford, England. Formed in 2006, the band is a collective with an ever-rotating list of members. They run experimental electronic live nights in Salford called Gesamtkunstwerk (German for “whole arts work”) where they offer “outsider electronics, hardwarped machine rhythms and analog debauchery, all reflecting the post-industrial mill space.” They have a punky belief in the dissolution of the boundary between artist and audience to the extent that it is not unlikely to find gig-goers onstage, adding to the instrumental melée. Artwork by Fliss Horrocks. Matte finishing. Pressed at Handle With Care, Berlin in a limited edition of 500 copies.
File Under: Krautrock, Psych
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Bruce Haack: The Electric Lucifer (Omni) LP
“Bruce Haack’s The Electric Lucifer is rightly considered one of the masterworks of 20th century electronic music. Originally recorded in 1968 and 1969 (and released in 1970) it is an album both unique in conception and superb in realization. An eminently listenable work where pop-psychedelia and Moog/musique-concrete sounds coalesce around Haack’s central metaphysical concept of ‘Powerlove,’ a force so powerful that it could end war and unify humankind. Acclaimed upon its original release (one of Rolling Stone’s favorite albums of 1970 among many citations) yet unavailable on LP for over four decades, The Electric Lucifer is reissued here officially for the very first time on LP. Remastered and restored from the ‘lost’ original master tapes discovered in the Columbia vault. The Electric Lucifer is your gateway to the profound yet playful universe of Bruce Haack, a ‘far-out’ place where flower-power and inner-space electronics collide. Limited edition of 500 copies in deluxe replica packaging on 180 gram vinyl.”
File Under: Early Electronic, Classic, Psych, Moog
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Haymarket Square: Magic Lantern (Guerssen) LP
In tomorrow… Originally from Chicago, Haymarket Square released in 1968 one of the rarest vinyl artifacts from the U.S. underground psychedelic scene: the Magic Lantern album. Originally conceived as the soundtrack to a psychedelic lightshow art installation, the album offers crude, dark psychedelic rock featuring trippy, fuzzed-out/wah guitars, male-female vocals and long tracks. Newly remastered sound, insert with liner notes, repro of the ultra-rare Baron & Bailey Lightshow poster.
File Under: Psych, Fuzz
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Arve Henriksen: Chron + Cosmic Creation (Rune Grammofon) 2CD
In tomorrow… Cosmic Creation follows and expands upon Arve Henriksen’s 2013 album Places of Worship, a series of tone poems and mood pieces located around religious buildings and ruins. With Cosmic Creation he has gone beyond physical place to an audio exploration of pure rapture, contemplation and universal origins. His latest piece, in eight parts, enters deep space and time to convey a powerful sense of the eternal. Born in Norway and currently living in Sweden, Arve Henriksen was known for many years as a distinctive trumpet player and improvisor. He played in various jazz ensembles in his youth before co-forming Supersilent in 1997, a prolific free music group with Helge Sten (Deathprod) and Ståle Storløkken, which is still ongoing. His trumpet, augmented with effects and electronics, has appeared with David Sylvian, Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Balke, Terje Isungset and Iain Ballamy’s Food. With Supersilent he recently collaborated with former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. In parallel he has created a series of exquisite and distinctive solo recordings since 2001, which feature a combination of electronic textures, digital treatments and a dazzling collection of horns, woodwinds, ethnic instruments, percussion, keyboards and occasionally his mournful, yearning singing voice. Henriksen’s music reflects both the stunning beauty of virgin wilderness and the shifting, cosmopolitan environments experienced by the 21st century traveler. Cosmic Creation is released in a double set with Chron, an album which was first released as part of 2012’s Solidification retrospective box set on Rune Grammofon. If Cosmic Creation is about timelessness, Chron is very much rooted in the modern world and the here and now, with most of its source material derived from field recordings Arve made while touring the globe, or recordings made in hotel rooms, airports and other urban locations. Taken together, the two albums give a full picture of Arve’s extraordinary breadth of vision as an artist.
File Under: Electronic, Jazz, Trumpet
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Index: s/t (DC Records) LP
“In the mid 1960s, Detroit Michigan was a thriving industrial city. It was at the edge of a cliff, however. The great ethnic diversity in the inner city was a brewing powder keg of civil unrest. This, coupled with a disillusioned population struggling to make some sense of a questionable war in the rice paddies of Vietnam, set an uneasy and troubling tempo for the future. Still, there were pockets of communities in the Detroit area where things were good and economic life was vibrant. The Grosse Pointes were such communities. It was on the outskirts of this political and racially tense era, in the affluent suburbs just outside of the city of Detroit, that Index was formed. The music of Index has been lauded by music heads for decades, and with good reason: it is bizarre, atmospheric, and ‘home-made’ (in the best of all possible ways); the band has a druggie sound, with songs full of feedback and fuzzy guitars, hazy guitar riffs and loud rhythms. Hidden amongst the echoing canyons of sound there’s some snotty post-punk attitude wrapped up in that trippy velvet fuzz; a wonderful bleak sound, both droning and murky, the atonal side of late 1960’s rock that would leave the most lasting impression on those who would eventually become punk, post-punk and indie rock artists like Joy Division or the Fall.”
File Under: Garage
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Jack Dice: Sip Paint (Modern Love) 12”
In tomorrow… The second EP from Jack Dice throws stylistic references to everything from Prince’s Black Album to The Art Of Noise, Drake, Philip Jeck and Evian Christ’s “DUGA 3” sessions. “Stash’s Theme” features rapper and producer Stash Marina, a track that deploys crisp triplets and mainstream signatures on the one hand, and a world of analog/deviant recording techniques on the other. Available here in both vocal and instrumental versions. The other tracks are more subdued and immersive; you could draw lines straight through the material here to a number of different projects Twells has been involved with, though he seems to benefit immeasurably from Chambliss’ presence.
File Under: Electronic
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Stefan Jaworzyn: Drained of Connotation (Blackest Ever Black) LP
In tomorrow… Writer, musician, and misanthrope Stefan Jaworzyn was a notorious and energetic presence in the UK underground of the 1980s and 1990s. Following a brief stint in Whitehouse, in 1986 he formed Skullflower with Matthew Bower and remained the band’s guitarist for four years, playing on Birthdeath (1988), Form Destroyer (1989) and Xaman (1990), among others. In 1990 he established the Shock label. Shock Records was a resounding boot to the arse of the narrow-minded, welcoming artists as disparate as Lol Coxhill, Coil, Drunks With Guns, The Dead C, and Ramleh into its fold. Jaworzyn rejoined Whitehouse in 1990-1991, and around this time was also invited to participate in a roundtable discussion about serial killers on Channel 4’s After Dark program — it ended with him vehemently debating the meaning of the word “integrity” with fellow guest Michael Winner. Despite having supposedly renounced the guitar, in 1991 Jaworzyn returned to the instrument with some venom, forming Ascension (later Descension) with drummer Tony Irving. In the second half of the decade, Jaworzyn retired the Shock label and largely withdrew from music, choosing to focus on drinking and cursing; although his Texas Chain Saw Massacre Companion was published by Titan Books in 2003, and on occasion he emerged to play live (including the Whitehouse “farewell” show in a duo with drummer Chris Corsano). Now, after 17 years off the grid, Jaworzyn has reappeared. 2013 saw him reactivate Shock to issue two 12″ EPs of emphatic new solo material, as well as Eaten Away by Shadows (a compilation of solo bedroom recordings from ’82-’83) and the aforementioned Skullflower KINO CD series. Pre-dating the Eaten Away tracks, the driving, faintly sociopathic and supremely zoned pieces on Drained of Connotation were created in early/mid-’82 at Jaworzyn’s then home in Cardiff using a Korg MS10 or 20 and his beloved Dr. Rhythm drum machine. SJ: “While a maniacal edge predominates, a couple of pieces seem surprisingly ‘mellow,’ a concept infrequently associated with my subsequent endeavours and disposition.”
File Under: Whitehouse, Skullflower
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Johann Johannsson: Prisoners OST (NTOV) LP
In tomorrow… Jóhann Jóhannsson’s original score to the thriller Prisoners – starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, and directed by Denis Villeneuve – on double vinyl with double sided full-color insert courtesy of Cobraside. The score has received its fair share of plaudits including Film Music Magazine which proclaimed that, “Prisoners is certainly one of the more interesting scores to appear since Johnny Greenwood’s brilliantly bizarre There Will Be Blood, while doing far less – if that’s even possible – a score that communicates riveting ideas with the most deceptively minimal of efforts – It’s “art” music that just happens to be a film score, and pretty much completely outside of the box in a cool Icelandic way.”
File Under: OST, Ambient, Iceland
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Kaumwald: Hantasive (Opal Tapes) LP
In tomorrow… Electric charges on Hantasive. Kaumwald lights up his dials and twists out five rolling generations to terrify and animate. Plying a line between glitch-like manifestation and cruder analog sewage, these tracks are forged from degrees of digital and analog that gives a contemporary edge to the gritty grey-scale industrial and proto-rhythm you might find while digging through the Vanity Records catalog. Warm kicks and clipping digital synthesis is interlaced with acoustic sourcing and a curious, magnetic primacy — developing vital color and tactility to these here wares. Think to those contemporary and necessary combinations of computer and combustion engine, but repurposed to a more Jean Tinguely-esque display of machinery for machineries-sake; built to chatter and clunk, to error, and essentially deteriorate. That quest for the perfect minimal weirdo beat re-cut for now.
File Under: Electronic
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Lumisokea: Apophenia (Opal Tapes) LP
In tomorrow… The rich, dark sound of Lumisokea, the Belgian-Italian duo of Andrea Taeggi and Koenraad Ecker, annexes a dark, foreboding aura from an abundance of reference points — codifying and making concrete the connections that which might otherwise have been elusive or intangible in the worlds of noise, dub, techno and musique concrète. Apophenia follows their Opal Tapes debut Contrapasso, and sees their sound continue to develop; growing in intensity and twisting into more complex, aggressive, and euphorically bent shapes. All seems abstract, not as “whoa, that’s weird,” but as though every element exists in direct opposition with nature and organic order. Industrial and technoid beats are rolled over sub-sonic, hyper-digital abrasions of noise and synthetic texture to reinforce and fortify the more extreme end of Opal’s sonic interests. Synthetic stomp and precise, premeditated glissandi form sonic sculptures where the unreal is turned towards something frighteningly palpable.
File Under: Electronic
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Gigi Masin: Talk to the Sea (Music From Memory) LP
In tomorrow… The highly-anticipated second release from the Music From Memory label takes you into the world of Italian musician Gigi Masin. Part of only a small and very much underground music scene in his hometown of Venice, Gigi Masin self-released two modestly pressed LPs, Wind (1986) and Wind Collector (1991), and appeared alongside Charles Hayward for the Sub Rosa compilation LP Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre Volume 2 (1988). Having met with little commercial success in Italy at the time, Gigi Masin’s solo albums remained for the most part totally unknown. His music has though in recent years, and seemingly by pure word of mouth, developed almost something of a cult following. Gigi Masin’s uniquely intricate and at times deeply emotive compositions take the listener into a realm of contemplation, a spellbound mind state where time and space appear to dissolve. His sparse and hypnotic often loop-based compositions seem to draw parallels with Detroit techno’s earliest beginnings, all at once conjuring those same feelings of both melancholic longing and ecstatic joy. With access to Masin’s large body of work, far greater than that of the handful of released recordings, Music From Memory’s new compilation covers a period of over 30 years, from the mid-1980s up until recent works. Including 17 compositions, most of which have remained unreleased or unavailable until now, Talk to the Seaaims to shine a light on Gigi Masin’s unique and heartfelt talent. This is electronic music from the soul.
File Under: Ambient, Electronic
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Blind Willie McTell: Complete Recorded Works Volume 4 (Thirdman) LP
Blind Willie McTell’s Volume 4 from our highly-anticipated Document Records reissue series on black, 180-gram vinyl. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades.
File Under: Blues
Mississippi Sheiks: Complete Recorded Works Volume 4 & 5 (Thirdman) LPs
The Mississippi Sheiks’ Volume 4 and 5 from our highly-anticipated Document Records reissue series on black, 180-gram vinyl. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades.
File Under: Blues
New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (Get on Down) LP
In tomorrow… “Too Much Too Soon, the second studio album by the legendary New York Dolls was first released in the spring of 1974. The record was laid down in New York with producer Shadow Morton. Morton, known for his work with the Shangri-Las, was brought in to the project by David Johansen despite (or perhaps because) Johnny Thunders wanted to produce the album. Though their self-titled debut with Todd Rundgren at the helm had received high praise from critics, the Dolls didn’t like Rundgren. And Rundgren had little respect for the Dolls. Thunders and Johansen thought Rundgren’s production watered down their sound. Rundgren was no fan of the group’s raucous sound and attitude, to the point that he’s even alleged to have yelled at them ‘get the glitter out of your asses and play!’ With Morton behind the boards Too Much Too Soon incorporated many of his trademark production techniques, familiar to Shangri-Las fans, mainly his use of sounds effects such as gunshots and highly present female backing vocals. Too Much Too Soon was well received by critics and fans who praised the band’s raw sound and felt that it was improved by Morton’s production. Over the years the New York Dolls legacy has only grown larger. Get on Down now presents this legendary dangerous, fun, soulful and unique piece of rock and roll history on hot pink vinyl.”
File Under: Glam, Rock
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Officer!: Ossification (Megaphone) LP
In tomorrow… Officer! is either Mick Hobbs (The Work, Family Fodder, Half Japanese) alone or Mick Hobbs with friends. Ossification is like an amazing party held at This Heat’s Cold Storage Studio, with friends like Felix Fiedorowicz, Tom Cora, Tim Hodgkinson, Bill Gilonis, Zeena Parkins, Patrick Q, and Catherine Jauniaux. The output of this party is one of the most unusual, pleasurable, and character-filled “pop” records anyone has heard. Fourteen songs that contain the spirit of pop, rock, classical, medieval, avant garde, R.I.O., The Work, Family Fodder, This Heat, Look de Bouk, Legendary Pink Dots, Henry Cow, and more. Ossification is a timeless anomaly in the history of recorded music. Limited to 700 copies on 180 gram vinyl with an insert. Remastered by Tim Dimuzio. Recorded in This Heat’s Cold Storage Studio in 1984.
File Under: Avant Rock, Rock in Opposition, This Heat
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Orphan Fairytale: My Favorite Fairytale (Aguirre) 2LP
In tomorrow… Welcome to the wondrous world of Eva Van Deuren’s one-girl project Orphan Fairytale. She creates a fairy-like, mystic and hypnotizing sound-world using only self-made electronics, toy instruments, cassette loops and small keyboards. The music shows a great deal of playfulness. Dream-like patterns are enriched by carefully-placed notes and tones. After almost 10 years of performing and recording, the time has come for a round-up and Aguirre is happy to present a wonderful set of four side-long pieces. The 2LP set consists of delicate, twinkling tunes recorded during the period of 2008-2011, wherein Eva shows an admirable creativity, coalescing minimalism, new age, psychedelic and repetitive sounds. Never too far away from contemporary fellow artists like Dolphins Into The Future, Innercity, and Panabrite, with whom she shares a certain ambience. Originating from Antwerp, Belgium, Eva Van Deuren grew up in a flourishing Belgian music scene and has released cassettes on numerous independent cassette labels — Audiobot, Beniffer Editions and Sloow Tapes, just to name a few. In the summer of 2007, she was even asked to open for Sonic Youth, and Thurston Moore became very fond of her music. After that she released full albums on Ultra Eczema and Blackest Rainbow. Artwork by Johan and Hannah. Pressed at Handle With Care, Berlin. Includes a pink double-sided insert. High-gloss finishing. Limited edition of 500 copies.
File Under: Ambient, Drone, Experimental
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Charlie Patton: Complete Recorded Works Volume 4 (Thirdman) LP
Charley Patton’s Volume 4 from our highly-anticipated Document Records reissue series on black, 180-gram vinyl. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades.
File Under: Blues
Bo Anders Persson: Love Is Here to Stay (Subliminal Sounds) LP
In tomorrow… 2LP version housed in a gatefold sleeve including booklet with in-depth informative liner notes and pictures. The early works by Bo Anders Persson presented on this record were written between 1965 and 1967, before he started the experimental rock band Pärson Sound. All but one track is previously-unreleased. What is the origin of this strange, un-place-able music? What is its place in history, in the unfolding of important conceptual ideas, turning musical modernism into something wider, more mysterious and blurred? From where comes the lightness of touch, and how does the transient nature of the sounds correspond to the sense of mourning hidden within the music? What makes the music so exciting and loaded is the feeling of change, both in the actual performances and in the atmosphere of the rooms where the pieces are played. The sounds move freely within the minimal, repetitive structures. There are spaces for breathing and dreaming, turning inside and outside, and a sense of being in between positions. Suddenly, the doors are wide open and radical experiments can take place.
File Under: Drone, Psych, Prog
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Pye Corner Audio: Black Mill Tapes Volumes 1-4 (Type) 3CD
In tomorrow… Now available on CD! A 45-track, triple CD set collecting all four volumes of the Black Mill Tapes series from Pye Corner Audio. Audio re-mastered by Matt Colton. Housed in a triple jewel case. Lurking in the shadows between deep house, slow techno, Carpenter soundtracks and classic electronica, these sibling albums transcend genres with hallucinatory, shape-shifting effect, trudging from the pastoral whimsy of the first volumes to a darker, less certain point on the horizon. They could just as easily soundtrack a thriller about Balearic drug dealers as a sleazy, modern film noir set in Glasgow or some cosmic sci-fi adventure, spiking stealthy bass grooves with richly visual darkwave motifs and moments of beat-less, flickering neon ambient. Arguably, it’s some of the most evocative analog electronica since AFX’s SAW II and BoC’s Music Has The Right To Children, a masterful balance of eldritch melancholia and darkside prurience ranging from supple square wave rollers to hexed ambient vignettes.
File Under: Electronic, Ambient, BBC, Ghost Box
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Rainer Veil: New Brutalism (Modern Love) LP
In tomorrow… Liam Morley and Dan Valentine aka Rainer Veil return with New Brutalism, an exploration of angular, brittle club music. Referencing the stripped-down, utilitarian aesthetic of Brutalist architecture, the five tracks here mine looped, blocky source material gradually embellished with more complex, percussive and atmospheric layers that are at once robust and introspective. From the opening woodblock/rave dismantling of “UK Will Not Survive” to the heady hardcore of “Three Day Jag,” the EP evokes a distinctly Northern British Weltanschauung.
File Under: Electronic
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Salem Mass: Witch Burning (Guerssen) LP
In tomorrow… Ultimate U.S. hard-psychedelic/proto-prog burner from 1971. Obscure Sabbath-esque hard-rock band Salem Mass self-released their only album in 1971. Recorded at a beer bar converted studio, Witch Burning consists of seven tracks full of ripping guitar, brutal Moog attacks, heavy keyboards, demented vocals, and Satanic/occult related lyrics, especially in the mind-blowing 10-minute-long title-track. First-ever vinyl reissue featuring the original artwork. Newly remastered sound, insert with liner notes and rare photos/memorabilia. Note: This is the only fully-authorized vinyl reissue of Salem Mass in the current market. Beware of inferior, low-quality bootlegs.
File Under: Hard-Psych, Proto-Prog
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Selda: s/t (Pharaway Sounds) CD
In tomorrow… Vinyl next week… Imagine if Julia Child had marched against Vietnam, stood on the steps of the Pentagon, and placed a flower in a gun barrel. Selda Bağcan’s later records have that same cross of easygoing motherly warmth and righteous anger. This 1979 album (technically her fourth, although six of these songs were also released on her third), was recorded when Turkey was at its most politically polarized. Selda was sentenced to a total of over 500 years in prison right about the time it came out. A pile of acoustic guitars and bağlamas all going off at once under a blanket of reverb, with lyrics about blood, wood, mountains, families, and desperate troubles, so it’s a thick squirt for a folk album. Selda’s voice can either be sultry or really surge with emotion, and when she does belt one, it’s oddly high and completely unique. Her reward was the love of Turkey’s people, but also nine trials and three prison terms from the right wing military government of the ’80s. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with liner notes.
File Under: Psych, Turkish, Anatolian
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Selda: Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (Pharaway Sounds) CD
In tomorrow… Vinyl in next week… There were female Turkish folk singers before Selda Bağcan, but none whose hot-blooded voice carried such righteously angry words and none who also accompanied themselves on guitar. She began her career singing at her brothers’ Beethoven nightclub in Ankara while she went to school for physics during the day. Her first album had help from the cream of the crazy Istanbul pop scene, and cuts from the same sessions were also released on this second one in 1976. While the direction is folky overall, there’s fuzz, zooming synthesizers, and heavy flute to be found. When Selda performed the title-track in 1977 in a coastal town not far from Istanbul, her protest lyrics, though taken from an old poem, got her heckled by audience members who screamed that she should go back to Moscow. Find out why this brawny mama couldn’t be stopped by a military government that put her on trial nine times, and could call herself the bitter voice of the Turkish people. Remastered sound, insert/booklet with liner notes.
File Under: Turkish, Psych, Anatolian
Sunroof!: Rock Power (Nashazphone) LP
In tomorrow… Reissue of an extremely rare and essential Sunroof! CD-R released during a European tour in 2003 on Matthew Bower’s own imprint, Rural Electrification Program (REP). On this LP, Bower is joined on guitar by Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra and Flower-Corsano Duo) and the result was once qualified as Sunroof’s rock record and its tribute to Neil Young and AC/DC (hence the title). Rock Power is a very singular record because it documents a very short time period in the M. Bower/Sunroof! evolution; between the dream-like psychedelia of releases such as Cloudz or early Hototogisu, and the brutal sonic assault of later records such as Panzer Division Lou Reed, Spitting Gold Zebras or the more recent Skullflower outings. 500 copies.
File Under: Psych, Noise, Bower
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Tinariwen: Emmaar (Anti) LP
For Saharan blues band Tinariwen, the desert is home; their hypnotic and electrifying guitar rock reflects the melding of their Tuareg musical heritage with modern urban blues. Their 2011 album Tassili, recorded in the Algerian desert, won a Grammy Award for Best World Music album. Now their new record Emmaar returns to their roots, delivering stripped-down dirges and effervescent electric anthems. Due to political instability in their country, the band recorded away from their homeland for the first time, setting up shop in another desert: Joshua Tree, California. Recorded over three weeks in studio built in a house in the region known for spaced-out rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic cowboy folk, Emmaar showcases an organic feel from the rolling hand drums and meandering guitars of album opener ‘Toumast Tincha’ to the galloping beats of the forward-marching ‘Chaghaybou’. Accompanied by Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, Matt Sweeney from Chavez, Nashville fiddler Fats Kaplin, and poet Saul Williams, Emmaar is a richly layered listen solidified by atmospheric textures and gritty guitar-work. This band has received rapturous press with every release, and count high profile musicians like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Plant, Brian Eno and Bono among their many fans.
File Under: Desert Blues, Tuareg, World, Psych
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Joel Vandroogenbroeck: Biomechanoid (Aguirre) LP
In tomorrow… Biomechanoid is the classic 1980 album by composer and flutist Joel Vandroogenbroeck. It’s 1980, in Munich, Germany. Upstart production music label Coloursound Library releases their debut album. Capitalizing on the success of Ridley Scott’s Alien film, the label dropped Biomechanoid, featuring cover art commissioned by H.R. Giger– whose horrific Necronom IV lithograph served as the basis for the design of Alien — and the music of the relatively unknown Joel Vandroogenbroeck. Comprised of bleak, cinematic synth soundscapes and percussion, the album served as an inaugural calling card for what would be a decade of dizzying solo releases by Vandroogenbroeck for Coloursound, running the gamut from Mesopotamian ethno-folk to synth sequencer funk to electro drum breaks to in-utero ambient delights. Though the Belgian-born Vandroogenbroeck, 74, may not be a household name, in an ideal world, he would be. As the founder, flautist, harpist, sitar player and keyboardist of the seminal acid-fried Swiss psych outfit Brainticket, he spearheaded the group’s three main (and collectible) releases in the early ’70s — Cottonwood Hill, Celestial Ocean, and Psychonaut. Combining a love of exotic instruments coupled with mind-bending out-of-body excursions, the ever-changing collective developed something of a cult following throughout Europe and earned a reputation as one of the heavier psych outfits on the circuit — which was something of a double-edged sword. While their experimental sound resonated with hippies everywhere, it didn’t with the authorities, who associated the act with heavy drug consumption and subsequently began a ban of their music, especially the Psychonaut album, if for the title alone. After that bitter brush with censorship, the group quietly disbanded in 1972. After the dissolution of Brainticket, Vandroogenbroeck departed for the island of Bali with the intent of learning to build and play the gamelan — an ensemble of primarily percussion instruments from Indonesia. It would become yet another weapon in his ever-growing arsenal of exotic instruments: he was already proficient on the sitar, harp, kalimba, assorted percussion oddities and all woodwinds by this point. Vandroogenbroeck became so enraptured with the frenetic sound of the gamelan that he subsequently left the tropics to start up a joged bumbung (a variation on a gamelan) band back in Switzerland. While playing small festivals and civic events with this group, Joel began to slowly gravitate towards the synth-heavy Kraut sounds of artists like Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze at the same time. And once he began dabbling with oscillators, he never turned back. After inking a library deal around this time with the nascent Coloursound label, who gave him complete creative control, Vandroogenbroeck began turning out releases at a rapid rate, often three to five a year, and under a variety of aliases like V.D.B. Joel, J.V.D.B, and Eric Vann. Starting with the desolate synth drone of Biomechanoid, he continued to expand his sound palette while on Coloursound, moving from early arpeggiators on Computer Blossomsto percussive sound collage on Birth of Earth; and from Oberheim DMX drum breaks on Video Games & Data Movements to Apple II ambient programming on Digital Project. Biomechanoid stands after all these years as an album full of dark, strange, disturbing soundscapes, the obscure side of Brainticket, proving how Joel was still a creative artist. Matte finishing. Double-sided insert. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Edition of 500 copies.
File Under: Electronic, Abstract, Ambient
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VTGNIKE: Dubna (Other People) LP
In tomorrow… Nicolas Jaar’s very own Other People label returns with yet another discovery from their artist roster. This time it’s a Juke by mysterious Russian producer VTGNIKE, which is pronounced Vintage Nike.
File Under: Electronic, Juke
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Various: A Fist of Fuzz (Particles) LP
In tomorrow… Originally issued in a tiny edition 15 years ago, this legendary compilation assembles some of the most fuzz-drenched obscurities to have emerged from late 60s America. From Arizona to New York, Rhode Island to Texas, there’s enough attitude here to fuel teenage angst for centuries to come. This mind-blowing set comes complete with background notes and rare photos, making it truly essential for garage psych addicts. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
File Under: Fuzz, Garage, Psych
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Various: For A Few Fuzz Guitars More (Particles) LP
In tomorrow… LP version. Originally issued in a tiny edition well over a decade ago, this outstanding compilation maintains the sky-high quality of its legendary predecessor A Fistful of Fuzz. Gathering 20 of the most fuzz-drenched obscurities to have emerged from late ’60s America and beyond, it’s a feast for fans of psychedelic garage rock, and comes complete with background notes and rare photos. Remastered sound Artists include: The Purple Sun,Velvet Haze, The Golden Grass, Bare Facts, The Ritual, Sherman Marshall, Smith Vinson, Rochelle Rosenthal & The Kickball Queen, Goodly Rubenson, The Living End, Super Band, Peacepipe, The Dystraction, Fowl, White Lightnin’, Twiggs, The Attack, Sounds Synonymous, The Sub, and The Outrage.
File Under: Fuzz, Garage, Psych
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Various: Disco Reggae (Stix) LP
In tomorrow… Stix Records is a sub-division of Favorite Recordings, launched with the first official single by Taggy Matcher & Birdy & Nixon, who pleased us with two reggae-rocksteady renditions of songs by the famous Black Keys. Specializing in the exercise of producing covers with a reggae twist, the new label presents their first album, Disco Reggae. Many artists faithful to the stable of Favorite Recordings and its various sub-labels were invited for the occasion: The Dynamics, Blundetto, Grandmagneto, 7 Samurai, John Milk, and Taggy Matcher. All came and brought their respective touch to this first compilation, with, among other things, some of the rarest titles from their Big Single Records’ years, but also four new and exclusive productions. Each of them delivers a great disco-reggae version of classic hits by artists as diverse as Madonna, Herbie Hancock, Justin Timberlake, The Commodores, The O’Jays, Curtis Mayfield, Harry Nilsson, and Sugarhill Gang. Whatever the genre or the period, nothing can resist their inventiveness and creativity, and sometimes their work can be confused as total originals. Everything was remastered and cut at Carvery Records (UK), known for their expertise in Caribbean and disco music. The vinyl LP comes in a deluxe version, housed in an old-school tip-on jacket.
File Under: Reggae, Disco, Rocksteady, Dub
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Various: Let No One Judge You (Honest Jon’s) 4LP/2CD
In tomorrow… Ravishingly beautiful, achingly precious songs and instrumentals, ranging from two performances by the Royal Court Orchestra in 1906 — with futuristic, overlapping trumpets and exquisite clarinet improvisation — through to a hauntingly soulful Hāfez setting by Moluk Zarrābi of Kāshān, from 1933. There are eight selections from more than 300 recordings made in 1909 above the Gramophone Company offices in City Road, London EC1, by the Persian Concert Party. Unrest at home had compelled the group to travel in order to record, paying its way with shows in Baku, Constantinople, Vienna, and Paris. Its music is a striking, experimental combination of European and Iranian elements, impressionistic and exotic, with chimes, castanets and rattles. There is an arrangement of traditional Persian music for pipe-organ; and rueful, imploring, besotted love-songs. “I am crazy with envy of the dress asleep in your arms and the oils rubbed into your skin.” A setting of Rāheb’s poetry by Moluk Zarrābi is drawn from 136 titles recorded at 1925 sessions in Tehran, when Iranian women were for the first time concertedly accepted as serious professional musicians, without the connotation of prostitution. Such was the social stigma borne by musicians, especially female, several of our singers hid their identities behind partial or assumed names. “Parvāneh,” for example, “Butterfly” — represented by her interpretations of Sa’di and Hāfez, with self-accompaniment on setar, a three-stringed lute (“seh,” three; “tar,” string), Iranian ancestor of the Indian sitar: “I am the slave of love…” And Helen, with some boozy Hāfez wisdom: “Keep your cards close to your chest. Kiss nothing except the lips of your beloved and the rim of a cup of wine. Let no one judge you.” Moluk Zarrābi — together with Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri — featured on more than half the 1925 recordings. On her return to the studio the following year, she was accompanied on tar by Mortezā Ney-Dāvud, amongst the country’s most acclaimed musicians and composers of all time, from the Jewish community of Tehran. It sounds like another stupendously gifted Iranian Jewish musician — Yahyā Zarpamjeh — accompanying Akhtar. Alongside one of these duets, two of Ney-Dāvud’s solo recordings from the same sessions are instrumental highlights of this epic set, besides a series of staggering improvisations by Abd-ol-Hoseyn Shahnāzi, sublime ney and kamancheh playing by Mehdi Navā’i and the Armenian Hayk, and an anonymous tar solo from the South Caucasus, captured in Tiflis in 1912, red-raw and rocking. The two CDs are sumptuously presented in a hard-back gatefold sleeve, with a 26-page booklet containing full notes and marvelous photos on fine-art papers, stitched, not stapled. The music was restored from 78s at Abbey Road Studios in London.
File Under: Ethinc, World, Iranian
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…..used goodies…..
Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali (Nonesuch) LP
Felix Baloy: Baila Mi Son (Pure Pleasure) LP
Buena Vista Social Club: At Carnegie Hall (Nonesuch) LP
Buena Vista Social Club: s/t (Classic) 200gram 2LP
Burning Spear: Farover (Heartbeat) LP
Burning Spear: Fittest of the Fittest (EMI) LP
Burning Spear: Hail H.I.M. (Rondor) LP
Burning Spear: Marcus Garvy (Island) LP
Jimmy Cliff: Give The People What They Want (MCA) LP
Clifton Chenier: Lousiana Blues & Zydeco (Arhoolie) LP
Culture: Vital Selection (Virgin) LP
Fink: Biscuits for Breakfast (Ninja Tune) LP
Fink: Distance & Time (Ninja Tune) LP
Flamin’ Groovies: Shake Some Action (Sire UK) LP
Flamin’ Groovies: s/t (Kama Sutra) LP
Flamin’ Groovies: Jumpin’ in the Night (Sire) LP
Mary Gauthier: Mercy Now (Lost Highway) LP
Michael Hurley: Have Moicy! (Rounder) LP
Gregory Isaacs: Night Nurse (Mango) LP
Antonio Carlos Jobim & Luis Floriano Bonfa: Somba, Saudade & Bossa Nova (Get Back) LP
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Dread Beat An’ Blood (Virgin) LP
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fela (Out-Here) LP
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Segu Blue (Out-Here) LP
Fela Kuti: Army Arrangement (Celluloid) LP
Bob Marley: Natty Dread (Island) LP
Al Dim Meola/John McLaughlin/Paco De Lucia: Friday Night in San Francisco (Speakers Corner) LP sealed
Misty In Roots: Live at the Counter Eurovision 79 (People Unite) LP
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers: Back In Your Life (Beserkley) LP
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers: s/t (Beserkley) LP
Modern Lovers: The Original Modern Lovers (Bomp) LP
Pablo Moses: Pave The Way (Mango) LP
Cedric Myton & The Congos: Face The Music (Go Feet) LP
Cedric Myton & The Congos: Image of Africa (Congo Ashanty) LP
Joanna Newsom: Ys (Drag City) LP
Max Richter: Memoryhouse (Fat Cat) LP
Ballake Sissoko/Vincent Segal: Chamber Music (No Format) LP
Ben Sollee: Learning to Bend (Karate Body) LP
John Stammers: s/t (Wonderfulsound) LP
Jorge Strunz & Ardeshir Farah: Guitarras (Milestone) LP
Suarasma: Fajar Di Atas Awan (Drag City) LP
The Stranglers: Black & White (United Artists) LP+7”
Richard & Linda Thompson: Shoot Out the Lights (Hannibal) LP
Sidi Toure & Friends: Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey) LP
U-Roy: Dread in a Babylon (Virgin UK) LP
Zombies: Time of the Zombies (Epic) LP
Various: Son Cubano NYC (Honest Jon’s) LP
and much more….
…..restocks…..
Black Keys: The Big Come (Alive) LP
Black Mountain: In The Future (Jagjaguwar) LP
Burial: s/t (Hyperdub) LP
Charles Cohen: Middle Distance (Morphine) LP
Faith No More: Angel Dust (Music on Vinyl) LP
Fuzz: Live In San Francisco (Castle Face) LP
Bill Fay: s/t (4 Men with Beards) LP
Bill Fay: Time of the Last Persecution (4 Men with Beards) LP
Lee Fields & the Impressions: My World (Truth & Soul) LP
Glaxo Babies: Put Me On the Guest List (Superior Viaduct) LP
Gol/Tazartes: Alpes (Planam) LP
Grinderman: s/t (Anti) LP
Bruce Haack: Hush Little Robot (QDK) LP
Stan Hubbs: Crystal (Companion) LP
Etta James: Good Rockin’ Mama (Ace) LP
Ministry: Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (Music on Vinyl) LP
Thelonious Monk: Solo Monk (Music on Vinyl) LP
Moondog: s/t (4 Men with Beards) LP
Moondog: More Moondog (4 Men with Beards) LP
Mother Love Bone: s/t (Music On Vinyl) LP
Oneohtrix Point Never: Returnal (Editions Mego) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze (Music on Vinyl) LP
Queens of the Stone Age: Era Vulgaris (Ipecac) 3×10″
Raime: Quarter Turns… (Blackest Ever Black) LP
Silent Servant: Negative Fascination (Hospital) LP
Sons of Huns: Banishment Ritual (Easyrider) LP
Tame Impala: Innerspeaker (Modular) LP
Velvet Underground: & Nico (4 Men With Beards) LP
Various: Ecstasy of Gold Vol 4 (Semi Automatic) LP