Browse: Vinyl

Les Halles

Transient

Not Not Fun

French exoticist Baptiste Martin has been crafting fragile pastures of pan flute, field recordings, and stargazing keys as Les Halles since 2012, inspired by a formatively nostalgic night alone “watching the summer sky, thinking of all the mystery.” Previous collections on Constellation Tatsu and Noumenal Loom showcased the nuance of his signature Incan drift mode but Transient further hones his heightened passage into escapist beauty and Tascam grain. The album’s eight pieces are constructed from Amerindian flute samples diffused through lilting echo and streaked with soft-focus textures. As always with Les Halles, there is a mesmerizing mood of natural space and weightlessness – the breath of sky, clouds smeared by breeze, inner islands of peace. Few current crouched pedal-pushers channel ambient dimensions with such poise and blurry grace. Out of time meditations for a newer new age. Recorded and mixed in Lyon, January-October 2015. Mastered by Alex Nagle. Artwork and design by Dieter Durinck.

Male Gaze

King Leer

Castle Face

“Weirdo-punk supergroup Male Gaze is back with nine new chunks of octave-pedal abuse and sultry croons with King Leer, their first proper long-player. This time around, the trio of Matt Jones (ex-Blasted Canyons), Mark Kaiser (ex-Mayyors), and Adam Cimino (ex-The Mall) have added former Blasted Canyons and Tiaras member Adam Finken on second guitar and resident Castle Face engineer Chris Woodhouse behind the boards to ramp up the skuzz-pop of last year’s Gale Maze into brutal wall-of-sound territory. On King Leer, the boys toy with their poppier side, dosing the songs with syrupy melodies and some newfound heartfelt introspection, but they’re by no means going soft on us—these tracks, buried beneath mountains of fuzz and pounded out with Adderall-fueled fury, pack enough sonic punch to rattle your brain loose.” —Luca Cimarusti, Chicago Reader

CCR Headcleaner

Tear Down The Wall

In The Red

“I’d seen CCR Headcleaner several times before, usually an entertaining mess of fucked-up rock racket that emerged from the ashes of a Georgia band I liked called Long Legged Woman. But at their Hemlock show opening for Human Eye back in September, CCR somehow transmuted themselves from an unevenly good local band into a marauding gang of Scanners-style head-exploder telepaths and delivered a defining, transcendent, next-level performance. CCR’s hypnotic and malevolent psychedelia wasn’t faux-fun party-psych or disingenuously mellow Zen Center nature psych—it was more of a Jim Thompson’s Killer Inside Me psych with elective self-surgery K-hole romps and post-hate-fuck cuddle balladry. The band was possessed, the room was juiced, the audience transfixed. At points, CCR’s set was suffused with a prosaic evil vibe that reminded me of the Rembrandt Pussyhorse / Locust Abortion-era Butthole Surfers live shows. Musically, CCR are way different than the Buttholes—I’m referring more to the air of all-pervading cathartic menace. Shortly afterward, CCR went with Fuzz on a national tour (huge props to Fuzz for that act of public service) and I caught them a month later at Death By Audio in Brooklyn. They were in top road shape, which only underscored how special that show with Human Eye had been.” —Anthony Bedard, Bay Bridged   “The perfect amounts of confused clatter, slurred lines and parts where everyone headbangs at the same time, all while dipping toes deep into thrash, psychedelia and clinging onto the American rock ’n’ roll dreams of the sixties.” —Marissa Magic,...

Arner, Jay

Jay Ii

Mint

Received a 7.0 rating from Pitchfork. Jay Arner’s Jay II is music for outsiders who might not want to be insiders. Sophisticated synth-pop for sensitive types, existential glam rock for the unsettled—these songs are the soundtrack to fitting in, finding your place in the world of suffering, and finally coming to terms with yourself. “Following my first album I toured extensively for two years, going to a lot of places I’ve never been,” Arner explains. “I love touring but on another level I viscerally felt how huge and indifferent the world is. I visited the Grand Canyon twice. It’s an amazing monument to deep time. What am I? I’m a human musician.” In his quest for self-discovery, Arner channels inspirations ranging from the cheeky charm of Sparks to the regal slink of Roxy Music; the soaring hooks of Fleetwood Mac to the propulsive drive of La Dusseldorf. Jay II synthesizes glam, prog and electronic funk into a shimmering 2016 pastiche. However, it goes beyond studied homage into the realm of relatable as only pure pop for now people can. Like on the first album, Arner plays most instruments alongside Jessica Delisle, his partner in Energy Slime. Tone-zoned guitars, sci-fi synths and muscular drum fills buff up the understated arrangements like a six-pack revealed under a sweater vest. Recorded and mixed in the span of a month with minimal fuss, these nine songs sound both airtight and breezy. “People in cool bands, playing sweet shows, smoking outside on the street.” These...

Man Is The Bastard / Bastard Noise

The Honesty Shop

Robotic Empire

For the past 25 years, Bastard Noise has articulated its mission by crafting sheer, primitive “caveman electronics” while exploring a spectral fascination with man’s ridiculous “legend in his own mind’ status and regression through technology. Following over 90 releases to date, enter the brand new full-length LP titled The Honesty Shop. Two long-form compositions at nearly 20 minutes each were custom designed, arranged, recorded, mixed and professionally edited by Michael Rozon (The Red List, A Culture of Monsters, Skulldozer and Rogue Astronaut, to name a few). This time around, the lineup consists of New York-based sound designer / performer Anthony Saunders and founding member Eric Wood. These vast, post-armageddon landscapes are delivered in crystal-clear fashion, accentuated by Wood’s most brutal and extreme vocals to date. Cut by engineer master David Cheppa (NWA, Geto Boys, Black Flag, Kraftwerk, etc.), The Honesty Shop is a must-have for all mutants addicted to hearing more in sound. The LP is packaged in a screen-printed, single-pocket jacket, includes a screen-printed lyrics insert, and is limited to 400 copies.

Sleeping Beauties

S/t

In The Red

Spawned in the same creepy corner of the Pacific Northwest, from the remains of the fantastically under-appreciated The Hunches, Eat Skull and The Hospitals, are the Sleeping Beauties.  Big basement rock opens up “Bobby and Suzie” with its gluey, flypaper tempo changes bringing to mind Alex Chilton’s “Like Flies on Sherbert” and the Electric Eels mashed into a ball. Rhythm piano played with an icepick is next on “Meth” and though it may be a tale of warning, the track adds allure to having “got a weekend sack and it’s Saturday / Sunday my life is crumbling.” Under the moss-covered tremolo glam of “Wheeler” is a map to one of the catchiest choruses of the record. The smell of bleach in the bathroom leads to “Potter’s Daughter” with an invitation to relax and go “swimming in tampons” but in the last minute Rod Meyer’s and Rob Enbom’s scraping guitars peel back the skull again.  Sounding poppy, primal and carsick at once, drug mules and biblical references tiptoe sweetly onto the bus on “Merchants of Glue.” The windows steam up in the Rocket from the Tombs-eque “Slumber Party” as the garbage boogie slides into an early Butthole-Surfers-like stream of unconsciousness. “Hands Across America” continues to showcase singer Hart Gledhill as one of the most distressing throats since Captain Beefheart while competing with guitar solos louder than Teengenerate. These burns are soothed on “Southie,” evoking some kind of 13th Floor Elevators groove followed by the sad, warped, almost country-tinged “Addicted...

Double, The

Dawn Of The Double

In The Red

Can you dance and meditate at the same time? Talking to one of The Double before a Brooklyn gig in the summer of 2014, I was told they were going to play a “dance piece.” I wasn’t sure how to take that, but it slowly began to make sense as I watched their stunning set. The music struck an odd balance between perpetual motion and perpetual stasis: the drummer, Jim White (Dirty Three, Venom P Stinger), maintained a modified Bo Diddley beat, switching between the snare and the toms after long stretches on each, while the guitarist, Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang, Ty Segall & the Muggers), stuck steadfastly to an E chord. They took the underpinning of countless rock ’n’ roll songs—the rhythm section—and decisively moved it to the foreground. It soon became clear that this wasn’t going to be the average concert of discrete songs or pieces—so the question then became how long they would sustain the groove for.  The answer turned out to be 45 entrancing minutes. Maybe it could be likened to Rhys Chatham’s “Guitar Trio,” which also puts a rock ’n’ roll backbeat to a droning, solitary chord, but The Double’s vision of rock minimalism is more tied to both rock rhythm guitar and the drum’s more traditional role in rock’s invitation to dance. And unlike “Guitar Trio” (or the ’90s techno genre Trance, for that matter), The Double didn’t build up notes and rhythms until a breakdown section where the process started all over...

Silver Apples

Silver Apples

Jackpot

LIMITED EDITION BLUE SKY COLORED VINYL!!!  Formed in 1967 as a psychedelic electronic duo featuring DAN TAYLOR on drums and SIMEON on a homemade synthesizer consisting of 12 oscillators (and an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second hand electronic junk), SILVER APPLES quickly gained a reputation as New York’s leading underground musical expression. Their pulsating rhythmic beats with the use of electronics laid the groundwork for what would become“Krautrock” Silver Apples was released in 1968 and still remains an innovative and revolutionary album. Their highly influential sound has influenced countless bands from Stereolab, Beastie Boys, Blur and more. Edition of 500 copies.

Butler, Will

Friday Night

Merge

***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! Friday Night is a live album of performances from WILL BUTLER's (ARCADE FIRE) tour supporting his first album Policy. It was recorded mostly at Lincoln Hall in Chicago on June 4, 2015. Five of the songs are from Policy, two are songs written for the Guardian newspaper last year, and five are new. "This record exists partly because I had a really good band, and I wanted to document it. MILES ARNTZEN (EMEFE, ANTIBALAS) played drums (standing up at a full kit—he didn’t use a hi-hat pedal, so he could stand on that leg while working the kick drum with the other). JULIE SHORE played synth bass. SARA DOBBS played synth leads and Mellotron pads. Everybody sang backing vocals." LP version includes a download with the bonus track "Son of God."

Helena Celle

If I Can't Handle Me At My Best, Then You Don't Deserve You At Your Worst

Night School

HELENA CELLE is the synth work and multi-dimensional audio practise of Glasgow-based musician Kay Logan. A 21st century polymath, Logan’s interests lie in the power relationships inherent in technology, how to harness aleatoric practise in a discipline that is often rigid and in exploring the interface between computer science (Logan is also a computer programmer) and sound. Originally recorded in 2014, "If I Can't Handle.." is the first step on the wander, a deliriously sun-burnt foray into abstract techno and a very personal take on an electronic music language that remains obscure to outsiders but here rendered a unique form of emotional communication.While Logan’s interests are powered by academic exploration, what’s most striking about Helena Celle’s approach to electronic music is how effortlessly she deconstructs it, makes it personal: the results are emotive without being explicit, raw and engaging, a true outsider music. The taking apart of norms can be heard on the squelched solo on "I'm Done With 666", governed by the love of noise, the wave is eviscerated, smothering the track in a glorious disregard for convention. The crashing, ultra-compressed chords that flatten opener "Streaming Music for Biometrics" re-wire the listener to appreciate chance, to break the loop. Recorded exclusively using a faltering MC303, live in a room straight to consumer dictaphones, the breadth of texture and depth of ideas on these tracks is truly astonishing. "Miming Swinging Baseball Bat" manages to submerge a bass-line straight into the tape heads, grounding a celestial synth arpeggio that flutters overhead.Informed...

1-800-band

High Beams

Almost Ready

***Delving into the darkest corners of the rock’n’roll story, drawing from 99-cent power pop, country weepers, pub rock, and glam, with a just a lil tinge of heartland rock, 1-800-BAND play loose but well-crafted songs built on alarm-clock-radio hooks. High Beams was produced by the mighty MITCH EASTER, and you can hear his sweet, sweet jangle on a couple of tunes. For fans of Blue Northern, the Jacobites, Dwight Twilley, Pretenders, late Kinks, Tom Petty, Elliott Murphy. From glass-in-the-air anthems to American heartbreakers, this record has got it all.

Crunky Kids

In The Face Of The Death Of Death

My Mind's Eye

***Posthumous release by THE CRUNKY KIDS. A band that featured members of GAG REFLEX, 9 SHOCKS TERROR, INMATES, HYSTERIA, DECHE, BOMB BUILDER, GORDON SOLIE MOTHERFUCKERS and others. Political / social lyrical content with a European/Japanese musical influence. This time the Crunkys even slow it down at times so you can catch your breath as you feel the brutality. 33 1/3rd rpm EP.

Sockeye

Unruly King And I

My Mind's Eye

***23rd anniversary release of original "Retards Hiss Past My Window” sessions. The band with something to offend everyone and entertain no one. Innagural winners of the Trouser Press' worst band award. A few songs are out of order on the back of the sleeve; also, a few songs listed do not appear on the release, while a few songs that are on the release don't appear on the sleeve. Similarly, there are lyrics appearing in the insert for songs that don't appear on the album, as the band intended. Full length LP all on random deluxe color vinyl. Includes insert with liner notes from Food Fortunata and lyrics.

Roden, Steve

Small Songs For Kack Jirby

palpa voce

***"Small songs for Kack Jirby” is a double LP consisting of 26 tracks recorded in 2012 using a small eurorack modular synth; and as such, these tracks were Roden’s first foray into the modular world. while many of the tracks evoke the kind of quiet, melodic, intimacy and melancholy of Roden’s previous works - but now armed with new tools and new tendencies. many of these tracks were used in Neil Greenberg’s dance piece “this”, which was performed in December 2014 at New York Live Arts. Double LP with poster and inserts, edition of 350.

Mosquito Ego

Glomb

Ever / Never

***Having previously released a few 7”s, the five-piece MOSQUITO EGO is set to unleash their first full-length upon an unsuspecting planet. Glomb is a 12-track declaration of intent. A quintet consisting of NATALAY, TIM, TOBI, MORITZ (CLUSTER BOMB UNIT, METABOLSIMUS) and REINHOLD, Mosquito Ego play like a highlight reel of post-punk and noise rock’s finest moments, movements and gestures. Underneath a foundation of churning guitar / bass / drums, electronics sizzle and squiggle, while the entire band gets loose and weird. Along with each member’s voice, samples and loops get thrown into the maelstrom; chopped, screwed, pitch-shifted and hard-panned. “Poke” establishes these parameters from the outset. All funhouse mirrors and grinding gears, “Local Zero” sounds like an unearthed Brainiac deep cut. Other parts of Glomb recall the outre’ avant-rock of Terminal Cheesecake and Slug. This gonzo aesthetic is reflected by MARK BOHLE's eye-popping, synapse-frying cover art.

White, Trevor

Crazy Kids

Just Add Water

***Just Add Water is honored to release the 40th Anniversary Edition of JOOK / SPARKS / JET / RADIO STARS guitar hero, TREVOR WHITE's should-have-been-a-number-one-hit single from July 1976. Trev was fresh off his stint with Sparks when he recruited MARTIN GORDON (Sparks, Radio Stars) and CHRIS TOWNSON (JOHN'S CHILDREN, Jook, Jet, Radio Stars) to record this slice of perfection known as "Crazy Kids." The B-side of this single, "Movin' In The Right Direction," is actually an unreleased-at-the-time Jook song, with IAN "RALF" KIMMET on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, IAN HAMPTON (Sparks) on bass, and Chris Townson on drums again. This single is available for the first time in decades, and is newly remastered from the original tapes, personally overseen by Trevor himself. The clarity is stunning. You can hear guitars and vocals that were buried on the original pressing.

Renaldo & The Loaf

Behind Closed Curtains

Secret Records

***RENALDO & THE LOAF (sometimes called "The UK Residents") are best known for their fouralbums released on Ralph Records between 1981 and 1987, their 1983 collaboration album with The Residents (Title In Limbo), and their incredible 1981 music video for Songs For Swinging Larvae which was banned from television and film fests. Years before they were signed by Ralph Records they were already recording and in early 1979 Behind Closed Curtains was scheduled to be released on vinyl under the moniker PLIMSOLLLLINE. The label never released the album, Plimsolline quickly became Renaldo & The Loaf, and the tapes were shelved for 35 years until Klanggalerie unearthed them in 2014 for a CD release. Now Secret Records is happy to offer this lost album on vinyl for the first time ever in a limited, hand numbered edition of 300 copies on black vinyl. Remastered for vinyl. Includes a free digital download.

Hheaven

A Single Rose

Aagoo

***HHEAVEN, the collaborative project of MORGAN ENOS (HOLLOW SUNSHINE, OTHER HOUSES) and BRYANT KEITH BAYHAN (.paperman). Kinetic and danceable, "Rose" is a blindingly colorful departure from either artist’s previous work, diving headlong into the sounds of disco, electronica, and heavy beats. Written together one summer by producer/instrumentalist Bayhan crafting full-fledged compositional landscapes from lyricist/vocalist Enos’ skeletal demos, the whirling, psychedelic songs of Hheaven are alternately lacerating and surreal, packed with addictive melodies, tirelessly operating in the service of the creative mind. Do work. Stay working.

Los Guapos Sensibles

Cumbia Del Amanecer / Queretana

Discos Mas

***The latest 7-inch from LOS GUAPOS SENSIBLES and another stellar release from the Bay Area imprint Discos Mas—continuing in the tradition of the previous Los Disco Duro releases with another electricized slice of cumbia. Pressed on pink vinyl.

Laraaji & Sun Araw

Professional Sunflow

W.25TH

Professional Sunflow is the first-time collaboration between Laraaji & Sun Araw, two colossal forces in contemporary electronic music. Laraaji's musical radiance has continued to shine brightly over four decades since being discovered by Brian Eno in New York's Washington Square Park in 1979. Sun Araw emerged out of Los Angeles' experimental scene in 2008 with transformative releases on a variety of trend-setting labels (Not Not Fun, Drag City and more).  The live performances on this double LP – recorded in Germany and Switzerland – combine prewritten elements and improvisation. Laraaji's soulful vocals and signature instrument, zither, blend beautifully with the free-floating rhythms of Sun Araw's Cameron Stallones (guitar / keyboards) and Alex Gray (computer synthesis) to shape Professional Sunflow's unique sound: dreamy layers of percussion, ambient textures and vibrant melodies.  W.25TH is proud to present Professional Sunflow as our inaugural release. As a sub-label of Superior Viaduct, W.25TH will focus on inventive sounds from current artists. Forthcoming releases include Nazoranai (Keiji Haino, Stephen O'Malley and Oren Ambarchi) and the (as yet unnamed) collaboration between Richard Pinhas, William Winant, and Comets On Fire's Noel Von Harmonson and Utrillo Kushner.

Reform Art West

For Sepp (Selections From The Edgar Allan Poe Suite)

Nero’s Neptune

***Over the course of five decades, the legendary Austrian free jazz collective REFORM ART UNIT (and their offshoot groups) have collaborated with countless musicians, including Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Evan Parker, and Jim Pepper. Documented collaborations with free jazz notables include Impressions (Kovarik's Musikothek, 1978) with Anthony Braxton and Clifford Thornton; Subway Performances (Granit, 1994) and Illumination (InRespect, 1995) with Sunny Murray; and With Milo Fine (Granit, 1999). MILO FINE's lengthy resume includes numerous records as leader of his own group (the MILO FINE FREE JAZZ ENSEMBLE) as well as collaborations with Joe McPhee (MFG in Minnesota; Hat Hut, 1978, & Old Eyes; Hat Hut, 1979) and duo encounters with Derek Bailey (Scale Points on the Fever Curve; Emanem, 2003) and Anthony Braxton (Shadow Company; Emanem, 2004). In May of 2015, Fine fulfilled a personal ambition by hosting the first North American appearances of Reform Art Unit founding members FRITZ NOVOTNY and SEPP MITTERBAUER. Three nights of extraordinary and intimate concerts ensued at Minneapolis' Studio Toile d'Angles. This limited edition LP was culled by Nero's Neptune from over three hours of material, and consists of three pieces featuring two sextets and one nonet. Joining the core members of reformARTwest (Novotny: soprano sax/ flutes / percussion, Mitterbauer: trumpet / percussion, Fine: drum set . Bössendorfer Imperial piano / clarinets) are ELAINE EVANS, DANIEL FURUTA, BENJAMIN J MANSAVAGE KLEIN, DAVU SERU, CHARLES GILLETT and PAUL METZGER. For Sepp is dedicated to the living memory of Sepp Mitterbauer, who died on December 9th...

Cornelius

Fantasma

Lefse

***A reissue of the 1997 Fantasma album from Japanese pop-noise savant CORNELIUS. Fantasma is Cornelius' creative and commercial breakthrough, a kaleidoscopic, genre-hopping joy ride through contemporary musical history that became Cornelius' first American release when it was reissued by Matador a year later. Long out of print, Lefse Records reissues Fantasma in a limited edition, remastered, deluxe 2xLP gatefold vinyl, complete with bonus tracks.

Silver Abuse

Consider The Pigeon

Alona's Dream

***Despite the fact that SILVER ABUSE has shared its distinctive style of punk noise and no-wave resonance in Chicago since 1977, it remains a modern band making now sounds. Their second full album, Consider The Pigeon, has been two years in the making and it‘s definitely been worth the wait. Pressed into crisp black vinyl (or gleaming CD) for your eager consumption, this newest work is certainly the band's finest to date. If you haven’t been listening to Silver Abuse already, this album will leave you wondering why you haven’t been all along. (STREET DATE - 6/10/2016)

Jansch, Bert

(Gold) From The Outside

Earth Recordings

***Recalling the elegant simplicity of Jansch's early works, 'From The Outside' sees Jansch return to the uncomplicated yet supremely effective sound of his eponymous debut. This is Bert laid bare – eschewing the more intricate arrangements of his surrounding works for the holy trinity of guitar, banjo and voice, perhaps reflective of his state of mind at the time. Stand-out tracks include ‘River Running’ and ‘Blackbird In The Morning’ which were both (amazingly) omitted from the original vinyl release.  One of Bert's rarest releases, this 1985 LP was originally issued as an edition of just 500 copies on the small Belgian label, Konexion. This issue unites the varied track listing of previous versions – both LP and CD, with many cuts appearing here on vinyl for the first time. Remastered from original tapes by Brian Pyle. Limited to 1000 coloured vinyl copies worldwide - 500 gold, 500 red.

Jansch, Bert

(Red) From The Outside

Earth Recordings

***Recalling the elegant simplicity of Jansch's early works, 'From The Outside' sees Jansch return to the uncomplicated yet supremely effective sound of his eponymous debut. This is Bert laid bare – eschewing the more intricate arrangements of his surrounding works for the holy trinity of guitar, banjo and voice, perhaps reflective of his state of mind at the time. Stand-out tracks include ‘River Running’ and ‘Blackbird In The Morning’ which were both (amazingly) omitted from the original vinyl release.  One of Bert's rarest releases, this 1985 LP was originally issued as an edition of just 500 copies on the small Belgian label, Konexion. This issue unites the varied track listing of previous versions – both LP and CD, with many cuts appearing here on vinyl for the first time. Remastered from original tapes by Brian Pyle. Limited to 1000 coloured vinyl copies worldwide - 500 gold, 500 red.

Alternative TV

The Image Has Cracked

Radiation Deluxe Series

***Formed in London in 1977 by MARK PERRY and ALEX FERGUSSON, then editors of the punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue, ALTERNATIVE TV was a post-punk group known for incorporating reggae rhythms and pushing the boundaries of the definition of punk toward the experimental and avant-garde. Their first album, The Image Has Cracked, came out originally in 1978 and is a wholly unique piece of British post-punk. Beloved by John Peel, and close confidantes of Throbbing Gristle, Alternative TV is one of the most original and beguiling groups of the era. This classic is reissued here on 180-gram vinyl with two bonus tracks and a double-sided insert.

Big Business / Pins Of Light

Pins Of Light / Big Business

Valley King

The latest split 7-inch from Valley King features heavyweights BIG BUSINESS teaming up with PINS OF LIGHT. Big Business delivers their "Send Help," while Pins Of Light unleash "Hold On To The Sky." Limited edition of 300 copies on black vinyl, packaged in silkscreened sleeves by ALAN FORBES.

Liberation

S/t

Night School

Liberation is the latest evolution by David West, a dedicated underground dweller and traveler with his groups Rat Columns and Rank / Xerox who has also been spotted in Lace Curtain and Total Control. Familiar elements of West’s songwriting creep out from the speakers this time around, albeit in a more adventurous and personal manner—swathed in analog and FM synths, pinned down by near-funk drum machines, and with a vision expanded into the past and future.  In previous incarnations, West’s alienated and fragile vocals have battled with jangling guitars and distortion, but Liberation sets free his woes and ruminations into space. Taking inspiration from the heyday of Mute Records and electronic dance music’s early experiments with sampling, Liberation’s debut LP is ten songs of the road, about the nameless ghosts on the highway, accidental lovers, the alienation of the stranger in a strange land, the unbearable weight of freedom. Esteemed engineer Mikey Young’s (Total Control / Eddy Current Suppression Ring) production prowess makes for a distilled yet inviting loneliness.

Vatican Shadow

Media In The Service Of Terror

Hospital Productions

***DOMINICK FERNOW laces up his VATICAN SHADOW boots for the project's first set of drills since 2014 and one of its finest ever transmissions, trampling in the wake of his fierce new PRURIENT record, Unknown Rains (2016), for Hospital Productions. Reflecting on a world much unchanged, even intensified since his last dispatch, Media In The Service Of Terror works classic Vatican Shadow signatures, measured with increased momentum and propulsive energy, divided into seven parts and imbued with that dramatic melodic arrangements that works beyond the club. Stepping farther away from the floor, he's in scowling, contemplative form with "Ziad Jarrah Studied Mathematics" and at his best when working between spheres, as with the industrial reggaeton roil of "Take Vows" in both its versions, and particularly the pensile atmosphere of "Interrogation Mosaic." One of the best Vatican Shadow drops, bar none. Originally released as a limited cassette in June of 2016, this is Media In The Service Of Terror's first vinyl edition. Features new artwork. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering.

Hallelujah! / Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn / Hallelujah!

Maple Death

***Abrasive, crowd-terrorizing noise punk and r’n’r from northeastern Italy by the fierce and irritating HALLELUJAH!, who couldn’t be more ready to blow your face to the back of your skull. Their two tracks condense the feedback and utter degradation of bands like Brainbombs and Germs, mixed with the promo snot of Electric Eels or Homostupids and the low-thud of AmpRep’s best freaks. HOLIDAY INN's acid minimal synth punk is the product of a collaboration between GABOR (AKTION, METRO CROWD) on voice, and Frenchman BOB JUNIOR (TRANS UPPER EGYPT, BOBSLEIGH BABY, HISS) on synth and drum machine. Their track is a five minute anti-mafia rant directly inspired by a demonstration held in Calabria where protesters brought music instruments to the streets.

Power, Brigid Mae

Brigid Mae Power

Tompkins Square

***Irish singer-songwriter BRIGID MAE POWER's stunningly beautiful new solo full-length is an album drenched in reverb-soaked emotion and lament. Enchantingly performed and produced, the record showcases a songwriter of immense talent in a soundscape that naturally merges itself to Brigid Power's engulfing sound. The magic lies in the songwriter's expression of raw emotion, in all its delicate beauty. Themes include transformation, change, motherhood, acceptance, strength, courage and trust. In the words of Power, the album is about "trusting if you lose yourself or your way—you can come back." A wave of inspiration abounds the sprawling canvas of sound, mapping the rawest of emotion and deepest of fears. A mystical spell is cast by the meeting of these two kindred spirits: Brigid Mae Power's songwriting prowess and Peter Broderick's deep musical understanding.

Downfall Of Nur

Unbras E Forestas

Vendetta

***Atmospheric black metal, the band's previous album on Avantgarde was a 2015 worldwide favorite. "Umbras e Forestas is the best of two distinct worlds. If you like your black metal raw, underproduced, its potential only grasped by those conscripted to the BM army, you have that. Their screams avoid the usual, meek throating you typically find for more of a rotting sound, but the real moments of captivation are how they balance that with ambiance and folk, transporting the listener into a culture perceived across centuries, real because of the hands that fashioned the lens. The empty spaces of storms and archaic folk take this to where all black metal should go.”—Stanley Stepanic

Matchess

The Rafter

Monofonus Press

***The Rafter is the third LP from Chicago artist MATCHESS. We are extremely excited to put this one out to follow the previous two beautiful records on one of our favorite labels (Trouble In Mind). We always ask our bands to make note of anything great they see while on tour and a couple years ago Marriage mentioned Matchess. We all immediately fell in love. It's an album that haunts us to bliss. Synthy, electronic strings, choir ghost vocals, and the pulse of the wind sort of explain what this sounds like.

Umberto

Alienation

Not Not Fun

The origin story behind Matt Hill’s perplexingly stark and melancholic new full-length is suitably cryptic: “I had a vision of a man experiencing a series of alienating situations.” Whatever the impetus, Alienation stands as the most fascinatingly atypical Umberto album to date: downcast, subdued, haunted, ethereal.  In the wake of several extensive international tours and a string of high-profile collaborations with Antoni Maiovvi for the Death Waltz imprint—including a harrowing live score of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—Hill began expanding his palette, exploring divergences from his classic Giallo-paranoia mode. The record’s nine tracks flow between winter garden ambience (“Elimination,” “Lost Night”), lofty insomniac reverie (“White Night,” “Passage”), and shivering dirge (“Black Sea”), only two of which echo the pulsing synthesizer night-stalks for which he’s best known (“Drifters,” “Dawn of Mirrors”). Hill also commissioned vocalists Victoria Gokun and Edward Tonoyan to weight certain songs with heavier emotion, using lyrics inspired by condemned Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. The combined effect feels out of time, intertwining currents of memory, delusion and beauty, an unplaceable soundtrack for untraceable sorrow.  Alienation was recorded and mixed in 2015 by Hill in Los Angeles, and mastered in 2016 by Alex Nagle in Philadelphia. The expressionist cover painting is Geoffrey Sexton, the metallic gold-foil layout was designed by Tim Goodwillie.

Nance, David

More Than Enough

Ba Da Bing!

David Nance lives in a world where rock has been influenced as much by This Kind of Punishment and The Pin Group as by The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones. Omaha’s best-kept secret, up to now known primarily to DIY tape collectors and record club subscribers, Nance welcomes all with More Than Enough, his first full-band full-length, which follows the stellar but criminally under-heard 2013 Actor’s Diary LP on Grapefruit Records, as well as a string of limited-edition, over-modulatingly intense and emotionally destructive cassette releases. Recorded in Los Angeles, scrapped, then re-recorded after a move back to his Omaha hometown with his wife, More Than Enough sounds like the very last record to have undergone any process longer than a few hours of recording. It’s that immediate and on fire. The recipe: (a) get a shit-hot group of musicians; (b) cut songs down to their most “on” moments, or alternately let them ride a groove into the sun; (c) capture it all on actual tape. That’s the Nance approach, and it’s as much an ode to home-recorded brilliance as it is to whoop-ass inspiring rock. Nance will be touring this summer with Itasca, and later on with Simon Joyner and The Renderers. Blare on.

Turman, Robert & Aaron Dilloway

Blizzard

Fabrica

Recorded in the midst of an actual extreme winter weather event, Blizzard conjures the early synthesizer experiments of Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream combined with the gritty reel-to-reel tape manipulations long employed by both Aaron Dilloway (Hanson Records / ex-Wolf Eyes) and Robert Turman (founding member of the pioneering industrial outfit NON and a celebrated solo artist in his own right).  As the story goes, Blizzard was recorded in January 2009 during an Ohio snowstorm which hit on the very day that Dilloway was preparing for a move to Michigan. Alone, his wife and child already settling into the new place, and stranded in a cold and empty house, he was welcomed into Turman’s home. They decided to make the best of the occasion and hunkered down for a few days of late-night recording. Crawling synth drones and looped effects keep things bleak throughout. The wind gusts outside are strangely regular. Snow scratches at the windows more rhythmically than seems natural. Are those woodwinds or animal calls? Are the streetlights obscured by blown branches, or are they slowly strobing? Suddenly a normal house in a common Midwestern blizzard feels like a house stalked by a sentient storm, bearing down for a final freeze. Throw another log on the fire and make yourself comfortable for the last time.  Blizzard was originally released on CD by Hanson Records in 2009. This first-time vinyl edition is limited to 500 copies.

Useless Eaters

Relaxing Death

Castle Face

Castle Face Records has got fresh new jitters from Useless Eaters: a new batch called Relaxing Death.  Relaxing it is not—sleepless synths and serrated drum machine loops populate their sharp-edged, futuristic sound. Nightmare punks on a hallucinatory run through empty streets; angry and intense, tightly wound and razor sync’d. Up to no good. It knocks like it’s cut with something nasty, and it’s out June 3rd.

Spray Paint

Feel The Clamps

Goner

2015’s quick succession of two full-length albums by Austin, TX, trio Spray Paint—Punters on a Barge in June on Australia’s Homeless Records followed by Dopers via Austin’s Monofonus Press—showed the band repeatedly visiting some proverbial “next level” relative to the steady developmental trajectory framed by their preceding 2012-2014 arrival-and-vision-quest phase (itself a three-album, three-7-inch chunk of catalog not appropriate for dismissal). At the risk of corniness in conveying the sterling truth, Feel the Clamps could be considered to represent drummer Chris Stephenson, guitarist Cory Plump and other guitarist George Dishner arriving at a “next level,” but next after what? They appear to have skipped a few. It would be inaccurate to call Feel the Clamps the band’s “definitive” document because it only “defines” where the band is at this stage, and the impressive distance between right now and the trio’s genesis less than five years ago. Spray Paint is hyper-prolific because these guys have something that needs to stay up in the world’s grill. A rapid-fire output is sometimes confused with “worth a shit.” You know why the world is choked with aggressively mediocre music? Because the aggressively mediocre are really, really prolific and have amazing work ethics. But Spray Paint is no relation to the stylistic transients who couch-surf sub-genres in what should be a new movement tagged “try-too-hardcore.” Their linear path of inspiration suggests there won’t even be a language to describe what the trio is making five years from now. Feel the Clamps will clear the fence...

Gevurah

Hallelujah!

Profound Lore

One of Canada’s most promising prospects, the enigma known as Gevurah has slowly carved their ritualistic impression on virulent, spiritual black metal sophistication for several years. Consisting of X.T. (vocals / instruments / production) and A.L. (guitars), the duo boasts a reputation as a formidable force within the underground. Their debut full-length Hallelujah! follows their well-received Necheshirion EP from 2013 and features the otherworldly art of Denis Forkas. Over the course of seven massively epic hymns, Gevurah unearths a layered masterwork of furious, dark and unforgiving complexity, painting a transcendent vision of spiritual black metal levitation. The double-disc vinyl edition comes with an exclusive side-long bonus track not found on the CD—a 20 minute ambient collaboration with Cyclic Law.

Effetto Joule

Mechanic Soldier

Medical Records

***Medical Records in collaboration with Crispy Nuggets returns to Italy for it’s 59th release. Hailing from Bologna, Italy in the late '80s, EFFETTO JOULE were brothers FLAVIO and VALERO BIAGI, MASSIMO CHERICONI and VALERIO TASSINARI. Drawing on influences of the early '80s new wave and synth pop scene and armed with an arsenal of synthesizers (Korg Poly-800, Roland alpha juno-1 and juno-2, etc) from the mid '80s, Effetto Joule crafted their own sound. With the exception of the few of the tracks, almost all were home recorded during the years of 1988-1990. Effetto Joule self released a couple of cassettes entitled Ultraviolet A and B as well as one 12” single in 1989 on Top Sound Record (recently reissued by Mannequin Records with bonus material). The rest of their music has been unreleased demos from which thee tracks were hand selected. The tunes can best be described as densely new romantic with unquestionably catchy hooks and lovely vocals to boot. Standout tracks include "Active Ray" and "Stars Your Memory." Fans of Visage, early Depeche Mode, and Dare era Human League will need this slab of wax in their collections to cherish. Presented on high quality 180-gram colored vinyl. Limited edition. Remastered from cassette from the artist’s archive by MARTIN BOWES at the Cage, UK.