***The power of The Apes is unleashed on the new classic blitz Baba’s Mountain. The merging of the rage and energy of their live shows - also known as massive riffage - with studio wizardry began with last year’s Tapestry Mastery. As always, a visionary epic story links it all together. You gotta have a visionary epic story. Without that, why bother? Baba’s Mountain rocks, grooves, and takes you on a ride. Figure it out! • Engineered by Jonathan Krelnick (Trans Am, !!!) and Jason Kirker (Modey Lemon) • Mixed by B. Laswell / T. Waits engineer Oz Fritz • 16-page fold-out, full-color booklet • Full American tour • National press and radio campaigns around record release and tours • For fans of DC underground rock, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Oneida, Modey Lemon • File under: alternative rock, underground power, kick ass, dark and grooving • No exports outside North America
CD $13.00
04/25/2005
***Welcome to the first recorded dream of modern psychedelic poster child Greg Ashley. Before the dream became Medicinally Fucked, before the rise of The Gris Gris, before young Master Ashley was even close to drinking age, before he left the confines of Houston for the ghetto in Oakland, there was the legendary Mirrors-- school buddies with a zest for the melting paisleys. Greenhorns making green swirling music, recorded when all those involved were still in their mid-teens. Released on vinyl back in the day and long since out of print. Green Dream is available for the first time on CD, completely remastered with a new cover and new liner notes. cdmirroa gr
CD $12.00
03/08/2005
***Coyote formed when members of the Holy Fallout, Excelsior and The Rabble Rousers convened in a West Philadelphia basement. Meaning: the heart of the Philadelphia music scene thrown into one supergroup is releasing their debut, and you are there. The driving pianos, screaming vocals, and fuzzed-out champion guitar leads produce a unique sound that is ready to be unleashed. They have been compared to The Black Heart Procession, The Doors and The VSS/Slaves.
CD $7.75
12/14/2004
J.G. Thirlwell is a prolific composer, producer, and performer based in Brooklyn, New York. He has been releasing acclaimed and influential recordings for more than twenty years, and has been cited by the likes of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails as one of the main influences behind their music. Thirwell's dark orchestration and progressive cross-pollinating of musical styles gives Foetus a unique, genre-defying sound that is all his own. TRACK LISTING 1. (Not Adam) Track from Love 2. Miracle (Jay Wasco remix) Mr. Wasco is a member of Johnny Skilsaw 3. Not In Your Hands Unavailable elsewhere 4. Time Marches On (End Remix) End is an Ipecac and Tigerbeat6 recording artist • Teaser for the full length Love coming out early 2005 • For fans of Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Mike Patton • Full Radio and press campaign led by X Marks The Spot • Currently working on video with Karen O. from Yeah Yeah Yeahs • Just finished scoring Venture Brothers for Cartoon Network • Not exportable outside North America • www.foetus.org
CD $6.75
11/09/2004
***Brother JT has set the pace for garage psychedelic travelers since the '80s, originally with The Original Sins, and later as a solo artist. The man is an institution. Off Blue is one of the most solid and beautiful do-it-yrself psychedelic records ever, boasting JT's most melodic and 'groovy' songs to date, blending mosquito fuzzed-out guitar with a little folk and underwater goodness that resembles the fog descending on a mind filled with bliss. • Performing at Birdman night at CMJ and rare dates on West Coast around album release (JT’s shows are legendary) • Huge career retrospective in January 2004 issue of Arthur • For fans of Devendra Banhart, The Gris Gris, Syd Barrett, Iron and Wine, and most importantly, Brother JT • Nationwide press and radio campaign • File Under: Alternative, Psychedelic, Eternally Groovy • No exports outside North America
CD $13.00
10/12/2004
***Two sides of psychedelic bliss-out provide the latest book end to the mighty career of THE MIRRORS. Recorded when Greg Ashley (singer and now Gris Gris main man) was still using a fake ID to get the latest and greatest mind twisting gonzo to come through Texas. "Patient Flowers" is a swan song if there ever was one, and still pops up in the odd Gris Gris set. For fans of Pink Floyd (Syd Barret-era) and the Electric Prunes.
7" $4.00
10/12/2004
***Early punk rawk-inspired greatness from Oakland featuring Andy from the Cuts on guitar. Listen in awe as new glam god (for definition of glam, see NY Dolls, Heartbreakers, etc) Eric Johnson preaches the positive with exploding hair and a brazen larynx on both sides of this raw, aggressive platter.
7" $4.00
09/21/2004
The debut Birdman release from this Oakland, California sound quartet led by psychedelic troubadour GREG ASHLEY. Nine tracks that rollercoast from the surreal goodness of Ashley's Medicine Fuck Dream to Can-flavored head-bobbing environments to that particular corner of garage rock featured on the Nuggets and Back From The Grave compilations. Blissful, distorted, undulating, and breathtaking rock'n'roll that will save some and rattle the rest.
CD $12.00
08/17/2004
***GIANT SQUID knows the dialect of rock only spoken in the deepest, darkest corners of the sea. Submerged industrial beats and Atlantis-powered amplification create an otherworldly and enticing rock sound for this, their first Birdman single. This is primitive genius worth a bow or two and many listenings.
7" $4.00
06/15/2004
The debut Birdman release from this Washington, DC quartet contains three stories from the beyond told to the band’s blind weaver, Maximilla, as a guide for her to weave a masterpiece. Tapestry Mastery presents six mind-numbing recordings (over 25 minutes of music) with sounds more bombastic, fertile and charismatic than any Apes release to date. They rip it apart live with their signature bass-keyboard-and-drum grooves and singer Paul’s sheer intensity. Tapestry Mastery finds the Apes creating a recording that equals the thrills of their live shows. • Produced by Trans Am cohort Jonathan Kernel • Touring in April and May with Modey Lemon • Legendary shows with Les Savy Fav (tour), Mars Volta (tour), Black Keys, Mudhoney, Datsuns • Nationwide press and college radio campaigns • Previous releases on the French Kiss and Planaria labels • Massive, loyal fan base in America and Europe • Target markets: SxSW, DC, NYC, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Columbia MO, Jackson MS, Chicago
10" $8.25
06/01/2004
CD $8.25
06/01/2004
***Modern day psychedelia — coming right at you with lightning speed. The Cuts’ self-titled LP is finally available on everyone’s favorite digital format! Several years ago rock scribe and all around tastemaker Mark Murman released this album on vinyl on his superb Rock’n’Roll Blitzkrieg label. The Cuts had already released a single for Lookout Records that displayed a straight-ahead punk/garage/rock’n’roll style a la DMZ or the Real Kids (and no one currently alive on Earth does not absolutely adore DMZ and the Real Kids), but by the time they recorded their first fulllength they had already moved on to a more psychedelic sound (by way of late ’70s NYC). Did someone say “13th Floor Elevators meets Television”? The Cuts stand apart from any contemporary garage rock purveyors. Tough as nails, neurotic, simplistic, big, deep, catchy and devastating all at the same time. Genuine decathlon scorch. “Set free after one EP and left to their own devices, The Cuts retreated to a muddy woods where they stumbled across Sky Saxon declaring himself as their own personal Yoda. Taking what they needed and ignoring his cosmic declarations they wandered back to the bright streets.… This ain’t the fake “look at my white belt” garage rock. It’s dirty fuzz invented the day before psychedelic rock (the war and LSD terror, not the flowers-and-weed scene). Even when they sound like they wannna have a good time, you’re waiting for someone to sneak up from behind and stick a knife in your back.” —Smashin’...
CD $12.00
05/04/2004
Bearded, dirty, and riding the brink of the stoner rock revolution, the new heroes of thee electric guitar mayhem, Midnite Snake are a Pittsburgh power trio who play instrumental acid rock until death does part. Alexei Plotnicov on electric guitar, Jim Lingo on electric bass, on drums Paul Quattrone (of Modey Lemon greatness), and Fog Hog on electric fog deliver supreme feedback over-drive psycho rock. These monsters will be touring the United States (especially the East Side) upon album release. Already buzzing in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, so look out. “Midnite Snake are no slouches in the business of overwhelming unassuming audiences with their fuzzed-out ritualistic jams. Chalk it up to their extended guitar freakouts, a relentlessly pummeling rhythm section and a hyperactive smoke machine that often all but obscures bassist Jim Lingo, guitarist Alexei Plotnicov and drummer Paul Quattrone in a pungent issue as thick and primal as the racket the trio summons up.… Plotnicov [unleashes] psychedelic, bluesy solos that sizzle like unstable isotopes atop Lingo and Quattrone’s bedrock-solid riff-mantras.” —Adam MacGregor, Pittsburgh Pulp • Features the drummer from Modey Lemon • Fits nicely between Thunder + Lightning and Psychedelic Speed Freaks • Nationwide press campaign around release and tour • Attacking core CMJ stations and stoner rock network • Not a 2-piece White Stripes rip-off
CD $12.00
05/04/2004
***A limited edition label sampler featuring past, current, and upcoming tracks from the mighty Birdman roster. Includes Modey Lemon, Apes, The Gris Gris, the Cuts, the Warlocks, Twilight Singers, Greg Ashley, Paula Frazer, Jon Wahl, Midnite Snake, PFFR, Young Jazz Giants, Tom Recchion, and a new track from the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band featuring Sharde Thomas! Jewel box packaging.
CD $6.00
04/06/2004
***A lot of hyperbole has been spewed about Pittsburgh's Modey Lemon and with good reason. The two-piece has toured the US, UK and Australia, blowing away audiences with their over-amplified, art-damaged, garage punk metal. Lead singer / guitarist / synth-player Phil Boyd receives as much attention for his Calvin Klein good looks as he does his musical prowess, and drummer Paul Quatrone is the most wildly accomplished rock percussionist since Neil Peart. A plethora of enthusiastic press, a deal with giant UK label Mute, a bevy of nubile groupies, and a coveted place on the Birdman Records roster - some bands get all the breaks.
CDEP $6.75
01/20/2004
***Two exclusive tracks by two of the most prized combos in America. The Polyphonic Spree offering is a studio version of the live favorite "The March." All the bliss, all of the good tidings that this 24 piece is known for. Grandaddy's side is a little less euphoric but by no means less enticing. "The Rugged and Splintered Entertainment Center" is a memorable song from these bearded wonders. Each band contributed beautiful artwork to this little 45 RPM nugget.
7" $5.75
11/25/2003
*** Tsar is a rock band from Silverlake, California. These bastard sons from the post-glam aesthetic crunch their way through their first ever vinyl release. "Straight" is an anthem, "Creature in Disguise" a power shredder. Only 300 copies are available. Not to be missed.
7" $4.00
11/25/2003
***A companion piece to Pocket Books re-printing of the 1996 It Came From Memphis book by renowned Memphis musician ROBERT GORDON, documenting the lesser-known stories of the fabled Memphis scene. Features eighteen great tracks compiled by the author from obscure rock and blues heroes GOOD KID ROBERT, OTHA TURNER, SID SELVIDGE, MUD BOY and the NEUTRONS, HAMMIE NIXON, VAN ZULA HUNT & THE BEALE STREET JUG BAND, JOHNNY WOODS & BOBBY RAY WATSON, TAV FALCO, JERRY LAWLER, JIM DICKINSON & THE NEW BEALE STREET SHEIKS, SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS, BAND OF ONES, LAWSON & FOUR MORE, INSECT TRUST, BOOTLEGGERS QUARTET, B.B. CUNNINGHAM, PHINEAS NEWBORN ORCHESTRA, and MOLOCH.
CD $12.00
11/13/2003
***Coming from Houston, settling in Oakland, friend to the Cuts, loved by the Modey Lemon. Makes sense this acid-tinged, macabre piece of beauty falls on the lap of Birdman. Think Roky Erickson, Syd Barret, Mayo Thompson, post-ax wielding Skip Spence; the songs on Medicine Fuck Dream are hypnotizing, mind-altering, dark, fuzzy bits about love, love and death, love and war, and Technicolor love from the leader of Texas' Mirrors (not the old Mirrors from yesteryear). Greg Ashley has a new band called The Gris Gris, whose Birdman debut will be coming early next year. Ashley will be touring with the Gris Gris during the last months of 2003 playing songs from Medicine Fuck Dream as well as others. "Greg Ashley is a troubled young man and that's the good news. He writes and sings like he's felt it ten times harder than you hear it. Listen the second time and the avalanche catches up to you quickly. This kid's a star and recognition begins right now." -Greg Dulli, 2003 * Solo acid-folk vehicle by the lead singer of touted Bay Area band The Gris Gris * Bolt down the cash register! Features a friend of The Cuts!
LP $9.75
11/11/2003
CD $12.00
11/11/2003
***Memphis musician/producer Jim Dickinson is a legend in his own right (having played keyboards on the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," performed on Bob Dylan albums, produced Big Star and Alex Chilton albums, etc., etc.) and he definitely knows a thing or two about blues roots and field recordings of legendary and should-be-legendary blues artists from the south. Dickinson captures raw and spontaneous performances from some of the most important blues artists in the Memphis / Mississippi area on these exclusive recordings by Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes (whose performances feature the guitar work of Ry Cooder), Otha Turner, Mose Vinson, Johnny Woods and Alec Teal. These pure examples of Delta blues were committed to tape at Sam Phillips studios, Ardent studios, the Orpheum Theater, and various fields in and around the Memphis area. Raw, gritty and real - just how the blues should be heard. Dickinson says, "The Blues is … a musical tradition born from the dark prison of slavery. Torn from family and homeland, separated from custom and culture, the call and response of the African work song took on new emotional depth. A lonesome sound in the darkness - a howling dog or passing train - echoed by harmonica or guitar became a raw, powerful statement of hard times, long work, and fast pleasure; a voice in the southern night complaining about the human condition. "The fleeting nature of the present creates in man the desire to capture the moment. The movement of time compels us...
CD $13.00
11/11/2003
***MODEY LEMON are a two-man hurricane of sound and a genuine force to be reckoned with. Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA (home of George Romero) and clocking in at barely 20 years of age, The Modey Lemon have developed a sound unlike anyone else’s. Guitar, drums and Moog synthesizer, equal parts late ’60s hard rock, early ’70s hard rock, and early ’90s grunge filtered through punk from all three decades. This inventive, creative duo are caked in gritty, high-wattage garage punk and B-movie rock’n’roll, a twisted influence of greaser / garage rock sounds, adjusted with an art punk mentality, channeled through some big amp rawk. This album is packed full of rock nuggets with dirty boogie tempos and challenges the listener with nontraditional ideas. Everything from The Cramps to Iron Maiden to Beck goes into the blender, gets distilled, and comes out one very lethal brew. Drummer Paul Quattrone is a human whirlwind — the best since Keith Moon or Neil Peart. Frontman Phil Boyd wails like a Banshee and looks like a Calvin Klein model. Hello, ladies, NME says they’re “hearththrobs.” They’ve toured the UK to rave response with the Von Bondies, have toured the US extensively, and will do it again in support of this whirlwind of an album.
LP $8.25
10/07/2003
CD $12.00
08/19/2003
Debut CD, featuring guest appearances from Snoop Dogg + Phiiliip PFFR is a Brooklyn-based electro-rock-crazed combo made up of a small group of highly motivated young people (early teens and older) who started a band in order to cause a riot in the local public library. Inspired by The Boredoms, early Ween, and Add N To X, the group has created an underground following in New York City. Their fans visit PFFR’s one-of-a-kind shows for the comedy, cynicism, rage and euphoria, but they stick around for the unique blend of synthesizers, guitars and noise. After several seven-inch records released by obscure French labels (all sold out), United We Doth is their first compact disc. Every instrument is used, every yowl rings of freedom. Frequently fantastic, incorrect, loose-limbed and choking on horsehair, PFFR is the final knife fight between theory and vehement concrete specimen. United We Doth answers the eternal question “Would I?” with a resounding “Hair-lip.” PFFR shows are known to be colorful, bizarre events (light show, costumes, interactions with audience body parts, flying objects) that shock the customarily unflappable DJs and seen-it-all dancers around them. Tours of both coasts are imminent. This enhanced CD features videos for “Our Concern,” “Japoney Appoe,” and “Superfine” (reminiscent of Smegma’s backwoods DIY Brain Follies videos).
CD $12.00
07/29/2003
The Cuts are four twenty-somethings from Oakland, California, who make some of the best garage pop that you’ll find today. The Cuts’ wild sonic tantrums and lust-scorched anthems are so soaked in Nuggets history it’s hard to believe they weren’t conceived in the same fertile musical ground that produced bands like the Sonics and ? and the Mysterians. The band blends old-school, psychedelic garage with ‘70s NYC proto-punk noise (a couple songs are so Television it’s crazy) — but these guys make the blend seamless. The guitars come off cheap and messy; the vocals are amped, snotty, and slightly distorted; the keyboards whiz around like some woozy Dennis Hopper drug sequence, and the rhythms switch between jangling so loosely they’re gonna slip right out of your speakers and getting wound so tight they’re gonna snap. The band released their debut album as a vinyl-only edition on Mark Murman’s Rock n’ Roll Blitzkrieg Records (watch for Birdman to issue it on CD in 2003) and, though low profile in record stores, it received rave reviews. For their second album The Cuts drove down to Memphis and recorded at Easley Studios with Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, Reigning Sound) at the control board. This album promises to be a straight up classic! • Recorded at Easley Studios by Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Reigning Sound, Compulsive Gamblers)
CD $12.00
05/27/2003
***If trash-punk guitar virtuoso Bob Stinson had a way of making fellow musicians feel like it was him and them against the world, most of these musicians also got the impression that the world was winning. Recorded in 1989 and 1990 by Stinson's "art blues" outfit, Closer 2 Normal has remained unreleased until now, half a decade after The Replacements guitarist's death. Static Taxi stands as perhaps the best snapshot of Stinson's genius out of the shadow of the 'Mats. The band found its sound inside a kerosene-heated train car in 1989, where four guys - Stinson with some art-school punks and cabbies - gathered to drink, jam, drop LSD, and record demos. By 1991 they had put to tape an album's worth of studio material before promptly folding, never having recovered from the loss of their beloved boxcar the year before, when a nearby warehouse burned down. Since Stinson's final drug spiral, it has been difficult to romanticize that era. Birdman Records has decided that the grace period has ended and these songs were worth resurrecting for more than the sake of nostalgia or the opportunity to mourn. The lyrical ache of the cascading guitar shimmer on these recordings is enough to make you weep. Stinson's springtime-sludge textures elevate Ray Reigstad's snotty choruses and jumpy rhythms to the level of great gonzoid power-pop. There was chemistry amid the chemicals of that train car - now everyone can hear it for themselves.
CD $12.00
04/15/2003
***According to Paul Lemos, an original member of the NY-based experimental/industrial group Controlled Bleeding, his new Breast Fed Yak "have completely put aside all electronics on these new recordings [and have gone] back to something much more primal.…" Indeed: imagine a naked, 350-pound superhero scatting like Ella Fitzgerald having an epileptic fit (longtime Controlled Bleeding collaborator Joe Papa) backed by a band of Plutonians (Lemos and Yoshida Tatsuya of Ruins) who challenge their instruments to defy the electricity coming out of their 50,000 fingertips. With influences that include Ennio Morricone, Albert Ayler, Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra, and spy movie themes, Get Your Greasy Head Off The Sham mocks classification that terms such as "soul-pain," "dis-funk," and "Sunset Stripped R&B spasmcore" try to capture. With guest appearances by Hakan Almkvist (of Ensemble Nimbus fame) on sitar and The Holy Trinity High School Detention Choir, this music on this album, according to Birdman, will kill you, although not without saving you the last dance at your funeral. Biographical info: Paul Lemos's work in Controlled Bleeding leans toward classical structure yet still retains a surrealist texture with an embrace of feedback, noise, and groundbreaking recording techniques. Lemos is also known as a respected compiler of tracks for industrial/ experimental music compilation series Dry Lungs - essential listening for anyone interested in the different and unconventional. A member of Controlled Bleeding since the mid-'80s, Joe Papa brought a ethereal/gothic vibe to the band. In 1998 he was a Long Island Music...
CD $12.00
02/18/2003
The Warlocks have been making a name for themselves for several years with their own brand of psychedelic rock - a swirling grind that conjures the Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Spaceman 3, Neu!, Can, and early Pink Floyd. They deliver the sounds and sights from their powerful, hallucinatory world that these synthetic times need and would do well not to ignore. At the vortex of The Warlocks' cross-fire hurricane - two drummers, four guitarists, bass and keyboards - is guitarist / bassist / lead vocalist Bobby Hecksher. He writes all of the band's songs, which range from fourteen-minute gotterdammerung assaults to pastoral acoustic-strummed meditations; from amazing pop to addictive guitar mayhem that anchors the trip. Hecksher was in the Brain Jonestown Massacre for a while, a few years ago, and also played on Beck's Stereo Pathetic Soul Manure album, so you know he's no fly-by-night. They've toured the US extensively and released two fine EPs on the Bomp label, but The Phoenix Album is by far their finest work to date. A preview Phoenix EP, clocking in at over an hour, collects two songs from the full length album, "Baby Blue" and "Stone Hearts," as well as a number of otherwise unreleased yyyyeah-yuh.
CD $13.00
11/12/2002
***Don Howland is best known for founding seminal blues-roots-deconstructionist outfits The Gibson Bros., The Bassholes and supergroup Ego Summit (with Ron House [Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments], Jim Shepard, early Gibson Bro Tommy Jay, and Mike Rep); as well an appearance on the Cheater Slicks' Forgive Thee double-CD. Our colleagues at Matador have praised the Bassholes' "fine unrefined distillations of Howland's various likes, from Skip James to disco, the Germs to Bob Dylan." The fine folks at Revenant also note that Howland's work "has consistently hewn closer to music's great primordial gloop than anyone since Hasil Adkins." But it took some hack at Tucson Weekly to nail it: "Howland is a blues purist with a long list of punk-related credentials… [including writing for Village Voice, Spin, New York Rocker, and Trouser Press. His] vocals possess the raw emotional depth of Rufus Thomas or Skip James, and he brandishes his six-string weapon [with] trashy exuberance.… If David Johansen decided to unearth the corpse of Charley Patton and start a crude, punk-meets-Delta blues band, Howland might be elected to carry the shovel, [having been] historically aligned to the twisted and fucked up roots of Americana music." If you're still sitting there thinking, "Don Who?," it's your own damn fault, okay, igmo? On The Land Beyond the Mountians, Howland is by himself with guitar, piano and unidentified percussive instruments. This is Howland's music how it's meant to be heard - recorded in a basement on a four-track for under fifty...
CD $12.00
02/19/2002
***Combining the classic trappings of '60s psychedelic guitar rock with an eccentric spirituality, lysergic high priest BROTHER JT's records are deep, penetrable and seek to entertain. He has racked up a multitude of impeccable releases on a multitude of independent record labels with impeccable taste. His palette expands with each passing release. Heavy pop, thick with guitars, thumping drums and stoned, tremulous melodies take the listener on a trip through the complex patterns and designs that are unique to the mind of JT. From stretched-out zoner wail to agile, psychedelic strum, his body of work is singular, odd, outstanding and unimpeachable. It's a pretty tall order to name a contemporary artist with enough panache to carry on the legacy of wrecked pop and what writer BYRON COLEY would call "Blieb Alien rock" left behind by the likes of Syd Barrett, Roky Erickson, Skip Spence and sandbox-era Brian Wilson, but Brother JT is the only name worthy to stand alongside.
CD $12.00
01/22/2002
There is a long tradion of Qawwali singers in the Ali Khan family, including the man who brought Qawwali to the West - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Like his father, uncles and grandfathers before him, Nusrat sang with a fervor and style that reverberated within the being of all his listeners. During his lifetime, Nusrat saw his audience grow from Pakistani devotionalists to a larger, more international group comprised of many races and religions from around the world. In the 1990s, he collaborated with the likes of Eddie Vedder and Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking soundtrack), Michael Brook, Massive Attack, and Peter Gabriel (Last Temptation of Christ). Through these collaborations, Westerners discovered the voice of Qawwali and flocked to his concerts. When Nusrat passed away in 1997, he was at his peak in popularity. He had just completed his biggest American tour to date and was signed to a major recording company. His voice was clear, powerful and inspirational. The Final Moment documents one of the last concerts of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His group also featured Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, who continues the Ali Kahn legacy. Longtime collaborator Baba Varma recorded this 1996 concert of ecstatic Sufi compositions, a celebration for all who attended, now a vital and loving document of the Voice of the Century.
CD $12.00
10/30/2001
For more than 10 years Jon Wahl fronted the Los Angeles skronk-punk-jazz-metal band Clawhammer, whose sound earned them a hardcore following across the country and record deals with Sympathy, Epitaph and Interscope. Jon's saxophone, harmonica and guitar abilities have landed him guest appearances on recordings by Mudhoney and several In The Red recording artists, including the Bassholes and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. On Sour Suite, his debut post-Clawhammer effort, he has taken a subtler yet equally twisted musical path. Using acoustic and electronic instruments, Sour Suite weaves a very dark and haunting musical fabric. Equal parts Eno-era Roxy Music, Tom Waits and Spike Jones, this album sounds like nothing else.
CD $12.00
10/30/2001
***Paula Frazer is the former lead vocalist of the critically acclaimed Bay Area band Tarnation. Tarnation's releases on Warner/Reprise and 4AD showed Paula to be a singing/songwriting force to be reckoned with - her rich voice radiates beauty. Occupying the space between Patsy Cline and the Cocteau Twins, Paula takes her country-infused influences to wonderfully dark extremes. Some have called her music "country gothic" but Birdman's Lord David Katznelson just calls it "excellent." Indoor Universe is Paula's first solo effort and it is unquestionably her finest work to date. Her heavenly voice has never sounded better and the dreamy expansiveness of her music never more vibrant. Paula Frazer grew up in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, singing in the church choir where her father was minister and her mother played piano (it was her mother who taught Paula piano, bought her first guitar when she was nine years old, and introduced her to the music of Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline, George Gershwin, Roy Orbison and the pop music of the '60s and '70s, all of which have remained big influences on her singing and songwriting). As a teenager, Paula sang with jazz groups in Arkansas, performing standards and some of her own songs. She moved to San Francisco in 1981 and since then has sung, played bass and guitar with various local bands such as Frightwig, Pleasant Day, Trial, Cloiter, Virginia Dare, and an Eastern European women's choir in Berkeley called Savina which performed mostly Bulgarian choir songs...
CD $12.00
04/24/2001
***The second Birdman-released album from ninety-two-year-old fife-and-drum blues legend OTHA TURNER, and a unique one at that. A once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Otha and precussionists from a drum troupe in Senegal, Africa who were flown to Senatobia, Mississippi just to record this record. Eight tracks of rhythmic trance that brings heritage music full circle from its foundations.
CD $12.00
04/03/2001
***Spazmo-transonic rhythm: first came the idea, then came the action and then it got hot. Like the birth of the atomic age -- and, what the hell, its deeply troubled adolescence -- a first-time BOREDOMS experience stuns with sheer brilliance. It's an event after the occurrence of which there is no going back. By turns manic and explosive, brooding and quiet, whimsical and awkward, the Boredoms rock harder, wilder, and cooler than the most chest-puffing metalheads and cock-o'-the-walk rappers. And even when their self-invented "Bore-language" hits a peak in barbarous density, naive and spastic introspection usurps all expectations. If ever there is one band that can transform shorted circuitry into a sublime maelstrom, it's this Osaka goon show. Vision Creation Newsun follows the groovitude of the much-loved Super Are with additional funkiness and space-time continuosity. It is funk, it is trance, it is drum'n'bass, and it is waaaaay psychedelic. The Boredoms' pirouettes into new musical highs with each subsequent release have consistently impressed the world's rich supply of joyless humbugs, won over the clinically indifferent, and amazed the unamazeable. They've been doing it for years, the same reliable line-up that has always created music for all 'noids to rejoice to -- vocalist YAMANTAKA EYE leading a celebratory loin-cloth journey to the heart of the sun; guitarist YAMAMOTO SEIICHI surfing grooves effortlessly with the silkiest pickin' since Ry Cooder discovered Sangria; YOSHIMI P-WEE adding her graceful-as-the-kitchen-sink drumming style while keeping it with the corps; plus a new starship trooper who just...
CD $12.00
02/06/2001
completely crazy noise from a member of Caroliner Rainbow
7" $3.50
01/08/2001
Ralph's second album is another wild ride through his demented psyche. Sheer genius.
CD $12.00
01/08/2001
Tom Waits saxophonist strikes out on his own noisy single
7" $4.00
01/08/2001
Longtime horn-blower for many notbales including Tom Waits goes it solo with a free-ranging and odd bit of genre-bending freak out. Multi-voiced and instrumented thanks to the work of overdubbing and an active imagination, Ralph manages to butcher and restore jazz, dixieland, boogie rock, and classical while just going nuts.
CD $12.00
01/08/2001
Big, oversized sleeve with Clive Barker comic attached.
7" $3.50
01/08/2001
Big, oversized sleeve from Caroliner offshoot.
7" $4.00
01/08/2001