***BACK IN STOCK!!! The long awaited new album from STARS OF THE LID is finally ready for your sonic immersion. Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over the past five years, the band once again deliver a massive work that clocks in at over two hours. The band moves their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone subsequently frustrating the typical ambient clichés associated with their music. Received an 8.6 review in Pitchfork upon its original release. "Crushingly sad, lightly melancholic, or even uplifting, depending on the state of mind of the hearer… a sound divorced from intention and its ambiguity is its strength."—Pitchfork
2XCD $16.00
04/02/2007
3XLP $58.00
08/18/2023
***MATTHEW SWEET is an alchemist, having developed the powers to mysteriously transform a minimal palette of common musical elements into something extraordinary. While his work contains references to psychedelia and folk musics, it fits comfortably in neither category. His understated vocals are delivered not as a declamation, but rather as a muted invitation to listen to his tales of the failing human condition. Nine tracks.
CD $14.00
10/31/2006
This is the first proper vinyl release for TIM HECKER’s breakthrough 2006 album. At the time of original issue, there was a small run of a few hundred vinyl copies done by a small German label, but this was pressed on an inferior sounding single LP which was much too short for the length of the album, not to mention the wide dynamic range of the recording. This new version is mastered at 45rpm over four sides for maximum sound quality. "The whole album moves with a sort of barely-contained violence that threatens to disintegrate or burst tracks into flame outs at nearly any point. it's powerful and intense ambient music that really doesn't sound like anything else being created right now."—Almost Cool
CD $14.00
10/16/2006
2XLP $30.00
02/23/2024
***Précis is the first album from Michigan’s THOMAS MELUCH under his musical pseudonym BENOIT PIOULARD. Following a series of limited, handmade cassette and CDR releases for friends and family over the last several years, and the well-received Enge EP (Moodgadget 2005), Précis arose as a documentation of a coming to terms with impermanence, marked by analog residue and the imperfections of human influence. A multi-instrumentalist with an insatiable palette, Pioulard bases most of his songs on treated acoustic guitars and honeyed vocals, backed by carefully layered bells, bass, dulcimer, old tape samples, field recordings and myriad other sources. These sounds, though sculpted roughly into pop songs, have their own delicate patterns of ebb and flow, distortion and disappearance. From the sunny refrain of “Triggering Back” to the descent of nighttime chills on “Needle & Thread”, Précis sighs in time with the seasons. It's an album about him, her, and you; it's an exaltation of the ways these things end.
CD $14.00
10/16/2006
***A brand new album from CHRISTINA CARTER (CHARALAMBIDES), and her most cohesive and fully realized album to date. Four extended tracks that all utilize the same key and same guitar tuning, but to widely different effects, as Carter explores different moods and structures.
CD $14.00
09/18/2006
***The debut release from Birmingham, England’s CHRIS HERBERT. Mezzotint is a seven-track collection of digital, textured pieces assembled through the extensive manipulation of found sounds and environmental sources. “Utterly quiet, with a pulse-soothing beat, it takes several listens to reveal itself, like a dark room slowly brought into focus.”—Marc Weidenbaum (Disquiet)
CD $14.00
09/18/2006
***JESSICA BAILIFF’s first new solo album in four years balances the more acoustic approach of her songwriting, becoming the most refined example of her musical vision to date. Gossamer vocals hover over delicate melodies, accented by tasteful bits of percussion, piano filigrees, and sundry guitar sounds.
CD $14.00
07/25/2006
***The long-awaited new album from the legendary CHARALAMBIDES, now pared down to the original core duo of CHRISTINA CARTER and TOM CARTER. After having worked out some dark demons with the release of their last album Joy Shapes, the duo has recorded a more melodic song cycle, reminiscent of their earlier albums Union and Market Square. Of particular note is the stunning guitar work Tom displays on the 18-minute instrumental “Black Bed Blues.” The band’s most cosmic and beautiful release to date. matt
CD $14.00
05/22/2006
***NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! The fourth full-length album from Vancouver-based sound artist SCOTT MORGAN under his LOSCIL banner. Eight tracks that continue to refine his atmospheric soundscapes with new experimentation and less editing than before.
CD $14.00
05/22/2006
2XLP $24.00
10/20/2015
***GREGG KOWALSKY lives in Oakland, California. In December, 2005 he completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Electronic Music and Recording Media at Mills College with the guidance of Fred Frith. Kowalsky composed for and directed the Mills College Contemporary Performance Ensemble. For Through the Cardial Window Kowalsky used mic'ing and recording techniques to pull out hidden textures and frequencies from sound sources as diverse as recordings of the Mills Ensemble (he filtered a piece he wrote for the group through the pickup of an acoustic guitar), bowed acoustic guitar and a broken floor heater. "Into the Marshes They Drove Me" contains source material from the band ISIS. Kowalsky made a track, using tones, harmonics and feedback loops. The music he creates is situated betwixt and between textural ambience, psychedelia and pure noise.
CD $14.00
04/17/2006
***Lightning Ghost is the second BIRD SHOW album, following the debut release Green Inferno. It centers around BEN VIDA’s home-fi sound experiments. Tracks are carved out of opiate'd chanting, disjunctive drum circles, synth meditation and prepared piano trance song. Vida's sonic explorations are embedded into tighter song structures, with a greater role given to vocals in the mix. The ceremonial air has been retained and expanded with a strong percussive presence and repeated, mesmerizing musical figures. Vida recorded the album at home, but much of the material resulted from the hours spent on stage this past year.
CD $14.00
04/04/2006
***KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN returns with a document of a live performance recorded during a recent stretch of touring. Lisbon is a summation of a dynamic performance approach that mixes and matches distorted guitars, vintage synths, soundfield manipulation and musical processing. As Whitman describes it: “This recording, captured to hard disk on stage at Galeria Zé Dos Bois on October 4th 2005, is... a single lilting piece of static sine-tone harmonics, squared-off electric guitar haze, clangorous room-tone eruptions, and high-end synth freakouts...”
CD $9.75
04/04/2006
***A new CD from CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA, a member of Tokyo computer-oriented electroacoustic trio OPITOPE and improvisation group COPA DEL PAPA. Minima Moralia is a product of the careful placement of sound afforded by computer programming combined with the timbres of live performance. Concentrating on the textures of sound, Hatakeyama consciously avoids the use of electronic sounds; instead using sound fragments made by guitars and vibraphone he played himself. The fragments were processed and reprocessed in live performances on laptop, and the contention between the analog sound sources, digital processing and the musician's choices are what give the album its positive, warm and physical presence. Features contributions from MASAHIR KOBAYASHI (violin) and TOMOYOSHI DATE (sound materials).
CD $14.00
02/21/2006
***A brand new double-CDEP from Dearborn, Michigan space/drone duo WINDY & CARL. Dream House is the duo’s first new material in five years, and consists of two evolving, straight ahead pieces with sustained melodic ideas and singular musical gestures. Dedications to Flea features gentle tributes to a departed canine friend.
CD $14.00
11/07/2005
***A new album from one-half of the STARS OF THE LID, BRIAN McBRIDE. Recorded over the past four years, the album features a synthesis of guitar, piano, trumpet, vocals, harmonica, strings, and sampler, all mutated, pooled, and delivered with an emotional wallop. Nine tracks.
CD $14.00
10/31/2005
***Periphery is a collection of piano and orchestral based material, recorded and produced over the past year. CHRISTOPHER BISSONETTE developed a system of exclusion and reconstruction, using seconds of samples to produce extended textural edits, often removing any traces of the original source, yet retaining the fundamental nature of each modeled phase. The results are introspective compositions; layered with delicate minutae, extended and immersive. Designed to be played loud.
CD $14.00
10/10/2005
***A brand new album from former JESSAMINE bassist and recent SUNN O))) contributor DAWN SMITHSON, her first new material in six years. Incorporating aspects of Jessamine’s swirling sound with acoustic elements and introspective songwriting, Safer Here balances melody with experimentation to create rhythmic, non-ornate songs, constructing an album where every musical gesture carries weight. Includes guest performances from REX RITTER (Jessamine, Sunn O))), FONTANELLE), JUSSI BRIGHTMORE (100 PETS, I’M BEING GOOD, BARON SAMEDI), DAVID FARRELL (SOUTHERNING, DORMANT), and BRIAN FOOTE (NUDGE, Fontanelle).
CD $14.00
10/10/2005
***BODUF SONGS is MAT SWEET of Southampton, England. His debut self-titled album is a collection of home-recorded tracks performed with acoustic guitar, cymbals, violin bow, toy piano, manipulated field recordings, and a computer. The songs are filled with memorable melodies, artful arrangements, and carefully placed effects that lend an air of surrealism to the album. Intimate, immediate, and engaging.
CD $12.00
09/19/2005
***The second single from the Let Us Never Speak of it Again album from OUT HUD. Includes the album version of the song “Its For You,” along with a radio edit, and a remix by NYC DJ team RUB N’ TUG. Enhanced CD features a video created by THE WILDERNESS.
CD $6.00
07/04/2005
12" $6.00
07/04/2005
***A new album from this trio comprised of HONEY OWENS (JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER), along with BRIAN FOOTE and PAUL DICKOW of FONTENELLE. Cached is a mix of balanced guitar and vocal melodies with electronic textures and rhythms that hint at dub reggae and African patterns. Nine tracks of wondrous pop, improv, rock and electronic sounds.
CD $14.00
05/16/2005
***Multiples was recorded at the Harvard University studios, where a stash of vintage synthesizers and electronics was made available to KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN (aka HRVATSKI) during his time as a lecturer there. The eight tracks on Multiples flow through hit hat shimmer to skull-scraping electronic tones to interlocking clusters of repetition. This is Whitman’s most inclusive and developed album yet.
CD $14.00
05/16/2005
***A reissue of the debut release from Houston improvisation giants CHARALAMBIDES—TOM and CHRISTINA CARTER. Originally released in 1992 on cassette (and then later as a limited edition CD on the band’s own Wholly Other label, and on double-vinyl by Time Lag in 2004), Our Bed Is Green is a recording that ropes in folk, improvisation, psychedelia, blues and gospel into a crackling sound world unlike any other. Twenty-five tracks.
2XCD $16.00
04/12/2005
***The highly anticipated new full-length from post-punk electro-rocking dance squad OUT HUD. Powered by bubbly rhythms leavened with sing-song vocals and sprightly humor, the band smacks ten tracks of bass-heavy, rhythm-centric love.
CD $14.00
03/29/2005
2XLP $15.50
03/29/2005
***The second solo album from TOWN & COUNTRY member and Chicago musical mainstay BEN VIDA and PILLOW member LIZ PAYNE under their BIRD SHOW banner. Recorded at home on a digital 16 track recorder, Green Inferno finds Vida delving further into the realm of outsider, stream-of-consciousness vocal/percussive / psychedelic drone songcraft. Performed with violin, cornet, accordion, acoustic guitar, organ, qrareb, assorted shakers, tambourine, and mbira, as well as integrated field recordings provided by ATSUHIRO KOIZYMI and FRED LONBERG-HOLM.
CD $14.00
02/15/2005
***A beautiful collection of tracks set down between 1994 and 1998 by CHRISTINA CARTER (CHARALAMBIDES, SCORCES). Recorded on boombox and four-track tape using an acoustic guitar and occasional vocals, Living Contract expands our understanding of her contributions to Charalambides and stands alone as affecting acoustic music.
CD $14.00
11/16/2004
***AUTISTIC DAUGHTERS is DEAN ROBERTS' (WHITE WINGED MOTH, THELA) return to the band format, and his first new release since the 2003 Be Mine Tonight solo album. Joined by fellow musicians WERNER DAFELDECKER (POLWECHSEL) on bass and MARTIN BRANDLMAYER (TRAPIST, RADIAN) on drums, Roberts delivers some of his most intriguing and combustible music to date. Includes guest appearances by VALERIO TRICOLI and ANTHONY GUERRA.
CD $14.00
11/09/2004
***A double-CD Kranky label sampler with new, upcoming, exclusive, and previously released material from the label's enormous stable of studs. You get twenty-one tracks from STARS OF THE LID, PAN AMERICAN, AUTISTIC DAUGHTERS, CHRISTINA CARTER, GROWING, CHARALAMBIDES, KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN, OUT HUD, JESSICA BAILIFF, FONTANELLE, TOM CARTER, DEAD TEXAN, STRATEGY, and more.
CD $6.00
11/09/2004
***The third album from composition and jazz scholar GREG DAVIS, and a collection of drone-oriented material Davis has been working on over the past two to three years. Each track features a single instrument (bowed psaltery, acoustic guitar, harmonica, Fender Rhodes, Magnus chord organ) played by Davis and then filtered through a computer. The tones that come out of the process bear little immediate resemblance to the instrument of origin, taking in extended and diffuse forms of their own.
CD $14.00
10/26/2004
On LP edition: This is the first vinyl issue of the sole The Dead Texan album originally released in May of 2004. On CD+ DVD edition: Another sweeping album from STARS OF THE LID and AIX EM KLEMM member ADAM WILTZIE, this time under his new DEAD TEXAN moniker. Eleven mini-symphonies of nocturnal psychedelia and reverie-inducing soundcraft, propelled with piano, strings, and Wiltzie's surreal smear of guitars. Includes a DVD with music videos by Wiltzie and video artist CHRISTINA VANTZOUS. “Stars Of The Lid’s Adam Wiltzie presents a collection of drone compositions that he considered too aggressive for his parent band—which means they range somewhere between a whisper and a shout. The sense of cathedral-like reverence is balanced with extreme intimacy.” —Pitchfork “This is quite possibly the best music available for slowly drifting into dreamland. Equal parts intrigue and sedative, The Dead Texan is an elegantly hypnotic album that manages to freeze time in addition to passing it.” —Tinymixtapes “The Dead Texan remains a remarkably subtle and tranquil work. Disarmingly lovely...” —Textura
CD+DVD $17.50
10/26/2004
LP $22.00
09/16/2022
***The second full-length CD from heavy-duty sound pushers GROWING, the loudest quiet band you'll ever hear. Now recording as a duo, the band takes their expansive instrumental palette and pushes it with feedback, hiss and static manipulation, wringing out waves of delay from their amps while retaining an earthbound mastery of crushing riffage. Mixed by REX RITTER (JESSAMINE, FONATANELLE, SUNN).
CD $14.00
10/12/2004
***The second in a series of CHARALAMBIDES-related releases from Kranky features Charalambides guitarist TOM CARTER on solo lap steel guitar. Originally recorded in 2001 and released by Wholly Other (in an edition of 55 CDRs), Monument features two tracks—one just over two minutes, the other clocks in at forty-seven—of Carter's distinctive playing augmented with glass slides, a Digitech TSR-12 stereo reverb, a Rat distortion pedal, and a variety of Craftsmen screwdrivers.
CD $14.00
06/29/2004
***BACK IN PRINT - Note New Pricing!!! The fourth album from MARK NELSON's PAN AMERICAN combines the computer-centric approach of his previous The River Made No Sound album with the organic instrumentation that marked his work in LABRADFORD and on the first two Pan American albums. Rippling electronics and muffled beats distend into elegiac, resonant, and wavering ambient songcraft. Includes upright bass, drums, trumpet, and flugelhorn on three of the eight songs provided by CHARLES KIM (SINISTER LUCK ENSEMBLE), TIM MULVENNA (VANDERMARK 5, JEB BISHOP TRIO/QUARTET), STEVEN HESS (ALUMINUM GROUP, BOSCO & JORGE), and DAVID MAX CRAWFORD (STEREOLAB, WILCO, POI DOG PONDERING).
LP $19.00
06/29/2004
CD+DVD $16.00
06/29/2004
***Another stellar outing from unequaled Texas psych-folk improvisation giants CHARALAMBIDES—TOM CARTER (electric guitar, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar, chimes, wind wand), CHRISTINA CARTER (electric guitar, voice, bells), and HEATHER LEIGH MURRAY (pedal steel guitar, psaltery, voice)—and the trio's first new studio recordings in some time. Five extended tracks that atomize and absorb blues, psychedelia, gospel, improv, folk, and more.
CD $14.00
05/18/2004
2XLP $15.50
05/18/2004
***A reissue of TV POW and EVERYONED member BRENT GUTZEIT's Drug Money album, and a logical continuation of his 1997 Mosquito Dream collaboration with JAMES PLOTKIN. Originally released on CD-R by Box Media, the album finds Gutzeit delivering three tracks of viscous, slowly forming drones. These are not cotton candy clouds of bliss-out fodder. These are battleship chains slowly dragged along rusty steel plates and then slowly dropped to the ocean floor. ADD and short attention span lightweights need not apply.
CD $14.00
05/18/2004
***The third album from Vancouver-based sound composer and sampler, synth, effects, and computer maestro SCOTT MORGAN, and his first to feature real instruments and input from other musicians. Using sound sources that range from sampled instruments to miscellaneous lo-fi mini-cassette recordings, Morgan generates music on computer by custom programming, sequencing and processing designed so no two performances of the patches would be exactly the same. JASON ZUMPANO (Fender Rhodes piano), TIM LOEWEN (guitar), and NYLA RANY (cello) improvised over the electronic sequences, which Morgan then edited and mixed.
CD $14.00
05/18/2004
2XLP $24.00
02/17/2017
***The second album STRATEGY album from EMERGENCY, NUDGE, and FONTANELLE member PAUL DICKOW, and his most thematic to date. Seven tracks that wire together Dickow's programming and performing experience via a hodgepodge of table top electronic, computers, and realtime musicianship, marrying subtle rhythms with discreet ambience.
CD $14.00
05/04/2004
***The culmination of a couple years' worth of transatlantic tape trading between JESSICA BAILIFF and DAVID PEARCE. Nine engaging tracks suffused with folky textures and bleached white noise, performed with guitar, piano, various effects, percussion, and both players' voices.
LP $19.00
11/25/2003
CD $14.00
11/25/2003
***Former New Zealander and THELA and WHITE WINGED MOTH leader DEAN ROBERTS returns with a brand new album, his first since 2000's And The Black Moths Play the Grand Cinema. Four extended tracks of oblique rock that expertly blends improvisation with careful arrangements, and electronic textures with traditional songwriting. Recorded in Italy by up-and-coming producer and composer VALERIO TRICOLI, the record features prepared guitar contributions from Italian guitar improv legend GIUSEPPE IELASI (Fringes Recordings) and CHRISTIAN ALATI, as well as percussion from drummer ANTONIO ARRABBIO.
CD $14.00
11/25/2003
***The first in a series of Kranky reissues from Texas psychedelic faves the CHARALAMBIDES. Originally released on the band's own Wholly Other label in 2002 as a CD-R in an edition of 300, the album is a wonderful dose of improvised minimalism performed with guitar, pedal steel guitar, and the haunting, wordless vocals of CHRISTINA CARTER and HEATHER LEIGH MURRAY.
CD $14.00
11/11/2003