***Currently out of print on CD, MICHAEL YONKERS’ Grimwood finally receives its long-overdue vinyl re-release on Nero’s Neptune. Yonkers’ first 4 LPs were released simultaneously in 1973, but it is Grimwood, Michael’s first, which regular commands the biggest bucks on the collector scum market. Recorded in 1969, less than a couple years after the material eventually released as Microminiature Love, Grimwood sounds like it emanates from another universe entirely. Straightforward on the one hand, yet fascinatingly and psychedelically abstruse on the other, Grimwood remains an essential “outsider” document that sits comfortably (and irreplaceably) alongside Spence, Grudzien, Tweddle and a few select others. “It would seem that Yonkers followed a trail that psychologically parallels the sun life highway, and his private flight took place in a presumably small hut, nestled on a lemonade lake, and from his chimney wafted rainbow smoke, in the fantastical haven of the mystical, mythical grimwood town for which the rec is named, as he attempted to allow light / space into areas of his psyche that hadn’t seen enough of either in some time”—Karl Ikola
LP $17.75
09/04/2015
BACK IN STOCK - LAST COPIES ON BLUE VINYL!!! DANNY KROHA is a founding member of the GORIES who released two albums and a handful of singles containing influential blues/punk between 1986 and 1992. From 1993-2006, Kroha co-led the DEMOLITION DOLL RODS through five long players of primitive glam/roots scorch, touring the U.S. and Europe several times both as headliners and as openers for the likes of the Cramps (on a full U.S. tour) and Iggy Pop (for several west coast shows). Now, Kroha comes full circle with his latest combo, DANNY & THE DARLEANS. They play what Kroha describes as “’garage rock’, a style of American folk music which is blues-based and is played with electric guitar, electric bass, and drums.” He goes on to say “I'm really into the idea of garage rock as folk music. It was the folk music of 60's teenagers. Anybody can do it.” What becomes evident after one listen to the band’s debut LP on Nero’s Neptune, however, is that not just anybody can do it like the Darleans do it! With the explosive rhythm section of sometime-DETROIT COBRA RICHIE WOHLFEIL on drums and COLLEEN BURKE on bass and vocals, the band storm through 12 numbers with the raw energy and toughness one would hope for from Detroit’s best rock and roll band.
LP $17.75
12/03/2013
CD $14.00
12/03/2013
***Tombeaux, the much-anticipated new album from PAUL METZGER, marks our alchemist's third appearance on Nero's Neptune, following critically-acclaimed contributions to labels like Locust and Honest Jon's. Metzger summons the spirits of musical Appalachian forefathers, guitarist Django Reinhardt and classical sitarist Nikhil Banerjee, among others, weaving a peerless, highly individualistic music that sounds unlike anyone but himself. Metzger's playing doesn’t imitate raga structures so much as use those modal figures as a starting point. He employs dazzling, breviloquent string plucks on the main banjo strings, whilst producing rhythmic, droning textures on the cross strings of an added bridge. Some have suggested similarities to the works of John Fahey or Sandy Bull, but Metzger's modus operandi doesn't constitute a mirroring of those styles; rather, he composes and operates apart from their music, in an insular and altogether separate universe. In the process, Metzger transcends and expands the lexicon in a wholly organic manner.
LP $17.50
04/16/2013
CD $14.00
05/21/2013
***The three vinyl sides of PERE UBU Live at the Longhorn are as much an indispensable live rock album as Modern Dance is an indispensable studio album. The show consists mainly of material from the Modern Dance album, only rocked out and swinging, more raw-nerved yet seasoned than their studio counterparts. What becomes apparent, especially on repeated listenings is how well-made this music is, how the drama and comedy flows within the modules of each song, how the songs fit together to give an audience an experience that—while sharpened to paranoia and sensitive to harsh realities—is as ineffable as it is concrete. Released on CD and 3-sided double-LP vinyl.
CD $14.00
05/21/2013
2XLP $25.65
04/16/2013
***BACK IN PRINT!!! Nero's Neptune yields to popular demand, and provides a limited LP reissue of the landmark Carbohydrate Hydrocarbons. MICHAEL YONKERS’ splattering, maniacal guitar shards and impassioned vocals ride atop THE BLIND SHAKE’s driving riffs and scalpel-sharp rhythm section to create a 21st century high-water mark for both forces. It's hard to believe that music this tight, cohesive and utterly essential was borne not long after a chance nightclub encounter between an oddball, 60-something musical genius and a much younger, precociously talented rock band but, as they say, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Cover art by ZAK SALLY (Low), RTI pressing, Stoughton jacket. Edition of 500 copies.
LP $15.50
03/05/2013
***ZAK SALLY is a Twin Cities-based musician, publisher and comic artist. After 12 years with minimalist rock band LOW, Zak left. Planting roots in Minneapolis, Zak began focusing on cartooning, and also established a small-press publishing concern, La Mano 21. Although Zak initially planned to abandon recording, he remained “absolutely terrified by music.” Eventually, and with the help of his friend BEN DURRANT (ANDREW BIRD, DOSH), he polished off a Sub Pop 45 (“Why We Hide” b/w “When I Said I Missed You I Just Meant My Aim Was Off"). Now, we offer this delightful, full-length LP. All sounds you hear on the record are courtesy of Mr. Sally. In fact, Zak was involved in EVERY aspect of creating this LP, not only performing all the music contained within, but also designing the cover, laying it out for printing, making the plates, printing the damn thing on his OWN PRESS, trimming, folding, and finally inserting and sleeving the records! With a mere 200 copies slated for national distribution, the project ends with you (the listener) and your turntable. The LP is called Fear of Song, and, in Zak’s words “it's the sound of one man clanging.” Edition of 340 copies (200 for distribution).
LP $14.00
06/08/2010