Siltbreeze

Omit

inSec

Siltbreeze

Omit’s in/Sec is “new,” but not new. Recorded in 2013, the masters lost in the label’s murky somewheresville that always shows up when moving. For those who don’t know, Omit is an experimental electronics artist from New Zealand’s south island who, since 1990, has released thirty-some xerographed cassettes and CDrs in the Dead C orbit for those who do. It’s not enough to say that in/Sec is an ambient masterpiece bringing to mind a John Carpenter soundtrack performed by the Hub because listening to it engineers new species. The infectious and corrupting sounds synthesize new life forms in your brain's enzymes. If you specialize in a niche too much, you are prey to predators outside, but Omit never goes for low-hanging fruit and isn't simulating anything. I can vomit a better looking face than the ones on these little fuckers eating my brain right now. In this century that flatters itself to be of drinking age, it is a queer thing we haven’t come face to face with aliens. There is a time for everything and they're all intermixed. Besides the xenobiological effects, Omit constructs your sentiment through timbral concepts that repeat and shift with minimal reference to harmony, melody, key, or mode. Streams jump and skitter, knitting tightly high and low in a dense rattling driven to the long and most plaintive tones amongst the countless gizmos (that’s including you, but not “you”). This one is for big fans of Anode/Cathode, Ikue Mori, Papa Srapa, Fronte Violeta, and Insignia...

Cuticles

Major Works

Siltbreeze

Oamaru, located about 80 miles north of Dunedin on New Zealand's south island, might seem like the last place you expect to find a prodigious racket like Cuticles, but ain't that a kick? You just never know. Formed around the nucleus of Austen McMillian, Matthew Plunkett (ex-Trendees) & Lisa Preston (Nux Vomica, The Portage) a couple years back, they've been stacking up the hits and on Major Works, it's time to cash in. There's 18 tracks here and Cuticles chew through 'em with abandon. Someone just yelled out from the attic next door, "Sounds like the Pastels, with guns!" One could make a case for the South Island Sound coursing through their veins (they do live there after all), but the sheer abandon-pop that gushes off the grooves, it's hard not to be reminded of those two, great, David Mitchell helmed Auckland outfits, The Exploding Budgies & Goblin Mix. They might all drink the same water, who knows? But it sure feels good to get brain-stung again by the salty rimes off the Otago Coast. Long may they howl.

Famous Mammals

Instant Pop Expressionism Now!

Siltbreeze

If the names Amber Sermeno, Andy Jordan & Stanley Martinez sound familiar, it's because they're in practically every band that matters from the SF/Bay area, A short list reads; Non Plus Temps, Children Maybe Later, Naked Roommate & not the least of which is Famous Mammals. Following a self-released cassette, 'Instant Pop Expressionism Now!' is their 1st full length vinyl effort & man is it a doozy. On their debut tape the seeds were sown for what has blossomed on this LP as a fully pollinated orchard of hybridized post punk that seemingly harkens back to the halcyon days when Rough Trade called 202 Kensington Park Road home. "Instant Pop Expressionism Now!" is an ultramodern polyglot of smatterings that at once sound familiar, but you can't quite place it. Swell Maps? Happy Refugees? Monochrome Set? Maybe. Kinda. It's in the stitching, but the design & thrust is all Famous Mammals. And while we're not prone to hubris, we are confident that 'Instant Pop Expressionism Now!' will be the hit lp of the summer everywhere from Sooty's Disco Party to Gus' Hotdog Hootenanny. If you know, you know, It's not too late to hop on board. The more the merrier. RIYL releases on; Rather Records, Refill Records, Step-Forward Records, NB Records.

C.I.A. Debutante

Down, Willow

Siltbreeze

With their 3rd vinyl long player for Siltbreeze, CIA Debutante have successfully out-flanked those critics who have been forever chattering, "will they ever be as big as Artery?" To paraphrase Fred Ward in Tremors; "Artery? Hell, Clock DVA!" All bristling aside, such questions & answers don't carry much weight these days. Such is the language of pettifoggers. And who's got time for them? We're trying to sell records here. Down,Willow sees our heroes Paul & Nathan attaining S.T.A.S. (Superior Third Album Status), honing in with a top gloss of new & proto experimental, post-punk, recitation & vibe. Imagine fusing The Fall's Grotesque & Morton Subotnick's Sidewinder into a sole entity? Sure, there's going to be lots of sparks, flash fires, smoke of all colors + bickering, but from this vantage, what a light show! There's even some shredding on here that sounds like they may have lit this fucker with Martin Kippenberger's copy of Guitar Hero. Please take it off, it's too good! If you've been paying attention to the bands countless tape efforts, or just their recent vinyl outings, there's no denying the Mach thunder Down, Willow is gonna roll across thine cranium. And should this be your introduction to the band, feel free to pretend none of the aforementioned bullshit matters. And welcome, adventurous new listener!

Glands Of External Secretion

Neck Pillow

Siltbreeze

It’s astonishing to think that the most recent vinyl full length outing from Glands of External Secretion was the splendiferous Reverse Atheism 2xLP (Butte County Free Music Society, 2011). Not that they’ve been dormant—the BuFMS CDR series and a smattering of 7-inchers and lathes have seen to that. No one’s sitting around the twiddler, waiting for their name to be called. But it must be said: the Glands’ sublime warmth and withering wit really crackle when the tone arm slips the needle down into the grooves on the olde timey record playing machine. Then, just like that, a mysterious huckster lures our heroes to Long Beach, CA in April of 2022, where, it was promised, they could record voices and set down séance tracks in the haunted rooms aboard the Queen Mary. You gotta admit, that’s a pretty good gig. But the would-be higgler’s ruse did not come to pass. The Glands were sold out for a warehouse full of Burns & Schreiber’s Pure B.S.! LPs and the duo found themselves thrust into the Siltbreeze cabal. But fate can also be serendipitous. The label, known for its propensity for bringing meat pies to a cake fight, immediately insisted these recorded tracks get the vinyl treatment. And here we fuckin’ are. If unfamiliar, Glands Of External Secretion are the duo of Barbara Manning (28th Day, World Of Pooh, SF Seals) and S. Glass (Bananafish Magazine, many things BuFMS). Since 1992, they’ve been snatching victory from the jaws of indifference with a...

Puppet Wipes

The Stones Are Watching And They Can Be A Handful

Siltbreeze

Puppet Wipes is the latest source of audio levitation for Arielle McCuaig (Hairnet, Janitor Scum, Vacuum Rebuilders) & Kayla MacNeill (Singing Lawn Chair, Vacuum Rebuilders) who conjure up their extraordinary odds bodkins out of Calgary, Alberta. Label fact checkers will note that Puppet Wipes are the 1st Canadian band ever signed to the Siltbreeze roster. That only took three decades. Anyway, their debut cassette from a couple years back, ‘It’s Called Punk, Are You Stupid?’—supposedly recorded in an hour—was a fetching melange of art damaged hoopla that sounded like it might’ve taken a spin around the Amos & Sara / It’s War Boys universe. On this one, the course settings remain seemingly intact, yet further realized. Plus it took a tad longer than 3600 seconds to behold. There’s a quote by the master of superfluousness, May Benot, that goes, ‘When the unconventionalists convey their art, which is by nature, unconventional, then does unconventionalism become part of a post conventionalist-conventionista?” Whatever you say, Mrs. Doublespeak. I’m not sure I even know what that means, but if I were a betting man, I’d say Puppet Wipes have it in spades. RIYL; Lemon Kittens, Your Mom Too, Doof, Dave E. McManus, XV.

C.I.A. Debutante

Dust

Siltbreeze

“Dust is the second vinyl outing from Nathan Roche & Paul Bonnet (aka, CIA Debutante) for Siltbreeze (aka, their label) following the estimable huff of The Landlord (aka, the 1st LP) after countless cassette releases (aka, too much backstory). Dust finds our heroes at the top of their game; the captivating Je ne sais quoi formed around vocal recitation & percolating electronics has been honed to perfection, moving them beyond whatever references were made in the past into a catagorization where they are known as ‘Themselves’. If I were to compare it to anything it would be that giant Zardoz head, flying around the French countryside, drolly enunciating-in English no less!-dystopian affirmations, predicting the future, rewriting the past, ordering off menu, all the while spitting forth a rain of Aperol, Pernod & Gitanes to their brutish followers below. Basically free drinks & smokes. What’s not to follow? You can Cabaret Voltaire this or Shadow Ring that all you want, but Dust puts CIA Debutante in the cat bird seat. And I don’t care what you say, the air really is more rarefied at the top. Listen & find out.”—Arthur Frayn (aka, Zardoz)

Vertical Slit

Live At Brown's

Siltbreeze

Rare live & unreleased tracks from 1979 by the legendary Vertical Slit, passed along from Jim Shepard (to Tom Lax) in 1998. Housed in silkscreened jackets with insert.

C.I.A. Debutante

The Landlord

Siltbreeze

Hailing from Paris France, 'The Landlord' is the debut vinyl outing for the duo of Nathan Roche & Paul Bonnet, otherwise known as, C.I.A. Debutante. True, the band has cast an aggressive shadow in the cassette underground for the past few years, releasing works on labels such as tanzprocesz, SDZ & Czaszka Records, but it's with Siltbreeze & 'The Landlord' that they make the great leap forward into vinyl. Fusing a sound that in short could best be described as Shadow Ring meets Cabaret Voltaire (those of you with longer legs think also the great Italian duo, The Tapes + 5ive Ximes Dust ), C.I.A. Debutante's sound sputters, percolates & ultimately illuminates your cranium like a theosophist breath mint; cool & witchy. C.I.A.Debutante have & continue to tour extensively throughout Europe, only recently supporting both ExEk & The Rebel. Look for C.I.A. Debutante to grace American shores sometime in the Spring of 2020. Limited edition of 250 lp's.

Iwata, Yuzo

Daylight Moon

Siltbreeze

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Daylight Moon is Yuzo Iwata’s first outing since his debut, Drowning In The Sky, got the green light in 1999 on the legendary Org label. While Yuzo’s been living stateside for a couple of decades, his roots, style and fluidity harken back to the Kichijoji Minor days of the late seventies Tokyo underground scene. He also put in some time as a member of Tori Kudo’s Maher Shalal Hash Baz early on and there’s no one else in Philadelphia who can make that claim. His pedigree is legit. As is his playing. For fans of Kousokuya and Hallelujahs especially and PSF and Org label output overall. Limited re-pressing of 300.

TR

Manifesto Rumoratorio

Siltbreeze

When we last heard from Pietro La Rocca, he was honing his inscrutable craft with the unflinchingly great Sicilian ensemble, Oper’azione Nafta, whose Cavuru forged the skree of High Rise with the yelp of Sun City Girls. On Manifesto Rumoratorio, La Rocca teams up with ex-pat Polish vocalist Patrycja Stefanek with the results running the gamut from agog to agape. Utilizing a small array of gadgets (Walkman, delays, toys, and tapes) in conjunction with voice and guitar, the results simmer in an ardor of abstract improvisational babble—think Vetza / Joe Potts (LAFMS), Jim French / Diamanda Galás on Metalanguage, Joan La Barbara / Bruce Ditmas on Wizard Records, or Suckdog. Polarizing? Sure, but like the deep end of the pool, it’s great once you get in.Produced by Siltbreeze majordomo Tom Lax, in conjunction with the Oley Freindschaft Guild of Braucherei Practitioners and the Guild of Urglaawe Braucherei and Hexerei Practitioners, Manifesto Rumoratorio possesses a language understood by, if not hundreds, then literally dozens of rabid, abstract-clatter-wanters. The rest of you? Bring a coat, it might get chilly.

Writhing Squares

In The Void Above

Siltbreeze

Writhing Squares is the inner-city Kosmische skronk perpetrated by Kevin Nickles (Ecstatic Vision) and Daniel Provenzano (Purling Hiss). Hailing from the scenic sewers of South Phila, the duo’s short but sweet resume includes a much-heralded self-released seven-inch and a couple cassette outings, but In the Void Above is the longstanding promissory we’ve all been waiting for them to deliver.Utilizing a formidably small gamut of sounds (reeds, voice, electronics, bass), the end result is like a collision of Blurt, Hawkwind (United Artists era) and Uli Trempte’s Spacebox, where the ensuing sonic boom is as vibrant as it is dense. Look for Writhing Squares to tour throughout 2016, maybe even comin’ to your house for supper, soon!

Small World Experience

Shelf-Life

Siltbreeze

Originally seeing the light of day as a CD-only release in 1994, Shelf-Life was the debut long-player from the excellent Small World Experience, a Brisbane outfit virtually unknown north of the equator. Of course, a bevy of fans prevailed and while the band released a small brace of releases throughout the ’90s, Shelf-Life seemed the most unobtainable.Formed in 1987 by DIY enthusiasts Pat Ridgewell (songwriting / guitar / singing, plus often bass on recordings) and Ian Wadley (drums and sometimes bass, guitar), Small World Experience exudes wry, post-pop charms, very much in the spirit of once-upon-a-time Brisbane acts such as Go Betweens, Four Gods and even The Saints. Throw in an affinity for Jimmy Webb, the Monkees’ Headquarters album and Ridgewell’s own, languid slant on things, and buster, you got yourself one helluva record! Siltbreeze is honored to be able to offer up, for the first time ever, Shelf-Life on the vinyl format it has so long and richly deserved. Limited, one-time pressing of 500 copies.

Rosali

Out Of Love

Siltbreeze

The stunning debut LP from Philadelphia-based artist Rosali Middleman, Out of Love is hard to pin down. It rolls like an omnipotent fog through the canyons of Topanga, smothering the once-bohemian enclaves of East / West Village NYC, all the while blinding every vibrant peak ’n’ hollow from the Ozarks to the Appalachian Mountains. The guitars are sublime, with occasional flickers of higher-key psychedelia punctuating the breathless, reflective cadence that is Rosali’s transcendent delivery. While drawn from personal catharsis, Out of Love achieves that uncanny ability to speak to us all. It’s LZ IV, stripped of its pomp and circumstance. This time it’s more about the triangle / pyramid symbol found on the inner sleeve than the man with the bundle of sticks on the cover. And if you know what I’m talking about, then twist ’em up, ’cause summer ’16 is the year Out of Love takes on a whole lotta love.Rosali has shared the stage with Meg Baird, Kurt Vile, Mary Lattimore, Purling Hiss, as well as many other local luminaries. Look for her on the nation front throughout this year.

Chadwick, Sarah Mary

9 Classic Tracks

Siltbreeze

As moving as Kim Blackburn, Sarah Mary Chadwick is back with her second official full-length release following her debut solo LP Eating for Two (Bedroom Suck Records, 2012). While preserving her distinctive traits of bare-skinned honesty and visceral delivery, 9 Classic Tracks sees Chadwick venture into decidedly more lush territory—her unmistakably raw vocals present this time through a vaseline filter and with an air of reflection indicative of both artistic growth and intimate evolution. In a new collaboration for Chadwick, 9 Classic Tracks was recorded and produced by Geoffrey O’Connor (The Crayon Fields) and mastered by David Walker. “Where do I fit in?” she inquires on the opening track “Ask Walt,” setting the tone for what soon becomes clear is an album of great introspection. But rather than alienating the listener with inward-facing questions, Chadwick’s astute observations on relationships and the utter messiness of love are both deeply idiosyncratic and universally relatable. In the thick of the album, the mercurial fifth track “Same Old Fires” moves from a hymn-like whisper into an uncharacteristically sunny backing beat layered contrarily behind emotional cries of “I’m tired of feeling the same old burns / From wandering through the same old fires,” before transitioning into a similar lament in the sixth track, “I’m Back Where I Was.”  9 Classic Tracks reaches a turning point with “I’m Like an Apple with No Skin,” a song that will resonate with anyone who has walked away from a relationship in the name of...

Melchior, Dan

The Souls Of Birds And Mice

Siltbreeze

Since 2011’s Assemblage Blues, Dan Melchior has proceeded to document the scope of vulnerability, carrying the torch of DIY through territory explored previously only in the wake of Pierre Schaeffer.  The Souls of Birds and Mice isn’t composed of elements so much as it is composed of the composing of elements. This is the sound of the digital workflow, transparent composition; wrenching the processing of Muura or Doc Wör Mirran and dismantling the investigative passivity. One could draw a comparison straight to Cornelius Cardew or Li Daiguo, but that’s just because Melchior’s work is so laterally referential it slows down any pull to deconstructing the singular voice to simple candidness. And it all ends with some of the most perfect psychedelic guitar work ever paired with helicopter sounds.  With the whole array of structural speculation drifting past, recall that all spatial language betrays—but who needs translation when the instinct purifies? However unreliable this container, it’s a given that this is Melchior at his most impassioned.

Rodman-Melchior, Letha

Shimmering Ghost

Siltbreeze

This posthumous release, following last year’s Handbook for Mortals, presents the peak of Letha Rodman-Melchior’s compositional work. Traversing landscapes of affective registers with the organizational ability of Christine Sun Kim and the diversity and intimacy of Throbbing Gristle, Rodman-Melchior re-categorizes objects to find the foreign in the familiar. Moving in and out of focus, her musical patterns themselves grow and become more and more self-aware.  As a response to possession and the human / nonhuman interface, Shimmering Ghost recalls the most moving of performances by Roger Reynolds. It exposes the overlap between senses and suggests that resonance, as distinct from hearing, is a source for beauty beyond sense. And by the use of sense’s special effects, Rodman-Melchior crafts a language that is simply a pleasure. Mary Lattimore’s harp playing at times is reminiscent of Three Musicians’ Music from the Rochester Folk Art Guild, but with urgency heard nowhere else.

People Skills

Tricephalic Head

Siltbreeze

Following a self-titled cassette (Psychic Mule, 2013), People Skills serve up a first LP of deceptively relaxed songs. As per usual, deductions are to be made on the consciousness of the character; the important thing is that in the ensuing spatial vagueness, Jesse De really comes into his own. The influence of Graham Lambkin has become so staggeringly panoramic over the past decade it seems to demand participation and here it is, inscribed by the chance blurts of Die Spielverderber and the slow attitude of The University Punx, and played from the loner-folk-side-in—that is, for feeling felt. And the laziness is projective; always managing to sound looser and more vivid than it seemed a couple of seconds before, shifting from lyrical to terse by way of The Rebel. And if that doesn’t get you, consider the mortal words of John Berryman: “Well hell / I’m not writing an autobiography-in-verse.” As a first-person hallucination recorded memory, this plays somewhere between full-blown De narrative and snapshot. Regardless, we’re blazing into a new era and this one will go perfect in one of those new rabbit-computer cafés.

Amanda X

Amnesia

Siltbreeze

Hailing from the Kensington area of Philadelphia (home to infamous gangs such as the Yo’s, Twerks and Fuzzies), Amanda X imperviously sallys forth, creating an oasis of bedroom pop and post-punk among a landscape of toxic speed, eroded enamel and chattering human skin suits. Fused together, this set of songs form the whole of Amnesia, their debut LP. The trio of Cat Park, Kat Bean and Tiffany Yoon is most adept at channeling sounds and melodies that recall the savory once-was of Scrawl and MyDolls, the piquancy that spiked the best of Harriet Records as well as the sweetest of the blueberry muffins that studded the wispy K label in a time known as “back then.” Amanda X have toured or shared the stage with such bands as Parquet Courts, Protomartyr, Tyvek, Cheater Slicks, Dum Dum Girls, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Purling Hiss and Counter Intuits. The band vows to keep an active live presence for the remainder of 2014 and beyond. In the meantime, keep Amnesia on that turntable. It’s already the album of the summer and the pool ain’t even open yet. Dang! How’d they do that? Amanda X... they’re just that good.

Dark Matter

S/t

Siltbreeze

Hold the tidings, reconnoiterers. This is a new set of songs from Stephen Cogle of Vacuum, The Victor Dimisich Band and The Terminals. Dark Matter stands with contemporaries The Renderers and The Puddle in exemplifying a “late” style of New Zealand post-punk—more concrete, more distilled. Cogle’s vocal flourish stills reminds one of Roxy Music—a band that, recall, is only ten years older than Cogle’s earliest projects. The continued relevance of an ensemble like Dark Matter over Roxy Music can only be attributed to the richness of the musical moment that birthed it. Trusted names like Cogle, John Christoffels, John Billows, Joanne Billesdon, Nicole Moffat and Michael Daly continue into the 21st century in new combinations with new aspects to notice. But more than just an update on the Christchurch Sound, Dark Matter plays with punk nostalgia to craft an overwhelmingly romantic (with a lowercase r) pop record. Too cat-like to be reflective, totally immersed in the garage rock impetus, their flat, gothic psychedelia is equal parts Chills, Television Personalities and Scientists, with the intimacy of Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos or Small World Experience. With a breadth of material fitting to the subject of “getting older,” Dark Matter is perhaps the most finessed document of Cogle’s vision yet.

Spies

The Battle Of Bosworth Terrace

Siltbreeze

The Spies bear the unique distinction of one of New Zealand’s true missing pieces in the Underground puzzle. With no audio documentation ever seeing the light of day in their time (1978-79, Wellington), the band really did exist in a you-had-to-be-there bubble. Historically (as in, now) known as hatching both George Henderson (later of The Puddle) and Christopher Plummer (who also thumped heads in Shoes This High), The Spies possessed a lithe but keen awareness of both the Canterbury and DIY movements that were taking place back in Old Blighty.  The Battle of Bosworth Terrance imagines a bridge connecting Kevin Ayers and The Desperate Bicycles—a much-needed safe passage over a mysterious chasm you never knew was there. The fact that these recordings exist at all is nothing short of miraculous serendipity; the story is beautifully retold by Mr. Henderson in the liner notes. If you’re thinking forgery, theft, drugs and distinctive footwear (Alpaca boots perhaps?), congrats, the sniffer is working just fine. Besides the heretofore unknown music, also included are photographs, lyrics and text. It’s only taken 30+ years, but the larcenous abandon that was The Spies is finally willing and able to be heard, read about and seen for the first time.  Pressed in a one-time edition of 500 copies, The Battle of Bosworth Terrace includes a digital download card.

Johnny Noise

The Day Is Coming

Siltbreeze

For the discerning pinetoppers of contemporary, post-everything aggro grit, the name Johnny Noise should be synonymous with the sound of grizzled, sonic élan. One of the principal constructors of Los Llamarada’s estimable creepy crawl, Noise’s guitar howls and snarls went deep in guiding that band’s portent vision of bleak, psychedelic ache. And now he’s cast all his brut-moderne madrigals—drums, strings, vocals, the whole shebang—into a solo cauldron of hairy, distempered muzz for your consumption. Sounding like a lurching composite of Randy Holden, Bruce Gilbert, Steve Hall and Eric Hysteric, The Day Is Coming is the out-of-nowhere masterpiece of 2014 no one saw coming. Seriously, this is some virtual goat-killin’, blood-suckin’, Chupacabra-damaged, splayed-out shit! The man is back and armed to the gills. You have been hipped.

Die Schacht

Halber Selbstbetrug

Siltbreeze

This contemporary Berlin outfit’s musikalische klänge is so perfectly informed by the bare-knuckled scrappers of the Neue Deutsche Welle fringe that one might half-expect to find a matrix for Pure Freude, Rondo or Moderne Musik Tontrager scratched into the runoff. But, no, it’s here, it’s now, and it’s the first German release ever on Siltbreeze.  If the frenzied staccato of S.Y.P.H., Das Name or Mittagspause is what helps goose the lederhosen up the legs, then Die Schacht’s gurgling oink is the perfect lube to slap them around the hips. Pressed in an edition of 300 copies.  “... a solid chunk of head-shrieking metronomics smothered in bassy transits and overwrought in thirsty shards (or should that be barbs) of pylon guitar. A rhythmically sharp and feisty beast, with that transistorised megaphone of vox hooking you into to some uber-addictive rockstar mimicry... intimately lit and full of quirky angles ending on a screamed abruptness.” —Rottenmeats blog

Shoes This High

Straight To Hell

Siltbreeze

While Shoes This High’s existence was a mere glint in the eye of Father Time (a year or more, tops), they made every second count, stalking the New Zealand post-punk landscape—both North and South islands—with ravenous abandon. For most fans, their legend and reputation rest solely on the strength of one highly formidable (and collectable) self-released 7-inch EP from 1981. And as anyone with ears who’s had the good fortune to come in contact with its jagged, scabrous genius can attest, the cry invariably rings out afterward: “Mein Gott, is this all there is?” In the 30-plus years since its initial release, the answer has been a most unflinching “yes.” That is, until Siltbreeze tapped into the massive tape library of famed New Zealand underground music archivist Bob Sutton, who had in his possession a white-hot live scorcher of the group, culled from a set that went down at the infamous Billy the Club way back when. Straight to Hell showcases a band at the peak of their menacing powers. Guitarist Kevin Hawkins slashes and rips strings from his ax like a mad butcher; the rhythm section of Jessica Walker and Christopher Plummer is par excellence, while the sneering, contemptuous vocals of singer S. Brent Hayward spit like poison darts above the swagger. Expertly sequenced by Jared Phillips (Times New Viking), Straight to Hell is a most welcome and astonishingly great artifact that delivers in buckets a shivering, toxic rain you always knew had fallen. Vinyl comes with a digital...

Shoes This High

S/t

Siltbreeze

Complimenting the full-length LP of Shoes This High’s previously unreleased archival recordings, Siltbreeze presents the first-time legitimate reissue of this essential high water mark and crucial New Zealand post-punk classic. Alongside the Gordons’ debut 7-inch, the band’s sole EP—originally self-released in 1981—uncapped a ferocity yet unheard not just in New Zealand, but in most corners of the global underground fraternity. Needless to say, Shoes This High is a defining moment in definitive.

Far Out Fangtooth

Borrowed Time

Siltbreeze

Borrowed Time is Far-Out Fangtooth’s second full-length LP for Siltbreeze and follows an excellent one-off seven-inch effort for the HoZac label. In the two years since the band’s debut, Pure & Disinterested, their sound has matured; their direction, finessed. While the first LP carried heavy Sonic Youth / Christian Death vibes, Borrowed Time segues in and out of the fuzz / feedback pop of The Jesus & Mary Chain, the smoldering post-punk darkness of Sort Sol and the crashing, echo-laden psychedelia of Five Day Week Straw People.  Look for the band out on the road in late 2013.

Rodman-Melchior, Letha

Handbook For Mortals

Siltbreeze

Known by the alias Tretetam, Letha Rodman-Melchior has released singular sound constructs on CDR and cassette since 2008 on such labels as Ikuisuus and Robert & Leopold. For her first-ever vinyl release, she sheds the veneer of mystery and comes clean with this sweeping haboob of sound, as deft and defying as horns on a hen. From the vantage of time and deep insight, some (i.e. Tom Lax) say Tretetam / Rodman-Melchior’s unique audio gems find a middle ground between United Dairies (notably HNAS) and Vanity Records (ditto Mad Tea Party). But why not the let the artist herself fill you in on the Handbook for Mortals backstory? “From early on, I found that I liked listening to blended sounds of familiar things; TV, lawnmowers, children playing outside. I noticed that when I played records, I wouldn’t flip them over because I found comfort in hearing the needle stuck in its groove. “When I lived in Chinatown on Canal Street in New York, I loved to lay in bed and listen to the vendors shouting, blending with the heavy traffic and tiny wind chimes; I would pretend I was someplace else, somewhere I didn’t know. I love that feeling. “I became interested in field recording after hearing Salmon Run by Graham Lambkin, and had found a website called The Quiet American. I began piecing my tracks together under the name Tretetam, and was influenced by Lambkin, Marcel Türkowsky, Emiliano Maggi, Moondog, Maya Deren’s films and more recently Aaron Dilloway’s Modern...

Victor Dimisich Band

S/t

Siltbreeze

Siltbreeze is proud to announce the long-awaited vinyl retrospective of perhaps the most elusive of all Christchurch ensembles, The Victor Dimisich Band.  Originally released in 1983 on Flying Nun in a minuscule edition, the band’s lone self-titled 12-inch has become a cult classic more sought-after than owned. Through the intervening years, both the Xpressway and Medication labels issued cassette and CD compilations of the band’s material.  With a unique sound that fused an almost gothic styling with warbly desert psych à la 13th Floor Elevators, The Victor Dimisich Band created its own genre, one that still has not been been aptly codified to date. Membership included Peter Stapleton (Vacuum, Pin Group, Scorched Earth Policy), Stephen Cogle (Vacuum, Terminals), Alan Meek (Vacuum, Bilders), Tony O’Grady and Mary Heney (25 Cents, Scorched Earth Policy). Historians and enthusiasts know that Heney replaced O’Grady just prior to the recording of the 12-inch, as the former had become a born-again Christian and sold his equipment. So there you have it.

Scorched Earth Policy

Going Thru’ a Hole in the Back of Your Head

Siltbreeze

Siltbreeze is proud to announce the rerelease of the complete catalog from legendary Christchurch band (and Flying Nun alumnus) Scorched Earth Policy. From 1983-86, the group blackened the skies with a unique sound equal parts Southern no wave and post-apocalyptic surf, adding the trademark tinges of ’60s garage / psych that coursed through the veins of every great Christchurch band from that era. Not that this should come as a surprise, as their membership was a veritable who’s who of the city’s finest musicians: Peter Stapleton (Vacuum, Pin Group, Terminals), Mary Heney (25 Cents, Shallows), Brian Crook (Max Block, Renderers, Terminals), Mick Elborado (Terminals, Shallows, Gas), Andrea Cocks (Missing Piece Productions) and Andrew Dawson (Dedicated Human).  During their existence, Scorched Earth Policy produced two 12-inch EPs for Flying Nun; their entire recorded output is presented here for the first time as one comprehensive LP, pressed in a limited edition of 500 copies.

Constant Mongrel

Heavy Breathing

Siltbreeze

Constant Mongrel’s debut Everything Went Wrong (co-released by RIP Society and 80/81 Records) made every Best Of 2012 list worth its salt. And why not? Combining tempered aggro, churning rhythms and dead-on percussive splat, their rookie effort shows a band on the cusp of break out. And on Heavy Breathing, Constant Mongrel pulverizes the door into dust, so parents take heed: lock up your sons ’n’ daughters! Beginning with the jarringly great “Complete,” this is this post-punk art damage that spares no one, not even themselves. With eight tracks that smolder, crackle and snap, Heavy Breathing is yet another plumed feather in Constant Mongrel’s cap, sitting them—in terms of magnitude and diversity—alongside fellow Aussie gristle slingers such as X, Babeez and Seems Twice. Heavy Breathing is sure to be another top corker for 2013. And beyond.

Lloyd Pack

Know Your Lloyd Pack

Siltbreeze

Captains log, stardate 10.3.12: The Lloyd Pack 7" ep is finally realized. We had picked up a distress signal some weeks back, the call letters unclear, but seemingly emitted from a slow & hostile planet known only as URP. The data transcribed mentioned project (Lloyd Pack), title, (Know Your Lloyd Pack), participants (Russell Walker, Letha Rodman Melchior, Dan Melchior) & facilitator (Siltbreeze). Upon listening to contents, our forward team-though eager albeit without much depth-quickly attempted a single comparison to former Siltbreeze inhabitants, the Shadow Ring regarding sound & style. However, Chief Science Officer Roland Woodbe dismissed this as naive & noted the possibility of an Excalbian conspiracy in such a hasty summation. Woodbe elaborated a deeper analogy, finding in his historical dissection hints to century old former galactic explorers such as Collective Horizontal, 49 Americans & No Half Measures (for example). When presented with the compositions of Lloyd Pack myself I found CSO Woodbe's comprehension to be most evolved. That said, the 'Know Your Lloyd Pack' ep occupies it's own unique aural atmosphere too. It's drollery is of the highest Anglo-Saxon order, it's ambience as crisp as a Gloustershire perry. Overall I have found it's essence most logical and as any species this side of 40 Eradani A is aware, with only 300 pressed, it's shelf life is surely not long for the galaxy. A portion of all sales will go to the Letha Rodman Melchior Cancer Fund*. Peace and Prosper to all. Sincerely, Tiberius Surak Starfleet Commander. Track Listing;...

Blank Realm

Go Easy

Siltbreeze

Blank Realm is arguably the most diverse sounding of all the excellent bands presently calling Brisbane, Australia, home. Following a host of releases including two out-of-print LPs for the Not Not Fun label and a pair of sevens on their hometown imprint Negative Guest List, Go Easy is the one where all the chickens come home to roost. With an uncanny channeling of Missing-Links-styled garage / psychedelia, Pere-Ubu-esque rustbelt avant trippery and the experimental post-punk spasms of The Work, Blank Realm ably goes deep (when called for) as well as plays it tight and inside (ditto).  For the discerning sodbuster who actually has cash burning a hole through the leather pouch found at the end of that wallet chain, this is surely one of the primo investments for 2012.

Times New Viking

Over & Over

Siltbreeze

Eight years after their partnership began with the debut of Dig Yourself, Times New Viking and Siltbreeze join forces again for the band’s latest outing—six tracks, the result of a recent creative (albeit, modest) outpouring of ideas. What’s interesting to note here is how the trio tempers the primal panic-punk of their salad days and fuses it with the sustained, keen pop skill found within their later catalog.  It’s hard to know where Times New Viking goes from here, but for right now, this perfectly distilled elixir of sound shows a band firing on all cylinders. What more can you ask for?

Feehan, Mark

MF

Siltbreeze

While our erstwhile maestro is likely to point out personal involvement in Miami’s Broken Talent or Trash Monkeys as the apex of his twisted musical endeavors, the fact remains that Mark Feehan is most likely best remembered as the “other” cold-blooded string-mangler that shredded synapses through the Siltbreeze era of Harry Pussy two decades ago. While recent years have seen former bandmate Bill Orcutt reinvent the essence of gut-bucket blues, Feehan whiled away the time building an exact replica of an infamous Confederate submarine (the H.L. Hunley) and traveling the world, submerged. During that tenure nestled in Neptune’s realm, he created a masterful album of his own—this very collection bearing his humble monogram. MF is a lively mix of guitar-based compositions steeped in modal harmonics that explode into miasmic, aural waves, transporting emanations of Phil Yost, Magical Power Mako, Michael Chapman and Hans Reichel into the mind stream. Swirling, spacey eddies will open like maelstroms and flood your subconscious, but do not be afraid. That much time under water changes a man. But sometimes it’s for the best. And MF is a case in point. Limited edition of 350 copies.

Max Block, The

Air Ache In The Belly Of The Leech

Siltbreeze

For the majority of newbie Flying Nun collectors, The Max Block’s eponymous (and only) 12-inch release is more myth than fact. Few seemed to have been pressed, and even fewer were available in the brief window of time (mid-’80s) when it was “around.” Unknown until very recently was that a second EP had been recorded and slated for release by Flying Nun but never realized. Air Ache in the Belly of the Leech is a compendium of both, and thus the complete recorded works of The Max Block. You’re welcome. Some background: The Max Block is where Maryrose (née Wilkinson) and Brian Crook—now the power couple behind The Renderers—joined forces for the first time. Maryrose was coming out of Above Ground, and Brian out of Scorched Earth Policy. With the enlisted talents of Rebecca Shanahan and Robbie Stowell, The Max Block pushed different boundaries than other active Christchurch bands at the time; they came out slinging a brain-splattering goo of art-spaced, Pere-Ubu-seared cerebellum, and frenetic, Mars-fried medula oblongata. Such tantalizing aromas! Pardon me, garçon, but make mine deux. Bottom line, Siltbreeze is proud to make available this remarkable and awesome collection, much of it seeing the light of day for the first time ever. Edition of 500.

Dead C

Harsh 70s Reality

Siltbreeze

Originally seeing the light of day in April of 1992, Harsh 70s Reality was not just a high water mark for that year, but for the ages. Technically this was the band’s fourth long-play outing, and as a double-album, it followed (and was ever so slightly informed by) two formidable juggernauts that preceeded it: Twin Infinitives and Lake. But it was Harsh 70s Reality that left the decade stronger and more resonant than it came in.  People say that rock music died with the passing of Kurt Cobain. But The Dead C slaughtered it in its sleep with this tremendous set of grinding thud. It is in every sense the ultimate post-rock album. To hear it is to understand why one scribe back in the day referred to their sound as “a garbage truck backing over the abyss.” A legendary release from a legendary band on a legendary label.

Mad Scene

Blip

Siltbreeze

It’s staggering to think that this is the first album from Mad Scene since Merge released Chinese Honey way back in 1995. But that’s a fact. Not that the band has been inactive on the live front—far from it. When you have a group as diverse as Hamish Kilgour (The Clean), Lisa Siegel (Vegetarian), Steve Thornton (Go-To Guy), Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo), Gary Olsen (Straight Shooter), Josh Feldman (Professional Athlete), Cassie Tunick, Danny Tunick (Same Last Names!) and Brian Turner (WFMU Music Director), things can get sidelined when it comes to the studio. But eventually things fell into place and for their fourth long-player, the band enlisted Sonic Boom to produce and mix, then thrust the finished product into the waiting hands of the Siltbreeze label. Blip is a masterful mélange of sounds, mixing a range of influences such as nascent Flying Nun chug, Television Personalities DIY psych, shambling Pastels-like rockers and Sarah label indie-pop nuggets. The palette of aural perfection here offers something for everyone. And yeah, it may have taken 17 years to get here, but you can’t say it isn’t worth the wait.

Vacuum

Walking Slow

Siltbreeze

A long wait to be sure on this one, but well worth it. Second installment of archival tracks from this legendary Christchurch outfit, culled from cassette recordings circa 1978-78. For the uninformed, Vacuum were the genesis, the ground zero, the guys that forged the ChCh "sound". While the band's lifespan was short, it's members would go on to soon after form Bilders, Pin Group, Victor Dimisich Band, Scorched Earth Policy & Terminals. Before Flying Nun, before ANYTHING, there was Vacuum. These recordings are being offered up for the 1st time, ever. LIMITED to 300. Tracks are as follows;  Side A 1-Walking Slow (Dux de Lux, 1979) 2-Born & Bled (Barbadoes Street "the cemetery", 1979)  Side B 3-Remember Breaking Up (Dux de Lux, 1979) 4-Skulls (Oxford Terrace, 1978)

Mount Carmel

Real Women

Siltbreeze

For those swayed by the magisterial authenticity of Mount Carmel on their eponymous 2010 debut album: its follow-up Real Women finds the band honed and sharper, thus delivering what might be the best sophomore album released by an American blues-based power-trio since ZZ Top’s Rio Grande Mud. Nods to Free, Humble Pie, even Trapeze can be sussed out in the mix, but at the end of the day, Real Women is straight-up Mount Carmel all the way. Searing leads, smokey vocals, thundering rhythms, cascading drums, hyperbolic hyperbole... it’s all here. Mount Carmel brings back the spirit of 1973 like no one else. The only difference now is better weed and shittier barbiturates. It’s hands-down pure rock, no frills. Nary a retro contrivance is to be heard. These guys live it for real. Honest. So climb on board with Real Women and see what you’ve been missing. The results are astounding.

Above Ground

Gone Aiwa

Siltbreeze

Above Ground was a fleeting yet no less important piece in the awesome DIY Christchurch scene of the early ’80s. Together only for a short period in 1983, the band was comprised of Bill Direen (Vacuum / Builders), Carol Direen, Maryrose Crook (Max Block / Renderers) and Stuart Page (Axemen). They combined a ubiquitous and detached Velvet Underground vibe and a smattering of early Modern Lovers keyboard angst with some kind of Sky Saxon / Seeds psychedelic mojo. Above Ground was a formidable outfit in their brief existence and deserve more than a mere footnote in the history of one of the most vibrant scenes to exist in the past 30 years. Gone Aiwa originally saw life as a limited-edition cassette made to order and sold to various shops and at the occasional gig. So unless you were there (and chances are, you weren’t), it’s a good bet this material will be fresh to your ears—though two tracks did see the light of day on the Direen / Builders retrospective CD, Max Quiz, released by Flying Nun in the mid ’90s. Gone Aiwa the album is finally realized, and what a wonderful thing it is to behold. Just goes to show it’s never too late.