***Over the last ten years, Michael Morley has embraced the acoustic guitar as the means of channeling the darkest threads that have run through his work since the early 1980s. While he largely made a name for himself as a maverick of primitive electric guitar and electronics in The Dead C and Gate, Morley's love of song form has never been far from the surface. In recent years, chance discoveries of Spanish and classical guitar records languishing in the discount and free bins at junk shops in South Dunedin proved to be a revelation. These records, largely recorded in the 1950s and 60s, began to shift Morley's work and lead him to piece together a new musical language from elements completely removed from the rock and avant-garde underground from which he first emerged. Spanish, Mexican and South American composers such as De Fossa, Ponce, Lauro, Barrios, Pujol, Albéniz, Falla, and Villa-Lobos as well as more traditional classical guitar composers like Schubert, Haydn, and Scarlatti all began to etch themselves into his consciousness. Rather than emulate them, Morley "channeled the experience of listening to these strange guitar sounds" as he began to play the acoustic guitar for hours at a time every day as an almost meditative exercise and a way of discovering a new way to play. This new musical language is realized on Pushed Streets, a suite of 12 songs Morley recorded at home in Kōpūtai/Port Chalmers, New Zealand. The music is quiet, almost ephemeral. Chords and melodies are...
LP $28.25
08/16/2024
***BACK IN PRINT!!! 75 DOLLAR BILL is one of the essential groups at the heart of NYC's underground. Driven by the telepathic union of CHE CHEN's microtonal electric guitar and RICK BROWN's odd metered percussion their long-form sound is unmistakable and compelling. On their third album I Was Real, the group expands in bold new directions, embracing brilliant fuller orchestrations, joyous rockers and entrancing new textures. The album is 75 Dollar Bill's third, featuring new directions accompanying the band's previously established interest in sprawling, unusual grooves and microtonal melodies. The record is enhanced by the presence of eight additional players in various combinations over its nine tracks—but also shows off the duo's strength when stripped down to the core. Requiring a variety of approaches, the album was recorded over a four-year period, in four different studios, with the band's closest associates and collaborators in a range of different ensemble configurations. The album also features several "studio as instrument" constructions that harken back to the collage-experiments of the band's early cassette tapes, while at the same time pointing to territories altogether new. Double-LP version presented in a heavy tip-on gatefold jacket with textured clothe wrap and matte foil stamping. Received a 7.6 rating from Pitchfork. The Wire Magazine # 1 Album of 2019.
2XLP $35.95
12/15/2023
***BACK IN PRINT!!! 75 DOLLAR BILL, a project by CHE CHEN and RICK BROWN present Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm / Rock. "Che's interest in the Arabic modes of Mauritanian music has marked our sound quite a bit but I have brought some things, too. The plywood crate I play is a big factor, defining, by its positive qualities (a nice warm 'boom' sound) as well as by its simplicity, what we're likely to do in the percussion realm. Wood / Metal / Plastic / Pattern / Rhythm/ Rock, this new record, differs quite a bit from the previous one, notably in the rhythmic 'tone.' Wooden Bag (2015) was all forward momentum, stomping and shaking, but the new record explores a long-standing interest of mine: odd and 'compound' meters. In most of my previous musical activities, I've convinced my partners to delve into this, but in 75 Dollar Bill it has just felt natural and I believe Che's modal investigations and melodic/harmonic tendencies enhance (and are enhanced by) this combination. The current record differs from the last in another big way: reinforcements! Over our few years together, Che and I have frequently had friends play with us at some of our gigs. There have been all sorts of permutations of instruments and some great friends/players who don't all appear on this record but here we are lucky to have a bunch of them: CHERYL KINGAN (of THE SCENE IS NOW) on baritone and alto saxes, ANDREW...
LP $28.85
12/15/2023