Search results for "MARC BARRECA"

Barreca, Marc

Recordings Of Failing Light

Palace Of Lights

Marc Barreca’s Recordings Of Failing Light explores the subatomic matter of ordinary instrument sounds. Pianos, glass percussion, guitars, and feedback are atomized through sampling and granular processing in search of the audio equivalent of a negative image. In the end, these granular elements became the beds and pads for elaborate extrapolations of deconstructed melodic, rhythmic, patterned, and forward-looking sound—and with the addition of analog sequencer and arpeggiator based textures, some tracks reach back to Barreca’s days with Young Scientist. Perhaps as an acknowledgment of the aesthetic guiding Jon Hassell’s Seeing Through Sound, Barreca’s work here finds its origin in images. The gradations and modulation of light and dark in radiographs, rayograms, negatives, old black and white and sepia-tone photos all impart and inform a shaping influence to the waveforms and amplitudes of sound found in these twenty pieces. Heavily layered, simultaneously dense and expansive, Recordings Of Failing Light is the result of experiments conducted in a sonic version of the Hadron Collider. Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. Recordings Of Failing Light is his eleventh solo album for PoL. His 1980 album, Twilight, reissued on vinyl in 2018, was one of the earliest releases on PoL. The Empty Bridge is his tenth solo album for the label. Recent releases include From The Gray And The Green (2019), Shadow Aesthetics (2018), and four collaborations with K. Leimer and two with Three Point Circle. Reissues include work on the acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture,...

Barreca, Marc

The Sleeper Wakes

Scissor Tail Editions

Scissor Tail presents the first vinyl issue of Marc Barreca’s 1986 album The Sleeper Wakes, originally only released on cassette by the Seattle electronic ambient label Intrepid.  Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, reissued on vinyl in 2016, was one of the earliest releases on Palace Of Lights. Recent releases include Shadow Aesthetics (2018) and three collaborations with K. Leimer. Previous reissues include work on the acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture, the Cherry Red compilation of seminal U.S. electronic music and the 1983 cassette Music Works For Industry. His work is also included in the collection of The British Library.”  The Sleeper Wakes has been out of print for many years and Scissor Tail is very happy to remaster and reissue this great work that was ahead of it’s time, employing analog treatments of sampled sounds arranged in a very interesting and intuitive way.

Barreca, Marc

The Empty Bridge

Palace Of Lights

With The Empty Bridge, Marc Barreca again exploits his distinct talent for translating landscapes into sound. The music was created in and reflects the influence of contrasting environments—the beauty and stillness of the Cascade Mountains and the muted industrial nightscape of the Duwamish Waterway, complete with its massive, now-condemned, empty freeway bridge. The pieces are sculpted from layers of synthesized and sampled instruments, field recordings and processed vinyl. With these sources, Barreca achieves a level of compositional sophistication that deftly combines elements of ambient, drone, noise, and sound art with contrapuntal lines running above and below the dense and shifting aural environments. Composed during a period of tranquil isolation—isolation created by a global pandemic, a broken concrete link to the city, and a remote mountain cabin—The Empty Bridge evokes immersive, evolving, contrasting landscapes.

Barreca, Marc

From The Gray And The Green

Palace Of Lights

Moving in the directions that originated with the Environments recordings and evolved to become extended pieces like Klaus Schulze’s Gewitter, Robert Henke’s Studies For Thunder, Brian Eno’s On Land and Steve Peter’s Here-ings, the music of From The Gray And The Green finds its origins in landscapes. This time, landscapes that Marc Barreca knows as his home—the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. These eleven pieces and three digital-only bonus tracks are sculpted from layers of synthesized and sampled instruments, field recordings and processed vinyl. Barreca tells us that “My goal was to create immersive, evolving landscapes shaped by a dynamic past and viewed as if through the translucence of passing clouds.” From The Gray And The Green offers a music of contrasts and change, departing from traditional ideas of ambient to arrive in shifting landscapes of the strange and the beautiful. Includes an eight-page booklet and download card for the complete album and three bonus tracks. Mastered by James Savage. Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, reissued on vinyl in 2016, was one of the earliest releases on Palace Of Lights. From The Gray And The Green is his ninth solo album for the label. Recent releases include Shadow Aesthetics (2018) and three collaborations with K. Leimer. Reissues include work on the acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture, the Cherry Red compilation of seminal U.S. electronic music and the 1983 cassette, Music Works For Industry, now on vinyl. His...

Barreca, Marc

Shadow Aesthetics

Palace Of Lights

With Shadow Aesthetics, Marc Barreca accomplishes something rare in electronic and ambient musics. The fluid, dynamic changes and movement within pieces; the complexities in time and pitch variation and evolution—typically absent from the mostly homogenous constructs of drone and ambient—all bring previously unavailable depth, shading and emotional charges to a form usually admired for its neutrality. Shadow Aesthetics results from a virtual arsenal of digital and analog sources operating in a complex system of origination, structuring, processing and editing. The result is a moving, articulate and complex work: music that is a profoundly emotive, original, and experimental electronic work that is in many ways the culmination of decades of listening, performing and composing in a form known best for continuous change.The album includes an eight-page booklet and a digital download code for the complete album plus two bonus tracks. Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, reissued on vinyl last year, was one of the earliest releases on PoL. Shadow Aesthetics is his eighth solo album for the label. Recent releases include Aberrant Lens (2017) and three collaborations with K. Leimer. Reissues include work on the acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture, an upcoming Cherry Red compilation of seminal U.S. electronic music and the 1983 cassette, Music Works for Industry, now on vinyl. His work is also included in the collection of The British Library.

Barreca, Marc

Aberrant Lens

Palace Of Lights

Marc Barreca’s seventh solo album for Palace of Lights extends his work with a broader and deeper palette of synthesized and sampled sound, including sources as diverse as prepared guitars, pianos, Indonesian metallophones and glass harmonica. The music of Aberrant Lens employs long MIDI delays, synced MIDI processing via MAX for Live and extreme warping of disparate looped sound sources driven into entirely new states. The results are new, coherent aural structures: music that questions traditional definitions of ambient and electronic forms. And, to the educated ear, within this search for innovation and experimentation Aberrant Lens reveals many of Barreca’s earliest influences. Even when integrated in thoroughly non-retro compositions, the hints of homage to Cluster and the first Fripp & Eno releases inhabit these twelve new settings. Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, was one of the earliest releases on Palace of Lights. His cassette-era album Music Works for Industry is being reissued by the RVNG spin-off Freedom To Spend, and his early cassette work is included in the upcoming VOD box set American Cassette Culture, which also features Marc’s early electronic music group Young Scientist. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Barreca, Marc

Beneath The Mirrored Surface

Palace Of Lights

2015 release. The impulse to invent and realize new music, new forms and a broader comprehension of sound has proven to be a permanent aspect of Marc Barreca’s work. From childhood music lessons, to tape and electronic experimentation with his group Young Scientist, to becoming an early participant in cassette culture and the independent movement, Marc has developed a large body of work that moves with and ahead of the changes that music has undergone in the past four decades.   With Beneath the Mirrored Surface, Marc continues his quest to create deep and shifting aural spaces by merging the abstract rhythmic warmth of early analog synthesis with the complexity and timbral beauty of acoustic instruments and natural sound. Barreca extracted and reshaped rhythms and textures from field recordings, decades-old world folk recordings and acoustic instrument loops. These sources were first converted into MIDI data using Ableton Live and then transformed and manipulated with Max/MSP. Hundreds of these source clips were then blended and arranged with layered and looped digital synthesizer and sampler tracks. The result is a dense, rich world of refracted light and shifting shadow. Mastered by Taylor Deupree.  Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, was one of the earliest releases on Palace of Lights. Beneath the Mirrored Surface is his sixth solo album for the label.

Barreca, Marc

Twilight

Palace Of Lights

As a part of the early independent music movement, PoL occupies a special niche in electronic, experimental and ambient genres. Following recent vinyl reissues of his 1983 Palace of Lights cassette, Music Works for Industry, and a compilation of early cassette tracks on VOD’s acclaimed American Cassette Culture, PoL has reissued Marc Barreca’s first album for the label, the 1980 release Twilight, as part of an ongoing program of documenting the roots of the Pacific Northwest independent impulse.This remastered + expanded edition includes one previously unreleased track on the vinyl LP and an additional six bonus tracks in the digital version.The album insert includes an essay by Steve Peters. Remastered by Taylor Deupree at 12k.  Marc Barreca has been creating and performing electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 album, Twilight, was one of the earliest releases on Palace of Lights. Beneath the Mirrored Surface is his sixth solo album for the label. Recent releases include Tremble (2012) and two collaborations with K. Leimer, Premap (2014) and Field Characteristics (2015). His cassette-era album Music Works for Industry is being reissued by the RVNG spin-off FreedomTo Spend, and his early cassette work is included in the acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture, which also features Marc’s early electronic music group Young Scientist.  His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K. / Marc Barreca

Chains Of Being

Palace Of Lights

Walking through the paths of Brian Eno, Harold Budd or Roedelius, K. Leimer and Marc Barreca offer a conceptual and contemporary approach to Early music, exploring its ambiences, timbres and emotions. Sonic textures and noise meet the strings of a viola da gamba in a cinematic work. ”These three pieces spring from a love of Early Music, specifically the works of Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais and John Dowland. Each of these composers — their lives spanning a period of great musical innovation and change from 1563 to 1728 -- is represented by a track included here. While there are no direct quotations present from any of their pieces there is a now familiar reliance on timbre and even on drone, elements that flourished in the often slowly-paced and harmonically narrow style of Early Music. Those stylistic elements have been taken up today, deliberately or not, by Ambient, Dark Ambient, Post-Ambient, and Slow Music artists. In atmosphere Early Music often evokes a melancholic — even elegiac — sensibility appropriate to the present time." — K. Leimer  "These three tracks were inspired by the shadows, streams of sunlight, muted colors and peaceful interior ambience of Spanish cathedrals. Calm and mystery combined." — Marc Barreca  K. Leimer and Marc Barreca are two American synth/multi-instrumental musicians that have been active since late 70's. Their previous collaborations are available on the Palace of Lights imprint and much of their earliest work has been reissued by labels like Vinyl on Demand, Rvng Intl and Freedom...

Leimer, K. And Marc Barreca

Arrhythmian

Palace Of Lights

For their fifth collaboration Marc Barreca and Kerry Leimer set aside their more abstract creative approaches to composition in favor of basing the music of Arrhythmian on beats. Using rhythm as texture, the tracks gravitate to concussive and bass voices, high bpm rates, and constantly evolving timbres shaped by granular synthesis, sampling, heavy processing, audio manipulation, rich distortion, with the maximum dynamic range vinyl can offer. “We’re always thinking about sound quality, about what’s possible in a recording for vinyl demands a very specific approach. Pitch, dynamics, layering, density all play a more significant role in analog recording and reproduction,” says Leimer, as Barreca continues, “Let’s just say it’s not music you can dance to...” Arrhythmian is released as a double disc vinyl set, produced to safely allow the grooves their maximum possible excursion while giving one’s stylus a rewarding and demanding workout. Marc Barreca and Kerry Leimer have worked on a nearly parallel musical course for more than forty years. Nearly parallel because their musical paths do occasionally cross. First in 1980 with “Four Pages From An Unfinished Novel” on K. Leimer’s first solo album Closed System Potentials. Again during the live performance of Music For Land And Water and for the massive loop piece “Heart Of Stillness” from The Neo-Realist (At Risk) by the virtual group Savant. K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979 and has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s. Marc Barreca has created and performed electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980...

Barreca / Leimer

Drowning Guides

Palace Of Lights

Marc Barreca and Kerry Leimer have worked on a nearly parallel musical course for more than forty years. Nearly parallel because their musical paths do occasionally cross. First in 1980 with “Four Pages From An Unfinished Novel” on K. Leimer’s first solo album Closed System Potentials. Again during the live performance of Music For Land And Water and for the massive loop piece “Heart Of Stillness” from The Neo-Realist (At Risk) by the virtual group Savant. Beyond basic file sharing, their recordings resolve tensions between distinct extremes of restrictive rules, defined procedures, improvisation, conscientious editing, and an ear for expansive details and contrasts. Their collaborative process is intended to subvert traditional and accepted methods of composition, instrumental voicing, signal processing, recording, and mixing with the goal of generating music that lives on the boundaries between established practice and profound impracticalities.  The search for new compositional approaches continues with Drowning Guides. The fourth album by K. Leimer and Marc Barreca deliberately limits their collaborative exchange to re-voicing MIDI tracks. All audio was then returned to the originator to process, edit, mix and finalize the form. The music of Drowning Guides fixates on shifting textures and voices drawn through layers of processing and manipulation, emerging as a complete and distinct audio language.  “This isn’t just superficial commentary on the track listing: this is how it sounds, and how it reflects the new working method, where one participant establishes the basics and the other qualifies and adapts them. It’s actually extremely...

Barreca / Leimer

Field Characteristics

Palace Of Lights

Field Characteristics derives from the Marc Barreca | K. Leimer performance produced by Steve Peters for the Wayward Music series, presented 14 November 2014, at the Chapel performance space in Seattle. The audio originated from hundreds of independently recorded digital, electric, acoustic and found sounds. These fragments were edited, layered and reprocessed with Pro Tools and Ableton Live. The performance consisted of manipulating and mixing both live and prepared audio. Utilizing the same sources as well as recordings of the performance, Field Characteristics represents a further extrapolation of the material. CD includes an 8-page booklet of images used in the performance. Field Characteristics followed the first Barreca | Leimer album, Premap, released in 2014.

Three Point Circle

Proximity Effects

Palace Of Lights

K. Leimer, Marc Barreca, and Steve Peters first performed together in 1980 for a pair of one-off shows in Olympia, WA. Nearly forty years later, the trio resumed work as Three Point Circle. That reunion resulted in the release of Layered Contingencies in 2020. Their new release, Proximity Effects, continues in a similar vein, obscuring individual contributions into an integrated collective compositional voice.  “...fragments of guitar, electric piano, and bell tones occasionally rise to the surface of these oceanic soundscapes, their generally blurry design tends to camouflage the identifying aspects of their components. Each of the five settings unfolds in a spirit of unhurried drift, the slow pace allowing the listener to closely monitor the material as it develops and to examine the mutating sound design.” —Textura

Three Point Circle

Layered Contingencies

Palace Of Lights

The origins of Three Point Circle go back to 1980, when K. Leimer, Marc Barreca, and Steve Peters met for two sparsely-attended shows in Olympia, WA. Some forty years later, they have regrouped as Three Point Circle. Perhaps better described as a process than as a musical group, Three Point Circle has developed a collaborative system that replaces standards of improvisation and authorship with a new, independent, compositional identity removed from the individual habits and traits of the members. Layered Contingencies presents the first results in this quest for uncertainty—five long form pieces of sharp and smooth contrasts taking place in a soundstage of rest, unrest, shallows, and depths that manage to maintain an unpredictable coherence.

Leimer, K.

Useless Epitomes

Palace Of Lights

Originally released in 2008, The Useless Lesson and Lesser Epitomes have been revisited, remixed, remastered and expanded with the 40-minute bonus EP Three Adaptations. K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Invisible Inc., Origin Peoples and RVNG. His early cassette work is included in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture and will be included in Cherry Red’s upcoming Noise Floor series. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.  “Lesser Epitomes provides three short suites of music all composed using a system of chance to give shape to basic musical elements. The listener is then advised to randonly re-order them, creating a vast number of permutations within the set... as brief episodes of grouped strings move past each other with the stately indifference of dancers in a ballroom.” —The Wire   “The opening pieces set the bar remarkably high: ‘To force closed our eyes’ introduces the album with mournful string patterns that recall Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 (aka Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), and ‘Failing need of more,’ a fourteen-minute collaboration by Leimer and phonographer Anode, billows heavenly like a gargantuan, almost imperceptibly moving cloud mass. By album’s end, I’m none the wiser as to how Leimer produced The Useless Lesson but the largely glorious results...

Leimer, K.

Re-enact

Palace Of Lights

Following a few years of back-catalog recovery, K. Leimer has completed work on his first new solo album since The Grey Catalog. These ten new tracks follow an emergent arc, a refinement of the techniques he has used since Permissions. Highly tactile, with an emphasis on subharmonics, Re-enact sketches an antediluvian soundstage of deteriorating fragments scattered among still-recognizeable artifacts. This multitude of points-of-collapse in textural, timbral, harmonic and rhythmic relationships, continually folds in on itself to reveal moments of inner coherence and cognition. Embedded throughout with a wealth of digital and analog detail, Re-enact sets a new post-ambient direction for Leimer’s work. K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s early work has recently been reissued by Autumn and RVNG, and his early cassette work is in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s – his current catalog includes 17 albums plus two collaborative albums with Marc Barreca. Leimer’s work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

Imposed Order / Imposed Absence (Remastered + Expanded)

Palace Of Lights

The first phase of K. Leimer’s recorded work began in 1972 with the production of the Grey Cows cassette and culminated in 1983 with the release of Imposed Order. Though work seemingly stopped following the release of I/O, Leimer continued to record and experiment with sound during what proved to be a 15-year interegnum for his Palace of Lights label. That work, never before issued, is included in this expanded remaster. Imposed Absence features ten tracks recorded in the years between Imposed Order and his return to releasing music with The Listening Room.Imposed Absence features the addition of Mellotron and early digital synths, some excursions into lo-fi and, unusual in his catalog, a few improvised tracks. Combined with the VOD double album of his earliest tape recordings and RVNG’s A Period Of Review double album, the release of Imposed Order / Imposed Absence brings the entirety of Leimer’s early work into view. Remastered by Taylor Deupree at 12K Mastering, the vinyl includes a four-page booklet and download card for all nineteen tracks.K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

A Figure Of Loss

Palace Of Lights

A Figure Of Loss takes K. Leimer’s music into highly personal terrain.  Written and recorded during two dark years, the resulting work hovers in proximity of a calm and placid consistency, tenuously balanced on expanding and contracting foundations. Built mostly around modeled and treated piano and digital synthesis, a sense of coherence emerged from piece to piece during the recording and editing process, yielding a sustained, but disturbed elegiac atmosphere, seemingly content to meditate on its own specific set of limits. But A Figure Of Loss reaches from well-defined patterns to fragmented and shifting densities. This is a music of reflection, setting itself at a distance from loss in order to possibly comprehend it. The CD includes a portfolio of photographs by Tyler Boley and a download code for the entire album. It was mastered by James Savage.K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Invisible Inc., Origin Peoples and RVNG. His early cassette work is included in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture and is included in Cherry Red’s Noise Floor series. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

Threnody

Palace Of Lights

Threnody by K. Leimer is a music of disorientation, error and loss. Free of any particular sense of continuity or structure, Threnody dwells in an absent-minded and forgetful state, inhabiting an aftermath of events too disorienting to be completely comprehended. Highly atmospheric, the music draws from influences as diverse as Arve Henriksen, David Sylvian, Taylor Deupree and Biosphere. Shattered phrases emerge among shrouded details in a state of sustained incompleteness. In a departure for Leimer, this music is highly improvised, mostly studio-generated in real-time. “I approached the work by repeatedly abandoning it and, at some later time, after pursuing some other task, after days or weeks of new outrages, wandered back and tried to once more pick up the threads.” Threnody is music tuned to a fractured time.K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Origin Peoples and RVNG and his cassette work is included in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes eighteen solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

LUYU

Palace Of Lights

“These things happen,” says K. Leimer of LUYU. Listen Until You Understand is a test drive through an obstacle course designed for new instruments, arrangements, juxtapositions, and real-time experiments dedicated to leaving the original impulses untouched and unadorned. Joined at times by digital percussionist Dolphie Stein, the music throws itself against itself without loyalty to genre or form, mashing granular particles into a tremulous spectrum of soundwalls, transitions, noise, distortions, and the occasional clearing. As close to live improvisation as one can get in a multitrack studio setting, LUYU takes generative techniques and drops them into short-form events by building its soundstage in thickets of shifting elements, collapsing phrases, broken signatures, and implied patterns. An outlier in Leimer’s catalog of general stillness and subtle detail, LUYU revels in the bare sound of things usually hidden in the mix. Kerry Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Abstrakce, Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Invisible Inc., Origin Peoples and RVNG. His work is included in the Cherry Red Noise Floor compilation series and his early cassette work is featured in the critically acclaimed VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes twenty solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant, Marc Barreca, and Three Point Circle. Recent soundtracks include work for video artists Cristiane Bouger and Fred Birchman, HBO’s How To With John Wilson and the Netflix documentary John Was Trying to Contact Aliens. His...

Leimer, K.

Degraded Certainties

Palace Of Lights

“Degraded Certainties was generated via the layering of arbitrarily ordered tone clusters and by using signal reprocessing as the principal method by which to determine the music’s timbre and form. Such production details are interesting but convey little, however, of how beautiful the six soundscapes are that (K.) Leimer and company have created. In the opening “Angoisse,” an occasional harp pluck appears amidst enveloping swathes of digital sound, while vaporous shimmer and hazy synth tones and phased slivers and lilting string plucks dominate elsewhere. A connection to classical minimalism emerges during “Common Nocturne” when sparse droplets of acoustic piano playing appear alongside gentle synthetic swells. Strings and electronics swim leisurely in deep electroacoustic seas, and ethereal, elegiac, tranquil, peaceful, and placid are just some of the words that might spring to mind as you listen to the recording’s time-suspending settings.”  —Textura  K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Origin Peoples, and RVNG as well as early work included in an upcoming Cherry Red retrospective of seminal U.S. electronica and the VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes 18 solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

Closed System Potentials

Palace Of Lights

Following the RVNG reissues of A Period Of Review (ranked the #7 reissue of 2014 by The Wire) and Artificial Dance (ranked the #2 reissue of 2015 by The Wire), Closed System Potentials, recorded in 1979 and originally released in 1980, finds its way back to CD. In their review of A Period of Review, Pitchfork said, “These pieces most closely evoke the work of Roedelius and Moebius in Cluster: meditative, wistful, lovely, giving off gentle glimmers of light.In trying to think if the closest American corollary for this set, the possibility emerges that Kerry Leimer is one of the lone examples of American kosmische music, that elegant hybrid that falls somewhere between the Velvets-style mesmerism of Can in the early ’70s and the placid tones of new age music that arose in the next decade. It’s a sound that applies to mid-’70s Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Popul Vuh, the second side of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, and others.”K. Leimer founded the Palace of Lights label in 1979. Leimer’s early work was reissued by Autumn and RVNG in 2014 and 2015, and his early cassette work is in the critically acclaimed Vinyl On Demand box set American Cassette Culture. He has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s— his current catalog includes 16 still-in-print albums plus two collaborative albums with Marc Barreca.Leimer’s work is included in the collection of The British Library.

Leimer, K.

Land Of Look Behind

Palace Of Lights

BACK IN STOCK!!!  Received an 8.2 rating from Pitchfork.  Alan Greenberg, who wrote and directed this film documenting the funeral of Bob Marley, provided K. Leimer with location tapes which were used to originate many of the rhythmic patterns for Land of Look Behind. Originally released in 1982, this album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2013, and on LP in 2017. Loops of the monologues and phrases that exhibited more distinctive cadences and pacing, the words, glottal stops, clicks and coughs of witnesses were used as cues for the percussion instruments. In effect, speech became the organizing principle of the musical score. By eliminating the accuracy of click tracks, musicians were prompted to rove through the inconsistent intervals of the voice-derived patterns. Also included is a four-page insert featuring an essay by Paul Dickow. An excerpt:  “While acknowledging that the film and the album might have divergent paths, it's interesting to note what remains similar between them: the contemplation on mystery and the meditative nature of Rastafarian ritual. Both the album and film seek to honor deeply contemplative, musical traditions of the people who live at the frontier of Cockpit Country. If this album were made today, the sonic material of reggae itself might become the focus. But for both Greenberg and Leimer, it’s meditative practice itself that becomes the inspiration.”  – Paul Dickow   K. Leimer founded Palace of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s early work has recently been reissued by Autumn and RVNG, and...

My Cat Is An Alien & Jean-Marc Montera

Union Of The Supreme Light

Starlight Furniture Co.

Joining Maurizio and Roberto Opalio on their fourth album for Starlight Furniture Co., legendary French-Corsican guitarist and co-founder of Groupe de Recherche et d’Improvisation Musicales brings his noisy lyricism to three long tracks of oddly sensual and animalistic space howl. As their past collaborations attest, My Cat Is An Alien’s self-sustaining biosphere is an environment where the surreal dreamscapes of mavericks and eccentrics flourish. On this live recording, Jean-Marc Montera’s home-made guitar table, objects, and electronics forge metallic ribbons that twitch between the distant clangs of gigantic spores, while Maurizio (on home-made double-bodied string instrument and effects) and Roberto (on alientronics, effects, and modified electronic devices) set worms adrift in a zero-gravity aviary stocked with narcotized satsuma fowl. Roberto adds disorientation to the trio’s fog-blurred horizon with wordless vocalizations that could pass for billowing laments hooted by mutant sea mammals with enoki mushrooms growing on their larynxes.“Since the late 1990s My Cat Is An Alien have successfully renewed a commitment to psychedelia as a revealing factor of the soul," says French critic and writer Philippe Robert. "Brothers Roberto and Maurizio Opalio’s interest in John Cage’s thought and in free improvisation is hardly a secret; hence the attraction toward architectures based on the concept of instantaneous composition, created from extended practices. In March 2015, serendipity brought together My Cat Is An Alien and guitarist Jean-Marc Montera in Marseille, for a concert where complicity manifested itself immediately, thanks to simpatico affinities (Montera in France is a pioneer of non-idiomatic improvisation) and encounters...

Emory, Marc

Listening Music / Anfang

Scissor Tail Editions

Scissor Tail has long been quietly releasing some of the best folk, psych, and country to hit the turntable. From early offerings from Rosali, Sarah Louise, Scott Hirsch, and Joseph Allred, through last year’s indispensable Tobacco City LP. They’ve not often dipped into reissues, though, but they’ve hit on something magical with a new edition of a lost private press gem from Marc Emory. Recorded as a college student in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania in 1974, the record is split between folk instrumentals that certainly have a familiarity with the Takoma family, and a few vocal tracks that add a loner charm to the record. The slide blues of “All Gaul” have a dose of Fahey in their DNA, but Emory gives the familiar feel his own kind of overcast glee. Elsewhere, Listening Music/Anfang, finds itself slipping through more trad folk territory, the second side practically opening in a communal pub dance feeling. There’s a bluegrass spirit bubbling under the record, with shades of Anglican folk and country blues trading off when it subsides. When Emory’s vocal surface his weariness hides his age, an already aching spirit barely out of his school days. The original record was pressed in a run of 200 and mostly given to friends and family. There were even some originals left over that Scissor Tail made available in their shop. The new edition follows suit and also comes in a run of 200. The well of private press records that haven’t been found and freed at this...

Gartman, Marc

Redwood Acoustic # 10

Redwood

***The latest installment in the Redwood Acoustic series features the music of New York City singer/songwriter MARC GARTMAN. Two new and exclusive tracks featuring ALAN & MIMI of LOW on the A-side (Marc played banjo on their Trust album, and made a documentary film about Low's last European tour). Limited edition of 500 copies.

Almond, Marc And Michael Cashmore

Gabriel And The Lunatic Lover

Durtro / Jnana

Gabriel and the Lunatic Lover is the first in a series of collaborative releases by Marc Almond and Michael Cashmore. The duo sets to music two poems by Count Stanislaus Eric Stenbock, the extraordinary 19th-century gay writer whose bizarre life of decadence, drug-addiction, alcoholism, and poetry--coupled with Satanic, vampiric, and Catholic obsessions--led to his early death at the age of 36 in 1895. Stenbock's final years, it is said, saw him accompanied everywhere by a life-size wooden doll that he called "le petit comte" and which he believed to be his son.  This two-track CDEP features vocals from the legendary Almond, who needs no introduction, and music composed and performed by Cashmore, well-known for his extensive catalog of recordings with Current 93 and Nature and Organisation, as well as for his work as a solo artist. The CD is housed in a beautiful full-color digipak that contains previously unpublished paintings of Almond by Russian artist Vania Soutavliov, a rare photograph of the enigmatic Count, and the complete texts to both poems.  The poems themselves originally appeared in two of Stenbock's fantastically rare volumes, Myrtle, Rue, and Cypress and The Shadow of Death, both republished in Current 93's David Tibet's Durtro Press volume The Collected Poems of Count Stenbock.  This is one of the most haunting and exquisite releases from either artist, and is presented in a package that fits the beautiful melancholy of the music, the vocals, and the spirit of Count Stenbock himself.

Montera, Jean-marc / Thurston Moore / Lee Ranaldo

Les Anges Du Peche

Dysmusie

***BACK IN STOCK AT A NEW LOWER PRICE!!! Side-long electric guitar duets, one by THURSTON MOORE and JEAN-MARC MONTERA recorded in New York 1997, one by LEE RANALDO and Montera recorded in Marseille 2010. Gatefold jacket, insert, 180-gram vinyl.

Cho, Se Jong & Marc Miller

Matisse Bath

cow:Music / Astral Spirits

***cow: Music & Astral Spirits are proud to present Matisse Bath by Dr. Se Jong Cho (environmental scientist/ painter/ animal trainer/ most positive person on Earth) & Marc Miller (guitarist/ composer/ Oxes guy/ backstage luthier/ best friend a man could ask for). While the liner notes, written by Gabriel Jermaine Vanlandingham-Dunn, lay out how the 2xlp set came to be, the project is not only the 5th offering from the cow: Music, it also marks the beginning phase into the launch of cow: Visuals. This second branch of the cow arts program focuses on visual art, graphic design, and gallery viewings. More to come soon. Matisse Bath is a meditative masterpiece (audio and visually speaking). Dr. Cho's mini-essay describes her take on Henri Matisse's work, and Marc responds with his compositions. Recorded over the span of several months between 2018 and 2019, it was sequenced by the producer (from more than 100 compositions) for the purpose of the 2xLP set that you are putting your ears on.

G*Park

Sub

23five

***MARC ZEIER’s first major album since the cryptic electro-acoustic Reuters (Tochnit Aleph 2008) is a sprawling masterpiece of modern day musique concrete, reflecting the early pioneers’ use of razor cut tape with a grandiose revelation of an existential horror. Zeier describes is as a manifestation of amorphous conditions that lead to (or interfere with) representational forms or states of being. For every malignant drone and turgid thrum, Zeier punctures fluttering, frozen methane surfaces with jagged incisions, pneumatic hammerings, and decompressed gasps. This fragmented punctuation is a signature to the G*PARK aesthetic, used effectively in mapping clinical situations turned septic. The exact nature of the sound object is informed more by a shadowy deconstruction than by a direct representation, thrust into an absurd existence as an abomination, a violation, a monster.

Aliquid

Kriegspiel

Nashazphone

***Parisian free improvisation by JEAN-MARC FOUSSAT (VCS3) and SYLVAIN GUERINEAU (tenor sax). Jazzbos and apeshit Euro improv buffs know the former from his totally twisted classic Abattage LP (Pyjama 1983) and the latter from collaborations with Sunny Murray, Henry Grimes, Joe McPhee and Francois Tusques, to namedrop a few. Edition of 250.

Aluminum

Windowpane

Dandy Boy

***Aluminum are guitarist/vocalist Marc Leyda (Wild Moth), bassist / vocalist Ryann Gonsalves (Torrey),guitarist Austin Montanari (Wild Moth), and new drummer Chris Natividad (Marbled Eye). Started in 2020 by Marc Leyda as a bedroom recordingproject, Aluminum has evolved into its current 4piece iteration located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Equally in
uenced by the '80s American underground and Creation Records, Aluminummanufactures a chaotic soundscape with pop melodies. Dual vocals interweave with walls ofguitars and dayglo samples in an attempt to find bliss in disorder. Following the self-released Spinning Backwards digital single, Windowpane EP shows the group covering new territory, ranging from dizzying janglepop to raucous post-punk ripping.

Parade Ground

Golden Years

Dark Entries

***PARADE GROUND has always been the duo of brothers JEAN-MARC and PIERRE PAULY from Brussels, Belgium formed in 1981. Taking cues from Post-Punk, Coldwave, Dada and Surrealism, Parade Ground channeled suffering, tension and rage through pulsing synthesizers, skeletal guitar, severe bass and Jean-Marc’s expressive vocals as the most melodic and emotional instrument. The Golden Years is an 11-song, career-spanning collection of Parade Ground’s long out-of-print 7” and 12” singles as well as rare compilation tracks from the pioneers of emotional body music created during 1982-1988.   Parade Ground first appeared on the Nationale Rockmeeting LP in 1982, striking straight to the heart with the passionate plea “I Shut My Eyes.” Later that year the brothers met Daniel B. and Patrick Codenys of Front 242 beginning a collaborative partnership that continues to present day. In 1983 they released their debut 3-song 7” EP Moan On The Sly on the New Dance label, musically a hybrid of Joy Division and Fad Gadget. 1984 brought further explorations into the world of electronic body music with the 3-song Man In A Trance EP and 2 tracks on the live concert compilation Mask Promotion both records released on Front 242’s Mask Music label. The following year the single Took Advantage/Moral Support 12” was released incorporating then, state-of-the-art modular synthesizers programmed by Daniel B. and back-up vocals from Flo Sullivan (A Formal Sigh, Shiny Two Shiny). Then in 1987 the brothers collaborated with Colin Newman of British post-punk band Wire, who produced and lent his...

Carrier

S/t

Hideaway

***A brand new album from this group of sound explorers led by MARC BENNING (34 SATELLITE). Ten tracks that form a delicate balance between raw power and ethereal melody, delivered with swirling psych-tinged guitars, brawny drumming, hints of piano and mellotron, antiquated keyboards, and Benning's powerfully mood-inducing lyrics and keening tenor voice. Features backing from former PANEL DONOR members BRANDON AIKIN and KLIPH SCURLOCK (Scurlock also plays drums for the FLAMING LIPS).

Plus

S/t

Golden Pavilion

***Exclusive pressing on clear vinyl of this holy grail of European progressive jazz-funk featuring players from Marc Moulin's Placebo / Sam Suffy, and El Chicles / Nico Gomez crew…. or as someone says on Discogs: "HOLY GRAIL! A Funk Jazzy classic record. Deep groove with a deep bass and powerful horns. Excellent from start to finish. KILLER!!!” If you prefer a more restrained description, there is also this: "New pressing of the highly sought-after and very expensive Belgian jazz-funk-rock LP from 1972. Featuring members of Marc Moulin’s Placebo and Sam Suffy line-ups.” All of this leads us to the same conclusion—this is an album well worth investigating if you like funky grooves! Pressed on clear vinyl.

Fisher, Colin Quintet

Living Midnight

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

***Toronto based multi-instrumentalist COLIN FISHER leads a quartet featuring DANIEL CARTER, BRANDON LOPEZ and MARC EDWARDS.

Othon

Digital Angel

Durtro / Jnana

The long-awaited first album from alternative music's enfant terrible is finally here. With vocal performances by Marc Almond, David Tibet, and Ernesto Tomasini, and works that defy any pre-existing musical genre, this atypical debut is the manifestation of Othon's challenging, bold, and sensitive artistic vision. The pieces are mainly, though not exclusively, for voice and piano, with the production cut to a minimum, giving the album an intimate, almost live quality. Othon's compositions--a blend of opera, punk, noise, and lyrical romanticism--are proof of a rich and distinctive musical language. The songs deal with desperate love, human bio-chipping, addiction to violence, and 2012; they form a soundtrack to either a passionate love story or a post-apocalyptic nightmare.  Three tracks feature Almond on vocals, including a cover of Aleister Crowley's "The Tango Song" (the first time this song has ever been released); one track features Tibet on vocals, covering Coil's "The Dreamer Is Still Asleep"; and four tracks feature Tomasini on vocals.  Othon's highly original compositions, intelligent songwriting, and virtuosic piano playing has enthused audiences and critics alike. With only a limited self-released CD EP in his back catalogue, he has toured several European cities and received regular airplay on European and American radio shows. His pieces have formed soundscapes for films by Bruce LaBruce and Derek Jarman and he has collaborated with musicians such as Peter Christopherson, The Elysian Quartet (who guest on the album), and Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo. Digital Angel's original artwork and photography is by Hector de...

Wada, Tashi

Gradient

Destijl

***In service to TASHI WADA’s ongoing work with sound perception as a basis for direct modes of listening, he and Marc Sabat produce two sustained tones, a fourth apart, positioned along a wall, one at each end—a very slow glissando from one pitch to the other while moving accordingly. In other words, the string players' physical locations in space correspond with pitches of the sounds. One of his adapted violas of Harry Partch, who often worked with this type of harmony, was used for the recording of Gradient. The result is a sculpture-like presence shifting through all the blue notes.

Ames Sanglantes

Crackdown

Hospital Productions

“Marking their 20th anniversary year, Hospital Productions mete out a brutal package of “violent riot brut noise” by Quebecois artist Pierre-Marc Tremblay, aka Âmes Sanglantes and the mighty Contrepoison, among other titles. A regular fixture on the label this decade, Âmes effectively tops all of his previous work with the sore and and often overwhelming tract of new, previously unreleased material contained in Crackdown.For those brave souls willing to submit to this grimoir of spellbinding noise expression, you will be rewarded in spades of of material, enough to sully a full working day or night spent in its company and effectively gird yourself for a potential summer of civil unrest.Quite patently this set is not meant for the Hospital Productions dilettante or noise hypochondriac; Crackdown is uncompromising in its vision and remorseless after contact - an unflinching body of material awaiting undivided attention.”—Boomkat

Smith, Ches

Congs For Brums

Free Porcupine Society

Congs for Brums is a new full-length album from Ches Smith, drummer and percussionist for Secret Chiefs 3, Treveor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, 7 Year Rabbit Cycle and Good For Cows. Over the years Smith has performed under the direction of John Zorn, Pauline Oliveros, and Wadada Leo Smith, worked with Tom Waits, Annie Gosfield, Nels Cline, Fred Frith and Ben Goldberg and collaborated with Mr. Bungle, Carla Bozulich and Xiu Xiu. Smith brings his vast and varied experience to the table on Congs for Brums to create a fully unified collection of dark, lyrical percussion pieces. Concise themes resurface and cycle through various instruments, connecting the drum kit bombast of “Metal Vacation” and “My Last Coke,” the obsessive, cellular vibraphone melodies of “The Contra Alto Clarinet In B Flat,” and the junk percussion segues of Mental Vacation.” Mixed by producer Alex Newport (At The Drive In, The Mars Volta, The Locust, The Melvins), Congs for Brums revels in a subtlty abrasive psychedelia. In the Fall of 2006, Smith will head out on a five week U.S. tour in support of Kill Rock Stars artists Xiu Xiu.

Einsturzende Neubauten

Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.t.

Potomak

***Originally released in 1983, EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN’s second album marks a radical progression in the band's sound as well as a revolutionary step forward in the realms of industrial and experimental music. Bassist MARC CHUNG and electronics engineer ALEXANDER HACKE joined the band during this time, and singer BLIXA BARGELD also became a full-time member of NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS. Despite each members' background, Einstürzende Neubauten's ethos—"Destruction is not negative, you must destroy to build"—treaded on ground that was explicitly anti-music. Through their intuitive compositional approach and application of found, industrial objects into song forms, the band's sonic trajectory was intent on generating entirely alternate modes of music-making. In contrast to the all-out destructive barrage of their debut, however, Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.T. reveals an astonishing maturity in its varied and dynamic range of textures while still being no less uncompromising.

The Fall

A Part Of America Therein, 1981

Superior Viaduct

In the summer of 1981, The Fall embarked on their second American tour, criss-crossing the States over a two-month period. Featuring the dual guitar of Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon and rhythm section of Stephen Hanley and Karl Burns, A Part Of America Therein, 1981 would document this fabled journey with crucial performances that show the band evolve from noisemaking lout cultists into true post-punk legends. “From the riot-torn streets of Manchester, England to the scenic sewers of Chicago ...” as the album opens unforgettably with a nameless promoter introducing The Fall, who proceed to tear into a hypnotic take on “The N.W.R.A.” stretched into a near stare-down that is wholly different than the studio version on Grotesque. The LP highlights Mark E. Smith’s incomparable bite, heard most notably on the adlibbed vitriol of “Totally Wired,” where not even the costumed punks were safe from a proper dressing down. A Part Of America Therein, 1981 proves once again that The Fall’s constant rally against complacency was a top-down directive and intrinsic to their wonderful and frightening sound. Superior Viaduct’s edition is the first time that this album has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1982. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

Oxes

The Fourth Wall

Computer Students

***OXES, (1998-2011) was an experimental, instrumental trio hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, comprising of guitarists Marc Miller and Nat Fowler, and drummer Christopher Freeland. With performance-art tinged of instrumentals that incorporated wireless guitars and stand-up comedy, they describe their music as “heavy metal tone poems.” Now they commemorate the 20-year anniversary of their first LP with a gatefold double vinyl remastered by Sarah Register. The new release The Fourth Wall features the original self titled album and the group’s first Peel Session—which was previously unavailable in high fidelity—as well as a booklet featuring never-before-seen photos and texts about their history. The cover, which was painted by Christopher Freeland, reinterprets OXES’ original cover photograph by Eric Wareheim. With cosmic synchronicity, the band’s guitarists being born on the birth and death days of Jimi Hendrix respectively, they immanentize the eschaton this year; on the day of the record’s release, as the number 42 presents itself as the age of guitarist Marc Miller and the year in which Hendrix was born. Pressed on double vinyl in a superb gatefold cover with a matte finish and a 12-page booklet, all housed in a futuristic aluminum sleeve.

6ths

Hyacinths & Thistles

Merge

***Magnetic FieldS worker STEPHEN MERRITT delivers another dose of his pet project as THE 6THS. A cabaret-styled record featuring a different guest vocalist on each song. BOB MOULD, MARC ALMOND, GARY NUMAN, SALLY TIMMS, KATHERINE WHALEN (Squirrel Nut Zippers), MISS LILY BANQUETTE (Combustible Edison), SARAH CRACKNELL (St. Etienne) and NEIL HANNON (Divine Comedy) all lend their vocal talents to this great experiment.

Roses

Dreamlover

Group Tightener

***Dream pop trio ROSES bloomed from the recesses of Los Angeles in early 2013. While guitarist JUAN VELASQUEZ was on hiatus from L.A. darkwavers ABE VIGODA, he met singer/keyboardist MARC STEINBERG at a local gay bar, trading mix tapes and finding they shared a love for alt heroines like Yoko Ono, Julee Cruise and Marianne Faithful. Meanwhile, Velasquez knew bassist VICTOR HERRERA after meeting him eight years ago at L.A. punk venue The Smell during its legendary run in the 2000s, bonding over female-fronted jangle pop bands like 10,000 Maniacs, The Sundays and The Cranberries. They were all looking to start a new band, so the three-piece began recording demos reflecting that love of delicate alt-rock of the ’80s and ’90s but smothering the results with industrial beats, shoegaze guitars and Steinberg’s intoning vocals. They’d go on to get their live legs while touring the West Coast and playing alongside bands like Diiv, Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles. With the four-song Dreamlover EP recorded in L.A. by ALEX DEGROOT (engineer/keyboardist for Zola Jesus) and released on Group Tightener, the band has waxed their sound down to a fine point. They blend shimmering guitars and power chords with washes of dreamy synthesizers and new-wave basslines on “Florence Girls,” like The Wake taking off in The Go-Go’s convertible. An air of New Romanticism and the influence of the Cocteau Twins can be heard on nostalgic ballad “The Fog.” Steinberg’s lilting croon sails on woozy keys and waves of distortion on “Icicle” and...

Driftloss

Derealization

Zum Audio

***First physical manifestation of the synth duo Driftloss, who've released three Bandcamp-only albums since 2020. None are on the standard streaming services. Derealization is the third album and according to Marc Kate his favorite. Edition of 150 cassettes. "Narcoleptic and hauntological, inflected with frenetic electronic percussion. Vaporwaved Klaus Schultze scores."

Mv & Ee

Alpine Frequency

Child Of Microtones

sweet C.O.M. digital edition of our "ALPINE FREQUENCY" double LP jammer released via feeding tube records. a COMmunal golden road zone out colliding with the nu-clear duo exchange featuring prime buds P.G. Six & Marc "spanish wolfman" Wolf from the TOWER RECORDINGS and bevy of special guest heads: Pete Nolan (Spectre Folk/Magik Markers), Mike "Muskox" Smith, Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra), Rafi Bookstaber (Von Himmel, Mendocino), Paulie G (Von Himmel, Aswara), Carson "smokehound" Arnold, Adam Langellotti (Sore Eros/Home Comfort), Chris Livengood (Visitations/Video Nasties), Jeremy Earl (Woods, Meneguar, High Lodge), Doc Dunn!  feel the music, feel the gravitational pull. no one takes you there like MV & EE on child of microtones, often copied -> never duplicated. quality jams since 1999 and before/after prehistoric future. don't be duped, ride pure land. this is C.O.M. 44!

Pierre, Alain

Des Morts (Of The Dead)

Finders Keepers

***Expanded reissue of mega rare 1979 unknown vanity pressing LP that blends ethnological field recordings, musique concrète principles, and introspective synthesizer music from this cult European studio maverick and historic collaborator of COS, Philippe Druilet, Marc Moulin, and John Surman. Alain Pierre's Mondo movie soundtrack to the controversial Des Morts shares very few stylistic rivals, but fans of Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain soundtrack and some of the more eldritch early sampling experiments of Jean-Pierre Massiera will certainly draw fragmented comparisons herein. Other listeners might file this album at the weirder end of your Smithsonian Folkways shelf, just before the Video Nasty soundtracks. Presented in remastered form comprising extra vintage studio outtakes (in accordance with the films morbid narrative), Des Morts serves as a would-be sequel to Finders Keepers' previous Ô Sidarta release witnessing Pierre balance his allegiance to the Belgian bandes dessinée scene and Thierry Zéno's shock cinema oeuvre from the heart of his uber-legendary Brussels based experimental recording studio through the 1970s. Presented in remastered form comprising extra previously unreleased vintage studio outtakes. Edition of 750.

Hand

Everybody’s Own

Golden Pavillion

***Everybody's Own is the extremely rare, only record by the ‘70s progressive folk/rock band, HAND. Recorded in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1972, it highlights the timeless compositions of MARC OSBORNE and TONY ANGIER. Written and performed when most band members were still in their teens, it blends the characteristic sounds of the British Folk Revival as represented by Donovan, Nick Drake and Pentangle, with the psychedelic vibe of the Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Neil Young, producing music that still sounds fresh and relevant, particularly as current bands such as The Decemberists, Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire, Gillian Welch with David Rawlings, and the Jayhawks are drawing from the same rich heritage. When much of today's music is inspired by the great bands of the ‘70s, Everybody's Own arrives fully formed and beautifully preserved from that fruitful era, and ripe for rediscovery. Fully licensed and limited to 500 copies. Comes in beautiful gatefold cover with insert.  

Malcolm Mooney And The Tenth Planet

Incantations

Milvia Son

***Malcolm Mooney and the dueling guitars of Stephen Clarke (Arkansas Man) and Len Patterson (Flowtilla), bassist Peter Conheim (Neung Phak) and drummer Marc Weinstein (MX-80) performing only classic Mooney-era CAN material Guitar-woven tapestries of molten metal, lubricious rhythms and Malcolm's inimitable vocals lifting everthing up into that special sector. Eight choice tracks culled from two Bay Area shows circa 2010, excellently recorded by Bernice Nipplehalter and pressed onto glorious blue spattered vinyl. Full color sleeves featuring Mal's artwork on the front and back, plus a lyric sheet inside.  400 vinyl-only copies for the world.

Contrepoison

Discography 2010-2012

Hospital Productions

***Hospital Productions collect some of the strongest cold-wave pop dirges of a generation with CONTREPOISON's Discography 2010-2012 survey, wrapping up both his self-released tapes and releases for Dominick Fernow's cherished imprint. Since the late '90s, Québécois musician and noise artist PIERRE MARC-TREMBLAY has been recognized as a vital force in nether musical realms with a palette ranging from hermetic black metal (AKITSA) to the bitterest rhythmic noise (ÂMES SANGLANTES), and, more recently, the nerve-bitingly melodic pop of Contrepoison, whose I Keep On Searching 12" (2012)—included here—is a firm fixture. Arriving at the vanguard of a new slew of cold-wave revisionists and fetishists in 2010, his music stood, and still stands, head and shoulders above the rest thanks to an incessant drive and directness that can't be ignored by anyone into the original stuff, or who has arrived via the sound's prevailing, contemporary winds. Vacillating belting vocal pop arrangements with howling, stygian instrumentals of synth, guitar and enslaved drum machines, Discography 2010-2012 drags a perfectly malformed body of work. Edition of 500.

Turn Me On Dead Man

We Are The Star People

Alternative Tentacles

When the needle hits the grooves of We Are the Star People, listeners instantly drift away to a celestial arena where endless stacks of amplifiers drench and bathe them in sonic overdrive bliss. The doors of the cosmos stretch open upon a spiritual haven where Tony Iommi and Ace Frehley freely trade guitar licks with Marc Bolan and George Harrison. Majestic, timeless and epic—Turn Me On Dead Man conjures the fantastic-ness of the nebulas with power-chords so heavy and melodies so sweet.  While the band frolics in a lysergic glam rock playground, their songs touch on things much deeper and more surreal. Does the title track refer to native Americans invaded by outsiders or is it a play on the Hollywood star mentality? The mighty “Dreamchild” is a pure pop song of redemption; “Deep Space Pollen” is space rock at its finest with druggy vocals yearning to understand the UFO / alien abduction phenomenon. “Let Them Eat Flowers” is psychedelic perfection, and “Heart of the Deaf,” the most traditional tune on the album, provides a free tarot reading with every play. We Are the Star People encompasses what analog is all about—an album born for the LP format, a document for the ages that needs to be held in one’s hand. Recorded on two-inch tape like a record should be, turn it up loud, burn out and head into space at warp speed. Is it the ’70s? Is this the ’90s? No man, it’s now!

Loons

Paraphernalia

Ut Records

***The highly anticipated second release by San Diego’s foremost garage and freakbeat merchants THE LOONS—MIKE STAX (TELLTALE HEARTS, CRAWDADDYS, Ugly Things Magazine), ANJA BUNGERT (DIABOLIKS, THEE CHERYLINAS), MARC SCHROEDER, CHRIS MARSTELLAR, and MIKE KAMOO. Ten tracks that combine the hard, kinetic drive of European freakbeat with the psychotic melodic cool of California’s Sunset Strip circa 1966. Features guest vocals from STEVE WHITING of original 1966 garage/psych icons THE MISUNDERSTOOD.

SBT (Sarabeth Tucek)

The Gift / 13th St. # 2

Ocean Omen

American singer-songwriter Sarabeth Tucek re-emerges in 2023 after a decade-long hibernation with the new moniker SBT and a brand new double A-side 7” “The Gift / 13th St. #2” in advance of her long-awaited third album next spring, details to be announced in the new year. “The Gift” has already received heavy rotations on BBC Radio 6 Music courtesy of Marc Riley. An extensive UK tour is lined up to support the impending album release that will be issued world-wide on SBT's own freshly-minted imprint Ocean Omen. The lead track “The Gift” is a magnificent and swoonsome pop song awash with its modern take on classic Americana. It is indeed, a timely reminder of how great songs can be, evoking the classic chiming guitar pop of the likes of Game Theory, or Australia’s The Church and melding with the contemporary choogle of the likes of Jeff Tweedy / Wilco, whereas the second side has and almost updated that seminal Velvets drone-pop chug that flows like it should be released on Creation or indeed Homestead / Sub Pop in the late 80s. Yes, both tracks are that good.. trust us.

The Fall

Dragnet

Superior Viaduct

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Received an 8.7 rating from Pitchfork.  Dragnet is arguably The Fall's best-known album. With the departure of Martin Bramah after Live At The Witch Trials, the band underwent yet another lineup shift in late 1979. Marc Riley switched to guitar and Steve Hanley joined on bass; the latter's signature basslines would become a major part of The Fall for the next two decades.   Opening track "Psykick Dancehall" strikes like an elusive, working-class anthem with its bouncy tempo changes and Mark E. Smith’s unfiltered vocals raining down on the dance-floor. "Dice Man" takes its direction from disheveled beats, stuttering lyrics and asymmetrical phrasing. Somehow Dragnet manages to be even more lo-fi than The Fall's debut, yet reveals a cohesive sound and fierce songs that would further build the band’s cult following.  Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Dragnet has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1979. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

The Fall

Grotesque (after The Gramme)

Superior Viaduct

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Bursting into the 1980s on a new label (the then-upstart, now-legendary Rough Trade) and with an augmented, audibly panicked lineup, The Fall's Grotesque is the true pure-bred Fall release from the Marc Riley era. Released in the immediate wake of The Fall's most beloved single (Totally Wired), the album carries over that righteously famed teeth-chattering, bolstered in no small part by the drumming of new addition Paul Hanley, brother of bassist Steve Hanley and aged only 15 at the time of recording.  "Pay Your Rates" negates the notion of easing into things, opening the album with pure jitter, guided by hornet-buzz guitars and Mark E. Smith's commanding shout, allowing for breath only during the brief, lumbering waltzes that appear at unexpected intervals. "New Face In Hell" is an entirely alien take on dancehall post-punk – a kazoo-driven rave-up that holds an unshakable position in the band's canon.   Many significant firsts surround Grotesque, including The Fall's inaugural production partnership with Mayo Thompson and the debut of Suzanne Smith's wonderful artwork, both of which would play key roles in the band's following phase.   Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Grotesque has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1980. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

Classroom

s/t

Finders Keepers

***The lost Belgian blueprint of Brussels based jazz fusion and how free form Franco-Flemish punk put Zeuhl school in the Classroom via the conception of COS . Emerging from behind the same clouds that kept formative Belgian progressive jazz records like Brussels Art Quintet and Kiosk 's Mona Call in tangible obscurity, these impossibly rare early Euro jazz recordings shed a new ray of light on the intricate foundations of the scene that elevated COS, Marc Moulin, Placebo, Marc Hollander and Telex to Zen master status, while also capturing one of Europe's best female vocal artists in the midst of her wide eyed and uninhibited prime. Never before released on vinyl, these tracks provide a sonic chalkboard of Daniel Schell's ambitious musical equations, recalculated by precocious polymaths, then conveyed via Pascale Son's inquisitive child-like vocal explorations. For those keen to learn the Histoire De Melody COS? The classroom door is open—prepare to be schooled!

Thiel, Steffi And Michael Cashmore

Late But Never

Coptic Cat

Late But Never is the haunting and intimate collaboration between German artist and singer Steffi Thiel and English composer Michael Cashmore. Cashmore is known for his extensive work with Current 93 and Nature and Organisation as well as for his solo projects which have included collaborations with—among others—Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Nick Cave, Marc Almond and Bill Fay. The album’s lyrics are written by Thiel and all of the music is composed, performed and mixed by Cashmore. All paintings used for the album’s artwork are by Thiel.

Herbert, Chris

Mezzotint

Kranky

***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)

Beautiful Losers

Nobody Knows The Heaven

Lion Productions

***REISSUED ON VINYL!!! To set the scene: it’s 1974, it’s Paris, two young guys in their bed-sit (one of whom is French music maven/famous producer JAY ALANSKI) are dreaming of counter-culture, and their internal versions of California and New York. The result is this album, a child begotten of Marc Bolan, Baudelaire, and Lautréamont; a fascinating record, subtle and engaging as it is scarce; the re-creation of a parallel pop universe which one Michael Moorcock wouldn’t have renounced. Somehow, the duo get their record out into the world on Monde Melody’s one-off “Silk” imprint (a tribute to Marc Bolan). And what twisted songs (in English) they managed to squeeze into a fifty-minute slab of vinyl. The music drips with deep nostalgia for the decadent “beautiful people” who lived and breathed and then found a home in the songs of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, pervaded throughout with a kind of psychedelic sadness. All of this is expressed by means of long jagged acid guitar runs (or in acoustic strums) supported by Moroccan percussion and heavy bass lines from CHRISTOPHE J. A post-quaalude album, as band leader Jay Alanski has said. If the LP had been released in 1971, everyone would point to T-Rex as an influence, and call it “glam folk”; fast forward to today and it’s hard not to think “loner,” and draw comparisons with the music of Devendra Banhart, albeit recorded 35 years ago. We’re now several decades further on in the world’s slow self-destruction, but this sole...

Lyngcoin, Tom

Raging Head

Solar / Sonar

***Tom Lyngcoln has been bending notes into human heads since the mid 1990s. Originating from Hobart, Lyngcoln’s early love of dissonance & uncomfortable intensity has carried through all of his projects from The Nation Blue to Lee Memorial (with Sodastream’s Karl Smith & Sleater Kinney’s Laura Macfarlane) to Harmony (with wife Alex Lyngcoln and McClusky’s Jon Chapple) and collaborations with Magic Dirt, Marc Ribot, Don Walker and more. After two decades of refinement, Tom Lyngcoln presents his second solo album with help from Jay Allen (The Kill, Mid Youth Crisis, Fuck I'm Dead) on drums and Cal Foley (The Stevens, The Blinds) on bass. Numbered edition of 250 copies.

Lyngcoin, Tom

Doming Home

Solar / Sonar

***Tom Lyngcoln has been bending notes into human heads since the mid 1990s. Originating from Hobart, Lyngcoln’s early love of dissonance & uncomfortable intensity has carried through all of his projects from The Nation Blue to Lee Memorial (with Sodastream’s Karl Smith & Sleater Kinney’s Laura Macfarlane) to Harmony (with wife Alex Lyngcoln and McClusky’s Jon Chapple) and collaborations with Magic Dirt, Marc Ribot, Don Walker and more. After two decades of refinement, Tom Lyngcoln presents his most concise work; 11 pieces for voice and guitar collectively titled Doming Home. Using a suburban room, TL crushes notes together between harrowing screams and free form guitar work in the tradition of Syd Barrett, John Frusciante, Cat Power & Will Oldham. Recorded 10 minutes drive from one of the worst suburbs in Australia, Doming Home features 11 songs about sharks and the space around them… the terror of where they are and where they are not. The music is tense, spacious and volatile but still wades knee deep into traditional song. Numbered edition of 500 copies.

King Lollipop

Woodland Whoopee Songs Of Ol’ Callowheel

1-2-3-4 Go!

***CODY from SHANNON AND THE CLAMS digs out of the sand and hiccups and hollers his way through a forest of love. Populated by romance, little pink trolls, witches, ravens, Licorice Lords, cheeseburgers, fries and dumpsters of unending glory! If Buddy Holly had lived to front a bare bones version of The Monks and hang out with Marc Bolan you'd say this record kind of sounds like that.

Fall

Fall In A Hole +

Cog Sinister

***A reissue of the classic In A Hole album recorded in Aukland, New Zealand on four-track reel-to-reel by CHRIS KNOX (TALL DWARFS), and originally released by Flying Nun in 1982. Widely considered the band’s definitive live album, both in quality of recording, performance and material, it is the final recording of the era’s line-up, as MARC RILEY was sacked as soon as the band returned to England. This re-mastered, updated version includes all the tracks from the original release, as well as the songs from a bonus 12-inch (a companion piece to the original pressing), and six additional tracks recorded elsewhere on the same New Zealand tour.

Kubie And The Rats

Turtle Dove

Just Add Water

***This slice of glam/power pop perfection is available again for the first time since 1974! You have to wonder why a song as incredibly catchy as "Turtle Dove" wasn't a mega smash. Maybe the lyrics were too bawdy for the BBC? The flip side was definitely much too much for the Beeb. "Oxford Donna" is a tender song about a former Oxford pupil who just likes a gang bang now and again! T. Rex's Marc Bolan was a fan and friend of lead singer/songwriter DAVID KUBINEC (ex-WORLD OF OZ). Marc even said to Kubie after hearing "Turtle Dove," "I should have written that!" In fact, David has stated that "Turtle Dove" was very much written with T. Rex in mind. If you were wondering why it's "KUBIE and the RATS" now, instead of just "RATS" as it was originally released, the group was never intended to be just "RATS", that was their management's decision. The group was built around David "Kubie" Kubinec and he wrote and sang all the songs. He later went on to a solo career and notably, his second album, Some Things Never Change, was produced by The Velvet Underground's John Cale. Sourced directly from producer ADRIAN MILLER's masters. This a one-time pressing of 500—once it's gone, it's gone.

King Woman

Degrida / Sick Bed

Sleep Genius

***KRISTINA ESFANDIARI is the voice of San Franciso shoegazers WHIRR. In her solo debut as KING WOMAN, she writes heart-wrenching ethereal songs you might be just as likely to hear in either an opium den or insane asylum—your choice. Painfully delivered with almost uncomfortable intimacy, she whispers the words you so desperately need to hear. She demands your attention. Hell hath no fury like King Woman scorned. This release features MARC MANNING (TIED TO THE BRANCHES) on guitars and synths on both tracks. JESS LABRADOR (CHASMS) lends her distinctive swirling guitars and angelic backing vocals while JUSTIN WASTERLAIN (Tied to the Branches) rounds out the doom with bass on “Sick Bed.” Captured on a chilly winter weekend in a dark, damp San Francisco garage by The Sleep Genius.

Ausmuteants

Amusements

Goner

***Ausmuteants are four twenty-nothings from Geelong, Victoria, raised on a diet of seminal avant punk like Chrome and the Screamers. Letʼs not mention Devo—as a two-piece, Jake Robertson (synth, guitar) and Billy Gardener (drums) flushed that obsession with the release of their Split Personalities album in 2012. They’ve since added Marc Dean and Shaun Connor on bass and guitar, respectively, and worked ’60s songwriting ideas, disco rhythms and a subtler brand of theft into finely crafted pop songs, recording 22 in early 2013. Aarght! Records picked the best twelve for Amusements, reissued on vinyl domestically by Goner. Ausmuteants are liked by Vice and Dangerfield despite (or because of) their synthesizers, their swearing and their youthful good looks. For what it’s worth, Ausmuteants do not like Vice or Dangerfield.

Low

Trust

Kranky

***BACK IN PRINT!!! The ninth full-length album from slo-mo beauty dealers LOW, and the band's most assertive and expansive release to date. Thirteen tracks recorded in Minneapolis with TOM HERBERT and mixed in London by TCHAD BLAKE (Latin Playboys, Lisa Germano, Pearl Jam), and featuring guest vocals on two tracks by GERRY BECKLEY of 1970s soft-rock giants AMERICA, and banjo work from MARC GARTMAN.

Good For Cows

Audumla

Web Of Mimicry

Good for Cows' fourth full-length, Audumla, finds the formerly acoustic, instrumental "crust jazz" bass and drums duo starting afresh. The constraints of flying with an upright bass, increasing volumes, and a steady listening diet of black metal and harsh noise music have lead Ches Smith (Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Traditionalists, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog) and Devin Hoff (Nels Cline Singers, Xiu Xiu) to reinvent their sound with electric bass, large drums, and electronics. The pair's extensive background in improved music and sonic experimentation serves the songs well, resulting in a compact record with no filler. The Ornette Coleman influence remains, but is now filtered through a lens of early Mayhem, Prurient, Abruptum, and Darkthrone. Nine noisy instrumental jams, from dirgey to blasting--but all heavy.

Roses

Camera Trouble

Group Tightener

***Camera Trouble is the lush first full-length record from L.A. dream-pop trio ROSES. Across 10 brooding songs, the drum-machined trio makes something fresh using familiar pop sounds from decades past. The reference points—from The Cure and Cocteau Twins to Adore-era Smashing Pumpkins and what feels like a million other things in between—are never hidden or obscured. And the record is stronger because of it. Roses are JUAN VELASQUEZ (ABE VIGODA), VICTOR HERRERA and MARC STEINBERG. Produced by Zola Jesus cohort ALEX DEGROOT. Edition of 500 on white vinyl.

V/a

Found Secret

777 Was 666

***Tracks by RICK POTTS, SPOILS & RELICS, YEAST CULTURE, DYLAN NYOUKIS, SMEGMA, AARON DILLOWAY, HAIR STYLISTICS, T. MIKAWA, THE NEW BLOCKADERS, YELLOWHOUSE, THE CUSTODIANS OF THE REALM, ALTAR OF FLIES, KAREN CONSTANCE, JOHN WIESE, and MARC HURTADO.

Ausmuteants

Amusements

Agitated / Aarght!

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Ausmuteants are four twenty-nothings from Geelong, Victoria raised on a diet of seminal avant punk like Chrome, the Screamers, and letʼs not mention Devo. As a two-piece, Jake (synth, guitar) and Billy (drums) flushed that obsession with the release of their Split Personalities album in 2012. They've since added Marc and Shaun on bass and guitar respectively and worked '60s songwriting ideas, disco rhythms and a subtler brand of theft into finely crafted pop songs, recording twenty two earlier this year. We picked the best twelve for Amusements. Ausmuteants are liked by Vice and Dangerfield despite or because of their synthesizers, their swearing and their youthful good looks. For what it's worth, Ausmuteants do not like Vice or Dangerfield.  

Ausmuteants

Order Of Operation

Goner

Jake Robertson and Billy Gardner started Ausmuteants in late 2011 in Geelong, Australia, after having played since teenagers in trad garage bands (The Frowning Clouds and The Living Eyes, respectively). Per the norm for good-looking rebels who play by their own rules, they cracked the shits, broke loose with just a synth and drums and, in early 2012, knocked out the Split Personalities tape. The addition of Melbourne’s loose-unit Marc Dean on bass followed, and soon after, ex-Canberran hardcore non-guitarist Shaun Connor on guitar. Their second album Amusements (note: not self-titled) comes from this fledgling time as a full band, with a heavy dose of the duo’s songs. Since the runaway international success of that record and playing every second weekend in Melbourne, they’re rocked-out full-tilt with all four members writing and singing new songs—23 of which were recorded live with vocal overdubs in the basement of an old ice cream factory by Mikey Young, then mixed and mastered in his idyllic coastal abode. Again the band and their Australian label Aarght! Records strained the friendship with song picks, agreeing on thirteen to make up Order of Operation. This record is better than Amusements any way you cut it: songs, lyrics, delivery and sound. It opens with Connor’s forehead- and thigh-slapping musical and lyrical debut, “Freedom of Information.” From there, songs range from balls-to-the-wall punkers (“Felix Tried to Kill Himself”; “Boiling Point”), well-considered workouts (“Family Time”; “Tunnel Vision”) and unguarded tenderness (“Wrong”; “Looney Bin”). Even people who couldn’t stand their...

Schell, Daniel & Dick Annegarn

Egmont and The ff Boom

Finders Keepers

***Part fantastical historic sonic biopic, part anthropologic journey into the deep roots of Belgium's monstrous cosmic rock sound, this wholly individualistic concept album combines the lead members of the mighty COS (Daniel Schell and Pascale Son) with studio genius Alain Pierre (Ô Sidarta), Des Morts and celebrated Dutch progressive rock singer Dick Annegarn, for what many consider to be both the overlooked hiding place of Belgium's deepest psychedelic moment and European prog's lost map to the "Franco-Flemish Boom". Emerging from the wider musical family that counted Marc Moulin , Placebo , and Marc Hollander amongst its creative kin, Daniel Schell's most profound conceptual project ambitiously combines the tale of the heroic historical figure of Count Egmont (1522-1568), while simultaneously tracing the evolution of the ud, or oud, ("the grandfather of the guitar") in this multifarious hallucinogenic epic. Featuring key members of other collectable groups such as drummer Felix Simtaine from Solis Lacus and bass player Jean-Louis Baudoin from the mythical Classroom (COS predecessor), this best-kept secret vinyl release also harbors the voices of Dirk Bogaert (of Belgian hard rockers Waterloo ) as well as Catalan singer Ilona Chale (Marc Hollander/ Aksak Maboul ) before her later tenure as the COS front woman. Initially released in 1978 via Zeuhl school distributors, Free Bird, alongside French pressings of Don Cherry , Jacques Thollot , and CAN , it is plain to understand the niche nature of this maligned "lost COS" LP as it finally blooms from between the cracked branches of European...

V/a

Bits & Pieces

Theologian

***One of the scene's best throws its hat into the cheapo sampler ring, and unloads some of the sweetest punk rock around. Twenty-five tracks of previously unreleased and rare material from PENNYWISE, PSEUDO HEROES, CHEATER, B.A.T., HOMEMADE, F.Y.P., SHUTDOWNS, DEVIATES, DEAD TREE, WAR CALLED PEACE, SUGAR BRITCHES (FLETCHER & BYRON of PENNYWISE and Theologian bossman MARC THEODORE), PROP 13, CIGAR, FISHSTICKS, OUT OF ORDER, 98 MUTE, and the GOODS.

Thunders, Johnny

So Alone (remarquable Special Edition)

Remarquable

***The third of four Remarquable Records vinyl releases in the JOHNNY THUNDERS: 1978 series, celebrating the iconoclastic New York rock’n’roll vagabond. By 1978 Johnny had relocated to London, forging plans for a solo career which culminated in the release of his career-peak album So Alone. In 1984 Johnny himself acknowledged it was “the best record I ever made”. Under the guiding hand of producer STEVE LILLYWHITE and amidst an unrepeatable roll call of friends only too willing and able to help out, Johnny forged an album which has gone on to influence generations. Includes a bonus LP with the unreleased title track, a cover of Marc Bolan's "The Wizard," two non-album singles tracks—"Dead Or Alive" and "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory," plus the B-side "Hurtin'." Packaged with a 16-page booklet.

Mandate

Oral History

Cruisin' Records

***ManDate, a popular gay mens pornographic magazine that brought you both hot nudes and informative articles is back in the form of a queer band from Seattle, Washington. Punk, angry and critical of contemporary cultural trends, ManDate’s debut LP, Oral History, takes on topics of gentrification, queer history, systemic violence against transgender, black, brown & queer communities and asks what it means to be an intersectional, forward-thinking individual in the world today. With COREY J. BREWER on guitar, MARC MAZIQUE on drums, CLYDE PETERSEN on bass and LORI GOLDSTON on cello, this self-described "limp wave" band keeps it dissonant, tense and upsetting.

The Fall

Live At The Witch Trials

Superior Viaduct

The first full-length album of The Fall, Live At The Witch Trials, is not actually a live album. Emerging out of a two-day studio session at Camden Sound in North West London during a sickly December of 1978, Witch Trials amounts to the sinister foundation of the band's diverse sound. Every song explores drastically different styles and wild terrain, leaving much to decipher over its eleven tracks.   "Frightened" has magnetic attraction / repulsion that shifts between Martin Bramah's skeletal guitar, Yvonne Pawlett's plastic keyboards and the lurching rhythm section of Marc Riley and Karl Burns. Mark E. Smith's mesmerizing bark and eerie lyrics warp the cosmic context with each repeated non-chorus. "Rebellious Jukebox" takes yet another turn and showcases the band's more melodic leanings.   One gets the sense that The Fall are in a time-travel hallucination (from 19th century witch trials to a scathing critique of the late-70s punk scene) where the band's snot-nosed scrabble afflicts the shape of pop to come. As Smith dictates, "We are The Fall, northern white crap that talks back."  Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that Live At The Witch Trials has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1979. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

The Fall

Totale's Turns

Superior Viaduct

Given The Fall’s penchant for iconoclasm, it’s no surprise that they decided to say goodbye to the ’70s with a series of gigs at Northern England’s gruffest halls. The band’s formidable live show was met with even more derision and disorder than customary during these late ’79 and early ’80 performances, and they skillfully amplified such sentiments back at the crowd. Totale’s Turns, The Fall’s first live album, was released on Rough Trade just prior to their pivotal third album, 1980’s Grotesque. “The difference between you and us is that we have brains,” shouts Mark E. Smith to open Totale’s Turns as the band breaks into the rollicking “Fiery Jack,” their latest single at the time. Each player is at their jagged best: Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon’s splintering guitars, Steve Hanley’s thunderous bass and Smith’s combative sneer reverberate over “Rowche Rumble,” “Choc-Stock” and “Spectre Vs. Rector” more than any studio would ever allow. Totale’s Turns never panders to live-record conventions, serving instead as a gripping exhibit of The Fall en masse and arguably the most accurate document of the group to date. Superior Viaduct’s edition is the first time that Totale’s Turns has been available on vinyl domestically. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

The Fall

Room To Live

Superior Viaduct

On Room To Live, The Fall take the hurried, all-or-nothing approach of their preceding Kamera Records releases to extreme ends. Forged via Mark E. Smith’s continual disassembling of players and focus on previously unrehearsed material, the album collects The Fall’s most experimental and improvisational recordings. As proclaimed on the album cover, “Undilutable Slang Truth!” would be revealed throughout Room To Live. With the album’s comparatively lo-fi production and always- teetering performances, the title track comes closest to a stab at pop (by The Fall’s standards), built on fantastically bent saloon swaying under one of Smith’s by-now characteristic dressing-downs of square life. “Detective Instinct” is an unshakeable creeper, as languid and ominous as the band would get during the Marc Riley years. “Marquis Cha Cha” is a post-punk rhumba, beginning with fury and then easing into something only The Fall could conjure. Superior Viaduct’s edition is the first time that Room To Live has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1982. Liner notes by Brian Turner.

Current 93

Black Ships Ate The Sky

Durtro / Jnana

Black Ships Ate The Sky, Current 93’s long awaited new studio album, is a 76-minute opus exploring David Tibet’s vision of the apocalypse as wrought by the ominous Black Ships. For his latest studio enterprise, Tibet assembled perhaps the band’s strongest line-up ever. Longtime C93 collaborator Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound) is joined by guitarist Michael Cashmore, cellist John Contreras, ambient sound composer William Basinski, William Breeze (Coil), Seattle artist Amy Phillips and newest member Ben Chasny (Six Organs Of Admittance).  The album also features contributions from an impressive array of vocal talent: Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Antony (Antony And The Johnsons), Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie, British folk legend Shirley Collins, Clodagh Simonds (Mellow Candle), Cosey Fanni Tutti (Throbbing Gristle), and Durtro labelmates Baby Dee and Pantaleimon.

Holy Serpent

Endless

Riding Easy

The forthcoming third album by Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent could likely be its defining moment. Seemingly bottomless in its relentless heft, with billowing and suffocating riffs leading glistening melodies, it’s the sound of a band that has locked on to something unique. Endless is fully conceptualized throughout, encapsulating an oceanic theme from the lyrics and art, even to the very structure of the sounds themselves. The six-song, forty-minute album finds vocalist / guitarist Scott Penberthy, guitarist Nick Donoughue, bassist Dave Bartlett and drummer Lance Leembruggen expanding their melodic hooks while simultaneously taking listeners on a rigorous journey. It was written over the course of two months, then recorded in seclusion at Beveridge Road Recording Studios near Australia’s beautiful Dandenong Ranges with head engineer Marc Russo and mixed by Mike Deslandes. Surrounding themselves with nature and no distractions allowed the band to focus on every detail of the album as a coherent whole. In the time since their self-titled Riding Easy debut in mid-2015, Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent have gained a lot of attention for their rather punk version of heavy psych and metal. Their 2016 skate-metal leaning album Temples further defined their more experimental blend of early Soundgarden, Saint Vitus and Kyuss that eschews simplistic ’70s-worship in favor of shimmering sonics and uncommon production techniques. Nonetheless, Endless is like all of the band’s earliest visions fully realized and honed into an album beyond easy classification.

Frantix

My Dad's A Fuckin' Alcoholic

Alternative Tentacles

Aurora’s Frantix transfixed the early 1980s Colorado punk scene with their unique sound and chaotic live show, releasing just two 7-inch EPs before evolving into the equally renowned grunge band The Fluid, Sub Pop’s first non-Seattle signing who helped lead the label’s grunge invasion of the mainstream. The group’s complete recorded works—both EPs plus rare, unreleased and great-sounding demo and live material—are collected here, most tracks appearing on vinyl for the first time ever. Though many people mistakenly believe that Mudhoney’s well-known version of “My Dad’s a Fuckin’ Alcoholic” is an original, this is the true KBD classic! The mix of Ricky Kulwicki’s unstoppable, lava-flow guitar, Matt Bischoff’s droning, carpet-bombing bass, Davey Stewart’s train-wreck drums, and Marc Deaton’s teenage-zombie vocals is downright legendary. Frantix were never just hardcore, and one can hear it on their very first recordings from 1980: beneath the songs’ amphetamine stutter and sonic tachycardia are strands of rock ’n’ roll DNA belonging to Johnny Thunders and Keith Richards. “Dancin’ to Punk” and “FM Ear” are smeared with lipstick traces of the Modern Lovers. The classic “My Dad’s a Fuckin’ Alcoholic,” equal parts Black Flag and Flipper with a touch of the New York Dolls, sports a simple but unforgettable bass riff and sing-along chorus and was a local favorite that grew to national underground prominence after its original release. Frantix shared the stage with national acts and punk legends like Black Flag, TSOL, Circle Jerks and Dead Kennedys.

Suicide Machines, The

Revolution Spring

Fat Wreck Chords

***It was in 2006 that Detroit punks THE SUICIDE MACHINES called it a day after 15 years and six full-throttle, super-charged and confrontational albums. The break didn’t last too long—in 2009, the four-piece reconvened to play the occasional local shows and embarked on a handful of tours. Finally, the band is back with a brand-new album—the first since War Profiteering Is Killing Us 15 years ago! Revolution Spring, the band’s seventh album and Fat Wreck debut, picks up right where they left off—full of blistering, rousing songs finding the band in truly explosive and energetic form. Over the course of a couple of years, the band wrote a total of 30 songs. With the help of both LESS THAN JAKE's bassist ROGER LIMA, who produced Revolution Spring, and THE CODE's frontman MARC CODE, The Suicide Machines whittled those down to the 16 that make up this record. While on the one hand, these songs serve as an overview of the band’s career and the different permutations of punk they’ve dabbled in over the years, it also possess the energy, spontaneity and enthusiasm of a band many years their junior—albeit with the wisdom that comes from being alive for a few decades. Recorded in “about 12 days” at Rancho Recordo, Revolution Spring is a powerful and cohesive combination of hardcore, ska and anthemic punk rock.

Cashmore, Michael

Sleep England

Durtro / Jnana

Sleep England is the first solo release from guitarist Michael Cashmore, who has worked extensively with Current 93 and released albums with his own project Nature And Organisation.  Over the last fifteen years he's written a majority of the music on some of Current 93's most acclaimed albums including classics like Thunder Perfect Mind, Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre, Soft Black Stars, All the Pretty Little Horses and the recently released Black Ships Ate the Sky. Coupled with the lyrical stylings of David Tibet, Cashmore has established the group's reputation for producing some of the most challenging, profound and influential works in contemporary music. Cashmore has also recorded with Antony (Antony and the Johnsons), Nick Cave, Marc Almond and many others.  Incorporating only electric and bass guitars, Sleep England consists of twelve new and previously-unreleased tracks that together form a singular and very personal work. This album is essential for followers of Current 93 and Nature and Organisation and will also appeal to fans of Jack Rose, John Fahey and Bert Jansch.

Smith, Sonny

100 Records Volume Two - I Miss The Jams

Turn Up

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CD!!! Sometimes the community rallies around an individual and the results are undeniable. There is a long and winding back story to the SONNY SMITH’s (SONNY & THE SUNSETS) 100 records project, but all that you really need to know is that Sonny Smith, one of the brightest lights in SF's neu-Garage scene, has recorded an album that is one for the ages. Sonny wrote 200 songs that make up 100 conceptual 7-inch singles for a multimedia art show that traveled around the US this past year. Although Smith penned all the music he attributed his masterful tongue-in-cheek brand of laid-back garagepop tunes to mystical musicians like ZIG SPECK, EARTH GIRL HELEN BROWN and THE LOUD FAST FOOLS derived from Smith’s imaginative prose. Along with producer MARC DANTONA, Sonny assembled a “Wrecking Crew” of players the SF scene got together to record songs in basements and apartments around the city and a whole other team of visual artists contributed artwork for each record cover. Here you have 10 songs from the Sonny Smith’s 100 Records. Recorded on vintage gear, with local heroes such as TIM COHEN (FRESH & ONLYS), KELLEY STOLTZ, TY SEGALL, and members of THE SANDWITCHES and CITAY all contributing, this new music sounds as though it could be from a bygone age, one at once more innocent and more dangerous. While the artwork and the concept are both wonderfully original and compelling, it's the tunes that stand out here. Earth Girl Helen Brown's "I...

Exit Group

Adverse Habitat

Castle Face

From the dank warehouse recesses that brought us Useless Eaters and Dry Erase, Castle Face introduces Exit Group—sharply futuristic post-punk with a pissed-off lean, antisocial lyrics spit over an abnormally locked-in guitar / bass / drums triangle, wound up tighter than a Swiss watch. Post-everything sample tweakery and chrome-dipped guitar tonality lend a darkly robotic sheen, abraded riffs pop up everywhere but where you think they should be, clanging and clanking inhumanly around elaborate Rube Goldberg patterns, tessellating under flickering municipal neon. Adverse Habitat is bone-dry furious, turning on a dime just to slap the drink out of your hand.  “A thrilling disaster I can’t wait to witness first hand.”  —Marc Riley  “A great record from start to finish! Smart and perfectly abrasive.”  —Henry Rollins

Bronze Age

Antiquated Futurism

Bed Of Nails

Dominick Fernow's Bed Of Nails venture welcomes his longtime co-conspirator Kris Lapke with three tracks of haunting Gothic Techno produced as Bronze Age. Kris used to run the Hospital Productions studio when it was operating in Manhattan. It was there that he galvanized seminal records including Kevin Drumm's 'Imperial Distortion' and Prurient's 'Arrowhead' with his signature post-production and recording techniques, beside corrosive solo work as Alberich and as part of guitar/noise duo Northern Cross with Geoff Mullen. As Bronze Age he's arrived at a murky reflection of Vatican Shadow's recent exploits - albeit lashed with a bruxist brand of Mid-Western Techno and Teutonic Trance arrangements - best heard on the razing Techno weapon 'Surviving Cultural Impedance' or the marching B-side epic 'Modal Ingenuity', two stoically funktional and black klad takes on strains of Acid Techno wrought by Lory D, Speedy J or Woody McBride, only amped with lip-biting Gothic drama. However, the record's finest moment is the slower missive 'Coupling Symbols': a majestic, militant Techno sensation redolent of classic Marc Arcardipane productions and blessed with a rare, positively dystopian atmosphere that's sadly all too absent in much of the contemporary Techno scene.

A Giant Dog

Pile

Merge

***Forging their friendships in the crucible of their Houston, TX, high school, SABRINA ELLIS (vocals), ANDREW CASHEN (vocals, guitar), and ORVILLE NEELEY (drums) first got their start covering AC/DC, The Ramones, Joan Jett, and the finer points of the Back to the Future soundtrack at school dances under the band name YOUTH IN ASIA. Reuniting in Austin in 2008, they enlisted their pals ANDY BAUER (guitar) and GRAHAM LOW (bass) and christened the act A GIANT DOG (AGD). AGD is raucous ear candy culled from the hook-driven melodies of Slade, the glammy swagger of Marc Bolan, the morbid fantasy of Killer-era Alice Cooper, and the unpredictable wit of Sparks. These songs are by, for, and about the losers, freaks, and outcasts. The lonely. The terminally horny. Boozehounds and party animals. No band better speaks to the hearts of slackers, burnouts, rockers, sluts, and creeps everywhere than A Giant Dog. In 2012, AGD impressed fellow Austinite and Spoon frontman BRITT DANIEL enough that he took them under his wing. Pile, AGD’s third LP and first for Merge Records, shows a band whose years of road-dogging have honed them into unstoppable rock machines. Their second time working with producer MIKE MCCARTHY (Spoon, White Denim, Trail of Dead) reveals Sabrina’s impressive pipes, Andrew’s sweet licks, and a pummeling rhythm section—everything is tighter, more focused, crisper. The album deals with divorce, getting older, dying, frustration, and futility, ultimately transcending those earthly headaches through the power of rock’n’roll.

Silva, Maria Elena

Dulce

Astral Spirits

***Pushing past the submissive qualities of her debut, Silva captures a deep and deliberate pop-forward poignancy in her sophomore Dulce. Written in the wake of her relocation to Chicago, Silva contemplates new love, a listless fate, sobriety, and maternity all the while retaining the patience of her previous release, Eros. Temperate motifs aside, a freer, wilder intensity permeates Dulce. Silva shows her roots in both rock n’ roll and the romantic. The fabric of the album gives palpable hints to her experimental aspirations that make borderline frantic use of the world-class instrumentalists at her disposal. This no holds barred approach results in Silva's most modern statement to date, beginning with the lead single "Love, If It Is So." A perfect avant-pop song that captures Maria in full flight with her studio band featuring the legendary guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Stephen Hodges—reunited for the first time since the pair were part of Tom Waits' seminal Rain Dogs in 1985. Ribot enhances Silva's songs with characteristic inspiration, skill, and abandon—jumping between frenzied guitar arpeggios, Philly Soul electric sitar lines, and subtle nylon string acoustic.

DNA

A Taste Of Dna

Superior Viaduct

New York's DNA have had a massive effect on alternative / indie rock around the world, despite the trio never releasing a full-length studio album during their four year tenure (1978-82). Various groups citing them as an influence have included Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Big Black and Blonde Redhead (the latter taking their name from DNA's most-famous song). While the band's explosive live performances captivated audiences, extant recordings captured DNA's dynamic sound and savage economy in songwriting.   Originally released in 1981, A Taste Of DNA remains a primary source for No Wave archaeologists. Singer/guitarist Arto Lindsay and drummer Ikue Mori are joined by bassist and Pere Ubu founding-member Tim Wright. Across the EP's six anti-epic tracks, the band charges forward with jagged guitars and dislocated grooves, while Lindsay's guttural screams create a thoroughly personal semantics.  As Marc Masters writes in the liner notes, "A Taste Of DNA has a kind of sum-of-parts insanity, wherein every musical element sounds conventionally off, like puzzle pieces purposefully jammed together at the wrong ends."  This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of The Contortions' Buy and Red Crayola's The Parable Of Arable Land.

V/a

Hexadic Iii

Drag City

***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.6 rating from Pitchfork. If we subscribe to the current ISO 8601, then 2018 is Hexadic year three—the third annum since we were introduced to a new wave in combinatorial theory with powerful potentialities for music composition. The book, The Hexadic System, was written by SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE's BEN CHASNY, who demonstrated the possibilities of the system with two albums of Hexadic composition, as well as touring the music and chairing talks on the process and uses of THE SYSTEM around the United States and Great Britain. This third installment of the Hexadic series had been planned from the beginning—inviting others outside of Ben Chasny’s Hexadic headquarters to make music using THE SYSTEM. Features music from MOON DUO, JENKS MILLER, MEG BARID & CHARLIE SAUFLEY, TASHI DORJI, RICHARD YOUNGS, PHIL LEGARD, and STEPHEN O'MALLEY, TIM WYSKIDA & MARC URSELLI.

Virginia

Blue Pyramid

Dark Entries

Dark Entries and Emotional Response team up to further explore Psychic TV’s Acid House years. Psychic TV was formed by Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle with Alex Fergusson of Alternative TV in 1981. After various line up changes, the band shifted direction to dance oriented songs influenced by the House and Techno scenes of Detroit and Chicago. By 1988 the group included Dave Ball of Soft Cell, Fred Giannelli of Turning Shrines and Matthew Best of Carcrash International. During the summer of 1988 the group recorded a batch of songs at Time Square Studios in London that would appear under the guise of various artists compilations Jack The Tab’ and ‘Tekno Acid Beat’. The idea behind these ‘compilations' of imaginary artists was creating a sense that a healthy acid house scene existed in the UK.  Virginia was the studio project of Dave “Mista Luv” Ball and then-wife Virginia “Gini” Ball, a classical violinist who toured and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Marc Almond. The duo had previous collaborated on Dave’s solo album ‘In Strict Tempo’ in 1983 and with the group Other People in 1984. The name "Blue Pyramid" was inspired by a photograph from Pink Floyd's album ‘Dark Side of The Moon’. Also at the time Dave was taking quite a lot of acid and came across some stuff ironically called "Blue Pyramid". Gini’s violin has an arabic feel, adding to the already bright and hypnotic dance rhythms. For this reissue we’ve backed...

Branca, Glenn

The Ascension

Superior Viaduct

***BACK IN PRINT ON VINYL!!!  Glenn Branca’s first full-length album The Ascension is a colossal achievement. After touring much of 1980 with an all-star band featuring four guitarists (Branca, fellow composers Ned Sublette and David Rosenbloom, and future Sonic Youth member Lee Ranaldo) along with Jeffrey Glenn on bass and Stephan Wischerth on drums, Branca took his war-torn group into a studio in Hell’s Kitchen to record five incendiary compositions. Originally released in the summer of 1981, The Ascension effectively tears down the genre-ghettos between 20th century avant-garde and ecstatic rock ’n’ roll.  On “The Spectacular Commodity,” chiming, shimmering tones unfold into sinister drone-territory à la Tony Conrad, while abrasive guitars and repetitive beats retain the raw primitivism of No Wave. The title track attains a densely packed, larger-than-life sound and (as author Marc Masters says best) “never stops climbing skyward.” With artist Robert Longo’s stark front cover that depicts Branca battling an unidentified man, The Ascension is a must-have record not only for fans of early Swans and Sonic Youth, but also of Steve Reich or Slint’s Tweez.

The Ar-kaics

See the World on Fire

Feel It

The Ar-Kaics are back with See the World on Fire, their first new album in six years. It’s also the first release from this newly-minted partnership between Feel It Records and the bands’ own imprint, Dig! Records; with Bachelor Records delivering a European edition. Expect eight new tunes of dark, moody, rollicking garage psych not altogether dissimilar from their previous output (across two LPs and a mess of singles). What you get here is the next chapter. All written and recorded in singer-guitarist Johnny’s bedroom / garage (pictured on the album cover), it’s a concept album based on the concept of making an album—on their own, from the brink. But don’t just take our word for it… “The Ar-Kaics out of Virginia are pretty groovy. They got THAT sound, man.”—Marc Maron

Duds

Of A Nature Or Degree

Castle Face

“When I was first told about Duds, it came with the considered opinion that the guys were far from what you’d call ‘careerists’. ‘They don’t take themselves too seriously’ was another comment. I could have taken this as a warning that they weren’t in it for the right reasons—but that couldn’t be further from the truth. From my perspective Duds simply won’t bend over backwards to ‘get on’. They do what they do and you can take it or leave it. I took it—with both hands…with a vice-like grip. They have the invention and urgency of Edinburgh legends The Fire Engines. The Post-Punk ethic. Short songs, short sets = short album. “They’re one of the most thrilling bands I’ve seen in years—and the fact that they’re releasing this brilliant piece of work on the Castle Face label adds the last piece of a perfect ‘outsider’ jigsaw puzzle. Duds sitting alongside Oh Sees, Ty Segall, White Fence, Useless Eaters, et al. There is a god!” —Marc Riley, June 2017

Spacemen 3

Playing With Fire

Superior Viaduct

***Back in print on vinyl!!!  Spacemen 3 began assembling their third album, 1988’s Playing With Fire, at perhaps the freest, most confident point in their career. Recording began with the band road-tested and rugged, even amidst the functional volatility that famously motivated their course. The sessions’ first offering came in the form of “Revolution,” a single of heroic Stooges-devotion and the most commercially successful release the group had to date. High expectations for the album were soon exceeded, as Playing With Fire would become Spacemen 3’s crowning studio achievement and cement their rightful place on the vanguard of otherworldly rock ‘n’ roll.  An exquisite mix of stuttering tremolo guitars and wistful melodies, Playing With Fire sheds any trappings of revisionism and furnishes a nuanced grade of psychedelia. Epic entries like “Suicide” (named after the notorious NYC band) and the mesmeric “How Does It Feel?” catch Spacemen 3 at their celestial apex, the very point where their collective writing, performance and production would crest and wondrously splinter.  Includes download card and new insert with liner notes by Marc Masters.

Eitzel, Mark

Don’t Be A Stranger

Merge

***After a string of bad luck that included a heart attack that set him back several months and the implosion of his band AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB, MARK EITZEL fortuitously found himself in the studio with celebrated producer SHELDON GOMBERG (Rickie Lee Jones, Ron Sexsmith, Ben Harper), thanks to the generosity of an old friend. The result is Eitzel’s finest solo album in over a decade. Inspired by his experience writing a musical, Mark’s songwriting is simpler on this record and lyrically reflects a more straight-ahead approach. There is a haunted quality to tracks like “I Love You But You’re Dead” (a song based on seeing the punk band Destroy All Monsters) and “The Bill Is Due,” which are about broken promises, leftover people, the desperation one feels when time and cash are running out, and ultimately, the feeling of not knowing what comes next. “Break the Champagne” and “Nowhere to Run” were written in a fit of creativity just days before the album was completed. Mark plans to tour the US in late 2012 with his band MARK EITZEL’S WARM GENTLE RAIN, whose members include KRISTIN SOBDITCH (LITTLE FUZZY), MARC CAPELLE (American Music Club), JON LANGMEAD (LOQUAT), and PETE STRAUS (DWARVES). No Export. (STREET DATE - 10/02/2012)

Spacemen 3

Recurring

Superior Viaduct

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  1990’s Recurring, the fourth and final studio album by Spacemen 3, is often considered the introduction of two brilliant solo projects (Spectrum and Spiritualized) rather than the work of a functioning band. While Spacemen 3’s departing statement surely reveals a deep divide within the S3 camp—each side of the LP was written by Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce separately and, unlike previous releases, the two do not play on each other’s songs—Recurring maintains a cohesive, dreamy feel with its chief sonic officers backed by fellow travelers Will Carruthers, Mark Refoy and Jon Mattock.  Opening saga “Big City (Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here)” marries ambient haze with narcotized indie rock, while “I Love You” manages to arrange a beautiful flute alongside a defiantly throbbing bass track. “Hypnotized,” a reimagined fuzz-pop hymn, would become the group’s first entry in the UK Singles Charts. Recurring lays bare the essence of Spacemen 3’s persistent sound, rooted in both aural expansion and phenomenal songwriting.  Includes download card and new insert with liner notes by Marc Masters.

Mori, Ikue & Christian Ronn

Chordis Et Machina

Resipiscent

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  IKUE MORI and CHRISTIAN RONN are the superlative electroacoustic duo, well... “duo” unless you count the instruments themselves and you should: prepared piano, FX, Buchla and Serge synthesizers. These masters of unrule are radically attuned to time and sound, invoking the personhood of space and object, chordis et machina, as you'll soon discover once their music, laid down at Elektron Musik Studion (EMS) Stockholm, gets loose in your own environ. No meandering muddiness, the precision and responsiveness of this heady collaboration steps swiftly from fine grit distortions to leaky sinewaves, sweeping from the playfully melodic to the seriously xenomorphic. As prepared-piano hammers against braiding electronics, each possibility unfurls the next. Tossed from the final groove, you'll hike up your needle and want to plunge right back in.  “Endless probing that hooks into your neurons, this album leaves sonic organisms floating around you. Even if that's merely an illusion, the alchemy of Mori and Rønn’s hyperactive stew is very real.”—Marc Masters

V/a

Not Alone

Durtro / Jnana

Featured artists: Vashti Bunyan, William Basinski, Bill Fay, Simon Finn, Six Organs of Admittance, Angels of Light, Antony, Baby Dee, Ghost, The Hafler Trio, Pearls Before Swine, Jarboe, Devendra Banhart, Pantaleimon, Faun Fables, Nurse With Wound, Sundial, Current 93, irr. app. (ext.), Thighpaulsandra, srmeixner, Little Annie Anxiety, Jim O’Rourke, Lynn Jackson, Small Creatures, Michael Yonkers, Mirror, Jad Fair, Linda Perhacs, Edward Ka-Spel, Teenage Fanclub, Richard Buckner, Mary 5E, Anomoanon, L, Isobel Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, David Surkamp, Bonnie Prince Billy, Marc Almond, Damon and Naomi, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Unveiled, James William Hindle, Rose McDowall, John Maslen, Larsen, Mr Durt, Shannon Lyon, John Contreras, Brett Smiley, Cyclobe, Blue Eyed Black, Stephanie Volkmar, Howie B, Bevis Frond, Thurston Moore, Shockheaded Peters, John Terrill, Max Richter, Colin Potter, AUBE, Keiji Haino, Jeremy Reed, The Hollowings, Tom Recchion, Fursaxa, Amy Curl, Joolie Wood, Genesis P-Orridge, Suishou no Fune, Coil, Eric Lanzillotta, Scott Stapleton, Shirley Collins, Ghostigital, Charlemagne Palestine, and Matmos.

Secret Chiefs 3

Live At The Great American Music Hall

Web Of Mimicry

Live at the Great American Music Hall captures Secret Chiefs 3 in concert with what many consider to be the best of their many lineups in 14 years of playing. Shot in 2007 at one of the band's favorite haunts, this DVD does justice to a group whose live energy usually exceeds the recorded medium. Renowned for their ultra-elaborate CD productions, Secret Chiefs 3 has also garnered a reputation for the power and immediacy of their live shows. Their fanbase has swelled in recent years and grown accustomed to this live incarnation (the Secret Chiefs 3 bootleg scene is thriving), and they demand an official release! Not just some audience-hand-cam and stereo-mic-job thing, this DVD boasts a pro six-camera shoot with live sound mixed by Billy Anderson, with the multi-channel outs mixed for DVD by Trey Spruance and Randall Dunn (producer of Earth, SUNNO))), Kinski, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc). And it comes with a really nice six-panel gatefold digi-pack with original artwork.  At the show, Secret Chiefs 3 performs a set of both familiar and as-yet-unreleased music. The line-up includes Ches Smith (Xiu Xiu, Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog), Shahzad Ismaili (who also plays with Graham Haynes, Laurie Anderson, and Tom Waits), Timb Harris (Estradasphere), Rich Doucette, Peijman Kouretchian, and Jai Young Kim. Live at the Great American Music Hall also has an award-winning and seriously dimensionally altered 80-minute stop-motion animation feature film directed by Tawd Dornfeld that uses Secret Chiefs 3's live show as a soundtrack.

Callaci, Dennis

100 Cassettes

Pelekinesis

***100 Cassettes started life as 100 hand drawn/painted cassette covers for an installation at the dA Center for The Arts in Pomona, California. Six months after that installation, the book 100 Cassettes started being written in earnest. The book’s ninety nine chapters (two of the cassettes make up one chapter) delve into the possibility of each imagined release by a wealth of artists spanning over fifty years. Find early entries of abstraction on Ida Cox, Alice Cooper, Talk Talk, Earl Sweatshirt and Lord Invader to nonfiction-based entries on Tony Conrad, Korla Pandit, Jackie Moore and Black Sabbath. Featuring a foreword by Jonathan Lethem and an afterword by Allen Callaci, the book winds around autobiographical information, the rich culture of Southern California from 1969 to the present day, and all musical points in between. 296 page paperback book.   “In 100 Cassettes, music and whatever else there is to life try to drive through Dennis Callaci's brain, and continually get stuck in its fascinating detours and rest stops. Who knows which parts are fact and which are fiction, but it's definitely all true.”—Marc Masters, Washington Post, author of Now Wave.

Stoltz, Kelley

La Fleur

Dandy Boy / Agitated

***"Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, La Fleur. La Fleur finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, 'Hide In A Song' and 'Make Believer' respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout. The album’s first single 'Reni’s Car' is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. 'About Time' marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. 'Human Events' puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Ohsees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there? During the 2010s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums....

Tony Jay

Hey There Flower

Mt. St. Mtn.

***Solo bedroom-pop project of Michael Ramos (Flowertown, April Magazine, Hectorine). Mostly recorded between last Christmas and New Year's during a window of isolation at home, Hey There Flower preserves Tony Jay’s prowess at making beautifully eerie lo-fi pop; like a hazy memory where your favorite Sixties girl-group melody is perpetually slowed down. Without a band to practice with, Tony Jay recorded the music alone, but recruited a slew of friends to remotely record backing vocals: Karina Gill (Cindy), Griffin Jones (Galore), Kati Mashikian (Mister Baby), Alexis Harper (Al Harper), & Hannah Lew (Cold Beat).  "Hey There Flower, the most recent release from the prolific and mysterious Tony Jay delivers real melodies—both lacey with vocal harmonies and dusty with layered guitars—as fans have come to expect. This release also carries forward and elaborates on Tony Jay's tradition of songs that express a kind of naked honesty about things we all know—love and loneliness and all that—while communicating at the same time a wry edge of skepticism, so that the songs are like coins spinning on edge before landing heads, tails, or lost under the couch. Tony Jay brings us into a nostalgia where we recognize moods from music of the past—Marc Boland definitely comes to mind, as well as Velvet Underground of the Nico era, and Tony Jay even covers Francoise Hardy on this collection—but the songs create a three dimensional space with what feels like a thousand layers so that instead of being thrown back in time, it's like...

Phet Phet Phet

Shimmer

Unheard Of Hope

Shimmer's tones are unexpected, the combinations of instruments far off the beaten trails of familiar genres. It's not quite jazz, not quite neoclassical, not quite soul, but something all its own. Saxophone, clarinet, glockenspiel, cello, pedal steel, synths, guitar & human voice merge in ethereal counterpoints that nod to chamber music, while the rhythm section drives the whole thing forward with an uncanny propulsion that feels cool, self-possessed and hyper contemporary. All the while Shimmer makes sure to keep one foot outside of time—stepping alone toward the ageless inward horizion. Its A-side contains four tightly orchestrated tracks recorded in Mexico City in 2023; the B-side is a single long experiment in texture, which Jarrett Gigore began writing at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and finished remotely in 2023. Think Jacques Brel's "Je suis un soir d'ete." Think Chicago fusion a la Tortoise. Think the wall-of-sound production of David Axelrod. Think Steve Reich's organs in polyrhythm. Think Arthur Russell's neo-classical Tower of Meaning. Think them all at once, then forget all that and open yourself to something new. Features Mabe Fratti on vocals, cello; I. La Catolica on electric & acoustic guitar, bass, percussion; Marc Miller on electric & acoustic guitar; Gibran Andrade on drums; and Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar.

SBT (Sarabeth Tucek)

Joan of All

Ocean Omen

Sarabeth Tucek emerges from a decade-long hibernation with a new double-album Joan of All under the new moniker SBT— a longtime nickname given to her by the many musicians she has worked with throughout her career. After retreating from the fevered pace of the record business to concentrate on other creative endeavors, Sarabeth began to piece together the music that would eventually become her mostambitious, personal project yet—the sprawling double-album Joan Of All, released on her own freshly-minted imprint Ocean Omen. Sarabeth Tucek officially broke onto the music scene 2003 performing a series of spellbinding duets with Bill Callahan on the acclaimed Smog album Supper. This was swiftly followed by a memorable appearance in the prize-winning Brian Jonestown Massacre documentary DiG! Sarabeth also contributed material to their 2005 EP release, We Are the Radio. One of Sarabeth's compositions covered by the band on that EP, "Seer," would later be retitled and released in 2006 as Tucek's debut single, "Something for You,” which became Steve Lamacq’s Single Of The Week on BBC Radio 6 Music. Her self-titled debut album produced by Luther Russell and Ethan Johns hit stores the following year and garnered rave reviews in the press, leading her to supporting Bob Dylan and unfaltering support at the BBC. In 2011, Sarabeth followed up her extraordinary debut with a raw, uncompromising album entitled Get Well Soon, praised as an unflinching meditation on the subject of grief. This release made many year-end lists and the title track was featured on the...

Pollard, Robert

Elephant Jokes

GBV Inc

"I'm sick and tired of all you backward-looking crybabies. You know who you are: 'If only it were 1994...' 1994? Were you even alive then? How alive?  "Not as alive as Robert Pollard is right now--working the boards, finding the words still jump when he says jump and the guitar chimes when he forms the chords on the six-string with his honest-to-God DIY, home-made calluses. A clutch of these songs started out live in the studio, with Mr. Pollard on guitar, and they buzz with the charge of on-the-spot generation. All the secret ingredients go into the mix--even Mr. P's brother, the estimable outside shooter Jimmy Pollard, returns to tweak a few knobs--and the result is music that comes alive with that sui generis Dayton grit and sparkle. Check out the needling, obsessive riff on the intro to "When a Man Walks Away"--no mistaking the Pollard touch there--or the distortion-drenched start of "Epic Heads" where one can just about smell the heat rise from the solid state circuit board.  "You want nostalgia? OK, here's some nostalgia. Think music as real and unselfconscious as anything since Same Place the Fly Got Smashed or songs alive with Alien Lanes' aesthetic but even hookier and smarter. Music that sounds just like friends playing for the fun of it in the family basement (so the family's grown up and moved away, it's a different house, and it's not exactly a basement anyway, but I defy one to hear the difference)." --Marc Woodworth, author, Bee...

Youngs, Richard And Simon Wickham-smith

20 Years

Vhf

20 Years celebrates two decades of music from Richard Youngs and Simon Wickham-Smith, featuring four previously unreleased albums. The set includes the first new vinyl from the pair in almost 15 years, plus three other projects (presented here on CD) that were all completed and intended for release by the duo in the '90s, but fell by the wayside for various reasons. 20 Years, the newly recorded LP, is one of the heaviest, most uncompromising records of the duo's long career. It consists of eight electro-acoustic reworkings of their first (unreleased) recording from 1987, and is a blistering set of tracks as wild and weird as anything they've ever done. The SMIRR CD features four epic instrumentals in the vein of classics such as LAKE and Asthma and Diabetes, flowing with extended grandeur, mixing drone and eccentric instrumentation in the duo's immediately identifiable style. Songphase's ten simple, lovely tunes are a reminder of their considerable "trad" songwriting and performing prowess. While Youngs has worked in this style on his solo efforts, hearing Wickham-Smith match him track for track is a revelation. "Dream Song" is among the former's most moving pieces. Finally, LIVE!!! is a head-scratcher of an album, recorded live in-studio in full-on Dadaist style--extended clavinet mania, Casio jams and plenty of outre expression. This set is packaged in a gatefold jacket with essays by David Keenan, Neil Campbell, Marc Masters and Jon Dale and an extended interview with Youngs and Wickham-Smith. The CDs are housed in a custom-bindered insert...

Locrian

End Terrain

Profound Lore

Experimental metal trio Locrian are a prophetic voice of decline and a pioneering force in the world of metal. Their sonic tapestry weaves elements of black metal, ambient, and experimental music, creating a genre-defying experience that pushes the boundaries of conventional metal norms. Their new album End Terrain is the proper follow-up to 2015’s Infinite Dissolution (Relapse Records) and continues in the vein of their distinguishable sonic blueprint brought forth from said release along with other Relapse Records-released Return To Annihilation and The Clearing/The Final Epoch. 2022 saw their return with their Profound Lore debut New Catastrophism, in which the trio explored and returned back to the experimental side of their roots. End Terrain is the group’s most direct and concise work to date. More complex and layered than anything in the prolific trio’s catalog, it is a concept album exposing a vision of a future earth consumed by waste. It depicts an apocalyptic landscape, inhabited by a generation who despise their parentage and are a dying breed fully aware of the wasteland they have left. With mountains of trash and an uninhabitable planet, endless and dead, End Terrain is about inertia and regret, about the future and a mirror to the present, about mourning and extinction. A seamless and harrowing blend of experimental, post-rock, and post-metal, Locrian’s End Terrain is the perfect manifestation of modern, forward-thinking experimental music pushed to a maximalist conclusion. “Plenty of bands play music that sounds dark, but few can make every note bleed...

Magic Trick

River Of Souls

Empty Cellar

***River of Souls is the third enchantment from the hat of TIM COHEN (THE FRESH AND ONLYS) and his band, MAGIC TRICK. Picking up from where he left us with Ruler of the Night (Hardly Art), Cohen brings us ten new intimate tracks, polished as yet unseen. Recorded in The Tree House, his attic studio, River of Souls whirls with parables of change amidst emotional flotsam and jetsam. Insecurities, sarcasm, escapism, optimism, vanity, honesty, and bona fide love… it is all there, but in comforting form. Tim’s well-skewed pop songs remind us that things can always be better, but also that what we have is pretty amazing. River of Souls signals a new approach for Magic Trick. As in The Fresh and Onlys, Tim has begun to distinguish his muses from those of the foggy San Francisco lo-fi movement that he helped to shape. Mixed at Lucky Cat Studios with PHIL MANLEY and mastered by PAUL OLDHAM, this album exudes presence and confidence. Now, more than ever, the vocals break through the clouds, and the mix champions the artistry in each player’s performance. Tim’s baritone spars with angelic female chants (NOELLE CAHILL and ALICIA VANDEN HEUVEL) over the crisp unmistakable pulse of JAMES KIM’’s drums throughout. San Francisco’s gifted guitar workhorse, TOM HEYMAN, channels Mark Knopfler; one-man metal mystery, STEVE PEACOCK, brings the right kind of shred; and MARC CAPPELLE’s horns retort the melodies, as Tim jettisons his woes upriver. It is clear with each downbeat the band has honed...

Kyd, Ani

Entangle

Alternative Tentacles

Alternative Tentacles siren songstress ANI KYD returns to the fold with Entangle. We released her debut solo album Evil Needs Candy Too in 2005 and her revved up metallic rock band FUEL INJECTED .45 in 2009. This digital-only release is a departure from these earlier projects' heavy rock riffs and power wails. These are hauntingly slow, pretty torch songs, teeming with feelings of loss, fear, confusion, and seduction. Hints of both FRANK SINATRA and MASSIVE ATTACK surface at times across this enthralling release. For Entangle's six songs, KYD collaborated with four producers from Canada and the US.  The first three songs “Virus”, “Paralyzed”, and “Love Again” are the brainchild of ANI KYD and Vancouver, BC punk composer Stephen Hamm (SLOW, THE EVAPORATORS, TANKHOG, and CANNED HAMM) which sound like theme songs from an unreleased 1960s JAMES BOND movie.  Composer Damien Wallace and KYD collaborated on the fourth song “Taking A Leap,” which combines an attack upon organized religion with a voice so sweet it could confuse the church-going masses. The fifth song is a collaboration with Alternative Tentacles veteran Ralph Spight (VICTIMS FAMILY, JELLO BIAFRA AND THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, FREAK ACCIDENT). It's the weirdly robotic, insanely catchy and certainly twisted tune, “Box of Broken Toys.” The final song is a simple, catchy rock tune ANI KYD wrote with her long-time collaborator Marc L'Esperance (COAL, PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS, CUB, LINDA MCRAE, ANI KYD). L'Esperance has also produced and engineered projects for everything from the rockabilly twang...

Water Damage

Two Songs

12xu

***More Water! More Damage! The second proper LP by this Texan juggernaut is even more biggerer than the first, a head-drowning pair of new 'reels' (every Water Damage tracks generally take up a reel of tape, hence the 'reel ____' song titles) that makes you feel like you’re swimming in a sun-drenched river of sound. Two drummers, two bassists, and tons of vibrating strings are once again a recipe for massive rocking-drone fires. Two Songs has two songs, and they’re kind of the yin/yang of Water Damage: one toned very low, growling and roaring, groaning over a beat, while the other hums high, troubling the treble clef and ringing like a bunch of church bells that don’t want to be in church. They’re more alike than different though, divining momentum from repetition, flying forward by staying in place, climbing a mountain that they’re building as they go. Enough ink has already been spilled about the previous-band pedigrees of the players in this hurtling collective, and by this point, the past seems way less relevant than the present when it comes to Water Damage’s present-pounding sound. These people know what they’re doing, sure. You don’t need a resume in front of you to figure that out. It’s there in every second of this gigantic, eternal music—in all the strings being bowed, the skins being slammed, the rumbles being rumbled. You might notice that this time around, Water Damage haven’t just given their tracks reel numbers. They're also called 'Fuck This' and...

Coffin Prick

Laughing

Sophomore Lounge

***"The first solo album by Ryan Weinstein (Cairo Gang) is truly a world of its own. Under the name Coffin Prick (the singular version of Coffin Pricks, his group with Chris Thomson), Weinstein has built a musical ecosystem filled with rhyming sounds, hypnotically hermetic production, and a rhythmic gravity that keeps everything in orbit. Crafted entirely at his home in Los Angeles, Laughing is simultaneously isolated and welcoming, as if Weinstein is both reflecting his environment and opening it up for everyone to explore. So many compelling sights and sounds await if you choose to accept Weinstein’s invitation and enter the universe of Laughing. Fiery guitar accents, spaced-out synth patterns, random sounds captured while dog-walking, and the echoey missives of Weinstein’s voice all dart around the stereo space like electrons circling a nucleus. That nucleus consists of his dazzling bass and drum structures, which form the heart of nearly every track here. He consistently finds loops that stick in your brain, sometimes sounding like post-punk from outer space, other times evoking classic dub shot through with helium or doused in gasoline. Take a ride on 'Ricochet in Limbo,' a piston-firing workout in which Weinstein’s slashing guitar cuts through synth detonations like a motorcycle in a minefield. Slide down 'Smooth Rubber Ailment,' a funk-skimming jam whose chilly beat and blurry vocals suggest a haunted house dance party. Climb the rising stairs of 'The Guild of Cowards,' a slow-burning instrumental that evokes the 1980s without sounding the least bit dated. Jump on...

Love Child

Never Meant To Be: 1988-1993

12xu

***"At the very dawn of the 90s, Love Child's debut 7” made a splash on the burgeoning scene of shambolic bands and lo-fi recordings. Back then, they were mentioned in the same breath as Pavement, Sebadoh, or Beat Happening. But Love Child’s two great albums and sparkling singles have become the stuff of record collectors, unavailable vis streaming and out of print, until now. Never Meant to Be: 1988-1993 pulls from these releases and some unreleased radio sessions, unearthing a trove of lost gems by a band that could be the bestof all of the 90s buried treasures. Culled from their smashing debut 7-inch, their two full-length albums, another great single and some unreleased radio sets (including a Peel Session), Never Meant To Be has catchy hooks, gritty noise, sneakily-deft playing, brainy but blunt lyrics, and lots of other awesome stuff. Love Child were part of lo-fi’s beginnings, but also had the NYC pedigree to absorb predecessors like the Velvet Underground, the Voidoids and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. (Their swirl of brightness, brains, and brawn led Byron Coley to liken them to a fantasy VU made up of Moe Tucker, Doug Yule, and Angus MacLise). Will Baum started Love Child while a student at Vassar College, bringing on classmates Rebecca Odes and Alan Licht. At first, Baum wrote the majority of the songs, bringing a Modern Lovers-like garage-pop attack to the band’s 19-song whirlwind debut album Okay? (Homestead, 1991) But Odes and Licht contributed songs as well, each with...