Upcoming Releases

Mod Lang

Borrowed Time

Just Add Water

***"The Motor City’s fabbest new foursome has finally squeezed a year and a half of late-night drives, in-person blow-outs, busted A/Cs, and grass roots-fueled rock ‘n’ roll onto a new slab of wax that will really turn your head. After dominating the Midwest circuit with nothing but word-of-mouth, a couple of demos, and harmonies bright enough to make mods and rockers make peace, Mod Lang delivers a debut LP that proves they weren’t another hype band that some old geezer told you about.Tracked mostly live and bounced down to reel-to-reel, Borrowed Time is a direct and concise attempt at a pure pop album. Across the ten tracks, you’ll hear messages about hopeless romanticism, disillusionment of everyday life, urban alienation, and rock ‘n’ roll mythology. Simple, direct, and unpretentious. Better than TV. Starting with the opener 'What I Can’t Have,' the true heart of the record, guitarists-vocalists Antonio Keka and Alex Belfie’s Beatles vs Stones melodies set the tone for the remaining 30 minutes. The beat-driven 'Cocamoda' reportedly emerged from a gibberish jam that tells a comical tale about a loved one getting put into jail while showing off the impressive rhythmic force of bassist Ava East and drummer Ben Taber. 'These Words' is proof Keka and Belfie got the brains and ragged charm for writing clear, infectious melodies that’ll make you feel alright. Both 'Big House' and 'Borrowed Time' come on hard with a level of breathless energy that borders on frenzy — investing pop for a rawer, looser, and...

Lunch, Lydia And The Art Gray Noizz Quintet

Permafrost b/w Mass Production

In The Red

THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET is spearheaded by twisted Australian guitar legend STU-ART GRAY, most notoriously known as STU SPASM of LUBRICATED GOAT, CRUNT, SALAMANDER JIM, and THE BEASTS OF BOURBON. Adding another crazed chapter to an already solidly sordid musical history, THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET stars some of the finest scoundrels of the New York City underground scene - SKELETON BOY of WOMAN on two-string bass, NIKKI D'AGOSTINO on sax, and veteran drummer RICH HUTCHINS of LIVE SKULL providing the savage, swinging beat. A rotating roulette of characters swagger into the second guitar slot as needed, each showcasing their particular specialty - twang, treble, or atmosphere. Stuart Gray's wayward path through the flashpoints of noise, grunge, and swamp-rock history is well-represented in the Quintet's sound - chaos with a cinematic edge. Sharing stages with kindred spirits such as THE SCIENTISTS and MUDHONEY got the attention of audiences early on. Their recordings and incendiary gigs throughout the New York scene and beyond soon caught the eye of the infamous LYDIA LUNCH, and it was only a matter of time before a new collaboration was born . . .Now, THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET collide with the queen of no wave LYDIA LUNCH on a new two-fisted ten-inch single . . . Melting the MAGAZINE classic "PERMAFROST", and grinding out an apocalyptic version of IGGY POP's "MASS PRODUCTION". Only on IN THE RED RECORDS!"Speaking of noise, that’s kind of Stu Spasm’s thing — from LUBRICATED GOAT in the late 1980s,...

Circle X

Prehistory

Drag City

***A reissue of Circle X’s first full-length album. Prehistory was recorded in 1981 and released in 1983 by Index Records, making them, strangely enough, labelmates with Wall of Voodoo. Circle X were formed in 1978 from the remnants of NO FUN and the I-HOLES, Louisville, Kentucky’s first two punk bands. Circle X got the hell out of Dodge quickly enough, settling upon New York, then Dijon, France, and then back to New York again. Prehistory is a tire-burning left turn from the band's earlier EP. The pendulum arc of TONY PINOTTI’s vocals still contain throat-shredding howls, but expands to contain croons, moans, speech. BRUCE WITSIEPE’s lacerating guitar is dumped into a dubbish aquarium of reverb, and RIK and DAVE LETENDRE worry obsessive polyrhythms nearly to death.The music of these Louisville-NYC art-punk-rockers continues to exist bafflingly outside of time—so when better than 42 years after initial release to reissue their album debut on vinyl? New listeners will find, in addition to the roiling compulsion of its odd, dance-damaged clockwork and synthesis of feral and aestheticized values, a refined understanding of the width and breadth of “post-punk” music, from any era, known or unknown.

Rotting Sky

Sedation

Sentient Ruin Laboratories

***REISSUED ON VINYL - FIRST TIME ON CD!!! Masterminded by Portland, Oregon-based musician T. Messing (Rohit, Nux Vomica) and taking its name from a Khanate song, Rotting Sky's 2014 masterpiece and sole full-length album "Sedation" still towers grandiose and inscrutable as defiant testament of a vision that remains unrivaled and unprecedented to this day, over a decade after it was first conceived. A swarming and sweeping creative tour de force conquering expressive totality from deep within the most tense and concealed folds of inner turmoil and personal struggle, "Sedation" plumbs the darkest depths of torment as a massive cathartic deflagration, immortalized into the present as one of the most enduring, moving and soul-shattering underground experimental black metal creations of the past decade. Adhering religiously to its foundational principles of withdrawal, isolation, confinement, and frugal self-empowerment, "Sedation" accretes from a myriad of field recordings, samples, guitar pedal layering, and home-made DIY recording tactics, to embody a massive colorless monolith of industrialized sonic ruin. A majestic convergence of dungeon-creeping raw black metal, disembodied power electronics, industrial noise and dirging funeral doom, ascending and spiraling into an obsidian maelstrom of despair. The foundational seclusion driving other recluse experimental and industrial leaning black metal projects such as Nortt, Gnaw Their Tongues, Murmuüre, Emanation and Paysage d'Hiver has convergently evolved similar stylistic traits in Rotting Sky, materializing a majestic and impenetrable aural specter in which the artist's unique personal.

Draümar

Draümar

Static Shock

***"Static Shock out here still pushing the finest in international punk and hardcore. This time with a smoking debut from Oslo’s Draümar. Their influences are from the same city block with groundwork laid by groups like So Much Hate and Svart Framtid. Unfortunately, the songs are blasting away at the same monumental enemies albeit with different faces. The never-ending nuclear question, societal unease, genocide, and a steadfast approach to not turn away from the constant horror of today’s world make up the tapestry of this 12”.The intro and outro track nod and update John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13 setting the stage for a flurry of cold, desperate Norwegian punk—instantly identifiable and as potent as ever. Indeed, they’ve scraped the blood, sweat and victory off the floors of Blitz and distilled it into a Molotov aimed directly at a world in constant crisis. These are chords and context against a rising fascist world where screaming is not a limp response but also tactic, celebration and affirmation. Aside from the fury contained in the original tracks you get a bonus treat in the dual vocal attack on the Bannlyst song ‘Herrene’ which features original Bannlyst vocalist Finn Erik Tangen—instantly identifiable and still just as pissed."—Josh Nickel

Coil

Backwards

Cold Spring

***Cold Spring marks a decade since the label first released COIL's landmark album Backwards, with a special 10-year anniversary vinyl reissue. After the groundbreaking release of 1990's Love's Secret Domain album, Coil were not dormant; their main project was Backwards, which was started in 1992, updated considerably between 1993 and 1995, and transferred in 1996 to New Orleans, where it was finished in the magic of the Nothing Studios of TRENT REZNOR (Nine Inch Nails). The album saw the fruition of JHONN BALANCE's recent vocal-coaching, which produced haunting, passionate vocals while reaching new heights. Now, in 2015, 23 years after its initiation, these tracks have been beautifully preserved by DANNY HYDE and are finally available in highest quality audio. Differing substantially from the later, remixed incarnation, The New Backwards (2008), Backwards contains the original versions of Coil's much-loved tracks "A Cold Cell" and "Fire of the Mind," which have appeared on various compilations over the years, and are now presented as originally intended. This album is the essential bridge between LSD and the later Musick to Play in the Dark series. It is an essential conduit, to understand the journey that was taken. 180g heavyweight vinyl in a gatefold matte-laminate sleeve with silver detail.

Callahan, Bill

My Days of 58

Drag City

***My Days of 58 is the eighth Bill Callahan album, his first since 2022. The twelve tunes here open uncanny depths of expression as Bill continues to blaze one of the most original songwriting-and-performance trails out there. With My Days of 58, he applies the living, breathing energies of his live shows to the studio process, sharpening his slice-of-life portraiture to cut deeper than ever before.The core musicians featured on My Days of 58 is the group that toured for 2022’s REALITY: guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and drummer Jim White, whose synergy was evident in 2024’s live Resuscitate!. This showed Bill, as he puts it, “that they could handle anything I threw at them,” adding: “Improv/unpredictability/the unknown is the thing that keeps me motivated to keep making music. It’s all about listening to yourself and others. A lot of the best parts of a recording are the mistakes — making them into strengths, using them as springboards into something human.”With this in mind, Bill prepared the songs with each player separately. Taking a note from songwriter, fan and friend Jerry DeCicca, he recorded the basic tracks for all but one song in a duo with Jim White. Meanwhile, he rehearsed with Matt, guitar to guitar, while asking Dustin to make horn charts for a few songs.Features guest appearances from Richard Bowden on fiddle, pianist Pat Thrasher, bassist Chris Vreeland, trombonist Mike St. Clair, and pedal steel player Bill McCullough.

K. Alexi

Warehouse Trax

Dark Entries

Chicago legend K. Alexi returns to Dark Entries with Warehouse Trax, an EP of previously unreleased acid and house mayhem. K’Alexi Shelby’s illustrious career has included releases on legendary labels such as Trax, DJ International, and Transmat, as well as collaborations with high-profile artists like Marshall Jefferson and Pet Shop Boys. But his musical journey began at the young age of 12, when he befriended Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles while frequenting the Music Box and Warehouse. In high school, he began writing songs and honing his poetic craft. “I recognized I had a gift to say what I was thinking. I would study Prince and Marvin Gaye, figure out what they meant and put my spin on it. The power of the word. I was writing love notes for all my boys in high school and making a killing. I would know what to say and what they should do.”Dark Entries previously reissued Shelby’s debut record, Essence of a Dream, which was recorded under the name Risque III in 1987. Warehouse Trax follows with six tracks recorded in Chicago between 1991 and 1994. The material here has all the hallmarks of classic K’Alexi. Salsa-inflected rhythms, emotive basslines, and hip-house vibes are displayed on tracks like the high-octane “Jungle Line” or the low-key tearjerker “Protect and Survive.” There are also some unexpected surprises in store. “Aaaah” comes out of the gate swinging with hard-hitting beats and apocalyptic ravey vocal pads evocative of the edgier material on Saber Records or Djax...

K.A. Posse

Strikes Again

Dark Entries

Chicago legend K. Alexi returns to Dark Entries with K.A. Posse’s Strkes Again, an EP of preleased unreleased acid and house mayhem. K’Alexi Shelby’s illustrious career has included releases on legendary labels such as Trax, DJ International, and Transmat, as well as collaborations with high-profile artists like Marshall Jefferson and Pet Shop Boys. But his musical journey began at the young age of 12, when he befriended Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles while frequenting the Music Box and Warehouse. In high school, he began to write songs and hone his poetic craft. “I recognized I had a gift to say what I was thinking. I would study Prince and Marvin Gaye, figure out what they meant and put my spin on it. The power of the word. I was writing love notes for all my boys in high school and making a killing. I would know what to say and what they should do.”Dark Entries previously reissued Shelby’s debut record, Essence of a Dream, which was recorded under the name Risque III in 1987. Strikes Again brings us six tracks recorded in Chicago between 1988 and 1990, which come courtesy of Mike Dunn’s personal archive. This record showcases the rawer, more immediate side of Shelby’s sound, with tracks full of overdriven 808’s, careening sirens, and dangerously funky breakbeats. “Imported Taste” brings Shelby’s signature deep pads to the front of wild congo-laced percussion. “Suckas Be Ready” is a slamming hip-house cut featuring vocals from MCD-TA, while disco-samples duel with crunchy 909s...

Huggy Bear

Basic Strategies for Going Out

Jabs

***Basic Strategies for Going out shares the two Peel Sessions recorded by Huggy Bear in 1992 and 1993. Eight tracks total, two previously unreleased songs, a revelatory early version of “Her Jazz” and a fanatical gaiety throughout. For a band that so wholeheartedly invested in opposition, the chance to go up against the stifled decorum of the BBC pushed Huggy Bear to a nitroglycerin blaze. From the outraged to the rousing to the coy to the hell-bent, Basic Strategies for Going Out reveals the extremes reachable by a band at ferocious work. Released by arrangement with the BBC, Basic Strategies was mastered by Fred Thomas from the original session recordings. It is the first Huggy Bear recording issued since 1994, and at present their only commercially available release.

Parish, Shane

Autechre Guitar

Palilalia

This record shouldn’t, strictly speaking, be possible at all.It’s not just that Autechre’s music is electronic and Shane Parish’s is acoustic. It’s not just that Autechre come from electro and techno, while Shane’s solo guitar music is rooted in jazz, folk, and the blues. Those borders, between mediums and genres, are as porous as you want them to be. But Autechre are synonymous with difficulty, opacity, inscrutability—known for unparseable rhythms, cryptic riffs, and shapeshifting timbres. Even on their early records, before they’d begun building out the mind-bending software systems that have defined the past quarter-century of their music, the duo of Sean Booth and Rob Brown were working at the very limits of their machines: eking melodies out of drum sounds, programming intricate polyrhythms of superhuman complexity, and writing sequences that defy attempts to decipher them. I’ve been listening to “Yulquen” for 31 years, and I still couldn’t tell you just what is happening between the melody and the beat; try as I might, I simply can’t count out the steps.Now take Shane: one guy, one guitar, two hands. Six strings. Ten fingers. (Throw in a tapping foot for when the timekeeping gets tricky.) That’s the sum total of what he’s working with. These are not the kinds of tools you’d think would be equipped for Autechre’s music. But if anyone could take on a project like this, it’s Shane. Informed by his years spent playing standards as a working musician in supper clubs and resorts around Asheville, North Carolina,...

Asahito, Nanjo

M

Black Editions / La Musica Records

***A collection of intimate songs traced from the spectral darkness by Nanjo Asahito, the notorious leader of some of Japan's key underground psychedelic units (High Rise, Mainliner, Musica Transonic, Toho Sara, etc.) Recorded between 1980 and 1988 and previously only available in a cassette micro-edition released by his La Musica Records label in the mid-1990s. Remastered and available for the first time on vinyl and digital. From the original La Musica cassette notes: "A compilation of secret projects recorded over a period of twenty years. Deeply personal music that achieves a strange balance between beat folk balladry and off-key mumbling. Suggestive self-celebratory music conceived as a confirmation of existence." A lesser-known side of Nanjo Asahito—if all you know of his work is the overloaded, intensified psych-rock and free-sound of his group projects then the solo songs on M gently redraw the contours of Nanjo's private universe. There's something gem-like in the way these five songs are formed, even as they accrue grit and dirt while drifting out of the speakers. Here, Nanjo grabs handfuls of gentle chord changes, allows them to rotate in the air, suspended in reverb, flickering in half-light, as he murmurs drowsy melodies. The closing "Eucharist" pushes everything through a thin layer of distortion; elsewhere, tinkling piano, from guest Matsuoka Takashi, who also performed with Keiji Haino's Nijiumu, disturbs dust molecules to dance through hazy air. LP is housed in die-cut "Uni-Pak" style gatefold with metallic gold ink and soft touch finishes with printed inner sleeve. Vinyl...

Nean

Doo Dah Nean

Black Editions / La Musica Records

***A bizarrely entrancing jewel from the depths of the Japanese underground, Doo Dah Nean was originally released in small run of hand assembled cassettes by the La Musica label in the late '90s. The album is the sole release and evidence of Nean, an entirely under-the-radar trio that crossed the sensual, disassociated female vocals of Japanese iroke kayōkyoku music with off-balance shamanic rhythm and echoing electronic rumble. Nean were the trio of Yui on bass and electronics, Naoko on voice, and Non on drums. Both Yui and Non were also part of Holy Angels, and Yui played with Ohkami No Jikan and Mauduit Nuit. Vocalist Naoko, in her lone recorded appearance anywhere, elevates the proceedings to peak outsider strangeness. Her ultra-repetitive chants and sighs balance childlike innocence with sinister knowing. Alternately distracted and humming to herself or delivering breathy, near field whispers, the simple juxtaposition of her vocalizations with Non's stumble-drunk drums, and the amorphous blobs and gloops of tone unleashed from Yui's instruments lands like an avant garde, proto-ASMR incantation. A truly confounding release in a La Musica catalogue that's not exactly thin on the ground for such form. Housed in die-cut "Uni-Pak" style gatefold with metallic gold ink and soft touch finishes with printed inner sleeve. Vinyl pressed at RTI. Additional mastering by Timothy Stollenwerk, Stereophonic mastering lacquers by Phillip S. Rodriguez. Elysian masters executive produced by Peter Kolovos.

Station Model Violence

Station Model Violence

Static Shock

***"There is a scene in the BBC Krautrock documentary that made a great impression on me. Iggy Pop sits spread eagle in some beachside location drilling holes in coconuts and ruminating on the sound of Neu. The clash of the visual spectacle and the subject matter infected my dreams. At one point he describes Neu as 'pastoral psychedelicism'.I thought of that moment when Buz first played me the demo for the song which would become 'Heat', when first he asked me to play music with him. I heard it, smelled the fresh coconut juice and the sour sweat on Iggy's leathery hide. I knew that we would do it right.I moved to Sydney at the end of 2022. It was toward the end of two years of Melbourne lockdown that started in the immediate wake of the Total Control tour of Japan at the end of 2019 and was the longest time in 20 years that I had not travelled overseas or played music.After moving to Sydney I had an overwhelming need to start a new band and sing again. Total Control and Straightjacket Nation would be difficult to gather any momentum with my living interstate, and also I wanted to settle here and start something new and try and obliterate some of the stasis that entered my veins from the lockdown.Low Life asked me to play a solo show with Iceage at the opera house, but I had no ambitions for solo performance and had no songs, so I...

Glass Cage, The

Where Did The Sunshine Go?

Supreme Echo

In the summer of 1968, five BC teenagers recorded an exciting six-song demo of West Coast garage psych. Cut to an acetate then lost to time for 50+ years. Until now. Restoration & remastering by Peter Conheim, deluxe 8-page booklet with story, photos and posters. Cover art by Bob Masse Studios. 250 groovy random color vinyl.“A remarkable discovery. The Glass Cage show impressive creativity and versatility as they transition between hard-hitting, organ-driven Northwest R&B slammers and dreamy, harmony-based psychedelic numbers.” – Mike Stax, Ugly Things“I LOVE the Glass Cage!”—Grant Lawrence, CBC Radio“Newly unearthed garage rock classic ... terrific California-style psychedelia”—Craig “Rockin’ Prof” Morrison, Ethnomusicologist“A garage rock gem”—John Dwyer, Osees

Tammy Shine, The

Ok Shine Ok

HHBTM

***One of indie rock’s most enduring and vibrant figures reintroduces herself to the world. Tammy Ealom, best known as the snarling frontwoman and creative force behind Denver’s legendary Dressy Bessy, presents her debut solo album The Tammy Shine, Ok Shine Ok. Released via Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records (HHBTM), the album marks a pivotal moment in Ealom’s three-decade career. Ok Shine Ok is the first time she has taken complete command—writing, performing, engineering, producing, and mixing the record entirely on her own. The Tammy Shine presents a collection of songs that are as gritty as they are glossy, embodying the DIY ethos that has defined her life since childhood.Recommended if you like: The Beths, Alvvays, The Breeders, Veruca Salt, The Pretende

R.E. Seraphin

Tiny Shapes / A Room Forever

Take A Turn

***A reissue of the first two solo records from R.E. SERAPHIN on one LP.Tiny Shapes is paisley pop meets guitar-centric post-punk. R.E. Seraphin’s lyrical point-of-view is both cynical and sentimental—falling somewhere between The Replacements and The Feelies circa The Good Earth. Musically, jangly yet sturdy instrumentation collide with hushed vocals. This approach is best heard in opening cut “Today Will Be Kind”—a tune that offers a hopeful view of love gone sour. Engineered and co-produced by JASPER LEACH (Tony Molina) and mastered by MATT BULLIMORE (The Mantles), Tiny Shapes was written following a move from Austin to the Bay Area. While re-acclimating to life back in his hometown, Seraphin enlisted original Talkies rhythm section, OWEN KELLEY (SLEEPY SUN) and PHIL LANTZ (NEUTRALS, COCKTAILS) to help develop his songs.A Room Forever, featuring six acoustic-driven, but deeply melodic songs (including a cover by Luna), is every bit the small-scale rock triumph as its predecessor. Inspired by the southern gothic vignettes of Breece Pancake and the melodic guitar interplay of The La’s and Television, Seraphin recorded these songs in his home in one short spurt. Long-distance contributions from co-conspirators Owen Adair Kelley (Sleepy Sun), Matt Bullimore (The Mantles), and YEA-MING CHEN (YEA-MING & THE RUMORS) help elevate the tunes from homey demos to top notch pop. Edition of 100 copies.

Special Forces

World Domination And 8 Songs To Kill By

PNV

***First ever reissue of the Berkeley CA hardcore batallion Special Forces' 1984 World Domination 12" EP coupled with 1983's 8 Songs To Kill By demo. Special Forces were a staple of Bay Area hardcore in the early 80s, gigging with all the major acts who came through town, such as Discharge, DRI, Misfits, Crucifucks, Fang... The list goes on. The group played a no frills, brash brand of USHC, perhaps most distinguished by their frantic, razor wire guitar strumming reminiscent of Feederz, Dead Kennedys or Italy's Peggio Punx. With sardonic lyrics taking aim at American militarism, Special Forces are a complete package for any early 80s USHC aficionado. And speaking of complete packages, this reissue includes tons of unseen photos and flyers, and of course the vinyl debut of the group's 1983 demo. What are you waiting for? Enlist today!

Ohkami No Jikan

Black Tape II

Black Editions / La Musica Records

***Black Tape II is only the second widely available release by Ohkami No Jikan (The Time of the Wolf), one of the more esoteric groups of the 1990s Tokyo underground. Recorded in 1992, it illuminates a largely undocumented facet of Nanjo Asahito's psychedelic cosmology, distinct from his better-known work with High Rise, Musica Transonic, and Toho Sara. Aside from a handful of limited, handmade cassettes and CD-Rs on his La Musica label, there's only been one Ohkami No Jikan album, Mort Nuit, that made it beyond the collector inner circle. One of Nanjo's longest-running, most mysterious outfits, Ohkami No Jikan's conceptualization—as a psych outfit "that explores 'stasis' and 'motion,' both actively and philosophically"—hints at the intensity of the music here. There's a pellucid beauty to much of Black Tape II, with the simplest, most erotically charged chord changes descending from the heavens, Nanjo moaning consumptively as the songs slip by in an acid daze. The 1992 line-up here, with Asai Fumiyo on bass and Nagao Kouji on drums, was one of many variations of Ohkami No Jikan; simultaneously languorous and heavy, at times pushed into the red with arcing blasts of feedback, the group feels cosmically aligned with Nanjo's purity of vision. Housed in a custom die-cut, "Uni-Pak" style gatefold with metallic ink, spot finishes and matching La Musica inner sleeve.

Cilio, Luciano

Dialoghi Del Presente

Superior Viaduct

Luciano Cilio was born in Naples, Italy, in 1950. He studied music and architecture and, in the late ’60s, collaborated with local artist Alan Sorrenti, American expat Shawn Phillips and various avant-garde theater groups. A virtuoso guitarist and self-taught composer, Cilio released only one LP before his untimely death at the age of 33. Dialoghi Del Presente (1977) is a work like no other, one that sounds both ancient and ahead of its time. Produced by Renato Marengo, it features a series of muted tableaux for strings, woodwinds, guitar, chorus, piano and percussion. Cilio carves out a space where subtle, repetitive phrases yield—almost imperceptibly—to breathtaking silence. As Jim O’Rourke writes, “These recordings sound as if they were to please no one but himself; they feel self-contained, introspective, and determined ... You can feel in the music a sort of necessity that can be rarely found, like in This Heat’s debut or Nick Drake’s Pink Moon.” While each subsequent “quadro” grows more abstract, Cilio draws the listener into an expansive, pastoral soundscape. The closing piece, “Interludio,” begins with a plaintive guitar, which is joined by haunting strings and woodwinds before concluding, poignantly, as the album began, with Cilio and his guitar, alone once more. Superior Viaduct's edition reproduces the original sleeve design. Sourced from the original master tapes. Recommended for fans of Johann Johannsson, Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden, Arvo Part and Popol Vuh.

Shine

Wrathcult

Dark Descent

Born from the grips of the pandemic, Shine are the newest brainchild of Hazael’s Tomasz Dobrzeniecki, and their first album Wrathcult leaves no doubt that a new force in Polish extreme metal has awakened.Inspired by the likes of Emperor, Bathory, Morbid Angel, Entombed and Dismember, Dobrzeniecki’s new outfit channels that lineage into something raw, relentless, and unmistakably its own.“‘Shine’ for me is a sheen of a sword's blade, the last thing that your foes see in their lives. You can also relate it to the Promethean light given to people that enlightens or sometimes blinds us. It can also be a glare of rage stemming from the resistance towards the unnatural rules forced upon us,” explains Dobrzeniecki when asked about his new unit’s name. “Our music is full of references to ancient rules and rituals and times when people lived in accordance with nature and cosmos using the primeval knowledge.”Dark Descent Records will handle the release, having previously collaborated with Dobrzeniecki on the reissue of Hazael’s classic opus. Wrathcult continues in similar thematic territory, invoking forgotten ancestral knowledge and tapping into primal forces, and mythic echoes of a pre-Christian world.“Lyrics for the album are mainly inspired by the pre-Christian spirituality and mythology of our forefathers and based on such books as Bestiariusz Słowiański, Mitologia Słowiańska by J. Bobrowski and M. Wrona, and Słowiańska Czarownica (Slavic Bestiary, Slavic Mythology, Slavic Witch). The lyrics pay homage to nature and higher powers in order to upkeep the memories of the beliefs that once...

Phobocosm

Gateway

Dark Descent

***ON OLIVE GREEN WITH ULTRA CLEAR MERGE VINYL!!! Montréal’s Phobocosm return with “Gateway”, an unrelenting and eldritch death metal opus that seals one chapter while unveiling the next. The album includes material from every songwriting period of the band, some of it dating back to the “Deprived” and “Bringer of Drought” eras, as well as “Foreordained”, of course,” explains guitarist Samuel Dufour. “Gateway” was recorded, mixed, and mastered by long-time collaborator Xavier Berthiaume (Gevurah, Sanctvs) during the same session as Foreordained, giving the two records a consistent sonic throughline, while allowing “Gateway” to close established narratives. “We view it as the closing of a chapter for the band,” Dufour continues. “Not that our future material will be completely different fr­om our existing material, far from it, but we have decided to do things a little differently next time around by adding new elements that haven’t appeared in our music before, exploring different dynamics and experimenting with a new tuning. Thematically “Gateway” grows from ideas first explored on Foreordained: “The song ‘Revival’ from Foreordained inspired the album’s theme, which is the fact that humans have been trying to live forever — or to unnaturally prolong life — since the dawn of time, often for reasons even more absurd than the pursuit of eternal life itself,” elaborates Dufour. “We used this as the main theme and pushed the concept further, exploring the most repulsive forms of cruelty humans are capable of — even when using science as a means to prolong barbarity...

DMZ

Lost Studio Sessions 1978

Crypt

***13 ripping songs totaling 33 minutes from the original 20-song 65 minute master reel tapes, recorded in early February 1978 for producers Flo & Eddie, the night before DMZ (the raw-assed pre-Lyres outfit that never made it!) spent 3 days trapped by a blizzard recording their Sire album. Includes a 4-page insert with info, pics and Rick Coraccio’s ultra-detailed journal on how it all went down!

Takaat

Is Noise Vol. 3

Purplish Records

"With bass drones cranked way past 11, frantic guitar shredding passages, and blown out drum machines, TAKAAT’s ‘Is Noise Vol. 3’ poses the question, ‘what if the Tuareg songwriting legends Tinariwen started a band with drone-lords Sunn O)))? Well, that might be what ‘Is Noise Vol. 3’ kinda sounds like.Drawing from sonic inspiration of blown out Takamba recordings of the Sahel, slinky drum machines of Hausa pop mp3s, and manipulated field recordings collected in Agadez, Niger, ‘Is Noise Vol. 3’ is yet another exciting musical departure from its prior volume.TAKAAT was birthed from the idea of always evolving concepts and taking risks, seeing each volume as an opportunity to explore noisy futures steeped in a shared language of DIY. Through chronological limited 10” EPs you too can take the noise home. Play it loud." -Mikey Coltun

Hemphill, Julius

Dogon A.D.

Superior Viaduct

"Julius Hemphill's debut record, 1972's Dogon A.D., was self-produced for his Mbari imprint, and it was issued with a beautiful black-and-white cover. Very DIY. The label's name writ large along the bottom edge, like it was the band's name. It's a quartet record featuring Hemphill on alto and flute, with Baikida Carroll on trumpet, Abdul Wadud on cello, and Phillip Wilson on drums – a classic jazz front line/rhythm section format, but nothing conventional about the way the music sounds."The long track – from where the LP takes its title – is one of the key epic statements of new jazz in the era. Among its remarkable distinctions, it manages to draw on Wilson's schizoid experience having been a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the first drummer for the Art Ensemble of Chicago, in making an 11/8 rhythm into a staggeringly funky thing of joy. Over the course of fourteen and a half minutes, Hemphill builds a nearly continuous solo, his spiritual blood brother Wadud sawing the cello with a deep blues soulfulness that is raw and mantra-like in its repetitive incantation. It feels right and wrong in equal measure, the theme carrying its own piquancy with honked barnyard dissonances and some contrary motion between the horns and string. Most of all, it takes its own sweet time, in no hurry to get anywhere in particular, but out for a righteous stroll."– John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)

Howard, Noah

The Black Ark

Superior Viaduct

In the pantheon of classic free jazz, Noah Howard’s The Black Ark looms large. Recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in 1969—just prior to the alto saxophonist’s relocation to Europe—the album was eventually released in 1972.The Black Ark exhibits not only the power and imagination of Howard’s playing, but also his breadth as a composer and bandleader. Listeners expecting unrelenting blasts of “energy music” might be surprised to find a cohesion atypical of free jazz; amidst the wild, impassioned solos, Howard weaves in Latin rhythms and fat-bottomed grooves.The first side, consisting of “Domiabra” and “Ole Negro,” sets the album’s tone. Both tracks sound as if they could have appeared on some of Blue Note’s proto-spiritual jazz, groove-heavy releases—evoking the likes of Horace Silver or Bobby Hutcherson—before ceding the floor to the horn players’ anarchic firepower.As John Corbett writes in the liner notes, “Two players stand out. Bassist Norris Jones—who would soon consolidate his name into a one-word reversed amalgamation/permutation of the two, Sirone—is given ample room, largely unaccompanied; his corporal approach foreshadows later work with the Revolutionary Ensemble. But the secret weapon on The Black Ark is Arthur Doyle. Straight from basement rehearsal sessions with Milford Graves, whose ensemble he had joined and who remained a favorite of the drummer for decades, Doyle is a human flamethrower.”Trumpeter Earl Cross’ guttural, vocal effects complement Doyle’s take-no-prisoners approach, while the estimable combination of Muhammad Ali (Rashied’s brother) on drums and Juma Sultan on congas adds an ever-shifting propulsion. The...

Anderson, Bentley

Valence

Cost Of Living

A hurricane, an ice storm, radio transmissions from the underworld. Going to the theatre to watch a block of ice melt, at top volume. Playing ping-pong in the asteroid belt. Fallen arches and future horizons. —Lee Ranaldo, NYC, Dec 2025

Scott, Robert

The Green House

Ally Records

Coming just on the heels of the release of The Bats new LP, Corner Coming Up (Flying Nun), earlier this year, we at Ally Records are incredibly excited to be releasing a remastered version of Robert Scott's (Electric Blood, The Clean, The Bats, The Magick Heads) stellar solo LP The Green House. Originally released by Flying Nun in 2014, but out of print on vinyl for several years and not widely available in the US, we felt it was time. Ideally, we were targeting a 10th anniversary release, but 11-12 years works just as well, and the results are worth the wait due largely to Carl Saff's skillful work on the remaster.Upon the initial release of The Green House, seasoned veteran NZ musical journalist Graham Reid described it as capturing Robert "at yet another career peak in melodic songs which only rarely allude to the acoustic or rock chug of his other bands but mostly turns attention towards deftly tuneful songs" with descriptions ranging from dreamy to ethereal to timeless. We'd add haunting, beautiful, and folk-inspired at times to that range, and songs like "Lights Are Low” and "Lazy Boy" are some of his best. Tristan Dingemans (of NZ psych outfit High Dependency Unit) adds a subtle, but menacing guitar texture to balance out the comforting elements of the lead-off track "Lights Are Low," a song which establishes the mood for the rest of the record perfectly. We also agree with Reid's assessment of the closing song "Right From Wrong"--...

Incandescence

Hors Temps

Profound Lore

Incandescence return with more powerful and passionate Quebecois black metal with their fifth album Hors Temps. Featuring acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Philippe Boucher (Beyond Creation, Chthe’ilist) who handles all instruments and songwriting alongside vocalist Louis-Paul Gauvreau, Incandescence follow-up 2022’s Le Coeur De L’homme with their most dominant and immense album yet. Featuring even more commanding and prominent epic melancholic moments along with the traditional sorrowful melodies that ennobles Hors Temps to that higher aura amongst the punishing and unrelenting black metal savagery herein.

Kan Kan / Pocket Full Of Crumbs

Pocket Full Of Crumbs / Kan Kan - Split

Cherub Dream

***An epic split of indie magic from SF's Pocket Full Of Crumbs and San Diego's Kan Kan. Two cuts each.

Wife

The Importance of Daydreaming

Cherub Dream

***SF's best punk band on their first studio record. I think this one would get some traction! available in both CD and Cassette. both come shrinkwrapped.

False Figure

Incarnate

Cruel Subordination Records

***Conceived in 2016 in the depths of San Francisco, False Figure exploded onto the Bay Area's burgeoning modern deathrock scene as a loud and driving three-piece. Distinguishing themselves with tribalistic tom beats and screeching guitars a la Killing Joke, this became the hallmark of early releases as swirling feedback gave way to drippingly saccharine melody. Toying with a dichotomy of tension building verses only to be released by lush melodic choruses. Andres Ruiz's haunting vocals blend together a rich chemistry of melancholic, desperate crooning alongside harmonious guitars. 2002's release Castigations, saw the band take a step towards traditional gothic rock and further from traditional punk sounds while retaining their own alchemy. Now the band releases its newest iteration, departing headfirst into luscious early dream pop ecstasy while maintaining a deep beautiful melancholy radiating throughout the record. With influences from the French cold-wave scene, Spain's La Movida and British shoegaze, this newest release includes an entirely new line-up with Kevin DeFranco (Super Unison, Boy Problems) on second guitar and Kienan Hamilton (Cartilage) on bass explore a deeper concept of what modern post-punk could sound like.

Tee Vee Repairmann

Only A Memory

Goner

Latest from Ishka Edmeades... aka TEE VEE REPAIRMANN! Addictive twisted pop from Sydney! Two more killer songs for all of us anxiously awaiting their next album. Features Jennifer May on bass on the title track.

Immortals

Judge, Jury, Executioner - 1983 Demo

PNV

***Scarcely heard 1983 demo from this obscure LA hardcore punk outfit. Not much is known about Immortals, beyond a few flyer appearances, but they played a brash, hard hitting brand of punk clearly influenced by British punk imports of the time. Thick guitars and a distinctively Colin GBH style vocal delivery coat the fist pumping motorcharged rhythms on this raw demo recording. Listening to a cut like "OK To Kill," you'd think this group could have built a legacy a la fellow Britcore obsessed Southern Californian groups like Final Conflict or Dr. Know, but alas, all we have to remember this group is this in-your-face recording.

Bezier

Contraption

Körperspannung

From the same recording sessions as Bézier’s first EP on Körperspannung records Negative Velocity, Contraption channels a few moods and scenarios.On the A-side "Contraption" is an insignificant droplet darting through the sky. Soon it joins a disarray of objects positioned above the atmosphere, maneuvers in formation to reveal randomized, decentralized nodes packed for mayhem.On the B-side Bézier shows a slice of his lived experience. Back in 2004 he used to go to house parties around East LA with friends they grew up with every weekend to listen to music. Winding through the Southern Californian roadway sprawl they’d drive 1/2 an hour to 1 hour on the I-10 (sometimes diverting to Route 60 if gridlock is expected) to get to the location, usually in a residential neighborhood. Being respectful of the communities and the struggle of the progenitors of this music, Bézier presents "Blue Halo" as an homage to that sound with a twist: Cumbia-Synth to provide a little sauce for your ears. Dave Easlick joins the milieu to provide a percussive framework for this tune.Lastly, "Bit by an Electric Wire" showcases Easlick’s drumming with an overlay from Bézier. As Dave rips and shreds through his drum kit the OCD machine living inside Yang’s brain switches on and organizes, collates and files that dataset into a hardcore rhythm track.

Bezier

Negative Velocity

Körperspannung

The EP by Bézier Negative Velocity sees the Californian artist (now for a few years a Berlin resident) initiate the launch of their new German-based record label Körperspannung.Bézier, whose career (since the early 00’s) spans close to two decades of focused, ground laying work: from lighting up the Honey Soundsystem collective’s bulbs to generating a steady pulse of releases on Josh Cheon’s Dark Entries records, has built a dynamic repertoire weaving a mosaic of influences across cultures, generations and spaces. A lifelong learner of music from an early age Robert Yang has been under constant calling to deploy music in an artful, stylish and meaningful way.For ‘Negative Velocity’, Bézier collaborated with Bay Area drummer and avant-garde musician Dave Easlick taking live recordings of him on a drum kit warping and wrapping his parts into curves and ellipses that project mappings outward into the atmosphere. From Easlick’s source material Bézier generates a technological, multi-dimensional landscape through mental manipulation of sound waves bending the fabric of time and space. For both the title track and on the B-side ‘Diabolical Embroidery’ the lattice work here involved sampling and resampling every hit and puncture from Easlick to atomize, pressurize, polish and disintegrate into fine particulate matter while reassembling parts back together fortifying the sonic tapestry further and further and further…‘Deep Sea State’ is an exercise showcasing the raw form of Easlick’s drumming but laced with an adamantium frame. Melodies from Bézier’s musical training past haunt the entire interlude.

Len.Leo

Echolocation

Körperspannung

The EP Echolocation sees the debut of a new German artist: Len.Leo.Originally from his hometown of Mainz, and now for a few years a Berlin resident, Len.Leo's Echolocation comes to Bézier's recently launched record label Körperspannung.In their shared concrete home inside Friedrichshain, Bézier and Len.Leo have built an immense production studio, in the heart of their apartment, around which they organize salons with friends and fam to cultivate dreams, new vocabulary to express wishes for the collective queer musical mosaic.Cut right from the cloth of a post-punk lineage, "Echolocation" burns and welds tracks into rails fitted for a high-speed lysergic bullet."Corrugation" is a subversive adventure into the wells of imagination weaving pulsating artifacts from an unknown era to craft sounds through atmospheric needlepoint.In "Radio Silence" cascading wings flutter through the diagrams of a sunken underground compound only to be discovered to be long abandoned, cut off from receiving transmissions for who knows how long?

Ramos, Juan

Hard Bois

Körperspannung

Juan Ramos is up to bat for the next Körperspannung release with the four-track stunner EP Hard Bois. Deeply connected to the ongoing pursuit of gay excellence and endeavors, Juan honors those who have come before us and touches us deeply in our soft spots at all the right moments.Across Hard Bois EP, the Berlin resident and behind the scenes operator (IYKYK) shows precisely why he’s one of dance music’s most exciting and dependable prospects. Opening the release, "Hard Bois" combines snaking drums in a melange of samples with bff Kris Baha vocalizing sizzling and snaking lyrics winding around this propulsive club cut that could easily be a snapshot right out of a scene from Chicago’s iconic Medusa Club."Saviour Sound" is music that makes iron pipes sweat with hedonistic abandon. Exposed steel modulates to a hardcore beat. Gears interlock to move the whole building into autonomous shuffle. Conduits of electricity pulsate to the drama unfolding in a dim lit factory with dank corridors leading us on a path to a flowerbed growing and thriving in a subterranean hydroponic garden.On the flip, the alarm strikes and it’s (shout it out): "Werk Day"! This is your call to get buttoned up and ready to make dreams reality. Head to the gym, pump those guns and then house your body. Technological funk winding through a sturdy and rock hard kick that helps you ride through the chasms of pleasure and pain.Rounding out the release is your "Acid BB" rocking and roaring through the...

Bosse-De-Nage

Hidden Fires Burn Hottest

Flenser

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point.Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. "Immortality Project" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with...

Jaguar 777

Jaguar 777

Eleventh Hour Recording Company

***Jaguar 777, the seductive and primal music and performance act formed by artists Kacie Marie and Emmett O’Connor (Archie and the Bunkers), is thrilled to release their highly anticipated first full-length album. Described as a dangerous duo fueled by lust-ridden croons and primitive rhythms on the fringes of gloomy nightlife, Jaguar 777 crafts sex-soaked soundtracks that blend leather-and-velvet edge with raw intensity. This 21st-century Bonnie & Clyde will move you, shake you, and haunt your dreams. Jaguar 777 fuses raw rock 'n' roll roots with psychedelic harmonies, brought to life through primitive mono 45s and sultry cinematic visuals. Renowned RnR overlord King Khan has praised their sound as “Suicide meets Link Wray with Jayne Mansfield singin’!” Limited edition of 300 coopies.

Biafra, Jello And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine

Audacity Of Hype

Alternative Tentacles

***BACK IN PRINT ON BLACK OR LIMITED SOLID BABY BLUE VINYL!!! In the twenty or so years since his brainchild, The Dead Kennedys, officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations with some of the most compelling figures in underground music. Recording projects and touring with the likes of Melvins, NoMeansNo, DOA, Mojo Nixon, and Lard (with Ministry's Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his "punk as political weapon" message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that never saw the light of day.Inspired by The Stooges gig on Iggy Pop's 60th birthday in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. After cramming practices for a month, the four-piece dubbed themselves Jello Biafra and the Axis of Merry Evildoers! and featured Biafra, Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms), Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey), and Billy Gould (Faith No More) The band took the stage in a sold-out two-night stand at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. Flush from that exhilarating triumph, nine months of rehearsal and writing followed; they added ace guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle), and christened themselves Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. The Audacity of Hype was produced by Biafra and engineered by hip hop producer and longtime co-conspirator Matt Kelley...

Burnside, R.L.

Too Bad Jim

Fat Possum

***BACK IN STOCK!!! R.L. Burnside's album Too Bad Jim is a record worth owning. “I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head.

Kimbrough, Junior

God Knows I Tried

Fat Possum

***BACK IN STOCK!!! "...we went into the backwoods of the Delta, where there was an illegal Sunday Juke Joint run by Junior Kimbrough, who was a contemporary of Muddy Waters...The whole thing was extraordinary - like an IV introduction to the blues." - Bono (of U2)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

s/t (Black Vinyl)

Fat Possum

***BACK IN STOCK ON BLACK VINYL!!! UMO was initially conceived by New Zealand native, Ruban, to release some tracks via a Bandcamp page to promote his limited addition vinyl in 2010. He pieced a band together, with a skilled producer, Jake, on bass and a brilliant teenage drummer named Julian to fill out the band. They are based in Portland.

Ultha

Belong

Vendetta

***ULTHA's ninth release in five years and features two extended tracks—"No Fire, Only Smoke" (17:04) and "Constructs of Separation" (21:07). “Ultha have done it again, somehow. Converging Sins is the sort of album that any band would be lucky to release once in their career, but with Belong, Ultha proves that they are among black metal’s most inspired forces. This is atmospheric black metal, with strong elements of doom intertwined now and again, that you do not simply listen to—no; you feel it. Ultha are communing with some unseen force, and through their dense sonic tapestries, they afford us the same opportunity. Recommended!”—Ippocalyptica

Totalitar

Sin Egen Motstandare

Prank

***BACK IN PRINT!!! Sin Egen Motstandare was originally released in 1994 on CD-Only By Finn Records. A reunion album of sorts, the reconstituted band sought to get back their original hardcore roots, while at the same time sparking a direct reaction to the rising right wing political climate of time in Sweden. One of the all-time most rampaging Swedish Punk albums, it affirmed the band's template of D-beat hardcore that they continually challenged and re-imagined for another decade and a half of releases, and inspired a legions of bands worldwide. This 30th Anniversary edition is a 1-time press at RTI with a stoughton tip-on gatefold with spot gloss, new liner notes from the band, unique center labels for the release, a printed inner sleeve, a reprint poster of the flyer for the original CD release show.

Amp

Stenorette

Kranky

***The third album from this UK dream'n'drone duo returns to the drifting sound of their first album with an emphasis on rhythms, lock stepping, and clattering percussion to move the music through. Many of the songs were composed on the piano for a more delicate sound to loop drones, grooves, guitar and vocals around. Twelve dreamable tracks.

Water Damage

Repeater

12xu

***"There is something really special about music based on drones. Whether it's the vocals of Pandit Pran Nath, the ARP 2500 of Eliane Radigue, or the nearly-blown amps of Sunn O))), by changing the listeners's focus on details to one that favors flow, drones are uniquely capable of transporting our brains far far away. The debut LP, 'Repeater', by this loudly droning Austin septet is a goddamn splendid example of how the process works. Using the motto, “Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation,” Water Damage create glowing fields of post-rock lava that pretty much suck you right in and boil you alive. Water Damage, while technically a septet, actually operate in various configurations, with the proviso there should always be two drummers and two bass players on hand. They prefer if each of their sonic ideas takes up a whole reel of tape, and once they start they don't look back. Everything proceeds towards an imaginary end point that is only achieved when the tape starts flapping. What a way to run a railroad! But the folks in the band are all vets of various projects—Spray Paint, USA/Mexico, Marriage, Black Eyes, Thor & Friends, among others—so let's assume they know what they're doing. And why not? They sound fucking great. Their approach to the form is less front-loaded than most of their peers, and the surface of their sound is sometimes ruffled by aural events of an un-drone-like nature. But the main gush is usually a blend of harmonic tones and textures pointing towards...

Sex Messiah

Metal Del Chivo

Nuclear War Now

***Sex Messiah returns from the Satanic brothels of Japan to satiate our depraved appetites for morally-corrupt black metal with four new tracks and five live tracks. Although their overall sadistic formula remains consistent with prior atrocities, their language of choice has shifted to Spanish, providing a new vehicle to spread their gospel of fornication and degradation.

Carter, Daniel / Evan Strauss / 5-track / Sheridan Riley

The Uproar In Bursts Of Sound And Silence

577 Records

***The Uproar in Bursts of Sound and Silence is a sort of emergent collage that came together over four years of composition, improvisation and production. The foundations for this album were initially recorded in 2018 by producer/engineer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Skinyard) at Soundhouse in Seattle, WA with myself (Evan Strauss, electric bass and upright bass), 5-Track (Guitar) and Sheridan Riley (Drums). The initial foundations of this music consisted of my long-form graphically notated conceptual compositions based on the calls of the Veery songbird (Catharus fuscescens), the astrological transits at the precise time of the recording session and some thematic elements from Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed.   In 2019 the album was given the working title Bird Songs for the Stars and I commissioned the cover art, Night Fisher, from Jeane Cohen. Also around this time, Daniel Carter had emphatically told me, “I’m going to become a rapper by the time I turn 90.” So, a few weeks later Daniel and I were hanging out, recording music and eating stir fry in my Ditmas Park apartment and I convinced him to make some progress on his goals by recording his voice into a microphone. Daniel began by recording an excerpt from Virginia Woolf’s The Waves and continued by recording some of his own poetry.  The recordings of Daniel from that afternoon would eventually make their way onto this album alongside my own experimentations in production inspired by Lee Scratch Perry, J Dilla and Ingram...

White Lightning

Thunderbolts Of Fuzz

Riding Easy

Standout favorites of Riding Easy Records’ Brown Acid compilation series, White Lightning’s stellar discography of rare and under-appreciated heavy psych, proto-metal rock gets a vital revival for new generations to learn how swinging, swaggering and often blazingly fast rock’n’roll is done. White Lightning was formed in Minneapolis, MN in 1968 by guitarist Tom “Zippy” Caplan and bassist Woody Woodrich after leaving garage psych band The Litter (themselves popular standouts from the Nuggets and Pebbles series of garage rock rarities.) Originally a power trio, the band later expanded to a five-piece in 1969 while shortening its name to Lightning. The quintet’s brilliant and rare 1970 self-titled album on Pickwick International’s P.I.P. imprint provides six of the ten tracks on Thunderbolts Of Fuzz. The original White Lightning trio only released the one 45-rpm single “Of Paupers And Poets” during their existence (on local Hexagon label in 1968, later reissued by major label ATCO Records in 1969.) A long out-of-print posthumous album released in 1995 gathered unreleased recordings, three of which are found here. This rounds out this collection of recorded highlights from the band’s rocky history. Taking their name from a particularly potent type of LSD, White Lightning laid out from the start that it was not cute and cuddly ’70s rock. In fact, the band’s aggressive tempos are like punk rock way before punk. However, their dirty blues groove and musical prowess shows the band was more than unrefined ne’er-do-wells, they had true versatility.

Ruth, Rich

I Survived, It's Over

Third Man

***Recorded under a loft bed in the guest bedroom of his Nashville home, MICHAEL RUTH aka RICH RUTH's I Survived, It’s Over starts in a humble space. And while many contemporary music projects are produced in such an environment, I Survived, It’s Over sets itself apart in its transformative properties as well as its transparency. What we have here is honest sound exploration, session musician-level instrumentation, and a true love for nature run through the fingers of a dude who can channel some acute and undeniable magic. Underneath the swell of the strings and the shredding of the guitars, this record has hard working, rustbelt, drum-heavy roots all over it (which makes sense as Ruth hails from outside of Toledo, the album was mixed by JOHN MCENTIRE from Chicago band Tortoise). Many of the flutes, saxophones, pedal steel, and other instruments were recorded remotely because we live in the future, but this only adds to the collage of sampled and sample-able material that Rich Ruth has to offer. The organic relationships between the artist and other musicians on the album is evident even in the compilation style sampling that needs to occur in putting such a project together. I Survived, It’s Over is a record you should buy for your friend, your foe, and yourself. It’ll sit perfectly on your shelf between Alice Coltrane and Hiroshi Yoshimura.

Dead Void

Volatile Forms

Dark Descent

After some silence since their magnificent demo, Dead Void return from the depths to bestow a crushing debut album—Volatile Forms—upon the world. Drawing in on doomy, yet certainly not meek, atmospherics—the sheer monstrous tone of which will pin one to the wall—it is clear this is something unwieldy. Murmuring bass seeps through buzzing guitars in a manner that sounds profoundly unwelcoming, while the daunting vocals and crashing drums give no alleviation from the bludgeoning force. While the hostile and claustrophobic sounds of this record cannot be ignored, equally impactful are the grooves which hit like a hammer of pure malice when carefully spliced with the caverns of eerily contorting death metal. When the pounding drums break through the guitars, they have a real hard tone, while the seeping filth of the strings is not overshadowed. Clearly the three demos and spacing between them have allowed the band to develop into the best version of themselves, as on this debut album one hears a refined but unpolished and inhospitable cut of truly awesome music taking form. Moving forth, the hooks, the grooves, the expanses of doom and desolation, all conjure something inescapable and dread-tinged while the malignant hammering of pure old school violence is not lost or forgotten, as warped riffs and blast-beats meet gutturally-spewed vocals and occasional lead oddities. Contrasting often nuanced moments with an assault of bestial ferocity, there is no predictability or obvious pattern, rather a chaotic and honest approach to all of the songs. These tracks move...

High Back Chairs

2 Songs

Dischord

***Two songs by the High Back Chairs, released in 1992. Peter Hayes (vocals & guitar) Jim Spellman (guitar) Charles Steck (bass & vocals) Jeff Nelson (drums & vocals)

Warmers

s/t

Dischord

***The Warmers' full-length record, released in 1996.

Juliff, Simon

Stars

Dog Meat Records

Much-loved Melbourne rock 'n' roll label Dog Meat Records returns with first solo release from former singer/guitarist/songwriter of The Roys and God / Hoss / Powder Monkeys associate, Simon Juliff The first new Dog Meat release in over a quarter of a century is the new single “Stars”, taken from the forthcoming album of the same name, from reticent Melbourne pop-rock singer/songwriter Simon Juliff. Juliff, who was singer/guitarist/songwriter for Melbourne band The Roys in the ‘00s, was a friend of many of the ‘90s Melbourne bands on Dog Meat and nearly a Dog Meat signing with his first band The Evil Dead. Produced by long-time friend Joel Silbersher (God, Hoss, Tendrils etc) and featuring backing from members of Hoss and Kim Salmon & the Surrealists, “Stars” – both the new single and the forthcoming album - combines brightly dappled glimmers of classic pop-rock melodicism with a darkened, frazzled vibe.

Doomsayer

Awake In Darkness

Nuclear War Now

***In celebration of the 30th anniversary of their sole demo from 1992, Awake in Darkness, NWN is proud to present Doomsayer’s legacy on LP for the very first time! This burning triumph- described as “Pestilential Death Metal” by the band back in the early ’90s when they were establishing themselves in the Italian extreme metal scene- combines all of the power of their varied influences, giving both a perfect snapshot of the heavy metal and occult tinged nascent scene in their country as well as an image of a power, creative band that managed to create a single work that still resonates now decades later. Though Doomsayer fits squarely in the saga of other cult Italian bands, it has plenty of its own voice to offer and fans of early extreme metal will be pleasantly surprised at the strength of this long-hidden obscurity. For fans of Varathron, Sadist, and Necrodeath.

Owners, The

s/t

Dischord / Red Room Records

***THE OWNERS are a band from Washington DC, featuring DANTE and CATHERINE FERRANDO, ALEC BUDD and LAURA HARRIS. Over the years, they have played in bands ranging from IRON CROSS, GRAY MATTER, THE SHIRKS and EX HEX. Their first full-length is a split between Red Room Records and Dischord The vinyl is a limited edition pressing on splatter vinyl.

Raffa, Ryan J

4 e and a

Group Tightener

***4 e and a is about the infinite spaces between. As a classically trained percussionist, RYAN J RAFFA has sat in front of a metronome for the majority of their life. In their mind, they would play with the spaces between those clicks. In especially challenging times, they would attempt to expand and stretch those spaces into forever. Just existing in the between. This record is about these moments (and places) living in those infinite spaces. The title "4 e and a" is a play on words, in reference to counting and subdividing rhythmic patterns. Ryan would need to play these patterns on a drum as a child. “4 e and a” is also a reference to a country or a place with a name. Like Argentina is a place, "4 e and a" (said run all together) sounds like a country. A place we all know about and sometimes go to because it's beautiful and full of spirit, but it also can be a bit unnerving, uneasy, and eerie when we explore new places there. In mathematics, we have Cantor's diagonal argument and the understanding that the infinity between each integer (such as between 1 and 2) is larger than the infinite space that every integer that exists can fill. Like, one infinity is larger than another infinity? Huh?! When you start subdividing time (like 1 e and a, 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 e and a), you start creating those ever-expanding spaces, one larger...

Paranoid

Destroy Future Less System

Paranoid Northern Discs

***PARANOID's Destroy Future Less System 7” EP is back in print on its original format for the first time since its original release in 2014 by Konton Crasher. A violent metal-punk storm with cascading sheets of noise punctuated by thunderclaps of d-beat and quick lightning strikes of lead guitar.

Paranoid

Heavy Mental Fuck-Up

Paranoid Northern Discs

***PARANOID's second album album channels the noisy sound of their debut into a heavier, more powerful attack. Part of the band's First Ten Years 2012-2022 vinyl reissue series. "Whether you’re the old guy at the bar with the Discharge tattoo, or the 14 year-old who just discovered punk, Paranoid will bring out your inner discontent. D-beat is an interesting genre, either you do it well, or you don’t. Paranoid, dare I say, have completely mastered the genre and everything from their tone to their album artwork embodies what it means to be in a d-beat band. There is no bullshit attached to this record"—CVLT Nation

Paranoid

Out Raising Hell

Paranoid Northern Discs

***PARANOID's third assault delivers some of their most nasty riffs and songs yet. 10 blackened punk anthems. Part of the band's First Ten Years 2012-2022 vinyl reissue series. "Whether you’re the old guy at the bar with the Discharge tattoo, or the 14 year-old who just discovered punk, Paranoid will bring out your inner discontent. D-beat is an interesting genre, either you do it well, or you don’t. Paranoid, dare I say, have completely mastered the genre and everything from their tone to their album artwork embodies what it means to be in a d-beat band. There is no bullshit attached to this record"—CVLT Nation

Paranoid

Satyagraha

Paranoid Northern Discs

***PARANOID's first album is a manic, noise-drenched d-beat assault. 10 tracks that capture us at our rawest and most aggressive period up to this date. Part of the band's First Ten Years 2012-2022 vinyl reissue series. "Whether you’re the old guy at the bar with the Discharge tattoo, or the 14 year-old who just discovered punk, Paranoid will bring out your inner discontent. D-beat is an interesting genre, either you do it well, or you don’t. Paranoid, dare I say, have completely mastered the genre and everything from their tone to their album artwork embodies what it means to be in a d-beat band. There is no bullshit attached to this record"—CVLT Nation

Gen Pop

Beat Sessions Vol. 9

Shout Recordings

***"In just half a decade Olympia’s Gen Pop have forged a singular style over the release of several EPs and the aptly titled, 2020 full length, PPM66. The group draws water from the disparate wells of early 80’s American hardcore and late 70’s UK post-punk, filtering it through the shitshow chaos of the early 21st century international cultural, political, and environmental climates. A sound fully realized and on display here in the ninth volume of the infamous Beat Sessions, presented by Shout Recordings. Precise, punchy, yet dynamic and fluid drumming underlie a cascade of tones, textures, styles, and voices to form a repertoire of songs where change is the only constant. The music cycles between uplifting, romantic, distressing, aggressive, and disjointed. Tempo and feeling will shift on a dime, and songs often exhibit romance, buoyancy, aggression, and anxiety simultaneously. This performance was captured by Shout’s Mike Kriebel in December 2021 at LA’s Golden Beat Studios. The line up was supplemented on this session by Anthony Gaviria, of the fellow Washingtonian oddball outfit Lysol, on bass guitar."

Vidro

Glod

Beach Impdiment

***And here we have it, the North American pressing of VIDRO's brilliant 2nd 12" titled GLÖD. Featuring an amalgamation of members that span the globe from Brazil to the USA to their sonic and geographical home of Stockholm, Sweden, Vidro have been churning out quality hardcore punk in recorded and live settings for five years now with no apparent signs of letting up anytime soon. Previously released on Germany's Kink Records near the outset of 2022, this North American pressing serves both as a means to alert the uninitiated of what they've been missing along with providing a taste of what is to come. Each record comes in a jacket with a large poster, featuring design work and art by Vidro guitarist LUCAS LIMA .

Indre Krig

Destroyer

Beach Impediment

***Released earlier in the year on the magnificent Adult Crash Records out of Copenhagen, Denmark, Beach Impediment is pleased to handle the North American pressing of an absolute, bonafide international hardcore punk ripper... the Destroyer EP from INDRE KRIG! Six tracks of razor sharp musicianship with truly memorable hooks and riffs to match it, this platter keeps up the reputation K-Town has garnered for generating quality punk music over the course of multiple decades now. Each record comes in a pocket sleeve embellished with particularly striking art by the living legend we call NICKY RAT.

Amba, Zoh + William Parker, Francisco Mela

O Life, O Light Vol. 2

577 Records

***New York-based Zoh Amba first cultivated her musical passion in the lush forests of the Appalachian mountains, playing to the woods around her home, before she studied at classical conservatories. Her music honors her roots, full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerfully-executed Free Jazz. Her sound is courageous and bold, soaring from muted hums to squeaky trebles, producing a confident sound imbued with an innate spirituality. On this project, Zoh Amba is joined by legendary artists William Parker (Bass, Gralla) and Francisco Mela (Drums), named the 2021 musician of the year by The New York City Jazz Record, who temper her daring saxophone with a lush percussive foundation and a steady bassline.

Fossilization

He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten

Transylvanian Recordings

***Ritualistic, Primeval Death Metal from Brazil. Featuring members of Jupiterian. For fans of Dead Congregation & Portal.

Black Witchery

Holocaustic Death March To Humanity's Doom

Nuclear War Now

***Fifteen years ago, Black Witchery and Conqueror, both still virtually unknown outside of a small cult of maniacal blasphemers, united for the split release entitled “Hellstorm of Evil Vengeance.” Exploring a style that few North American bands dared approach at that time, Black Witchery and Conqueror inherited their extremist tendencies from the likes of Blasphemy and Sarcofago among others. Looking back, the release can now be regarded as something of a statement of intent in that it signified the establishment of a second wave of Bestial Black Metal and set the course for the future of the genre. Although external circumstances would necessitate the termination of Conqueror’s mission immediately following the release of the split, J. Read continued treading the path of the Superion with Revenge and R. Forster was initiated into the ranks of Blasphemy. Black Witchery also persisted through the years, assuming a well-deserved, prominent place among the bestial legions. Since the split release in 2000, Black Witchery and Revenge have shared numerous stages all over the world and maintained a united front within the underground. Similarly, NWN!, which also began its campaign of atrocities in 2000, established its dominion over the chthonic depths of the Bestial Black Metal underground. Having settled into their respective roles as progenitors of a particular faction of extreme metal, it is time to assemble the unholy triumvirate of Black Witchery, Revenge, and Nuclear War Now! once more. For this release, Black Witchery turn in one of the band’s most primitive and punishing...

Darts, The

Snake Oil

Alternative Tentacles

***NOW ON LIMITED GREEN VINYL!!! Note new price.At last! The Darts return from their Bat Cave Covid lair, with Snake Oil—by far their best album to date. The Darts formed in 2016 with the goal of getting some solid female musicians together to make garage punk rock and roll noise, see the world, and basically have a super-fun slumber party every night. They are now hands down one of the best garage bands in the world. This is a much fuller sound than any Darts disc before, courtesy of their longtime collaborator Bob Hoag (FB Rec) and some remote control co-production wizardry from Jello Biafra himself. Featuring the return of Nicole Laurnne on vocals / Farfisa and Hammond organ, Christina Nunez on bass / vocals, and Meliza Jackson on guitars / vocals, Snake Oil is the debut of new drummer Mary Rose Gonzales. The result? It comes out smoking as if the band had been in a pressure cooker throughout the pandemic. Expect the wider sound and sparkle of Laurnne and Nunez’s previous band, The Love Me Nots (which was also recorded by the brilliant Bob Hoag), but with way more raunch—and Laurnne’s voice has never sounded better. Snake Oil is for fans of agile, sultry vocals and beefy, vintage rhythm sections paired with razor-tone guitars. This Snake Oil was concocted to remedy the most unaffected and stiff-legged garage rockers out there!

The War Goes On

Assisted Armageddon

Black Water

***Second full length of catchy melancholic and bleak Copenhagen punk rock. Continuing to draw influences from early US and UK punk and Danish '80s classics.

The War Goes On

The War Goes On

Black Water

***Hailing from Copenhagen, THE WAR GOES ON formed from the ashes of legendary Danish bands NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS and HJERTESTOP among others. Their first full length is dark and catchy as hell punk that owes as much to the US as it does to the UK, but with a somewhat “pop” sensibility. These songs are packed with big melodies with gritty hooks. An instant Danish punk classic.

Up-Tight

Sweet Sister

Feeding Tube / Cardinal Fuzz

***Finally out—Sweet Sister—this mighty masterpiece of dark and wild psychedelia from the Japanese three-piece legends! Fuzz and reverb drenched jamming sounds from the basements of Hamamatsu evoking the always welcomed ghosts of Amon Düül and Les Rallizes Denudes . "Tokyo psych monsters Up-Tight come out of the classically wasted/drug-damaged school of excessive fuzz and reverb, giving the nod to the endless jam style of Les Rallizes Denudes while spiking their sound with dark downer ballads that owe as much to The Jacks as they do to The Velvet Underground . If you can picture Spacemen 3 circa The Perfect Prescription produced by Ghost circa Temple Stone then you're close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here. Tomoyuki's guitar tone has to be heard to be believed, with tactile garage punk crunch put to the service of endlessly euphoric orbits of three droning chords. Up-Tight have been responsible for a buncha the most memorable releases to come out of the post-PSF underground but this has to be their recorded pinnacle, the perfect balance of two chord Velvet downers and strung-out post-Rallizes string violence. One of our records of the year so far—You need to hear this, Highly recommended!"—Volcanic Tongue

Up-Tight & Makoto Kawabata

s/t

Feeding Tube / Cardinal Fuzz

***Originally released via Steve Krakow 's Galactic Zoo Dosier Label on CDr. "Flattening new release from one of the greatest live psych groups in the world. Anyone who witnessed their monolithically powerful set at Instal 2005 needs this incredible disc, one of the most epic and dynamically damaged post-Velvets acid rock re-thinks in recent memory. The addition of Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Makoto Kawabata brings an even darker/more elegantly fucked sensibility, with the result that every track feels like it could explode into narcotic chaos at any moment. Aoki's vocals strike the perfect post- Reed/Verlaine/Hell level of decadent damage and the songs are just beautifully rendered, with the group stretching mantric rock forms into whole new zones of affirmative electric beauty. Fuck. Highest recommendation..."—Volcanic Tongue

V/a

Heroes of the Night Vol. 2

Reminder

***The sequel without equal: the second installment in the Heroes Of The Night compilation universe is now here! Picking up exactly where the first volume left off and featuring a cast of twelve of the best and scarcest D.I.Y., powerpop, punk and new wave 45 tracks from the likes of JACKIE, L’HOMME DE TERRE, BRENDA PRESCOTT, AQUILA and more. Something for the girl with everything or the boy who thinks he’s heard everything, Heroes Of The Night Volume 2 continues Reminder Records’ campaign to showcase the talents of post-punk’s female musical innovators and pioneers.

Kimbrough, Junior & Soul Blues Boys

Sad Days Lonely Nights

Fat Possum

A reissue of the infamous late Kimbrough's second album. Raw rocked, and laid bare blues recorded at Junior's juke joint and produced by Robert Palmer.