7”
Dusa: 1998-1999 (Anderlatning)
Dusa is a relatively low-profile project from Sweden that construction focused noise fans should keep an eye out for. Beeping, crunching static, radio recordings, and cut-ups comprise this little record. Not overly intense or harsh with a good emphasis on editing and assembly. Very similar pacing to early Sickness or Body Language era Prurient, and far more listenable than a lot of contemporary harsh noise. Comes in a hand painted sleeve.
6.00
G.X. Jupitter-Larsen: Crickets In The Hollywood Subway (Little Enjoyer)
Imagine Francisco Lopez plucked out of La Selva and dropped into the middle of glamorous/grimy California and that is exactly what you get here- an excellent no frills field recording of exactly what the title promises. B side featuring strange vocal manipulation material along the lines of Graham Lambkin's Poem For Voice. A nice little document displaying two very different (and underexplored) sides of G.X., all packaged in a nice clean letterpress sleeve.
6.00
The C and B: 1991 pre-Shadow Ring Recordings (Siltbreeze, lim. 300)
The title says it all. Duo of Darren Harris and Graham Lamkin playing completely bent out guitars with junk percussion complete with great obtuse spoken word/poetry. Makes a great accompaniment to the Shadow Ring Life Review CD set filling in a few blanks about the groups earliest developments.
8.00
V/A: v-p v-f is v-n (Winds Measure)
The wide world of microsound is comprised of many talented artists and projects, although it all too often seems to be relegated to the awful realm of remix projects, flooded list-serves, and poorly curated net labels. Fortunately for those of us not patient enough to sift through all of that to find the occasional nugget, Winds Measure offers up this excellent compilation that serves as a great jumping off point for the intrigued but daunted listener, as well as a great introduction to Ben Owen's excellent label. Featuring Jeph Jerman, Lawrence English, Ilya Monosov, and many others, with lock grooves galore. A life raft for those seeking thoughtfully curated and composed micro-works in a sea of...stuff. Packaged in the usual Winds Measure style of simple yet flawlessly executed minimal letterpress on die-cut paper.
9.50
10”
Richard Lainhart/Hakobune: split (Tobira lathe, lim. 60)
Lainhart's has kept ties in the experimental community dating back to the 70s (engineering on Lovely Music LPs) continuing up until now (mainly involved with the Experimental Intermedia scene). Strangely, the majority of Lainhart's Moog and Buchla synth work has been hidden from the general public with exception of one disc on XI and 2007's White Night on Ex Ovo (released over 20 years after being recorded!). Hakobune is certainly a much younger artists on the scene, but seems to be quickly building a name with a forthcoming full length on Important. A special little deluxe edition documenting two cuts of etherial planetarium style atmospheres. Uplifting and sparkling pieces, great for your daily electronic affirmation. Naturally, there are very few copies in stock given the pressing/availability (meaning... it's not). Packaged in a hand made sleeve with colored/textured Japanese paper.
30.00
Jason Lescalleet's Due Process: Combine XXI & Combine XXII (We Break More Records, lim.300)
Two sidelong constructions of concrete sources set into motion like wind-up toys which haphazardly orbit around one another with a touch of controlled chaos. Distorted beauty collapsing into a morass of feedback and struggling mechanics. A textbook example of Jason's mastery of tape loops and abstraction. Comes in a heavy weight wraparound letterpress cover with a 'library' style 78 sleeve.
15.00
12”
Brendan Murray/Perispirit: Birches and Marksmen's Graves/Compliant Victim (Semata Productions, Razors And Medicine, lim.250)
What may come to serve as 2010's first and strongest anti-pigeonhole statement, Brendan Murray delivers a stunning new piece built solely out of talented Boston vocalist Noel Dorsey's voice. Birches kicks off with a hyper dense assemblage resembling Idle Chatter if were the industrious shifting and buzzing of a bees nest; all consuming, but with individual streams pushing themselves out of the background only to return seconds later. Eventually breaking free of the swarm, a somber ambience and sustained pitches marked by sharp and precise placement of unprocessed vocals seep out of the corners. More isolated and pronounced extended vocal technique and poetics somehow seem to trigger even more emotional tension than the previous swirling morass, completing an already rather unsettling piece. New work from Brendan Murray is always a treat, and this surprising LP serves as a clear demonstration that Brendan's skill with sound reaches far beyond the world of shimmering drones that he is best known for.
Given both Luke Moldof and Ricardo Donoso's improvisational backgrounds and involvement in extreme electronics (or metal in Donoso's case) it seems fitting that the duo would be in a prime spot to cook up some seriously intense boundary crossing work, which is exactly what they deliver here. Opening up with an incredibly dirgey blown out melody all drone expectations are almost immediately shattered jumping into scattered bursts of sizzling distortion and electronics akin to Shipwrecker's Diary era Prurient. Returning to its opening statement the LP takes a turn back to the atmospheric with a tone and feeling of suspension not too far from Oceanic era Isis, if the band were only tuning up continuously and never hit their first chord. It goes without saying that Persispirit cover an impressive amount of ground for one side of an LP, without any of it feeling forced or misplaced.
16.00
RESTOCKING
G*Park: Reuters (Tochnit Aleph)
Marc Zeier is without question one of the most intriguing members of the Schimpfluch Gruppe, seeming generally out of character with the rest of the groups artists. Having set the standards for his own work extremely high with essential albums such as Geopod and Seismogram, Reuters delivers another outsider concrete classic. To my ears these are Zeier’s cleanest sounding recordings, elevating the impact of the nine pieces found here to a whole new level. The disembodies study of the sound objects lend a rather unsettling quality to the clanks and creeks summoned from plankton, ice, wind, and suitcases. A ghost ship symphony.
21.00 RESTOCKING
Eli Keszler and Ashley Paul: Aster (REL, lim. 300)
Vinyl debut and the first widely available release for the duo of Eli Keszler and Ashley Paul. Side A features bowed metals beating against reeds, shifting in and out of dissonance creating some incredibly striking textures sure to give your inner ear a clear wake up call. Side B is much more on the frantic end with plucked strings and breakneck percussion scrabbling toward some unattainable state of rest. Similar techniques to the 1-5 disc, taken to an impressive new level of performance and construction. The 4-track style recording is really refreshing showcasing the interaction between the two players activities in the room while still capturing details, giving a very nice 'you were there' feeling to the whole LP. Deluxe pressing of 160g virgin vinyl in black inner sleeve with silkscreened textured paper cover and 2 foot vellum fold-out. Gorgeous!
17.00
MB: Armaghedon (Hot Releases)
Reissue of this 1984 LP falling somewhere in between the realm of private synth gem and industrial classic. A truly bleak soundscape devoid of any sort of emotion or desire for development. Originally intended as a soundtrack for a film which was never released, which may be for the best judging from the amount of negative magnetism emanating from the recordings alone. The ham fisted industrial associations over the years seem to have earned Bianchi a ritualistic following in the industrial community, often remaining overlooked by others despite the fact that these early recording walk much closer to the line of psychedelic synthesizer records or a more disturbing version of Basinski’s Disintegration Loops than early power electronics. Turn the page, and see what you have been missing.
Housed in a repro sleeve, and on vinyl is still only about the cost of an Ees’t CD. A very nice deal.
13.00
MB: The Plain Truth (Hot Releases)
Another classic MB reissue courtesy of Hot Tapes (I know I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing this develop into a series...), once again housed in a nice repro sleeve. Another classic cut of bad time claustrophobia, originally appearing as Bianchi’s debut on the cult Broken Flag label. Certainly one of Bianchi’s more important/core releases, an absolute necessity for obsessives, but also a great introduction for the uninitiated. For those unaware of MB’s long and cryptic history, it raises more questions than it provides answers with incidents involving religious conversion, drastic style changes, dis/reappearance, and suspected impersonators. Over the years many less than ideal releases have surfaced, so I highly recommend making your first stop here before completely skewing your opinion on Bianchi’s work, which could easily be written off without the proper background. And again, a great deal for a reissue at the same price as an Ees’t CD, and around 1/10th the current going rate of an original.
13.00
Morgan Egg/Mark Lord: Last Chance In Heaven/Discontinue Stardust (No, lim. 216)
Two sides of crash and burn electronics coming out of the Providence vacuum. Egg's side is marred by bleak post-industrial synth spewing out clouds of black ash. New technologies and scientific disaster. Lord offers up some excellent cuts of sequence heavy squelch culled from home built synthesizers. Minimal synth anthems for radiation burned freaks and wasteland rockers. An awesome mess from the future.
16.00
Otto Muehl: Psycho Motorik (none)
Another essential piece of actionist and bizarre sound poetry/performance art history once again made relatively available (...until it slips back into obscurity)! While there is some group performance similar to those found on the AAM LP, there is much more pure Otto here- whispering, shouting, orgasms, piano pounding, and not a moment of sanity to be found anywhere. Again, an absolutely essential document for anyone with an interest in the Viennese Aktionists, contemporaries such as the Schimpfluch Gruppe, Komissar Hjuler, and so on. A reproduction of the original 1971 LP (although with paste on covers here). Highly recommended!
17.00
Otto Muehl/AA Commune: AAM 1 (Play Naked, lim. 250) RESTOCKING!
Reissue of this highly coveted document. Recordings from Muehl's AA Commune (who some may know from Makavejev's Sweet Movie, where the commune makes an appearance) of group sessions with members singing, talking, wailing, and babbling about free sexuality, parents, relationships, gender identity, and other topics. Most of the recordings start off resembling the drunken off-kilter stumbling one might associate with Tom Waits before quickly deteriorating into a jagged ruckus drowned out by rants and group shouting. AT times extremely silly, but also rather dark, particularly an extended B side rant from an American woman who joined the commune after a rather bleak childhood. Reproduced in a limited edition of only 250 copies, including a booklet with commune photos, manifesto, and transcript in German, English, and French. An essential document for anyone with any interest in Muehl or any of the other Viennese Aktionists' work, and quite possibly your only chance to own a copy of these recordings at a reasonable price.
RESTOCKING!
Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock/Mama Baer: split (Domestic Violence, lim. 177)
A very fitting split between two artists exploring the boundaries of sanity, performance, absurdity, and the grotesque. The R&G side is a live recording of a 2009 Osaka performance for an assortment of vocals, bells, clocks, and who knows what else (electric razor? hair clippers?) that quickly descents into an orgy of chaos. A solid delivery on all fronts of the bizarre. Mama Baer’s side is comprised of a three part vocal exploration: some mild mannered lo-fi pitch shifted humming, followed by reversed vocal loop manipulations, and finally concluded with some cassette tape voice modulation/distortion experiments (the most effective and interesting part, and so far one my favorites from Mama Baer). WARNING: If you have never purchased a Komissar/Mama Baer LP and do not know what you expect quality wise I am giving you fair warning. These are extremely limited and somewhat rough and tumble LPs. Some of the sleeves may be a little roughed up, paste on covers may bubble, and I am willing to bet my bottom dollar these are pressed with single step plating. All of this is before enduring overseas shipping. Some copies are also slightly warped (although not to the point of being unplayable). That being said, these are AVAILABLE, which is somewhat of a miracle in and of itself, and are still a step up playability wise from other unattainable lathe cuts and err... glue constructs.
Recommended for true believers.
30.00
Seth Nehil: Knives (Senufo, lim. 180) RESTOCKING!
A very nice kickoff release for the Senufo label, Giuseppe Ielasi’s new project for releasing boutique limited edition vinyl. A series of six compositions from Seth covering everything from musique concrete and jazz to noise, accidental spasms and drum machines. An impressive and eclectic cut and paste work that does an excellent job of maintaining cohesion- one of the better works in this style as of late. Featuring a cast of characters contributing sounds including Matthew Marble, JP Jenkins, and a slew of others. Clear vinyl housed in a chipboard sleeve with letterpress art by Ben Owen. Quite a nice sounding pressing to boot for such a limited edition.
RESTOCKING!
Shift: Creation + Space (At War With False Noise)
Shift has established itself as a project leading the power electronics scene forward. Leave all your preconceptions at the door with this one- there is no corny overt misogyny, brute force hype, or caveman level production. Shift has a strong intention of creating mood, developing full compositions, and focusing on craft. Sure some trademark elements are present, and the end result is still crushingly heavy, but subtlety also plays a role straying off into subsonic fuzz and dark ambient passages. Fans of more composed and innovative acts in the style such as Control or Sutcliffe Jugend should take note. Featuring additional sonic material from Benjamin Nelson and Lee Stoke (Culver, Skullflower, Marzuraan).
15.00
Hands To: Flatline (Petri Supply 2xLP)
This set has quickly become a measuring stick as of late for what defines a labor of love when it comes to releasing a record. The mind melting packaging consists of a hand-assembled and heavily printed fold-out cover made using 50+ year old paper with separate printed sleeves for the two single-sided LP's, each with b-sides printed with so many colors my eyes blur before I can finish counting. The physical nature of the artwork blends together perfectly with the highly textural sounds encased within, creating an immersive era-snapshot of Jeph Jerman's work in the early 90s when the album was originally intended for release. Assembled out of recordings made by or signifying deceased people, Flatline takes on a dark semi-spiritual approach to sound investigation that one might expect to be undertaken by Leif Elggren or similar postmortem audio communicators. Overall album bears a strong resemblance to much of Jerman's City Of Worms era recordings; warped soups converging with dense but conducted hiss and possessed polyrythmic hollow clunking. Sometimes garbled beyond recognition, or just enough to have a disturbing EVP like quality, spoken word plays an interesting role on these recordings with side one even offering a brief composition resembling a Burroughs style cut-up or an early Fylkingen associated text-sound work. While fidelity may never have been a big part of the Hands To agenda, it makes repeat listening all the more rewarding promising new buried layers that necessitate repeat and focused listening. Excellent!
18.00
Teresa Rampazzi: Musica Endoscopica (Die Schachtel, lim. 300)
First new vinyl in some time from Die Schachtel, with the exception of the beautiful/unattainable Kalendarev nickel LP. Another entry into the important but often obscured history of early Italian electronic music- here covering both early analog as well as digital synthesis with work ranging from 1970-81 from the founder of the Nuove Proposte Sonore collective, and a central figure in 70s experimental research. Rampazzi’s music is characterized by use of long metallic tones (which explains her later dedication to FM synthesis via the DX7) in her later work, developing out of a focus on BBC-styled synth blips and murky spring echoes ala Daphne Oram. The LP (featuring a bonus track not found on the CD!) is housed in a nice printed inner sleeve with oversize liner notes (both English and Italian) in a foil embossed cover, just the sort of clean luxury that has come to be associated with all the Die Schachtel titles.
28.00
