Another innovative and, thankfully, difficult to categorize release courtesy of video-visionary Cristopher Cichocki, the visual effect to the audio causes Kevin Shields and Rale. Having revealed - or better put, demonstrated, as these are all tricks yet to imply a half-life - much of his video-rhythmic hand in his recent, fantastic long-playing debut ‘Elemental Shift’, we witness one topical application and another of more abstract material, though perhaps better suited. Ms. Shields’ contribution is a terser detail than one might be used to, subordinating the sine-waving highs and ashy lows of “Motorhands” to a position behind Cichocki’s maypoling sequences and glances of her own live performance, red-hued snapshots of pitched hair, LED clusters, and some device resembling a four-stroke manifold by Tesla. A vague coordination of the artist’s slaps and sonic shifts creates a nice effect to bridge the senses, though ultimately the machine regains sovereignty over a swirling collage of tree limbs, palm fronds, and tar-vomit. From the younger Rale we receive “Tattered Syntax”, an understated composition fitted to tactile swatches of metal and textile. The sub-second interchange of grids creates a dizzying movement swapped from still images to an electronic screen of one million shrieking pin-points. Never in agreement with the fluid grizzle of the soundtrack, the video becomes another collage of abstracted geometries, exploding with disparate icons as the sound peters out on fumes. The mute little DVDr comes tabbed to a thick sheet of aluminum with handsome color-printed vellum sleeve. Limited to 75 copies. (Deathbomb Arc/Table of Contents 3” DVDr, $8 HERE)

HR62 Do Tell - 'Sewn to the Current' C42 + C47 $8/$9/$10
"Kyle has been sending me tapes for years and they've just been melting in my car--16 majestic home-brewed mantras splattered with delayed strings, brooding synth drones, wildlife samples, tape cuts, and straight piano. The D side is a 23-minute live performance recorded Winter '07 in a bedroom full of cigarette smokers. Perfect listening for anything from breakfast to Mescalito." edition of 50.

HR61 Hairmaiden of the Totem Robe - 'Lured to the Ground' C20 $5/$6/$7
"Total losers fall on guitars and eventually uncover mom's new age books in the attic." edition of 40.

HR60 Fletcher Pratt - 'Mind Gunk Vol. 11' C20 $5/$6/$7
"Miles of tape blown to shreds in neon rapid-fire succession. The results range from whimsical to hypnotic to alarming--plays like a clustered series of electrified sci-fi film-strips under water, or on fire. These fleeting artifacts, in perpetual liquidation, have left my senses flapping in the wind." edition of 42.

HR58 Black Eagle Child s/t C42 $5/$6/$7
"Washed out strings, synth, and samples dreamily navigate the listener through a wide array of organic light and subtle darkness in a steady slow motion flow, invoking intoxicating blends of trance and nostalgia. Leadowmark (the final track) will dissolve you. I find myself flipping this tape continuously--it's a place I could live." Each cover is slightly different--a varied crop/print of a single piece of painted fabric. edition of 72.

WEBSITE

[tzpLP02] Ero Babaa - 'Sexe' 8€
"French/canadian team based in Paris. One-side pink LP. Their first studio opus. Just forget the crappy sound of their previous limited cdrs. This is the true sound of noise love. Vocals, Sax, Machines. This is great shit." Co-released w/ Bimbo Tower Records, Colonies & Galerie Pache. 98 copies. HERE

AHD - 'Todo Astro Acuático' CDr $10(w/poster)/$7(w/o)
"New recordings from young Puertorican noise machine AHD. Less harsh than "Hara Kiri" but still brutal." Full color cover and each CDR is uniquely painted. First 20 copies include a mini-poster! Limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

YITUEY - 'Live @ Sono' CDr $7
"Cornucopia's Claudio Chea flying solo. Calm but powerful ambient sounds from his solo project." Full color cover and each CDR is uniquely painted.
Limited to 40 copies.

BONESFIELD - 'Prototipos Irradiantes' CDr $7
"Spastic harsh noise from Spain! Heavy on the loops and well composed. If you liked the ABESTA release on Sonora you need this one!" Full color cover with artwork by Alonso Urbanos. Each CDR is uniquely painted. Limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

VRIL - 'Nu' CDr $7
"Harsh electronics from the frigid coast of northern Spain. Complex compositions of multi-layered drone/noise." Full color cover with artwork by Alonso Urbanos. Each CDR is uniquely painted. Limited to 40 copies.

CONURE - 'Resonance' CDr $7
"An intense heat wave of synthesized earth shakers from the Bay Area's Mark Wilson." Full color cover and each CDR is uniquely painted. Limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

JORGE CASTRO - 'Pastoral' CDr $7
"REISSUE. A mix of Death Metal guitars and ambient drone." Limited to 20 hand numbered copies.

WEBSITE

Jason Rohm - 'Suicide' Artbook + compilation CDr 9€/10€
"Originally intended to celebrate the first anniversary of Cut Hands waaay back in Januscary but since it's never too late to celebrate in the oh 8 here it is and goddamn if it wasn't worth the goddamning wait. In this book Jason Rohm paints a grim picture that's both realistically nerving yet bizarrely funny. The tale of a desperate soul in a world that's tied by rules and akward questions, almost comic like in subtle detail. Suicide has 32 pages of black and white drawings, with text in English and awkward Dutch. The compilation provides a harrowing soundtrack with tunes by Andrew Coltrane, Sick Llama, Warmth, Droughter, Bottom Feeder, Raperies (Like Draperies), Ex-Cocaine, Robedoor and Josh Lay. 125 copies made, limited availibility, so act fassssssst."

Teeth Collection - 'Ojo' 3" CDr 7€/8€
"Matt Reis is one of the few guys able to create a piece that's both dynamic and dense while being haunting and flat out nightmarish at the same time. Just think of the soundtrack to your teenage years, this is the one that will haunt you when you're gone. Negatives of cruel nightmares raging through long forgotten parts of wasted brain. Minimal blurts of metal clatter, reverb, echo chambers, face down in junkyards, cheeks rubbing metal while your ears fill up with rust. The definite final countdown." 40 copies, black and white artwerk and insert.

Cadena Muerto - 'Paranoia is Total Awareness' CDr 7€/8€
"Cadena Muerto is a new demon brought to life by Slow Listener's Robin Dickinson. Dickinson's harsher alter ego if you will, the rage inside in the shape of wretched guitarnoise, deformed pieces of snare fuck, mangled metal and visions of Derek Baily recording inside metal shredders." 40 copies, black and white artwerk and insert.

WEBSITE

Garnett James - 'Protect & Survive' CDr £4
"Live recording of a really awesome max/msp workout by mysterious West-Country bod Garnett James. The beauty of G.J.s pieces is that they run equally hot at either loud or low from your home stereo system as the dynamics are knife-sharp. This album would probably fit under the ‘lowercase sound’ bracket back in the old days , but I think it’s something much better than that genre suggests – full of microprocessed offworld drone, disabled industrial cutups and blasts of computer noise it’s a total winner. Sounds to me like INA-GRM taken over by a host of arachnids – yeah, that much menace and whatthehell?." Edition of 50 handmade w/ black card casing.

dsic - 'Ambiences 1' CDr £4
"Planned as the first in a series of quiet recordings, but fails big-time. Juiced up machine wrangling and live sounds, some are heavy deal, others a lighter nod to electronic ambient music, in usual cack-handed style. Not much good to sleep to, but probably an excellent soundtrack for paramedics." Edition of 20.

WEBSITE

LOCRIAN - 'Exhuming the Carnival/Burying the Carnival' C38 $5(US)/$7(Intl.)
2008 (self released). "Like a raven perched on an electrical transformer, Locrian summon elemental human dread, the type hinted at in medieval passion plays and Shakespearean dramatic interludes, but do so electrically, without the pretense of ancient wisdom or nostalgia-laden "spectral folk." The duo of Andre Foisy and Terrence Hannum stalk the vacant drosscapes with delay-laden guitars and round, full, low-end synth textures. On this cassette outing, in an edition of 200, they present a single idea modulated two different ways in a live radio setting, "Exhuming the Carnival" is a throbbing tense journey through fields of guitar and analogue synth punctuated by howling haunted vocals. On the other side of the tape, "Burying the Carnival" brandishes an icepick through the ear that owes more to their metal and power-electronics influences utilizing searing feedback, massive crumbling synths, and blistering guitars." Edition of 200. HERE

For their third release under the name Zanzibar Snails, the Texas quartet present a live set divided into five segments of droning psychedelic effluvia, hereby known as ‘Brown Dwarf’. The screen between is a bug-splat and sand-pocked windshield which flattens for viewing the many disparate and intensive elements which the band pulls out in round-robin overlap. The set begins on the dry-hi whittling of viola subtitled “Iota”, a spacey humdrum of oscillating drone and brittle, radioed static. Through the garble of this shortwave appears various vocal strains too good to exist live at once, yet deceptive enough to veil the entry of deep acoustic plumbs and gaining melodic stabs of the viola. Swells of crunchy distortion are allowed to consume the scene at more or less even intervals (unrelated to the intervals of the track divisions), providing a curtain-fall for the improvisers to readjust. Like its mottled predecessors, the noteworthy (sub)section “Coma” arrives under the same gauzy film of live recording, diminishing the peaks of the harsh noise, yet enabling both the stringed soloist and the acoustic saucier equal space to play with round, delicate lines and trebly Morse patterns, respectively; “Omega” follows with intensifying volume and frequency, overwhelming the dial with squealing modulations, short-lived, yet soon resumed by the viola over sawing loops. The spaciest “Parabola” completes the trajectory with more radio Contact and deeply-strummed patterns; a moogish character comes to replace the viola as cursor, through growing to ecstactic to follow and imploding into the now wall-to-wall din. Printed CDr comes in a hand-made, two-color screened digipak. Limited, no doubt.

A treasure-trove of acoustic instruments gets kicked down a flight of stairs by a baby and a lady and someone recorded it. This is the three-inch gist of “3.28”, the book-ending tracks of D&N, the coupling of Zanzibar Snails’ N (Nevada Hill) and D (David Lee Price). In between, we find a stretch of six greater, quixotic guitar compositions, as narrowly as possible straddling the line between Jandek/Out(sider) guitar whittling and the formless drone of countrymen Stars of the Lid. Bleeding through and into another, the bare pulse of the CDr is easy to miss as each three minute piece pushes past like blood pressure. Third track “Galvanized” attaches delay-enhanced percussion for an urban rhythm metallic over the brake-pad friction of guitar which is made more pronounced in subsequent “9_2_06”. The dub-steppish construction “New Neighbor” submerges an organic beat under white-washes of effect, brushing what faint lines were found into a monochrome of wide, swirling loops. The respective clarity and additional brightness of “Monologue” and “Bell Curve” is undermined only briefly by the buzzing segue which separates the lo-fi from its hi-fi sequel (more of which would not go unappreciated in future outings). Disc comes in a printed velum and heavy-vinyl sleeve. (MAYYRH CDr, $7 and 3”CDr, $5 HERE)

SAIL004 – 'Sailing Records Interviews Jon Solomon' zine $10
"Jon Solomon is simply the John Peel of Philadelphia. He has been dee-jaying at WPRB (103.3 FM) in Princeton since he was a kid and he’s still going at it. He has had over 150 acts since 2001 that has featured groups such as Home Blitz, Gang Wizard, Eric Carbonara, Ex Models, Clockcleaner and a bunch more on his live performance series that run during his radio show. And he has also been running his own labels, My Pal God and Comedy Minus One that have released music by Silkworm, Eyeball Skeleton, Drums and Tuba, Oxford Collapse, the French Kicks and many more. Needless to say, Jon works pretty hard, so we decided to chat it up with Jon at the WPRB headquarters last August (2007) asking him about his DJ career, his labels, Local Support (a podcast affiliated with the Philadelphia City Paper of local bands), and college radio in general. You can find archives of Jon’s work and current work at http://keepingscoreathome.com/." First edition of 25 printed with creative/funny full color photos taken by Sydney Shen of Jon and WPRB studios. Size is half of 8.5 x 11 paper, hamburger-style. About 35 pages total, front and back. Hand-painted covers and home-stitched.

SAIL006 – 'First and Second Editions - drawings/prints by George Glikerdas' $2
"These are color prints of drawings (and one collage) printed on 8.5 x 11 white cardstock. About 20 copies of each drawing. You can see more for sale at the sailing site."

SAIL008 – Niao - 'Summer Showers' C46 (A-Side only) $5
"Total of 23 minutes, this tape has two long improvisations that rise and fall gradually, from one extreme to the other. Oscillating organ drones, infinite drum taps, mics thrown around, banging on metal garbage cans. Finger-picked electric guitar of freedom and nihilism but aware, driven, and composed at the same time." Music and photos by GG. 100 yellow tapes with hand-painted info.

HERE

A most unconventional collaboration, ‘On the River’ - the latest by Andrew McGregor and his Gown project - stands down (momentarily) with an EP’s modesty to the visual-material labors of Darryl Norsen in the form of a convertible, 2-sided poster/sleeve featuring as much creative autonomy as the disc which it conceals. Not to be confused with LA duo Gowns, McGregor’s is a singular, guitar-welding ego ala the Pajo/Papa M/Aerial M trinity, manifest as such in these three terrifically fresh movements of cocksure amplifier worship. The disjointed vocals of the five-minute “Wandering Glory” – curiously frank, wry and weary in contrast to the depth and grandeur of the accompanying riffage - recalls the power-pop of Guided by Voices and Archers of Loaf without the stale flavor of a deliberate throw-back; recalling any number of college rock fundamentals, the dialectical tensions of Sonic Youth and GBV are no better approximated than in the closing caterwauls of “glory/where are you?” wafting in from beneath peeling layers of chattering distortion. Centerpiece “Hotter than Freedom” appears the earnest core of the disc, voicelessly negotiating an effect-laden shoegaze with ‘Goo’-era erections; engineered separation do the track’s many layers near-perfect justice – the lower end colors tend to bleed up, smearing the more delicate contours of these 12 minutes – and the thickness of the bandwidth maintain the analog presence of those classics it seems to emulate. Final track “On the River” attempts to reconcile its predecessors in a séance of one-quarter hour, opening and closing on self-conscious howls as if recorded while someone’s sleeping two rooms over, a pooling wash of guitar opening like a vortex in an erratic clip. The voice which emerges soon after strikes a momentary likeness to early Cerberus Shoal, with lyrics and minor hues casting a dusky shadow on the falsetto falsifications prior. McGregor’s guitar figures weave an intricate baroque pattern in the thick ether of reverb until, in the final third, a mounting crest of brightened chords emerges to play an emboldened outro to some lost, looping syllables. On black CDrs with full-color labels; the poster is three color screenprint on a vinyl-thick 11x17 sheet, limited to 130 copies. A proud return for HoA, and very recommended. (House of Alchemy CDr w/poster, $11 HERE)

Black Eagle Child/The Pistil Cosmos - 'The Dew on Equinox' C46 $7(US)/$10(International)
"This tape arrives just in time for Fall. It's a tribute, in a way, to the time of year in which the stifling dampness and heat are succeeded by a crispness. Migratory birds begin to descend upon an equatorial destination. All that moisture that used to haunt you throughout the day is now only ever present in the earliest parts of the day. The Black Eagle Child side of this split is a nod toward the nostalgic part of Fall--romps through cemeteries and old suburban neighborhoods on leafy nights, the wind through a dry air, and the sound of the Earth preparing for a great cooling off. On the other side, The Pistil Cosmos explores this season with a more spiritual tone (albeit, these spirits are often grim ones). Hear the sounds of Kluskap and Malsum dancing a balance between beauty and utter annihilation. Good prevails of course, but first you must endure the darkness!" This is a tape of folk music and crushing, ominous tones. Limited to 48 copies, high-bias tapes housed in machine-sewn cotton & wool-felt sleeves, with hand-numbered inserts featuring a drawing of our favorite animal of the north. HERE/ICI

ARBOR52 C. SPENCER YEH/SICK LLAMA SPLIT 7" $6
"The malformed compositions of C. Spencer Yeh and Sick Llama come from opposing spectrums of noise music, though their similarities are undeniable. Whether it be Yeh's solo piece for violin or Sick Llama's gunked tape work, the spirit of improvisation shines through. On Yeh's track, the churning sounds of metal scrapes and light tinges, like crossed electric static and growing, buzzing drones are the result of one violin. His unique approach to the instrument marks him as one of the most exciting improvisers today whether it be with his solo work or through his work in Burning Star Core. Sick Llama's untitled piece is one of his most concise and interesting tracks; crushing and dirty with the hiss of tape static. Coming from the stoned mind of Heath Moreland of Fag Tapes, the expected tape aesthetic is transferred to vinyl with a compilation of cut up compositions, evoking a series of mystery sound sources." In an edition of 500 7"s in proprinited fold over sleeves with art by Maya Miller of Heavy Tapes/Religious Knives.

ARBOR90 INFINITE BODY - 'A SERIES OF FALSE AWAKENINGS' 1-SIDED LP $11
"Kyle Parker is Infinite Body. Like most of Southern California's harsh noise youth crew (Impregnable, Privy Seals, Pedestrian Deposit), IB is the polar opposite of Kyle's former project, Gator Surprise. There is something about the shift from creating unrelenting, harsh noise to ambient dreamlike drones that works perfectly; flowing with dedication and intensity from similar veins. Infinite Body's debut cd "White Hymn" was a masterpiece of blurred lights, colorful, but heavy synthesizer and vocoder pieces. "A Series of False Awakenings", his follow up to that CD from the winter, shows a seasonal change, with a heavy presence on field recordings: children in parks, chimes, and the spring ambience of light winds and birds' songs. An elevated sense of reality: entirely surreal. Kyle's thoughtful and sincere work is certainly some of the most well executed around and the upcoming Infinite Body/Emaciator split LP on Monorail Trespassing will only further solidify this." In an edition of 300 LPs with proprinted foldover sleeves featuring art by Kyle.

HERE

NNA001: Sun Circle/Pregnant Moon split C40 $7(US)/$9(world)
"Sun Circle is the duo of Burlington's own Greg Davis (Kranky, et al) and Ann Arbor's Zach Wallace (ex-Graveyards, Lichen Records, et al) producing ecstatic high-volume drone, long form trance music, and peace noise. Here they produce a long blissful burner with voice and strings. Pregnant Moon remains shrouded in night." All cassettes are in an edition of 100 and feature full-color cardstock j-cards with color inserts, unique hand-painted and stamped tape labels, and clear Norelco cases.

NNA002: Duane Pitre - 'For Loud/For Quiet' C30 $7(US)/$9(world)
"New works by modern drone composer, ex-pro skateboarder, and Brooklyn resident Duane Pitre (Important Records, et al). one side of massive and encompassing dronescapes by way of motorized electric guitar, and one contrasting side of intimate and detailed sound collage." All cassettes are in an edition of 100 and feature full-color cardstock j-cards with color inserts, unique hand-painted and stamped tape labels, and clear Norelco cases.

NNA003: Oak/Pink Desert split C30 $7(US)/$9(world)
"Like-minded split cassette between Vermont trio Oak (Peasant Magik, Grimeology) and Pennsylvanian shamans Pink Desert. Oak procures a heady synthesis of acoustic and electronic sound including harp, dulcimer, vibraphone, tambura and more. Pink Desert, here as a trio with Kyle Page on percussion, delivers their signature brand of vocal drone set against ethereal sonic landscapes." All cassettes are in an edition of 100 and feature full-color cardstock j-cards with color inserts, unique hand-painted and stamped tape labels, and clear Norelco cases.

all three cassettes for $20(US)/$25(world)

WEBSITE for samples/ordering

Sonora Disc boss Jorge Castro and Claudio Chea form Cornucopia, an industrious unit who have been crafting a detailed noise-ambience from their home base of San Juan, Puerto Rico for nearly a decade. The two discs presented today reveal the pair in their preferred mode, each featuring one long-form piece as presented in live performance. Recorded at home in San Juan in a “private set”, the title and satellite imagery of ‘Black Operations’ suggests a bit of conspiracy projection with its introductory six minutes of radioed chatter scanning the broadband as the precision cursor of the cover runs its finger along the landscape of what could be any desert made waste, or any wasteland made worse. At 32 minutes, the boys create a bouncing frequency of bassy shape, rotating slowly as it seemingly moves channels and reaches in decibel. A breathy void stretches beneath, lying still in the split-seconds when the tempo cuts out – a deliberate break which reminds us of the intentionality of this sound, a distinctly inorganic phenomenon in contrast to the composition’s field-recorded elements. At the midway mark, sinister, booming animal noises are heard as in a giant kennel, soon covered by a blistering surge of uneven oscillation (not unlike the earlier tempo), the preparing of shocks and wires sounded in the background and signaling the third movement: a Hototogisu starburst of ashy color and crunchy integrity, this pure acceleration imputes a danceable (phantom?) rhythm which lends an unexpected warmth to the void of this sort of harsh expression.

Past the closing click and clack of ‘Black Operations’, companion ‘Star Trails’ documents a show at Rotterdam from three years ago this month. At 18 terse minutes, the disc compresses the previous structure, moving swiftly from the formality of flecked noise-debris to a growing percussive intensity moving through a river of stones, a wall of flames, into a full-on stampede. In dialog with the human-made, yet entirely alien scene photographed on the cover of the former disc, the dusty-grey crater of ‘Star Trails’ juxtaposes an impossibly similar scene of veined earth and black blobs of architecture; this imagery fits the second movement following a distinct break of “song”, a bulbous harmony caught glimpse of in a tremendous groan of spherical movement. The rigid chirps of fragile technology accompanies this resonance from all angles like jungle sounds, definitively figuring our listener-position (we’re on the ground) - a maneuver which so fantastically informs our perception of movement when the mechanical howl of generators turns to that inevitable torrent of dry-hot rage. This closing fulmination lives a precious three minutes, yet speaks worlds about what one might find in the darkness of sound. Both discs come with white labels, in a heavy, full-color sleeve; both amply recommended. (Sonora CDr, $7 HERE)

YES OR NO, FRANCOIS VIROT LP/LP+CDr 11€/12€
"(France) debut album is available NOW. 10 tracks, oh-uh-ooh-oo-ooooooh, weird folk, like a party in the woods with melancholic feeling, a reminiscece of Pavement, Animal collective and lots of old friends clapping in their hands. blue vinyl."

HERE

905.32: INSEMINOID - 'PAGAN ANOREXIA' C30 $6
"culver / mutant ape creep collab of the tone dead basement variety. zombie tones that are insomniac from birth just searching for a warm grave. tangled up in the webs is fantasy-esque darkness that oozes an "under the bed / in the closet" macabre feeling. will leave you black in the bloodstream."

905.34: HUNTING RITUALS - 'JUNKYARD HYMNS' C30 $6
"full metal racket from up north. scott johnson dispatches tin can turbulence that is overflowing with absurd junk sounds. it's like nails on a chalkboard waking you up from a shitty dream where you're running away from trolls. what, you don't have that dream all the time? bullshit."

905.35: IS - 'ROGUE WAVE' C40 $6
"illinoizer brian tholl continues his pain-focussed dirt works on rogue wave, a stark c40 with greyscale electronics and massive skull staplers. his sounds through is are like towers that are built up and sent crumbling to the ground, ending with rats scattering through the ruins. utterly bitter."

905.36: OSPREYS + WILDE STALLIONS SPLIT C60 $6
"these two pennsylvania units bookended a tour i did a couple of years ago and both mesmerized me with some profuse vocal/guitar drone mantras. both of these hypnotist mix up lush and thick styles, blending chants with subway rhythms that cause waves of dust and light to ricochet around the room. this is demon dirg turned up to shred. extra bonus with the stallions covering the subhumans!"

905.37: REVIVER - 'CRAWLERS SPIT BLACK' C30 $6
"parasite drone done lights-out style in a fume tunnel. no ventilation, total mind's eye light show dragging corpses through through the mud. reviver brings the collapse like nobody knows, solid ct solo style."

all for $25. WEBSITE

Talibam/Wasteland Jazz Unit - ‘Ecstatic Jazz Duos’ LP $13
"In the first installment of the Ecstatic Jazz Duos series, there is no room for subtlety. On the Talibam! side, the 18-minute “The Geometric Mophometrics of P.P.P.P.P. McNasticals” (what?!) is a multi-part epic unlike anything else in the New York City duo’s recorded output. Matt Motel (synthesizer) and Kevin Shea (drums) run through the cacophonous noise-jazz most of us know them for, but also seamlessly engage in righteously proggy pursuits taking hits off King Crimson and Keith Emerson. On the B-side, Wasteland Jazz Unit gurgles shrapnel on two rippers for amplified saxophone (Jon Lorenz) and clarinet (John Rich). Cincinnati’s premier Art Damage skater-jazz crew have recorded with the likes of C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) and Ryan Jewell (Pink Reason, Psychedelic Horseshit), and here deliver an aural abuse that just ruins your day." Pro-printed jackets with artwork (and series design) by Cristopher Cichocki. Edition of 500.

Chartreuse - ‘No More Paths to Sounder Sleep’ CD $12/CD + 3"CDr $16
"On the debut CD from Athens, Georgia's Chartreuse, guitar melodies are weighed down by the murky and melancholic bliss of strings and loops swarming the headphones. The organ drones seep through the earth as if heard by a tape recorder buried underground. No More Paths to Sounder Sleep is a trance-inducing soundtrack to the end of the night. There's the regular digipak version and a special edition (edition of 200) with handmade artwork that includes a bonus 3" CDr of an early Fripp-inspired demo. All artwork by Lars Gotrich."

WEBSITE

SS016 WW - 'Distant' 2xC20
"women in the woods are a new trio with kam hassah, nico (von archives) and giovanni (ottaven) these recordings are the result of four days spent to play in a theatre festival, an heavy mix of black electronics and pe vocals."

SS017 ENDLESS SEA - 'Forgotten Memories' C38 + Book
"intimistic release for this italian harsh head, this time brutal attacks are mixed with ambient and minimal parts, comes with a 40 pages booklet with art and collages made by the artist."

SS018 DISCORDANCE - 'Lesson Number 1'
"after 8 years of silence return the pe project of Gabriele Giuliani (Dead Body Love, Drift) and seems that the time never been passed, first side is pure italian power electronics, other side is a cold ambient track."

SS019 MURDER BOOK - 'the ones that got away' C40
"two long track of deep basses and open spaces for the proctor's death electronics project, sounds so 80's."

SS020 MSQ - 'chapter IX' C60
"another manifesto in the hnw series made by the uk collaboration of mutant ape and the misterious rough sex quartet."

WEBSITE

Released last June and recorded the summer before, the second legit long-player from Warmer Milks makes much more sense (so far as it makes sense in the band’s short yet baffling musical history) in the summer months than at this tardy date. Here, the band be a sextet centered on golem Michael Turner, including Shawn David McMillen, Greg Backus, Travis Shelton, Amber Kingsley, and featuring the most recent addition of the Palatial Paul Oldham. Just to what extent Oldham has influenced the band’s sound on ‘Soft Walks’ is hard to figure – not only for his dual role as engineer, but for Turner’s own sneaky, regular metamorphoses – but the earnest southern rock sound without deviation is unnerving in the subtlest of terms, mostly providing a good time once the acceptance settles in. A few untitled instrumental tracks haphazardly tossed amid seven unwavering upbeats, Oldham’s masterful production lends a chambered nobility to the warm intimacy of acoustic stings, electric wash, piano, and muted percussion. With a voice and wry delivery echoing Tim Midgett of Silkworm, “Wild Spring” begins with slacker gestures at excitation – terse, full band builds among so many noodling strings and pattering kicks. Not stretching the genes too much, by “Patios Blues” the band’s begun to recall the zenith of Love As Laughter’s shining glad-rock, affecting even Sam Jayne’s haggard eternal youth in the weariness of Turner’s croon. At other moments (“A Bulb in the Dark”), the honky-tonk is just too heavy, and brutal comparisons to the Grateful Dead are all we have to throw up in the sky, yet the rougher compositional sensibilities and urbane lyrical moves – a “fuck” here or there, unsettled religious worry – returns us from the moldy thrift store bins to the dollar bins of injustice to recollect Granfaloon Bus and even some aMinor Forest in the Neil Young-mediating dirges of “Steady Sheets”. “Miracles” closes the disc with inspired and jubilant praises (“Take the wheel/Make miracles”) fitted to grandiose arrangements of shoegazing jangle enough to make Chapel Hill resurface to weep. Tons of fun. (Animal Disguise CD, $11 HERE)

Swamp Horse - 'Crippled Witch' C34 $6/$7/$9
"Kentucky duo featuring Morgan Rankin and Josh Lay. Totally overwhelming. Rarely do I want to turn down records I like, and I mean this in the best possible way." Number seven in the leftover cassette series. Edition of 50.

Pet Coffins C20 $6/$7/$9
"Pet Coffins came to me out of nowhere, and I instantly fell in love. The kind of music I would imagine acid fried bubblegum would listen to." Number four in the leftover cassette series. Edition of 50.

Fossils From The Sun - 'The Living Mixer' C30 $6/$7/$9
"Ever wonder what is happening underneath all of murk and distortion that is Century Plants? This might end up confusing you even more." Number three in the leftover cassette series. Edition of 39.

Antler Piss - 'Ancestral Feedings' C40 $6/$7/$9
"Every time I listen to this I am left with an overwhelmingly uncomfortable feeling. Like I just witnessed someone drowning a squirrel in a trash can full of rain water." Number one in the leftover cassette series. Edition of 50.

Oak/Pet Coffins/Pillars of Heaven/Pink Desert 2xC20 $8/$10/$12
"Long delayed 4 way split finally available. Oak kick things off with room shaking reverberations of epic proportions. Don't know what the sound sources are, but this is some heavy shit. Pink Desert continues with their brand of blissed out vocal mantras: both elevating and suffocating. Cassette number two starts off with Pet Coffins' combination of dying machinery and angelic coos, and ends with Pillars of Heaven's death march." Cover art by James Ulmer. Edition of 50.

Wereju - 'Dream/Death' C46 $6/$7/$9
"Newest entry in Wereju's sprawling catalog. Each release takes his signature blackened shimmer to the next level. Here melodies stretch towards infinity, guitar lines snake their way over fog covered rivers, and bleak, low end rumbles moan incessantly." Edition of 100.

Gareth Harwick - 'Carnations' C20 $6/$7/$9
"Through his Low Point imprint and solo outings, Gareth Hardwick has been releasing some of the most compelling sounds in recent years. Carnations, his first cassette release, consists of two ten minute long pieces, one each for guitar and organ. Both sides consist of layers of slowly evolving melodies, both effortless and affecting. With such simple sound sources and mastery of craft, Carnations recalls both early Stars of the Lid and Maeror Tri's more uplifting sides." Edition of 100.

Sarah's Charity - 'Mirror of Abundance' C32 $6/$7/$9
"Squealing feedback and tortured guitar movements spread overtop thick black, droney buzz. Think Hendrix, but he accidentally set himself on fire. Or maybe Wall without the Wall? Simultaneously overwhelming and lulling." Edition of 100

Xiphiidae - 'Wake Of The Hoods' C32 $6/$7/$9
"Xiphiidae is the solo project of Housecraft's main man, Jeffry Astin. Side A is full of air-conditioned drones, nature sounds, and delayed guitars. Very sleepy, indeed. Side B could possibly be a recording of someone eating dinner while thousands of insects run wild over various stringed instruments." Edition of 100.

Buy any 5 releases for $25/$30/$45 (US/Canada/World)

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GRM012: ARKLIGHT - 'APHASIA' CDr $6
"Long awaited disc from Queens, NY quartet Arklight. Gritty and blasted freeform rock with angular dance trance un-fusion. Pounding primitive rhythms and psychedelic 2064AD axe shred coming out of a maxed-out boombox inside of a trashcan. White cd-rs with xerox inserts inside a yellow cardstock sleeve with milk-to-dark-chocolate split fountain screenprint. Numbered edition of 50.

GRM014: CELESTIAL INDIFFERENCE - 'MOLEHILL WITCHTRIAL' C20
"Thunderous harsh noise with a stark industrial undercurrent from Arizona's Celestial Indifference. One side of thick and overdriven harsh microphone refuse with buried vocal attacks, and one side of crusted tape loop scum that evolves into a dense wall of distortion." White cassettes with black & white artwork and painted & charcoaled labels. Numbered edition of 50 copies.

GRM015: JOSHUA McABEE AND THE (7/13) MOON - 'THE FUTURE SAID THE PAST WAS NEVER PRESENT' C46
"A long, shamanistic sonic journey from Michigan underspace dweller Joshua McAbee. Sounds of both familiar and curious origin combine in lo fi vignettes to carry the brain through murky pathways with no end. For fans of Michigan underground basement muck style." White cassettes with black & white & yellow artwork and diamond (7/13) labels. Numbered edition of 50 copies.

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DNT048 - Black Pus/Foot Village split 12" $12(US/Canada)
"Including the tracks from their split cassette released last year on DBA, this 12" adds 1 Foot Village bonus track and 2 Black Pus bonus tracks. This music is raw, distorted, and totally fucked up drum rock. Each 12" includes a 16" x 22" poster that is a full color animal photo with art by Brian Chippendale screened on top. Brian is the dude behind Black Pus and he is the drummer of Lightning Bolt. This release is all about drums being punk as fuck." Edition of 300. Co-released with Deathbomb Arc.

DNT033 - Bobb Bruno - 'Clown's Castle' cassette $6(US/Canada)/$11(International)
"I first saw Bobb Bruno about two years ago at The Smell in downtown LA. I had heard of him prior to the show (he also plays in Goliath Bird Eater and Knit Witch, among others) but didn't really know what to expect from him by himself, and live. He came out wearing a full bunny costume, head and all and sat down playing the coolest electronic drum pad I've ever seen. Some of his past releases have been dreamy pop, others have been heavy as nails. This tape falls somewhere in between. One minute there's beautiful synthscapes and the next it's heavy bass and pounding drums." Hand-numbered edition of 79 on purple cassettes with full-color piggie artwork by Bobb Bruno.

DNT041 - Ducktails/Mudboy - 'Summer of Saucers' split cassette $6(US/Canada)/$11(International)
"Well the summer is coming to an end now and I can't think of a better way to end it than with this tape, "Summer of Saucers". The A-Side is Providence's Raphael Lyon, better known as Mudboy. The side starts off by the lakeside, and you can hear frogs and geese nearby. It slowly builds up with keyboards coming into the picture before fading back to where it started. Lazy day at the river. The flipside is New Jersey's Matt Mondanile aka Ducktails. Ducktails has been described by someone as "ectoplasmic and cartoonishly cosmic bliss" and with song titles such as "Chill Jam" and "Sun Out My Window" you'll be apt to agree." Colourful conehead artwork by George W. Myers of Grey Skull/Breaking World Records. In an edition of 100 pro-dubbed blue tapes.

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ELEH - 'Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis Volume' 3" LP $14
100 Special copper color mailorder jackets. 500 made. 200 gram vinyl. "Eleh's Intuitive Synthesis/Floating Frequencies Volume 3 is the third release in their Intuitive Synthesis series (Volume 2 was released over a year ago) and it is being released simultaneously with an Eleh/Pauline Oliveros split release.

ELEH/PAULINE OLIVEROS split LP $14
Special copper color mailorder jackets. 760 made. 200 gram vinyl. "Important Records quite pleased to be presenting this split release consisting of two new drone works from Pauline Oliveros and Eleh."

HOTOTOGISU - 'Pale Fatal Sister' 2xLP $20
Limited edition of 700 copies. First 200 copies are available on clear vinyl. Double LP pressing housed in a gatefold jacket. "Being a Nabokovian and visceral garden of delights, a musical evocation of memory and desire spread over four sides of vinyl."

SKULL DEFEKTS - 'Waving' 7" $10
Extremely limited edition of 300. Available only from Important mailorder and from the band on tour. "Two tracks - one from their 2009 album on Important and the other unreleased."

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mike shiflet - 'ko' dosethentythree 2x3"CDr
"two discs, each created entirely from triangle waveforms, completing a fully realized release inspired by the ancient game of ko that pits black vs white. the white triangles disc spews enveloping harsh noise walls while the black triangles disc loses you in atmospherics and an impending sense of doom." edition of 78 copies in two-sided, hand silkscreened covers.

flea apparitions/lame prey split dosethirtyfive 3"CDr
"this is the first in a small doses split personality series. lame prey and flea apparitions are both products of the same mind, that of lorne zeman. lame prey starts the disc off with a long piece that mixes up huge, harsh sounds that tend towards power electronics with feedback laced calms in the storm. the flea apparitions portion takes a similarly harsh but more relentless approach built from tape loops." edition of 66 copies.

pummeler - 'ydre' dosethirtyeight 3"CDr
"pummeler is denmark's mikkel valentin dunkerly. ydre is one of the most incredible drone tracks i've ever heard. it's a very slow-moving piece that clocks in at just over 18 minutes. it's meditative, beautiful, and dense, with an intangible but expansive sense of space. every listen brings out new textures and sounds." edition of 72 copies designed by the artist.

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THE CLIENTELE - 'THAT NIGHT, A FOREST GREW' EP
"This is the third, and last, of a trilogy of EPs The Clientele have recorded for Acuarela. They have always used them as a way to stretch out between albums, to create a through-the-looking-glass version of the band that shadows the better-known history of their albums. 'Ariadne' experimented with drones and minimalism, 'The Lost Weekend' stretched the foggy sound of their debut to epic proportions. In contrast ‘That Night, a Forest Grew' is the most commercial and danceable thing they've ever recorded. Part Bacharach, part Television, part Orange Juice, the EP shares the pristine clarity, light and shade of 'God Save the Clientele', but adds a new element of summer pop perfection. This is The Clientele as a hazily remembered 1970s cartoon series, all distanced off-key colours; imaginary summer hits, radio waves beamed in from a dream-discotheque."

TEX LA HOMA - 'LITTLE FLASHES OF SUNLIGHT ON A COLD DARK SEA' CD
"Departing from the more electronic oriented sounds on previous albums by Tex la Homa, 'Little Flashes of Sunlight on a Cold Dark Sea' is a collection of eleven acoustic songs featuring Matt Shaw on every instrument, mainly guitar and piano, keyboards and his voice. All against a microphone and a computer, within the emptiness of his room in Poole, Southern England. The aim Shaw tried to achieve while writing the songs of 'Little Flashes of Sunlight on a Cold Dark Sea' was to write very simple but melodic songs. To reduce everything down to what it is actually needed to communicate an idea or a story, and to try to keep things clear. Old friends' names and past events served as inspirational memories."

LA JR - '17 ANIMALES' CD
"The best unheralded Spanish (or European?) band of all times, LA JR, are led as usual by Frank, Rafa and Borja as the ultimate Dadaist-pop ensemble. There is no exact definition for the word ‘dada’ and there are no exact words to describe the multifariousness of LA JR. '17 animales' is a work of dark atmospheric lounge, trance Kraut-Rock groove or just anti-jazz-folk. THIS is to music what assemblage is to art; an overlaying of diverse, motley materials; it sounds like porcelain, wood, glass and it squeaks even though it doesn’t sound like squeaking. Pendulum-like piano playing, husky basses, humming from the tide of the keyboards, every element bursts into bubbles. '17 animales': an ultra-contemporary album about Death, Sex and the slight possibility of turning Life into Art and back again."

GROUPER & INCA ORE SPLIT CD
"The sound Liz Harris projects on her records under the moniker Grouper has been said to be deceptively simple, but truly emotional. Layers of vocals processed again and again through loop delays and chains of effects that create gorgeous whirlpools of chants, guitar drones and tape noise, all full of something unique, pure and powerfully beautiful. The kind of magic Harris manages to inject into her recordings is something Eva Saelens knows about quite well, as Inca Ore she has also sung and produced music with a touch of wilderness and witchery. Liz and Eva compiled twenty minutes of unreleased material each on both sides of a C40 recorded at home, a recording that Acuarela now re-releases on CD with new cover art and remastered sound."

MAQUILADORA - 'ST. CECILIA’S DROWING (WHITE SANDS & RITUAL OF HEARTS REVISITED)' 2CD
"Maquiladora (Eric Nielsen, Bruce McKenzie and Phil Beaumont with occasional guests of Black Heart Procession, Modest Mouse and The God Machine) approach music from all sides, a sound which conjures up moods of the deserts and oceans providing a landscape that is both familiar and remotely distant. Acuarela releases a new take on Maquiladora's early works 'White Sands' and 'Ritual Of Hearts'. A re-mastered collection of songs recorded between 1995 and 2002, including nine previously unreleased songs. The menu of instruments that catered to these recordings stretches from the expected guitar, drums and bass to Hammond organs, piano, melodica, xylophone, accordion, lap steel, flute, gas pump, golf ball, lungs, throats and tongues. This two disc boxed package is released with a twelve page booklet of art done by the band and Joe Plummer."

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