Category Archives: UPDATE

RC60: DIGITAL NATIVES/SEZIKI TETRASHEAF split C50+C35
The palmetto boys broke the heat and have landed on the west coast. To inaugurate these festivities, we present Plaid Lake’s finest to date, with 85 suasive minutes featuring such jams as ‘Mouther of the Incas’ and ‘Clops’ (see below). This marks the start of a new era. Full color covers & numbered inserts with accommodating track titles. Professionally duplicated on type II, chrome cassettes. Imprinting artwork by Juli Toro. edition of 100.

RC62: IASOS – ‘ELIXIR’ C56
This second Iasos reissue on Rotifer Cassettes comes in 3-D stereo, covering the full sonic range – from thunderous lows to crystalline highs that challenge your hearing. It is offered as a vibrational gateway, through sound, to the celestial realms of Light. Professionally duplicated on cassette for the first time since 1983 onto type II, chrome format. Original cover art by Andrew Annenberg, inner j-card artwork by Jonathan Dean. edition of 250.

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OUR FIRST T-SHIRT EVER. S-M-L-XL-XXL. IN STOCK ON AUG 21ST.

DIVINE SHELL/FALSE FLAG split C32
TWO SIDES OF POUNDING, EMOTIVE, INDUSTRIAL NOISE AND POWER ELECTRONICS. DIVINE SHELL BRINGS A NICE ATRAX MORGUE STYLE. COLD AND DARK. BROODING, AND WITH MUCH INTENTION. FALSE FLAG USES ETHEREAL SYNTH PADS, HORRIFYING SCREAMS, AND THE CRUMBLE AND CRACKLE OF OVERDRIVEN SIGNALS. FUCK THE GLOBAL ELITE. HAND-STAMPED WHITE CDRS IN HAND-PAINTED, HAND-STAMPED PAPER/PLASTIC SLEEVES WITH XEROXED ARTWORK ON LIME GREEN CARD STOCK. ARTWORK BY JUSTIN MARC LLOYD. LIMITED TO 19.

PALATIAL – ‘INGEBORG’ CDr
DREARY DRONES, COLD ACOUSTICS, ELECTRONIC MANIPULATIONS…BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION IN A CERTAIN LOW FIDELITY THAT INTENSIFIES A SOFT, BLEAK VISUAL OF DECAYING BERLIN, GERMANY. TWO SUBDUED INDIVIDUALS SURROUNDED WITH AN ARRAY OF WAYS TO FIND A ZONE AND DISAPPEAR INTO IT. CHIMING, CLANGING, DISSONANCE, COLLISIONS, THICK WASHES AND SMALL ROOM ATMOSPHERE. TWO ABSTRACT, FREE AND FLAWLESSLY FLOWING MOVEMENTS. FORGET TIME, FORGET COLOR, GRAB A BLANKET, SLEEP ON A DIRTY SIDEWALK, WAKE UP AND STARE AT THE SKY. HAND-STAMPED WHITE CDRS IN HAND-PAINTED, HAND-STAMPED PAPER/PLASTIC SLEEVES WITH XEROXED ARTWORK ON LIME GREEN CARD STOCK. ARTWORK BY JUSTIN MARC LLOYD. LIMITED TO 19.

DISCRETION – ‘MAKING CONTACT’ C44
PUSTIN PUSDRAINER PRESENTED RAINBOW BRIDGE THE MOST HORRIFYING DISCRETION SESSION CAUGHT ON TAPE. THE CLICHE TERMS “BLEAK” AND “DARK” NOW HAVE NEW MEANING. THE MASTER TAPE SHOWED UP WITH COLLAGE ARTWORK MADE BY HAND, RIDDLED WITH DROPLETS FROM THE NOSEBLEED GENERATED DURING THIS RECORDING. NO SAMPLES, NO LOOPS, NO SELF EXPRESSION. JUST ENERGY, A TV, SOME PROCESSING, AND WHATEVER THE FUCK ELSE SHOWED UP WAS NOT CHILLIN IN THE PHYSICAL REALM. DEEP HNW. DEEP WITHIN OR DEEP IN ANOTHER DIMENSION?SOLID BLUE, HAND-STAMPED CHROME TAPES. HAND-NUMBERED XEROX ARTWORK ON RED CARD STOCK J-CARDS. ARTWORK BY DEREK SETZER, EDITED BY JUSTIN MARC LLOYD. LIMITED TO 35.

JUSTIN MARC LLOYD – ‘ABSTRACT YOGA’ CDr
BENDING, STRETCHING, MEDITATING, REBUILDING A DELIGHTFULLY BUSTED REALITY. 3 PEDALS IN ONE MIXER CHANNEL FOR THE ENTIRE PIECE. AS DEMENTED AS THE MEANS ALLOWED. AS CATHARTIC AS ONE WHO IS STILL UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HIM/HERSELF COULD BE. INTERMITTENT ELECTRONICS, UTILIZING SPACE. YOU COULD LOSE YOURSELF. THE STAIRWAY FLASHES AND MORPHS BEFORE YOU. EACH CDR COMES WITH A BURNT/MELTED/BUBBLED IMAGE OF A LIKENESS OF AN ALPHABET CHARACTER FOUND IN NATURE OR ARCHITECTURE. IN SUCCESSION, THESE LETTERS SPELL OUT A LIE. A CRAFTED BOX WITH THESE PHOTOS ON A STRING IS HOW SHE SAID “YES.” PURGING IS NECESSARY. I AM BREATHING THIS ENERGY INTO YOU. COMPLETE WITH BUTTERFLIES, AND A CANCELLATION DATE TO SEAL THE DEAL. LIMITED TO 14.

SLEEP OF AGES/PREGNANT SPORE – ‘RAINBOW OF AGES’ split C40
40 MINUTES OF FOCUS, GRAINY DISTORTION AND MEDICALLY ILL DRONES. INTENTION, COMPOSITION, BROKEN AND BLURRED. SLEEP OF AGES IS A PROJECT FROM BRAZIL FILLING YOUR EARS WITH METALLIC CLANGING, OVERDRIVEN BASS, HEAVY SYNTH PADS AND TASTEFUL TRANSITIONS. ABSTRACT, MECHANICAL. COLD, DARK INDUSTRIAL HARSH NOISE. PREGNANT SPORE STARTS OFF SIDE B NOT MUCH DIFFERENTLY, BUT IT ISN’T LONG BEFORE THE INTERMITTENT AUDIO SIGNALS AND CONFUSING DRONES MELT YOUR EYES START THEIR WAY INTO YOUR NASAL PASSAGES, THEN DOWN YOUR FACE IN DATA-BENT SPLOTCHES OF TWITCHING, PIXELATED COLOR. YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO WASH IT OFF.  HAND-PAINTED, HAND-STAMPED CLEAR PURPLE TAPES. XEROXED ARTWORK ON NEON PINK CARD STOCK J-CARDS. ARTWORK BY JUSTIN MARC LLOYD. LIMITED TO 35.

ORANGE SHIT BALL/PREGNANT SPORE/1+1=A WINDOW split C62
ORANGE SHIT BALL IS UNREAL. AND I AM NOT SURE IN HOW MANY WAYS. A PRACTICAL JOKE ON PLAYED ON MYSELF, PERHAPS? CREPT-AROUND SYNTH SQUEAKS AND STREAKS WITH DEMENTED AND COLLAGED RECORDINGS/SAMPLES/LOOPS/WHO KNOWS. SEARCH THE INTERWEBS FOR ANSWERS. FIND NOTHING BUT YOU AND GENITALS IN YOUR HAND. PREGNANT SPORE HURLS GHOSTS. FREE KEYBOARDS, BOXES OF SYNTH, FEEDBACK, AND A LARYNX SHEDDING AND SHREDDING ITSELF THROUGH DAMAGED/DAMAGING CIRCUITS. LATER, I WAS HUNG UP ON BY SPIRITS. I’M STILL RETRACING MY STEPS. 1+1=A WINDOW IS A PHRASE I’VE NEVER HEARD, BUT UPON MASTER-MINDED RESEARCH, I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT IT IS SOMETHING A LOT OF PEOPLE AGREE ON. BENJAMIN DAVIES FROM GREAT BRITAIN LAPTOP’D KOREAN NEWSPAPERS READ BY A JAPANESE GIRL NAMED TOMOKO AND HIS FIANCE, YU KOYNG. CHOPPED & SCREWED, PROBABLY. REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE AND CONSTANT, LIKE A WAITING ROOM. HAND-PAINTED, HAND-STAMPED SOLID WHITE TAPES. XEROXED ARTWORK ON YELLOW CARD STOCK J-CARDS. ARTWORK BY JUSTIN MARC LLOYD. LIMITED TO 31.

JUSTIN MARC LLOYD – ‘YEAR OF THE WATER DRAGON VOL. 1’ C62
NATURAL PATTERNS LEFT ME REACHING FOR SOMETHING BRIGHT. A DAWN? A NEW BEGINNING? ILLUMINATED FINGERSTIPS, MAZES OF BRAINS… AND FINALLY, MY CENTER IS CLEARED. TEXTURES IN SEAMLESS LOOPS AND WAVERING DRONES, BROKEN BEATS AND TONE THROBS, EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK, AND MY OWN STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. AMPLIFIED. LO-FI GARBLE AND TWITCHING CIRCUITS, DAMAGED TAPE, AND GRAND MELODY SNEAKING IN AND OUT. MY DEEPEST CREVICES ARE SMOLDERING, AS A MIRROR SHOULD, NAILED TO A BURNING TREE… SHATTERED BEFORE IT EVER SERVED IT’S TRUE PURPOSE. REAL-TIME COMPOSITION AND RECORDING, BORN BEFORE I WAS. SPACIAL AND ALIENATING. I’VE TREATED IT AS SUCH. THERE IS A CHILD INSIDE OF ME, A PORTRAYAL OF ALL THAT IS EXPERIENCED AND LEARNED, IN 4 ASPECTS: PERCEPTION (A – YOUR EYES>FILTER>IMAGE), SENSIBILITY (B – MEDIUM GROUNDS FOR SENSES), AND COMING LATER: TIME AND EXISTENCE (C – YEAR OF THE WATER DRAGON), NEW BEGINNINGS (D – DAWN OF THE COMING VISION). IF IT CAN BE TRUSTED THAT THIS IS GLOWING INTROSPECTIVE, HUMAN MEASUREMENTS OF TIME (62 MINUTES TO BE EXACT) DISSIPATE INTO COSMIC DUST.  SOLID RED CHROME TAPES WITH HAND-PAINTED, HAND-STAMPED LABELS. HAND-NUMBERED, XEROXED, PURPLE CARD-STOCK J-CARDS. ARTWORK BY ALYSSA HERLOCHER. LIMITED TO 50.

OK PUTRID – ‘SATURN FLOATS’ recycled C60
HAZY, HEAVY, STONED OUT AND PSYCHEDELIC, HARSHY, HEALTHY BUT NOT HEFTY. ONE TAKE SHIT, NO OVER-DUBS. JUST STARTS AND STOPS WHEN IT FEELS RIGHT. COMPLETE WITH SMALL DOSES OF MELODY AND CLUB BEATS GONE CIRCUIT-BENT INDUSTRIAL FUCKED GUNK. OBSESSED WITH CHILDISH SARCASM AND THE WONDROUS WORLD OF INTERNETS BY PRESSING PLAY AND ZONING IN. BELLS AND WHISTLES, SYNTH AND THEREMIN TORTURE, FIELD RECORDINGS GATHERED AT WORK, FORKS MANIPULATING RUBBER BANDS MANIPULATING SPRINGS ALONGSIDE THRIFTED KEYBOARDS AND THEIR UNCLE SYNTH BOXES. THIS HOUR ON TAPE IS BUSTED AND FILLED WITH BLURRY MEMORIES. OK PUTRID IS EASILY DISTRACTED. OK PUTRID IS YOURSELF+EVERYONE-LOATHING, WARPED AND WEIRD WITH PORNHUB STREAMING VIDEOS AND BUBBLES IN OUR PEDALS, IPHONE GAMES AND HEROIN, MIKE HUBLEY AND REPETITION BECAUSE WE FORGOT WE WERE RECORDING?  HAND-PAINTED TAPES, HAND-STAMPED IN MULTIPLE COLORS, WRAPPED IN METALLIC PAPER. INCLUDES A UNIQUE FOUND STUDY CARD WITH A UNIQUE GRAPHIC ON EACH COVER. LIMITED TO 27.

CINCINNATUS C – ‘SELF-TITLED’ CDr
ONE OF THE BEST STRANGE-HARSH-NOISE ACTS IN EXISTENCE. I’VE KNOWN CRAIG HODGKINS A WHILE. I WATCHED HIM MOVE FROM PITTSBURGH TO PHILLY TO DC TO PITTSBURGH. OVER THIS TIME, HE HAS BECOME ONE OF MY FAVORITE SINGER/NOISE-WRITERS OF ALL TIME. CREATIVE AND DESERVING OF A THOUSAND TIMES MORE RECOGNITION AND PRAISE. THESE PIECES NEED YOUR FULL ATTENTION TO EXPERIENCE HOW THEY MOVE. SOUND CLIPS DO NO JUSTICE. THERE IS UNDENIABLE GROWTH IN CRAIG’S GLITCHY SQUEALS, AND THIN, SPUTTERING, SPARKLING WALLS. MOVIE CLIPS, ENTRANCING LOOPS, CHEWY FEEDBACK MANIPULATION, EMERGING AND FALLING MELODIC ATMOSPHERES, FREE SPEECH. CAREFUL CONCENTRATION MEETS HEAVY ANXIETY. SOME CRAZY COMBINATION OF THE STYLES OF CHEFKIRK, BUDWEISER SPRITE/GLOM, NKONDI, COLLAPSED ARC/DAVID RUSSELL AND PRURIENT. PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED, HAND-NUMBERED ARTWORK ON CARD-STOCK IN CLEAR PLASTIC SLEEVES WITH HAND-STAMPED CDRS. ART BY CRAIG HODGKINS. LIMITED TO 50.

PHONED NIL TRIO – ‘AR B OK ALOU’ 7″ + C26 + CD
AFTER A HANDFUL OF CASSETTES, CDRS, ONLINE ALBUMS AND A WEEK LONG TOUR THROUGH THE MIDWEST AND EAST COAST, PHONED NIL TRIO AND A HOST OF LABELS ARE PROUD TO PRESENT THE FIRST MAJOR RELEASE FROM THE GROUP: “AR B OK ALOU,” A BOX SET CONSISTING OF A PRO-PRESSED CD, A PRO-DUPLICATED 26 MINUTE CASSETTE AND A 7” VINYL RECORD. ON THIS RELEASE, THE THREE HEADED MONSTER CONSISTING OF PETER J WOODS (INDUSTRIAL PERCUSSION, VOCALS AND PEDALS), NEIL GRAVANDER (OF LUCKY BONE, TAPES, VOCALS AND TURNTABLES) AND DAN SCHIERL (OF DAN OF EARTH, MODULAR SYNTH) SPUTTER AND STAMMER AHEAD IN A WAY THAT ONLY PNT CAN MUSTER. HARSH STATIC BLASTS, PILES OF TAPE HISS, EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS AND A HOST OF OTHER UNWORLDLY SOUNDS AWKWARDLY COLLIDE AND JUST AS AWKWARDLY BOLT FOR THE EXIT. SPORADICALLY, THE GROUP FINALLY MESHES, BUILDING TOWARDS COLLAGED WALLS OF AUDITORY WEIRDNESS, ONLY TO HAVE THE RUG TORN FROM UNDER THEIR FEET.  WHILE “AR B OK ALOU” DOES WORK TOGETHER AS ONE WHOLE PIECE, EACH INDIVIDUAL ELEMENT HIGHLIGHTS A DIFFERENT TAKE ON THE GROUP’S SOUND. THE CD FOCUSES ON THE SPARSE, MINIMAL SIDE OF PNT’S REPERTOIRE, FILLED WITH LONG STRETCHES OF SILENCE FOLLOWED BY MINIMAL CRACKLES AND QUIET SCRAP METAL ABUSE. THE CASSETTE FEATURES A LO-FI APPROACH, FILLING THE CASSETTE WITH LAYERS OF TAPE HISS AND BIZARRE SAMPLES. FINALLY, THE 7” HITS WITH BLUNT AND HEAVY FORCE, FINDING THE GROUP AT THEIR CUT UP, HARSH AND SYNTHY BEST. ALL OF THESE PARTS ARE HOUSED INSIDE OF A BARF-INDUCING COLLAGE OF RETRO COLORS, AWFUL FONTS AND TRULY ABSURD IMAGES. ENJOY! -PETER J WOODS. CO-RELEASED WITH BLACKHOUSE, COLBECK LABS, FTAM, MAXCORP INDUSTRIES AND URSA MAJOR.

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[FS07] Bil Vermette – ‘Archives I’ C40
In the late 70s Bil Vermette set out to harness new synth technology and the evolving vocabulary of electronic music to realize his own internal music. Selected from a collection of rediscovered recordings, “Archives I” brings light to the early environments and motifs that would reappear in his private-press LP “Katha Visions” and later self-released works. Through these quiet, late night home studio reflections and short themes for film, join Bil on his long trail to Katha. Pro-dubbed on chrome, edition of 100

[FS08] Panabrite – ‘Seychelles’ C44
Norm Chambers has developed an illustrator’s command over his synthesized aquatic realm. Against an evocatively unfolding backdrop of gestural shadow and crosshatch are cast bright reliefs of melody; cascading tones and filtered white noise dart in and out of the mid-ground. A deep current wends its way past teeming reefs and through purple grottoes, spilling out into the blue-green lagoons of a living Paradise. Pro-dubbed on chrome, edition of 100

[FS09] Brett Naucke – ‘Home By Now’ C31
In an instant Presence wells around you. Naucke (Face Worker, Catholic Tapes) moves deftly through this suite of ambient works, filling the stereo field with dense timbral structures, transcending placid drift through a series of oblique compositional transforms. Resounding polyphony gathers and crests, interrupted by radiophonic counterpoint, reforming, and finally resolving into an alive, dynamic stillness. Pro-dubbed on chrome, edition of 100

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JL Maire – ‘Dogon’ C46 1€
Cassette de 46 minutos del músico electroacústico madrileño J.L. Maire, que en “Dogon” se centra totalmente en su faceta más electrónica al mando de su colección de sintetizadores modulares. Pulsaciones, torres concentradas de sonido y cristales electrónicos en una meditativa cara A que enlaza con el trabajo de grandes como Eliane Radigue.  En la cara B un festival de riqueza analógica que hace de reverso nervioso de la pieza anterior. Música poderosa capaz de mover el aire y alterar la percepción auditiva.  Un trabajo serio que es un orgullo editar en Afeite Al Perro. Doble portada en blanco y negro impreso en papel academia y cinta tóxica.  70 copias. 1 euro.// 46 minutes cassette by electroacustic musician from Madrid J.L. Maire. In “Dogon” he is totally focused on his most electronic side, controlling his modular synthesizers collection. In the side A,  pulsations, concentrated towers of sound and electronic glass. Meditative music linked to the work of Eliane Radigue. In the side B a festival of analogical texture that works as nervous reversal of the previous piece. Powerful music capable of moving the air and altering the auditory perception. A serious work and a pride to edit in Afeite Al Perro. Double b/w cover printed in academy paper and toxic tape.  70 copies.

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NK34: Lebeha Men – ‘Garifuna Field Recordings’ C30
In 2010, No Kings co-founder Stephen Molyneux traveled to Cambodia and made some bewitching field recordings, which Tiny Mix Tapes called “24 minutes of haunting legitimacy”! This year he took a month long sabbatical to Central America, his first and last stop was in coastal Hopkins, Belize where he crafted this follow-up of sorts with locals, the LeBeha Drummers, who incidentally were nominated for a Grammy! (traditional music category) in 2006 for their first album. Garifuna Field Recordings is the group’s second physical release and was made directly onto cassette in single takes by Stephen, and focuses on a performance of two core group members Warren Martinez, Clayton Williams, and their teacher Jabbar Lambey, so they’ve retitled themselves for this release as LeBeha MEN, which translates to “The End Men” in Garifuna. This comes on the heels of their recent win at the Central American Battle of the Drums!!! Edition of 200 tapes with 2-color risograph artwork. Watch some videos here.

NK35: Secret Birds – ‘In Hex’ C34
Damon Black of Australia recorded this audio cryptogram of interlocking loops, riffs, and textures when he was living in Tokyo in 2011. Moment to moment, this record is hitting many touchstones, part Kraut / psychedelic / drone, but always expansive, outward, and visual. Shapes and forms: waves, hexagons, prisms, serpentines, pyramids. A druggy wah in the distance buried over with fuzzy ether. Edition of 80 pro-dubbed tapes with risograph artwork.

NK36: German Army – ‘Hoatzin’ C36
Awesome Ike Yard vibes on this new long player from these California Kill Shaman allies, following the deep sticky haze that was Papau Mass on Night People, and Cattle Border on Clandestine. Hypnotic monotone vocals with a double dose of slapback echo coast along on top of static analog drum patterns. Hoatzin will whip you into liminal trance. I wish these dudes were the house band in some dank smoky LA club. Oh man I would hang out there. All the time. Burn out the sun. Drink 10 beers. Put on the fog machine and breathe deeply. Edition of 80 pro-dubbed tapes with risograph artwork on white, blue, or grey paper.

NK37: Tim Coster – ‘Mediterranean Years’ C30
Had the great pleasure of witnessing this Auckland/Melbourne charmer play a show at my house earlier this year while on his US tour. With a background in fine art sculpture, his suitcase set with tiny modular synthesizer, looping pedals, keyboard, and accoutrements laid out on the floor looked sufficiently feng shui as the sound drifted slowly out into the room and enveloped the crowd in a lulling cloud that was imbued with folk sensibility and fervor, in addition to restraint. Mediterranean Years includes material he recorded in Echo Park on that trip, and it’s as if he bottled that luminescent cloud and transferred it to tape, still moving, slowly dissipating. Edition of 80 pro-dubbed tapes with letterpress / risograph artwork.

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Joey Chainsaw – ‘Wraiths of Stokes Croft’ C18 £4(UK)/£4.5(EU)/£5(World)
Make no mistake this is a vivid slice of Joey Chainsaw… a glittering wound of luminescent noise from deep within Cava basement clawing at the sky in a abattoir of electrics and mangled supermarket trolleys… limited to 25 and housed in a limited edition screenprinted box.

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SM040 LUPERCI – ‘Scorched Earth’ CS
A conceptual effort, Luperci’s second release on Sonic Meditations drops the listener right into cave of sound that echoes like a hive of bees and escalates into a massive sound that’s like taking all of La Monte Young’s recordings and pushing them into the red. Comprised of mainly sitar and synth, tracks presented here are saturated into fields of dense sounds with haunting melodic tendencies.

SM048 SOUNDING THE DEEP – ‘Return to the Quiet’ LP/CS
After and hand-full of limited releases on cassette, CDr and CD formats, Sounding the Deep’s fifth album has the pleasure of gracing a vinyl record. Started by David Williams, which blossomed into a trio this past year to rehearse and record compositions, unlike like previous releases, the outcome is a very mature effort. Williams stripped the music down from electric amplification to straight acoustic, adding cello, cymbals and percussion. Arranged with acoustic guitar, the accompanying musicians also lay down accents by way of light percussive rhythms with deep brooding moods. Although it may seem like a new direction, Williams keeps a steady mood in the vein of previous efforts, but retains momentum in capturing a more subtilely deep, yet brighter and playful effort. The second half of the record begins more ambient and minimal leading into a meditative rhythm that reaches back into a more melodic reprise as the album matures to the center of the ending point. This past year, Sounding the Deep has performed with Scott Kelly, Luperci, Hedia, Expo 70 and more as this strong line-up.

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Sun Splitter – ‘III’ LP
Chicago-based Sun Splitter has created a monolithic hybrid of doom,  industrial-metal, drone and noise with this new 50-minute, five-song collection for BloodLust! This LP is closest in style to the ancient “Thanatos Descends” CD (B!013, 1996) by Dead World, and fits very nicely in the heavy Chicago scene with Anatomy of Habit, Rabid Rabbit, Arriver, The Atlas Moth, Pelican The Swan King, Oyarsa, Russian Circles, Locrian, Indian, Beak, etc. The heavy drum machine-driven foundation, dark electronics, layers of  distorted-yet-melodic guitars, and echoed-out vocals will appeal to fans  of doom, sludge, psychedelic, experimental noise and forward thinking metal groups such as Jesu, Neurosis, Nadja, The Human Quena Orchestra, Godflesh, Halo, (early) Pitchshifter, Sonic Violence, (early) Scorn, Dead Times, Floor, etc. The album was recorded by Matt Talbott (from the band Hum) and it was  mastered by preternatural metal mastering guy Collin Jordan (Leviathan,  Zoroaster, Nachtmystium, Batillus, Lord Mantis, Pelican, etc.).

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Superstorms
Superstorms, a new solo project by ex-Tusco Terror/sometimes Trouble Books member Michael Tolan, is born out of creative impulses that are simultaneously subversive of and sensitively attuned to their musical lineage(s). Frustrated and bored with the tropes of contemporary ambient music, Tolan began experimenting with harsh digital samples and clipping source material, finding himself liberated at the prospect of productively using sounds which previously would have been left to lie dormant on the cutting room floor. He began working with a palette comprised of in-the-red, bit-crushed digitalia, setting to work kneading these stubborn blocks of harsh sound into a sequence of five pieces which, despite their considerable barbs, retain the fluidity and pathos of the ambient tradition from which they were inspired. Tolan’s Tusco Terror/harsh noise connections rear their head in the form of both the intensely prickly and pointillistic aspects of each composition and by way of the informal, spontaneous, almost punk sensibilities which they each possess. Indeed, Superstorms is at once organic and robotic, forceful and calm, coherent and unpredictable. In short, it is a meshing of oppositions- binaries smashed together and expertly sculpted into truly powerful sonic miasma. LP edition of 300 available August 30 2012.  All music by M. Tolan. Mastered by James Plotkin. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering.

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Giant Claw – ‘Mutant Glamour’ LP
Mutant Glamour is the new full length LP from Keith Rankin’s Giant Claw project, a culmination of three years of steady musical output. The album has a variety of themes: mutation, fashion, freaky sex, trash culture, our weird alien bodies, and so on. Musically it’s a sprawling, layered combination of improvisation and meticulous composition through editing, one that is deceptively seamless and of a whole. On the record you’ll also find wild atonal saxaphone, free jazz breakdowns, a lush ballad, and the insane sequences and broken arpeggios that one might expect from such a “synth act.” Except Mutant Glamour is much more than synthesizer music. It’s a restless document of clashing cultures and sounds expressed through electronics, flirting with a lot of traditions (dance, noise, jazz, prog rock) but never really settling on any one platform.

Team Jordann – ‘Champion’ CS
Music makers known as Daytime Television and Teams join up to form Teamm Jordann. We’re excited to present their record, Champion, on Orange Milk. I keep saying that I’m not exactly sure what is sampled and what’s performed on the album, which is part of what makes it so exciting. What I do know is that it bangs pretty hard, is super catchy, and puts an emphasis on editing, chopping, and screwing. If you’ve seen the video for “Stadium” (https://vimeo.com/26452463) then you have a decent idea of what you’re getting into: the sounds of a pixelated digital screen within a screen, a beach run against a DX-7, Michael Jordan dunking.

Pajjama – ‘Starch’ CS
I have a hard time resisting the urge to call Pajjama an epic Norwegian prog rock outfit. Really though, their sound is more nuanced than that description might imply. There is a heavy synthesizer presence, for one, and a certain winking cheesiness that recalls a darker Yellow Magic Orchestra or some forgotten funky library record. Also — the composition skills. They are at the forefront for much of Starch, which makes the album’s 13 minute runtime go by in a flash. But don’t be fooled, some band’s work their whole careers to stumble on this many exciting sounds, ideas, and irresistible melodies. Just listen and you’ll probably be hooked.

HCMJ – ‘Honeybee’ CS
James Webster’s HCMJ project continues to evolve in unexpected ways, and we’re happy to present Honeybee, an experiment in twisted droning metal, dark synth weirdness, and galloping acoustic ballads. Diversity is key here, with contrasting movements passing by like cogs in an epic tone poem. The album is also conceptually based around a group of sailors from the late 16th century who return to the shores of Spain only to discover that the land has become like a corrupt jpg – broken and whitewashed.

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