Category Archives: UPDATE

NNN Cook – ‘Syncretic Offering’ C30
A distant call
Dissolving of the foreground
An offering turned away
A rhythm for the globe
Chanting in digital pidgin
Syncretism
A chime for the arousal of spirits
Rain drops in an empty vase
An infinite longing—
staring into the horizon
Kneeling in prayer
A chorus of grotesque yawping
No lull within earshot
A swim through liquid borders
Interior lacuna
Oil and water in limbo—
leaking through threaded fingers
objet petit a

Pro-duplication and imprinting with full color double-sided J-cards. Design by NNN Cook. Edition of 100 on C456.

WEBSITE

Expo 70 – ‘Mystical Amplification’ 2xLP/CS
OUT OF PRINT SINCE 2007, ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS A VINYL ETCHED CDR HAND PACKAGED IN MINI GATEFOLD CASE. AQUARIUS RECORDS (R.I.P.) – From list No. 267: We LOVE Expo ’70. They’re playing in SF this week, two shows that will be over by the time you read this. And we might not even get to go, ’cause we’re too busy writing reviews, like this one… oh the bitter irony. But even if we miss them live (which would be a shame) we’re still in Expo ’70 heaven ’cause they’ve brought us two brand new cd-rs!! (And, there’s also a new release on a real cd too, Animism, which we’ll list next time!) Wow. That’s a lot of Expo ’70, but their krautrock inspired instrumental ambience is an expansive sound, that can easily sprawl across the full length of a cd or cd-r in just a track or two…and therefore can also spread beyond, occupying several near-simultaneous releases with no diminishment to our enjoyment. We’re happy to hear it go on, and on, and on eternally. Expo overload, no, too much is never enough. So, this one… Mystical Amplification. With song titles making reference to such things as “Mountainous Caverns Of Black Arts” and Konstantin Raudive’s research into EVP (a la the Ghost Orchid) it’s easy enough to say things like this music is haunting and mystical… mystical amplification, heck that’s the title. The Expo ’70 guys are doing all our work for us. The four long tracks (we like how the songs are split into a “side 1” and “side 2” when listed on the sleeve, even though it’s of course all on one side of this cd-r) are all one-take improvs, with mainman Justin Wright on electric guitar (“with plenty of effects”, all right) and his current Expo associate McKinley Jones playing a Moog synth. Spaced out and psychedelic trips much more on the “kosmische” tip than their Kansas City origin would suggest… this is all buzzing droning bliss, no drums or vocals to reign it in to human scale, just cosmic textures galore, often soothing, and a little bit ominous. There are moments that vaguely sound like Robert Fripp or Eddie Hazel jamming with Klaus Schulze, both of ’em dreamy and drowsy from drugs. Or imagine a mellower SUNNO))), teamed up with Space Machine, perhaps, getting all yogic on us with some abstract instrumental, electronic om-chants. Sleepy, slowly swirling, hissing and purring over quietly churning low-end depths… SONIC MEDITATIONS: VINYL EDITION OF 300 (150 Black / 150 Random Color) / WAX MAGE EDITION OF 7 – Custom Hand Poured Vinyl /100 Cassettes.

WEBSITE

Günter Schlienz – ‘The Icelandic Tapes’ 8€
Finally realized after being a pipe dream for a few years, Günter Schlienz presents „Icelandic Tapes“. With album thirty-something, Schlienz literally explores new places: this is „journey music“ in a literal sense. Schlienz and his partner Hanno Braun actually recorded the piece in the loneliness of Iceland’s high plateaus, nearby active volcanos and in the midst of stony deserts – hence the title (no fraud!). Batteries, synthesizers, cameras and good shoes were the main studio equipment trying to capture the unknown emptiness of this dark, warm and bleak breathtaking landscape in this most remote European country. Most of these sounds were recorded in the open, so „Icelandic Tapes“ takes you on a field trip into the vastness of the north. Inside the black box of your mind there’s always something beautiful to explore. Limited to 60 pro dubbed tapes housed in a cardboard box.

WEBSITE

Natalie Rose LeBrecht – ‘Mandarava Rose’ CS
Mandarava Rose, Natalie Rose LeBrecht’s first album since 2010, is the culmination of a decade spent focused on meditation and explorations of inner space. In 2016, she began studying hypnosis and started mentally traveling to what she calls “extraordinary interdimensional spheres”, which she felt compelled to channel through her music. Balancing a full-time job with manifesting a new creative vision meant waking up before the crack of dawn to practice the piano and work on compositions. It took her over a year working in this way to bring Mandarava Rose to life. To help broaden the music, LeBrecht brought on two instrumental collaborators: David Lackner, who co-created the woodwind arrangements, performed them on the recordings, and helped participate in the mixing process; and Martin Bisi who co-produced, co-recorded, engineered and co-mixed the album.

WEBSITE

ICR46 Shit Creek & Tremelo Ghosts – ‘SHRDLU’s Adventures in Blockworld’ C50 £5
Golden hour psychedelia from Shit Creek and Tremelo ghosts. Total head cleanser. limited to 40 copies.

ICR47 Muster – ‘Find A City To Live In.’ C45 £5
New improvising duo of Dan Powell and James O’Sullivan. Electronic transmissions broadcast on a radio station from nowhere. Faint recognitions of familiar sounds hidden within the hiss of static. limited to 40 copies.

WEBSITE

RATKILLER – ‘TACKY WHACK’
A mysterious bandolier of wrongfoot jungle ingots from Estonia’s most cloaked producer, Ratkiller! Tacky Whack is 5 slugs of over-heated breakbeat explorers, crawling with strange determination, leaving blistered and bewildering rhythmic sludge in their wake: the more you lean in, the more it leans back! Take the helm, steer over the edge, plunge, and get lost in strange alloys; half-melted exotic tungsten fumes will threaten your hull, but fear not! The scrub is burning, the asphalt is scorched, but Ratkiller’s aim is true, and you will find yourself only slightly singed. Unmissable 2019 vibes!

AKHIRA SANO – ‘KALO’
Profound bell-tones from Japan’s Akhira Sano, sparkling with tiny electricity, this is one of the most delicate and detailed ambient albums ever received in the Sun Ark dock. These 11 sonic investigations continually expand and contract in scale, revealing endless (sometimes deeply alienating) dripping, hypnotic, crystalline structures hidden in the grains of soft pulses growing rounder and rounder. This one is a real treasure of contemporary ambient, giving more to the listener with each spin, creating shocking depth-of-field against a softening bacterial landscape that blurs as you approach.

BARBARA BONITA – ‘SPORTS’
Kansas City’s Barbara B. arrives with 9 sizzlers, white-hot sheets of noise spreading and buckling into surprising and inventive textures. Opening with supple flutters (Fruit) and ending with something like the smelting of raw lead (Games), Sports provides an expansive, doom-laden, and emotionally engaging listening experience of real depth, suited for those looking for the deletion of the horizon. Buckling fountains of metallic resonance, hot-stinging synth spray, groaning magnetic fields vying for negative dominance. Strong stuff!

WEBSITE

Metoronori – ‘”?” letter’ CS
The latest EP from Japan’s Metoronori, ‘ “?” letter ‘, invites you in for somber, whispered sounds that vibrate and flicker as they expand, contract, and lull. It’s the audio equivalent of a brief stroll through a wisteria tunnel when the flowers are in full bloom. That, or a rainy spring day spent indoors, cradling a cup of tea as you gaze out and observe the wildlife that populates the backyard.

WEBSITE

Time Prison – ‘Time Prison’ CS $4
Time Prison is a one-man electronic music project based in Western Massachusetts whose sound has been described as “…a post-punk band formed on a human ark ship that left Earth decades ago.”. This self titled debut release has a dark but mellow vibe, and contains six tracks with both ambient and rhythmic elements. Grab a cassette (25 copies available) for $4, or enjoy unlimited streaming and downloads.

WEBSITE

Forgotten Bottom – ‘Hostile Architecture’ CS
Forgotten Bottom is a Viola and Bouzouki instrumental drone duo. Named after an often overlooked Philadelphia neighborhood by born and raised musician Myles Donovan (Disemballerina, A Stick And A Stone, Ominous Cloud Ensemble) and New Jersey transplant Eric Bandel (Nymph, Victory and Good Hunting), the two piece group crossbreeds amplified walls of both harmony and dissonance with found echoing subway tunnel noises and simultaneous foot drum driven percussion. “Hostile Architecture”, their cassette debut on the label Black Horizons, is a noisy soundtrack inspired by a home city’s heartbreaking gentrification, development,present opiod crisis and individual band members’ work in the shelter system. The album gets it’s title from an urban design term used to discourage homeless individuals from sleeping in public places and unwelcome birds from nesting. It’s cover is a dead Cardinal that Donovan saw fly into an abandoned building, which he then retrieved off the ground and hand stuck into a color copier. Hostile Architecture was mastered by Mell Dettmer (Earth, Sunn O))) and recorded in a warehouse fire escape by Steve Roche (Saetia). All song names are quotes from people living in Philadelphia.

WEBSITE

LIFE EDUCATION – ‘New Earth Assembly’ CS
Limited edition of 50 pro duplicated orange shell cassettes, features an hour of pseudo New Age Krautrock meditations.

LIFE EDUCATION – ‘Ancient Machines’ CS
Limited edition of 50 pro duplicated purple cassettes, features an hour of primitive electronics levitations.

LIFE EDUCATION – ‘Pilgrims of the Infinite’ CS
Limited edition of 50 pro duplicated orange cassettes, features an hour of cosmic jazz and analog awakenings.

WEBSITE