Category Archives: UPDATE

Opera Mort – ‘live series vol. 12’
12th volume of the live series. recorded at the sister iodine birthday party. broken synth, dead beats, ouroboros melodies in the wild pink paris. a two parts roller coaster trip for synthetic minds. sewing machine artwork.

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ADR – ‘THROAT’
New York’s ADR’s (Aaron David Ross) new concept album, ‘THROAT’, is out on PAN today. Arriving as the New York artist’s second release on the label, ‘THROAT’ is made entirely from vocal sounds. It could only be crafted in the ultra-present; an age where the poetry of songwriting is flattened into catchy hooks. As words are sliced into sounds, ideas are reduced to sibilant syllables that still contain a range of emotional power, but deliver it in subversively different ways. ‘THROAT’ exploits these ways, borrowing vocal fragments from everywhere to collage a choral congregation of singing servers; pinging one another to create open-source equal-opportunity electronic pop music. Reichian polyrhythms EDM drop into Bieber-esque beatboxing. Hypothetical K-pop stars conduct holographic choirs in altruistic ritual. Virtual summer festival DJs transcode into pure phonemes; anthropomorphizing formant-shifted vacuums of communication. As a classically trained musician inspired equally by pop and contemporary art & technology practices, ADR’s work has distinguished itself through its formal deliriousness and playful tenor. Besides ongoing collaborations with an international community of vocalists, producers, artists and fashion designers, Ross releases solo recordings, composes music for film, TV and advertising, and maintains a practice of live performance and sound installation. The release is mastered by Jeremy Cox featuring artwork by Alex Gvojic.

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BOND017 E+RO=3 – ‘The ILLusionist’ C27 $6.06
They say the hand is quicker than the eye, but the eye can play tricks on the mind. “The ILLusionist” is nothing short of a live theatrical motion picture soundtrack. A “living score” (in which we’ve heard as well). Zypher Un Label frontman E+RO=3 (pronounced E RO 3) also recognized as EROZilla, known for his brilliant and eyebrow rising cinema sound bites, doesn’t drop the bar with his first cassette tape release and first project with Bonding Tapes. A true master and student of “Beat Science”, ERO has an uncanny ability to stretch a simple chop (or sample) beyond the typical conventional sound of today’s music. A rare mixture of nineties boom bap and today’s electronic fuse, “The ILLusionist” should fit right in between your conscious and your feel good vibrations.

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STRATA14 Meta Mora – ‘Arc of the Sun’ C30 $7.5
Two sidelong songs wherein he continues to expand ambient’s vocabulary while also mining the past in interesting ways. Edition of 50 on pro dubbed, chrome, imprinted clear yellow cassettes. Two sided, j-cards and a slipcover. 

STRATA15 Ringo – ‘Monocarpic’ C28 $6
A haunting collection of dusty banjo hymns formed entirely out of randomly built open tunings purposefully left uncharted and lost after the recordings were made. Edition of 100 on pro dubbed, chrome, imprinted clear cassettes. Two sided j-cards. 

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LUS-098 Рабор – ‘Голоса…’ CS
Proud to unleash this powerful analog document from Slavic folk warrior Рабор / Rabor. The album “Голоса… (translated as “Voices Of…”) collects a series of ambient works from the years 2014-2016, following the themes of Nature & ancient folklore. The album offers two long form works of melodic and cold atmospherics (“Осень-Река / Fall River” & “Вековой Ледник / Secular Glacier” respectively), enhanced here with a fresh sonic mastering, PLUS an as of yet unheard track entitled “Изумрудные-Слёзы / Emerald Tears” which is entirely exclusive to this release. Nature ambient & frozen dungeon synth with strong folk elements, a noble showcase of the artists command of composition and dynamic movement. Professionally duplicated & imprinted blue foil cassette comes presented in 5×7″ vinyl clamshell album featuring original full color photography by Dan Huseby. Includes double sided 4×6″ photo card with blue/white info insert and a bonus full color 1″ logo pin-back badge. Limited edition of 50 hand-numbered copies. Pristine visions of fog filtered light, a meditative score for moments of peace before battle.

LUS-101 Overscan – ‘Time Erases Memory’ CS
New analog offering from the electronics project of solo artist Marcus Miller, hailing from Australia. Resonant tones form to weave soft silken gauze, a warm affirmation bringing clarity and light to the bleariest of eyes. Calling forth the forebears of Kosmische tradition yet rooted contemporaneously in this ever more modern world, OVERSCAN offers a distilled and refined technique of air-filled synthesis ascension to carve his own distinct form of ultimate blur and smother. Professionally duplicated / imprinted white shell cassette comes packaged with double sided fold out J-card featuring original photography by the artist himself. Limited hand-numbered edition of 50 copies. Flotation device / sonic neuralyzer, an adroit aural salve aiding true cerebral erasure.

LUS-102 Clear Fluids – ‘Canis Major’ CS
CLEAR FLUIDS manifests a strong return to the imprint with a fresh new EP of gritty ambient electro and cosmic trance zone from the darkest of the new age dungeons. A collection of three thoughtful and propulsive synth tracks focused on the themes of the great Constellations, the infinite mysteries of astral navigation and the never-ending expansion of the universe. Real time duplicated clear shell cassette with printed labels comes packaged with fold out three panel b/w J-card on glossy 80 pt. stock featuring antique constellation chart. Includes vellum insert with track info and short poem, limited hand-numbered edition of 33 copies.

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CN066: Sun Skeletons – ‘Get It Up Yers Trio’ CS
On a sunny day in the spring of 2016, Krang and Crinkil (of Workin’ Man Noise Unit) with their good friend The Breadman, went into the studio without a plan. Buoyed by a huge picture on the wall of the popular singer and goddess Shania Twain, they ecstatically knocked out several ‘no rules’ improv tunes, recorded quickly and in single takes. Outside, a cat lying in the sun peered through the window, occasionally mouthing profanities at them; such as “The fuck you up to in there, lads?” and “What the fuck is this horseshit, sounds like death.” This release features 3 tracks from that session. Limited to 30 copies on pro-produced silver glitter tapes with on-body print.

CN069: Skullcaster – ‘Vogon Poetry’ CS
When I asked Skullcaster (Texan Chris Cones, who also plays in How I Quit Crack) for some words on his latest release, he gave me this: “a soundtrack to enhanced interrogation”. And nothing more really needs to be said. An assault on the senses, this is 30mins of choppy-weaving-sub-bass electro-necrothrash-mind-melding joy. Cones’ is renowned for eschewing traditional song-structure in favour of abstract, deconstructed harsh soundwaves that blend ambience, razed audio samples. noise and experimentation into a chaotic sound that transcends genre. With hyperspace artwork by James Watts, expect this in a blackened cell near you soon. Limited to 30 copies world-wide.

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Starkey – ‘Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)’ CS
‘Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)’ is the most ambitious chapter of Starkey’s already expansive sonic story. Where once he teased his cinematically ambient palette, with “Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)“, the revered low end maestro swan dives through black holes into galaxies beyond the maxed-out movements and unbridled displays of electronic agility championed in Starkey’ releases for Ninja Tune, Planet Mu, Alpha Pup, & Civil. The opener “BOL” bleeds in with calmly austere apprehension – cleansing the palette for the first act of cinematic synth fills and digitally-stricken textures of “Ecliptic” and “Pingd”. “Into the Sky” plays out like a sentient Laurie Anderson emulator that feels more love than its capable of processing, while “Cooling Tower” is an unbelievably grandiose slice of synthetic orchestration, brimming with hope and despair with equal fervor. Much like the album opener, “Colorful Species” preps the second act of the gloriously schizophrenic suite of eerily (un)human emotions of “On World” and “She Crashes”. The unnerving static of “Alien” evokes images of transmissions lost, leading to the woeful defeat in the grand piano chords of “Seas”. Fittingly, “Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)” leaves us with the sweetly optimistic “Polar” – an evocative closer wrapped in a promise of rebirth. “Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)” is a visceral screening of unseeable worlds, projected through these twelve transmissions from electronic music’s boldest navigator.

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GOD 40 Philip Jeck – ‘Vinyl Coda I-II’ 2LP
Philip Jeck works as composer, multimedia artist, choreographer…but above all, he is most well known as turntable manipulator. At the end of 90s, he produced something which later would be considered as cult piece – his four part masterpiece Vinyl Coda It is probably his most important work and peak of his art: it defines not only his musical language, but also the entire turntable culture,as well as deconstruction of vinyl.The work is nothing less than powerful low-fi symphony, which through magical looping allows us to hear to ..hear things we otherwise wouldn’t.

GOD 39 Bernhard Lang – ‘Differenz/Wiederholung 2’ LP
DW 2 is multimedia piece for amplified ensemble, three voices and video installation. While the music is filled with rocking and rolling anti-grooving sound slaps, (“scored free jazz”) and crippled repetitions, three vocalist (including rap) present texts from Gilles Deleuze, William Burroughs and Christian Loidl, commenting usual repetitive human habits and it’s nonsense. If Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica is a milestone of avant-rock, then Differenz/Wiederholung 2 is the same for contemporary music -ultimate 21st century agenda of repetitions that are soon going to be broken…

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GR317: Nautical Almanac – ‘Imaginati Make The Difference’ C60 $6
Three 2012 lathe cuts and a live radio interview featuring Weyes Blood. Double sided xerox art.

GR318: Mandrake Root – ‘Live At The Misty Mountains Vol. II’ 2xC90 $12
Raw follow up (or prequel) to the 2010 Hermitage Tapes release. Psych/kraut through the Coltrane scope featuring crazy live drummer. Packaged in a 7″ reel to reel box.

GR325: 1%er – ‘Exploited’ $6
Raw takes from the 2015 sessions for the upcoming NO FUNERAL LP produced by Warren Defever. Electronics and synth focused harsh noise. Xerox art.

GR326: 1%er – ‘Sexual Suicide’ C30 $6
More raw takes from the 2015 sessions for the upcoming NO FUNERAL LP produced by Warren Defever. This time focused on metals into sound chaos. Color art.

GR329: Andrew Coltrane – ‘Field Recordings’ C90 $6
Early 2000s junk electronic and guitar experiments, but there are some field recordings in there too. Xerox art.

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Kösmonaut – ‘Songs for Healing’ CS
Released on limited edition of 75 pro-dubbed cassettes. These Are Not Records is excited to welcome back Colorado synth-voyager Patrick Pärk/ Kösmonaut with a brand new cassette – Songs For Healing. Songs For Healing is a very intimate release. This is an album of intense and occasionally beautiful music created via the process of grief and acceptance. Musically, Pärk retains his love of Berlin School synth and progressive electronics but has now incorporated tribal and noise elements as well. As always, a trip to the brain is the first order of business for Pärk, and this album is no different. Songs For Healing comes in an edition of 75 pro-dubbed, chrome cassettes with download card.

Kösmonaut – ‘Deutsch Machines’
Released on ultra limited edition of 25 hand made copies. Deutsch Machines is kind of soundtrack for a super kraut dance party where Patrick Cowley / Giorgio Moroder drop acid in a Berlin bathhouse.