Category Archives: UPDATE

Bloodwall – ‘Tonic’ C64
New stunner from long running solo project of Graham Baldwin (Land, Visitor, Three Walls) of Minneapolis, MN. Bloodwall has been an active project for nearly 13 years, evolving in form though retaining a consistent inner voice and sonic approach. Here Graham pushes beyond familiar spheres, delivering over an hour of masterful melodics and deep listening. Minimal organ, synthesizer, circular guitar patterns and mechanical rhythm, woven to form a soft enveloping cloth to cushion the weariest of heads. NIne tracks representing the culmination of the project up to this point. Professionally duplicated / imprinted matte black shell Cobalt cassette comes packaged with full color fold out J-card featuring original painting by Ryan Fontaine. Edition of 200. Harmonic trance / synth mesmerism for ultimate dissolve.

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8MM 062: GATE/CONTROL UNIT – ‘THE ALBUM’ LP
New official full length studio album by Micheal Morley’s Gate, joined here by Ninni Morgia and Silvia Kastel’s Control Unit! Six hallucinatory tracks of free noise blast, abstract electronics and industrial landscapes. A radical new effort by two projects at the apex of their creative power. Cover Art is a painting by Morley’s himself. Limited to 300 copies

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ICR19: Mudguts – ‘Sabrina Fourtyfives’ C50 £4.50
The first outing for a new collaboration between Lee Stokoe (Culver, Inseminoid) and Scott McKeating (Black Leather Cop), with source material provided by Stokoe and additions and compositions finalised by McKeating. This is dark, dingy drone from two stalwarts of the North East England underground. Beautifully bleak void exploration and decaying loops all wrapped up in a blanket of warm analogue hiss. Available as a hand dubbed black C50 cassette. Repeats on both sides. Limited to 60 copies.

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Adrian Knight – ‘Cocktail Culture’ and ‘Cheap Love’ CS $7.5
Galtta presents two solo Adrian Knight cassette reissues: Cocktail Culture (2013) and Cheap Love (2014). Originally self-released digitally by Knight’s personal imprint Pink Pamphlet, these two records represent his songwriting-dark-lord-of-the-pitch-wheel-multi-instrumentalist side. Recorded at home in Brooklyn between cigarette breaks, Knight selflessly offers up hi-fidelity pop records featuring lush vocal arrangements, warm synths, perfect bass lines, and sprawling narratives about psychokillers, mail order brides, substance abuse and life in exile (both psychological and geographical). Recommended listening situation: high-end cocktail party that slowly turns into a guy named Jeffrey leading you into his cold, clammy basement. Invite only. No sneakers! Seat dancing encouraged. New AK record scheduled for Summer/Fall 2016!!

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BOND009: ‘Quality Time Vol. 2‘ C84 $6
Bonding Tapes is proud to present Quality Time Vol. 2. This compilation showcases many producers and styles from around the globe. We pride ourselves in sharing a vast arrangement of music in a cohesive flow. Contains 28 tracks compiled by the Bonding Tapes collective.

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Gavin Prior – ‘All Who Wander’ CD
All Who Wander is an album of aural vignettes, rest stops on multiple journeys. We hear spontaneous compositions recorded in the open air and tracks in which field recordings are snatched from their time and place and collaged with instruments recorded in studios on other continents. “Most of the tracks on this album were recorded spontaneously without a particular project in mind. It was only when listening back I noticed the pattern of combining acoustic instruments with field recordings.” Field recording opportunities have come about through emigration to Korea, touring with United Bible Studies and the flaneur’s openness to chance encounters which can enrich the shortest of journeys. “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost” is a line from a Tolkien poem, first seen by Gavin on a bumper sticker en route to Burning Man. So, as this album’s title it takes the form of dedication to fellow travellers.

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Crystal Radio (Gilead7 & Dr. Strangelove) – ‘Crystal Radio’ c31 $8
Gilead7 of Tomorrow Kings fame teams up with UK producer Dr. Strangelove to create an album 10 years in the making… Crystal Radio. Crystal Radio is an experimental hip hop album that explores the influences of jazz, hip hop, beat, art rap, and story writing. A diversified album with abstract vocals and fresh sounds beats, its an album meant to be played on cassette, a throwback so to speak – that explores modern elements of hip hop but remains true to the craft as one expects from a Gilead. Dr. Strangelove provides the atmosphere that recalls the past as the past and the future as something to focus on while always remembering the present. Gilead calls on Phantom Thrett to not only mix and master the album, but lend a voice on a few tracks. Limited to 100 purple tinted cassettes with artwork by ALBANE.

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Savvas Metaxas – ‘Scenes’ CDr
Savvas Metaxas (aka Inverz) is a notable musician, active for many years in the local scene of Thessaloniki. “Scenes” is a characteristic example of his experimentation with Modular Synthesis and vibration sensors. He used mainly textured sounds of unconventional signal flow, various field recordings and low-frequency sound effects, made by contact microphones. This release is a limited edition of 60 numbered CD-r. Artwork made by Kocmoc Collective. Mastered by Yannis Tsirikoglou. All sounds recorded & mixed by Savvas Metaxas.

Aglaia Is Always Wrong – ‘Forgetful Diver’ CDr
“Aglaia Is Always Wrong” is a one-man project, formed in 2009 in the suburbs of Αthens, Greece. Its sound takes us to the fleeting borderline between noise and industrial aesthetics, staying true to its idiosyncratic style, that was formed after a long research in the compositional process of music-making, experimentation with sampling, field recordings and tape manipulation. “Forgetful Diver” is the first full-length album by “Aglaia Is Always Wrong” and is representative of its enigmatic music. On these three compositions, “Aglaia is always wrong” managed to combine a potent combination of various pre-recorded sounds and loops that gradually become more ferocious and noisy, revealing to us an urban industrialised soundscape that is filtered through a cinematic point of view.

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Evan A. James – ‘Falling out with number 1’ CS
Evan A. James has been releasing music under his own name for more than a minute now. Look the guy up and you’ll find stuff he’s released via Adhesive Sounds and Pho King Tapes as well as compositions he has scored for a variety of video projects. Its clear that James approaches his craft from multiple dimensions, allowing his vision to bleed into every aspect of his output. As shifting and multifaceted as the sounds on Falling Out with Number 1 are, the music never masques itself. The source material is obvious from the get go (freeform, jazz, soul, classical, downtempo), but the result is something singular, a means of highlighting difference and contrast, and building an aesthetic molded out of opposition.

Rzuma – ‘Snow’ CS
Rzuma creates sounds that are as reliant on old school jazz as 90s east coast hip-hop. Snow is his first official cassette release but there is no lack of recorded material out there. The guy clearly has chops and constantly drops digital albums and soundcloud mixes like its his job. Rzuma’s sounds could easily be defined as instrumental hip-hop, but its obvious where his sound has a place amongst the recent Dirty Pillows continuum. No one layer of the music stands out over the other; even when vocals are incorporated they melt into the muffled beats and distant lounge jazz. You wouldn’t be surprised if this was part of the cannon of similar stuff coming out of LA at the moment, but its not, its from Germany, and its just as good.

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Stef & Anna – ‘Split’ C20 $5
Michigan natives Stef Chura and Anna Burch share stellar songwriting ability. Stef has been playing in her own band, and other bands, around Detroit for the past seven years, while Anna is a long time member of folk-rock band Frontier Ruckus. A strong cast of Michigan musicians back both on this highly-recommended split EP. Stef’s “Slow Motion” kicks things off; The driving energy of its guitar-crunch-rhythm compliments Chura’s punctuated, punk poet, vocal delivery creating truly exciting tension – an anthemic blast. Anna’s “Tea-Soaked Letter” has the beauty of autumnal sunset; her song-craft and lyricism glow. And, On the striped-down “You Bum Me Out” Burch reflects, “thanksgiving sucks / holidays are terrible / when you’re grown-up,” against finger-plucked guitar – contrasting major and minor sections to great effect, and showing her own brand of musical intrigue. It’s characteristic of the excellent vocal phrasing present on both sides. A very cool EP, this comes in 12 unique cover designs.

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