Category Archives: UPDATE

KR021 Vibracathedral Orchestra – ‘Unnatural With Pain-Relief’ LP £12
The A-side drops straight into one of those time evaporating sleight of hand from a simple stack of loops. A tidal guitar figure wraps around sparse ricocheting foundations of moire percussion as harmonic resonances flow in and around the space, segueing into one of the most beautiful pieces VCO have ever captured to tape. A truly glorious cascade of pentatonic feedback augmented by circling horn ascensions and the ever present hand drum & shaker, rattle & oomph. The B-side was recorded on the same binaural bonce as the A but instead is a fully blown-out NO-FI blast, documenting a performance at Cafe Oto and features trap-star Chris Corsano. A wild, snow blind, open cranium trip. Chris’ drums flatten to a blur of metallic clatter, spiky overtones and room levitating bass drum punctuation. Ideas rise and fall from within the maelstrom of their ritual; a 2 finger tonebank solo teeters on the brink of its own crisis, the occasional astral whizz-bang floats around the ear space drawing out your minds focus, a bloated, head-nodding bass riff appears, everyone gets involved. The shred goes seriously out, taking every head and item of furniture not nailed down with it. Art by John Godbert, design by Michael Flower, mastered and cut by Lewis Hopkin.

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Mogli/Manofue Wurdz – ‘No-Fi’ C30 $8
Southern California beat makers Mogli and Manofue Wurdz come together for an auditory interpretation of No-Fi. Established in the beat scene out of California through their work on the 2013 monthly series “Therapy” to appearances on Culture Remixed and Beat Cinema, the two experienced producers advance their skills with a foundation of cuts, beats, and breaks with a cinematic portrayal. The general flow of the album blends so many great samples into moods and movements well composed into a story of black and white. Limited to 100 cassettes on black/white tapes.

Perkin Warbek – ‘Abluekindofsigh’ C77 $7
Perkin Warbek has a sound ear for lush sounds and beautiful music. The French composure of constructed samples and sounds, aka Aaron 3000, takes a fresh look at 2013’s abluekindofsigh. Featured on blue cassettes, with original artwork from the ’13 release, the new format fits the hum and fuzz well. A somber 77 minutes of mixes featuring gentle sounds and floating voices. An echoing breeze of sentiment captures mood and thought. Limited to 30 blue cassettes.

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Brannten Schnüre – ‘Sommer Im Pfirsichhain’ LP
Brannten Schnüre is an experimental dark folk group out of Würzburg, Germany. Christian Schoppik composed and played all the music, Katie Rich whispers, recites and sings. Together they make astoundingly beautiful folk with a rich instrumentation leaning towards the atonal spectrum. Instrumental wanderings stand alongside Nico-esque poetry tales. Christian plays the accordeon and in some songs guitar and flute. Inspired by hierophants like Nový Svět and David Jackman, solemn song fragments (a lot of old greek rembetiko-recordings) are modified and looped, with additional instruments and voices being integrated later on. His music has been described as “surreal folkcollage” and “german hauntology”. With the emergence of Schoppik’s second project, a dada cabaret called Agnes Beil in 2010, Brannten Schnüre moved closer to the song structures of its frivolous sibling. The songs of Schoppik’s latest creation Sommer im Pfirsichhain are further accompanied by a female singing voice, lending the pieces the voluptuous quality of a stickily tense midsummer. Sommer Im Pfirsichhain (Summer In The Peachgrove) is the second part of a quartet of releases. The first being Aprilnacht which got released on Sic Sic Tapes last year. Part three Geträumt hab’ ich vom Martinszug and part four will follow later. Reference points are bands like Winter Family and Twinsistermoon. Music etched on folkloric, ritual elements transferred into the 21th century. Also worth mentioning is the hand-drawn artwork which is made by artist Gwénola Carrère.

Tarotplane – ‘First’ LP
Tarotplane is the solo project of PJ Dorsey from Baltimore MD USA. Over the last few years he has been gradually crafting his debut album, appropriately called First. The end result is a tremendous album etched on the great krautrock & experimental psychedelic records from the 70s. Vintage electronic sounds are mixed with effected guitar parts. It might sound quite familiar at first, but once you enter the heart of the album it all gets spectacularely exhilarating. The true power of this album is how it swirls around and captivates you without any effort. Records such as Franco Battiato’s Pollution, Bill Holt’s Dreamies, Popol Vuh’s Affenstunde and Deuter’s D were strong influences. All of these artists use tape loops, environmental sounds, filtering and other effect processing in an exceptional way. Their desire to create their own distinct sonic world was the driving influence behind this LP. These artists never let the experimentation get in the way of creating something musical, beautiful and sonorous. First integrates those influences but it also has a more traditional psychedelic rock sound built into its sonic viewpoint. PJ took all these diverse influences and blended them together in the most seamless way possible. Something akin to a mix tape. First is a continuous flow from the start to the end. The album was originally going to be called excursions, because he would walk for hours on Baltimore’s waterfront listening to fragments of his playing, as well as samples from films and records to find a balance that worked. The ultimate goal was to make what some would call a head record. Something you could listen to on your own personal excursions that would have a sonic headspace that was distinctive and enjoyable.

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Water Bureau – ‘Water Bureau’ CS
In some truly cosmic turn of events, Water Bureau finds Norm Chambers (Panabrite, Jürgen Müller, Spiral Index) and Daryl Groetsch (Pulse Emitter, Space Habitat) teaming up for a series of celestial meanderings that speak to the merits of both Pac-NW synth-heroes. Featuring pieces recorded over two improvised sessions in June 2013 and May 2014 in Daryl’s Portland home studio, ‘Water Bureau’ utilizes a smattering of various synthesizers, sequencers, and effects units with a MIDI connection synchronizing the two players’ instruments. Tracks like “Cascades,” “Black Watch,” “Entering The Grove,” and closer “Low Hours” float in a cosmic drift of warm darkness, illuminated by blipping flashes of color and motionless sound. “Waterfall Dancers,” “Laser Alley,” and “Hiking” play the perfect foil, crashing through a blitz of fluorescent, arpeggiated melodies and sequenced light. Elsewhere, “Dinner’s Ready,” “Horses,” and “Namibia” pay honest and refreshing tribute to Cluster, Harmonia, and other kosmische progenitors of Chambers and Groetsch. Limited edition of 250, imprinted blue cassettes, fold-out j-card and insert with download code.

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Andrew V Phillips and Jon Buckland – ‘Pale Ground’
Recorded over the course of a week of merciless night in an isolated cabin in Finland, Pale Ground sees Andrew Phillips and Jon Buckland expanding upon the ideas that permeated their previous recording – Winter’s City – whilst simultaneously stripping back their earlier sonic density, leaving a sparse yet increasingly focused sound. Set for release on the Winter Solstice of 2015, Pale Ground is slow, haunting washes of melodic and abstract piano with guitar, layers of processed strings, percussion, synths and evolving phrases of chimes, conjuring an ambiance which moves toward the darker end of the experimental/ neo-classical/electronic music spectrum.

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Rotorvator – ‘Reliques’
Rotorvator is born in September 2008 with the intention to create violent and primitive musical performances, inspired mainly to the irrational side of human mind and its relationship with the unknown. A trio (guitar, voice and electronics) which arises only ever as Rotorvator, to emphasize the centrality of the project compared to individuality. Black Metal, Psychedelia, industrial noise suggestions and distorted environments to build the backbone of a heavy sound, deliberately offensive and constantly inspired by chaos and disharmony. Despite having a purely musical dimension, Rotorvator is interested also to other performative areas, working with visual artists and theater companies. After many releases, including the cassette ep “The Blues”, with a collaboration of Comaneci in “who is earl?” song, a collaboration tape with Ruith and the album “I Vivi E I Morti” released in 2013 on Crucial Blast, Rotorvator returns with a new oneside 12” on Sincope. Reliquies contains four new tracks where Rotorvator show their pure vision of contemporary black metal. A perfect blend of obscure decaying atmospheres, strong post-industrial, dark psychedelic harmonies, incisive electronics and a damned screeming vocal. A grim and tormented sound, highly anxiogenic and darkly relentless, with a great melodic taste.

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Heart Museum – ‘Klare Tage’ C30 £5(UK)/£7(EU)/£8(World)
Recorded in Berlin and Bristol, early 2012, using electric guitars, sleepdrone 6, pocket piano, microkorg, korg monotribe, voice, various effect-pedals, e-bow, zoom H1, a tube amp and the RC20 looper. HM is Artem Bezukladnikov, based in Berlin and active since 2008. Klare Tage is the last release under the Heart Museum moniker – an ode to Bristol, the old Bumtapes HQ, english tea, lazy afternoons, Ross Roberts’ record collection and the everloving memory of Joey Chainsaw. Excerpts of the b-side were used in the movie „Swimmers“ by Kristina Paustian, screening right now in selected international festivals. Screen-printed Edition of 30.

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NNA084: Qasim Naqvi – ‘Preamble’ CD/CS/DL
NNA is proud to announce the release of “Preamble,” a recording of new compositions by Qasim Naqvi. Perhaps best known for his work on drums in the modern acoustic trio Dawn of Midi, here Naqvi assumes the role of composer, creating a series of short works for mixed acoustic instruments. The compositions on this recording were originally commissioned by the media artist Mariam Ghani, the choreographer Erin Ellen Kelly, and the St. Louis Art Museum as a score to a film installation loosely based on China Miéville’s sci-fi noir novel “The City & the City.” With “Preamble,” Naqvi combines graphic notation with traditional notational forms. Recalling the works of Penderecki, Earle Brown, Ligeti and Xenakis, these aleatoric components allow the ensemble to make spontaneous choices within a structured framework. Naqvi says, “Some of the graphic components deal with dynamics and expression, while others deal with duration and rhythm or ranges that are unique to the particular instruments in the ensemble. This symbolic language is fused into a more conventional style of notation. The conductor can let the ensemble go about their business or at any point, assert a different set of choices into the equation. With “Preamble,” I wanted to strike a balance. I wanted the element of chance but not total chance. The performers can make certain choices for themselves, based on the watchful impulses of the conductor.” The result is a composition that walks the line between chance and intention. The music impeccably makes full use of the capabilities of each instrument, exploring staccato attacks, fluid sustained tones, trills, scratches and filigree along the way. Harmony is present although abstracted, swaying between dissonance and consonance, but never too far in either direction, drifting in and out of alignment. The emotional tone of the piece cycles from somber to joyous, mysterious to frenetic, and back again. Punctuated by moments of suspended anxiety, “Preamble” finds balance in the cyclical capture and release of tension. Due to the unique nature of this notation, “Preamble” could be performed hundreds of times and no two outcomes would be alike, a quality of inventiveness and originality that makes Naqvi shine in the realm of modern composition. “Preamble” was recorded at the Church of the Advent of Hope in Manhattan, NY by the Contemporary Music Ensemble of NYU, under the direction of Jonathan Haas. Cassette includes digital download coupon.

​NNA085: Booker Stardrum – ‘Dance And’ CS/DL
“Dance And” is a complex and disorienting celebration of all things percussive, conceived in the brain and executed by the body of Booker Stardrum. While taking a break from the role of drummer in his various other projects (Cloud Becomes Your Hand, Landlady, VaVatican), Stardrum began solo experimentation with his instrument to develop new compositional ideas in percussive sound. After a period of live performance and bedroom trial-and-error, the seed had been planted and the roots of “Dance And” began to grow. A series of residencies in Kerhonkson, NY and Red Hook, Brooklyn gave way to passionate exploration and dedicated recording sessions where percussion, the instrument family with the widest variety of timbres, was fully liberated and allowed to exist as it’s own new sound world. Approached from the mindset of sound art and modern composition as opposed to that of traditional rock and pop music, “Dance And” retains an atmosphere of intense experimentation where the multitude of sounds from the drum set are juxtaposed against each other in inventive and puzzling combinations. Engineered, produced, and mixed in collaboration with VaVatican’s Nathaniel Morgan, “Dance And” is largely a studio composition, where unorthodox recording techniques and elaborate processing are used to extract every ounce of texture and detail from vast array of prepared drum kits, cymbals, gongs, bells, resonant metals, and more. Synthesizer and guitar make cameo appearances as well, but they are used in more auxiliary roles to further complement the dynamic and diverse range of sounds discovered through the active process of studio investigation. Brooding tom tom rolls are viciously slashed apart through rough cut edits, while a chorus of bells and gongs resonate forth through dissonant drones, only to be met by abrupt synth stabs and the sputtering of snare drums. Free drumming solos are filtered beyond recognition by the use of a contact mic’d cymbal as a microphone, while unmanned guitars laying on the ground jam themselves through pulsating sympathetic vibrations, showcasing the acoustic nature and resultant power of the kit as an entire band in itself. “Dance And” is a daring musical endeavor, brought to life at the hands (and feet) of one the most creative modern drummers operating at a compositionally and conceptually high level. Cassette includes digital download coupon. Material repeats on both sides.

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Bing & Ruth – ‘City Lake’ 2xLP/CD/DL (RVNGNL31)
Before Bing & Ruth’s halcyonic opus Tomorrow Was the Golden Age, there was City Lake. Initially pressed in an unusually limited edition five years ago, the ensemble’s stunning full-length debut is now released in simultaneously refined and expanded form. With bonus tracks and new, visceral mastering, the album gleams all the more and signals a spree of live performances this fall revisiting the material. Director Alex Priestley captures the inner / outer expanse inherent in Bing & Ruth’s music with his video for “Broad Channel.” Priestley’s limitless lens documents the transcendence of a searching soul against vast, humbling landscapes. “Broad Channel” is a stunning visual complement to the lead composition from David Moore’s City Lake.

Anna Homler and Steve Moshier – ‘Breadwoman & Other Tales’ LP/CD/DL (RVNGNL31)
Breadwoman is a being who exists outside of time, yet surfaced on tape during the perfect storm of performance art, renegade DIY avant-garde, gallery culture, and esoteric mysticism of early 80s Los Angeles. This reintroduction of Anna Homler and Steve Moshier’s first cassette collaboration – accompanied by two additional pieces – captures the ritual of youthful meaning-making through sacred voices, minimal electronic gauzing, and a fable that both haunts and humors.

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GERMAN ARMY – ‘Kalash Tirich Mir’ LP
German Army is a duo from somewhere just outside of Los Angeles, CA, in the dehydrated and dilapidated outskirts of San Bernardino County. Little is known about them, but what you need to know is this: a prolific non-stop stream of countless releases in all formats in less than four years for labels like Opal Tapes, Handmade Birds, Beläten and Chondritic Sound. A truly weird approach that mixes up early industrial and exotic infatuations, cheap gear electronics and world music soundbites, obnoxious drones and beach-like radiance. Again, primitive toy drumming and Eastern traditions heritage, twanging guitars and dub reverberating influences. All this and more is Kalash Tirich Mir, a fucked-up name like it’s supposed to for the band’s fifth full-length on vinyl LP. Fourteen tracks that will mess your mind up and make you wander around German Army’s wilderness. Out November 25 on 33rpm 12” black vinyl. Comes housed in in UV glossy jackets with artwork by Silvia Anhayt.

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