Animal Psi

John Pain – ‘Darkness Floats’ C32 $7
Darkness Floats opens with a slamming loop and intense drumming that sets the tone for an absolutely amazing release by John Pain. From Southern California, doing DJ work and releases in collaboration with Egadz, Pain is already making a name for himself. Originally released as a CD, Darkness Floats reaches an analog format for the first time in this limited edition blue cassette. Featuring drums by John Wagner (Skyrider Band), guitar & keyboard by Erik Nava (Egadz) in an epic combination of rocking beats. Instrumentation on this tape is so heavy – the breaks slam hard, Darkness Floats keeps things unique. Only 60 cassettes made – we also have a few CDs in stock.

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XYSM – ‘CH40’ CD 7€
XYSM, as an acronym, stands for the first names of Christos (in Greek: Χρίστος) Chondropoulos, Yannis Saxonis, Sèbastien Marteau and Manolis Chatzidakis. XYSM also stands out as an example of an outsider band that doesn’t go with the (global) flow but follows a maverick, visionary instinct. An instinct so strong and bold as to create an urge to experiment that is propelled by a juvenile thirst – combined with the maturity that stems from the long separate paths of the four musicians through the years. “CH4O” is XYSM’s first proper release on a factory pressed CD, in a larger quantity, by a record company. Even though the band made these recordings for this purpose, it can surely be nothing more than just a glance of XYSM’s wide range of musical expression, aesthetics and amalgamated dynamics. This mini album focuses in the space exploration and restrained crescents created by percussion, modular electronics, reeds and amplified zither. Try to catch them in one of their rather infrequentlive appearances, enjoy this album and be sure to check out some of their other recordings. You never know what the next track might be like. Edition of 300 copies w/ oversisized, fold-out offset printing, housed in a PVC sleeve. Includes extensive liner notes by Panagiotis Spoulos.

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‘MUSICAL POSTCARDS’ SUBSCRIPTION SERIES
In an era where nearly everything is done with a touch screen, one can’t help but miss the days when things weren’t so easy. Making an effort can make the outcome that much more meaningful. But the age of manually punching in a phone number, looking a word up in a book or pen pals seem to all but have disappeared. The sound of a dial tone, a busy signal, the feeling of licking the back of a postage stamp, all things future generations will never know. As a kid, there were fewer things more exciting than getting something in the mail and this subscription series is an attempt to keep that feeling alive. Those who subscribe will receive a unique, hand-made postcard in the mail, every month, for twelve months. Inside of each postcard you will find a download code to redeem a song by a different artist each time, in the end, leaving you with a twelve track compilation of exclusive material. There are 75 subscriptions available. The first postcard will ship in July of 2014. The artists contributing songs are: Amps for Christ, Charlyne Yi, Clark 8, Freddy Ruppert, Human Behavior, Joe Kile, John Thill, Labryyyynth, Night Auditor, Norse Horse, Treasure Mammal, Whitman.

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duy gebord – ‘kelp’
*Kelp* resembles a story about a non-existent maritime blur of garbage. The blur visits cold effusions, meets the white snails & green sea anemones. Dives into areas next to the map, stirring kelp with magnetic tape. In *Kelp* Duy knoted guitars, field recordings, glitch samples and electronic beats that float on the surface of the records and combine into new organisms. Album is available in digital files for free download and in a limited edition of 35 cassettes.

Lech Nienartowicz/Michał Wolski – ‘Split’
*Split* is an encounter of two experienced musicians, who daily operate in slightly different musical worlds. Lech Nienartowicz for the purpose of this recording reached for string instruments sounds, which are shot like a mad mechanism for a dozen or so intense minutes. Whereas MichaÅ‚ Wolski descended a few octaves below to entwine a steady pulse of a modular synthesizer with hum and field recordings. Album is available in digital files for free download and in a limited edition of 35 cassettes.

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Nostalgic Home Highways – ‘Los Angeles’ C30 $5
Humid cities. Distant heartbeats. Street ghosts. 30 minute, 8 track e.p. by ambient/downtempo artist Nostalgic Home Highways. Composed Spring 2014.

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Daniel Bachman – ‘Orange Co. Serenade’ LP
On Orange Co. Serenade, Bathetic’s first release from the rising guitar savant Daniel Bachman, we’re introduced to a veritable landscape of winding guitar. Bachman treats his guitar lines and licks in a way that resembles the earth itself, at its most pristine, delicate, yet also primal and overpowering. Pieces move, ascending and descending in the same way that the clouds roll through blue skies, the same way brooks babble down rocky fronts carving their paths in the land.

Form A Log – ‘For The Record’ LP
Form A Log‘s members’ (Ren Schofield, Noah Anthony, and Rick Weaver) projects, such as God Willing, Container, Profligate, The New Flesh, and Dinner Music have been highly revered over the years for their ability to stand out from the crowd. Form A Log is no exception, and takes the member’s abilities to carve their own niche to the next level.

United Waters – ‘Sunburner’ LP
As we here at Bathetic Records have been uber-fans of the massive Mouthus for years, it comes with great pride to release this record from United Waters, headed up by Brain Sullivan and rounded out by Chris Shield and Patrick Cole. While this is a quieter, more subtle beast than Mouthus, there’s still the same type of burned, frayed energy at work here. What this record is is a unique brand of challenging psychedelia, equal parts pop and cement truck. Each track is approached with a true-blue pop styling, melodic vocals, hooky guitar licks… but when filtered through the gray and tan haze, it comes out warped and warbled, drifting at its own accord.

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G.S. Sultan – ‘intermediate mv. (demonstration)’ CS
G.S. Sultan (member of the Post-internet art collective Brad grammar) utilizes a number of computer processes to create soundscapes that are at times beautiful, disorienting, musical, and humorous. Sampling material is extracted from solo improvisations sourced off the net and then processed and arranged, thereby creating an “orchestra” from otherwise remote performers. Recorded 2014 Brooklyn via max/msp. Edition of 50.

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Clean Girls – ‘American Mothers/Last House’ CS
After two punishing vinyl only releases, Clean Girls solidified a good argument that they were one of the most dynamic bands of 2013 . While the goofy “noise rock” tag has been pinned on Clean Girls, there’s more going on here than just crushing distortion and trying to replicate the Cherubs/The New Flesh/early Unwound templet. While tracks like “Modern Family” and “Old Crow” are completely blistering, songs such as “June Girls” and “Never Wobble In Boots” implement as many delicate moments as they do blown out in the red moments. 2014 will see the release of both of these EPs on one cassette along with bonus tracks. If you have yet to hear Clean Girls, now is the time.

York Factory Complaint – ‘Lost in the Spectacle’ LP
York Factory Complaint formed in 2009 as a two-piece, but within a year and a half, founding members Ryan Martin and Michael Berdan had worked with live collaborators from Genesis Breyer P-Orridge to Domokos of Future Blondes. The band’s permanent membership also swelled to four with the addition of Theresa Smith and Michael Yaniro. After a series of recordings with the newly expanded lineup, Smith and Yaniro left the group in 2012. Lost in the Spectacle, YFC’s first release for Accidental Guest Recordings, is the result of the original, streamlined duo of Martin and Berdan formalizing the sound of their project in the studio for the first time since the departure of their former bandmates. It’s also the definitive statement of where the band stands today. Conceived as a sort of sonic embodiment of Martin and Berdan’s increasingly disgusted worldview, Lost in the Spectacle builds around its noisy industrial back- bone with surprising, beat-driven passages and intense, all-too-human vocals. For an album so unrelenting, though, it offers a certain accessibility that’s uncom- mon in contemporary noise music. Lost in the Spectacle is an extended hand, an invitation to the impressive work Martin and Berdan are doing. It’s immediately striking, but repeated listens reveal its depth. This is a statement record, and the message comes through loud and clear: Tune out the bullshit. This is what’s real.

Brando – ‘Resign Yourself: Brando Collected 1997-99’
Brando’s gloomy brand of lo-fi pop didn’t really fit anywhere, much less in Bloomington, Indiana. In the 90s they seemed to be the go to opener for all the bigger Indie/College whatever you wanna call it – Rock bands rolling into town. There was something different about Brando though. Maybe it was a combination the “slacker-less” execution in the songs or the dramatic themes which was predominate in much of their songwriting. At the time this combination may have been a little too much for people to digest, but as with a lot of things, time has treated Brando’s output extremely well. Resign Yourself: Brando Collected 1997-99 pulls material from three Brando LPs released in the mid-late 90s on the Smokey Lung record label. Tracks such as “The Seed” and “Resign Yourself” recall the dark downer pop vibes of The Velvet Underground s/t LP with Siltbreeze era Guided By Voices. Other cuts like “No More Guests” and “The Leaving of Ayetch” display Brando experimenting with minimalist Brian Wilson-esq pop that will leave you humming the songs for days and wondering to yourself why this band wasn’t huge. For some, revisiting this collection underscores the fact Brando were a great band. For most, it’s a revealing look at a band who created music that even today still sounds as fresh and different as it did 15 years ago.

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Uton – Kähe+ CD + book 
hand bounded book of collages, anarthria series N#03. Uton is the musical project of Jani Hirvonen from Finland. Kahe+ is Uton’s latest album that is firstly released as a very limited cassette by the Mexican label Dept Tapes in October 2013. This album is including 30 short tracks that was recorded in Chantepie, France in May-June of 2013 and is dedicated to 30 Finnish words which didn’t yet exist. This edition is also including two lond run bonus tracks made in the same period of time compiled from the recycled material from previus album sessions. Available: 1st edition: 32 pages hand bounded book of collages by Uton + CD. 2nd edition: CD in paper case (matte, 300 gr)

Socrates Martinis – ‘North’ 3″CDr + book
3″inch cdr + hand bounded Book of poems & sketches, mm12, ltd 80. Socrates Martinis is a Greek composer of electroacoustic music. His works have been published also under the pseudonyms : nixilx.nijilx / Hélice Pied / blanco estira nuestro (+),hermana Hélice, on various labels like Absurd, Drone records, Entr’acte, Antifrost etc. North is based on Martinis’ performance “Wedding and the Negative”. The concept of the performance (i.e the drama of erotic desire) is here in further developed through a cycle of 8 poems, some ink sketches and 3 tracks, the longest of which is a reworking of its sonic part.

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Geoff – ‘Scraps! Volume 2’
The return of SCRAPS! The latest release from Teflon Best is the second volume of compiled recordings (summer-winter 2013) by Geoff that either never found a home on a proper recording project or were experiments that did not yield a full album’s worth of music to justify a stand alone work. The one theme of all the music here is “improvisation.” Geoff’s music usually starts with an instrument or ensemble of instruments and takes off into quick flights of freakdom. Upon learning of Pete Seeger’s passing, Geoff grabbed acoustic instruments (banjo and 12-string acoustic guitar), hit record on a cassette deck, and out came three wonderful improvs (assisted by Chris Daily on tenor guitar). Elsewhere one will hear noisy energy music on “Fast Lane,” and solo electric guitar fx pedal weirdness on “No. 2 (Electric Primitivism study). This twelve-track set follows the many moods of Geoff to exciting new worlds and beyond.

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