Animal Psi

John Swana, Mark Price, and David Lackner – ‘Smooth End of Summer’ $7
In the last days of Summer, 2012, while slowly sipping on ice cold, never ending seltzer, Mark Price and David Lackner engineered a live noise, ambient, jazz session in a nuclear polluted Brooklyn apartment. Sampling Lackner’s smooth sax playing on the fly, Price decays, delays, distorts, and mixes the samples into chords. Sometimes static. Sometimes over a relentless mix of electronic drums. The tapes were then sent to John Swana’s studio in Philadelphia, where he added his electronic valve instrument and his baritone marching horn. Providing a virtuosic jazz element and a greater sound variety, “Smooth End Of Summer” was ready to be mixed. Two months later, during the mixing session, Lackner and Price had an unofficial eating competition at an indian buffet in Queens, NY. Price won. Lackner threw it all up, and went back to the studio, where they finished “Smooth End Of Summer.” CAUTION: THIS ONE HAS LOTS OF BASS!

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DAIS044 Deviation Social – ‘Tempus/Deathwatch “From End to Beginning” Vol. 2’ LP $18
One-man industrial outfit, Deviation Social left a scar on the face of the American 80′s experimental/noise scene that has mysteriously been left to legend and rumor. Dais previously released the first authorized reissue of Deviation Social’s compilation tracks dating back from the early 80′s. Here within, Volume 2 compiles the two proper “studio” releases of Deviation Social’s checkered past. The destructive Tempus Purgatio Part 7 single and 1982 album cassette Workforce/Deathwatch are finally collected and reissued as a single LP in a edition of 500 with zine booklet with writings and archival images from Deviation Social.

DAIS037 DBC– ‘Pris’ LP $16
Blinding white magic in light of the new age opera, the Dangerous Boy’s Club bring the heat. DBC has the lips of a killer, the unholy choir of the repentant, and the glamour cast from gold. Known for their history in such outfits as Heroin, Antioch Arrow and Get Hustle, their debut album Vril on Fast Weapons awoke followers out of their coma. Dais now brings everyone to the alter with their follow up LP, Pris. Sacramental electro synth-rock mixed with glam violence inducing one into a state of bliss and ecstasy. Not from this world…not of this time, but DBC knows exactly what we needed to hear. Making sure that everything will be alright, just give in to the club. Limited edition of 500, soaked in soul.

DAIS043 Sightings– ‘Terribly Well’ LP $16
The noise rock parade that defies definition, set out on a mission of pure volume worship that is the post-decade pilgrimage of NY-based Sightings After eight instinctive albums, the Sightings guys show no mercy with endless annihilation of their newest material on Terribly Well. All parts destruction measured against their abrasive songwriting. Jagged, collapsing rhythm based mayhem, guitars that can be mistaken as a freight train being ripped for scrap metal, only to be held together with panic stricken bass patterns that keep their voice from the edge of insanity. An accessible album for the unacceptable make this their finest to date. Each song saws through the humanity, taking no hostages with this hectic industrial rock masterpiece. Edition of 500.

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Greymouth – ‘Giant Squid’ CS $5
Various brickbats of garage desertion, precipitous duende and blasted naiveté from the midnight zone by New Zealand-expatriate, Tokyo rockers, Mark Sadgrove and Mark Anderson. Piccolo-like guitar intrusion and truant buzz cross sent Sprechstimme snarl and post-punk deliverance through electro-acoustic afterburn. Dungeon Taxis 24.

Pod Blotz – ‘Timeless’ CS $5
Suzy poling’s dream-spun poiesis cascades in bewitching style, an invitation/abduction to an echoic world of poltergeist sirens in screwed chant, distorted-lens keyboard glare, knotty dance moves and radiophonic dub. Dungeon Taxis 25.

Preggy Peggy and the Lazy Babymakers – ‘A Short Visit To The City That Bleeds’ CS $5
Twisted, post-studio diary entry ‘recorded in and around a rental car parked on leafy 34th street in Baltimore, MD, autumn 2012’ by Cambridge, MA Weirdo, Angela Sawyer. ‘A Short Visit’ interfaces tranquil vérité and candor with preternatural serenade, a procession of vocalized impressions captured in unsettling, inert soliloquy. Dungeon Taxis 26.

Zaïmph – ‘Evolucao’ CS $5
Marcia Bassett’s study of a checked-out Rhythm Master reveals a stack of glimmering overtones in its corrupted hum. Combed bossa programs turn around a hall of purgatorial voices and automata clangor – an amped malaise played through the resonant afterlife of the record’s titular evolution. Dungeon Taxis 27.

Joseph Hammer – ‘Albany/Philadelphia’ CS $5
LAFMS doyen, Joseph Hammer’s document of two East Coast performances from 2012 exhibits his incisive glomming of the prospected archival materials at his gloved hands. Developing a cyclical palimpsest of gnarled and reassembled pop-historical sonics fed live on reel tape, Hammer’s magnetic alchemy slips through fizzy orbits of accelerated rap, severed axe licks, disembodied horn refrains, drum shreds and ventriloquized croons, lighting up the plastic materiality and equivocally vaporous nature of the volatile, musical sources. Dungeon Taxis 28.

Weirding Module – ‘Into Voyage’ CS $5
Michael Troutman’s eponymous trip traverses fugal passages of sparkling, arpeggi undulation and tranquil wind ornament, rolling with an LFO hull squelch across a billowed percussive vista of immersive, allegorical splendor. Dungeon Taxis 29.

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XIU XIU & EUGENE S. ROBINSON – ‘SAL MINEO’ CD
SAL MINEO is a Jamie Stewart/XIU XIU + Eugene S. Robinson/OXBOW production.

HOLY SONS – ‘My Only Warm Coals’ CD
“My Only Warm Coals” neatly sums up a fifteen year span of Emil Amos’ (Grails/Om/Lilacs & Champagne) basement home-recording in nineteen songs. Using the 4-track like a mirror in LSD therapy sessions, Amos disassembles himself and leaves the puddle on the floor for the listener to contemplate without easy resolution.

GUNTER SCHICKERT – ‘Samtvogel’ CD
Crucial Krautrock classic originally released on Brain and available on CD for the first time.

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NTR023 Anne Guthrie – ‘so it’s inverted ; occupying the same position as always’ C30 $7.25(N. America)/$10(World)
The playing and improvisations of Brooklyn-based French horn player Anne Guthrie have been uncommonly personal and physical, exploring the relationship with her own instrument as much as the music she can produce with it. These qualities are abundant on so it’s inverted … . A fellow traveler with New York improvisers and composers like Ben Owen (NTR018) and Billy Gomberg, Guthrie’s integration of conventional playing, sound formations, and unhurried pacing has garnered a lot of positive attention in several releases over the past few years. Here, Guthrie works from field recordings made in Costa Rica, gently improvising along with them using effected and extended techniques. Her sparse and purposeful playing attunes the listener to her immediate environment, a rarely achieved blending of spaces and times. Type II Chrome tapes. Two color letterpress printed artwork. Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery, photograph by Anne Guthrie. Edition of 100.

NTR024 Coppice – ‘Pied’ C38 $7.25(N. America)/$10(World)
Coppice, formed in 2009 by Noé Cuéllar and Joseph Kramer, has quickly established itself within Chicago’s experimental sound scene, placed firmly along the lines of composers like Haptic, Olivia Block and Cleared. The duo has branched out into many creative sound settings, but Pied finds them returning to their original inspiration: a boombox modified to play back and record simultaneously. Here, they feed it with recordings made on a pump organ while recording in Fljótstunga, Iceland, resulting in some extraordinarily pleasing and hypnotic tones. But it’s the duo’s meticulous pacing and dynamics that makes the piece work as it moves between deeply engaging organ drones and decaying tape textures. The result is more exquisite proof of Coppice’s unique vision of creative and honed sound exploration. Type II Cobalt tapes. Letterpress printed and hand stamped artwork. Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery. Edition of 100.

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rb-154 ok putrid god god alabakdannagsba C36 + CDr
c36: 4 minutes and 20 seconds of cut and collaged live shows (amma haus, alexandria, va 11.19.11 and sprinkle kingdom, philadelphia, pa 12.16.11). it loops throughout both sides of the tape, dubbed one at a time from a laptop to a walkman for maximum shit-fi effect. each tape starts and ends at a different point in the loop. sometimes the loop starts over before it’s supposed to. busted, broken and blazed in basements. recorded over freshly de-shrink-wrapped chrome tapes originally professionally duplicated and containing an album i recorded with some friends when i was 12. cdr: psychedeadly, awkward as fuck, free-improv harsh gunk electronics and squiggly brain waves interlacing with your intestines. at one point i think i started playing bryan adams on the keyboard. it’s hard to hear because kait was annihilating my signal with voltage-starved, home-made electronics along with some video game sound effects smashed with mixer feedback. two long “studio tracks” and one live recording, recorded at nile ethiopian restaurant in richmond, va, 6.5.12. stoned, zoned and out of our minds. hand-painted chrome tapes inside recycled and painted card stock o-cards with info. hand-painted cdrs in multiple colors, housed inside hand-decorated thick plastic sleeves and surprises. limited to 29. TRY 

rb-155 inappropriate king live – ‘datboonbaat’ C62
sound-collage like nothing else. one of inappropriate king live’s few releases with long, flowing tracks of juxtaposition. data-bent snippets, broken and dirty beats sneaking around where they don’t belong. glass and junk metal clanging and dinging sparsely, tape and vinyl loops, weirdo drones, distant yelps and other strange vocal expressions, the squeaking of houses, cut-up and blown out surprises, room recordings of electronics tests, radio transmissions busting through static, deep psychedelic interludes from the future, nonsensical mashups. dynamics from zero to a thousand. pieces weaving in and out of each other. playing the weird and awkward card real hard, all the while staying curiously dark compared ikl’s usual. musique concrete of all colors, shapes, sizes and worlds. get lost. hand-decorated shells, each one different. black xerox ink on pale red card stock j-cards. art by jml. limited to 17. TRY 

rb-156 dementia & hope trails – ‘pure magical love’ C94
this is a project that does not release material often. when i find myself trapped in some blurry cove, with lights peaking and twinkling in the distance, much like hope in a cold, bleak, winter city, proclamations of misguided love and pure existence are made in forms of deeply reflective, wrist-slitting ambience and glistening beauty. documented on 50 tapes with over 90 minutes of sound, this is your soundtrack for laying on the floor of a chilly dark room. now you can debate whether life is worth living or whether the opposite is much more gorgeous. pure, magical love is always a dream, looping and building and changing slowly over time. here is a copy of a small part of that dream. drug assistance not recommended. strip yourself raw and get a set of stereo speakers. crank the volume up as high as your veins will allow while still allowing blood to reach your busted heart. hand-decorated, black foil shells. black xerox ink printed on dark yellow card stock j-cards. art by jml. limited to 50. TRY 

rb-157 bah tsar jenny troth – ‘deft auksis’ C32
twisting and turning from brighton, uk, johnathan rhys brett lays down a sonic vacation of intriguing and flowing masterpieces. wiggling, cluster-meets-ortmann style weirdo synthesis, bleak and cold build-ups, harsh washes of blown-out, crackling grossness, paired with distant layers peeking through from time to time. the oddness of these pieces shine through the common prejudices of “synth-noise” or “dynamic harsh noise”. this half hour of power is patient, with rising and falling layers you won’t notice until they’ve come and gone. this release is extremely rewarding and brings new textures to the table with every listen. these jams have a real destination even though their vast variety of sonics and moods. it’s almost nuts how diverse this tape is, combining industrial/harsh noise with blop beep boop trips. brighton, uk my ass. planet strange. solid white shells. black xerox ink printed on dark yellow card stock j-cards. art by jml. limited to 21. TRY 

rb-158 endometrium cuntplow – ‘growth into combustion’ C16
buried radio broadcasts, obtrusive feedback, oscillating delays and reverb tank abuse from david matheke of northridge, ca. i’ve heard everything from barely-moving walls of static to uncomfortable drones to sparse tinkering from that cunt. growth into combustion’s unique and specific contrast of sounds proves that david is a talented minimalist who knows what he’s doing. and we all know the world already has enough talented people who can’t be minimal, and minimal people who bore the fuck out of us. there are probably just 2 or 3 distinct methods of creation demonstrated in these recordings but david gets the most out of all of them within a 16-minute period. hand-painted clear/black tapes. black xerox ink printed on hot pink card stock j-cards. art by jml. limited to 35. TRY 

rb-159 peer group – ‘igbo basic course’ CS
completely deranged electronic and sound collage nonsense. no further description. just a track listing: std booth at the occupy protest, baltimore is one big weirdo fest, do you remember r’n’r satellite radio, pious maniac on the payroll, speed dating tips for obese shut-ins, product placement in the torah, exciting home business opportunities, mommy make over application, penis bleaching in the google era, foam on an empty stomach, god hates fags but is cool with incest for some reason, kissing booth outside the free clinic, 404. well, enjoy. dubbed over actual igbo basic course cassettes. xerox art printed on card stock j-cards. illustration by alyssa herlocher, layout by jml. limited to 19. TRY

rb-160 mass comm – ‘present/future shock’ C45
sounds like a busted mainframe dumping data on dmt. abstractly and awkwardly woven minimal electronics and field recordings, with heavy focus on texture and dynamics. lectures on paranormal activity, ufos and other fringe history. a dirty universe of uncomfortable pulsating, intermittent interference, prepared guitar, improv drums and the dead energy of mechanical failure. retro-futuristic circuits and slime. this ain’t your cousin’s synth drone and it’s not some pot-head wanking off with his gear. actually it is. it is the ugly underworld of jonathan enrique barajas, of dayton, oh. he is an innovator of passageways to questions only your fourth eye will want to know the answers to. solid black shells with hand-painted/drawn labels. black xerox ink on pale light green card stock j-cards. art by jml. limited to 27. TRY

rb-161 justin marc lloyd – ‘no gold in the fortress’ CS + zine
equal parts harsh electronics, home-made sound-squirters and oddball freak-folk. turntables, tapes, processed free-form vocals, prepared guitar, feedback tweaks and dizzy daymares. this re-release of rb-162 comes with a zine of original collage/mixed-media artwork in xerox form. 32 pages per zine. most zines are exactly the same but a few pieces vary slightly, and there are 3 different color covers offered. as for the tape, this material was originally released as rb-162, on recycled tapes, limited to 15, and intended as a “tour tape” for the pusdrainer/sorcerer torturer/machismo/jml/developer 2013 southern tour. this re-release is exactly the same but it includes an unreleased track at the end of side a until the tape runs out, and source material sent to facialmess/kenny sanderson for remixing at the end of side b until the tape runs out. altered vinyl, tape manipulation, circuit-bent feedback sputtery, guitar! zines: 18 light green covers, 6 red covers, 1 hot pink cover. tapes: hand-decorated tapes. black xerox ink on dark blue/purple card stock j-cards. these zines and tapes are not physically attached but will ship together. art by jml. limited to 25. TRY

rb-163 v/a – ‘soup of freak‘ C62
after collecting contributions over 2 years, this collection of 40-70 second tracks from 62 different artists is finally hitting the street like a bucket of slime splashed on a passing leash-less puppy. sonic schizophrenia; a soup of freaks. silvery magnus takes you on an exhilarating synthesizer ride to prepare you for jason zeh’s extremely minimal, barely audible composition. listen carefully. horrible mess gifts you a lo-fi slab of crumble. ascites manipulates flooping and fried electronics. dylan nyoukis…well, you know. tapes and garbled voices, like a champ as always. his partner, smack music 7 rocks this one as well, with just a minute. sissisters dedicates his track to luke tandy of being, while baculum dedicates his track to clenching your butthole. clang quartet sticks to the drums. for the most part. oddities by crank sturgeon and psychedelic harsh textures by government alpha. wilt is bleak as fuck and travis johnson is a basically an alien microbe. somnaphon is a room full busy super-computers hacking the planet on their own volition, and pbk’s track sounds like if lasse marhaug’s track was heavily influenced by james douglas’s track. and then theres oubliette, fletcher pratt and corpse candle. and more more more. grip this diverse head-scratcher of a compilation tape before they are gone forever. solid white, hand-stamped shells. black xerox art on 2-panel zebra card stock j-cards in various colors, with a few solid hot pink j-cards for good measure. limited to 100 copies. TRY

rb-166 divine shell/justin marc lloyd – ‘obscure psychic themes’ split C10
derek setzer of utah analyzes his demons and manifests them for us in a psychedelic nature, utilizing space and dynamics as he never has before. truly awkward composition of uncomfortable synthesis and spoken word separates these divine shell pieces from his highly regarded harsh noise, industrial and power electronics. justin marc lloyd’s side is a piece for tape manipulation, looping, and a small amount of electronics to compliment. an increasingly cramped and uncomfortable wave of anxiety. you’ve gone blind, you’re pacing in circles, and an undetected hurricane is just about to come tearing through your brains. hand-painted clear/black cassettes. black xerox ink printed on neon orange card stock j-cards. illustration by derek setzer, layout by jml. limited to 25. TRY

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Cthulhu Detonator – ‘Frequency Of The Multivibrator’ C40 $7(US)
Eric Hogg is the one man noise project entitled Cthulhu Detonator. With his first album released digitally earlier this year, it was pretty much loved by all. This tape contains maimed, chopped, and fucked pieces of his recent first live performance and original music from the studio rehearsals. Harsh walls and unique and very intriguing textures dot this tape, Probably one of the most varied, focused, and satisfying noise releases in recent memory. Limited to 25. Bright green tapes, chrome tape, B&W 2 panel art by Derek Setzer.

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AT THE HEART OF IT ALL – ‘Cotard’s EP’ C30 £3.5
Menacing as ever, the latest release from this enigmatic Bristol trio comprises merely of two behemoth tracks, which glitch their way to oblivion, punctuated only by stretches of eerie calm. ‘Cotard’s’ mixes vocal samples with post-rock and grinding noise, creating a prowling monster of a song, and one that plays entirely by its own rules. Think Godspeed You! Black Emperor, think Swans, think PiL. These are titanic soundscapes that mechanically bore their way into your brain. Fifteen minute long favourite, ‘A Blank Canvas’ is a real odyssey, with its building cinema-scapes. Yes these songs are ambient, the tempo is reasonably slow for the most part, yet this band are about as punk rock as anyone. Think knocking out two-minute, three-chord guitar songs is still punk? You’re over 30 years late. Recorded on blood red coloured C30 cassette with full colour 5 panel double-sided cover art, housed in a clear plastic case with white back cover. Limited to 30 tapes. Includes digital download.

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Ensemble Economique/Heroin In Tahiti split LP
It’s a well-known story: the bluesmen sold their souls at dusty crossroads back in the old days. Far less is known about a younger generation’s deal with the devil, their affinity towards dark forces and black magic. Their hypnagogic highway to hell and success goes en route Tahiti where souls no longer can be sold because they’re already lost in secret Voodoo rites. The music that springs from having experienced these horror trips is as seductive as Lisa Bonet drinking a little red rooster’s blood! Be warned: This is a one-way ticket, no refunds, no exorcism included. Ensemble Economique strikes back with a great album, sounds and attitude head back to his earlyer recordings and the amazing “Psychical” (Not Not Fun, 2010): immediate, primal, raw… ace! Second album out for Heroin In Tahiti, after their first “Death Surf” LP (Boring Machines, 2012), which was considered a kind of manifesto of the “spaghetti wasteland” attitude, as told in a conversation between Simon Reynolds and Valerio Mattioli, and listed in the 50 best albums of 2012 by FACT Magazine. A great mix of synths, surf, drone, Morricone and some typical ‘Italian vibe’. Edition of 500.

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FH035 PLVS VLTRA – ‘YO-YO BLUE’ CS $6
RIYL: Alog, Bjork, Brigitte Fontaine, The Focus Group. Rippling like a thumbed-through flip book of vaporous, hazy memories or maybe like a box of old photos left to the devices of the wind, Yo-Yo Blue feels like a curated tour of a fevered dream. Replete with childhood recitals, fragments of half-remembered stanzas and sumptuous j-pop interludes, we sense that this was a life lived well and well lived. As the shadows fall around our eyes and the summer skies turn from pink to the bluest-black the sensation of being lifted and rocked slowly slips away… PLVS VLTRA is Toko Yasuda, formerly of Enon.

FH034 CREMATOR – ‘ALPHA RALPHA BLVD’ CS $6
RIYL: Heldon, Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, John Carpenter. Cremator’s new album title comes from a tale about a sudden, radical shift from a controlling, benevolent, and sterile society to one of individuality and danger ruled by an elite group called the Instrumentality. Now picture the soundtrack circa 1979 by Klaus Schulze and filmed by Jean Painlevé. Flickering images beyond your stars have trapped you in the dark as you recline in your velvet-lined pod whilst arpeggios and synth washes swirl around the ship, returning from the ether, leaving crystal contrails – and that is just the opening sequence. Cremator is Matt Thompson of Rashomon and Zoltan.

FH033 BLACK HAT – ‘COVALENCE’ CS $6
RIYL: Tim Hecker, Mouse on Mars, Loscil. The voices of futures past howl through PNG files of grass and waterfalls – thumping and thrumming, bumping and humming – but always subservient to the pulse. It’s a very pleasant factory where the tunes for imaginary holidays of post-Christian digital paganism are made: some static is playing dub on a radio in the background, mechanical insects flit about your head plucking harps from a laser bandstand and the air always smells of ozone. But the beat, the beat is what drives us through our toil – always the beat. Black Hat is Nelson Bean of Seattle, Washington.

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