Animal Psi

SMEGMA – ‘Ever And Anon’ LP
The mythical LAFMS collective Smegma really needs to introduction, where would we all be without them? How many bands were so ahead of their time (1973!), and have been for so long, like Smegma have? Well, here they are with a brand new LP of their famous mix of free jazz, industrial noise, improvisation, straight-up weird music so typical of these masters / US freaks. On the opening track, they are riding on the amazing drums of historical member Dennis Duck (of Dream Syndicate) and Oblivia’s trademark vinyl samples to pay homage to their beloved Link Wray with some devilish surf music! Then get ready for some crazy reeds, Aylerian invocations, electro-acoustic meditations, (shrink) chamber music and moments of pure avantgarde, juxtapositions that only they can get away with: a riot in a farm, strange strings riding the waves, Ju Suk’s guitar riffs and slides with the seagulls, a bat party in a cave, a hot bath of analog synth bubbles… but simply put, Smegma sounds like nobody else! Cover artwork collage by Ace Farren Ford. Also comes with an insert. Edition of 300 copies.
    
GATE – ‘Damned Revolutions’ LP
Dead C guitarist Michael Morley is finally back with a new Gate LP, after two years, and what a comeback! “Damned Revolutions” has all the traits of Gate’s classic LPs like “Guitar” and “The Monolake”: it starts with dark and fuzzy guitar drones, that build up to create a dense wall of distorted resonance, at times accompanied by sparse electronics and sustained by spectral beats and bass pulses. When vocals break in, it’s magical and poetic, his moaning reminiscent of pre-war blues chants. Side B is a wonderful suite of free rock improvisation, wild noise, echoed vocals, a thick guitar fog, haunting nocturnal blues, cymbal crashes… a mood perfectly depicted on the cover photos, lonely, grey, apparently still, sunless port city landscape. Edition of 300 copies.
    
BeNe GeSSeRiT – ‘Still Insane After All These Years’ LP
Eleven new & previously unreleased songs from BeNe GeSSeRiT, the cult Belgian minimal synth duo of Alain Neffe (various instruments including synth, beats, loops, strings…) and Nadine Bal (vocals). Alain started his Insane Music imprint back in 1981, he is a key figure of the European cassette culture and has been making some of the most creative and cross-boundary music since the early 80’s, also with other numerous projects like Pseudo Code, Human Flesh and more recently, his and Nadine’s duo with singer Anna Homler, The Chopstick Sisters. The duo’s debut LP in 1985 “A High, Happy, Perverse And Cynical Cry of Joy” was a real gem and on this new album, they go back to their roots but take advantage of newer technologies and sonic textures – every song has a life of its own. Alain’s arrangements are impeccable and unpredictable, a mad variety of instruments and moods, punchy beats, hypnotic strings, groovy organ, crazy sax lines and an inventive use of sound shaping… at some point you’ll be in the middle of… a choir of frogs??! Nadine, on the other hand, is a muse of this and the OTHER world, she manages to sound like an angel, a child, a siren and an alien, often all in the same track. Our prescription is: listen to this LP over and over for best results, you will discover and feel something new at every listen. BeNe GeSSeRiT make truly charming and personal music that’s hard to pin down: too weird to be classified as pop, but not so much to be just avantgarde, surreal & emotional, sharing the aesthetic choices of Anne Clark, Roberto Cacciapaglia, Laurie Anderson, Kraftwerk, Die Form… Glossy full color covers with insane artwork by Alain Neffe. Edition of only 300 copies, of which 50 are colored vinyl (25 orange / 25 pink).

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HR141 Soft Serve – ‘Nonday Diary’ C20
In the wild. It’s true, we didn’t know what we were getting into. Somehow the lights are on and we got a couple strips to plug some gadgets onto. Thus, Soft Serve occurs. Introducing Nevada City’s very own frozen cold stew: Jeffry Astin (Xiphiidae, Digital Natives, etc.), Kaisha King (G Sweems), Justin Kryzanauskas (Gerda Taro) — time slows by, one way or another. We make dew. edition of 50. type II BASF cass.

HR140 Digital Natives – ‘Parted By The Say’ 3xC62
Heres it is. The first of several 3-cassette box volumes, housed in fancy clear hard plastic norelco-book-style cases. What can be said? 66 tracks. Over three hours. Nearly endless chopped and scuffed narrative oracle churning through this, that, and everything. Dig in, dig deep. A wellspring for the top shelf. See the moon. edition of 50. type II BASF cass.

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FH029 Bastian Void – ‘Fluorescent Bells’ C47 $6
RIYL: cosmic surf, old BBC documentaries, heavy synth. You know that feeling when you snap back to awareness and wonder where the last 47 minutes of your life has gone? Let us introduce our instrument of that erasure: Fluorescent Bells. Born during a year punctuated with frequent hospital visits, Bastion Void mined what glimmer of hope there was for the keys to coping. Within his sterile environment, overwhelmed with the sense of uncertainty inherent in long term suffering, this work managed to assuage that crippling miasma with wonder, reverence, and a little bit of guile. Fluorescent Bells is the sound of coming to grips with mortality and beating Death back behind the curtain, if only for a little while.

FH028 Jonathan James Carr – ‘Well Tempered Ignorance’ C44 $6
RIYL: Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, auditory backpacking. Well Tempered Ignorance is the debut solo work from Jonathan James Carr, member of Seattle’s Brain Fruit. This recording finds the classically trained pianist marrying free-jazz inspired synthesizer arrangements with musique concrète elements recorded abroad in India and Berlin. These two 20+ minute pieces that make up Well Tempered Ignorance run the gamut from elastic modular psychedelia to calm, transparent symmetry that create in its entirety an amalgam of top-tier drone and exultant audio sculpture. Featuring Kaori Suzuki of Magic Echo Music on an early production model of one of her hand-built synthesizers.

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GR240: Orphanage Rats – ‘Nerve Agent’ C30
New mutations of the usual sax-guitar-gutter tape setup supported by pulsating, slow rhythms. Slow and toxic sounds by Lidless Eye and Tarpit recorded in the MUG concrete bunker. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR241: Mind War – ‘There Is A War Inside Of Everyone’ CDr
Reissue of the second tape from this trio, originally on Hermitage Tapes. Two scummy basement composition recorded May 2011 to 4 track by AC, and an equally scum-laden new track recorded March 2012 at MUG. Mind War is Sam Hooker, Andrew Coltrane, and Knox Mitchell. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR242: Kommissar Hjuler/Cold Turkey split C90
Insane split by insane people. Germany’s Kommissar Hjuler gives two pieces of the pure dadaist nonsense he is best known for, and Michigan’s Cold Turkey delivers his signature one man caveman jazz assault, recorded with saxophone, piano, and a hammer. Two efforts not to be missed. Xerox art, edition of 25 copies with insert.

GR243: Lidless Eye – ‘Circular File’ C32
Circuit bent-based tape collecting material destroyed between January-May 2012. Keyboards gutted to the absolute core and made to play non-melodies and trash beats, and a few tracks utilizing electronics controlled by a space heater. RIP all of the instruments that made this mess. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR244: Woven Qualm – ‘From The Grey Havens’ C60
Late night field recordings from the deep woods and creeks of the grey havens. Swarms of bugs conjured from the thick grey waters by flute, and sent back into their world at dawn. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR245: Void Transport C32
Steve Ladensack (Styrofoamswamp) and Knox Mitchell (Lidless Eye) duo in the finest form. Box fan negative void meets squirming electronics and organics to conjure terrible dreams of being hacked by a helicopter. Two attempts at moving the void. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR246: 1%er – ‘Satan’s 1%ers’ C90
Longest tape yet – one side of rehearsals and live opening for Nautical Almanac, and the other a reissue of the rarely-heard second tape “Astral Glide” on Hermitage. Engine noise and nasty electronics. Xerox art, edition of 20 copies.

GR247: The Tenses/Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau split C60
Split tape between two of the best female/male duos making strange sounds – The Tenses side is a live set that blurs the line between ’40s radio sound collage and bluesy guitar riffage, complimented by electronic ramblings. The KHJ Und Frau side is an unexpected vocal reading piece, interrupted frequently by ear-ruining electronics bursts. Xerox art, edition of 25 copies with insert.

GR248: Witches Of Malibu C46
First tape from this new industrial noise unit. Hypnotic beats and suggestions accompanied by shrill tones, low end scum, and other odd electronic warbles. 6 songs. Xerox art, edition of 30 copies with insert.

GR249: Black Lace Drag – ‘The Second Slaughter’ 2xC32 boxset
Two C32s by the Redrot / Lidless Eye duo. Released for the Flint Noise Fest in an edition of 12 copies. The recordings are rehearsals and other jams in preparation for that event. Packaged in a painted box with insert. Very few left.

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DDP 1971.026  Blunderspublik – ‘Barren Immensity’ C40
Ed. of 75. Winnipeg’s master of all things glictchy, dreamy and poppy returns with a collection of tunes ideal for winter hibernation. Barren Immensity marks a bit of shift from Blunderspublik’s previous microchip-snuggler You Are The Best Ever, dialing down the multiple layers, ear-turning beats and melodicsm for something decidedly more minimal. Sun-dappled guitars, bleary-eyed early morning melodies and dense analog synths are given room to unroll their knitted blankets and build a fort in your living room. Simple, but a simply beautiful recording that slowly unveils it’s secrets with repeated listens.

DDP 1971.027 Aura Level Fountain – ‘Tulan Tulan Axcanpa’ C60
Ed. of 100. At once fragile, monolithic and meditative, this collaboration between Mpala Garoo and Clathus yields one of our heaviest releases to date. Three long tracks of murky, deep-sea drones and fungal drift. Melodies soaked in reverb, delay and flanger become smeared into a dreamlike haze, slowly floating through the near-dark depths of some distant sea. Yet through the gloom come traces of light from the surface, shimmering to the depths, offering glimpses of the strange coral cathedrals, long-sunken mountain ranges and bewildering creatures that dwell in this abyssopelagic zone.The instruments at work here are not important — in fact, it’s almost impossible to discern exactly what they are. What matters is where this tape takes you. Aura Level Fountain do not merely create gorgeous tones, they create an entire aural soundscape and leave you there to feel your way around.
 
DDP 1971.029  3 Leafs – ‘Technical Death Metal Parking Lot’ C60 Ed. of 100. Death metal it ain’t, but you still won’t know what hit you after spinning this. 3 Leafs jam more sounds, textures, influences and genres into this tape than all the music on your hard drive, only they do it seamlessly. Running the gamut from white-hot This Heat-esque Krautrock, spaced-out dub, drone and psych to bizarre micro-tonal melodies and tropical flourishes, this album travels some serious distance. Genrehopping isn’t even relevant here — maybe genre isn’t either. 3 Leafs are on their own deserted tropical island hurtling through the cosmos, receiving jettisoned radio transmissions from Earth and firing them right back at us. A true collision of sonic worlds. Highly recommended listening for our 21st century attention-deficient listening habits

DDP 1971.030  James McKeown – ‘English Dream’ C40
Ed. of 100.

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Jorge Arana Trio – ‘Mapache’ CS $5
Debut 12 song album by punk-jazz trio from Kansas City.  Featuring former members of noise rock band Pixel Panda.  Recorded live in one day in the famous Sountrek Studios.

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KMN010-001 – Darryl Burke Mahoney – ‘Untitled’
The sounds found on Darryl Burke Mahoney’s first release are reminiscent of his hometown in Lachine, Quebec where the spectre of industry looms upon the lower avenues and the dormant factories present a rich palimpsest. There is expansive decay, a resistance to gentrification, as though suburban teenagers crawl inside these crumbling spaces to waste away the years.

KMN010-002 – Alex Durlak + Damian Valles – ‘Guitar and Drums’
Guitar and Drums is a split cassette from long-time collaborators Alex Durlak and Damian Valles. Each has created a series of experimental compositions using solely samples of the instruments they were best known for playing in their previous bands, as the title implies, guitar and drums respectively.

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Taco Leg – ‘Taco Leg’ LP
Taco Leg are the best band in the world. No, seriously. The Perth trio of Andrew Murray, Simon Morrison, and Richard Ingham has been blowing us away since we first came across their Myspace page shortly after starting Fan Death. The currently out of print Freemason’s Hall 7” (FDR- 004) may initially have confused and irritated listeners from Cottesloe to College Park, Maryland, but the record itself is an essential document of the recent Australian underground, two trebly tracks about architecture and boredom in Western Australia. Following that, Taco Leg released Painted Gold, a three-song 7” on noted Philadelphia rock label Richie Records/ TestosterTunes, and had a US tour in late 2010 that coincided with the release of the McRib. Taco Leg’s self-titled LP wastes no time in making its mark, its 12 tracks clocking in at just under 20 minutes. Many of these tracks barely crack the minute mark, but like their Perth punk ancestors from the Victims to Extortion, their songs are direct and lodge in your brain until you find yourself thinking about “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. If you’re familiar with Taco Leg, the elements are all there – minimal guitar lines and stripped-down, proto-punk drumming, with singer Murray’s unforgettable voice intoning cryptic lyrics. This is the record where they’ve fully honed their sound, and very nearly have learned how to play their instruments. Whether it’s on the shambling swagger of “Shut It Down,” self described “Detroit hardcore” song “Find Me,” or the tension of “I Can’t Decide” (not a Black Flag cover), Taco Leg perfectly encapsulate the feeling of being young and bored without being boring. Members of Taco Leg also appear in a number of other great bands, all of which are incredible and essential to check out, including: Pauline Manson, Constant Mongrel, Whalehammer, Pond, and Ringhams garage-punk/ prank call project Ring. RIYL: Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Bratmobile, The UV Race, Swell Maps, K Records 1982-1993

Purling Hiss – ‘A Little Off Center (Live at WFMU)’ CS
For those who have been living under a rock, Purling Hiss is the brainchild of Mike Polizze (Birds of Maya). Though the Hiss started out as a four-track bedroom project dating back to the earlier part of the 2000s, their killer sound and even more killer songs couldn’t just be restricted to vinyl. Merging the blistering guitar shredding of Les Rallizes Dénudés with the pop sensibilities of GG Allin & The Jabbers, Purling Hiss released three LPs on Richie, Woodsist, and Permanent Records in the span of just one year, and later played their debut shows opening for Kurt Vile and The Violators in 2010. A Little Off Center was recorded during the tail end of that first tour and reveals a band that sounds as if they’d been getting in the van for years. This cassette has choice live cuts from both the self-titled and Public Service Announcement LPs, along with tracks that would appear on the then-unreleased EP, Lounge Lizards, subsequently released on Mexican Summer in 2011. Songs such as “Run From The City” and “Almost Washed My Hair” display the raw strength and control that Purling Hiss demonstrates live, while “Voices” highlights their loose feel. By the end of this set it’s evident that A Little Off Center is way more than just a live release, it’s a document of a band staking their claim as one of the best rock bands around. It’s no surprise once you see Purling Hiss live that they’ve won over the bands they’ve toured with from Wilco to Dinosaur Jr. Expect a new LP from Drag City in 2013. RIYL: High Rise, Mudhoney, Raspberries, Kurt Vile and The Violators, Les Rallizés Dénudés

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Ira Cohen – ‘The Bearded Iris’ C45
This is the last recording of Ira Cohen (1935-2011) reading at his New York apartment, made by poet, friend and collaborator Louise Landes Levi who was staying with him at the time. A very intense reading spanning his early work ‘Poems from the Cosmic Crypt’ up to his last collection ‘Everything You Say May Be Hold Against You’. Cohen’s visionary surrealist poetry transforms Asian shamanism, the Sufi poetry of Rumi, Cendrars’ great travelogues and Lorca’s duende into multi-dimensional phantasmagorical incantations. Jack Micheline called him ‘Allen Ginsberg on stilts’. His written work is as ecstatic intoxicating as his legendary mylar photographs and classic ‘The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda’ movie from the sixties. Includes insert. 100 copies.

Raajmahal – ‘Tishna’ C40
Two spaced-out tracks by Pat Murano (Decimus/NNCK) and Carla Backer (Baba Yaga/Flower Orgy), a trip beyond Cartesian dualism into dark waters of other-consciousness scented with Eastern spiritualism and quiet contemplation. Floating bodies of restrained guitar and ethereal vocal chants summon Apsaras bearing cups of psychedelic nectar. 100 copies.

Grapefruit – ‘Twin Reflections’ C40
Grapefruit is layers of analogue synths, subtle pulses and polyrhythms in sprawling myriad-dimensional Kosmische kraut universe.

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Daizy – ‘Aramat’
Followup album of laidback electronica sounds by our Belgium project Daizy. // Segundo album de electronica relaxante pelas mãos do projecto Belga Daizy.

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