Animal Psi

Oxykitten – ‘Octagonal Wax’ C32 $6
RIYL: an American Yellow Magic Orchestra, interstitial analog beats, a knack for being on the western front of awesome Like being caught in a shadow world where the lights of the cosmos are the dreams of a former child actor, forever caught in a low blaze of the dappled half-light of disco balls and jellied stage lights of her youth – now moist night club denizen sway in ecstatic unison as if all were caught in light undersea current as it wraps and writhes slowly around their forgotten bodies as the fever dreams reset and play again and again behind upward tilted and milky smiling eyes… Octagonal Wax is analog synth-pop instrumentals from an indeterminate era and more lighthearted than dark, though sometime the despair nibbles around the edges… Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted cassettes w/ download.

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WET HAIR – ‘Spill Into Atmosphere’ CD/LP
Hey kid, need a lift? Like, right up off the ground? Spill into Atmosphere is the freshest whitecap in the crashing-upward wave known as Wet Hair, the Midwestern duo-cum-trio that’s been holding it down for years as a multi-stop repeat-shop-’n-hop psych-pop pin-drop right there in the dead center of everything and/or nothing, Iowa City. The Wet Hair discography having spired itself to a respectable vantage – shared releases with such powers as Rene Hell, Naked on the Vague and Peaking Lights, both via frontmensch Shawn Reed’s Night People imprint and others – Spill into Atmosphere becomes the band’s second full-length with De Stijl. There is motion here, oh yeah – circling swirls of lighter-than-air energy, born aloft on propellers of foam yet anchored to earth with thunder-clap rhythms and Reed’s heady bellow. Spill into Atmosphere gives you that feeling you had when you finally mastered the controls on your hovercraft: You’re both in it and above it. Augmenting the core of singist-synther Reed and drummer Ryan Garbes is Justin Tye (replacing Matt Fenner, from previous album In Vogue Spirit-era), no mere third wheel but Wet Hairs very own sort of Peter Hook (not counting all the Judas stuff), his unique melodic signature flying in formation with the bands but also peeling off into flights that relate to the silk wheels of the synths but compliment them, guide them, support and distort and report to them. No longer is the only way up the only way is every way. And from this altitude, Wet Hair can hear for miles.

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V/A – ‘Nordöstra Malmö (Northeast Malmö)’ C36 €4.5
A collection of industrial sounds and impressions from the northeast outskirts of Malmö: Värnhem, Östervärn, Midhem, Kirseberg. Among outcasts and drunks, gypsies and orphans, thieves and witches. Featuring Amph, Mirrors Are Black, Arkhe, Backasvinet, and introducing: Teufelsdröckh.  The first dangerous area encompassed the eastern part of the city, before the bridges. The second, more dangerous, was between the canal and Värnhem. The third, abode of the deepest darkness, was the Hills, but who dared to go there? Reverend Hagbard Isberg, late 19th century.

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EK53-Sean McCann and Matthew Sullivan – ‘Jackpot’ C26 $7.5(US)/$8.5(Mexico+Canada)/$10.5(World)
Consisting of source material recorded around the half way point of production on the “Vantiy Fair” LP released earlier this year on Recital.  “Jackpot” is a document of sketches and collages exploring techniques in cassette playback,  field recording, and the combination of varying fidelities, all based outside of a studio setting.   With sources ranging from, but not limited to the household sounds of M. Geddes Gengras home and studio in East Los Angeles, a trip to LA Gun Club,  solo and duet recordings of piano, violin, acoustic guitar, trumpet, percussion, and Sean’s weekend in Las Vegas last summer.  Plans for another LP already in the works for later this year.

EK54-Matthewdavid – ‘Destin’ C32 $7.5(US)/$8.5(Mexico+Canada)/$10.5(World)
A longform ambient work spanning two sides by Los Angeles artist and Leaving Records head,  Matthewdavid. On “Destin”, said to be inspired by memories of a childhood vacation,  Matthew has really honed in on the space of the sounds presented throughout the piece. Shifting moment to moment with great subtly and a sharp ear for texture and use of pattern amongst the overall chaos of the piece.  All sourced from extremely compressed cassette, the use of hiss and the quite jarring sounds of the actual tapes used to create this material play as much of a role as the melodies in the foreground.  A truly unique take on modern ambient and cassette-based music.

EK55-Geoff Mullen – ‘Alone and In A Room’ C35 $7.5(US)/$8.5(Mexico+Canada)/$10.5(World)
A collection of live performances by Providence, Rhode Island’s Geoff Mullen.  His first solo release for Ekhein following a recent string of releases on the Rel and Draft labels. Featuring sets at Cafe Fixe, Zebulon, and The Aviavry as well as percussion sources by Eli Keszler (who features Geoff on his recent “Cold Pin” LP on Pan).  Blurring the lines between tape collage and live instrumentation,  Mullen is no stranger to improvisation in the live setting,  performing in many groups and collaborations over the years (and just recently going on his first European tour).   His talent for creating minimal,  at times deeply chaotic tension, yet maintaining complete control is without a doubt on full display here.

EK56-The Compass Rose – ‘The Simulation District’ C28 $7.5(US)/$8.5(Mexico+Canada)/$10.5(World)
Sophmore release by duo The Compass Rose.  Rumored to have taken nearly a year to complete following a move back to the states, Jack Gilbert and company have finally returned with a new album of data and voice.  Whereas the focus of the previous Compass Rose release “The Plough Horse” concerned the totality of all things, “The Simulation Distrcit” seems to aim it’s sights on what doesn’t exist,  what is invisible,  and what is inevitable.  .  Plans for a debut LP in the works.

EK57-The Accidents – ‘Demo Color’ C34 $7.5(US)/$8.5(Mexico+Canada)/$10.5(World)
Debut release from the mysterious Cleveland, Ohio unit, The Accidents.  Not limiting themselves to any “genre”, “Demo Color” has genuine variety within it’s 11 tracks and manages to maintain a cohesive center.  Lush synthesizer and drum machine arrangements,  heartfelt acoustic guitar and cassette work.  With central themes of disaster and loss, particularly in America in the last century, there is a strong emotional core to this release not often heard in synthesizer based music at this moment in time.  Expressing something beyond the surface and incorporating an extremely human narrative somewhere it is often lacking

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NNA045: Co La – ‘Soft Power Memento’ C32
Embody Problematic Behavior. These are the three words that Co La uses to describe “Soft Power Memento,” his follow-up EP to 2011’s “Daydream Repeater” debut LP on NNA. Something to mull over while immersing yourself in Co La’s vivid and constantly-evolving world of sound. The spectrum of source material is widened and focused, with an emphasis on acoustic instrumentation and jazz palettes, all diced up and run through the New Anything sound system. Concréte percussive molecules are tenderly arranged and teamed up with clear, heavy bass to retain the danceability and groove that Baltimore is inherently known for. The result is a vibrant, lively, and undeniably innovative collection from one of electronic music’s most tuned-in producers. Program repeats on both sides. Compact disc version available from Hands In The Dark Records.

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MUSIC FOR PHANTOMS – ‘I-II-III’ 3CD boxset
This is the official debut of the Opalio brothers’ new project called MUSIC FOR PHANTOMS. It is a totally acoustic and a very ambitious project dedicated to “total quietness”, recorded in the mountains and ONLY during the night. This is the most haunted music you can ever imagine, created playing exclusively wooden instruments: a classical guitar, and an acoustic guitar; all instrumental. This music makes you taste the distant echoes coming from the other side. Nothing can be more true. In November 2007 Maurizio and Roberto Opalio released the first album of this collection (entitled ‘I’) as a private press art edition cd-r of only 99 copies. On April 28 and July 20, 2010, they recorded the following two albums (‘II’ and ‘III’), presented for the first time in this triple box set.

BROTHERS FROM ANOTHER SPACE – ‘ALIENACUSTICA’ 3CD boxset
‘ALIENACUSTICA’ is a superb collection of works by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) as you have never heard before. Forget all MCIAA’s noise records… this is a totally different affair: starting from January 2006 they have released 3 unusual, completely acoustic works, all in limited and sold-out editions: a soloist split lp, a private art edition cd-r, and an out-of-print cd. The different approach to these works shows another side of the Opalio brothers’ musical universe: all of the electric guitars and electronic effects that have been characterizing My Cat Is An Alien from the beginning are here left aside to give space to classical and acoustic guitar strings, and to Roberto’s “human” voice as a primordial instrument. Indeed, they decided to collect these precious gems under the pseudonym of BROTHERS FROM ANOTHER SPACE, so to point out how much these works are “alien” to the rest of their immense corpus of work.

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST – ‘Transparent Winter’ CD
After the enthusiastically acclaimed release on Tokyo’s legendary P.S.F. label, hailed as a return to the ancient spirit of Japanese national poetry, PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST simply demonstrate there’s anything else like their music around the world right now. The trio of Ramona Ponzini (Praxinoscope, Z’ev, Black Magic Disco) with Roberto & Maurizio Opalio (aka My Cat Is An Alien) returns on planet Earth for a new full length release of extended songs. You already had a little taste of the work in October 2011, when Blackest Rainbow Records released a limited and now sold-out LP edition featuring 2 tracks of the album (‘Mars Appears’ and ‘The Mountain’), presented here in an alternate mix version. This CD contains the whole recording session of the work entitled ‘Transparent Winter’, including 33 minutes of previously unreleased material (‘Notes From A Telephone Conversation’, ‘Winter Is Coming’, ‘Ochitsubaki’), plus a bonus ghost track, for a total of 80 minutes of entranced music! While the short, final track ‘Ochitsubaki’ is still inspired by Yosano Akiko’s poetic work, the entire rest of the work features lyrics excerpts from Takamura K?tar?’s poems carefully selected by Ramona Ponzini. “Otherworldly is maybe the most apt description for their fragile, distanced songcraft, compositions which transport us to liminal fantasy spaces of gently suspenseful psychedelia, strangely inviting and comforting trance-like states.

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Piacente & de Angelis – ‘merodeadores del hielo’
piacente & de angelis are an experimental electronic and pop duo from mar del plata, argentina who began creating music together in 1996. they have released eight albums as tapes, cds and net releases. the mysterious mauro de angelis is a writer and musician. pablo piacente is a poet, journalist and musician. with their music they try to describe a constantly changing universe. on their first album for pan y rosas, piacente & de angelis employ loops, beats, synths, samples, guitar, processing and poetry to create their version of pop music. cut up scatter beats, ghost singing and break beat electro-psych turn into a chill out travel narrative with noises, cinema ambience and spoken word.

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[UM015] SILVIA KASTEL – ‘Take It’ 7″
First ever 7″ on Ultramarine: triple Silvia on voice, mutant beats, synths, tape echo, working the early Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and dub influences, delivering some much-needed anguish, agony, and paranoia against today’s fun-at-all-costs shit. 33 rpm but Greh Holger also likes it at 45, so it’s up to you. Mastered by Scott Colburn. Silkscreened jacket. Edition of 100.

[UM018] BOLIDE – ‘Flaw Games’ CS
Hailing from Brighton, Bolide is an electro-acoustic improvising sextet formed in 2007. Main members are Spiceberg (aka Daniel Spicer), Tom Roberts, The Sultan and other mysterious individuals. Imagine going to a huge locals-only market outside the Medina, the air is heavy and dusty, the smell is funky, it’s noon & you forgot your hat, you see another goat head being cut and you start to think: maybe I’ll ride a donkey back? Imagine you could record the sounds both inside & outside of you in that moment… that’s sort of what Bolide sounds like. Except now, you can avoid the stressful experience and still enchant your neighbour’s snakes by having it in a pro-dubbed & imprinted pea green tape, with a double-printed collage Jcard. Edition of 100.

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DNT058 – Uton – ‘Echoes in the Wonderland’ LP $15
After countless releases on labels such as Housecraft, Digitalis, Dekorder, Sloow, etc. and his own label, Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam, Uton finds a new home with DNT. “Echoes in the Wonderland” is the first full-length LP by Finland’s Jani Hirvonen since 2009’s “Unexplained Objects” (Dekorder) and is no less weird than his previous excursions from the outer regions of the cosmos to the minds’ innerspace. As the album title could say, this is a way to the “wonderland” (also called the “other side” – many names been used during the history of humankind), which shouldn’t be mixed for the adventure’s of famous Alice – even it might give some idea about what is going to happen, but that’s just a start of it all – the start of nothing else but listener’s mind. What are the “echoes” then? They are something which are coming from beyond to here where we stay – this album being a link between these worlds; inside & outside; like they are working together. Psychedelic transmissions of consciousness. Bizarro alien communication that’s difficult to pinpoint, Uton’s “sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze – gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust.” (Dekorder’s words) Co-released with Finnish label Ikuisuus in a unrighteously limited pressing of 275 with full-color pro-printed jackets designed by Uton himself. Customers outside of North America/Asia should visit Ikuisuus for a copy. The DNT edition is limited to 110 hand-numbered copies.

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