Animal Psi

SEA DWELLER – ‘Signs of a perfect disaster’ LP 14€
Signs of a perfect disaster is the new album from SEA DWELLER follow up to the collection of eps Love is coming published on the german label 2&1 records. The band has taken its time to refine their sound and gives light to a labyrinth of melodies made of reverb and delay. The new album shows a new side from the previous shoegaze influenced music, experimenting with synthethic rhytms that give a new tone to the psychedelic and dreamy sound of the band. Valve saturation, delay feedback loops, spring reverbs, back to the future ALESIS HR-16 drumcomputer, old CRUMAR synthesizers and haunting vocals; the result is a collection of immediate and dizzy melodies where you can get lost for 30 minutes. The band has toured with The Victorian English Gentlemens Club and Asobi Seksu, shared the stage with Spotlight Kid, Gregor Sams and APSE among the others, and worked on solo projects (My Violent Ego, HERBAL RESEARCH, Telepathics).  LIMITED EDITION 300 copies on ACID YELLOW VINYL.

NASTRO – ‘300mq’ LP 14€
300 MQ is the second album from NASTRO- 300 mq is the size of NASTRO’s recordings studio where they have recorded the album and which they had to tear down with their bare hands after finishing the recordings as part of the contractual obligations.  Behind 300mq (300 squared meters) there are 12 months or recordings, sonic reworkings, played percusions, than dismembered and reassembled, a carefull work of sampling and audio architecture.  A frantic mix of electronic synthesis and acoustic, each element is an instable piece, psichedelia of a future and yet past era, crazy machines repeating themselves always the same and always different. Two long sides where extract several film themes if today’s cinema would follow the pace of tomorrow.  NASTRO is a duo composed by Manuel Cascone, producer and musician based in Rome (see also Laser Tag, Cascao & Lady Maru) and Francesco Petricca (see also TELEfonoBALAfono, Oblomov). LIMITED EDITION 12“ VINYL 100 COPIES IN DIE-CUT COVER.

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Jüppala Kääpiö – ‘Animalia Corolla’ CD
Most of us are living in an urban world, dominated by constant noise and contagious stress. Our ears are conditioned by this aggressive environment and have often lost the ability to perceive another discreet world surrounding us. It might be hidden but also swarming, vivid and incredibly musical. We are all able to prick up our ears to some birds chattering together, the wind shaking leaves, toads singing serenades or old spirits telling us their immemorial adventures… Since its creation in 2006, Jüppala Kääpiö has tried to substantiate what they were hearing and feeling from animals, plants or even minerals that they met in their living places in different countries and during travels in different continents. “Animalia Corolla” is a record of feasts of spirits gathered from the whole world. Their songs, dances and conversations about the synchronicity of their dreams have been transcribed in this album. Jüppala Kääpiö is a Swiss and a Japanese duo. They settled in Brussels in Belgium in summer 2011 after staying in Switzerland , Canada, Mongolia and Japan. The life in multicultural/lingual situations naturally gave to their music a style which might be called cosmopolitan folklore music.

Hitoshi Kojo – ‘Omnimoment’ CD
Omnimoment is a collection of Hitoshi Kojo’s site-specific soundworks that were originally presented as installations or live-installation/performances between 2006 and 2009.  All the works were created for a particular location by using objects that were found in and around that location, mixed with environmental sound. They were presented in long durations, from two hours to ten weeks, via multi-channel speaker systems, blending with the acoustic sound and resonance of the space. For this CD, the works have all been edited and re-composed in stereo using the partial documents of the respective projects. He intends this CD to stand alone as a work in its own right, without necessary reference to the original situations. However the basic structures and the original sounds that were created at (for) the actual situations have been retained as much as possible. The booklet contains bilingual texts (English and Japanese) about each original project.

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LA OTRACINA – ‘The Aquarian Wind’ one-sided 12″
Limited edition of 300 coproduced with WhoCanYouTrust? Records. This beast has many faces! Thinking about psychedelics, krautrock and all things considered as proto metal theres no doubt that its all present here. Vague jazzed out instrumental jams cryptically collide with hard-hitting progressive rock while a thick fuzzy guitar is drifting across as the trip expands into the obscure.

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Orange Blossom Flyover – ‘Museum Magazine’ C31 $5
A Raining array of guitar bliss coupled with the steady tempo of a drum beat compliments the softly uttered vocals on Orange Blossom Flyover’s Museum Magazine. An album that rolls on smooth and dreamy. The feature full-length marks the first on ihaa and one that is impressive and inspirational. The warmth of the guitar pieces creates an atmospheric snifter of brandy for a late night watching of the sun’s setting.  Mp3 with purchase, limited to 40.

Clearing – ‘Stride’ C40 $5
Stride is the latest by minimalistic texture artist Clearing. Producing more cool sounds that feel like standing in a chilled beach breeze on a spring morning. Refreshing ice clinking in a glass of spring’s elixir as the flowers bloom and the smells trickle into your nostrils and then you realize this is what dreams are made from. The languid motion of rubbing your eyes too long. There is an unspoken poetry in Stride.  mp3 with purchase limited to 50.

Ectoplasm & DenMother – ‘416’ C26 $5
Ectoplasm is a prolific producer with an ear for extremely beautiful sounds. Quietly brushing the smooth glass upon your cheek unsheltered by the innocent softly spoken and calming sounds of DenMother. A vast ocean of vocal rhythms whispering to your heart… come closer. Breath of fresh air as you slowly spin to the feeling of a chill pricking your bare back as you look up to a sky blue sky. Thoughts of her, of Canada, and the spirit lost in journey, 416 captures the beauty of innocence, that fragile state prior to shattering it. Featuring the beautiful DenMother along with a special appearance by Tin Window and a killer aGitated remix by NattyMari.  Mp3 with purchase, limited to 35.

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Bob Blaize/Jeph Jerman/Travis Johnson – ‘Sky Bells’ C57
This welcome collaboration brings together three well-seasoned and unique improvisers from the US, in a form that appears very natural and singular. Sky Bells is divided into two pieces, the music inside of which sounds exactly like its descriptor. This is music that, for the most part, floats in the air like a metallic body, edges eroded to an earthy dullness. There is an arid quality to Sky Bells that is reminiscent of something vaguely simpler than our current age. It sounds to me like it could be the lost soundtrack to an extended outtake from Robert Altman’s 3 Women. The superficial details are of course obscured and initially might seem almost boring, but there’s that indescribable feeling of mild terror, like the scene that is occurring has some deep subtext that won’t be explained. Fortunately though, that feeling is so powerful that it occupies the entirety of your attention. Details here would only distract from experiencing the divine. Guest layout and design by Californian Ted Trager.

Eureka – ‘Recognitions’ C45
William Giacchi returns. That prodigal son who absconded from his post at the Magic Lantern, and all but TNT’d the shit out of that mass of Super Minerals. Yes! He’s free, running around town–or flying, should we say? But he’s made a pit-stop here, sat down to tickle the ivories and pluck a string or two. Recognitions is truly free music. You don’t often hear someone sit down and really jam on a piano, but William does so with focused energy and grace. The outcome ends up being, not surprisingly (considering his track record), a very psychedelic-sounding collage of keys and other various instruments. The pieces on Recognitions sound less like they are played and more like the simply are. They just exist like bubbles or clouds, and our man William Giacchi just happens to be the man exploring them and capturing them on tape. This is truly warm, invigorating stuff. Guest layout and design by Californian Ted Trager.

Abyssal Farmers – ‘Sowing & Harvesting’ C44
Funny story, this. Sowing and Harvesting came my way some months ago as an unsolicited demo. Frank Baugh, whom many of you probably know as Sparkling Wide Pressure, was the gift-bearer, so I immediately wanted to give it some attention, which I then did. The music is terrifically diverse in mood and orchestration, really running a long gamut of possibility. The patchwork of pieces oozes a kind of ominous undercurrent that—were this a soundtrack to your life—indicate the imminence of extreme personal danger. It’s hard to say what’s going on, but by the sound of it, you are certain it’s going to be bad. The kicker with this whole project is this: I didn’t even realize straight away that Frank’s partner in this great collaboration was none other than Jani Hirvonen—the great Uton, Hevoset, et al. Well shit! If that doesn’t explain it. The fact was probably stated for me in his introduction, but I tend not to read correspondence very effectively. In any case, I now have an explanation—that’s why this sounds the way it does! It’s fucking SWP vs. Uton!

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TUCANO – ‘Homeless Mandingo’ C60 6€
Solo Project by David Starr (from OneFuckOne). A nice mix of electro, cold (and hot) wave, 80’s sounds and vibes. Low synthesizers and weird voices, eccentric tuning and drums. A glam churchy attitude against the wild nature feelings! great art by Ciro Fanelli!

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SM036 KOI POND – ‘So Higher’ LP
Koi Pond is comprised of 3 friends who get together when the time is right to do what is known to many band participants as jamming. This term may be a bit harsh on your eyes, but when friends David Aron, Arik Roper and Pete Vogl some together to jam, its an epic dense solid session of heavy playing. Koi Pond originally released a cassette on Night People entitled Volcano, which I has the pleasure of happening on to. That limited cassette peaked my interest, sounding like a basement tape from Exmagma or some other lost recording from the mid seventies. After contacting the band to find out this is a one-off project between friends, I coerced the trio into reuniting for a recording, which became So Higher, a recording of 2 side dimensions between locked Krautrock groove with washes of synth exploration. Side two is a very different affair, more improvised heavy jamming comprised of solid bass line, dubby drumming and heavy psych guitar workouts. Those same elements from the cassette jams are there, but more focused and sonically represented. At times side A showcases a beastly resemblance to Monster Magnets 25 – Tab mixed with Spacemen 3, side B on the other hand, is a journey unto its own… Limited to 300 vinyl copies on 140 gram vinyl housed in screen printed gatefold jackets.

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DIFFERENCE CLOUDS s/t C37
Zach Smith’s Difference Clouds project reaches out with spacey synth shouts and arpeggiated atmospheres sent down from the bluest sky. Running the gamut from Oneohtrix-esque electro-pastiche to Mist-like cosmic trips. We are seeing sound in full-spectrum color; with blues diving into pinks, revolving back into themselves as greens and reds. It’s a kaleidoscopic, deep trip into the mind sentient hardware — pulsing, moving fluid-like, handling its own controls.

VILLAGES – ‘The Spilling Past’ C45
Villages is a project that has been creating a bit of a name for itself over the last chunk of time. Creating a fractured, decaying, yet blissfully direct and acute sound. Keys and bells chime on, leading the way through fields of bass tones. Elements of William Basinski’s disintegrated sounds meld with celestial soundscapes recalling Stars Of The Lid and Tim Hecker.

MERRYL – ‘Slow Spell’ C28
Unfurling itself like a rolling blanket of cool fog into a pasture, Merryl’s tones flutter into spacier territories the further they play on. Dreamlike atmospheres are created with patience and focus. This is not background drone, this is the an attention grabber for heavy heads; the type of introspective art that you lose yourself in. This is a musical bath of silver-flakes floating through light beams coming through the spaces. Dense, heavy, textural, but never losing a sense of warm psychedelia; touching on characteristics devised by artists the likes of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Earn, and Pale Blue Sky. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

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RELLA THE WOODCUTTER – ‘THE GOLDEN UNDERTOW’  LP
After his first approach with Boring Machines, a split 7 inches with My Dear Killer and an EP called I Know When It’s Time To Get The Fuck Away, Rella the Woodcutter is back with a full album of delicate and psichedelic songs reminding both the electric blues wave of the late nineties (Palace, Smog, Songs:Ohia) and their fathers which gathered togheter thirty years before that.

HEROIN IN TAHITI – ‘DEATH SURF’ LP
Inspired by the classic Italian spaghetti sound turned into a depressed and paranoid version of the typical twang-surf of Morricone’s scores, Death Surf is an hypothetical soundtrack of an old mondo-movie gone bad. The album drags the oppressive heat and bad habits of the Mediterranean to the radioactive beaches of Polynesia, discovering non-existent tribes, invented costumes, misplaced traditions and colonial exoticisms. Think of drinking a frozen Daiquiri on a solitary beach while watching a poorly tuned TV broadcasting loops of  If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death, while Mururoa tests are happening at the horizon. If this was the soundtrack of the end, it couldn’t be more doped.

SIMON BALESTRAZZI – ‘THE SKY IS FULL OF KYTES’  CD
Simon Balestrazzi founded in 1981 T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), a long-lived and outstanding Italian band operating in the border between experimental music, leftfield rock and post-industrial and still active to these days. Between 1986 and 1988 he created the dark-chamber ensemble Kino Glaz and in 1991 he joined well known band Kirlian Kamera, with whom he worked for seven years releasing several albums and performing live throughout Europe. Relocated in New York he graduated in sound engineering at the Institute of Audio Research. Back to Italy in 1998 he relocated to Cagliari where he currently lives and works, focusing on site-specific installations, dance and theatre soundtracks and where, after a few years hiatus, he has reactivated T.A.C. releasing three new albums. In the very same town he also started several groups, as ESP, Deep Engine and Qaumanek and he is a regular member of electro-acoustic improvisation ensemble MOEX. Moreover in 2005 he participated to Barcelona LEM festival with the new project Electrified Ether, a duo with tabletop guitarist Sara Aresu. In November 2006 he also formed the duo Dream Weapon Ritual with actress and singer Monica Serra (also from T.A.C.). He has released countless records, collaborating with Ikue Mori, Maja Ratkje, Z’ev  amongst others.

UGGERI/MAURI/GIANNICO – ‘PAGETOS’ CD
The Between the elements Quadrilogy begun in 2007 as a collaboration among the well-known industrial master Maurizio Bianchi/MB and the experimental musician Matteo Uggeri. The first two chapters (Nefelodhis, which means cloudy, and Erimos, desert) were released in that year by Cold Current and Digitalis Industries. Kapnos (smoke) followed in 2009, as a collective effort by Meerkat, “the Italy’s finest in the fields of ambient, electronics, microsound, post guitar” (as Frans De Waard wrote). The last and definitive chapter Pagetos is now released on Boring Machines. For Pagetos (morning frost) Uggeri involved Francesco Giannico and Luca Mauri, whose piano and guitar added a melodic and soft touch to a work that reveals here its lightest and maybe coldest – side.
The track 5:34 AM – Calaverna is featured on the Wire Tapper nr.28 of April 2012.

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