Animal Psi

NK30: Talk West – ‘Freights & Fields’ C40 $6(US)/$7(Can)/$8(World)
Tulsa, OK multi-instrumentalist and Scissortail Records guy Dylan Golden Aycock delivers this stunning batch of drone-folk meditations fashioned with a truly refreshing mix of synths, loops, air organ, and expressive pedal steel. These sunken timber hymns harken back to the roots of American experimentalism but stand in their own new space, lonesome bedroom ballads tinged with universal nostalgia. Edition of 70 pro-dubbed/imprinted tapes with letterpressed and risographed artwork.

NK29: Soothsayer – ‘Keynes Utopia’ C40 $6(US)/$7(Can)/$8(World)
Moon Glyph head/designer Steve Rosborough’s Soothsayer project continues to evolve with this new long-player of solid now-age synth minus any overwrought gear-headedness. Subtle, slight ambient pieces that flutter into the air, and abstractly preach utopian economics. Makes your plants grow. Leave it on forever. Edition of 70 pro-dubbed/imprinted tapes with risographed artwork.

NK26: Dusted Lux – ‘Canopy’ C40 $6(US)/$7(Can)/$8(World)
Following a bewitching debut on Kimberly Dawn, this full-length is four soft organic drones caked in rust, waves of field recording hiss, elusive songs hidden in dust clouds. A soulful assemblage of textures and melodies that will reveal itself to those who listen thoughtfully. Edition of 70 pro-dubbed/imprinted tapes with letterpressed and gocco-printed artwork.

WEBSITE

Panabrite – ‘Sub Aquatic Meditation’ LP
Sonic natural wonders created by Norman Chambers. Panabrite is the solo project of Seattle-based Norm Chambers, utilizing analog synthesis, vintage drum machines, various effects and occasional guitar. Inspired by science fiction, new age music, soundtracks and library production music, nature/science documentaries, and vintage electronic sounds… His first lp release Sub Aquatic Meditation is an exciting record replete with underwater tunes. The outer space & the deep blue sea collide into two sides of spellbinding adventures reminiscent to the early work of Oneohtrix Point Never, Jürgen Müller and Dolphins Into The Future. Panabrite works in the hazy, analog-synth-laden zone between kosmische drift and new age waft. He launches beatless symphonies of fibrillating, smeared whorls and drones that make you feel like the star of a weird nature documentary or a sci-fi blockbuster from 1977. Chambers excels at evoking both the intimate and the epic with his scrupulously wrought arpeggios and ostinatos.

Pulse Emitter – ‘Aeons’ LP
Pulse Emitter joins the Aguirre catalogue with a stunning new album full of clear cosmic tones for the new space age. Aeons, as the title suggests, is about different periods in time. Pangaea is ancient earth, Hermits is based on a panel of the Ghent Altarpiece representing Renaissance Europe, Spaceship is the future, and Immortality is an even more distant future where consciousness has been uploaded to computers and people live without bodies. Pulse Emitter (Daryl Groetsch from Portland, Oregon) began working with synthesizers while in music school
in the 90’s and took the Pulse Emitter name in 2003, creating synthesizer pads and patterns which drift through cosmic and nature settings. A veteran of the noise scene of the mid 2000s, the music has returned to something more melodic and layered in recent years. David Keenan has said “No one is making synth music that feels so organic, so rapturous and so ‘in tune’ with the contours of outer and inner space as Groetsch.

WEBSITE

ESPVALL/JAKOBSONS/SZELAG – ‘Improvisations for Strings and Electronics’ CD
Deluxe limited edition. Multi-layered handmade transparent outer-sleeves, lino-block printed envelope. Post-classical/improv. On the aptly titled ‘Improvisations for Strings and Electronics’, Marielle Jakobsons and Agnes Szelag (better known as the experimental duo Myrmyr) team up with cellist Helena Espvall (of acid-folk revivalists Espers) on a series of improvisations for strings and electronics. Recorded in Oakland, CA, Jakobsons (also of Date Palms and Portraits and Darwinsbitch) and Szelag created graphic scores for the occasion. A little while ago Agnes asked me what “bands” I’d compare this album to. I couldn’t think of a single one. Not even the more classically oriented works of someone like Godspeed! You Black Emperor really come close. What did immediately spring to mind were the string quartets of contemporary composers such as Gloria Coates, Morton Feldman, Per Nørgård, and Henryk Górecki. As well, some of the more challenging, discordant and visceral works of Arvo Pärt bear a similarity to the sinuous, winding melodies and stunning tonal landscape created here. Ethereal and rapturous beauty tempered with sinister, creeping danger looming ominously in the shadows.

Babel – ‘Limbus’ CD $9 CAD(World)
Hand-stencilled cloth bags and CD tins, full colour “posterette” insert. Post-classical/noise/post-rock. Inspired by the life cycle of a tree—from seed to discarded newspaper—the Limbus suite sprawls skyward while rooting itself deep in the rocky murk. At times meeting at the crossroads between Labradford, Neubauten, and Philip Glass, harsh bowed electric guitar drives over delicate, leafy arpeggios backed by percussion textures building to a pummeling Taiko-influence cacophony.

WEBSITE

Last King of Poland – ‘follow lonely roads’
about the artist: last king of poland is a solo experimental/noise project from chicago musician tomasz jurczak. tomasz began making music within the 8-bit/chiptune genre before moving into the world of harsh noise and ambient in 2007. he primarily uses a large pedalboard to manipulate feedback and voice as well as various noisemakers and synths. he tries to create a noise music that produces an emotional response in contrast to what he feels is the modern paradigm of drinking beer and turning a knob. about the album: follow lonely roads is a piece about alienation built using a vocal processor and a loop pedal. using these two instruments tomasz transforms his voice into pulsing swirls and monastery ambiance. he creates machine drone loops, lonely droid bird cries, and deep space meditations.  pan y rosas discos is a small netlabel based in chicago that focuses on experimental: noise, improvisation, and rock. we believe that music should be available to listeners for free and all the music that we release is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-no derivative works 3.0 unported license. SAMPLE

WEBSITE

Le Drapeau Noir – ‘Whalley Range’ C30 £5(UK)£6(EU)/£6.5(World)
Chora, Hunter Gracchus and Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides formin’ like Voltron on the Whalley Range … Combining clouds of gob noise vocalisation/mediation, amplified object clatter and feedback manipulation while wind instruments and bowed strings trace the skyline over a tidal cadence of drum roll and augmented kick nudge and tickle. Documentation of their third live performance recorded in St. Margaret’s church on the 24th September 2011 and gently enhanced by the aforementioned architectural tonal wash. Art by Rob Lye, pro-dubbed cassettes.

WEBSITE

Ustad Abdul Karim Khan – ‘1934-1935’ CD
More than seventy years since his death in 1937, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan retains his reputation as one of the greatest singers India ever produced. Possessed of an elastic, honied voice that poured out like mercury, he influenced generations of singers including Mohammed Rafi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Pandit Pran Nath. Compiled  by Ian Nagoski.

Mi & L’au – ‘If Beauty Is A Crime’ CD
After exploring their creative impulses through strings, horns, pianos, and varied folk influences, Mi and L’au have decided to venture into a newer, more electric environment on their newest record. If Beauty is a Crime doesn’t feature a single guitar. In fact, you won’t find a traditional instrument anywhere on it. The simple, stripped-down sound for which they’ve become so well known is transformed on their latest album, shaped unexpectedly by circuits, programs, and mechanical processes.

Portraits – ‘Portraits’ LP
Beautiful new full length LP featuring Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Root Strata, Tarentel), Evan Caminiti & Jon Porras from Barn Owl, Lisa McGee (Higuma), Gregg Kowalsky (Date Palms), Marielle Jakobsons (Date Palms), Maxwell Croy (Root Strata/EN) Steven Dye & Tony Cross (Tarentel alum) and Michel Elrod, who plays tambura with Date Palms, Barn Owl & The Alps among others. Edition of 500. Screen printed jackets.  First 100 on color vinyl.

MASTER MUSICIANS OF BUKKAKE – ‘Live Totems: Test Pressing’ LP
Edition of 100 white label test pressings in screen printed jackets. Originally produced for MMOB’s European tour prior to the manufacturing of the commercial pressing. These tests pressings landed here too late to travel abroad with the band.

WEBSITE

Yellow Crystal Star – ‘New Atlantisca’
This album is a document of planetary transitions as observed thru the lens of my individual self cycle and re-cycle. Through the middle months of 2011, I had a syncronistic test which culminated in a vision and a total death/rebirth. The choice was to stay true to the vision even if it meant physical death; and it has taken 7 months to integrate the experience enough to share it with the outside world. In the vision I was not re-turned to Source, I re-leased many programs or attachments (from past lives, current lives) and also was told I would die as a result, however I saw this as a chance to die to the remaining negative energies I had held onto within my DNA-cellular structures. As a result of this a layer of reality has been unveiled and I have chosen to work within it – this work will continue as long as my connection to the biosphere and noosphere tell me it is necessary.

WEBSITE

Mark Bradley – ‘The Future Has Passed’ CDr  £5(UK)£6(EU)/£7(World)
“The Future Has Passed” is the latest recording from Mark Bradley.This comes in the form of a rather cool six track 3″ cdr.Thats not all though.Each copy comes with a unique code to download a further twelve track album called “The Other Side”.So in total you get eighteen new tracks.The sleeves are made from blue metallic gold shimmer paper.Each cover has a name band (basically my version of an OBI strip) and two inserts.”The Other Side” is the opposite of “The Future Has Passed” by it being mediative and contemptlative while the later is more rhythmic.Available now in an edition of 50 copies.

WEBSITE

GLD018: Guenter Schlientz – ‘Urban Tapes’ C60 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
A frozen bird song in a serious dawn. Sometimes dark alleys, sometimes a plant emerging from the soil. The Urban Tapes by Guenter Schlienz is his latest journey from the physical state, and latest in a series of portable DIY field synthesizer recordings.  Cover Art by Carl Baratta. Inside Photos by Hanno Braun.  Guenter Schlienz (GLD 018) c60, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 75 copies.  SAMPLE

GLD019: Zac Nelson – ‘Improv(e)’ C60 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Zac Nelson, the man of many masks, conjures up tribal progressions and temple bells in a sonic stew of electronic extractions. Insane Sounds throughout!!! Improv(e) revels in a mournful cave cry of crystal mobile chimes and yelps into the void. Art by The Vision. Zac Nelson (GLD 019) c60, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 75 copies. SAMPLE

GLD020: Kevin Greenspon/Former Selves C40 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Kevin Greenspon: For this split with Former Selves, Kevin Greenspon gives us concise glances into the unknown, guitar drone style. Introspective landscapes of familial glimpses. A morning siren of timeless expression. SAMPLE Former Selves: Beautiful bedroom expressions of human frailty, hopefulness, and release. A heartbeat running across the expanse. Warm journeys in a lore filled bath of memories. Former Selves, looks back, let’s go of the past, and arrives in the now. Photos by Kevin Greenspon. Kevin Greenspon/Former Selves (GLD 020) c40, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 100 copies.  SAMPLE

GLD021 White Prism/Wether C20 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
White Prism: A path fogs into a nightmare bird dance. Whistles it way into an arrival drone. And circles above its birth, Chicago’s White Prism sizzles its way from city to sky. SAMPLE Wether: The beating heart of a sleeping skeleton passing through you. Dissolving all of your parts into one, moment by moment. Out comes the dark static vibrations of Wether. SAMPLE White Prism/Wether (GLD 021) c20, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 100 copies

GLD022 Mark Bradley/No Mind Meditation C60 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Mark Bradley: Mark’s in my favorite mode for this split…cranking out minimal late-night micro nuggets and concise electronic moods. At times pulsing and pounding, at times momentous and sound tracking. Another behind the wheel late night conversation from this productive Midwest weirdo!!! SAMPLE  No Mind Meditation: For NMM’s side, they arrive in synthesizer psychosis and burnt tape collage mode. An array of atmospheres filled with Kokomo crack courses, weed worship, paranoid panic attack lift off and melodic baths. A brain burner, for sure. SAMPLE
Art by The Vision.  Mark Bradley/No Mind Meditation (GLD 022) c60, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 100 copies

GLD023 Seabat – ‘Mountains of Palawan’ $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Eternal moans of electronic worship and expression. Lysergic late night ballads of electric pulses. Aquatic medicine in a dark room. Wind journeys across a calming sea. Trunk rattling dystopian hover car bangers. Cosmic jungle journeys of infinite bliss. These are all sounds of Seabat, scanning and surging across a violent bay.  SAMPLE

GLD024 Suburban Spirit Guide $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Chomping through the burbs comes Suburban Spirit Guide. He’s murking up drug experiment Pod-era Ween with a cauldron of ambient bliss and munching up the microphone with ripping primordial stomps throughout. Spewed melodies spit out a magnetic crunch of damaged wires, always incessant and elevating. SSG finishes off his howl with a triumphant blast of victory and an electronic cry of release! SAMPLE

GLD025 Venn Rain/Past Utopia C40 $7(US)/$8(CAN)/$10(WORLD)
Venn Rain: Venn Rain locks in to infinite pop worship on this static split. That perfect melody vibrating in our face. No doubt I can’t feel angry during this jam. SAMPLE Past Utopia: Unearthed new age worship from way back when. This world is filled with barely tuned-in chants and melodic bliss. Never in a hurry, Past Utopia reminds us to take a moment and relax, at least for a little while. SAMPLE  Venn Rain/Past Utopia (GLD 025) c40, pro duplicated and on shell printing cassette tapes. Double sided and scored J-Card. Ltd 100 copies

ANY 4 TAPES FOR $20(US)/$22(CAN)/$25(WORLD); ALL 8 TAPES FOR $35(US)/$37(CAN)/$40(WORLD)

WEBSITE

Locrian & Mamiffer – ‘Bless Them That Curse You’ 2LP
Bless Them That Curse You captures an unprecedented balance of claustrophobia and solace. It’s a strange alchemy to render something both inviting and alienating; it requires a special kind of skill to create music that sounds like it’s rattling apart at its seams, unraveling in a torturous but compelling fashion. It demands an acknowledgement of the fine line between noise and racket, between tension and tedium. Finding an interpersonal chemistry to pull it off can take years of searching and refinement. Initiated by a history of record swapping and mutual admiration, Chicago’s Locrian and Seattle’s Mamiffer managed to accomplish such a feat.  Since their inception in 2005, Locrian’s sound has thrived on harnessing emotional resonance through texture and space. Highlighting a specific melody or beat in their music is unnecessary; their ability to trigger unease, fear, despair, and paranoia by playing with dynamics in timbre and timing is the central fixture in their work. While the Chicago-based trio’s approach is certainly unorthodox, they are not without sonic peers. Seattle-based duo Mamiffer similarly explores new territories in sound by marrying fragmented elements of neoclassical, drone, and proto-industrial dirge into compositions that are beguiling, haunting, and occasionally violent. Originating as a solo project for pianist Faith Coloccia in 2007, the project grew to encompass husband Aaron Turner and a rotating cast of guest musicians. Coloccia’s work, by nature, is malleable and suited towards the collaborative process. The collaboration between the two groups yielded some of the most beautiful material Locrian has ever recorded, and inversely pushed Mamiffer into the most caustic of new territories. Composed and recorded in Chicago at the renowned Electrical Audio studio, the album is the result of two disparate approaches arriving at one cohesive voice. It’s at turns contemplative and reserved, unnerving and unsettling, thunderous and feral. Aided by the engineering prowess of Greg Norman, the mixing skill of Randall Dunn, and the auxiliary instrumentation of Alex Barnett (Oakeater) and Brian Cook (Russian Circles), Bless Them That Curse You is a richly textured study in an unconventional creative process, blending fine-tuned synchronicity with spontaneous brute force.

WEBSITE