Animal Psi

Ben Owen – ‘Birds and Water, 1’ C94  $7(US)/$10(World)
Those with a certain taste will be familiar with Ben Owen’s subtle yet stunning design work with his Brooklyn-based Winds Measure Recordings imprint, which also releases his own carefully crafted music in both collaborative and solo form.  These are two masterfully textured sidelong pieces exemplifying his attention to craft, process, and detail at the most painstaking levels, while still embracing the sonic imprecision of the cassette tape medium.  “These recordings were made on residency with The Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY during May 2010. This was my third and—unknown to me at the time—last residency, as the Center has now closed. While two of three residencies were in partial an audio/video collaboration with Justin Lincoln, the Birds and Water series is my main body of work created at ETC. The recordings are both sound and sound and image based pieces using David Jones’ image processing system. ETC expanded operations in 1974 with the first Jones Colorizer, and in 1975 with a set of keyers, a multi-input syncable sequencer and a bank of oscillators, all designed and constructed by David Jones. The analog system modules coupled with several external op amp generators are heard in these sessions. Numerous patches and variations of each were recorded in extended durations. Side A was recorded direct to cassette tape. Both recordings are presented in their unedited duration. Thanks to Hank Rudolph, Sherry and Ralph Hocking, Justin Lincoln, Giuseppe Ielasi and Evan Lindorff-Ellery.” – Ben Owen.  Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. This release features collaborative artwork by Owen and Evan Lindorff-Ellery.  Cover art silk screen printed by the fine folks at Sonnenzimmer print studio in Chicago. Thanks to them for their help. Silk screen printed sleeve designed by Lindorff-Ellery. Two inserts included featuring video stills by Owen. An edition of 200. Type II Chrome cassette tape.

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The Pheromoans – ‘Bar Rock’ 12″
Fresh off of their amazing debut full-length ‘It Still Rankles,’ The Pheromoans, the UK’s #1 DIY wedding band, have returned to the studio, imbuing their singular brand of ramshackle honesty with a deeper swagger than previously seen.  That’s right, the success has gone to their heads, and like most multi-platinum-selling artists, they’ve decided to indulge with ‘Bar Rock,’ a 7-song ep (mini album?) released in small quantities on the esoteric medium of 12” vinyl.   300 available. LISTEN

Storm Shelter s/t cs
Sludge-slinging pop and euphoric, marching doom from the four ladies of Storm Shelter.  After a long incubation, finally a debut release!  limited to only 50.  LISTEN

Flower Man – ‘Inversion Fortuite’ one-sided 10″
Chicago-based Flower Man (aka Caboladies’ Chris Bush) gives us his latest, an electronic suite weaving motorik vibes into Badalamenti ambience. LISTEN

Dikes of Holland/Daniel Francis Doyle split one-sided 10”
Dikes of Holland and Daniel Francis Doyle give up two tracks each for a killer one-sided split, Dikes pounding rock giving way to DFD’s dynamic, one-man acrobatics. LISTEN

The Rebel – ‘The Five Year Plan’  one-sided 12”
We couldn’t be happier to present to the world a new release from one of our favorite recording artists OF ALL FUCKING TIME!  Ben Wallers aka The Rebel is the main man behind Country Teasers, and continues to amaze with the near constant flow of material out on a variety of labels including a 2007 release from Austin label Emperor Jones.  Since playing in our garage in March of 2006 we’ve kept in contact (aka drunk g-chatting), and a couple months ago he was generous enough to send us 13 songs to choose from. We’ve selected our three favorites, and pressed them up proper on a 12″ EP titled THE FIVE YEAR PLAN.  full color everything…. label, jacket, and screen printed B Side. Looks/Sounds amazing. Fans of Ronnie O’Sullivan will be extra stoked.  300 copies. LISTEN

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Pregnant Spore – ‘Growth’ 2xCDr – RB-103
A brand new collection of 13 psychedelic compositions by Baltimore’s Pregnant Spore, recorded in real-time with no edits. This is severely focused material, yet, at times, it may give the illusion of scattered and chaotic collages and textures. Centered around the theme of personal spiritual growth, Justin Marc Lloyd pushes his trademark “mangled electronics” sound to a new meditative level, all the while maintaining a degree of harshness and complexity in frequencies and movement. Inspired by the poetry of Dao De Jing and it’s integration into every day life, Growth is simultaneously a journey inside the mind and outside the realms of the galaxy, all according to our own perception of reality. Although flesh, vocal chords and man-made devices were joined together to produce what you hear, they were all merely vessels in exposing an invisible world that already existed. This is something to get lost in because Pregnant Spore had lost itself in the making. Hand-assembled, hand-stamped scrap-booking card-stock packaging and hand-stamped CDrs. Contains track listing and a copy of collage artwork made by Justin Marc Lloyd. Limited to 40.

Pregnant Spore – ‘Ache For’ C92 – RB-105
Meditative, slow moving, extremely diverse indulgences in voice, samples and disfigured electronics. Centered around the concept of longing. These recordings took place by accident. In an attempt to experiment with new equipment, strange encounters and a slip into a trance-like state ensued. The tape was rolling and so was the manifestation of missing someone and something so much that it induced physical pain. With that channeled energy in these recordings, the two 45 1/2 minute pieces will pass by leaving the rest of the world behind.  Special price of only $5 shipped as incentive to generate more sales for the purpose of fund-raising for the label. Hand-assembled j-cards made of folded origami paper with lazer-jet printed inserts with artwork and info by Justin Marc Lloyd. Limited to 50.

Ground Zero Mosque / & + Lessons – ‘Advance Funerals’ CDr
3 CDrs full of wacky noise tactics by Andy Livingston, Justin Marc Lloyd and Jake Lexso. Jake is the man behind the Pittsburgh solo endeavor Ground Zero Mosque, an extremely diverse outfit ranging from walls of harsh noise to electro beats with synth melodies to everything in between. Justin and Andy make up a Baltimore duo called Lessons producing psychedelic noise with no limits. This release contains tracks from each project as well as collaborative tracks between the two projects.  3 CDrs separately packaged inside paper sleeves with info, together housed in a hand-numbered manilla envelope. The 11 out of the 33 copies distributed by Rainbow Bridge Recordings were hand-stamped with a rainbow stamp.

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[058] SCULPTURE – ‘Toad Blinker’ picture-disc LP
2nd zoetropic picture disc by this UK duo.

[057] XELA – ‘The Sublime’ LP
3rd and last part of the trilogy.

[056] MACHINEFABRIEK & GARETH DAVIS – ‘Ghost Lanes’ LP
Rutger Zuydervelt with amazing clarinettist Gareth Davis.

[055] ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB – ‘Generator Breaker’ LP
Brand new album by UK DIY/Drone/Noise legend Neil Cambell with heavily layered techno-infused space drone whirl.

Test House/Catscars split EP
CF is pleased to present a brand new split double EP from Brooklyn’s Test House and Dublin’s Catscars, available now on super limited cassette (including 320 kpbs MP3 download) from the CF Store. Also available as a part of limited time MEGADEAL, get all three of our latest tapes for only £10!! Here’s some more about the bands: Test House is the New York City-based production duo of Peter Schuette (ex-Silk Flowers, Psychobuildings) and James Elliott (ex-Bear In Heaven, ex-School of Seven Bells). The duo blends classic House music with elements of ’80s electro, German cosmic music, deep R&B, the film scores of Goblin and John Carpenter, Detroit Techno, and various strains of modern dance music. The resulting sound aims a dancefloor tractor beam at your ass while disrupting normal brain functions with blissed-out repetition and hypnotic melodies. Listen here! Inhabiting a genre of her own devising known mysteriously as “Post-Enya”, Catscars is the solo project of Dublin’s Robyn Bromfield (Patrick Kelleher’s Cold Dead Hands, Children Under Hoof) and shares with those projects a love of old synths and an effortless pop sensibility. This is her first release since the acclaimed debut album “Construction” from earlier this year, and it’s Cold Wave lack of affectation is the perfect foil to Test House’s haunted Housescapes.

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[UM013] Ninni Morgia – ‘Ladyboy Sonata’ CS
Thirty minutes of guitar delirium from Italy’s finest avant guitarist. Morgia starts off in his own unique warped way, with a noise psych intro filled with fiery bendings and his signature wild distortion. Then the guitar gets modulated until it’s filtered and thinned out to a hammering, hypnotic cicada chant. It’s a Kafkian nightmare, and when the guitar is reduced to bits, it feels like it’s emitting its last cries of help, like Solmania’s face-cutting licks, or better, like a windy February night walk in NY. Morgia’s guitar work resembles the extended techniques applied to trumpet by Peter Evans and Axel Doerner, both in terms of dynamics and research, especially in richness, clarity and overtones, and also in a beyond-limits live performance (there are no overdubs on any of his recordings). Pro-dubbed imprinted black tapes with a foxxy Ninni on the cover. Edition of 100.  Also comes in a numbered limited edition of 9: same packaging but housed in stenciled ladyboy cardboard boxes by SK. Available only direct from Ultramarine. See/listen/have it.

[UM010] Silvia Kastel – ‘Love Tape’ CS
Silvia Kastel: synth, voice, bass, beats, tenori-on, NatGeo artwork.  A concept tape packed with unconditional love to whoever hears/buys/does whatever with it. C30, white shells with watercolor labels by SK; each tape is unique. Edition of 60; of which 9 come in a numbered limited edition with alternate covers, each one featuring an instant picture of/by Silvia Kastel.

[UM011] Marcello Magliocchi – ‘Music For Sounding Sculptures In Twenty-Three Movements’ CS
Twenty-three wonderful pieces recorded live in a tower in Tuscany, in which master percussionist Marcello Magliocchi plays sound sculptures by Andrea Dami, made of various metals including iron, brass, copper, steel, aluminium and featuring other elements like strings, stones and gongs. Imagine a mix between Indonesian gamelan, Bertoia, Lucier , obscure recordings from Africa, Beaver Harris and Don Moye, all infused with Marcello’s unique approach to polyrhythm, dynamics and modulation, the result of over 40 years of personal studies. Each movement flows through the most disparate sounds: percussive, flute-like, thick drones, lap-steel, bells, cymbals… every sculpture becomes alive and is made resonate in all possible ways, through a fine work of tonal juxtapositions, rhythm interlocks, deep resonation and also using brushes, bows and sticks. The excellent clarity of the recording allows for a full enjoyment of the rich range of harmonics, pitches and clangs produced.  C60 high quality chrome tapes, with photo artwork by Lidia Stranges and watercolor labels by Silvia Kastel; each tape is unique.  Edition of 60.

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NNA035: Quicksails – ‘A Fantasy in Seasons’ C30
Ben Billington’s solo works as Quicksails put him in a place uncharted by many other contemporary acts, combining a wide assortment of live percussion and synthesized electronics. Following up recent cassettes on Digitalis and Deception Island, “A Fantasy In Seasons” recalls moments of Kosmische synth, Free Jazz, world music, and a vast collection of eclectic sounds from this world and elsewhere.

NNA036: Hex Breaker Quintet – ‘Riders’ C20
Deeply spaced orchestral arrangements from the HBQ Riders Crew, consisting of Grasshopper’s Jesse DeRosa and Josh Millrod, plus Telecult Powers’ Mister Matthews and Witchbeam. The boys travel the lonely road with pastoral, longing brass lines coasting alongside gritty modular synthesizer, creating deep currents of brotherhood electronics. VIDEO

NNA037: various artists ‘Diamond Catalog “Magnified Palette” Remixes‘ C95
Birthed out of the DNA of Diamond Catalog’s “Magnified Palette” LP (NNA032) comes 95 minutes of truly disturbed dance music, remixed by an eclectic gang of underground electronic musicians hand-selected by Pat and Lala. Dirty trance, harsh noise breakbeats, minimal house moods, and overall imaginative techno from the likes of Liz Harris (Grouper), Driphouse, Future Blondes, Fecalove, and sweaty handful of mystery characters.

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JOVONTAES – ‘Things Are Different Here’ LP
limited to 500. Jovantaes are Lexington, KY.  They emerge from (and possibly define) my town’s peculiar skate/Kraut/nihil/garage axis, evoking the smell of stale Miller High Life and burning couches: stumbling match-grip surf rolls, howling chorused-out guitar, droning Adderall haze, and a singer who makes Will Shatter sound like Scott Walker.  Imagine Moolah playing at a beach party on the edge of the Kentucky River, big gray globs of unidentifiable garbage drifting silently past and the dense wet air becomes gridlocked with mosquitoes- Trevor Tremaine (Hair Police) The current line up, and longest running, consists of Mark Murray on guitar and electronics, Reid Small on drums and vocals, and Josh Blaine playing bass and home modified electronics. Recorded mostly at Small’s Void Skateshop in Lexington, “Things Are Different Here” is a fresh look at the future of underground improvised music.

THE POLYPS – ‘Ants On The Golden Cone’ LP
limited to 500. Raf Spielman was born and raised on the West Coast.  He is active in the fringe music community through his Eggy Records label, and has released music on the Night-People, Digitalis and Not Not Fun labels, among others.  After a handful of cassettes and a 7″ under the Polyps moniker, this debut LP is his most realized statement to date, having been assembled from a year and half’s worth of sound and field recordings.  “It’s never right, because it doesn’t have everything in it,” de Kooning.  A book of his drawings was recently published by Container Corps Arts Press.

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Michel Henritzi – ‘Walking in the Shadow’ CDr 6€(France)/7€(EU)/8€(World)
First time i went to see Michel Henritzi live, i’d never heard about him. It was at a great venue in Brussels, the Nova Cinema. Some ancient, disused movie theater. He was playing the greatest looking guitar, a Framus Television (best guitar name too !). Projected with him during the performance were the beautiful black & white photographs of Kumiko Karino, street images of Japan. And if you still haven’t heard Michel play, you should right now. About the most elegant, ghostly powerful guitar players of our times. Walking in the Shadow documents the serie of live recordings inspired to M.Henritzi by K.Karino’s photographs. 55mn CDr. 50 copies.

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