Animal Psi

/h/t/a/ – ‘stratus’ CS
Stratus is the first release from /h/t/a/, a 16 year old electronic musician. The first side of this tape is made up of his more soft beats and ideas, while the second side is more beat driven and intense. Limited edition purple cassette (25 copies). Hand numbered.

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CÉLESTE BOURSIER-MOUGENOT – ‘FROM HEAR TO EAR’ CS
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot produces music in surprising and unexpected ways through large- scale acoustic environments. Boursier-Mougenot’s immersive sonic installation, From Here To Ear, introduces a flock of 70 brightly plumed Zebra Finches to a gallery-turned-aviary to live among iconic Gibson Les Paul and Thunderbird bass guitars. At turns ambient and melodic, a constantly changing soundscape emerges as the finches explore their environment, eating, nesting and perching on the amplified instruments.

MATTHEW WATSON + DANIEL THOMAS FREEMAN – ‘CATCH ME DADDY OST‘ CD
Deluxe first pressing in heavy duty digi with foil stamping. “The crystal in men’s heads / Blackened and fell to pieces / The valleys went out / The moorlands broke loose” – from Ted Hughes “Heptonstall Old Church”
So begins Catch Me Daddy, the award-winning feature film* from the Wolfe brothers, underscored by the beautiful and bleak wind-ravaged music from Matthew Watson (a.k.a. Matthew Wolfe) and Daniel Thomas Freeman (Rameses III), whose debut album “The Beauty Of Doubting Yourself” was described by Norman Records as “a profoundly moving piece of music.”

JD EMMANUEL – ‘WIZARDS’ CD
This CD reissue of JD Emmanuel’s Wizards contains two tracks excluded from the original 1982 LP due to master tape problems.

DAVID BURRASTON – ‘T.H. CYCLE’ CS
David Burraston (aka Dave Noyze & Bryen Telko) is an artist/scientist involved in technology and electronic music/art since the late 1970s. Self taught in the areas of music composition/technology, generative art, chaos and complex systems, he is recognized as a leading practitioner/theorist in the field of generative music, producing both peer reviewed publications and musical compositions. He has worked with many diverse collaborators & artists such as Aphex Twin, MIT Media Lab, William Barton, Alan Lamb, Chris Watson, Russell Haswell, Robin Fox, Chris Mann, Dave Phillips and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He is also part of the team that designs and builds Long Wire installations at The WIRED Lab.

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE – ‘BENZAITEN’ CD
Benzaiten is an In C style homage to the the classic Osamu Kitajima record of the same name. The Acid Mothers Temple covers the title track and reprise using Kitajima’s original composition as a departure point to explore the outer realms of AMT territory. Further instrumental explorations reveal textures of the original composition while launching out further into the cosmic domain. Numerous Acid Mothers original tracks are scattered in between. Benzaiten!

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NNA079: Drainolith – ‘Hysteria’ LP
NNA is very proud to present our second release from Canadian hero Alexander Moskos’ Drainolith project. Following up 2012’s “Fighting!” full length LP, “Hysteria” reaches new levels in the Draino sound world, resulting in his most fully realized record to date. Moskos has spent years marinating solo in the cold Northern underground, cutting his chops as lead axegrinder with Montreal-based noise punks AIDS Wolf, and most recently rolling with North American all-star clan Dan’l Boone. “Hysteria” is the result of nearly two years spent in various studios with producers and fellow ‘Boone brothers Nate Young (Wolf Eyes) and Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux), working diligently together to take a few steps beyond Trip Metal and extract the skeleton out of “rock”, inserting it into a newer, much weirder, humanoid skin. The epicenter of this sound rests humbly on the foundation of guitar and voice, two facets of sound that Moskos has carefully cultivated through years of experimentation and digestion from a wide array of musical influences. The relaxed, loose, and energetically electric technique of guitar playing is reinforced by Drainolith’s unrivaled tone, which has morphed throughout the years but now stands alone atop a mountain of shredders. It is ripe with Bluesy fuzziness and the humanity of Americana, while punctuated by the gritty stab of 80’s death metal, and further rounded out with a sprinkling of EVH-esque chorus zones and free jazz adventurousness. The result is a sound that pre-dates the internet in a fabulous way. Each note seems to leave behind a glistening impression like a spot of grease on a pizza box. A tone as unique as this is only bolstered by the vocal delivery, the literal voice of the Mind of Moskos. This beautifully cold, dripping baritone is unmistakable, it’s fried-yet-poetic articulation recalling a halfway point between a melting Dylan and a blazed Robert Ashley. Over-tired, over-wired, and over it. Moskos lets every word kerplunk into a mesmerizing puddle of observation, giving something as mundane as staring out the window or a Vancouver hotel foyer the poignancy of a published work. With guitar and voice at the core, the additional instrumentation on “Hysteria” is the bizarre glue that binds it all together, using the palette of electronics, keys, and haphazardly triggered beats and percussion in an intensely layered fashion to ensure maximum disorientation. The compositions are fully stacked, allowing little room for sparseness or tender moments. Tracks like “Qix” stagger forward in a deranged manner, it’s elastic percussion hearkening back to purple Nike foot-pounding of 2011’s “Where Are Ye Col. Leslie Groves?” cassette and the “one man band” era, for those of us fortunate enough to witness Drainolith’s live experience. Other tracks like “Joy Road” burn on patiently, disintegrating piece by piece into the ether of time amid a bed of Fender Rhodes eeriness… almost like a rare Canadian B-side to the Lizard King’s “An American Prayer”. Blues notions are confronted by Beastie-esque guitar stabs, smeared together with repetitive, angular riff rotations and flailing synth filigree, creating a densely-layered intensity that feels like the anxiety of standing in a rat’s nest of instrument cables and leaky pipe water in a moist basement. Pleasant melody is of little interest here, instead thriving on dissonance and reminding us of the OGs of post-punk, when rock met experimentation and abstraction head on, shoving a properly-greased square peg into a circular hole. While thematically cryptic, “Hysteria” drops rough clues to the heart of it’s content, filled with tales of Quebec biker wars, sinking into couches, Detroit street hassles, sneaker worship, sidewalk slush, sexual desire and seasonal affect disorder. At it’s heart, “Hysteria” is the product of a musician who has much love for the past, but also little interest in recreating it. It is a song cycle that reflects the complexities of our day to day world through the psyche of the modern jammer, fueled by the quintessentially Moskosian diet of caffeine and nicotine. Someone who isn’t content sitting stagnant in a crowd of tradition, and who acknowledges that radical ideas are necessary to propel things into the future. Mastered and cut by Lupo at Calyx Mastering in Berlin, Germany. Comes with digital download coupon.

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Pet Coffins and Chris Dutrieux – ‘Paramnesia’
“Paramnesia” is the culmination of a friendship between two native South Bend, IN noise makers: Phil Egierski (Pet Coffins) and Chris Dutrieux. Pet Coffins offers up movements of pretty drones and vocals and minimal percussion; Chris D offers a single, lengthy track of guitar noise. After nine years they (FINALLY) put this tape together. Tape and case come wrapped in thick brown paper with a stamped red wax seal (that Phil apparently “found” one day). Each side has an etching to identify the artist’s respective side. This release is limited to 18 copies, eleven of which are already gone.

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FH056 Ak’chamel the Giver of Illness – ‘The Man Who Drank God’ C30 $6
RIYL: generally friendly cult acolytes, Popul Vuh heard through a shortwave radio. A local Cthulhu cult, maybe American Southwest. Their campfires are dim against the black, pinprick sky, the void which their voices yearn to command, yet also from which their greatest fears come: the only thing worse than being ignored, conversely, is being heard. As their scrap instruments beat out tattoos, ever so faintly something shifts in the blackness, relaxes, and then resumes its slumber. But not for very much longer. The crack, once it begins, can only lead to release. Ak’chamel the Giver of Illness is from somewhere in Texas.

FH057 The Snowfields – ‘How To Get Good Sound From A Dead Ear’ C37 $6
RIYL: postrock electronica with a whiff of 70’s Constellation aftershave. The first Snowfields album in 7 years is a sublime affair, sounding like a missing album from Julian Cope’s Krautrock Sampler or Obscured By Clouds/More-era Pink Floyd hitting the Serengetti on a shit-ton of mushrooms for some hazy concert for no one, but getting lost on a beer run. Spacy, complentative instrumentals with big, gooey blobs of pathos. The Snowfields is from Iowa City, IA.

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THLMS01: KOSTAS KEFALIANOS – ‘Abstinence’ CS 5€
“Abstinence” is the debut release of visual collagist / sound explorer Kostas Kefalianos. It features a selection of private tracks, recorded directly on tape between 2013-2014. Pro dubbed cassettes ltd to 100 copies.

THLMS02: PANOS ALEXIADIS – ‘Orphne’ CS 5€
“Orphne” (Ορφνή) consists of two electroacoustic pieces, equal in the procedure of synthesis, using a pallet of processed voices and saxophone along with modular synthesizer and cymbals. Pro dubbed cassette ltd to 100 copies.

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ICR13: Luciernaga – ‘To The Centre Of The City In The Night’ £4.5
A new release from Luciernaga, the project of Fabrica records label boss J.M. Da Silva. Representing a darker, grittier side to his music than the recently released ‘Tile’ series, Luciernaga presents us with five slabs of beautifully crafted drone to become entranced by. Using guitar, synth and voice to their maximum potential, we are faced with a nuanced pallete of sound and textures to experience. With each listen comes a new discovery. Every minor detail becomes amplified as the recordings move from subtle ambience to industrial roar. This release demands headphones on and full concentration for ultimate enjoyment and escapism. Hand dubbed C50 cassette. Black and white double sided artwork. Limited to 50 copies.

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Emiter – ‘Odzyskane’
The music on the album ‘Odzyskane’ [PL: Recovered] functioned initially as a soundtrack for a play by Ludomir Franczak. While transferred into a Pawlacz Perski tape, it draws attention by its minimalism and based on repetitions form, which is the starting point for weaving a variety of electronic textures. ‘Odzyskane’ is a hypnotic journey beneath the sound’s surface. Marcin Dymiter (emiter) Musician, improviser. Emiter moves within electronics, and improvised music. He experiments with sound, transforming sound present in our life. He uses and combines different qualities – lo-fi/hi-fi or sounds commonly seen as interference. He creates sound installations, radio plays, soundtracks for films, performances and public spaces. He plays for dumb films. He conducts audio workshops and promotes field recording. He works with visual artists and dancers, such as: Anna Baumgart, Joanna Rajkowska, Anna Witkowska, Ludomir Franczak, Risa Takita, poet Marcin Swietlicki and writer Daniel Odija. Other projects: niski szum, emiter_franczak audio video performance, Flora Quartet. He is a member of Polish Association of Electroacoustic Music. Album is available in digital files and in a limited edition of 40 cassettes.

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CN044: Riel – ‘En Viaje’
Available for the first time outside of their native Argentina, this is the second album from the Buenos Aires noise-rock duo. Riel conjure up those halcyon days when bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr dominated the indie-rock circuit, pedal hopping through 10 tracks of tuneful chaos; melding melody and discord in equal measures. The sound generated by the pair hits harder than some 4-piece bands and the short sharp shot songs leave you wanting more. Published on a plum purple cassette with pro-printed full colour double-sided gatefold inlay. Limited to 50 copies world-wide.

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STRATA07 Lero – ‘Ad Astra’ C35
Edition of 50 on pro dubbed + imprinted gold cassettes. Full color, two sided j-cards. Soundtracks, dreamscapes, wave patterns – an unexpected, yet logical progression from his recent releases on Metaphysical Circuits. Includes download code.

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