Animal Psi

Lake St. Helens – ‘KID’ C40
The second full length release from Lake St. Helens, “KID” is an album about loss, be it the loss of your home, your dog, your best friend, or your god (if you’re super unlucky, all four of those things could be the same.) The album is etched sparsely with acoustic guitar, drum machines, simple guitar lines, and a few synths, and was written at school and recorded at home. Pressing of 50 on dark blue C40 cassette, available for $8 or free download at the bandcamp link provided, self-released on Thursday, May 28th.

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Rasa Samā – ‘Ma’ C41 £3/$5
A release of virginal oomphs – an off-pop debut from Rasa Samā as the initial ball-roller in pursuit of art, almost always shy of the target. “This project started as a means to assimilate the distance between the environment I’ve known and the one I find myself situated in. I wanted to re-appropriate the audio culture I encountered, intercept it’s message, rearrange its code…” – Rasa Samā

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Errorsmith & Mark Fell – ‘Protogravity’
Both Fell and Wiegand have contributed hugely to the development of alternative dance forms and are no strangers to collaboration; Fell alongside DJ Sprinkles and as one half of SND, Wiegand as Smith N Hack together with Soundstream and more-frequently accompanying Fiedel as MMM. The seminal Errorsmith albums from the turn of the millennium are often referenced beside Fell’s early works as pivotal moments in the evolution of club music, owing as much to dub and the hardcore continuum as they do to minimalism and the avant garde. This project is a relished opportunity to combine their creative approaches. Made in June 2014 at Wiegand’s Berlin studio, the Protogravity EP explores different working methods and musical structures, yet results in a cohesive collection of subterranean techno. Engaging with dance music’s rich lineage through an anamorphic lens, the pair yield maximum effect from lucid, idiosyncratic sound, offering up three hypnotic cuts with a playfulness that often underlies their solo work. The 12” is mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, with artwork by Kathryn Politis & Bill Kouligas.

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UMANZUKI – ‘Porta’ 12”
Umanzuki is the youngest act to emerge from the current Italian Occult Psychedelia milieu. What was born as some sort of exotic free-jazz combo with the Sonic Birds EP, quickly developed into Tropical Nature Of Tiaso, a 35 minute-long improvisation built upon minimal electronics, diluted sounds and reduced synthetic rhythm. Porta, their newest effort, explores one more artistic metamorphosis. Focusing on a EP format the Florence-based trio has been able to shape the looseness of its previous creations and give birth to two skilfully crafted 8-miunte tracks. With Porta meaning Door it is no surprise that we feel like entering a new zone here, where A side is one somehow refined and emproved version of paths already explored onTropical Nature Of Tiaso, while the flipside opens to a new, almost club-oriented dimension. Beware thou, as with everything when it comes to Umanzuki, nothing here is definite or set in stone. Their creations are always too liquid and free to be framed and we’re sure their future recordings will prove us right. Porta is out May 25 on 45rpm black 12” vinyl. Limited edition of 100, comes with free digital download code.

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Barbados – ‘Runaway Stories’ EP
New born cassette label based in Italy. It goes by the name of More Letters and wants to convey that age old habit some people have of cultivating a passion which means a lot to them. More Letters is an invitation. Barbados’ cassette is More Letters’ first and most loved shot so far. The band is composed of four guys inflicted with deep wanderlust. They have been playing illegal countryside concerts while dry sunny landscapes and seaside warm waves shaped their sound. Barbados move between the dreamy colors of the most sweet american folk and indie rock guitars from the 90s with a pinch of C86 era british indiepop. Runaway Stories EP is a short concept album about escaping and leaving the past behind. Inspired by Alice Munro’s short story book, the EP is composed by five songs, five different personal, literary and cinematic stories, all intimately real. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Dario Tatoli at Bobo Studio. Artwork by Andrea Meloni. Limited to 100 C30 yellow tapes.

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LES SORCIERS DU THEIL – ‘Polyte Deshaies’ 12″
Second reunion for LES SORCIERS DU THEIL, one year after the first one (released on tape last summer). The Sorcerers continue their improvised experience in a darker and heavier way. “Polyte Deshaies” presents 4 new tracks still based on instrumental psychedelic music. Monsieur Polyte Deshaies was the most famous sorcerers from Le Theil who lived at the beginning of the XIX century. He died in mysterious way after being accused of causing deaths in this remote region of the Normandy countryside. This time the waving and repetitive rythmic section was mixed with heavy guitars. Unexpected instruments such as vielloncelle and saz were also used. The spontaneous recording was brought by mutual energy. “Polythe Deshaies” is powerful and meditative time at once. The quartet has invited few long time friends to participate: Christèle Cavaleri, David Cosnefroy, Alice Dourlen, David Dupas, and Julien Louvet. Recorded by Bertrand Duchemin at Studio Chaudelande, the studio is located a few miles away from the Sorcerers village “Le Theil”. Artwork by Sylvain Etasse. Recorded by Bertrand Duchemin at Studio Chaudelande in august 2014. Mastered by Mathieu Mellec.

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Jeffrey Alexander – ‘Wayfinding Beacons From Planet To Planet’ LP $20
A new solo full-length of deep electric ragas and sonic interstellar beacons from Jeffrey Alexander, member of legendary wholly other free-thinkers Jackie-O Motherfucker, Black Forest/Black Sea and The Iditarod. Celestial navigation music with synthesizer, shruti box, electric guitar, bamboo saxophone, singing bowl, space echo and talking book phonograph. Time-folding exercises of love & light. RIYL Indian classical music, Alice Coltrane, Dune, Klaus Schulze, Nonesuch Explorer, vibes.

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ICR11: Midwich – ‘The Swift’ £4.5
The Swift is a one hour long piece, split into two parts to accommodate the format. We begin with a slow, throbbing electronic pulse that increases in intensity while still never quite pushing our backs against the wall. It’s gentle repetition lets us gaze dreamily into the distance as our minds wander. This pulsating drone is joined by beautifully minimal field recordings to give us a slight sense of place but with enough freedom to create our own mental landscapes filled with swarms of birds, a gentle breeze and kitchen sink ambiance. Close your eyes and become fixated on the elegance of flight. Truly mind blowing work from Rob Hayler’s Midwich project. Numerous people have already commented on the brilliance of this work in a much more articulate way than I ever could myself. Originally released through Altar Of Waste Records as a CD-r in a limited edition of 15. Hand dubbed C65 cassette. Black and white double sided artwork. Limited to 40 copies.

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CN042: Third Arm/Watts split
A 4 track tape featuring 40 mins of organic atmospheric lo-fi ambient noise from a couple of fine Newcastle(UK) based fellas. Kind of in the vein of those other classic Newcastle experimental advant-garde artists Jazzfinger and :zoviet*france: Or the Eraserhead soundtrack. Limited to 25 copies world-wide. Recorded on a high quality coral red C40 tape with pro-printed inlay.

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Przewalski’s Horses – ‘The Middle of the Night’ CDr
The Middle of the Night is the first release from Przewalski’s Horses in three years. It is a follow-up to the “Looking for the Middle of the Night” tape released by Earjerk in 2010 ; simple recordings of improvised guitar duos, electric & acoustic, by Aurélie Brouet & Constantin Dubois Choulik. Very short run of 25 copies, 5″ CDr, transparent paper artwork with different drawings I made over the last years – each copy get a different drawing.

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