Animal Psi

Hidden Persuaders – ‘Elegies and Curses’ C38 5€
Andreas Brandal returns with Hidden Persuaders offering “Elegies and Curses”, the project’s third release after “The Bone Forest” and the homonymous debut on 2:00AM Tapes in 2014. The bleak and slow tempo heaviness of those previous releases appears now enhanced by the addition of a band-like instrumentation, where the extended use of guitar, bass and the ceremonial drumming of Børre Myklebust renew the industrial synth/ sampler combo, making “Elegies and Curses” the most concise and charged Hidden Persuaders album so far. The flawless pristine production makes the most intricate details to emerge from the densely saturated noise backdrops, the ceaseless pounding of heavy blows and the overall chilling and chaotic atmosphere which this album ultimately sinks into. Like the bastard son of early ‪Einstürzende Neubauten‬ and Norway’s own Black Metal tradition, “Elegies and Curses” is a pure statement of undiluted sterness and Brandal’s musicianship. Pro-duplicated cassette with a download card and artwork by øjeRum. Edition of 60.

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Tashi Dorji – ‘Appa’
Appa – meaning “father” in Dzongkha — is Bhutan-by-way-of Asheville, NC guitarist Tashi Dorji’s debut release for Bathetic Records. With Appa, Dorji paints winding and expansive images with both patient and dizzying guitar movements. Intricate and delicate, strong and poetic; Appa comes across as a record brimming with energy, vitality and life while expressing emotions of loss and strength and family and distance.

Villages – ‘Procession Acts’
Ross Gentry returns to Bathetic under his Villages moniker to present his sophomore LP, Procession Acts. Procession Acts carries on Villages’ debut LP’s grand expanse of ambient glory, while carrying the sound to a heightened level. Procession Acts comes across as much more cinematic. It is a denser record, more precise in its attack and its immersion.

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AU79 – ‘Opiłki i Makrostruktury’
“Opiłki i Makrostruktury” [“Filings and Macrostructures”], AU79’s first release, are collages of rejected samples, shabby synthesizers parts and jagged drum loops, treated with techniques detached from the standardized club music production. The release resounds with rhythmic and melodic shreds from the duo’s inspirations. In fact they are only the survivors of the subconscious, indicating the hope of escaping from the chaos of the capitalistic reality. Not only by destructing the popular & well known patents and the duty of the experiment, is the principle of Rodczenko’s Avant Garde implemented, but also by the escapist ritual, releasing the original potential – both artists, as well as in the audience. AU79 is a project by Paweł Klimczak and Jędrek Jendrośka known for their most diverse activities in the field of music – from editing Lineout.pl website (no longer running) to a DJ-producer’s duo Pvre Gold. For quite some time they are working solo now – Jędrek as a DJ Ryan R is exploring vinyl records from around the globe in order to transform them into pure dance energy; Paweł as Naphta produces and plays house from beyond time. AU79 is a nod to experiments straight from the Polish Radio Experimental Studio – creating a sonic atmosphere using overreact and going outside limits of the safe world of dancefloor sounds. Album is available in digital files and in a limited edition of 40 cassettes.

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Bouquet – ‘In a Dream’ 10″
In a Dream is the debut 5-song EP from Bouquet. Each song on the record offers a portal into Bouquet’s uncanny universe – where clocks strike backwards, dust fills trophy cups, and analog drum machines pulsate like footsteps. Guitar and synthesizer blend and divide as Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs’ ether-filled vocals float above, fortified by Max Foreman’s precise baritone. In A Dream’s landscapes of trembling electronics invoke such unclassifiable wonders as Young Marble Giants and This Mortal Coil, synth heroes Cluster, and the dulcet sensibilities of Sibylle Baier. The record was mixed by producer Cole Marsden Greif-Neill (Julia Holter, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Beck). Formed in Los Angeles, Bouquet set forth with a vision of pop songwriting combined with a minimal palette of analog electronic sounds. Both members originally hail from the San Francisco Bay Area, where guitarist Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs fronted the folk-pop outfit The Finches, while also working as a visual artist. Keyboardist Max Foreman has a background in experimental composition, and cofounded the instrumental trio Tenebre. The two have joined their technical and creative approaches to music-making, along with visual elements – including prints, sculptural objects, and projections – by Pennypacker Riggs. Since 2013, Bouquet has gained increasing attention for their live performances supporting acts such as Geneva Jacuzzi, Ariel Pink, EMA, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Sonny and the Sunsets, Lori Goldston (Nirvana), Nite Jewel, and Mt. Eerie; playing at The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Night Court at Art Basel Miami; and All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in the UK, curated by TV on the Radio. Released in a pressing of 500 10-inch records (250 on Black Vinyl and 250 on White Vinyl) housed inside of a record jacket that is offset printed with silver ink. Includes a rissograph print insert and a digital download card. Co-released with Ulrike Records.

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Tikhie Kamni – ‘Zemli’
A true gem – this quiet, intimate and easy to miss tape has appeared out of nowhere, really. A duo of Anastasia Tolchneva (Lovozero) and Fedor Pereverzev (Moa Pillar) have recorded “Zemli” (“Lands”) hiking, making field recordings and improvising while on the road – and what a soulful ambient record it is! No status, no background, no ego, no bullshit. Heartfelt folk vistas make way for ethereal Cocteau Twins-style cuts, deep drones, aural accidents and minimalist piano. These songs are sonic diaries of young people exploring Russia’s valleys and hills, rivers and lakes. Not intended for a release, the personal recordings possess that strange magic lots of “psychedelic collage” records lack. Hmot’s “Barricades” (fon47) is a wholly different affair: modular synthesizers meet meticulously-crafted minimal house and techno from Siberia. Stanislav Sharifullin hails from Lesosibirsk (the city name literally translates “forest + Siberia”). Stanislav used to run Gimme5, the Russian label responsible for shaping local Beats-scene. He then created a dark masterpiece “Lost in Taiga” with Nocow and has deliberately kept his profile rather low except releases such as “Oneirology” EP. Nowadays Hmot runs an impeccable tape label Klammklang and is bringing Berlin’s unique CTM festival to Siberian towns of Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk. Tags like “local”, “shadowy” & “organic” seem to be the guiding principles for Hmot. “Barricades” EP feels like taiga, an endless barren area punctuated by pines and spruces. Hum and buzz of strange modular trajections meet piano + string samples and field recordings layered over hard-panned clickety-clack techno and house templates. White cassettes have been pro-dubbed at Go Tape, Russia, with ascetic design by Anya Kuts screen-printed on thick cardstock. Limited runs of 50 copies each, with instant download of the digital album and/or download coupons.

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SIMON BALESTRAZZI – ‘Ultrasonic Bathing Apparatus’ CD
Simon Balestrazzi is an electronic/electroacoustic composer and sound artist active since the 80’s and one of the leading figures of italian post-industrial scene. In 1981 he co-founded T.A.C. (Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata), a long-lived and outstanding Italian band operating on the border between experimental music, leftfield rock and post-industrial. Between 1986 and 1988 he created the dark-chamber ensemble Kino Glaz while in 1991 he joined Kirlian Camera, with whom he worked for seven years releasing several albums and performing live throughout Europe. He has so far performed live or recorded with the following musicians and groups: Gianluca Becuzzi, Maurizio Bianchi/MB, Bron Y Aur, Marco Cappelli, Elia Casu, Fabio Cerina, Paulo Chagas, Mattia Coletti, Compoundead, Sylvie Courvoisier, Deison, Max Eastley, Andrea ‘Ics’ Ferraris, Forbici Di Manitù, Henning Frimann, Hermetic Brotherhood Of Lux-or, Tim Hodgkinson, Dalila Kayros, M.S. Miroslaw, Ikue Mori, Clara Murtas, Phill Niblock, Noisedelik, Victor Nubla, Alessandro Olla, Plasma Expander, Maja Ratkje, Paolo Sanna, Damo Suzuki, TH26, Uncodified, VipCancro, Z’EV, Francesco Paladino. He’s currently working as a solo artist and with experimental duos Dream Weapon Ritual (with Monica Serra), Candor Chasma (with Corrado Altieri), Sarang (with Enrico Marani) and the improv ensemble A Sphere Of Simple Green (with Adriano Orrù and Silvia Corda). Ultrasonic Bathing Apparatus is an apotheosis of the deep sound. Built around the concept of numbness and sensorial deprivation, the album unfolds in seven movements.An ideal path that alternates between dives alienating themselves from external tension and re-emergences, where the sounds become palpable and consistent. A continuous transition from deep tense drones, making you feel disconnected from body perception, and actual sounds, that make you fall quickly back into the outside world. Until the last dive, a massive final drone, where you get lost and can only concentrate on your own self. A work composed with surgical precision and great arrangement care, supported by a very skilled composition and containing a touching poetics of progressive estrangement. Psychological tension constantly on! Are you ready for this? artwork by truculentboy. glass master CD on four panel cardboard sleeves. limited to 200 copies.

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CN039: Skat Injector/Nekrokyrpä – ‘Mung Dungeon’ split £4
A heavy-weight soundclash between Skat Injector (“the vilest digital grindcore band to be vomited out of London”) and Nekrokyrpä (“violent raw noisy speedcore from Finland”). Not for the faint-hearted or easily offended. Recorded appropriately on a red splattered clear C20 tape with pro-printed inlay. Limited to 40 copies world-wide.

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Broken Water – ‘Wrought’ LP
The best LP yet from this long running Olympia WA trio.

Tereshkova – ‘Pelagic’ CS
Experimental leaning dream pop project by solo artist Jeff Lane.

Silent Girlfriend – ‘Backstabbing Female Supremacist’ CS
Dancey Industrial solo outing by Uncanny Valley member Natalee Decker out of Oakland.

Gem Jones – ‘Wurm Man Dubiosity’ CS
2nd NP tape from this weirdo outsider pop outfit, nothing like it under the sun.

Trailblazer – ‘Guyonetics’ CS
Psyched out motorik from Lexington KY mainstay Coleman Guyon.

Moon Dice – ‘My Motel Room’ CS
New Melbourne AU psychedelic pop band w/ members of Ancients and Love of Diagrams.

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Hell#001: Morbidly-o-Beats – ‘Growing Like Fungus’
Free EP from producer/emcee Morbidly-o-Beats (Chicago,IL).

Hell#002: Marjen and LV Frett – ‘Arriving Late’
Free Vocal/Instrumental single by Marjen (production) and LV Frett (raps).

Hell#003: Unemployment – ‘Six Dark Years’
Free mini-EP by France based artist Unemployment.

Hell#004: V8 – ‘The Hello.L.A. Blue Light Special’
Free album from Chicago emcee/producer V8, featuring appearances and production by DJ Pain1, Radioinactive, Morbidly-O-Beats, K-The-I???, Vyle, Orel and more.

Hell#005: AngrySpace – ‘Analog’
Free EP by AngrySpace (K-The-I??? and V8).

Hell#006: V8 (as Big Richard starring in) – ‘The Rolled Up Goat And A Horse EP’
Free EP by Chicago based artist V8 with production by V8, Purekreation, Teddy Faley, K-¬The-¬I???, Orel and Full Exposure.

Hell#007: Unemployment – ‘Words’
Free mini-EP by France based artist Unemployment.

Hell#008: Alaska – ‘Alkast’
Free mixtape from Alaska (Atoms Family, Hangar 18 / Def Jux) rapping over Outkast beats with guest spots from Zilla Rocca, Curly Castro, Elsphinx and Randon Bowerman.

Hell#009: Sludge Factorie – ‘Smashed Rats’
Free release from Chicago’s Sludge Factorie (V8 & Morbidly-O-Beats).

Hell#010: Bakus – ‘Theodore EP’
Free EP from L.A. emcee Bakus with production by Morbidly-O-Beats, Jonathan Tramp, and EQ.

Hell#011: Marjen and Skizza – ‘Skyblack’
Free Vocal/Instrumental single from Saskatoon’s Marjen (production) and Skizza (raps).

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HP66: AMK – ‘Amboy’ C20
New recordings from Anthony Michael King (Banned Productions). Extensive record & flexi-disc research and manipulation. Hypnotic sound collage at its finest. edition of 25

HP67: SISSISTERS – ‘Catholic Prayer’ C47
Pure harsh noise from Patrick Murch (MATA Gallery, Christian Pop Records). Frantic feedback and contact mic abuse mixed with field recordings. Religious Potency. edition of 25

COMMITMENT #4 zine
By: Kevin McEleney & Maria Garcia. Fourth in the Commitment Series. Featuring collaborative works by Kevin McEleney & Maria Garcia (MATA Gallery, Unica) . 8.5″ x 5.5″, 14 pages, B&W. edition of 30.

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