Animal Psi

Geoff – ‘SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND: 2011-2014’
A massive 30+ track compilation album of music by Geoff is available for download. Gathering all of Geoff’s free-improv, noise, and electronic experiments since the formation of the Teflon Beast Collective in the summer of 2011, this album features the found sound sports themed “Fanfare/Victory” composition and the epically noisy “Guitar #1-3” alongside newer, cleaner improvisations like “Beginning Becomes the End.” The set also includes several brand new recordings. “Earth Surf” and “Song Untitled” represent a fascination with heavy guitar-riff dominated genres in an improvisational setting. Both cuts are highly recommended. Additionally, for those who download the entire album, a further 14-tracks are added – SIX being brand new to listeners.

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QUARTET BASE – ‘Le Diapason’
Quartet Base is a long-lasting formation. For 18 years now, Sebastien Beaumont has been writing a music that relies on the trust set in between the musicians. Based on the inmost, this new repertoire releases a deep, tensed, but sometimes funny and mischievous proposition. Texts, melodies, climates and sound memories are so many materials to a narrative and expressionist music. The first CD “Allo?”, released in 2009, sounded like a call. In this new release, singing responds to it with a pop note, tinting an elaborated and thick jazz. The trumpet of Christian Pruvost expands the sound and melodic spectrum of the band, giving to the whole a subtle blend of sonic experimentation, melodic groove and wild improvisation.

TOC – ‘Haircut’
When Toc deals with hair, it’s not about splitting them ; the three musicians are closed enough in their quest of the ultimate sonic brushing. Toc seeks, cuts, equalizes, and often uncurls. Its research is slow and progressive, repetitive and insistent, with electrified energy, always built in the moment. Neither permanent nor straight, the music waves, makes loops, gradations and colors. After a try into wildlife documentary (“Le Gorille“ – 2009), then into dance (“You Can Dance If You Want“ – 2012), Toc untangles it all, plays the density and the organic, daring the trance in a joyful and catchy tension.

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Baldruin – ‘Miniaturen’ C32 5€
Balruin’s newest album emerges from the pits of the oneiric, capturing throughout 21 tracks an abundance of shadowy and fleeting impressions as if collected during a late night state of unconsciousness. The album’s German title “Miniaturen“ translates as “miniatures“ and fits like a black velvet glove to Baldruin’s music. Over the past few years Johannes Schebler recorded and released a secret library of small and scary sounds and this album adds another chapter to the Book of Baldruin. Sonic sketches assembled with dreamlike confidence to keep you one foot from the grave. Pro-duplicated cassette with a download card. Edition of 60.

Zarabatana – ‘Fogo na Carne’ C40 5€
Zarabatana are a Portuguese trio based in Lisbon. Through an intense process of live improvisation and the exploration of various musical vocabularies they have crafted an unique brand of ritualistic free jazz, which they now present with “Fogo na Carne”, the group’s first release. The fiercely detailed and expressive rhythmic section of Carlos Godinho and Bernardo Álvares lay the ground for the spacious and meditative trumpet of Yaw Tembe across six diverse and evolving tracks. Expect to be absorbed by some archaic impulses of praise to flesh, earth and fire! Pro-duplicated cassette with a download card. Edition of 100.

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ICR06: people-eaters – ‘The Only Thing Left To Fear’
After a little bit of downtime over the new year we’re back with another tape for you to feast on. A new tape from people-eaters, the main man behind the ever wonderful and obscure Aetheric Records. The Only Thing To Fear was originally featured as a mixtape accompanying a chapbook of automatic drawings released on the aforementioned label. This cassette release features full versions of those tracks featured as well as two remixes/‘reimaginings’. The sounds contained within present a subtle, eerie atmosphere channeled through a delicate selection of hiss and crackle. The music/poetry & imaginings contained herein were directly inspired by this quote… ‘Spirit sounds are usually of a peculiar character; they have an intensity and a character of their own, and, notwithstanding their great variety, can hardly be mistaken, so that they are not easily confused with common noises, such as the creaking of wood, the crackling of fire, or the ticking of a clock; spirit raps are clear and sharp, sometimes soft and light…’ – Allan Kardec, The Medium’s Book (1861) Limited to 30 hand dubbed and numbered C50 cassettes.

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LOVE COP – ‘Dark Ones’
The washed-out, blown-out love songs of Portland, Oregon’s Love Cop can be found on a handful of cassettes released on acclaimed underground record labels like Burger, Gnar Tapes and Lolipop. Using lo-fi recording equipment to capture its guitar, keyboard and electronic drumpad-centric creations, Love Cops’ ballads sound as if they’re originating from a David Lynch movie or an exceptionally bizarre ’80s public access show. On Dark Ones, the duos 5th tape available to pre-order now from Gnar and Lolipop, they stray further away from their garage rock and breezy pop labelmates, infusing the album with the sounds of early industrial, noise, and electro music, as well as a blissfully warped take on R&B. Somber and sullen within its hopelessly romantic aesthetic, even when the duo chooses major chords and uplifting tones, its eerie vision creeps through.

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Isobel Ccircle~ – ‘The House in Harbour Park’ C49 $7
Inspired by the personal journals of Detective J.H. which chart his investigation into the mysterious events that took place in The House In Harbour Park, Isobel Ccircle~’s album is part Clem Snide investigation and part X-File, painting a haunting and often terrifying picture full of strange occurrences and unworldly rituals.

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S U R V I V E – ‘HD015LP/540-046/LLR010’ LP
Finally, the homecoming has arrived for the 2012 debut LP from Austin-based electronic quartet S U R V I V E. With a new U.S. vinyl-reissue bringing life back to this modern classic, the band’s full spectrum of instrumental synthesizer composition is now available on LP domestically for the first time. After an extensive and rare catalog including 12″, 10″, and 7″ EP’s as well as several b-side tapes, the band’s debut full-length remains their most ambitious and defining effort, marking the culmination of several years spent recording, honing, and crafting a remarkably intricate balance of song-writing and experimentation. S U R V I V E’s dedicated and comprehensive approach to sonic-arrangement is the result of the band’s uncompromising standards of quality spread across hundreds of hours in the band’s own Omniverse Studios integrating a vast collection of both antique and modern synthesizers. Every element has been meticulously designed and microscopically placed to fulfill it’s macroscopic purpose, ensuring that every audible wave has been exhaustively scrutinized, dissected, and modulated before being allowed to join the mix. This rigorous process of sound design and discretion is reflected on all levels of the album, resulting in a masterfully accomplished and thorough work. Originally released in May 2012 on Berlin-based Mannequin Records, S U R V I V E’s highly anticipated premiere full-length keeps the middle path between reserved minimalism and gorgeously lucid melodic structures. Underlined by the band’s methodically designed production style, the album maintains a damaged quality that allows elusive yet dense song-forms to fully convey every nuance of each deeply emotive track. Ambient pieces such as To Light Alone I Bow and Deserted Skies reach a mangled harmony of tension and beauty that divides the record into a multifaceted work of both mood and melody. In contrast, the cold and brutally propulsive pair of Hourglass and Omniverse are strikingly addictive, both recently making their way onto the soundtrack of the feature film The Guest directed by Adam Wingard. The introduction of the band’s work to the cinematic medium fits quite naturally given the attention to theme and the profound level of detail and depth poured over every stage of their composition and recording process. The continued enthusiasm for S U R V I V E’s debut lead to several European represses as well as a sustained demand domestically following the increased exposure of the band. HOLODECK, 540 Records, and Light Lodge are proud to bring this new vinyl-reissue of S U R V I V E’s masterful debut to American audiences for readily accessible aural consumption. HD015LP/540-046/LLR010 is presented in an edition of 1000 150g LPs on black vinyl, pressed in the U.S. by Gotta Groove Records with reverse-matte 24 pt. jackets (with full flood-black interior print), updated album-art, and black poly-lined dust sleeves. Recorded by the band at Omniverse Studios. SURVIVE is K. Dixon, M. Stein, M. Donica, and A. Jones. Vinyl reissue released January 13, 2015. HOLODECK cassette reissue released in an edition of 200 cassettes on March 12, 2013.

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Love Cult – ‘Wonderland’
Aficionados of all things troublesome, distressed and emotional, Love Cult are coming back with an ode to their homeland. Northern Technology. Dark Electronica. Obsessive Techno. Militant House. Noise Pop. Love Cult have recorded in a real studio for the first time, and thankfully, escaped the cleanness or overproduction whatsoever. These swampy tracks bear the weight of every single thing produced by the duo before: murky, decayed, out there. However, there’s far less stretching things out. Is this dance music? Well, if “club” means a place for lost souls and thump stands for menace, then yes.The duo’s interest is de-composing the human voice shines on Wonderland EP. Disregarding every possible parameter and value in recorded voice, the remnants of Anya’s vocal lines hang in the air like heavy smoke rings. At points, microscopic samples scrape the sound as if threatening to knife the listener. Sub-heavy beats thunder relentlessly behind raw and naked clockwork programming. Every fraction of sound re-amped through empty corridors, metal tubes and prime analogue equipment, only to be re-sculpted further. Have you ever found yourself throwing stones while in glass buildings? Dance like there’s no tomorrow, they cry in yr pillow. But remember: if a place seems scary, there’s something to learn there. Recorded by Pavel Nikolsky at Powerhouse Moscow. Mixed by Sergey Suokas in Petrozavodsk. Mastered by Francesco Donadello of Moderat & Thom Yorke fame. Art Direction & Illustration by Anya Kuts. Released by Love Cult & Full of Nothing digitally.

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MUGSTAR + DAMO SUZUKI – ‘START FROM ZERO’ LP
Limited edition of 500 copies packaged in a heavy duty gatefold sleeve. Blue vinyl copies are available exclusively via Imprec mailorder. On a long hot summer night in 2012 a meeting of minds happened in Liverpool, England. Damo Suzuki (Can) visited the city to play a show with Mugstar. After a flurry of e-mails Damo requested Mugstar not to practice or figure out any music prior to the performance, as he believed it should “Start from Zero”. Leaving the whole performance to be entirely improvised on the spot. It proved to be quite a night: the shamanic presence of the legendary Damo Suzuki immersed in the full-on, intense, sound of Mugstar- one of the leading bands currently exploring fresh and uncharted areas – as they forge forward through the deep space of kraut/psych.

FRANCISCO LOPEZ – ‘UNTITLED #274’ CD
Untitled #274 was composed by Francisco Lopez and and performed by Kasper T. Toeplitz at GRM Studios in Paris, France.

MAURIZIO BIANCHI – ‘UNTITLED 1980/UNTITLED 2013’ CD
Active since 1979, Maurizio Bianchi is an Italian pioneer of noise and industrial music. Untitled 1980 was originally released in 1980 on cassette in Japan. This release marks the first re-issue of this work and pairs it with a 2013 re-working of the original material into four entirely new compositions. This work was created using only a single semi-modular, monophonic synthesizer or, as Maurizio says: “Originally composed in October 1980 simply by using a synthesizer KORG MS20, but with so much imagination.Dedicated to technological sophistication. “

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Arszyn/Duda – ‘Automata’
The album by the Arszyn/Duda duo is a proof of the timeliness of electroacoustic music. “Automata” is filled with the saxophone, tuba and percussion sounds.  Besides that we will hear some preparations, glitches, amplified objects and microinterferences at the rear of this recording, which – in combination with the peculiar perspicuity and significance of wind instruments – make all the difference to this release. Album is available in digital files and in a limited edition of 50 cassettes.

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