Animal Psi

LA RACE – ‘4cm de mon amour’ 10E
this is an LP. this is beautiful. this is rough. this is the proof that rock music is still dying. this is life in its negative beauty reduced to 30 minutes. this is some riff lasting for 6 minutes because these boys are almost young now. this is blood related people from klaus legal, headwar, vespre

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loscil – ‘Sea Island’
Sea Island is a collection of new material composed and recorded over the past two years. While many of these compositions were performed live extensively prior to recording, others were constructed in the studio and are being heard for the first time here. Musically, the album represents a range of compositional approaches. Murky, densely textured depths of sound are explored with subtle pulses and pings woven within, contrasted with composed or improvised moments of acoustic instrumentation making a move into the foreground. Certain tracks on Sea Island such as album opener Ahull make rhythm their focus by exploring subtle polyrhythms and investigating colliding moments of repetition and variation. Though staunchly electronic at its core, instruments such as vibraphone and piano make appearances, and layers of live musicality, improvisation and detail appear in the looped and layered beds of manipulated sound recordings. A varied cast of players appear in the loscil “ensemble”, some familiar collaborators from the past such as Jason Zumpano on rhodes and Josh Lindstrom on vibraphone, and others new to the mix such as Fieldhead’s Elaine Reynolds who provides layered violin on Catalina 1943, and Ashley Pitre contributing vocals on Bleeding Ink. Seattle pianist Kelly Wyse, who collaborated with loscil on his 2013 edition of piano-centric reworks Intervalo, performs on the tracks Sea Island Murders and En Masse.

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TVE – ‘Profuse, Comfortless and Antique’ C20
Edition of 100. A key figure among the burgeoning Worcester, Massachusetts noise scene, Seamus R. Williams crafts crude electro-acoustic sound collage made of murky tape loops and low-end electronics. Profuse… emits a cavernous sound of static debris, magnetic atmospherics and barren frequencies that all shift in unison.

ANNE-F JACQUES – ‘dans l’herbe’ C24
Edition of 100. Montreal-based sound artist Anne-F Jacques utilizes the possibilities of degraded technology and incidental sound to create mechanical resonances out of tape assemblage, rotation devices, and DIY amplification systems. With an emphasis on technology versus nature, dans l’herbe centers on the mechanical rumble, field recordings and discarded sounds of the current industrial age.

ULRICH KRIEGER – ‘Cycles’ C60
Edition of 100. Ulrich Krieger is a German-born saxophonist and composer notable for his involvement in the groups Text of Light and Metal Machine Trio. His work involves what he calls ‘acoustic electronics’ or amplified acoustic instruments processed through effects and feedback loops. Cycles ranges from saxophone-controlled feedback walls of free-noise to the meditative sounds of sine waves.

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ppt29 Umba – ‘Event Horizon’
“Event Horizon” is the first cassette release by Artur Marcinkowski who mainly deals with vigorous varieties of techno music. The mini-album is a cross-section through his oeuvre, includes both erupting with dance floor pep tracks and dreamy, contemplative recording. Umba – Arthur Marcinkowski, a young and extremely talented producer of techno music. His music is characterized by a dynamic groove, analogish dirt and looped hypnotic motives. At the beginning of 2014 Umba published his first full-length album on B.YRSLF Division. He is also Non Liquet netlabel owner, which aim is to release Polish techno music.

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I/II – ‘Earthquakes Usually Come Around At Night’ LP
Ivan Antunović, mastermind of I/II and in a manner of speaking autonomous “One-Man-Scene” from Zagreb, is a prodigy of the significant and yet minimalistic pop gesture. Synthetics, sampling and a flamboyant vocal range, chaperoned by a gift for animate allegory and a brisk delight in pop (and it’s inherent quotations) are the fundamental modules forming I/II ‘s substantial character. During July’14 Ivan Antunović already operated as artist in residence at Vienna’s quartier21/MuseumsQuartier (Summer of Sound), now, as I/II, he’s releasing a vinyl mini album via Vienna based music label Totally Wired Records (out: Nov, 28th).

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DREDi – ‘The Stimulus Package’ C60 $7
“The Stimulus Package” is a 26 track instrumental album of experimental hip hop beats from producer DREDi. The beat broker culminates a three part series “The Stimulus Package” in an storyboard collection. The intention was to create more then “just a beat tape”. The Stimulus Package is an abstract movie for your headphones. The use of samples and themes has been used to conjure a context and a sense of a story unfolding, without being too specific and direct with those themes the listener is encouraged to fill in the blanks. Throughout the tape this is hinted at, our perception of reality, our individual interpretations of spirituality and also entertainment are examined. But all in an entertaining and sometimes comedic way.

Thorsten Soltau – ‘Balance & Akzentuierung’ C22 $6
Thorsten Soltau is an experimental sound collage artist from Germany. The electronics, vinyl disruptions, shimmering tones, and flickering noise take on a new ambiance during the live recording of Balance & Akzentuierung. The dark sounds deeply flow and meander from moment to stimulating moment. Soltau allows the album to gently build, captivating and creating a feature of anticipation doomed to be destined. Balance & Akzentuierung is beautiful in all its contemporary chaos. The artwork, created by Zin, compliments to dark imagery with bright contrast and clean sounds. Holding this release in your hands torments the soul and rectifies the inner childhood innocence. Limited to 40 pink cassettes.

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URNA – ‘Cauchemar’ C40
Urna is the solo project of Italian artist and musician Gianluca Martucci. His paintings have been ending up on the album covers of bands such as Kinit Her. As Urna he has been releasing limited CDRs and tapes since the early 2000s on labels like Brave Mysteries, Angst and Marco Corbelli’s Slaughter Productions among others. His music can be described as an impressively atmospheric dark/ritual ambient, one continuum where acoustic instruments and vocals create a thick mist to get lost into. After his recent collection Arkaikon (Pestilentiae Templum), Yerevan Tapes is thrilled to release Cauchemar, a four-song cassette focused on the nightmare dimension. No wonder that for the first time here Martucci is adding a bass to his sonic creations, an instrument well known for its low, disturbing frequencies that properly reflect the feeling of everlasting oppression Urna wanted to deliver with these new tracks. This way Cauchemar stands as an exorcism against these nightmares that haunt the artist’s mind. Comes on grey tape cassette with artwork by Silvia Anhayt. Limited edition of 100 copies.

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WETT NURSE – ‘HISSY FIT EP’ CS
After 7+ years as a go-to blog for the latest psych, garage, prog and noise music, ONGAKUBAKA has decided to take next logical step and become a full-fledged record label. Our first release is an EP from Portland’s Wett Nurse. These are some seriously catchy West Coast garage rock jams that mix playful organ sounds with a heavy dose of reverb drenched riffs inspired by Thee Oh Sees. The title track and lead single, “Hissy Fit,” is sure to get your hips swinging. Orders for this limited cassette (Only 100 copies!) are up now on our bandcamp page. The Hissy Fit EP is also available to stream in its entirety.

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NNA076: Guerilla Toss – ‘Smack The Brick’ C18
It’s widely known that mosh funk in the 21st century is best done zonked and fried by Boston natives Guerilla Toss. There’s no doubt these kids are some of the hardest working acid causalities in all four corners of the underground, with shout outs and respect given by legendary rippers such as Henry Rollins and John Zorn. And they aren’t stopping anytime soon. With their latest release, “Smack The Brick”, Guerilla Toss continues to navigate through the realms of brutal groove, psychotic arrangements, and complete lack of ethical harmony. Perhaps the addition of two new members, Toby Aronson and Pat Keuhn, have allowed the band to evolve in a newer and fresher direction – less prog and thrash – more funk and fury. The title track ‘Smack The Brick’ might sound like a lost cut from Talking Heads’ “Remain in Light” if it had grown up worshiping the devil in 90’s west coast hip-hop culture, while other tracks such as ‘Billy Blood Idol’ take non-western rhythms and manhandle them through a rusty cheese grater. But beneath the mask of irony, meta post teenage angst, and clouds of smoke, lies five educated and well-rounded individuals who have found a way to make the mundanity of technical virtuosity into something fun, accessible, challenging, and deep. Let “Smack The Brick” be the soundtrack to your next ayahuasca ceremony, and as you confront your demons, you may or may not make sense of what these psychonauts are trying to achieve.

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Bitter Fictions – ‘Derelict Drift’ C48 $6
Derelict Drift is Bitter Fictions’ fifth album on Shaking Box, collecting seven pieces performed, recorded, and produced by Devin Friesen in his own Library Basement studio throughout June and September 2014. Tape loops and other samples feature throughout, pushing the music into even further ‘out’ destinations, guitar that doesn’t always sound like guitar lighting the way. “Return II” develops a progression from 2013’s quickly sold out Journeying & The Returns lathe record, gradually reworking a melodic run as one piece of a larger tape & feedback layering tapestry. “Mirror Bay” floats between finger picking and more synth-oriented textures, while the fifteen minute centerpiece of “Dream Negation / Catalogue” is a loosely structured set that was first prepared and debuted opening for Japanese noise godfather Merzbow in Calgary this past May.

D.F. – ‘Snowshell (expanded)’ CD $8
An expanded reissue of Devin Friesen’s feedback & tape decay record Snowshell, originally released Feb. 2014 in a quickly sold out edition of twenty-five 10” lathe cut records. This CD packages the three lathe tracks with Tape Decay Works (winter 13/14), collecting an hour of sound nicely packaged in a full color, four-panel sleeve. Thick stretches of feedback-addled tape loops and damaged guitar, further muddied by analog decay processing and cheap cassette mixing. Drum machines leave further mildew stains on “Down Way Low” and the weighty “Return of the Raiders”, while otherwise lighting the way through the bleak stretches of “Bamboo Murder City”. Dance music for being totally cold and empty, just a hollow drag. Just in time for winter.

Ashley Soft – ‘Take Heart/Give Heart’ C26 $6
Debut recording from Clarke MacLeod’s new band Ashley Soft. Take Heart / Give Heart was (mostly) recorded at hotel2tango in Montreal, QC, during a rather tumultuous spring in 2013, but details don’t need to be more public than that. Innately familiar yet satisfyingly out of step with many of today’s ‘indie rock’ guitar bands. Joey Taylor (who drummed with MacLeod in Bikeland several years back) comes up with deceptively intricate drum patterns for Clarke and his older brother Dave to play over, intertwining 90s Chapel Hill-esque guitar candy with wry hooks. A new lineup of the band has since formed, and is recording its debut EP with Chris Dadge (Lab Coast, Bug Incision) in Calgary this winter.

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