EAR/Rational Update Week 35, 2009

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This week's update contains releases by:

2562 * Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. * Adian Baker & The Infant Cycle * Aids Wolf * Ainigma * All Hail the Transcending Ghost * Amaurote * Analogy * Anna Jarvinen * Aquavoice * Bart Skils * Beatles, The * Betty Davis * Bifrost Arts * Bill Wells/Annie Whitehead/Stefan Schneider/Barbara Morgenstern * Black Feelings * Blk Jks * Brainstorm * Calika * Circulatory System * Collage * Crash Course in Science * Cursillistas * Cyclotimia * Da Capo * Damon & Naomi * Drum Circus * Eddy Current Suppression Ring * Embryo * Emptyset * Erik Wøllo & Bernhard Wöstheinrich * Fanu vs Bill Laswell * Fauns, The * Frank Fairfield * Gila * Glenn Jones * Gnaw Their Tongues * H.E.R.R. * Hati * Health * Jandek * Jim O'Rourke * João Orecchia * Kadaver * Kraftwerk * Kucz Konrad * Leyland Kirby * Loren Dent * Lost Kisses * Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love * Lucky Dragons * Luis Bunuel * Maserati * Moodring * Mourmansk 150 * Mumlers * Necronomicon * Nocturne * Odyssey * Opium * Paul May + Platform * Phil Kieran * Platform * Prince Charming * Schlachthofbronx * Seven Hour Germ * Silkie * Slogun * Soul Caravan * Stooges, The * Sven Barth & Induce Are * Think About Life * Tim and Puma Mimi * Todd Bodine * Ulna * Vinegar * Vivian Girls * Von Thronstahl * Xhol Caravan * Yarek * Yoga

[ F E A T U R E D   R E L E A S E S ]

Amaurote - Binary Code Forbidden CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR10] $17.89
So far the Minimal Resource Manipulation label released music by Matt Atkins, the label owner who works as Platform. Now he releases music by someone, one Joey Frohikey who lives in the Czech Republic, where he works with a netlabel called Cryoworks and since short with Amaurote as his own musical project. 'Binary Code Forbidden' is his debut release and has four tracks of what can be best classified as IDM music. Minimalist beats, which bend back and forth, pitch up and down in the best Autechre, the early mark thereof. Bits of melody are used, an throughout its not the most complex thing, mainly due to the somewhat minimal rhythms used. Four tracks are perhaps a bit short to form an opinion on this, but its sure nice enough.

Beatles, The - The Beatles in MONO CD Box (Capitol) [1681854] $249.75
RELEASE DATE: 09-09-2009
Limited digitally remastered thirteen CD box set that contains the 10 albums originally released by The Beatles in mono (1963's Please Please Me up through 1968's The White Album) plus plus two further discs of mono singles masters. As an added bonus, the mono Help! and Rubber Soul discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained. At the beginning of the '60s, stereophonic recordings were just coming into their own but many households didn't own stereophonic record players. In most cases, an album would originally be mixed in mono for mass consumption and then separately mixed in stereo for those with modern equipment. As the '60s wore on, mono mixes became secondary over stereo and then were eventually abandoned altogether. The Beatles' first 10 albums were mixed twice: once in mono and then in stereo. The mono mixes were sometimes strikingly different to the stereo mixes, which has ensured their collectability over the years. This box contains all the officially released Beatles mono mixes in one limited edition box set.

Beatles, The - The Beatles in STEREO CD (Capitol) [1681853] $217.50
RELEASE DATE: 09-09-2009
Digitally remastered 17 disc box set (16 CDs + DVD) containing all 14 original Beatles albums released between 1963 and 1970 plus the two CD Past Masters collection of non-album tracks and a bonus DVD containing all the mini documentaries that can be found as enhanced tracks on each of the individual CD releases. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere. The albums have been remastered at Abbey Road Studios in London utilizing state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. Within the CDs' new packaging, the booklet includes detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes.

Calika - Crooked CD (Audiobulb) [AB024] $14.64
An excellent short-form outing for Brighton's Simon Kealoha, following up on the sample-driven, Four Tet-style electronics of his 2007 album Seedling Mother with five new compositions. 'Crooked' tumbles along in the disheveled spirit of Manyfingers or Matt Elliott, with plenty of acoustic instruments all colliding across roughly cut layered loops. After this atmospheric, earthily downbeat beginning along comes the Squarepusher-like diced rhythms of 'Mega Mega', while the equally warped bass antics of 'I Still Dream Of You' take a turn down yet more shambolic avenues, meandering about the place loosely while frazzled electronic detritus floats around the mix. By the time 'A Serpentine Tale' comes along we've come full circle and Kealoha's transplanted us back into his homely, looped folktronic mode - very nice indeed.

Fanu vs Bill Laswell - Lodge CD (KarlRecords) [KR004Karl] $14.28
After the path-setting METHOD OF DEFIANCE album INAMORATA where he brought together cutting-edge drum&bass producers (Paradox, Enduser, Submerged, Black Sun Empire a.o.) and avantgarde / jazz masters such as John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Herbie Hancock or Toshinori Kondo the visionary, versatile pioneer LASWELL picked out some of his combatants for an audacious follow-up. Young finnish FANU's syncopated rhythms and sharp breaks prove him the Art Blakey of drum&bass, his feverish beats are an ideal playground for Laswell's growling, hard-driven yet funky bass attacks. NowJazz trumpet players NILS PETTER MOLVAER and GRAHAM HAYNES accentuate the album's psychotic heat, while P-funk keyboard wizard BERNIE WORRELL takes care this meeting of musical masters called LOGDE is a solid weapon for the dance floor! All titles and the ancient alchemist signs of the excellent artwork by John Brown refer to the fraternal organisations of freemasonry and their lodges.

Kraftwerk - The Catalogue CD Box (EMI) [1694016] $129.75
RELEASE DATE: 10-06-2009
8 CDs!

Luis Bunuel - Un Chien Andalou DVD (Microcinema) [MC721DVD] $16.50
"Made in 1929, Un Chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog) is regarded as the first film produced purely from within the Surrealist Movement, and a landmark in the history of cinema. Based on an exchange of dreams between Salvador Dali and acclaimed director Luis Buñuel, this tale of unfulfilled desire opens innocently with the words 'Once upon a time.' What follows is one of the most shocking and celebrated sequences in film history -- a razor slashing a woman's eye in extreme close up...Intended to provoke rather than to please (Bunuel saw it as 'nothing more than a desperate, a passionate appeal to murder'), Un Chien Andalou is a triumph of art and a hysterically dark joy ride whose power to affront the viewer is undiminished after more than three quarters of a century. Special Features: A Slice of Buñuel: a documentary featuring Buñuel's son, Juan-Luis, 16 min. Epilogue: Buñuel & Dali Bonus Interview, 5 min. Audio Commentary by Surrealism expert Stephen Barber, author of Antonin Artaud: Blows and Bombs. Mystery of Cinema, abridged transcript of speech given by Luis Buñuel in 1953. Dave McKean graphic design and statement."

Luis Bunuel - Death In The Garden DVD (Microcinema) [MC968DVD] $23.75
"Available for the first time on DVD! The DVD was created using a newly restored print! Amid a revolution in a South American mining outpost, a band of fugitives-a roguish adventurer (Georges Marchal), a local hooker (Simone Signoret), a priest (Michel Piccoli), an aging diamond miner (Charles Vanel) and his deaf-mute daughter-are forced to flee for their lives into the jungle. Starving, exhausted and stripped of their old identities, they wander desperately lured by one deceptive promise of salvation after another. Shot in brilliant Eastmancolor and featuring a star-studded cast, Death in the Garden is a pulsating adventure film, alive with Surrealist gestures, making it classic Luis Buuel. In French with English subtitles. Special Features: Restored picture and sound plus new and improved subtitles. Audio commentary by film scholar Ernesto R. Acevedo-Munoz. New video interviews with actor Michael Piccoli and film scholar Victor Fuentes. Booklet featuring essays by Javier Espada, Juan-Luis Buuel and Susan Hayward. New and improved English subtitle translation."

Paul May + Platform - Broken Hulk Display CDEP (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR07] $13.01
Matthew Atkins, also known as Platform, has released a couple of CDRs in a relatively short time span, teams up here with a drummer, Paul May. May has half of Ladywoodsman, and has played on albums by Alexander Tucker, Duke Garwood, Carolyn Hume and Barkingside. He's an improvisation drummer. They know eachother for fifteen years, but this is the first time they worked together. May has supplied a tape of his percussive work to Atkins who has transformed the material. Atkins stays close to original rhythm tapes, adding sparsely electronics, and occasionally creating loops of the drums. This all makes great sense as the four pieces on this CDR (lasting almost twenty-one minutes) have a great vibrant feeling. Electro-acoustic manipulation meets up with the improvised playing that has a slight jazzy touch to it. From all the discs I received from Platform in the past months, I think this is the best release. Playful, skilled manipulation of the material, reminding me of the Steven Hess/Robert Hampson (Main) collaboration. Maybe Platform should seek the collaboration more?

Platform - Untitled 2 CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR03] $17.89
Having really enjoyed the first self-titled Platform CD last year, it's with great pleasure that I can offer you the second installment from the excellent MRM label. Forming a natural and really well balanced follow-up, this release surfs a line somewhere between classic electronica and a more minimalist blend of sounds which is somewhat akin to Raster Noton and, maybe, 12k. Deep, rhythmic tracks that don't rely on being deliberately awkward, instead allowing the pieces to flow and work as they should with a deft touch. You'll find melodies and cleverly structured textures playing off against clicks, glitches and, at times, surprisingly fat beats. All of this is tempered by a sense of minimalism that's appealing and not too introspective, rather it involves you as a listener and keeps you hooked. A splendid and varied blend of electronic styles.

Platform - Distanced CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR04] $17.89
It's nice when the label's name faithfully describes how the music was made, and it's also great to see that a handmade limited edition hides a talent that deserves acknowledgement, especially in virtue of a well-visible compositional individuality in a field - that of home-produced electronics - which defining "congested" is almost pathetic by now, every computer or keyboard owner on the earth waking up one morning and shouting "I want to be creative" at the sky, fists shaken in the air. Moreover, Matt Atkins - deus ex machina behind the Platform project, this being its third release - wisely keeps things on the short side, the CD clocking at 30 minutes without an ounce of dullness. Five segments that take into account and consideration the sounds of life (and some unreasonable ones too), which get selected, heavily altered and therefore rendered unrecognizable or, in any case, pretty de-contextualized. A magnetic cycle of electronic fragments is heard in the opening "In praise of rust", followed by the acrid disordered noisescape of "Spectre". "The drained lake" is built upon striking rumbling frequencies, scarred by recurring synthetic buzzing flies and clanging metals in the faraway lands of hall reverb. The overall best comes with the unbelievably mournful alien lament that follows the initial digital disarray of "Brittle boned", a terribly forlorn, slanted spiral - which stops me in my tracks whenever it comes - that gets finally buried by irrepressible interferences, while the final "White space" juxtaposes sharp highs and unbalanced waves in a disconcerting soundtrack for a crumbling psyche, voices from unfamiliar galaxies depicting a bleak scenario of miserable beings swallowed by their own ambiguity. I feel somewhat gratified for having been sent one of the 50 copies of this off-line, brilliantly conceived work. (Touching Extremes)

Platform - EP1 CDEP (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR05] $13.01
Its great to have some new material from Matt Atkins' Platform. The first track treats our ears to some proper decent crunchy beats and weeping cinematic synths and then a really sweet melody just melts me into submission. It fits in wonderfully with the mechanical beats and reminds me of Chiastic Slide period Autechre. The second tune has some wicked sounds that morph around a slow heavy beat. Crisp little clicks and bleeps mutate and give of a pure sterile cold electronic futuristic feel. Fans of Alva Noto should dig the rhythms of 'Phial' while closer 'What We Saw' is an ace piece of melancholy electronica really injecting some of his soul into the circuits. EP1 is a quality Ltd CD on Minimal Resource Manipulation.

Platform - Categories Of Dust CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR08] $17.89
We've had a few CDs in by Platform over the last year or two. And here's a brand new one called Categories Of Dust. These are normally pretty limited to 50 ish copies so they don't usually hang around for too long. It's predominantly sound art I guess. This is one 21 minute long track constructed of samples recorded from around his house using a a well sensitive node microphone. You lost yet? These were then processed into the resulting 21 minute long track which I'm listening to at the mo. I'm pretty sure that's a kettle I can hear. I right fancy a brew. Fans of Machinefabriek will lap this up I think. It's a headphone listen for sure with crackles, static and fizzes popping up filling your ears with the kind of awkward sensory delights usually reserved for 8 o' clock (table for two please). There's some nice ambient moments in here and if you like long pieces of music with not much fluctuation in tone or melody then this is for you!!

Platform - Untitled 3 CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR09] $17.89
The talented Matt Atkins AKA Platform returns to the Norman update with a new volume of icy cerebral electronics and experimental techno. It's been christened 'Untitled 3" and from the off you've some fantastic electronic manipulation and tight future-beats to contend with. I find his stuff incredibly meditative, his music has a classic isolationist feel, some kinship with noted IDM classicists but he's plowing his own atmospheric furrow here. His sounds conjure up imagery of abandoned warehouses spilling with cyber menace but not in a particularly threatening manner, just deliciously eerie, as you stalk from dripping water tanks, vaulting demolished walls, surveying the wan light for marauding animals, your MP3 quietly spits out the sharp, abstracted yet accessible sounds of Platform. This is pretty futuristic stuff and if yr into more cyber-tastic realms of electronica then this man's refreshing vision may be the soundtrack to future nights of contemplation. For fans of later period Autechre & possibly Bitstream's outer limits?

Prince Charming - Lapis Lazuli CD (KarlRecords) [KR005Karl] $14.28
After the seminal dub / illbient records "Psychotropical Heatwave" and "Fantastic Voyage" on the cult label WordSound PRINCE CHARMING returns with a direct hit. On "LAPIS LAZULI" the sound alchemist interweaves strands of his wide spread musical universe into an atmospherical tight album. Illbient — PRINCE CHARMING has been rejecting this categorization since the start of his work - as genre is too small for such a vast experience. "LAPIS LAZULI" takes the listener on a quirky extravaganza through space and time; dub, exotica, ragtime, breakbeat, oriental, cinematic soundtrack, blues, classical, latin, psychedelic, afro-jazz, field recordings and science fiction are just a few of his numerous and diverse influences reworked and melted elegantly into coherent tracks titled "Zebrine Polymorphous Blues", "Spider Scorpian Conch", "Pomegranate of Vice (a Supergeometry Symphony)" or "Uvarovite and Demantoid Dub". Uppers and downers, rockers and chillers — a record as entertaining and imaginative as PRINCE CHARMING has never been !

Seven Hour Germ - Document 1 CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR02] $17.89
7HG (or Seven Hour Germ) forms an interesting counterpoint to the more melodic works of Platform on MRM. Taking a more musique concrete approach it's a deconstructivist way of looking at sound that has elements in common with Pan Sonic, certainly, and to a lesser extent Merzbow etc. For me the power lies in the dense, hypnotic quality of the sound processing and tweaking. The sounds are changed to well beyond their orignal feel and then turned into challenging soundscapes of texture. At times it's a brutal style but very satisfying at the same time. For those who like a tad more challenge to their electronic music, this is well worth checking out. Excellent debut.

Seven Hour Germ - Document 2 CD-R (Minimal Resource Manipulation) [MRMCDR06] $17.89
A great start to the working day to get an album on Minimal Resource Manipulation from Seven Hour Germ which is Matt Atkins AKA Platform. As soon as I hit play 'ECE Tape 1' is a wicked assault on the senses with a gloriously squelchy synth oscillations filling the room. 'Tone Crunch' is a powerful percussive piece with low bottom end and ear piercing top end. This is a lot harsher than the stuff we're used to from Platform, crossing into power electronics territory giving Whitehouse and Merzbow a run for their money. Fear not though as it's not entirely a brutal brain pummeling experience. There are some nice micro sound experiments on here and some top crunchy, abrasive post industrial machine sounds on 'Bludgeon'. The album ends nicely with some ace field recordings/ samples static sounds and drones. A thoroughly engaging listen from beginning to end. Some of the tunes on 'Document 2' were only previously available on cassette.

Ulna - Frcture CD (KarlRecords) [KR003Karl] $14.28
ULNA is the new and first common project by Valerio Zucca Paul (Abstract Q, 3EEM) on laptop and music journalist Andrea Ferraris (instruments, laptop), who a.o. has recorded and played with Airchamber 3, Andrea Marutti, or Deep End. On their debut FRCTURE the both Italians indulge their love for slivering sounds, broken beats, low drones, high frequencies, noisy layers and ambient soundscapes. Cold computered sounds meet "real" instruments such as guitar, glockenspiel, synths or cello (played by Andrea Serrapiglio, a.o. Carla Bozulich). Abstraction and darkness, a melody lies quiet underneath, a breezy airiness and a playfulness with love for the detail wave through the 8 tracks — ULNA master the balancing act between experimental head-music and body-moving electronics for the dancefloor very elegantly. Thus ULNA live up to their motto "Breaking your arms ... softly" in a fascinating way. FRCTURE takes the listener on a thrilling journey into urban sound textures.

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2562 - Unbalance CD (Tectonic) [TEC006CD] $14.00
This is the second full-length album by Dave Huismans aka 2562, the follow-up to his roundly acclaimed debut, Aerial (TEC 004CD/021LP). Unbalance pushes both his creative talents, and the boundaries of dubstep, to another level entirely. This is an exceptional body of electronic music, and fully demonstrates 2562's adept ability to move through engaging soundscapes with both pin-point precision drum programming and innovative sample regeneration. 2562 is named after the postcode in The Hague, Netherlands where Huismans lives -- a city detached from the main epicenters of dubstep, thus bringing both cultural distance and a uniquely diverse sound to the project. Unbalance sees 2562's vision of dubstep moving forward into previously-unexplored areas. Warmer than its predecessor, innovation and experimentation is still as evident as ever, as the influence of Theo Parrish and Flying Lotus meet with the deep end of Bristol bass music. With productions drawing inspiration from garage, dubstep, house, techno and broken beats -- affiliations and collaborations have proliferated -- killer remixes and one-offs have cemented the Dutchman firmly in the "A" list of contemporary production talent. Unbalance is impeccably built, and accessibly disposed: sheer dancefloor carnage is guaranteed. With this new album, 2562 breaks new ground -- in moving away from the dub-techno associations of his earlier works, he creates a whole new world. From the outset, "Intro" and "Flashback" let fly some of the face cards in Huismans' deck -- the ample swell of swung garage informed by a new school sensibility, all grounded by that trademark giant bass presence. "Lost" reprises a familiar broken refrain in refixed mode, landing with a delightful low-end, almost junglist descent and a huge, mid-range melodic sustain -- absolutely killer stuff. With "Like A Dream," the album really motors -- squashed Mr. Fingers-style acid machinations inside wild bass and drum swing. Tear up the dub instructions, the diversity and breathtaking momentum of this fine album moves fleet of foot -- like Usain Bolt over Berlin.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Are We Experimental? CD (MVD Audio) [PM003CD] $17.25
"Japan's Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO return from the cosmos with this brand new album, Are We Experimental? The world's premier psychedelic warriors have blasted out an album that distills their weird world into 11 tracks of sonic mayhem. Hawkwind style guitar overload meets ethnic folk music from around the globe as a UFO crashes in the midst of it all. Are We Experimental? (a la Jimi Hendrix) is one of the easiest AMT albums for a new fan to digest. All of the songs clock in under 8 minutes (this, from a band known for 30+ minute jams!) and feature all of the realms of sound AMT utilize regularly as well as new influences and techniques for the old heads. Prog rock meets Sun Ra style freedom mixed in with space noises and absolutely leveling guitar riffs. Plus a whole bunch of submerged weirdness and 'acid folk' that can only come from Acid Mothers Temple. God and Hair, indeed."

Adian Baker & The Infant Cycle - Rural Sprawl CD (Zhelezobeton) [10580] $15.25
Canadian musicians Aidan Baker and Jim DeJong (aka The Infant Cycle) have used the "gentleman's kit" of modern experimenters for creating the compositions of this disk: guitar, bass, tapes, samples, feedback generator, playouts and thumb piano. Four album tracks correspond with four seasons, four states of the soul...

Summer - repetitive loops become overgrown with the juicy flesh of atonal sound and transform into sampled rhythms flown over by a soft guitar tune. Autumn - the rhythm is reduced to a hardly evident monotonous shroud, the atmosphere becomes more melodic and melancholic and in the end turns into a heart-piercing guitar solo. Winter - time for sleep and detachment: icy ringing, the slow breath of bass impulses, the rustling of electronics and sluggish drones painting vast snowy soundscapes. And finally spring - the drone ambient nature unfolds large as life, majestic sonic waves sweep accompanied by a swarm of tiny sounds awoken to life again.

The first two tracks were recorded in 2001 (and released on CD-R by the Italian label Blade Records in 2002 in a very limited edition), two others were recorded in 2005 and thus completed the natural cycle of this album.

Aids Wolf - Dustin' Off The Sphynx CD (Skin Graft) [GR96] $13.50
Formed in Montreal, 2003, AIDS WOLF are the preeminent Formalist / Unknown Wave quartet. They have released two full-length records as well as numerous collaborations, splits and seven inches. Their new EP, titled Dustin' Off The Sphynx is available as a 7-inch vinyl EP and as a full-length compact disc. Both formats include seven additional bonus tracks from the now out-of-print Pas Rapport tour-only tape. These tracks are included on the CD and come as a free download with the silkscreen sleeved, colored vinyl 7-inch EP.

All Hail the Transcending Ghost - All Hail the Transcending Ghost CD (Cold Spring) [10583] $18.00
'Cold Spring are proud to announce the debut album from All Hail The Transcending Ghost - a joint collaboration between Henrik Nordvargr Björkk (MZ.412, Toroidh, Folkstorm etc) and Tim Bertilsson (Fear Falls Burning, Switchblade). Together the Swedish legends have created arguably one of the most haunting drone-dark-ambient-industrial works in recent years, invoking the spirits of old Nordvargr, meets the sludge-doom vibe of Tim's hellish guitar. This has to be the most unsettling work from Nordvargr, as the man himself states "truly the most scary music I have recorded". An icy chill down your spine... a cold hand on your shoulder... you are never alone in the darkness.

Anna Jarvinen - Man Var Bland Molnen CD (Hapna) [HAPNA043CD] $16.00
This is the second full-length album by Sweden's Anna JĤrvinen, the follow-up to her debut Jag Fick Feeling. Man Var Bland Molnen ("One Was Among The Clouds") is produced and recorded by Gustav Ejstes (Dungen), who also plays a variety of instruments on the album. Other musicians include Reine Fiske, Fredik Swahn, Johan Holmegard, Leo Svensson, Mattias Bergqvist and Anders NygÄ¥rds. The collaboration with Dungen already began on Anna's first record, who participated on the main part of the album. Concerning the choice of Ejstes as producer, Anna says in Sonic magazine (Sweden) that "nobody has like Gustav, silently and immediately, understood my music. I wanted to try and leave the songs with him so he could put his mark on and in them." Seldom has there been such a breakthrough for an artist on a small label in Sweden as with the release of Jag Fick Feeling. Anna was nominated for a Swedish Grammy and P3 Guld prize, awarded Stockholm City's music prize, and was interviewed in virtually every Swedish paper. The record also got a lot of attention in Finland and Anna toured in both countries during fall 2007 and spring/summer 2008. The first single from Man Var Bland Molnen is the track "Ä"ppelĶga," ("Apple-Eye"), a song with an almost countrified, Americana swing. All tracks, of course, feature Anna's sweetly breathy voice in Swedish, and a wholesome helping of piano, harmonica, flute, strings, and laid-back acoustic guitar -- lending the whole affair a soft/light rock/California morning sunniness. Once again transcends all pop language barriers through its apple-cheeked charm. "i wrote some songs about sex, sorrow abuse, falling in love and pure summery frustration. then i lost my way. you and i are the only ones left now here, among the clouds. come." --Anna JĤrvinen

Aquavoice - Cold CD (Generator) [10578] $16.75
ICalm electronic clouds are forming and gathering slowly. Then there appear some half-nature, half-electronic generated sounds. This is how this enthralling album begins. After a while additional tonal spheres are to be heard, they are always coloured and layered over one another with fabulous sense of atmosphere. Until the very end of the album we are surrounded with a slightly-electronized piano-contemplative mood, softly and yet interesting intermingling with recurring nature sounds and additional tonal sweeps which enlarge the room to feel this music. "Cold" is a very specific, soothing and nevertheless challenging and even disturbing variety of ambient music, whereby Aquavoice uses tonal systems which are characteristic also for other sophisticated - and not so abstract - electronic genres. A highly recommended album.

Aquavoice - Memories CD (Generator) [10576] $16.75
Aquavoice had once recorded for Generator.pl a soothing, ethereal CD entitled "Cold" - his next album, "Memories", provides the Listener with yet more fascinating moods, some of them quite surprising, some of them ingeniously suggestive and associative, as if taken directly from some surreal dream. Analogue, digital and computer tones get mixed into one melange together with assorted nature sounds and additional sample loops. What kind of music is this, actually? Hard to say indeed, insofar as Aquavoice's impressions stretch out over typical classifications, as far as melodies, arrangements, structures and moods are concerned...

Bart Skils - VOLTT CD (100% Pure) [VOLTT001CD] $16.00
The 100% Pure label presents the new VOLTT mix series, by one of Holland's leading platforms for cutting-edge techno and house music. Volume 1 is mixed by none other than Bart Skils, VOLTT head honcho and one of Holland's most beloved DJs. Amsterdam is on the forefront of contemporary dance music. An ever-growing group of quality producers from the Dutch capital is dominating the international charts with a distinct and cutting-edge sound, combining the best elements of techno, house and minimal. Names like 2000 And One, Joris Voorn, Shinedoe, Kabale Und Liebe, Julien Chaptal, Polder, Anton Pieete and of course, Bart Skils himself represent this new school. The first and foremost platform for Amsterdam's new school generation has been VOLTT. From 1998 until now, it has enriched the scene with quality events, booking the best in forward-thinking techno, minimal and house from abroad -- always keeping a keen eye on developments in the local scene. Now, VOLTT has started this mix series to further broaden its potential as an international platform for Amsterdam's promising new techno generation. The VOLTT Loves Summer Festival remains its largest endeavor to date -- yearly drawing a dedicated crowd of 7,000 and counting -- driven by resident and promoter Bart Skils himself. As a local hero in the late-'90s, he started the VOLTT nights at Amsterdam's legendary Mazzo venue. Building his reputation record by record, set by set and night by night, Bart has gained nationwide popularity as an ambassador for quality sounds. For this mix, Bart has selected a solid collection of tracks that not only represent his DJ sets at VOLTT, but also the distinct and catchy sound of Holland's new school generation. As can be expected of one of the nation's most solid jocks, these 16 tracks are forged into one big chunk of techno mayhem that will keep you on your tippy toes from beginning to end. Artists include: David Labeij, Lauhaus, Simon Baker, Julien Chaptal, Salavatore Freda & Volta, DJ Madskillz, Spencer Parker, Nick Curly, Anton Pieete, Size, Carlo Lio, District One, Joris Voorn, Alex Celler, Pitto, Jug, and Mark Henning.

Bifrost Arts - Come O Spirit!: Anthology Of Hymns & Spiritual Songs Vol. 1 CD (Great Comfort Records/Sounds Familyre) [GCR001CD] $13.50
"For more than 30 years, pop music has suffered from a God complex-attaching a scarlet letter to artists who include the religious experience in their songs. But a new generation of musicians from across the spiritual spectrum is emerging, discarding the trappings of the Christian-culture industry to reintroduce the transcendence, beauty and historical gravity of western scared music to the places where it belongs: dinner parties, road trips and back porches. Come O Spirit brings together artists like Dave Bazan, Damien Jurado, Rosie Thomas, Dennison Witmer, The Welcome Wagon (featuring Sufjan Stevens) and Leigh Nash to revive 400 years of long-forgotten melodies and liturgical music. The brainchild of producers Isaac Wardell and Mason Neely, Come O Spirit interprets hymnody through lush, cinematic arrangements and a drop of Southern gothic mystique. It's like a prayer."

Bill Wells/Annie Whitehead/Stefan Schneider/Barbara Morgenstern - Paper Of Pins CD (Karaoke Kalk) [KK050CD] $14.75
With the release of the album Paper Of Pins, Karaoke Kalk brings you a truly harmonious collaboration between Scottish composer and pianist Bill Wells, Annie Whitehead (Penguin Cafe Orchestra), Stefan Schneider (Mapstation, To Rococo Rot) and Berlin electronic singer/songwriter Barbara Morgenstern. Bill Wells is already known, among other things, for his 2006 release Osaka Bridge (KK 035CD) together with Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and for his release Pick Up Sticks in 2004, on which these 4 players also feature together. Mr. Wells is responsible for arrangements and samplers, while Barbara Morgenstern experiments on the keyboards, Stefan Schneider controls the synthesizers and bass and Annie Whitehead plays trombone and melodica. The coming together of this quartet on Paper Of Pins has resulted in mature, yet unforced sounding compositions. The touching number "Brown Recluse" wins you over with its catchy piano sounds and subtle trumpet which is rounded off by electronica. It's a small orchestral gem in a jazz style, which is still edgy despite its perfection. This is highlighted, for example, by the fact that you can hear the brass player drawing breath on some tracks. Certainly, the Scottish composer is no perfectionist. Far more important is the melting together of melodies and a certain strangeness in the notes used. Things start to get more abstract on pieces like "Rowing Without Oars." It's a lively mish-mash of various, sometimes piercing tone variations and swirling keyboard sounds. Occasionally fragile or impressively impulsive. Every now and then, the strongly accented horns come into play, and they couldn't sound more improvised. All in all, this is a fascinating album with emotional and also artistically-ornate melodies. In this way, every track contains its very own unique beauty and fervor.

Black Feelings - Black Feelings CD (Alien8 Recordings) [ALIEN085CD] $14.00
"Black Feelings are the essence of a power trio: each member of the three-piece exhibiting a great deal of power while the whole remains balanced. Consisting of two former members of Montreal's Les Angles Morts, the band has developed a unique a hybrid of the British post punk and experimental scenes that spawned the likes of This Heat, Gang of Four and the Pop Group with heavy traces of psychedelic-goth and cold wave. Like American band The Liars, Black Feelings' penchant for combining a variety of influences to conjure up a sound that is both retro and vitally fresh at the same time. The band's main vocalist and drummer Owain Lawson is kept busy as he sings and holds down the rhythm section alongside fellow founding member and bassist Brian Mitchell, while the sound is rounded out with shimmering guitar and synth flourishes provided by Kyle Fostner. Listening to Black Feelings' self-titled debut is never dull, as moody vibes ebb and flow throughout the long player carried by propulsive bass and drums. For a small band these guys have a huge sound. The drums have an almost war song intensity that helps drive the music alongside the bass, guitars, and synth all the while delivering really catchy anthemic songs. The feeling one experiences listening to this self-titled debut is very positive, yet with a lingering feeling of darkness hiding in the shadows. For this full length, they have enlisted the help of engineer Mark Lawson, who's credits include Arcade Fire, Beirut, Final Fantasy, Akron Family and The Unicorns to name a few. The recording is adorned with beautiful artwork courtesy of ex-Aids Wolf guitarist Chris Taylor."

Blk Jks - After Robots CD (Secretly Canadian) [SC197CD] $13.50
"It's been too long since anyone was able to bring this much soul and heartblood to progressive rock, a medium that has been left cold and dry by a misguided focus on technical show-offery. But by entangling the music they love -- township blues, fringe jazz and renegade dub -- into the DNA of prog, BLK JKS have provocatively pulled Afro-futurism into a new century. In January 2009, BLK JKS set foot on US soil for just the second time, holing up with Brandon Curtis (Secret Machines) in the quaint, spirited town of Bloomington, Indiana, to record the music that would become After Robots, their first proper album. Ten-hour days turned into fourteen as the band relentlessly exorcised their collective ideas and ideals about music. The process was an overwhelming sensory experience in its own right. To discuss certain musical passages for which there is no accurate English befit to describe, BLK JKS seamlessly shifted from accented English to their differing tribal languages. Then -- giving up on words altogether -- they'd dive back into a fine-tuned performance of a song. It is the band's tendency to work it out on the spot that is most impressive about their approach to recording and structure. After Robots triumphs on its own strange set of genre-ending rules, and BLK JKS are undeniably a band of our times, embodying the duality of our violent and hopeful new world, these days of mystery and wonder."

Circulatory System - Signal Morning CD (Cloud Recordings) [CLD010CD] $13.50
"Seven and a half years in the making, culled from hours of recorded material sculpted in at least seven different studios, the new Circulatory System album is an absolutely stellar document of song and sound. Still concerned with matters of the inner / the outer, the incomprehensibly huge and the very, very small. An imperative blast of kinetic motion, composed by W. Cullen Hart while in the midst of battling Multiple Sclerosis within his own system -- broadcasting his urgent pleas to the world(s) to evolve into a higher dimension, or for existing patterns to reveal themselves at peace within the natural order of the universe. Featuring all the members of The Olivia Tremor Control, as well as Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel. Thick with textures, layered percussion, angular guitars, vibrating strings, woodwinds, and brass."

Crash Course in Science - Crash Course in Science LP Box (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD067LTD-LP] $98.75
3LP box with limited edition t-shirt. Legendary minimal-synth/wave-band from Philadelphia formed in 1979. Choosing toy instruments and live drums out of necessity, CCIS began by experimenting with a series of recording devices. The toy instruments gave way to crude drum machines and 'Frankenstein'-type homemade instruments. Their first 7" (also included with bonus tracks in this set) introduced listeners to a noisy, unpredictable world. This 7" went on to become a classic minimal-synth record that should be included in any vinyl-collection. In 1981 they took a new direction with a darker, more sinister sound. The result was the 12" Signals from Pier Thirteen (also included in this set are 8 unreleased demo tracks from this period). The songs 'Cardboard Lamb' and 'Flying Turns' gained exposure through club play during the '80s and still sound fresh and up-to-date. Two live performance recordings from 1980 and 1981 are also part of this box set, including CCIS opening for the Philip Glass ensemble in Philadelphia. The third LP Near Marineland contains completed mixes of previously unreleased studio material (along with some remixes of this material) arranged and produced by John Wicks, CCIS's original producer. After listening to this box set you will be convinced and have no doubt about CCIS being the godfather of '90s techno music and their ultimate protagonist-role. They remain an inspiration pool for many elektro bands/artists today.

Cursillistas - Les Biches CD (Time-Lag Records) [TLR046CD] $12.00
"Digital version of the above LP. Packaged in an offset printed tri-fold art paper cover with vellum insert & woven Japanese inner sleeve. Edition of 700."

Cyclotimia - Music For Stockmarkets CD (Zhelezobeton) [10581] $15.25
No description available at this time.

Drum Circus - Magic Theatre CD (Garden of Delights) [093] $19.25
Founder and leader of DRUM CIRCUS from Switzerland has been the master drummer PETER GIGER (DZYAN). "A giant on drums," as the newspaper Rhein-Main-Zeitung called him. He was joined, among others, by two additional drummers, as well as by JOEL VANDROOGENBROECK and CAROLE MURIEL, both from BRAINTICKET. Therefore, it's not surprising that Magic Theatre, with its LSD-dripping lyrics (partly written by TIMOTHY LEARY, partly influenced by The Tibetan Book of the Dead), reminds sometimes forcefully of the early Brainticket. Magic theatre was recorded in the excellent studio of HORST JANKOWSKI in Stuttgart. Yet, it remained unreleased, then. Shortly before his death, Horst Jankowski gave the tapes to Peter Giger. The front cover shows Peter Giger on drums and Joel Vandroogenbroeck.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Eddy Current Suppression Ring CD (Goner) [47GONE] $12.00
In a world where indie pop music has gone murky and mopey, songs by garage bands are used to sell cars on TV, and real punk rock is in hiding, it's nice to find a band that didn't get the memo. Of course, they are from Australia. EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING is four guys who worked together at a vinyl pressing plant in Melbourne and decided to start a band at the company Christmas bash after-party. Live practice tapes soon developed into sold-out singles and increasingly packed shows, and Eddy Current Suppression Ring grew into a uniquely sincere and simple band that creates increasingly indefinable music. Yes, there are discernible influences: The Stooges, Can, The Fall, or Devo. But they don't sound like any of those bands-or anyone else, for that matter. In 2008, Goner released Primary Colours, Eddy Current Suppression Ring's second album, in North America to widespread critical acclaim. This is their debut that never made it out of Australia. A perfect companion piece for Primary Colours, their self-titled album is filled with all the elements that made Colours so great: razor-sharp guitar, rumbling bass, rat-a-tat drums, and lead singer BRENDAN SUPPRESSION's heavily accented squawk. Take it for a spin. CD not exportable UK/Europe or Australia. LP version to be releaseed 9/28/2009.

Emptyset - Emptyset CD (Caravan) [CVAN002CD] $14.00
This is the debut full-length release by Bristol, UK production duo, Emptyset. An empty set is an empty box or an empty bag. It's not the same as nothingness. Aesthetically, it implies structure without content; absolute potential without manifestation. This works as a template for listening to the record: it sounds like dance music with the guts ripped out; the vengeful ghost of a techno future generated entirely from noise and sine waves. There are no melodic lines on which to hitch a free ride; your attention is required at all times to safeguard against total disorientation. Emptyset is a Brutalist structure, a foreign universe born out of a void, becoming sentient and condemned to await demolition. You need not have studied Jung or harbor any particular psycho-geographical leanings to recognize that a drawn-out process of smashing a city's urban heart to pieces might influence its art. With the extensive reconstruction of its city center, at one point the biggest building site in Europe, Bristol has been a site of dereliction and mass demolition for the last decade. This upheaval, which has seen tons of girders, beams and aggregates destroyed, is just another episode in the city's tradition of lo-frequency exploration. Mass slavery, bass culture, tape hiss in the lo-fi bedsit tradition, Georgian splendor bombed to smithereens in WWII; all these dehumanized visions subsequently informed everything from the building of an extensive network of underground slave tunnels to the creation of tower block living rooms; lo-frequencies shook the earth and noise filled the air. Bass is the tool, the machine-head used to explore cracks, find spaces, open them up and fill them with noise. As a direct consequence, Bristol is the only city that could produce this album. With its dialogues in play between techno, dubstep, drone and avant-garde electronics, the environment of grassroots cultural cooperation serves to destabilize the boundaries between the grammars of individual genres.

Erik Wøllo & Bernhard Wöstheinrich - Arcadia Borealis CD (DiN) [DiN34] $16.25
RELEASE DATE: 10-20-2009
DiN has always offered the opportunity for diverse artists to form interesting and unexpected collaborations. Bernhard Wöstheinrich has certainly endorsed that ethos with four DiN releases to date, Blast (DiN6) with Markus Reuter as Centrozoon, Präposition (DiN13) as one half of Subsonic Experience, Moiré (DiN18) with label boss Ian Boddy and most recently on Conundrum (DiN27) with Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock. On Arcadia Borealis Bernhard is joined by Norwegian ambient artist Erik Wøllo. Although this is Erik's first DiN outing he is well known internationally having released many acclaimed albums on labels such as Spotted Peccary and having collaborated before with well known artists such as Steve Roach. Indeed it was at a music festival in The Netherlands where Erik and Bernhard first met which coincidentally had DiN label boss Ian Boddy playing on the same bill. The basic premise for the music on Arcadia Borealis was to look at the 18th Century when Artic explorers were like the Apollo astronauts of their time. Venturing into the great unknown with the real possibility of never returning home. A time when the books of Jules Verne & H.G.Wells were setting the tone for the scientific advances that were still to come. Thus the album takes the listener on a journey into new and unexplored lands inspired by the landscapes and weather prevalant in Wøllo's Norwegian homeland. The 12 tracks cover a range of atmospheres with many environmental sounds providing an aural backdrop over which Wöstheinrich creates his characteristic organic, evolving rhythms. Wøllo is well known for the melodic element of his work and he weaves beautiful, beguiling melodies that rise and fall like the seas those early explorers would have sailed upon. At times the music has an austere simplicity reminiscent of Wøllo's Norwegian compatriot Biosphere and certainly each track paints a sonic picture that the listener can absorb themselves in. Biographical notes: Erik Wøllo and Bernhard Wöstheinrich first met in 2007 at the E-Live festival in Eindhoven (The Netherlands), where Erik was one of the performing artists. Erik Wøllo is a professional musician and composer who released his first album in 1983. Since then he has released 14 solo albums, mainly in electronic music, but also several acoustic guitar orientated albums. He is one of Norway's leading electronic composers, and his music has been used in films & documentaries all over the world. He has also composed music for theatre, ballets, computer games and exhibitions as well as composing for strings, woodwinds and larger orchestras. As a guitarist he has been leading his own groups, playing at clubs, concert halls and festivals in Europe, the USA and Canada. Wøllo has also previously collaborated with other musicians, such as Steve Roach on their highly acclaimed album "Stream of Thought" released in January 2009. Bernhard Wöstheinrich has a formal training in graphic design and has been working in the fields of electronic music and painting since 1988. In the early 1990's he formed the duo Subsonic Experience with Thorsten Niestrath and performed at several music festivals including a support slot for the band Embryo. In 1999 he teamed up with touch guitarist Markus Reuter to form the experimental electronic duo Centrozoon. Since their debut CD release on DiN : Blast (DiN6) he has been involved in a further 18 releases both as part of Centrozoon and in other collaborative partnerships with musicians as diverse as Ian Boddy, Tim Bowness, Klaus Hoffmann-Hoock & Conrad Schnitzler.

Fauns, The - The Fauns CD (Laser Ghost Recordings) [LASERGHOST01] $14.75
RELEASE DATE: 10-12-2009
The Fauns are a Bristol (UK) based six piece fronted by vocalist Alison Garner. Unashamedly influenced by the shoegaze and indie pop scene of the late eighties and nineties they base their sound around epic distorted guitars, smudged vocals and vague lyrics. They have a melancholic edge which is strangely uplifting. The recordings were made DIY style between various bedrooms and small studios over eighteen months on a tiny budget. The main songwriter Michael Savage was mentored through this period by Geoff Barrow from Portishead... The band now gig regularly alongside the likes of Ulrich Schnauss, The Pastels, The Durutti Column and ex Creation label act The Telescopes. The album consists of nine original compositions, a cover of Brian indie/twee classic "Understand" and a secret remix track by Robert Hampson from legendary drone rock act Loop...

"An impressive debut album from Bristol's The Fauns who have managed to combine a swirling mesh of guitars and ambience with enthralling songwriting" Robin Allport (Club AC30)

"The soundtrack to my Saturday" Ulrich Schnauss

Frank Fairfield - Frank Fairfield CD (Tompkins Square) [TSQ2257CD] $12.75
"'A young Californian who sings and plays as someone who's crawled out of the Virginia mountains carrying familiar songs that in his hands sound forgotten: broken lines, a dissonant drone, the fiddle or the banjo all percussion, every rising moment louder than the one before it.' -- Greil Marcus. California-based fiddle, guitar and banjo player, and ardent 78 collector Frank Fairfield has made his living as a musician, often found playing on the streets of Los Angeles. Handpicked by Fleet Foxes to open their U.S. tour, Frank released a 7" on Tompkins Square and recorded his self-titled debut album. His 7" won over tough critics and purists like Grammy winning producer Chris King (Charley Patton, People Take Warning box set), Phil Alexander (Mojo) and Greil Marcus, to name a few. From liner notes by John Tottenham: 'Few questions can be satisfactorily answered about Frank Fairfield, mostly because he keeps to himself. He seems to be at once very open to share his insights, but yet in no way willing to give away his secrets. He was born in the San Joaquin Valley of California. He speaks of his grandfather leaving Texas to pick crops around the country, a constant traveler, a musician, who eventually "got religion" and settled in Kettleman City, Kings County as a pastor. Dust storms, tumbleweeds, cotton crops... this imagery has been richly cultivated in Fairfield's young mind. Somewhere along the road Frank Fairfield finds himself and begins to play his grandfather's old fiddle, picks up the banjo and gitbox, and starts playing the tunes of old with great conviction, learning many songs from the collection of rural gramophone records he has hungrily hunted down.'"

Gila - Night Works CD (Garden of Delights) [035] $19.25
Unreleased compositions recorded during a gig on 2/26/1972 with the band's first lineup as featured on their debut Free Electric Sound. The recording quality does not meet today's expectations, but a lot of effort was invested to get rid of background hiss and other noises with the help of the most modern digital equipment. Nothing was changed, however, and listeners may forgive some flaws and imperfections as it was impossible to do more. The picture on the cover was painted by bandleader CONNY VEIT himself. The 32-page booklet contains an extremely elaborate history of the band in German, English and Swedish, a very meticulous discography and all sorts of photos of labels and covers, leaving nothing left to be desired.

Glenn Jones - Barbecue Bob In Fishtown CD (Strange Attractors Audio House) [SAAH056CD] $12.25
"Guitarist /composer Glenn Jones claims a lengthy and rich relationship to what his longtime friend John Fahey so famously dubbed 'American Primitive Guitar.' Aside from being seduced by punk in its latter-'70s heyday and brandishing the electric for a large portion of his career (including 20 years as a founding member of post-rock instrumentalists Cul de Sac), it was the acoustic steel-string and the seemingly multi-directional genres born from Fahey's homespun Takoma imprint that informed much of Jones' early musical vision. He's also an accomplished writer and producer, penning notes for many of Fahey's reissues as well as his final posthumous album Red Cross; it was from Jones' personal archive that the Robbie Basho live concert album Bonn 1st Supreme he produced for Bo' Weavil Recordings (entrusted to him by the late Basho, whom he befriended in the latter years of his life) was exhumed. In short, he's an authority on the subject, both as a player and scholar, and with two gorgeous, critically-acclaimed solo albums under his belt, Jones is widely and justly recognized as one of the major voices of the international wave of acoustic steel string players that seemingly crested in the wake of Fahey's death. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown is Jones' latest, a disarmingly elegiac foray into wider and deeper streams of ever-chiming steel string. Returning to Martha's Vineyard where Jones recorded his previous masterwork (Against Which the Sea Continually Beats, Strange Attractors, 2007), Barbecue Bob in Fishtown explores the possibilities of classical composition within American folk forms and solo instrumentation. It's precisely this stylistic melding which sets Jones apart from his modern-day acoustic underground brethren. Jones is able to discover and project wide-screened cinema from just 6 & 12 strings, coaxing vivid panoramic images from his sparkling fingerstyle playing. Experimentations with tuning and various capos of his own invention are wed with delicately expressive playing and a remarkable compositional prowess. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown also finds Jones' performing solo on 5-string banjo for the first time on record, exhuming the spirit of Clive's Original Band as seen through a Dock Boggs-esque prism. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown distills the best qualities of Jones' musical vision into a finely honed summation of his distinctly singular style. A timeless recording, one to be held up as one of the best examples of the genre by a unique player dubbed by writer Bill Meyer in Signal to Noise as '...an elder amongst the disciples.'"

Gnaw Their Tongues - All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity CD (Crucial Blast) [CBR78] $12.00
The second release to infect Crucial Blast from the Netherlands' GNAW THEIR TONGUES, All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity is the heaviest yet from this infernal mutation. The nine-track full-length mixes huge, black blots of grisly, distorted bass riffage and noxious undertow with the band's trademark symphony of orchestral strings bent into hellish, atonal melody. Horrific screams and guttural, operatic wails are wrenched from the pits of orgiastic ecstasy, while slow-motion percussion grinds away, enveloping the album in a thick, suffocating atmosphere of cancerous horror and dread. All the Dread Magnificence comes packaged in a heavy gatefold CD jacket with a Gnaw Their Tongues vinyl sticker.

Gnaw Their Tongues - An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood CD (Crucial Blast) [CBR69] $12.00
No description available at this time.

H.E.R.R. - XII Caesars CD (Cold Spring) [10585] $18.00
'New material with an occidental sound - a fusion of martial, industrial, orchestral, neofolk, military and apocalyptic storm-composing. Intense, dramatic and unbeatable. High quality, powerfully-mastered with a wide spectrum of sound. "Germanium Metallicum" is a musical revelation of old Europe, caught between rebirth and death, freedom and slavery, uproar and revolution. It is an apocalyptic journey with many international musicial guests from the genre, including guest vocals by Plastique of Welle Erdball, Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R., Seelenlicht) and Natacha Von Wynn (erotic starlet from Switzerland). The sounds of Von Thronstahl's earlier works are cleverly combined with the composing quality of their latest album "Sacrificare" and the intensity and power of its predecessor "Bellum Sacrum Bellum!?

Hati - Ka CD (Eter) [10582] $15.25
Latest release by the great "trance-gong-drone" project from Torun, Poland - a result of many experiences and evolving artistic landscapes. The album was recorded traditionally - live in a natural acoustic environment, using acoustic instruments and connecting remote industrial echoes with elements of free improvisation and influences of drone / minimal music. Hati's music is mined from the depths of the mysterious and completely instrumental, knowingly using sound as a tool of communication. Presented in a cruciform card envelope with black on silver artwork. Highly recommended!

Health - Get Color CD (Lovepump United) [LPU028CD] $12.25
"Get Color is the highly-anticipated second album from Los Angeles noise-wonders Health. After two solid years touring with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Of Montreal, Crystal Castles, etc., and releasing their much-loved self-titled debut and bangin' Health//Disco remix record, the band convened in in an especially gnarly part of Lincoln Heights, L.A to record Get Color. The record is an exuberant proclamation of noise, rock and electronic splendor. It's a celebration of sound; pretty, harsh, soft and basked in a blanket of ethereal vocals. Get Color is the manifesto Health have been promising since their inception. Health are the band. Get Color is the record."

Jandek - Portland Thursday 2CD (Corwood Industries) [COR0798] $10.25
58th Jandek release. Recorded live at Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon on April 20, 2006.

Jim O'Rourke - Eureka CD (Drag City) [DC162CD] $12.75
1999 album, release, repressed 2009. "With his new LP Jim is doing for himself what he's more than generously done for other so-called musical talents. Everybody wants a little pop in their lives and the O'Rourke is no exception. There is no way to listen to Eureka without hearing the eccentricity, the progressive musical textures, the utter lack of anything like pop music, but at the same time it's magnificent in scale, pleasant to listen to, catchy and even reminiscent of other records you might actually have heard on The Casey Casem Show. If Bad Timing was regarded as a crossroads of O'Rourkian interests, Eureka is a six-lane clover-leaf junction of singer-songwriter traditions, production styles of the 70s, confusion and contradiction as well as the riveting sound of the artist putting all his cards on the table."

Jim O'Rourke - Visitor CD (Drag City) [DC375] $13.25
JIM O'ROURKE returns with his first new solo album since 2001. All the classic O'Rourke-isms are here, for you musicologist types: percolating banjos, smooth electric leads, organic, kicking drum sounds, the flickering of shakers to the left and right, mellow but ominous woodwinds, sounds that indicate "vintage" (before turning left and running out the door), sonic jokes, sonic tear-jerkers, sonic jerkoffs, all wrapped in spacious yet subtle left to right placement of everything in the picture. There's moments of low comedy next to high drama and juicy melancholy with a seeming lack of regard for proximity. Plus-sudden surging rhythms! The Visitor is sort of "O'Rourke Does O'Rourke"-Jim re-contextualizing everything he's done over the years, and throwing out the bullshit. The one thing you won't hear is his voice-perhaps another O'Rourkian self-examination? Or maybe he's just saving it for all the name-calling on his next album. LP arriving shortly.

Jim O'Rourke - Halfway to a Threeway CD (Drag City) [DC178CD] $11.00
1999 EP release, repressed 2009. "It seems like it was only a few months ago that Jim O'Rourke changed everything with the release of the incredible Eureka. And by George, it was only a few months ago. Well never mind -- here he is again with a little more of the same: pop music, but credibly different this time, of course. The pop stylings of Jim O'Rourke will never seem familiar to any of us (that's not his style, silly) but his combination of folk, classic rock, (smooth jazz) and the inevitable twist of the old avant-garde is always something new. Having established himself last time out as some kind of songwriter and singer in his own write, Jim presents more funky, catchy, poppy songs with and without vocals that are sure to spin semi-endlessly on turntables, digital discburners and those fab MP3 players across this land of ours."

João Orecchia - Hands and Feet CD (Other Electricities) [OE21] $12.25
RELEASE DATE: 11-09-2009
João Orecchia is a multi-faceted musician based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His is a process- orientated approach, mixing improvisation with loosely pre-composed material, finding joy in "accidents" and "mistakes". Using a collection of looping devices and effect pedals to create sounds with a variety of acoustic and electronic instruments including guitar, banjo, voice, bass, melodica, toy instruments, theremin and more, he combines layer upon layer of sound, constantly reprocessing and chopping up the sounds he records in real time, building dense soundscapes, while pulling it all together into an abstract song structure.

João has collaborated with many fine artists and arts organizations from around South Africa. Focusing on alternative sound approaches, he has been exploring ideas of randomness, composition based on source material from field recordings and the effect this can have on an audience's perception of space or image.

Prior to Johannesburg, João spent several years in Berlin, Germany, where he composed music for theatre, film and dance performance. He also collaborated with many musicians playing concerts all over Germany.

João's music has been released on several albums and compilations in Germany and New Zealand. His newest album, Hands and Feet will be released by Other Electricities in 2009 and features contributions from members of BLK JKS (Secretly Canadian), Serengeti (Anticon, Audio 8), Spoek Mathambo of Sweat.X and Playdoe, Carlo Mombelli, and Mario Marchisella.

Kadaver - Automatic Autopsy CD (Topheth Prophet) [10572] $15.25
'Excellent violent noise! 1. Pretty Girls Into Oven 2. Bite Marks 3. Pieces Of Children 4. Liquid Mind F***er (Murders That Occur During Sexual Intercourse) 5. Automatic 6. Back To Dirt 7. Re-learning To Breath 8. Yel-low 9. Suiside 10. The Wolves Are Frozen Farewell Winter Kisses Limited to 500 Copies

Kucz Konrad - Vita Contemplativa - Litania CD (Generator) [10577] $16.75
Wonderful alternations of elevated, but not at all exaggerated chords, arranged for electronic organ and choir, leave no doubt that Konrad Kucz's work is an impressing, sequential Stabat Mater of the XXI. century. The whole composition makes a huge impression, it is awesome and moving - but it also gives courage and hope. There is definitely enough room for all emotions which we define as great or important.

Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was 3CD (History Always Favours The Winners) [HAFTW001CD] $22.00
These pieces are the first released by The Caretaker's James Kirby under his own name and are the result of an intense period of production aimed at encapsulating a deep feeling of loss and alienation. What started as a concept for a simple single album soon turned into a double-album, then into a double double-album before finally ending up as a triple-double- vinyl album and triple CD soundtrack. As James Leyland Kirby himself describes it: "Here we stand, 20 years on from the first CD, and our optimism has gradually been eroded away collectively. "Tomorrow's World" never came. We are lost and isolated, many of us living our lives through social networks as we try to make sense of it all, becoming voyeurs, not active participants. Documenting everything. No mystery. Everything laid bare for all to see." Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was is the soundtrack to a world in decline, the heroism of modern life, a document of loss, an essay in gloom, delivered with a brutally honest appreciation of the pitiful truth. Time-worn, ambient drone-hauntology.

Loren Dent - Empires and Milk CD (Contract Killers) [LDEAM] $13.50
Those with a predilection for Stars of the Lid will embrace 'Work Song: Holmes Mill', and admirers of the New Melancholy's poster-boy Eluvium will likely take "Masters and Slaves" to their hearts. The more ambient domain of post-rock acts like Mogwai and Marconi Union could easily host "Love Song: Kinetics and Hope". Ultimately, though, sound all mapped, sources traced, what "Loren Dent " might be "about" is ineffable. But Dent is covered by his forebears: "It's too difficult to sum it up in a statement about our message. The message is like the music, maybe you have to drown in it before you can understand it." alan lockett/furthernoise.org

Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love - Feels, Feathers, Bog and Bees CD (Other Electricities) [OE20CD] $12.25
RELEASE DATE: 10-26-2009
Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love is an ever-evolving UK-based outfit. Over six years and through a shifting construct, they've employed varied approaches to writing and recording. But amidst changes, some constants have remained; a stark lyricism, thoughtful arrangements and complementary, harmonic vocals which glimmer and tremble throughout. Following their 2004 self-titled debut and the evocative Ends of June (Other Electricities, 2007), Feels, Feathers Bog and Bees is their third album.

Feels, Feathers Bog and Bees was recorded in a basement in Wormhill, Derbyshire with Adem (Domino Records), who also produced and mixed. The songs were sourced from temporally-scattered thoughts, re-envisioning and tangential compositions. Despite its piecemeal origins, Feels... is a strikingly congruous work. Core melodies burgeon and recede, gradually filling each song before hinting at basal elements of what awaits. Lyrics reoccur in varying contexts, woven within a rich tonal and percussive tapestry. Much louder than its predecessors, Feels-- captures and expresses Low Low's incidentals with expansive instrumentation and reinforces their lo-fi sound through newly-distorted atmospheres.

"Deft, tender harmonies glimmer and tremble throughout this bedroom-studio gem..." -Crawdaddy!

"...their catchy, yet melancholy pop, suits me fine."—songs:illinois

"Fans of the often frustratingly difficult, artistically spotty alt.country scene could do worse than checking out this tasty little morsel"—Foxy Digitalis

"one fine accompaniment for the slow road to a lonely death." ~V Gaz-Eta

"compelling, and down-to-earth­no freak in this folk" ~V PopMatters

Lucky Dragons - Rara Speaks CD (Moamoo) [ARTMOA-011] $16.00
RELEASE DATE: 09-14-2009
Rara speaks is a compilation of tracks from Los Angeles-based duo Lucky Dragons: Luke Fischbeck & Sara Rara. The band run a "weekly collaborative drawing society" called Sumi Ink Club and an internet community called Glaciers of Nice. This CD features 16 songs (18 total) from label compilations (Audio Dregs, Marriage Records, Dublab/Anticon) and their hard-to-find vinyl releases (Teenage Teardrops, Atelier Ciseaux, Wildfire Wildfire) plus two fantastic remixes by Japanese next-generation artists OORUTAICHI and Chanson Sigeru. Cover art drawing by Sumi Ink Club.

Maserati - Passages CD (Temporary Residence Limited) [TRR149CD] $10.25
"In anticipation of their long-awaited new album coming in 2010, Athens, GA's premier (or maybe only) psych-dance-rock-etc stalwarts collect their rare and out-of-print vinyl tracks from the past couple years onto CD for the first time. Featuring all four tracks from their blink-and-it's-gone limited-edition split LP with Zombi, as well as their remix LP (featuring The DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and !!!'s Justin Van Der Volgen), Passages is augmented with two previously unreleased tracks -- the Moog --fueled meditative trance of Steve Moore's 'Monoliths' remix, and the positively sublime emotional heft of 'Do You Hear The Nightbirds Calling?,' all remastered from the original master tapes and packaged with eye-popping new artwork. Also included on the Enhanced CD are two brilliant videos for 'Inventions (Live)' and 'This Is A Sight We Had One Day On The High Mountain.'"

Moodring - Scared of Ferret CD (Silber) [SIL074] $12.25
RELEASE DATE: 09-22-2009
Portland, Oregon musicians Mae Starr and Monte Trent Allen construct toxic clusters & thick webs of grainy ambience & psychedelic primitivism under the Moodring moniker. ~ Mats Gustafson, The Broken Face

Moodring came to Silber after a bidding war between record labels Silber, North Pole, & Nillacat. It was a tough fight, but we're proud to be the victors & getting to bring to you their brilliant new album Scared of Ferret. Originally formed in 2005 by Mae Starr (vocals, keyboards, loops, kaos pad, effects) & Monte Trent Allen (bass, effects, hand percussion) as a side project of Rollerball to allow more of the music flowing in their veins to spill out onto the Earth. Their first live show was actually opening for labelmate Remora in Sacramento. Moodring has since become its own animal with a cult following in the Pacific Northwest. They play their flavor of experimental music in basements, bars, & theaters shooting out their super sweet sounds on eager audiences. From 2005-2007 Moodring had six limited run releases on Nillacat as the duo of Monte & Mae. In 2007 Jesse Stevens (Ova/The Plants) joined the live incarnation of Moodring on drums & flute changing Moodring from a spaced-out duo into a more traditional band, which strangely enough allowed the music even more room to freak out. On Scared of Ferret Stevens acted as recording engineer & Michael Braun Hamilton (Momraths/Nudge/Rollerball) added effects laden bass clarinet making them a quartet. While it's easy to hear that Moodring is awesome, other words to describe them are a bit harder to come by. The presence of piano & clarinet give a free post-jazz flavor. Mae Starr's ghostly vocals sound like the lounge music on a sinking ship. The deep groove jams sink in to form some kind of modern American gamelan sound. The music is so raw & infectious & immediate that it feels more proto-everything than post-anything. So just soak it in & sink into the doom.

Mourmansk 150 - No Volunteer 4 This Society CD (Topheth Prophet) [10571] $15.25
'French power electronics unit. After their highly acclaimed La Guerre, L'Anarchie Et le chaos , Mourmansk 150 return with a new assault against western civilization. No F***ing Compromise This time.

Mumlers - Don't Throw Me Away CD (Galaxia) [GLX34] $12.00
Don't Throw Me Away marks the release of THE MUMLERS' second album on Galaxia Records. A sextet of "kids chasing pure soul with whatever tools are at hand," The Mumlers' songs emanate from a place on the fringes of modernity, more in line with the forgotten oldies blasting from lowriders around their hometown than with the flashing, disposable universe of the internet. Don't Throw Me Away disregards convention while embracing the unusual. A darker sound, washes of harmony, and sharp percussion set the new record apart from its predecessor, Thickets and Stitches, as tape machines, old preamps, vintage organs, and tremolo effects color the music. All songs were written by lead singer WILL SPROTT, whose favorite artist is Bobby Bland, an often-underappreciated '50s and '60s soul singer from Tennessee. As such, soul is the closest genre that Don't Throw Me Away resembles, but even then, it's not a throwback or purely soul record of any sort. It's a tangle of influences ranging from blues to garage rock, country to jazz, and others. No exports to Japan. On tour with Black Heart Procession on October.

Nocturne - Vers Le Vide CD (Final Muzik) [10579] $18.00
Vers le vide" (Towards the void) a new album by Nocturne

A patient work, careful over the smallest detail, perfectionnist in a word, made it possible for Saphi, (the man machine behind Nocturne) to gradually prune the elements hindering his musical singularity.

I would describe the latter by evoking its subterranean nature, choked, as though it was refrained, and in which everything seems to have nearly difficulties to break through the surface of sound, requiring thus a deep, comtemplative listening. As a paradox, the universe we are in isn't for all that welcoming, nor even less alleviating. This is at first a music of rumbling, explosion, deflagration, muted threat, creating a feeling of tension that can't get to be solved, an atmosphere of imminent disaster constantly renewed. And yet, from this magma that bubbles with saturation, telluric electronic shocks and full drones, soon come to emerge more aerial forms _ sometimes sharper ones, mostly suggested rather than really asserted, arising and moving in evanescent ways. This orientates the tracks, in a measured yet indeniable way, to a new direction as the music evolves. With harschness and roughness, or in the contrary, overwhelming wideness as directing forces, then rise to the surface some more distinctly elegiac colors, which are very curiously melancholic and bear anyway some feeling of abandon ; hence, maybe, the general title given to this set of sixteen new tracks.

A music thus embodying the unity of opposites, giving us to perceive a struggle between what's burrowed and what arises, between annihilation and the revelation of a hidden light, existing perhaps after all, beyond the void...

Odyssey - Syntharsis 2CD (Generator) [10573] $22.50
Beyond any doubt, it is the most mature work in Tomasz Pauszek's (a.k.a. Odyssey) discography. "Syntharsis 2009" is a special re-edition of Odyssey's debut material, special insofar, as the Listener does not only get the original remastered album, but also a bonus CD including previously unreleased session outtakes and a bundle of remixes. This record is fairly groovy - let's pay attention to marvellous bass lines every now and then - and still the best single word to describe the feeling throughout the CD would be "flow": Odyssey's music is very "aerodynamic" and turns out to be a fantastically fluent electronic narration.

Opium - Pain(t) CD (Databloem) [10574] $15.25
Opium is well known for his ultra-deep atmospheres, made from the finest ingredients.On Pain(t) Teo Zini expands his musical pallet with gentle rhythmic elements, creating an extra dimension to his highly refined sound.An challenging, edgy album for both the atmospheric as the groove ambient fan.

Phil Kieran - Shh CD (Cocoon) [COR022CD] $16.00
The UK's Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name. Known for rocking clubs and releasing a string of killer 12"s, Belfast-based Phil has hooked up with German powerhouse Cocoon in recent times. Shh is a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board. The album seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully, and you will detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, early-'90s electronica such as Autechre/Black Dog and other Warp staples, as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in. For the album, Phil went back to old sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Utilizing some of these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of old samples sourced from original and weird places and some live new instrumentation as well. There are live drums, some electric/acoustic/bass guitar and live keyboard playing, as well as some choice guest vocalists. Simply put, Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bass line undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really, this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It's very much a home- or car-listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics, too. Shh is an incredibly stimulating amalgam of sounds that will have your mind and body scrolling through decade upon decade of sound. Destined to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.

Schlachthofbronx - Schlachthofbronx CD (Disko B) [DB150CD] $16.00
This is the debut full-length release by Munich's Schlachthofbronx, a trio already well-known all around the globe, although not a single track or production has been regularly released yet! Okay, you may find plenty of their tracks in lots of different versions all over the web, and at one time even at Fader.com, and soon after at Diplo's Mad Decent blog, along with airplay on radio shows of people like The Count & Sinden. Schlachthofbronx is the embodiment of Munich Bass, a dirty hybrid of African kuduro, South American cumbia, Caribbean soca/dancehall, Brazilian baile funk, Cape Verdean funana, American bootybass, UK dubstep, and Bavarian schranz. Schlachthofbronx is not just a tongue-twister for Anglo-hipster blogs -- their aim is to hybridize even Balkan brass and traditional Bavarian "Volksmusik." A sick mixture nobody else has ever tried before. They are also a DJ team with a hyperactive live set, which they characterize as "sampler/Kaosspad/drunkendancin'/synchronized towelshakin'/ravesiren/whistles/confetticanons/ghetto carnevalaction." Guest appearances from artists such as Ete Kelly, Doubla J, Kein Vorspiel, Slush Puppy Kids, Mic Moe, G.Rag & Die Landlergschwister, and Ron Foto.

Silkie - City Limits Volume 1 CD (Deep Medi Musik) [MEDI002CD] $16.50
"Deep Medi Musik are proud to present the debut album from one of dubstep's most exciting artists: Silkie. Hailing from west London, City Limits Volume One is a glorious explosion of physical energy and concentrated emotion. Deep Medi is the burgeoning stable of dubstep pioneer, Mala (Digital Mystikz/DMZ). The combination of impassioned melodies, ruff London bass, wonky synth and jungle-esque flourishes on City Limits Volume One have made Silkie and his Anti Social Entertainment camp mainstays of the biggest and most influential venues in dubstep, like Fwd>>, DMZ London & Leeds, as well as London's leading station Rinse FM. The album is the culmination of eight years hard work: Silkie began producing at 15 while still at school. He's now seeing the fruits of his labour with DJ bookings both across the UK and worldwide. Through his emotive production vision, he's long since exploded beyond his own personal City Limits."

Slogun - Bloody Roots CD (Trash Ritual) [CDSLOGUBLOO] $13.00
Each track is built around a thick, low end / lo-fi rumble with just the smallest bit of vocal samples breaking through. Lyrics filled with hatred and self-loathing, manifesting itself in violent reactions and a vocal approach to match. SLOGUN's preoccupation with violent crime has been replaced by focus on self-loathing; its not about distractions anymore, it's about facing a dark, useless reality. Power electronics at its finest.

Sven Barth & Induce Are - Casual Sax & The Saxual Revolution The Blow Sven Theory 2CD (WonderSound) [WS006-2] $15.25
Originally started nearly four years ago as a way for Sven Barth, freestyle MC extraordinaire, to let out his frustrations with life, the recording industry, and wack MC's everywhere, the Sven Barth Projects, as they are now called, have grown into a world all their own. With the help of his bevy of producers, including Manuvers and Induce, who have worked with and released records on such labels as WonderSound, Counterflow Recordings, Metatronix, Botanica Del Jibaro, and Project Mooncircle, Sven Barth would weave tales of women, parties, snack food, and most of all, women—all without writing down word one, not a single letter. Along with Induce and Manuvers, many personalities have emerged from the fledgling Sven Barth Projects such as Indio Picaro, the 3 foot tall Chilean freestyle grand master who's natural high pitched voice has been emulated by many, yet mastered by few, Chubbs, the overweight and oversexed woman magnet, Shy Guy, the youngest of the bunch, Fronts Sinatra, the King of The South, Klaus, Straus, Kraus, & Ulrich, the German foursome known to party till 11am to the sounds of House music, and many more, including Lurker Louie, Bindio Eagletoe, & Don Seviche.

Aspirations:

While "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually Sven Barth's 4th completed album, his first being the now-sought-after-yet-to-be-repressed "Dr. Dildo" LP, the second being an Indio Picaro solo album and the third being a project consisting entirely of Hall & Oates samples, "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually and surprisingly the first to see proper release. With many of the aforementioned characters appearing on this album, it is definitely a family affair, and could be their finest work to date, definitively. With Induce handling the entirety of the Musical Productions, there seems to be an added layer to the songwriting (or lack thereof) while keeping the grit and guff of Hip Hop, the sound of the streets, alive. And as previously mentioned, none of the lyrics on this album nor any before it have been written down. There are no pens in Induce's studio, nor can any loose-leaf be found. What is heard on this album has come strictly and solely from the mind to the mouth to the mic, in one exquisitely skilled swoop, if you will.

May you hear and feel the emotions of which were present while these fine artists recorded this music. This is not simply a sculpting of sounds, or a recreation of a fleeting memory of what once was. These sounds are all as they happened.

These are the sounds of genuinity.

Think About Life - Family CD (Alien8 Recordings) [ALIEN078CD] $12.75
"Back in May 2006 we baptized the emergence of the Montreal's energetic party machine Think About Life with the release of their self-titled debut. Here they are three years later with their sophomore effort, Family. This time around the trio is as off-the-hook as ever, but since they dropped their debut they have polished their sound, without losing their edge. Three years is a long wait but multi- instrumentalist Graham Van Pelt has been busy with his other band, Polaris prize nominees Miracle Fortress. Family is broken-toy disco rock, served funky, like a big friendly bowl of sugary breakfast cereal. Upon a base of hearty synths and sweaty drums these tunes bubble with '80s pop guitar licks and are bedazzled with meta-marshmallows of electronic drones and glitchy samples. This alt-dance exterior is a framework from which hang beautifully rhythmic vocals, either musing empathetically about high- school lovers and guilt-ridden bus rides or issuing vaguely strange missives about mysterious wizards and black champagne. The tone is sometimes sly, sometimes frantic but never menacing, ironic or fey. Sounds like LCD Sound system, Outkast, Blur, TV on the Radio, Cars and Quincy Jones-era Michael Jackson done in the ramshackle, outsider style of Public Enemy's producers the Bomb Squad. Family is probably as influenced by cartoon theme songs and 8-bit video game music as the L.A. riots. Beyond its charming pop heart and playful nouveau-disco trimmings, Family can also serve as a floatation device in case of bad-vibes. Step into their rad imagination, they got the magic touch."

Tim and Puma Mimi - Turn The Page CD (Stattmusik) [STATT003CD] $14.75
Swiss-Japanese electro-pop duo Tim and Puma Mimi celebrate their fifth anniversary this year, and this is their first-ever full-length album released on CD. Turn The Page is a kaleidoscopic work mixing different styles: here a Super-Mario pico-pico tone, there a wooden flute, a trombone, a traditional Japanese sanshin, sometimes a guitar, even an electrified apple is used to produce a totally unique, Japanese/Swiss pop -- raw like sushi, sweet like chocolate. The CD contains some new and some old songs (not released on CD thus far) and some remixes. Their popular little hit "Aquarium" is also included. Tim and Puma Mimi craft sweet, askew electro-hip-pop jingles akin to artists such as Santigold, Stereo Total, and M.I.A. Limited edition (500 copies), including tabloid paper with Japanese and English lyrics, song stories, and four Tim and Puma Mimi posters designed by Swiss/Japanese designers. Including remixes by Knor, Seelenluft, and Lipstick.

Todd Bodine - Forms CD (Highgrade) [HIGH069CD] $16.00
Forms is perhaps the most complex and mature album to date from Berlin producer and DJ Todd Bodine. As a DJ playing around the world and as a producer in the highest ranks of consistency, Todd Bodine has constantly developed as an artist. Releases and remixes on respected labels, and collaborations with various artists have made him an internationally-popular electronic musician. In 2007, he finally began to perform as a live act, and, as Todd shows with Forms, his innate knowledge of the two sides of electronic dance music has only exponentially increased. This is a meeting of peak-time euphoria with the relaxing bliss of the hazy morning light. A meeting of hypnotic natural rhythms and driving, cut-up sounds. Todd can impress you with dancefloor bombs and also with his sophisticated sound visions. The sound of Detroit would probably be the best comparison. All of the tracks are cleverly designed to work without being overly intellectual. Everything flows and is filled with a subtle density of character that is well-known to those familiar with Todd Bodine. This album speaks its own language -- a rare and unique form of communication that very few other producers are able to replicate. Minimal tech-house at its most severely pumping and addictive.

Various Artists - Y9 CD (Psychonavigation) [PSY033] $16.00
RELEASE DATE: 09-07-2009
Psychonavigation Records started in 2000. The label was set up by Dublin DJ Keith Downey. His original ambition was to release music from Irish musicians who sent demos of their music into his popular radio programmes on pirate radio stations Kiss FM & Power FM. The debut compilation 'Psychonavigation the compilation' was released in mid 2000 and what followed over the past 9 years has been a steady release of quality music from both Irish & international musicians from every part of the globe. Respected artists such as : Roedelius, The Orb, Gel-Sol, Mixmaster Morris, Richard H Kirk, Arve Henriksen, David Moufang, Lackluster, Murcof, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra , R.S.A.G. and The Pale have all contributed to the label's success. The label has just celebrated its 33rd release in the form of 'Y9'. Tracklisting: 01. Buckminster Fuzeboard 'Local Tone' 02. GEL-SOL 'Your Day In The Sun' 03. Roddy Monks 'What A Wonderful Life' 04. Tiny Magnetic Pets 'Spinning' 05. Aza & Eoin 'Miles & Miles' 06. Enrico Coniglio feat Arve Henriksen 'W & J Theme' 07. Sean Quinn 'Im Here Twice' 08. CjC 'Point' 09. Matthew Devereux 'I Love You Like A Robot' 10. Ciaran Byrne 'Curtain Moon' 11. eedl 'Too Few Arguments' (Lackluster Remix) 12. PP Roy 'Cop Theme' 13. R.S.A.G. 'Talk Back Crawl Back' 14. Brawdcast 'Soulsearch' 15. The Soul Gun Warriors feat U-Mass 'Sloth' 16. Roger Doyle 'Adolf Gebler' Finale

Various Artists - Aquatic Lab Sessions Vol. 1 CD (Aquatic Lab) [LABCD001CD] $16.50
"Aquatic Lab Sessions Vol. 1 is a diverse package consisting of a selection of Aquatic Lab's vinyl catalogue combined with previously unreleased material. The compilation is constructed to be a collection of flowing styles, capturing everything from deep atmospheric textures to some serious sub rocking big rig material. The CD album features debut Aquatic Lab release by Caspa & Rusko 'King George,' 'Colditz' by UK Garage legend Zed Bias, 'Nah Go Dung Deh' by grime/dubstep star Cotti and 'The Darkness' & 'Dark Passenger' by acclaimed producer Seven. First up is a chilling future-scape progression titled 'Ankoku Butoh' by Moving Ninja; an organic journey that is unique in every possible way. Further on, the album showcases a wealth of underground sounds from the purist hard stepper 'Wasps' by P-Vans, to the dub inspired rhythmic 2-Step roller 'Hollandia,' produced by Spherix. New York based Australian producer Flash brings forth a hollowed out 4/4 dread bass long player in the form of 'Right Here' and Kila Mega Giga Tera, a live group consisting of Distro & Dub FX, deliver a kick-stepping, hard skanking piece of kit entitled 'Subsonic.' Vista comes with a sub shaking hybrid of moody minimalism in the shape of Neptune, and to round off the installment, bass scientist Twitch culminates the release with an original piece of wobble bass that is brimming with character and primed for the dance floor."

Vivian Girls - Everything Goes Wrong CD (In The Red) [ITR179] $12.00
Brooklyn's VIVIAN GIRLS are back with Everything Goes Wrong, released almost exactly a year after In The Red's reissue of their self-titled debut. The band have taken their time with this new album and recorded it in six days-rather than the three their debut took-though many of the songs were still recorded in single takes. Over the last year, the Vivian Girls have toured the US and Europe extensively and received a considerable amount of national and international press. Everything Goes Wrong is a slightly moodier album than its predecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twice the length of anything on their debut. That said, the influences remain the same; Ramones, '60s girl groups, surf, indie pop, etc., etc. This is immediately classic stuff. Watch for constant touring in late '09 and '10. No exports to Australia

Von Thronstahl - Germanium Metallicum CD (Cold Spring) [10584] $18.00
'New material with an occidental sound - a fusion of martial, industrial, orchestral, neofolk, military and apocalyptic storm-composing. Intense, dramatic and unbeatable. High quality, powerfully-mastered with a wide spectrum of sound. "Germanium Metallicum" is a musical revelation of old Europe, caught between rebirth and death, freedom and slavery, uproar and revolution. It is an apocalyptic journey with many international musicial guests from the genre, including guest vocals by Plastique of Welle Erdball, Troy Southgate (H.E.R.R., Seelenlicht) and Natacha Von Wynn (erotic starlet from Switzerland). The sounds of Von Thronstahl's earlier works are cleverly combined with the composing quality of their latest album "Sacrificare" and the intensity and power of its predecessor "Bellum Sacrum Bellum!?

Yarek - Oranix CD (Generator) [10575] $16.75
A while after his splendid debut in the Generator.pl label, Yarek prepared a new work: "Organix". This album is filled with satisfying, deep, rich sounds: what we are dealing here with is a truly moving melange of analogue and digital/computer sound-layers. Yarek definitely had a jolly good idea how to combine traditional sequential electronica, Jean-Michel Jarre's influences and Frankfurt chill-out in a very fresh way. Highly recommended tracks are: "Delfin" (on the one hand we have here a smooth, polifonic ostinato, on the other hand some vocal samples as if taken directly from a dark-ambient piece by Monolake!), "Lachemma" (here Yarek was without any doubt fascinated with contemporary Klaus Schulze's music) and "Wiena" (a subtle play between sultry dissonances and chrome-tissued chords plus some sombre solo-synthesizer phasing bringing in the mood of a navy-blue, digitalized snake, climbing over sequential rocks and stones)...

Yoga - Megafauna CD (Holy Mountain) [HOLY771947] $13.25
Understand this: YOGA dispenses a sinister frailty of howling swells in hissing static that combusts into crawling shock heaps, to the effect of Mayhem performing Twin Peaks incidentals in a prairie recorded by The KLF. A brief description casts them as black metal's answer to Throbbing Gristle. The texture-based rendering of their compositions sails them on a strange sea between song and sound effect as it bobs along the waves like a dead man's bottled message. Aspects of Goblin rehearsals in dead hills is interrupted as Monster Zero carves mountain sides with lightning breath. Oscillating leads pummel into churning riffs as if "Caledonia" was performed in an echo chamber near Lodi, New Jersey. The extrinsic properties of this work may result in disambiguation. LP version forthcoming.

[ D V D ]

Lost Kisses - My Life is Sad & Funny DVD (Silber) [SIL073] $12.25
RELEASE DATE: 09-22-2009
Lost Kisses started as a mini-comic in 2002 in response to a request from the San Jose Museum of Art for a current publication from zinester/cartoonist Brian John Mitchell. The matchbook-sized comics are time consuming to construct & made them difficult to produce in the quantity they were demanded. The solution was creating slow cartoon versions that simulated the feel of reading the comics. In 2005 the Lost Kisses videos garnered interest for television development, but things fell through & video rights were tied up for the next few years. So here it is 2009 & with the help of the North Carolina Arts Council we're able to bring you a DVD collection of Lost Kisses. Lost Kisses: My Life is Sad & Funny tells ten stories of loss, confusion, & self-loathing disguised by self-deprecating humor. Our stickman deals with poor life choices, failed relationships, mental health issues, & death. The basic hazards of life in the 21st century. Our hero is a self-centered jackass trying to forge a heart of gold. Are the stories funny or sad? Fact or fiction? Art or childish rants? Maybe they're all of these things. Lost Kisses doesn't try to be more than it is. It's not a telling of the next great American saga; it's just stories with emotional accuracy. So try not to think about things too much & just sit back & laugh at someone else's pain.

[ H I S T O R I C A L ]

Ainigma - Diluvium + 2 Bonus Tracks CD (Garden of Delights) [118] $19.25
AINIGMA from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Upper Bavaria played a quite rough and wild kind of progressive rock dominated by WILLI KLUTER's keyboards. Their only LP, Diluvium from 1973, deals with the Flood and is a collectors' item now. It is not bad musically, the extremely lousy recording, however, done-or rather: bungled-by an amateur, has not done it any good. Until now, several LP re-releases came out, some legally, some illegally, and one legitimate CD, though without any bonus tracks. For the Garden of Delights version on hand, Willi Klueter thoroughly remastered the master tapes in his studio, without, however, distorting the original sound. The booklet presents everything you might want to know about Ainigma. It is enriched with a detailed look back on the group's history by Willi Klueter himself.

Analogy - Analogy + 1 Bonus Track CD (Garden of Delights) [059] $19.25
ANALOGY are undisputedly among the classic bands of German rock. Their only LP is valued in the four-figure range. The magnificent title track "Analogy," from which the band took its name and which is included in the present selection, reminds us of the psychedelic music of early Pink Floyd and is one of the highlights of this musical genre. The band consisted of four German musicians living in Italy at the time, and one Italian, who left the band shortly after the release of their LP because of internal band disputes. Next to numerous pictures, the 32-page color booklet features a detailed band history and a complete discography with Analogy off-springs. The music was taken from master tapes.

Betty Davis - Nasty Gal CD (Light In The Attic) [LITA046] $14.00
RELEASE DATE: 10-05-2009
* First Official Re-release * Mastered from the original tapes * 32-page full color booklet featuring the original artwork, new notes, unseen photos, and full lyrics

Betty Davis was riding high in the '70s. A new record label, a series of high profile relationships, and intensely sexualized live performances made her a rising star. It seemed like everything was aligned to take the music world by storm. So Betty and band got back into the studio where she would act as writer, producer, and performer, creating what she thought would be her definitive release--

What emerged was the unapologetically uncompromising, self-referential 1975 album Nasty Gal. Now - thirty-five years later - Light In The Attic Records is proud to announce the first official CD reissue of this final label-release by unparalleled funkstress Betty Davis.

The re-release features new liner notes by John Ballon (writer of the Wax Poetics Betty Davis cover story in 2007), original album art, complete lyrics, beautiful digipak, full color booklet, rare photos, and interviews. Ahead of its time, Nasty Gal shows Betty digging deeper into her musical and cultural expression than ever before, and delivers from every angle. This is Hendrix and Sly Stone inspired funk-rock at its finest. From the title track's mutant groove and grunt to her onetime husband and jazz legend Miles Davis co-written ballad ("You and I"), this lady will tear your heart out! Betty's time is now--

Betty Davis - Is It Love Or Desire CD (Light In The Attic) [LITA047] $14.00
RELEASE DATE: 10-05-2009
* Entire album previously UNRELEASED - never bootlegged! * Mastered from the original tapes * 32-page full color booklet featuring the original artwork, new notes, unseen photos, and full lyrics

Betty Davis was a musical maverick with vision. Image, substance, sex, and grit combined with a badass band that could deliver the funk bed backbone to the sultry music between the sheets. After cutting two notorious discs for the Just Sunshine label (Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different), and Nasty Gal for Island Records, Davis went to work on her most personal and expressive record yet. After capturing 10 hard-hitting tracks in 1976 at the remote Studio In The Country (Louisiana), a creative difference with her then label caused the platter to be unexpectedly shelved. Davis would cut one final album and soon retreat from the music business, completely disappearing from the public eye.

Is It Love Or Desire is a little-known gem in the Davis catalogue. Mastered from the original tapes, and untouched for over 30 years, this release features detailed liner notes by Oliver Wang (Soul Sides, Betty Davis and They Say I'm Different re-issue contributor), the originally intended artwork housed in a lavishly packaged digipak, rare photos, archival material, and recent interviews with Davis and her skin-tight band Funk House.

Never bootlegged, never released, never heard until now, the secret story of this lost album will finally enter the history books and cement this bold soul sister's contributions to music and popular culture. It's time to get down--

Long live Betty Davis!

Brainstorm - Second Smile + 1 Bonus Track CD (Garden of Delights) [047] $19.25
BRAINSTORM's second work from 1973, a definite improvement on their first effort. Masterly played progressive jazz rock with flute, saxophone, keyboards and occasional vocals. From the master tapes with the non-LP A-side "You're the One" added as a bonus track. With 32-page color booklet.

Collage - Fifty-Four Minutes Twenty Seconds CD (Wool) [WR011CD] $16.00
The Estonian ensemble Collage was founded in 1966 by Rivo Dikson and included students from The Tallinn Conservatory and The Tallinn School Of Music and Pedagogical Institute. Anne Erm, one of the band's original voices, named the band Collage as its repertoire included a broad range of music: jazzed-up pop songs, arrangements of classical instrumental music, scores for small formations, large jazz orchestras and original works by Estonian composers. Soon the Repertoire was further expanded to include Estonian folk music, thanks to a request from Estonian Television which commissioned five folk songs as part of an ethnographic program. These songs were also included in the ensemble's first LP: Collage, released in 1970 by Melodiya. Estonian traditional folk songs (known as runo-songs) had not received widespread use in pop music. It seemed that such use had potential. From then on, folk music achieved a significant position in the band's repertoire. Contact with the work of Swedish pianist and composer Jan Johansson (1931-1968) at The Tallinn Jazz Festival in 1966 and 1967, as well as the work of Estonian composer Veljo Tormis influenced the band to an active involvement with folk music. Collage's use of runo-songs has, in turn, influenced the activities of other ensembles throughout the years within the Estonian musical landscape and abroad. Fifty-Four Minutes Twenty Seconds is a collection of original recordings taken from Melodiya Records, and also directly from Estonian radio studios. A wonderful lost jewel of Estonian jazz from the '70s -- modern hybrid jazzy pop that lies somewhere between Carlos Jobim, Michel Legrand, Stereolab, etc. Includes one unreleased song. Band members: Aarne Vahuri, Lea Gabral, Alo Poldmae, Anne Erm, Maire Eliste, Kersti Johannson, Enn Tomson, Katrin Magi, Ivar Johannson, Ole Valgma, and Tauno Vahter.

Da Capo - Da Capo + 1 Bonus Track CD (Garden of Delights) [109] $19.25
First CD reissue of legendary 1972 privately pressed LP plus the bonus track "Marihuana." Only 500 copies of the original LP were pressed and half of them were destroyed. Thus, today the disc belongs to the most expensive three or four German rock records ever. But it doesn't sound that very German at all. Its sound is more like West Coast-brand Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service or Jefferson Airplane. After all they had named themselves after the Love LP of 1967. The LP's reviews at the time reached from trivial to great.

Damon & Naomi - Sub Pop Years CD (20|20|20) [20202010] $9.50
Compiling the best of DAMON & NAOMI'S records over the course of four albums on the venerable Sub Pop label, The Sub Pop Years commemorates a grand chapter in the career of a band who never planned an existence in the first place. After More Sad Hits, the duo was ready to call it a day and concentrate on their book company. However, they were convinced to continue onward by Sub Pop poobah Jonathan Poneman. For the next ten years, Damon & Naomi developed from a simple recording project to a fully fleshed-out band, with a knack for articulating sounds and accumulating collaborators that continues today. As the CD is being released simultaneously with a DVD compiling live performances and videos, as well as a special reissue of all three Galaxie 500 albums (the first reissues ever of the vinyl), The Sub Pop Years is part of a larger look back before the band finishes up their new record for 2010. US tour with A Hawk & A Hacksaw September and October.

Embryo - Father, Son And Holy Ghosts + 1 Bonus Track CD (Garden of Delights) [092] $19.25
Father, Son and Holy Ghosts was the title of EMBRYO's third LP. A title which wasn't meant at all religiously, but ironically: It was intended as to pull a leg to the so-called "Holy Trinity"; The comparatively old MAL WALDRON figured as "father" (the band's foster-father so to speak), Embryo was thought of as "son", and with "holy ghosts" they meant their ideas. The great SIEGFRIED SCHWAB convinces on guitar, veena and tarang, bringing the sounds of India with him. The additional track (20 minutes) with great violin is a soundboard recording taken from the 3rd Essener Pop & Blues Festival in 1970, which never had been released before. The thick booklet comes with large story, discography, cover and label repros and many photographs. Progressive jazz-rock, mostly instrumental.

Necronomicon - Strange Dreams CD (Garden of Delights) [147] $19.25
NECRONOMICON from Aachen are known for their LP Tips Zum Selbstmord from 1972 which contains very tart lyrics in German. It was released in a complex fold-out cover and is today traded at about O1000 in mint condition. You have to beware, however, of counterfeits. Some until then unreleased tracks of the group appeared on the quadruple LP Vier Kapitel in 1990. In 1976, there was the first split of Necronomicon; that same year, however, also saw the band's reunion, partly with new artists. They now used English lyrics instead of German ones, and the lyrics weren't by far as critical as they had been before. The tracks were shorter, the music somehow more complex. The CD Strange Dreams contains ten until then unreleased tracks recorded at rehearsals and three from a gig in Herzogenrath near Aachen in 1976.

Soul Caravan - Live 1969 CD (Garden of Delights) [115] $19.25
What are SOUL CARAVAN doing on a label like Garden of Delights? Well, during their first years, they actually played pure soul music, sometimes jazz or blues. But this concert was given in the last days before their renaming into XHOL CARAVAN, at the beginning of 1969. Here, the direction that should be followed can already be discerned. The sound is excellent, even amazingly good for those days. Unfortunately, the recordings are not complete. At least, the nearly forty minutes conserved are just enough for one CD. Apart from two inevitable old soul classics-"(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding and "Lick a Stick" by James Brown- and a jazz standard-"My Favorite Things"-Soul Caravan present a very early version of their self-written track "All Green" and a drum solo by SKIP. A testimonial to their times.

Stooges, The - You Don't Want My Name You Want My Action CD Box (Easy Action) [EAR023CD] $57.50
"The only recorded document of the Stooges incredibly short lived 2 guitarist line-up James Williamson & the late Ron Asheton. Only 10 shows were played of the 1971 tour, there's four of them here. These recordings are all audience recordings and therefore suffer from non perfect sonic sound reproduction but show the band in an extraordinary full on aural assault. The electric circus & Detroit tapes recorded by the then manager Danny Fields and purchased by Easy Action. The packaging will include a booklet with unpublished photographs from the tour. The front cover image is from the archives of the late New York photographer Peter Hujar and has never been seen before. It is one of the only images of this 5 piece line up. Included in the package are replica polaroids, a photograph of Iggy Pop and a replica ticket. 1000 only & will not be repressed. No one believed any of these shows was ever recorded some people didn't even know this line up of the Stooges even existed!" Tracklist: CD1: The Electric Circus (14.5.71) 1. I Got A Right ( False Start) 2. You Dont Want My Name 3. The Shadow Of Your Smile(Iggy Solo) 4. Fresh Rag 5. Dead Body/ Who Do You Love 6. Big Time Bum 7. Do You Want My Love? 8. The Children Of The Night. CD2: The Electric Circus 15.5.71 1. I Got A Right 2.You Don't Want My Name 3. Fresh Rag 4. Dead Body/Who Do You Love? 5. Big Time Bum (Or Over My Dead Cock) 6. Do You Want My Love? CD3: The Factory St Charles St Louis 27.5.71 (Last Stooges gig on the '71 tour) 1. I Got A Right 2.You Don't Want My Name 3. Fresh Rag 4. Dead Body-Who Do You Love? 5. Big Time Bum 6. Do You Want My Love? CD4: Vanity Ballroom East Jefferson Detroit 13.4.71 (First show of the tour) 1. I Got A Right 2.You Don't Want My Name 3.Fresh Rag 4. Dead Body-Who Do You Love? 5. Big Time Bum 6. Do You Want My Love? Final Show Pavilion, Wampler's Lake, MI July 1971 : Ron , Scott, Jimmy Recca 7. Track One - Ron, Scott And Jimmy Recca Play Instrumental 8. Track Two- Band Talk With The Audience - Scott And Jimmy 9. Track Three - What You Gonna Do

Various Artists - A Bun Dance CD (Dungeon Taxis) [CDV/AABU] $19.00
The Eagle Has Strayed in this 48-minute opus of lunar musique concrete right out of the late 1960s in Hastings, New Zealand. These squiggly, prescient jams emerge on the very 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's inaugural moonlanding, having originally sampled and plunged that stuttering, televized transmission into another sea of tranquility and magnificent desolation right out here in an even more remote solar system. Pilcher's periperal figure hangs ghostlike out on the edge of the front cover next to a poster of The Beatles' HELP! semaphore (they're not even spelling HELP by the way), It's a revealing allusion to the radically warped jams that were already taking place Out Here, a preamble for the winding genealogy of the country's later musical lab tests. Stellar tapezones joyously light years ahead of time.

Various Artists - La Belle Epoque: EMI's French Girls 1965-1968 CD (EMI) [EMI3898992CD] $12.00
2007 release. "Excellent CD that collects the best tracks by the talented female artists signed to EMI's French labels. British stars like Sandie Shaw recorded material exclusively for France -- and she's heard with her rare French-only track 'Rien N'est Fini.' Remastered from the original sources at Abbey Road, La Belle Epoque -- EMI's French Girls 1965-68 presents these 20 tracks as they've never been heard before. Some tracks have previously been included on French compilations or bootlegs, however, the sound quality here is a revelation. Original mono and stereo have been used, preserving the integrity of the original recordings." Artists include Michel Arnaud with Serge Gainsbourg, Les Roche Martin, Liz Brady, Anne Kern, Christie Laume, Sandie Shaw, Ria Bartok and Alice Dona.

Various Artists - Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers Vol. 6 CD (Purple Lantern) [PURPLE006CD] $15.25
A collection of '60s and '70s psych obscurities, all featuring the sitar. UK folk-psych, Turkish fuzz, echoed Eastern chants, radiant raga jams, lysergic Gregorian warbling, Swedish prog, the inevitable backwards sitar tidbits, tablas, crunchy drums, a Brazilian-prog cover of the Beatles' "Within You Without You" and other delicacies. Artists: Tomorrow, The Shiny Gnomes, The Fox, Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band, The Cosmic Gardeners, The Nova Local, Family, Joseph, Cheops, 3 Hur-El, Grail, Tomerclaus, Paroni Paakunainen, Magna Carta, The Click, Catharsis, The Fallen Angels, Violeta De Out Ono, and The David.

Various Artists - More Andergraun Vibrations CD (Hundergrum) [H888CD] $21.50
"After the great success of the three Andergraun Vibrations vinyl comps (all sold out except the recently issued Volume 3), we present the second CD on Hundergrum Records, which contains the second side of the long out of print Volume 2 LP (Psychedelic Hard-Rock from Spain 1970-78) and Volume 3 LP (Spanish Psychotronic Brain Damage 1967-75) in its entirety. 18 ultra-rare tracks taken from mostly small and private labels. We've included even a few South-American artists recorded in Spain at the time. From wild garage-psych to primitive hard-rock and exploito psych, it's all here! You'll find the rarest Spanish groove-psych library record ever (two copies known!), 'L.S.D' by Mario Sellés Orchestra, ripping Hendrix sounds by Jordi 'Toti' Soler from his unknown private pressing second solo 45, fuzz-wah madness á la Stooges by Piñonate, acid sixties-punk by Los Crich, trashy prog sounds by Colores, basement hard-rock insanity by Prou Matic (taken from their impossible to find flexi-disc), exploito fuzz by The Matches, raw garage fuzz by the The True, rural garage psych by Los Riscos, lo-fi underground proto-punk sounds by Vibración (only two known copies of their 45), a five minute deconstruction of '(I can't get no) Satisfaction' by prog band/commune Franklin, trashy hard-rock by Luis Queimada and Argentinian band Katunga, killer psychedelic hard-rock loaded with trippy efects by Cuban born musician Chirino, wild female hippie sounds by Norah. Features carefully remasterd sound, an amazing full-colour 28 page booklet with detailed and updated liner notes in English/Spanish about each band and rare pictures, most of them taken from the archives of the bands involved."

Various Artists - Thai Funk 2 CD (Zudrangma) [THAIFUNK002CD] $22.75
"Once again, ZudRangMa comes up trumps with a hand picked selection of the maddest, dirtiest funk grooves from '70s Thailand. Limited edition promo issue, compiling the pick of Thai funk, fusing folk vocal styles with western funk and rock. Housed in individual cloth hand stitched bag with full colour fold out poster of record labels and sleeves. With some bizarre cover versions including 'Kung Fu Fighting,' 'Jingo,' 'Play That Funky Music (White Boy)' and 'Lady Marmalade -- but like you've never heard them before. Also a trailer load of original killers."

Vinegar - Vinegar CD (Garden of Delights) [091] $19.25
Comparable to the early Pink Floyd. Unfortunately the only work of VINEGAR (of still existing recordings no other tracks can be presented because of a bad sound quality). Clearly one of the most looked for German rock LPs and rightly so; progressive and sometimes psychedelic. The singer reminds sometimes of Nico, though mostly there aren't any vocals. "An unknown gem from an obscure and innovative band,"as Steven and Alan Freeman have written in their book The Crack in the Cosmic Egg. Yet, it is not true, like rumors said, that Vinegar were the predecessors of Electric Sandwich. The CD was taken from the master tape.

Xhol Caravan - Altena 1969 CD (Garden of Delights) [116] $19.25
In the time between the recordings and the release of their 7-inch single, XHOL CARAVAN from Wiesbaden had a gig in the nice small town of Altena (Sauerland) in 1969. The concert was professionally recorded by the event promoter Heinz Bonsack; the tapes were given to the artists. The sound can hardly be criticized, it was very well done. In order to avoid producing an unwieldy and expensive double CD, some few minutes of the gig were left out. With a full 80 minutes, the CD is packed to its limit. The announcements, given in their original form and length, brilliantly convey the atmosphere of the event. The group's soul roots-no longer present on Electrip-can still be made out in some of this album's passages. Vocals are playing a dominant role. Core of the gig was the "Freedom Opera," lasting for almost one hour, which can be heard in full length.

This week's VINYL update contains releases by:

2000 and One * 2562 * Andrea Introvigne & Joe Montana * Big Zis * Bill Wells/Annie Whitehead/Stefan Schneider/Barbara Morgenstern * Black Feelings * Blk Jks * Bodymovin * Break SL * Brendon Moeller * Brown Recluse * Caspa * Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath * Crash Course in Science * Cursillistas * Deep Feeling * Dilo * DJ Hell (feat. P. Diddy) * Electric Prunes, The * Eleven Pond * Ellen Allien * Emptyset * Eric Copeland * Fall, The * Format:B * Frank Fairfield * Fugazi * Giancarlo Toniutti * Glenn Jones * Gong * Haito Gopfrich * Health * Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle * Jarle Brathen * Kevin Ayers * Konstruktivists * Liquid Wicked feat. Joseph Cotton/twisted * Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love * Mathias Kaden * Maya * Michael Rother * Motorcitysoul * Mungo's Hi Fi/Itchy Robot * Mungo's Hi-Fi * Mungo's Hi-fI * Mungo's Hi-Fi * No Regular Play * Nurse with Wound * Pains of Being Pure at Heart * Paul Kalkbrenner * Pearson Sound * Phil Kieran * Race, The * Roland Appel * Rusko * Schlachthofbronx * Secret Cinema * Shimmy Sham Sham * Slumber Party * Subfossil * Sven Barth & Induce Are * Taron-Trekka * Think About Life * Thomas Muller * Vidna Obmana * Vivian Girls * Wounded Lion * Www/Paolino Tonni * Yolks

[ F E A T U R E D   R E L E A S E S ]

Eleven Pond - Bas Relief LP (Dark Entries) [DE01] $19.00
"What a total gem! An amazing unearthed, ultra obscure album from way back in 1986. Hailing from Rochester, NY, Eleven Pond crafted super infectious dark pop with wonderful synth moments and song writing that has really held up over the years. Some of the production, and much of the overall sound reminds us a bit of Seventeen Seconds era Cure, where basslines lead the tracks and the guitars and synths add such a nice mood and texture. We're also reminded a lot of another obscure mid '80s band, For Against, who had the same ability to take Factory/4AD elements and influences and meld them so nicely with classic eighties American college rock, they kind of sounded like this amazing hybrid of Joy Division and R.E.M. With new romantic vocals that totally tap into vintage Depeche Mode and New Order territory, we also hear echoes of other lesser known yet great bands of this era like Soul Merchants and Jet Black Factory. With so many new bands lately referencing that era and looking to similarly vintage sounds for inspiration, it's so refreshing to hear an actual relic from that period, too bad it sadly somehow slipped through the cracks, but now we can finally enjoy this set of songs, so worthy of much wider appreciation."--Aquarius Records

Nurse with Wound - Flawed Existence LP Box (Vinyl on Demand) [VOD066LP] $152.50
"Almost 5 hours of sheer insanity by the ingenious music-alchemist Steven Stapleton and his project Nurse With Wound which has been active now for 30 years. Box contains early Nurse With Wound-material produced from 1982-85! Two hours of their official tape-releases Scrag, Nylon Coverin and Mi Mort, more than one hour of compilation-tracks only released on tape-compilations and not available as vinyl and more than one hour of their first 2 live performances in 1984 plus a 37 minute 10" with unreleased material from 1983 plus one exclusive NWW track on a soundchip/greetingcard. All in incredible packaging with t-shirt."

Vidna Obmana - 1984-1986 Testament Of Tape LP (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD065LP] $23.25
One LP version, limited to 123 copies. "1984-1986 Testament Of Tape captures vidnaObmana in its most experimental phase during the obscure tape period, searching for its own musical voice... LP number 1 combines very beat-orientated-material in best manner of early Blackhouse or even Esplendor Geometrico."

Vidna Obmana - 1984-1986 Testament Of Tape LP Box (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD065LTD-LP] $68.75
"1984-1986 Testament Of Tape captures vidnaObmana in its most experimental phase during the obscure tape period, searching for its own musical voice. Dirk Serries (well-known sound-artist, especially known for his Fear Falls Burning- Releases) is moving on this box-set through various styles, from utterly relentless noise music to rhythmical industrial outbursts. This 3LP set features unreleased and extremely rare tracks from a personal friend's private collection (music that was recorded exclusively for him) to songs from early cassettes releases. While LP number 1 combines very beat-orientated-material in best manner of early Blackhouse or even Esplendor Geometrico. LP2 and 3 presents the fundament and roots for his later works 3LP box limited to 477 copies."

[ . . . ]

2000 and One - Heritage Remixes Pt. 1 12 inch (100% Pure) [PURE0541EP] $11.50
Part 1 in a remix 12" package of 2000 And One's Heritage album (PURE 006CD ). Storming anthems "State Of House" and "Burning Dub" remixed by Matthias Tanzmann and D'Julz. All strong and all pumpin' in a traditional 100% Pure fashion. Early plays by Dubfire, Paco Osuna, Richie Hawtin, and Bart Skils.

2562 - Unbalance 3xLP (Tectonic) [TEC034LP] $22.00
This is the second full-length album by Dave Huismans aka 2562, the follow-up to his roundly acclaimed debut, Aerial (TEC 004CD/021LP). Unbalance pushes both his creative talents, and the boundaries of dubstep, to another level entirely. This is an exceptional body of electronic music, and fully demonstrates 2562's adept ability to move through engaging soundscapes with both pin-point precision drum programming and innovative sample regeneration. 2562 is named after the postcode in The Hague, Netherlands where Huismans lives -- a city detached from the main epicenters of dubstep, thus bringing both cultural distance and a uniquely diverse sound to the project. Unbalance sees 2562's vision of dubstep moving forward into previously-unexplored areas. Warmer than its predecessor, innovation and experimentation is still as evident as ever, as the influence of Theo Parrish and Flying Lotus meet with the deep end of Bristol bass music. With productions drawing inspiration from garage, dubstep, house, techno and broken beats -- affiliations and collaborations have proliferated -- killer remixes and one-offs have cemented the Dutchman firmly in the "A" list of contemporary production talent. Unbalance is impeccably built, and accessibly disposed: sheer dancefloor carnage is guaranteed. With this new album, 2562 breaks new ground -- in moving away from the dub-techno associations of his earlier works, he creates a whole new world. From the outset, "Intro" and "Flashback" let fly some of the face cards in Huismans' deck -- the ample swell of swung garage informed by a new school sensibility, all grounded by that trademark giant bass presence. "Lost" reprises a familiar broken refrain in refixed mode, landing with a delightful low-end, almost junglist descent and a huge, mid-range melodic sustain -- absolutely killer stuff. With "Like A Dream," the album really motors -- squashed Mr. Fingers-style acid machinations inside wild bass and drum swing. Tear up the dub instructions, the diversity and breathtaking momentum of this fine album moves fleet of foot -- like Usain Bolt over Berlin.

Andrea Introvigne & Joe Montana - Twenty Five 12 inch (Mindshake) [MINDSHAKE011EP] $11.50
"We are proud to present our eleventh release on Mindshake Records. Four massive hits with artist such as Alexi Delano, Tony Rohr or Skoozbot. Don't miss this release!!!!! Big Support by Marco Carola, Richie Hawtin, Paco Osuna, Alex Under, Edgar de Ramon, Matteo Spedicatti, Dustin Zahn."

Big Zis - Suure Räge Remixes Vol. 1 12 inch (Simple) [NM080EP] $12.75
"'Lets have fun!' -- that's the mantra of Big Zis and the crew of Nation Music. The Swiss black music label has been broadening its musical spectrum over the past years. Just like the artist Big Zis, whose music could most likely be labeled 'electro pop alternative punk rap,' they don't care about common conventions. While rap becomes more and more pimped out, house loopier and minimal narrow-minded, Big Zis hooks up with a top-class troupe to get it her own way. For her most recent album Und jetz... (And now...) she worked with Marton di Katz and Valentino Tomasi (both members of Kalabrese's famous 'Rumpelorchester'), who laid the musical foundations for most of the songs. For the impulsive electro on the track 'Suure Räge' ('Acid Rain') however, Big Zis collaborated with the techno producer Michal Ho (Tuningspork) at the studio. 'Suure Räge' got remixed by several well-known producers: Robag Wruhme (Freude am Tanzen) and Canson (GS Zürich) are to be found on volume 1."

Bill Wells/Annie Whitehead/Stefan Schneider/Barbara Morgenstern - Paper Of Pins LP (Karaoke Kalk) [KK055LP] $14.75
With the release of the album Paper Of Pins, Karaoke Kalk brings you a truly harmonious collaboration between Scottish composer and pianist Bill Wells, Annie Whitehead (Penguin Cafe Orchestra), Stefan Schneider (Mapstation, To Rococo Rot) and Berlin electronic singer/songwriter Barbara Morgenstern. Bill Wells is already known, among other things, for his 2006 release Osaka Bridge (KK 035CD) together with Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and for his release Pick Up Sticks in 2004, on which these 4 players also feature together. Mr. Wells is responsible for arrangements and samplers, while Barbara Morgenstern experiments on the keyboards, Stefan Schneider controls the synthesizers and bass and Annie Whitehead plays trombone and melodica. The coming together of this quartet on Paper Of Pins has resulted in mature, yet unforced sounding compositions. The touching number "Brown Recluse" wins you over with its catchy piano sounds and subtle trumpet which is rounded off by electronica. It's a small orchestral gem in a jazz style, which is still edgy despite its perfection. This is highlighted, for example, by the fact that you can hear the brass player drawing breath on some tracks. Certainly, the Scottish composer is no perfectionist. Far more important is the melting together of melodies and a certain strangeness in the notes used. Things start to get more abstract on pieces like "Rowing Without Oars." It's a lively mish-mash of various, sometimes piercing tone variations and swirling keyboard sounds. Occasionally fragile or impressively impulsive. Every now and then, the strongly accented horns come into play, and they couldn't sound more improvised. All in all, this is a fascinating album with emotional and also artistically-ornate melodies. In this way, every track contains its very own unique beauty and fervor.

Black Feelings - Black Feelings LP (Alien8 Recordings) [ALIEN085LP] $16.50
"Black Feelings are the essence of a power trio: each member of the three-piece exhibiting a great deal of power while the whole remains balanced. Consisting of two former members of Montreal's Les Angles Morts, the band has developed a unique a hybrid of the British post punk and experimental scenes that spawned the likes of This Heat, Gang of Four and the Pop Group with heavy traces of psychedelic-goth and cold wave. Like American band The Liars, Black Feelings' penchant for combining a variety of influences to conjure up a sound that is both retro and vitally fresh at the same time. The band's main vocalist and drummer Owain Lawson is kept busy as he sings and holds down the rhythm section alongside fellow founding member and bassist Brian Mitchell, while the sound is rounded out with shimmering guitar and synth flourishes provided by Kyle Fostner. Listening to Black Feelings' self-titled debut is never dull, as moody vibes ebb and flow throughout the long player carried by propulsive bass and drums. For a small band these guys have a huge sound. The drums have an almost war song intensity that helps drive the music alongside the bass, guitars, and synth all the while delivering really catchy anthemic songs. The feeling one experiences listening to this self-titled debut is very positive, yet with a lingering feeling of darkness hiding in the shadows. For this full length, they have enlisted the help of engineer Mark Lawson, who's credits include Arcade Fire, Beirut, Final Fantasy, Akron Family and The Unicorns to name a few. The recording is adorned with beautiful artwork courtesy of ex-Aids Wolf guitarist Chris Taylor."

Blk Jks - After Robots LP (Secretly Canadian) [SC197LP] $14.50
"It's been too long since anyone was able to bring this much soul and heartblood to progressive rock, a medium that has been left cold and dry by a misguided focus on technical show-offery. But by entangling the music they love -- township blues, fringe jazz and renegade dub -- into the DNA of prog, BLK JKS have provocatively pulled Afro-futurism into a new century. In January 2009, BLK JKS set foot on US soil for just the second time, holing up with Brandon Curtis (Secret Machines) in the quaint, spirited town of Bloomington, Indiana, to record the music that would become After Robots, their first proper album. Ten-hour days turned into fourteen as the band relentlessly exorcised their collective ideas and ideals about music. The process was an overwhelming sensory experience in its own right. To discuss certain musical passages for which there is no accurate English befit to describe, BLK JKS seamlessly shifted from accented English to their differing tribal languages. Then -- giving up on words altogether -- they'd dive back into a fine-tuned performance of a song. It is the band's tendency to work it out on the spot that is most impressive about their approach to recording and structure. After Robots triumphs on its own strange set of genre-ending rules, and BLK JKS are undeniably a band of our times, embodying the duality of our violent and hopeful new world, these days of mystery and wonder."

Bodymovin - Everybody 12 inch (Moonbootique Records) [MOON035EP] $12.25
Welcome to the space-disco-electro-tech-house-songwriting world of Bodymovin aka Thomilla of Turntablerocker and DJ Friction. Continuing the intergalactic electronic extravaganza that is Bodymovin's self-titled debut album, one of the duo's hottest cuts comes complete with two very special remixes. Moonbootica re-work "Everybody" into an absolute stormer, using the catchy vocal refrain as its central pivot, with hot bass lines and intense synth trip-outs. The original track is included as a reminder of its greatness. Turntablerocker produce a looping, peaking, tribal/acid jam.

Break SL - City Wasteland Pt. II 12 inch (Philpot) [PHP040EP] $11.50
Here is part 2 of the 12" version of Break SL's album, City Wasteland, including two vinyl-only tracks. "Move!" is true-school techno. "Dirtbomb" has some nice edges and a kinda dark feeling. Hovering samples and raw, dirty drums give the whole track a very subtle blues. On the flip, Break SL enters the deepest territory of Detroit-influenced techno with "Weird Dancer." Finally, "TFF" is a vinyl-exclusive which delivers intense and acid-like drum layers... Chicago galore!

Brendon Moeller - Big Shot 12 inch (Connaisseur Recordings) [CNS031EP] $12.25
The Grand Seigneur of dub, Brendon Moeller, serves up his follow-up to the already delightful Big Thrill release on Connaisseur's sub-imprint Supérieur. With his Big Shot EP, the South-African living in New York drops four massive cuts of deep dub -- timeless and full of Detroitish and Hardwax-esque references. "Big Shot" comes in dub and original, "The Boost" is somewhere between house, techno and dub, and "The Urge" is classic, timeless dub-techno with dusty and mumbling soundscapes.

Brown Recluse - Soft Skin 12 inch (Slumberland) [SL102] $7.50
BROWN RECLUSE formed in 2006 around the core of TIMOTHY MESKERS and MARK SADDLEMIRE. Taking influence from the psych pop of The Zombies and Margo Guryan, the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, and '60s producers like Joe Meek and Phil Spector, the two recorded and released the six-song Black Sunday EP, an electrifying blast of pop invention that boasts blinding song-craft, skilled arrangements, and gorgeous playing. It's rare to hear a record so assured from such a young band. 2006 and 2007 saw the duo expand to a six-piece live band that played numerous shows on the East Coast, writing new material and winning new fans along the way. The Soft Skin was recorded in mid-2007; after delays with the original release, it has now come out on Slumberland Records. The four songs show an increasingly confident full-band line-up stretching out and reaching a new plateau. A pastoral, psychedelic vibe permeates the EP, bringing to mind the sunshine pop of Curt Boettcher's The Millennium and Sagittarius projects and such familiar touchstones as Brian Wilson, Belle & Sebastian, The Clientele, and the Elephant 6 collective. This is pretty heady company to keep, but perfectly realized songs like "Night Train" and "Rainy Saturday" more than hold their own. Includes a free digital download

Caspa - Louder VIP 12 inch (Sub Soldiers) [SUBSOL007EP] $11.00
"Caspa returns with two monster releases, First up 'Louder VIP,' this tune gets rinsed at raves, with its twisted sonics messing up craniums big time! On the AA side one of the biggest dancefloor tunes 'Power Shower' gets 3 rewinds standard. It's pure gutter, so filthy you may have to a shower after each play."

Cursillistas - Les Biches LP+CD (Time-Lag Records) [TLR046LP] $24.25
"Deluxe & expanded vinyl version co-released with Matt Lajoie's own L'animaux Tryst (field) recordings label. Originally presented in 2006 as the first L'animaux Tryst release, an extremely limited 3inch CD-R. This new version fills out the album with four previously unreleased bonus tracks from the original recording sessions. Each track is newly mixed and the whole album features super nice warm analog remastering for the ultimate in hi-fi lo-fi. These recordings represent a definite turning point in the Cursillisitas trajectory, with the sparser intimate acid-folk-pop sound of the earliest releases blending easily into a more filled-out and improvisation based psychedelia. Heavy use of layered overdubs, xylophone, live looping, and more experimental atmospheres added to the reverbed vocals, acoustic guitar, and crude percussion push things towards the more free-wheelin' full band sound of the present. A drifting trip that wobbles between the dark & the light. Pressed on 180gm vinyl. Packaged in a totally deluxe letter press printed tri-fold art paper cover with metallic screen printed interior, photo-mounted vellum insert, and all sealed up with a hand-sewn button enclosure. This vinyl version also includes a CD version of the album packaged in a stark hand-stamped art paper cover. Hand numbered edition of 300 copies."

Dilo - Aftermath 12 inch (Einmaleins) [EINMAL048EP] $11.50
"Dilo is back. He offers us 4 tracks of delicious modern electronic music. Perfect for relaxed afternoons or to rock the floors around the world. Inclusive massive remixes by Dewalta (Vakant) and Pablo Denegri (Dumb Unit)!"

DJ Hell (feat. P. Diddy) - The DJ Radio Slave 28'30" Minutes Of A Remix 12 inch (International Deejay Gigolo) [GIGOLO255EP] $11.50
This is Radio Slave's remix of "The DJ," DJ Hell's unbelievable collab with P. Diddy, off of his highly-acclaimed Teufelswerk album (GIGOLO 250CD/LP), in two parts.

DJ Hell (feat. P. Diddy) - The DJ 12:2 12 inch (International Deejay Gigolo) [GIGOLO255T2-EP] $11.50
Part 2 of a series of remix 12"s of DJ Hell's "The DJ," off of his acclaimed album Teufelswerk (GIGOLO 250CD/LP), featuring hip-hop superstar P. Diddy. Featuring remix work by Jay Haze and Deetron.

DJ Hell (feat. P. Diddy) - The DJ 12:1 12 inch (International Deejay Gigolo) [GIGOLO255T-EP] $11.50
The latest single taken from the much lauded Teufelswerk (GIGOLO 250CD/LP) long player sees DJ Hell "hooking-up" once more with hip-hop superstar P. Diddy for the freestyle jacking "The DJ," a track that sets the techno world straight, sending a very clear message "to the motherf***er plays a 4-minute version." This is part 1 in a series of remix 12"s, with two diverse remixes that take the original vocal as the lead from Paul Woolford and Sis.

Electric Prunes, The - Release Of An Oath LP (Reprise Records) [RS6316HLP] $12.75
180 gram exact repro reissue of the band's fourth album, manufactured by Rhino. Originally released in 1968, this album continues David Axelrod's interest in combining classical religious music with rock instrumentation, this time taking aim at "The Kol Nidre," a centuries-old Yom Kippur prayer. "Songs like the liturgical 'Holy Are You' and the mostly instrumental 'General Confessional' combine swirling string and woodwind parts with heavy guitar and organ in a more organic and cohesive fashion than before. Musically complex and intriguing without being nearly as pretentious as a capsule description might indicate, Release of an Oath is a remarkable piece of early American progressive rock." -- All Music

Ellen Allien - Lover/You Are 12 inch (Bpitch Control) [BPC199EP] $11.50
Ellen Allien now trips back into the massive center of the club. "Lover" whirs and twinkles amidst subtle synth elements and between the hiss of the fog machine and the whispering voice of the siren. However, there's also a tight bass line, grooving synths, and shakers that add a house-y lightness. "You Are" features a straight kickdrum paired with tribal elements and a forward-rolling synth. Friction enough to sand the last bit of craziness out of ravers' spinal cords.

Emptyset - Emptyset 2xLP (Caravan) [CVAN010LP] $17.25
This is the debut full-length release by Bristol, UK production duo, Emptyset. An empty set is an empty box or an empty bag. It's not the same as nothingness. Aesthetically, it implies structure without content; absolute potential without manifestation. This works as a template for listening to the record: it sounds like dance music with the guts ripped out; the vengeful ghost of a techno future generated entirely from noise and sine waves. There are no melodic lines on which to hitch a free ride; your attention is required at all times to safeguard against total disorientation. Emptyset is a Brutalist structure, a foreign universe born out of a void, becoming sentient and condemned to await demolition. You need not have studied Jung or harbor any particular psycho-geographical leanings to recognize that a drawn-out process of smashing a city's urban heart to pieces might influence its art. With the extensive reconstruction of its city center, at one point the biggest building site in Europe, Bristol has been a site of dereliction and mass demolition for the last decade. This upheaval, which has seen tons of girders, beams and aggregates destroyed, is just another episode in the city's tradition of lo-frequency exploration. Mass slavery, bass culture, tape hiss in the lo-fi bedsit tradition, Georgian splendor bombed to smithereens in WWII; all these dehumanized visions subsequently informed everything from the building of an extensive network of underground slave tunnels to the creation of tower block living rooms; lo-frequencies shook the earth and noise filled the air. Bass is the tool, the machine-head used to explore cracks, find spaces, open them up and fill them with noise. As a direct consequence, Bristol is the only city that could produce this album. With its dialogues in play between techno, dubstep, drone and avant-garde electronics, the environment of grassroots cultural cooperation serves to destabilize the boundaries between the grammars of individual genres.

Eric Copeland - Al Anon LP (Catsup Plate) [CPR727LP] $15.25
"Al Anon concludes Eric Copeland's two part album entitled Alien In A Garbage Dump. Where the first half offered a discombobulated collection of radio cross-signaling, here the alien finds its groove for a minute and tidies up the frequencies. There is still something outsiderish here, but with more of an effort to get inside, to play by the rules even? Or maybe the motivation is to sneak something subversive into the norms' hideout? Since Al Anon was recorded at the same time as two Black Dice albums, there are obvious parallels in the results; an uncompromised sonic landscape. But outside the group setting, Copeland has found places one can only find alone: small inner dialogues and isolated mind caves where an idea may only last a moment. He captures and tweaks these ideas into fragments of many memories; a déjÄ vu record déjÄ vu record. Funny characters drop in and out. Songs come and go. Al Anon proves to be a strangely curated time capsule of OUR time right NOW; music where birds beat-box with car-stereo subwoofers and the neighbors' Espanol sings on top the Sabbath siren. With all this going on, Copeland sometimes disappears into the anonymity, playing a 'behind-the-scenes' role, pushing cords and pulling buttons, laughing because the batteries are dying. Here the familiar becomes mysterious and the unknown feels normal and we can listen to this one all day trying to make those distinctions. Edition of 500 copies with jaw-droppingly amazing black and white collage artwork by Copeland, screenprinted by VG Kids."

Format:B - Hot Rod 12 inch (Formatik) [FMK001EP] $12.75
"The first catalogue number from the house of Formatik comes from Format:B. The A-side ('Hotrod') is a pushing, wooden battering monster in the typical Format:B manner. The 'Hugo Remix' gallops through the house arena like a thoroughbred stallion. Extremely 'wonky' breaks paired with a post modern house beat makes it the perfect alternative. Redux on the B-side is a heavyweight techno layout. Sirens, massive baselines and a dark atmosphere that sometimes, but only sometimes, reminds you of old black and white horror films make this track the perfect addition to this first EP. Three different styles, that's the way we want it. Stay tuned."

Frank Fairfield - Frank Fairfield LP (Tompkins Square) [TSQ2264LP] $12.75
"'A young Californian who sings and plays as someone who's crawled out of the Virginia mountains carrying familiar songs that in his hands sound forgotten: broken lines, a dissonant drone, the fiddle or the banjo all percussion, every rising moment louder than the one before it.' -- Greil Marcus. California-based fiddle, guitar and banjo player, and ardent 78 collector Frank Fairfield has made his living as a musician, often found playing on the streets of Los Angeles. Handpicked by Fleet Foxes to open their U.S. tour, Frank released a 7" on Tompkins Square and recorded his self-titled debut album. His 7" won over tough critics and purists like Grammy winning producer Chris King (Charley Patton, People Take Warning box set), Phil Alexander (Mojo) and Greil Marcus, to name a few. From liner notes by John Tottenham: 'Few questions can be satisfactorily answered about Frank Fairfield, mostly because he keeps to himself. He seems to be at once very open to share his insights, but yet in no way willing to give away his secrets. He was born in the San Joaquin Valley of California. He speaks of his grandfather leaving Texas to pick crops around the country, a constant traveler, a musician, who eventually "got religion" and settled in Kettleman City, Kings County as a pastor. Dust storms, tumbleweeds, cotton crops... this imagery has been richly cultivated in Fairfield's young mind. Somewhere along the road Frank Fairfield finds himself and begins to play his grandfather's old fiddle, picks up the banjo and gitbox, and starts playing the tunes of old with great conviction, learning many songs from the collection of rural gramophone records he has hungrily hunted down.'"

Fugazi - The Argument LP (Dischord) [DCH130] $12.75
REISSUED ON VINYL!!! The Argument album from one of independent music's most enduring forces. Ten brand new songs chock full of all the yearning, struggling, and uplifting stuff their fans can't get enough of. Recorded by longtime collaborator DON ZIENTARA at the legendary Inner Ear studios, and featuring the first studio appearance of the band's roadie and second drummer JERRY BUSHER. Includes a download code.

Glenn Jones - Barbecue Bob In Fishtown LP (Strange Attractors Audio House) [SAAH056LP] $16.00
"Guitarist /composer Glenn Jones claims a lengthy and rich relationship to what his longtime friend John Fahey so famously dubbed 'American Primitive Guitar.' Aside from being seduced by punk in its latter-'70s heyday and brandishing the electric for a large portion of his career (including 20 years as a founding member of post-rock instrumentalists Cul de Sac), it was the acoustic steel-string and the seemingly multi-directional genres born from Fahey's homespun Takoma imprint that informed much of Jones' early musical vision. He's also an accomplished writer and producer, penning notes for many of Fahey's reissues as well as his final posthumous album Red Cross; it was from Jones' personal archive that the Robbie Basho live concert album Bonn 1st Supreme he produced for Bo' Weavil Recordings (entrusted to him by the late Basho, whom he befriended in the latter years of his life) was exhumed. In short, he's an authority on the subject, both as a player and scholar, and with two gorgeous, critically-acclaimed solo albums under his belt, Jones is widely and justly recognized as one of the major voices of the international wave of acoustic steel string players that seemingly crested in the wake of Fahey's death. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown is Jones' latest, a disarmingly elegiac foray into wider and deeper streams of ever-chiming steel string. Returning to Martha's Vineyard where Jones recorded his previous masterwork (Against Which the Sea Continually Beats, Strange Attractors, 2007), Barbecue Bob in Fishtown explores the possibilities of classical composition within American folk forms and solo instrumentation. It's precisely this stylistic melding which sets Jones apart from his modern-day acoustic underground brethren. Jones is able to discover and project wide-screened cinema from just 6 & 12 strings, coaxing vivid panoramic images from his sparkling fingerstyle playing. Experimentations with tuning and various capos of his own invention are wed with delicately expressive playing and a remarkable compositional prowess. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown also finds Jones' performing solo on 5-string banjo for the first time on record, exhuming the spirit of Clive's Original Band as seen through a Dock Boggs-esque prism. Barbecue Bob in Fishtown distills the best qualities of Jones' musical vision into a finely honed summation of his distinctly singular style. A timeless recording, one to be held up as one of the best examples of the genre by a unique player dubbed by writer Bill Meyer in Signal to Noise as '...an elder amongst the disciples.'"

Haito Gopfrich - Disconnected 12 inch (Boxer Recordings) [BOXER074EP] $11.50
Berlin producer/DJ Haito Göpfrich presents tracks off of his debut full-length release Fiat Lux, including an exclusive remix by Sascha Funke.

Health - Get Color LP (Lovepump United) [LPU028LP] $12.25
"Get Color is the highly-anticipated second album from Los Angeles noise-wonders Health. After two solid years touring with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Of Montreal, Crystal Castles, etc., and releasing their much-loved self-titled debut and bangin' Health//Disco remix record, the band convened in in an especially gnarly part of Lincoln Heights, L.A to record Get Color. The record is an exuberant proclamation of noise, rock and electronic splendor. It's a celebration of sound; pretty, harsh, soft and basked in a blanket of ethereal vocals. Get Color is the manifesto Health have been promising since their inception. Health are the band. Get Color is the record."

Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle - When The Rain 10 inch (Bitches Brew) [BITCHES015EP] $13.50
"As a special little present, Bitches Brew is releasing this special Cosmo remix of Jamaican legend Horace Andy & Ashley Beedles When The Rain as a LIMITED 500 only 10-inch with hand silk-screened jackets and hand stamped labels so each copy is completely unique and a collector's item! Cosmo was commissioned by K7 to remix 'When the Rain' from their album Inspiration Information, yet K7 released her 'Cosmodelic Remix' as a digital MP3 download only so Cosmo got the rights to release it on vinyl. 'There is also an unreleased reprise version on the B-Side for those of a dubbier persuasion. Lovely, deep summer vibes all round."

Jarle Brathen - Søder 12 inch (Full Pupp) [FP021EP] $12.25
"Not content with just completing their debut album for Full Pupp, Jarle Bråthen from Ytre Rymden Dansskola unleashes his virgin vinyl 12'' on us. On the A side we've got 'Søder.' Though rough and tough on the outside, it's just like a Ferrero Rocher. A hard shell but a creamy soft inside... mmmm... I love chocolate. On side B there's 'Takras' which we previously displayed on last year's Greatest Tits Vol.1 compilation. This time however, you'll get it with a proper mixdown from yours truly. Skål!" -- Thomas Oslo, 7th of August 2009.

Liquid Wicked feat. Joseph Cotton/twisted - The Governor/The Superpowers 12 inch (Scrub A Dub) [SCRUB004EP] $10.25
No description available at this time.

Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love - Feels, Feathers, Bog and Bees LP (Other Electricities) [OE20LP] $12.25
RELEASE DATE: 10-26-2009
Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love is an ever-evolving UK-based outfit. Over six years and through a shifting construct, they've employed varied approaches to writing and recording. But amidst changes, some constants have remained; a stark lyricism, thoughtful arrangements and complementary, harmonic vocals which glimmer and tremble throughout. Following their 2004 self-titled debut and the evocative Ends of June (Other Electricities, 2007), Feels, Feathers Bog and Bees is their third album.

Feels, Feathers Bog and Bees was recorded in a basement in Wormhill, Derbyshire with Adem (Domino Records), who also produced and mixed. The songs were sourced from temporally-scattered thoughts, re-envisioning and tangential compositions. Despite its piecemeal origins, Feels... is a strikingly congruous work. Core melodies burgeon and recede, gradually filling each song before hinting at basal elements of what awaits. Lyrics reoccur in varying contexts, woven within a rich tonal and percussive tapestry. Much louder than its predecessors, Feels-- captures and expresses Low Low's incidentals with expansive instrumentation and reinforces their lo-fi sound through newly-distorted atmospheres.

"Deft, tender harmonies glimmer and tremble throughout this bedroom-studio gem..." -Crawdaddy!

"...their catchy, yet melancholy pop, suits me fine."—songs:illinois

"Fans of the often frustratingly difficult, artistically spotty alt.country scene could do worse than checking out this tasty little morsel"—Foxy Digitalis

"one fine accompaniment for the slow road to a lonely death." ~V Gaz-Eta

"compelling, and down-to-earth­no freak in this folk" ~V PopMatters

Mathias Kaden - Studio 10 2xLP (Vakant) [VA030LP] $19.75
2LP version. Previously released on CD by Vakant, now released in a 2LP version. This is the debut full-length release by Gera/Jena, Germany-based minimalist, Mathias Kaden. Each track has a message waiting to be interpreted, from the first track "Intro Ducing," borrowing from Bob Marley, to the aptly-named "1981" (featuring vocals by Gjaezon), significant in that it was the year of birth for the most important and timeless instrument in Mathias' studio, the TR808. A Fender Rhodes from jazz pal Lars Mäurer, Mathias's 1970s Lowrey organ played by Florian Schirmacher, violin by Claudia Ander-Donathand, and flugelhorn by Martin Rudloff all pull and push the music in ever-expanding directions, but at the center, the 808 welds it all together. In addition, vocalists (and lyricists) Ian Simmonds, Gjaezon, and Tomomi Ukumori impart their talents to help articulate the messages that pervade Studio 10.

Maya - A 10 inch (Discalcula) [PEAA001EP] $12.00
"MAYa continues her auditory voyage through a unique gauze of psychedelic dis-ease, with the release of her second 10" record entitled A. The follow up to last year's acclaimed debut Y, A finds MAYa exploring further her mysterious terrain of compulsion and loss in this musical collaboration with Joseph Budenholzer. Unnerving layers of vocals, nocturnal floating synths, cello, and accordion combine, to produce swirling columns of sound and intense quiet, imbued with an off centre pop sensibility."

Motorcitysoul - Vivid 12 inch (Simple) [SIMPLE942EP] $12.25
"Motorcitysoul are Frankfurt veterans and deep house pioneers Matthias Vogt and Christian Rindermann (aka C-Rock). Vivid follows various successful releases (Kazan and Space Katzle) on Aus Music, and their first debut studio album Technique on Simple. Hailing from Germany's own 'Motor City,' the pair have developed a reputation for creating soulful yet truly futuristic deep house that has a signature sound all of its own. 'Vivid' is trademark motorcitysoul -- resonant evolving chord sequences, beautifully arranged organic percussion and 'wild pitch' fx and loops combine to devastating effect. Fellow Frankfurter Roman Flugel gives the Manheim house sound a damn good run for it's money with a tight, loopy groove that locks you from the off. All kinds of detail and sound flourishes pop in once, never to be heard again, keeping the listener on their toes. The package is completed with a percussion heavy dub that threatens to steal the show. Roman Flugel needs little introduction. One half of Alter Ego and one of the collective responsible for legendary labe'ls Playhouse and Klang and not forgetting one of the finest clubs in the world Robert Jonson."

Mungo's Hi Fi/Itchy Robot - Fire Pon A Dubplate/Playback 12 inch (Scrub A Dub) [SCRUB003EP] $10.25
No description available at this time.

Mungo's Hi-Fi - Under Arrest EP I 12 inch (Scotch Bonnet) [SCOB016EP] $11.00
Featuring MC Ishu, Soom T and Junior Dread.

Mungo's Hi-fI - Under Arrest EP II 12 inch (Scotch Bonnet) [SCOB017EP] $11.00
Featuring Ranking Joe, Black Champagne and Lyricson.

Mungo's Hi-Fi - Ruff Mi Tuff EP I 12 inch (Scotch Bonnet) [SCOB018EP] $11.00
Featuring Tippa Irie and Omar Perry. "First in this killer two part Mungo's excursion on the wicked 'Ruff Mi Tuff' riddim track."

Mungo's Hi-Fi - Ruff Mi Tuff EP II 12 inch (Scotch Bonnet) [SCOB019EP] $11.00
Featuring Daddy Freddy, Sister Carol and Bongo Chilli. "Second of this killer two part Mungo's excursion on tthe wicked 'Ruff Mi Tuff' ridim track."

No Regular Play - Owe Me 12 inch (Wolf And Lamb) [WLM005EP] $12.25
"Wolf + Lamb introduce the world to the delights of No Regular Play, the musical duo who merge heart and spirit into yet another package for Wolf + Lamb. Surpassing expectations with their freshly pressed vinyl output this year, 'Owe Me' is the second release from No Regular Play on the label, following the digital package 'Blonde Juan' last year, it fuses style and grace into a stunning collection of dance-door steeped productions. Greg Paulus and Nick DeBruyn AKA No Regular Play met as excitable 8 year olds growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Picking up inspiration from hip-hop and jazz legends such as A Tribe Called Quest, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock, Greg performed trumpet at local jazz clubs in his teenage years and together they traveled to Cuba's Havana to study Afro-Cuban rhythm, music and culture. Greg went on to study jazz/classical at the Manhattan School of Music and worked with James Brown's drummer and Lauryn Hill before touring with critically acclaimed indie band Beirut. In 2006 Nick joined Greg in Brooklyn to begin experimenting with electronic music after they attended a Wolf + Lamb party that blew their minds. Last year they met Zev and Gadi of Wolf + Lamb, and immediately began a very close musical and personal relationship. Consequently No Regular Play was born, stylistically touching on a wide range of influences focused around live instrumentation, which is also used in their live sets. You can find No Regular Play in the booth or at the party, bartending at Wolf +Lamb and operating the vinyl presses and forklift at Brooklyn Phono."

Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday 7 inch (Slumberland) [SL103] $4.50
2009 was been a whirlwind year for THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART. Since releasing their self-titled debut album in February, they've become one of the most talked-about new bands in years. They've toured the world to rapturous welcome, been featured in numerous magazines, received a Best New Music tag from Pitchfork, and even made their debut television appearance on Last Call with Carson Daly. "Come Saturday" is taken from their smash album. A breathless rush of guitar noise married to a classic pop tune, "Come Saturday" shows the band's early My Bloody Valentine and Rocketship influences but isn't the least bit retro. B-side "Side Ponytail" is old-skool Pains, and one of their most indie-pop moments. Uptempo, instantly catchy, and racing in just over two minutes. One time pressing of 1,000 on colored vinyl. Upcoming West Coast tour dates. North America only.

Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling Vol. 1 12 inch (Bpitch Control) [BPC198EP] $11.50
2009 film highlight Berlin Calling, Hannes Stöhr's fictitious drama, is about the up-and-coming DJ Ickarus (played by Paul Kalbrenner), and this is volume 1 of the soundtrack. The film skillfully distances itself from "hip" biopics and instead offers 100% authenticity and classic storytelling. These three tracks by Kalkbrenner form an absolutely harmonious trilogy, perfectly portraying the film's atmosphere: a subliminal, seething energy, and a devouring emptiness, cycling faster and faster around aimlessness.

Pearson Sound - PLSN 12 inch (Hessle Audio) [HES009EP] $10.25
"The ninth release on Hessle Audio sees Pearson Sound, aka David Kennedy, make his debut release on the label. Soul Jazz Records have recently released a Pearson Sound 12" (Gambetta/So Far Ago), and his tune 'Indelible' appeared on the All Night Long CD and 12" released on Aus Music. Hessle Audio was formed in Leeds in early 2007 by David Kennedy, Ben Thomson and Kevin McAuley. The label has released tunes by TRG, Martyn, Pangaea, Ramadanman, Joe and Untold. In addition, Hessle Audio tunes have appeared on compilations by Tempa, Scape, Soul Jazz and Global Underground."

Phil Kieran - Shh 2xLP (Cocoon) [COR022LP] $19.75
The UK's Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name. Known for rocking clubs and releasing a string of killer 12"s, Belfast-based Phil has hooked up with German powerhouse Cocoon in recent times. Shh is a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board. The album seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully, and you will detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, early-'90s electronica such as Autechre/Black Dog and other Warp staples, as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in. For the album, Phil went back to old sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Utilizing some of these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of old samples sourced from original and weird places and some live new instrumentation as well. There are live drums, some electric/acoustic/bass guitar and live keyboard playing, as well as some choice guest vocalists. Simply put, Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bass line undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really, this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It's very much a home- or car-listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics, too. Shh is an incredibly stimulating amalgam of sounds that will have your mind and body scrolling through decade upon decade of sound. Destined to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.

Race, The - Exiles LP (St. Ives) [SAINT025LP] $13.50
"Exiles is meant to be an over-the-top experience sonically, lyrically and thematically, conjuring the desert, its dunes, mirages and holy mountains and the outsized personalities of the outlaws, searchers, escapists, wanderers, drifters, pariahs, prophets, misfits, mystics, miscreants and all the other sorry suckers who've called the dusty road home. As dark and serious as it may all sound it was a hell of a lot of fun to make and we hope an enjoyable listen. Exiles is available as a limited edition vinyl pressing of 220."

Roland Appel - Snow In Spring Time 12 inch (Aus Music) [AUS923EP] $11.50
Roland Appel started producing music and spinning records in the early '90s, combining Detroit techno, folk, disco, soul and house. One of the most in-demand tracks from the All Night Long album, "Snow..." gets a full single release. Old school disco in every way, certainly not "space" and nothing "nu" about it. DFA darlings Runaway turn it in a slow-burning house direction that builds tension until every last drop is wrung out in a sweaty pool on the dancefloor.

Rusko - Cockney Thug (Caspa Remix) 12 inch (Sub Soldiers) [SUBSOL008EP] $11.00
"One of the heaviest dubstep tunes ever is now re-released, with the brand new Caspa Remix. Caspa has turned 'Cockney Thug' into a dark monster that slaps you round the face with a buzzsaw and beefier bass line. The Rusko original anthem was taken from Babylon: Volume One (SUBSOL002) So wake the fock up!"

Schlachthofbronx - Schlachthofbronx 2x12 inch (Disko B) [DB150LP] $19.00
This is the debut full-length release by Munich's Schlachthofbronx, a trio already well-known all around the globe, although not a single track or production has been regularly released yet! Okay, you may find plenty of their tracks in lots of different versions all over the web, and at one time even at Fader.com, and soon after at Diplo's Mad Decent blog, along with airplay on radio shows of people like The Count & Sinden. Schlachthofbronx is the embodiment of Munich Bass, a dirty hybrid of African kuduro, South American cumbia, Caribbean soca/dancehall, Brazilian baile funk, Cape Verdean funana, American bootybass, UK dubstep, and Bavarian schranz. Schlachthofbronx is not just a tongue-twister for Anglo-hipster blogs -- their aim is to hybridize even Balkan brass and traditional Bavarian "Volksmusik." A sick mixture nobody else has ever tried before. They are also a DJ team with a hyperactive live set, which they characterize as "sampler/Kaosspad/drunkendancin'/synchronized towelshakin'/ravesiren/whistles/confetticanons/ghetto carnevalaction." Guest appearances from artists such as Ete Kelly, Doubla J, Kein Vorspiel, Slush Puppy Kids, Mic Moe, G.Rag & Die Landlergschwister, and Ron Foto.

Secret Cinema - Jazz Me 12 inch (Cocoon) [COR066EP] $12.25
Jeroen Verheij aka Secret Cinema looks back on almost 20 years of experience within the field of electronic music with Jazz Me. The title track is brilliantly located at the junction of melodic harmony and powerful techno bass. There's a concentrated bass kick, cowbells, a Detroit string motif a la Inner City and improvisations on the vibraphone. "Shake Ur Tech-Ass" is pure, rhythmic hedonism with intensive bass and suspense, like Plastikman meets Bodzin in an overheated basement club.

Shimmy Sham Sham - Shimmy Sham Sham 12 inch (Shimmy Sham Sham) [SSS001EP] $12.25
"In the late 1920s and the 1930s, at the end of many performances, all of the musicians, singers, and dancers would get together on stage and do one last routine: the Shim Sham, Shim Sham Shimmy or just Sham. Dancers would perform technical variations, while singers and musicians would shuffle along as they were able. In the heat of the night, let those sweaty numbers melt down any worries. No top hat and gator shoes required... just shake that ass!"

Slumber Party - Slumber Party LP (Dulc-i-Tone / Kill Rock Stars) [KRS363] $9.75
AVAILABLE AGAIN ON VINYL - FIRST PRESSING!!! A driving and soulful mash of moody guitar pop and '60s-style girl group vocalizing from this rocking quartet of Detroit young ladies. Thirteen harmony and echo-drenched tracks that oscillate from straightforwardness to abstraction without missing a beat in between. Somewhere between Opal & the Shop Assistants perhaps. Limited to 500 copies, silkscreened cover totally different from Kill Rock Stars CD version.

Subfossil - Andromeda 12 inch (Best Works) [BWR004EP] $10.25
"So at last after all those Andre Lodemann records a new artist on Best Works Records, a fellow who runs by the name of Subfossil (Daniel Ramm). Daniel Ramm has been obsessed by programming music since 1993. With an Amiga500 he got his first opportunities of programming music, from initially fast melodic trance to a sudden inspiration by slower house music in 1995. Later he did several live sets in Brandenburg region, around Berlin and in his home town, with a simple set-up (amiga/sampler/synth). His training as electronic communication engineer reinforced his interest for music-production. In 1999 he moved to Berlin. His love of electronic music, however, soon brought him together with Frank, a DJ friend from his home-town. Together they are producing and touring as Pikaya (since 2000). Pikaya has put out quite a few releases on labels such as Cadenza, Meander, etc. In those early years Daniel Ramm was also producing with Andre Lodemann. They also produced the first version of 'Searchin' a more down-tempo mix around 2000 as well. Subfossils' music can be defined as being both deep and musical, trying to give his tracks twists and turns from beginning to end. Also Daniel Ramm is a real teutonian perfectionist, each sound has been clearly defined in every nuance. The Munich native Roland Appel delivers the remix for 'Can't get no sleep.' A solid floor-filler with emotional outbursts typical of his production style. On the cover of the record you will find yet another Berlin record store picture. This time Rotation Records, near Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin."

Sven Barth & Induce Are - Casual Sax & The Saxual Revolution The Blow Sven Theory *instrumental version* 2xLP (WonderSound) [WS006i] $11.50
Originally started nearly four years ago as a way for Sven Barth, freestyle MC extraordinaire, to let out his frustrations with life, the recording industry, and wack MC's everywhere, the Sven Barth Projects, as they are now called, have grown into a world all their own. With the help of his bevy of producers, including Manuvers and Induce, who have worked with and released records on such labels as WonderSound, Counterflow Recordings, Metatronix, Botanica Del Jibaro, and Project Mooncircle, Sven Barth would weave tales of women, parties, snack food, and most of all, women—all without writing down word one, not a single letter. Along with Induce and Manuvers, many personalities have emerged from the fledgling Sven Barth Projects such as Indio Picaro, the 3 foot tall Chilean freestyle grand master who's natural high pitched voice has been emulated by many, yet mastered by few, Chubbs, the overweight and oversexed woman magnet, Shy Guy, the youngest of the bunch, Fronts Sinatra, the King of The South, Klaus, Straus, Kraus, & Ulrich, the German foursome known to party till 11am to the sounds of House music, and many more, including Lurker Louie, Bindio Eagletoe, & Don Seviche.

Aspirations:

While "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually Sven Barth's 4th completed album, his first being the now-sought-after-yet-to-be-repressed "Dr. Dildo" LP, the second being an Indio Picaro solo album and the third being a project consisting entirely of Hall & Oates samples, "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually and surprisingly the first to see proper release. With many of the aforementioned characters appearing on this album, it is definitely a family affair, and could be their finest work to date, definitively. With Induce handling the entirety of the Musical Productions, there seems to be an added layer to the songwriting (or lack thereof) while keeping the grit and guff of Hip Hop, the sound of the streets, alive. And as previously mentioned, none of the lyrics on this album nor any before it have been written down. There are no pens in Induce's studio, nor can any loose-leaf be found. What is heard on this album has come strictly and solely from the mind to the mouth to the mic, in one exquisitely skilled swoop, if you will.

May you hear and feel the emotions of which were present while these fine artists recorded this music. This is not simply a sculpting of sounds, or a recreation of a fleeting memory of what once was. These sounds are all as they happened.

These are the sounds of genuinity.

Sven Barth & Induce Are - Casual Sax & The Saxual Revolution The Blow Sven Theory 2xLP (WonderSound) [WS006-1] $13.00
Originally started nearly four years ago as a way for Sven Barth, freestyle MC extraordinaire, to let out his frustrations with life, the recording industry, and wack MC's everywhere, the Sven Barth Projects, as they are now called, have grown into a world all their own. With the help of his bevy of producers, including Manuvers and Induce, who have worked with and released records on such labels as WonderSound, Counterflow Recordings, Metatronix, Botanica Del Jibaro, and Project Mooncircle, Sven Barth would weave tales of women, parties, snack food, and most of all, women—all without writing down word one, not a single letter. Along with Induce and Manuvers, many personalities have emerged from the fledgling Sven Barth Projects such as Indio Picaro, the 3 foot tall Chilean freestyle grand master who's natural high pitched voice has been emulated by many, yet mastered by few, Chubbs, the overweight and oversexed woman magnet, Shy Guy, the youngest of the bunch, Fronts Sinatra, the King of The South, Klaus, Straus, Kraus, & Ulrich, the German foursome known to party till 11am to the sounds of House music, and many more, including Lurker Louie, Bindio Eagletoe, & Don Seviche.

Aspirations:

While "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually Sven Barth's 4th completed album, his first being the now-sought-after-yet-to-be-repressed "Dr. Dildo" LP, the second being an Indio Picaro solo album and the third being a project consisting entirely of Hall & Oates samples, "The Blow Sven Theory" is actually and surprisingly the first to see proper release. With many of the aforementioned characters appearing on this album, it is definitely a family affair, and could be their finest work to date, definitively. With Induce handling the entirety of the Musical Productions, there seems to be an added layer to the songwriting (or lack thereof) while keeping the grit and guff of Hip Hop, the sound of the streets, alive. And as previously mentioned, none of the lyrics on this album nor any before it have been written down. There are no pens in Induce's studio, nor can any loose-leaf be found. What is heard on this album has come strictly and solely from the mind to the mouth to the mic, in one exquisitely skilled swoop, if you will.

May you hear and feel the emotions of which were present while these fine artists recorded this music. This is not simply a sculpting of sounds, or a recreation of a fleeting memory of what once was. These sounds are all as they happened.

These are the sounds of genuinity.

Taron-Trekka - Artys Lisii 12 inch (Freude Am Tanzen) [FREUDE044EP] $11.50
Taron-Trekka is the DJ and producer team consisting of Crisder and DMS, and this is their Artys Lisii EP. "Shiroi" features a killer bass, a killer clap and a majestic vocal sample. Contemplative must-dance body-music. "Krass Und Zick" features a very authentic Afro-American sound with a garage warmth. "Stock Dich Quer" is real house music -- sturdy in its undercarriage and with a baroque opulence.

Think About Life - Family LP (Alien8 Recordings) [ALIEN078LP] $16.50
"Back in May 2006 we baptized the emergence of the Montreal's energetic party machine Think About Life with the release of their self-titled debut. Here they are three years later with their sophomore effort, Family. This time around the trio is as off-the-hook as ever, but since they dropped their debut they have polished their sound, without losing their edge. Three years is a long wait but multi- instrumentalist Graham Van Pelt has been busy with his other band, Polaris prize nominees Miracle Fortress. Family is broken-toy disco rock, served funky, like a big friendly bowl of sugary breakfast cereal. Upon a base of hearty synths and sweaty drums these tunes bubble with '80s pop guitar licks and are bedazzled with meta-marshmallows of electronic drones and glitchy samples. This alt-dance exterior is a framework from which hang beautifully rhythmic vocals, either musing empathetically about high- school lovers and guilt-ridden bus rides or issuing vaguely strange missives about mysterious wizards and black champagne. The tone is sometimes sly, sometimes frantic but never menacing, ironic or fey. Sounds like LCD Sound system, Outkast, Blur, TV on the Radio, Cars and Quincy Jones-era Michael Jackson done in the ramshackle, outsider style of Public Enemy's producers the Bomb Squad. Family is probably as influenced by cartoon theme songs and 8-bit video game music as the L.A. riots. Beyond its charming pop heart and playful nouveau-disco trimmings, Family can also serve as a floatation device in case of bad-vibes. Step into their rad imagination, they got the magic touch."

Thomas Muller - Mindre 12 inch (Bpitch Control) [BPC201EP] $11.50
Thomas Muller presents his third solo release, Mindre. "Rebirth" hides house fragments in a tight beat, tribal-like percussion comes and goes in waves, and the whole thing spirals in dub echoes augmented by spooky foghorns. "String Slap" is dominated by a heavily-detailed beat and minimalistic sound effects. "Music 98" features a twitching shuffle-beat, vocal fragments and ear-decomposing sweeps. "Institute Of Shadows" comes straight out with point-blank, perfectly balanced beats, sensational hi-hats and an offbeat bass.

Various Artists - Cosmic Balearic Beats 2 Part 1 12 inch (Eskimo) [ESK503049] $11.50
This is the first of three vinyl samplers of Eskimo's Cosmic Balearic Beats 2 compilation. The Beat Broker brings in Italo disco elements to the cosmic journey. Slight Delay are the Portuguese production and DJ duo Tiago and DJ Al, and they present a true anthem. Phelps draws from disco, '80s pop, new wave and house. Roberto Rodriguez (Future Beat Investigator, Track n' Field or Acid Kings) presents a track that makes you want to open the windows.

Various Artists - Cosmic Balearic Beats 2 Part 3 12 inch (Eskimo) [ESK503051] $11.50
This is the third of three vinyl samplers of Eskimo's Cosmic Balearic Beats 2 compilation. Mugwump's Geoffroy & Kolombo are two key characters from the booming Belgian dance scene, The Outrunners are Pierre de la Touche and Stephen Falken, whose sound is a mixture between '80s disco, new wave and Italo disco, Nelue's Fernando Gomez turns a bubbling synth into a percussive workout, and finally, Rayko's "Slowtrack" evokes the more experimental edge of '70s NYC disco.

Various Artists - Sostein 12 inch (Ostwind Records) [OWLTD016EP] $10.25
"Also on the limited number of Ostwind the summer break is gone and we are delighted to welcome you with a very big release for the autumn storm to blow your ears. This time we have 3 new artists on our boat for us in a good swell to stand and act with force. It is for this release also necessary, because we are moving at 45 knots and technoid sounds on the high seas ahead. Lemon & Vision provides us with 'Justify,' a breakwater to the best of times and shear force, that our sailors without propulsion drives. True thicker techno decorated with classic chords, which in no case is missing. Welcome to the Ostwind yacht! Dominik Scheimann aka Pilot Project makes this a perfect record with us and builds with 'Planetary' a tough B-liners. Techno, so hum so that we almost have to be afraid that our ship threatened to break. But do not panic! With the drive of 'Justify' and the power of 'Planetary' even though we had the Bismark in the knees! Even you, Dominik, a warm welcome on our boat! Full speed ahead and always a hand-width of water under the keel!"

Vivian Girls - Wild Eyes 7 inch (Wild World) [WW02] $6.25
No description available at this time.

Wounded Lion - Friendly? 7 inch (In The Red) [ITR177] $5.50
Named after a Spanish fairy tale, WOUNDED LION are the latest addition to the In The Red stable of artists. Hailing from the East Side of Los Angeles, this quintet administers the perfect prescription for your raw pop addiction. This new 7-inch features three heavily contagious songs-one original, "Friendly?," and two twisted covers, Wild Man Fischer's "Big Boots" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising." Imagine a hybrid of the Velvets, Cramps, Kiwi-pop, '70s punk and '80s post-punk and you start to get the picture...kinda. With songwriting and playing this effective, influences are secondary. Watch for Wounded Lion's debut LP on In The Red in 2010.

Www/Paolino Tonni - Gracias A La Vida/Casadei 12 inch (Ups) [UPS003EP] $11.50
"Next delivery from UPS!"

Yolks - Yolks LP (Randy Records) [RNDY04] $13.50
After two killer 7-inches already under their belt and three or so years of turning every show they play at into a party, and every party into riot, THE YOLKS have finally released their long-awaited debut LP. In a time when rock music has lost its way, losing much of its original fire and soul, forgetting the importance of simplicity, sincerity, and-above all-having fun, The Yolks remind us how easy it has been all along. Their attack plan is simple: three musicians wielding three instruments, barely straying from those three magic chords, playing simple songs for simple people, all laid down over a beat that begs you to dance. Eleven tracks of garage-pop-soul goodness. 800 pressed.

[ H I S T O R I C A L ]

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath - Brotherhood Of Breath LP (Stamford Audio) [STAM1005LP] $30.75
"Deluxe gatefold sleeve with 180 gram LP. First time on vinyl since the Neon release. Hand numbered limited 500 edition. The Brotherhood of Breath was an exuberant big-band created by South African born pianist and composer Chris McGregor. In South Africa, McGregor had formed the racially mixed Blue Notes in the early 1960s. By 1964, finding it very difficult to work at home; they left for Europe, finally settling in London in 1966. The Blue Notes -- Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo made a huge impact on London's jazz scene and befriended many in London's emerging avant-garde jazz community."

Crash Course in Science - Crash Course in Science LP Box (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD067LP] $89.75
"Legendary minimal-synth/wave-band from Philadelphia formed in 1979. Choosing toy instruments and live drums out of necessity, CCIS began by experimenting with a series of recording devices. The toy instruments gave way to crude drum machines and 'Frankenstein'-type homemade instruments. Their first 7" (also included with bonus tracks in this set) introduced listeners to a noisy, unpredictable world. This 7" went on to become a classic minimal-synth record that should be included in any vinyl-collection. In 1981 they took a new direction with a darker, more sinister sound. The result was the 12" Signals from Pier Thirteen (also included in this set are 8 unreleased demo tracks from this period). The songs 'Cardboard Lamb' and 'Flying Turns' gained exposure through club play during the '80s and still sound fresh and up-to-date. Two live performance recordings from 1980 and 1981 are also part of this box set, including CCIS opening for the Philip Glass ensemble in Philadelphia. The third LP Near Marineland contains completed mixes of previously unreleased studio material (along with some remixes of this material) arranged and produced by John Wicks, CCIS's original producer. After listening to this box set you will be convinced and have no doubt about CCIS being the godfather of '90s techno music and their ultimate protagonist-role. They remain an inspiration pool for many elektro bands/artists today."

Crash Course in Science - Crash Course in Science LP Box (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD067LTD-LP] $98.75
3LP box with limited edition t-shirt. Legendary minimal-synth/wave-band from Philadelphia formed in 1979. Choosing toy instruments and live drums out of necessity, CCIS began by experimenting with a series of recording devices. The toy instruments gave way to crude drum machines and 'Frankenstein'-type homemade instruments. Their first 7" (also included with bonus tracks in this set) introduced listeners to a noisy, unpredictable world. This 7" went on to become a classic minimal-synth record that should be included in any vinyl-collection. In 1981 they took a new direction with a darker, more sinister sound. The result was the 12" Signals from Pier Thirteen (also included in this set are 8 unreleased demo tracks from this period). The songs 'Cardboard Lamb' and 'Flying Turns' gained exposure through club play during the '80s and still sound fresh and up-to-date. Two live performance recordings from 1980 and 1981 are also part of this box set, including CCIS opening for the Philip Glass ensemble in Philadelphia. The third LP Near Marineland contains completed mixes of previously unreleased studio material (along with some remixes of this material) arranged and produced by John Wicks, CCIS's original producer. After listening to this box set you will be convinced and have no doubt about CCIS being the godfather of '90s techno music and their ultimate protagonist-role. They remain an inspiration pool for many elektro bands/artists today.

Deep Feeling - Pretty Colours LP (Sunbeam Records) [SBR5062LP] $20.50
Previously released on CD by Sunbeam, now issued on vinyl for the very first time. Formed from the ashes of beat band The Hellions in 1966, the short-lived Deep Feeling was one of the most adventurous bands of their time. Featuring Jim Capaldi (Traffic), Poli Palmer (Family), Luther Grosvenor (Mott The Hoople), Gordon Jackson and Dave Meredith, they wowed London audiences with their audacious brand of exotic proto-psychedelia, even backing Jimi Hendrix at his first UK gig. Tragically, however, Capaldi departed to form Traffic during the sessions for their debut (produced by former Yardbirds and Rolling Stones manager Giorgio Gomelsky), and the tapes were shelved -- until now. Including demos made by Palmer and Jackson in 1967, and a song featuring Blossom Toes. Accompanied by detailed liner notes and rare photographs. Pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl and housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Electric Prunes, The - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) LP (Reprise Records) [R6248HLP] $12.75
180 gram exact repro reissue of The Electric Prunes' 1967 debut, manufactured by Rhino. "The Electric Prunes were more of an L.A. studio creation than an actual band, but that didn't stop them from making some of the most highly-prized psychedelic pop albums of all time. Bolstered by the production prowess of Dave Hassinger (Stones, Airplane), and the songwriting smarts of Annette Tucker and Nancie Muntz, the Prunes laid down two of the greatest garage pop anthems of all time ('I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night' and 'Get Me To The World On Time')."

Electric Prunes, The - Underground LP (Reprise Records) [RS6262HLP] $12.75
180 gram exact repro reissue of the band's second album, their truly "out" classic from 1967, manufactured by Rhino. "Underground's evocation of a mysterious psychedelic funhouse that is both enchanting and distressing gets into motion with 'The Great Banana Hoax,' the hoax being that the words have nothing whatsoever to do with bananas or hoaxes. Instead it's a classy pop-psychedelic tune, anchored by killer Mark Tulin bass lines and the group's knack for dramatic stop-start tempos and pauses. Yet the band's love for embellishing tracks with unpredictable, undefinably weird sounds could not be suppressed. That noise near the beginning that sounds like a motorcycle revving up is actually a slowed-down vocal growl; the percussive effects that sound like a rock swirling around a bucket near the end are, Tulin thinks, made by a kalimba brought to the band via Africa. The next three songs seem to drift into a concept album of a psychedelic lost childhood with both blissful and sinister edges, populated by dolls, toys, and kids that inhabit the netherworld between reality and illusion. The best of these, 'Antique Doll,' was written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, the team responsible for the Electric Prunes' biggest hit, 'I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)'; Tucker and Mantz also contributed two other tracks to Underground. The gauzy, moody texture of the cut takes on a particularly creepy edge with the sci-fi-like cries near the end, which Lowe says is 'us crying at double speed. We played around with tape speed a lot.' Childhood imagery is abandoned on 'It's Not Fair,' a standard, if tongue-in-cheek, country-blues tune that derails into a strange spoken coda with maniacally ascending keys, like a wind-up toy suddenly accelerating out of control." -- Richie Unterberger

Electric Prunes, The - Mass In F Minor LP (Reprise Records) [RS6275HLP] $12.75
180 gram exact repro reissue of the band's third album, manufactured by Rhino. Originally released in 1968, this bizarre concept album bridges the gap between Gregorian religious music and psychedelic rock, with all songs sung entirely in Latin. The opening track, "Kyrie Eleison," was famously used to accompany the acid trip scene in Easy Rider.

Fall, The - Live At The Witch Trials LP (Turning Point Music) [TPM208LP] $22.75
2009 repress. "Legendary debut album by the band who redefined British punk rock with their own style of cacophonic minimalism punctuated by the scathingly cynical vocals of the king of sarcasm Mark E. Smith. Originally released in January 1979 on Step Forward with Martin Bramah on guitar. It includes 'Rebellious Jukebox', 'Two Steps Back', and 'No Christmas For John Quays'. Original artwork. 180 gram HQ vinyl."

Fall, The - Dragnet LP (Turning Point Music) [TPM209LP] $22.75
2009 repress. "The Fall's rare second album and guitarist Craig Scanlon's debut with the band. Originally released in October 1979 (just 9 months after their debut), it includes 'Spectre vs. Rector' and the melodically and lyrically brilliant 'Dice Man'. Original artwork. Gatefold sleeve. 180 gram HQ vinyl."

Fall, The - Grotesque (After the Gramme) LP (Turning Point Music) [TPM210LP] $22.75
2009 repress. "The Fall's first studio album for Rough Trade. Originally released in 1980. The ever-sardonic pied piper Mark E. Smith takes us on his usual off kilter tour, with Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon at the wheel. Includes the delicious 'Pay your Rates', 'How I Wrote Elastic Man' and 'N.W.R.A.' (the North Will Rise Again).'"

Giancarlo Toniutti - The Early Tapes Period LP Box (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD068LP] $83.75
"Box set of Giancarlo Toniutti's 3 early works Wechselwirkung, MetÄ¡nÄ¡rkôsis, Das Todesantlitz which have all been published by Toniutti on cassette tapes in 1982-83 in a very limited numbered edition. The box also includes a 10" vinyl EP with previously unreleased tracks from that same very early period (1981-84). This work represents his early musical-work as solo composer. 1982-83 was the period, and experiments with early electronics, found objects, rough percussion and noise were the attitudes that coalesce into his first 3 cassette works found on this box. This past time becomes part of the future when historically contextualized. Early electronics, acoustic objects and the beginning of a form of structuralism was the mélange of that young mind. It will come with a booklet including an essay about the history of the period, notes and data."

Gong - Pre-Modernist Wireless: On Radio 1971-74 2xLP (Turning Point Music) [TPM99202LP] $34.50
2009 repress. "The definitive collection including all their John Peel sessions recorded from 1971 to 1974. 9 tracks and beautiful artwork by Daevid Allen himself. Gatefold sleeve and 180 gram HQ vinyl."

Kevin Ayers - The Radio Sessions 2xLP (Turning Point Music) [TPM99203LP] $34.50
2009 repress. "12 track collection featuring radio sessions from 1970 to 1972 with help from Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, Mike Oldfield, Lol Coxhill, Mick Fincher, David Bedford and more. Gatefold sleeve 180 gram HQ vinyl."

Konstruktivists - The Flowmotion Years 1980-1982 2xLP (Vinyl On Demand) [VOD069LP] $36.50
"Dark-ambient /ritual-project Konstruktivists was formed by mastermind Glenn Michael Wallis in 1981/82 out of the ashes of Heute. Around this time -- in the late '70s/early '80s Glenn Michael Wallis was heavily involved with Throbbing Gristle, the U.K. pioneers of 'industrial.' Between 1980 and 1982, Glenn/Konstruktivists has recorded several tracks of which one solo-tape and several Konstruktivists tapes found release in extremely rare and limited edition on the legendary tape label Flowmotion. Almost 2 hours of those early works are compiled on this double LP including his full solo-work (also released as Konstruktivists Vol.1) as well as tracks from Vol. 2 and other tracks released between 1980 and 1982."

Michael Rother - Flammende Herzen/Karussell 7 inch (Bureau B) [BB036EP] $14.75
This is the sixth round of the Bureau B vinyl single reissue series which started successfully with reissues of Harmonia, La Düsseldorf and Palais Schaumburg. This 7" features German artist Michael Rother (Kraftwerk, Neu!, Harmonia) -- an officially licensed exact repro of this 1977 single, originally issued on Sky Records. Featuring Jaki Liebezeit (Can) on drums and the legendary producer Conny Plank. Includes the original artwork and a new mastering from the original master tapes.

Various Artists - Porno Groove - The Sound Of 70s Adult Films LP (Secret Stash) [SSRLP265] $13.00
NEW LOWER PRICE!!! Secret Stash Records and Fantasy Productions have teamed up to bring you the definitive Porno Groove collection. Fantasy (not to be confused with the infamous Fantasy Records) was one of the top producers of adult entertainment throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. When SAL ROSEN, the company's founder and CEO passed away in 1985, much of its intellectual property was tied up in legal battles. Eventually, Rosen's oldest son, MORT secured control of his father's work. To date Mort Rosen has not reissued any of the Fantasy catalog. In the fall of 2008, he discovered a massive collection of original soundtrack master tapes for the company's biggest films. Along with popular themes and timeless classics, he also discovered 30 reels of never before released music. Porno Groove: The Sound of '70s Adult Films is a collection of music from Fantasy's incredibly deep soundtrack library. This release will be the first piece of Fantasy product commercially released in almost two decades.