BIS AUFS MESSER Weekly News 01 Dec 2022
Hi. Welcome to another newsletter and the first one for December. We got restock of the KARATE BOXSET in Pine Green and Cacophony Splatter and also of the CURRENT Boxset in Black and Gold, also the ALVA NOTO & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - Vrioon DLP is available again, the fantastic GAVIN BRYARS - The Sinking Of The Titanic LP arrived, the new HARU NEMURI - Shunka Ryougen DLP is also in, and so are the MASAHIKO TOGASHI / DON CHERRY / CHARLIE HADEN - Session In Paris, Vol. 1 "Song Of Soil" LP, MACIE STEWART - Mouth Full of Glass LP, OI BOYS - Oi Boys LP, MARJA AHTI & JUDITH HAMANN - A coincidence is perfect, intimate attunement LP, WHITE PAIN - Paroles Absurdes LP re issue, POLVO - same LP, a bunch of THE PYRAMIDS re issues and the Boxset via Strut, LOREN CONNORS - Airs LP restock & the LOREN CONNORS - Night Of Rain BOOK, KEKHT ARÄKH - Pale Swordsman LP, KEKHT ARÄKH - Night & Love LP BLACK OX ORKESTAR - Everything Returns LP, THE HATED - Best Piece Of Shit Vol. 4 DLP, DARKTHRONE - Astral Fortress LP, BIRDS IN ROW - Gris Klein LP, ERNEST HOOD - Back to the Woodlands LP and some restock of the NEIGHBORHOODS DLP, some ARTHUR RUSSELL and DEAD MOON restocks etc, DEAD KENNEDYS - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - The 2002 Mix LP …
Also the new MELLIE LP is available and ready to ship
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
7“
AUSGEBOMBT - s/t 7“ (kink - Oi! / Punk from Tübingen, Germany. - Streetstyle!) 8.00
PESTIGOR - Nurgle's Rot 7“ (Latest release by this Warhammer-themed hardcore punk band from Denmark. B-thrash chainsaw guitar parts with some classic metallic ’80s UKHC vibes. Non-polished, nasty, and gritty-as-fuck apocalyptic hardcore you can smell the stench of from miles away. Appropriate background music for the filthy, disgusting, devoted mutants of the chaos god, Nurgle.) 6.00
10“
SHIZUKA - 狂気の真珠 [Lunatic Pearl] 10“ (狂気の真珠 [Lunatic Pearl] draws from the deep well of music the quartet recorded in 2001, this time from two studio sessions. Here, though, the group’s classic line-up of Shizuka, Maki Miura, Jun Kosugi and Seven is augmented – on the a-side, they’re joined by Yasushi Nagata on guitar; flip the record, and Kazuhide Yamaji chimes in on acoustic guitar and bass. Both Nagata and Yamaji were members of long-running Tokyo psych-out gang Dip (also known as dip the flag); Yamaji eventually joined Shizuka for a time, appearing with them on the 2010 DVD, Owari No Nai Yume, released by PSF. Part of Lunatic Pearl finds Shizuka in Paisley Underground mode, the spaced-out acoustic mantras of “Shiroi Inochi” and the instrumental “The Street The Fairy Goes” surprisingly reminiscent of the smeared, slow-motion psychedelics of Opal’s early EPs. The latter, a weightless blur, hovers in the air on dreamy drifts of DX-7, drifting melodies landing on the track like an astral traveller, lost and delirious. ) 30.00
LP
ALVA NOTO & RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - Vrioon DLP (back in print - Pioneers in their own musical approaches, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, began their exploration of sound in the evocatively titled V.I.R.U.S series in 2002. After more than a decade from the release of the collection's final installment with "Summvs" in 2011, NOTON reissues all the five albums between June and October 2022. With its impressionistic atmosphere, in this collaborative project two generations met and shared the idea of electronic music as an inspiration source for new musical structures. Over a series of five albums, Vrioon (2002),Insen (2005), Revep (2006), utp_ (2008), and summvs (2011), the duo have explored blending electronic and acoustic sounds into a meditative whole that is at once expressive, breathing and precision-engineered. Remastered in collaboration with Calyx Mastering, the recordings of Vrioon, Insen, Revep, Utp_, and Summvs are made available on vinyl and CD under the title 'reMASTER, accompanied by exclusive, unreleased compositions and housed in a beautifully designed sleeve with original cover art by Carsten Nicolai.) 34.00
BALKA SOUND - s/t DLP (strut - Strut present the first ever compilation of Balka Sound, bringing together their influential 1980s recordings, Hailing from Congo-Brazzaville and led by revered vocalist and ngonfi player, Nkibi “Lusialala” Albert, Balka Sound created their own unique musical world, re-imagining traditional Congolese Balka rhythms with electric guitars, electric bass and drums, alongside the traditional 5-string ngonfi. Nkibi Albert had risen to fame in 1972 with his solo hit ‘Ah Lusialala’ and Balka Sound was created to bring the sound of Balka, a folk style from the Beembe people, to modern life and an international audience. With its roots in slavery and colonialism rumba was dominating the music scene in Congo while the philosophy of Balka Sound was to find its inspiration directly in local country life, to associate the modern and the traditional and to revive folk traditions that were dying. Founder member Henri Nsika Nkaya explains, “it was intended to be an update, a unification and an internationalisation of Congolese cultures.” ) 30.00
BENNIE MAUPIN & ADAM RUDOLPH - Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef LP (Strut present an exclusive collaboration between two jazz greats, Bennie Maupin and Adam Rudolph, on ‘Symphonic Tone Poem For Brother Yusef’, originally commissioned by the Angel City Jazz festival in Claremont, to mark the late, great Yusef Lateef’s 100th birthday on 9th October, 2020. The album weaves a magical, meditative path across five movements, combining electronics, saxophone, voices and Rudolph’s wide palette of percussion from hand drums to thumb pianos and gongs. “I learned so much from Yusef about intervals,” explains Rudolph. “Greats like Yusef, Ornette Coleman and Coltrane stopped using traditional harmonic forms and introduced systems of working with intervals. So, there was an intellectual process with this album, but mostly it was just intuitive. What I love about intuition is that it erases its own tracks behind it. On the 5th Movement of this album, I was working around a major seventh but 90% of what happened was instinctive. It is a unique moment; you can’t go back and recreate it.” ) 28.00
BIRDS IN ROW - Gris Klein LP (silver vinyl - If you’re looking for a band that embody everything hardcore punk should be, then you’re looking for Birds in Row. Sonically, they’re fearless. Lyrically, they’re as poetic as they are recusant. And live, they’re a ruthless force, matching the power of their music with boundless, must-see energy. After debut album You, Me & the Violence sparked listeners’ imaginations, 2018 follow-up We Already Lost the World was an unyielding inferno of brazen ideas. Metal Hammer UK called it “intelligent, poignant art,” writing that “this downward spiral changes pace and weight at every turn.” It screamed for mutual respect in a world of increasingly extreme political divides, and used the vehicles of punk, post-hardcore and post-metal to carry its cries.) 35.00
BLACK OX ORKESTAR - Everything Returns LP (constellation - Everything Returns reunites the original Black Ox Orkestar lineup following a 15-year hiatus. Arising from the fertile Montréal post-punk agit-prop scene of the early 2000s, the band comprises Scott Gilmore, Jessica Moss and Thierry Amar of Thee Silver Mt. Zion (Amar also continues to compose and play bass for Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Gabriel Levine of Sackville. Black Ox made two acclaimed albums of roiling acoustic avant-folk in the mid-2000s, exploring Eastern European and North African folkways through the lens of a gritty, resonant indie rock sensibility, juxtaposing interpretations of instrumentals from various Jewish, Romani and Arabic traditions with originals led by Gilmore’s politically-charged Yiddish vocals. These early albums have since become lodestars for many among a new generation of Yiddish, Klezmer and radical Jewish diasporic music practitioners and fans. First revealing its resurrection in February 2022 with a surprise flexi 7” single issued by left journal Jewish Currents as a gift to its thousands of subscribers, Black Ox has indeed fully and fruitfully reunited. Exquisitely recorded by Greg Norman (Jason Molina, Nina Nastasia, Electrical Audio), Everything Returns picks up right where the band left off: an incisively atmospheric, melancholic yet resolute album of uniquely modern Jewish folk music, with piano, violin, upright bass, clarinet and cymbalom making up the core instrumentation, and the vocal tunes sung primarily in Yiddish, alongside album centerpiece “Viderkol” and closer “Lamed-Vovnik” where English also features.) 27.00
CHERI KNIGHT - American Rituals LP (freedom to spend - Cheri Knight's music emerges from the outskirts of late seventies / early eighties Olympia, Washington, offering sound that is both performative and meditative, electronic and organic, collaborative and self-contained, and richly rewarding. Nestled in the nascent milieu of Evergreen State College, where Cheri studied music composition, her practice developed between campus studios and expeditions to San Francisco and Mt. Temper, New York, where she apprenticed and collaborated with Pauline Oliveros and Linda Montano; always adapting to the musical and philosophical timbre of those times and places. American Rituals captures an artist's environmental emergence, unearthing a unique compositional voice and spotlighting regional sonic ethos. The seven works collected here, largely from various DIY cassette and vinyl compilations, range from polyvocal chants, pensive instrumental works, spoken-word collages, primal post-punk excursions, and hymn-like incantations. All are bound by a performative energy, expressing a Cage-ian commitment to the present moment, but also harboring a meditative interior. Marrying the seeing and hearing senses, Cheri's early work primarily plays with words-spoken, sung, recited, incanted, chanted, instructed, whispered - expressing the ritualized patternings of everyday material turned beautiful and strange, musical and hummable, conceptual and devotional. Freedom to Spend excavates this verdant period of experimentation, meeting Cheri at a moment of elemental evolution. Restored and remastered from original tape sources by Josh Bonati, the vinyl edition includes comprehensive liner notes by Steve Peters, a high quality, multi-format digital download, and a future world of past possibilities.) 25.00
CLOUD RAT - Threshold LP (artifact - Guitarist Rorik Brooks believes new album Threshold to be the pinnacle of his band’s career thus far, unifying its liberated approach into one cohesive thrust: “To me, Threshold feels like a response to all of our earlier material. I think we finally have a successful distillation of all our seemingly disparate influences, into what I feel is our best work so far. It builds upon earlier Cloud Rat material with expanded songwriting, technical prowess, and overall intensity, while more organically incorporating the melodic and electronic leanings that we’ve been exploring over the years.” Threshold was engineered and mixed by Brooks at his home studio and mastered by Harris Newman.) 28.00
CURRENT - Yesterday's Tomorrow Is Not Today 3xLP BOXSET (numero - Screaming suburban blues straight from the pages of HeartattaCk magazine, Current exploded out of the early-'90s Midwestern emo scene in a fit of D.C. hardcore-inspired rage. Spread across three LPs, Yesterday's Tomorrow Is Not Today compiles the quartet's lone album, two EPs, split 7"s with Indian Summer and Chino Horde, miscellaneous compilation debris, and nine previously unissued alternates, including the infamous KLXU radio show. Remixed and mastered from the original tapes, Current's complete discography is annotated in Leor Galil's exhaustive survey, illustrated with period photos, flyers, and cut-n-paste sleeve art across 24 pages. "Your parents would like this." - Tim Yohannan, Maximumrocknroll -) 70.00
DARKTHRONE - Astral Fortress LP (peaceville - A NEW, STELLAR AND ECLECTIC JOURNEY OF OLD METAL IN THE DARKTHRONE ODYSSEY - From their formation back in 1986, to becoming one of Norways’s finest musical exports (with a number of highly revered black metal masterpieces released in the early 90’s helping to solidify their legacy), Darkthrone has continued to evolve and challenge in equal measure, throughout their illustrious recording career spanning over three decades. And now, the ever-productive duo of Nocturno and Fenriz continue their own metallic saga with a new selection of fine, vintage sounding headbanging classics in the making. ) ‘Astral Fortress’ is itself a swift follow-up to 2021’s ‘Eternal Hails’ opus, as a result of Darkthrone’s consistent and ongoing writing process, which has been in force for some years now. For Darkthrone does not sleep - it only waits. ) 26.00
DEAD KENNEDYS - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - The 2002 Mix LP (Cherry Red - The classic 1980 Dead Kennedys’ album, remixed from the original multi-track tapes. Remixed by Chris Lord-Alge, guided by East Bay Ray and Klaus Floride. Also featuring previously unseen imagery, extensive essay and contributions from countless artists inspired by the original album. A remarkable sonic revisitation of this masterpiece! What more is there to say about this seminal album? A masterpiece of tight, political American punk rock and a cornerstone album in any punk or hardcore collection. Originally released in September 1980, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables has been certified Gold by the BPI and continues to be discovered and rediscovered by young and old alike. Overseen by the band, this new 2022 Mix demonstrates the enduring power of this music, and the relevance of its message today. A revolutionary, must-hear experience for everybody familiar with the original!) 27.00
DICKIE LANDRY & LAWRENCE WEINER - Having Been Built On Sand LP (unseen world - - First time reissue, remastered by Stephan Mathieu - New liner notes by Clifford Allen - Download code included - For Fans of Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass // Dickie Landry & Lawrence Weiner's Having Been Built on Sand was conceived as a vinyl edition and released by the Rüdiger Schöttle gallery in Munich with sleeve design by Weiner. The piece consists of eight untitled tracks. Lawrence Weiner, Tina Girouard, and Britta Le Va recite text with Dickie Landry's woodwinds, all recorded in the natural reverb of Robert Rauschenberg's studio, a former mission and chapel in Lower Manhattan. Layering Girouard in English, Le Va in German, and Weiner in English and German blocks of related or physically proximal texts repeat, invert, and intersect with Landry's music as a constant. The layers of text and sound have meanings that fluctuate in complexity and scope, and like much of Weiner's work, beyond mere facts. The first piece is a trio for Landry's keening tenor, repeating winnowed but breathy lines that contrast with and buoy Le Va's clear, husky phrases, building in intensity as Weiner, in English, offers statements that are caught just off mic. The third cut adds Girouard, and one can hear woven parallels in the two women's voices, cadences, and pitches, with Weiner's cutting inflection dancing amid them. Landry's bass clarinet is rich in its warble, full and gentle with woody footfalls that demarcate shapes through the chorus. Vocal rhythmic cycles, wordless in nature, are the energy that courses through the fourth song, urgent and sweaty as Weiner recites statements of political position in the Middle Ages, Le Va declaiming alongside in German. On soprano saxophone for the fifth tune, Landry pierces and darts in a bright manner in a private dialogue with himself, echoing Steve Lacy as female voices nearly bury one another in closely valued hues. Weiner, meanwhile, volleys between the LP's title phrase and cornerstone proclamations such as "the artist may construct the piece. The piece may be fabricated. The piece need not be built." The closing cut makes curious use of delay and alto flute, Landry's breath and the inherent percussiveness of the instrument's keys creating a slick rhythmic support that courses through overlapping vocal phrases, advancing and receding declarations of presence and intent.) 27.00
DICKIE LANDRY - 4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter LP (unseen world - - First time reissue, remastered by Stephan Mathieu - New liner notes by Clifford Allen - Download code included - For Fans of Philip Glass, Barre Philips, ECM // 4 Cuts Placed In "A First Quarter", the companion piece to Solos, is the sonic result of a collaboration with artist Lawrence Weiner. As Landry remembers, "I was working for Keith Sonnier at Castelli Gallery and met Lawrence. He asked `can you make a video for me?' So we did "To and Fro..." At some point he was working on "A First Quarter" (1973) and wanted me to do the music. I said `I already have the music.' He said `what do you mean?' I had recorded several pieces with Kurt Munkcasi and walked around the set playing the music on a boom box." The set features one solo each by Landry and contrabassist Rusty Gilder, a duo for the tenor saxophones of Landry and Richard Peck, and an ensemble piece for Landry, Peck, Gilder, trumpeter Robert Prado, and drummer David Lee, Jr. Starting the record off is "Requiem for Some," inspired by Gil Evans' long, placid tones. The anchor is Lee's dry cymbal attack and fancy footwork, dancing around overlapping and recombining horns, chords held just shy of splintering. "4th Register" is a grainy delayed solo tenor piece, presaging "Kitchen Solos" from Fifteen Saxophones by several years. "Piece for So" was, according to Landry, "a chance to give Rusty a solo". Mostly known as an ensemble bassist, Gilder bounced between Lafayette, Charlotte, and New York, leaving a slim recorded legacy. Here, he stretches out for twelve minutes and change - with keen upper register detail and meaty up-tempo walk, he could have been mentioned in the same breath as players like Dave Holland and Barre Phillips. The closing "Duo Vivace" finds Landry and Peck sparring on tenors, the latter holding a melodic line while Landry leans into explosive glossolalia, until both become birds in flight.) 27.00
ERNEST HOOD - Back to the Woodlands LP (freedom to spend - Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods . A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind. Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet , before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood's value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application. Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood's music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods , self- issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975. Where Neighborhoods , a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood's love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of "musical cinematography," imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood's extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world.) 25.00
FUTURO FAMILIAR - Ketu LP (During the last decade Pedro Alves Sousa has been establishing himself as one of the most inventive and creative musicians of his generation. He is a self-taught musician and continues to learn how to play his saxophone every day. His label Futuro Familiar is born out of the idea that he needed to mark some of his creative evolutions and create more specific paths for his career. “Rahu” and “Ketu” were recorded in 2016 and 2017 with a group of musicians: Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches), Gabriel Ferrandini, Júlia Reis, David Maranha and Pedro Alves Sousa. Both start with the idea of free jazz but soon develop into other stages, manifesting mostly an idea of sound instead of music.) 26.00
FUTURO FAMILIAR - RAHU LP (During the last decade Pedro Alves Sousa has been establishing himself as one of the most inventive and creative musicians of his generation. He is a self-taught musician and continues to learn how to play his saxophone every day. His label Futuro Familiar is born out of the idea that he needed to mark some of his creative evolutions and create more specific paths for his career. “Rahu” and “Ketu” were recorded in 2016 and 2017 with a group of musicians: Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches), Gabriel Ferrandini, Júlia Reis, David Maranha and Pedro Alves Sousa. Both start with the idea of free jazz but soon develop into other stages, manifesting mostly an idea of sound instead of music.) 26.00
GAVIN BRYARS - The Sinking Of The Titanic LP (superior - Vinyl treasure. A heartbreakingly beautiful, eerie elegy to a tragic event, Gavin Bryars’ magnum opus - a pinnacle of the c.20th classical canon - is finally available on vinyl again via Superior Viaduct some half century since it was issued on Eno’s Obscure label. Gavin Bryars’ Eno-produced ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’ artfully evokes the liner’s in-house band continuing to play as it sank into the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912. Its understated string arrangements and use of Cageian indeterminate strategy set a haunting precedent for later works by the likes of The Caretaker, Akira Rabelais and Stephan Mathieu, heralding the culmination of a phase shift between popular classical music, proper, and its experimental paths beyond convention into realms of pure sonification. No doubt it’s one of those works that simply stops you in you tracks and effortlessly holds the attention for the duration.) 32.00
GIL SCOTT HERON - Pieces Of A Man LP (Flying Dutchman - Gil Scott-Heron’s Pieces Of A Man is one of the most important albums in the history of black American music. Although it didn’t set the charts alight, it stands as a masterpiece alongside contemporary works such as Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Curtis Mayfield’s debut LP, Funkadelic's Maggot Brain and Isaac Hayes’ Shaft. All were brilliant in their way, but lyrically Scott-Heron was on a different level from almost every other writer. Pieces Of A Man was contemporary music performed by great jazz players, directed and prompted by Scott-Heron and his collaborator Brian Jackson, who at the time was not yet 20 years) 26.00
HARU NEMURI - Shunka Ryougen DLP (specific - Four years after her internationally acclaimed debut album Haru to Shura [Spring and Fall], Haru Nemuri returns with an intense blend of exasperation and optimism on Shunka Ryougen [loosely Setting a Field Ablaze in Spring]. If Haru to Shura was a fully formed noise rock, experimental hip-hop beast, tight and polished, on Ryougen Nemuri decides that the way forward is to strip back and deconstruct her sound. Nemuri’s compositional abilities shine as she matches her vocal deliveries to a plethora of different musical genres and ideas. “Anata wo hanasanaide” [Never Let You Go], a standout track, deals heavily with ideas of self-destruction – one of many tracks to focus on despair and frustration. Ryougen’s epic climax, “Ikiru” [To Live], however, is a song of love and acceptance of the struggles of modern life, a powerful closing message. Grandiose, raw and beautifully unhinged, while not every idea on Shunka Ryougen is necessarily fully formed, Nemuri’s second full-length is a testament to her reputation as an innovator and risk-taker.) 30.00
THE HATED - Best Piece Of Shit Vol. 4 DLP (numero - Draped in a flag of patriotic shame, the Hated stormed onto the scene just as D.C.'s Revolution Summer was swerving out of control. Channeling Bad Brains' Black thrash and Hüsker Dü's zen approach to hardcore, Dan Littleton, Erik Fisher, Colin Meeder, and Mike Bonner synthesized their own version of what became emo in 1985. Remastered from the original analog tapes, Best Piece Of Shit Vol. 4 compiles their D.I.Y. debut cassette, the No More We Cry EP, and 14 period bonus tracks from the Hated vault, spread across two LPs and annotated by fellow Annapolis hooligan Andrew Gebhardt. Decorated with extensive photo documentation and cut'n'paste ephemera, this Hated-approved set captures a band, a scene, and a country on the verge of either exploding or imploding. Never said it'd be lik e this, right?) 32.00
HÜMA UTKU - The Psychologist DLP (editions mego - Editions Mego presents The Psychologist, the sophomore album by the Istanbul born and raised, Berlin based electronic music composer and sound artist Hüma Utku. As the title suggests, The Psychologist, is a series of sonic essays based around themes of psychological phenomena and can be read as a musical enquiry into the human condition. With Utku’s background as a graduate of Psychology and her current practice as a conceptual music composer we see the two main threads in her professional career intertwine on this unique and ambitious release. Including recordings of Buchla 200 from Utku’s Elektronmusikstudion residency in October 2020,The Psychologist is a genre aversive work that embodies elements of synthesiser music, electroacoustic, experimental techno, industrial, modern composition and spoken word. Piano, string compositions and vocals hold weight throughout a number of pieces providing a dramatic acoustic edge to the psychological explorations contained within. ) 29.00
IANNIS XENAKIS - Taurhiphanie / Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromède / Gendy 3 / S.709 LP (karl - Celebrating the 100th anniversary of avant titan Iannis Xenakis, this late works collection arrives as a part of the "Electroacoustic Works" box set, freshly mixed by zeitkratzer sound engineer Martin Wurmnest and remastered by Rashad Becker. Anyone with even the faintest interest in out sound, headmelt synthetics, harsh noise or anything resembling experimental music, this is as essential as they come - utterly mindboggling, timeless material! Assembling Xenakis takes time, dedication and patience - and we have to thank zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl for putting in the hours here. This fifth set from the comprehensive "Electroacoustic Works" collection concentrates on Greek composer Xenakis's work in the early 1990s, as he began to focus obsessively on sound synthesis and computer-controlled generative music. It's some of the harshest, most absorbing material he created, and these new mixes and masters allow us to experience the tracks as they've rarely been heard before. ) 25.00
KARATE - Time Expired 5xLP BOXSET (numero - At the turn of the century and after three albums, Karate’s tenure within the insular east coast indie rock scene had expired, but the band was just getting started. Collected here is the band’s spacious, adventurous, and sometimes difficult second half presented in fastidious detail. This five LP box includes the trio’s Unsolved, Some Boots, and Pockets albums, a first time vinyl pressing of their Cancel/Sing EP, and recently unearthed rehearsal recordings of two unreleased tracks, all annotated by Geoff Farina’s account of Karate’s adulthood and Andy Hong’s insights into the trio’s recording process.) 145.00
KEKHT ARÄKH - Pale Swordsman LP (sacred bones - Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. Originally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goes to even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges' Raw Power to deliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less "metal". Traditional black metal song structures still persist in songs like "Night Descends" and "In The Garden". However, their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in "Amor" and "Intro" and softly played desolate ballads like "Nocturne" and "Lily". The crown jewel is the album closer "Swordsman", a track that displays a superb gothic sensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. "The Christian concept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able to leave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song." Dmitry explains "However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyrics so that the listener can always give the song their own meaning." The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. "I really enjoy it when an album tells a story about some character so I came up with one." says Dmitry when explaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the striking album cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand - and clearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty that permeates the album's sound and atmosphere. Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics, soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yet potent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.) 25.00
KEKHT ARÄKH - Night & Love LP (sacred bones - Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. The debut album Night & Love was initially released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2019 and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. Dmitry's intent to experiment with standard black metal canons previously seen at play in Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) solidify further on Night & Love, he mentions "back then I had an idea of combining Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger type of black metal with early Internazionale or Croatian Amor vibe." Described as ambient or atmospheric black metal, this debut presents Këkht Aräkh's signature dichotomy of harsh traditional early Norwegian black metal and the more ethereal and delicate melodies. On the other hand the lyrics are romantic and melancholic, clearly influenced by a stark Gothic imagery, and serve as an extra layer of mystery to the already suggestive body of work. The album beings with a soft acoustic intro in "As the Night Falls_" before descending into the raw and raucous "Elegy for the Memory of Me" and "Den Venstre Hånd På Den Hoyre", both songs that are drenched in the more traditional black metal style of raspy, high-pitched vocals, dense, tremolo- picked riffs and fast paced drums. It is however songs like "Night" and "Love" that really set this album apart. "Night" is a softly spoken word ambient track that with a beautiful piano synth work that permeates throughout it aids in the romantic delivery and conjuring of imagery of the night. "Love" is a spellbinding and melancholic song, equal in its romanticism but one that displays a deeper sorrow and tenderness supported by calming field recordings of trickling water. The intertwining of black metal, dark folk and ambient repeats itself, culminating in a quietly hummed outro "...And Never Ends (Eternal Love)" that alludes to and completes the album's first track.) 25.00
LOREN CONNORS - Airs LP (recital - 2022 repress, edition of 600 copies, 180g vinyl, 8 page booklet - Second pressing of Recital’s vinyl edition from 2015. Over the 23 years since Loren Connors' Airs was first published, it has drawn a thick circle of fans. Gently recorded to cassette tape in 1999, (with wonderfully subtle multi-tracking). Airs is comprised of a series of brief electronic guitar poems. Intimately composed with the patience and purposeful hesitation we have reverently come to expect from Connors. Lyrical melodies recur in different forms throughout the LP, as shifting figures in a dream. Shadowy and sunken, the tone evokes an overcast landscape. The album feels singular; woven along as one flowing piece.) 32.00
MACIE STEWART - Mouth Full of Glass LP (col. Vinyl) (full time hobby - repress via full time hobby - Mouth Full of Glass is the debut album by Chicago-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart (pronouns: she/her/they/them). Written and recorded while finding solace and strength in solitude, Mouth Full of Glass features eight lushly arranged songs that search for the meaning of self within and without partnership. The record explores loneliness as well as the growth and beauty that blooms from within it - through creating it, Stewart reassesses her own relationships in order to communicate with a singular voice. ) 25.00
MARJA AHTI & JUDITH HAMANN - A coincidence is perfect, intimate attunement LP (After their distinguished duet ‘Portals’ for Cafe Oto's Takuroku label, ‘A coincidence is perfect, intimate attunement’ is a wonderful sophomore collaborative work pieced together over two years of changing seasons, ideas, moods, and feelings. The release is formed from a shifting field of sound correspondence that pivots on moments of coincidence, of a tuning in. What are we opening ourselves to when we tune in to sound? How can one be truly open to a sound? How can the activity of recording move beyond notions of capture and release into more generative frames? Rather than a tool purposed for preservation or ‘conservation’ of memory, of time and place, can recording sound instead form new vibrant or vibratory spaces of attunement? ) 26.00
MASAHIKO TOGASHI / DON CHERRY / CHARLIE HADEN - Session In Paris, Vol. 1 "Song Of Soil" LP (we want sound. Wewantsounds is delighted to announce a special edition of the legendary 1979 Masahiko Togashi album "Song of Soil," recorded in Paris with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden and released on Japanese label Paddle Wheel. Supervised by Parisian producer Martin Meissonnier - then Don Cherry"s right hand man - "Song of Soil" reaches heights of spirituality mixing Eastern influences with jazz and deep ambient soundscapes. The album is reissued here with its original artwork and remastered by King Records in Japan. It includes the original Japanese 2-p insert plus a deluxe 8-page booklet featuring new notes (Eng/Fr) by Martin Meissonnier in conversation with Jacques Denis and also an Togashi Biography by Paul Bowler and never-seen photos by cult French photographer philippe gras who witnessed this unique session.) 36.00
NEGATIV - Projections LP (Finally! At long last we get a new sign of life from Oslo's "NEGATIV" straight from the dark vaults of Norways riot city number one! Eight new stompers that mix the anarchic chaos and rage of 1982' UK hardcore punk with the fury and raw spirit of japanese punk. All this boosted up with norwegian guitar virtuosity (…or was it madness?), stomping drums and vocal chords lubricated with gasoline and razorblades.) 14.00
OI BOYS - Oi Boys LP (la face - Oi Boys is a duo from Metz, France (quartet on live). Their debut album explores a French coldwave/post-punk sound similar to bands such as Hinin or Chiaroscuro, with desolate lyrics about wandering around sad towns, having a last beer and remembering lost friends. They manage to find a perfect balance between nostalgia and anger, and their up-beat and melodic songs can definitely become anthems on our way to an uncertain future. ) 17.00
PATRICK COWLEY - Malebox LP (dark entire s- Dark Entries has a surprise delivery! Malebox brings us six previously unreleased funk-fueled jams from the archives of the cybernetic disco titan himself, Patrick Cowley. Best known for his chart-topping disco anthems, Cowley left us with an incredible body of work before his tragic death in 1982 due to AIDS-related illness. Since 2009, Dark Entries has been working with Cowley’s friends and family to uncover the singular artist’s lesser-known sides, including his soundtracks for gay pornographic films on compilation albums School Daze, Muscle Up, and Afternooners.) 30.00
PHILIPPE SARDE - Loulou OST LP (orbis - In 1968, the future composer of The Things of Life (Les Choses de la Vie) seriously considered becoming a director. He wrote and shot Florence, a short film influenced by the New Wave and composed its soundtrack, under the benevolent eye of Vladimir Cosma. The first spectators of the film are unanimous: failing to have seen a visionary cinematographic opus, they have discovered a real movie musician. From this first attempt, Philippe Sarde imposes his melodic talent on the picture and initiates his sense of counterpoint. This founding soundtrack, however, remained in the boxes for more than 50 years, before finding a place of choice on the B side of our album. To open the ball, we offer you another forgotten score: the almost unused score of Loulou, Maurice Pialatís cult classic. In 1980, the naturalist director planned to use original music to accompany the wanderings of his sublime love duo, played by Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert. He commissioned a bare, impressionistic score from Philippe Sarde, then changed his mind and kept only a timid end credits. The meeting between the two giants of French cinema did however take place, as evidenced by the first side of this beautiful lp. This album was produced from a high definition transfer of analog tapes, without compression or alteration, and respecting the dynamics of the original recordings.) 30.00
POLVO - same LP (merge - ‘Polvo’ was originally released in 1995 by Merge, as a way of documenting the early output of North Carolina’s indie rockers Polvo. Gathering up the seven tracks from 1990 double EP ‘Can I Ride’ with the two tracks from 1991’s ‘Vibracobra’ 7” single, it was the sound of the American indie underground’s legacy from the Eighties being picked up and developed for the Nineties.) 26.00
THE PYRAMIDS - Aomawa (The 1970s Recordings) 4xLP BOXSET (strut - A brand new 4LP box set bringing together the incredible 1970s recordings of Afrofuturism pioneers The Pyramids, led by saxophonist Idris Ackamoor. The set features the remastered LPs Lalibela, King Of Kings and Birth / Speed / Merging alongside the first ever vinyl issue of their live session for KQED TV in 1975. The accompanying 12-page 12”-sized booklet features extended interviews with The Pyramids by Francis Gooding and a host of unseen photos.) 75.00
REDEMPTION 87 - Redemption 87 LP (new age - Redemption 87 was an East Bay hardcore punk band containing ex-members of Unit Pride, Skankin' Pickle, and Token Entry. It also included future members of AFI and the Nerve Agents - Their goal was to reclaim "hardcore" from the crossover heavy metal music it had become and return it to its punk roots. They were heavily influenced by New York hardcore bands including Youth of Today, Sick of It All, Warzone, and Gorilla Biscuits. Limited repressing of their first LP for the 25th anniversary of its release!) 26.00
WHITE PAIN - Paroles Absurdes LP (Camisole is proud to unveil another part of the french cold wave history with the reissue of "Paroles Absurdes" LP by White Pain. Hailing from Lyon the band began as a duo with Patrick Saveau and Patrick Gravier in 1984.Active figures in the underground scene of their city, they played some gigs and even had their own show on the local radio station.They developed a small following around them and recruited other members to record this album in 1986. "Paroles Absurdes" is driven by the feeling that you can't escape your fate. Saying Words that you sometimes regret but you feel to be true.This testimony infuses this whole album.However, positive assumptions flow from time to time and left their more pop appeal roll into some songs. ) 25.00
WILD BILLY CHILDISH & THE SINGING LOINS - The Fighting Temeraire LP (damaged goods - In memory of Chris Broderick of the Singing Loins, who passed away earlier this year, we present a new studio album by Wild Billy Childish and Arf and Rob from The Singing Loins. The Fighting Temeraire contains new songs, old songs re-worked, traditional songs and a Bob Dylan cover. HMS Temeraire was a 96 gun ship of the line, built in Chatham, as was HMS Victory. After the passing of their dear friend, Chris Broderick, (lead Singer of The Singing Loins), Billy, Arf, and Rob decided to get together and record a 45 in his memory. The single 'Song of the Medway' soon led to this full length LP. The Billy/Loins connection goes back to the early '90s. Billy had recorded the first two Singing Loins LPs in his bathroom back then, as well as an LP of folk variations of his own tunes with Chris and Arf. It was Chris's dying wish that the boys should continue the Singing Loins, so it was pretty much a given that this fine LP would come to be. At once ancient and modern, it is a fitting tribute to a great ship (and singer) of the Medway.) 22.00
TAPES
CLAYFACE - 10-Song TAPE (Hardcore / (Deutsch-)Punk from Nuremberg, Germany. This tape includes Clayface - 8-Song E.P., and tracks off the 2020 and 2022 "Nürnberg Sehen... Und Sterben?" compilations. Hardcore Punk gegen Blut und Boden und Deutschland im Allgemeinen. Musik für die reifere Jugend.) 6.00
KMRU - Epoch TAPE (A return to yourself. An exercise in feeling effortless. KMRU is the moniker of Joseph Kamaru, a sound artist/producer from Nairobi, Kenya, now based in Berlin. He delivers an exquisite mix of field recordings and electronics unravelling at a repetitive and leisurely pace to expose a rich tapestry of sound that has been revered for it's ability to cross bordear with the sheer undertow of emotional content ) 16.00
BOOKS / MAGAZINES
LOREN CONNORS - Night Of Rain BOOK (recital - Night of Rain is the second art book by musician and artist Loren Connors, following last year’s Wildweeds (Recital, 2021). The book is comprised of two parts: ‘Night of Rain,’ which Loren describes as “seascapes, or expressions of the sea and shore. [They are] about the power of rain and the sea, lagoons, bays, tides." Taken from small pencil and black ink drawings enlarged again and again at a copy store. The pieces would often be drawn over and modified throughout this process – ultimately reaching sizes of 8 x 6 feet or larger. In this series, Loren considers the digital images as the "originals” – so this section of the book acts as a sort of swatch, a gallery exhibiting an element of this process. The second section of the book is “A Coming to Shore.” Nineteen acrylic paintings on stretched canvas, which are often cast in hazy and dreamlike blues, greys, and yellows. They span across the page in stark simplicity. “They all have the feeling of horizon, but not all of them depict horizons,” Loren remarks. Supplemented with a foreword written by artist and friend Aki Onda, Night of Rain is part of a continuing series of limited books published by Recital that explore Loren’s visual art. • Edition of 200 • 12” x 8.5” – 100 color pages, perfect bound book) 46.00
SHINDIG! - Shindig! 131 MAGAZINE (The iconic Marianne Faithful graces the cover on the back of Songs Of Innocence and Experience 1965-1995. There will also be features on Dungen, who will release a brand new album for the first time in years, part two of our heady account of Arthur Brown's glorious and hallucinogenic late ’60s and early ’70s, a look at the right side of Ohio's bubblegum hit-makers The Lemon Pipers, and a solid overview of the great Dennis Hopper's involvement with the music scene and counter-culture. There's new stuff from Flight Of The Conchords' Brent McKenzie, the latest listening material and cultural ephemera guiding Osees' John Dwyer, the Californian cool of Sylvie, and good vibes aplenty from Peel Dream Magazine. Let's not forget psych-pop faves The Living Daylights, 20 Questions with folk-rock icon Ashley Hutchings, and the usual array of news, columns and reviews to round out another fantastic issue.) 9.00
SHINDIG! - Shindig 132 MAGAZINE (Shindig! issue no. 132 contains features on Dungen, Joyce, Fleetwood Mac, David Holmes, Charles Stepney, Gypsy, Julianne Riolino, Matt Allwright, Hector, Storyteller, Star-Club Records, Brim etc. Of course you also get the usual sections such as Shindiggin', What's Hot On The Shindig! Turntable, Thoughts & Words, Letters And Emails, It's A Happening Thing, and so on.) 9.00
