Bis Aufs Messer Weekly News 02 July 2024
Hi, welcome to another newsletter for July - a bunch of cool stuff arrived and also various restocks. A couple of the freshly re issued BUTTHOLE SURFERS re issues arrived along with some other quarterstick & Touch and Go restocks like June Of 44, Radon, Rachel’s, Slint etc.
EA80 - Single LP restock, OZEAN - Ozean LP restock, V/A - Magnetizdat DDR. Magnetbanduntergrund Ost 1979-1990 3xLP, V/A - Notes From The Underground DLP restock, also a bunch of restocks of the Heavenly Sweetness ETHIOPIAN JAZZ restocks, BEINGS - There Is A Garden LP restock, new MYRIAM GENDRON LP finally arrived, MASTER WILBURN BURCHETTE restocks, a bunch of WOLKE books are back on stock like the RADIO COLOGNE BOOK + 5CDs, the FMP BOOK, SCHWARZWALD FAHRT BOOK + CD, SPRUNG AUS DEN WOLKEN - 1981 West Berlin LP, SML - Small Medium Large LP restock and more …
we have a new event coming up on July 27th. Freddy Alava of Wardance records will sign his new book and also gives a talk. Don't miss out!!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1110766643317625
We also repressed the SPORT - colors LP and the SPORT - bon voyage LP in case u are interested.
We also added (adding) a few more second hand LPs and 7“s to our discogs
https://www.discogs.com/seller/XMESSERX
Thank you as usual
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
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8“
HEXIS - Relictus / Umbrae 8“ (Danish blackened hardcore pioneers Hexis return once more with their new EP, Relictus/Umbrae. Recorded in 2021 in the same sessions as their critically acclaimed 2022 full-length Aeternum, this EP was recorded, mixed and mastered by none other than globally renowned engineer Fredrik Nordström at Fredman Studio. Relictus/Umbrae is composed of two tracks - the opening number, Relictus, is a chaotic, high-energy sensory assault, displaying the very same blackened hardcore aggression Hexis has become known all over the world for. The second track, Umbrae, sees Hexis showcasing their slower side as they explore the vast depths of blackened doom - a seething, heaving, malignant wall of blackened dissonance and distortion that would make even the most devout doom enthusiast weak at the knees. As always, Hexis have once again delivered on yet another world-class offering of bleak, bludgeoning blackened hardcore.) 15.00
10“
ORCHID - Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! 10“ (ebullition - Ten blasts of chaotic fury and emotive noise on a cute, little 10". The Orchid sound is even more aggressive than on their 12", and anyone that enjoyed any of their previous releases will be floored by these songs. Tuneful, vicious, throbbing and chaotic hardcore played with finesse, heartfelt energy and a wee bit of arty pretense. Now available again on colored vinyl.) 25.00
LP
ARNOLD DREYBLATT & THE ORCHESTRA OF EXCITED STRINGS - Resolve LP (drag city - Dreyblatt"s minimalist conception - a rhythmic drone played on a double-bass strung with piano wire, playing in concert with other stringed instruments performing in 20 unequal microtones per octave and changing key but keeping the same fundamental pitch - dates back to the 1970s, while he studied under La Monte Young and Pauline Oliveros. Resolve acts in intermittent dialogue with the first Orchestra of Excited Strings release, 1982"s Nodal Excitation. Since then, Dreyblatt has formed new orchestras across various countries and decades, with each phase of his music requiring several overlapping periods of gestation and arrangement. The current Orchestra is formed by Konrad Sprenger, Joachim Schütz and Oren Ambarchi. On Resolve, each of the members" playing brings new angles to the compositions. Konrad Sprenger"s involves solenoids, sine waves and a computer-controlled multi-channel electric guitar (as well as a relentless style behind the drum kit and oversight of the album production), while Joachim Schütz"s individual conception of electronics and electric guitar and Oren Ambarchi"s undeniable innovations with signal path work together with Dreyblatt"s bass (still strung with piano wire) as magnetic component parts of Resolve. These contributions lead to Resolve"s dialogue with the early Orchestra of Excited Strings canon - for instance, the track previewed here, "Flight Path" takes off at a pace not often found in the minimalist genre - a rolling lope! Yet the sense of play is palpable: the ensemble scale their microtonal keys with punkish brio, a stance sharing much with the original Orchestra"s downtown pulse, even as as the new Orchestra burn their own path through Dreyblatt"s music. Approaching his 70th birthday, with over 40 years of work as a solo artist, collaborator, composer, educator and bandleader, Arnold Dreyblatt views Resolve as an important expression within the long story of The Orchestra of Excited Strings. The album title"s tendency to mean different things is an indicator of the dynamic qualities of his music in all its different phases - an evolution that continues to produce new dimensions in acoustic sound with every new release.) 28.00
BUTTHOLE SURFERS - Live PCPPEP LP (matador - "Re-pressed on vinyl! Finally back in print! This is where it all began for the Butthole Surfers. The Live PCPPEP is their second release; it came out in 1984. Here it is on vintage thick wax; still as crazed and lysergic as ever! The EP was recorded live in a bar in their hometown of San Antonio and released as a follow-up to their Brown Reason to Live 12". These acid-casualty reality trippers paid tribute to and killed American hardcore once and for all while single-handedly ushering in a new Post-Everything era. Many feel their two early EPs were the best records the band ever recorded.“) 20.00
BUTTHOLE SURFERS - Psychic ... Powerless ... Another Mans Sac LP (matador - The early-mid "80s had their share of insane combos -- The Birthday Party, Black Flag and Minor Threat had the raw power to melt your mind in seconds. SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten and Big Black created enough overwhelming sonic pressure their sounds might actually flatten you. And Sonic Youth displayed such a dizzyingly unpredictable mix of art, pop culture and violence you"d sometimes leave their shows drooling. The Buttholes shared elements with all of these groups, but added an insane psychedelic edge and a propensity for bizarre spectacle. By the time they started touring to preview and then support the revamped version of "Psychic...Powerless... Another Man"s Sac," the Buttholes" live show was a berserk, evolving extravaganza of strobes, smoke, clothespins, naked dancing, bullhorns, raving lunacy and music that was as madly mind-blowing as that of any band who ever lived. "Another Man"s Sac" was also wildly advanced over the previous records. Parts of the LP swaddled their punk edge inside so much oink and babble you almost couldn"t discern it, with other segments stretching out into a mutant form of garage blues, and others just swirling out of control.) 27.00
BUTTHOLE SURFERS -Rembrandt Pussyhorse LP (matador. The early-mid "80s had their share of insane combos -- The Birthday Party, Black Flag and Minor Threat had the raw power to melt your mind in seconds. SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten and Big Black created enough overwhelming sonic pressure their sounds might actually flatten you. And Sonic Youth displayed such a dizzyingly unpredictable mix of art, pop culture and violence you"d sometimes leave their shows drooling. The Buttholes shared elements with all of these groups, but added an insane psychedelic edge and a propensity for bizarre spectacle. This evolution continued on "Rembrandt Pussyhorse," which featured a set of tunes for which the Buttholes" rock-based form destruction was mixed with experimental, tape-mangling passages of many flavors. Haynes was handling all audible vocals by this point, and his mastery of post-tongue dynamism was finally in full flight. Meanwhile, their live shows became legendary examples of excess and derangement, and their music just kept getting louder and stranger and more savage. It was the diametric opposite of the hardcore scene from which it had emerged, which was heading in ever more codified and stylistically conservative directions.) 27.00
CASSANDRA JENKINS - (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature LP (col. vinyl) (restock - Cassandra Jenkins' An Overview on Phenomenal Nature emerged from the blue earlier this year. With pandemic unknowns and political upheaval leaving most at frayed ends, the New York-born musician’s assuring voice and expansive fresh take on songwriting created a much needed reflective space for listeners worldwide. As 2021 comes to a close, Jenkins revisits those flowing textures and refrains with (An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, a collection of previously unreleased sonic sketches, initial run-throughs, demos, and sound recordings from the cutting room floor that provided the scaffolding for what became one of this year’s most critically acclaimed albums. ) 25.00
CASSANDRA JENKINS - My Light, My Destroyer LP (dead oceans - At the heart of the guitar-driven indie-rock, new-age, sophistipop and jazz-inspired album is Cassandra Jenkins' curiosity about the quarks and quasars that make up her universe, as she blends field recordings with poetic lyricism that is by turns allusive, humorous, harrowing and confessional - an alchemical gesture that further deepens the richness of My Light, My Destroyer's 13 songs. Although My Light, My Destroyer was written in the space of a year, some of the songs have been slumbering in Jenkins' notebooks for years; During the making of the album, she had many sonic reference points in mind: Tom Petty's deceptively airy folk-rock classicism, the work of songwriters such as Annie Lennox and Neil Young, her "high school CD wallet" (Radiohead's The Bends, The Breeders, PJ Harvey and Pavement) and David Bowie's final gesture, "Blackstar"; plus lyrical influences from writers such as Anne Carson, Maggie Nelson, Rebecca Solnit and the ubiquitous work of the late David Berman. But above all, Jenkins draws inspiration, as always, from the shimmering electricity of the world around her, squinting through the static of the radio with a desire for greater understanding. By cleverly interweaving field recordings and ambient noise (train noises and flight attendants, for example), she draws attention to unreal moments that sweep the listener away. Joining her are a number of friends from across the spectrum of modern indie rock, as My Light, My Destroyer is far more of a group effort than the largely solitary endeavor of its predecessor, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. Palehound's El Kempner, Hand Habits' Meg Duffy, Isaac Eiger (formerly of Strange Ranger), Katie Von Schleicher, Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy), Daniel McDowell (Amen Dunes), producer and instrumentalist Josh Kaufman, producer Stephanie Marziano (Hayley Williams, Bartees Strange), and Jenkins' girlfriend, director/actress/journalist Hailey Benton Gates. Jenkins' penchant for natural and supernatural phenomena crops up again and again (Earth's atmosphere, lizards, flowers, the galaxy, lab-grown strawberries, etc.), only to bring us back to the core of ourselves. The pivotal point on "My Light, My Destroyer" is the nocturnal "Betelgeuse," in which Jenkins, as she says, is "trying to maintain a sense of curiosity as a way of staying connected with myself and nature.“) 29.00
CIVEROUS - Maze Envy LP (20 buck spin - Upon hearing ‘Decrepit Flesh Relic’, the first album from Civerous, one was left with a feeling of intense suffocating weight and agonal prostration in the service of bone-breaking death hymns. With the towering new album, ‘Maze Envy’, LA’s most creatively destructive Death / Doom ensemble let loose a freshly evolved but no less brutal conflagration of immersive horror and morbid lamentation. Where Death / Doom may often stay in safe and unadventerous realms of narrow focus, Maze Envy’ presents a more far-reaching breadth of ambition, where unusual technicality, progressive atmospheres, string flourishes and chaotic mysticism radiate a purple light of the soul’s ascension from the black oceans of dread Civerous inhabit. Chain-dragging dirge, blackened blasting, and the savage ferocity of Lord Foul’s hellish vocal exorcisms exalt ‘Mazy Envy’ with a hellish grandeur within its myriad paths to oblivion. With a massively crushing sound, ‘Maze Envy’ is end times music for an age in which that reckoning feels unfathomably close. Civerous batter the senses into a state of labyrinthian turmoil from which emergence is ever more implausible.) 30.00
EA80 - Single LP (major label - Available in stores for the first time: the 42 EA 80 songs from the legendary 7" single box from 2019, plus two brand new songs - double CD and LP with a large "jukebox" center hole on a major label. Autumn 2019: the legendary Mönchengladbach punk band EA 80 reaches its fortieth year of existence. Amazingly, preparations have been made: the band has saved up exactly 42 new songs, each one minute long, in order to bring together seven 7" singles with six songs each to form an anniversary box together with six other D.I.Y. labels. Nico, Oddel, Maul and Junge show their full range, from sketchy, filigree numbers to rough noise punk, with their usual poetic and subtle lyrics. The labels Beau Travail, Licht-Ung,pflichtkauf, Static Age, Stencil Trash Records and Phantom Records are releasing the box in a limited edition together with Musikzimmer, all seven singles have individual cover artwork. The huge demand has led to a second small edition being distributed by the band themselves. Under the title "Single", EA 80 and Major Label are now making this sought-after gem available again. The double CD contains the 42 songs on one CD plus a 3" coated and printed bonus CD with the new songs "Die letzte Frage" and "Kartoffelkeller". All 44 songs are on the LP - but like a jukebox 7", it has a large hole in the middle.) 27.00
ECHO IN - The people LP (diy - Driven by monotonous rhythms and repetitive guitar lines, Echo In merge a bit of krautrock with post rock and independent pop, rounded out by minimal, stripped back and unassuming vocals that gently blend in. From atmospheric sounds to uptempo indie, the album contains 9 diverse songs. A soft cloud of vibraphone and sound loops envelopes the album and can be sonically located near bands such as The American Analog Set, Pinback, Seam.) 20.00
EROBIQUE - No. 2 DLP (Carsten 'Erobique' Meyer releases his second album "No. 2". It's almost a silver wedding anniversary with himself, because his debut "Erosound" came out exactly 25 years ago. Since then, he's been a jack of all trades in countless projects as a songwriter and composer, as well as active in film / television and in the theater. "No. 2" sounds like a lot of joy and freedom. Somewhere between Italodisco, groove, indie (pop), R'n'B, funk, the album is definitely made for the dance floor. 13 tracks with great guest vocals from Sophia Kennedy & Nicola Rost, among others. Released as a CD and double vinyl on A Sexy Records. Vacation. Not just in Italy. A backpacking trip through Australia, a campfire in the allotment garden. In the car with friends through the heath or just a quick vacation in your head, during a rainy lunch break or with a glass of spritzer on the balcony. And that includes music! Welcome to Erobique's second album: "No.2". In 1998, Meyer released his debut album "Erosound" under the name "Erobique". Exactly 25 years later, the now 50-year-old is releasing his second album. 13 varied tracks and songs ranging from holiday disco to rhythm box rave, recorded and produced with many of his friends/companions. Drummer Lucas Kochbeck (The KBCs, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band) and Christoph M. Kaiser (bassist with Jeremy Days, now film music and pop strategist) laid the groove foundation with glowing tiles, like in Trinity, Hamburg's legendary 80s disco. Sophia Kennedy came over from the neighboring studio to sing and Lieven Brunckhorst brought the entire brass section from Jan Delay's Big Band Disco No1 to the microphone. An extremely harmonious album that sounds like it was made from one piece.) 35.00
HALLOWED BUTCHERY - A Canticle Of The Beast LP (thought crime - Hallowed Butchery - canticle of the beast LPExperimental Doom Metal mayhem from Maine/USA. This has all been played and recorded by a single person, Ryan Fairfield. His music is full of passion and giving the term "brutal" a new meaning. This was recorded before his life changing „funeral rites for the living“ album on Vendetta records and has been released on a cassette tape in a quantity of 100 copies on the same label in 2008.) 12.00
MYRIAM GENDRON - Mayday LP (thrill jockey - Mayday is the third LP by Montreal-based artist, Myriam Gendron. It follows her earlier, critically acclaimed albums, Not So Deep As A Well (2014) and Ma délire - Songs of love, lost & found (2021). Myriam began exploring the complex folk traditions of Quebec (and beyond), with Ma délire, which combines traditional and original songs with arrangements that make space for avant-garde musical interludes by such folks as guitarist Bill Nace (Body/Head) and renowned jazz percussionist Chris Corsano. Mayday presents an even more syncretic fusion of the elements Myriam uses to create her sound. Most of the songs are original, sung in both English and French, and they blend traditional and avant elements with abandon. She is often accompanied on this album by the guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White), whose work provides a quietly aggressive sort of free-rock base. Additional players include Montreal bassist Cédric Dind-Lavoie, Bill Nace and saxophonist Zoh Amba. Mayday is a thoroughly thrilling effort that manages to create new vistas of sound while maintaining a feel that is both intimate and familiar. The music here certainly possesses a richly serious tone, but Myriam Gendron (like Leonard Cohen) is able to infuse her darkness with a subtle, powerful light that reminds us that even the most pitch-black night is but a transitional state. Beautiful work.) 30.00
ORCHID - Gatefold LP (ebullition - The final recordings of Orchid. These 19 tracks are probably the best songs that Orchid ever recorded. Their sound has been honed and defined, and the recording perfectly captures Orchid's diverse combination of arty sensibilities, heartfelt emotive song writing, Mohinder-esque drumming, frantic precision, controlled mayhem, and chaotic adrenaline. An excellent record that even surpasses their previous releases. Definitely Orchid's opus. Both the lp and cd come packaged in gatefold sleeves. The various Orchid members have gone on to form Bucket Full of Teeth, The Wolves, and the Panthers.) 26.00
OZEAN - Ozean LP (numero - Set your shoes to gaze mode and rip into this king size cloud of ethereal dream pop. Inspired by the spate of Brits leaning into swirling distortion and punishing volume, San Jose's Ozean played just two shows in their brief existence, dissolving before the Scene That Celebrates Itself ever broke the silicon barrier. The quartet's 1993 self-titled demo cassette has been remastered and pressed at 45RPM, a timeless document of late adolescent wonder and experimentation.) 26.00
SML - Small Medium Large LP (international anthem - SML is bassist Anna Butterss (Jeff Parker, Daniel Villarreal, Makaya McCraven), synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (Ariel Kalma, Marta Sofia-Honer), saxophonist Josh Johnson (Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven, Nate Mercereau, Marquis Hill), percussionist Booker Stardrum (Amirtha Kidambi, Carl Stone, Lee Ranaldo, Patrick Shiroishi), and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann (Sam Wilkes, Meg Duffy, Perfume Genius). Their debut album Small Medium Large began as a collection of long-form improvisations recorded during two separate two-night stands at beloved Highland Park venue ETA.) 28.00
SPRUNG AUS DEN WOLKEN - 1981 West Berlin LP (bureau b - The Berlin project Sprung Aus Den Wolken was part of the "Genialen Dilletanten" movement in the early 1980s, along with Einstrüzenden Neubauten and Mechanik Destrktiw Komandh. The band first released an EP on ZickZack in 1981, followed by further releases on the band's own label Faux Pas in 1982 and 1983, then on the French distributor Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier until 1991. The track "Pas Attendre" was part of the soundtrack of Wim Wenders' film "Wings of Desire" and became an underground hit. Bureau B is pleased to re-release the debut EP under the title "1981 West Berlin" with more songs from the band's early days, carefully remastered from the original cassettes.) 28.00
V/A - Notes From The Underground DLP (iron curtain - Greatly compiled double LP (gatefold, download) with 20 tracks between art, avant-garde and noise from the former Eastern Bloc countries on the new MAJOR LABEL sub-outlet IRON CURTAIN RADIO. Under the title 'Notes From The Underground', an exhibition recently in Lodz and Berlin showed image and sound artefacts that were created across the former Eastern Bloc in the border zone between art and pop culture, in any case far away from the state music industry. The Portuguese cultural organization OUT.RA initiated the project 'Unearthing The Music', which is dedicated to the online archiving of experimental music from real socialism, so that the 20 collected tracks are now also appearing (some for the first time) on physical recordings, compiled by the curators DAVID CROWLEY, DANIEL MUZYCZUK and ZONIC editor ALEXANDER PEHLEMANN. The resulting mix is extremely varied and cuts across times, styles and regions. From brutal attacks on (official) culture inspired by Fluxus by the Czech AKTUAL, avant-garde vocal art with folk sources by KATALIN LADIK (Vojvodina) to the psychedelic rhythms of the Lithuanian jazz drummer VLADIMIR TARASOV. But there are also more well-known icons such as AG.GEIGE (Karl-Marx-Stadt), ORNAMENT & VERBRECHEN or ZWITSCHERMASCHINE on this sampler, which uses detailed (English) liner notes to establish temporal, political and cultural references to each song.) 35.00
V/A - Magnetizdat DDR. Magnetbanduntergrund Ost 1979-1990 3xLP (iron curtain - Iron Curtain Radio (Major Label) presents: the triple LP for the book project of the same name with 43 radically exciting pieces from the music cassette underground of the former GDR! A tour de force through eleven years of offbeat and state-critical releases. Triple LP in a gatefold cover with an informative twelve-page booklet and download code! After the book edited by Alexander Pehlemann, Ronald Galenza and Robert Miessner was published under the title "Magnetizdat DDR", a follow-up to the first part "Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand.", the editors have also immortalized the stylistic diversity of the scene on a magnificent compilation with 43 tracks: the spectrum ranges from unorthodox punk with no-wave tendencies, lo-fi experimental rock, idiosyncratic pop designs, darkwave both as a sound and as a basic feeling, new Sorbian art, industrial, art noise and anticipated post rock to improvisational music and performance soundtracks to compositions inspired by the avant-garde. In addition to somewhat better-known representatives such as Ornament & Verbrechen, Rosa Extra or Der Schwarze Kanal, the most obscure projects and artists from the former underground can be found here. As with the Iron Curtain radio compilation "Notes From The Underground", this release was also created in cooperation with the Portuguese project "Unearthing The Music", whose designer Jose Mendes was responsible for the exceptionally aesthetic design.) 46.00
BOOKS
PHILIP FREEMAN - In the Brewing Luminous: The Life & Music of Cecil Taylor BOOK (wolke - Cecil Taylor’s life was a string of mysteries that made a beautiful necklace of precious sounds, dances, and poetry he called music. Philip Freeman’s book In the Brewing Luminous gives us a wonderful glimpse of Cecil’s life and music. Hopefully this book will inspire us all in ways we can’t imagine.” (William Parker) For 60 years, Cecil Taylor’s music marked the farthest boundary of avant-garde jazz. His volcanic piano improvisations, delivered with astonishing technical command and unrelenting power at marathon length, were regarded as the ultimate in free jazz. But Taylor was much more than that: He was one of jazz’s (and America’s) great composers and arrangers, developing a unique and instantly recognizable compositional voice and a radical method of transmitting his ideas that in effect taught the members of his ensembles to speak an entirely new musical language. In the Brewing Luminous is the first full-length biography of Cecil Taylor. In the Brewing Luminous takes the reader from his birth in 1929 to his death in 2018 and beyond. It provides detailed analysis of his extensive body of work, which encompassed solo performance and ensembles of every size from duos to big bands, and included work meant to accompany dancers and theatrical performances. It also explores his poetry and the broader milieu of which he was a part. Taylor was not an island; he was a fixture on the New York cultural scene and welcomed with open arms in Germany, Italy, Japan and elsewhere. And he did not work in isolation — his bands were crucial collaborators, and his music was impossible to imagine without the contributions of players like alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, bassist William Parker, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, all of whom and many more are discussed here as well. Philip Freeman is a veteran music journalist and the author of New York Is Now!: The New Wave Of Free Jazz, Running The Voodoo Down: The Electric Music Of Miles Davis, and Ugly Beauty: Jazz In The 21st Century. He lives in Montana. With a contribution by Markus Müller) 34.00
VOGT & SEEBER - Radio Cologne Sound Das Studio für Elektronische Musik des WDR BOOK +5xCD (wolke - Rarely has a radio institution left such a mark on music history in such a short space of time. Founded in 1951, the WDR Studio for Electronic Music hit the headlines early on, at times transforming Cologne into the metropolis of new music, attracting not only composers. Radio Cologne Sound traces the eventful history of the studio in essays, recordings, pictures and personal memories: from the golden 50s and 60s through times of opening and stagnation to the late heyday. Three portraits are dedicated to the studio directors Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen and York Höller. Other texts shed light on the intense interplay between technology and aesthetics, the teamwork in the studio, its international appeal and the important question of performance practice: How can electronic music be brought to the stage when the technology has long been ready for the museum? The heart of the book is the sound of “Radio Cologne”: 28 tracks on five CDs allow us to look back over half a century.) 39.00