Bis Aufs Messer Weekly News 02/ May 2022
Hi. Welcome to another newsletter for May. A couple great records arrived like the re issue of the AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - comfort me album as deluxe DLP with a bonus record, a bunch of ARTHUR RUSSELL restocks / Re issues, FAUST - Punkt LP re issue, the beautiful DIATOM DELI - Time~Lapse Nature LP via RVNG, four great new Aguirre titles like the IGNATZ DLP, SEIKATSU KOJYO LINKAI - Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai LP re issue, TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ART - La Grima LP, THOMAS LEER & ROBERT RENTAL - The Bridge LP re issue, LOS GOLDEN BOYS - Cumbia De Juventud LP re issue, SARI - A U Se LP (!!), KEVIN MORBY - This Is A Photograph LP, EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - The Helm of Sorrow LP restock, PLOSIVS LP (!!!), some POLVO and SUNN o)) restocks etc.
We will also have a new Artshow coming up next month. Stay tuned for details.
Til then thank you for all your orders & support.
Robert & Norman
mailorder@bisaufmesser.com
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
LP
AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - comfort me Deluxe DLP (rough trade - LIMITED EDITION CLEAR SMOKE VINYL 2LP ON ROUGH TRADE. FEATURES A BONUS LIVE LP RECORDED ON A DOCK OUTSIDE OF MELBOURNE, A FOLD-OUT POSTER AND NEW ARTWORK BY GRAPHIC DESIGNER BRáULIO AMADO. Australian pub rock sensations Amyl and The Sniffers follow their acclaimed eponymous debut with ‘Comfort To Me’. The band cast their net wider to haul in influences this time. 1970s rock bands such as AC/DC and Motorhead, hardcore bands such as Warthog and Power Trip and classic Australian bands such as Coloured Balls have fed into this defiant and energetic rock ‘n’ roll statement.) 35.00
ARTHUR RUSSELL - Instrumentals DLP (audika - Before Disco, and before the transcendent echoes, ARTHUR RUSSELL wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed Instrumentals in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, “I was awakened, or re-awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music”. Initially intended to be performed in one 48 hour cycle, Instrumentals was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress. ) 33.00
DIATOM DELI - Time~Lapse Nature LP (rvng - Diatom Deli’s Time~Lapse Nature is a channel between cerebral ascension and somatic memory, tethered to the micro-present though humbled by a beyond. Dilated by celestial fluctuations and dynamic flutters, the reverberations from the Taos-based artist’s new album culminate through airy tests of vocal layering, longing guitar laments, and discreetly sourced sound, compelling Deli’s commitment to esoteric precision and impulse.) 26.00
EMMA RUTH RUNDLE & THOU - The Helm of Sorrow LP (sacred bones - a few back in stock - The companion EP to Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou's collaborative LP, 'May Our Chambers Be Full.’ THIS EP WAS INCLUDED IN THE DIEHARD VERSION OF 'May Our Chambers be Full.’) 25.00
FAUST - Punkt LP (Bureau b - Punkt.’ is the fifth and final album by the original incarnation of legendary German band Faust. The album remained unreleased for the best part of fifty years and has previously only ever been released as part of the '1971-9174' box set The album sees the band unleash the frustrations of an unsuccessful UK tour and being on the verge of splitting but being creatively potent. Experimental, cacophonous, repetitive, psychedelic, immersive and essential for fans of 1970s German music. ) 26.00
FLANGER MAGAZINE – After the Bend LP (students of - After the Bend is the second album from Louisville based Flanger Magazine, and the follow up to FM’s 2018 debut, Breslin. Whereas Breslin was the solo creation of Christopher Bush, an album noted for “an astute synthesis of ‘library music’ and solo acoustic guitar,” and “a seamless blend into the uncluttered and airier side of classic 1970’s giallo,” After the Bend is an ensemble affair. An ecosystem, a perfect mutualism bodies forth—of strings, outdoor recordings, electronics, reeds, and percussion—featuring new FM players Anna Krippenstapel (Frekons (Freakwater + Mekons), The Other Years), Jim Marlowe (Equipment Pointed Ankh, Tropical Trash, Sapat), Eric Lanham and Benjamin Zoeller (both from Caboladies). The various combos perform with both a distinguished efficacy and unhurried Sunday drift—charged and beautiful, pulsating and pleasing. The production is subtle and tasteful. Mutating past the old saws of bounded individualism, a strange form of tentacular life accrues, cyborgian-fungral-tangles of the more-than-human variety.) 25.00
IGNATZ - I Live In A Utopia 2xLP (aguirre - Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Zully Adler. In co-production with House Rules & released in an edition of 500. This sprawling collection by Belgian loner blues savant Bram Devens aka Ignatz encapsulates the mystery, murk, and melancholy of his uncanny craft at its most windswept and wayward. Originally issued via Goaty Tapes in September of 2015, this long-anticipated vinyl edition expands the saga with an additional 17 minutes of archival material. Deven’s palette remains constant throughout: feathery fingerpicking, modal loops, and intuitive six-string navigations interspersed with candlelit passages of mournful voice, alternately whispered, mumbled, moaned. His is an aesthetic of embers and resin, cracked masks and distant lights, of what’s left behind and what lingers on. I Live In A Utopia was recorded following a relocation from his longtime base of Brussels to Landen, with a second child due soon: “I remember the weather being nice and having just bought a hammock.” The change of scenery seeded a promise of slower days and lighter times – no utopia perhaps, but a sense of faint hope glowing on the horizon. The songs slide between loose acoustic spirituals and smoky basement ragas, late afternoon haze and midnight moons, a seesawing restlessness reflected in the titles (“I Have Found True Love,” “Time Does Not Bring Relief,” “We Used To Smoke Inside”). The fidelity is grainy but vivid, refracted by tape warp and Flemish dust.) 30.00
JERICHO - De Dreit Nien 2xLP (Aguirre - Double album in gatefold sleeve with artwork by Elodie Ortega. In co-production with La Nòvia & released in an edition of 400. The Jericho project is fully in line with the approach of the La Nòvia collective from which it originates, a hub for like-minded musicians reinventing regional folk repertoires, marrying traditional French song with minimalism via the use of drone. Jericho is just one of many available permutations of La Nòvia members, with the line-up including Yann Gourdon, Clément Gauthier, Jacques Puech and Antoine Cognet – you could say it’s La Nòvia’s flagship, or super-group. There are no dramatic stylistic shifts here, this is a story of gradual evolution within parameters that Jericho, and La Nòvia, have set for themselves. That also applies to their interpretation of individual songs, which are largely traditional.) 30.00
KEVIN MORBY - This Is A Photograph LP (dead oceans - ‘This Is A Photograph’ is the seventh solo album from American indie godhead Kevin Morby. Written during the aftermath of the pandemic and inspired by his father’s recovery from a near-death experience, Morby set his ideas to a four-track with just a guitar and a mic. Fleshed out by producer Sam Cohen and a host of collaborators, these elegiac musings on life, death and the passing of time represent some of Morby’s most soul-baring songs so far.) 25.00
LOS GOLDEN BOYS - Cumbia De Juventud LP (mississippi - CUMBIA GUITAR ROCK FROM 1960s COLOMBIA!!! Formed in 1961 by the legendary brothers Pedro Jairo and Guillermo León Garcés, LOS GOLDEN BOYS quickly rose to the top of the Colombian "música tropical" scene by combining popular rock and twist influences with cumbia, gaita, porro and other local styles. The band recorded several hits for the Discos Fuentes label, until the tragic death of brilliant electric guitarist Pedro Jairo in 1972, laid the original LOS GOLDEN BOYS to rest. CUMBIA DE JUVENTUD is a newly remastered collection of 12 of the heaviest songs from their golden era! Focused on raucous and driving cumbias that highlight the Garcés brothers talents, this LP is full of haunting minor-key melodies, thundering percussion, sinister guitar and Solovox solos, thumping bass, pulsing brass, and an atmosphere of a stoned all-night beach party under a persistent cloud of angst and dark Teenagedom. The use of the strange Solovox electric keyboard as a stand-in for the indigenous Gaita flute adds a unique dimension that weaves through the air, and the voices of Pedro Jairo, Benny Marquez and Amparito Muñiz keep the dance up all night and into a rough hangover. Of the countless great Discos Fuentes recording artists from the 60s, LOS GOLDEN BOYS stand out as not only stellar and tasteful musicians, but also incredible songwriters able to construct perfect dance songs from a slew of influences. CUMBIA DE JUVENTUD stands as a tribute to the Garcés brothers and a magical moment in Colombian music history.) 26.00
MAJOR IN BODY BEAR - Topic 2: Relationship LP (specific - Major in Body Bear is an instrumental band from Taiwan formed by four guys who love J-rock, post rock and improvisational playing. They replace human voice with catchy instrument melody lines and intricate arrangements. Besides the emotional and intense performance on stage, they create their unique atmosphere and vibe. Different from previous EP’s first person point of view, in the album Topic 2: Relationship, using second person point of view, Major in Body Bear tried to build connection with the listener by enhancing their music content substantially. The album was nominated for 2019 Golden Indie Music Awards for Best Rock Album. Through a friendship with Hong-Kong’s finest post-rock unit Prune Deer, they are new collaborating with French label Specific Recordings on the vinyl release of this masterpiece.) 20.00
MASERATI - 37:29:24 (Anniversary Edition) LP (temporary - Originally released in a very limited capacity in 2001, Maserati's debut album finally gets reissued on all formats to commemorate the band's 20th anniversary. Remastered from the original master tapes by Josh Bonati, 37:29:24 featured Maserati's original lineup of Coley Dennis, Matt Cherry, Steve Scarborough, and Phil Horan, and includes many of the most placid and medicative moments in Maserati's storied catalog - a darker, more pensive night drive than they would come to be known for on their later albums.) 30.00
ONENESS OF JUJU - Bush Brothers & Space Rangers LP (strut - Two years into their stay on the legendary Black Fire imprint in 1977, James ‘Plunky’ Branch’s Oneness Of Juju were at the height of their dazzling creativity. ‘Bush Brothers & Space Rangers’ featured musicians Tony Green and Brian Jackson, both of whom had previously recorded with the cult hero Gil Scott-Heron. This incredible brew of jazz, P-funk and soul is reissued by The Carvery, with new artwork and an interview with Branch.) 27.00
ORCHESTRE LES VOLCANS DU BENIN - Vol. 1 LP (acid jazz - Originally released in 1980, ‘Vol.1’ from Orchestre Les Volcans Du Benin has been a highly sought-after record from collectors of Afro-Cuban music. Acid Jazz reissue this cult classic record for the first time, which houses four lengthy dancefloor incendiaries, including the wonderful ‘Oya Ka Jojo’.) 28.00
PLOSIVS - s/t LP (swami - He's at it again. You may know Rob Crow from the likes of Pinback, Heavy Vegetable and errr Rob Crow but here he is again alongside drummer Atom Willard (Against Me!, Rocket From The Crypt), Jordan Clark (The Frights) and John Reis (Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu) in a veritable San Diego supergroup. Expect bright and highly melodic punk and power pop. Sounding good on early spins. ) 28.00
REALITY - Disco Party LP (jazzman - At Jazzman have already given legitimate release to albums that fell foul of the notorious '70s 'tax scam' practice, namely those by Sounds of the City Experience and Ricardo Marrero. It now gives us great satisfaction to present Reality's 'Disco Party' album, for the very first time in agreement with the surviving members of the band. Possibly the most obscure of all the obscurities in the TSG catalogue, 'Disco Party' isn't actually 'disco' at all, moreover it's a fully rounded excursion into mid-70s dancefloor funk and proto-disco-jazz, performed by a group of expert musicians at the height of their powers. Recorded in one long session in NYC, until now, bandleader Dr. Otto Gomez and the rest of his crew had never even heard the recordings they'd made almost 50 years ago. Indeed, none of the band even knew that their album had been released! ) 26.00
SARI - A U Se LP (specific - One-sided laser-etched crystal clear vinyl limited to 300 copies and exclusively out on RSD 2022! In the Japanese “female idol” genre, a corner of J-Pop in which groups of young women perform chirpy pop while dancing. Now, there is another corner where the music doesn’t perform the excessively upbeat, synth-driven numbers about friendship and crushes typical of the genre. Sari was part of Necronomidol.) 18.00
SEIKATSU KOJYO LINKAI - Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai LP (aguirre - Ferocious JP / US free jazz bomb. A rare meeting between the NYC free jazz scene and the Japanese free music scene. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & liner notes by Alan Cummings. Following hot on the heels of the first, mid-sixties generation of Japanese free jazz players like Kaoru Abe, Masayuki Takayanagi, Yōsuke Yamashita, Motoharu Yoshizawa, etc., an exciting second wave of younger players began to emerge in the seventies. Two of its leading members were the saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu and multi-instrumentalist Yoriyuki Harada. Both were post-war babies and immigrants to the city, Umezu from Sendai in the north and Harada from Shimane in the west. They first met as students in the clarinet department at the Kunitachi College of Music, a well-known conservatory in western Tokyo. Harada was already securing sideman gigs on bass with professional jazz groups and was active in student politics, making good use of his connections to set up jazz concerts on campus. It was around this time that the two began to play together in an improvised duo, with Umezu on clarinet and bass clarinet and Harada on piano. They also experimented with graphic scores and prepared piano.) 27.00
THE STROPPIES - Levity LP (tough love - The prolonged lockdown endured in Melbourne forced The Stroppies to re-think their fast, off-the-cuff method of creation for their second studio album ‘Levity’. Unlike the lean, crisp jangle-pop of their 2018 debut ‘Whoosh!’, Angus Lord and co. add fuzz, distortion, tape manipulation and key modulation to make a darker, hazier product than before. An alluring sequel to one of the most delightful indie-pop debuts of the 2010s.) 30.00
TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ART - La Grima LP (Aguirre - Famed free jazz concert registration of an early New Direction for the Art performance. Recorded in 1971. Old-style Gatefold LP, with rare photographs & extensive liner notes by Alan Cummings. The performance by Takayanagi Masayuki New Direction for the Art at the Gen’yasai festival on August 14, 1971 was an intense, bruising collision between the radical, anti-establishment politics of the period in Japan and the febrile avant-garde music that had begun to emerge a few years before. The ferocious performance that you can hear here was received with outright hostility by the audience, who responded first with catcalls and later with showers of debris that were hurled at the performers. Takayanagi though described the group’s performance to jazz magazine Swing Journal as a success, “an authentic and realistic depiction of the situation”. In 1962, Takayanagi, bassist Kanai Hideto and painter Kageyama Isamu went on to form an AACM-style musicians’ collective called the New Century Music Research Institute. Every Friday, members gathered at Gin-Paris, a chanson bar in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo, to push the outer limits of jazz creativity. ) 27.00
THOMAS LEER & ROBERT RENTAL - The Bridge LP (Mute - ‘The Bridge’ by pioneering Scottish musicians Robert Rental & Thomas Leer was originally released in 1979 on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records label. It is regarded as having a huge influence on the likes of Propaganda, Art Of Noise and John Foxx. The album is a mix of synth-pop and avant-garde electronic music, evidenced on tracks such as ‘Attack Decay’ and ‘Fade Away’ along with angular post-punk on tracks such as ‘Monochrome Days’. ) 27.00
TOCO - Outro Lugar LP (schema - Edizioni Ishtar and Schema Records proudly celebrate the 15th anniversary of one of their most successful releases and artists (more than 30 million streams and 300 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify) with the first ever vinyl edition of Toco’s Outro Lugar. Produced by S-Tone Inc., this record includes fan-favourite tracks “Outro Lugar”, “Samba Noir ” and most of all “Guarapiranga”, which was chosen for the soundtrack of “Silver Linings Playbook”, a film that awarded Jennifer Lawrence an Academy Award prize as best actress in a leading role in 2013. The strings at the beginning of the title-track have also been sampled by PinkPantheress for her song “Nineteen”, out of her latest album “To Hell With It”.) 25.00
WENDELL HARRISON - An Evening With The Devil LP (now again - Wendell Harrison’s ‘An Evening With The Devil’ recorded for Detroit based Tribe Records in 1972 was the saxophonists debut. This experimental jazz album is features legendary great players Marcus Belgrave and Phil Ranelin as well as poetry by The Black Messengers. Standout track is ‘Where Am I’, a lengthy Spiritual Jazz musical journey. Pieces like ‘Angry Young Men’ and ‘Consciousness’ are quite free and challenging. Left-field.) 33.00
