Bis Aufs Messer weekly news 03 Nov 2024
Hi. Welcome to another newsletter for November. Lots of cool stuff arrived in the last couple days like the BELFI & REIDY – dessus oben alto up LP, JOHN CALE - Paris 1919 DLP re issue, MAN REI - Thread LP, JON COLLIN - The Other Dead Sea LP re issue, NED COLLETTE - Our Other History LP, SOAP & SKIN - Torso DLP, JIM STRONG - My Enemies Are Mine To Keep LP, 46000 FIBRES - Reconstructed LP, GERM LATTICE - Gipping Through the Ages LP, INTERMODULATION - Connections 1970-1974 4xCD BOXSET, OTIS JORDAN - Net of Atoms LP, RICHTER BAND - Smetana LP, BOYS LIFE - Home Is A Highway 4xLP + BOOK BOXSET. JEFF PARKER ETA IVTET - The Way Out of Easy DLP, GASTR DEL SOL - We Have Dozens of Titles 2xCD restock and also a bunch of restocks from MJ LENDERMAN, INDIAN SUMMER, CHELSEA WOLFE, BOY HARSHER, older JEFF PARKER, JOANNA BROUK, SONGS OHIA etc.
We also have another inshore coming up next week - JONATHAN BOCKELMANN plays SAKAMOTO and presents his new record on SQUAMA records - starts around 19°° on NOV 28th … lets get cozy
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
________
7“
PAN DAIJING & WERNER DAFELDECKER - A Page To A Corner 7“ (ideal - **Edition of 200** The unfathomable quantity of Pan Daijing meets Werner Dafeldecker’s mercurial sound art on this surprise, limited edition 7" pressing. Leading on from her heavily arresting Lack album for the PAN label, A Page To A Corner is Daijing's first collaborative release. The title track is a lethargically hypnagogic thing, with Daijing lamenting an unseen force, bound into a mesh of monotone drones and keening strings to ultimately quease-inducing effect. On the B-side, Daughters of The Botanist, Daijing's death croak vocals are placed front and centre of the mix against a more dynamic backdrop of gong-like tones that gradually recede to leave the slithering sound of extended instrumental techniques and brownian electronics.) 13.00
LP
46000 FIBRES - Reconstructed LP ( Original deadstock copies of 46,000 Fibres’ ‘Reconstructed’, an album released on short-lived South London label Dyscfunctional in 1999. 46,000 Fibres are a UK-based improvisational group, formed in 1993 out of a group called Koven-oe, which included Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner). When he left, the remaining trio of Richard Clarke, Tonal Davidson (aka Tonal D) and Leon Maurice-Jones decided to switch from structured material to explore electro-acoustic free improvisation. The idea was not to arrange or talk about the music but to rely on the musical telepathy between them and, without resorting to cliches, create ‘something unique’. The results ranged from ethereal delicacy to hard industrial, space rock, gamelan stylings, radical jazz, dark funk and their forte of sonic soundscapes. The line-up for the group was often fluid, though with a core of Tonal D & Leon Maurice-Jones. Musicians who they’ve collaborated with over the many past years include Nik Turner, Lol Coxhill, Scanner and Ashley Wales. ) 26.00
BELFI & REIDY – dessus oben alto up LP (marionette - Marionette presents 'dessus oben alto up', the first collaborative recording by Andrea Belfi and Jules Reidy. Hailing from different ends of the globe (Australia and Italy) but both longtime residents of Berlin, Reidy and Belfi’s approaches have much in common, bringing together compositional precision and electroacoustic rigour with improvisation freedom, the immediate gratifications of rhythmic pulse, and an overtly lyrical sensibility. Working together during a residency at the sound studio of Berlin’s Callie’s, an arts institution housed in a 19th century machine factory, the pair (with Marco Anulli manning the desk) have conjured up four expansive pieces where the beautifully recorded percussive clarity of Belfi’s drums threads through a sparkling haze of guitars and electronics. Opener ‘dessus’ begins with Reidy’s distinctive just-intoned guitar figures, shimmering over a delicate substratum of Befli’s brushwork and bass drum accents. As in all of Reidy’s recent work, the guitar is twisted out of cliché by the unfamiliar tuning and electronic processing. Hanging almost inaudibly in the background for much of the piece, a rush of synthetic tones surges into the foreground to end it. ‘oben’ is built from kinetic patterns of picked guitar arpeggios, locking into irregular grooves with Belfi’s drums, which move from elegant rolls and cymbal patter to driving closed hi-hats and explosive rock interjections. Around the traditional instruments and across the stereo field, electronic sounds swarm and swirl, fizzing and popping in a sun-drenched soundscape that at points suggests both vintage analogue synth destruction and glitching harmonies. ‘alto’ begins in similar territory but turned up a notch, eventually settling into a propulsive 6/8 groove of shifting drum accents, manically strummed 12 string acoustic, and burbling synth chords.) 25.00
BOYS LIFE - Home Is A Highway 4xLP + BOOK BOXSET (numero - Sleep off your summer with this comprehensive 36-song/4xLP overview of Kansas City's midwest emo pioneers. From 1993-1997 Boys Life defined this anxious strain of heartworn power pop punk, issuing a pair of standard-bearing albums between endless circling of the U.S. DIY circuit. Collected here are their Departures and Landfalls and self-titled albums, singles, split 7"s and 10", live tracks, and rare demo tape, all annotated and illustrated inside a 24-page book.) 84.00
CARMEN VILLAIN - Nutrition LP (smalltown super sound - Carmen Villain's new 3-track EP gives a sense of where she might be heading next on her musical journey. On »Nutrition«, the submerged influence of dub seen in a lot of her earlier work has risen more prominently to the surface. Carmen describes the tracks as »some dub studies born out of my continued fascination with the form. I’m in a period where I just keep going back to experimenting with beats and rhythms.«) 25.00
DEAN & BRITTA & SONIC BOOM – A Peace Of Us LP (carpark - In a season where we all seek comfort, tradition, and a return to a home of sorts, a trio composed of indie music’s foundational members have gifted us A Peace of Us—an album of diverse holiday tunes filtered through their musical imaginations. Dean & Britta, well-known from their work defining a genre with Galaxie 500 and Luna, join Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, another bastion of indie’s collective adolescence, to bring to life a collection that draws from early ‘60s pop, garage, country, James Bond soundtracks, Christmas carols, and electronica. Dean Wareham recalls a sentiment from his DJ friend Chris: “You can experience all the emotions of Christmas through music: love and hate, joy and heartache, nostalgia, regret, anticipation, and frustration.”Their venture into a holiday album was organic, spurred by a few cover tunes over the years, a Christmas special during the pandemic, and finally collaborative sessions between Dean & Britta in L.A. and Sonic Boom in Portugal. The trio all contributed vocals, with guitars by Wareham, bass and keyboards by Phillips, effects, and mixes by Sonic. The result is an album of exploration as well as comfort, “like Bing Crosby...on acid,” Britta adds, the tracklist a reminder that the holidays are complex and tragicomic.) 28.00
GERM LATTICE - Gipping Through the Ages LP (horn of plenty - This Norwich-based trio hit our radar earlier this year when we caught their third live performance in London. Gipping Through the Ages is their debut release. Joe Barton, Mickey Donnelly, and Louie Rice met in London during the 2000’s but it wasn’t until they had relocated to Norwich in recent years that they rented a studio in a condemned brutalist shopping centre and the Germ Lattice sound was formed. They began by agreeing what they didn’t want the project to be: no improvising or jamming, no overdubs, keep the tracks short etc.. Gipping Through the Ages presents the band’s structured, repetitive & linear tracks built around drums, bass, and synth with deliberately abstract vocals, which draw as much from folk traditions and the broader east Anglian landscape as they do from our fragmented modern world. Their novel use of microphones and live tape processing add a dynamism to the music where elements mask each other or the overdriven meters suggest the whole thing is on the brink of collapse.) 30.00
JEFF PARKER ETA IVTET - The Way Out of Easy DLP (international anthem - January 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business. Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music. With that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line of down the block for every show.) 33.00
JIM STRONG - My Enemies Are Mine To Keep LP (horn of plenty - Jim Strong is a US based artist and musician who in recent years has left a trail of enigmatic releases on labels such as Vitrine, More Mars and Chocolate Monk. He will also be familiar to some for his past work with Melkings, Eyes of the Amaryllis, and Weyesblood. Now HoP is pleased to announce Jim’s first solo vinyl outing. My Enemies Are Mine To Keep is Jim’s most clearly defined statement to date. Its sides illustrate his self-sufficient, world-building methods through a mixture of orchestral miniatures and eerie, haptic pop songs fashioned from the artists home-made and invented instruments. The attention to process does not over-shadow Jim’s commitment to making deeply affecting, human work. With his unique mechanical orchestra wheezing behind him, Jim’s heartfelt vocals (plus a duet with long-time collaborator, Natalie Mering / Weyesblood) guide listeners through themes of futurity and isolation observing, among other things; the macrocosms of a break up; the discovery of a dead body in a sleepy beach town; and an angel measuring the shape of God.) 28.00
JOHN CALE - Paris 1919 (Deluxe 2LP+MP3 Edition) DLP (domino - Deluxe 2LP repress: 140G black 2LP including printed inner sleeves, 4-page essay insert, 2-page lyric sheet and download card. Originally released in 1973, "Paris 1919" was Cale's 4th solo album after leaving the Velvet Underground. Hyper-literary numbers filled with political intrigue and shady characters, loosely based on the Versailles Conference, to which the album title also alludes. Recorded with the help of Lowell George and Richie Hayward of southern rockers Little Feat and the UCLA Symphony Orchestra.) 42.00
JON COLLIN - The Other Dead Sea LP (early music - Colour risograph-printed paste-on cover on reverse-board white sleeves with handwritten titles, with black-and-white insert 2022 Jon Collin's LP release on Laboratorio Palestro. Repressed this year on Early Music. Typically transportative new Jon Collin LP, recorded in Stockholm a few years ago. The JC vaults appear close to endless at this point - how much music is that in the past ten years or so now? - and more impressive still the quality of output, always rotating around similar themes and interests but somehow finding new intriguing modes of expression to draw you back in. The Other Dead Sea in part recalls the performances Collin delivered at our fifth birthday events last year, a compelling hybridisation of wordless Celtic folk song, fervoured blues and hypnotic drones that seems almost rapturous at times. Jon Collin as religious experience? Probably a bit OTT that, but since I'm no praying man I'll settle for the version of the eternal and the divine existent in 'The Lowering's' 19 minute medley (a medley! Just how infinite is the full thing?!) and the stately arcs of 'The Honour and Glory of Whaling' and hope that guarantees absolution. Amidst such uncertainty, Jon Collin proves himself a sure thing.) 27.00
MAN REI - Thread LP (somewhere press — Edition of 300 copies, incl. two-sided lyric sheet Manifesting a soporific vision of classic dreampop, Man Rei lands on Glasgow’s Somewhere Press with one of the years most memorably hushed albums; unfolding through an hour of quietly soaring songs that split the difference between Enya, Seefeel and Grouper. Kristin Reiman, aka Man Rei, elevates and expands the choral tradition of their Baltic homeland with the smudged drift of this quietly epic new album. A moody, dimly lit summoning of ambient music touched by the enduring influence of classic dreampop, it’s a record full of pared-down arrangements and luxurious instrumentation, elevated by goosebump inducing vocals that make the thing so memorable. The soothing pulse of Kranky's early years (think Labradford or even Windy & Carl) moves with tranquil momentum, playing faded lower-register riffs to accent a pervasive longing in the lyrics. On 'Edge knot city', the influence of Harold Budd and the Cocteau Twins' hangs in the air as Reiman marries muted electric piano with pastoral field recordings. That voice, blurred at the edges to enhance its ambiguity, cuts through the clouds like a knife, inserting a melancholy earworm into wafting ambiance. Even the lengthy 'Intermission', a wordless piece, maintains a masterful balance between emotional weight and atmospheric vapour. On 'Witless', they bury the fragments of a love song beneath synth distortions, turning pebbly, slapbacked claps into a rickety rhythm on 'The thread', cooing over piano phrases that vanish into the aether until that voice takes over completely. It's gorgeous, restless and confident material that immediately sinks itself deep into the psyche - its familiarity is almost a smokescreen; the closer you listen, the stranger and more beautiful Man Rei’s world becomes.) 30.00
MICHAEL RANTA, TAKEHISA KOSUGI - Multiple Musics LP (metaphon - Previously unreleased live recording from the Ranta archives. The creative duo of Michael Ranta and Takehisa Kosugi performed many times in the 1970’s and 1980’s. On this outstanding performance, recorded at the Japanese Culture Institute in Cologne in 1987, the application of an advanced multi delay system, independently utilized by both players, plays a central role. The smartly treated cyclic tapestry of the delay system (modulated, transformed, harmonized) injects additional dimensions to the highly coordinated improvisation with voice, percussion, violin and electronics, creating interactive ›composition-like‹ textures being »Multiple Musics«.) 28.00
MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS - This Year in Coconuts Vol. 2 LP (Pacific City Discs - Exquisitely compiled by Discrepant head honcho Gonçalo F. Cardoso from three tapes released earlier this year by the tireless mind-body of Spencer Clark through his own Pacific City Sound Visions, 'This Year In Coconuts Vol. 2' is another revelation into the deeply personal sound world of this true voyager of both ancient, present and forthcoming times. Coming from a truly singular artist, capable of conveying multiple visions into a labyrinthine-esque mythology all ofhis own, these seven tracks feel as much part of their original setting as connected pieces from this never ending and puzzling netherworld. Dedicated to the Temple of Isis in Pompei and opening sides A and B, the two tracks from 'Tempio d'Iside' set up a scenario not far from a dream version of the Temple itself, made from crystal clear synth-lines and levitating ambiences, like drifting into ancient memories from days to come. Making up about half of the compilation, the four tracks from 'Kowloon Spider Temple' drip into a feverish mosaic of Clark's by now trademarked cascading rhythms, unhinged alien-vocal samples, phantasmic textures and sparkling synth harmonies projecting a catchy hypnotic oblivion filled with intrigue. The sole title track from 'From the Caves and Jungles of Apulia' tangentially reports back to some lower-fi recordings of the past, with its murkier sound inducing the feeling of willing confinement within such caves and jungles. A brilliant Year in Coconuts, indeed.) 26.00
MYRIAM GENDRON - Not So Deep As A Well LP (basin - back in stock - 180g vinyl, printer inner sleeve Equal parts soft and sorrowful, Myriam Gendron’s stunning Not So Deep As A Well LP became something of a sleeper hit upon its initial release back in 2014. Her debut album shone a warm lamp-light glow upon a curious and captivating new voice in the Quebecois folk world. Nearly ten years on from its release in her native Canada and America, Not So Deep As A Well gets a European release for the first time, with a new pressing on the Basin Rock label (Julie Byrne, Aoife Nessa Frances, Trevor Beales, Juni Habel) which features two tracks not included on the original release - ‘Bric-à-brac’ and ‘The Small Hours’ - both written and recorded in the early days of 2014.) 27.00
NED COLLETTE - Our Other History LP (sophomore - “Our Other History is a wonderful new LP by this wandering Berlin-based Melbourne expat. Ned's last album, Afternoon Dusk was an avant instrumental trio outing with James Rushford and Joe Talia, but Our Other History is a return to the delicate, sophisticated song craft of his 2018 masterpiece, Old Chestnut. Ned's approach to lyrics, vocals and music shares a melancholic beauty that is both haunted and haunting. His words are often more impressionistic than overt in their storytelling, but his vocals carry hints that recall those of the legendary Roy Harper. But where Harper's attack was often Dionysian, Collette's approach is Apollonian, and the tracks often have a compositional feel with a distinct taste of Canterbury. The players this time include old hands, like drummer Steve Heather and pianist Chris Abrahams (of The Necks), but there are a bunch of new players on hand, including Melbourne mates Jim White and Mick Turner (of Dirty Three fame) and the folksinger Leah Senior. All these elements (and more) are fitted together with elegance and allowed space to breathe.) 28.00
NICHOLAS BUSSMANN & WERNER DAFELDECKER - Monte Carlo Fallacy LP (In the lockdown of early 2020, Berlin fell silent. As reflects Nicholas Bussmann, “it felt like the early 90s in East Berlin”, the place where he grew up and experienced social change and uncertainty, and presumably a lot of empty, silent space. Here, on this duo with his long-term accomplice Werner Dafeldecker, we hear the sound of two instrumental practitioners as they explore the nature of their respective instruments with a paced and thoughtful guidance, with little intervention or overt demonstration of virtuosity. What we witness is more a kind of study into sonority, allowing the instrument to be, listening with caution to every scrape and tap, much in the spirit of Pablo Casals, who notoriously instructed his students to “put air around their instrument”.) 25.00
OTIS JORDAN - Net of Atoms LP (Them There - Net of Atoms is a new album from Otis Jordan, drawing closely from the previous two albums for Them There - Dodger Point (2020) and Restless Guests (2022) - Jordan delivers his most ambitious and well articulated full length work to date, perfectly rounding off a trio of releases for the label. 2The Glasgow based band leader has remained active since his last outing for Them There with contributions to the ongoing research project Folklore Tapes’ most recent V/A compilations and a split tape for the nascent ‘Ceremonial County’ series on the label. Most notably and surprising perhaps was his recent collaboration with Sam Mcloughlin’s Hood Faire imprint ‘Early Experiments in Recording Vol 1 (1976 - 2021)’ - a compilation which Jordan curated that unearthed early recordings from a slew of experimental heads and many now renowned in their field musicians.) 28.00
POLWECHSEL - Untitled (N°7) LP (GOD - After more then 20 years on the Viennese music map, Polwechsel could be easily considered as legendary, no matter of which constellation of the band the word is. Currently consisting of Werner Dafeldecker (Double-Bass), Michael Moser (Cello), Martin Brandlmayr and Burkhard Beins (Percussion), hey always explored the borders between structured compositions and their improvisational aspects. Hectic nature of their recent pieces, amplified through overall brilliant dynamic range, shows further step in their explorations. Regarding the way they treat string instruments in combination with percussions, combined with almost aggressive musicianship and occasional droning, this could be their most cracking, but also most consistent work to date.) 22.00
RICHTER BAND - Smetana LP (infinite expanse - Returning to the Czech Republic with a reissue of Richter Band’s first album, Smetana (Czech for ‘Cream’), released originally in 1990. Pavel Richter gained a considerable reputation as a guitarist, playing in a number of Czech avant-garde rock groups, including Švehlík, Marno Union and Elektrobus, and became one of foremost figures of the Prague scene which opposed the socialist regime of the 70’s and 80’s. Towards the mid 80’s, he began to focus on calm music and subtle sound structures, playing a number of gigs channelling this energy wtih Oldřich Janota and Luboš Fidler, and eventually forming a new group alongside Štěpán Pečírka and Jaroslav Kořán. Smetana is one of the highlights of that creative period, characterised by a fusion of Richter’s gentle electric guitar alongside the fidlerophone, a unique percussive instrument, invented by Fidler, made of jars and struck by plastic strainers, and whose sound is similar in character to Tibetan bowls or Gamelan.) 28.00
ROLF GEHLHAAR - Wege / Ways LP (Metaphone - Rolf Gehlhaar (1943-2019) was an instrumental and electronic music composer, and a pioneer in computer controlled interactive music. He grew up in the US where he studied philosophy and composition at Yale University. In 1967 he moved back to Germany to become Stockhausen’s personal assistant and member of his performing ensemble. In 1969 Gehlhaar co-founded, along with Johannes Fritsch (Metaphon 012) and David Johnson, the Feedback Studios in Cologne, a new-music performance center and publishing house. He later moved to England, where he became in 1979 a founding member of the Electro-Acoustic Music Association and later on senior lecturer in design and digital media. Gehlhaar's compositions include symphonies, instrumental works, experimental and electronic music, interactive computer controlled music and everything in between. The three previously unreleased tracks on this LP only show a glimpse of the versatility of his adventurous and innovative musical ideas.) 28.00
SIMON JOYNER - Coyote Butterfly LP (grapefruit - Coyote Butterfly is the first album of new songs in two years from singer-songwriter, Simon Joyner, following the overdose death of his son, Owen, in August of 2022. Drawing on the kaleidoscopic nature of grief, Joyner explores his loss through a series of imagined dialogues and raw confessions. The album is a tribute to Owen, but what Joyner generously delivers is an intimate glimpse at his attempt to comprehend the incomprehensible. The album is bookended by field recordings overlaid with minimalist guitar laments. The first, a spring thrum of sparrows and red-winged blackbirds, functions as an invitation to the elegies which follow, while the last, the late-August drone of cicadas returns us to a life of sweat on the skin, sirens in the distance, and the things we cannot change but must somehow accept. In between these instrumentals, Joyner grapples with regret and fear, shame and love. From the opening song, “I’m Taking You With Me” to the gut-wrenching remorse of “My Lament,” Joyner lays bare the struggles of those left in the wake of personal devastation. On the title track, we hear Joyner perform an elemental incantation, a heartbroken ode infused with forgiveness. The final song of the album, “There Will be a Time,” is a meditation on a future where such suffering, both personal and universal, might be softened by understanding.) 28.00
SOAP & SKIN - Torso DLP (With 'TORSO', Soap&Skin is releasing its fourth studio and first pure cover album. Anja Plaschg alias Soap&Skin has always had a special talent for reinterpreting songs with a very unique approach. When the Danube Festival invited her in 2022 to perform all the cover pieces she had created over the years in one evening, she came up with the idea of a permanent collection - which is now being released as the album ‚TORSO'. Covers could also be heard on the previous albums 'Narrow' (2012) and 'From Gas to Solid / You Are My Friend' (2018) without being immediately recognized as such. Simply because "it feels good to escape from myself," says Plaschg. She likes covers - quite literally as camouflage and hiding place. She first recorded the radio hit 'Voyage, Voyage', originally by Desireless, in 2011 for the soundtrack to Sebastian Meise's film 'Stillleben'. Since then it has been part of her live repertoire and has grown with her over the years. It finds its place on 'TORSO' as a Lifetime version. Her biggest hit to date, 'Me and the Devil', which has reached an audience of millions thanks to several viral social media moments, is also a cover.) 33.00
TOLOUSE LOW TRAX – Fung Day LP (TAL - Edition of 500 copies, incl. printed inner sleeve - Highly regarded as a former resident at Salon Des Amateurs at his native Düsseldorf, Tolouse Low Trax/Detlef Weinrich has carved one of the most distinctive sounds in contemporary leftfield club music thanks to his deeply unusual grooves and hypnotic arrangements over the past 15 years as a solo artist. Fung Day is his first album with entirely new material since Leave me alone which was released through Bureau B in 2022. Fung Day was written and recorded over the course of two years, slowly mutating and progressing from one state to another. Mixed, produced and finally mastered in Paris, his new domicile by choice.) 30.00
VOM JEGLICHEM WORT - hier wirfst du aus deiner brust eine neue erde in den raum LP (LTD TO 100 - von jeglichem wort has been roaming the obscure frontiers of various ambient and black metal styles since 2020 and is now presenting its official full-length album debut: “hier wirfst du aus deiner brust eine neue erde in den raum” sees the artist creating soundscapes that elude every common categorization. The instrumental approach applied by vjw already sets it apart from the vast majority of ambient electronics acts from the laptop assembly line: the foundation for all sounds is generated by analog means. Guitars calibrated with early 90s black metal always build the bedrock for all recording tracks, which are then stretched, inverted, pitched or distorted through various creative alienation processes until the impressive resulting walls of sound barely give away their source. Complemented by the ominous conceptual framework, the album creates a prophetic soundtrack for the imminent escalations of our time, leading you through four pieces towards the most abysmal corners of human emotions. The album manages to offer a truly original mix of ambient and drone, nostalgia and black metal spirit, melody and noise, with a haunting, raw production. Recommended for anyone who’s into challenging, dark and atmospheric ambient music and looking for new forms of expression and sound design instead of cyclical affirmation of well-trodden paths.) 25.00
V/A - Peace Chant Vol.5 LP (tramp - The Peace Chant series is a temple, a reliquary of sacred, harmonious statements by enlightened artists of all times. With "Peace Chant, Raw Deep & Spiritual Jazz Vol. 5 & 6, 1966-2018," deeper, darker, and even more remote chambers of this already sublime temple are brought to light. Some treasures included on Vol.5 are a German gospel/modal jazz hybrid full of flutes and vibes, the Indian jazz/rock fusion ensemble Jazz Yatra Sextettes led by Louis Banks (aka Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi) who worked with Embryo and John Maclaughlin, and the Ron Wilson Trio's meditation on the beauty and rhythm of "Zimbabwe" in 3/4 time.) 30.00
V/A - Peace Chant Vol.6 LP (tramp - The Peace Chant series is a temple, a reliquary of sacred, harmonic statements by enlightened artists of all times. With "Peace Chant, Raw Deep & Spiritual Jazz Vol. 5 & 6, 1966-2018" deeper, darker and even more remote chambers of this already sublime temple are brought to light. Vol.6 impresses with a Fender Rhodes-like microtonal fusion called "Cataracts" by Musica Orbis, a 5/4 dreamscape conjured by the Fredric Rabold Crew called "Januschka" and a very interesting and probably previously unheard version of a tune, "A Night In Tunisia", with rich vocals and scatting.) 30.00
WARM CURRENCY - Petals LP (horn of plenty - Warm Currency—the duo of Australian artists/musicians MP Hopkins and Mary MacDougall—return for their third release on Horn Of Plenty, following up Returns (2022) and Live at the Petersham Bowling Club (2023). On Petals, the pair’s haunting folk music comes into sharper focus while broadening their sonic palette. Spoken word meets chanted incantations, gently fingerpicked acoustic guitar is placed alongside spindly piano melodies, the creak of floorboards in the background mirrors the creak of fingerprints dragged across guitar strings. Woven throughout are bursts of tape-recorded radio static that reveal hardly distinguishable voices while MacDougall sings of equally fleeting phenomena. Winds, breezes, and mists rattle through houses and crumbling cityscapes throughout, with objects in a constant state of flux: growing, burning, drying, rotting, or unfurling. Such cryptic suggestions and surreal imagery evade easy parsing but like a poignant dream linger with the listener. -Mitch L.l Ryan) 30.00
WERNER DAFELDECKER - Parallel Darks LP (room40 - What are the bounded limits of sense?How is it we come to know the world and moreover how is it that we share that experience collectively? Where are the points of mutual understanding and how can we approach the spectral aspects of our sensing of the world? It’s these questions that have shaped the approaches used by Werner Dafeldecker on his first fully fledged electro-acoustic outing. Parallel Darks charts out a divergent, yet relational sound field that reflects an intensity of practice that Dafeldecker has cultivated over the better part of three decades.) 22.00
TAPE
JON COLLIN - Peugeot 205 TAPE (For the second time, Jon Collin recorded music on base of a photographic zine by Maximilian Rossner. This time the photographs of RALLYE are capturing spurs and traces on and by vehicles — acting as sort of metaphors for a happening in- and outside of awareness. It also might have become a reminiscence to an old Peugeot 205, where Jon listened to a lot of tapes in in the late 90s/early 00s and therefore recorded everything to tape because he wanted it to sound like a car stereo…enjoy, obrigada, Cosima) 13.00
CD
GASTR DEL SOL - We Have Dozens of Titles 2xCD (drag city - Nearly twenty-five years after disbanding, Gastr del Sol have unpacked their archive, stringing together an alternative view to their genre-melting 1993-1998 run. This assembly of previously uncollected studio recordings and beautifully captured unreleased live performances forms a spacious ode to the flux that was their métier; a further set of reinventions that continue to alter the manner in which we hear music, and literally everything else! ) 36.00
INTERMODULATION - Connections 1970-1974 4xCD BOXSET (Formed in Cambridge in 1969 by Tim Souster and Roger Smalley, Intermodulation started out as a 4 piece group with the addition of Robin Thompson and Andrew Powell (who soon moved on to other Cambridge projects, including a preChris Cutler Henry Cow). Powell was replaced by Peter Britton, and this incarnation of the group remained for the duration of their existence. Having releasing a box set of works by Gentle Fire it felt necessary to do the same with Intermodulation and thus complete the other half of this missing chapter in British experimental music. Intermodulation have a quite different line up to Gentle Fire, most notably with Peter’s percussion, Robin on bassoon and soprano sax, and the shared use of VCS3’s and electric keyboards. Nonetheless both groups covered similar ground, appeared at the same European festivals, travelled together with Stockhausen to Iran, and they were generally concerned with a similar repertoire of experimental scores. Although Intermodulation released no records during their existence (and Gentle Fire only the one LP), both groups did appear side by side on the recording of Stockhausen’s Sternklang.) 45.00
JEFF PARKER ETA IVTET - The Way Out of Easy CD (international anthem - January 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business. Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music. With that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line of down the block for every show.) 20.00
DVD
FLO OPITZ - Capital B – Wem gehört Berlin? 2xDVD (THE DVD also incl. the soundtrack by VON SPAR and English Subtitles The 5-part high-end documentary series Capital B. Who owns Berlin? tells in an exciting and entertaining way how Berlin became what it is after the fall of the Wall, taking many detours. A hip global metropolis that has attracted artists, freedom-lovers and partying youth from all over the world for three decades. But the path to this was by no means predetermined. And Capital B tells of how the citizens of Berlin have fought back since then: against the sell-out of their city, their displacement and against Berlin suffering the same fate as London, New York and Paris before it: becoming a boring habitat for the rich and investors. In the 5 episodes we experience greed, corruption, the emergence of various youth and subcultures in the 90s and 00s, house-to-house fighting, crime, and the rise and fall of greedy politicians. Capital B tells this story in a special way: from multiple perspectives, from the point of view of those who shaped the city: politicians, artists, entrepreneurs, squatters, club operators and clan members. Capital B is not the umpteenth true crime series, but an unprecedented urban sociology in the form of an exciting, entertaining and highly topical documentary series. New in its style, sociopolitically relevant and excitingly told. Like Netflix, but on public television. Or to put it immodestly: a mixture of House of Cards and The Wire, only in real life, as a documentary series.
) 30.00
