Bis Aufs Messer weekly news - March 2021
hi. Welcome to another newsletter packed up with lots of great releases. We also finally got the PHIL ELVRUM - Microphones in 2020 silent version BOOK. Almost all pre orders shipped and we got a few more in stock. It turned out beautiful and was definitely worth the wait. Along with this we got
lots of MOUNT EERIE restocks, DISQUIET - s/t LP, ASHLEY BELLOUIN & BEN BRACKEN - String Songs LP, CLAN OF XYMOX - Peel Sessions LP, OF FEATHER AND BONE - Sulfuric Disintegration LP, CLOUD NOTHINGS - The Shadow I Remember LP, a couple EARACHE restocks (carcass, at the gates, morbid angel, CULT OF LUNA .. ), TURNING POINT - Demo TAPE, some TOCOTRONIC restocks, CHAD VANGAALEN - World's Most Stressed Out Gardener LP (col. vinyl), PIERCE WITH ARROW - Shatter LP, DEAD MOON restocks, some new MISSISSIPPI titles, FLETCHER TUCKER - cold spring LP restock, MAMIFFER - Mettapatterning for Constellation LP, LUNGFISH - love is love LP, BOOTBLACKS - Thin Skies LP , GRACE FERGUSON - Voler LP, NIEL LYHNE LOKKEGAARD - Saturations LP, ERIK WOLLO - Silver Beach DLP, also restock of the latest NOTWIST LP arrived again and much more
Thank you for your support in those difficult times
Norman & Robert
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
7“
THE BRISTLES / KRIMTÄNK - split 7“ (THE BRISTLES are legendary to those that know their raw Swedish punk and hardcore, and KRIMTÄNK, whilst slightly less well known, hold their own on this E.P., taking their cues from classic MOB47 records and cranking up the intensity even further, leaving you totally breathless at the end of their side. The classic Swedish/Finnish råpunk sound along a touch of Italian insane thrash punk. If you're into Swedish hardcore this is an essential release!) 6.00
KRIMTÄNK - Ditt Fel EP 7“ (13 songs of fast and furious råpunk crammed on one EP. Latest EP from this long-running Swedish band. I’ve seen their EPs kicking around over the years (in fact, I’m sure we’ve had used copies come through Sorry State), but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Krimtänk before. The sound is a guitarist and bassist banging out simple riffs with little to no sense of melody while another guys yells and the drummer plays as fast as they can. In other words, it’s punk! There are 13 tracks crammed onto this 45rpm EP, so everything is short and to the point. The shortness of the songs and how blisteringly fast everything is makes me think of the Swedish band Pusrad that had a string of great records a few years ago, but this is wilder-sounding, like the fastest and blurriest moments of Mob 47. Raging!) 6.00
LP
ASHLEY BELLOUIN & BEN BRACKEN - String Songs LP (Built around exploring a set of hand-built stringed instruments, this album has been more than 7 years in the making. - Album notes by Sarah Davachi: "I've been privileged to know Ashley Bellouin and Ben Bracken for over a decade now, both as close friends and as musical collaborators, especially during my time at Mills College with Ashley when we were practically inseparable. In August of 2012, Tashi Wada and I accompanied them on harmonium in their debut performance with the intricate hand-built stringed instruments you hear throughout String Songs, up in the Marin Headlands overlooking the Pacific ocean. That was one of numerous shared musical experiences – the first public performance I ever gave was in a duo piece for pipe organ and a microtonal glass harmonica that Ashley hand-built while at Mills, which is featured heavily on her beautiful 2016 album, Ballads. What inspired me as a collaborator back then, and what continues to move me as a listener and admirer of their output as a duo now, is the incredible care and consideration that they bring to their work and the passion that they share for sound as an intimate and experiential practice. I'm keenly aware of this not just when I encounter an entire piece or performance of theirs, but also in every recorded detail and at every moment of the sound as it develops. What I hear in this music is a truly affective process of listening and suspension, and that is a lesson that I've learned from watching them work that has always stuck with me. I can't think of many other musicians who strike such a balance between intention, as in designing and building their own instruments so as to engender a specific harmonic perspective, and experimentation, which you hear in the three vastly different landscapes of String Songs. For me, the side-long "Strung Strings" in particular is an absolutely astounding moment, and takes me straight back to the almost inarticulable but deeply transformative headspace that I have always associated with their music. Though they vary in texture, there is a complementary and more delicate complexity in "Sung Strings" and "Strummed Strings", all of which are once again recorded and presented here with a precise consideration for the psychoacoustic environments they've aimed to create for the listener.“) 25.00
BOOTBLACKS - Thin Skies LP (Thin Skies, Bootblacks' first album for Artoffact Records, zooms forward where Fragments left off. The nine songs combine a driving, dancefloor pulse with soulful, melodic post-punk, yielding results that are positively anthemic. Produced by Jason Corbett of Artoffact labelmates ACTORS, Thin Skies evokes scenes of dark days and reckless nights in the urban jungle – a marriage of post-punk emotion and clubland sweat. Frontman Panther Almqvist's brooding voice captivates as it veers from detached cool to deep vulnerability. Guitarist Alli Gorman's hard jangle "channels the trademark delay techniques of [U2's] The Edge," in the words of Post-Punk. Keyboardist Barrett Hiatt's arpeggiated synths are the life force pushing the songs relentlessly forward, as Larry Gorman bashes a mix of acoustic and electronic drums with power and perfection. Backing vocals come courtesy of Shannon Hemmett (ACTORS) and Kennedy Ashlyn (SRSQ, Them Are Us Too). ) 22.00
CHAD VANGAALEN - World's Most Stressed Out Gardener LP (sub pop - 2020 was a terrible year for gardening. It was terrible for peppers, it was terrible for tomatoes, it was terrible for the condition of the soul. But Chad VanGaalen somehow raised a garden all the same: carrots and sprouts and broccoli and a revivifying new album, all of them grown at home. He likes to eat directly off the plant, he says—"I get down on my knees and graze. It's nice to feel the vegetables in your face"—and the 13 songs on World's Most Stressed Out Gardener were harvested with just such a spirit: in their raw state, young and vegetal, at the very moment, they were made. What that means is that the Calgary songwriter's new album is a psychedelic bumper crop. A collection of tunes that does away with obsessiveness, the anxiety of perfectionism, in favor of freshness and immediacy — capturing the world as it was met while recording alone at home over a period of years. "Don't overthink it," VanGaalen told himself again and again, despite the push/pull love/hate of his relationship with songwriting. "I'm always trying to get outside of the song—but then I realize I love the song." ) 23.00
CLAN OF XYMOX - Peel Sessions LP (dark entries - Dark Entries reunites with longtime idols Xymox, also known as Clan of Xymox, to reissue their Peel Sessions. Xymox was founded in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1983 by Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert, who were joined shortly by Frank Weyzig and Pieter Nooten. Melding the synthesizer-driven experiments of post-punk and New Wave with the doom-laden atmospherics of the burgeoning goth rock scene, Xymox were one of the key progenitors of dark wave. The success of their 1983 debut EP, Subsequent Pleasures (reissued by Dark Entries in 2014) paved the way for a string of epochal releases on 4AD, where they honed their lush, despairing sound. Following their 1985 debut LP, Clan of Xymox, DJ and tastemaker John Peel invited them to BBC studios to record for his Radio 1 show. These recordings were released in 2001 via the Strange Fruit label on CD and are now available here for the first time on vinyl.) 24.00
CLOUD NOTHINGS - The Shadow I Remember LP (cartparl - For a band that resists repeating itself, picking up lessons from a decade prior is the strange route Cloud Nothings took to create their most fully-realized album. Their new record, The Shadow I Remember, marks eleven years of touring, a return to early songwriting practices, and revisiting the studio where they first recorded together. In a way not previously captured, this album expertly combines the group’s pummeling, aggressive approach with singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi’s extraordinary talent for perfect pop. To document this newly realized maturity, the group returned to producer Steve Albini and his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago, where the band famously destroyed its initial reputation as a bedroom solo project with the release of 2012 album Attack on Memory. Another throwback was Baldi’s return to constant songwriting à la the early solo days, which led to the nearly 30 demos that became the 11 songs on The Shadow I Remember. Instead of sticking to a tired-but-true formula, his songwriting stretched out while digging deeper into his melodic talents. “I felt like I was locked in a character,” Baldi says of becoming a reliable supplier of heavy, hook-filled rock songs. “I felt like I was playing a role and not myself. I really didn’t like that role.” More frequent writing led to the freedom in form heard on The Shadow I Remember. What he can’t do alone is get loud and play noisily, which is exactly what happened when the entire band— bassist TJ Duke, guitarist Chris Brown, and drummer Jayson Gerycz—convened. ) 24.00
CLOUD NOTHINGS - Turning On LP (10th Anniversary Edition) (carpark - It’s been 10 years since the release of Turning On, Cloud Nothings’ debut album. Singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi was just 18 years old when he began recording the album, creating each track in his parents’ basement in Cleveland, Ohio. Over one winter, Baldi produced an album of taut, lo-fi guitar-pop songs, playing each instrument himself. His music gained traction in the increasingly popular music blog circuit, allowing Baldi to book his first shows in new places, like New York City. He gathered a band together to play live, and Cloud Nothings were on their way. The band has accomplished a great deal since Turning On, signing to Carpark Records, releasing seven albums, and headlining numerous international tours. Yet, their debut isn’t dusted over in the band’s history. Turning On still remains the stripped-back core of Cloud Nothings style: raw and grungy, filled with catchy earworms that are surprisingly pop. The album carries all the stored potential of someone ready to venture off into the world, a feeling that bursts with energy even 10 years later. All the tracks on Turning On are eruptive and restless, its lo-fi quality embodying the desperate need to record an idea by any means necessary. Songs like “Hey Cool Kid” encapsulate Baldi’s talent for churning, hook-filled guitar. The vocals on songs like “Can’t Stay Awake” are distorted, with scattered lyrics that echo the angst of a teenage diary. As a whole, the album delivers dissonance and edge, without sacrificing the authentic romanticism of someone who is on the verge of something big and doesn’t know it yet. ) 24.00
CULT OF LUNA - Cult Of Luna DLP (earache - The band was formed in 1998 by Klas Rydberg and Johannes Persson after the Swedish hardcore band Eclipse broke up. Cult of Luna's sound has progressed from early material being heavily doom metal influenced to one much less aggressive and more concerned with orchestration. Fans and critics have termed this sound post-metal. This is their debut!) 27.00
CULT OF LUNA - Eternal Kingdom DLP (earache - At long last, Cult Of Luna's 5th album, "Eternal Kingdom", is available on vinyl once more! The first pressing of this album sold out on pre-order way back when the album was released in 2008, and has never been reprinted until now.) 27.00
THE DAN RYAN - Guidance LP (On The Dan Ryan’s second release with Cosmic Dreamer, Guidance presents a more directed approach to discovering frontman Nathan Dixey’s inner dimensions as a musician and his desire to allow the music to transcend the physical realities of mundane existence. Raised in the rushing winds of Chicago and settling in the sun soaked hills of Texas, the Austin based band have taken their river of hypnotic dreams and run it over the rounded pebbles of rippling waters, softening and refining their sound. By enlisting the gentle, steady and solid vibes of label mates RF Shannon to hold down the line as the backing band, this release shows Dixey and company capitalizing on the textural orchestration discovered on the debut to design an articulately crafted landscape from which one can journey into the artist’s more metaphysical musical inquiries. “Unlike the first LP, I wanted to focus on writing more complete songs instead of grooves. Some of the grooves are still present, but having more of a narrative within the structure was important for me. Like the first record, accepting change is at the core of Guidance, whether that change be within society, oneself, or witnessing a transformation in a loved one or a relationship. I was listening to a lot of Damien Jurado/Richard Swift records while writing and recording this one, so it was especially wonderful to have Swift, a master of sonic texture (and song-craft in general), to add his touch on the songs.“With a deep reverence for all things Grateful Dead, The Dan Ryan aren't afraid to allow their songs to open and evolve in their own time while also holding on to the folk tradition of Texas natives like Townes Van Zandt, whose picking style and strong narratives sits as the base coat to each of these 9 beautifully painted tracks. Recorded in Austin by engineer and musician Lucas Oswald and mixed at National Freedom by Richard Swift, The Dan Ryan continue to create with an arsenal of auditory color. With more breathing room in Dixey’s vocal performances, one is not just taken to the green pastures of magical euphoria but given the opportunity to feel the blades of grass underfoot and taste the orchestrated air.) 23.00
DAVID CHESWORTH - Industry & Leisure LP (burka for - Originally released in 1983 as a cassette and an EP containing three tracks - The Search,I Just Thought, and Schoolbooks Decide on Innocent Records. This is a remastered version of the cassette including an unreleased track. Electronic Post Punk and Synth Pop, waves travelling in circles, spiralling around solid blocks of underground experimental rhythms. A proper treasure in the hidden realm of eighties experimentation. These songs demonstrate some of the most brilliant occult songlines in musical innovation of their time. They have the marks of domestic pieces of art where you can hear the anxious tension between the mechanical production of goods and the need to consume pleasure in your free time; just as unsatisfying, just as devoid of essence. Around this dialectic, we hear the result of home made repetitive music as a reflection on consumer existence. Not conceptual but very much thought out, the success of these tunes is both their initial idea and the end product. We can hear a solitary room of composition and an exhibition in an art gallery interacting with bodies. The imaginative sound design and very catchy composition make this one of the most memorable entries in the fertile and innovative musical canon of its time.)25.00
DISQUIET - s/t LP (trost - Disquiet is a special quartet that came together on the stage of the Konfrontationen festival in 2018. Initially formed and lead by Austrian electronic musician Christof Kurzmann, the project is reflecting the difficult political situation of the refugee movements to Europe – and how politicians deal with it in a selfish and unhumanitarian way. Christof Kurzmann, Sofia Jernberg, Martin Brandlmayr (Radian) and Joe Williamson reinterpret and process in quiet waves of emotions and thoughtful lyrics - concentrated music between serenity and sheer beauty, esp when Kurzmann and Jernberg sing a duet with Joe McPhees lyrics.) 23.00
ERIK WOLLO - Silver Beach DLP (Erik Wøllo is a unique Norwegian musician that has been active since 1980, covering a wide range of styles but mostly known for his very personal take on electronic ambient music. In Silver Beach, gentle rhythms hold center for lush beautiful melodies to unfold, manifesting a restrained elegance in the way the chords hover around this percolating heartbeat. The result is synthetic walkabout music, an album of simple yet vibrant sophistication, perfect for wandering around or sitting contemplating imaginary beautiful vistas with eyes closed. These seventeen stunning tracks create a sense of ceaseless motion without arrival, the pleasure of traveling without destination: walking on an outer limits beach. An early electronic music masterpiece, it was made using the latest MIDI technology at that time. Everything was composed and recorded on the now vintage Roland MSQ700, and all the diverse synths and rack modules were mixed directly down to 2 track analog tape (no multitrack tape was used). ) 28.00
ELEPHANT9 - Arrival Of The New Elders LP (rune grammofon - Ståle Storlokken - Rhodes piano, Hammond organ, grand piano, Eminent 310, Mellotron, Continuum Nikolai Hængsle - Electric bass, electric and acoustic guitars Torstein Lofthus - Drums, percussion. After a solid run of five studio albums and 2019's two double live albums, Psychedelic Backfire I and II, Elephant9 had taken their groovy mix of high energy rock and power jazz as far as they could. In this respect Arrival Of The New Elders comes as a welcome and most timely addition to their recorded output. More varied, mature and reflective, don't let the self-ironic (?) title mislead you, they are as groovy as ever, but more structured and less jam oriented, with the longest track clocking in around the seven minute mark. Rather short, by their standards.Having built a solid live reputation even before their brilliant 2008 debut Dodovoodoo, the trio boasts what is probably the strongest rhythm section in Norway, complemented with keyboard magician extraordinaire, the one and only Ståle Storlokken. And boy, does he excel himself on this album, notably with more focus on the Rhodes than before. That said, this is nothing if not another strong group effort from what has been a very tight unit straight from the outset. Seven brand new compositions from Storlokken and one from Hængsle make way for what we consider to be their finest and most cohesive album to date. Arrival Of The New Elders was recorded by trusted stalwart Christian Engfelt, with early Dungen producer Mattias Glavå handling the mixing duties.Ståle started his musical journey in Veslefrekk with Jarle Vespestad and Arve Henriksen in the 90s, soon morphing into Supersilent with Helge Sten on board. He's also a member of Moster! and Humcrush, and have collaborated with a number of artists, most notably Motorpsycho. Nikolai is also a member of Bigbang, Needlepoint and Band Of Gold and have appeared on a couple of hundred records. The same goes for Torstein, an associate member of numerous bands ranging from pop and soul to free jazz. But Elephant9 has always been their special baby. ) 28.00
EVAN PARKER - the snake decides LP (otoruku - One of the final Incus releases and one that was written up in The Penguin Guide to Jazz as 'an essential document of modern music'. Otoroku is proud to release the first ever vinyl re-issue (second pressing now, 300 copies ww) of Evan Parker's legendary recording The Snake Decides. Featuring 4 solos recorded in 1986 in St. Paul's Church, Oxford by the late Michael Gerzon. The Snake Decides is a groundbreaking example how far the language of a particular instrument can be taken. From Brian Morton's liner new notes: "The Snake Decides attracts a certain array of adjectives - intense, radical, fearsome, hypnotic, virtuosic - and occasionally allows a more ambitious reviewer to avoid platitude by talking more specifically about 32nd harmonics, circular breathing, multiphonics and Gerson's exact choice and placement of microphones. But this misses a point, too. Listening to this record, either for the first or the fortieth time, is an arousing experience." Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and housed in a reverse board sleeve with new liner notes by Brian Morton this is the ultimate document of one of the most important recordings in all of Parker's extensive and exploratory catalogue. Edition of 500 copies. "If you've ever been tempted by free improvisation, Parker is your gateway drug." - Stewart Lee) 28.00
EVAN PARKER - Six of One LP (otoroku - Originally recorded and released in 1980, "Six of One" beautifully captures the detail in Evan Parker's high frequency split tones for which he is now perhaps better known. Five years on from "Saxophone Solos" and with circular breathing and polyphonics well worn into his live performances, Parker's experimentations here produce sustained passages of brilliant flight. Set into the echoes and resonances of St Judes On The Hill church, the results are stunning. "The recital commences with a split tone line of twining sine waves that expand and contract in telepathic collusion. Pitch dynamics narrow and redefine themselves more emphatically on the second piece where sliding legato rivulets born of Parker's compartmentalized tonguing create the sonic semblance of up to three separate voices emanating from the single reed speech center. It's a feat he's accomplished innumerable times since, but every fresh hearing never fails to open an aperture into a style of improvisatory expression that is at once wholly alien and intensely mesmerizing. There's also something strangely subterranean about the flood of sounds, like the rush percolating water through an underground aquifer system enroute to unknown tributaries. The third piece trades tightly braided tones for leaner and more linear phrases, but a vaporous trail of phantom notes still clings to the central line. And so it goes, with the illusion of repetition guiding the momentum, though Parker never explicitly repeats himself." - Derek Taylor, All About Jazz Transferred from the original master tapes at Abbey Road Studios and released in an edition of 500.) 28.00
EVAN PARKER - Saxophone Solo LP (otoruku - OTOROKU is proud to reissue Evan Parker's first solo LP "Saxophone Solos". Recorded by Martin Davidson in 1975 at the Unity Theatre in London, at that time the preferred concert venue of the Musicians' Co-operative, Parker's densely woven and often cyclical style has yet to form; instead throaty murmurs appear under rough hewn whistles and calls - the wildly energetic beginnings of an extraordinary career. Reissued with liner notes from Seymour Wright in an edition of 500. "The four pieces across the two sides of Saxophone Solos - Aerobatics 1 to 4 - are testing, pressured, bronchial spectaculars of innovation and invention and determination. Evan tells four stories of exploration and imagination without much obvious precedent. Abstract Beckettian cliff-hanging detection/logic/magic/mystery. The conic vessel of the soprano saxophone here recorded contains the ur-protagonists: seeds, characters, settings, forces, conflicts, motions, for new ideas, to delve, to tap and to draw from it story after story as he has on solo record after record for 45 years. 'Aerobatics 1-3' were recorded on 17 June 1975, by Martin Davidson at Parker's first solo performance. This took place at London's Unity Theatre in Camden. 'Aerobatics 4' was recorded on 9 September the same year, by Jost Gebers in the then FMP studio in Charlottenburg, Berlin. Music of balance and gravity, fulcra, effort, poise and enquiry. Sounds thrown and shaken into and out of air, metal and wood. It is - as the titles suggest - spectacular." - Seymour Wright, 2020.) 28.00
FLETCHER TUCKER - cold spring LP (gnomlife - back in stock. LAST COPIES _ "Cold Spring" is an artifact of Fletcher Tucker’s deep inhabitation of Big Sur, California. Recorded gradually over the course of four years, songs were gathered on cloud-hidden peaks, wrung out from moss, and received while splitting wood, pushing through brush, and making camp. These recordings serve as trails, leading deep into a mythopoetic backcountry where forgotten mysticism and abandoned ancestral knowledge resurface. In arranging the soundscapes of "Cold Spring", Tucker took inspiration from Gregorian chants, Shakuhachi (zen flute) compositions, ancient Chinese paintings of mountains and mist, and of course the landscape of Big Sur itself. Analog synthesizers surge like storm-swollen creeks. A 110-year-old pump organ rumbles up from the depths of a ravine. Drones from 12-string electric guitars flicker like torchlight. Distinct aural-textures – buzzing rosined bows, resonant bells, trembling leaf rattles – punctuate the sound-world of "Cold Spring". Ethereal harmonies by Molly Erin Sarlé (of Mountain Man) drift above Tucker’s dark baritone. In Tucker’s words, “'Cold Spring' is an invitation to draw the blade of your mind across a whetstone of mythos and song. To hone your awareness of the uncanny, sense into the liminal, and awake within a vast atavistic wilderness.” "Cold Spring" is the first LP released by Fletcher Tucker under his own name. Tucker created five full-length albums and several EP’s under the project name Bird By Snow (the last, "Offering", was released in 2012). Tucker has performed on and produced records by Little Wings, Fountainsun, and Daniel Higgs. He is also the founder of Gnome Life Records. ) 21.00
FRANK & THE HURRICANE - Love Ya Love Ya LP (feeding tube - "Frank Hurricane’s been chugging along at his own personal pace for a good while now, and the further he rambles, the further we roam with him. Here he’s joined by Jake Merrick on bass, vocals, and keys and John Spiegel on drums and percussion. And it feels good. The group exquisitely compliments Frank’s tales of travel and serenity and the embrace of uncertainty. There’s a languid hallucinatory Meat Puppets vibe to “Creekside Cooler,” “Spivey,” and “Wildorado,” a song with a killer Taco Bell shout-out. Elsewhere they lope through after-hours vibes that could be drawn from the Raccoon catalog or some Shangri-La Studio sessions. Some examples: “Cold and Snow” gives a classic American trope the Hurricane psilocybin head nod treatment. Frank’s always aware of spirits, and on “I Know I’ll See a Ghost” he casts himself as temporarily dead – or halfway dead at least. It’s the spiritual purgatory outlined by George Saunders in Lincoln in the Bardo funneled into a 90s flannel. “Devil’s Looking Glass” is almost bardic in scope and feel. “Dandelions” renders the intoxication of amorous desire into a chug worthy of Crazy Horse. “Luna Belle” starts as a lilting evening lament and gallops off to the moon before it gets started. “Dreamed About You” could be a song about missing just about anything or anyone or any hope or any wish. And so Frank Hurricane yawps wide and loud, once again, without apology, from his jug of love. This record is an elegy to sadly departed friends (Danny Cruz, Terry Turtle, et al.), and a beautiful dream of a future none of us can quite imagine but should probably be working towards." Matt Krefting Holyoke, MA 2020 ) 23.00
FRANK AND HIS SISTERS - s/t LP (mississippi - The world’s first collection of gorgeous pop songs from Frank and His Sisters, a family band from Moshi, Tanzania. Formed in the early 1950s by Frank Humplick, Thecla Clara and Maria Regina, the trio recorded and toured throughout East Africa and issued a string of instant classics, capturing fans with their beautifully harmonized singing, clever lyrics, and Frank’s stunning guitar work. Imagine the fingerstyle finesse of John Fahey with a pure pop melodicism, combined with the family harmony of groups like The Carter Family, The Roches, and The Beach Boys, set in the golden age of Tanzanian music! Frank composed many of his songs while working the land on his beloved tractor (really), and once instigated a house-to-house search to destroy all copies of his record “Yes/No” due to its politically subversive lyrics. He went on to record and tour with the Jambo Boys band before retiring from the music industry in the early 1960s, to focus on his passion for agriculture. But his favorite songs were always the ones he created with his sisters, and we are proud to present 12 of their best. Previously only heard on extremely rare 78 rpm discs and Tanzanian oldies radio, this album collects the trio’s finest songs, lovingly restored and remastered. We love this music so much that in late 2018 we traveled to Tanzania to meet Frank’s family and collaborate on this album. The result is a colorful 8-page booklet featuring complete lyrics in English, Swahili and Chaga, as well as previously unpublished photographs, extensive interviews and anecdotes, and a biography by Tanzanian musician and radio host John Kitime. All tracks fully licensed from the Humplick family. ) 23.00
FUCKED AND BOUND - Suffrage LP (quiet panic - Despite the name, Seattle, WA's Fucked And Bound feels fundamentally untethered. This is a band whose existence is essential for these times, encapsulating the frenetic energy, confrontational anger, and increasing anxiety that so many are feeling. Fucked and Bound is an outlet for those who seek solace in the filth and the fire, whose cynicism has grown out of disappointed idealism, who carry a bloody, sharpened ax to grind with the powers that be.) 25.00
GRACE FERGUSON - Voler LP (We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional custodians of the Country where we live, create and work, and recognise that sovereignty has not been ceded. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging. Sensuous and vivid this series of warrens are elliptical breaths that lead the body with anticipation. In her words, Grace plays “without inhibition or apology for what resulted from this lack of inhibition.” In doing so, she creates a panorama where nuance is felt in the flaws of motion. Repetition and layering renders new and unfettered meaning in the space between notes, the silences that punctuate listening. Composition and improvisation are integrated, as the acoustic piano is at once vast and intimate. This elemental album moves through cyclic states, untethered to a particular time or place. Introspective and longing, Voler is a chase, beyond hesitation and weight, to flight and its speed.) 25.00
HAZEL ENGLISH - Wake Up! LP (polyvinyl - Since debuting with bittersweet single ‘Never Going Home’ in 2016, the Sydney-born artist has felt the urge to connect with her listeners in a meaningful way. Blending wistful, candid lyricism with jangling psych and beach-pop sounds, English’s compelling songwriting has earned her over 25 million streams, airplay on BBC Radio 1, 6Music and Beats, praise from Lauren Laverne and Annie Mac, and press acclaim with double EP Just Give In/Never Going Home labelled by The 405 as “one of the strongest records of the year”. 2019 saw her gain an even wider audience after touring with Lord Huron and Death Cab For Cutie. Where the double EP was very much a lo-fi, bedroom-produced record, English left her home setup behind in favour of roomy recording studios and tapped up session players for her debut album. Bigger, lusher, and more live-sounding, the LP shows a new side to English: one that conveys the joy and excitement of collaboration. Drawing from a more grandiose sonic palette while pulling on the same sun-kissed thread of her previous work, half of the record was made in LA with super-producer Justin Raisen (Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX, Angel Olsen), while English flew to Atlanta to work with Ben H. Allen (Deerhunter, M.I.A, Animal Collective) on the other half.) 25.00
JANE WEAVER - flock LP (fire - Flock' is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humour and glamour. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation. The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but 'Flock' is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favour of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980's Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk. Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is 'The Revolution Of Super Visions', an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky whack-a-mole bass line and synth worms. It underlines the discordant pop vibe that permeates 'Flock' and concludes on 'Solarised', a super-catchy, totally infectious apocalypse, a radio-friendly groove for last dance lovers clinging together in an effort to save themselves before the end of the night. The musician's exposure to an abundance of lost records served as a reminder that you still feel like an outsider in this world and that by overcoming fears you can achieve artistic freedom. Jane Weaver continues to metamorphise_ "A mind-expanding delight, devoid of retro posturing." The Guardian "Ominous and luminous, expansively spacious and sonically imploding, scientific, ephemeral and eternal" The Quietus) 26.00
LAVENDER HEX - Bunch of Flowers LP (diy - The second instalment of Lavender Hex is out now. 17 new songs, sketches and collaborations of freeform punk; made in Berlin with folk near and far between 2018 and 2020. The thread of Lianne and Arndt's lo-fi sound making weaves through another diverse collection of voices and noises. Lavender Hex is a project of friendship, connection and experimentation. 'Bunch of Flowers' includes voices/ samples/ words/ sounds (in order of appearance) from: Sarah Bag, Alec Mac, Matthew Arthur Williams, Susanne Lambert, Heena Patel, Lady Salmon, Rifa Thorpe-Tracey, ¿La Pregunta?, Seb Ymai, Henny McD, Vi Subversa, Erin Yanke, Lianne Hall, Emma Hexen, P6, Cat Barich, Lisa Fannen, Late Nights in Squat Bars, N Ren Yu, Ellie Erickson.) 16.00
THE LEGENDARY BEYONS - s/t LP (amid - For over fifty years, The Legendary Beyons have delighted Portlanders with their music. And now, for the first time, their work has been documented in this high fidelity LP accompanied by a detailed oral history of the group. The album’s well-designed booklet features a wide range of archival photography, serving as a period piece for the uninitiated. On the cover of this previously unreleased 1977 album, there’s an image that tells you nearly everything you need to know: four Black men, resplendent in custom-tailored suits, are working it with synchronized steps before the rushing falls of Portland’s Fourcourt Fountain. In their joyous faces is written a brotherhood that began when this core of singers—Jeddy Beasley, Thurtis Channel, James Tims, and Ira Hammon—endeavored to harmonize as The Legendary Beyons. The group’s presence in this image reveals the richness of their soulful, Motown-inspired vocal sound. These songs are the culmination of a story that began when these young men began singing in the locker room after basketball games at Jefferson High School. As their reputation grew, The Beyons––with the help of a crack backing band featuring arranger Dan Brewster and The Soul Masters––aspired for greatness in Albina’s club scene. A litany of touring acts on the Chitlin Circuit stopped through the area, performing side-by-side with The Beyons: The Whispers, Bloodstone, Blue Magic…the list is deep. But without a local recording industry or sustainable income for gigging Black musicians, The Beyons never released a recording in thei) 25.00
LORI GOLDSTON AND JORDAN O'JORDAN - Very Old Songs LP (Prolific cellist Lori Goldston, whose first major appearance was on stage with Nirvana at their MTV Unplugged concert, will play her favorite folk tracks from Very Old Songs, her new LP with singer Jordan O’Jordan. They'll be joined by guests Phil Elverum, Tomo Nakayama, Clyde Petersen, and J.R. Rhodes.) 28.00
LUNGFISH - Love Is Love LP (dischord - This is Lungfish's 10th full-length album, released in 2003. Baltimore, MD's post-hardcore group Lungfish performed and released albums on the Dischord Records label for more than 20 years. The group's consciousness alternately/simultaneously coalesced and dispersed creating a continuous quasi-musical pulse, which reached its climax at many intervals along the way. Lungfish is now, as it often has been, quasi, if not entirely, defunct. Originally issued in 2003, the Ian MacKaye-produced Love Is Love is the band's tenth studio effort and it marks the welcomed return of former bassist Sean Meadows. The band trims the fat like no other and they sound as repetitive, hypnotic and as powerful as ever here.) 20.00
MAMIFFER - Mettapatterning for Constellation LP (Faith Coloccia’s music as Mamiffer behaves as a living organism that feeds off its surroundings as it multiplies and evolves to live in harmony with its environment. This malleability is presented in Mamiffers’s latest record, Mettapatterning for Constellation. The album features two incarnations of a single composition by Coloccia, commissioned by the Sacrum Profanum Festival in Krakow, Poland. Side A documents the 2017 live presentation of “Mettapatterning for Constellation” as performed by the Półdzielnia Muzyczna contemporary ensemble, orchestrated by Eyvind Kang, conducted by Mateusz Rusowicz, and mixed by Randall Dunn. The B side features the initial pre-notation home recording of the composition, “))((Mettapatterning for Constellation <ll>,” as performed by Faith Coloccia, Aaron Turner, and percussionist Jon Mueller. Together the two tracks not only depict the emotional depth and textural vibrancy of Coloccia’s vision, they model the organic breadth and variability of the work. The two versions have distinct intentions and diametric harmonic spiritual relations. A perfect metaphor for Mettapatterning would be that of eukaryotic organisms: those that can live freely as single cells, but can also aggregate together to form multicellular reproductive structures, just as a lo-fi 4-track creation can evolve into its own distinct, transcribed, and orchestrated form when presented to the world. ) 25.00
MARIKA POLITISSA - All Parts Dark LP (Marika "Politissa" Frantzeskopoulou was a Greek singer from Constantinople, reknowned for her precise, fluid and graceful performances and depth of feeling. Backed by some of the best musicians of the era on lyra, violin, oud, kanonaki and guitar, Marika’s repertoire and techniques drew from Byzantine and Ottoman musical traditions. She possessed an ability to devastate her audience through her expressions of grief, exile, and tragic love, running the gamut of cafe aman, torch songs, lilting and fragile odes to heartache, heavy Piraeus style rebetika, and ecstatic Near-Eastern climaxes, all with a visceral sense of atmosphere, emotion, and fatalism. Marika’s voice is complimented beautifully by her backing musicians, creating a pulsing acoustic foundation over which her voice soars with clarity and purpose. LP version includes a 12 page color booklet with rare photographs, full lyrics, and extensive notes (Bandcamp version includes booklet in PDF format). Produced in collaboration with Tony Klein (Greek Rhapsody, Mortika) and Stavros Kourousis (From Tambouras to Bouzouki) and co-released by Olvido Records (A. Kostis, Alexis Zoumbas).) 23.00
NANCY SINATRA - Start Walkin' 1965-1976 DLP (The definitive new collection surveys Sinatra’s most prolific period over 1965–1976, including her revered collaborations with Lee Hazlewood, over 23 tracks. Remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®–nominated engineer John Baldwin, the collection is complemented by liner notes penned by Amanda Petrusich (author and music critic at The New Yorker), featuring insightful new interviews with Sinatra, as well as a Q&A with archivist and GRAMMY®–nominated reissue co-producer, Hunter Lea. The two-disc vinyl set is presented in a gatefold jacket (featuring a 24–page booklet). Nancy’s performance of the Lee Hazlewood–penned song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” was a huge hit in 1966 and became her signature tune. The pair began a three year run of successful albums, duets, and singles including “Sugar Town,” “Some Velvet Morning,” “Summer Wine,” “Sand,” “Jackson,” and the title track to the 1967 James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.”) 46.00
NIEL LYHNE LOKKEGAARD - Saturations LP (Important! - Saturations is a composition by Danish multidisciplinary artist Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, and features a clarinet choir consisting of 19(!) clarinet players. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (b. 1979) considers his work to be a basic research in realities working within the domains of imaginary & physical sound as well as other non-sonic media, and since 2012 Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has experimented with creating music that lets the instruments transcend their inherent sonic norms and reappear in another form by way of multiplication of sound. His work with multiplication of sound has led to numerous compositions in which one instrument is multiplied a number of times: One piece is written for 9 pianos, another for 10 hi-hats and yet another for countless triangles and so on. The multiplication brings out bodily timbral phenomena, interference of sound waves and vibrations, and brings out what Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard calls the sound’s potential of transformation. He describes this as the quality in a musical piece, when you no longer hear recognizable instruments, but instead the individual sound, as well as the individual musician, is dissolved into the collective sound. ) 27.00
NOISE - Tenno LP (Moone - For over four decades, Reiko Omura and Tori Kudo have endlessly woven themselves throughout the avant-garde and underground scene of Japan. While internationally appreciated in countless incarnations and contexts (Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Guys & Dolls), if one were to seek out an early moment in which the two artists created something truly awe inspiring, 1980’s Tenno (天皇) would be it. As Noise, the duo experimented with the juxtaposition of Kudo’s extended organ based dirges (be they eerie and/or harmonious) and fragile, meditative harmonies found in Omura’s voice and more abstract moments of minimal trumpet, sparse drum and atonal guitar. Simultaneously tense and beautiful, echoes of Tenno can be found resonating in the work of their contemporaries and countless others spanning the past 40 years and an infinite amount more to come. The LP was originally released by ALM and subsequently reissued in 1997 on CD (Pataphysique) and LP (Org), and on CD again in 2005 (Alchemy). Just past it’s 40 year anniversary, Moone Records is elated to announce the first edition of Tenno released outside of Japan as a LP in a limited run of 500 copies – bringing the monumental release back into print on vinyl for the first time in 23 years.) 23.00
NØ MAN - Erase LP (diy - CLEAR vinyl - NØ MAN formed in 2017, shortly after Majority Rule reunited to play a benefit tour with long time friends pageninetynine. The band includes all three members (Matthew Michel, Kevin Lamiell, Pat Broderick) with the addition of Maha Shami on vocals. Maha’s voice may be familiar to some as she was a guest vocalist on MR’s “Packaged Poison" back in 2002. Upon returning from the MR reunion shows, the band swiftly wrote, recorded, and released “Devils Cast Long Shadows” in 2018 as an outlet to continue creating new music together. Since then, they’ve had the opportunity to tour with some incredible bands, including Portrayal of Guilt, Darkest Hour, The Hirs Collective and more. In their follow up record “Erase,” the band solidifies their sound, blending mean chaotic punk that occasionally comes up for air with haunting, melodic breaks.) 20.00
NØ MAN (NO MAN) - Devils Cast Long Shadows LP (diy - NØ MAN is a new band featuring all the members of the Majority Rule family, including the venomous vocals of Maha Shami (who sang on “Packaged Poison” from the split with pg99). Their debut album is devastating from the drop, and refuses to relent over the course of eight songs. The DC veterans cover a great deal of territory, from plodding crunchy numbers to more frantic breakneck rhythms, always knowing how to build, restrain, and ultimately unleash that urgent energy. Limited to 500 copies on blue color vinyl with a super nice printed jacket, silkscreened insert, and download code.) 20.00
OF FEATHER AND BONE - Sulfuric Disintegration LP (profound lore - The new album from death metal outfit OF FEATHER AND BONE, “Sulfuric Disintegration”, sees the Colorado power-trio deliver their most brutal, dynamic, and punishing album to date. Following up 2018’s “Bestial Hymns Of Perversion”, an album which signaled a new paradigm shift for the band and saw the band get the worthwhile recognition deserved through acclaim and notable touring cycles (the band being recognized for their devastating live performance), bringing a new sense of awareness to the band. “Sulfuric Disintegration” takes OF FEATHER AND BONE’s intensity and aura to the next level. With not only delivering a more dynamic and complex musical vision that balances the genres of pure dark death metal, blistering grind, and unrelenting bestial metal, “Sulfuric Disintegration” sees OF FEATHER AND BONE become the full-on sonic killing machine that one was given a mere glimpse of with their past works. Not only is the sound on “Sulfuric Disintegration” more devastating than anything done previously, but the tighter and warmer production courtesy of a lethal mix and master executed by Arthur Rizk (tracking was done at Juggernaut Audio by Ben Romsdahl) gives the band their deadliest sounding album yet.) 28.00
OWLS - two LP (polyvinyl - back in stock - It didn’t come fast and it didn’t come easy. It’s been over two decades since TIM KINSELLA, MIKE KINSELLA, VICTOR VILLARREAL and SAM ZURiCK formed CAP’N JAZZ as teenagers, and 13 years since they followed up that band with their debut self-titled album under the name OWLS. In the time that has passed since then, the members have kept active with a string of other endeavors (including OWEN, JOAN OF ARC, MAKE BELIEVE, and GHOSTS AND VODKA) that have never failed to showcase their vast, diverse, and ever-evolving musical aptitudes. Slowly, but surely, new Owls songs fell into place: Villarreal would introduce a guitar riff from which Tim Kinsella would build a simple chord sequence and vocal melody. Then, the entire group would hash out the rest of the song amidst yelling, arguing, and practices that were often cut short or canceled outright. While sonically their technique still has the ability to dazzle, age and experience have lent new perspectives to tracks such as “I’m Surprised…” and “Ancient Stars Seed...”—making them more aggressive and direct, but certainly no less captivating. In a world that increasingly favors style over substance, Owls is unwilling to compromise the latter for the former. And that, at least, is something all the members can easily agree on. ) 23.00
PIERCE WITH ARROW - Shatter LP (dias - The collaborative debut of American minimal techno producer Troy Pierce and Colombian audiovisual artist Natalia Escobar aka Poison Arrow was conceived in reverse: first they created a collection of shadowy surrealist videos, then wrote music inspired by them. This inverted process proved remarkably fruitful. Shatter is a simmering, slow-burn noir odyssey inspired by the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, traversing subtle shades of sleepwalker dub, metallic lament, broken beats, and erotic negative space. It's an effectively unsettling evocation of the legend's core theme: “There is nothing more complex than a shattered heart, or a heart that can't love.” Considering their shared background trafficking in darkened dance floor modes, what's most striking about Pierce with Arrow's partnership is its rhythmic restraint. The album's 10 tracks seethe and shudder between glamor and gloom, with only occasional dread-steeped metronomes mapping the malaise to a grid. They speak of pursuing a “spatial approach” with this project, which manifests in the music's immersive design and patient execution, each mangled clang and rippling pool of bass allowed to reverberate its full flickering waveform. ) 25.00
PHEW / JOHN DUNCAN / KONDO TATSUO - Backfire Of Joy LP (A previously unheard recording from Phew, John Duncan and Kondo Tatsuo, documenting a concert at Tokyo’s Hosei University in 1982. "Though the fertile exchange of ‘zines, tapes and records between the Japanese underground and the Los Angeles Free Music Society meant the artists were familiar with each other’s work, this performance (occurring on Duncan’s first visit to Japan) was their first meeting and only performance as a trio. Duncan is heard on his signature shortwave radio set-up, while Kondo performs on synth, tape loops and echo-drenched piano, providing a spacious backdrop for Phew’s astonishing performance of spontaneous, free-associative song moving between Japanese and English. A testament to the unhinged exploration of the 1980s experimental underground, the trio careen wildly between crashing percussive tape loops, deluges of shortwave noise, insistent piano figures and playful synth melodies. On the B side, we are treated to a remarkable ten minute sequence moving organically from spaced-out synth and radio textures to a stunning finale of improvised balladry centred on piano and voice, unexpectedly broken up by electronic interjections. Beautifully recorded in crunchy vintage fidelity, Backfire of Joy arrives accompanied by archival photographs and newly authored liner notes from all three participants.”) 25.00
RIVET - On Feather and Wire DLP (editons mego - Swedish producer and electronic enthusiast Rivet (Mika Hallbäck Vuorenpää, Malmö) joins the Editions Mego fold with a dynamic and diverse album that pivots between the punctuated pop of Ivan Pavlov's COH project, the chromatic slink of Chris and Cosey whilst also bearing a degree of fruit birthed from Hallbäck's home country Sweden in skewered pop such as The Knife. This is electronic music born from the worship of machines and the spirit of punk, mood music brooding with sophistication and subversive twists all underscored with a deep industrial pulse. Are these songs? Are these lyrics? Words melt as beat perpetually takes us deeper into flight. Interpretation is flung open as the audience are invited to gauge what on earth is going on here. Are Sooty Wing Flecks a minuscule species of half keyboard half vocoder chatter? Is Gleitende Liebe to be trusted or simply laying out a guide for disorientation? Pearling Woes is a queasy ballad sung by a robot on a very special comedown. Keloid knows exactly where the party can be now whereas Sodden Healer is an uber ride sans mask to destinations dark and unknown. Throughout this trip sharp snares punctuate ghost melodies as vocals rise and vaporise. Shadows hover the walls leaving holographic traces of the duality between fun and fear, the unexpected drifts diagonally across the audio plane teasing and taunting the listener in a unique blend of industrial, techno, pop and experimental forms. On Feather and Wire album is a deep absorbing trip through multiple moods, genres and guises, as mysterious as it is engaging and one to ingest in a single sitting, lying back, sitting up, standing up and yes, even dancing. Let the angels and angles, the voices and distorted faces take shape before your mind. Who is Ordine Kadmia? What are they saying to me, here we go, on and on... With it's haunted vocals, coded linguistics and dark sensual propulsive atmosphere On Feather and Wire is a sublime contemporary techno pop trip both psychedelic and subversive. ) 27.00
ROBBIE BASHO - Visions of the Country (Reissue) LP (gnomelife - Repressed! Comes in a gatefold cover and with a digital download code! Recorded in the height of Robbie Basho's creative career, Visions of the Country was originally released in 1978, and has been out of print for nearly 35 years. The album is comprised of technically superb instrumentation (6 & 12 string guitars and piano); majestic compositions; transcendent singing and whistling; and astonishing lyrical, emotional, and spiritual depths that defy description or comparison. It is with a feeling of tremendous honor and joy that we offer this re-issue, which we hope will please existing Basho devotees, and create new acolytes, in equal measure. The feeling is akin to re-introducing an endangered species back into its native habitat, for this album is a precious, mighty, and wild thing. "Visions of the Country" should not stay couped up in expensive e-bay auctions and low quality vinyl-to-Mp3 rips, it needs to soar gloriously in high fidelity through our culture once more!) 26.00
SLICKAPHONIC - s/t LP (albina music - Next up from Albina Music Trust is a previously unreleased reel-to-reel session by Slickaphonic, a nine-piece powerhouse in Portland’s lost funk scene. Recorded in 1975 at Recording Associates by engineer Bob Stoutenberg (The Wipers, Baba Yaga, Mel Brown), this carefully restored collection places the listener in the thick of a watertight disco-funk session done the Albina way. These songs unfold like a dream. The record ignites with Andre Billingsley’s custom break to “Doin’ It,” a neighborhood classic written by Pleasure guitarist Doug Lewis. From there, the blistering instrumental “Bubba” unfolds with symphonic horn arrangements setting the scene. But it’s bassist Randy Smith and Jimmy Washington’s locked-in percussion that takes you higher. Throughout the record, this band drops the tempo and mood with ease. Milton Davis’ dynamic vocal burns tracks into flames then swiftly pivots into a ballad zone, sending things out to all the ladies in the house. “Back Into My Life Again,” with its chicken-scratch guitar and pithy horns, expands and contracts with Davis’ vocal enmeshed in the point-counterpoint of dueling guitarists Lewis and Kit Garoutte. “I Shot Him Down” is the group’s take on a canonical Bob Marley cut and features a spoken word intro from Davis. Set to a brilliant pseudo-country waltz, Davis narrates the listener through a Green Book-themed sojourn with Southern Gothic underpinnings. In great detail, he describes a road trip and fateful interactions with law enforcement, tragically no different for Black Americans in 1975 as it is today. There are cover songs on this record but the listening experience is…well, different. Carefully mastered by Gus Elg (Nu Shooz, Funky Drive Band, First Touch), this diamond in the rough has been rescued from a North Portland basement and returned to the conversation in which Albina’s legacy music belongs. And with current members of Slickaphonic still active in the city’s club circuit, this record takes the listener back, to a simpler time where the origin of these musicians, their stories, and the underrepresented Albina musical culture can once again be discovered.) 25.00
TASHI DORJI - but a night that ends, as all nights end, when the sun rises LP (moone - Bhutanese guitarist currently residing in Asheville, NC. 2 long improvised guitar songs. FFO: Derek Bailey, Bill Orcutt, John Fahey) 25.00
TAPES
BROTHER THEOTIS TAYLOR - s/t TAPE (Brother Theotis Taylor is a 92-year-old spiritual singer and piano player known throughout South Georgia and beyond for his powerful voice and heavenly falsetto. His music took him from his home in Fitzgerald, Georgia, to the stage with Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, to Harlem’s Apollo, and even to Carnegie Hall. Though his releases are limited to six stunning and rare singles on the Pitch label and a single small-press LP, his recorded archive is vast. For much of his life, Brother Taylor kept a reel-to-reel recorder atop his piano at home. “The music just comes down on you,” Brother Taylor told us late last year. “You always have your machine where you can catch everything. ‘Cause what you can catch today you can’t remember tomorrow.” Brother Taylor recorded himself on his DIY home setup only when he was inspired by a higher power, often fasting and praying for days before recording. These intimate home recordings were digitized in 2020 and are being heard for the first time with this release. Revisiting these old songs brought Brother Taylor to tears. “[When I hear this music] I pick up the same spirit that I did it in. And you see me cryin’. It made me feel good ‘cause I know I did it and I did it well. And I want to see it get out, because if it made me feel good, it make somebody else feel good. Right? This is spiritual music.”) 14.00
FRANK AND HIS SISTERS - s/t TAPE (mississippi - The world’s first collection of gorgeous pop songs from Frank and His Sisters, a family band from Moshi, Tanzania. Formed in the early 1950s by Frank Humplick, Thecla Clara and Maria Regina, the trio recorded and toured throughout East Africa and issued a string of instant classics, capturing fans with their beautifully harmonized singing, clever lyrics, and Frank’s stunning guitar work. Imagine the fingerstyle finesse of John Fahey with a pure pop melodicism, combined with the family harmony of groups like The Carter Family, The Roches, and The Beach Boys, set in the golden age of Tanzanian music! Frank composed many of his songs while working the land on his beloved tractor (really), and once instigated a house-to-house search to destroy all copies of his record “Yes/No” due to its politically subversive lyrics. He went on to record and tour with the Jambo Boys band before retiring from the music industry in the early 1960s, to focus on his passion for agriculture. But his favorite songs were always the ones he created with his sisters, and we are proud to present 12 of their best. Previously only heard on extremely rare 78 rpm discs and Tanzanian oldies radio, this album collects the trio’s finest songs, lovingly restored and remastered. We love this music so much that in late 2018 we traveled to Tanzania to meet Frank’s family and collaborate on this album. The result is a colorful 8-page booklet featuring complete lyrics in English, Swahili and Chaga, as well as previously unpublished photographs, extensive interviews and anecdotes, and a biography by Tanzanian musician and radio host John Kitime. All tracks fully licensed from the Humplick family. ) 14.00
TURNING POINT - Demo TAPE (revelation - This recreation of the Turning Point demo tape from 1988 is the first release as Revelation Records reissues the band's out-of-print catalog. From New Jersey, Turning Point was the state's answer to the hardcore movement of New York and Connecticut of the late-'80s, playing up and down the East Coast with Chain Of Strength, Bold, Judge, Burn, Mouthpiece, and many more before disbanding in 1991. Jade Tree and Think Fast! Records released the band's catalog as a discography in the early 2000s, but none of the releases have been issued as stand-alone records since they were first released.) 13.00
BOOKS
PHIL ELVRUM - Microphones in 2020 silent version BOOK (761 page hardcover book 7” x 7” x 2” 3 1/2 pounds - My teenage job was working in the darkroom at The Business, a weird little camera/book/record shop in Anacortes. I sat in the dark and listened to my Eric’s Trip and This Mortal Coil tapes and made black and white enlargements of peoples’ torn ancestor portraits, hunched over in the fumes and squinting through a loupe at grains of grey. I took h0me expired film and weird old cameras and always kept them with me from then on, even now. As life evolved into always traveling, touring, diving into the days, I took hundreds of pictures. Thousands? The 4x6” prints were taped to the bedroom walls, the door, the car, the guitar, everywhere. As I made songs and albums these photographs stood in for the unmade movie that I was always soundtracking. Each photo, for me, contained an expanse of music and ideas, mostly unexpressed but always waiting, ripe. In my mind at least, some images are directly married to a specific song or musical moment but most just float as part of the vast wash of atmosphere in which all of these recordings have grown, hundreds of 4x6” windows into a world of multicolored grain, cloud and wave wall, phantoms in twilight, a real world exaggerated through long exposures and low light into a revelation of an unknown one. In the summer of 2020 I organized 761 of the old photos into a careful sequence synced up with the long new Microphones song and this became the video. A few seconds for each image flopped down, a fragement of the autobiographical lyrics subtitled down below. This flood of images felt too unrelenting so I decided to make a book to allow people to turn the pages at their own pace, and to hear the song silently. It can work in conjunction with the album, a libretto, and it can also work as just a book of images with no story, an abundance of beautiful light, an “art book”. Technical specifics: the camera is a Mercury Univex II half frame 35mm camera, the film is expired 800 speed Kodak, the prints are pre-2004 cheap lab optical light onto paper in chemicals. Around 2004 the global move to digital printing ended this pursuit of distorted walls of fog; the gradients got ugly. In book form the photos are printed at actual size. The text is unobtrusively small. The dustjacket removes to reveal hidden tiny text specifying additional information about each image (where known). There’s a golden ribbon to mark your place. The heavy hardcover binding is wrapped in black cloth and stamped with gold foil on the cover and spine. This book is a substantial brick. It’s a culmination of a lifetime still underway. I’m still taking pictures in the weird low light with the same obsolete camera, finding ways. The pursuit continues, the path through distortion and grain twists forward. - Phil Elverum November 9th, 2020) 48.00
MERCH
JAY SOM - Balance CAP (polyvinyl - BRAND: Adams Pigment Dyed Baseball Cap HAT COLOR: Periwinkle - THREAD COLORS: Sand and Red) 28.00
