http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090106-121751 The Weird Weeds - 'Hold Me' LP $15
"For the past five years The Weird Weeds have been creating innovative and unclassifiable rock and folk songs that effortlessly straddle the line between rock 'n' roll and experimentalism. In that time the Austin, TX band has toured extensively and released three albums, the first of which - 2004's "Hold Me" - was only released as a limited and now unavailable CD-R. Lovingly reissued by Zum, "Hold Me" is now available in a pressing of 300 on black vinyl, packaged in a screened chipboard cover with all new artwork by Lauren Pakradooni. "Hold Me" is also unique in that it's the only recorded document of The Weird Weeds' original 4-piece lineup that included Kurt Newman on lead guitar. The album is evidence that very early in their existence The Weird Weeds had developed a unique approach to songwriting that they've been honing and refining ever since. The core trio is Aaron Russell (Nitre Pit), Sandy Ewen (collaborator with Tom Carter in Spiderwebs), and Nick Hennies (percussionist who has performed with Jandek and Arnold Dreyblatt). Recently featured as a cover story in the Austin Chronicle, Weird Weeds have garnered much love from sources such as Drowned In Sound and Stereogum." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090105-222358 Over the burnished sonic-façade of the debut album by Athens, Georgia’s Chartreuse (real name: Drew Smith) we are left to ponder the disc’s title as its grammatical tricks convey the same complex sense as the five tracks within, and while utilizing equally sparse materials: presuming rest to be the operative aim of the work of drone, this is both the most one may hope for and the best there is. What at once implies an absence equally implies perfection; zenith and nadir, it both mourns and boasts. The blunt intrusion of granite which fills the cover art reveals both the structure and subsequent erosion within, an early Tarantelic simplicity chewed by extensive production into a synthetic Basinski drone. Constructed of varied sizes – the shortest just under eight minutes, the longest, nineteen – there is a detectable effort to overcome/sabotage the self-effacement of the 'drone work' and subsequent comparisons to the blanched oeuvre of Stars of the Lid, aided by evocative track names (“Smolder”, “Gale of Porcelain”, “Sardis Television Broadcasting System”) and song-like truncations and ornaments which identify specific tracks – most notably the rote sample buried in “Triage” of what appears to be a televangelist or what effectively approximates one. Regardless the coming-to-terms at hand in this album, the compositions are pleasantly-rendered in arresting contrast, embodying the deepest frequencies with shape while keeping the richer textures closely tethered. Professionally-cut CD in digipak (also available in a special edition). (Thor’s Rubber Hammer Productions CD, $11 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090105-091206 Cabin Floor Esoterica:



CFE#1 A Piece of the Land C30/Box $8(US)/$11(World)
"Half field recordings, half time capsule. Collected recordings from around the mid-Ohio countryside on the A-side. Shoe leaf crunching. Birds/windchime duels and old friends strumming around on the backporch. A little bit of the nothing sound vibes that make up the good easy feelings away from the city. Side B is a strange audio-letter from '77 found in an abandoned home out in the woods. Weird ramblings on all the different animals he eats, and apologies to a girlfriend mixed with annoying woodpecker calls and quiet reading from another tape found in his house. With stamped/handwritten labels, in stamped painted wood or papermache clasped boxes (random luck of the draw) with three handwritten inserts, a random unique photo from a found 70's hunting magazine, one of 25 unique mini-photos by Katy Phillips, a random 80's Mansfield News Journal article, and dried leaves and pine from the autumn days, nestled in a bed of grasses." Limited to 25.

CFE#2 Uton - 'Violin Massage vol. III' C30 $7(US)/$9(World)
"Uton is a shapeshifting soundchanging Finnish export headed by one Jani Hirvonen for the past nearly 8 years. Here we pick up the Violin Massage series started in 2007 (previous volumes were available as a self-released 3 CD set and a tape on Oms-b). Grating and droning violin improvisations dancing on nothing but air. Completely raw and unaccompanied bowdraggings. Spinning wheels of string flurries, and the quiet scrape of a nearly soundless string. In handmade scrapbook paper 'box-sleeves' with stained labels and an old sheet music handwritten insert." Limited to 50.

CFE#3 Aaron Martin - 'Dead Teeth' C30 $7(US)/$9(World)
"A collection of seven unreleased songs from cello teacher and Topeka, Kansas resident Aaron Martin. Like an old reel of washed out cracked film, nostalgic and peacfully simple. Aaron's signature cello sings among flutes, air organ, bells, guitars, and an assortment of other instruments. The sounds weave together into beautifully flowing layers upon layers of loops and melodies. The quiet back porch sounds of those summer nights when it stays light out so much later. In sewn pouches (some brown, some red) with locally-found-feather tassles, oil painted labels, and 3 inserts." Limited to 50.

CFE#4 Tunnels - 'Meshes of the Afternoon' C40 $7(US)/$9(World)
"Nick Bindemen (of both Eternal Tapestry and Jackie-O Motherfucker) is very obviously a man of many musical faces. In Tunnels he takes it solo and weaves shimmering and droning psychedelia. Here the project finds a bit of a more tropical feel, with bumps of tribalistic rythms and near funky grooves. Frantic hand-percussion and mantra vocals dancing in the meshes of guitar and chimes. Rainfall and birdcalls. DEEP drones and finger-piano tones. In sewn pouches with 3 inserts and painted/stamped labels." Limited to 50.

CFE#5 Wings & Claws - 'Live in the Sitting Room' C40 $7(US)/$9(World)
Since letting go of the past and moving on from his previous project 'Thee Moths', Alex Botten has joined up with Sian from What the Moon Looks Like to create Wings & Claws. This live set spread across both sides of the tape finds strange drunken thumb-piano ramblings floating around in a wash of buzz and hum drone. Sians vocal layering creep through and (unintentional?) feedback slips into a loop. Hazy sleepwalking wrapped in quilts and you can almost hear the fire in the hearth. In wraparound full-color cardstock sleeve with stamped paperbag belt, painted labels, and 3 inserts." Limited to 50.

CFE#6 Diamonds T-Shirt $8(US)/$11(World)
Hand silkscreened heather grey shirts. Specify size: S, M, L, XL. Made to order and limited to 25.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090103-184555 VAMPIRE BLUES - 'Turkish Petroleum Company' cassette £5.5(world)
"Swirling drones smothered in pure electric guitar anthems from two Jon's, one being Jon of The Hunter Gracchus / Singing Knives, and the other being Jon from Serfs. This is their debut release and is a real beauty, psyched out blues for a dark back room in hut out in the woods." Limited 100 hand numbered copies.

SKY LIMOUSINE - 'Undetected Paradise' cassette £5.5(world)
"Totally far out live synth from my man Josh over in Chicago whose had releases on Fag Tapes, Avocado Jungle and Sound Holes... totally killer freestyle jams recorded in Oct08, real deal blissed out zoned sounds, raw and ready. Regular cased tapes with black fuzz psyche sleeve..." limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090103-102357 expo 70/i am seamonster split 7" dosethirtytwo (co-released by Short Forest)
"One track from each on the wax. Expo 70 offers up an amazing piece of guitar drone while IAS gives us a fuzzed out drone, with this odd sort of pop sensibility bubbling underneath the distortion. The first copies come with a free 3" with exclusive tracks from both artists." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090102-232708 Just in time for the gift-giving season, the duo FM3 (Zhang Jian and Christiaan Virant) released the objectively-sacramental ‘Buddha Machine II’, their sequel to the fabled brainstroke of three years back. Inside: nine new loops with improved sound and enhanced timbral range. Outside: eschewing the direct-current jack and Chinese subtitles, the new machine boasts embossed titles, a push-button tracking switch, and the biggest improvement, a pitch adjustment dial which allows the user to adjust speeds. This adjustment offers a respectable increment of advance for the device, as the hand-holding hand-held learns us the lesson of modulation, manipulating the constancy of the loop within the single dimension of pitch; the non-descript audio segments lend nicely to this wide range of manipulation without appearing so – for most tracks the rough quality covers whatever tell there may be – a fantastically-flawed quality not entirely soldered away. While not an overstatement per se for such a media-relevant release, the greatest treat of ‘Buddha Machine II’ is merely the new selection of sounds, particularly some wonderful new string textures - as heard in the husky steel-strike of “Ceng”, the rubber-band gamelan of “Yu”, or tight piano claps of “Piano” - to compliment the depth of recording that the improved soundcard boasts – ambient swirls like police sirens on “Dui” or the restless activity in the room between “Gen”s two big guitar notes. Despite the same truncation of each loop – generally between ten and twenty seconds apiece – these sound fragments seem to urge more toward harmony than the predecessor, as in the actual melodic development of “Piano” and the phantom verses which never quite blossom from the intensely-arrested “Huan”. While the artists would surely like you to get your mitts on a few devices to earn Junior Member status, more realistically you might have on-hand version 1.0 as accompanist, and like me, set the phases in motion to elementarily-failsafe delight. This is of course an auxiliary pleasure, as the ontology of the very machine screams of its autonomy. In three new, humorless colors – brown, burgundy, grey – the “soundbox” arrives in an austere little box of its own. Batteries not included, though very recommended. (FM3 sound object, $23 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry090102-231933 (VxPxC) - 'Second Street Tunnel'
"We basically started -house of alchemy- to be in the (VxPxC) business. And what a business it is. We are proud that our second release with them is Second Street Tunnel. It is every bit the blissed-out, burnt-down, pick-pocketed brain-jewelry you'd would expect from them. We couldn't be happier." Cd-r edition of 123, housed in hand-made cloth envelopes.

Century Plants - 'Electrics'
"Last November we put together an amazing show here in Buffalo featuring a spectrum of -house and alchemy- friends/partners past, present and future. Century Plants were the future. And, that future is now. Featuring their set from that wonderful night in Buffalo and another live set, Electrics is Century Plants in top form." Cd-r edition of 123 in sleeves with full color artwork by Katheryn Richards.

Stone Baby - 'The Flaneur'
"Another band that has been a vital part of -house of alchemy- from the very beginning is Stone Baby. Their very first full-length release was right here with us and we walked hand-in-hand into the darkness. Well, here is their most recent, and I will be so bold as to say, their best piece of work yet. Everything they do is better than what they did before. Whenever they pickup whatever it is that they use to make these sounds, Stone Baby achieve some form of creepy decadence. Let these sounds here soundtrack your opium-saturated, late-nite stroll through the back alleys and empty buildings of your very favorite run-down city. Pre-dawn sounds for a crumbling everything." Cd-r edition of 123 with pristine art and layout by the band.

Burnt Hills - 'Amphipacifica'
"What can I say? BURNT HILLS. Stripped down to a quartet here, Burnt Hills actually play louder than ever before. You want heavy? You want merciless, unflinching, guiatr-weilding thug-beauty? Look no further." Cd-r edition of 123 with spray-stenciled vellum envelopes and mad-dog insert.

Chapels - 'So Many Blood-Lakes'
"Following releases on Tired Trails and Klorofyll Kassetter, Chapels follow the path of drone, synth and hard-lacquered un-music. Pulses, whirrs, stretched tape and banged-up strings mimic drafty, dusty expanses. Approximate Infinite Attic!......" c30 cassette edition of 40 with b/w cardstock insert.

Rambutan/Chapels split
"Rambutan, the solo vehicle of Century Plants & Burnt Hills Eric Hardiman, has been stealthily claiming 2008 as his own. Knocked-out releases on Abandon Ships and Tape Drift are must-haves. Add this piece to the list. "City of Immortals" sees Rambutan uncoiling a dark maze, unnerving and droned, walled with dead buildings and empty train cars. Side B features "It May Have Been August", a lurching, un-tuned, march of broken guitars, fractured near-beats, and slivered loops. Put yr tape player on auto reverse." c30 cassette edition of 44. Minimal b/w insert.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081230-131816 Preliminary Saturation - ‘Disciples of the Vatican’ CDr $7
"It’s not that these boys, who make up Preliminary Saturation haven't got anything else to do. Wouter Jaspers being Franz Fjodor and Steffan de Turck being Staplerfahrer, which is already 1 + 1 = 4, but then they are also the improvisation duo Preliminary Saturation. They jam, and they jam a lot. In their own houses, with wine and cigarettes at hand, with self-made instruments, microphones (some broken ones), a laptop, and they jam, but I might have said that. Pretty much what they do sounds a bit like Bjerga/Iversen, with whom they seem to share a similar esthetic. The totally free improvisation electronic music, the electro-acoustic guerilla, the drone end of sound, a bit of noise thrown in. All of that in pretty long pieces, but it sounds fairly o.k. I must admit I am not entirely blown away by it, but that's perhaps because I think its a bit too free form and because it could use some more sharper editing, and shape the very best moments. But just like Bjerga/Iversen I'm convinced truly great works will come eventually. This is a step ahead. (FDW)" Edition of 100 copies. HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081229-103619 Kutomo - 'Lauluja surun kaaresta' CDr 10.5€(Europe)/11.5€(World)
"Kutomo is probably the Finnish project that,in the last years, has best embodied the feeling of his mother land. In his music lives all the poetry about the cold, the lakes and the immense Finnish forests. Melancholy and intimate as a day passed looking at the snow falling outside a window but also, in a certan way, "ephic" as the natural landscapes of his land. Kutomo has made works with e.g. Kulkija, Vapaa, Keijo & the Free Players, Aan, Larkin Grimm and Kheta Hotem. The covers of the packaging are two boards of wood tied together with a natural cotton ribbon. Inside, there are two photographs taken by mABA, three pages with the lyrics in English of the album and a glassine envelope for the cdr. Each packaging has a leaf from a wood near Rome and a piece of paper with a list of the materials I used. Edition of 36 signed copies." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081228-215311 SKY LIMOUSINE - 'IN A WORLD OF DISCOVERY' C30 $6
"burke-style time/space warps by means of ultra-mellow guitar fluttering. sky limo always dispenses the out of bounds, soothed intravenous drip that turns everything it touches into bubbles, and a world of discovery is no exception to that rule. a zen comedown much needed in oppressive times."

905.42: BUDWEISER SPRITE - 'TRASH ON THE GRASS C92 $6
reiser pumps out another overdose of ocd constructed feedback and sonic warble specifically for those living outside of shadows. this is as legit as legit mangling can get. crashes and dashes leaving trash on the grasses.

905.43: RELENTLESS CORPSE - 'IS FUCKED' C30 $6
"more thick shards of stone and metal f/x labored and layered by the ohio dirt crew relentless corpse. a putrid mixture of narcotic blasts and cold vocals blended in a scumy fucking way. skunk jams, as if goldblum came back for the fly 2."

905.44: SWAMP HORSE - 'MELTED GEM' C20 $6
"its hard to imagine a world where time moves so slow that this tape actually makes sense. the lay / rankin duo provide a wave of calmness and bliss that feels a little to weird to be okay. it's like having the common cold, but falling slow motion into a bottomless pit at the same time. kentucky can't be this fucked up, can it?"

905.46: WETHER - 'OPTIONS' C30 $6
"neon black vibes from the 905 house band. you could call these stowaways, because they are always stowing away. but when the world is a race to the finish, all the muck will eventually find it's way out. even if it has to seep through the cracks and slide down the walls. what are the other options?"



any five tapes for $25.00 ppd; any ten tapes for $40.00 ppd

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081228-171114

Mudboy - 'Eno Trouble/Midiwards/Happy Birthday Song' $7
"Blocky critters jam up in the webs in my ma's bakelite every once in a while. She tell me I ought to investigate so I brung my earphones and muffled the two-step gothgroove. Check it out! Valhalla" Edition of 100 on purple shells with full-color artwork.

Soft Peace - 'Soft Peace' $7
"The dome is perfect. It is generally agreed upon what that we understand these "new curved shapes". Remind yourself of its unprovoked depth, capacity for the wormiest and the warmiest and the purist visitants. Valhalla. " Letterpress fold-out poster covers, edition of 50 on green shells.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081227-200444 Sun Stabbed - 'The World Upside-Down' C42
"Edition of 100. Following up a killer cdr on Pseudo Arcana, the French duo of Pierre Faure and Thierry Monnier return with over 40 minutes of expertly crafted, drifting guitar feedback. Ranging from Sunroof!-esque shimmering skree to glacial amplifier buzz."

Sean McCann - 'The Truth Is Marching In' C40
"Edition of 100. Blistering circus whirl and warble. Reminiscent of wandering around a casino in the early morning. Slot machine melodies pan in and out of focus, all memories of the outside world fade, and everything around
you is covered in a smokey haze."

The North Sea - 'Hundred Flowers' C30
"Edition of 100. Brad Rose as been channeling some seriously heavy vibes lately. Picking up where Ajilvsga left off, Rose spews forth even more thick
unholy shimmer. Hints of past pursuits loom just beneath the surface, lush forest drones are completely overpowered by caustic metallic doom."

Ajilvsga - 'Three Heaps of Skulls' C42
"Edition of 100. With their third release for Peasant Magik, Ajilvsga push their sound even further. Huge slabs of densely layered scum continuously churn while Rose and Young summon shards of electricity from the high
heaven."

Hoor-paar-Kraat - 'Graduating from Clocks to Watches (Eureka Tapes Vol. II)' C55
"Edition of 200. The sound world that Anthony Mangicapra inhabits is totally unlike any other. Each listen reveals hidden elements and previously unheard sounds. Singular drones conceal a fragile universe of manipulated field recordings and mangled reverb. Meticulously constructed and skillfully executed, Hoor-paar-kraat displays a serious mastery of craft, frequently unheard of in an over saturated scene."

Korperschwache - 'Fear The Hex' 3xC60
"Edition of 100. Black Canyon Drone starts things off right away with a blast of hyper distorted guitar and doesn't stop for the remainder if the cassette. Hidden melodies float in and out, with the occasional riff and drum beat surfacing. Death Disco slows things down with stumbling drums over layers of murk and blackened filth. Dissonance and Submission finishes everything off with walls of buzz and shards of feedback. Not for the open-minded."

Monks of The Balhill - 'Ten Ways To Get Out Of The Water' C44
"Edition of 100. Vocal mantras, decaying guitars, and found sounds combined in totally refreshing way. Both sides constructed from similar pieces, but distinctive enough to show the endless stream of ideas pouring from
these two Vincents. Made with love, guitars, wind instruments, field recordings, and tigers. Art by Adriane Dalton."

Ondo - '654 65 - 694 33' C42
"Edition of 100/ Obsessively composed guitarscapes. Industry stretched to the point of total collapse. Bleak and without redemption. Look out for more Ondo on Peasant Magik in '09."

Dukkha - 'Hail and Farewell.' C57
"Edition of 100. Endless repetition. Keys spin over down tuned sludge, FX ridden guitars suffocate themselves, and utterly massive swells consume all
laid before. TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA."

All cassettes pro-dubbed. Prices: $6/$7/$9, triple cassettes $10/$11/$13, or 5 for $25/$30/$40 (US/Canada/World). WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081227-140112

Stone Baby - 'Vir Heroicus Subliminus' cassette (TD07)
"The first Tape Drift appearance by Rochester NY-based Stone Baby, and we hope it won't be the last. We'd seen em live and knew what to expect, but this one exceeded all hopes by a long shot. This one is perhaps Stone Baby's heaviest exploration yet, with dense pillows of crystalline sound morphing into quasi-melodic motifs only to be obliterated by the next hypnotic swirl of noise. Like the best records, this one has both conceptual and sonic continuity and hangs together like a perfect work of art. Somehow this duo have honed their skills so well that sculpting a masterpiece such as this seems like second nature. Let's just be thankful we can all benefit. Tapes come in special cloth-covered boxes, wrapped in audiotape, and designed by Cory E. Card."

Sunburned Hand of the Man - 'Acid-X' cassette (TD08)
"Acid-X' captures the mighty Sunburned in transplendent full live show format from a very special night in Saar Louis Germany in August 2008. Killer lineup featuring Moloney, O'Shea, Schneiderman, LaBrecque, and Thomas. This tape displays Sunburned at the height of their collective powers, magically conjuring clouds of spaced out, hypnotic beauty, leading us through cathartic workouts, and finally building to a kraut-inspired jam of epic proportions. Easily one of their best yet, and you know that's saying something."

Rambutan - 'Rusted Prayers Converge' CDr (TD09)
"Debut solo release from Eric Hardiman of Century Plants and Burnt Hills. From ghostly noisescapes to swirling organic drone plateaus to pure guitar improvisations, Hardiman floats in and out of various sound worlds on this one, yet always ties things together with a thoughtful and compelling sonic thread. Four tracks recorded basement style deep in the night, and it shows. Dig in, yet another surprise from the Century Plants camp."

Century Plants - 'Circular Spaces, Vol. 1' CDr (TD10)
"The tenth release on Tape Drift brings us back to the first, with a brand new offering from Century Plants. The first in a multiple volume series, "Circular Spaces, Vol. 1" finds Hardiman and hare in particularly fine form, showing how far they've come since their debut. This one splits the difference between their melodic and noisy extremes, with two beautifully intense guitar workouts and a long excursion into the depths of sonic abstraction unlike anything else they've committed to tape yet. Debut LP out soon on Music Fellowship!"

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081226-163248 Last seen in a like-minded split with WT Nelson’s Unicorn in an attempt to out-Bastard the parchment Bastard Noise, Sandy Saunders aka Torso returns to deliver an equally devastating expanse of dark ambience peopled by less-harsh noise modules. From the first luminous tone, the cold synthesis of “Frost Corpse” leads Saunders’ six tracks through a lifeless terrain of inappropriately soothing patterns. The busy blurts of “An Industry” and “Du’a Khalil Aswad” chirp and sputter in a static anti-movement, an effectively suffocating the formal “Orchard Corpse” which comes between: a power noise vignette, the humorless goblin shrieks which attenuate behind sharp distortion add nothing to the inhuman phenomenon of the disc; the modulation of this verse morph into power-tool squalls as to erase the voice as exceptional. Strangely, “Wintersky Burial” becomes a melodramatic ballad beneath all the parasitic modulations and dry hiss, repeated in the equally automaton-emotive “And the Smoke Still Rises Pt. 2” (a proximate sequel), with MIDI-style plaints over even more aggressive yet impotent sine-wave provocations.

On the pseudo-reverse, Gack makes its first proper appearance. “Limb Donor” is presented in seven parts. Complimentary in content, these pieces utilize many of the same elements though through a greater productive tumult – an even less inviting place and desolate sound construction – made of stressed, keyed minimalism with textures of mechanical discord, we’re introduced to additional textures of liquid (metal) and miniature (metal) figurines which chirp and writhe with slight streaks of friction. The bassy notes of part four fill the ear’s chamber like carbon monoxide, priming the space for the deep, teetering taps of part five – a groping experience of perceptual blindness with half-tones/cones disappearing into a liquid blackness. An accelerated vibrato fills out the final movement, a plane buzzing like an angry hive, yet folded into itself with regular adjustments of depth and volume. Were they not labeled as such, it’d be no stretch to assume all these tracks to be created by a single individual/setup – and indeed, it may be, given the contextual-lack of Gack – though this ultimately just proves a successful method and the easy demand of the style. In handsome heavy-stock sleeves on white labeled discs, limited to 103 copies. (Small Doses CDr, $8 HERE) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081226-075146 Disguises - 'Post-Mortem Depression' LP
"Post-Mortem Depression", the long awaited debut Lp by Disguises, scum & splooge surfers of toronto's noise/avant D.I.Y. underground. A volcanic blast of rushing blood & damaged ear drums. "Post-Mortem Depression" was laid to tape at the Gas Station Recording Studio in late October 2007. Disguises spent a total of 2 days committing total "rock action" abuse live in the studio, scrapped off the floor by vibe captain Dale Morningstar. But before that these songs were hammered out live in front of an audience, almost a full year before recording "Post-Mortem Depression". Hundreds of strings shredded.....piles of fried speakers...hours upon hours of VHS tape ate for samples(Carpenter, Dr. Who, David Koresh, and classic Godzilla movies...there all in here) a gonzo movie buffs auditory wet dreams cum to life. What remains is a 21st Century punk rock record crafted by a band to difficult to pigeonhole in to one specific genre."Post-Mortem Depression" seamlessly blurs the lines between avant/psych creep, free-jazz imrovisation, mechanized industrial groove, and total punk attack. An album made loud to be played loud....with not one overdub, you fucking rubbahead. "Post-Mortem Depression" a modern rock record created by a band burning the heat of now. D-STROY!" HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081226-063810

l-t-(f)-r 018: CURSILLISTAS - 'Maia Maiestas' cassette series
"The explanation is fully here, but here's the short-form typed version: once a day for the 31 days of May 2008, Cursillistas sat down before a cassette recorder and improvised a 20-minute performance onto a white c-20 cassette tape. These master tapes were then hand-painted by Dawn Marna, and packaged in or with items found throughout the course of that day. These 31 master tapes are now on sale in the most limited of editions - one of one - each hand painted and packaged uniquely to match the unique performance captured on each tape."

l-t-(f)-r 021: TUNNELS WITH SEQUIN TRAILS - 'Slumber Beneath the Leaves' cassette $8
"in which mystery haunts and ritual zone-outs take musical form, presenting a pacific cousin to our atlantic l'animaux sounds. a psychospiritual musical collaboration between modern psych-drone master tunnels (nicholas bindeman, also of jackie-o motherfucker, eternal tapestry, and l'animaux's own tempera) and the ghost-folk songwriting of sequin trails (janina bain). the two are brilliantly natural collaborators, with drones, moans, and echo-effected incantation vocal lilts soaring amongst rattles and loose riverbank hand percussion, with acoustic strings and fuzz guitars winding through it all. a gorgeous and thoroughly haunting collection that doubles as a soundtrack to your most gone acid-washed dreams." running time: 41 minutes. transparent sapphire-blue c-45 with hand-painted corners and hand-stamped "A" and "B".
packaging: full-color print, pasted on art paper and folded into a cassette sleeve, with hand-written title, hand-numbered, bound up and held closed with a piece of hemp twine (Tryst Haunt subscribers' copies are made from paper used in 7" releases throughout the series). edition: limited, 150 copies.

LTH 710: ghq - 'requiem for bhophal'
"this veritable brooklyn all-star team of marcia bassett (zaimph, hototogisu, double leopards, zaika), steve gunn (check the solo digitalis cd sundowner), and pete nolan (magik markers) has been killing it on releases on time-lag, three-lobed, not not fun and others since their debut in 2005, and this 7" includes guitarist marc orleans (sunburned hand of the man) in orbit as well. the extended-playing 45 (six minutes on each side) finds ghq hitting that bliss-drift stride, with droned-out atmospheres of guitar layers soothing your headspace into a fully-conscious trance. occasional vocals just barely peak through the blanket, and there's definitely enough noise to remind you this ain't just about good vibes. black 7" vinyl record is held in a black art paper sleeve, with gold-ink offset printing on the back and a paste-on full-color cover. limited edition hand-numbered to 300; embossed for authenticity."

LTH 711: vollmar - 'new best friend b/w flood punch & holy blessing'
"justin vollmar's recordings often sound wonderfully and pleasantly small-scale; they begin with gentle strums like a feathered wing brushing a rusted-out six-string, soon joined by the fragile voice of a reluctant singer who's got only one person's ear in mind. occasionally calling to mind lo-fi songwriters like oldham and elverum, vollmar's songs are focused on the intimate and intricate, and recently his presentation has become fleshed out with full-band-type arrangements - modest drums, mini-synths and warm electric guitars in service to the songs. this 7" single presents alternate, more pared-down versions of three songs from his upcoming tell the dirt lp. black 7" record held in a tri-fold chipboard sleeve, in-house screenprinted on front and back, with full-color paste-on photo on front and a hand-written note on the third fold. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300, with embossed dust sleeves."

LTH 712: elephant micah - 'in midnight b/w ocean floor'
"as consistently great a songwriter as we've had this decade, elephant micah's joe o'connell is always affecting and almost unbelievably right-on, with a subtle vocal delivery, modest home-tracked recording fidelity, and slight country-western touches. which is what makes this 7" release so intriguing - this is elephant micah interpreting two songs written by friends of his (time and temperature & microwave background), and they are his most recently-recorded works. as expected, elephant micah truly makes these songs his own through no subtle re-interpretation. synth tones, backwards noise guitar, and even a trumpet solo set these songs apart from both their original versions and elephant micah's past work, and yet joe's voice and vision comes through as accurate as always. befitting the "recycling" theme of the songs, this black 7" record comes packaged in discarded 12" LP sleeves, which have been cut down to 7" jacket size, and then in-house screenprinted over with the release info. limited edition, hand-numbered to 300."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081225-223004 Moonmilk/My Cat is an Alien – ‘Passeridae I’ 7” AU$14(Australia)/AU$20(World)
”Passeridae is a new twelve-volume series of split 7” singles from sound&fury records, a small label run out of the so-tiny-as-to-be-statistically-insignificant town of Nimmitabel in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia. The series – available by subscription via www.soundandfury.com.au (with extra goodies thrown in for good measure) or individually – aims to pair Australian artists with some of their like-minded international counterparts. The first volume teams Sydney duo Moonmilk with Italian space travellers My Cat is an Alien. Moonmilk’s contribution, ‘My Mother in Colours’, is a warm twin-organ drone recorded live sometime in the last twelve months, while on the other side, My Cat is an Alien slowly orbit a dying star with their track ‘Diatomic Molecules.’ These singles come packaged in hand-screened, recycled card jackets, and include pro-printed inserts featuring the photography of David Luckwell (no, you’re not supposed to know who he is). 100 light blue (available by subscription only), 200 black.”

Adrian Klumpes/Machinefabriek – ‘Passeridae II’ 7” AU$14(Australia)/AU$20(World)
”The second volume in the Passeridae series diverts from the split format to present two trans-global collaborations from Adrian Klumpes and Machinefabriek. Side A, ‘In Stillness His Shadow Moved’, is an improvisation recorded by at home in Sydney by Klumpes (3ofmillions, ex-Triosk), which was then overdubbed and edited in Rotterdam by Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek. On Side B, Klumpes reworks the title track off Machinefabriek’s 2008 album Dauw to come up with ‘Second Dew’. 100 dark blue (available by subscription only), 200 black.”

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081224-135429 BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT - 'The Wolf Shall Also Dwell With The Lamb' LP $15
"James Blackshaw and Jozef Van Wissem created a powerful duo. Two of the most unique instrumentalists operating today combine their sounds to become one. Limited edition of 500 copies. The first 100 mailorder copies will be on white vinyl. Free Tau Emerald cd with each purchase."

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN/PRAXINOSCOPE 2xLP $25
"Extremely deluxe/limited edition double LP. Only 300 made. Gold metallic hand pulled print done by Neil Burke at Monoroid. Hand numbered. Each purchase will include a free Black Magic Disco CD (IMPREC148)"

MCIAA PRESENTS: ROBERT OPALIO/MAURIZIO OPALIO split LP $20
"Extremely limited edition of 300 copies. Hand numbered and screen printed at Monoroid on super heavy duty stock. Free with each purchase will be a Roberto Opalio "Chants From Isolated Ghosts" CD (IMPREC115)"

LARSEN - 'LLL' LP $20
"Limited to 500 copies. The first 100 are on white vinyl. 4 color screen print on super heavy duty jackets. Pristine recordings and amazing packaging. Free with each purchase will the the Larsen HMKE remix EP (IMPREC072)"

LARSEN - 'La Fever Lit' CD $12
"Brilliant new full length from Larsen. Featuring Annie Anxiety. Composed for architecture."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081224-134639 Robert Horton - 'If I can't play my Boot... I don't have a leg to stand on' CDr 8€/$12(World)
"Worried by some health trouble recently, Robert had to slow down the pace and we started to miss his unique soundworld... but he's back with these 9 tracks - a selection from November 06 to March 07, inside which I find some of my favorite tracks from the man so far. Listen to the opener, Bells, here." Edition of 100. WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081223-190612
Perhaps the most uncanny of the label’s line of impressionistic releases, ‘Illuminated Factory’ appeals to just this as drone-optimist Helm presents the title track in a steady pulse of little lights growing larger and indistinct as we near the sound object. Growing to a single pulsing beam, the piece exudes a lively confidence without exception, instead transferring any negation to “Sceptre” which follows in minor wisps and a much shakier foundation of several delicate vibrations; always barely there, the track dissipates like the slightest heat of the former, leading into the second side. For “Hearts Like Broken Motors”, the lead-footed propulsion returns in a toothy motor, though now with intervening strands of fantastically-crafted light jagging across as a lead. The elements freeze into a striated block, and with little buzzing currents the whole thing is pushed into the sizzle of a loping sea. Much more a center piece than the title track, it’s curious why the one presided over the other. Like Peasant Magik’s last tape of Alistair Crosbie, another exceptional manifestation of drone which refuses to lie dormant. J-card made with gold ink on fancy paper, limited to 100 copies.

From Andy Jarvis (Frst Prsn) comes ‘She Is Also Phasing’. The most ‘instrumental’ of the selection, these selections offer not necessarily more instruments or virtuosity than the others – though it certainly might - but the greatest degree of articulation: from “Empyrean”, channel-slipping quarks of bright noise rotate around a meditative pluck of synthesizer, coding three simple color bars; rousing, rolling percussion patters down with deceptive rhythm, a culminating effect to that of Valerio Cosi’s ecstatic works. The closing steps of this first side becomes the pacing patterns of “Encomium”, a cosmic synth composition with thousands of discrete particles swirling about in a rejuvenating NES epic. Out of the prog and into the new age, “Epiphyte” makes the tedious crossing into a Tangerine Dream mantra of broadband frequencies, fluted fumes, and a synthetic rain crackling just ahead. With silver ink, limited to 100 copies.

In its rightful second pressing, ‘Hater of Life’ is the misanthropic manifesto of noise oracle Josh Lay. Not an anthropocentric interpretation, but a necessary one of no kind reflection; the “life” experiences in this sound is the violence of struck surfaces, dropped utensils, and the regular oscillation of an ugly cloak of deep, depleted feedback. As the serpent bursting from the cover model’s skull, the sound pushes out yet quickly reaches its tether, left only to strike impotently up in booming punches. With a subject position akin to Prurient’s double-edged commands, vocals appear to appear with accumulating frequency, though only as a hissed echo stranded somewhere below - or standing somewhere above - our heads. Limited to 50 copies. Time for a third edition.

Like the smears of dusk on its cover, Rale’s drone couplet ‘Nightshade/Shadeup’ offers a muted representation of that temporary blindness experienced in transition from light to dark. Like passing traffic, a few broken lines of pronounced sound whir past the ear and from within the wall of grey sound which fills the speakers; the steadiness of the contours suggest more life, or rather, movement than we can determine, yet a rising tide of static foam grows on the top/outside of the welter, affecting an increasingly plastic or cordoned-off space of activity as if behind a windscreen. If the first side represents the commotion of rush-hour and the on-coming night shift action, the second attempts the reaction of sound damping, absorbing the wooly wall in a busier, total movement nearing the point of silence. The churn of machines becomes an internal rush of blood vessels and residual murmur, another sort of distance which in the final seconds leaks out as irredescent fluid. The imagination of Rale, for all its vividness, only reminds one the limits of our sense of sound; if not for the body, we’d have nothing. Limited to 100 copies. (Peasant Magik cassettes, $5 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081222-210759 SS021 Cro Magnon/Kam Hassah/Ottaven 3xC30
"three private live recorded directly to tape, Cro Magnon (nico of von archives) offer two rough tracks of deep rolling basses and feedbacks, Kam Hassah tracks are two long pieces of black electronics heavily influenced by the industrial italian school and the last tape is a long cosmic exploration made by ottaven, comes in an handmade box with three insert." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081220-170223 Another overlooked nicety from months back, the ‘Gathering Wool’ split between Joey Chainsaw and Stefan Kushima recalls the forgone Buried Valley tapes of a couple years ago. Quite resembling the work of BV’s house-act Changeling and chums Robedoor, the first of Chainsaw’s three untitled entries draws out moaning emanations in a tight loop, matched by chikachik creep-out meter and a lo-fi stain. Dull-edged feedback is placed over the next, a rambling guitar cycle persisting with indifference, reprised as a fist-strummed lament with injured vocal unsettling whatever trance the repetition impresses. This is mated with the watery, wavering electric guitar drone “To the Jittering Horizon” on the B-side. Kushima’s minimalism consumes the entire side with a constant surge of mid-bassiness and submerged highs ala Skaters. A Crytpic Carousel C40 available for $6 HERE.

A Brooklyn trio, Black Drink offers a noisy, electrified free-form in the tradition of AMM without the braininess - a wreck of Sightings no-wave and more percussion-heavy Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood. Distorted feedback squalor leads the entire set, met by respectable yet over-consistent tempos: an early trademark, the simple drum-lines phase slightly out of synch creating a double-exposure not unlike the busy contours of the two-layer transparency/cardstock insert which houses the tape. Billowing bass grumble and muted gaps surround the distinct body of the drum kit and the almost synth-etic guitar jerks, producing a new texture with each rotation of the roller and lots of cool, ambient space. The phase-shifting of the percussion is telegraphed to guitar as the kit takes a single channel on the reverse, though eventually consumed by a tide of shakers, oscillations, and brilliant harmonic tones. Quite recommended, and available from Sicksicksick HERE for $7.

Synthesizing an alliance between two monolithic and hyperbolic genres, the split cassette by Chicago noisemakers Locrian and grind-metal quartet Continent nicely matches the often-closeted genetics of the pair with vivid fidelity. Despite the dominant space assumed by its members, track diversity, and banded presence, Arizona’s Continent is most certainly the visiting team in this equation, as the cassette arrives self-released by their tape-companions, and includes decidedly un-metal, mod photography and logos (although Locrian’s logo on the final panel is pretty brutal). Sparing us the extended entries and ambient space which generally mark those moves from experiment to metal and vice-versa, the band play four straight-forward pieces of mid-tone grind with modest flourish. With a throaty MC, the band jogs tightly through several tempos with an understated cohesion. This speaks nicely to the bold streaks of their largely a-chronic counterpart, without the excess of detail so common (and crippling) to their genre. Striking high in the ear, the gaseous howl of Locrian’s “Burying the Carnival” bridges the right-channel feedback wash with skronk guitar slivers like cracking ice over the muted squall. The two-piece (Hannum and Foisy) divide the labor cleanly - at least in presentation – if not by instrument, by frequency, with sharply-pitched arcs slowly synching with the underlying churn. Yellow cassettes come labeled with handsome, pro-printed J-cards numbered to 100 copies. Possibly still available; contact Mr. Hannum.]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081217-232607 TEETH - 'Black Whole Heart' C20 50SEK/€5/$6
"Teeth is the pitch black nightmare of a haunting ritual of death. Building up a dreaded fear impossible to block out this recording is not for the weak hearted. Thomas Ekelund (Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Dead Violets) is the creater of this black hole of dispair, and he declares Teeth to be the disease whereas DLSODW is the symptoms of this disease. The music is minimalistic and crude, slowly getting darker and darker, denser and denser, and as the ritual evolves voices breaks through the muddy drone reaching for your reprobated soul." Limited to 100 cassettes.

Klororo 006 - CHAPELS - 'Laid Down in the Woods' C24 50SEK/€5/$6
"With several releases in the past (Tired Trails Collective, House of Alchemy) this is Chapels fifth release. Chapels is a one man project from Buffalo and Adam also plays in the Circle and the point (Blackest Rainbow) and is the man behind the label House of Alchemy On this recording, consisting of five diffrent tracks, Chapels do a psychedelic trip into the land of madness. Heavily drenched in nausea and gunpowder these sounds surely would made the conquistadors search for a relaxing spot far away from the sun. The drones are organic and moves swiftly with the help of organs, piano, vocals and samples, far away from the laptop cut-ups that is infecting the underground." Limited to 50 cassettes.

Klororo 005 - SEWER ELECTION - 'Bristning' C27 50SEK/€5/$6
"Sewer Election gives you a twisted world of decay and filth. Putting out records since 2002, on labels like Segerhuva, Release the Bats!, iDEAL and Troniks, you can definately say Sewer Election has been around quite a while delivering his punches of endlessly violent bursts of noise. Earlier this year, on his latest album called Kassettmusik, Sewer Election introduced a new sound to his music, replacing his former well knowned harsh noise to a more subtle and restrained soundscape, although nonetheless still filled with the corrupting and creepy feeling of moral decay and disease. In many ways Bristning is following in this direction, continuing with a tapeloop orientated sound, and in many ways it is not. Using all kinds metal junk to create analogue noise this recording is at times far more harsh than any fx-pedal ever can be. Bristning consits of only analogue sounds, recorded using microphones and a tapedeck, reducing the artificial feeling and creates a gritty and filthy sound of a world falling into pieces." Limited to 100 cassettes.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081217-160019 New Jersey’s Human Adult Band commit another session of raw magnetism to this C27 split with former member Chaz, here repping the beat-heavy ii. Through the standard haze, the Band unfurls as rolling percussion and mumbled verses, an explosion which may never happen, peering beyond the anti-rock of Sightings to the “post”-ism of Bitch Magnet of old with contemplative guitar lines and highly motile drumming. The metallic stomp of the following piece whistles with a suspended hardcore – clearly showing in their roots - whips of distortion licking the ceiling like flames while vocalist Trevor barks a melodic zealotry. A skronk set-up builds the third and final track, a speeded aggression of convulsive chorus, frantic guitar, and percussive calamity, crashing like old steel trash-day. The blur of the recording reaches an unbearable thick as if too little oxygen wound up fogging our lens. In shocking response, ii’s presentation is tight and polished in comparison, a dubby psych-rock espousing various amounts of Mekons, Butthole Surfers, and Truman’s Water. No titles grace any of these tracks, but the tribal demeanor of the first extends beyond percussion to the snaking of electric guitar, rattling pull-offs, and dual vocal convocation to dance. Threats of a “world” vibe are defused with off-key jabs (intentional), and a general irreverence for any sort of attribution or bullshit "authenticity". The dance begins in earnest with a zombie hoodoo of drum solo with vocal accompaniment - a dynamic piece of rhythm and a small fortune of timbres. A short raga-riff session ends the side with light percussion and no clue to the truth of this selection. Limited to a scant 25 copies on Xerox-labeled cassettes with color insert. Recommended. (DIHD/Cactus Pony cassette, $5 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081216-074512 Dryer/Heule/Lindsay - 'Idea of West'
"Dryer/Heule/Lindsay formed to explore musical territories made prominent in recent years emphasizing quiet and static musical structures. The trio seeks to relate to these new territories through pragmatic application of improvisation and compositional structures, rather than through stylistic imitation. Also of note is the trio's adherence to purely acoustic sound production in a music typically dominated by electronics. The trio attains a new approach to music making by rigorous adherence to fundamental methods of sound production. New material is discovered through a process of simplification, heightened awareness and a shedding of idiomatic mystification. Through this practice the action of producing sound itself becomes material; method becomes content. A focus on quieter dynamics opens a new world of micro-sound possibilities. The binding element is an adherence to clarity and an elemental awareness of process and material." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081215-113920 Stunned Records:

Kabyzdoh Obtruhamchi — 'Kabyzdoh Obtruhamchi' C50 (Stunned no. 18) $7
"Yes we're going to have to learn how to pronounce yet another tricky project name, but in this case it'll be highly worthwhile, as soon many will be talking about Kabyzdoh Obtruhamchi. Sergey Kozlov is Russia's newest exporter of excellent jams, and his solo c50 arrives as a thankful surprise with its sky-rending hybridization of eastern european guitar spree & 70s snowdazed modal folkrock. Resonant drums burst through the giant aluminum churn of guitar, voice, and percussion arcing overhead. Dancing between poles of hot motion & cool mass, Sergey's impressively energetic numbers establish themselves long enough to each become deeply meaningful, essential scenes in his pan shamanic expression. Big countries produce big stories, and we're glad to roll out the first of more hours to follow from Bryansk's psych music representative." Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c50 tapes in clear shells w/ gold foil liner & double sided color jcard.

A.M. Shiner — 'Bananarchy' C100 (Stunned no. 19) $7
"Sulfuric post-music debut by the young & troubled Andrew Michael Shiner, whose sonic vernacular on this special edition long playing cassette never strays far from snotty concrete chomping noise. Side A is seven widely varied attempts at funneling assaultive energy thru a black hole in the hopes of its emergence as a pure & beautiful force of healing through the white hole on the other side. Just barely making it there and catching glimpses of the toxic information field being refined in the analog shitstorm is enough to let this single side roll out the length of a full album. Side B matches the first fifty minutes with two more minimally-oriented pieces that include Andrew's first ever "metahistoric live performance" (were you there? probably!). All is finally capped by a half hour time-freezing monolith wash guaranteed to mellow any harsh incurred by contact with the bananarchic agenda. Also look out for new chapters of the A.M.S. crisis to unfold soon on Housecraft and Sound Holes. Hand numbered edition of 80 pro-dubbed black & white c100 tapes in vinyl album with cover collage compiled from a year's worth of strung out doodles from A.M. Shiner's old bummer-job phone log."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081214-202536 Lyon’s best-titled freeform mystics Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides offer their first professional compact disc (among so many CDrs) ‘Bataille De Battle’ as four tracks of cold, steel reluctance in long-form. Made of Kelly Jones and Pascal Nichols, otherwise familiar from acts like Stuckometer and Cooper-Jones, the pair take rural farm-hands to percussion and amplified flute, generating a proud sound of modest grandeur like the carnival supraimposed in the irreverent sketching of the cover’s art. Enhancing the disc by trying relation, after much clatter the sparse wheezing of “Fully Pierced” develops into a slightly-skewed mantra of lazy, nodding rhythm and coarse bursts of wind, so better to contrast the smooth harmony of “Full Left Hand Cocoon”, a charmed evocation of resonant bowls and reedy hum to compliment the patter of drums and leading finger of flute melody: in a late-impressionistic style qua Debussy, the pair color their modern pseudo-primitivism with the happenstance of liveness, drawing out deep bellows indistinguishable from compositions for dragged furniture. Unfolding like a fever, the percussion of the track accelerates beneath the flute's lead as a complex of ritual, not improv, much precise. The erratic timpani throbs fill the bigger room of "Grapes Engraved" to a weird crowdedness; the rushed delivery of drum and flute compressing the track to a mere five minutes. Final piece "One Day We'll Limit Forever" secures the structure with a comprehensive performance of a more melodic quality and steady rhythm. A soothing balm for the cold rash of the album's front-end, the components seem strangely less in conversation than ever before. Compact disc comes in a pro digipak. (Singing Knives CD, £7/£8 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081213-201753 'pre pol pot pop from kampuchea' C40 5€
"Weird trance-inducing 'grey area' compilation of swinging Cambodian DJ style pop/folk tunes to float your exotic boat. Forty minutes of Far East bliss selected and mixed by Lil' Haha. Complex rhthym sections, wave tempos and a energetic powerful drive recorded in a dirty haze of wind and tapehiss. For folks that dance to Sublime Frequencies releases. Released through the newly born Why So Serious label that blows through Belgium like a fresh winter breeze. Highly recommended!"

bottoms of black lakes - 'jesus didn't go to work everyday' C20 5€
"It has recently come to my attention that the Antwerp weird underground scene keeps evolving. Every now and then a new restless soul steps up to the plate, takes the crown and runs. Dark dungeon electronics for freaks that light fags with a blowtorch and dream about mutant invasions. A dreaded morbid vision of so called better times. Bottoms Of Black Lakes is a creature that operates from a couch, west of heaven and close to a magical fountain of intoxication. Not aware of his own minimalist influences, he chops time in half and drags it across a burned wasteland of roaches, crackles and sonic despair. A creeped out (complete with lit up eyes and remote control) hairy version of Kim Cascone meets Robert Ashley. Hands down the best title in years!"

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081211-125629 Nicholas Szczepanik makes his second Animal Psi appearance this year (barely though), making good on the promises of ‘Asilbe Rubra’ with ‘A Stillness Rarely Seen’. It’s short – three inches – yet expansive – the single track fills all 21 minutes of the little CDr. Experimenting in form, Szczepanik fiddles with focus as he pulls/pushes the breathy bulk of drone which carries the track through phases of deep color contrast and textual peaks. This overcast mass is familiar to the incumbent middle-period Stars of the Lid (though leaning toward the more accessible Dead Texan one-off) and more recently, Ateleia’s ‘Nightly’. Further, bursts of rain, bleary playground recordings, and an entry of piano striate the track at perfect fractions. The vaporous movement of the track coasts sinister over these scenes in fine juxtaposition, revealing the melodrama of the composition in tandem with its own compelling logic. Lingering between ambient and narrative, the effect is meditative but not to remedial. Packed in heavy vinyl sleeve and a gorgeous, full-color cardstock with photo by Rob Dobi. Limited to 139 pieces. (Small Doses 3”CDr, $4 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081210-214030 trhp23: v/a - 'LAST WINTER WE DIDN'T SING' $10
"Last Winter We Didn't Sing features winter holiday-inspired music from the likes of Scott Tuma, The Instruments (Elephant 6 cellist and Gnarls Barkley touring bassist Heather McIntosh), pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn with a hauntingly beautiful 16-minute solo improvisation, Greg Davis inspired by a Simon & Garfunkel "Silent Night" arrangement, Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan, Fabio Orsi playing an ambient noir-jazz piece like something out of Twin Peaks, Nicholas Szczepanik with a heart-wrenching piece of beauty and Chartreuse slowing down a traditional French waltzing carol. It's a somber and reflective take on the season with a beautiful illustration by Ariel Kitch screen-printed on heavy chipboard eco packs by Sire Press." Hand-numbered edition of 300.

trhp17: GAY AFRICA - 'Pizzaze' CDr EP $6
"Gay Africa is yet another Dark Meat offshoot, this time a foursome led by the long-haired nuke-jammer Jim McHugh. Bedded with the drone of an electronic raagini, Gay Africa completely improvises "Dream Cables," a 20-minute raga-rocker recorded live at the 40 Watt in Athens, Geo., by Sloan Simpson.Jim's in Richard-Thompson-channeling-Ravi-Shankar mode, with Emily Armond (flute), Theodore Tutu (trumpet) and Jason Robira (drums) kicking up the dirt and celebrating the spirits. The packaging is really something on this one, too. Each copy is entirely unique: hand-painted by Kate Burnet on reused, cut-up vinyl jackets. The insert is an origami fortune teller folded from old maps. These took a long time to make, but were so worth the wait." Hand-numbered edition of 150.

trhp21: GENE JANAS & JEFFREY HAYDEN SHURDUT - 'Ray-Gun' 3"CDr $5
"INTENSE INTENSE!! FREE-IMPROV 21ST CENTURY STYLE FROM THE NEW MONSTERZ ON THE BLOCK!! DEEP CLEANSING MUSIC, YO!! Bassist/vocalist Gene Janas left this note about his new recording project with multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut and I feel like there's little left to say. Janas' main gig with the fire-jazz unit Owl Xounds seems to be on temporary hiatus, so RAY-GUN is a welcome venture into a new language. Janas grunts spoken word over the squeal of his upright while Shurdut moves around the alto sax, trumpet and piano, playing colors outside/through/above the lines. This is indeed some serious cleansing music." Black artwork printed onto 5"x5" heavy red cardstock folded into a sturdy mylar sleeve. Hand-numbered edition of 78.

trhp20: NICK HENNIES - 'Paths' CDr $5
"It shouldn't have, but it came as a surprise to me that Weird Weeds percussionist (and one-time Jandek drummer) Nick Hennies had been recording electronic music for some time, so I'm excited to officially release his first recording for no-input mixer. I could use the language most do when talking about this machine -- how the knobs reveal ghosts in the machine or what metallic alien drones seep through. But listening to the 24-minute work, you hear the echoes of Hennies' studious improvisational approach with careful shifts of high-pitched feedback and his attention to (a)tonal in/sensitivity". Artwork by Andrew Drummond printed on heavy cardstock with a dark blue gel slipped into a mylar sleeve to reveal the text. Hand-numbered edition of 75.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081210-093756 Keith Rowe/Taku Unami (ErstLive 006) and Keith Rowe (ErstLive 007)
"In September 2008, legendary guitarist Keith Rowe played four sets in three nights in the AMPLIFY 2008: light festival in Tokyo. The festival marked Rowe's fourth trip to Japan in his 40+ year career and the first time he was able to work closely with so many Tokyo musicians on their home turf. As the only non-Japanese participant in the festival, Rowe took the opportunity to both move his aesthetic towards his collaborators (in the duo sets), as well as to make a strongly contrasting individual statement in his solo set, which he later titled 'Cultural Templates'. The first two of those four sets are now available in the ErstLive series: the premiere meeting of Rowe and Taku Unami and the aforementioned 'Cultural Templates', Rowe's first solo set ever in Tokyo. The two sets from the final night of the festival, duos with Sachiko M and Toshimaru Nakamura, will be released in 2009, completing the tetralogy. AMPLIFY 2008: light was an intense and deeply immersive experience for all who were lucky enough to be present, and quite a bit of that was attributable to Rowe's four sets, which will now be available for all to hear. The ErstLive series is an attempt to capture the uncapturable: unedited, unpolished concert recordings packaged in a template design using two colors chosen by the musicians involved, with a photo of the concert on the back cover." WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081209-123307 Lateral Hyetography - 'Some Girlzzz' cassingle $3.5
"Dense inhuman pop music bliss. The thump of preset drum machines vacillates with distorted guitar layers and thick vocal sheen. The first document from a string of forthcoming releases; two versions of the single in true cassingle fashion. Professional cover model and pro-everything else. 1st edition of 95 sold out; 2nd edition of 95 copies now available on green chrome tape with cardstock J-Cards. Check the web for reviews and radio coverage."

Antique Brothers - 'Hot Shit' C44 $5
"Salvia-inflected musicianship. Members have collaborated with Pocahaunted, Robedoor, VxPxC, Century Plants, and Cold Sun, among others. Seeing them play Bottled Smoke Festival and the Neon Commune Festival floored me and put this tape into my crystal ball. Pro-everything (dubbing, imprinting, printing), chrome tape, meticulously designed cardstock J-Card with images from "a trip" to Lappland. Edition of 125."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081207-231638 KAWABATA MAKOTO - 'Rainbow Of Love' LP £11(WORLDWIDE)
"I am extremely pleased to announce this one... Brand new solo record from one of the most prolific Japanese recording artists around right now. Most people will know Kawabata Makoto as the guitar wielding shredder from Acid Mother Temple. This brand new solo recording is a two piece epic of some of the most beautiful tones I've heard in a while. Side A's 'You Are From The Rainbow Over The Sea' is an piece of bowed beauty, taking you to a higher plain of consciousness. The B Side's 'Waiting For You Till The End Of The Rainbow' is just as cosmic as its predecessor with cascading waterfalls of tones washing over you again and again... kinda reminds me of some of the Inui series, which is probably some of my favourite material from Makoto. Edition of only 270 copies in screen printed sleeves with artwork by my man Darryl Norsen!"

BEN NASH/NAUTILUS Split LP £11(WORLDWIDE)
"Nautilus is the solo project of Heidi Diehl of Vanishing Voice/Time Life, long time BR transatlantic e-mail buddy who we finally got to meet just over a year ago on the very brief Vanishing Voice tour... since then she has begun recording solo material under this alias, and has self released one CDR which blew our minds, and likewise blew local long time BR friend Ben Nash's cranium apart, thus the concept for this split LP was born! The Nautilus side opens with 'Still Rings', a far out trip of weirdo outsider dripping mind fuzz, like some kind of spatial insect gathering. 'Tallahasse Woman' rings more bells with the sound of Vanishing Voice and Heidi's psychedelic string playing, and subtle vocals buried below it. 'Jeans Theme' is another sweet track of tranced out guitar with approaching percussion and waves of vocal drones. Ben Nash holds his side with two nearly 8 minute tracks, opener 'Plymouth Bredren Blues' has definetly got the blues as mentioned in the title, there's some serious woe in the wah right here, and some almost Paris, Texas moments. 'Interloper/Latch' also starts off pretty bluesy but half way through goes to a speaker shredding guitar shaker, with some seriously serious riffs, that are almost breaking up as they begin, and then reverting back to the blues mediation of the beginning of the track.. A great release, in an edition of 270 copies with paste on artwork."

ELM - 'Woven Into Light' CDr £5.5(WORLDWIDE)
"Solo project of one half of Barn Owl, Jon Porras... and its an absolute mind blower. Following his previous release on Digitalis (that vanished in the flash of an eye), here's a new 7 track album of meandering drone laced with guitars, vocals, harmonium and harmonica... Opener 'Rising Smoke Woods' sounds as though its been recorded at the top of a hill at the close of day, slow, bleak, guitar with distant waves of vocal telepathy, far out chimes, and a mellow building drone that turns into an almost doom riff from the looming darkness. 'Solemn Night Prayer' has an almost nomadic wanderer feel to it, with its whispering flutes, fuzzed riff and repetitive guitars foot stepping around and around. Album finale is with 'Waves Break Into Beams of Light', which is a hazy mist of shaky drones layered over one another. Limited to 250 hand numbered copies, pro manufactured CDRs with simple stark on disc print."

ELM - 'Woven Into Light' cassette £6(WORLDWIDE)
Limited to 25 copies, packaged in stamped brown card box with paste on artwork housing a bubble wrapped cassette and a hand numbered parchment paper insert.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081207-113859 In sharp compliment to Stunned’s latest from the unassailable steel strings of Plankton Wat comes the work of Claus Haxholm, hereby The Doom Riot. A guitar music of drastically different stripe, the electrified monoliths constructed by Haxholm – reaching 12, 20, and 30 minutes – work in tandem of hi/lo contrast, as the gliding, half-speed High Rise of “Giants & Titans” crests sleepily into the busy, yet hopelessly murky primer “Star in the Skull”. Reconstructing a Popul Wu’uj/Popul Vuh psychedelia, the tracks chant with the monotonous fervor of the true believer, delving into the absent space which can channel the energy to craft the half-hour of booming distortion automatically-written as “Backup Angel Fire Sphere”: a sharp distortion overwhelming the secret piano of tones striating the track, the electric church congregates not without worry among the congregation; crashing into itself, the bassy plumes which cough as if on accident thin into the crackling electricity which overwhelms the ear, evoking at least a physical want for air/space. Deceptively offering more space and little percussion to be found, “Night Saviour Drummer” keeps a busy tempo in deeper hues, disallowing the lungs to relax in high-frequency/low-volume vibrations punctuated by a clattering like the warning of wind-chimes, or more realistically, a futile performance of triangle versus electric guitar. A tumultuous journey, the ‘The Doom Riot’ proves more than a fashionable misnomer, and the title a reasonable representation of the unattainable desires of the sound within. Printed CDr comes in clamshell with thick color art, hand-numbered to 60 copies. (Stunned CDr, sold out HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081207-112826 TEN THOUSAND THINGS - 'CROOKED ON CHROME' C20 $6
"Heavy mechanized factory zones, synthetic industrial murk: this collaborative project between East Coast mainstays Geoffrey Mullen (of the Rare Youth label) and Scott Reber (aka Work/Death) reveals a polyphonic wasteland. Covered under layers of tape sludge and deep bass exists a synthesized ambiance, eerie like dark nights in the warehouse district." In an edition of 100 tapes printed on silver cardstock with tape labels.

ARBOR78 GOD WILLING/PRIVY SEALS SPLIT LP $12
"God Willing and Privy Seals are two of the prime purveyors of meditative harsh tones. God Willing's guitar and oscillatior drone has been reaching epic levels of hypnosis lately and this piece is a great example. The repetitive nature of textured signals act like the swaying charm of the pocket watch: onward march. Matthew Sullivan has been crafting his Earn project recently, and this, one of the final Privy Seals recordings acts as a logical bridge. Heavy, hi-end guitar and tape interlacing: a harsh movement, but possessing transcendently soothing qualities buried under the deprivation of distorted tones. At the end of the hallway a door lies open. A long overdue document of the LA Diaspora." In an edition of 300 LPs with silkscreened chipboard covers by Ren Schofield.

ARBOR88 C. SPENCER YEH + LASSE MARHAUG - 'THE ELEMENTARY PARTICLES' 7" $6
"This collaborative work between US improviser C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) and European sound artist Lasse Marhaug is one of the most diverse and rewarding efforts by either artist. It is the result of hours of recording, cut up and spliced together, giving the listener a glimpse into various short snippets of the sessions. Harsh quick sonic blasts, violin scrapes and drones, field recordings, vocal exercises, room clatter and more are used in the process, but the way that they are assembled and woven together provides a nonstop experience that goes best with highly concentrated listening. Still the result is so varied that something new can be heard on every listen; a recording so intense you can never truly grasp what is actually happening; most definitely a highlight in both artists' discographies." In an edition of 400 7"s in proprinted foldover sleeves with art Jose DeDiego and an insert.

ARBOR91 OUTER SPACE - 'PERFECT VACUUM' C30 $6
"John Elliot (of Emeralds, Lilypad, Daylight Savings Time) has spent many years mastering his MS-10. This tape from his young Outer Space project is an exploratory trip into the deep caves; synthesized water drips into stalactite formation. Heavy "what's it" zones, broadening the boundaries: refusing the molds of synth drone by creating something entirely singular: uncharted." In an edition of 150 tapes with full color art and labels.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081206-122029

Anemone Lodge s/t CDr $8
"Anemone Lodge is the result of a spirited improvisation between the like-minds of Number None (Chris Miller and Jeremy Bushnell), The Opera Glove Sinks in the Sea (Gwyneth Merner) and Radiant Husk (Matt Erickson). Recorded in November 2006 in Chicago, the group used synthesizer, theremin, field recordings, keyboards, bowed guitar, pianolin, feedback loops and fx to channel the spectral hum and whir of that fall evening. Equal parts blissed tone-float and murky echo, a ritual set to tape in the belly of a whale." Silk-screened on chipboard sleeves with full color inserts.

Radiant Husk – ‘Beyond an Endless Swale’ C32 $5
"This tape is the newest installment from Radiant Husk, with pieces that walk the rope between long-form composition and dense free-reed clusters, between flowing washes of basalt and minimal space echo." Hand-stamped tapes in color printed fold-out j-cards.

Sudden Oak s/t C21 $5
"First album from this saxophone/guitar duo from San Francisco. While attempting to record under the influence of their European and Japanese idols, they ended up with a foggy blast that sounds nothing like the original intent. The coordinates are somewhere in the Borbetomagus vein, but much more refracted to the point of infinite space." Hand-stamped j-card on cardstock.

Radiant Husk – ‘several potem’ CDr $7
"An initial transmission from this project, divided into four parts. Using reeds, keyboards, tapes and electronics, this is the sound of a mirror buried in a snow field. Recorded during the summer and fall of 2007, this album was an attempt to imagine Takehisa Kosugi and Terry Riley collaborating at the ONCE Festival in 1966 with Bruce Conner manning the light show." Woodblock stamped cds and full color inserts.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081205-210124 THE PUKE EATERS - 'Hello Valhalla' LP (Skulls of Heaven / Lalalal) $12
Limited Edition of 500 pressed 140g Black vinyl. "Does anyone remember a remarkable piece of psych-styled rubbish called "God is Free", released on Chocolate Monk back in 2004? Of all the odd wonders and incestuous secrets to emerge from Finland in the last 20 years, the Puke Eaters could be thee greatest. "Hello Walhalla" is the first long playing record by this anti-prolific group. The applied methods range from accidental to free and from psycho-motorik to ritual. For any points of reference think of the swamp into which Fille qui mousse, Cromagnon and 'Jesus Christ' era Smell & Quim were dumped. After years of tireless experimentation in the cynical utopian ruinscape of their collective butterfly mind, The Puke Eaters have loosened their belts and finally unleashed their deadliest recordings for thee future caveman. Endless volcano-brain spewing on the ur-limits of limitless psycho-dynamic sound clash, totally high on Scandinavian pussy juice."

CLAY RUBY - 'Pluto in Capricorn' CDr (Skulls of Heaven) $8
"After 13 years in Sagittarius, the dark planet Pluto has finally begun his phase through the potent house of Capricorn. This journey will take 15 long and volatile years to complete. As a tribute to the beginning of what will no doubt be an epic period of destruction and deconstruction hopefully followed by intensive reevaluation and renewal, this album takes the listener through a similarly dynamic journey of celestial electronic meditations. Two months of depression medicated by serious drug and keyboard abuse yielded over 8 hours of introspective new age star symphonies, reaching through the darkness, towards some idea of future lightness. These recordings were then sifted through using modern astrological technologies to select the most thematically appropriate material for this song cycle. All atmospheres are thoroughly mutated through the chronic sicknesses of crude analog processing, only glimpses of the intended therapeutic cherubs make themselves known to the
listener. Vast future darkness haunts the proceedings as scales climb to sublime pitches only to be shifted back into the murk of spiritual death and the first flickers of rebirth. Analog mirror music, mandatory long distance mental travel is woven into either alternative."

SECOND FAMILY BAND - 'Wisconsin Gospel (Books One - Four)' CDr (skulls
of heaven) $8/ all four for $30
"The ever living theater of Midwestern brethren ((formerly casting itself as Davenport Family, Candiru, Zodiac Mountain, The Grass Magic, All Do Gather, A Mercury Ensemble, Orthodox Blood Orchestra, Jesus Balls, etc etc etc,))) has birthed it's final phoenix. Arising here is the first four discs in an on-going documentary anthology, originally intended as an LP series, these cdrs present the material as intended for consumption in the right now. "Wisconsin Gospel" collects unreleased material compiled by Clay Ruby from 10 years worth of gatherings and archival recordings. As always, the groups fearlessly treads through senseless psychedelia, energetic kraut/tribal workouts, ecstatic prayer sessions, and deep analog explorations flush with broken folk gestures and perfect accidents."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081205-115718

905.31: HOLLOW BONEZ - 'BLUE BLAZER IRREGULAR' C25 $6
"homemade synth stains straight outta the parts unknown zone. hxbx brings the weirdo tone pile-up on full blast with two spacecraft globbers, swirling back and forth from ocean floor to nebula cloud. when you get out of bed in the middle of the night for a glass of water, the last thing you wanna see in the kitchen is an alien, right? this is just a reminder."

905.33: NECKHOLD - 'BLACK BILE' C20 $6
"these two aussies played an all day i.n.c. gig a few months back in philly and thrashed the room with some sickly ultra-violent feedback. i think the setup only consisted of a few pedals and contact mics, some of which were hooked up to a skateboard that was repeatedly bashed, and the results were thick and mangled. their ear bleeding harsh noise translate perfect onto tape. best well kept secret out there."

905.38: V/A 'BRAINS ON BACKWASH' C92 COMPILATION $6
"this hour and a half compilation plays almost like one long brain melter rather than twenty one seperate artists. that means no gaps between tracks. in fact, there is some slight overlay when it was called for to keep the boiling going. all over the noise spectrum jams from: cock e.s.p., tonight golden curls, hal mcgee, tusco terror, oubliette, diaphragm, wether, skybirds, to live and shave in l.a., datashock, sky limousine, talibam!, head boggle, suburbia melting, hunting rituals, the lonely procession, reviver, d/a a/d, xiphiidae, slow listener, and andrew kirschner.

905.39: KYLIE MINOISE - 'ABNORMALS ANONYMOUS' C20 $6
"a blown speaker rampage from glasgow's lea cummings solo affair kylie minoise. two more bloodthirsty avalanches added to the ever impressive portfolio that cummings has been building up. the sounds here fluctuates from dark and agonizing death rattles to piercing levees of gunk, mixing things up with heavy delay when needed."

905.40: DISGUISES S/T C30 $6
"saw these dudes rip it a few years back and was hooked, so i'm stoked to bring a brand new slab of scum from the canadian basement chain gang disguises. full on drums/fungus/synth/murk bottom fed blasters. these dudes blend lumbering waste noise with stoned psych elements like no other. basically a guesstimate at form and an onrush of splurge."

all for $25. WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081204-164642 From the blowdart evacuations in the opening seconds of ‘Self-Hate Index’, it is painfully clear that Greg Kelley is here to experiment. “Stimulus Check” begins the album’s ¾ hour document of one man’s futile interrogation of “his” instrument, in this case, Kelley as trumpeter. Blowing wind into its mouthpiece becomes sucking the air from his body; depressing the valves becomes repressing the proper notes from appearing. With a buzzing impotence familiar to the work of Dave Phillips, the man drags insectine static with a vivid fidelity; the crackle we hear is not the recording, but the over-micing of the row – the spectator is not excused, but implicated as well. The confrontation – one of seven – lasts for eight minutes, as do the three which follow, though the whole disc extends to a single episode of almost cartoonish loathing as the man tries to best his creation. Or is the problem that it is not his creation? If the first was an honest effort to “play” the thing, “These Are Distractions” offers a second approach, tinkering to subvert the device – a compulsive desire to mastery, void of actual virtuous mastery – the sounds of metal twisted and tweaked, with tentative huffs punctuating each adjustment. Eventually, the man imitates the successful pull of the instrument with an extended yet untenable blast, teetering sadly into the crunchy “Shearing Husks” where the performance is obscured (thus, unappraisable) by the misplacement of the microphones. The vacancy of the following track – hollow breaths like a window’s draft playing off the microphone- emerges in the choking liquidity of “Vessel”, a drowning in tub or toilet which accentuates the architecture of the instrument while still failing to play it properly (though the sounds which appear are among the most consistent thus far). The harsh noise of “Anxious Drift” represents the final tantrum – and, ironically, the most generically “musical” of the tracks – a tirade of skronky chatter like a Naked City burst of discomfited presentation. The final movement “Visiting Microphones” reveals the dimensions of the studio space as the player moves about the room, presenting a variety of sounds at each station like a recap of the six places he stood prior. Like the suction of the introduction, an extending vacuum fills the final moments, sputtering steadily from the face among staggering footfalls which seem equally in need of direction. The olde English font on over-blown camouflage which appears at first as lazy design reveals a deeper correspondence to the heated frustration of the disc, a libidinal degeneration corrupted by simulacra and a genuine disdain for music. ‘Self-Hate Index’ represents Kelley’s fourth proper release, and though I must plead ignorance of his prior work, the man represents a spectacular vision or desperation which few other experimentalists can match at the moment. Brilliant, and so very ugly. (Semata CD, $12 HERE) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081203-200357 Loner Deluxe - 'Must Not Sleep Must Warn Others'/'Lost & Found' 2x3"CDr
Originally released on the Toyko-based Duotone label, 'Must Not Sleep Must Warn Others' now returns home via Rusted Rail and brings some old friends with it in the shape of a bonus 3' disc of previously unreleased material, fittingly called 'Lost & Found'. The seasonal atmospherics of 'Must Not Sleep...' leans heavily on frosted melodies and evocative acoustica woven into mellow, meditative and minimalist music and features special guests and labelmates Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon and Agitated Radio Pilot. Mainly harvested from an old hard drive the additional disc 'Lost & Found' veers from gentle tone poems to ethereal folkways and dreamlike sonics. The aural equivalent of watching old video tapes, this lost Loner Deluxe music is made available for the first time along with an effervescent remix/redesign of some music from labelmates The Declining Winter and a gentle reworking of some music from previous collaborators Plinth. This double 3 inch hand stamped release is housed in handmade mini-gatefold sleeve." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081202-173412 katchmare - 'soft cavern' C46 $7(domestic)/$9(world)
"katchmare is the solo moniker of nick hoffman who runs the excellent scissor death label up in illinois. "soft cavern" is a dense listen and perfect for the oncoming bitter cold that winter brings. using little more than guitar and microsynth, hoffman laces the hanging branches with burned-out silver streamers and acid-soaked confetti. there's something about "soft cavern" that is simultaneously disorienting but familiar. you're sure you've been here, but you can't quite figure out when. there's a vague, sinister undercurrent that flows through the cavern walls, but it's constantly kept in check by hoffman's able, delicate touch. these drones are entangled in each other, like a sonic spiderweb of bliss. limited to 50 copies." HERE

ltd#42: mortuus auris & the black hand s/t C46 $7(domestic)/$9(world)
"this uk outfit plumbs the depths on their self-titled debut offering, searching for the caustic mud that makes things tick. mortuus auris & the black hand are an analog for the demons trapped beneath the seas, whispering sweet missives to a disenchanted world of black. casios and synths intermingle with field recordings and god knows what else in an effort to block out the sun. these three efforts take hold immediately, whirring their way into your bones. mortuus auris hold their own against stifling winds, blasting out of the gates and into a sonic crevice. bleeps and bloops pulse like an electronic heartbeat waiting to be put out of its misery, hopeful that what awaits on the other side is bathed in liquid silver." limited to 50 copies, forensic-style cassette labels. HERE

ltd#47: darwinsbitch - 'steel hum' C25 $7(domestic)/$9(world)
"finally, the bitch is here. marielle v. jakobsons is the brilliant mind behind the elusive darwinsbitch. her music is rich in texture and portrays an aural depth that you can't quite pierce. "steel hum" is an introduction, an effort to bring you into the fold in anticipation of her spellbinding debut full-length, "ore." but what "steel hum" has is an organic sense of place and a path forward. jakobsons employs numerous methods with a focus on synths, tapes, and violin. what she creates is a slightly-uneasy soundworld, constantly teetering on the edge of collapse. these sides are like a rocking ship drifting back & forth in deep grey seas. you're not sure if you should just enjoy the view or vomit your dinner over the side. "steel hum" is caught in the space between." limited to 99 copies w/ custom stamped art. HERE

ltd#48: sky limousine - 'telepresence' C20 $7(domestic)/$9(world)
"i love me some sky limousine. rarely does a project's moniker so perfectly encapsulate its sound, but in the case of sky limo it couldn't be more true. "telepresence" alternates between gooey synthed-out goodness and schizoid tape collage efforts. it all flows like a crystal river deep into the trenches of your frontal lobe. the journey that is "telepresence" will take you all over the globe. blips of eastern-tinged cacaphony fit snugly against hiss-drenched jamborees, all leading into uplifting synth passages and quiet solemnity. like i said, i love me some sky limousine. limited to 50 copies, japanese paper cover stylings." HERE

digiv003: scott tuma/mike weis - 'taradiddle' $14/$17/$25
"Scott Tuma made his triumphant return earlier this year with "Not For Nobody" and continues to answer the call with this new, exquisite offering in collaboration with Zelienople's Mike Weis. "Taradiddle" is a new journey down similar terrain, searching out something new in a landscape that's been visited before. Take Tuma's capable hands and add the fantastic percussive talents of Weis and it's like the wheel reinvented. These two play off one another beautifully, with Weis creating layers of havoc beneath Tuma's pastoral missives. It's beautiful and dissonant. Weis is the perfect foil for Tuma's brittle sound world. The music breathes underwater, building and building on itself until it's risen into this majestic monument of glass. Archaic drones spit bombastic blasts of fire while the resulting sparks flicker into a million directions, flourescent in the night sky. Acoustic guitars drenched in reverb ring hollow with pianos echoing in the distance. Weis creates a river with swishing cymbals puncuated by fragile bells. Everything is bright, vivid, and new on "Taradiddle." Everything is perfect." LP comes in fold-out silkscreened poster-style sleeve and is strictly limited to 300 copies. HERE

ACE021: barn owl - 'from our mouths a perpetual light' CD $13/cd+$20
"It's been quite a whirlwind ride for Barn Owl since they made their debut on Foxglove a few years ago. In such a short time period they've emerged as one of the premier bands on the West Coast. This duo of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras are as good as it gets and this is their opus. Originally released on vinyl by the good folks at Not Not Fun, "From Our Mouths a Perpetual Light" is an epic offering to the sun gods. This San Francisco-based duo have crafted something impeccable here full of spectral blues and subterranean drones that rival anything else happening today. Epic doom-tinged guitars explode like a phoenix impaling itself on a nuclear missile bathing everything in glorious, gluttonous black. The album's title envisages the greatness that is to come. Nothing is spared as they rain liquid hellfire down onto the scorched desert. From their mouths a perpetual light indeed. It will suck you in, fill your bones with diamonds, and paint you in titanium chrome. There is nowhere to hide from these menacing sounds, but even if you could, why the fuck would you want to? Note: CD version includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks that were not on the LP version of the album. Special edition includes bonus live cassette (it's basically one-sided, though the program repeats on both sides), fold-out poster designed by Caminiti, and Barn Owl button. It is strictly limited to 100 copies." HERE

ACE017: of - 'rocks will open' CD $13/CD+C44 $18
"Loren Chasse is responsible for a whole host of vital albums. He was a founding member of the Jewelled Antler label and has sparked so many great moments from the likes of Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Softwar, and of course his main solo guise, Of. For years this project has evolved into something of absolute magical grandeur. "Rocks Will Open" is the latest opus in Chasse's catalog. The music on this album is as organic as it gets. Each tone, each sound feels like it has been culled directly from the Earth's crust. Gentle drones arc toward the hazy sunlight, flickering like distant birds sailing out over the sea. Between the ghostly echoes rises a cacacphony of plucked strings dancing toward oblivion. Loren Chasse's vision is perfectly expressed on "Rocks Will Open." Limited to 500 copies. Special Edition limited to 100 copies and includes exclusive cassette, "Morphological Echo." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081202-093108

(VxPxC) - ‘Baked Potatoes’ CDr $7
“(VxPxC) or Vast Psychedelic Cassettes, was born in Los Angeles in early 2005 when Justin McInteer, Grant Capes , and Tim Goodwillie began creating their improvised music over spiked coffee and days spent skipping work. The tracks on this album, recorded in Los Angeles over a time span of many months, draw together thick , smoky hues of psych heavy improv using a wide range of folksy instrumentation and gloomy effects: campfire psychedelics.” Numbered edition of 77.

Preliminary Saturation - ‘Hell's Mouth’ C30 $7
“In may of 2008, preliminary saturation played at an ( f) art festival in the Dutch town Helmond. The crowd was though and the organization worse . PS tried to give their best anyway. Hell's Mouth is a literal translation of Helmond; it suited the situation pretty well. . .” Numbered edition of 33 copies

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081201-160034 Capturing both the spirit of summer and the just-in-time glory of home-recording and CDr technologies, ‘Ashdod To Ekron’ by The Golden Sores was recorded late last June, mixed in July, and released in August. Unfortunately, capturing the glory of the blogosphere and amateur music criticism, it has sat on my shelf ever since. Nevertheless, the sweltering glint of this Vaseline recording deposits the thick air of a Chicago summer without restricting the sonic excursions to an equally-seasonal relevance; what more, given the medieval Christian imagery of the cover and titles, the lazy escapism of a summer session is well placed, transporting just enough of the moment into a mythical drone epic in five parts. With a chorus of high frequency buzz and hazy guitar leads, “Arphaxad” walks backward to a pre-guitar space, allowing itself to be eaten in a wall of white noise like transport. We emerge on the other side to the two-part “Harlots of Ashkelon” – all tracks are skillfully, seamlessly blended together – a deep quavering bolsters the passing of washes like freight-trains in shape and weight. These interjections, while never breaking the rhythmic currency of the deep-wide drone, grow larger and larger, near-missing a collision of Stars of the Lid alien science and the mechanistic canvases of Machinefabriek. Totaling 25 minutes in length, these two tracks alone could fill a modest disc, as they construct a story from the heavy repression of lent to the sonorous riot of carnival located in the second half of part two: like singing knives, a chorus of sharp organ stabs kick drunkenly between each other, phasing a Riley-like dervish with the steady foundational drone. “Ur” hums an overcast cool in remarkably dynamic organ melody trapped in an icy resonance, the tonal peaks glinting like silver sunlight off the clouded bulk of the drone. Out of this, the sine-wave of “Gorgon Blues” cuts like a jet stream, a busy engine of hi-mid-lo swarms separated into distinct strata of unwavering intensity to the very end. What happened to the historical fiction I don’t know, but I like where we ended up. CDr comes in a slim jewelcase with thick, richly colored insert. Hand-numbered to 100 copies. Understated, esoteric, and very excellent. (Drone Cowboy CDr, $8 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081130-112105 Inseminoid - 'Waiting for Ms. Hayden' BH004 CDr
Edition of 100. Card mailer sleeve with cover chosen randomly from twelve inserts, the remaining eleven are found in the mailer. "Spawned in blackness this is another far from human birth from the pairing of Lee Stokoe (Culver, Skullflower, Marzuraan) and George Proctor (Mutant Ape, Murder Book, Turgid Animal). There’s too much detail in the two tracks to take seriously the limiting tag of drone/noise, Inseminoid sound-drown the last of the pretenders." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081129-083522 No Fun Productions’ hot-streak of releases has been upgraded to plain fucking fantastic record making (cf. Dan Burke and Thomas Dimuzio’s wonderful ‘Upcoming Events’ most recently), now a complementary doubling of their curatorial dominance. As its latest boast, the Brooklyn outfit's mastermind Carlos Giffoni presents ‘Adult Life’, the mature chaperone to his double 7” ‘The Absence of Essence’ on Arbor. An industrialism of heavy textures, the experimental composition of these five tracks is not quite: as informed by Giffoni’s recent move from laptop to analog, this is more a sobered return to unfinished business – or at least, whatever Masami Akita left unfinished when he made the reverse move a decade ago. The studied repetition of each track appears not to soothe or coerce ala traditional drone work, but to present each sonic construction as a swatch to finger and rub one’s face in; this privileges neither the mode of construction nor the total abstraction of the composition, but the tactile and perceptual engagement of the music - music, which this most assuredly is. With frank due to Akita’s Merzbow and luminaries like Maurizio Bianchi, as well as an explicit linkage to the laboratory of Pauline Oliveros, these tracks indicate a return to engagement as much as they continue a genuine work for liberation. The pulsating excitement of “The Endless Mirror” revels in a perfect fidelity forever (credits to the untouchable James Plotkin), phase-shifting with the greatest subtly as the buzzing overlays match stabs to a chalky strobe and detuning melody. This, coupled with the slobbering synths of the pulse-demonic “Comfort And Pleasure” makes for a relentless, 20 minute overture of pure libido. The waning breath of the latter coldly drops the listener into the sparse slither of “A Son With No Father”, wherein the constant, quaky quiver underpinning the track’s shallow oscillations feels like the unstable footing of compulsive-repetition buried in the title. Suitably, “This Is How You Pull The Trigger” gestures seductively out of this trap with a 2/3rds headache of incompatible rhythm and antagonistic melodic interference which opposes by deposing the established throb and sustaining a high-frequency pattern of lifeless metal.

It is at this point that listener will likely look up to address the theme of the album, with its Freudian affect and botanical/anatomic artwork (rendered handsomely by Megan Ellis) suggestively straddling the center-hole. Without holding the artist too close to his own fire, the dirty tricks of the topical Noise album (and it’s debatable if we want to call ‘Adult Life’ either), heavy on trajectory and overly emboldened narrative markers, is not totally absent here. The psychological phantasy conjured in the surrounding tracks may too perfectly crown the album/patient’s aforementioned nadir, mapping the disc to a bellish perfection. Yet to critique this critique, one must explode the album to its component parts, divorced from each other and even the titles to consider the trickling lilt of each movement in the first half, and oppositional structure of the final two tracks which accelerates to a overheated evaporation rather than an impotent shrinkage. Either way, the point is Adult Life always ends in death. Final piece “Permanent Choice” moves brilliantly, dialectically through a wavering field of breathy air-conditioning and its hot manifold disguised outside before entering the figurative death tone of an analog binarism, the tattooed “choice” of the Digital made a double-helix spiraling the channels left to right to left, an eternal return en stereo. Absolutely incredible, entirely recommended. CD comes in a heavy, over-sized gatefold with full color art. (No Fun CD, $12 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081128-225259 The Pistil Cosmos - 'Wandering in the Dark' CDr
"This one's a beauty, a total killer 5 track CD from Frenchman Vincent Caylet, aka "The Pistil Cosmos". Having previously recorded a number of wonderful cassette and small run CDR's as "V", notably the recent awesome "The Chanting Path" on Blackest Rainbow, this new set is an absolute must for all ya space, drone folk, vuh heads out there. Five pieces of exploratory, spectral, drone laden psychedelia, that veer from the feel of scratchy field recordings through Popol Vuh flavoured slow builders to the lo-fi noise of prime era Flying Saucer Attack. From gentle, subtle ambience to feedback drenched noise then back again. Just 200 copies of this one, and each is dressed in beautiful duo-colour screened wallet sleeves." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry081128-075012 DIVINE COILS & LANTERNS - 'EASY HOURS' collaborative C40 4£(U.K.)/5£(E.U.)/6£(World)
"A sonic mind-uniting co