The collaborative debut of Emanuela De Angelis and time-cop Maurizio Bianchi comes by way of youngish French label Baskaru. Autumnal and graceful, the four tracks of ‘Regolelettroniche’ offer some causal “rules of droning” to be gleaned in the disparate forms of each track. With the three-minute intro “Earthly Principle”, the pair establish curtness with tight-wound organ fugues and wet hiss automated at a near-psychosis tempo. Following this brief encounter, the drone-obligatory grandeur of the spheres receives the ode “Cosmic Norms”, a 25 minute loop of gradually-nudged characters barely discernable in the warm depressions and spectral tones which seem to evaporate into an accumulating tinnitus. Heavier machines produce “Universal Order” in schematic, the nuance of the former track shattered by the deepness of the frequency, yet retaining the same ephemeral quality of the other eight-count loops; cognizant of Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops’, and despite the clearly additive (albeit, often microtonal) changes, it is impossible to hear this without the suspicion that a similar degradation of quality is going on as the drone constantly stays the same. Final, briefer piece “Electronic Rules” takes a different, more ambient approach with sparse, arrhythmic textures like droplets deepening the sonic space with allows the loop to enter from a distance; the oscillating quality of the funnel featuring just enough manipulation to suspect an interloping hand, yet without breaking the mechanical stillness of the meter. One can ask no more from a drone. Legit CD comes in a beautiful, three-panel digipak. (Baskaru CD, €14 HERE)

Molten Honey — 'Inner Fauna' (Stunned no. 3) CDr $7
"Somewhere in yon hills of western Oregon roams a man. The man is molten, his six-string drips with honey. Inner Fauna is the most recent offering of blistering modal acoustic guitar works from John Frank's appropriately worn Molten Honey pseudonym. Previous projects (like the upcoming Stunned re-issue of 2006's The Doglands) were rooted in sung depictions of the outer fauna observed around woodlands and riverbanks of the virginal Umpqua Valley. Now with a move into the city of Eugene, Molten Honey's gaze is turned inward to a new fauna, a kind beyond the need for language. Inner Fauna begins with lysergic lullaby "Down" courtesy of a ghostly gospel choir, and thereafter the listener is ushered beyond the sung word and into pure acoustic tones. Billows of tones, in fact. Sparse, droney zenscapes are visited by Fahey/Basho-style Americana and head-down delta blues descent. West makes sweet love to East, and so convenes the Stunned Records ecumenical psychfolk council of 2008." Ltd. 40 hand numbered copies in heavy Tibetan rice paper sleeves.

Sun Araw — 'Boat Trip' (Stunned no. 4) 3" CDr $6
"Boat Trip might be some hidden soundtrack to Donkey Kong warp-whistling his ass straight into Ayahuasca Country. In about twenty minutes Sun Araw manages to navigate a psychedelic jungle cruise through canopy din & spooked drone, then he noses the boat out of the water and lifts into uncharted dub-spheres. The back half of this entranced tour is like being (fortunately) trapped inside an old Upsetters jam played at half-speed with twice the shaman-chant and reverb drenched percussion. Normally we wouldn't trust taking this kind of trip with just anybody, but with wheel and rudder alike in the hands of Magic Lantern co-captain Cameron Stallones, we can sip our yage-of-choice in peace and share the Sun Araw vision as one." Ltd. 50 hand numbered copies in cottonpaper pouches housed in full-size polyvinyl jacket.

HERE

[Pre-order]Shearing Pinx - 'Haruspex' EP 7" $7CND(Canada)/$8CND(US)/$10CND(World)
"Vancouver's Shearing Pinx have been on fire lately, releasing one tripped out slab of no-wave goodness after another. This latest offering pushes onward with some of their most doped up freak-outs and weirdo jams. Until recently, the Pinx saved their wildest material for tapes, CDRs and the road, but as proved on their recent split with the Mutators, they can let loose on wax too. Haruspex is the next open door. Artwork by Nicholas MacMillian." Limited to 500 (first 50 special screenprint). Pre-Order Now. Orders ship late April. HERE

The Declining Winter - 'Goodbye Minnesota' CD
"The Declining Winter is the solo musical project of Richard Vincent Adams of Leeds, England, a co-founder of Hood. 'Goodbye Minnesota' is his debut album under this guise, following an acclaimed 7' on Misplaced Music and a sold out remix project on Moteer. Ranging from epic claustrophobia to rustic folk-dub explorations, with spectral atmospheres anchored to pastoral roots, 'Goodbye Minnesota' delivers hypnotic melancholia via abstract hiphop, shoegaze, dub and post rock explorations. Along the way there’s also rain-drenched pop and globally warmed electronic folk. These are ghostly songs filled with absence, longing and seasonally affected melodies - the sound of cassette tapes spilling out of the glovebox of a 1970’s Datsun Sunny somewhere in the north of England, captured on Super 8 film. This record features contributions from Chris Adams (Hood, Bracken) and Chris Cole (Many Fingers, Matt Elliott) and is housed in a recycled card sleeve in keeping with the environmentally-concerned nature of the project. The Declining Winter are now a fully fledged 5 piece live outfit and will be playing dates with Stars of the Lid in May and further shows throughout the spring and summer. the first 50 pre-orders come with an exclusive Declining Winter badge and postcard." HERE

ORR-012 Nonhorse - 'Condo Castle' C90 $7(US)/$9(World)
"Sometimes you're just a little bit of a hermit. Holed up in your fortress. All the clocks are wrong and the sky is gray so you never have any idea what time it is. Evening or morning? Will it get lighter or darker? Does it matter? A thick foggy haze of magnetic tape pours out your eyes and you can't help but get tangled up inside of them. G. Lucas Crane (1/4th of Vanishing Voice & 1/2 of Time Life) has done it again with an absolute EPIC tape hallucination masterpiece." Two and a third panel fold out castle painting by GLC. Limited to 50.

ORR-016 Sean McCann - 'Boomerangutan' CDr $8(US)/$10(World)
"Seriously WARRRPED tones. Frog croaks, giant vines, and backwards leopard roars. Similar to the Skaters in that sort of 'recorded-underwater-on-a-broken-tape-deck' way. Twisted nursery-rhymes and jungle fever audio hallucinations. Hot hot hot. Guitar, voice, and feedback melt together into indistiguishable hooks and catchy tribalistic drum bubbles. Sean's most epic yet at 72min. Packed." Oversized cardstock folder collage art with sprayed stamped CDRs in consutruction paper pockets. Limited to 30

ORR-017 Ajilvsga - 'White Sky Monster' C32 $7(US)/$9(World)
"A rumbling woofer earthquake of deeeeep drones and whirring electronics from Brad Rose (of Digitalis/The North Sea/Every project ever) and his pal Nathan Young (not THAT Nathan Young, promise). Gathering together the awesome adjective/noun combos of fuzzy walls, intense waves, and dense fogs. Like a 3am garbage truck going through a desert in slow-mo." Green tapes in stapled white felt pouches with the Ajilvsga logo hand-painted on the front and an insert. Limited to 50.

OPEN RANGE

I Had an Accident is a newish label from Maryland, operating mostly in the familiar medium of home-ordained CDr releases and from the unusual premise that the proceeds be donated to “global charities”. But first the aberration: the label’s token “real” release – big name, wide pressing, jewel-cased and shrink-wrapped – comes from prolific Chicago weirdo Tim Kinsella (Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Make Believe). While ‘Field Recordings of Dreams’ contains virtually none of the namesake musical element, the fractured, non-committal nature of these tracks suggests as much as it passes through a wide palette of non-referential sounds in 16 (mostly one- and two-minute) pieces, filling the entire 78 minutes of this disc. In a more diffuse collection from the last encounter with Kinsella(s) name, ‘Crucifix/Swastika’, today’s disc marries the patented, obtuse titling-scheme to a far more elusive theme of modern travel, drugs/hygiene, and simple banality. “Intro: A Grave Affectation” opens the disc to stunted acoustic permutations very much of the Chicago school of post-rock, a whistled whimsy setting a feather-light tone carried on through a smattering of mild guitar noise into the ten minute “Monkey Heartbeat Departure Hour”, the track regularly regenerating a pleasant guitar theme to an unfiltered patchwork of recorded texture. The hurdy-gurdy psychedelia of “Piss on a Glass Mall Waterfall #2” (the second of a trilogy, the elements woven between equally airy tracks to create a low-impact momentum) achieves a nice tension of JOMF type guitar meandering with warm electronics and off-kilter samplings floated above like retinal debris; “Almond Fountain” maintains this sentiment with a more earnest crochet of plucked loops and tinny harmonica. Very little percussion in this collection, and in these sparing moments, drum machines and dialers are used almost entirely arrhythmically to jut out in the third dimension. The longest tracks feature Kinsella alone, speaking-word like a libertarian conspiracy-theorist version of Garrison Keilor. Kinsella carries on about nothing in particular, the impromptu-quality complete with lisps, mis-takes, sips of drink and stuffy nose, the thin margin which keeps these ramblings on the side of “interesting” and not “Rollins”. Like an algebraic distillation of ‘Waiting for Godot’, for “Some Ways/One More Dream of Dying” the narrator enumerates the impotence of writer’s block or the mere, sexless boredom of turning thirty-something, the gaps and mumbles suggesting this possibly brilliant dictation is simply quasi-brilliant improvisation. The 37 minute spoken finale “Depths of Field” reveals Kinsella’s potential fortune reading (and writing?) Michael Chabon-style fiction for the NPR crowd, describing with more-or-less modest flourish a boy’s sports-tale which I honestly have not listened to enough to deduce a plot, or moral. A fine disc given its heft (and this final track deservedly requests absolution), though the more regular listener may deduct points based on the heft of the man’s output.

Another episode: Trying to read some kind of post-ironic value or miraculous creative vacuum which the label as handler may have stumbled upon, I’ve attended the MySpace of Sam Femino as suggested by his saran-wrapped CDr and found little sway in any possible direction, leaving me just the folded, hand-written wrapper and nine songs of ‘The Roarkian Template’ to determine. While very uneven in terms of quality – really mandating just one shit-fest (“Close the Deal”) to be excised entirely - the disc earns points for idiosyncracy alone, beginning with the cultural autism of Ted Leo picking unrequited Van Halen riffs on “Koshabox”, Femino’s style crossing the oblique songwriting of Jacob Smigel with the ugly, home-tracked production of a Belly Boat or Ariel Pink. Vastly outshining the tack-board of his guitar, Femino’s use of synthesizers and drum machines frequently (and likely unintentionally) suggests the gauzy brilliance of ‘Low’ era Eno and ‘The Return of the Durutti Column’, most notably in the canned-Salsa of “Productivo”, and the closing pair of (mostly) instrumentals “Jersey” and “Sea of Orange”. Bizarre, yet inexplicably relevant. Limited to 50 copies. (I Had an Accident CDr, $8 and CD, $10 HERE)

A curious-enough little record, the first from Italian label Hundebiss is two short pieces of moderate noise and programming “written” by Berlin-based Riccardo Benassi and Claudio Rocchetti, heretofore known as OLYVETTY. The disc’s sleeve-as-selling point threw me a bit at first, tempering my expectations for the content given the extensive, hand-cut pop-ups and multiple panels (with printed paper sleeve attached) which would render a lesser recording superfluous. Luckily, the two sides present a tastefully sober session – not too purple, though hardly weak – a pleasant first release for the label (just the second for the duo), and worthy companion to the paper art. Side A entitled “In den fluessen noerdlich der zukunft” features the blown-out colors of metallic bowled resonance overwhelming a modem's bleat and thick chords of feedback; a gleaming groan locks in at several registers then finds the molested fragments of a salvaged violin concerto. Wayward guitar strings stress and pang over the heavy warp of so many layers coiling and releasing, the rhythmic play of compression cheating the track's actual brief duration. On the reverse, “Aneinander” starts on a stultified burst gesturing toward a harsher noise, when instead a dubby dialed-tone emerges to lay down a checkered pattern for fluid washes of repetition, both mechanical and overgrown with a stubbly foliage. Edition of 333 on black vinyl. Nice start. (Hundebliss 7”, 7€ HERE)

mjc177/SHORTY TAPES 5: COLD TURKEY C20 $7(N. America)/$10(World)
"Andrew Coltrane surfaces from some Neitherworld in a big green puff of smoke and brings from his back catalogue of home recordings more damaged sax and FX abuse- zombie jazz for sick junkies- get hooked if you ain't already! 3 diff cover images ~ collect em all!" limited to 50. HERE

Pink Luminous Invocation - 'Sings the Blues' CS $6
"PLI have been preaching the “Peace, Love, Invisibility” gospel for at least a few years at this point, radiating sub-radar FX resplendence across a grand handful of subtle CDRs and shows, but Sings The Blues stands strikingly apart from their crouch-core past and is all the better for it. Raw hybrid soul dirges of commune lament and hypnotic mourning resurrected from dirt drums, wicker guitar, and ancient electric melancholy. Intense ballads of transformation, chains giving way to God, hope turning to flight. Two women, two men, constant sorrow. This young Danish underground pedal family have never sounded so up on their feet, momentous, musical. Break on through. An impending LP should further plumb the dark Invocation behind the Pink Luminosity." Pro-dubbed grey tapes with metallic shell imprinting in freedom-fighter silkscreened cardstock sleeves tied with prayer bells. Edition of 100.

Heatsick - 'Perpendicular Rain' CS $6
Berlin-based Bird of Delay Steven Warwick has been winging away from the BoD nest under his Heatsick moniker with increasing frequency the past couple years, and each new flight seems to soar into ever more varied airstreams of cyclonic electronics and emotional wind-riding. Perpendicular Rain is his most recent convection cell, and it pits two pendulum-tilting pieces against one another for a beatific blowout of barometric disorientation. “Suspended Horse, Carousel” rides an orchestral morning glory hallucination forklift into total mind white out, layers of radial confusion overlapping in a circus wheel of entrancing electricity. One of Warwick’s audio-life highlights to date. The B, “Perpendicular Rain,” opts to flatline into more of a classic Heatsick stasis vortex (a lot like his semi-recent Reverse Gardens CS), wiring every circuit into itself till the mainframe collapses under its own wall/cloud weight. Let it come down." Hand-cut tape-labeled pro-dubbed red tapes in full-color double-sided fold-out J-cards with art by Warwick, plus a slight metallic stencil. Edition of 100.

Shepherds - 'Loco Hills' LP $12
"A lot of beloved-by-us artists and artisans icepick out shapely creations from the marble slab of life on a steady schedule, but even within this rarefied realm it’s a real cause for jubilee when an individual/band fucks precedent and totally redefines themselves through a real masterwork. And, in our book (check it out, it’s a good read), Loco Hills is one such touchstone. Distilling down every fried fuzz-groove, tape-loop ghost cloud, and mass-mind motorik psychosis Shepherds have ever let loose into four perfectly sculpted jam-journeys, the language of Loco is a rolling, roiling ride through twisted wordless tongues and hieroglyphic electricity, at once more focused and far-out than anything else in their canon. Mentioning that members moonlight in projects like Meneguar, Non-Horse, and Vanishing Voice is meaningless, this is the Rear House posse’s shining achievement to date and it stands alone." Black vinyl LPs in matte jackets with the same ‘gnashing viper’ artwork of the Release the Bats CD edition. First 115-ish direct mailorder copies come with a bonus CDR of unreleased live recordings. Edition of 500.

Ex-Cocaine/Yellow Swans LP $13
"Two storied USA duo institutions share war stories across twelve miles of raw wax, and the rest of us are lucky enough to eavesdrop. Missoula, Montana’s Ex-Cocaine continue roping that weird rambling wind that seems to stir the soul and keep America mellow, and the pair of anthems they jam out here encapsulates the whole breadth of their sea-to-shining-sea cosmosis. Plainsong guitar lassoes around loose-limbed percussion flame-fanning, building and burning till a boss bonfire glows on the horizon, then they close out the side with a ragged and earnest Meat Puppets cover that’s become a live staple of late. Real and roamin’. On the B, Yellow Swans channel a supreme slice of psychedelic eulogy that cuts twice as deep with the knowledge that after many a summer (they birthed in 2002-ish) dies the Swan. Pete and Gabe’s DYS saga has spanned the decade and their impending non-existence will be lamented all over the world, so the more 11th hour record books they want to stencil with their electric synergies, the better for all of us. R.I.P.eace out." In a stunning “sexy legs” kaleidoscopic masterpiece art jacket by Religious Knife Maya Miller. Half on bleached olive vinyl, half on black. Edition of 600.

PRESENTS

[Get ready for hyphens] Contrasted to its series-successor, the mostly-ethnographic ‘Musical Brotherhoods from the Trans-Saharan Highway’ by Hisham Mayet, Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls) and Mark Gergis’ (Porest) ‘Sumatran Folk Cinema’ eschews the static camera-eye of the former for a galloping pastiche of Indonesian musical (and not-so-musical) culture, abstracted from night clubs, salesmen, temples, conservatories, and local television. The subjectivity of this lens frames a slack schizophrenia of traditional styles - as witnessed in gamelan, Islamic church song, Western orchestration classes, and the full-body performance of the all-male anti-drum circle – and less appealingly in the hybrid moments of war-born Dangbut bands (a motley composition of stale rock musicians headed by the plastic expression of an indifferent young woman), club-festered hip-hop (barked mostly in non-sequitor English), and of course, television (by way of commercial, horror films, and skit comedy). The mundane encounters with street-life which transition these fluid scenes help offer a fractured – and all the more believable – encounter with the culture, as vendors glare then grin at the man with the movie camera, gripe about the “Chinese man telling me we must leave”, and generally stir in the loathing of their commerce: shilling buttons, smuggling chickens, or dawdling over the day’s big catch. Filmed just prior the tsunami devastation of December 2004, there is a sense of waiting and arrested development permeating the film, emanating from the Euro-trash wares and cell-phone advertising, and rippled with excitation in moments of political protest, rebel gunfire, and family-side folk music. Kids make faces at the camera in night-vision, abandoned pants await their parents in a murky quarry, and long-shots of traffic alone provide such a rich stream of obscene colors to greet the magic of the unfounded radio-songs which float about the film yet never actualize in any one, accessible place. With an average of 30 seconds a clip, at 60 minutes the pair pack a lot of footage into this disc (with an added 12 minutes of bonus material), challenging Mayet’s very different disc as the proper mode for representing the “authentic”. Clearly the directors argue there is none. Pro-pressed DVD in a full-color, oversize digipak. Recommended. (Sublime Frequencies DVD, $19.5 HERE)

From the Deathbomb arc diocese:

Mincemeat Or Tenspeed - 'All Critters' 12"
"One day, young Davey Harms wanted to make some techno music. But unlike every other red-blooded American boy, he had no drummachine, no sampler, no sequencer, and not even a computer. Despite being such a deprived little punk, Davey was resourceful and so he looked around his room for something else that he could make some beats out of. Gathering up all his guitar pedals and a mixer, he asked himself, "Can I make accessible beat driven music with a rock n' roll edge using just these fx pedals?" Any gear nerd would have told him that this is impossible, because guitar pedals need some sort of source sound in order to work. But Davey was also deprived of friendship at this point in his life, so no one like that was there, and instead he defied such unknown expectations and assembled all his guitar toys into what is essentially a synth circuit the wrangles mixer-feedback into fierce rhythms. In other words, this is the cyberpunk dream come true. You know, those movies in the 90s that depicted snot-nosed teens "hacking" into common everyday electronics and making them do incredible things like steal all the money out of the US treasury. Technology transcended and turned into pure magic. That is exactly what Davey did. And thus MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED was born. Now it is many years later, and MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED has explored and mastered the vast possibilities of this guitar-pedal synth set up. He also has many friends now. Adult mother-fucking friends that know what's what and think that MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED is the most fascinating music being made. Friends like Dan Deacon who recently named MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED one of the best acts of 2007 in a recent Pitchfork pole. Friends that understand that "Party Like a Rock Star" and Justice's techno-rock are just beat songs about rock n' roll, while MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED is beats born from a perfect marriage of rock n' roll and techno. Friends that have seen how far this pedal-synth setup has come. That now it is capable of much more than insane aggressive beats, but can also manifest beautiful melodies and emulate so many tones and timbres that you ask yourself, "Is that a banjo inside of his Big Muff or is he just happy to play Someone's in the Kitchen With Dinah for me?" So, with this awesomely honed powers, and with powerfully awesome friends like that, it is only natural that the first MINCEMEAT OR TENSPEED album has been born. Lifted on high by a trinity of record labels, this 12" will instantly show you the new world of sounds that shall move your feat, expand your mind, and get you really fucking high. This is magic on a plate. So rub it with a needle and remember the boy who grew like a seed into a Manthing that now everyone is good friends with. The feel good hit of 2008!" HERE

No Restraint - 'Myspace Skanks' CDr
"Bringing together the rich traditions of both laptop music (also known as IDM or glitchcore or digital noise) and ska music (primarily 4th wave), No Restraint are true music lovers. Those that love music's great history, but are also excited about the future. A future that expects more out of music. It is in the "more" category that No Restraint loves to give. From their love of wrestling's great D-Generation X to wearing amazing youth fashions like they see kids wearing, as they drive by in their convertibles while listening to Paramore. So fantastic! Finally a band who understands that restraint and subtlety have little place in our world. Who understand that everything important must be displayed, publicly, unambiguously, and mercilessly. Features members of tik///tik, Whitman, Kyle Mabson, & Foot Village." HERE

Budweiser Sprite - 'Big Issues' C20
"As a member of Shitty Vibe Smasher, Daniel Rizer sacrificed self for the benefit of the whole and to lift identity to it's hoped pinnacle. As Budweiser Sprite though, Daniel defies the types of expectations that band names set forth, and delivers some of the most rockin' NOT RIDICULOUS noise that a dood named Budweiser Sprite could ever not be anticipated to make! Cassette manipulation, 4-track mixer feedback, and a passion for finding the true energy of sound are the tools used. Still extremely positive sounding, the use of aggressive loops and growling half-magnetizations invokes foot stomping at its most wild and foreshadows even more rock when being pensive. Daniel Rizer's silly stage name only elevates his expert use of the wide world of possible sounds (from murky to shrill to you name it) to put together a uniquely rock sound by virtue of the smile you wear upon seeing the whole picture. Not a surprise coming from a member of Shitty Vibe Smasher. Not just amazing music, but masterful entertainment all around." HERE

WEBSITE

Classier and classier:

Weirding Module - 'Peaking Man' C38 $7
"Bubbling galactic frequencies from the vegetable mind of Michael Troutman bass dude in Awesome Color also runs the Senseless Empire label."

Kuupuu - 'Tinakenkalurtta' C20 $7
"New Lady Garden secretions from Jonna! Two live sets...one recorded at home and the other on John Cavanagh's Soundwave."

At Jennie Richie/Plethora split C33 $7
"Heavy zone out from two Seattle weed eaters."

Mandarin Clit - 'Future Primitive' C20 $7
"Spring muff milk...acid from the hardware palace... pre public domain..."

Geriatrics Club - 'Crobar Wizards' one-sided C60 $7
Hair stands and the general canary tuesday mayhem of bed ridden wandering minds."

Burmese Yangoon one-sided C45 $7
"Recorded live in the sticks, in the future."

Obscene Caller 2xC20 $12



WEBSITE

As joint-proprietor of Jeshimoth Entertainment, Adam Kalmbach takes this opportunity to display his own wares as Jute Gyte. ‘Apidya’ is an hour-long, three track foray into dark ambience with a noteworthy infusion of harsh noise characters. Pushing 16 minutes, “Black Sheep” stirs in the distant sizzle of an off-season ocean, voices and unintelligible squeals appearing between the sets; the menace of a metronomic chime keeps a painfully stultified pace until a block of blinding feedback pain leaps up (actually a polyphony of diverse qualities, yet by contrast, swallowed up into a bigger shit storm). It takes several minutes for the anxiety to dissipate, cut-off as easily as it began, and a new sense of still takes over with a surgical flat-line searing whatever organic edges might remain in the soundscape. “Empty Rooms” finds an even deader seen, bouncing drones and tones off various geometries of walls, finding here and there sheets of high-frequency buzz and glassy concussions. A mechanical generation heats/dries the space as the lingering tones which seem to regenerate in the places now move with haste. Whips of rough-edged static accompany possible footfalls in the final moment, extracting the suspended scene from a larger picture of unfulfilled activity. At last, the 30 minute title track extends this thesis to a palatable conclusion, measuring aquatic rumbles against the dark polyrhythms of slow-fallen raindrops and the churning motor of a buried axle. The longest track, it is also the emptiest track, narcotic, sapping your adrenaline as it tests your active participation.

The sequel, ‘Arakan’, disrupts whatever continuity has been formed with 12 diverse tracks of hefty duration, maxing-out all 78 minutes of the disc. It’s all-over the place in terms of IDM and other, lesser-technocratic movements: from the pole of MIDI dance track “Seiklus” and DBA-style candy waltz “Crib”, to harsh-noise Muslimgauze “Clawhead”, one may find Ui in the mellow-glitches of “Burning in Snow”, a routinized Coil in “Notrium”, or the dark ambient of recent Burial Hex in “Aceldama”. Several tracks including this last one verge upon double digits – in one track digesting the sonic weight of many others’ entire mini-disc – and though the experience can be a harrowing in the sheer density of experiment, the format welcomes picking and choosing, making this a disc for subjective (and repeat) listening. The sharp colors and contrast really keep the tracks off the ground despite such expansive running times, and the though Kalmbach here avoids with neutrality a commitment to one style, his abilities with noise, ambience, and melody succeed with more than a few highlights. Both albums come on pro-pressed discs with color inserts in DVD cases. (Jeshimoth CDr, $10 HERE)

Talugung - 'Under Humid Light' (HA-5) CDr 5€/$8
"The word "talugung" comes from the Ivatan language spoken by the people of the Batanes islands in the Philippines. Accordingly, the music of Talugung, the solo project of Ryan Waldron from Canada (also known from the group The Riderless), is a kind of imaginary world music evoking and blendind together images of far-away lands. "Under Humid Light", recorded in 2007 and mostly played on self-made instruments, puts together elements of Asian, African and western musics and the picture they form is a very beautiful one, indeed. Following on from Talugung's fabulous debut album "Flooded Fields", released on Foxglove last year, "Under Humid Light" is a fine example of Waldron's singular musical expression." HERE

DIVINE COILS - 'Coadjutor' CDr £5
"Brand new CDR from UK duo of Joe and Harry. Far out scratchy textural sounds that lie somewhere between Usurper and Jazzfinger perhaps... real nice, real minimal, with classy and sassy traditional BR style double fold sleeve." Limited to 50 copies.

QUETZOLCOATL - 'Up And Down Dream Valley Thruway' cassette
"Cassette reissue of a cdr that come out a while back on American Grizzly, slightly re-edited for this tape version... Quetzolcoatl is the solo project of Timothy Hurley who runs the awesome Leaf Trail label, and also plays in another two great bands Bonecloud and Ixchel... Previous Quetzolcoatl releases have been on Ikuisuus and (VxPxC)'s Phanto Limb Recordings. Awesome almost tribal drone blurring almost in a kinda folk vibe... very psychedelic... and damn good!" Limited to 50 copies, Lilac tapes, and beautiful full colour sleeves designed by Tim.

WEBSITE

Like an ape at the monolith, what can I say about this LP? The ‘Crossing Divides’ long-player by Tecumseh (Oregon’s Jeremy Long, Ian Hawk, John Krausbauer) is one side-long and two side-splitting tracks of immense, motionless drone/metal beyond the Earthern mantle and appropriating the drone work of Bonus, and co. The iconoclasm of single-note double bass strumming seems to resonate beyond ear and body, into the earth, physically reshaping the structure which receives their affirming groan. Slick, seamless, and vibrating too heavy to hold, the players are there no doubt, but don’t seem to mind the intense vacuum freezing the movement of their every thrust forward. “Ten Thousand Leagues Down Under” parts I and II straddle both sides of the disc, with closer “Thames” fording the final watery stretch. Third-handed electronics fill the screen such that you must know to look for them (and even then you will still lose sight), both undergirding and undermining the “song” structure, simultaneously macrophonic and entirely anemic, static. Thick black vinyl comes in fancy, three panel sleeves with glittery screen-job, limited to 384 copies. Both labels make a powerful contribution here with their respective 19th release. Impenetrable. (Anarchy Moon/Black Horizons LP $13 HERE or HERE)

Shipping ain't so bad, so Tipped Bowler is passing the savings on to you:

TBT003 Medroxy Progesterone Acetate - 'Blearyeared' C65 $6(US)/$8.5(World)
"A sixty-five minute soundtrack to MPA's Satanic babysitter cult film. I pray to God no one has to see that thing. This tape alone will produce night sweats. MPA is up to his usual business, making absolutely uncomprising and unclassifiable sound, composed of horribly mutated mystery samples, tape mutilations, and malevolent synthesizer. DB summons a depth unmatched by most of the drone and community. You don't want to live here, and you probably shouldn't visit for long." Full-color glossy foldover prints with insert and hand-painted tapes. Edition of 93.

TBT004 Datashock - 'Rambo Wikinger' C48 $6(US)/$8.5(World)
"Two years of end-of-winter recordings from Germany's greatest electronic commune, Datashock. A dreary 2006 produced the A-side, a cabin-feverish piece of ascending space shimmers, suffocating fog, and anxious percussion, punctuated by a brisk, paranoid coda. Psychedelic candied death. B-side was born the following year and finds our friends lost in a funhouse of echo and delay. A macabre carnival made groaning radio ghost. No faces in the mirror. Now it's 2008 and spring has sprung for Datashock, bringing forth this c48 along with LPs on Qbico and Textile. A gruesome bouquet; NOT FOR LOVERS." Full-color glossy foldover prints with insert and hand-painted tapes. Edition of around 95, because I fucked up a few copies.

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Ilyas Ahmed - 'Between Two Skies/Towards the Night' 2CD $20
"I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Ilyas Ahmed is incredible. Born in Pakistan and raised in New Jersey, he now plies his trade in Portland, Oregon. "Between Two Skies" and "Towards the Night" is where it all began. Released in criminally limited editions of 50 copies each, both albums are now fully remastered by Pete Swanson and repackaged in beautiful gatefold jackets from Stumptown Printers. Also included are extended liner notes from David Keenan. I think he sums up both these albums best: "Call it abandon, a facility for letting go, for moving on; either way Ahmed's music is *gone*. And all we have are the recordings, scattered notes to prove that he once existed and felt it all as deeply and miraculously as any of us. And right now, from wher eI'm calling from, I wouldn't ask for anything more." Ahmed's original voice is a welcome addition to an oversaturated aural world. He has gone on to put out numerous self-released CDRs as well as a new CD/LP on Time-Lag. But in the beginning there were these. What "Between Two Skies" and "Towards the Night" make crystal clear is that his vision and his voice were there from the very beginning." HERE

Like their first foray into vinyl for the Shearing Pinx 7” of DNT no. 3, the label saves their most definitive statements for wax debut, the latest from Gay Beast truly a statement of what may very well become the “DNT sound”. At the moment, they have left to conquer Lovepump United for this particular genre tract, an electro-heavy, integrated nor wave of the sort French Kiss would have liked to emit had they less promo bills to pay and proto-yuppies to feed. Sympathetic to labelmates HEALTH with a healthier attention-span, within the lineage ‘Disrobics’ leans decidedly toward a DNA sensibility with more macrobiotic flavor of Ex Models and Love Life (en particular their second, ‘Here is Night, Brothers’), though toward a more indulgent sing-song than the former and more reliable shine than the latter. The band denies the rigid kraftworks of electric keys with the many quivering bleats of a weak current (how much of this is due to my dying turntable motor, I cannot say), aggravating this by the all-to-human spontaneity of overanxious percussion. The sound is of regular irregularity such that, on the indiscriminate plane of the vinyl side (the gaps inter-song are no match for the intra-song), the songs flow into a homogeneous party like a house band, or better yet, a house record of skittled beats (particularly true of my second side, unfortunately warped to a thousand single grooves); the tracks only significantly differentiated when, at uneven intervals, new verses emerge to express an altered melodic pattern. In this sense, the instrumentation doesn’t always agree with the verses, and in fact more often crowds out the singer’s voice – my biggest gripe – though he manages to hold his own within the sirocco, the charming croon of damaged vocals emerging at odd signature. We meet in earnest on third track and ‘NOW That’s What I Call Music!’-worthy “Mama, Wrap My Coffin in the AIDS Quilt Cuz It’s Cold in Hell”, the devastating hook coming on like the waft of a pie on a sill following a non-committal build-up of channel surfing bleepbloop and Devo scat-lines, the chorus accompanied by interchange of rattled percussion and electrified guitar rubbings. The bratty exchange of “Good Government” recalls the Monorchid, and through the intense, full-band pummeling appears as the closest coalescence of players thusfar. “Cry” continues this evolution as the band continually tightens, brightening notes and inserting a more regular vocal presence to narrate the dance party, bleeding into the most overtly-hostile track, the title-track and closer “Disrobics”, a final call to bare arms.

I know nothing of the band*, but given the explicit-enough subtext of the band, I desire the lead at least to embody the gay beast – and here I picture a queer Zen Guerilla or a seven foot no wave Mukilteo Fairies. I want head-dresses and a sexually-aggressive stage presence. Make it so. Sleeve has two, three-color screen-jobs on fancy paper, with a sharp looking insert printed on gold stock. Black vinyl, limited to 500 moveable units. Get one! (DNT LP, $10 HERE)

* Despite what the inset says, the band is not affiliated with www.gaybeast.net, or any derivation thereof.

POCAHAUNTED/ORPHAN FAIRYTALE 7"
"One track each from Pocahaunted (California) and Orphan Fairytale (Belgium). Pocahaunted has been real busy the last year: opening for Sonic Youth, several collaborations with Robedoor, tape/cd-r releases on Not Not Fun, Arbor, Fuck It Tapes etc, split LPs with Christina Carter and Mythical Beast... and yeah, we could go on forever (and mention the 2 new vinyl albums on Arbor and Woodsist that are being released at the same time as this 7"...)! Here Amanda and Bethany gives us Warpaint, another dubbed-out and almost heavy lo-fi anthem with that always so special and unique Pocahaunted vibe. The discography of Orphan Fairytale, the solo moniker of Eva Van Deuren, mainly consists of very limited tape and cd-r releases so far, with the only previous vinyl output being an amazing collaboration LP with Mudboy. Live actions includes a performance at No Fun Fest 2007 and a set that took place inside of a container. Here she continues with her haunting and always captivating and melodic keyboard hymns. Made By Mermaids = trip in the ocean gone bad. Limited to 500 copies. Full colour labels, yellow big-hole sleeves with design and screenprint (in glowing red) by RTB-sidekick HLG." HERE

From the Secret Eye:

SPIRES THAT IN THE SUNSET RISE - 'Curse The Traced Bird' CD/LP
"Imagine if the Sun City Girls were played by real girls." — Jack Rose. Fourth full-length of bewitching juju from the preeminent ladies of psychedelic mysticism. Recorded in Philadelphia with members of Espers. Both the CD and LP feature original art by UK artist Trevor Simmons (Anselmus), and both formats are hand-silk-screened by Neil Burke (Vermiform, Mens Recovery Project)... SUPER LIMITED and hand-numbered. CD edition of 500; only 300 LPs. Fuck freak folk - this is true primordial power!"

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA - Portmanteau 10"
"Guitar, cello, electronics, and various small rackety sounds collect themselves into a haze of infinite possibilities." - Byron Coley For this new 10", the duo of Secret Eye label-owners are joined by guests Margot Goldberg and Joe Grimm (a.k.a. The Wind Up Bird). This quartet version of BF/BS is the very same lineup that performed at Terrastock 6. 10" vinyl-only release limited to 500 copies worldwide. Silkscreened metallic silver covers by Mike Taylor (Lungfish, Avarus, Dan Higgs). 21 minutes of music—all exclusive material. Fucking sweet."

NALLE - 'Live' CDr
"Nalle from Glasgow, Scotland are Hanna Tuulikki (vocals, kantele, flute), Aby Vulliamy (viola) & Chris Hladowski (bouzouki, clarinet) - they are also members of The One Ensemble [released on Secret Eye in 2007]. Beautiful improvisation, folky instrumentation, lovely floating vocals. We prepared this live CD-R to coincide with Nalle's first USA tour (March 2008), which was booked by Secret Eye. Numbered edition of 100. On tour now - dates below"

MU CHILD - 'Giant Kingdom' CDr
"Lovely free sounds from Taiwan. Wind blew the sea & brought many circles with drops. Moon married the sea & reflected in the surface. He asked the reflection: where is my best friend? Wind played his flute & the sound brought him to the brightening woods of the giants to see the God of Mountain. The God of Mountain told him loudly through all animals' voices in the woods: It's wind! Edition of 90."

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Family Battle Snake - 'Arabian Knights' C20 $7
"Slitherin. Its botha heavy push deep down into the dirt with each turn and a graceful floating just above it all at the same time. Same as these here burnings; both bellowin deep and resonatin in your underside and a delicate sparkle like harmonious poprocks or gemstones inside your skull. All curlin and coilin and rollin along sonorous melody furrows." Edition of 100 on red shells with hand-cut inserts, labels, and inside folds.

Ajilvsga/Capricorn Wings - 'Rights of the Solemn Ceremonies' C58 $7
"There’s nothin more potent than the movements of our earth. It aint just rumble and rip, it’s a soundin of shift. Some sorter fundamental restructuring of the plates on which we reside. Gives a source of connection. All this time spent treatin the earth like the pit for those of fallen-flesh, we done forget this significance of even havin a motherland. No two bands unearth (haha) this tectonic thunderin more adroitly than Ajilvsga and Capricorn Wings, capturing the hum and thud, the true resonance of Earth. No way to explain how, cept maybe they got huge ears as to hear lowness something terrible." Edition of 100 on blue shells with hand-cut inserts, labels, and inside folds.

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Extending the warm embrace of his drone-rock partnership Nadja to the solo endeavor, Canada’s Aidan Baker presents the bicameral long-player ‘Exoskeleton Heart’. Both tracks averaging 30 minutes apiece, the whole disc comes to a perfect 60 minutes of unbelievably rich amplifier worship ask channeled through electric guitar – captured live, presumably in one take. Exploring outward, “Interior” begins in the warm murmur of total pressure, as the muscle’s force pushes through so much fluid noise; metallic elements like mercury enter over this drone, cutting the surface then getting folded back in, growing in intensity as it begins to saturate the blood to a silvery shimmer. One cannot (or should not) fail to reference Sunn O))), Glass Organ, or Peter Wright at this point, as the pressure dis-intensifies, revealing a cavernous Om which sustains below this activity. As the drone’s quality begins to cool and harden, a whirring mechanism we pass through, we find ourselves on the “Anterior”, a broader cavity of sounds revealing contour and additional processes. With a pneumatic oscillation, this high frequency atones just slightly as the singe of a hot surface or the feedback of a live wire; so many additional elements grow in detail as the camera studies the edges and expanses of this organ, the most expansive section of which we reach in the final third, a calm before the storm, when bits of electricity surge and an almost digital pattern emerges dialed over the surface. Consuming moderate sounds as it swells, the deep, full drone becomes the piece as it intimates a rhythm of holistic activity; simultaneously whole and everywhere at once, crowned by a welter of anxious static distortion, the emphatic burst holds for five minutes until collapsing, quitting in a pathetic death tone. On typical, stunning full-color inkjet folder with tab for hanging printed CDr. Limited to 300 copies. (Crucial Blast/Crucial Bliss CDr, $9 HERE)

New from Industrial Culture:

THE SPACE VAMPIRES - 'Tired' 3" CDr $4
"In this album, The Space Vampires combine two different kinds of art. Music is harsh, noisy and gloomy, with no rhythmic sections: this is one of the many innovations that The Space Vampires brought in their new works, along with the introduction of speaking distorted voices. This musical backgound collides with 19Q//45k’s interests in art, especially dadaism. So, lyrics are written according to Tzara’s poetics: "Take a newspaper. Take a pair of scissors. Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem. Cut out the article. Then cut out each of the words that make up this article & put them in a bag… Then take up the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag". Limited to 100 copies. with colour coverart and black/white backside of coverart and discprint in clear mini jewel case.

KENJI SIRATORI - 'Murder Gimmick' 3" CDr $4
"Genre: noise. Catalogue number: ICR018 This mini album "Murder Gimmick" is composed by the post-humanistic violence. The internal amalgamation of soul-machine!" with colour coverart and black/white backside of coverart and discprint in clear mini jewel case.

AI YAMAMOTO - 'Possa’s Revange' 3" CDr $4
"Genre: industrial. Catalogue number: ICR017 Ai Yamamoto is a composer based in Melbourne Australia. She has established herself as an ambient electronica artist but she has created noise and dark industrial music for the EP "Possa’s Revenge". The tracks consist of high pitch noise, human voices, music concrete, car planting factory sounds, the sound of explosions and abstract textures. Her approach is not only grounded in experimental or industrial music but it is also rhythmic and song based." with colour coverart and black/white backside of coverart and discprint in clear mini jewel case.

D/A A/D - 'My Evil Runs Strong' 3" CDr $4
"Genre: noise. Catalogue number: ICR016 "My Evil Runs Strong" is 20 odd minuets of analog synth destruction and sampler abuse that D/A A/D has become know for. Never setting in, just slowly plowing through, crushing all in its path. The perfect soundtrack for a Sunday drive in a Sherman tank." with colour coverart and black/white backside of coverart and discprint in clear mini jewel case.

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Gigantic reggae from Music Fellowship:

[mf36] ROBEDOOR - 'Shrine to the Possessor' LP $14(US)/$24(World)
"New batch of brutal minimalism from Robedoor on their first vinyl full length, Shrine to the Possessor. This one is pure darkness - no light, no air, just tortured souls and echoed cries. Three epic droning processionals built from the heaviest, thickest low-end tones. The sound of indentured servants from a scorched dustbowl wasteland. Caveman aesthetic pushed to its limits by recording to eight analog channels. Recorded by Bobb Bruno at Bored Fortress HQ in Eagle Rock, CA." Artwork by Andy Spore. Includes silkscreened 11x17 poster. Limited and numbered to 500. GET HUGE