http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080704-093736 905.1: Tusco Terror + Wether - 'Giver' split C20 $6
"on new years day i made a 400+ mile trek to cleveland, oh in which moods were low, weather was shitty, and i only had one pair of socks and some canvas shoes, which don't do shit to protect your feet in mounds of snow. in a couple of hours snot was pouring out of my face and I felt like dying right where i stood. by midnight or so tusco terror was ripping it and i thought "yeah, this is exactly what should be happening right now". dudes were spilling themselves over a mess of cables and semi-functional equipment. just pure blown out destruction. not sure how long it was before i asked them to do this split, but here it is. kind of like a documentation of falling down, getting up, and stumbling through the haze. disgruntled material from both parties."

905.16: Pillars Of Heaven - 'Breeding Moths' C30 $6
"light bending, guitar gush from philadelphia peasant magician salvatore giorgi. side a, "the old ways", plays like newton's law of reciprocal actions laid onto magnetic tape. like levitating above overgrown fields until the skies fill with ash and everything is laid baron. side b, "gallows weed", is a (impressively recorded) live track from a house show in 2007. this should prove for once and all that even socially awkward, home-schooled hermits can emit feeling."

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080703-202104 Robe. self titled C90 $5(North AM)/$7(world)
"long hidden recordings from back in 2006. dark and broody creepshow. Cavernous chamber fidelities and heavy engine bass frequencies fuel this 6 track 70+ minute monster and make for one heavy trip to headspaces-unknown...at times its like a black cloud orchestra when the bass, guitar, and trombone are all chugging and motoring at once...you think you're in a cave...but its actually a mouth." 50 copies. SAMPLE

CV-51 Slow Listener - 'Behold!' C30 $5(North AM)/$7(world)
"Sugarcanes for the inner ear...best way to clean them. the man who makes drones dance and sing offers 2-15 minute sides of strangely melodic tonal crust, interweaving in and out of itself...making for one intensely melodic magic carpet ride. Side A offers warmth and vibrance in the chaos. Side B, very intense pensivity..sadness taking a moment to ponder the logistics, moments of numb while navigating a heavy focused flight." special ed. of 39 copies. SAMPLE

CV-52 Xiphiidae - 'Star Dive' C10 $5(North AM)/$7(world)
"Slight of hand, never shy of light. Side A: Levitation is created by the omnipresent force of light, metaphysical prowess and awareness channelled from warmth and embrace. Side B: The overwealming truth, in our present existance the answer to the nature of all is always too hard to fathom-its frightening, but in the afterlife its all we have...thus it really is a wonderfull thing, the kindest thing..the honest arms of light itself." 47 copies. SAMPLE

CV-53 Hunting Rituals - 'Wood Haunts' CDr+ 1-sided C60 $8(North AM)/$10(world)
"1 sided c60: Kamakaze horn, diseased and ferral cdr: ghosted...mourning...blind meditation...sharpen teeth with raw steel....full moon ahead...skwauk and squeal." 33 copies made.

CV-55 Gutted Piano CDr $4(North AM)/$6(world)
"yup. title says it all." ltd. to 23

OR 2$/4$ with purchase of 3 cv releases OR 2$/4$ if bought with Hunting Rituals "Wood Haunts" chose colour, ive got green, red, grey, blue. also, any 3 CV titles for 12$NorthAM/15$World (and CV-55 discount rules still apply happily)

Hunting is for assholes. Buy tapes instead: WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080703-154146 Abandon Ship:

Just trying to clean house a bit to make room for some upcoming vinyl releases! They won't be done for a few more months, but I will keep you informed. So for the months of July and August, I am offering a deal on all ASR releases:

-Buy one 7", and get any 2 releases of your choice for free
-Buy any 3 tapes/cdrs/3" cdrs and get 1 release of your choice for free
-Buy any 5 tapes/cdrs/3" cdrs and get 2 releases of your choice for free
-Buy any 7 tapes/cdrs/3" cdrs and get 3 releases of your choice for free

Just include which free release(s) you want in the Paypal notes. This sale applies to all customers throughout the world... Great time to get caught up with the back catalog of releases. HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080702-230914 I can only imagine that is due to a fleeting and simultaneous flirtation, a confusion of affiliations, or most likely, a confusion of one-off statuses, that until this very moment I’ve conflated the bands Graveyards and Religious Knives; for anyone familiar with both groups, this will seem as ridiculous as I feel when listening to ‘Resin’, the latter’s most recent release, a collection of three (more or less) small-press releases with an added three tracks to entice even the most vigilant of collectors. That is, as the grime recycled to prolong a hundred highs, ‘Resin’ is a blackened collection of choice residue from the band’s young career, accumulated on tour CDrs and vinyl tokens. Reviewing the band’s catalog in preparation, the first flag went up for their split release with Woods, a most un-noisy psychedelic project so complimentary to the Deep Purple stomp and bleary keys of “The Sun”, the Knives’ contribution from that fleeting release reproduced here: made of Maya Miller and Mike Bernstein of Double Leopards, Nate Nelson of Mouthus, and bassist Todd Cavello, it didn’t take long for the group to grope their way out of the dense and into the dank, as only the earliest exhibitions may vindicate my prior confusion: a rich, “Riders on the Storm” sense of directionless and jam permeates the eight tracks, quelling any concerns that this thing might stand on it’s own; with a median length of eight and a half minutes, there is likewise little deviation, sustaining this tone throughout the disc. Amon Duul and Can are easy marks for building a genealogy, while White Magic and the faint Red Kites serve as modern, RIYL coterie in essence, if not demeanor. Opener “In the Back” reaches the furthest, with a piecemeal, tribal beat and track-long reverberation rippling high in the background; Bernstein’s acid howl repeats the title, buried under the guitars as if signifying his location. Compliment “Luck” is a melancholy stretch of receding percussion and patchy, aimless vocals, a lonely harmonica’s whistling introduces just the right amount of camp in a Harry Nilsson style crocheted within the vacant airs of organ blows. “Everything Happens Twice” may be the collection’s highlight, as the most “happens”, from lyrical disagreement to rhythmic switches and defined verses which so often collapse in the haze of the other tracks. Guest drummer Dave Nuss helps construct the exclusive tracks “Twelve Bottles and One White Cone, Parts I and II” with a subtler, albeit more ornate skeleton complimenting the erratic surges of reverb and the organ’s petulance, Bernstein’s jawing held steady through the suite with just delicate alterations in bass rhythms and an extended finale raving slowly skyward. A bonus, live recording of “In the Back” ends the disc with a rendition made rawer by Miller’s vocals and the embellishments of feedback and a live room, revealing a more detailed set of guitars not subject to as much processing. CD comes in patented No Fun gatefold with new and recycled art by Miller and Jeremy Earl, with mastery by James Plotkin. Highly recommended. (No Fun CD, $12 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080702-151058

Rayon 18 Towering Breaker feat. Ben Morris - 'Like Light' C30
"These recordings see TB teamed up with Chora gong/bowl hero Ben 'mad dog' morris, laying down a thick watery mass of germs, sloth and fear. cover photos by the man with the golden lense Joincey." edition of 50

Rayon 17 YS TRYS C40
"Gritty basement jams from two of stuckometer's finest stir up a foggy blend of mutant riffs/midnight moods/free splutter. cover photos by legendary Joincey." edition of 50

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080702-145351 SIC ALPS - "United" 7" $5
"This merch table gem is a one sided 7" limited to 1000 copies. 500 on blue, 200 on red, 200 yellow and 100 on green. Contained on this thick piece of love is a rockola version of Throbbing Gristle's track United. This will be gone fast and won't be repressed."

CARLOS GIFFONI - 'Zamura' LP $14
"Limited edition of 300 copies in a heavy stock screen printed jacket.
A Zamuro is a dark South American vulture of great size. Zamuro is also a solo composition piece for portable synth and analog filter. Side A on this LP is a live realization of this piece recorded at the Compound in San Francisco in 2006 (Mastered by Lasse Marhaug). Carlos composed and performed this piece live on several tours in the US/Europe/Japan all trough out 2006 and 2007, if you saw him live in those two years this is the piece he performed. This was the most complete version of it that made it to tape. Side B is a studio piece recorded live on a much larger modular synth, based around the same theme, but with structural and tonal variations not in the original composition. .This is pure psychedelic electronic music. Cover illustration by Megan Ellis. Screen printed at Monoroid."

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080701-204511 steve gunn - 'sundowner' CD $13/$18 CD+CDr edition
"Steve Gunn is probably best known as a key component to the mighty GHQ with Marcia Bassett (Double Leopards) and Pete Nolan (Magik Markers), but his solo efforts have been even more impressive. With a couple limited & hard-to-find CDRs under his belt and a few offerings under the moniker Moongang, Gunn is ready to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight with his first proper CD. This music is finely tuned and expertly crafted by Gunn's capable hands, showing his skill not only as a guitarist, but as a songwriter as well. "Sundowner" may short & sweet, but it has an epic feeling. Gunn reaches deep into the vaults to line the walls with hypnotic acoustic guitar dirges, organic drones, and banjo ditties. And unlike any of his previous work, he also unleashes his voice on three songs, showing that not only can he play with the best of them, he can sing too. When he's not wowing the listener racing around the fretboard, his simple but effective vocal hooks are sinking themselves deep into the confines of your memory." Limited to 500 copies in 2-color black gatefold jackets. **NOTE: Special 2-disc edition features bonus CDR with collaborative tracks between Steve Gunn and a) Marcia Bassett & Tom Carter b) Marc Orleans (Sunburned) c) Heidi Diehl (Vanishing Voice). It is strictly limited to 100 handstamped & handnumbered copies** HERE

ltd#18: leo fabriek + mariska baars + rutger zuydervelt + wouter van veldhoven - 'live edits' C34 $7/$9
"most people will probably recognize the main projects that this group of dutch artists are involved in: julie mittens, machinefabriek, & soccer Committee. so it's pretty exciting when they all get together to make music. "live edits" collects two side-long tracks from two separate sessions, both in march of this year. beautiful drones that flicker like powerflashes in the distance unfold slowly. using an array of instrumentation such as harmonium, guitar, voice, & taperecorders, the group keep things simple. these recordings glow. they are warm and inviting, but never lose sight of the golden sun that beams from the horizon. stunning music." SAMPLE

ltd#21: goodwillies - 'greenmachines for all the childrens' C30 $7/$9
"tim goodwillie is the man with a plan. as 1/3 of the mighty (VxPxC), he's got something just for you, just in time for summer. this tape unleashes some ass-shakin' synthesized rhythms - full of fluff and overcooked grooves. goodwillie smokes the greenweed for the greenmachines and makes his pro-one purr. distortion laden beats suck all the air out of the room. it just grows and grows and grows. "greenmachines for all the childrens" is a final document from the streets of los angeles before these sweet pioneers relocate back home and join us in the midwest. as the goodwillies embark toward kansas city, we welcome them with open arms." limited to 50 handnumbered copies with silkscreened handmade paper covers. SAMPLE

ltd#23: sea zombies - 'it died in africa' C41 $8/$10
"the first incarnation of sea zombies was entombed at bottled smoke in 2007. that one-off performance featured john xela, jefre cantu-ledesma, gregg kowalsky, jed bindeman, & myself. but the original intent of the project was always as a duo between xela & the north sea, with assorted special guests thrown into the mix in various places. it seemed appropriate, then, that the first ever sea zombies release consisted of stripped-down duo recordings. both tracks were launched into the stratosphere during xela's boozed-out visit to tulsa in march of 2008. much blackness was birthed. much ginger beer was consumed. "it died in africa" is the first thing we recorded during that fitful week in early spring. accompanied by dudes in africa sermonizing in french, walls of synthesized ruins were blown to bits with oscillating shards of burned-out glass. thick and syrupy and ready for consumption." packaged in oversized black envelopes with gold lettering which house the tape (with black-on-gold cover), insert, and a different african tarot card with each copy. limited to 100 handnumbered copies. LOOK

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080630-130135 Like the recent long-player by Mincemeat or Tenspeed, the three pieces of ‘Unstringed Guitar & Cymbals’ by Alan Courtis capitalizes on those unsung laborers of guitar music: the body, boards, and crafted details of the instrument, sans strings and pick-ups (a contact mic is placed on the heart of the guitar to gather sound). Recorded wintertime in Buenos Aires, seasoning and such information is ultimately irrelevant in the cold plate of Ascorbico Studio, where the contour-less shapes of unstringed sound blossom acoustically with the accompanying sear of cymbals, exercised more as a tonic than meter. Nor is the concept of the unstringed guitar attacked in any particularly experimental or academicized way; rather, with the same merry indulgence as the droner, power tool, or free-reformist, Courtis feels out a hunkering monolith with each double-digit entry, disposing of Menche’s multi-tracked tact while retaining his label mate’s bright colors and holism. “Cardamomo” builds with restrained volume for ten minutes before even a submerged figure can be recognized, and then the phasing foreground stands always ready to collapse with the high rumble in the back, all dimensions of the track pressing toward an infinity which refuses a prevailing lead. On “Coriandro”, a richer collection of percussive contact babble idles behind a waning tide of sharp cymbal clamor which, on its ebb, uncovers an unattributed whistle accompanied by a similar loaming like whale song bent from the toothless vessel of a guitar. The third takes a familiar form to the second, as “Fenogreco” samples a similar percussive looping which welcomes a clashing onslaught of shimmering pitches of maximal volume and a wilting chorus of whistling spirits over glassy organum. A stately appearance! CD comes in a handsome digipak. (Blossoming Noise CD, $13 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080627-220549 L'animaux Tryst 'Haunt' series:

LTH 707: visitations & big blood - ''lectric 'lashes'
"in the true spirit of the occasion, southern maine's outerworldly psych-folk beacons visitations and big blood decide to forgo the concept of the "split" release and instead launch forth into a mindbending collaborative effort. the bands are not new to performing together: they've toured together and have even backed each other up under various names. but this release marks the first physical release by their combined forces, and, unbelievably enough, is big blood's first vinyl release ever. the ease with which the bands complement each other is astounding - five clear voices reaching together to guide the record through a buzz-guitar singalong, a breathless pastoral folk tune, a chugging nightmare rock-dirge, and a sweetly-lighthearted vocal exercise. this 33rpm 7" record contains four tracks in a 14-minute official runtime, but will play forever if you let it." in addition, the record comes with a bonus cd-r of tracks from the late-night jam session that pre-dated the recording sessions for the 7", as well as the four tracks from the 7" itself in digital form. a one-of-a-kind package, with each record sleeve offset printed with the bands' artwork in dark blue ink on colorful, individually hand-painted sheets of heavy art paper. embossed, hand-numbered limited edition of 300 record/cd-r sets.

LTH 708: prisma & drona parva - 'best buds' 7"
"the two spectral ladies of prisma mark their debut release with this 7" split with drona parva. prisma has been performing the quietest shows in and around portland for a couple years now, mixing softly echoing vocals with flute drones, only the gentlest plucking of various stringed instruments, and the occasional analog noise rumble. their a-side track resonates with beautiful restraint and delicacy; the stunning debut all of us entranced by their live show have hoped for. on the b-side, drona parva--the long-running solo project of time-lag records' nemo bidstrup--turns in a blissed-out muti-tracked free-flowing guitar composition. trance-inducing acoustic plucks and strums eventually give way to shimmering waves of fuzz guitar until the whole thing becomes impossibly beautiful. the minimal packaging for the record complements the gentle touch of the recordings held within." the 45rpm 7" record is a custom, slightly-marbled avocado green color with a yellow-green mandala-design center-label. the record is held in a semi-transparent vellum sleeve that has been hand-punched on the corners, giving a soft mask to the striking colors on the record itself, and hand-numbered to 300.

LTH 709: the north sea - "nikolette (reborn)" b/w corsican paintbrush - "under storm skies"
"anyone familiar with the extensive north sea discography is aware of brad rose's keen ability to mix it up between eastern-tinged folk instrumentals and more straightforward strummers, which usually feature rose's classic low-in-the-mix mumble-drunk vocals and charmingly loose playing. "nikolette (reborn)" finds him revising a beautiful, quivering folk song from 2007's baby blue bones cd (mymwly) with the more-confident-than-ever vocals now at the forefront, and an army of acoustic strings and hand percussion backing this boxtop prophet's hymn. corsican paintbrush's contribution follows suit, foregrounding eden hemming rose's soft, lilting vocal melody and some rhythm-driving strums while keeping a lush, hazy swell of drones and cave-echo vocals as the backdrop. equally ethereal and dusty, like 4AD dream-pop marred by dirt under fingernails and ash from the campfire turning cheeks black." black 7" vinyl record has a hand-stamped center label, and comes packaged in a textured black art paper sleeve with flower petal inclusions, with line-drawings and stamped titles in white ink, and an embossed screenprinted insert featuring liner notes and a topographic street map of tulsa. limited edition hand-numbered to 300.

These three 7" records are bound together with kite string and available for $24 US or $28 Worldwide, shipping included. The first two editions of the Tryst Haunt Series are still available, as are full subscriptions for this year's twelve 7" records (still to come: GHQ, Vollmar, and Elephant Micah in September). Please visit the new "work-in-progress" label WEBSITE.]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080627-083915 Argumentix - 'Boss of Goth' CD $7
"This is the first album I wish to be remembered by. Recorded through a bleak year of my life, 2006, Boss of Goth is an album of power-mourning, demon-fighting and vengeance-fucking. Trapped inside despair over the death of true love, childhood, and joy, I have always clung voraciously to a promise of a better tomorrow. I finished this album in March of 2007 and held on to it until now to make sure I would still love it enough to make 500 of them. Boss of Goth includes industrial punk and pop style songs with occasional fleeting dance beats and bursts of harsh noise. Vocals are the central focus, creating sweet pop ballads and lurking creep-stalker punk melt-downs. A variety of microphone processing accompanying sequencers, drum machines, and tons and tons of manipulated cassette tapes. Twisted collage journeys and quick punches to the throat. A fitting comparison perhaps half joking: To Live and Shave in LA meets Nine Inch Nails, with the spirits of Edward Ka-Spel, Suckdog, and bedroom four track. Includes 6 songs that have appeared regularly in live performances. Oh yeah, and I play piano on the last track. Album includes two hidden bonus tracks. The first a live performance caught at the end of my "temper tantrum approach" to harsh noise performance. The second is Dragging an Ox Through Water (aka Brian Mumford) singing a cover of my song "Save Life's Golden Receipt in Case Refund Needed." Both were recorded at Someday Lounge by Ryan Olson." CD comes with a 12 page booklet with lyrics. Cover art by Brian Mumford. HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080626-082225 Ajilvsga - 'Asleep Amongst the Thick Weeds' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"Asleep Amongst the Thick Weeds" could very well serve as a statement of intent for Brad Rose and Nathan Young's Ajilvsga duo. Here, over the course of one simply MASSIVE 45 minute track, the pair navigate an astounding range of electronic detritus sourced from synthesizers and boutique pedals, offering deep, ringing chorals which collapse into unforgiving torrents of sine waves and hissing analog crunch."

SOD-55 ACRE - 'Painless' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"Acre is the solo endeavor of Portland's Aaron Davis, with prior releases on Yarnlazer and Black Horizons, and a full length LP due out soon on Arbor. "Painless" is a carefully composed, intensly FOCUSED study of HEAVY tone. Clocking in at 79 minutes, it is perhaps the most daunting and awe-inspiring Acre missive to date, with Davis casting looong, cascading drone spells which are as impossibly heavy as they are narcotically hypnotic. Don't miss this one."

SOD-72 Treetops - 'In the Everglades' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"New recordings by Arbor frontman Mike Pollard. Pollard continues to push his sound in different directions, here he melds bleary drones with smears of FX-hazed voice and keyboard half-melodies, floating this fragile mess overtop throbbing percussive elements with downright disorienting results. Another compelling document from this fresh faced Chicago lad."

SOD-75 Sparkling Wide Pressure - 'Touching Pasture' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"Following a stellar release on the newly minted Digitalis LTD. imprint, Frank Baugh returns with another collection of crackly bedroom nodout. Baugh's compositional sensibility is rooted in nostalgia, as evidenced by the cover photo (an image of his younger self). Sonically, it's one big fog of garbled radio transmissions, voice and sprawling, Appalachian guitar lines. Wonderful, moving stuff."

SOD-76 Caboladies - 'Earth Canal' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"For the uninitiated, Caboladies are a trio of fine gents from central Kentucky who have, heretofore, kept a relatively low profile, releasing just a handful of small run tapes and cdrs on various Kentucky imprints, including their own Smooth Tapes label. The Cabos utilize various synths, keyboards and pedals to generate dense, swirling malestromes of sound rife with microcosmic detail. Not a million miles from recent Astral Social Club flights. Full length Caboladies CD on Students of Decay, late 2008/early 2009."

SOD 78 David Kirby - 'The Scythe' CDr (ltd 100) $7
"David Kirby returns for his second outing on Students of Decay, following 2006's "Inside, it is Ringing." "The Scythe" may well be David's most realized composition to date. A veritable cornucopia of source material hammered and melted into shape, forming a truly vast, humming universe of sound. The drones which drift throughout remind me of something from Christoph Heemann's backcatalog. But far from being so easily pigeonholed, David's use of found sound, samples and other wry "appropriations" renders this piece and sound very much his own. Keep your eyes peeled for a full length proper CD from David here on SOD later this year."

or all six for $38

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080624-214111 RYAN JEWELL CDr £4
"New - very short - piece from this Ohio based percussionist experimentalist whose collabed with a buncha folks recently (C.Spencer Yeh, Fossils...). One extremely minimal piece of drone using a snare, totally acoustic with an insane ending... n Ryans words 'it's all acoustic. Supersonic acoustic sine waves interfering with one another making audible sweeps, etc. It's all just a floor tom. Secret fuckin' ninja jedi mind moves and shit'..." Edition of 80 in gold sprayed and stickered sleeves of painted and stamped sleeves, everyone individual in either marron, black or white papers... HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080623-163641 Reversing the path of contemporaries, compatriots, and champions Tarentel, the latest vinyl release (and debut 7") by California’s Starving Weirdos moves from the band’s increasingly loose-form psychedelia (their ‘Home Ruckus’) and concrète ambience (‘Ghost Weight’ maybe?) to the equivalent sounds of the ‘We Move Through Weather’ coup [perhaps a strong word for some] as reinforced by the ‘Big Black Square’ and ‘Paper White’ EPs. With a similar move toward percussion-rich industrialization, the Weirdos (here in two different configurations of three) play a heavy-handed loop called “Absolute Freedom” with steely marching drums, wheezing anti-vocals and a churning drum of organ patterns, all clipped with an almost locked-groove repetition. A more familiar construction ends the piece with lots of open space and ambient texture made of recording effluvia, suggesting all the more an intentional experiment in this new sonic aggression. On the reverse, “Mt. Josephet” continues the barrage of punctuations, now like the heavy engagement of freight on tracks clacking a steady if not speedy intensity which is in periods submerged under the pandemonium of an electronics swirl, droning with the occasional feedback flare-up, and then narrated out with a belligerent dictation shouting from within the storm. Though the close comparison to Tarentel might be dashed away by some "degrees of separation" over-statement, the source of these recordings from quite early in the Weirdos' career (hence the different line-ups) suggest an even truer parallel between bands, and an acceptable contradiction of any reverse development. On black vinyl, the record comes in a handsome screened sleeve with glossy postcard insert. A gorgeous little package and a vinyl first for Abandon Ship Records – and in this regard, something of an unusual choice for a first release – I would have liked to see three more inches attached to each side; hopefully this signals the phonographic turn for ASR, one of the most aspiring young labels out today. Limited to 500. (Abandon Ship 7”, $7.5 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080622-190936 HNT010 – Locrian/Colossus C50 $5
"Split tape from Chicago's Locrian and New Hampshire's Colossus. Locrian presents a live track of forward moving drone and bass while Colossus maneuvers subtly about soft harmonica tones and ambient guitar." Limited to 100. HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080620-170713 From Riverside, California’s eclectic man/band/myth Whitman comes the fourth full-length, ‘White Sunrise’: 12 songs of various bedroom-shaped configurations, with titles like “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” and “Children and Other Garden Creatures” which hint from the offset at a certain closeted fantasma, so effectively confirmed in the explicit, exquisite, expressionistic lyrics and vocal punctuations complementing scuffed and scraped instruments. Arriving courtesy his own Folktale records (with help from Shrimper), Whitman’s struggle with the “F” word at times obscures in the denial of tracks like “Chasing Rabbits”, “Blood in the Fur”, and “Sweet Nothings”: stark, baroque guitar performances with an undeniable nod to Devendra Banhart’s wry bubble of a voice and dodgy sense of melody; the help of both she and he backing vocals only bolsters the similarities, as the creaky-cracked harmonies of Banhart’s early experiments are repressed with an inscribed practice which both recalls those nostalgic times and makes this mode Whitman’s own. On the other side of the equation, the band’s inquisitions of a variety of instruments and instrumentalities provides a nice scattering of understatement which rebukes the convention of the folk tag. Members of a loose West Coastal network of artists including the Dead Science, Carla Bozulich, and practically everybody accumulated in the punctuation mark of San Diego’s Che Café, the band invites dissonant/Jandek timbres of a certain ethereal quality as favored by many of their compatriots, perhaps best illustrated here in the accordion keys and distinct strings of John Thill and Anni Rossi, familiar to much of the collective, as well as barely-there additions of clarinet, sax, and cello.

The very anti-thesis of the album’s first and last minutes expresses well these competing musical slants, as reckless percussion and feedback are tossed into a futile heap of electrified noise – a false start and stop from the Lightning Bolt school of non-music. And it is with this that the album retains its imperfections in the undecided rebellion/collusion with the freaks through “Tanning in the Sun”, a quaky-voiced relapse into jangly “indie” music perhaps better suited to the uneven, quiet-loud outbursts of early Midwesterners Bright Eyes or Boys Life - in other words, more Crank! than Not Not Fun. Yet the easiness of this track with the rest testifies to the protean nature of these songs, ready for the studied beauty of highlight “Blood in the Fur” as quickly as the Tom Waits one-off “The Elephant Song” which in hind-sight feels more out of place than the raucous instrumentals which bookend the album. “Keep Your Chin Up Kid” appears late with a unique sobriety and restraint which lends the song a gratis dimension of sincerity, as a simple three notes are plucked to a lonesome whisper, more exhalation than singing. Final piece “Claustrophobic in Your Arms” is ironically the only track not recorded directly inside the ear, affecting a cavernous space populated by the same sparseness of sound and the neurotic romance of Patty Waters. In total, the package reads like a young career’s commitment to songwriting - perhaps not always lifted directly from the stars, but persistently crafted and practiced – resulting in a rich collection of songs, often nuanced to a challenging fault. On white vinyl with silver stickers, with two-ink screened recycled covers and a thick book of lyrics. Limited to 500 copies. (Folktale LP, $12 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080618-233319 I cannot seem to recall my sole experience with Long Legged Woman from the very fine ‘Deeded to Itself’ compilation of bands from Athens, Georgia. I remember liking it, but after hearing the band’s latest 7” release, I wouldn’t believe I had ever encountered them. In the least, they’ve changed overwhelmingly. Recalling the noise and noise-rock/noise of that disc, the ominous title “Something is Pressing Against it from the Inside” and raucous cover art of this disc prepared me well for a 45 RPM onslaught of heat-sick scrabble and perhaps some fancy jabs of amp on amp frequency duel; instead, we find a genuine composition from the quartet, a heat-weary psych-rock emerging from a bouncy Pitchblende post-rock into something resembling a Deep Purple demo reel of the sort Sic Alps cants so well: varying meters and reverb-obscured vocals bemoaning the title over a clanging crest of guitars feigning pseudo-solos. On the reverse, “Scalpels in the Sky” departs percussion for an even deeper wash of reverb, mixing several currents of vocals with a fine detail of rhythm guitar and the yawning song of a harmonium – something akin to Syd Barrett as approached by Hush Arbors. At a few scarce minutes apiece, I’m still trying to figure this all out, how they flipped it so well - perhaps a long-player would help [hint]. On minty-green barf colored vinyl with grey labels, in a colorful pro-sleeve. Limited to 300 copies. A split-release with Pollen Season. (Thor’s Rubber Hammer 7”, $6.5 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080618-112657 IKUISUUS, every album ever made:

BOOK OF SHADOWS - '777' CD (IKU-010) 10€
"The Book of Shadows CD 777 on the label Ikuisuus is the bands seventh release. The band was formed in 1999 when ST 37 founder Carlton Crutcher and his wife Sharon began seeking a magical, improvisational musical outlet. The band has stayed true to this vision for 9 years of live shows, studio recordings and numerous musicians. All of the recordings on 777 were recorded in 2007 and represent a peak for Book of Shadows as a live band as well as a studio band. For this CD, Sharon on vocals and Carlton on keys, are joined by Eric Archer (Numbers on the Mast) on guitar/electronics, long time Book of Shadows guitarist/composer Aaron Bennack, guitarist Jonathan Horne (Plutonium Farmers), Johnny McCollom (Primordial Undermind) on percussion, Matt Thies (Numbers on the Mast) on keys/electronics, Greg Elliott (Spagirus) on dulcimer, and Vanessa Rossetto (The Mighty Acts of God, Bright Duplex, Pulga, etc...) on viola, bowls and bells!!!....You are the magic that you make." EDITION OF 500 copies.

HETERO SKELETON - 'Hasardi' CD (IKU-009) 10€
"Second full lenght CD from Finnish noise weirdos. A 40 min goof parade." EDITION OF 500 copies.

MY3YEAH s/t CDr (IS-019) 5€
"MY3YEAH started last year as a duo formed by Tomas Müller and GMC. Tomas also released one CD-R in Canada with another group and GMC released a 3" solo CD-R on Music Your Mind Will Love You label. Tomas did a tour in Japan in 2003/2004, playing and recording with the late Jutok Kaneko, also gigs with Kei of Hanadensha and Tori Kudo of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, among many others. GMC played in Vlüba some years before they started releasing material worldwide, then he did a tour in Chile doing noise shows with many local acts. Nowadays Tomas is playing with Roberto "Moncho" Conlazo of Reynols, the name of the band is UFO Zion and we recorded at a studio twice, now we are mixing the tracks. Soon I guess you'll hear all about it. Back to MY3YEAH, we did several sessions (one is from 1999, but with another name) and every session we are trying to do different things. For instance, GMC is also a drummer and Tomas is a guitarist. Sometimes we play with this format or sometimes we connect all our pedals and play with drones and frequencies. GMC also likes to do circuit bending. The record on Ikuisuus is a session recorded on a tape deck with 3 different types of delays, whammy, volume pedal, distortion, feedbacker, guitar, and more , but we can't remember exactly. We did it in an empty apartment in the middle of the night in Buenos Aires. Then some months later GMC did a bit of mixing with his computer. Tomas was locked in the loony bin a few months ago, trying to recover from mental problems. ETC. Bye!" - MY3YEAH. EDITION OF 120 COPIES.

NOVA SCOTIA - 'Memphis' CDr (IS-021) 5€
"The recordings were done at 2 separate gigs at Photospace Gallery in Wellington, NZ. I exhibited at the gallery twice and we began performing there quite often (the owner even played drums for my group The Rick Jensen Trio). Nova Scotia played a number of times there as the environment was particularly suited to us, outside was the main street in Wellington, where everyone would go drinking at night. It was all nightclubs and bars, buskers and drunk people. When we performed we'd open the windows and use any street sound that came through and integrate it into our performance. For the track that features Antony, we played a gig with him and then invited him to join us, it turned out to be an unusual song. All of the performances we did at Photospace had a particular feel to them, and we certainly developed our sound alot with these gigs. There's not a lot more to say about them, at this point we were using many homemade instruments, broken electronics, 4 tracks, and anything we had at hand. This album represents a highly experimental period for us and shows the way we were going at the time." - Rick Jensen. EDITION OF 150 COPIES.

DORA BLEU - '12 December 2007' CDr (IS-022) 5€
"12 December 2007 is a live recording of Dorothy Geller (From Quagmire) alias Dora Bleu and Alexandre St-Onge (Shalabi Effect, et Sans) taken in Montreal at Zoobizarre on that date. Several of the songs are inspired by the film The Night Porter (1976). The live event itself was called "Music on Dark Screens." St-Onge's dark, minimal and lush double bass is a perfect compliment to Geller's unconventional and minimal song structures. The songs and sounds refract each element together like an interplay between cracked and broken mirrors. The lyrics to the songs, like the film, make explicit that the violence of political reality interweaves with emotional, personal and psychic life, demonstrating the total inseparability of the world and self and sexuality. Recommended for people who saturate and submerge themselves in their listening." EDITION OF 120 COPIES.

KHETA HOTEM - 'Bowl Ceremony' CDr (IS-023) 5€
"Gigging with a varying and often an extensive group, Kheta Hotem has visited the studio with a somewhat stripped basic essence. This release is a collection of sense-filling presentations starting with a ritual-like bowl ceremony, which leads into results closely related with free jazz and ethnomusic. In their gig brochure the group claims they continue the more than 1000 years old musical tradition of Komutia, where the musician acts as a mediator between the world of sounds and everyday existence. The instruments Kheta Hotem use are traditional instruments of ritual music: the didgeridoo and different percussions. However, the synthesizer and the electric guitar are not forgotten, either. Acoustic instruments, including the human guttural voices, meld with those produced electrically - the traditional Komutian rituals turn into avant-garde. One can admire and listen to the outcome as an impressive technical performance, and experience the atmosphere to the marrow." EDITION OF 150 COPIES.

CENTURY PLANTS - 'Inversions' CDr (IS-024) 5€
"Latest from Albany guitar duo whose six string damaging has often shred the guitar beyond recognition. For this outing, however, Century Plants plug in, and allow their guitars to be guitars. Psych raga, melting icebergs of roaring drone, metallic strum and clang, oceanic melody and even a helping of pastoral song melody separate this from previous smash ups. Hardiman and Hare create these hypnotic states from the ground up, building their sound out of pure improvisation. Oh yeah, the guitars don't always sound like guitars!" EDITION OF 150 COPIES.

HASSU PELLE s/t CDr (IS-025) 4€
"Ikuisuus releases the underground classic of Finnish rhythm music! Hassu Pelle (Funny Clown) from Tampere, Finland was active only a couple of years at the first part of 2000s. This hilarious quintet was formed by Pelle Eloton, Pelle Svanslös, Ulkomaan Pelle, Pelle Jätkä, and Apupelle who was involved with the recording session. Hassu Pelle’s self-titled first and only record was originally released by the band members themselves with the edition of approximately only 30 copies. Hassu Pelle played some mind-boggling live shows for the handful of people mostly just in their home town. These small audiences were witness to the surprisingly fresh and thrilling musical happiness. First impression might be that Hassu Pelle’s music is just ‘foolery’, but hidden underneath the seeming simplicity these compositions carry true brilliance. Eight catchy tracks were recorded at those mighty days when Hassu Pelle was dancing at the peak of their strength. At the recording session they used the simple one-take-with-a-style technique + no overdubs. The result is extremely playful, yet confident, jagged with the taste of life. Hassu Pelle played beautifully bittersweet, yet at the same time hysterically merry music, which could be described in this context as "circus music". Even the most hardened humourless person will get a smile on the face while listening to Hassu Pelle. There's no other ensemble which has reached such enchanting carnivalistic atmospheres like Hassu Pelle. This cultural achievement from Ikuisuus label saves these sounds of delight from the oblivion. Step into the circus, you won't regret!" - Runar Patentti, Helsinki. EDITION OF 150 COPIES.

HETERO SKELETON - 'Borborygmi' tape (ikasus-01) 5€
"Insider's note: I just can't recall who played what. There's some photographic evidence, Arttu hunched over an amp, pitch-shifting, feedback, a whole lotta horn, the drums were buried & a mistake in the first place, the unreliable bullhorn, did I play some guitar? Don't know. Maybe we tried too hard. Maybe we even had a plan. Kinda reminds me of those Borbetomagus/Voice Crack-collaborations, if that's not too arrogant a description. Nowadays it's always like this, the train keeps a-rollin' from the get-go, does anybody remember when we used to do short songs? Where's the funny stuff? Nobody's laughing. We lost it, man, should really pack it all up & leave, call it a day. Just listen to those drums - what is that all about? Turn it over and you'll get JS666's real-time remix of the mess we left behind. Is it any better? Can a heap of foul-smelling turd be compressed into a shiny little nugget of gold? Lord have mercy. And now I'm dancing with myself. For obvious reasons. Thanks for listening, little boy. - Tero Skeleton." EDITION OF 130 COPIES.

VAPAA - 'Se Soi, Soi!' tape (ikasus-02) 5€
"Live recordings from 18.11.2005 Rauhanasema, Helsinki, Finland; 17.11.2005 Vastavirta, Tampere, Finland; 10.04.2005 Telakka, Tampere, Finland." EDITION OF 130 COPIES.

HUNTON QUINTET - 'Kuutelus' tape (ikasus-03) 5€
"HUNTON QUINTET is a project which made two small edition cdr albums and one tape under name Anti/Uton. At summer 2007 they met again after few years of silence, and started to make music again. Recorded in Pappilanmäki, Porvoo 2005. Mastered 2007 by Zelig. Agent Stepanoff: vocals, piano, quitar. Zelig Concrete : piano, guitar, percussions." EDITION OF 130 COPIES.

SHIGGAJON/DREAMERS CLOTH split tape (ikasus-04) 5€
"Split tape including two more or less new Danish acts. In these recordings (made during past 6 months) huge collective Shiggajon was five people playing out many kind of musical experiments & improvisations, with large amount of instruments (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, water, electric guitar, cello, scrap metal, violin, cembalo, bells, didgeridoo, bottles, chimes, drums, paper, and flutes). Floating orchestral jams to alienspace deep mystic drones, krautrock freakouts & free jazz moods from the structures of academic darkness - to the atmospheric swirls of heavenly light. Dreamers Cloth is a solo project by Jonas Frederiksen from Beyond Repair cassette label. Diving underwater in the ambient dreamlands of fantasy creatures and unknown high sky visions. Beautiful & psychedelic new age bliss-sound drones, for the fans of Tangerine Dream, Ashtray Navigations, Family Underground, Skaters, Dolphins Into The Future." EDITION OF 100 COPIES.

Special: 5x CDr/TAPE FOR 20€

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080617-231919
Ecstatic Jazz Duos 12” Series 3LP $45(N. America)/$60(World)
[PRE-ORDER] "The Ecstatic Jazz Duos Series collects six of the most innovative duos in the avant-jazz/free-noise realm. Each duo contributes a side of vinyl over three LPs (each in an edition of 500) to be released over 2008." The subscription (limited to just 100) includes all three 12"s plus stickers, buttons, and a CDr of exclusive content only available to subscribers.
LP1: Talibam!/Wasteland Jazz Unit
LP2: I Heart Lung/DWMTG
LP3: Valerio Cosi & Enzo Franchini/Jeremiah Cymerman & Matthew Welch

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080617-132232 FANTASTIC MAGIC 7"
"The album, entitled "Fantastic Magic" features the track, "Jam and Yima"
released on 2007's, "Witch Choir" cassette as well as the new, transcendent track, "Sea of Gold" and will be released in limited edition green vinyl. The record will also be available digitally, in your iTunes, eMusic, etc. FANTASTIC MAGIC are a 3 piece out of San Diego, CA creating ethereal, campfire-pop dirges. They have shared the stage with Black Heart Procession, Vampire Weekend, Ariel Pink, Celebration, Frog Eyes, Castanets and HEALTH, to name a few." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080616-162959 "No synthesizers, sequencers, samplers, drum machines, computers, or musical instruments" are present in the mad science of Davey Harms, heretofore known as Mincemeat or Tenspeed. The four songs of the one-man debut entitled ‘All Critters’ are composed strictly of feedback from guitar effects pedals chained to a mixer, a deadly feedback loop which magnifies the flaws of this consumptive technology as it produces its own pearls through so much dirt of imperfection. With the fixed-gear industry of the quasi-mechanic Hangedup, opening salvo “End Time” presses forth with impeccable geometry, at first a deceptively guitar-like picking noise skronks a simple melody with maximum gain, increasingly diffuse with distortion and the accumulating filth of sound until it disappears into a cloud of sharp static. Clearly the Mincemeat of Tenspeed setup corrupts through multiplication, but in this stultified musical environment – giving us everything/nothing – this brutal formula may sustain as long as the medium. The brassy bass of a modulating croak laps like a tide through “Accident Prone”, a droning sizzle high behind it, then into a leading tone with an impressive display of control over this impossible material, a wrangling of free-radical sounds on par with the creative peaks of Black Dice. Following an extensive track of maximalist noise mashed into electronic grids of near dance-ability, title track and finale “All Critters” enters on an elongated flutter of oscillating tones, and like the opening piece, bursts forth with less constrained enthusiasm marred with hot white static and an exhaust of excessive notes like a sizzling sea through which emerges beaty bubbles and the sharp shrieks of a would-be bagpipe shredding over the crest of the welter. In light of the man’s methodology, the precision and detail of these creations (would “composition” be fair?) raise complimentary questions of validity and brilliance, as either there is something missing in the explanation or this guy is just really fucking good at making something out of nothing. On black vinyl with an amazing, frameable, three color screen cover on heavy paper. A co-release with Malleable and Big Monies Tapes. (Deathbomb Arc LP, $10 HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080616-103329 Burnt Hills - ‘blunt greeper’ C60 £3.5(UK)/£4(EU)/£4.5(World)
"Minotaur surf party firing nitrous arrows into a flaming headswim universe, a wealth of decomposing monster saturated jams, dripping n’ melting in a heavy golden like syrup….." edition of 50.

Psychedelic Horseshit - ‘magic flowers dubbed’ C22 £3.5(UK)/£4(EU)/£4.5(World)
"Dirt driven overturned casio mangled, gravel mulched pop songs. Broken down folk house incinerators, sun bleached unearthed oceanic murmurs…." edition of 50.

EMAIL or WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080614-232034 After weeks of silence, it's now time for Faunasabbatha to re-open the gates 8 new releases, 7 cdrs and one tape. Be sure that you have to act fast, last time it's gone at the speed of light. (click image for full poster)

sab005 LAW OF THE ROPE - 'The Book of Three' CDr ltd73
sab006 SUBURBAN LEPROSY - 'Bohemian Leprosy' 3"CDr ltd52
sab007 QUTTINIRPAAQ - 'Quttinirpaaq' CDr ltd81
sab008 AJILVSGA - 'Destruction of the Bison' CDr ltd87
sab009 ELECTRIC OMEN - 'Fortress of Solitude' CDr ltd80
sab010 DE MAGIA VETERUM - 'Verus Diuinus Magus' CDr ltd66
sab011 KORPERSCHWACHE - 'dead flowers and a handful of Plague' CDr ltd60
sab012 WORMSBLOOD - 'In the Stars' cassette C50 ltd70

]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080614-171035

HUNTON QUINTET - 'Rugcode Reader' rCDr $5(US/Canada)/$7(wold)
Finnish psychedelic masters Uton and Anti unleash a new beast as the Hunton Quintet. Heavy hazy woven jams as Zelig Concrete and Agent Stepanoff. Clay whistles, wooden electronics, animal hide drums. Serious carpet tripping deep in the dark woods. 6 tracks straight outa Porvoo, Finland - namecheck all things Finnish and hard to pronounce: MYSPACE Deluxe handcrafted gatefold sleeves. Limited edition of 99.

partli cloudi - 'for bear' CDr $5(US/Canada)/$7(wold)
"Ritual recordings from partli cloudi (one half/third of the NEWYAKI duo/trio with Gown). A missing Jorodowsky soundtrack by rainforest dwellers. Self medicated ragas, peyote tom tom percussion, bells, wah, mysterious strings plucked like chickens by a slow motion Raccooon. Recorded by Alien Lomax and Vishnu Woods- a true labour of loveliness." Handmade collages assembled by Meadow Sweetie, each one beautifully unique. limited edition of 34.

HAT CITY INTUITIVE - 'ROCKS IN MY PILLOW - IMP(s)' CDr $5(US/Canada)/$7(wold)
"Book of 3" - triple split invoking the magik ESP impulse actuel trinity for our third release: Hat City Intuitive - blasting minds since early days with Matt Valentine's Superlux label, Cromagnon, Ayler-esque free form truth never hurt so good. Rocks in My Pillow - threads of Graveyards, Celestial Communication Orchestra, grinding cellos with sheets of metal. Dark drones, lovely, and deep. AACM+(CCMC x MEV) = ??? Imp(s) - blew away minds opening Canadian shows for GHQ and NNCK. Mysterious beards reveal the Creator and Sharka has a master plan, bells, drumming, chants of a revolutionary cyborg nature." Hand printed in antique style book covers. Limited edition 69.

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080613-202602 No strangers to the 7” format, Vancouver’s Shearing Pinx continues their No Wave Revision Project with the ‘Haruspex’ EP, three tracks recorded at various moments along the west coast of North America. Almost as a formality, side A’s “Negaman” rushes forth with the barbaric rhythms and over-chewed vocals of DNA’s more melodic moments or Dmonstrations’ recreations of these, but this attempt at not-song is exploded as the band reveals a new agenda in second-phase free play, not unlike Sonic Youth’s early forays from the same platform: amplified shrapnel peeling of in a jangly mess, seething bass cabinets and a troublesome audio overlay are allowed to billow through the bulk of the track, eventually the thrust of toms and power-chords returning the rhythm to book-end this new No-song. On the flip, “No Face” comes on overanxious from the lull of experiment – “No Wave” is, after all, still a “Wave” – a herky-jerky race to the breakdown with a land-speed drumming record and guitar pulling like hamstrings left and right; the focal point is arguably located in the coda, a Devo spasm of reckless lyrics in call-and-response with the band. It is a brilliant concision that Skyscraper recognizes the band a west-coastal reply to AIDS Wolf. Final lap “Sinking Ship” suggests the rawest production yet, and is substantially all lead-out similar to Negaman’s midriff, with bleary feedback and punch-drunk percussion to a crowd-pleasing finish. On black vinyl, with sexy sleeves hand-numbered to 500 copies. (Divorce 7”, $7/8/10CND (Canada/US/World) HERE)]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080613-095458 Happy Friday the 13th. Here's a new label from Robin Dickinson (Slow Listener), called Archivo de Sangre de Dios:

Budweiser Sprite - 'Marble Barbarian' C30 £5/$10(UK)/$11(world)
"Heavy tape mangling and manipulation from the Reiser man himself, hear what's in the mind of Together Tapes head honcho.......that'll learn you! Edition of 50. MP3

Oneohtrix Point Never/Slow Listener C20 £5/$10(UK)/$11(world)
"Something different from Slow Listener and Lopatin (of heavy synth hitters Astronaut and Infinity Window), both going for an opposite approach to what you're used to. Dan's headed into heavy static distortion, something closer to Demons synth blasts while my side's from a much mellower show I played recently, Nyoukis said it sounded like Oval, Lopatin says"yr track is a monster of cloud forms and ghoulish satellite detritus. shit is reaaalll" Edition of 50 MP3/MP3

Hockyfrilla/Deepkiss720 C30 £5/$10(UK)/$11(world)
"Hockyfrilla (for those that don't know) are Dora Doll (ex-Prick Decay etc) and Rhian (C.K. Dexter Haven) hitting us with a heavy electrical migraine drone,marvellous. Deepkiss720 will make you laugh and cry with his cracked electronics,the ending made me laugh out loud, 80's metal hmmmmm!" Edition of 50 MP3/MP3

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080612-092758 TORTURING NURSE + WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT split C30
"a merciless, bi-continental team up of two horribly unyielding units. representing china is torturing nurse in the three piece form of jiadie, youki, and junky. anyone familiar with tn's mangled gerogerigegege meets a meat grinder style knows what they are in for. a non-stop, pounding, fucked up back alley ballad complete with violent as hell screams and amplified vomit. it's gonna get everywhere, i promise. wasteland jazz unit hail from the good old usa (cincinnati, oh if you want to get technical) and somehow manage to pull off the same ferocious carnage while using a saxophone and clarinet? what!? yes! overly abused wind instruments intentionally doing what was never intended. a piercing and harsh masterpiece."

905.10: DROUGHTER + GNARLY SHEEN split C30
"two heads of the same beast, breathing fire and shitting smoke. droughter devours minds with a vocal shredding, feedback fucked wall of power that is hope enveloping and overloaded with eruptive hysteria. gnarly sheen changes things up with a dilated dronescape utilizing layers of lethargic currents. two reasons to put the entire ward on suicide watch."

905.11: METHADRONE - 'FINAL SKULL' 2xC20
"methadrone was an early moniker of joe brietenbach, who now grows organic drones under the name of gallows. before he unplugged the laptop, a small amount of output made it's way into the public realm in the form a few splits (w/ yes collapse, dance wounds, and wether) a c20 ("the sun cocaine" on lovers tapes) and a collab 12" w/ wether (forthcoming in snakefork/blue sky writing). these are the remaining tracks that have been collecting virtual dust in some moldy folder. four sides, five shots. oscillating, slightly processed, chloroformed doses that blend mechanical rhythms and natural elements with each other." packaged in clamshell cases.

905.13: TIME CAPSULE - 'BUMMER AFTER BUMMER' C20
"mysterious sounds from holes in the ground. the faceless, nomadic zoners known as time capsule drip enigmatic drops of lo-fi, opium laced floaters up and down "bummer after bummer". the exact lineup and instruments used are unknown, but something tells me that the electric bass, clearance rack synths, and possibly a didjeredoo or two don't go unused. some serious space out tunes in a limited run with individually hand painted covers."

905.14: MEMES - 'I WILL CATCH YOU' C30
"905's first journey into non-noise band land, "i will catch you" is nine tracks of avant-pop music from leigh valley's memes. a reverb rich, aerial flooding of experimental jams that draw influences from sonic youth, animal collective, the turtles, and amps for christ. a blend of breezes and hurricanes spread out over thirty minutes. post 911 psychedelic."

905.15: SANGUINE PISS - 'NO HORSE SHIT' C20
"saw these dudes for the first time as a cohesive unit at a recent wiese / wether gig in philadelphia. i've been seeing mat perform as newton for a minute, and known jared for what seems like a decade. in recent years i've been floored by some one-off collabs he has done with matt franco and skeleton warrior, so i was way interested in finding out what those two dudes plus cohort marc zajack (deep fried tapes) had in store. their setup was fairly minimum... some mixers, pedals, and a couple of guitars tuned to untuned. from second one though the most enormous sounds ruptured through the room. i mean, shit was gigantic. every once in a blue moon you could think to yourself "oh, i think that sound is coming from that", but usually it was just a vulgar mess. asked to do a tape while smoking weed out of an apple in the back of the store, even though i remember there being a pipe earlier. i guess that just fit."

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080611-202118 From the much-appreciated slow hand of California’s Gnome Life Records comes the third long-player by folk impresario Sean Smith. Aptly titled ‘Eternal’, the album sets only a bottom limit marking its being by 1) its recorded existence, and 2) the vivid clarity of the recording, benefiting from a purely analog creation (through recording, mixing, and mastering) which leaves the flavor no shortcuts through which to hide. Despite the diminutive, intimate feel of the album’s seven wordless tracks, the first five all feature at least on other musician (including various combinations of Spencer Owen, Adam Snider, Angela Hsu, and Gnome Life’s Fletcher Tucker); to Smith’s guitar dominance these well-wishers apply percussion, bass, violin – all with a complimentarity which melts easily into the warm reverberations of Anvil Salute in the tongue-in-cheek melancholy of “Goat Seer” or the raga-down of “Palak Paneer”, offering a rare glimpse of musician bodies in the hand-clapping refrain. The album’s ups and downs are belied by the minor-darkness of opening piece “Topinambour”, a dusty stretch of desolate notes ringing and harmonizing, ala the many movements of Six Organs’ ‘For Octavio Paz’. Closer of side alpha, “The Real” treads some familiar impressionistic terrain of high-period Dirty Three, and not solely for the anguished sawing which enters late over the slappy agreement of guitar, (banjo), and percussion: treading the same tempera-painted waters as the Australian trio, the track captures a fantastic exoticism in its lazy, heavy stagger, circular arrangement, and unusual tuning - a portrait from ‘Invisible Cities’. On side omega, “Holly” is italicized through a deviant font, something of a nod to the tracks distinctly different quality as something exceedingly “post-rock” in the vein of Gastr Del Sol or The Sonora Pine, cascading from a locatable Appalachian guitar arrangement into a crashing attack of electric guitar and full-kit percussion, back to a quiet return with weeping strings. The Grubbsian “Prompter of Conscience” stirs with extended periods of blank and an underlying sustain, savoring each trickle of notes which is erratically peeled off. Bleeding out of this track and consuming the majority of the last side, “Greetings Death Love (Excerpts)” is a solo joint of semi-improvised guitar sketches – not-quite songs – strung together with tense silence and a general theme of wry optimism as only this sort of performance can affect. Black vinyl arrives in a handsome, heavy, screened sleeve with a vellum band, limited to 300 copies. Highly recommended. (Gnome Life LP, $15 HERE) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080611-091546

wereju - 'lost and far from home' CDr
"three tracks of lush, guitar-based dronescapes over fifty one minutes. dark, haunting, and heartbreaking music from Ireland-based Cathal Rodgers." numbered edition of 139.

men scryfa - 'the sky was troubled with the dread strength of the wind' 3" CDr
"Men Scryfa is Chris Naughton and Simon Lucas of Atavist. Atavist is a good starting point to envision the sound for this project, but they take the sound in different directions than the band that brought them together. It's heavy and plodding, but progressive and melodic with spoken vocals. It feels a bit like a doom metal version of something from Slint's Spiderland record. Absolutely fantastic." Edition of 199 copies.

hoor-paar-kraat - 'a whisper in the sow's ear' 3" CDr
"when you get a new hoor-paar-kraat recording, you never quite know what Anthony Mangicapra is going to give you. it's always something new, ambitious and often pretty indescribeable. This one is no exception and takes hpk to undiscovered territory. This release works mainly in the higher register. It's bookended by two pieces rooted in the sounds of a singing bowl, or at least that's what it sounds like to my ears. The centerpeice of the disc, was created by 'playing' a sculpture by Eric Furman. It's quiet, beautiful, and creates a sense of space not often heard in a piece of music." Numbered edition of 142. Packaged in a tri-fold cover with art by Anthony Mangicapra with a vellum overlay.

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080609-235548 Sassbologna Records: working mostly with cassettes, the label appears to have access to state-funding in supply (new stock tapes with pro-looking prints, glossy inserts), though state-funding as funneled through a high-school shop class, with an embarrassing wealth of contributors (perhaps half the label’s catalog is comps), all virtually unknown; the sounds are fast and sloppy - from the hip-hop beats to speed metal – and buried under a remorseless boom of home-dubbed gauze. The cover art is assembled with equal (much of it goofy cartoonage by label-man Corey Peak), and despite the excess of sounds, there is often little information to shed some light on this increasingly-mysterious operation.

Seemingly in love with two disparate, albeit tape-friendly genres – noise and dance music – the releases split their time between the two, as the first is witnessed in the self-titled tape by Kæp Yroc and the thrash compilation ‘FAST COMP’. The former, at over an hour of murky noise and degraded programming, feels right at home with the tapes of label Scumbag – horizons of overcast pollution like a statue bleeding into the ground of the tape’s hiss – an attempt to out ugly the ugliest. Half-hearted stabs at beats or in the least, “shapes” are regularly consumed by the miserable groan, a splattered backdrop to be regarded ambient by your worst enemy. On white tapes with white labels, a hand-cut j-card and insert, limited to 50.

With over 33 bands contributing, the label makes its first gesture toward legitimacy by including websites like footnotes for each artist of its ‘FAST COMP’. The premise: given the nature of the practice, each artist contributes no more than one minute’s worth of music, and for the uninitiated, this amounts to a flurry of double bass-pedaling, post-pubescent growling, and trebly guitar zig zags like a blur across both sides of this brief tape. Admixing bands with typical thrash titles like Worker and Parasite, Common Enemy, and a slew of Scandinavian or pseudo-Scandinavian monikers, as well as new school nihilism in names like Dick Punch, Gorilla Pussy, or White Male Dumbinance, we receive a healthy variety of pretension and comedy, gloom and goof. Limited to 200 copies, split between sleeve and tape colors.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, ‘Electronicomp’ represents the label’s penchant for bedroom beats and rather rote dance concoctions. Elsewhere realized as amateur hip-hop ala early Tommy Guerroro and downbeat instrumentals of the Chicago, Tortoisey variety, the club set find theirs in 14 more unknown contributions (e.g. Miami Horror, Fat Legs, Kuriaki) ranging from early Nettwerk house music to Daft Punk adoration and a fare-share of post Four Tet glitchiness, the tracks grow more compelling as they stray from rigid beats and clean production to embrace the smudges of the flawed medium and pull in some sounds that don’t necessarily lend to dancing. Limited to 50 copies on pro-looking white tapes and full-color glossy print. All tapes are $5 and available HERE. ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080609-121802 ii/Human Adult Band split C27
"ii is Chaz Wetlands (Human Adult Band, Buzzard, Me & My Panda Machine). Chaz left th' Human Adult Band for Philadelphia and w/ th' absence of th' or any band, he kept drumming. The ii side is a dip into Chaz's voodun inspired drum jams with cult movie sound bites interlaced with the meat. The Human Adult Band side has a previously unreleased and unlikely ambient jam from the 2003-ish 'Wantnaut/Wastenaut' days along with a hc cover recorded in DC on their recent "Let's Roll" / International Noise Conference 2008 tour. During this cover you can hear guitarist Mike 'Burnt Marmalade' McCoskey get shoved into the drums by an overzealous audience member." Limited edition of 25. (Collaborative release w/ Cactus Pony Music). HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080609-102953 Open Range:

Mail Worker: So what kind of music is it?
Me: Uh..Well..It's kinda..weird. I Don't know.
Mail Worker: So like Ministry?
Me: Oh..Wow..Uh..No..Weirder and different. Like noisey.
Mail Worker: Oh Oh Alright. So like Nine Inch Nails? Man Trent Reznor freaks me out sometimes. Me and my kid just listen to a lot of Slayer and Lamb of God you know. His Mom hates that stuff though haha
Me: Yeah..thanks Jay
Mail Worker: Sure thing Business Man, see you next week

ORR-010 'Home on the Range: An Open Range Compilation' CDr $8(US)/$11(World)
"Finallyyyyyyyyy! This compilation has been in the works for a long time. People from other labels had told me before how much it sucks waiting forever for everyone to get their tracks in and everything, but man I had no idea. I'd think it was done and ready, and that there'd be a last track in my mailbox when I got home and it'd be another two weeks. That's some difficult waiting. Anyway, housed in fold over 8x10 artwork by Thomas Bernard with silkscreened insides and glue-sticked tracklist is a stamped CDR with new/unreleased tracks from: Slasher Risk, Sky Limousine, Mike Shiflet, Cursillistas, Stone Baby, (VxPxC), Sore Eros, Sean McCann, Farngo, Tusco Terror, Ajilvsga, Fortress of Amplitude, Blue Sabbath Black Fiji, Gorman, and Manuel Giao. Limited to 50 numbered copies. Get it while it's hot."

ORR-005 Vesuvan - 'Swamp Doctor' C12 $6(US)/$9(World)
"After a number of silly set-backs this monster is ready to eat your boombox from the inside out. Melting it with algae too thick to squeeze through the speaker holes and vocal sounds so sludgy they'll get the insides all fried up. You won't even know what you're listening to anymore. The sound of being thrown out of your giant fan-powered boat right into the mouth of a gator. In a good way." Hand painted tapes and Art by SDReed. Limited to 50.

Start HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080608-201741

"V" - 'Standing Still In the Celestial Sphere' CDr
"Debut solo outing from Monks of The Balhill member. Newest addition to the French Psychedelic Underground."

Robe. - 'Star Form' CDr
"Glacial bass drift from the Void."

Drunjus - 'Enceladus' CDr
"Two long tracks of slow motion swamp drone. Final edition with new art. (If you ordered one before, you will be getting this new edition, no charge.)"

Ajilvsga - 'White Path/Red Path' CS
"Heaviest to date. Two 20 minute side long tracks. High bias chrome tapes."

All in editions of 100. $7 ppd in the US each or all four for $24. HERE.]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080608-121145 JAZZFINGER/CULVER & FORDELL RESEARCH UNIT split LP £10
"Brand new split LP featuring heavy hitting UK bleak dudes... A-Side is Jazzfinger's 'Killed In A Clear Sky', one solid slab of fucked up tapped guitar drone and distant errie whir... like a storm of electric feedback, slashes and cuts. Far out, and a real killer 20 odd minutes to make you lull out. B-Side is a collaboration between Culver and Fordell Research Unit, another side long piece, that starts off with some bassed up doom chugs and slogs that sound like fucking something that could lay down by some Southern Lord brutality, but then it punches you in the face with its distorted churning hell." Limited to 280 white label LPs in black sleeves with hideous brutal artwork by French.

JAZZFINGER/CULVER & FORDELL RESEARCH UNIT split LP + CDr Artist Edition £13
"Super limited edition version of the above LP, comes with an additional CDR of exclusive material split three ways between the artists. Jazzfinger have a killer 19 minute solid track caled 'Our Horn Collector', Culver has a minimal 23 minute track called 'Floor Descending Scream', which is like a minimal gas cooker drone... much quieter than Jazzfinger's blast. FRU busts out 6 short tracks, fluctuating between minimal drone, metallic shimmering rumblings, and weird voices." The CDR comes in a textured paper sleeve, smeared in a cloud of black ink with blotched gold ink, and hand written information. The LP package is also different, two sprayed, splattered and stamped corrugated card slabs wedge the LP, same brutal cover art by French, but printed on cream pastel paper and pasted on. Limited to 40 hand numbered copies.

MV+EE WITH WILLIE LANE - 'Pray For Less' cassette £5
"Second in this ongoing series of live cassettes from Matt Valentine and Erika Elder, this time joined by Willie Lane of The Golden Road in Oklahoma. This is post Ecstatic Peace releasing last year's awesome Gettin' Gone... pro dubbed tapes with printed green shells. Limited to 200, in full colour sleeves with the same art as Catalytic Dung but with different info and a new MV tale... Here's some words from Willie Lane: 'Some of Austin's brightest cognoscenti told us of the "coin" that resides in OK City. So we spent most of our bread on hot dog kings and Mexican coffee at scenic turnouts, thinking we'd make it all back two-fold at the gig. OK City and its lost lake were sobering to our power-ball minds. The Golden Road harvested tonal riches instead - and in spades - to the rejoicing of both common folk and high-rollers alike. Hospitality flowed after the gig & a kind soul rolled a bone on a Lord Buckley sleeve as our minds turned back to the road for what lay ahead. But maybe we shoulda stayed...'

BURIAL HEX - 'Silver Crescent Sonata' one-sided cassette £5
"Two tracks of total bleak weirdo synth, analog noise and fake pipe organ... Sounds like something has taken over your local church, piled in a bunch of hooded dudes and some fucking weird shit is going on. Totally incredible." Stark black and white hand numbered sleeves with heavily sprayed black sleeves with silver inked label. Limited to 59 copies.

CLAUDIO TWO - 'The Corpse' one-sided cassette £5
"New band featuring Chazz Improv and Norma Bates (aka James and Jessica Toth aka Wooden Wand and Satya Sai), and Max "Mev" Wicker, so far this little crew has just had two jams out on Toth's own Mad Monk label... Here you got two tracks of weirdo psyche drone blues, compared by James to some of the Hassara jams, pretty damn slick, I played this in my local record and book store and they compared it to the an old skool German loner, although the name slips my mind." Limited to 100 hand numbered copies with black printed pastel paper sleeves.

CAM DEAS - 'For The Silver Waters, Sing!' CDr £5
"Second CDR from Cam on BR... this time around Cam focuses on 12 string guitar compositions (kinda like a tribute to Robbie Basho) rather than the more far out folk drone of 'Five Bells' (also reissued this month!). The kid has got some sweet finger picking going on... and at times almost has this kinda weird post folk aggro grunge twang to it, which I guess makes no sense, but check it out and you'll get me (maybe?). Closing track 'Raag Of The Sillver Waters' builds from the previous two 12 stringers, but Cam brings his own far out qualities to it with vocal drones, reverse looping, and bizarre bubbling bleeps. A definite for any fans of James Blackshaw, Robbie Basho..." Edition of 98 hand numbered copies on pastel paper.

CAM DEAS - 'For The Silver Waters, Sing!' one-sided cassette £5
Super limited cassette version. Same music as the CDR, but comes in a white card slip over cover, sprayed leaf stencil on one side and paint pressed leaf on the other side... with a hand numbered/hand sprayed/hand stamped insert. Limited to 24 copies.

CAM DEAS - 'Five Bells' CDr (2nd Edition) £5
"2nd edition with different artwork to the first run... The initial 2 seconds of the opener on this 6 track blazer from Cam are screeching electronics which vanish instantly into a seance of a doomed village, with the leader strumming out some bleak herbal drug folk ritual/haze. Track two, 'Where We've Been' blurs into an intense dronescape, smearing into a lighter, more psychedelic, drone piece 'Where We're Going'. 'The Days Are Over' has a floating drone back, layered on top with guitar ala Jack Rose, Blackshaw etc. Title track 'Five Bells' follows burning the guitar into a flaming rage, with a few remaining strum yelps struggling through the flames. The disc closes with a sweet guitar piece entitled 'Two More Days', again similar to Blackshaw and Rose. Cam just moved up for the smoke to the steel city and a bunch of us just discovered his musical vibes. He has a bunch of things dropping soon, and had a split release with Sindre Bjerga not so long ago. The dude has the skills." Limited to 60.

HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080607-234622
The label also does ‘experiment’, as the work of Philadelphia’s Ospreys pays witness. Not unlike Mark Evan Burden’s watershed moment, the group use the single stretch of the tape format to massage a pastiche of sounds into a single moebius strip of disparate textures; like patches of eczema, the smooth calm of plodding piano or warm, clean guitar harmonics are filed down to a rough gauze with stretches of droning improve woven between. Though the C30 comes sans setlist, the sudden, almost-total breaks suggest a change of track, as the voice replaces the prior strings as the focal point of the next collage, voice in two separate currents of chant, offset by rough congos slapped high in the microphone. Though the band manages a sizeable ambience with their use of electronics, the electric storms they conjure, paired with their jerky, subtly out-of-synch playing, creates a stillness which effects more a choking sound than a tribal accelerant. The live-r séance of the flipside booms with bad acoustics and crawls with tickled strings, a churning accumulation made sea-sick by the saw of a cello and a voice like Excepter’s. An agitated burst of bassy guitars plays the thing out with barbaric syllables and a still-queasy disposition. On black cassettes; my copy came with a little hand-colored drawing, hand-numbered to 50 copies.

And from Portland’s Acre comes the ‘Volcanic Legacy’ C40, a fine proof to any lingering suspicions that this drone (yes) will be good (yes) because it has got a short (yes) and evocative name (yes). The tape’s two side-long tracks begin with “Riley”, building rather unabashedly with persistent sustain and addition, a seething electric cloud billowing out with no hint at its contents. In a traditional minimalism somewhere between Menche’s smoother moments and the unwavering suspension of Charlemagne Palestine, to the observer the piece either reverberates effortlessly in its return to the earth or raises serious anxieties about the simplicity of our “kicks” - though likely for the active listener, a little of both. The self-titled side B utilizes a markedly more distinct electronic pulsation to a similar goal as the first, a swelling static which now divulges less the crisp treble which, rather than lying beneath as shorn wires, may actually be lining these clouds in silver. Black tapes. (Bone Tooth Horn cassette, $4 HERE) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080607-185043
SUISHOU NO FUNE - 'MYSTIC ATMOSPHERE' CH036 CDr
"Mystic Atmosphere welcomes back the unpolished, raw around the edges side of these interstellar psychonauts. Slightly reminiscent of their first Holy Mountain album, Where the Spirits Are. Tail's drums splashing like mossy boulders into the Pacific, primitive pounding Moe Tucker style. Mystic Atmosphere contains four tracks blessed with psych guitar panorama's soaked in holy reverb, a slowed down monster jam sounding like a drone version of a Mainliner or High Rise track and their ever mournful, lost in life wailing. Second track is one of the heaviest Suishou No Fune tracks I have ever heard. 3 minutes of Fushitsusha-like venom, a concrete reinforced mini-jam while tracks 3 and 4 dive deep into the cosmic psych oceans previously explored by Les Rallizes Denudes. Rawest Suisho No Fune record to date, no doubt." 125 copies in the usual slimline dvd cases. Artwerk by Jason Rohm.

KORPERSCHWACHE - 'THE HEALING POWER OF PARANOIA' CH037 CDr
"New round of Korperschwache blackness, cranking out a grimy version of a hot Texan night. Industrial black metal, suicidal drone-noise. Every hint of light/humanity severed by heavily buzzing riffs, sludge drums and sickening cries from the most desolate of netherworlds. Just corpses, no paint." Copies in slimline dvd cases with cover art by Korperschwache's RKF.

HUNTING RITUALS - 'RED SPECTRE' CH038 3"CDr
"We all know Canada's sick underground deserves more than the putrid mud it crawls in everyday but give these guys a nice and warm bath and chances are they'll turn it down. They just love the dirt so much, can't help it. Here's Scott 'Cloud Valley' Johnson (ex-Fossils) getting down and dirty. Like a big pile of decaying noise coming back to life again. Deep trenches filled with junknoise and some seriously sinister reeds blowing it all into pieces. Canada's sick underground has never smelled so bad." 50 copies in mini dvd cases. Artwerk by fartjerk.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080606-231841 orchestramaxfieldparrish - 'The Silent Breath Of Emptiness' CD $14(US and Canada)/$17(World)
"Faith Strange Recordings is pleased to present the first new full length orchestramaxfieldparrish work since 2002's highly revered 'Tears', titled The Silent Breath Of Emptiness. This new recording consists of an improvised solo electric guitar soundscape originally intended for an exhibition of local area visual artists that never came to be. This piece was totally improvised and freeform, recorded live and captured in one take and then divided into 4 parts. No overdubs were done so as to not augment the original intention of the piece. A hauntingly beautiful reconstruction of the entire work is included as the fifth track. Recorded and mastered in 96K 24 bit audiophile audio. Beautifully presented in a full color limited edition digipak with matte varnish. First edition includes a handmade obi strip of vellum. This work is a refreshing return to the art of true improvisation in the age where music is now recorded mainly as computer edits. Fazio has gone back to his roots of abstract guitar playing on a very personal level with a symphonic approach first explored in past outfits Æ, Copernicus and Chill Faction throughout the 1980's and early 90's and further explored on 2002's 'Tears'." HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080606-224500 Abandon Ship:

ASR024 Starving Weirdos - 'Absolute Freedom' 7"
"Here it is, our first 7" and we're PSYCHED!!! These two sides represent some of the earliest of SW material; culled from old 4 track tapes recorded in long lost living rooms, with friends and on the fly. Two kernels given the royal treatment, thanks to our friends at Abandon Ship! One an ontological cry into the abyss, the other a march in dedication to those forgotten souls who call it home." - Starving Weirdos. with pro-printed cover art and insert. edition of 500.

ASR029 Strange Girls - 'Skull' 3"CDr
"Another mind-blowing recording from the vaults of Clayton Noone (The Futurians, CJA) and Kaaterama Morehucan (Smokehouse). This one is older than the CJA/Smokehouse tape we released last year, but you would think it's a natural progression from it. Teamed up with Sugar Jon, the three of them jaunt through some rocking numbers, wailing away on their guitars, drums, and vocal chords. It's a short, but epic follow up for sure. This ultra limited release will whet your collective pallets for the upcoming Sundowner LP, which again, features CJA and Smokehouse. Keep an eye out for that late this year/early next. In the meantime, crank the volume on this one while you're sipping some lemonade under the hot summer sun. It's that chill." Smokehouse : guitar, vocals, drums CJA : guitar, vocals, drums Sugar Jon : guitar, vocals, drums. edition of 50.

ASR037 Blue Sabbath Black Fiji - 'Lazer Saber' CDr
"Here's a 2007 JK Tapes repress of this Parisian duo doing what they do best...making loud, raucous, guitar-driven noise. Skull-crushing, gut-wrenching, and face-melting will all take place while listening to this. And then, after some reconstructive surgery, you'll come crawling back for more. Get it while it's hot." edition of 50

ASR042 Eskimo King - 'Weird Flag' CDr
"As Brian Sullivan still flies high from his performance at No Fun Fest this year, we've prepared a gem of a release from this half of the now legendary Mouthus. While feeding off of similar meditative vibes of the aforementioned Brooklyn duo, he manages to put together a cohesive collection of distinct tracks he can call his own. Infinite layers of blown out fuzz dominate some tracks, and deep, trance-inducing rhythms prevail in others. Another primer for an up-and-coming ASR LP, due later this year. Keep your eyes peeled. And as with most Mouthus-related material, this one will not be around for very long." edition of 100.

WEBSITE - Listen to samples now!]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080605-192735 Back on the wagon with three discs from the upstart Stunned Records out of Long Beach, California. Having recently published episode number eight, the label has made an impressive impasse with a quality assortment of unknowns (or more appropriately, incognitos) and micro-label stalwarts. Of the former, Ear & Throat’s ‘Viaje’ slightly-surpasses an hour of mellow listening in the lazy minimalism of a trans-generational Terry Riley. As found in the recent work of White Rainbow, Riley’s mid-period excursions into mysticism with keyboard retention are recalled in the “Thank Yous” of the opening track, a shining piece of crackling warmth, breathy synth jabs, and a dark-hued anti-melody of Orientalist flute and strings, throbbing listlessly beneath the swells of electronic static. Emerging from this prelude, “Sandstorm” begins with a proper keyboard riff which weaves in a simple pattern from front to back, a grab-bag of hand percussion toys plodding along beside in weak deference to the bold fidelity of the electronic device. The excitable “Madavee” uses overblown colors to obscure the programming of its Middle Eastern dance, a fluted melody staggering about in a fevered daze. Like Riley’s ‘Persian Surgery Dervishes’, “Bedframe” mixes high-toned drone elements – deep, weaving basslines, fine-grained gain, chirpy shaker tempos – with markedly-improvised organ leads, implying sobriety with its clean frequency and reserved parameters. Nearing the end of the disc, twin tracks “Percolate” and “Feeding Babies” evoke that beloved reference of Labradford, with their dim, half-awake subtlety, a whirring tension of sustained organ notes, and most notably, the centrality of guitar in each. The first uses the slackness of strings to prattle early morning condensation over psychedelic keyboard runs, an ambiguous downer to the second’s melancholy return to bed: clearing the air of the synthesized doom, the organ plays a surefooted song of dull-bright contrast, with just the minor accompaniment of distorted fuzz for effect and refusal of a dawning Nü Age. Stamped CDr comes in a fancy paper sleeve, printed and sewn. Limited to a scant 25 pieces.

Another success of the young Stunned Records is the consistency of their sound. With the exception of two releases by lo-fi folkster John Frank, the label’s tendency toward minimal, single-source psychedelia ensures an agreed program which then mandates some standard of quality. This is aided by access to a cadre of artists with similar creative urges and an innovative feedback, such that it is difficult to speak of each without evoking the same reference points. Secondly, the label places these gems in tasteful packages, which nature designs to entice a predator to consume. Deviating from the all-over rice paper prints of its predecessors, the collaged art of ‘Crossed Bones’ draws the eye in with a subtle, sinister appeal to what I can only describe as childhood horror nostalgia: designed by Ted Trager, the smoky tint and obscene purples of the laser-printed images imply a loosely smuggled creepiness which can only be illuminated in the gruff séance of the Ajilvsga’s messy constructions. Historically a fence-sitter when it came to Brad Rose’s many differed pairings (and of course one can only say this once an exception has been found) – some good, some negligible - or perhaps just adverse to band names which insist on mispronunciation and the subsequent awkwardness which this brings, the long-running Rose/Nathan Young collaboration now finds a place firmly on the green side of the split for reasons beyond their art. The disc in question is made of two tracks, 25 and 13 minutes apiece, fitted like an essay and appendix: “Soulless Mechanisms & Magical Formulae” growls for nearly half an hour with a deep, writhing blast around which howls a blowing gust, hollow sounds falling floorward in the background. Crunchy, insectine sounds aggregate around the ten-minute mark, a passage of surprising ugly for this pair, and leading into the even greater shock of back-end O’Malley amp worship at maximum volume. Ghostly imprints persist behind the decay, and a searing tone cuts like the band’s acid signature across the bottom of the track’s page. More a bonus than a compliment to such work of force, “Black Lightning Arrow” chugs on beneath an oppressive heat of tubular gusts, a dabbling like synth keys scattered around alien gasps of electronics; the pair again summon a maximal strength, but using such muted elements, the piece feels downright bliss to the previous blast. Stamped CDr comes with color art in a clamshell case, limited to 100 copies.

Finally we stumble upon the label’s first release, the brilliant, self-titled drone trilogy by Eureka (William Giacchi, of Magic Lantern). With growing intensity, the three tracks grow in size – from ten to twenty to thirty minutes – all the while consolidating toward pure sound. Moving from the strum and pang of steel strings in the opening moments of “Finity Inn” – a centerpiece struggling in the midst of so much rumble, clatter, and growing chatter – the coming tide of electric guitar surges upward as a wall, consuming these discrete elements into a choppy whole. So much of the disc’s power is found in its crystalline production, an audible clarity which assures the ear of every move, maintaining a compositional transparency which cannot obscure the delicate events of this music. “The Bright New Year” dispenses with the initial gestures toward melody, instead attempting to form a current from thousands of particles, several veins of which we find flowing in every which direction; the levels raise to emphasize a deep bass-line and the swift clatter of a chime, the surface again raising to drown these elements in a single wash which turns slowly in various stunning tints (ala Menche). Having succeeded these previous approaches, “The Nine Months of Christmas” suspends the agenda of movement for a formal sleight of hand, pressing forth a seamless mass of sound beneath which the ear may or may not find the imprints of a counter-harmony, and given the precision and openness of the preceding tracks, this doubt invites only greater doubt, itself spurring on a micro-tonal symphony of imagined qualities. Like the recently-reviewed ‘Sad Faces of the Moon’ by Alistair Crosby, ‘Eureka’ is a powerful meditation among so many naïve poseurs, an album to keep always in close reach. Stamped CDr comes in a fancy paper sleeve, printed and sewn. Limited to a scant 25 pieces. (Stunned CDr, $7 HERE) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080605-103810 Every Label Ever:

WARMER MILKS - 'MASSIVE DREADLOCK' 2xC90 $10(usa)/$15(world)
SIDE A: White Line / Untitled / The Hunter / Tom Jennings / Greet / Untitled / Fountain /Timeosuar / A fishing reprise / Duane / Rail dub SIDE B: Boone snow / The water / In the fields (live) / The Shark (live) / Radish On Light (live) / The Personal SIDE C: Colburn II / Molly / Convincing hand / Bells / Smallest whisper / like a bird SIDE D: Ocean sound / Don't put me down . Marathon man / Weekend / Ocean sound reprise / Lawn boys / Compassionate distance I / Compassionate distance II / The sun is always new / Another image / New age of love all music written, performed and recorded by Michael Turner except for: Side B: live tracks were performed by Michael Turner on vox and guitar, Travis Shelton on guitar, Christopher Cprek on electronics, Thad Watson on bass guitar, Greg Backus and Michael Laugherty on percussion...recorded by Steve Good. Side C: Colburn II and like a bird- Turner/Shelton/Backus/Watson/Cprek/Laugherty...recorded by Paul Puckett / Convincing hand- Michael Turner and Trevor Tremaine- percussion Side D: Leslia sang harmony on Don't put me down / Lawn boys- Trevor Tremaine- guitar, Michael Turner- percussion and vocals / Compassionate distance I and II- Amber Kingsley- guitar and voice, Michael Turner- guitar / Another image recorded by Paul Puckett." edition of 100 HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080604-090141 PHIL MAGGI - 'Lucilia Caesar' CDr €5.7(EU)/€6.2(World)
"Phil Maggi, member and active vocalist of different decadent and esoteric combos (hypnotic noise-rock band Ultraphallus, multidisciplinar antipop combo Idiosyncrasia and dark-ambient duet Eve and the Sickness), is an extravagant noisicist improviser and a dronist loop-maker composer since 2003. He recorded and worked on a few mini-albums and EP's -all previoulsy unreleased today- and became the second protagonist of Idiosyncratics Records (first compilation including KK Null, Charlemagne Palestine, Rapoon, Jazkamer, Daniel Menche...in stores now), a disorganised collective, founded by Yannick Franck, his long date compatriot. Phil Maggi's debut album, intituled "Lucilia Caesar", is just ready to be released and is mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Khlyst, Lotus Eaters...). "Like a hyperminimalist anaesthetic landscape, the music is a travel inspired and motived by a personal work on memory, painting a narcissic biography with childhhod melodies, between bad dreams and intense instants. A real beautiful sonorial listening, electronically worked with drones, decadence of sounds, various etudes of larsens, and disfigured contemporary classic music, articulated around loops and hybrid orchestrations. The work is, alternatively, very direct to the point conceptually. The simple repetitions achieve what you have in mind. A smokey, haunted, rarefied work of conceptual minimalisms. To my ears, this is the soundtrack to the ghosts of an old, infamous orchestral hall –perhaps mysteriously gutted by fire- . A place where the cries of fractured chords heard to various degrees of abstraction still hum in the ashes centuries after. Plotkin's mastering is flawless per usual and the objective is achieved admirably." LUCILIA CAESAR - All songs written, performed and recorded at home by Phil Maggi between 2004 and 2007. Engineered and mixed by Laurent Meurice in february 2007. Mastering by James Plotkin in april 2007. This album contains samples from various famous masters of contemporary classic music." Limited to 90 hand-numbered copies. Silk-screened 4-panel in 100% recycled paper with insert and pro-printed cdr. Artwork sleeve by JK - Printed by SemitoneLabs.com

HyRe013: ETERNAL TAPESTRY - 'Altar of Grass' CDr €5(EU)/€5.5(World)
"Eternal Tapestry is a psych super-group. It features Nick Bindeman (Jackie-O Motherfucker, Tunnels) on guitar/vocals, Jed Bindeman (Heavy Winged, Bloodbiker) on drums, Dewey Mahood (Jackie-O Motherfucker, Plankton Wat, Bloodbiker) on guitar as well as Bob Jones (Evolutionary Jass Band, Oregon Artifical Limb Co., Fruitface) on bass. This planet rock element released last year by Solar Commune and Hyperblasted Recordings proudly presents its reissue. Keeping the original artwork and making a new style layout (by KENO), presenting a new visual of their music. Planets and rock. Space and music. Psychedelic. Words. Words. Words. Trying to describe the vibes of Eternal Tapestry. Difficult. Let their music speak. It's easier. Eternal Tapestry kick spacey stoner rock with interplanetary sketches evolving into an ode to wind-battered biker hair birthed from full-out riffage. An exciting cross between Anthem of the Sun-era Grateful Dead and Hawkwind with touches of Can." Eternal Tapestry is seemingly adaptable to an infinite degree, moving from drifting psychedelic laze to crashing, shouting beautiful anarchy. Speaking of the psyche, trippy-as-fuck locals Eternal Tapestry play some deep and simmering mindfuck noise." Limited to 200 hand-numbered copies. Packed in 7.1x4.7 inch fold-out "semi-thick paper", full-color offset print and hand-style pro-print on cd.

WEBSITE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080603-123526 February’s trimesterly publication from the Sonic Arts Network is entitled ‘Blood, Muscle & Air’, an allusion to its subtitle “The intimate voice” and the theme of human utterance. Curated by vocalist David Moss, each track of the disc features active - and by virtue of their profession, necessarily Avant Garde – vocalists, given the instruction to speak directly into the listener’s ear. A nifty concept of the sort well-worn in musical theories circa 1985 (so intimately bound to technology, slavish and befuddled by the vagaries of capturing voice), the disc manages to go beyond the novelty of these early experimental productions to explore a variety of new approaches to voice work since disseminated by Mike Patton, as well as those more-established Anglo and Japanese inroads which seem to define the genre. Pacing each track with a fragment of nonsense speech – perhaps a codification of the title’s acrostic which names each odd entry – Moss acts as a belligerent host to each guest (including himself), beginning with the work of Melissa Madden Gray: like spoken word poetry, the whisperings and vocal dawdling, loosened word flows and cross-chatter of “Heart Murmur” comes first annoying and ostentatious, chaffing one’s unfortunately civilized sense of well-being and, most of all, distance from one’s consumables (headphones are must); but soon, this discomfort reveals itself as genuine estrangement, a point of departure from the recognizable good (and therefore, false) experiment, for a true experiment with listening. Most contributions appear a cappella, though the exceptions seek equally to incorporate those instruments most voice-like (something like a didgeridoo, the thick larynx of the shamisen). Médéric Collignon offers an unusually coherent imitation called “Improlibration”, a stretch of unshaped breaths lent a melodic direction by uncanny passages of beat-boxing and resonant intonation to rattle one’s license plate frame. The strangulations of Phil Minton and Maja Ratkje respectively illustrate attempts at “range”, from stamina to texture in two decidedly less song-based tracks, more like pallets for composition. Highlights include the strangely-singing ramblings of Chris Mann, the erratic cadence of his incredulous Australian accent spitting a supernatural hip-hop; the devastating sputter of Jaap Blonk’s “Idling on Air” rattles the brain in ways no Hototogisu blast can manage, a human seduction by voice which may truly posses the ear; and “Where is the End?” by Madalena Bernardes is an aerated entry of bodily noise ala Dave Philips, with ample outbursts of textless ambiguity in repulsion and eroticism. The curious yet wonderful conclusion “The Pedophile in the Park” by Martyn Jacques breaks with the others in the disc’s most musical return, a nostalgic shanty of strolling piano which explores the flemmy quality of the standards-singer, as well as an engagement with lyrics of explicit perversion and violence. With additional contributions by Gunnlaug Thorvaldsdottir, Yumiko Tanaka, Fatima Miranda, Tran Quang Hai, David Moss, and Koichi Makigami. In an oversize booklet with a page on every artist, designed by Joerg Hartmannsgruber. (Sonic Arts Network booklet/CD, £15 HERE; alternately, subscriptions are £20(UK)/£25(overseas), and include three discs for the year) ]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080603-085347 Scumbag Relations:



Ignatz - 'The Draft' C40 $7(US)/$10(World)

Hollow Bush Meets Pigs In The Ground Uptown C50 $7(US)/$10(World)

The Polly Shang Kuan Band/Pink Buffalo C45 $7(US)/$10(World)

Pukers/Lifers C45 $7(US)/$10(World)

File complaints HERE]]> http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry080602-090836 Hum of the Druid - 'Raising the New Wing/Braided Industry' LP $15(US)/$25(WORLD)
"Eric Stonefelt returns with another meticulously crafted album of crunching, crumbling, crackling modern industrial music. The sounds of metal and machinery and vocal vomit. HOTD constructs audio works of intricacy with such careful attention paid to timbre and texture, each repeat listen revealing a heretofore unnoticed detail or ten. For fans of Daniel Menche, Small Cruel Party, The New Blockaders, Einleitungzeit, Linija Mass..." black vinyl w/