A
A is Sunburned's second album with producer Kieran Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet. Directed by Kieran like actors in a film, Sunburned is taken off the bandana smokestage of their previous collaboration -- Fire Escape -- and put onto a sweat-soaked 4am lysergic dance floor. Kieran uses the band like his live instrument laptop and sampler. The results are truly stunning which makes this record into one of the best moments of each artist's respective musical careers. With artwork by California vis…
Interference
Double LP featuring the never released record from Interference, one of the premier bands of the downtown NYC music scene of the early 1980s. Originally slated for release on Josh Bauer and Glenn Branca’s legendary Neutral Records, it has remained unavailable until now. Comes with a bonus remix LP with contributions from David Last, Doily, Criterion, Binsang AKA Toshio Kajiwara, Bubblyfish & glomag and QPE. Deluxe artwork with individual jackets for each LP and full liner notes. Comes wit…
Bringin\' The Heat
Companion cassingle to the Smokin' 7 inch (NNF177) finds Ettinger out on his own, sans The Heat, but even without back-up he still brings it. "Bringin' The Heat" is a killer coast guard coda, searchlights fanning out, SWAT Team guitar licks, hypnotized Kevlar keyboard prisms, delicate synth wah surf spray misting up your fuschia Oakleys. It's make-it-or-break-it time; be a pro. The other song on here is "Cancer," which washes over the closing credits as the cast and info scroll down and p…
Masks
Double Dagger’s new EP, Masks, continues in this vein, taking up where their acclaimed 2009 full length, More, left off. Masks presents a series of vignettes, ranging from acerbic to facetious to self-reflective, on the facades we build within our lives. Masks contains some of Double Dagger’s most catchy songs to date, yet characteristically the tone of the album encompasses the abrasive and sarcastic as well as the upbeat and closes with a surprisingly delicate instrumental. The EP was recorded…
Oscillator
Mindblowing reissue! Another hot date with the history of Italian new wave: Neon, in the Year of Our Lord 1979, with Marcello Michelotti on vocals, accompanied by Stefano Fuochi. At the mixer: Maurizio Fasolo and Massimo Michelotti, soon to be known as Pankow. Halfway between hard goth and elegant neo-Futurism, with the determination needed to metabolize and mould into something new, the influences of Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. Oscillator is the missing link bet…
Stridulum EP
Zola Jesus didn't need to clean up to stand apart from the lo-fi horde-- they already had Nika Danilova's voice, which tends to cut through a track and leave an indelible impression no matter how it's recorded. Whether it's wordless yowling, an extended cover of "Somebody to Love", or something as disarming as The Spoils' "Clay Bodies", her singing has a way of sticking in your memory. Even so, the Stridulum EP represents a large stride forward, not just in production quality, but in the …
Spoils
Sacred Bones is proud to present The Spoils from Zola Jesus. Hailing from the unsuspecting locale of Madison, WI, Zola Jesus—the alter ego of Nika Roza Danilova—occupy a sphere of sparse industrial rhythms, no-fi drones, and ethereal femme vocals. Those who have seen her handful of live shows, heard her WFMU set, or caught any of the acclaimed, sought after, and now mostly out of print releases on Die Stasi or Troubleman Unlimited already know. For those uninitiated The Spoils may be the m…
Psychic
Like Yeah Yeah Yeahs undergoing a psychotic episode, or Pocahaunted possessed by the spirit of James Brown, Vibes present four tracks of discombobulated funk and wild, outsider punk on this four song long single. The early, chaotic free-associations of Magik Markers would be a good point of reference too, but these guys place more emphasis on low-down bass grooves wah-wah pedal mutations. The cover shots suggest the band are a bit of a spectacle in a live setting, and the rough, brain-a…
Go Grey
The second full-length release by U.S. Girls is an even more fully realized excursion into a hazy alternate universe where pop vocals and muzzy scree fuse in harmony. Go Grey conjures up ambient aerosols while luminous kaleidoscopes of sound sizzle, peak, and explode. Megan Remy is a chanteuse from (perhaps) the future, guiding all who choose to sail an evocative trip through her unique aural hallucinogenic landscapes. It's a journey of lush vistas, warm currents, and complex beauties. 23nd-Cent…
Five American Portraits
“Ridges and creases / high on the middle forehead / The right temple near the eyebrow / A small ridge under the right eye / The right side of the tip of the nose / The opening of the right nostril / The middle lower lip / The inner ear of the right ear.” Can you tell who it is yet? It’s George W. Bush, of course, or at least part of his head, as seen (or rather heard) in the second of five “American portraits” in words and music by legendary experimental rock outfit the Red Krayola, in collabora…
S/T
All things must come to pass, if you love something set it free, it’s better to burn out than fade away, blah blah blah. No platitude can mask the permanent bummer of a favorite band breaking up in their prime, and such is the case with Iowa City’s most untamed civic treasure, feral-psych foursome Raccoo-oo-oon, who decided to dissolve this year after nearly half a decade of radical and galvanizing activity (tapes, tours, t-shirts, etc). Fortunately they’re generous sorts, so their parting gift …
Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigeria
Nigeria Special 2 is the second part to the best selling Nigeria Special album released to critical acclaim in 2007 and further extends the look at the most exciting period in Nigeria’s recording history. The range of styles vary from highlife to Juju and Nigerian blues in the languages of Yoruba, Igbo, Bini and Ijaw. With a peppering of ‘afro’ experimentation the same musical stew pervades volume 2 as it’s predecessor – some artists appear again alongside some new …
Nigeria Afrobeat Special
Nigeria Afrobeat Special is the fourth addition to the Nigeria Special series, a project initiated by Miles Cleret, owner of the Soundway Record label back in 2004. Cleret’s ambition to distinguish the blossoming music scenes of 1970s Nigeria has lent to an indispensable series of CD and LP compilations documenting the influence of western blues, rock and disco amongst artists and musicians versed in the local musical styles of highlife and juju. It was Fela Kuti and his musical and politi…
S/T
Neuter River is a new project from Jan St. Werner of Mouse On Mars, one which concerns itself with the more experimental, far-out sounds within the producer's repertoire. The label describes the LP thusly: "Neuter River is not exactly a band or a person, it's the remains of an idea, a shifting light cube at the end of a ragged kaleidoscope. Atonal precission / pentatonic noise." Quite what that means will be unclear even after you've heard the record, but then it's the extremity of the abstract …
Mother of Thousands
As with their previous 'proper' full-length Gettin' Gone, new album Drone Trailer finds Matt Valentine and Erika Elder Still hooked up with The Golden Road, and ready to spurt forth blistering passages of galvanized psych-rock at a moment's notice: after a scorching pile-up of vintage guitar muck, opener 'Anyway' draws to an ill-behaved conclusion with some improv guitar and free-noise skronk, all completely undermined by a jazzy line in tremolo rhodes piano tinkering. Despite such flight…
Barn Nova
After five years and 20-plus albums-- most released on their own Child of Microtones label-- MV & EE's 2006 move to Ecstatic Peace began on a high note. "East Mountain Joint", the opening track on Green Blues, is a hypnotic hymn to unscheduled freedom, and it's catchy without losing the duo's loose, do-what-we-feel-like vibe. In fact, it's so entrancing that it's made subsequent work by Matt Valentine, Erika Elder, and their various colleagues seem like insufficient attempts to recapture…
Terrace Industry - M Squared Box 1980-1983
RESTOCKED! Ascension Records presents terrace industry, an extraordinary array of sonic material – 81 tracks over 4 CDs – originally released on vinyl or cassette by Sydney independent record label M Squared between 1980 and 1983 with the majority now appearing on CD for the first time. Originally released on vinyl or cassette by the M Squared label between 1980 and 1983 the majority of these tracks now appear on CD for the very first time. This completely remastered 3…
Split
Mouthus: Drum and guitar explosion through tape manipulation and a total synth bath. Collided through a number of recording sessions and strings of modulation to elevate the particle riffage to a heightened state of platectonic rock. Bulbs: Like tuning your radio slowly between far off new age stations in the most serene way possible. The marriage of muted melodies existing below feedback skwerls and electronic swerls. Transmissions from a better place.
Divisionals
Mouthus are professionals. Not that their music is a full-time job, or is made out of obligation. Rather, Brian Sullivan and Nate Nelson approach every recording seriously and diligently, never bending their methods to fit expectations or pander to an audience. Often this devout methodology produces a glorious alchemy; other times it results in workmanlike exercises in sound excavation. But every Mouthus album comes with an implicit seal of quality craftsmanship. You may not find an epiphany in …
3. Telepathics Meh In-Sect Connection
This is Important's second release in a 4 record series, each featuring the work of the enigmatic Japanese artist Kouhei Matsunaga. Telepathic full length collaborative release from Kouhei Matsunaga, Sean Booth of Autechre and Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio. Using space, silence and electronic tones, these three electricians rewire your brain for a new comprehension of sound.