★Important Records
Decibels of Gratitude
Decibels of Gratitude is the eighth full-length studio album by this long running Massachusetts ensemble. The roots of Major Stars go back to the 1979 formation of Crystalized Movements, through to their early 90s successor, Magic Hour. Upon that band's breakup, guitarists Wayne Rogers and Kate Village formed Major Stars, which kept Magic Hour's tendency toward songs spiked with lengthy instrumental excursions, but added a hard rock angle not usually present in the Hour's hazier sound. Major Sta…
Cassette Memories Volume 3: South of the Border
"South of the Border is the third installment of my Cassette Memories album series. All field recordings were taped in Mexico, a country I've had a special fondness for since I was a little child. My first memory was watching photographs and Super-8 films my father shot in Mexico City from his time there during the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he competed as a member of the Japanese national hockey team. It made me realize there is a place completely different from Japan, and I started dreaming a…
Complete Studio Recordings
Overhang Party is criminally overlooked. From the heavily psychedelic noise-rock of their first album to the piano-rock anthems of 4, Overhang Party was somehow impossibly consistent and seamless. This box set flows as an even, open document of this fearless and inventive Japanese rock group. For a quick reference of the sonic distances this group has traveled (and the skills they possess) stream Bass Oscillations from the first record and then skip straight to Kizashi on 4.
The Complete Studio …
Retreat, Return, Repose
**Collecting Eleh's three heavyweight drone albums on CD for the first time. LPs were previously only available to buy direct from the label. Housed in deluxe 6-panel tri-fold slipcase. Very precious, pure and meditative sounds strongly recommended to followers of Eliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, LaMonte Young. Edition of 1000**
"Retreat is a collection of exploratory sound assemblages put together during a cabin sojourn. New timbral richness, tonal expansion and deep synthesis make thes…
The Weight Of Accumulation
few copies available - creen printed & hand numbered mail-order only edition of 500, sold out at source. Weight Of Accumulation contains two long magnifications of a piece that has been performed, in various versions, in Berlin, Amsterdam, Brooklyn and Seattle. This work is based on John Coltrane's composition Living Space.
"Moving from minimalism to free jazz for inspiration, this new album by Eleh is inspired by the later period of John Coltrane’s career. Although elements of these two pieces …
Son Of A Bitches Brew
Son Of A Bitches Brew is a true electric jazz record from the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO. Rooted in the sound of Miles Davis' electric era this record melds jazz, funk and psych with AMT's synth swoops, space whispers and cosmic acid vibe. Tsuyama Atsushi replaces Wayne Shorter on soprano saxophone. Cotton Casino rejoins & AMT goes all in. The only joke here are the titles. Recorded at the Acid Mothers Temple between December 2011 through 2012.
What?
"What?? is a focused and grounding work produced by Swedish composer Folke Rabe in 1967. From his interest in sound phenomena and harmonics Rabe was able to make one of the most deep, moving pieces of sustained sound generated in this formative era of minimalist electronic composition. Initially reissued on Dexter's Cigar in 1997 and now available on Important with expanded packaging including archival materials furnished by the composer. Amplified infinity." "My interest in the makeup of variou…
Secret Photographs
Beautiful new work from Machinefabriek. Secret Photographs was composed as a soundtrack to accompany a film made by Mike Hoolboom using photographs taken by notorious bank robber Alvin Karpis.
Filmmaker Mike Hoolboom discovered a batch of Karpis' photos for auction on eBay. He was the lucky winning bidder. With his newly found treasure, Hoolboom began working on a film consisting of still images, slowly dissolving one into another. Intensifying the slow, hypnotic pace and transitions, the musica…
Portraits
Beautiful new full length LP featuring Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (Root Strata, Tarentel), Evan Caminiti & Jon Porras from Barn Owl, Lisa McGee (Higuma), Gregg Kowalsky (Date Palms), Marielle Jakobsons (Date Palms), Maxwell Croy (Root Strata/EN) Steven Dye & Tony Cross (Tarentel alum) and Michel Elrod, who plays tambura with Date Palms, Barn Owl & The Alps among others. Edition of 500. Screen printed jackets. First 100 on color vinyl.
This large group is somehow able to focus and refine their so…
Octagonal polyphony
These recordings, sadly, mark some of the final trio recordings with David Gamper who passed away in 2011. This LP is being released simultaneously with DLB's Great Howl At Town Haul CD and Pauline Oliveros' comprehensive 12 CD collection of electronic work. Pressed in an edition of 500. 'Deep Listening Band January 2011 residency and concert at Town Hall Seattle produced enough material for both a CD and an LP on Important Records, and a double LP on Taiga Records. The subsequent summer consist…
Great Howl At Town Haul
Deep Listening Band January 2011 residency and concert at Town Hall Seattle produced enough material for both a CD and an LP on Important Records, and a double LP on Taiga Records. The subsequent summer consisted of well over 100 hours of listening on my part along side DXArts technical wizard Michael McCrea who himself has between 150 and 200 hours of listening and editing in this multifaceted project. In the process of both performing and recording as a member of DLB I found myself exclaiming,…
'Split'
Split release including a new 20 minute piece from Eleh and the installation version of Duane Pitre's beautiful new composition, Feel Free. Screenprinted jackets. Feel Free is a new composition by Duane Pitre that currently has three possible manifestations: solo performance, group performance, and sound installation. At the core of all of them is the pillar of the work, an open yet orderly system whose intention is to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and …
Excision
Essential collection of previously vinyl only Nadja tracks which work brilliantly as a 2CD album. All of these tracks originally appeared on limited vinyl or cd releases between 2007 and 2009 and are now out of print. 'Jornada del Muerto' originally appeared on the Trinity CD (Die Stadt Musik) and 'Perichoresis' on the Trinitarian LP (Important Records), both of which releases featured solo tracks by Aidan and Leah and one Nadja track. 'Spahn' appeared on Tumpisa (Accident Prone Records), a …
Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity
Beautiful new collaborative work from Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch between Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem and American filmmaker & guitarist Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch's previous collaborations with Wissem have not prepared the eager listener for the expressivity and emotional depth of his playing on these duets. Respectful of one another's space the pair weave layers of melody and waves of feedback while acoustic guitar and lute wrap together with a subtle depth expemplifying an austere u…
1934-1935
More than seventy years since his death in 1937, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan retains his reputation as one of the greatest singers India ever produced. Possessed of an elastic, honied voice that poured out like mercury, he influenced generations of singers including Mohammed Rafi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Pandit Pran Nath. Born at the end of the 19th century to a family of musicians that extended back in time for centuries, his art was formed in the culture of the courts of the maharajas under Briti…
Feel Free
LP edition: The two major focal points in the creation of composer Duane Pitre's Feel Free, his new work for a unique sextet combination, were rhythm and melody. An open yet orderly system intended to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and melody was carefully created for this piece, allowing the sextet musicians to approach these factors in a freer manner. This 'musical system,' combined with the fixed elements of the composition, in turn, spawned a rich foundatio…
Twilight Of The Kali Yuga Tours: Live Totems 2009-2011
Limited edition of 1000 copies pressed. Selected, mixed & mastered by Randall Dunn. Deluxe gatefold LP with gloss overprint.
Master Musicians of Bukkake present a collage of performances from recordings made throughout the Totem tours. Improvisations and live renditions featuring extended versions of music from Totem One Two and Three.All on glorious vinyl!
Randall Dunn: Rag-Dun Tibetan long trumpet, throat singing, Korg MS-20,Mellotron, Micromoog, Korg Poly Six, Guitar, Audio hallucination…
The Black Rain
Anoice's first album for Important had a modest (but critically affectionate) impact upon its release. However, sales of the record have been steady & strong since it originally came out in 2006. Now, six years later we're pleased to finally offer The Black Rain, Anoice's reaction to both the darkness & hope that engulfed Japan after the 2011 earthquake, Tsunami & nuclear meltdown. Black Rain was written throughout 2011 and recorded in Tokyo and London. The Black Rain is both a reflection on dis…
Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage: Live At The Grimm Museum Vol. 1
2024 restock. The world premiere of the infinitary computer animation NUR, and the accompanying infinitary computer sound composition SOLITON(E) STAR were given at Diapason Gallery (NYC) for the celebration of La Monte Young's 70th birthday in 2005. Catherine Christer Hennix has now extended this installation in the venerable tradition of the pentatonic blues for a live ensemble for voice, brass, computer and live electronics in the mixed-media environment. Blues Dhikr Al-Salam (Blues Al Maqam) …
Radiant intervals
Radiant Intervals' is the first Eleh LP on Important since '08s 'Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis Vol.3', and follows one of the Wire magazine's (and our) top records of 2010, the incredible 'Location Momentum' for Touch. Continuing with investigations into physically tactile tones and drones, this LP offers four further modular synth expeditions eternally moving towards the distant point depicted on the gorgeous, letterpress printed sleeve. After a stoically inert start 'Night Of Pure E…