New Arrivals
Pyramid of the moon
When Maserati first began performing new songs for their next album, the one that immediately stood out with audiences was “Pyramid of the Sun,” a chugging behemoth driven, as usual, by one of the best rhythm sections in underground rock. It was an instant fan favorite and quickly cemented itself as an institutional song that would surely show up in the set list virtually every night for years to come. Unbeknownst to fans, there was an alternate version of the song that took the head-nod…
Red Horse
Red Horse is the blistering free-post-everything project of drummer/multi-percussionist Eli Keszler and guitarist/mad-scientist Steve Pyne. While both musicians are active in a number of different projects (you probably wouldn't believe Pyne's day job even if we told you), Red Horse catches them working with a distilled sense of focus and is for many their breakthrough project. Red Horse (not to be confused with the similarly-titled debut) is the duo's second album, and follows the rush of…
Grey onion
"For this new Latitudes release All Tomorrow's Parties mainstay Alexander Tucker joins forces with Dean Garwood, resulting in three terrific stretched out jams. Perhaps it's got something to do with the fusion of prog influences with jazz and psychedelia, but stretches of this bring to mind the Canterbury scene of the '60s and '70s from which Robert Wyatt and Soft Machine came to prominence. 'Golden Dome' slips into a bluesy cello riff (if that's not too much of a contradiction in terms) that lo…
Soldercup
This is the work of Rhodri Davies and Louisa Hendrikien Martin. Davies is extremely active in the experimental / improv / avant-garde scene, being a frequent collaborator, usually playing harp and electric harp. Elsewhere, Martin keeps herself busy in the fields of live sound and visual performance. The foundation of the album was a Harp improvisation which was then manipulated electronically, the artists then improvised along with the recording then edited and repeated the process. The r…
Versprochen
OUTSTANDING NEW ARRIVAL Vinyl Lp, edition of 300 copies. Three years after releasing his first solo record, 'Miniaturen' on his own label 'choose', Berlin-based Konrad Sprenger (aka Jörg Hiller) now releases 'Versprochen' on the Italian 'Schoolmap' label. As if coyly playing off the various connotations of the title, which could mean 'pledge', 'promise' or a 'slip of the tongue' in German, Sprenger delivers a more mature product. Rather than going for the short, abbrieviated, cut-off statements …
When California Falls Into the Sea
The product of more than a year's work, finds Caminiti shifting away from the evocation of the land elements and towards the urban- the coarseness of blood on the streets and people living in squalor juxtaposed with beautiful, fleeting moments like sun reflecting off of glass buildings into dingy puddles- to produce a dialogue where guitars float through the air weightlessly, weaving around each other like butterflies and other moments that are more solitary, monolithic excursions into the night…
Filtre de Realite
The 'Filter of Reality' is a machine imagined and built by Jacques Brodier - Le Havre, France. Penultimate Press is proud to publish the first ever collection of recordings by this unique French artist, researcher, writer and inventor. Between 3 and 30 MHz, radio waves have the property to travel around the Earth by bouncing on the ionosphere, which acts as an imperfect mirror, wave-agitated under the flux of sun's particles. The machine explores this boundless electromagnetic ocean, wher…
Untitled
Edition of 380 copies** Powell marks up the 2nd release on The Death Of Rave, following Mark Leckey's debut entry, 'Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore'. Powell's 3rd release refines his ascetic blend of lawless New York no wave, cold European electronics and late '90s D&B with incisive vision and propulsive torque. The EP's standout 'A Band' emphasises a chimeric indistinction between the "real" textures of sample-spliced guitars and drums and the gritted tension of painstakingly processed electr…
Chew Your Food
The performance on this LP was recorded live at Roulette in New York last year. I have appreciated Knuffke's playing and music before, and I will do it again here. His tone is always full and warm, and he's a master at taking tough bends easily. The music is jazz in its purest sense : improvisational joy and emotional expressivity in a compact form. There is nothing but pulse in the pieces they play, even if the rhythms are not always explicit or when there are no patterns, the three musici…
Real Life Is No Cool
As supportive as Hans-Peter Lindstrøm's fans have been of his random acts of creative fitfulness, one wouldn't blame them for feeling a bit tested by his most recent string of output. Between his brilliant but impractical 2008 long-player Where You Go I Go Too and his 42-minute refit of "Little Drummer Boy", two of the Norwegian producer's recent major releases have accounted for nearly 100 minutes of music across a scant four tracks. In a scene where an elongated 12-minute re…
Songs for the Gentle Man
"Originally released in 1971 on Dandelion Records this was Bridget St. John's second and, arguably, best album. Produced and scored by Pink Floyd collaborator Ron Geesin, Songs For The Gentle Man was recorded at Sound Techniques in Chelsea (where everybody from Fairport Convention to Nick Drake had made albums) and is a far more sophisticated work than its predecessor. Organized around a small chamber orchestra, Songs For The Gentle Man is a set of cool, pastel songs that simultaneously h…
The Black Dirt Sessions
Displays fully honed examples of all of Rose's various styles & themes - traditional, raga & ragtime. "Cross The North Fork" - a 13-minute revisiting of a track 1st laid down on the great "Kensington Blues" is a winding, thoroughly engrossing journey. It is a welcome neighbor to the album's other spendid joys ranging from the jaunty & infectious "Fishtown Flower" to the pensive & appropriate melancholy punch of "Box Of Pine." Limited to 2000 copies on 180g RTI vinyl.
Throat
In view of the band's assertion that this is a program designed to be listened to in one sitting, it seems a little impertinent to discuss highlights. The seven tracks that make up "Throat" seem a little arbitrary in view of the overall discontinuity of the release, but in as much as this is music which has no time for a lot of preconceptions, that might be an inherent part of the band's intentions. The opening is where the Brotzmann reference comes into its own, but before the piece is o…
The Wyrd Meme
A quartet of new songs from the ever-wonderful Alasdair Roberts - a follow-up to his long-player Spoils, released earlier in the year. The tone is carefully poised between staunchly traditional folk values and more modern arrangement styles; though Roberts' fingerpicking and unaffected delivery are faithful to the genre's purist leanings, there's nothing conventional about the songs' segmented structures or the often very minimalist arrangements. It's quite strange to hear such a seemingly old-f…
s/n
A split LP with Harappian Night Recordings 6 reviews in psychopathic alchemy and Kommissar Hjuler Karawane from Hugo Ball. Limited to 300 copies. Yellow vinyl. "Der krazy Kommissar recites a Hugo Ball nonsense poem from 1916, written the same year Ball wrote the Dada Manifesto & founded the Cabaret Voltaire. Harappian is a one man UK bedroom string plucker & droner who cuts together, mimics, & plays along to his international records. He pulls off some pretty flamin' rock tunes here, full of t…
Kablys. Live at 11:20
This is a great live performance of the best Lithuanian contemporary jazz musicians played live at the small punk club in Vilnius. That was a hot night. Liudas Mockunas - tenor, baritone and soprano saxophonesEugenijus Kanevicius - bass and electronicsDalius Naujokaitis – drums
Moth / Wolf Club
Two of electronic music's current heavy hitters combine for this SUPER LIMITED 12" release. "Moth" is a deep, textured tech-houser, while it's flipside counterpart is summery d&B-flavored winner. Deleted day of release, this is already a collector's item!
Third Mouth
British avant pop artist Alexander Tucker releases his much anticipated new album, Third Mouth, on Thrill Jockey in 2012. This album builds on the strengths revealed by his landmark debut for the label, Dorwytch released in April 2011, culminating in his finest work to date. Using songs written over a 12 month period he achieves his own inimitable blend of psych rock and ambient pop using a variety of studio crafted effects, rudimentary beats, guitar and bass, as well as synth and cello drone…
L'Orchestre National "A" De La Republique Du Mali
Beautiful Mali music from formation "A" of L'Orchestre National – one of a pair of groups organized as the National Orchestra for Mali in the wake of its independence – led by the great Keletigui Diabate. This set has some really wonderful guitars by Keletigui, excellent vocals and overall melodic sensibility. Titles include "Malamini", "Taara", "Jaanfa", "Son T'Aw La", "Duga", "Saakoba", "Nonsi Komotigi" and "Ciwaara". © 1996-2010, Dusty Groove America, Inc.
Entertaining Physics
Poland's mik.musik agent wojt3k kucharczyk bugged his robotron family. "entertaining physics" is a poetic and secretful electroacoustic work that sounds like a gathering of digital clocks in the waiting room of an abandoned building. mechanical ants are crawling over piles of paper next to protesting copy machines and sadly shaking faxes. quiet industrial diseases spread in the attic and the doors clap in a-synchronicity. in between, interplanetary melodies are humming in retired telephones. all…