New Arrivals
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…
Netsu
As Takaaaki says, this is NOT usual Dubstep. He makes it evolve to a new Dubstep, with a heavy, dark and aggressive side, clinging to the bass and various BPMs, but some harmonies and even hints of melodies take all these sounds to a new level, creating a mutant Dubstep that hypnotizes the listener and takes him to lunar seas or snowy landscapes. But be aware that with Takaaaki decadence and crazyness are never far and Netsu might give you fever very quickly.
Split
Limited vinyl pressing of this excellent split LP self-released by Grouper in this scarce second edition* The music on this split release arrives remastered after its initial release via C40 cassette a while back. Likeminded souls Eva Saelens (inca Ore) and Liz Harris (Grouper) are in brilliant form on these recordings, so it's great to hear them in a cleaned up format - though of course with these two, it's fairly difficult to tell where the muddy cassette hiss ends and the foggy, dusty …
The Man-Machine
LP edition of Kraftwerk's 7th album, from 1978, and perhaps their most commercially successful album -- a non-offensive synth-pop classic. 'The album has 'classic' stamped all over it... in time it would acquire the same ageless quality as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper or The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds...' -- Pascal Bussy, Kraftwerk: Man Machine And Music"
Broken Bones
This latest in the Latitudes series of limited LPs comes from American noise-pop band Gowns, whose Red State album you may recall as being one of 2007's more unclassifiable recordings. A folkish spectre hangs over these pieces, particularly when it comes to the wiry, haunting violin sequences strewn liberally across the session - they bring to life the sinister spoken word of 'Dog', crowning a soundscape that's always on the precipice of turning nasty. Much of Gowns' music tends towards uncertai…
HYDratioN
Super limited edition of 300 hand-numbered copies. Hand screened jackets printed by Neil Burke at Monoroid. For years, both Z'EV and Jon Mueller have explored these possibilities, both within traditional forms, and singling out specific elements within those forms. For Z'EV, an entire book, called Rhythmmajik, was written about the properties of rhythm, while his history pairs him with a wealth of collaborators, from Carl Stone, Glenn Branca, and many others, as he pursued the quest for rhythmic…
Built For Nothing
"Suburban Michigan is a breeding ground where every weirdo has a label, a band, and a handful of secret/under the radar collaborative projects. Here Graveyard's Ben Hall and Lambsbread's Zac Davis create a monolithic one-sider influenced by too many private press jazz records and abstract instrumentalism. Davis turns in his effect pedals for nothing; pure clean tones plucked up and down scales and bridges so uniquely that it is easy to confuse the guitar for a sax. Ben Hall drums like a man with…
The Sakada Sessions
Now that we've wrapped up our inaugural six-volume CD series, Azul Discografica continues in earnest with our first vinyl release, The Sakada Sessions. Sakada is the duo of Eddie Prevost (AMM) and experimental noise agitator Mattin (Billy Bao, Josetxo Grieta, and countless other projects). Since Sakada's 2001 inception, the pair has performed with a host of radical improvisers of the highest order. This record documents two such sessions: the first, a spare, inverted dronework featuring Alan Cou…
Test Leads
Includes digital download voucher redeemable from the label** Judging from his prolific output, L.A. dude M. Geddes Gengras must have a heavy carbon footprint. But we'll let him off 'cause he makes exceedingly good music. After techno odysseys as Personable, psych-dub trips with Sun Araw and The Congos, and duties in Robedoor, Pocahaunted and LA Vampires, he flies under his birth name for 'Test Leads', perhaps his purest and most honest revelation to date; two sprawling sides of throbbing womb b…
At the cut
Spilling over with trembling strings and thunderous crescendos, "Coward" foreshadows the electric energy that is to be found throughout Vic Chesnutt's newest record. With members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Fugazi once again contributing, At the Cut is populated by giant melodies, quiet meditations, and intense studies on mortality and memory. But, for all its bombast, At the Cut is probably most notable for Chesnutt's unwavering honesty and cathartic powe…
And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees
It probably wouldn't surprise most, but the Type label was originally formed with soundtracks in mind. The moody music that usually accompanied their favorite independent films was a starting point for the label, so it seems perfect that nearly seven years on, they are going back to their roots, if you like, with this album from acclaimed Icelandic musician/composer/producer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Jóhannsson emerged on the influential Touch label with the genre-defining Englabörn (TO 052LP) album in…
Gangnam Basement
Songs and field recordings from up and down the Korean peninsula and under the ground during 2006-2007: native winds and bells, charismatic tongues, mountain shamans, fauna, charms, university innards, resurrected ancestors, missteps, ceremony, morning, winter, night, glass rooms beneath Gangnam, totem + taboo; concluded with nitrous-damaged pop songs, Bowie cover and cellphone karaoke. Handmade art,
Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz
Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz is the exceptional and ephemeral reunion of two cult guitarists, Marc Ribot & Arto Lindsay and two inspired and engaged rappers, Sensational & Mike Ladd, with Seb el Zin at the helm. The group displays a level of urgency too rare nowadays. These five musicians break free from all the music rules and transcend all styles. This isn't free jazz per se, nor free improvisation or dub or hip-hop -- actually, the Anarchist Republic Of Bzzz's sonic manifesto is simultan…
Skate-Snorkel
The second LP in the RRR Foley Artist Series. Another great noise-wall record from The Rita. Two sound sources, one for each side. Because each side is a completely separate sound source, lets consider it a split LP.
Joka Baya
First in a trio of limited edition new LP’s from the ever mysterious Vibracathedral crew, returning from another relatively quiet period with an uncompromising set of outre’ jams. Slightly reorganized around a lineup of stalwarts Mick Flower and Adam Davenport with frequent collaborators John Godbert (Total) and John Moloney (Sunburned Hand of the Man), the band here stretches way, way out over these six sides, taking in several different styles while maintaining “that” sound all the way through…
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…
After Before
Fantastic document of higher-minded drone ritual from a trio that features Taketo Shimada. Shimada is a shadowy figure in fringe minimalism. He worked as Henry Flynt’s assistant, put together the Yoshi Wada week at the Emily Harvey Foundation, was involved with Herbert Huncke, Alison Knowles and a bunch of other Fluxus artists. Messages is an extended investigation into the eternal music concepts of Wada, LaMonte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Pandit Pran Nath et al, with Shimada on bass a…
Triangles
There's something almost religious about this Charlatan (Brad Rose) LP, its narrative arc swinging from light to dark and back again. From the opening chords of "Lime Beauty," we're awash in polarized-lens glinting twilight, fluorescent skies over the water. "Trace Blue Outlines" is trance-like and reflective, with long, arpeggiated figures chasing each other skyward in a fugue. Darkness creeps in around the edges of "Vodka Rocks," with almost post-rock moodiness bringing the side to a cl…
Raptus
Doris Norton, pioneer in the early electronic/computer music, began her musical career playing avant-garde and progressive music using synthesizers such as Roland System 700, Roland system 100M and Minimoog (Jacula, Antonius Rex). In december 1980 she recorded, at the Fontana Studio 7 (Milan), her first solo album entitled Under Ground (Musik Research). Sponsored by Apple computer and the Roland Corporation music instshe was more involved in experimental electro computerized music and rec…
Alkyle
First released of Malass aka Vincent Malassis. Project from experimentation and improvisation based on the research for organic textures and maximum musical expression. The purpose of this approach is to create a balance between noise, dissonance and melody. Thought as a filmic trip that allows emotion thanks to a sound design inspired from american minimalism and french concrete music. Ambient music mixed analogically in order to get a landscape of feedback, reverb and echoes which acts on both…