tom carter & robert horton

tom carter & robert horton - campfire (sloow tapes 2009)

"Casual late night camfire jams by Robert Horton and Tom Carter, with laidback appearances by Natacha Robinson, Janet and Mary Carter. Baked guitars, boot and percussion. On special request there’s only 40 copies of this one." sloow tapes

foto: paul herbst

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best coast

best coast - make you mine 7'' (group tightener 2009)

"Group Tightener is putting out Best Coast's new 7" featuring four sweet fuzzed out summer jams ideal for those of us still clinging to the last remnants of this lamented season.In an interview on Olive Music Bethany described this 7" as a little moodier: "The songs on there are a little slower paced, and the lyrics are definitely more angsty." As for her overall artistic vision, she just wants "everything to sound really sweet and poppy, but also really fuzzy and sort of dark. Like the sun coming out after an epic rain storm or something." Lovely." no conclusion

foto: the gentleman amateur

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soothsayer

soothsayer ~ neptune's daughter (moon glyph 2009)

"Soothsayer's debut, Neptune's Daughter, is a stark product of tensions, tensions that can be mapped through a sonic ether evocative of the deepest ocean depths and/or the far reaches of outerspace. The music can be both cavernous and claustrophobic, sometimes simultaneously. Soothsayer achieves this atmosphere by implementing, above all else, a mature restraint as well as Reverb, synth lines both brittle and crystalline, guitar oscillations and noises not attributable to given instruments. As a whole, the album conjures the act of untethering, pushing off into an expanding cathedral. Ed. of 50" moon glyph

foto: nyúlia

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sideways hole

sideways hole ~ rover encyclopedia volume three (roll over rover 2009)

"The third installment of the ongoing series of live Rover recordings. All acoustic pieces played in the depths of a large concrete tunnel. Very spacious and relaxing. Three extended tracks featuring Stewart Adams on acoustic/slide guitar, Alex Gray (Dreamcolour/Deep Magic) on banjo, Sean McCann on viola and bowed banjo, and Dave McPeters on bowed upright bass and slide guitar. Limited to 48 copies." animal psi

foto: jeff luker

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ous mal

ous mal - viime talvi (under the spire, 2009)

"Even if it wasn't for the song titles you'd still be able to tell this record was Finnish. Like all that country's finest musical exports, be they Hannu or Paavoharju, Ous Mal's recordings carry a certain grainy lo-fi charm, sounding like some gnarled old 78 you might find in an enchanted attic. Vinyl crackle, weird old field recordings and weathered instrumental sequences all come together to make beautiful collages on tracks like 'Meidän Piha', which comes laced with faded string samples, glockenspiel melodies, wispy voices and the tolling of bells from a distant church. The glistening ambience of 'Tähdet' persists with the magic-realist sense of wonderment, sounding a bit like a haunted version of The Avalanches as it makes way for the equally ethereal strains of 'Tumma'. By the time you arrive at closing track 'Ukkonen' (whose curious sonic profile seems to shift from a spectral sea chantey into a demonic ice cream van) you'll be totally hooked on this record's creaky, tuneful and endearingly decrepit constitution. Highly enjoyable Scandinavian lo-fi melodicism from the ascendant Under The Spire imprint, limited to a mere 100 copies. boomkat"

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daughters of the sun

daughters of the sun ~ ancient of the ancients (moon glyph 2009)

"The peaceful side of the word 'primordial' is not often mentioned when discussing music, but it does exist and if it didn't exist before, it will with the release of Daughters of the Sun's Ancient of the Ancients. Texturally, the two swathes of music splitting this album evoke an antediluvian pre-dawn, when wildness and stillness were on in the same. The Daughters begin and end Ancient with passages constructed with flutes, chimes and ostensible field recordings that tend to teem and effervesce around the throbbing tribal eruptions at the heart of the cassette. Ed. of 100." moon glyph

foto: restless spirit

tal día como hoy nacía maicropons, chin chin!

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wooden veil

wooden veil ~ s/t (dekorder 2009)

"...Inspired by the shared hauntedness of their respective homelands, they combine elements from forgotten and misremembered traditions to create a microcosmic world which only Wooden Veil inhabits, complete with its own symbols, clothing, food and shelters. Performances, installations and videos are characterized by an expansive wardrobe of ritual dress, and the creation of shrines, relics and talismans used to create music.

to understand:

Hold right hand, cupped near right ear; turn hand back and forth slightly with wrist. Bring left hand to opposite eye with the second finger pointing in the direction one is looking. With index and thumb of right hand, form an incomplete circle, space of one inch between tips; hold hand towards the earth, then move it in a curve across the heavens and back toward the horizon" dekorder

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tram

tram ~ heavy black frame (piao!, 1999)

¿qué hago hablando de un disco de hace diez años? pues la inercia de ver esa foto de ahí arriba, acordarme de a kind of closure y de ahí a tram y todo lo que eso significó un buen día de hace diez años. tram es uno de esos grupos que nunca hicieron el ruido acorde a la explosión, pero eso lejos de molestar ayuda a no pervertir y sí mantener el recuerdo inmaculado. estos días estoy apático, inmerso en la melancolía inherente al otoño de los ocres, las bufandas y las caras pegadas en las ventanas con vaho, y ahí tram son doctores cum laude. esta semana me han preguntado multitud de veces cómo estaba y no sabía muy bien qué decir, ayer lo supe, estoy heavy black frame de arriba a abajo, es decir, de "nothing left to say" a "you can go now (if you want)". sumergido en la melancolía que arropa como las mantas que hacen las abuelas y las horas consumidas estudiando la arquitectura de las esquinas. según el diccionario la melancolía es una tristeza vaga, profunda, sosegada y permanente, nacida de causas físicas o morales, que hace que no encuentre quien la padece gusto ni diversión en nada. los sinónimos hablan de tristeza, aflicción, pena, pesadumbre, pesar, nostalgia, añoranza, etc... palabras todas que nunca podrían condensar lo que uno puede llegar a sentir cuando al escuchar determinada música percibe como todos sus pensamientos bajan los brazos presa del encantamiento y deciden tumbarse a ver pasar las nubes, las horas. la melancolía es sin duda la peor de las drogas, la que mayor adicción conlleva porque nadie, absolutamente nadie puede escapar de ella cuando te atrapa, hay algo masoquista sí, pero también toneladas de romanticismo brotando y desfilando desde el cuello hasta los brazos en un ejercicio de erizado funambulismo a cámara lenta. tram son enfermedad y remedio al mismo tiempo, un estado, el que en un día de sol te anima a dejar entreabierta la última hilera de la persiana para saber, a través de los rayos que se cuelan, que hay otro mundo ahí fuera que no quieres visitar.

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foto: eva morell