microphones in the trees: 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

blooOsol

*
"intento recomponerme a mí mismo.
para conseguirlo tendré que ir de aquí para allá
buscando los fragmentos de mi ser."
kafka tamura
*

1 : atlantica • olivier capparos & lionel marchetti
2 : moons and cattails • linda perhacs
3 : wet palm trees • highlife
4 : untuk ajah dan ibu • koes bersaudara
5 : dandelion • kesang marstrand
6 : jesus on the mainline • james shorter, viola james and the independence congregation
7 : dd6021208 • starcircleanatomy
8 : after love • windsor for the derby
9 : down wildwood i • nautilus
10 : lily • nalle
11 : going back to the nineties • the feeling of love
12 : todo ha terminado • los rebeldes del rock
13 : caminito • hombre hambre
14 : ife ife ife • donato epiro
15 : in the morning • michael hurley
16 : cup of fish • aloonaluna
17 : traveler's advisory • mathew young
18 : flowers made of winter • sproatly smith
19 : singing image of heat waves • greg davis

::: HEAR :::

fotola: el nejo

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

winter drones


"Leon Dufficy is primarily known as guitarist in the hippie-jam outfit, Hush Arbors but now, he steps into his own as the driving force behind Winter Drones. Sounding like the perfect combination of fuzzed-out ambient drift, shoegaze swirl and propulsive pop sensibilities, Winter Drones have slowly gained attention in their native UK with a handful of obscure CDr/cassette releases and compilation appearances." weird forest

BUY | DOWNLOAD

para agazaparse entre la neblina y guiñarle a don sol
para mirar hacia atrás con un paso adelante
para comer helado de cocoa aunque haga frío
para recordar que estamos aquí,
hoy y ahora
respira hondo
reacciona
*


fotola: farfallametallicha

je suis le petit chevalier / orphan

"Je suis le petit chevalier is a new psych sound-land-scapes projects by one of our fav kaugummi artist Félicia Atkinson. Orphan is the solo project of Sabarah Polin, from Toronto, Canada.
The A side of the tape is Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier: a long piece made of meditative repetitive guitars and lurking electronic sounds. The B side of the tape is made by Orphan, with two sade tracks : the first one is a storm, the other one is a lull. Two steps of a cataclysm." kaugummi

foto: amanda johnson

Monday, December 13, 2010

lanterns on the lake

"After a brief – and heady - flirtation, Bella Union records are pleased to announce the signing of lanterns on the lake… Hailing from the North East of England, Lanterns on the Lake specialise in haunting, cinematic dream-pop. With their starry songs and lustrous melodies, the band have quietly gone about creating something magical and inspiring, displaying both a quiet melancholy and a soaring intensity." bella union

Sunday, December 12, 2010

calypso borealis

"Mysterious French artist Calypso Borealis creates a world of cosmic potential. With his own personal idiosyncrasies, the artist pulls us upwards and inwards into the cool isolation of space. This is a space full of possibilities and open for introspective journeying. Presented in a numbered edition of 50 hand stamped 3" " kimdawn

el vacío no existe, el vacío es aquello que no se percibe en función de los esquemas mentales que nos sujetan a la realidad cotidiana que vivimos. a los tres segundos de "niakaramandougou" ya no tengo esquemas mentales a los que agarrarme, a los dos minutos ya he perdido la noción del todo. tengo la sensación de haber amanecido solo, en una realidad que no se parece en nada a lo que estoy acostumbrado. no sé si ponerme un bañador, una bufanda o directamente presentarme desnudo. sentir vacío en el interior es una sensación terrible y temible a partes iguales, pero si ese vacío lo percibes fuera, las posibilidades son infinitas. las campanillas de "jiwe la singa" revelan que he llegado a un lugar donde hay vida orgánica (me viene a la mente el andamiaje de lichens), soy capaz de palparla aunque en el fondo no quiera porque me siento a gusto en manos de los drones, en las direcciones que eligen, porque asumiendo el vacío he llegado a la plenitud. "guezem" me recuerda que barn owl han debido parar por aquí no hace mucho e intuyo que se habrán sentido cómodos porque una cosa es satisfacer la necesidad y otra, bien diferente, es percibir la plenitud interior liberada. "uyang okpo usun" es infinito como el cosmos, y yo adivino el infinito como un estado de gozo, de recreo sin límites y el cosmos, como un sistema armonioso dentro del presumible caos. ladies and gentleman, we are floating in space, bon voyage.

foto: coquinete

Saturday, December 11, 2010

james blackshaw

The formidable guitarist James Blackshaw, who along with the tragically-late Jack Rose helped to stoke a John Fahey et al revival, always belonged to that second camp — his music was never Urban Outfitters folk to begin with, just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. But on All Is Falling, one especially hears the distance: the album is a single extended, eight-part piece, a web of guitar arpeggios, plaintive piano, strings and vocals. It’s an impressive feat, ambitious and personal, and could serve to announce Blackshaw’s arrival as a singular voice, unbound from any transitory scene. Too bad it’s pretty weak. dusted magazine

Friday, December 10, 2010

high wolf / masaki nakazawa


"Masaki Nakazawa, from the amazing band Topping Bottoms, is easily one of my favorite guitarists in the world. I just spent one month touring Japan with him, saw him play almost every day, jammed with him numerous times. What I can say is when he plays it's like his japanese tatoos take life and every ghost from ancient Japan, every kami is summoned. Winged Sun is more than proud to release his first solo piece ever. A side long reverb desert blues with haunting percussion, reminding me of Sun Araw's "The Phynx".

High Wolf shares the tape with one long 15 minutes piece showing a lot of range. It's starting with the furthest exploration of his dark side ever put on record (spent too much time with Annapurna Illusion), then turn into a psychedelic jam sounding like we're back at pharao's times and we have those fucking pyramids to build and concludes with a totally stoned improvisation, mainly acoustic, with a good dose of spiritual music and a spirit of tribe communion. maybe the best winged sun release so far, trust me on this one." winged sun

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

je suis le petit chevalier

"Je suis le petit chevalier is another project of Felicia Atkinson. Félicia Atkinson is a sound and visual artist, she lives in Brussels, Belgium. Daughters sounds like drifting bodies on fire and ice...soundscapes, vocal sounds."

Saturday, December 04, 2010

swanox

"Anthony Swanox has been shadow-walking the greater west coast for a half-decade-plus... Dawnrunner opens with a hot springs soak in glowing, long-form new age ritual electricity before slowly dissolving into a patchwork of mumbly, loner drone-folk and hypnotized dusk hikes through fields of wet ferns... A strange collection of questing songs from a rad west coast lifer. Pro-dubbed cassettes in cases with cool photo portrait covers of Swanox’s brother, smoking by a beamer in the forest. Take the ride. Edition of 100." nnf

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

woodpecker wooliams

Sleeping Under Dark Suns is a story of sleeping women in myth. Woomen that sleep or go under. Women that grow mute or die. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Lilith, Eurydice, the Honeybee in winter’s dreaming time. Two ten-minute compositions, the second a collaboration with the dark and murky Talvihorros. Slumberous, somnolent, drowsy dears. Where are our women? What have they done? Out in the woods, up in the towers, down in the dungeons, we’ve been eating apples, and loving men, swooning under their stern gazes, and giving up ghosts. I wanted to find out why… ~ Woodpecker Wooliams

Friday, November 26, 2010

marsh cavern

"The Marsh Cavern tape presents the very first tracks recorded by this modern psych lonesome guitar hero during winter 09'. Four post-Earth (first period !) depressive magically skinned tracks repeated on both sides of the tape. CS edition of the selfpublished cdr." kaugummi

Thursday, November 25, 2010

caligine

"Not long time ago Gabriele/Caligine travelled the world with some equipment and while being here and there had collected some impressions which weren't taken home, but almost immediately recorded, keeping instant mood. Being asked about some story behind new release, Gabriele said: "It's about places, mostly. England, Nepal, sometimes at the sea, sometimes rivers… The last song is a tribute for Jack Rose, I recorded the day he died. In common it's a journey record, all recorded on trip, not in studio. And the fourth song Arida II is the second part of a song from my previous EP."

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

red river dialect

Lex de Guanaco y Beggin' You pardon Miss Joan nos descubría Distant Man de Red River Dialect hace casi dos años
"debo decir que tengo una nueva canción favorita, de un grupo que me encontré de casualidad en Myspace (también tiene sus cosas buenas). la canción se llama 'Distant Man' y el artista es 'Red River Dialect'. visita su myspace. es un disco realmente increíble.
además fueron el grupo invitado en el nuevo show de radio local fm de Falmouth y Penryn, que se llama 'Orpheus Baubles'. el programa está muy bien. por alguna extraña coincidencia una de las antiguas canciones de Beggin' Your pardon Miss Joan abre el show, lo cual me cogió de sorpresa ya que no tenía ni idea de que iba a aparecer. como ya he dicho es una radio local así que debe ser difícil encontrarla, pero puedes descargarte la primera parte en el blog de 'Red River Dialect', que puedes encontrar aquí. escuchadlo, os lo ruego". Lex Panayi

Sunday, November 21, 2010

ducktails

"...that delightful lazy summer day vibe hasn’t left the Ducktails music either, had this come out in the summer I’d probably be blasting this every day. As it stands, I guess I can close my eyes and pretend it is warmer." beach sloth

foto: alan giberson

Friday, November 19, 2010

charlie parr

"...Just Like Today is hushed, haunting and fragile as a candle flame." laurence mackin

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

keijo & jarmo

"We were not tired, but we were cold. We sat on a campfire and started to sing. There was someone at our home who had forgotten us. There was nothing left for us. Some black man sat by us. Or was it a woman? It opened its mouth and did not have any teeth. The song was cold, the song was warm. We were not afraid anymore." ikuisuus

"Finnish artists Keijo & Jarmo sing the most stripped down suicidal traditional blues and folk on Talkin Bout Death Past Gone. I really wonder what inspired this harmonica induced primitive Americana folk in Tampere." undomondo

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

the blithe sons

"The Blithe Sons are the duo of Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson. Compiled from performances that took place under a creek bridge in San Gregorio on sea cliffs in the Marin Headlands. With acoustic guitar, harps, bells, harmonium, gongs submerged in a creek, cymbals, vocals, banjo, birds, pipes, bell-blocks, drums, branches and the location itself as an instrument, these album weaves minimalist hymns with stark drones. The Blithe Sons conjure an imaginary wilderness through the sounds made within these mysterious locales, combining Chasse's leanings towards tones and percussive textures with Donaldson's folk-inflected melodies" family vineyard

"...But, what about the true meaning of the 'Jewelled Antler'?
Loren Chasse: "The name came up spontaneously one day, while Thuja was playing. It stuck around in our thoughts and appeared later on as a title for a song. This didn't quite seem to fulfill the potential of this image, and so when Glenn and I decided to begin a label there was the Jewelled Antler, waiting as the perfect mascot for our imagined musics." perfect sound forever

Saturday, November 13, 2010

pine smoke lodge / deep magic

"Pine Smoke Lodge takes the listener deep in the woodlands, where moon light peaks, abated, through the old-growth trees while glistening sounds of bells, chimes and percussion lead the way. the whispers help keep the listener on the path, where he quickly slips into reverie.

 Deep Magic keeps the ears at ease with subtle, layered hums and sounds of nature. A constant underlying whir, comes in and out of focus, providing continuity while more layers build up." sacred phrases

Thursday, November 04, 2010

held the hand

01. opening ~ bruce langhorne
02. peeper II. true history ~ scott tuma
03 just like anything ~ jackson c. frank
04. comes a time (neil young cover) ~ hooded figures
05. in dreams (roy orbison cover) ~ mount pleasant
06. the eigth of january ~ bookmiller shannon
07. poor ellen smith ~ the kossoy sisters green
08. when the night comes ~ dan auerbach
09. cortez the killer (neil young cover) ~ stag hare
10. round and round ~ trevor healy
11. held the hand (daniel johnston cover) ~ joy zipper
12. lifted ~ passaro do pomar
13. seem d like ~ hush arbors
14. still racing ~ julian lynch
15. ballad in the bay of pigs ~ green gerry
16. yur a liar ~ amen dunes
17. pretend the devil isn't real ~ memory tapes
18. drug buddy (the lemonheads cover) ~ marissa nadler
19. there goes my girl ~ sultan
20. still don't know ~ david kitt
21. outer limits ~ sleep ∞ over
22. your world candied ~ mr & mrs smith
23. melting ~ sore eros
24. lavender moon ~ king creosote

foto: maggie lochtenberg

otro año más: happy birthday microphones!

Friday, October 29, 2010

guzzo pinc

"...Caethua, Uke of Spaces Corners, Woods, Neil Young, Hank Williams and Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Something very familiar here. Like a lullaby man, like a lullaby. True bedroom folk, intimately recorded in analog warmth and with a sincere delivery"

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

ralph white

"A kalimba project recorded on a string of cold starry midnights in January of 2009 by Ralph White. With a little bit of wooden banjo."

foto: neil krug

Saturday, October 23, 2010

mv & ee

"...this tape presents the mv & ee tour of Summer 2009, fresh from the sweetest spot in the taper's pit. As last Summer was coming to a cool simmer, mv & ee strolled into the collegiate utopia of Madison, Wisconsin; to perform at a tiny art gallery for their faithful Midwestern brethren. The room was packed with flannel-clad friendlies and the atmosphere was thick and balmy, as Matt mumbled his way to the opening heatstroke of "Summer Magic", the micro-brewed smiles crept across all our faces, and we were all real gone for a change. This tape effortlessly captures the magic of that evening and and opens the portal, gazing back into the hypnotic waves of Matt and Erika's secret mountain bonfire." brave mysteries

foto: quiezip

Friday, October 22, 2010

warpaint

"There is a disconcerting moment in Warpaint's debut album when the LA-based quartet might be addressing their listeners directly. "Now I've got you in the undertow," singer-guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman chime, in voices sweet and lethally seductive. The line feels apposite because Warpaint make music to submerge yourself in, limpid on the surface, eddying beneath. Ripples of guitar rise above and sink beneath bold waves of bass, while drum lines surge hither and thither, pushing the songs to change their course. There is something subtly contrary about this band: their most enigmatic song bears the name Warpaint, while their least-composed song – which opens in a fury of shouted vocals and uncoils in a meandering jam of slowly detuned guitars – is called Composure. But if this slipperiness makes them intriguing, it's the consistent sensuality of Warpaint's sound that makes them mesmerise." the guardian

free downloads here and here 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

we walk the young earth

'we walk the young earth', a new publication of my work by carpaccio magazine available to buy from atem books. thank you maría & emma :)

Monday, October 11, 2010

pocahaunted

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bands to solo projects, it’s all the same arc. And here it is, the final RIP action by star-crossed Not Not Fun institution Pocahaunted and the only recorded document of the final triforce-vocal line-up featuring Leyna Noel on keys/crooning/dance magic. The results blaze/amaze. “Threshold” was written on the road and melts through a river mistress intro before revving into a tense kraut-funk burner with catchy femme-soul vocables cascading down from every side. The B, “Echolocation,” is a tranced ghost-reggae comedown ballad and classic slow-dance live staple. Nimble bass maneuvering by whimsy princess Diva Dompe leads the melody up through the choruses into the torch-song bridge climax that leaves everybody on the floor..." not not fun

Sunday, October 10, 2010

head of wantastiquet

"Head Of Wantastiquet is the alter ego of Paul Labrecque, an American musician, songwriter now residing in Belgium. He has recorded with Chris Corsano and Valerie Webb, and he plays and records with the bohemian group Sunburned Hand Of the Man. Historically, aesthetically and sonically his new work bears genuinely comparison with merican primitivism', a mix of psychedelic banjo hymns, apocalyptic space folk and incredible drugged out soul-whispers. It layers banjos, guitars and smoke as though they were shimmering veins of black pearls, pulsing against the scarlet dawn." conspiracy
"...we need to learn how to fly. The birds know it. The albatross, as if painting a flawless hyper-realistic seascape, crosses the ocean without rippling the water. Slow-motion. With a wingspan of 340 cm, wider than any other bird in the world, he can float almost without flapping his wings. It is easy to imagine him dying of old age while flying and after some period of decay still having it's skeleton carried along by rising air-streams. Somewhere, over the ocean, there must be a sort of air- suspended bird sanctuary where all the albatrosses gather to die when they know their time has come; a flock of soaring skeletons.."

Saturday, October 09, 2010

l'amazon ram arkestra

"L'Amazon Ram Arkestra want to show a new side of biotope psychedelic music. Influenced by the music of western improvisation king bands such as Vibracathedral Orchestra, Second Family Band or Golden Jooklo Age with a bit of rainforest wet atmosphere." winged sun

entrevista a high wolf / annapurna illusion

foto: joshua whitelaw

Monday, October 04, 2010

the third eye of sauron

"this new tape from third eye of sauron seems to be a self-similar expansion of the ideas from his last release, in which he continues to develop the language of his sonic world. thicketed walls of ambiguous instrumentation climb and fall out from blackness, paired with field recordings and frayed captures of practices, jams, and shows. this music defies time; to think that some of the shorter moments here last less than hours seems strange and unreal. it shows a knack for condensing moments and an acute sensitivity for the ethereal notions that make music musical." ace of tapes

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

sleepy villas

"Sleepy Villas is a Chicago/Brooklyn-based musical collaboration between Alexandra Loughton, Kyle Benjamin Poff, (both from the group Wrugs), and friend and brother Jordan Carol Poff. Recorded this past summer in Albuquerque, over the course of a few weeks, this release is a nostalgic mix of simple strummed guitars, auto harp, Piano, tambourine, slight electronic percussion, drifting synth arpeggios and overgrown tired vocals. Buried on these six tracks is a deep humble groove that floats along like a smokey aftertaste. Heavy influenced by neo-classical compositions from the likes of Ravel and Heitor Villa-Lobos smashed through a blender and mixed with a modern psych no-fi hum. Nothing falls from the sky other than water, unless it dies from flying by." glass foot records

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

starcircleanatomy

"it's fucked up; it's a rainbow is a tape of some of the songs izaak wrote in 2008. they are kind of about how going away can show you new stuff but won't really fix anything that's wrong or weird and how that all works out. 9 tracks: some sung songs and some weird sounds. about half and half" ace of tapes

"...i am the child of two computers and cannot feel. born into weakness, not knowing that i might live forever, tapping the rhythms of a dry, dead america, singing the empty songs of protest against it, charting the stars above its lighted plain, making my own stories in that dark escape, hoping to find a voice up there, somebody to tell me that i could be more than my mind lets me. not my mind really. it's something else that thinks for me, pilots my mouth and my hands, something in everyone i know that owns me and them together, a slick aggregate of experience and fashion and the points where our bodies touch and when our words meet in the air and someone understands what i meant. i feel it when i breathe alone. i feel it through and decide it isn't real..." izaak starcircleanatomy

foto: jess gough

Monday, September 27, 2010

campfire

"many zones covered over the last year since the first campfire release. recorded both at home and at four different shows, this collection weaves together a lot of different vibes. this is a fade town. the sun is always going over the mountain and coming back around the other side. it's slow-going and short and yet a lot of ground is covered. zones come in and out. you get lost and find yourself miles from where you were just laying... light just broke into the cave you were cautiously exploring... and now you're floating... above the ocean. where is the ground? i don't know." ace of tapes

artwork by campfire

Sunday, September 26, 2010

je suis le petit chevalier

"From France, living in Belgium, Tropical Malady was recorded during a residency in the United States. Je Suis Le Petit Chevalier brings out sounds from Portland Oregon and (oddly enough) Upstate New York. Tropical Malady is a haunting auditorial interpretation of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady; a sound experiment, a ghostly ambience with chant like vocals and echos. Mysterious drone soundscapes and tones set against a television frequency, the motion of the ocean the ebb and flow of emotions" i had an accident

primero charalambides y two-lane blacktop, y ahora félicia atkinson y tropical malady

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

gkfoes vjgoaf

"Light Weaving is a way of imagining the universe. It is the oneness of all things and the constellations that we use to engage with the world. The music of Light Weaving is building things into nothing. Ebb and flow. These are autostereogram-like sounds for all seasons, unfocus your ears and take in what's really happening... Specifically though, it is a set of live instances recorded in my parents' living room and reorganized on tape in June 2010." sean/gkfoes vjgoaf

artwork by sean conrad/gkfoes

nos encanta sean conrad, sus títulos, sus portadas, sus fotos, las fotos de w. moses, campfire, la playa en la cima de la montaña, su generosidad,  y su música. celebration into the light. de cuando las alegrías musicales acompañan a las alegrías personales

Monday, September 20, 2010

darren tate

"uk experimentalist Darren Tate unveils his new acid folk persona with a full-length album dedicated to Finnish folk spirit Keijo. This is one of Darren’s most abstract and oddly beautiful releases, with long passages of domestic silence illuminated by bird calls, bells and tinkling percussion... A deeply confounding work." volcanic tongue

"...Late Afternoon finds Tate adopting the beloved Jewelled Antler way of recording out in the wilderness, allowing all of the incidental sounds, manmade and natural, to tread upon whatever musical notes might be generated. Tate doesn't let on to where this recording was made, but it's got something of a natural concrete reverb, it's near an airfield, and it's infested with pigeons...Forest folk minimalism meets field recordings" aquarius 

Friday, September 10, 2010

high wolf


high wolf • shangri l.a [moamoo .2010]

"High Wolf makes music like no one else on the planet. He claims to be from the Amazon and all his activities are shrouded in mystery. Sometimes he is just one man, other times High Wolf is a duo. In either case he conjours mystic tropical clouds of repetition and build that, while complex, are never hard to listen to. The music seems to tap into a primal frequency and demands listeners to dance. A contemporary of James Ferraro (of The Skaters), Oneohtrix Point Never and Ducktails.

He has records and tapes out on loads of ultra hip labels like Not Not Fun (the people who put out records by Sun Araw, Magic Lantern, Pocahaunted), Krayon, his own Winged Sun. Also he's known as the new superastral duo team IIbiis Rooge with the seminal talents of Mr. Neil Campbell, better known these days as Astral Social Club and (ex-)member of Vibracathedral Orchestra. The new album Shangri L.A features the edited tracks from acclaimed cassette "Gabon" on Winged Sun Records and 3 exclusive new tracks recorded during the spring of 2010. These tracks has been remastered by the Japanese famous engineer Soichiro Nakamura (Guitar Wolf, Boris, Yura Yura Teikoku...).

The album showed High Wolf looking at Africa from his native Amazonia...What's the difference between Amazonian and African jungles? When we live in the wild, with percussions and tribal singing, we're all the same..." moamoo

Friday, September 03, 2010

black eagle child



"After the warped visions of his collaboration album together Kabizdoh Obtruhamchi, Michael Jantz returns to the subtle atmospheres of his solo music with this second album on sturmundrugs records. Acoustic guitar, with touches of accordion, glockenspiel, manipulated voice, piano flute, and scant field-recordings, for a collection of more intimate pieces written and partly improvised over the course of 2009. Blissful. Limited number of 100 copies with handmade covers & art by Michael Jantz." sturmundrugs records


somewhere i read that the human mind possesses a magical ability to play in higher dimensions where music, poetry, literature and fine art live. it makes me think that if all of this is moved by love, the universal one... it shakes our spirit, so in some way we become a part of 'the act' or 'the feeling'... then come the sighs... while listening 'poland' i sigh, i smile and i love... all i can say is: thanks ^.^

illustration by seth neefus

ólöf arnalds

“Lovely, transcendent Icelandic singer-songwriter writes the kind of music that populates the dreams of angels — fluttering folk songs as fragile as tiny china swans." Rolling Stone
new album 'Innundir Skinni' out sept 2010.

Monday, August 23, 2010

christina carter / islaja

"Limited edition of 100 copies split 7”, only officially available direct from the label. Christina’s side is one of her weirdest tracks, a ‘protest’ song scored for multiple overdubbed voices that move from catatonic Jandek-isms through haunted choral styles. Islaja contributes a spare, intimate vocal piece with a twisted folk melody illuminated by smears of backing vocals." volcanic tongue

foto: lauren treece

ilyas ahmed

"A stellar document of this trio's slow burn set from last years On Land festival. Ahmed on guitar & vocals is accompanied by Honey Owens (Valet/Miracles Club) on guitar and Jed Bindeman (Heavy Winged / Eternal Tapestry) on drums. Each cover is a unique collage by Ahmed with hand painted text on the back. No two are the same. These are not lathe cut records, and not lacquer dub plates, but a very small run of 10" vinyl records. All proceeds go to funding this year's On Land festival, and these are only available directly from us. Please drop us an email if you would like to order one. $100 each, does not include shipping! Edition of 25." root strata
side a (edit) / buy

Saturday, August 21, 2010

les shelleys

"Les Shelleys are an acoustic guitar/vocal duo from Los Angeles, consisting of FatCat’s folk asset Tom Brosseau and his singing partner Angela Correa, better known as the indie-pop singer/songwriter Correatown... beautiful, harmony-heavy voice and guitar arrangements of American standards and folk traditionals from various points of the last century...
The “Americanised calypso” popularised by the Andrews Sisters ‘Rum and Coca Cola’ here is dulcet like a lullaby, but swaying like its tropical origins. Tom begins, acoustic guitar and his flooring singing voice wrapped around the gorgeous melody, before Angela joins for the chorus and the pair tap gently together as their two voices harmonise sweetly." fat cat

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

head of wantastiquet

"Edition of 120 copies cdr documenting a live performance from Paul Labrecque (Sunburned Hand Of The Man/Trees Chants And Hollers/The Other Method et al). Labrecque’s string work makes reference to the lonesome sound of Sandy Bull and John Fahey while connecting with the experiments in contemporary American Primitive drone of Paul Metzger and Matthew Valentine. Quietly psychedelic and spellbindingly intimate. In full colour gatefold card sleeve." volcanic tongue

Friday, August 13, 2010

stag hare

"...In Utah there are such large flat expanses surrounded by these mountains. I have spent a lot of time riding in a car watching out the windows as these landscapes roll past. I think everything I love to create is in these landscapes, texture, story, time, vast slow changes......natural shapes, so this has influenced my music a good amount. But there are a lot of other lands that have influenced my music a lot as well. Living in Arcata was a huge influence on me and my music. I found a great sense of peace when I was there which I don't come across many other places or very often. The mossy redwood forests and the ocean, these are huge influences on my music, but there is no ocean in Utah. There is the Great Salt Lake though, and it is a really magical place. There is an island on the lake where you can watch the sun set into the flat water. It's like a strange paradise." garrick biggs (stag hare)

holy person, holy wind

Thursday, August 12, 2010

donato epiro

"‘Supercontinent’ is Donato Epiro’s freshest hypnotic adventure, and a glimpse into some future tropical world where lysergic acid rain waters the neon foliage. Animatronic apes and mechanical birds flock around Donato as he expertly fashions his sonic hieroglyphs, while sibilant rhythms and humid chants pour freely into the deviant ceremony from all sides. Join the intoxicating celebration, and play this tape whenever you need a little break from the continent you’re currently standing upon. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert." stunned records

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

the goner

 the goner ~ bitemarks ep (dying for bad music 2010)

"This is a re-release of the orphaned Bitemarks EP by The Goner from Sweden. Five different pieces showing the band’s mastery from crafting simple acoustic folk songs to the construction of walls of sound. Psychedelic folk tales from the dark age, mystic and natural without being retro-visionary or overdramatic. The center piece of this EP, "Lost Summer", starts with a shimmering organ drone chord and shifts into a moving tribal theme. The theme of traveling is picked up again in Oakmulgee Creek which leads to the end of this wonderful EP. The Goner leave you alone with a peaceful field recording of lonely bird calls." dying for bad music

Monday, August 09, 2010

lower dens

"Swarming guitar fuzz, bass waves, insistent drum throbs and Jana Hunter's redolent, charred voice are the core components of Baltimore's Lower Dens. Hunter, sometimes known for intimate, ghost-heavy weird-fi, now writes and plays with a group that might get filed under new wave, or drone pop, or post-punk. With due deference to her solo work, we're very glad..." gnomosong

foto: old chum

jana hunter meets electrelane (two cocks!)

Friday, August 06, 2010

beggin' your pardon miss joan

"Edges will be the first widely available release by Beggin' Your Pardon Miss Joan, and is a collection of several old songs from previous highly limited releases on Centre of the Wood, Dead Pilot and Reverb Worship, plus 5 new tracks. The project is from the minds of Lex and Vanessa Panayi, Lex some of you may recognise as he also plays under the name of Guanaco±, who earlier this year had the Sky Burials LP released on BR. On this 9 track cd there are moments comparable to some of the material on the aforementioned LP, but at times it has a more singer-songwriter sound with more vocals, as well as merging autumnal psychedelic vocal excursions and traditional folk guitar meanderings. A really gorgeous collection of songs." blackest rainbow

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Mark Borthwick

"Dazed & Confused: Music is a big touchstone in your work. You’ve collaborated with musicians and make your own music. How does making music and making art linked with each other?
Mark Borthwick: It all comes together pretty much as one. Initially it was just a sweet pastime that you do at home. Cooking is one of my favourite things and my wife would say, “You should do it in a gallery!” I was invited to the art fair in Cologne and I lived in the space every day and people would drop by and say hi, and I would cook dinners. I brought my guitar along and didn’t intend to start performing but I did.
Me and my friend, Hisham (Baroocha from Black Dice) started making music as Usun. We haven’t released anything yet. We played this summer with The Boredoms and we may release something this year. I don’t think I’ve ever pursued something as a professional career, I like the amateur side. Not only has it become one thing but I think it’s become a bit like my photography – very communal and collaborative. It is about bringing people together. By creating these communal evenings where we’re cooking and playing music, it’s on a very small scale which is just how I like it. Because then it’s just like doing it at home."
free to download here

Friday, July 30, 2010

topaz rags

"West Coast ghost squad Topaz Rags stalk back into the deadlights, ...recorded in the heart of winter in a room with one blue light bulb, “The Crown Center” is pure nightprowler music: quaking bass, grime-jazz keys, dusty drums, witch choirs floating through the smog and into sleeping homes with the power lines cut. The sound of crime to come. The flip (“You Go On”) slips deeper into the psych-psycho psyche, a bleached-brain riff-rhythm grinding away endlessly while voices and electric piano stabs arc across the stereo field, raining ash. A grimmer twist on the Topaz formula, the dreamer’s dream turned dark." not not fun

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

on

"Something That Has Form And Something That Does Not is the third album from Sylvain Chauveau and Steven Hess under their On moniker, and continues their excavation of abstracted experimental sounds. As with the previous records, improvisations were recorded in a studio in Chicago and then handed to a guest musician to rework in whichever way they saw fit, and this time around the guest musician is none other than experimental pioneer Christian Fennesz. Christian’s association with the band goes way back – he performed with them in 2004 as a trio so it seemed almost inevitable that a collaboration would emerge at some point, but this treatment truly takes the notion of collaboration to another place entirely. When we close on the blissful near 20-minute ‘The Sound Of White’, echoes of Fennesz’s best work drifts through the crackle and pulse of Sylvain Chauveau’s prepared guitar and Hess’s distant percussion. These hypnotic patterns slowly rise and fall, giving the listener time to truly hear each subtle shift." type