Uncle Jim Superstars of Greenwich Meantime
(2005, Abduction)
"Ruling at the perpetual pivot and pole of a peerless sound world over the past 25 years, the Sun City Girls are one of the few last arab cowboys of genius. SUPERSTARS OF GREENWICH MEANTIME is the premier long player from the UNCLE JIM... a smoked out X+Y=Fuck You dialectic. Rawer than Rudy Ray Moore, shrewder than Lenny Bruce, more spoken tongue wizard insanity than Lord Buckley and more deranged than Charles Baudelaire; this is Alan Bishop's own personal anthology of black humour, filled to the brim full of diatribes backed up by bad ass musicians (including all of the Sun City Girls). A masterpiece of the SCG cannon." — Black Velvet Fuckere. Featuring: Charles Gocher , Richard Bishop , Alvarius B , Liz Allbee, Andrew McGinnis, Specs One , Porest, and Uncle Jim.
CD: $18CAD
US Girls Introducing....
(2008, Siltbreeze)
If the alluring moniker used by Megan Uremovich conjures images of volleyball teams or cheerleading squads, forget it. Not that there's any doubt that Uremovich--sorry, U.S. Girls -- couldn't rise and conquer either challenge. Like fellow DIY ingenues Sally Strobelight and Inca Ore, U.S. Girls' approach is deceptively ethereal and delightfully haunting; lithe, lysergic gamma rays of keyboard murk beamed over percussive bonk sort of resemble Diamanda Galas reinterpreting Suicide's Red Star. And dig that cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Prove It All Night," done in such an effortless, barbital lush you'd swear the air was filled with mescaline. Guess what? It's not.
LP: $18CAD
Valley Of Ashes Cavehill Hunter's Attrition
(Blackvelvetfuckere)
Long-time-coming monster triple LP set from this Louisville, Kentucky-based nod-out orchestra led by Mr Kris Abplanalp of Virgin Eye Blood Brothers/Sapat et al and featuring a cast of plenty including Mr Pete Nolan of Magik Markers/GHQ/Vanishing Voice et al. Jams wind their way through bongs of bent melodic arcs, with group members playing against each other in a soup of aleatoric harmony, barely anchored by slow electric basslines. When they do fall into relative conceptual orbit the results are beautifully earth-shattering. The overall thud of the group hovers somewhere between the massive lead boots of Silence-era players like International Harvester and Trad Gras Och Stenar and the wasted ten-schlumps-behind-the-beat feel of prime Crazy Horse while much of the instrumental base seems more related to vaguely cultic folk/rock jam bands like Comus and Stone Angel. Either way, it sits just right for connoisseurs of a certain beautifully slack form and the guitar playing is every bit as destroyed as anything from the hands of Jessie Harper. Edition of 500 copies and already sold out at source; the whole deal comes in a pro-looking chunky full-colour sleeve and looks great.
3LP: $45CAD
Vanishing Voice Stone Tablet
(Important)
Limited vinyl version (500 copies) of the new Vanishing Voice album, which features different mixes from the CD and an extra track as well as screenprinted sleeves. Beautiful drug-woozy ensemble psych that builds from the slightest hints of tape-loop sci-fi chamber huzz into the most celestially charged space blues to come out of the ranks of the Vanishing Voice to date. Endlessly gorgeous music box melodies get trapped in wows of wonked taped while satellites chatter like small children lost in tall, tall grass and zonks of percussion build lush hymnals from sidereal harmonic/rhythmic constructs. When the whole group start to slowly march towards the speakers with chugs of single chords and those flighty, padding drums you could well be crossing the drawbridge into Schloss Norvenich during the first live actions that would birth Can's Monster Movie and Heidi Dahl's immaculately conceived vocalisations are every bit the match for Malcolm Mooney's bringing-down-the-sun style. If yr at all into the endless garage hypnotism of the '66 Velvets and the way that the various German/Euro communes turned that music from an up-tight urban spike into a wide-open form of communal narcosis then this is surely your poison. Highly recommended.
LP: $20CAD
Mv/Ee Mother Of Thousands
(2006, Time Lag)
After piles of privately released cdrs & long gone vinyl only releases, here's the MV/EE album for the masses, who are no doubt quivering for it... Don't be fooled though, this is neither the Medicine Show zone of recent years, nor a mere echo of the Tower Recordings flame, but a new beast stirring awake in the beaming sun of now. Aided by the Bummer Road and the omni present Erika Elder, MV has here pushed his cosmic sounds beyond the apex of high. No doubt there's plenty of lifted rural raga vibrations, and big woozy doses of haunted folk-blues as well, but the mix of flat-out killer 'songs' and extended electric psych-outs is something of a revelation. 'Beautiful Mountain' & 'Sunshine Girl' are tantalizingly close to being something like modern underground hits, while the side-long album closer 'Death Don't Have No Mercy' is an epic head-spinning trip loaded with moments of fragile piano lull, layers of serpentine acid guitars, and all-around smoky late-night jam vibes... Throughout the album both MV& EE's vocals are more present & stronger then ever, and the harmonies have a real sweet lonesome glow... Surely the finest blossom yet from the mighty maximum arousal farm... Features Matt Valentine & Erika Elder with Mo' Jiggs, Sparrow Wildchild, Nemo Bidstrup, Tim Barnes & Samara Lubelski adding harmonica, percussion, flute, electric guitar, tambura, violin, ukelin, and more to the usual assortment of mystic strings...
2CD: $22CAD
Vibracathedral Orchestra WFMU
(2004, Eclipse)
This is the WFMU recording session from September 11, 2003 featuring Adam Davenport, Bridget Hayden, Julian Bradley and Michael Flower featuring special guests John Godbert (Total), Matthew Bower (Hototogisu, Skullflower), and Tom Greenwood (Jackie-O Motherfucker). Two side long tracks of shimmering drone. Edition of 400 copies with silkscreened jackets by Alan Sherry (SIWA).
LP: $25CAD
Visitations Untitled
(2007, Time Lag)
Well, here you have it. Maine's cosmic mystery trio captured for eternity, just for you… While everyone & their mother seems to have some sort of bedroom folk/psych project going these days, you'd be hard pressed to find another unit as pure in spirit & process as these here bodies/buddies. One of those rare vortexes of creation existing totally apart from all hype, pressure or pretense; in other words, timeless. Always balanced on that fine and beautiful line between cosmic joke & aching depth. A simple & unadorned unfurling of strummed & fingered instruments, heartaching female vocals, woodland creatures, earthy male vocals, contrasting half written & totally spontaneous songs, twisting lyrics, haunted melancholy, lysergic joy, and a heavy dose of spooked new england lore. In a way, the recording scene itself is an almost perfect parallel to the sounds & vibes captured here: three shadowy figures laugh & sing around a dim campfire. No ones slept in days. They're nestled amidst ancient stone buildings, creeping foliage, and mounds of exotic flowers. The sun is setting over the mountains, but its all frozen in time. The clouds aren't moving and that campfire, it's a microphone, isn't it? And all those flowers: plastic. The stone: paint. Is it all fake? Well, it is an ancient stone church. And those three really are making some very sweet sounds. In fact, its almost hyper real. Almost impossibly so… is that reel-to-reel rolling? Yes, it sure is… Exquisitely packaged with a tri-fold double thick duotone art paper cover. Outside is white paper with edge to edge antique letterpress printed eyeball melting hyper detailed art by the band. Inside is black paper with red/orange screen printing. Woven japanese inner sleeves, and a special surprise in total darkness.
LP: $35CAD
CD: $20CAD
Volcano The Bear Classic Erasmus Fusion
(2006,Beta Lactum Ring)
Volcano the Bear's dramatic, highly ambitious two disc (two-CD or two-LP) return is a lot to ingest, however, every second is rewarding in what could easily be one of my top albums of the year so far and my favorite Volcano the Bear release to date. Describing Volcano the Bear's music is about as difficult as identifying the instruments. The quartet's arsenal of gear is transcendant of time and space, culled from different cultures and different eras, from classically orchestral woodwinds (albeit sometimes just blowing through the mouthpiece) to African thumb piano, helicopter sounds, thunderstorm and rain and running water, medieval squeeze boxes, squeak toys, chirping or crying bird sounds, and Asian stringed things. While improvisation has been integral to the band's development, Volcano the Bear can always be counted on very cold-calculated and composed songs appearing on their official studio albums. Their arrangement is loose but never wanky or show-offey.
2LP: $35CAD
2CD: $23CAD
Volcano The Bear Idea Of Wood
(2004, Textile)
Textile Records are proud to release the new challenging musical adventures from the British improvisational quartet Volcano The Bear. Formed with the constant idea of being a group with uncompromising and boundless ideas, the quartet (Clarence Manuelo, Nick Mott, Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden) is utterly beyond classification. This radical and unique music brought vtb to the attention of the more discerning. Drawing on the work of Robert Wyatt, Faust or This Heat, the music of Volcano The Bear is the perfect combination of music and non-music, melodies and free expression. The band creates a musical environment crossing composition with improvisation, filled with crackling electronics, rumbling percussion, unconventionally played guitars, manipulated vocal noises, and distorted pianos. The Idea Of Wood is an ideal mix of primitive folk, art rock and filmic sound sculpting. Eccentric, hypnotic, mystic, but most of all truly incredible.
LP: $23CAD
CD: $21CAD
Volcano The Bear Canonapotato
(Digitalis)
A CD collection of live recordings made by the duo of Aaron Moore and Nick Mott between February and June 2004. Released by Digitalis Industries / Broken Face in August 2005. Tracks: Gabriel, A Universal History of Infamy, Lovely Shepherd, Puppy Grill, My Favourite Tongues, Ong Pate, Sharp As The Queen's Teeth, The God's Are Massive All music composed and performed by Mott and Moore. Mastered by Kev Reverb.
CD: $19CAD
Von Bingen s/t
(2009, Amen Absen)
von bingen began life when husband and wife duo jenni pace and daniel presnell (astral blessing) temporarily suspended hildegard (their east coast group of clangorous misfits), and relocated to vancouver, bc where they soon met josh stevenson (aka magneticring, and one-time jomf member), and richard smith. influenced by histories of conceptual art practices and electronic and outsider music native to the west coast, von bingen’s sound is at once reminiscent of distant sonics, such as those found in the labs of 60’s sf pioneers, or overheard in berlin’s zodiac club in the early 70’s, while also anticipating the drone of future decades. folk forms gleefully mutate, reborn as new hybrids, dignified by analog modular and semi-modular synthesizer systems from serge, buchla, and ems. instruments such as the flute, clarinet, guitar, and the drum are defamiliarized through quixotic treatments, originating from experimentations in the band’s studio. by rescuing tones, processes and technology from dusty desuetude, von bingen happens upon a unique retrofit for advanced audiences that is sure to confound, if not altogether please. within the grooves of this lp, you will not find full-fledged allegiance to current fashions, nor will you find some light loop of cheap sensations, hollow-core historical reenactments, or facsimile sentiments. in fact, we are not sure what you will find at all, and that is the beauty of nature, a potentially infinite system of chances, where the opportunity to un-learn is as important as the opportunity to learn; where memories possess the power to eclipse experience; where all history becomes synesthesia. join von bingen in this new eden, and by all means, have an apple.
LP: $20CAD
Various Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli
(2008, Numero Group)
"Bridging the gap between American primitive pioneers John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke, and the California modernists William Ackerman, Alex de Grassi, and Michael Hedges, Guitar Soli explores the private side of the solo guitar movement from 1966-1981. While Takoma and Windham Hill were laying the groundwork for the new age marketing juggernaut of the mid '80s, these fourteen loners were picking away in tiny cafes, selling records hand to hand. The single disc set comes housed in a digipack chipboard slipcase with a 40-page booklet and features Ted Lucas, Daniel Hecht, Dan Lambert, Jim Ohlschmidt, Tom Smith, Mark Lang, Richard Crandell, Tree People, William Eaton, George Cromarty, Scott Witte, Brad Chequer, Dwayne Canan, and Dana Westover."
LP: $22CAD
CD: $20CD
Wet Hair Dream
(2009, Not Not Fun)
When Iowa City freak-out free-rockers RACCOO-OO-OON called it quits last year it left a bummer scar in the Midwest underground scene. But time is a great healer, and so are new bands. So out of the ashes of the RAC pack comes WET HAIR, a synth-punk-trance duo composed of keyboardist/vocalizer SHAWN REED and keyboardist/drummer RYAN GARBES, and Dream is the band's debut vinyl full-length after a series of increasingly shredding limited-edition cassettes on their own Night People label. Piling together an unlikely trash heap of Suicide-style drum machine beat-bops, zone-droned krautrock keys, and fucked up outsider crooning, the LP's four tracks careen across a spectrum of moods and mangled melodies. Wet Hair's cult electric annihilation has never gleamed with such razor-edged weirdness; this is their dream made real. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with artwork by Reed and Garbes, plus a pro-printed full-color 11x11 insert.
LP: $24CAD
Way Of The Cross Mind Of The Dolphin
(2008, Phoenix)
"In the Spring of 2007, a tour commenced from Latvia to Holland called 'Way Of The Cross: On The Path Of The Ninefold Muse,' titled from Robert Graves' book, The White Goddess. The tour spanned Polish clubs, Dutch radio, Berlin galleries, and the Latvian beach; Mind of the Dolphin documents the music spawned at these stops. WOTC members include Dave Nuss (NNCK), Stellar OM Source, The Skaters, Jan Anderzen (Kemialliset Ystävät), Kuupuu, Mik Quantius (Embryo), and Tiitus Petajaniemi and Jari Koho (Uton, Keijo). 'The White Goddess is far more than a long-discredited pagan deity. She is still alive, and her worship takes many strange forms both inside and outside the conventions of Western morality. In particular, she continues as the Ninefold Muse, patroness of the white magic of poetry.'"
LP: $22CAD
Whitehouse Asceticists 2006
(2008, Very Friendly/Susan Lawly)
"'However artfully framed on white gallery walls, I can look you in the eyes and see what you spend your time doing when it gets dark and messy.' To experience the incredible Asceticists 2006, is to bare your fragile soul beyond what you would normally wish to know amidst ear-shredding Afro-noise madness of each of the seven tracks."
LP: $33CAD
Whitehouse Birthdeath Experience
(2007, Very Friendly/Susan Lawly)
Official reissue of the 1st Whitehouse album, originally released on the Come Organisation in 1980. Includes William Bennett's original LP design. Includes the warning: "Extreme electronic music: please acquire with due caution." "The place it all began: the seminal first album by Whitehouse. Even to this day, it is a remarkable piece of work created entirely with tone generators and EDP Wasps, and lyrically full of what would be their uncompromising trademark irony. It would prove instrumental in dragging avant garde electronic music a long way from its initially limited boundaries."
LP: $28CAD
Wolf Eyes Human Animal
(2006, Sub Pop)
“After a year of non-stop touring in support of 2004's Burned Mind, Wolf Eyes were ready; seasoned to travel through horrible new areas of sound. During one four-week period at the dawn of '06, they laid down ideas in their studio, the Terror Tank. Those ideas would shape what would be the new album, Human Animal. This new slab is the first with Mike Connelly (of Hair Police and the Gods of Tundra label) replacing Aaron Dilloway. Though he no longer tours with the band, Dilloway remains involved and helped to mix the new record with BMG (who also did the deed on Burned Mind). These songs are rotten with metal, reeds, consciousness-erasing islands of black doom. Bass-heavy rippers, late-night free-terror jams, afflicted dog-hearts, underwater crabs: pure mayhem. The new double bass attack is showcased on "Human Animal"/"Rusted Mange" with scraping strings and a full terror-shriek workout re-organized by Dilloway. New directions are countered by "Rationed Rot," which revisits the eerie Throbbing Gristle-esque vocal deployment that dates from Wolf Eyes' Dread LP. The album also features the band's first ever cover song: a dead-on rendering of No Fucker's rotten hXc anthem, "Noise Not Music," which closed out a lot of shows on Wolf Eyes' recent European tour. As ever, Wolf Eyes will be living on the road, with Australian and American tours in the works, and an invitation from Thurston Moore to play at All Tomorrow's Parties in December 2006 alongside Sonic Youth and The Stooges.”
LP: $11CAD
CD: $15CAD
Various Wooden Guitar
(Locust)
To help celebrate the fifth anniversary of the original Wooden Guitar compilation that got the ball rolling, Wooden Guitar is now available on limited edition double vinyl. Hand pulled silkscreened artist's paper by Paul Metzger, logo embossed and numbered edition of 505. A simple title with a simple concept. Wooden Guitar is an inspired excursion into the creases and folds of modern deltadelica & a thinly veiled homage to the great Takoma compilations of yore (remember that great Kottke, Lang, Fahey collection?) where guitarists could sit back, work those muscles in their fingers and go the extra musical distance. Four of the great worldwide guitarists -- Germany's Steffen Basho-Junghans, Seattle's Sir Richard Bishop (the Sun City Girls), Japan's Tetuzi Akiyama & Virginia's Jack Rose give us a fresh look at a very old instrument with gloriously stretched out solo compositions.
LP: $40CAD
Ya Ho Wha 13 Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony
(2008, Tee Pee)
"One of the heaviest albums from Father Yod and crew. Along with I'm Gonna Take You Home, it's just the best -- one of the finest sacred space cadet acid-mantra psychedelic death trips of all time, for sure. Captain Father Yod moans and groans a perfect vocal chime over the top of the searing guitar rip of 'Djin' and a massive cloak of tribal percussion and general peaked whatsis. Touched and tipped by higher forces you can only dream of -- this contain the most intense passages created by the band Ya Ho Wa 13. One of the best album covers of all time, too." "This was called an 'Aquarian Symphony' back in 1974 to herald through music, the coming of the Aquarian Age, September 17th, 2003. It was ahead of its time. Now its time has come!'" --Djin Aquarian, (guitarist), May, 2003.
LP: $22CAD
Ya Ho Wha 13 The Feather Of Wisdom
(2008, Phoenix)
Live at Cafe Du Nord, 11/17/07. One of Ya Ho Wha's recent reunion shows, packaged in a great silkscreen sleeve. "Sound at One is pleased to present the first Yahowa 13 album in 33 years on a new subsidiary, Phoenix Records, releasing music specifically oriented towards the elevation of consciousness. This is a recording of the Yahowa 13 reunion show in San Francisco, November 2007. This live document reveals that the band's music remains completely burnt. Hand silk-screened, edition of 500, full color fold-out poster insert designed by Arik Moonhawk Roper."
LP: $25CAD
Roland P Young Isophonic Boogie Woogie
(r: 2009, EM)
A fantastic self-released album by the enigmatic Roland Young -- an unusual blend of organic sounds and slight electronics -- all put together with the careful creativity of older albums by members of the AACM! Roland plays all the instruments here himself -- in a set of tracks that mix electric bass clarinet with kalimba, bells, chimes, soprano sax, and a bit of "electronic drone" -- all at a level that's really compelling, and much more hippy dippy than you might guess from the date of the record! The electric bass clarinet is especially great -- almost moogy or wah wah-esque at times -- and tracks are longish and open-ended. Titles include "Flutter Fly Flounce", "Row Land", "Crystal Motions", "Velvet Dream", and "Loveliness".
LP: $30CAD
Pari Zangeneh Series of Music For Young Adults
(r: 2008, KS)
Absolute mega-rarity, an incredible discovery and the ultimate folk-psych artifact unearthed directly from Teheran!!!! Female vocalist Pari Zangeneh recorded this really amazing album in 1976 with a full backing band, covering a number of traditional Persian folk songs and giving them a lovely psychedelic flavour. Beautiful strings, flutes, really charming and tasty drumming, some organ and orchestration, percussions. A truly fantastic album, and one of the rarest folk-psych records ever to file along other obscurities as Book of Am or Mellow Candle
LP: $70CAD
CD: $30CAD