Browse by Label: WHAT THE...? RECORDS

Artist:	SPECULUM FIGHT
Title:	Live in Tokyo '95
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 002LP

"We are proud and excited to present our second effort as the team What The...? Records in finest production and resurrection of artifacts from some of the favorite artists. This time a lost long live set from California sound unit Speculum Fight (to some now known as Damion Romero), taken place back in a heavy time for sound of such density and heaviness, in one of the heaviest zones on Planet Earth -- Tokyo, Japan circa 1995! These sides are cut straight in vein from chrome cassette to cutting needle, as if drawing the very energy of analog spirit without the interference of digital approximation, and indeed it is pure analog these grooves you hear! Romero has stated this live set is in direct influenced by such dark-cloud recordings as Milky Way (infamous Keiji Haino live set) and perhaps ritualistic density of C.C.C.C., but we know the sound is also instead pure West Coast motor engine fog monster. Bonus slab of soundcheck included at the beginning, to set the stage for what surely will be known as a prime window into pure eyes-closed eclipsed darkness of highest mental order. Romero does not so much as 'play' as he does just line up cosmic and physical psychic energy to birth a creation of situation for top-notch psychic physical cosmos. Comes in silkscreened cover with a heavy-duty re-sealable polyethylene bag, including a reproduction of an original show flyer and numbered photograph from the trip in the eye of Romero himself. Hold inside cover in front of face while listening for best results. Edition of 300."

Artist:	ARA
Title:	Pick Up & Run 2007
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 003LP

"Ara Pick Up & Run 2007 LP captures two performances of reed instruments, singing, percussion, and a very hazy, thick atmosphere that might float over the flower fireworks captured in these two performances. Ara is the Lexington, KY-based duo of Sara O'Keefe and Trevor Tremaine of such outfits as Eyes and Arms of Smoke, Hair Police, Burning Star Core, Sick Hour, Death Unit, and Rampart Tapes board of direction. However, these adjectives of death, sick, police -- of those maybe there need to be new descriptions in place. We're not quite sure what it is, but in this alternate universe it could be the Peace Police, Skywatcher Hour, Life Unit, Colourful Star Party, etc. who are close neighbors. Fleeting 'jazz' reference, male/female lowlife love vocals, drugstore basement electroacoustic, just warm and cloudy all over like a yesterday today. Features the most complicated WHAT THE..? Records covers so far, each unique handmade and silkscreened by Paul Coors; the materials you have come to expect melted together in rare effort. Paintspray turns into watercolours, perfume, and northern lights -- with a mini-poster and edition of 177 (there are no controls on Mother Nature)."

Artist:	LIEBERMAN & C. SPENCER YEH, JUSTIN
Title:	Object Lessons
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	PIC. DISC
Price:	$30.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 008LP

"Object Lessons and what of this ten-song collaboration between artist Lieberman and Yeh? Perhaps the influenced musically discussed is somewhere starting between mutual love of various artistic and musical genres certainly -- sound poetry, psychedelic rock, Japanese scum noise, Japanese psychedelic rock, listy lists, but certainly embodies more the present-time sensibilities and whims of both between the two artists to combine for something perhaps neither strictly adhering to any imitation. Perhaps to this record appropriately let's step back to New York artist Justin Lieberman's 2009 sculptural and multimedia work The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House -- a description from the debuting gallery follows -- 'The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House is inspired by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown's 1972 book, Learning From Las Vegas, which provides an in depth examination of what they call 'the decorated shed,' a simple structure with elaborate signage. Using the urban sprawl of Las Vegas as an example, they posit this architectural style as a means to enrich the symbolic content of post-modern architecture. The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House is a steel dwelling covered with a multitude of objects including a 1970s snowmobile, a life sized Jolly Green Giant, foam filled inflatable toys, an illuminated Fedex sign, and a 7 foot shark. Accompanying the house is a sculpture of the 'Corrector,' a character inspired by the fictional figure, Nobusuke Tagomi, from Philip K Dick's novel, The Man in the High Castle. The novel follows Tagomi in a fictional future fifty years after Germany and Japan defeat the Allied forces in World War II. Lieberman's interpretation of Taogmi is that of an avid collector of all things pop culture, whose collecting habits extend to the exterior of his home. Within the house, there is a computer equipped with a program that enables the 'Corrector' to archive each object with an informational text about the object's history, which is then projected onto the adjacent wall of the gallery. Created in the style of a Katamari video game, the program features texts on each object taking various forms such as objective accounts, plagiarized product descriptions, aesthetic meditations, poetry, short fiction, satire, and prose. These texts were then transformed into the record, Object Lessons, a musical collaboration between Justin Lieberman and C Spencer Yeh. The record is a spoken rendition of select object descriptions that were reworked into an ... musical format.' Full-color gatefold jacket, depicting abovementioned objects piled up in a grassy field, and the empty dome waiting for occupancy, and inside special illustrations for both ten tracks -- with full color picture disc LP showing the Corrector statue's head in both sketch and final form. Manufacture stopped around 250 copies."

Artist:	BREN'T LEWIIS ENSEMBLE, THE
Title:	At The North Pole, Easter Day, 1982
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 012LP

"As part of the 25th anniversary of the Butte County Free Music Society, At The North Pole, Easter Day, 1982 follows The Butte County Free Music Society boxset Induced Musical Spasticity and The Bren't Lewiis Ensemble's Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Recording and performing primarily in the mid-to-late 1980s, with sporadic efforts in the early 1990s, this barely organized enclave based in rural Northern California ingests and disgorges outsider free music à la Smegma and other bent LAFMS trippers, the UK's A Band, 5 Starcle Men, Gastric Female Reflex, Id M Theft Able, and the sort of visionaries currently promoted by labels such as Chocolate Monk, Destijl, and Ultra Eczema. Members of the Bren't Lewiis Ensemble later migrated to Vomit Launch, Glands of External Secretion, The Idiot, Serious Problmz, and Bananafish magazine. In comparison to the only other available recording of a complete live performance by the group (the side-long 'Industrial Barbecue,' on the above-mentioned BUFMS boxset), At The North Pole, Easter Day, 1982 is starker and more minimal overall. Previously released on the Mary Jane cassette in 1983. One-sided LP with silkscreen cover designed by artist Paul Coors, from an idea, along with a BUFMS-supplied glow-in-the-dark mini poster. 129 copies limit on a history which has no."

Artist:	HORN, GORDY
Title:	The Glue That Holds The Kids Together
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 013LP

"Vinyl debut of long-running Cincinnati Ohio/Northern Kentucky improv unit circling the center of saxophone/electronics Tim Schwallie (of The Wolverton Brothers) and doublebass/electronics Scott Hisey. Over many many many many years the core remain the same with various collaborators and members walking in and stepping or falling out, but the core remain the same, as they stepped in and fell out of modes such as free improv, free funk, free song, as evidenced in these on record. And included on record is a highly-picked sample of highlights from Gordy line-ups, including involving Clayton 'Chicken' Gunnels (RIP, of the JBs, America Eats Its Young-adelic), Mark Perry (Heevahava), C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core) and names here. 'So Mark Perry 'discovered Clayton' wandering Covington streets. Clayton was too well-dressed to be 'just another homeless dude' as Mark put it. Mark started a dialogue which turned into sporadic jams with Clayton, then Mark decided that Gordy Horn get-togethers were the best formats for Clayton and you know the rest... 'Do you know karate?' Tara was a singer with a very sloppy and very loud noise jam thing in the early nineties that I liked a lot--in particular I liked this pretty quiet small young girl that would transform into a screaming banshee on stage... We talked and then they moved to LA; her boyfriend od'ed, she moved back, and we started talking again. Scott and I were in a collaborative mood. We met up with Aimee who was willing to bring her harp around, and Gordy was a four-piece for 8 months or so around June to Dec 1999... The quartet with Spencer and Adam was really the go-to quartet for a while there (2003-2006) and I am glad we got one of those jams on the record.' --Tim Schwallie, Spring 2010, Cincinnati Ohio. One-sided LP with silkscreen cover designed by artist Paul Coors. 130 copies limit."

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Artist:	DIETRICH/BEN HALL, DON
Title:	Spitfire
Label:	WHAT THE...? RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	WHAT 011LP