Browse by Artist: CUL DE SAC

Artist:	CUL DE SAC
Title:	Immortality Lessons
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 007CD

"Anyone even remotely hovering the periphery of the independent avant rock/psyche/experimental underground should be well aware of Cul de Sac. First blazing into the stratosphere with ECIM in 1992 (Northeastern/Rough Trade). Cul de Sac quickly drew universal praise for its' heady bricolage of 60's psychedelia, Krautrock grooves, surf guitar trajectories, electronIc washes, American folk influences and Middle Eastern trance. Cul de Sac have since released four classic albums for Thirsty Ear/Flying Nun/Nuf Sad and a slew of 7" singles. For their first release in three years, Strange Attractors mines the vaults and unearths a stupendous diamond in the rough, the cosmically happy 'accident'. Immortality Lessons."

Artist:	CUL DE SAC
Title:	Death Of The Sun
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 011CD

"Nearly four years has elapsed since instrumental avant-rock innovators Cul de Sac released a studio album. Death Of The Sun is as much a musical and compositional departure in every way for Cul de Sac as their otherworldly The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones, the infamous psychodrama in collaboration with the late John Fahey. Taking cue from two tape-based pieces from that album, the band set out on a new path informed by their experience. By virtue of Trussell's modern electronics, augmenting analog wizard Rabbi Amos' role, a new approach to creating the music unfolded. Samples form to backbone of the album, the blueprint of the tunes. As the foundation became increasingly electronic-oriented, Cul de Sac responded with acoustic textures, and the juxtaposition works magically, a seamless integration. Death of the Sun is a challenging listen, pushing the Cul de Sac sound forward into entirely new realms. Folk, avant rock, electronica, turntablism, field recordings, percussive trance, ambient, Middle Eastern -- the points along the musical plane are vast but in the hands of Cul de Sac, the integration is spellbinding and atmospheric."

Artist:	CUL DE SAC
Title:	The Strangler's Wife
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 017CD

"In the middle of what was to become Cul de Sac's fifth studio album (2003's critically heralded Death of the Sun), the band switched gears to lend their unique avant/psych-rock atmospherics to The Strangler's Wife. Thoroughly absorbed in the script and rough cuts of the film, the band began composing music specifically for key scenes. Glenn Jones came to the studio offering one of the best songs of his career -- 'Mirror II (Mac and Elena)', a yearning. Fahey-esque acoustic ballad (heartstring-tugging courtesy of Jonathan LeMaster's emotive violin melodies). Samples and electronic compositions were brought in by Cul de Sac electricians Robin Amos and Jake Trussell, exactingly constructed for certain scenes. The rest of the music was either composed in the studio or improvised on the spot as the film was running. The resulting score unfurls a sonic scene-by-scene recreation of the movie as Cul de Sac heard it. From the film's opening sequence 'First Victim (Apple)/Main Titles', Cul de Sac offer up a dose of their idiosyncratic Kraut-vibe, with a touch prog that brings to mind Goblin's 70's Italian horror film scores...but from there, the musical plot is anything but predictable. Sentimental/ominous acoustic-fueled compositions, horror show sound paintings, visceral drum 'n' bass meltdowns, ambient tonal soundscapes -- all are revealed through the course of the recording, with remarkably dramatic effect. In the spirit of classic Italian horror film scores of the 70's and film soundtracks scored by avant rock bands such as Nosferatu (Popol Vuh), More (Pink Floyd) and Zabriskie Point (Various), Cul de Sac has concocted music of a tremendously detailed, dynamic scope. The Strangler's Wife is a silver screen moment for one of the most expressive experimental rock bands of the last decade."

Artist:	CUL DE SAC
Title:	ECIM
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 043CD

"1991 -- 'The Year Punk Broke.' The smell of teen spirit was emanating out of the Pacific Northwest, from coast-to-coast the youth were proudly flyin' the flannel, and the term 'alternative' had firmly taken root in the rock critic lexicon. In Boston, however, guitarist Glenn Jones had a radically different agenda brewing, totally at odds to the current climate. Cul de Sac was born in 1990 as the result of Jones' loosely-formed concept pitting melodic, surf/Middle Eastern guitar style with the electronics splatter of Robin Amos (founding member of Boston dada-punk legends The Girls) and the percussive grooves of Chris Guttmacher. Drawing further inspiration from '60s psychedelia, American and Middle Eastern folk music, Krautrock, and the more industrial elements of the avant-garde, Cul de Sac developed and honed this formula as an instrumental quartet, and as it stands today, the band has long-since cemented their status as one of the leading lights of the avant rock underground. But it was the out-of-left-field splash they made in 1991 with their debut ECIM that started the whole undercurrent and the subsequent rubbernecking their way, a debut recording that effectively ushered in a remarkably fresh perspective on instrumental rock music. Today, ECIM almost seems prophetic; its fully realized sound is certainly more in step with recent underground activity than it ever was previously. Originally issued by Northeastern in the US and Rough Trade in Europe, ECIM happens to be the one album in Cul de Sac's discography criminally unavailable for many years, having gone out of print sometime in the '90s. This special 15-year Anniversary Edition boasts an impeccable digital remastering job and is beefed up with three previously unreleased tunes recorded from the period, archival photos, and liner notes by Glenn Jones and Byron Coley. Features the Cul de Sac live staples 'Death Kit Train' and 'Nico's Dream,' plus their original take on the Fahey classic 'The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith, California' and guest appearances by the inimitable Dredd Foole."

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