Browse by Label: DESTIJL

Artist:	WOLF EYES/SMEGMA
Title:	The Beast
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 036CD

Now available on CD. "Smegma man, fucking Smegma. They started the whole damn thing. Sure there was Lee Rocky & some soundeffects 78s that set the crew in motion but screw it.. you wouldn't be blasting The Beast or any Weird Handdrawn LP with rotten ears if it wasn't for this truly motley crew. In high school my sweet momma would give me ten bones a week for lunch, come Monday by noon that shit was blown at the local rec shop. When I only had a couple of raggedy bux left from gripping Zorlac stickers, the only option was the dollar bin at the store. It was there that John Bender, Haystacks Balboa, Nik Reicnek, & Peter Catham LPs blew open my teen mind to the netherworlds. Among the giants was this homemade wreckord by Ju Suk Reet Meat. Looked amazing.. had no idea. Threw it on for nearly every day since. Mutant loops, improv from alien swamp prom & deviant horrible ideas. Changed my life. Just what a young mind needed to replace the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Found out later it was from the Smegma camp, a strange unknown mystery troupe from Portland. No photos ever... just a numbling clip on a RRR comp video Lessard gave me & Dilloway, a tunnel view into the spiritual mecca that would the Smegma klan. Before the first Wolf jaunt out west we dropped them a postcard saying it would be good to meet. Soon it mangled into a recording session. We would be so honored. The day came. The Smegma house, totally pink, queued us in to rainy green Portland. We knocked. A femme voice said through the door, 'use the bell'. Nate pushed it and out came a gargled electronic siren. The door opened, Rock 'n Roll Jackie, 5 foot tall, grinning & long beautiful grey hair. We all fell in love. Soon after we meet Ju Suk & one by one slowly met all the Smegmas in one of the strangest nights ever. Burned Mind, Meltzer, Stan, Amazon Bambi, others. All weird as hell, checking us as much as us checking them. Yep, this is who we wanted to be with the rest of our lives... the Michigan crew had never been so inspired & moved but by this unholy blending of mutant minds... So we jammed. It was fucking amazing. Here are the results. Every year we are going to see them & hang like the best friend weirdo family. A total pilgrimage. Nate & I once got so blasted from Portland cloud that we projected that Smegma has always existed, ever since the beginning of time. Someone will always carry it on... might be this dude in Ypsi who has no face. Really. No nose, barely a mouth, always has a broken arm or something.. smells like shit. Dude is totally in Smegma. Fucking life rules. -- John Olson.

Artist:	ROOTS OF MADNESS
Title:	The Girl in the Chair
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 045LP

"1971 heavy private press free blues/psych from the left coast cortical geo zone of the US underground chain spearheaded by Don Campau and essentially the Californian amalgam of the Gate 5 as ESP disk punk/jazz 3rd eye. A higher key farrago of hypercosmic extended runs that oscillate between the tubular philosophy of the Sun City Girls sound/art and the aloneness of stoned blues concréte. A refreshing lost artifact of pure American fizz resurrected from the iconoclasm void and perfectly reissued in a joint effort from De Stijl and Child Of Microtones. An essential LP for anyone concerned with the paramount energy fields of all the above ground sound subterrains."

Artist:	LUBELSKI, SAMARA
Title:	Spectacular of Passages
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 054LP

"There is certainly nothing wrong with chanteuses -- we are quite lucky to now have a fair few in our aural midst as some of the young'uns seem to take off -- but neu-folk composer Samara Lubelski is absolutely not a chanteuse by nature. In truth to her pedigree in Metabolismus, Tower Recordings, Hall of Fame, the Sonora Pine, Pacer, Matt Valentine et al., she's a master of atmospheric textures at both juggernaut tempi and languorous sonic canvasses, her part as one of whole. Samara, with dew-flecked voice and slippery strung chords, makes that languor a tour of both honeyed breakfast plate and the midday crackle of dried grass. Third as bandleader, ten new classics of deliciously effusive songcraft, Passages joins Lubelski with The Clean's Hamish Kilgour and otherworldly luminaries Matt Heyner (NNCK), Christian Frederickson (Rachel's), and Cynthia Nelson."

Artist:	OLAUSSEN, JACOB
Title:	Moonlight Farm
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 055LP

"If Skip Spence were somehow, instead of finding his white-frocked self stuck in the rat-infested hole that was Bellvue, transplanted to the pine forests north of Duluth in a sonic nest of gimbri, bells, shakers and clothed in Tibetan silk, one would come slightly closer to the reality of Jakob Olausson's migratory whims. To be sure, that foggy and only slightly inland empire of synapse-twisters like Ben Chasny offers a step on the trodden trail, but this isn't the same road we've traveled before. Olausson's huge ears protect him from the cold and keep the sun from turning his face to a series of desert crags, as his compositions slowly fade down the walls of four-track bedroom artistry into atemporal suites that shrink huge expanses and are a bellows to the microcosmic. Enter the Moonlight Farm."

Artist:	ROCKEY, LEE
Title:	Lee Rockey Music
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 060LP

Primitive archival recordings from 1976 from this Smega affiliate. "Portland Oregon, art museum, early 1976. In the auditorium, drums/electric violin/and cello played thru an echoplex, a 4-channel tape deck was playing pre-recorded electronic skronks, flutes, and off-speed voices, dancers were holding video cameras, connected to a Paik video synth that was creating a live video projection. The music was crazed, scary and funny and beautiful. Of all the live shows I've seen, this one stands out. The man behind all this was Lee Rockey (1926-2002). This was the second (and last) of his full blown personal music/art world performances. A few months later I saw Lee on drums with Kenneth Rexroth poetry and jazz. After that Lee mostly played at home and a few low-key gigs in town. Lee Rockey was a hard-swinging jazz drummer who mastered the modern style by 1946 and became known as one of the Vancouver whiz kids. Went to NYC in 1953, worked and recorded with Neil Hefty and Herbie Mann, later moving back to Portland and playing with the top modern jazz artists. He was also developing his own music and painting style and appeared on a few Smegma records. This record (his first solo release) is from 7" reel tapes recorded mostly in the early 1960s, early 1970s with Lee on home made electronics loops, horns, violin, cello, drums, bells, and poss Dick Knudsen on cello." --Ju Suk Reet Meate/Smegma, Portland OR 2006.

Artist:	HOTOTOGISU
Title:	Chimärendämmerung
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 062CD

"Hototogisu are Marcia Bassett and Matthew Bower, and they dwell upon two continents (Marcia in Brooklyn NY and Matthew in Leeds UK). Both share rich discographical heritage. Marcia has recorded with numerous labels (Siltbreeze, Timelag, Eclipse, Troubleman Unlimited, etc.) with UN, GHQ and the Double Leopards, and Matthew with Total, Skullflower, Sunroof!, Vibracathedral Orchestra and more. A Wikipedia entry in his name clearly (sic) illustrates his cultural heft: Bower's huge discography of visceral, free drone-rock is probably the most formidable of its kind and he was rightly considered in 2005 by The Wire to be one of the map co-ordinates for much of what passed for a post-punk UK underground during most of the '80s and '90s (issue 259) . Chimärendämmerung is the 3rd Hototogisu release on Destijl and the 5 untitled walls of vertical viola drone/overtone, lapped by shifting electronic waves of feedback, blackened guitars, rhinegold cast deep into dying rivers, an instrumental cycle of conflict of the birth of a supreme aristocratic beauty into a fallen world, and its inevitable conflagration, then a glimmer of hope of escape from the cycle, in tune w/ the breath of the cosmos, like a glacial reimagining of Van der Graafs 'A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers', and it represents a current plateau for the duo."

Artist:	ASKEW, ED
Title:	Little Eyes
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 032CD

First CD issue of this unreleased 2nd album, recorded in 1970. This was the intended follow-up to Ed's classic ESP-disk album, Ask the Unicorn from 1969. This CD adds 6 bonus tracks from radio sessions, 1970-71. Wow. "Ed Askew recorded Little Eyes in one continuous take during a brief, hot, hetero moment, 1970, New York City. Thirty-two years later, Destijl released it on LP. Made with little more than magnetic tape, Ed's voice, and the stunningly modern arrangements of his beloved Martin Tiple, Little Eyes is as grand, sad and beautiful a statement as can be expressed. His off-key lilt hangs like a seductive pink mist and settles deeply; you'll hear these songs long after they are over. Attempting to publicize an unreleased record, Ed did a string of radio gigs between New York and New Haven, and the best of them are collected here. Lovely and wild, this one is very near and dear to our hearts. Soon, yours too."

Artist:	OLAUSSON, JAKOB
Title:	Moonlight Farm
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 055CD

"Jakob Olausson is a farmer in the south of Sweden, from Landskrona, and he works there in the fields of sugar beets. Not to re-hero-ize the life of the prole, but the workday sun has had a clear influence: this is a rec made on a dime, in a dime-sized bedroom apartment, and it transcends all the limitations that that scenario has thusly taught us to expect. A real 'statement,' in the micro-politics of personal resistance/expression in a globally commodified life. Moonlight Farm is comprised of ten songs, somehow both comforting and unsettling, concerned with the classic subjects: the garbage, the flowers, one's mother, and the love of them all. Laid thick with a vague dissonance, they possess a mask of fog/haze, but the trail between writer/performer/song is not often trodden in such a deftly crystalline manner. Enter the Moonlight Farm."

Artist:	YONKERS, MICHAEL
Title:	Grimwood
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 056CD

"When considering Grimwood, it'd be a mistake to not also give thought to Microminature Love. Recorded in '68 for Sire, MML languished unreleased until the spring of 2002, when we unearthed it swank on wax (later reissued as a Sub Pop CD). Called the greatest psych record of the '60s by more than a few, it's no stretch to say that had it materialized, it would've altered the lay of the land. Tho for various reasons still unclear, the deal fell apart and the band split. Perhaps this was the first in a seemingly endless series of cruel blows for Yonkers. He retreated, and recorded Grimwood. As is said all too often about all too many recs, this is intensely private music. While not immediately recognizable as possessing the radical visionary qualities as MML, there is nevertheless a miracle at work. Usually there is a distance between singer/song. Here the distance is completely revoked. There is an immediate, definite coinciding between Yonkers and his Grimwood. Yonkers suffered a debilitating back injury in a warehouse accident in '71 when a half-ton of scrap metal fell on him. He had strong allergic reactions to a chemical that was injected into his spinal cord in '73,and he almost gave up the ghost. That caused a serious, life long condition called adhesive arachnoiditis. For awhile he retired from music. Tho recorded in '69, Yonkers privately released Grimwood in '74, along with 3 other recs: Goodby Sunball (recorded in '71), Michael Lee Yonkers ('72) and a duo with Jim Woehrle ('73), borders of my mind. If they sold at all, they sold horribly. There is a photo inside Sub Pop's MML CD of Yonkers throwing copies of Grimwood up in the air, as they'd seemingly become disposable, as well as a heavy burden to lug around. Enterprising rec collectors have had a run on Grimwood for some time and it's been impossible to affordably obtain. So here it is, remastered, digitized and priced for the people."

Artist:	JU SUK REET MEATE
Title:	Solo 78/79
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 057CD

"Smegma were formed as a reaction to the band's perceptions of how horrible things were in the '70s. 'We moved up to Portland just as the Los Angeles Free Music Society came out of the closet. There was the whole punk scene and a rebirth of things, but when we left, it was the deadest, worst time to be there unless you were into glam.' This disgust is reflected in the tone of the early classics Pigface Chant, Flash Cards, Disco Diarrhea and Glamour Girl 1941. The crown jewel, perhaps, of the early Smegma dawn, is this CD, a solo Ju Suk Reet Meate joint, recorded in '78/'79 and pressed in a miniscule quantity in '80, this is a recording that has been largely unavailable outside of certain collector circles. Even there, you better rub yr rabbits foot/save yr pennies. But here comes the kingdom, finally made available in an affordably-priced digipak CD, with liner notes by Wolf Eyes' John Olson and containing a couple of never before released tracks, 'Solo 78/79' aka 'Do Unseen Hands Keep You Dumb?' is a post-Zappa, stoned blues/concrete melange of guitar, tapes, 'Do Unseen Hands Keep You Dumb?' aka found sounds and voice. As a member of what many have called the greatest band of our time, Ju Suk Reet Meate has had an immeasurable influence, shaping the lives/sounds of the creators of underground culture the globe over, and this CD bears his heft."

Artist:	TUCKER, MARK
Title:	In The Sack
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 061CD

"There seems to be two truisms I keep to: ONE - By and large, when an album is described as 'loner / psych / real people' it isn't going to be as good as I hope, and TWO - The Residents suck. Generally these hold true for me, maybe you too, and often I'll look suspiciously at descriptions like that. But then I remember, hey the first few Residents records are pretty damn amazing, and hell, the Kenneth Higney and Moolah records are pretty great too. But when I have a need for the real people sound, the first record I reach for is Mark Tucker's In The Sack. Although better known for his Batstew record, which is pretty relative, this album is no slouch. The cast of characters is familiar, upright piano, backwards vocals, rants, ravings, life savings. But here it's damn cheap; hell you should buy a few for friends, I'm going to! Mark Tucker is very mean on the piano and the best backwards vocalist I've ever heard, he knows more than blues progressions, this guy is writing pop symphonies. If David Ackles or bootleg Brian Wilson is your bag, this one is gonna rip the sack open (you can take that literally or apply it to Coley style allusion). Comparisons to the first Residents record are not far off, but I truly prefer Tucker's record, and it wouldn't be out of place in a spin with Moolah, Bruce Haacks kids records, Song Cycle and Horrific Child." - Jim O'Rourke, Brooklyn 04.

Artist:	KING DARVES
Title:	The Sun Splits For... The Blind Swimmer
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 063CD

"So I would imagine that you'd have one look at the photo of King Darves we have here and think 'oh brother! Another guy with a beard getting over what looks like a bad case of the clap and an acoustic guitar. Where's my axe?' So we're not gonna put it up here. (Mystique, dig?) But its really not like that, I tell you! The bedrock of King Darves' New Brunswick-based concoction is certainly folk-based but there's no headband and he's not singing of pixies in the moss. This is somewhere between rolled cigs and the foggy vision of Big Pink from somewhere on Jersey Avenue, or maybe a one-manned Meat Puppets. This kid has really cobbled something together in his kitchen sink! The Sun Splits For... The Blind Swimmer will shock and please when the prettiest sound of his deep, rich voice comes out of yr headphones, and it'll make you tap yr toes and nod yr head like a little Jersey Goil." --Tony Rettman

Artist:	ORANGE
Title:	In The Midst of Chaos
Label:	DESTIJL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	DESTIJL 064CD

"Free jazz group Orange's one and only release In The Midst Of Chaos was recorded in 1978 and became renowned saxophonist Paul Flaherty's first record. It's also the first and only release of legendary 'out' guitarist Barry Greika, who along with Bob Laramie on bass and Glen 'Hobbit' Peterson on drums remains a terribly under-recorded group. Orange made a screaming, blistering, howling slap of a record that defies categorization, as it pushed the already hazy '70s into uncharted confusion. An LP release of only 200 copies on its only run, it received the notice of seriously few. Besides the band, only two people definitely heard it; one sailed it out the kitchen window, the wife of the other demanded the thing leave the house. But as the times have changed, we're just certain it's gonna sell wildly now. So here you go, hardcore free-form improvisation enthusiastically rejuvenated, without shame." --Charles F. Destruction

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