Browse by Label: ECSTATIC PEACE

Artist:	MOORE, GENE
Title:	Twisted Wires
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E 091

"Gene Moore is Thurston Moore's older brother. He lives in the suburban wilds of western Connecticut and for the past couple of decades has been wood-shedding his basement, working in a void parallel to developments of noise-guitar classicism. Twisted Wires is the culmination of hours of sifted through tapes, resulting in six tracks of howling machine saw-like sounds, banged strings, squeaks, beautiful finger picking, chord progressions, and background echoes. Pleasant, creepy, and delightful."

Artist:	MAGIK MARKERS
Title:	BOSS
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#100F

"When confronted with an example of magnificence in nature, such as a waterfall, Jane Goodall reported that the chimpanzees she observed were captivated, as if in awe of the beauty of the world. On BOSS, the Magik Markers have tried to capture the chimps' awe. A formality and restraint the Markers have never exerted on their previously recorded material is present on BOSS. Now the Markers are Jainists, with their mouths masked so as to not inhale even one tiny insect, here pursuing the killer gentle with a vengeance. Recorded in the cavernous dark of Echo Canyon West, with producer Lee Ranaldo working the boards like a diviner, BOSS documents the Markers with a previously unheard fidelity and orchestration. Idiosyncratic song structure and melodies interspersed with a destructive drum stomp are reminiscent of the early electrified blues of Junior Kimbrough, or the black hole rhythms of Kousokuya. Mixing a gentle vulnerability with a winded egomania, the Markers have always had a musical tunnel vision; BOSS is that vision made manifest. The tug of war the Markers enact, the way they are fully prepared to start yanking their world apart as they find themselves losing their place in, makes moot possibilities of greatness or mediocrity. It makes them unapologetic soothsayers with their ears pressed to the ground, waiting for footsteps. With Peter Nolan, we finally hear what Lou Reed would have sounded like had he sallied with the drums instead of getting seduced by the easy praise of front man status. Like Rashid Ali squeezed into the Teutonic leather pants of Faust, Nolan drums like there are hell hounds at his heels but he just can't be bothered. Here both laconic and frenzied, Nolan's drumming arms reach out like an octopus': tickling the ivories, humming the organ and blasting taps on some kind of endtime trumpet. As a pianist, Nolan reminds us that the piano is a percussive, beating out the whoomp of some old war dance, a bare foot-fall rhythm of fighters to battle and the heavy hands of a whiskey burlesque in the afternoon. Nolan is easy to underestimate, but finally, here is high fidelity record of the strange soul of one of America's most natural and quizzical musical minds."

Artist:	WOODEN WAND
Title:	James & The Quiet
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#100G

"The prolific James Jackson Toth, working under the nom-detune Wooden Wand has released some 20-plus albums over a handful of years. However, Toth considers James & The Quiet only the third proper Wooden Wand full length. While each release has explored a psychedelic-folk wonderland, this album is far and away one of the most concisely focused and downright catchy recordings in the WW oeuvre. Co-arranger and vocalist Jessica Toth may be the record's secret weapon. While perhaps best known for her role as lead vocalist and occasional guitarist in Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, on James and The Quiet she emerges as the perfect foil to Toth's inimitable artistic voice. Together with Ranaldo, Jessica wrote and fine-tuned most of the album's exquisite harmony vocals and piano lines. Hoping to transcend genre tags, Toth, with more than a little help from his friends, has crafted a consistent and creative batch of songs that rewards repeat listens and continues to showcase his talent as a songwriter."

Artist:	HUSH ARBORS
Title:	Hush Arbors
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#100H

"Keith Wood, along with constant foil Leon Dufficy, is Hush Arbors, and while his self-titled Ecstatic Peace! debut is not his first album by any means -- he's been at this almost ten years -- it does provide the perfect introductory point to Hush Arbor's distinctive take on psych folk. Combining the pensive songwriting of John Phillips circa Wolfking, the plaintive honesty of Neil Young, and the fishtank-gazing cacophony of Six Organs of Admittance (Wood is a frequent collaborator), Wood writes classic-sounding songs that sound readymade for AM radio, circa 1968. These songs would play as comfortably over a scene from The Wonder Years as they would piping from a noxious chillout tent at Terrastock. There are songs here that resonate with the minor key melancholy of Bert Jansch or perhaps even Mark Kozelek, while others hint at a Wire subscriber's Siamese Dream, all propulsive rhythms and lysergic electric guitar. Some albums are 'growers' -- not this one. While repeated listens reveal more and more details, as good albums should, this is also an album that commands immediate attention. Try to put it on in a crowded room - just try. You'll have a High-Fidelity-Beta-Band' scene on your hands within two minutes." "Wood/Hush Arbors is a truly remarkable artist, whose songs, voice and guitar work all create some of the most haunting and powerful music I have ever heard. I don't know what else I can say beyond this: that Keith is one of the last unfound treasures of sound." -- David Tibet/Current 93.

Artist:	RELIGIOUS KNIVES
Title:	The Door
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#100I

"Maya Miller and Michael Bernstein met in New York a decade ago, and began making music together as half of strum und drone quartet Double Leopards a few years after that. Religious Knives came later still, away from the road and the rehearsal space, borne and nurtured in cramped apartments throughout Kings County. Beginning in 2005, the pair released a string of CD-Rs and cassettes, both on their own Heavy Tapes imprint and through the labels of kindred spirits. Steadily moving away from the psychedelic tone baths and modern industrial scrape for which the Leopards had become known, Religious Knives coursed through minimal synth oscillations and spare Kraut repetition. Mouthus' Nate Nelson joined the pair in 2006, lending a powerful presence behind the drums that shaped Religious Knives' rudimentary jams into rough-hewn, long-form paeans to tar-blackened bummer psych. Soon after that, old friend Todd Cavallo completed the quartet on bass, adding a sturdy low-end and dubwise groove that lifted Religious Knives from cellar murk to black cloud puffs of bone-deep alarm. An active four-piece for a little more than a year now, Religious Knives have presided over a pair of 12"s, a couple of collections of out of print singles and long gone burns, and one full-length. All throughout, these four have traced a path away from the clamor they once knew, bathing slight guitars, interlocking vocals, and solemn bass lines in reedy organs and recalcitrant modular synths. The seemingly tin-eared would call it noise, but in these eight hands, such a set plays as anything but, instead a (cough) syrupy stroll in search of the ghosts of rock's classicist past. With The Door, Religious Knives have not only found those bygone days, but broken them apart. There are bookmarks to be found here, pages creased in well-worn chapters. But make no mistake -- theirs is a sound tied to the here and now, a summer record for those dread days when the heat holds low and skin sticks to cheap car seats and old patio furniture. These six songs are brighter, sharper than anything that has come before, locking in tight on jugular rhythms. It's the score for disappearing neighborhoods and crumbling buildings, a hope of holding onto the past as those around us move fast to forget it. It is scent as sound, the stench of smog and sickly smoke spiraling towards the sky. It is Brooklyn, July of 2008. The sun has left us in the East, disappearing somewhere behind Jersey, leaving our borough to find the pulse of another night deep with the city's streets."

Artist:	WAND
Title:	Hard Knox
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#100K

"To quickly address the elephant in the room -- certainly, collections of demos, outtakes and home recordings are mostly bogus, but obviously you're reading this, so obviously I've somehow been coerced into releasing this batch of tunes, and you've bought it or stolen it or borrowed it or gotten a promo or whatever, so let's cut to the chase. In my defense, all of the cuts contained herein are 'songs' in the traditional western sense -- my experiments in 'surf harmonica' and 'doom zydeco' will not be chronicled here, deep and plentiful as those archives may be. Everything here was recorded by me on either a Roland BR-8 digital 8-track or it's flashier, more cosmopolitan cousin, the BR- 1600, with incalculable assistance from Jexie Lynn, who accompanies me on many of these songs and who's encouragement and creativity allowed many of them to be. Most of the recordings were done at my then-home in beautiful Knoxville, TN between October 2002 and January of 2007, just prior to the retirement of the Wooden Wand name. You've already pardoned the narcissism, now pardon the clich�: I stand behind these songs as snapshots and enjoy them despite their many flaws. I hope you do, too." -- The Wand

Artist:	AWESOME COLOR
Title:	Electric Aborigines
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#104C

"Awesome Color is a power trio updated for the 2060s, noise provocateurs and impressionists, ace players with punk rock flair, inspired citizens of a small modernist nation of musical, visual, and literary outrage on the outskirts of Brooklyn, or a rainbow amalgam of all of the above at once. Following a non-stop touring schedule since their debut release including stints with Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth in the U.S., UK , and Europe, the band took their honed brand of turbo chemistry into the studio to create the highly-anticipated Electric Aborigines."

Artist:	LITTLE CLAW
Title:	Human Taste
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#104D

"Little Claw was born in Detroit, Michigan during the Great Eastern Seaboard blackout of 2003. Having nothing to do, nowhere to go, Heath Heemsbergen and Kilynn Lunsford began playing their acoustic guitars and singing into the darkness. An auspicious beginning to be sure. Even now, Little Claw are still strumming and screaming into the void. Formed originally with Jamie Easter from the Piranhas on drums, the band played a string of shows, starting with their debut performance with legendary Ohio art-punks the Bizarros, which then led to the recording of the first Little Claw LP with Warn Defever (His Name Is Alive) The album was released by Ypsilanti records in 2005. Jamie left the band in the summer of 2005 and after one show as a duo, Hendrik Deherder joined up on the drums. A second LP was recorded with Matthew Smith (Outrageous Cherry) in his Hamtramck living room mid-2006 and was subsequently released by Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in 2007. Later that year, there was a release of a split 7" single with Michael Yonkers on X! records. Little Claw's move from the urban nightmare of Detroit to the more subtle cloudy terrors of Portland, Oregon prompted some more augmentations to the line-up: Adam Svenson (of Seattle improv band Du Hexen Hase) took over the caveman beat on the drums, freeing up Henrik to bang the synth and add additional percussion. On the road and on recordings, the Little Claw sound is graced by the touch of Toledo native, Damon Sturdivant (Puffy Areolas, Tyvek) on additional percussion and synth." "But what do they sound like anyway? They sounded like the greatest godammned fucking band on the planet the time we saw 'em. Two minimalist drummers, a guitar dude with a nice underhook rhythm rip and a girl with a badass no wave slather tongue tearing hell out of her slide guitar given half the chance. And not all hellbent rage either -- some nice licorice melt drizzle crud groove too. Fuckin' awesome." -- Thurston Moore

Artist:	KEFFER, LESLIE
Title:	Feels Like Frenching
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	E#105B

"When Leslie Keffer lived in Athens, Ohio she was asked about the noise scene there. 'You're looking at it,' she responded. Indeed. Leslie is one of the more fascinating proponents of homegrown Middle American noise music. A single girl drawn to the more ravaged and magical aspects of noise as source music, art and lifestyle. She has since moved to Nashville where she has been developing and progressing her personal take on what is basically a highly marginal genre of music. Her inputs are radio transmission wave-noise, the living aura of Lindsay Lohan, punk, pop, Madonna, her amazing girlfriends and defiltering the terror of male-centric Power Electronic depravity and goon-ism. Her last two No Fun festival performances, in duo with Thurston Moore in 2006, and the noise into dance beat into 'Where's The Party' slumber party freak out where all the noise girls fem-exorcised an already somewhat de-clawed noise misogynist is already legendary. Leslie's sound has been heard on various cassette labels (Rampart, Gameboy, I Just Live Here, Epicene, Cherried-out Merch) and most recently, her own imprint, Action Claw. She has issued a number of hand-made CDRs with her own touch of knitted fabric pouches. She has two tracks on the 2CD Tarantula Hill Benefit, one with Baltimore's Nautical Almanac who have been championing Leslie's work for years now. We are only too happy to release this premier full-length LP of Leslie's demonstrating where she's been and where she's going."

Artist:	X04
Title:	Cataracts
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	E#105D

"Debut vinyl release by the Western Massachusetts drone/scrape trio of Bill Nace, John Truscinski and Jake Meginsky. These guys have developed into one of the most soul-glowing sound/improv units out there today. And we mean out there -- sparkling shards of guitar/amp/file machinations dance and intercede with rolling thundercloud dreamdrum dramatics. Nace you know from his killer duo throwdowns with Chris Corsano as Vampire Belt as well as the more recent weirdness with Dylan Nyoukis and Karen Lollypop as Ceylon Mange and in duo with Thurston Moore as Northampton Wools. Truscinski and Meginsky are the fine gentleman who've recorded as Slaughterhouse Percussion, Meginsky a student of, and student assistant to Milford Graves at Bennington College."

Artist:	POOR SCHOOL
Title:	The Holy Master
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#105J

"Poor School started in April 2005 with Bryan Ramirez (gtr), John Niekrasz (drms) and Nathan Hoyme (sax). We first caught wind of this sick noise/jazz/postpunk rock trio when John Olson, he of American Tapes, Wolf Eyes, Dead Machines, etc. brought Ramirez' other combo Ex-Cocaine (who have a sick LP on Siltbreeze) to the No Fun basement a few years back and Ramirez laid some Poor School CD-R action on us. Needless to say, we were buh-lown away by the manic improv hepness and immediately emailed the dude to see if we could slam some Poor School magic onto black plastik. And unto Ecstatic Peace was delivered The Holy Master. Ramirez and Olson go waay back when the two of them jammed together in the nascent Michigan underground psychedelic troupe Universal Indians. Ramirez took off to Missoula, Montana to investigate micro-brews and mountain air and help put together the awesome Ex-Cocaine. He's still there. Niekrasz went to get high on life in India but is expected back sooner than later. Upon his return, we can hopefully expect Poor School to shed new love and light and chaos for the future. Keep yr eyes peeled."

Artist:	16 BITCH PILE-UP/MIKE SHIFLET
Title:	Make Like a Fetus and Abort/Extract, Behold
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	E#105LP

Edition of 500. "Ohio has been rampant on the Ecstatic Peace play lists lately with the release of a long player earlier this year by Leslie Keffer and a forthcoming split LP by Emeralds and Tusco Terror. Like Keffer, who's moved to Nashville (to be closer to Be Your Own Pet), 16 Bitch Pile-Up and Mike Shiflet are both ex-pats of Ohio. 16 Bitch to California and Shiflet to some weird small town in Japan. Mike Shiflet we've known for years as he has produced some of the more interesting tapes and whatnot of Midwestern out-ness from his Gameboy label and from his legendary duo tour with Burning Star Core/C. Spencer Yeh of a few years back. Like the amazing beard he has sported since childhood, his music is a free-fall of acoustic wonder. He is also the cat responsible for turning on most of the world to the radical charms of three girls from Ohio wickedly named 16 Bitch Pile-Up. With a name like that you may have expected something just kinda funny but what made itself imminently obvious was that 16 Bitch was really and extremely into producing a wholly personal thrombosis of noise improvisation. Crystallized to the trio of Sarah Bernat, Sarah Cathers and Shannon Walter, this trio has become one of the most consistently exciting live experiences of the last five years. These recordings by both artists were done when both were still residents of Ohio and reflect that time and space right before each other's exodus. They are raw and righteous and ready for you to take a bite."

Artist:	ISLAJA
Title:	Blaze Mountain Recordings
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#106CD

"Islaja is Merja Kokkonen, a visual artist and musician from Helsinki, Finland. She's been releasing records on Finnish label Fonal since 2004. The first one, Meritie, introduced her lovely sense of musical wonder to the world and garnered excited praise from the more astute ears at The Wire (UK) and Dusted Magazine (USA). The 2nd release Palaa Aurinkoon was equally boss and brought Islaja to North America with compatriot Finnish folk experimentalists Lau Nau and Kuupuu where she mesmerized audiences with a captivating minimalism of sweet singing and small toy and hand-made instruments played by herself and companion Jukka Raisanen. In 2007, she released her third album Ulual Yyy which expanded her sound into further psychedelic paths. Since then Islaja has played numerous large festivals including Eurosonic, Sonar and the 2006 All Tomorrows Parties/Nightmare Before Christmas curated by Thurston Moore. Animal Collective invited Islaja to play a two week support tour with them in Europe. Blaze Mountain Recordings is a live document, all music and words by Merja and played by Merja and Jukka. It's the perfect portal to enter the living world of Islaja's music/art spirit with a unity of traditional Finnish forest mystery and a radical song universe."

Artist:	MV & EE WITH THE GOLDEN ROAD
Title:	Gettin' Gone
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#109B

"Still riding high on the glorious steed that was Green Blues (heads are still processing its smoked grooves and wild-at-heart paeans to love and kosmiche carnality), Matt Valentine and Erika Elder entered a Western Mass studio armed with enough fresh material to choke a whole team of horses. You may ask, 'how can this be?' Well, since recording their Ecstatic Peace! debut, the duo has toured extensively, all the while writing tunes, scavenging esoteric guitar equipment & revamping their backing band to suit the environment of Gettin' Gone. A new sound has organically evolved that will most certainly astonish listeners new & old, but still find a special place on the formidable shelf of their back catalog. So rejoice in this disc, which boasts some of MV & EE's most finely-crafted songs to date and along with The Golden Road present a feast of tones & riffs that will stick to your ribs for a long time. Like its predecessor, Gettin' Gone is a family affair of like-minded freak and friendly hair waves. Most fascinating is the Ecstatic Peace! soundboard premier of Zuma, one of the coolest dog minds north of New York City. Also the one part golden addition of Doc Dunn and the harmonium magic of Luisa, she of Mascis child. Oh and J his self blams some mountain heavy drumming on a few of these tracks. Matt and Erika's devotional dharma is open to all true vibes of rock n' roll and folk n' roots ramble both tender and tuff."

Artist:	MV & EE WITH THE GOLDEN ROAD
Title:	Gettin' Gone
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	2LP
Price:	$23.00
Catalog #:	E#109BLP

Double vinyl version, gatefold sleeve. "A new sound has organically evolved that will most certainly astonish listeners new & old, but still find a special place on the formidable shelf of their back catalog. So rejoice in this disc, which boasts some of MV & EE's most finely-crafted songs to date and along with The Golden Road present a feast of tones & riffs that will stick to your ribs for a long time. Like its predecessor, Gettin' Gone is a family affair of like-minded freak and friendly hair waves. Most fascinating is the Ecstatic Peace! soundboard premier of Zuma, one of the coolest dog minds north of New York City. Also the one part golden addition of Doc Dunn and the harmonium magic of Luisa, she of Mascis child. Oh and J his self blams some mountain heavy drumming on a few of these tracks. Matt and Erika's devotional dharma is open to all true vibes of rock n' roll and folk n' roots ramble both tender and tuff."

Artist:	NYOUKIS & JAAP BLONK, DYLAN
Title:	Dubbletwee
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#13B

"Here is one of the most anticipated head-scratching meeting-of-the (insane) minds recordings ever rumored to have existed: the blabber-gunk vocalistix of Chocolate Monk honcho and musical zone/zap improv outsider and founder of Decaer Pinga (n�e Prick Decay) Dylan Nyoukis and the high-energy, consistently startled and startling voicebox-tongue shredder, Jaap Blonk. Nyoukis from the UK and Blonk from The Netherlands bash heads and gums together to splat out a relentless and rapacious slew of ululation and indescribable utterance. If vocal duo improv of the most bizarre order is yr meat, then pull a stool up to this table and get a snoot full o' what-the-fuck. Wicked weirdness." LP only -- full color jackets -- 400 copies.

Artist:	SERVILE SECT
Title:	Stratospheric Passenger
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#13D

"This is an LP issue of a limited CD Servile Sect issued in 2007 on the Sounds of Battle and Souvenir Collecting label. Based in and around Humboldt, CA, Servile Sect are the true investigation of psychedelic dimensionality." "... bizarre, and hauntingly beautiful slab of alien black metal. Not sure what else to call it, it's definitely black metal, but it's weirdly blissy and electronic sounding, more like Alcest or Amesoeurs than old school grimnity, but even then, it's still weirder, like it must have been played by robots or insects, or some massive black metal machine assembled beneath the surface of some mysterious moon. You can almost picture some mechanical monstrosity, pieces of human flesh, various organs, somehow built into the machine's inner workings, everything grinding and sparking all in a Herculean effort to produce this glorious droning buzzing blackness." -- Aquarius Records

Artist:	FLAHERTY/BILL NACE/THURSTON MOORE, PAUL
Title:	Paul Flaherty/Bill Nace/Thurston Moore
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#21E

"Paul Flaherty has been a direct lifeline to the radical free-reed lineage of Albert Ayler, John Gilmore, Peter Brotzmann and Arthur Doyle since first coming into our vision sometime in the '80s. In the '90s he began woodshedding hard with Northampton, Massachusetts resident spirit-drummer Chris Corsano. As the contemporary free-noise-space-weird underground gathered around, minds were liberated to godhead heights. Also in the '90s a young and beautiful boy-man named Bill Nace was drawn to the region by the living art and music here and also began inter-sonic-guitar/linguistics with Corsano (as Vampire Belt). After Corsano relocated to the UK, Nace began a long-running duo with Flaherty. Sonic Youthian Thurston Moore had been tracking Flaherty's comet whilst perusing dog-eared copies of Cadence mag in the early '90s. He eventually booked the infamous Flaherty-Colbourne group for their first-ever NYC gig at the legendary now-defunct Cooler club on way West 14th Street. In '98, Moore and his family escaped to free-zone Northampton and immediately fell in with Corsano and Flaherty as a trio. (This group recorded, with the extended line-up of saxophonist Wally Shoup, for a Japanese-only CD produced by Jim O'Rourke -- which Ecstatic Peace will re-issue to the Western world soon 'nuff). Subsequently, Moore and Nace begat Northampton Wools, a basement-ritual guitar-noise duo (Ecstatic Peace CD forthcoming). From time-to-time Nace, Moore and Flaherty would collect their energies and throw down live trio sessions which still resonate through the valley's ear(s). This trio CD is a session Flaherty set up in the late winter of early 2008. There are three tracks ('Sex' 'Drugs' and 'Lavender'), one short, two looong. It is a primo example of this threesome's focus and sonic storytelling, ferocious yet pensive."

Artist:	FREE KITTEN
Title:	Inherit
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#22C

"What difference does a decade and a year make? We all live between then and now. Generally, most of us treat then as a movie we demand final cut over, a series of scenes we arrange and re-arrange according to the narrative we prefer to present to the world: I was happy. Cut to: My family was whole and happy. Fade to black. The status quo presumes a number of things, too, chief among them being the power of facade. The family home looks perfect, so -- perforce -- the family is perfect, and that separates us from 'them.' Take a picture. Better yet, make a movie of us in our pique perfection. Cut to The Wife. Cut to The Wife and the family dog. Fade to black. A decade and one year ago, Free Kitten released their third album, Sentimental Education. On it, one heard Kim Gordon's vocals and guitar. One also heard Pussy Galore's Julie Cafritz's vocals and guitar. Drums were played by the Boredom's Yoshimi; bass: Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement. There were guest stars, too, but for the post-punk, indie, noise uninitiated, the draw of this album -- and 1994's UnBoxed, and Nice Ass after it -- was less its pedigree than the music's ability to challenge or even stop the movie lies that generally play in all our heads, such as: I am happy. Cut to: my family is whole and happy. Fade to black. Free Kitten's music suggested otherwise. Free Kitten liked fading to black -- and, in the process, drawing a curtain over the status quo. Free Kitten told stories about the family dog as well, less in their lyrics than in their sound, which brought Mom to mind, too, but Mom wielding a knife near the neck of the family dog that refuses to run away -- or shut up. But that was then. As to now: Free Kitten is releasing its fourth studio album. Titled Inherit, it reacquaints us with Gordon, Cafritz and Yoshimi. On the disc, then and now are collapsed into the present. And it is our present that is most effected by songs like 'Erected Girl,' which reminds one of bossa nova rhythms run through a Kosher meat grinder. And then there's 'Free Kitten on the Mountain,' which amounts to a travelogue of sorts -- but through a Lord Buckley-like subconscious mind. In short, the thematic eclecticism evinced in Free Kitten's present work is a movie that doesn't lie, because truth is its standard." --Hilton Als, March 2008

Artist:	MOUTHUS
Title:	Divisionals
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#34C

"After releasing the first Mouthus LP years back, Ecstatic Peace returns to unleash another beast by this always amazing duo. Brian Sullivan (gtr/vox) and Nate Nelson (perc) connect here with a focused, thematic hayride through long tone static and fried mind amp terror. Anyone following the arc and molten flow of Mouthus' last few LPs and CDs (on Our Mouth, Troubleman Unlimited, Olde English Spelling Bee, Music Fellowship, Important, Three Lobed, Weird Forest and the exemplary Saw A Halo on Load) will be surely intrigued by Divisionals as it is Mouthus at their sweetest. Almost. Just when you're drifting through the electric skies you find the Earth reaching into your soul pulling you back to a primordial foreverness. A charming action."

Artist:	TALL FIRS
Title:	Too Old To Die Young
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#41D

"On Too Old To Die Young, Tall Firs move away from the underground electric folk of their self-titled debut and toward experimental rock, trading trippy introspection for a more fleshed-out, structured sound that still has an organic warmth in its intricate guitars and artfully shambling drums. By sharpening their focus and turning up the volume, Tall Firs also strengthen the similarities between their sound and Sonic Youth -- 'So Messed Up' and 'Hippies' recall the avant-jam band epics that Thurston Moore has been perfecting since "The Diamond Sea" and Too Old To Die Young's overall vibe recalls the laid-back friendliness of Moore's Trees Outside The Academy. However, this is also some of Tall Firs' most wide-ranging work: 'Good Intentions' dives into textural rock with searing guitars, 'Warriors' builds from a whispery start to a noise maelstrom, and 'Lookout' has a stillness that recalls Tall Firs despite its charging dynamics. The band even tries out some poppier fare on the surprisingly sweet and hopeful love song 'Hairdo,' while the wry melody of 'Loveless' feels like commiserating at a bar after that relationship goes bust. And on 'Secrets and Lies,' a duet with the Jealous Girlfriends' Holly Miranda, Tall Firs map out confessional territory that many of their peers couldn't approach. A rare mix of intimacy and experimentalism, Too Old To Die Young will resonate with indie rock fans who know what that album title really means." --Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Artist:	TALL FIRS
Title:	Too Old To Die Young
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	E#41D-LP

"Talls Firs' Too Old To Die Young wax with limited edition handmade jackets. These things are being silk-screened to order, limited to 250 copies in the States. Rough hewn bunting for the haunted hymns inside. This LP edition has been mastered by JJ Golden and manufactured at RTI in California, the USA's unquestioned best vinyl manufacturer. Tall Firs have shredded Arthurfest in 2006, All Tomorrow's Parties in 2007 and the McCarren Park Pool Parties in 2008. Tall Firs have toured the USA and UK and fought back to back with steel poles fending off blood-sucking ninjas and mummified zombies with the likes of Awesome Color, Shellac, and Emily Haines." Brown paper sleeve with press-on cover.

Artist:	POLAR GOLDIE CATS
Title:
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#49

Los Angeles instrumental group, with their debut album (following a couple of 7" appearances). Produced by Nels Cline and Tom Grimley. The band have been referred to as a "Shaggsian Magic Band," and there is a stellar 'n crudely rendered Beefheartian flavor to the way they construct new sound waves out of mere guitars, bass and drums. And although they've been influenced by some grade school listening to the likes of DNA, the Contortions and other no-wave seminal classics, they've updated that lineage with a hypnotic power rock splurge, added other outsider interests (gamelan, Scottish piping music, cosmic wavelength theory) and created a weird 'n wonderful detuned accessibility.

Artist:	MENSTRUATION SISTERS
Title:	Samantha (My Wack Panther)
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#4D

"Unlike anything book or animal, the Menstruation Sisters destroy wholly" -- Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth. "Menstruation Sisters hail from Sydney, Australia. Basically a duo comprised of wildboy poet ululationist and guitar strangler Nick Kamiussis (aka Rizili aka Riz) and OZ wonderkid Oren Ambarchi (Sunn 0))), Burial Chamber, Grave Temple, John Zorn etc etc), and sometimes aided by Brendan Walls and others. Their first LP, Ma, was in an edition of 100 copies, all of which had razor blades, balloons and hypodermic needles applied to one side. As an objet d'art it became a highly desirable item for noise believers (and was recently reissued -- sans appliques -- by No Fun Productions). Every once in a while an LP drops out of nowhere only to further confuse whomever is fortunate enough to grip it. 2005 saw the Holy Africa 7" on White Denim, in 2001 the infamous Goog LP on Saucerlike, in 1999 the Dead At Slugs LP on Menlo Park and in 1998 the Triple Bogey On A Ma Par Hole 3x7". All of these are essential documents of one of the most bizarre, genuinely inspired free time outfits working the avant-mind body love/noise worship axis today. This newest LP has been patiently waiting to be released for the last few years, initially a multi-label project instigated by Menlo Park and now fully realized by Ecstatic Peace. Long a champion of Menstruation Sisters after witnessing an out-of-nowhere set at NYC's legendary lost underground experimental oasis The Cooler in the late 90s, Thurston Moore invited the Sisters to open for Sonic Youth in Sydney shortly thereafter and, as inspired and weird as the NYC set was, the Sonic Youth gig was perhaps one of the most astounding question marks of music the seasoned Moore had ever experienced. So we present you Samantha (My Wack Panther) -- a new and beautiful peek into the edge of musical menstruation."

Artist:	SMITH/JOHN STEVENS, GARY
Title:
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#52

A series of seven improvisations for electric guitar and drums, recorded live to DAT in a London studio in 1993. This presents the young UK free guitarist Smith alongside the late, legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble drummer Stevens (also found briefly on mini-trumpet, in what unfortunately will have to be remembered as one of his final studio dates). Gary Smith has released one amazing solo CD previously (Rhythm Guitar on the Impetus label), and here develops a full palette of what has been referred to as "electroacoustic free/scratch guitar," a decidedly post-Bailey language of volume-pedal-manipulated in/out chatter that mixes dense rhythmic build ups with long, stretched note explorations (that occasionally almost drowse themselves to a non-blues-centered Mazzacane-esque haze). The whole thing coalesces with beautiful fragility, adding a new sub chapter to the contemporary world of non-metered improv. Limited stock.

Artist:	RAMIREZ & MSBR, RICHARD
Title:	Negative/Offensive
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#85E

"A project in celebration of the work and influence of mysterious UK (anti) artist noise outfit The New Blockaders as constructed by Houston, Texas black whips and male-on-male noise pioneer Richard Ramirez (Black Leather Jesus et al) and the sadly departed Japanese harsh noise maestro Koji Tano (MSBR). A mail collaboration where each artist would send source materials to be decomposed by each other. Fantastic walls of brutal shard skum splatter taken to points of demented anguish and resultant cosmic implosion/explosion. Exquisite cover art by Stan Reed of Blue Sabbath Black Cheer."

Artist:	MUTANT APE
Title:	Erotic Yorkshire
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	E#85G

"Mutant Ape is the insane noise project by Yorkshire, UK resident George Proctor. George runs the Turgid Animal label, which since 2005 has been the go-to place for harsh noise, power electronics and other demented spuzz releasing over 500 CDs, CDRs, cassettes, LPs, 10"s, 7"s etc. He has been releasing Mutant Ape sounds wherever and whenever, establishing his classic yet contemporary noise/horror vision of lust and spectacle as one of the premier scum artists of the last decade. Erotic Yorkshire is Mutant Ape at its most corrosive delivering from track to track occult ambience to skin shredding power drug electronics. All bookended by the demented and misogynist rants of Jamie Gillis. Artwork by the fractured mind of Tisbor. Disgust, depression, defilement and demotion are all here for those of you who demand only the best in carnal crud."

Artist:	CRUMER & ROXANN SPIKULA, JASON
Title:	Supression In The Third
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	2x10"
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	E#85H

"Jason Crumer likes what you like: noise, girls, getting wasted once in while and maybe a spot of trouble here and there. He first started blowing minds as guitarist in the insane sludge punk core outfits Aluminum Noise and Facedowninshit. As well as the ultra-weirdo outfits American Band, Now In Darkness World Stops Turning and Amazing Grace. Since going solo in 2005 he's released fascinating and brainmelting USA noise death on labels like Iatrogenesis, Audiobot, Ignivomous, RRR, Nazot, Chondritic Sound, Misanthropic Agenda, Harsh Head Rituals and Hospital Productions. Roxann Spikula has been creating killer noise action with and without Crumer (as well as her twin sister Rachal in the band Relay For Death) for years in the Raleigh, NC scene. Their particular venue was more focused on experimental moves and Roxann is an amazing proponent of this world. Her work here in conjunction with Crumer is deep and considered and moves from dark drone solace to sick shards of noise hell. This is a double 10" in a gatefold sleeve with art by Roxann. 500 copies."

Artist:	WATSON, DAVID
Title:	Throats
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	E#89B

David Watson (bagpipe) w/ Shelley Hirsch (vocals), Makigami Koichi (vocals & jaw harp). "The writhing and resolving glissandos, so familiar to East Village ears by now, were still edgy enough to send a few Lincoln Center new-music wimps dashing for the exits. It's my feeling that the bagpipe is an inherently avant garde, push-the-envelope type of instrument anyway." --Kyle Gann; "From 1981-86, Watson was active in the New Zealand music and art scene, as a member of Primitive Arts Group, appearing in the first N.Z. International Arts Fest, and co-founded Braille Records to record the local improv music scene (which released 12 LPs in the '80s). He released three LPs on Braille, and did much to create an improv/noise-music scene where previously there was none."

Artist:	MOORE, THURSTON
Title:	Trees Outside The Academy
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	E#91C

"It's Thurston's first solo outing since 1995's Psychic Hearts. Of course, Thurston's been releasing records here, there and everywhere, mostly in the context of rowdy and rambunctious noise/improv escapades but this new one is killer diller SONGS! Unlike Psychic Hearts' skeletal trio rock, this new jammer, 12 years post, has a far fuller bouquet of sonic depth and proves this Sonic dude to have a very real songwriting life outside of the legendary Sonic Youth (of which he is a founding figure, duh). This newborn disc is 12 songs long. Thurston recorded primarily on acoustic guitar and bass, laying down the core of the tunes with drummer compatriot Sonic Youth's Steve Shelly and violinist Samara Lubelski, a noted player from MV/EE and The Golden Road, Hall of Fame and other awesome gatherings as well as solo artiste. Most of the tunes are lyric driven but there are a couple of majestic instrumentals like 'Trees Outside The Academy,' which brings the album to a musical and breathless close. There's also some weird cassette tape that Thurston found at his mom's of him at 13 years old in the early '70s making some kind of sound-theatre. It's kinda nuts, and it's the last 'hidden' track. Tracks like 'Frozen Gtr,' 'The Shape Is In A Trance,' 'Silver>Blue,' 'Never Day' and 'Fri/end' (a theme song to the hippest TV show yet to be broadcast) will lead you in to a sparkling and heavy new world of Thurston's heart, mind and soul."

Artist:	KREFTING, MATT
Title:	I Couldn't Love You More
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	E#91D

"My 'career' in music is about to enter its 13th year. Lucky 13! I've performed in at least 15 groups (probably more on the order of 20 if you count guest spots) over the years, the most prominent being the long-running 'quiet music' combo Son of Earth and the short-lived-but-muchhyped Believers. Historically more of an experimental man, the Believers project showcased my always right-below-the-surface interest and passion for all things rock, and so, a couple of years after the demise of that group, I was approached by Ecstatic Peace, who asked me to produce a solo record. For the better part of a year I conceptualized, recruited, and eventually came up with I Couldn't Love You More. An early attempt to marry electronics, field recordings, and song was scrapped in favor of the personal and perhaps obvious choice of producing a covers record. It was the perfect idea, the realization of a dream. Years of singing in the shower and on long car trips had given way to the stuff of fantasy. Why stick to what you know when you can reach for what you've always desired? I asked friends to help with the realization. John Moloney, Phil Franklin, Ron Schneiderman, and Rob Thomas (all of Sunburned Hand of the Man), I've known for years. Same with J Mascis. Old friends John Shaw (who I've done more music with than anyone) and Lynn Meyers provide some vocals here and there, as does my wife, Jamie Jo Oltmans. The Wild Card here is John Townsend. Andrew Kesin of Ecstatic Peace introduced me to him, and he was a jack-of-all-trades. He plays on most of the tracks, sometimes exclusively, and co-produced. I chose songs from all over the map, from Rick Danko to John Martyn to the great Bill Fay. Not exactly lightweights, and quite intimidating when their full historical weight is taken into account. However, I attacked each piece with the intensity of one who truly loves these songs. I didn't concern myself with being overly arty or inventive in my interpretations (there are no truly radical re-workings of anything here), instead allowing my own emotional investment in the material to guide me and inform the other players. These are songs of love and longing. The themes are eternal. It's an honor to have had the chance to play them. Enjoy the music." -- Matt Krefting, December 2008

Artist:	WILLIAMS, DAVEY
Title:	Charmed, I'm Sure
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#92 CD

Davey Williams is from Birmingham, AL and is one of America's improvisational treasures. A multi-dimensional guitarist of wild invention, he has been recording for much of the last 2 decades, often in tandem with violinist LaDonna Smith for their own Trans Museq label. Trans Museq released about a dozen LPs and 2 CDs, dating back to the late 70s, a label as historically vital as Incus, Ictus, Parachute or FMP in detailing the developments in universal improv, largely back in the days when putting out a record was a major accomplishment. This CD for Ecstatic Peace is Davey's first completely solo work in over a decade, a blatantly aggressive and exploratory release, with a heavy emphasis on overdubbed guitar solos, creating a fascinating density of electric sound -- rich in bass resonance and screaming fuzz tonalities that haven't always been associated with Williams playing.

Artist:	LEE, OKKYUNG
Title:	I Saw The Ghost Of An Unknown Soul And It Said...
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	E#92B

"Anyone who has seen and heard Korean improviser/composer Okkyung Lee blow collective minds with her supremely amazing cello noise, energy, vibration, friction and true sound feeling music knows that in a world of wild and mind-snapping improvisors, Okkyung is one of the most exciting players to arrive down the rocky road in some time. After being in music schools from the age of 3 to 25, Okkyung found her artistic freedom in NYC's Lower East Side, where she moved in 2000. Since then, she has performed and recorded with numerous artists such as Laurie Anderson, Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Nels Cline, Chris Corsano, Fred Frith, Shelley Hirsch, Susie Ibarra, Thurston Moore, 'Butch' Morris, Jim O'Rourke, Beth Orton, Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, DJ Olive, Zeena Parkins, Marina Rosenfeld, and John Zorn. Okkyung released her debut CD, Nihm, on Tzadik; a duo recording with Christian Marclay on My Cat is an Alien label's split LP series called Rubbings, a CD of her own compositions in collaboration with artist Colin Stinson for his art book Dust to Dust, and now this solo cello vinyl-only LP I Saw The Ghost Of An Unknown Soul And It Said.... This LP contains some of her most deep and resonant, at once furious and hushed string, bow and wood music recorded to date. Beautiful and frightening, daring to be both." LP only -- 400 copies.

Artist:	DARA
Title:
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#70D

"Detroit/NYC guitarist, singer, songwriter, photographer, filmmaker, artist Dara was a member of His Name Is Alive for a few years. She was part of upstate NY based multi media 'performance art' group Brown Cuts Neighbors doing films, playing drums, guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, and guerilla street performance. She collaborated through the mail w/ Warren Defever on a project called Nu Grape. They have a CD available though Time Stereo. She had a group w/ Ron Asheton called Creature79. She worked w/ artist Steve Cerio on a project called Lettuce Little featuring members of the Residents. She now performs with husband Nick in a duo they call Laudanum. Her influences/interests range from Japanese 'noise' bands/performers such as Masonna and Melt Bananna, jazz of Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Coltrane. The Stooges, Neil Young, 80's hardcore bands, New wave, Harry Partch, artwork of Jackson Pollack. Hammer horror flicks. Film Noir. Spooky stuff. William Blake, William S Burroughs, Bukowski, Nietzche, Kathy Acker, Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch, Slayer. The Ecstatic Peace record: All of it is Dara playing vintage Farfisa keyboards, Casio keyboards, guitar, radio. Recorded in Dara's kitchen in 1997 on 4 trk. All artwork/photography by Dara. Album was heavily influenced by love of 80's synth pop and heartbreak. Like OMD, Depeche Mode and John Hughes films which she loved as an 80's teenager."

Artist:	AHWESH & BARBARA ESS, PEGGY
Title:	Radio Guitar
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	E#86D CD

"Radio Guitar is nine tracks of fantastic music and noise utilizing radio sound and electric guitar as realized by artists Peggy Ahwesh and Barbara Ess respectively. Filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh came of age in the 1970's with feminist politics and the experimental film underground. She started working with Super-8 film in her teens and went on to make feature films, including Splice This (1999) and Girls Beware (1997). Her work has recently been shown at Rotterdam, Osnabrook, and The New York Film Festival. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the NYSCA Film Production Grant, Jerome Foundation Grant and a grant from Art Matters, Inc. She is presently teaching at Bard College. Barbara Ess has been performing music in NYC since the 1970s w/ such famed no-wave groups as The Static and Daily Life as well as The Glenn Branca Ensemble and Y Pants, a trio of women playing music on toy instruments. Most recently she has been a member of Ultra Vulva. She has also worked as a publisher of Just Another Asshole -- a series of anthologies of artists works in various formats. She concurrently works as a visual artist making and showing large scale photographs. A book of her photo work, I Am Not This Body, has been published by Aperture in Fall, 2001."

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Artist:	NOISEADDICT
Title:	Def
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	10"
Price:	$7.50
Catalog #:	E#34

Artist:	SUNBURNED
Title:	Z
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	CD
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	E#58C

Artist:	AESTHETICS, THE
Title:	My Right To Riches
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	E 04B

Artist:	POLLY SHANG KUAN BAND/SMACK MUSIC 7
Title:
Label:	ECSTATIC PEACE
Format:	7"
Price:	$5.00
Catalog #:	E#83D