Browse by Label: STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE

Artist:	BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN
Title:	Inside
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 002CD

The 2nd US release from this former East German guitarist, his most radically inventive work, full of propulsive rhythmic minimalism -- a new plateau in solo guitar audio. "Evolving amorphously from the New Folk tradition inspired by Takoma Records artists John Fahey, Peter Lang and especially Robbie Basho, Berlin's most enigmatic steel-string guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans exorcises radically new voices and perspectives out of the acoustic steel string guitar. Possessing an impeccable instinct and insatiable curiosity, this innovative guitar master is on a constant search to discover new possibilities for the instrument. Conceptually, Inside is a metaphysical excursion exploring the idea 'inside the outside'. Using 'wrong' playing techniques as the basic launching point, Inside casts aside the inhibitive shackles of theory and develops the basic idea via a meditative and utterly minimalist approach. Hypnotizing soundscapes emerge from the depths, enveloping and distorting any semblance of time to the point of blissful disorientation. Broken into three movements, '1st Movement' establishes the very essence of the piece as a subtly shifting meander through space, building in a somewhat percussive, raga-like manner. '2nd Movement, Part 1, 2 & 3' seem to hit a sojourn in the trip, dancing around a universe where Derek Bailey and Rod Poole incessantly debate the merits of John Fahey's America album. '3rd Movement' moves back into the saturating theme, galloping through various minute manifestations, ebbing and flowing effortlessly. An astonishing array of sounds are coaxed out of his acoustic steel string, remarkable considering Inside was recorded solo, with no overdubs whatsoever. Standing uniquely apart as a singular suite of minimal-trance for solo acoustic guitar, Inside sets folk standards collectively on it's ear. With this record, Steffen Basho-Junghans makes a radical statement on the potential of acoustic guitar music. His ultimate achievement, however, is the creation of absolute beauty."

Artist:	LANDING
Title:	Oceanless
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 003CD

"Landing is a truly vibrant, celestial-minded quartet of sound painters from Connecticut (via-Utah!). Oceanless, their simply amazing second full length CD, is a dense canvas capturing graceful instrumental brushstrokes, lush audio pigments, and vivid surrealist portraits. Featuring six compositions and clocking in at over 63 minutes, Oceanless is absolutely the most dazzling prizm of sound Landing has produced thus far. Inebriating and intricately textured, the plodding mallet driven rhythms, keyboard oscillations, wavering guitar afterburn and distant reverb-drenched vocals could be likened to a PrazisonLP-era Labradfard that has melted all over the easel."

Artist:	BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN
Title:	Waters In Azure
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 005CD

"Waters In Azure is an album of sound sculptures, coursing through themes of structure, space and state. Inaugurating the album is 'Waters', a winding, amorphous meditation upon waters' various characteristics. Broken into three distinct parts, the composition coaxes blissfully disorientating shrapnel from the guitar, slithering under Steffen's alien 12-string slide techniques. 'Waters' dances drunkenly like a burbling creek, building, cresting, then breaking into a spacious trickle, only to swell again as it spills forth across some eerie landscape. Harkening back to Inside a raga-pulse is 'Inside the Rain', the absolute centerpiece of the album. Shimmering fractals glisten with fantastic beauty, expanding determinedly towards an ecstatic plateau, propelled by the rhythmic, vibrant sparkle of SBJ's 12-string. Experimenting with technique, form, and sound by merging minimalist composition, Eastern raga and the acoustic steel string/folk tradition pioneered by Robbie Basho, John Fahey and Sandy Bull, Steffen Basho-Junghans has transcended any easy genre pigeonholing to sit perched high atop a musical plane entirely of his own creation. Water Is Azure is his latest volley at the gods and goddesses of sound, pelting them mercilessly with his elaborately foreign, yet utterly beautiful brand of minimalist solo guitar."

Artist:	PLANETARIUM MUSIC
Title:	Traditional Psychedelic Electronic Music (Planet 2)
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 006CD

"Alex Bundy from San Francisco, CA-via-Portland, OR is the man in question operating the ambient trajectories of Planetarium Music, a heavenly electronic orchestra raining down like a vibrant meteor shower from the constellations high above. Through his Planetarium Music project, Bundy explores a style of electronic music that originated with predominantly German artists in the early 70's such as Tangerine Drea, Cluster, KIaus Schulze, and Popol Vuh's first couple of albums, and was carried through the 80's by artists such as Robert Rich, Steve Roach and Jeff Greinke. Using digital synthesizers, processing software and computers as sonic arsenals Planetarium Music seeks to reclaim the Music of the Spheres while updating it with a modern perspective. As cosmic tides ripple throughout shimmering modulations envelop and a multitude of discreet drones burble just below the surface."

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:	AMPBUZZ
Title:	This Is My Ampbuzz
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 009CD

"Chris Martin, guitar scientist for Seattle based heavy trippers Kinski, ventures far-out into the wild blue yonder with Ampbuzz, his otherworldly & uber-cosmic solo venture. Whereas Kinski graph the nuances of psychedelic instrumental rock via a highly visceral attack, Ampbuzz investigates languid alter-universes wrapped in blurry, hazy, billowing quilts of sound. Imagine if Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple) and his ambient solo projects collaborated with Zoviet*France and was commissioned to create music for Werner Herzog or David Lynch, and you may be sitting in the right theatre."

Artist:	BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN
Title:	Rivers and Bridges
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 010CD

"Rivers and Bridges is a pastoral experience, rich in color and texture, coursing through various moods with river allegory at its' core. Impressionist six-string dramaturgy cascade forth, ebbing and flowing in steady rage-like waves, across placid sound pools and frothing rapids. Through each piece a myriad of sounds styles are explored, touching upon American folk, Native American linearity. Middle Eastern resonance, East Indian raga, and Western classical with heartfelt ease -- and often within the same tune. Propelled all the while by an intricate sense of melodic invention, the depth of imagery and complexity of texture is remarkable and simply gorgeous. Reminiscent of his Songs of The Earth and the timeless Takoma Records sound, Rivers and Bridges is an instant classic acoustic guitar record, sounding familiar and yet imbued with subtleties unlike anything else you've heard before."

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:	SUBARACHNOID SPACE
Title:	Also Rising
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 013CD

"Initially conceived as a band exploring psychedelic terrain from on-the-spot creation, Also Rising stands apart as SubArachnoid Space's most composed record. Much of the bands' output charts effects-laden acid-rock/drone via telepathic interplay, but this time SubArachnoid Space hone ideas crafted from the depths of improvisation to a set of razor-sharp songs that stick with your brain receptors, refusing to leave. Traversing the acid-jam rhythmic grooves of Meddle-era Pink Floyd, the subconscious stirrings of the Cosmic Jokers, and seasoning the sonics with the free-skree guitar aviation of Mahnog or Ellflower, Also Rising is a flooring dictum in SubArachnoid Space's mind expansion campaign."

Artist:	SURFACE OF ECEYON
Title:	Dragyyn
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 014CD

"The purest, untainted offering of the Surface of Eceyon experience to date. The music stands completely naked, exposing on astonishing degree of texture, depth and balance. Whittling miles of improvised recordings down to six varied pieces which stretch just over the one hour mark, Surf ace of Eceyon dress up their three-guitar flurry to the nines in a colorful wardrobe of effects, directed by motorik rhythms alternating between propulsive pulses and impressionist decor.Taken as a soundtrack to a Tolkien-esque universe called Dryystyn (the liner notes detail a mystical story from Dryystyn of Dragyyn'a battle to reclaim the wind), Surface of Eceyon succeeds in creating the perfect alter-universe for their spontaneous sound to thrive."

Artist:	TSURUBAMI
Title:	Gekkyukekkaichi
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 015CD

"Tsurubami may vary will be the must blissfully unrestrained blast of hallucinatory fire to ever spiral forth from the Acid Mothers Temple Soul Collective. Certainly the inspiration behind Tsurubami ranks it among the most philosophical and deeply spiritual. Comprised of Emi Nobuka (drums), and fellow Acid Mothers Temple compatriots Kawabata Makota (guitar) and Higashi Hiroshi (bass). Upon entering Tsurubami's sphere for the first time, it is immediately evident that a higher form of consciousness is at play. The crux of the band is driven upon the actual meaning of Tankyo no To -- those who are destined from a previous life to become eternal blood brothers. Set aglow by the innate understanding of their linked fate, the three effortlessly meld together into one intuitive being, telepathically tapping into a collective consciousness that manifests itself as an intensely emotive flurry of sound-energy. Gekkyukekkaichi is hard evidence of Tsurubami's ritualistic soul purging, an aggressive physical excursion of group dynamics spread across two compositions that stretch in total just past the one hour mark. Resonating, ringing guitar fractals are drowned in layers of echo-chamber effects, swelling with intense volume over restless bass pulses and feathery multi-directional drum patterns, scattering sonic debris like clouds of pollen over unsuspecting heads. Not all of the Tsurubami experience is fire and brimstone however, sound streams ebb and flow, finding lilting pockets of relief that are almost yearning and ballad-like. An aura of heaviness is imparted, not necessarily of musical gravity but of a sobering sense that Gekkyukekkaichi is a document of a unique moment in time, an instance of complete disembodiment of the musicians." -- www.strange-attractors.com.

Artist:	REBEL POWERS
Title:	Not One Star Will Stand The Night
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 016CD

"In 1998, Acid Mothers Temple went on a swing of the UK that sowed the seeds for a new cosmic unit, Rebel Powers. Kawabata, Makoto, Cotton Casino and original AMT drummer Koizumi Hajima met up with David Keenan, guitarist for Glasgow's Telstar Ponies and prominent scribe for London's premier new music mag The Wire, and holed up in South London's Moat Studios to let the heavenly river flow. Rebel Powers explore minimalist sound layering via two long, improvised tracks. Sustained guitar notes resonate and sarangi buzzes swirl while chiming waves of concrete percussive clatter and plaintive vocal wails slowly build momentum. Sounds are methodically layered and gently peeled away, revealing a ringing guitar chord or two at its very core. Pools of sound shimmer and meticulously waver as each note strikes its placid surface, building and building an ominous mood with glacial intensity towards the psyche's breaking point. Imagine the sort of dark themes and tolling guitar found on Popol Vuh's soundtrack to Nosferatu, oozing ever forward and serenaded by the hypnotic call from the mythical Siren. Minimalism is certainly the order of the day, but a sort of minimalism that has been rendered catatonic, eerie, otherworldly. With just guitars, percussive rustles, intermittent sarangi and vocals, Rebel Powers evoke a meditative sphere to get lost in for days. Aside from sarangi, there are no overdubs present, and the music was completely improvised."

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:	NEWMAN, HARRIS
Title:	Non-Sequiturs
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 018CD

"Newman is a finger-style steel-string acoustic guitarist possessing a remarkably detailed and lush sound, and he is creating some of the most lyrical compositions for the instrument to be heard anywhere. Non-Sequiturs his debut release, a fabulous album of alternately effervescent and deeply mysterious acoustic guitar grandeur. Newman's acoustic finger-picking dances and swaggers, creating a sunny expanse of tunes that are augmented by stark, introspective passages. Much like Fahey's classic 1967 album The Yellow Princess, Non-Sequiturs juxtaposes giddy, pastoral songs against heady, experimental sound excursions. Opening with the galloping pace of 'Around About Thirty-Six', resonating steel-strings halos refract gilded light against the moody drone corridors of 'I Fought the Lottery'. For a few of the tunes, Newman is joined by Montreal-area percussionist Bruce Cawdron, and the combination at times exhumes the exploratory genre-blending spirit of Sandy Bull's first couple of albums; (the muted, mallet-driven percussion grooves of 'The Bullheaded Stranger' evoke Billy Higgins-style jazziness as an undercurrent for the tumbling, glistening guitar lines to burble over. Combining solo acoustic songs with lap-steel, percussion and bowed cymbal effects, Harris Newman craftily laces everything together to create a stunningly cohesive, gorgeous set of compositions."

Artist:	THE VOCOKESH
Title:	The Tenth Corner
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 019CD

"Vocokesh seriously tweak the standard rock trio infrastructure by processing the guitars beyond earthly recognition and inoculating the cacophony with an arsenal of vintage analog electronics. With seven songs totalling over an hour of music, The Tenth Corner explores some seriously alien terrain with an elusively mechanical, intensely lysergic sound. Unfurling like mellow smoke from some alien opium den, the title track introduces the sonic soiree in a pleasant mood, as distant acoustic plucking and electronic oscillations provide a pillowing backdrop for some elegant electric guitar flourishes. Imbued with an intense array of moods and textures, The Tenth Corner is a tremendously cinematic listening experience -- in fact, three tunes are envisioned as supplemental/alternate soundtracks to some particularly vivid cult films. Composition and improvisation coalesce into a sound that draws from the early flights of 70's German avant rock (Agitation Free, Cosmic Jokers, Ash Ra Tempel) and synth-powered cosmic (Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh) if it were created in the embryonic electronic music labs of the 60's and 70's. Transcendent, gritty, hallucinatory -- The Tenth Corner is undoubtedly Vocokesh's finest hour."

Artist:	BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN
Title:	7 Books
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 020/21CD

"With over two hours of music spread across two discs, 7 Books finds Basho-Junghans stretching way out, mutating the steel string tradition into the most elaborate excursion into sound and composition that has ever fluttered from his fingertips. Basho-Junghans' experimental works are microcosms of his chance discoveries with the acoustic steel string guitar, focusing in on a particular aspect of his epiphanies; 7 Books gathers all of these microcosms into one Big Bang, erupting into a vast universe of subtle and complex sound galaxies. Six-string guitar provides the template for Disc One, and each 'book' (composition) opens and closes with a deep array of chapters and passages. Chiming tones, pulsating percussive runs, finger scrapes and dazzling finger techniques build and build in raga-like fashion. Disc Two focuses on music composed with slide guitar, and Basho-Junghans' particular alien glissandos dance like refracted light, a gloriously disorienting sound broadcast seemingly from a foreign land. Minimalism, Eastern raga, trance-inducing repetition, Spectralist tonal investigations, folk and American fingerstyle steel-string tradition coalesce into one astounding epic for the solo acoustic guitar. Steffen Basho-Junghans follows his instincts above everything else and discovers a myriad of universes within a solitary instrument, inventing a new language in the process."

Artist:	KINSKI
Title:	Don't Climb On and Take the Holy Water
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 022CD

"In their hometown of Seattle, Chris Martin, Lucy Atkinson, and Matthew Reid-Schwartz of the lysergic-punk band Kinski often play out incognito. Under the guise Herzog (film buffs should figure all these German names out pretty quickly), the goal is to experiment with mood, sound construction and interplay by channeling their chemistry into an exploration of their 'cosmic' side. These entirely improvised sets have yielded some truly heady excursions into the sonic ether. Although they may perform as Herzog, the sum of the parts is still Kinski, and while the intent is to shower the air with slow-raining space dust rather than their trademark heavy-paisley riffs, ambient drone is still very much an aspect of the overall Kinski sound. Don't Climb on and Take the Holy Water is a snapshot of these experiments, 'free-ambient' sounds weaved on the spot when the guitarists subliminally dialed into one another and directed their energies into a subtle exploration of drone, texture and atmosphere."

Artist:	PAIK
Title:	Satin Black
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 023CD

"Paik are wicked conjurers of a seriously delirious thunder, unleashing a maelstrom of sound that is as lilting as it is crushing. A power trio of guitar/bass/drums, the band first streaked across the Michigan space-gaze scene in 1997, seeking to chart out new aural frontiers within a rock format. Evoking the roaring resonance of Kevin Shields' levitating guitar innovations and the minimalist weight of a band like Earth, Paik are a heady force on the avant rock map. Satin Black is truly a beautiful noise."

Artist:	JONES, GLENN
Title:	This is the Wind that Blows it Out
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 024CD

...Solos for 6 & 12 String Guitar. "Most folks know Glenn Jones as guitarist extraordinaire for Cul de Sac, in which his idiosyncratic blend of surf, Middle Eastern, Americana and acid guitar innovations are a signature of the band's much-ballyhooed sound. In the spirit of the great Takoma Records releases of the 60's and early 70's, This is the Wind that Blows it Out winds its way through rich expanses of varied stylistic terrain, charting a rich and unique course. 'American Primitive' folk and blues, Spanish guitar, slack-key, rustic Mississippi Delta slide and classical forms cozy up fluently to one another, sometimes within the same tune. Glenn Jones' fingerstyle and slide technique is on dazzling display, guiding the music across scenic vistas of mood and color. As interest in the old guard of steel-string innovators John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Leo Kottke and Peter Lang has been renewed with earnest, a new fraternity of Guitar Soli tunesmiths has come to the fore -- Steffen Basho-Junghans, Jack Rose, Harris Newman and Glenn Jones. Along with his guitar-slinging brethren, Jones steps out of the long shadow cast by the Takoma stable and offers up 'A New Possibility'."

Artist:	SUBARACHNOID SPACE
Title:	The Red Veil
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 025CD

"The Red Veil is the ninth album in as many years SubArachnoid Space has been in business. Musically, The Red Veil taps the same wellspring from which Also Rising burbled, but follows it much further downstream into the darkest corridors of the subconscious, exploring dour moods and texture via a heavy, mind-erupting sound. SubArachnoid Space have incorporated rhythms and structures into their new mater ial that catapult them into stoner/gloom-Metal realms, but the guitars are still pure SubArachnoid Space -- that is, ever-pointed towards that third eye in the sky, unfurling heady and layered tendrils of sound. Propelled by deep bass lines and double bass drum mayhem, the guitars largely steer clear of the typical riff, favoring effects-laden textures, drones and dissonance over garden variety power chords. Previous incarnations of the band favored spontaneous flurries into the unknown, but a fresh emphasis on 'songs' has coaxed out a wicked force from beyond the haze with a level of fury not felt before."

Artist:	SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Title:	The Manifestation
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 026CD

"If the pan-cultural acoustic/psych inventions of Ben Chasny and his Six Organs of Admittance could be defined by only one composition, that tune would certainly have to be The Manifestation. Released in the year 2000, The Manifestation was a clear, one-sided vinyl 12", a curiously primitive etching of the sun featured on the B-side. Originally sprawling across one side of vinyl, The Manifestation is an extended raga of genre-defying madness, a dizzy melding of acoustic fingerstyle, shamanic chants, chimes, hand percussion, space jam and ghostly vocals."

Artist:	CUL DE SAC/DAMO SUZUKI
Title:	Abhayamudra
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 027/28CD

"Boston's instrumental innovators Cul de Sac teamed up with infamous ex-Can vocalist Damo Suzuki for a tour of the US and Europe in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Abhayamudra is a 2xCD collection of what Cul de Sac and Damo Suzuki consider to be the best moments of the 45 dates they played together -- nearly 138 minutes of stunning psychedelic avant mayhem, performed live and composed entirely on the spot. Cul de Sac refract clusters of electronics, sorrowful violin and genre-defying surf/middle eastern guitar over chugging bass and astounding polyrhythms, while Suzuki concocts his vocal somersaults over the affair, manipulating the direction of the tunes like it was liquid in a vessel. Abhaymudra immortalizes some very special moments captured on stage, a musical genesis that, by its very nature, could only be conceived at its particular moment in time and can never be replicated."

Artist:	NEWMAN, HARRIS
Title:	Accidents with Nature and Each Other
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 029CD

"It is not unusual for the world-beating Montreal, Canada underground music scene to gestate and nurture a genre-bending artist of Harris Newman's caliber. Yet Newman's unique approach to the compositional acoustic steel-string style sets him apart from the herd, both in his hometown and far beyond. Newman's strengths lie in his dexterous ability to borrow from the traditions of the steel string guitar movement while propelling it forward into postmodern realms. Accidents with Nature and Each Other has time-honored solo acoustic grandeur on full display, but Newman brings many more variables to the table. Experiments with the raw sounds of the naked steel string and a wider palette of instrumentation augment beautifully his particular brand of guitar soli. The result is a rather diverse array of sounds and structures, all centered on the acoustic guitar. Languid, gorgeous melodies and hefty fingerpicking workouts bump up against ghostly harmonics and acoustic drones. A trio of solo workouts mark the beginning of the album, harkening both the aggressive trajectory of Leo Kottke and pastoral terrain of Robbie Basho."

Artist:	CASTRO, AND THE POISON TREE, NICK
Title:	Further From Grace
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 030CD

"Beaming warmly from the underground enclaves of Los Angeles, CA like a lambent ray of soft sunlight, the music of Nick Castro is breathing fresh life and pristine wonderment into an old sound. Castro released a beguiling album called A Spy in the House of God in 2004 on his own imprint Records of Ghaud, and it caused quite a stir in the new acid folk circles. Imagine a melding of More-era Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett solo and a touch of Incredible String Band with modern fractured folk sound-weavers like the Tower Recordings and maybe you are in the right sphere. For his follow up, Castro has assembled a cast of players calling themselves The Poison Tree, boasting amongst its ranks underground folk icons Josephine Foster and members of Espers. It is a heavenly match as evidenced on Further From Grace, a simply mystical sophomore effort illustrating with a feathery wallop that Castro is a major voice amongst the new insurgence of THC troubadours. Induced by flourishes of psychedelic '60s folk bards like Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine) and Bert Jansch, laced with flashes of Amon Duul-like acoustic communal atmosphere (circa Paradieswarts Duul), Further From Grace is a graceful tab of Nick Castro's own heady universe, an acid-folk masterpiece advancing today's sound into sparkling new frontiers. "

Artist:	SCHMIDT, CHARLIE
Title:	Xanthe Terra
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 031CD

"Long in the making, Charlie Schmidt's debut Xanthe Terra is finally seeing the light of day, and it is a stunner; melancholic musings and gorgeous melodies are offered like midnight prayers through ringing and singing wood and steel. Technique for Schmidt is always at the service of feeling, and the pieces on Xanthe Terra are awash in a raw depth of emotion, shuddering to the very core of the music. Like the scorched desert-like landscape of Mars referenced in the album title, images of vast empty expanses and regions sucked dry of humanity weep from Schmidt's guitar. From the delicate, somber melodies of opener 'Salem Journeys,' past a particularly rollicking version of Fahey's 'Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain' and onwards, closing with the introspective subtlety of 'Hymn,' American folk styles brush up with classical guitar and 'deltadelica' to form compositionally rich and radiant acoustic dramaturgy. Following firmly in the American Primitive footsteps of John Fahey and Peter Lang, Xanthe Terra is glorious guitar soli, an important new work to the new acoustic movement."

Artist:	THUJA
Title:	Pine Cone Temples
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	2CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 032/33CD

"Much has been said about The Jewelled Antler Collective, the fertile womb from which Thuja emits its primordial ooze, and of Thuja itself. A loose-knit assembly of like-minded sound ecologists who study the connections between their immediate environment and the music created by its players, Jewelled Antler claims a multitude of music makers in its orbit -- Blithe Sons, Skygreen Leopards, Franciscan Hobbies being just a mere cross-section. Thuja, however, remains one of the earliest and best-known incarnations. Steven R. Smith, Glenn Donaldson, Loren Chase, and Rob Reger coalesce interests in field recordings, found sound, experimentalism, folk and psychedelic rock (among others) to weave seriously detailed and immense journeys into pure sound. By incorporating real-time recordings of natural sounds from their particular surroundings, the four members of Thuja play off each other and the space they inhabit with impeccable instinct, succeeding in creating eerie yet strikingly melodic compositions. The end result is a total immersion of the senses, for both the player and the listener. Across the grand expanse of Pine Cone Temple's two discs, implements such as piano, guitars, percussion, and well-placed contact mics are blended like pigments to conjure the subtlest of sonics, pulling every lost drop of their immediate universe into floating and buzzing cinematics. Minimalist hues are brush-stroked into being and slowly unfurl into the atmosphere. Improvised clouds of sound softly erupt to form compositions of such immense and precise detail, it would seem the music was written out rather than spontaneously developed. Such is the magic of Thuja and their uncanny ability to sculpt microscopic psychedelia from their immediate environment and collective consciousness."

Artist:	THE VOCOKESH
Title:	Through the Smoke
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 034CD

"With Through the Smoke, Vocokesh expand upon the ominous acid soundtracks that saturated The Tenth Corner. Combining the swirling guitars of Pink Floyd and the Kraut-inspired mayhem of Ash Ra Tempel with the early analog electronic surrealism of Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, Vocokesh continue to place pressure on the boundaries of sound, incessantly exploring cryptic soundscapes via their oftentimes unsettling brand of electronics-drenched, drugged-out rock. On this outing, however, the soundscapes come mixed with some more prog-like elements and even a touch of psych/garage riffing. 'Vibe #6' stirs slowly with heady bass pulses, swooshing synths and subtle guitar lines, but quickly stumbles headlong into all-out mania as Franecki's guitar pyrotechnics spiral forth like alien tendrils, reverberations of a gong tolling the first wave of what is to be a long, dark trip. But a sidestep into garage-psych of 'Vocokesh Theme Song' provides a nice respite, as the band exhumes the spirit of Electric Prunes-like fuzz and vibrato. The sojourn is short-lived, as Vocokesh continue on, taking the listener on their impressionistic journey woven from total sound exploration. Vocokesh manage to skillfully hybridize the best of the early '70s avant-garde into their cinematic improvisations. Florian Fricke, David Gilmour, Manuel G�ttsching, Edgar Froese, Moebius & Roedelius and Fripp & Eno are all exhumed, but Vocokesh re-image the references into something far more extreme than the aforementioned ever imagined. Eerie and sonically provocative, Through the Smoke is one intense mind-moving hallucination."

Artist:	KINSKI
Title:	SpaceLaunch For Frenchie
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 035CD

"Originally self-released by the band in 1999 in a limited edition pressing, Kinski's debut album SpaceLaunch for Frenchie captures the group in their infancy. Exploring multiple sonic terrains, the album clearly illustrates Kinski's skillful melding of their love of pop with their love of the drone. Initially a 3-piece, the band recorded their debut in their rehearsal space on an Otari 8-track. Spacelauch For Frenchie contains some of the bands' favorite early tracks, namely 'Staring' and 'Jetstream,' and a cover of the Spacemen 3 tune 'Losing Touch with My Mind.' Remastered and repackaged, this reissue includes Kinski's ultra-rare five song demo unearthed from the period, featuring two never-before heard songs as well as an early version of a number re-recorded for Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle and the outtake 'She Always Made Us Work Like Dogs.'"

Artist:	KINSKI
Title:	Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 036CD

"Kinski's second full-length recording, 2001's Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle, proved that the band was ready to take on the world. Upon its release, Alternative Press enthused '...the disc makes one of the few strong arguments against the claim that rock is dead.' Their first sojourn into a 'real' recording studio, Kinski seized the opportunity and crafted a spacious yet immediate rock album. With nods to forebearers past and present, Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle finds the band creating their own unique sound and sonic space. Few bands before or since have matched Kinski's ability to marry delicate and heady sonics with massive, gravity-defying heaviness. This is the album that opened many doors for the band, including snaring sets at Terrastock IV and V, tours with Acid Mothers Temple in the U.S. and Japan, great international press and a record deal with Sub Pop Records. Previously issued on the now-defunct Pacifico Recordings in the US, this crucial document of the Kinski tour-de-force has criminally been unavailable since 2004."

Artist:	LANDING
Title:	Brocade
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 037CD

"Their seventh full length album in seven years, Brocade is a turning point for Landing, one that simultaneously harkens back to their roots as hushed drone rockers while journeying onwards into starkly minimalist, utterly cosmic terrain. Reverting inward after some of their sunny travels into headspace, Brocade touches on early Krautrock rhythms while delving into traditional psychedelic ambient music. Barring a few instrumental overdubs, Brocade was performed live in the studio, resulting in an airy sort of freedom not felt since the gauzy bliss-out improvisation captured on Fade In/Fade Out or moments from their second album Oceanless. In every manifestation, it is a tour-de-force of minimalism, utilizing repeating patters that slowly and steadily develop shape as they float in and out of a barbiturate fog. In the early moments of the album, as fireballs of feedback and effects unfurl into the exquisitely Faust-like drum and bass repetitions of opener 'Loft,' it would seem that rock and roll would prevail even as the tune winds through increasingly lush terrain, swelling in size as more instrumental streams enter the flow. Placid waters emerge, however, as the drums drop out and Brocade turns into a study in atmospherics with the swelling pulse-and-drone of 'Yon' and the shimmering, wispy ripples of 'Spiral Arms.' After the hazy overdrive of 'How to Be Clear,' Landing immerse themselves in sparse ambience as conjured by Eno's On Land or Harold Budd's glistening works, floating away with the aptly-named closer 'Music For Three Synthesizer.' With five compositions stretching out to form 54 minutes of music, Brocade is an elegiac lament for Landing's past, and an introspective yearning towards a glistening new phase in their career."

Artist:	BRIGHT
Title:	Bells Break Their Towers
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 038CD

"Early on, Bright tread predominantly in ecstatic instrumental rock forms. Colliding harmony and dissonance, their music clung precariously to a raw, edgy core, even as blossoming sound forms methodically unfurled outwards, like flowering vines towards the sun. By the time of Full Negative (or) Breaks, vocals became part of the mix, but largely used as more d�cor for their vibrant sound pools. What makes the jaw drop with a thud to the floor, however, is the realization that Bright's finely-honed music is composed entirely on the spot. Entering the studio, Bright let it fly, and with a few overdubs of added instrumentation, the result is head-bobbing and mind-elevating all at once. Drone and ambient textures, motorik Kraut rhythms and repetitious grooves collide with a tremendously melodic, almost pop sensibility, lending Bright a unique sound. Bells Break Their Towers expands their textural palette further, as evidenced on the acoustic hypnosis of 'Flood,' and with the Terry Riley-like ambient propulsions of 'Secret Form of Time,' which turns keyboard lines into cartwheels while overtones exhale into space. Bright make it seem so effortless... their sonorous whirlpools erupt from improvisation but never sound overtly 'jammy,' while their attention to melody, form and instrumental layering buffs to a shine the circular breathing of their rhythms. This is improvised rock you can hum to while you drift into trance states. German minimalist rock as forged by Neu! melds with '70s ambient and modern underground independent rock, sculpting fresh new trajectories in sound. Impeccably recorded, Bells Break Their Towers is a triumphant return for Bright, one of psych rock's most underrated sound spinners.

Artist:	CLINE/WALLY SHOUP/CHRIS CORSANO, NELS
Title:	Immolation/Immersion
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 039CD

"Fans of modern fire-breathing jazz rejoice, for a true meeting and melding of the minds is at play. Immolation/Immersion is the inaugural recording of what will hopefully be more blasts of fury and filigree by three leading lights of improvised music -- guitarist Nels Cline, saxophonist Wally Shoup, and young percussionist-on-the-rise Chris Corsano. Out of the gate, Cline's guitar bubbles and broods, Shoup's gritty sax coughs forth both whiskey-drenched blues and supersonic skree, while Corsano turns energy into light with his death-defying drumming. Onwards into the affair, a more gentle trio surfaces to display effects-laden guitar yawns, warm sax purrs and nuanced drum kit explorations of bowed cymbals and quiet patterings. Cline, Corsano and Shoup play off each other like they have been performing together for years, their spontaneous flights spawning fully formed compositions that unfurl from the atmosphere like sudden spring thunderstorms. As indicated by the title, Immolation/Immersion is compellingly dynamic, capturing a full range of destructive force and quiet submersion. Jaw-dropping and essential."

Artist:	F/I
Title:	A Question for the Somnambulist
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 040CD

"Along with Die Kreuzen, Boy Dirt Car and sister band Vocokesh, Milwaukee psychedelic rock-and-sound legends F/i spawned a space-rock scene in the '80s unlike any other around. By harnessing the ghosts of Hawkwind and Blue Cheer, extracting the German avant rock scene from the early 1970s as defined by Guru Guru, Ash Ra Tempel and Agitation Free, and sifting it through industrial sounds and analog electronics, over time it has become evident that F/i have quietly influenced a whole new generation of exploratory instrumental freakers. A mini event in its own right, A Question for the Somnambulist marks the return of original member Richard Franecki, who left in 1990 to pursue the way-out trajectories that his band Vocokesh continue to explore. Originally issued in a miniscule run in 2003, A Question For The Somnambulist traverses dark and hazy landscapes, hypnotic textures laced with electronics and exploratory guitar riffs dripping with effects. Resuscitated from the annals of uber-obscurity for another suckerpunch to your third eye, this reissue includes one bonus track from the sessions and comes in a limited edition of 1000 housed in a deluxe letterpressed and recycled paperboard package."

Artist:	PAIK
Title:	Monster of the Absolute
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 041CD

"The abandonment and subsequent plight of America's many major urban centers is well documented, but nowhere else is this manifest to its extremity as in Detroit, Michigan. Although there have been hints of a resurgence, downtown Detroit exists in an advanced state of decay and has for many years, its blue-collar past and collection of pre-Depression skyscrapers often referred to as an American Acropolis. For Paik, the very epicenter of this deterioration is precisely where they call home. From the erosion of concrete and steel comes a certain inspiration, a parable that has fueled Paik's ongoing quest for beauty amongst ugliness and chaos. Since their inception in 1997 and across four full-length albums and a smattering of singles and compilations, Paik have studiously advanced and mutated their sound. Evolving from their embryonic shoegaze-inspired melee into sprawling, heavy stoner/psych/drone hybrids as evidenced on 2003's epic Satin Black, Paik have an uncanny ability to completely shred the atmosphere while coaxing out blissfully sonorous melodies from their thunderous caterwaul. Pulling back the reins just a bit, Paik funnel their supersonic cyclones into a tightly focused box of thunder with Monster of the Absolute, their greatest balancing act of melody and dissonance to date."

Artist:	CASTRO & THE YOUNG ELDERS, NICK
Title:	Come Into Our House
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 042CD

"West Coast psychedelic folkie Nick Castro is currently making some of most dynamic and truly original sounds to emerge from the much-ballyhooed new folk movement. As 'freak-folk' and assorted hairy-fairy type labels grab the headlines in the underground, Castro strives for a solemn, serene sort of beauty, summoning utterly melodic incantations in song and sound. Gracefully immersing '60s/'70s British Isles acid balladry with Middle-Eastern traditional music and heady, pan-cultural communal jams, Castro succeeds in reaching otherworldly vistas and ocean-spanning folk transcendence. Following up 2005's lauded Further From Grace, Castro unfurls his sprawling third album Come Into Our House, easily his most far-reaching and deeply molecular outing yet. An East-meets-West melting pot of instrumentation -- from acoustic guitars, upright bass and piano to Celtic harp, Moroccan tabla and nyabinghi drum -- Come Into Our House is at once primitive and polished, elaborate yet elusive, effortlessly mating Bert Jansch-style folk song ('Winding Tree'), psychedelic folk rock ('One I Love'), Middle Eastern traditional music ('Attar') and Bay Area acid-raga ('Lay Down Your Arms') to a kind of organic studio musique concrete that Can forged on albums like Tago Mago."

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."

Artist:	PRIMORDIAL UNDERMIND
Title:	Loss of Affect
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 044CD

"Eric Arn and his Primordial Undermind have tirelessly mined the nether regions of avant psych-rock for the past 15 years, resulting in a sonically fertile body of work. Arn cut his teeth in the legendary Crystallized Movements throughout the 1980s, the Twisted Village flagship band which, in its wake, also spawned Magic Hour and Major Stars (Wayne Rogers & Kate Village). Even with a history of taking left turns, it is evident from the get-go that Loss of Affect is a departure for Primordial Undermind. Oozing into consciousness with 'Intercessor,' the band bellows forth a full collective cosmic ethno-drone mantra, utilizing space and interplay to coax ritualistic swirls of sound, reminiscent of what Ghost achieved on Temple Stone. Flowing into 'Breathe Deep,' a solo avant acoustic excursion exploring odd tunings and tonal colors, shifting and heaving as it winds ever forward. From here, the band unleashes the volume and Loss of Affect continues further out, as full-blown, free acid-rock magma surges in molten explosions, intertwined with an expanded palate of instrumentation that includes bass clarinet and various other woodwinds, shakers, electronics and who knows what else. All disparate sounds are tethered to a common point, synthesized with stunning results."

Artist:	BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN
Title:	Late Summer Morning
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 045CD

"Much in the vein of his pastorale epic Rivers and Bridges, Steffen Basho-Junghans harkens back to the heyday of American Primitive guitar, as defined by John Fahey circa Fare Forward Voyagers and America, and the American raga structures of Robbie Basho. 'Late Summer Morning,' the title track, is an unabashedly beautiful extended composition for 6-string guitar, stretching out languidly and effortlessly like a morning raga saturated in crisp, warming hues. With the steel string tradition as a steadfast reference point, Basho-Junghans utilizes unorthodox pacing, picking and rhythms as Late Summer Morning progresses. 'Woodland Orchestra' discreetly harkens to themes of tone and minimalism as found on 7 Books or any one of his experimental albums, while 'Azure No. 3' wraps glistening guitar lines into circular patterns to create lovely trance-inducing color wheels. A key component to Late Summer Morning, however, is Basho-Junghans' ability to strike out into the unknown while keeping the sounds and tones grounded, something that is evident as multiple sound forms hit the ear with calming bliss. American folk and classical, East Indian raga, Native American linearity, the resonance of Middle Eastern folk and melodic minimalism (i.e. Steve Reich) meld together in a fashion that is tremendously cinematic and allegorically vivid. Late Summer Morning is 'minimalist trance-folk,' a modern masterpiece of where Guitar Soli has gone, and where it can go next."

Artist:	JONES, GLENN
Title:	Against Which the Sea Continually Beats
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 046CD

"Since 1989, Glenn Jones has led Boston's 'avant -garage' instrumental rock band Cul de Sac, whose musical adventures are documented on nine albums to date, including a soundtrack for cult-director Roger Corman (The Strangler's Wife, 2003), and collaborations with guitarist John Fahey (The Epiphany of Glenn Jones, 1996) and former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki (Abhayamudra, 2004). A 30-plus-year devotee of the so-called 'Takoma School,' Jones has written extensively on the steel-string guitar's leading lights: John Fahey, with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years, and Robbie Basho, who befriended Jones during the five years before his untimely death in 1986. In 2001, Jones began playing acoustic guitar in earnest, which he hadn't touched in more than a decade. In 2004, Jones stepped out of the long shadow cast by Takoma's guitar visionaries and offered his own 'new possibility' -- This Is the Wind That Blows It Out, an impeccable album of acoustic 6 & 12-string beauty, released to rave review. Since then, Jones has kept busy performing with many leading lights of the guitar solo movement, past and present, while penning new material for what is destined to be known as his crowning achievement. Against Which the Sea Continually Beats is an indisputable triumph of acoustic guitar composition, a reverential and innovative melding of sound and form. Bookended by the brief slide blues laments 'Island 1' and 'Island 2,' Against Which the Sea Continually Beats' eleven tunes travel from Delta to Appalachia, from classical to a cinematic sort of folk sound in a language that is purely imbued in the artist's own dialect. Graceful and subtle, resonating with confidence and at times sheer power, Against Which the Sea Continually Beats is a masterpiece of guitar soli by a truly singular talent."

Artist:	NONLOC
Title:	Between Hemispheres
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 047CD

"Nonloc is the solo guise of Mark Dwinell, the guitar-slinging ringleader of East Coast spontaneous trance rockers Bright. When composing on the spot with Bright, Dwinell directs the minimalist, Krautrock-inspired jams into melodic and sonically layered songs, draping over it impromptu vocals in a manner loosely akin to any number mid-'70s Kraut legends, or the philosophies of Damo Suzuki and his instant compositions. Nonloc takes direction from the Bright model, but springboards away with a more refined perspective. Between Hemispheres, the second solo album for Dwinell as Nonloc, is a heady excursion into repetition and the unyielding strength of unrepentant melody. Fascinated by minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, Nonloc seeks to focus on the microtonal universes and hypnotic netherworlds: minimalism awakens from repetition, while constructing ivory towers of melody enveloped top to bottom with softly barbed hooks. Acoustic and electric guitars provide focus instrumentation, but the elaborate color accumulation of Between Hemispheres is dominated by alternate layering of acoustic instruments such as piano, accordion, mandolin, and cello. Whereas Bright will use vocals sparingly as instrumental color, Nonloc spices up the instrumental forays by peppering tunes with lyrics that are direct and at times strikingly personal. Impeccably recorded, Between Hemispheres is a long-playing lullaby for intimate, contemplative twilight stares into candlelight."

Artist:	VOCOKESH, THE
Title:	...All This And Hieronymus Bosch
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 048CD

"The Vocokesh (previously simply Vocokesh) formed in 1991 when guitarist Richard Franecki spun out of orbit from F/i, the legendary Milwaukee psychedelic veterans he co-founded. Thinking them turning a bit polite, The Vocokesh provided the necessary vessel to sufficiently blast Franecki's undiluted vision of full-blown experimental/free-acid rock mayhem further out into the ether. Multiple recordings for RRRecords, Drag City, Lexicon Devil (responsible for many a Vocokesh and F/i reissue) and Strange Attractors Audio House chart relentless trajectories of improvised, analog electronics-laced instrumental rock psychedelics that reverently summon the spirits of the most marginalized ruffians of '70s Krautrock (Amon Duul I, Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free) while exploring newer terrain. With 2005's Through the Smoke, The Vocokesh took a bit of a detour by lacing their hallucinatory flurries with actual 'songs,' in the vein of latter '60s fuzz/psych. Franecki and the boys' restless spirit never wanes, and thus ...All This and Hieronymus Bosch, The Vocokesh's eighth long player, marks more departures from previous formulas, resulting in some of their finest and freshest sonics yet. Synthesizers and electronics, so prominently on display throughout The Vocokesh catalog, takes more of a backseat role while the sitar, only sparingly used in the past, bubbles strongly to the surface. The result lends an Eastern-tinged vibe to many of the tunes, a late '60s consciousness-elevating cool akin to the magic carpet rides that Ravi Shankar helped usher into rock 'n' roll after his Monterey Pop performance. Masterful guitar work is still in rich abundance, but many of the dark psych passages The Vocokesh are known for is offset by some sunnier trajectories. As implied by the title, ...All This and Hieronymus Bosch hosts a surrealistic depth rarely matched in instrumental rock these days -- a fantastic entry into The Vocokesh's ongoing psychedelic experiments."

Artist:	AUTUMN SHADE
Title:	Ezra Moon
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 049CD

"Autumn Shade is the nom de plume of Jes Lenee, a stunning young songstress brimming with unbridled talent. Armed with a satchel full of pensively beautiful tunes, Lenee possesses a voice as pristine as any your ears will have heard in this lifetime. Ezra Moon is a journey into a unique sepia-toned microcosm, one that intertwines folk, chamber music, psychedelia, avant-rock and indie singer/songwriter. Opening with the wispy 'Sparrow,' a delicate piano interlude softly fluttering in and out of focus like a foggy memory, the misty landscape spills into 'Home,' a folk-inspired lament driven by acoustic strumming and Jes Lenee's yearning vocals. Colored by additional instrumentation of violin, hammer dulcimer and percussion, and a healthy penchant for sonic experimentation, the narcotic, detached feel of Ezra Moon is reminiscent of albums by the female artists that helped define the 4AD sound. Jes Lenee's classical roots and compositional sense invoke the avant-chamber feel of Rachel's, if they were enveloped in the hazy folk atmosphere that Marissa Nadler resides in. Ezra Moon is an entrancing debut, inaugurating Autumn Shade into the contemporary folk scene with an understatedly personal and cinematic sound."

Artist:	PLANTS
Title:	Photosynthesis
Label:	STRANGE ATTRACTORS AUDIO HOUSE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SAAH 051CD

"Portland, Oregon's Plants are blossoming into one of the most expansive ensembles emanating out of today's psychedelic underground. Formed by the wedded musical partners Joshua and Molly Blanchard to explore delicate acid-folk terrain, Plants have evolved well beyond their sparse and mystical roots to sail along a rich and diverse confluence of mind-enhancing streams. 2006 bore witness to a trilogy of recordings, from the quivering folk of their debut The Mind is a Bird in the Hand (Audio Dregs) to music captured in yurts and bunkers along the Oregon coast (Totem CDR, Audio Dregs) and the pillow-prog odyssey Double Infinity. Reaching deep within, Plants unfurl Photosynthesis, a haunting foray into gently rippling netherworlds. Aptly named, Photosynthesis illustrates the subtle skill in which Plants extract and blend a variety of sounds to concoct a heady elixir of minimalist psychedelia. A rotating cast of support for the husband and wife core offers a diverse array of instrumentation, including acoustic/electric guitars, cello, singing saw, organ, electric tones, and a guest appearance from Jason Buehler of the band Nice Nice on banjo and 'piano box.' Gently swirled together, Plants invoke images of a quiet solstice ritual involving early Popol Vuh, the fusion-folk of C.O.B., and a flower-powered, V.U.-era John Cale. Haunting and ethereal, Photosynthesis is a fresh new perspective from the West Coast folk-psych scene."