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Browse by Label: THRILL JOCKEY
Artist:
MICROSTRORIA/STEREOLAB/OVAL
Title:
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$6.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.06EP
First of 3 collaborative 12"'s, taken from the Microstoria
Reprovisers
CD. "Microstoria made some new tracks and sent it to Stereolab and Oval. They were to augment the tracks by playing with them. So it is not a remix, it is a piece created by the two. A-side is Microstoria/Stereolab, B-side is Microstoria/Oval."
Artist:
VERT
Title:
Mewantemooseic
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$6.50
Catalog #:
THR 012.15EP
US license of this Sonig release. Adam Vert is from the UK and is know for founding the Bovinyl label with Milky Boy and Animals on Wheels in 1996. "On
mewantemooseic
, Vert's curious blips and beats are maintained by soft keyboard melodies of organ-like reverence. This 12" fits nicely into the Sonig family of electronic music for those inclined to follow a different path than the often potholed highway of straight drum and bass and electronica."
Artist:
ETERNALS, THE
Title:
Chapter And Verse
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$6.50
Catalog #:
THR 012.16EP
"A three piece hailing from the city of Chicago. Their music pulls from a variety of sources, foremost amongst them reggae, jazz and soul. These influences all play a large role in the rhythms utilized by the group, creating music which is sometimes rolling, sometimes sparse, with staccato melodies provided courtesy of bass, organ, synthesizer and drums. The band also makes use of melodica, a tape machine and a sound effects generator. The roots of The Eternals can be found in the percussive and melodic sounds of great artists like Augustus Pablo and The Headhunters."
Artist:
COLEMAN, ANDREW
Title:
Blame It On Adam
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$6.50
Catalog #:
THR 012.17EP
"Andy Coleman lives on a boat. Andy Coleman records his music in his studio on his boat. Andy Coleman describes the title track to his EP on Thrill Jockey by saying, 'Orange music. Broken fridge doors and unsent records. The acoustic guitars are illegal by the way. Modelled wind instruments do their thing. Blow when they want. Miles would have hated it.' So begins the latest release from one of the founders of England's Bovinyl label and Ninja Tune artist Animals on Wheels. A departure from the Animals on Wheels material, it is an avant-electro, plickity-plunk piano release in the vain of recent Richard James or Global Goon."
Artist:
LITHOPS
Title:
Sequenced Twinset/Fi
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$6.50
Catalog #:
THR 012.19EP
"Lithops is Jan from Mouse on Mars. 'Sequenced Twinset' and "Fi" are two remastered tracks from the early Lithops period in 1995. Beautifully flowing, they leave behind the boundaries between classical music writing, sound programming, and spontaneous music improvisation. Microtonal buzzes, strained melodies, feedback hiss, digital noise events, tape tricks, and dub perversions fuse to become a hybrid lecture of freaked out subtleness. This limited 12" is filled with poetic surgery dissecting, traces of structural complexity, and compositional skill on the surface of pure music." Limited stock.
Artist:
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:
Sign
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.20CD
"A digital companion to the limited edition 12" released in late 2000, this CD features different versions of tracks on the 12" as well as a separate long version of 'Meteor'. In addition to that, 'Sign' features a CD-ROM cartoon by the man responsible for it's cover art, Katsura Moshino of Girlstudio fame. 'Sign' overflows with warm production and Nobukazu's ever present unique, charming playfulness and melodically effected, robotic vocals. These are unbearably delightful sounds that will have you unconsciously humming for days! 'Sign' brings to mind the electronic wizardry of some Mouse on Mars releases or Takemura's recordings under the Child's View alias."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Actionist Respoke
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$7.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.21CD
"The first tasty treat to be unleashed from Mouse on Mars' forthcoming 7th album,
Idiology
(due April 17th from Thrill Jockey), 'Actionist Respoke' marks yet another leap forward for Mouse on Mars. A head on collision of frenetic scratching, deconstructed house vocals and pulsating beats that represent MoM's darkest grooves yet. 'Actionist' is presented here in two forms. The first will also be found on
Idiology
and is a concise statement of purpose, letting all in earshot know that these sonic terrorists are for real; the second finds the Dusseldorf duo giving the song room to breathe, as the rhythm takes on a life of it's own. To bring it all together MoM find themselves in the studio with Herbert (aka Doctor Rockit) in a more relaxed, yet still devious mood, giving the EP a fine sense of closure. This single will be strictly limited to 2500 copies on CD only."
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
Winners
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$7.50
Catalog #:
THR 012.23CD
"In a move designed to further Bobby's recent success, Thrill Jockey presents 5 interpretations of the global hit song 'Winners'. In addition to the album version, Tortoise's John McEntire turns this pop gem into a rumbling no-wave engine. Hot Detroit electro duo Adult. get the kids on the dancefloor with their 'losers mix', Mr. Pot Bear emphasizes the tune's magnificent horn arrangement and upstart Chicago techno-maven Magas strips the tune down to its raw essence. There are winners and losers, and Mr. Conn certainly falls into the former category."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Agit Itter It It
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.24CD
Domestic CD version of what was once "a MP3 vinyl set, complete with impregnated live-section. The hard disk-to-record-transfer is the first artefact of its kind! Includes tracks for downloading and 2 tracks, genuinely alive: 'actionist respoke' and 'introduce' (from the album
Idiology
). An agenda of breakdown and absurdity. Total ambiguity prevails in exploding sounds often less than milliseconds in length. Nothing is decided in the music itself but its construction as a statement: even intervals and rigid power chords arrayed in dualistic structures, keyed in through blasting tirades of resistance, display a world of madness and diversity."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
High Time Remix
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.31EP
"Features remixes of songs from last year's release
High Time
. Remixers include Brenmar of These Are Powers, The Urxed (Rob Barber of High Places), Butchy Fuego (of Pit er Pat), Nguzunguzu and Lucky Dragons. The 12" comes packaged in a proper jacket with art cards pasted to both sides. It is hand numbered in an edition of 300."
Artist:
FIERY FURNACES, THE
Title:
The End Is Near
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$10.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.32EP
"
The End Is Near
is a limited edition 12" EP. Fans and critics alike have long been waiting for the Friedbergers to make their 'simple' record, as it's always been clear they had a knack for the infectious melodies and great arrangements that classic pop requires. The title track, a catchy, melancholic pop song, kicks off the single, instantly giving tantalizing affirmation that the new album
I'm Going Away
is set to be the most exciting, accomplished and consequently accessible album The Fiery Furnaces have ever made. A radio edit of 'Lost At Sea' and a slower version of 'Charmaine Champagne' (both album tracks in their original forms) underline the masterful melodic work of the album's new songs to breathtaking effect. 'Teddy's on Kent' is an otherwise unavailable new recording."
Artist:
THANK YOU
Title:
Pathetic Magic
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.35EP
"Thank You finally return after a year of touring both here (with the astonishing Mi Ami) and abroad behind their 2008 full-length Thrill Jockey debut Terrible Two. The new EP features two new tracks, 'Pathetic Magic' and 'Strange All,' and is the first recording to feature Emmanuel Nicolaidis behind the drum kit. The B side of the EP features three exclusive remixes from several Baltimore friends. Dan Deacon took time out from his hectic touring schedule to remix a track, Asa Osborne of Lungfish fame lent his minimalist aesthetic to a mix of 'Pathetic Magic' and 'Strange All' woven together, and Joe Williams (of White Williams) and Jason Urick (of WZT Hearts) collaborated together on a remix of 'Pathetic Magic.'" Numbered edition of 300 copies with two glossy inserts.
Artist:
JAVELIN
Title:
Javelin
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.37EP
"Javelin consists of two cousins, Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford. When not performing, Javelin is busy producing. Together they have amassed a vast catalogue of music, varying in its aesthetic range. Songs resemble the record collection from whence they spring, if not literally as when sampling, then figuratively as when past forms are cited and re-contextualized. Sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, created with love on their MPCs. Long forgotten samples are chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. The result is a kind of mix tape fantasy (residing in the mythical 'dollar bins of the future'), where R & B impresarios, amateur booty bass producers and Andean flautists hold equal sway." Each copy comes in a unique, hand-made sleeve.
Artist:
URICK, JASON
Title:
Fussing & Fighting
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.40EP
"The three tracks on
Fussing & Fighting
were spawned during the period just after Urick completed his work on
Husbands
. After not listening to little else as he finished that album, Urick dove deep into some old faves, including Pita's
Get Out
and the Gas catalog, and also became obsessed with videos of London reggae linchpin Jah Shaka. The three compositions included on this 12" are experiments in trying to combine these influences into Urick's working methods established for
Husbands
. Unlike
Husbands'
gentle washes of ambience, the songs on
Fussing & Fighting
are Urick's first in a very long time to incorporate any sort of rhythmic element, however simple. This time Urick made a conscious effort to slowly steer away from the experiments with density on display on
Husbands
, opening up his music sonically and allowing things to breathe. As with
Husbands
, all three of the original tracks were recorded by Urick himself at Floristree."
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
In The Fall
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.41EP
"Too many bands in the era of buzz and the blog are taken before their time. The spotlight hits hard and finds a group who has not yet developed, not yet put in the work to find their sound and hone it and make themselves better, and just as quickly they're gone. Future Islands are not one of those bands."
Artist:
ROSE WITH D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX, JACK
Title:
Ragged And Right
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.42CD
"This slab of gripping sound was brought about by Jack Rose's exuberant love of lowdown music. Inspired by the Mordicai Jones/Link Wray 3 Track Shack sessions, the idea for this collaboration was germinated while Rose was traveling through the heartland on a tour with D. Charles Speer & the Helix in spring 2008. Musicians used to the road are familiar with the phenomenon wherein a certain tape or recording becomes the thematic soundtrack to the tour at hand. In this case, daily doses of 'Scorpio Woman' and 'In the Pines' as performed by Link Wray became the touchstones for their travels together. Jack got so excited by the vibes emanating from these songs that he thought to break with his usual acoustic approach and get some electricity in his life again. So he enlisted the Speer band to join in some unhinged and unrepentant fun in the studio. Recorded using an all live, no overdub approach, the resultant session was deemed an all time favorite experience by everyone lucky enough to partake in it. A gleaming bottle of Buffalo Trace helped shepherd us through the dark hours of the night, and in turn that spirit animal adorns the front cover of the record. As producer, Jason Meagher was able to capture the visceral rough and tumble feel that invigorated his Black Dirt Studio in the dog days of August 2008. Featuring the original lineup of D. Charles Speer & the Helix in peak form and rare lap steel and Telecaster stylings from Rose,
Ragged And Right
displays a vibrancy and depth of feeling that is striking and unforgettable."
Artist:
ROSE WITH D. CHARLES SPEER & THE HELIX, JACK
Title:
Ragged And Right
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.42EP
12" version.
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
Can't Feel Born
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.43EP
"The
I Was Born
single demonstrated Rob Barber and Mary Pearson using a new guitar-centric instrumentation that would be featured on
High Places vs. Mankind
. A faster pace and darker tone also seem to permeate through the singles and this new 12" collects these tracks as well as their unheard counterparts. As on the album, Mary Pearson's vocal are less effected and more present, but many aspects of the High Places sound and aesthetic remain intact. One hears dance rhythms, stereo effects, accessible melodies, dub influence, and as always, a love of layering and of combining the unexpected into something cohesive and new." On white vinyl.
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
Undressed
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.46EP
"
Undressed
follows up Future Islands critically acclaimed
In Evening Air
album. The 12" is pressed on 150 gram vinyl and housed in a LP jacket featuring new artwork from Kymia Nawabi. The record is released in a hand-numbered edition of 1,000 copies.
Undressed
features four Future Islands favorites performed in acoustic arrangements with piano, acoustic bass, cello, guitar, and drums. Featured on drums is Denny Bowen of Double Dagger."
Artist:
MI AMI
Title:
Dolphins
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.47EP
"
Dolphins
is a melting, dystopian refraction of left-field new age, lush soundscapes and Italo daydreams overlapping with slaughtered dolphins and the heartbreak of 'Hard Up.' Simultaneously ingesting and rejecting pop pleasure, wide-eyed optimism and modern despair, it is equal parts improvisatory winging it and forceful, fully-realized vision. Blurring the line between the tainted and the sublime,
Dolphins
is the sound of a band thrillingly re-imagining itself."
Artist:
SKULL DEFEKTS, THE
Title:
2013 - 3012
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 012.48EP
"
2013 - 3012
is a brand new 12" vinyl only release that follows the
Peer Amid
album (THR 260LP) and features the Skull Defekts joined by both Daniel Higgs and Zomes. The A side consists of three new songs while the B side is a re-verse cut done on a Scully Lathe. We were told that there were only a handful of mastering facilities with an operating Scully lathe in the United States. We could only find one. The B Side is not only a reverse recording of the A side - but literally plays backwards from the inside of the record to the outside."
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 013CD
First album. "...an organic combination of jazz, electronic, rock, and dub influences. in one word: klangfarben."
Artist:
FREAKWATER
Title:
Old Paint
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 022CD
"Freakwater's
Old Paint
was originally released on October 10, 1995 and marked their fourth record and second for Thrill Jockey. The band at the time, much in the same way it is today, revolved around Catherine Irwin, Janet Beveridge Bean and David Gay. Along with their fifth release
Springtime
,
Old Paint
is considered by many Freakwater's finest moment. Catherine's originals on
Old Paint
elevated her stature as a songwriter to another level with tracks like 'Gravity' and 'Gone to Stay'."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 024CD
P***-rock trio, in more traditional rocking vein. Some people say Trans Am are "controversial" but I can't remember why.
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 025CD
2nd album.
Artist:
MICROSTORIA
Title:
Init Ding
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 031CD
Domestic issue of the first Microstoria album, as originally issued on the Mille Plateaux label in Germany. "Microstoria is a collaboration between Markus Popp (Oval) and Jan St. Werner (Mouse On Mars). The resulting music is an electronic soundtrack, not without structure, not without melody. 'The instruments' used are what could be seen as their successors -- machines and digital technology. Where Oval excludes authorship of music, Microstoria explores authorship, especially in relation to improvisation. The tones used in composition are mechanized, yet paradoxically rich. The resulting pieces are organic in feel, a striking result when viewed in context with their origins. Once, instruments were physical entities, connecting the creative individual through tuition and technical skill to the almost metaphysical world of music. The distinction between computing device and 'musical instrument' was increasingly blurred since the 1950s; however, it left the composer in charge of his/her machinery. More recently in the 1990s things have merged into one. Computer-based (formerly 'programmable' or 'computer controlled') authoring environment -- still fully capable of hosting the residual 'old' music media as well as its terminology. The transition from the 50's perspective to the 90's put an already well introduced component of music production newly into focus: software rendering the composer the designer. Atavistic concepts like an instrument end up as a tutorial vocabulary, or in other words a helpful software metaphor. Microstoria has goals and tasks for the near future: music as organized acoustics and music as software."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Systemisch
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 032CD
Reissue of 2nd Oval album (first to fully explore their current sound, as originally issued by Mille Plateaux). Beautiful digital abstractions, created by CD manipulation (painting on discs, etc.). Some of the most hypnotic & vital music of the era. Their masterpiece, the 3rd album
Diskont 94
, will be reissued later in '96. "Oval create warm melodies and rich textures out of electronic tones and loops. Oval loops sounds created out of manipulated discs. The repetition indigent in a sound loop serves a rhythm, over which layered loops of warm tones provide the melodic, organic element."
Artist:
BROWN/JAMES WARDEN/DOUG SCHARIN, BUNDY K.
Title:
Directions in Music
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 033CD
Post-Tortoise sounding trio, utilizing acoustic/electric guitars, electric piano, bass, accordion, drums, dumbek, hand percussion & marimba, "Bundy is a former bassist with Gastr Del Sol and Tortoise. James currently plays guitar with 40k and Doug records and performs with Rex, June of '44 and his own project Him. The album consists of 8 instrumental songs recorded in the spring of '96 at Idful music in Chicago...the songs were composed in the studio, or significantly realized through the recording process. [They] began the recording with several musical elements as the 'root' of the songs. The 'roots' were then taken and collectively developed into the versions presented on the record. the development was a natural result of the group's improvisation stemming from the 'root' and their exploration of texture, rhythm, color and harmonic interplay, as central elements to that improvisation." Limited stock.
Artist:
MICROSTORIA
Title:
snd
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 035CD
Second album by this German duo of Markus Popp (Oval) and Jan St. Werner (Mouse On Mars), issued domestically in collaboration with Mille Plateaux. "The 'instruments' used are what could be seen as their successors -- machines and digital technology. Where Oval excludes authorship of music, Microstoria explores authorship, especially in relation to improvisation. The tones used in composition are mechanized, yet paradoxically rich. The resulting pieces are organic in feel, a striking result when viewed in context with their origins.
snd
was recorded partly in Berlin and partly in Cologne. Markus and Jan used classical improvisation techniques to create source material for mixing. This recording was done on high end digital equipment utilizing cutting edge digital sound editing as well as instruments and their digitally implemented equivalents. Microstoria concentrates on minute musical details, in order to end up with a smooth succession of carefully sampled soundframes, replayed in 'slow motion'. Microstoria challenges the conventional concept of music. They remove many compositional boundaries. Freed from traditional concepts of time, verse, even structure, Microstoria explores tone and texture, creating depth and form out of abstractions. Subtle tonal changes trigger major alterations in form and 'depth' when juxtaposed. The nature of improvisation is altered by the clear and precise editing decisions. It is this paradoxical arrangement that mirrors the aforementioned paradox of the organic sound/feel of the music and the mechanical origins. Microstoria's music, like many forms of abstraction, reveals its complexion upon close inspection."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Diskont
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 036CD
Reissue of the 2nd Oval album for Mille Plateau (3rd overall); aka
oval94diskont
. Both the CD & LP have two bonus tracks not included on the Mille Plateaux version. More advanced in its transportational properties than its predecessor
Systemisch
, this album is one of the dominating, defining audio documents of its era. "Oval are Markus Popp and Sebastian Oschatz. The paramount aim of Oval is to vigorously comment on the transitions in media, as well as digital technology. Oval music is about media, aesthetic presence, organized sound, composed out of the remnants of both music and musicality. They are interested in providing insight into the contemporary digital audio workspace components. Whilst originating as more of a by product of theory and theoretical demonstration, Oval's music is a rich textural and often melodic soundtrack created out of cold electronic tones. In commenting on digital technology, Ovals uses their own digital programs as well as physical manipulations of disc to expose the process and the equipment: for example creating a rhythm track out of a looped skip in a CD. As with Microstoria, Oval music, whilst a by product of their comment on and exposing of digital technology, is enjoyable without the knowledge of it's origins because it is a rich melodic soundtrack.
Artist:
ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Title:
Eighth
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 037CD
"...still the core of Rizzo, McCombs and Bean. They are often abetted on live appearances by John McEntire and Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplin. On
Eighth
they continue to push boundaries, no longer trying to represent a 'live' performance and taking more liberty to expand the interpretation of these songs."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
The Fawn
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 039CD
"Formed in the fall of 1993, The Sea and Cake remain Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Eric Claridge and John McEntire. The essential difference between
The Fawn
and the three previous records lies in the approach to song writing mechanics. This was not a conscious effort to shift styles but an effort to incorporate new tools (computers, sequencers, drum machines, etc.). The 'new tools' are an essential aspect of a decidedly different approach to writing material, with the realization of ideas beyond the guitar, drums and bass format."
Artist:
FREAKWATER
Title:
Dancing Under Water
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 040LP
Artist:
MICROSTORIA
Title:
Reprovisers
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 042CD
"Microstoria sent tracks to the following artists (C. Schultz & Hajsch, Ui, Violent Onsen Geisha, Mouse On Mars, FX Randomiz, Oval, Stereolab, Jim O'Rourke, Christoph Heemann, Christophe Charles & Nicolas Collins) for a collaborative track. The idea of the project was an extension of the improvisations of Microstoria. A collaboration between two improvisers as opposed to a remix. Bands were to augment the tracks they were sent by playing off of, or with the tracks. Microstoria improvise with machines and then edit to complete a track. They create a variety of tones and then compose in the editing process. They wanted to extend this notion by having their edits further reprised by an additional improvisation and edit. They selected many of the musicians with the thoughts that their music would be different enough to make a significant change to the tone and timbre of Microstoria's music. The results are not only a very interesting listen but exciting in the merging of technical and human elements."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Dok
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 046CD
"This record is part one of a counter-remix-project embarked upon by Berlin-based sound innovators Oval and Tokyo-based installation artist/sound designer Christophe Charles. The record is primarily an Oval record accessing the soundfile archive of travel and field recordings by Charles. On this new LP,
Dok
, the preparation of the recording process itself was a challenge in its own right. the challenge centers around the widely static and very delicate environmental recordings of Charles and the difficulty in creating music out of sound with no sustain, no rhythm, and in no linear structure or relationship to each other."
Artist:
FREAKWATER
Title:
Springtime
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 047CD
"
Springtime
marks the fifth domestic release by Freakwater and was completed in July '97. The core line up of Catherine Ann Irwin, Janet Beveridge Bean and David Wayne Gay remains..."
Springtime
blossoms with an insight and vision into country music that is both refreshing and timeless."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Two Gentlemen
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$8.00
Catalog #:
THR 048CD
Five track EP, including 3 remixes (Bundy K. Brown, Designer, Jim O'Rourke). "These remixes are part bass, part boogie, part abstract, part disco, and part electronic; but each part adds up to complete bliss." Plus 2 new tracks which "are generated strictly from a keyboard, sequencer and a sampler".
Artist:
ISOTOPE 217
Title:
The Unstable Molecule
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 049CD
Debut release by a new Chicago sextet including 3 Tortoise members (John Herndon, Dan Bitney & Jeff Parker). "It's hard to state exactly what Isotope 217 is because of the diverse influences of the participants. One might say an eclectic avant funk ensemble dedicated to the Phonometric system of universal thought (Phonometrics are, as described by Satie, the science of measuring sound). One might also say a freewheeling trans-molecular unit dedicated to the betterment of all worlds."
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
TNT
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 050CD
"Tortoise's 3rd full length release,
TNT
, was written and recorded during a 10-month interval in 1997. This longer-than-usual production schedule was purposefully undertaken by the group in the hopes of crafting an expansive, diverse, yet thematically coherent offering. Clocking in at 65 minutes, it is certainly the most substantial Tortoise release to date.
TNT
builds upon the spare, instrumental framework of the group's first, self-titled album and the extended edits, melodic adventures, and klangfarben of the subsequent full length release,
Millions Now Living Never Die
. Further to this, Tortoise's interest in the possibilities offered by the remixing of tracks was realized within the actual production of
TNT
; individual elements, sections, or sometimes whole compositions mutate within the album's shifting framework. These techniques were suitably realized thanks in part to the use of non-linear digital recording and editing techniques, the first example of such work for the group. In addition, many of the arrangements push the group's standard instrumentation into new territories with the inclusion of strings, woodwinds, and brass."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
The Surveillance
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 054CD
"Trans Am's third and most controversial album,
The Surveillance
, marks a new direction for them as it is the first that they recorded and mixed entirely by themselves. Like their two previous full length releases, this record is a mixture of rock and electronic sounds. However, it features less lush production than
Surrender to the Night
, instead moving from sparse and paranoid electronic jams to balls-to-the-walls rockers. To create the eerie mechanical grooves, several drum machines, keyboards, and effects processors were added to their tremendously outdated arsenal."
Artist:
PULLMAN
Title:
Turnstyles And Junkpiles
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 055CD
"Pullman is an acoustic quartet featuring Bundy K. Brown of Directions in Music, Curtis Harvey of Rex, Chris Brokaw of Come and Douglas McCombs of Tortoise and Eleventh Dream Day. While it's impossible to ignore the influence of John Fahey on their music, Pullman draw upon the influence of a variety of performers, fingerstyle and otherwise: Nick Drake, Leo Kottke, Ry Cooder, Bhrij Khabra, VM Bhatt, Bola Sete, King S. Ade, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Steve Tibbetts, Robbie Basho, Peter Laing, Duane Allman, Dickie Betts, Doc Watson, Richard Thompson and even Jimmy Page."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
12 Degrees of Freedom
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 060CD
Taylor (drums, vibes), Mazurek (cornet, piano, bamboo flute). Recorded, mixed and edited by Casey Rice (Designer). Mazurek and guest guitarist Jeff Parker are members of Isotope 217. "Ah, the cry of jazz... Canned press: 'Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor are stalwarts on the Chicago Jazz front and have played with myriad artists. On
Duo
the two meld their various influences and talents to form a free-flowing, moon-scaped recording.' Chad & Rob are members of the Chicago Underground Orchestra (one record:
Playground
on Delmark) and are augmented here by Tortoise/Isotope 217 member Jeff Parker (catch) on a few of the tracks. Recorded alternatingly at the Lunar Cabaret, the James Bond Loft, and WNUR studio during the calendar year 1997." -- Hrvatski.
Artist:
PREKOP, SAM
Title:
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 061CD
"Sam Prekop's eponymously titled LP is a study in pop nuances. Simultaneously transporting the listener from mild climes and swinging palms to darkened skies and wind blown steppes, the record will be easily recognized by fans of The Sea and Cake. Known to many as the singer and main songwriter for said group, Mr. Prekop is assisted on this release by Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground Due), Josh Abrams (ex-Roots, Town and Country), Jim O'Rourke and Archer Prewitt (The Sea and Cake). Those expecting to find more of the computer beats and trickery found on
The Fawn
and
Two Gentlemen
are in for a surprise. Whilst prevalent, the computer takes a back seat to real strings, drums, piano, electric piano and organ as well as electric and acoustic bass. The subtle grooves, a trademark of The Sea and Cake records, are still present here as Sam and his band blend West African rhythms with a bit of soul, jazz and pop."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Futureworld
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 062CD
"Trans Am continues the evolution of rock music. On
Futureworld
, their 4th and most controversial album, they leave behind all the doomsday prophets and false futurists, bringing us a tough vision of what is to come. What they see is stark and uncompromising, melancholic, but not without hope."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Futureworld
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 062LP
2011 repress on vinyl, originally released 1999. "Trans Am continues the evolution of rock music. On
Futureworld
, their 4th and most controversial album, they leave behind all the doomsday prophets and false futurists, bringing us a tough vision of what is to come. What they see is stark and uncompromising, melancholic, but not without hope."
Artist:
ISOTOPE 217
Title:
Utonian Automatic
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 063CD
"Second full length from Chicago's Isotope 217...came to fruition via an increased focus on composition. Many of the songs had their inception as rough sketches that slowly took form during Isotope 217's various life performances. The absence of Sara P. Smith, the trombone player on
The Unstable Molecule
, also had a direct effect on the way
Utonian Automatic
was created. The band was forced to look deeper for new tones and sonorities to continue to develop their sound with the new lineup."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Szenariodisk
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$8.00
Catalog #:
THR 064CD
"The digital terrorist attacks with a CDEP comprised of new material and six songs which graced his previous 12" releases,
Aero Deko
and
Szenario
.
Szenariodisk
continues his exploration and manipulation of digital technology. This CDEP is the final installment in his three part series. This series of Oval Process Software takes a leap from the platform of
Dok
. While
Dok
employed the sound files of Christof Charles, the new EPs are made from the rich and round tones of the Oval sound files. The tones and melodies are a ghost, or a faint reminder of the melodies on the Oval debut
Systemisch
. There is considerable depth and a deep groove." [Content clarification: there are actually 11 tracks on this release, including 5 new, very short tracks that are apparently exclusive to this issue; total time: 25 minutes]
Artist:
GARNER, SUE AND RICK BROWN
Title:
Still
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 065CD
"The material ranges from songs fully written by Sue to tracks based on rhythm loops to a little appropriation of the music of the Equals. The dissolution of Run On allowed for reflection that reminded them of the fruitful period before the inception of that band and after Fish & Roses ended. In that transition, Sue and Rick had worked on tunes and recorded them at home to help with the composition process. The resulting demos, many of which later became Run On songs, still sound good and have the freedom and intimacy peculiar to home recording. Later, Sue recorded
To Run More Smoothly
, her solo debut, in her New York apartment. In their 15 year musical partnership, Sue and Rick have always tried to make music that is both complex, challenging and tuneful. They are interested in the exploration of group dynamics as well as recording techniques.
Still
is a beautiful testament to years together and lessons learned along the way."
Artist:
GARNER, SUE AND RICK BROWN
Title:
Still
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 065LP
LP version.
Artist:
LONESOME ORGANIST, THE
Title:
Cavalcade
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 067CD
"The Lonesome Organist recorded the majority of
Cavalcade
himself in an attempt to reproduce in its most primitive and true state, the experience of seeing The Lonesome Organist in a live setting. Jeremy spent the better part of the year on the road and expanded his one-man act to include steel drum, saw and tape delay in an effort to round out his preferred arsenal of drums, guitar, keyboards, harmonica and vocals.
Cavalcade
was done live and straight to two-track. Jeremy played all the instruments simultaneously. The result is music with a swirling metamorphasis of style and sound. Yes, The Lonesome Organist has the rarely seen and miraculous ability to move effortlessly from reckless organ bashings to carnival steel pans with tape manipulated speed-ups to hillbilly guitars to techno beat box yodeling."
Artist:
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:
Scope
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 068CD
"Creatively, Nobukzu Takemura is inspired by both the 'impressionist and objective conception' of John Cage, Brian Eno and Afrika Bambaata, and the free form creativity of John Coltrane and Robert Wyatt. These influences are evident in his debut solo release, 1994's eponymous
Child's View
. 1997 saw the release of two records from Takemura: the 2nd Child's View record,
Child And Magic
and
Changing Hands
, a collaboration with Steve Jansen and Richard Barbierie.
Scope
is Nobukazu's debut Thrill Jockey full length. The five tracks all vary widely in style. Some focus on repetitive grooves that gradually transform into symphonies of delicately layered waves of sound while others offer organ-based melodies and alluringly stretched vocals. Also evident are intricate conversations between blips and bleeps that have more personality than half the humans you know. Put away your BPM counters, this is modern technology morphing. Musique concrete."
Artist:
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:
Scope
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 068LP
LP version.
Artist:
NERVES
Title:
New Animal
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 069LP
LP version.
Artist:
BROKEBACK
Title:
Field Records From The Cook Country Water Table
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 070CD
"Brokeback is Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, 11th Dream Day, Pullman). Through Brokeback, Douglas has sought to explore something not as densely structured as his other musical outings with a focus on rhythm and texture. The idea with Brokeback is to keep things simple and let the melodies hang in the air. By the nature of this decision the music is sparse, but not without sounding full and realized." Features contributions from Noel Kuppersmith & Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground), Josh Abrams (Sam Prekop, Town & Country), John Herndon & John McEntire (Tortoise).
Artist:
8 BOLD SOULS
Title:
Last Option
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 071CD
"The group features the unusual instrumentation of two woodwinds, trumpet, trombone, cello, tuba, bass, and trap drums, and is led by composer Edward Wilkerson. In order to have a good understanding of 8 Bold Souls, it is important to understand a bit more about the ensemble's leader. Musically, Wilkerson finds inspiration from those he has studied or worked with such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Lester Bowie, Fred Anderson, Von Freeman, Johnny Britt, as well as many other fellow members of the AACM. In addition, Wilkerson cites many non-musical inspirations like family, education, and readings. Fostered by the AACM, Wilkerson learned to think about music in an encouraging environment that prompted musical education in equal doses with experimentation. 8 Bold Souls' music is both melodic (reminiscent of small groups led by Duke Ellington and Jimmy Lunceford) and challenging (featuring complex arrangements for innovative instrumentation)."
Artist:
RIZZO, RICK AND TARA KEY
Title:
Dark Edson Tiger
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 072CD
"Logistically, this was mostly a tape-trading affair. Rizzo's parts were done at Chicago's Truckstop by Braden King (Dutch Harbor). Tara recorded her portions at Chessie studios with long time musical partner Tim Harris. Tara describes the process: 'one of us would send a piece on tape. Depending on the tune it would be a query or a statement or a rant. Round two respondent gave it a new twist or a birthing or stood back and interjected an Amen or two. We talked about Pollock and Winslow Homer and JMW Turner more than we ever talked about the tunes. Tapes traveled back and forth for almost nine months. The feel always was one of call and response, feint, connect; if you're walking the point I have your back.' This largely instrumental record (there are two with words) is a long distance phone call with two friends reflecting on and responding to each other's remarks. The surprise of
Dark Edson Tiger
comes not in the depth and quality of those remarks, but in the pastoral beauty with which they are delivered. Two Les Paul ravers jumping in with no idea of the outcome."
Artist:
RIZZO, RICK AND TARA KEY
Title:
Dark Edson Tiger
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 072LP
LP version.
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
Llovessonngs EP
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$8.00
Catalog #:
THR 075CD
"Bobby has been forced to provide the public with a tonic, a pacifier, to ensure stability and safety within the rock community.
Llovessonngs
, a 4 song ep, features Conn interpretations of the Ham/Evans track, 'Without You', and the Caetano Veloso composition, 'Marie B.' For, 'Without You', Conn began where Nilsson Schmilsson left off -- right in the heart of the FM dial. Joined for the recording by well known percussionist Michael Zerang, Conn's performance of 'Marie B.' sounds like an out take from his recent residency at Caesars Palace. Inspired by French socialite Virginia, Conn composed a song that may only the familiar to those that joined him at his snow bunny bash in San Moritz. Ending at the beginning, 'Free Love', works itself up into a deep groove that has been rated NC-17 by our friends at the RIAA. All songs feature the sultry French violinist Monica Boubou, and there are guest appearances from the crème of Chicago's Classical and Jazz community."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Niun Niggung
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 076CD
"
Niun Niggung
nonchalantly jumps over all sound construction sites in modern music history. Between the first lunar landing and the day after tomorrow's pop music, post-organics and new avant garde have rarely enjoyed such a good time together. Sounds without bounds. Battered evergreens to fall in love with. Details without regrets. As with its predecessor,
Autoditacker
, this terrifyingly progressive innovation centrifuge grown on you every time you hear it. 'Diskdusk', with its elegant futurism, the wuppingly superflupping 'Gogonal', and of course the special edition of 'Distroia', the wildest hit ever to emerge from the soundmines of the St. Martin studios are all the result of mercilessly erected findings of the past few years' sound research. An outrageously mature performance that always sounds different, yet always like Mouse On Mars. Forget about your pigeonholes. To think that all this is possible without glue or a false bottom. One thing is for certain: Mouse On Mars have paved the way for a continuously growing gang of German and international sound villains to weave analog and digital, electronic and non-electronic sounds into a totally new, organic fabric. Not without reason have great swarms of independent and other tinkerers, post-, kraut-, and general rockers, poppers, techno types, and avant garde scoundrels included this darned modern stuff in their daily menu. The Thrill Jockey version of
Niun Niggung
contains five tracks not available on the import version (Domino, Our Choice/Zomba)."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Niun Niggung
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 076LP
"The double vinyl version of
Niun Niggung
will be a gatefold and will include all the extra/different tracks from European pressings."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
Synesthesia
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 077CD
"A stark departure from the sound cultivated in the group's first recording,
12 Degrees of Freedom
. The new release from Rob Mazurek (Isotope 217) and Chad Taylor (Sam Prekop) utilizes electronics, found sound, moog and studio manipulations, adding elements that make
Synesthesia
not just a jazz record, but a release that shuns categorization in any particular genre."
Artist:
ISOTOPE 217
Title:
Who Stole The I Walkman?
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 080CD
"
Who Stole The I Walkman?
is the culmination of Isotope 217's last year of performing and rehearsing, and it offers their unusually familiar blend of collective improvisation, songwriting, and electronic manipulation.
Who Stole The I Walkman?
is the most accurate representation to date of the balance Isotope 217 seeks to achieve between live performance and the recording process. That is, some songs such as "The Harmolodge" or "Sint_D" are well crafted compositions, while others, such as "Input" are live improvisations. The balance between the two is evident in a tune such as "Metabass", which was composed in the recording studio from a series of improvised tracks and compositional bits -- and illustrates Isotope 217's ability to create atmospheric electronica on a jazz foundation. Dan Bitney (percussion), John Herndon (percussion), Matthew Lux (bass), Rob Mazurek (cornet), Jeff Parker (guitar)."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Ovalprocess
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 081CD
"Markus Popp, a.k.a. Oval, is a mastermind of digital technology.
Ovalprocess
continues his elaborate manifesto of electronic music coupled with multimedia wizardry. This new release from Oval is a flowing, textured manuscript that utilizes sublime low end rhythm and directive pulsation in a manner that eases the listener into a soft and pillowy world dominated by electronic bleeps, glitches and moans.
Ovalprocess
equally represents an innovative music software application, designed by Popp, as much as it serves as the core engine to an innovative Oval sound installation. The installation is centered around one or several publicly accessible sound terminals running the
Ovalprocess
application, rendering the exhibit a customizable, collaborative workspace. Making the installation accessible in a public space is the ideal aesthetic that Popp craves-he feels it is far more effective than offering a CDRom or another option that would make the application available on a more individual basis. The
Ovalprocess
installation allows the public to use sounds that are found on the album to produce their own Oval-like music. His latest release displays Popp's talent at developing a deep and complex groove with seemingly difficult tools.
Ovalprocess
is best enjoyed at a loud volume. Oval's rich and round tones provide a Siren-like lure that is irresistible."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Ovalprocess
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 081LP
LP version.
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
You Can Always Get What You Want
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 082CD
"Trans Am opens their vaults, releasing the seven inch, twelve inch, live, and previously unreleased bonus tracks that people have been clamoring for for years on a colossal 17 track CD entitled
You Can Always Get What You Want
."
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
Decoration Day
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$8.00
Catalog #:
THR 083CD
"Town and Country's second release and their first on Thrill Jockey. It expands their all-acoustic instrumentation from the guitar, harmonium and 2 string basses of the first release to Josh Abrams on contrabass, piano and kalimba, Liz Payne on piano, snare drum and guitar, Jim Dorling on harmonium and celeste and Ben Vida on guitar and accordian. Seems they've coaxed their back-porch minimalism out into the café. The layered, unhurried drones developed on the first release now function to resolve through-composed pointillist melodies. Inspired by the music of Morton Feldman and Franco Batiato, Town and Country continues to present music in which the slightest changes are stongly felt, favoring timbral revelation over technical virtuosity."
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
The Golden Age
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 084CD
"
The Golden Age
continues the Conn/Thrill Jockey union in fine fashion as Bobby picks up where
Llovesongs
left off, inviting the listener to indulge in a world of leisure. It's a world that celebrates the salad days of FM radio in the 1970's, exploring the glam, disco, pop, rock and soul that decade of decadence is known for. Always a perfectionist Bobby spent a year & a half making
The Golden Age
, recording in studios with Jim O'Rourke, John McEntire and others."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Oui
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 086CD
"
Oui
marks the triumphant return of The Sea and Cake after a three-year absence which saw the members of the band pursue a variety of interests; musical, professional and personal. The line up of the band remains Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Eric Claridge and John McEntire.
Oui
is a pop album. From the opening measures of 'Afternoon Speaker' to the serendipitous nature of 'Everyday,'
Oui
is a graceful recording of elegance, revealing its charms quietly and continually upon each listen."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Red Line
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 087CD
"Trans Am's fifth album,
Red Line
, with twenty-one tracks spans over seventy-three minutes and features lush vocals, massive horns, tight electronic jams, guest musicians, acoustic guitar, soaring keyboards, in-your-face mixing, and occasional sitar for the most widely varied and complete Trans Am album to date."
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
It All Has To Do With It
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 088CD
"With two string basses, acoustic guitar, and portable acoustic keyboards (harmonium, celeste, accordion) as its basic instrumentation, Town and Country don't just strip down to the drum/bass/guitar logic of rock, they totally sidestep it. In the studio the standard rock method of recording basic rhythm tracks followed by adding overdubs does not work as well for a band without a rhythm section. Accordingly, the group took a year to compose and arrange the songs on this record and three days to record and mix. The finger-picked-guitar-with-drones approach of the first CD has evolved into a more dynamic, group-composed ensemble playing where no particular instrument carries the water and parts are through-composed rather than looped. Influences are Morton Feldman, John Fahey, Don Cherry, Franco Batiato, Gavia Bryars and Sonny Sharrock."
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
Standards
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 089CD
"
Standards
, the fourth full-length recording from Chicago's Tortoise, boldly announces their return following 1998's
TNT
. Musically,
Standards
is perhaps their most concise statement of purpose thus far. The tunes are direct and immediate, yet they maintain the exploratory edge that has always characterized the group's output. The fusion of instrumental sounds (electric, acoustic, and synthesized) is subtle and subversive. Similarly, the group's fluency within the studio environment gives the finished work a quality that alternates between artifice and reality."
Artist:
PULLMAN
Title:
Viewfinder
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 090CD
"Pullman formed several years ago as a result of a common interest in acoustic music by Chris Brokaw (Come), Curtis Harvey (Rex, The Letter E), Ken Brown (Directions) and Doug McCombs (Tortoise, Brokeback, Eleventh Dream Day). On
Viewfinder
, Pullman have broadened their sonic palette by adding drummer Tim Barnes (Jim O'Rourke) and incorporating electric instruments for the first time. This is shown to great affect on 'Wire and One Good Shoe' where the electric and acoustic guitars weave a brilliant tapestry of melody that does not betray Pullman's affinity for rustic soundscapes."
Artist:
BROKEBACK
Title:
Morse Code In The Modern Age: Across The Americas
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 091CD
"What originally began as a solo project for Doug McCombs (Eleventh Dream Day, Tortoise, Pullman), has increasingly become more and more of a collaborative effort, now officially a duo with the addition of bassist Noel Kupersmith (Chicago Underground Quartet). The new EP explores further collaborative territory, as Brokeback are joined by friends such as James McNew (Yo La Tengo), Mary Hansen (Stereolab), Alan Licht (Run On, Love Child, solo), Tim Folijahn (Two Dollar Guitar, Cat Power) and the Calexico duo of Joey Burns and John Convertino."
Artist:
MICROSTORIA
Title:
Model 3, Step 2
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 092CD
"
Model 3, Step 2
is a new studio album from digital specialists Microstoria, Markus Popp (Oval-innovator of augmented digital audio realities) and Jan St Werner (Mouse on Mars --the world's leading electronic structuralist pop group, and Lithops --the silent power plant of hybrid music arts).
Model 3, Step 2
is their most accessible collaboration so far. Still it is utterly impossible to trace their extremely manipulated sounds and compare them to anything else. Did anyone hear the guitar? Considerable time has passed since their critically acclaimed initial releases
Init Ding
(1995),
Snd
(1996) and their collaborative CD
Reprovisors
, in which tracks were rearranged and appropriated by a diverse group of musicians (Stereolab, FX Randomiz, Jim O'Rourke, C-Schulz & Hajsch and others). Popp has been busy writing new Oval music and working with Oval Process software and installations such as Skotodesk and Public Beta. Werner has toured extensively with Mouse on Mars and released several records on his Sonig label. The time apart has allowed them to diversify the source material and compose tracks individually in a much more deliberate way than previously.
Model 3, Step 2
consists of nine excursions into the world of downtempo speedcore. On all tracks source material was selected and created by Popp and Werner together. The duo gives to these abstract but always physical bodies of sound by shaping them into a song structure. It is an entirely individual way of understanding and presenting music. Even though their songs are precisely edited and arranged, Microstoria finds empathy among musicians whom play free music or jazz because of the broad tonal range and the shared desire to explore and exploit possibilities."
Artist:
MICROSTORIA
Title:
Model 3, Step 2
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 092LP
German Sonig pressing imported at domestic price by Thrill Jockey.
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND QUARTET
Title:
Chicago Underground Quartet
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 093CD
"This self titled release is the debut as a Quartet for the Chicago Underground collective. In addition to the already established Chicago Underground Duo of Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics) and Chad Taylor (percussion), the quartet model features Jeff Parker (Tortoise, Isotope 217) on guitar and Noel Kupersmith (Brokeback) on upright bass. For those familiar with the Chicago Underground Duo's recordings, Parker and Kupersmith add a lush, organic tone to the proceedings: abstract sonics meet gorgeous melody in this extraordinary sound collage. The Chicago Underground Quartet merges sound from disparate worlds that collide and caress in unexpected ways."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND QUARTET
Title:
Chicago Underground Quartet
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 093LP
Artist:
TAKEMURA/CHILD'S VIEW, NOBUKAZU
Title:
Hoshi No Koe
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 094CD
"
Hoshi No Koe
is released under Takemura's Child's View alias. The first Child's View release since 1997's
Child and Magic
,
Hoshi No Koe
sees Takemura exploring a number of different sounds that have captured his fancy throughout his career. From the baroque innocence of 'White Sheep and Small Light' to the digital deconstructionism of 'Honey Comb' Takemura draws inspiration from the legends of free jazz, hip-hop and contemporary musique concrete. Takemura's blips and bleeps bubble with exuberant personality. Few electronic composers should ever hope to create music so brimming with playful humanity."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Instrumentals
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 095CD
"Shortly after the release of the dance/ pop/ electronic juggernaut
Autoditacker
, Mouse on Mars issued a sixty-minute album called
Instrumentals
. Composed between 1995 and 1997 and released exclusively on vinyl, the limited pressing of 1300 copies flew off the shelves and three years after the fact,
Instrumentals
remains out of print. Thrill Jockey is taking steps in the national relief effort with the re-release of the sought-after
Instrumentals
album on CD.
Instrumentals
is assorted sonic and psychic electronic particles bursting and inflating, overlapping and elevating. Each composition is deceptively complicated, consistently engaging and irrefutably danceable. The thralls and trills of
Instrumentals
are both a direct and indirect nod to the flavor of Peter Thomas compositions ('Rompatroullie'), and the album itself remains an important chapter in the quest to create an organic electronica. Sound without bounds, details without regrets! Mouse on Mars has been called the Parliament/Funkadelic of the new millennium, and who are we to argue?"
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Idiology
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 098CD
"From their beginnings in 1992, Cologne native Jan St Werner and Dusseldorfer Andi Toma have consistently challenged electronic music's paradigm in often surprising and always intriguing ways.
Idiology
is the duo's seventh album and is no exception to this rule, as MoM surround themselves with strings, woodwinds, brass and the band's own heavily modified fleet of machines in the St. Martin's Tonstudio. Fans should once again brace themselves for the inevitable shock of the new as Germany's most irreverent audio renegades have created the perfect soundtrack for a highly sinister dance party. Kicking off with 'Actionist Respoke', the album's first single, MoM officially declare their independence from glitchtronica's shoegazing legions. Longtime collaborator Dodo Nkishi lends a uniquely warped vocal sensibility to the track which already features MoM's darkest grooves to date. The rest of the album continues to thicken the group's sonic stew. Tracks such as 'Presence' and 'Catching Butterflies With Hands' have their populist intentions undermined by Werner and Toma's meddling hands, while the duo reprise their flirtation with the orchestral as heard on the opening tracks from 2000's
Niun Niggung
. At the other end of the spectrum, 'Introduce' is a truly evil slice of twisted lympho-zoid hip-hop.
Idiology
takes no prisoners in its dual-pronged assault on the conventions of modern music. Only with the loungy closing number, 'Fantastic Analysis' (a term Werner and Toma invented to describe their working process), do Mouse on Mars let the arrangements breathe a long sigh of relief, the calm after the storm. To enable these stylistic achievements MoM enlist the help of partners in crime such as: Nkishi, the multi-talented Harald 'Sack' Ziegler, house icon Matthew Herbert on piano, violinist Matty Arouse, in addition to fellow programming wizards Adam 'Vert' Butler and F.X. Randomiz."
Artist:
ALL NATURAL
Title:
Second Nature
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 099CD
"All Natural puts the basic principals of hip-hop to practice with each beat made, rhyme written and scratch laid.
Second Nature
is the essence of hip-hop past, present and future. Conceptually, the album goes beyond the usual underground topics of freestyling and battling, Capital D and Tone lead by example as the source of excellence that embodies The Family Tree. True to the spirit of all great hip-hop, All Natural invite the talents of The Family Tree and other likeminded Midwestern hip-hop pioneers: The Molemen, Dug Infinite & No I.D., Atmosphere, Lone Catalysts, Mr. Greenweedz, DJ 3rd Rail, and J.U.I.C.E. all make appearances on
Second Nature
."
Artist:
VA
Title:
Looking for a Thrill: An Anthology of Inspiration
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
DVD
Price:
$18.00
Catalog #:
THR 100DVD
"The idea for
Looking for a Thrill
came when label owner Bettina Richards was preparing for the tenth anniversary of Thrill Jockey. Rather than putting together a retrospective on the label, a larger question arose: why do people start labels, and what keeps them going though all the distribution and financial challenges? What got the musicians we work with and admire into music, and what in addition to the joys inherent in the creative process keeps them going? Can you pinpoint the source of someone's passion for music? It seemed so simple and so universal and so rarely addressed by a media focused on commercial success -- the immeasurable energy and motivation derived from an inspiring musical moment. It is that blast of energy, the thrill of discovery that opens a door to many entire personal musical adventures. What if we were able to collect the people who had given us such moments and find out what those moments were for them? We approached filmmaker Braden King in the hopes he might find such an endeavor interesting and worth pursuing. His reaction was immediate and positive. The next step was to approach the musicians and people that we admire who work in music. Participants were given a simple task -- to talk about a musical moment that inspired them. This simple request yielded a wealth of responses. Some chose to talk about a record or a show that was the catalyst for them pursue a career in the arts. Others chose a moment that re-solidified their commitment to music when that commitment was in question. Some chose not a performance or a record but a fellow musician whose life and music are consistent sources of inspiration. Collectively, the stories provide a window of understanding to the energy behind inspiration and creativity. Features in total 112 intensely personal interviews with many of independent music's biggest stars. Those featured include: Ian MacKay, Steve Albini, Mike Watt, Bjork, Yo La Tengo, Vic Chesnutt, Brian Mahan (Slint), Jon Langford, Thurston Moore, Jon Spencer, David Yow (The Jesus Lizard)."
Artist:
ANDERSON & ROBERT BARRY, FRED
Title:
Duets 2001
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 101CD
"Born 1929 in Monroe, Louisiana, tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson came to Chicago in the late 1930s where he would leave an indelible mark on the city's jazz scene of the last 40 years. Drummer Robert Barry is one of Chicago's best known freelance drummers. Perhaps he is best known for his work with Sun Ra, having been a founding member of the Arkestra and playing with him off and on from 1950 to 1978. After having performed together only once before, this historic performance was recorded at Chicago's Empty Bottle in May of 1999. Anderson described the night as 'one of those rare moments when everything comes together.' This is truly evident on the album, as Barry notes the tunes' 'great momentum' as the set wears on. Anderson and Barry found a musical language of uncommon understanding that night."
Artist:
ANDERSON & ROBERT BARRY, FRED
Title:
Duets 2001
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 101LP
LP version.
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
Ovalcommers
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 103CD
"The 6th full length release from Markus Popp (aka Oval) finds this world renowned digital mastermind extending the concept & musical platform of last year's acclaimed
Ovalprocess
in every way. Exploring a spectrum of sounds between the abrasive sandblast of neo desktop rock (tracks 1-3) and the alienating, timeless splendor of DSP chamber music. In between there are unique excursions in folk electronica (track 4) and pop inflected wall-of-sound tunes that could only come from the mind of Oval. Popp describes Ovalcommers as a 3D musical obstacle course, a friendly and accessible invitation to complexity.
Ovalcommers
surprises with poetic and playful elements (organs and layers of guitar feedback), making room for understatement, sophistication and a new, almost absentmindedly casual atmosphere. Haunting emulations of processed brass, string and woodwind sections are carefully added to the otherwise still angular desktop rock. Listeners will leave
Ovalcommers
with a new perspective on Oval in general, as Popp's strategy becomes clearly visible: A friendly, yet relentless fanaticism to experiment and innovate musically."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
Axis & Alignment
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 106CD
"
Axis & Alignment
represents the 7th release by the Chicago Underground collective, and 3rd for the duo of Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics) and Chad Taylor (percussion). The Duo's last album, 2000's
Synesthesia
, found Mazurek and Taylor fully integrating elements of electronica and studio manipulation with great success.
Axis & Alignment
was recorded after a year of extensive touring with Isotope 217 and the recording and release of the Chicago Underground Quartet's debut album. These influences inform the melodic, lively compositions found on
Axis & Alignment
. Those who have seen the Duo live have borne witness to Chad Taylor's astounding performance on drum kit and vibraphone, which he often plays simultaneously. 'Microexit' leads the album off with one of Taylor's most haunting vibraphone melodies and perfectly segues into the shapeshifting techno-influenced polyrhythms of 'Lifelines', where Mazurek's cornet melody wraps around the percussion.
Axis & Alignment
is one of the most listenable, yet avant-garde recordings to come from Chicago's fertile Underground."
Artist:
TRANS CHAMPS
Title:
Double Exposure
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 107CD
"Trans Am was first exposed to the Champs in 1997 during the drive from Portland to The Champs' hometown of San Francisco. The final product of this unholy alliance is a collaboration in a pure sense of the word. No track on
Double Exposure
features less than one member of either band. This arrangement allowed the members of each band to stretch out and explore new dimensions in sound."
Artist:
PREWITT, ARCHER
Title:
Three
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 108CD
"Prewitt is an accomplished illustrator, comic artist (
Sof' Boy
is published by Drawn and Quarterly.), guitarist for the Coctails and The Sea & Cake. Inspired by Emmett Rhodes, Roy Harper, Beatles, Impressions, and the Bee Gees, Prewitt writes classic pop tunes.
Three
is Archer's most refined effort to date. The romantic sentiments and lean arrangements of his classic pop tunes should not be mistaken for simplicity. Such assumptions would ignore the serious craftsmanship of his songwriting and performance. It is a credit to the considerable talents of Prewitt (producing, performing and writing) that
Three
bounces along effortlessly."
Artist:
PREWITT, ARCHER
Title:
Three
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 108LP
LP version.
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
TA
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 109CD
"On
TA
, Trans Am's 6th album, the Washington DC based trio take a trip back to the future. It was a time when the Soviet Union was the greatest threat to national security; Don Johnson valiantly fought the war on drugs every week during prime-time in a pastel colored wardrobe; and the year 2002 still seemed like a far-off land of flying cars, holographs and vacations on the Moon. That is if we weren't blown to bits in a nuclear holocaust first. Opening cuts 'Cold War' and 'Molecules' reveal influences like New Order, The Cars, Midnight Star, Funk Carioca and George McRae pushed to the breaking point by abusive studio wizardry and aggressive mixes."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
TA
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 109LP
LP version.
Artist:
PARISH, JOHN
Title:
How Animals Love
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 110CD
"In nearly two decades of impeccable work, Parish has always done jobs where proficiency is tantamount to anonymity. Parish produced and contributed to the critically acclaimed albums
It's A Wonderful Life
by Sparklehorse, Goldfrapp's
Felt Mountain
and Giant Sand's
Chore Of Enchantment
. He is perhaps known best for his collaborations with PJ Harvey, which span nearly two decades. His involvement and influence on her records is multifaceted: co-producer, featured musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, touring band mainstay."
Artist:
THE NATIONAL TRUST
Title:
Dekkagar
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 111CD
"Delivering on its promise of lush vocal harmonies, pillowy percussion and imagery with the saturation of a sunset over the ocean. The listener inhales the world of Dekkagar, from the first steamy keyboard/bongo interweavings of 'Making Love in the Natural Light' to the sweeping orchestrations and Buffalo Springfield aura of 'First Time That.' The National Trust formulated as complete and multifaceted a musical universe as you will hear this year."
Artist:
RADIAN
Title:
Rec. Extern
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 113CD
"John Norman: bass, Stefan Nemeth: synthesizer, computer, Martin Brandlmayr: drums, vibraphone, computer. The Vienna trio Radian formed in 1996. For its full length debut
TG11
the band choose to issue the record as a joint release on both Rhiz and Pita's Mego labels. In the beginning of 2002 Radian traveled to Chicago to record their second full length,
Rec.Extern
with friend and fan John McEntire. Before even heading into the studio the band had conscientiously made the decision to make a record that was more 'organic' than previous efforts.
Rec.Extern
began with 'real' atmosphere samples like an old elevator, the sound of train station, and in the event you can smell the sweat, their rehearsal room.
Rec.Extern
finds the band in a crisp, compelling rhythmic space, crackling and bouncing."
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
C'mon
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 114CD
"
C'mon
is Town and Country's 2nd full length for Thrill Jockey, and 3rd album overall. This album picks up where 2000's
It All Has To Do With It
left off finding the group fine-tuning and expanding the timbre of their all-acoustic/no electronic line up. For
C'mon
their string-bass/acoustic guitar core is augmented by Jim Dorling's move from harmonium to bass clarinet which he often plays in tandem with Ben Vida's cornet. In addition Liz Payne's adept handling of the hand chimes gives the record an other-worldly feel in conjunction with Josh Abrams' work on the celeste. Compositionally, Town and Country have shifted as well. Their songs were often noted for their length as much as their beauty, but for
C'mon
the quartet has constructed 7 songs in 40 minutes time.
C'mon
is the result of an entire year's labor of love. The album also begins to reveal some heretofore unmentioned influences as well: the work of Arthur Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, and Eno's recordings in the 1970's for the Obscure label mesh with Town and Country's already original and minimally lush sound."
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
It's All Around You
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 115CD
"
It's All Around You
finds Tortoise doing what they do best; building and rebuilding upon melodies and rhythms with their own remarkable touch. Written largely in the studio,
It's All Around You
was crafted over the course of a full year, and allowed Tortoise the use of John McEntire's Soma Electronic Music Studios (whose clients have included Wilco, Stereolab among others) in serving not just as a state-of-the-art recording facility, but as a compositional tool as well. It took months of continuous writing, recording, tinkering, mixing, and perfecting to bring
It's All Around You
to it's finalized state. The results of this process are clear in the lush, orchestrated tones, intricate melodies, and densely elaborate rhythms that make
It's All Around You
Tortoise's most adventurous and thoughtful record to date. These songs build deliberately and consistently, amassing music of great detail; exploring their layers is both exciting and infinitely rewarding."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
One Bedroom
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 116CD
"
One Bedroom
sounds refreshingly new for a band's sixth record, yet it is not without moments of familiarity. The record feels like a stroll down the finest moments of the band's career, though it is still another step forward into the evolving 'sound' one has come to associate with the band. The cuffing guitar notes simply woven together, the melodic, propulsive and rhythmic drumming, the swirling sound of synthesizers and the distinct vocals that float in and out fluctuating between lazy delivery and full on falsetto-drawing you in on the records first track, only to have you completely hooked by it's second."
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Kila Kila Kila
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 117CD
"The newest release from Japan's category splitting OOIOO (pronounced oh-oh-eye-oh-oh) and their first for Thrill Jockey. OOIOO features Yoshimi, one of the most interesting avant-rock artists making music today. OOIOO has always been the best outlet from Yoshimi to articulate her unique talents, and the swirling, dreamy tunes of
Kila Kila Kila
are the most skilled showcase of her vision as an artists to date.
Kila Kila Kila
is a perfect combination of the chaotic poppy grooves for which Yoshimi is known, and the psychedelic freak-outs of the Boredoms.
Kila Kila Kila
is the perfect antidote to the legions of watered-down drone pop, and a natural heater for an otherwise cold winter."
Artist:
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:
10th
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 118CD
"
10th
begins where Takemura's more recent work --
Sing
and
Hoshi No Koe
-- left off, more playful than abstract. The most striking element of
10th
is the presence of vocals. The vocals are created using the technology speech-synth. This is a technology created for the physically handicapped making it easier for them to communicate. And in Takemura's hands the technology sings, yet you're never sure if it is processed or it he is singing. Whatever the case, this free-spirited interaction is the essence of
10th
. Inspired by the nature of Takemura's surroundings, Kyoto, Japan the record flows like a stream, twisting and turning in unexpected ways, ending peacefully in Lake Yoga. So grab a copy and prepare to be transported to a magical world that could only exist in your mind."
Artist:
IRWIN, CATHERINE
Title:
Cut Yourself A Switch
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 119CD
"
Cut Yourself A Switch
marks the first solo album by Catherine Irwin, perhaps best known for her work in Freakwater.
Cut Yourself a Switch
owes more in tone and timbre to the high lonesome sound of folks like the Carter Family, Hazel Dickens and Roscoe Holcomb then to any contemporary country movement. Catherine's vocals have been compared to Sarah Carter, Hazel Dickens, and Melba Montgomery, and her songwriting has been praised for it's mixture of dark humor and dark humorlessness moving between 'word-play' style and straight forward storytelling."
Artist:
BROKEBACK
Title:
Looks At The Bird
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 120CD
"Brokeback began when Douglas McCombs set out to create music in a less dense and structured environment then that of his other musical outfits at the time, Tortoise and Eleventh Dream Day. Yet contradictory to the 'loose' structure of
Morse
, the focus of
Looks at The Bird
was for more traditional arrangements, All the songs maintain a verse-chorus-verse progression along with a strong metered underpinning. The arrangements are layered with strings and keyboard elements, as well as vocals, drums and rhythm programming. Brokeback's
Looks at the Bird
should nestle comfortably into your record collection between those Air and Coltrane records."
Artist:
BEAN, JANET
Title:
Dragging Wonder Lake
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 121CD
Performed with the Concertina Wire. "Janet Bean has a gift for penning melodic and distinctive music. Born in Florida and coming of age in Kentucky, Ms. Bean was influenced by the regional American music she heard there, as well as the punk music of the time. A multi-instrumentalist, Janet sings as well as plays drums in Eleventh Dream Day. With
Dragging Wonder Lake
, Ms. Bean has created a record that speaks in an entirely new voice. This voice is more assured and open than the voices she conjured on any previous work. The album is comprised of songs that chronicle personal and allegorical elements from Bean's life. The Concertina Wire is an outstanding group of Chicago musicians. These range from well-known free improvisers Fred Lonberg-Holm and Jim Baker to veteran accompanists John Abbey, Jon Speigel and Dan Leali."
Artist:
CALIFONE
Title:
Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 122CD
"Perhaps it was a year of touring, most recently with Wilco, or perhaps it is this combination of players, but the album brims with confidence. These songs are remindful of those written in the 70's, when blues and country blues were more prevalent influences on groups, like Fleetwood Mac or the Stones. The creative percussive touches, guitar treatments, and technical glitchery give the album it's distinct sound. The highly imaginative lyrical imagery is multi-leveled, open to more than one interpretation, Califone finds absurdity and liberation in the dark side of life,
Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
is rugged and elegant, dark and optimistic, familiar end entirely new. In a word it is beautiful."
Artist:
TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU
Title:
Assembler/Assembler 2
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 123CD
"
Assembler
is the second part of a three record explosion Nobukazu Takemura is unleashing in 2003. All three records mark two years of recording at Takemura's home studio in Kyoto, Japan and are certain to put him ahead of the pack in the electronic field. For fans of Takemura's
Scope
,
Assembler
will be a welcome release, as it moves back towards his more minimal pieces. Journalists have had a hard time hanging a specific tag onto Takemura's releases, having settled mostly on defining them as 'playful' and 'accessible' or 'challenging' and 'seminal' depending on the incarnation."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Glass
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 125CD
"Recorded shortly after completing their acclaimed
One Bedroom
,
Glass
is worlds apart. A tasty surprise for those who think they know The Sea and Cake. The final three tracks and video on
Glass
are songs from
One Bedroom
reinterpreted by Stereolab, Broadcast, Carl Craig and illustrator Richard McGuire. While the first three names will sound instantly recognizable to music fans, the last may not. Richard is the former bassist in the band, Liquid Liquid."
Artist:
LONESOME ORGANIST, THE
Title:
Forms and Follies
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 126CD
"Welcome to the wonderful world of Jeremy Jacobsen.
Forms and Follies
the third album by the musical phenom otherwise known as The Lonesome Organist. These songs feature The Lonesome Organist playing drums, guitar, singing, and playing keys all at once. What a feat! It was antics such as these that drew attentions of fans such as Tom Waits and David Bowie.
Forms and Follies
will be accompanied by a flip book so the listener at home can wallow in the splendor. A truly singular artist with a taste for the vaudevillian, The Lonesome Organist manages to reinvent himself with every release-expanding his musical forms far beyond the novelty of their delivery."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Glam
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 127CD
"
Glam
features fifteen densely atmospheric tracks which were initially composed as a film score for a Hollywood love and drug movie of the same name starring Tony Danza and Ali MacGraw. The music was built around the director's cut and in a parallel chain of events the music was rejected by the director and the movie was rejected by the studio, sending it straight to video. However,
Glam
works as an album of its own, presenting the band's most intricate and subtle compositions. The CD version of
Glam
comes with three bonus tracks not on the vinyl version."
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
5
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 128CD
"Like many of the innovators who have carved out sub genre's in music over the last few years (IDM and Post-Rock quickly spring to mind), Town and Country along with bands like Threnody Ensemble and The Rachel's have carved out a niche based around classical and modern classical composition. All of the pieces on
5
were composed prior to recording, though some entered the studio in a more complete form than others. All selections are entirely acoustic, and experimentation continues to be employed in most Town and Country compositions. There are two types of songs on
5
. The first being the concise simple chamber pieces and the second being more sprawling trance pieces. The recording process is simply tour people in a room with acoustic instruments -- no studio tricks, gimmicks, computers or samples -- in fact no amplification at all. The band pride themselves in the ideas put forth creating music of this nature."
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
5
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 128LP
LP version.
Artist:
PARKER, JEFF
Title:
The Relatives
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 129CD
"Jeff Parker is a member of the genre-splitting outfit Tortoise and has also played in the Chicago Underground Quartet/Trio, as well as the fusion leaning Isotope 217. Parker is one independent jazz's most in-demand guitarists He is widely considered it's most versatile guitarist and is gigging constantly throughout the world.
The Relatives
is Jeff Parker's first solo record on Thrill Jockey, but his second solo record to date. The first was released on legendary blues and jazz label, Delmark."
Artist:
SO
Title:
So
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 130CD
"So began in 2002 with the pair of Eri and Markus Popp (Oval, Microstoria) working together as a true symmetrical duo with both members equally contributing to the songwriting and electronic processing. An absolute departure from Oval, So's debut CD is a melodic, at times soothing technological demonstration. The album began as a reworking of a song cycle from Eri's archives. These archives are comprised of a vast collection of diverse materials she recorded in her parents' house in Mito-City, Japan. The sounds represent a significant departure from the dense, abrasion of Oval's ground-breaking
Commers
series, and instead moves towards more airy and organic tones. The inclusion of vocals and live instrumentation allow for So's music to expand far beyond the constraints of the purely digital.
So
derives its momentum from an almost constant confrontation with Markus and Eri's conceptualizations and implementations of music. The actual collaborative process is more a resemblance of an 18th century naval battle than a convenient exercise in file sharing. It is fundamentally different to Oval recordings which are linear and strategic on the planning board, while So lost the compass from the beginning and is more a free project."
Artist:
ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Title:
Prairie School Freakout
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD/CD-ROM
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 131CD
"2003 marks the 20th Anniversary of Eleventh Dream Day (EDD) and the 15th Anniversary of this ground breaking album.
Prarie School Freakout
is considered by many their landmark album, and one of the great rock records to come out of the Chicagoland and Midwest music scene. Doug McCombs is now a member of Tortoise and is one-half of the duo Brokeback. Included is the hard to find
Wayne EP
, extensive liner notes by Byron Coley, deluxe fold out booklet and a bonus CDROM with live footage."
Artist:
LITHOPS
Title:
Scrypt
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 132CD
"Lithops is the solo outlet of Jan St. Werner from the Cologne based Mouse on Mars.
Scrypt
begins by extending its relentless sound to more consistent -- yet bizarre -- sound configurations and even greater compositional extremity.
Scrypt
creates a roadmap along which the music evolves towards structured examples of a multi-linear paradigm. The route itself runs in parallel within the music; every scriptable motion is matched by a layered countermotion across the duration of the pieces. Minute edits of off-time slamming grain sounds, feedback tips, guitar bursts and bass flange accelerations conspire with harmonic distortions, burbling forth melodic eccentricities and sudden harmonic changes, occasionally introducing brass arrangements. Blast-punctured streams of organ chord changes spell out melodies, while sub-style attacking bass concludes and infects the structure of the tracks. Drums are intercut to create shuddering explosions of precise deconstruction. Each piece has its own circuit board floor plan, allowing a high degree of listenability. Lithops' lowed down grind core improv derivatives spit out non linear rhythm ms, immediately unravelling the predictability of the usual speed metal and free jazz exercises with which they might be compared."
Artist:
BYRNE, DAVID
Title:
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 133CD
"
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
is the soundtrack to the film
Young Adam
, and features original compositions by David Bryne. David was contacted by the team of Hercules and Jeremy (Recorded Picture Company) about scoring the soundtrack to their adaptation of the 1954 novel by Scottish beat writer Alex Trocchi. Instead of using NY or London players, David decided to travel to Scotland to record, assembling a group of musicians from Glasgow in particular. His hope was that the score might then capture the weird tentative vibe that seemed to he emanating from a town that was simultaneously in the midst of a cultural revival and 'drinking to throw up' imbibing. In mixing came the realization that the background sounds of the film were in many cases, an extension of the ambient sounds the band were trying replicate. A seamless interpretation of music and film. In many ways the perfect soundtrack. As so often is the case, much of the music is not actually heard on the film, so this record represents another film, one with even less dialogue and a lot more music."
Artist:
BYRNE, DAVID
Title:
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 133LP
LP version.
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Radical Connector
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 134CD
"Mouse On Mars' unique way of creating music demonstrates that intelligence and playfulness are not mutually exclusive terms. Their music is both challenging and funny -- complexly layered yet with a simple driving beat. Mouse On Mars has a unique vision and a unique way of expressing this vision, resulting in an unmistakable sound which functions on a universal level and makes people move their minds and their bodies. In a musical genre not noted for longevity, Mouse On Mars has not only found their own distinctive voice, but have remained a farce of imaginative innovations for a decade. The new album
Radical Connector
includes nine new tracks which took Jan and Andi three years to write and produce in their famous St. Martin studio In Düsseldorf. Long-time musical collaborator Dada Nkishi was part of the recording team once again, and the album features both his drumming and his strangely recorded vocals."
Artist:
MOUSE ON MARS
Title:
Radical Connector
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 134LP
LP version.
Artist:
CALIFONE
Title:
Heron King Blues
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 135CD
"For this recording the band set out to make a record like Captain Beefheart's
Mirror Man
, entering the studio with a blank canvas and laying things down quickly. The resulting songs combine the bands more pop-oriented qualities alongside their more spaced out ethereal thoughts; these most often found on their
Deceleration
releases available on the bands own label, Perishable. The resulting sessions led to songs that were improvised or written immediately before recording, and within days a series of raw, live recordings had been completed. From there the initial recordings were chopped up, mixed around, and reassembled into the final product: a beautifully lush and patient masterpiece."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND TRIO
Title:
Slon
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 136CD
"
Slon
features Rob Mazurek on cornet and laptop, Noel Kupersmith on bass and laptop, and Chad Taylor on drums. The record, a mixture of acoustic, electronic, and electro-acoustic music. Like many Jazz records which were crafted as reaction to civil and political injustices taking place in the world,
Slon
is an anti-war record. The war on Iraq started a couple of days into the tour and it had a profound influence on the group and their music."
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
The Homeland
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 137CD
"Bobby Conn is back this time with a vengeance.
The Homeland
is first and foremost a rock record. Clad in glam attire, Mr. Conn, a consummate entertainer, pays homage to rock and roll's excesses. Paradoxically Mr. Conn's lyrics read like a Michael Moore letter. Lampooning the sacred cow of American values has always been a calling card of Mr. Conn.
The Homeland
continues Bobby's long running commentary on consumerism as culture."
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
The Homeland
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 137LP
LP version, gatefold sleeve.
Artist:
BAND OF BLACKY RANCHETTE, THE
Title:
Still Lookin Good To Me
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 138CD
"The first Band of Blacky Ranchette album was released back in 1983, and was a product of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) and Rainer Ptacek. Like the X offshoot, The Knitters, BBR began as an outgrowth of Howe and Rainer wanting to explore and play music of a country and western vibe. By christening themselves BBR, they gave themselves a forum to try new ideas, embrace other styles of music and invite other folks to join in and collaborate. While the memories of BBR seemed distant to Howe, it was never far from his mind. Recently he found himself collaborating with a number of various musicians, so late last year he began sowing the seeds for a new BBR record. Wrangling together a host of A list collaborators Howe recorded whenever and wherever possible: Kurt from Lambchop, Neko Case, M Ward, and Chan Marshall."
Artist:
BAND OF BLACKY RANCHETTE, THE
Title:
Still Lookin Good To Me
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 138LP
LP version.
Artist:
ANDERSON & HAMID DRAKE, FRED
Title:
Back Together Again
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 139CD
"Sometimes the most obvious projects -- the ones that are sure to work -- are the ones that keep getting put off. Worst case scenario: they never happen. The notion of recording tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer Hamid Drake as a duo is something that has been kicked around for years, simply because they play so beautifully together. And of course they've recorded together many times, particularly in recent years, releasing CDs on Okka Disk, Eremite, Delmark, and elsewhere. But always in the company of others. The Anderson-Drake relationship always provides a nucleus for those ensembles. Here, then, for the first time, are Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake: pure, unadulterated nucleus."
Artist:
STICKS AND STONES
Title:
Shed Grace
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 140CD
"Jazz trio Sticks and Stones formed years ago when drummer Chad Taylor, bassist Josh Abrams and alto saxophonist Matana Roberts met each other at a performance space in Chicago. Their second and newest release,
Shed Grace
, is their first on Thrill Jockey. It was recorded at Semaphore Studios with Ken B. Brown (Directions in Music, Tortoise, Pullman).
Shed Grace
is largely original compositions (songwriting split equally among the three). The eclectic selection of covers includes songs by Fela Kuti, Thelonious Monk, and Billy Strayhorn."
Artist:
TRAPIST
Title:
Ballroom
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 141CD
"Trapist is the Vienna based trio comprised of Joe Williamson on bass, Martin Siewart on guitar and Martin Brandlmayr on drums. The band recorded the basic tracks for
Ballroom
in one day, once again relying on improvisation for the direction of the songs. Trapist then brought the recording into their home studio where they overdubbed and drastically edited the resulting record. Using a variety of instruments including the vibraphone, a collection of synthesizers and modulators, as well as a few software-based treatments, the band gave even more life to their improvised recordings. Together the members of Trapist are a group of experienced improvisors who collectively like to explore and question familiar surroundings and contexts for both art and music. Thinking not only of melody and emotional elements in music, Trapist look additionally at structures and forms."
Artist:
THE NATIONAL TRUST
Title:
Kings and Queens
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 143CD
"
Kings and Queens
is a freaky conflation of dance music, like a 31-flavor ice cream social on a hot summer's day where bongos and subs keep time for a gaggle of face-painters, genies and roller-queens, but it's more about lifestyle than any generic allegiance or retro revivalism. The National Trust calls it 'body music.'
Kings and Queens
makes plenty of nods to disco, house, and pop. Equally present on
Kings and Queens
are Chicago-style horns, R&B falsetto, Latino percussion and bass lines with more soul than a gospel choir; and the presence of these styles on
Kings and Queens
is more than just imitation, but rather the contributions of practiced players from each of many genres."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Liberation
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 144CD
"
Liberation
is their new record (7th overall) and the first album on which politics have crept into their music. Their position is unambiguous. Recorded in summer and fall of 2003 at the band's own National Recording Studio,
Liberation
reflects the tension coursing through the city. While New York's skyline is the most radically altered in the past three years, life in Washington is palpably different as well since 9/11. The hum of swirling helicopters, the din of police sirens, and a culture of fear have become omnipresent in Washington DC. Musically
Liberation
is classic Trans Am. Styles continue to shift from track to track, culling from vocabulary familiar to fans of their previous 6th records."
Artist:
MARTIN, JIMMY
Title:
Don't Cry To Me
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 145CD
"
Don't Cry to Me
is the companion release to the film
The King of Bluegrass
, both of which chronicle the life and times of Bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin. The film tells the story of Jimmy's lifelong quest to reach his dream in becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Known for his flamboyant dress, crazed hunting trips, and brash behavior, Martin is the rebel figure of bluegrass music. Culled from a variety of sources, both old and new, these recordings showcase the amazing talents of a man who once served as lead singer and guitarist for Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, and helped in developing the 'High Lonesome Sound' that is so widely regarded today."
Artist:
MARTIN, JIMMY
Title:
Don't Cry To Me
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 145LP
LP version.
Artist:
PREKOP, SAM
Title:
Who's Your New Professor
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 146CD
"Five years after Sam Prekop stepped out of the tall shadow of The Sea and Cake to drop his debut record, he returns with another masterpiece of breezy, crisp offbeat pop perfection with his second release. For
Who's Your New Professor
Prekop set out to make a record that was completely different than anything he had done before. To achieve this Sam used a variety of unconventional guitar tunings and actively stepped away from familiar vocal and rhythmic patterns. He consciously tried to get away from the Brazilian influence, though he admits
'it did seep in occasionally'
. The other major thing was that instead of thinking about the vocals as the last step in the creative process, he thought about them first."
Artist:
RADIAN
Title:
Juxtaposition
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 147CD
"The bulk of preparation for both the electronica and standard instrumentation on
Juxtaposition
took place in Radian's Vienna studio. The band first collected and created sounds of different sources -- mostly instruments like drums, bass, guitar vibraphone, and marimbaphone. They then recorded these instruments in unusual ways, like 'microrecording' the sound sources through synthesizer patches. Next Radian carefully arranged these electronics to work within their performances on live instruments of drums, bass and synthesizers. Finally Radian brought their complete electronic arrangement to Chicago's Soma studios where John McEntire recorded the drums and bass. These parts were added to the electronics according to Radian's arrangements. A painstaking and time consuming process, but one that offers the listener many rewards."
Artist:
ZEDEK, THALIA
Title:
Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch of Madness
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 148CD
"The band is made up of Daniel Coughlin (drums) and Dave Curry (viola), both of whom play with an assurance and familiarity which add mournful viola and driving drums to the hypnotic rhythms of Zedek's guitar and deliberate vocals. Her songs, like the blues, speak not about the struggle to survive, but to the struggle of surviving. This is not a surprise coming from Thalia Zedek, an artist of enduring quality, who is one of the most compelling and strong performers wielding a guitar today."
Artist:
ZEDEK, THALIA
Title:
Trust Not Those in Whom Without Some Touch of Madness
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 148LP
LP version.
Artist:
PREWITT, ARCHER
Title:
Wilderness
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 149CD
"Prewitt's guitar work is integral to the sound of his other band, The Sea and Cake, as it is for his solo work. However, here on his own, Prewitt manages to find an entirely different tone and timbre. Compared to his previous releases, the songs on
Wilderness
are primarily spare with more focused and refined arrangements. These leaner settings highlight Archer's vocals and more personal lyrics. 'O, KY' addresses the loss of Prewitt's father, 'No More' and 'Way of the Sun' reveal bleak post-9/11 melancholy, 'Go Away' seems like a swan song, and a number of the others continue with Prewitt's love affair with love affairs -- the good and the bad."
Artist:
FREAKWATER
Title:
Thinking of You
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 150CD
"Using their own uniquely askew take on honky-tonk, bluegrass, and country-politan, Freakwater invariably make records easily distinguishable from one another while maintaining their signature sound. On
Thinking of You
they join together with Thrill Jockey label mates Califone, creating an album both modern and timeless in its instrumentation and sentiment. Lyrically, Freakwater continue to write about heartache and sadness, yet also touch on subjects not often broached in traditional country music.
Thinking Of You
, a phrase not usually weighted with menace, takes on an increasingly ominous, compelling tone with each new listen."
Artist:
ZINCS, THE
Title:
Dimmer
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 151CD
"Lead by expatriate Jim Elkington (of the British-based bands Sophia and Elevate), The Zincs play brooding pop music rooted in the mysterious sounds of America and Britain to which the band grew up listening. In 2000, Elkington was lured from England by Chicago's lush music scene and began to experiment with the songwriting style that would lead to his forming The Zincs.
Dimmer
also showcases a wide range of songwriting styles. The songs 'Bad Shepherds' and 'Passengers' are influenced by '60s English and American folk music, from Pentangle to Michael Hurley, while 'Beautiful Lawyers' marks a transition from older, more familiar acoustic material towards a more layered blend of guitars and electronics. Yet at the core of Dimmer lie Elkington's soothing vocals which land somewhere between Leonard Cohen and a hangover-ridden David Bowie. His vibrato-tinged, baritone voice floats effortlessly over Spanish style guitars and melodic keyboard bleeps and drones, setting the tone of the intimate and heart-felt album."
Artist:
EXTRA GOLDEN
Title:
Ok-Oyot System
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 153CD
"Extra Golden is an international collaboration between members of two bands: Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Omari of the Nairobi, Kenya based benga band Orchestra Extra Solar Africa, and Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff of the Washington D.C. based rock bands Weird War and Golden. The musicians met as a result of Ian's doctoral research on Kenyan music. The result is a unique sounding record that arose from the cooperation between musicians that come from different circumstances, but who, at the same time, have something in common: they play in electric guitar bands and perform in bars and nightclubs. Extra Golden is not a high-profile international collaboration of the sort that would be featured at Starbucks checkout counters. Rather, it is based on a deep connection between the musicians, and, as a result, has a very honest sound reflecting this experience."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
Shakey
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 154CD
"Pit er Pat is Rob Doran (bass, vocals), Fay Davis-Jeffers (keyboards, vocals) and Butchy Fuego (drums, vocals). There was something striking about the dynamic of the sound the three of them made, something unusually compelling about this rhythm section. Without the singer/guitarist, this sound allowed the space to be heard. The end result is a constant propelling of rhythm and melody steeped in innumerable influences and emotions. Like the Hairy Who movement the band so admires, Pit er Pat can be described as an expressive work of fantastic adventure; compelling, arousing and mysterious. Recommended to fans of The Raincoats, early Soft Machine, New Age Steppers, Slap Happy and Blonde Redhead."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
Shakey
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 154LP
LP version.
Artist:
CONN & THE GLASS GYPSIES, BOBBY
Title:
Live Classics Vol.1
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 155CD
"We've [Bobby Conn & the Glass Gypsies] played over 250 gigs in the past few years with the same line-up, and our live set has chrome-plated pointy metal spikes that you don't hear on the records. In the studio, I do lots of arranging with overdubs, editing and mixing, usually ending up with a super detailed sonic universe that's almost impossible to duplicate live. Once a record is finished, it's
'How the hell are we going to do that live?'
because we don't tour with horn sections, modular synths, string ensembles, etc. But the Glass Gypsies can concentrate even the most complicated songs into rock and roll plutonium. And plutonium remains deadly power poison for 100,000 years. This is the true classic rock, like a radioactive pyramid in an endless desert of molten glass."
Artist:
ADULT.
Title:
D.U.M.E.
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$9.00
Catalog #:
THR 156CD
"Adult. is Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus.
D.U.M.E.
was recorded in November 2004 in a studio built by Adult. in Detroit. This marks their second release recorded entirely to tape. Also marking a change from previous releases, many of the songs on
D.U.M.E.
had been played live thus allowing each to evolve a great deal before they were recorded. Aside from 'Don't Talk' all of the songs on this release are new and exclusive to
D.U.M.E.
'Don't Talk' was previously released in an entirely different form on the Dutch label, Clone Records. 'Hold Your Breath' marks a distinctive new music approach for the band with the addition of the guitar and two different choruses. This best exemplifies the direction Adult. will be taking with their upcoming album."
Artist:
ADULT.
Title:
D.U.M.E.
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$8.00
Catalog #:
THR 156EP
Vinyl EP version.
Artist:
PARISH, JOHN
Title:
Once Upon a Little Time
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 157CD
"John Parish's first record with vocals in fifteen years.
Once Upon A Little Time
is really a band record. The core group of John Parish, Marta Collica, Giorgia Poli and Jean-Marc Butty developed a musical vocabulary and conversational tone that only a band can have. Most of the tracks were cut live in the studio and you can hear the trust the four have in each other as they waver between intense emotional fragility with 'Choice,' and recklessness with 'Even Redder Than That'. Some friends including Adrian Utley (Portishead), Jeremy Hogg (PJ Harvey), and Hugo Race (Bad Seeds, Sepiatone), dropped in to add their own personal touch."
Artist:
PARISH, JOHN
Title:
Once Upon a Little Time
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 157LP
LP version.
Artist:
TSUYUKO, AKI
Title:
Hokane
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD/BOOK
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 158CD
"
Hokane
is a collection of musical and visual short stories, written, performed, and drawn by Aki Tsuyuko. This is the first in a series of books that Thrill Jockey will be releasing, with upcoming artists in the series including Daniel Higgs and Thomas Campbell. In her late teens, Tsuyuko discovered and was influenced by Eric Satie's piano pieces. She began to play these pieces on electronic organ, interpreting them in her own way. It was through this process that Tsuyuko got into her own music and composition. In the mid 90's, she sent her music to Nobukazu Takemura, which lead to release of her music and years of collaboration between the two musicians. Tsuyuko has performed around the world singing and playing keyboards, and also creating video art and clay animation for their performances. Aki Tsuyuko has performed with Tortoise, Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke, Brokeback, Yo La Tengo, and Arto Lindsay." Packaged in a 48-page hardcover book.
Artist:
ADULT.
Title:
Gimmie Trouble
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 159CD
"Forget everything you know about them: Adult. is a punk band. Fed up with the electro-clash label, Adult. have honed their musical edge. In 2004 Adult. added guitar player Sam Consiglio (of Tamion 12") to the group. Sam was originally only added to play guitar on tour for the guitar-heavy
D.U.M.E.
EP. The new trio wrote a few songs together and it went so well that Sam is now the third official member of the group."
Artist:
ADULT.
Title:
Gimmie Trouble
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 159LP
LP version.
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Gold and Green
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 160CD
"OOIOO's
Gold and Green
reveals the group's hard-to-categorize and refreshing avant-garde rock music, which adeptly incorporates elements of punk and more traditional tribal music. Their rhythms are unique and the organic interplay with the vocals is compelling. The music is complex and challenging and playful and childlike. Previously released only in Japan,
Gold and Green
includes guest appearances including Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), and Sean Lennon. The album packaging, designed by Yoshimi, is a beautiful miniature gatefold album jacked filled with drawings and photographs by Yoshimi and other artists."
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Taiga
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 161CD
"OOIOO's earliest music was minimal and digital, just as their binary name may suggest. But as the band's lineup evolved over four previous albums, so did its sound. New-wave poppy grooves gave way to chaotic plateaus and psychedelic freakouts on albums like
Kila Kila Kila
and
Gold & Green
. OOIOO's current manifestation has derived a rhythm-based soundscape, spacious, spiritual and elevatory, intended as communication with the Earth and motivated by nature
Taiga
shows OOIOO displaying a wide array of instrumental sounds and textures. Focused on accentuating the rhythm, the band adds layers as seamlessly as they take them away. Rhythmic patterns ebb and flow naturally like the tide; all the while a fragile melody interweaves them in waves. To a similar effect, Yoshimi and her bandmates' vocals range from tribal and meditative chants to bird calls and free-folk screaming.
Taiga
sounds like the deep forest from the bank of a big river, the sounds of animals and trees, life and death. This is a call to nature as only Yoshimi could muster."
Artist:
VERLAINE, TOM
Title:
Warm and Cool
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 162CD
"
Warm and Cool
was recorded with the help of Television band-mates Fred Smith and Billy Ficca (also of Verlaine's earlier band, Neon Boys), as well as Jay Dee Daugherty (The Church) and Patrick A. Derivaz, who helped engineer Television's 1992 self-titled album. Verlaine and his collaborators created the album mostly by improvisation and recorded the tracks with a minimum of rehearsal. Unlike most of Verlaine's work,
Warm and Cool
is entirely instrumental, with guitars often filling the traditional role of a voice in the melody. The album was initially released in 1992 in the wake of a short-lived Television reunion and the rise of Nirvana into a musical environment that clearly favored loud guitars and walls of sound.
Warm and Cool
's sparse sound scapes represent a clear rebellion from that. Now in 2005,
Warm and Cool
is being reissued in the midst of another Television reunion."
Artist:
CALIFONE
Title:
Roots & Crowns
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 163CD
"Califone started recording
Roots & Crowns
in October 2005 and worked on it in chunks at 4Deuces Studio in Chicago with Brian Deck, in Long Beach and Phoenix with Michael Krassner, and at home in Los Angeles and Chicago until May 2006. '
Some of these songs started as hummed melodies into my cell phone recorder while I was driving. Others were triggered by overheard conversations, loops brought in from home, field recordings or sounds we made in the studio before the tape was rolling,
' says Rutili. The time away and each member's individual work naturally brought new elements into the sound of Califone's music. Both Rutili's and Becker's soundtrack work are more atmospheric, however, the challenge of enhancing a scene of film without cluttering it or overwhelming it informed their approach to the new recording. The burglary of Califone's equipment during the band's last tour, including guitars, banjo, a 1917 violin, bells and more, altered the sound. The band had to find new gear on a tight budget. The instruments are new partners, new sounds that forced them to stretch in new directions."
Artist:
FREQUENCY
Title:
Frequency
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 164CD
"Frequency is a new quartet showcasing the improvisational talents of four longtime members of Chicago's storied underground jazz scene Ed Wilkerson is the founder and lead composer of 8 Bold Souls. Nicole Mitchell is the first female co-president of the AACM. Harrison Bankhead is currently Hamid Drake's main partner on bass and cello." Featuring: Edward Wilkerson - tenor sax (8 Bold Souls, Shadow Vignettes), Nicole Mitchell - flute (Black Earth Ensemble, AACM), Harrison Bankhead - bass (8 Bold Souls, Hamid Drake), Avreeayl Ra - percussion (AACM, Fred Anderson, Sun Ra).
Artist:
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:
Up Above
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 165CD
"
Up Above
may tend to make you woozy. It's a sleepy, trance-inducing affair, an effort to engross the black bee of our minds on the blue lotus feet of our divine mother. This is a first for cover tunes and a first for singing. 'Blue Lotus Feet' is a yoga tune -- apparently there is a Will Oldham version of this tune floating around as well. 'King of Portugal' is based on Cancao dos Reis from an old Folkways 10" of Portuguese Christmas carols.
Up Above
refers to the Paul Bowles novel
Up Above the World
. Psych folk drone may be the flavor of the month but Town and Country been doing this for eight years."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
In Praise of Shadows
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 168CD
"The 9th Chicago Underground release and the fourth as a Duo,
In Praise of Shadows
finds cornetist Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor returning the focus to improvisation. While
In Praise of Shadows
is similar to
Twelve Degrees of Freedom
in concept the record deals with dyad relationships such as tension and release, space and density, sound and silence. It also plays with sonic contrasts, low tone and high tones as well as contrasting approaches juxtaposing free jazz with modern composition."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
In Praise of Shadows
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 168LP
LP version.
Artist:
CALIFONE
Title:
Roomsound
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 170CD
"The debut full length from Califone. Originally released in April of 2001,
Roomsound
covers the same rustic, slightly ramshackle back forty that Tim Rutili has been ploughing since at least as far back as his previous band Red Red Meat. Only this time the tilled bedrock unveils the most vividly colored, luring crop of songs Rutili has ever harvested. The sleepy, country-blues picking and autumnal backwoods melodies are accented with striking splashes of electronic tone color, obsolete keyboards and off-kilter percussion. Lyrically,
Roomsound
penetrates the breath of pirates, poison apples at a tango contest and the waiting room between death and canonization where missionaries have quit and 19th-century whores have been rescued for all the wrong reasons. Masterfully engineered by Brian Deck, the album is vaulted far beyond the sum of its parts.
Roomsound
is a hauntingly unique and distinctive record of crafted and sculpted beauty."
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Eye Remix
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$5.00
Catalog #:
THR 171CD
"Hot on the heels of their latest record of hard-hitting polyrhythmic skree, OOIOO have unleashed fellow sonic cohort EYE from Boredoms to dismember and reassemble two of their songs. UMO and UMA get the remix treatment here, resulting in two long tracks that reinvent Yoshimi's jet-propelled psychedelic pep rallies as bass-driven dancefloor slammers. As Eye has shown us on recent Boredoms records, he has an uncanny knack for harnessing a groove and blowing it up to a previously unknown scale, and that's exactly what he does here. Available on CD EP and 12" vinyl single, both formats feature artwork by EYE. The CD EP comes in a full color digipak with deluxe spot-matte finishing and obi strip."
Artist:
ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Title:
Zeroes and Ones
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 172CD
"The band's tenth album. The album presents a contrast between the personal and reflective lyrics and the catharsis of playing really loud. For this new set of songs, Rick Rizzo spent the summer of 2005 vowing to write a new song each day (he jokingly admits that about fifty days somehow slipped by), many on themes of identity and existence, 'mixed with whatever flew by the window.'
Zeroes and Ones
is about '
the difference between gravity and floating away, reality or dream, looking for something to grasp or simply letting go
.'"
Artist:
VERLAINE, TOM
Title:
Songs and Other Things
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 173CD
"Thrill Jockey's simultaneous release of
Around
and
Songs and Other Things
will be the first new releases by Tom Verlaine since
Warm and Cool
in 1992.
Songs and Other Things
is Tom Verlaine's first vocal release since
The Wonder
in 1990. The return of his cool vibrato weaving in and out of his guitar lines is exciting. For this new vocal release, Verlaine recorded with a variety of friends including Television bassist Fred Smith. He wrote all the songs, played all the guitars and even spent some time on bass."
Artist:
VERLAINE, TOM
Title:
Around
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 174CD
"
Around
continues where
Warm and Cool
left off, using many of the same musicians. Former Neon Boy Billy Ficca's drumming shares the spotlight with Verlaine's guitar, whose varied tones move effortlessly from melody to rhythm and are at once panoramic, pastoral and atmospheric. The influence of Verlaine's love of jazz saxophone is manifested in sustained single-note melodies and his expert finesse is rousing.
Around
is a largely improvised record. '
The recording style is: get the mics set and start recording,
' Verlaine says, '
edit the mistakes and erase the stuff you don't like.
' This freewheeling style allows the raw talents of Verlaine, Ficca and Derivaz to shine through, while showcasing the cohesion of a trio that's been playing together for years. Verlaine calls them 'intuitive musicians.'"
Artist:
DESVEAUX, ANGELA
Title:
Wandering Eyes
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 175CD
"If Angela Desveaux could have three pictures in her wallet, she says they would be of Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and her grandmother. These are the figures she holds dear and suggest the influences that have shaped her musical identity.
Wandering Eyes
is a sparkling country debut that highlights both Desveaux's brilliant voice and her poignant song writing, inspired by those heroes with an alt.country twist. Band includes Mike Feuerstack (Wooden Stars, Kepler), Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire), Harris Newman (Strange Attractors), Mike Moya (GYBE), and Gen Heistek (Hangedup)."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
Pyramids
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 176CD
"Pit er Pat is the Chicago-based trio of keyboardist Fay Davis-Jeffers, drummer Butchy Fuego and bassist Rob Doran. When approaching a title for the new album, the follow up to 2005's
Shakey
, each member of Pit er Pat remembers coming across pyramids in various forms: in random images they encountered, in the course of personal reading, and even in their own drawings. Pyramids were everywhere it seemed, and the strength and symbolism of that shape clicked for the band with the themes of the new album and their nature as a three-piece. Powerful rhythms provide the solid floor for ethereal melodies and layers of textural samples on
Pyramids
. Contemporaries describe Pit er Pat's sound as distinctively modern and fresh."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
Pyramids
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 176LP
LP version.
Artist:
CONN, BOBBY
Title:
King For A Day
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 177CD
"Self-delusion is the American dream. Bobby Conn has given us songs for
The Homeland
and
The Golden Age
;
King for a Day
is his ode to self-delusion. It is the definitive Bobby Conn record. And it's all based on true stories. The band on this record includes Monica Bou-Bou, the Glass Gypsies, members of the Zincs, Detholz! and Mahjongg, and John McEntire."
Artist:
ZINCS, THE
Title:
Black Pompadour
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 178CD
"As the acoustic and spare sound of Dimmer began to evaporate, the electric shine of the group's dormant influences began to come through, from the Postcard and Rough Trade bands of 1980s Britain to the minimal, organ-driven drones of 1960s New York. All of this contributed to the album you see before you,
Black Pompadour
. The Zincs have succeeded in marrying their classic song-forms with a brighter electric sound to make a vital album for the times. What makes them such a singular band is how they weave such dark prose into their beautiful melodies, a reward that the casual listener could miss on first hearing."
Artist:
LITHOPS
Title:
Mound Magnet
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 179CD
"It's all in there, somewhere. Or at least I've fooled myself into thinking that it is. 'All,' referring to the accumulated chops and gestures and signeage and grooves and grooves denied that have accrued over the course of Jan St. Werner's tenure in Mouse on Mars, Microstoria, and as Lithops. (The name of Jan's solo work has always struck me as deceptively gentle. Lithops are plants from Namibia and South Africa also known as 'living stones' for their--ding!--deceptive appearance.) It's all in there, or much of it, on
Mound Magnet
. More so than on the other Lithops releases, each of which could be said to comprise a narrower set of oft-ludic investigations. If I think I hear it all in there, what else am I hearing?
Uni Umit
, the first Lithops record on Moikai; Mouse on Mars'
Idiology
; the rubber-bandish electric guitar that leads off MoM's
Niun Niggung
; much besides. Hearing it all in there...somewhere...is less a matter of being fooled than of trusting...in...accumulated...wisdom. Non-renunciation. That's something that has kept me coming back to each new record of MoM/Microstoria/Lithops. Jan St. Werner is less the perpetual refugee from and much more perpetually astride these multiple musical worlds." --David Grubbs
Artist:
ARBOURETUM
Title:
Rites of Uncovering
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 180CD
"An album of broad scope, musically, lyrically and texturally. The name alludes to a process of constant questing that is part of Arbouretum's raison d'etre, what Heumann describes as '
a sense of religiosity that is not tied down to a particular moral or ecclesiastical approach, but rather proto-religious feelings such as awe in the face of something greater.
' In this case, that 'something greater' is the music itself and/or the source thereof.
Rites...
was influenced either obtusely or more directly (as in the song 'Mohammed's Hex and Bounty,' based on 'Love with a Few Hairs' by Mohamed Mrabet) by the writer Paul Bowles. Band is led by Dave Heumann (Anomoanon); musicians on the album include Mitchell Feldstein (Lungfish) and David Bergander (Celebration)."
Artist:
EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA
Title:
We Are All From Somewhere Else
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 181CD
"
We Are All From Somewhere Else
is comprised of 3 distinct sections, and corresponds to a story involving an exploding star, cosmic transformation, a sting ray, the travels of the sting ray, intelligent conversations with electric eels, the destructive power of humans, the death and ascension of the sting ray, the transformation of sting ray ghost to flying bird, and the transformation of bird to phoenix to rocket to flying burning matter to a new-born star. The overall organic approach included actual organic sounds -- for example, the sounds of electric eels recorded by Mazurek at INPA research laboratory in Manaus. The juxtaposition of two drums, two basses, two mallets, multiple flutes, two coronets, bass clarinet, ARP synthesizer, guitar, trombone, voices and flugelhorn all played important roles in the development of the final sound. Group is led by Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground, Isotope 217), and includes Nicole Mitchell (Frequency, Black Earth Ensemble), John, Johnny and Jeff from Tortoise, and a number of other prominent Chicago improvisers."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Sex Change
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 182CD
"After Trans Am's last album,
Liberation
-- a bleak portrayal of life in a security-obsessed imperial capital -- the band exploded and abandoned Washington, D.C. for three different continents. The following period of programmed isolation found Nathan Means in Auckland, Phil Manley in San Francisco and Sebastian Thomson splitting time between London and New York. The band began in June 2006 on a program of sporadic rendezvous, reconvening briefly on several continents to work on what would become the most joyous and upbeat rock album of Trans Am's chronicle. In June of 2006, Trans Am reunited at MAINZ, a recording school in Auckland, New Zealand, with a few songs and almost no musical equipment. Recording moved forward with a wide range of borrowed instruments, keyboards and other gear, including a 1960's Mellotron and remarkable vintage amps loaned by iconic New Zealand musician Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs)."
Artist:
ANDERSON & HAMID DRAKE, FRED
Title:
From The River To The Ocean
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 183CD
"Following up on their acclaimed Thrill Jockey 2004 CD
Back Together Again
, Drake and Anderson set out to show just how much they'd grown, how beautifully their work together has evolved. Drafting an all-star band consisting of fellow-Chicagoans, the twosome entered John McEntire's Soma Studios and proceeded to record their most relaxed, perfectly balanced date yet. In a discography that has gone from a handful of rare LPs fifteen years ago to a staggering number of discs on various labels today, it may seem hyperbolic to call
From The River To The Ocean
Fred Anderson's greatest album yet, but the empathy and cohesiveness of the ensemble, coupled with the saxophonist's brilliant, searching improvisations, makes it a ringer."
Artist:
HIGGS, DANIEL A.I.U.
Title:
Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
BOOK/CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 184BK
"Daniel is best known for his work as the lyricist and frontman of Lungfish, whose work on Dischord Records spans 3 decades. This release is a limited edition full color 6x8" hardcover book + CD. This is the 2nd release in the series (the 1st being Hokane by Aki Tsuyuko), and contains 48 pages of Daniel's paintings and writings of guitar and piano drones, Jew's harp, and banjo recorded by Daniel in his home is inserted in the front cover of the book."
Artist:
ADULT.
Title:
Why Bother?
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 185CD
"Mindless packs, erroneous folklore, misguided shepherds, aggressive incompetence, and real life horrors blend together into this, our fourth album.
Why Bother?
Some will read this title, sigh and agree, while others will read the title and react with reactionary resentment and countless reasons why one should bother. A test?
Why Bother?
Well, if you've got a minute to spare, we'll tell you exactly why you should care. Uneasy listening music for uneasy times. A time to contextualize 'folk' for our intent and advocate the importance of being folk. Folklore defines a distinctive culture, the common people, real people. Folk suggests a culture content to operate 'outside'; the place where we are most at ease. With that explanation, this must be a folk record, but realistically it would probably be that kind of 'folk' that conjures up images of
Deliverance
, 'Motel Hell's' Farmer Vincent or Leatherface's family life. Uncomfortable, restless, disturbed, perturbed, awkward and anxious.
Why Bother?
hopes to spread the word of weird... abnormal motivations, ready and willing. Trying to tilt the balance of over-stimulation. What is the next step if VIDEODROME is not the endgame itself? Cataloging, categorizing, sterilizing, co-opting and over-hype marketing have created a social smothering and mass indolence. If you aren't inclined to vomit, than you will probably feel worse when exposed to our brand of folk."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Everybody
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 186CD
"The Sea and Cake are back with
Everybody
, the band's first full length in just over four years. The record finds the band continuing to perfect their singular brand of dreamlike, hot-buttered pop music that sounds delicately handcrafted, yet effortless all the same. Sheets of glowing guitar tones skip along propulsive percussion underscored by gently funky, introspective bass lines, all adorned by breathlessly delivered lines of lyrical poetry. As always, the band is made up of Sam Prekop (guitar and vocals), Archer Prewitt (guitar), John McEntire (drums) and Erik Claridge (bass)."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Everybody
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 186LP
LP version.
Artist:
EXTRA GOLDEN
Title:
Hera Ma Nono
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 187CD
"Extra Golden is an international collaboration between Alex Minoff (Weird War) and Ian Eagleson (Golden) from the U.S. and Opiyo Bilongo & Onyango Wuod Omari from Kenya The sound is a unique mix of American boogie rock and
benga
-- an upbeat style of guitar dance music that has been popular in Kenya since the 1960s. Opiyo Bilongo is a star in the Kenyan
benga
scene, having released countless recordings."
Artist:
EXTRA GOLDEN
Title:
Hera Ma Nono
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 187LP
Double LP version.
Artist:
FIERY FURNACES, THE
Title:
Widow City
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 189CD
"There are few things in life as exhilarating as a new album by The Fiery Furnaces. Establishing themselves as one of rock music's most consistently engaging, exciting and thought-provoking bands, The Fiery Furnaces -- made up of core brother/sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger -- are well-versed in creating an album that manages to balance melody, originality, and a seemingly endless arsenal of instrumental ideas. Since their debut,
Gallowbird's Bark
, was released in 2003, The Fiery Furnaces have challenged the notion of what makes a song, weaving aural fragments into ten-minute-long opuses that take any number of melodic turns. Their songs often transcend categories redefining the pop song through their rapidly changing tempos and inventive sound selections -- almost as quickly as Eleanor can spit out proper noun-laced lyrical gems, often so otherworldly, that they border on magical realism. While the band's sixth LP,
Widow City
, is rooted in the Furnaces' aesthetic of challenging conventional notions of timing and song structure, the record is absolutely unlike any other LP in their expansive and brilliant repertoire. In fact,
Widow City
, their first for Chicago's renowned Thrill Jockey Records, features some of the finest, catchiest Furnaces compositions to date."
Artist:
TUNNG
Title:
Good Arrows
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 190CD
"
Good Arrows
is the third album from Tunng, the pastoral pop band behind the acclaimed
Mother's Daughter and Other Songs
and
Comments Of The Inner Chorus
. Taking its title from a favorite phrase of co-founder Sam Gender's brother,
Good Arrows
is a totally immersive record, enveloping the listener in Tunng's wyrd world. Their first album to be recorded in its entirety with the full, six-piece band (core duo Sam and Mike Lindsay handled the majority of the first two), there's a new depth of sound and power here, and a clutch of songs that'll get right under your skin. Taking influences from Icelandic prog rock, choral music and film soundtracks,
Good Arrows
marks a significant development for Tunng -- they've expanded beyond the awkwardly-applied folktronica label to become a fully fledged (if experimentally-skewed) pop band."
Artist:
TUNNG
Title:
Good Arrows
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 190LP
LP version.
Artist:
HUMAN BELL
Title:
Human Bell
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 191CD
"The Aramaic language had an expression: Ephphatha, to be opened, as a portal. That ability to be open, to listen completely and communicate purely is at the heart of Human Bell. David Heumann and Nathan Bell's gorgeous guitar duets form an instrumental canvas painted in the warm colored hues of folk and rock music, and simultaneously a blank canvas for the listeners themselves to paint. Their songs are delicately crafted with an immaculate clarity, expressiveness, and most of all, openness. Human Bell features David Heumann (Arbouretum, Cass McCombs, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) and Nathan Bell (Lungfish, P.W. Long, Mighty Flashlight, and Television Hill)."
Artist:
HUMAN BELL
Title:
Human Bell
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 191LP
LP version.
Artist:
DIXON WITH EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA, BILL
Title:
Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 192CD
"This is the second album from Exploding Star Orchestra and the first to feature free jazz legend Bill Dixon. Bill Dixon (trumpet) is a seminal free jazz figure whose career has spanned over 40 years. He organized the influential October Revolution in Jazz in 1964, co-founded the Jazz Composers Guild, and has played with the likes of Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, and William Parker. His playing has had huge influence on many free jazz trumpeters. Rob Mazurek (cornet) is a prime figure in the vibrant Chicago sound scene, having lead and performed in Chicago Underground, Isotope 217, and Mandarin Movie. Exploding Star Orchestra is his latest project which he began in 2005. Also featured on the album are John Herndon and Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Nicole Mitchell (Frequency), Matthew Lux (Isotope 217), Damon Locks (The Eternals), in addition to many of Chicago's most exciting improvisers."
Artist:
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE
Title:
Sea From Shore
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 193CD
"Primarily recorded by David Brewis alone and consciously susceptible to the cut-and-paste, multi-tasking tangents induced by laptop recording, these constructions are resolutely un-band-like, veering between the intricate and unplayable and the solitary and unadorned, their cohesion stemming from an embrace of all that is most obtuse and personal. The album is bookended by the quartet of 'Rockist' tracks, a series of daydreams on words, their meanings and the decisions which follow from them, all underpinned by a collection of incessant looped voices. School of Language is a new project from David Brewis of the band Field Music. The album features contributions from Barry Hyde and David Craig of The Futureheads."
Artist:
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE
Title:
Sea From Shore
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 193LP
LP version.
Artist:
NEMETH
Title:
Film
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 194CD
"
Film
is the first solo album by Stefan Németh, member of Radian and Lokai and the co-founder of Mosz Records. The album developed out of his years of work creating soundscapes for experimental filmmakers and installation artists. It was only after years of creating these works that he had the idea to re-purpose it for an album under his own name. When these pieces were created, Németh was working on a variety of projects, each of them with its own life and intent, always with the music being created to serve the movie, as opposed to creating a single album where his process could have been more linear. His idea for
Film
was to take this material and re-structure and develop these soundtracks into autonomous pieces of music, while keeping the cinematic spirit alive. Technically,
Film
is a blend of electronic sounds and acoustic instruments where it is often difficult to distinguish between real and generated sounds, and similarly combines free and conventional forms. The electronics function just as any other instrument, and are almost solely analog synths. There are digitally generated sounds, but only from genuinely digital processes, and not replicas or recreations of the analog world."
Artist:
LOWE & ROSE LAZAR, ROBERT A.A.
Title:
Gyromancy
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
Book w/CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 195BK
"The latest in our series of limited edition book + CD packages. Following the release of Daniel A.I.U. Higgs
Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot
and Aki Tsuyuko's
Hokane
, we have a new pocket-sized addition to the series.
Gyromancy
is a 4" x 6" soft cover perfect-bound book featuring artwork from Robert A.A. Lowe and Rose Lazar. Included with the book is a special 3" CD featuring the music of Robert A.A. Lowe. Robert Lowe was a member of the band 90 Day Men and currently plays music under the name Lichens. He is an absolute fixture in the Chicago music and arts community. Rose Lazar runs her own hand-printed goods company called The Great Lakes Goods.
Gyromancy
looks at future past, neo-antiquity, ritual magic, and patterning. The book represents a dream walk through nature and all of its influences. Repetition of imagery keeps you aware of the cyclical patterns that nature presents us with. We get caught up in these patterns without noticing them, to the point that you have to stop and take a harder look.
Gyromancy
is an attempt at taking a harder look. The music composed to accompany the images in the book is there to do just that. To add yet another dimension to the world that inhabits its pages." 70 pages.
Artist:
ZEDEK BAND, THALIA
Title:
Liars and Prayers
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 196CD
"Thalia Zedek started her career as a musician in the group Dangerous Birds whose 1982 single 'Alpha Romeo' is a rare find these days, but it was really with her 1986 Homestead release with UZI that she began to make her mark not only on the Boston region but on the underground in general. It rightfully put Thalia in the company of other challenging female pioneers such as Kim Gordon. The record was re-issued by Matador in the mid-1990s to much acclaim. It was a only two years later that Thalia again broke new ground with her group Live Skull, whose three releases stand more than the test of time and laid the groundwork for artists such as PJ Harvey to follow. It was with the dense rock of her group Come, which featured guitar interplay between her and Chris Brokaw (Codeine), that Thalia rose with the swell of popularity of so-called indie rock. Throughout her career, Thalia's voice has been a singular calling card. Her songwriting has great depth and a pervading melancholic tone. Much like the work of Nick Cave, Thalia's vocals and song arrangements have a pervasive bittersweet tone. She has chosen unusual instrumentation such as viola to compliment her guitar work and like a great full-bodied burgundy, her songs are rich in texture and reveal with each listen their delicately crafted layers."
Artist:
ZEDEK BAND, THALIA
Title:
Liars and Prayers
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 196LP
LP version.
Artist:
BOREDOMS
Title:
Super Roots 9
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 197CD
"Long regarded as musical pioneers, Boredoms have continually pushed sonic boundaries and inspired musicians for over 20 years. Their albums and performances defy categorization, each one a completely unique event. The one commonality is that the members of Boredoms have amazing technical skills as musicians, limitless imagination and the ability to combine the two -- as no others have. Finally, the first new edition in eight years to the
Super Roots
series,
Super Roots 9
, gets a worldwide release.
Super Roots 9
is a recording of a live show on Christmas Eve in 2004, in Japan. The performance featured a 24-person choir alongside the group.
Super Roots 9
is the first live recording of the band ever released. The CD, packaged in a special custom-made mini gatefold LP style jacket, features artwork by Eye and a 40-page perfect bound booklet with music scores and notations."
Artist:
THANK YOU
Title:
Terrible Two
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 198CD
"Thank You is an athletic rhythm/action unit, made up of Jeffrey McGrath, Michael Bouyoucas, and Elke Wardlaw. They are three free individuals, subsumed into a collective form that spits out dank, skittering tracks filled with light and dark. Musical ideas are introduced and have conversations with one another, each track filled with new articulation and insight. The basics of drums, organ, and guitar build the foundation, but are augmented by whistles, cowbell, hobo harmonica, snappy loops, car horns, and whatever else might be at hand."
Artist:
THANK YOU
Title:
Terrible Two
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 198LP
"The brand new album from Baltimore's Thank You. The album recording was engineered by Baltimore's beloved J. Robbins (Yeasayer, Mary Timony, Jets to Brazil) at his studio and was produced and mixed by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Celebration, TV on the Radio) at his studio in New York City. Thank You is an athletic rhythm/action unit, made up of Jeffrey McGrath, Michael Bouyoucas, and Elke Wardlaw. They are three free individuals, subsumed into a collective form that spits out dank, skittering tracks filled with light and dark."
Artist:
ACCIDENTAL, THE
Title:
There Were Wolves
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 199CD
"Take the man behind The Memory Band (Stephen Cracknell), the twisted songwriter from Tunng main man (Sam Genders), one half of Fence Collective duo The Bicycle Thieves (Hannah Caughlin) and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Put them in front of a PC and add occasional input from guests including harpist Serafina Steer and Rob, Jenny & Nancy from the Memory Band. The outcome is new collective The Accidental and their beguiling debut album
There Were Wolves
. Given the circumstances of its recording, the finished record is fittingly warm, personal and intimate, and less disguised in its folkiness than either Cracknell or Genders' main projects. Within this, new influences have crept in, such as Liam's soul and reggae edge and Hannah's jazz-influenced vocals. The album also gave Cracknell (who handled the programming) a chance to experiment with vocal and instrumental loops and layers, inspired, in part, by Panda Bear and Animal Collective."
Artist:
ACCIDENTAL, THE
Title:
There Were Wolves
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 199LP
LP version.
Artist:
ARBOURETUM/PONTIAK
Title:
Kale
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 201LP
"
Kale
is a special LP-only split release by Arbouretum and their Baltimore friends Pontiak, Thrill Jockey's new signees making their label debut. The split features new songs from each band as well as a handful of John Cale covers, with Arbouretum offering their rendition of 'Buffalo Ballet,' and Pontiak delivering a potent 'The Endless Plain of Fortune,' and a great new interpretation of 'Mr. Wilson.' The album was recorded at Pontiak's home studio in Warrenton, VA."
Artist:
FIERY FURNACES, THE
Title:
Remember
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 202CD
"The Fiery Furnaces are one of the most unique experiences in live music.
Remember
captures the high energy, intricate complexity, amazing vocal acrobatics of Eleanor and the technical musicianship that defines a Fiery Furnaces performance. Collecting songs from their entire catalog and performances across the globe starting in 2005,
Remember
is a unique document. The Fiery Furnaces reconstruct and re-arrange their songs for each tour. They go to great lengths to create versions that vary greatly from the recorded versions in tempo, instrumentation and arrangements. The band go through this process for each tour, never repeating themselves, and often combining songs in a musical collage that creates a new song made up of several -- or even of bits of an entire album! These are not your mother's medleys. We know of no other band that goes to such great lengths to reinvent and re-imagine for every tour. As a result,
Remember
is unique as a live record. More than two hours of music appears on
Remember
as it appears no place else. Featuring 51 tracks,
Remember
is issued as a double CD in a deluxe 6-panel digipack and includes a coupon to download a bonus song." This CD is limited to 9,000 copies (perhaps the world's first with such a designation) and contain the warning "please do not attempt to listen to all at once".
Artist:
FIERY FURNACES, THE
Title:
Remember
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
3LP
Price:
$22.00
Catalog #:
THR 202LP
"The triple LP vinyl version comes in a custom made old-style tip-on gatefold jacket with a pasted-in flap to hold the third LP."
Artist:
DESVEAUX, ANGELA
Title:
The Mighty Ship
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 203CD
"While on
Wandering Eyes
, Desveaux claimed the influence of great women of country music like Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams, she now points to Chrissy Hynde, Wayne Coyne and Neil Young as sources of inspiration. These bolder rock influences are apparent on
The Mighty Ship
in her lead vocal choices and her guitar playing, as well as her arrangements. These influences compliment Angela Desveaux's strong sense of melody, her incredible voice and her abilities as a storyteller.
The Mighty Ship
is the follow-up release to 2006's
Wandering Eyes
and features Angela's road-tested band The Mighty Ship. Over the past two years, Angela has toured with Bruce Cockburn, Archer Prewitt, Howe Gelb, and Califone."
Artist:
DESVEAUX, ANGELA
Title:
The Mighty Ship
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 203LP
LP version.
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
03/07-09/07
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 204CD
"High Places began as an experiment in collaboration: two people with diverse artistic backgrounds coming together to merge their skills, aesthetic tastes, and music-making approaches. Robert Barber grew up listening to punk and hardcore, and Mary Pearson studied bassoon performance. Both gravitated toward a DIY compositional style and shared a love of layers. It is the affinity for layering that has thus far defined the duo, both in ideas and instrumentation. High Places songs contain a fascinating range of aural layers: bells and bird calls over a wash of ocean waves; mallets hitting mixing bowls over treated guitar and glockenspiel; Mary's reflective vocals over Rob's inventive and infectious beats. The result is an imaginative and spacious amalgamation of sounds with a unique almost Caribbean undertone that is as immediate as it is refreshing."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Car Alarm
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 205CD
"The exciting sound of a well-oiled band.
Car Alarm
is The Sea and Cake's eighth full-length record. It is bracing, like the surge of wasabi on sweet sushi, like the slap of cool water on a diving body, like the head-rush of a rollercoaster just leaving summit. Bracing music is most often encountered in concert. Only the heaviest hitters have translated the live thrill into the recording studio. Think of the great working bands, the Charles Mingus Quintet, the John Coltrane Quartet, the Meters or the Minutemen. For them, there was no gaping chasm between the studio and the road; the studio was just another stop, a gig, a continuous part of the flow of playing and working and creating together. The aim with
Car Alarm
was to follow-up quickly on its precursor, the somewhat stripped-down
Everybody
. Prekop says the band wanted to make a record that felt like they had never stopped playing, a continuously limbered up ensemble that parlayed its last tour into new material. They started working on it right after an Australian tour in March, and finished it after a miraculous three-month gestation. If the usual process in pop music is to make a record and then breathe life into it on the road, this flips that presumption on its head, starting with a vital, pulsing set-list on disc; what heights they'll take the new songs to in concert only remains to be seen."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
Car Alarm
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 205LP
LP version.
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Sun On Sun
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 206CD
"Pontiak is made up of three brothers from the Blue Ridge farm country of Virginia, Van (guitar, lead vocals), Lain (drums, vocals) and Jennings Carney (bass, organ, vocals). Their music is swaggering guitar rock that straddles the line between a power trio and something far more expansive in sound and scope. Their broad song structures allow ample room for three-part vocals, drums, organ and stellar slide and lead guitar to stretch and captivate. Songs roll along with an effortless synchronicity despite their extremely varied textures. Julian Cope described them as 'straddling a wide sonic rift valley, with references that stretch from the southern latitudes of Spain's Viaje A800 to the northern majesty of Black Sabbath and Harvey Milk via The Doors.'"
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Sun On Sun
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 206LP
LP version.
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
High Places
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 207CD
"Since its inception, High Places has created a signature sound out of using bass-heavy, yet crisp beats, lilting vocal melodies, syncopated rhythmic lines performed on folk percussion instruments, guitar duets turned into treated samples, and percussive lines created from the manipulation of household objects. The songwriting is expansive and fluid, all the while managing to be concise. Overall, the compositions are settled and assured. High Places gravitates toward the organic over the electronic, and that natural aesthetic adds warmth and intimacy to the recordings."
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
High Places
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 207LP
LP version.
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
High Time
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 208CD
"Pit Er Pat is Fay Davis-Jeffers (vocals, piano, guitar, kalimba), Rob Doran (bass, vocals, guitar, electronics) and Butchy Fuego (drums, vocals, percussion, electronics/programming).
High Time
was recorded at the band's own studio, 'Top Cat,' by Butchy Fuego, who has also recently recorded Soft Circle and Matteah Baim. From
Shakey
to
Pyramids
, from '3D Message' to 'Feel No Pain,' Pit Er Pat's recorded output has no easily-definable style. It instead represents their evolution as modern musicians, whose affinity for pop and melody is filtered though their desire to have a truly singular voice. Modern music, if you will. The band are clearly comfortable with the fact that this music acknowledges several, yet exists outside of any one, genres. There is a consistency in all of the recordings in that they are all unmistakably Pit Er Pat. Their musical focus remains firmly grounded in rhythm, while incorporating a strong sense of melody and harmony to dance above the complex rhythms and to stretch the layers to lofty heights."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
High Time
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 208LP
LP version.
Artist:
LITHOPS
Title:
Ye Viols!
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 209CD
"Lithops is the solo disguise of Jan St. Werner known for his work in Mouse On Mars, Microstoria and his most recent collaboration with Mark E Smith and Andi Toma as Von Sudenfed. With
Ye Viols!
, Lithops presents a selection of installation soundtracks assembled from several recent exhibitions.
Ye Viols!
can be seen as background noise for a visual utopia: a recombined industrial iconography of spatial adventures, futuristic collages and phantasmagoric scenes. 'Graf' accompanied a slide show of architectural sketches about neo-modernist city scapes that was shown in Amsterdam. The masking of identities and deconstruction of the ego was the theme of 'Bacchus,' a series of drawings and photo collages by Illui Nonobac. The cover artwork and enclosed poster supplement of
Ye Viols!
are taken from that series. Nonobac's images are collages of hybrid creatures: animals, plants, and humans that have been further modified by additional drawings. A three-channel version of 'Bacchus' was continuously played during the show. 'Handed' premiered in the sound bowl of the Project Arts Centre in Dublin as an accompaniment to an exhibition by Rosa Barba and David Maljkovic. 'Decay objects. Incredibly fast moving objects. Invisible objects.' is a speaker installation for which parts of the track 'In Nitro' were used. 'Apps 1 & 2' is derived from another soundtrack for a 35mm film installation by Rosa Barba. Lastly, 'Inductech' was used for a dance performance by young Korean choreographer Lee Yaung. Although the works were created for these installations, their dense and layered sounds and creative structures manifested by Werner allows the pieces to stand alone as musical works whose details continue to reveal themselves with each listen. The album is released in a limited edition CD with hand printed cover using recycled paper and vegetable inks."
Artist:
LITHOPS
Title:
Ye Viols!
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 209LP
LP version.
Artist:
TORTOISE
Title:
Beacons Of Ancestorship
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 210CD
"
Beacons Of Ancestorship
is Tortoise's sixth full-length album, and their first release of new material in five years, since 2004's
It's All Around You
. A characteristic Tortoise album is one that traverses an encyclopedia of styles and reference points, a document of where musical intersections and dialogue are occurring at a given moment in time.
Beacons Of Ancestorship
is no different, with nods to techno, punk, electro, lo-fi noise, cut-up beats, heavily processed synths and mournful, elegiac dirges. We see these ideas working out in compositions like 'High Class Slim Came Floatin' In,' an eight-minute track which playfully references the world of ecstatic rave and dance culture with a curiously ambivalent, multi-part suite overlaid with robotic, machine-sounding melodies that stop and start in several different time signatures before the song's ultimate resolution; and again in 'Yinxianghechengqi,' which begins as a straightforward uptempo math-rocker before steadily accelerating into a wall of fuzzy atonal sqwonk. There are many moods, styles, and modes in the Tortoise songbook, of course -- often, in the course of a single composition. Consistent throughout, however, is what might be called a pervasive element of group play, or ensemble-mindedness, as opposed to emphasis on a virtuoso soloist or frontman. (Think Robert Altman versus Robert Plant.) In the same sense that the string quartet and all small-ensemble chamber music can be thought of as an intelligent conversation among equals -- violins, viola, and cello taking turns, expressing opinions, joining voices and then coming apart, as also occurs in elevated discourse -- so, too, the calling card of a Tortoise song is the experience of a sound being worked out as a conversation among the individual and interrelated parts -- of an ensemble thinking collectively and in group dynamics through the expression of a multi-layered musical thought."
Artist:
MOUNTAINS
Title:
Choral
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 211CD
"Mountains is Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, friends since their middle school days. The duo were brought together by mutual artistic and musical interests, and both ended up at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was during this time that they began exchanging musical ideas and compositions which led to them founding the Apestaartje label in 1999. As their collaborations and individual projects blossomed, they decided to create Mountains as a vehicle for live performance. A love of sculpting sound in front of an audience is at the heart of Mountains. The group's third album,
Choral
, (their first self-titled release and second album
Sewn
were both on Apestaartje), is the culmination of their work to date and a balanced mix of the first two efforts. Mountains is often compared to artists such as Brian Eno and Fennesz citing their extended melodies and their unique broad guitar work. Mountains seamlessly blend pastoral electronic sounds with both field recordings and a plethora of acoustic instruments. The resulting soundscapes are broad in scope and rich in detail. The effect is incredibly sublime and hypnotic as the sounds slowly wrap themselves around each other and alter themselves in the mind of the listener.
Choral
is a uniquely soothing and addicting listening experience and an aural crazy quilt: warm and inviting with many details to discover and explore."
Artist:
MOUNTAINS
Title:
Choral
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 211LP
3rd pressing now available. Double LP version.
Artist:
ARBOURETUM
Title:
Song Of The Pearl
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 212CD
"Recorded at Lord Baltimore Recordings by Rob Girardi over two months in the fall of 2008,
Song Of The Pearl
is Arbouretum's third full-length and the first to feature the same core band on every song. With Dave Heumann on guitar and vocals, Corey Allender on bass, Daniel Franz (also sometimes seen with Beach House) on drums, and Steve Strohmeier on guitar,
Song Of The Pearl
is more earthy and direct than the band's previous efforts. While
Rites Of Uncovering
seemed to peer down from a vantage point far above,
Song Of The Pearl
reaches out from within the mire itself. The songs seem to have more immediacy and urgency than that of its predecessor. Paradoxically, the album exudes hopefulness, even though the songs' protagonists are often ultimately and intrinsically doomed."
Artist:
ARBOURETUM
Title:
Song Of The Pearl
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 212LP
LP version.
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Maker
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 213CD
"Pontiak's studio in rural Virginia is about 12'x12' and largely responsible for the saturated sound on their new album
Maker
. The band recorded the album in the same way as their previous efforts, themselves in a studio of their own making. Preferring the energy of a mostly live recording and understanding how to capture their sound, Pontiak recorded with lightning speed, generally keeping the first take as the final take. A lifetime of shared experiences certainly informs the three Carney brothers playing as a band. Jennings' bass or Lain's drums often finish the thoughts of Van's guitar. This is a level of musical communication that most bands are only able to achieve after years of touring and recording. It also may account for their staggering productivity, this being their third Thrill Jockey release, in just over a calendar year."
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Maker
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 213LP
LP version.
Artist:
EXTRA GOLDEN
Title:
Thank You Very Quickly
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 214CD
"While Extra Golden's first two albums served as thesis and antithesis,
Thank You Very Quickly
showcases a new level of artistry that could only be referred to as synthesis. That is to say that Extra Golden is no longer an experiment or 'collaborative encounter', but (wait for it!) a band. For evidence of this evolution, one need look no further than the album's fierce opener, 'Gimakiny Akia,' a dance-floor choogler for high altitudes. 'Fantasies Of The Orient' has a spring in its step while reminding the listener that one doesn't have to live as a monkey to find happiness. Kenyan schoolchildren sing songs like 'Piny Yore Yore,' minus the shimmering guitars and explosive tom-tom rolls. The lysergic blues/disco groove of 'Anyango' is sure to be a huge hit -- with a psychedelic surprise for the heads. Drummer Onyango Wuod Omari steps out front on 'Ukimwi,' a passionate plea to destroy AIDS. Finally, the album's title track and closer extends a humble thanks to all of the group's fans who donated money to keep Extra Golden's families alive and safe amidst Kenya's post-election violence of early 2008. Though musically quite progressive,
Thank You Very Quickly
also consciously recalls many elements of the pre-digital age -- from the album's overall look and length, to its 'live' drum sound and organic guitar tones."
Artist:
EXTRA GOLDEN
Title:
Thank You Very Quickly
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 214LP
LP version.
Artist:
DOUBLE DAGGER
Title:
More
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 215CD
"Utilizing deceptively simple instrumentation, Denny Bowen (drums), Nolen Strals (vocals) and Bruce Willen (bass) create a cacophonous wall of sound as the Baltimore trio Double Dagger. Occasionally described as 'very loud pop' or 'angry pop,' Double Dagger creates music that is both visceral and melodic. Double Dagger's live energy is intense -- they prefer to be close to the audience be it in a club or a basement -- an energy that is the essence of the band. This dynamic combination of energy, melody, angst and playfulness is captured so exquisitely on their debut for Thrill Jockey."
Artist:
DOUBLE DAGGER
Title:
More
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 215LP
LP version; includes free digital download of album.
Artist:
DANIELL & DOUGLAS MCCOMBS, DAVID
Title:
Sycamore
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 216CD
"
Sycamore
is a delicate tapestry of spacious and ethereal guitar lines woven into abstract, slow-burning and multi-layered textural improvisations. The sounds blend and overlap to create richly faceted and thickly psychedelic passages, unveiling new layers of detail with each and every listen. The LP and CD will come in a deluxe limited edition for each format with artwork by illustrator and painter Arik Roper. David Daniell is a member of San Agustin and has collaborated with Loren Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and Jonathan Kane Douglas McCombs is a member of Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, Pullman, and Brokeback and has worked with Tom Ze, Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico."
Artist:
DANIELL & DOUGLAS MCCOMBS, DAVID
Title:
Sycamore
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 216LP
LP version.
Artist:
DESVEAUX, ANGELA
Title:
If Ever I Loved
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
7"
Price:
$6.00
Catalog #:
THR 218EP
Two song release, with download code for three additional songs. "
If Ever I Loved
is a limited edition 7" release of new material from Montreal-born chanteuse Angela Desveaux. Three of the tracks on the release see Desveaux once again utilizing the drumming and fine production skills of Howard Bilerman, the former drummer with The Arcade Fire. Opener 'If Ever I Loved' is a beautiful lament on the familiar country theme of lost love. On 'Wedding Song,' Desveaux draws influence from her roots and the traditional Irish folk ballads that were a key part of her musical heritage when growing up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The lullaby feel of the song hides a darker lyrical theme of marrying too young. Having seen a lot of young women getting married around her, Desveaux couldn't understand their confidence and ability to commit so young. She sees a certain sadness in a marriage not entirely based on love."
Artist:
LOKAI
Title:
Transition
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 219CD
"Stefan Németh is a member of Radian and has collaborated with Martin Siewert, Werner Dafeldecker, Christian Fennesz, and Florian Hecker. He is also the co-founder of the Mosz label. Florian Kmet is a member of Superlooper and has collaborated with Martin Brandlmayr, Wolfgang Mitterer, Gunter Schneider, Max Nagl, Franz Hautzinger, Ludwig Bekic, and Jorge Sanchéz-Chiong. Both Németh and Kmet are major players in the avant-electronic music scene and have a cultish underground following.
Transition
will appeal to fans of John Zorn, AAM, and other avant-garde composers."
Artist:
LOKAI
Title:
Transition
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$13.50
Catalog #:
THR 219LP
LP version.
Artist:
FIERY FURNACES, THE
Title:
I'm Going Away
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 220CD
"
I'm Going Away
is The Fiery Furnaces' eighth album. It was recorded by and mixed with Jason Loewenstein at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 in New York City. Jason also played bass and Robert D'Amico played drums. All songs were written together by Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger, except for the title track, which is 'trad. Arranged by.' Eleanor wrote most of the lyrics; Matt wrote most of the music and also produced the album. All rock music is a sort of dramatic music. And since the times are tough, it makes sense to have that 'drama' be something more like a version of
Taxi
than something like a version of
Titanic
. We like
Taxi
better than
Titanic
anyway. So we hope that some of the songs on this record can be used as theme songs to folks' own personal versions of
Taxi
. Because -- ideally -- the dramatic setting of the music isn't provided by the story or image of the given act or band. It's provided by the lives of the people who use -- listen to -- the music. That is pop music's promise and problem, or danger. So be careful and don't get cancelled."
Artist:
BOREDOMS
Title:
Super Roots 10
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2x12"
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 221LP
"Long regarded as musical pioneers, Boredoms have continually pushed sonic boundaries and inspired musicians for over 20 years. Their albums and their performances defy categorization, each one a completely unique event. The one commonality is that the members of the Boredoms have amazing technical skills as musicians, limitless imagination and the ability to combine the two -- as no others have. After only being released on CD in Japan, Thrill Jockey is proud to bring
Super Roots 10
to the US. The album will only be available as a limited 2 x 12" release. The album is produced by EYE and all the artwork was created and designed by EYE as well.
Super Roots 10
features a remix from Norwegian artist Lindstrøm who has released music on the label Smalltown Supersound and has also done remixes for artists as varied as Franz Ferdinand, LCD Soundsystem, and The Juan MacLean. Also featured is a remix from Japanese artist Altz who has recorded albums for Bear Funk and Jet Set Records Japan and previously done remixes for the Boredoms in addition to Tal M. Klein, Cro-Magnon, and Harp On Mouth Sextet." Includes poster.
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Armonico Hewa
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 222CD
"Thrill Jockey is pleased to announce the arrival of
Armonico Hewa
, OOIOO's sixth full-length album and first record in over three years!
Armonico Hewa
continues the rapturous and frenetic celebration of nature that coursed through the veins of their 2006 album
TAIGA
. Where as
TAIGA
meant 'forest' in Russian and 'big river' in Japanese,
Armonico Hewa
is a combination of words ('armonico' is Spanish and 'hewa' is Swahili) that is defined by the band as 'air in a harmonious state'. Like the cross-cultural title,
Armonico Hewa
is a mind-melting combination of stylistic reference points that can only be described as some kind of tribal psychedelia that is oddly spiritual and alarmingly urgent. OOIOO leader Yoshimi began her music career in 1986 playing drums in UFO or Die with Eye and later joined him in the revolutionary noise-pop experimentalist Boredoms. While the group has featured different musicians in the past, the same all-female four-piece who created
TAIGA
is once again the driving force behind
Armonico Hewa
. Longtime OOIOO guitarist Kayan, bassist Aya and drummer Ai join Yoshimi to create one of the most enthralling, adventurous and unique bands in modern music." Deluxe six panel mini-LP style package.
Artist:
OOIOO
Title:
Armonico Hewa
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 222LP
Gatefold LP version.
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD
Price:
$12.00
Catalog #:
THR 223CD
"Matthew Friedberger is one half of the The Fiery Furnaces brother and sister duo. This is Matt's first solo record and was originally released in 2006 by 859 Recordings. Thrill Jockey is proud to be bringing this double album back in a new package with updated artwork. Matt wrote and arranged all the music, played all the instruments (except for some drumming from John McEntire of Tortoise on a few tracks), and sings all the songs! The record was co-produced by Bill Skibbe at Key Club Recording at Benton Harbor, Michigan in March of 2006. The release has two full albums worth of music --
Winter Women
is a summer record of memorable, accessible, un-ironic, sixties inspired pop songs and
Holy Ghost Language School
is the musical equivalent of a stormy Murakami novel with the requisite sonic twists and turns which makes Matt's work so original. Both records will appeal to Furnaces fans but have a broader reach, especially
Winter Women
which is full of summer pop songs."
Artist:
RADIAN
Title:
Chimeric
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 224CD
""It had been four years since
Juxtaposition
, our last record and one year of a self-chosen absence from the stage, that we met again to work on
Chimeric
. This break was a necessary step to leave any routine behind us, to restructure the working process, to rethink the concept of this band and its music. It was always a driving force within the band´s history to enter new territories, like it happened with the transition from the self-titled EP to the abstract minimalism of
TG11
and finally in the more colourful rhythms of the
Rec.Extern
and
Juxtaposition
period. But this was done and we needed to go further, exploring forms and sounds we had not been dealing with so far - and adapting them to our system.
Chimeric
is not a polished album. Within our context it is raw, broken, even dark sometimes. Steady, multiple rhythms, layered on top of each other disappear into chaos and turn back into discreet structures in the next moment. References of rock music, executed with the precision of a sequencer; mutated, restructured. A lot on this album is about control and the loss of control. The risk of failure. This was probably always in our music, but kept in a very stable form, sometimes even hidden. But
Chimeric
is much more free. Some of the longer pieces are composed of very different parts and different colours along a continuous timeline. They tend to evolve in a narrative form and are moving through various scenes and surroundings, which is also present in the spacial relationship between the instruments. One could see the album as one continuous story, where some elements are passed from one piece to the next and then serve as the base for a completely new scenario. The result was something unpredictable and unstable, even for us." -- Martin Brandlmayr, Stefan Németh, John Norman (Radian)
Artist:
RADIAN
Title:
Chimeric
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 224LP
LP version. ""It had been four years since
Juxtaposition
, our last record and one year of a self-chosen absence from the stage, that we met again to work on
Chimeric
. This break was a necessary step to leave any routine behind us, to restructure the working process, to rethink the concept of this band and its music. It was always a driving force within the band´s history to enter new territories, like it happened with the transition from the self-titled EP to the abstract minimalism of
TG11
and finally in the more colourful rhythms of the
Rec.Extern
and
Juxtaposition
period. But this was done and we needed to go further, exploring forms and sounds we had not been dealing with so far - and adapting them to our system.
Chimeric
is not a polished album. Within our context it is raw, broken, even dark sometimes. Steady, multiple rhythms, layered on top of each other disappear into chaos and turn back into discreet structures in the next moment. References of rock music, executed with the precision of a sequencer; mutated, restructured. A lot on this album is about control and the loss of control. The risk of failure. This was probably always in our music, but kept in a very stable form, sometimes even hidden. But
Chimeric
is much more free. Some of the longer pieces are composed of very different parts and different colours along a continuous timeline. They tend to evolve in a narrative form and are moving through various scenes and surroundings, which is also present in the spacial relationship between the instruments. One could see the album as one continuous story, where some elements are passed from one piece to the next and then serve as the base for a completely new scenario. The result was something unpredictable and unstable, even for us." -- Martin Brandlmayr, Stefan Németh, John Norman (Radian)
Artist:
URICK, JASON
Title:
Husbands
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$13.00
Catalog #:
THR 225CD
"
Husbands
is Jason Urick's solo debut. Those well-versed in the Baltimore or experimental electronic music scenes might be familiar with his band WZT Hearts or his solo works as themoonstealingproject.
Husbands
finds Urick at a crossroads where his ideas are becoming more fully realized, and while still experimental in nature, the songs are envisioned as an honest attempt at 'pop.' There are similarities to his previous projects of course. Those familiar with WZT Hearts will feel that the tracks on
Husbands
are in-line with the more ambient pieces that the band produced. Ghosted, fragmented melodies, distorted tones and so forth. Compared to themoonstealingproject,
Husbands
has more depth sound-wise and the songs tend to take the longer route with tracks averaging around the 10 minute mark each. After spending four years in WZT Hearts where all the music was improvised, it was a relaxing and refreshing change of pace to take an idea, let it unfurl, and watch it burn slowly into extended soundscapes. The result is an album that is a complex study in subtlety and one that rewards patience." Housed in a fold-out poster of the unsettling cover art from the LP version.
Artist:
URICK, JASON
Title:
Husbands
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 225LP
LP version.
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
Boca Negra
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 228CD
"
Boca Negra
is the 5th release of the critically acclaimed Chicago Underground Duo and 10th release by the Chicago Underground Collective. As with the previous four Duo records, it contains both composed and improvised music. The recording contains powerful grooves along with ambient sound structures, folk song simplicity and polyrhythmic bursts of energy with lyrical melodic vignettes. It also combines high energy music with slow moving ballads.
Boca Negra
was recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil at Rocha Studios making it the first record not created in Chicago. It is also the first record that contains a 'cover', that being Ornette Coleman's 'Broken Shadows'. This record has been three years in the making and took so long to make due partly to both Chad and Rob's frantic touring schedules (Rob is the leader of the Exploding Star Orchestra, Sao Paulo Underground, Mandarin Movie, and more while Chad performs with Iron and Wine, Marc Ribot, and so forth). The title
Boca Negra
means 'Black Mouth', a term coined in the Tenerife Canary Islands evoking the idea of an endless intake of information and also harks to the mouth of the volcano Tiede. The cover photo of the record was taken at the Dead Sea. Keeping those two things in mind, one of the goals of the record was to present the listener with the familiar in unfamiliar ways. 'Broken Shadows' for instance, has Chad playing the drums and vibraphone simultaneously. He plays just the A section or verse while Rob plays the bridge section or chorus of the tune. The form is repeated over and over but some times the bridge is elongated, sometimes it is shortened and sometimes it is skipped all together, evoking the idea of 'Broken Shadows'. There are improvisations that sound like composed songs in which Chad's mbira and Rob's cornet are played through various filters often times sounding like different instruments all together and composed songs that sound like improvisations of folk songs. 'Confliction' was probably the most difficult song to record. The bass line flows with ease but the time signature varies between 17/8 and 4/4. As with previous records the goal was not to show virtuoso technique, but rather to present the listener with an emotional experience that transcends the idea of genre or label."
Artist:
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
Title:
Boca Negra
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 228LP
LP version.
Artist:
ROSE, JACK
Title:
Luck In The Valley
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 229CD
"Like all pre-war recordings and all of Rose's releases, this album was recorded live. It was not created using overdubs but rather by recording a few 'takes' and selecting the best performance out of those. Rose stated,
'I wanted the songs to have an immediacy and spontaneity as they were being recorded. All the musicians chosen for the record know how to play the songs without overworking the material, but at the same time creating memorable accompaniments on the spot.'
Several of the songs are in fact the first takes like 'Blues for Percy Danforth', 'Lick Mountain Ramble' and 'Woodpiles on the Side of the Road'. Also included in the set are three covers: 'St. Louis Blues', 'Everybody Ought to Pray Sometime' and 'West Coast Blues'. All of these pre-war classics are Rose's unique arrangements. The album title refers to the old red light section of St. Louis and was a code for procuring the services of a prostitute. Says Rose
'I read about it on some liner notes to a reissue of pre-war St. Louis recordings and I liked the ring of it.'
An avid record collector with an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-war American music, Rose has been acknowledged as a rising star among contemporary guitar players.
Luck in the Valley
finds Rose at his best surrounded by like-minded friends on a recording that is enriched by a sense of history but entirely new, vibrant and warm."
Artist:
ROSE, JACK
Title:
Luck In The Valley
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$21.00
Catalog #:
THR 229LP
"Limited repress of 500 copies on RTI 180 gram vinyl presented in an old-style tip-on jacket with a hand-pasted letterpressed cover. Includes download coupon. Like all pre-war recordings and all of Rose's releases, this album was recorded live. It was not created using overdubs but rather by recording a few 'takes' and selecting the best performance out of those. Rose stated,
'I wanted the songs to have an immediacy and spontaneity as they were being recorded. All the musicians chosen for the record know how to play the songs without overworking the material, but at the same time creating memorable accompaniments on the spot.'
"
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Sea Voids
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 230LP
"Pontiak wrote, recorded and mixed
Sea Voids
in eight evening sessions over the course of three weeks. The brothers sketched out what kind of album they wanted to make while on a two month US tour. It would be visual, it would be expressive, and it would be inspired by what the brothers had seen. When they returned home from tour they had just four weeks to write and record the album before disembarking on a European tour. They spent many long nights, amps blazing into the summer darkness, drums echoing off the surrounding hills, working to finish. They tuned the bass and the guitar down to B, cranked their amps and let the air open up. Hardly any distortion pedals were used. It was just LOUD. Pontiak finished
Sea Voids
the day they left for Europe. The record benefited greatly from the work of Richard Prince and Chris Burden, and to them the band gives a huge thanks!
Sea Voids
is limited to 1,000 copies on vinyl only and the jackets are hand screened by Crosshair."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
The Flexible Entertainer
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 231CD
"The songs on
The Flexible Entertainer
were written specifically for a European tour highlighted by an appearance at ATP, so Pit Er Pat, the duo of Butchy Fuego and Fay Davis-Jeffers, took a different approach. Writing for a live show, they wanted the energy to stay consistently strong and high throughout the set. It was an experiment in simplicity. Simplicity of instrumentation. MPC, guitar, voice. Two people who wanted to travel light. They added a kick and snare drum for physicality. Upon return from the tour, the band started recording. As they heard some of the songs, they added more instruments on some, and more vocal harmonies, vocal loops, and things to fill it out and hook it up. But generally, the pieces were as they were in the beginning, with the exception of 'Intro' which was made one day in the studio after thinking about a vocal loop that they used to start their sets with. The end result is
The Flexible Entertainer
. The album was recorded by Butchy Fuego and Blue Hawaii at Shape Shoppe Studios in Chicago, with additional recording by Butchy at Top Cat International. It was mixed by Butchy at Top Cat Int'l. Dave Cooley mastered it at Elysian Masters and all instruments are played by Butchy and Fay. The instrumentation is electric guitar, synthesizer, voices, kick drum, snare drum, crash cymbal, hi hat, MPC, melodica, conga and cuica. The new material was mostly recorded live and incorporates electronic and acoustic drums seamlessly. The energy is high and exhilarating. Play it multiple times at high volume for the best listening results."
Artist:
PIT ER PAT
Title:
The Flexible Entertainer
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 231LP
LP version.
Artist:
WHITE HILLS
Title:
White Hills
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 232CD
"Formed by Dave W. on guitar and Ego Sensation on bass, White Hills are an ever changing entity and always striving to push the envelope.
Heads On Fire
, out of print on vinyl and CD, was Thrill Jockey's first White Hills release in partnership with London's Rocket Recordings. The album winds through a sonic maze a la Hawkwind, with a nod to the more gritty fuzzed out playing of Mudhoney. The out of print
Dead
EP that followed, explored more drone heavy territory and textured soundscapes.
White Hills
finds the band at a break through point musically. It is still heavy and would certainly be labelled 'Space Rock' but it finds the band employing a more open and free flowing style of playing."
Artist:
WHITE HILLS
Title:
White Hills
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 232LP
LP version.
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Living
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 233CD
"Van, Lain, and Jennings Carney share a mom, a dad, and a Virginia farm house studio. They record themselves, book themselves, hold complex day jobs, and know their way around a working farm as well as an instrument. They like it loud and for
Living
, their fifth release in two years, they like it dirty. Their fifth album (including
Sea Voids
the LP only tour record made for their tour with White Hills) was recorded on an old reel to reel in the band's home studio using two track tape. Unlike
Sea Voids
, which was recorded in eight brief evening sessions, and
Maker
, which was recorded in mostly single takes, this album underwent a lengthy recording process over the course of four months. Just enough time for Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless to drop by and lay down some guitar.
Living
is connected to their previous recordings by the brothers' affection for a thick as molasses guitar sound and a heavy bass that holds sway over the album, creating some delicious sludge."
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Living
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 233LP
Gatefold LP version, on translucent orange vinyl.
Artist:
LOWE & ROSE LAZAR, ROBERT A.A.
Title:
Eclipses
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 234LP
"In early 2008, Thrill Jockey released
Gyromancy
, a limited edition art book & CD release from Robert A.A. Lowe & Rose Lazar.
Gyromancy
featured a 3" CD of music from Robert A.A. Lowe and was accompanied by a 72 page perfect-bound book featuring the art of both Lowe and Rose Lazar. Thrill Jockey is now happy to present
Eclipses
, a limited edition LP-only release again featuring the music of Lowe and the visual artwork of both Lowe and Lazar.
Eclipses
is an extension of
Gyromancy
. Remaining in view of what came before and altering the vision. Pushing out beyond natural terrestrial landscapes into those slightly more cosmic or alien in scope. It makes an appropriate addendum to the onset of this particular phase. The music was recorded at home by Lowe utilizing semi-modular and polyphonic analogue synthesizers. Accompanying the full length LP is a 12" x 36" double-sided full color poster showcasing the artwork of both Lowe and Lazar. This is again included to properly voice the images, which end up as a sort of storyboard to the music."
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
In Evening Air
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 235CD
"Comprised of J. Gerrit Welmers (synthesizers and programming), William Cashion (bass), and Samuel T. Herring (vocals), Future Islands has continued to make passionate music through an electronic medium for the past four years (although the three have been working and performing since the spring of 2003). They call their music 'Post-Wave,' taking in part from the emotional fragility of new wave and coupling it with the power and drive of post-punk. Their music is spearheaded by Welmers, whose layers of synths and drums create the landscape for Cashion's punching-strum style, that pulses and fights -- the two creating noise and bliss. Herring, who has been called 'one of the most magnetic frontmen in indie rock,' finds his space in between, carving through the music, at times, with a whispering croon, and at others with a deathly wail."
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
In Evening Air
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 235LP
LP version on translucent orange vinyl.
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Thing
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 236CD
"Most bands are too afraid to step up to the bat. They are scared that life is going to throw them different kinds of curve balls. But for more than fifteen years, Trans Am has fearlessly stepped up, taken their swings and thrown a few curve balls of their own. Few bands can say they've toured the Canadian mountains with Tool, and fewer still can say they played their first tour opening for Tortoise. Trans Am a-la 2010 is a band of veterans unafraid to contradict themselves, confident in their identity even as confounding as that identity has been for their fans over the years.
Thing
is a wreckage of sorts. The project was originally commissioned as a sci-fi, horror adaptation of
Romeo And Juliet
. When funding for that project fell apart, Trans Am forged on with their own album."
Artist:
TRANS AM
Title:
Thing
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 236LP
LP version.
Artist:
MI AMI
Title:
Steal Your Face
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 237CD
"Mi Ami is committed to their own particular joyful noise, to the intersection of vicious high-energy playing with ebullient communal experience. In this climate, when pretty much every band has some dub records at home and a myriad of musical influences have been rendered mundane, Mi Ami defines itself by turning inward. Where before, melodies had been suggested, here they are fully developed. Where structure had previously meandered, here each song uses a minimum of means to 'get to there,' allowing the playing to fly free. And, where lyrics had been left unprinted, here they are laid out completely, an integral part of the music. Technically, there are four components to Mi Ami's music: Drums, Bass, Guitar and Vocals. And yet, essentially there is only one: the unified sound, more than the sum of its parts, each individual component coming from and returning to the singular whole. Anyone interested in understanding what Mi Ami is about would do well to start with this album. More concise than
Watersports
, more confident than their other pre-Thrill Jockey releases and better sounding than anything else they have done,
Steal Your Face
marks their arrival as a fully-formed, organically mature band."
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
High Places Vs. Mankind
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 238CD
"High Places began as an experiment in collaboration, based on a DIY compositional style and a love of layers. The title of
High Places vs. Mankind
accurately suggests the album will take a slightly altered course from the 'goodness as growth reflected in nature' motif of the band's debut. A digital single released on Halloween entitled 'I Was Born' demonstrated Rob and Mary using more standard instrumentation including guitars sounding like guitars, and the bassoon upon which Mary was classically trained. Her vocals are less effected and more present, but many aspects of the High Places sound and aesthetic remain intact. One hears dance rhythms, stereo effects, accessible melodies, dub influence, and as always, a love of layering and of combining the unexpected into something cohesive and new."
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
High Places Vs. Mankind
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 238LP
Gatefold LP version.
Artist:
DOUBLE DAGGER
Title:
Masks
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$11.00
Catalog #:
THR 239CD
"Double Dagger embodies the contradictions of the fair-yet-blighted city of Baltimore, Maryland they call home -- visceral, raw, cacophonously loud, yet with unexpected moments of clarity, humor, and revelation. Live, Double Dagger's stripped-down musical line-up, consisting solely of bass, drums, and vocals, somehow manages to sound like a stage-full of musicians. Drummer Denny Bowen hammers the drums with such force that bassist Bruce Willen must employ four amps to match his volume. Singer Nolen Strals wades into, out of, and sometimes on top of the audience, channeling a dynamic energy that often has the three musicians dripping with sweat by the second song. Double Dagger's new EP,
Masks
, continues in this vein, taking up where
More
left off.
Masks
presents a series of vignettes, ranging from acerbic to facetious to self-reflective, on the facades we build within our lives.
Masks
contains some of Double Dagger's most catchy songs to date, yet characteristically the tone of the album encompasses the abrasive and sarcastic as well as the upbeat and closes with a surprisingly delicate instrumental. The EP was recorded by the band using a necessarily DIY setup, and like
More
, manages to capture the loudness and energy of Double Dagger's explosive live performances."
Artist:
DOUBLE DAGGER
Title:
Masks
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 239EP
12" EP version.
Artist:
HIGGS, DANIEL
Title:
Say God
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 240CD
"In recent years, Higgs has released a number of solo outings that can only be described as the ultimate in isolation, worlds away from the hypnotic, communal rock of his band, Lungfish. Higgs follows up the 2007 album/book release
Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot
with his new double album
Say God
.
Say God
is an album of gospel songs and poems as presently received by this Daniel Higgs. Recorded with the help and enthusiasm of David Andrew Sitek, who graciously provided this Daniel Higgs with an environment in which to prosper and enjoy the adventure of recording, or, if you will, the ensnaring of songs as they migrate through time and mind, that they might be heard many places at once, with the singer absent. Song seeds cast abroad, that their message, The Advent Of The Songway, the Way Across, might take root, twist and fruit, light for all. It is the simple hope of this Daniel Higgs that the album
Say God
may be of any use to the listener, may serve the listener, may accompany the listener in clairaudient fellowship." 4-panel gatefold mini-LP style package with 8"x10" insert.
Artist:
HIGGS, DANIEL
Title:
Say God
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 240LP
Gatefold 2LP version with insert.
Artist:
LAZER CRYSTAL
Title:
MCMLXXX
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 241CD
"Lazer Crystal is a musical node comprised of three humans and various mechanisms. They are from the city of Chicago, Illinois and have thus far released two limited selections on the collectors imprint HBSP-2X. The first 12" single
Hot Pink BMX
was printed in an edition of 300 copies and spray painted by hand, some with custom textile covers. The following 12" release
EP1
was even more unique. Lazer Crystal asked several artists to contribute artwork for another 300 copy limited release. The results were that approximately 50 people contributed designs and every single record ended up with a unique jacket. These were displayed 'gallery style' for a special release on Record Store Day. The members of Lazer Crystal are Nicholas Read (electronics & vocals), Josh Johannpeter (percussion), and Mikale De Graff (vocals & electronics).
MCMLXXX
is their first full-length. In short: Lazer Crystal believes that we as humans are at the extreme promontory of the centuries. The human race has reached the moment where we must open the mysterious shutters of the impossible to seek the unknown. We are moving beyond Time and Space toward the absolute, since we have discovered eternal, omnipresent speed."
Artist:
LAZER CRYSTAL
Title:
MCMLXXX
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 241LP
LP version in
Tron
-meets-ancient-Rome die cut LP jacket with full-color insert for "maximum 3D effect."
Artist:
TUNNG
Title:
...And Then We Saw Land
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 242CD
"In the spirit of all their travel and experimentation, they decided to call their new album
...And Then We Saw Land
, and it's full of adventurous spirit. Three songs contain what the band describe as The Mega Chorus, a 15-strong group of collaborators and drinking buddies who lent their voices to the album one rainy night in an abandoned school hall in Old Street. The intimacy and domesticity of previous songs is replaced by a grand sweep, a feeling of a wide world being explored and alien experiences being processed and drawn into the band's lives. And yet it's still Tunng, still with that bucolic oddness and modernist gleam that made those very first basement recordings so intriguing seven long, strange years ago. They were different then, and they remain very different now; still different, but still the same. That's Tunng."
Artist:
TUNNG
Title:
...And Then We Saw Land
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 242LP
Gatefold LP version.
Artist:
THANK YOU
Title:
Golden Worry
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 243CD
"Thank You could only come from one city, at one moment in time. Like Pere Ubu's Cleveland and Joy Division's Manchester, post-industrial Baltimore serves as simultaneous playground, obstacle course, and muse to this show-stealing art-rock trio. Jeffrey McGrath (everything), Michael Bouyoucas (everything), and Emmanuel Nicolaidis (everything) are veterans of a cold era when the Baltimore music scene barely exceeded the carrying capacity of a warehouse elevator. Things change, and the band's urgent collision of rhythm, melody, and noise has placed them at the creative center of today's Baltimore renaissance. Here we have guitars, drums, and vocals -- but also '60s Vox organs, harmonica, mini-moog, jaw harp, sampler, and Fender Twin Reverb amps -- all in the service of six hypnotic tracks of Baltimore-built avant-rock. From the first-jangling, then-jagged guitars of album-opener '1-2-3 Bad' to the triumphant swirls and squeals of 'Continental Divide' and the dexterously deconstructed instrumental bridge of galvanizing closer 'Can't/Can,' these songs are intricate yet immediate stunners. Attacked with the ecstatic, fierce energy of a Thank You live set -- and then perfected in the studio with ears attuned to dub, Eno, 20th Century classical, and Konono No. 1 --
Golden Worry
is a new world in which we listeners can lose ourselves: the sound of Baltimore at the vanguard as we enter the Two-Thousand Teens."
Artist:
THANK YOU
Title:
Golden Worry
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 243LP
LP version.
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
O
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 244CD
"
O
is the first new Oval album in nearly a decade, a striking 70-track double CD and the follow up to May's sold-out
Oh
EP (THR 012.44EP) by electronic pioneer Markus Popp. Popp lives and works in Berlin. He took time off after his last release in 2003 under the moniker So, wanting this new material to be a radical departure from his old concepts and methods on all levels, to essentially be a new 'debut' album. For
O
, Popp's creative process shares nothing with his creative process for prior Oval albums. Previously, Popp focused on the creation of the programs that would process sound and effectively create the music, a process that was more theoretical in nature. For
O
, Popp uses an instrument that is very common, a stock PC outfitted with stock sounds and plug-ins. On the 2CD version of
O
, disc 1 features twenty relatively longer pieces that range from delicate, sophisticated pop to brutally torn, electro-acoustic riffing full of angular, colliding guitar sounds. All of the songs are peppered with expressive and open drumming. Disc 2 features fifty concise, highly detailed pieces that are a conscious nod to the culture of instant gratification. These tracks represent Popp's personal challenge to create pieces within a constrained framework that addresses this aspect of music culture. Popp has even referred to these pieces as ringtones. These one-minute tracks have a melodic finesse and associative power that are unexpected under such constraints and are ripe for future sampling projects."
Artist:
OVAL
Title:
O
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 244LP
Gatefold 2LP version. "For the 2LP, the first 20 tracks from CD1 are spread out over sides A-C, and side D features six vinyl-only bonus tracks. The vinyl version includes a coupon to download all songs on the vinyl, plus the fifty tracks from CD2, seventy-six tracks in all."
Artist:
IMBOGODOM
Title:
The Metallic Year
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 245LP
"Imbogodom are the UK's Alexander Tucker and New Zealand's Daniel Beban.
The Metallic Year
is their Thrill Jockey debut and first release under the Imbogodom moniker. Mutual friends in sound exploration, this Trans-Atlantic duo create other-worldly transmissions where improvisation gives way to mutated song forms and intricate soundscapes. Imbogodom began life inside the depths of BBC's Bush House, where Beban worked nights as a world service radio engineer. Taking advantage of the empty studios, Tucker and Beban dusted off the disused reel to reel tape machines and put them to work. Splicing together tape loops, the duo dove into the fine and nearly lost art of tape editing. While this technique is challenging, the process often yields great rewards. Using an array of instruments, objects, dictaphones, and voices, the duo switch between one operating the tapes and mixing desk and the other being the player. Through this process of roll exchange, the duo were able to remove the divide between player and manipulator to create a pure sonic interaction and unique meeting of minds.
The Metallic Year
is a collection of eerie tracks where sound collage and unraveling songs present a haunted world of spooling atmospheres, warped instrumentation, and disembodied voices. The nocturnal creations were inspired by the tape experiments of BBC's Radiophonics Workshop, Terry Riley, Steve Riech, and their love of New Zealand musician Alastair Galbraith. Imbogodom continue in the tradition of these sonic pioneers to bring new sounds from old sources."
Artist:
FENNESZ/DANIELL/BUCK
Title:
Knoxville
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 246CD
"Christian Fennesz, David Daniell and Tony Buck (The Necks) are three of the most recognized and respected players in experimental music from around the globe. In 2009 the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN brought the three together and encouraged them to collaborate at the festival. The aptly named
Knoxville
documents the results of that first collaboration. Recorded on February 7th, 2009, Fennesz (guitar and electronics), Daniell (guitar) and Buck (drums) channel their collective energies into a darkly atmospheric piece of music that ebbs and flows with remarkable cohesion. Minimalist drum passages scatter over the top of textured layers of guitar and subsumed melodic sequences, eventually giving way to warm beds of evolving, tactile drones. Sonic rain showers roll into full-blown thunderstorms of effected guitar and pounding drums only to yield a field of shattered electronic and percussive debris. The three retain a remarkable sense of unity for never having played together (aside from a brief soundcheck) while allowing plenty of room for each to express his individual personality."
Artist:
COIL SEA
Title:
Coil Sea
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 247LP
"Coil Sea is a collaborative and mostly improvised recording project featuring David Heumann (Arbouretum, Human Bell), Matthew Pierce (Arbouretum) and Michael Lowry (both of Lake Trout and Big in Japan) and Walker David Teret (ex-Arbouretum, Anomoanon)."
Artist:
PREKOP, SAM
Title:
Old Punch Card
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 248CD
"Sam Prekop is known to most as the singer and songwriter of The Sea and Cake. He is a painter of some renown, a photographer and in addition he has released two solo albums of pop songs infused with his own blend of African and Brazilian guitar rhythms. Taking inspiration from early music concrete and electronic music, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Nuno Canavarro, Raymond Scott, David Behrman, and free improvisation,
Old Punch Card
is a beautifully noisy, jagged yet stately album of synthesizer music. The ideas and implementation of
Old Punch Card
(the album title alluding to the electronic, faintly mechanic origins of the music) were the result of an entirely new challenge: to do something completely different from anything else he's ever created. To facilitate this end, Prekop implemented a series of strict guidelines for the recording of the album. No vocals, no guitar (though he slipped in this regard on one track), and no beats. CD version comes packaged in a four panel mini-LP style gatefold package with the first 1,000 copies featuring hand painted covers by Sam Prekop, each copy unique."
Artist:
BLACK TWIG PICKERS, THE
Title:
Ironto Special
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 249CD
"Banjos and fiddles, boards and bones in hand, The Black Twig Pickers dove into a living tradition of old-time music that surrounds their homes in southwest Virginia and never looked back. Both scholars of the regional sounds and advocates of an ecstatic and highly personal approach to the music, the Twigs hold down local dance and bar gigs, play all manner of celebrations, and, every so often, hit the road. Along the way, Isak Howell, Nathan Bowles and Mike Gangloff kept company with some of underground America's heavyweights and haunted the doorsteps of Appalachian fiddle and banjo masters.
Ironto Special
is an album of traditional Appalachian old-time tunes (and two originals) that they've learned through study of both local old-time musicians and old-time records and field recordings. The instrumentation is all-acoustic and features some of the old-time usuals -- fiddle, banjo, guitar -- and some implements less routinely heard in today's old-time scene like washboard, bones, fiddlesticks, mouth harp and jaw harp. Plus (on one song) a one-of-a-kind baritone resonator 12-string guitar. Old-time music served, and continues to serve, a variety of functions in Appalachian life: from dance music to somber solo performance, to raggier blues and everything in between.
Ironto Special
is an attempt to celebrate this variety in the old-time tradition through the band's process of learning and growth as they explore the music's many facets." Includes poster insert.
Artist:
BLACK TWIG PICKERS, THE
Title:
Ironto Special
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 249LP
LP version.
Artist:
BOREDOMS
Title:
77 Boa Drum
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
DVD
Price:
$20.00
Catalog #:
THR 250DVD
"
77 Boa Drum
is a 77 minute, 777 second DVD documentary about the legendary 77 Boa Drum performance Boredoms conducted on July 7, 2007 in Brooklyn, NY The DVD features interviews and behind the scenes rehearsal footage in addition to footage of the actual performance.
77 Boa Drum
comes packaged in a four-panel DVD wallet with three postcards featuring photographs from the performance The all-star cast of 77 drummers includes Butchy Fuego (Pit er Pat, M.I.A.), Kid Millions (Oneida, White Hills), Andee Connors (A Minor Forest, Aquarius Records), Daniel Franz (Arbouretum, Beach House), Chris Brokaw (Come, The New Year), Hisham Bharoocha (Soft Circle), Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt), and Tim DeWitt (Gang Gang Dance)."
Artist:
WONG, DUSTIN
Title:
Infinite Love
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2CD/DVD
Price:
$17.00
Catalog #:
THR 251CD
"Dustin Wong was a founding member of the Baltimore bands Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine.
Infinite Love
is one single 40 minute track, presented in two different versions ('Brother' and 'Sister') each starting the same, but taking a different path to the end. The CD version contains 2CDs + a DVD in a 6 panel fold out package. The DVD features a film to accompany the music, with either 'Brother' or 'Sister' audio."
Artist:
WONG, DUSTIN
Title:
Infinite Love
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP/DVD
Price:
$19.00
Catalog #:
THR 251LP
"The LP version contains 2LPs + a DVD presented in a gatefold jacket with a download coupon. Side A starts Infinite Love off. Side B & Side C are the alternate endings ('Brother' or 'Sister'). Side D is an exclusive bonus EP,
Indigo and Crystal
. The DVD features a film to accompany the music, with either 'Brother' or 'Sister' audio."
Artist:
ETERNAL TAPESTRY
Title:
Beyond The 4th Door
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 252CD
"On their Thrill Jockey debut Eternal Tapestry have delivered an album not unlike their epic live shows.
Beyond the 4th Door
contains long stretches of melodic guitar improvisations, dark brooding songs that slowly build and expand to allow in layers of light. The album was recorded in their home studio and was created by recording more than two hours of material, mostly live, and hand picking what you hold in your hands. There is a free and open nature to their structure creating for the listener a spacious environment to explore. Harkening back to the early '70s experimental rock that inspired them, such as Popol Vuh, Cluster and Träd Gräs och Stenar,
Beyond the 4th Door
is an album meant to be listened to in its entirety.
Beyond The 4th Door
is Eternal Tapestry's debut multi-format release, following sold-out vinyl-only albums on the highly influential Three Lobed and Not Not Fun labels, and many sold out cassettes and CDrs on imprints such as Night People and Digitalis Limited."
Artist:
ETERNAL TAPESTRY
Title:
Beyond The 4th Door
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 252LP
LP version.
Artist:
BARN OWL
Title:
Ancestral Star
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 253CD
"Evan Caminiti (guitars, vocals) and Jon Porras (guitars, vocals, drums, harmonium) met in San Francisco in 2006 and immediately started playing music together. Over the next four years, the two gradually sculpted a vast collection of hazy desert sky meditations -- ominous, barren expanses of music for desert walks at dusk, and dark, pastoral passages embellished with psychedelic and atmospheric wash. A mixture between devotional ragas and dusty stomp with atmosphere and production that references shoegaze and black metal influences.
Ancestral Star
, their third LP, marks the evolution of the Barn Owl sound into a territory where it has become wholly its own, transcending the sum of its influences and taking on a life of its own. At the same time, it is a more realized extension of that sound. Caminiti and Porras paid close attention to the composition of each track and its flow within the album as a whole. Engaging throughout, every moment contributes to an overall feeling of mysterious desert expanse and a sonic narrative that unfurls like a cinematic metaphysical western."
Artist:
BARN OWL
Title:
Ancestral Star
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 253LP
2011 repress. Gatefold LP version.
Artist:
HOLTKAMP, KOEN
Title:
Gravity/Bees
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 254LP
"The detailed and resonant music of Koen Holtkamp is disarmingly beautiful.
Gravity/Bees
is technically a very complex recording, but so directly emotional as to betray its origins, much like Holtkamp's work in Mountains. Originally spurred by an invitation to take part in the Dissolving Localities Project in Jerusalem in May 2010, Holtkamp's decision to craft a recording from bees stemmed from a desire to create something he was attracted to from a production standpoint, something extremely detailed and resonant. On one level representing a continuous flow of sound like a drone but also having a familiar association making it human. In the beginning of the piece the instruments are sculpted around the bee recordings; as the piece develops the actual bees gradually become background and the instruments take focus loosely emulating the buzzing resonant characteristics of the hive. 'Loosely Based On Bees' is mainly a studio creation with only a few live additions from a 2008 New Year's performance added on toward the end."
Artist:
HARPER & DANIEL HIGGS, TWIG
Title:
Clairaudience Fellowship
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 255LP
"Twig Harper has been a force in the noise/experimental scene since the mid '90s with his group Nautical Almanac, touring worldwide and releasing recordings on Hanson, Load, and Heresee. He also runs Tarantula Hill in Baltimore - a space that includes a performance area, recording studio, esoteric library, and rooftop beehives & gardens. Daniel Higgs is best known for his work as the lyricist and frontman of Lungfish, whose work on Dischord Records has spanned 3 decades. He is also a very prolific solo artist with works on Thrill Jockey, Holy Mountain, Northern Liberties, Open Mouth, and Ideal Recordings.
Clairaudience Fellowship
is released on LP-only in an edition of 1,000 copies housed in full-color jackets with a coupon for DRM-free MP3 download. The download coupon includes one additional bonus track that is not on the LP."
Artist:
TOURE & FRIENDS, SIDI
Title:
Sahel Folk
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 256CD
"Throughout his time making music, Sidi's sound has both captured and challenged his roots. His music moves from the translucent swaying takamba to the trance inducing Holley, while the lyrics often address many non-traditional issues. Sidi has a critical mind and his songs have a purpose. At its heart,
Sahel Folk
, Thrill Jockey's debut release with Sidi Touré, is an album of friends reuniting around a glass of tea. It's Sidi Touré's second album, but the first time most of his collaborators have been documented. Sidi Touré has been performing music in his home of Mali since the 1970s when he formed the Songhaï Stars regional orchestra. He has won the award for best singer two times at the Mali National Bienale. Sidi is a peer to Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyate, and he shares a kinship with the late Ali Farka Touré."
Artist:
TOURE & FRIENDS, SIDI
Title:
Sahel Folk
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 256LP
Gatefold LP version.
Artist:
ARBOURETUM
Title:
The Gathering
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 257CD
"
The Gathering
is the fourth album from the Baltimore band Arbouretum, led by singer, guitarist and lyricist Dave Heumann with bassist Corey Allender. Heumann's lyrics employ elaborate and allegorical imagery, borrowing themes from Jung and Bowles to explore the depths of the mind. He and Allender trade long, expressive instrumental passages to explore the outer reaches of sonic space. On
The Gathering
, new drummer Buck Carey and the keyboards and percussion of Matthew Pierce open Arbouretum's sound further, giving Heumann's guitar explorations time and space to fully develop."
Artist:
ARBOURETUM
Title:
The Gathering
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 257LP
LP version, with insert.
Artist:
MANLEY, PHIL
Title:
Life Coach
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 258CD
"Phil Manley, founding member of the pioneering DC-trio Trans Am, and in-demand recording engineer (The Alps, Arp, Mi Ami, Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips) has recorded his debut solo album.
Life Coach
, a title inspired by Tony Williams Lifetime and Charles Bullen's Lifetones project, is a dynamic collection of instrumental songs composed, performed, and recorded entirely by Phil. While there are reflections of Phil's work in Trans Am, Oneida, The Fucking Champs, and Jonas Reinhardt that a listener familiar with those bands will notice,
Life Coach
is more minimal and adheres to the structures of German rock of the mid '70s that has long inspired Phil, specifically the free-spirited and loose arrangements, the propulsive 'motorik' pulse, and the sonic textures or 'Klangfarben' (translated 'sound colors'). German analog recording technology had reached its zenith in the late 70's. This coincided nicely with the careers of such artists as Neu!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Cluster and Popol Vuh. German recording engineer Connie Plank, a hero of Phil's, was responsible for most of the greatest recordings of each of these bands.
Life Coach
pays homage to the 'Klangfarben' of Connie Plank's recordings."
Artist:
MANLEY, PHIL
Title:
Life Coach
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 258LP
LP version.
Artist:
RIZZO, RICK AND TARA KEY
Title:
Double Star
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 259LP
"Just ten years ago, Rick Rizzo and Tara Key put the finishing touches on their Thrill Jockey debut,
Dark Edson Tiger
, did a few live shows including All Tomorrow's Parties at Camber Sands, and jubilantly declared the whole affair a rousing success, vowing to ride the tsunami swell of momentum into their next project. And now, in a Van Winkle like-daze, they are back, a new batch of instrumental collaborations ready to test the brave new decade. It would be easy to say that they simply wanted to wait out the debacle of poor government and unmitigated corporate greed, but truth be told, the seeds for Double Star were sown in early live New York City sessions with bassist Tim Harris not long after the
Dark Edson
dust had settled. These let-the-tape-roll sessions produced some of the guitar psychedelia that long-time observers might have expected from these two, including the epic tracks that now comprise 'Noisy Attic' as well as the genesis of 'Interruptive Organ'." Paste-on cover with insert.
Artist:
SKULL DEFEKTS, THE
Title:
Peer Amid
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 260CD
"There are some bands who are content to make a record, play a few shows, and exist as a musical entity only when it's time to make a new album, and then there are bands like The Skull Defekts who are the backbone of their musical communities. Hard at work on their numerous individual projects, constantly collaborating, releasing their own records on their own imprints, and touring incessantly, The Skull Defekts are Sweden's answer to the States' Sonic Youth and the Netherlands' The Ex and one of the centerpieces of the Swedish experimental rock scene. Since their creation in 2005, The Skull Defekts have taken their base of classic rock with massive guitar riffing, and infused it with their interest in circular composition, drone, tribal music, Indian ragas, '60s minimalism, and experimental music from numerous ages."
Artist:
SKULL DEFEKTS, THE
Title:
Peer Amid
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$19.00
Catalog #:
THR 260LP
2LP version.
Artist:
ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Title:
Riot Now!
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 261CD
"
Riot Now!
, Eleventh Dream Day's 10th album, is a call back to the urgency of 1988's
Prairie School Freakout
, with a string of mostly first takes tracked in one session with few overdubs. Eleventh Dream Day, a Chicago treasure, have been active in the rock underground for a staggering 25 years."
"Eleventh Dream Day have forged one of the most durable sounds to emerge from the indie-rock underground. Balancing ragged guitars against fragile melodies and sweet vocal harmonies, the Chicago group's three late '80s/early '90s albums perfectly encapsulated the promise -- both artistic and commercial -- of post-punk alternative rock."
--
Rolling Stone
Artist:
ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
Title:
Riot Now!
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 261LP
LP version. "
Riot Now!
, Eleventh Dream Day's 10th album, is a call back to the urgency of 1988's
Prairie School Freakout
, with a string of mostly first takes tracked in one session with few overdubs. Eleventh Dream Day, a Chicago treasure, have been active in the rock underground for a staggering 25 years."
"Eleventh Dream Day have forged one of the most durable sounds to emerge from the indie-rock underground. Balancing ragged guitars against fragile melodies and sweet vocal harmonies, the Chicago group's three late '80s/early '90s albums perfectly encapsulated the promise -- both artistic and commercial -- of post-punk alternative rock."
--
Rolling Stone
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Napoléonette
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 262A-LP
"Matthew Friedberger is one half of The Fiery Furnaces and this is his first solo material since
Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School
(recorded in 2006).
Napoléonette
is the first of six full length albums Matthew Friedberger will release in 2011. Only 350 copies of
Napoléonette
are available for individual purchase (most copies are being sold through a subscription service). Do not delay. This album will not be made available on CD or as a digital download in its entirety."
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Meet Me In Miramas
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 262B-LP
"Matthew Friedberger is one half of The Fiery Furnaces. Mr. Friedberger is at work on a book called
The Progressive Use of Popular Culture 1: Music
. In this work, about the same length as Jason Alexander's non-existent Acting without Acting, he attempts to advance-- or exaggerate -- the egalitarian potential of the irreducibly esoteric nature of the popular arts. He considers Rock-n-Roll, or Rock 'n Roll, or Rock, or This Thing, to be the Queen, or King, or Tyrant of Indeterminate Gender, of the Popular Arts. The word Tyrant in the last sentence is meant to include a sense of necessary illegitimacy."
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Old Regimes
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 262C-LP
"
Old Regimes
is the third album released in Matthew Friedberger's 2011 six album series
Solos
. Matt's vocals are present and a Lyon and Healy semi-grand harp was the only instrument used on
Old Regimes
. Matt is Rock-n-Roll musician and songwriter Matthew Friedberger, a Chicagoan. Mr. Friedberger considers R-n-R an anti-vocational sphere of endeavor, as is obvious from its epithet, so spelled, Q.E.D. Therefore a C.V. is drastically inappropriate."
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Cut It Out
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 262D-LP
"
Cut It Out
is the fourth album released in Matthew Friedberger's 2011 six album series
Solos
.
Cut It Out
was made with drums and machines that play drums and things which can be made to sound like drums. Matt's vocals are also present."
Artist:
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW
Title:
Death-In-Life
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 262E-LP
"
Death-In-Life
is the fifth album released in Matthew Friedberger's 2011 six album series
Solos
.
Death-In-Life
was made with organ and Matt's vocals."
Artist:
SPEER, D. CHARLES
Title:
Arghiledes
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 263LP
"D. Charles Speer aka Dave Shuford is a founding member of the long running No Neck Blues Band and also known for his work with Enos Slaughter, The Suntanama, Egypt Is The Magick #, and Coach Fingers.
Arghiledes
is the second Speer solo album and is a vinyl only release limited to 500 copies with free download coupon.
Arghiledes
is greatly influenced by Shuford's Greek heritage and will appeal to fans of early 20th century Greek music as well as recent archival Arabic and Greek recordings reissued on labels such as Mississippi and Honest Jon's, and to those following modern takes on Arabic music (i.e. Sir Richard Bishop's
Freak Of Araby
)."
Artist:
SPEER & THE HELIX, D. CHARLES
Title:
Leaving the Commonwealth
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 264CD
"
Leaving the Commonwealth
is the third full length by D. Charles Speer & the Helix and features their most accomplished playing and songwriting yet, setting a high watermark for narrative honky tonk rock at this late date. Inspired by swaggering, outrageous and engaging sonic tales like Cowboy Jack Clement's 'Miller's Cave,' this album features byzantine songs which flow surprisingly quickly and with natural grace. The album opener 'Razorbacked' emits nourish cinematic imagery and twists which are matched with music sparked from a wasted mid 70s cassette from Peaches or Turtles. Numerous musical luminaries, including Freddie King and Clifton Chenier, are invoked and celebrated in song. Other tracks like 'Cumberland' and 'Battle of the Wilderness' are historically detailed and geographically specific chronicles. Dense tones flow from all corners, with guitar sounds reminiscent of Fripp or Manzanera on one end and the pedal steel tones of Emmons and Mooney on another. Beautifully recorded by Jason LaFarge of Seizures Palace in the urban environs of Brooklyn, this album is southern by lyrical setting, country by instrumental arrangement, rocking through its rhythmic heft and most certainly contemporary in attitude."
Artist:
SPEER & THE HELIX, D. CHARLES
Title:
Leaving the Commonwealth
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 264LP
LP version, housed in a die-cut jacket with full-color inner sleeve.
Artist:
TUCKER, ALEXANDER
Title:
Dorwytch
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 265CD
"British experimental musician Alexander Tucker releases his Thrill Jockey debut
Dorwytch
. This record breaks new ground for Tucker by combining minimalist string arrangements with electronic manipulations and drones to produce doom chamber-pop songs and psychedelic music-concrete collages. Three years in the making
Dorwytch
finds Tucker refining his song craft and introducing minimalist string movements that build into dense spiraling riffs around his distinct vocals. With varied sounds and grandiose ideas, the album marries the abstract with more traditional song structures, using layering techniques to create the illusion of an ensemble. This album is the first time Tucker has used drums, collaborating with free improv drummer Paul May to create rhythmic improvised beats."
Artist:
TUCKER, ALEXANDER
Title:
Dorwytch
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 265LP
LP version.
Artist:
ETERNAL TAPESTRY & SUN ARAW
Title:
Night Gallery
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 266CD
"The session took place in a large TV studio on the UT campus, with the band setting up in a big circle. The line-up was Dewey Mahood and Nick Bindeman on guitars, Jed Bindeman on drums, Ryan Carlile on tenor sax, Yoni Kifle on bass, and Cameron Stallones on keyboard and trademark flute. After a brief discussion of mood, the six musicians improvised together for 45 minutes continuously. The music is heard as played that evening - no overdubs, and only a few edits to create a four section suite for the LP release. The piece is titled
Night Gallery
, in homage to the surreal early 1970s TV show produced by Rod Serling of
Twilight Zone
fame. It was this program that the six musicians fell asleep to, and woke up with, during their five day stay in Austin."
Artist:
ETERNAL TAPESTRY & SUN ARAW
Title:
Night Gallery
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 266LP
LP version. "The session took place in a large TV studio on the UT campus, with the band setting up in a big circle. The line-up was Dewey Mahood and Nick Bindeman on guitars, Jed Bindeman on drums, Ryan Carlile on tenor sax, Yoni Kifle on bass, and Cameron Stallones on keyboard and trademark flute. After a brief discussion of mood, the six musicians improvised together for 45 minutes continuously. The music is heard as played that evening - no overdubs, and only a few edits to create a four section suite for the LP release. The piece is titled
Night Gallery
, in homage to the surreal early 1970s TV show produced by Rod Serling of
Twilight Zone
fame. It was this program that the six musicians fell asleep to, and woke up with, during their five day stay in Austin."
Artist:
ZOMES
Title:
Earth Grid
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 267CD
"The music of Asa Osborne forms a corpus, still evolving, that spans 30 years, growing through early projects in Southern Maryland, The Clits and Pig, to the Baltimore song-lab of Lungfish and the sub-group The Pupils, and until presently his compositions are crafted in solitude and offered to the listener as Zomes. Melody is rhythm, tone is proportion, tempo harmonizes, synchronizing with life, akin to the morphological architecture of trees, rivers, reaching from root to fruit, from mountain to sea. Asa Osborne's songs are artifacts of his trust in the Wisdom of Music.
Earth Grid
, Zomes' second solo album, is the culmination of Osborne's years of exploring meditative modal models. Written, played, and recorded entirely at home on cassette tape,
Earth Grid
, is an intimate and intentionally primitive recording."
Artist:
ZOMES
Title:
Earth Grid
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 267LP
LP version.
Artist:
MITCHELL AND MANLEY
Title:
Norcal Values
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 269LP
"Floating down the Yuba River, hang gliding off the cliffs at Fort Funston, a day at Ocean Beach with the dog, a leisurely stroll in Golden Gate Park, a fat bag of Trainwreck; these are among the many images that come to mind when listening to Mitchell and Manley's
Norcal Values
. Inspired by his spiritual advisor, Bettina Richards, Phil Manley recruited the shredding stylings of Earthless' Isaiah Mitchell to collaborate on a record comprised almost exclusively of a single continuous guitar solo. The recording was made live with no overdubs - completely improvised. This recording exhibits inspiration so pure that it could only come from within. Drawing from the classical Indian music tradition as well as from modern new age music,
Norcal Values
is the sonic equivalent of fine Californian cuisine."
Artist:
JONES, GLENN
Title:
The Wanting
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 271CD
"Glenn Jones, a 30+ year devotee of the so called 'American Primitive' school of acoustic steel string guitarists, has been playing guitar since the age of 14.
The Wanting
, Glenn Jones' first album for Thrill Jockey, was recorded in a fourth floor apartment on Commonwealth Avenue, Allston, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, overlooking the commuter train line. If you listen carefully to the record, you can occasionally hear trains going by in the background. Reuben Son recorded the album between December 12, 2010, and April 20, 2011.
The Wanting
was mixed and mastered by long time collaborator Matthew Azevedo. Simply put,
The Wanting
is a collection of original compositions for solo acoustic steel string guitar, six-string, 10-string and bottleneck, and 5-string open-back banjo."
Artist:
JONES, GLENN
Title:
The Wanting
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$19.00
Catalog #:
THR 271LP
Gatefold 2LP version with mp3 download code.
Artist:
BAMBA, SORRY
Title:
Volume One 1970-1979
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 272CD
"This release compiles rare tracks from Mali's Sorry Bamba. Sorry's greatest legacy is his time as the leader of the Regional Orchestra of Mopti, which later became known as the Kanaga Orchestra, and it is this period documented on
Volume One 1970 - 1979
. Many of these songs are previously unreleased and most are highly sought after as originals are nowhere to be found Alex Minoff and Ian Eagleson (both of Extra Golden) have worked closely with Sorry Bamba to compile and fully restore this collection of songs for official release."
Artist:
BAMBA, SORRY
Title:
Volume One 1970-1979
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$20.00
Catalog #:
THR 272LP
2LP version. Printed innersleeves with notes and photos.
Artist:
LITURGY
Title:
Aesthethica
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 273CD
"Brooklyn based Liturgy is Hunter Hunt Hendrix, Greg Fox, Tyler Dusenbury, and Bernard Gann.
Aesthethica
, their second album and third release, shows the band exploring, in greater depth, themes initially touched on by their critically acclaimed debut album,
Renihilation
. The band used every instrument, literal or figurative, to produce meaning and intensity, disregarding the genre boundaries of black metal, hardcore and experimental music. Highly technical musicianship, poetico-mystical gesturing, and a minimal directness; all singular elements, whose interactions and reactions are contained in and bursting from a black metal framework. Revelatory contrasts presented in an intensely physical performance whose energy is palpable and whose abatement is as illuminating as its arrival."
Artist:
LITURGY
Title:
Aesthethica
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$19.00
Catalog #:
THR 273LP
Gatefold 2LP version. "Brooklyn based Liturgy is Hunter Hunt Hendrix, Greg Fox, Tyler Dusenbury, and Bernard Gann.
Aesthethica
, their second album and third release, shows the band exploring, in greater depth, themes initially touched on by their critically acclaimed debut album,
Renihilation
. The band used every instrument, literal or figurative, to produce meaning and intensity, disregarding the genre boundaries of black metal, hardcore and experimental music. Highly technical musicianship, poetico-mystical gesturing, and a minimal directness; all singular elements, whose interactions and reactions are contained in and bursting from a black metal framework. Revelatory contrasts presented in an intensely physical performance whose energy is palpable and whose abatement is as illuminating as its arrival."
Artist:
MOUNTAINS
Title:
Air Museum
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 274CD
"
Air Museum
blurs the lines between acoustic and electronic music even more without sacrificing melody or the delicacy of their sound. It is an album of firsts. It was the first album that the acoustic instruments were not processed via a computer. Instead, the processing of the instrumentation (acoustic and electric guitar, cello, accordion, piano, bass etc.) was done using a variety of pedals, modular synths, and other analog techniques. While acoustic instruments were used extensively, the album manifests itself sonically as their most 'electronic' record yet.
Air Museum
is also their first record that was made in a studio. Working in the studio expanded their possibilities, giving more room for experimentation. While much of the album was recorded in real time with minor editing, the band took the opportunity to utilize the studio as an instrument of sorts, investing a great amount of time in customizing their approach to post-production."
Artist:
MOUNTAINS
Title:
Air Museum
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 274LP
LP version.
Artist:
PONTIAK
Title:
Comecrudos
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 275LP
"
Comecrudos
is a new 25 minute 12" vinyl only EP. This release was created as a soundtrack to the bold landscape Pontiak encountered on a drive from Phoenix to the Big Bend area of Texas. Pontiak was captivated by the sprawling landscape, the immensity and complexity of the geology and the beauty. They camped in an old volcano crater under a full moon and hiked ridges alongside the Rio Grande.
Comecrudos
is a soundtrack for the drive on Route 385 southbound from Marathon, Texas. The band recommends listening to the album whilst driving, windows rolled down, music at full volume, the dust hanging in the air. Or on the subway - imagining you are in a car driving with the widows rolled down, music at full volume, the dust hanging in the air."
Artist:
WHITE HILLS
Title:
H-p1
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 276CD
"Musically,
H-p1
, White Hills' second full-length for Thrill Jockey, expands on the explorations of previous albums in ambience, noise, and space rock all led by guitarist Dave W.'s blistering guitar solos. The cover is a stark, colorless landscape, a metaphor for the status quo, while the inside and the record are an attempt to break free from this bland existence. The music and the photo inside are loud, colorful, exuberant, and alive.
H-p1
is the cry for the disenfranchised, the exposure of the ills that the corporate-controlled governmental system has put in place. This seventeen minute song is the summation of the album, the point when the protagonist delivers his realization and vision of a solution to the masses. There is another way. You don't have to be a drone."
Artist:
WHITE HILLS
Title:
H-p1
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
2LP
Price:
$19.00
Catalog #:
THR 276LP
Gatefold 2LP version with printed innersleeves and an MP3 download code.
Artist:
BARN OWL
Title:
Shadowland
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
12"
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 277EP
"The new material on
Shadowland
takes inspiration from the devotional sounds of Popol Vuh and Alice Coltrane and also possesses the pitch black weightlessness of Fushitsusha and early Tangerine Dream. With waves of guitar soaring over liquid synthesizers tones, Barn Owl combine lush, melancholic serenity with cacophonous, deconstructed guitar to exhibit a visceral meeting of light and dark. Cyclical themes were explored heavily: mantric guitar processions, swelling bass waves, and fluttering tremolo hypnotism.
Shadowland
was recorded by Phil Manley (Trans Am) in San Francisco. For the overall sound of the EP, the band focused on using monolithic stacks of tube amps and sent guitars and synthesizers alike through them and utilized intense amounts of stereo delay."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
The Moonlight Butterfly
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 278CD
"In January 2011 Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, John McEntire, and Eric Claridge reconvened at Chicago's Soma Electronic Music Studios to record their latest release
The Moonlight Butterfly
. This thirty three minute mini-album finds the band delivering much more long form and cinematic pieces. The new songs lean upon the band's more experimental tendencies, taking time to stretch the forms and in some ways the new material relates to the way the band re-interprets some of their songs live. With the band making a shorter than usual record they were allowed to take more chances and ended up with a release that leans a bit more towards the instrumental. Rather than having the vocals be the sole focal point the shifts in emphasis to other instruments facilitated a more open approach. The song 'Weekend' from
Car Alarm
was kind of an unwitting blueprint for some of the new material. Especially the new song 'Inn Keeping' where a synthesizer pattern became the armature for the song, a constant to play with and against. 'Inn Keeping' is also quite a breakthrough for the band, sounding unlike anything they have done before and breaking the 10 minute mark."
Artist:
SEA AND CAKE, THE
Title:
The Moonlight Butterfly
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 278LP
LP version.
Artist:
WOODEN SHJIPS
Title:
West
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 279CD
"It is easy to see why these would appeal to Wooden Shjips, as their music lends itself to exploration. It is both transformative and transporting, the sum being far greater than its parts. The steady driving rhythms are the elliptical motion machine driven by the often thick and distorted guitar lines, melodic and boundless. Where they may lead cannot be anticipated but following them is exhilarating. It is all about getting there, the destination, while the experience of getting there is an adventure. It is the guitar lines that guide both the listener and the band on the literal and metaphorical journey into the vastness. The ghostly vocals, obscured by dense layers of instruments surrounding them, are alluring with their airy mystery. This elusive quality further draws the listener in, while they attempt to grasp at their meaning. While indebted to both the psych music of the '60s and mid-'70s, electric Neil Young, and even the induced travels of Spacemen 3, the Wooden Shjips' music is modern and in every way their own.
West
is an epic journey to the edge and beyond."
Artist:
WOODEN SHJIPS
Title:
West
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 279LP
LP version with full-color innersleeve and mp3 download code.
Artist:
BARN OWL
Title:
Lost In The Glare
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 280CD
"
Lost in the Glare
is Barn Owl's second album for Thrill Jockey, and follows quickly on the heels of their acclaimed 12" EP
Shadowland
. Like
Shadowland
the album was recorded to tape by Phil Manley in San Francisco's Lucky Cat Studios.
Lost in the Glare
is made up of material composed over the course of a year and recorded in sessions throughout the winter of 2011. At the heart of the album's sound is the dual guitar interaction between Caminiti and Porras, a spiraling web of interlocking gestures that give way to bone rattling, monolithic progressions and dusty drifts. The mostly finger picked guitars weave in and out of each other in precise movements that recall the hypnotic influence of American minimalists. The harmonium that was prevalent on previous recordings has been replaced on
Lost in the Glare
with the undulations of a Farfisa organ. The songs here are deep, cosmic excursions. Rich in dynamics, the record possesses a transcendental tone through both a densely layered combination of electric and acoustic instruments and walls of melting amplifiers and feedback alchemy. The lines between strict structure and ordered chaos blur as third-eye opening e-bowed drones explode like beams of light and corrode into crumbling distortion, baking tones that sizzle like brittle bones left in the desert sun."
Artist:
BARN OWL
Title:
Lost In The Glare
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 280LP
LP version. Includes mp3 download code.
Artist:
TUNNELS
Title:
The Blackout
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 282LP
"For several years, Tunnels has been the moniker for the solo output of Nicholas Bindeman. Over time Bindeman's sound has evolved from the slow, breathing landscapes of his earlier ambient/drone releases (
Colour Seance
,
Vexations
) to completely fried-out bedroom psych explorations (
Astral Collage
,
In Between Dreams
).
The Blackout
delves into a world of sound unheard of on any prior Tunnels release as Bindeman steps away from the heady guitar wizardry of
Eternal Tapestry
to craft a pulsing and dark record steeped in cold dread with a pop sheen. Bass lines, often the centerpiece of the song, play alongside glistening, glass slipper synths and jagged guitars, seeping like silver lined shadows into disaffected vocal incantations. Drawing on a disparate palate of sounds from various facets of electronic music, his version of a new cold wave is a sound both novel and infectious. Taking after synth pop pioneers such as Charles de Goal and Crash Course in Science, with a hint of Throbbing Gristle,
The Blackout
still manages to resonate with the new."
Artist:
ROBERTS, LUKE
Title:
Big Bells And Dime Songs
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 283CD
"The debut album by Brooklyn's own Luke Roberts is an intimate and immediate experience. Songs about running, stumbling, falling, crashing, crying, spitting, fighting, sleeping, dancing, healing, bruising, the butterfly, crawling, creeping, building, flying, fording, gargling, just starting out, homecoming, claiming, calling, bridges, tunnels, planets, and the sun and money. Essentially they are just gifts for Luke's loved ones. Luke says it best: 'They are poems that I didn't feel comfortable not reciting before I go.'"
Artist:
ROBERTS, LUKE
Title:
Big Bells And Dime Songs
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 283LP
LP version.
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
On The Water
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 285CD
"Future Islands' romantic synth sound scales new heights with
On the Water
, the Baltimore trio's most ambitious and fully realized statement yet. Built around a song cycle exploring love, loss, and memory, their latest album finds the band continuing to deliver pounding rhythms, swelling melodies, and undeniable hooks - but finding new ways to probe inner space and tug at hearts. What emerged is a lush yet visceral album about two parallel journeys--one physical and one psychological.
On the Water's
narrator offers enough detail that their story feels personal, yet open enough that any listener can inhabit each twist and emotional pang as their own."
Artist:
FUTURE ISLANDS
Title:
On The Water
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$15.00
Catalog #:
THR 285LP
LP version.
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
Original Colors
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
CD
Price:
$14.00
Catalog #:
THR 286CD
"The album is dotted with sun-drenched references to Australia's inimitable foliage, the expansive desert of Northern Mexico, and the crystal, blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Such allusions are presented over a bed of swirling stereo rhythms and infectious melodies that are the band's signature. Each track possesses a specific texture and emotion that serve to create a variegated yet unified album that is held together by the binding force of Mary's mezzo-soprano vocals. The air of naivete has been peeled away since the first album, and her voice is pushed to the fore; liberated from the dense sonic waves of previous work, and blossoming into a truly melodic instrument."
Artist:
HIGH PLACES
Title:
Original Colors
Label:
THRILL JOCKEY
Format:
LP
Price:
$16.00
Catalog #:
THR 286LP
Gatefold LP version.
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