Browse by Label: WESTERN VINYL

Artist:	SIX TWILIGHTS
Title:	Six Twilights
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	OWN 035CD

"Six Twilights' music is a collection of carefully recorded bits of hushed, delicate male and female vocals, warm acoustic guitars and melancholy piano all rearranged in non-repetitive patterns which sometimes resemble songs in the traditional sense and sometimes veer more towards ambient electronic atmospheres. The accompanying DVD is a visual counterpoint to the music: tiny moments of nostalgic, essentialized forms swaying and bending to the warm rushes of sound. RIYL: Fennesz, Sigur Rós, Carissa's Wierd, Marcus Pop, Múm, Hood." DVD is NTSC format.

Artist:	LIPPOK, ROBERT
Title:	Robot
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	WEST 022CD

"We've all felt like robots, working alienating jobs, engaging in scripted conversations with others, and even at home, with our repetitive daily rituals. Robert Lippok, successfully captures the experience of robotic life on his Robot EP. As the album begins we hear the distant sound of a robot at work, sounding both mechanical and lonely. This sets the tone for the rest of the portrait. With the fluttering ambient tones and gently repetitive bass patterns of 'Unexpected Behavior No. 7' and the arpeggiating synthesizers of 'Silent Movement (No Serva),' Lippok continues to develop the feelings of isolation and solace found in a predictable existence."

Artist:	HASUNUMA, SHUTA
Title:	Shuta Hasunuma
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 042CD

"Like broken and incomplete memories of dreams, Shuta Hasunuma's compositions string together erratic electronic textures and field recordings from the streets and countryside of Japan with emotive guitar and piano melodies. Throughout the album, he does an amazing job of using simple, sometimes child-like melodies to evoke a feeling of melancholy that's both cinematic and intimate. In the end we get something akin to an audio diary, shifting from deeply moody with tracks like 'Prelude' and 'Double Navaho' to playful and whimsical on tracks like 'Long Road Home' and 'Eurikago Afternoon.'"

Artist:	AMBARCHI, OREN
Title:	Stacte Motors
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	WEST 043EP

"Oren Ambarchi's Stacte Motors is the most recent addition to the Western Vinyl portrait series. Additionally, these pieces continue the Stacte series started in 1998 with Ambarchi's first self-released solo recordings. Similar to the 4 previous editions of the series, which explored one idea at length, Stacte Motors is an experiment in exciting instruments with a spinning motor with strings attached. The resulting recordings are metallic walls of minimalist drones, both fearless and dreamy."

Artist:	MADAGASCAR
Title:	Goodbye East, Goodbye West
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WEST 045CD

"Goodbye East, Goodbye West is a refinement and growth of Madagascar's unique sound. Each track uses crisscrossing accordion, saw, and glockenspiel melodies; anchored by bass, acoustic guitar, and percussion. These instrumental elements are perfectly punctuated with beautiful wordless vocals. From playful waltzes and clanky dirges, to minimalist scrapes and drones, to their arrangement of the Chanukah staple 'S'vivon,' Goodbye East, Goodbye West is a uniquely satisfying and mystifying collection of songs."

Artist:	HASUNUMA, SHUTA
Title:	OK Bamboo
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WEST 046CD

"Much like the bamboo plants that dominate Japan's landscape, Shuta Hasunuma's piano work on his new album OK Bamboo has an enduring, simple elegance. Each track flits and twitters, growing and changing without warning. The result is a collection of enchantingly beautiful compositions full of meticulous details. This perfectly-executed collage of digital and organic sounds immediately feels familiar and intimate, as it demands your attention. R.I.Y.L Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fennesz, The Books, Colleen, Eluvium."

Artist:	GOLDMUND
Title:	Two Point Discrimination
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	WEST 048CD

"Two Point Discrimination marks Goldmund (aka Keith Kenniff)'s third release after his highly-praised debut Corduroy Road and followup 7" The Heart of High Places for Type Records. Part of Western Vinyl's 'Portrait Series,' this collection features 11 short pieces for solo piano focusing on the sensation of touch and its relationship to sound. In the spirit of composers such as Howard Skempton and Morton Feldman, composition and sound culminate together as space is something that is dealt with directly. And interpretation along with improvisation are both tools that blur the lines between composer, performer and listener."

Artist:	AKIYAMA, TETUZI
Title:	The Ancient Battle to Control Death
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	WEST 049CD

"Tetuzi Akiyama's contribution to the Western Vinyl portrait series is a departure in a career of departures. In addition to Akiyama's trademark improvised, blues-infused, guitar work, The Ancient Balance to Control Death also features intense multi-layered vocals. Much like his guitar work, the vocals flow with a sharp primal urgency. The end result is a collection of unique and tense Japanese blues that could only have come from one of Japan's most distinct and creative improvisers."

Artist:	BALMORHEA
Title:	Rivers Arms
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	2LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	WEST 051LP

"In 2008 we had the honor of releasing our first Balmorhea record Rivers Arms. Though the band's sound and size has grown, the soulful collection of songs on Rivers Arms continues to resonate with listeners. From the contented isolation of 'The Winter' to the hazy heat and hopeful longing of 'San Solomon,' their music captures the indescribable feelings of living and growing in Texas. Now, four years later, we're excited to make this limited edition vinyl version of Rivers Arms available with four bonus tracks and updated artwork." Housed in a gatefold sleeve; numbered edition of 500 copies with mp3 download.

Artist:	TILLMAN, J.
Title:	Vacilando Territory Blues
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 056CD

"Vacilando Territory Blues is Joshua 'J.' Tillman's new album. This album's ten songs (including 'No Occasion,' 'Firstborn,' and 'Barter Blues') followed by three more songs, all feature Josh Tillman playing guitar and singing. Even this bio was written by him. Bios are an important tool that music journalists mine for POI's (points of interest) to be included in record reviews. For instance, journalists would never know this album was recorded only on Thursdays under a full moon, unless it was noted here. Buyers at record stores also use bios to discern how many copies of an album they should stock. Bios are rarely read by the music-buying public, as exhaustive liner notes have long since gone out of fashion."

Artist:	HERE WE GO MAGIC
Title:	Here We Go Magic
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	LP
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	WEST 057LP

"Now available on vinyl! Developed over a two-month period of stream-of-consciousness recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Luke Temple's self-titled debut under his new moniker Here We Go Magic is a remarkable departure from his signature singer-songwriter material. Luke recorded the album at home using analog synths, a cassette 4-track, and his trusty SM-57 mic, coloring the sound with warmth and creating textures you want to wrap yourself in. The album opens with the trance-inducing polyrhythms and gorgeous multi-layered vocals of 'Only Pieces.' What follows is an album oozing with sounds maternal and subconscious, like floating in amniotic fluid, ripe, hiccup-y and desperate to emerge. Many of the songs pulse with infectious Afro-beat and Krautrock influenced grooves, calling to mind classic albums like Remain in the Light and Graceland. Despite the album's murky aquatic underpinnings it's hard to resist shakin' what you got to ebullient blissed-out tracks like 'Fangala' and 'Tunnelvision.' Vinyl version includes an exclusive bonus track 'Your Eyes Spit.'"

Artist:	HASUNUMA, SHUTA
Title:	Pop Ooga Plus
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	2LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	WEST 058LP

"On Pop Ooga, Shuta Hasunuma lets loose an endless array of gorgeous and restless rhythms and melodies. Throughout the album he seamlessly folds funky bass and synth lines, graceful guitar, and breathy vocal harmonies into his web of glitch-pop-concrete. The result is intellectually engaging and fervent music, that reminds us of our urgent need to celebrate our time together. It's on the LP's bonus track 'Go Pacific' that Hasunuma's impeccable balance between the technological and deeply personal resonates longest. Literally blending bells and whistles into an infectious, breezy dose of melodic sunshine, expect to be caught in an addictive, vinyl trance that will have you eagerly resetting your stylus again and again." Gatefold sleeve.

Artist:	BALMORHEA
Title:	All Is Wild, All Is Silent
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WEST 059CD

"Austin's Balmorhea has always made beautiful music, but that pulchritude has often belied the underlying sensuality that makes their music so inviting. The band takes a giant leap forward, embracing that sensuality, on their bold and variegated new album All Is Wild, All Is Silent. Now a six piece, the band known for their understated simplicity and restraint has produced an album as complex as the workings of the lonely human heart."

Artist:	TIGNOR, CHRISTOPHER
Title:	Core Memory Unwound
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 061CD

"For years Slow Six band-leader, composer, and software designer Christopher Tignor has performed with his signature software instruments alongside fellow band members, sampling and transforming their live performances in accordance with his meticulous, emotionally-charged scores. On Core Memory Unwound, his debut under his given name, he brings his software to the forefront alongside some of his most intimate compositions for violin and piano. A record dealing with memory, both metaphorically and literally, these intimate tone poems for violin and piano are each presented in two forms, once in their original acoustic state, and then as a 'memory portrait' through Tingor's live performances on his signature software instruments."

Artist:	BRODERICK, PETER
Title:	Music For Falling From Trees
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	WEST 062CD

"Peter Broderick's Music for Falling From Trees, is a 29 minute piece, in seven sections, created for a contemporary dance by London's Adrienne Hart. Adrienne told Peter she was looking for a score of piano and strings, so he left the guitar and his voice aside and focused entirely on those two timbres. The dance tells the story of a man in a psychiatric hospital, and his struggle to maintain his identity. Beautifully utilizing piano and strings, the music evokes a melancholic and playful narrative."

Artist:	GOLDMUND
Title:	All Will Prosper
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 063CD

"All Will Prosper, Keith Kenniff's album under the Goldmund moniker, is a collection of 14 traditional Civil War-era folk songs and one contemporary track 'Asoken Farewell.' Kenniff has always been a student of Civil War history and culture. From the Ken Burns documentary series on PBS to Bill Carothers' solo piano album The Blues and the Greys, he has studied and enjoyed the music that tied friends and families together in a time when the nation was being torn apart. Recorded over a period of five years in various houses in Massachusetts, Oregon, and North Carolina, Kenniff's arrangements feel fresh and intimate, while retaining the wistful charms and timeless appeal of the originals. In part the album's intimacy is created by his recording technique. With the top of the piano left completely open, microphones were placed close enough to capture the mechanical movement of the keys being pressed and the pedals squeaking. Similarly the acoustic guitar is close-mic'd, tracing the sounds of his fingers scraping and plucking the metal strings. The result creates a rich, almost hyper-real environment, where the tiniest details are magnified and brought to the surface."

Artist:	SLEEP WHALE
Title:	Little Brite
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	WEST 065LP

"The six songs on Little Brite conjure a universe whose ancient forbears include Steve Reich, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Eno's looping ambiences, Brit-folk guitarist Bert Jansch, gamelan ensembles and Hindustani hand percussion. However, the wall-to-wall beauty of the proceedings is anything but reverential ear candy. Engaging, melodically rewarding, and sophisto-whimsical, Sleep Whale's atmospheric marriage of the luddite and techno worlds makes for essential listening." Lime-colored vinyl.

Artist:	SECRET CITIES
Title:	Pink Graffiti
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WEST 072CD

"Not so much a concept album as a meditation on a theme, Pink Graffiti is (mostly) about Brian Wilson and young people. It's about Brian Wilson and his work as a prism through which we view youthful things. It's about the feelings that start with him getting all mixed up in our feelings for other people and other music (and vice versa). Inspired by a college thesis, changing relationships, and a fateful meeting with the aging once-spokesperson for vibrant youth, Pink Graffiti is a record that uses one artist to anchor and explore a peculiar set of experiences, thoughts and emotions. By drawing on fractured psych, girl groups and minimalist composers, Secret Cities have conjured a kaleidoscopic, strangely moving whole out of disparate pieces. Distorted loops, drones, and thundering toms underpin distant voices. Pianos are pounded. Grainy acoustic guitars come through like AM transmissions received deep underground. But even as strange sounds and frequencies get pushed out front, the melodies, always and forever, get top billing. From the galloping heartbreak of opener 'Pink City' to the final, cathartic release of 'The End,' Pink Graffiti is pop music turned in on itself, lyrically and musically."

Artist:	JULIUS, ROLF
Title:	Music For The Ears
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	WEST 075CD

"In 1980 Rolf Julius' pioneering work Dike Line was presented at the Fϋr Augen Und Ohren exhibition alongside work by John Cage, Nam June Paik, Bill Fontana, Milan Knizak, Harry Bertoia, and David Tudor. Since then Julius has created some of the most meaningful and moving works in the grey area between music and art, between sound and silence, slowly emerging as one of the most important and influential sound artists of our time. Whether using photographs, ink drawings, audio compositions, or subtle and sometimes almost hidden outdoor installations, Rolf Julius' works serve as catalyst, increasing our awareness of the great beauty of the world that surrounds us."

Artist:	TANTON, CARTER
Title:	Freeclouds
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 094CD

"Carter Tanton (formerly known as Tulsa and current member of Lower Dens) announced a national tour with the War on Drugs and Purling Hiss behind his full-length, Freeclouds. The album features the enchanting vocals of Boston dream-folk artist Marissa Nadler. Tanton's last release with Tulsa, I Was Submerged won the approval of both the media and fans alike, praised by NPR, SPIN, and Rolling Stone, who said Tanton's 'indie-seraphim voice is not of this world.' In addition to recording and co-writing one song on Marissa Nadler's well-received 2011 album, Tanton has recorded albums by George Lewis Jr (Twin Shadow) and Drug Rug among others."

Artist:	YOUNG MOON
Title:	Navigated Like the Swan
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 095CD

"Trevor Montgomery is a craftsman. By day he's a skilled tile setter, a job taxing to both the mind and body. By night he's an equally meticulous and hard working musician, coaxing just the right tones out of his vintage drum machines and synths to carry his tales of love and redemption. As a tile setter and as a musician, his job is the same: assembling things of beauty to fill empty spaces. Montgomery's previous album, The Trickster (St. Ives), was inspired by his youth, wandering in the woods, riding trains, taking meth and heavy psychedelics, and narrowly cheating death on more than one occasion. On Navigated Like the Swan, his debut under the Young Moon moniker, he emerges like a shaman from the woods of his youth - his darkness is filled with light, cynicism and macabre fixations washed away by a revitalizing and intoxicating love."

Artist:	LYMBYC SYSTYM
Title:	Symbolyst
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 099CD

"Playing music together for over 20 years has given the Bell brothers plenty of time to learn how to build off of one another's strengths as they write, record, and tour. Symbolyst draws on the band's eclectic pool of influences: The Jackon 5's funk, Jung's dream theory, Bergman's existentialism, Baudelaire's prose, and Wright's organic architecture. The distinctly catchy melodies and head-bobbing rhythms are immediately inviting, while the densely layered polyrhythms, harmonies, and countermelodies reveal themselves over multiple listens, making for an incredibly rewarding experience no matter how many times you've heard the album."

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Artist:	SOKOLOW, JULIE
Title:	Something About Violins
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	WEST 044CD

Artist:	OLA PODRIDA
Title:	Belly Of The Lion
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	WEST 067LP

Artist:	LUXURY LINERS
Title:	They're Flowers
Label:	WESTERN VINYL
Format:	CD
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	WV 105CD