Browse by Label: XERIC

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
Title:	Grow Fins Vol. II: Trout Mask House Sessions
Label:	XERIC
Format:	2LP
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	XER 097LP

2nd volume in the proposed 3-volume series of double LPs. "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band set rock on its ear from 1965 until 1982, when leader Don Van Vliet retired from music. Engineering a mutant strain of musical DNA (tuff-ass garage punk R&B, extraterrestrial field hollers, austere 'classical' miniatures, loping sea chanties, scorched-earth delta blues, free-blowing skronk, fat-bottom groove and post-everything clangor all found their way into the soup). CB&HMB are now regarded as one of the most original and consistently compelling bands ever waxed." Last copies, deleted edition.

Artist:	MAZZACANE CONNORS/MONTERA/MOORE/RANALDO
Title:	MMMR
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	XER 099CD

"As members of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo continue to pump the most radical tenets of American experimentalism into the heart of rock music; in recent years they have also extended their reputations as world- class improvisErs. French phenom Jean-Marc Montera records for the legendary FMP label, and has collaborated with an amazing host of free-music luminaries, including Evan Parker, Paul Lovens and Han Bennink. However it is the keening blues wail of Loren Mazzacane Connors that leads this expedition of electric guitars to the furthest reaches of a vast, cinematic soundscape. Recorded by Martin Stumpf (Phillip Glass, David Bowie) at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon Studios, NYC. "This is great improvised music. It is beautiful and complex and, most importantly, it _breathes_. As good and as moving as anything you'll hear this year." --John Fahey

Artist:	GUSTAFSSON/HIS ALL STARS FEAT. JOHN CORBETT, MATS
Title:	Sticky Tonges And Kitchen Knives
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 101CD

"Swedish saxophone chameleon Mats Gustafsson changes hue in two extraordinary sets of duets with American improvisor and writer John Corbett. In round one, Corbett collages shards of vinyl and disc into a series of vivid, peculiar, haunting collages; Gustafsson deftly navigates the absurd audio jungle, directly engaging with sound beats or donning camouflage and disappearing into the veldt. The second round offers a suite of intense, interactive, freely improvised short takes featuring Gustafsson on baritone sax and fluteophone and Corbett on electric guitar."

Artist:	HOOKER/LEE RANALDO, WILLIAM
Title:	The Celestial Answer
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 102CD

"As individual performers, William Hooker and Lee Ranaldo are explosive. As collaborators, they are thermonuclear. A kinetic, avant percussionist and poet, Hooker is one of New York's most important band leaders, having fronted groups that included David Murray and David S. Ware. Ranaldo leads the improv supergroup Text of Light, whose fluid membership includes Hooker, as well as Christian Marclay, Tim Barnes and Mission of Burma's Roger Miller -- and of course, he's a co-founder of the indefatigably experimental Sonic Youth. With The Celestial Answer, Hooker and Ranaldo have created a work of blindingly brilliant, elemental force. Rays of white guitar noise penetrate clouds of analog synth; molten drumming blasts across free-form poetics. The dynamic is beautiful and inspired -- a simple cold-fusion of intuitive interaction and boundless sonic freedom. These are thoughtful and emotionally attuned artists. Open your ears and they'll take you on a soaring voyage through an ecstatic firmament, into the howling mouth of infinity."

Artist:	GALBRAITH/MATT DE GENNARO, ALASTAIR
Title:	From the Dark (South Island)
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 103CD

"Multi-talented Alastair Galbraith is the glue that binds the New Zealand underground. His work ranges from achingly lyrical violin for artists as disparate as Peter Jefferies and the Bats, to the feedback squalls he conjures as member of A Handful Of Dust, to the otherworldly miniatures he crafts for his own solo albums. However, in recent years, Galbraith, along with American Matt De Gennaro, has developed another remarkable performance idiom, one that is positioned closer to the sounding sculpture of Harry Bertoia. In From the Dark (South Island), architectural idiosyncrasies are transformed into nuanced and hypnotic audio. Wires -- some as long as 100 feet -- are affixed throughout a building. When the wires are taught and stroked with rosined hands or a piece of leather, longitudinal vibrations are sent to the points of attachment, creating a natural resonator. It is not the wires that make the sound, but the wall, railing or window frames at their end; wire length and room acoustics determine the pitch. The result, achieved in a veil of total darkness, is a beautiful and eerie confluence of chance and accident, architecture and improvisation. As Galbraith himself puts it, 'There is some quite magical feeling of communion turning the lights off and making the building sing'."

Artist:	GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR
Title:	Morse/Gaudylight
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 104CD

"Alastair Galbraith is the glue that binds the New Zealand underground. His work ranges from achingly lyrical violin from artists as disparate as Peter Jeffries and the Bats to the feedback squalls he conjures as a member of A Handful Of Dust. However, his greatest achievements are the otherworldly miniatures he crafts for his own solo albums. Although the music on this CD was originally released on the storied Siltbreeze label, it couldn't have come from anyone but Alastair Galbraith from anyplace beside Dunedin, New Zealand, or any time other than 1988-1992. Albraith's writing intimates an awareness of oblivion and a yearning to transcend it. These classic tracks -- including an amazing selection of bonus material -- prefigure a generation of raw song-smithing and offer a spellbinding glimpse into the world of one of rock's great unheralded talents."

Artist:	GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR
Title:	Talisman
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 105CD

Originally released in 1997 on Galbraith's own Next Best Way label out of New Zealand, now reissued with 7 bonus tracks. "Even more fractured and strange, if that's possible, than his slightly higher-profile solo releases, Talisman finds Alastair Galbraith deep into sonic exploration of curious, dank corners via his own brand of rock & roll. As is usually the case with his work, there's next to no percussion and only the subtlest suggestion of recurring rhythms, while the only guests this time out contribute extra guitar and, on 'Black Flame,' horn. When Galbraith pulls out all the stops, the results balance neatly between relative accessibility and pure chaos -- 'Cemetery Raga,' featuring David Mitchell on extra guitar, is calm enough up front but has some just gone feedback backing everything up, sounding almost like metal being extruded forcibly." --Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Artist:	LAWLER, R. KEENAN
Title:	Music for the Bluegrass States
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 108CD

"Native Kentuckian R. Keenan Lawler speaks a private, fundamental language via his trademark metal-bodied resonator guitar. With an intensely focused technique, he sets bluegrass and blues-inflected tonalities against dense masses of harmonic overtones and sustained textures. It is a mesmerizing sound, one that conjures the effect of various global trance-musics and has beguiled a series of collaborators including Pelt, Matmos, Charalambides and My Morning Jacket. Inhabiting the mysterious string-space between Tony Conrad and John Fahey, Lawler's is a wholly original idiom of music that brims with near-religious exaltation and spectral, gothic dread -- a daring plunge through the darkened brambles of a particularly raw Americana."

Artist:	DANIELL, DAVID
Title:	Coastal
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 109CD

"Have you heard the raw, minimal howl that rises from the late-night, backwoods campfires at Table Of The Elements? If so, you know the work of David Daniell -- even if you don't yet recognize the name. Daniell is the head of both of composer Rhys Chatham's current ensembles; he's the lead guitarist in Jonathan Kane's rollicking band, February; he performs regularly in a duo with Tortoise's Doug McCombs; he has collaborated with the who's who of today's finest, including Tim Barnes, Thurston Moore and Loren Connors; and his guitar work with his own band, San Agustin, is the stuff of which fleeting blues-drone dreams are made. Following a long break after his debut solo release, Daniell now returns with Coastal. In all its variety, this record is a focused synthesis of influences. Tracks like 'Sunfish' and 'Glasswort' use acoustic guitar reminiscent of work by David Grubbs and Mountains, while the thick psychedelic morass of deep electric guitar, synth drone and scattered tribal percussion of 'Whelk' brings to mind early Faust, and the long-form tone poem 'Palmetto' is pure swirling electronic glacial beauty. Rooted in the blues, American minimalism and post-punk ideologies, Daniell's guitar playing is always inspired; when fused with his intricate electroacoustic compositions, the results are breathtaking."

Artist:	ATELEIA
Title:	Formal Sleep
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 110CD

"Ateleia is Brooklyn resident James Elliott. His music combines crystalline pulse with submerged aquatic drones and subtle ghost melodies. It's not so much oceanic as it is tide pool -- the churn of the tidal impulse captured in miniature and crawling with activity. Evoking the grand echo of My Bloody Valentine and the long-standing tradition of psychedelic minimalism, but informed by contemporary electronic music, Formal Sleep is truly immersive. Featuring contributions by David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol), David Daniell (Rhys Chatham, Jonathan Kane), Jon Philpot (Presocratics, Bear In Heaven) and Sadek Bazaraa."

Artist:	HUBCAP CITY (FB)
Title:	Superlocalhellfreakride
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 112CD

"Bill Taft and Will Fratesi are luminaries of Atlanta's indie rock avant-garde -- Taft's legacy as a key player in Smoke and Fratesi's tenure as the rickety percussionist behind such lonely and urbane Southern specters as Cat Power and Tenement Halls culminates in Hubcap City with slow, serpentine miasma. Superlocalhellfreakride is a guided tour through Atlanta's underbelly; a survey of the acoustics found in its burned-out buildings, graveyards and long-abandoned mills. The humid ghosts of Hubcap City's ancestors, including Smoke, the Jody Grind and Atlanta's seminal Destroy All Music Festivals in the 1980s all echo in these folkish dirges of melody and noise. With each lazy and uplifting honk of the horn over a clatter of strings and metal the group pushes the old weird Atlanta into deeper and higher levels of beautiful imprisonment, and the only way out is through."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Need for a Crossing: A New New Zealand Vol. 1
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 113CD

"Trapped in splendid isolation on the verdant backside of the planet, the New Zealand scene has evolved into as vivid and unique a beast as any you're likely to hear. Thanks to recent expeditions, you can now hear its multifarious tweets and warbles for yourself, as the intrepid folks at Xeric present Need For A Crossing: A New New Zealand, an introduction to the latest generation of antipodal soundsmiths. It's a strange and exotic menagerie, and a welcome chance for the rest of us to hear what's happening in the new New Zealand."

Artist:	BADGERLORE
Title:	We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 114CD

"Badgerlore is the great tribal council of the so-called 'freak folk' movement. The supergroup features Rob Fisk (Deerhoof, 7-Year Rabbit Cycle) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Comets On Fire), with Tom Carter (Charalambides), Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans), Glen Donaldson (Blithe Sons, Jewelled Antler) and Liz Harris (Grouper). Together they proceed with masterful nuance and inexorable tension; We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits is the sound of effigy mounds slowly rousing from prehistoric slumber."

Artist:	MUELLER/JASON KAHN, JON
Title:	Topography
Label:	XERIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 116CD

"Percussionist Jon Mueller continues his amazing run of releases (he appears on eight Table Of The Elements titles in the first half of 2008!) with Topography, a collaboration with Z�rich-based sound and visual artist Jason Kahn. As a drummer, Mueller propels Collections of Colonies of Bees and the occasional guitar army of Rhys Chatham; he also finds time to collaborate with artists ranging from Wilco's Glenn Kotche to Swans' Jarboe. Kahn draws on electronic and acoustic sound sources to create slowly developing compositions imbued with a sense of timelessness. Topography addresses the entity of sound as both a physical and psychological factor shaping our consciousness, and is a remarkable display of electro-acoustic finesse. It's a joint, limited-edition release with Mueller's own Crouton label, exquisitely packaged in a debossed, white-on-white jacket."

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Artist:	GUSTAFSSON, MATS
Title:	The Education of Lars Jerry
Label:	XERIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	XER 100LP