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LP
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BNSD 091LP
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$24.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2025
On Not Around But Through, Portland-based experimental musician and tape wizard Amulets navigates the process of acceptance and the tumultuous journey of looking within. Over the course of eight tracks, he explores the emotional path of moving through rather than circumventing, in the process soundtracking a purposeful desire to face trauma and vulnerability. The Asian-American artist is one of the most gifted alchemists working at the intersection of experimental and heavy music today and this riveting album represents his most direct and immediate work yet. Infusing his trademark ambient soundscapes with ambitious blends of post-hardcore, emo, and metal, Not Around But Through connects the dots between personal and social dislocation, leaving listeners with a taste of the fragmented and fallen future they are all steeling themselves for. Traversing a landscape that varies from gentle and meandering to explosive and cathartic, Amulets uses cinematic tension and relentless attention to detail to construct his sonic apparitions. On "Lifelike" he collaborates with Midwife, incorporating Madeline Johnston's voice into a song that pulsates with post-shoegaze transcendent energy. Amulets' second album for Beacon Sound and his first new music in four years; his 2021 album The Blooming was released by The Flenser.
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LP
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FLENSER 119LP
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"The prolific, Portland-based Randall Taylor is an audio/visual artist best known for his musical project, Amulets. Taylor's work uses analog tape and its imperfections to explore themes like degradation and nostalgia and their relationship to technology and to the self. By constructing and modifying tape loops and repurposing antiquated cassette players, Taylor creates dense, never-ending, looping soundscapes for both his live performances and sculptural sound art installations. Taylor's new album, Blooming, was fully written and recorded in quarantine in his home studio in early 2020. His personal life was in upheaval as was the world around him -- the isolation, sadness and change had Taylor missing '? what it felt like to feel alive and the need to feel that again,' he says. With widespread global pandemic and social distancing protocols in effect, Taylor would go on solo daily walks to clear his head and was struck by all of the blooming flowers surrounding him during springtime in Portland. Within that beauty came his realization that nothing lasts forever and that everything is cyclical -- ultimately resulting in themes of growth, decay, melancholy and beauty inherent throughout Blooming. Taylor says that the songs on the record became a part of his processing and journey, blossoming into a new life and outlook. Taylor has performed across the country at numerous festivals and opened for such acts as This Will Destroy You, Efrim Manuel Manuck (of Godspeed You Black Emperor), Benoit Pioulard, and Steve Hauschildt to name a few. His solo exhibition work has been on display in Austin, TX at Dimension Gallery and most recently installed in Portland, OR at Variform Gallery. Taylor was also recently published in the latest Kim Bjorn book series PEDAL CRUSH as an artist and inspirational creator. His last full-length, Between Distant And Remote, was released on Beacon Sound Records in late 2019, which he toured along the west coast in support of. Most recently, Amulets collaborated with Flenser family Midwife on the track 'Heaven' for her new split cassette. As Amulets, Taylor pays homage to the paradox of memory and growth, creating a deeply immersive musical landscape in the process."
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LP
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BNSD 040LP
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Randall Taylor joins the Beacon Sound roster and graces the label with his finest work yet, Between Distant And Remote. Taylor uses tape loops, guitar, field recordings, and electronic processing to pay homage to the paradox of memory and growth, creating a deeply immersive musical landscape in the process. The album is reflective of the artist's move from Austin, Texas to lush, green Portland in 2018, and also represents a more intentional and layered recording process. Exploring narratives of longing, dislocation, and rediscovery, Between Distant And Remote invites you to dive in and break down the boundaries between yourself and the world around you, reaching into the past to deconstruct the present.
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