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TBT 012LP
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"Two of Europe's finest collide on a 12" 45 RPM platter loosely inspired by the club single. On Wet Wheel/Hot Wheel, Neil Campbell of Astral Social Club succumbs to the heartbeat throb of house but tops the bass with a frenetic squall of darting alien melodies. On cursory listen, the elements congeal into honest-to-god body music, but the track is riddled with stutters and gaps that the flooded synapses fill with aural afterimages. On the reverse, Jan Anderzen of Tomutonttu buries the dance influence, retaining only the genre's neon shimmer and linear logic. 'Syvat Svyät' overflows with cuckoo loops that briefly cohere into musical shapes before casting off, replaced by an ecstatic march of manic squiggles. One must focus to follow the train of musical thought, but Anderzen's humor and intuition reward the effort. Issued in an edition of 300 hand-stamped, 150-gram lavender LPs in matte sleeves screened with consummate skills by Alan Sherry of Siwa."
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TBT 011LP
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"Tipped Bowler returns to the fertile soil of New Zealand to cull two choice improvisations. On the A-side, Wellington's Nova Scotia delivers 'A Million Corpses of Dead Bees', an eighteen minute free-rock burner. Growing from violin sine-squeak and distant shortwave, the piece gains momentum with its patient drumming and resolves into a saxophone swarm shot through with synthetic scrabble. On the reverse, Dunedin's Eye comes off colder and more aggressive. 'High Road' throttles the listener with Schnitzler-ian electronics, militant percussion, and guitar strangulation before collapsing into coda of cymbal taps and glassy string-work. Rigorous yet unbound, these pieces shine a light on a musical community few of us can witness firsthand. Issued in an edition of 250 150-gram black LPs in elegant black-and-white matte sleeves screened with consummate skill by Alan Sherry of Siwa."
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TBT 010LP
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"Hopefully Mrtyu requires little introduction, because the project evades easy description. An odd compound of Vedic imagery, metal misanthropy, and violin agony, this music moves away from any particular fan base in pursuit of its distant, darkened idols. Ornate Shroud is Mrtyu's most potent spawn to date. Hewing closer to song form than previous releases, the album conceals Antony Milton's violent guitar and violin work behind Mrtyu's characteristic murk. Its pieces transition from jagged riffs to eerie ambient scrapes through wooly feedback, approaching the uncanny. Although the year is yet young, 2009 will likely not produce a bleaker aggraga record. Edition of 350 180 gm. LPs in heavy-stock linen-paper sleeves hand-screened, cut, and glued by Reuben Little of 43rd Parallel Press."
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TBT 009LP
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"Hangzhou's Li Jianhong has been performing alone and in the duo D!O!D!O!D! for several years, but he only caught Western ears last year with the monumental San Sheng Shi, released by Philadelphia's Archive CD. Oceanic and desolate, Lovers with Cloisonné Bracelet cements Li as a distinctive voice in modern noise. The two halves of this record are an ideal introduction to Li's music: 'Lovers in Misery' offers a restrained, electric swell; 'Time in the Mirror' wallows in Hototogisu-an guitar hell. Without sacrificing pacing for density, Li has crafted an album that decimates the retrograde psychedelic guitar landscape and trivializes the petty violence of much harsh noise. Edition of 350 180 gm. LPs in heavy-stock linen-paper sleeves, hand-screened, cut, and glued by Reuben Little of 43rd Parallel Press." Last copies.
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TBT 005LP
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"The sky done clouded over after Glory Fckn Sun's debut album, yielding this brooding and corrosive follow-up. The New Zealand sorta-super group of Antony Milton, Ben Spiers, and Simon O'Rorke concoct a slow-burning behemoth of metallic shivers and distortion churn, dark enough to invoke the dread name Haino. Spectra is an unsettling mind-meld: Spiers' desolate soundscapes bleed into Milton's heavy drones, which are complemented perfectly by O'Rorke's restless percussion. Group improvisation is the natural language of these three; even listing their solo and collaborative albums over the past decade would take way more effort than I can muster. Suffice to say this is a stellar and unique record to add to their massive discographies. In an edition of 300 red records, housed in silk-screened, heavy-gauge recycled stock jackets."
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