|
|
|
|
viewing 1 To 25 of 29 items
Next >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2LP
|
|
VHF 145LP
|
"First ever reissue and first time on vinyl for this unique Flying Saucer Attack live album, expanded with additional material and a new side four mix from Jim O'Rourke. Produced in collaboration with Dave Pearce / FSA and Bruce Russell (compiler of the original CD release for his Corpus Hermeticum label), featuring new artwork by Bruce Russell as well. While rightly known for the folk-influenced songs and spacey instrumentals of their proper albums, the briefly active live version of FSA unexpectedly delivered a blistering wave of electric sound. Recorded at various shows in 1994, In Search Of Spaces heaves with long passages of feedback guitar racket, broken up by sections of surging rock music. The live band focused almost exclusively on visceral, trebly guitar noise-- which, while always a key element in their sound, was greeted by audiences with total mystification (and often disapproval). Following a few brief attempts to settle a lineup and play songs from their records, Dave Pearce / FSA abandoned live performance altogether, leaving behind this album (and the barely available P. A. Blues CDR) as the sole document of his in-person delivery. Originally compiled and released in 1996, this reissue adds several minutes of music back to the original program that had been edited out by FSA for being 'too rock.' For side four, Jim O'Rourke revisited the original 1994 live tapes and has made a spooky and brooding new mix of music exclusive to this release."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 144LP
|
"The debut release by The Slowest Lift (Sophie Cooper and Julian Bradley) presents a new chapter in the long-running tradition of radical English music duos. Originally formed via a commission from the Supernormal Festival, Cooper (an accomplished solo performer and collaborator) and Bradley (from frequent VHF delinquents Vibracathedral Orchestra) play a kind of gentle post-industrial psychedelia, with Cooper's lovely vocals floating over a collage of live and electronic performances. The songs are a blend of straightforward performance and eccentric bricolage, with rude electronic interjections sitting comfortably alongside delicate guitar and keyboard melodies. Zoviet France-like low-fi atmospherics compete with Cooper's voice for air on tracks like 'Crystal Fracture' and 'Hi From The Skyline Swim,' while the duo's surprising cover of Duran Duran's 'The Chauffeur' deep on side two sneaks in perfectly, a mini-pop music drama reimagined as pure hallucination."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 011LP
|
"First-ever US vinyl of the debut album by Bristol's Flying Saucer Attack, and first vinyl edition of any kind since 1993! This edition of the album is produced in full collaboration with FSA/Dave Pearce. Aka Rural Psychedelia, Flying Saucer Attack's first album was released in 1993 after a couple of instantly sold-out singles. Released at the height of the shoegaze boom, the album is a blend of memorable fuzzed out songs and far-out instrumental doodles, sidestepping the rock bombast of many contemporaries in favor of a home-made aesthetic. FSA's blend of razor-edged static, softly sung melody, and echoing atmospherics builds a dour beauty that sustains itself over the course of the entire program. 'My Dreaming Hill,' 'Wish,' and 'The Season Is Ours' are couched in fuzz and whispery reverb, but are beautiful and accessible tunes, able to stand on their own in any context. 'Popol Vuh 1' and 'Popol Vuh 2' are straight up tributes to the now much better known German masters, steeped in the hushed atmosphere of the best Vuh records (if not exactly the sound)."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 092LP
|
2016 repress. LP version. "Fourth full-length from Jack, an inspired mix of styles and sounds that brings his in-person mastery down to LP/CD scale. Kensington Blues is Jack's most diverse outing by far, with straight ragtime, heavy 12-string, and that sweet, sweet Weissenborn lap guitar all checking in. Honed during endless touring in 2004, the repertoire here is delivered with maximum authority in a series of first-take performances recorded in early 2005. 'Cathedral et Chartres' and 'Calais to Dover' are dense, brooding 12 string numbers, recalling the key tracks on 2004's Raag Manifestos CD. 'Calais' features a sequence of right hand picking furious enough to evoke a dream state ala Charlemagne Palestine's Strumming Music. 'Rappahanock River Rag' and 'Flirtin' With the Undertaker' are pure syncopated ragtime, while 'Kensington Blues' offers an almost regal take on the intersection of Anglo and American trad. The epic 'Now That I'm A Man Full Grown' was the signature piece of many of 2004's live shows, a display of mind-boggling slide invention that straddles the line of east and west ala 'Yaman Blues' from the Opium Musick LP. In something of a surprise inclusion, Jack's take on Fahey's 'Sunflower River Blues' (long a staple of Pelt and J.R. gigs but never included on a record) is subtle and expressive, with a wonderful rise and fall that perfectly accentuates Fahey's beautiful melody."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 142LP
|
Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on later works like Kensington Blues. Recorded and originally released in 2003, Opium Musick is an eclectic collection with pieces for 12-string (the percussive and dark "Black Pearls"), 6-string, and lap guitar. The lovely raga-ish "Yaman Blues" features Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on tanpura, and echoes the extended modal work on Pelt's contemporaneous Pearls From The River. The near-ragtime of "Linden Ave Stomp" showcases Glenn Jones on his vintage Gibson in a jumping duet with Rose's lap steel. "Linden Ave" charted a path that Rose would determinedly pursue -- short ragtime and old-time influenced pieces (originals and classics), with all phrasing worked out to a perfectionist standard. The lovely "Mountaintop Lamento" was memorably used in Catherine Pancake's film about coal mining in Appalachia, Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 085LP
|
Gatefold sleeve. Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on later works like Kensington Blues. Originally compiled from a variety of sources as a limited-edition CD to sell on tour in 2004 (released by VHF, later released on vinyl by Eclipse), Raag Manifestos presents much of Rose's rawest and most experimental music, cutting across various acoustic styles, but with a much more jagged and aggressive attack than later music. "Black Pearls from the River" and "Hart Crane's Old Boyfriends" are dense, serious assaults on the 12-string, with the intensity of the latter enhanced by Ian Nagoski's roaring electronic backdrop. With subtle tabla accompaniment by Eric Carbonara, "Crossing The Great Waters" is another epic modal journey in the style of Pelt's "Road To Catawba" and Rose's own "Red Horse." The traditional "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" finishes off the LP on a calming note."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 141LP
|
Includes download code. "Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents new vinyl editions of the celebrated guitarist's first three solo albums, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. Originally issued on LP by Eclipse Records between 2002-04, these releases chart an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on later works like Kensington Blues. Rose's 2002 solo debut Red Horse, White Mule was a bit of an outlier in the underground gestalt at the time, coming just before the wave of releases from the new generation of Takoma- / Fahey-inspired players. Strictly a solo affair, Red Horse balances the epic, side-long raga of "Red Horse" against a second side of shorter pieces, including the ragged slide style of "The Colonel's Blues." The compositions and performances incorporate the new and the classic with a rough-hewn charm."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 140CD
|
"Hazel is the fifth record from Æthenor, the group of eclectic travelers that includes Stephen O'Malley (SunnO))), KTL), Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, This is Not This Heat, Grumbling Fur, etc.), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), and Steve Noble (Brötzmann Trio, N.E.W.) Together they bring their considerable pedigrees into play with unexpected and original results. Contradicting expectations of a massive blow-out of sound, everyone plays with remarkable, effective restraint. Atmospheric and layered, this latest release features bits and pieces of identifiable rock-moves peeking out from under a thick blanket of hard-to-identify drift. Based on live recordings made on a lengthy tour of Italy in 2010, Hazel has been extensively edited and supplemented, but without losing the elemental sound of a group playing live together. Though there's plenty of weird ambient sound to be heard, this isn't a sound- effects/'pedalboard' record. Like the previous En Form for Bla, Noble's drums anchor the music with spare and considered playing, sometimes lashing out with abstract punctuation, and other times laying out a Can-like groove. O'Malley's guitar is also restrained, providing a bed for O'Sullivan's constantly morphing Rhodes, synths and electronic effects. Kristoffer Rygg contributes a rousing vocal incantation to 'Ermanna' and peppers the mix with ghostly modular details. Æthenor's catalog continues to be not like anything else out there right now. Sleeve designed by Stephen O'Malley."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 140LP
|
LP version. Includes download code. "Hazel is the fifth record from Æthenor, the group of eclectic travelers that includes Stephen O'Malley (SunnO))), KTL), Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, This is Not This Heat, Grumbling Fur, etc.), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), and Steve Noble (Brötzmann Trio, N.E.W.) Together they bring their considerable pedigrees into play with unexpected and original results. Contradicting expectations of a massive blow-out of sound, everyone plays with remarkable, effective restraint. Atmospheric and layered, this latest release features bits and pieces of identifiable rock-moves peeking out from under a thick blanket of hard-to-identify drift. Based on live recordings made on a lengthy tour of Italy in 2010, Hazel has been extensively edited and supplemented, but without losing the elemental sound of a group playing live together. Though there's plenty of weird ambient sound to be heard, this isn't a sound- effects/'pedalboard' record. Like the previous En Form for Bla, Noble's drums anchor the music with spare and considered playing, sometimes lashing out with abstract punctuation, and other times laying out a Can-like groove. O'Malley's guitar is also restrained, providing a bed for O'Sullivan's constantly morphing Rhodes, synths and electronic effects. Kristoffer Rygg contributes a rousing vocal incantation to 'Ermanna' and peppers the mix with ghostly modular details. Æthenor's catalog continues to be not like anything else out there right now. Sleeve designed by Stephen O'Malley."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 092CD
|
2016 repress. "Fourth full-length from Jack, an inspired mix of styles and sounds that brings his in-person mastery down to LP/CD scale. Kensington Blues is Jack's most diverse outing by far, with straight ragtime, heavy 12-string, and that sweet, sweet Weissenborn lap guitar all checking in. Honed during endless touring in 2004, the repertoire here is delivered with maximum authority in a series of first-take performances recorded in early 2005. 'Cathedral et Chartres' and 'Calais to Dover' are dense, brooding 12 string numbers, recalling the key tracks on 2004's Raag Manifestos CD. 'Calais' features a sequence of right hand picking furious enough to evoke a dream state ala Charlemagne Palestine's Strumming Music. 'Rappahanock River Rag' and 'Flirtin' With the Undertaker' are pure syncopated ragtime, while 'Kensington Blues' offers an almost regal take on the intersection of Anglo and American trad. The epic 'Now That I'm A Man Full Grown' was the signature piece of many of 2004's live shows, a display of mind-boggling slide invention that straddles the line of east and west ala 'Yaman Blues' from the Opium Musick LP. In something of a surprise inclusion, Jack's take on Fahey's 'Sunflower River Blues' (long a staple of Pelt and J.R. gigs but never included on a record) is subtle and expressive, with a wonderful rise and fall that perfectly accentuates Fahey's beautiful melody."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 139LP
|
"The mighty 'classic' lineup of the Vibracathedral Orchestra returns with their first new music in many years. Here the quintet of Michael Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport and Julian Bradley (joined by raconteur John Godbert) feature in a set of upbeat tracks that put the group's radical instrumental strategies into a package of full-on rock action. Recorded live using a binaural head system, the sound is nicely ragged in a you-are-there way, with scouring guitars and bleeping electronics riding atop the band's signature grooves. As with some of the band's other records, there's more than a hint of the early Velvet Underground spirit in these ten tracks. If you wish that Cale and Reed would have been more of an instrumental band, here it is."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP+CD
|
|
VHF 138LP
|
"This first-ever VHF release by the 21-years-running Ashtray Navigations brings one more core piece of the UK freakout underground back to the mothership. With a discography that boggles even the most ardent Discogs user and an on-point WTF graphic sensibility, Ash Nav fits perfectly into the extremely fertile and prolific scene that has produced titans like Sunroof! and Vibracathedral Orchestra. On this generous 100-minute package, Phil Todd and Melanie O'Dubshlaine essay a kind of guitarand- electronics exotica with burbling rhythms, Heldonlike laser guitar leads, field recordings, synth racket, etc. The totally fun take on Les Baxter's all-time classic 'Quiet Village' (here wittily retitled 'Quite Village') is a good example of the explorer spirit at work. Considering the amount of unhinged psychedelic fuzzwah lead damage laid out across this thing, it's arguably the most effusive guitar heroics record of the genre, hopefully inspiring a new generation of young rockers out there to get on the bus."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
VHF 133LP
|
"Kawabata Makoto emerges from a period of relative quiet with his first widely available solo release in several years, the blockbuster Krautrock-flavored Astro Love & Infinite Kisses. This lovely and impressionistic record showcases the other side of Makoto's outrageous works with Acid Mothers Temple. Taking cues from classics of the genre like Tangerine Dream's Phaedra and Steve Hillage's Rainbow Dome Musick, 'Dos Nurages' is the album's centerpiece, a 41-minute hypnotic epic, with echoplex'd guitar anchoring a stream of expertly done glissando. The title track is a darker drone in the tradition of Kawabata's Inui series of releases for VHF. 'Woman From Dream Island' closes the record with a thick buzz of tamboura overlaid with trippy backwards guitar, before giving way to a gentle, fingerpicked acoustic coda."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
7CD
|
|
VHF 137CD
|
"No Fans Compendium is a deluxe, limited-edition seven-disc set of Richard Youngs's recordings for his long-running private No Fans label. Five CDs are the artist's personal selection from his No Fans releases, all of which were issued in tiny editions (20-50 copies) and only available for sale at his rare shows or at Glasgow's now-defunct Volcanic Tongue shop. In addition, Youngs has included two full discs of material previously unavailable in any form: a recording from 1989 predating his earliest widely known work, and a new recording from late 2014. Unbeatable as a survey of Youngs's career, everything here is of equal quality to his over-the-counter releases. In keeping with his penchant for unpredictable stylistic mashups and reinventions, there are folky laments, achingly beautiful 'songs,' tape collage, rude prog noise, minimalist experiments, multi-tracked vocals, etc. Each disc is housed in an individual card folio with artwork repurposed from the original releases."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
VHF 120LP
|
"The Secret Base starts up at full throttle, straight into a raw-sounding live outing, with Flower's overdriven guitar occupying the same sonic space that gives his Japan banjo / shaahi baaja workouts with Chris Corsano their urgency. The sound is dark and rough, almost Xpressway-like in its claustrophobic atmosphere. The percolating Krautrock stylings of 'If You Can't Smoke 'Em' chugs along hypnotically for over 13 minutes to close out the side. The entire B-side's 20+ minutes are devoted to the clanging free sound of 'Eyes of Wood,' where gamelan-like metal percussion dominates the proceedings."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP+CD
|
|
VHF 103LP
|
"This epic double set combines an LP of all-electric rock mayhem with a CD of subtle drum/shakuhachi tracks. Electric Lotus is the Youngs and Neilson's self-proclaimed 'rock' album, and it is a mind-boggling clutch of guitar/bass/drums demolition. Coming off like an amphetamine-fueled Guru Guru, the music tumbles out in a crazy quilt of stun-level attack zonage, especially on the side-long Electric Lotus. Neilson's staggering freedrumming hits a new peak here, stepping beyond his laudable work with Jandek, Bonnie Prince Billy, etc., into new realms. Youngs lights it up with raging guitar and bass action, including some deeply psychedelic leads, and on 'Kickin' The Glass,' some killer 'heavy' riffing. Lotus Edition is a companion CD of restrained and completely live duos for drums and shakuhachi. Youngs had previously issued a disc of shakuhachi solos with dense delay and layering effects, but here his untrained but highly musical output on the ancient instrument is in deep conversation with Neilson's drum set. A couple of the tracks feature the kind of long notes, bowed cymbals, and other droneage heard on previous releases like Partick Rain Dance, but in a stripped down live setting."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 102CD
|
"Wisdom Thunderbolt marks the triumphant return of Vibracathedral Orchestra after more than three years in the wilderness of intermittent performance, tangential projects, and unfindable limited editions. The seven tracks on Wisdom are the VCO's most rocking dispatch ever, neatly combining the Ra-like collage of tracks like Wisdom Thunderbolt with the insistent pulsing jams of 'A Natural Fact' and 'Order of the Broad Eraser.' 'Ochre Dust' and 'Rainbow Whirlwind' are more in the old-school VCO thick-blanket of sound, with tuned-percussion melody peeking out from the fog. After a surprise opening, 'Sway-Sage' heaves with raucous drumming (courtesy of Magik Marker Pete Nolan) under the swells of sound. Hard to imagine, but this is the first widely available music (except for the Tuning to the Rooster comp) from the VCO since 2003's acclaimed The Queen of Guess."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 090CD
|
"(untitled) is a devastating set of almost pure white light from the newly upgraded Pelt lineup. The album's intense drone music represents a return to 'sonic-ism' for the quartet of Jack Rose, Mike Gangloff, Patrick Best, and Mikel Dimmick. Like 2003's effort Pearls from the River, (untitled) is an all-acoustic affair. The group concentrates on producing dense clouds of overtones from guitar, cello, Tibetan bowls, gongs, sruti, and esraj. Track one is an overpowering straight line a la the Theatre of Eternal Music, an atmosphere of stasis with gong and bowl flickering subtly over the massive track bed. Track two is a 32-minute epic that begins with the soft strains of Jack Rose's 12 string, picks up dueling cello and esraj and gradually builds in intensity with the sounds of gongs and other unusual percussion. Track three is the live staple 'Sundogs,' where Rose's Weissenborn lap guitar and Gangloff's resonator guitar produce a stream of unearthly high, singing overtones in an uncanny acoustic impression of electric feedback. The final track is an epilogue of Best's keening cello, again ignoring the usual technique associated with the instrument in the pursuit of pure weirdness."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 087CD
|
"Outrageous CD of prog rock from Richard Youngs' and Andrew Paine's Ilk, Canticle is a long promised follow-up to the group's 1998 CD Zenith, which was released on Youngs' No Fans label. Unlike Youngs' more 'minimalist' solo records, Ilk drapes his songs and voice in thick layers of heavy jams, and then piles on the production tricks, vocal layers, Steve Howe-style leads, synth bleeps, and other racket in beautifully intricate arrangements. Canticle is clearly influenced by the classic UK progressives but unmistakably contemporary. 'A Guiding Principle' and 'Landsong' marry Youngs' and Paine's multi-tracked voices with over the top full rock-band arrangements. 'Honour's Prospect' mixes mystical narration with some searing fuzz-guitar, and is followed by the bass-heavy march of 'The Weight of Stars.' 'Tilling' shimmers and echoes, leading into the spacey and cosmic 'Outward & Homeward.' The folky 'Of Souls' serves as a fittingly simple epilogue to the suite. Veronica Rennie's cover art completes the package in highly appropriate style."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 082CD
|
"Ourselves was originally recorded in Glasgow 2003 as a one-hour special for broadcast on London's Resonance FM but turned out too good to leave to the ether. It is the first collaboration between VHF mainstay Richard Youngs and octopus-armed percussionist Alexander Neilson (currently working with the Glasgow big-band Scatter, whose debut is due soon on Cenotaph). The music here represents something of a return to the extended psychedelic mania of mid-'90-s R!!! outings such as Asthma and Diabetes and Enedkeg. 'Beam' kicks off the CD with Youngs ripping it up on electric guitar over a thick blanket of hand percussion, plucked strings, and backwards scraping noises. The 36-minute 'Mexico' follows with more string mangling, segueing into an atmospheric interlude for voices, bowed cymbals, and bells. The final track is an unusual rendering of the traditional 'God Bless The Master,' with Youngs's unmistakable voice carrying the original melody over the cloud of bric-a-brac and swells of electricity swirling in the background."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 071CD
|
"Working from Dorothy Geller's assured finger-picked and plucked nylon-string guitar, and James Wolf's elegant violin lines, From Quagmire explores a kind of hushed, terse chamber song that is so unlike anything else it's hard to draw comparisons. V2G2's unorthodox interruptions of sawing bowed guitar, free-'jazz' drumming, and other unlikely audio splatter is the wild card that keeps things from getting too austere. Usually it's totally beside the point, but it's worth mentioning that unlike most underground folk/outsider weirdness, the music here is superbly recorded in close-up detail."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 023CD
|
2010 repress of this all-time classic, originally released in 1996. "Evolving out of Pure and then Total, Skullflower coalesced in 1987 and debuted in 1988 with the self-titled EP on Broken Flag. Over the next decade, a large assortment of characters (including guitarist Matthew Bower and drummer Stuart Dennison, the only members to appear on all their releases) would generate a truly amazing amount of loud noise masquerading as music (or vice versa) before going on indefinite hiatus after 1996's This Is Skullflower, a release that confounded expectation by taking a quieter tack (not necessarily more minimal), away from the extreme noise for which Skullflower was known. 'Lounge' balances steady feedback with throbbing rhythm. On 'Glider,' piano provides steadiness while swirling guitar offers a strong contrast. 'Creaky Rigging,' with an entrancing, soft psych-jam guitar line, makes its way over an increasingly discordant drone arrangement as Dennison's viola adds an unearthly element. The final song, with Richard Youngs in on guitar, is the monster: 'The Pirate Ship of Reality Is Moving Out,' a nearly-40-minute piece recorded at a live club date in 1995. The sheets of white noise and feedback on top of feedback return with a vengeance as the song progresses -- by 12 minutes in, the damage level is near indescribable, yet a strong undercurrent of soft melancholy strips back to almost nothing -- a balance of abuse and restraint carefully performed."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 065CD
|
"In contrast to the live performance-based pieces on Simon Wickham-Smith's 1999 CD Butterfly Dust, the perversely titled follow-up Extreme Bukake is a dissection of religious music, realized on laptop computer. Traditional components like Catholic hymns and Wickham-Smith's vocal on a Hare Krsna prayer get fragmented, splintered, and reassembled into a rich blob of sound. According to his notes on the tracks, 'The Self-Immolation of Thich Quang Duc' is a programmatic work based around the death of the titular Viêtnamese monk who set himself alight to protest about the activity of the Viêtnamese government in the early 1960s. He was a friend of Thich Nhat Hanh, whom Martin Luther King Jr. nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965. The music sounds like the insanity of the situation, the external noise of cars and people and the internal noise of the heart and the soul of this man. 'Sri Guru Vandana' is a song from the Hare Krsna (ISKCON) tradition of Krisna Vaisnavitism, a nod in the direction of Wickham-Smith's pre-Buddhist, teenager self, the young man who got into ISKCON and then freaked out at the evangelical nature of the organization. This track acknowledges the positive side of his experience. 'Ave Regina Celorum' is based on a Catholic hymn to Mary, an attempt to create a piece which could perhaps be used for meditation, either formal or informal."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 064CD
|
"This untitled CD of duets by Kawabata Makoto, the leader of Acid Mothers Temple, and the slightly less available Glasgow librarian Richard Youngs shows the pair in a relaxed yet psychedelic mood where it is immediately apparent that the two are really listening to one another instead of merely adding to their already vast discographies. Throughout the five untitled tracks, simple modal melodies are performed on acoustic guitar, autoharp, organ, voice and other instruments rubbing against the swirling production and layers of shifting haze. Young's identifiable voice, guitar and autoharp greet Kawabata's echo treatments on the first track, while track three reverses the process with Young's minor key picking cutting against Kawabata's thick, visceral drones. Tracks two, four and five all use a base of beautiful fingerpicked guitar melodies, layering organ, synth, tape effects and echo until a mellow cosmic vibe is achieved."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
VHF 058CD
|
"This finds the duo continuing to pursue the head-scratching assortment and range of outer sound in a somewhat more contemporary style. LAmmERGEIR makes use of all sorts of exotic instruments, but like Metallic Sonatas, many of the pieces have undergone electronic transformation, adding an extra layer of unsettling aural alchemedia to the tunes. Some of the sounds show the influence of Simon's laptop work over the last couple of years. Laptops aside, the layers of microscopic detail on LAmmERGEIER should give listeners plenty of practice in differentiating sounds that are produced by complicated software and sounds that are produced by a guy whacking a baking tray with a stick."
|
viewing 1 To 25 of 29 items
Next >>
|
|