DIRTY BEACHES - 'DRIFTERS / LOVE IS THE DEVIL'

Formats

• ZM015 - 2xLPs

  655035042510

• ZM015CD - CD

  655035042527

Details

Dirty Beaches, a.k.a. Alex Zhang Hungtai, started off as a one-man band in 2005 in Montreal. A trans-Pacific nomad and genre-hopping sound-smith, he has released music ranging from drone instrumentals to film scores, and possesses a fascination for dissecting popular American music like blues, rockabilly, soul, R&B and hip hop, often rendering it to a point where it has become something else entirely. Hungtai's latest release, Drifters / Love Is the Devil, is a sprawling double-album that chronicles the musician's life on the road over the past two years-through the labyrinths of Berlin, Belgrade, Paris, and many other cities; through heartbreak, rebirth and masochistic, existential self-reflection. Recorded between Montreal and Berlin in the winter of 2012, the two halves of Drifters / Love Is the Devil are separated only by aesthetics, as they are tightly woven together thematically as one conceptual piece. If 2011's Badlands was an exercise in exorcising past ghosts in a semi-fictional world, then Drifters / Love Is the Devil is a reflection on the fragility of reality-that of the outside world in which the artist explores the nightlife of bright neon temptations and hedonistic values, and that of the inner world, one of remorse and lovelorn tragedies.

Tracks

Drifters:

1. Night Walk
2. I Dream in Neon
3. Belgrade
4. Casino Lisboa
5. Elli
6. Au Revoir Mon Visage
7. Mirage Hall
8. Landscapes in the Mist

Love Is the Devil:

9. Greyhound at Night
10. This Is Not My City
11. Woman
12. Love Is the Devil
13. Alone at the Danube River
14. I Don?t Know How to Find My Way Back to You
15. Like The Ocean We Part
16. Berlin

Press

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Audio & Video

ALEX BLEEKER AND THE FREAKS - 'HOW FAR AWAY'

Formats

• WOODSIST068 - LP

  655035026817

• WOODSIST068CD - CD

  655035026824

Details

"New Jersey-born Alex Bleeker is an old soul. For his sophomore album, How Far Away, he lets that come into play fully. Over eleven tracks, he deals with the autumnal phase of lost love, the point after the grieving subsides and you start figuring out what you're supposed to do next. As with his last album, Bleeker cobbles together a ragtag collection of 'freaks,' including Mountain Man's Amelia Meath, who provides gorgeously weighty backing vocals on four tracks, Woods' Jarvis Tanviere, Real Estate's Jackson Pollis, Big Troubles' Sam Franklin, among plenty other like-minded musicians who lend sparkling instrumental flourishes and a full-bodied backbone to Bleeker's pained yowl. "Album opener 'Don't Look Down' feels like a mission statement for the rest of the record. Over upbeat guitar jangle and smooth organ runs, Bleeker's voice cracks and lilts: 'Don't look back on the way we met / Don't look back at me now / Don't retract all the things you've said / Don't back out on me.' In the hands of plenty other songwriters, this would come off as self-pitying, but Bleeker just seems wise. "The key to How Far Away isn't just Bleeker's lyrics, which [are] both universal and intensely specific, but also the relaxed dynamics of the players. Bleeker is a jam band fanatic, and he takes the core ethos of The Grateful Dead-let things unfold naturally-and distills it into concise pop songs: tracks like 'All My Songs' and 'Rhythm Shakers' are brief, but they shift from crystalline guitar to weighty bass effortlessly, with Bleeker working as a heartbroken bandleader, keeping things moving organically. Nothing is hurried, but nothing overstays its welcome either. Though How Far Away is packed with singles, the album works best as a narrative about the dissolution of a relationship. You could call it a breakup record, but that wouldn't quite be giving it enough credit. Instead, it's about growing older and figuring out what you need to do to keep moving. It's never overly sad or angry or obsessed with itself, it's just true." -Sam Hockley-Smith

Tracks

1. Don't Look Down
2. See You on Sunday
3. Leave on the Light
4. Home I Love
5. Time Cloud
6. Who Are You Seeing?
7. Rhythm Shakers
8. All My Songs
9. Steve's Theme
10. Step Right Up (Pour Yourself Some Wine)
11. Love Fadeaway

Press

Featuring members of Real Estate, Woods & Big Troubles

Audio & Video

MAN... OR ASTRO-MAN? - 'DEFCON 5...4...3...2...1'

Formats

• CHKLP010 - LP

  N/A

Details

Man or Astro-Man? have returned to earth for the human masses and after years of hibernation they are now unveiling their finest recorded work to date. It has been nearly 12 years since the band last released their intergalactic sonic wave forms, and the new album, Defcon 5...4...3...2...1 is here now with a striking validity that the band is unquestionably as both tuneful and energetic as they ever have been. The record combines ever-familiar Astro audio tones and the well-established playing ferocity that MOAM? are known for, but yet now, there is an undeniably evolution to the band that is both intuitive, logical and well crafted. Defcon is here and is here with imminent purpose. Always known as an unstoppably powerful live band, in 2010, the original lineup of Birdstuff, Coco and Star Crunch reformed to play a series of shows, and since then, they have been putting on some of the best performances of their career. Recorded with longtime Astro copilot, Steve Albini in Chicago, IL and also with Daniel Farris of Denial Labs in Birmingham, AL, the new album finds the band bringing their unique powerful style of Science Friction back to greater humanity in supreme form. It seems Man or Astro-Man? haven't missed a beat, and the newly recorded material finds the band being as inventive and propulsive as ever. Now put on your space helmet on and strap in. The countdown begins now...

Tracks

12. DEFCON 5
11. ANTIMATTER MAN
10. ALL SYSTEMS TO GO
9. DISINTEGRATE
8. DEFCON 4
7. CODEBREAKER
SEVENTY EIGHT
6. COMMUNICATION
BREAKDOWN PT. II
5. DEFCON 3
4. ELECTRIC ARC
3. DEFCON 2
2. NEW COCOON
1. DEFCON 1

Press

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Audio & Video

AQUARELLE - 'AUGUST UNDONE'

Formats

• SOD100 - LP

  600197500019

Details

From the very first seconds of "Within/Without," listeners familiar with the output of Aquarelle, the nom-de-plume of Madison, Wisconsin-based sound artist Ryan Potts, will find themselves in territory that is at once familiar and new. This opening salvo explodes into being with the surging, analog fuzz blooms and preternatural sense of rhythm that endeared many to Sung in Broken Symmetry, his prior Students of Decay full-length, as well as his sterling contribution to the split LP with Alex Cobb issued via Low Point. Nestled deep within these writhing guitar drones one hears plaintive piano notes and layered sine waves, an early hint of the notable development of the Aquarelle sound on August Undone. Potts's compositions are strikingly rich in detail-indeed, a few of the mixes made use of all 64 tracks on his digital audio workstation-however, they never become muddy or unfocused, remaining instead truly effervescent, full of nuance and subtlety. "This Is No Monument" recalls the halcyon days of C/ Psi/P-era Birchville Cat Motel, with a massive wall of guitar distortion and distant chimes slowly dissolving into cascading chords and radiant, microtonal drones. "Clockless Hours," the stunning closer, features a welcome appearance by cellist Brandon Wiarda and brings the album to a lovely and apt d?nouement. In the end, August Undone is a brave step forward by a musician who is never content to rest upon his laurels

Tracks

1. Within / Without
2. This Is No Monument
3. A Flare
4. Sandpaper Winds
5. Clockless Hours

Press

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Audio & Video

EKIN FIL - 'S/T'

Formats

• SOD99 - LP

  600197509913

Details

Operating out of Istanbul, Ekin Fil is the solo project of Turkish musician Ekin ?zelt?zenci. Her music first came to the ears of many by way of Language, a 2011 cassette release on the Root Strata label that presented listeners with a fractured, hazy sound-world in which half-remembered melodies and wraith-like vocals cohered into dark and hypnotic masses. On Ekin Fil, ?zelt?zenci opens the curtains a bit, letting in some light and offering up an even more refined work. This haunting collection of songs wouldn't sound out of place on Drunken Fish Records in 1995, effectively channeling the ghosts of Roy Montgomery and the Bristol shoegaze scene, while occupying similar sonic climes to those traversed by Grouper and Jessica Bailiff. "Anything Anywhere" opens the album and articulates its central concerns, with obscured, rhythmic guitar shapes coiling around ?zelt?zenci's ethereal voice. Later, field recordings usher in the blackened night of "Two Stars," one of the record's most stark and exhilarating movements. Ultimately, Ekin Fil is a remarkably cohesive statement, an album of devotional pieces that function together to form a beautiful, faraway whole.

Tracks

1. Anything Anywhere
2. Dumb Deaf
3. Father
4. Two Stars
5. Sea Holly
6. On Vanity
7. May
8. Forever

Press

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Audio & Video

URINALS - 'ANOTHER E.P.'

Formats

• SV022 - 7"

  857176003225

Details

Originally released in 1979 on the band's own Happy Squid Records, The Urinals' second 7-inch picks up where their first left off. Bookended by the slow-building pressure of "Black Hole" (covered by The Gun Club and Grass Widow, among others) and rapid-fire surge of "Ack Ack Ack Ack" (famously covered by the Minutemen), Another EP shows what happens when dynamic songwriting meets condensed attitude. Essential recordings that are best appreciated in small doses, repeated over and over and over.

Tracks

N/A

Press

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Audio & Video

URINALS - 'S/T'

Formats

• SV021 - 7"

  857176003218

Details

Hailing from the late-'70s underground of Los Angeles, The Urinals were often called "the American Wire" for their graceful tension, wild energy and trademark brevity. Recorded with a sole microphone and guitar / bass running through a single amplifier, their debut 1978 EP defies its limitations while defining The Urinals' unique aesthetic. "Dead Flowers," "Hologram" and "Last Days of Man on Earth" are not simply classic songs, they are venerable punk haiku-raw and unrestrained.

Tracks

N/A

Press

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Audio & Video

URINALS - 'SEX / GO AWAY GIRL'

Formats

• SV023 - 7"

  N/A

Details

The Urinals' third 7-inch, from 1980, demonstrates the group's increased technical proficiency and fuller production that the same members would later bring to their next project, 100 Flowers, under which moniker they produced an outstanding album (also available on Superior Viaduct). "Sex" and "Go Away Girl" (penned by David Nolte of The Last) are propulsive, lo-fi statements that lay waste to the A-side in under three minutes-classic Urinals form. Faithfully restored with test tones on the B-side to ensure your hi-fi is set properly for these sounds.

Tracks

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Press

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Audio & Video

KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS - 'HAUNTED HEAD'

Formats

• ITR240 - LP

  759718524017

• ITR240CD - CD

  759718524024

Details

Waking from a nap in the swamps of outer space, Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds ride a geisterbahn into the hypnagogic, a place between sleep and consciousness also known as the "Haunted Head." Haunted Head is the third LP the quartet has oozed out for In The Red. Legendary guitar stylist Kid Congo Powers (The Gun Club, The Cramps, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) and longtime cohorts bassist Kiki Solis (Knife in the Water), drummer Ron Miller (Up The Academy) and guitarist Jesse Roberts (Sandrider, The Ruby Doe) take matters into their own mitts by having Roberts engineer and Miller mix the record at the now well-known Harveyville Project High School in Kansas. With The Pink Monkey Birds' cocktail of fuzz guitars, New Orleans drum beats, soulful strut bass lines and sonic ambrosia at its most potent, Haunted Head offers the purest distillation of the group's powers. The trip of your dreams includes the "cheap and tawdry" in a tribute to dearly departed actress Susan Tyrell ("Su Su"), the morphing of Jerry Lee Lewis with Phyllis Diller ("Killer Diller") and the plain ol' insanity of romantic love ("Dance Me Swamply"). The band also tells you how they like "the mondos and the cholos and the weirdos and he freaks" on the rollicking "Let's Go!" and how they don't like "neocons in square back suits" and "throwing up in a dirty phone booth " on the punky proclamation "I Don't Like." I mean, who does? On the album's title ballad, Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds ask the listener "What's inside your Haunted Head? Are you alive or are you dead? Are you kissing and a huggin'? Are you pushin' and a shoving?" Perhaps only in dreams could you answer such a question.

Tracks

1. Lurch
2. Su Su
3. Killer Diller
4. I Don?t Like
5. The Rad Lords Return
6. Haunted Head
7. Lady Hawke Blues
8. Let?s Go!
9. Loud & Proud
10. 222
11. Dance Me Swamply
12. Lamont?s Return

Press

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Audio & Video

UNWOUND - 'LIVE LEAVES'

Formats

• UNWND001LP - 2xLPs

  789397829417

Details

**EXCLUSIVE!! 2xLP VINYL ONLY RELEASE comes with digital download coupon. The mighty UNWOUND return after an 11 year hiatus with a collection of live recordings from their final tour for their swan song album proper "Leaves Turn Inside You". Think of this as a gift from Unwound to you. A sonic love letter. A promise. Here's to you.

Tracks

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Press

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Audio & Video

TERRORBIRD - 'ALL THIS TIME'

Formats

• LSSN016 - LP

  5060174955600

• LSSN016CD - CD

  5060174955938

Details

Terror Bird is the songs of Vancouver artist Nikki Never. Beginning with naive but affecting songs hammered into primitive recording apparatus and released on handdubbed cassette releases, Terror Bird soon attracted the attention of intrepid independent labels such as Night People, La Station Radar and Adagio830. Each release has documented a growing maturity in songwriting and emotional scope. "All This Time" is Terror Bird's 3rd full length and is by far the most personal, emotionally affecting and musically developed. Recorded at home over a period of 3 months, the 10 songs on "All This Time" document a period of intense emotional upheaval, a period wherein Never underwent major shifts in her personal life, rediscovered the solo recording process (previous albums having used live drumming and studio production) and married a raw, personal music with a straighttotape aesthetic most intone with her early recording experiences. The difference this time is that Never's unique voice at turns operatic and fragile, untutored and wearing its heart on its sleeve serves as the perfect conduit for the emotional turmoil in the songs. Never's voice has grown into a formidable instrument, a towering, unabashed vocal whose resonance curls around the synth and drum machine production, at times duetting with itself, at times scaling the vocal register to reach new dramatic heights. Brought up on the music of the 80s "studio" The Smiths, Siousxie, The Cure Never's music exists beyond modern zeitgeists or considerations, subverting "big production" music into a personal DIY aesthetic. It's a pure songwriting that outgrows genre and thrives purely on the merits of direct communication between songwriter and listener. Each song on "All This Time" serves as a chapter in a narrative that is universal; from the selfdoubt and loneliness of opener "The Wrong Way," to the doomed bedroom romance of "Try To Break Me," from the masochistic guilt of "Locket" to the nearanthemic "Lust & Violence." Each song speaks directly, plainly, to the listener, dispensing as much as possible with the unnecessary augmentation of modern pop music; "All This Time" is simply the deeply romantic, partdoomed / parthopeful songs of a singular, unique 500 LP ONLY, W/ DL CARD

Tracks

The Wrong Way

Costume

Try To Break Me

On Your Vacation

All This Time

Elliot

Do You Remember?

Locket

Lust & Violence

Don?t Believe You

Press

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Audio & Video