THE SLEEPERS - 'S/T'

Formats

• SV010 - 7"

Details

The Sleepers’ debut five-song EP, originally released in 1978, is one of the truly essential records to come out of California in the late ’70s. It is 100% punk in spirit and yet avoids every punk cliché. The band’s original lineup of Ricky Williams, Michael Belfer, Paul Draper and Tim Mooney operates here as a machine—a temperamental one rattling in unison. Opener “Seventh World” trudges through many tempos without repeating a single one, while Williams’s astonishing, Robo-fueled voice douses the microphone with esoteric imagery. Each track creates a new template for psychedelic rock and discards it by the time the next one begins. This record inexplicably transcends the mere sum of its parts.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

HENRY FLYNT - 'GRADUATION'

Formats

• SV014LP - 2xLPs

Details

Henry Flynt took a high-brow approach to so-called low-brow music. Combining sounds from his native North Carolina with an avant-garde sensibility honed in New York City’s loft scene in the 1960s, Flynt created what he describes as “new American ethnic music.” As a student of Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath alongside La Monte Young and Terry Riley, an associate of the Fluxus movement, and even a live collaborator with the Velvet Underground, Flynt was a part of one of the 20th century’s richest art and music milieus. Graduation, recorded between 1975 and 1979, was meant to be the debut of his avant-garde hillbilly music. The album’s title track is a slow, twisted ballad that unfolds like a funeral dream over dirge-like country riffs. “Celestial Power,” the album’s 20-minute closing track, is an entrancing minimalist composition performed strictly with oscillating vibrato guitar. As Flynt explains, “I aspire to a beauty which is ecstatic and perpetual, while at the same time being concretely human and emotionally profound.” Shelved upon its completion in 1980, Graduation was not released until after the turn of the century. In 2013, it still sounds years ahead of its time

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

GRUPPO DI IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA - 'MUSICA SU SCHEMI'

Formats

• SV015LP - LP

Details

"In the early 1970s, Franco Evangelisti assembled Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, a collective of Italian composers that included Ennio Morricone on trumpet. Gruppo aspired to revolutionize composition through group improvisation and—like their peer, Karlheinz Stockhausen—musique concrète, aleatory (controlled chance) techniques and early electronic music. One significant influence in the studio was their use of chess to define key parameters of their music. Musica Su Schemi is unpredictable, fluid and always marked by a tension between the performers and their conscious rejection of traditional forms. Each member of Gruppo would establish themselves as important figures in 20th century music, though no others gained the notoriety of Morricone. Nonetheless, Gruppo’s influence on modern composition endures. As composer / saxophonist John Zorn explains, “[They] were instrumental in founding a radical tradition of Western musical improvisation that owed little or nothing to anybody and created some of the strangest music ever made.”"

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

HAMPTON, DESTRY & THE WOLVES FROM HELL - 'ANGEL OF MADNESS'

Formats

• SV030 - 7"

  857176003300

Details

There is no sense in trying to outdo Angel of Madness, Destry Hampton’s bona fide cult classic. Caught up in the international punk zeitgeist, Hampton laid down his une saison en enfer in late ’77 in the North Beach district of San Francisco with a pack of friends that included Danny Mihm from the Flamin’ Groovies. Buzzsaw riffs and manic leads underpin Hampton’s feral, reverb-doused vocals (“I’m feeling mean / Screwed up tight / O I’m ready to kill”). Angel of Madness is one of the most elusive records of the era: manufactured through legendary oddball label Moxie Records, stamped on Hampton’s own Z-Bop imprint, and distributed through a couple local record stores. Eventually the remaining stock was stolen from storage. Deranged like the Mentally Ill, yet grounded in Crime’s impeccable rock sneer, the ignoble savagery of Destry Hampton proves its supremacy in the annals of Killed By Death’s many volumes. This first-time reissue comes from the original master tapes.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

GLAXO BABIES - 'PUT ME ON THE GUEST LIST'

Formats

• SV031LP - LP

  857176003317

Details

Glaxo Babies are the greatest UK post-punk band you’ve never heard. Formed in Bristol in late 1977 and named after the British pharmaceutical giant who allegedly inoculated thousands with a toxic vaccine, the original lineup included Rob Chapman (vocals), Dan Catsis (guitar), Tom Nichols (bass) and Geoff Alsopp (drums). The band’s pioneering mix of metallic guitar, dubbed-out rhythms and shamanistic chants found its way into the bloodlines of generations on both sides of the pond. Naturally, Glaxo members later joined The Pop Group and Maximum Joy. Originally released on Heartbeat Records in 1980, Put Me on the Guest List collects the band’s propulsive demos, mostly performed live in the studio with no overdubs and not originally intended for release. “This Is Your Life” is a veritable classic, with Chapman’s angst-ridden lyrics soaring low as the band rides tense, sinuous grooves. The skittish “Police State” stands toe-to-toe with the art-punk flag-bearers in the North (Gang of Four, Mekons) and in London (Wire, The Homosexuals). “Stay Awake” is a vitriolic screed as powerful as anything from the newly formed Public Image Limited. By the time England’s post-punk scene was in full bloom, dominating the pop charts in the UK and college radio in the US, Glaxo Babies had unfortunately dissolved. Released domestically for the first time ever courtesy of Superior Viaduct, Put Me on the Guest List is available on vinyl and CD with liner notes by Chapman. The CD version contains three bonus songs including the rare “Christine Keeler” single.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

GLAXO BABIES - 'NINE MONTHS TO THE DISCO'

Formats

• SV032CD - CD

  857176003942

• SV032LP - LP

  857176003324

Details

After the abrupt departure of singer Rob Chapman, Bristol’s Glaxo Babies moved into more improvised and electronic-based territory. Their early demos (as compiled on Put Me on the Guest List, also available from Superior Viaduct) only hinted at such exotic sounds. Other bands from Manchester and New York were spiking post-punk with dance beats, yet Glaxo Babies were brimming with fun and spontaneity, spearheading England’s death disco movement in the process. Reportedly recorded in a single day, Nine Months to the Disco originally appeared on Heartbeat Records in 1980. Glaxo Babies’ sole proper album veers between wiry electro à la Liquid Liquid (“Free Dem Cells”), piano-based free jazz burners (“Seven Days”) and progressive post-Krautrock jams that would make even This Heat blush, culminating in the mutant funk masterpiece “Shake (The Foundations)” (which was regularly covered by The Pop Group in their live set). Nine Months to the Disco is a monster statement, equal parts ballroom bangers and dancefloor clearers. Released domestically for the first time ever, the album is available on vinyl and CD with liner notes by The Pop Group founder Mark Stewart and band members Dan Catsis and Charlie Llewellin.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

PHILL NIBLOCK - 'NOTHING TO LOOK AT JUST A RECORD'

Formats

• SV033LP - LP

  857176003331

Details

"Phill Niblock has pushed the boundaries of sound and visual art for over 40 years. While dutifully producing experimental films and curating multi-media loft performances in New York’s 1960s avant-garde circles, Niblock developed a composition technique informed by American minimalists such as Tony Conrad and La Monte Young. His music consists of long instrumental tones, closely pitched together to create beat patterns and multi-tracked into dense layers. Nothin to Look At Just a Record, originally released on esteemed 20th century / jazz label India Navigation in 1982, is Niblock’s recording debut and often cited as his masterpiece. “A Trombone Piece,” the first of two side-long tracks, was recorded by Richard Lainhart and Richard Kelly (both music innovators in their own right) at SUNY Albany in the mid-’70s. Breathing pauses from instrumentalist James Fulkerson’s trombone were spliced out to unravel the drones spatially, rather than according to metered rhythm. The overall effect is mesmerizing and beautifully envelops the listener with each tonal subtlety. To celebrate Niblock’s 80th birthday, Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time vinyl reissue of Nothin to Look At Just a Record, a high-water mark in 20th century music and listed as #5 on Alan Licht’s Minimal Top Ten."

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

TUXEDOMOON - 'NO TEARS'

Formats

• SV036 - 12"

  857176003362

Details

Founded by Steven Brown and Blaine Reininger in San Francisco, Tuxedomoon are a futuristic alternate reality of delirium and existential dread. Aligned with fellow Bay Area experimentalists The Residents (to whose Ralph Records the group eventually signed) and Robin Crutchfield’s post-DNA project Dark Day, Tuxedomoon developed a unique combination of synthesizer and guitar that placed them at the forefront of the US post-punk movement in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Their 1978 debut EP, No Tears, was recorded with vocalist Winston Tong and sound engineer Tommy Tadlock. Replete with tense synth swells, devastating live drums and a psychotic ode to the “creatures of the night,” the title track is a crucial entry in the synth-punk canon that stacks up next to the best work by Units and The Screamers. Reininger’s electric violin congeals with electronic atmospherics to unnerving ends on the instrumental “Litebulb Overkill.” Few records do justice to the mania and paranoia of a forsaken city; none do it for San Francisco like Tuxedomoon’s No Tears.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

TUXEDOMOON - 'SCREAM WITH A VIEW'

Formats

• SV037 - LP

  857176003379

Details

Founded by Steven Brown and Blaine Reininger in San Francisco, Tuxedomoon are a futuristic alternate reality of delirium and existential dread. Aligned with fellow Bay Area experimentalists The Residents (to whose Ralph Records the group eventually signed) and Robin Crutchfield’s post-DNA project Dark Day, Tuxedomoon developed a unique combination of synthesizer and guitar that placed them at the forefront of the US post-punk movement in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Scream With a View, recorded surreptitiously in The Residents’ private studio in 1979, advances brilliant melodic concepts through analog technology for a sound barely comprehensible today. On “Where Interests Lie,” punchy drum machine underlies barbed and eerie leads from guitarist Michael Belfer (The Sleepers). “(Special Treatment for the) Family Man”—a reference to Dan White’s trial for the assassination of San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978—is an indignant vigil cut with a rare brand of macabre humor. Saxophone, Polymoog, violin, e-bowed guitar, and CB radio interference make Scream With a View the insidious foil to the urgent No Tears EP.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

NEGATIVE TREND - 'S/T'

Formats

• SV038 - 7"

  857176003386

Details

Negative Trend were ground zero for California punk. Formed in San Francisco in 1977, they shared the stage with other now-legendary bands such as Dead Kennedys, The Dils, The Avengers, and The Sleepers. Their sole EP first appeared in 1978 to reveal the shape of punk to come. “Black and Red” features guitarist Craig Gray’s nihilistic riffs and singer Mikal Waters’s ominous battle cries. “Meathouse” is a hardcore anti-ballad to the Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco’s answer to CBGB’s. The group disbanded soon after a brief sojourn with vocalist Rik L. Rik (F-Word), yet the break-up birthed even more maladjusted offspring. Will Shatter (bass) and Steve DePace (drums) formed Flipper, and Gray would go on to found Toiling Midgets (the first band signed to Rough Trade’s US label). One of the most sought-after US punk records, the Negative Trend EP made such an impression on a young Henry Rollins that decades later he reissued it on CD on his 2.13.61 imprint. Superior Viaduct and Subterranean Records are proud to make Negative Trend available again on vinyl in its original 7-inch format.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

FUZZ - 'LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO'

Formats

• CF031 - LP

  819162014004

• CF031CD - CD

  819162014011

Details

BEHOLD - when we introduced this live series we spoke of lightning in a jar - this here's a thunderstorm. Ty Segall's new stoner thrashers FUZZ not only totally murdered this set at San Francisco leather-daddy hangout The SF Eagle, but it was Ty's birthday and he blew out his birthday cake candles mid song, didn't miss a beat, and that moment is forever etched into this record (we took a photo too). The place was insanely packed and they sound like the agile wolf-men they are up close and personal - Ty, mic wailing through a guitar amp and dominating drums like it's the easiest thing in the world, Charlie - guitar set to Hendrix-meets-Hawkwind melter-mode, and Roland keeping his bass firmly lodged in the groove - the jams are thick and wooly, we got some great photos of the night - man, this was one to remember and we're super excited we captured such a freakishly good performance. As always, captured hot to tape and mixed and massaged by our crack team of speaker-freakers (Chris Woodhouse, Eric Bauer, Bob Marshall, and John Dwyer) and shot to nicely grainy (real) film by Brian Pritchard. Out on Castle Face Records December 3rd.

Tracks

01. This Time I've Got A Reason
02. Fuzz's Fourth Dream
03. You Won't See Me
04. One

Press

Audio & Video

ENDLESS BUMMER - 'RIPPER CURRENT'

Formats

• ITR256 - 7"

Details

Lance Barresi and Liz Tooley are the co-founders of Permanent Records, which means they’re responsible for releasing and reissuing a whole mess of awesome music. They also run some excellent record stores in L.A. and Chicago. Now, they’ve rechristened themselves Lance and Liz Bummer, and together with Greg Bummer (of The Spits and Merx), they’re the punk trio Endless Bummer. On their debut EP, the trio churns out four tracks of dark-hued rock ’n’ roll with frayed edges and plenty of intimidation. Ripper Current was recorded by Ty Segall —the first material made in his new backyard studio, The Sweat Lodge—and it’s an awesome slab of sludgy punk.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

EASTLINK - 'ANGEL GUN'

Formats

• ITR250 - 7"

Details

Eastlink is a section of freeway in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Eastlink is also a band from Melbourne that delivers a blown-out, three-guitar assault, equal parts riff-fueled rock and noise-fucked psych. If it matters (and you know it does!), Eastlink features members of such notable Australian flag-bearers as Total Control, UV Race, Repairs, Lakes, Straightjacket Nation, Interzone, Teargas, etc. Really, they are just a f’n great band. Watch for their debut album in 2014 on In The Red!

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

RED HARE - 'NITES OF MIDNIGHT'

Formats

• DIS180.5 - LP

  643859180518

• DIS180.5CD - CD

  643859180525

Details

"I just want to hear Shawn sing again…" A selfish thought, but not an isolated one. Through DAG NASTY, SWIZ and JESUS EATER, SHAWN BROWN’s unique voice has gained admiration from many followers of D.C. hardcore. And in voicing that selfish thought, his ex-bandmate, JASON FARRELL, triggered the inception of RED HARE—a new band that furthers the music Farrell, Brown, and bassist DAVE EIGHT began making more than twenty years ago in Swiz. With Red Hare, Shawn Brown, Jason Farrell and Dave Eight have reconvened to further explore the trajectory set by these previous bands. Rather than trying to replicate sonic bits of their lost youth, Red Hare remains open to change; the most prominent of which was the addition of JOE GORELICK. His post-hardcore-channeling-Keith-Moon approach to drums adds a lean and propulsive dynamic to the familiar voice and crunch. But Swiz: Mach III, it's not. The 23 years since that band split had not been spent in mothballs—BLUETIP, GARDEN VARIETY, Jesus Eater, and RETISONIC all thrived in the interim, each forging their own legacies. Though their sonic influence can be heard in Red Hare, the main unifying thread through all these bands is a shared expression of immediacy: A band voicing their concerns and reflecting 

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

MOAN - 'THINK ABOUT FORGOTTEN DAYS'

Formats

• LTG001 - CD

  655035022123

Details

Lightning Records is proud to release the proper debut album from Moan, the solo project of Japanese rock legend Shinji Masuko, best known as founding member and guitarist / vocalist of rock gods DMBQ and principal guitarist and integral member of noise art prophets the Boredoms. Think About Forgotten Days picks up where Shinji’s critically acclaimed Woven Music, released under his own name on Brah / Jagjaguwar in 2011, left off. Employing brilliantly composed and agile drones and virtuosic guitar work, Think About Forgotten Days launches off on a more massive, rock-informed scale. While “No No I,” featuring vocalist Makiko’s hushed and heartfelt singing, recalls Yo La Tengo at their most tender, the album’s 25-minute opener “Murmur of the Zodiac Voices” expands like the Big Bang, as if taking one of DMBQ’s loudest power chord explosions and revealing an entire universe living and breathing inside of it. It calls to mind the minimalist rock tendencies of SUNN 0))) delivered with the originality and sonic clarity only a shredder of Shinji’s caliber can muster. Equally adept at creating hypnotic drones as soaring solos, he is a true modern guitar poet

Tracks

1. Murmur of the Zodiac Voices
2. No No I
3. Soda Song
4. Noctiluca Town

Press

Audio & Video

MATT BALDWIN - 'IMAGINARY PSYCHOLOGY'

Formats

• SPIRITUAL11 - LP+7"

  738435690083

Details

Matt Baldwin on the Fender Strat is the last living prophet. Here is a young man who plays with a technical skill and virtuosity that few can ever hope to attain, and does so rather easily. Wherever one hears this record, one will find him. His lucid tapes are for truck drivers, surfers, painters, pilots, miners, lovers, loners, what have you; for those in prayer; for those performing surgery; for those on the moving sidewalk… It’s music to win by. Baldwin’s latest work follows releases on American Dust and Tompkins Square. This deluxe album is pressed on white vinyl and comes packaged in a foil-stamped jacket replete with a bonus 7-inch flexi disc.

Tracks

1. Lindsay and Her Duplicates
2. Bokarian Dervish
3. Imaginary Psychology
4. State Trooper
Flexi Disc:
1. Drowning Butterflies

Press

Audio & Video