Latest release: 24 Feb 2014
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JONAS REINHARDT - 'GANYMEDE'
Formats
CTATSU002LP - LP / DVD
617689999794
Details
LIMITED EDITION OF 300 VINYL ONLY RELEASE includes DVD & 12" x 24" color poster. Inspired in equal measure by the throbbing urbanity of coastal cities, continental Euro-art-rock experimentation, left-field techno, & the freewheeling punk aesthetic of contemporary home studio recording, Jonas Reinhardt's music transcends its influences to bring into being a work that's wholly new while referencing a celebrated a!esthetic of the past. Here, Reinhardt presents "Ganymede" a film & 7 song soundtrack, wherein he utilizes a battery of synthesizers & repeating patterns, delving into the chaotic unknown seeking transcendence & achieving a spiritual "other" defined by ecstatic reverie
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Press
Audio & Video
Lox Moon from Jesse Reiner on Vimeo.
JESSE SPARHAWK/ERIC CARBONARA - 'TRIBUTES & DIATRIBES'
Formats
VHF134CD - CD
783881013429
Details
Tributes & Diatribes is the lovely second set of tracks from the entirely unusual duo of Jesse Sparhawk (38-string lever harp) and Eric Carbonara (22-string upright Chaturangui guitar, banjo, nylon string guitar). The four tracks here are restrained and unhurried, letting the elegant string flow breathe and build over each cut. Like on their debut Sixty Strings (also on VHF), there’s plenty of virtuosity, but it’s not showy and crass. These guys are more mood-builders (deep, cosmic, meditative) than doodlers. Even though Tributes & Diatribes is immediately graspable by those of us who like “our kind” of music, it really doesn’t sound like anyone else—a rare achievement. Along with the main dialogue between the two players, the arrangements are filled out with percussion by Peterson Goodwyn, giving some of the tracks an overt groove that cuts against the spiraling string notes. Beautiful.
Tracks
1. Alemu
2. Yellow Bird
3. Twilight Lamento
4. Hitch and Herrman
Press
Audio & Video
MARK BANNING - 'JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT'
Formats
SOD104 - LP
655035070414
Details
Recorded in Northern California in 1984 and released in a micro edition by the Creative Sound imprint in January of the following year, Mark Banning’s Journey to the Light is a true lost gem of private issue New Age music, an impossible-to-find album that is more spoken about than heard and deserves to be recognized alongside established classics of the genre. Incorporating processed electric guitar, zither, voice and field recordings, it is unabashedly beautiful music—two side-long pieces that feel as though they may have always existed, hanging in the air like a morning fog over the Pacific. As archetypal to the genre as Banning’s compositions might appear to be, Banning’s music has a seriousness and intensity that was absent from much of the New Age scene as it existed in the early ’80s. The album’s first piece, “Everlasting Moments,” charts a course between the weblike guitar cycles of Manuel Gottsching and the buoyant minimalism of Terry Riley. “A Sea of Glass” constructs itself similarly but navigates even calmer waters, providing a sensuous tapestry of ever-evolving guitar drones and radiant zither filigree. These heady, oddly prescient recordings were uncovered by New Age historian / figurehead Douglas Mcgowan (Yoga Records) and will appeal as much to fans of drone and ambient music as to those enamored with labyrinthine annals of American private press records, New Age as such, or with the recent renaissance of synthesizer-based experimental music. Remastered for presence and clarity by James Plotkin, this special reissue is the definitive edition of Banning’s transportive masterwork.
Tracks
1. Everlasting Moments
2. A Sea of Glass
Press
Audio & Video
TRIN TRAN - 'FAR REACHES'
Formats
CF035 - 12"
819162014875CF035CD - CD
819162014868
Details
Trin Tran: The one-man band without a plan, hurtling through the songiverse without a map or compass. For years now, Trin Tran has been creeping out from deep space (America’s Midwest) and bouncing songs off satellites. These transmissions are a testament to his lovely weirdness. This new EP is an injection of strange-pop—less garage than his recent full-length on Ty Segall’s imprint God? Records and more the bastard child of Duran Duran and Bruce Haack. Riskier vocal delivery, heavier synths. Stronger, swifter, silver-er. Mute Records would have licked their glossy lips over this meal in the early ’80s. Recorded by Eric Landmark of San Francisco scrapsynth alums Numbers and Ricky Reimer of Madison, WI, angularities Transformer Lootbag, mixed and mastered by John Dietrich of Deerhoof, Far Reaches truly harkens from the 6th Dimension. It’s a new era for the mask and its one-man armada.
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ANNE GUTHRIE - 'CODIAEUM VARIEGATUM'
Formats
SOD103 - LP
600197510315
Details
Based in Brooklyn, Anne Guthrie is a professional acoustician, composer and sound artist whose work combines a highly technical knowledge of natural reverb, field recording and extended microphone techniques with live and processed instrumentation, including French horn, violoncello and contrabass. Her music explores the play of dichotomies: cacophony / beauty, accidental / intentional, unhinged / refined, traditional / outsider. Codiaeum Variegatum is Guthrie’s debut full-length proper, following out-of-print short-run releases on labels such as Engraved Glass and Copy For Your Records, as well as the recently released and critically lauded Sinter, a collaboration with Richard Kamerman issued by Erstwhile Records’ sub-label ErstAEU. The album’s six compositions showcase Guthrie’s acumen as a composer of rich and diverse sonic phenomena. From the keeling strings which open “Branching Low and Spreading,” she guides the listener through dense yet highly structured thickets of sound, juxtaposing astute room / field recordings with classical instrumentation, both dry and processed. On “Unlike More Slender and Graceful,” filtered French horn plumes are wed to cavernous, watery field recordings to forge beautiful yet bleak vistas, motifs to be revisited in a more hopeful light later on. Ultimately, Guthrie’s work occupies a heady middle ground somewhere between the enchantment of the everyday manifested by artists such as Graham Lambkin and Vanessa Rossetto and the high-minded electroacoustic investigations of her fellow Erstwhile alumni.
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Audio & Video
SLOTHRUST - 'OF COURSE YOU DO'
Formats
BING094 - LP
600197009413BING094CD - CD
600197009420
Details
Led by singer / songwriter / guitarist Leah Wellbaum, Brooklyn’s Slothrust is a rock band of musicians from the jazz / blues tradition who sound nothing like jazz musicians playing rock. Beneath the know-how, their aesthetic is punk as fuck. How perfect, right? You get the zap without the Zappa, not a lot of Yes but a load of Oh Hell Yeah! Slothrust’s musicianship sneaks up on you, because the first thing that grabs you is how insanely catchy these songs are. Then you realize that it all comes down to the fact that they play fearlessly and full of tenacity. Rock ’n’ roll. Formed amid the ashes of Wellbaum’s solo project Slothbox (“The box rusted,” she explains…obvs!), Slothrust was forged with drummer Will Gorin and bassist Kyle Bann. With the added dynamics of a tight, powerful and funky rhythm section, Slothrust is a forceful trio as unsettling and capricious as their name. Of Course You Do is the band’s debut for Ba Da Bing and follows up to their 2012 self-released full-length, Feels Your Pain. With her deep, charismatic vocals, most reminiscent of Nico with the edge of Isaac Brock circa ’97, Wellbaum sings about alienation, awkwardness and absurdity, and damn if she doesn’t make it all sound kind of fun. “Crockpot” is a dark yet funny and irreverent take on the struggle for human connection in a society built to make us feel isolated; “Juice” is a paean to realizing the limits of self-improvement. She evokes feeling while sounding despondent, all the while with catchy melodies— pulling off Stephen Malkmus’ Pavement-era feats of writing and delivery. On top of the solid writing and rhythm section, her playing style ranges from simple eloquence to hard-edged, aggressive guitar solos.
Tracks
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Audio & Video
RORY SCOVEL - 'LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS'
Formats
TMR231 - LP
Details
A few months back we hosted one of our favorite comedians in the Third Man Blue Room, hand selected by Jack White to appear. Rory Scovel came, saw and destroyed any and all bad vibes within a 5 mile radius with an improv set of some of the best live stand up we've seen in years. Seriously, the man far exceeded even our lofty expectations for hilarity. Since then Rory has had a bumper few months, appearing on Conan O' Brien in a tuxedo performing uber-classy comedy with live LIberace-style piano accompaniment, co-starring on new TBS comedy Ground Floor and generally ruling the school and jettisoning jocularity into the universe in every town and festival he visits on tour. Well if you missed his now legendary Third Man live show, fear not and save your tears, it is now available on LP and available in finer record retailers everywhere. Oh, and one last thing for our UNUSUAL FORMAT collectors and fans… The sleeves and labels feature the track list all in braille. That's right. Braille. Trust us, it'll all make sense when you hear the album. It's another meta-comedy first from Third Man Records and Rory Scovel!
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Press
Audio & Video
CHARLEY PATTON - 'Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Vol 4'
Formats
TMR189 - LP
Details
The fourth set of Document Records reissues and the final installments of The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order from Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. It is worth noting that the Mississippi Sheiks required a Volume 5 to include the full catalog in this series, so we are simultaneously release Volume 4 and 5 of their collection in this batch. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades. Here’s hoping these reissues are just the beginning of your exploration into the building blocks of American music and early blues.
Tracks
Dry Well Blues
Some Summer Day - Part 1
Moon Going Down
Bird Nest Bound
Jersey Bull Blues
High Sheriff Blues
Stone Pony Blues
Yellow Bee
Mind Reader Blues
34 Blues
Love My Stuff
Revenue Man Blues
On Death
Troubled 'Bout My Mother
Poor Me
Hang It On The Wall
Press
Audio & Video
BLIND WILLIE MCTELL - 'Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Vol 4'
Formats
TMR190 - LP
Details
The fourth set of Document Records reissues and the final installments of The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order from Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. It is worth noting that the Mississippi Sheiks required a Volume 5 to include the full catalog in this series, so we are simultaneously release Volume 4 and 5 of their collection in this batch. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades. Here’s hoping these reissues are just the beginning of your exploration into the building blocks of American music and early blues.
Tracks
Bell Street Lightnin'
Southern Can Mama
Runnin' Me Crazy
East St. Louis Blues (Fare You Well)
Ain't It Grand To Be A Christian
We Got To Meet Death One Day (take 1)
We Got To Meet Death One Day (take 2)
Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around
I Got Religion, I'm So Glad
Dying Gambler
God Don't Like It
Bell Street Blues
Let Me Play With Yo' Yo-Yo
Lay Some Flowers On My Grave
Ticket Agent Blues
Cold Weather Day
Your Time To Worry
Cooling Board Blues
Hillbilly Willie's Blues
Press
Audio & Video
MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS - 'Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Vol 4'
Formats
TMR191 - LP
Details
The fourth set of Document Records reissues and the final installments of The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order from Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. It is worth noting that the Mississippi Sheiks required a Volume 5 to include the full catalog in this series, so we are simultaneously release Volume 4 and 5 of their collection in this batch. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades. Here’s hoping these reissues are just the beginning of your exploration into the building blocks of American music and early blues.
Tracks
New Shake That Thing
The New Sittin' On Top Of The World
He Calls That Religion
Don't Wake It Up
Please Baby
I'll Be Gone, Long Gone
Kitty Cat Blues
Show Me What You Got
Hitting The Numbers
It's Done Got Wet
Pencil Won't Write No More
I Am The Devil
Baby, Please Make A Change
She's Got Something Crazy
You'll Work Down To Me Someday
Somebody's Got To Help Me
Good Morning Blues
Blues On My Mind
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Audio & Video
MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS - 'Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Vol 5'
Formats
TMR192 - LP
Details
The fourth (& fifth) set of Document Records reissues and the final installments of The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order from Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. It is worth noting that the Mississippi Sheiks required a Volume 5 to include the full catalog in this series, so we are simultaneously release Volume 4 and 5 of their collection in this batch. This final installment features gorgeous new covers from Rob Jones, extensive liner notes, and, of course, amazing music morsels of blues history on vinyl for the first time in decades. Here’s hoping these reissues are just the beginning of your exploration into the building blocks of American music and early blues.
Tracks
Lonesome Grave Took My Baby
Pop Skull Blues
Sweet Maggie
Sales Tax
It's Backfiring Now
Lean To One Woman
I Can't Go Wrong
Dead Wagon Blues
She's Going To Her Lonesome Grave
Fingering With Your Fingers
If You Don't Want Me Please Don't Dog Me Around
Wake Me Just Before Day
Old Grey Mule, You Ain't What You Used To Be
What's The Name of That Thing
Stir It Now
Jumping Out Blues
Radio Blues
Please Don't Give My Love Away