DAN MELCHIOR - 'THE SOULS OF BIRDS AND MICE'

Formats

• SB177 - LP

  655030117718

Details

Since 2011’s Assemblage Blues, Dan Melchior has proceeded to document the scope of vulnerability, carrying the torch of DIY through territory explored previously only in the wake of Pierre Schaeffer. The Souls of Birds and Mice isn’t composed of elements so much as it is composed of the composing of elements. This is the sound of the digital workflow, transparent composition; wrenching the processing of Muura or Doc Wör Mirran and dismantling the investigative passivity. One could draw a comparison straight to Cornelius Cardew or Li Daiguo, but that’s just because Melchior’s work is so laterally referential it slows down any pull to deconstructing the singular voice to simple candidness. And it all ends with some of the most perfect psychedelic guitar work ever paired with helicopter sounds. With the whole array of structural speculation drifting past, recall that all spatial language betrays—but who needs translation when the instinct purifies? However unreliable this container, it’s a given that this is Melchior at his most impassioned.

Tracks

1. Some of My Best Friends Are Spiders
2. The Souls of Birds and Mice

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AZAR SWAN - 'AND BLOW US A KISS'

Formats

• ZM023 - LP

  655035052311

Details

Zoo Music is pleased to announce the second full-length album by Brooklyn two-piece Azar Swan. Formerly the core members of Religious to Damn, Zohra Atash and Joshua Strawn (Vaura, Blacklist) changed gears in 2012, turning their multi-member, organic chamber ensemble into a drum-machine-minded, electrocentric duo. The shift was sparked by the realization that coordinating multiple musicians often slowed the writing and performing process, and by a mutual revived interest in electronic music and hip-hop beats, pulling influences from acts like The-Dream and These New Puritans as well as classic industrial artists such as Front Line Assembly and Coil (whose former member Drew McDowell remixed Azar Swan’s single “In My Mouth”). In the last two years, Azar Swan released a single on Pendu Sound and the Dance Before the War LP on the independent label Handmade Birds, as well as several covers and one-off free digital releases. Notable shows include direct support for Prurient, White Lung, King Dude, Tamaryn, and J.D. Samson & MEN.

Tracks

1. And Blow Us a Kiss
2. We Hunger
3. Hush
4. For Last and Forever
5. Mouth of the Sky
6. Bury the Sun
7. Sugar
8. Kiss of Life
9. Strange Language
10. In the Garden
11. Blank Space
12. Sing Me Back

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LETHA RODMAN-MELCHOIR - 'SHIMMERING GHOST'

Formats

• SB176 - LP

  655030117619

Details

This posthumous release, following last year’s Handbook for Mortals, presents the peak of Letha Rodman-Melchior’s compositional work. Traversing landscapes of affective registers with the organizational ability of Christine Sun Kim and the diversity and intimacy of Throbbing Gristle, Rodman-Melchior re-categorizes objects to find the foreign in the familiar. Moving in and out of focus, her musical patterns themselves grow and become more and more self-aware. As a response to possession and the human / nonhuman interface, Shimmering Ghost recalls the most moving of performances by Roger Reynolds. It exposes the overlap between senses and suggests that resonance, as distinct from hearing, is a source for beauty beyond sense. And by the use of sense’s special effects, Rodman-Melchior crafts a language that is simply a pleasure. Mary Lattimore’s harp playing at times is reminiscent of Three Musicians’ Music from the Rochester Folk Art Guild, but with urgency heard nowhere else.

Tracks

1. Edymion / MWCIE
2. Metius Fabricius
3. Sea of Rains
4. Red Moon / Fra Mauro
5. Marsh of Diseases
6. Southern Highlands
7. Le Perouse Puce
8. Taurus Mountains
9. Mare Nubium / Bay of Rainbows

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ANDREW LILES - 'WANTON WIVES, MONSTROUS MAIDENS & WICKED WITCHES'

Formats

• BRR667 - LP

Details

Andrew Liles' 'Wanton Wives...' follows on from where his 'Maleficent Monster' left off in June and also follows on from his recent Equestrian Vortex soundtrack 10" on Death Waltz. This, the second LP of horror inspired nastiness in his series for Blackest Rainbow, features creeping giallo jazz with sultry spoken vocals, synth heavy monsters, cannibal lunacy, and a track called 'Wild Boar', wait until you hear that one. This is the sound of someone who has spent too many late nights watching any horror films they can get their hands on. Legendary UK artist Graham Humphreys returns to create new art, this time featuring Liles bursting from his poor wives chest whilst she grasps a skull and a decapitated head of a voodoo priestess version of herself. She endures a lot... Rotting Zombie Brains edition of 350 copies pressed on 180 gram pink virgin vinyl with red and green splatter packaged in a UV gloss finished sleeve.

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ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - 'BLUE RUIN: (BROOKE BLAIR AND WILL BLAIR)'

Formats

• BRR275 - LP

Details

LTD COLORED COPIES ON BLUE RUST SPLATTERED VINYL. Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin premiered at 2013 Cannes Film Festival to great critical acclaim and won the FIPRESCI Prize. It gained distribution and opened in the US to April 2014 to a great response from critics and audiences. This revenge thriller focuses largely on the consequences of revenge, and the main act of revenge you expect will be the focus of the film happens early on and it spirals progressively into even darker and grim territory, dramatically enhanced by the score by brothers, Brooke and Will Blair. The relationship between composers and director has been long standing, having all known each other since they were kids, with Jeremy and the film's Macon Blair, who plays lead protagonist Dwight, working on films for quite sometime. Macon, also happens to be the elder sibling to Brooke and Will. Brooke and Will composed music to most Jeremy's previous work, and Macon also starred in some of this output. Being so familiar with one another personally, Jeremy's horror and 80s inspired early work, and his love of Carpenter's music, the brothers settled a synth based score, which feels remarkably organic, and at times even almost classical. Minimal tones gliding through one another, with the tense and melancholic themes of the film, percussion seemed like it would detract from the tone of the film. However at times there is a slight percussion sound, which was created from a sample of Macon's heartbeat, that was unexpectedly captured on set by his lavalier mic on set. Editor Julia Bloch sent them a short file, which was manipulated into a "drum". It seemed appropriate to incorporate Dwights' actual life force, his heartbeat into the score. The intensity of this picture is driven home through the power of this score. 250 copies on blue vinyl with a rust splatter effect. Includes a download which features a selection of additional cues not included on the LP.

Tracks

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HEATERS - 'SOLSTICE'

Formats

• SBR-014 - 10"

Details

First collaboration between Stolen Body and Dizzy Bird records of Grand Rapids Michigan... and who else would it be? After the success of the Plantains/Os Noctambulos split we have been excitedly waiting for the first full length LP from Grand Rapids garage psychers HEATERS. Just incase that confuses you Heaters used to be called Plantains... We will be releasing a limited edition run of 250 green vinyl for European distribution while Dizzy Bird records will cover the US. Don't worry though the band will have 50 of the limited edition copies to sell at shows. The album comes out 17th of October but ours will be slightly later... probably November

Tracks

1. Memorial
2. Heaven Hill
3. No Fuss
4. Masaman
5. Solstice
6. On A Whim
7. Lowlife
8. Shump

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DOUGLAS DARE - 'WHELM - NINE POEMS'

Formats

• ERATP057PB - BOOK

  9780992877309

Details

To accompany the album 'Whelm' Douglas Dare presents a poetry book which includes full 10 track album download of Whelm. London-based singer-songwriter Douglas Dare releases his debut album Whelm on Erased Tapes. With the piano at the core, Dare vocalises his short prose and poems to a backdrop of drums, electronics and brass… It was in November last year that the duo Douglas Dare and producer/percussionist Fabian Prynn decided to record an album, and by January they were listening to it. Finding themselves out of the home-studio for the first time, the pair recorded much of the album in Flood’s studio Assault & Battery in West London. Other touches were recorded back in Fabian’s home. With the comfort of familiar songs from his live set, such as Clockwork, Caroline and London’s Rose, the session was equally driven by the excitement of creating brand new tracks like Nile, Swim and Unrest in a new environment. The recordings began with finding the perfect piano – a grand piano, battered and bruised, but with a beautiful sound. Flood’s studio provided a treasure trove of gear, including Dare’s favourite new instrument, the Mini Moog, which inspired bass parts on tracks like Unrest. Prynn engineered, produced and mixed the record, and with just the two of them involved from start to finish, their vision for the album remained clear and unclouded. Lyrically, Whelm is often written from other people’s perspectives, with a few of the songs stemming from historical events. London’s Rose for example came from a poem Douglas wrote about the use of underground stations as bomb shelters during WWII; whilst Whitewash addresses the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, and Clockwork was inspired by the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient analogue computer found in the ocean. Despite the weight to some of these subjects, Dare has always enjoyed the use of plain language that is simple and very human. Most of his songs begin with words, as it’s the stories that inspire the music. Whelm will be released incl. poetry book Nine Poems on CD, LP and Download via Erased Tapes on May 12, 2014.

Tracks

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JACK WHITE - 'WOULD YOU FIGHT FOR MY LOVE?'

Formats

• TMR291 - 7"

Details

The 7" single "Would You Fight For My Love?," the second single off Jack White's second album Lazaretto with non-album B-Side "Parallel" Front Cover Photographer: Angelina Castillo; Model: Elle Long

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THE DOUGH ROLLERS - 'GONE BABY GONE'

Formats

• TMR270 - 12"

Details

The Dough Rollers formed in 2009 when Malcolm Ford and Jack Byrne first decided to put their passion for American roots music to work by trying their hand at earnest, neo-revivalism. But, of course, after three years of touring and the addition of Graham Norwood on bass and Kyle Olson on drums, their sound evolved, loosening, snarkening, and darkening. These days, in large part to Ford's hellbent hollering, our boys occupy the sometimes salty, sometimes sweet spot smack dab in between rock and soul. They've toured with the likes of Bob Dylan and Queens of the Stone Age, which, one way or another, led them to Nashville in 2013 to record a 7'' vinyl single for our Blue Series. The result was one of the finest guitar explosions we've ever pressed on wax and a pivotal entry in their discography. Their latest effort, Gone Baby Gone, was recorded with QOTSA's Josh Homme producing, and their swampy new swagger fully realized. It's the work of band that, after all this time and effort, understands their place in the American rock scene.

Tracks

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