SHANNON & THE CLAMS - 'GONE BY THE DAWN'

Formats

• HAR090 - LP

  098787309010

• HAR090CD - CD

  098787309027

Details

"[Shannon] Shaw and [Cody] Blanchard have learned how to disassemble the parts and rebuild them in a way that sounds both classic and wild at the same time." -- Pitchfork "A mélange of rhythms and harmonies from classic '50s pop salted with thick layer of East Bay grit." -- SF Weekly "Shaw’s seemingly uncontrollable voice...steals the show, finding powerful moments even in stale formats." -- Consequence of Sound "A nice balance of gritty, angry tunes...as well as cheerful jams for tearing up the dance floor." -- BUST Gone by the Dawn, the newest Shannon and the Clams album, is their best work to date. The music is complex, the lyrical content is emotionally raw and honest, and the production is the strangest it’s ever been. The album was written as one member was recovering from a serious breakup and another was deep in one. The lyrics reflect it, and the entire album is dripping with sadness, pain, and introspection. For Gone by the Dawn, the Oakland trio hooked up with studio wizard and renaissance-man Sonny Smith to record the album at Tiny Telephone Recording in San Francisco. Best known as the driving force behind San Francisco’s beloved Sonny and the Sunsets, Smith uses his refreshing production techniques to create an engaging sonic landscape without compromising the Clams’ signature Lou Christie-meets-The Circle Jerks sound. The Clams have evolved: their skills are sharper, their chops are tighter and weirder and they’ve added new instruments to the mix. A whole new dimension of the Clams has emerged. Nowadays, it’s exceedingly rare for a two-and-half minute rock song to have raw emotional power, but with Gone by the Dawn Shannon and the Clams have gifted us an entire album of them.

Tracks

01. I Will Miss the Jasmine
02. My Man
03. Point of Being Right
04. How Long?
05. Baby Blue
06. It's Too Late
07. Gone by the Dawn
08. Corvette
09. Telling Myself
10. The Bog
11. Knock 'em Dead
12. The Burl
13. You Let Me Rust

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Audio & Video

MASAYOSHI FUJITA - 'APOLOGUES'

Formats

• ERATP075LP - LP

  4050486110713

• ERATP075CD - CD

  4050486110706

• ERATP075LE - LP (COLOURED)

Details

Masayoshi Fujita, the Berlin-based Japanese vibraphone player, also known under his alias el fog came to the attention of label founder Robert Raths a few years ago. Not only because the vibraphone is an intriguing instrument, but also the way Masayoshi treats his instrument and draws ethereal and layered sounds, is what truly attracted him to Masayoshi’s work. Having released more ambient-based/electronic recordings of the vibraphone under el fog, Masa became more interested in the sound of the vibraphone itself. He started to compose acoustic pieces and released the first solo album under his real name, titled ‘Stories’, in early 2013. ‘Apologues’ sees Masayoshi for the first time use an array of instruments besides his lead instrument – such as the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano and snare drum played by friends, but arranged by Masa himself. “My idea was to let those instruments express their own images or atmospheres that each instruments have by nature, or have been given in their history, and not treating them just as accompaniments of the vibraphone. Also, it was new for me to compose a song as a whole. As I wrote the vibraphone part first, I tried to hear other sounds in my head and tried to leave enough room for them and sometimes play only fundamental parts on the vibes.” In addition to the mallets, Masayoshi often plays the vibraphone with a violin or cello bow, like on ‘Tears of Unicorn’ and ‘Knight and Spirit of Lake’. He would also place bead strings on the vibraphone bars to create an ambient shimmer that can be heard on songs like ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Swallow Flies High in the May Sky’. The latter was composed to let the clarinet express its characteristics and tell its story, whilst the vibraphone takes a supporting role. “The clarinet sounds very warm and soft and very ‘spring’ to me”, says Masa. Inspired by “the silence and deepness of the fog, the mountains and the gravity within”, his music has a very unique atmosphere and often creates images in the listener. ‘Requiem’, which Masayoshi composed for French horn, to him evokes “images of mountains, fields and the far away”. The song ‘Tears of Unicorn’ was inspired by a painting which features in Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli animation ‘Kiki's Delivery Service’, drawn by a woman that lives in the forest. “With this album the main idea was to evoke images, atmospheres, sceneries and stories in the listener, the images that have accumulated in myself. At the same time it was an exploration of the unexplored beauty of the vibraphone, and also a pursuit of the charm of the instrumentation and the music itself. Erased Tapes releases a lot of great stuff and naturally became my favourite label of late. And I thought it would fit well to my music.” 'Listening to it feels like the endless days of summer’ – Indie Shuffle 'Silvery, shining, utterly ethereal and truly pretty’ – The 405 'Such a heavenly piece of music' – Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC 6 Music

Tracks

01. Tears of Unicorn
02. Moonlight
03. Swallow Flies High in the May Sky
04. Beautiful Shimmer
05. Flag
06. Knight and Spirit of Lake
07. Puppet's Strange Dream Circus Band
08. Requiem

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Audio & Video

FRESH & ONLYS - 'EARLY YEARS ANTHLOGY'

Formats

• CF059 - LP

  819162019627

• CF059CD - CD

  819162019634

Details

“These were carefree times. We were young enough to put our bodies to the test every night on the seven-by-seven-mile patch of the Bay. The endless wars seemed less at home. Songs were hanging off the branches heavy, plump and threatening to rot on the vine if they weren’t polished and put to tape. The band was on their third live drummer but the lineup in The Fresh & Onlys’ recording tower was a consistent group of pop soldiers writing, working and whiling away the hours. A beeramid of cheap cans, endless dope smokery and a pretty strong vibe of dudes who would play together into oblivion. 388 rolling, tape spilling over itself, drum kit covered in mufflers, a chest of shitty percussion toys, lots of ideas and multiple secret weapons at their disposal. “Shayde Sartin: the beast from out east, the thud of a heavy slow bomb… the best bass player in the Bay. Unaccredited infinite times on records that were made better by his finely crafted skills. I can pick him out on records instantly. “Wymond ‘The Count’: you can almost smell his hair on his hooks. If there was a stage monitor in your living room his fence-climber boot would be on it. Wymond always has the riff that made the jets of the song take off. Listen and you’ll see what I mean. “Tim Cohen: the man behind the beard. Some would say the leader. In the game as long as Bette Midler. Cohen writes great songs in his sleep, I think. Once referred to by a buddy as ‘like three weirdos in one.’ “Think of these as basement tapes, a companion to the first Fresh & Onlys Castle Face release (which itself deserves another listen). I remember watching some of these tunes get banged out live in a sweat pit in Oakland. The sound guy so gacked out that there was no sound guy, basically.” —John Dwyer, February 16th, 2015

Tracks

1. Tongue in Cheek
2. Don?t Look Down
3. Seven Directions
4. Summer Wheels
5. Double Sided Woman
6. Sunglasses
7. I?m a Puppet
8. Deviants Within
9. Bomb Wombs
10. Oo I Got Got
11. Stranger in My House
12. Pile of Bones

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Audio & Video

OSCILLATION, THE - 'BEYOND THE MIRROR (RARE & UNRELEASED TRACKS)'

Formats

• ATL011 - LP

  5060446120095

Details

Over the course of three albums in the shape of Out Of Phase (2007), Veils (2011) and From Tomorrow (2013), The Oscillation has come to be established as one of the premier voyagers and navigators of the politics of consciousness. While the purity of their vision is diluted in lesser hands in an ever-expanding scene, The Oscillation’s dexterity in moulding and manipulating sound into an aural kaleidoscope remains undiminished. Presented here is a collection of not only rare and previously released material grabbed by eager hands but also a handful gems that are finally seeing the light of day. In doing so, The Oscillation are giving off more than a reflection of their talents; here, they’re offering something much more and go beyond the mirror. Four of these tracks have already been released as b-sides and limited EPs, all of which have sold out. The unreleased tracks are expressions that haven't been able to fit on previous albums but demand your attention to present another side of The Oscillation.Which, of course, they do. ‘Waste the Day’ (b-side of Record Store Day release 'No Place To Go') is a groove-based beast that moves confidently in and around broad strokes of sound. But it’s with the unreleased material where the jewels shine with hypnotic and glorious wonder. ‘Endless Oblivion’ shimmers in a loaded haze as ‘The Detour’. 500 Copies only on black vinyl. 

Tracks

1. Braindrainer (4.42)
2. Waste The Day (3.51)
3. Kissing The Sun (7.54)
4. The Mirror Pool (6.21)
5. Endless Oblivion (6.19)
6. Crystalline Tears (3.23)
7. Insect Attention (4.26)
8. The Detour (8.39)

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