EXEK - 'AHEAD OF TWO THOUGHTS'

Formats

• W25-05 - LP

  855985006796

Details

Melbourne’s EXEK began as a studio project with frontman Albert Wolski before the 2014 formation of the four-piece line up with Andrew Brocchi (synthesizer), Henry Wilson (bass) and Sam Dixon (drums). With the addition of Nell Grant on saxophone, the group’s sound entered another dimension that reveals EXEK to be conjuring the ghosts of PiL, This Heat and Swell Maps. Ahead Of Two Thoughts, EXEK’s sophomore release, pushes headlong into haunted, post-punk territories. Opening track “U Mop” pairs sneering vocals with elastic bass and spectral guitars, while the elliptical discourse of “Weight Loss (Henry’s Dream)” is accentuated by reverbed drums that would make Martin Hannett proud. Superior Viaduct’s W.25TH imprint presents Ahead Of Two Thoughts, a never-ending loop of dub-infected textures and anxious lyrics. Mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control), this tightly coiled album recorded in 2015-2016 could easily be mistaken for a classic 4AD title from the ‘80s. Look for EXEK on tour in 2018.

Tracks

1. U Mop
2. Punishment
3. Weight Loss (Henry?s Dream)
4. Fluent In English
5. Prawn Watching
6. To Medicine (Biased Advice)
7. Elevator Etiquette
8. Actress Practice

Press

Recommended for fans of PiL, This Heat
and Swell Maps

Audio & Video

THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT - 'A BEARD OF BEES'

Formats

• SV142 - LP

  855985006420

Details

In the fertile terrain of New Zealand’s 1980s post-punk scene, few figures loom as large as the Jefferies brothers. Graeme Jefferies and Peter Jefferies—the primary forces behind This Kind Of Punishment—wrote some of the best music to come out on Flying Nun, Xpressway or elsewhere. A dizzying mix of pastoral ballads and DIY experimentation, TKP’s songwriting was at once classic and acutely raw. Among This Kind Of Punishment’s myriad recordings, A Beard Of Bees best outlines the collective vision of the Jefferies brothers. Their classic second album feels more meticulous than its predecessor, proffering a grey, near- Mancunian influence that serves as both touchstone and springboard for the proceedings. The unique maneuvering on “Trepidation” is a marvel: guitar sweetness shifting toward melancholic piano and ending with their combined shimmer. Conversely, the augmented VU-inspired noise of “East Meets West” positions itself as the album’s prime moment of severity, creepily building toward horror-show screams that inch to a buried, found-sound resolution. Originally self-released in 1984, A Beard Of Bees has been out of print for almost 25 years.

Tracks

1. Prelude
2. From The Diary Of Hermann Doubt
3. The Horrible Tango
4. Trepidation
5. East Meets West
6. Turning To Stone
7. Although They Appear
8. The Sleepwalker
9. An Open Denial

Press

Audio & Video

THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT - 'S/T'

Formats

• SV141 - LP

  855985006413

Details

In the fertile terrain of New Zealand’s 1980s post-punk scene, few figures loom as large as the Jefferies brothers. Graeme Jefferies and Peter Jefferies—the primary forces behind This Kind Of Punishment—wrote some of the best music to come out on Flying Nun, Xpressway or elsewhere. A dizzying mix of pastoral ballads and DIY experimentation, TKP’s songwriting was at once classic and acutely raw. On their self-titled debut, the Jefferies brothers and Chris Matthews eschew the punk-informed modes of their contemporaries for a sound that is decidedly more deliberate / intimate. Rooted in a marriage between simplistic, classically-influenced piano, alternating guitar chime and sparse, subtle violin drone, This Kind Of Punishment is a contemplative, inventive collection of ideas corralled via economic 4-track recordings, minimal instrumentation and an austere performance style entirely of the Jefferies’ own making. Songs like “After The Fact,” “In View Of The Circumstances” and “Two Minutes Drowning” boast a living quality whereby the listener can act as bystander to these moments of creation—a trait that the band would expand upon throughout the course of their brief tenure. First-time vinyl reissue since its initial release in 1983.

Tracks

Press

Originally released in 1983 on Flying Nun

Audio & Video

SARAH LOUISE - 'FIELD GUIDE'

Formats

• SCTR025 - LP

  723540891333

Details

This is a vinyl reissue of the quickly sold-out cassette by North Carolina based 12-string guitarist and multi instrumentalist Sarah Louise. Field Guide is her first solo record before releasing a solo record on VDSQ and her debut duo album with Sally Anne Morgan (Black Twig Pickers) as House And Land on Thrill Jockey earlier this year. “When needed, her fingers move quickly on Field Guide, picking up the pace of the wordless conversation, then slow to a moody pace just the same. Lush, rural landscapes are brought to mind. So is happiness.” —Tiny Mix Tapes “Sarah Henson learned to play guitar and banjo at the foot of the black mountains in North Carolina. That’s how the press text I’ve found, starts. Under the name Sarah Louise, she released two beautiful folk albums and especially her latest release Field Guide is first and foremost a great fingerstyle, solo guitar album. Her music is definitely colored by the land and the nature that surrounds her (at least that’s what I know about Asheville, NC and the Blue Ridge Mountains). I imagine a creek that tumbles down the hills, glistening in the sun. That’s what her guitar playing sounds like. That’s probably why she named it Field Guide.” —Dying For Bad Music “Her new album Field Guide is coming out in the New Year on Scissor Tail Editions and it feels like a lost disc from Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Some of the tracks are inspired by old Appalachian hymns, while others have an almost far-Eastern meditative feel. It’s really, really good.” —Wake The Deaf

Tracks

1. Field Guide
2. Waterways
3. Dog Improv
4. Home Over Yonder Variations Pt. 2
5. The Day Is Past And Gone (Variations),
Extended
6. Late Summer Seed Collection

Press

Member of House And Land (Thrill Jockey
artist) with Sally Ann Morgan (Black Twig
Pickers)

Audio & Video