K.LEIMER - 'DEGRADED CERTAINTIES'

Formats

• PoL012010 - CD

  884502408034

Details

“Degraded Certainties was generated via the layering of arbitrarily ordered tone clusters and by using signal reprocessing as the principal method by which to determine the music’s timbre and form. Such production details are interesting but convey little, however, of how beautiful the six soundscapes are that (K.) Leimer and company have created. In the opening “Angoisse,” an occasional harp pluck appears amidst enveloping swathes of digital sound, while vaporous shimmer and hazy synth tones and phased slivers and lilting string plucks dominate elsewhere. A connection to classical minimalism emerges during “Common Nocturne” when sparse droplets of acoustic piano playing appear alongside gentle synthetic swells. Strings and electronics swim leisurely in deep electroacoustic seas, and ethereal, elegiac, tranquil, peaceful, and placid are just some of the words that might spring to mind as you listen to the recording’s time-suspending settings.” —Textura K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979. Leimer’s work has also been issued by Autumn, First Terrace, Les Giants, Origin Peoples, and RVNG as well as early work included in an upcoming Cherry Red retrospective of seminal U.S. electronica and the VOD box set American Cassette Culture. Leimer has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s—his current catalog includes 18 solo albums plus collaborative albums with Savant and Marc Barreca. His work is included in the collection of The British Library. TRACK LISTING 1. Angoisse 2. Hommage 3. Paper Telephone 4. Allotropy 5. Common Nocturne 6. French Opera Reissue of 2010 work by long running ambient / experimental artist whose work has been issued by RVNG, Autumn, First Terrace (London), and Origin Peoples (LA), amongst others, as well as featured in the critically acclaimed VOD boxset American Cassette Culture • Strings and electronics swim leisurely in deep electroacoustic seas

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ALVIN CURRAN - 'CANTI E VEDUTE DEL GIARDINO MAGNETICO'

Formats

• SV129 - LP

  855985006291

Details

American composer and multi-instrumentalist Alvin Curran has remained one of the great emblems of experimental music for the last half-century. In 1966, along with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, Curran co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva, a seminal gesture in collective free improvisation. In the early ’70s, his solo work would become a crucial bridge between minimalist traditions on both sides of the Atlantic. Canti E Vedute Del Giardino Magnetico, Curran’s solo debut, was recorded by the artist himself and issued on Ananda, the small Italian imprint started by Curran and fellow composers Giacinto Scelsi and Roberto Laneri. The piece itself was put together in the winter of 1973 and presented for the first time at Teatro Beat 72 (Rome’s The Kitchen). Encouraged by the work of Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine and Simone Forti, Curran binds the listener to aberrant notions of place and time: blending field recordings (wind, high-tension wires, beach waves, etc.) with simple and often primitive instruments. Across two sidelong tracks, Giardino Magnetico forms a lyrical collage of synthesizer, glass and metal chimes, plastic tubes, brass and the composer’s alluring voice— converging in an immersive realm of Curran’s inner / outer experiences. This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of Harry Bertoia, Michel Redolfi and Lino Capra Vaccina

Tracks

TRACK LISTING 1. Canti E Vedute Del Giardino Magnetico I 2. Canti E Vedute Del Giardino Magnetico II

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JOSHUA HEDLEY - 'BROKEN MAN'

Formats

• TMR544 - 7"

  813547026521

Details

**black vinyl version of this RSD 2018 banger!!! First released as a limited-run brown vinyl 7” for Record Store Day 2018, these two non-album b-sides are the first tracks released after stellar country-crooner Joshua Hedley’s lauded debut Mr. Jukebox. "I really liked the idea of making a short 10 song record. Most of my favorite records are 10 songs. I'm not really an album guy, and the kind of music I make lends itself more to singles, so I wanted to make sure listening to this record wasn't a chore. These are two songs we pulled from the EP and when we put together the best 10 songs these were 11 and 12. But they aren't throw always, they're good songs and we wanted people to hear them. So.....here they are." – Joshua Hedley

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LIZA ANNE - 'LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS'

Formats

• TMR539 - 7"

  813547026545

Details

Recorded right before the release of her Arts & Crafts instant-fan-making debut Fine But Dying, both the A-side "Take It Back" and the B-side "Overnight" are from local popster Liza Anne's self-released album Two. "Take It Back" is moving, propulsive indie pop at its finest, somehow better with the strong conviction of their message captured live. "Overnight" starts out as a threadbare folk rock tune and compounds and builds up until, finally, the smoke clears again right before the finale, creating an impactful air around the last words sung. “Take It Back” b/w “Overnight”

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KEVIN MORBY - 'LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS'

Formats

• TMR465 - 7"

  813547026590

Details

Formally a member of New York folk group Woods, Kevin Morby has made a name for himself with his four acclaimed solo releases (the first album HarlemRiveris absolutely beautiful). These songs, "Destroyer" and "Black Flowers", come from his third record Singing Saw, which was chosen for Pitchfork Best New Music. "Destroyer" is an autobiographical minimalistic keyboard ballad, a distant cousin of the full band album version. "Black Flowers" on this single borrows less from the sweeping orchestras of Leonard Cohen's catalog and more from the melancholic austerity of Bert Jansch. “Destroyer” b/w “Black Flowers”

Tracks

?Destroyer? b/w ?Black Flowers?

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HAIRBAND - 'HAIRBAND'

Formats

• MM02 - LP

Details

Bursting forth in a riot of colour, Hairband are a new five piece group from Glasgow who, on their debut recordings, have distilled the joy and bittersweet trials of youth into 5 songs that bend to no rules but the ones they make up as they go along. Deeply immersed in their local DIY scene and featuring members of groups Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff, Lush Purr and Kaputt, Hairband’s take on pop music is their own, so natural yet odd-shaped, carefree but meticulously constructed that it feels like no one has quite made music quite like this before, celebratory and joyful. Recorded in Glasgow’s famed Green Door Studios, and played in the moment, Hairband are life-giving. Hairband formed in 2016, by Glasgow DIY standards that makes them veterans. Their instinctively intricate triple-guitar lines deftly weave counterpoint and melodies which interact with Sephi Lock and Emma Smith’s elastic, breathing rhythm section. The music here presents as streamlined pop but bubbling beneath the hooks is audacious instrumental work. Indeed, the tension at the heart of Hairband’s music is a group who can play without it sounding like a big deal. Is this a Glasgow thing, because Orange Juice were a bit like that, Sacred Paws too. Hairband even try on a little Marquee Moon-era Television on Sassy Moon and make it fit like the best charity shop find ever. They’re a band with five songwriters, each distinct with a uniqueness barely containable except within Hairband. The synergy of the group often means that individual personalities are immersed in the whole, so when Rachel Taylor’s voice is isolated at the end of Flying – a sweet but sure ode to gravity, about trying to stay grounded when the world is spinning - it’s all the more affecting. The play of light and shade throughout the record is deftly handled: opener Bee has an intricate rhythmic accompaniment, sounding a little like Life Without Buildings’ jittery polyrhythms married to a sweet ensemble vocal performance topped off with melodically nourishing guitar licks. It’s a formula repeated on Bubble Sword, with guitarists Rowan Wright and Simone Wilson’s twin chords criss crossing across the stereo-field before a straight down the line, loaded rock riff skewers the prettiness. On the flip side, Hairband’s true instrumental prowess is on 10. Sassy Moon rolls out with the confidence of a band completely in tune with each other, Wilson’s vocal dancing across the treetops, Morricone-esque guitar slashes providing vivid colour. With Lock and Smith’s tight-but-loose rhythm loping purposefully and the group backing vocals washing over, suddenly the line “How do you feel? How do you feel… about the moon?” feels like the most important question you’ll ever be asked. White Teeth sums up every high on this epic self-titled debut. A stomping rhythm shrouded in soft melancholy emboldened by the band’s glorious sense of harmony. It could be a critique of beauty norms, a ghostly memory of an ideal unattainable but ultimately when the band are locked in like this it’s a source of pure joy, it goes beyond subject matter into wordless communication. Hairband is an ode to doing things differently, true, to standing together with your friends, to having respect for what’s gone before but also to carving your own niche. It’s simple, it’s not so simple, as Chic say, “celebrate good times”, Hairband seem to say, celebrate the times. **260 COPIES FOR UK INDIES ONLY!!!!

Tracks

Bee
Bubble Sword
Flying
Sassy Moon
White Teeth

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EXIT GROUP - 'ADVERSE HABITAT'

Formats

• CF105 - LP

  647603402680

• CF105CD - CD

  647603402697

Details

**VINYL NOW SHIPPING**From the dank warehouse recesses that brought us Useless Eaters and Dry Erase, Castle Face introduces Exit Group—sharply futuristic post-punk with a pissed-off lean, antisocial lyrics spit over an abnormally locked-in guitar / bass / drums triangle, wound up tighter than a Swiss watch. Post-everything sample tweakery and chromedipped guitar tonality lend a darkly robotic sheen, abraded riffs pop up everywhere but where you think they should be, clanging and clanking inhumanly around elaborate Rube Goldberg patterns, tessellating under flickering municipal neon. Adverse Habitat is bone-dry furious, turning on a dime just to slap the drink out of your hand.  

Tracks

1. Collage 1 2. Cruel Fog 3. Plastic Coffin 4. The Butcher 5. Chained Up Against The Ritual Clique 6. Constant Punishment 7. Collage 2 8. Soft Option 9. Negative 10. Automatic Heart Attack 11. Subtle Persuasion 12. Collage 3 13. Stuck Like A Brick

Press

'A thrilling disaster I can't wait to witness first hand.' - Marc Riley
'A great record from start to finish! Smart and perfectly abrasive.' - Henry Rollins

Audio & Video

EXEK - 'A CASUAL ASSEMBLY'

Formats

• W25-06 - LP

  857661008117

Details

Right on the heels of their Ahead Of Two Thoughts LP released earlier this year, A Casual Assembly is the latest offering from Melbourne’s EXEK. The EP coalesces around a stirring theme for synthesizer, trumpet and bass, bringing together reference points to Laurie Spiegel, Jah Wobble and The Velvet Underground’s “The Gift.” Frontman Albert Wolski’s disembodied narration – at times reminiscent of Samuel Beckett or Robert Ashley – unfolds over a series of dark vignettes set in a dystopian near-future. Autotune has been banned, secret police patrol the redoubts of the wealthy, and world beaches have been cleared of their sand for the construction of enormous urban prisons. As these events turn more fraught and absurd, Wolski reveals just how much is gained through EXEK’s stripped-down arrangements and dreamlike tones. A Casual Assembly echoes like the lost soundtrack to a Kubrick or Jarman film. Recommended for fans of Normil Hawaiians, Jenny Hval and Harmonia.

Tracks

1. Withheld From The Cycle 2. The Home Of The Architect 3. Aerospace And Defence 4. A Mental Note 5. Menthol 6. The Commoner 7. The Physicist?s Issue 8. Where the Milk Was Spilt 9. A Fax Back From The Architect

Press

New EP from Melbourne band EXEK ? Mastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current) ? Recommended for fans of Normil Hawaiians, Jenny Hval and Harmonia ? Comes with download card

Audio & Video

YOKO ONO - 'WARZONE'

Formats

• CHIM52 - LP

  843563106396

• CHIM52CD - CD

  843563106402

Details

Following twenty albums over 50 years, Yoko Ono's Warzone is strikingly different from any record she has made previously, but it is also strikingly different from any album that anyone is making... Yoko revisits and reimagines 13 songs from her past work, spanning 1970-2009, the lyrics and messages still pertinent—perhaps even more pertinent—in 2018. "The world is so messed up. Things are very difficult for everybody. It's a warzone that we are living in..." says Ono. "I like to create things in a new way. Every day things change." The recordings and arrangements on Warzone are very stripped down, with a particular emphasis on Yoko's voice and lyrics. Here in this minimalist landscape the content of her message rings clear and unencumbered; sometimes somber warnings, sometimes uplifting encouragement, but her wisdom and fortitude are unflinchingly strong, her power having intensified with time and life experience. She ends the ominous questions of "Now Or Never" (1971) with one of her most famous and inspiring lines: "[a] Dream you dream alone is only a dream, but dream we dream together is reality." Warzone further builds the legacy of an artist unparalleled in her unique and singular vision. At 85 years young, Ono is already plotting her next album... It is not too late to change the world. We need Yoko now more than ever. Warzone will be in stores on October 19 on Chimera Music, the label run by Sean Ono Lennon. Leading up to the release date, Yoko will releasing a new song each Tuesday on her website ImaginePeace.com and on streaming services.

Tracks

1 Warzone
2 Hell In Paradise
3 Now Or Never
4 Where Do We Go From Here
5 Woman Power
6 It?s Gonna Rain
7 Why
8 Children Power
9 I Love All of Me
10 Teddy Bear
11 I?m Alive
12 I Love You Earth
13 Imagine

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FLAT WORMS - 'THE APPARITION / MELT THE ARMS'

Formats

• FC047X - 7"

  BUTTER COL

• FC047 - 7"

Details

About the release: (and yes, its BUTTER!!! Colour vinyl, spread it about!) The Apparition / Melt the Arms is the third release from Los Angeles band Flat Worms (Tim Hellman, Justin Sullivan, Will Ivy) on New York's Famous Class Records. The 7" single follows their debut LP on Castle Face records. These songs were recorded with Ty Segall in his home studio during a global heatwave. "The dream was an apparition." - Teju Cole Open City Bio: Flat Worms are a band from Los Angeles. They released their 7” on Volar Records and their debut LP on Castle face Records. They continue their ride on a buzzsaw wave of feedback-tipped riffs into the middle distance, smog choked sunset receding in the rearview, a thousand yard dead-pan surgically pinned to a high octane set of boredom energized punk pistons. Flat Worms – an ears-a-ringing missive from the end of the cul-de-sac, the mirage of direction wavering above a mid-sized American suburb at dusk, constellations bleached black by the sprawl. A little Wipers, a little Wire, and a lot of late-capitalist era anxious energy. Flat Worms consist of Will Ivy (Dream Boys, Wet Illustrated), Justin Sullivan (Night Shop, Kevin Morby, the Babies) and Tim Hellman (Oh Sees).

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