NIVHEK - 'AFTER ITS OWN DEATH / WALKING IN A SPIRAL TOWARDS THE HOUSE'

Formats

• W25-11 - 2xLPs

  857661008223

• W25-11CD - 2xCDs

  857661008230

Details

**BOTH FORMATS INSTOCK** Opaque assemblages of Mellotron, guitar, field recordings, tapes and broken FX pedals by Pacific Northwest musician Liz Harris, created during and after two contrasting residencies in the Azores, Portugal and Murmansk, Russia and combined with pieces made at home in Astoria, Oregon. The collection’s unique dual design functions as a forked path, existing independently of one another but with roots intertwined. She cites her score for Hypnosis Display as a compositional reference point, inspired by “interior mnemonic device landscapes” and “curiosity around a sadness.” In pacing, palette and poignancy, these sides rank among Harris’ most stark, primordial work: fragile, feverish, ominous and otherworldly. She describes this music as “a requiem, a ritual, to unlock and release feelings,” a sense of shadowy masses, moving backwards, in spirals, massive doorways opening chaotic forces, “a toxic concentrated reduction of something much darker bubbling beneath.” Her artistry for mapping richly detailed inner worlds is nowhere more expressive and enigmatic, vibrations and voices gliding dimly out of the void, “wraithlike and ethereal, their existence in the mist questionable.” Initially released in a private edition that vanished almost as quickly as it was announced, After Its Own Death / Walking In A Spiral Towards The House is presented here in a beautiful second edition on Superior Viaduct’s imprint W.25TH.

Tracks

1. After Its Own Death: Side A
2. After Its Own Death: Side B
3. Walking In A Spiral Towards
The House: Side C
4. Walking In A Spiral Towards
The House: Side D

Press

Collection of recordings from Liz Harris / Grouper

Audio & Video

JULIA SHAPIRO - 'PERFECT VERSION'

Formats

• HAR114 - LP

  098787311419

• HARCD114 - CD

  098787311426

• HARCS114 - MC

  098787311440

Details

BOTH FORMATS INSTOCK ***Initial vinyl / preorders will be on ROYAL BLUE VINYL / limited edition. When Julia Shapiro flew home from a cancelled Chastity Belt tour in April 2018, everything in her life felt out of control. Dealing with health issues, freshly out of a relationship, and in the middle of an existential crisis, she realized halfway through a tour supporting her band’s third album I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone that she was going through too much to continue. “I was really struggling; I was really depressed. I felt like I couldn’t sing or be a person,” Shapiro recalls. “At that point I couldn’t even imagine playing a show again, I was so over it.” Returning home to a newly empty Seattle one-bedroom apartment, Shapiro had wanted for a long time to learn how to record and mix her own music, and out of the uncertainty of the future of her music career and her health, she began to record the songs that would become Perfect Version, her solo debut for Hardly Art. What she created in the space of ten songs is an intimate and beautifully self-aware examination of feeling lost in the life you’ve created for yourself. It’s an album of shimmering guitars and layered vocals that feels vast in the emotional depth it conveys and masterful in the way each song is intentionally crafted and recorded. Over the course of a tumultuous year of trying to find stability amidst depression and surgery, Shapiro ultimately rediscovered the parts of music that she loved through the process. Her perfectionist qualities create an album that shines in tiny lyrical moments and meticulous guitar parts. “When the rest of my life felt out of control, I felt like this was my chance to be in control of everything,” says Shapiro. She plays all the instruments (save for a mouth trumpet solo by Darren Hanlon and guest violin by Annie Truscott) and after recording and mixing the first batch of four songs at the Vault studio with Ian LeSage decided to record the final six tracks alone in her apartment, adding drums in the studio later and learning to mix them with the help of her friend David Hrivnak. Perfect Version is a fully realized vision from a gifted songwriter finding a more intimate voice. “So what comes next?” she questions on the album closer “Empty Cup” which explores the quiet satisfaction of being alone with yourself and creating a blank slate. “A lasting sense of self,” she concludes.

Tracks

1. Natural (2:49)
2. Parking Lot (2:34)
3. Shape (4:06)
4. Tired (3:36)
5. Harder to Do (2:44)
6. Around the Block (3:28)
7. A Couple Highs (3:26)
8. Perfect Version (3:22)
9. I Lied (3:44)
10. Empty Cup (4:24)

Press

Audio & Video

OCEANS OF THE MOON - 'S/T'

Formats

• CF113 - LP

  647603405414

• CF113CD - CD

  647603405421

Details

“A dusty plain, a red sky, sand in your teeth— ‘I don’t feel so great’—a post-apocalyptic hooptie jeep-jammer. ‘Why is everything in ruins? There must be others like us out here somewhere…’ “This fine sizzling grease pit of cyber punk comes to us from psychic veteran Rick Pelletier (of Six Finger Satellite, Landed, La Machine), always bringing an interesting, bent and lurid account of visions to wax for the hungry ear bone. This time around the equipment scavenged is guitar, drums, synth and vocals. The beat goes full lotus climbing out of the goo, like men with sap gloves slapping the hulls of the remaining clubs, keeping the peace during live actions, gorgeous nauseating synthesized harmonies blowing through the ceiling vents, frickle-fried guitar belly slish and vocals delivered over the P.A. at Barter Town (sometimes from the workers in the pit, in unison). “Picture a bucket of molten metal with gobs of scalp sizzling and sinking away—dance music for the infected. Be sure to double up on your dose before driving around on this one so you can wipe the chum smear off your wind screen.” —John Dwyer 

Tracks

1. Hope Will Pass 2. Baby Chiffon 3. Sully 4. I?m On A Roll 5. Borderline 6. Bill Fill 7. Shazzamatazz 8. Blowin My Mind

Press

Latest nauseating post-apocalyptic mindfry from Rick Pelletier (Six Finger Satellite, Landed, La Machine) For fans of Chrome, Von LMO, George Brigman, Stooges And DNA

Audio & Video

MUERAN HUMANOS - 'HOSPITAL LULLABIES'

Formats

• CPR001LP - LP

  780742216685

• CPR001CD - CD

  780742216678

Details

Since their last album ‘Miseress’ at the end of 2015, Mueran Humanos have continued to expand their audience playing major festivals and most notably completed a full European tour supporting The Horrors, hand picked by the band themselves. For the uninitiated, Mueran Humanos, (Tomas Notcheff, Carmen Burguess), can be a tough one to explain. I could list their influences and call them “a psychedelic-krautrock garage punk-electronics duo who manage to capture the rich cultural history and excitement of their adopted home of Berlin and infuse it with a sophisticated South American chic imported from their native Buenos Ares”, but that would be doing them an injustice. The reality is that there isn’t anything to explain. They don’t need a pretentious description full of talking points that make music nerds get all mushy and gushy. Once you listen to them, it just makes sense. At their core, these are simple and catchy songs with a solid electronics foundation solidified by driving bass lines and textural keyboard parts (which could just as easily take you on an atmospheric journey as they could break out into a “Sister Ray”-esque Velvets freakout at any moment). Vocals are shared by both members, and they create an important dichotomy between the masculine and feminine energies that shape the band. Spanish speakers are in luck, because the lyrics are surrealist poetry of the highest order. Thankfully for the rest of us, they occupy that special place reserved for bands like Einsturzende Neubauten, (Jochen Arbeit of EN actually appeared on the bands last album), or Os Mutantes where they transcend language barriers and are capable of telling a story through the sheer power of the human voice. There is something magical about this band, and it oozes out through the cracks every chance it gets. Hospital Lullabies is a companion piece to a movie of the same name directed by Carmen Burguess, and without question this is their most refined and cohesive statement so far. While there is a darkness to some of it (fleshed out by imagery of nightmares, childhood terrors, and the trauma of mental institutions), it is balanced by feelings of romance and optimism and an overwhelming sense of childlike wonder. Hospital Lullabies has delicate dream-like moments (Vestido), motorik cosmic freakouts (Alien), EBM floor-fillers (Los Problemas del Futuro), avant-garde poetry soundscapes (Cuando una Persona Común), and New Order/OMD-esque electro dance-pop ballads (Detrás de una Flor). That being said, there is a thematic linear thread that ties everything together, and the album really should be approached as a whole rather than a mere collection of songs. Ultimately, this is a record that could only be made by two people completely and totally in love with one another - two people who have dedicated their lives not only to each other, but also to this music (which they are generous enough to share with the rest of us). So, if this is your first exposure to Mueran Humanos - then welcome! You’re in for something special. If you are a longtime fan, then what are you waiting for?

Tracks

1. Vestido
2. Los Problemas Del Futuro
3. Alien
4. Detr?s De Una Flor
5. Guardi?n De Piedra
6. Cuando Una Persona Com?n Se Eleva
7. La Gente Gris

Press

September/October 2019 full European tour,

Audio & Video