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BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT - 'BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT'
Formats
EZRDR087 - LP
603111720319EZRDR087CD - CD
603111720326
Details
The notion of 'heavy music' is continuing to expand of late, with many intrepid artists finding new ways to incorporate the power of traditional metal into new music, but without all of its trappings. Enter Portland, OR quartet BlackWater HolyLight to further swirl musical elements into a captivating hybrid of emotional intensity. Heavy psych riffs, gothic drama, folk-rock vibes, garage-sludge and soaring melodies all collide into a satisfying whole with as much contrast as the band’s name itself. 'I wanted to experiment with my own version of what felt ‘heavy’ both sonically and emotionally,' says founder and vocalist/bassist Allison Faris. 'I also wanted a band in which vulnerability of any form could be celebrated.' BlackWater HolyLight — Faris, guitarist/vocalist Laura Hopkins, drummer Cat Hoch and synth player Sarah Mckenna — formed upon the breakup of Faris’ longtime band and she sought a fresh start. 'In my last band I was the only female in a group of 6, so I wanted to see how my song writing and vulnerability could glow taking the drivers seat and working with women.' The band’s self-titled debut begins with a simple, almost grunge-like riff as a chorus of voices introduce a melodic line in call-and-response until the band kicks in, slowly building into crescendo like a lost outtake from Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. Elsewhere, “Sunrise” begins with a chorus-drenched post-punk groove until a sonic boom of heavily distorted guitar skree erupts out of nowhere. Nearly as suddenly, the song returns to its lulling core, subtly building the tension until it ruptures completely in a blast of noise. Likewise, “Carry Her” establishes a dark, sparse melody and distinctly thin sounding drums not far removed from early work of The Cure. However, BlackWater HolyLight’s penchant for surprise attack finds a sudden shift into a doom-like dirge, colored with eerie synth notes and pounding shards of fuzz. Throughout the album, their songs shirk traditional verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of fluid, serpentine compositions that move with commanding grace. The band expertly, yet subconsciously, incorporates hints of Chelsea Wolfe, Celebration, Captain Beefheart, The Raincoats, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Jane’s Addiction and more to form their unique brand of dark’n’heavy transcendence. BlackWater HolyLight was recorded by Cameron Speice at Gold Brick Studios and The Greenhouse, and with Eric Crespo at Touch Tourcher Recording in Portland. The album will be available on LP, CD and download April 13th, 2018 via RidingEasy Records.
Tracks
1. Willow
2. Wave Of Conscience
3. Babies
4. Paranoia
5. Sunrise
6. Slow Hole
7. Carry Her
8. Jizz WItch
Press
Audio & Video
DAMAGED BUG - 'BUG ON YONKERS'
Formats
CF123 - LP (COLOURED)
767870661310
Details
**HALF BLUE HALF MAGENTA ** “I first heard Michael Yonkers via the Microminature Love reissue (Sub Pop) and was immediately hooked. I started collecting any piece of his legend that I could…some true, some likely not. He had hand-built all of his gear. He had broken his back. He was part of experimental surgery that left him in lifelong pain. He was a dancer. He was still kicking around making some of the oddest and most contrary-to-contemporary-popular-norms type of music. (A man after my own heart) And then I heard Goodby Sunball, recorded and released in 1974, the year I was born. I had and have a very deep connection with this set of songs. I wasn’t sure why, but when I finally met Michael, I understood. He was kind and seemingly a pretty regular guy. But he was also a weirdo. A rare bird, waving the true freak music flag, and it didn’t matter what kind of music he made, I loved it all. So, this record was recorded as a way to reboot and reconnect with some songs that have heavily inspired me over the years. It was hard to pick from his vast catalog, so I just sort of jumped in, with Tom Dolas, Nick Murray, and Brigid Dawson as my band (along with a bevy of others along the way) and these are the tunes that stuck to the wall. I will forever be grateful to Mr Yonkers for bringing me a little joy with his music and inspiring weirdos everywhere.”—John Dwyer, Feb 2020
Tracks
1. Goodby Sunball
2. I Tried
3. Microminiature Love
4. Sold America
5. Smile A While
6. Sunflower
7. Lovely Gold
8. The Thunder Speaks
9. In My Heart
Press
Limited Half Blue/Half Magenta vinyl (you have to open it to see it) Side project of John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees/Oh Sees)
Audio & Video
GUIDED BY VOICES - 'VAMPIRE ON TITUS'
Formats
SCAT50X - LP (COLOURED)
753417005013SCAT50-4 - MC
Details
*CASSETTE NOW AVAILABLE* We are pleased to announce a new vinyl pressing of the classic Guided By Voices album, Vampire on Titus. Although there were several different pressings in the 1990s, this is the first since 1998. This edition features a new master cut at Golden, is packaged in a sturdy tip-on jacket, and includes Bob's original insert, now enlarged to a more readable size. A limited quantity will be available on opaque yellow vinyl, the remainder virgin black.
Tracks
Press
500 FOR UK // OPAQUE YELLOW/GOLD VINYL RECUT
Audio & Video
BRIGID DAWSON & THE MOTHERS NETWORK - 'BALLET OF APES'
Formats
CF119 - LP (COLOURED)
767870662119CF119CD - CD
767870662126
Details
*ON WILD STRWBERRY SPLATTER* Tip-top of our osmosis list is the first quiver of tunes from Brigid Dawson and her newly minted Mothers Network: wise warnings dyed in dark hues, knotted and hard-won torch songs from the edge of a turbulent sea, bittersweet balladry spun in defense against evils familiar and unknown. Lovely though it may seem from a distance, the striation of loss quicksilvered throughout provides weighty balance to her contralto lilt. Those familiar with her harmonic counterpoint from her time in Thee Oh Sees or in OCS know she can belt as well as lullaby but there’s a fresh and smolderingly heavy swing in her step on display here that we mightily dig. “Ballet of Apes” tapestries together sessions that read like a who’s who from outside our own castle walls - in Australia with Mikey Young (Total Control/Eddy Current Suppression Ring), in San Francisco with Mike Donovan (ex Sic Alps), Shayde Sartin (ex Fresh & Onlys/lifetime ringer) and Mike Shoun (ex Oh Sees/Peacers), and in Brooklyn with instrumental heavy-weights Sunwatchers - and the results are spellbinding. At the focal point of this maelstrom, our lady, as if illumed by candlelight, intones, pleads, consoles - white magic perhaps but it carries with it the anodized tang of blood. This is thrillingly potent stuff and it’s out on Castle Face May 22nd.
Tracks
1. Is The Season for New Incarnations
2. The Fool
3. Carletta?s In Hats Again
4. When My Day of the Crone Comes
5. Ballet of Apes
6. Heartbreak Jazz
7. Trixxx
Press
Audio & Video
RIVAL CONSOLES - 'ARTICULATION'
Formats
ERATP133LP - LP
3700551783175
Details
*REPRESS SHIPPING ON CLEAR VINYL* Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles announces details of his highly anticipated new album Articulation, released on Erased Tapes on 31 July 2020. ‘Articulation’, the lead track and album centrepiece, links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s Night Melody. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy motorik energy. Ryan Lee West explains, "The title track is about articulation and playfulness with shape and time. Its structure is very machine-like, but I was really interested in how melody and sense of story could develop out of this, and it became an exploration of mathematical structures - patterns and shapes having a conversation. I love that something on paper can appear rigid and calculated, but then take on new meaning based on the context that surrounds it, or how it changes over time." Articulation (which follows 2018’s Persona) was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it. “I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.” - Ryan Lee West The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. While the anthemic rise and fall of ‘Still Here’ and the beatless ambient meditation ‘Melodica’ evoke a certain nostalgia, ‘Forwardism’ achieves the very opposite by burying its melody within the fast-paced rhythm of its pulsating synths. Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’ has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey, Lee West explains; “I like the fact that if you say something over and over again in music, then over time it can become something else, something reflective.” Since the release of Persona, Ryan Lee West has taken his captivating live A/V set to all corners of the world. Last seen live on stage with 17 players of the London Contemporary Orchestra for a sold-out orchestral performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2020. Meanwhile Lee West has kept busy. After contributing an exclusive track titled ‘Them Is Us’ to Adult Swim’s coveted Singles series, he recently shared the beautifully textured solo piano piece Winter’s Lament on this year’s Piano Day. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, composing original music for Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things as well as renowned choreographer Alexander’s Whitley’s groundbreaking new work Overflow which was set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this spring. Articulation will be available worldwide on 31 July, with live activities to be announced as soon as the situation allows safe event planning.
Tracks
1. Vibrations on a String
2. Forwardism
3. Melodica
4. Articulation
5. Still Here
6. Sudden Awareness of Now
Press
Praise for 2018?s Persona:
?Album Of The Day? ? BBC Radio 6 Music
?Ambient leaning, mind expanding electronics? ? DJ Magazine
?West has made a career out of evoking human emotions with digital sounds? ? Pitchfork
?Unequivocally Rival Consoles? finest work to date? (8/10) ? Loud & Quiet
?Without doubt Rival Consoles? best yet? (8/10) ? Crack Magazine
Audio & Video
GIRL FRIDAY - 'ANDROGYNOUS MARY'
Formats
HAR123 - LP (COLOURED)
098787312317HAR123CD - CD
098787312324
Details
**ROYAL GREEN COLORED VINYL**Burning deep in Girl Friday's music is an unquenchable will to survive. The LA-based band don't blunt the impact of the themes they work through in their ferocious, knotty rock songs, but they don't let the more harrowing aspects of being alive and young in the 21st century daunt them, either. Dystopian shades of post-punk and noise rock abound alongside abundant optimism on Girl Friday’s arresting debut LP, Androgynous Mary. The world is a hellscape, but the four of them are in it together. With bold, dramatic guitar lines and tightly wound vocal harmonies, Girl Friday - guitarist Vera Ellen, bassist Libby Hsieh, guitarist Sierra Scott, drummer Virginia Pettis - negotiate the stress and alienation of being sidelined by society. "Does the average man feel like he's on the outside?" goes the beginning of "Public Bodies," a wistful jangle-pop gem that shudders open into a snarling punk coda. Taking cues from boundary-pushers Sonic Youth, Girl Friday favor the rush of jarring turns over the safety of well-defined pop taxonomy. Looking to queer provocateurs like Placebo, they cherish the frisson of incongruous musical elements: "really dark, heavy things mashed up with quite beautiful things, whether that be a distorted guitar line and a sentimental vocal or vice versa," as Ellen puts it. That duality dovetails with the thematic friction running through the album, the alternating despair and hope that intertwine in the fight to survive as disenfranchised people in the US. Written during a year of personal struggle for all four band members, Androgynous Mary reflects the solace they took in each other -- as a band, but also as a microcommunity and a chosen family. On the record's final song, "I Hope Jason Is Happy," Girl Friday sing in unison: "My head is on your chest / In the end I'll be happy if you do your best / You've got to fight to keep your breath in this world." It's a testament to the power of their bond, and a gesture of solidarity with those listening. Alone, we suffer under the weight of everything designed to keep us down. Together, we stand a fighting chance. Girl Friday place their hope squarely on that chance.
Tracks
1. This Is Not the Indie Rock I Signed Up For
2. Amber's Knees: A Matter of Concern
3. Eaten Thing
4. Public Bodies
5. What We Do It For
6. Earthquake
7. Clotting
8. Gold Stars
9. Favorite Friend
10. I Hope Jason Is Happy
Press
Audio & Video
CHRIS FORSYTH / DAVE HARRINGTON / RYAN JEWELL / SPENCER ZAHN - 'FIRST FLIGHT'
Formats
AF04 - LP
843563130377
Details
First 150 copies on limited indie only coloured vinyl** Remember live music? "First Flight" documents about 40 minutes of jams recorded during the third week of my September residency at Nublu last year, and, for me, this show was just about the most enjoyable hour of music I played all year. The ideal of the residency was to mix things up with special guests, different band lineups, and varied set lists, keeping things fresh and new week-to-week, and this show was the wild card of the bunch. That's because although Ryan and I have played together for years, and Dave and Spencer have played together for years, neither half of the band had ever met each other. I was tangentially aware of Dave and his music and was intrigued by what I'd heard, so I thought it was a cool idea when Chris Tart, the residency promoter, suggested a collaboration. So, about 30 minutes after we'd all heard each others voices for the first time, we got up and played for a little over an hour, uninterrupted. The only thing discussed beforehand was that we shouldn't discuss anything beforehand - not a key or a riff to start with, nothing - so as to preserve maximum spontaneity. I think this music demonstrates a real connection on stage. In other words, each player was completely present and actively listening on the bandstand. Listening back, there are moments I can hear Ryan saying - musically - "Hey, let's go over here! Check this out!," or Spencer being like "Wouldn't it be cool to go down this path?" And we followed. And it was cool. In my mind, that listening thing is the number one most important factor in any collaboration or cooperative effort, but especially in improvised music. And I think it's fair to say that a little more listening, a little more presence, would do the whole world some good right about now, don't you think? -Chris Forsyth
Tracks
Press
Audio & Video
THE DEATH WHEELERS - 'DIVINE FILTH'
Formats
EZRDR121SV - LP
603111741611EZRDR121LP - LP
603111741611EZRDR121CD - CD
603111741628
Details
*SILVER VINYL*From beyond the gutter, The Death Wheelers bring you their second album, the soundtrack to the fictional bikesploitation flick that never was: Divine Filth. Drawing inspiration from instrumental rock, proto- metal, punk and funk, the band embalms the listener in their sonic world of decay, groove and debauchery. Surfing the line between Motörhead, The Cramps and Dick Dale, the Canadian quartet uncompromisingly blends rawness and power in their riff fueled compositions. Recorded entirely in 48 hours in a live setting just like in the good old days, this second opus is a testament to what the band stands for: a no BS attitude spiked with a heavy layer of crass. Just like their previous offering, the album is devised to serve as a soundtrack loosely based on a plot synopsis of a B-movie: It’s 1982. Spurcity is run-down. The crime rate is up and so is drug use. A new kind of kick has hit the streets and it ain’t pretty. DTA, a powerful and highly addictive hallucinogenic drug, is transforming its loyal citizens into undead trash. Its users experience an indescribable high, but it leaves them rotting away within days, craving human flesh. No one knows who is dealing this new potent drug, but rumour has it that the motorcycle cult, The Death Wheelers, is behind this concoction. Could this be the end of civilization as we know it? What is motivating this group of psychotic individuals? The cycle of violence indeed continues with this sordid slab of sounds. So hop on, and enjoy one last ride with The Death Wheelers.
Tracks
01. Welcome to Spurcity
02. Ditchfinder General
03. DTA (Suicycle Tendencies) 04. Divine Filth
05. Lobotomobile
06. Corps Morts
07. Murder Machines
08. Motörgasm (Carnal Pleasures Pt. 1)
09. Chopped Back To Life
10. Road Rite
11. Nitrus
Press
Audio & Video
VINNUM SABBATHI - 'OF DIMENSIONS AND THEORIES'
Formats
SBR073 - LP+7"
Details
*SUPER LTD COPIES OF THE THIRD PRESSING ARRIVED*We have travelled past the limits of our own solar system and are working towards Planet X. What will we find there, who knows? Will humans be able to survive, is this our final hope? Vinnum Sabbathi journey once again in search of somewhere to call home with Of Dimensions And Theories. Join us on Planet X and see what we find. (Colour vinyl announced soon and will include 12” and 7” as well as the booklet.
Tracks
Press
Audio & Video
MAGICK MOUNTAIN - 'WEIRD FEELINGS'
Formats
MMR01 - LP (COLOURED)
5024545904512MMR01CD - CD
5024545911022
Details
Magick Mountain is what happens when the planets align and sees seasoned musician Lins Wilson assume her rightful place; leading this fuzzed out, psychedelic, proto-punk power trio, flame red hair flowing and guitar wailing. Having written and performed with many legendary Leeds bands (including Grammatics & Mother Vulpine), Lins is now flanked by like-minded northern noiseniks Tom Hudson (Pulled Apart By Horses) and Nestor Matthews (Sky Larkin, Menace Beach). Following the recent track "King Cobra", new single "Infinity X2" showcases Magick Mountain's love of breakneck speed and fuzzed out sound where verses filled with driving mantras melt into a gnarly, psyched up breakdown. Nestor describes the track as "a psychedelic, punk love song; a direct nod to the idea of being so close to someone that worlds, thoughts and imagined futures merge together."
Tracks
01. Bart Cobain
02. Zodiac
03. Cherokee
04. Brown Bread
05. Stranger Danger
06. Colossus
07. Dream Chaser
08. Infinity X2
09. King Cobra
10. The Shitty Beatles
11. The Creeper
Press
Audio & Video
VARIOUS - 'BROWN ACID: THE ELEVENTH TRIP'
Formats
EZRDR124 - LP
603111741819EZRDR124CD - CD
603111741826
Details
*FIRST PRESSING ON PURPLE VINYL* We’re now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the 60s-70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads us to more exciting new discoveries. Like we’ve done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Make yourself comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock ’n’ roll. This Trip opens with Adam Wind’s “Something Else,” featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain’t no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band’s heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell’s excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff. Boston bruisers Grump return to the series with a previously unreleased dose of raw soul layered in greasy horns, plucky harmonized guitar leads and chirping organs on “I’ll Give You Love.” The track packs twice the punch of their cover of Elvis Presley’s classic “Heartbreak Hotel” heard back on The Eighth Trip, itself a fan favorite. Stevens Point, WI is the actual origin of Bagshot Row, a little-known band taking its name from a street in The Hobbit. However, they sound much less fantasy obsessed than their name suggests and more akin to Sugarloaf of “Green Eyed Lady” fame. Their swaggering “Turtle Wax Blues” of 1973 will put some extra hair on your feet and send you searching for this lone 45 single like a ring that possesses magical powers to control all of Middle Earth (or at least Middle America.) Larry Lynn’s “Diamond Lady” is the B-side to his 1970 single “Back On The Street Again.” Larry Leonard Ostricki adopted his stage name while performing with The Bonnevilles in the mid-1950s in Milwaukee, WI, and later with The Skunks. Larry Lynn’s eponymous band explored bluesy psychedelic rock from 1969 to 1978, only to reunite in 2009 and they still perform to this date. Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their — we reiterate — weird 1968 track “In Wyrd.” Think if someone left a copy of The Doors’ Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they’d heard. Chicago, IL’s Zendik bring it all back down to Earth with their politically-charged 1970 firestorm “Mom’s Apple Pie Boy” which echoes the unabashed rage of The MC5 and anthemic sarcasm of CCR’s “Fortunate Son.” The band’s only publicly released single “Is There No Peace” (previously heard on Brown Acid: The Sixth Trip) boasts the proto-punk refrain “God is dead!” This equally direct polemic was recorded during the same sessions, but unreleased until now. The opening cowbell of Daybreak’s kicked back 1977 rocker “Just Can’t Stay” affirms that the boogie is back on this swaggering nugget of FM-ready rock from San Mateo, CA. “Just Can’t Stay” closes the band’s lone 4-song EP, and the band delivered on the promise, vanishing into the ether shortly thereafter. West Minist’r of Fort Dodge, IA make their desires clear on “I Want You” with an undeniably driving riff and particularly beefy sounding synth leads that would fit in fine on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The song, originally released on Magic Records, is the B-side to “Sister Jane” and the band’s last of three singles issued between 1969 and 1975. Debb Johnson of Saint Louis Park, MN is a BAND, not an individual member of the band. The 7-piece group featured a full horn section and three-part harmonies on their 1969 self-titled album. The backstory on their name is: three of the group’s seven members shared the last name Johnson, so they then took the first letters of the last names of the other four members and combined them into the word “debb.” The politically minded “Dancing In The Ruin” speaks a truth all-too-familiar to this day backed by a brand of wailing acid rock crossed with Buddy Miles’ Expressway To Your Skullstyle funk. Crazy Jerry sends us off on a high note with “Every Girl Gets One,” featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop ’n’ start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul/funk and rock records from the 70s, including The Left Banke’s second album. But here, Jerry is…well, simply crazy.
Tracks
Side A
Adam Wind "Something Else"
1969 / Tacoma, Washington
Grump "I'll Give..."
presumed 1969 / Boston, Massachusetts
Bagshot Row "Turtle Wax Blues"
1973 / Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Larry Lynn "Diamond Lady"
1970 / Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Renaissance Fair "In Wyrd"
1968 / Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Side B
Zendik "Mom's Apple Pie Boy?
presumed 1970 / Chicago, Illinois
Daybreak "Just Can't Stay"
1977 / San Mateo, California
West Minist'r "I Want You"
1975 / Fort Dodge, Iowa
Debb Johnson "Dancing In The Ruin"
1969 / Saint Louis Park, Minnesota
Crazy Jerry "Every Girl Gets One"
1973 / New York, New York
Press
Audio & Video
THE LEFT OUTSIDES - 'ARE YOU SURE I WAS THERE'
Formats
CFUL184 - LP
Details
At last, a new studio LP from superb London duo, The Left Outsides, to follow up on 2018's amazing All That Remains. The basic building blocks remain the same -- half of the sound is Alison Cotton and her viola and keys, the other half is Mark Nicholas with a stunning array of guitars -- but the structures they create this time are darker and more forbidding than their antecedents. This album feels very much a piece of the season in which it is being released, as the leaves strip themselves from trees and the sky grows colder, greyer by the hour. More than once while Are You Sure I Was There spun I was put in mind of the classic Rainy Day LP, masterminded by Kendra Smith back in 1984. The Left Outsides possess the same sure grasp of that place where sorrow, ecstasy and psychedelics meet in a shower of dying stars. The tunes here are wonderful. Most are new, although a few have been heard before in different forms (if you knew where to listen.) “The Wind No Longer Stirs the Trees” (with its glorious blend of backwards and forward motion) was on a 7” lathe, backed with “As Night Falls” (a beautiful ode to the promise of winter.) The track “Seance” was first recorded as part of an celebration of Help the Witch, the debut novel by former music critic Tom Cox (whose words were used for most of the lyrics.) And “My Reflection Once Was Me” (which recalls The Trees' epic tunes by combining massive blocks of raging guitar with Alison's steady vocals) was featured on the live A Place to Hide LP. The other compositions are all-new and utterly great. The tunes that Mark sings tend to evoke a certain '60s whisp. Whether it's the Floydian lilt of “Only Time Will Tell,” the freakbeat pop of “November on My Mind,” or “Pictures of You,” which stacks a dreamy '60s overlay upon contempo pop structuring. Alison's vocals often display a more folky essence. “The Stone Barn” has a vibe very similar to some of Sandy Denny's later solo work, grounded by stately piano chords. “Things Can Never Be the Same” centers on a gorgeous mid-paced vocal performance, encased in spinning webs of very elegant guitar. And the conjoined vocals on “A Face in the Crowd,” sit atop a huge fuzz riff, sounding like the perfect anthem for the new Slow Music Movement. They wont back down! And you shouldn't either. I'm not exactly sure where anyone gets their records these days but wherever that is, you should march there tout de suite (even if only figuratively) and demand a copy of Are You Sure I Was There today. And yes, I am sure. Today! (Byron Coley)
Tracks
Press
Audio & Video
THE JANITORS - 'NOISOLATION SESSIONS VOL: 1'
Formats
CFUL024 - LP (COLOURED)
Details
*TRANSPARENT BLUE VINYL* Cardinal Fuzz and Little Cloud Records are proud to bring to you for your listening pleasure the 5th album by your favorite Swedish purveyors of heavy drones, fuzzed nightmares and stökpsych – The Janitors – ‘Noisolation Sessions Vol.1’. ‘Noisolation Sessions Vol.1’ is a testament of three months in disturbing times. In March 2020 The Janitors had their new Album written and studio time booked -ready to unleash their latest shamanic fuzz meltdowns, then corona hit and everything changed. They figured they would go down into their own studio to work on those tunes some more until things passed over. While working there they recorded what they felt was a most apt tune for that moment back in Spring 2020 – A cover of Joy Divisions – ‘Isolation’ – It was epic and the reaction they got confirmed it. It re-energised The Janitors and in doing so the creative juices flowed and a though kicked in - that the next week they just start writing new songs, but with the same dogmatic rules, one night of recording, one week of mixing and then it's done - A challenge of just letting the creativity flow but then leaving the song as a testament to that moment. These six songs are the product, All of it The Janitors came up with on the spot, all ideas were welcome as improvisations leads to new and far-out places, but also the occasional wrong note, lyrics reflecting the strange days we were witnessing and how they affected us, the people we love and the world. The Janitors say this is by far their least worked through art, but it turned out to be some of the best songs The Janitors have ever produced. The next album will be recorded as soon as corona is gone, until then we'll see if there will be a volume 2 of the Noisolation series. Always and forever, fuck all right wing and capitalist oppressors. To create is to resist. To resist is to create. Fuzz love from The Janitors
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Press
Audio & Video
TAMBOURINEN - 'WOODEN FLOWER'
Formats
CFUL178 - LP
Details
Centripetal Force (North America) and Cardinal Fuzz (UK/Europe) are excited to announce the upcoming release of Tambourinen’s Wooden Flower, a vinyl edition of the much lauded and sought after cassette released earlier this year through Avant-Unity Music. Tambourinen is the project of Grant Beyschau, a multi-instrumentalist and part of the braintrust behind The Myrrors. Beyschau recorded, performed, and mixed the entire album himself. The album is dominated by deep grooves, entrancing rhythms, and a massive swirl of sound that recalls the Kosmische era of German music and takes on an almost spiritual tone. The preorder for this vinyl edition will go live on Friday, October 9th. It has been pressed on 500 copies of heavyweight black vinyl, and the cover is printed on heavy kraft cardstock.