RYLEY WALKER - 'COURSE IN FABLE'

Formats

• HPR008LP - LP

  687368313296

• HPR008CD - CD

  798576090296

Details

Ryley Walker currently resides in New York City. But his latest LP is a Chicago record in spirit. The masterful Course In Fable, the songwriter’s fi@h solo effort, draws from the deep well of that city’s ferCle 1990s scene, when bands like Tortoise, The Sea and Cake and Gastr del Sol were reshaping the underground, mixing and matching indie rock, jazz, prog and beyond. Walker spent his formaCve years in Chicago, absorbing those heady sounds and finding ways to make them his own. Even though he emerged at first in folkrock troubadour mode, it makes sense that he’s arrived at this point; each LP has grown more intricate and assured, his influences disClling into something original and unusual. To put it simply: Course In Fable is Walker’s best record yet, full of acCve imaginaCon and endless possibiliCes. Last October, Ryley went straight to one of the primary architects of the Chicago sound to make the LP. John McEn:re, Course In Fable’s producer/engineer/ mixer, can rightly be called a legend for his work with Tortoise, Stereolab, The Red Krayola, Jim O’Rourke and countless others over a prolific career that now spans more than three decades. Seeing his name in an album’s liners is preVy much a trademark of quality. Another Windy City exile, McEnCre is based on the west coast these days, working out of the Portland, OR studio he’s dubbed Soma West. On the seven songs here, he delivers the signature shimmering and prisCne sonics he’s become known for over the years. But McEnCre was also inCmately involved with Course In Fable’s overall creaCve process. “I told him to take the mixes and have at it,” Walker says. The result is a rich, immersive affair — a headphones record if ever there was one. Course In Fable’s songs are twisty, labyrinthine things, stuffed full of ideas (Walker half-jokingly calls it his “prog record”). But no maVer how complex it gets, the album is never overwhelmingly busy. Wiry guitars melt into gorgeous string secCons (arranged by Douglas Jenkins of the Portland Cello Project). Tricky Cme signatures abound but feel as natural as can be. Melodies o@en dri@ in unexpected direcCons but remain downright hummable. Like Walker’s beloved Genesis, the pop element is never too far from the surface even when shit gets weird. (And speaking of weird, Ryley says that in addiCon to Genesis, much of the album’s inspiraCon comes from “Australian extreme scooter riders on YouTube and balding gear heads on Craigslist.” Go figure.) To help put together these various puzzle pieces, Ryley assembled a band made up of several longCme collaborators. Bill MacKay (another Chicago mainstay) and Walker have made two excellent instrumental duo records of interlocking guitars and warm give-and-take — a rapport very much in evidence throughout Course In Fable. The freakishly talented drummer Ryan Jewell has performed with Walker for years now in a variety of seangs, from straighborward song-centric sets to blown-out improv extravaganzas. Bassist Andrew ScoJ Young (Tiger Hatchery, Health&Beauty) has logged many miles on tour with Walker; he and Jewell are frequently astonishing, a buoyant-but-always-locked-in rhythm secCon, able to navigate someCmes dizzying turnarounds with apparent ease. Listening to the interplay between Walker and these musicians and you might be fooled into thinking they’d spent a year roadtesCng Course In Fable’s songs. But it all came together relaCvely fast, thanks to demos, rehearsals and the kind of musical empathy that comes from years of playing together. Beneath the wondrous interplay, you’ll find some of Walker’s most personal – if sCll typically crypCc — lyrics, hinCng at some of the trials the songwriter has been dealing with in recent years. Balanced with necessary doses of dark humor and oddball poetry, Course In Fable feels most of all like a life-affirming record, fresh air in the lungs, sun on your skin. “Fuck me, I’m alive,” Ryley sings at one point, a moment of both disbelief and pure joy. Walker has released his albums on a who’s-who of independent labels over the past decade — Tompkins Square, Dead Oceans, Thrill Jockey and Drag City among them. This Cme around, he’s doing it DIY-style, puang Course In Fable out on his own Husky Pants imprint. You’re in good hands. This is an album that sounds great (mastered by Greg Calbi), looks great (artwork by Jenny Nelson and design by Michael Vallera). It probably even smells great. Whether you’ve been onboard since the beginning or are new to the Ryley Walker universe, you’re in for a treat.

Tracks

1. Striking Your Big Premier (5:10)
2. Rang Dizzy (4:50)
3. A Lenticular Slap (7:54)
4. Axis Bent (4:36)
5. Clad With Bunk (6:15)
6. Pond Scum Ocean (8:05)
7. Shiva With Dustpan (5:43)

Press

First Ryley Walker LP of
original songs in 3 years - Produced with Chicago/
Portland experimental rock
icon John Mcentire (Tortoise,
Sea And Cake, Gastr Del Sol,
Bastro) Not touring ever again unless
its opening for Genesis.
Gonna make more cool
records

Audio & Video

JOHN DU CANN - 'THE WORLDS NOT BIG ENOUGH'

Formats

• JAW049 - LP

Details

This album was recorded in 1977 and produced by Status Quo’s FRANCIS ROSSI. Shockingly, this album has never been released on vinyl until now. It originally came out on CD in 1992 and is now long out of print and even that goes for good coin. Du Cann’s stellar career included freakbeat heroes THE ATTACK (“Magic In The Air”), psych/prog legends ANDROMEDA, and the group he’s best known for, ATOMIC ROOSTER. Du Cann wrote their their #4 hit single “Devil’s Answer”. A couple of years later he was in DAEMON, later renamed BULLET, then HARD STUFF. In 1974 he was even a temporary guitarist for a THIN LIZZY German tour. In 1977, he was signed to the same management company as STATUS QUO, who paired him with Quo leader, Francis Rossi. The resulting album, “The World’s Not Big Enough” included Rossi on guitar, Andy Bown (The Herd, Judas Jump, Status Quo) on keyboards, Pete Kircher (Honeybus, Status Quo, Liverpool Express) on drums, and John McCoy (Ian Gillian, Tyla Gang, U.K. Subs) on bass. Basically, this is Du Cann backed by Status Quo at their Belt Buckle Boogie peak. A few songs from this album appeared on killer late 70s Punxploitation singles “Throw Him Jail”, “Don’t Be A Dummy” (a UK Top 40 hit!), and “Where’s The Show”. This album has been described as “Quo mixed with the Sex Pistols”, and we can’t disagree with that assessment. 

Tracks

Side A:
1. You Didn't Know Any Better
2. When I Was Old
3. Where's The Show?
4. Throw Him In Jail
5. Fashion Fantasy
6. If I'm Makin'
7. She's My Woman
8. Evil You (Part 1)

Side B:
1. Don't Be A Dummy
2. Don't Talk
3. Your Application Failed
4. Only One Night
5. Street Strutter
6. Evil You (Part 2)
7. Hesitation
8. Who Cares? *bonus track

Press

Audio & Video

JESSE HECTOR - 'IT AINT EASY'

Formats

• JAW048 - LP

Details

It goes without saying that we are devoted disciples of JESSE HECTOR. We already have both HELTER SKELTER and HAMMERSMITH GORILLAS in our catalog. This album gathers Jesse Hector wild 90s recordings, which were an unbelievable return to form after a decade away from the music biz. Jesse hadn’t lost a step and was backed most-ably by the gents in both THE SOUND and later THE GATECRASHERS. Jesse has graciously offered us three unreleased songs that have never appeared anywhere before. Hail Rock n Roll! Hail Jesse Hector! 

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

GREGORY TAYLOR - 'DIVAGATE'

Formats

• PoL04.2021 - CD

  700261483979

Details

Journeys are often recounted as though composed of a starting point, a goal, and an intervening distance—when that is often only half the story. What of the path between the destination and the point of origin, dotted with sights one didn’t take in and courses that strayed from the known path? The return can be more circuitous, full of sideways steps and stop-offs at the distracting attractions once passed by on the way. Divagate provides the final segment of the trilogy begun by Gregory Taylor with the arrival and reconnaissance of Retinue, and the resolute pilgrimage of Peregrination. This time, the forking audio pathways swing aside into territories serenaded by 5-tone pedal steel guitars and percolating synths alongside the ringing bronze, fractured vocalise, and a stubborn refusal to conclude the circuit with either triumphal codas or a terrain that dissolves into air; its pensive conclusion abandons the heroism of exploration for the quieter gesture of taking up a pen and starting to write. Divagate comprises the final stages of that journey.

Tracks

1. On Detours And Return (Akhir Haji)
2. Deserted Pavilion (Menantikan)
3. A Terraced Hillside (Menghinggapi)
4. Abandoned Vestments (Kambali)

Press

? Features 5-tone pedal steel guitars and
percolating synths alongside ringing
bronze, fractured vocalise

Audio & Video

DOMENICO LANCELLOTTI - 'RAIO'

Formats

• B&L007LP - LP

  8437018437108

Details

Each new record by Domenico Lancellotti (1972, Brazil) must be celebrated as a little gift. The Rio de Janeiro-born, a demanded drummer (regular musician for Gilberto Gil) and one of the most inspired contemporary songwriters in his country, Domenico owns a short but stunning catalog, either solo or along with his pals Kassin and Moreno Veloso (+2). 'Raio' means his comeback three years after the hailed 'The Good Is A Big God' for Luaka Bop. A brilliant new collection of songs recorded from his new home in Lisbon, where Lancellotti's musical parameters continue the path of his rich musical universe, that is, his personal update on all the best music the MPB has provided, with Joao Donato or Milton Nascimento as main references, sailing always through seductive and playful trademark orchestrations. Domenico explains the reasons on 'Raio'... “In 2018, Lúcia Koch invited me to set up an art installation for the Kansas City Biennial. We chose a vacant lot in the ancient black neighbourhood, the same place where Charlie Parker was born, and the first black newspaper was founded in a building close to this lot full of weeds and trash. For this project I created 6 weeded and cleaned sound mushrooms that were buried in the ground. Each mushroom was made of 5 speakers set up in circles, with one of the bass speakers in the middle. In order to get an idea of the complete display of the musical themes, people should move around. Some of the tracks on this album were part of this installation which we called Dynamo! "I moved to Portugal in 2019 and from here I kept recording. I was almost done with the record when the COVID-19 crisis arose, therefore I started working remotely, Nina Miranda sang two songs from his home in London, the Polish pianist Piotr Zabrodsky recorded piano and keys also from his home in Warsaw, Daniel Carvalho mixed and masterized the album at his studio in Rio de Janeiro. This record, called Raio, was developed since then. It is a record about permanent transformation. Everything needs to change, that is all”

Tracks

Side A
Vai A Serpente
Snake Way
Margem Do C?u
Dynamo
Confusao
Onda Do Mar
Side B
Mushroom Room
Vinho Velho
Tema Pro Ze
Hordas
Lanco Minha Flecha
Newspaper

Press

"Unique and brilliant sound" -
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE.

"Like the tropicalistas, Lancellotti is too engaged with what?s
happening around him to turn to a reactionary regionalism"
PITCHFORK

Audio & Video

THE MYRRORS - 'INVOCACIONES: SINGLES AND STRAYS (2014-2016)'

Formats

• CFUL0176 - LP

Details

Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to announce - The Myrrors ‘Invocaciones : Singles and Strays (2014 - 2016)’ - a dip into the archives with these shaman from Tucson, Arizona. ‘Invocaciones’ is a compilation of tracks previously available via the mediums of splits/lathes/cassettes and digital download, now all gathered together on this release with the added bonus of an extra 3 minutes added to a now extended ‘Eyes Of Copper’ and ‘Semillas Sembrades’ no longer split over two sides of a 7”. Over five tracks presented on ‘Invocaciones’ The Myrrors lose themselves in transcendental improvisation, from the opening track ‘Eyes Of Copper’ to ‘Invocación Por Un Verdadero Plan De Lucha Organizado Desde Abajo’ where The Myrrors are in free flowing circular raga mode. It’s a state of playing that takes take the listener into a deeply shamanistic ecstatic state that is both spellbinding and enrapturing, were you are treated to the music that rivals the free flowing communal progg freakdom of late 60’s/early 70s Germany/ Scandinavia but transported to the Arabian desert. Here a cacophony of flute and whistles, viola, tape loops, alto saxophone, bulbul tarang and guitars churn and cavort through ebbing cosmic shimmer and ecstatic pulsing ritualistic Eastern drones. Try imagining The Velvet Underground, The Taj Mahal Travellers and Parson Sound transported to the Arabian desert. It is ecstatic and otherworldly as you open up your mind and let everything come through – The Myrrors have found the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The Myrrors ‘Invocaciones : Singles and Strays (2014 - 2016)’ is presented in a laminated silver mirri board outer sleeve that best reflects the artwork of Claira Safi.

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video