ZIG ZAGS - 'STRANGE MASTERS'

Formats

• EZRDR191 - LP

  603111764115

Details

Los Angeles April 18, 2024The origin of this record is a weird one. In 2019, we had just returned from two long European tours when we decided to take a “little break” from the road. You all know what happened next. That “little break” turned into a couple of years and during that time Dane, our drummer, decided to quit the band and music in general (no hard feelings).. Sean and I had a discussion and thought about ending the band as a whole, but I knew I had to go out on my own terms. I had an ace in the hole, though. Jeff Murray, drummer from LA rippers The Shrine. I had been friends with Jeff and The Shrine’s founder, Josh Landau since our “Scavenger” 7” came out, around 2012. We had run into them in Berlin a few months back and I knew they weren't playing anymore. I called Josh first, ‘cause asking a dude if you can take his drummer, is like asking your girlfriend's Dad if you can marry her. And Josh said “go for it”. And Jeff was in. Honestly if he had said no, that would have been the end. I had written a ton of stuff since our last album but I had shelved most of it. I was trying too hard - basically. Eventually Sean, Jeff and I said, ‘Fuck it, let’s make a “Fake Live” record’ - like Kiss or Slayer did. John Dwyer from Osees was opening his new studio, Discount Mirrors and it seemed like the perfect place to record it. We settled on re-recording a bunch of old stuff while simultaneously demoing our new material, as the three of us were now starting to really get in the groove. The result is Strange Masters Vol. 1. These are not new songs. These are Zig Zags classics re-recorded with a ripping-ass band that’s old and angry and just wants to get on with it. We are already on to recording the next album of new songs. That one is coming soon, but in the meantime, enjoy this one…while you still can!-Jed Maheu-Guitars-Vocals-Zig Zags

Tracks

1. Scavenger 2. Fallout 3. Brainded Warrior 4. Magic 5. Voices Of The Paranoid 6. Punk Fucking Metal 7. My Lighter 8. No Blade Of Grass 9. They Came For Us 10. Bloodstains

Press

LA-based punk metal band's "fake live" album in the glorious tradition of KISS and Slayer

All new rippin' versions of old classics plus some new ones

Introducing a new drummer from another rippin' LA-based band, The Shrine

Produced by John Dwyer at his Discount Mirrors studio

Audio & Video

WORST CASE SCENARIO - 'STUDIES IN PESSIMISM'

Formats

• LG-7 - LP

  711574956715

Details

Worst Case Scenario started out in 1994 with Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno from Unwound as another of the many bands they formed together. That summer was a little slow for Unwound’s hoped-for tour schedule so they decided to start another hardcore-influenced band while working day jobs. As they began practicing in the basement of the Olympia punk house “Lucky 7”, long time friend and roommate Chris Jordan jumped in as the vocalist. Sandeno soon recruited his college friend, Scott Larsen, that had recently moved from Minneapolis. They quickly wrote about an album’s worth of songs and recorded them with Tim Green at the Red House for a “demo tape” that Tobi Vail released on her tape label, Bumpidee. 1995 saw another Tim Green recording with 7-inch records on Lookout Records and Troubleman. This LP contains all of the forementioned material. In 1996 they recorded a full length record with “Seasick” Steve Wold in Olympia for Vermiform which resulted in the self-titled vinyl LP and The Complete Works of Worst Case Scenario CD collection a year later. WCS played a few random shows, mostly in Olympia, with friends’ touring bands from 1994-96 and set up a national tour for the summer of ’97. Shortly before the tour Jordan was injured in a random accident and then Larsen broke his wrist in a work accident, rendering the band unable to embark on the tour. To cap it off, the one sheet of paper that had all the venues’ contacts for the tour was destroyed in a laundry related incident and the band was unable to properly cancel the tour. Apropos to their name. They disbanded amicably later that year with members moving away from town and taking on more demanding tour and work schedules.

Tracks

1. Statue Of Liberty 2. Correct Posture 3. Umbilical Noose 4. Eight Penny Nail 5. Blood Of Christ 6. I Don?t Want To Hit You Anymore 7. Checkin? Out 8. Caps 9. Studies In Pessimism 10. Dry Material 11. Golden Consolation Knife 12. Twenty Degrees Cooler 13. Metro Gnomes 14. Angry Devil 15. Blood Of Christ (Live)

Press

Collection of early recordings of short-lived hardcore band featuring members of Unwound

Audio & Video

SHUDDER TO THINK - '1987'

Formats

• LG-13 - LP

  711574956814

Details

A band with many chapters and an everchanging sound, Shudder To Think’s story began in 1986 in Glover Park, Washington DC. Bass player Stuart Hill and drummer Mike Russell had just recruited Chris Matthews to play guitar in their fledgling hardcore band Stüge (1984-86) when they suddenly found themselves in need of a new singer as well. Matthews suggested his friend Craig Wedren for the role. At the audition, Wedren’s style clashed with the style of the band’s previous singer, but the group all sensed that they might have stumbled into a “chocolate-inmy-peanut-butter” situation with intriguing potential. The group changed their name and headed into new territory. Side A of this LP is comprised of five songs from one of their first recording sessions together. The tracks chosen are songs that were only released on demo tapes, never to be re-recorded for future proper releases (this version of “Too Little, Too Late” did appear on the local punk compilation FR-5 in 1987). Side B consists of four tracks that were originally released as their first 7-inch release, the It Was Arson EP, a split release by Sammich/Dischord Records. Included at the end of side B is a version of “Take The Child” from this session (later re-recorded for their first album in 1988).

Tracks

1. Cure Song 2. Cloak Of Wine 3. Thou Shalt Not Kill 4. Like A Cat 5. Too Little, Too Late 6. Questionable 7. Abysmal Yellow Popcorn Wall 8. Ro 9. It Was Arson 10. Take The Child

Press

Collected early recordings, including unreleased material, of classic DC post-hardcore band

Audio & Video

TRISTAN PERICH, ENSEMBLE 0 - 'OPEN SYMMETRY'

Formats

• ERATP166LE - LP (COLOURED)

  3700551785605

• ERATP166CD - CD

  3700551785780

Details

**AVAILABLE ON LTD TRANSLUCENT VINYL IN SCREEN-PRINTED SLEEVE W/ POSTCARD** Open Symmetry is New York-based composer Tristan Perich’s first release on Erased Tapes. The 50-minute work for 3 vibraphones and 20-channel 1-bit electronics is performed by the dynamic French group, ensemble 0, who return to Erased Tapes following their 2023 collaboration with Peter Broderick. Perich’s music spans the electronic/classical divide, with explorations that pair string instruments, piano, organ, and other acoustic instrumentation with custom-built 1-bit electronics, including his recent Drift Multiply, for 50 violins and 50 speakers. This newest release, Open Symmetry, pares the ensemble down to just 3 musicians playing the resonant metal bars of 3 vibraphones accompanied with a glistening ensemble of 20 speakers, each playing their own separate musical part of the composition. 1-bit sound is Perich’s core musical language, creating an aural and conceptual consistency across his major works. His 2004 release, 1-Bit Music, was the first album released as a microchip, which plays its music through a headphone jack in the side of the CD case that houses an electronic circuit. With 1-bit sound, the audio waveform is built from 1s and 0s, the binary language of information, in contrast to the perpetual stride towards higher fidelity with 16- or 24-bit, and most recently 32-bit audio. When stripping away all those bits, the result is a primitive, square-shaped tone, which Perich either presents on its own (as in his circuit albums or solo shows), or blends it with classical instrumentation, each composition an experiment in sonic color, shape, and form. Open Symmetry was born out of an artistic connection between Perich and ensemble 0, in particular one of its members, Stéphane Garin, whom Perich first met in New York in 2014 when Garin was touring with Ryoji Ikeda. Garin had already been playing Perich’s existing music live, but it was at this point that he decided to commission a brand new piece by him, which eventually became Open Symmetry. From their first conversations, they knew it would be a large project, which Perich ultimately scored for 3 vibraphones and his 1-bit electronics. ensemble 0 premiered the piece in 2019 at Le Lieu Unique’s Variations Festival in Nantes, and after touring it for a few years, they recorded it for this album release.

Tracks

1. Open Symmetry: Section 1 2. Open Symmetry: Section 2 3. Open Symmetry: Section 3 4. Open Symmetry: Section 4 B 5. Open Symmetry: Section 5 6. Open Symmetry: Section 6 7. Open Symmetry: Section 7

Press

For fans of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley

Audio & Video

PERENNIAL - 'ART HISTORY'

Formats

• SSH043 - LP (COLOURED)

  600064801614

Details

There are two versions of Perennial: the adventurous art-punk modernists, layering British Invasion pop, 60s soul, 90s Dischord post-hardcore, electronic music, and free-jazz, and the live three-piece whose bombastic 20 minute sets have become a “must-see” in the New England music scene. What started in 2015 as an all-encompassing art project has since grown into an honest-to-goodness word-of-mouth phenomenon, with over 300 shows played in the last six years (including shows with Guerilla Toss, Bully, Calvin Johnson, Jon Spencer, Sheer Mag, Teenage Halloween, and Downtown Boys) and multiple pressings of both of their full-length records. Perennial formed the band they always wanted to hear, and when they play, they're the band they always wanted to see. Perennial’s breakthrough 2022 LP, In The Midnight Hour, was their first time working with producer Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die), a collaboration that garnered rave reviews from BrooklynVegan, Under The Radar, Post-Trash, Pop Matters, NPR Music and more, and marked a new creative benchmark. Feeling inspired, the band once again worked with Teti on 2023’s 7” EP The Leaves Of Autumn Symmetry, which earned more high praise from Stereogum, Paste, Consequence, Alternative Press, and Bandcamp Daily. Their latest release is the adventurous, experimental mod punk LP Art History, available June 7 via Ernest Jenning Record Co. and Safe Suburban Home.

Tracks

1. Art History
2. Tambourine On Snare
3. Action Painting
4. Jet Set Mono
5. A Is For Abstract
6. Up-tight
7. How The Ivy Crawls
8. Tiger Technique
9. Mouthful of Bees
10. B Is For Brutalism
11. The Mystery Tone
12. Perennial Meets The Wolfman

Press

Audio & Video

HEFFERNAN & PARK - 'SUN REFLECTOR'

Formats

• CFUL0311 - LP

Details

Sun Reflector is the debut LP collaboration by Heffernan (Ivan The tolerable, All Structures Align, King Champion Sounds, University Challenged) and Pärk (Black Tempel Pyramid, Teeth Of Glass, Kosmonaut). Sun Reflector is steeped in a haze of primitive drum machines, fanned phase and sustained scuzz-rippled guitar chimes, an ambient electronic creation with emphasis on repetitive trance-inducing rhythmic pulsations of electronic sound and subtle counterpoints that slowly unfold as the rhythmic drive marches forth utilizing the Motorik 4/4 beat with the lysergic kosmische sonic textures of Cluster. With Heffernan (bass, guitars and drones) based in the Northeast of England and Pärk (synths, drones and loops) based in Colorado USA on the border with New Mexico - the portal they opened up between these environments creates a travelogue that unites physical and inner space, a series of trance induced states rendered in vivid colour, a delirious portal into the ether. ‘Harmonic Coast’ opens and is a heady downtempo affair, an earthly vibration that slips effortlessly between peyote peaking trekking trips & Balearic sunset vibes. The somnambulistic drift of 'The Sun' sets the stage with a series of shimmering, circular synth pulses where hidden details slowly emerge over multiple listens. Album closer ‘Fever Mirage’ creates a clear-eyed appreciation of the pastoral beauty that surrounds us, it’s a journey that summons up an occult-like dream of glacial arpeggios and whispering synths that pull your attention in to this hypnotizing listening experience. Sun Reflector is a collective sound in which a lot is allowed, and a lot is done. That combined with the compositional ingenuity where the heterogeneous timbres create a time travelled cosmic mysticism that summons up the spirits and visions of Harmonia, Cluster, Eno and Phillip Glass. Shimmering and transcendent we present to you for your listening experience ‘Sun Reflector’

Tracks

Press

Audio & Video

NONKEEN - 'ALL GOOD?'

Formats

• LTR042 - 2xLPs

  4066004674537

Details

Nonkeen, the avant-garde musical collective comprising Nils Frahm, Frederic Gmeiner, and Sebastian Singwald, is gearing up for their long-awaited return with the upcoming album “All good?”. Renowned for their boundary-pushing soundscapes, Nonkeen captured global attention with their critically acclaimed 2016 albums, “The Gamble” and “Oddments of the Gamble”. The releases showcased their ability to seamlessly blend electronic, ambient, and experimental elements into a mesmerizing auditory experience. The trio has been celebrated for their intricate compositions, intense live shows and a sonic palette that defies conventional genres. “All good?” promises to build on their established legacy, offering listeners another immersive journey into the uncharted realms of musical expression. The album is available on limited edition 2LP vinyl and via all digital platforms. 

Tracks

1. I'M SURE
2. THAT LOVE
3. WILL NEVER
4. BE A
5. PRODUCT
6. OF PLASTICITY
7. EXCLAMATION
8. MARK

Press

Audio & Video