Latest release: 29 May 2026
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GUIDED BY VOICES - 'CRAWLSPACE OF THE PANTHEON'
Formats
GBVI125 - LP
769152435817GBVI125CD - CD
769152435824
Details
Guided By Voices’ last album Thick Rich And Delicious (October 2025) was lauded by NPR’s All Things Considered and picked #1 on Magnet Magazine’s Best Albums Of 2025. The single “We Outlast Them All” from this latest, Crawlspace Of The Pantheon, is an anthemic victory lap on album #44 from the indie rock stalwarts. Robert Pollard told Rolling Stone: “ ‘We Outlast Them All’ could be our ‘We Are The Champions’ but it’s not necessarily about us. It’s about anyone who perseveres over a long period of time.” On Crawlspace Of The Pantheon: “I worked much more diligently on this set of lyrics. I chiseled away at lines and sections and phrasings...I wanted them to have an overall emotionally conceptual feel. At times it feels somewhat autobiographical.” Guided By Voices will not be on tour in 2026. Pollard recently told Magnet: “Why would we stop playing live and make these kinds of records? I don’t know. We do what we wanna do.” “Pollard is the greatest rock lyricist of all time.” —Dennis Cooper
Tracks
1. Lost In The Sun 2. Out With A Theory 3. One Last Blow 4. We Outlast Them All 5. A Grand Ceremonial Jester 6. Dagon?s Plunger 7. Advance Without Dropping 8. No Shoe Fits (Floating Babies) 9. Arthur Square 10. Landscaping 11. (How Would You Like A) Chariot Ride 12. When You?re My Clown (Nothing Happens)
Press
Audio & Video
FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM - 'RUN, RUN PURE BEAUTY'
Formats
DR126LP - LP
5065025536014DR126CD - CD
5065025536021
Details
The epitome of a modern artist, Jana Bahrich does most things herself, no matter how painstaking - writing, producing, directing, often hand painting t-shirts the day of shows when the band have run out of merch. This has helped give her band Francis of Delirium a unique identity, with her rock confessionals breathing a new life in to the genre and her paintings creating a striking design aesthetic. Released as she was finishing high school, 2020’s single 'Quit Fucking Around’ was a great introduction and it remains one of her most enduring songs. Shortly after it’s release, she signed to artist-first indie Dalliance Recordings (Gia Margaret, HighSchool, lilo) and three EPs - All Change (2020), Wading (2021), The Funhouse (2022) and a striking debut album - Lighthouse (2024) - on and Jana has Francis of Delirium flying. While the EP’s fizzed with promise, her debut album Lighthouse landed its punches. Seeking a more vulnerable and open sonic palette, she wove in pop elements to create anthems that celebrated heartbreak and love. Lead singles ‘Real Love’ and ‘First Touch’ were the first tracks she made with an outsider - working with GRAMMY winning producer Catherine Marks (boygenius, The Killers, Wolf Alice) - while the rest of the album was produced by Jana herself and day one collaborator Chris Hewett. The critics were impressed too - “Bahrich’s choruses, almost every one, are lumpin-your-throat gorgeous.” NME; “Jana Bahrich seems too young for this tremendous debut’s ambitious anthems.” Uncut; “A rewarding experience that captures a talented, young artist at the crossroads between adolescence and adulthood." Paste. Live, Francis of Delirium are Jana (guitar and vocals), Jeff Hennico (bass) and Denis Schumacher (drums). Together, their brilliant quiet-loud dynamic and tight interplay only elevate her songs and over the last 5 years, they’ve toured across Europe and North America, playing headline shows, festivals and tours with the likes of Blondshell, Briston Maroney, The Districts, Horsegirl and Soccer Mommy. They’ve also supported The 1975, Alanis Morissette, DIIV and Wolf Alice. Last summer saw a memorable UK tour with Bôa, the 90s band resurrected by a huge TikTok moment for their track ‘Duvet’. There was a real sense of excitement for these shows with young crowds snaking outside every venue hours before doors and bringing the sort of energy Jana thrives on, she road tested new material to an overwhelmingly positive response, giving her the impetus to go and finish album two. An artist who seeks to connect with her listener on a deeper level, it’s no surprise then that she’s made hope and inner strength central themes on her new album, Run, Run Pure Beauty. Jana says the title track is “an imagining of the world after it has been destroyed by humans and technology. Thrashing against what humans have left behind, ultimately the pure beauty of nature wins out.” Wanting to bring different perspectives into her songwriting with this record - informed by both her travels and the tumultuous times we find ourselves in - she’s also brought about a progression in her sound with these new songs somehow sounding larger, with undeniable harmonies and more orchestration. Featuring the singles ‘Little Black Dress’ and ‘It’s a Beautiful Life’, Run, Run Pure Beauty serves as an excavation of hope in bleak times. Produced by Jana and Chris, and mixed by Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, Dirty Projectors, Silver Jews, Wild Nothing), its eleven songs of discovery, despair and perseverance ultimately serve as a mirror on its creator and is a brilliant next installment in the Francis of Delirium arc.
Tracks
1. Aliens 2. Out Tonight 3. Run, Run Pure Beauty 4. Higher 5. Damned 6. Little Black Dress 7. Sucker Punch 8. Open Up Your Mouth to Love 9. Requiem for a Dying Day 10. Modern Madonna 11. It?s a Beautiful Life
Press
Audio & Video
KELLEY STOLTZ - 'IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME, BUY NOW'
Formats
AGIT075R - LP (COLOURED)
5061041822230AGIT075CD - CD
5061041822247
Details
Kelley Stoltz is an American songwriter, multi instrumentalist, and DIY innovator whose career stretches back to the late 1990s, when he began self recording lush, psych tinged pop and garage rock in his San Francisco home studio. Born in New York City in 1971, and raised in Michigan, Stoltz has released a remarkable catalog of albums on labels including Sub Pop, Third Man, and Castle Face Records often playing all of the instruments himself and drawing comparisons to the melodic craftsmanship of the major 60’s pop auteurs and the quirkiness of lesser known 80’s power-pop & new wave. After issuing his 18th album, La Fleur in 2024 to critical notice, he returns in 2026 with his 19th full length release, If You Don’t Know Me, Buy Now, a collection that continues his long exploration of hook laden psych pop, introspective lyrics, and richly textured arrangements that both honor his influences and push his sound forward, reinforcing his status as one of the most prolific and singular voices in underground rock. Guests Brigid Dawson of the Osees, Karina Denike of Dance Hall Crashers, Pete Straus of the Dwarves and Allyson Baker Dirty Ghosts and other guests provide backing vocals on several tracks. Long a favorite of MOJO, Brooklyn Vegan, and John Dwyer… Stoltz is also a onetime Echo & the Bunnymen rhythm guitarist and currently Robyn Hitchcock’s West Coast drummer. Stoltz is also now the host of legendary radio station KEXPs weekly Bay Area Music spotlight show, “Vinelands”. An extensive UK & European tour is scheduled for October – November 2026, with a key appearance live in session for Marc Riley on his BBC 6 Music show. West Coast USA dates to be announced. If You Don’t Know Me, Buy Now will be released in May 2026 on LP & CD by Agitated Records in UK & Europe and Dandy Boy Records in the USA.
Tracks
01. Competitive Bastard 02. Not Gone 03. Turn The Earth 04. Seventeen Lines 05. Repercussions 06. Daughters Of The Golden West 07. Watts Moon Starr 08. Look Again 09. Come On Spirit 10. Radio Station 11. Queen Of Diamonds 12. The Aches & Pains Of Middle Age 13. Love In Any Language (CD BONUS TRACK) 14. Heathers House (CD BONUS TRACK)
Press
UK Tour dates announcing soon!
Audio & Video
PRIMITIVE RING - 'PRIMITIVE RING'
Formats
ITR424 - LP (COLOURED)
769152436418
Details
**ON RANDOM COLOUR VINYL** PRIMITIVE RING consists of Bert Hoover (bass/vocals), Charles Moothart (guitar/vocals), and Jon Modaff (drums). The Los Angeles power trio formed in September 2024 when Hoover and Moothart came together seeking a new creative outlet. In 2025, the band released four 7"s on four different labels (Greenway, In the Red, Reverberation Appreciation Society, and Fuzz Club UK). They hauled amps and drums into bars to hone the sound of the newfound brotherhood that is Primitive Ring. Rock and roll is in its essence a primal experience, and the name reflects that. Three individuals collide and egos rattle, shedding layers and growing new limbs. Archetypes flash to the rhythm of a freight train and the crown is passed hand to hand like a good luck charm, symbolic and communal. Rock and roll is for the people and Primitive Ring is for the taking. At least it will be when the band's debut LP is hurled into the future via In the Red Recordings. Primitive Ring is 11 tracks coming in just under 42 minutes. It was recorded by Mark Rains in December of 2025 at The Station House in Echo Park. The album is the genesis story of a lightning bolt flashing in the eternal drama of creation and destruction. The album showcases the distinct writing styles of each member, but the overall aesthetic is a woven tapestry demarcating the timeless meridian. The record is the spawning of a collective vision. This is something we all share, and we must remind one another how electric humanity can be.
Tracks
1. Fire And Brimstone 2. The Last Goldmine 3. Lies From The Other Side 4. Paid 5. Sold A Lie 6. Heads Will Roll 7. Call Me What You Please 8. Griefsong 9. The Callous Man 10. Our Oblivion 11. Golden
Press
Audio & Video
LAUREN LAKIS - 'DEADLIGHTS'
Formats
EZRDR216CD - CD
737879948729EZRDR216LP - LP
737879948712
Details
Lauren Lakis makes songs that are steeped in darkness, but inside of them is a sense of hope. They are propelled by the possibility of emerging on the other side feeling less alone and fully transformed. On her debut album Deadlights she conjures a shifting reality—one defined by both distortion and clarity. Indebted to shoe gaze and ’90s alt rock, its 10 tracks are filled with ethereal vocals, melodic guitars, and a heavy low end. It’s inspired by groups like Deftones and Hole, powerful bands that explore the emotional bottom but are able to rise from the depths. Lakis was born in Baltimore, where she was raised by her single mother. As she grew up, she lost multiple family members and friends to addiction. She became an actor and a photographer, trying to capture the human experience with each endeavor. Her travels led to stints living in Prague and Tokyo, before she moved to Los Angeles. In 2016 she endured a horrible breakup, and then her mother was in a car accident that left her paralyzed. Though Lakis was already singing in a band at the time, these life-altering events motivated her to focus on writing and recording her own music. “When you're in a place of total surrender, you are able to get out of your own way and finally do the thing you want to do,” she says. After the car accident, Lakis’s mother’s health deteriorated, and Deadlights was recorded over the last year of life, with Lakis frequently travelling back to Baltimore to care for her. Despite these circumstances and the recurring theme of loss in its songs, Lakis doesn’t consider Deadlights a grief album. Instead it captures what’s possible when you survive the worst reality you can imagine. “That loss, the experience of going through the absolute worst thing, there's a freedom in that,” she says. “There's a liberation in that where I almost feel invincible.”
Tracks
1. There 2. Heaven Felt Too High 3. I Fall Apart 4. The Other Side 5. It?s So Amazing 6. Deadlights 7. No Ones Around Now 8. Love Like A Dog 9. I Want You Here 10. With That Body
Press
Audio & Video
ORCUTT SHELLEY MILLER YOW - 'HOT HEAD'
Formats
SC66 - 7"
769152435978
Details
A-side cover version of Captain Beefheart fan fave “Hot Head” feat. David Yow of Jesus Lizard on vocals B-side cover version of Neil Young fan fave “A Man Needs A Maid” featuring Ethan Miller on vocals First Orcutt Shelley Miller music with vocals
Tracks
Press
**LIMITED BLACK VINYL**
*Includes fold-out mini poster portrait of Captain Beefheart by album artist Khagan Aslanov*
Audio & Video
PHILIP GLASS - 'MUSIC WITH CHANGING PARTS'
Formats
SV211 - 2xLPs
850051035076
Details
Philip Glass, the great American composer, was already in his mid-30s before his first album appeared, and then only because he produced the double LP himself. Music With Changing Parts was the inaugural release on his own Chatham Square imprint in 1971. At this point, Einstein on the Beach, Glass’ first opera, was still five years away. Yet in Changing Parts, one can already hear much of his vocabulary in full bloom: the buoyant arpeggios, the melding of electronic and acoustic instruments, the elongated drones of human voice, the primary emphasis on pulse (an interest he shared with fellow composer Steve Reich) and the ecstatic potential inherent in repetition. The album features the original Philip Glass Ensemble—the composer himself, along with Jon Gibson, Dickie Landry, Art Murphy, Steve Chambers and Robert Prado—playing Farfisa organs and woodwinds as well as Barbara Benary on electric violin. As Glass describes in his memoir Words Without Music, he secured a $500 interest-free loan for the recordings’ initial release from the Hebrew Free Loan Society—an organization intended to help immigrants from the Old World upon arrival in the US. Though Glass was merely the grandson of immigrants, the venture wasn’t far off the society’s charter as Changing Parts helped usher in a new world of sound that would become known as Minimalism. Chatham Square went on to release albums by other composers in Glass’ circle, including Gibson and Landry. The label was named after the Manhattan intersection where Landry had a studio and the ensemble rehearsed. Born in Baltimore in 1937, Glass first moved to New York to attend Juilliard at just nineteen, having already graduated from the University of Chicago. A staple of the Downtown scene, he can perhaps be appreciated as akin to the likes of sculptor Richard Serra or filmmaker Jim Jarmusch: mavericks who became major cultural figures entirely on their own terms. This first-time vinyl reissue reproduces the original sidebreaks and gatefold sleeve.
Tracks
1. Music With Changing Parts (1:01:38)
Press
Audio & Video
ELDER - 'THROUGH ZERO'
Formats
PSYCHOBABBLE142 - 2xLP (COLOURED)
4015698809725PSYCHOBABBLE142CD - CD
4015698994339
Details
Two decades into their existence, Elder remain an anomaly in the heavy underground - a band with the ability to absorb and shed influences from a myriad of genres without falling into pastiche or losing their identity. Their new album Through Zero is a reaffirmation of their commitment to pushing boundaries and cements their status as leaders in heavy psychedelic rock. Elder has long since mastered crushing riffs, melodic jaunts, progressive patterns, hypnotic grooves and ethereal atmosphere along their path of music-making in the past twenty years. On Through Zero, Elder takes these years of experience and forms possibly their most immediate and engaging record to date, while allowing seeds from outside the sphere of rock music to take root and bloom within their progressive framework. Listeners will find familiar elements of new textures, sequences, and sounds alongside Elder’s iconic take on heavy rock. As always, every spin reveals new details. Recorded in Berlin across several months between tours in 2025, Through Zero is the first album which the band not only produced but also comixed together with longtime collaborator Richard Behrens. The album sounds more like a full extension of the band’s creative intentions than ever before. The deluxe 2LP version comes on 180gr. translucent neon orange vinyl with music on 3 sides and an etching on side D. The records are housed in a gatefold with printed inner sleeves, lyrics insert and download code.
Tracks
1. Sigil To Ruin 2. Capture/Release 3. Through Zero 4. Strata 5. Sight Unseen 6. Blighted Age
Press
**ON ORANGE COLOUR VINYL + DL + ETCHING**
Audio & Video
GICHARD - 'CHINS FOR LEFTY'
Formats
LSSN107 - LP
5061041822049
Details
Chins For Lefty is the debut album and first recording by Gichard, a new duo chronicling the absurdities of end-stage capitalism and mouldering social rituals from their vantage point in Glasgow, Scotland. Recorded primarily in the band’s home studio straight to tape, Chins For Lefty combines gorgeous, ramshackle melody, DIY kosmische punk, drum machine + synth and, in vocalist/lyricist Lisa Jones, an absurdist commentator on the human condition as it navigates the anxieties of the modern world. Instrumentalist Chas Lalli’s swirling music accompaniment stitches an evocative mix of musical styles, the ragged wind beneath the lyrics’ wings. Although the duo first collaborated in their previous group Dragged Up, their disparate musical and artistic backgrounds make for an alluring mix in Gichard. Lalli has spent the last 20 years in the Glasgow underground, most notably in the noise rock group VOM, while Lisa Jones’s practice was in poetry and spoken word. Beginning as co vocalist in her previous band, in Gichard her lyrics are centre stage; the vision concocted alongside Lalli amounts to a total world-build. Chins For Lefty scans almost like a novel, with each track elucidating a skewed universe that bears only some resemblance to the one you and I partake in. Like all works of fiction Gichard’s songs are rooted in reality and the lived experiences of its authors, but here characters are exaggerated, social mores and habits are pulled apart to reveal their inherent alienness. Universal emotions are laid bare, the bright light of anxious examination searching out every hairline fracture in our relationships. Distorted and cracked, the mirror that Gichard hold up to our world is also pretty damn funny.
Tracks
1. Cholesterol Test 2. Asking The Apes 3. Posthumous Hologram 4. Break Up With Johnny Dogbirth 5. Human Resources 6. Soft Face 7. Hamming It Up 8. Your Private Hell
Press
Audio & Video
MOSES YOOFEE TRIO - 'CHASING LIGHT'
Formats
LTR061 - LP
4066004773094
Details
Following the international acclaim and German Jazz Award-nominated success of their 2025 debut album, MYT, Berlin-based group Moses Yoofee Trio now return with their new EP, CHASING LIGHT. Across six tracks, the group distils the live energy of hours spent in their Neukölln rehearsal room, delivering their most instinctive and infectiously unrestrained record to date. Produced by the band and mixed by their long-time collaborator oh.no.ty, CHASING LIGHT will be available on vinyl and via all digital platforms from May 29, 2026. “We wanted to be in our own space to create a special atmosphere that would be relaxed and leave us free to explore,” pianist Moses Yoofee says. “We played for a week straight, borrowing mics and pressing record at certain points or just jamming ideas. It was super DIY and the playfulness of it meant we could push ourselves out of our comfort zones to play in a way we’re not used to.” Coming off a jam-packed tour through Asia, the US and Europe across 2025, their self-recording week of musical exploration resulted in CHASING LIGHT, which builds on the trio’s jazz and hip-hop influenced improvisations to create a lively and expansive new sound. From the frenetic breakbeats and siren-like synth lines of ‘NOTHING TO LOSE’ to the strings-laden harmonic lusciousness of the title track, the afrobeat syncopations of ‘INNER CIRCLES’ and the hip-hop swagger of ‘HONEST’, CHASING LIGHT invites listeners into the tight-knit trio’s world of intuitive self-expression and artful post-production embellishment, creating an EP that sits between the explosiveness of the present moment and the careful layering of arrangements. “We kept all our options open and it created a vibe where anything was possible,” bassist Roman Klobe says. “We didn’t leave until we had something special.” Founded in 2020 after Moses met Roman at Berlin’s Jazz Institute, the project emerged when Roman essentially forced Moses into jamming with drummer Noah Fürbringer. The trio clicked immediately, turning into an equal partnership inspired by jazz greats like Herbie Hancock as much as by contemporary talents such as Robert Glasper, Braxton Cook and Kaidi Tatham. After Noah began posting clips of their jams together online, the group soon amassed a viral following that saw their breakthrough 2023 debut mini-album Ocean released on LEITER. Conceptualised largely through improvisations in the studio, Ocean showcased the trio’s innate aptitude for fiendishly complex rhythm, floating melody and rooted groove. Earning the group a 2024 German Jazz Prize for Live Act of the Year, the following year saw the release of their debut album proper, MYT, which expanded on their improvisatory concept by incorporating further arrangements to enhance their studio sound. Landing on multiple Best Of lists in 2025 and delivering the group a nomination for the German Jazz Award for Debut Album of the Year in 2026, the intricate hook-laden melodies and free-spirited energy of the record launched Moses Yoofee Trio into a year-long global tour that saw them hone an unrivalled live show and grow an increasingly committed fanbase. On a week-long break from tour towards the end of 2025, the group decided to get back into the studio and riff on the adrenalised energy of the road to create new music for future shows. Inspired by a more homegrown recording process, the trio decided to replace a windowless studio with the place they felt most at home: their rehearsal room. “We realised you could start this process from your bedroom or anywhere you’re comfortable,” Moses says. “We had already spent so much time while we were travelling on the road talking about the vibe and energy of the tracks we wanted to create, so by the time we started recording we had so much to go on.” Drawing on those brainstorming sessions, the group came up with tracks like ‘INNER CIRCLES’ thanks to Moses’ idea to anchor a composition in an afrobeat groove, which Roman and Noah immediately brought to life. The title track stemmed from a demo Roman brought in, driven by his desire to incorporate an “emo-core“ guitar pattern. Meanwhile, ‘HONEST’ and ‘KRAUT’ emerged from pure, in the moment jams. Taking this recorded material away, the group then spent weeks editing and crafting finished tracks, as well as calling in features from German talents Mulay and Ahmad Mateen. “We invented whole new songs in the production process by taking drums and mixing it with samples or filling ideas with more elements that connected parts better,” Roman explains. “Mulay is my neighbour and very good friend and her feature came about on ‘NOTHING TO LOSE’ because we had already recorded a demo that fit perfectly with the drums that Noah played in a session. Ahmad Mateen is also an upcoming singer we are a big fan of and we went to Hamburg to record him as we knew he’d be perfect over that strange, wonky groove on ‘HONEST’. It was all organic and made with the same energy as those sessions where we put down the music.” Ultimately, the creative openness of CHASING LIGHT is testament to Moses Yoofee Trio’s growth as a group over the past six years. “We’ve all grown more together and we’re more honest with each other now,” Moses says. “We’ve always been doing exactly whatever we wanted but now we’re even more comfortable with our weirdness and only making or playing what feels true to us.” Harnessing that ethos of authenticity, Moses Yoofee Trio will be hitting the road to perform CHASING LIGHT throughout Europe and across festival season this summer, while they also have plans to record another EP later in the year and keep developing new techniques to hone their irrepressible sound. “We feel super inspired,” Roman says. “Our experimenting is only going to continue.”
Tracks
1. ZERO 2. NOTHING TO LOSE 3. CHASING LIGHT 4. INNER CIRCLES 5. KRAUT 6. HONEST
Press
Winner Debut Album of the Year - Deutscher Jazz Prize
Audio & Video
MAD IRIS - 'MAD IRIS'
Formats
BING224 - LP
600197022405
Details
Toronto’s Mad Iris has been playing live in the local underground scene since 2023, blending noise rock, punk, and shoegaze into a sound that honors influences like Sonic Youth, Pixies, and the Breeders. Their self-titled debut album, out May 29th, 2026, covers desire, obsession, longing, and grief, taking place in basements, night buses, and gas stations, with gum stuck to desks and drinks spilled on sticky floors. Throughout the record, distorted vocals crash and ascend in unison with thrashing drums, plump basslines, and staticky guitar overdrive, lurching between restraint and eruption. A Mad Iris song teeters on disaster, shifting from gritty feedback to intentional sloppy haze, like the sound of a tape machine overheating. Strong, sparkling production is complemented by a wall of noisy visuals: videos that emulate a worn VHS tape, scrapbook show flyers, and alleyway photoshoots. “Our visuals are an integral part of the band’s style,” says bassist Ela Hinatsu, who shares lead vocals with guitarist Kaiya Rosie, often on the same song. With a deliberate sound, style, and presence, Mad Iris goes beyond being a band, becoming more of an art project. Opening track, "Silver Nails", sets hushed, breathy vocals floating over a screechy guitar line, played by Patrick Muldoon, before collapsing into distorted, whiny grit and greedy screams, ending the track with a guitar solo from producer/mixer Ximuna Diego, who, with his own musical expertise, is the secret to Mad Iris' signature distorted sound. The album oscillates between sweet and bitter, pretty and dirty, lust and shame. “Poor Baby” is soaked in self-pity and pointed blame, building from scratchy dual vocals and warm analogue tones into a fever pitch, led by drummer Josh Pryce. “Goldfish” opens with buzzing guitar riffs and addictive drums, as bittersweet vocals cut through muddy noise. The song strips the intensity and cattiness of other tracks, framing loss in a bright, chaotic context, with vocals weaving between jangly hooks. On record, Mad Iris is raw, unpolished, and intimidatingly cool. Off-stage, they’re grounded and self-aware. As Pryce puts it, “We’re just four friends hanging out and making music together. There’s lots of playful love in it.” That chemistry drives their energetic debut.
Tracks
1 Silver Nails 2 Poor Baby 3 The Confession 4 Daisy, Don't Take My Baby 5 Employee of the Month 6 Goldfish 7 The One I Wrote For You
Press
Audio & Video
PENTAGRAM - 'HIGH VOLTAGE - LIVE AT SPOTSYLVANIA 78'
Formats
EZRDR218LP - LP
679065076857EZRDR218CD - CD
679065076864
Details
This is an extremely rare recording when the band was a 5 piece with 2 guitar players. “Live at Spotsylvania” captures Pentagram performing an all-night backyard concert in Spotsylvania, Virginia, at bassist Martin Sweeney’s mother’s house, in front of roughly 500 fans camping out for the weekend. Recorded around 1978 during the band’s short “High Voltage” era, the show began at 1 a.m. on a foggy night and featured rare songs with a raw, powerful performance. The audio blends a low-level board mix with ambient mic recording for surprisingly strong sound quality. A memorable moment came when a firecracker went off perfectly on the beat during the heavy second half of “20 Buck Spin,” echoing through the trees. – Bobby Liebling Recorded in 1978 in Spotsylvania at Martin Swaney’s backyard. The audio is a great recording for being outdoors and cleaned up by mastering guru Nick Townsend.
Tracks
1. Day of Reckoning 2:41 2. Review your Choices 3:29 3. Much too young to know / Guitar Solo 4:48 4. When the screams come / drum solo 6:12 5. Earthflight 3:32 6. Madman 4:09 7. Mad Dog 2:24 8. 20 Buck Spin 5:40
Press
Audio & Video
WATT - 'RECORDED IN MIAMI 1989-1991'
Formats
PAL072LP - LP
843563161654
Details
"I was hanging out with Bill Orcutt at the 930 Club nearly 30 years ago, watching a famous post-rock band (who shall remain nameless, but whose moniker contained two-and-a-half times more articles and conjunctions than nouns) when he said: 'This band is like my band in college—all major 7th and 9th chords.' I relate this to emphasize that in the case of Bill Orcutt and Harry Pussy, the seemingly untutored ooze of 'Please Don't Come Back From the Moon' and 'Girl With Frog' had its genesis in something far more Apollonian than is usually understood. It's debatable whether or not Watt, the duo of Orcutt and drummer Tim Koffley featured on Recorded in Miami, is the above referenced grad-school band. Watt is not resplendent with jazz chords, but it's certainly more tutored, offering a mannered link between the contemporaneous Thunders-esque punk of Orcutt's Trash Monkeys and Harry Pussy's mayhem. The continuity with Harry Pussy is more than temporal. Recorded in Miami is Orcutt's first use of the four-string guitar, and Harry Pussy claimed the same amp and drum kit. The resemblance more or less ends there. To further put Recorded in Miami—made on Orcutt's Walkman, Rat Bastard's North Miami studio, and South Miami's Natural Sound (total bill $289)—into context, consider the fecundity of the underground music world as the '80s rolled into the '90s. It's hard to relate to those who missed it, but it was a time when post-hardcore hadn't quite given way to the bloat of grunge, when the Minutemen held sway (for the moment) over Led Zeppelin. The indie world was ruled by an ever-propagating compost heap of jagged guitar bands like TFUL282, Truman's Water, and (to crank it back a couple years) Phantom Tollbooth. And in some ways (although Orcutt swears Watt's prime influences were James Blood Ulmer and Fred Frith's Massacre ), this record seems very much cut from that decade-ending cloth, seemingly only one vocal overdub away from a Homestead catalog number. Track after track (mostly titled after episodes of Art Clokey's slyly Buddhist TV masterwork, Gumby), Recorded in Miami 's tracks spill over with right angles, rockist tropes, and verse / chorus structures, from the Minutemen oid funk of 'Band Contest' to the stroked Moore-Ranaldo-isms of 'The Young and the Decoding.' Yet Orcutt's fretboard-spanning angular melodic runs are right up front in the latter, and the final two tracks introduce a bit of the explosive chaos that would follow when Adris finally claimed the drum kit. Consider 'Wattstock,' where Koffley forms the bedrock for an extended Orcutt hotbox of instantly-composed harmolodics. Or 'God Are You There, It's Me, Watt,' where we can hear the spontaneous vocal bursts (the only vocals on the album) that would re-emerge on Orcutt's early solo records. Watt began to crumble when Koffley, as drummers will do, yearned for rhythmic grids of increasing complexity, while Orcutt instead wanted to 'smoke more pot and improvise.' For a few records with Harry Pussy, Orcutt would get his wish (though some of the structuralism of Watt would creep into later records). But we shouldn't regard Recorded in Miami as mere transitional scraps of juvenalia, or stunt-rock delivered for the mere thrill of pulling it off. Rather, it's an early, major piece of the unfolding and complex puzzle of Orcutt's music. A foundation. And without the earth beneath our feet, how can we ever reach the sky?"—Tom Carter
Tracks
Press
Audio & Video
ZOH AMBA / CHRIS CORSANO / BILL ORCUTT - 'THE FLOWER SCHOOL'
Formats
PAL076CD - CD
195269268527
Details
Since exploding on the improvised music scene a couple of years ago Tennessee native Zoh Amba has found herself engaging with an ever-widening group of collaborators as she tours across the US and Europe. She’s forged some enduring partnerships, working regularly with drummer Chris Corsano, bassist Thomas Morgan, and pianist Micah Thomas, among others, but one of the deep pleasures of improvised music is when a first- time meeting produces sparks. Indeed, that’s certainly the case with The Flower School, which bottles some serious lightning. In March of 2023 Amba and Corsano had finished up a duo tour of the west coast with an explosive performance in San Francisco. The next day the duo entered the studio with guitarist Bill Orcutt—a trusted collaborator of the drummer stretching back a decade. It was the first time Orcutt and Amba had ever played together, but it sure doesn’t seem that way. Although Amba has often recorded a bunch of tune-oriented albums for Tzadik she’s a free improviser at heart, and this trio arguably provides the most effective, elastic context for her playing yet. Yet what’s most astonishing about The Flower School is how it elevates and transforms the playing of all three participants. It appears that there was more than enough trust in the room to allow each player to push-and-pull. Anyone who pays attention already knows that Orcutt and Corsano are mercurial figures, perpetually adapting, adjusting, and challenging one another so that every performance by their duo seems to spring from a different inspirational source. Inviting a third person to the party could threaten a slowly cultivated balance—whether between Orcutt and Corsano or Corsano and Amba—but in this case the addition only heightened various dichotomies: soft vs. loud, bruising vs. tender, furious vs. lyric. Much has been made of Amba’s debt to the free jazz of 1960’s, particularly the way her vibrato-drenched tone dips into valley of sacred music, but here she carves out a space that’s entirely hers. On tracks like “The Morning Light Has Flooded My Eyes” and “What Emptiness Do You Gaze Upon!” she reveals a meticulously sharpened gift for motific improvisation, taking a single phrase and chiseling away it until she’s discovered every possible permutation, all the while driven by the feverish energy and empathy of her cohorts. This group also displays Orcutt’s masterful support skills, as he often takes a single chord or two, letting them float in mutate in the background or splintering them into patient, reserved arpeggios that ripple alongside Corsano’s circular sculptures and the saxophonist’s edgy blowing. Two of the album’s five tracks are duets between Orcutt and Amba. The collection is bisected by “Sweet One,” a delicate lattice formed by Orcutt’s tremulous electric guitar arpeggios and Amba’s spike acoustic pointillism that basks in its own leisurely beauty for a couple of restorative minutes, while the album closer “Moon Showed But No You” is a searingly beautiful ballad where the guitarist unspools clusters of notes somewhere between vintage Loren Mazzacane Connor and a distorted kalimba, while Amba puts an upwardly arcing melodic line through its paces, finding new wrinkles at every turn. Here’s hoping that this recording is the start of something, but even if this album is the beginning and end, the level of communication and rapport feels eternal.
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Audio & Video
CHRIS CORSANO / BILL ORCUTT - 'BRACE UP!'
Formats
PAL053LP - LP
843563106884
Details
Brace Up! is the first ever studio release from the duo of CHRIS CORSANO (drums) and BILL ORCUTT (guitar). Recorded in Brussels at Les Ateliers Claus by CHRISTOPHE ALBERTIJN on March 19th and 20th, 2018. "Over the past six years or so, drummer Chris Corsano has proven to be one of Bill Orcutt's most reliably flexible collusionists. Regardless of whether Bill is cluster-busting electric guitar strings, weaseling around with cracked electronics, or playing relatively spacious free-rock, Corsano is able to provide the proper base for his aural sculpting. A lot of Orcutt's instrumental work has traditionally felt hermetic even though he's exploring caverns of explosive ecstasy. One often got the impression Bill was operating in the way John Travolta did in the classic 1976 ABC television drama, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Orcutt's actual interaction with collaborators emerged not from communication so much as pure observation. While he was fully cognizant of his musical surroundings, his reactions to it were walled off. This approach did not encourage sonic dialogue so much as parallel streams of discourse. These streams could interact with each other, but not in particularly standard ways. On Brace Up! , their first ever studio release, this precept has changed considerably. Whether it's a function of emotional familiarity or an intellectual choice I dunno, but there's a whole new kind of duo exchange going down on this record. Bill and Chris are clearly playing off each other's moves throughout the album. And it really raises the level of the music to an all-time high. From the cop car see-saw of 'Poundland Frenzy' to the mutual pummeling of 'Paranoid Time' (possibly a Minutemen tribute?) to the lazychicken- gets-stung-prog of 'She Punched a Hole in the Moon for Me,' the sounds on Brace Up! display a constant flow of ideas and instantaneous conjugation of newly forged verbs. As great as Bill and Chris's previous duo records have been, this one's greater."—Byron Coley
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Audio & Video
BILL ORCUTT & JACOB FELIX HEULE - 'COLONIAL DONUTS'
Formats
PAL039CD - CD
616892315643
Details
Guitarist BILL ORCUTT and drummer JACOB FELIX HEULE (ETTRICK, FRED FRITH, SULT) have been performing regularly around the San Francisco Bay Area since 2012, but this is their first release together. Recorded in Orcutt's living room in the early months of 2015 and named after a chain of Oakland coffee shops, Colonial Donuts collects 13 compact, stylistically diverse duets for electric guitar and drums, ranging from hushed, socially anxious folk to sprung electric blues to dense, pummeling free improvisation. Mixed by Frank Falestra at Dan Hosker Studios in Miami Beach; mastered by James Plotkin; designed by Bill Orcutt.