Originally released to supplement – not compete with – the 2-LP Motion Picture Soundtrack of STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, this 1-LP release, skillfully combines a “Symphonic Suite” that John Williams' created for concert performance with new arrangements of other cues from the film score. This fantastic, long out of print album comes in a gatefold jacket with the original iconic Star Wars paintings by William Stout, images of John Williams, and notes from author Ray Bradbury, composer and critic, Christopher Palmer, and from the maestro himself. Out of print since original pressing in 1980. 180 gm black vinyl pressing.
Cerca:black out
New wave dancefloor instrumentalists Snazzback release stunning secondalbum on new label from Bristol's cultural instigators, Worm Disco Club. Bristolseven-piece Snazzback bring the sound of reopened dancefloors, of communalrelease, and of the joyful sound of dancing outside in the sunshine to live music.Their second album 'In The Place' overflows with deep grooves and loose,lolloping rhythms that tease and play, sometimes languid and carefree, othertimes energy spiralling upwards - and taking the listener with them, each andevery time. Their music is soaked in great black american dancefloor music,whether that's the sound we call 'jazz' or hip hop. They also bring other flavours- interlocking Afro-Latin rhythms, electronica and hypnotic rock, all marinated inBristol's long musical histories.
- A1: Cash Money
- A2: So Very Near You
- A3: I'm Glad
- A4: Don't Leave Me
- A5: We Won This Time
- B1: Cool Days Are Out Of Style
- B2: I Always Wanted To Be In The Band
- B3: People
- B4: I Am A Lonely Man
- B5: I Ain't Never Gonna Let You Go
• Step By Step are a 12 piece Milwaukee soul band and this is a rare album from the group
• Classic Brunswick album with a mix of breakbeats and harmonies that are in-demand
• Highlights from the album include the club classic title track plus ‘Cash Money’ and ‘I’m Glad’
• Originally released in 1977, this reissue has been pressed on 140g black vinyl with original artwork
and printed inner sleeve
Silver Lining Music to release the first project by Saxon's Biff Byford and son Seb Byford of Naked Six. On July 23rd 2021, there’s going to be a new rock ‘n’ roll sheriff in town, and as their name suggests, Heavy Water aren’t for the light-hearted. Soaked in gritty, riff-baked blues, yet rich with the sound and metre of classic hard rock, Red Brick City’s ten songs refuses to let you go. From the taut, elastic swing of the ‘Solution’ riff to the rich, layered balladic strains of ‘Tree in the Wind’, Red Brick City moves with the class and cadence of a cracking journey uniting vintage rock ‘n’ roll sensibilities with the crackle and excitement of a fresh, youthful perspective.
With Seb on guitar and Biff on bass duties and both providing their vocal talents the foundations for Heavy Water’s sound are set in both that incredible father/son chemistry and a lifetime of know-how and experiences. Take the title track -and first single- ‘Red Brick City’, all steam and smoulder wrapped around a riff Soundgarden would’ve been proud of, and then there’s the sun-soaked smile of ‘Follow This Moment’ with harmonies evoking the Beach Boys relayed through Led Zeppelin, a gorgeous ‘70’s trip right down to the fade out. Produced by Seb Byford and Biff Byford, with Jacky Lehmann mastering, Red Brick City is a rich, lustrous ride through profoundly rewarding rock waters.
The Ember, The Ash is 鬼 from Unreqvited’s post blackened death metal project that explores the heavier, darker, deeper and weirder sides of the DSBM genre. "Throughout all of Unreqvited’s manifestations, 鬼’s roots in post-hardcore ring out in the form of bright, building riff-walls that welcome the dawn of a new day. More of a DSBM artist through his general emotional intensity that escapes the prison of despair, Unreqvited becomes a candle in the depths of darkness. Surely, there needs to be a place to store overwrought feelings in order to arrive at a place of hope, and that’s where The Ember, The Ash comes in. 鬼 has added the new band to his list of rock and metal ventures, and it is arguably the gloomiest yet. While his songwriting still very much mimics the building of a staircase, it is one that aims steadily downward to the pits instead of upwards to the heavens." - INVISIBLE ORANGES
Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Dan Friel is unrivaled in his capacity to inject blistering noise and energy into ferocious pop songs. A champion and mainstay of the NYC underground, Friel the has played alongside the likes of Lightning Bolt and Black Dice as well collaborated with acclaimed string quartet ETHEL. Upper Wilds channels Friel's unbreakably ebullient spirit into mountainous rock music dripping with molten fuzz. The trio's exploration of the interstellar expands in parallel to their increasing levels of bombast and precision. Venus synthesizes the experimentation of debut Guitar Module 2017 and the thunder of 2018's Mars into ten lean chunks of cosmic rock laden with scorching hooks. On Venus, Upper Wilds rocket lovestruck anthems centered around the planet named for the Roman goddess of love at full tilt from the moment "Love Song #1" makes liftoff. The album's incendiary opening trilogy crashes with a relentless vigor and addictive melodies. The rhythm section of bassist Jason Binnick (who also mixed the album) and drummer Jeff Ottenbacher tear through off-kilter riffs that pound with meteoric impact. Friel's guitar sputters and froths beneath his voice before soaring into frenetic leads that pack every moment with powerful melody. Alien croons and glitching spasms spill out of Friel's wild, filtered humming, amplified into oblivion. Venus' few moments of respite lay bare the raw efficiency and beauty of Friel's songwriting, like transmissions home to loved ones thousands of miles away slipping through the crackle and chaos of space. Venus traverses the havoc, mystery, and joy of humanity's countless follies in both space and love. Both cosmic and human, Venus is a deeply affecting celebration of the wonders of what is beyond comprehension internally and externally. Upper Wilds' Venus is an exhilarating odyssey of tremendous exuberance and a testament to human resilience in the face of the unknown.
Land of the Free? with revered classic songs like the incendiary “F*ck
Authority,” was a wake -up call from Pennywise, aimed at the slumbering
masses of America, an attempt to shake people out of their lethargy and
prod them into thinking about the world.
Originally released in June 2001, the band’s six studio album tackled the political and social issues of the day, from police corruption and mass shootings to
elections, topics that 20 years later are just as relevant.
Pennywise have made a name for themselves over the past 33 years as a politically minded, melodic hardcore /punk band that has sold millions of albums
and become one of the most successful independent acts of all time.
Formed in 1988, the band played backyard parties in their hometown of Hermosa Beach, California, without having any aspirations other than playing as
many songs as they could before the police showed up. Hermosa Beach and
the surrounding neighborhoods are a prominent place in popular culture, with
groups like Black Flag, The Circle Jerks and Descendents merging a fast rebellious sound with the surrounding aggressive surf and skate culture.
Inspired by their predecessors, Pennywise were at the forefront of a second
wave of American punk rock that would catapult the movement from a tightknit subculture into a worldwide movement.
Having impressed with his 2019 debut album on Negentropy, the breaks/tech-house/minimal techno fusion of Rhythm Tension, Zweizig has been given a chance to showcase his wares on Constant Sound's popular Constant Black offshoot. The headline attraction is undoubtedly opener 'Manipulate Our Reflections', a spaced-out chunk of hypnotic late-night science that wraps wonky, Villalobos style electronic noises and pulsing pads around a locked in (but also surprisingly swinging) tech-house groove. Relic provides a chunkier and groovier remix that boasts darker noises and a more beefed-up sound, while bonus cut 'Vvoid' is a twisted, undulating acid-jacker.
- A1: Fleetwood
- A2: Something
- A3: Crumbs (Feat. Evidence & Muja Messiah)
- A4: Woes
- A5: Strung (Feat. Musab)
- A6: Clocked
- A7: Sleepless (Feat. Nino Bless)
- A8: Distances
- A9: Carousel (Feat. Nikki Jean)
- A10: Vanish
- A11: Pressed (Feat. Anwar Highsign, Blackliq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, Lateef Truthspeaker)
- A12: Skull
- A13: Nekst
- A14: Barcade (Feat. Aesop Rock & Mf Doom)
Following their last release, The Day Before Halloween_an imaginative, distorted-synth-driven concept album_Atmosphere returns with a refreshing new project, simply titled WORD? Steering back toward their signature sound, the album further highlights producer Ant's undeniable talents as the project leans into the classic boom-bap aesthetic, bringing a unique energy out of Slug's wisdom, wit and delivery. From onset, WORD? proves to be every bit an exercise in refining and advancing their craft as it is a harkening to earlier work. That is, while their releases have grown more broodingly cinematic, and increasingly concerned with the human condition and mortality, WORD? manages to reintroduce moments of levity and lightheartedness throughout, an approach seldom heard on their albums of late. From album opener "Fleetwood," with its razor-sharp snares and warm fleshy bassline, to the resonant melody of "Clocked", there are strong hints of Atmosphere's nascent years within the sound. Meanwhile, songs like "Woes", "Strung" and "Vanish" cheerfully make light of daily hardships, but they're more likely to be remembered for making listeners want to bob their heads and sing along. With Slug and Ant directing the course, the album plays like a joyride through a range of experiences and emotions, with an extensive cast of special guests hopping in and out along the way, including Evidence, Muja Messiah, Musab, Nino Bless, Nikki Jean, Anwar HighSign, BlackLiq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Aesop Rock, and the late MF DOOM (RIP). The result is a project that feels like it came from the era or, perhaps more fittingly, the mindset that created albums like God Loves Ugly, Seven's Travels, or the popular Sad Clown series, while sounding as polished and perfected as more recent albums like Mi Vida Local or Whenever. Ultimately, WORD? pairs the breadth of Atmosphere's talents with the beauty of their growth, all while showing they still have a lot of fun in the process and don't mind letting the listener in on the fun as well.
Lloyd Altamont Thomas Robinson recorded many songs as a singer first for Studio One in 1963 and later for many labels and Jamaican producers including Duke Reid,
Lloyd Daley, Sir JJ and more. Robinson was part of the duo Lloyd and Devon, whom had quite a few good songs under their belt including a hit for Derrick Morgan's Hop label,
"Red Bum Ball.". With Glen Brown, under the name Lloyd & Glen, he wrote and recorded many outstanding Rocksteady & early Reggae tracks, some quite heavily influenced by
Black Soul including the two sublime tracks featured here. He went on to record the big dancehall hit “Cuss Cuss” in 1984 on the Harry J. label.
Glenmore Lloyd Brown, began his career as a vocalist in Sonny Bradshaw’s jazz group before recording duets with Hopeton Lewis, Dave Barker, and Lloyd Robinson.
Later, Brown became the founder and owner of the Reggae/Dub labels Pantomine and South East Music. A sought after producer he worked with many with many
Reggae greats including U Roy, Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth, I-Roy, Prince Jazzbo, Johnny Clarke, Lloyd Parks, and Little Roy.
The heavy rhythms of his Dub productions resulted in his being known as "The rhythm master".
As “Lloyd & Glen”, they composed, sang and recorded together about 15 tracks, ranging from Ska to Rocksteady to Soul on a variety of labels between 1966 and 1968.
Most of these songs are outstanding, many are just sublime with a strong American Soul influence.
After a very short break Daje Funk are back with a super fresh redesign. The label is also fully embracing the move from their previous 10” format to 12” with the obvious bonus that they are now able to cram just that little bit of extra music onto their releases.
Their latest release, the Slam Dunk EP, is their 9th since the label arrived and it’s been a memorable journey so far. Keeping things decidedly funk with a modern dancefloor twist for their latest instalment they have assembled and all-star cast of producers with Dutch edits wizard, Ronny Hammond, England’s Shit Hot Soundsystem and Uptown Funk and Italian producer Coldbeard all taking turns to vie for dancefloor gold.
Together they have turned in one mighty slab of black wax.
The EP opens with Ronny Hammond’s ‘Keep On Groovin’ and it’s a very serious club track. For those of you with long memories and deep collections the original used here was sampled for Screen II’s Hey Mr DJ, a 90’s house classic on Cleveland City and it feels just as essential right now in 2021 as it did in both the 70’s when the original arrived and in the 90’s. Keep On Groovin’ is a proper funk bomb and Ronny has taken it to town with the addition of a powerhouse bassline, ass shakin’ drums and cheeky ear worm vocal samples. Indeed there is no chance that you will be able to sit still when this one drops. Expect it to cause serious dancefloor mischief over the coming summer months.
Shit Hot Soundsystem is up next with ‘Woah’ with label co-boss De Gama adding some extra scalpel action. Another track with classic subject matter, this often sampled track has rarely sounded as good as on this monstrous funky outing. It still sounds as fresh and exciting as the first time you heard those vibrant and vital synths and beautifully layered vocals. ‘Woah’ is both immediate and essential and will be soundtracking parties for years to come.
Over on the flip Uptown Funk’s ‘South Side Boogie’ also has De Gama on edit duty and here things head off downtown 70’s funk style. Brass stabs, wah guitar, and spicy synth licks all combine for a track which has plenty of joyous zest as it combines disco edges with a funk packed groove combing to deliver serious club heat.
Seeing the EP out is Coldbeard and he takes up deeper still with a bubbling groove which captivates from the first notes of the dynamo synth bass before adding in electric guitar licks and a rhythm line to die for. A Funky Situation is a perfect example of how to build a track piece by piece until it becomes utterly essential. Once you have heard that Rhodes and the vocal stabs working together you just know that this one will need to be played religiously.
Four utterly essential tracks which perfectly bridge the gap from the 70’s to 2021. Nine releases deep Daje Funk delivers yet again on its mission to make funk as utterly essential in clubs again nearly 4 decades after it’s glorious genres beginnings.
- 1: Sunshine Of Our Days
- 2: You're Not In My Plans
- 3: It All Turned Out The Way I Planned It
- 4: Dreamland
- 5: Dreaming Of You
- 6: Headache
- 7: The Wind Doesn't Speak To Me Anymore
- 8: Well I Know You're Lonely Now
- 9: Love Peddler
- 10: Babe Oh Babe
- 11: That's Me
- 12: Question
- 13: Thank God You're Mine
- 14: If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind
- 15: Passing Through
- 16: *I Wish I Knew The Man I Thought You Were
- 17: *Royal Jelly
An actor, musician, visual artist and unyielding creative spirit, Dreaming of You (1971-1976) gathers for the first time the best of Karen Black’s studio and demo recordings. Produced by Cass McCombs and meticulously restored from the original tapes, the collection’s fifteen tracks are a holistic depiction of Black’s dreamy, introspective and earnest musical identity. Cass McCombs and Karen Black became fast friends. They collaborated again on “Brighter!” from McCombs’ 2013 album Big Wheel and Others, and also wrote toward a solo album for Black. “She’d given me all of her poetry and I was trying to work them into some kind of meter that would work as songs,” McCombs says. They were able to record two of them before she died, “I Wish I Knew The Man I Thought You Were” and “Royal Jelly.” See EPK for full description
- 1: Of Tesseractual Gateways And The Grand Duplicity Of Xhul
- 2: Black Hole Quantum Thermodynamics
- 3: Hypercube Necrodimensions
- 4: Frozen Winds Of Thyraxia
- 5: Incantation Of The Red Order
- 6: Beyond The Wizardthrone (Cryptopharmalogical Revelations Of The Riemann Zeta Function)
- 7: Forbidden Equations Deep Within The Epimethean Wasteland
- 8: The Coalescence Of Nine Stars In The System Once Known As Markarian-231
"Behold! Arise! Vast distances from Earth’s dimension, in a galaxy millions of light-years away, the WIZARDTHRONE resurges! Traversing vivid sci-fi multiverses in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft via comprehensively established technical death- power- and symphonic black metal, Hypercube Necrodimensions (out July 16 via Napalm Records) is a bombastic journey through hyperspace and otherworldly realities. Featuring members of ALESTORM, GLORYHAMMER, AETHER REALM, FORLORN CITADEL, NEKROGOBLIKON and more, the musical brilliance of WIZARDTHRONE is absolutely undeniable. Title track “Hypercube Necrodimensions” is a hard-hitting, astronomically technical trip through portals of the Euclidean reality, entering the fifth dimension with whirlwinding synth and guitar leads. Throughout the runtime of Hypercube Necrodimensions, WIZARDTHRONE effortlessly sear from one fast-paced sonic romp to another, evident with frost-bitten “Frozen Winds Of Thyraxia”’s orchestral blast beats, or “Forbidden Equations Deep Within The Epimethean Wasteland”’s incredibly elaborate, multi-faceted songwriting. Hypercube Necrodimensions finds its grand finale in the extensive 14-minute sci-fi experience “Beyond the Wizardthrone (Cryptopharmalogical Revelations of the Riemann Zeta Function)”, taking you through the prismatic light of the twin stars of Thyraxia into the cathartic revelations of WIZARDTHRONE’s cosmos! Featuring guest appearances from Aleksi Munter (SWALLOW THE SUN/INSOMNIUM), Florian Magnus Maier (DARK FORTRESS/ALKALOID) and Evan Berry (WILDERUN), Hypercube Microdimensions is a spectacular display of WIZARDTHRONE’s musical finesse, constantly pushing the boundaries of heavy metal and thus offering a one-of-a-kind Extreme Wizard Metal listening experience!
Lesley Rankine (Silverfish) and Mark Walk (Skinny Puppy) formed Ruby in 1995. Ruby’s first album, Salt Peter, was released in 1995. The album would produce three singles, all of which would chart in the UK. It was made almost entirely using computers and without a band. Salt Peter’s first single was “Paraffin”, released in November 1995. The compilation New Voices vol. 3 from Rolling Stone featured this song as its second track. It was followed up with what is perhaps Ruby’s best known song, “Tiny Meat”, which was also released in 1995. It would be the only song by the band to chart in the United States, reaching at #22 on the Modern Rock Tracks list. This song was also included in the compilation MTV Fresh 2. Another single, “Hoops” came out in early 1996. Later in that year the promotion-only single for the track “Swallow Baby” was put out for radio play. Additionally, the song “This Is” was used on the soundtrack to the popular 1996 film The Cable Guy.
Salt Peter is a dark, eerie fusion of trip-hop and industrial, with quietly menacing beats and droning synths. Provocative, as well as well- written. Salt Peter remains a promising debut. It is released as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on “Tiny Meat” (transparent red & black mixed) coloured vinyl.
Blue Vinyl
The 10-track release, Collection Agency, is Curren$y’s first project of 2021. The album marks his 11th solo studio album, and 90th overall project. Even more impressively, the quality has remained consistent throughout his prolific career. The Louisiana rapper links up with several notable producers on the project including DJ.Fresh, Harry Fraud, Rsonist of The Heatmakerz, Trauma Tone, Purps, & Black Metaphor. We also see an appearance by longtime friend and collaborator, Larry June. At just under 24 minutes, Curren$y delivers another unforgettable round of smooth joints and cruising music.
Pleasure is a Sydney based music project that utilizes distorted synths, irregular drum beats and fluid song structures to create energetic and hypnotic pieces that straddle the line of bright and abrasive.The trio is comprised of Adam Connelly (synthesizers + vocals) Jonathan Boulet (bass guitar + fx pedals) and Hugh Deacon (drums). When playing live and on record, their music is improvised and unrehearsed with no laptops or backing tracks. “One of us will introduce an idea and the rest will follow.”
Their debut LP Saint Albans, was conceived and recorded in a small farm house in the town of Saint Albans, New South Wales, over 3 days from the 12th to the 14th of October 2019. The building has since burned down in the 2019 Australian Bushfires. “We came away from this session with close to 20 hours of material that we edited down into consumable pieces.” This is the case for all tracks except BRAIN WASTE 191013 which was left intact and unedited.
They launched the Australian release of the album by playing a 6 hour endurance set in a warehouse in Sydney’s Inner West. “Our sonic influences seem very obvious but we haven't been called out yet. Mainly Boards of Canada, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Aphex Twin, Fuck Buttons, Blanck Mass and Lightning Bolt.”
- A1: Kebrou - Banjey ‘Boogie’
- A2: Ateg Ould Syed - L’ensijab
- A3: Jeich Ould Chighaly - Wezin
- A4: Kebrou - Banjey
- A5: Deye Ould Amartichitt - Paris
- A6: Mohammed Guitar - Banjey & Medh
- B1: Baba Ould Hembara & Mama Mint Hembara - Moulana, Laa Moulana
- B2: Luleide Ould Dendenni - Wezin
- B3: Mohammed Guitar & Sbeyniat - Gelbi Vatimetou
- B4: Mohammed Cheikh Ould Syed - El Horr & Az-Zrag
- B5: Kweli Ould Seyyid & Klayhid Ould Meylid - Wezin
Legendary psychedelic guitar music from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania finally available on vinyl!
Originally released as a double CD in 2010, Wallahi Le Zein! has persisted as a cult classic, a collection of a rarely heard and utterly unique underground music scene, raw and unfiltered.
For fans of the more raw side of Sublime Frequencies, Sahelsounds, the ripping tape-hiss psychedelia of Les Rallizes Denudes, and anyone remotely interested in GUITARS.
12” 160 gram black vinyl LP, with 2 spot color reverse-board jacket, and 8-page full sized booklet with extensive notes and photos, and a history of Mauritanian guitar playing.
‘’this is the first curated collection of unfiltered Mauritanian guitar music ever, and I'm glad it's been introduced with such thoroughness and care.’’ 8.0 Pitchfork
The LP version we now present is intended as an immersive entry into this music: gnarled and virtuosic electric guitars weave hypnotically throughout melismatic sung poetry and exclamations, pulsing hand drums, party chatter, buzzing rigged desert sound systems, and all manner of the ambient sounds of Nouakchott wedded to oversaturated cassette in all its swirling, breathing, psychedelic glory. Operating entirely outside of any local recording industry, these songs were collected from bootleg tape stalls, wedding souveniers, and networks of musicians, expertly curated, researched and produced by Matthew Lavoie.
Drawing from the deep well of Mauritanian classical music, the gamut of musical modes and the tidinitt lute repertoire are transposed to the electric guitar - often with frets removed or additional frets installed, “heavy metal” distortion pedals and phasers built into guitar bodies, blurring the lines between Haratine and Beydane musical cultures, the ancient and the futuristic. At times transcendent and transfixing, and conversely a furious and cascading intensity that commands jaw-dropping attention.
Nothing can beat the thrill of thrash at its best, and no one is keeping the spirit and sound of the genre alive quite like Berlin’s Space Chaser. Marking their ten-year anniversary with their third full-length, Give Us Life, they are returning in force and once again establishing their importance in the scene. While they predominantly take their lyrics seriously they also have moments of fun, such as on “Army Of Awesomeness”, but the band are primarily drawn to dystopian sci-fi stories with roots in real-life physics and the works of Carl Sagan, and as they point out “it’s still a lot of fun to sing about a dying sun turning into a black hole and becoming a galaxy devouring behemoth.” The title track might possibly contain the most epic theme ever covered, describing the emergence of life and its inevitable death from the smallest to the largest possible scale.
Album Description BROS VOL 2 takes you on a technicolor journey via your ear drums. The eclectic flavours of VOL1 are taken to new heights. The musical scope is wider, and the worldly sonics more exotic. The power pop refrains sink their hooks deeper, the sly musical jokes sell out harder and the hard charging grooves really pack a wallop. BROS make music that is fun and colourful, the way it's supposed to be. Bio After boldly displaying their full musical range on the 2016 debut album Vol. 1, BROS—aka The Sheepdogs’ Ewan and Shamus Currie—return with Vol. 2, an endlessly surprising new 13-track collection that’s something akin to a party thrown by your friends with the best record collection. Recorded over a two-year span with producer/engineer Thomas D’Arcy in Toronto, BROS sought to expand their scope on Vol. 2 by inviting a host of collaborators, from a horn section and tabla drummer, to Sheepdogs guitarist Jimmy Bowskill (on a range of instruments he doesn’t normally play) and even their father Neil Currie on piano. The results contain something for everyone, from the Tropicalia-inspired “Sunflower” and the smooth jazz of “Clams Casino,” to the lowdown funk of “Never Gonna Stop” and the vintage AM radio homages “Crazy Schemes” and “You Love This Song.” With Vol. 2, the combination of visually evocative instrumentals and finely crafted Pop and Soul nuggets is now undeniably BROS’ trademark sound, one that’s utterly distinct from The Sheepdogs’ arena-ready, guitar-fuelled rock. As a pure studio creation, the album not only displays the Curries’ dynamic creative bond, but also their playful sense of humour and easy-going relationship, something that can’t often be said of fraternal musical partnerships. So as we all wait patiently to return to bars and concert halls, BROS Vol. 2 is here to provide the perfect soundtrack for whatever you happen to get up to within your bubble, just as long as the intention is to have some fun. For Fans of: The Sheepdogs, Dan Auerbach, The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, The Band, The Black Crowes
Synth legend Suzanne Ciani, Demdike Stare’s Sean Canty & Finders Keepers’ Andy Votel come together on this killer hour-long 2014 synapse popper of a collaboration pooling the occasional group’s esoteric collage-based approach into a remarkably foreboding session pregnant with a dread that’s never quite resolved. Think Vladimir Ussachevsky, Todd Dockstader, Spectre and Company Flow melted thru the Deutsch-Italo industrial DIY tape era and funneled thru an almost impenetrable fog of Ann Arbor basement noizze.
Hustling some of Neotantrik’s most amorphous gestures, ’241014’ is a four-segment movement of reduced Buchla treatments, destroyed vinyl loops and scraping foley suspense; like a cosmic dream diary layered into a collage of drones and clatters. Little in Ciani’s extensive catalogue has hinted at what’s on display here; the joyful lullaby-pop of “Seven Waves” or metallic alien soundscraping of “Flowers of Evil” are only hinted at. She instead paints new sonic vistas, allowing space for her collaborators to make themselves known; Votel’s chiming toy autoharp and Bubul Tarang (a Punjab string instrument) add a distinctive flavor, while Canty’s grimy drones and noise-soaked textures drizzle pitch-black molasses into the cracks and crevices. Together, the effect is a bit like hearing Philip Jeck improvising over Popol Vuh’s peerless Moog-led debut “Affenstunde” or Demdike Stare knocking out impromptu reworks of Tangerine Dream’s abstrakt early run.
Perhaps unusually, the trio have still never set foot in a studio together, exclusively maintaining their practice in-the-moment and on stage when schedules intersect. So it’s all the more remarkable that their improvisations naturally find a democracy of role and such a heightened level of intuition, beautifully converging their thoughts to mutual, open-ended conclusions that leaves billowing room for interpretation. In a most classic sense, it’s like the sensation of sleep paralysis or dream/nightmare ambiguity, with a level of suggestiveness that’s disorienting from end to end.
For the first time the recordings are now available in high fidelity (there was a tape version a couple of years back) - now remastered by Rashad Becker to better represent the otherworldly scope of their actions on stage, from the NWW-like queues and drone of ‘Scanned Accents’ and keening silhouette of ‘Second Action,’ to new sections of subaquatic Porter Ricks-like murk in ‘Anti-Contraction’ and the levitating webs of synth and tactile, sampled textures in ‘Last Canción.’ Tape music and synth music have long shared a passionate embrace, and here turntablism coolly slides in on the action. Canty and Votel’s background in beat tape assembly and crate digging pays off: they’re keenly experimental creators but bring an unfussy sense of rhythm and performance that’s miles beyond any facile repetition of a nostalgia for vintage glory. Combined with Ciani’s delicate Buchla work - it’s a unique proposition.




















