Side one of this tape is a flowing sequence of pieces using Sachiko's voice, looped and layered into a lovely sort of chorale. It seems a bit strange to write this, but the one thing it reminded me of was the closing track on my own Phosphene album with Lol Coxhill and Raymond MacDonald, not that I'm suggesting this was any influence! Side 2 has spiraling spacey drones and a harsher electronic piece too. Another good Sloow Tape release. (JC)

Beautiful collaboration between Melody Bar favourite Anthony Guerra and Mark Sadgrove (sometime collaborator with another friend of Boa - Tim Coster). Hypnotic meshes of guitar arpeggios. The usual lovely handmade packaging from Black Petal.

Jeff Gburek has, in the past, collaborated with the likes of Tom Carter. Here we find him solo, working mainly with electric guitar, under the name Saiko. I say mainly, as there are touches of voice and synth, but the principal element apart from guitar is space: there are two tracks of two minutes silence! I like the guitar tone here, as it sounds like the treble control is turned all the way up. This makes for a slightly crunchy offset to what is often very reflective music and also suits the times when the feeling of blues influence bubbles up. Maybe it's just me, but I think I hear a tinge of Bo Diddley in there too. (JC)

The See See 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 3.75

Featuring ex-members of the Eighteenth Day of May, Soledad Brothers and Pete Greenwood, the See See turn in two lovely slices of sun-kissed guitar pop in the vein of Teenage Fanclub.

Selvapyy & Pyy Pivossa 3" cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 1.50

This is pretty wild: mushroom-damaged pop that sounds completely all over the place. Surf riffs, ghostly improvised piano, garbled goblin vocals, dub echo melodica, swells of distortion. 

Helsinki's Shogun Kunitoki are, according to their website, "a band with a mission to help electronic music regress back to a more human state, the time of the tube organ and the ring modulator, the spring reverb and the test oscillator". If you enjoy the sonorities of the Circle or Stereolab, this is bound to appeal. Less motorik, but still infused with memorable motifs, their "regression" sounds joyously fresh to me! Recommended. (JC)

A live recording captured in Seattle in October 2005. There are three free pieces here, the third taking up the whole of side 2. Full throttle intensity contrasts with mellow, reflective moments and the rather roomy sound has been tweaked into good shape for this heavy grade piece of vinyl. (JC)

A subtle and inventive collection of pop songs. The vocals and harmonies - very fine they are too - struck me as sounding a bit like Tahiti 80, but the instrumentation steers clear of hard beatboxes and more towards Elephant 6 territory, with a nod to the 1970s here and there. (JC)

Italian sound artist Siddhi creates a mystical cosmic drift on one long track. Ethereal woodwind, ritualistic bells, melancholic acoustic guitar and gong.

Silent Land Time Machine -

• & Hope Still cd (Time Lag / Indian Queen) 10.75
• & Hope Still LP (Time Lag / Indian Queen) 17.25

Silent Land Time Machine is a one man project from Texas (Indian Queen being his label).  Gently lysergic pastoral chamber psych sculpted from sweet strings, acoustic guitar, unobtrusive electronics, percussion and buried vocals. The sound merges into a gorgeous haze that evokes late summer evenings. Heavy vinyl (for the LP) with a fold out cover and insert.

Silmaril - Voyage of Icarus cd (Locust) 5

This album compiles hyper-rare progressive folk (a self-released lp run of 300 copies in 1973) with material by Silmaril never heard before on record. There's also an extensive liner note, explaining how this Milwaukee band came together and how they eventually split, a fascinating story that begins in a catholic youth retreat and winds up in a gay cowboy band in Texas . Anyway, the music, which often draws on religious lyrical themes, has many-a-harmony, guitar and mandolin and a quality that lends itself to candlelight and wine.... that'll be altar wine, for sure! (JC)

Silvercords - Divergence Eve cdr (Time Lag) 2.50

Bass-heavy rumbling infernal drone from Sara & Nicolas of Family Underground with flickering synths hissing in and out of earshot and liquid metal tones menacing high overhead. 

also: Family Underground

• Trinity Sky cassette (Digitalis) 1.50

more superb packaging from this South African label: this is a duo featuring Righard Kapp and Mark on guitar and drums. 17 fairly short tracks of noise-inflected rock with some great titles ('DIY Slayer' is my favourite) and a fondness for a bit of metal

also: Righard Kapp

Sky City is a four piece featuring Robert Horton, Tom Carter, Texan percussionist / noise artist Lisa Cameron and vocalist Lee Ann Cameron. This is a fascinating collaboration: one of Horton / Carter's finest. Eerie outer space blues featuring slide guitar, Horton's homemade boot, Lisa Cameron's vibrating cymbals hovering menacingly and Lee Anne Cameron's almost Opalio-esque cosmic babbling. 

I was about to write that "Spitrobot Goes Shopping" is the electrifying scream of indignation an oscillator might make if it was immersed in a tank of water but I've just read the insert which tells me I've just been blasted with a scouring wall of guitar feedback. The B side features more tortured guitar but is the disorientating sound of malfunctioning Commodore computers taking over the world. 

The Smiles and Frowns 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 4

This is one of those super-catchy '60s-ish pop records that GPS excel at releasing. This one sounds like a bedroom pop version of the Zombies, had they run out of tracks before they got to piling on the harmonies. It certainly has a similar nostalgia tinged melancholy and cyclical feel to Kaleidoscope's "Sky Children". The B side is equally delightful, with a folk-pop feel. 

Chris Smith - Bad Orchestra cd (Dead Valley records) 8

Imagine this: Crazy Horse are running through one of those rather sad Neil Young sea shanty/waltz type things in the boxcar of a moving train, only instead of Neil, Stefan Neville (Pumice) is singing. That'll give you an idea of the opening song here. The rest of the album is mainly instrumental, although voices come from radios and atmosphere tapes. There's one track which has a Morricone-esque harmonica and high'n'lonesome sounds contrast with frenzied walls of guitar further down the line. Everything is concise and if this record is infused with bleakness (and I suspect it is), it still makes a highly compelling listen. (JC)

Brand new album from Steven R Smith of Hala Strana / Thuja etc. More similar to his "Crown of Marches" cd on Catsup Plate than his Eastern European folk experiments, this also features his first vocals. The guitar playing is sparse and soulful, warm, often mournful tones with some slashes of heart-piercing distortion; the vocals weary meditations. Nice packaging too with printed card covers.

"In May of 2008, Amsterdam-based clarinetist Gareth Davis and American guitarist Steven R. Smith convened at Worstward Studios, in Los Angeles to collaborate and create music together, the results of which have been titled Westering. Gareth Davis is a dedicated performer of contemporary music while at the same time works with improvising musicians such as Jon Balke and Terje Rypdal as well as electronic artists including Machinefabriek and Ryan Teague (Type Records) and has recently completed the Rabbit at the Airport series of LPs with Martin Stig Andersen and Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner). Steven R. Smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for over the last decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including Thuja, Hala Strana, and most recently Ulaan Khol." (Important) A beautiful textured record of melancholic layered clarinet dirges and more abstract pieces of broken guitar feedback and guttural bass clarinet which evokes the winter wind in a forest. Screen-printed sleeve.

piano improvisations displaying a fondness for block chord atonality which seems to nod in the direction of Michael Finnissy with a hint of Cecil Taylor (JC)

Brian comes from Galway, Ireland. Brian lives in Seoul, South Korea. Brian describes his early musical attempts as "god awful" or "utter shit", but concedes that "recently it's been getting a little better". Brian is too hard on himself! These songs are mainly very short and sound quite distinctive in a good ole' fashioned 4 track bedroom punk pop (with a twist) kind-of-a-way. If you can imagine a halfway point on a bridge between Boyracer and Pumice, this might just be it… looser than one; tighter than the other. There's some nice off key 'cello, wonky piano and what has to be a homage to Calvin Johnson too. Mmm… smiles all round. (JC)

The Solo Joint 

• s/t cdr (Foxglove) 2.50

Another lovely cdr on Foxglove of meandering folk from Spain (after that lovely Raro & Apenino cdr from earlier this year). Acoustic guitar, scattered percussion, piano, flute and occasional vocals form into a spontaneous wash of freeform pastoralism. 

Soon Clyde - Solace cdr (Cook an Egg) 7

Yet another winner from Cook An Egg. Soon Clyde is Baltimore based artist Greg Pardew (with some violin from Jenn Hutt on this record) and he plays some lovely acoustic guitar, has a line in elegaic songs which make me think of "More" era Pink Floyd and extends his themes with some fine twists of strangeness. (JC)

4th instalment in the Music Fellowship Triptych series: Spiderwebs is Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Sandy Ewan (Weird Weeds) with some divinely beautiful guitar pieces - rings of e-bow swoon and ringing harmonics. Mike Tamburo & Matthew McDowell (both ex- Arco Flute Foundation)and their contribution is a 20 minute-plus drone of epic peacefulness which opens with melancholic guitar picking and ends with by evoking the blurred whir of a musical box. Finally, 3 magnificient pieces of steel-rattling and warping from Keenan Lawler and his National Steel Resonator guitar. I'd recommend this cd for each of the 3 artists alone - this is a great release.

also: Tom Carter, Weird Weeds

Ben Spiers runs the Transient label, is in Empty Mirror and Seen Through and recorded a collaborative cdr for CPP with 1/3 Octave Band's Bill Wood. This cdr is a collection of guitar and violin improv, ranging from nocturnal meanderings to flurries of obliterated notes.

• Artwork Temporarily Removed 3" cdr (Transient) 4.50

  Degraded guitar buzz and wail from New Zealander Ben Spiers. Breathes of feedback harmonise mournfully like the death gasps of a mangled guitar & amp. Individually block-printed manila sleeves.

   

• Spin You cdr (Transient) 6.25

  more late night string caressing from Mr Spiers: title track "Spin You" is gorgeous - solitary notes dropped into a gloom of taut scraping and "Trinh Has Gone" sombre violin drone disintegrating into atonal screech. 

• And Then cdr (Transient) 6.75

Empty Mirror / Seen Through / Glory Fckn Sun member Ben Spiers turns in an impressive full-length of degraded guitar / amp meditations. There's a warm buzz to the sound at odds with the emptiness and ill-ease of the sounds which have an "end of the universe" feel to them, mournful feedback tones and burrowing oscillations and intensely focussed meditations on single notes.

also: Seen Through, Glory Fckn Sun

This is a fascinating collaboration between clarsach player (Scottish harp) Catriona McKay (currently a member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra) and electro-acoustic composer Alistair MacDonald. I saw this pair play a magical live set last week for the first time.  Catriona uses her harp more as an instrument of percussion than the sweet notes you would expect and Alistair manipulates the sounds live using laptop.The result is a haunting ambience with huge sweeps of silvery electric sighs, percussive flurries of notes, notes bent out of shape and scraped metal. It's a sound that would fit nicely on the CLaudia label. Nice fold-out card artwork.

one long piece of drone that unwinds rather malevolently with warped guitar strings and a weird undercurrent that sounds like possessed muttering one minute and an airplane propeller the next

• Schmetterling cdr (Spirit of Orr) 8.50

One hour -long recording of Sunburned Hand of the Man's gig in Munich from last year's European tour. This is the second edition after a super limited first edition of 30.

• A Grand Tour of Tunisia 2LP LP (Three Lobed) 26

"during a late 2007 trip to the united kingdom the sunburned lineup of paul labrecque, john moloney, sarah o'shea, robert thomas and ron schneiderman trekked into the studio along with john "herb diamante" godbert and michael flower. a grand tour of tunisia is a massive double LP providing a glimpse into those sessions. tunisia touches on all of the best facets of the sunburned oeuvre - dope rhythmic workouts, freeform bombast and experimental exorcisms with a taste of character-driven roleplay thrown in for good measure. yeah - this record is *that* serious and one of the most significant entries in the band's entire discography. if you are so intrigued, click here for a downloadable preview, "a spoonful a day." a grand tour of tunisia will be one *grand* package containing a massive two and half hours of music - it will be from an edition of around 878 copies pressed on two glorious slabs of 180g RTI vinyl. it will be housed in a heavyweight, "old style" gatefold LP sleeve bearing artwork by herb diamonte. all copies of this double-LP will be packaged with the 70+ minute london zero CD  documenting some sunburned moments from the united kingdom this past year." (3Lobed)

• Cheap Blood cdr (Blueberry Honey / Manhand) cdr 6.75
• Tailwind cdr (Blueberry Honey / Manhand) cdr 6.75

A couple of cdrs capturing sounds from recent SHOTM tours.

Antony Milton (Nether Dawn, AM) and Stefan Neville (Pumice) both record some fantastic music on their own - together they are Sunken and this album draws from their fuzziest, haziest sides with both playing reed organs with various effects. The result is gorgeous - an amorphous and bottomless sea of wheezy drone that casts you adrift from reality and out into the ocean. Nice card gatefold sleeves too. 

another winning combination from the people behind the Foxglove label: Brad Rose (North Sea, Golden Oaks, Cone Bearers, Corsican Paintbrush) and Eden Hemming Rose (Wax Ghost, Corsican paintbrush) with Keith Wood (Hush Arbors) - this is an outbreak of joyous spontaneity on acoustic guitars / banjos and a toybox of percussion

also: Autumn Galaxy, Wax Ghost, Golden Oaks, Corsican Paintbrush, Juniper Meadows, North Sea

Latest Matthew Bower (Skullflower / Hotogisu) solo release with guests Mick Flower, John Moloney and Mattin on some tracks, great title too with the sounds plotting a course between between Kosmische psych / electronic overload and brutal metal machine music.

• Cloudz cd (VHF) 10.50

Repress. Gorgeous mesmerizing sunbursts of layered shimmering sound (keyboard / guitar / drone / various hums and fuzzes) in a Cluster vein with the occasional delve into more fuzzed-up guitar territory.

Sunshine Has Blown - s/t cdr (MYMWLY) 3.50

Packaged in hand-made paper that looks like animal hide, this is a lovely disc from Joel Stern-led Sunshine Has Blown. Sounds seem to emerge from an inky blackness like little bubbles of light, unrecognisable tones rung from instruments such as cello, thumb piano, violin, guitar, percussion. Lovely stuff.

Duo of Phil French & William Giacchi, who both play in Magic Lantern, and Phil runs the Stunned label. Maximal ecstatic drone with sunlit organs swirling into a mesmerizing cloud of sound and wordless vocals. This sounds like the music for a sun-worship ritual of a idyllic lost world. Gorgeous. 

Another great release from the Super Minerals duo. Huge amorphous clouds of drone with delicate webs of banjo picking or beams of guitar light shining through. 

Duo LP from Jakob Olausson and his partner Sus. Haunting freeform drone / jazz improv at its most zoned and exotic. Splashes of rolling drums, chromatic cascades of ghostly zither-like strings, flute fluttering like smoke rings and wordless vocals float in a huge reverb. Utterly ravishing.

A collection of ten songs, some in Spanish, set within fairly minimal arrangements. There's a splash of harmonium, banjo and piano, but nothing detracts from Sutherland's voice. This founder member of Cerecrus Shoal delivers powerful and heartfelt music, ranging from personal reflection to what I can only call protest songs. In these, Sutherland's voice has a snarl which is in parts P.F. Sloan and Steve Earle. Quality material throughout. (JC)

Antony Milton in yet another disguise: this compiles songs from cdrs released a few years ago on Wire Bridge and is his most song-based project, lo-fi campfire pickings that exist somewhere between Alastair Galbraith and old-time country / folk. 

also: Antony Milton, Nether Dawn

Preston Ari Swirnoff - Maariv cd (Last Visible Dog) 4

A stunning album from this sometime collaborator of Ilya Monosov and member of The Shining Path. Exploring dense organ / piano drone, early electronic experimentalism and 20th century minimalism, this recalls Charlemagne Palestine (yes, that good!). It opens with rolling piano chords and ominous electronic undercurrents. The second track is an even more threatening headache-throb of atonal organ tones. The tension eases on the 3rd track with guitar harmonics tinkling like a thousand stars in a crisp winter night sky - gorgeous. Finally a short(ish) track of the whir and feedback from 4 tape machines. Excellent stuff. 

Nicholas Szczepanik - To the Moon and Back Again 3" cdr (Rural Faune) 4

Ambient smoke signals from this Washington DC sound-artist. The kind of dream-drift that sounds like the lingering image of a sound long departed, similar to Andrew Chalk.

Taiga Remains - Wax Canopy cd and 3" cdr (Digitalis) 12

Special edition of the latest album from Alex Cobb which comes with a 3" of exclusive material. This is Taiga Remains at his finest, orchestrating hum, electricity, feedback and shifting tones into expansive droneworks. Excellent stuff.

Chimes and twangs lead off here with a pretty yet ominous quality: all doll's house darkness, old perfume (thanks to the late Syd for that line!). Across the 32 minute piece, things get much more full on, with chanting voice, organ, fuzzy guitar and electronics. It's like a big fairground of sound with a sacrificial rite being conducted somewhere just behind the waltzer! 66 copies with twigs inside the packaging. How can you resist? (JC)

• Are We Not Drawn Onward to New Era cassette (Sloow) 2

Another sublime release from Mike Tamburo, this time with regular collaborator Matt McDowell (who was also a member of Arco Flute Foundation with Tamburo). Long liquid lines of slide guitar, some percussion, melancholy electronics and wheezy organ drone come together in a beautiful piece of music that has an ecstatic glow. The end dives into darker waters with bass-heavy electronic buzzings and vocals swimming in echo.

also: Matthew McDowell

Junichiro Tanaka is a member of Ju Sei who had a recent release out on Black Petal. This is fairly similar to that disc - off-the-wall bedroom pop similar to some of the Maher Shalal-associated solo releases, glitchy electronica / found sound collages, layered vocal hymnals. 

this is a reissue of a self-released cdr by Taralie Dawn of Spires That in the Sunset Rise - the music shares a similar air of lost-in-the-woods bewitchment but is more introspective: thornily clawing guitar, weaving flute and cello, jangling percussion and shiver-inducing vocalising. 

also: Spires That In The Sunset Rise

A half hour, divided into two untitled pieces, of heavy duty, drone filled, overdriven, bone crunchin' noise music from Dayton, Ohio. The first piece has the feel of heavy industry, the second more like the sound of some sort of sub-aquatic installation piece. (JC)

Murk indeed. Temples is Kevin Richards from Denver who records guitar and layers and overlayers the resultant sounds on tape to create a swirl of disorientating murk at times. The final track (and title track) finds the guitar a distant rumble, minimal and melancholic. 

Denver's Kevin Richards has already had one cdr out on Pseudoarcana, the appropriately titled "Murk". The source sounds on this release continue to dwell in the shadows and the background sounds become the almost oppressive foreground through which the source can seem like a distant light in a thick fog. An absorbing listen.

Textured Bird Transmission - Panda Heads on Staggering Crystal Seas cdr (Gold Soundz) 1.50

Disorientating swarms of vocal hum and effects, comes in a hnd-made, silver-sprayed sleeve. Ltd to 50.

Thee Doom Riot - Let the Lights Come Down 2 cdr (Rural Faune) 8

A double disc of drone delighs from Denmark's Claus Haxholm who, aside from his own name and Thee Doom Riots, also performs as Dead Black Arms, Kanada Brothers, Satanism Around Hollywood and more. Disc one begins with thunderous slow booms and a fuzzed keyboard drone which pans around the room, using stereo to its full width. There's an acoustic 12 string piece and a darker drone work to Finish, then disc two goes all flutey with a haze of melody which hangs in the air like heavily scented sonic perfume. Very fine! (JC)

These Are Powers - Silver Lung 7" (Elsie and Jack) 3.50

"These ex-members of LIARS, KNIFE SKILLS & NO THINGS express their abrasive avant noise rock w/vigour over this 3 track 7". This is their 1st vinyl after several well received tapes & cdr's. Anna's primal screams & ghostly whispers, Pat's nursery rhyme chanting w/surging bass & Ted's near motorik beats run riot like a crazed Plastic Ono Band filtered through that Brooklyn/NYC haze. This is E&J's first foray into the lair of lacquer, pressed on heavyweight white vinyl presented in a beautifully printed & laser etched black card sleeve w/additional colour transluscent vellum insert."

These Wonderful Evils 

• Regine Flory cd (Sparrows & Wires) 7
• Regine Flory LP (Sparrows & Wires) 12.50 

These Wonderful Evils is Zak Boerger and this is a wonderful album of loner psych. The opening track reminds me of Alistair Galbraith: Zak's weary vocals waver in the midst of an incredible ragged guitar and sparse percussion. Other tracks have more of a folk / pastoral feel with heavily reverbed acoustic guitar and vocals, reminiscent of Flying Saucer Attack's less feedback consumed moments. Highly recommended. 

• Parade Room LP (Sparrows & Wires) 9

Stunning follow-up to These Wonderful Evil's amazing debut "Regine Flory". Solo project of Zak Boerger, the sound recalls Alastair Galbraith / Peter Jefferies with extended ragged ballads, a psychedelic feel and oodles of fuzz. Add to that some Flying Saucer Attack moments with folky acoustic guitar awash with swirls of feedback. Add to that a real outsider / loner feel and you have another great album.

Eric Thielemans - A Snare is a Bell LP (Ultra Eczema) 4

"This is the first in a series of solo percussion LP's on Ultra Eczema, titled STS! A meditative psychedelic experience is what I would like to call this, though I realise I make it sound like a silly zen blowout, and that's not what it feels like at all! When I first saw it live in a giant church in mechelen/belgium, I was yelling "THIS IS THE BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR". I thought there wouldn't be an end to it and didn't even feel a build-up to a more tense sound or a drone. There was a difference in resonating sound and it definitely changed, but as with more constructive minimalists such as Steve Reich or maybe even Terry Riley, you can't tell when things change... That experience got enlarged as well by the scenography he played in, a splendid eye-torturing construction..."  That experience got enlarged as well by the scenography he played in, a splendid eye-torturing construction, built especially for this piece by Antwerp based sculputurist Filip Metten. On record it feels different of course, as you can skip the needle up and down to the end and back, you can hear an enormous tension and sound difference. Though this piece is written for only a snare drum and a tiny bit of vocals (resonating with the snare drum) it sounds like either 20 people on a snaredrum, like if Glenn Branca would invite 567 people playing the exact same snare roll, or like a choir, and by the end definitely like the sound of a Whitehouse LP; building up strongly to the point of absolute silence, which feels like a relief! This piece is based on a snare roll which changes 3 times. Live, this piece can go up to an hour or longer, on this record, it is one full side. The B side is a psychedelic etch!" - Dennis Tyfus. This record is limited to 500 copies, has an insert and comes in a duo coloured psych design by Dennis Tyfus.

Sounds and found objects manipulations recorded on a beach on Re island in France.  Nocturnal music concrete: scratchings in the undergrowth and some occasional blasts of pure noise.

Tivol - Early Teeth cd ( Holy Mountain ) 3.50

Lengthy growling krautrock instrumentals - rough, garagey, chaotic - this compiles their early cdrs on 267 Lattajjaa and Time Lag.

a hopped-up 4 tracker that could be the end of year coursework from a bunch of snarling and grinning students from the Kill Rock Stars academy of punk pop - think Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bangs, Bis, Sonic Youth, Huggy Bear with a bit of late 70s Rough Trade 

Antti Tolvi - Tanan cdr (Peippo) 3

One long track of harmonium drone from Antti of Lauhkeat Lampaat: a dense and homely wheeze with immense bass tones. Lovely. 

Tomutonttu 

• Tomutonttu  cd (Fonal) 10

"Fonal Recods is re-releasing this long sold out debut Tomutonttu originally released on LP by Beta Lactam Ring records. Tomutonttu (“dust gnome”) is a human called Jan Anderzén, a visual artist and the leader of a respected avant-garde sound group Kemialliset Ystävät. Toy reed streams, mutilated vocals and groovy loops of animal noise are some of the colours used to create the whirling mess that is the lonely song of Tomutonttu. It is like a confusing detail of the Kemialliset Ystävät freedom flow, a microcosmos of strange sound creatures and dirt flying around in the stereo space and interacting with a logic all of their own." (Fonal)

• Tomutonto cd (Fonal) 10

Reissue of the long out-of-print Ultra Eczema LP. Jan Anderzen (Avarus / Kemialliset Ystavat) with some particularly demented electronics: from the psychedelic Dennis Tyfus / Anderzen sleeve to the equally weird and wonderful cut-ups inside everything about this LP is so vibrant it makes my head hurt - a strobing collage of tormented analogue synths, either squalling and duelling or swarming in a seething mass. Great stuff.

Toymonger - The Night Vision LP (Munitions Village) 5

This is a split release between Irish labels Deserted Village and Munitions Family. Gavin Prior (United Bible Studies) is one of the members of this duo. Heavy ambience, heavy synth buzzes, some clarinet and metal machine screech - dank oppressive atmospheres. Hand assembled stencilled spray-painted covers.

Following on from their Great Pop Supplement single, this cdr features 7 tracks of gently burbling electronics & electric sitar. Music for your lava lamp to groove to. Cover features hand-sprayed spots.

• II cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.75

This disc is a rather lovely way to spend half an hour! Japan's Tranko mix the sounds of traditional Ainu instruments from Hokkai; with sitar, tabla, some rather trancey beats and voices, ethereal in places and a chant-like song to close. (JC)

You may well be judging this on your idea of a 1970s travelling Christian commune, but if you're expecting saccharine bible songs, listen further as the fayre here is.... very unusual. What we have is an original lp from 1975 topped up to 2 seconds short of maximum time on the disc with other material from that era. There is much instrumental loveliness here: sitar, whistles and drums, with their love of ISB shining through. Much of this sounds pretty dark, but where the real oddness trips in is in the singing. A lot of this breathes spookiness like the music from Children of the Stones, plus the odd bit of atonality (intentional? I'm not sure!) which adds to the disquiet and then we get the Chant for Pentecost. This is sung in a disturbing monotone which only rises as the drum accelerates at the end... scary biscuits!! There are no close ups of commune members, so I can't see if any numbers are embedded beneath their hippy hair. Great packaging too. (JC)

Treetops is Mike Pollard who also runs the Arbor label. The sound of infernal gloom with occasional wordless moans cutting through the heavy atmosphere. The clattering percussion lends it a air of ritual too. Sleeve by Bethany of Pocahaunted.

Tricorn & Queue - Ragged Bright Degrees cassette (Housecraft) 4.25

Lovely cascades of delayed guitar - twilight waterfalls of sound.

Trihornophone - At First I Thought It Was The End cdr (Bottlenote) 2.50

Two saxophones - alto & baritone - one trumpet and drums: that's Trihorniphone. Between them, Sean Og and friends come up with the kind of loose-but-together grooves that invoke shadows of the Charles Mingus band and John Tchicai. This is a jazz record which sings of so much that's great about the form without the chin strokey-blokey nonsense the word all too often implies. Recommended - it's even got a big brass car horn on the cover… parp-parp!! (JC)

also: Wailing Bones Volume 7 comp

Turner Cody - Buds of May cd (Digitalis) 5

Buds of May had a small run cdr outing in 2004, so this Digitalis issue will hopefully bring these songs to a wider audience than they've had so far: they certainly deserve to be heard. Cody, also known as a member of Herman Dune, has a bittersweet quality to his voice which would appeal to fans of, say, Vic Cestnutt. Before I found that he grew up in Boston, the title track was making me think of Jonathan Richman too. A good, concise album of songs with many memorable lyric lines. (JC)

Beautiful drone textures in a Stars of the Lid style built from guitar sounds: extended floating and resonating tones to lull you into slumber. Lovely packaging with vellum inserts.

Turnstone - s/t cd (3 Lobed) 5

Three way collaboration between Tom Carter, Robert Horton & Michael Shannon, with the occasional presence of Henry Kuntz on gamelan / saxophone. I've been thoroughly impressed with all the Carter / Horton collabs to date, and this is mighty fine too with an impressive array of instruments from dilruba (similar to an esraj), lap steel, Horton's homemade boot and various household appliances and most intriguingly "Cornish school of Music ladies' room string-board". Sounds range from hypnotic spectral blues to the doomy hinterland of the final track with its distant clanging gamelan and infernal guitar rumble.

Compiled from performances at Hanna's installation in Liverpool in October 2007. Hanna asked people from the Kensington area of Liverpool to sing lullabies that they were sung by their parents or that they sing to their children. The participants then took part in a collaborative "deep-listening" experiment where they sang their songs very slowly and the result is a harmonious blend of vocals where the singers become more and more focussed on the whole sound than on their individual songs. It reminds me of past Alejandra & Aaron discs where they collected songs and sounds from their environment. This cdr features 9 singers and then the final collaboration. 

also: Nalle

Reissue of an earlier UBS release. 'Airs' is a return to free pastoral folk - recorded live in a church in Limerick using harp, guitars and percussion and it's utterly gorgeous. 

• The Jonah cd (Camera Obscura) 7.50

Excellent new album from Dublin-based collective United Bible Studies who were inspired by Richard Youngs' Ilk recordings to make a prog album. Certainly the album starts off very prog-like with sweeping synth and spoken vocals courtesy of Current 93's Richard Moult. It continues into the incredible 16 minute centrepiece of this album "The Jonah" which morphs from Peter Gabriel-era Genesis to demonic metal posturings to melancholic English folk (Genesis meets Burzum?!!). The rest of the album is full of pastoral loveliness and the Colohan-sung tracks remind me of Roy Harper which is always welcome. Sharron Kraus lends her vocals on a duet for the traditional "The Lowlands of Holland". Highly recommended.

also: Arkhangelesk, Murmansk, Cubs, Wailing Bones Volume 10, Cosmic Nanou

last in the LE 'wage slave' series and appropriately packaged in a wage packet: recorded live in Glasgow 2003, nigh inaudible improv jam featuring laptop, disabled percussion, dismantled trumpet, stringless guitar and a whole lot of hum - turn up for maximum effect

mysterious drones from Tampere, Finland, built from layers of synth, whistles, bells and wordless vocals. At their densest Uton sound like Ash Ra Tempel mapping the forest interior instead of the outer reaches of the cosmos.

• Background Music for Silence cdr (Rural Faune) 6

Leaves and string ... it must be Rural Faune! Two tracks on this, one featuring Kulkija. One was a background tape for Uton's first live show and is a dense piece of drone with frenzied string scraping, AM radio loops & shortwave, cavernous "om"s and bells. The other track is a weird mix of synth and drone that sounds like "landing on the alien planet" music from one of those '60s / '70s sci-fi shows.

• Live in the centre of the World cassette (Black Horizons) 1.50

  Nice packaged tape (gold printed on platinum vellum) featuring an Uton live show. Pulsing electronic drones, warped guitar drones ... flip the tape and it all goes backwards!

• Shiva Blues cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam) 5.25

Another great Uton recording on Jani's own label, this time recorded back in Finland. Heavy minimalism on guitar with harsh bowed strings floating amidst overtones of feedback. The first track reminds me of the hillbilly mantras of Henry Flynt with its frenetic concentration. Handmade sleeve.

• Shiva Blues cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Heavy minimalism on guitar with harsh bowed strings floating amidst overtones of feedback. The first track reminds me of the hillbilly mantras of Henry Flynt with its frenetic concentration. This is the second edition which is limited to 50 copies with a slightly different napkin (it protects the cd) and insert from the first edition on Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Ka La Yam.

• We're Only In It For The Spirit cd & cdr (Digitalis) 8.75

Four tracks from Jani Hirvonen, with J. Koho (Vapaa), originally issued in a tiny quantity as a tour cdr. Luckily it's been made widely available as it's a real gem. Sonorous vocal "oms" resound, strings are scraped and bowed and primitive electronics bubble away creating heavy subterranean mantras and haunted space electronics. This is one of the limited copies and thus comes with a cdr of live recordings.

• Mental Connections cdr (Housecraft) 4.25

Recorded in Finland in March 2008, this is another fine disc from Uton. Alchemical bubblings, ethereal oscillations, subaquatic undertow.

Features two slabs of solo MV action - one from around the time of "Space Shanties" and sounding like it would have fitted nicely on that album. The other side is and sounds more recent - echo-heavy cosmic folk meditations. Offset printed two-tone heavy card sleeve.

Also featuring The Golden Road (Asa Irons, Doc Dunn and Samara Lubelski on this occasion). The A side has a real retreat to the country '68 feel to it and could have fitted in on their "Green Blues" album. The B side is laid-back in the sun slide guitar and harmonica. Good-time pastoral psychedelia at its best.

Live recording from 2006 at the Heeley Institute (which looks like a great venue from the cover of the LP - if only more gigs were held at places like this rather than at some dismal pub basement ... more style please!). Just Matt Valentine and Erika Elder and a wonderfully laid-back set that starts with "Cold Rain" and ends with their version of "Freight Train". Great sleeve notes from Matt and Erika too. Highly recommended.

Two sides featuring the same song. Side A is a gorgeous slab of summery pastoral psych. Side B is a strung-out version lasting over 6 minutes with some great MV wah-wah guitar.

2nd in the series of live recordings, this one comes from Oklahoma City 11th Feb 2007, and features some excellent strung-out versions of "Death Don't Have No Mercy", "I Got Caves in There", "The Burden", Hammer", "Summer Magic" and "Environments".

A stone-cold classic double album of lysergic rural raga and bucolic country blues from Matt Valentine, Erika Elder and the Bummer Road (featuring Nemo Bidstrup, Tim Barnes, Sparrow Wildchild, Mo' Jiggs and Samara Lubelski) and another stunning package from Time Lag (gatefold sleeve). The album opens with some of Valentine's most cosmic guitar tanglings and oscillator careening skywards, then veers sharply into the beautiful ' Cold Rain', one of several great songs on this, a lovely wayward MV / EE duet. Also features some pretty stoned arrangements of Mississippi John Hurt's "Payday", Charley Patton's "Banty Rooster Blues" and a side-long reworking of the Reverend Gary Davis's "Death Don't Have No Mercy" that you could become so lost in, you'd hope to never resurface. Highly recommended

also: Bummer Road

A collaboration between Jon from the Hunter Gracchus / Singing Knives and Jon from Serfs. Raga-influences psych guitar spirals over wheezy chord organ drone. Excellent.

Beautiful new album from lute-player Jozef Van Wissem, sometime co-member of Brethren of the the Free Spirit with James Blackshaw. Like Blackshaw, Van Wissem's compositions are elegant and circular although his style is somewhat more minimalist. The result is endlessly hypnotic. 

"abstract synthesizer works from this Professor In Usable Knowledge and full-time McD's clientele, Floris Vanhoof. while being a core member of R.O.T. and an independent movie maker, recently he started to consentrate more on his love for technique and synthesizers. this album is a repress of his first self-released tape, released a while ago, but only gotten into the hands of museum programmers and synth music forum nutters. strange, abstract and minimal sounds, codes and unusuables, made with the ems vcs3 synth." (Taped Sounds)

5 live performances from Keijo's Free Players, all from 2005. A magical merging of guitar / bass / drums / synth into a psyched out wash of meditative sound.

• s/t cdr (Ikuisuus) 6.50

Live performance from the band who also form Keijo's Free Players. Recorded in Tampere, Finland, 2008, with an ensemble of 15 players including Keijo. The result is a loose and spacious cosmic free-jazz tinged improvisation.

Daniel Varricchio - s/t cdr (Rhizome) 1.50

live recording: starts soothingly with a dense electronic buzzing which then disappears into muffled murk. Second part of the disc had my prog-loving friend nodding in approval - dizzying overloaded guitar intricacies. Very limited and sold out at source.

Vega Stereo - Festival 3000 cassette (Digitalis) 5.50

"vega stereo is another side to the story that is alexey AKA analog concept.  once again, this comes straight from russia with a bullet.  vega stereo is a duo with his wife, nastya.  this one is just as synthed-out as the analog concept double, but you're in for a whole different ride.  laced with minimalist beats and vague, nu-age stylings like a bed of golden feathers, vega stereo is going to whisk you away.  it's obvious these cats grew up on detroit techno and hypnotic ambient waves.  beautiful stuff from the rough & tumble. " (Digitalis)

Venison Whirled - Deaf Sponge cdr (Curor) 2

Skull-borrowing primitive electronic noise from texan Lisa Cameron.

Visitations 

• cd (Time Lag) 10
• LP (Time Lag) 14

Great new release on Time Lag from this Maine trio. Haunting acid folk with a real quietly apocalyptic feel, like some early 70s private press LP straight out of some besieged commune in the woods. Heavy acoustic strumming leads you into a trance and siren-like female vocals lead you deeper still, while a listless male vocal intones "I can hear the horsemen coming". Music with a really timeless intimacy and spellbinding atmosphere. Great intricate artwork from the band, heavy vinyl. Highly recommended. 

Vluba 

• The Green Lion Great Tapes Volume 1 cassette (Imvated) 1

wild lo-fi Argentinian noise-psych of distant squalling and vocal moans that teeters on the edge of breakdown. Great packaging: spray-painted tape, coloured beads and insert in a plastic bag.

• =???-.:._ cdr (Foxglove) 1

wild lo-fi Argentinian noise-psych of distant squalling and vocal moans that teeters on the edge of breakdown. Great packaging: spray-painted tape, coloured beads and insert in a plastic bag.

also: Los Pranks

Vodka Soap 

• Oceansion Island cdr (Pacific City) 4.50

Another dream-like treat from one of the never-ending Skaters side-projects, this one Spencer Clark. Tape loops and cheap synths woven into ritualistic meditations.

• Shee Ro Gateway Temples cassette (Pacific City) 4.50

More wonderful tranced explorations with cheap synth mantras layered into a tropical rainforest blitz of insect-like buzz and melodious song.

Another great release from Rick Tomlinson, put together for his recent tour. It is bookended with two pieces of '70s Kraut-ish acid rock - the first heavy riffing and wah-wah guitar headed straight for oblivion, the last track more cosmic. In the middle is an unexpected piece of abrasive but subdued drone. Silk-screened sleeve. 

Volcano the Bear 

• Egg and Two Books cd (Vivo) 10.50

After a quiet time, the mid 2000s have found VTB most definitely back with a bang, There's a hymnal quality to a lot of this that's a bit like a crossroads between a Gaelic service in Scotland's Western Isles, temple sounds from the far East and a free music freakout, with the emphasis on "out", as in "far…". Those who get it will leave with a big smile, those who don't with an expression of utter bafflement. Thing about Volcano is they have no quarter for the middle distance - and they're all the better for that! (JC)

• The Mountains Among Us cd (Beta Lactum) 11

A beautifully packaged re-issue of an album which first appeared in 2002. Although it came out in 3 different editions then, the total number of copies was still only something like 190, so this music will come to many listeners (me included) fresh and previously unheard. The two pieces, Supreme and Sublime & Dragon or Emperor, have clearly been devised with lp sides in mind, as shorter episodes flow together into each longer track - and what fine long works they are: soundtracks to unseen movies of glacial labyrinths, exotic dancers replete with snakes, the electronic and (mainly) acoustic sounds conjuring many images and colours. Although we are not treated to a free plastic insect, as with one of the original lp runs, the hard bound cd case is quite a piece of art in itself. Recommended. (JC)

also: Insight comp, Jar, The Noise is All In Your Head comp, Rewriting the Book comp, Aaron Moore, Dragon or Emperor, One Ensemble

• Long Lost Tapes 1970 cd (Tompkins Square) 10.25

"Peter Walker came up in the Cambridge MA and Greenwich Village folk scenes of the Sixties. He recorded two albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties in a style best described as American folk-raga. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and was Dr. Timothy Leary's musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate’s “celebrations.”" These tapes were recorded in Woodstock in 1970 but languished unheard for nearly 40 years. Intoxicatingly free electrified ragas with a band comprising flute, alto sax, clarinet, bass and percussion.

blistering static noise bursts from this Maine duo

Wax Ghost 

• The Halo of Mt. St. Helens cdr (Foxglove) 4.50

Delicate beat-less electronic melodies that have all the wide-eyed simplicity of Raymond Scott's 'Soothing Sounds For Babies' - gorgeous sounds from Eden Rose (also of Corsican Paintbrush / Sunmilk).

• Adze cdr (Cook an Egg) 6.50

It's been too long since the last release from Eden Hemming Rose (also of Sunmilk and Corsica Paintbrush). This is beautiful and surpasses her last 2 cdrs - with a rolecall of instruments that reads like a list of my favourites - piano, autoharp, thumb piano, hand percussion, violin, glockenspiel, melodica, chord organ - Eden creates fragmentary lullabies that it sounds almost obtrusive to overhear. 

also: Corsican Paintbrush, Sunmilk, Gold Leaf Branches comp, Akhet, Eastern Fox Squirrels

Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz / Maher Shalal Hash Baz split 7" (Geographic) 2.25

a truly uplifting 7" of glorious melody: the Maher SHB side was recorded in Scotland and is addressed to a rival bidder on Ebay chasing the same bassoon as Tori Kudo. Like recent Maher live gigs, there is plenty of woodwind (including, of course, a bassoon, an instrument I've loved since Ivor the Engine) and brass weaving delightfully round Tori's ragged guitar. The other side is a live version of a tune by Scottish self-taught free jazz pianist Bill Wells, recorded in Japan, a  mixture of halting concentration and joyous spontaneity. 

also: Maher Shalal Hash Baz

John White - s/t cd (Last Visible Dog) 4

A thoroughly charming record of gentle, wistful songs. Mr White's voice is a bit like the guy from Tahiti 80, but the similarity ends there, as this record has 'cello, accordion and the tinkly percussion isn't powered by anything electrical. There's a song about a bear called Mogwash, whodeserves a mention as he appears on one of the sleevefronts (this is essenially two albums on one disc) and after 16 short-ish vocal tracks, we get a 23 minute instrumental, which is rather fine too. (JC)

Ralph White - Narasota River Devil Squirrel LP (Spirit of Orr) 11.50

""Ralph White of Austin, TX has been a part of the more forward-moving country-blues activities of this planet for quite some time. From his work & endless touring with Bad Livers to his duets with Amy Annelle in the outfit Precious Blood, Mr. White has shown that he is of the intuitive and insightful ilk that can 'pick n' shred' beyond the earthly. As you may suspect, few documents have appeared that demonstrate his powers and poetries as a soloist, where he is only peered with the most revered. Armed with fiddle, fretless banjo, kalimba, & button accordion, and his subtle and magnificent 'new high lonesome' croon, we are brought to a rare mirror. Yet another place where borders are erased and music is the only language. An intense & visionary outsider, for sure. This record is a reissue of his first CD-R. It should surprise and win over even the most cynical record-hording ogre. A co-operative effort by Mystra & Spirit Of Orr, 600 copies total, hand-glued cover art."" (Spirit of Orr)

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Taking Away cassette (Digitalis ltd) 5

Fantastic minimalist synth explorations that recall the early days of Tangerine Dream

The Whole Voyald - Live at the Heeley Institute cdr (Singing Knives) 5

Excellent live improvisation between the Serfs, Pascal of Stuckometer and trumpeter Stuart from Smear Campaign. Expansive drones and ecstatic clatter.

tracks compiled from self-released cdrs by Julian Williams, member of Hi God People, Solids, Above Ground Pool and Bamboo Sel - intense electrified hum & drone a la Gate, muttered mumblings and sprawling composition make this a singular and fascinating listen

Wingtip Sloat - Add This to Rhetoric cd (VHF) 5

I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard Wingtip Sloat, thanks to VHF's comprehensive gathering on one 75 minute disc. For those, like me, who are new to this music I should say that they hailed from Virginia, recorded a run of singles & eps in the early '90s and were, clearly, an important band in that time and place. There are 30 songs here, so it's full-on energy and not a second wasted. I baulk at using the term post-punk, but there is that sort of angularity about quite a lot of the songs, among them a slew of covers of material by the likes of Sun City Girls, Barbara Manning and Swell Maps: their Read About Seymour is delivered with a snarl Larry Tamblyn of the Standells would've been proud of. (JC)

Fine, stomping American folk from the man who says he took up banjo because he liked Earl Scruggs' closing music from Bonnie & Clyde. There's banjo here, alongside various homemade instruments including the enticingly named TurboDiddly & Voodoo Box. Take your partners - do-se-do! (JC)

Three new tracks on vinyl on new US label Short Forest from Smolken (ex-Dead Raven Choir / Garlic Yarg). Bleak doom-laden incantations growled in tones that sound as if Smolken has been gargling glass and funereally accompanied by drum, cello, violin and flute in arrangements that have rarely sounded more malevolent.

Saturated guitar noise bleeding from the speakers - hand-painted sleeve and just about out of stock at source.

A Wooden Door - s/t cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

22 instrumental tracks by guitarist David Kellett, recorded at home with a nice lo-fi fuzz. Finger-picked nylon strings, fuzzed-up improv and pastoral strums, sometimes accompanied by recorder.

The 4th Wooden Spoon release is rather more akin to his piano pieces from the previous cdrs than his guitar picking. It's more drone-orientated than before as well with the 2nd track being the focus here - a harmonium's slow exhalations creating a soporific fogged drone. The piano pieces are cyclical and lulling. Lovely.

"Hello Hurray let the show begin, I'm ready" says Wooden Wand. An Alice Cooper line proves a good omen as this live recording of nine songs unfolds. As well as WW's own material, we get a cover of I Am A Pilgrim, with references not only to the Byrds but to the Country Teasers as well! Recommended with only one reservation: I wish I could tell the babble of voices in the background to shut up and listen to the singer. Apart from that, fine stuff. (JC)

also: Hassara

The latest in the "On The Road" series of live cdrs finds WWVV doing their most lysergic take on revivalist meetings with percussive heavy clatter, trance-like repetition, some electronic chatter and plenty of hollerin'. Recorded in Boston in March 2005. 

also: Vanishing Voice, Zodiac Mountain

Wovoka - I & II 2LP (Red Records) 31

Reissue of the first 2 private press and long sold-out albums by John Kevin Francis Joseph from the earlier part of this decade. Both albums sound like they could have been recorded at any time from the late '60s onwards. The songs are gorgeous - just guitar, dulcimer, voice and a whole lotta echo - acid folk porch ballads that remind me of MV & EE's most laid-back moments. There are a few instrumentals too and on these the echo creates some pretty psyched-out ragas. Great stuff. Lovely heavy (red) vinyl, packaged in a heavy 60s style custom cream art paper gatefold cover, with full color photo two layer paste-on front, screen printed interior, hand stamped back, and hand stamped & numbered spine and super limited (233 copies).

Wrecking Ball - Grunt Work cdr (Deserted Village) 1

"Wrecking Ball is steve fanagan. 'Grunt Work' by Wrecking Ball is a collection of improvisations for voice, microphone, effects, amplifier and a bell. It is 35 short bursts of sound, performed and recorded at home, straight to mini disc. There are no overdubs." (DV)

Jack Wright - Indeterminate Existence cd (Last Visible Dog) 4

Jack Wright has that rare knack in free sax playing of being soulful even at his most ear-crunchingly wild moments, and there are plenty of them in the seventy one and a half minute solo set. It's music from - I think - the late 80s, which Jack now sees as a chapter in his life and playing which is in the past, but far enough away that he can listen objectively and let it be heard by those who still crave this form of expression from him. His main focus these days appears to be collaboration and, as someone who took free music to places it had never been heard before and encouraged so many young players, his importance in that area is inestimable. You may not hear him play like this today, so The Indeterminate Existence serves as a snapshot of a true great in full flight. (JC)

I was about to type "one of Wright's best" but I realised I think that every time I hear a Peter Wright release; his releases are consistently amazing. Cavernous dronescapes constructed from 12 string Danelectro, a multitude of effects and field recordings. "Approaching Low From the West" represents a real high-point: a glacial landscape of submerged melodies and soporific drones, while "Park Bench ..." reminds me of the oceanic drift of Windy & Carl. Tip-top stuff.

also: Invisible Pyramid, Gold Leaf Branches comp

Reissue of an early LVD cdr (with extra track from "Moth to the Sun"): the original cdr track is like sinking in a whirlpool of eerily bowed strings and ominous depth charge booms that escalates into an endless disorientating nightmare (I mean this in a good way!). The bonus track is another dizzying swell of loops and primitive electronics.

This is a entirely different experience to previous Neilson / Youngs recordings with the emphasis on a breathtaking form of free rock improv, Richard Youngs guitar work ranging from over-amped heavy riffing to searing psych-metal solo-ing while Neilson is in similar territory to the recent Motorghost record with ben Reynolds. The accompanying cd "Lotus Edition" features a quieter but no less intense set of drums / shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) duets. Highly recommended.

also: Galbraith / Neilson / Youngs

Carter Thornton is the person behind Zashiki Warashi and before I even listen, the cd has caught my attention because it comes in a sack cloth bag. There's a feel of European chamber music (Schnittke might be a reference point) in a piano and 'cello piece here. Another track has a guitar phrase repeated at different pitches with much space between, there's fuzzed electronics too and a loop of field recording which I can't quite pin down. Actually, the whole thing is hard to pin down! Diverse, intriguing and limited to 80 copies. (JC)

The zorna is a traditional Kurdish instrument that looks like a chanter with an open end and sounds also not unlike a chanter. The music is breathless and hypnotic; I'm sure Zecharia must be using circular breathing! He is accompanied by a relentless drum keeping the beat. This really is incredible music that will transport you to other places and other mind states. 

a whirlwind of white noise and piston-pulses that won't let up from Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Lasse Marhaug

The tight post-punk/funk/touch of the Magic Band feel of Zukanican's 10" lp on Pickled Egg surfaces in the shorter tracks here. In addition there are several longer, looser pieces with free blowing over quite consistent rhythms - more in the vein of what The Drift are doing than Zukanican material I've heard before. There's another new dimension too: a vocal track - and a sinuous, jazzy vocal is is too. (JC)