ordering info

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catalogue a - f

catalogue g - l

catalogue m - r

catalogue s - z

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Updated 22nd June 2009

NEW ADDRESS

20A The Cross, Beith, KA15 1BS, UK

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO - Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On? (Important) 11.25

"Brand new full length recording from The Acid Mothers Temple And The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Proggy psych sounds mixing Pink Floyd with fuzzy wah guitars and cosmic sounds. Focused riffing, super fidelity recording and packaging designed by Seldon Hunt. Get ready for the mellow side of heavy psych." (Important)

Alberorovesciato - Tigers on Acid in the Hell of the Brushwoods cd (Singing Knives) TBC

Altar Eagle - Judo Songs cassette (Digitalis ltd) 5

From the ashes of Corsican Paintbrush comes Altar Eagle, another duo featuring Brad and Eden Hemming Rose. This is a different beast altogether - blissed-out synth-pop with a whole lot of psychedelia and fuzz thrown in. It reminds me of the nauseous pop swirls of Azalia Snail which is a very good thing indeed. Highly recommended.

Annapurna Illusion - Matins of the 12 Passion cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Throbbing electronics and fuzzed-up black synth drones, not dissimilar to recent North Sea releases.

Aporias Trio - Entre Nous cd (Iorram) 6.75

The Aporias Trio comprises two members of the Glasgow Improvisers orchestra Neil Davidson (guitar & various household implements) and Raymond MacDonald (alto & soprano sax) joined by Tatsuya Nakatani (drums / percussion). A thoroughly engaging and varied listen from the energy-sparking frenetic freeform sprawl of "Mythical Force of the Elements" to the droning metallic expanses of "Worn and Hung". 

Ashtray Navigations 

• Running on Autokinetic LP (Qbico) 16.25

Reissue of a tour cdr that originally came out on Memoirs of an Aesthete.4 tracks in total -  a couple of harsh electric fizz and a couple of truly dream-like blissfulness, particularly the closer, a gloriously psych-ey array of synth textures and great fuzz guitar spirals. Green vinyl.

• Monocycle American one-sided LP (Qbico) 16.25

Reissue of a cdr which was originally issued in an edition of 50 copies. Sulphurous electronic drone with heavy bass oscillations. Red vinyl.

• Blood Mummies and Dirty Amps cassette (Gold Soundz) 7

Companion release to the "Blood Mummies and Dirty Amps" LP from a year or so ago. Starts with head-messing guitar / synth swirls with all the neon nausea of an acid-soaked waltzers ride. Flip the tape over and you get the sound of machinery clanking in a reverb-to-the-max fog.

• Johnny Fuckoff Minotaur (Easter Exit 2) cdr (Memoirs of an Aesthete) 6

The first Ashtray Navigations recordings of 2009 to be released, this cdr is centred around the incredible middle track which is a real Kraut-prog bliss-out epic, like Rick Wakeman jamming with Ash Ra Tempel. Cosmic stuff indeed but the final track really blasts off, like Suicide playing Can's "Mother Sky" - drum machine throb and a blistering psych guitar solo with the fuzz turned up to 11. Excellent. 

• Caeduceus & Black Sal LP (Memoirs of an Aesthete) 9

Vinyl reissue of the final Ashtray Navigations release on Memoirs of an Aesthete before it went into hibernation last year. This is as good as it gets with the Ashtray Navigation sound at its full-on-est psych guitar spiralling upwards fizz. One track live from ATP. Red vinyl.

Astral Social Club

• Psychic Smog LP (Qbico) 16.25

This time around ASC is a duo featuring Neil Campbell and Mel Delaney (of Ashtray Navigations / Ocelocelot). Outer-space electronics and astral techno galore. Coloured vinyl.

• #18 cdr (self-released) 5
• #19 cdr (self-released) 5

6 tracks from live recordings in London in 2008 and Leeds, 2009. The former feature a line-up comprising Neil Campbell, Spider Stacy & Stewart Keith and the first couple of tracks lean towards his unique silver spiralling techno assault. In Leeds Neil is joined by Spider Stacy and John Clyde-Evans. The first track treds a fractious line between atonal wails of distortion and bliss-out drone and 2nd is a lean, mean burst of pared-down techno. The final track features a 10 strong chorus of wordless wail.

Collaboration between Norwegian drone / noise artist Sindre Bjerga and Robert Horton. Mesmerising haunted oscillations, tribal hallucinations that recall Skaters / Vodka Soap, the spectral shimmer and repeated hypnosis from Horton's Boot-guitar, Bjerga's haunted drones reaching into the depths. Other contributors include fiddle player Hal Hughes, Bjerga's usual collaborator Jan Iversen and Lisa Graves on bagpipes.

"blank realm has evolved over the past few years from some of the best droners in the land of oz to doing something far more disjointed, original, catch, and honestly, fucking genius. they exist in the same zone as their breakdance the dawn brethren, but have easily etched their own fractals in the sand. everything is played and sung like it's being drawn out of a thick haze. you can never quite see it, but bits and pieces slowly reveal themselves so you can connect the sparkling dots. "street bananas" finds its groove right away, and at times will have you wanting to shake your ass out on that stretch of empty highway that leads straight to the fucken moon. hell, blank realm even through a few pop missives out of nowhere that you'll hum until the day you implode. i think i'm ready to move down under where everything... everything is baked and/or fried."

Andrew Coltrane - DMT Shadow cassette (Digitalis) 5.50

Craft Bandits - Love Infinity x 1000 cdr (Black Petal) 5.75

Duo collaboration featuring Matt Earle (Muura) and Melanie Jade (The Cupcake Club). Based around the kind of sparse minimalist blues Earle specialises in, this features bass drum,  low-end guitar played at Mogadon-slow speed and Jade's vocals muffled in the distance. Outsize hand-decorated packaging.

Current Amnesia / The North Sea split cassette (Digitalis Ltd) 5.50

Current Amnesia is David Sutton of Car Commercials and his side of the cassette is one long track of mesmerising tone drone that drifts from mysterious undertow to high wire whine. The other side finds Brad Rose with a ton of synth-generated drone but in mellower mood than recent releases have suggested. Nice handmade sleeve.

Cyquoia - Age of Aquarians cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

John Davis - Vines Go Roaming cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Diamondhead - Corrective Action cassette (Digitalis ltd) 5

"junkyard strolls through the outskirts of rock n roll find a home with austin's most underrated jewels, diamondhead.  after releases on russ waterhouse's white tapes and bryan day's eh?, this collection of songs from l.e. methe, r.j. reynolds & company are dinner scraps that have been rehashed and reformed into a total gourmet experience.  guitars and piano knock each other over, trying to get to the foreront while methe belts it out.  scarred, angular riffs fall deep into the dirt at times, leafing around for one last morsel of sanity.  some songs include flute and vocals, sounding like a lounge band on a drunken voyage to west africa.  this is the full package. everything on "corrective action" feels like it could implode at any moment.  it's that last-thread mentality that pushes diamondhead' s boundaries.  there's good times and bad all laced-up and ready go into a pit of magnetic glory.  edition of 70, pro-dubbed & snubbed." (Digitalis)

Directorsound - The Day of the Dance cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Another gem from Nick Palmer that sends like a soundtrack for a pastoral children's TV programme from days of yore. Gorgeous celeste-like notes remind me of Vernon Elliott's Clangers soundtrack while the sombre, seasick sway of accordian, trumpet, drum and glockenspiel make me imagine remaking the Wicker Man with tin soldiers in an overgrown garden! Wonderfully imaginative sounds! 

Disguise - Aeolian Hookers cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Dream Safari - River Submersion cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Early Tunnels - Aerial Caves cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Eggcorn - Ship to Shore 3" cdr (Clean Teeth) 4

Duo featuring Angeline Chirnside (Jane Austen / Wyntr Ravn / Currer Bells / Lost Roman Legions) and Zoe Drayton (Swung). Bass and organ moulded into amorphous drones, far-off sea shanties with hummed vocals and dreamy synth melodies like Tangerine Dream with battery-powered casios.

El-G & Duncan - s/t cdr (Rural Faune) 5.75

Primitive synth minimalism and spooked-out vocals conjure up a real satanic vibe helped on their way by the psyched-out might of Phil Todd's skyward-spiralling guitar and more black synth / electronics from Steven Warwick of Birds of Delay.

Electric Omen - Abandon All Hope cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 5

Solo project of Sindre Bjerga, more often found as part of a duo with Jan Iversen. Bleak analogue synth drone with low bass rumbling ... fit for entry to the seventh circle of hell!

Es - Kesamaan Lapset cd (Fonal) 10

Sami Sänpäkkilä's 5th album under the name Es and again it's an absolute gem. Melodies repeated to the point of hypnosis on synth, casio and piano become  minimalist shimmers which remind me of Terry Riley. Elissa Määttänen once again contributes vocals on the most blissed out of songs. The final track combines a wall of fuzzed-up synths and equally fuzzy vocal harmonies to make the most cosmic of songs. Highly recommended.

Far Black Furlong - Caerbre 3" cdr (Reverb Worship) 4

English ambient drone project with its roots in 20th century classical music featuring baroque oboist Mark Baigent, composer Richard Moult, dulcimer player John Letcher, the Canadian flautist Amanda Votta (of the group The Floating World), Shropshire poet Bryony Lees, guitarist Ian Tengwall & Andy Cotterill on electronics & drones. Handmade paper sleeve.

Feathered Totem / The Big Drum in the Sky Religion split cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

2 tracks from Feathered Totem of heavily-reverbed drone, like hearing Gregorian chant down a well. Big Drum ... are influenced by shamanic rituals and their track is a ritual-esque clatter of percussion, acoustic / electric guitar and synth oscillations. Handmade sleeve.

Flower - Corsano Duo 

• The Four Aims cd (VHF) 9
• The Four Aims 2LP (VHF) 14.50

Duo of Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra / Sunroof!) and Chris Corsano with their follow-up to "The Radiant Mirror". Incredible sky-blasting freeform psych-outs with Flower's shahi baaja (a Japanese electric dulcimer/auto-harp) alternating between ripping the roof off, bubbling endless liquid notes into the stratosphere, and bowed Eastern drones. Corsano's drumming ups the energy levels and luminosity to an almost blinding degree. Another excellent release.

Pete Fosco - Autumn Fire Blues cassette (Digitalis Ltd) 5.50

Solo guitar: warm, fuzzy round the edges tones played slowly so that the notes seem to seep into the silence around them. Early morning melancholy. 

Generals & Such - Quizote cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra - Poetic cd (Creative Sources) 6.75

Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra / George Lewis - Metamorphic Rock cd (Iorram) 6.75

The time George Lewis spent with GIO in Glasgow was a particularly pleasant one for all concerned. Lewis, the New York trombone legend who has worked with artists as diverse as Gil Evans, Anthony Braxton and Count Basie, enjoyed the people and the city, it seemed, as much as he enjoyed playing. When not involved in workshops with the Orchestra, he might be found sampling single malt whiskies, out shopping or even having a dance at Nice'n'Sleazy's across the road from the CCA where this cd was recorded. I mention these details because Metamorphic Rock s the product of a free session which took place after George & GIO had been rehearsing the main, commissioned, work he was in town to play. This session happened because everyone was enjoying playing so much and wanted to carry on. It is improvised music making born of a joyous moment and it sounds like it too. Just as well the 45 minute span was captured and can be shared via this disc. (JC)

The Goner - H.H. 2cdr (Deep Water) 8.50

A double disc adventure into the creative mind of Daniel Westerlund, aka The Goner, which spans enough different textures to keep interest alive all the way. There are looped beats, spooky banjos, distantly miked songs that evoke sunset back porches, the resonant sound of the bodhran, even some funky wah-wah guitar. Well worth further investigation. (JC)

Gorman - The Railroad Earth cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 5

Funereal ritual drones that piles layer upon layer of gloom. Percussion that sounds like a death march and scouring feedback help build an atmosphere on threat on side 1. Side 2 lets a little light in - the drum is still funereally paced but the guitar and wordless vocals float like a sea haar at first light. 

Steve Gunn / Shawn David McMillen - End of the City LP (Abandon Ship / DNT / Abaddon) 13

Excellent split LP featuring GHQ's Steve Gunn on one side with an acoustic guitar figure, heavy on repetition and with a gorgeous warm sound. The sound around the guitar builds up with bowed strings and electric guitar into a lovely piece of hypnotic American blues / folk. Shawn David McMillen is a member / ex-member of Ash Castles on the Ghost, Friday Group and Iron Kite. His side explores ethnic and primitive folk in a more experimental way with barbiturate spiked accumulations of strings and metal.

Hanging Thief - s/t cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

Gareth Hardwick - Aversions cd (Low Point) 5.75

The second full-length by Gareth Hardwick is a collection of remixes of material culled from previous 12"s, compilations and limited cdrs. Contributers are Library Tapes, Apalusa, Xela, Steinbruchel, Strategy, Chris Herbert and Machinefabriek. Hardwick creates long tones from guitar-based drones that ebb and flow - Library Tapes and Apalusa's treatments are as soporific as a blanket of night-time snow. Xela's remix is as gorgeous and multi-hued as a rainbow glimpsed through fog - synth beams piercing through a throbbing fug. Finest of all is Machinefabriek's mix which turns up the unease and creates a creaking subterranean drone worthy of soundtracking "Twin Peaks". Excellent.

Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia 

• Burning With Your Old Joy in the Terminal Sun cd (Ikuisuus) 8

Another gorgeous album from Salvatore Borrelli with 5 tracks dedicated to Maya Deren, Luciano Cilio, Carole Schneemann, George Bataille and Derek Jarman. As on his recent Reverb Worship cdr, he uses a plethora of exotic stringed instruments and wheezy organ / harmonica drone to create a semi-improvised amorphous wash of avant-folk.  Mesmerizing and intriguing. 

• Fractal Psych Obsessions For Rural Chaos cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia is the alter-ego of Salvatore Borrelli (also of Etre) and he is joined on one track on this by Valerio Cosi. A beautiful amorphous collage of exotic stringed instruments and digital manipulations. Midway between electro-acoustic improv and avant-folk.

Helhesten - Graphical House cdr (Blackest Rainbow) 4.75

Towering Breaker offshoot. Swarms of electro-acoustic drone with see-sawing violin, occasional blurts of clarinet and lots of weirded-out vocals.

Hunter Gracchus - Companions of the Porch cdr (Golden Lab) 5.50

Free improvisation group based around the core of Syed Kamran Ali, Fiona Marshall and Jon Marshall (who runs Singing Knives). Percussion, wind instruments, melodica and bowed / plucked strings create a restrained and strange magic within acres of space. 

Ice Bird Spiral - Psychiatmc Bloems cassette (Funeral Folk) 5

"This 30 minute tape is like listening to NWW and Biohazard intros in a dentist seat, or a delay-drenched Yeovilian version of De Fabriek.  Bizaradelia freak-out. They played an amazing show at the recent Kraak festival. These guys need to end up in everyone's tape deck and exotic dreams about hippie communes on Saturn in 2035!" (Funeral Folk)

Isaac Willow - Santimonious Rhythm & Rouge cassette (Housecraft) 4

Crazed improv finds itself buried under a mountain of hyperactive tape debris. Sold out at source.

Jane Austen - Wish Wash cassette (Clean Teeth) 4

Solo project of Angeline Chirnside who has also been in Currer Bells, Wyntr Raven and Lost Roman Legions. Strange and magical lo-fi home recordings. Distorted bells that sound like they're ringing from underwater. Sea shanty drones. Strange piano sounds that sound like gamelan music.

David A Jaycock - A New Love Song 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 4

This single is a delight in every way. The artwork is fabulous with a gold sprayed bird on the leaf-cut cover and a printed insert. David A Jaycock is also a member of Big Eyes Family Players and the B side of this single could easily have graced one of their albums with its melancholic chamber folk. The A side is a song with a real early '70s English singer-songwriter feel. Lovely stuff.

Keijo 

• Just Enough cassette (Digitalis) 6

8 track cassette from Finland's Keijo Virtanen. This is his droniest work in a while with the guitar work kept fairly sparse. Harmonica haze, vocal oms and singing metal create a meditative air and Keijo's cyclical guitar weaves magic through that.

• Reduce Snow cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

Latest from Keijo Virtanen. Minimal blues and hypnotic repetitions on guitar, harmonica and jaw harp.

Greg Kelley / Alex Neilson - Passport to Satori LP (Golden Lab) 9.25

"This beautiful super-heavyweight LP, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the UK's premier free drummer Alex Neilson, who's played, amongst others, with Motor Ghost, Directing Hand, Trembling Bells, Tight Meat Duo, Josephine Foster, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jandek, MV&EE, Richard Youngs, Baby Dee and Alastair Galbraith, with Nmperign member Greg Kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as Anthony Braxton's reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. A screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of Greg's horn, unlike anything we've ever heard and he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes." (Golden Lab)

Kheta Hotem - It's All In Your Mind Festival cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

Recorded live November 2008. Heavy tranced ritual with singing bowls throbbing, the earthy throb of didgeridoo, various exotic percussions and Keijo's incredible throat singing which sounds as though it's from the bowels of the earth.

Kitchen Cynics 

• A Tune-a-Day the Kitchen Cynics Way 2 cdr (self-released) 5
• Disconnected cdr (self-released) 5

This gathers together some songs that originally appeared on compilation cds that came with Dream & Ptolemaic Terrascope magazines, some different versions of old favourites ("Hoodie Craw", "Here Comes the Bump" are particular favourites of mine) and a bunch of other stuff. There's a cover of "Black is the Colour" and Alan's cover versions are always something special. It's rare that someone as prolific as this manages to maintain such quality and I never fail to be amazed at how he manages it. Magical storytelling psych-folk-pop that should soundtrack your dreams.

Li Jianhong - Lovers With Cloisonne Bracelet LP (Tipped Bowler) 14.50

Lost Roman Legions - The Red Tape cassette (Clean Teeth / Deserted Village) 4.50

Metal Rouge 

• Ephemeroptera 4 cdr (Seymour) 8

4th in the "Ephemeroptera" series from the Metal Rouge duo - Andrew Scott & Helga Fassonaki. It's another blast, split between the cacophonous - feedback, pedal steel and vocals undulating in a nauseous throb - and the spectral - long beams of feedback shrouded by Helga's wordless vocals.

• Republican Trees LP (Digitalis) 15

Metal Rouge on vinyl - Christmas has come early! And in a gorgeous silk-screened sleeve too. Spectral string-bending reminiscent of "Joy Shapes" Charalambides. Andrew Scott's shredded guitar at times bleeds out the speakers and Helga's disembodied vocals will haunt you from here to next week.

"A perfectly matched split tape.   First side is Ophibre from Boston.  Usually known for his buzzing drone masterpieces, this one delves more into the electroacoustic vein, and finds rich treasures there.  A live performance entitled "rowboat for laptop", it's a very very compelling listen, accumulating power as it goes along to its final conclusion.  Second side is Katchmare, solo project of Nick Hoffman from Normal, Illinois.  Anything but normal, this is a beautiful set of ghostly tones, haunted space, and electroacoustic invention.  Very minimal yet very addictive." (Tape Drift)

Pewt'r - Whichever Was cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 5

Pewt'r is Ron Schneiderman, member of Sunburned Hand of the Man and the guy who runs the Spirit of Orr label. Solo guitar that sounds like a lacerated Loren Conors and has a real loner feel to it. "Circle of Wax" overloads on delay and sounds like a bleak black-hole dub.

Plastic Crimewave Sound - Painted Shadows cd (A Silent Place) 11

"The latest Plastic Crimewave Sound album 'Painted Shadows' (the title inspired by a practice used in german expressionist films)  has a more cosmically devotional vibe than past LPs, touching on eastern folk-blues and elongated kraut-like soundscapes, with new elements of banjo, violin and female voice added to the stew. However, there is still some trademark PCWS rocking, as they still deliver blasts of motor city-type acid-punk,  japanese-style skree, and waves of tension and release. This is the last PCWS album to feature ace leadsman Nick D'vyne, with the always-solid backbone of PCW(guitars, chants/howls) Mark Lux (bass, electronix) and Lawrence 'Skog Device' Peters (drums). Features rarely seen fully painted artwork by Plastic Crimewave." (Silent Place)

Fletcher Pratt - Mind Gunk Vol 14 cassette (Digitalis) 6

"when you've got 13 previous installments of a series under your belt, you obviously know what you're doing.  fletcher pratt's "mind gunk" series is definitely no exception.  as with previous beasts, vol. 14 is an epic maze of tape collage, synth sprigs, acoustic skronk and general analog chaos..  it's all over the map and you're likely to lose your head along the way, but isn't a little fun always worth the risk? " (Digitalis)

Pummeler - s/t cassette (Digitalis) 5.50

Looming clouds of heavy sound mass. Dane Mikkel Dunkerley constructs a whole poison cloud out of metal guitar wig-outs, demonic breath and synth.

Queen Elephantine - Kailash cassette (Abandon Ship) 4

Queen Elephantine are a New-York based duo and the tracks on this cassette sound like a doom-infested Gown at times, with deathly slow black chords ground out and wavering vocals. Later there are some Indian-tinged drones, acoustic guitar and a loose strung-out feel.

Rambutan - Rusted Prayers Converge cdr (Tape Drift) 5.50

This is Eric Hardimann (Burnt Hills / Century Plants) debut solo release. Effects-laden solo guitar that sounds subaquatic - ghostly & nauseous swirls.

Christopher Riggs - Live in Michigan cassette (Digitalis) 6

"christopher riggs is 1/2 of the soulcrushing duo, trauma (w/ graveyards' ben hall), but has been cranking out mounds of cryptic debris in his own right for years.  "live in michigan" documents one of his rare live performances, recorded in december of 2008.  riggs turns his guitar into a sonic chainsaw, dismembering strings and notes with the precision of a blind surgeon.  this is not a safe environment and soon you'll feel your bones cracking under the pressure." (Digitalis)

Andy Robbins - Two Horses cdr (We Like Danger) 6

Two Horses follows on from Andy Robbins' instrumental tape (which was well received at the Melodybar) in fine style. This is an album of songs - very good they are too - and one long, driving instro. to finish. There's elements of psych-pop, drone-folk and old country blues going on here. I'm thinking that I might be hearing some nods to Bert Jansch, Will Oldham and Tyrannosaurus Rex, but I only mention these as a rough outline. There are really nice textures, from violin & 'cello, electronics and autoharp and, all in all, this album is one I can recommend quite easily. (JC)

Jack Rose - The Black Dirt Sessions LP (Three Lobed) 17.25

Great new album from Jack Rose that encompasses ragtime on "Fishtown Flower" which also features jaunty piano, melancholic folk blues, expansive raga, wonderful finger-picking and a new version of the epic "Cross the North Fork" from "Kensington Blues".

Jack Rose & The Black Twig Pickers - s/t LP (Klang Industries) 15

Excellent new album of hoe-downs, Appalachian fiddle tunes, ragtime, some great finger-picking and fiddle-playing and some Jack Rose originals. Heavy vinyl.

RV Paintings / Taiga Remains split LP (Blackest Rainbow) 9.25

A superb split vinyl release of endlessly mysterious drone. RV Paintings are Brian Pyle (Starving Weirdos), Jon Pyle and Spencer Doran (Starving Weirdos / Cloaks) and Taiga Remains is of course Alex Cobb who also runs the Students of Decay label. RV Painting's side dives headlong into a bottomless pit of heavy layered drone with some cavernous percussion thrown in. Taiga Remains' side is just as consuming - infinite tones elongating far and wide.

Alan Scheurman - Old Patterns cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Sequin Trails - Maiden Midst cd (Golden Lab) 6.25

Sublime drone / communal groove based around saxophone, flute, organ, guitar, vocals and hand percussion.

Shogun Kunitoki - Vinonaamakasio LP (Fonal) 11.25

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)

Kenji Siratori - Hototogisu cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

"Experimental cyber ambient. All sounds by Kenji Siratori, recorded in March 2009 in Hana No Yama" (267 Lattajjaa)

Sky Limousine - Undetected Paradise cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 5

Sublime hypno-gurgle synths that spiral their starry gloop to the sky and beyond.

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. 

Steven R Smith & Gareth Davis - Westering LP (Important) 11.25

"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.

Social Junk - s/t limited cd & cassette (Digitalis Industries) 10

Soundpressings - s/t cassette (Digitalis) 5.50

Wild electronic utterings from the depths of Oklahoma. Soundpressings is Danny Mitchell and this release encompasses black noise drone, subterranean tones, disjointed collage-style rhythms and assorted scree. 

Spacemen 3 - DJ Tones LP (Great Pop Supplement) 11.50

"a one off pressing of 1000 copies on clear vinyl in spot varnished sleeves of last year's quick sell out, space age CD. 5 incredible demos kicking off with the awesome unreleased "these blues"- radically reworked by jason later for the spiritualized "pure phase" album, this version is a stripped way down, 3 chord blues akin to something from third album period velvets. just beautiful and a first time on vinyl. followed by the stunning violin mix of the red krayola classic "transparent radiation", and arguably the best version yet of "ecstasy symphony", the set also includes the rare 50 copy only, white label mix of sonic's "i love you" remix and an unreleased drone, effect laden "modulated tones."  (GPS)

Spiral Joy Band - Little Sparrow cd (VHF) 9

Latest album from Mikel Dimmick, Amy Shea, Nathan Bowles, and Mike Gangloff.  Bowed strings, harmonium and cymbal / gong create deeply meditative drones and Gangloff's fiddle playing scratches and fractures like Henry Flynt - zen for hillbillies! The final track was recorded in the surf off Hatteras Island, North Carolina - singing bowls amidst the crashing waves. Highly recommended.

Spires That In the Sunset Rise - Curse the Traced Bird LP (Secret Eye) 9

Recorded in Philadelphia with members of Espers and produced by Greg Weeks, this album is every bit as odd an offering as these ladies have served up before. Black mass drone with queasy strings and witchy vocals. The song-based tracks sound like the Raincoats on a bad-acid folk trip which is a very good thing indeed. Wonderfully odd as always.

Spoils and Relics - Alabaster Silt cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 5

"Spoils and Relics 'Alabastor Silk' is a threes up (Kieron Piercy, Gary Myles and Johnny Scarr [occasional Fossil member]) improvisation on found objects, tapes and electronics - recorded in in a red lit Leeds basement, and then pieced together in Mantile studio, Nottingham. This release focuses on a reinvention of found artifacts, applied as tools to further explorations of prehistoric futures present.  Limited to 60 copies." (BR)

Sproatly Smith - The Yew and the Hare cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Featuring a cover of "Gently Johnny" from the Wicker Man soundtrack which should give you an idea of where Sproatly Smith are coming from. Mix that up with a bit of a Ghost Box feel to proceedings (samples straight out of 60s / 70s TV / radio) and field recordings of sheep, fire, sparrows etc into some intriguingly weird folk collages.

Starving Weirdos 

• Into an Energy cd (Bo'weavil) 7.50

On this recording the core duo of Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay are joined by occasional collaborators Gregg Devaney and Steve Lazar. The sound they create is immense - spiralling cacophonies of horns, dark drone undercurrents and funereal percussion. An intense and enchanting black mass.

• B/P/M Series 1 LP (Blackest Rainbow) 11

Sunburned Hand of the Man 

• 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.

Super Minerals - The Gooh cassette (Housecraft) 4

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. 

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.

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.

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

Lovely cascades of delayed guitar - twilight waterfalls of sound.

Tsarskoie Selo Hemophilarmonic - s/t cdr (Nothing Out There) 9

A side-project of L'Enfant Meduse, this offers a very wide range of textures, all filtered through a fuzzy gauze of a recording. Bells and piano, a chorale of voices in unsettling harmonies, overloaded feedback squall of guitar, ghostly pluckings, and a rather tortured, almost bluesy wail. There's an unlisted extra track where the plucking and feedback meet and the 3 fold packaging is pleasingly devised, with twigs and cord holding the cd in place. (JC)

Michael Vallera - Shallow Water Blackout cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Expansive mellowed-out drones from this Chicago-based musicians based on analog synthesizer patches and modulated guitar.

Jozef Van Wissem - It Is All That is Made cd (Important) 11.25

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. 

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)

Von Himmel - Space Communion cassette (Sloow) 6

Space communion indeed! This is one cosmic cassette - mysterious drones, flute drifting through the ether, clanking space debris, hypnotic hum and some mellow space-rock moves.

Peter Walker - 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.

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

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

Simon Wickham-Smith - A Seventh Persimmon cdr (Tape Drift) 5

3 long tracks. Slowly unwinding minimalism - from solitary piano & guitar notes hang suspended in the thick hum in the opener to the whir of charged electricity of the second track and the carousel swirl of digitally manipulated piano in the closer. 

Woodcraft Folk - Trough of Bowland LP (Great Pop Supplement) 8.50

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.

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).

Wyrdstone - Cuffern cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

A brief burst of The quarrymen's Chant (which I suspect comes straight out of the archives at Cecile Sharp House) opens this album, giving way to a lovely original piece where voices float in a mist over guitar and, I think, mandolin. Much of the record is devoted to charming acoustic guitar from Clive Murrell, plus some recorder, a touch of birdsong, some loops and drones. As I write, it's a sunny late afternoon and Cuffern makes a fine soundtrack for the moment. (JC)

Xenis Emputae Travelling Band - The Pyrognomic Glass LP & chapbook (Memoirs of an Aesthete) 9

Vinyl reissue of one of the finest XETB releases. Comes with a chapbook of Phil Legard's writings entitled "Abital -  or Conferences with the Genii of Nocturnal and Diurnal Dew in vii Chapters". Imagine swimming in an underwater cavern, the sound of an organ, perceptible at first against the splashing water, then flutes echoing against stone walls and next a voice, doing a sort of throat singing drone. This eventually gives way to a spooky song accompanied by a banjo. That is, roughly, track 1. The second of these long pieces is bowls and bells, singing and chiming, long bowed lines and then… piping recorders! All very lovely indeed. (JC)

xNoBBQx - Skewer 10" (Golden Lab) 6.25

Clattering improv from this Australian duo with previous releases on MYMWLY and Siltbreeze. Minimal, primitive garage punk played by pre-teens with rudimentary guitar and a stack of percussion.

Richard Youngs - High Sun Energy 7" (Dull Knife) 6

Beautifully packaged 7" with a photograph (3 separate editions) stuck on card. Avant-folk songwriting riddled with heavy distortion.

v/a - Inner Ends of the Coils 2cdr (Nothing Out There) 12

A lovely handmade double gatefold package for this compilation of guitar-based sounds: Ashtray Navigations, Sun Stabbed, Century Plants, RST, Michel Henritzi, Jeff Gburek, Savage Sons of Wallonie, Melmac, Gart & Seekatze, Przewalski's Horses, Guanaco, Michael Northern, Expo 70, Nappo, Poldr and Gunn Diehl.