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Artist: AETHENOR Title: Betimes Black Cloudmasses
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 VHF111
Price: $13.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 5/5/08
***Betimes Black Cloudmasses is the highly-anticipated second album from Vincent De Roguin (Shora), Stephen O'Malley (SUNN0))), KTL), and Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo). Like their genre- and audience-confounding debut Deep In Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light, Betimes is an atmospheric, constantly changing piece that encompasses a mind-boggling array of different performance and processing techniques. The deeply psychedelic and moving results present a soundstage that is continually evolving, with new elements entering and leaving the fray every couple of seconds.

Betimes includes significant contributions from free percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel, who sprinkle the sound field with an almost FMP-style rush of splattering drum sound, raising the intensity of the music (without resorting to bashing). The album also features a brief but affecting vocal from Ulver mastermind Kristoffer Rygg, who made his first live appearance in over a decade when Aethenor played the Roadburn Festival in April 2008. Aethenor's third LP, featuring vocals and lyrics by David Tibet, will be released in Autumn 2008.

"Musically, Aethenor summon the most somnolent examples of Bernard Parmegiani, Organum, Nurse with Wound, Klaus Schulze, Igor Wakhevitch, Coil, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Charlemagne Palestine. Acousmatic drones ebb and flow into crackling and bubbling sonic clusters. Lulling piano motifs and lamenting chants shimmer into distant lunar horizons while oscillators spin and drove serenely into unchartered audial regions. Sometimes as calm as a silvery sea, so that every gentle cat's-paw and lapping wave is deafening. Sometimes as tempestuous as a fuming lava beach, spitting and popping at the surface." --Daniel O'Sullivan

30-second MP3 excerpts:

I
II
III

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Aethenor "Betimes Black Cloudmasses"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service and emusic, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: AETHENOR Title: Betimes Black Cloudmasses
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF111CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 4/14/08
***Betimes Black Cloudmasses is the highly-anticipated second album from Vincent De Roguin (Shora), Stephen O'Malley (SUNN0))), KTL), and Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo). Like their genre- and audience-confounding debut Deep In Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light, Betimes is an atmospheric, constantly changing piece that encompasses a mind-boggling array of different performance and processing techniques. The deeply psychedelic and moving results present a soundstage that is continually evolving, with new elements entering and leaving the fray every couple of seconds.

Betimes includes significant contributions from free percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel, who sprinkle the sound field with an almost FMP-style rush of splattering drum sound, raising the intensity of the music (without resorting to bashing). The album also features a brief but affecting vocal from Ulver mastermind Kristoffer Rygg, who made his first live appearance in over a decade when Aethenor played the Roadburn Festival in April 2008. Aethenor's third LP, featuring vocals and lyrics by David Tibet, will be released in Autumn 2008.

"Musically, Aethenor summon the most somnolent examples of Bernard Parmegiani, Organum, Nurse with Wound, Klaus Schulze, Igor Wakhevitch, Coil, Iancu Dumitrescu, and Charlemagne Palestine. Acousmatic drones ebb and flow into crackling and bubbling sonic clusters. Lulling piano motifs and lamenting chants shimmer into distant lunar horizons while oscillators spin and drove serenely into unchartered audial regions. Sometimes as calm as a silvery sea, so that every gentle cat's-paw and lapping wave is deafening. Sometimes as tempestuous as a fuming lava beach, spitting and popping at the surface." --Daniel O'Sullivan

30-second MP3 excerpts:

I
II
III

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Aethenor "Betimes Black Cloudmasses"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service and emusic, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: AETHENOR Title: Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light
Format: LP Catalog
Number:		 VHF97
Price: $17.50 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 12/11/06
***Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is the debut release from the trio of Stephen O'Malley (Sunn0))))), Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo), and Vincent de Roguin (Shora). Taking its title from The Iliad, the music is deep, cosmic, and equally epic, completely unlike anything you'd expect from three such heavyweights. More in the tradition of Nurse With Wound's Spiral Insana or Klaus Schulze's Cyborg than any contemporary trend, the tracks float along in a masterful collage of activity, where careful scene changes highlight O'Sullivan's classic but artfully placed Rhodes bombs, de Roguin's organ, and O'Malley's guitar.

Extraordinary effort has gone into editing, mastering, and shaping these pieces--they are not tossed off improvisations or "side-project" orphans. The group recently completed a small European tour with Jackie-O-Motherfucker's Alexander Tucker, playing dates with with Ulan Bator, The No Neck Blues Band and Netwerk. Both CD and LP editions are housed in beautiful, custom jackets hand-printed by Alan Sherry of SIWA.

Artist: AETHENOR Title: Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF97CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 11/13/06
***Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is the debut release from the trio of Stephen O'Malley (Sunn0))))), Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo), and Vincent de Roguin (Shora). Taking its title from The Iliad, the music is deep, cosmic, and equally epic, completely unlike anything you'd expect from three such heavyweights. More in the tradition of Nurse With Wound's Spiral Insana or Klaus Schulze's Cyborg than any contemporary trend, the tracks float along in a masterful collage of activity, where careful scene changes highlight O'Sullivan's classic but artfully placed Rhodes bombs, de Roguin's organ, and O'Malley's guitar.

Extraordinary effort has gone into editing, mastering, and shaping these pieces--they are not tossed off improvisations or "side-project" orphans. The group recently completed a small European tour with Jackie-O-Motherfucker's Alexander Tucker, playing dates with with Ulan Bator, The No Neck Blues Band and Netwerk. Both CD and LP editions are housed in beautiful, custom jackets hand-printed by Alan Sherry of SIWA.

Artist: ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB Title: S/T
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF100
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 10/23/06
***With this release the VHF catalog moves into triple digit territory and the label is celebrating with the first official album by Neil Campbell's (Vibracathedral Orchestra) genre-destroying Astral Social Club unit. Following a series of instantly sold-out limited edition CDRs, Campbell agreed to select, edit and remix a collection of tracks for wider release from the group's rather exclusive catalog.

VHF100 is a dense mega-mix of continually peaking sound-flow. Working a tricky hybrid ground between contemporary UK teams like Sunroof! and Vibracathedral Orchestra, and the influence of Kompakt-style pulsating electronic "techno," Astral Social Club's music shimmers and throbs in a truly psychedelic manner. Campbell and Tirath Singh Nirmala have radically re-worked these tracks to be unrecognizable from their original CDR issues, but they are instantly recognizable as part of the unrelenting Astral Social Club rainbow stream.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

track 1
track 2
track 3
track 4
track 5
track 6
track 7
track 8
track 9
track 10
track 11s

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Astral Social Club s/t

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

(Please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all albums may be available in certain territories).

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: BELL, SANDRA Title: City Of Sorrows
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF039CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 3/22/99
***Sandra recorded this stark and sultry collection of melancholy and exhilarating material after temporarily relocating from her native New Zealand to Berlin. Fans of her previous material on the IMD, Turbulence and Xpressway labels will find this new release (her first full-length material since 1995) engrossing. Sandrais lyrics and alternately deadpan and harrowing delivery potently convey an atmosphere of dissolution and decay. These beautifully bleak songscapes will attract fans of Graeme and Peter Jefferies, early Opal, and the Renderers.

Artist: BLACK TWIG PICKERS Title: Hobo Handshake
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF108
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 3/17/08
***Hobo Handshake, the fourth full-length from the Black Twig Pickers, finds a slightly reshuffled lineup and a renewed emphasis on kicking out raw, percussive takes on both traditional Appalachian and original material. With Ralph Berrier Jr.'s retirement from the group, Mike Gangloff has added fiddle to his already considerable arsenal, and along with stalwart guitarist Isak Howell, brought in Nathan Bowles (Pelt, Spiral Joy Band) on percussion and several guests who make substantial contributions to the party.

The Twigs work the fine line between the Friday night old-time dance party and the wellspring of grim and evocative tragedy that runs through the tradition, delivering these laments, travelogues, and wild whoops with sawing, rocking joy. This is a sprawling collection, with visceral group takes on "Crossing the James," "Cherry River Line," and "Old Joe Clark." Charlie Parr and Lane Prekker join the crew on "Last Kind Word Blues," "Train 45" and "Twin Sisters" (first essayed by Pelt way back in '98) with Parr's amazing, ragged voice leading the charge over Bowles and Prekker's driving percussion. Along with the full group material, the Twigs throw in other welcome oddities such as Howell's Fahey-like "At the Head of Every Creek," "P.E.A. Vine Blues," an arrangement of a tune from Portuguese Africa, and a book-ending solo version of "Crossing the James," with Gangloff on baritone banjo.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Intro
Crossing The James
Rattletrap
Cherry River Line
Last Kind Word Blues
Glory In The Meeting House
At The Head Of Every Creek
Stay All Night
Boatsman
Paint Bank
Walking In The Parlor
Callahan
Train 45
Never Miss Your Mamma
Twin Sisters
Sally Coming Through The Rye
Old-Time Fire On The Mountain
Old Joe Clark
Old Joe Bone
Frosty Morning
P.E.A.
Vine Blues
Crossing The James

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Black Twig Pickers "Hobo Handshake"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service and emusic, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: BLACK TWIG PICKERS Title: North Fork Flyer
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF61
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 6/4/01
***North Fork Flyer represents the continued persistence of a type of Appalachian folk music that has come and gone from the popular radar over the years, but has never completely disappeared from the Black Twig Pickers' Southwest Virginia home. The songs on North Fork Flyer are mostly traditional numbers (with a few originals sprinkled in) that form the backbone of a century-old tradition - the music of bonfires, front porches, coal miner's festivals, and informal gatherings. These "mountain ragas," as the group calls them, have been recorded, performed, and revised continually by a who's who of true American artistry - luminaries such as Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt, John Fahey, Bob Wills, Holy Modal Rounders, New Lost City Ramblers, etc., etc.

Recorded live to DAT on front porches and in family rooms, North Fork Flyer blends the fiddle blues of Ralph Berrier Jr., Isak Howell's sinewy guitar and the drone and twitch of Pelt's Mike Gangloff's fretless clawhammer banjo with the trio's rough-around-the-edges but warm vocal harmonies. Played to the accompaniment of night insects, passing trains, and the noise of wandering children, the music retains the charm of tradition but is free of fake antiquarianism and nostalgia. Regardless of age, the music is just as relevant today as it was 100 years ago and the band plays it as though they mean it. And they obviously do.

The name of the band comes from the oldest, most crotchety apple variety in the orchard that fiddler Ralph Berrier's family maintains along the musically fertile Virginia-North Carolina line. Black Twig plays regularly in Southwest Virginia.

Artist: BLACK TWIG PICKERS Title: Soon One Morning
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF73
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 2/24/03
***The second CD by this SW Virginia area trio is firmly planted in Old-Time Appalachian tradition, but concentrates mostly on original material. Standing out in particular is "Floyd Allen," Ralph Berrier Jr.'s masterful retelling of an area tragedy with a sweet and unexpected major/minor chorus change-up. Mike Gangloff's lengthy and elegiac instrumental "This War Is Killing Me" glides along on a sad melody passed around between resonator guitar, cello and fiddle. Many tracks are anchored by Gangloff's unusual gut-string baritone banjo. Two solo instrumentals on the CD add balance between the vocal numbers-- Isak Howell's "Have You Been To Alabama?" is a subtle fingerpicked workout, while Gangloff's "Ironto Special" is a considerably more exotic-sounding modal construction on the big banjo. Elsewhere, there's an upbeat essay of "Pallet On The Floor," a relation to "Poor Boy Long Ways From Home," which appeared on the group's debut North Fork Flyer CD. Among the traditional numbers, none is more striking than the group's charging and rough treatment of "Oh Death," with Gangloff and Berrier spitting out the call-and-response vocal which gives the album its title.

Isak Howell: Guitar, Vocal
Ralph Berrier Jr: Fiddle, Vocal
Mike Gangloff: Banjo, Resonator, Vocal

Artist: BLACK TWIGS Title: Midnight Has Come And Gone
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF86
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 4/25/05
***Midnight has Come and Gone, the third CD by this Southwest Virginia group, is another set of classic bluegrass, country blues, and Appalachian folk. Since 200's Soon One Morning, The Black Twigs (also known as the Black Twig Pickers, the trio of Mike Gangloff, Ralph Berrier, and Isak Howell) have expanded to a quartet with the addition of bassist Mike Gayheart. Midnight Has Come and Gone is made up of mostly of original material, roadtested at gigs and festivals along the Blue Ridge. Topical stormers like "Fire in the Stove" and "Blood Red Clay" are live staples, belted out here in a virtuoso hail of guitar, fiddle, banjo, and rough harmony. In contrast to the more trad-sounding fare, the grungy and twisting "Bent Mountain Drag" recalls Begga's Banquet-era Rolling Stones. Continuing the Black Twig tradition of beautiful instrumentals, "Twilight on the Radford Army Ammunition Plant" is another hymn-like meditation outside the showy-offy bluegrass tradition. "Original Natural Bridge Blues" is a song from 1941, which has been recorded in an incomplete fashion by many groups over the years. Berrier's discovery of the original 1940s sheet music in a family photo album (detailed in the liner notes) revealed a lost verse, presented here for the first time.
Artist: DOLDRUMS Title: Feng Shui
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF32CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 4/13/98
***Recorded at the same time as the band's Kranky release, "Acupuncture," "Feng Shui" represents the more ambient and contemplative side of the duo. Raga, solo percussion, post-astral jamming, mutilated beats and karmically correct mic placement all join forces to take you to subliminal interior design showrooms you never dreamed could exist.

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Doldrums "Feng Shui" (VHF)

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks here.

[please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all Midheaven titles may be available for download in all territories].

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: DOLDRUMS Title: S/T (Secret Life Of)
Format: CDEP Catalog
Number:		 VHF21
Price: $9.75 Label: Vhf
***They spell Kluster with a K and Kraftwerk with a pylon, and F/i stands for fuehrers incognito.

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Doldrums "s/t - Secret Life Of Plants"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks here.

[please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all Midheaven titles may be available for download in all territories].

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: DOUBLE U & GLANDS OF EXTERNAL SECRETION Title: S/T
Format: 2xCD Catalog
Number:		 VHF31
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 11/10/97
***San Francisco's fjord-rocking art-void trio gets into a fetid bunk with canned Bananafish editor Seymour Glass The first disc sports a courageous assemblage 'U songs, while the second is a track-by-track demix of the first. Two discs for the price of one. We all win.

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to the iTunes Music Service page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Double U/Glands of External Secretion "s/t" (VHF)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: FERN KNIGHT Title: Music For Witches And Alchemists
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF101
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 11/13/06
***Music for Witches and Alchemists is a dark and beguiling collection of songs by Fern Knight, the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and songwriting. Beautifully recorded by Greg Weeks, the songs are cast in rich, detailed arrangements with Alec K. Redfearn (The Eyesores), Greg Weeks and Meg Baird (Espers), and several other Philadelphia-area luminaries contributing to the sweeping sound. At the heart is Wienk's strong voice, cello, and guitar, leading the tunes with feeling and subtlety. Following in the footsteps of of electric-trad legends such as Pentangle and Trees, Wienk's music rings of the intensely personal and is delivered with crystal clarity, not the hipster-fuzz obfuscation of some contempo "folk." Music for Witches and Alchemists is Fern Knight's first domestic release, following their barely available debut on the German Normal label.
Artist: FERN KNIGHT Title: S/T
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF110
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 5/5/08
***This is the third CD of beautiful music from Philadelphia quartet Fern Knight, led by the crystal voice, guitar, and cello of Margaret Wienk. Drawing from diverse influences such as '70s Krautrock, UK folk, and baroque and renaissance music, the band's eponymous recording juxtaposes the calm surface of harp, cello, and violin against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V and a dark undercurrent of lyrical and vocal mystery. The overall effect is a lush, pastoral, and warm ode to all things green and living, a running theme that winds through the songs' post-apocalyptic landscape: "All is lost / And all will run / Over graying ground / To the rays of the sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track, "Magpie Suite: Part III."

The album's cohesion rests upon the core quartet's combination of acoustic and electronic instruments-- the perfect vehicle for Wienk's unique songwriting and string arrangements. Since the 2006 release of Music for Witches and Alchemists, Fern Knight has toured extensively in the US and Europe, as well touring and recording as members of The Valerie Project (Drag City Records).

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Bemused
Silver Fox
Sundew
Loch Na Fooey
Hawk Mountain
Synge's Chair
Magpie Suite: Prelude
Magpie Suite: Part II
Magpie Suite: Part III
Artist: FLYING SAUCER ATTACK Title: Distance
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF14
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
***Faint praise, revisited: those twiddly bits between the songs on "Loveless," lo-fi, wake and bake and other lifestyle choices before they became de rigeur. The domino effect never sounded this good.

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to the iTunes Music Service page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Flying Saucer Attack "Distance" (VHF)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: FLYING SAUCER ATTACK Title: S/T
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF11
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to the iTunes Music Service page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Flying Saucer Attack "s/t" (VHF)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: FLYING SAUCER ATTACK & ROY MONTGOMERY Title: Goodbye
Format: 12" Catalog
Number:		 VHF26
Price: $8.25 Label: Vhf
Artist: FLYING SAUCER ATTACK & ROY MONTGOMERY Title: Goodbye
Format: CDEP Catalog
Number:		 VHF26CD
Price: $9.75 Label: Vhf
***The legendary, the legend, the real thing. Why bliss out when you can sleep in?

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to the iTunes Music Service page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Flying Saucer Attack and Roy Montgomery "And Goodbye" (VHF)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: FROM QUAGMIRE Title: Caught In Unknowing
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF71
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 11/18/02
***Working from Dorothy Geller's assured finger-picked and plucked nylon-string guitar, and James Wolf's elegant violin lines, From Quagmire explores a kind of hushed, terse chamber song that is so unlike anything else it's hard to draw comparisons. V2G2's unorthodox interruptions of sawing bowed guitar, free-"jazz" drumming, and other unlikely audio splatter is the wild card that keeps things from getting too austere. Usually it's totally beside the point, but it's worth mentioning that unlike most underground folk/outsider weirdness, the music here is superbly recorded in close-up detail.

The Tropic of Barren [presents] slowly unfolding songs that are full of mystery and suspense. "Suite of Windmill and Sycamore" open things with raw and bluesy guitar work played as if every note would be the last one ever played. In the distance a drone starts building up and unorthodox percussion jumps in and out of the speakers.... Dorothy Geller [known, along with From Quagmire violinist James Wolf, for work with chamber rock ensemble Laconic Chamber] plays the nylon string guitar throughout the whole record and it's truly spectacular in the sadly flowing "Suite of Atoms and Media." This drifts right into the aptly titled "Fragment of Watching," which veers off into a slightly more experimental neighborhood, but the nylon guitar just keeps on floating in profoundly sad sound structures as if nothing would have happened. On all six of The Tropic of Barren's tracks, there's space for every tone to breathe and every instrument to speak, resulting in a detailed sonic conversation that'll keep you going well into the endless night. --Mats Gustafsson, Broken Face

Artist: FROM QUAGMIRE Title: Habitats In The Wound
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF088
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 2/28/05
***Enigmatic trio From Quagmire's third release of startling art-song works in an area completely devoid of identifiable US / Anglo "folk" influence. The 'Quag's mix of collage and roughly styled human performance is full of dramatic contrast. Most tracks house Dorothy Geller's voice and pointillistic, nylon-string guitar in a thick embrace of droning sound. Much of the CD was recorded in the UK, where guests Helena Espvall-Santoleri (cello), Sharon Krauss (whistle and clarinet) and Simon Wickham-Smith (electronics) added their substantial input to the record. Touches such as Wickham- Smith's understated electronics on "A Father's Vision" and Espvall- Santoleri's dark bowing on most cuts redefine From Quagmire's signature sound-- away from the percussive and jarring avant explosions heard on Tropic of Barren and Caught In Unknowing and toward a more subtle, refined brand of expression.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Ingrate
Habitats In The Wound
Holiday Song
Between The Chores
A Fathers Vision/Story Of Knife
Mocking Faces/Wilderness Song
Against The Real

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for From Quagmire "Habitats In The Wound"

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: FROM QUAGMIRE Title: The Tropic Of Barren
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF59
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 4/30/01
***The Tropic of Barren is the debut release from Virginia's From Quagmire. A trio of Dorothy Geller, James Wolf, and Rake guitarist Vincent Van Go-Gogh, FQ's beautiful, mysterious and just plain weird art-song drift is a look into a rather under-explored corner of the underground universe. The slowly unfolding songs are based on Dorothy's nylon-string guitar and hushed-but-pointed vocals, punctuated by Wolf's expertly sawed violin and Van Go-Gogh's unpredictable percussion, electronics and guitar interjections. The music is highly detailed and performed with significant individual personality, rather than the predictable loud-soft-repeat bombast of other contemporary post-whatever ensembles. Geller and Wolf have done time in Camera Obscura recording artists Laconic Chamber and the Library of Congress (the federal institution, not the band). Van Go-Gogh is straight out of DC's long-running freakazoid ensemble Rake (as we stated). The Quag plans to tour both coasts during 2001.

"All songs and sounds imagined and written in exile." -FQ

Artist: ILK Title: Canticle
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF87
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 7/11/05
***Outrageous CD of prog rock from Richard Youngs's and Andrew Paine's Ilk, Canticle is a long promised follow-up to the group's 1998 CD Zenith, which was released on Youngs's No Fans label. Unlike Youngs's more "minimalist" solo records, Ilk drapes his songs and voice in thick layers of heavy jams, and then piles on the production tricks, vocal layers, Steve Howe-style leads, synth bleeps, and other racket in beautifully intricate arrangements. Canticle is clearly influenced by the classic UK progressives but unmistakably contemporary. "A Guiding Principle" and "Landsong" marry Youngs' and Paine's multi-tracked voices with overthe- top full rock-band arrangements. "Honour's Prospect" mixes mystical narration with some searing fuzz-guitar, and is followed by the bass-heavy march of "The Weight of Stars." "Tilling" shimmers and echoes, leading into the spacey and cosmic "Outward & Homeward." The folky "Of Souls" serves as a fittingly simple epilogue to the suite. Veronica Rennie's cover art completes the package in highly appropriate style.
Artist: KANG TAE HWAN TRIO Title: Love Time
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF079
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 3/8/04
***Love Time is under-documented Korean alto player Kang Tae Hwan's debut release; his trio includes Makoto Kawabata and percussionist Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, the latter well-traveled in both improv and rock circles, having been a member of Omoide Hatoba and a frequent collaborator with heavyweights like Otomo Yoshide and Haco. The inescapable Makoto Kawabata is best known for his Deep Purple-style rock as a member of Acid Mothers Temple, but on his own has produced a string of subtle, elegiac solo CDs, performing on guitar, organ, electronics, etc.

More minimalist than free jazz, Love Time centers on Hwan's long circular tones, avoiding common free-alto styles in favor of a roughly hewn clarion approach. Kawabata and Yoshimitsu shadow Hwan subtly on sarangi and bowed percussion. The music gradually builds to a crescendo, with Kawabata switching to guitar and Yoshimitsu moving to the drum kit. An atmospheric and understated work. In letterpress gatefold. One track, fifty minutes. We'll see you when you get back.

Active since the '70s, Hwan has recorded for Japanese Victor and DIW labels, played at Moers, toured Japan a few times, and collaborated with Gerry Hemingway and Otomo Yoshihide, among others. His discography includes several CDs of solo alto improvisations and a duo CD with Tuvan vocalist Sainkho Namtchylak. More recently he has collaborated with Alfred Harth during Harth's residency in Seoul.

    If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

    [please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all Midheaven titles may be available for download in all territories].

Artist: KAWABATA / YOUNGS Title: S/T
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF064
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 3/14/05
***REISSUE. This untitled CD of duets by Kawabata Makoto, the leader of Acid Mothers Temple, and the slightly less available Glasgow librarian Richard Youngs shows the pair in a relaxed yet psychedelic mood where it is immediately apparent that the two are really listening to one another instead of merely adding to their already vast discographies. Throughout the five untitled tracks, simple modal melodies are performed on acoustic guitar, autoharp, organ, voice and other instruments rubbing against the swirling production and layers of shifting haze. Young's identifiable voice, guitar and autoharp greet Kawabata's echo treatments on the first track, while track three reverses the process with Young's minor key picking cutting against Kawabata's thick, visceral drones. Tracks two, four and five all use a base of beautiful fingerpicked guitar melodies, layering organ, synth, tape effects and echo until a mellow cosmic vibe is achieved. In all, some of the most beautiful sounds ever issued by either of these two gentlemen, both known for their edgy experimental work, is on this CD.

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Makoto Kawabata & Richard Youngs "s/t"

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: KAWABATA, MAKOTO Title: Inui 1
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF95
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 5/1/06
***Long-planned reissue of Makoto Kawabata's first solo LP, from way back in 2000 (or roughly 100 releases ago, in Kawabata terms). Originally released by the mighty SIWA label in a tiny, hand-printed edition of 300, this has long been the most sought-after Kawabata item, pretty much impossible to track down without a wallet full of eBay slush funds.

The music, as on all the releases in Kawabata's Inui series, is intensely personal and introspective, with long, softly focused tracks featuring acoustic stringed instruments from around the globe (including violin, sarangi, oud, sitar, bouzouki, lyra, shou, and nei). French filmmaker, musician and longtime Acid Mothers Temple collaborator Audrey Ginestet lends her crystal voice to the album opener, "Shin." This new, limited reissue is packaged in a fabulous multi-color, hand-screened mini-gatefold printed by Alan Sherry of SIWA.

  • Limited to 800 copies only
  • CD-reissue of the nearly impossible-to-find solo debut from Acid Mothers Temple's illuminated guitar guru
  • Packaged in a beautifully designed, multi-color hand-screened folio by Alan Sherry / SIWA

    30-second MP3 excerpts:

    Shin
    Tai
    Son

    If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

    go to iTunes to browse downloads for Kawabata Makoto "Inui 1"

    If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks here.w

    [please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all Midheaven titles may be available for download in all territories].

    For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: KAWABATA, MAKOTO Title: Inui 2
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF51
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 10/2/00
***Inui 2 is the first widely available solo CD by this prolific Japanese guitarist/composer/bearded guru. Known primarily for his recent work with oddballs Acid Mothers Temple, Kawabata's career actually goes back to the late '70s and spans many styles, including solo guitar improv, electronics, folk, and, of course, the deranged acid mayhem associated with the PSF scene.

Performed entirely solo on violin, kemenje, zurna, electronics, sarangi, taiko, gong, water, bouzouki, cello, vibes, organ, and sitar, the four tracks that make up Inui 2 are perfectly executed dream-music, equal parts delicately floating and heavily droning. There's also one all-too-short modal essay for bouzouki that is amazingly beautiful.

After years of obscurity, there has been a recent avalanche of Acid Mothers and Kawabata releases, most of them of the impossibly limited variety, all of them snapped up by the internet and by real people, too.

  • Acid Mothers Temple will undertake an extensive US tour in November 2000 in support of new LPs on Eclipse and Detector.
  • Contains an unequaled dream-drone-float quotient, which equals serious, heavy appeal to serious bakers of many stripes

    If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

    go to iTunes to browse downloads for Kawabata Makoto "Inui 2"

    If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks here.

    [please note that, due to international licensing agreements, not all Midheaven titles may be available for download in all territories].

    For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: KAWABATA, MAKOTO Title: Inui 4
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF106CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 9/10/07
***INUI 4 is the fourth volume in Makoto Kawabata's series of solo releases for VHF. While widely and rightly known for earsplitting Deep Purple-style guitar demolition with Acid Mother's Temple, Gong, etc., Kawabata's INUI works are highly personal and introspective, with lots of room given to cosmic atmosphere and acoustic instruments.

INUI 4 is a single 68 minute track, a slow-building and evolving multi-layered swath of acoustic and electric guitars, electronics, and hurdy gurdy. The final 20 minutes feature prominent "glissando" guitar, a la Daevid Allen-- a very fine sound to be lost in. Like the other INUI volumes, this includes great photos and design by Makoto and Sachiko Kawabata.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Ryo

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Makoto Kawabata "Inui 4"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: KAWABATA, MAKOTO Title: Inui.3
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF089
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 2/28/05
***The third volume in an acclaimed series by the Acid Mothers Temple leader, INUI.3 focuses on Makoto Kawabata's highly personal brand of epic instrumental drone. Performing on bouzouki, sarangi, electric guitar, viola, and ECS-101, Kawabata emphasizes the gradual build of monumental sound structures. Running twelve minutes each, "Sui" and "Ken" are darkly spun tales, with wisps of sound keening over a distant backdrop. Recalling the Speed Guru's lovely 2001 collaboration with Richard Youngs, the 47-minute "Fuku" is based on a hypnotic arpeggio plucked out on the bouzouki over which Gong-style glissando guitar and other zonked sounds are carefully layered.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Sui
Ken
Fuku

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Kawabata Makoto "INUI3"

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: L Title: Holy Letters
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF084CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 11/1/04
***Recorded in 1989 and 1990, Hiroyuki Usui's barely circulated masterpiece of deeply felt self-expression beautifully captures the spirit and substance of a half-dozen key sub-underground pillars of sound. Working with guitar, vocals, vibes, harmonium, bass, drums, cello, field recordings, digeridoo, and more, Usui blends delicate folk, psychedelia, and experimental sounds into a mostly subdued but undeniably glowing suite. The layered but careful instrumentation on the epic title track and "Troll" backs the alternately plain-spoken and crooning vocals perfectly. Odd touches like snatches of throat singing and bowed vibraphone leap out of the mix at just the right time. There are overt references to the blues (the first track is an oblique cover of "Cold Was The Ground") -- but other than the occasional slide guitar touch, the connection is overwhelmingly in the timeless feeling and atmosphere. For anyone who's into Richard Youngs, Popol Vuh, Six Organs of Admittance, Tim Buckley, acid-folk, or Japanese underground, this is an essential purchase. Holy Letters was self-released by Usui in the early '90s and primarily given away to friends, while a handful made it into shops in Tokyo and the U.S. before it disappeared completely. VHF's reissue includes the entire CD and seven-inch from the original package, plus a tenminute bonus track from the original sessions. The gatefold folio with 20-page booklet includes previously unpublished photos and new liner notes by Usui and Ben Chasny (in both Japanese and English).

Usui's name pops up in several intriguing places in the apparently still under-documented Japanese underground lexicon: as drummer for Fushitsusha in the late '70s and early '80s); in A-Musik (with legendary vocalist Phew); in Marble Sheep; and several other true underground outfits. Usui's brilliant collaboration with Six Organs Of Admittance will be released in 2005 in Drag City.

Artist: MONTGOMERY, ROY Title: Silver Wheel Of Prayer
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF49
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 2/12/01
***With so much outward-bound free action these days, it's oddly comforting to hear someone's - well, Roy Montgomery's - version of the journey to the heart of the inner cosmos. A sister record to Montgomery's Drunken Fish CD The Allegory of Hearing, Silver Wheel Of Prayer has seven complementary instrumental tracks, played mostly on Tiesco six-string and recorded mostly on four-track. A couple of tracks are dominated by a new Farfisa organ, which provides a gliding drone and waver on which to hang titles like "for the disoriented" and "for the mortified." The longest track here is "for a small blue orb," a simple strum that builds into a hypnotic pattern over 16 minutes.

"The album," says Roy, "is dedicated to Geoff Davies and Annie Leadbetter and their son Jess, who, without seeming to worry about what they were in for, welcomed me into their house and their lives at 12 Buckingham Ave, Liverpool in 1982. The longest track on this recording was first sketched out in their front room on a black Korean acoustic guitar which I christened "Rosebud." It has taken way too long to finish the sketch and to say thanks, but they really did feed my soul and I am grateful for it."

Artist: NEILSON, ALEXANDER & RICHARD YOUNGS Title: Partick Raindance
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF93CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 10/31/05
***Follow-up to 2003is Ourselves by this Glasgow duo extends the already broad range of sound heard on that stunner into new worlds. These two prolific players are at the top of their game, pairing some immediately identifiable elements-- Alex Neilsonis superb jazz-influenced drumming, Richard Youngs' unmistakable voice-- with a thick layer of truly psychedelic clamor.

The brief iChamberi rips out a noise like a i60s Sun Ra / Pat Patrick duo, segueing into the also Ra-ish masterpiece iMusic of the Lost Sun.i The point in iLost Suni where Youngis voice and guitar emerge from the polyglot sound for a beautiful melodic interlude is just too much. The second half of the record has a less layered feel, beginning with the a capella iNoatak Beacon,i then moving into more aggro territory where Neilsonis bowed cymbals taking on Youngsis guitar on iMountain.i The short cut-up iBig Aeroplanesi ends the record on a final note of mystery.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Chamber
Music of the Last Sun
Noatak Beacon
Mountain
Big Aeroplanes

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Richard Youngs and Alex Neilson "Partick Rain Dance"

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: NEILSON, ALEXANDER, AND YOUNGS, RICHARD Title: Ourselves
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF082
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 3/8/04
***Ourselves was originally recorded in Glasgow 2003 as a one-hour special for broadcast on London's Resonance FM but turned out too good to leave to the ether. It is the first collaboration between VHF mainstay Richard Youngs and octopus-armed percussionist Alexander Neilson (currently working with the Glasgow big-band Scatter, whose debut is due soon on Cenotaph). The music here represents something of a return to the extended psychedelic mania of mid-'90-s R!!! outings such as Asthma and Diabetes and Enedkeg. "Beam" kicks off the CD with Youngs ripping it up on electric guitar over a thick blanket of hand percussion, plucked strings, and backwards scraping noises. The 36- minute "Mexico" follows with more string mangling, segueing into an atmospheric interlude for voices, bowed cymbals, and bells. The final track is an unusual rendering of the traditional "God Bless The Master," with Youngs's unmistakable voice carrying the original melody over the cloud of bric-a-brac and swells of electricity swirling in the background.
  • Youngs knows the ins and outs of extended psychedelic whoosh better than most
  • Performed live on the air in Glasgow, 2003

    30-second MP3 excerpts:

    Beam
    Mexico
    God Bless the Master

    If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

    go to iTunes to browse downloads for mu-Ziq "Bilious Paths"

    If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

    For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

Artist: PELT Title: Brown Cyclopaedia
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF25
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
***1995 album (previously vinyl-only) from Virginia ensemble. "Blending improvisation with composisition, lo-fi detail, and the brute force of white noise with sullen beauty." --Bill "Me Later" Kellum

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Pelt "Brown Cyclopaedia" (VHF)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: PELT Title: Dauphin Elegies
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF112
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 6/16/08
The first new studio recordings from Pelt in three years picks up where 2005's Untitled CD leaves off--delivering massive slabs of heavy, all-acoustic drone action.

"Waning Crescent" is an ominous workout for three large gongs, rich with overtones and subsonic rumble. "Fire Signs Along the Field" offers a slightly jarring quartet of spare string noise, with Nathan Bowles (Black Twigs, Spiral Joy Band) sitting in on double bass. "Cast Out to Deep Waters" is an immense 30-minute epic in the vein of Empty Bell Ringing in the Sky and Untitled's "I" that fits into the archetypical classics in the Pelt canon. The all-too-brief "Crown of Comets" closes the CD with the chiming, overlapping ring of bells recorded in Virginia's Falls Ridge caves.
Artist: PELT Title: Empty Bell
Format: 2xLP Catalog
Number:		 VHF043
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 5/24/99
Artist: PELT Title: Empty Bell
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF043CD
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 5/24/99
***Another chapter in this mid-Atlantic ensembleis existence finds them transforming their one- word moniker from a noun to a verb. And what a verb it is: Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky includes a 12-minute surprise (eek!) collaboration with Drunken Fish artists rhBand, Peltis complete 35-minute set at Terrastock II (nominated by many as the highlight of the entire goddamn festival and nicknamed iThe Hillbilly Theater of Eternal Musici), a magically resonating 17-minute slice from a typical East coast hippie warehouse party, and a new 18-minute home recording (heavy on the Tibetan bowls, Chester). The home recordings are of the digital ilk and finally capture Peltis forceful, multi-layered sound accurately and appropriately. Recent dates with the Sonic Youth Band, a West coast tour this Fall, appearances at Transmissions (NC) and Terrastock III (London), and continued releases on the bandis own Klang label demonstrate that Pelt can promote themselves like no oneis business. If Entertainment Weekly doesn't return Bill Kellum's calls, it's their loss.

Artist: PELT Title: Max Meadows
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF28
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
***Third full-length release from Virginia trio. Studio/live/rehearsal recordings; combines the jaw-droppingly downer songcraft heard on "Brown Cyclopaedia" with the free-formist trappings displayed on the followup "Burning/Filiment/Rockets."

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Pelt "Max Meadows"

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.
Artist: PELT Title: Pearls From The River
Format: CD Catalog
Number:		 VHF76
Price: $12.00 Label: Vhf
Release
Date:		 10/6/03
***First new music in a couple of years from the trio, focusing entirely on their acoustic side-- a single session recorded in Virginia by Mikel Dimmick. "Up the North Fork" is a trio for banjo, baritone banjo, and cello-- after the snaky bowed introduction, the fast thwacking of the banjos and forcefully strummed cello take over and whip up a storm. The other two tracks are lengthy ragas (one in C, one in D) with the virtuoso modal guitar of Jack Rose front and center. "Pearls From The River" features Rose on 12-string, dueling with Mike Gangloff on esraj. Pat Best's thick, sonorous double bass bowing anchors the duet between the lightning thrumming and plucking of Rose's guitar and Gangloff's arcing, sharply bowed half-time melody. "Road To Catawba