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Revolver USA Exclusive Label
New Release Schedule:

    August 2000

  • Updated 8/21/00

    Releases are listed as chronologically as possible. Dates subject to change.


    Alles Wie Gross cover artALLES WIE GROSS Vertonung
    (THE COMMUNION LABEL COMM55) CD

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    The debut album from this Munich chamber rock quintet led by Michael Heilrath (of Couch and Blond) will enrapture fans of the rock-classical hybrid. On this recording, Heilrath is joined by Markus Acher (of Notwist and Tied & Tickled Trio), Mathis Mayr, Mathias Lûhlein and Stephan Richter, who employ violin, clarinet, cello, and piano, along with electric guitar, bass and drums in Heilrath's original compositions, originally written as a soundtrack to Sven Gade's silent film Hamlet (1920).

    Vertonung displays in no small measure Heilrath's passion for fractured beats and tragic melodies. It's the rhythm section versus the strings, generating eternal loops, getting together and then splitting up again. Minimal breaks in the continuity of the music appear after several times listening. The tracks follow a very long melodic arch with martial, ever-grooving beats.


    Village of Savoonga sleeve artVILLAGE OF SAVOONGA (s/t)
    (THE COMMUNION LABEL COMM54) CD

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    The music on this long awaited CD issue of the legendary first album by Bavarian collective Village of Savoonga spans 1991-'94 and still stands as the group's favorite material. With five non-LP songs from rare singles and compilations, this completes the Village of Savoonga discography on compact disc.

    Village of Savoonga's delightfully mysterious music has consistently bewildered listeners with its beautiful, 3am-texture drapery, subdued pacing, somber piano, scratchy looped sounds, and spooky organ-drenched segments. Mood pieces, electronic manipulations and semi-structured rock segments frequently originate as soundtracks for films - Sparta's Philipp Schatz and F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu in the case of tracks on their acclaimed second album, Philipp Schatz. The band's third full-length album, Score, found itself on "Best of the Year" lists of numerous critics. The soundtracks here originated with rhythmic, noisy or "natural" sounds, further "alienated" by electronics with loops and musical tracks layered on top, and completed over a two-year period as the band added more layers and melded everything into a pair of suites.


    SYR5 sleeve artKIM GORDON / DJ OLIVE / IKUE MORI: SYR5
    (SYR / SONIC YOUTH RECORDS SYR05) CD/2xLP

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    Taking a breather from the Free Kitten snazz (while Miss Julie births Alice and teaches inner city high school, Yoshimi lives about 10,000 miles away and Mark Ibold is aswamp in the madness that is Pavement) Sonic Youth's femme-mystere Kim Gordon has created a distinctly new trio of spontaneous composition and prose. Since reclaiming the electric guitar (her original instrument with the Sonic Youth) and developing a newfound post-Patty Waters free-vox technique, she has enjoined her vision with the improvisational meta-talents of Ikue Mori (ex-drummer of no wave legends DNA, currently in a class by herself with other-world sampling) and DJ Olive (of the wizardly We, coiner of the ill term "illbient" and regarded by those in the heavy underground of postbeat turntable/drum'n'whatever as "the heaviest"). Together the trio hit the local boards throughout 1999 and created a unified concept of sound/energy dynamix. They recorded with engineer Wharton Tiers and mixmaster Jim O'Rourke for the first recording on SYR not by Sonic Youth proper (a situation which will be, possibly, expanded upon).Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda on a track, are at once sensuous, elegant and completely blistering. This is truly the new illprovisation rising up from ground zero.


    Angus Maclise sleeve artANGUS MACLISE Brain Damage In Oklahoma City
    (SILTBREEZE SB81) CD

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    Brain Damage in Oklahoma City is the second installment in the Siltbreeze/Quakebasket series of music by poet/mystic/shaman Angus MacLise. Culled from the archives of Mr. Tony Conrad, this volume (covering the years 1967-'70) highlights MacLise's unique and intricate drumming style. Cembalum, bongos, hand drum, barrel congas-all are majestically thumped'n'bumped for maximum orgasmic sensory satisfaction.

    Comprised of eight tracks, the acme of this collection is the two large ensemble pieces, "Dreamweapon Benefit for the Oklahoma City Police Dept. parts 1 & 2," featuring Angus (barrel conga), Hetty MacLise (tampura), the poet Jackson Maclow (recorders and voice), Henry Flynt (song flute and voice) and Tony Conrad (limp string). These tracks, recorded in May of 1968, are the apex of maximist loft style psychedelic improvisation.

    Conrad's illuminating, occasionally hilarious liner notes set up the narrative of this volume and offering a brief glimpse back into the mind-scrambling fracas that was NYC, USA, Earth 1968. Along with more gorgeous, brain-warpng Invasion-stryle sleeve art, included in the CD booklet is a reproduction of the poster for the Dreamweapon Benefit, confirmation in black and white that for four nights in May, 1968, Wooster Street Cinematheque was definitely one witchy place to be.


    Roy Montgomery sleeve artROY MONTGOMERY Allegory of Hearing
    (DRUNKEN FISH DF47) CD

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    After the success of last year's Roy Montgomery album on Drunken Fish, And Now The Rain..., and the first installment of Roy's singles compilation 324 E. 13th St. #7, The Allegory Of Hearing is set to bring even more adoration upon New Zealand's true "guitar hero."

    Recorded in Montgomery's harbor cottage in Lyttelton, NZ, during October 1998 on his trusty Tascam Porta One and mixed in January 2000, Allegory is a return to an instrumental palette first witnessed on his debut DFR CD Scenes From The South Island and Temple IV CD (Kranky). Armed with newly acquired Rickenbacker 12-string and vintage Farfisa electric organ, plus is usual Teisco, e-bow, and Quadraverb arsenal, RM has created eight short soundtracks of a particularly meditative nature. All, save one, clock in at under six minutes, making this a slightly more digestable dish for those with smaller appetites. But fans of Montgomery's high-profile contribution to Harmony of the Spheres collection will be pleased with the exception, "Resolution Island Suite," which clocks in at over 17 minutes, was premiered at Terrastock II in San Francisco 1998, and appears here reworked in an instrumental form. The title, by the way, refers to an island at the far southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand named for British explorer Captain James Cook's vessel, the Resolution, from his second visit to NZ in 1773. The island was used 100 years later by an Irish immigrant named Richard Henry (1845-1929) as a sanctuary for endangered flightless birds that were being hunted into extinction. Unfortunately, the hundreds of birds he transferred perished, as he'd misjudged the distance small mustelid and rodent predators could swim. He retired a decade later, rather despondently, unaware that his amateur ornithological work would provide the basic knowledge and practice for conservation work for the next century and beyond. The album is therefore dedicated to Richard Henry other socially flightless birds who have turned their talents toward nature.


    ABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE sleeve artABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE South Central Thynk Taynk
    (MASSMEN MASS08) CD

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    Following the dreamy sound and conscious lyricism of Abstract Tribe Unique's Mood Pieces album, Abstract Rude (tha Skorpion), Irie (Lyon King), Zulu (Butterfly Priest), and producer Fatjack (the Elephant) got together to create their second venture, South Central Thynk Taynk-their attempt at soulful stimulation of a hip hop community they saw as oversaturated with underachievement. Together they combine jazz, funk, and soul into a signature atmospheric sound that provides the foundation upon which Abstract Rude lays his deep, melancholy voice. Originally released by Ocean Floor in 1998, South Central Thynk Taynk deserves the worldwide appreciation that a reissuing by Massmen, now the home of all Abstract Tribe Unique releases, will surely secure.


    ABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE sleeve artABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE Instrumental
    (MASSMEN MASS06) LP

    Released the week of August 21st, 2000

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    Abstract Tribe Unique, along with fellow L.A. pioneers Freestyle Fellowship and Aceyalone, have gained worldwide notoriety for their mesmerizing live performances and thought-provoking, consciousness-raising lyrical styles. But they are probably most respected for their extremely stylized blend of soul, fusion, and hip hop, a bangin' combination of catchy hooks that leaves people humming long after the pause button has been pushed. The eight all-instrumental tracks-- lifted from their three previous albums (Mood Pieces and the soon-to-be reissued pair South Central Thynk Taynk and Underground Fossils) and their contributions to the Project Blowed album-- showcase hot new versions of tunes most requested by fans of their atmospheric, grooving sounds.

    • Production by Fat Jack and DJ Slip
    • Major talents of Los Angeles hip hop community
    • Songs will be performed during upcoming A-Team and Project Blowed tours

      Track Listing

      1. TORN
      2. Little Jimmy
      3. Left Hand Side
      4. Stength of A.T.U.
      5. Slow Lights
      6. Akira
      7. Yesterday and Today
      8. Ooh Sha Sha

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  •  

      Click the underlined titles below for details on specific new releases. 


    August 2000 New Release index:

    ABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE
    South Central Thynk Taynk CD

    (MASS MEN MASS08)

    ABSTRACT TRIBE UNIQUE
    Instrumentals LP

    (MASS MEN MASS06)

    ALLES WIE GROSS
    Vertonung CD

    (THE COMMUNION LABEL COMM55)

    KIM GORDON / DJ OLIVE / IKUE MORI
    SYR5 CD/2xLP

    (SYR / SONIC YOUTH RECORDS SYR5)

    ANGUS MACLISE
    Brain Damage In Oklahoma City CD

    (SILTBREEZE SB81)

    ROY MONTGOMERY
    Allegory of Hearing CD

    (DRUNKEN FISH DF47)

    VILLAGE OF SAVOONGA
    (s/t) CD

    (THE COMMUNION LABEL COMM54)


    January 2002 new releases
    November/December 2001 new releases
    October 2001 new releases
    September 2001 new releases
    August 2001 new releases
    June/July 2001 new releases
    May 2001 new releases
    April 2001 new releases
    March 2001 new releases
    February 2001 new releases
    January 2001 new releases
    Archive of releases from January '98 through September '01


    Coming "soon":

    (all dates subject to change)

  • released the week of January 14th, 2002:

    BROTHER JT
    Maybe We Should Take Some More CD
    (BIRDMAN BMR035)

    CONSUMERS
    s/t CD
    (IN THE RED ITRtba)

    LARSEN
    Rever CD
    (YOUNG GOD RECORDS YG19)

    HERSCHEL GORDON LEWIS
    The Best of CD
    (BIRDMAN BMRtba)

    SWANS
    The Great Annihilator CD
    (YOUNG GOD RECORDS YG18)

  • released the week of January 28th, 2002:

    ORNETTE COLEMAN
    This Is Our Music CD
    (SEPIA-TONE)

    ALICE COLTRANE
    Transfiguration CD
    (SEPIA-TONE)

    BEN KUNIN
    Acoustic Adventures CD
    (THE COMMUNION LABEL)

    NOVEX
    Kleptophonica CD
    (ZERO TO ONE)

  • released the week of February 11th, 2002:

    DON HOWLAND
    Land Beyond the Mountains CD
    (BIRDMAN)

    INFINITE X's
    s/t CD
    (CHAINSAW)

    L. STINKBUG
    The Allure Of Roadside Curios CD
    (STARLIGHT FURNITURE COMPANY)

    SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
    Dark Noontide CD
    (HOLY MOUNTAIN)

    VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA
    Dabbling With Gravity and Who You Are CD
    (VHF)

    SIMON WICKHAM-SMITH
    Extreme Bukake CD
    (VHF)

  • released the week of February 25th, 2002:

    AWOL ONE
    Trilobites b/w Static 12"
    (MASSMEN)

    ETERNAL ELYSIUM
    Share CD
    (METEORCITY)

    TONY JOE WHITE
    s/t CD
    (SEPIA-TONE)


    The releases above and on the left (as well as over 15,000 other independent-label and import titles) can be purchased online at Midheaven Mailorder.

    Revolver USA Distribution's umbrella shelters an extended and charmingly dysfunctional family of manufactured / distributed labels. Most of these companies handle their own publicity and promotion, some have their own websites, and most have bustling, nearly-organized mailorder operations of their own. Our exclusive label roster appears below in the form of links to our Midheaven mailorder database. We carry many, many other labels on a non-exclusive basis.

    REVOLVER USA EXCLUSIVE LABELS and their merchandise can be browsed by clicking the links below:

    AMMP
    ANYWAY
    AZAP
    BADMAN
    BENT
    BIRDMAN
    BLACKBALL
    BLACKJACK
    BLOAT
    BONER
    BONERWEAR
    BRINKMAN (HOL)
    CHAINSAW
    CHAINSAW / CANDY ASS
    THE COMMUNION LABEL
    DRUNKEN FISH
    DUOPHONIC / TOO PURE
    ECSTATIC PEACE
    ECSTATIC YOD / SMELLS LIKE RECORDS
    FLIPSIDE
    FUTURE PRIMITIVE
    HIP HOP SLAM
    HISTRIONIC!
    HOLY MOUNTAIN
    HONEYBEAR
    KUSTOMIZED
    IN THE RED
    LATINO BUGGER VEIL
    MASSMEN
    METEORCITY
    MY SO-CALLED RECORDS
    PACIFICO
    PEEK-A-BOO
    PESSIMISER
    PLANET PIMP
    PUBLIC BATH
    R RADICAL
    SCAT
    SCRATCH (CAN)
    SEPIA-TONE (NEW!!)
    SHRIMPER
    SILTBREEZE
    SLAP-A-HAM
    SLUMBERLAND
    SMELLS LIKE RECORDS
    SONIC YOUTH RECORDS/SYR
    SPACE AGE RECORDINGS
    STARLIGHT FURNITURE CO
    TEDIUM HOUSE / BANANAFISH
    THWART PRODUCTIONS
    TUPELO RECORDING CO.
    VHF
    WEB OF MIMICRY
    YOUNG GOD
    ZERO TO ONE


    Only complete dunderheads don't scam MP3s, right? We've now made it very easy for non-dunderheads to access downloadable files under the Midheaven domain. Simple visit our Downloads Browsing Kiosk for a list all our titles featuring MP3, RealAudio and RealVideo files.

    Also consider paying a visit to our Midheaven Jukebox. RealAudio-enabled users can hear over 1500 30-second song excerpts from releases by hundreds of artists, all randomly arranged for our visitors who rely upon dependable unpredictability from their RealAudio experience.

    Want the inside track on developments at Revolver USA, Midheaven mailorder and the Communion label? Me too. But we'll both have to settle for midheaven.com's News page.

    If you have a Frequently Asked Question you'd like to pose, check out our FAQ first. We may have an answer all prepared for you. Our exclusive label list can be found there (and below), as well.

    Occasionally bands affilliated with Revolver USA and its exclusive labels perform live. No, it's true. You can be in the same room with these bands, but it involves leaving the house (life is full of trade-offs, isn't it?). Keep up with Revolver USA-associated artists' in-the-flesh forays by checking in with our tour dates page.

    Where can you find detailed webpages regarding the Communion label's most recent releases? On the Communion label homepage, claro que si. There you can browse every existing release on the Communion label, listen to RealAudio samples, download free MP3s, and zero in on recent (and otherwise) gorgeousness by The Tower Recordings, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Village of Savoonga, Alles Wie Gross, Idyll Swords, Mia Doi Todd and Barbara Manning. And don't forget to drop in on those Folk Implosion pages.

    We have also set aside three other very special pages for three other very special releases:

    Bananafish 14
    Bananafish 15

    Angus Maclise Brain Damage In Oklahoma City

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