Revolver USA Exclusive Label
New Release Schedule:

January 2000

Released the week of January 10th, 2000

Future Primitive's first 12-inch from the upcoming Urban rEVOLUTIONs compilation features two new tracks. Each side of the 12-inch includes the original track and an instrumental version for DJ use. The solid, head-nodding groove of "The Black Hole" by DJ Quest and Cue of the legendary turntablist crew The Space Travelers (a.k.a. the Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters)displays raw turntable skills and creative production, properly representing the evolutionary b-boy sound. On the flipside, DJ Z-Trip builds on the theme with "Further Explorations in the Black Hole," a sample-delic beat journey balancing cerebral grooves with hard, party-rocking rhythms. This solid and dynamic composition is further testament to Z-Trip's talent as both a DJ and producer. If that doesn't seal the deal, consider the fact that the man has been featured in Rolling Stone, Urb and Spin-- the latter naming him one of the top 10 turntablists in the world.

• Formatted for DJs, the most notoriously ravenous sector of the vinyl-buying public

• If y'all ain't down with turntablism, where y'all been sleepin'?

Reissued the week of January 10th, 2000

REISSUE. Solo recordings, live to tape at the Knitting Factory in late '88 and '89. Guaranteed sonic salvation in the form of great slabs of feedback drift, tape delay, and the voice of a lone storyteller in the midst of a storm. Co-release with Father Yod.

Released the week of January 17th, 2000

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Leaving aside any notions of virtuosity for his debut solo release, talented British multi-instrumentalist David Coulter creates a series of 13 somber, deeply resonant, sonic mediations. Coulter plays an array of instruments, including guitar, violin, ukulele, theramin, mandolin, double bass/bass, didjeridu, mouth harp, musical saw, accordion, harmonium, and others. Mostly instrumental-though sometimes accompanied by sung, narrated, or chanted vocals-each piece has its own unique cinematic atmosphere, as if he's briefly tapped into an ongoing, transcendental stream of pre-existing sonic imagery. Low-key, low-tech, and intimate, Coulter's understated and organic music seems to search for something beyond itself-through the juxtaposition of colliding acoustic and electronic sounds, through the obsessively nuanced, ritualized grooves, and through the subtle interaction and improvisation of the wide assortment of players and collaborators. INterVENTION includes contributions from Marc Ribot, Steve Nieve (of Elvis Costello fame), Terry Edwards, Phil Minton and others.

Coulter was a contributing member of the Pogues and Test Dept., and has also performed with the Kronos Quartet, Marc Ribot, Peter Hammill, and Roger Eno, among many others. He is a master of the didjeridu, having studied with the Aboriginal musician Bart Wiloughby. Though decidedly "serious" in tone, Coulter's music has the accessible immediacy of an Indian Raga or the bluesy, intuitive trance-lines of Mongolian folk songs. Its hand-made ambience achieves a rare combination of subtlety and intensely committed instrumental performance. INterVENTION has the purity of an invocation. For those interested in modern, experimental music that is both sonically inventive and emotionally rich, this album is a must.

"The debut solo release from ex-Pogues and Test Dept. multi-instrumentalist David Coulter has a thrilling acoustic intimacy, coaxing evocative new textures out of instruments familiar and strange. Coulter's loosely receptive and inventive playing, uncluttered spaciousness, and the lack of rhetorical baggage makes this release a masterpiece of miniaturized beauty." -The Wire

• Debut from member of the Pogues and Test Dept
  
• Includes several noteworthy luminaries such as Marc Ribot, Steve Nieve and others
  
• Fans of Nurse With Wound and Test Dept should find this extremely enjoyable
  
• Strangely haunting recording that stands out among today's assembly-line,depth-challenged "soundscape" pabulum

  30-second RealAudio excerpts:

  Kinsow Orchestra
  How Can I Love Thee?
  Broken Mass
  Picnic On...
  Harmonik
  Shinju (Pot Etude #3)
  Widow's Lament
  Wailing/Seesaw
  Darkness Aside Trail
  Slide Krar Story
  Looking at Trees
  Vocus Solus 2
  Stagefright
  Polaroids (interventions in 10 parts)

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Released the week of January 17th, 2000

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The Somniloquist is a limited edition CD of Michael Gira narrating his stories, or "fairy tales" as the former leader of Swans calls them. For the most part the recordings were made live in front of audiences in Norway, Prague, Berlin, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle. Gira reads from his book The Consumer (published by 2.13.61) and from new, unpublished stories.

Gira's stories might best be described as lurid, body-obsessed, claustrophobic allegories that simultaneously paint a world both obscure and obscene. They are almost superreal in their descriptions of self-loathing, sexual mutilation, and elaborately ritualized violence. This subject matter is made even more unnerving by Gira's clear, deadpan delivery and by his casually self-effacing, blackly humorous remarks to the audience. Don't expect the emotionalism and chest-beating tirades normally associated with the spoken word genre here. Gira lets the cinematic qualities of the stories speak for themselves. His stoic approach, he says, is inspired by Burl Ives narrations and various Disney recordings heard as a child. Gira's hyper-macabre vision of an escapist fantasyland is a place we'd all be better off having visited.

"Gira is an astonishing writer whose belief in the power of language is almost supernatural." -Dennis Cooper, author

"Gore can be good, but those with weak stomachs shouldn't pick up M. Gira's prose. He plumbs the excruciating depths of modern existence like Edgar Allen Poe resurrected to write the screenplay for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Gira looks on the world through glazed eyes-on an optimistic day, his outlook can be described as bleak. But his writing is just the opposite, replete with lush, sensuous description." -Portland Weekly

"This is repulsive writing. Brilliant, disciplined and repulsive writing." -Nick Cave

"Gira speaks with slow, serious indifference, letting the obscene and unthinkable roll off his tongue as if it were commonplace. His sense of humor about his work is enjoyable. He introduces one tale as "a love story" and responds to applause with an indifferent "Thank you, I love you." -Oblivion

"Dense, surreal, and ultimately hypnotic reveries that suck the reader into a foreboding parallel universe. Gira accomplishes with words what Swans did with the much more direct form of music" -Michael Moynihan, Seconds

• Limited edition of 2,000 worldwide

  30-second RealAudio excerpts:

  Bloodsucker (1984)
  The Sex Machine (1994)
  MTV and the Cult of the Body (1996)
  The Idiot (1996)
  My Birth (1996)

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Released the week of January 17th, 2000

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On the heels of last year's surprise hit instrumental CD Train Songs, the Hoboken-based lyrical soul harpoonists offer their return to sung song forms on their fourth full-length album. Born in 1993, Two Dollar Guitar bears the formidable songwriting load of Tim Foljahn and the seasoned rhythm engine of Dave Motamed on bass and Steve Shelley on drums. It's a sparkling fusion of mod modes and darker American roots; in Foljahn's crackling baritone, Ian Curtis and Nick Cave meet Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt. Howdy-fuckin'-do.

Their richest effort yet with regard to clarity and depth of production, the album was recorded and mixed with Luc Suer at House of Soul in the tiny Tribeca section of Manhattan over 1998 and 1999. Motamed's driving Duck Dunn-isms, Shelley's subtle song-sense, and Foljahn's underrated stringwork build up splendidly idiosyncratic arrangements; no track is long or short. You're lost before you know it.

Contributions au go-go add an ensemble richness to the proceedings: from sultry soul-sirens Christina Rosenvinge, Janet Wygal and Carla Bozulich (of Scarnella, Geraldine Fibbers), to the luminous guest axemen Nels Cline, Doug Easley, Tim Prudhomme [of Fuck] and Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits).Highlights include the ersatz Styx cover "Kilroy Was Here," actually an expansive six-minute sponge-bass excursion; the truly tumbling melodics of "Green Room;" "Stones Vs. Zep," an impeccably crafted post-anthem; "Solitaire," a careering theater of stereo-panned guitar; and the in-a-perfect-world hit single "Everybody's in a Band."

• Hotly anticipated follow-up to 1998's acclaimed instrumental "Train Songs"
  
• Guests include folks from Fuck, Geraldine Fibbers and Scarnella, plus members of that Beck guy's band

  30-second RealAudio excerpts:

  1. Solitare (w/ Nels Cline)
  2. Kilroy (w/ Janet Wygal)
  3. Green Room (vocal by Christina Rosenvinge, gtr Smokey Hormel)
  4. Pink & Green
  5. Wilding (w/ Doug Easley)
  6. Bozo Shoes (w/ Carla Bozulich)
  7. White Ape (duet w/ Tim F. and Christina)
  8. Stones Vs. Zep
  9. T-Shirt (w/ Tim Prudhomme)
  10. Everybody's in a Band

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Released the week of January 17th, 2000

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The project that made underground history in 1994 is finally available again. Nineteen tracks featuring the finest emcees from Los Angeles: Aceyalone & Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude & ATU, The Nonce, C.V.E., Volume 10, Medusa, Rifleman and Ganjah K. and others. This classic piece of hip hop has been virtually impossible to find for years. The intensity of demand from DJs and vinyl junkies searching for copies of this LP and CD mandated a re-releases of this highly respected, highly experimental groundbreaking project. A must-have.

30-second RealAudio excerpts:

Jurassick (Aceyalone, Spoon Iodine, C.V.E.)
Who's There? (Self-Jupiter)
Strength of A.T.U. (Abstract Rude)
What a Pity (C.V.E.)
Don't Get It Twisted (Figures of Speech)
Hot (Freestyle Fellowship)
Once Upon a Freak (Tray Loc)
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Dolla Holla)
Solo is So Low (DK Toon featuring B/Cartoon)
This Evening
Heavyweights Round 2 (Peace, T-Love, A.C., Nefertiti, Self-Jupiter, BJ, Ganjah K, Medusa, Ko Ko, Mikah 9, Volume 10)
Funky Commercial Break (Funky Trend)
Second Chance
I Don't Know (Abstract Rude, Aceyalone, Rhymin Riddler)
Yeh Man (Abstract Rude)
Narcolepsy (C.V.E., Rifleman Ellay Khule)
I Think? (Aceyalone)
Maskaraid Part 1 & 2 (Abstract Rude, Aceyalone)
Treble and Bass (Aceyalone, Abstract Rude)

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Released the week of January 24th, 2000

Hot hot HOT (and, sadly, out of print) single with two punk rock songs ("Defender" and "Count Me Out") not on the February 14th release "Whiteout"-- packaged in two Richard Kern pictures of Cristina wearing simulated leopard print underwear. Uh, the leopard print is simulated-- NOT the underwear. Just so we're clear on that.