AMPS FOR
CHRIST Electrosphere (SHRIMPER SHR109) 2CD Released
the week of September 27th, 1999.home | revolver usa home | midheaven mailorder | the communion label | downloads | news | new releases | new release archive | tour dates | faq/links | our cats | privacy | contact | sitemap
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EXCLUSIVE LABEL RELEASES:
FALL '99
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AMPS FOR
CHRIST Electrosphere (SHRIMPER SHR109) 2CD Released
the week of September 27th, 1999.
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Formerly of Slap a Ham recording artists Man Is The Bastard, Henry Barnes and posse (Enid Snarb, Connell, Tara T. Tavi, P.G. Roberts, and Togarama) veer across a musical map bearing places named Moondog, Tudor, Partch and Page. Created with a menagerie of exotic and homemade musical instruments (including tabla, Chinese piano, caveman electronics), Electrosphere is a meticulously sequenced two-hour double-fuck-you to those idiots the neighbors, outboard MIDI-abusing scoundrels, and Becker Bros. clones.
Praise for Amps for Christ:
"The strangest off-kilter record I have ever heard variations on traditional sounding Scottish marches, sweet acoustic ballads, Indian sitar territory, country/folk string-strumming with plenty of gospel influences." -Your Flesh
"Hardly typical noise, although venturing into pure noise territory [whatever it is I'm talking about is] often very pleasantly melodic and reaching into a variety of genres, touching on some folk territory, some electric sitar and still competent at every level." -Thumb magazine
"Many of the tunes are traditional Irish, Scottish and American
melodies, reinterpreted with fuzzed-out electric guitar, distorted bagpipe
and wailing organ. No dabbling dilettantes, Amps for Christ have an intense
love and considerable knowledge of this music. They're not faking or kidding."
-Patrick Barber
* Henry Barnes is a founding member of legendary HC powerhouse Man Is The Bastard * Wonderful menagerie of styles, from Moondog to Incredible String Band * Gorgeous in its own way, weird in its own way, harsh and creepy in its own way * People love figuring stuff out; this'll keep 'em busy for days * A fine double-CD recording with a low price tag
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Electrosphere:
Forward
Pipes / Blackwaterside
/ Hammond
H.C. / Eucalliptus
Prayer / Butterfly
/ Coppertar
/ Edward
/ Cold as
a Stone / Single
E-133 / Peaceful
/ King of
Nothing / Isle
of Man / Dirvish
The Lakes
of Ponchartrain / Reversed
Pipes / Lament
For Omri(ka) / Clean
Pipes / Haydn
in D / Fuge
in D Minor I / HiZ
A.F.C. Oscillator Thru A.M. / 1809
/ Morning
Time / Love
is Teasin / Omkanda
Fuge in
D Minor II / Snap
Dragons Instrumental / Tryin
To Escape / Warehouse
Blues / Bouzuki
For River / Y2K
March / Shrimp
Noise / The
Fig Tree / Prepared
Conn II / EBP
Low Pipes / Interuptor
Beat Song / Double
E-133 / 10,000
Miles / This
Isn't a Rebel Song / Son
of Man
LONNIE
JAMES Dee-o (SCRATCH SCR33) CD Released the week of September 27th, 1999.
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Wearing the best shirt in his wardrobe, the singular Lonnie James has stepped up to the mike to belt out DEE-O with glee, youthful enthusiasm and straight-up rock polish. Joining him on his stunning sophomore solo album are drummer Glen Milchem, bassist John Borra, and on backing vocals and interesting guitar sounds, Jose Contreras. Produced and mixed by Dave Newfeld, this is a stellar journey filled with honest, heartfelt, and ass-kicking songs that raise the bar for Canadian rock. Having played music since the age of 12, he's pounded out time for the likes of Living Proof, Circus Lupus, The Lawn, Yeti, The Nils, Possum and most recently the Superfriendz. His 20-odd years of performance easily qualify him for status as a revered institution in the Canadian music hall of fame.
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Dee-O:
For No Reason
/ Cheap / Piano in the Sand
/ One Day / The Truth about Blackholes
and Starlight / Indifferent
/ Let Us Radiate
Now is the Time
REFRIGERATOR
Glitter Jazz (SHRIMPER SHR113) CD Released the week of September
27th, 1999.
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Glitter Jazz is Refrigerator's fourth album, their first new material in over two years. As all ornamental horticulturists know Daniel Brodo stands tall next to his upright bass, Chris Jones mans the drums, and the Callaci-Brother magic takes care of the rest (merch booth, lightshow, security-you know, the parts you remember). On these 11 new songs, Refrigerator shares the spotlight with several jazz legends such as Franklin Bruno, Ph.D., of Nothing Painted Blue, Jodi of Shrimper recording artists Secret Stars, Ira and Georgia of Mr. Show collaborators Yo La Tengo, Karle Runge the European, and John Davis of the Folk Implosion. Refrigerator will tour the west coast extensively with Shrimper recording artist Dump in October; an east coast tour is also slated for January.
Word jockeys rarely hesitate to tell the world what they make of new Refrigerator albums. One Popwatch writer, a stilt-wearing son of a gun whose posse calls him Steve B., championed the Callaci modus operandi and went so far as to hope that they "stick to it for what may be most of the rest of my life; namely inquisitive, self-abasing, grainy vocals, dirty cardboardy drums, desolation, and pathos." Puncture magazine sent firebrand anti-hiss scribe Bill Meyer after Refrigerator, whom he praised for "parting the curtain of murk and bringing their tunes into focus. Refrigerator's songs are built of strong stuff and stave off the creative bankruptcy that threaten foreclosure on indie rock." In a word, wow. Wow.
* First new material in over two years; the best Refrigerator release to date * A bass player! A stand-up bass player!
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Glitter Jazz:
Tourists Uncertain
Someone / Western
Disconnection / Los
Angeles / Heart
of Bone / Drowning
Out / Sunnyside
Over / Wedding
Waltz / Left
and Gone / Static
On Static / Sweet
A.M.
THIRD SEX Back To Go (CHAINSAW CHAIN21) CD Released the
week of September 27th, 1999.
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Hot on the heels of "The No Heart" seven-inch (Mr. Lady) and yet another all-across-the-country tour, Back to Go finds the Third Sex slightly older, wiser, and a little more melodic with all the punk pop still intact. This perfect follow-up to their 1996 debut full-length, Card Carryin', contains thirteen songs recorded at Jackpot in Portland, Oregon, produced by Donna Dresch (Team Dresch), recorded and mixed by Joanna Bolme (Jr. High, Calamity Jane). It's some of the most powerful queer-powered punk guitars, drums, and singing in the Northwest. Having nabbed Shari (Cypher in the Snow, Harum Scarum) last year as a replacement for former drummer Killer, Trish and Peyton swap guitar, bass and vocal responsibilities, keeping the variety healthy-from melodic power pop harmonies to thrashing guitar punk to fast-paced bursts of energy. At times comparable to Team Dresch, Bikini Kill, and Slant 6, the Third Sex always have tour plans brewing, drawing as much inspiration from their many co-conspirators all across the country as they create.
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Back To Go:
Maul 10.09.97/ More Than Your Friends / Wonderful Life / At Least I Got Some Cool Clothes / Shiny Thing / Projected Arrival / Second Place / Can't Save Your Sorbet / Lights Out / Break Me Up / I-Spy / Metal Shin / Go Away
SPAZZ
Crush Kill Destroy (SLAP A HAM SLAP54) CD/LP Released the week of
October 11th, 1999.
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The most prolific of the first wave of "power violence"
pioneers has returned with their first new full length release in three
years. This time around, the trio unloads their triple-vocal assault over
24 nail-biting, steamrolling thrash anthems. Coupled with lyrics that shred
the very foundation of punk rock's sacred cows-mmm, shredded cow foundation-
Crush, Kill, Destroy unceremoniously hacks away at any preconceived notions
about what hardcore music is capable of. Spazz has created a unique niche
in the underground and their appeal crosses many musical genres and subgenres.
They've been covered in everything from Maximum Rocknroll, Flipside, and
a zillion xerox zines, to Metal Maniacs, Alternative Press, and a zillion
glossy mags. Previous Spazz releases are fetching outrageously high prices
in collector's circles and the worldwide cult following seems to have no
trouble recruiting new acolytes. This long-anticipated new album is destined
to solidly confirm why, over the course of seven years and 25 releases,
Spazz has become not merely a footnote, but a main reference point in the
world of extreme fastcore.
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Crush Kill Destroy:
Zodiak Snowcone Ribplate / Cool Guy / Dwarf Goober Militia / Let's Fucking Go!!! / Complete and Utter Eradication of All Generic Pop Punk (Extended Version) ...plus 19 more blorts that rage to execrate!!
PHOBIA
Destroying The Masses (PESSIMISER PESS32) CD/10" Released the
week of October 11th, 1999.
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Since the early '90s, Phobia have been "gettin' busy" in the metal/hardcore community, playing mostly death metal shows early on, and punk/power violence shows more recently. With a CD for Relapse (Return to Desolation) and another for Slap a Ham (Means of Existence) both receiving all the usual menacing grimaces of approval, Phobia has survived several line-up changes, and found themselves requiring, on various occasions, the services of members of Dystopia, Mindrot, and Mange. They play a Terrorizer-influenced form of grind/death, but with high and low vocals. Personal/political lyrics and a strong DIY ethic is the reason the punkers like 'em; meanwhile, the metalheads can't get enough of the triplets and double-kick blast beats.
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Destroying the Masses:
Reconstruct / Parasite / Spine / Self Worth / Your Way / Who's the Enemy / Fraud Face / Oblivious / Intentions Held / Chloe
CHEATER
SLICKS Refried Dreams (IN THE RED ITR63) CD/LP Released the week
of October 18th, 1999.
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The Cheater Slicks have been scratching out their brand of rock'n'roll for more than 10 years. Too noisy and abstract for garage rock purists, too loud and too rock'n'roll for the indie rock crowd, but at the end of the day, too good to be ignored. This Boston band, now relocated to Columbus, Ohio, been described as everything qualified by something- psychedelic music for manic depressives, garage rock for serial killers, indie pop for ill-tempered hillbillies-but it's a lot simpler than that. The Cheater Slicks are the undisputed kings of misfit melancholia, anarchic amplification, and free-range low-end rumble. For their seventh album, the band trashes their own boundaries and refines their sound while remaining true to their primal spirit. Eleven new tracks, no two alike. No wonder bands like New Bomb Turks and Mudhoney cover 'Slicks tunes on their respective new albums. This is music as genuine and sincere as it gets.
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Refried Dreams:
In This Town / Another Stab / I Think I'm Coming Down / One Life Story / Munchen Gretchen / Refried Dreams / George Washington / Dejected Soul / Deep Beneath the Sand / Don't Poo Poo Me / Last Call
DAVIS-REDFORD
TRIAD Ewige Blumenkraft (HOLY MOUNTAIN HOLY16845) CD Released the
week of October 18th, 1999.
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The Davis Redford Triad is the solo vehicle for occasional Faust guitar-player Steven Wray Lobdell. His previous album, The Mystical Path of the Number Eighty Six was hailed as "a limber sonic attack that sounds like 1,000 chattering meth-soaked bats being chased through the caves of Sun Ra's Atlantis by a litter of ax-wielding Chihuahua vampire pups, who just need some lovin'." The unique, distortion-laden guitar-playing on this album has endeared Mr. Lobdell to many who revere him as an untouchable "liquid bitch." This is not just some guy with a guitar and a talent pedal. "Ewige Blumenkraft"'s six tracks, especially the epic, 18-minute alpha state of "Plum Village," make up an exciting, new psychedelic chapter in the little known tradition of Carnatic rock. Other entries might include Ustad Bismallah Khan, Clark-Hutchinson Band, Sun City Girls and U. Shirivas, among others. Somewhere in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse, behind the security of dependable guards, deep beneath the quick of a reclusive billionaire's fingernails, this record has been described as "indispensable." It is time to admit your plane can't fly. How about your carpet?
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Ewige Blumenkraft:
Echoplex Orchestral Movement Part 1 / Apocalypse Greeting Card / Plum Village / Rabbit Love Call / Ewige Blumenkraft / Echoplex Orchestral Movement Part 4
ANGUS
MACLISE Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda (SILTBREEZE SB78) CD Released
the week of October 18th, 1999.
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The late percussionist and poet Angus Maclise was pure '60s free spirit all the way. A founding member of the Velvet Underground (who quit as soon as he found out they were being paid to play their first gig), Maclise's collaborators and compadres read like a Who's Who for the Halana generation: LaMonte Young, Marian Zazeela, Terry Riley, Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Gerard Malanga and Ira Cohen. His intricate, India-influenced drumming propelled any number of tranced-out jams in New York's lofts of the era (a Milford Graves for the psychedelic set, if you will). Though he was meticulous about his recording, very little of Maclise's music has ever been made available. The vaults have been opened, and Invasion is the first authorized collection of Maclise's work to appear, with other volumes to follow.
The 45-minute opening track, "St. Marks Epiphany," provides an incredible glimpse of Maclise's music-his unstoppable cross-rhythms, his wife Hettie's droning organ and tamboura, and the crazed echoing flute and vocals from an ensemble known as the Mutant Repetoire Company, whose cacophony is rather like an unholy marriage between Amon Duul 1 & Taj Mahal Travellers. Part of this piece was used as the soundtrack for Invasion of The Thunderbolt Pagoda (from which the CD's photos are taken), the masterful psychedelic film by Ira Cohen, photographer of Spirit's Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus and John McLaughlin's Devotion.
The complete version of "The Joyous Lake"-released long ago in excerpt form on a flexi-disc with an issue of Aspen magazine-is heard here for the first time. There's also a wild piece for shortwave radios from one of Maclise's India excursions, a couple of other manic flute-and-drum workouts, and the delerious "Lullabye," featuring Maclise on chimes with harmonium and guitar. What else is there to say? This is a remarkable and long overdue celebration of an overlooked and necessary figure of the New York avant garde, and the first and only legitimate collection of Maclise's work available
"Angus was a true beauty. He thought Keith Moon was too controlled as a drummer." -Sterling Morrison
"He took everything on even terms and saw East, West, high and low through the same lens, a very unique guy." -Tony Conrad
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda:
Invasion
of Thunderbolt Pagoda (St. Marks Epiphany) / Shortwave-India
/ Heavenly
Blue Pt. 4 & 5 / Blastitude
/ Humming
in the Night Skull
NO.
2 No Memory (CHAINSAW CHAIN22) CD Released the week of October 18th, 1999.
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Renowned for their former projects, Portland's No. 2 has been together for only a short while, but its line-up of skilled musicians has made people quickly take notice. Featuring Neil Gust (Heatmiser) on vocals and guitar, Gilly Ann Hanner (Calamity Jane, Consolidated, and Starpower) on bass and vocals, and Paul Pulvirenti (Atomic 61, Jr. High) on drums, this three-piece packs the energy and punch four-pieces dream of. They deliver raw, subversive grooves that take you on a cross-country, gay dive-cruising road trip through a sleepless, panicky night. This is red-eyed, head-cold, junk pop from the cutest fucking band you've ever seen. Influences are as diverse as the three individuals who make up No. 2. Their inspiration is drawn from artists such as Television, Badfinger, Gang of Four, and Stevie Wonder. Simply put, No. 2 is rock music that you can dance to- unpretentious, uncontrollable beats that shake and bop while also packing an arsenal of punches. With a talented pedigree and a deep passion for playing music, No. 2 took no time at all to perfect everything and entered Jackpot Studios to record their debut full-length. Seeking production and engineering assistance from a cast of multitalented friends, they shared the studio duties with Larry Crane (Tape-Op Magazine), Joanna Bolme (Calamity Jane, Jr. High, and The Spinanes), and Elliott Smith (the Oscars).
30-second RealAudio excerpts from No Memory:
Critical Mass / Never Felt Better / Move it Along / So Long / Just Answer the Man / Pop in C / Practicing Your Moves / Pop in A Minor / Nobody's Satisfied
JAWBREAKER
Live 4/30/96 (BLACKBALL 002) CD Released the week of October 25th, 1999.
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Jawbreaker. An influential band, to say the least. Maybe you've heard of them? Their legacy-four studio albums and a bunch of singles-has yielded several irrefutable facts: (1) a significant number of music fans have grown up influenced by Blake Schwarzenbach's lyrics and Jawbreaker's (once) unique hybrid of emo, pop, Slintadelia and punk; (2) an enormous number of bands have aped the Jawbreaker sound and approach, achieving greater success than Jawbreaker ever did (Blink 182 comes to mind); (3) post-Jawbreaker offshoot bands like Jets to Brazil are pretty hard to ignore.
Jawbreaker's implosion followed the release of "Dear You," a typical scenario that plays itself out so often after bands sign to the majors that someone really oughta copyright the script. It is equally unsurprising that the Jawbreaker legend has steadily grown, to the point where it's time to unearth any remaining material from the band's vaults. Enter Blackball Recordings, the nascent corporation started by the band's drummer Adam Pfahler on behalf of the group. Blackball's debut release was taped live on April 30, 1996, an unforgettable Jawbreaker show at the Warfield in San Francisco featuring three previously unreleased songs. Some time in the year 2000 the label will get together a collection of singles, compilation tracks and demos for vinyl and CD issue. Expect further mass anticipation for these recordings, and more acclaim than the band ever got when actually alive and kicking.
* Jawbreaker are the pioneers and undisputed masters of a sound regarded as sacred by old fans and new converts alike * Highly anticipated by fans and sanctioned by the band * Three previously unreleased Jawbreaker songs-"Gemini," "For Esme," and one top-secret track * Impossibly rare vinyl was limited to 200 copies and sold by lottery; CD has non-LP song
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Live 4/30/96:
Jinx Removing / Save Your Generation / Ashtray Monument / Accident Prone / Boxcar / Gemini / Parabola / For Esme / Shirt
LOREN
MAZZACANE CONNORS Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Improvisations Vol. 1-9
1979-1980 (ECSTATIC YOD 1001) 4xCD box Released the week of November
1st, 1999.
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* One of the more significant guitar improvisors, as evidenced by the number of high-profile players who jump at the chance to share the stage with him* All of Loren Mazzacane's unaccompanied acoustic guitar improvisations * More than 90 tracks, all of them untitled.* An exhaustive document that will fill in a large hole in the collections of many ravenous Mazzacane aficionados * Limited edition packaging, crammed with information * Originally released on Daggett Records in the late '70s and early '80s in miniscule editions. * All eight original volumes, plus one previously unreleased volume, on four CDs in a specially made limited-edition box, stickered with a Loren Mazzacane illustration that accompanied any one of the original LPs. * Liner notes by Loren Mazzacane and Byron Coley. * Released by Ecstatic Peace and Father Yod in conjunction with Oil City/Smells Like Records, to coincide with Loren Mazza-cane's 50th birthday * Loren Mazzacane will be performing a month of shows at Tonic, NYC in October, a series of duets and solos with Jim O'Rourke, Keiji Haino, Lee Ranaldo and $2 Guitar. * After this limited edition run, a single CD of selections from this box will be re-released in a simpler package.
SONIC
YOUTH Goodbye 20th Century (SYR SYR4) 2CD/2LP Released the week of
November 8th, 1999.
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"Everything comes to an end, even the twentieth century." -Lou Harrison
"Goodbye 20th Century" is fourth in a series of independent, self-released Sonic Youth recordings. Disc A of the compact disc format of this release includes an Enhanced-CD containing video of the band performing the Maciunas piece (the fifth track on Disc B). It works cross-platform for all operating systems released in the past five years (as long as the Windows or Mac version of Quicktime is installed) on any 2x-or-faster CD-ROM.
Personnel: Sonic Youth with William Winant, Jim O'Rourke, Takehisa Kosugi, Christian Wolff, Coco Hayley Gordon Moore, Christian Marclay and Wharton Tiers.
Music composed by John Cage, Yoko Ono, Cornelius Cardew, Steve Reich, Takehisa Kosugi, Nicolas Slonimsky, George Maciunas, James Tenney, Pauline Oliveros and Christian Wolff.
Track listing (click for 30-second RealAudio excerpts):
Christian Wolff Edges
(1969)
John Cage
Six (1991) [3rd take]
Pauline OliverosSix
for New Time for Sonic Youth (1999)
Takehisa Kosugi +
- (1987)
Yoko Ono Voice
Piece for Soprano (1961)
Steve Reich Pendulum
Music (1968)
James Tenney Having
Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971)
John Cage Six
(1991) [4th take]
Christian Wolff Burdocks
(1971)
John Cage Four6
(1992)
George Maciunas Piano
Piece #13 (Carpenter's Piece) for Nam June Paik
(1962)
Nicolas Slonimsky Pièce
Enfantine (1951)
Cornelius Cardew Treatise
page 183
ROY
MONTGOMERY 324 E. 13th St. #7 (DRUNKEN FISH DF28) CD Released the
week of November 8th, 1999.
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The time frame during which these songs were recorded brackets the demise of the seven-inch format (I wonder how many more sound media will bear a non-metric name?), a death by prohibition at the hands of the major labels. "Let them eat cassingles," they cynically proclaimed around 1988, and shame on humanity that no one was beheaded for saying so. The Shallows' songs, laid down three years after Roy's sides with the Pin Group, were recorded in the midst of a Kiwi-pop boom that still admitted the single as a viable means of expression. The rest were laid down nine years later in two separate bursts of recording on either side of the United States during the format's Indian Summer.
When he recorded the majority of these songs with a four-track and a spaghetti copy of a Fender Jaguar in NYC's East Village, he was alone, but what he had was memory-- of when the Byrds or Wire or Television made music that sounded like it could change his life and he was young enough to not completely dismiss the possibility-- and knowledge-- that music did change lives because he was alone halfway around the world partly because of it. Alone except for an audience of cockroaches, Roy remembered what singles used to be-singular statements, discreet moments. He learned how to use that four-track and recorded a litter of songs that faced down all those looming influences; McGuinn, Newman, Verlaine and Lloyd. Then those little Yankee microlabels put them out and they floated to the top of the seven-inch glut, and we drank 'em down, and bought 'em up, and traded 'em for foolish amounts of money after they sold out. We plugged into his little universes for a while.
-liner notes excerpts by Bill Meyer
* Contains four previously unreleased tracks/* Sixteen songs from now-out-of-print singles, originally released by Drunken Fish, Siltbreeze, Roofbolt, Ajax and Varispeed * Roy Montgomery releases have consistently been among Midheaven/Revolver's top selling titles * Guest appearances include Bill Direen, Barbara Manning, M.S. Argo, Mark Heney.
Track listing for 324 E. 13th St (click for 30-second RealAudio excerpts):
Suzanne Said / Trial by Separation / Submerged and Colourful / Cousin Song / Film as a Subversive Art / Long Night / It's Cold Outside / German Sister / Something Else Again / Adrift / Just Melancholy / Used To / Times Three / Some Other Time / Strange Attractor / On the Road I / E.N.D. / Intertidal / In Your Wake
VARIOUS
ARTISTS Harmony of the Spheres (DRUNKEN FISH DF50) 2CD Released the
week of November 8th, 1999.
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Good old Pythagoras. He is many things to many people. The prototypical stoner, an ancient template for all subsequent seekers hungry for consciousness expansion, the master of prophecies involving a bunch of rocks floating in a vacuum. He defined harmony as "an arrangement of the contents of the gospels designed to show their parallelism, mutual relations, and differences." Harmony of the Spheres was originally released by Drunken Fish in November of 1996 as a specially designed, triple-LP boxset produced in an edition of 3,000. It quickly sold out its one and only pressing and has remained unavailable since.
* Stand up for spacerock, because artrock is dead * All tracks by this generation of the spacerock elite are over 18 minutes long and otherwise unavailable * Comes with a lovely foldout eight-panel booklet * Every artist on this historic collection is already a hallowed member of Revolver's exclusive catalog
Track listing for Harmony of the Spheres (click for 30-second RealAudio excerpts):
Bardo Pond Sangh
Seriatim
Flying Saucer Attack Since
When (One) / Since
When (Two) / Since
When (Three) / Since
When (Four)
Jessamine 22:30
Roy Montgomery Fantasia
on a Theme by Sandy Bull
Loren Mazzacane Connors Flames
/ The
Gathering / Revolt!
/ Fand
(A Tear)
Charalambides Naked
in Our Deathskins
FRENCH
PADDLEBOAT Conversions In Metric (SCRATCH SCR30) CD Released the
week of November 8th, 1999.
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The music of French Paddleboat is all its own-gentle and joyful, subtle, graceful, perfectly disorienting in its comfort. Vibes, chimes, bells and clarinet provide melodic and harmonic measures, while odd sounds punctuate and samples swim over lilting acoustic drumbeats and loops. The name Scott August, the talent behind French Paddleboat and one half of the well respected Vote Robot, has been seen in many sentences also containing the names Oval, Stockhausen, Pierre Henry, Raymond Scott, and Can. And he's still a teenager!
* Can be found in the "Electronica," "Experimental," and "Pop" sections of your fine shop * Defines, for benefit of today's ever-popular electronica market, a new subgenre: "organica"
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Conversions In Metric:
The Market's Price / Signal That Opens Gates / Southern Dakota / My Robots Love to Dance / Parcels to Sea / Tandau Coupe / Goods Sett and Type / What It Means to Stay Awake / Meet an American in Paris
MOEBIUS
Blotch (SCRATCH SCR32) CD Released the week of November 8th, 1999.
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Swiss-born Dieter Moebius studied art in Brussels and Berlin, where he met Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler. In 1969 the three founded Kluster, which after two years and three records, Roedelius and Moebius continued as Cluster, whose work is easily as earth-shaking and relevant today as that of Can, Tangerine Dream, Neu!, Faust, Kraftwerk and company. Moebius has always been more interested in straightforward motorized or handmade rhythms and the use of electronic, eccentric and unpredictable machine noises. Blotch, his second solo album (following Tonspuren, released 16 years ago) was produced in March and April of 1999 in Moebius' minimal studio in Berlin. Performed with a Korg Prophecy and an EMU Orbit, it was recorded with a Yamaha eight-track cassette recorder and finally perfectly mastered in Ohio by Tim Story, who duets with Moebius on the album's finaltrack.
* Founder of Kluster/Cluster, one of the fathers of Krautrock/spacerock * Reunion tour as one half of Cluster three years ago drew near-unanimous raves* Second solo album, the first since 1983
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Blotch:
Ondulation / Meltaway /Temperate /The Tracker / Im Raum / Kohlzug / Balistory
G. E.
STINSON Vapor (ECSTATIC PEACE E17B) CD Released the week of November
8th.
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G.E Stinson's Vapor is a compilation of several groups that were assembled to perform at New Music Monday, the improvised music series originated by Nels Cline and currently curated by Stinson in Los Angeles. Performers include Nels Cline, Steuart Liebig, Gregg Bendian, Kaoru, and DJ Chowderhead, among many others.
10 FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT G.E. STINSON:
1. He's not that guy from Saturday Night Live.
2. He's from Oklahoma and spent his formative years as a blues/rock boy in Chicago, where he opened for and hobnobbed with blues legends like Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
3. Warped by early '70s jazzrock mind-seepage and the global embrace of Brown Rice-era Don Cherry, he and his associates became accidental architects of what is now loosely called New Age music. Whoops!
4. Further destroyed by influential Los Angeles based pianist/improviser Richard Grossman, he almost completely abandoned composition and began to focus on totally improvised music.
5. All the music on Vapor is live and improvised.
6. His serious pursuit of the spiritual has not made his music "mellow."
7. He's a wizard with processed and prepared guitar sounds who occasionally deigns to rip some burning leads.
8. He plays with many wonderful musicians on this disc, some of whom may be unknown to you.
9. He includes the amazing bass guitarist Steuart Liebig in all six of the improvising groups represented here.
10. He's older than even me.
-Nels Cline, Los Angeles, March 1999
*Strong L.A. improv pedigree of Mr. Stinson and his colleagues strokes all the right chin-beards * Blues background + jazzrock dalliance ÷ freeform deconstruction = post-everything universal hum * People can totally handle this sort of "no-holds-barred" music * Mmm. Dense guitar/bass clusters
Track listing (click for 30-second RealAudio excerpts):
Mechanical
Ghost -- Napalm Quartet Cloudy textures accelerating into blistered
postpunk razorblade guitar-noise, culminating in feedback excess
Dream of Water Part
1 -- Splinter Group Melted soundscape with Japanese female vocal and
jazzy trumpet dissolving into monster turntable beats
Wooden Horse History
-- Bone Structure Soundtrack for a postmodern psychedelic spaghetti
western
The Pump -- Stinkbug
Big, fat, lowdown, Miles Davis-inspired, wah-wah groove with raging guitar
noise and inevitable orgasmic deconstruction
Pocket -- Unique
Cheerful Events Layered orchestral guitar pads, lyrical bass lines and
percussion providing a bed for Japanese/English vocal
Diagonal -- G.E.
Stinson String Ensemble Electric violin cadenzas appearing over "Martian
surf guitar" textures, escalating toward dense guitar/bass clusters
Dream of Water Part
2 -- Splinter Group Reprise of turntable beats and Japanese female vocal
with metal-melting guitar solo and noise/feedback rave-up
SIMON
WICKHAM-SMITH Butterfly Dust (VHF VHF44) CD Released the week of
November 8th, 1999.
order from Midheaven mailorder / back to the top
The first solo CD by Simon Wickham-Smith follows a long and prolific 10-year recording partnership with Richard Youngs. Recorded during a temporary relocation to Australia, Butterfly Dust is a strikingly intimate solo performance on organ, voice, Peruvian reed, and Dijeridu.
The performances here are informed by a rare combination of virtuosity and exploratory improvisation. In comparison with some prior performances (e.g. Simon's startlingly skilled assault on a grand piano on Knish), Butterfly Dust is in a more minimal style, where sounds are given room to build up and establish a mood over the long term. This is particularly true of the long organ solo "Objects Appearing," where notes are slowly added to a drone over a period of several minutes, giving each newly introduced note a significant impact. "Qamutiik" is a short workout for Peruvian recorder captured in close-up you-are-there fidelity. Rounding out the record is "Foralicem," a 21-minute piece for Dijeridu that builds up a huge and powerful wall of sound, helping restore respect to an instrument that has been much abused by new-agers.
"If you need proof that visionaries still live in this land, here it is." -The Wire
30-second RealAudio excerpts from Butterfly Dust:
Objects Appearing / Qamutiik / Foralicem
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