artist: MERZBOW
title: Merzbear
catalog #: IMPREC136
upc: 793447513621
release date: March 27, 2007
format: CD

Author, activist, painter and sound artist Masami Akita had been at the foreground of experimental music for over 25 years. Inspired by psycedelic rock, free jazz, early electronic composition as well the physical arts, especially Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, Masami Akita has created a musical language all his own.
Merzbear is the sixth Merzbow release in his utterly essential Merz series for Important Records.
Merzbear pulses and pounds with distorted droning heavy guitar feedback, pulsing noise-blasts and swirling analog sounds of Akita's distinct EMS Sythi. Like most of Merzbow's recordings, Merzbear is a significant document of his ever evolving improvisational style. Slowly, he's been moving away from his pure laptop era and re-incorporating elements of his pre-laptop analog days w/ his homemade junk guitar, EMS Synthi & electronics. This hybrid sound brings the past into the present and pounds with total junk-collage Dada urgency as only Masami Akita can do it. Cover art by Jenny Akita.

CSR81TS (16th March 2007) Merzbow Vs Nordvargr | Partikel T-Shirt

We are very proud to announce the release of a stunning new shirt to compliment and celebrate the Partikel trilogy! White print on heavy-quality black shirt. Sizes: Girlie, Medium, Large and Extra Large. Shipping 16th March Pre-order here at a special pre-release price. Over `n out Justin / COLD SPRING This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.coldspring.co.uk

If Betty were singing today she would be something like Madonna, something like Prince only as a woman. --MILES DAVIS		She introduced Miles to Hendrix's music and got him interested in the hardcore rock stuff. --HERBIE HANCOCK
Betty was a G for real. --ICE CUBE		When I first saw her album cover, I fell in love. --RICK JAMES
Warning: She is pure uncut funk way ahead of her time. --PRINCE PAUL (De La Soul, Handsome Boy Modeling School)		She was the first Madonna, but Madonna is more like Marie Osmond compared to Betty Davis. Betty Davis was a real ferocious Black Panther woman. You couldn't tame Betty Davis. --SANTANA

First official Betty Davis reissues Mastered from the original tapes (first time since the ‘70s!) Previously unreleased bonus tracks Ice Cube, Talib Kweli, and Ludacris have rhymed over these tracks Betty recorded some of the finest punk-funk of all time, introduced Miles to Hendrix, and inspired generations Each CD release includes an elaborate digipak and deluxe 32-page booklet New notes from Oliver Wang (O-Dub/Soul Sides), including Betty’s second interview in over 25 years!

HER STORY: One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can't be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music. There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago - we live in an age that's been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn't get sexy with their "Lady Marmalade" for another year while Millie Jackson wasn't Feelin' Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty's fierce style wasn't completely out of Ike's shadow until later in the decade. Ms. Davis's unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song "Uptown" for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late '60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix -- personally inspiring the classic album 'Bitches Brew.'

photo courtesy of Baron Wolman

But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty's career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn't fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal. In 1973, Davis would finally kick off her cosmic career with an amazingly progressive hard funk and sweet soul self-titled debut. Davis showcased her fiercely unique talent and features such gems as "If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up" and "Game Is My Middle Name." The album Betty Davis was recorded with Sly & The Family Stone's rhythm section, sharply produced by Sly Stone drummer Greg Errico, and featured backing vocals from Sylvester and the Pointer Sisters. Her 1974 sophomore album They Say I'm Different features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie's science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual "Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him" (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like "Don't Call Her No Tramp" and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of "He Was A Big Freak." Tragically, these days Betty Davis is dead broke, living in the Pittsburgh ghetto. For the first time, her critically adored first two albums are being lovingly re-mastered from the original master tapes by Light In The Attic Records to sound as ferocious and revolutionary as they did when they first sprung on an unsuspecting world in the early '70s. These reissues mark the first time that Betty will receive proper royalties for her music on CD. In addition to the restoration of the incredible original cover art, the compelling and heartbreaking liner notes written by author and respected soul music scholar Oliver Wang (O-Dub/Soul Sides) include her second interview in many decades, making these essential reissues for any soul, progressive punk, or funk-rock collection.

Light In The Attic Records P.O. Box 31970 Seattle, WA 98103 p (206) 706-6715 http://www.lightintheattic.net

 

artist: Lichens
title: Omns
catalog #: krank106
formats available: CD+DVD
CD UPC Code: 7 96441 81062 8
Release Date: May 7, 2007

Content: The second long player from Lichens, like his first, the largely improvised The Psychic Nature of Being, is an ascent to a higher plane. Rob Lowe's sound recordings are of a distinctly personal nature, works turned inward as much as they are projected outward.

    This new album was conceived with the idea of it being a continuation of the first, while using slightly different techniques in recording and editing; from multitracking individual passes, and pulling single tracks in and out of the mix ("vevor of agassou" "faeries"), to opening up into a completely different process by overdubbing multiple tracks ("m st r ng w tchcr ft l v ng n sp r t"). All this while remaining firmly within the realm of improvisation, augmented with the use of skeletal frameworks.

    The accompanying dvd video contains a single live 28 minute performance from Chicago's Empty Bottle that was recorded in 2006. All Lichens live shows are individual events and are not mere duplications of previous performances. Thus, the performance here is a unique snapshot of the Lichens live experience. The film was directed and produced by Mary Scherer and edited by Todd Mattei.
 
Context: Rob Lowe is involved in collaborations with Cloudland Canyons and White Light, both of which are expected to produce albums in the coming year. He is also working on a collaboration with Alan Licht, and is currently a touring member of Rhys Chatham's guitar trio.

Track Listing:
1. Vevor of Agassou  2. Faeries  3. Bune  4. M St r ng W tchcr ft L v ng  n Sp r t  5. Sighns

Quotes:
"Lichens launches skyward eerie, hymnal moans; atomized guitar chords; and meditative Fahey-esque fingerpicking… and the special knowledge to which only the most spiritual cats are privy." Dave Segal-The Stranger

"The impression is fostered that this is a colossal living organism, branching out into uncultivated lands, foreign concerns" Max Schaefer-Comes With a Smile

"Robert Lowe has crafted a solo universe of purely psychedelic beauty and mystery" Dream Magazine

"It's simply stunning, epic and totally timeless." Broken Face

"Natural, unexplainable, unpremeditated but deeply musical." Splendid

 

artist:  Valet  
title:   Blood is Clean
catalog #:  krank105
formats available:  CD   
CD UPC Code:  7 96441 81052 9
Release Date:  April 16, 2007

Content: Blood is Clean is the debut release by Honey Owens under the name Valet. The songs were formed out of a natural and spontaneous process as separate incidents of recording over a 5 month period from January to May of 2006. They were recorded by and large in single, live takes with minor additional tracking added here and there. The results are at once spare and expansive; exploratory, yet deceptively simple.

Honey wanted to make music that was not neccessarily of her, but rather  “to be a medium channeling sounds from an unknown place, opening up and spilling out onto the computer-tape.” The cryptic, mesmerizing sound pallete was inspired by “lucid dreams and physical artifacts that appeared to me daily that hinted at a sound-world of Haitian Voodoo drumming, various shamanic dreamtime musics, the Velvet Underground, and the ‘Fourth-World’ concepts of Jon Hassell”.

We will just say that these are some of the most inspiring alien-psychedelic-blues-jams that we have heard in ages. And check out the absolutely fried guitar work from the outer edge of the galaxy on the title cut.

Context: Honey Owens has been an important figure in the Portland experimental music scene for more than 10 years, collaborating with an array of both oscure and well-known music projects including: World, Nudge, Dark Yoga and JOMF. Honey Owens lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Track Listing:  01. April 6  02. Blood is Clean  03. Burmajuana  04. Tame All the Lions
05. Mystic Flood  06. My Volcano  07. Sade 4 Bri  08. North

Quote:  "Does Honey Owens aka Valet really sing 'My blood is clean/But the devil's in me' right before that percussion kicks in? Holy moley; that's too perfect. That guitar solo is the best we might have heard in years. It's a time-stopping guitar solo. Everyone else should stop doing that, right now; put down your guitars! Thank you."  MikeMcGonigal-Yeti Magazine #4

 

artist: Deerhunter
title: Fluorescent Grey EP
catalog #: krank107
formats available: CD (enhanced)  
upc code: 7 96441 81072 7
release date: April 9, 2007

content: Four new songs recorded while mixing Cryptograms. A snapshot of what direction the band might explore next? Probably not.

context: This EP arrives on the heels of a well received sophomore LP, 'Cryptograms'. While exploring themes not especially dissimilar, the EP functions in many ways as an epilogue to both the LP and the accompanying well-reported anxiety surrounding it's creation. The band now has a clean slate to explore something entirely new in the future.
track listing: 1. Fluorescent Grey  2. Dr. Glass  3. Like New  4. Wash Off  
bonus: Video for Strange Lights from Cryptograms directed by James Sumner

quotes for the Cryptograms album:  

'Deerhunter has really churned out a remarkable release, pulling together the best elements of pop, punk, experimental and psychedelic rock without being derivative.'  other music

'..sounds at once radiant and terrified. '  pitchfork, best new music 8.9

'..realize deerhunter's true strength: a knack for shaping choice bits of sophisticated pop revelry while alternately dipping into liquid sojourns of ambient bliss.'  the stranger

'Cryptograms is a thoroughly amazing listen, an early best for 2007, and a beautifully woven collection of stunning melodicism and sonic manipulation.'  treble

'Cryptograms will either elicit a re-appreciation of pop in numerous bitter misanthropes, or completely acid-fry the unsuspecting songwriters who were already predisposed to these strange sounds that they’d been unknowingly waiting to hear.'  tinymixtapes

"Cryptograms is the kind of record that should be played in every teenage bedroom in america." dusted

 

 

artist: THE MAJOR STARS
title: Portable Freak Factory b/w Can You See Me?
catalog #: IMPREC124
format: 7"

Limited edition of 500 w/ the first 100 on color vinyl.
Two brand new burners (including a Hendrix cover on the b-side) recorded during the same sessions for The Major Stars next full length album for Important.

 

For this album, Chris is joined by Tim Kinsella (of Joan of Arc) and Ben Vida of Bird Show and Town & Country (who also produced the record), as well as members of US Maple, Califone and other Chicago jazz and improv luminaries.

 

Following soon after the critically praised Black Tar Prophecies collection on Important Records, Portland, Oregon's Grails return with their first proper studio album since the 2004 release of Redlight. Burning Off Impurities - their debut for Temporary Residence Ltd. out on May 1, 2007 - makes good on the promise of those past releases in delivering an album that not only thrusts the group to new heights, but also pushes the instrumental rock genre forward for the first time in nearly a decade.

An increased interest in psychedelic, ambient and world music is most likely to blame for Grails' exploration of the lesser-traveled paths of modern music. In addition, their eclectic range of collaborative endeavors - guitarist Zak Riles is also in M. Ward's band, while drummer Emil Amos has moonlighted as Jandek's drummer - has introduced an element of improvisation and reinterpretation of ideas that is both brilliant and earnest.

Like Black Tar Prophecies, Burning Off Impurities was produced by Grails, with production assistance by Jeff Saltzman and Steven Wray Lobdell (of avant-garde legends, Faust). Influenced in equal parts by Ash Ra Tempel, Erkin Koray, Popol Vuh, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and dozens others, this is very likely the closest Grails will ever get to making a classic rock record; the kind of sprawling masterpiece that you savor for years before passing it on to your younger brother so he can repeat the process.

Track Listing:
1. Soft Temple
2. More Extinction
3. Silk Rd
4. Drawn Curtains
5. Outer Banks
6. Dead Vine Blues
7. Origin-ing
8. Burning Off Impurities

Discography:
GRAILS Black Tar Prophecies Vol's. 1, 2 & 3 CD (Important 2006)
GRAILS Interpretations... CDEP (Southern 2005)
GRAILS Redlight CD (Neurot 2004)
GRAILS The Burden of Hope CD (Neurot 2003)

 

Mute Audio Documents Box Set Out on 26th March 2007
128 tracks over 10 CDs, Mute Audio Documents is a unique insight into the musical development of the label and its artists, highlighting the influence, the success and, most importantly, the great music produced since its inception in 1978.

Mute Audio Documents is a collection of Mute's single releases from 1978 to 1984 and includes the first 4 double CD volumes of an ongoing series plus a 2CD rarities album exclusive to the box set. The series will feature all the A-side and B-side single tracks released by Mute in addition to album tracks by the artists for whom there were only album releases.

Mute emerged in the post-punk era. It was a new era of pop democracy, and anyone could make a record. You didn't even need to know three chords, according to Mute founder Daniel Miller. All you needed, he said, was an idea.

His 'idea' was to create a classic of DIY pop - a double A sided 7" single featuring the songs T.V.O.D. and Warm Leatherette. He called himself The Normal, designed a sleeve with Letraset, stuck the name Mute on it, and accidentally started a record label.

You only have to listen to the music gathered on these 10 CDs to see how Mute became the blueprint for maverick independence and sonic adventurousness - a blueprint that countless labels follow to this day.

The documentary evidence is here. All you have to do is listen.

Volume 1 1978 - 1981
Featuring: The Normal, Fad Gadget, Silicon Teens, D.A.F., Non, Robert Rental, Depeche Mode, Boyd Rice and Smegma.

Volume 2 1982
Featuring: Non, Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, Die Doraus Und Die Marinas, Yazoo and Liaisons Dangereuses.

Volume 3 1983
Featuring: Depeche Mode, Duet Emmo, Robert Görl, Yazoo, Fad Gadget, The Assembly and The Birthday Party.

Volume 4 1984
Featuring: Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Robert Görl, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, I Start Counting, Bruce Gilbert, Boyd Rice and Frank Tovey.

Volumes 1-4 will be available separately later on in the year, but the exclusive 2CD rarities album, which features the legendary live recording of The Normal and Robert Rental - Live at West Runton Pavillon, live tracks from Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget and Yazoo plus John Peel and David Jensen session tracks from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Yazoo in addition to Boyd Rice variable speed versions of tracks from the Black album, will only be available as part of the Mute Audio Documents box set.

Daniel Miller has, for nigh on 30 years, been at the helm of a unique and groundbreaking label, which has gained a reputation as one of the most consistently successful, adventurous and challenging labels in the world. With offices in London, Berlin and New York and a roster that includes renowned international artists such as Depeche Mode, Moby, Erasure, Goldfrapp, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Richard Hawley, Mute Audio Documents unashamedly celebrates the label with a remarkable box set detailing both the known as well as the not-so-well-known tracks (some of which are available here for the first time on CD) and the promise of more volumes in the near future.

Mute Audio Documents includes exclusive sleeve notes by Chris Bohn, Stephen Dalton, Ian Johnston and Dave Henderson, original artwork and exclusive original poster for The Normal.

Full tracklistings

Mute Audio Documents
Volume 1 1978 - 1981

CD 1:
1. The Normal - T.V.O.D
2. The Normal - Warm Leatherette
3. Silicon Teens - Memphis Tennessee
4. Silicon Teens - Let's Dance
5. Fad Gadget - Back To Nature
6. Fad Gadget - The Box
7. Silicon Teens - Judy In Disguise
8. Silicon Teens - Chip 'n Roll
9. Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand
10. Fad Gadget - Handshake
11. D.A.F. - Kebabträume
12. D.A.F. - Gewalt
13. Non - Soundtrack 1 (loop edit of 1'30" at 33rpm)
14. Non - Soundtrack 2 (loop edit of 1'30" at 33rpm)
15. Non - Soundtrack 3 (loop edit of 1'30" at 33rpm)
16. Non - Mode Of Infection
17. Non - Knife Ladder
18. Smegma - Can't Look Straight
19. Smegma - Flashcards
20. Fad Gadget - Insecticide
21. Fad Gadget - Fireside Favourites

CD 2:
1. Silicon Teens - Just Like Eddie
2. Silicon Teens - Sun Flight
3. Robert Rental - Double Heart
4. Robert Rental - On Location
5. D.A.F. - Tanz Mit Mir
6. D.A.F. - Der Räuber Und Der Prinz
7. Depeche Mode - Dreaming Of Me
8. Depeche Mode - Ice Machine
9. Boyd Rice - Side A Track 2
10. Boyd Rice - Side B Track 1
11. Fad Gadget - Make Room
12. Fad Gadget - Lady Shave
13. Depeche Mode - New Life
14. Depeche Mode - Shout
15. Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough
16. Depeche Mode - Any Second Now

Mute Audio Documents
Volume 2 1982

CD 1:
1. Non - Rise
2. Non - Out Out Out
3. Non - Romance Fatal Dentro De Un Auto
4. Depeche Mode - See You
5. Depeche Mode - Now This Is Fun
6. Fad Gadget - Saturday Night Special - Special Mix
7. Fad Gadget - Swallow It - Live
8. Die Doraus Und Die Marinas - Fred Vom Jupiter
9. Die Doraus Und Die Marinas - Even Home Is Not Nice Anymore
10. Non - Physical Evidence
11. Non - Man Kills Self While Cleaning Gun
12. Fad Gadget - King Of The Flies
13. Fad Gadget - Plain Clothes
14. Depeche Mode - The Meaning Of Love
15. Depeche Mode - Oberkorn (It's A Small Town)

CD 2:
1. Yazoo - Only You
2. Yazoo - Situation
3. Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Niños Del Parque
4. Liaisons Dangereuses - Mystère Dans Le Brouillard
5. Yazoo - Don't Go
6. Yazoo - Winter Kills
7. Fad Gadget - Life On The Line
8. Fad Gadget - 4M
9. Depeche Mode - Leave In Silence
10. Depeche Mode - Excerpt From: My Secret Garden
11. Yazoo - The Other Side Of Love
12. Yazoo - Ode To Boy
13. Fad Gadget - For Whom The Bells Toll
14. Fad Gadget - Love Parasite

Mute Audio Documents
Volume 3 1983

CD 1:
1. Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right!
2. Depeche Mode - The Great Outdoors!
3. Duet Emmo - Or So It Seems
4. Duet Emmo - Heart Of Hearts (Or So It Seems)
5. Robert Görl - Mit Dir
6. Robert Görl - Beruhrt Verfuhrt
7. Yazoo - Nobody's Diary
8. Yazoo - State Farm
9. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
10. Depeche Mode - Work Hard

CD 2:
1. Fad Gadget - I Discover Love
2. Fad Gadget - Lemmings On Lovers' Rock
3. Depeche Mode - Love In Itself.2
4. Depeche Mode - Fools
5. The Assembly - Never Never
6. The Assembly - Stop Start
7. The Birthday Party - Jennifer's Veil
8. The Birthday Party - Mutiny In Heaven
9. The Birthday Party - Swampland
10. The Birthday Party - Say A Spell

Mute Audio Documents
Volume 4 1984

CD 1:
1. Einstürzende Neubauten - Tanz Debil
2. Einstürzende Neubauten - Kalte Sterne
3. Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
4. Fad Gadget - Spoil The Child
5. Robert Görl - Darling Don't Leave Me
6. Robert Görl - A Ist Wieder Da
7. Depeche Mode - People Are People
8. Depeche Mode - In Your Memory
9. Fad Gadget - One Man's Meat
10. Fad Gadget - Sleep - Electro Induced Original

CD 2:
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - In The Ghetto
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Moon Is In The Gutter
3. I Start Counting - Letters To A Friend
4. I Start Counting - Adman's Dream
5. Bruce Gilbert - U, Mu, U
6. Bruce Gilbert - Here Visit
7. Depeche Mode - Master And Servant
8. Depeche Mode - (Set Me Free) Remotivate Me
9. Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
10. Depeche Mode - Somebody - Remix
11. Boyd Rice / Frank Tovey - Extraction 2
12. Boyd Rice / Frank Tovey - Extraction 7

Mute Audio Documents
Rarities

CD 1:
1. The Normal & Robert Rental - Live At West Runton Pavilion
2. Boyd Rice - Side A Track 1 - 33RPM
3. Boyd Rice - Side A Track 1 - 45RPM
4. Boyd Rice - Side B Track 2 -33RPM
5. Boyd Rice - Side B Track 2 - 45RPM
6. Fad Gadget - King Of The Flies - Live
7. Fad Gadget - I Discover Love - Live
8. Fad Gadget - The Ring - Live
9. Fad Gadget - Love Parasite - Live

CD 2:
1. Depeche Mode - Excerpt From: My Secret Garden
2. Depeche Mode - Shout - Live
3. Depeche Mode - Photographic - Live
4. Depeche Mode - Somebody - Live
5. Depeche Mode - Ice Machine - Live
6. Yazoo - Bring Your Love Down - David Jensen BBC Session
7. Yazoo - In My Room - David Jensen BBC Session
8. Yazoo - Winter Kills - Live
9. Yazoo - Don't Go - Live
10. Yazoo - Situation - Live
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - From Her To Eternity - John Peel BBC Session

 

Mice Parade Set To Debut New Album
Self-Titled Album Continues Gorgeous Pop Odyssey That Spans Seven Albums

It was the winter after returning from extensive touring behind Mice Parade's 2005 album Bem-Vinda Vontade, and founder Adam Pierce moved away from the edge of NYC, up to the wooded country near Bear Mountain. There he spent the following spring converting an old garage into a quite spacious recording studio, the best so far in a long line of his home studios. After the last piece of gear was installed, instruments set up, cables plugged in, some kind of test project was needed to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to. The result is Mice Parade's first self-titled album, and (depending on how you count) seventh full-length release.

While Pierce has written and played the lion's share of Mice Parade's catalog on his own, this album finds him continuing his recent trend of stellar collaborators. Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) chimes in beautifully on "Tales of Las Negras". Kristin Anna Valtysdottir (múm, also a touring member of the Mice Parade live band from 2003-2006) lends her incredible grace to "Double Dolphins on the Nickel", complete with Icelandic verse. Other members of the live lineup appear on tracks like "Sneaky Red" and "Satchelaise", notably Doug Scharin (Rex, June of 44), Dylan Cristy (Dylan Group), Jay Israelson (Lansing-Dreiden), and Dan Lippel.

No two Mice Parade albums are alike. While 2004's Obrigado Saudade was intensely personal, close-mic'ed in a basement, and Bem-Vinda Vontade led listeners on more of a thrill ride, this latest album offers bits from all across that spectrum, as well as completely new directions - like the highlife guitars in "Last Ten Homes", or the flamenco percussion rhythms in "Double Dolphins on the Nickel"

Reflecting this eclecticism, the lineup of the touring band includes two drumkits, both nylon and electric guitars, vibraphones, keyboards, and whatever or whomever else is available.
Come to a show as they tour the US & Japan in May/June...!

The album is slated for a May release!

Tracklisting:
1. Sneaky Red
2. Tales of Las Negras
3. The Last Ten Homes
4. Snow
5. Double Dolphins on the Nickel
6. Satchelaise
7. Swing
8. Circle None
9. The Nights After Fiction

YELLOW6
‘Painted Sky’
Label: Resonant
Catalogue number: RESCD022
Format: CD Album
Release Date: March 19th 2007

A debut on Resonant from a man with a wealth of back catalogue on labels such as Enraptured, Darla, Bearos, Ochre, Awkward Silence and many, many more, spanning almost a decade.

Yellow6 is the solo project of Jon Attwood, a guitarist based in Leicestershire (the first UK-based artist to release an album on Resonant!) who has released six full length albums, five live albums and one remix album, on top of several mini-albums and EPs, singles and contributions to numerous compilations.

"Painted Sky" was recorded between 2004 and 2006, and strips away many of the layers of previous outings, resulting in a collection of melodic, organic guitar and piano soundscapes backed with subtle percussion.

More ambient than post rock, "Painted Sky" draws comparisons to Labradford, Cocteau Twins, Durutti Column, Slowdive, Windy & Carl and Erik Satie, as opposed to the quiet/loud exponents; this is quiet/quiet, with an overall air of wistful melancholy. The previous releases of Yellow6 have established a solid following, both in terms of fanbase and press.

Tracklisting:

1. I Know I Shouldn’t (But I Do)
2. I Loved You More Before I Knew You Loved Me
3. Common
4. NYE 2
5. Realisation
6. Pleasure/Pain
7. Eighteen Days
8. Requiem For Julian
9. Maré
10. Azure


For press pictures and sleeve scans. Please visit : http://www.resonantlabel.com/press-paintedsky.htm


Further Contact :
RESONANT RECORDINGS
Telephone: (Andy) 01922 406183 / 0208 376 4809
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
website: www.resonantlabel.com


YELLOW6 BIOGRAPHY



Yellow6 has at times been described as post-rock, space-rock, electronica, shoegaze, ambient… the reality is that Yellow6 has some similarity with each of those genres but is not so easily definable, using apects of drone, repetition, melody, harmony, noise and silence to create absorbing soundscapes to drift off into.

Yellow6 was created out of necessity in the mid-90’s, the necessity to make guitar music not confined to rock song structures, and the necessity of circumstance to be a solo artist.

Jon Attwood is a guitarist who grew up with punk in the London suburbs, playing in the early 80’s London punk scene with a number of bands. Landing in the mid 90’s with no band Jon started to experiment with guitar sounds, drones, programmed beats and loops, resulting in a debut single release in 1998 on Enraptured Records.  This was followed by a number of single, compilation and EP releases on as many labels, with a debut album in 2000, also taking yellow6 into the live arena that year.

Over the following years, Yellow6 has amassed over 18 releases on nearly as many labels across the globe, remixed or been remixed by many similar artists (Charles Atlas, Tristeza, Rothko, Maps&Diagrams, Amp, Bauri, Portal, Port-Royal) and played live shows in the UK, europe and north america with Tarentel, Tristeza, This Is Your Captain Speaking, Televise, ISAN, Christ, Jessica Bailiff and Charles Atlas.

‘Painted Sky’ is the 7th album from Yellow6, and his first for Resonant Recordings. This album strips away some of the layers of previous outings and contains 10 tracks of melodic, organic guitar and piano soundscapes backed up with subtle percussion.

Key releases:
Icanhearthemusicallaroundme (Atomic Recordings, 1999)
Overtone (Enraptured Records, 2000)
Catherine Whiskey (Jonathan Whiskey, 2000)
Music For Pleasure (Rocket Racer USA, 2001)
Lake:Desert (Ochre, 2001)
Live @ Ochre 7 (Ochre 2002)
NewFoundLand (Music Fellowship, 2002)
Disappear Here (Make Mine Music, 2003)
Melt Inside (Make Mine Music, 2005)
The Beautiful Season Has Past (3 CD collection, RROOPP, 2006)
Painted Sky (Resonant, 2007)

© 2007 Resonant Recordings
For further information on this release please contact Andy at Resonant via:
telephone: 01922 406183 / 0208 376 4809

"Korm Plastics is proud to present the thirteenth release in the Brombron series. Originally a co-production between Staalplaat and Extrapool, it is now hosted by co-curator Frans de Waard. In the year 2000 Frans de Waard and Extrapool started the Brombron project. Two or more musicians become artists in residence in Extrapool, an arts initiative in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with a fully equipped sound recording studio. These artists can work in a certain amount of time on a collaborative project; a project they always wished to do, but didn't have the time or the equipment to realize.

Jon Mueller and Martijn Tellinga have started a collaboration to explore the musical dialogue between the instrumentalist and realtime computer-performer. Their mutual interest in the outlining and structuring of improvisation, both in sonic properties and compositional shape, resulted in an ensembled playing that is partly responsive, partly autonomous.

During their residency at the Extrapool studio in Nijmegen, Netherlands December 2005, they experimented with a system that consisted of live-sampling and processing of Jon's playing, on top of a layer of pre-recorded soundmaterials taken from a previous session. Crucial to this system, was that the actual triggering of the samples and processing in the computer during performance was also caused by that same playing; i.e., while Jon was improvising he not only provided new sonic material for recording, but also triggered previously recorded events. The realtime manipulation and transformation of these events was done by Martijn following that same structural order. This experimental system was developed to get to a musical body that can either blend into one (percussion and computer) or exist as two entities that function in an autonomous way (bypassing the triggering and playing the computer as a stand-alone instrument, using the same set of soundmaterials) and perform by listening and responding to each others input. This can be seen as an attempt to get beyond the many electro-instrumental collaborations where the computer-performer seems to function as a huge effect-processor of the instrumental input, and by doing that, reduces the instrumentalist to a soundsource for realtime processing." - from label press release 

More info on Martijn Tellinga at: www.martijntellinga.nl

Günter Müller, "Reframed"

http://cut.fm 

Originally a drummer, Günter Müller continues his exploration of the instrument's
inherent resonant properties in five compositions based on processed recordings of
bowed cymbals.
«Reframed» achieves a sense of timelessness, placing the listener deep within
hovering layers of shimmering sound.
Recorded July 2006.
Processed and assembled August–December 2006.

Günter Müller was born in München in 1954, and has lived in Switzerland since 1966.
Müller has been playing a unique drum set with a mobile pick-ups and a microphone
system of his own invention since 1981. The system allows hand generated sounds on
drums and percussion to be modulated electronically. Since 1998 minidiscs, later an
ipod, are included in his electronic set.
He performs solo and has collaborated with a large number of musicians, including
Jim O'Rourke, Christian Marclay, Butch Morris, Otomo Yoshihide, Taku Sugimoto,
Keith Rowe and Sachiko M.
In 1990, he founded the record label For 4 Ears Records.

http://home.datacomm.ch/g.mueller/mueller.htm

Jason Kahn, "Fields"

http://cut.fm

Seven compositions for analogue synthesizer, percussion, short wave radio, and
location recordings made in Croatia, Egypt, Japan, Lebanon and Switzerland.
Composed 2005–2006.

Jason Kahn is a sound and visual artist based in Zürich. His work includes drawing,
sound installation, performance and composition. He was born in New York, grew up
in Los Angeles and relocated to Europe in 1990.
Kahn has been exhibiting his sound and visual works since the late 1990's, and has
had solo and group exhibitions internationally, including museums, galleries and arts
spaces in the USA, Canada, France, Croatia, Germany, Argentina, Egypt, Poland,
Switzerland, Denmark, Austria and Spain.
Kahn has performed both solo and in collaboration with numerous other musicians,
including Tetuzi Akiyama, Kim Cascone, Dieb13, Arnold Dreyblatt, Kevin
Drumm, Erik M, John Hudak, Brandon Labelle, Jason Lescalleet, Christian Marclay,
Norbert Möslang, David Moss, Günter Müller, Jon Mueller, Toshimaru Nakamura,
Sachiko M, Sainkho Namtchylak, Evan Parker, Steve Roden, Taku Sugimoto, Otomo
Yoshihide and many others.

http://jasonkahn.net

 

O Yuki Conjugate release new CD.

‘The Euphoria of Disobedience’ marks their re-emergence after a 10-year hiatus.

 

Just one short decade after making their last album, UK ambient pioneers O Yuki Conjugate (OYC) release a new CD called "The Euphoria of Disobedience" (TEOD) on their OYC Limited label. This calls for a celebration, and indeed an explanation.

 

O Yuki Conjugate have released four studio albums and innumerable spin-off and side projects since their first gig in Nottingham in 1982. Currently in their third incarnation, the ever-youthful OYC have cancelled their hip replacements and are going all-out for superannuated ambient glory with their latest CD.

 

Started in 2002 and completed in late 2006, TEOD explores an area OYC have christened “dirty ambient” – multi layered, hyper textural and distinctly gritty. Less obviously ethnic than previous OYC releases, the perfumed garden of Eno's classic ambience is replaced by rough edges, noxious odours and abrasive textures. The result is a jagged beauty.

 

OYC are releasing TEOD as both an MP3 download and a numbered limited edition of 1000 in a unique digipak fronted with a hand cast resin tile. Both available only through their website at www.oyukiconjugate.com. In the States this is also available through Soleilmoon & Projekt.

 

The release of TEOD marks a new period of activity for the group. Their entire back catalogue is currently being made available as downloads from iTunes and their website. OYC are also working on at least one follow-up album provisionally scheduled for release in mid 2007.

 

Notes

·       The 3rd incarnation of O Yuki Conjugate (OYC) is made up of original members Roger Horberry (RH) and Andrew Hulme (AH) with new addition Rob Jenkins (RJ).

§       Originally from Nottingham and now based in London, OYC record in RJ’s impressively analogue studio in deepest Middlesex.

§       The OYC-ers all run side projects – Stone Idols (RJ), Alp (RH) and A Small Good Thing (AH).

§       TEOD features a contribution from composer Cliff Martinez, known for his scores for Steven Soderbergh films

§       OYC have released four full length albums…

- “Scene in Mirage” (LP a-mission 1984) later re-issued as “Primitive” (CD  Staalplaat 1996)

- “Into Dark Water” (LP Final Image 1986) later re-issued as “Undercurrents” (CD, Staalplaat 1992)

- “Peyote” (CD Projekt 1991)

- “Equator” (CD Staalplaat 1994)

Plus a remix album “Sunchemical” (CD Staalplaat 1996)

§       Go to www.oyukiconjugate.com for more background information.

§       Contact OYC at oyc at oyukiconjugate.com

 

 

 

O YUKI CONJUGATE

‘The Euphoria of Disobedience’

(OYCLimited1 CD)

 

1 noiseflaw

2 in dreams, perhaps

3 slither

4 binaryglow

5 out through the skin

6 tropospheric

7 where she goes at night

8 incomplete

9 sunlessglare

10 dirty roads

......

Originally released on 20 November 1980, the deluxe cassette compilation From Brussels With Love featured 22 exclusive tracks from the front rank of the international avant garde and new wave, as well as several artists from the feted Factory Records stable in Manchester. Although the first proper release on boutique Belgian label Les Disques du Crepuscule, the catalogue number assigned to the project (TWI 007) betrays the fact that the early history of the label (and thus its debut) is a little more involved.

The label had been formed at the beginning of 1980, by Brussels scenesters Michel Duval (an economist by training, and journalist for several arts magazines including En Attendant and Plein Soleil) and Annik Honore (then working in London, but a booker for the seminal Plan K venue, and also writing for En Attendant). A strong cultural link was forged between Brussels and the Factory/Manchester cadre after the Joy Division concerts at Plan K on 16 October 1979 and 17 January 1980, and cemented when A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column and Section 25 performed at Plan K on 26 April. In addition, Brussels band The Names had joined the Factory roster.

Since the Factory bands were so prolific, it was agreed that 'spare' recordings could be released on the Continent via a new label, Factory Benelux. The first three releases were 7" singles by A Certain Ratio (Shack Up), Durutti Column (Lips That Would Kiss) and Section 25 (Haunted), which appeared in August, September and October respectively. All carried dual catalogue numbers (FACBN 1-004, 2-005 and 3-006), which in September 1980 resulted in Factory directors Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson insisting that a clear division should be established between Factory Benelux and Les Disques du Crepuscule, the new label planned by Michel and Annik. At an early stage the duo were joined by gifted designer Benoit Hennebert. Crepuscule, of course, translates as 'twilight', an evocative name suggested by Annik. The two labels shared a de facto office at 32 Avenue des Phalenes, 1050 Brussels.

The first true Crepuscule release was a deluxe cassette/booklet package, From Brussels With Love. Compiled between July and October, this stylish 80 minute compilation arrived housed in a plastic wallet and reflected current musical events in Manchester, London and Brussels during the middle months of 1980. In May Joy Division singer Ian Curtis took his own life, leaving the remaining three members to re-group as New Order, who entered the studio for the first time in June as backing musicians for Factory troubadour Kevin Hewick. Bill Nelson and Richard Jobson came into contact with Crepuscule for the first time on 27 June, after playing at a Cocteau-themed event at Plan K, at which Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column also performed. London band Repetition joined Crepuscule via Annik and (surprisingly) found themselves produced by Rob Gretton, while A Certain Ratio contributed a live track taped at Hurrah's in September, during the first Factory trip to New York, another cultural watershed for all involved.

Besides Factory, another crucial influence on From Brussels With Love was radio producer and new music composer Wim Mertens, whose book American Minimal Music had just been published by Kahn & Averill. The featured interview with Brian Eno had been recorded by Wim in New York in June 1979, as was the recording by Phill Niblock. It's therefore hardly surprising that Michael Nyman and Gavin Bryars also agreed to contribute tracks. Mertens would make his own debut on Crepuscule (initially as Soft Verdict) the following year. Eno's Obscure label was another key influence on early Crepuscule.

The compilation was purposefully international in scope, with France (Radio Romance), Belgium (The Names), Germany (Der Plan) and even Scotland (Richard Jobson) all represented, as well as the more familiar British and American contingents. The design, too, was seductively Continental, with text printed in a variety of languages, and copious line/cartoon illustrations by Jean-Francois Octave which reflected the Belgian and French obsession with bande dessinee. The James Bond references in the title and catalogue number may be credited to cinephile Michel Duval alone.

Almost as interesting are the tracks that failed to make the final cut: at various stages the wishlist included music by Mark Beer, The Associates, Throbbing Gristle, Karel Goeyvaerts, plus mooted live tracks by Joy Division, and literary interviews with Marguerite Duras, Michel Tournier and Alain Robbe Grillet. Released on 20 November in an initial edition of 1000 copies, TWI 007 was an immediate success, retailing at the price of a 12" single and drawing praise from the British music press in December:

"The arrival of this thin tape from Belgium provides a reminder - without really trying, without being obvious - that pop is the modern poetry, is the sharpest, shiniest collection of experiences, is always something new… It's as indispensable as the Bow Wow Wow and A Certain Ratio cassettes: all in their own way point to the ways pop is moving… Of course it's posey: what isn't? It's pop/art. Insufferably over-fashionable, lavishly over the top, dreadfully dilettantish, finely eclectic. Pop can be so many things" (Paul Morley, New Musical Express)

"This is wild! This is fantastic! The perfect Christmas gift! FBWL is over 80 minutes of sheer scrapbookalia. It is a lovely put together way of deflating modern music, and at the same time of exalting its basic merits. A searing, sprawling, exotically chaotic way of achieving the almost impossible and restoring rock music to something that will nearly surprise you… It is endless and endlessly, genuinely entertaining listening. As pretentious as hell, of course, but there is only one thing worse than that - and that's not being pretentious. This tape, a long mysterious piece of collective modern overdrive, points to a future somewhere. And it looks more crimson that rosy, it's that good" (Dave McCullough, Sounds)

While Crepuscule was by no means the first modern independent record label in Belgium (credit is also due to Crammed, Sandwich, Double Dose and others), it quickly became the most prolific, cosmopolitan and culturally significant. The next 18 months saw a raft of releases by a veritable internationale of artists including Antena, Gavin Bryars, Cabaret Voltaire, Paul Haig, Ike Yard, Josef K, Malaria!, Marine, Wim Mertens and Tuxedomoon, and further landmark compilations such as Ghosts of Christmas Past and The Fruit of the Original Sin. Indeed the label would even outlast Factory, the label to which it owed a large measure of its early success.

This remastered CD (2006) version of TWI 007 features all tracks included on the 1980 cassette version, with the exception of Felch (live) by A Certain Ratio, left off for reasons of space and in any event included in LTMCD 2443. A second edition of the cassette (also TWI 007) appeared in a standard cassette box in 1981, and a double vinyl edition (TWI 008) in Japan in 1983, with several different tracks. A final (and much adulterated) version of From Brussels With Love appeared on double vinyl and CD in 1986, but with only around half the original tracks from the original cassette. The 1980 edition, however, remains the definitive artefact.

James Nice
November 2006


CD tracklist:
JOHN FOXX A JINGLE *1
THOMAS DOLBY AIRWAVES
REPETITION STRANGER
HAROLD BUDD CHILDREN ON THE HILL
DURUTTI COLUMN SLEEP WILL COME
MARTIN HANNETT THE MUSIC ROOM
THE NAMES CAT
MICHAEL NYMAN A WALK THROUGH H
BRIAN ENO INTERVIEW
PHILL NIBLOCK A THIRD TROMBONE
JEANNE MOREAU INTERVIEW
RICHARD JOBSON ARMOURY SHOW
BILL NELSON THE SHADOW GARDEN
DURUTTI COLUMN PIECE FOR AN IDEAL
KEVIN HEWICK & NEW ORDER HAYSTACK
RADIO ROMANCE ETRANGE AFFINITE
GAVIN BRYARS WHITE'S SS
DER PLAN MEINE FREUNDE
B.C. GILBERT & GRAHAM LEWIS TWIST UP
JOHN FOXX A JINGLE *2

Project Perfect, long lost duo consisting of Andy Brown (Jessamine/Fontanelle/Southerning) and guitarist Charlie Smyth (Fontanelle) sees their entire oeuvre re-released on Community Library this month.  

Merry 2007! With only 18 weeks left this year, we better hurry through all the exciting news from the Lex HQ in central London… Albums, Singles, EPs: