artist: Daniel Menche
title: Jugularis
catalog number: imprec103
format: cd
release date: July 25, 2006

 

Imagine yourself riding on cells coasting through your body's veins. The sound of the heart grows stronger like a beating drum as you're pulled closer. Suddenly, you're embraced by this giant pulsating muscle and when you're finally released back into the veins you can hear it's sound fading slowly, but still growling with the same intensity that it has beat with for eternity. Jugularis is the soundtrack to this ride and like your heart it's packaged in blood: the ultimate symbol of life and intensity.
Recently Daniel Menche has embraced more percussion based sound to create music that manipulates the listeners blood flow and intensifies the listening experience. Jugularis still contains a distinctly Menche sound yet being that it's intensely rhythm and percussion based it's extremely different from anything that he has created prior.

Never before has Daniel Menche's mantra of "If Music is like blood then make
the speakers bleed" been so appropriate.

 

artist: Mudsuckers
title: Mudsuckers
catalog number: imprec104
format: cd
release date: August 22, 2006

 

Swamp noise drone. Feedback is layered like mud on the carcass of song structure. Robert uses primitive cassette manipulation as well as digital processing to thicken the sound into a swamp. Think Credence Clearwater Revival without the one chord they knew. On three of the songs, Pete uses his analog reel-to-reel wall-of-sound processing apparatus. Longjaw Mudsuckers was inspired by a mid-eighties cassette where Merzbow mixed John Hudak’s nature sounds into a screaming mass of sonic debris. Robert recorded a stream after the huge New Year’s Day storm and Pete plugged it into his system, making it sound at times like a stream, an ocean, and robots whispering mechanical secrets.
This CD contains some of the first recordings of Tom Carter’s circuit bending. Individual attributes of Gabe Mindel’s guitar roar, Tom Carter’s ebow laptop whirl, and Horton’s clanky homemades merge into the mud stew. Driving the swirl are samples of boogie woogie piano, riffs from the session, and pounding drums of guests Michael Donnelly and Doug “Moonshine” Jin. The last number, SWEET, conjures the bar room sound of Kansas City, 1920, but recorded inside a thermonuclear reactor. The sounds created are so raw and tormented it’s hard to believe they were having a good time. Must have something to do with the times, the war and the general vacuity of that season’s holidays.

How did these recordings happen? During the torrential rains of December 2005, caused by global warming, Robert Horton invited Tom Carter, Gabe and Pete of the Yellow Swans, and Glenn Donaldson up the hill to his home in El Cerrito for food, drink, and music-making. As it turned out, Pete and Glenn couldn’t make it, so Gabe, Tom, and Robert vibrated the peaceful El Cerrito neighborhood to mud. We had beer, wine and much feedback. The turbulence of the sounds matched the late December weather. The following week when Pete came over to overdub his sounds, Robert had found an article on mudsuckers in the Berkeley Daily Planet. The headline was “Mudsuckers may be ugly, but they have value.” A band was born.

A mudsucker is a fish that’s mostly a mouth, which spends its whole life on one patch of mudflat. Scientists use these fish to monitor carcinogens, endocrine disrupters, and other toxic chemicals in coastal waters. The group’s name as well as some of the song titles were taken from this article. The second song, Here Come the Mud Dragons was a phrase spoken by three kids splashing in the mud in a local park. Another song Electric Sunflower, was named by Glenn Donaldson in an email explaining why he couldn’t be at the session.

 

 

 

 

artist: Grails
title: Black Tar Prophecies Vol 1,2,3
catalog number: imprec105
format: cd
release date: August 22, 2006

Important is proud to release The Black Tar Prophecies in it's complete form including two tracks not available on the limited edition European vinyl only releases.

At the start of 2005 Grails returned to the US from a month long European tour. Stepping off the plane most of the band walked in one direction and the violinist strayed off in another. It ended up being the last time most anyone would see or talk to him. A bandmate of 3 records and 5 years had vanished only to exist in the form of vague rumors (violin hocked for petty cash, living on the streets, etc). As the varied reports of brief encounters and sightings grew stranger and darker, the band started a series of recordings called Black Tar Prophecies. The remaining members had particular dissatisfactions with how the band had been grouped into the innocuous contemporary 'post-rock' movement. This frustration, combined with newly liberated instrumental roles, introduced new possibilities for the band's sound. In this way the collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor 60's and 70's experimental artists that saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become.
A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music.Grails third full length recording, and first full length since leaving Neurosis' label Neurot, is The Black Tar Prophecies. Seven of these nine tracks from this full length were released in small highly sought after pressings of 12” vinyl on two European labels.
.
The Black Tar Prophecies is a massive evoltionary step in the established Grails sound and it is shrouded in change and pain. The somewhat clinical studio sound and recording style which has established them a tremendous following has been replaced with a much more free and conceptual recording style. This method liberated the group in the studio and these recordings feel much more open, heavy and for lack of a better term “psychadelic.” We're not talking about the cliché co-opted psychadelic fashion, but psychadelia as a reckless embrace of new states of mind and possibilities. This sound has always existed within a Grails song but now it's been heavilly pushed to the foreground. Perhaps even more elloquently and simply stated, Black Tar Prophecies 1-3 is their best record yet.

 

 

 

 

 

artist: Merzbow
title: Minazow Volume Two
catalog number: imprec107
format: LP
release date: August 22, 2006

Not to be confused with Merzbow's recent cd release on Important titled Minazow Vol 1, this is Minazow Volume 2 featuring new tracks dedicated to the memory of the mighty Minazow. This release is on vinyl only, housed in a deluxe heavy duty textured tip-on gatefold sleeve and pressed on green vinyl. Limited edition of 1000.

Minazow Vol 2 is Merzbow's tribute to the beloved male elephant seal who lived life in captivity at a Tokyo aquarium. Masami Akita often visited the seal at the aquarium and was allowed to access Minazo behind the scenes.


Minazo, an Elephant seal, died at 5:15 pm on October 4, 2005. He was 11
years old, still young for an elephant seal whose life expectancy is 20
years on average. Whatever the cause of death, I feel sad and angry
each time I hear about animals dying in captivity far away from their
natural habitat.
Minazo was raised at the Enoshima Aquarium in Kanagawa Prefecture. With a
strong build, 5 meters in height and 2 tons in weight, he was the only
male elephant seal in Japan.
Director Yukiko Hori said in her book "The Story of An Aquarium"
(published by Iwanami Shoten) that Minazo was brought to Japan from
Uruguay in 1995. His name, which consists of three kanji characters
meaning "beautiful", "male", and "elephant", was chosen from 1,500
public suggestions.
The aquarium had raised male and female elephant seals called Daikichi
and Omiya, who had been brought from the Antarctic island of South
Georgia in 1964. After they died in 1977 and 1979, specimens were made
using their skins, which are currently displayed at the aqarium. Hori
said that the previous experience with the two seals was of help in
raising Minazo.
Minazo became popular through TV appearances. He was once introduced on
a variety show as a look-alike for wrestler Bob Sapp, an insult to Minazo.
Elephant seals have far greater strength than humans, and can even crush a car
when they get really mad. Bob would have been beaten in a second.
Minazo was forced to perform various stunts before audience at each
mealtime, such as holding a bucket with one flipper, bending back like
a prawn, and standing still while a keeper jumped and clung on him. The
hard work made him exhausted and might have caused his early death.
Many of the aquariums in Japan have become mere amusement
establishments. If their mission includes breeding and
protecting endangered animals, they must continue feeding the
animals in captivity responsibly. I, however, believe that
they should eventually end the exhibition of animals in the name of
academic research, and instead start functioning as animal shelters only.
- Masami Akita, Tokyo 2006

artist: Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh
title: A Rock In The Snow
catalog number: imprec095
format: cd
release date: July 25, 2006

 

Together Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty have re-written the concept of modern free-jazz with their post-hardcore punk style approach of euphoric togetherness. Ferocious, spontaneous, explosive and aggressively lyric they've established their groundbreaking duo with loads of shows and a host of tremendous recordings.

When tales of C. Spencer Yeh's Burning Star Core project reached Corsano/Flaherty the duo were eager to see him jam. Fortunately, fate brought them together at the DeStijl/Freedom From festival where Corsano/Flaherty were playing in the Dream/Aktion Unit (with Thurston Moore) and Yeh was there with Burning Star Core. His performance caught the Corsano/Flaherty duo on fire and Yeh's temperature was raised (literally) when he suddenly came down with the flu following his show. Fortunately for Yeh, Flaherty packed him in ice down in the festival hall basement and a solid relationship was forged.
Lives were saved. Jams ensued. The power trio of Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh was formed.
Liner notes by John Olson aka Johnny Coors.

 

various artists: IMPREC100
title: A Users Guide To The First 100 Important Records Releases
catalog number: imprec100
format: cd

Celebrating the first 100 records on Important is IMPREC100. This a free sampler containing tracks from Anoice, Ocean, Citay, James Blackshaw, Diane Cluck, The Dresden Dolls, Barbez, Muslimgauze, Beequeen, Larsen, XXL and many more. While all tracks have been previously released, The Dresden Dolls and Ocean tracks were both exclusive to very limited edition vinyl releases and have not been issued on cd until now.

artist: Boris
title: Vein
catalog number: imprec100
format: Picture disc lp
release date: sometime between now and Aug 22, 2006.

Japan's Boris has chosen to follow Pink (Southern Lord) with this deluxe vinyl only offering. Vein is a completely transparent picture disc lp with a border image on the outter perimeter of the vinyl which is actually screen printed on the clear mylar "picture". The grooves begin within the image and this record is housed in a transparent picture disc jacket affixed with two custom cut stickers.

Japan's highest ranked ampgods Boris have created Vein; an exploding singular monolith rooted firmly in all of Boris' sounds. Opening hard and heavy with more guitar feedback than you'd think a thick chunk of vinyl could hold they proceed to plunder the Boris audio-vaults bringing out and incorporating all of the elements that make Boris. Vein has massive methodical low end guitar drone, explosive thrash metal, sound samples and plenty of feedback to go around. Bow down fellow worshipers and let this thick chunk of sound explode around you. This record is so heavy you're going to blow your speakers just thinking about listening to it.

release date: 5 September 2006 on Staubgold

Limited first edition in 5-colours digipak with spot-plastification !


"Space", the new album by Rafael Toral, marks a radical change in his music after 15+ years of accomplished work on guitar and electronics.

"The future perspectives of my former approach to music were threatening to become a comfortable, formulaic 'modus operandi'. It would be against my nature to accept such a development, so I serenely decided to terminate it."

It took him three years to find his way into a complete renovation of his music: "For a new endeavor I needed new information, and I discovered that the field of knowledge in music that I had most to learn from was jazz. There is a long line of connections and fusions between jazz and electronic music, and I envisioned that a step beyond would not be more jazz with electronics, but on electronics." It may sound exaggerated, but this sounds like the blueprint for a new approach to both jazz and electronics with a single stroke.

In his emerging new conception of electronic music, Toral looks to the value of human performance while sharing values from jazz culture. His playing is "articulated with a kind of individual decision, a sense of phrasing and a sensibility to rhythm and form that have little in common with the types of electronic music we know". Quoting Sei Miguel, he says it's "not composed, not improvised, and not a compromise between the two".

In recent years, Rafael Toral has been developing and performing solo concerts on his instruments (modified or custom-built electronic
devices) in a field of work he calls the "Space program". He slowly merged hours of live and studio recordings into "Space" (the program's first release), which is no less than a full orchestra of such instruments. The result suggests that the expression "space-jazz" was invented before the music it would describe best.

The "Space program" is a vast and ambitious undertaking, featuring two parallel series of record releases: "Space Elements" - centering each volume on a certain instrument, while adding few others and featuring collaborations; and the "Solo Series" - documenting solo performance on various instruments. The album "Space" belongs to none of the series. It is the "Space program's" fundamental release.

Rafael Toral was considered in the 1990s "one of the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the decade" (Chicago Reader). He has collaborated with Jim O'Rourke, John Zorn, Alvin Lucier, Evan Parker, David Toop, Sonic Youth, Fennesz and many others, having played across Europe and the US, Canada and Japan. He's a member of the electronic orchestra MIMEO, alongside Keith Rowe and Peter Rehberg, and continues his long-term work with Sei Miguel.


track listing:

01. Space I
02. Space IIa, IIb, IIc, IId
03. Space III

 

posted by Forced Exposure

artist:  Jessica Bailiff  
title:   Feels Like Home
catalog #:  krank097
formats available:  CD   
CD UPC Code: 7 96441 80972 1
Release Date:  July 10,2006

Content: Feels Like Home balances the more accoustic approach to Jessica’s songwriting on her most recent (untitled) album with the blissed electricity found on her earlier material. Gossamer vocals hover over delicate melodies, accented by tasteful bits of percussion, piano filigrees, and sundry guitar sounds. Feels Like Home is the most refined example of Jessica Bailiff’s musical vision to date.



Context: It’s the first full length of solo material from Jessica in 4 years but she’s been doing anything but taking a break. Check her fruitful collaborations with Dave Pearce (as Clear Horizon), Rachel Goldstar (as Eau Claire), and Jesse Edwards (as Northern Song Dynasty), as well as a featured appearance on Odd Nosdam’s latest album where she made vocal and instrumental contributions.
 
Press for some Jessica’s past work:

“Jessica combines folk accoustic guitar, droning guitars, and overarching vocals to create a lush, mysterious world reminiscent of a place between the songwriting of Nick Drake and the spirit of so-called sonic experimentalists like Kevin Shields and Sonic Boom”-Dusted

“Finally, a female singer that can be sweet and pretty without being sugary and grotesquely sincere. Jessica Bailiff sings floaty trip-out songs so slow that you’ll have to check your pulse. But after you discover that, yes, you are alive, you’ll be really happy to be listening’ – Portland Mercury

“This is pure mood music...but whatever that mood is, it’s impossible to nail down in one adjective.” -Independent Journal

 “Bailiff’s records are syrup-thick with dizzying fx collisions. Tracks bob and float on tides of ever-receding tonal howl, while the sweet precision of her vocals hangs deep and latern-like” – The Wire


Track Listing: 1. What’s Inside Your Mind? 2. We Were Once 3. Lakeside Blues 4. Brother La 5. Persuasion 6. Cinq 7. Spiral Dream 8. Evidence 9. Pressing 10. If We Could 11. With You

Available now: Limited edition of 1000 in a deluxe 12 panel fold out jacket designed by Andrew McKenzie of The Hafler Trio. Beautiful collaborative release from these three artists. Was intended to be a tour only item though the tour was, unfortunatetly, cancelled.

As many of you know, all of Japan loved Minazo the male Elephant seal who died in captivity in Japan this year. Masami Akita (Merzbow) was very close with this seal and this is the first volume in his two part tribute. The 2nd volume will be a vinyl only limited edition of 1000 available in a couple months. Minazo shirts are available on the apparel page of our site.

Two non-profits, 17 artists, 350 species of underwater animals and one record label brings you The Belly Of The Whale. This collection of tracks features a diverse group of artists like Merzbow, David Rothenberg, Kim Cascone, Scanner, Jayne Fenton Keane and many more using sound samples of underwater creatures to create new digital music. We've got lots of MP3 for you to check out on our site. Belly Of The Whale shirts are available on the apparel page of our site.

 

Mute are pleased to announce the release of the long-awaited Fad Gadget by
Frank Tovey project on 11th September 2006.

The 2 DVD and 2 CD package features a specially made documentary covering
Tovey's life and career up to his untimely death in 2002.

It will also include rare and unreleased tracks and live footage of
legendary performances, as well as classic songs recorded under both his own
name and his alter ego Fad Gadget.

This release has been put together by Frank's family in conjunction with
Mute, utilising the Mute and family archives.

Full details of the tracklistings for this package along with sound and
visual clips will be available in the coming months.

www.fadgadget.co.uk
www.franktovey.de

While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut's first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year-old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon, with assistance by Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw). Horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions (no guitars on this album!) all build and break the melodies under Condon's deep-voiced crooner vocals, swaying to the Eastern European beats like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel.

You may have already heard Roots Tonic.  In fact, you may love Roots Tonic and not even know it.  Roots Tonic is Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu's band.  Matisyahu's star has risen dramatically in this past year, culminating in the recent release of Youth on Sony/Epic (currently #4 on Billboard's Top 200) and the certification of Live at Stubbs as a Gold Record.  One cannot underestimate the importance of Roots Tonic to Matisyahu's success.  Roots Tonic bassist Josh Werner co-writes many of Matisyahu's songs, and Roots Tonic brings those songs to stage, to record and to life, making them pop with the drama and dynamics you'll hear on this album.

It is no coincidence that world class bassist and producer Bill Laswell is involved in this project.  For one, it is Laswell who produced Matisyahu's Youth.  Laswell, the world music genre-fusing genius, has worked with so many notable artists: Mick Jagger, Afrika Bambaataa, Yoko Ono, Brian Eno, Fela Kuti, John Zorn, Peter Gabriel, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Motorhead, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sly & Robbie, Swans, Last Poets, and has remixed the work of Santana, Bob Marley & Miles Davis.  As one writer puts it, "Bill Laswell is god.  Can you prove he's not?"  He is a true maverick and a perfect match for Roots Tonic and Matisyahu's blend of reggae, hip hop, soul and traditional Jewish music.  Their chemistry was so perfect, in fact, that after the Youth sessions were completed, Laswell invited Roots Tonic back to his Orange Studios to record this album, Roots Tonic Meets Bill Laswell, which is NOT to be confused with the dub version of Matisyahu's Youth.  

With no Matisyahu, Roots Tonic was forced to stand and deliver on an album without vocals or lyrics on which to rely.  Deliver they did.  With Laswell serving as studio lion Lee "Scratch" Perry to Roots Tonic's Aggravators, Josh, Jonah and Aaron have created a living, breathing disc of instrumental reggae, as funky as, say, the classic "Macka Dub" by the Barrett Brothers (Aston "Family Man" Barrett & Carlton Barrett, The Wailers' rhythm section).  The grooves are so loose and lively you can tell they were having a blast recording.  At the mixing board, Laswell economically weaves in everything from synth stabs to phone touch tones to unrecognizable sound splatters.  He stays out of the way of the bass, and heaps echo on the drums and guitar, allowing the high end to spiral out from the music.  

Dub as a genre always seems to be making a comeback.  Its influence is consistently heard in other forms of music from Radiohead to Missy Elliot.  But, judging by the surge of interest in and activity by bands like Heavyweight Dub Champion, Goathead, Dub Nomads, LA's Future Pigeon, to the reunited Systemwide, to Roots Tonic labelmates Dub Trio, Dr Israel and 10 Ft Ganja Plant, American Dub is currently very fertile musical ground.  This spring, expect Roots Tonic's popularity to bloom with the release of this album, plus live Matisyahu and solo dates.  There is even talk of Roots Tonic opening for Matisyahu.  

Roots Tonic:      Josh Werner - Bass & Keyboards,    Aaron Dugan - Guitar & Sounds,
Jonah David - Drums & Percussion

Produced by Bill Laswell at Orange Music Sound Studios, West Orange, NJ

Dub Trio is one of the few bands that can open for Mike Patton (featured on this record), reggae legends The Wailers, hip-hop MC Beans, electro-pioneers Meat Beat Manifesto, firebrand Capleton, jazz-funkers Soulive, and electronica maestro Prefuse 73 (all of which they did in 2005).  And to flame that fire Dub Trio will be embarking on a 10 date tour w/ Polish punk rockers Gogol Bordello starting April 1st.  It speaks volumes about their music's versatility; one minute it's gummy dub, the next it's chest-beating, chug-a-lug metal, shredding punk, and bleeped-out electronic psychedelia.  At its best, Dub Trio's music is simultaneously all these and more.  Their sophomore album, aptly-titled NEW HEAVY, is undoubtedly a rock record that retains enough dubby elements to save the boys a name-change:

Dub is the foundation. It's in everything we do, whether it's the structure, the effects,
or the bass line.  It's what all other elements are based on.  You hear that
even on the heaviest parts of the new record. - Joe Tomino, drummer

New Heavy is indeed heavy, and hard. It references Metallica more than Marley, and features the one and only MIKE PATTON (Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantomas) on "Not Alone," which Billboard Magazine describes as "an old school Faith No More-style rocker." A re-mix of this track by Mike Patton as "Peeping Tom" will soon be released on Mike's own Ipecac Recordings later this year.

How did this collaboration come about?  Simple.  Mike Patton heard Dub Trio's music.  Yep, that's all it took.  No mutual friends, no money, no label pressure, just a few rough mixes from the New Heavy sessions and Patton knew they were on to something:

Dub Trio are very talented musicians that cover many different genres in each
piece they play. They are doing something that very few artists are doing today,
and doing it their own way. - Mike Patton

Their versatility and singularity have as much to do with musical acumen as with the communication between each member's unique personality:

We have our own musical language.  We communicate with each other through
our instruments, eye contact, energy.  That's why no two live shows are the same,
no two performances of a song.  That's also why it's as important to see us as it is to hear us,
because you can see that interaction on stage. - Stu Brooks, bassist

THE PLAYERS:
Joe, Stu and Dave not only bring individual talents and personalities to Dub Trio but also a unique set of professional experience, having worked with 18 Cent, Common, Mary J. Blige, Mos Def and Mobb Deep.  Joe currently drums with the recently reunited Fugees.  Stu continues to work with G-Unit & 18 Cent (he dropped the massive bass line on this summer's hit "So Seductive (feat. 18 Cent)" by Tony Yayo).  And Dave, along with his brother, started the punk/emo band Like Yesterday with Matt Rubano, the bassist for Taking Back Sunday (who Like Yesterday tours with frequently).  And perhaps all this crept into Dub Trio's sound, which is undoubtedly more aggressive and bigger than before.  They are poised for a large impact, and this album will put them there.  

In Joe Tomino's hands, the drums function as an entire section, rather than as one instrument.  You will hear this section transform over the course of a song; the pulse never wavering but morphing from drum machine-esque sounds, to a big rock assault, to spaced out dub rhythms, echoes spiraling from his kit.  In other words, Joe is a madman on drums--the Muppet's Animal in human flesh--guiding much of the band's energy and intensity.  

Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves is the Legendary Pink Dots' 25th anniversary album (and in the running for best album title ever).  It's hard to believe a quarter century has passed since the Pink Dots first unearthed their complex vision where fate and whimsy cast stones at each other on some hazy, polluted playground.  LPD's unusual legacy of psychedelia, industrial gloom, and textural madness has made them a constant presence on the innovative fringes of cult music, and has earned them near-universal respect from critics and peers.  It was this legacy that shaped much of the album:
The actual theme of "legacy", "the consequence of past and present action on the future", has consciously informed much of
this release.  In some ways, it's been a central-core-theme of all our songwriting these last 25 years. - Phil 'The Silverman' Knight
Twenty-five years later, the Dots have hardly paused for a breath.  Edward Ka-Spel, The Silverman and company (Niels Van Hoornblower, Raymond Steeg & returning member Martijn de Kleer), still make boundlessly weird, beautifully disturbing music.
This is an album about mortality & immortality, about time ticking away mercilessly, about seizing the moment and damning the consequences.  Your victims are lining up on both sides of the corridor, unborn yet forgiving.  We are all pitifully human and we all want to take everything with us at the end, but there is no end...just a darkening endless horizon...
 - Edward Ka-Spel

In addition to the 25th anniversary album, the Dots will embark on a massive North American tour this June to celebrate this landmark occasion.  Then they'll disappear into the ether...until their next haunting.
TRACKLIST:  1) Count On Me, 2) No Matter What You Do, 3) Stigmata (Part 4), 4) Feathers At Dawn,
5) Please Don't Get Me Wrong, 6) Peace Of Mind, 7) The Island Of Our Dreams, 8) Bad Hair,
9) The Made Man's Manifesto, 10) A Silver Thread, 11) Your Number Is Up
PREVIOUS RELEASES ON ROIR: The Whispering Wall (cd - cat#RUSCD 8286)
      All the King's Men (cd/lp - cat#RUSCD/LP 8278)
      Under Triple Moons (cd - cat#RUSCD 8231)
 

PRESS QUOTES:
"Since 1980, LPD have created some of the most enigmatic and challenging compositions in modern music. The uniqueness of their work is due in large part to its omnivorous ability to consume and transform a variety of styles into a new, cohesive entity. The introverted folk of Nick Drake may be found here, as well as the graphic cyberpunk nightmares of Frank Tovey (Fad Gadget), not to mention the rhythmic permutations of Philip Glass. From Beefheart to Brahms, the sources of LPD's quicksilver soundscapes are myriad. What holds them all together is Ka-Spel's dense lyricism and grim obsessions." - ROLLING STONE

"Proceeding out of a hodgepodge of gloomy/fringey/hippie antecedents -- Joy Division, Syd Barrett, Faust, etc. -- but adding a classical sensibility, involuted mythology, found-sound sampling weirdness, plus all sorts of stylistic cross-mingling and experimentation, Edward Ka- Spel (vocals, lyrics, keyboards), Phil Knights (aka The Silver Man; keyboards) and a shifting collection of associates have turned the Legendary Pink Dots into an open-ended adventure. Although certainly prone to enigmatic risk-taking, the enormously resourceful LPD is a mellifluous and dynamically restrained proposition: this is one dip into the rock netherworld that won't send you running for cover. The lyrics, however -- a disturbing onslaught of doom, violence and apocalypse -- are a different story." - TROUSER PRESS

Debut album by a new supergroup consisting of Robin Storey (Rapoon),
Mark Spybey (Dead Voices on Air) and Andy Eardley (Delayer), all three
ex-members of Zoviet France. The sound is like a digital modern version
of ZF cmposed and played by three living legends of experimental music.
Prices: EUR 14,- per copy excl. VAT and shipping.
Wholesale please ask.

This record, originally released in 1981 on Sterile Records, is
probably the NE´s heaviest and noisiest album ever. It has never before
been re-issued on compact disc and comes with the original artwork. The
sound was carefully remastered by Nigel Ayers in 2006 and stays close
to the original analogue recording. A very limited edition of only 300
copies, so please order soon to avoid disappointment.
Prices: EUR 14,- per copy excl. VAT and shipping.
Wholesale please ask.

After nearly two years of work the cinematically transcendent debut full
length from Anoice is finally available. Anoice is the first group on
Important to be signed off of a demo. In fact, this album is essentially
that very demo with few studio touch ups and a mastering job courtesy of
Jeff Lipton @ Peerless Audio in Boston (Magnetic Fields/Flaming Lips).
Lots more information can be found on the Important website including
photos/mp3's etc. And in case you're interested in writing this up you'll
find some more info below.

Thanks!
John & Important

Let's get this straight immediately. Anoice is not another instumental
group with strong rock tendencies and an armchair association with
classical music. Unlike numerous contemporaries which they will
undoubtedly be compared to, their goal is not to follow the trends and
make the soft/loud/soft/loud juxtapositions in every song, but to
carefully craft each song with a strong attention to melody, solid
accompaniment, and courteous counterpoint. One of the remarkable
qualities of Anoice is that they truly work as a group, with members who
aren't afraid to remain quiet while others play. Through meticulous
composition Anoice has achieved an unrivaled quality.
While the band isn't intentionally attempting to be cinematic, the
recordings achieve something breathtaking and emotive: imagine the
Rachel's scoring a film by Ang Lee. Anoice's music is anthemic and rich
while being introspective and personal. Each track is preceeded by brief
and dense ambient tracks to clense the audio palate much like ginger in
your sushi boat.

Anoice are a six-piece group based in Tokyo. The band was formed
in January, 2004 by members Ricco (guitar/keyboards) and Taku
(guitars and mandolin), who were soon joined by Yuki (piano), Utaka (viola), Matsu
(bass), and Yossy (drums).While each member cites different musical
influences, it's fairly evenly split between rock (think My Bloody
Valentine meets King Crimson), classical and modern composers (Perhaps
Debussy and Shostakovitch writing together after drinking heavily from
Phillip Glass), jazz and electronic ( Autechre meets Mum maybe?).
Combining all of these influences with their obvious Japanese heritage
Anoice has created an album with an emotional arc, climaxing
magnificently as it ends and leaves the listener determined to press play
once again.
Pronounced "a noyce," the name comes from the Celtic word for "now"
(Anois). Remmings is their debut release and contains four named songs
and five unnamed songs. Cover art by Non Format. Mastering by Jeff Lipton
(Flaming Lips, Magnetic Fields)

"With guitars, bass, viola, keyboards and drums, the six Anoice succeed to
create incredible atmospheres between Sigur Ros, Arvo part and Rachel's."
Rockerilla (Italy)

“Even when all of them are going at it hammer and tongs they act more like an
orchestra with each player adding their own element to the melody. Anoice hit
all the blissful and joyous emotions and only rarely dip into melancholy like
most bands of the same ilk. “ Brainwashed

"Anoice have produced something entirely different and original, a mature record
of great beauty and attention to detail that rises above any clichés and should by
all accounts establish them as one of the leading artists today. "
Rockarolla (UK)

"Anoice Remmings (Important) This Tokyo-based sextet make some really sublime
instrumental music. Monumental and subtly nuanced; they all allow plenty of room
for each other. Mixing guitars, programming, viola, bass, piano, drums, mandolin,
and synthesizer, into the nine varied sonic excursions presented here. Mesmerizing
soundtracks to nonexistant films that bloom in the center of your mind. Ranging from
very small and soft spoken, to toweringly grand and vast. Some pieces have the feel
of chamber music renditions of Mogwai or Spacemen 3 songs; others feel like an
accurate aural description of loneliness."
Dream Magazine

"I was sold this record on the promise that Anoice are “like Rachel’s…but they rock…”
But isn’t that Godspeed? Well, no because whereas Godspeed dangle you worringly
over a cliff for the duration of an album, Anoice frequently drop you, pick you up again
and occasionally even make you float. What’s more, there’s often more of a rhythmic
framework here. The bass isn’t afraid to groove, the drums do ‘Bolero’ behind the
cascades of passionate viola and hammered piano. Anoice, in fact, are as adept at
approaching the rock/classical thing from the rock end as the classical end, which gives
them more than one string to their bow and potentially makes for some celestial live performances.
In places, they sound like an instrumental Arcade Fire. In others – particularly the incredibly
beautiful tracks 5 - 8 – they sound as good as any living film composer worth his salt.
If track 6 (Liange) doesn’t astound you, you are a glacier.
There’s a readymade market for evocative, anthemic, cinematic stuff like this, of course, be
it on the bill of All Tomorrow’s Parties or soundtracking some intense French film noir,
with Emanuelle Beart running down the steps of la Basilique du Sacre Coeur in torrential
rain. Even so, Anoice have that something special that could elevate them even beyond that.
This is not a group, as such. These people are modern composers. "
Glen Johnson - Piano Magic