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Here's the warts n' all lo-fi CD-R demo era that in 2001 (!) laid the blueprint for Skygreen's ongoing non-career. Recorded fast & often improvised, these are sincere attempts by crude musicians in love with the TVP's, ESP-Disk, tambourines & Kenneth Patchen drawings.
Hope you can find something to enjoy in it.
The Skygreen Leopards Love You etc etc
tracks 1-20 are on the LP, 21-24 are digital bonus tracks
credits
most everything by Donovan Quinn & Glenn Donaldson
Jennifer Modenessi sang on some songs too.
recorded 2001 in San Francisco on Tascam 388 on Radio Shack brand 1/4" reels.
mastered by Sean McCann
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Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is the latest edition from Tokyo based artist Toshimaru Nakamura.
The No-Input Mixing Board is a unique instrument pioneered by Nakamura. As its name suggests, it is a mixing console within which external no input exists. The instrument is fueled only by its own feedback. Initially used by Nakamura as a more tonal instrument, creating incredibly high frequency outputs, over time the mixing board has become decided more rhythmic and harmonic. It is this sonic territory that is the focus of this edition.
Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is by far one of Nakamura's most musical recordings. The board’s tonality is front and center; low pulses and cavernous pulses fizzle and murmur with a subtle but frenetic energy. Drifting into decidedly dub oriented directions, Nakamura allows the instrument to breathe; specifically he finds new dimensions to the ways interference can be brought into harmony within the pieces. While the instrument might suggest a sense of indeterminacy, Nakamura’s intimate relationship with it means he can maintain an unerring sense of control over it.
Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is evidence of his intense capacity to create profound work with this most unusual of devices. A conjuring of something truly unique from literally nothing.
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This Mortal Coil Reissues
Deluxe LP & CD Reissues Released 26th October PRE-ORDER FROM 4AD here
This Mortal Coil was the given name of a strictly-studio project conceived and produced by 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell that spawned three albums - It'll End In Tears (1984), Filigree & Shadow (1986), Blood (1991).
Over the span of eight years he, along with Blackwing Studios house engineer/ co-producer, John Fryer, and a rotating cast of musicians, created original works, musical links and reinterpretations of impeccably curated songs; introducing a new audience to the talents of a previous generation including Big Star, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Spirit, Gene Clark, Dino Valenti, Rain Parade, Emmylou Harris, Syd Barrett and Colin Newman, amongst others.
The new deluxe vinyl versions differ from the original releases with each album having had its artwork reimagined by Ivo Watts-Russell and Vaughan Oliver (4AD’s long-time visual partner). All three are now presented in beautiful, hand finished and high-gloss gatefold sleeves, using remastered audio made from the original analogue studio tapes by the late, great John Dent.
The deluxe CD editions are being manufactured by the Ichikudo company in Japan, coming packaged in striking gatefold paper sleeves which are printed to the highest standard. Originally made available as part of a highly limited boxset back in 2011, these new versions differ by being UHQCDs (Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc) rather than HDCDs (High Definition Compatible Digital).
∞ You can pre-order via 4AD here ∞
You can watch an album trailer below, and find all further details on the releases here.
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For this third release on Dais, Drew McDowall reaches into concept, ritual, and immersion, in an exercise of unravelling the DNA of hallucination. The Third Helix is McDowall’s product of deconstructive exploration, twisting the fibers of being into new structure, shape, pattern, and pulse, without reconstituting its inscribed template.
The result is a true "third act," in McDowall’s career, that has seen him peregrinate from the late-’70s art-punk of the trio Poems to his work with Psychic TV and Coil throughout the '80s and '90s, into his current home of New York City, where he has composed with CSD, Compound Eye, as well his solo work. That triangulation is central to The Third Helix, as it begins with his dive into the existence of a sensory toolkit unique to McDowall before twisting faculties and reconfiguring consciousness by honoring inherent power, cognizant of memory yet agnostic of context.
With the tenet that journey is rarely linear, but rather an omnipresent oscillation of matter, sound is stripped to salient and primal, propelled by McDowall’s boring into the core of memory and impulse, suturing together the silent awareness of excogitating experience.
Featuring eight new tracks of McDowall’s dark, experimental electronics, including the opener "Rhizome," The Third Helix is a churning descent into emotion, provoking thought and reflection while carving out haunting space only to fill it with baffling and wondrous structures of layered sound. McDowall solidifies himself as an architect who transforms otherworldly materials into something fascinating and challenging in the process.
Unnerving, trancelike anthems for nervous meditation and anxious relaxation. Fans of Coil will immediately connect and immerse, while the complex compositions are a welcome listen for drone and ambient enthusiasts.
The Third Helix is released September 21, 2018 on digital and standard black vinyl LP, as well as limited edition clear vinyl (100 copies), translucent red vinyl (400 copies) and translucent amber (500 copies). Packaged within a thick sturdy matte sleeve jacket featuring artwork/design by artist J.S. Aurelius (Ascetic House/Marshstepper).
More information can be found here.
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Every couple years or so, a new Glenn Jones album modestly enters the world, unveiling a fresh batch of warm and lovely American Primitive-inspired guitar works. Appropriately, The Giant Who Ate Himself is a reference to Jones' longtime friend and mentor John Fahey, who certainly casts a formidable shadow over much of the more compelling acoustic guitar music in his wake. More than anyone else, however, Jones seems like the underappreciated (yet considerably less hostile) spiritual heir to Fahey’s throne, though Jones is far more of A Comparatively Well-Adjusted Artist Who Reliably Releases Good Albums. Of course, the American Primitive aesthetic quickly became much larger than Fahey himself and it is all too easy to fall into the trap of legend worship–there is a much larger tradition of great and visionary American acoustic guitarists that continues to thrive and it would be more accurate to simply state that Jones is one of its unbending pillars. Trends come and trends go, but Glenn Jones remains a timeless, distinctive, and consistently delightful presence through it all.
I have always found it incredibly difficult to articulate what separates a great acoustic guitar composer from a merely technically gifted one, particularly when their aesthetic is an extremely traditionalist one.For the most part, The Giant Who Ate Himself falls into that category, as there is little that Jones does that someone could not have done sixty years ago if they had ingested a healthy enough diet of country blues.The difference between great and good in that milieu largely lies entirely in abstract concepts like soulfulness and a host of small intuitive decisions that cumulatively amount to something truly significant.On a great acoustic guitar album, songs do not overstay their welcome, the pacing never feels sluggish, the melodies are strong and lyrical, there is depth beyond the central melody, there is a lightness of touch, and a song's essence is never muddied or obscured by clutter or needless flourishes of virtuosity.Jones' work eternally ticks all of those boxes for me, but he also manages to occasionally evoke a poignant scene or memory.Characteristically, a number of these pieces have actual stories behind them: "From Frederick to Fredericksburg," for example, was inspired by a road trip with Jack Rose, while "A Different Kind of Christmas Carol" has an amusing backstory involving a young audience member who did NOT share Jones' curmudgeonly opinion of the holiday.
Such tales certainly provide some wonderful added depth and color to Jones’ live performances, but he also achieves the deeper and more impressive feat of making these pieces *feel* like impressionistic stories whether I know what inspired them or not.Conceptual art aside, a relatively sensitive and intelligent listener should not have to read the liner notes or a press release to understand what makes a piece of music intriguing.For example, I have absolutely no idea what Jones was thinking about when he composed "The Was and The Is" (the merciless passing of time?), but its winding and bittersweetly lovely melody is probably evocative and vivid enough to conjure different images for anyone listening.Aside from that piece, however, there is a curious divide in which the less structured and more spontaneous-sounding pieces feel like the most soulful ones, such as the slow-moving "Even The Snout And The Tail" and the brief and mysterious sound-collage "River in the Sky."Those are not necessarily the best pieces on the album, yet they are the ones that resonate most strongly with me.The other highlights, such as the title piece and "The Last Passenger Pigeon," are a different kind of delight, as their sprightly pace, clear melodies, and tight structures converge to make them feel like fresh classics of the genre destined to become standards.I certainly like those pieces as well, but there is an interesting push-and-pull between pieces that feel like guitar music for other guitarists and pieces that feel like Jones is straining to transcend the perceived limitations of solo acoustic guitar music.
In the context of Jones' existing body of work, there is nothing particularly revelatory that makes The Giant Who Ate Himself tower above any of his other albums as an especially essential release, but that is not something he seems to have any interest in striving for and I genuinely appreciate that unwavering constancy: each new album merely feels like old and familiar friend dropping by to share the latest chapter in the story of his life.There is a deep warmth, humanity, and sensitivity to Jones' best work that is very hard to come by in instrumental music.While I suppose a consistently enjoyable artist releasing another consistently enjoyable album is not exactly headline news, I nevertheless find Jones' passion and unwavering devotion to his anachronistic craft to be quietly heroic.I very much appreciate that he is keeping the torch of the American Primitive and steel-string traditions burning bright.More significantly, however, Jones is clearly striving to build and expand that canon with each new release.It is a slow, steady, and unsexy life's work, yet he has never stopped moving forward and The Giant Who Ate Himself adds another handful of gems to Jones’ steadily growing pile.
 
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Charalambides founders Tom & Christina Carter follow a vision of iconoclastic music as transformative force. Touching on the outer limits of acid folk, psych rock, and improvisation, their sound remains uniquely personal & consistent. Since 1991, Charalambides has released many recordings on labels like Siltbreeze, Kranky & Wholly Other.
Despite Tom and Christina Carter's prolific solo careers and numerous other projects, Charalambides has existed in an unbroken trajectory for over two-and-a-half decades, outlasting the genres that critics and other yardstick-makers have tried to cram them into. Their recent performances and recordings retain the directness and delicate menace that mark their early releases, even as they explore an interlocking musical telepathy honed by years of artistic collaboration.
Aptly tilted Charalambides: Tom and Christina Carter, the newest album from Charalambides furthers the duo's deep psychic understanding of music. Laid down in two sessions with no overdubs, the album entwines their best known approaches into a raw, fragile, wordless and hypnotic whole. It's definitely the duo at their most exquisite.
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UNIVERSAL EYES is the culmination of UNIVERSAL INDIANS and WOLF EYES. UNIVERSAL INDIANS started in Lansing Michigan in the early shadows of the '90s, with Gretchen Gonzales (now Gonzales Davidson), Bryan Ramirez, & Johnny “Inzane” Olson. The trio started as a Jesse Harper cover band and managed to play every single basement that had a power outlet in the tri-county area. After moving to the Detroit area in the late 90’s, Rammer was replaced by Aaron Dilloway, who along with Nathan Young were already in the throes of primitive electronic global domination that is WOLF EYES. The collective quartet played every art space, record store, and club in the Detroit area and together coined the Michigan Progressive Underground audio sprawl. Around the dawn of the 2000’s, Gretchen went full time with the moody & cold stylings of SLUMBER PARTY and after a wild Bowling Green Ohio gig, Olson joined WOLF EYES full time. After some drama that would make even Fleetwood Mac disappear into the shadows of suburbia and toss their EQ into a lonely fire, UNIVERSAL INDIANS appeared to have fate / faded into the packed history book pages of Michigan musical lore.
As age and time seem to dust over wounds while magically healing them, the quartet met again in the northern suburbs of Detroit on a brisk spring Sunday in 2018. They hauled modern and ancient instruments into a home studio and just like that: the dream / nightmare had hot blood pumping thru its’ duct-taped sound body once again, as if the missing years were nothing but a minute hurdle. The kings and queen of noise were reunited.
Four Variations On 'Artificial Society' is the nearly exact document of this unholy reunion captured in full detail by Warren Defever (HIS NAME IS ALIVE). The two record set will be on coke bottle clear and white vinyl presented by Trip Metal Limited label in partnership with Lower Floor, with record speeds to be determined by the listener. UNIVERSAL EYES has been born/reborn in proof that free spirits can always move forward and still be intoxicated by the horrid liquid that is ROCK & FRY. JOIN US.
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