A Long Overdue Update From Archive

Likely due to slow sales and downturn of the economy, Archive CD has been relatively quiet this year for releases. But as long as Scott Slimm doesn't fold up shop, I don't mind the sparse release schedule.

The Goslings return with a collaboration effort. From the Archive website: "Originally released as a 5 track small run collaborative CD between the Goslings and Roxanne Jean Polise recorded in 2004-05. The current resurrection of this release features 4 of the original tracks with an actually proper mastering job from James Plotkin. The backend of the disc features 4 new traxs that were cultivated between the Goslings and Warmth (name change for the mid-west Steev Thompson) between 2007-08."

This release takes them back to their earlier days with more sparse instrumentals mixed in the crushingly dense riffs. Unlike similar groups (*cough* Nadja *cough*), The Goslings keep the quality high on every release.

Almost every batch of releases has an artist I've never heard before and this time it's from Purling Hiss, a project from Birds Of Maya's guitar player. A combination noise rock, garage rock and psych rock make this a joy of a listen. It the type of album that's different from the rest of the Archive catalog yet it fits perfectly. A nice surprise with this one.

From the Archive distro I picked up one of the new Suishou No Fune albums 'Phantom Of The Eternal Night'. It's a full band effort on this one and each of the four 15+ minute songs is a trip.

Long Overdue Update

A new batch of Archive discs arrived earlier in the week. Being the Archive fanatic that I am, I bought the limited edition LP+CD for the Hasegawa & Igler release and the lathe cut 7"+CD for the Zaika release. Some excellent instrumental music from both. Hasegawa & Igler create some noisey, psychedelic-like sounds that go to the verge of harsh noise but they manage to keep it listenable. Zaiaka is the duo of Tom Carter and Marcia Bassett who create some spacey, haunting sounds.

Other new music arriving was the huge double LP, single CD release by Three Lobed of Sunburned Hand Of The Man's 'A Grand Tour Of Tunisia'. The CD is a live set called 'London Zero' that features some Beat-like poetry with sparse instrumentation throughout. The double LP on the other hand is a free folk, psych-tinged adventure. I also picked up the new Mastodon album with the DVD that has a documentary on the making of the album. It's a different sound from them as they were going for a classic progressive rock sound.

From Sub Pop's subscription series, singles from Arthur & Yu, Tyvek and Circle have showed up. I started a new 7" series with Volcom Entertainment and the first edition is a split between Kandi Coded and Valis.

On the gear front, I've added a Agile 2000 guitar to the mix. It's a Gibson Les Paul style guitar with a flamed top. For effects pedals, I've added the Devi Ever Bit and MXR Bass Auto Q Wah to the mix. I built up a Cream Pie boost/overdrive and combined it with a clone of Electro-Harmonix's Mole/Hog's Foot bass boost. I've found it to be a great combination that works very well with my fuzz pedals. I'm also working on an original project that generates different waveforms where you can modulate the amplitude and frequency.

New Releases From ImpRec and Archive

Both Important Records and Archive CD have recently been two of the more consistent labels when it comes to quality releases. In the last month or so, Important has released two albums from Steven Wilson under his Bass Communion banner. The first was a full length CD and the latest is a live collaboration with Pig (who I know nothing about) on vinyl. It's been awhile since they have released a full-length but Conifer also have a new record out that contains some excellent instru-metal with special guest Eugene Robinson of Oxbow contributing vocals on the last track.

Archive has already released two DVDs and with the latest release group have added another four to the discography. The one and only live performance by Khlyst was captured for a short but sweet DVD with more fantastic artwork by Stephen Kasner. Enough footage of Mick Barr, both solo and part of his various duos, was recorded for a double DVD release. Live footage of Suishou No Fune at various shows and jam session at Bardo Pond's Lemur House and a live show from Ai Aso round out the new releases. I also picked up the remaster of Corrupted's long out print CD 'Paso Inferior'.

Out Of Town Arrivals

It's been a long time coming but I finally put in order to VHF Records for some CDs. The newer releases included the softmore album from Stephen O'Malley's project Aethenor and the latest from acoustic drone quartet Pelt (who includes the great acoustic guitar player Jack Rose). The older CDs all come from Pelt's back catalog.

Archive CD has done a first and released two new CDs that come with 7" lathe cut records containing edits of the material featured on the CDs. Both Paul Metzger and Michael Gibbons (as 500mg) have two track albums of instrumental music. The lathe cuts sound fantastic and have a different sound from the CD versions. A successful experiment from Archive.

It always seems when I put in an order to All That's Heavy that soon after they'll stock more releases that I want. So I ordered from them the softmore release from Ten East and Gary Arce's new project called Dark Tooth Encounter. A CD from Oak's Mary was thrown in as a freebie.

Three New Ones From Archive

Arriving yesterday were the latest three new releases from Archive CD.

After releasing the collaboration with Keiji Haino, Sitaar Tah! now have their own Archive release and it's a monster of a track. 40+ minutes of subtle variation with lots of textures from percussion and sitar orchestra. There's even some throat singing added to the mix.

Religious Knives is a name I've been seeing in my search for new music but I never did check them out. So when I heard Archive was doing a live release from them I decided to wait for it to be my introduction to them. Sounded good to me first listen so I'll have to track down more material by them. It's been awhile since I've listened to Double Leopards but I this seems to be a much different project for the duo.

Nadja have (I believe) put out their first live album that features a pair of lengthy tracks from two of their albums from last year. Since it was performed as a duo live, it has a bit more of a stripped-down feel to it.

For distro items I picked up the latest double album from Suishou No Fune and the first pressed CD (to my knowledge) from Silvester Anfang.

Pair Of AMT Albums And New Stuff From SL

Thanks to the Archive CD distro, the latest releases from Acid Mothers Temple have arrived. The first album is under the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. moniker and is a reissue from a vinyl only album back in 2002 with two bonus tracks. The latest from the Cosmic Inferno version of AMT has an album of new material coming in a nice mini gatefold sleeve with a pop-up.

From Southern Lord came the new CD from Earth which has been in the can for awhile now. When I saw them back in July of last year they were done recording and played a bunch of new tracks. I think they upped the ante with this one.

To celebrate Earth's tour with Sir Richard Bishop, both artists have a new "tour only" split 12" album featuring side-length tracks from Richard and Dylan. Also released was a beautiful picture disk version of Earth's 'Hibernaculum' that comes in a heavy cardboard sleeve. It's definitely one of the better sounding picture disks I've heard.

New Releases From Archive and Glass Throat Recordings

Some fantastic looking releases from Archive arrived yesterday in the post. Headlining the bunch is the 2 disc album collaboration between LSD March and Bardo Pond dubbed LSD Pond. The packaging for the release is top notch and includes a booklet for the first time ever for an Archive set. The second new one from Archive is an album from Chinese guitarist Li Jianhong whom I've never heard of before. There was lots of praise for the guy so I also picked up another album by him in the distro. Rounding out the new releases is the latest from Peter Wright. Also picked up from the distro a double live album from LSD March that is limited to 500 copies and comes in a nice heavy stock gatefold-like sleeve with the discs sitting on hubs.

From Glass Throat Recordings comes a double album from The Elemental Chrysalis that was just released on the end of 2007. The double CD comes in the now typical 6"x6" six panel case with the discs on soft hubcaps. After enjoying Ruhr Hunter's 2006 release, I decided to round out the order with the previous two full length Ruhr Hunter CDs.

Massive Week In Review

Not getting anything last week in the mail and the holiday on Monday, several orders arrived between Tuesday and Thursday.

From Archive CD came three surprise releases that to my knowledge weren't know until they went on sale on the website. A reissue of the first UP-TIGHT album along with a couple of bonus tracks, and two collaborations - Astro, Jazkamer, and Hair Stylistics for a long track and Todd Merrell, Aidan Baker and Patrick Jordan for some mellow tracks. From the distro I bought the new Boris with Merzbow live album 'Rock Dream', a reissue of Circle's first album 'Meronia', South Saturn Delta's debut album, and expanded editions of Sunn O)))'s 'Flight Of The Behemoth' and 'The GrimmRobe Demos'.

Coming from Constellation Records was their two releases from Hrsta (featuring members of Godspeed You Black Emperor), one of them a new release and the other I finally got around to picking up.

From Kranky Records came a load of CDs by Charalambides, including their two most recent releases, 'Likeness' on Kranky and 'Electricity Ghost' on Wholly Other that features outtakes from the 'Joy Shapes' sessions.

After not being able to find them in a couple of trips to the record store, I reluctantly put in an order to Souther Lord Records for the latest albums from Orthodox, Wolves In The Throne Room, Oren Ambarchi and Deathspell Omega.

From The Archive Distro

A couple of new discs arrived from the fantastic Archive distro. After releasing a live CD/DVD combo on the Archive label, Kousokuya have released another live album that was recorded a few months before the passing of their guitar player. Just about all the info in the liner notes is in Japanese, so a translation would be helpful.

After reading the review on fakejazz.com, the latest album from Mammal sounded like an interesting release in the world of noise music. So I decided to make an impulse purchase in hopes of it being a good album. Scott from Archive liked and I'll take his word on it.

New Archive CDs, An Order From Aquarius and A Couple Discs Lost In The Shuffle

Slipping through the cracks was a pair of releases by Half Makeshift that arrived earlier in the month. A one-man project, Half Makeshift uses piano and organ as lead instruments to create atmospheric and at times heavy music (such is the case on the 20 Buck Spin release). The other release on the new CD-R label Small Doses maintains the more atmospheric and ambient drone side of Half Makeshift and makes for some excellent background music.

Continuing to try different ways of packaging a CD, Archive has released two new albums that come in vellum overlays with graphics by Chase Middaugh. A three song, single live track from Japan's Suishou No Fune has the group in duo form drenched in echo performing an excellent set that I like much better than their last release. Heavy Winged's second release of the year is more psych-noise jams that go over 10 minutes each. I also picked up the new James Plotkin CD (part of Utech's Arc series) through the distro.

Finally arriving from Aquarius Records is the debut full length CD from San Francisco's Wooden Shjips. The limited edition includes all of their vinyl releases on a second disc which is a great to have a pressed CD of all that material. Their new material is a bit different from the vinyl but I think I'll like it just the same. After enjoying a track with a split with Hush Arbors, I ordered the new album from Voice Of The Seven Woods. Certainly a heavy Six Organs Of Admittance influence apparent on the full length album.

A Pair From Slimm

After releasing three new albums on his Archive label, Scott Slimm has kept the distro stocked with some great releases. Suishou No Fune have put out two fantastic releases and they have a new album out called 'Writhing Underground Flowers'. Three lengthy tracks make up the release that was produced by Bardo Pond's Michael Gibbons. I haven't been able to give this a listen yet.

I do like to buy directly from the label, but Slimm has the new two disc set by Australia's Whitehorse on 20 Buck Spin. I've heard some great things about this band and the previous releases Slimm had in stock sold out very quickly. Now just need to find some time to listen to both of these.

aRCHIVE + SL

The next batch of releases from Archive are out and include a couple of Khanate albums. The first live album (aRCHIVE 13) they did for the label was limited to 500 copies and quickly sold out so Mr. Slimm has reissued it (slightly remastered). The other Khanate album released is a live show they did in Stockholm in 2004. The third release is a live album from Galax who are the duo of Hiroshi Hasagawa and Keichi Miyashita with quest Hiroshi Higashi on a track. Can't wait to hear what this sounds like. For distro items, I picked up the new Destructo Swarmbots' CD.

My order to Southern Lord was for the LP-only release from Burial Chamber Trio (aka Greg Anderson, Oren Ambarchi and Attila Csihar), the latest from Earthride, the reissue of Thorr's Hammer's only album, the reissue of The Obsessed's Incarnate and the new Southern Lord compilation as a freebie.

The stack on my desk is huge, time to get listening.

Tequila Sunrise

Philadelphia's Tequila Sunrise Records has released a pair of LPs that were put out by Scott Slimm's Archive CD label and I couldn't resist getting them. Jack Rose's recent untitled/self-titled and LSD March's 'Empty Rubious Red' both come in heavy stock sleeves on 180 gram vinyl. I like the idea of having select Archive albums released on vinyl. I know Slimm mentioned about doing some vinyl releases, but I think he should continue to do the CD (and his current DVD projects) releases with TS doing the vinyl additions.

While I Was Away

While I was on a weekend trip out of town I received packages from Temporary Residence Ltd and Archive. From Archive I picked up a couple of distro items, the debut CD from Philadelphia "biker doom" band Serpent Throne and the Death Unit full-length disc on Important Records. From TRL came the highly anticipated new album from Grails. 'Black Tar Prophecy Vol. 1, 2 and 3' was a fantastic release so I'm expecting even greater things on their latest. I also picked up a the new EP and CD from Eluvium.

Archive New Releases

Another batch of recordings from Scott Slimm's label has arrived. The lone studio recording this time around is from Alasehir which features members of Bardo Pond (the Gibbons brothers on guitars and Jason on drums) and a guest on electronics on a couple of tracks.

Guitarist Mason Jones, who I've never heard of prior to this release, jams with three different Japanese drummers under the moniker Numinous Eye. I have no clue what this will sound like but the description of "freeform droney psych jams" has me interested.

While Slimm has included 3" discs for several of his releases because of the time limitations of a regular disc, the Death Unit and Prurient double release (it's not a split nor a collaboration) on two 3" CDs is a first for the label.

I also picked up the first Suishou No Fune album from the distro items since I've yet to see it at the record shop.

Archive CDs

It's always a great day when the latest releases from Scott Slimm's Archive Records arrive in the mail. Being mostly a documentation of live shows, both of the new releases are actually studio works. First up is a collaboration between Carlos Giffoni and Lasse Marhaug titled 'Lesbian Brunch'. Second is a release from Aidan Baker under his Nadja moniker titled 'Thaumogenesis'.

I also picked up a couple of distro items he had: Titan's untitled album on Paradigms and a live tour-only CD from acoustic guitarist James Blackshaw titled 'Waking Into Sleep'.