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'.

New 7" Club Releases And A Trade

I'm currently subscribed to two 7" vinyl clubs, one from Volcom Entertainment and one from Sub Pop. Volcom is now on it's fourth volume, a split between Red Fang and Tweak Bird, two bands I know nothing about. Upon first listen I liked the Tweak Bird track a lot and thought Red Fang's contribution was solid. It's always great in a series to hear some good music from bands you've never heard of. Sup Pop's first entry comes from Om, their first recording with new drummer Emil Amos of Grails. I like the new track, especially the b-side dub version. Hopefull this is sign of things to come from Om.

In trade plus money I acquired Earth's "tour only" live CD called Radio Earth that features live versions of songs from the new album plus a previously unreleased track.

Jandek - Ready For The House LP Reissue

Jackpot Records has licensed the first Jandek album, originally called The Units, for reissue on vinyl. The original goes for hundreds of dollars on eBay so the reissue is a huge welcome for someone who has never heard a Jandek album on vinyl. They've done a great job with the release - it sounds and looks great. Apparently on request of Corwood Industries, this is a different version than what was originally released and from the 2005 CD remaster. So the track lengths are different as a result.

I'm curious to see if more of the early Jandek material will get reissued on vinyl in the near future.

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.

Bardo Pond's Batholith

Three Lobed Recordings has unleashed a beast of a new album from Bardo Pond. The material itself is not new but a new batch of recordings that never properly got released. Coming in a beautiful gatefold sleeve on heavy duty 180gram vinyl and a pressed CD, it's another impressive package from TLR. Pre-ordering it also got me a bonus disc with a 13 minute exclusive track.

Since it's more dated material, the tracks on here are a bit shorter and more "song-based" which is a welcome after all the jamming they've done in all their side projects recently (not that I'm complaining). I need some more listens for this one to sink in but after a spin the album flows nice as a whole and there's a good variety. It's been a good month for Three Lobed with this and part 1 of the Oscillation III series.

Last Order From ATH In 2007?

With a good sized stack of CDs on my desk, I'm hoping I received my last order from ATH for 2007. It's been one of the best years of music since probably 2004. The only new release that I need to get from this year is the latest from Burning Saviours. Other than that I can't think of any more new albums on my "to buy" list. Here's the latest haul:

CDs
Suma - Suma
Rosetta - Wake/Lift
Lento - Earthern (Deluxe Edition) - This is the latest piece of artwork from the Malleus' Supernatural Cat label and the best looking and constructed one yet.
Golden Death Music - Ephemera Blues (freebie)
VA - Road To Nowhere (freebie)

LPs
The Sword / Witchcraft - Split 12"
Burial Chamber Trio - WVRM 10"

Turkey Week Roundup

Back from a nice Thanksgiving in the mountains, there were some packages waiting for me.

From Crucial Blast were a pair of reissues, that of Grey Daturas' 2004 album 'Dead In The Woods' and a remaster of Skullflower's IIIrd Gatekeeper.

Public Guilt have released the debut full length album from French occult psych rock band Aluk Todolo so I picked that up along with one of the latest albums from Finland's Circle. They also threw in the sampler disc featuring bands on Public Guilt and Implied Sound.

An order from the fantastic label/distro Eclipse Records came a couple of new CDs from Drag City - Sir Richard Bishop's second release of the year 'Polytheistic Fragments' and another new album from Six Organs Of Admittance titled 'Shelter From The Ash' (an appropriate title for where I'm at after 1/3 of the county burned down in October). On vinyl came the latest from Bardo Pond side project Alasehir, a new 45 from Wooden Shjips, and a split 7" from Jack Rose and Silvester Afang.

Back To Lou's

Now that summer is over with and traffic on the freeway is not insane, I finally made a trip to Lou's Records in search of some new releases. All but one of the CDs was a recent release and I managed to score some good vinyl.

CDs:
Area C - Haunt
Kawabata Makoto - INUI 4
Nadja - Radiance Of Shadows
Om - Pilgrimage
Deathspell Omega - Kenose

Vinyl:
Oren Ambarchi - Stacte Motors
Oren Ambarchi & Scott Horscroft / Hado Ho - Split
Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks (gold vinyl)
GHQ - California Night Burning Dreams (plus 3" CD-R)
LSD March - Shindara Jigoku
Silvester Anfang - Echte Vlaamse Geiten

Arriving the mail during the weak was another vinyl release from Three Lobed Recordings. Under the name of Basalt Fingers, Elisa Ambrogio, Ben Chasny and Brian Sullivan play some improvised guitar-only music that take up both sides of the record. I previewed a bit of the music just hear what it was like (different from what I expected) so I still need to sit down with this one for a spin. Love the fact that a pressed CD of the vinyl material has been included with the silk screened packaging.

Conifer & Ocean

Important Records has released a split 12" with new material from Portland Maine's Conifer and Ocean. Apparently both bands have shared members and are good friends, but also musically it makes sense to pair them up on a split. Both bands feature a single 20 minute track that explore many of the different aspects of heavy music. Full length albums from both bands are expected to hit next year and I will be looking forward to hear what they come up with.

Roundup Of Last Week

Last week saw the arrival of many packages in the post.

From Relapse came the reissue of the very hard to find Harvey Milk album 'The Pleaser'. Not only does it contain a bonus track, but also included is a second disc containing the rare live album 'Live Pleaser'. I also finally got around to buying High On Fire's 'Blessed Black Wings' in anticipation of their upcoming album.

Robotic Empire had a few new releases for order. A remastered and remixed version of Torche's debut album with a bonus track was reissued along with an EP of new material. Coming in gorgeous glossy gatefold sleeve is a colored 10" record in one sleeve and a CD in the left panel. Just a fantastic release by RE. The debut from Pygmy Lush also came out. It's one of those records that cannot be classified under one genre. The songs range from folk to punk rock, often alternating between styles through the tracklist.

From All That's Heavy the came the following CDs:
Solace - The Black Black (one of the better albums this year and that's saying a lot)
Tonerlow - Tonerlow (some doom mixed with psych rock)
Gas Giant - Mana (another album from Elekrohasch, the best label for heavy psych rock)
Suma - Let The Churches Burn (heavy stuff influenced by Kyuss, etc.)
Solarized - Driven (fuzz rock from Meteor City)

And coming all by itself was an officially released album from Beatallica. As the name suggests these dudes play songs by the Beatles in the style of Metallica with all new lyrics. The contains mostly older songs that have been re-recorded along with a few new gems. A rather bizarre listening experience if you've never heard them before.

Pair Of Important Records

Arriving in the post today was a pair of new releases from Important Records. The next in the Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis from Eleh comes on thick 200 gram black wax and is dedicated to Charlemagne Palestine. There's a warning that due to the low frequencies, side B must be played at a higher volume than side A. Side A reminds of the last record while side B has some nice low frequency pulses and gives the hi-fi a good low-end test.

The next release in their Arts & Crafts series comes from Barbez who I absolutely nothing about. It's a nice 7" on red wax with a nice instrumental on side A and apparently a sort of protest song on the flipside. Sounded pretty good on my first spin.

Red Sparowes Debut LP

I bought the repress of the debut double LP from Red Sparowes titled 'At The Soundless Dawn'. The LP features different artwork from the CD version. Robotic Empire did two color variations for it and I went with the "clear with smoke". The wax itself sounds awesome on my system so I couldn't be happier. This was one of my favorite albums from 2005 and still my favorite Red Sparowes release to date.

Fu Wax

The new Fu Manchu album arrived on clear vinyl yesterday. Seems like I pre-ordered it a long time ago from Century Media. The artwork has been changed to fit with the larger space and it's nice to see the lyrics we also kept. My only complaints are that there is a bit too much noise at the start of 'Sensai Vs. Sensai' and a weird bit of noise after the end of 'Knew It All Along'. Not sure if that's the pressing or limited to just my copy. Other than that, it's one of the finest Fu Manchu albums in awhile and sound great on the turntable.

Ocean

Important Records put out Ocean's demo on limited edition vinyl (500 copies). The demo 'Monument/Fork Lashing Eye' was released on CD-R in 2004 and then the band went on to record the epic debut 'Here Where Nothing Grows' which came out in 2005. They did a fine job on the packaging which includes hand pressed foil stamps on both sides of the jacket. The jacket itself is flimsy, but did a Japanese-style resealable plastic cover which contains OBI-esque strip at the bottom. The wax is fairly hefty even though its probably not 180g but it sounds great. They are supposed to have an album coming out in 2007 so I'll be looking forward to that.

Robotic Lore

A couple of orders came today. Robotic Empire put out the double vinyl LP of Isis' new album here in the US. I managed to snag a copy of the violet colored wax that is limited to 299 copies. The vinyl sounds fantastic considering it's less than 180g. Apparently the EU version was on 180g platters. The other order came from Canada's Profound Lore Records who reissued Nadja's Bodycage with a couple of untitled bonus tracks not found on the CD-R version and a copy of Asunder's Works Will Come Undone. I don't know anything about Asunder other then they play some long, epic doom metal.

Trip To Lou's

It's been awhile since I've been to Lou's Records and I had some Christmas money and a gift card to spend. So here is today's haul:

Vinyl
Steven R. Smith - The Anchorite 12"
Hush Arbors - Since We Have Fallen 12"
Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band - Second Attention 12"
Bardo Pond/Buck Paco - Split 12"
Crippled Black Phoenix - Sharks And Storms 10"

CDs
Bardo Pond - Selections: Volumes I-IV
Can - Future Days (2005 Remaster)
Comets On Fire - Field Recordings From The Sun
Comets On Fire - Blue Cathedral
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Suishou No Fune - Where The Spirits Are
Victor Wooten - A Show Of Hands
Victor Wooten - What Did He Say?

Most of those CDs I have been putting off forever to buy so I'm happy to finally have them.