"On the Cover: The Velvet Underground -- Lost in Sound -- Multiple features on your favorite band, with rare images and cool ephemera throughout. Here Come The Tapes: A Guide To The Velvet Underground's Live Tape Stash by Tyler Wilcox. Plus, full length reviews of new reissues of cassette tapes by ur-VU drummer Angus MacLise, and a lengthy appreciation by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Light in the Attic's excellent pre-VU Lou Reed set. Killer Content: "TV on the Radio and the Magic Negro Myth." Martin Douglas on the band's visionary debut LP, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes -- and the lessons we haven't learned 20 years later. This piece is such a standout, wait until you read it. Punk Diary: Excerpts from Hat & Beard Press' I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977-1980, written by a then-17-year-old Angela Jaeger. This diary was renowned for years and has finally seen the light of day, with multiple images to support it. Sweeping Promises: A very visual look at the great, shimmering guitar-pop band. Their visual aesthetics so perfectly accompany their sound, and that's discussed in detail for the first time. 12XU: Fred Thomas' engrossing talk with Gerard Cosloy about the third major record label he's run, and why it matters. This is the third in a series of columns on record labels. Razor Braids: Raucous, hilarious, uncompromising -- an introduction to the Brooklyn-based band who you're sure to hear more from soon. Antietam Loves Sleepyhead: Two of our favorite bands from the 1980s on how to keep the love alive. Antietam was formed in Louisville in 1984 out of the ashes of the Babylon Dance Band. They soon moved to NYC And released a series of beloved records for Homestead. Sleepyhead formed in 1988 in the basement of their NYU dorm and released beloved albums for the likes of Slumberland. The Sonics: An in-depth look at the fun, new documentary film on the Pac NW garage pioneers. Departmentstore Santas: Wonderful interview with the folks behind the major 1984 self-released DIY effort, At The Medieval Castle Nineteen 100-Year Lifetimes Since, a record on par with the best efforts by Desperate Bicycles, Homosexuals, and V3. Joy Guidry: Ana Gavrilovska on the beautiful music of the contemporary jazz bassoonist. Plus our regular, excellent columns by Mimi Lipson, Lucy Sante, Andy Zax, and others, including the debut of Desert Island owner Gabe Fowler's "Customer Profiles" column..."

"Some things take a long time. And some things are meant to last. But how you know that, or learn how to find out, that's a more intangible thing. That's A Shaw Deal -- intangible. A communal meeting place for two old friends and their different musics. A Shaw Deal is the first album by Geologist and D.S.. They go back a long ways -- back before Highlife, before Shaw joined White Magic -- back to the early childhood of Animal Collective. Basically, Doug Shaw touched down in NYC around 2003, and he and Brian Weitz have been friends ever since. 'D.S.' first released his own music under the moniker Highlife on 2010's Best Bless EP. Listeners were lifted by the sound -- a vital new transmission imbued by the popular African guitar music, British folk-pop, desert blues and the ritual spirit energy that Doug had been evoking in White Magic with Mira Billotte. If you really know Doug, this incredible alchemy was just one of the amazing ways he could come through on the guitar -- and you probably also know that all his crazy shit is just massed up somewhere, ready to fill up a great album of his own. A couple years back, Doug was posting bits of his playing on Instagram, and Brian found them to be a much-needed escape from reality -- he'd just let them loop for stretches of time, get lost in there, and emerge with recharged energies. He was so inspired by these mini-encapsulations of Doug's spirit that eventually he ran them through his modular system, editing and tweaking and looping as he went, creating new shapes and juxtapositions, instinctively rewiring the sounds to extend the feeling of peace they'd given him. Once it was all together, it would make a cool birthday present to regift to Doug! And once the gift was given, it was sounding like an album too. From start to finish, A Shaw Deal taps into D.S.'s guitar playing and the vibe of his expression, drawing out meditative waves in new forms while exploring the worlds within them. Geologist and D.S. collaborate in a manner that's brought comfort and release to them both. A Shaw Deal leaves no doubt, as it radiates further into the world and beyond -- it will bring a new range of views and feels to everyone who listens in."

"Downstate, the second official Prison stint, stretches to insane new places while pumping out more of some of the toughest jams around. Leap-hogging from one vibe to the next, Prison cop a variety of grooves, from minimalist (like Guru Guru), sweat-shaking (Stooges) and chaotic (No Trend) -- it feels like they're coming from everywhere! They switched it up in almost every way they could this time. But that's just Prison being Prison. At its core, Prison's a multi-headed beast, and Downstate is built to showcase their swarming freakscene. Recording this one in Rockaway meant they could get Prison family and friends to drop in. Going Downstate with core Prisoners Sarim Al-Rawi, Matt Lilly, and Paul Major are guitarists Marc Razo and Adam Reich, bassist Matt Leibowitz, and Dave Smoota Smith on trombone. Also present is the late, lamented Sam Jayne, a fellow lifer whose spirit will act as a guide for the rest of Prison's time. With these many hands on deck, Prison plays all kinds of things, from insane distorted rock to dreamy psychedelia, plus some jazzy and gutsy blues shit too. They got some of the lighter side of Prison in there, of course. It was all recorded in a day, with a couple overdubs, but it took a while to get the mixes right. There were a lot of moments that they didn't know would lead to anything, but when listening back later, then they heard where they were going. All that had to get in there somehow. Another level to the sound on Downstate is in the hard cuts and savvy fades in the edit. Matt Lilly sequenced the mixes at home using two CDJs fed into a Numark DJ deck and dubbed down live to cassette, then they sent the tape to engineer Matt Walsh to duplicate timings and fades and all that. Like trapdoors taking you from where you thought you were standing to someplace entirely different, wondering if what just happened was ten seconds or one million years long. And if you still don't know -- man, it was both!"

"When a freckle pops up, that's when you know that the sun has gotten through. Don't let 'em tell you it's skin damage -- more like the sign of time well spent, as always, in the light. Freckle the band is like that. Freckle is, then, a Californian. Corey Madden, of Color Green, and Ty Segall. From the riff, there was a shared understanding about what they wanted. It made sense to shoot for writing things that weren't personal -- instead, taking ideas and vignettes, turning 'em into back stories and freaking out with the lyrics, making little movies. Once they had a good batch of songs, it wasn't long. They didn't push too hard, they didn't need to. As it came together, everything fell into place real natural-like. Freckle is the hive mind of Corey Madden and Ty Segall. This LP reminds listeners that when the clouds are out you can still get sunburned."

Restocked. Agartha: Personal Meditation Music is a 7 CD boxed set, originally released on cassette in 1986, at the height of New Age, as an aid for meditation and alignment. Bringing to mind 20th century composers like Eliane Radigue, La Monte Young, or even Brian Eno's Shutov Assembly, the time-stopping, enveloping, electronic music contained in this series sounds eerily modern, mysterious and moving. Characterized by deep analog drones, rising overtones, floating frequencies surfing on sine-waves and intervals with mystic modulation, this is truly moving, vibrational music. In Agartha, the individual notes of each Harmonic Triad proceed in a fashion that is neither improvisational nor chance-based, nor is it generative. Instead, the music flows outward as if being transmitted -- or channeled -- from a place outside human consciousness. There is a profound sense of cosmic depth expanding ever outward as the music fills the listener with waves of emotion, and a palpable somatic response is felt, although there are subtle differences with each unique Triad. Each disc is individually packaged in original replica sleeves and housed in a heavy-duty cardboard clamshell box. Digitized and remastered by Jessica Thompson. Liner notes include extensive instructions for use from the original text and an essay by library music scholar David Hollander. The original edition of Agartha: Personal Meditation Music, featured one-track, 30-minute track per tape repeated on both sides. Subsequent editions had unique Side B tracks on all but two of the seven volumes. Important Records have included all tracks in this boxed set. RIYL: Eliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Eleh, Duane Pitre, La Monte Young, Eno, Larajji, Iasos.

WRWTFWW Records presents its third collaboration with Japanese electronic/ambient/synth-pop crew Interior, this time with the release of band member Daisuke Hinata's forgotten solo treasure from 1989: Tarzanland. The feel-good/smooth ride LP is available as a limited-edition turquoise and light pink vinyl housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve with obi strip. Available on vinyl for the first time ever, Tarzanland is late '80s California sun-soaked kankyō ongaku, minimalistic proto-chillwave, the synth melody of a pleasant Sunday breeze as the ocean waves breathe in and breathe out. Steve Winwood and Steely Dan come to mind as the ambient sound design of an imaginary John Hughes movie unfolds as all pieces of the puzzle come together for a blissful journey of simple pleasures. Daisuke Hinata is a Grammy-nominated artist, composer, producer, and member of Interior. This is WRWTFWW's third release centered around the work of the band, following the reissue of their Haruomi Hosono-produced self-titled debut (1982) and the first release ever of Sculpture of Time (Apocalypse), their rarely heard before commissioned piece for German environmental artist NILS-UDO.

"Ol' Dirty Bastard aka Ason Unique, real name Russell Jones, was truly a one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-imitated emcee. As one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ol' Dirty Bastard released his classic RZA-produced debut solo album Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version in 1995. After the release of Wu-Tang Forever in '97, ODB had several run-ins with the law and was in and out of court and jail, but it didn't stop him from being himself. ODB got back in the studio in 1999 to record his second studio album and with a little help from The Neptunes dropped the hit single 'Got Your Money.' The video for the single was cut with scenes from Dolemite and one scene inspired the name of the album N***a Please which was released on Sept 14th, 1999, and would unfortunately be the last album to be released during Ol' Dirty Bastard's lifetime. The album is full of ODB's lyrical antics backed by a crew of producers including the RZA and Wu-Tang affiliated Tru Master and Buddah Monk along with The Neptunes and Irv Gotti. Out of print on vinyl since it was released 25 years ago, Get On Down is proud to honor the legacy of Ol' Dirty Bastard with a translucent yellow smoke and clear with smoke-colored vinyl pressing packaged in a gatefold jacket with a 25th Anniversary hype sticker."

2025 restock. "The string of albums Culture recorded during the late '70s contained some of the most reliably solid sets from the tail end of reggae's roots era. These early releases for the production team of Joe Gibbs and Errol 'E.T.' Thompson yielded the group's finest work . . . The typically excellent assembly of session men respond to such material with an appropriately light touch: the exemplary rhythm work of keyboardists Ansel Collins and Earl Lindo and guitarist Willie Lindo is kept under close watch by the great Sly Dunbar. The drummer's playing is effortless as he alternates the makeup of a particular pattern or subtly changes up the rhythm, heading into a chorus. Closer attention to the backing for tracks like 'Behold,' 'Tell Me Where You Get It,' and 'Vacancy' reveals the sort of strength, though subtle, that drives the best roots music." --Nathan Bush, All Music Guide

"Pinata: 10 Year Anniversary Edition is presented in a green-in-clear with black and white splatter pressing housed in a variant cover with a collectable 24" x 24" poster. Pinata, the collaborative effort of famed producer Madlib and rapper Freddie Gibbs, changed the course for these two musical mavericks. For its 10-year anniversary the project was issued with a fresh variant cover with the pressing being a half speed lacquered version of this hip hop classic."

"The next release in Now Again's Memphis Rap series is Breakin Da Law presented on vinyl for the first time ever. This is Gangsta Blac's first, a swaggering and drawling gangster rap outing from hot and humid South Memphis. This is part of Now Again Records multiple LP series on the History of Memphis Rap, which attempts to capture Memphis and its underground rap scene as it began to produce some of the most distinctive music of the '90s. This was a unique hip-hop strain -- visceral and often vicious. It was a local, low-fi, cassette-tape based movement -- yet it went on to change the course of rap music. These albums have never been pressed on vinyl -- until now. From Skinny Pimp and Carmike to Gangsta Blac and Shawty Pimp, these albums have been relegated to the proverbial bins of history and bootlegged, with unofficial copies still fetching top dollar on the secondary market. These albums were all licensed directly from their original creators, and come on limited edition colored vinyl with artist-approved imagery for their first LP iterations."

LP version. Clear color vinyl version. "Rose City Band's music is sun-kissed timeless country rock whose seemingly effortless momentum carries the joy of its creation without ignoring the darkness pervading our consciousness. Led by guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson, the music of Rose City Band is rooted in his love of private press records of the mid to late '70s. The band, in addition to Johnson, features pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg, and drummer John Jeffrey who enmesh a keen sense of rhythmic drive and melody with gentler, sumptuous atmospheres. Nuanced performances and interplay between players unfurl like desert flowers splashing color onto an arid landscape. The ensemble's buoyant moments still glide with ease, but there is room to revel in respite of the shade of a dark cloud. Across the album, Johnson's tasteful guitar interjections and soothing voice are met in kind with the versatile playing of Walker, Hasenberg, and Jeffery, with special guest performances by synthesist/vocalist, Sanae Yamada. Album closer 'The Walls' perfectly captures the band's explorative and expansive songs, Hasenberg's soulful organ driving the album to an emotionally cathartic conclusion. Throughout his prolific career with Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, and now Rose City Band, Johnson's music has consistently centered around exploration and discovery. Sol Y Sombra imbues his penchant for space and resplendent tonality with a denser amalgam of his influences through a delicate balance of the somber and the serene, of subtle evolutions and familiar sounds, Sol Y Sombra makes for a holistically joyous experience, finding solace in both sun and shade."

"Ripley Johnson has been responsible for some of the past decade's most mesmeric and beguiling albums. Rose City Band might be the best of the bunch." --The Guardian

"[Johnson's] Rose City Band incarnation may be his most dazzling and uplifting so far. [Rose City Band] transforms the fuzz-drenched thrust of Johnson's usual music into a beatific choogle, a modest but potent means of escape" --MOJO

LP version. "Midori Hirano and Brueder Selke's debut album Split Scale unites two artists who share both inimitable skill and depth of expression. Pillars of Berlin's new music community and globally lauded composers, they each share a background in classical tradition while practicing on the cutting edge of modern music. Split Scale is an elegant emotive ambient album built primarily from pianos and cello and electronics. After tracks on Longform Editions and the creation and curation of the Q3Ambientfest, this power pairing should be an immediate hit with fans of quality ambient or minimal modern music. As Brueder Selke, the polymath duo brothers Daniel and Sebastian Selke's interdisciplinary partnerships are vast and include classical institutions like the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Filmorchester Babelsberg. The brothers have additionally been working as musical directors of the Schaffrath Chamber Orchestra and curating their own festival Q3Ambientfest which has featured the likes of fellow artists such as Laura Cannell, Mabe Fratti/Resina, Jules Reidy, Grand River, Yair Elazar Glotman, and now-collaborator Midori Hirano. Midori Hirano's mastery of sound sculpting has put her in high demand as a composer for film and television, including recent soundtracks for All or Nothing, Tokito, and a documentary on the Premier League, alongside astounding collaborations with artists including Hprizm of Anti Pop Consortium and Ilpo Väisänen of Pan Sonic. In addition to her own composing, Hirano has remixed the likes of Robot Koch and Rival Consoles. Split Scale, the group's first album together, follows a series of live collaborations. The artists chose a simple concept, following a western scale from beginning to end, and from this created a suite of sublime, synesthetic soundscapes and cinematic movements. The vivid tapestry of sound and color is luminous and emotive.

"at once familiar and odd, with the ineffable quality of a dream" --Time Magazine on Midori Hirano

"they explore texture -- creaking strings, bashed wood, triple stopping -- over minimal one-chord drones with a horror-movie intensity." - The Guardian on Brueder Selke

2025 limited restock; LP version. An amazing document of the life experiment that was the Organic Music Society. This super quality audio, recorded by RAI (the Italian public broadcasting company) in 1976 for television, documents a quartet concert focused on vocals compositions and improvisations. Here, Don Cherry and his family-community's musical belief emerges in its simplicity, with the desire to merge the knowledge and stimuli gained during numerous travels across the World in a single sound experience. Don's pocket-trumpet is melted with the beats of the great Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, the Italian guitar of Gian Piero Pramaggiore, and the tanpura drone of Moki. A pure hippie aesthetic, like in an intimate ceremony, filters a magical encounter between Eastern and Western civilizations, offering different suggestions of sound mysticism: natural acoustics in which individual instruments and voices are part of a wider pan-tribal consciousness. A desert Western landscape marries Asian and Latin atmospheres. Indigenous contributions with berimbau explorations find fossil sounds of rattles and clap-hands invocations. Influences of Indian mantra singing are combined with eternal African voices or with folkish-Latin guitar rhythms, while flute and drums evoke distant dances. In the Organic Music everything becomes an act of devotion and love, an ecstatic dwell in the dimension of a sacred free-rejoice.

2025 restock. 180 gram reissue, originally released in 1990. "Blind Willie Johnson (1902-1947) is one of the great gospel blues legends. Initially a preacher who gave sermons in the street, Johnson first became known for his powerful voice, but it was his masterful slide guitar playing that would soon write his name in the annals of blues."

LP version. The second volume of the perfect pairing Brötzmann & Nilssen-Love, recorded at Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp, August 2015. The music is less frenzied and aggressive than listeners may be used to, as the musicians shared their exploration of new tools with a more contemplative approach. To be sure, both Brötzmann and Nilssen-Love summon the usual energy here and there, but it's a genuine revelation to hear them feel out new sounds in real-time, whether it's the former caressing the rheumy nasality of the contra-alto clarinet, or the latter reveling in the sustained resonance of his new gongs. Still, even if they were trying out new tools, their rapport and level of engagement was just as strong and deep as ever. Colliding schedules prevented them from ever wrapping up the production on the album, but they began planning for it during the pandemic. Sadly, it fell to Nilssen-Love to shepherd the project at home, but it was worth the wait. This duo album represents a major statement from both musicians. Artwork by Brötzmann, design by Lasse Marhaug. Liner notes-transcription of an interview with Peter Brötzmann. Peter Brötzmann: tarogato, contra-alto clarinet, bass saxophone. Paal Nilssen-Love: drums, gongs, percussion.

LP version. While they've been active for more than two decades, it's only been in recent years that the Berlin and New York based contemporary sonic arts platform, Soundwalk Collective, has begun to gather the accolades and attention that they rightfully deserve. Firmly rooted within a multi-disciplinary practice that engages the narrative potential of sound within the contexts of visual art, dance, music and film, as well as tapping anthropological, ethnographic, and psycho-geographic research, they've gained great note for collaborations with Jean-Luc Goddard, Nan Goldin, Sasha Waltz, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and numerous others. Building on the back of 2023's brilliant All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (AF 002LP), Soundwalk Collective now returns with Khandroma, one of their most fascinating and singular endeavors to date, which re-engages their enduring creative partnerships with Patti Smith. Issued by Ubi Kū, a brand-new imprint founded by the Italian Buddhist Union dedicated to the relationships between Buddhist cultures, music, and sound, across the album's stunning two sides this incredible ensemble draws inspiration from and conjures Tibetan deities, the Himalayan Plateau, the valleys of Nepal and the highest peaks where the most ancient Buddhist temples reside, culminating as a sprawling sonic tapestry like little else. Issued as a beautifully produced, limited-edition vinyl LP and CD, mixed and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, complete with a booklet featuring liner note essays penned by Chiara Bellini and Filippo Lunardo, and images by Stephan Crasneanscki, it's hands down among the label's favorite releases by Soundwalk Collective to date and not to be missed. Perhaps the best way of approaching Khandroma is through Soundwalk Collective's longstanding focus on the discipline of psycho-geography -- a practice that interrogates the impact of an environment's embedded histories and meanings on the psychology of the present -- as well as the group's integration of observations of nature, and uses of non-linear narrative, as a vehicle for recording and the synthesis of meaning. Like previous projects that have encountered them traveling extensively across the world, occupying diverse environments for long periods of investigation and fieldwork, during which they source materials for subsequent works, the material roots of Khandroma are a body of field recordings made by Crasneanscki, Francisco López, and Simone Merli at altitudes between 2,760 and 4,500 meters, in varying locations across Upper Mustang during 2016. Immersive, stunningly beautiful, and haunting, Khandroma draws the ancient and distant into the consciousness of the present, close to home, bordering on the profound.

Despite their Michigan roots, with their hearts anchored in the golden age of 1970s German Krautrock, Fling ii celebrate the sound of that sensational season of experimentation. In the chords of the band dwell the typical motorik style of Neu, the percussive obsessions of Can, as much as the pulsing, hypnotic electronic textures of Cluster and Kraftwerk. The absolute protagonist of this adventure back in time is the legendary Boss Super Phaser PH-2, the dual-circuit modulation pedal that shines through the entire development of all the tracks; it's the main demiurge of deep resonances, of impulsive intergalactic excursions, of dust and mists in perpetual motion. The sound is as dreamy and cosmic as ever, revealing such instrumental rigor in which the strongly emotional blend of the original sources of inspiration finds a perfect balance between rhythm and dynamics.

Here for the first time from Clock Tower Records is a collection of gems brought back from the '70s: Augustus Pablo's Yard Style Melodica Songs. All tracks produced by Brad Osbourne in the '70s, some of which were only released on 7". Featuring Robert Shakespeare and Aston "Family Man" Barret (bass), Earl "Chinna" Smith (guitar), Carlton Barret (drums), Augustus Pablo (organ, piano, and clarinet), Richard Hall (tenor sax), Bobby Ellis (trumpet), and Vincent Gordon (trombone). Produced by Brad Osborne. Includes poster.

3CD box with booklet, limited to 300 copies. A stunning journey in sound and a work of profound and intoxicating power, Roland Kayn's Simultan stands among the best of all avant-garde electronic works of its era. Die Schachtel, in collaboration with SZ Sugar, is finally able to make available in CD format -- after the legendary vinyl-only edition released in 2017 -- the first volume in a series of works named K - Kybernetische Musik, that documents the birth of Kayn's Cybernetic Music, remastered from the original analog master tapes. The re-emergence of Simultan has been long awaited by many, and should be celebrated by everyone with the faintest interest in electronic music. Totally essential and not to be missed. One of the great pioneers of electronic, computer, and instrumental avant-garde music, for most of his life, the German composer Roland Kayn (1933 - 2011) remained almost entirely unknown, a founding member of the legendary ensemble, Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, heralded as a singular genius by a small number of figures like Jim O'Rourke, who is currently curating the archive of the artist. While Kayn might be easily described as a composer of electronic, electro-acoustic, or computer music, the majority of his career was in fact largely dedicated to the revolutionary sculpting of an entirely new territory of sound: Cybernetic Music, a generative process of composition through programming. Simultan was among the first of the composer's works to emerge from this process. Cybernetic Music grew from Kayn's longstanding engagement and fascination with data processing theory, which far outweighed his interest in the work of other composers and the zeitgeists of the day -- a fact which contributed to his being declared persona non grata by the avant-garde establishment, and ultimately his lasting obscurity. Created during the period in which Kayn was living in the Netherlands, and recorded with the assistance of electronic music legends Jaap Vink and Leo Küpper, Simultan is a work of astounding beauty -- filled with a remarkable sense of humanity and touch -- a strange incongruity considering the system through which it was made, doubling as an indication of the inherent power of sound which Kayn spent his life fighting to reveal. For fans of avant-garde electronic music, particularly those drawn to the work coming out of Utrecht and Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), but who have not yet encountered Simultan, the work is likely to represent a towering revolution.

Die Schachtel returns to their long-standing dedication to the historical, Italian avant-garde with Musica Elettronica 1969/1971 allo Studio di Fonologia della RAI di Milano, the first ever release dedicated to the visionary electronic and electroacoustic composer Angelo Paccagnini. Containing some of the most potent and emotive experimental music ever laid to tape -- imbued with the political tensions of the moment -- this collection takes great leaps toward illuminating the brilliant output of one of Italy's most remarkable and neglected avant-garde, electronic and electroacoustic composers of the 20th Century. The first ever release dedicated to this profoundly important figure in the history of European electronic music has been fully restored and mastered by Andrea Marutti from the original tapes, housed in a matt silver cover with silver foil design, specially created by Bruno Stucchi/dinamomilano. It contains some of the most singular and emotive electronic and electroacoustic music ever recorded, which is presented to wide audiences for the very first time. A student of Bruno Bettinelli at the Milan Conservatory, and a collaborator of Bruno Maderna and Luciano Berio, Angelo Paccagnini (1930-1999) remains one of the most unjustifiably obscure figures who emerged within Italy's early Electronic Music scene during the 1950s. While Paccagnini worked with a wide range of instrumentation and sound sources over the course of his career, among the most engrossing of all his works are a series of electronic and electroacoustic compositions created during his early years as director of the Studio di Fonologia Musicale, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, four of which are comprised for the first time across the length of this album. The LP comprises three works; "Flou II," composed in 1971 for tape, piano, improvised percussion, and orchestral groups; "Partner," composed in 1969 for female voice and electronic sounds; and "Underground," composed in 1971 for four synthesizers. Unquestionably drawing on the political ferment of the era during which they were created, each is astoundingly tense in their structural arrangement and tonal and dissonant relationships, culminating as some of the most emotive avant-garde music created anywhere during that period. Historically significant in countless ways, this release takes huge leaps to illuminating the brilliant output of one of Italy's most remarkable and neglected avant-garde, electronic and electroacoustic composers of the 20th Century. 200 copies featuring a deluxe cover with handmade silver foil printed on 450g paper. Includes a 30x30cm double-sided insert with detailed notes, pictures and more.

Furthering the passionate exploration of cinema that has guided her two previous LPs -- 2017's Fassbinder Wunderkammer and 2020's I Should Have Been a Gardener -- the Milanese guitarist/composer, Alessandra Novaga, returns to Die Schachtel with The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle, two sides of shimmering, tense compositions freely inspired by the life and work of the Russian director Andrej Tarkovsky and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Classically trained at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, over the last decade Alessandra Novaga has emerged as one of the leading figures within northern Italy's thriving new, experimental, and improvised music scene. Remarkably ambitious and forward thinking, her approach to the guitar embarks upon a relentless deconstruction and rethinking of her instrument's unique properties through distinct applications of structure, resonance, space, and tone, creating in a deeply personal and emotive music, seeking narrative and meaning within the abstractions of sound. The seeds of The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle can be traced to a conversation that Novaga had with Alan Licht relating to the connections between music and cinema, which led her to consider Andrej Tarkovsky's use of Bach's music within a symbiotic framework: how the music illuminates the imagism of the films, and the film illuminates new dimensions of the music. Slowly developing over the subsequent years, the resulting album comprises six individual works, some of which draw directly upon pieces of Bach's music that Tarkovsky used in his films -- specifically "Erbarme dich, Mein Gott," "Das alte Jahr vergangen ist," and "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" -- while others draw upon the sensibilities and moods evoked in the imagination by the director's films. Encountering Novaga moving into fairly uncharted waters, three of the album's pieces incorporate the human voice, including that of the poet Arsenij Tarkovsky, the director's father. Roughly alternating between solo excursions on guitar and bristling electroacoustic pieces, over the course of the album's two sides Novaga weaves one of her most abstract and ambitious bodies of recordings to date, shifting between the complex tonal mediations generated by the six strings of her instrument, and phycological densities activated by the expanded pallet of sonority made possible by the tactics and approaches of musique concrète. The Artistic Image Is Always a Miracle is available on as a limited edition of 300 dark turquoise vinyl LPs. The LP, designed by Bruno Stucchi/dinamomilano, comes with an eight-page insert illuminated by Alessandra's text as well as the lovely and intense photographs of Matilde Piazzi.

This revelatory album positions John Tchicai's large ensemble, Cadentia Nova Danica (CND), in the broad context of international new music activity. All previous releases by the group presented them as a free jazz unit. There were only three -- their self-titled release on Polydor (1968); Afrodisiaca (MPS, 1969); and Live at Jazzhus Montmartre (Storyville), recorded in 1967 but not released until 2016. They are all on jazz labels, so the bias is perhaps understandable. CND was a great free jazz group, to be sure. But the band and its leader were willing to experiment with a wide range of musical developments outside of jazz and incorporate them into their music. This LP encompasses a collaboration with classical composer Svend Erik Werner, an experiment with taped sound collage, and a remarkable sui generis composition by Tchicai. With the addition of this album to CND's discography, a broader and deeper portrait of the band's courageous spirit begins to emerge. Tchicai formed the group just after returning to his native Denmark in 1966 after four highly productive years in New York. Upon his return to Copenhagen, he immediately sought out musicians with whom he could form a band. He was soon working with an ensemble that included trumpeter Hugh Steinmetz and altoist Karsten Vogel. By late 1966, they became Cadentia Nova Danica (New Danish Cadence). They made their Danish debut at Café Montmartre and quickly developed a reputation as one of the most creative bands in Europe. They remained together until 1971, when Tchicai entered the ashram of Swami Narayanananda for an extended period of meditation during which he didn't publicly perform. The cryptically, if absurdly, titled "Mc Gub Gub, (I-VIII)" is a stunning example of the creative ways Tchicai used ostinatos to structure his compositions and provide a supporting trellis for improvisation. Recorded during a Danish Avantgarde Jazz concert that also included the Contemporary Jazz Quintet, the piece opens with the band loosely repeating a phrase. There's a constant interchange between composition and improvisation. The written passages also function as transitions between improvised sections, in one case setting up a piano solo whose fluidity contrasts starkly with the angular writing. "Ode to Skt. John" is contemporary in form and outlook but based on methods taken from Gregorian music. It also makes room for improvisation from members of Cadentia Nova Danica. Although vividly contrasting, the two modes of musicmaking speak to one another. The alto saxophone and trumpet duet has a songlike, vocal quality in keeping with the spirit, if not the form, of Gregorian music. "Pladepip," Tchicai's foray into musique concréte, another modern classical genre, is unlike anything else in Tchicai's recorded canon. Two full-band improvisations bookend a remarkable audio tape created by Tchicai. Includes insert.

Urashima presents the split reissue of Dead Body Love/Atrax Morgue on vinyl, a collaboration that epitomizes the raw power and unwavering creativity of Italian noise. This limited edition second pressing, presented in an eye-catching lunch bag format, is strictly limited to 199 copies with new note by Gabriele Giuliani, the creative force behind Dead Body Love. By juxtaposing the crushing avalanches of sound from Dead Body Love with the penetrating intensity of Atrax Morgue , this release serves as a visceral experience that celebrates the true essence of industrial noise. Expect a sonic journey through abrasive textures, haunting synth, and meticulously crafted compositions that push the boundaries of the genre -- this split LP is a must-have for any enthusiast!

"It feels like I've been writing about Dead Body Love for as long as I have been recording harsh noise... I can't express enough how much of an influence Italian harsh noise has had on my own personal works, but it also lets me and several peers investigate the techniques and styles of the 1990s harsh noise and the atmosphere that was created expressed from different regions of the world. The more I listen and revisit the material of '90s Japanese harsh noise, the '80s UK power electronics, and the celebrated rougher tendencies of '90s Americanoise, the Italian material and different projects flare up that dictate a powerful 'Coles Notes' of harsh noise and how it can be deconstructed and eventually materialized into vivisected lines and layers of crumbling, throbbing, cracking and creaking sound? Then you take the obsessions and the lines of moving sound and have them expressed by something like the fanatical Atrax Morgue. Fearsome concentration and jarring meditation on lines of warbling and predatory analog synth work portray something invariably real about the obsession acted out from the Italian project Atrax Morgue. A different display of penetrative and studied sound seethes from Atrax Morgue as now the listener and 'fan' of Italian industrial and harsh noise is confronted with another genre defining sound that pits throbbing and rough synth against haunting and manic vocalizations, disturbing the listener with its undeniable dedicated concentration. The resulting split tape with material from Dead Body Love and Atrax Morgue isn't as black and white as one might think. Dead Body Love makes use of dark and rough early industrial-like lines and meld into the eventual crushing forces that he is known for. In the vein of Atrax Morgue, samples are also manipulated and drawn out for the listener reminding us of his more delay heavy work. Atrax Morgue's material works with DBL's material almost seamlessly via further haunting and throbbing dark material, slowly churning and deconstructing into his own distinct sound of heavily concentrated focus and mania for singular sounds and how they can repeat, move and create total atmosphere." --Sam McKinlay.

Limited Edition of 299 copies. Black vinyl. Urashima present the eagerly awaited reissue of Merzbow's seminal album Mercurated on double vinyl, originally released on CD in 1996 by Alchemy Records. This milestone in the noise genre captures the essence of Masami Akita's innovative approach to sound, an exploration of the boundaries of auditory experience that continues to resonate with artists and listeners alike. The new vinyl edition features a remaster by James Plotkin, whose expertise breathes new life into the album, revealing the intricate layers hidden within Merzbow's amazing work. In this reimagined format, the album presents "Electricwatersheep" divided into two distinct sections: A1, which encompasses the entire A side of the vinyl, and B1, which opens the B side. This piece is a hallmark of Merzbow's chaotic yet meticulously crafted style, showcasing his prowess in noise electronics through an electrifying mix of metal performances and a diverse array of filters. Each section invites the listener to plunge deeper into a sonic terrain where silence is shattered, creating an immersive auditory journey that is as unpredictable as it is captivating. Side B continues with "Semisolid Mass 1-3," a brand-new bonus track exclusive to this vinyl release. This addition serves to deepen the listener's experience, expanding upon the album's already rich sonic palette with a uniquely disorienting atmosphere that is characteristic of Merzbow's artistic vision. On Side C, "Tree of Kusukusu" envelops the listener in a phantasmagoric soundscape crafted from bowed metals and the eerie tones of the Ems Synthi "a," all accentuated by meticulous filtering techniques. Side D concludes the journey with "Surfactant," presenting another quintessential Merzbow composition. Here, the interplay of metal and electronic noise converges, showcasing Akita's artistic finesse and his relentless quest to explore sound as a medium of both chaos and beauty. Each track on Mercurated stands on its own, providing a coherent yet varied listening experience that invites repeat contemplation. This stunning double vinyl reissue comes in an astonishing gatefold cover mirroring the original artwork, beautifully designed by Masami Akita himself, ensuring that the visual component is as striking as the auditory experience. The design work by Masahiko Ohno further enhances the presentation, making this release not just a collection of sounds but a holistic sensory experience.

Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free-standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding, Blume returns with the first ever vinyl release to attend to James Tenney's legendary Postal Pieces. This marks the first ever appearance of five of the suite's works -- "Maximusic, for Max Neuhaus" (1965), "Having Never Written a Note for Percussion, for John Bergamo" (1971), "FFor Percussion Perhaps, or... [Night], for Harold Budd" (1971), "Cellogram, for Joel Krosnick" (1971), and "Beast, for Buell Neidlinger" (1971) -- on vinyl, drawing upon recordings made in 2003, by the Amsterdam based ensemble, The Barton Workshop, under the direction of James Fulkerson. Among the most important and highly regarded efforts in Tenney's canon of compositions, as well as within the history of 20th Century music, these five pieces represent a crucial bridge between Fluxus-oriented conceptualism, minimalism, and the microtonal complexities that would emerge in their wakes. A student of composition under Carl Ruggles, John Cage, Harry Partch, and Edgard Varèse, as well as acoustics, information theory, and tape music composition under Lejaren Hiller, James Tenney carved a wide path within the contexts of experimental and avant-garde music during the second half of the 20th Century. A suite of eleven compositions, The Postal Pieces, stands among Tenney's well known and celebrated compositions, and illuminates the dualities embraced by the composer, notably his use of sound to develop consciousness in and of others, and his willingness to draw on elements and observations of everyday life; citing his strong dislike of writing letters as being the primary inspiration for their inception. The suite is composed around three themes: Tenney's concept of swell form (utilizing repetition and progressing through a structurally symmetrical arch), intonation, and the desire to produce "meditative perceptual states." A hugely important addition to Blume's ever-expanding efforts in context building and networks of creative practice, James Tenney's Post Pieces is issued in a highly limited vinyl edition of 300 copies, which includes an exact replica of the original postcard graphic scores, and features newly commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey.

Since its founding back in 2014, Blume has carved a unique place in cultural landscape, issuing free-standing works, spanning the historical and contemporary, that represent singular gestures of creativity within the field of experimental sound. Joining their broad efforts in building networks of context and understanding, the label is now offering a brand new, ambitious work by the American composer Ben Vida, entitled Vocal Trio, conceived, performed, and recorded in Bremen, Germany, during the Spring of 2022. A truly stunning work of compositional conceptualism, combining the ideas of systems based synthesis with real-time vocal collaboration -- issued in a highly limited vinyl edition of 200 copies mastered by Stephan Mathieu, featuring specially commissioned liner notes by Bradford Bailey and a leporello insert offering the piece visual score -- it's a landmark in contemporary experimental practice and arguably the most forward-thinking and exciting piece by one of the most exciting American artists working today. Vocal Trio is a work that encounters Vida composing for the human voice with the ideas that allow for synthesis -- transferring the underlying concepts and structures of both subtractive and additive synthesis to the acoustic realm -- without using a synthesizer. During the Spring of 2022 Vida was in Bremen, Germany, collaborating on a dance piece with the choreographer Fay Driscoll, when the production fell into delays. Finding himself with time on his hands, a space at his disposal, and the company of two dancers -- Amy Gernux and Lotte Rudhart -- he set out to utilize the larynx as audio paths (multi-harmonic or harmonically pure) while conceptualizing each person's mouth as a filter to sculpt the timbre and resonance of a given tone. Considering how typographical scores might be developed into a non-linguistic social framework, Vida drafted a single page of text -- what became the score for Vocal Trio -- accompanied by a set of harmonic suggestion and loose parameters, seeking a core meaning from each word's phonic make-up by each of the three singers (Vida, Gernux and Rudhart) singing as slowly as possible. At the core of the pulsing vocal drones -- intoxicating, harmonically rich long-tones -- that make up the duration abstraction of Vocal Trio, is Vida's regard for music as a social space. It is an experiment that seeks liberation through the act of collective music making, by challenging the terms through which the act of composing is perceived and then relinquishing control.

Trost Records presents the latest release in its ongoing cooperation with Berlin's legendary FMP label, with the long overdue reissue of two classic live albums by the singular alto saxophonist Noah Howard, a key figure in New York's free jazz revolution during the 1960s. Berlin Concert was recorded live in the titular city in January of 1975 with a quartet featuring pianist Takashi Kako, bassist Kent Carter, drummer Oliver Johnson, and percussionist Lamont Hampton. It was released on the SAJ sub label in 1977. It deftly captures the full diapason of Howard's fiery art. Fueled by the propulsive swing of the great Oliver Johnson, bassist Kent Carter -- both Americans who spent many years living and working in Europe, including long stints with Steve Lacy -- and percussionist Lamont Hampton, Berlin Concert nonchalantly toggles between modal workouts, where Japanese pianist Takashi Kako invokes the ironclad drive of McCoy Tyner, and the needling fury of "New York Subway," summoning the all-out fury of the '60s New Thing. This album reinforces the scalding passion of Howard's playing, while simultaneously highlighting a stylistic depth and lyrical grace that's often overlooked in his music. Howard, who suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage in 2010, at age 67, has been duly celebrated for his work in the 1960s, but the return of this gem makes it plain he had plenty more to say. Recorded live by Jost Gebers on January 30th and 31st,1975 at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. Cover design by Wolf Walt. Photograph by Roberto Masotti. Produced by Jost Gebers. Originally released and published on FMP in 1977.

Dischi Fantom's Sussurra Luce series, blurring the boundaries between text, music and voice, returns with its fifth instalment, an expanded version of Hanne Lippard's Talk Shop. Sculpting a fascinating bridge between radically experimental sound practice, conceptual art, and sound poetry, across its two sides the Berlin based multidisciplinary artist taps an almost dada sensibility, delivering a suite of poems and texts where singular words and sentences are looped and repeated creating a sensory experience of the efficiency and stress found in private as well as public life. An extension of the Milan based cultural platform Fantom's broad and diverse activities (exhibitions, installations, performances, etc.) across numerous artistic disciplines, the Sussurra Luce series, curated by Francesco Cavaliere and Massimo Torrigiani, delves into the "science of imagination," working with contemporary authors to explore and blur the boundaries between text, music and voice. Released in a limited edition of 200 copies and coming with an LP-sized booklet, it combines orality and textuality with the idea of loop and repetition to explore the notion of time, and it's a stunning gesture of performative poetics that plums a startling range of subjects through its sonorous forms. Working across the fields of text, vocal performance, sound installation, printed objects and sculpture, for more than a decade Hanne Lippard has deployed language as the raw material for her work. Talk Shop began as a live performance. Combining orality and textuality with the idea of loop and repetition to explore the notion of time, its relationship with the world of work today, and its personification through the experience of the human body, the conceptual underpinnings of the piece depart from the notion that the human voice has become commodified by the ubiquitous nature of contemporary productivity, and intertwined with the mechanics of capital. Addressing vocal anonymity as a spearhead of the digital economy, Lippard's Talk Shop taps this dada sensibility through its unexpected layers of meanings drawn from a maximalized approach to the potential of the human voice, creating an engrossing and challenging listen from the first sounding to the last, that continues to reveal itself and unfold with every return.

"Towards the end of the 1970s, a film about me and my work was made in Kabul for the South German TV program. The director was Arpad Bondy. In order to find a venue for my music that is typical for Afghanistan, it was agreed that my 'percussion environment,' a tubular cube of 2x2x2 meters including the associated instruments, would be transported on a barren, stony ridge in the Hindukush mountains. The people called the place 'Maidan,' which means nothing but 'place.' While a couple of men dragged the frame pipes and the instruments up the hill, I decided to carry my large Wuhan gong (100 cm diameter) up the mountain, in a kind of ritual. Michael Ranta sent me this gong from Wuhan/China to Kabul. With slow and careful steps, carrying the heavy gong like an umbrella on my head, I walked over the difficult rocky terrain without a path up. Suddenly a snake about two meters long came out of the rocks towards me and hissed aggressively at me... As I later discovered, it was a very venomous snake... I had to bring myself to kill the beautiful animal... I decided to name my solo performance Requiem For The Snake Of Maidan... While I was playing I only had one musician with me: the wind. I hung my metallophones on the linkage so that the wind could touch them and create sounds. The recording captured a few parts where I didn't have to lift a finger and the wind did everything that was necessary. The room was a wide landscape without any echo. If an echo can be heard in the recording, it is the reverberation from the big gong. Only a few noises came, apart from the wind, from outside... The big gong and the boo chals (Tibetan cymbals) produced a whole series of overtones. The string instruments, the metallo- and lithophones dominate the recording. In addition to the acoustic environment of my instruments, in some parts of my improvisation I used a battery-powered tape recorder (Uher 4400 report stereo IC) with a pre-recorded feeding tape that I had pre-recorded before alone or together with Michael Ranta in Kabul. The stones of the lithophone were collected by Ranta and myself in the valley of Goldara around an old collapsed Buddhist stupa. Almost each of the hundred stone plate we had lifted was ringing." --Hartmut Geerken

Automatic Popular Music was recorded and mixed by Nicola Ratti between July and December 2023. The tracks consist almost entirely of sounds generated by automatisms programmed on modular synthesizers. These are combined with tape loops on which fragments of both acoustic and digital pianos are engraved, generating tracks that are structured on repetitiveness in both their rhythmic and harmonic components. The adjective "popular" is in this case the result of the other adjective "automatic" since the machine has been entrusted with the task of generating the melodic patterns and harmonic structures of the tracks on the disc. Automatic Popular Music is the first release by LL, a curatorial and editorial platform based in Milano and formed by artists and curators. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Cover photo by Cédrick Eymenier. Soundohm review: "A stunning piece of generative composition that almost entirely draws upon sounds created by automatisms programmed on modular synthesizers, placed in conjunction with tape loops of acoustic and digital pianos, it's an astoundingly seductive rethinking of Minimalism, balancing the razor's edge between hypnotic repetition and the deconstructivity abstract. At its best, experimental music is a creative realm, rich with ideas, conceptualism, and radical new ways of generating organizations of sound that challenge and rework the way we navigate the world around us, particularly at humanity's expressive juncture with technology. Among the fascinating artists currently navigating and pushing the territory of exploration toward unanticipated depths is the multi-instrumentalist, Nicola Ratti." For the better part of the last two decades, the Milan-based multi-instrumentalist, Nicola Ratti, has remained one of the shining lights in Italy's localized scene of experimental electronic and electroacoustic music. Through a steady stream of striking solo LPs issued by Room40, Where To Now?, Holidays Records, Die Schachtel, and numerous other imprints, as well as within his duo with Giuseppe Ielasi, Bellows, he has simultaneously carved out a singular place in the global landscape of sound, creating a deeply personal music that engages both cutting edge, forward thinking ideas, and ground breaking approaches to technology. Automatic Popular Music almost entirely draws upon sounds generated by automatisms programmed on modular synthesizers, placed in conjunction with tape loops of acoustic and digital pianos. The inner structures of the album's eight pieces are rooted in repetitiveness in both their rhythmic and harmonic components, somehow alluding to a strange narrative that Ratti has set up in his statement about their underpinnings.

2025 restock. "My Solid Ground were a German progressive rock band active in the 1970s. This obscure krautrock album called My Solid Ground from 1971 has long been considered a classic of the genre. The first track, the 13-minute 'Dirty Yellow Mist', certainly lives up to its reputation as the group embark on a dark space rock journey. It sounds like a mixture of psychedelic rock and progressive rock. With lots of long keyboard tones, a crunchy guitar riff, some acid guitar sounds and distorted chanting as well as some wordless vocals in higher pitches. 'That's You' has enough energy to pass for proto-punk, and the chorus of 'Do you wanna die' doesn't detract from this impression. The song 'The Executioner' is a dark piece that alternates between echoing vocals and intense guitar solos. The songs on the album are characterized by catchy melodies, experimental sounds and lyrical lyrics. If you are a fan of progressive rock or enjoy discovering new music, My Solid Ground could be an interesting choice for you."

2025 repress. 180-gram LP version with embossed chessboard artwork print and printed inner sleeve. In celebration of the 2016 35th anniversary of the December 12, 1981, recording of Manuel Göttsching's legendary E2-E4, one of electronic music's most influential recordings, Göttsching's MG.ART label presents an official reissue, carefully overseen by the master himself. Includes liner notes by Manuel Göttsching, archival photos, and an excerpt of David Elliott's review in Sounds from June 16, 1984.

"As the story is sometimes told, Göttsching stopped in the studio for a couple of hours in 1981 and invented techno. E2-E4 is the most compelling argument that techno came from Germany-- more so than any single Kraftwerk album, anyway. The sleeve credits the former Ash Ra Tempel leader with 'guitar and electronics', but few could stretch that meager toolkit like Göttsching. Over a heavenly two-chord synth vamp and simple sequenced drum and bass, Göttsching's played his guitar like a percussion instrument, creating music that defines the word 'hypnotic' over the sixty minutes . . . A key piece in the electronic music puzzle that's been name-checked, reworked and expanded upon countless times." --Mark Richardson, Pitchfork

WRWTFWW Records presents the first ever vinyl release for the outstanding soundtrack of 1999 Japanese action-political-thriller anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade by Hajime Mizoguchi. The epic full-length album is available as a limited-edition LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios and housed in a heavyweight 350gsm sleeve. Legendary animation film Jin-Roh was penned by Palme d'Or and Leone d'Oro award winning filmmaker, television director and writer Mamoru Oshii whose filmography includes Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Angel's Egg -- critically acclaimed works praised worldwide, notably by luminaries such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and The Wachowskis. The film was directed by leading studio Production I.G. affiliate Hiroyuki Okiura. The film's score, courtesy of famed anime and TV score composer, cellist and arranger Hajime Mizoguchi, evokes the dystopian world in which Jin-Roh takes place and captures the Little Red Riding Hood theme that carries the story -- a dark, atmospheric, and immensely emotional soundscape that takes you on a grand and immersive journey and stays with you forever. It blends classical, orchestrated ambient, and poignant melodies carried by ominous strings. This new project by WRWTFWW Records follows previous Japanese soundtracks from the catalogue: Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 2, Evil Dead Trap, and Violent Cop.

"For those of you who've mislaid your history goggles, this archival release recalls an ancient time in the world of recorded music. Yes, back in the dinosaur days of the 1990s, a creature known as Aerial M walked the earth, before evolving into Papa M and PAJO and beyond and back. Even then, the music of M had a next-wave vibe, walking upright among the knuckle-draggers (and having drinks in the evening with others of its genetic detachment). It was too much to last very long, of course -- but some things end up lasting forever, don't they? Fuck! So it is today that Drag City, an organization largely set up to bring you the best of all available M recordings, is proud to be there for the release of the only Aerial M session ever recorded for John Peel's BBC Radio One show, as it was originally recorded on March 3, 1998 and broadcast on April 2 of the same year. The studio versions of these songs, which appear on Aerial M's self-titled album and Papa M's Hole of Burning Alms comp, were played by "M" himself (now revealed to be David Pajo!), which makes this album a rare alternative view of the canonical M, played by an actual Aerial M band who, all too briefly, embodied the sound for a year or so before Papa brought a brand-new bag. This session found them fortuitously roadburned from several weeks in the European Theatre. OG-M's signature minimalist long-fuse sizzle is thrillingly intact here; in fact, even more so, as the tunes are jammed out past the studio versions' originally delineated borders, reaching rudely across the table in moments of liveness that the studio-bound project might have decided against when conferring only with the walls. For fans of their epic version of 'Turn Turn Turn,' this is more sweetmeats from that raucous old skull -- but if you've not been down this road before, be prepared: the taste will set you slowly aflame. And then, before you know it, the band is dined and dashed -- just like the band that Aerial M was, all too briefly amok on the earth that was too. Salute!"

It's a miracle that some records ever get made. Right in the middle of Ceausescu's ultra-repressive dictatorship, composer Iancu Dumitrescu managed to arrange for his first LP, a compilation of radical new music by Dumitrescu and three of his Romanian colleagues, all older than him: Ocavian Nemescu, Stefan Niculescu, and Corneliu Cezar. Dumitrescu was -- and remains -- one of the most iconoclastic figures in contemporary music. Often referred to as a spectralist (though he distances himself from the approach taken by the French spectralists) and self-described as an adherent of "acousmatic" music (though again he situates himself at a remove from the French electroacoustic composers) and highly influenced by deep studies in phenomenology, Dumitrescu's music often focuses intensely on one sonorous object, penetrating it until it is entirely blown open. He formed Ansamblul Hyperion, a chamber group featuring adventurous young musicians, in 1976. Four years later, against all odds, in a radio studio in Bucharest, they recorded this groundbreaking compilation for Electrecord, the state record company. The program starts with one of Dumitrescu's most important works, the breathtaking, string-centric "Movemur et Sumus" (1978), translated from the Latin as "move and exist." Nemescu's "Combinatii In Cercuri" (1965) was composed for the ensemble together with an electronic component that was added to the piece in 1980. Composed in 1979, Niculescu's "Sincronie" features Dumitrescu himself on piano, as well as conducting, as he does on all the works; written for an indeterminate number of performers between two and twelve (here featuring nine) it utilizes fixed elements in the score together with openly improvised elements, expanding from a core vibraphone part to encompass an almost ecstatic meditation on stasis and motion. Cezar's work "Rota" (1976) combines Romanian, Balkan, and other Eastern melodic resonances with electronics (some of them startlingly video-game-like) and preparations on various instruments, lending an ear to the natural sounds of wind, waves, and seagull calls. This historically charged document, released in 1981 in Romania and available for the most part only there, has never been reissued in any form. Gorgeously remastered from the original tapes, it appears here with its original cover design.