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ABD 032CD
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Originally released in 2005 as a limited edition vinyl LP -- the first Alvarius B. (Alan Bishop/Sun City Girls) full-length release in 7 years. Blood Operatives Of The Barium Sunset is a collection of songs seemingly based on actual, but unnamed, shady characters of the global underworld past and present, according to the brief statement on the insert. Regardless of intent, this is cryptic folk music of the highest order, with several tracks employing folk/rock/psych orchestrations featuring the talents of Eyvind Kang, Tim Young, Richard Bishop, Andrew McGinnis and Randall Dunn. Hailed as a masterpiece by a fair number of the few who've actually heard it, Blood Operatives... sounds as fresh, challenging, and separated from everything else today, as it did six years ago upon initial release. Twisted Americana folklore breeding with baroque Italian cinematic pop, dark ballads, and vagrant story lines, these 11 unique tracks compile the most "produced" Alvarius B. record to date. CD tri-fold digipak comes with a booklet of song lyrics.
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ABD 046CD
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Repressed! "A much-needed CD issue of an LP, released this last February in microquantities. The dastardly minds behind this project, a first spurt from the reactivated Poon Village label, have collaborated on the new package as well. And it is a deluxe eye-swim through various forms of feminine beauty, its 32-page booklet displaying images that look as though they were found in a smoky catacomb carved into the hills of Charlestown. By my count, Baroque Primitiva is the sixth album by Alvarius B. and is, like its predecessors, a deep dive through mysterious waters. The 11 tracks here were recorded at various sessions over the course of several years and range from 'Humor Police' (a track imagining what Syd Barrett might have sounded like had he been a devotee of Rembetika) to a trippily Beatles-damaged version of 'You Only Live Twice' (the sole surviving shard of the aborted Alvarius B. Plays The Bond Songbook project). Baroque Primitiva is the first long-format telegram from Alvarius B. since he lost his mothership (the Sun City Girls, with whom he employed his slave name, Alan Bishop) and it also feels like his most consistently non-acerbic -- perhaps even most beauty-oriented -- work. The songs often have a meditative pace, filled with gorgeous lo-fi blends of vocals, guitar, bass and keys. Eyvind Kang guests on several tracks, but the bulk of the material was broadcast direct from the naked soul of Alvarius B., which turns out to be a warmer, sweeter place than you might imagine. And while this CD will be available for a tad longer than the 30 seconds the LP lasted, a set as thoroughly gorgeous as this will not linger. Take a deep breath of its magic and go for it. Why deny yourself such bountiful pleasures?" --Byron Coley
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CD
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ABD 004CD
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CD reissue of the first Alvarius B record. Thirty-two instrumental acoustic guitar excursions into a realm of weird lo-fi rustic beauty that sketch retro-portraits of several folk guitar styles, some which may never have existed before. From abrasive to delicate, these lucid antique paintings with acoustic guitar employ Appalachian polyrhythms, dark melodies, flamenco thrash, alien tunings, pseudo eastern drones, cinematic backroad twang, and other hybrid ideas not easily described. This record is a folk drifter classic and is now available again for the first time in a decade. Originally released as 1000 copies (vinyl only) in 1994 on Abduction. Recorded from 1981-1989 by Alvarius B (aka Alan Bishop/Sun City Girls) onto various portable cassette decks and includes the original 28 tracks from the LP plus four unreleased bonus tracks.
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