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12"
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SHELTER 066LP
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"Bulbs is a band that I like so much that I started a record label to rep their work. I put out their Light Ships album in 2008 because I was so impressed with how futuristic their music was. They've remained active on their own terms since then, releasing a number of micro-editions of their music including a few incredible tapes (Sky Listening, Moon Episodes) and a few splits (a 12" with Mouthus (IMPREC 255LP) and a 7" with Wobbly). Generally Bulbs' music does not sound like the guitar/drum instrumentation would indicate. They have much more to do with Chain Reaction than The White Stripes, but with the benefit of live instrumentation and an adventurous edge, they end up much wilder, looser, more organic than anything coming out of Berlin. Color Attic is the second major work by Bulbs and finds the group exploring more oblique ambience, elliptical and granular guitar mashing up with loose, swinging synth drums, orbiting and colliding with each other. All experimentation aside, Color Attic remains lush, beautiful and melodic to the point that you might find yourself humming parts of 'Ladder Wing' while you're doing the dishes." --Pete Swanson, January 3, 2016
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CD
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FTS 001CD
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"As a member of Axolotl, as a filmmaker, or on his own, as ball lightning, he's delivered the goods. William Sabiston formed Bulbs with Jon Almaraz in 2005, shortly after his leaving Axolotl and shortly following Jon's move from Bakersfield to San Fran. Jon was a younger, ambitious guitarist just hitting the big city. Apparently the pairing was destiny, William's beating-around-the-bush electronic drum styles mesh perfectly with Jon's ultra-processed minute guitar jabs. Bulbs hovered around the SF underground for a few years, only occasionally releasing hints at what they were capable of. I received a cassette, Anela Of Tailoo Too, which left me feeling like I had been punched in the gut. The music was light years away from anything else in the underground scenes they were occupying. Light Ships finds Bulbs at their most psychedelic and pointillistic. They occupy an odd space between the gloss of Kompakt Records' minimalism, the glue huff ambiguity of a band like Mouthus, and the stuttering clicks and confusion of a Han Bennik/Derek Bailey duo. There's a lot of movement from more acoustic to more electronic sounds, from more straight rhythmic patterns to totally elliptical percussive gurgling, from understanding what's going on to not having any sort of idea who is doing what to whom. Despite all these shifts and potential contradictions, the music manages to be entirely cohesive and the record is surprisingly easy on the ears. Everything here has its place."
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