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LP
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VHF 014LP
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2024 repress. "First ever US vinyl of the second album by Bristol's Flying Saucer Attack. This edition of the LP is produced in full collaboration with FSA/Dave Pearce. Originally released on VHF as a compact disc at the end of 1994, this was the second FSA album, compiling five tracks from impossible-to-get seven-inches with twenty minutes of previously unreleased (and good) material. Similar in blend to the band's first LP (also newly issued in the USA on deluxe vinyl), the songs hang together as a collection that improves on the individual singles. The two proper singles that make up half of Distance -- 'Soaring High'/'Standing Stone' and 'Crystal Shade'/'Distance' were instant collectables upon their release, so this album was compiled to make the songs permanently available. 'Soaring High' and 'Crystal Shade' are jagged bits of fuzzed-out pop genius; tracks like the mutant concrete 'techno' of 'Distance' and the two lengthy glissando workouts on 'Oceans' and 'Oceans II' offset the more conventional tunes, upping the overall impact as a whole album."
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VHF 125LP
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2024 repress. "Received a 7.7 rating from Pitchfork. Doubles, the first widely available release by Irish guitarist Cian Nugent, showcases a major talent in the audacious setting of two side-long epics. Clearly inspired by the Takoma classics and the recent generation of greats (Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, etc.), Nugent delivers a pair of perfectly formed takes on the classic steel-string sound, one (mostly) unaccompanied, the other an expertly arranged full-band throw-down. 'Peaks and Troughs' is a slow-building solo piece in the style of Fahey's 'Fare Forward Voyagers,' with each part perfectly connected to the previous. Nugent has ample technique, but the virtuosity here is all in service of the mood and the build-up. His guitar has a darker, more intimate sound than many current players, without the brittle ring common to fingerstyle. The emergence of a deep drone after fifteen minutes shakes up the track, like a swarm of bees spilling out of the speakers. In contrast, 'Sixes and Sevens' is a percolating jam in the style of Jim O'Rourke's classic Bad Timing LP, with Nugent's steel-string riding an inventive wave of drums, organ, viola, woodwinds and brass in an ambitious, filmic masterpiece. The main tune of the song is instantly memorable, building momentum before a subdued interlude that resets things for an elegant, orchestrated finish."
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VHF 164LP
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"Debut standalone VHF album by the Elkhorn duo of Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard, a tight set of six studio recordings in a variety of moods and featuring a lot of new sound textures. Elkhorn's prolific stream of releases since 2016 has highlighted their mastery of sprawling long-form, acoustic-driven hypno-jams, with an emphasis on live performance (including on their collaboration with Pelt's Mike Gangloff on the Shackamaxon Concert album). The Red Valley is a more layered and composed-sounding set, with the duo overdubbing extensively on top of their own dual guitars. Leading off the LP, 'Crystal Hummingbird' features one of their signature minor-modal vamps, with layers of fuzz bass, zither, and frame drum providing weight and psychedelic density. 'Gray Salt Trail' continues the vibe, with thick fuzz vibraphone supplementing the cinematic palate, leading into the spare side-closer 'Black Wind Of Kayenta,' where Sheppard plays electric 12-string and Gardner solos on acoustic guitar. Side two starts with 'Road to Chaco Canyon,' a brooding duet that builds momentum with Gardner's insistent frame drum cadence, dropping down into the quiet string pool of 'Inside Spider Rock' (featuring Fern Knight's Jesse Sparhawk on gloriously swirling lever harp) and the graceful finale 'Jackrabbit Hops.'"
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VHF 161LP
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"Fourth volume of Library Music miniatures by Daniel O'Sullivan (Ulver, Æthenor, This is Not This Heat, etc) for VHF, this time commissioned by the legendary German Music Library, Sonoton. Another sampling of O'Sullivan's versatility and brilliance as a composer, performer, and sound designer, the focus on The Pastoral Machine is more 'electronic' compared to the three previous albums O'Sullivan recorded for KPM (also issued on LP by VHF), with simpler arrangements and a focus on gentle and emotive synthesized soundworlds. Even without as many full ensemble arrangements, there's still a wealth of diversity -- 'Empathogen' opens the record with latticed arpeggiating sequences recalling Japanese 'environmental music' or Persian Surgery-era Terry Riley, 'Fruit Of Stream Entry' burbles with gentle ripples evoking the album's title, while 'The Silversmith Of Space' mines a simple chord sequence evoking Eno's '70s classic short instrumentals. "Superstrings" is a series of hypnotic overlapping guitar patterns, like a lost Ash Ra or Achim Reichel track. The brief 'Star Lore' is a heavy highlight with deep bass washes and grainy, tape-laminated melodies, followed immediately by Rose Keeler Schaffeler's vocal feature on 'The Oscillating Love' recalling futurist new-age pop in the vein of Enya or Virginia Astley. Housed in a jacket and heavy euro-style inner featuring collages by O'Sullivan, soon to be the subject of an art book published by Timeless Editions in mid-2024."
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VHF 163LP
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"Third album from Finnish group Mahti, a collaboration between three members of stalwart avant-rock legends Circle and Hannu Saha. Saha plays the Kantele, a traditional Finnish acoustic instrument which can have five, ten, fifteen, or thirty-six strings, and which is plucked like a zither or harp, producing a delicate string sound. Following their two very limited studio albums on UK label Riot Season, Konsertti I is an excellent recording of the group in live performance, capturing their understated and beautiful mix of ambient, electronic, and string music. Saha's Kantele centers the music, sometimes plucking out melodic arpeggios, at others blending in with the burbling-but-subtle electronic and electric guitar backdrop. Doesn't really sound like anything else, but recommended to fans of AR & Machines, Ash Ra Temple, Richter Band, Durutti Column, etc. These ancient musicians played their 'mahti' -- and the sound they produced was called 'musiikki'."
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VHF 162LP
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"Finland has long had a uniquely progressive underground, with thriving punk, avant, jazz, and rock scenes with oversized output and impact. Jussi Lehtisalo's (Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, Mahti, etc) label Ektro has been at the center of this activity for the last three decades, with a stream of excellent and conceptually bonkers releases covering music of all types. Here, Lehtisalo joins up with Jan Anderzén (of Kemialliset Ystävät among others) for an album of absolutely fun and unusual miniature duets that sound like alien Library music beamed in from the outerlands. Tracks like 'Luukku Yksi' and 'Puistossa' use a charmingly retro synth-y sound palate and Cluster-like melodic sensibility to make accessible some deceptively 'out' music. Some cuts (like 'Kylpy') have a vague hint of early '80s post-punk / new wave vibes, bouncing along in a friendly way with odd interjections of sample debris and electronics jumping out of the mix to keep it weird. The surging 'Hymy yössä' could be music for the credits of the world's hippest newscast. Beautiful jacket by renown Helsinki-based artist Dylan Ray Arnold, bringing the die-cut techniques of their gallery pieces like 'Growth of the Night Plants' to LP form."
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VHF 160LP
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"Volume 3 of a set of collaborations between the prolific Argentine polymaths Reynols and the inescapable Acid Mothers Temple. Recorded in Buenos Aries on AMT's 2017 South American Tour, the music has identifiable sonic elements from both groups but ends up sounding like neither, with a surprising weightlessness that keeps things jammy and psychedelic until the final track's blustering rock. Taking up most of side one, 'Kicking Air Bricks' has a loose Gong/'70s Euro-classic vibe, with Satoshima Nani getting to swing on the drums in a way that isn't always part of AMT's steamroller, while the rest of the gang layers in abstract piano, percussion, glissando guitar, etc. 'Multiverse Turtle Reflex' closes the side with a thick drone coda. Side two starts with Miguel Tomasin's gentle vocal and organ accompaniment on 'Smelling Oneiric Asado' before the group gradually gathers momentum with Wolf's thick bass anchoring layers of clean and loose guitar interplay. 'Lemurian Tsunami Inside A Hat' is a 13-minute heavy rock epic, with the Reynols' guitars going head to head with Makota Kawabata's easily recognized interjections, ramping up into a riffy crescendo."
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VHF 159LP
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"Delicate and beautiful music from the combined forced of the recently ubiquitous East-Coast psychedelic combo Elkhorn and Pelt's Mike Gangloff, laying down two epic raga-like performances captured on a 2022 collaborative tour. Gangloff -- fresh from the triumph of his VHF solo fiddle album Evening Measures -- has found a distinct instrumental voice, blending drone music and trad influences in way that really advances the tradition into new areas. 'East Dauphin Suite' builds patiently on the interlocking acoustic guitars of the Elkhorn duo, with Gangloff's hardanger fiddle carrying the melody over the top. The sound is a neat riff on American primitive, with just enough Appalachian-style touches via Gangloff's careful glissandos cutting through the Vuh-type chords and patterns to create a unique and supremely melodic hybrid. 'Summerfield Raga' takes things further out, with more microtonal variation in the embroidery, with assertive bowing and an increased energy level. Pressed in Chicago and housed in an amazing jacket by Jake Blanchard."
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VHF 158CD
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"A genuinely sprawling collection of high-fidelity mutation music that suits the compact disc format perfectly, Hypnotape is the third consecutive Sunburned Hand Of The Man album of studio assemblages following 2019's Headless and 2021's Pick A Day To Die. Recorded throughout 2021 and 2022, it's an album possessed with a peculiar runaway locomotion which jump cuts feverishly between unusual atmospheres yet maintains a beguiling consistency -- throbbing, twisting, undulating rhythmic blast-offs suddenly kick the door down into serene realms of nuanced acoustic privacy which are unexpectedly plunged back, face first into a miasma of shirtless, raging thuggery, ad infinitum. The album is notable in the group's monstrous catalog for a few reasons: first, it showcases founding member Conrad Capistran stepping out from behind the keyboards and electronics to spread his smooth, buttery baritone atop the majority of the tracks. From his velvet cooing above the pulsing whirlwind of opener 'People Person' to his vivid and febrile musings as a trip reporter on the frontlines of the meltdown zone on 'Roger' his honeyed vocals guide the listener Virgil-like through the inferno all the way to the album's finale where he duets with Ron Schneiderman on the old Dino Valenti/Quicksilver chestnut 'What About Me'. Secondly, it features the recorded debut of Sunburned's longtime friend and collaborator Mark Perretta after years of touring with the group. Some may remember Perretta from his days stomping across the primordial Boston underground of the late '80s/early '90s with the mighty Subskin Cables or his solo career as Deluxx but most, no doubt, will be familiar with his stint with Lou Barlow, John Davis and Bob Fay as Deluxx Folk Implosion, most notably when Perretta's whimsical ode to fatherhood 'Daddy Never Understood' was used in the opening sequence to Larry Clark's beloved coming of age tale Kids in 1996. Finally, with Hypnotape, Sunburned steps into the hallowed VHF arena after decades of hovering along adjacent corridors!"
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VHF 152LP
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"Third in a trilogy of albums of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This Is Not This Heat, etc.) following 2020's Electric Māyā and 2021's Fourth Density. For heads, the term 'library music' in 2021 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate-diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. The fifteen tracks on The Physic Garden are fully-formed and orchestrated compositions, which would be highlights on anyone's release, never mind as incidental music. Of the music, O'Sullivan says: 'The Physic Garden is an album of diverse instrumentals inspired by a swathe of verdant vistas from manicured gardens and follies to urban common land, overgrown and forgotten. Convalescent memories in the shape of psychedelic auditory botanics.' Key tracks include the droning acoustic folk of the title song; the Canterbury-esque rolling horn and woodwind melody of 'Return The Heart' (with expert drum kit from Frank Byng); the prog-ish odd meter interlude 'Buttercup Tea'; The quiet ambience and delicate melody of 'Dusty Feather'; and the Eno-like drift of 'Vapourer Larvae.'"
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VHF 156LP
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"Third VHF dispatch from the mighty and prolific Ashtray Navigations, following 2020's mega and extremely popular Imaginary Greatest Hits package. The curiously titled The Apotheosis of VaVaVoom is one of Phil Todd and Melanie O'Dubhshlaine's most direct and rocking packages, with mucho ripping lead guitar action backed by some absolutely fun bubbling synth and drum grooves. 'Irons Three' kicks off with wicked wah'd out leads, followed by the subdued ambience of 'Tasteful Grey Putting' and 'Appropros Tower' and a segue into the driving 'Hinges on the Clapometer.' Side two's opening combo of 'Slush Puppy Window' and 'Avatar Down The Highway' sounds like a head on collision between Terje Rypdal and Tangerine Dream on a dark bender, with laser guitar over a bed of tumbling electronics and tiny noises. The closing 'Crack Another Bloodcapsule' is one of Ashtray Nav's all-time best, like a lost krautrock classic jam with a driving rhythm from guest drummer Alex Neilson." Green vinyl.
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VHF 157LP
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"First solo LP in a decade from long-time Pelt/Black Twigs/Eight Point Star leader, presenting a remarkable program of solo Hardanger and octave fiddle music. Evening Measures is a bold and unique statement, a direct and disarming individual expression of a musician's inner thoughts and inspirations. Like some of Mike's work in other projects, this ricochets back and forth across the line between the most traditional and the most 'out' music, blending drone, melody, and the pure tactile sensation of acoustic string music into a personal sound. A set of all-original compositions (save the traditional 'Wild Geese Chase'), Mike's playing is languorous and expressive, with the sympathetic strings of the Hardanger-style instrument ringing out on some cuts like multiple players. The album touches on a variety of styles, keeping things fresh for the entire playing time. 'The Other Side of Catawba' is a deeply psychedelic and immersive cloud of hovering string sound, reminiscent of some of Pelt's more gentle explorations. 'New River Suite' (some of which appeared in group versions by Eight Point Star on a PBS documentary about Appalachia's New River) is a keening set of themes that have the memorable melodies of established traditional repertoire but are all completely new. 'Wild Geese Chase' is a rugged and wild slash through a well-known fiddle standard. 'Halfway From Shawsville' rounds things out with a lovely tribute to Mike's Virginia town."
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VHF 155LP
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"The Flower-Corsano Duo, the world's best and only drums / Japan banjo duo return to VHF for their first album since 2009's monumental The Four Aims. Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra) and Chris Corsano (frequently seen with Bill Orcutt, Joe McPhee, and other luminaries) work an area that's not really jazz, not really anything -- a stream of endlessly mutating free sound, a unique mind-merge between Corsano's nimble drums and percussion and Flower's amplified Japan banjo (also known as a Shahi Baaja, a type of electric Indian zither with both fretted / keyed and drone strings). Flower cuts a highly original line, playing neither "leads" nor making drone-music. Less amplified here than on the more 'heavy' The Four Aims, the strings ring out with distinct clarity in short snippets of melody and a canvas of pleasing electric sound. Corsano's bag is to charm out a flow of thoughtful percussion engagement, rolling around on his kit, continually varying his attack and approach in conversational free-jazz style. The Halcyon is a precious addition to a tiny discography, a fortunate event even in today's world of small press overabundance."
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VHF 151LP
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"Second in a series of three records of Library Music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This Is Not This Heat, etc.) following 2020's Electric Māyā. For heads, the term 'Library Music' in 2021 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate-diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment with. Fourth Density's fifteen tracks include several beguiling instrumental beauties, including the Ashra-like 'Astral Survivor' and the drifty 'Faster Than Light.' Mixed in with the instrumental are almost-pop gems like the hypnotic 'Orgone Attenuation' and 'Head In The Belfry,' both with guest vocals from Astrud Steeholder. Like the other volumes, this is in a beautiful jacket designed by O'Sullivan and Turner Prizenominee Mark Titchner and pressed on aesthetically complimentary blue vinyl."
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VHF 154LP
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"Remarkable debut album by new Cosmic-Appalachian string band, birthed from the same Virginia firmament that has brought forth Pelt, Jack Rose, Black Twig Pickers, and Spiral Joy Band. Led by Mike Gangloff's droning fiddle and Matt Peyton's fingerpicked guitar, Eight Point Star mines the modal traditions of both old-time Appalachia and far-out drone music to produce beautiful tunes that are equal parts memorable and psychedelic. Side A starts with the gentle guitar and fiddle duet of 'Winchester's Dream' before segueing into the loping 'Waiting on the Band,' where the subliminal pulse of Tim Thornton's upright bass animates the music until the lengthy lockgroove repetition of 'The Interloper.' Closing the side, 'Flowerthrower' and 'Mount-Calvary Peacock' have a vibe reminiscent of Popol Vuh's mid-70s masterpieces, combining sawing fiddle and melodic guitar with simple and haunting chord structures. Side B is bookended by two country-blues influenced numbers, with Peyton's boisterous vocal and guitar and Isak Howell's harp leading the upbeat 'Brand New Shirt' and the elegiac 'Weeping Cherry Cry.' In between the two vocal features are a segued mini-epic of moods, including an expanded group lineup collapsing midway through 'A Water Panther Speaks' into an eerie soundscape of singing bowls and distant gong sounds as dark as the night in remotest Virginia."
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VHF 153LP
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"Following a series of records with Thrill Jockey (including the sensational Seasonal Hire with Steve Gunn), the Black Twig Pickers return to the VHF mothership to continue their charming and original take on old time and Appalachian-inspired string band sounds. Together since 2001, and a continuous presence in the music's true home of Southwest Virginia, the Twigs represent the actively working evolution of the traditions -- learning songs from other locals, playing dances at the Floyd Country Store, etc -- without retroartifice or nostalgia. The ragged-but-right performances and recording (and Sally Ann Morgan's perfect cover design) sit at the ideal intersection of DIY/'underground' and local string-sound values. On Friend's Peace, the band travels a range of styles, from the lovely harmony on the trad-classic 'Moonshiner' to the racing fiddle/guitar/banjo on the 'Money Musk' medley. Mixed in with the traditional songs are several perfectly-placed original tunes, including Mike Gangloff's keening 'Cara's Waltz' and Isak Howell's solo guitar spotlight on 'Barnswallow'."
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VHF 150LP
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"First in a series of three records of library music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O'Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This is Not This Heat, etc). For heads, the term 'library music' in 2020 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate diggers hunting for 'funky breaks' -- but London's venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like O'Sullivan to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. Electric Māyā includes eighteen gems, beautifully arranged and recorded specifically for the challenge of the short form. These are fully realized tunes, not just clips from the middle of some jam to be used on late night TV. The obvious touchstones here are Eno's On Land and Music For Films, but O'Sullivcan's touch on multiple instruments and knack for melody extend the music far beyond mere atmospherics. There are plenty of drifty segments, each rendered fully realized -- a timely reminder that a well-made drone or bit of ambience can set its spell in two or three minutes rather than thirty. In a beautiful jacket designed by O'Sullivan and Turner Prizenominee Mark Titchner."
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LP+4CD
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VHF 148LP
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"27th Anniversary set for the multi-dimensional midland screw, led by Phil Todd and Melanie O'Dubhslaine. Nearly six hours of cosmic, psychedelic, mind-boggling sounds, featuring a newly recorded LP plus four max-length CDs curated by AshNav connoisseurs Rob Hayler, Henry Rollins, Pete Coward, and Neil Campbell. The CDs are drawn from the band's massive back catalog of mostly small run / private releases, covering activity dating back to 1994. Mining a deep well of thousand-yard stare psychedelia, Ashtray Navigations possess of one of the most exciting outré music catalogs of the contemporary era, matching the classics from any era in originality and straight-up bonkers fun. This epic release includes a full range of hypnotic jams, including sequencer-led cosmic workouts, drifty ambience, and a heavy dose of Phil Todd's ripping, laser guitar leads. The gatefold LP also includes pithy liner notes from Matt Valentine, Henry Rollins, Jon Dale, and more." "Phil. Well I am glad you're finally back from your place in Monaco and getting to work. The pictures of you with the polo mallet and the horses you sent were impressive, sure but when you sell yourself as an artist type and then are seen cavorting with those over tanned Euro trustfunders, it is alienating to your audience. You are, however, the only person I have ever met who has actually cavorted and that's why you will always be a mid-level god to me." --Henry Rollins
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VHF 149LP
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"Mysterious and minimal instrumental album by Richard Youngs, dreamt at home and recorded quickly in Glasgow's Green Door Studio. Centered on a single piano chord and bare snare strikes, Youngs builds a haunting atmosphere in four episodes, featuring his guitar, organ, harmonica, and voice. The reductive and hypnotic approach here recalls his early classics like Advent and Festival. Another essential work from the prolific and truly unique musician. Creator of nearly one hundred albums, Richard Youngs somehow continues to find ways to surprise listeners. Even in these dark, dark ages where everyone knows everything, Youngs finds new creative ways -- recording albums of accessible 'rock' and folk music for the overground Glass and O Genesis labels, playing high-concept disco in the critically acclaimed AMOR; and releasing an extensive and bewildering series of albums where he plays all instruments with his feet!"
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VHF 076LP
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"VHF presents the first time on vinyl for Pearls From The River, the all acoustic epics album from the 'classic' Pelt trio lineup of Jack Rose, Mike Gangloff, and Patrick Best. Recorded in a single March 2003 session in Virginia by Mikel Dimmick, this was a superb distillation of their interests at the time (both alone and together -- Rose's first solo records, the emergence of the Black Twigs as a busy working band, etc). 'Up the North Fork' is a trio for banjo, baritone banjo, and cello -- after the snakey bowed introduction, the fast thwacking of the banjos and forcefully strummed cello take over and whip up a storm. The other two tracks are lengthy ragas (one in C, one in D) with the virtuoso modal guitar of Rose front and center. The title track features Rose on twelve-string, dueling with Mike Gangloff on esraj. Best's thick, sonorous double-bass bowing anchors the duet between the lightning thrumming/plucking of Rose's guitar and Gangloff's arcing, sharply bowed half-time melody. 'Road To Catawba' has Rose on six-string, with Gangloff moving to tamboura. Best's bass is again the foundation, with whistling overtones rising from his bow over the low drone. Liner notes by Byron Coley. 'Join Pelt in celebrating the ecstatic joy that results from refusing to accept the alleged primacy of shit-culture. It does not exist if we will not believe in it. And we must refuse it on all levels always. The proof of its surrender is at hand. Yr hand. Right now, motherfucker!' --Byron Coley"
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VHF 147LP
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"Debut collaboration between these like-minded English underground titans, perfectly mixing the long-form pop eccentricities of Grumbling Fur with the free electric sound of Astral Social Club to produce four epic and memorable tracks. The music is dense and layered, with hidden hooks, haunting vocals, unidentifiable electronic shuddering, delicate ambience, etc. Challenging but completely accessible and beautiful stuff. After a brief vocal declaration of purpose, 'Back To The Egg' rides a motorik pulse ala Harmonia or Kraftwerk for ten hypnotic minutes. 'Three Years Apart' pulses gently in a burbling cloud, reminding that along with crafting song gems, Grumbling Fur has collaborated with noted avant-composer/performer Charlemagne Palestine. 'Ozone Antifreeze Intelligence' layers electronics over a haunting piano and vocal melody, framed by subliminal fuzz guitar. 'Toejam Boxdrum' closes the album with an uproarious polyrhythm hidden by more layers of soft-focus electro-fizz, gradually giving way to thick bass riffs and tremelo'd interjections."
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VHF 146LP
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Limited 2024 restock. "Debut album by the New Zealand duo of Bruce Russell (Dead C, Handful Of Dust, etc) and Luke Wood. Visceral Realists is a high-concept commentary on the state of vinyl, analog recording, music culture, art, etc. A 45-rpm bullet of short bursts of free electric sound, the music here is tactile and rough but not 'noise music.' Russell and Wood play over loops of scratchy records, with their guitars and electronics surging to get over the wall. Russell's guitar sound from his vintage transistor amp and anti-style is instantly recognizable from countless classic Dead C sides, but the tracks are more painterly than recent DC epics -- these are celebratory vignettes of thoughts -- singles, if you will. Originally made as an unfindable edition of twenty by Wood's Ilam Press label to accompany an exhibit of NZ lathe-cut records, this new edition is beautifully packaged in a debossed and letterpress printed sleeve designed by Wood and printed by Stumptown in Portland. Two color risographs printed by Wood in NZ are tipped onto the jacket, and an additional two inserts provide revelatory notes by Russell and glam shots of the instruments that made the sounds. Also includes download slip."
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LP+CD
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VHF 143LP
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"Wingtip Sloat's slashing and arty post-punk sounds weirdly contemporary these days, so what better news than to have their first new music in almost twenty years! Purge And Swell is a 12-inch 45 RPM mini LP with ten new tracks, and is accompanied by a 76-minute bonus CD Lost Decade with thirty-one additional tracks. The 12-inch includes plenty of the trebly guitar blare and low-fi charm immediately familiar from the group's classic early '90s singles, backstopping winning and memorable tunes like 'Stars Bailed Out' and 'Gizzard Jett.' The bonus CD includes bric-a-brac from the Sloat rehearsal room, with found poetry, perfect ninety-second rockers (the DC-specific 'Cruisin' The Ellipse'), confusing instrumental detours, and winsome covers of Eno, Dylan, Wire, Belle & Sebastian and more."
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2LP
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VHF 145LP
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"First ever reissue and first time on vinyl for this unique Flying Saucer Attack live album, expanded with additional material and a new side four mix from Jim O'Rourke. Produced in collaboration with Dave Pearce / FSA and Bruce Russell (compiler of the original CD release for his Corpus Hermeticum label), featuring new artwork by Bruce Russell as well. While rightly known for the folk-influenced songs and spacey instrumentals of their proper albums, the briefly active live version of FSA unexpectedly delivered a blistering wave of electric sound. Recorded at various shows in 1994, In Search Of Spaces heaves with long passages of feedback guitar racket, broken up by sections of surging rock music. The live band focused almost exclusively on visceral, trebly guitar noise-- which, while always a key element in their sound, was greeted by audiences with total mystification (and often disapproval). Following a few brief attempts to settle a lineup and play songs from their records, Dave Pearce / FSA abandoned live performance altogether, leaving behind this album (and the barely available P. A. Blues CDR) as the sole document of his in-person delivery. Originally compiled and released in 1996, this reissue adds several minutes of music back to the original program that had been edited out by FSA for being 'too rock.' For side four, Jim O'Rourke revisited the original 1994 live tapes and has made a spooky and brooding new mix of music exclusive to this release."
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LP
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VHF 144LP
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"The debut release by The Slowest Lift (Sophie Cooper and Julian Bradley) presents a new chapter in the long-running tradition of radical English music duos. Originally formed via a commission from the Supernormal Festival, Cooper (an accomplished solo performer and collaborator) and Bradley (from frequent VHF delinquents Vibracathedral Orchestra) play a kind of gentle post-industrial psychedelia, with Cooper's lovely vocals floating over a collage of live and electronic performances. The songs are a blend of straightforward performance and eccentric bricolage, with rude electronic interjections sitting comfortably alongside delicate guitar and keyboard melodies. Zoviet France-like low-fi atmospherics compete with Cooper's voice for air on tracks like 'Crystal Fracture' and 'Hi From The Skyline Swim,' while the duo's surprising cover of Duran Duran's 'The Chauffeur' deep on side two sneaks in perfectly, a mini-pop music drama reimagined as pure hallucination."
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