About me: SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS or SHOWS or GIGS
Islington Mill, Friday 27th November, £7 adv from www.ticketline.co.uk and www.wegottickets.com, £10 door
“Volcano The Bear have produced some of the finest, wildest British music of the last 10 years on record and on stage…” (The Wire, Jan 2006)
“No one sounds, has sounded or will ever sound quite like Volcano the Bear.” (Losing Today)
"...ultimately they sound like nothing else…An inspired use of sonic material…” (The Wire, 'Classic Erasmus Fusion' review)
“…what Colin Turnbull’s field recordings were to Pygmy music, this music ('The Idea Of Wood') could be to a mysterious race of backwoods British dwarves.” (Dusted)
From Avanto Festival 2007, Helsinki: "Volcano The Bear...combines improvisation and playful experimentation with a conception of music that borders on the anthropological. Their extensive knowledge of the traditions of both experimental and folk music, combined with their other influences, makes the band a difficult one to categorise. Although VTB has been mentioned in connection with bands such as Vibracthedral Orchestra, Jackie-O Motherfucker and No-Neck Blues Band, VTB differs from the aforementioned as it consciously avoids the trance-inducing pulse in its music. Rather than trying to reach a trance through repetition they set up a ritual space where a large number of instruments associate freely. Absurd humour and eclectic ways of producing sounds are characteristic of VTB's live performances, which are largely built on improvisation. Familiar themes can be introduced as milestones on a journey towards a result, which remains unknown. The band records everything they play, and uses these recordings as raw material for their albums. For Volcano The Bear, post-processing is part of composing; their records are reminiscent of how This Heat and Faust used collage methods in rock music...The surprise element of their performances is further emphasised by the fact that their records - combinations of disciplined studio work and recorded improvisation - often sound nothing like the music played by the band on stage.
Friday 12th Feb 2010, Islington Mill, James St, Salford, 7.30pm, £6 (adv)
MV&EE + The Doozer + Irma Vep + A Wake
Tickets from www.ticketline.co.uk and www.wegottickets.com
Still harvesting and sustaining in the deep woods of Vermont , MV & EE (Matt “MV” Valentine, once the brawn of the Tower Recordings, and Erika “EE” Elder, CEO of Heroine Celestial Agriculture and The MV & EE Medicine Show) are following their 2008 release Drone Trailer with their feature-film-for-the-blind Barn Nova, which marks their return to the Ecstatic Peace! label.
MV & EE aspire to the sort of beautifully rewarding standard in their documented output that Sun Ra or The Grateful Dead achieved. It is with Ecstatic Peace! that their most consistent works have been born and continue reach fans with The Golden Road, their most constant band. Together with Doc Dunn (pedal steel, rhythm guitar, vocals, drums) and Mike Smith (Rickenbacker 4001, vocals) who appeared on Drone Trailer as well as J Mascis (drums, guitar, plate reverb) and Woods’ Jeremy Earl (vocal, drums) they take you on the ride now known as Barn Nova and here they jam. Justin Pizzoferrato also appears contributing percussion, space echo and aiding once again at the controls. This album was recorded at MV & EE’s own home studio “Maximum Arousal Farm” as well as their current local New England rooms of choice, “Bank Row” (an old mid 1900’s bank) and J’s home studio “Bisquiteen.”
These kindred spirits share a wealth of ideas including a serious reverence and desire to upgrade/expand the classic-rock idiom. Barn Nova marks the return of “Spectrasound,” MV’s production technique that places tones dancing all around the stereo sound field: it has to be heard to be believed. This effect is all the more impressive that the majority of it was created recording live, rather than conjured through studio post-production during mixing. Especially potent on the A side-ending stomp “Summer Magic” where Erika’s economical leads go head-to-head with J’s on a particularly mind-blowing live-in-studio effort; It brings to mind the vibe of “Green Blues”, “Mother Of Thousands” and even an electric “Moon Jook” with matured songwriting.
Inspired by the likes of Jerry Garcia, John Cipollina and Tom Verlaine, Matt Valentine displays an insatiable appetite to play in various idioms with constant exploration and development. Meanwhile, Elder’s harmony leads recall the glorious twinned guitar lines of Canned Heat’s Al Wilson & Henry Vestine at their most potent.
Matt ‘mv’ Valentine hails from the green collar/blues dirt as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, also known for his explorations on the dov_bantar (a banjo/sitar hybrid invented by barry weisblat). His debut as a leader was released as Glorious Group Therapy (with assistance from Erika Elder, Tim Barnes, Dean Roberts) on the cassette format in 1998 by the Polyamory label under the sobriquet ‘Matthew Dell’. The oxide was reissued soon after on LP under his proper name by Byron Coley and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Yod.
Prior to that release as a ’solo’ stringman, he began cutting his big teeth on guitar excursions in the mid 90’s when he co-founded ‘The Tower Recordings’ fusing experimental acoustic songform with noise and other disparate avant garde techniques. That ensemble released 8 proper albums alongside various singles, 10-inches, cassettes and compilation appearances. During this time his bands played shows with John Fahey, Sandy Bull, Loren Mazzacane, Bert Jansch, Pearls Before Swine, Rudolph Grey, Borbetomagus, Arthur Doyle, Pavement, The Scissor Girls…as well as a tour with Cat Power. These experiences inspired MV & EE to establish their ‘Child Of Microtones’ label in 1999 which has been devoted ever since to issuing exploratory music in small editions of the highest quality form. To date they have 34 releases, and the COM subsidary ‘Heroine Celestial Agriculture’ numbering equal, if not unknown, catalog depth. the ‘Heroine’ label is run by Erika, along with her “MV & EE Medicine Show”.
Erika ‘ee’ Elder hails from the Forest and is a singer, lap steel guitarist, designer and a zen wrangler on a ‘mini’ firebird (a four stringed single humbucking pickup ‘mandolin’, but more “stoned age man” than Ernest Stoneman). She has been making music alongside MV since his solo debut, and has a composition as a group leader of “the Lady E Quartet” on the critically acclaimed U-Sound compilation. She is currently working on a duo LP with Nels Cline in tribute to John Fahey.
Barn Nova is their 4th major release after a decade’s worth of recordings issued by their own “Child Of Microtones” label, (an imprint striving to follow in the footsteps of Takoma, Gate 5, Semina and Saturn) as well as additional releases through some of the most respected boutique labels in the world: Time-Lag, Three Lobed, Spirit Of Orr, The Great Pop Supplement, Golden Lab, Qbico, Audible Hiss, Siltbreeze, Blackest Rainbow, Communion, Dicristina, Ecstatic Yod and Honest Jons).
Sat 12th December, Islington Mill, Salford, 2pm, £5 adv, £7 door
Manchester Zap!
Poster by Matt Valentine
Ohhh the idea that Manchester has some kind of burgeoning underground 'scene'... Is there really some kind of collective mentality to the idea of producing/hearing far-flung musics in the city? Nah, we don't think so. And this event isn't about celebrating collectivism for the sake of scene-making. The idea behind bringing together the bands we dig from the area is more about putting on an amazing, cheap day for everyone where the local bands are able to take a decent share of the profits instead of simply turning up as a 'support act' and getting paid as such. Any bands that do play will be selected purely on the basis that we like them - not because we believe they represent, beyond our own tastes, something sacrosanct or impenetrable that other music makers in the city don't. This day simply represents the bands we have enjoyed over the past five years in the city and, for us at least, it's gonna be a mind zapper. We hope you'll come down and dig it.
Line-up:
Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides
Waiters
Gnod
Former Bullies
A Wake
A Middle Sex
Kalbakken
Serfs
Irma Vep
Cryptic Salve
Bess Keloid
Trinity
Pay £5 by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk for your ticket, or buy from www.ticketline.co.uk or www.wegottickets.com
Forthcoming in 2010: Serfs LP; Vinyl issue of 'Cry' by Alastair Galbraith; more from the GLR singles club; Weirding Module tape; Burnt Hills CDR; more...
This is the first set from the slightly tweaked Beach Fuzz line-up with Fliss Horrocks now playing guitar. Seven tracks of clattering drums, chugging and wailing guitars, screaming keyboards, mellow, lilting pastoral improv and moaned vocals.
Pay by Paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
Recorded at The Bowling Green pub in Manchester on 17th November 2008, when Bridget was on tour with Marcia Bassett, this is a maximal 25-minute set of epic guitar brutalising and deep, moaned vocal incantations. Employing a bow and 'metal' effects pedals, the resulting cacophony is orchestral in scope, rendering almost unreliable the memory of one woman and her instrument. Somewhat akin to Bassett's duo with Matthew Bower, Hototogisu, the deeply layered tones created by Hayden offer, upon first exposure, a somewhat icy auditory experience, but as the recording settles in, the richness and sheer breadth of sound wraps around you like a feather quilt and shifts your perception almost 180 degrees. A truly magnificent set from this former Vibracathedral Orchestra member.
Limited to 80 copies with sleeves printed on recycled paper using soya based ink
Pay by Paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
Holy Grail Chip-Eatin' Squirrel (ROWF 15) tape out now
One lap steel through two amps, one keyboard, one drum kit, one chord. 17 minutes of tripped-out string popping and drum scatter on one side. 16.5 mins of scraped and sustained lap steel on the other.
Pay by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
Four tracks penned by Neil Hagerty, the rest of the total twelve by a variety of unknown collaborators - all produced by Hagerty, all weird and incredible. There's bits of bizarre sound art, broken poetry, a coulda-been-a-90s-dance-anthem, rock songs, a ballad, and tons of sweet guitar playing. The title track alone is worth the price of the record, with its haunting, counter-melodic, phasing synth and guitar arrangement. We never thought we'd have the chance to do something like this. But here it is.
Nick Mitchell, 16.10.09
Pre-order yours by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk:
The first 7" in our singles club, by MV&EE with The Golden Road is out now. Side A is called 'Limits' and it's a full Golden Road blaster with riffs as meaty as a New York deli sandwich, ripped-up MV vocals and swirling EE vocals through a fat Leslie speaker. Side B is a sleww, stonnnned (possibly 4-track) recording called 'Jacked-Up' with a haunting, almost dissonant vocal from MV and one of the greatest examples of Erika Elder's intuitive, whacked-out electric mandobird playing we've yet heard.
Anyone who's already subscribed to the series will receive this first installment by 23rd August 2009. There are only 100 subscriptions left, so get in quick if you want one.
More to come from BEACH FUZZ, PART WILD HORSES MANE ON BOTH SIDES, C. SPENCER YEH, HEATHER LEIGH MURRAY and EX-COCAINE. Subscribe through paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk:
We first came across Australian two-piece xNoBBQx in Piccadilly Records last year when the Siltbreeze vinyl reissue of their first CD-r appeared on its shelves. The Siltbreeze label being a bastion of all that is great in terms of dirgy, lo-fi, transcendental unmusicality, we were thus intrigued to hear this slab. And, we have to say, it was one of the greatest shop-listening experiences of all time. Here was a duo, probably of fully grown men, bashing away at their instruments in a manner that suggested they had never really learned any 'proper' technique and it was all the more mind-bendingly good for it. We later read a review, in fact, that put it thus:
"So what exactly is the difference between an xNoBBQx recording and a couple of 14 year olds bashing instruments in the garage with record pressed down on one of their mum’s old tape recorders? Probably not a whole lot, actually, but I get the feeling that’s precisely the point." (Cyclic Defrost)
Well, it's a helluva point. The duo, in spite of or, perhaps, due to their unabashed simplicity, manage to create sounds that are warm as an old-fashioned blanket, each piece having the ability to induce a state of complete, dribbling mental stasis. It's disjointed, scratchy and 'difficult', yes. But it also manages to be completely absorbing. If you like your rock deconstructed to the nth degree, we highly recommend you dig this.
You can order your copy of this stellar new 23 minute masterpiece by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk.
Janina Angel Bath's unabashed approach to cranking out sun-drenched, ecstatic drones overlaid by seedy saxophone and deep, almost Nico-esque vocals has us melting into our sofas. We came upon Sequin Trails through this here myspace, which is normally a bit too postmodern for us. But the fact that there was dayglo, facepaint and tonal honking involved really won us over. The recording is blown-out and buzzy and all the better for it. And it traverses muddily pulsating rhythms through to pure note elongation that zaps the senses and focuses the mind's eye, like listening to one's own tinnitus. This is so deep, it may be bottomless.
Out now, limited to 80 copies.
Buy your copy by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk:
Peeesseye I Woke Up and Drank a Bottle of Cheap Kojak CD-R (ROWF8)
Peeesseye made the scene at Dylan Nyoukis's Colour Out of Space festival last summer and hopped over to Manchester to play a show at the Town Hall Tavern, the recording of which forms the content of this incredible slab of dense droning harmonium, scraping, buzzing, subtly soloing guitar and pulse-free, scatter-drumming. We can't recommend this enough. Ltd to 80 copies, sleeves printed on recycled card w/soya based ink, no less
Pay by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
Greg Kelley & Alex Neilson Passport to Satori LP (ROWF6)
Limited to 500 copies.
This beautiful super-heavyweight LP, which comes packaged in a sweet full-colour sleeve reunites the UK's premier free drummer Alex Neilson, who's played, amongst others, with Motor Ghost, Directing Hand, Trembling Bells, Tight Meat Duo, Josephine Foster, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Jandek, MV&EE, Richard Youngs, Baby Dee and Alastair Galbraith, with Nmperign member Greg Kelley, whose reinvention of the trumpet is as crucial now as Anthony Braxton's reinvention of the sax was 30 years ago. A screeching, soaring, scattergun array of noises come maniacally out of Greg's horn, unlike anything we've ever heard and he successfully straddles no wave, concrete and free jazz in a way that makes those genres seem like trite pigeonholes.
We've had this recording for almost a year now and we can't tell you how excited we are to finally have it out.
Now available by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk.
UK £10 ppd
Europe £12.50 ppd
USA/Europe/Rest of World £14.00 ppd
What Norman Records say:
Passport to Satori is a collaborative effort from U.K. freeform super dude Alex Neilson (tight meat duo, Directing Hand, MV&EE, Will Oldham and many more as I'm sure you'll know) and Nmperign trumpeter Greg Kelley released on the consistently excellent GoldenLab records. This is a full on manic attack of freeform drums and mind-boggling trumpet abuse. Never have I heard such wild trumpet playing and for this Greg Kelley should be applauded (applause!!). I assume that there's some stealth use of effects pedals to enhance what is already an inventive use of the brass but its almost impossible to believe the array of sounds he manages to conjure from the humble trumpet. Crazy crazy crazy......Alex provides a perfectly infinite landscape of bells, broken cymbals, woodblocks and toms that make Greg's job ultimately easier and more enjoyable whilst contributing greatly to the overall feel. Again, its not easy to put this record into words that could do it justice so you'll have to make the time to check it out for yourself. I guess this record covers everything from free jazz and concrete to no wave whilst giving the middle finger to the whole notion of improv sub-genres. An awesome collaboration and an excellent release from Golden Lab. Also worth mentioning that they look like street tough muthafuckers on the cover. Badass!!!
We're tripping to announce that the first issue of BREAD is now OUT. Sleeve art by that dude of can-do, Dave Bailey. Oof!
Featuring:
Poetry by Byron Coley, Christina Carter, and Oliver Neilson
Stories by R.L. Perry, Nick Mitchell, Fliss Horrocks, Tim Horrocks and Nicholas Ainsworth
Drawings by Dave Bailey, Nick Mitchell, Fliss Horrocks, Pascal Nichols, Lucy Jones and Rollin Hunt.
The CD includes music by:
MV&EE, Directing Hand, Puff, Beach Fuzz, Astral Social Club, The Hunter Gracchus, Harappian Night Recordings, Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides and more.
Limited to 300 copies.
Pay by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
United Kingdom (£5)
Europe (£6)
USA/Canada/RoW (£7)
BREAD is also available from the following places: Blackest Rainbow (Sheffield, UK), City Lights Books (San Fransisco, CA), Piccadilly Records (Manchester, UK), Volcanic Tongue (Glasgow), Norman Records (Leeds, UK) and more, eventually.
MV&EE WITH THE GOLDEN ROAD Moment Spacing/Bong Judge 7" Ltd to 500 copies (ROWF5)
This summer loving bliss festival of a record is everything we hoped it could be and more. Side A, "Moment Spacing" is a two-and-a-half-minute blast of "ooh-la-la-la-la-la" joy that wraps a posi+ aura around the world. B-side, 'Bong Judge' is the stoned, slowed down, phaser-drenched, stretched-out basement tapes version of (almost unrecognisably) the same song running at six+ minutes. The most beautiful record we think we'll hear all year. (And we sold half of the 500 copies in the first week, so be quick if you want one). Featuring:
"Moment Spacing" mv * guitars/vox, ee * vox, willie lane * guitar, sparrow wildchild * vox, janane tripp * vox, chris livingood * vox; "Bong Judge" mv * guitars/vox
ee * lap steel, willie lane * guitar, samara lubelski * bass, john moloney * drums
Pay by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk
Sleeve art by the unmeritricious Rollin Hunt, out now on Golden Lab. Limited to 100 copies and it's 21 minutes of sunshine drone that goes something like this:
Pay by paypal to goldenlabrecordings@hotmail.co.uk:
£5 UK & Ireland, £5.50 (Europe), £6.50 (USA, Canada and Rest of World)
"Thank You is an athletic rhythm/action unit from Baltimore, made up of Jeffrey McGrath, Michael Bouyoucas, and Emmanuel Nicolaidis. The band has been building up a reputation via their live show, combining tribal beatdowns, organ freakouts and joyful chanting which has left audience members overwhelmed, and ready to spread the word.
Chinchilla and Room237 are rather happy to present...
LIGHTNING BOLT
a.P.A.T.t.
ACTION BEAT
CHOPS
Thursday 3rd December @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 8pm doors, first band 8:15 prompt
Tickets £7 (plus booking fee) Available from 2nd November from: behind the bar at the Brudenell (50p booking fee fund-raiser for cops&robbers) Jumbo Records & Crash Records in Leeds wegottickets.com
Tickets SELLING FAST! £7 adv avaliable from (more on the door): wegottickets.com seetickets.com Ticketline Picadilly Records
Grouper (US) has her latest – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill – of three albums on Type Records. She has also been involved in collaborative releases, contributing a track to Xiu Xiu’s Remixed & Covered and four tracks to a split release with Inca Ore. Her other contemporaries are Belong, Growing, Tim Hecker, Windy & Carl and Atlas Sound.
Jasper TX (Sweden), with a hefty back-catalogue of releases on labels such as Miasmah, and collaborations with buddy Machinefabriek, is an essential domestic appliance in the household of conceptual music. He is comparable to artists Fennesz, Sigur Ros, Múm and Tape.
Intricate and atmospheric songsmith, Danny Saul (UK) performs with different combinations of musicians, making each gig a unique event. His forthcoming release is "Harsh, Final", and he also performs with Greg Haines as Liondialer.
Fieldhead (UK) music delights in tape hiss, bleak landscapes and decaying analogue loops. He is also a member of The Declining Winter and Glissando. His debut album, "They Shook Hands for Hours" is released soon on Home Assembly.
This is one of only three UK dates on The Paper Hats' European tour - The Paper Hats is the solo project of sometime Lambchop and Silver Jews guitarist William Tyler, performing here as a duo with Calexico's Volker Zander. Expect hypnotic picking folk guitar, symphonic poetry and Indian Raga paired with noise and drones - absolutely unmissable!
Support comes by way of a special set from Denis Jones.
Tickets £5 adv from Piccadilly Records and wegottickets
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our third LP release...
"Anutha Kinda Brotha" is the debut LP from underground legend ART TERRY. Since moving to the UK from his native Los Angeles in the early 90s, Mr Terry has established himself as one of London's characters.
Describing Art's sound to the uninitiated usually involves debunking some of the stereotypes of what the 'typical' black Californian might play. Despite his jazz training, and coming of age to the sounds of classic soul and funk, these styles are only a part of his musical vision. His fascination with folk styles, classical music, punk rock, pure pop, easy listening, musical theatre and the European avant garde have taken him on different paths from most...
The result is an orchestral pop record full of sonic inventiveness, whether it's the blend of Shuggie Otis's 60s California and Sun Ra's ancient Egypt on 'Bible', Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons leading a mariachi band on 'Escort', or the Walt Disney music box orchestra of 'Miss Dominatrix', but whilst this is very much a sonic feast, we shouldn't overlook Art's extraordinary lyrical adeptness, and the distinctive character this brings to the proceedings, with a knack for unique and colourful imagery, and how like a great short story writer he is able to paint an engaging picture whilst keeping back from casting judgement on his characters, always leaving open ends for the listener to tie; giving us the feeling that however far astray someone might have gone, there is always sympathy and human feeling for them in Art's mind...
soon - Burnt Cross 6th 7" - Fall of Efrafa 2nd 12" (for their final show) Seein Red / Mihoen 10" - and new tadpole records t-shirts (design by alex / fall of efrafa) sold at cost - still hot : malicious disfigurement 7" (brutal death metal) whole in the head 7" (raging hardcore thrash) and Burnt Cross / A.U.K split CD (anarcho punk) - Tadpole HQ. x
"Avalonian" by Brian Lavelle "Avalonian" is an incredible work, following and adding to a tradition on this subject by artists, musicians, writers and great minds over many years. This cdr – limited to only 60 numbered copies – comes packaged in a white digipak, with handprinted front and back covers
Online Now!
