Angelicus - Approach (April 1, 2022 Improved Sequence)

500 copies, 100 on Transparent Black Vinyl.

CD ships April 1st

LP ships June 10th

Project: Angelicus

Album title: Approach

Dirk Dresselhaus (Die Angel, Schneider TM), John Duncan, Ilpo Väisänen (Die Angel), Zappi (Faust)

LP + CD released by Improved Sequence

Strange attractors. Zappi's subtle tribal rhythms. Powerdrone electronics by Dresselhaus and Väisänen. Duncan's lyrics and vocals. Sublime and daunting.

1. Toll

2. Tanzcandid

3. Slither

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Aidan Baker - Songs Of Undoing (May 6, 2022 Improved Sequence)

Recorded mid-pandemic, Songs of Undoing cannot help but have a sort of mid- or post-apocalyptic overlying concept, lyrically dealing with themes of exodus and travel / wandering, self-reliance, the weight of history...with pointed references to two post-apocalyptic, societal / environmental collapse novels, Octavia Butler's "Parables of The Sower" and Kate Wilhelm's "Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang." Musically, the songs move between minimal slowcore and a sort of textural noise-rock or what might be called deconstructed grunge, taking influence from artists like Lungfish, American Analog Set, PJ Harvey, and Stina Nordenstam.

Bio:

Aidan Baker is a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist using the electric guitar as his primary instrument. Using prepared and alternate methods of playing the guitar, along with various electronic effects, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genre but draws on influences from rock, electronic, classical, and jazz. A highly prolific artist, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with various group projects - most notably the duo Nadja - on such independent labels as Karlrecords, Important Records, Southern Lord, and his own imprint, Broken Spine Productions. Baker is also the author of several books of poetry. A regular live performer, Baker has toured extensively around the world, including appearances at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, Unsound, and Mutek, among others. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Baker currently resides in Berlin, Germany. 

1. Undone

2. The Accumulation Of Objects

3. No One Is Coming To Save You

4. The Ghosts Of Buildings

5. Song Of Undoing I

6. What It Takes To Stay, What It Takes To Leave

7. The Sower

8. Song Of Undoing II

9. Late The Birds Sang

10. Done

500 copies, 100 on Limited Blue Vinyl.

CD ships May 6th 2022

LP ships June 10th 2022

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David Fenech & Pierre Bastien - Suspicious Moon (March 15, 2022 Improved Sequence)

*LP ships June 3rd 2022*

*CD ships Feb 28th 2022*

500 copies, 100 on LTD White Vinyl.

Suspicious Moon

A collection of Elvis Presley covers recorded by the duet David Fenech & Pierre Bastien

The idea of "Suspicious Moon" started at a party around the topic of blue color. David Fenech had chosen to play "Blue Moon" and Pierre Bastien asked to join in. It was a very enjoyable party and then they recorded the song and decided to plan an album exclusively based on covers of the King. Not that we were absolute fans of Elvis... but as a starting point to go somewhere else. And this is what we reached: in many aspects a premiere for the two musicians. Pierre focuses on (prepared) trumpet for the very first time, while David is heard extensively as a vocalist and is more than ever responsible for all arrangements and textures.

Playing other people’s material is also a premiere for both of them. 11 tracks around very well known standards. Like familiar places that are changed when seen in a different light. Please enjoy.

"Our choice of the Elvis Presley song book for this record may seem strange to many. It seems strange to me as well. Not that I dislike the original music, but before our sessions it had never been a direct source of inspiration. Paradoxically, this distance gave me freedom and flowing ideas. I hear similar qualities in David’s parts too. We hope that our relaxed attitude and its positive outcome will be reflected in this album" - Pierre Bastien

“The strange thing about these recordings is that the creative process was so fluid and natural… that it seems that through playing other people's music, we almost reveal something of ourselves. As if these tracks were our creation, as if they were our own children!” - David Fenech

Pierre Bastien (born in 1953) is a French musician who builds his own machineries, at the cross between music and visual art, that blends live trumpet sounds with screen projections of on-site, mechanical sound sculptures in a very poetic way. His work is described as “a timeless sounding orchestra, both futuristic and slightly dada, conjuring ancient traditions in its surprisingly sensuous music.”. Around 1986 he started participating in Pascal Comelade's Bel Canto Orquesta. At the same time he created - and literally built - his own orchestra called Mecanium : an ensemble of musical automatons constructed from meccano parts and activated by electro-motors, that are playing on acoustic instruments from all over the world. Collaborating in the past with video artist Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, singer and composer Robert Wyatt and Aphex Twin (who released three of his albums on his label Rephlex) to name a few, he is one of the most influential experimental musicians working in the field. In 1986 he formed his own self made one man orchestra, Mecanium and made over 20 records over the years. “a mad musical scientist with a celebrity following” (The Guardian ). www.pierrebastien.com

David Fenech (born in 1969) is a French musician living in Paris. He plays a large variety of instruments and is a skilled guitar player with his own technique. His main instrument is the microphone and his music features whatever he puts under it. His baroque style has been described as ‘a kind of punk musique concrète’. He has played and recorded with musicians such as Jac Berrocal, Felix Kubin, Jad Fair, Tom Cora, Rhys Chatham, Jah Wobble, Ergo Phizmiz, Nurse With Wound and many others. His third solo album will be released this year 2022. His recordings have been published on inPolysons, Sub Rosa, Blackest Ever Black, Wergo, Gagarin Records.

"One of my all time favorites" (Felix Kubin) "Truly unpredictable, you never know where any given tune is heading, or which stylistic outfit he is going to whip out next from his magic trunk of disguises. He makes it look easy, but you can bet there’s 500 kilograms of sheer talent and hard work behind his every move. Recommended! " (Ed Pinsent - The Sound Projector) davidfenech.fr  

1. Jailhouse Rock

2. Heartbreak Hotel

3. Are You Lonesome Tonight

4. Hound Dog

5. Love Me Tender

6. Suspicious Minds

7. Don't Be Cruel

8. Blue Moon

9. Bridge Over Troubled Water

10. Fever

11. In The Ghetto

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Mars - Rehearsal Tapes and Alt​​-​​Takes NYC 1976​​-​​1978 (February 1, 2022 Improved Sequence)

Before No Wave there was China and after China there was MARS.

For the first time on vinyl the complete 'Rehearsal Tapes and Alt​-​Takes NYC 1976​-​1978', an incredible document from this era.

The rehearsal tapes are a chronological record of the 3 years of Mars' existence, the first year of which was spent forming their sound and musical identity, starting out with a lineup of upright piano, bass, acoustic guitar and percussion before going electric with guitars, bass and drums.

This 3XLP includes the complete:

- Summer '76 - Piano Sessions

- June '77 - China To Mars

- December '77 - 11000 Volts

- No New York Alt. Takes

- July '78 - Scorn

- November '78 - NN End

PRE-ORDER: Ships April 8th 2022

500 copies. 3XLP

Metal Box Ltd Edition 3XLP: 66 copies

Ltd Ed Silver 3XLP: 100 copies

Std Ed Black 3XLP: 334 copies

1. Summer Piano Solo (Summer '76 - The Piano Sessions)

2. Pale Blue Eyes (Summer '76 - The Piano Sessions)

3. Pale Blue Eyes (China)

4. Cry

5. I Can Feel It

6. Leather Jacket

7. Look At You

8. Son Of Sam (Crazy Like You)

9. Cry

10. 3E

11. Plane Separation

12. Cats

13. Don't Be So Sensitive

14. 11000 Volts I

15. 11000 Volts II

16. Cats

17. 3E II

18. 11000 Volts Jam

19. Helen Forsdale (LP take rough mix)

20. Helen Forsdale (alt. take)

21. Puerto Rican Ghost (2 takes drums and vocals)

22. Puerto Rican Ghost (alt. take)

23. Puerto Rican Ghost (LP take rough mix)

24. Hairwaves (alt. take 1)

25. Hairwaves (alt. take 2)

26. Hairwaves (alt. take 3)

27. Tunnel (alt. take)

28. RTMT

29. Cairo I

30. Cairo II

31. Scorn

32. Tunnel

33. Hairwaves

34. Outside Africa

35. Untitled Mystery (tape cuts off)

36. NN End

37. Scorn

38. Monopoly

39. Mummy Talk Pause

40. Monopoly II

41. Immediate Stages Of The Erotic

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MMMΔ - Roto Vildblomma (Improved Sequence)

CROW WITH NO MOUTH (US) Anyone seeking engulfment in the throb and thrum of the low- end frequencies- and sometimes nothing else will do- look no further than Roto Vildblomma, released in May 2010 on Dimitris Kariofilis' Antifrost label. Kariofilis, a.k.a., ILIOS, meshes his oscillators with the seething drawn strings of cellist Nikos Veliotis and contrabassist Costantino Kinakos, a.k.a., Coti K. Following the brief, anthemic first track, we are immersed in tremors and troubled waters that push the air [and your innards] around, unrelieved save for a motoric development on the fourth track, an acceleration, as oxymoronic as that sounds, of Mohammad's pervasive gravitas. Celllist Veliotis has become, in my recent, overlapping listening spheres, a somewhat ubiquitous presence. He brings the swot and strum of his cello to another trio offering this year, the stellar Cooper Fields.

He is half of the excellent duo Texturizer, with Coti K, whose two releases on Antifrost are well worth searching for. He is part of the imminent Looper release, with saxophonist Martin Kuchen and percussionist Ingar Zach, yet another trio that investigates long-form throb and shimmer. And on Roto Vildblomma, he is one third of the grounding gestalt field this trio achieves, with only occasional glimpses of the discrete parts of the instrumental whole. Veliotis has gradually developed his approach with the BACHbow, the creation of a fellow cellist that extends the arco possibilities, enabling him to draw across as many strings as he wishes. Mohammad create a nearly seamless garment, satisfyingly replete with the frayed, loose ends such harmonically close, pitch-based drone works reveal.

Another reviewer referenced the "religious" aura of their sound; while I think I hear what he was referring to, I would suggest a different coloration- ceremonial. For what rite this sort of low-end strum might be created, who knows? I do know the two individuals I have heard from who have caught Mohammad's sound in live performance report the experience is overwhelmingly powerful. Mohammad have dedicated their collective efforts to the subtle striations of the low-end strings, and Roto Vildblomma is, for me, without a dull or stray moment. It is fantastic to hear some of the new music coming from Greece and, to date, when any of the members of Mohammad are involved, there is reason to anticipate it with high expectations. 

1. Vildblomma

2. Lamane Kradoj

3. Skóra

4. Letzten Tränen

5. Luminus Vuori

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David Grubbs & Mats Gustafsson / Off​-​Road (September 1, 2021 Improved Sequence)

David Grubbs and Mats Gustafsson currently make up 2/3s of The Underflow, the trio with Rob Mazurek, but their history stretches back into the last century, when they crossed paths during a serious Chicago heyday and Mats appeared on Gastr del Sol’s Upgrade & Afterlife.

Off-Road, originally released on CD by Blue Chopsticks in 2002, is Grubbs and Gustafsson’s second of two duo albums, the follow-up to Apertura (1999). Apertura consists of two long improvised duos for harmonium and reeds, making it the slowest, steadiest boil in either participant’s discography. Off-Road finds the two of them forsaking their earlier, near-static m.o. for a shower of digitally re-composed slivers, the metal-on-metal timbre of a saxophone equipped with contact mics, Grubbs’s chiming electric guitar, backstage field recording (a glass-topped table full of bottles dragged along a concrete floor), and Gustafsson’s Pro Rhythm analog synthesizer clipped to the bell of his horn. (The combination of reeds, guitar, and analog electronics seems an eerie precursor to The Underflow.) Turntablist Henry Moore Selder makes a couple of guest appearances marked by sharp rhythmic counterpoint and low-frequency warbles and moans.

Off-Road was recorded in Stockholm immediately following Grubbs and Gustafsson’s Scandinavian tour in February 2002. Those shows were chaotic events that flowed from song to free-jazz freakout to drone tunnel to digital collage to mouthless saxophone and brainless, bruising guitar. Off-Road has a similar range in an even more compact time frame, from the improvised pop tune “Pumpkin Creek” to the fractured, groove-cursed “Three If by Train,” and from the meditative, still surfaces of “Rendezvous up North” to the fire-alarm plunderphonics of “Back Off.” In 2021 Grubbs and Gustafsson put their heads together and decided to revise the track order on Off-Road—hence the present improved sequence. 

Side One:

Pumpkin Creek (3:26)

Three If by Train (1:56)

Rendezvous up North (12:11)

Side Two:

Dystopian Turboprop (5:53)

Skiing + Shooting (4:58)

Back Off (4:54)

FOR DIGITAL please visit: davidgrubbsandmatsgustafsson.bandcamp.com/album/off-road

Mats Gustafsson: fluteophone, tenor saxophone, flageolet, synthesizer, contact mics

David Grubbs: computer, harmonium, electric guitar

Henry Moore Selder: maracas (1), turntables (2,5)

Recorded by Johan Gustafsson 2/20/02 at Grondahl, Stockholm. Mixed by DG and Nicolas Vernhes at the Rare Book Room and Studio 423, Brooklyn. Mastered for reissue by Brian Pyle. Cover photograph by John Flavell. The Land of Cockaigne is an engraving by van der Heyden after a painting by Peter Brueghel.

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Golden Ashes - A Lightless Christ Shuns The Crown Of Divinity (August 10, 2021 Improved Sequence)

From the man that brings you Gnaw Their Tongues here comes Golden Ashes, the atmospheric Black Metal/Drone one-man project by Mories. Drones, keyboards, synths are the foundation for this celestial album that almost veers towards symphonic ambient.

1. A Lightless Christ Shuns The Crown Of Divinity

2. The Spectral Catatonia Of Unbearable Despondency

3. The Day Of His Glorious Wrath

4. Our Skins Hanging At The Gates Of Ctesiphon

5. Bewildered We Watched The Christ Ascend

6. In Agony Beneath The Stars

7. The Essence Of Your Body Became Celestial

8. The Twilight Pilgrims

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