Other labels I'm distributing... |
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·MRTYU! -'Ritual Terra Continuii' (Tipped Bowler Tapes) "The second stateside release from the murky Mrtyu following the double-disc goliath on 20 Buck Spin. Ritual Terra Continuii retains the morbid intensity, hard-edged rumble, and gruesome death-knells of the debut, packing the visceral shudders into a dense but digestible c30. For those in the dark, Mrtyu is New Zealand’s Antony Milton, of Nether Dawn, The Stumps, and nearly half the projects of note from the Pacific outpost. Tantric doom of the highest order. Cardstock covers with two inserts and blood-sprayed tapes." Edition of 120. Cassette. NZ$10 |
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·Blithe Sons/Pekko Kappi/Claypipe.- 'The Amazed Map'. (CD Music Fellowship) The Blithe Sons is the duo of Loren Chasse (Coelacanth, Of, etc.) and Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Badgerlore, etc.), who also collaborate under the name Thuja with Rob Reger and Steven R. Smith. The duo combines Chasse's leanings towards tones and percussive textures with Donaldson's folk-inflected melodies to create textured but elegant hymns to the natural world. Claypipe is the bush clad drone/folk duo of New Zealanders Antony Milton (PseudoArcana head and numerous solo projects) and Clayton Noone (CJA as well as a member of Armpit and Futurians). Recorded live in secret feral city corners and via 4 track cassettes mailed between the North and South Islands their sound ranges the ranges between sun-in-your-eyes pop and furtive battery driven uber-noise. Pekko Kappi (also a member of Lau Nau and Paivansade) plays traditional Finnish-Karelian folk music. Kappi is known for his use of the unique primitive stringed instrument called the jouhikko (or horsehair lyre) and for the stunning intensity he is able to convey with just that instrument and his voice, bowing and scraping the violin-like instrument to create a whirlpool of gently and organically rough tones. The Amazed Map is intended to be a sequel to Windswept Trees and Houses and Heat and Birds, released as limited edition CDRs on Jewelled Antler some years ago. NZ$20 |
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·Alastair Galbraith.- 'Orb'. (Nextbestway CD) Latest missive from NZs master sound poet/psychogeographer of the phenomenal world. Beautiful songs and lilting sound works. I simply can't reccomend this enough. Also sees the rebirth of Alastairs nextbestway imprint. Hallelujah! NZ$15 |
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·Paintings of (Indian) Windows.- 'Guktha'. (Audiobot CDR). Long awaited release from Antony Miltons field recording/ digital collage project. The source sounds on Guktha were collected onto a cassette walkman in 1999 during a visit to India and captures the frenetic chaos of wedding parades negotiating streets frenetic with rickshaws lorries and elephants, mosques and Hindhu temples competing at dusk, and an almost obsessive collection of the all to rare moments of relative silence that one is lucky to find on the sub-continent. The album is split roughly 1/2 and 1/2 between 'straight' field recordings and composed collaged works. Packaged with a fold out insert of drawings and photographs. CDR NZ$15 |
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·MRTYU! -'Blood Tantra' (20 Buck Spin 2cd) We've had some cd-r evidence a while backÔpointing to the existence of some mighty black beast, trolling the midnight forests of the New Zealand wilds, the thing they call Mrtyu, some say it's a man, but what kind of man can spew forth such a noxious cacophony? Some say it is a demon from the depths of hell, unleashed after centuries of incarceration in some hellish underground lair, but how did a demon learn to play a guitar and use a 4 track? We've been led to believe however that Mrtyu is actually the musical Mr. Hyde to one Antony Milton's Dr. Jeckyll. What proof do we have? The cd-r label Pseudo Arcana, run by an entity known as Antony Milton, Nether Dawn, a group fronted by a shadowy figure possibly also Mr. Milton, and then there are of course a couple previous cd-r releases, which are now known to be the work of one Antony Milton. This double disc collection gathers up all existing evidence, including previous releases as well as a brand new previously unreleased sonic document. Why the hubbub? Well, friends, it could be that Mrtyu offer up some of the darkest, blackest, heaviest sounds south of Heaven? That to trudge through Mrtyu's sonic world is a journey to the brink of madness? Perhaps, but the best way to truly understand the fury and glory of the mighty Mrtyu is to listen. Each track a blast of primitive power, each with it's own unique sonic energy.ÔSheets of shimmering feedback drift over crumbly rumbling super distorted guitar background noise. Very static and raga-like, quite reminiscent of Total or Skullflower. A lo-fi doom dirge, with jagged brittle guitars, distorted vocals (not howls or shrieks, but like indie crooning, all 'distorted' up). A brief blast of Melvins-y sludge but with the high end pushed into the red. Almost like a indie pop song, but deconstructed and dipped in stoner sludge. A bit of Sunroof!, a bit of Angus Maclise, a lush shimmering drone, with peals of feedback and throbbing smears of downtuned guitar, all tangled into a gorgeously static thrum. Drones cloaked in black, damaged and druggy, ultra distorted guitars, so downtuned and blown out it sounds like some sort of tectonic event, the guitars form the framework for a truly oppressive atmosphere, a swirl of black clouds and Butthole Surfers-esque feedback, while atop it all, a demonic voice intones and howls and squeals like a rusted hinge. Think Khanate meets Abruptum, but filtered through than NZ noize aesthetic. A howling hellish musical journey through the fires of hell, trudging across pits of black pitch, being dragged bloody and screaming through dark demon infested forests. So harsh and beautifully bilious, drones become dirges, dirges become drones, everything cloaked in black and swathed in buzz. Bow supplicant, pray for forgiveness, wish for survival, bathe in the blood from your ringing ears. All hail Mrtyu. These musical missives come housed in a hand screened green and blue, three panel cardstock sleeve, adorned with all manner of pagan and tribal imagery, quite striking! (Psst... the artwork on the discs got swapped at the plant, so the disc marked DISC 1 actually contains the music from disc 2 and vice versa. Just the demon Mrtyu messing with our heads wethink!) (This blurb ripped wholesale from Aquarius Records... So thanks to them!) 2CD NZ$25 |
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·Swagger Jack- 'The Feral Blood of Swagger Jack -A Compendium.'. (Last Visible Dog CD) Veering between abstract 'folk-noise', hillbilly thrash and some of the most finely crafted and poignant pop songs of his career,'Feral Blood' brings together the best tracks from Swagger Jacks various solo cdrs on Wire Bridge. Join him as he wends his lonely way around the backroads and 'rest-areas' (picnic spots where one can usually camp a few days for free) of New Zealand. He's old enough, and wise enough, to know better (its the 21st century after all) but he just doesn't seem to be able to give up his great romantic dream of freedom from the trial of modernity, nor lose his passion for recording his rattley folksongs onto an old car battery powered 4-track. Sometimes ecstatic, sometimes meditative, but always, well, 'textured' and original. All acoustic rattle-'n-roll; happy, sad, poignant; and downright nasty if you rub him up the right way. (Swagger Jack is an alter-ego of Antony Milton). CD NZ$20. |
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·With Throats As Fine As Needles -'s/t' (Digitalis/Students of Decay cd) Candle driven bunker drones from the subterranian depths by the duo of Campbell Kneale and Antony Milton, joined on this excursion by Richard Francis and James Kirk. CD NZ$20 |
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·Antony Milton.-'Live @ the Cake Shop, August 2005'. (Transient Recordings cdr) A 35 minute set of live songs recorded during a bout of insomnia... cdr NZ$12 |
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·The Nether Dawn. -'Outer Dark'. (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon CD) Moody midnight psychy drone blues. The follow up album to 'Whisky Mute Down' this album has been released by Celebrate Psi Phenomenon who have this to say: "Filthy, ragged, drone-damage from Antony Milton, the mastermind behind the insanely credible Pseudoarcana label, and recently crowned third member of Black Boned Angel. Crackle and smoldering fuzz turn over and over on itself at ever more terrifying pace until everything within its gravitational grasp begins to smell of burning plastic. Frightening, shamanic, and dare-I-suggest BLUESY (think Fushitsusha not Gary Moore!) yet set within a down-on-the-farm, Antipodean, post-Xpressway context. The future of drone. The future of rock. The future of goddamn everything!" CD. NZ$25. |
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·The Nether Dawn- 'Whisky Mute Down'.(Last Visible Dog CD) Originally a PseudoArcana cdr this album has been reissued on CD by Last Visible Dog, who have this to say: "Antony Milton is one of the new important voices to appear from New Zealand in the wake of The Dead C and the mid-90's 'free noise' scene. Milton is at all times an intelligent interpreter of what's come in the last two decades--this is after all the same islands that brought us Xpressway Records and The Clean. Nether Dawn is arguably Milton's take on free noise, though it feels less abstract (and off-putting) than the likes of Handful of Dust and Flies Inside the Sun, utilizing instead a warm, broken drone not unlike 'Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos" (Ajax); that is to say, this is a more mellow, intimate drone experience for one and guest". Slow motion atmospheric improvised electric drone 'blues' recorded after midnight in the midst of winter. Electronics and field recordings (of rain swept streets) mix with 'gestural' instrumentation and amp rumble. Evening music. NZ$20 |
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·Antony Milton.- 'Sirens'. (Last Visible Dog CD) I have copies of this compilation of 2 earlier cassette releases (from 1997/98) available. Chris Moon says: An essential CD for those into the outsider NZ 'pop' scene--you know, the one that includes the likes of This Kind of Punishment, Pin Group, Victor Dimisich Band/Terminals, Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos...in fact, if you know the Xpressway sound (that label Bruce Russell ran back in the day) you should know what to expect here. That SHOULD translate for most of you as: Really fucking great. Buy now. Add to cart. Etc. But not everyone thinks like I do. Milton's music comes just half a decade too late to be part of the classic Xpressway sound, but it is totally there. In my world this is what pop music would sound like! CD NZ$20. |
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·Clay Man in the Well.- 'House of Dust and Wood and Light'. (Foxglove CDR). Heavy earth-bound human ritual that works soil-caked drones, the fibre of strings and ropes, little shrugs of guitar-based melodies and a cavern full of static into noise/song assemblages that are reminiscent of Virgin-era Faust, Siloah and Ghost at their most washed-out. (David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue). When i first heard the name, 'clay man in the well,' i got images in my head of archaelogical digs and ancient civilizations. PseudoArcana chief Antony Milton brings us a brand new album of dirt-infused jams, uncovered after years of digging. With scores of music boxes and simple drones, milton's affected whispers treat these hymns with formaldahyde, preserving them for a million years. This is timeless. This is music for the archives. cdr NZ$12 |
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·The Stumps vs Ohm. -'At Murder Shed'. (Paha Porvari cdr) Colossal jam recorded in the location of an infamous Wellington murder in 2004. Features Stephen Clover, Antony Milton and James Kirk (psyche noise rockers The Stumps), and Stefan Neville, Campbell Kneale and, ummm, James Kirk (ex Dunedin noise superheroes Ohm). Half rocking, half ethereal... CDR NZ$12 |
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·THE NETHER DAWN / 1/3 OCTAVE BAND. -'live at sound&fury' (Sound And Fury CD-R). In September last year, we were visited by just about the whole town of Wellington, NZ. The two performances here are both from that day: The Nether Dawn [Antony Milton in a rare duo performance with Jon Dale] and their psych/trance folk-drone, and 1/3 Octave Band's minimal post-industrial sturm und clang. (Label Description). Packaged in wax sealed brown card envelopes including an original polaroid photo. NZ$12 |
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·VA.- 'Sound Surrounds Us Volume 3'. (Musicyourmindwillloveyou cdr). Feat. trks by With Throats As Fine As Needles, Ramses III, Ffehro and Ajilvsga. Crazy psyche murk, drone and more... Packaged in wonderful mymwly sleeves. cdr NZ$12. |
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·Anthony Guerra. 'empty kingdoms'. (Black Petal CD). Empty Kingdoms is the new solo disc from Anthony Guerra, an Australian (now relocated to Japan) that recently gained a lot of attention in the Wire. The sounds presented here are somewhat surprising as they’re decidedly more structured and emotional than any of his previous outings. The subdued, Loren Mazzacane Connors-esque guitar playing paints an aural image that from afar might strike you as profoundly sad but the closer you get you realize that there is something irresistibly beautiful and even nostalgic about these mournful guitar sketches as well. Guerra’s music works like a gravitational pull, glacially taking the listener to the heartfelt conclusion, the fantastic “Blackest Little Eyes”. (review by Mats Gustaffson). CD NZ$18 |
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·Monno. -'Error'. (Conspiracy CD). Full on Swiss noise... "Dense, abstract, challenging, and confrontational. Monno stands out from the legacy of doomsayers that includes Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, Whitehouse, and more recently Wolf Eyes and Lightning Bolt. Monno are impressively, expertly abrasive in sending atomic blasts of fury, but beneath the shock value of these overwhelming sonic miasmas are throat-grappling melodies evoking a dense, brutal trance. In their rather short existence Monno has toured with Isis / Jesu and Lightning Bolt. They shared stages with contemporaries Melt Banana, Martin Rev, Marduk, Mauro Pawlowski, Ultralyd,... " (Label description). Packaged in stunning 28 page full colour booklet. CD NZ$20. |
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·V/A.- 'Witching Hour' - (CLaudia cdr). A collection of a wide variety of approaches to Field Recording (all made at night-time); processed computer ambiences, subtle collage, free improvisation with insects singing, contact recordings of rain, silent houses, kitchen activity, exotic holidays and troubled sleeping. With tracks by: P. Westbourne, Un Ciego, Tim Coster, Richard Francis, Paintings of Windows/Antony Milton, and Phil Dadson (all from NZ), Lau Nau (Finland),and Felicity Ford (UK). cdr. NZ$12 |
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·Guilty Connector.- 'Mothers Bloated Corpse'. (Utsu Tapes CD). Ahh, Japan. Land of Zen Temples, electronics superstores, silent masses, weird porn comics and pichenko halls. Guilty Connector is the solo noise project of Osaka based 'Kohei the Fast' (also of Lethal Firetrap and other projects). To be perfectly honest I had reached a point where I was starting to feel pretty burnt out by the whole Japanese harsh noise thing but this album has completely rekindled my interest. On the sublimely titled 'Mothers Bloated Corpse', a compilation of rare and hard to find tracks, the extreme end of the Japanoise spectrum is beautifully juxtaposed with the subtle quietude of temple ambience and trickling streams. Overall however the energy levels are kept at fever pitch creating an aural ride that leaves you wanting more. 5 stars! CD. NZ$18. |
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·A.M- 'Tasman' (Foxglove) This 2004 release documents where the A.M project was at at the time of my tour of Australia. Violin, voice, organ, electronics and field recordings are mixed live to a 4trk tape-loop building up huge ecstatic drones. I have limited copies. CDRNZ$12 |
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·Crazy River -'Sounds like a Melon to Me' (Apartment Records/Humbug CD). Fantastic lo-fi psychedelic almost-pop from Norway. Lioke a Northern Alastair Galbraith! "Multi-instrumentalist Per Gisle Galåen from Norway plays in numerous bands, including Slowburn, DEL, Kobi and many others. To fill up his spare time Per Gisle is a member of The Birds with Cotton Casino & billawtm. This is his 1st solo release. Looking inside the cover you’ll find some peeling abstraction and fuzzy heavy organ sounds at first glance. But, if you listen closely you’ll be able to catch some whimsical and strange pop-songs dancing the dance of modestly cheerful melancholia somewhere behind the dust. It's a beautiful musty odor to this album that makes you feel good and awoke a smell of nostalgia around the house. The smell of good old lo-fi home-recordings that is. And me oh my, how we have missed that smell! (Label description)." CD NZ$18 |
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·Continental Slow.- 'Spectral Sounds if Naked Ghost People'. (Synesthetic recordings cdr). Continental Slow is a collaboration between the members of the Norwegian bands Continental Fruit and Slowburn. Jon Øyvind Lærum a.k.a. Continental Fruit creates his own kind of minimal electronica. He has released the Riviera EP 7" and the Mentor Mentee CD on Smalltown Supersound, plus a CD-R called Gently Carved Into Sound on Humbug. Per Gisle Galåen and Fredrik Ness Sevendal make up the duo Slowburn and run Apartment Records. They should be familiar to all as members of Del and Crazy River as well. This disk is a beautiful sifting album constructed of organ and guitar/electronics drones. cdr NZ$12 |
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·Witcyst.- 'Roslyn' (Insample CD) Rare as hens teeth CD from 2006 by Whangarei lunatic noise shaman. Comes packaged in a multi paged full colour 7" sized booklet. CD NZ$20 |
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·Clay's Festering Lungs/ Claypipe (23 Productions split cassette). Taking a side each Clay Ruby (Davenport etc etc) and Claypipe (A.M/CJA) produce 30mins of ecstatic holy tunes submerged in tape noise. Clay's side features a piece constructed from vary-speed tapeloops and Claypipes a long devotional chant from CJA (with synth and violin backing), and a sweet pop song to finish. Cassette. NZ$12 |
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·Tarab. -'Surfacedrift'. (Naturestrip CD). Surfacedrift is the the debut cd from Melbourne sound artist tarab (Eamon Sprod). Constructed from field recordings and improvisations, using natural and artificial sources combined to form richly layered sonic environments. Traces of sonic texture created by microphones dragged through leaves and gravel. Rain pounding against buildings.Waves crashing inside of an abandoned factory.Surfaces against surfaces, scraping against one another. Marks are left. Capturing the subtle detail of decay appearing from within the heavy atmospheres of a larger space, surfacedrift explores the simultaneous layering of interior and exterior, solid and liquid. The four pieces evolve with an intuitive logic, drifting through literal material evocations of place, and hypothetical imagined spaces. CD NZ$20 |
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·A.M.- 'Small Engine Funk Tantra'. (Transient Recordings cdr), Released on Ben Spiers label this is a collection of recordings documenting my experiments with amplified resonators. Weird and droney almost-funk constructed from 'harsh' electronics. I have limited copies. CDR NZ$12. |
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·Reynols. - 'The Bolomo Mogal F Hits'. (Audiobot) A great collection of rare outtakes from Reynols. Includes pieces from practically all of the famous occurances one hears about in relation to the Reynols. Hear them introduced on some cheesy mainstream Argentinian TV show, hear an out-take from the Blank Tape sessions - and a piece they recorded with Pauline Oliveros. All this and lots of great hum, thump, scrawl and howl. CD. NZ$18. |
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·Tim Blechmann and Goh Lee Kwang. -"Drone" (Herbal Records CD). 'Academic' electro-minimalism meets big God drone. Lovely stasis from these 2 wearers of large wigs. CD NZ$18. |
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