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6CD BOX
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CRSEGBOX 120CD
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"Career anthology of Los Angeles-based musician Merrell Fankhauser described by one pundit as 'the cult artist's cult artist'. Includes his work as a solo performer and fronting such collectable garage rock/psychedelic acts as The Exiles, Fapardokly, HMS Bounty and Mu."
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CRSEG 004CD
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"Arguably the most valuable UK album in record collecting history, with copies known to have sold for £2,000! An LP manufactured by Decca in 1969 but never issued. Reissue the first-ever official CD of Tinkerbell's Fairydust's recordings originally released on Grapefruit in 2009. Adding numerous bonus tracks from singles and also from pre-Tinkerbell's acts The Rush and Tommy Bishop's Ricochets."
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2LP
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GY12 006LP
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"Camera Melancholia is a double album of instrumental music inspired by and dedicated to Kerry McCarthy (1967-2021) who was Montgomery's partner for twenty years and the mother of two children they had together. She died from cancer in early 2021 after first being diagnosed in 2014. McCarthy was a professional curator in the area of pictorial collections, particularly around photographic material, and her PhD used the work of Roland Barthes to theorize about the legacies of images associated with Antarctic exploration in the early 20th Century. The cover art for Camera Melancholia was provided by Ronnie van Hout, an Aotearoa New Zealand artist associated with the earliest graphic design work for Flying Nun Records. Van Hout was also a very close and long-standing friend of McCarthy. The gatefold album includes the text for ten poems written for and about McCarthy."
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12"
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GY12 005LP
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"Neutral's 2014 first LP, Grå Våg Gamlestaden, is widely considered ground zero for the explosion of creativity that has transpired in the Swedish Underground ever since. It is the noisy experimental rock album that opened the door and welcomed in so many artists working behind the scenes. Gothenburgers Dan Johansson (Sewer Election) and Sofie Herner had previously made music together in the band Källarbarnen when they started discussing a new methodology and a fresh sound for recordings under a new name as a duo. Grapefruit was proud to reissue that first LP in 2021 and they are equally excited to follow up that sold-out release with two more important Neutral releases, the self-titled sophomore LP from 2016 in a gatefold sleeve and the När mini album EP from 2017 which was originally limited to 300 copies. Grapefruit's reissue of the När mini album and the second LP is the first time these have been reissued. Both are limited to 400 copies."
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LP
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GY12 004LP
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"Neutral's 2014 first LP, Grå Våg Gamlestaden, is widely considered ground zero for the explosion of creativity that has transpired in the Swedish Underground ever since. It is the noisy experimental rock album that opened the door and welcomed in so many artists working behind the scenes. Gothenburgers Dan Johansson (Sewer Election) and Sofie Herner had previously made music together in the band Källarbarnen when they started discussing a new methodology and a fresh sound for recordings under a new name as a duo. Grapefruit was proud to reissue that first LP in 2021 and they are equally excited to follow up that sold-out release with two more important Neutral releases, the self-titled sophomore LP from 2016 in a gatefold sleeve and the När mini album EP from 2017 which was originally limited to 300 copies. Grapefruit's reissue of the När mini album and the second LP is the first time these have been reissued. Both are limited to 400 copies."
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LP
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GY12 003LP
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[sold out, no repress] "One first heard the Danish artist Astrid Øster Mortensen as a surprise guest vocalist on Gustaf Dicksson's Blod album, Missväxt, which Grapefruit released in 2021. New in Gothenburg, the Denmark-born Mortensen had been frequenting the Discreet Music shop where various musicians of the underground scene communed and shared their latest projects. Learning that she was a musician too, Dicksson asked Mortensen to contribute vocals to Missväxt and it wasn't long before she handed over a master of her own music which completely floored everyone in the scene who heard it. The recordings eventually materialized as Gro Mig En Blomst. An LP which was released in a very small edition on Dicksson's Förlag För Fri Musik label in March of 2021, causing a sensation of wonder and well-earned praise and some panic due to its scarcity. Gro Mig En Blomst is at once wholly immersive and something quite rare -- an infectious collection of essentially experimental music derived from familiar organic sounds stitched together with delicate, sometimes improvised music, poetry, and haunting folk melodies. Akin to the pastiches composed by the equally enchanting Gothenburg collective, Enhet For Fri Musik, Mortensen's album is mysteriously irresistible despite offering what most would consider a challenging listen. It immediately became an essential release and sold through its 300 copies quickly before the ink was even dry on the superlative reviews. So, it was with great pride and pleasure that Grapefruit worked closely with her to offer this new reissue. Herein one will find songs which often begin with chatter and ambient sound, with Mortensen seemingly extracting beauty from the random and chaotic, splicing in snippets of birdsong and rainfall as well as electronic noises. It might be tempting to assume these songs are accidental, wholly improvised, or captured moments due to the ephemeral qualities of the music and the ease of execution which lure us into the world Mortensen has created. But, it is actually evidence of the skill and finesse of a confident artist in full command of her medium."
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GY12 001CD
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"Artists are not athletes. The career of the athlete is, by mortal necessity, compressed and brief. No one expects to see a professional slugger in their sixties out on the diamond, much less see them vying for a pennant. Artists, on the other hand, tend to age like wine -- think Dylan, Cohen, and Cash -- with the most rarefied among them capable of swinging for the fences with every at bat. Omaha singer-songwriter Simon Joyner, who recently turned fifty, is such an artist, and while I'd certainly enjoy seeing his face grinning at me from a box of Wheaties, I'd rather he continue making albums like Songs From A Stolen Guitar. Songs From A Stolen Guitar was recorded across several different cities. Joyner recorded his vocals and guitar live in Omaha; bassist Wil Hendrix added his parts at home in San Francisco, Michael Krassner recorded his guitar and piano overdubs at home in Phoenix, and drummer/percussionist Ryan Jewell recorded in Colorado. This musical chain letter then made its way back to Omaha where David Nance (guitars and backing vocals), Ben Brodin (organ and vibraphone), and Megan Siebe (viola and backing vocals) overdubbed -- separately -- their respective contributions The remoteness of the individual players on Songs From A Stolen Guitar, while necessarily eliminating some of the ragged spontaneity of much of Joyner's previous work, yields a sort of silver-lining effect: Joyner's songs, produced more meticulously and perhaps more intentionally here than on any of his previous albums, cut through that much cleaner, foregrounding both his dazzling wordplay and his clarity of vision. If Ghosts [2012] was his Tonight's The Night -- clamorous, naked, and unmoored -- Songs From A Stolen Guitar may just turn out to be his Harvest." --James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand
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GY12 001LP
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$25.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 6/3/2022
LP version. "Artists are not athletes. The career of the athlete is, by mortal necessity, compressed and brief. No one expects to see a professional slugger in their sixties out on the diamond, much less see them vying for a pennant. Artists, on the other hand, tend to age like wine -- think Dylan, Cohen, and Cash -- with the most rarefied among them capable of swinging for the fences with every at bat. Omaha singer-songwriter Simon Joyner, who recently turned fifty, is such an artist, and while I'd certainly enjoy seeing his face grinning at me from a box of Wheaties, I'd rather he continue making albums like Songs From A Stolen Guitar. Songs From A Stolen Guitar was recorded across several different cities. Joyner recorded his vocals and guitar live in Omaha; bassist Wil Hendrix added his parts at home in San Francisco, Michael Krassner recorded his guitar and piano overdubs at home in Phoenix, and drummer/percussionist Ryan Jewell recorded in Colorado. This musical chain letter then made its way back to Omaha where David Nance (guitars and backing vocals), Ben Brodin (organ and vibraphone), and Megan Siebe (viola and backing vocals) overdubbed -- separately -- their respective contributions The remoteness of the individual players on Songs From A Stolen Guitar, while necessarily eliminating some of the ragged spontaneity of much of Joyner's previous work, yields a sort of silver-lining effect: Joyner's songs, produced more meticulously and perhaps more intentionally here than on any of his previous albums, cut through that much cleaner, foregrounding both his dazzling wordplay and his clarity of vision. If Ghosts [2012] was his Tonight's The Night -- clamorous, naked, and unmoored -- Songs From A Stolen Guitar may just turn out to be his Harvest." --James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand
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GY12 002LP
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"Caroline No's third album was built around a set of songs I was writing in the summer of 2019. I built the songs around real events, but looped these narratives into stories from song histories. The result is like an intersection of Brill Building characters such as Carole King and Neil Sedaka with the bedroom fanaticism of historical music projects like Virgin Insanity. After a year of playing the songs live in various formations, we aimed to record in the Australian summer. We knew Jim [White] (Dirty Three, Crime & The City Solution, Venom P. Stinger, etc.) was going to be in Melbourne, and soon after he arrived in Australia, we met at Mick [Turner]'s (Dirty Three, Venom P. Stinger, etc.) studio. Nick [Imfeld] and Mick engineered, with Ian [Wadley] (Small World Experience, Mad Nanna, etc.) on bass, Jim on drums, Mick, Dee [Hannah] and me [Caroline Kennedy] on guitars, and Dee and me singing. The sense of intuitive knowledge and performance was exhilarating as we played. We spent two days in the studio, and when we listened back later, it seemed a compelling representation of what had happened, captured live. 'The band on this album are artists I grew up with. We were friends first, and engaging with the material, there was no formal structure to follow. Our interpretive approach meant the songs grew from simple structural frames and narrative poetics into full sonic landscapes, engaging across pop, folk, psychedelia and improvisation. Caroline No became -- for this iteration -- a shifting sonic space tied to intimacy, musical conversation and relationship, expressed in an open improvisatory way. The sound of the record is the result of trust, responsiveness and mutual knowledge. The name Caroline No was an imaginary character through much of the work, arising from the Beach Boys' melancholic paean to encountering a past lover who has cut her hair off. My idea was for Caroline No to become the locus for an ongoing composition project where I would write back into songs' history the perspective of patriarchal song's subjects. This is a recuperative project of easeful making; attempting reclamations of lost narratives, exploring love, loss and the psychedelic of the everyday." --Caroline Kennedy
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GY11 004CD
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"Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he has managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased individually or via subscription. For his fourth album, appropriately named Audiotherapy, Montgomery builds his compositions from the subconscious, breaking down form and inviting in new techniques. 'Audioramble' features call-and-response singing between him, Emma Johnston and Arnie Van Bussel, both of whom act as a Greek chorus to Montgomery's reflections. 'Occlusione' sets a sturdy musical bed under Maria Eleanora C Mollard's whispered spoken word, like a voice in one's head that risks getting drowned out in the noise. For the sublime 'Audiotransport', guitars shimmer up the sides and weave through one another, reconciling the inner voices of doubt and worry into a meditation on the beauty of existence. The last track, 'Imperfect Intense', builds on disbalance as Johnston's vocals meet Montgomery's in broken harmony; both singers move at their own pace despite the other, embodying how uncertainty lies at the heart of how we live. Audiotherapy is the most intuitive and experimental entry of Roy Montgomery's 2021 (and--cough--2022) releases, closing out the series with introspection and transcendence."
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LP
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GY11 004LP
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LP version. "Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he has managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased individually or via subscription. For his fourth album, appropriately named Audiotherapy, Montgomery builds his compositions from the subconscious, breaking down form and inviting in new techniques. 'Audioramble' features call-and-response singing between him, Emma Johnston and Arnie Van Bussel, both of whom act as a Greek chorus to Montgomery's reflections. 'Occlusione' sets a sturdy musical bed under Maria Eleanora C Mollard's whispered spoken word, like a voice in one's head that risks getting drowned out in the noise. For the sublime 'Audiotransport', guitars shimmer up the sides and weave through one another, reconciling the inner voices of doubt and worry into a meditation on the beauty of existence. The last track, 'Imperfect Intense', builds on disbalance as Johnston's vocals meet Montgomery's in broken harmony; both singers move at their own pace despite the other, embodying how uncertainty lies at the heart of how we live. Audiotherapy is the most intuitive and experimental entry of Roy Montgomery's 2021 (and--cough--2022) releases, closing out the series with introspection and transcendence."
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CD
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GY11 003CD
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"Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased individually or via subscription. The third release of the series, Rhymes Of Chance, is the darkest entry of the four. Songs sound particularly spacious and minimal, with two tracks centering forlorn melodies around trusty collaborator Emma Johnston's singing and two others sung by Montgomery himself. While Side A presents the six-part 'Rhymes Of Chance' suite, Side B's 'Aspiratory' holds a clue to Montgomery's approach on this record; a floating dirge stretches time, much in the manner Mark Hollis (to whom the song is dedicated) approached music."
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LP
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GY11 003LP
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LP version. "Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased individually or via subscription. The third release of the series, Rhymes Of Chance, is the darkest entry of the four. Songs sound particularly spacious and minimal, with two tracks centering forlorn melodies around trusty collaborator Emma Johnston's singing and two others sung by Montgomery himself. While Side A presents the six-part 'Rhymes Of Chance' suite, Side B's 'Aspiratory' holds a clue to Montgomery's approach on this record; a floating dirge stretches time, much in the manner Mark Hollis (to whom the song is dedicated) approached music."
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LP
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GY11 008LP
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"Megan Siebe is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and arranger from Omaha, Nebraska. She's cut her teeth as a member of bands such as Simon Joyner & the Ghosts, The David Nance Group, Cursive, Sean Pratt & the Sweats, The Jim Schroeder Sextet, and many others, touring nearly non-stop for the last decade. She's also written string arrangements for albums by Refrigerator, John Davis, the Renderers, Dennis Callaci, L. Eugene Methe, Justin Townes Earle, and Anna McClellan. But all the while she was writing her own intimate, finely-crafted songs in secret, only breaking them out around the occasional Nebraska campfire amongst friends. A break from touring in other bands these last fifteen months has allowed Siebe more time to focus on a powerful cycle of songs she's had brewing for some time. Grapefruit and Shrimper are proud to join forces to release Megan's humble yet astonishing debut. Swaying Steady is a gorgeous collection of literate and evocative singer-songwriter, country-tinged, melancholy pop songs about relationships in crisis, bad seeds, family, and emotional endurance. For fans of Lucinda Williams, Harry Nilsson, Elyse Weinberg, Nick Drake, and Sibylle Baier."
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GY11 002CD
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"Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021. The first installment, Island Of Lost Souls, arrived to great acclaim in January. The second and latest album, That Best Forgotten Work, features Montgomery's rare, brooding vocals across nine gorgeous tracks recorded from his home in Christchurch, New Zealand. That Best Forgotten Work follows the intense, all-instrumental Island Of Lost Souls. It departs in spirit with darkly buoyant variations on popular songs, including two highly anticipated covers of legendary songs by The Carpenters ('Superstar') and Tim Buckley ('Song To The Siren'). Montgomery shows the listener that these influences aren't such strange bedfellows after all; one need only listen closely. Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery's new music continues to seek and challenge. His compositions are beautiful as well as disconcerting, and often speak to precarity and dread. That Best Forgotten Work is a title with tongue planted firmly in cheek, alluding to the artist's position of enjoying a peculiar bit of fame in relative obscurity. But listening to his dry wit and rich voice, one will find it isn't easily forgotten."
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LP
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GY11 002LP
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LP version. "Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021. The first installment, Island Of Lost Souls, arrived to great acclaim in January. The second and latest album, That Best Forgotten Work, features Montgomery's rare, brooding vocals across nine gorgeous tracks recorded from his home in Christchurch, New Zealand. That Best Forgotten Work follows the intense, all-instrumental Island Of Lost Souls. It departs in spirit with darkly buoyant variations on popular songs, including two highly anticipated covers of legendary songs by The Carpenters ('Superstar') and Tim Buckley ('Song To The Siren'). Montgomery shows the listener that these influences aren't such strange bedfellows after all; one need only listen closely. Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery's new music continues to seek and challenge. His compositions are beautiful as well as disconcerting, and often speak to precarity and dread. That Best Forgotten Work is a title with tongue planted firmly in cheek, alluding to the artist's position of enjoying a peculiar bit of fame in relative obscurity. But listening to his dry wit and rich voice, one will find it isn't easily forgotten."
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GY11 005LP
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"Blod is the solo project of Gustaf Dicksson (Enhet För Fri Musik, Oroskällan), a prolific and crucial figure in the Swedish Underground scene radiating out of Gothenburg and centered around a number of independent labels and including bands such as Enhet För Fri Musik, Monokultur, Oroskällan, Loopsel, and Neutral. Blod has released various home-recorded cassettes and a handful of albums since 2014, all mercurial in nature, exploring various facets of Dicksson's preoccupations. The melodies borrow from tradition and possess a lonesome quality inspired by Swedish melancholy, close relations, and white trash culture. Combined with intentionally banal artwork, the experience can be beguiling and sometimes bleak but at the same time warm and humorous. Missväxt is Dicksson's greatest work yet, exploring the myth of ancient Swedish being and misery but with a sound that is uniquely ecstatic. Inspired by medieval folk music, it's reminiscent of Fairport Convention's marriage of traditional folk music and psychedelic rock. Missväxt features guest appearances by Elin Engström (Loopsel, Monokultur) on drums, Astrid Øster Mortensen on vocals and flute, Joakim Karlsson (Facit) on production and synth, and Magnus Jäverling on flute."
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GY11 006LP
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"Neutral's seminal album, Grå Våg Gamlestaden, is widely considered ground zero for the explosion of creativity that has transpired in the Swedish Underground ever since. It is the noisy experimental rock album that opened the door and welcomed in so many artists working behind the scenes. Gothenburgers Dan Johansson (Sewer Election) and Sofie Herner had previously made music together in the band Källarbarnen when they started discussing a new methodology and a fresh sound for recordings in 2013 under a new name as a duo. After witnessing Herner and Johansson's live performance in an artist's studio in the spring 2014, Gustaf Dicksson, who was running the Omlott record label at the time as well as performing under his own moniker, Blod, offered to release an album by Neutral on the spot. Herner recorded most of the instruments and voice, Johansson worked on manipulating the recordings, experimenting with reel-to-reel techniques. The title of the album translates as 'Grey Wave Gamlestaden' and was chosen as an inside joke about the neighbourhood Gamlestaden where Johansson and Herner lived. A major theme on the recording is a certain kind of bleakness but with a wry smile closely identified with the spirit of the neighborhood. In the fall of 2014 Grå Våg Gamlestaden was released, limited to 200 copies, and sold out quickly without many copies making it outside of Sweden. Around the same time, Johansson and Herner joined forces with other underground artists in their widening circle to form a sort of Gothenburg supergroup making music together as Enhet för Fri Musik. Grapefruit's reissue of Grå Våg Gamlestaden is the first time Neutral's masterpiece has seen the light of day since it sold out quickly in 2014. This vinyl-only gatefold reissue is limited to 300 copies."
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2LP
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GY10 003LP
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2021 restock. "NYC's 75 Dollar Bill began its prolific career in 2012, after percussionist Rick Brown -- a veteran of the indie underground (Fish & Roses, Run On, V-Effect) -- and noise scene guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Che Chen -- connected via MySpace. Since that initial jam session, when Brown began experimenting with his signature plywood crate drum rhythms, they have released three LPs and a clutch of self-released cassette and digital releases. Last year's double album I Was Real received serious critical acclaim -- The Wire calling it 2019's Album of the Year. On their first live album, Live At Tubby's, 75 Dollar Bill assembled a unique 'little big band' [Sue Garner on bass, Cheryl Kingan on sax, Steve Maing on guitar, Jim Pugliese on percussion and Karen Waltuch on viola] for the small Kingston, NY club show. Recorded on the last day of their spring tour, the record puts a new perspective on themes from their body of work: a little more intimacy, a little more freedom, a little more controlled chaos. Brown's idiosyncratic rhythms are all the more hypnotizing in Tubby's cozy setting, and Chen's furious guitar work cuts and hums with sounds seemingly only attainable on stage. It's an album both challenging and immediate. The expanded 75 Dollar Bill's affinity for improvisation and the avant-garde even leads to a rousing take on the Ornette Coleman classic, 'Friends And Neighbors' that feels right at home in their own repertoire. The listener can't help but feel present and part of the communal joy and catharsis being shared here in this room. This performance at Tubby's turned out not only to be the last show of their tour, but the last show possible as the pandemic hit. Originally offered as a digital only release on 75 Dollar Bill's Bandcamp, Live At Tubby's now documents a highlight and closure of sorts; this kind of musical improvisation and community interaction being on hold for the foreseeable future. This double album on Grapefruit will have to tide everyone over until it can all happen again."
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GY11 001CD
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"Island Of Lost Souls is the first of four new albums by Roy Montgomery coming out in 2021 to commemorate Montgomery's forty years in music. His debut release was also Flying Nun's first, the Pin Group 7-inch from 1981. Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest album for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. Island Of Lost Souls follows his acclaimed 2018 LP Suffuse -- novel departure in which he consigned all vocal duties to ambient/experimental peers Liz Harris (of Grouper), Julianna Barwick, Purple Pilgrims, Haley Fohr (of Circuit des Yeux), Katie von Schleicher, and She Keeps Bees. But the veteran evolves again. On this release Montgomery creates resounding, aerial compositions for guitar. Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery's new music continues to seek and challenge, moving like the eye of a storm. This latest album cries out like a chorus, though there are no vocals on the record. Its tracklist instead builds upon the lonesome and polyphonic dimensions of guitar in order to express universal feelings of communion and isolation, resisting conclusion but never resorting to fatalism. Life is all about navigating these contradictions and everyone is with Montgomery on this island whether they'd like to admit it or not. Here, the artist has created a work of wisdom and grit, a searing beauty, a new masterpiece for an uncertain and restless time."
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GY11 001LP
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LP version. "Island Of Lost Souls is the first of four new albums by Roy Montgomery coming out in 2021 to commemorate Montgomery's forty years in music. His debut release was also Flying Nun's first, the Pin Group 7-inch from 1981. Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest album for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he's managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. Island Of Lost Souls follows his acclaimed 2018 LP Suffuse -- novel departure in which he consigned all vocal duties to ambient/experimental peers Liz Harris (of Grouper), Julianna Barwick, Purple Pilgrims, Haley Fohr (of Circuit des Yeux), Katie von Schleicher, and She Keeps Bees. But the veteran evolves again. On this release Montgomery creates resounding, aerial compositions for guitar. Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery's new music continues to seek and challenge, moving like the eye of a storm. This latest album cries out like a chorus, though there are no vocals on the record. Its tracklist instead builds upon the lonesome and polyphonic dimensions of guitar in order to express universal feelings of communion and isolation, resisting conclusion but never resorting to fatalism. Life is all about navigating these contradictions and everyone is with Montgomery on this island whether they'd like to admit it or not. Here, the artist has created a work of wisdom and grit, a searing beauty, a new masterpiece for an uncertain and restless time."
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GY9 005LP
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"Enhet För Fri Musik is a free-folk and experimental music collective formed in 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band features assorted members of the current Swedish underground from bands like Neutral, Makthaverskan, Arv & Miljö, and Blod. A local scene supergroup, the band also runs the labels Förlag För Fri Musik and the Omlott imprint to document their own releases as well as the fertile underground scene surrounding them (much like the Xpressway label founded by artists Bruce Russell, Peter Jefferies, and Alastair Galbraith showcased the early experimental music scene in Dunedin, New Zealand in the late '80s and early '90s). Enhet För Fri Musik is the natural extension of a rich lineage going back to legendary Swedish bands from the '70s, such as Pärson Sound, Trad Gras Och Stenar, International Harvester, and Arbete Och Fritid, whose music pushed boundaries and chose artistic innovation over any commercial concerns. Det Finns Ett Hjärta Som För Dig is the band's fifth release and it's a unique masterpiece. The mysteriously hypnotic album, released in July of 2017 in an extremely limited pressing of 300, sold out quickly without receiving distribution to greater Europe or the United States. The atmospheric record features atonal guitar, organ, tape effects, saxophone, and field recordings, in experimental song constructions that defy genre, moving like a river might through different environments, taking and leaving things as it moves, and coalescing around Sofie Herner's haunting vocals. Grapefruit is extremely proud to be reissuing this rare thing of beauty in a deluxe gatefold jacket and original artwork provided by the band."
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GY9 004CD
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"'Singer-songwriter' is a frustratingly confining term; to truly understand exactly just how confining, look no further than the recorded works of Simon Joyner, an artist whose work consistently transcends the narrow parameters of genre classifications and record shop bin cards. Though his music has always honored, reckoned with -- wrestled with -- the tradition set forth by his songwriting forebears (Cohen, Van Zandt, Ochs, Dylan, Reed to name a few), Joyner can always be counted on to defy expectations; as a lyricist, melodicist, and arranger, Joyner likes to keep us on our toes. For his new album Pocket Moon, Joyner opted to engage in a risky artistic challenge. Instead of leaning on his fertile pool of Omaha musicians (the amorphous Ghosts band), he asked friend and frequent collaborator Michael Krassner to assemble unknown players on his behalf specifically for this recording. He then traveled from his home base to Krassner's '7-Track Shack' studio in Phoenix to record the album, abandoning the literal and figurative comfort zone of old habits and home field advantage. Simultaneously sparser and more immediate than 2017's obliquely topical Step Into The Earthquake, Pocket Moon is instantly one of Joyner's finest albums since his redoubtable 2012 double album masterpiece, Ghosts, or to some ears the excellent, sonic 180 he managed with his follow-up, Grass, Branch & Bone. Krassner's wrecking crew is sturdy, versatile, and complementary. Utilizing a wide range of instruments and textures, the band contributes additional nuance to each of the ragged, sublime songs here. The result is another song cycle stylistically unified, dynamic and rich." --James Jackson Toth
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GY9 004LP
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LP version. "'Singer-songwriter' is a frustratingly confining term; to truly understand exactly just how confining, look no further than the recorded works of Simon Joyner, an artist whose work consistently transcends the narrow parameters of genre classifications and record shop bin cards. Though his music has always honored, reckoned with -- wrestled with -- the tradition set forth by his songwriting forebears (Cohen, Van Zandt, Ochs, Dylan, Reed to name a few), Joyner can always be counted on to defy expectations; as a lyricist, melodicist, and arranger, Joyner likes to keep us on our toes. For his new album Pocket Moon, Joyner opted to engage in a risky artistic challenge. Instead of leaning on his fertile pool of Omaha musicians (the amorphous Ghosts band), he asked friend and frequent collaborator Michael Krassner to assemble unknown players on his behalf specifically for this recording. He then traveled from his home base to Krassner's '7-Track Shack' studio in Phoenix to record the album, abandoning the literal and figurative comfort zone of old habits and home field advantage. Simultaneously sparser and more immediate than 2017's obliquely topical Step Into The Earthquake, Pocket Moon is instantly one of Joyner's finest albums since his redoubtable 2012 double album masterpiece, Ghosts, or to some ears the excellent, sonic 180 he managed with his follow-up, Grass, Branch & Bone. Krassner's wrecking crew is sturdy, versatile, and complementary. Utilizing a wide range of instruments and textures, the band contributes additional nuance to each of the ragged, sublime songs here. The result is another song cycle stylistically unified, dynamic and rich.' --James Jackson Toth"
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GY9 001LP
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"Peter Jefferies, a living legend of New Zealand underground music, from his seminal bands Nocturnal Projections and This Kind Of Punishment, to his collaborative efforts in bands such as Plagal Grind and Two Foot Flame, is perhaps best known for his solo work on masterpieces such as The Last Great Challenge In A Dull World (1990) and Electricity (1994), as well as numerous other albums of his singular songcraft. Grapefruit is proud to be releasing Jefferies' latest, Last Ticket Home, which leaves the station early in his career when The Last Great Challenge In A Dull World left off and takes us on a guided tour of a fascinating side street via rare singles, both released and unreleased, radical live interpretations, and a wealth of never released material dating from 1991-2019. Last Ticket Home redefines Jefferies' artistic journey, giving us a song cycle narrative which scorches, blisters and eventually heals on its relentless, ragged way home."
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