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SV 161CD
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"Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint. The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden voyage. Bryars eloquently reconstructs the passengers' experience -- at once forlorn and eerily calming -- through assemblages of understated strings and indeterminate elements. A core principle of the piece is that the ship's band continued to play as the vessel went down. One of the most sublime works in the modern classical canon, Titanic remains Bryars' magnum opus. Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, the album's second sidelong track, is based on a tape loop of a London street singer captured in the early 1970s. Featuring Derek Bailey, Michael Nyman and John White, Bryars' composition gradually builds around the cripplingly poignant voice until its emotional force is almost too much to bear. It's no surprise that Jesus' Blood is known as Tom Waits' all-time favorite piece of music. Produced by Brian Eno in 1975 as the inaugural release on Obscure, The Sinking of the Titanic draws the listener in to a majestic world. While these exquisite, hymn-like recordings have not changed in nearly 50 years, their deeply personal nature and the audience's attention to their subtlety have only strengthened over time."
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SV 161LP
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LP version. "Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint. The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden voyage. Bryars eloquently reconstructs the passengers' experience -- at once forlorn and eerily calming -- through assemblages of understated strings and indeterminate elements. A core principle of the piece is that the ship's band continued to play as the vessel went down. One of the most sublime works in the modern classical canon, Titanic remains Bryars' magnum opus. Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, the album's second sidelong track, is based on a tape loop of a London street singer captured in the early 1970s. Featuring Derek Bailey, Michael Nyman and John White, Bryars' composition gradually builds around the cripplingly poignant voice until its emotional force is almost too much to bear. It's no surprise that Jesus' Blood is known as Tom Waits' all-time favorite piece of music. Produced by Brian Eno in 1975 as the inaugural release on Obscure, The Sinking of the Titanic draws the listener in to a majestic world. While these exquisite, hymn-like recordings have not changed in nearly 50 years, their deeply personal nature and the audience's attention to their subtlety have only strengthened over time."
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SV 176LP
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"Soon after their 1978 debut on the Brian Eno-produced No New York, a compilation that defined the No Wave scene, James Chance's group Contortions had already evolved -- getting sharper, tighter and just plain faster. Despite the loss of keyboardist Adele Bertei and bassist Geoge Scott (who refused to sign a new contract demanded by Chance and his then partner, band manager Anya Phillips) Contortions were firing on all cylinders, and their first full-length album, 1979's Buy, is a marvel of hot-wired energy. Led by the brash yelps and free-sax squawks of Chance, Contortions spit out fiercely rhythmic tunes charged by the wiry guitar lines of Jody Harris and the dizzying slide guitar of Pat Place. With drummer Don Christensen slipping in pointillist beats and David Hofstra's infectious basslines, the songs on Buy crackle with both precision and abandon. Opener 'Designed to Kill' shoots sparks of sound in all directions, while 'Contort Yourself' is a nihilistic dance number wherein Chance instructs listeners to twist into knots, physically and mentally. 'It's better than pleasure, it hurts more than pain,' he snarls, later imploring, 'You better try being stupid instead of smart.' Heavily influenced by the showman funk of James Brown (whose 'I Can't Stand Myself' the band had covered on No New York) Contortions coined a downtown dance-punk sound that had immediate influence on subsequent No Wave bands -- including Place's Bush Tetras and Bronx trio ESG -- as well as the burgeoning disco movement. On Buy, Contortions' self-invented template is imprinted so hard into the grooves that it sounds like they're about to break, capturing a combustible band in all its fiery fury."
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SV 178LP
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"The legend of San Francisco's CRIME looms large among punk aficionados the world over. Formed in the mid-1970s, the band's dual-guitar sound, confrontational image and sleazed methodology still serve as inspiration decades later. With only a handful of singles released during their active lifespan, CRIME's legacy grew significantly as archival recordings began to trickle out in the early 1990s. Of all these excavations, San Francisco's Doomed was one of the first and certainly one of the most powerful. Culled from two studio sessions from 1978 and 1979, San Francisco's Doomed captures the frenzy of CRIME's sound in a fittingly loose, devil-may-care framework. The 1978 session is a gloriously unpolished assault of classic, gutter-level punk with vicious live set staples like 'Feel The Beat' and 'Piss On Your Dog' taking marquee placement over the more well-known singles tracks. The 1979 session finds CRIME taking aim at the so-called new wave, augmenting their attack with ripped odes that bear the direct influence of science fiction and rockabilly on the group. Few recordings from US punk's first wave match the raw intensity heard on San Francisco's Doomed. As Michael Stewart Foley writes in the liner notes, 'Unimpressed with the once idealistic counter-culture and all the bands associated with it, CRIME declared itself San Francisco's First And Only Rock 'N' Roll Band. Dressed in police uniforms and driving sonic ice picks through listeners' eardrums with the volume cranked past 10, they looked more like a street gang that might take your wallet and slash your face with a switchblade just to watch you bleed. But despite the band's best efforts to stand apart, CRIME could have come from nowhere else, at no other time.'"
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SV 191LP
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"Prima Materia was a vocal improvisation ensemble, founded by Roberto Laneri in 1973. Composed entirely of vocalists with no academic training, the group developed various techniques -- revolving mostly around the use of overtones -- that would embody their unique sound. No instruments nor electronic manipulations were ever employed within the group's physiognomy, which was realized purely through the human voice. La Coda Della Tigre, the group's sole album, was recorded in 1977 by Alvin Curran and released on Ananda, an artist-run label founded by Laneri, Curran and Giacinto Scelsi. As the original liner notes state, 'The music of Prima Materia may sound radically new, yet at the same time it is likely to ring some distant bell and evoke ancient emotions. This is not due to chance: indeed, the very name of the group points to a specific path, namely, the unfolding of the potential implicit in the alchemical symbol as embodying a process of transmutation of consciousness.' Prima Materia's four members (Laneri, Claudio Ricciardi, Gianni Nebbiosi and Susanne Hendricks) combine voices to create a singular, beautiful drone that is (as the group's name suggests) both impossible to define and fundamentally simple. This first-time standalone reissue is recommended for fans of La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Disques Ocora."
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SV 184LP
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"While awaiting the release of Dignity Of Labour, The Ex headed back into the studio in early 1983; this time with a new friend -- The Mekons' Jon Langford -- helping produce. Originally released in April 1983 (only a month after Dignity Of Labour), Tumult marks a major evolution in Ex-sound. Opener 'Bouquet Of Barbed Wire' emerges snarling out of post-punk atmospherics with Terrie Ex's glacial guitar, Bas Masbeck's loping bass and cascading tom-toms from new recruit Sabien Witteman, while 'Fear' and 'Survival Of The Fattest' bring to bear the rhythmic core of the band, their signature angular style. Lyrically, the songs on Tumult cycle through a series of familiar concerns: animal rights, squatters, the working class, punk's penchant for radical chic and the creeping fascism of nationalist sentiments. G.W. Sok's voice is squalling and perfectly wry throughout. Tumult remains a high-water point of early Ex, serving as both developmental guide and way-station. The next 18 months would see the departure of Bas and Witteman and the arrival of long-serving bassist Luc Klaasen and drummer Kat Bornefeld (whose supple rhythms propel the group to this day). The album stands as one of the most compelling and unique documents of early '80s DIY exploration. If Mark E. Smith had only one favorite Dutch punk band, then it would undoubtedly be The Ex. This first-time vinyl reissue comes with 28-inch x 39- inch full-color poster."
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SV 172LP
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"In the summer of 1981, The Fall embarked on their second American tour, criss-crossing the States over a two-month period. Featuring the dual guitar of Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon and rhythm section of Stephen Hanley and Karl Burns, A Part Of America Therein, 1981 would document this fabled journey with crucial performances that show the band evolve from noisemaking lout cultists into true post-punk legends. 'From the riot-torn streets of Manchester, England to the scenic sewers of Chicago...' as the album opens unforgettably with a nameless promoter introducing The Fall, who proceed to tear into a hypnotic take on 'The N.W.R.A.' stretched into a near stare-down that is wholly different than the studio version on Grotesque. The LP highlights Mark E. Smith's incomparable bite, heard most notably on the adlibbed vitriol of 'Totally Wired,' where not even the costumed punks were safe from a proper dressing down. A Part Of America Therein, 1981 proves once again that The Fall's constant rally against complacency was a top-down directive and intrinsic to their wonderful and frightening sound. Superior Viaduct's edition is the first time that this album has been available on vinyl domestically since its initial release in 1982. Liner notes by Brian Turner."
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12"
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SV 190EP
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"Francesco Messina is perhaps best known for his collaboration with fellow composer Raul Lovisoni on the album Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo, originally released on seminal Italian label Cramps in 1979. Along with contemporaries Franco Battiato, Juri Camisasca and Giusto Pio, Messina would help reshape the world of modern composition with an organic rawness and haunting beauty. In 1979, Messina was asked to perform at the Teatro Quartiere in Milan. As the composer writes in the liner notes, 'Due to the limited availability of key technical features, it would have been too complicated to perform Prati Bagnati, and therefore I opted for these three pieces instead. We had never actually tried them all together, so I thought about renting a recording studio the previous afternoon. In that way, we could rehearse in a suitable place and use the opportunity to record the music on tape.' Unreleased for over thirty years, the recordings on Reflex have an unadorned, almost improvisational feel. 'Untitled' (featuring Lovisoni's plaintive flute) and 'I Nuovi Pescheti' are full of meditative piano passages that lend an aura of new age, while the title track is more insistent with unfurling chords layered in real time via a reel-to-reel tape machine, resembling Steve Reich's mesmeric phase-shifting works of the '60s. A central figure within the Italian avant-garde, Francesco Messina gracefully expands his country's contribution to Minimalism. This first-time vinyl release is recommended for fans of Joanna Brouk, Luciano Cilio and Charlemagne Palestine."
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SV 162CD
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"For five decades, Harold Budd stood on the forefront of the West Coast avant-garde. Born in Los Angeles, he studied with Schoenberg-pupil Gerald Strang and began teaching at CalArts in 1970. While searching for his own voice, he was influenced as much by abstract expressionist painters as by John Cage and Morton Feldman. In his work, Budd brought delicate, slowing-moving melodies to the foreground -- creating a new musical language based on 'eternally pretty music' and smooth surfaces. In the early '70s, Budd started an extended cycle of compositions that would comprise The Pavilion Of Dreams. For Budd, the album was a signpost for a new direction in thinking about music: 'The Pavilion Of Dreams erased my past. I consider that to be the birth of myself as a serious artist. It was like my Magna Carta.' Produced by Brian Eno in 1978, The Pavilion Of Dreams stands toe-to-toe with another minimalist masterpiece also released that year, Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians. Budd's gorgeous pieces reveal a lightness of touch that draws the listener in, while sublime voices float in and out as if in a recurring dream. Featuring saxophonist Marion Brown and multi-instrumentalists Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman, The Pavilion Of Dreams remains a master class in exquisite timbre and shimmering texture. The Pavilion Of Dreams was both the final release on Eno's Obscure imprint and a transition point towards his seminal ambient series. This first-time reissue is recommended for fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jon Hassell and Mark Hollis."
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SV 162LP
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2022 repress. LP version. "For five decades, Harold Budd stood on the forefront of the West Coast avant-garde. Born in Los Angeles, he studied with Schoenberg-pupil Gerald Strang and began teaching at CalArts in 1970. While searching for his own voice, he was influenced as much by abstract expressionist painters as by John Cage and Morton Feldman. In his work, Budd brought delicate, slowing-moving melodies to the foreground -- creating a new musical language based on 'eternally pretty music' and smooth surfaces. In the early '70s, Budd started an extended cycle of compositions that would comprise The Pavilion Of Dreams. For Budd, the album was a signpost for a new direction in thinking about music: 'The Pavilion Of Dreams erased my past. I consider that to be the birth of myself as a serious artist. It was like my Magna Carta.' Produced by Brian Eno in 1978, The Pavilion Of Dreams stands toe-to-toe with another minimalist masterpiece also released that year, Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians. Budd's gorgeous pieces reveal a lightness of touch that draws the listener in, while sublime voices float in and out as if in a recurring dream. Featuring saxophonist Marion Brown and multi-instrumentalists Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman, The Pavilion Of Dreams remains a master class in exquisite timbre and shimmering texture. The Pavilion Of Dreams was both the final release on Eno's Obscure imprint and a transition point towards his seminal ambient series. This first-time reissue is recommended for fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jon Hassell and Mark Hollis."
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SV 114LP
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"If The Fall truly is a cult band, then Slates both benefits from and reinforces such shrouded obsessions. In presenting these six particular songs as a 10-inch EP, the inherent and attractive difficulty of The Fall's sound is made physical, framing the urgency of their singles from this period (notably How I Wrote 'Elastic Man' and Lie Dream of a Casino Soul) alongside lengthy rumblings normally restricted to long players. The tumbling and phased 'Middle Mass' begins on an incredible high note, segueing into the snake-charm hypnotism of 'An Older Lover Etc.' 'Slates, Slags, Etc.' is built on stretched VU-inspired riffing, complete with ace feedback bleed that doubtlessly went on long after fade-out. Ultimately, it's the piercing chimes of guitar and marching drum grind of 'Prole Art Threat' that elevates Slates beyond oddity. Truly one of Mark E. Smith's finest, busiest and most enigmatic performances, equally matched by a band at the peak of their powers. LP edition compiles the six tracks from the original EP release, their March 1981 Peel session and an early '80s studio outtake. Liner notes by Brian Turner."
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SV 183LP
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"In 1981, The Ex started squatting Villa Zuid, an estate overlooking abandoned Van Gelder paper factory in the village of Wormer, Netherlands. Formerly the home of the factory's manager, the Villa briefly served as the band's base of operations and would inspire one of The Ex's most impactful, enduring albums in their 40+ year history. Originally released in 1983, Dignity Of Labour is 'our idea of improvised industrial punk noise,' states Ex-frontman G.W. Sok, which not only offers a perfect summation of these idiosyncratic sounds, but also of the group's music in the decades to come. During its heyday, Van Gelder employed over 1,000 workers. By 1981, it had gone bankrupt, following the takeover and divestment of a multinational corporation. Having saved the Villa from demolition through squatting, The Ex pored over newspaper articles, interviews and business records to tell the story of the factory and the people whose labor brought it to life -- an unparalleled example of DIY archival action. With new drummer Sabien Witteman bringing polyrhythmic accents and a supporting crew of agitators (credits include piledriver, bus engine, printing press, etc.), The Ex recorded eight tracks in-studio and then played them back in the ruins of the factory while recording the playback -- giving Dignity Of Labour a haunting sense of space that is at once cavernous and decaying. This first-time vinyl reissue (configured as single LP) comes with 24-inch x 18-inch poster and 24-page booklet."
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SV 179LP
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Repressed. "If your brain has a shortlist of bands that instantly evoke New Wave, Suburban Lawns deserve a slot right next to the likes of Devo, Talking Heads and the B-52's. After putting out two singles on their own Suburban Industrial imprint, the Lawns signed to I.R.S. Records and released their debut LP in 1981. While the band gained cult status thanks in part to a Jonathan Demme-produced music video which aired on Saturday Night Live, their self-titled album would sadly be the five-piece's only full-length statement. Suburban Lawns' asymmetrical aesthetic is personified by co-vocalist Su Tissue, whose mesmerizing stage persona was at once childlike and terrifying. Her unique style embodies the awkward/arty female singer of the Reagan era, while the group's male vocals -- courtesy of Frankie Ennui, Vex Billingsgate and John McBurney -- maintain the satirical themes of Southern California's postwar mirage of limitless sprawl. Suburban Lawns' catchiness can be attributed to their drum-tight performance and taut songwriting. Listen to the vocal trade-offs on 'Anything,' which could have easily come out on any purely punk label from LA at the time, while Tissue's deadpan delivery on 'Janitor' glides into the best art-warble this side of Lene Lovich, broaching the possibility of nuclear annihilation with a murmured 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.' From a West Coast scene dominated by 7-inch singles and EPs, the Suburban Lawns' lone LP remains in a class with precious few. It's not surprising that they found acceptance in the Hollywood punk scene, despite their Long Beach roots, and would influence other bands such as Minutemen. This is not a disc that will get parked in your collection hoping to get pulled once in a while; this is a record you will play."
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12"
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SV 177EP
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Repressed!! "These songs were recorded a few months after the Los Angeles punk scene began. These five statements of intent transcend Punk and project forward into the future: to the analog synth wave of the late '70s and beyond, to the present day, four decades later, when they finally receive an official release. Sourced from the original reel-to-reels, they are a revelation compared to the countless copies that have been circulating by multiple generations of tape-traders. Here, for the first time, is the Screamers' initial and legendary manifesto. The Screamers concept was simple, yet audacious: take the spirit and the look of punk -- the pseudo-psychotic aggression, the spiky hair, vacant stares and barely concealed sadomasochism -- and match it to a different configuration than the typical '60s rock template. As launched, the Screamers featured two keyboard players (Tommy Gear and David Brown), a drummer (KK Barrett) and an intensely charismatic singer (Tomata du Plenty). The idea was to be confrontational -- to evoke (as Tomata described in an early interview) a state of anxiety. Forty years later, this release builds on the groundswell of interest in the Screamers that has been occurring in the early 21st century. There are web sites with detailed histories of the group and several bootlegs of demos and live material from 1977-79. The video of '122 Hours of Fear' -- perhaps their peak moment, recorded at Target Video in August 1978 -- has now passed over 650,000 views online. This is the Screamers' time, and the time is now." --Jon Savage (excerpt from the liner notes). Cover featuring artwork by Gary Panter.
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LP + 7"
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SV 181LP
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"Emerging out of Amsterdam's vibrant squat scene in 1979, The Ex -- a name chosen for the ease and speed with which it could be spray-painted onto a wall -- have for four decades been an entirely self-sustaining musical entity, charting a course through the global underground with a spirit of freedom and radical exploration. Disturbing Domestic Peace, The Ex's debut album, appeared mere months after their first single, 1980's 'All Corpses Smell The Same'. Originally released on the band's own Verrecords (they made up different label names with each record), the LP falls squarely within a punk idiom and, at the same time, shows this influential Dutch group's restless energy. Terrie Ex's guitar serves up vectors of percussive pulse, fraying the edges of the music's squared-off rhythms. Vocalist G.W. Sok -- an anarchist Dziga Vertov with a mic -- observes, declaims and condemns across a set of interrelated political concerns that would return in Exmusic for years to come. While The Ex channel the poise and principled attack of Crass or Flux Of Pink Indians, they create a unique declamatory sound all their own -- trailing brilliant flashes of color in the wake of punk's monochrome palette. Offering ten songs in only twenty-two minutes, Disturbing Domestic Peace lays bare a vivid snapshot of a truly singular band who (at the time) were just finding their feet. This first-time vinyl reissue comes with bonus 7-inch, insert and 20-page booklet."
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SV 182LP
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"Emerging out of Amsterdam's vibrant squat scene in 1979, The Ex -- a name chosen for the ease and speed with which it could be spray-painted onto a wall -- have for four decades been an entirely self-sustaining musical entity, charting a course through the global underground with a spirit of freedom and radical exploration. Originally released in 1982, History Is What's Happening features one of the most harrowing title/cover art combinations in recent memory. What at first glance looks like a firing squad is, upon closer inspection, a concentration camp orchestra. On their second album, The Ex advance into a distinctly more post-punk style: textural guitar shards and tumbling motorik drumming with Bas Masbeck's thunderous bass shouldering much of the melodic load. Railing against political duplicity and the illusory nature of 'freedom' in an age of manufactured consent, G.W. Sok offers some of punk's most bracing and memorable agitprop lyrics. These twenty songs are a quick-moving and caustic trip, a DIY studio rendition of the band's explosive live set from this era. History Is What's Happening remains an important signpost in the history of both Ex-evolution and the cataclysmic '80s. With their sophomore LP, the group would put Holland on the underground music map. Indeed, many now-lifelong fans around the world were just beginning to take notice and get down with the mighty Ex. This first-time vinyl reissue comes with 23" x 16" poster and 24-page booklet."
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SV 170LP
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"Flaming Tunes' sole release is perhaps the finest elegy to the '80s home recording ethos that you've never heard. Originally released in 1985 on cassette (with individually hand-colored covers), this self-titled album grew out of the collaboration between childhood friends Gareth Williams and Mary Currie. Williams is best known as a member of English art-rock band This Heat. After leaving the group in the early '80s, he travelled to India where he studied classical Kathakali dance -- an experience that would profoundly shape the music of Flaming Tunes. In an old Victorian house in South London, the duo recorded during the day while Currie's young son attended school and Williams conducted tape treatments at night. They were joined by various guests including This Heat guitarist Charles Bullen as well as long-term collaborators Martin Harrison and Rick Wilson. Using whatever instruments they had on hand (clarinet, piano, bells, etc.), Flaming Tunes create lo-fi melodies around simple arrangements, oblique rhythms and densely layered natural sounds. The results are a mesmeric collage of instrumental daydreams and sideways pop songs, floating into one another in a hazy confluence of late '60s Canterbury psych-folk and early Residents experimentation. All of these beguiling elements converge in a personal manner, quietly insistent in listeners' ears like the blood pulsing in one's veins on a warm summer day."
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SV 135LP
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Last copies, RSD 2020 release. "When I say 1980 was a kind of dead zone in the Cleveland music scene, I can hear a collective, 'Isn't every year a dead zone in Cleveland?' Go ahead, take your Johnny Carson-era jokes and see what they buy you. Puff your chest about NYC in '75 or London in '76 or L.A. in '77 to some 27-something today. Allow me to save you face and remind you to add in late '70s Cleveland. Because when you revisit this comp of struggling, straggling, oil-stank Cuyahoga River rats, it might sound like the most intriguing current day, underground punk. Here was compiler Mike Hudson (Pagans) and pals/enemies circa 1978-82 (when these rackets were recorded), glancing out bar windows to see 'hoods of crumbling warehouses and factories that, unlike in England, couldn't be blamed on the Nazis. Musically, they were inspired by the fifteen (give or take) forefathers of that early '70s Cleveland legend (Rocket from the Tombs, Pere Ubu, Dead Boys, Peter Laughner, Mirrors, electric eels). But instead of seeing them sit at bars complaining about their failed major label deals, simply saw them sitting at bars. The later '80s Cle action that led to some excellent post-punk was still in the burbs, and the mainstream radio world that once had a few of its biggest offices in Brownstown had given up on the leather 'n' spikes stuff. Hence, the amazing, idiosyncratic, clanky shuffling that permeates all the Rust Belt rants herein. From AM-radio hook-ghosts (Severe, Keith Matic, Lab Rats), to a few lingering legends (Styrenes' shambolic cover of eels' anthem 'Jaguar Ride' and Dave E.'s own Jazz Destroyers), trashy sarcasto-punk (the Pagans, with Pere Ubu's Davd Thomas on gtr/back-up vox on 'Boy Can I Dance Good'), slimey proto-core (Dark, Easter Monkeys), and a prostitute or two -- this 'scene,' as it were, might've been unseen in its dark day, but sounds surprisingly congealed on Cleveland Confidential. The soot-stained mood and context of this shit can't be replicated. And in a few decades it will seem as foreign as a gaslight. It might also seem like a dream. A time when humans could make music in abandoned storefronts, generally stave off the day job a few more months, and not just wander a barren landscape searching for food. Who knew end-of-the-'70s Cleveland would look so appealing?" --Eric Davidson (New Bomb Turks)
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SV 058LP
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2021 repress, black vinyl. "Animated sci-fi masterpiece La Planète Sauvage (aka Fantastic Planet), winner at Cannes Film Festival in 1973, is a bizarre and beautiful film. Towering blue-skinned figures, tiny humanoids in the midst of revolt, and drug-induced Tantric sex transport viewers to a truly magical setting. Composer Alain Goraguer creates an equally hypnotic score from a palette of effects-laden guitars, flutes, Fender Rhodes, and strings. While the lush arrangements are reminiscent of Goraguer's collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg in the 1960s, space-age synth flourishes suggest a more psychedelic era. Moody vignettes flow together in tense, slow-paced funk rhythms and Baroque textures. It comes as no surprise that La Planète Sauvage has been cited as an influence on contemporary artists such as French duo Air and American hip-hop producers J Dilla and Madlib. Gorgeous, interplanetary soundscapes resemble the surreal meeting point between Pink Floyd's Obscured by Clouds and Broadcast's Future Crayon. This long out-of-print vinyl release features the original soundtrack recording and newly designed artwork. Recommended for fans of Ennio Morricone, Basil Kirchin, and David Axelrod."
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12"
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SV 045LP
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Last copies, RSD 2020 release. "New York no-wavers Ike Yard are perhaps best known for being the first American band signed to Factory Records, and it isn't difficult to hear why: the group's music has much in common with the existential frigidness of Joy Division and early New Order as well as the mutant noise-funk of Section 25 and A Certain Ratio. That said, the sound of Night After Night, the band's debut EP, is one that could only have emerged from the lawless dystopia of '70s New York City. Vocalist/percussionist Stuart Argabright, guitarist Michael Diekmann, vocalist/bassist Kenny Compton and synth player Fred Szymanski traffic in a particularly foreboding rhythmic tension, creating in the process an unlikely amalgam of minimal wave, industrial and post-punk. Recorded shortly after forming in 1980 and originally released on seminal Brussels imprint Les Disques Du Crépuscule, Night After Night suggests an alternate history in which Tobe Hooper and Jah Wobble provided the soundtrack to The Warriors. The atmosphere throughout is thick. Every cymbal is dubbed-out and spacey; every vocal utterance treated, alien and detached. Fans of Chrome's damaged ice machine-guitar or Suicide's menacing, anything-can-happen m.o. will rejoice in the siren-sounds, metal clanging and metronomic death-pulse of 'Sense of Male,' while 'Infra-ton' evokes the cacophonous rattle of gates being pulled down over bodega storefronts and the screech of subway brakes. Side two kicks off with 'Motiv's' mechanical dread, and the squelchy din of 'Cherish' recasts The Residents as streetwise, urban punks. Night After Night remains primal evidence of the dank, uncompromising narcotica of Ike Yard's embryonic period. This first-time reissue comes with original sleeve design. Limited edition translucent red vinyl."
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LP
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SV 046LP
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Restocked. "Ike Yard remain a legendary band of early '80s New York City -- at once immensely influential, yet obscured by a far-too-brief initial phase. Their debut EP, the dark and absorbing Night After Night, sounds almost like a different group, so rapidly would Ike Yard evolve towards the calmly menacing electro throb of their self-titled LP. Originally released on Factory in 1982, the album put Ike Yard's indelible mark on the synth-driven experimental rock scene then emerging all over the planet. While historical analogues would be Cabaret Voltaire's Red Mecca or Front 242's Geography, opening track 'M. Kurtz' makes starkly clear that Ike Yard is a far heavier proposition. With a thick porridge of bass, ringing guitar and strangled/stunted layers of voice, these six pieces are densely packed and perversely danceable. 'Loss' sounds like a minimal techno track that could have been made last week, while 'Kino' combines Soviet-era imagery with sparse soundscapes à la African Head Charge's Environmental Studies. Ike Yard somehow pull off the toughest trick in modern music: making repetition hypnotically compelling through subtle variation. The effect of Ike Yard's first LP can be heard in many genres -- from industrial dance labels like Wax Trax to electro-punk bands and innumerable European groups (Lucrate Milk, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, etc.). The fact that the cover artwork does not include any photos of the band, but rather features the original catalogue number (FACT A SECOND) only further illustrates the release's importance and Ike Yard's timeless mystique."
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2LP
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SV 174LP
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"Ellen Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument in her St. Paul, Minnesota studio in 1980 and moved to Brooklyn the following year. Inspired by composer and instrument builder Harry Partch, Fullman's large-scale work creates droning, organ-like overtones that are as unique in the world of sound as her vision of the instrument itself. Along with her 1985 debut album -- appropriately titled The Long String Instrument -- Fullman's only output in the 1980s would be two self-released cassettes, In The Sea and Work For Four Players And 90 Strings, recorded in 1987 at an unfinished office tower in Austin, Texas. This double LP collection features music from both cassettes as well as a previously unreleased piece from 1988 at De Fabriek in Den Bosch, Holland. Ethereal and exquisitely paced, these rare recordings capture minimalism's quiet radiance. Within a musical landscape that has seen the rise of contemporary drone practitioners like Ellen Arkbro and Kali Malone, Fullman is sure to find a legion of fans. Superior Viaduct is honored to present this long overdue archival release that marks a particularly vibrant period of Fullman's pioneering and timeless work."
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2LP
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SV 173LP
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"Since the mid-1960s, Jon Gibson has played a key role in the development of American avant-garde music. As a versatile reed player, he has performed with everyone from Steve Reich and Philip Glass to Terry Riley and La Monte Young. In the 1970s, Gibson would emerge as a minimalist composer in his own right and release two exceptional albums, Visitations and Two Solo Pieces, on Glass' Chatham Square imprint. Songs & Melodies brings together recordings from 1973 to 1977 (mostly previously unreleased), featuring prominent figures in New York's scene including Arthur Russell, Barbara Benary and Julius Eastman. This double LP collection showcases the breadth of Gibson's expressive range -- from introspective piano meditations to cerebral ensemble works -- and the subtlety of his radical compositional techniques. The front cover artwork, a hand-drawn diagram by Gibson, originally appeared in the program for a March 1974 concert at Washington Square Church in Greenwich Village. While this concert was not the first to feature the composer exclusively, it would be a pivotal event in Gibson's early career as a composer. Superior Viaduct is honored to present this long overdue archival release that not only documents Gibson's important work, but also a crucial period in NYC musical history."
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2X7"
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SV 160EP
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Includes DVD. "One of the most savagely cool and confrontational punk acts in history, CRIME famously dubbed themselves 'San Francisco's First And Only Rock 'N' Roll Band.' This inflammatory claim was supported by unpredictable live shows that often ended in riots. In 1978, film producer Larry Larson captured CRIME in their natural habitat, the dimly-lit nightclub Mabuhay Gardens. They looked and sounded more severe than anyone in San Francisco was ready for. The footage sat dormant for decades, until now! Edited and directed by Jon Bastian, the recently completed movie features archival live performances and unruly behind-the-scenes straight from the original 16mm color film. A vital document of the group -- Frankie Fix, Johnny Strike, Ron The Ripper and Hank Rank -- as well as North Beach's sordid scene: parading punks, square thrill-seekers and Fab Mab promoter Dirk Dirksen's provocative emceeing. Superior Viaduct presents this first-time release of the 35-minute movie on DVD and double 7" of its soundtrack. Feel the beat -- it's CRIME time."
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7"
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SV 156EP
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2022 repress. "Few first wave California punk bands burned as brightly as The Avengers. Formed in San Francisco during 1977's Summer of Hate, they swiftly ascended to the top of the West Coast scene and earned the coveted support slot for The Sex Pistols' final concert in January 1978. The Avengers' frenetic performance at Winterland made quite an impression on Pistols guitarist Steve Jones who offered to record the group. From the Jones produced sessions, 'The American In Me' remains an unmistakable anthem. Embodying the punk zeitgeist, singer Penelope Houston fiercely declares, 'Ask not what you can do for your country, what's your country been doing to you.' The original White Noise EP version of 'The American In Me' is paired with 'Uh-Oh,' featuring Jones on piano and bravely demonstrating Me Too sentiments four decades earlier. Comp-only track 'Cheap Tragedies' closes this reimagined lost-single set. The American In Me perfectly captures The Avengers' dynamic power -- frustration, style and passion forged into some of the most pivotal sounds of punk's formative era."
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