ALIEN TRANSISTOR - Forced Exposure

$28.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 6/7/2024

I Can See Our House From Here is Andi Haberl's debut solo album as Sun. It's not about nostalgia, not about actually returning to a specific place. Instead, it's about finding a personal frequency, an overlapping of sounds and samples, an open space that mirrors and extends whatever frequencies felt right at different points in time. Talking about his first solo album, Haberl recalls many stages: early compositions that ended up on Alien Ensemble's albums, early DIY/home studio/multi-instrumentalist inspirations (Le Millipede), new technologies that came and went, even a set of wildly convincing arrangements (done with Cico Beck's crucial input) that ultimately became stepping stones for yet another round of DIY takes. "I want to take people on a journey. A personal journey, too, because when my parents split up and sold the house I grew up in, I felt a bit like the ground had fallen out from under my feet. But I have dedicated the album title and the accompanying piece to this house, so I can keep it in good memory," he says. I Can See Our House From Here has been a long time coming. It's been a long journey. Homeward-bound. Leading to a place that's really Haberl's -- his sound. His frequencies. Known as a long-time member of The Notwist and various other bands/projects (Alien Ensemble, AMEO, jersey, Ditty etc.), Berlin-based drummer/composer Andi Haberl has also worked with My Brightest Diamond, Till Brönner, Owen Pallet, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, to name a few.

$26.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 5/3/2024

Enid Valu normally relies on lenses and light to express herself. Known to create stunning visuals, to capture sonic worlds with her preferred instrument (the camera), the US-born, Munich-based photographer and video artist has been working with various bands, shooting concerts, creating music videos, visualizing what she hears. However, now that she's become an indispensable part of the local scene, she for once ditches the cam and steps up to the mic instead -- appearing as featured vocalist on two of the four brand-new covers Hochzeitskapelle recorded for the EP We Dance. Pavement's We Dance" has been beautifully rearranged and reworked some three decades later. Musing about "Stockholm Syndrome," just like Yo La Tengo's bass player James McNews did back then, this new Hochzeitskapelle interpretation is obviously less reminiscent of Neil Young, if compared to the original take. Instead, their Yo La Tengo cover feels almost like a song recorded by The Notwist -- which, interestingly enough, is not because two of The Notwist's core members also play in Hochzeitskapelle. Nope, it's the vibe of Enid Valu's guest vocals that somehow points in that direction. As for the two remaining cover choices, it's all-instrumental business as usual. For Low's classic "Silver Rider," it's the banjo that does Alan Sparhawk's vocal part, whereas the trombone soon joins in, contributing Mimi Parker's second vocal layer as the tune unfolds. Eventually adding a German song to the mix -- Wir Sind Helden's "Elefant" -- it's an EP that comprises four beautiful half-forgotten indie classics that Hochzeitskapelle reworks, adding the group's unique, charmingly handmade/oddball "Rumpeljazz" trademark. One can immediately tell how much they love the original tracks: these are recordings, done by fans and admirers who aren't even trying to sound much like the musicians who wrote them. However, the new versions are so compelling in their own right, they make you want to revisit the original tracks as well.

$27.00$22.95 IN STOCK

LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$37.50$31.88 IN STOCK

Double LP version. There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$25.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

There's a big clue to the pacific wisdom of The Orchestra in the Sky in the artist name -- Hochzeitskapelle + Japanese Friends. For this is, indeed, music based in, and resonating with, friendship, camaraderie, collaboration, and creative exchange. Across two albums -- one documenting recordings from Tokyo, the other an expansive double album of sessions from Kobe -- Hochzeitskapelle gather around them some of the finest voices in Japanese independent and underground pop music, like Tenniscoats, Eddie Marcon, Yuko Ikema, and Kama Aina, and explore an open field of music, full of creative encounters. You may already know Hochzeitskapelle as the German instrumental quintet formed by members of The Notwist, Alien Ensemble, and friends from the jazz scene. Their relationship with Japanese indie has developed over the years, doubtless encouraged by Saya´s Minna Miteru, compilations series of Japanese indie pop for Morr Music. In many ways, The Orchestra in the Sky feels like the culmination of a set of ongoing cross-cultural exchanges: the Minna Miteru compilations; tours of Japan by Hochzeitskapelle and The Notwist; and indeed, Markus Acher's Spirit Fest group with Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats. The latter are present throughout much of The Orchestra in the Sky, and Saya's voice is particularly winning on songs like "Tsuki no oto," where the two outfits are joined by brass ensemble Zayaendo. There are several lovely turns from singer-songwriter Yuko Ikema, and Eddie Marcon appears twice. But it's also the potentially lesser-known names that shine through The Orchestra in the Sky, like the frail folk of Gratin Carnival; the delightful, gentle pop songs by sekifu and Zayaendo member, Kanako Numata; a trio of beautiful, stumble-drunk melodies played in swaying consort with popo. That group, along with the presence of Zayaendo, Fuigo, and Mitamurakandadan, make strong connections with the Japanese underground's love of brass bands, partly informed by the tradition of chindon'ya, marching bands that walk the streets of Japanese cities. All things converge, then, on The Orchestra in the Sky, a smart, spirited collection of heavenly pop songs, intimate folk melodies, lungfuls of joyous brass, deep weeping strings, and swooning sighs.

$28.00$23.80 IN STOCK

Alien Transistor announces a reissue of Such December, the fourth album by Japanese indie folk-pop artist, Gratin Carnival. Listeners might already know Gratin Carnival from their appearance on the Alien Parade Japan compilation of indie pop groups working with brass and woodwind. Gratin Carnival's "Just Watching" was one of the many highlights of that compilation, and its gentle bossa-folk glide reappears on Such December. Originally released in 2020, Such December captures beautifully the happy-sad charm of Gratin Carnival. The project of Koreyuki Mitsunaga, Gratin Carnival started in 2011; Mitsunaga had been home recording for some time and decided on the name as an umbrella for his music-making. Mitsunaga's main instruments are guitar, which he uses to great effect throughout, his gorgeous acoustic playing reminiscent of players like Ueno Takashi of Tenniscoats or João Gilberto, and alto saxophone and clarinet. Those three instruments make up the core of Gratin Carnival's sound, along with Mitsunaga's charmingly doleful singing. Recording at his parents' home, with a four-track cassette recorder and a MacBook, Mitsunaga created Such December during 2020, though the songs on it stretch back to 2016. As with plenty of musicians from the Japanese underground, Mitsunaga is involved in other music, too -- he's been working with The Otoasobi Project, which performs music in collaboration with individuals with learning disabilities, and their families; and he's also involved in improvised music. With Such December, though, you get to hear Mitsunaga's music at its most personal and individual, ten songs of still, gorgeously poised indie folk-pop, where the swooning clang of six strings meets the breathy bliss of woodwind and brass.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

Let's forget that Saroos is a closed, three-minded system: a fixed and fully committed entity of three. Known to reinvent themselves in less drastic ways, Christoph Brandner, Max Punktezahl, and Florian Zimmer, have opened the floodgates to collaboration on their quietly explosive latest album Turtle Roll. Announced by 2021 singles "Tin & Glass" featuring Ronald Lippok and aptly titled "Frequency Change" featuring Leila Gharib aka Sequoyah Tiger, the sixth full-length sees the Berlin threesome add another handful of vocal guests along the way. Kicked off by the motoric B-funk (Berlin represent) of the Lippok-assisted "Tin & Glass," complete with retro-futuristic effects, spoken declarations, and non-terrestrial vibes, it might not be Daft Punk playing at their house, but a byobv (vibe) house party of musical minds isn't too far off, actually! Once again as much a mixtape as an album, the mood, vibe, and color changes with every new collaborative tune: From ethereally soothing and dreamy ("The Mind Knows" featuring Solent from Canada) to clap-driven and wildly hypnotic (that pounding "Mutazione," featuring vocals and rhymes courtesy of Eva Geist from Italy) and almost radio-ready when that stadium-sized oomph of "Frequency Change" featuring Sequoyah Tiger arrives around halfway in. Elsewhere, Japanese guest Kiki Hitomi (WaqWaq Kingdom) adds exotic ecstasy to the hypothermic beatscapes of "The Sign," while Ukrainian vocalist Lucy Zoria pushes poetic layers over "Southern Blue"'s wonky foundation that hardens and finds more direction with each round the beat clock takes -- until it's impossible to escape that undertow. "My baby makes it better," sings Caleb Dailey on the faithful and still-loving "Being with You," a sepia, softly churning look back by the US songsmith, a sweetly shimmering ode to a relationship. Speaking of foursomes, there's four instrumental tracks scattered throughout the new LP -- ranging from a painting in crystal clear colors of night ("Organ of Recall") to the highly dramatic sonic tapestry of "Thicket" (with vocals as well). Before the perfect goodbye of slow-moving album closer "Here Before," "Passed Out" sounds like Odd Nosdam finding his feet after blacking out on a German carnival. Titled after a surf maneuver that allows you to break through the crests on the way out, Saroos have skipped the obvious waves with Turtle Roll -- creating their own kind of sonic "Hang Ten" by adding seven new voices to the mix. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$33.00$28.05 IN STOCK

Alien Transistor present Alien Parade Japan, a joyous double-album compilation of groups from Japan's indie-pop and avant-garde undergrounds, all of which feature brass or woodwind instruments as part of their line-up. Compiled by Markus Acher (Alien Transistor, The Notwist, Hochzeitskapelle) with plenty of support and help from his Spirit Fest bandmate, Saya (also of Tenniscoats), it features some familiar names -- Tenniscoats, naturally, but also Zayaendo, Tori Kudo's Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- alongside lesser-known groups like Biobiopatata, Mitamurakandadan?, Kourakuen, Sekifu, and Noah Lewis Mahlon's Taits, amongst many others. The collection of songs here rests upon a simple question, and an interesting parallel: Why do so many groups from Japan include brass and woodwind, and how closely does this echo the scene that Acher is involved with in Munich? The idea was formulated in Acher's mind after one of his groups, Hochzeitskapelle, had been invited by Saya to Japan in 2019, to take part in the Alien Parade Japan tour. A wide variety is reflected in the twenty-two songs on Alien Parade Japan, which flits from the pastoral melody of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's "Crossin The Tama River", through the tenderness of Various Sighhorns's "people have called them flowers", to the folksy lament of Gratin Carnival's "Just Watching". Alien Parade Japan reaches further afield, too, drawing in some groups, like Hose, Fuigo, and popo, that feature musicians like Toshihiro Koike, Masafumi Ezaki, and Taku Unami, who may be better known for their experimental and improvised releases on labels like ftarri and Erstwhile. It also looks back to material recorded in the 1990s -- the swinging slide guitars and sax/tuba duet of Strada's "Swamp", from 1998, and Compostela's energetic, rousing "ghhgh", from 1990. Both pieces were written by, and feature, saxophonist Kanji Nakao; Compostela's membership also included late saxophonist Masami Shinoda, who was also part of such storied Japanese groups as Pungo, A-Musik, Orquestra Del Viento, Ché-SHIZU, and the fiery free jazz outfit, Seikatsu Kōjyō Iinkai. Groups like Compostela help to draw some through-lines to the aesthetics of chindon'ya, a type of Japanese marching band made up of costumed street performers who advertise businesses. Alien Parade Japan weaves all of this together -- chindon'ya; jazz; indie-pop; psych-folk; big band -- into one beautiful, big tapestry of gorgeous melody, sweetness, and melancholy, with plenty of creative fraying at its edges. A wonderfully coherent collection of some of the most playful and elated music you're likely to hear this year. Also features Pascals, Tail, Noahlewis' Mahlon Taits, K`DLOKK, Petit Daon, NRQ, and Satomi Endo. Silk-screen artwork; edition of 500.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

What Are People For? make the perfect kind of dystopic dance music for our times. Born from a collaboration between artist Anna McCarthy and musician/producer Manuela Rzytki, the band could be the illicit lovechild of Tom Tom Club and Throbbing Gristle, displaying the ideal balance of hip shaking vibes and dark provocative content. On their collaborative debut, McCarthy and Rzytki share songwriting duties. The album was produced by Rzytki herself. They are joined by Paulina Nolte on backing vocals and Tom Wu on drums, while Keith Tenniswood mastered the record. The whole project stems from a publication and exhibition by McCarthy laying the foundations for the content and lyrics of the album, which is humorous, poetic and political. As a lyricist, McCarthy uses her storytelling ability to explore anxieties and desires, digging into free surreal word associations reminiscent of Su Tissue's tongue in cheek experiments with Suburban Lawns, but also explosive and gripping like a Kae Tempest rap. Rzytki's precise sonic palette and talent at penning structured bangers perfectly complement McCarthy's playful and subversive language manipulations. Rzytki's beats are rooted in old school hip-hop loop principles and an authentic love for the analog. Her use of an array of synthesizers and other "real" instruments adds to WAPF's depth, soul and sincerity. Throughout the album, lyrical themes revolve around underground aspects of society, violence, political ideologies, sexuality, and mysticism. "73", with its drum machine hysteria and hypnotic synth basses is a text collage written on the 73 bus through London, consisting of situations and conversation snippets encountered along the way. "Nursery Rhyme" brings more soothing incantations. There is definitely an affinity for fairytales, albeit adult ones and especially the anarchistic ones such as The Moomins, who were a consistent influence on the band. WAPF? have absorbed and digested a variety of influences. Trip hop, punk, and techno are rubbing shoulders on "Party Time". "Mz. Lazy" starts like an invitation to meditation and references Gertrude Stein's book Ida in which she develops the idea that publicity is a new religion and people are now famous for being famous. "Fantasize", on its part, is raw, sexual, and liberating while the closing track "Bring Back the Dirt" is a welcome hymn into a world that is becoming more and more sanitized. While exploring deep subject matters throughout their album, WAPF? manage to remain satirical, exciting and funny. WAPF? is a rare combination of contemporary punk energy, irresistible groove, absurdist dry humor and astounding depth of field. Includes printed inner and insert; also includes download code; edition of 500.

$24.00$20.40 IN STOCK

Fuchs is a band that never was. It vanished as quickly as it appeared in the picture. In 2005, Kante singer and guitarist Peter Thiessen travelled to Weilheim to visit Markus and Micha Acher in their studio, where they were joined, among others, by Notwist-affiliated musicians like Cico Beck, Robert Klinger, Carl Oesterhelt, and Stefan Schreiber. Spirits were high, but schedules were full: after a week of improvised sessions, everyone went their own way. The recordings gathered dust until Markus Acher found them again in 2021 while cleaning out his studio. After carefully re-evaluating the rough mixes, the musicians decided to finally release them. The resulting album comprises six tracks that musically draw on jazz, aesthetically lean on dub techniques and ideologically pick up on krautrock: there's no solos to be heard on this record, just a few equally skilled and open-minded musicians listening to each other carefully, providing each other with space in which to unfold. Fuchs is a document of egos dissolving in a collective spirit. Thiessen and the Acher brothers met in the 1990s and bonded not only over their shared background in hardcore music and the DIY ethos in which it was rooted, but also over their love for jazz. Thiessen invited Micha Acher to join his band Kante on flügelhorn in 2004 for a tour that saw the expanded group play unusual encores after the official concert was over. The Acher brothers didn't have to ask twice when they invited him for a visit in Weilheim to further explore their mutual interests in a studio setting. Between immersing themselves in books by the photographer Leonore Mau, cooking together and drinking the occasional fruit schnapps, the trio went into the studio. Thiessen considers the resulting recording sessions to be a kind of attempt at musically translating their conversations during those days. They discussed different approaches to jazz, whether sampling and musical mis-citations can unlock ecstatic potentials and the possible parallels between syncretistic religions and pop music. The six pieces on Fuchs are chock-full of exactly these moments. When at one instant, the players seem to disperse and improvise freely, they always meet again on common ground a short time later, continuing on their way together. There are no conventions or even previous agreements that guide them, just a shared will to explore a vast range of curious sounds and unusual rhythms together as a truly unified constellation of very different musicians. Silk-screen artwork; includes download code; edition of 500.

$28.00 NOT IN STOCK

Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman. All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of krautrock or hip-hop, about a beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America. The 12 wildly different songs and audio collages, on the transatlantically-produced album, All the Streets I Must Find Cities For, is based on lyrics by beat author Bob Kaufman. They were originally part of the radio play Thank God for Beatniks, for which author Andreas Ammer (Ammer & Einheit), Notwist's Markus Acher and Micha Acher and loop maker Leo Hopfinger (LeRoy) formed The Plastik Beatniks. On the eastern side of the Atlantic they composed music and crafted soundscapes. On the west side of the ocean, they asked three of the most renowned singers, activists and producers in the US to recite or sing Bob Kaufman's poetry. Punk-pop icon Patti Smith immediately signed on to read Kaufman's poem "Ginsberg (For Allen)". Free jazz vocalist Moor Mother passionately performed Bob Kaufman's "War Memoir". American jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and "International Anthem" labelmate Angel Bat Dawid, a legitimate successor to Sun Ra, polyphonically read and sang such poems as "The Sun is a Negroe" and "West Coast Sound 1956" and included some clarinet solos on top. Also on the album, Bob Kaufman himself recites his previously unknown poems "Hollywood Beat", "Would You Wear My Eyes", and the "Jail Poem," "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For". Beat chronicler Raymond Foye, who still lives at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, contributed an interview he conducted with late beatnik Allen Ginsberg about Bob Kaufman. Completing the circle was hip-hop artist Adam "DoseOne" (13&God), who once gave Markus Acher a well-thumbed volume of Bob Kaufman, whom he admired. He contributed some raps. Thus 12 tracks emerged, as diverse as the artists, poets and musicians who contributed to it. More than an album. An epitaph. A work for the eternity of beat. Silk-screen artwork; includes download code.

$15.50$13.18 IN STOCK

Following their recent solo releases Soniscope (Dauw) and Cells #5 (SAUNA 064CS), Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Midori Hirano and Tokyo based string experimentalist Atsuko Hatano have teamed up for their first collaborative full-length: Water Ladder. An intense, multilayered continuation of earlier collaborations (Atsuko was featured on Midori's debut LP back in 2006), the foundation for this new collaborative album was laid when they shared stages in Berlin (Ausland) and Japan in 2019. Working remotely at first, they later recorded parts of the album in Nara's snoihouse (using omnidirectional polyhedral speakers). "As we rallied back and forth with our recordings in the process of creating this album, unanticipated fluctuations and irregularities emerged, coming together into a kind of music with a unique resilience and buoyancy that cannot be confined to existing molds. It was as though we had built a Water Ladder to bridge the gap between us," explains prolific composer and viola player Atsuko Hatano, who's been busy recording solo and with colleagues such as Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Mocky, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Takeo Toyama, and Anzu Suhara (Asa-chang and Junrei). Kyoto-born, Berlin-based Midori Hirano, who's also been releasing music under her MimiCof moniker, adds multiple instruments to the ever-changing sonic landscapes of Water Ladder -- an album defined by suspenseful and seemingly suspended compositions that often feel like floating in midair, a sensation the musicians compare to "that distinctive feeling you get from riding a high-speed elevator, where you can no longer tell whether you're going up or down." Devoid of birdsong, the late summer air is nevertheless full of buzzing, whirring, hissing sounds on foreboding album opener "Summer Noise," a cinematic intro with slow-moving piano chords and an ominous build-up over the course of its sprawling eight minutes. Elsewhere, sudden bursts of viola cut through nighttime peace ("Nocturnal Awakening"), followed by "Cotton Sphere" -- which makes the sensation of floating in midair complete: harmonies and melodies rise and form to fall apart again. Whereas the title track truly explodes half-way in, the final "Cascade" brings closure to the electro-acoustic six-track collection: the floating continues. "Water cannot retain its form on its own, and can take any shape as effected by external forces. Its movements cannot be captured by eyesight alone: A body of water that appears to be crashing down into a deep, bottomless waterfall could actually be rising up very slowly into midair," says Atsuko. "This is an invitation for you to cross the ever-transforming Water Ladder built between Midori and myself."

$23.50$19.98 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code. Edition of 300. Following their recent solo releases Soniscope (Dauw) and Cells #5 (SAUNA 064CS), Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Midori Hirano and Tokyo based string experimentalist Atsuko Hatano have teamed up for their first collaborative full-length: Water Ladder. An intense, multilayered continuation of earlier collaborations (Atsuko was featured on Midori's debut LP back in 2006), the foundation for this new collaborative album was laid when they shared stages in Berlin (Ausland) and Japan in 2019. Working remotely at first, they later recorded parts of the album in Nara's snoihouse (using omnidirectional polyhedral speakers). "As we rallied back and forth with our recordings in the process of creating this album, unanticipated fluctuations and irregularities emerged, coming together into a kind of music with a unique resilience and buoyancy that cannot be confined to existing molds. It was as though we had built a Water Ladder to bridge the gap between us," explains prolific composer and viola player Atsuko Hatano, who's been busy recording solo and with colleagues such as Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, Mocky, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Takeo Toyama, and Anzu Suhara (Asa-chang and Junrei). Kyoto-born, Berlin-based Midori Hirano, who's also been releasing music under her MimiCof moniker, adds multiple instruments to the ever-changing sonic landscapes of Water Ladder -- an album defined by suspenseful and seemingly suspended compositions that often feel like floating in midair, a sensation the musicians compare to "that distinctive feeling you get from riding a high-speed elevator, where you can no longer tell whether you're going up or down." Devoid of birdsong, the late summer air is nevertheless full of buzzing, whirring, hissing sounds on foreboding album opener "Summer Noise," a cinematic intro with slow-moving piano chords and an ominous build-up over the course of its sprawling eight minutes. Elsewhere, sudden bursts of viola cut through nighttime peace ("Nocturnal Awakening"), followed by "Cotton Sphere" -- which makes the sensation of floating in midair complete: harmonies and melodies rise and form to fall apart again. Whereas the title track truly explodes half-way in, the final "Cascade" brings closure to the electro-acoustic six-track collection: the floating continues. "Water cannot retain its form on its own, and can take any shape as effected by external forces. Its movements cannot be captured by eyesight alone: A body of water that appears to be crashing down into a deep, bottomless waterfall could actually be rising up very slowly into midair," says Atsuko. "This is an invitation for you to cross the ever-transforming Water Ladder built between Midori and myself."

$18.00$15.30 IN STOCK

A quick, spontané voyage to the French Riviera ca. 1968, good times long before things went south, Organi's Parlez-vous Français? is a woozy, tripping, soothing sojourn: DIY dream pop, hazy psychedelia, blurred-but-steady beats dripping down the golden boulevard, complete with mystical chants, a dash of half-remembered Franglais that goes down like some vintage eau-de-vie. There's a fine massage waiting behind those venetian blinds. Pay half an hour, you'll be relaxed and revived after 22 minutes. Très irrésistible when streamed, Organi's haunting, hard-boiled French lesson is even better with that classique vinyl crackle in the mix. Following the cinematic title skit with its bass loop appendix, Oakland-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Walti (and his songwriting partner Maryam) aka Organi invites singer Jessica Bailiff along for the majestic entrée, an interpretation of Philamore Lincoln's 1970 tune "The North Wind Blew South", adding anticon. heavyweights Jel and Odd Nosdam on synths and bass for à la mode enhancements and additional bric-à- brac. Whereas the theme tune "Organi" comes with big drums, big organ, seductive overtones, pure hypnosis, "Whispers" is the soundtrack to some kind of psychedelic campfire tableau vivant: all brumeux, hazy, with spare guitar, Gauloises or Gitanes dangling, a glass of Bordeaux waiting on the dusty old amp, and featuring guest vocalists Yea-Ming Chen and Susy Borhan. It gets even more Parisienne after that: a French woman just knows how to look classic, even when all she's got is some attitude, a ramshackle tambourine, a craving for old Sukia weirdness and those budget-couture "4 Dolla Jeans"... Clearly in love with analog equipment, Organi turn The Vaselines' "Slushy" into a slow- moving, bottomless lullaby -- "... you'll never miss what you never had" --, and the femme fatale minimalism of "Stay The Night" is too magnétique and alluring: A fuckin' sexy chanson, très léger and yet such a hard-knockin' head-nod anthem, it'll make you stay for sure, hungry for la petite mort. Before the expansive denouement -- a bank robbery in style: with bangs and a bucket bag ("Danger Walked In") -- the session gets super loose on "The Getaway," head scarves and berets shimmering in the cabriolet, and featuring Jena Ezzadine on vocals and Headnodic on bass. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$25.50 LOW STOCK LEVEL

In 2016, the Japanese duo Tenniscoats (Saya and Takashi Ueno) visited Munich for the first time to play at the Alien Disko Festival, invited by the band the Notwist. In the Japanese-Bavarian bar Nomina, Saya and Ueno listened and joined the acoustic brass-string-combo Hochzeitskapelle (Markus Acher and his brother Micha are also members), who use to play in between people in restaurants, on the street, on boats, etc... but only on a real stage, if they have to. Inspired by this evening, Saya founded the brass-band Zayaendo back home in Tokyo, together with her friend Satomi Endo, who plays the soprano-saxophone. They started to play in parks, forests and bars, and many friends joined, making them a collective with up to 20 musicians. Some of the members are also composers and contribute their compositions. In 2018, the collective came to Munich, and joined the Alien Disko festival. In 2019, they invited the Hochzeitskapelle to play with them on a two-week-tour to japan. When they returned to Munich after this for the 2019-edition of the festival, their Munich friends organized a welcome-surprise-party for them, playing one evening only cover-versions of Zayaendo-songs. Taking part were the Hochzeitskapelle joined by Kofelgschroa-acoordion-player Maxi-Pongratz, the experimental duo Schnitt, who play with a vinyl-cutting-machine, trumpet and bass-clarinet, Joasihno alias Cico Beck (Notwist) with his music-machines, the duo of Munich-based Japanese pianist Sachiko Hara and clarinetist and composer Christoph Reiserer, and a school-big-band led by g.rag-trumpet-player Alois Schmelz, who excited everybody by beautifully singing one song in Japanese. They played Zayaendo-compositions from the album Zayaendo Music (N 073LP). Every band had recorded their cover-versions at the rehearsals... just to give as a souvenir to the Zayaendo-members... but as this is such a wonderful and special compilation and just beautiful songs, Alien Transistor decided to make a small, limited vinyl-edition of this as well for others to hear. And traditionally, this has of course to be housed in a screen-printed jacket by master Señor Burns, numbered and individually colored.

$20.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

Deliberately breaking all the rules Mr. Hornby once famously outlined regarding the creation of homemade (tape) compilations, Saroos's members indeed had the term "mixtape" on their minds while working on their latest full-length -- albeit in the hip-hop sense: a sonic snack box, interconnected shots from the hip, something that just came together and immediately felt right. Whereas hip-hop folks nowadays often use the vacuous term "project" in order to steer clear of the ontological debate caused by the almost synonymous use of album/mixtape, Florian Zimmer, Christoph Brandner, and Max Punktezahl, otherwise busy with The Notwist, Driftmachine, and Lali Puna, stick to the classics: their new 16-track project OLU (Off Label Use) is, officially, still an album. But it's wild and vibrant like a mixtape, interwoven like its cover: a seamless burst of ideas, impulsively combined to form a split-screen snapshot of recent moments and momentums. Re-appropriating the term "Off Label Use" -- which actually means: using prescription drugs in ways that aren't mentioned on the instruction leaflet -- in their own "off-label" way, Saroos never sounded more loose-limbed and elastic. Whereas the trio's earlier releases were rather conceptual and homogenous, OLU indeed has a more loose, spur-of-the-moment feel, a spontaneous force at its core. Checking the weighty sci-fi inspirations at the door, they use that Bomb Shelter-type of freedom to reinvent themselves at every turn, chasing sounds that happened to emerge in the group's triangular energy field. "Quarantaine", the massive reverb-stumblin' adjustment between beats and bass, opens and cross-fades smoothly into "Humdrum Rolloff", an early hint at the group's off-label practices: the underwater creepers floating around here were really voices (mostly). From majestically built oriental sound-pieces ("Looney Suite Serenade"), synth-based "End House Mario", and a triptych of speaker-boxxxing gas lamp experimentations entitled "Cord Burn 1-3", Saroos have rarely sounded this playful and unrestricted: there's a new energy at work that welds all the different sonic playing fields together to create one continuous 40 minute mix. "Tatsu Jam" billows over the kind of sizzling hi-hats you'd expect to hear on real trap tapes from Hotlanta. A prelude to a bunch of quicker-paced instrumentals ("Scratch Pets", "24h Love Gumbo") and ambient sun showers, until the next "Plateau" (Mo'Wax vibes!) brings the beats to the fore once again ("Tomorrow's Kudos"), and the ultimate "Whirligig" sounds like a mix of Oktoberfest 2020 and Johnston's "Casper The Friendly Ghost" coming apart at the seams. Features Wild Card. Includes download code; Edition of 300.

$19.50$16.58 IN STOCK

Fehler Kuti on the album (Munich, Autumn 2019): "I remember the first time I read W.E.B. DuBois eclectic masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk. The way in which this Weberian scholar flowed from personal account to prose to sociological analysis to music and even political intervention has had a lasting impact on my own work as a cultural anthropologist. It made me understand that as scholars we must use different means in order to give expression to the totality of the lived experience: There is only so much in an academic text . . . The medium changes the message. In this sense, I guess, I'm a singing cultural anthropologist . . . The widespread availability of Digital Audio Workstations, sequencers, loopers, and delay pedals has led us into a futuristic cul de sac best described by Mark Fisher as the very absence of future. Likewise, I am most skeptical of the 'naturalist' countermovement, the return of folk . . . I involuntarily returned to pop music in its two-folded meaning of something popular and addressing not an essentialist notion of 'Volk' or it's woke cousin 'communities', but society as a whole. I entered the studio just with a few lo-fi sounding melodies and rhythms from my circuit bent CASIO synthesizer. I had no clue what the finished product would sound like. But as soon as Markus [Acher] started drumming, in a way strangely reminding me of Can's Ethnographic Forgery Series, my uptight sounds were suddenly embedded within a warmer global sound spectrum. The alien at home and abroad and the strange overlapped: We were seeing one and the same sound differently but were gently held together by Tobias [Siegert]'s producing. Making music is about building coalitions. It's about suggesting an articulation of styles, sounds and people, that hasn't materialized, yet, but may help us in the current crisis: I wanted Amon Düül II to send their drug-induced archangel thunderbird to rescue the refugees, that had tried to escape the police by climbing up a tree in Munich in 2016. I wanted Sun Ra to taunt far-right protesters in Chemnitz in 2018. And I wanted to mourn the loss of a former kebab shop cum discotheque that served as proof that there is such a thing as a minoritarian universalism..."

Music by Julian Warner, Markus Acher, and Tobias Siegert. Recorded and mixed by Tobias Siegert in Munich. Includes download code; Edition of 300.

$19.50$16.58 IN STOCK

Any trademark, any defining trait is a double-edged sword: it is, of course, the catchy part, the kind of stuff people will remember, but in turn they tend to miss some of the other feats, some of the actual details and intricacies. Look at Schnitt, a truly unique duo hailing from Augsburg in Southern Germany. Comprising Moritz Illner and Markus Christ (formerly Kitty Empire), who've been adding to their sizable arsenal of sonic tools (e.g. trumpet, bass clarinet, prepared flugelhorn, Rhodes, pedals, turntables, drums) since 2012, the former is responsible for the band's signature "shtick": His sole instrument is actually a vinyl-cutting machine. A contraption that allows them to go massive, to go meta: live-cutting his multi-instrumentalist partner's live parts to then add them as samples, in order to create even richer, thicker walls of sound, wilder improvisations. It's a spectacular approach -- because it's probably the most haptic and Rube Goldbergian way to manually pull off what a sampling device normally does. No wonder they picked it as their name: "cut" translates to "schnitt" in German. And yet, apart from how they do it, there's a lot more to discover on Wand, the group's sophomore offering (its first for Alien Transistor) -- because after all it's about how they sound, part sonic installation, part beat-based exploration at the intersection of postrock, jazz, minimal music and noise. Starting off as an incremental brass collage, opening/title track "Wand" sees Schnitt create crisp and scratchy units of sound, which are then aligned and rearranged along the track's steady groove. With "Unwucht" -- meaning dynamic unbalance -- things indeed go off-kilter for a static-filled moment, yet there's always a way out: There's the laid-back minimalism of "Raus", some improvised contortions ("Torso"), wonderfully catchy lacunas between interlocked brass melodies ("Konstrukt"), and wild excursions even amateur bass-clarinetist André 3000 would endorse ("Tumult"). Almost radio-friendly and cinematic: The duo's delicately moving "Saum", the perfect cut for nighttime cruising. Elsewhere, there's more steady beats that almost feel like a reprise to the hey-days of Mo'Wax and the '90s: the thumping bass drum of "Splitter" is complete with a shimmering, slow-moving hint of a tune on top, or the jazzed-out, head-nodding crackle of "Fragment". So naked, so banging. Schnitt have created an album that's 100% deep cuts. Includes download code; edition of 300.

$19.50$16.58 IN STOCK

Acclaimed abstract hip-hop producer and cofounder of Anticon Records, Odd Nosdam, presets Mirrors, a new LP via Alien Transistor. Composed entirely of found sounds, most of them sourced from rare and private press vinyl, Mirrors' instrumental beats and sound collages pulse with a sense of exploration and rediscovery that has been Nosdam's calling card since the turn of this past century. Its every track presents a treasure trove of unique aural gems, each nestled in atmospheric textures that swirl like a cloud of dust just blown off of some once-overlooked heirloom. Designed specifically for vinyl, the record's A and B sides play out like a pair of cohesive psychedelic dreams. Yet even a skilled psychoanalyst would struggle to categorize these reveries as either pure seraphic bliss or full-on nightmare. By sneaking strategic bursts of beauty into Mirrors' more sinister beats ("Mirrors I") and by lacing its largely angelic compositions with foreboding tones ("The Burn"), Odd Nosdam has crafted a record that is not only engrossingly nuanced, but that captures a highly specified, often hypnogogic, mental state with breathtaking accuracy: cognitive dissonance. The sensation of experiencing an emotion that runs in direct opposition to one's circumstantial narrative -- a sense of melancholy when things are ostensibly fine, a smile as the world seems to crumble -- may once have been predominately the stuff of dreams. But in our current age of ebullient social media facades, and at a sociopolitical moment when joy feels like an aberrant blip in an up-scrolling sea of horror, Mirrors provides an unsettlingly apt soundtrack to the waking experience of the modern era. Oneiric interpretations aside, at its core Mirrors is simply a stunning and dynamic beat tape. As he has for two decades -- whether in crafting instrumentals for avant-rap legends cLOUDDEAD and art-rapper Serengeti, sound tracking skate videos for Element Skateboards, or adding to his prolific catalog of solo recordings -- Odd Nosdam uses his special knack for marrying monolithic, lumbering drum arrangements with novel melodic flourishes to create a breed of experimental hip-hop music entirely his own. An evocative record that seamlessly blends transcendence with menace, Mirrors is a captivating addition to the producer's body of work and one that will continue to leave listeners awed by his creativity, versatility, and his singular vision. Includes download code.

$22.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

The demons of night are out again: Seoul's one-stop shop creative collective Byul.org returns with its third international album, Nobody's Gold. Comprising 14 new songs, it's a dizzying, haunting affair that channels the group's manifold influences and references points (from post-punk to Stockhausen and back via club culture) and yet sounds intriguingly coherent. Moving in and out of the shadows, Nobody's Gold breaks forth as pure sonic landscape, a universe of its own, folding and unfolding into both more experimental patterns, yet also with occasional hooks and dark catchy structures, gracious build-ups flickering among the hazy roar and thunder. After the screak and squeal of "Lamb With A Wolf Mask," the foreboding sounds of "The Museum Of The Two Of Us" segue into a synthesized party tune about a missing friend being chased by police ("Nari Yuko Yin"), one of several vocal tracks with a sinister edge. Taking things up another notch, "Friendly Enemies" is probably the closest this group will ever get to creating a stadium-ready anthem. On the other end of the spectrum, "The Place Where Designers Go To Die" is a magnificent void with an immense and irresistible undertow. Never too jolly (not even while "Day Drinking At A Seaside Town" or during takeoff via epic pop tune "Bats We Are"), Nobody's Gold compiles soundscapes with a very tangible, corporeal presence. Inspired by everyday life, half-remembered drug/club experiences, Pascal Quignard's disturbing La Haine De La Musique (1996), Stockhausen and Bill Evans, Nobody's Gold sees the collective remain true to its DIY foundations while repeatedly questioning our listening habits and "the exaggerated love for the concept of love," as they put it. Founded around the dawn of the millennium as a group of poetry-loving friends who'd occasionally meet for drinks, Byul.org has long become an extremely prolific and versatile collective within Seoul's scene. Main song-writer TaeSang Cho and his mates Yu Hur, Jowall, YunYi Yi, SuhnJoo Yi, HyunJung Suh, and SoYoon Hwang went from publishing to recording, from releasing tunes to design, art direction and more. Although their list of clients includes Atelier Hermes and the Venice Biennale (they did the Korean Pavilion twice), the group still remains a drinking circle of close friends at its core: Pals who simply like to create and carouse and dream and live and perform and play tunes together.

$18.00 NOT IN STOCK

Alien Transistor and Tokyo-based label Afterhours release the vinyl-version of Volume 4 of Tenniscoats' masterpiece Music Exists, originally released in 2016. The final piece in this magic quadruple release by the Japanese experimental folk luminaries. Tenniscoats have devoted followers all over the world, but their releases were always hard to find outside of Japan. Except for their album Tokinouta (2011), which saw a very limited run on vinyl, and the seminal Two Sunsets, their collaboration with the Pastels (and a small handful of 7"s), there were never any vinyl-releases, and also the CDs were hard to get for anyone who doesn't speak or read Japanese. So, this is the chance to dive deep into the beautiful, unique world of the Tenniscoats and their opus magnum Music Exists. Fourth in a series of four vinyl-only "discs" by Tenniscoats. In their 20 years carrier the band collaborated with the Pastels, Jad Fair, Norman Blake, and others. Includes double-sided fold-out insert.

"It may even be their greatest ever music, essential plus" --Monorail Music, Glasgow.

"Whatever's ailing you, Tokyo's Tenniscoats have got something for that" --Boomkat, Manchester.

$20.00$17.00 IN STOCK

Brookland Suite is inspired by Micha Acher's travels to New Orleans and Johannes Enders's admiration for the soundscapes of Gil Evans. The unique instrumentation and the rough sound make Brookland a very special suite for lovers of deep sounds. Johannes Enders is a saxophone player with his own distinguished voice, and a rich international performing experience, covering gigs with artists as diverse as Donald Byrd, Jeff Watts, Roy Hargrove, Vincent Herring, George Cables, Lester Bowie, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma. He won a Silver Award at the American MusicFest in San Francisco (1990) and was finalist at the Monk Competition in Washington D.C. (1991) and won the German "Jazz Echo" prize as best sax player. Micha Acher is best known as a founding member of innovative German post-rock band The Notwist. Enders and Acher grew up together in Weilheim, a small town near Munich. Already back in 1992 they played together in the electro/free jazz band Tied & Tickled Trio (with Billy Hart). Now they decided it's time for another collaboration. For Brookland Suite they invited New Orleans based sax player Dan Oestereicher and drummer Howard Curtis from Washington to join them. Color vinyl; silk-screen artwork.

$18.00$15.30 IN STOCK

LP version. Edition of 500. Alien Ensemble's trombone man Mathias Goetz caused quite a splash when he released his eponymous debut LP under his Le Millipede moniker back in 2015 (N 042CD/LP): The multi-instrumentalist's initial offering was clearly something else, impossible to grasp, a musical vessel that carried an almost cosmic kind of song-craft. Followed by remix album Mirror Mirror (2017), it's now time for album number two: The Sun Has No Money. Following an initial warm-up round sans electricity, this new album soon begins to glow: Goetz doesn't need pedals, he boosts circulation by single-handedly playing tons and tons of different instruments -- it actually feels like thousands, easily. There are various sonic illusions... and yet Le Millipede doesn't hide anything: He's also willing to show the inner workings, the actual recording process and everything else. In short: he goes meta. Some of these melodies appear to be shadows of earlier tunes, dating back to, say, 1898 or even before that, melodies that were first registered in the Tin Pan Alley publishers' offices back in 1912 or 1917. You'll actually get to see this Alley at that point in time. You'll see the ropes, the workings. Suddenly, you can hear the shadows! Okay, so one side of this street is America. The opposite side: Russia. And smack dab in the middle: Europe. All the back-and-forth that occurs between these two poles ultimately depends on the movement of the sun. You'll get to meet Prokofiev's and Scriabin's ghost, among other spirits, reframed and published by Le Millipede's own imaginary label imprint on the historic Tin Pan Alley. Indeed there are moments on this album when Le Millipede seems to be playing Scriabin's clavier a lumieres, when his performance seems to be based on synesthesia, a wild cross-pollination of colors and sounds. In case you didn't know this: In the States, Prokofiev goes by the name Brian Wilson, and Scriabin's also known as Sun Ra -- yet another guy who's usually broke, but gets to spend a lot of time out in the sun. Together, these assorted protagonists ask the people of the Antilles for Mutabor dance-tokens and send postcards to Moondog in Germany, right back into the darkness. Le Millipede controls the very center of this hustle and bustle: going as far as to employ some southern chopped-and-screwed styles, he's 100% current and zeitgeisty!

$14.50$12.33 IN STOCK

Alien Ensemble's trombone man Mathias Goetz caused quite a splash when he released his eponymous debut LP under his Le Millipede moniker back in 2015 (N 042CD/LP): The multi-instrumentalist's initial offering was clearly something else, impossible to grasp, a musical vessel that carried an almost cosmic kind of song-craft. Followed by remix album Mirror Mirror (2017), it's now time for album number two: The Sun Has No Money. Following an initial warm-up round sans electricity, this new album soon begins to glow: Goetz doesn't need pedals, he boosts circulation by single-handedly playing tons and tons of different instruments -- it actually feels like thousands, easily. There are various sonic illusions... and yet Le Millipede doesn't hide anything: He's also willing to show the inner workings, the actual recording process and everything else. In short: he goes meta. Some of these melodies appear to be shadows of earlier tunes, dating back to, say, 1898 or even before that, melodies that were first registered in the Tin Pan Alley publishers' offices back in 1912 or 1917. You'll actually get to see this Alley at that point in time. You'll see the ropes, the workings. Suddenly, you can hear the shadows! Okay, so one side of this street is America. The opposite side: Russia. And smack dab in the middle: Europe. All the back-and-forth that occurs between these two poles ultimately depends on the movement of the sun. You'll get to meet Prokofiev's and Scriabin's ghost, among other spirits, reframed and published by Le Millipede's own imaginary label imprint on the historic Tin Pan Alley. Indeed there are moments on this album when Le Millipede seems to be playing Scriabin's clavier a lumieres, when his performance seems to be based on synesthesia, a wild cross-pollination of colors and sounds. In case you didn't know this: In the States, Prokofiev goes by the name Brian Wilson, and Scriabin's also known as Sun Ra -- yet another guy who's usually broke, but gets to spend a lot of time out in the sun. Together, these assorted protagonists ask the people of the Antilles for Mutabor dance-tokens and send postcards to Moondog in Germany, right back into the darkness. Le Millipede controls the very center of this hustle and bustle: going as far as to employ some southern chopped-and-screwed styles, he's 100% current and zeitgeisty!

$18.00 NOT IN STOCK

The third release in Alien Transistor and Tokyo-based label Afterhours' series of four vinyl-only releases documenting the Tenniscoats' four part masterpiece, Music Exists. Disc 3 was originally released on CD in 2016. Disc 3 reunites the couple with their old friends and colleagues, the Swedish musicians from Tape, and sees them concentrate once more on their very own language of making music, offering another collection of essential Tenniscoats songs. Tenniscoats have devoted followers all over the world, but their releases were always hard to find outside of Japan. Except for their album Tokinouta (2011), which saw a very limited run on vinyl, and the seminal Two Sunsets, their collaboration with the Pastels (and a small handful of 7"s), there were never any vinyl-releases, and also the CDs were hard to get for anyone who doesn't speak or read Japanese. In their 20 years, the band has collaborated with the Pastels, Jad Fair, Norman Blake, and others. This set of vinyl releases provides a chance to dive deep into the beautiful, unique world of the Tenniscoats and their opus magnum Music Exists. "It may even be their greatest ever music, essential plus" --Monorail Music, Glasgow. "Whatever's ailing you, Tokyo's Tenniscoats have got something for that" --Boomkat, Manchester. The eventual Disc 4 release will come with a limited box, either for putting the other previously purchased three records in, or as a glorious four-LP package. Includes a double-sided fold-out insert.