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Past
Projects
ADDS 2011-07-19 This is the debut offering from Paris-based (but not French) band Frank (Just Frank). They play a very pleasing mixture of new wave, light post punk, and minimal synth. There is a trick to getting just the right touch on this kind of stuff; it is easier to notice when it is done wrong, strangely enough. For that reason, don’t let this record fall through the cracks of your ‘to be reviewed’ pile - this may be strangely laid back considering the genre(s) in play here, but the patient ear will be rewarded with a strong listen. RIYL Belong’s ‘Common Era’ mixed with early Sr. Chinarro (if SrC was French and not Spanish, that is). To plagiarize the wierd’s website: viva la vague froide moderne!
Try #2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9
ADDS 2011-06-28 You are probably familiar with Vitiello from his work with labels like New Albion and Sub Rosa, among others. Here he teams up with Mem1 for an insect-themed release for Dragon’s Eye. The duo do an excellent job conveying their subject matter at just the right level; there was a way that this could have been ‘overdone’ that could have been disastrous, but they really put this together in a seemingly effortless yet no doubt carefully micro-managed way. If you like your ambient music with some underlying tension, this is your choice for the week.
Try #1, 2, 4, 6
ADDS 2011-06-28 This is a tricky release to pin down in some respects; then again once you see that it is on Type you have a general idea quality-wise as to what to expect, but sonically… this is somewhat of a puzzle. At times, this record will draw out of you a little bit of nostalgia for the band Labradford. I don’t mean to say that this disc sounds like Labradford, because those gents went on indefinite hiatus about a decade ago. I will say though that the last bit of Labradford’s output was without question pointing in some directions that, in 2011, are inhabited by certain tracks of this here record. Other parts of this record definitely evoke the more ‘field-recorded’ side of the early (but post Chain Reaction) Vladislav Delay material. Lastly, there’s a few moments on this disc where you almost expect Honig to bust out in full-on post rock, but he just slips that in there as garnish, as it were. This is impressive stuff, that much I can say with certainty.
Try #2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
ADDS 2011-06-21 The duo that record as Deaf Center are usually pretty busy with solo and other projects - that’s why the long gap in-between Deaf Center releases. This sublime effort was worth the wait though. For this disc, the Norwegians set up shop in the studio of talented pianist Nils Frahm. This is the sort of disc that can reaffirm your deep love for experimental music in no time. This is the perfect balance of real instruments, virtual instruments, and atmospheric effects. This will be in The Wire’s top 50 for 2011 and you can take that to the bank.
Try #1, 2, 3, 6, 8
ADDS 2011-06-21 Chantler is a London-based musician who has worked with artists currently residing in your library, namely The Balky Mule, Tenniscoats, and the criminally overlooked Maher Shalal Hash Baz, among others. For this, his second solo record, he set out to make an organic sounding experimental record - but organic in the sense of ‘sounding alive’ as opposed to how the term is usually used in music criticism. The only other artist who is (or was) doing this sort of thing is Wyndel Hunt (I’ve sent some of you up to three of his releases in the past) for Dragon’s Eye, though Hunt and Chantler are attacking (or, should I say, creating) the beast from different angles. This would be a great disc to recommend to fans of Hunt’s earlier work or anything done by Markus Popp, especially the work he has done under the name Oval. While this would never be confused for an Oval release, there are a lot of commonalities when you get down to the ‘vibe’ level of the discussion.
Try #1, 2, 3, 5
ADDS 2011-06-21 Under the name Rene Hell, Jeff Witscher has now given the music loving world two very strong releases for the always spot-on Type label. This disc starts out sounding like ‘yet another’ disc of ‘modern experimental composition’ - but this is a clever half ruse, if you will. True, some of this record falls in like with the current state of the more drone-based laptop stuff out there. The other half though is quite intriguing; it seems as if Witscher is giving us a time-compressed journey through the past fifty-plus years of synthesizer music. Indeed, sections of quite a few of these tracks could be slipped into that ‘Ohm: Early Gurus of Electronic Music’ compilation and no one would know the difference. This is a very distinct step away from his last record, which all of you should have received from me a year or so ago. RIYL Philip Glass joining Nurse With Wound, the past and the future holding hands, etc.
Try #2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9
ADDS 2011-06-14 I’m especially pleased to be able to send you some work of Chris Watson, one of my personal favorites in the ‘experimental’ world. He’s got a small handful of releases (both physical and digital) for Touch, but here he teams up with long-standing avant/out percussionist Z’ev to put one out on Atavistic. This single piece starts with some of Watson’s trademark pure field recordings made in Tanzania. On top of that, Z’ev adds a sometimes barely perceptible layer of sound that completes the picture. If you are unfamiliar with Watson’s work, start here. If you are unfamiliar with Z’ev’s work, this probably isn’t the best place to begin. Since the disc is just one continuous piece, you might want to suggest to your DJs that they fade into and our of a section of the piece, unless you have an experimental or contemporary classical show (in which case play the whole darn thing!).
Try #1
ADDS 2011-06-14 This is the solo project of Xeno & Oaklander’s Sean McBride. This isn’t really coldwave, nor is it minimal synth. It isn’t dark wave either. That said, somewhere in the middle of all those ‘nots’ might be shards of truth though. I’d say that this has a foot in the past (Cabaret Voltaire - especially if you sum over their entire career, which had a ton of variety) and say the Junior Boys (just to grab something a bit more modern, though really other acts could have been used here).
Try #2, 3, 5, 8, 10
ADDS 2011-06-14 Rogers is an Austin-based sound sculptor; he’s got quite a bit of material out there but most of it comes out in small-run editions not amenable to (any) promotion, hence this special custom-made tour through the body of his work. Over the course of these thirteen tracks, you’ll be treated to sounds that should please fans of labels such as Touch, Dragon’s Eye, and FSS. The tracks vary quite a bit in “tension” so be sure and jump around this compilation to get a feel for which aspect of his work resonates with you the most. The quality level is fairly consistent, but I’ll pick out a few of my faves that I used for the review for my own station below.
Try #2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13
ADDS 2011-06-07 This is the solo project of Ramiro Jeancarlo. He’s almost caught between two worlds here. On the one hand, he’s clearly enamored of the old-school analog (dark) synth sound. Still, there is something bubbling under the surface on quite a few of these tracks that would lead you to believe that he keeps pretty current with the state of electronic music today. In the review of this disc I wrote for my station, I said that this disc was the bisector of the line that connects Kraftwerk to Solvent.
Try #1, 2, 3,4 , 7, 9, 10, 11
Profanity #5
ADDS 2011-06-07 The concept behind this is fascinating in its own right, but I actually had gone through the disc and formulated my thoughts before I decided to check just in case and see if there was a back-story, which there indeed was. These very strong pieces of modern minimalist composition were all generated by custom designed software that translates the architectural plans of Gothic cathedrals into open-ended musical scores. That exercise may sound quite academic in design and execution (and, as it turns out, literally academic as well) but the resulting record has quite the farther reach than the ‘usual’ electro-acoustic stuff that academia cranks out on a semi-regular basis. You’d have to stop short of calling this micro-drone and you certainly could not call it ambient, but if your sample space is ‘people who dig experimental sounds’ then the appeal of this disc is far-reaching. RIYL Fennesz, Delia Derbyshire, Eliane Radigue, Halim El-Dabh, and Phill Niblock playing tug of war with the mixer.
Try #1, 3, 6, 8
ADDS 2011-06-07 This is the duo of Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride. They’ve been recording as X&O for about seven years now. Their main inspiration came from the first wave of European minimal synth bands of the early 80’s along with some shoegazer and early industrial. This is mostly danceable minimal synth which sounds like a less self-aware Adult mixed with a healthy dollop of the abovementioned influences.
Try #2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10
ADDS 2011-06-07 As a music director myself, I average about 1800 written reviews a year. As I am sure you can relate - some of it can start to run together after a while. From the first moment I heard any of Britton’s work, I knew I was on to something special. He’s supposedly part of the ‘anti-folk’ movement (whatever that even means). I just think he is a genius with an acoustic guitar and a very strong sense of how to put songs together. It seems that even when he’s trying to not make a good song he makes a good song. Pirtlegimp never was and never will be ‘about the spins’ so this is just one MD to another: I will always be convinced Noah Britton is the real deal. I’ve sent you some of his earlier works in the past, but if previous MDs lost those in the shuffle, I might be able to make you a CDR of MP3s of his previous releases in separate folders. Let me know. RIYL pure, raw talent, Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair, etc.
Try #2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 17, 18, 21, 23
Obscenity #8, 11, 14, 16 [FYI Obscenity means according to the FCC these can never be aired, as opposed to “profanity” which can be aired during the "Safe Harbor" window 10pm to 6am.]
ADDS 2011-05-24 Italian brother duo My Cat Is An Alien is one of avant/out rock’s most prolific acts - even if only a handful of people actually realize that fact. They put out a ton of material, but sadly most of the time the quantities are painfully limited. Their partnership with respected Chicago label Atavistic has given them their long-overdue chance to reach a wider audience, and this record should certainly further that cause. This disc documents a live show in Verona from 2008 at which the brothers Opalio expanded to a quartet with the help of percussionist Ramona Ponzini and Sonic Youth’s Lee Renaldo (both also lend some vocal duties). It may be a stretch, but for me this disc is the rock equivalent of a Sun Ra record - and of course I mean that in the best way possible.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2011-05-24 Two or three years ago I sent most of you stations a release from Rochester’s Stone Baby that really blew me away; I’m not going to try and claim that this disc is ‘better’ than that previous one because they are sonic apples and oranges. This time around, the duo comes across sounding like a tense, slightly disturbed marriage of The Caretaker and ‘Ballasted Orchestra’-era Stars of The Lid. This would also play well before or after A Story of Rats, if your package happens to have that disc in there as well.
Try #1, 3
ADDS 2011-05-24 I need to say up front that, as a music director myself, I was floored at how much better this disc was than Vincs’ previous effort. While most of the stations that even receive Pirtlgimp mailings are very versed in experimental sounds, there is always that reductive and juvenile argument that experimental music (of any genre) is ‘just noise’ - this disc a counterexample. Somehow, Vincs has made a jazz record that isn’t jazz, an experimental record that isn’t experimental, and a free-improv-feeling record that never, ever lets go of the reins. Again, the artistic growth on display here is pretty impressive. If you need a short list of names for RIYL purposes, let’s go with electric Miles, Wadada Leo Smith, pre-ECM Jon Hassell, The Melvins if they had to make an ambient record with Mark Isham, and any all-instrumental record featuring David Sylvian (especially the farther back in time you go, like ‘Words With the Shaman’ and so forth). Actually, this record really doesn’t sound like any of that… but it feels like all of it and then some.
Try #1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11
ADDS 2011-05-24 This is another fine atmospheric/environmental disc from Dragon’s Eye. Whetham’s new disc unfolds over three tracks, but this is really one piece of work that just happens to show three tracks when you pop it in a player. There is something in here that reminds me of what might happen if Chris Watson’s work was used as a component in a more spectrally rich (that’s very relative, of course) composition. The term background music has been known to be divisive on occasion - you might call this background music, but it won’t be too divisive among people who like this sort of thing, that much is obvious.
Try #1
ADDS 2011-05-17 Landry was a founding member of the Philip Glass Ensemble back in the seventies, which is also when these three pieces were originally recorded. This album’s title is somewhat of a clever paradox; due to Landry’s compositional implementation, the listener may indeed think that there are quite a few saxes going at once, but no; we’re talking about an associate of Philip Glass here after all. Your friends here at Pirtlegimp Promotions do not mince words; indeed on at least one occasion you’ve been sent a record where the promo copy specifically warned you that the current record did not top the predecessor, so this isn’t said just for the sake of ‘getting spins’: these pieces are eminently more ‘listenable’ than most of what Glass was doing back then, and that fact jumped out of the speakers (to me, at least). Lastly, (again) despite the title you may find other instruments in the mix here as well.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2011-05-17 This is a rather unique collaboration. Legendary Krautrock drummer Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru) anchors a quartet for two nice pieces of sprawling yet always-in-control improv. A key player on this one is guitarist Oren Ambarchi, who should be familiar to you via his work with SunnO))) or his amazing solo records on Touch and/or Southern Lord. This one is for you fans of Acid Mothers Temple.
Try #1
ADDS 2011-05-17 Robert Crouch’s new disc for LA-based Dragon’s Eye occupies a space (no pun intended) between several subgenres of experimental music - in the end its all semantics anyway, right? This is a balancing act of ambient, light drone, environmental, and atmospheric sounds; there are some very strong passages to be heard here, but the review that I wrote when I added this disc to my own station included a part where I said that what I really want to hear is his next disc - I think he’s on the precipice of refining his vision and there’s a strong chance that his next record will really knock your headphones off, er, on.
Try #1, 2, 5
ADDS 2011-05-17 A Story of Rats “Relinquishment” (Flingo Sound System) [ADDS 5/17]
If you have this in your package, fair reader, then you are indeed a lucky station! This is a promo CDR in very limited quantities of A Story of Rats (aka Seattle's Garek Druss) new release, a cassette-only title for FSS. The cassette itself consists of two pieces, but for this special CDR version the label made radio edits of each side so that ‘shorter’ versions of the cuts are available as well. Let me urge you to check this out if you are a fan of the Touch “Spire” releases; in fact, let me urge you to check this out if you like most of what Touch puts out. Keep in mind the last two FSS records I sent you were pretty rocking - this completely blew me away and it is far and away one of the best experimental releases you will hear in 2011. I hate to drop this name here because it always seems like an ‘easy out’ but this CDR is truly a perfect complement to the new Tim Hecker record, and playing them back to back would make for some pretty damn strong radio, kids.
Try #3, 4
ADDS 2010-11-23 Thou is a Louisiana-based doom/sludge band and this is their third proper full length, though they do a good bit of split releases and such. This is a very expertly crafted mixture of sounds and influences that should guarantee this a spot atop year-end hard rock/loud lists. They are combining eye of the storm fury with a sludge/doom undercurrent and screamed (but very, very obviously not screamo) vocals - and then they thrown in clear touches of post rock and even a little sonic-experimentation with an almost out-interlude on the album’s fifth track. The way Thou aligns fury and beauty on the same page here makes this a compelling listen from start to finish. LP version by Southern Lord.
Try #1, 2, 4, 6
ADDS 2010-11-23 Murralin Lane is the Swedish duo of David Wenngren and Ylva Wiklund. There is a slight ‘point of reference’ thing going on with this excellent release: on the one hand, you can find lot of dreamy and almost post-gazey ambience. On the other hand, there is a solid amount of low-level noise and uneasy minimalism in the mix – at the risk of being a little too reductionist here you could probably say that this disc should equally please fans of Tujiko Norio and Tim Hecker.
Try #2, 3, 4, 6, 7
ADDS 2010-11-23 This is the second EP from synth-pop act Esque that I have sent you, but this one has a little twist in the mix on the title track. Previously based in Memphis and now up in the Big Apple, the roots of the band actually start in the Big Easy, and that New Orleans influence pokes through loud and clear about two-thirds of the way through the synth-laden title track when a full on NOLA brass band jam breaks out during an otherwise futuristic dance party. This CDR ran off just for you fine Pirtlegimp stations (retail is 12” vinyl-only) contains three remixes and then one other track that marks a turn towards more traditional stuff like (especially) David Bowie. If you long for the dancefloor, you won’t be let down by two of the three remixes (the third one is a little more experimental leaning but nods to Mingus with its title).
Try #1, 2, 4
ADDS 2010-11-23 In just nine short songs, this Bay Area via Florida trio will demonstrate to you what you were supposed to be hearing a few years ago when Vice was releasing a lot of ‘this band will re-invent’ rock type records. They are taking very clear sixties blues/psych hard rock influences and integrating them with some of the now sadly lost days of college radio when bands like Scratch Acid and The Scientists were a little better-known. This is one of those pretty rare cases where a band manages to pull off all-out rock with a just-right amount of swagger; no one who hears this will think for one second that they are faking it to pick up girls (I’m looking at you, Vice rock bands).
Try #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9
Profanity #5
ADDS 2010-11-23 This disc is sweet aural candy to those who like spacious experimental ambient music or the lightest and quietest of drone sounds. Parts of this might evoke some missing link in the development of Stars of the Lid. A word that will probably come up quite a bit in the press for this record is ‘drift’ I suspect. Another thing that will probably be pointed out and should be mentioned is that this disc seems to be recorded at a pretty low level, so you might need to crank up the pots on the board a bit extra for this one. While this is a noticeable sparse sounding record, I suspect with a pair of nice headphones you’d get some richness that might be otherwise lost among the ambie, er, background noise of a room – though that might have been the point and in that light this can almost be counted as two separate releases.
Try #2, 4, 5, 8
ADDS 2010-11-15 On a personal note, this is one of my favorite records that I have sent you guys this year – and let the record show I dig every project I send out to you (otherwise why would I send it, right?). For this project Cameron Webb and Matt Rosner travelled to the south coast of New South Wales to make detailed field recordings of two coastal lake ecosystems – but if you think this is a ‘Chris Watson cover record’ then think again. This disc combines their field recording work with improvisations that occurred in a lakeside cabin during breaks from the field recordings – the way the duo negotiates the field/music interface is pretty interesting and not at all what you would expect at a few places on the record. If you love those Chris Watson records for Touch and that excellent Richard Skelton record on Type I sent you this summer, then move this one to the front of the line ASAP.
Try #All!
ADDS 2010-11-15 A year or two ago I sent you a full length from these guys, and as such I am sort of directing my comments to you assuming you know who this band is already. These songs need to exist on an EP as they sort of fall just outside the orbit of the band’s previous work. True, the rock is still hard and still in full force, but there is so much sonic experimentation going on with some of these songs (Jon Hassell-like trumpet on track 2) I suspect the band didn’t know where else to put them than on an EP. Taken individually, these songs are solid (which is good since you only play one per radio show per FCC rules anyway), and surely I can’t think of a rock record that takes more chances than this one that I’ve had to review in my duties as an MD recently.
Try #2, 3, 5
ADDS 2010-11-15 The promoter’s job is usually to sell you, the music director, on putting their releases to the front of the line. One dignified way to do this is with a short list of RIYLs that, assuming the list contains bands you know and love, does the job. Therein is the problem with this excellent yet somewhat challenging release from New Orleans band The Gubernatorial Candidates. The guys in this band are influenced by such a wide variety of sounds that any name-by-name list of bands would only be valid for a too small subset of the songs. So to pull back a bit, this is a possibly too ambitious mix of dub, Americana, post rock, avant rock, and laptop experimentalism. I can say one thing though: proceed directly to the time-stopping third track, which was on an EP from these cats that I sent you in late 2008 I believe. I am certain that the future is bright for these guys once they complete the gargantuan task of getting their hands around what it is they are doing with their sound – this record may require a little extra of your time but I promise it will be worth it.
Try #2, 3, 4, 7, 8
ADDS 2010-11-15 I’ve sent you some work from Dragon’s Eye head honcho Yann Novak over the years, but this is the first one you are getting from me that was released on an outside-DE label. This disc consists of a very nice single piece of statically dynamic (or do I have that backwards) drift with nice textural touches – you can really get lost in some of these longer works I have been sending you over the years, and of course I mean that in the best way possible. And, in the rare event that you are new to Yann’s work, this is a fine place to start, and then you will probably want to check into some of his earlier single-piece work (which I highly recommend).
Try #1
ADDS 2010-11-15 This disc consists of a single piece; “29 Palms” is a slow building work that really only achieves its (in radio terms, to be clear) full flower towards the end. You stations with modern classical and or experimental-only shows might go for it and run the whole piece, but I think the whole piece works best as headphone listening, and speaking as a fellow music director it might be interesting to excerpt (some of or all of) the final ten minutes or so of this piece of dreamy drone.
Try #1
ADDS 2010-08-23 On is the duo of noted solo artist Sylvain Chauveau and Chicago-based percussionist Steven Hess of Haptic and Pan American. Their methodology while recording under the name On is quite interesting: they take their studio improvisations and then hand them off to an outside party to construct the finished product. You may recall the one I sent you last year was finished by Helge Sten (aka Deathprod). This time out the guys drafted Fennesz to do the honors, and what a job he has done. Parts of this record could easily be dropped into Fennesz’s early Touch releases for a perfect fit; other parts of this record actually recall passing moments of the fine ‘Quiet City’ record by Pan American. About the only complaint here is that with only five tracks, you may end up hitting play a few extra times just to keep the magic gong.
Try #2, 3, 4
ADDS 2010-08-23 AGF was a member of German experimental electronic band Laub, and then more recently she has done a variety of collaborations (Vladislav Delay, Gudrun Gut, etc – at least one or two of those should be laying around your stations already). She assembled this disc exclusively for the Pirtlegimp family of stations so that you folks could get caught up on her output over the past year or two. Most of this disc is pretty great but I’ll point you to some highlights in case you are pressed for time.
Try #2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 14
ADDS 2010-08-23 I’ve sent out a few of Noah’s releases – I am convinced that this guy is a genius, pure and simple. He’s usually found with an acoustic guitar in his hand and a razor sharp quip on the tongue – which is why this disc is strange among his output. This is as close as I’ve heard him come to playing it straight – straight anti-folk (as much as I hate that term). While I might point you to one of his earlier releases as a better introduction to his work, there is still a good bit of quality to be had here. RIYL Adam Green, Moldy Peaches, etc.
Try #1, 3, 4, 9
Profanity #8, 11
Obscenity #12
ADDS 2010-08-23 Richmond’s Cristal is a trio that explores some of the same sonic territory that will be familiar to you longtime fans of the Kranky label. Of course one of the members of Cristal used to be in Labradford so there is that connection – but these are not static lines. Your ears aren’t stuck back in 2001 and neither is this sound dates – experimental music has really branched out and depthened in ways that couldn’t even be imagined back then, and this fine disc is a prime example of that statement. These instrumentals are not ambient, not drone, and not modern classical, yet somewhere in the mix all the ‘nots’ cancel each other out and you end up with elements of all three.
Try #1, 2, 5
ADDS 2010-08-23 Portland, Oregon resident J. Hanson’s new record gives you a slight hint with its title. You might expect some sweet dronescapes, and yes there are a few such occurrences here, but the way they manifest themselves will not quite align with the drones of the other Digitalis record I sent you in this package. This disc is very much recommended for those of you out there who dug the post-Spacemen 3 project called Experimental Audio Research – in fact I saw EAR live once and quite a bit of that show sounded quite a bit like this disc (which is a high complement in both directions).
Try #1, 4, 5
ADDS 2010-08-23 Rene Hell’s new offering for Type is an otherworldly affair that is equal parts homage to and update of the classic synth sounds of Krautrock Germany (and surrounding countries) circa the seventies. I don’t think anyone will call up your station wondering where you found the lost gem or anything, but it will certainly excite those receptors in the listener’s brain that are stimulated by Roedelius, Eno, Can, Faust, and so on.
Try #1, 3, 4, 6
ADDS 2010-08-16 Bay Area three-piece The Alps return with yet another cinematic release; I use that word because more than one reviewer has dropped the ‘soundtrack to an imaginary film’ tag on the band’s work over the years. It turns out to be quite apropos this time, though: pastoral new-folk meets up here with meta-raga and even a little good old fashioned out rock. At a few moments on this record you can tell that one of the members (Jefre Cantu-Ledesma) is also a member of Tarentel, but those moments blend in well with the overall picture (no movie-themed pun intended) and this is (how many times do I say it) yet another excellent release from the fine Type label.
Try #1, 3, 5, 7, 8
ADDS 2010-08-16 The North Sea is but one of the outlets for Brad Rose’s musical musings – and even under that name he’s displayed a pretty wide array of sounds the past few years. This particular disc is somewhat of an homage to that overlap of early industrial music (say Throbbing Gristle circa Heathen Earth) and (if this is even possible) the lighter side of Whitehouse. I think this would appeal to someone who was a fan of both Wolf Eyes and The Dead C – hey, that’s me! People who think that Type only puts out ‘pretty’ music might be in for a little surprise with this one.
Try #1, 3, 4, 6
ADDS 2010-08-16 Acre is the musical project of one Aaron Davis. He’s had some limited-run material out before this but Sacrifice is his highest profile work to date. These five pieces are studies in minimal drone – back in the 90’s Darla Records had an ongoing series called ‘Bliss Out’ and if there was a current series called ‘Drone Out’ then certainly this fine disc would be in the mix.
Try #2, 3, 4
ADDS 2010-08-16 This disc consists of five very enjoyable ambient dronescapes. This is not at all similar to Stars of the Lid, but if you are the sort of person predisposed to liking SOTL and maybe some of the prettier but more spacious laptop stuff then I’d say you are going to really go nuts over this. This disc has a nice way of hanging in the middle distance; it isn’t background music yet it never quite gets up there in the foreground. You can pretty much always count on Dragon’s Eye for quality experimental releases and this one is yet another affirmation of that statement.
Try #2, 3, 4
ADDS 2010-08-16 You probably have several releases from Baird’s regular gig, the band Sunset, in your library already – but this is a whole different animal. This is a disc of incredible instrumental passages that glide seamlessly between modern classical, avant-ambient, and light drone. The retail version of this release is a limited LP/CD package, but you lucky stations of the Pirtle are getting this CD promo. Also, there’s a cover of the title track from the Philip Glass film score Koyannisquatsi on here as well!
Try #All
ADDS 2010-08-09 *PRIORITY RELEASE* I really shouldn’t be sending this record to you at all – it should come from one of the big boys like AAM or Terrorbird. I’m sending this to almost all of my stations, but even then not enough of the college radio world will have the pleasure of experiencing this excellent new disc from Austin’s Weird Weeds. They mix post rock and New Weird America with just a sliver of light dissonance and come up with something that is quite compelling. It’s just a shame that 300 or so other stations won’t get their chance to hear it.
Try #1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11
ADDS 2010-08-09 These guys are one of New Orleans’ best kept musical secrets – there’s a solid amount of quality out/avant music coming out of the Big Easy these days. This is a patient and nuanced record of hand-crafted beauty interspersed with passages of deliberate tension, and it will sit quite well on your new music shelf alongside the many fine releases I’ve sent you recently from labels like Digitalis and Type.
Try #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11
ADDS 2010-08-09 You won’t believe this and I am not sure I do either for that matter, but the wonderful folks at Type assure me (and you) that not only is Indignant Senility not an alter ego of James Kirby (aka The Caretaker), but that IS doesn’t even know The Caretaker’s recoded output. You may find that hard to believe as you sit through these haunted and processed passages of music lifted from dusty old Wagner records. This is incredibly similar to the whole Kirby ethos, and I for one love them both and could use a lot more of this sound in my life. So good! Note: tracks are untitled.
Try #1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
ADDS 2010-06-03 This is, ironically, somewhat of a rarity for Jandek – ironic because up to say 15 years ago this is all you would have gotten out of him. These tracks are mostly just acoustic guitar and voice and tend to be sparse, like his classic earlier works.
Try #2, 4, 5
ADDS 2010-05-26 *PRIORITY RELEASE* I’m very pleased to be able to bring you the second Hurray for the Riff Raff release; most of you got the first one about a year ago or so. These New Orleans kids are easily the best unsigned band in the country right now. In fact, if I had a label I would have signed them about 10 seconds after their time-stopping opening set for the New Orleans Jandek show last year. The thing that will get your attention first is the voice: Alynda Lee Segarra’s every intonation is pure joy, so much so that even if this was an acapella record I suspect most people would be all over it. The accompaniment is pretty damn good though; they’re mixing bits of Tin Pan Alley with classic early American music and all this is fed through a ‘New Weird America’ filter. They’re touring soon out west, so I’m making sure all my west coast stations get this one and please, if you see they are playing within 100 miles of you, GO SEE THEM! Also if they’re playing in your town and you want to have them come down to the station for an interview/play a song or two, please check the included one sheet for contact information.
Try #All
ADDS 2010-05-26 This is a live recording from May 2006, still relatively early in the playing out live phase of Jandek’s existence. These tracks are sparse and slightly psychedelic with moments of implied dissonance; out of the live shows that I’ve sent you guys over the years this one might be the one that most closely approximates some of the recent studio stuff.
Try #1, 5, 6, 7
ADDS 2010-04-05 This is perhaps slightly an out of character release for Type. Chicago’s Zelienople is a trio making patient music that has in the past been linked to the likes of Talk Talk, Labradford, Bark Psychosis, and Slowdive. This time out though, I’d point you towards this excellent release if you were enamored with the more ‘pop’ releases that come out on Hapna. Another very clear point of reference to me may seem more of a stretch to you fair reader: this reminds me very much of what would happen if Speck Mountain ended up with a male singer and the whole lot of them came down with a slight case of a cold disinterest (in emotional matters). This is a very good record, but it might require that extra second of attention span.
Try #1, 2, 3, 5
ADDS 2010-04-05 This is the final release of the noise duo (Peter Swanson and Gabriel Mindel) known as Yellow Swans. The sprawling soundscapes found here represent the culmination of their long partnership, and this is possibly their finest moment. The uneasy ambience found on this disc recalls the likes of Tim Hecker, Svarte Greiner, and that excellent William Fowler Collins disc we sent you last year.
Try #1, 4, 5
ADDS 2010-04-05 This is, as the title suggests, a current snapshot of the musical scene in the town of Tallahassee Florida. They’ve got an amazing radio station with a long history of top-notch programming (WVFS) so it should come as no surprise that there is a good amount of quality rock on this disc.
Try #1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18
Profanity #5
ADDS 2010-04-05 This is a special radio-promo-only CD of the upcoming release from Kahn/Mueller. The retail version consists of a set of art prints and a digital download of the one track ‘Phases’ – but unless (as some of you do) you have a show where a 39 minute experimental piece will fly, the good folks at FSS have made up a special 3 minute excerpt just for you. The sonic textures here strike a nice balance between tension and release, and this will surely please the people out there who renew their subscription to The Wire each year.
Try #1
ADDS 2010-03-29 Indonesia’s Zoo plays spastic herk-and-jerk deconstructionist proto punk. In short, if you are a fan of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Fantomas, Boredoms, etc, then this will really hit the spot for you.
Try #1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 14, 17
ADDS 2010-03-29 This is why Pirtlegimp Promotions even exists – this disc right here. Richard Skelton’s new effort for Type is a masterpiece that words will never fully describe, so no attempt will be made here. It will, however, grace the upper echelons of Pirtle’s Top Ten of 2010.
Try #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11
ADDS 2010-03-29 This is an excellent collection of Elodie auten’s piano works, many of which saw release on her Cat Collectors label back in the eighties. If you like avant garde / modern composition then surely this is your pick of this round of Pirtlegimp releases. This is definitely going to be good for fans of Philip Glass, Stephen Drury, and Matthew Shipp (solo), but you might also note that both Arthur Russell and Peter Zummo make appearances on this excellent and rewarding collection.
CD1 Try #1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14
CD2 Try #1
ADDS 2010-02-08 This single piece had its origin as a live cinema performance commissioned by the Leonard Cohen International Festival in 2008 up in Alberta. Using Cohen’s voice as a point of departure, Clinker deconstructs and reassembles Cohen’s voice into dreamlike soundscapes. There really isn’t any traceable aspect of the voice left here; we’re talking about stripping the voice down to its component parts – in academic terms the sum of many different sinusoidal harmonics. This piece has a very diverse spectrum depending on where you drop the needle, er, laser, and if you are up for grabbing a five to seven minute section of this for your show you have quite a bit of variety to choose from here.
Try #1
ADDS 2010-02-08 This disc serves as a wonderful example of how far we’ve come with so-called laptop music in the past fifteen years or so. The semi-newly minted genre of ‘modern classical’ was a solid attempt at capturing a new sound that combined ambient soundscapes, field recordings, laptop constructions, and eventually actual classical instrumentation – and all of that is eventually brought to bear on this disc. By the time you make it to the stunningly beautiful closing track, you can’t help but think about how great it is that music has evolved since the first time we heard Oval or The Rachels all those years ago. RIYL Takagi Masakatsu, Stars of the Lid, Carter Burwell, etc.
Try #2, 4, 5, 6
ADDS 2010-02-08 This is a side project of two members of Geisterfahrer (you might recall I sent you their disc earlier this year and several of you charted it). The songs here are a lot of things, but the thing they are most is ephemeral. You can call them folky, haunting, languid, pastoral, quiet, patient, slow-burning, and probably lots more if there is a thesaurus handy – but the thing I have taken from my four complete listens to this disc is how fragile the whole thing is: these songs almost literally disappear in the air right before your eyes. The light instrumental touches and hushed vocals very much bring to mind the criminally overlooked alt-country band Tarnation – but only if their entire catalogue was produced by Hush Arbors’ Keith Wood and a mellowed Angelo Badalamenti. The Tarnation reference in particular might resonate with some of your listeners when the female voice here is heard – the similarities to Tarnation’s Paula Frazer are obvious. There is a stunning Low cover on here waiting for your discovery (Throw Out the Line) too. In fact, let’s stop right there on that word stunning because I struggled with its usage. This is an amazing record (I’d say that even if I wasn’t the ‘promoter’) – but ‘stunning’ is a bit over the top usually and nothing about this record is over the top. You need to hear this work alone and in a part of your day that exists out of time – and if you don’t have such a part of your day not to worry – this record will carve it out for you. RIYL Speck Mountain, The Juniper Meadows, Freakwater’s most mellow songs, etc.
Try #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 22
ADDS 2010-02-08 The second of the two Meadmore reissues to hit your desk might be a little easier to, ah, pigeonhole. This time out we get a gay-country-synth themed record – how’s that for a new genre even in today’s oversaturated genre market. Back in the day the opening track ‘I’ll Teach You to Steal My Man’ was somewhat of a minor hit on my station (WTUL New Orleans). This record is the more cohesive of the two, and in fact I think I personally played every track on this record at one time or another back in the day.
Try #1, 3, 4, 6, 8
ADDS 2010-02-08 Some of your fine Pirtle-associated stations have more Marc Hannaford work in your library than you might realize; he’s on those nice Antripodean Collective discs that I sent out in limited quantities last year. Hell, limited? Only ten stations are getting this one. These are solo piano pieces – but don’t play these with the piano stuff I sent you on Kning Disk in the fall. These pieces are spacious, but have a somewhat deliberate counterpointy vibe – but I’m no music theorist and I never claimed to be. I can tell you that if it was my radio show I’d play this right in-between a John Lurie soundtrack piece and maybe some Ryuichi Sakamoto. If your station has a modern classical show you might direct that DJ to the longer pieces on this disc.
Try #1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
ADDS 2010-02-01 For you MDs pressed for time and need the short version: this one will be for the Mitchell Akiyama / Time Hecker / Fennesz kids out there. Okay, now that we have that out of the way here are some detailed comments. Hunt’s newest release for the fine DE label may be his best work to date. The aptly-named ‘Sunshine Noir’ is a world that is painted in cinematically-hued grays (lots of them). This disc evokes a future that was not thought of in the likes of Blade Runner and The Matrix, though in each case it sounds like they got some of it right – and that explains the ‘noir’ part of the title. The ‘sunshine’ comes in where the disc nods toward Hunt’s previous efforts. His work, moreso than that of any other artist today, creates life through sound. The word ‘organic’ has long been applied to acts like O Yuki Conjugate and Tortoise, but there are moments in Hunt’s work where you feel something is alive in the most literal sense of the word. Those of you who played his last two records will note the nostalgia on the opening track, but from there you will be treading new ground save for fleeting sections of tracks.
Try #2, 3, 6, 7
ADDS 2010-02-01 Laurent Jeanneau is part ethnomusicologist and part experimental musician, and those two aspects of his life converge on this excellent new effort for Atavistic. The source material for these tracks consists of ethnic minority music of India, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China, etc. It’s interesting how both aspects of this sound can exist so distinctly on these tracks – yet all the while the sounds congeal into a great finished product. This is a lot less ‘electronic’ in nature than the similarly vibed ‘Audiotourism’ disc from Freeform a decade or so ago; those of you who dig both the labels Touch and Nonesuch (especially the Explorer Series) will just love this.
Try #1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
ADDS 2010-02-01 This is the third Parodi release I have sent out since starting the Pirtlegimp radio world empire. One the one hand this is easily the most radio-friendly of the three – because almost all of the tracks are manageable time wise. On the other hand this is by far his most challenging disc of the three. Readers of publications like The Wire have what you might call a ‘trained ear’ and that is certainly called for with this disc of free experimental composition. There are basically three pieces on the disc, divided up into seventeen tracks total. If you are a fan of Martin Tetrault, Iannis Xenakis, Morton Subotnick, Jim O’Rourke, Christian Marclay, or hell throw Stockhausen in there – then check this out. This isn’t ‘challenging listening’ per se, but this is certainly not the disc to use to try and introduce someone to the wide and expansive world of modern music.
Try #2, 5, 9, 11, 12, 15
ADDS 2010-02-01 This is the first of two reissues from performance artist (remember that term?) Glen Meadmore. These two records were originally released around 1989/90 by Amoeba Records. The expansive musical palettes of even casual listeners make this disc a different experience now as compared to back then. Even now I am somewhat at a loss for words when I hear this disc, but let me instead tell you this anecdote. When Amoeba sent me a promo of these 2 records for review back then, there was an 8” by 11” color glossy of Glen in full drag and it was autographed ‘Haul off an love me, Glen’ There appears to be an extra track on this reissue that I don’t recall as having been on the vinyl, a ten minute instrumental that you might slip in during your next experimental show. RIYL Peaches, Gonzales, Taylor Savvy, etc.
Try #1, 3, 5, 6, 8
ADDS 2010-02-01 This is a three way split release. Forum’s contribution is a very sparse piece for Mark Rothko. This piece can eerily evoke what it is like to sit in the Rothko Chapel in Houston – I speak from experience. The Shinkei piece is also quite sparse, but in a different way. This one makes use of field recordings and feels less ‘composed’ overall. The Luigi Turra piece completes this trio of spaciousness, and might be a good choice for you if you like some of Rafael Toral’s work.
Try #1
ADDS 2010-02-01 This is a single piece of music clocking in at well over an hour – but don’t let that dissuade you. For stations with a modern classical, experimental, or ambient show, feel free to play this whole thing. During ‘regular programming’ I would just excerpt a seven to ten minute section of the work. RIYL Nurse with Wound’s ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ or Gavin Bryars ‘Sinking of the Titanic’ and Gier Jensen’s release for Touch under his own name.
Try #1
ADDS 2009-10-21 This is a collaboration between two giants in the early avant/out rock scene: Hans Joachim Irmler and Z’ev. Irmler was a founding memeber of Krautrock masters Faust for over three decades and Z’ev is well known to a small but rabidly devoted core of followers. These sonic experiments range from primal post-prog to uneasy/ghostly tribal-ambience.
Try #1, 2, 4
ADDS 2009-10-21 Here’s yet another fine and strong effort from your friends at Type. This disc is almost a catalog raisonne of modern ambient music; at times you can hear shards of Stars of the Lid, Brian Eno, and Sigur Ros among many others. The word ‘majestic’ isn’t quite right here because this is understated, but as far as understatements go this sure is a bold one.
Try #1, 2, 4, 6
ADDS 2009-10-21 The beautiful picture that serves as the cover art to this fine release sets the tone before the needle, er, laser ever hits the disc. Ian Hagwood’s fine and expansive new disc is almost a musical representation of that nature scene: you can pick and choose from several different (but related) scenes of beauty, but all roads lead to the same place. Parts of this disc reminded me of what would be left over if you took the crunch and hum away from Fennesz’s most recent disc – though in the end that would be like comparing apples and oranges. This is a very nice piece of experimental ambience, and once again let me say that Dragon’s Eye is surely putting out some of the best music in this genre lately.
Try #2, 4, 7, 13, 14
ADDS 2009-10-21 This is the other disc in the Kning Piano series that I am sending you (after last months Peter Broderick ‘Docile’). At their best, these pieces are revelatory; I was strongly moved to think that this is what would have resulted had Erik Satie arrived in the future and absorbed some of the piano work of LaMonte Young and Keith Jarrett – there is a clear avant-side to this but a more personal side pops up here and again.
Try #2, 4, 6, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-10-14 Dokaka is probably best known for his involvement with Bjork’s ‘Medulla’ album from several years back, though this is his first release of all original material. Using no instruments other than the multi-tracked human voice, Dokaka comes up with an aurally compelling listen that will fit in well with a set of borderline-cacophonous out rock.
Try #4, 10, 16, 18, 24, 43, 45, 48, 74, 87
ADDS 2009-10-14 This is patient and pretty laptop folk from Swede Rickard Javerling. This would fit somewhere in-between Ogurusu Norihide’s fine Carpark releases and The Books Tomlab output – then throw in just a pinch of Sufjan Stevens and a dash of Six Organs of Admittance. The core of the record is acoustic folk music, but that would never accurately describe the fine and sonically rich effort that you are (hopefully) about to hear (and love).
Try #1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
ADDS 2009-10-14 This is the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Most of this disc is modern composition-based, but if you are looking for ‘a single’ then proceed directly to ‘Non Ursae’ which is track seven. The best point of reference I can give you here goes back a ways; a few centuries in one case. If you combined Gabriel Faure’s Requiem with Morricone, Yann Tiersen, and Johann Johannsson, I suspect the finished product would somewhat approximate the amazing and other-worldly sounds found here.
Try #2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-10-14 If you enjoy the likes of SunnO))) along with the rest of the bands mentioned in your subscription to The Wire, then Wrnlrd’s new one (seventh release overall) should hit the spot. Of course the big riffs stand out first; how could they not right? But when the smoke clears, you will find that there is a lot more happening than one quick phrase can describe. Some have likened this to Jandek, The Eraserhead soundtrack, Tim Hecker – as you can see it’s all over the place. After all, how many doom metal records list accordion, piano, field recording (!), dulcimer, trumpet, music box, xylophone, and French horn among the instrumentation? This is forward thinking but still visceral; don’t just pass it off to your loud rock director, though I guess that is a good plan B if you need one. The last track could be lifted straight off of an old Nurse With Wound record; Automating I or II if you want me to be specific.
Try #1, 3, 5, 6, 7
ADDS 2009-09-28 Sylvian’s career stretches back to the late seventies, when he was the young front man for the band Japan. Since 1984 he’s had a fruitful and consistent solo career – a career that has seen him explore new sonic territory time and time again. This new disc fulfills the promises made on his previous effort ‘Blemish’. With the help of a veritable honor roll of Wire magazine all stars, he’s turned in one of the years top efforts. Guests on these tracks include: Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Rowe, Evan Parker, Werner Dafeldecker, Toshimaru Nakamura, John Tilbury, Tetuzi Akiyama, and others. This is a patient and meticulously constructed effort with wonderful moments of controlled improvisation.
Try #1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9
ADDS 2009-09-28 I could (and have) gone on and on about Noah’s talent. He is/was a member of The Best Thing Ever, an irreverent but unquestionably talented ‘anti-folk’ group, but he also performs solo and in other acts as well. This is lo-fi and mostly acoustic, so you should know that going in; the thing is, with a careful listen I trust that you too will see the serious talent on display here. Noah is a (sometimes too) smart (for his own good) singer-songwriter, and that cleverness is the kind that nine times out of ten rubs you the wrong way (he’s the other one out of ten though so it’s not a problem). Some of his older classic cuts are on here, and if you happen to be able to play profanity then do not miss ‘Got MLK?’ but there are also new songs to be found here. If you like Jeffrey Lewis, Moldy Peaches, etc, then you might like this – but to be very honest I think Noah outshines the lot of the so-called anti-folk movement with room to spare – and I like all those other acts.
Try #1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 16, 18
Profanity #6, 12, 13, 15
Obscenity #11
ADDS 2009-09-28 These songs may have been recorded on a four track, but you may be surprised at what Peter Broderick is able to come up with on this amazing new disc for Type. Of course you get some of Broderick’s trademark aural beauty, but what you might not be expecting is the other stuff here. I might not go all the way and call some of this New Weird America(n), but there is surely some nice picking going on here in a few spots. Between this and the other Broderick material that is coming out recently/soon, I’d say this is his year.
Try #1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 25
ADDS 2009-09-28 This is a mini-album’s worth of solo piano recordings from the multi talented Peter Broderick. I sent you his previous Type release and this is one of two Broderick records I am working at this time, the other being his new one on Type. These short pieces are delicate it is true, but this is not quite as delicate as the material found on ‘Float’ for the most part – though this is far from meaty or even forceful. These ten tracks were written over the course of a week and recorded in one hour – sometimes it just comes together like that.
Try #2, 3, 6, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-09-21 This is part of the ‘newer’ component of Type’s sound that might have been more at home on Southern Lord – okay I said that for shock value but it really is kind of true. This is a fusion of experimental, ambient, and dark metal that fits in well with the Svarte Greiner release I sent you earlier this year and also recent SunnO))) output. Actually, if you darkened the corners of the most recent Tim Hecker release, you could slip this on and few (more like none) would complain. RIYL William Basinski and early Earth.
Try #1, 2, 6
ADDS 2009-09-21 This recording of a live Jandek show features the representative from Corwood on piano with no vocals – and is just a single 63 minute piece, so you will probably want to just excerpt a ten minute section or so for your fine radio show.
Try #1
ADDS 2009-09-21 This is a new Jandek studio recording. It’s got some definite vibe and connection to the earlier (classic) Jandek work as the disc utilizes only acoustic guitar and voice. The centerpiece of the record is a thirty minute piece that is a nice listen but for our purposes (radio) one might be better served to stick to the shorter cuts.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2009-09-21 Most of Potpie’s releases (including this one) are handmade editions of 50 copies or so, so it is unfortunate that more stations won’t be able to get the love on this one. Potpie based his minimalist drone experiments out of New Orleans for many years before a recent relocation to North Carolina. The first track was constructed using tiny loops of old bluegrass tunes and layering them into a ‘hypnotic avant-grass jam’ – and no one can put it more appropriately than that. The second track is credited to Krzystof – actually Potpie’s altar ego for this disc. This track is mostly bleeps and bloops courtesy of a well tempered sine wave generator.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2009-09-14 On is the duo/trio of Sylvain Chauveau and Steven Hess. Chauveau you are no doubt familiar with as your friends at Pirtlegimp have sent you his last two releases. Hess is a Chicago-based musician who has worked with Pan American, among others. The source material for this fine ambient disc was done in 2003, and at some point thereafter the ‘finished product’ was delivered to Helge Sten (aka Deathprod) for the final (re)mix – hence the ‘trio’ being listed above. This is dramatically unlike SC’s solo work – there are no strings along the lines heard on ‘Nuage’ that’s for sure. This has a nice drift to it, and if you like labels like Touch, Dragon’s Eye, and Kranky then you will love this one.
Try #2, 4, 6
ADDS 2009-09-14 Brian Harnetty is a sound artist who works quite a bit with the Berea College Appalachian Sound Archives. I sent you his last disc in 2007 and this is the follow up. This time out, the quiet and haunted ambience has vocals, courtesy of Will Oldham. These songs will go amazingly well with music from acts like Boxhead Ensemble, The Rachels, Pullman, Clogs, and Morton Feldman.
Try #1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
ADDS 2009-09-14 As a music director myself since 2002, I’ve often cringed when a one sheet name checks Radiohead – usually it is way too general and more often than not the sign of a promoter who isn’t really putting the work into the promotion. And yet, guess what this excellent new Sweet Billy Pilgrim disc will remind you of? To be specific, there is something about refined and guardedly orchestrated pop music that almost defaults to the Radiohead name check – and it is clearly apropos here. This is a rich and rewarding listen, the kind of disc that makes you wish you were through listening to it so you could listen to it again – know what I mean? It would be wrong to call this sophisticated – I don’t think the boys are reaching for that anyway. That said, they aren’t reaching for the gutter either. I should also point out that this could very well be mistaken for a Califone release, both musically and vocally at times. RIYL Califone, Thom Yorke, David Grubbs, Scott Walker.
Try #2, 3, 5, 6
ADDS 2009-08-31 This is a live show from April of 2006. For this performance the representative from Corwood was joined by Sam Coomes of Quasi and Emil Amos of Grails/Om. As an added bonus, you get backup vocals by Liz Harris (aka Grouper). This is a nicely done set of slow-burning psych-blues. The sheer volume of Jandek’s recorded output can sometimes be intimidating but this is a good place to start for those of you who are unfamiliar with this key figure in ‘outsider’ music.
CD1 Try #1, 4
CD2 Try #1, 4, 6
ADDS 2009-08-31 Here’s yet another fine release from DE. Sublamp’s new one is full of subtle drones and mostly tensionless drift – it is quite different from the Lissom that was up for adds last week but I can see much commonality in terms of people liking both. This one is more (pardon the cliché) ‘ambient’ – actually several parts of this made me think that I was hearing some sort of update to Brian Eno’s ‘Apollo’ record.
Try #2, 3, 6, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-08-31 Lissom (Tana Sprague) seamlessly integrates a little bit of everything you know and love of some of the well-known names on labels like Kranky, Type and Touch on this excellent effort for DE. The thing that stands out to me the most is the sometimes there/sometimes implied pop and crackle that is familiar to any Philip Jeck fan – but that’s just me. I guess more people will notice the vocals, and in doing so their minds might wander to the last Grouper record (or, for those who do a little more digging, they might also name check Lisa Nordstrom). Some of the near-grooves might evoke Pan American and when it gets expansive I don’t think Stars of the Lid would be out of the question. For those of you who added some of my previous DE releases you might even pick up just a fleeting moment or two of sound/vibe heard on the last Wyndel Hunt effort. This is an excellent disc – that point needs to be made clearly – and while you may only carve out a song here or there to play on a radio show, this one begs to be taken in as a whole album (then hit play again).
Try #2, 3, 4, 5, 6
ADDS 2009-08-03 If you are a fan of the more synth-laden classic Krautrock – Cluster, Harmonia, Tangerine Dream, Popul Vuh, Faust, etc, then this limited edition EP from New Orleans based Liteworks will hit the spot for you in a big way. The band was originally the one-man project of Mike Mayfield, but lately he has fleshed it out to a quartet with the addition of members of Chef Menteur, The Buttons, and Belong. These two tracks play/feel a lot shorter than their actual running time; you might want to put this one on repeat and bliss out.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2009-08-03 Vialka mixes the Balkan-styled party rock of Storsveit nNix Noltes (minus the Balkan component, that is) with a strong dose of Downtown NYC intellectual/absurdist vibe – the resulting disc is the kind of thing you’d expect to hear a lot on fine stations like WFMU.
Try #1, 2, 3, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-08-03 Social Junk covers a good bit of territory with their new disc for Digitalis. In fact, this is almost a map of the entirety of New Weird America – but this map has at least one section that was previously uncharted. To wit, the opening two cuts on this disc are clearly a modern update of slash homage to the sounds of early Suicide. The majority of the remainder of the disc is a mixture of uneasy ambience and subtle quasi-drone. It’s yet another example of the breadth (and quality) of sounds and styles that we’ve come to associate with Digitalis Recordings.
Try #1, 2, 6
ADDS 2009-08-03 This is a recording of a live Jandek show from November of 2005. These discs of the live shows are being released in order, so it will be some time before I can send you the show that happened in New Orleans earlier this year – but you will get it eventually. This show is our man from Corwood plus sparse piano.
Try #2, 3, 4, 6
ADDS 2009-08-03 This is an EP of instrumental tracks from the wonderful Autumn in Halifax – the band that is directly responsible for the existence of Pirtlegimp Promotions. These tracks are the audio portion of a package that includes a short story and should still be available from Carbon Records should you be interested. If you like the more minimal and lo-fi leaning post rock then you should be all over this; to me it sounds like a very slowed down collaboration between The Dead C and the pretty post rock band of your choice.
Try #1, 3, 5
ADDS 2009-06-29 I like Radiohead, don’t get me wrong. I often try and figure out what it is about their work that landed them in such rarefied territory in terms of public acceptance. We can call it out-pop or avant-pop or (later) IDM-accented-pop – but at the end of the day maybe one of you can explain it to me. Now consider this disc from TBEF; to my ears this one-ups Radiohead on almost every level – and the qualifier there might actually be a two-up. This is experimentally leaning postmodern pop music for everyone who bought a Radiohead record at or after ‘Amnesiac’. This special promo version made just for you faithful Pirtlegimp stations contains extra content, including a Rival Consoles remix.
Try #1, 3, 5, 6, 8
ADDS 2009-06-29 This is beautiful and delicate songcraft at its best. On about half the songs, ‘stillness’ needs to be listed as an instrument – you’ve heard much quality music in this genre over the past decade and this disc is just as good as any of those past efforts from the likes of Vetiver, Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart, Ida, etc. The other part of the story is what I might call lovingly orchestrated post pop. One song in particular made me make a note that said ‘early My Morning Jacket meets Hood?’ – and yes I think that claim has validity. This is a personal record which should connect hard with the people that it connects with. Got me?
Try #1, 3, 5, 9, 12, 14
Profanity #11
ADDS 2009-06-29 Here’s the third of three Rival Consoles related disc to land on your desk from Pirtlegimp headquarters. The title track of this EP is excellent IDM that evokes a mixture of Squarepusher and classic Worm Interface upbeat IDM. There is a noticeable amount of strings on the next two tracks – showing is the diversity of this kid’s talent. The last track is an upbeat remix for all you fans of the Warp sound.
Try #1, 2, 3, 4
ADDS 2009-06-29 This was a most unexpected surprise from Dual Plover. Aussie duo Naked on the Vague plays a potent and dark style of post punk that I can’t recall hearing in a while. Part of this evokes Lydia Lunch’s seminal ‘1313’ album – but this is ‘updated’ in a way that would never cause anyone to think they were hearing an audio artifact. There is an ever so slight tribal aspect to this, but at the end of the day, this baby rocks (just enough) when it needs to and let’s the foot off the gas as well. Think Jessica Bailiff and Lydia Lunch meets SST-era Opal and Sleater Kinney.
Try #2, 3, 5, 8
Profanity #1
ADDS 2009-06-29 If you enjoyed the ‘Spire’ releases on Touch a few years back, then be sure to check out this fine new release from the Marc Richter-fronted trio Black to Comm. This single piece is a nicely ebbing and flowing drone based on the organ, and if you don’t fancy all thirty plus minutes you can always excerpt it.
Try #1
ADDS 2009-06-29 This is the work of Cincinnati resident Alex Cobb. His work under the name Taiga Remains blurs the line between blessed out guitar work and atonal dirgery; think a mixture of early Stars of the Lid with Loren Chasse. The balance here between tension and release is pretty nice – this won’t recede into the background but it also doesn’t exactly take over the room. You should have long ago come to expect quality from Digitalis and this will not disappoint.
Try #3, 4, 5
ADDS 2009-05-26 [Note: The street date for retail for this title in the USA is 6/23/09. Please make a note of this.] It has been over a decade since a group of politically-edgy Canadians showed the world how to make epic post rock. Since GYBE’s opening shot, it could be argued that first Mogwai then later Explosions in the Sky and Mono carried the torch. That very torch has just been passed to the five members of Codes in the Clouds. The Kent-based act plays spacious and bombastic rock and roll that nods to all that came before – but this isn’t plagiarism by any definition. Most impressive perhaps is their ability to walk the tightrope between ‘heavy’ and ‘too heavy’ while still maintaining a strong sense of melody – in short, this is a great listen.
Try #1, 2, 3, 4, 7
ADDS 2009-05-25 Let us welcome the fine Australian label Dual Plover to the Pirtlegimp family of labels; Rice Corpse is a trio founded by Dual Plover head honcho Lucas Abela. For this project, generously underwritten by the Australia Council for the Arts, Abela traveled to China and formed this improvisational trio (amplified glass, piano, and drums) with two native musicians. The sound here borrows equally from avant-garde modern composition, noise, and free jazz – if you’ve ever dug on any of the SYR releases on Smells Like, then you already have the foundation to like this. I hear a pretty solid free jazz element running through this as well – and if your station adds discs from labels like Emanem then you might want to alert the more adventurous jazz DJs at your station to this disc’s existence.
Try #1, 4, 5
ADDS 2009-05-25 This is the brainchild of Chicago-based sound artist J.R. Robinson. For this disc, he created three live ambient tone fields – one each in Pittsburgh, Paris, and NYC. Each one has its own particular set of collaborators, including David Yow, Azita, John Herndon, Jeff Parker, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Ken Vandermark, among others. The third and final piece deserves special attention; with its meandering drones the track seems to reinvent classic minimalism while still exploring new territory.
Try #1, 2, 3
ADDS 2009-05-25 This is a special promo-only disc that the fine folks at Erased Tapes put together just for you! Kiasmos is the duo of Olafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen. Their two tracks are aimed at the dance floor – make that a ‘smart’ dance floor. Is there SDM in addition to IDM? I just can’t call them IDM, but it sure is close, hence the artistic license to create a new genre. Rival Consoles (aka Ryan Lee West) is a name you should be familiar with shortly, especially since this is the first of three discs you’ll get from me bearing that name this spring. These three cuts are a fine introduction to West’s solo output as well – think nearly-playful and slightly upbeat IDM not unlike the early Worm Interface stuff (specifically Hiumro and Gimmik slowed down a beat or two). And of course, as you might already know thanks to Terrorbird’s servicing of the Olafur Arnalds discs last year, everything that bears the name Erased Tapes will be ace.
Try #1, 4, 5
ADDS 2009-05-25 You need to be careful with words like ‘love’ right? After a while, dilution renders them meaningless. I feel the same way as I go to type ‘Fennesz’ and ‘Vladislav Delay’ or perhaps was I thinking ‘Pole’ and ‘Tim Hecker’ – I can’t recall. The point is that this new disc from Mokira (alter ego of none other than Andreas Tilliander, who has some amazing releases under his own name) straddles the worlds inhabited by those four (justifiably and correctly) overused names. And, um, I love it. Lastly, check the nods to Spacemen 3 and Twin Peaks in the song titles.
Try #2, 3, 6, 7
ADDS 2009-05-25 If you end up on the Dual Plover website and read the capsule review of this disc too quickly, you run the risk of coming away with the wrong idea. True, our hero is a (talented) MC – but there is a lot more going on here than first meets the eye. I hate to say it, but there is a component of this that evokes Ariel Pink – to an extent. This doesn’t have that feeling that someone is knowingly winking at you the whole time. Parts of this even feel like a deconstructed Ken Nordine record. The elements of this that might be called ‘hip hop’ might be a dream of Anticon after a night of serious drinking and a slight case of food poisoning. This is oddly compelling and, if you dig around a little, competent despite itself. Viva the Duck!
Try #1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14
Profanity #2, 3, 10, 11, 18, 20
Obscenity #9, 17
ADDS 2009-05-25 Super Minerals is a Southern California-based duo. Their sound is a very pleasing mix of uneasy ambience, light drone, and classic minimalism. I wish some of the old timers who came up with guys like LaMonte Young and Terry Riley could get a chance to hear stuff like this – surely they would be quite impressed.
Try #1, 5, 6, 7
ADDS 2009-05-25 Hopefully last week’s split EP has prepared you for this fine EP. Ryan Lee West’s perspective on IDM has led to some refreshing sounds, that much is clear. While a lazy blogger might name check Squarepusher and or Autechre and leave it at that, fans of this genre will immediately pick up on the nuances that make West’s sound unique. About the only complaint one might hear is that these six songs are too short – and the easy fix there is to just put this sucker on repeat.
Try #2, 3, 5, 6
ADDS 2009-04-06 The four pieces on Xela’s new disc for Type need to be moved to the front of the line if you are (like me) a huge fan of the Touch label. This is of the same vine as recent Philip Jeck output – but with a key difference. Both somehow manage to use the empty spaces and pop/cackle of old vinyl as a key instrument, but Xela works it into an almost ‘ambient’ (to cop out) structure first and then almost the negative of that afterwards – the negative of ambient being a tense and foreign terrain of controlled noise. This is not background music; well not to the people reading this it isn’t. On a personal note, one of my favorite things about this disc is that it might have created the ‘frozen gamelan’ genre – or maybe that’s just my meta-youthful exuberance taking control of the keyboard here.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2009-04-06 I am pleased to be able to bring you a release from the maddeningly prolific Italian duo known as My Cat Is An Alien. These two improvisations find the Ipalio boys working with Enore Azffiri, who adds real-time recording of reel to reel tapes into the mix. These two longish tracks should be more than enough evidence to explain why some people are willing to pay insane amounts for MCIAA’s extensive output of limited edition releases. This disc is bundled with a DVD of great visuals, so don’t miss that.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2009-04-06 This is the solo project of Marielle Jakobsons. This is a wonderful piece of work that starts with a foundation of oscillators and violin. From there we get layers of other sounds, gently draped here and there to create a textured but blissful space for you to lull about in endlessly. RIYL The Caretaker meets Penderecki meets MV/EE’s cdr releases meets The North Sea meets Potpie – and that’s quite a gathering.
Try #2, 3, 6
ADDS 2009-04-06 This up and coming Bay Area duo make (what has been called) spectral blues and subterranean drones. The pieces strike a nice balance of ‘psych’ and ‘gaze’ and will leave you with a pleasant wandering feeling. There is also a good lit of space to be found here as well, warmly enveloping just a hint of drone.
Try #2, 4, 5, 8
ADDS 2009-04-06 Every single release I have ever heard from Digitalis is amazing; a few transcend words and put me in the awkward position of having to write copy for something that doesn’t need it. But as you MDs know, too much music comes in too fast – and sometimes we need a little flag-waving to grab our attention. When you finally get around to putting this amazing disc on, you will be reminded of why you put so much effort into your music directing – because your love of music is reinforced with a near narcotic-type response when you hear something like this. Akiyama’s guitar in particular is going to reach you – the accompaniment creates a shockingly prefect world of static dissonance where motion is frozen in time (forgive the hyperbole but this disc kicks ass). I only have a handful of these to send out, and that’s a shame because every station needs this one.
Try #1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10
ADDS 2009-04-06 Of “Rocks Will Open” (Digitalis) ADDS 4/6/09
Of is the num de plume of Loren Chasse, who most of you lucky enough to be getting this will recognize from the likes of the Jeweled Antler collective, Thuja, The Blithe Sons, etc. As Of, Chasse patiently and masterfully creates spaces for tones and drones to live – the feeling can range from near-tension to near-warmth, and the use of ‘near’ is not to make this seem like a noncommittal piece of work (quite the opposite). There is a very special feeling captured in the very marrow of this disc – the word is ‘resonant’ if my engineering background serves me properly.
Try #1, 3, 4, 6, 8
ADDS 2009-04-06 I only have a tiny handful of these to send out; I had to literally beg the Digitalis peeps for them as well because this was not originally to be part of any radio servicing. Some of you are already familiar with Cosi and his otherworldly saxophone work – I’ve seen him on your Top 30s. These four pieces are special to me because they are the first I had heard of his output. There is a nice mix of space rock, prog rock, free jazz, and Krautrock at work here – you Neu fans need to proceed to track three immediately if not sooner.
Try #3, 4
ADDS 2009-03-10 The trio of Peter Brotzmann, Marino Pliakas, and Michael Wertmueller recorded these eleven tracks in March 2008. Don’t just pass this off to the jazz folks before you give it a listen; this is the kind of jazz that works well in a set of non-jazz tracks, and a bunch of these are under the five minute mark too. I had the chance to open for Brotzmann/Parker/Drake/Jordan in New Orleans about 7 years ago with a little DJ thing I do and if you ever get the chance to see PB live you really should jump on that.
Try #2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10
ADDS 2009-03-10 Most of you by now have figured out that Type puts out some amazing ambient/pretty/etc music – and always top notch. Well this one is no exception… at least the top notch part that is. The opening track of this disc would not be out of place on the Southern Lord label, and you might even consider slipping this in next to some Sunn O))) on your next fine radio show. This is a little to the ambient side of said band, but I think the two would work well together. If time is an issue you’ll want to stick to the first and last tracks, but the middle two would be real nice for some late-night programming as well.
Try #1, 4
ADDS 2009-03-10 I am extremely pleased to be able to bring you this Tarentel disc on Digitalis. Their fine output is probably well represented in your libraries, and this is another in a series of great efforts from them. As the title suggests, these untitled cuts were culled from various live dates in Italy and Switzerland. The cuts towards the front of this might make you think of Lasse Marhaug quietly sneaking up to sit in with Sunburned Hand of the Man. Towards the back of this disc are the tracks that are a little more ‘blissed out’ to misuse a phrase.
Try #2, 5, 6, 7, 8
ADDS 2009-03-10 I sent most of you the previous Hinkley disc about a year and a half ago; that was one of the trickier reviews I had to write that year in m position as MD at WTUL New Orleans; I just couldn’t get my head around it and it wasn’t that ‘out’ of a disc. In fact it wasn’t ‘out’ at all. This time the thing that caught me off guard was the clapping at the end of track 1 – this thing was recorded live (with only a few overdubs after the fact). Part of this really evokes bands that would have come out of Austin or maybe Athens a generation or two ago – but that is mostly the violin. This also might remind you a little of that fine Bowery Boy Blue disc that one of the other promoters sent you last year – just a rawer and less-fi version.
Try #1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10
ADDS 2009-02-23 This live show dates from October 2005, a few months after the ill-fated New Orleans show we had booked got rescheduled by Hurricane Katrina – actually the Jandek New Orleans show is back on finally for March 16th, 2009 along with Hurray for the Riff Raff for those of you who might be in the south. This is guitar and voice, and goes quite well with the other Jandek release in this package.
Try #2, 3, 4, 7
ADDS 2009-02-23 This is a nice piece of modern composition from composer Elodie Lauten (b. 1950). The main instrumentation here is Fairlight CMI, harpsichord, trombone, cello, and voice(s). The piece was written in 1984, and features the late (and very great) Arthur Russell on cello (and lending a tenor voice to one cut). This is RIYL Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and all the other big names along those lines. The booklet has some informative material as well.
Try #All
ADDS 2009-02-16 Here’s one of two new AiH efforts I will be sending you in early ’09. Autumn in Halifax’s first Carbon release was the very CD that pushed me into the promotion game – I felt so strongly about that record that I took it upon myself to get it heard. Anyway, this new one doesn’t really compare to the earlier work; what comes to the surface here is a nice nod to Simon Joyner along with subtle post rock touches. It’s not lo-fi but we could call it mid-fi perhaps; this new direction suits them well. The other disc coming next month or in April is an instrumental EP.
Try #2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11
ADDS 2009-02-16 This is a New Orleans-based duo (the two are also in Hurray for the Riff Raff – that amazing record I sent you a while back) who creates organic textures and layers without the use of computers or synthesizers. Through the use of manipulated conventional instruments, dilruba, cello, and field recordings, the two create a world that begs to be explored by the fans of Popul Vuh, ambient/drone, classical Indian music, and the lesser-hyped acts on the Kranky label.
Try #All!
ADDS 2009-02-16 True, our man has had a much higher profile since 2004, so maybe some of the mystery is gone. One thing that this disc will remind you of, though, is the history. Starting in 1978, Houston’s Corwood Industries released a string of Jandek LPs (then later CDs) – and many of them featured haunting guitar work and vocals. This disc is a new recording, but it could easily have been laid down back in the early days too – so if you like the early stuff like ‘Ready for the House’ up through ‘Blue Corpse’ or so then this is the one for you.
Try #1, 3
ADDS 2009-02-16 Here’s a new component to the Pirtlegimp family of labels and acts. Thou plays a mixture of what you might call punk and metal – is that ambiguous enough for you? What isn’t ambiguous is the lyrical and emotional content here. If you are a fan of fine and heavy labels such as Southern Lord and Robotic Empire, then you need this in your life. The controlled fury on some songs will also remind your listeners of bands like Isis and Neurosis most likely.
Tyrant Try #1, 3, 4, 5
Peasant Try #1, 3, 4, 6
ADDS 2009-01-13 This time out, TAC is a little kinder and gentler. The quartet uses violin, trumpet, piano, and drums to create some of the finest forward-thinking jazz that one could hope to hear, and I hate to use this word, but what the hell: this disc is more accessible than the one I sent out last year (not that the previous one was bad, mind you). There are tracks here that could please a more traditional jazz fan while still warming the cockles of the heart of the avant set. [LIMITED SERVICING]
Try #Any
ADDS 2009-01-13 This collaboration consists of three sections (hence the title). For the most part, Brotzmann’s reeds are way out in front, with FLH’s cello and electronics providing the colors around the edges to finish the painting, as it were. This is on the out or avant side of the out jazz or avant jazz, to be sure.
Jazz Try #1, 2
Rock Try #3
ADDS 2009-01-06 When Keith Kenniff uses the Helios moniker to release a CD, you can expect quality ‘pretty post rock’ from start to finish (I also sent you a disc he released under the name Goldmund a few months back). Often compared to Ulrich Schnauss and Brian Eno, and justifiable so, Kenniff is at home blending pastoral beauty with a little postmodern technology; and it is with that in mind that I add Fridge, Bexar Bexar, and Boards of Canada to the above two name checks. And, once again please ignore the cliché, but Kenniff has a distinct enough voice in this genre so as to not be accused to being a plagiarist.
Try #1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
ADDS 2009-01-06 This live show was recorded in October of 2005, still relatively early in the live phase of Corwood Industries’ existence. The set consists of two pieces. The first one is a nice track with near-spoken vocals that is the closest the live releases have come (thus far) to emulating the older studio releases. The second piece is the very aptly named ‘Tribal Ether’ which has sections of howled vocals and tribal percussion.
Try #1
ADDS 2009-01-06 For those of you loving the new Fennesz disc on Touch, I humbly ask that you give this a try ASAP. With electronics, field recordings, and guitars, Koen Holtkamp’s new one for Type is just what the doctor ordered – assuming the doctor works for Wire magazine and not a hospital that is. RIYL Fennesz meets Mitchell Akiyama meets Boards of Canada.
Try #1, 2, 6, 7
ADDS 2009-01-06 This is one of the rarer titles from the early sixties that were released on Sun Ra’s Saturn Records. In addition to the album’s six excellent tracks (remastered), there is an album-side length bonus track that was to be used on a Saturn release circa 1965 or so but it never came out, so that’s an added incentive for all you travelers of the spaceways.
Try #1, 4, 7
ADDS 2009-01-06 With gentle guitar strokes and lots of near-warm ambience and subtle nuance, Manning updates the sounds of the solo work of The Dirty Three’s Mick Turner’s work for Drag City. The cliché has been used before, but when it is warranted it must be said: these tracks are the soundtrack to a road movie in which the journey is open-ended and the journey is the destination.
Try #1, 3, 4
ADDS 2009-01-06 This is an older release from Lawrence Lui under the name Dominions. Some of you guys may have this in your libraries already so be sure to check before you re-review it unnecessarily. This is an interesting mix of lo-fi and mid-fi; I think there is more of an audience for this sound in 2009 than there was originally released about a decade ago. FYI I will be sending out some older titles on Turducken from time to time, and for all of those please try and remember to check and see if you have them already. RIYL the offspring that would arise if the Siltbreeze and Ochre labels reproduced.
Try #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 20
ADDS 2009-01-06 All of you received TSS’s previous release from the fine folks at Terrorbird, but only the Pirtlegimp family of quality stations gets their newest one. I seem to be all about the clichés this package; in fact here comes another one. This disc is, in my estimation, Australia’s answer to Burial’s recent disc – just seen through a post apocalyptic lens or two. Somewhere between old fashioned drum n’ bass, sometimes dark future jazz, le rock, and what those crazy kids call dubstep is this complex yet rewarding new disc. This is not ‘backgroundy’ enough to ever be called soundtrack music, but it can have a similar effect at times for sure. The variety of styles here is pretty impressive actually – especially towards the end of the disc.
Try #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
ADDS 2008-11-11 So, as you may know I am also a Music Director and have been for 6 years now (WTUL New Orleans). I don’t handle ‘local music’ as we have a separate MD just for that. You are no doubt all too familiar with the calls and emails concerning ‘some great new act that you must hear’ – the problem is that after a while you become desensitized to everything and you put blinders on where you can filter out all the crap while still maintaining your focus on getting great music out for your DJS to play. One of WTUL’s staffers emailed me to tell me he had placed a ‘great CD’ in my box that I should check out – that didn’t exactly have me rushing to the station. Cut to a few weeks later when I finally put this disc on: this is and was the first and only time in six years I have contacted labels to tell them that ‘there is a band out here that needs to be signed NOW to your label’. Hurray for the Riff Raff is so good I really don’t even want to say anything here to convince you. But the problem is that I have to do just that, because if you accidentally throw this CD away you are making a huge, huge mistake. HftRR takes a little bit from the free folk movement and mixes it with a little bit of the cabaret/carny sound. To oversimplify it grossly, this is what would you would get if My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden made an impromptu band out of members of The Rachels and The Coctails and went out on tour – a busking tour that is. Track two, in particular, is so good I can’t even listen to it anymore because it is permanently burned into my mind. You see the enthusiasm I have for music in this review? Sure you do, it is the same enthusiasm that led you to become a Music Director in the first place. Now put this on and let it reaffirm your love of sounds.
Try #ALL
ADDS 2008-11-11 This disc consists of two tracks. The first is a 24-minute recording from 1964 of Joe Maneri and Pete Dolger as part of a peace concert in NYC. The other track is a 2006 interview. If you are a fan of avant-garde jazz, or more significantly even if you aren’t – I think you would be hard pressed to find fault with these 24 minutes. I literally didn’t want it to end when it was winding down. Just as a reminder I started this promo service to get quality stations quality music, not ever to make a penny for my efforts, and I am very glad to help facilitate stuff like this getting heard. Atavistic’s huge back-catalog is diverse and talent-rich, and a lot of their older stuff should be in your music libraries waiting to be (re)discovered.
Try #1
ADDS 2008-11-11 This is a new Bay Area group featuring ex members of Tussle and Tarentel. Their excellent sonic excursions will recall classic sounds from Popul Vuh and Tangerine Dream mixed with the less poppy moments of Air’s catalogue. This is a fine effort and a slight change of pace from your friends at Type – but as always Type is nothing but the finest in quality.
Try #1, 2, 5, 8
ADDS 2008-11-11 Novak owns and operates the fine Dragon’s Eye label out of Seattle. He also is one of the label’s recording artists, and this is one of his many fine releases for the label. These three tracks are on the longish side – but not for most of you stations who get my releases and certainly not long compared to ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ or ‘Sinking of the Titanic’. The tracks here aren’t exactly ambient, aren’t what you would call IDM, aren’t even what you could call experimental – but maybe all of those terms (and more) apply here. I hate the use of the term ‘background music’ in any negative or dismissive way. The myriad positive possibilities and connotations of ‘background music’ have drawn me to stuff like this over and over.
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2008-11-04 This is a wonderful mini-album from Becca Rice. With acoustic guitar and voice, Rice creates a mood and space that is inhabited by the likes of Grouper and Songs of Green Pheasant. There’s that familiar ‘field recording vibe’ here that just pulls me to this like a supermagnet. If you like quietly haunting music, or even hauntingly quiet music, I’d say get this on immediately if not sooner.
Try #ALL
ADDS 2008-11-04 Goldmund is Keith Kenniff, who also records as Helios. This disc is a stunningly beautiful work, equally influenced by the gentlest moments of Erik Satie and the least cheesy moments of classic Windham Hill circa the early Winter Solstice series. While many of these compositions are framed around piano, I swear ‘quiet’ should be listed prominently as one of the instruments, because Kenniff displays a mastery of stillness and quiet while simultaneously wowing us with sonic elegance.
Try #1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13
ADDS 2008-11-04 Recording both under his own name and as Son of Rose, Sadeghi has flown below the radar in offering up a solid handful of quality releases. The easiest way to put it is to say that anyone who enjoys both the Kranky and Touch labels needs this in their life in a big way. The points of reference here are all over the map: Ryoji Ikeda, Tomorrowland, early Stars of the Lid, Alva Noto, Biosphere, Fennesz, Hecker (any of them), but ultimately there is enough distinction of sound and tone here that no one could accuse him of ripping anybody off.
Try #1, 2, 5, 6, 10
ADDS 2008-11-04 I just keep saying it because it is so damn true. I’ve got a glut of riches here with Pirtlegimp Promotions. It is amazing what being not for profit does for your roster. Steve Gunn’s criminally short new CD for Digitalis is another hit in a non stop barrage of winners from Digitalis. Most of this disc is excellent acoustic guitar work – neither too ‘out’ nor too ‘warm’ but a nice balance of the two. There is a little vocal action towards the end of the disc (a John Martyn cover) that serves as a nice closing to the proceedings. This disc needs to be three times longer than it is.
Try #All
ADDS 2008-10-14 I am very pleased to offically welcome Dragon’s Eye into the Pirtlegimp family. This Seattle-based label has flown under the radar for quite a while, and that is a shame. In my estimation, they are the closest thing that the US has to a label to compete with the fine UK label Touch, so if you are a Touch fan then you should be very excited that you are going to be getting many DE releases over the coming months. This disc pairs label head Yann Novak (laptop) wit Marc Manning (gtr, voice). If you are a fan of Labradford and Stars of the Lid, and can imagine the two mixed with say a dash of the calmer moments of that new Lawrence English disc for Touch, then you’ll surely love this.
Try #1, 2, 4
ADDS 2008-10-14 As I have mentioned a few times, I do this Pirtlegimp Promotions thing out of my house as a not for profit service to get the best stations in the US (and 2 in Canada!) the best music out there that is not represented by some of the ‘real’ promoters out there. I was very, very happy when Digitalis agreed to work with me to get you guys music – almost everything Brad Rose puts out on Digitalis and Foxglove is amazing. That may be true, but even among the greats of that label’s output, this Milton Cross (of Tarentel) disc is a rare and special treat. Cross has brought a little bit of a classical influence into the New Weird America genre with this stunning and breathtaking release. In particular the opening 10+ minute cut is one of the musical highlights of my year. I have this on my short list of releases from which my Top 10 will be culled. RIYL Tarentel meets Neil Young’s Dead Man score meets Hush Arbors older stuff with a hint of Popul Vuh.
Try #1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
ADDS 2008-10-07 Hunt’s third disc for new Pirtle-affiliated label Dragon’s Eye actually comes packaged with a DVD of visuals, but we’re only servicing the audio content. There’s not a whole lot out there in the avant/experimental/laptop world these days that is sounding like Hunt’s work. I guess one point of reference, with a caveat, would be Fennesz (Tim Hecker has also occasionally been mentioned). The difference is that these sounds are the closest I have heard to anyone bringing a ‘living, organic’ component to the genre. In a way, oddly, some of these sounds recall the incidental sounds illuminating some of the junk-percussive moments of Skinny Puppy’s later work. At other times, the sounds are given real room to stretch out and (to again use a living type term) ‘breathe’ a little. If you enjoy the sounds of any of the labels that put out Paul Schutze’s many works, then this won’t be a stretch for you. Strangely enough, you may also hear elements of shoegaze in here, and any older Labradford fans might also sense a disturbance in the force or two while playing this disc. For my money, the meat of this release is the final four tracks, where Hunt’s sounds slyly nod to modern composers like Penderecki as they evoke the parts of the Blade Runner world that were too dirty to make the final cut of the film.
Try #3, 4, 7, 8, 9
ADDS 2008-10-07 This is quite the find for your friends at Pirtlegimp Promo, even if the sound isn’t normally what we go for. A musician friend of mine told me about a Swedish singer-songwriter he knew and that I might be interested in getting her CD out to you guys. It took a while to get these shipped from Sweden, but finally here it is. Talvik is a pure talent; it won’t take you long as you work through this disc. Her particular strain of pop purity nods heavily to the classic pop sounds of the fifties and sixties, but with those modern touches that we’ve come to expect from so called indie pop songs the past few years. I have to say I was highly impressed with this disc, and let’s recall that I do this entire promotion thing as a side gig to my music directing which is a side gig to my teaching job. If you press me for RIYLs, I might pick Isobel Campbell, Julie Doiron, Simone White, Petra Haden, Dusty Springfield, Nancy Sinatra, and pretty much ever singer on that fine Numero Group compilation ‘Ladies from the Canyon’ – but look none of those are overly close and this is good enough to stand on its own. She was picked to play Lollapalooza this year without a US record deal, so I am not the only one out here championing her work.
Try #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
ADDS 2008-10-07 Those of you who have been my stations since the beginning in January 2007 may remember these New Orleans-based guys. If you are only now hearing the name, it’s not a problem because this disc represents somewhat of a sea change in their sound anyway. The title track is one of the best songs I have heard all year as music director of my station – the slow burning post modern ballad brings to mind David Sylvian’s ‘Blemish’ disc – specifically the collaboration with Fennesz. Impossibly, this clearly improves on Sylvian’s work, which is crazy b/c I love that ‘Blemish’ disc a lot. Anyway, with light guitar strums, some vibes, and light effects/processing, frontman Phil Rollins has written a keeper. The second track also evokes David Sylvian, but we have to reach back a little farther in time to pick up the reference. If you enjoyed the instrumental second album of ‘Gone to Earth’ but you kept up with music and thus also like laptop stuff, then you will love this track. The last track is a snapshot of a work in progress, showing Rollins’ growing fascination with post-Factory Records and global rhythms. It may be just a bit too long in this configuration, but again this is just a piece of something that will be used later. Track Titles: (1) No Remainder (2) Pyongyang (3) Coffin (Version).
Try #1, 2
ADDS 2008-08-26 Peter Broderick’s compositions are simply (stunningly) beautiful and right at home on Type Records. If you enjoyed the Sylvain Chauveau disc I sent out at the beginning of summer then you will love this as well. The instruments used include piano, violin, viola, cello, banjo, musical saw, theremin, accordion, trumpet, and more. There is a little post-production ambience in the mix too if my ears aren’t fooling me (or would that not need the word ‘post’ there?). In any case, you won’t find too may releases in this month’s mail bag that are prettier than this one. RIYL Sylvain Chauveau, Max Richter, Rachels, Olafur Arnalds, Clogs, Eirk Satie, etc.
Try #1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
ADDS 2008-08-26 This 2-disc set qualifies as a reissue, but only barely. The two discs here were previously released in editions of 50 copies each a few years back. Ahmed is a native of Pakistan but is based out of Portland, Oregon these days. These discs show clear talent in the free folk / avant folk / New Weird America area of the musical world. Fans of Hush Arbors, Charalambides, Six Organs of Admittance, Noble Lake, Juniper Meadows, and the like will absolutely not be disappointed with these excellent sounds.
CD1 Try #1, 3, 5, 6
CD2 Try #1, 3, 4
ADDS 2008-08-26 [THIS IS A LIMITED SERVICING, NOT ALL STATIONS WILL RECEIVE THIS ONE SORRY.]
ADDS 2008-08-26 [THIS IS A LIMITED SERVICING, NOT ALL STATIONS WILL RECEIVE THIS ONE SORRY.]
ADDS 2008-08-19 This new Jandek disc is somewhat of a departure. Many of the recent Corwood releases have been live shows, and most of those lean to the rockin side of things. This disc has four cuts of just voice and acoustic guitar, and as such fans of the older Jandek releases will be quite at home with this one.
Try #1, 4
ADDS 2008-08-19 I am not really comfortable trying to explain Noah Britton and his musical output, though seeing that I am promoting two of his releases I need to do just that. He is usually lumped in with the so-called ‘anti-folk’ movement, and I guess that is true – but some of these songs are closer to Merzbow or Russell Haswell than they are to Jeffrey Lewis or Kimya Dawson. For me though, something more is going on with him, something kinda big, and I am too old to be a fanboy. His lyrics are smart, too smart really, but not in an off putting way. The thing about life these days around music (and especially ‘fans’ of music) is that there is some sort of ‘To irony or not to irony?’ kind of thing happening that sometimes causes you to hate certain bands because of their fans. This isn’t for you if you care about American Apparel or MAC, but it sure as fuck IS for you if you use your brain and have even the slightest sense of humor. Maybe you won’t agree with me, after all I am only one person, but I was strongly drawn to Noah’s compelling songs off of The Red Pony from the first listen. Noah is also in a band called The Best Thing Ever and if you get a chance to see them live or check out their DVD then please do so. NOTE: Half of you are getting Old Yeller and the other half are getting The Red Pony.
Old Yeller
Try #4, 6, 7, 13, 15, 16
Profanity #2, 10, 20
The Red Pony
Try #1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16
Profanity #5, 10
ADDS 2008-08-19 This is a special CDR promo that the band made for the illustrious Pirtlegimp roster of stations. The first track is the content from their new 12” on the fine Table of The Elements label as part of the Guitar Series. Most of you are already familiar with Belong’s sound from the last release of theirs that I sent out, but if for some reason you aren’t, prepare for shimmering ambience that falls somewhere between Fennesz, William Basinski, Lawrence English, and LaMonte Young. Actually I am pushing it by putting Young on my list; what I really mean there is if you rounded up some folks who enjoyed a well-tempered piano they just might find that they happened upon a new favorite artist here in Belong. The other three tracks on this disc are the content from their 2006 tour-only EP, and if you enjoyed their disc for Carpark then these three will be a nice post-script to said disc.
Try #1, 3
ADDS 2008-08-19 This is the third release from PDX resident Liz Harris, aka Grouper. In a way though, this is a debut as well – the fuzzed blurriness of her earlier work has now given way to something entirely different. From the first listen to this disc, I was seized with just one RIYL: if you liked (as well you should) the early work from Songs of Green Pheasant, then you need to run not walk to this disc. These songs are framed with guitar and voice, but with little touches of ambience and field-recording-vibe here and there the whole becomes way more than the sum of its parts. For me, the connection with SOGP is significant b/c SOGP is one of my all-time favorites. Thus, this disc automatically enters a special place in my heart. That’s not a promoter talking, that is a music fan talking (and sincerely, as always).
Try #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11
ADDS 2007-07-31 As I may have mentioned in my intro letter launching Pirtlegimp Promo, I'm an MD myself and have been for the past 5 years at WTUL New Orleans. Every so often a disc comes along that for whatever reason is a real tough one for me review wise. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I end up spending way too many listens on one disc and even after that I don't have anything to put on the review. This disc from Hinkley was the last such CD to come across my desk a few months ago. I guess you call it indie rock; some might use the word backporch for some of this. Others could use the word languid depending on which song they were hearing; hell you might even call a few moments jazzy. I won't claim to you that every song on here hits the mark - why would I if that's not how I feel? You've got paid promoters doing that every day. What I can say is that these guys definitely have something going here and it crystallizes every so often on this disc and I hope you find something worthwhile on here. My picks follow.
ADDS 2007-07-31 Some of you are getting this title from another promotion company. Scott Tinkler's new disc for Extreme is being worked to a good number of stations through a jazz promoter, so I am catching most of you guys with this servicing. If you're a fan of avant-garde and/or experimental jazz, then this might be your cup of tea. It's probably been said before but if it hasn't let me be the one to say it here: Tinkler is to the trumpet what Evan Parker is to the saxophone.
ADDS 2007-07-24 This is another installment in the consistently excellent Unheard Music Series. This time out, we get four nice longish tracks from Sun Ra and His Astro-Infinity Orchestra. These tracks have a decidedly prog feel to them, and I mean that in two ways: progressive in the literal sense first, but also that there are moments of this that I think fans of prog the genre might dig. Other parts even brought to mind Nurse With Wound's Automating II.
ADDS 2007-07-24 This one was serviced by request only to the first ten stations. Hunt makes glistening electronic compositions that feel alive; in fact one review paralleled it to a thousand glistening insects. I say that if you're a Tim Hecker or Muslimgauze fan then you won't be making a far walk to end up liking this one.
ADDS 2007-05-27 When's the last time you read one of these promoter-type one sheets and the person whose job it is to sell you on the current release says up front that the current release is NOT the act's best work? Well, now I guess. Allow me to explain: Every station receiving this disc from us also got Mr. Geoffrey & JD Franzke's 'Get a Room' full length last year. See, to me that is the single best mix CD of all time, and a true near 10.0 on Pirtlefork, so how were they going to top that? Answer, they weren't, not with an EP at least. There's some nice grooves on here and they even dig up a little 'Get a Room' as well for these four songs. Chew on this and pray that they, ahem, get a room and find the time to cut a new full length which I will be overjoyed to get in your hands. [Also, each station is getting this with custom found art inserts as they were shipped form Australia without artwork.]
ADDS 2007-05-27 Studio release containing 5 tracks.
ADDS 2007-05-22 Fred has been a longtime fixture on the Chicago scene as the go-to cellist for many acts, and here he steps in front of the trio bearing his name. Along with Frank Rosaly (drums) and Jason Roebke, Lonberg-Holm gives you a nice taste of the avant-garde without going too far out in left field. Those of you who dug his release on Boxmedia with Michael Zerang may find this different but equally enjoyable. RIYL 33.3, Vandermark 5, Pullman, William Parker, etc.
ADDS 2007-05-08 Memphis-based Esque make very, very satisfying new wave music that draws equally from the past (Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen) and the present (Interpol, Editors). If you're a fan of the "new" new wave then this is for you.
ADDS 2007-05-08 This is a live double-disc recording of mostly piano and voice; simply gorgeous.
ADDS 2007-05-01 The new one from Poem Rocket is quite impressive. The double-disc set sounds to me like Sonic Youth meets Blonde Redhead meets Swell meets Galaxie 500 but played/recorded in a hazy dream state. This is the case for most of the cuts on both discs - it's only barely too long to fit on a single disc. There may not be any hott gimmicks here but damn is this nice.
ADDS 2007-04-10 This is the first non-live Jandek release we?ve sent. Guitar and vocals.
ADDS 2007-04-10 Andy Gilmore is a talented guitarist who records for Carbon Records. On this all too short EP, he gives us six short pieces on instrumental ambience. The most obvious point of reference will be Loren MazzaCane Connors. Specifically, if you are (like me) a huge fan of Connor?s late nineties masterpiece ?Evangeline? for Road Cone, then you should check this out immediately.
ADDS 2007-04-03 Two incarnations of Ken Vandermark?s Powerhouse Sound are captured live here on this impressively strong double disc for Atavistic. Disc one was recorded in Norway, and features KV, Nate McBride, and Paal Nilssen-Love teaming up with Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and Norwegian out/free/noise giant Lasse Marhaug for seven cuts. It?s a great mixture of avant-garde jazz and a more rockin hybrid that might be found on some of the older V5 releases ? in fact, speaking as an MD here the seamless merging of those two components impressed me the more I heard it. The second disc, recorded on home turf in Chicago, finds KV and McBride pairing with Tortoise?s John Herndon and Jeff Parker. Herndon and Parker?s addition (and possibly LM?s subtraction) lends a less ?out? vibe to disc two, but don?t play this around anything flammable because it?s still burning. After sitting through both discs numerous times, I?m struck at how diverse and solid this disc is; if ever there was a disc that was equally at home on your challenging jazz show and your out-avant-TheWire style shows, this is it.
ADDS 2007-03-13 This is the third release in a trio of collaborative efforts undertaken by Italian out-gods Zu. After working with Spaceways Incorporated and then Mats Gustafson, the boys now turn to Thrill Jockey?s Nobukazu Takemura for what may be the best disc of the bunch. While Zu lays down a solid (yet often fluid) backbone of baritone, bass, and drums, Takemura adds just the right amount of digital fuckery to bring this to a boil. Is it burning? Yeah, sometimes; but it also simmers here and there. Pardon the bad pun, but these guys have known how to cook for a long time and it shows.
ADDS 2007-03-06 We?re very pleased here at Pirtlegimp headquarters to be able to bring you releases from Corwood Industries. What we?re going to do (usually) is alternate studio and live recordings with each package from now on. We?re going to start you off with this one, a 2CD live recording from The Sage Gateshead in Newcastle on 5/22/05. This recording features a trio setup with guitar/vocals, bass and drums. For now we?ll be sending out these discs with no commentary on Pirtlegimp?s part and no suggested tracks, but that may change in the near future.
ADDS 2007-03-06 Wilderness Pangs is a four-piece from Baton Rouge, Louisiana that will surely draw their share of comparisons to Animal Collective. To be fair, that parallel needs to be refined a bit both towards and away from the intended target. The two are comparable especially when considering AC?s ?Sung Tongs? record; Wilderness Pangs make a joyous racket on their way to pure pop bliss. Where they differ, though, is that the Pangs also have an appreciation for a little Americana (and Canadiana); specifically the more complex structures of any Brian Wilson/VanDyke Parks effort and some of Neil Young and Crazy Horse?s messier work. It probably wouldn?t be too much of a stretch to convince some of the fans of acts like Manitoba/Caribou, Dosh and the like to give this a listen as well. There?s some noise here, but it?s not noise rock by a long shot. Call it lo-fi if you like but mid-fi may be more apropos. Note: After a silent 12th track there are two untitled instrumental pieces.
ADDS 2007-02-27 After about three full listens to this CD it occurs to me that you really can?t just stuff the Chrome Cranks into a neat little box ? even if the outer box says ?trashy garage rock? there is more going on here than meets the ear. The band has in the past been compared to a pretty solid list of rockers: Scientists, Pussy Galore, Birthday Party, Suicide, The Cramps, Gun Club ? and each one of those are very appropriate here (I?d also add Quintron, Lord High Fixers, The Germs, and The Dirtbombs). Parts of this made me thing that this is what early Blues Explosion would have sounded like if JS was getting his smack from Cleveland instead of the hipper parts of Manhattan. If this sounds a little messy on first listen, give it one more shot ? the guitars will start to stand out in a very distinguished way and you may even call parts of this pop music.
ADDS 2007-02-27 Even though this is not the most recent release from Japan's Maju (pronounced `may you'), it is being serviced to radio because it didn't get any proper promo upon release. If you're a fan of both the gentle and not-so-gentle sides of the ambient world, then this mixture of the two may work well for you. There are sounds here that will be quite familiar to fans of Fennesz's less crunchy output (on Mego and Touch) without a doubt. There's also the faintest suggestion of classic Oval / Christophe Charles here and there, but only in a fleeting sense. Also, for those who tend towards the more classic sounds of Brian Eno, well this might work there too after that extra listen; the more modern gentle ambience of acts like O Yuki Conjugate and A Small Good Thing may also be worth name-checking here. While this is far from background music, I'd still have no problems just having this on in the background on repeat for hours and hours.
ADDS 2007-02-20 This is the first ?official? release of this recording from 1981. The thirty minute piece features Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth as well as quite a few Branca regulars, and will work during your regular programming or maybe even during classical programming (especially if you have a modern composition-type show). Fans of the no-wave scene or of the Soul Jazz New York Noise compilations may also find this pleasing. Also included on the disc is the infamous anti-Branca interview given by John Cage in 1982 and a short but nice orchestral piece from 1989 called ?Harmonic Series Chords.?
ADDS 2007-02-13 The Gubernatorial Candidates hail from New Orleans, but don?t expect funk or jazz on their self-released EP. Drawing from a wide range of influences, the band has produced a nicely airy rough-around-the-edges effort that promises great things to come from their debut full-length (due out later this year). The strong opening cut will surely bring Springsteen to mind, though maybe filtered through a little Damien Jurado. The second cut, named after the Louisiana town of Des Allemands, starts out as post-rock, but about halfway through this ten-minute cut it makes a near ?Djed?-style transition into a section that evokes Out Hud. The percussion on the third cut may remind some a little bit of Jamahiriya-era Savage Republic. The final cut is a spacious and nearly-gentle ballad.
ADDS 2007-02-06 Claudio Parodi?s new piece for Extreme is a fine piece of minimalism that will sit well with fans of things like Nurse With Wound?s Salt Marie Celeste or perhaps even Terry Riley, but especially to those who like the compositions of Alvin Lucier. The just under an hour long piece of very gentle drone moves along nicely though; and even Lucier himself was impressed with the work, as the back cover of the disc will show. All clean.
ADDS 2007-01-30 Autumn in Halifax is the project of Rochester native David Merulla (with several collaborators). On this beautiful record, AIH crystallize moments of Neil Young, Calexico, Dirty Three, Flashpapr, Joan of Arc, United Bible Studies, and Hush Arbors into a laid-back but assured piece of work. The instrumentation is fairly varied, but the arrangements are kept on the sparse side for the most part. Several years ago The Wire christened the term New Weird America to try and get a handle on the free-folk-psych scene; this does not fall in line with a lot of that - but there is some commonality. Some of the song structures will definitely remind people of the first two Joan of Arc records. On the technical side of things, some of the songs were recorded and mixed by Pall Jenkins of Black Heart Procession and mastered by Jimmy Lavalle of Album Leaf. |
© 2011 Pirtlegimp Promotions
Frank (Just Frank) “The Brutal Wave ” (
Mem1 & Stephen Vitiello “Age of Insects ” (
Ezekiel Honig “Folding In On Itself ” (
Deaf Center “Owl Splinters ” (
John Chantler “The Luminous Ground ” (
Rene Hell “Terminal Symphony ” (
Chris Watson / Z'ev “East African Nocturne ” (
Martial Canterel “You Today ” (
Derek Rogers “Sampler ” (
Staccato du Mal “Sin Destino ” (
Blake Carrington “Cathedral Scan ” (
Xeno & Oaklander “Sentinelle ” (
Noah Britton (as ACLU Benefit) “Fuck You Anarchists, Copyright is Back ” (
My Cat Is An Alien with Lee Renaldo & Ramona Ponzi “All is Lost in Translation ” (
Stone Baby “If English Is Good Enough for Jesus, Then Its Good Enough for Me ” (
Robert Vincs “Pneumatikos ” (
Simon Whetham “Prayers Unanswered ” (
Dickie Landry “Fifteen Saxophones ” (
Mani Neumeier “Smoking the Contracts ” (
Robert Crouch “An Occupied Space ” (
A Story of Rats “Relinquishment ” (
Thou “Summit ” (
Murralin Line “Our House is On the Wall ” (
Esque “Double Blind ” (
Dead Meat “Early Recordings ” (
Celer “Dying Star ” (
Seaworthy w/Matt Rosner “Two Lakes ” (
Wrnlrd “Death Drive ” (
The Gubernatorial Candidates “Triggerman ” (
Yann Novak “Relocation.Reconstruction ” (
I8U “29 Palms ” (
On w/Fennesz “Something That Has Form and Something That Does Not ” (
AGF “Radio Best of 2010 ” (
Noah Britton (as ACLU Benefit) “Eskemo ” (
Cristal “Homegoing ” (
J. Hanson “Boolean Blues ” (
Rene Hell “Porcelain Opera ” (
The Alps “Le Voyage ” (
The North Sea “Bloodlines ” (
Acre “Sacrifice ” (
Tomas Phillips & Jason Bivins “Blau ” (
Bill Baird “Silence ” (
Weird Weeds “Help Me Name Melody ” (
Geisterfahrer “Telegraph ” (
Indignant Senility “Plays Wagner ” (
Jandek “What Was Out There Disappeared ” (
Hurray for the Riff Raff “Young Blood Blues ” (
Jandek “Camber Sands Sunday ” (
Zelienople “Give It Up ” (
Yellow Swans “Going Places ” (
Various Artists “Tallahassee Compilation ” (
Jason Kahn and Jon Mueller “Phases ” (
Zoo “Trilogi Peradaban ” (
Richard Skelton “Landings ” (
Elodie Lauten “Piano Works Revisited ” (
Clinker “On the Other Side... (for L. Cohen) ” (
Corey Fuller “Seas Between ” (
Sketches of an Amorous Window “Sketches of an Amorous Window ” (
Glen Meadmore “Squaw Bread ” (
Marc Hannaford “Polar ” (
Wyndel Hunt “Sunshine Noir ” (
Kink Gong “Electronic World ” (
Claudio Parodi “The Mother of All Feedback ” (
Glen Meadmore “Chicken & Biscuits ” (
Forum / Shinkei / Luigi Turra “Clean Forms ” (
Jamie Drouin “A Three Month Warm Up ” (
Fauz't “From the Frozen South ” (
Ramses III “I Could Not Love You More ” (
Ian Hagwood “Snow Roads ” (
Nils Frahm “The Bells ” (
Dokaka “Human Interface ” (
Rickard Jarveling “The Valleys ” (
Erik Enocksson “Man Tanker Sitt ” (
Wrnlrd “Myrmidon ” (
David Sylvian “Manafon ” (
Peter Broderick “4 Track Songs ” (
Peter Broderick “Docile ” (
William Fowler Collins “Perdition Hill Radio ” (
Jandek “Helsinki Saturday ” (
Jandek “Not Hunting for Meaning ” (
Potpie “Appalachia ” (
On “Your Naked Ghost Comes Back at Night ” (
Brian Harnetty & Bonnie Prince Billy “Silent City ” (
Sweet Billy Pilgrim “Twice Born Men ” (
Jandek “Portland Thursday ” (
Sublamp “Breathletters ” (
Lissom “Nest of Iterations ” (
Liteworks “Tour EP 2009 ” (
Vialka “Success Planetaire International ” (
Social Junk “Born Into It ” (
Jandek “Hasselt Saturday ” (
Autumn in Halifax “Robert Frank & The Moon ” (
The British Expeditionary Force “Chapter One: A Long Way from Home ” (
Finn “The Best Low-Priced Heartbreakers You Can Own ” (
Rival Consoles “Helvetica ” (
Naked on the Vague “The Blood Pressure Sessions ” (
Black to Comm “Charlemagne & Pippin ” (
Taiga Remains “Wax Canopy ” (
Codes in the Clouds “Paper Canyon ” (
Rice Corpse “Mrs. Rice ” (
Wreckmeister Harmonies “Volume One ” (
Kiasmos/Rival Consoles “Split ” (
Mokira “Persona ” (
Purple Duck “Duckside of the Moon ” (
Super Minerals “Multitudes ” (
Rival Consoles “The Decadent EP ” (
Xela “Il Bocca Al Lupo ” (
My Cat Is An Alien & Enore Azffiri “Through the Magnifying Glass of Tomorrow ” (
Darwinsbitch “Ore ” (
Barn Owl “From Our Mouths a Perpetual Light ” (
Akiyama/Kiefer/Corcoran “Low Cloud Means Death ” (
Of “Rocks Will Open ” (
Valerio Cosi “Heavy Electronic Pacific Rock ” (
Full Blast “Black Hole ” (
Svarte Greiner “Kappe ” (
Tarentel “Live Edits: Italy/Switzerland ” (
Hinkley “Elephant Roundup ” (
Jandek “London Tuesday ” (
Autumn in Halifax “The Soft, Soft Shakes ” (
Geisterfahrer “The Quiet Failings Of... ” (
Thou “Tyrant / Peasant ” (
Antripodean Collective “Funcall ” (
Peter Brotzmann / Fred Lonberg-Holm “The Brain of The Dog in Section ” (
Helios “Caesura ” (
Jandek “Glasgow Sunday 2005 ” (
Koen Holtkamp “Field Rituals ” (
Sun Ra “Secrets of The Sun ” (
Mark Manning “A Skeleton, Soon and Then Forever ” (
Dominions “Dominions ” (
Terminal Sound System “Constructing Towers ” (
Hurray for the Riff Raff “It Don't Mean I Don't Love You ” (
Joe Maneri / Peter Dolger “Peace Concert ” (
The Alps “III ” (
Yann Novak “In Residence ” (
Becca Rice “Becca Rice ” (
Goldmund “The Malady of Elegance ” (
Kamran Sadeghi “Through Thickness ” (
Steve Gunn “Sundowner ” (
Manning / Novak “Pairings ” (
Milton Cross “Light in the West ” (
Wyndel Hunt “Unit of Selection ” (
Sofia Talvik “Jonestown ” (
The Gubernatorial Candidates “No Remainder ” (
Peter Broderick “Float ” (
Ilyas Ahmed “Between Two Skies / Towards The Night ” (
Blue "Gene" Tyranny “Out of The Blue ” (
The Antripodean Collective “The Massacre of Egos ” (
Noah Britton “Old Yeller / The Red Pony ” (
Belong “Same Places ” (
Grouper “Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill ” (
Hinkley “Estate Sale ” (
Scott Tinkler “Backwards ” (
Sun Ra “Strange Strings ” (
Wyndel Hunt “Nk Ak ” (
Mr. Geoffrey & JD Franzke “Be Comin ” (
Jandek “The Ruins of Adventure ” (
Fred Lonberg-Holm Trio “Terminal Valentine ” (
Esque “Everyone's Playing ” (
Jandek “Glasgow Monday ” (
Poem Rocket “Invasion! ” (
Jandek “What Else Does Time Mean ” (
Andy Gilmore “Of Lice and Moons ” (
Powerhouse Sound “Oslo/Chicago Breaks ” (
Zu & Nobukazu Takemura “Identification with the Enemy: A Key to the Underworld ” (
Jandek “Newcastle Sunday ” (
Wilderness Pangs “The Indivisible Squalor of Wilderness Pangs ” (
Chrome Cranks “Diabolical Boogie (Singles, Demos, and Rarities 1992 BC ? 1998 AD ” (
Maju “3 ” (
Glenn Branca “Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses ” (
The Gubernatorial Candidates “s/t ” (
Claudio Parodi “Horizontal Mover (homage to Alvin Lucier) ” (
Autumn in Halifax “Kites With Broken Strings ” (