A Number Of Small Things/Music/Vinyl/EP products

RJ Valeo/ Acustic - Split EP 4 7,49 €

A-side: rj valeo
US producer rj valeo originates from New York. He´s been into electronic music since buying a drum-machine in 1988 (thinking two arms and legs was not enough to fulfill his needs for beats and sounds).
For Hobby he has produced three tracks which combines the ideas about minimalism with his interest in micro-beats and snippets of understated melody a mixture which results in a laidback but still in some way upbeat clicky instrumental popsong for the 21st century. Still the music of rj valeo is for people with a certain kind of love for repetitve grooves of the likes of SND or Gas. At the same time though, the melody is not too far from the Scandinavian livingroom of Dub Tractor.

B-side: Acustic
Acustic is Danish born and Copenhagen based Jesper Skaaning. He should be no stranger to lovers of quirky meoldic electronica, which he has been producing since the end of 1980´s. A former collector of old synthezisers and drum-machines his sounds was originally inspired by pioneers of synth-pop, the more leftfield composers of electro-acustic tendencies, and a huge love of happy and romantic Italian soundtracks thrown into the mix. Since then hardware and software possebilities has made things even more interesting, and today Acustic is a mixture of the before mentioned + what the software can help him manipulate.
This is the second Acustic split EP for Hobby, as he also featured on HI005 together with Goodiepal. Since that release in Feb.2000, Acustic has been busy producing music for the systemf3.com website controlled by him and the rest of the System and Future 3 people. The same collective released their 3.rd Future 3 album "Like.." in May 2001 and has produced a forthcoming System album for Scape music.

Senking - Thaw 7,49 €

Fumble - s/t 7,49 €

No Kids - Judy At The Grove 9,99 €

Vancouver, Canada's No Kids are back again with a short and funky masterpiece, the Judy At The Grove EP.
No Kids’ singer, songwriter, arranger, and musical mastermind Nick Krgovich has upped his game, spinning rich compositions out of obsessions with Old Hollywood grandeur and Mullholland Drive-style mystery, culminating in an intense and personal ode to a lost Los Angeles. The four songs that make up Judy At The Grove conjure a dreamland where palm trees cast impossibly long shadows, courtyard swimming pools glow at night, and washed-up movie stars haunt the streets looking for love.
Taking cues from sources as wildy varied as Raymond Chandler novels, Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon, under-appreciated pop heroes like The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout, as well as R n' B legends like Sade, Aaliyah and Prince, No Kids have built their own musical universe of intricate vocal lines, precision harmonies, lush orchestrals, slinky funk guitars, 70's television cop drama horns, fusion Rhodes grooves, and tight rhythms of both the human and inhuman variety.
Judy At The Grove is a pop record of a different order, transcending any expectations of what "indie" music should sound like. Pristine production values, bonkers arrangements, and a star-studded list of talented guest musicians all prove that No Kids are onto some next level shit. Every track on Judy At The Grove points to a ingenuity, maturity, and clarity of vision that lifts No Kids heads and shoulders above their contemporaries.
Following several North American and European tours (most recently with frequent collaborator and Tomlab label mate Mount Eerie), No Kids have truly come correct with their most jaw-dropping material to date, totally trumping their critically acclaimed 2008 debut “Come Into My House”, and heightening anticipation of an upcoming full-length due at the end of the year.

Spectre Folk - Blackest Medicine 2 14,99 €

Pete Nolan was Spectre Folk before drumming and strumming in Magik Markers was his main gig, and will be Spectre Folk long after he shuffles off this mortal coil. The main benefit of ghost-folk is: you can play it way after you’re dead, and while you’re alive the Spectre can haunt any decent willing body with a gift for the unreal. This time around, fellow Michigander Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) runs drums, Peter Meehan (The Grey Lady) glues guitar and Aaron Mullan (Tall Firs) slithers bass, creating an alchemy the Spectre hasn’t floated since the days of basement wig-wearing in the short-lived Norman Bates era.
The band entered Echo Canyon West with the intention of recording a 7-inch of the up-tempo version of “The Blackest Medicine,” the title cut from the 2007 home-fi Woodsist debut. After several sessions, they emerged with a four-song studio collage monster that won’t fit in your locker and smells like smoked banana peels and undies blowing down an alleyway. A vibraphone, piano, and a plate reverb unit the size of a Brooklyn apartment were all employed by the Spectre like Uri Gellar used spoons—inappropriately, desperate and bent. They physically turned the two-inch reel of tape over so Meehan could put subliminal backwards masking under his Erkin-Koray-worthy guitar solo on “Fourth Dimension Refs,” and Nolan put the Temple Screamer to good use on tracks one and two, using samples of Shirley Temple Black’s “Good Ship Lollipop” as vocoder harmonies on choruses. Oh yeah, it’s full of burning psych-pop jammers, too!
Earmarking Nolan’s longstanding but unspoken obsession with personal hygiene, “Keep Your Teeth Clean!” is a krauty suite that betrays Shelley’s and Mullan’s recent stint as the rhythm section for Neu! Their teutonic influence has the effect of putting the dreamy psych-fuzz exhibited on last year’s Compass LP through a blender… with a frog... that spills out into a wide open Milky Way head zone. You can’t snuggle with this record, so strap yourself in and feel the Gs! Fearless as a lemming, Nolan has created a private universe here, a Society of the Spectre-cal, if you will, and his gift is his freedom. Let’s have a drift.

Tomutonttu - Elävänä Planeetalla 14,99 €

The second release on MATT MONDANILE’s (REAL ESTATE, DUCKTAILS) just-launched New Images imprint. “JAN ANDERZEN is a Tampere based artist who rearranges images and sounds and makes the music of TOMUTONTTU audible. Read streams, mutilated voices, groovy animal noises and records other people have made are some of the ingredients Anderzen uses to mold his ecstatic music. Someone described it like this: a confusing close-up of music, a microcosmos of strange sound events and dirt flying around in stereo space, interacting with a logic all of their own. Elavana Planeetall is his newest work and his most accessible to date." - New Images. Plays at 45rpm.

Brain Idea - Cosmos Factory 15,99 €

The title of these Chicago boys’ latest EP may scream Creedence Clearwater Revival, but the sounds within revive nothing but the best moments of the Flying Nun catalog, that venerable New Zealand indie label that brought us bands like the Clean, the Verlaines, the Bats, Tall Dwarfs and countless others. Five songs to make your heart swell and your shirt buttons pop open, sturdy yet vulnerable songs for contemplative times.

Magazine - Concerts, Festivals, Shows And Other Events 10,99 €

Collaborating in art, music and science since 1999, recently founding the label MAGAZINE and the collective Cologne Tape, this is nevertheless the first time Barnt, Crato and Jens- Uwe Beyer appear together as one formation, simply called MAGAZINE. If you combine their recent releases - Barnts stunning debut EP "What Is A Number, That A Man May Know It?", Crato's acclaimed and mysterious "30.6.1881", J-U Beyer's incredible sound work on his highly respected last album (with Jaki Liebezeit's Drums Off Chaos) and add the Cologne Tape recordings you can get an idea of the formation's cosmos ? but you are not quite there... Living in Cologne the past decade with exceptions of some years spent in London and Manchester, the group is based on DJ-culture as much as on the german electronic music tradition as you will hear: The whole record is pockmarked with overflowing melodies ? sometimes well structured, sometimes wild and wooly. Sum up Hieroglyphic Being-like arpeggios and transparent, highly original computer rhythms or strange eight-oh-eight- live drumming and choir-or-not-like sounds and you get these strange dance floor moments again ? Impossible to make out whether the peculiarity of this EP's sound is all intentional or accidental. The artwork continues the conceptual MAGAZINE series on high quality, heavy stock ? something to hold in your hands!

Crooked Necks - Something Must Break 11,99 €

The flagship release in the Handmade Birds White Label Series.
Born from personal tragedy experienced by the band, and for that reason held close and left unprinted for years, Crooked Necks are now sharing this deeply personal set of JOY DIVISION covers in a one time, limited pressing (250 copies worldwide; blank black jacket, white dust sleeve, white label, black vinyl). These covers resonate in the true spirit of the originals, while integrating the unique style of Crooked Necks.
The Crooked Necks were previously known for their acclaimed 2010 split with Circle Of Ouroborus on Cocainacopia. Featuring members of Hostage Pageant and the now defunct Toil. Mastered for vinyl by James Plotkin.

Colleen Green - Cujo 13,99 €

A Boston native turned California Girl, Colleen Green subscribes to the Ramones’ grungy lessons and adds to them the laissez-faire cool of modern California stoner pop. With songs about the little things—dancing with your friends or wanting boys to like you—Green explores the ways one tries to get rid of heartache. She’s a sad songwriter, without a doubt, and the upbeat, clapping drumbeats and simple chord progressions only facilitate her cathartic tales of loneliness. On past releases, Green has covered everyone from Blink-182 to NoBunny to get her feelings across. “I just love songs with catchy melodies and sad-sack lyrics,” she says.
Green’s live show is a lesson in being the coolest girl in school—she stands stark still, alone on stage (save for sometimes a drummer), her face half-obscured by bangs and sunglasses, and sings her songs without many flourishes. Green describes herself as "wicked lazy and poor", but exudes that I-couldn’t-possibly-give-less-of-a-fuck vibe more than anything else. To celebrate the release of the limited-edition Cujo EP, she will embark on a tour supporting Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles in October.

K-X-P - Easy 10,99 €

Hot on the heels of their eponymous debut album (released on Smalltown Supersound in March ’11), Finnish electro-rock-stomp trio K-X-P are set to unleash a brand new three-track EP on Melodic Records.

If the music contained within proves tricky to categorise, don’t expect any help from the band. With elements of glam rock, detroit techno, kraut rock, black metal, early electronica and much more in their minimalist music, are they an electronic band, a rock band, a punk band, a prog band, a pop band? “I kind of hope we can transcend those by-now-useless categories and become something more,” says Tuomo Puranen (bass, keyboards and the ‘P’ in the band’s name). “We’re an abstract sculpture made of sound and flesh!”

The band’s musical background varies wildly, from the "disco-idiotism turned-into spiritual-hide-and-seek" of Op:l Bastards, via the fusion and free jazz explorations of Pekka Pohjola and Jimi Tenor, to the Kraftwerkish visions of Aavikko. Timo Kaukolampi is also perhaps better known as Norwegian pop star Annie’s main producer and co-writer.

Accelera Deck - Halo.Ep 9,99 €

accelera deck is a twenty something american who has had a myriad of releases on various labels such as; endorphin, blackbean, rocket racer and pitchcadet, spanning formats as diverse as cd/12"/7" and even some limited edition cd-r's. he has received glowing reviews and ample radio play in the electronic music underground, yet remains relatively unknown, even after 3 singles, an ep, and 3 albums (two of which were cd-r only). one wonders if accelera deck is aiming to be as prolific as aube! on this 12" ep a new side of accelera deck appears. in the past he has used subtle guitar like textures and twinkling melodies, but here on the halo ep a.deck persues a more experimental approach. fusing elements of his last albums (echo economy) digi glitch ambience with an angular approach to his usual beat science. remixes by arovane, volvo spy, locoder & cda round out the 12" for a completely diverse listen. and wonderfully addition to the all ready highly recommended morr music catalog.
-Nov. 1999-

Christian Kleine - Valis from 5,99 €

`There should always be music´

First things first: Christian Kleine, Berlin-based multi instrumentalist and software crack, prefers music as a means of communication.
Following two 7 inches, remixes for Bomb the Bass and Mum, forays into the great unknown with Herrmann & Kleine as well as his debut album `Beyond Repair´ on allied label City Centre Offices, for `Valis´ Kleine has now rediscovered his love for analogue instruments: a move that shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise considering his diverse musical background.

Rewind: An unholy pre-teen mix of classical trumpet and New Wave activism. Followed by teenage rebellion (grades unsatisfactory, I decided to make a racket with guitar, bass and drums instead of concentrating on my homework) and emancipatory punk escapades leading up to archetypical post punk (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Homestead, SST etc). The early 90s brought a decisive revelation with mostly digital beats: HipHop, House and Techno - which the young DJ sought to defend against prevailing provincial tastes.
With a pronounced soft spot for British break beats and a move to Berlin he began to create music by himself, using predominantly electronic instruments, from an Atari, on which sounds were shifted around for nights on end, to the latest DSP software.

Fortunately, his diverse influences never merged into musical oblivion or unbearably clever crossover potpourris, but were distilled into his very own, atmospheric understatement via outings into Drum & Bass, slow HipHop and break beat recordings.
As a subtle homage to heroes from Eno to Boards of Canada, from Seefeel to Pan American, on `Valis´ Kleine exploits his extended range of instruments to refine delicately layered beats, to breathe a little soul into chilly electronics and coalesce melancholic fragility with persistent melodies, folky electronica gliding past us like a wintery landscape.

But definition doesn’t suit Kleine, his work defies any categorisation according to genres or arrangements. Though computer-programmed `Valis´ does not address our head or legs, but unfolds its hidden warmth only in the heart to lure out the autistic in us.

Solvent - Solvent City 9,99 €

hello, and welcome to solvent city. just pop on the monorail and we'll show you around for a day. starting from the top floor of the suction records tower, we see honorary citizen jason amm smiling down upon the city that he has built. with some assistance from fellow luminaries lowfish and skanfrom, solvent has constructed a warm and inviting cityscape, bathed in the radiating glow of vintage synthesizers bordering the city's perimeter.

'some assembly required' is the theme song, accompanying us along the highway to the city's industrial zone. here we see a team of canadian snowrobots working around the clock to the track's motorik pulse. these bouncy synth-pop melodies inspire great productivity in our robots.

as we approach the downtown core, we hear 'solvent city' booming from cars, bars and beatboxes. it's a big hit with the city's youngsters, recently bumping depeche mode out of the #1 position in the pop charts.

'a panel of experts' is a song for the suburbs. this is the lushest track in town, with dusty home-organ beats and a choir of heartbroken synthesizers. our citizens are not simple robots; we grow introspective with age, and we have music to reflect this. let's stop the train here and spend some time to learn about the people that make this city tick...

after returning from a busy day at the city.centre.offices, our robots head over to the supermarket. here we find berlin immigrant skanfrom offering a fine, remixed selection of 'frozen food', seasoned with majestic melodies and otherwordly bleeps.

once at home, citizens will turn on their desktop tape players for a study session in synth-pop architecture. 'built-in microphone', with its octave-hopping basslines and perfectly formed microscopic melodies, is a compulsory course, along with vince-clarke-101 and moog-history. solvent city is well-known for its stunning attention to detail, and the citizens make every effort to educate themselves in the fineries of classic robot-pop.

concluding our monorail tour, we'll wind down with the icy beauty of lowfish's take on 'a panel of experts'. this remix picks lost vocal snippets out of the airwaves and places them in the frosty landscape of our city's night sky.

beyond solvent city there's only barren land - littered with clicks, cuts, and cold digital noise. make sure you stay within the city limits. this train is headed downtown - please put on your dancing shoes. the night is still young in 'solvent city'.

Limp - Orion from 5,99 €

20. A healthy age to topple old icons and leave prejudice behind.
Not only have Limp, four youngsters from Odense/Denmark and (besides Lali Puna) second band project on Morr Music, been making music together for 10 years but their current release `orion´ manages to stake out delicate tranquillity while leaving ample space for electronic influences. With a twist.

When Limp, inspired by intelligent electronica and Chicago rock, are also self-confessed admirers and recyclers of `rock and pop elements from the 80s and 90s´ - a universal red flag for any conscious human being - and innocently cite stadium largesse and touching pop moments of mainstream-compatible alternative phenomena such as The Cure, Depeche Mode or even U2, this is done in such a way as to quell any critical protest in its infancy.

Irreverently objective when it comes to the dubious reference works of an elder sibling generation (for whom these are still inextricably tied to maudlin red wine beach dramas, traumatic teenage passion, first gig disasters or flagrant fashion faux pas) and without a second glance at source or zeitgeist coolness `orion´ displays the fresh and differentiated influence of four musicians with their own electronica projects (Manual, Aerosol, Syntaks) in this perfectly balanced interplay of classical instruments and digital aids.

Ostensibly relaxed and dreamy, simultaneously as epic and stratified as Mogwai or selected snippets from Slowdive to Boards of Canada, `orion´ is not afraid to exploit incredible melodies for minutes on end. Contrasts blend and forget about their origin to lend the six tracks a continual narrative structure that sneakily conjures up vivid images.

Deceptively laid back and playful Limp betray a meticulous dedication to honed perfection behind their youthful punk rock spirit, no matter if in basement practice, their own radio show or as tour support for Sea and Cake, Trans Am and Do Make Say Think, amongst others.

Opiate - Sometimes Ep 9,99 €

Finally, the long established friendship with Copenhagen’s Thomas Knak leads to the first proper Opiate release on Morr Music. What started with Knak contributing remixes for Piano Magic (mm 008), The Tied & Tickled Trio (mm 014) and Bomb The Bass (mm 018) as well as tracks for the „Blue Skied An’ Clear“ compilation (mm 030) with his fellow producers Jesper Skanning (aka Acustic) and Anders Remmer (aka Dub Tractor) under their Future 3 guise, now culminates in the beautifully crafted „Sometimes EP“. Thomas Knak has managed to come up with an ep of almost cinematic proportions, striking us all with a perfectly balanced relation of organic sounds, sampled instruments like acoustic guitars, flutes and a piano as well as subtle digital manipulations and intricate beat programming. What is even more is that Knak knows how to provide his music with a spatial quality that clearly comes from his experience with dub as a production technique. At the same time, Opiate is never running the risk of drenching his compositions in confusing layers of delay and reverb. On the contrary: the ep’s six tracks are as organised as they are emotionally touching...
The material comprised by the „Sometimes EP“ has been produced within the last two years. Among them is a track called „For Brian Alfred“, which has been inspired by said Mr. Alfred, an artist who invited Opiate, and other artists like Nobukazu Takemura and Pan American to set music to his paintings , sending it back to Alfred who then used the music for inspiration to produce paintings for his show at Max Protetch gallery, NY in october 2002. The results have been included on a cd accompanying the exhibition’s catalogue.
Even if Thomas Knak calls himself „a slow producer“, he couldn’t be farer away from being called unproductive. He still runs his label Hobby Industries and alongside Jesper Skanning and Anders Remmer operates his other production id’s Future 3 and System who have released their debut album on pole’s label ~scape only recently. As a daytime job he buys electronic music for the archive the national radio station in Denmark. Additonally, he is about to start working on his first feature film score as the danish director Christoffer Boe asked him to do so. In 2000 Thomas Knak has been working together with Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto) on the OPTO-file project which was released in may 2001. A follow up will soon be released as a joint project with a japanese label and Hobby Industries. Also in 2000, Opiate got a phone call by Bjork which led up to him co-writing and producing two tracks on her „Verspertine“ album („Undo” and „Cocoon“) as well as remixing “Aurora”.

Ms. John Soda - While Talking from 5,99 €

Ms. John Soda are Stefanie Böhm (Couch) and Micha Acher (The Notwist, Tied + Tickled Trio). Their debut album „no p. or d.“ was released in autumn 2002 and probably marks the most timeless piece of pop music on Morr Music to date. On this record, emotion extended a friendly hand to sophistication. „No p. or d.“ quietly attacked the notion of contrasts allegedly excluding each other and it replaced an „either / or“ by a unifying „and“.
The song "sometimes stop, sometimes go" on the new mini lp „while talking“ again presents the essence of Ms. John Soda’s understanding of themselves. It says „"it’s not about saying yes or no / it’s not about a stop or go / it’s more about what is within and how you get there in your mental scene (...) it’s not about being right or wrong / it’s not about being weak or strong". Life just cannot be painted in black and white.
„While Talking“ is both the study and result of constant exchange between human beings and it deals with communication in numerous ways: conversations that work and sometimes don’t, contradictions, misunderstandings and the incapacity to make oneself understood as well as to fully understand someone else.
The opener „No .One“ presents itself almost defiantly. Compared to the debut, the song’s calm sections appear more epic, whereas the expressive elements seem to be even more „in your face“. The spectrum of Stefanie Böhm’s and Micha Acher’s musical influences is more varied than before. They use anything ranging from distorted punk bass to psychedelic twang sounds. „If someone would know“, for example, is reminiscent of cruising through a desert by night just like in a David Lynch film. „I think it could work, Marylin“ reanimates Marylin Monroe and Elvis taking a walk up in the mountains. Although Ms. John Soda’s expression has become more varied, Stefanie Böhm’s charismatic and beguiling voice remains the central element in all the songs.
One cannot help but notice that Ms. John Soda has grown to be a much closer unit over the last year. Their ability to transform the entire range of human emotions into musical expression is breathtaking.
„While Talking“ is highly emotional, unpretentious and in the best sense melancholic pop music. It may also be the most wonderful music guiding you through this year’s fall. Ms. John Soda’s music does not want to be analysed. It needs to be listened to, felt and experienced.
Apart from four new songs, this mini lp comprises an excellent medley-remix of different songs from „no p. or d.“ by Anticon supergroup Subtle who are releasing music on Lex Records. Furthermore, the cd version of „While Talking“ will include two quicktime music videos of Ms. John Soda’s songs (soon available for download on www.morrmusic.com).

Firewire - Tribute To The Manzini 5,99 €

Porn Sword Tobacco - S/T 5,99 €

Herrmann & Kleine - Kickboard Girl Ep 9,99 €

How, do you think, does a blessed child feel while scattering his toys all over the floor. You‘ll know. After you‘ve listened to our new record.

Besides, you‘ll listen to it again and again.

Tinkling beats with an almost anthem-like approach. The `Kickboard Girl‘ melody can hardly breathe. Beats like a fountain. Then, the lung of a synthesizer whispers of a magic carpet and hovering meadows full of flowers. Slowly, the air stops rattling. `Kickboard Girl - Take Care On the Corner‘ covers the peaceful silence with buds. However, it doesn‘t take long until `May In Fall‘ triggers the euphoric pulse of an old, long forgotten breakbeat extravaganza you thought you‘d never feel again. A new melody takes your soul as a prisoner.

By now, putting on the flipside of the record already means something special to you.

`My Friend Sam‘ zooms in from noisy spaces, far away. From now on, melody is spelled `Collapse Of Emotions‘. `Sitting Next To You‘ starts with a sloppily slamming electro pattering. Another emotinal collapse kicks in. Out of a rhythmically clonking ambience, an army of disarming harmonies (made in heaven) crawls through your body. `Sitting Next To You - Closer‘ is basically something completely impossible. Even closer? No way! - Then, everything is calm. The equipment is blossoming like the inside of blessed children, eating their favorite cakes in the sun. They‘ve just freed their toys from the drawer.

Thaddeus Herrmann, founding member of the Sonic Subjunkies and an ex Digital Hardcore affiliate, runs the Berlin branch of City Centre Offices, the label on which Herrmann & Kleine released their debut E.P. Together with M.Z., he releases as `No Movement No Sound No Memories‘ on Lux Nigra. During the day, he works as an editor for the influencial Berlin-based magazine de:Bug. Magazine for the electronic aspects of life.‘

Christian Kleine will release a 7" and a full-length album on City Centre Offices later this year. He‘s done a split-7" with Arovane on the UK-label `Akward Silence‘ and played guitar on Arovane‘s new album `Tides‘, due on City Centre Offices in May.