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

Jannick Schou - Act of Shimmering 15,99 €

New vinyl only album from Denmark’s Jannick Schou on Experimedia. Limited pressing of only 300 copies.
The Act of Shimmering is the act of leaving conscious thought behind. It’s accepting what lies beyond the corporeal, transcending the physical; the soul is aware and the body, eyes, skin are distant empty casings. A clamorous, chaotic cacophony surrounds a beatific center. An endless assault of guitar, of noise that glistens, a poignant rigor. Jannick Schou, proprietor of tape loop drone, places himself within the tunnel of din to produce this profound work: an ethereal dream using nightmarish parts and images. Black and grays generate vibrant innards. Brightness is unearthed within the fetid mass and these six tracks immerse the listener into a raging sea to find a gentle undertow. Furious outbursts emerge from simple, slow shivers. Tremors of noise gather, reaching an elongated crescendo, becoming transformative, and shattering what form or structure was designed to contain such an outpouring of sound.

Moon Duo - Mazes 14,99 €

Formed in San Francisco in 2009 by Wooden Shijps guitarist Ripley Johnson and his partner, Sanae Yamada, Moon Duo?s first two critically acclaimed EPs, Killing Time (2009) and Escape (2010), fused the futuristic pylon hum and transistor reverb of Suicide or Silver Apples with the heat-haze fuzz of American rock ?n? roll to create tracks of blistering, 12-cylinder space rock. Now their debut album Mazes, recorded in San Francisco and mixed in Berlin during 2010 as the band prepared to move to the mountains of Colorado, explores a far broader, lighter, sound.

März - Love Streams 13,99 €

Takagi Masakatsu - Eating 13,99 €

Various Artists - Feedback To The Future – A Compilation Of Eleven Shoegazing Songs From 1990 - 1992 from 9,99 €

For a brief and almost forgotten time shoegazing dominated what passed for the British indie scene. In the early 90's - right after Madchester and right before Brit-Pop - bands such as Lush found their way into the top 40, Ride headlined Reading festival and Curve were the darlings of the music weeklies (this was a time when you could still speak of them in plural).
Influenced by the distorted swirling guitar sounds of My Bloody Valentine and the ethereal quality of Cocteau Twins songs, the music of shoegazing bands was - as US journalist Corey DuBrowa writes - most accurately expressed in liquid derivatives: "Waves of distortion, cascading guitar feedback, oceanic swirls of keyboard and percussion, rainswept sonic vistas, washes of sound where no one voice (human or instrumental) was distinguishable from another."
Named "shoegazers" by Meldoy Maker's Steve Sutherland for their on-stage habit of staring down at their shoes and numerous effect pedals, these groups wedded blissfull guitar feedback with dreamy vocal melodies often sung by women such as Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson (Lush) and Toni Halliday. Many of the bands came from the Thames Valley area of Southeastern England, toured together and attended each other's concerts - the reason why they were also dubbed the "the scene that celebrates itself" by the indie press. The shoegazers were more reflective and introspective than groups such as The Happy Mondays and Stones Roses who came before and others like Oasis that came after them. Their music was one "born in the bedroom rather than on the dancefloor" (Face 1991).
The shoegazing scene didn't last long - some bands such as Revolver and Blind Mr. Jones never got to record a second album and only few of their peers succeeded in matching the quality and success of their early releases again.
Today - more than a decade beyond the shoegazing scene's initial impact - the sounds of these groups surfaces again. Their sound had an impact on bands such as Sigur Ros, Mogwai and Mew and also feeds back in the music of melodic electronic producers like Ulrich Schnauss and M83. In Portland/Oregon indie label Reverb recently released a compilation of like minded west coast bands called "NWshoegazerbliss", while Berlin's Morr Music issued a record of electronic Slowdive cover versions called "Blue Skied An Clear". This compilation offers an opportunity to listen once again to the original shoegazers - most of whose records unfortunately remain out of print.

opto - 2nd 13,99 €

Gentlemen Losers - S/T 9,99 €

The Notwist - The Notwist from 13,99 €

Novisad - Seleya 13,99 €

Music that challenges time. Looporiented, quiet tracks that carry a rare level of intensity. Novisad's new release ultimately confronts you with the question where this mystery is coming from because Kritian Peters has been bringing so much emotion through the wires. It is both evident and hard to grasp how Novisad is treating the loops and layers with his very own sensitivity that weaves together very pure ambient music with wonderfull melodies.

Death Vessel - Stay Close 14,99 €

Death Vessel is Joel Thibodeau’s work as both a solo artist and band leader. His music, captured on the resplendent record Stay Close, is an eloquent distillation of a life’s tales. Born in Berlin, Germany before The Wall fell… raised in Kennebunkport, Maine before senior Bush’s presidency… this musician lived a childhood where the ghosts of Cold War casualties and seaport tragedies haunted the alleyways and beaches. Leaving Maine as a teenager, Thibodeau moved to Boston, Providence and New York. In Providence he was a founding member, songwriter and performer of the group String Builder. Now as then, Thibodeau captures the surreal and the sublime in wondrous song.

Thibodeau’s vocal delivery is astonishing. Perhaps his singing is best-described as descendent from “the high lonesome sound” – unleashed upon the world by Roscoe Holcomb in the early 1960’s. With this voice, Death Vessel delivers stunning lyrical poetry that transcends the “whisky ‘n’ haystack” imagery of its neo-folk contemporaries. Thibodeau brings this same unusual experimentation to the acoustic guitar (his primary instrument). The daringly melodic plucking of strings and the odd tempo changes provide expertly unexpected accompaniment.

Stay Close was originally released on CD in 2005 by North East Indie. Immune is proud to present the album on the LP format for the first time, pressed on high quality virgin vinyl at RTI. This version of the album contains a bonus track exclusive to this release – a live/acoustic version of “Deep In The Horchata” recorded in 2005 with Micah Blue Smaldone playing accompaniment.

Little Annie & The Legally Jammin' - Little Annie & The Legally Jammin' 13,99 €

Suum Cuique - Midden 17,99 €

Immense, dark and unbelievably heavy analogue productions somewhere between Eleh, Pan Sonic and Eliane Radigue on this limited edition vinyl pressing. It doesn't really matter when this music was made or by whom, all you need to know is that only 400 copies have been made for the world, housed in a suitably anonymous white-on-white embossed sleeve* Suum Cuique (pronouned Soom Kwi-Kwe, Latin for "To Each His Own") follows the remit of Young Americans to explore uncharted, experimental, and personal synthscapes, guided by the hand of intuition with an entirely analogue array of machines. There's a confidence and ability to these productions which elevates them above the masses of lo-fi synth meanderings currently murmuring in the underground, occupying the tantalising space between Eliane Radigue and James Ferraro, or Thomas Köner and Daphne Oram, creating a dialogue between their shared and opposing aesthetics to give an emotional response with deeply chilling and engrossing results. In 'Lithic Reduction' concrète textures grind like a millstone to release powdery clouds of analog dust, settling only to be dispersed by gusts of blackened distortion, whereas 'Red Binary' is distinctly electronic, revolving around muted radar bleeps like the resonance from SAW II soundtracking a speckly pill experience that's starting to go west. The album's centrepiece, the aptly titled 'Entropy' nods to the sublimely stoic work of Eleh, radiating microtonal bass shifts while a bitter northerly wind builds in intensity. Brilliantly out of place, 'Cyclic Redundancy' opens the flipside with a majestically submerged slab of completely obliterated and submerged 4/4, like an unholy collusion between Mika Vainio, Sandwell and Bernard Parmegiani soundtracking a trade union rave in the 1950's, before 'Even In Death...' conjures imagery of a eulogy given by a Mongolian throat singer with crows circling overhead. Strictly limited copies, catch it while you can.

* File next to Eleh, Mika Vainio, Nana April Jun
* Limited to 400 copies for the world, comes in a deluxe white-on-white embossed sleeve

Fenn O’Berg - Live In Japan Part One 13,99 €

KYOTO 1 recorded 27.10.2009 at Club Metro, Kyoto.
TOKYO 1 recorded 24.10.2009 at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo

Fenn O’Berg - Live In Japan Part Two 13,99 €

KYOTO 1 recorded 27.10.2009 at Club Metro, Kyoto.
TOKYO 1 recorded 24.10.2009 at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo

Psychic Reality - Vibrant New Age 14,99 €

Sadly (for us left coasters), in November Ms Leyna Noel aka Psychic Reality decamped from SF to NYC, but before packing up her every worldly possession and road-tripping trans-America she eked out a sliver of precious time to hole up in the studio with Phil Manley (Trans Am, Jonas Reinhardt, etc) and record her long-awaited debut full-length on thick 2 inch tape. Vibrant New Age is the result. The name says it all. But Noel’s New Age is not the 80’s redux fad of healing crystals, pastel fades, dolphin consciousness, etc, but a living, electrified awakening. From the high drama drum machinery of “Fruit” and “Expla” to the naked, airy avant-pop of “Hi High” and “Fanta” through to the stuttery, mechanized power ballad finale, “Soft Script,” this is Noel at her most majestic and fully realized and it’s a wild life-force to behold. Vibe the Vibrant. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with art/design by Ms Reality. Edition of 600.

Lithops - Formationen 16,99 €

"The a-musik label is back with a very special release by Jan Werner who played already an important role for the beginning of the label in 1995. Its first release back then was the debut LP by Microstoria, Werner's collaboration with Oval's Markus Popp that became a milestone in the history of experimental electronica. The sources for "Formationen" are early solo recordings by Werner which he produced with synthesizers and tapes in 1992 and 1993, during his collaborations with F.X.Randomiz and his first experiments with Andi Thoma that should be released a bit later under the alias Mouse on Mars. Werner found those early tapes a while ago, re-mastered and carefully re-worked them, and the result are four stunning pieces of beautiful electronic music. The "Formationen" close a gap in the Oeuvre of Jan Werner and help understanding the impressive work of one of the key-figures of the 1990s/2000s electronica. Essential and highly recommended." (label info) Vinyl only, strictly limited to 300 copies.

Cloaked Light / Pale Blue Sky - Split LP 14,99 €

Working together, but differently. Clear Of, shows Cloaked Light working within a new mode; an expanded temporal sensitivity through field recording and discrete static chords. Slow movement- revealing growth and decay at the subtlest thresholds; disappearing music with a heavy presence, a shifting sense of space, not in the room, but of the room. Pale Blue Sky’s Someday, Sometime approaches a similar expansion of perception and unobscuring blur. Through tape manipulation, the inner workings of tonal relationships are placed under focus; extending time to reveal new moments; widening the view. Distorting to understand; a reorienting pause. Originally conceived to coincide with the Cloaked Light / Pale Blue Sky California tour with Pedestrian Deposit, Infinite Body, Earn, and Mirror to Mirror in January 2010; a testament to a common point and it’s different trajectories. Approaching the possibility. Mastered by Pete Swanson; cut at 45 rpm. In an edition of 400 copies with glossy jackets and inner sleeves.

Evan Caminiti - When California Falls Into The Sea 13,99 €

"When California Falls into The Sea", the product of more than a year’s work, finds Caminiti shifting away from the evocation of the land elements and towards the urban- the coarseness of blood on the streets and people living in squalor juxtaposed with beautiful, fleeting moments like sun reflecting off of glass buildings into dingy puddles- to produce a dialogue where guitars float through the air weightlessly, weaving around each other like butterflies and other moments that are more solitary, monolithic excursions into the night.

Caminiti is one half of experimental duo Barn Owl, and has released past recordings through labels such as Thrill Jockey, Three Lobed, Digitalis, Important, Root Strata, and more. The entire pressing of Caminiti’s 2010 LP “West Winds” on Three Lobed Recordings quickly sold out. Along with Barn Owl, Caminiti is also involved in other respected experimental outfits such as Higuma, Hanging Thief, and Gärden Söund.

Mitchell and Manley - Norcal Values 13,99 €

Floating down the Yuba River, hang gliding off the cliffs at Fort Funston, a day at Ocean Beach with the dog, a leisurely stroll in Golden Gate Park, a fat bag of Trainwreck; these are among the many images that come to mind when listening to Mitchell and Manley’s Norcal Values.

Inspired by his spiritual advisor, Bettina Richards, Phil Manley recruited the shredding stylings of Earthless’ Isaiah Mitchell to collaborate on a record comprised almost exclusively of a single continuous guitar solo. The recording was made live with no overdubs - completely improvised. This recording exhibits inspiration so pure that it could only come from within. Drawing from the classical Indian music tradition as well as from modern new age music, Norcal Values is the sonic equivalent of fine Californian cuisine. We invite you to dine upon its bountiful aural splendor. Bon appetite!

Limited edition of 1,000 copies worldwide. Included is a free download coupon!

John Chantler - The Luminous Ground 13,99 €

"former australian now london based musician john chantler offers his second solo lp for room40 "the luminous ground" - his first solo outing in over seven years. "the luminous ground" is just that - luminous. a pulsing and glimmering collision of oscillated tone, filtered texture and syncopated rhythm. it's a record of densely joyous, hazily psyche- delic, modular synthesis. a playful yet throughly composed exploration into the possibilities of patching. at its most intense the luminous ground is a visceral and sonically tactile experience - low bass gusts pounding underneath a flurry of melodious tonal clusters. at its most sparse the record hints at more pastoral (albeit electronically generated) sentiments - but at no point does the record's movements stray. there's a clear sense of trajectory here and chantler rides it with an expert sensibility. pressed in a strictly limited edition of 320 copies, mastered and cut by lupo at d&m and housed in silk-screen sleeves." (label info)