A Number Of Small Things/Labels/KrankyArtikel

Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange 9,99 €

"Don't complain, don't explain." Henry Ford

Certainly not a group to rest on their laurels (especially difficult when they have new songs burning a hole in their collective back pockets), Deerhunter delivers five new tracks on this extended play.

This is not some stop-gap release between albums, or mere leftovers from their most recent Microcastle album, but an all new session. The band loves the EP format and thinks it does not get the respect it deserves. Hell, some bands arguably work best in the EP format, think Cocteau Twins or My Bloody Valentine, and now maybe we should add Deerhunter to that list. That's certainly not to say their albums aren't great, but with 2007's Fluorescent Grey EP and this new one, a lucid argument can be made that minute for minute, and hook for hook, their two EP's can't be matched for visceral energy and pop smarts.

The fearsome and fearless Atlanta foursome come back with another shot to the head.

Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country 17,99 €

An Imaginary Country continues from the trajectory of his last album, the critically acclaimed Harmony in Ultraviolet, while also showing a few new tricks. Tim has incorporated more pulses into this work and also works with a sound pallete including overdriven mellotron strings and synthesizer. At times this album is less overtly aggressive than previous works, but the notion that this is pastoral work would be dead wrong as there are plenty of the agitated crescendos that he is know for. This music backs off from the void of immensity in favor of a terrain of lushness and warmth.

This heat, this work of musical abstraction, is largely made possible by the tools of digital technology that he employs. It is a means of musical production that allows for the obliteration of questions of representation or instrumentation. Strings, synthesizers, pianos and guitars all fade away into the fog of what they once were. A tropical mist (or a northerly breeze) of sound is also a musical resonance of imagination.

Benoit Pioulard - Temper / Precis 16,99 €

Temper is the second album under his Benoit Pioulard nom de guerre. Composed throughout a year that involved graduation from university and a cross-continental relocation, its 16 tracks arose in specific periods of intense creative energy.
Assembling various analog sources on basic software at home, Pioulard has honed his craft into a form that suggests something far grander. With soft-edged vocals and a broad palette of instruments that lately includes harmonium and cello, he constructs diverse arrangements that skirt the borders of pop with beautiful, detailed atmospheres. The scope and sonic narratives of songs like "A Woolgathering Exodus" and "Golden Grin" exhibit new degrees of musicality, while the weightlessness of "Brown Bess" or "Sweep Generator" reflects the unrestrained context in which the record was produced.
It is no coincidence that the word 'temper' has more than 20 definitions related to basic existential aspects like emotion, behavior, and music; it offers many dimensions but also reveals how scrawny language can be in its attempt to name the abstract. On Temper, Pioulard endeavors to make sense of things in a tumultuous time, inspired by everything from medieval astrology to the poems of T.S. Eliot and the films of the Italian neo-realists. Fully aware of the mission's vanity, he is nevertheless consumed by its path.
Benoit Pioulard's first album was the widely acclaimed Precis which was listed on literally dozens of 2006 year end best of lists.

The double LP vinyl version of this release also includes the Precis album, issued on vinyl for the first time.

Felix - You Are The One I Pick 14,99 €

Felix is the musical duo of Lucinda Chua and Chris Summerlin, who make their home in England.
The focus of the album is Lucinda's askew stories, and the subtle conversation between her piano and the guitar accompaniment of Chris Summerlin, an intuitive discussion that speaks volumes by not saying too much and while never stepping on each other's lines.
The songs themselves are delicate and spare chamber pop. They are understated and deceptively simple, but deliver an emotional impact that mere decibels cannot. Lucinda's tales of woe concern the banality of domestic life, small animals, and the desire to keep the forces of the world at bay.
You Are the One I Pick may be an album of small charms, but they come with a frequency rarely found, and are myriad in number.

Loscil - Endless Falls ab 14,99 €

Endless Falls is the fifth full length release by Scott Morgan under the loscil moniker. The album begins and ends with the sound of rain recorded by Scott in his back yard, precipitation being a constant presence in his home city of Vancouver. Many of the other sounds on the album are derived from these same recordings, processed and combined with other harmonic sounds to create the textures and drones.
Something completely new to this release would be vocals, of a sort, a first for any loscil composition, contributed by Daniel Bejar on the final track. Scott states "The collaboration with Dan made us both incredibly nervous. Dan felt out of his element doing 'spoken word' but rose to the challenge. I felt self-conscious about changing the listening perspective from abstract, ambient music into foreground, conscious listening. The first time I heard Dan's voice recording I was terrified and was tempted to call the whole thing off. I listened to it a few more times and it completely grew on me. Now I can't imagine that piece without his performance. I love Dan's use of words, his vocal rhythms and the intimate intensity of his voice."
Jason Zumpano is the only returning performer from past collaborations, he is responsible for the piano parts. Kim Koch and Robert Sparks make appearances on violin and bass recorder. The cover photos for the album were taken from the backseat of the family car by Scott's newest collaborator, his 4 year old daughter Sadie.

Disappears - Lux 14,99 €

This is the debut studio full length from this Chicago quartet after two singles and a limited live album, all self-released by the band.
Disappears are that rarest of musical things, a 'rock' band affiliated with kranky. But at least they are a rock band and not some less than reasonable facsimilie, because let's face it; most bands using that descriptor would not sonically intimidate your grandmother if she were alone in a dark alley. And deliver the granite the Disappears do from the opening chords, delivering scuzzy, driving rhythms that certainly imply a threat of ill will.
Drawing on a combined reverence for reverb, heavy tremolo, distortion, delay and repetition, Disappears play minimal rock music inspired by krautrock, punk rock, the mid 80's New Zealand scene, and a bit of everything in between. And in their minimalist approach the band finds their real strength, hammering home chord structures that are tried and true and can and do remain fresh in the hands of the right talents such as these.
As a wise man once said, "keep it simple stupid".

Benoit Pioulard - Lasted 14,99 €

Lasted is the third album by Thomas Meluch under the alias Benoit Pioulard. Thomas has toured throughout North America and Europe since his last record, the process of which has had a marked impact on the development of these songs as lyrics and structures have been scrapped, tweaked and reworked in the live setting. As with previous albums it was recorded and mixed in domestic isolation, this time throughout the rainy season in his current home of Portland, Oregon.
While the extent of the dreary climate's influence on the results is left to the listener's discretion, what is certain is that Thomas has a preternatural ability to weave disparate sound components into a cohesive sonic tapestry, mixing a varied palette of field recordings and percussive elements along with melancholy melodies to create songs that recall - and are akin to - vespers of long-buried memories.

Brian Mcbride - Effective Disconnect (music Composed For The Documentary “vanishing Of The Bees”) 14,99 €

From Brian McBride: When George and Myriam approached me to compose for their film they suggested I concentrate on four different themes: the gloriousness of the bees, the endurance and hardships of traditional beekeepers, pesticides and the holistic nature of non-industrial agriculture. I was especially intrigued with the idea of combining some of their mournful aspirations with something more serene. Composing began in May of 2009. I had decided to start fresh not using anything that I had already recorded. Preparing the music for the film, I knew that I needed to provide more built-in changes in the structure of the pieces to give George and Myriam more flexibility. As I worked, I purposely distanced myself from the more continuous architecture employed in my previous recordings in favor of several mini-suites. In the thinking about the music, I hoped that the pieces would do justice to the Ògloriousness of the beesÓ theme, striving for a more overt hopeful quality. But old traditions die-hard and the hopeful side of the music was eventually more subsumed by the lamentable.
I should also mention that if you have seen the film, this record will not contain all the music used and scored for this film.
I am incredibly honored to be a part of this project even if the final compositions turned out to be more appropriate for a different and more forlorn film. I know you have a lot to think about in this world but if you care about food or the world around us, you deserve to at least consider the arguments within this honest and real piece of film-making.

Low - Christmas 14,99 €

First time vinyl release for this classic Low holiday recording. We would suggest that few bands from an ostensibly "indie rock" background should release Christmas music, if not out of respect for the holiday or material then at least out of a sense of self-esteem. Low, however, were made for this. Their attention to musical detail combined with the heavenly vocal harmonies of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker are perfectly attuned to both traditional carols like "Silent Night" and more contemporary tunes such as "Blue Christmas."
Christmas contains a selection of seasonal songs, including four originals by the band, mostly recorded at Low's 20° Below studio in Duluth, MN. "If You Were Born Today" and "Blue Christmas" were released as a 7 inch single in 1997 on the English Wurlitzer Jukebox label, while "Taking Down The Tree" is taken from a 1998 compilation of live recordings issue by the Dutch VPRO radio station.
"The band cloaks the covers and their own seasonally themed compositions in a lovely haze. Chipper tree trimmers may find their approach dispiriting, but Low's intent is nothing if not reverent." Entertainment Weekly
"Amidst the ever crowded sea of blank holiday muzak that hits the airwaves like clockwork every year, Low's "Christmas" is a shining beacon of hope under my tree." Godsend Online
"An irony free Christmas album that doesn't reek of opportunism from an unpreachy band is simply a godsend." Alternative Press
"Low does a rare thing in today's indie-rock milieu by refusing to survive on cynicism and worldliness alone. The heartfelt and reverential beauty of their sound and lyrics are perfect for the holiday season. Christmas is a rich treat in a tiny package." All Music Guide

Pan American - For Waiting, For Chasing 14,99 €

For Waiting, For Chasing was originally issued in a limited pressing by the Stefan Ne´meth (Radian) curated Mosz label in 2006. This is the first time it is being made widely available in north america and elsewhere, and also the first time it is being issued on the vinyl LP format.
As Mosz eloquently stated at the time of release, “...it is not about the process or the media, which have been used. It is about how elements and structures are put in a detailed relation to each other, ending up in a slow-moving, breathing organism. Filaments of percussive elements condense to polyrhythmic elements, layers of sound, instruments and field recordings merge to build up a mystic parallel, not so much fictional world.”
Perhaps the most skeletal and minimal of all of the works in the Pan•American canon, it may also be the most compelling.

Disappears - Guider ab 13,99 €

2010 was a busy year for the Disappears. They finally saw their debut album Lux released, they did a fair amount of touring, and they recorded this new album. Having worked these new songs into proper shape in the live setting, they went into the studio and ripped through the recordings, using the first take on all but one of the tracks. And Disappears are so much about the NOW and not the THEN that they recorded over the same reels of tape that they used for their first album.

“Guider” means to control or influence, which is what all the songs ended up being about in one form or another. This is a heads down, blinders on, damn the distractions, forward driving, controlled squall. Drop the needle, turn up the volume and surrender to the delicious.

Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel 17,99 €

One of the latest "true queer art punks" to emerge from the cracked pavement of southern suburban sprawl, Atlas Sound is the solo moniker of Deerhunter frontman / provocateur Bradford Cox. Here on his debut album, Cox / Sound moves out of dank nightclubs filled with eternal existential drone punk, and relaxes at home in his Grant Park, Atlanta bedroom. And this is, essentially, a bedroom album, a collage, mixing the garage rock and ambient electronic influences previously explored with Deerhunter in a new context, with newly explored recording techniques, mainly laptop-based, learned with guidance from kranky artist Nudge's Brian Foote. The result is 14 Songs of melancholy and mania.

This is a true solo album, entirely created and produced by a single person. That is certainly not unique, especially in the contemporary scene. But Bradford Cox's unusual talent is the ability to take a wide variety of seemingly incongruous sound elements, and seamlessly meld them into a cohesive pop narrative. A sunken 4/4 techno beat underpinning "Winter Vacation"? Perfect. Mbira loops running over the top of "Quarantined"? Just what it needed. An insistent, clipped drum roll carrying "River Card"? Masterful. And ultimately it is this innate ability to combine all these disparate elements into a singular whole that makes this album such an enjoyable, and unique listen.

"This album is for my best friend Lockett. It has a lot to do with childhood. I wanted to make an album that was uplifting but honest, which is why it seems sad a lot of the time. I want to make music that could be 'healing' or therapeutic to people who relate to it." Bradford Cox, Oct 20, 2007, Harlem, New York

"A largely ambient meditation on romantic obsession full of densely layered electronics and guitars that sound as if they were beamed in from some haunted parallel universe." The Fader

Deerhunter - Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey 16,99 €

C r y p t o g r a m s:
Cryptograms is the second full-length offering from Deerhunter, and their first for Kranky. The album took almost two years to finish and was the product of emotional, physical, and financial strain on the group. The result is an album that finds the band shifting from discordant catharsis, and forming a sonic identity that completely expresses the place from which they have arrived. The album functions in part as a study in duality and the concept of the same experiences seen from two angles, present and past. The most obvious manifestation of this is in the chronological sequencing. The first half of the album was recorded first unsuccessfully in 2005. These recordings were a blur at best, wordless and bordering on psychological atrophy. The sessions failed to provide anything tangible, and were racked with technical and personal problems, including out-of-tune pianos, panic attacks, and a tape machine that seemed to fail to capture the full spectrum of ambience the band was exploring. The band returned home, having failed, and considered giving up. The idea arose to give it one last shot and exactly one year from the date of the recording of their first self-titled LP at a small studio in rural GA, they returned to that same studio and plugged in. The session resulted in the first half of the record which was recorded in one day and completely filled the reel of tape they brought with them. Cryptograms' first side begins with an introduction leading to the title track, and ends with the tape literally spinning off the end of the reel in the middle of a drone layered with bells and accordion ("Red Ink"). The second half of the record, also recorded in one day, in the November of 2005, represents the band in an entirely different state. "Spring Hall Convert" opens with the line, "...so I woke up..." and introduces a set of focused psyche-pop songs fixating on adolescence, illness, and failing connections.

F l u o r e s c e n t G r e y:
Four new songs recorded while mixing Cryptograms. A snapshot of what direction the band might explore next? Probably not.
This EP arrives on the heels of a well received sophomore LP, Cryptograms. While exploring themes not especially dissimilar, the EP functions in many ways as an epilogue to both the LP and the accompanying well-reported anxiety surrounding it's creation. The band now has a clean slate to explore something entirely new in the future.

Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972 17,99 €

Tim Hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. Recorded in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. In reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. It is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

While the title of the piece "Hatred of Music" might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. Historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated CDRs pushed by bulldozers in Eastern Europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. They also really didn't at all.

Despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases Hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. It is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. This work is a significant contribution to Hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. Ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force.

The album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in July of 2010. Iceland-based musician Ben Frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

Belong - Common Era 14,99 €

It's been five years since the last Belong long player, as the duo works slowly to organize their sound works. Both the time invested, and the wait, have been well rewarded with this return.

Common Era shows extraordinary progression from that first album of dense, scorched earth instrumentals, hints of a new direction having been revealed on the Colorloss Record EP from 2008 which contained covers of four should-have-been classics from the original psychedelic era. The new material has such common pop elements as "songs," vocals and drum machines, but the results could hardly be called conventional and are like little else happening on the current "scene."

The songs themselves are akin to radio transmissions received from another time and place, just as likely to be the future as the past, or even from a contemporary alternate universe. They are both passionate and dispassionate, grey yet technicolor, ghostly and palpable, distant yet immediate, grainy and focused. Upon listening these conceptual contradictions are dismissed with ease, as the recordings reveal that they fit all of these descriptors simultaneously, an extraordinary balancing act.

Implodes - Black Earth 14,99 €

Black Earth is a haunted and magical place. There's an old barn there with many rooms and a silo that's filled with dead insects. Outside there's a big wood pile filled with spider webs that probably has black widows living in it. There are mysterious plants growing everywhere. At night, when the air is crisp and clean, you can lie on your back by the fire and look up at the stars and listen to the animals and insects making their music. A trip to Black Earth could change you forever and you may want to never leave.

Implodes has been to Black Earth and they made an album in its honor, dark and murky music for that dark and murky place. Cavernous guitar tones and dense melodies are present everywhere. Hidden beneath the layers of reverb, delay and distortion are deceptively simple and beautiful songs about experiences that have been obscured for many years that suddenly become profoundly important. The cobwebs just needed to be pushed aside a bit.

Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet 17,99 €

Harmony in Ultraviolet is TIM HECKER’s sixth album. It is a continuation of Hecker's interest in spectral communications, noise, impressionist musics, thresholds of listening pleasure/pain, and the limits of digital composition. This album is a significant development of his song-craft, challenging the usefulness of descriptors such as ambient, drone, metal, noise and even electronic music. If references are necessary it could be described as a sonata for the elements, songs of crackling embers, tidal pools, spruce skylines and autumn winds. Gerhard Richter's abstract paintings are also a fair orientation. Materially speaking, it is a record of whirring drones, whispering fissures, dense disintegrating chords, late-night noise and truth-telling harmonics. Yet this record follows no overarching process, no underlying narrative. It is both a homage for the Italian partigiani and also not at all. It is songs about ghost writing and midnight whispers but then again it isn't. In many ways this album can be viewed as a work of total destruction, embracing indeterminacy as an aesthetic ideal.

Low - Secret Name 19,99 €

REISSUED!!! Twelve new tracks of morphinous, skeletal drift-sound wonders from the combined voices, guitars and percussion of ALAN SPARHAWK, MIMI PARKER and ZAK SALLY. Diverse and painless songs that cut simply but effectively through heart-strings and nervous systems, leaving an absorbed and beautiful corpse in their wake. Features added instrumentation of strings, piano and timpani. Limited to 1,000 copies.

Low - Trust 19,99 €

REISSUED!!! The ninth full-length album from slo-mo beauty dealers LOW, and the band's most assertive and expansive release to date. Thirteen tracks recorded in Minneapolis with TOM HERBERT and mixed in London by TCHAD BLAKE (Latin Playboys, Lisa Germano, Pearl Jam), and featuring guest vocals on two tracks by GERRY BECKLEY of 1970s soft-rock giants AMERICA, and banjo work from MARC GARTMAN.

Tim Hecker - Dropped Pianos ab 11,99 €

This new Tim Hecker release is composed of sketch pieces recorded in 2010 in preparation for what would become the Ravedeath, 1972 album. All of the compositions are piano driven and minimal in nature.

This is not a new Tim Hecker album, but rather a peek behind the curtains into the working process. That these pieces stand on their own as compelling soundworks is a testament to the fact that Tim Hecker is at the absolute top of his game at the moment.