Gorman - Alum Creek

Been a bit slow on the blog-front this month, it hasn't been entirely intentional. The Golden Cup tape has thrown me slightly off kilter. According to mediafire it has been downloaded 1037 times (and counting)! By comparison the next most downloaded releases I've uploaded are 'Five Bells' by Cam Deas with 679, 'Atomic Weekender' by Caboladies with 440 and 'Norns' by Natural Snow Buildings with 422. Searched around and found it on Impose Magazine and Bolachas - neither of which were familiar to me - so thanks to both of them. Hopefully it suggests that others also think it's an excellent release and that distros won't have too much trouble selling their copies.

Moving on...

I'll try and be a bit more frequent with updates leading up to New Year - and beyond.

Gorman - Alum Creek

Gorman was Jordan Spencer, the man that runs Cabin Floor Esoterica. Gorman is now a defunct pseudonym but in his two years he got releases out on Blackest Rainbow, Tired Trails Collective, Housecraft and Reverb Worship, alongside his own labels, Open Range Records and Cabin Floor Esoterica.

"'Alum Creek' features two tracks of floating drones and chiming guitar like sounds that is a delight to behold. Recorded especially for Reverb Worship direct to tape in the autumn of 2008."
There is an underlying drone to Gorman releases but I think ambient is much more appropriate. It's a bright melancholy - if you'll allow me that juxtaposition. Is the distortion digital from the tape to CD transfer? At times it certainly sounds that way, yet somehow it adds to the recording. It gives you that sense of your windows rattling without needing to check if your ears have begun to bleed.

This is still available from Reverb Worship so please consider buying a copy if you enjoy it.

1. Rock Skipping, Olentangy River (12:15)
2. Stepping Into Early Fog (10:00)

Download / Buy
------------------
News:

A week on Friday (4th December) Bush Hall (Shepherd's Bush, London) will be playing host to Six Organs Of Admittance, Ignatz and Voice of the Seven Thunders (a new incarnation of Voice of the Seven Woods). Only found out about this one this morning. What a line-up!
And in related news Six Organs did a soundtrack to a novel called 'Empty the Sun' and both have recently been released on the official website on CD and vinyl (both limited to 1000).

audioMER (email): Sachiko - Golden Hypnos (LP)

Autobus Records: Brazos - Phosphorescent Blues
Sunset - Gold Dissolves to Gray

Students of Decay: Asuna & Opitope - Sunroom (pre-order)

Not Not Fun: V/A - My Estrogeneration
Topaz Rags - Capricorn Born Again

Abandon Ship Records: Human Adult Band - La-Dee-Frickin-Da
Reverse Mouth - Of The Cloth
Grasshopper / Twisty Cat - split
Excepter - Steps: La Sala Rossa
Mouthus - Eskimo King / Afternoon Penis
Cough Cool - Digestible Doom
Chapels - Days of Sleepless Night

Siren Wire: VII - Part I
VII - Part II

New Shh... This is a Library album, 'Dream Big', is available for pre-order this week from I Had An Accident Records.


A remix of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking called 'A Glorious Dawn' is out on Jack White's Third Man Records.


The latest Zelienople record on Type was released last Monday. The album is fantastic and the bonus CD was the vinyl is well worth getting the LP for if you're not fussed about formats - Boomkat is the only place I've seen it available so far.

---------------------
CD on demand

I've heard this idea quite a bit over the past four or five years. My dad has mentioned a number of times in the past about books on demand where you can go into a book shop, order a title that is no longer available and the shop prints off a copy in half an hour. Obviously this should be quite an easy model to translate to CDs these days. No doubt this isn't the first available but whilst looking around for 'Odyssey of Iska' by Wayne Shorter I saw my first example on Amazon US. This is no doubt the future of the dying CD. Isn't it?
If it is, will they be doing it for games and DVDs as well?
I personally can't imagine the physical format ever dying out completely - at least I really hope there are enough similar minded people out there to help me keep up the obsession - but the eventual demise of high street record / film / game shops will probably strengthen the case for manufacturers to rip us off even more.

--------------
Sorry if I've not yet replied to some emails, I will do one day soon(ish).

Thanks again to the people that have joined the Last.fm Group. The charts are really interesting. Looking down the full list it has been lot more varied than I had been anticipating.

Mountainhood - White Banquet: Live at the Story Chapter I

I was going to do another two part post this week as I'm currently halfway through ripping another 70s Japanese record, and then this request came. Hopefully that record will now go up in one post (double LP) by the end of the week.

Oh, if you use last.fm feel more than welcome to join the Disconcerted Sounds group. Don't know what will go on there but it could no doubt be a good way of finding out about new music from what others are listening to/recommending.

Mountainhood - White Banquet: Live at the Story Chapter I

I've long had an appreciation for 'different' vocals and most take their time to get fully accepted - Tom Waits took half a dozen years; Screamin' Jay took around 10 full rounds of an album (which has since been lost and needs to be re-ordered); MV & EE even took a few months - this Mountainhood album has been another initial struggler.
The problem comes when you realise he has a normal voice hidden away yet he, Michael Curtis Hilde, seems to want to be a bit stranger. Maybe it's how his voice naturally goes? I don't really know but it can make it hard at first to enjoy. By the time you reach 'Way I Feel' you won't really care. The songs start to come through and the vocals naturally come across as a lot more acceptable to your ears. And then the following 'Light Pouring Mynd' hits perfectly, probably my favourite song of the disc.
It's an interesting one. Personally I found the two earlier releases on Reverb Worship easier to get into, especially 'Brother the Cloud'. This live album was also on Reverb Worship, released mid-February 2009 in an edition of 50.

As it is a live recording you receive any issues that may have occurred during the show, in this case they came in the form of bizarre squeaks from the guitar.

"A number of glitches can be heard throughout the songs. These glitches are not technology-related but they were produced organically in real-time at the live performance when the songs got intense and [the songwriter] passed into a mild trance, to fade out for a minute, then falling forward heavily, caught [his] guitar strings upon the mic." (insert)
Copies still available at Tomentosa Records.

Download
He has recently released two records on Time-Lag's Red Records (both sold out direct) and has a one-sided record coming this month on Blackest Rainbow

-----------------------
News:

Peasant Magik's box set has already sold over 150 of the 200 copies so if you want one I wouldn't wait around too much longer.

Blackest Rainbow has announced the pre-order for the CD re-issue of Twinsistermoon's 'The Hollow Mountain' which should be available at the start of November - in time for the London NSB show. Obviously I haven't seen the new packaging or heard the remaster but from what I have heard about it, even if you do own the vinyl edition you may want to seriously consider picking a copy up.

There are half a dozen new releases on American Tapes.

Matt Groening has been announced this week as once again being an All Tomorrow's Parties curator - this time in the UK.

Henry Owings, of Chunklet zine/magazine, has been given the duty by Corey Rusk of flogging 1500 records including test presses of rare Rapeman, Big Black, Henry Rollins, Butthole Surfers. Check his ebay account if you think you're rich enough (or just fancy a good nose around).

Autumn Sun: Charlatan - Equinox
Josh Burke - Speaking With Each Dancer

Ecstatic Peace! have released 'Barn Nova', the new MV & EE album. Can only see a CD edition on their website. There will be a vinyl edition, right?

Norman Records had the limited edition of David Sylvian's 'Manafon'. Sounds and looks amazing (from the pictures) but £70 is way beyond what most of us will be willing to spend I'm sure - although the edition is 2000+...

Stunned Records: Sun Araw (feat. Matthew Lessner) — In Orbit
Donato Epiro — Sounding the Sun
Padna — Siberia / Hinterland

People In The Position To Know: (Wooden) Wand - Haunting the Stagecoach (8" lathe pre-order limited to 100 - youtube video of what it will look like)

Kawabata Makoto - Kiss Me Goodbye / Subjection of Drone

A little bit of exciting news that has officially emerged this week; Peasant Magik has confirmed the eight 3" CD box set for the end of August. Groups/musicians involved include Big Blood, Gregg Kowalsky, Natural Snow Buildings, The North Sea, Valerio Cosi, Fabio Orsi, Super Minerals, Throuroof, Andrew Paine and Pillars of Heaven. You've got to assume Cosi and Orsi will be doing one of the joint discs, not sure about the other.
It had been on the Peasant Magik myspace page for quite a while (as PM50) but with a line up like that I honestly wasn't expecting it to happen, it's too good.
When I find out more info on it I'll put it up.

------------------------
Two Kawabata releases here from 2008. Haven't seen either of these appear online yet and his new disc on House Pig (slightly disappointing) inspired me.


'Kiss Me Goodbye' was released in October last year on Apollolaan Recordings in the UK in an edition of 80.

"Beauiful new CDR of bubbling, trickling drones from the Acid Mothers man. This is even gentler than the "Inui" releases, but no less psychedelic for it. Really lovely and strange."(alt vinyl)
1. Slobbery Kiss Good Morning
2. Sensual Kiss Goodnight

Download


'Subjection of Drone' was released just a month later on Reverb Worship - another UK based label - in an edition of 100 copies.

"'Subjection Of Drone' is a solo improvised 'live' recording from a performance at Music Japonica in Osaka,Japan on 4th October 2008.The cd features one long track which flows in different segments starting off with ethereal jazz styled technique then into bowed string playing,then multitracked drone,followed by glissando styled effects finishing off with ever increasing guitar noise.The piece comes to an abrupt end followed by polite applause." (label description)
1. Subjection of Drone

Download
-----------------------
New Releases:

Reverb Worship: Gnod - Wuste Zeremonie

Plus Tapes have a huge batch of eight or nine tapes announced.

Noticed this week Norman Records listed the new Bobby Beausoleil 4LP box set as available, so if you have the money it's time to start searching the usual distros.

Blackest Rainbow: Spill - Where You Aren't
MV & EE - Road Trips (box set), very near shipping

Black Eagle Child: Black Eagle Child - Two Days
W.A. Munson - Controlled Wave

Near Passerine Devotionals (email): Ajilvsga - The Muddy Banks of the Arkansas (LP)

Insound: Richard Hell - Destiny Street Repaired (LP)

Milieu Music: Milieu - Swaying Palms
Coppice Halifax - Submarine Green
Coppice Halifax & Foamek - Lush Q Trax III
Coppice Halifax & Foamek - Lush Q Trax 3.1
Brian Grainger - Tortoiseshell & Other Improvisations

Ikuisuus: Silk Urns / Sand Rattle - Split
Strongly Imploded - Why Use A Proxy

Dust Wind Tales has a bit of a sale going on (free release with every order).

What's with the ridiculously high prices of NSB releases on discogs? Just checked the other day and people are asking for insane amounts - could probably get some things for under half the price on ebay, and that's really saying something.