Japanese, Japanoise, Grind, Psych, Experimental, Noise; CD - Ex Used condition
Melt-Banana have absolutely no time for attention spans and neither do I. Their music is at once an entity unto itself and bizarrely essential to music as a whole, likely because there has always been an unspoken demand for hysterically overenergetic ultra-distorted music in the backs of minds of various hyperactive earth-dwelling consumers of music, none of whom have been completely satisfied by the earnestness and overbearing sincerity that runs through the majority of heavy music. Very few bands have it in their craft to be heavy and fun in mutual excess, yet Melt-Banana have made a prolific career out of it and are quite comfortably in their third decade as I type. They’ve always been an abundantly heavy band without any of the scornful misanthropy, politicised sharpness and/or meatheaded obnoxiousness that tends to come with the package. That said, Charlie is without a shadow of a doubt their most aggressive album. After the more scatterbrained, underproduced antics of their previous outings, the girls and boys of MxBx seemed to feel it was time to raise their game on this one; the production is arguably the finest of their whole career, the songs are developed into disarmingly coherent structures, the noise is kept up at absolute fucking maximum from start to finish, and (unusually) many of the songs are laden with an off-hand sense of brutality that adds a different flavour to their trademark goofiness.
Japanese, Japanoise, Rock, Noise, Boris, Merzbow, Southern Lord, Live; Limited Edition Double CD - EX Used condition
Rock Dream is not just the best album Boris ever made, but also one of the finest live albums you will ever hear. Rock Dream was recorded in Tokyo in 2006, one year after the band had just reached its peak in popularity with Pink. Masami Akita (Merzbow) adapts to the environment perfectly. For this one night he’s just the fourth member of Boris. Merzbow’s material has such an incredible presence on his records, but in a collaborative setting he consistently proves to be keenly aware in his supportive roles. Akita never makes a collaboration about him and works his waves of noise and scree to fit his partners. He adds layers of extra haze to the heavy openers “Feedbacker” and “Black Out,” but then focuses his instrument to make the razor edged rush of “Pink” and “Woman on the Screen” sound better than they do in the studio. His versatility becomes clear on Boris’ gentler and prettier tracks, “Rainbow,” and “Flower Sun Rain” (a PYG cover and later a highlight off of 2008’s uneven Smile). “Rainbow” is like a breath of fresh air after the three opening tracks. The song is built on its bass line and Wata’s gentle vocals, which were a rare treat back when “Rainbow” came out. Akita recognizes this and pulls back to allow the spaciousness to develop, creating subtle menacing textures and briefly swooping in with noise. When he adds his spacey laser sounds (trust me there’s not a better way to describe it) into the PYG cover it perfectly blends with the acid soaked bliss, and wisely stays in a supporting role even as the rest of the band builds the song into a massive climax.
Japanese, Japanoise, Acid Mothers Temple, Experimental, Psych, Noise; CD - Ex Used condition
A one time collaboration between the core members of Acid Mothers Temple and the Japanese duo, Afrirampo - Oni-guitar & vocals and Pika-drums & vocals. Best described as 'experimental tribal'. I mean, this CD is out-there. Title track "We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo" (27:41) is highly experimental, trippy with plenty of freaked-out guitar playing. "The Exorcist Of Love" (12:00) is even weirder than the first cut. I mean - what are these guy ON? Really! "The Man From The Magic Mountain" (16:40) features some good whirlwind sound effects and almost jazz-like arrangements. Even though this effort is pretty strange, I'm giving it a four-star rating because to me, it sounds like all players here are putting in over-time to busting their butts to record this title.
Punk, Underground, Comic, Adults Only, Australian; Large Scale Paperback Book - New
COLLECTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ONE VOLUME, HIGH VOLTAGE PUBLISHING PRESENTS A SELECTION OF DONNY RATS WORK GATHERED FROM THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. INCLUDING OBSCURE AND LONG FORGOTTEN MINI COMIX, FANZINES, MAIL ART, GIG FLYER'S, ONE OFFS AND D. RATS OWN NOTORIOUS PUBLICATIONS: HUMAN DOGPOUND, DEVIL WORSHIP AND DNA.
Specs: 160 pages printed on thick 200gsm paper • 230mm x 295mm
PLUS BONUS LIMITED EDITION STUFF: (see images)
1. Compilation CD with selected tracks from D. Rat's music career.
2. D. Rat Mini Poster for you to frame.
BE ADVISED: THIS BOOK CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN
Jandek, Outsider, Acoustic, Live, Concert, Experimental; DVD - New
Quite spirited bass and drum accompaniments, but a fairly "by-the-numbers" performance as far as the Corwood rep is concerned. Bonus points for "Whose Mister Is This", which might be one of the creepiest-sounding things Jandek has ever released, and that's saying a lot.
Evan Parker, Improv, Jazz, New Zealand, Leo Records,
Richard Nunns is a New Zealander of European descent who studies and plays traditional Maori musical instruments. His pairing with Evan Parker (in a performance recorded at the 1999 International Jazz Festival in Wellington), while not necessarily an obvious match, works largely because of the saxophonist’s extraordinary flexibility. Many of the Maori instruments are percussive and produce little sustain. They’re made of natural materials like gourds, wood, or shells; they don’t reverberate in the way a modern designed and manufactured instrument like Parker’s saxophone does. Consequently, the music here tends to be sparse and quiet. Parker plays in a near subtone much of the time, and occasionally sounds as if he’s playing at some distance from the microphone. A person unacquainted with the subtleties of the Maori instruments is, of course, unable to evaluate Nunns’ skills from a cultural standpoint. But the music he produces is indeed moving. The gestures are small but concentrated. The instruments’ nature doesn’t give Nunns the flexibility to follow and respond to Parker’s every move, so he instigates, as Parker responds and embellishes. It’s much to the latter’s credit that he’s able to adapt to Nunns’ aesthetic so completely. It’s equally admirable for Nunns to have successfully absorbed the Maori manner of making music. It says something about the timeless nature of improvised music that modern jazz’s most advanced saxophonist can improvise convincingly with a musician who plays instruments so ancient in conception. Undoubtedly the most affecting element of this music is its innate humanness; on one particular track, for example, the breaths pulsing through Parker’s sax and Nunns’ Pukaea rakau kauri (a wooden trumpet) sound as if they might be coming from the same set of lungs, so well-attuned the men are to one another and the exigencies of improvised performance. A unconventionally beautiful meeting of souls. ~ Chris Kelsey
Psychedelic, Improv, Space Rock, Psych Rock, Finland; Digipack CD - Ex Used condition
All songs improvised by Book of Shadows, except 'Lily's Paw', written by Aaron Bennack. Sleeve art by Jani Hirvonen. Released in Digipak with black tray, includes a four-page insert. Ikuisus Records Finland (2008)
The Eastern Front, Dark Ambient, Noise, Neo-Folk, Occult, Czech Republic; (2005) Limited Numbered CD - Ex Used condition
A great deal of mysteries revolve around the historical figure of Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (1743-1795); from his questioned identity as a charlatan called Joseph Balsam (or is it Giuseppe Balsamo?), to the unknown information about the “Egyptian Rites” Freemasonry (and Freemasonry in general) and the rituals it is said to include which are inspired by the ancient Egyptian culture. This album seems to be a tribute to his colorful life in the form of dark ambient with noise, narrated samples and some folk music; just the kind of album you’d want to research about. The album seems like a journey through Cagliostro’s life (or is it his attempt for an afterlife?) There is much to investigate here, and the deeper you go the less you’ll understand. It’s hard to find information about this act, since it’s an unknown debut album, so all I can say is that someone called Stephan V. Friedman wrote the lyrics and music and that there is a limited amount of copies.
Japan, Japanoise, Noise, Experimental, Industrial, Noise Rock, Import; CD (2008) - New
5 years after Steinklang released the cult-compilation "Japanoise of Death", came this second part of the creme-de-la-creme of Japanese Experimental Noise artists. This unique release was compiled by Joerg of ANTRACOT and the artwork was made by the Japanese designer Yoshihiro Nakano, who already designed part 1 of this compilation. "Japanoise of Death II" is a compilation of the most famous and best Experimental-Noise artists from the "early generation", as well as a fine selection of outstanding new artists. all songs are new and unreleased and especially recorded for this release!
Australain, Rock'n'roll, Punk, Geelong, Melbourne, Legendary, Tim Hemensley, John Nolan, GOD; CD - New
Highly Reccomended!!
Tracks 1 to 3 were recorded live at The Tote in Collingwood, VIC, Australia during the wake for Sean Greenway on February 4th 2001.
Tracks 4, 5 and 7 recorded at A.B.C. Southbank Studios in 1995.
Track 4 is a cover of the Little Richard song 'Lucille'.
Track 5 is a cover of The Stooges song 'Cock in My Pocket'.
Track 7 is a cover of the Sick Things song 'I Like Pills'.
Track 6 is a rough mix which was recorded at Rare Records in Acland Street St Kilda, VIC, Australia on November 19th 2002. This is a cover of The Dogs song 'Black Tea'.
The Necks, Australia, Soundtrack, Film Score, Jazz, Improv, Haunting; CD Digipak - Ex Used condition
The Necks ominously haunting soundtrack to Rowan Woods 1998 film 'The Boys' is as downright uncomfortable as the film itself. This is about as emotive as film soundtrack music gets. Just like the film, this soundtrack creeps under your skin and leaves you hanging in nervous anticipation. Stunning.....
