{"title":"Austere","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"okkyung-lee-christian-marclay-amalgam","title":"Okkyung Lee \u0026 Christian Marclay - Amalgam","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2624810082\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/okkyungleechristianmarclay.bandcamp.com\/album\/amalgam\"\u003eAmalgam by Okkyung Lee \u0026amp; Christian Marclay\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMay 2014, arriving home after hearing the Café Oto performance now released as Amalgam, I began to write. Over time the text developed, augmented by relevant dreams, literature and boxing metaphors, to become integrated into my book, Into the Maelstrom. This is an extract from that passage:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In the grey time of the gig, the drift away time, smell of room time, the time when magical implements and instruments are compressed into their road-sick cases, I watched from an eye corner as the tall man persuaded Christian Marclay to hand over a shard of plastic, placed the black dagger in his bag, then headed home. This savage triangle I recognised as debris...one of many during a duo with cellist Okkyung Lee in which their streams of interpenetrated sounds felt as volatile as live power cables, lightning strikes, snake bites, roaring bears, the finessed husbandry of potentially catastrophic rock falls. Something about the implacability of Okkyung Lee, the steel edge of her cello, not in its sound so much as its unmoveable force, something about the need to react to her presence as grit, as grinding, enforced a move away from the turntables out of which Marclay had been unleashing sound up until that point. Close in to a microphone, he was scratching a record with his fingernails, as if the evolutionary function of nails was as a polystylus designed to scrape music out of any surface: rocks, tree bark, elephant skin, the mist surrounding a waterfall, the bald head of an old person...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the gig I had stood still on a spot that seemed to confer invisibility, observing, waiting, listening. Somebody new to the whole business said to me, why doesn’t everybody know about this music, why isn’t it celebrated and presented in big concert halls to huge audiences? She was alight with excitement, the shock of the new. Somebody else said, but it’s not always as good as this. I said, well isn’t that true of all music, whether it’s composition, improvisation, popular, esoteric, critically acclaimed, classic, old, new, whatever? Some is great; the rest is mediocre or otherwise unforgivable... \"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListening now to the recording, more than two years later in a totally different environment is a markedly different experience, yet the intensity that made the concert so remarkable remains palpable. As finely poised as a tug of war between a steam train and a herd of wildebeest, this is music that celebrates all that is volatile, uncompromising, hypersensitive and deliriously inventive in improvisation.\u003cbr\u003e\ncredits\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– David Toop\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ereleased November 11, 2016\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristian Marclay – turntables\u003cbr\u003e\nOkkyung lee – cello\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded live at Cafe Oto April 25th, 2014 by Jonathan McHugh\u003cbr\u003e\nMixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug\u003cbr\u003e\nCover images by Christian Marclay\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667155251423,"sku":"LP-NS-082","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667155284191,"sku":"CD-NS-082","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155349727,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667155316959,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a2342201946_16-1-1.jpg?v=1703788658"},{"product_id":"bobby-kapp-matthew-shipp-cactus","title":"Bobby Kapp \u0026 Matthew Shipp - Cactus","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2781980594\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bobbykappmatthewshipp.bandcamp.com\/album\/cactus\"\u003eCactus by Bobby Kapp \u0026amp; Matthew Shipp\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Valerie Wilmer’s important socio-political history of the jazz vanguard As Serious As Your Life (Serpent’s Tail Press, 1977), the chapter on pianist Cecil Taylor is subtitled “Eighty-Eight Tuned Drums.” Textually this reference advances the role of the piano in free music as percussive in large part, especially as the chordal and melodic directions taken after Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s often appeared to circumvent the more fixed tonalities of the keyboard. Drummers and pianists have been one core team in this music, going back to the forbears and scions of the modern-jazz era — Buddy Rich and Nat Cole; Art Blakey and Herbie Nichols or Thelonious Monk; Denis Charles, Sunny Murray and Andrew Cyrille with Taylor — whether the pianist may work percussively or sculpt the music temporally and melodically.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrummer Bobby Kapp (b. Robert Kaplan on April 11, 1942 in Perth Amboy, NJ) and pianist Matthew Shipp (b. December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, DE) are a team that has only recently come together, though their affinity for one another is natural and rewarding. Cactus is their first duo recording, a spontaneous set coming on the heels of 2015’s Themes 4 Transmutation, the latter waxed under the drummer’s leadership and featuring Shipp, reedist Ras Moshe and bassist Tyler Mitchell. While the cognoscenti may be aware of Kapp’s name as a firebrand in the mid-60s New York free music underground, he didn’t record as a leader back then. In recent years, after relocating to Mexico, he’s co-led the standards-rooted Fine Wine Trio with pianist Richard Wyands and bassist Gene Perla, and reunited with alto saxophonist Noah Howard before the latter’s untimely passing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKapp’s restless energy and streetwise lyricism, yen for the blues and supple templates for unfettered expression took him from New Jersey and Staten Island to Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Alan Dawson, and then Lower Manhattan. There, he played and recorded with alto saxophonists Marion Brown and Noah Howard, pianist Dave Burrell and tenor saxophonists Leandro ‘Gato’ Barbieri and Pharaoh Sanders before eventually settling in an artist’s colony in San Miguel de Allende. Kapp’s sideman recordings in the 1960s are scant, comprising two full LP appearances (Barbieri’s In Search of the Mystery and Howard’s At Judson Hall, both on ESP), two individual LP halves (Brown’s watershed Three for Sheep on Impulse! and Burrell’s High on Douglas), and film footage of Brown’s trio was captured in 1967 by Henry English, but all of this work presents a rolling, massive and fleet economy somewhere between Elvin Jones and Shelly Manne. His more recent outings have been somewhat under the radar, but the aspects that entice—a sure, tempestuous detail—are toned with age, experience and fidelity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShipp’s piano is the perfect foil for Kapp’s dryly doled-out metric inventions, his sinewy but factual movements through erudite melody, resonant stomps and granular sideways gestures creating fields and objects through which the drummer’s open, supple brushwork and woody rolls float, undercut and weave. Shipp has worked with a wide range of individual, creative drummers—including Newman Taylor Baker, Whit Dickey, Guillermo E. Brown, Susie Ibarra, Marc Edwards and Steve McCall—and says of Kapp that “Bobby is a marvel as he combines the best of old school drumming with a real feel for pulse and breaking the circle that exists in the avant-garde. However, he can open the beat up in a way where you can flow with the wave and never lose the line. His touch is really refined and that adds to the beauty of his sound. I am always looking for ways to make my comping deeper and working with someone who has played with all the people he has deepens my thing. Also, the sound he gets off the cymbals has a resonance that is beyond deep—it’s like swimming in pure vibration.” On Cactus, nine spiny and flowering dialogic arms are presented in gorgeous sound, creating a language that stems from bebop, free improvisation and classicism but are of the present and specific to these two musicians. Rigorous, spontaneous play that feels this good is something to hold onto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Clifford Allen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Practically without parallel — Matthew Shipp is the connection between the past, present and future for jazzheads of all ages.” – Downbeat\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“…In the 1960’s, Bobby was a seminal figure in the so-called new music movement in NYC, recording with Gato Barbieri, Archie Shepp, Noah Howard and others.” – Ron J. Pelletier\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667155874015,"sku":"CD-NS-079","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667155841247,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667155906783,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NS_079_web_cover-2-e1646851954503.jpg?v=1703788696"},{"product_id":"string-noise-covers","title":"String Noise - Covers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=475469194\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/stringnoise.bandcamp.com\/album\/covers\"\u003eCovers by String Noise\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeerhoof drummer Greg Saunier recorded and produced String Noise (Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris) in his closet and the results couldn’t be more wondrous! This beautiful homemade lathe cut 7″ record includes four new arrangements by Eric Lyon of The Germs, Minutemen, Brahms and Deerhoof (featuring Greg on percussion). Cover artwork is by none other than Jad Fair. String Noise, New York’s most daring violin duo has built a reputation as relentless contemporary music advocates with a propensity for the most intense and advanced classical music of today. As performers they have championed the work of extreme contemporary composers such as Bernhard Lang, Eric Lyon, and John Zorn. Their first feature album “The Book of Strange Positions” was released on NORTHERN SPY RECORDS in November 2015. Tiny Mix Tapes describes this collection of original works and arrangements by Eric Lyon of Bad Brains, Violent Femmes, Deerhoof, Radiohead, and Black Flag as a “mix of classic punk covers and ZERO APOLOGIES.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eside A\u003cbr\u003e\nLexicon Devil 2:02\u003cbr\u003e\nPanda, Panda, Panda 2:46\u003cbr\u003e\n(featuring Greg Saunier, percussion)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eside B\u003cbr\u003e\nWie Melodien zieht es mir 1:36\u003cbr\u003e\nLittle Man With A Gun In His Hand 3:20\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003earrangements by Eric Lyon\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecomposers:\u003cbr\u003e\nThe Germs, Deerhoof, Johannes Brahms and Minutemen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003erecorded and produced by Greg Saunier in his closet in Brooklyn, NY\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecover art by Jad Fair\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Lathe Cut Single + Digital","offer_id":44667156103391,"sku":"LP-NS-076","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667156136159,"sku":null,"price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667156070623,"sku":"","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-8.20.23-PM.png?v=1703788716"},{"product_id":"string-noise-the-book-of-strange-positions","title":"String Noise - The Book of Strange Positions","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=175422397\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/stringnoise.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-book-of-strange-positions\"\u003eThe Book of Strange Positions by String Noise\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eConrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, the husband\/wife violin duo comprising String Noise, have built a reputation as relentless contemporary music advocates with a propensity for the most intense and advanced classical music of today. As performers they have championed the work of extreme contemporary composers such as Bernhard Lang, Eric Lyon, and John Zorn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis release goes back to the roots of String Noise. Between 2009-2011, Eric Lyon composed Noise Triptych, the first work written for the as-yet-unnamed duo. Lyon then provided the moniker String Noise, and the duo made their debut at the 2011 Ostrava New Music Days festival. This release presents Noise Triptych, and its follow-up composition, The Book of Strange Positions. Accompanying these works is a set of arrangements of punk rock songs created by Lyon between 2011- 2015.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combination of classical music and punk rock might seem surprising, but here it makes sense. Lyon’s recent music has been built on the technique of “articulated noise,” in which most creative decisions are made at random, and the composition process is largely about managing serendipity. While this may seem abstruse, Lyon’s music itself tends to be driving, intense, and immediate, with strong ties to a punk rock sensibility. This pairing presents Lyon’s music in the context of some of its own musical affinities, while presenting familiar punk rock songs from a fresh viewpoint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Trailblazing duo…” – Time Out New York\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Formidable display of virtuosity…” – New Music Box\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lightning fast reflexes and warmly matched sounds….” – New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They were greeted with a thundering ovation more common for American Idols…” – The Huffington Post\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667156627679,"sku":"CS-NS-072","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667156693215,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667156660447,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/StringNoise_square_cover-e1646851916746.jpg?v=1703788749"},{"product_id":"tcot-st","title":"#tcot - S\/T","description":"\u003cp\u003e#tcot is John Darnielle and Christopher R. Weingarten\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Ben Greenberg at the Magic Shop\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Paul Jeffrey\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667156758751,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-8.18.56-PM.png?v=1703788756"},{"product_id":"craw-1993-1997","title":"Craw - 1993-1997","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2642002888\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/craw.bandcamp.com\/album\/1993-1997\"\u003e1993–1997 by craw\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNorthern Spy reissues the first three records by Cleveland, Ohio, post-hardcore band Craw in a limited-edition vinyl box set, 1993–1997. All out of print for two decades or more, these full-lengths—1993’s self-titled debut, 1994’s Lost Nation Road and 1997’s Map, Monitor, Surge—complete a story that concluded on Bodies for Strontium 90, released in 2002 by Hydra Head Records. The new box set lovingly reintroduces these records in a deluxe package including three remastered double LPs and an exhaustive 100-page page book. The book, designed by the team behind one-of-a-kind visually driven label Aqualamb—who have also overseen visuals for the entire release—includes a wealth of unpublished photos and ephemera, an exhaustive oral history of Craw drawn from newly conducted interviews, and a detailed timeline of band activities, shows and releases, stretching from Craw’s 1988 formation to their 2002 break-up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to the passion of writer and musician Hank Shteamer, who served as project organizer for the set and funded it through Kickstarter, Craw’s music finally receives the reissue it deserves. We hope that 1993–1997 will spur a reexamination of the band’s place in the lineage of aggressive, challenging, radically unorthodox underground rock and metal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo celebrate the release of this epic set, Craw are reuniting for two special shows, taking place March 11th, at the Grog Shop in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and March 12th, at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, New York. All band members that played on the albums included in 1993–1997 will be on hand at each show, participating in career-spanning performances drawn from these releases as well as Bodies for Strontium 90.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"3 CD set + Book + Digital","offer_id":44667156889823,"sku":"SI-NS-070","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"3 CD Set + Digital","offer_id":44667156922591,"sku":"CD-NS-070","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667156988127,"sku":null,"price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667156955359,"sku":"","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1785231054_10.jpg?v=1703788772"},{"product_id":"shilpa-ray-last-years-savage","title":"Shilpa Ray - Last Year’s Savage","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=20785586\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/shilparay.bandcamp.com\/album\/last-years-savage\"\u003eLast Year's Savage by Shilpa Ray\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNobody grows up wanting to be an artist’s artist. Appreciated by the sub sect of the sub sect is like being the beauty queen at the leper colony. Hell, anybody who claims they grew up wanting to even be an artist rather than an astronaut or a Cthulhu is probably lying or was a corny kid. Art is hard and degrading and generally bullshit. Your friends will find you irritating and your parents will certainly not throw you a parade. But if you’re an artist you’re an artist; the soul will fuck you every time, what can you do?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShilpa Ray is, through no fault of her own, one of our unsung great artists. Having made her bones with the gothic Sturm und Drang of Beat The Devil and moving forward to the blues erosion of “…and The Happy Hookers” Shilpa Ray has been, armed only with an incomparable voice and harmonium haunted by the ghosts of dead lovers, perpetually crying in the wind, hoisting both middle fingers in the general direction of god. It’s not a life a wise man would choose. Shilpa Ray kicks against the pricks but the pricks keep coming. But, again, what can you do?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, that’s been the narrative until now. With Last Year’s Savage (maybe a nod to Leonard Cohen maybe a nod to Barrence Whitfield) Shilpa Ray has taken the pain and dark funk of earlier sounds and made explicit the sublimity that was always there just below the surface. The conversation has become less a break up with doors ripped from their hinges and more the last pained pillow talk before parting. The obsessions with sex, death, bodily functions, and betrayal (not necessarily in that order) remain but Shilpa has expanded the palate to convey the resignation, the simmering discontent of an artist disenfranchised and held down. This is a quieter rage than the music Shilpa Ray has made before, more plaintive and considered, even if it’s the quiet of a hand gripped tight on the axe handle. The music remains gorgeous and stirring in its directness while Shilpa herself remains, thankfully, entirely and inappropriately threatening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShilpa Ray has, up till this, point, yes, been an “artist’s artist.” Just about every musician in New York City, who doesn’t hate her, loves her. Nick Cave sings her praises to all with the ears to listen (he brought her along a European tour as an opener and as a backup singer in the States). Obviously there are some who will always prefer lesser versions of the Shilpa Rays of the world (as if there could be more than one), preferably with blue eyes and On Brand Waifishness, but the truth will, eventually out. Talent this big can only be kept down for so long before the sky cracks and we all drown in the blood of angels. Either way, this is Shilpa Ray’s year.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667158331615,"sku":"LP-NS-064","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667158397151,"sku":"CD-NS-064","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667158364383,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667158429919,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Shilpa-Ray-Last-Years-Savage-Cover-hi-res-e1646851866906.jpg?v=1703788823"},{"product_id":"zs-xe","title":"Zs - XE","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4020678438\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/xe\"\u003eXe by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eZs is devoid of genre and unclassifiable. Since 2000, founder Sam Hillmer has remained its purveying constant, and with the addition of loose-limbed, meditative percussionist Greg Fox (Liturgy, Guardian Alien, Man Forever), and virtuosic avant-classical guitarist and composer Patrick Higgins, the band has found its epochal lineup. The trio’s vision is crystallized on Xe, Zs’ first full-length featuring the new trio, and first proper since 2010’s critically acclaimed New Slaves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHillmer, Fox and Higgins—three supremely heavy sages who exchange their pulsating phraseology with a mind-blowingly telepathic bent—in one room, nailing Xe in one miraculous live take, manned by Higgins and noted A-list producer Henry Hirsch (Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, Mick Jagger) at the boards in Hudson, New York’s Future-Past Studios.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe music on Xe even transcends artistic mediums, influencing renowned visual artist Tauba Auerbach, who believed Zs was examining the same structural concerns as her own work. She created several copies of two 3D printed steel sculptures derived from the mathematical varieties of helix known as the Z helix and S helix which she then arranged and photographed in various configurations for the Xe album art. From these, she also developed an original 3D typeface to construct ZS and XE on the interior of the packaging. The album’s minimalist, esoteric vibes aligned perfectly with Auerbach’s mind-bending and shadowy metallic sculptures. The artist attests to have never worked so hard on a record cover, nor gotten so much out of doing so.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike a bat out of futuristic and primal hell, Xe clangs and clatters out of the gate with “The Future of Royalty,” setting a sinister tone with a pummeling march of doomed knob-twiddling electro-shocks. Ghostly transmittals burst through cascades of hyper-distorted serrations on brutal synth twister “Wolf Government,” not unlike the cataclysmic solar systems of composer Ben Frost – whom Fox has also collaborated with. There’s the fractured sci-fi percolations of the electro-sax futureworld of “Weakling” and “Corps”. Xe’s jaw-dropping sonic architecture is manifested on the eighteen-minute title track, a controlled, yet chaotic, ecstatic marathon thick with its trademark crafted quiet\/loud heavy repetition, bleeding of tense, throbbing logic that erupt into euphoric explosions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere might be no other way to describe Zs than as the deepest of DIY die-hard spiritualists exploring a genre-defying unheard music free of compromise and commercial leanings. Those aesthetics are illuminated on Xe. “The record starts with an explosion of caustic guitar noise and blazing drums and is then followed by a 7-minute desert of noise, finally, 10 to 12 minutes in you get a pulse,” Hillmer says. “No effects, no editing, nothing done in post, just a snap shot of three guys in a room who worked really hard on some music for a long time. That’s what we are bringing, and we really hope people can get into it, BUT! If they can’t, on a certain level, good. It’s alternative music for people who are seeking an alternative, and with this crisp domesticated indie\/EDM work on the rise, there may be more and more people seeking that. If so, y’all know where to find us!”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667158790367,"sku":"LP-NS-062","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667158888671,"sku":"CD-NS-062","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667158823135,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667158855903,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-8.24.29-AM.png?v=1703788841"},{"product_id":"fred-frith-and-john-butcher-the-natural-order","title":"Fred Frith \/ John Butcher - The Natural Order","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3300632064\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/fredfrithandjohnbutcher.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-natural-order\"\u003eThe Natural Order by Fred Frith and John Butcher\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuitarist Fred Frith and saxophonist John Butcher are titans within the world of improvised music. Over the last four decades, each of these two men has permanently altered the way in which his instrument is heard: Frith with his (at times literal) deconstruction of the electric guitar, and Butcher with his exploration of the physical properties of sound and extended playing techniques.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough they’ve played live together a few times, The Natural Order, recorded in 2009 and mixed in 2012, documents Frith and Butcher’s first head-to-head encounter in a recording studio. The album is as pure a document as possible: recorded in a single stretch, with no overdubbing, the 10 tracks appear here in the order of their creation. It captures a single hour of unmediated interaction between two restless, creative spirits determined to make every moment with their respective instruments count. It’s not jazz, it’s not rock, it’s not noise—it’s pure music, the product of two men in one place at one time, unique and unrepeatable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFred Frith – guitar\u003cbr\u003eJohn Butcher – saxophones\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667159937247,"sku":"CD-NS-060","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667159871711,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667159904479,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0862332074_10.jpg?v=1703788860"},{"product_id":"odeath-friends-family-vol-1-2","title":"o’death - Friends \u0026 Family Vol. 1 \u0026 2","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=307323181\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/odeath.bandcamp.com\/album\/odeath-friends-family-compilation-vol-1-2\"\u003eO'Death - Friends \u0026amp; Family compilation Vol. 1 \u0026amp; 2 by various artists\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eFriends and Family is a mixtape series. It functions the way mixtapes always do – featuring our favorite tracks and trying to turn you on to music you haven’t heard before. All of the artists and projects included have some direct contact or history with o’death. Some have been touring partners, collaborators, side projects, or perhaps we just played a show together once.  We hope you enjoy our Friends and Family. They mean the world to us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– David Rogers-Berry\u003cbr\u003e\nO’Death\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eO’Death’s Friends \u0026amp; Family Compilation Vol. 1\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide One:\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Big Blood – The Grove Is Hotter Than An Ocean’s Oven\u003cbr\u003e\n2. O’death – Heal in the Howling (demo by Greg and Bob)\u003cbr\u003e\n3. Charlie Parr – Cheap Wine\u003cbr\u003e\n4. Interlude – Razed Against the Wire\u003cbr\u003e\n5. The Icebergs – Broken Heart\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide Two:\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Intro – Angels Fool the Light\u003cbr\u003e\n2. Dead Western – Separation Isolation\u003cbr\u003e\n3. Lonesome Leash – Dead\u003cbr\u003e\n4. Greg Jamie – Be Brave\u003cbr\u003e\n5. The Woes – I’m The One\u003cbr\u003e\n6. Outro – Aleph \u0026amp; Omega\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCredits:\u003cbr\u003e\nProduced by David Rogers-Berry (o’death)\u003cbr\u003e\nArt by Leah Perrotta\u003cbr\u003e\nLayout by Adam Downey\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eO’Death’s Friends \u0026amp; Family Compilation Vol. 2\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide One:\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Murder By Death – Home\u003cbr\u003e\n2. Greg Jamie – O’Death\u003cbr\u003e\n3. This Frontier Needs Heroes – Down On The Farm\u003cbr\u003e\n4. Colin Langenus and Jonah Rapino – Processional\u003cbr\u003e\n5. Interlude – Princess Peter – Black Tongue Edit\u003cbr\u003e\n6.The Huntress – Call To Arms\u003cbr\u003e\n7. Outro\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide Two:\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Mystery Red Inferno – Possum\u003cbr\u003e\n2. Interlude – Sgub Strings\u003cbr\u003e\n3. Clawman – (Don’t) Call Us\u003cbr\u003e\n4. Interlude – Hate Screwed\u003cbr\u003e\n5. North Collins – Bridge of Branches\u003cbr\u003e\n6. Interlude – Dan Deacon – 005 sept22\u003cbr\u003e\n7. O’death – Living Ghost\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCredits:\u003cbr\u003e\nProduced by David Rogers-Berry (o’death)\u003cbr\u003e\nArt by Leah Perrotta\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667160002783,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667160035551,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-13-at-7.51.29-AM.png?v=1703788868"},{"product_id":"jenks-miller-spirit-signal","title":"Jenks Miller - Spirit Signal","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=107143221\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/spirit-signal\"\u003eSpirit Signal by Jenks Miller\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe multifaceted, tireless Jenks Miller (Mount Moriah, Horseback) turns his compositional and guitar-shredding talents to his first widely distributed solo album \u003cem\u003eSpirit Signal\u003c\/em\u003e, an experimental LP totally of-a-moment; each track was conceived, tracked, and mixed in one day. Though the surface characteristics of Jenks Miller’s various projects vary tremendously, they all share a carefully-crafted internal logic and an arresting attention to detail. The sonic pallette on \u003cem\u003eSpirit Signal\u003c\/em\u003e is at times airy and lyrical, at others claustrophobic and raw. Fractured, hypnotic melodies circle each other ominously, organic drones wilt beneath layers of fuzz, and minimal percussion disappears in an avalanche of sky-scraping texture. \u003cem\u003eSpirit Signal\u003c\/em\u003e is an album of contrast and synthesis, the stuff of internal landscapes. The playing here may recall folk guitar titans Neil Young and Richard Thompson and mind-benders like Keiji Haino, Loren Connors and Michael Morely.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667162984671,"sku":"LP-NS-043","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163050207,"sku":"CD-NS-043","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163017439,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163082975,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3753903129_16.jpg?v=1703789007"},{"product_id":"zs-grain","title":"Zs - Grain","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=788763719\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/grain-2\"\u003eGrain by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe new Zs lineup (Sam Hillmer, Greg Fox and Patrick Higgins) sounds very much like a new band, at least as evidenced by the Grain EP. The two side-length tracks (coming in at a total of 42-minutes) bear the marks of Zs’ sound – repeated phrases, looped or played in situ; buried drones and harsh electronic tones – but it does sound very much like a new band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s an extended ambience to the album that trick perceptions of time. Glitches and waves that last only a minute or three somehow feel as if they’ve gone on throughout the whole record. Something very mysterious goes on within the grooves. Hillmer and Higgins (who also arranges Bach for guitar and has composed for the Mivos string quartet) teamed up to create Part One of Grain while Greg Fox (Man Forever, Guardian Alien) built Part Two. The album was beautifully mastered by Heba Kadry of the Lodge. It’s a great listen and it’s also an inventive segue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSam Hillmer\u003cbr\u003e\nPatrick HIggins\u003cbr\u003e\nGreg Fox\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667163476191,"sku":"LP-NS-037","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667163541727,"sku":"CD-NS-037","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667163508959,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667163574495,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a4069817658_16.jpg?v=1703789041"},{"product_id":"seaven-teares-power-ballads","title":"Seaven Teares - Power Ballads","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1330536508\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/seaventeares.bandcamp.com\/album\/power-ballads-2\"\u003ePower Ballads by Seaven Teares\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003ePower Ballads is the debut album from Seaven Teares, a New York band formed in 2010 featuring singer\/songwriter Charlie Looker (Extra Life, ex-Zs), experimental vocalist Amirtha Kidambi (Sequins and Skeletons), Robbie Lee (Howling Hex) on woodwinds, guitars and synth, and percussionist Russell Greenberg (Yarn\/Wire).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeaven Teares’ mostly acoustic sound brings together a number of disparate influences: dark post-Industrial folk (Death In June, Current 93), 1960’s co-ed pop folk groups (Mamas and the Papas, Ian \u0026amp; Sylvia), the drones and textures of modern composition and experimental improvisation, and the cold alien vocal harmonies of Gothic era liturgical music. The seven slow-burning songs shift between abstract raga-like meditations and straight melodic hooks, set against acoustic guitars, dark synth ambience, vibraphone, bells, and occasional harsh electronics, as well as authentic Medieval pump organ and recorders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRadically reimagined cover songs are an important part of Seaven Teares’ repertoire. In addition to five originals, Power Ballads includes dismantled versions of Alice in Chains’ 1992 classic “Them Bones”, (featuring Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem) and depressive Renaissance composer John Dowland’s 1596 classic “Flow My Tears”.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667164491999,"sku":"LP-NS-034","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667164557535,"sku":"CD-NS-034","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667164524767,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667164590303,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0276415812_16.jpg?v=1703789070"},{"product_id":"john-butcher-bell-trove-spools","title":"John Butcher - Bell Trove Spools","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1028063960\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/johnbutcher.bandcamp.com\/album\/bell-trove-spools-2\"\u003eBell Trove Spools by John Butcher\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNorthern Spy is proud to present two of John Butcher’s most recent experiments in moving sound waves through space. On Bell Trove Spools we hear Butcher in two distinct situations: Richmond Hall, a Houston art gallery housing a permanent Dan Flavin collection that has been compared to a bowling alley; and the high-ceilinged marble room in Brooklyn which is the new home to Issue Project Room. Butcher is heard on his two saxes of choice, the soprano and the tenor, and suspended in space, fluid, challenging, at times melodic and always exciting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, John Butcher knows how to work a room – and that’s not about relating to the audience. In fact, there was no audience present for the Brooklyn session. Bell Trove Spools is just Butcher and a saxophone and spaces ready to receive. The results speak for themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667165180127,"sku":"CD-NS-032","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667165147359,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667165212895,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/51D0fNjzL.jpg?v=1703789078"},{"product_id":"zs-score","title":"Zs - Score","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2374516240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/zstheband.bandcamp.com\/album\/score-the-complete-sextet-works-2002-2007\"\u003eScore - The Complete Sextet Works: 2002 - 2007 by Zs\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeptember 2012 New York City band Zs celebrates 10 years of being a band with the release of Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007. Zs has been described with a dizzying array of musical vocabularies, and has performed alongside an equally dizzying complement of colleagues and collaborators ranging fromThrobbing Gristle’s Genesis P. Orridge, to Roscoe Mitchell, toChristian Wolf, not to mention hundreds of comrades from the Brooklyn DIY scene, that has been home to Zs’ myriad incarnations and musical and artistic tangents. Belonging nowhere and everywhere, Zs has absorbed the editorial space of Howard Stern andAlex Ross alike. In 10 years of activity, the band has changed in countless ways without ever changing a fierce commitment to inscrutable aesthetics and execution crafted to provoke reflection and challenge assumption in the consumption of music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Zs first formed the sextet, the band operated as a composers collective who played their own compositions. All members of the band huddled over sheet music on music stands illuminated by floodlights. The band was known for ensemble style rather than individual styles of the players, and developed a particular reputation for a near pathological commitment to unison execution of counter intuitive rhythms at an ear splitting volume, or at a virtually inaudible volume. Additionally, the band wore uniforms, a way of drawing attention away from the people playing in the band, and toward the group responsible for the monolithic rhythms and harmonies Zs spun out relentlessly at early shows. This stands in stark contrast to the emphasis on individual style found in Zs’ recent work. That said, this music is important in the development of Zs as it articulates the formation of the aesthetic and formal vocabulary that would form the underpinning for all future journeys the band would take.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present Zs remains committed to constant change in method and stasis in intention – different means, people, and aesthetics, always meant to instigate questioning and challenge preconception. The band is working on writing their 3rd full length record and an EP, both due out in 2013. In the mean season, dive into the early world of Zs with Score – The Complete Sextet Works: 2002-2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667167211743,"sku":"CD-NS-027","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667167146207,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667167178975,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/homepage_large.bf2ea24a.jpg?v=1703789111"},{"product_id":"the-home-of-easy-credit-the-home-of-easy-credit","title":"The Home of Easy Credit - S\/T","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2229842703\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-home-of-easy-credit\"\u003eThe Home of Easy Credit by The Home of Easy Credit\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Home of Easy Credit is the eponymous debut recording from husband and wife team Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen and Tom Blancarte. Taking their name from a department store sign in a dilapidated section of downtown Houston, Texas (Blancarte’s native state), the duo draw their inspiration from the gradual awareness of the decline of civilization which permeates our culture. Hailing from a remote rural region of Denmark, Jensen uses subtle and not-so-subtle electronics to blend her vocal, saxophone and flute work with Tom Blancarte’s furious bass playing, creating one of the most unique sound worlds in contemporary music. Featuring tortured sonic landscapes that conjure up Stockhausen and Feldman as readily as Björk or Mike Patton, their debut on Northern Spy Records is a meditation on the bleakness of modern America and the western world in general. The album contains a tightly-constructed musical narrative; five short auditory haikus named for permutations of the American Dream posited by Ted Ownby are interspersed between longer, open-form pieces whose titles reference cubicles, the dark side of Frank Lloyd Wright and the books of Michael Pollan and James Howard Kunstler, among other subjects. The Home of Easy Credit paints a musical portrait of a commercialized and homogenized consumer culture that is slowly waking up to realize that it is completely fucked.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667168129247,"sku":"CD-NS-023","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667168096479,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667168162015,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1576182718_10.jpg?v=1703789167"},{"product_id":"neptune-msg-rcvd","title":"Neptune - msg rcvd","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2231113402\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/neptune6.bandcamp.com\/album\/msg-rcvd-2\"\u003emsg rcvd by Neptune\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn msg rcvd, Neptune employ an array of new techniques and methodologies to explore indeterminacy and difficult phenomena such as feedback. Moving away from guitar feedback, this record features amplified drum feedback as well as the introduction of two new ‘feedback-organ’ machines. Developing their career-long interest in arranging and deploying found sounds, Neptune continues to use their sonically peculiar guitars built from pieces of found metal, but add to this new devices to pick and arrange sound out of the air: interrupted radio broadcasts. On msg rcvd the listener becomes eerily aware that trash is not just the junk on the street and in alleys, but it is also the invisible radiation that surrounds us and permeates us, and, in an expanded sense, the very material of which our bodies and experiences are made. One man’s trash, another man’s Neptune.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667168882911,"sku":"LP-NS-021","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667168948447,"sku":"CD-NS-021","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667168915679,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667168981215,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/21semi.jpg?v=1703789185"},{"product_id":"various-artist-clandestine-cassette-series-two","title":"Clandestine Cassette Series # Two","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2077985796\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/northernspyrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/clandestine-cassette-series-two\"\u003eClandestine Cassette Series # Two by Northern Spy Records\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the time between the cassette’s heyday as a miracle that made music portable and its demise and subsequent resurgence, a number of sound artists have taken to it as a new means of production. Much like the way hip-hop DJs turned the vinyl record from a storage tool to a production tool, the artists on Northern Spy’s second Clandestine Cassette use magnetic tape as a pliable medium for storing and altering sound.Author, journalist and WFMU personality Kurt Gottschalk invited four sound artists making beautiful transmutations from the medium to contribute tracks to the cassette compilation. It’s tapes of tapes. Tape on tape. The sound of sound. Music as sculpture. Prerecorded and magnetic. Get two so you’ll have one to manipulate yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeatured Artists:\u003cbr\u003e\nAki Onda\u003cbr\u003e\nNonhorse\u003cbr\u003e\nBonnie Jones\u003cbr\u003e\nJason Lescaleet\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667169964255,"sku":null,"price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667169997023,"sku":null,"price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-26-at-9.11.14-AM.png?v=1703789239"},{"product_id":"haunted-house-blue-ghost-blues","title":"Haunted House - Blue Ghost Blues","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3595947397\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/haunted-house.bandcamp.com\/album\/blue-ghost-blues\"\u003eBlue Ghost Blues by Haunted House\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe blues has grown up a lot in the last ten years, since guitarist Andrew Burnes left New York for Georgia, bringing a de facto end to the powerful abstract blues of Haunted House. In the time since, a new generation — sometimes referred to as Freak Folk or New Weird America and spearheaded by Tom Carter, Jack Rose and Ben Chasny — has followed in the footsteps of Loren Connors, John Fahey and a handful of others who have long maintained that the blues is something more than 12 bars and a backbeat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the demise of Haunted House, Connors continued preaching the gospel, often with his wife — the enigmatic singer Suzanne Langille — to anyone who would listen, playing a slow, distorted, reverb-drenched blues as slowly the world began to come around. Then, in the summer of 2010, the stars aligned just so: Burnes was in town for a few days, percussionist Neel Murgai was available, and the Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room was booking matinee concerts in their courtyard. The band had only existed for a brief two years and had been absent for a decade, but they picked up right where they left off with only a brief soundcheck as rehearsal. Another matter of months, and they were in the studio, recording at long last the follow-up to their 1999 Erstwhile release Up in Flames.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital","offer_id":44667170521311,"sku":"LP-NS-012","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667170488543,"sku":"CD-NS-012","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667170554079,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667170586847,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a0904074472_10.jpg?v=1703789259"},{"product_id":"images-of-duration","title":"Yarn\/Wire - Images of Duration","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=333507559\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/yarnwire.bandcamp.com\/album\/images-of-duration\"\u003eImages of Duration by Yarn\/Wire\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten between 2015 and 2018 for the acclaimed New York percussion and piano quartet, Yarn\/Wire, Alex Mincek’s Images of Duration (In homage to Ellsworth Kelly) is a monumental work by any measure. With a runtime close to one hour, it is not only Mincek’s longest work to date, but also one of his most intriguing. It is scored for two pianos tuned 1\/4 tone apart (441 and 428 Hz, respectively) and a vast array of percussion including tuned gongs, air canisters, waterphone, baby monitor, and white-noise machine alongside more traditional instruments like drums, vibraphone, marimba, and chimes. This instrumentation, while wildly varied, creates an ever-changing landscape that is brutal, disorienting, beautiful, meditative, and jarring - often at the same time. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMincek is interested in how perception changes over time, and the sheer scale of Images of Duration allows for listeners to discover different modes of listening for themselves. The individual movements can function as sonically flat landscapes (like Kelly’s work), but upon deeper listening, the many multiple layers can be teased out and followed, creating an arc across the whole piece. The music traverses movements that range from Oblique’s piano rumble and ebow drones through the sparkling detuned piano passages of Vermillion to violent piano glissandi of Diagonal, all punctuated by massive percussion hits throughout. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImages of Duration (In homage to Ellsworth Kelly) exemplifies Yarn\/Wire’s commitment to the most dynamic and forward-looking chamber music made today. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667176485087,"sku":"CD-NS-103","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667176517855,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667176550623,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3265017781_10.jpg?v=1703789501"},{"product_id":"future-phase","title":"PC Worship - Future Phase","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1426614785\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/track=2628907009\/transparent=true\/\" seamless=\"\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/pcworship.bandcamp.com\/album\/future-phase\"\u003eFuture Phase by PC Worship\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFuture Phase is a collection of new music recorded throughout 2018 by Justin Frye, with contributions from Jess Paps and Mike Etten. The material is mostly unrelated and aesthetically diverse and was compiled as a mixtape to release in tandem with Issue 60 of Monster Children Magazine, which also features cover art and other visual contributions by Justin Frye.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFuture Phase begins with “Tides II” a wordless, vocal-driven, instrumental track that weaves in and out of a saturated sonic environment created by a warped rock band instrumentation paired with homemade instruments, upright bass, fretless guitar, viola and tapes. As “Tides II” dissipates into a lonesome, fractured guitar solo, “Shell Shower” enters through a haze of tape loops into it’s drum machine centered pseudo-kraut trance, closing side A.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSide B opens with “Former Feedback”, a self-explanatory composition that melts into Future Phase’s namesake and first track with lyrics, driven by chorus-free prose vocals, tape echo and a pummeling monochord dirge that’s meant to evoke a meditative hypnosis. Side B continues with “C. Lawless \/ Melted Life, Long Decay”, two tracks in one; both improvised and layered experiments in process and texture that morph together and set the stage... more\u003cbr\u003e\ncredits\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll music written, recorded \u0026amp; performed by Justin Frye\u003cbr\u003e\nVocals on \"Tides II\" by Jess Paps\u003cbr\u003e\nLead guitar licks sprinkled throughout \"Future Phase,\" \u0026amp; \"C. Lawless \/ Melted Life, Long Decay,\" by Mike Etten\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667177533663,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667177500895,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a1532324576_10.jpg?v=1703789557"},{"product_id":"please-advise","title":"Beauty Pill - Please Advise","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1322819076\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/beautypill.bandcamp.com\/album\/please-advise\"\u003ePlease Advise by Beauty Pill\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title of this record was inspired by our circumstance. Please Advise is a liminal work. A document of a time of uncertainty and fragmentation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI'm proud of this record, but it's not perfect. I will go one step further: I'm proud of this record because it's not perfect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll I wanna do is keep moving. Please Advise meets this criterion. For me, at least.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope people find it valuable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe named our record PLEASE ADVISE after producer Teo Macero’s famous 1969 memo to Columbia Records about Miles Davis (“Miles just called and said he wants this album to be titled BITCHES BREW. Please advise.”) It’s darkly funny to us now, but I bet it wasn’t funny to Teo then.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI find that memo to be encouraging. Even in working with an artist as brilliant and masterful as Miles Davis, there were moments of uncertainty and maybe even panic. Like “What is this motherfucker doing?” panic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's probably no aesthetic connection between Miles Davis and Beauty Pill, but that memo makes me feel better about my own path. It’s okay if sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s okay if sometimes you don’t know what I’m doing either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paradox of any artist’s life is you need to cultivate confidence AND humility to survive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut you know what? That’s the paradox of your life too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for listening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChad Clark\u003cbr\u003eWashington, DC\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Bone\" Colored Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183759583,"sku":"LP-NS-128LE2","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Standard Black Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667183792351,"sku":"LP-NS-128","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":44667183825119,"sku":"CD-NS-128","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette + Digital","offer_id":44667183857887,"sku":"CS-NS-128","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667183923423,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667183890655,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/BeautyPill_PleaseAdvise_5x5_300dpi-SQUARE-e1646418786664.jpg?v=1703789738"},{"product_id":"marvin-pontiac-the-asylum-tapes","title":"Marvin Pontiac - The Asylum Tapes","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Marvin Pontiac was anonymously sent a 4 track tape recorder during the years he was held at Esmerelda State Mental Institution. This is what he did with it.” This is the sole statement accompanying the release of Marvin Pontiac: The Asylum Tapes, the first release in 17 years by John Lurie’s alter ego Marvin Pontiac. Coming to prominence during the no wave era as part of NYC’s notorious Lounge Lizards and starring in several Jim Jarmusch films, Lurie’s singular compositions under the Pontiac pseudonym have developed a legendary reputation from fans and critics alike. Northern Spy is proud to bring Marvin Pontiac’s Asylum Tapes to the vinyl medium for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"LP + Digital Download","offer_id":48552703492319,"sku":"LP-NS-123","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667185627359,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667185594591,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Asylum-Tapes-square-image-scaled-e1646418385932.jpg?v=1703789777"},{"product_id":"instant-night","title":"Beauty Pill - Instant Night","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2496786268\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/beautypill.bandcamp.com\/album\/instant-night\"\u003eInstant Night by Beauty Pill\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title track to Beauty Pill's new EP, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=73LJV8CBdM0\"\u003e\"Instant Night,\"\u003c\/a\u003e was originally written by bandleader Chad Clark in 2015 after he watched Ann Coulter, as a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, predict that Donald Trump would win the 2016 US presidential election. The Washington, D.C. based artist recorded and surprise-released the single in October 2020 out of urgency to inspire people to vote in the presidential election. Because the song was being recorded during the pandemic, and because Clark has an artificial heart that puts him at high risk for COVID-19, it was recorded on a rooftop, with meticulously planned social distancing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Instant Night\" is Beauty Pill's first single without drums, and it is also the first Beauty Pill song to conspicuously highlight the band's woodwind quartet. The single was released alongside a music video featuring time-lapse footage of Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell being drawn and depicted as monsters. \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=73LJV8CBdM0\"\u003eThe video\u003c\/a\u003e was created and directed by the artist \u003cex-beauty\u003e Ryan Nelson.\u003c\/ex-beauty\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf \"Instant Night,\" Beauty Pill's Chad Clark says:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast year I came to my band with a song called “Instant Night.”  I was nervous about presenting it to them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This one is unusual.  There are no drums and it kinda sounds like Philip Glass music.  I don’t know where it came from exactly.  I wrote it a few years ago, but I think we should do it now. I think it’s kind of urgent, actually.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeauty Pill is not a dictatorship.  The people in my band are all strong-willed artists themselves and they don’t just agree to do whatever I tell them.  Not every idea gets ratified, trust me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut they seemed to quickly understand the song and understand the reason why I wanted to do it.  Remarkably, it took us only a few hours to develop and learn the arrangement that you hear now.  It came together almost magically.  And it felt natural.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe next step was convincing our label Northern Spy to rush-release the song before the election of 2020.  The label staff had a full docket of planned releases with other artists at that point. This was certainly an unwelcome request.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m sure the label was privately exasperated with this request, but they understood why it was an important song for that moment.  “Instant Night” was released digitally a couple weeks before the November election.  It was a complete surprise to Beauty Pill fans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eListen, I operate under no delusions that my little arty DC post-punk band brought about the downfall of Donald Trump.  But I do think we contributed in a tiny, granular way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last words of the song are “Scared is alright” and I think everyone who heard it, felt it.  I do think that America was teetering on the edge of a very frightening plunge into the obliteration of pure fascism and bigotry at that moment.  And I think voters narrowly averted that crisis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lyrics of “Instant Night” are insinuating and allusive, not topical. It’s only a political song in the way that Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” or Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” are political songs. People call them “protest songs,” but neither of those songs is as specific as people think.  Go back and listen again.  They’re pretty abstract!  They are more poetic than polemic.  I see “Instant Night” as existing within that spectrum too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I think it will last.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the EP's send single, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/music.beautypill.com\/bettermind\"\u003e\"You Need A Better Mind,\"\u003c\/a\u003e Clark says:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Roland TB-303 is an old Japanese synthesizer that was designed to convincingly mimic the sound of a bass guitar.  It was introduced in 1981, it sounded like a toy and failed miserably, and it was ultimately discontinued in 1984.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt makes freaky, wiggly, cartoony sounds.  It sounds fuck-all like a bass guitar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy am I telling you this?  One ended up in my hands for a week.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI did a lot of silly stuff with it.  I did come up with this one worthwhile riff, which I built a song around.  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The fun spirit you hear in this song is mostly exhaustion… that kind of punchy exhaustion you get late at night when you’ll laugh at anything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lyrics were inspired by the spooky\/funny 10-minute movie \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/341842996\"\u003e“Rachel.”\u003c\/a\u003e  The song is about the scourge of American loneliness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is by far the fastest, easiest song Beauty Pill has ever created.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope you like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e+ + +\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBeauty Pill - 'Instant Night'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduced by Brown Eno\u003cbr\u003e\nRecorded in Kimani Clark's rooftop apartment, Washington DC\u003cbr\u003e\nand Magpie Cage Studios, Baltimore\u003cbr\u003e\nMastered by Heba Kadry\u003cbr\u003e\nDesigned by Nora McKelvey\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeauty Pill is\u003cbr\u003e\nBasla Andolsun: bass\u003cbr\u003e\nChad Clark: voice, guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nDrew Doucette: guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nErin Nelson: voice\u003cbr\u003e\nDevin Ocampo: drums, guitar\u003cbr\u003e\nwith\u003cbr\u003e\nVictoria Banos: trumpet\u003cbr\u003e\nAaron Harman: bassoon\u003cbr\u003e\nSarah Hughes: saxophone\u003cbr\u003e\nDon Godwin: tenor horn\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Records","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent Vinyl + Digital","offer_id":44667188805855,"sku":"LP-NS-137C","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Limited Edition Transparent CD + Digital","offer_id":44667188838623,"sku":"CD-NS-137","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":44667188871391,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":44667188904159,"sku":"","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/BP-Instant-Night-digital-2-1-e1646413671934.jpg?v=1703789919"},{"product_id":"driphouse-5050-c24","title":"Driphouse - 50\/50","description":"\u003cp\u003eCatacombs of electronic espionage from former Raccoo-oo-oon member Daren Ho. A tape of many chambers, each containing clues to a greater unknown.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567644860639,"sku":"","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567644893407,"sku":"","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA011-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759100"},{"product_id":"wanda-group-bass-urine-c20","title":"Wanda Group - Bass Urine","description":"\u003cp\u003eWanda and the girls, under the direction of puzzling collagist DEM HUNGER, dive deep into a pool of dirty milk on \"Bass Urine.\" Hand-woven fragments of sound are smudged together and tossed into a dubbed-out ocean of strange electronics and abstract depression.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567645155551,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567645188319,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA023-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759129"},{"product_id":"nate-young-stay-asleep-regression-vol-2-lp","title":"Nate Young - Stay Asleep (Regression Vol. 2)","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1036165267\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/stay-asleep-regression-vol-2\"\u003e'Stay Asleep (Regression Vol. 2)' by Nate Young\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's an honor for us to present the latest solo recording from Nate Young, founding member of Michigan noise legends Wolf Eyes. This record represents a new direction for Young, as he deviates from trademark aggressive murk-and-misery sounds of his previous works, and instead opts for a queasy, subdued zombie lullaby consisting of bizarre rhythms, synthetic melodies, and almost gamelan-sounding ritual sleepwalking. Featuring an epic closer with contributions from past \u0026amp; present Wolf Eyes members Aaron Dilloway and John Olson. This is a record to sit and get absorbed in, a non-linear travel through a different place altogether. Mastered by Lupo at Dubplates \u0026amp; Mastering in Berlin.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567649218783,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567649251551,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/cover.jpg?v=1714759222"},{"product_id":"freddy-ruppert-wait-c20","title":"Freddy Ruppert - Wait","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2000753139\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/wait\"\u003e'Wait' by Freddy Ruppert\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeviating stylistically from his previous work with Former Ghosts and This Song Is A Mess And So Am I, Los Angeles-based musician Freddy Ruppert has constructed a foreboding collage of churning industrial soundscapes. \"Wait\" is a highly personal collection of deliberately anti-climactic processed acoustics, from glassy piano fragments to deep, rumbling bells. While remaining bestial and dark, the sounds on \"Wait\" retain an emotionally complex and organic energy; a calculated exercise in tension and restraint, existing intimately in a place of no resolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567650267359,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567650300127,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA047-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759285"},{"product_id":"howard-stelzer-the-impossible-astronaut-c26","title":"Howard Stelzer - The Impossible Astronaut","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew are more committed to the exploration of the cassette tape than Cambridge, MA's Howard Stelzer. For years, Stelzer has been creating his own unique tape music both by himself and with a reputable cast of collaborators, much of which has been documented on his own Intransitive Recordings label. What separates Howard's work from the bulk of traditional tape music is that he manipulates not only the phenomena of sound committed to magnetic tape, but goes deeper into the exploration of the physical mechanics and inner workings of the cassettes and players themselves, amplifying them in order to let the \"instrument\" become part of the music. The compositions on \"The Impossible Astronaut\" seem to create a void; a vacuum where trapped sounds are desperate to be released. Textural nuances and multi-dimensional field recordings are saturated beyond recognition, while lurching hiss and hum become anti-matter, simmering in tension. From subtle and quiet to loud and burning, sounds are presented in their raw form, and mixed to perfection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567651053791,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567651086559,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA053-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759324"},{"product_id":"nate-young-regression-blinding-confusion-lp","title":"Nate Young - Blinding Confusion","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=254161589\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/regression-blinding-confusion\"\u003eRegression 'Blinding Confusion' by Nate Young\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the past few years, iconic noise artist Nate Young has been carefully crafting his own signature solo sound, as evidenced through his progressive recordings and performances with American experimental music staples such as Wolf Eyes, Stare Case, Demons, and Moon Pool \u0026amp; Dead Band. After the completion of his recent Regression trilogy (part one being the self-titled disc on Ideal in 2009; 2011's \"Stay Asleep\" LP on NNA as part two; and part three \"Other Days\" on Japanese label Rockatansky in 2012), Young begins a new chapter in his personal sound world, and it is perhaps his biggest leap forward musically thus far. Regression \"Blinding Confusion\" enters a new era, retaining the techniques and studies from his previous work and raising them to new levels. Intense compositional building and structure seep through each track, traversing new ground melodically while still upholding Nate's patented over-bearing weight of dread and slow-burning darkness at all the right moments. Deep, percussive brutality and pulsing neurosis mesh with somber burial hymns, held together by Young's technical prowess and mastery of his chosen gear. Each frequency is given it's own unique role and characteristic voice, deeply chilled by the arid space of decay via tape manipulation\/disintegration, howling its way through the grooves of the record like a cold wind of dead space that billows throughout, unrelenting. Atonal, morphing, and modulating bass lines pulse and plod their way through, like the unseen presence of the undead ascending a creaking stairway, leading upwards toward a nebulous void. This establishes a truly horrific atmosphere while honoring primitive technology, refined with a thick dose of originality. Self-recorded at Burning Log Studios and M.U.G. in Young's native zone of Detroit, Michigan, combined with high definition mastering and cutting by Lupo at Calyx in Berlin, Germany, make \"Blinding Confusion\" the defining artifact by one of the United States' most talented voices in noise and experimental music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDigital download is included with the LP\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567652069599,"sku":"LP-NNA-059","price":18.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567652102367,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567652135135,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA059.jpg?v=1714759377"},{"product_id":"wanda-group-a-slab-about-being-held-captive-lp","title":"Wanda Group - A Slab About Being Held Captive","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=675394551\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/a-slab-about-being-held-captive\"\u003e'A SLAB ABOUT BEING HELD CAPTIVE' by WANDA GROUP\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWashed up on the shores of Brighton UK, we find “A Slab About Being Held Captive” laying there quietly in the sand. This soaking enigma is the latest creation of Louis Johnstone, following up an influx of recent vinyl on Opal Tapes, Notown, Where To Now?, and Svetlana Industries. Since their debut release “Bass Urine” on NNA in 2011, Wanda and the girls have matured to a new point of refinement, sinking deeper into the careful organization of disconcerting sounds. “A Slab” truly is a seasick collage, with a pervading aqueous essence flowing throughout the two side-long pieces, carrying along with it fragments of field and domestic recordings and sample clutter. Syrupy waves of sound meld into one another with cinematic pacing, forming a gelatinous backdrop for hard cut interjections of concréte style sample manipulation, lending themselves to an air of confusing tension. As the liquid bath abruptly turns to slate, a group of gulls squawk at a bubble filled with muffled porno moans as they glide by. Body sounds and animal conversations are drowned out by the mechanical purrs of an industrial assembly line, sputtering and choking their last breaths as they struggle to stay afloat. Maddening tones seem to permeate from within, sizzling their way through the stereo field like two magnets dancing, drilling through the headspace. This hypnotic phenomena forces the mind inward, reducing it to a skull full of opiate brain mush and half-cooked soggy memories. These collections of moments may fall shamelessly into near-nothingness at any given time, eventually refilling themselves with sound in a cyclical rising and falling, perhaps acting as an abstract reflection on mental states of indifference, alienation, or just general life terror and bleakness. Wanda’s ability to maintain compositional fluidity throughout such a dynamic range of materials is reinforced by an original sense of movement and pacing, and the ability to form a creative symbiosis between cold sterility and organic warmth. Although ultimately, it’s probably best left to the artist’s own words:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“WANDA GROUP IS OR COULD BE OR WANTS TO BE A GROUP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIT IS NOT\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI SHOULD BE BUT I AM AFRAID IT NEVER BECAME ONE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEITHER DUE TO A LACK OF FRIENDSHIP, KINDNESS OR POUNDING HUMAN REGRET ?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWHO KNOWS ?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWANDA GROUP TRIES TO MAKE EARTH MUSIC\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHIS COULD BE INSIDE OR ABOVE OR RIGHT ON THE LAND\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI THINK THAT YOU SHOULD LOOK AT CONCRETE OR MOUNTAINS TO TRY AND MOVE YOURSELF\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eART GALLERIES WORK BUT SOMETIMES I THINK PEOPLE NEED TO LOOK AT THE STUFF THAT IS GROUND OR SHOVED RIGHT INTO THE EARTH OR HAS BECOME THE EARTH\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eALL IS ONE SORT OF THING ETC\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWANDA GROUP DOES TRY TO LOVE IN A MASSIVE WAY\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIT IS ALL VERY SERIOUS AT POINTS AND SOMETIMES I NEEDS TO BE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWANDA GROUP REALLY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO FUCKING SPEAK OR TYPE (MAYBE ONLY EXIST IN A STATUE ?)”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered and cut by Lupo at Calyx Mastering in Berlin, Germany.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00cccc;\"\u003eNon-USA Customers:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e For all orders of 5 cassettes or more, or vinyl + cassette combination orders, please \u003ca href=\"mailto:nnatapes@gmail.com\"\u003econtact us\u003c\/a\u003e before ordering for a precise shipping rate.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567658328287,"sku":null,"price":9.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567658262751,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567658361055,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA068.jpg?v=1714759439"},{"product_id":"phork-high-end-lp","title":"PHORK - High End","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1414518358\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/high-end\"\u003e'High End' by PHORK\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"High End\" is the latest musical installment from the People's Higher Order of Royal Kinship, as facilitated by Los Angeles producer Neal Reinalda. With recent releases on Opal Tapes and Orange Milk, as well as two previous NNA full-length cassettes under his belt, we are pleased to offer PHORK's debut vinyl record to the masses. On \"High End\", Reinalda digs deeper still into the established PHORK sound world, procuring a modern conceptual take on the idea of \"ambient music\" as constructed with pieces of the dance music and musique concrete sonic palettes. The process unfolds in an almost visual manner where short blocks of sound are sculpted into assorted shapes and sizes, then stacked and arranged meticulously to create a skyline of rigid musical architecture. Whether they are electronically generated or captured in the field, the sounds are given the same treatment of deconstruction and reassembly to create new lenses of context. Scenic and situational field recordings are used to explicitly depict the world of the modern human, tapping into the nostalgic and almost mundane facets of daily life, extracting them from their associations, and allowing the listener find new meaning by examining them in a musical setting. Dripping water, a Fourth of July fireworks celebration, the motherly sound of a female voice, the shrill buzz of modern machinery… although these sounds are firmly grounded and not at all otherworldly, they are often coupled and blended in a subversive manner. In the stylistic tradition of the People's Higher Order, these organic sounds are interlaced with a latticework of dry electronica, using traditional techno materials to establish a rhythmic and melodic foundation with an emphasis on inhuman flatness and non-dynamics. Layers are built up and repeated, interacting with other layers as the resulting compounds are patiently added and subtracted, driving onward in a perpetual cycle of blooming and wilting. The resulting creation of a surreal narrative is something rare and unique in such a functional genre as dance music. Always the trickster, PHORK has tendency to embrace juxtaposition and luxuriate in the discomfort of hearing sounds play themselves out. \"High End\" succeeds in utilizing music to take on an anthropological voice, meditating on the routine and mediocrity of modern American society in an age of nihilism and discontent. The Royal Kinship often prides itself on generating more questions than answers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"You are high-end. The most expensive of all products.\" –N.R.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered and cut by Lupo at Calyx Mastering in Berlin, Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLimited edition pressing of 350 copies.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567660916959,"sku":null,"price":9.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567660851423,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567660884191,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA070.jpg?v=1714759469"},{"product_id":"sediment-club-30-seconds-too-late-c15","title":"Sediment Club - 30 Seconds Too Late","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3840528178\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/30-seconds-too-late\"\u003e'30 Seconds Too Late' by Sediment Club\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeast your ears upon this terse, bleak statement of musical panic from young three-piece Sediment Club. Comprised of Austin Julian, Lazar Bozic, and Jackie McDermott (on guitar, bass, and drums, respectively), the ‘Club has diligently been bringing their rock \u0026amp; racket to basements and dungeons across the nation, as “30 Seconds Too Late” comes hot on the heels of their recent full USA tour. Using a ouija board to call upon the spirits of the classic eras of noise rock, No Wave, and post-punk, Sediment Club show us a refreshingly raw and unique perspective, firmly gripping the torch of their Northeastern weird underground brethren. Their latest EP brings us five short and sweet blasts of stripped down instrumentation with little flash or effects, allowing the natural filth of overdriven instruments to shine through amidst their ascending and descending chromatic lines of discontent. Lurching bass lines, twangy stabs of guitar, and turbulent drumming interlock in creative compositions that thrive on a clinical garage brutality, ripe with dissonance and a healthy dose of the macabre. Disconcerting and misanthropic lyrical content spews forth through drooling, unhinged vocal delivery, reflecting a state of psychosis as if viewing an MC Escher drawing through a shattered mirror. “30 Seconds Too Late” is an incredibly satisfying listen, and a cassette that could be comfortably crammed into your ratty shoebox collection of punk seven inches, complete with a Urinals cover and full lyrics sheet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567661277407,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567661310175,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA077-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759489"},{"product_id":"patrick-higgins-social-death-mixtape-c63","title":"Patrick Higgins - Social Death Mixtape","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3360206886\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/social-death-mixtape\"\u003e'Social Death Mixtape' by Patrick Higgins\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe use of the word “mixtape” in the title of this release is no coincidence. New York City based composer and performer Patrick Higgins has appointed NNA with a highly original concept in the presentation of New Music – a “mix” or sampling of personal experimentations spanning from 2009 to the present day, intended specifically for the cassette format. Higgins, perhaps best known for his guitar work in avant-garde music group Zs and production work with Future-Past Studios, is able to accurately demonstrate his versatility as both a composer and performer through this diverse collection of recording studies. Very little territory is left uncharted as Higgins makes use of piano, harpsichord, synthesizer, guitar, violin, sampler, computer processing, and even group ensemble to communicate his unique musical vision. Bringing a genuinely modern voice to composition, the artist draws on contemporary pop culture influence (underground art rock, independent pop, noise) along with nods to 60’s minimalism (Riley, Glass, Meredith Monk) and classical Western electro-acoustic composition. The studies on this release range from the highly dissonant to the more consonant as Higgins blends found sound and electro-acoustic texture with harmonic notes, creating further originality by combining elements of improvisation with written score. Pieces like “Pattern Select” blast apart with pointillistic, colorful synth programming that builds its power through the precise use of dissonance, recalling the work of Babbitt, Boulez, and the French pioneers of early musique concrete. The “Curves, Points, Lines” series of tracks demonstrates the inventive studio layering of unorthodox acoustic instrument sounds, as Higgins dissects the intricacies of the various sounds made by the violin and rearranges them into something completely new. “Live At Oberlin” brings the music outside of the studio into the arena of performance, as Higgins lends his abilities to a group improvisation setting, using guitar and laptop to build new sonic worlds together with the Mivos Quartet on string instruments. “Social Death Mixtape” succeeds at showcasing Higgins’ prowess not only as a musician, but as a generally well-rounded artist, whether its as a composer and arranger, instrumentalist, live performer, electronic producer, or studio engineer. The experience of this release is further enhanced by the originality of creating an “audio sketchbook” for the modern composer by tapping into one of the earliest and most classical essences of the cassette tape medium - the “mix.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComes with free mp3 download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567662457055,"sku":"CS-NNA-083","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567662489823,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567662522591,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA083-COVER-WEB.jpg?v=1714759553"},{"product_id":"wanda-group-ornate-circular","title":"Wanda Group - Ornate Circular","description":"\u003cp\u003eWanda Group valiantly returns for their third release on NNA Tapes. Since the project’s debut “Bass Urine” in 2011, Louis Johnstone seems to have worked diligently to eradicate all traces of traditional “music” from his work, leaving behind only the acousmatic sounds of life itself. The 2013 NNA LP “A Slab About Being Held Captive”, his recent digital releases on his own imprint Umbro G, and most recently the “We All Mutate Around The Mountain” LP on Italy’s Second Sleep label have all been further evidence of this musical deconstruction and deepening journey down the rabbit hole of musique concrete.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWanda Group’s brilliance is demonstrated through the use of juxtaposition of multiple levels. Johnstone’s recurring use of liquid, aqueous sounds are paired with the stifling hiss of room recordings, pitting oceanic vastness and claustrophobic confinement against each other. The muffled sounds of distance clash with magnified texture, giving birth to a palpable dynamic tension. The warm organics of tapping, squeaking, shuffling, scraping, and other sonic by-products of human physicality’s interaction with its surroundings are paired with the eerie coldness and faceless sterility of electronic frequency detritus and mechanical noise pollution. The result of all this constant friction is the atmosphere of anxiety and dread that has become a signature of the Wanda Group sound world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough “Ornate Circular” seems to be constructed from various tape and field recordings, electronic signal processing, radio interference and digital effects, Wanda Group refuses to make these elements the emphasis of the work or give any clues as to their origin. What Johnstone presents us with instead is purely the creative manipulation of the sounds of earthly existence, void of context or traditional musical structure. His masterful use of layering and composition gives the work a deeply personal expression of abstract sound, perhaps meant for the artist alone to fully know the meaning behind. As humans, it is our nature to want to assign a reality-based narrative to sounds we cannot see the source of, but Wanda Group denies us this through the complete deconstruction and rearrangement of everyday sounds, creating a totality of abstraction which nullifies context altogether.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComes with free digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567663472863,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567663407327,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567663440095,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA086.jpg?v=1714759617"},{"product_id":"jake-meginsky-seven-psychotropic-sinewave-palindromes-cassette-digital","title":"Jake Meginsky - Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrand new work from Northampton, Massachusetts percussionist and electronic producer Jake Meginsky. Known best for his solo work both under his own name as well as the Vapor Gourds moniker, Meginsky has also been highly active in collaborative groups such as Slaughterhouse Percussion with John Truscinski, and F\/I\/P with guitarist Bill Nace. After last year’s brilliant “Vandals” LP on Open Mouth and Vapor Gourds’ “Incision Objects” LP on Fogged, Meginsky starts 2016 off fresh with “Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes” for NNA.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBringing new ideas to the realm of electronic minimalism, Meginsky strips down the sound world of this composition to four basic elements – sine waves, square waves, white noise, and an 808 kick drum. While these four sounds may be commonplace in the world of electronic music, the results here are anything but. There is enough diversity in the application of these rudiments that the listener quickly forgets about their inherent limitations, and opens up to a new cohesive listening experience. Using an advanced ear for psychoacoustic phenomenon and microtonal textures, Meginsky goes far beyond merely layering these four sound elements, but instead is able to assign them unique relationships to one another through careful composition, creating a refreshing new style that sits somewhere between musique concrete, techno, noise, footwork, IDM, and contemporary electronic music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs an experienced percussionist, Meginsky takes highly advanced concepts of rhythm and tempo and applies them to these digital sound sources. The influence of percussion is further evident through the emphasis on sonic physicality through extreme dynamics, and Meginsky shows a firm understanding of the effect that sound can have on the human body. Powerful bass, hissing high end white noise, and rhythmic mid range textures interact with one another to produce constant movement and a driving directional flow, not to mention palpable physical sensations in the ears and brain. Unlike acoustic percussion, however, the tone and mood of the piece feels alien and inhuman, and any traces of the warmth of humanity are forgone to give way to electronic purity. “Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes” is proof that an artist restricting themselves to a limited palette can lead to highly creative, original, and unexpected results.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon. Material repeats on both sides.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567663702239,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567663669471,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567663735007,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA088-hires.jpg?v=1714759637"},{"product_id":"oneohtrix-point-never-rene-hell-split-lp","title":"Oneohtrix Point Never \/ Rene Hell - Split LP","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2213017127\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/split\"\u003e'Split' by Oneohtrix Point Never \/ Rene Hell\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA's second split LP unites two American artists on the cutting edge of experimental electronic music: Brooklyn's Oneohtrix Point Never and Los Angeles' Rene Hell. Daniel Lopatin and Jeff Witscher have each been working tirelessly in the US underground for the last several years, releasing progressive, forward-thinking, and highly acclaimed music under a wide variety of guises and manifestations. In 2012, we see them each offering their respective unique visions and interpretations of digital music in the modern world, processing the world around us through the lens of technology and modern sound.\u003cbr\u003e\nOneohtrix Point Never brings us \"Music For Reliquary House\", which consists of sonic reworkings from the \"Reliquary House\" audio\/visual installation, a collaboration between Lopatin and video artist Nate Boyce. In a series of five pieces, Lopatin delivers a sequence of hallucinatory informatic assaults, a satirical re-envisioning of modernist sculpture. Picking up where 2011's \"Replica\" left off, OPN uses digital technology to dissect human speech patterns and timbres almost beyond recognition. Via computer, Lopatin converts pieces of text to human speech, only to dismantle it entirely, surgically reassembling the scraps of frequencies and the shrapnel of pure sound into something new altogether… starkly melodic at times, but altogether harsh and inhuman as a whole.\u003cbr\u003e\nRene Hell presents \"In 1980 I Was A Blue Square\", a suite of five pieces for piano, synthesizer, and computer. Juxtaposing mid 20th century classical music with chaotic electronic blasts, Witscher creates his own style of contemporary music that is peaceful and violent on top of itself, creating a rift of confusion that sits nicely between more vast, soundscape-like vignettes. Witscher's previous forays into the worlds of noise and ambient are tastefully apparent here, indicative of an artist who is able to retain a broad array of influences and use them in a way that is both personal and original.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMastered and cut by Lupo at Dubplates \u0026amp; Mastering, Berlin.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567664423135,"sku":"LP-NNA-051","price":9.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567664455903,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567664488671,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA051-1.jpg?v=1714759684"},{"product_id":"die-reihe-housed","title":"die Reihe - Housed","description":"\u003cp\u003eNNA Tapes presents “Housed”, the latest work from die Reihe, the project of New York City based sound artist and engineer Jack Callahan. After years of experimenting with electronic music, composition, and modular systems, the recent work of die Reihe has found Callahan operating on the outermost extremes of conceptual art, the avant garde, and minimalism. Crafting a unique style over the years through a series of live performances and releases on labels such as Ascetic House, Jeff Witscher’s Salon, and his own Bánh Mì Verlag imprint, Callahan has more recently distilled his approach to composition by holding a microscope to various genres of music and focusing on a single element within them. On “Housed”, Callahan turns his lens to this classic style of dance music and investigates one often overlooked component – the chords.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing his personal knowledge of and passion for House music, Callahan has extracted the chords from over 250 classic House tracks by 150+ artists, and used them as the building blocks for composition, much like his dissection of Trap music drum fills on his “Trap Studies” cassette (Anòmia, 2015). These rhythmless chords, which range from quick synth stabs, pulsing bass swells, jazzy piano notes, and warm electronic melodies, take on new life when separated from their beat-laden former bodies. Typically used for live DJ mixing to create overlapping seamless segues between tracks, these chords are rarely heard on their own in a club context, and are now liberated by die Reihe to exist as sound alone without being tied to the function of rhythm inherent in dance music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs opposed to the more expected approach of using these chords as the raw source material to be manipulated with digital processing, effects, or layering, die Reihe opts out of personal artistic expression and instead assumes the role of “Organizer”, presenting the sounds raw and as-is, in two arbitrary seamless combinations: randomized (Side A), and shortest to longest (Side B). This approach relates in some ways to Cage’s systems of Chance operations, as well as to Kenneth Goldsmith’s ideas on “Uncreativity”, or to more Dadaist procedures such as Assemblage or Duchamp’s “Readymade” works. By keeping the artist’s hand very light and recontextualizing the sounds within music from a highly conceptual standpoint, die Reihe is able to transform the dimly lit kinetic energy of a dance club into the stark white walls of a gallery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567664652511,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567664685279,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA093.jpg?v=1714759703"},{"product_id":"lea-bertucci","title":"Lea Bertucci - All That Is Solid Melts Into Air","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’ is a collection of new compositions from New York City-based sound artist, performer, and composer Lea Bertucci. As a performer, Bertucci has worked primarily with amplified woodwind instruments, creating enigmatic electro-acoustic interventions of the bass clarinet and saxophone in conjunction with tape collage and electronics. Her latest release on NNA, however, explores her work as a composer, which investigates extended acoustic resonance on classical instruments and their potential to powerfully occupy physical space. The two sides of this cassette contain two different pieces that exist around a common concept – the live performance of extended technique on stringed instruments, and the otherworldly way that the resulting sound exists in the space in which it is created.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first piece, “The Cepheid Variations”, is a recent piece for viola, cello, and magnetic tape collage, premiered in January 2015 as the first performance of Bertucci’s 2015 ISSUE Project Room Residency. Born out of an interest in the timbral and acoustic possibilities of harmonics, these pieces combine extended techniques for cello (performed by Leila Bordreuil), viola (performed by Jeanann Dara), combined with live concrete sound generated from magnetic tape, performed by Bertucci herself. Drawing upon the natural acoustics of ISSUE’s 22 Boerum Place theater, “The Cepheid Variations” examines the movement of sound in space through the use of dissonance, wide dynamic fluctuations, and particular sonic textures. Beginning with a pensive, ghostly landscape, the viola and cello explore glassy, fragile frequencies to their most powerful capability. A variety of bowing techniques are utilized by the performers, from slow, meandering pulses to frenetic scraping. Each subtlety in the physical manipulation of the instrument reveals new variations to the overall tension of the piece. The introduction of tape collage expands and adds dimension, introducing new frequencies into the sound field that cleverly juxtaposes the live instrumentation with pre-recorded sonic material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second piece, “Double Bass Crossfade”, positions two double bassists (James Ilgenfritz and Sean Ali) at opposite corners of the Knockdown Center’s 50,000 square foot main room. The instruments are wirelessly amplified, allowing the performers to slowly move across the room over the course of 40 minutes, meeting in the center and then crossing to each other’s original starting positions. Using a custom installed 10-channel sound system, the sounds of the performer’s instruments are dynamically routed from speaker to speaker according to their physical position, creating in their wake a mutable, engulfing sound field. The piece begins with the hypnotic, gentle bowing of the bass in its upper registers, but gains intensity as the piece progresses, finding its most powerful moments with a loud, rumbling low end that showcases the incredible acoustic power of the double bass. Tremendous depth is achieved through the layering of contrasting harmonics from each player, as the two performers engage with each other in focused technique, listening intently and creating a symbiosis through sound. Condensed from the original 10-channels to the stereo field for the purposes of this release, duality is the emphasis of this piece – in the musicians, their physical positioning, and their location in the stereo field. But as they eventually reach the lower ends of the register, the sounds they produce blend and fuse together into one raucous, engulfing whole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two pieces on this cassette demonstrate the incredible amount of dynamic diversity that can be achieved by the phenomenon of vibrating metallic strings. Resonance and frequency are thoroughly explored with thought, care, and dedication. These works reveal a fresh voice in new music, while also championing the pioneers of the 20th century avant-garde – recalling the tonal curiosity of Ligeti, the emotional power and sensitivity of Arvo Part, the strident minimalism of Tony Conrad, and the unflinching violence of George Crumb. Bertucci exhibits a keen and perceptive ear for nuanced acoustic sound, and a passion for focused musical investigation is made evident through her compositions. Stepping aside from the role of performer, ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’ shows us a different side of Bertucci’s repertoire – that of the writer and composer. This album reinforces her talents not only as a player, but as an imaginative explorer of music’s more cerebral and metaphysical outer limits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Bertucci’s compositions are stark, resonant, and certainly something to behold” – Ad Hoc\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Bertucci uses strings (and tape\/amplification) to mirror the vibrations of breath, making near-hypnotic rhythms that seem circular even as they are continuously changing” – Tiny Mix Tapes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“One gets the sense that Bertucci arrives at her work not with an idea to impose, but a question to develop.” – Pitchfork\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567665307871,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567665275103,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567665340639,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA097-HiRes.jpg?v=1714759732"},{"product_id":"patrick-higgins-josh-modney-evrly-mvsic","title":"Patrick Higgins \u0026 Josh Modney","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1787015233\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/nnatapes.bandcamp.com\/album\/evrly-mvsic\"\u003e'EVRLY MVSIC' by Patrick Higgins \u0026amp; Josh Modney\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWe’re very proud to have the innovative composer and performer Patrick Higgins return to NNA Tapes, this time in a duo format with acclaimed violinist Josh Modney. On 2015’s ‘Social Death Mixtape,’ we witnessed Higgins’ talents as a composer, creating intricate electroacoustic compositions with a variety of performers. On ‘EVRLY MVSIC’ however, we hear Higgins as a skilled performer on his primary instrument, the guitar. Josh Modney comes from a similar background, having established himself as a prominent figure in New York City’s New Music circuit, with work ranging from the chamber music group International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), to composer-performer collective Wet Ink Ensemble. Having shared the stage together for the past 5 years both as improvisers and as chamber musicians, the foundation of ’EVRLY MVSIC’ is built on a long term musical connection between Modney and Higgins, a bond that is made evident throughout these recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOn ‘EVRLY MVSIC,’ the two performers have taken the concept of “Early Music” \u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eas a stimulus to inspire performances of acoustic improvisation that aim at a compositional tightness, creating a musical framework based more around the feeling, rather than the sound, of Medieval struggle. Tightly coiled around highly virtuosic and austere interactions, Higgins and Modney harness the essence of Early Music both in sentiment as well as gesture, using guitar and violin in unorthodox ways that sometimes recall the sounds of early stringed instruments such as the oud and viol. Each instrument inherently carries the capacity for both classical beauty and textural violence, both of which are employed with tasteful skill and execution. Improvisation in this project is neither free nor, strictly speaking, structured. Instead, it is aimed at an emergent form in the instant, looking toward song structure in the most novel and ancient sense. Noise and extended technique are used to create a lyrical aching quality, while melody is used to create unsettling noise. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eThroughout the album, EVRLY MVSIC displays a linear progression of material, building over the course of three \"Partitas.” The first two utilize an arcane, sparse musical language of plucked sounds strangely reminiscent of Renaissance lute music, advancing to a lushly harmonized set of microtonal, cantabile pieces that explore the full expressive range of violin and acoustic guitar. What furthermore adds to the uniqueness of this album, however, is the third Partita, which introduces electric guitar and real-time electronic processing on both instruments to culminate in an expansive, relentlessly energetic display of refreshing new sounds. The original acoustic palette of guitar and violin is retained, but vastly expanded upon, injecting a dense, unpredictable modern edge into the archaic atmosphere. ‘EVRLY MVSIC’ presents an incredibly original fusion between ancient European musical history and distinctly American experimentalism, hinged on the nexus between improvisation and chamber music, and fueled by a deeply personal musical alliance.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666421983,"sku":"CS-NNA-103","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567666487519,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567666454751,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA103.jpg?v=1714759820"},{"product_id":"ahnnu-special-forces","title":"Ahnnu - Special Forces","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1722172805\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/ahnnu.bandcamp.com\/album\/special-forces\"\u003e'Special Forces' by Ahnnu\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe’re delighted to welcome Los Angeles-based producer Ahnnu, aka Leland Jackson, back to NNA Tapes to share his brilliant new full-length album ‘Special Forces.’ Over the years, Jackson has made his mark on the world of electronic music production not only with his innovative works as Ahnnu, but with his footwork\/dance alias Cakedog as well. Following up the 2013 NNA release ‘Battered Sphinx,’ and more recently 2015’s ‘Perception’ on Leaving Records, Ahnnu returns to push his sound collage expeditions further into the deep beyond by excavating fragments and ethos from music history’s past and infusing them with the electronic frequencies of a future landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Special Forces’ manifests as series of thematic, stripped-down electronic works, brought to life through the thoughtful arrangement of dynamic new sounds in combinations that produce maximum effects from minimal presence. This less-is-more approach conjures a distinct array of moods and emotions through pure sound, gaining power through repetition and the subtle compositional shifts that disrupt them. Rhythm and melody often interlock as one through forward-thinking sequencing, prompting delicate hypnosis through complex syncopation. More than ever, Ahnnu operates within a highly unique sound palette unlike anything else happening in contemporary music. Though unlike his previous work, there are very few samples on ‘Special Forces’ - Jackson instead opts to turn the sampling process on himself, extracting and manipulating fragments of his own personal experiments with electronic synthesis and patch creation, reanimating them as he would with the traditional sampling of field recordings or other music. Ahnnu’s roots in left-field beatmaking are retained on these recordings, and his originality lies in his use of the production techniques and processes of hip-hop, dance music, and street artforms to produce high brow experimental works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe resulting tracks often evoke a jagged science fiction - the calibration of starship bridge equipment, extra terrestrial cafe ambiance, snippets of robotic conversational clamor on a sandcrawler Uber ride, or the gripping tension of radar blips while tracking the enemy through a VR headset. Jackson’s work with dance music as Cakedog shines through at moments in tracks like “Latro” and “War Stage,” with subtle melodic House-style chords and traditional kicks and hi-hats permeating the mix. Above all, ’Special Forces’ seems to trace the lineage of early electronic music through its most formative stages, carrying the essence of the fervent discovery of new, exciting sounds through the embracing of technology. The album also seems to draw inspiration from ideologies such as Debussy’s “tone poems” and Satie’s “wallpaper music,” up through the original tenements of Ambient music established by Eno, Fripp, and other pioneers. The sounds of cold mechanics and electricity are given life through innovative production, effective composition, and gestural phrasing, while retaining the life and vivacity of the expressionist tendencies of jazz and classical music. This is music that sounds as though it could be familiar throughout the cosmos, but remains as-of-yet undiscovered in the current third dimensional time\/space of our earthly realm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVinyl LP comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP + Tee Shirt (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666847967,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666815199,"sku":"LP-NNA-107","price":18.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":46446296957151,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":46446296989919,"sku":null,"price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA107-digital-border.jpg?v=1714759859"},{"product_id":"lea-bertucci-metal-aether","title":"Lea Bertucci - Metal Aether","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3523225868\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leabertucci.bandcamp.com\/album\/metal-aether\"\u003e'Metal Aether' by Lea Bertucci\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe’re excited to welcome New York City-based composer and performer Lea Bertucci back to NNA for a brand new full-length LP, ‘Metal Aether.’ Lea’s early 2017 cassette release ‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’ focused on her role as a composer, with a hand-picked selection of talented musicians performing her minimal compositions. ‘Metal Aether’ instead showcases her role as a performer, revealing four pieces that represent approximately 3 years of ideas and gestures for alto saxophone and magnetic tape. Expanding on 2014’s ‘Light Silence, Dark Speech’ as well as 2015’s ‘Axis\/Atlas,’ ‘Metal Aether’ develops a language of extended technique for alto saxophone that is based on a spectral, psychoacoustic, and non-linguistic approach to the instrument.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuch like the recordings of her previous NNA release, ‘Metal Aether’ continues to explore Lea’s acute interest in the nature of acoustics and the harmonic accumulation of sound, with it’s four pieces having been recorded in Le Havre, France in a former military base, and in New York City, at ISSUE Project Room. With her horn, Lea produces pulsing minimalist patterns, transcendent drones, and upper register squalls that envelop these spaces in waves of overtones, microtones, and psychoacoustic effects. Tracks like “Accumulations” explore evocative, ancient-sounding melodic figures, while tracks like “Sustain and Dissolve” relish in the microtonal relationships between overlapping sustained notes. Aside from the saxophone, Bertucci further interacts with physical space by fortifying these pieces with manipulated field recordings from diverse locations, ranging from Mayan pyramids to NYC subways. Other instruments such as prepared piano and vibraphone can be heard on this album, processed through tape to unite melody and texture together as one. Lea displays a firm grasp of the inherent possibilities of sound manipulation to maximize her music’s power through the recording process itself, mixing conflicting fidelities to achieve a deeper, more organic form of expression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout 2017, Lea fully dedicated her creative efforts toward exploring and informing her music through a variety of disciplines. In addition to recording ‘Metal Aether,’ she wrote and performed during multiple residencies, toured rigorously throughout North America and Europe, organized site-specific sonic events with the SITE:SOUND series, and published her first book “The Tonebook,” a collection of graphic scores by 17 avant-garde composers. Through these endeavors, Lea immerses herself in the essential principles of true musicianship: study, performance, curation, literature, and experimentation. It is with these tools that she connects herself with sound in all of it’s forms - live, recorded, situational, natural, and unnatural. All of these elements come together to inform the pieces found on this album, creating a sophisticated, multi-faceted, and highly personal body of work. ‘Metal Aether’ feels like the defining statement from an artist in elevated control of their form - a summary of concepts, ideas, and emotions given life from one’s mind and heart. Lea demonstrates the desirable ability to use her art to sincerely communicate in a language of one’s own personal invention, utilizing music and sound for their most meaningful and human purposes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"'Metal Aether'\/'Resonant Field' 2xLP","offer_id":45567666946271,"sku":"LP-NNA-108-1","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Limited Edition 12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666880735,"sku":"LP-NNA-108","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567666913503,"sku":"CD-NNA-108","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":46555104608479,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567666979039,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA108-digital-border.jpg?v=1714759871"},{"product_id":"leya-the-fool","title":"LEYA - The Fool","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=620090240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leya.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-fool\"\u003eThe Fool by LEYA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA is honored to present ‘\u003cstrong\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/strong\u003e,’ the debut album from NYC-based duo \u003cstrong\u003eLEYA\u003c\/strong\u003e. Violinist \u003cstrong\u003eAdam Markiewicz\u003c\/strong\u003e (The Dreebs) and harpist \u003cstrong\u003eMarilu Donovan\u003c\/strong\u003e have succeeded in creating an incredibly original sound for their project. They combine modernity and antiquity with their chosen instruments by taking ideas from contemporary pop and experimental music, and seamlessly integrating them into classical instrumentation and moods. Utilizing a combination of normal and detuned intervals together with ethereal layered vocals, the resulting sound of LEYA is unmistakable and haunting. It is both ancient and singular in tone, but remains open to the influences and ideas of the modern day underground in it’s structural simplicity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLEYA aims to deconstruct the traditional connotations of the harp and violin by luxuriating in the deviant juxtaposition of ugliness vs. beauty. These two stringed instruments are most commonly associated with classical beauty, but by altering their sound through unorthodox tunings, extended techniques, amplification, and effects, Donovan and Markiewicz are able to mine the depths of their darker, more unsettling capacities. The tuning system created for Donovan’s harp is specific to the project, and was discovered by chance. Rather than being driven by scientific or conceptual intentions, this tuning is chosen based on it’s sound alone, giving LEYA a defined identity that embraces human instinct and imperfection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe duo achieves a deeper contrast by seeking to write pop songs with simple, transparent forms. The song structures are left open and sparse in the spirit of creating clear and simple sonic terrain that is meant to grab the listener emotionally, rather than forcing them to analyze the material. The staccato harp pluckings are complemented by long, sustained notes and chords from the violin, creating a dynamic foundation of strings for the vocals to fill in the cracks and crevices. In this sense, the dual vocals are used almost as a textural element or third instrument, where the way the words actually sound takes precedence over the lyrical content. The slow, drawn-out compositional pace of these songs brings them closer to “ambient” territory, enhancing the evocative qualities of the instruments while floating carefully between eerie dissonance and the angelic higher stratospheres of transcendent beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latter half of ‘The Fool’ brings in a series of guest collaborators from the modern American experimental underground, showing the range of experience and influence that informs LEYA’s sound. Eartheater, PC Worship, and Sunk Heaven each contribute their own signature style to the tracks, but also adapt remarkably well to LEYA’s sound world, due to the open, yet firmly distinct, sonic identity established by Markiewicz and Donovan. In this sense, the power of ‘The Fool’ lies not only in it’s elegant simplicity, but in it’s ability to employ classically expressive atmosphere to suspend the listener in a blissful state of confusion, where the feeling of sound itself is more important than where it comes from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMastered by James Plotkin.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIllustration by Jennifer May Reiland.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567667273951,"sku":"CS-NNA-113","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":46452044103903,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":46452044136671,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA113-digital-border-e1648054427926.png?v=1714759909"},{"product_id":"leya","title":"LEYA - Flood Dream","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1936523724\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leya.bandcamp.com\/album\/flood-dream\"\u003eFlood Dream by LEYA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eFramed within a network of outlying artists whose experiments sketch out far-flung deviations from aboveground movements, the work of New York-based duo \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e stands out as an anomaly that exemplifies the idiosyncratic impulses of the avant fringe. Harpist\/vocalist Marilu Donovan and violinist\/vocalist Adam Markiewicz seem from a sidelong perspective to approximate the languages of neo-classical performance and post-minimalist exploration in their austere, meticulously rendered compositions. In truth, the duo’s own self-perception casts their project closer to the axis of noise and punk than conventional refinement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs formally educated composers acutely aware of the traditions and conventions into which their instruments fit, Donovan and Markiewicz exploit preconceptions and confound expectations by pursuing the most transportive and emotional means of communication with their audience. Just as their peers warp systems of electronics or tropes from the pop and rock traditions, \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e channel the surface signifiers of orchestral music and 20th century classical composition into deeply personal works that encompass bursts of raw dissonance alongside moments of spectral beauty. The duo’s performances shift the spotlight from the authority figure looming over an ensemble of players to those planted in the corner of a dimly lit basement populated with freaks who can’t help but fall into silence when confronted with the duo’s bewildering stimuli.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s album \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e follows the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/em\u003e (NNA, 2018) and their soundtrack to PornHub-exclusive short film \u003cem\u003eI Love You\u003c\/em\u003e directed by Brooke Candy. \u003cem\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/em\u003e presented the project both in densely plotted duo pieces and joint efforts with New York luminaries like Eartheater, PC Worship, and Sunk Heaven. Though guests from \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s wide social environment appear on \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e, including vocalist\/producer GABI, flautist\/synthesist John Also Bennett of Forma, and bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause, the album pares back the presence of external artists as full co-writing collaborators to highlight the raw core of the duo’s practice. \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e plays out as a decadent feast of the senses struck through with the disturbed influence of intrusive thoughts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album’s pieces each follow their own sinuous narrative arc, building from empty expanses of detuned harp arpeggios and languid smears of violin into climaxes draped in Markiewicz's impassioned vocal lines. \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e generate tension with their darkly operatic sense of drama, conveyed in weeping melodies and the desolation of solitary notes against blank backdrops, as they dole out fragments of resolution or momentary triumph before sinking back into uncertainty. Their arrangements bridge instances of baroque ornamentation and blocks of harmonic density with stretches of fugue state-inducing confusion built over dreary standing tones and repeated dissonant intervals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an industry obsessed with precise classification, how do we make sense of the ambiguous shadow \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e casts over the landscape? The duo reject the tenets of the new music establishment and thrive within a scene of noise transgressors and electronic auteurs. In all of its indulgence and emotional upheaval, their music adapts as easily to the context of arthouse pornography as to a late-night bill populated with no wave acts and performance artists, without ever coming off as a harsh juxtaposition. \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s music reveals that the boundaries between these disciplines aren’t boundaries at all — that everything pours from the same well into different vessels that might be carried off in opposite directions, but always return to a shared source.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eAll songs written and performed by LEYA\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eRecorded and mixed by Alexis Berthelot at Outlier Inn and Studio G\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eGABI’s vocals recorded by Eric Littmann\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eMastered by Chris Weiss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eGabrielle Herbst (GABI) sings on Weight\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eJohn Also Bennett plays flutes on Mariah and synthesizers on Flow\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eTristan Kasten-Krause plays bass on Mariah and First Way\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003ePhotography by Serge Serum\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eCalligraphy by Leo Gutman\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLayout by Matt Mayer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLEYA is Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567670452447,"sku":"LP-NNA-122","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567670485215,"sku":"CD-NNA-122","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567670517983,"sku":null,"price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567670550751,"sku":null,"price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/LEYA_Flood_Dream.jpg?v=1720877592"},{"product_id":"bendrix-littleton","title":"Bendrix Littleton - Deep Dark South","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=53799671\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bendrixlittleton.bandcamp.com\/album\/deep-dark-south\"\u003eDeep Dark South by Bendrix Littleton\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eBendrix Littleton is the writing and recording project of Nashville-via-Dallas musician Bennett Littlejohn. The project’s namesake, Maurice Bendrix—the protagonist of Graham Greene’s 1951 novel \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe End of the Affair\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e—is described by enotes.com as \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“sometimes an unreliable narrator, for he is so consumed by jealousy, self-pity, self-hatred, and bitterness, that he measures everyone else by himself…\u003cand\u003e confesses that from time to time ‘a demon’ takes possession of his brain.” It’s an appropriate moniker for the self-aware, malaise-filled songs of Bendrix Littleton’s debut, \u003c\/and\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDeep Dark South\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, due out September 25 from NNA Tapes. While in the album is imbued with the contradictions and painful beauty of the modern American South (as opposed to Greene’s WWII-era London), the hazy, solitary narrative voice remains.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFormerly one half of the “NyQuil-Pop” duo Bent Denim (dissolved in the summer of 2018), Littlejohn sought a fresh outlet that was more individual and freed from any preconceived artistic notions. During this time Littlejohn began taking on significantly more studio work, including production credits on Hovvdy’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHeavy Lifter \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e(out now on Double Double Whammy), new material from Katy Kirby (out on Keeled Scales), and forthcoming work from Sinai Vessel. While production on this music was deeply rewarding, it was nonetheless work that was beholden to someone else’s vision. And it was out of this craving for artistic autonomy that Bendrix Littleton was born. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDeep Dark South \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehas provided a space for Littlejohn to experiment, collage, write, and record in a completely independent manner—a long-awaited and welcome zone of unfettered creation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eOn the singular writing and recording process of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDeep Dark South\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, Littlejohn states:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe initial spurt of songwriting was directly correlated to a vintage Harmony H162 acoustic guitar I found at a flea market in Kentucky, near the Tennessee border. This guitar would’ve been sold at Sears in the early 60’s. I strung it up with all of the higher pitched strings from a 12-string acoustic set and got to writing. A lot of rich, burnt-out musicians affectedly claim that there are ‘songs in guitars’ to justify their ever-growing guitar collections, but I do feel there is an ounce of truth in this. The way something feels, or the faults of a certain instrument indeed can bring out something unique and new. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eOnce the basic bedrock of the record had been tracked, I realized that the songs were too slow, my voice was too low…a spark was missing. My brother had just sent me my old Tascam four track cassette recorder. So, I spent a little time with that, and ended up committing these songs in their unfinished states to fixed tracks on this old tape machine—no editing, no panning, no volume changing. Driving the cassette tape hard and speeding the songs up (which also raises the pitch), gave this album that special aspect I had been looking for, and also provided a completely fucked up and new sonic foundation for me to start layering on top of.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd on the themes and sensibility of the album itself, Littlejohn says:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThroughout the record I deal with the common tropes of alcohol\/drug abuse, malaise, ennui, regional junk, and the dissolution of relationships. It’s well-trod ground, but I'd rather write what feels genuine rather than something foreign for the sake of novelty. It feels ridiculous enough to put out something in 2020…so much noise to break through. But I feel like these are common enough things. I wouldn’t say these things are universal, but they're not far from it.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDeep Dark South \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eis out on September 25 from NNA Tapes. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567673991391,"sku":"CS-NNA-130","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567673925855,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567673958623,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/Bendrix_Littleton_Deep_Dark_South.jpg?v=1720877477"},{"product_id":"talsounds_6422","title":"TALsounds - Shift","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3086202958\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/talsounds.bandcamp.com\/album\/shift\"\u003eShift by TALsounds\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eLebanese-Canadian musician Natalie Chami records music under the moniker TALsounds. Surrounded by an arsenal of synths and electronics, Chami sculpts intimate electro-acoustic sessions that straddle the line between improvised performance and deliberate composition, carried by her affecting vocal performances and gradually accumulating networks of looped synth figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Shift,' Chami’s third LP release, follows 2020’s 'Acquiesce' (NNA Tapes) and 2017’s 'Love Sick' (Ba Da Bing!), and joins a catalog of albums released on cassette by labels including Hausu Mountain, Tabs Out, and Moog’s own in-house imprint. While Chami’s performance tactics and conception of her project continue along the path she laid with her previous works, 'Shift' marks a number of major changes to her practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded exclusively with hardware digital and FM synthesizers, the album trades a measure of the warmth of Chami’s trademark analog synth sound for a more willfully crisp, icy tonal palette. Compared to the often dense sessions seen across her catalog in which her loops layer and build into towering climaxes, 'Shift' highlights a more minimalist strain of Chami’s work, shifting the lens closer to the molecules of her synth and vocal performances and allowing each element to breathe in wider spaces within her austere mixes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChami made it a point when conceptualizing the album to work on its post-production aspects with women that share her Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) descent, knowing that such collaborators could best illuminate the spirit of the work and present it in the way she imagined. Oakland-based Afghan-American producer Maryam Qudus mixed the album and added additional subtle production treatments to Chami’s recordings. Brooklyn-based Egyptian audio engineer Heba Kadry brought the album into its final incarnation with her mastering. Chicago-based Palestinian visual artist Mary Hazboun drew the album’s striking cover image. Arab American, Washington DC-based photographer Farrah Skeiky captured Chami’s portraits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChami explains that 'Shift' and its stream-of-consciousness vocals derive their energy from the upheavals in her life. She describes a sense of nostalgia upon returning to live in the D.C. area, feeling like she’s eighteen again as she’s bombarded by the memories unlocked by her physical surroundings. 'Shift' captures all of this in its dynamic spread of spontaneous emotional atmospheres, from queasiness to elation to tranquility to confusion. More than overtly trying to symbolize those feelings with specific musical gestures, TALsounds follows her hands and her voice wherever they might lead her, and then remembers the emotional resonance that led her in that direction as she looks over what came out of her. While this process draws her artistic practice and her personal life together into a tight circuit, 'Shift's final presentation leaves room for interpretation. Whatever words reach us, whatever we might know of Chami’s life, the album draws power and beauty from its ambiguity.\u003cbr\u003ecredits\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTALsounds is Natalie Chami\u003cbr\u003eAll songs improvised, performed, recorded, and produced by Natalie Chami at home in Chicago, IL and Alexandria, VA between August 8, 2020 and March 12, 2022\u003cbr\u003eMixing and additional production by Maryam Qudus at Best House\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Heba Kadry, NYC\u003cbr\u003eArt by Mary Hazboun aka The Art of Weeping\u003cbr\u003eThanks to Dan, Max, and Forest\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Late Shift Neon\" 12\" LP (with Digital Download)","offer_id":45567680938207,"sku":"LP-NNA-151","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567680970975,"sku":"","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567681003743,"sku":"","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/TALsounds_Shift.jpg?v=1720876989"},{"product_id":"the-necks-next","title":"The Necks - Next","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1080646415\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenecksau.bandcamp.com\/album\/next\"\u003eNext by The Necks\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlthough Next is officially the group's second release, tracks 1 and 3 (Garl's and Pele) are infact the first studio recordings the Necks ever made. In contrast to the single track form of Sex (their first album), Next contains 6 tracks - some of which see the band augmented by various guests namely; Dave Brewer on guitar; Michel Rose on pedal steel; Mike Bukovsky on trumpet; and Timothy Hopkins on saxophone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe album's tracks are varied in style with elegant minimalism sitting alongside Eno-esque programming and sombre orchestration.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Sublime. Six pieces, all of them beautifully played and perfectly controlled\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e–Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy Label Group","offers":[{"title":"CD + Digital","offer_id":46167573659871,"sku":"CD-FOM-0001","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"FLAC Download","offer_id":46167573692639,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":46167573725407,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/a3993516095_10.jpg?v=1722006794"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/mood-austere.oembed?page=2","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}