Galbraith / Neilson / Youngs ‎- Belsayer Time

Alastair Galbraith alongside Alex Neilson (aka Directing Hand) and Richard Youngs.

This was released on Time-Lag Records in 2006. Everything on that label is stunning including the amount of detail and time that goes into the packaging. Alastair, Alex and Richard on vinyl on Time-Lag? Yeah, I bought it as soon as it came out!

Belsayer Time

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Alastair Galbraith - Little Boat (Live)

Alastair Galbraith is another absolute legend of New Zealand's long list of inspirational musicians. How do those islands manage to keep producing such people?

This is a CDr released in an edition of 50 on his own Nextbestway label in 2008 that was only available via Glasgow's Volcanic Tongue. This features two live sets in Dunedin from 2000 and 2003 respectively. It is wonderful.

Little Boat (Live)

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Kommissar Hjuler und Frau & Dada Action Group - Anticipation-Reunion

Dada Action Group has a loose membership, the only constant of which seems to be Mark Schomberg of Yeast Culture, though it also sometimes includes Rudolv Eb.er of Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock and others. This CDR was made using source material supplied by Kommissar Hjuler & Mama Bar, and (barely) released in a numbered edition of 9 copies on Hjuler's SHMF label. Yes, those are three peanuts glued to the front cover. I have no idea why, but you probably shouldn't eat them. 

Kommissar Hjuler und Frau & Dada Action Group - Anticipation-Reunion

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Phew - Phew

Phew is the nom de plume of Hiromi Moritani. On this LP (released on Pass Records in 1981) she is joined by German über-legends Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit and Conny Plank. It is every bit as good as the cast list would suggest ... an exceptional album of early eighties post-punk electronica!

Phew

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Humectant Interruption & Rorn - Split

Another head-scratcher from Humectant Interruption, barely-conscious fiddling around and shuffling across a room wearing shoes made out of used Brillo pads, periodically pausing for a few moments' nap. Beats me. Rorn's side is more DIY industrial stomp, and is a relatively good time. This tape came out on Heresee in 2003.

Humectant Interruption & Rorn - Split

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Humectant Interruption - Untitled

Very odd cassette of anti-music by Joel St. Germain/Humectant Interruption, who ran the extraordinary Spite Tapes label in the late 1990s. One side consists of a single tape loop coming out of one speaker and something utterly unrelated out of the other. The other side is a low-level, action-resistant scrape. No idea what the source (or intention) could be. It came out in a numbered edition of 50 copies in a stapled-together flimsy paper envelope.

Humectant Interruption - Untitled

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Various ‎- American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)

CD released on Revenant ‎in 1997.

As you sashay across your living space to these (previously) potentially lost recordings of Country Blues, Ragtime, Bluegrass and Gospel, raise a glass to our predecessors and particularly to John!

Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)

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Various ‎- American Primitive Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939)

God Bless John Fahey and all who sailed with him!

Without John's absolute passion, a huge part of the American folk tradition would be only known to a hermetically sealed group of archivists.

This is a double CD released on John Fahey's Revenant label in 2005.

Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939) Disc 1

Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939) Disc 2

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John Fahey - Blind Joe Death

This is an utterly sublime LP from one of the greatest guitarists.

This was originally released on his own Takomo label in 1959 and has had periodic re-releases since then with different track lists. I reckon that this is the 1964 version.

On the A Side you get reworkings of traditional songs and country blues and the B Side is all of John's original work. It is a joyous event and will make you smile for a long time!

The post below is so obviously a doff of the hat to Mr Fahey (who died in 2001). It took a comment below to make me realise that I actually knew that to be the case. Anyway, just embrace this record!

Blind Joe Death

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Loren Mazzacane Connors & Christina Carter - Meditations On The Ascension Of Blind Joe Death Vol. One

Mr Connors is a cornerstone of the American "avant-garde". Christina is responsible for some of the greatest music I've heard, either on a solo basis or as a member of Charalambides or Scorces. If I was musically literate, I could describe this very well. Seeing as I am not, I suppose you will just have to listen to it and make your own mind up ...

This is an LP released on Ecstatic Yod (a meeting of minds between Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace and Byron Coley's Father Yod) in 2005.

Meditations

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[The User] - Symphony #1 for Dot Matrix Printers

Really clever little album of music made by feeding ASCII files into a roomful of dot matrix printers. Much more musical and intricate than you might expect, and a lot of fun!

[The User] - Symphony #1 for Dot Matrix Printers

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va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 4

Not content to make sleeves out of food wrappers, barbed wire, and x-ray transparencies, Kernkrach's fourth compilation 7" apparently made creative use of child labor, releasing it in particle board decorated by kindergarten students. Artists included Elo Blauen und Weidel Schlappen, Nostalgie Eternelle, Dr. Jekyll and Anti-Trust. This got a slightly larger pressing of 330 copies. 

va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 4

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va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 3

My favorite of Kernkrach's "2 Hemden & 2 Hosen" compilation 7"s, this came in a sleeve made from old square 7" records, held together with a metal fastener and was limited to 215 numbered copies. Artists include Kratzer (a terrific tune from their "Irrtum" tape from 1982), Casino Mariteam (an excerpt from their 1983 cassette), Quiet Life, and total unknowns Jogitschock & Mumx.

va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 3

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va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 2

This is the second volume of Kernkrach's "2 Hemden & 2 Hosen" series of 7" compilations, features vintage rough and punk minimal synth tunes from 1983 to 1986 by such unknown heroes as News On Friday and Zeno Synthesizer, Inox Kapell and Deutsche Anarchisten Taumeln Benommen Einen Schritt Zur Seite. The impressive sleeve was made from x-ray transparencies, and was limited to 200 copies on blue vinyl. 

va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 2

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va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 1

The Kernkrach label exists to reissue obscure, previously cassette-only, bedroom synth music from Germany on small edition vinyl in strangely elaborate packaging and also to find contemporary German bands whose sound owes a lot to that DIY spirit of 1980-1985. Their "2 Hemden & 2 Hosen" series of 7" singles was among the label's best. Here is the first volume, limited to 195 numbered copies, which includes a vintage low-fidelity analog tune by Markus and three modern examples by C.R.R.M., Heimcomputer 80, and Endphase. 

va - 2 Hemden & 2 Hosen vol. 1

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God Willing - First Adult Day

2008 cassette by Ren Schofield/God Willing, on Ekhein. 

God Willing - First Adult Day

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Vomir - Le Mur Bruitiste Est Non Programmable, Il A Une Fonction Heuristique: Il Révèle; Il Ne Représente Pas: Il Présente

Last year, there was news of a planned Vomir release which was to be called A Day Of Seclusion. This would have been / will be a very apt title given that it would involve a sixteen C90 boxset. Yeah, you read the previous sentence correctly: 24 hours of Romain Perrot's glorious Harsh Noise Wall! Surely, that would open up a black hole and destroy us all ...

Whilst we wait for that delightful end to all things, here is a boxset that was released on Anarcho Freaks Production in an edition of only 20 copies in 2012. This is a magnificent ten C90 set that (obviously) clocks in at 15 hours of quality HNW.

The label blog seems to have gone quiet recently but you can check the Bandcamp page whilst we wait for an update.

Tape One
Tape Two
Tape Three
Tape Four
Tape Five
Tape Six
Tape Seven
Tape Eight
Tape Nine
Tape Ten

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Various ‎- Wallwhores

Just in case you were concerned that Bleak Bliss had stopped being one big sausage party ... rest assured!

This a huge three C90 tape set released on HarshFuckedForLife Records in 2010. It features Mackenzie Chami's Insurgent project (and you might know him from Bachir Gemayel, Crown Of Cerberus and Koufar amongst others), Kevin Jansen's Un (you might also know him as Svartvit) and Missing Girls (who I know nothing about really).

These tapes came in at just over 200MB each. Just in case that messes with people who don't have an account, I've uploaded them as single sides.

A B C D E F

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MAAT - Konstruktionen

And here is the first Maat LP. Released on Dom Elchklang in 1993.

Konstruktionen

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Maat - Sie

The second Maat album, put out by Dragnet in 1993.

Maat - Sie

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