mimaroglu music sales ☞ artists ☞ david grubbs

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previous artist: growing		there are 21 titles featuring david grubbs in stock. they are listed below.		next artist: grupo nps

$13.41

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 14 cd

bastro “antlers: live 1991” compact disc

antlers (7:56)
hirscheneck (3:09)
educated fool (4:20)
metal legs (2:58)
sleepy taste (3:53)
beatlenacht (7:28)
glistery (8:36)
video: glistery / jefferson-in-drag (9:29)
video: floating home / noise/star / hirschenbeck (10:47)

blue chopsticks press release...

also includes quicktime movies of bastro
live in germany and holland.

blue chopsticks cd released on september 20, 2005

$13.41

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 11 cd

david grubbs / mats gustafsson “off-road” compact disc

rendezvous up north (12:11)
dystopian turboprop (5:53)
pumpkin creek (3:26)
three if by train (1:56)
skiing + shooting (4:58)
back off (4:54)

blue chopsticks press release...

david grubbs & mats gustafsson, off-road - bc11 cd

off-road is david grubbs and mats gustafsson's second duo recording, the follow-up to 1999's apertura. apertura consists of two long, nearly-static improvised duos for harmonium and reeds, making it perhaps the slowest, steadiest boil in either participant's discography. off-road finds the two of them forsaking their earlier, ice age m.o. for a shower of digitally re-composed slivers, the metal-on-metal timbre of a saxophone equipped with contact mics, grubbs's chiming electric guitar, and gustafsson's pro rhythm analog synthesizer clipped to the bell of his horn. turntablist henry moore selder makes a couple of guest appearances marked by sharp rhythmic counterpoint and low-frequency warbles and moans.

off-road was recorded in stockholm immediately following grubbs and gustafsson's scandinavian tour in february 2002. those shows were chaotic events that wandered from song to free-jazz freakout to tunnel of drone to digital collage to mouthless saxophone and brainless, bruising guitar. the final set of the evenings were quartet performances with the turntable and drums duo rock out (selder and niklas korssel, who also play with mats in the group djustable), and that's how henry came to make all that tone-arm rumble in the studio.

off-road has a similar range to the live shows in an even-more compacted time frame, from the improvised pop tune "pumpkin creek" to the fractured, groove-cursed "three if by train," from the meditative, still surfaces of "rendezvous up north" to the fire alarm plus plunderphonics of "back off." with off-road, an already improbable duo takes a frightening turn beyond genre. the cover photo by john flavell shows the riot that took place at louisville, kentucky's commonwealth convention center in 1983 after the mid-show cancellation of a performance by neil young. (released march 2003)

$13.41

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 09 cd

david grubbs “act five, scene one” compact disc

act five scene one (1) (15:01)
act five scene one (2) (14:58)
act five scene one (3) (14:59)
act five scene one (4) (14:59)

blue chopsticks press release...

david grubbs, act five, scene one - bc9 cd

act five, scene one is an hour-long instrumental piece that features the trio of david grubbs, tony conrad, and dan brown. you'll find it divided into four ingestible fifteen-minute slices of sawing and banging and riffing and cutting and shapeshifting. (hence the turf-over-tops cover art by doug aitken.) act five, scene one is an electrified universe, one perhaps recognizable from grubbs'most recent ep, thirty-minute raven (rectangle).

you could think of it as an hour-long television drama as compared to the sitcom-length raven -- except that act five, scene one is the more broadly comic, less deadpan of the two. it also makes sense to think of these pieces in terms of locked grooves. as repeat-mode rock and roll, e.g. we'd made it all the way to the fifth act when scene one got stuck and kept starting over and over again. your attention is teased, then taxed; the drift begins, and then it's interrupted by that perfectly regular signpost. alarmclockwise, it's snooze-bar rock and roll -- factoring in thrills, chills, spills, quills. act five, scene one contains some of grubbs'most electrified sounds since. . . ? a few reference points: highway driving (solitary); a pinball game; a dream about breathing underwater. (released march 2002)

$10.85

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 05 cd

david grubbs “the coxcomb • avocado orange” compact disc

the coxcomb (16:59)
avocado orange (10:28)

blue chopsticks press release...

david grubbs, the coxcomb / avocado orange - bc5 cd

in the summer of 1998, having enough clay left over from his drag city solo debut the thicket, david grubbs set out to fashion a companion piece. so he went to paris. responding to the invitation of quentin rollet and noël akchoté to make an lp for their rectangle label, grubbs penned "the coxcomb," an adaptation in song of stephen crane's short story "the blue hotel." this seventeen- minute morität is scored for three voices: the narrator (stephen prina, still stoked from his drag city debut, push comes to love); the swede (grubbs, wild-eyed and singing through gritted teeth); and the cowboy (played to perfection by deep-voiced sasha andrès, singer of the group héliogabale). grubbs's guitar yarn is fleshed out by the saloon band of didier petit (cello, voice), yves robert (trombone), thierry madiot (bass trombone), and quentin rollet (alto sax). the original lp and picture-disc lp version of the coxcomb featured as its b-side "aux noctambules," a gentle concentration-jam featuring noël akchoté on electric guitar and grubbs making definitive use of the hohner organa. "aux noctambules" has since entered the digital domain as a 3" cd from rectangle. in its place is "avocado orange" - this time from the same clay as grubbs's the spectrum between -- a full-group reworking of his solo piece "onion orange." it features akchoté and rollet as well as the dual percussion team of john mcentire and dan brown. albert oehlen has revised his original cover artwork, providing harrowing punctuation to the project. (released december 2000)

$13.41

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

blue chopsticks (usa) #bc 02 cd

david grubbs / mats gustafsson “apertura” compact disc

apertura part 1 (39:42)
apertura part 2 (25:28)

blue chopsticks press release...

david grubbs & mats gustafsson, apertura - bc2 cd

david grubbs will gladly tell you the story of being knocked dead upon first hearing the swedish reed player mats gustafsson perform solo at chicago's renaissance society. mats gustafsson has been known to tell a similar tale about an all-electric, mcentire-backbeated gastr del sol show at the empty bottle. mats and gastr flitted about in similarly odd orbits with a gustafsson flageolet contribution to gastr del sol's upgrade & afterlife and the inclusion of jim o'rourke on mats's okka-disk debut, parrot fish eye. by 1999, mats gustafsson was a bit of a star in chicago. he had performed with ken vandermark, fred anderson, kent kessler, hamid drake, michael zerang, fred lonberg-holm, and a freshly minted peter brötzmann tentet. a slew of releases on okka-disk and a duo performance with thurston moore at the empty bottle festival of improvised music did nothing to abate the love. mats was dragged into the studio that year by david grubbs for the purpose of contributing to a thicket-in-the-works. the pair instead became terminally sidetracked with recording the two lengthy duets for harmonium and tenor saxophone and harmonium and fluteophone (mats's invention -- a flute with a reed mouthpiece jammed in the end) that make up apertura. listening to apertura, the first question is who is doing what? do the artists themselves know? mats was hot off of a tour with ken vandermark and the aaly trio, hence his singular performances on apertura (behold the twenty minutes plus of quiet circular breathing with which "apertura pt. 1" begins). reference points? for grubbs, his solo harmonium and reed organ performances; "aux noctambules," a duet with noël akchoté; and his performances with tony conrad. for gustafsson, his solo work and his excellent nothing to read duo cd with drummer paul lovens. apertura is at times starkly out of character for both individuals, and for this reason already a personal favorite of gustafsson and grubbs. what a strange fate to make such beautiful music! (released july 1999)

$13.41

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

dexter’s cigar (usa) #dex 11 cd
drag city (united states) #dc 103 cd

squirrel bait “skag heaven” compact disc

kid dynamite (3:10)
virgil's return (2:26)
black light poster child (1:55)
choose your poison (2:29)
short straw wins (2:51)
kick the cat (2:42)
too lose to the fire (1:56)
slake train coming (2:32)
rose island road (2:44)
tape from california (3:00)

dexter’s cigar press release...

squirrel bait skag heaven lp/cd

lp released in 1986 on homestead
lp/cd reissued on january 20, 1997 on drag city/dexter's cigar

$10.85

back in stock as of
august 25th, 2008

first in stock on
august 25th, 2006

dexter’s cigar (usa) #dex 10 cd
drag city (united states) #dc 102 cd

squirrel bait “squirrel bait” compact disc

hammering so hard (2:56)
thursday (2:12)
sun god (2:47)
when i fall (2:12)
the final chapter (2:15)
mixed blessing (2:04)
disguise (1:18)
perfect (1:59)

dexter’s cigar press release...

squirrel bait squirrel bait 12"ep/cdep

12"ep released in 1985 on homestead
12"ep/cdep reissued on january 20, 1997 on drag city/dexter's cigar

$14.85

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
october 17th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
free-improvisation

drag city (usa) #dc 373 lp

david grubbs “an optimist notes the dusk” long playing record

gethsemani night
an optimist declines
holy fool music
storm sequence
eyeglasses of kentucky
the not-so-distant

september 2008 release ; first solo album from david grubbs in a good four years, here working with free improvisers nate wooley & michael evans ...

the title track & “holy fool music” are some of the most rockin’ material from david since the dissolution of gastr del sol a good decade back (his guitar playing is, by and large, front and center), but these are hedged by long sections of straight non-idiomatic improv and a gorgeously muted 12-minute ensemble drone piece that rivals somehow reminds me of luc ferrari’s 60s work ...

drag city press release...

david grubbs
an optimist notes the dusk
dc373 lp/cd

a step into the void is how david grubbs describes an optimist notes the dusk, his first solo album since 2004’s a guess at the riddle. much the same way that each of gastr del sol’s albums sought to avoid precedent and to model a world in which nothing should be taken for granted, an optimist notes the dusk steps into the void. nothing necessitates its all built from the ground up, and at each step of the way it could have been built differently.

david grubbs’ previous solo albums have tended to divide cleanly between pop records (the thicket, the spectrum between, rickets & scurvy, and a guess at the riddle) and more experimental, instrumental records that investigate solo performance, drones, and hypnotic repetition. grubbs’ pop records stand in a series of increasing refinement. here, the cards have been shuffled (is he dealing with a full deck?). an optimist notes the dusk presents five longish songs and one eleven-minute instrumental floor rumbler, and the album cant be said to fall into either of the previously staked camps. much like gastr del sol’s recordings, arrangements take their own sweet, otherworldly time to unfold, and you’re likely to discover that the undertow is stronger than you reckoned, and that you wind up a disorienting distance from where you began. that describes the associative flow of individual songs and of the album as a whole. how do you get from the exquisitely unraveling song-skein of gethsemani night to the analog-synth sleeping bag of the not-so-distant? the band left the building a long time ago.

much continues to be written about the end of the album and its splintering into the mp3dom of individual songs. an optimist notes the dusk is at one and the same time an album and a collection of splinters. there is no contradiction. do we dare suggest that it feels very playlist?

the electric guitar is central to an optimist notes the dusk. in grubbs’ hands the guitar can be as languid and liquid as loren mazzacane connors (gethsemani night), as spikily anthemic as the pretty things (holy fool music), or as obsessively patterned as your favorite banjo eccentric (eyeglasses of kentucky). speaking (singing) of kentucky, bluegrass-native but brooklyn-residing grubbs seems to have lyrically reconstructed the kentucky of his dreams, with songs about thomas merton’s hermitage at the abbey of gethsemani and lexington photographer ralph meatyard’s trick of turning the waiting room of his eyeglasses of kentucky store into an exhibition space. optometrist, optimist note the changing sky. two sonic secret weapons have been brought in: drummer and percussionist michael evans and trumpeter nate wooley, both of whom ride musical divides like theyve never heard of such divisions. its all in making the right sound at the right time, what could be easier?

$13.41

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
october 17th, 2008

threads:
modern-composition
guitar-themed
free-improvisation
minimalism-drones

drag city (usa) #dc 373 cd

david grubbs “an optimist notes the dusk” compact disc

gethsemani night
an optimist declines
holy fool music
storm sequence
eyeglasses of kentucky
the not-so-distant

drag city press release...

$13.41

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
august 25th, 2008

drag city (usa) #dc 266 cd

david grubbs “a guess at the riddle” compact disc

knight errant (4:14)
a cold apple (4:41)
wave generators (2:25)
magnificence as such (1:50)
the neophyte (4:34)
rosie ruiz (1:15)
you'll never tame me (2:01)
your neck of the woods (3:18)
one way out of the maze (3:15)
pangolin (1:53)
hurricane season (8:43)
coda (breathing) (5:19)

drag city press release...

david grubbs
a guess at the riddle
dc266 cd

to offer a guess, you have to start with words.

david grubbs has worked simultaneously at records of songs and records of longer, immersive instrumental pieces. a guess at the riddle is a record of songs.

it feels like an unburdening. matching experimentation with articulateness, a guess at the riddle is to david’s other solo records what gastr del sol’s camoufleur was to their preceding records. one finds acoustic instruments (david’s piano and nikos veliotis’s cello) brokering peace agreements with electronics (matmos), one finds full bands going full-bore (adam pierce and thomas belhom kicking ass behind the drums, david returning to the electric guitar, david’s freshest, most lively-sounding production), and one finds david’s strongest collection of songs.

david’s lyrics have always presented a degree of surface difficulty, in an effort to bring the listener to a closer involvement with the music. starting with 2000’s the spectrum between, it’s become easier to say what each of his records is “about.” the spectrum between marked his move from chicago to new york with a collection of songs about a new city and new love. rickets & scurvy was made immediately in the wake of the september 11 attacks, and it feels like it, capturing the leadenness and dread of those months. the comically bleak title rickets & scurvy was itself an acidic reply to post-september 11 pronouncements of the death of irony.

a guess at the riddle finds shock ripened into anger. the task is to find the right words. the record opens with “knight errant,” a song about going awol: “i’ll choose the next / i’ll choose whatever’s next / i’ll choose the nearer stopping place.” “your neck in the woods” reports on insularity: “what’s new in your neck of the woods? / i’m curious because people here don’t care / don’t kid yourself / the thought is it’s an annoyance / unnecessarily pricks the conscience.” “one way out of the maze” is a laundry list of responses to an unnamed conundrum, culminating with the singer again settling in to watch robert bresson’s “a man escaped”: “i watch it when i can’t otherwise do.” “you’ll never tame me” is an anecdote from an iggy pop concert. these are songs of escape, worlds of words unto themselves. novelist rick moody who plays with grubbs and hannah marcus in the wingdale community singers — contributes lyrics to two songs (“wave generators” and “hurricane season”) and collaborates on a third. finally, “magnificence as such” is a cover of one of mayo thompson’s finest and most underrated songs — a song about the staying and slaying power of beauty.

bursting forth with energy, wit, and sudden poignance, a guess at the riddle is the definitive david grubbs record.

$13.41

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
august 25th, 2008

threads:
modern-composition

drag city (usa) #dc 224 cd

david grubbs “rickets & scurvy” compact disc

transom
don't think
a dream to help me sleep
the nearer by and by
i did no such roaming
aloft
precipice
crevasse
kentucky karaoke

may 2002 release ; third solo album from mr. david grubbs, featuring input from matmos (who contribute two short abstract solo pieces to the tail-end of the record) & french improv-guitarist noël akchoté ...

drag city press release...

david grubbs
rickets & scurvy
dc224 cd

rickets & scurvy is a ten-song recording, the follow-up to david grubbs’ acclaimed the spectrum between album. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

this sales sheet can only hope to begin to communicate on what rickets & scurvy really is. a ten-song recording, true; yet something more than the sum of the songs. a follow-up album; yet still, a record standing completely on its own. these things and much more make up rickets & scurvy.

three albums into his solo adventure, david has clearly learned how to make records work as records, filling them start to finish with entertainment, moments, insight. rickets & scurvy is a very complete, start-to-finish kind of beast. the songs kick ass, rocking harder than david’s songs have in ages. the process goes further as a result. rickets & scurvy’s best moments are presented with disarming directness, an ability to plunge to great depth, with abandon.

full-band electrical arrangements are a featured part of the album, which includes contributions and collaborators both old and new. the assembled cast for rickets & scurvy includes john mcentire, matmos, noël akchoté, dan brown and nicolas vernhes. rick moody, author of the ice storm and demonology, collaborated on lyrics for two songs. this diverse and talented group provided support and unexpected challenge to the songs and proceedings on rickets & scurvy. grubbsian electric guitar stylings step to the fore on rickets & scurvy, replacing the acoustic at the core of the arrangements. the camoufleur era of gastr del sol is evoked by grubbs’ most confident use to date of electronics on his solo recordings.

in the resultant fray, we find david grubbs — right in the thick of things, reclaiming moments of youth, shouting, straining for more.

get rickets & scurvy into your life soon — it’s all about changes. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

$13.41

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
august 25th, 2008

drag city (usa) #dc 160 cd

david grubbs “the thicket” compact disc

the thicket (4:35)
two shades of blue (4:15)
fool summons train (6:30)
orange disaster (2:01)
amleth's gambit (5:30)
40 words on "worship" (1:42)
swami vivekananda way (1:25)
buried in the wall (3:34)
on "worship" (5:24)

september 1998 release ; david grubbs’ debut solo album ...

drag city press release...

david grubbs' first pop proper solo lp. there's a proud equilibrium to the thicket. the arrangements are consistent (and consistently colorful) throughout the record. when you first hear a banjo or a trumpet or a tony conrad, you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll hear it again. thus, the record is purged of exoticisms.

the thicket is many things, and elusive is not among them. it's a straight-40-to-the-head album of pop sonic lucidity.

$13.41

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
august 25th, 2008

drag city (usa) #dc 147 cd

stephen prina “push comes to love” compact disc

cums for shove
the devil, probably
too strong
the sobriquet
no one calls me a friend
trevor
the achiever
little lips
community
this is not it
hand in glove

1999 release ; song-based solo album from interdisciplinary audio/visual artist stephen prina, produced by the gastr del sol team of jim o’rourke and david grubbs ... one track features lyrics by dennis cooper ...

drag city press release...

in the spirit of those great la pop records of the seventies (notably the work of steely dan) these combined talents [lyrics: david grubbs, mayo thompson, dennis cooper, lynn tillman, etc.; production: grubbs & jim o'rourke; drums & vocals: john mcentire & sam prekop] have produced further expansions and refinements to the world of breezy, intellectually informed pop music. prina's own keyboard and guitar work have been augmented with synthesizer, pedal steel, cornet and a smooth rhythm section of bass, drums and, occasionally, a drum machine.

like the classical, pure vocalists who have come before him (sinatra, streisand, joni mitchell, morrissey, manson), prina wraps his voice around the diverse material, presenting an lp as the soundtrack for every man, whether that man is a woman, an academic, a performance artist, a homeowner, a lover, somebody's stepson, 'mr. generosity,' or you.

$12.81

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
november 20th, 2007

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
guitar-themed
free-improvisation
electro-acoustic-improvisation
modern-psych

drag city (usa) #dc 043 cd

gastr del sol “crookt, crackt or fly” compact disc

wedding in the park (1:02)
work from smoke (12:30)
parenthetically (1:20)
every five miles (7:49)
thos.dudley ah! old must dye (2:40)
is that a rifle when it rains? (1:29)
the c in cake (3:36)
the wrong soundings (14:49)

second album from gastr del sol, but actually the first to feature the twin-headed hydra of david grubbs & jim o’rourke that we came to know & love throughout the 90s ...

an all-over-the-place set of acoustic/electric guitar pieces (fairly prog-oriented), a few passages of room-tone/cassette-recorded piano (with grubbs’ occasional free-associative lyrics), and a few full-blown rock-band extrapolations, and some extended forays into studio manipulation and full-blown musique concrète ...

$9.33

new to stock as of
april 21st, 2008

threads:
modern-composition
analogue-synth
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
musique-concrète

minority (czech republic) #min 20 ep

gastr del sol “twenty songs less” seven inch single record

twenty songs less side one
twenty songs less side two

... kind of an odd reissue choice for the czech minority records label, but then again this has long been the only unavailable side by the o’rourke / grubbs / mcentire/ brown lineup of gastr; here at their deconstructionist best with jim handling the tape-splice duties throughout ...

again, i balked a bit @ the price, but after these arrived & i (re) listened to this about 4 times in a row (first time i’ve heard it 10 years) & i now have not the buyers’ remorse ... extremely well-done edition, from the whisper-quiet 7” pressing (listen to the sound-sample) to the clear vinyl & replication of the original teen-beat label-art ...

minority press release...

gastr del sol - twenty songs less 7"ep

executed in chicago by bundy k. brown, david grubbs, john mcentire and jim o'rourke in 1993.
painting by paul green.

limited edition of 1000 copies.

line-up:
jim o'rourke - electronics, engineering, editing
john mcentire - drums
bundy k. brown - acoustic
david grubbs - acoustic guitar, piano

$13.41

new to stock as of
august 25th, 2008

threads:
modern-composition
free-improvisation

rectangle (france) #rec ac2 cd

david grubbs “thirty-minute raven” compact disc

thirty-minute raven (30:00)

2001 release ; extended take borne from the “spectrum between” sessions, featuring noël akchoté, john mcentire, and quentin rollet ...

$16.24

back in stock as of
november 28th, 2008

first in stock on
march 12th, 2008

threads:
sound-installation
electro-acoustic-composition
film-video
sound-art

semishigure (germany) #semi 007 cd

david grubbs “two soundtracks for angela bulloch” compact disc

z point (8:14)
horizontal technicolour (13:12)

... managed to coax a scant few copies of this o/p 2005 release from the bottrop-boy(s) ...

semishigure press release...

david grubbs
two soundtracks for angela bulloch
cd / semi 007

david grubbs (bastro, gastr del sol) has a longstanding history of collaboration and interest in contemporary visual arts. many of his solo albums, for instance, feature covers by artists such as doug aitken, marcel broodthaers, cosima von bonin, stephen prina or albert oehlen. this new mini-album features two compositions commissioned by angela bulloch for two of her installation pieces.

british artist angela bulloch has been making installations since the early 90s, while starting to use the idea of the ‘pixel’ in 2000. these works are formally based on 50 x 50 x 50 cm cubes that have a screen on one side on which constantly changing colours can be shown. the cubes can be arranged in different positions. a software program runs pixelated original film material, mostly taken from cinema or tv, which are then projected onto shifting colour fields that change according to their original composition.

the two pieces on this cd accompany the works z point and horizontal technicolour, two major works that make use of - or, rather, are connected to - antonioni’s zabriskie point. z point is based on original film material of the famous desert explosion from the final scenes, whereas horizontal technicolour uses material filmed by the artist herself at death valley, a setting similar to the one used in the final scenes from antonioni’s film.

the two pieces by david grubbs are beautiful and intricate works in which the original antonioni soundtrack, the translations of the film in other languages, and his own sound palette come together. they show yet another different approach to his diverse musical capacities and are maybe closest in spirit to his thirty-minute raven mini-album on rectangle.

the cd comes with a 12-page booklet with previously unpublished stills from the death valley desert taken by angela bulloch.

$13.26

back in stock as of
april 21st, 2010

first in stock on
november 21st, 2006

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
minimalism-drones
musique-concrète

table of the elements (usa) #toe 019 cd

gastr del sol “the harp factory on lake street” compact disc

the harp factory on lake street (17:12)

2006 reissue of this classic david grubbs / jim o’rourke jam, originally released just prior to the tote-sponsored tony conrad / simon wickham-smith & richard youngs / zeena parkins & jim o’rourke tour in 1994 (i know - i bought a copy at the show in hartford @ real art ways - the printing on the disc was flipped upside down - i still have the damn thing 12 years later...)

table of the elements press release...

is 90s nostalgia underway yet? if not, this reissue may be just the thing to get it started. in 1994, chicago is the fountainhead for a bona-fide scene, in which bands are giving timbre and texture priority over riffs and power chords. to the chagrin of many, the press will label it all "post-rock." it's the definitive movement of the decade, and front and center are gastr del sol, comprised of david grubbs (previously: squirrel bait, bastro) and jim o'rourke (subsequently: wilco, sonic youth). some of their city-mates may shift more units; gastr, with a relentless drive for reinvention, shift the boundaries of where a band can go. avant punk, atonal song-styling, musique concrète, delicate piano-guitar interplay, raw electronics and modernist chamber music — all are fair terrain, traversed with subtlety and finesse. behind the obligatory horn-rims, grubbs and o'rourke have vision.

a dozen years later, this overdue reissue of 1994's the harp factory on lake street ep provides the missing piece in gastr's otherwise available discography. to hear it again is a treat. it's their notorious "big band" record, and the ten-piece ensemble is a veritable all-star team of mid-90s chicagoans, including members of tortoise, sea and cake, shellac, dazzling killmen, brise glace and the vandermark 5; through studio maneuvering courtesy o'rourke and engineer john mcentire, they blossom into a small-sized orchestra. remarkably confident in the use of space and dissonance, harp factory also emphasizes the conceptual "scrape", the friction between nuance and noise, that plays such a prominent role in gastr's subsequent upgrade and afterlife lp. familiar signposts are still in sight — o'rourke's compositional skills, grubbs' associative, absurdist musings — but this is definitely their boldest outing. it's a record full of blissful confoundment, one that aptly vivifies the spirit of an era. gastr del sol may have lasted a brief five years, but they are to the 1990s what the magic band, this heat and sonic youth were to their respective decades: intrepid trailblazers through the backwoods of sound.

format: cd
release date: february 2006
file under: rock
catalog no: swc-cd-19
upc: 600401019221

$6.72

back in stock as of
july 15th, 2009

first in stock on
september 2nd, 2003

threads:
beat-research
plunder-phonic
digital-musics

tonschacht (germany) #tons 015 ep

donna summer “fluxus, inc.” seven inch single record

fluxus inc.
awkward song about love (feat. david grubbs)

second 7” by mr. jason (following the broklyn beats one, before the one on ljud). i think the fluxus-ref. only in spirit/referentiality/P.O.P.-appeal. flip features 4 seconds of david grubbs tuning his guitar...

tonschacht press release...

artist: donna summer
title: fluxus, inc.
format: 7"
cat #: tons015

"this two-track 7”, brought to us by tonschacht is like a small dish of calamata olives. it isn’t going to fill you up, but it tastes very good and will have you licking your fingers after a few minutes. let the hipsters keep their trucker caps and electroclash,"fluxus, inc." is a flexing of the donna summer school of discocrash. bass jabs and horn stabs syncopate against the blisters of boiling breaks as a dancefloor doubledare for the moshers, idm headnodders, and innocent bystanders alike. to newcomers this track might take a few listens to fully digest, while those who haveseen mr. summer perform live know this song would easily fit anywhere in his energizing and entertaining sets. it isn’t quite the same without witnessing the fullproduction of polyester suits and victory laps taken through the audience, but it is appetizing enough to have you dropping the needle back a few times before auditioning the flip side.

$14.82

back in stock as of
february 10th, 2009

first in stock on
january 22nd, 2007

threads:
digital-musics
beat-research
minimalism-drones

xeric (usa) #xer 110 cd

ateleia “formal sleep” compact disc

of isthmus (8:06)
salt horse sculpture (9:30)
formal barrier (5:57)
brine coming to rest (9:28)
a doubtful shore (5:49)
bridget riley (9:10)

january 2007 release from james elliott aka ateleia. i raved about james’ last disc on his antiopic label; this one raises the bar with a sweet mix of glossy digital drones and punctuating regular rhythms.

just the kind of swooping, glacial electronics that we all swooned over @ the turn of the century, updated to modern spec. features contributions from david daniell, david grubbs, jon philpot, and sadek bazaraa.

between this disc, david daniell’s recent solo outing “coastal”, and keenan lawler’s “music for the bluegrass states”, xeric is fast becoming one of my favorite contemporary-music labels...

xeric press release...

ateleia formal sleep

james elliott: bass guitar, guitar, synthesizer, computer
sadek bazaraa: guitar on bridget riley
david daniell: cymbals on a doubtful shore
david grubbs: harmonium on formal barrier
jon philpot: melodica on bridget riley

ateleia is brooklyn resident james elliott. his music combines crystalline pulse with submerged aquatic drones and subtle ghost melodies. it's not so much oceanic as it is tide pool - the churn of the tidal impulse captured in miniature and crawling with activity. evoking the grand echo of my bloody valentine and the long standing tradition of psychedelic minimalism, but informed by contemporary electronic music, formal sleep is truly immersive. featuring contributions by david grubbs (gastr del sol), david daniell (rhys chatham, jonathan kane), jon philpot (presocratics, bear in heaven) and sadek bazaraa.

$12.81

back in stock as of
december 1st, 2011

first in stock on
august 25th, 2008

threads:
modern-psych
outsiders-deviants
lo-fi

drag city (usa) #dc 020 cd

“hey drag city” compact disc

palace brothers - for the mekons et al (5:21)
red red meat - make you gone (5:18)
pavement - nail clinic (2:27)
desert storm - new trition (2:08)
smog - your face (2:59)
gastr del sol - at night and at night (5:24)
silver jews - famous eyes (4:08)
fruitcake - ike (6:01)
royal trux - 70 of heart's (5:16)
alastair galbraith - yuhahi coast road (2:57)
burnout - scott free (2:47)
red krayola - columbia (5:01)
mantis - 199(7)1 (3:50)
king kong - funky future train (4:02)
vocokesh - shimmer (6:31) -

october 1994 release ; to commemorate reaching the label’s 20th release (as of this writing they’re pushing 400) drag city unleashed this impeccable hipgnosis-designed comp, featuring exclusive tracks from pretty much all of their past, present, and future heavies. especially nice entries from gastr del sol (this comp came out only a couple of months after “crookt, crackt or fly”), red krayola, alastair galbraith, etc ...

drag city press release...

various artists hey drag city dc20 2xlp/cs/cd

palace brothers, red red meat, pavement, desert storm, smog, gastr del sol, silver jews, fruitcake, royal trux, alastair galbraith, burnout, the red krayola, mantis, king kong, and vocokesh.

previous artist:
growing

...and that's everything in stock featuring david grubbs.
(why not take a look at the previous and next artists?)

next artist:
grupo nps

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... this page was last updated on saturday, february 11th, 2012 @ 5:36 pm