mike shiflet / pete swanson “bedside b/w college view” long playing record

• mike shiflet - bedside (15:04)
  
  
• pete swanson - college view (12:32)

amish press release...

required wreckers volume 5 mike shiflet / pete swanson “bedside” b/w “college view” lp release date: 9/4/2012 catalog: ami035r/w format: lp * mastered by timothy stollenwerk * letter- pressed obi strip * artwork and 16-page art booklet by miranda lichtenstein and cameron martin amish is pleased to officially announce a new release featuring work from two american noise and sound artists, the ohio-based mike shiflet and the recent portland-to-new york transplant pete swanson. the fifth installment in the label’s required wreckers series (ami-035r/w) features side-long compositions that borrow as much from the worlds of noise and power electronics that swanson and shiflet were affiliated with in the early parts of their careers, as from techno and modern composition. mike shiflet’s “bedside” utilizes disparate sources - guitar, field recordings, abstract electronic textures and white noise - to create a composition that’s both warmly pastoral and defamiliar. this is one of shiflet’s most beautiful works to date. shiflet has released a number of critically acclaimed recordings over the last decade for labels like type and ecstatic peace!, as well as collaborating with c. spencer yeh in burning star core. pete swanson’s “college view” documents another example of his recent recordings’ attempt to blur the lines between techno, noise, and electronic music. “college view” drags detroit dance music into a static field of electricity, and then doubles back again. “college view” documents another great example of swanson’s mature, post-yellow swans output, as indicated on a series of releases since 2011 on labels like three-lobed and type. miranda lichtenstein and cameron martin provide the visual art for this release. the cover art and booklet included with the release feature images from a series of manipulated photographs of chinese scholar rocks that the artists have worked on since 2008. the images suggest the same kind of blasted pastoralism that shiflet and swanson invoke in each of their pieces. lichtenstein and martin have each exhibited their work internationally in shows in new york, tokyo, austria and at the 2004 whitney biennial. with equal nods to throbbing gristle’s retrograde conceptualism and recommended records unwavering musicality, amish is pleased to announce the required wreckers series. r/w will explore the work of artists operating at the intersections of sound art, improvisation, drone, outsider experimentation and modern composition. in the spirit of its name, r/w aims to disrupt the boundaries typically used to delimit genre and the sensibilities that help to inform taste. in so doing, r/w slips out from under the simple, reductive classifications so often used to discuss, and even critically engage, contemporary music. situating r/w in the gap between throbbing gristle’s celebrated a-musicality and the unrelenting craftsmanship of henry cow, these releases acknowledge their debt to historical precedent. each release is a one-time vinyl pressing and will be housed in a letterpress band (designed by bryan christopher baker) that will vary with each installment. these lps will also include artwork and assorted ephemera that invoke our deepest respect for the medium and the hand-crafted (and assembled) components we regret have disappeared with the rise of digital media. r/w terminates after ten installments.

pete swanson “high time b/w trees” seven inch single record

• high time
  
  
• trees

emerald cocoon press release...

pete swanson alone together #5 - high time / trees 7" [ec007] pete swanson's love for the new zealand underground is no secret (rumour has it that he engineered the entire yellow swans new zealand tour of 2005 just so he could procure a copy of the pin group 'goes to town' 12"), so we were pleasantly unsurprised when pete turned in two re-imaginings of classic nz underground tracks as his contribution to the alone together series. what surprised us greatly though was the form that they took: sparkling acoustic guitar, audible vocals, audible room tone – this was a pete swanson we'd never heard before. although his signature degradation systems are still in place (both sides end with a blown-out acoustic guitar emulating dirty-needled distortion), acoustic strings, four walls and a voice dominate, dislocated just enough to give you the sense that the world ends at your bedroom walls. this is a sound that shouldn't be unfamiliar to anyone previously baptised by 4-track channelled lathe transmissions from the bottom of the world. the dusty gems re-interpreted here are 'high time' by seminal christchurch kvltists dadamah (originally released as a 7" on the genius majora label circa '91) and 'trees' from gate's recent downer-techno masterpiece 'a republic of sadness', both are redolent of the darkest, coldest dunedin winter as imagined from half a world away. edition of 300.

pete swanson “unlimited options” c20 cassette

• unlimited options (1)
  
  
• unlimited options (2)

no label press release...

pete swanson “signs of life” c20 cassette

• signs of life (1)
  
  
• signs of life (2)

no label press release...

pete swanson “feelings in america” cassette

• the fermata (16:34)
  
  
• f.i.a. (8:19)
  
• believers (6:30)

no label press release...

despite asserting that he "quit music in 2001 .. but kept recording in his basement because it helped him avoid interacting with others", pete swanson has been a very busy guy. as half of (the now defunct) yellow swans for most of the decade, swanson somehow found the time to collaborate with scores of folks (see badgerlore, maggoted, and sarin smoke for starters) while also slowly carving out his own bleak vision of loner sound. 'feelings in america' is the most recent salvo from swanson, and it's as blown out and muddy as you would expect from a damp portland basement. three tracks of guitar & vocals lost in a sea of white hot electronic overload that, according to swanson, "sounds exactly like his old band, but funnier in a depressing sort of way."

pete swanson “mr. entertainment” c20 cassette

• untitled (1)
  
  
• untitled (2)

no label press release...

got a new tape that's pretty much done called "mr. entertainment"  side a is another real blasted guitar/tape/electronics blur..  side b is a real odd attempt at ripping off gas from 2008 ..  only i'm just using tape, an envelope filter and a contact mic ..  totally unimpressive and extremely ...  degraded .... no edition number, but it'll probably be less than 80 ..

pete swanson “denim life” c20 cassette

• denim life (1)
  
  
• denim life (2)

no label press release...

pete swanson “challenger” c20 cassette

• challenger (1)
  
  
• challenger (2)

no label press release...

beer damage “hobo on the face of music” long playing record

• jansport bindle
  
• the downfall of brain sound
  
• expression of my sweatpants
  
• major ozone
  
  
• point of keanu
  
• walker: meat puncher
  
• pigeon fractal
  
• hobo on the face of music

pete swanson “punk authority” twelve inch single record

• punk authority
  
• c.o.p.
  
• grounds for arrest
  
  
• life ends at 30

drowner yellow swans “drowner yellow swans” compact disc recordable

• sandwall (11:16)
  
• velvet water (7:35)
  
• first drowner (10:49)
  
• second drowner (7:11)
  
• isolation tank (5:56)
  
• seafloor (6:40)
  
• beacons (5:29)
  
• disjecta (4:36)

pete swanson “pro style” long playing record

• pro style (6:49)
  
• pro style (vip) (9:06)
  
  
• do you like students? (11:47)

yellow swans “going places” compact disc

• foiled (4:23)
  
• opt out (13:09)
  
• sovereign (5:44)
  
• limited space (6:53)
  
• new life (5:18)
  
• going places (9:10)

type press release...

“going places” by yellow swans the epic final record from this seminal north american noise duo. in april 2008, american noise duo yellow swans (comprised of peter swanson and gabriel mindel) announced their decision to split. the news was a shock to the noise community, not least because the band had become a regular fixture in the live arena – touring incessantly and garnering a huge, dedicated following in the process. what the duo neglected to announce however was that a final album was already in the works, and while they would not tour together again, steps were being taken to finish off their crowning achievement. ‘going places’ is yellow swans’ conclusion as an entity, and sees the duo looking inward to create their most introspective work to date. it shouldn’t be surprising given the climate in which the record was put together, but without the constant touring swanson and mindel allowed themselves to take their time on the record and allow the tracks to breathe somewhat. the resulting collection is distilled and reflective, retaining the grit and damage of their earlier work but adding layers of harmony and, maybe more surprisingly, pulsing rhythms. the improvisational, psychedelic washes that have always enriched their sound are tempered and controlled, leaving an almost kosmische narrative. the drifting, subtle beauty that characterised their last album, ‘at all ends’, has emerged even further in the mix, and mindel’s guitar is allowed to play foil to swanson’s piercing noise. comparisons could be made to tim hecker or even brian eno in parts, but yellow swans’ harsher edge sets them apart from many of their peers. no doubt some listeners might be put off by yellow swans’ noise background, but make no mistake, ‘going places’ is one of the most haunting and engrossing albums yet to appear on the type label. swanson and mindel have proved, if proof was ever needed, that there is beauty in dense cacophony, and ‘going places’ is the perfect way to close a startling career.