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previous artist: xeaxx xeaxx		there are 7 titles featuring xela in stock. they are listed below.		next artist: xenakis ensemble

$12.98

new to stock as of
may 28th, 2008

threads:
minimalism-drones
guitar-themed
modern-psych

barge recording archive (usa) #brg 004 lp

mgr / xela “barge split series • volume 1” long playing record

mgr - shipping gold (16:17)
xela - calling for vanished faces (23:29)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "calling for vanished faces "

may 2008 release ; splitsville aktion from isis’ mike “mgr” gallagher and type’s john “xela” twells ...

the mgr side is nice enough (if you’ve heard his recent conspiracy-label record you’ll be in familiar territory ; acoustic lines slowly get buried-under by a wall of reverbed-out electric wash ...) but the xela side is the one i’ve been playing the most ; a respectfully event-heavy side starting off with some nice rectified synth/feedback bleat, then a long section of vocal drones & free drum kit ... great stuff !!!

barge recording archive press release...

mgr / xela : barge split series vol. i
catalog #: brg004
format(s): lp
label: barge recordings
street date: march 25th 2008
file under: rock/experimental
pressing: 350
about barge split series vol. i:
barge recordings is pleased to pair mgr and xela on vinyl as the first in a series of split lp’s. shipping gold / calling for vanished faces treats the listener to two moving pieces that both compliment and contrast one another in style and compositional approach. developed musically from two entirely different places, mgr’s mike gallagher and xela’s john twells respective careers have led them to this unique crossroad, a powerful recording capturing both artists at their creative primes.

mgr / shipping gold: hyper-slow development and dread-ridden tension building reveal themselves in shipping gold as in past mgr work, as well as the subtle swelling and closing of sonic space. shipping gold attracts our ears particularly due to its dramatic use of guitar in the foreground. composed with both acoustic and electric guitar and effects, mike’s vigorous attack’s and pitch-bent decay over a slowly morphing theme in a minor key behaves like some unknown light guiding us; it’s rays looming over an intense psychic landscape.

xela / calling for vanished faces: musically, it would be useless to categorize calling for vanished faces as “noise” “sound art” or anything afore-mentioned. in basic terms, every time we listen in to this utterly mind-altering composition we discover something new; something to grab on to within it’s lush spectrum of dynamics. bombarded with pulsating drumming, distant early-music inspired vocal harmonies, guitar distortion, morphing electronic buzzes and guitar feedback, calling for vanished faces is a sonic arcade of sorts and delights the listener with each passing experience.

$14.28

new to stock as of
june 7th, 2010

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

dekorder (germany) #dekorder 42 lp

xela “the divine” long playing record

a corpse hangs in the house of the lord (25:35)
of the light and of the stars (25:38)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "of the light and of the stars"

may 2010 release ; well-timed vinyl issue of john twells’ recent-ish digitalis tape, about which ::

... a lovely tape from john “xela” twells involving a side of grimy church bells, then an assortment of angelic voice-loop assemblages that mix his robert wyatt-esque voice with state-of-the-art electronic loop-processes ...

this one “works” much better on vinyl, with john’s boyish tenor (listen to the sound-sample) crescendo-ing into a wall of gained sonics that’s closer to a fennesz-ian grain-wave than the anglican roots it would appear to reference ... great stuff !!!

dekorder press release...

[042]
xela
the divine
lp

limited edition of 500 copies!

"the divine" marks the second phase in the trilogy proposed by john twells aka xela. crawling out of a castle dungeon in pursuit of its predecessor, "the illuminated", this lp finds itself trapped in an abandoned church somewhere in a damp southern wilderness. church bells chime and rattle through the record’s first piece, echoing and distorting through a fog of chattering voices and prayers. tape loops stumble over tape loops and the solemn, ecclesiastical drone slowly decomposes into thick, crackling noise. through the mists choirs sing, heralding the introduction of the second side of "the divine" which takes the human voice into cavernous and smudged, yet strangely alluring territories. there is almost a basinski-like charm to this work as the choirs effortlessly degrade into an unrecognisable mud of harmony and abrasiveness. this is music informed by a religious world; xela has edged from the scriptures of cults and secret societies to the spires of organisation and power. god is in the detail.

$14.28

back in stock as of
june 7th, 2010

first in stock on
march 12th, 2009

threads:
black-metal
electro-acoustic-composition
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
harsh-noise

dekorder (germany) #dekorder 31 lp

xela “the illuminated” long playing record

black scripture (19:57)
gilted rose (20:02)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "gilted rose"

february 2009 release ; amazing misc of minimal, bell-laced drones & swelling black metal from john “xela” twells ; reissuing the titular digitalis tape ...

despite the recent en masse embrace of the coffin-scratch production spec (razor-thin guitars, lumbering drum machine, a general over-use of multiple gain stages) none of this comes across as anything other than a love letter to the form ; the marriage of the more “psychedelic” layers to the thin mist never forced ... excellent !!!

dekorder press release...

[031]
xela
the illuminated
lp

the music of xela is not easily described. the alias of type records main-man john twells, he has over the last decade moved through a dense fog of musical styles from abstract electronics to rusty soundscapes. in recent years his output has allied itself with darker realms, taking a liberal dose of influence from norway's darker exponents, but retaining a deep and measured experimental focus.

"the illuminated" was originally released on cassette, a format very fitting to the gloomy, waterlogged sounds; but having sold out in a matter of days it now recieves the much needed deluxe re-issue treatment. taking cues from the cracked black metal of burzum and striborg and fusing this with heavy, synthesized noise "the illuminated" is possibly xela's darkest, most spine-chilling work to date. we are taken through chiming nurse with wound-inspired soundscapes into middle eastern marketplaces and through caverns of thick, buzzing synthesized noise on the album's first piece. entitled "black scripture" this takes the dank religious themes of "in bocca al lupo" and goes even deeper into the church dungeons, digging up lost artifacts and the angry spirits that accompany them. the flipside extends this heresy with a throaty vocal and distorted electric guitar, leaving blackened corpses and the traces of a sleepy village in its wake. devastating and dark material, listen if you dare ...

$14.28

new to stock as of
july 9th, 2010

threads:
analogue-synth
minimalism-drones
modern-psych
electro-acoustic-composition
electro-acoustic-improvisation

digitalis limited (usa) #ltd#150 cs

xela / matt carlson / cliffsides / analog concept “air rings • volume 2” double cassette set

xela - in the blinding light they came
matt carlson - such is a human being's life
analog concept - ambient conception
cliffsides - iapetus

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "in the blinding light they came"

july 2010 release ; second outing in the “air rings” series of synth compilations, this time featuring a side each from john twells, golden retriever’s carlson, & unknowns analog concept & cliffsides ...

digitalis limited press release...

ltd#150: "air rings vol. 2" 4way split w/ xela, matt carlson, cliffsides and analog concept 2x cs

our quest to combine some of our favorite synth music continues with another epic excursion. volume 2 features a side each from type records guru xela, golden retriever half matt carlson, russian mad scientist analog concept and atlanta native cliffsides, all blasting missives into the clouds.

xela buries the grimness of recent efforts and goes positively cosmic, layering an endless array of synths into a beautiful, cacaphonous mess. matt carlson channels rainbow-era riley and blasts off from there, heading deeper into the drone-zone rabbit hole. cliffsides camps out mid-80s and arpeggiates laser beams through an 8-bit dream arena. and analog concept? russian cosmonauts can only dream of these fucking stars.

edition of 125, pro-dubbed & imprinted.

$18.91

new to stock as of
november 7th, 2008

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

rite (uk) #rite 003 lp

xela / marea nordului “electronic music vol. 1” long playing record

xela - remuscari feminine
xela - vina masculina
marea nordului - sarbatorim pe glandele gustative

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "vina masculina"

july 2008 release ; entirely convincing split lp offering a side each by john “xela” twells & brad “the north sea” rose, each exorcising their mid-century electronic music demons ...

rite press release...

limited hand-stamped vinyl-only edition of 300 copies for the world.

much in the same vein as the 12th chapel lp that introduced type-offshoot rite, this collector's vinyl finds label boss john twells as xela in collaborative mode, this time splitting a record with digitalis founder brad rose (aka the north sea). each artist contributes a side's worth of new material inspired by the electronic music of the mid-20th century. far from being a foray into fusty academic experimentation, this album brings together primordial oscillator drones and ancient-sounding effects, the sort of thing that ties together the soundscapes of aaron dilloway with radiophonic workshop-inspired sonic resourcefulness.

from the introductory drones of xela's opening piece, you're instantly transported to the timeline-blurring recesses of sub rosa's anthology of noise compilations, or the mighty ohm boxset, slowly morphing from fogged-over, ambiguous tonalities to a more corrosive, distorted sound, thanks to some subtle use of prepared electric guitar. next up, "masculine guilt" takes the formula a couple of steps further, encroaching upon a more timbrally-sophisticated blend of auditory decay. in keeping with the album's theme, the music sounds aged and somehow smeared, as if the various sound sources had seeped into one another over time, leaving only sporadic oscillations to cut through the air of obfuscation. that account might make it sound a little harsh on the ears, but it must be radio-friendly to some degree: bbc radio one's mary anne hobbs has already given this a spin on air.

on the flipside, the north sea takes over, unleashing a single, side-long composition held in place by a bedrock of undulating synthesis and forbidden planet-style stray signals, vaguely resembling theremins. by its end, the piece only seems to accumulate greater density, becoming a solid, humming sound mass before dissipating reluctantly into nothing.

the cover art features the artist name and tracklisting in romanian.

$15.13

back in stock as of
may 26th, 2010

first in stock on
december 5th, 2008

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

type (uk) #type 043 cd

xela “in bocca al lupo” compact disc

ut nos vivicaret (12:45)
in deo salutari meo (13:52)
in misericordia (14:34)
beatae immortalitatis (20:37)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "in misericordia"

type press release...

xela : in bocca al lupo

the true sound of total desolation...

in 2006 xela (aka type records main man john twells) released the horror-flecked epic ‘the dead sea’. taking influence from the movies of dario argento and umberto lenzi and fusing them with a lovecraftian concept he created the perfect tribute to his obsession. every good horror movie has a sequel, and for this full-length follow up john has used the dark corners of the christian religion as his guide.

composed initially for a fear-themed chicago art installation, the sixty-minute piece gradually took shape as a celebration of desolate cellars and distant church bells, the things that truly scare him. researching further took him to spain and italy as he explored basilicas, cathedrals and crumbling churches in search of inspiration. ancient stories, whispered histories and sounds drifting through generations became the basis of the recording, which is split into four distinct parts.

beginning with metallic scrapes and haunting industrial soundscapes we drift among fluidly dense drones, electrical hums and crumbling noise. like a doom-laden take on the crunching assault of hair police or a noisy version of david lynch’s eraserhead soundtrack, the music is stripped down to the bare bones of what is necessary. before long we hit the record’s central piece, ‘in deo salutari meo’ which takes an almost funereal tone, using religious bells as the primary sound source. eventually the album climaxes on the longest piece, ‘beatae immortalitatis’, which features heavy winged’s jed bindeman on drums. bindeman was last seen lending his percussive skills to ‘calling for vanished faces’ which appeared on the xela/mgr split earlier this year, and here his pummelling beats accompany john’s icy oscillator tones. like a free-form pan sonic this takes heavy electronic music into a frightening new place ending in a thick cloud of screams and crackle. one might even call it a religious experience.

$15.13

back in stock as of
may 26th, 2010

first in stock on
november 15th, 2007

threads:
digital-musics
beat-research

type (uk) #type 017 cd

xela “for frosty mornings and summer nights” compact disc

afraid of monsters (5:03)
under the glow of streetlights (4:24)
japanese whispers (6:10)
inbetween two rooms (4:47)
impulsive behaviour (4:25)
an abandoned robot (5:52)
the long walk home at midnight (5:21)
bobble hats in summer (6:26)
digital winter (2:16)
last breath (6:13)
a glance (4:56)
danse macabre (4:52)

type press release...

xela : for frosty mornings and summer nights

the long-awaited reissue of xela's debut album, complete with all new artwork and two exclusive extra tracks!

four years after its release and almost seven after its conception, type label boss john twells debut album under the xela moniker is finally ready to be re-issued once again and featuring all-new artwork from matthew woodson, two bonus tracks and with all tracks fully re-mastered at d&m studios in berlin, the album has never looked or sounded better.

john wrote the album in-between working at a car-parts shop selling car audio and busying himself with an art degree at university, which of course gave him the time to rush home whenever he could and work on music, and had the added bonus of providing him with large speaker systems to test out prospective tracks. the record was created in response to a two key things a sense of alienation in the small ex-industrial town of walsall, and most importantly to the electronic music he had just begun to hear. john had been brought up on a steady diet of indie, punk and metal and was exposed to electronic music fairly late, but as soon as he heard his first washes of analogue synthesizer he knew his life would change. it quickly led him to put down the guitars and save his pennies for cheap electronic equipment synths, drum machines and tape recorders, and before long he was crafting home-made electronic symphonies. these early demos caught the attention of lee norris (metamatics) who ran the neo ouija label, lee used one of the tracks on a compilation he was compiling at the time, and encouraged john to put together a full length record. the result of this would become for frosty mornings and summer nights which harnessed johns love for glacial electronics, the ultra-minimal sound of mille plateaux and 12k, hip hop and of course indie rock, melting them all down into a vague narrative across the course of the record. this new issue has been fleshed out by two extra tracks which were written only shortly after the albums completion, and the entire release has finally been fully mastered. it might be four years old now, but for frosty mornings and summer nights still sounds as beautiful and as inviting as the day it was first released this is where it all started.

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xeaxx xeaxx

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next artist:
xenakis ensemble