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previous artist: xeaxx xeaxx		there are 5 titles featuring xela in stock. they are listed below.		next artist: iannis xenakis

$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)

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

back in stock as of
july 5th, 2011

first in stock on
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)

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
july 5th, 2011

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)

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 ...

$18.01

back in stock as of
december 12th, 2011

first in stock on
september 20th, 2011

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

digitalis vinyl (usa) #digiv016 lp

john twells / matt christensen “coasts” long playing record

the crate
burning bridges together

2010 release ; debut album from the duo of john “xela” twells & zelienople’s matt christensen

digitalis vinyl press release...

digiv016: twells & christensen "coasts" lp

"coasts" has been a long time in the making but now that it's here, the wait will prove worth it. john twells (aka xela) and matt christensen (of zelienople) have been collaborating in various forms for years, but this is their first fully-realized work. the entire album was made with vintage gear and recorded to 8-track during a weekend in chicago in 2008 and finally mixed at twells' seventh door studio outside boston. the resulting record is a spectral odyssey in two parts. darkened passages shift and fall apart while keeping the piercing sun at bay. faint song structures lurk beneath the rolling black waves, but only get an arm above the surface during those rare moments of light.

opening with "the crate," immediately you are immersed inside the belly of the whale as twells’ siren call gets trapped beneath christensen's bleak guitar notes. it all feels held together by the thinnest of threads. rattling tones crawl out from underneath swirls of electronics, like barely-there points of reference in a white out. lines are crossed but blur together and everything ends up sounding like desperate, beautiful collage of sound. it's all a rouse, anyway, as you are tricked into a sense of calm as the dying orchestral zones gently flame out.

"burning bridges together" is your reward for buying in. crunching guitar chords bowl into you at full-force, moving slow but piling on the pressure. christensen belts out the vocals this go round, getting buried underneath endless washes of fuzz-soaked cacaphony. tension rises to the point of no return as they desperately search for a breaking point. things finally settle down and gently fade into oblivion, christensen's guitar providing the final epitaph. in the end, the seamless nature of the collaboration is what really leaves its mark.

vinyl only edition, cut at d+m in berlin and pressed in germany.

$6.72

back in stock as of
december 15th, 2011

first in stock on
may 5th, 2011

threads:
analogue-synth
machine-music
electro-acoustic-composition
playback-music

best of 2011 !!!

private chronology (usa) #pc 03 cs

xela “my memories of gallifrey” c45 cassette

cloister bell blues
jammed chameleon circuit
procedure is sacrosanct
rassilon and on and on
the eye of dissonance
would you care for a jelly baby?
anti-matter polarity reversal
as easy as ?

may 2011 release ; “eight pieces on synthesizer” from black country --> boston (by way of brooklyn) transplant john “xela” twells, recorded at the private chronology compound in allston, ma explicitly utilizing reuben son’s korg ms-20 for just about everything ...

... this is a major depature from john’s largely angelic-yet-metal-leaning ‘choons over the last half-decade ; the focus on stripped-down machine-speak skronk suits him well & the contagious vapors of functionality / discovery emanate from the proceedings like warm dew off an errant dandelion off the side of the henry hudson parkway ...

private chronology press release...

private chronology 03
xela - my memories of gallifrey (c45)

after a years-long trilogy on digitalis ltd., the man from type strips away his tape-decayed gradualism and angelic choir-ing, leaving bare a mangled electric corpse. recorded here at private chronology on a jerry-rigged ms-20 / moogerfooger hybrid, and pruned and salted to taste at the seventh door. don't let the 'era-classic' fidelity fool you, this stuff's as meticulously assembled and honed-in as anything he's done. purportedly a tribute to the bbc's seminal "dr. who"; as nightmarish as nostalgia really is.

pro-dubbed and imprinted edition of 100.

previous artist:
xeaxx xeaxx

...and that's everything in stock featuring xela.
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next artist:
iannis xenakis