rogue cop “act of violence” c32 cassette

• untitled (1)
  
• untitled (2)
  
• untitled (3)
  
  
• untitled (4)
  
• untitled (5)
  
• untitled (6)

avant archive press release...

rogue cop act of violence aa013cs 32 minutes drew dahle, meet electric guitar. electric guitar, meet your abuser. mr. dahle, aka rogue cop, is badder than any wing-nut in a trench coat and fedora you've ever encountered. the brazenness with which dahle handles his axe is insisted upon with every second of act of violence. this album is vindication for both the hard-headed purists and the die-hard experimentalists. no frills required, no rule book exists. act of violence is difficult to discuss simply because it has very few points of reference. it is simply the sound of a guitar being mangled. though if you listen closely and perhaps long enough, you can certainly begin to create your own frame of reference. rogue cop has his own way of doing things, and if you give him a chance, you'll start to come around to the idea that his way could be your way too.

bret schneider “model of a garden scene with watering can” c59 cassette

• door #1
  
• chichnsync
  
• sdimpt
  
• h.pelepr
  
• h.ppel-or
  
• prawnroom
  
  
• noso-ft.
  
• spmizzle
  
• darb0ven
  
• prop
  
• (n) more kitesch

avant archive press release...

bret schneider model of a garden scene with watering can aa010cs :: cassette duration: 59 minutes bret schneider has created a world of chaos from the helm of his digital workstation. model of a garden scene with watering can is on the surface a simple exploration into abstract sound by way of (and perhaps limited by) his digital means, though schneider brings into this sound collage many sources of sound. the root of this dense structure is still quite simple: play. about his creative process, schneider says, “i tried to make a situation where the music is like the inverse space of the known world ... in a sense it is me making all the wrong decisions, going against my intuition, being the negative space of intuition.” if you’re not interested in process or philosophy, perhaps you’ll at least be turned on by the ear-tickling sonic concoction that is the manifestation of schneider’s approach to creative sound. if there is anything left of your brain by the time you’re through listening, you’ll certainly receive a gracious ‘thank you’ from your ears.

excavacations “afternoon future” c35 cassette

• porter
  
• buncha thieves
  
• the sine iii
  
  
• no county
  
• the sine ii
  
• they’re open again
  
• the sine i
  
• two balloons on the horizon

avant archive press release...

excavacations afternoon future aa008cs :: cassette duration: 35 minutes pop music isn’t what it used to be. excavacations know this as well as anyone, and you’ll know it too when you find yourself tapping your foot suddenly after emerging from a murky fog of sustained guitars and synthesizers. chad parsons & nicholas longworth’s increasingly signature stamp onto the musical underground is unmistakably playful, but don’t miss the signposts pointing back in time, and (it hardly bears mentioning) don’t miss the caverns of solemnity from which their lighter sensibilities emerge. these two musicians have been feeding on the morsels that popular rock & roll has left behind, and washing it down with a swig of experimental electronics and a gulp of musique concrete. their knowledge shows through when suddenly we find ourselves at that point where we want to hit rewind and hear that unforseen verse repeated yet again. when you find yourself frustrated that the last verse was indeed the last verse, take some consolation and rest in the longer stretches of abstraction, and keep in mind that excavacations just might come back with another verse or two. how soon? keep listening.

ajilvsga “massacre canyon” c82 cassette and c86 cassette boxed set

• wolves milk
  
• moan bird
  
• pawnee killer
  
  
• the animal's war party
  
• silver crow
  
• holy black twin eagles
  
  
• spirit land
  
• retribution
  
• soulless mechanisms & magical formulae
  
  
• red sky monster
  
• the hunter & the owl
  
• medicine child

avant archive press release...

ajilvsga massacre canyon aa007cs :: double-cassette duration: 168 minutes if you’ve been hanging around the tiny experimental voids that have been surfacing in north america over the past five-or-so years, there is some chance that you’ve brushed up against the rolling thunderhead called ajilvsga. the duo’s body of work is massive, and so even though it’s only a glimpse, massacre canyon is nonetheless a necessary document in the evolution of this musical icon. this soaring double-cassette collects tracks from ajilvsga’s past—some pieces more ephemeral than others, but everything worthy of a second (or tenth) glance. what these selections have in common is only a certain ability to succinctly (as much as one can, given the nature of the music, both in density and in length) define this oklahoman tag-team’s oeuvre: an animal darkness, tainted with imagery both accusatory and mournful. through their own multitude of sonic approaches, may you find ajilvsga’s essence living in the spaces of massacre canyon. alas, it’s not the end: side d contains 40 minutes of new music. onward!

emuul “waiting for winter” c40 cassette

• blurring the nights
  
  
• o lord, bless this house of your servant
  
• without looking back
  
• along northern lines
  
• dreamful colors

avant archive press release...

emuul waiting for winter aa004cs :: cassette duration: 40 minutes emuul's kyle iman is a quiet champion of quietness. his works to date have exhibited this kind of subtle presence wherein time slows down a little and reference points are not easily set. often working with synthesizers, some of emuul's most effective pieces have been those in which the least movement occurs. on waiting for winter, iman eschews his synthesizers in favor of the electric guitar and some variation on his synthetic stasis. this album's side-long introduction, "blurring the nights" is a terrifically dynamic piece that stretches from the quiet guitar hum you might recognize into a frantic sonic mantra, culminating in the integration of some expert guest drumming. on the b-side kyle airs it out a bit with four short pieces that set more somber moods. naturally driven guitars are dipped in equal parts delay and reverb. with these airs, emuul returns to the kind of stasis that you might have recognized from his past excursions, but perhaps these are his most successful pieces yet. not only do they captivate and affect the slowing of time, they're also incredibly sweet and natural sounding, fully identifiable and earnest. here is simply a man playing guitar simply, with no shroud of mystery or murk. waiting for winter is a guitar album and it demonstrates that the success of this musician comes from him, not his tools. released 2011-04-01

a. pushkin “the figure” c61 cassette

• green charm
  
• dubious
  
• technology (part 1)
  
• technology (part 2)
  
• green beauty
  
• camera
  
• blue up
  
  
• ambient conception
  
• out-of-date
  
• rumble
  
• electromotive force
  
• near-earth space

avant archive press release...

a. pushkin the figure aa003cs :: cassette duration: 61 minutes has electronic music reached its pinnacle? the mainstream transition from analog to digital in the 1990s caused a shortage of analog equipment, but now analog is in a renaissance. the early part of the 2000s saw a race toward higher bpm and hyper-mutilated amen breaks, but all the while there have been analog warriors existing in the underground. alexey pushkin is an advocate for analog, and instead of making dubstep records or the fastest jungle 12" ever, he is creating worlds into which his listeners can retreat. as analog concept, alexey has given us a broad range of experiences—from walls of ambient sound to collections of vintage-inspired numbers to a trip through a real-life cityscape. the figure presents a. pushkin, and it is a portfolio of sorts. we get rich ambience, wild synthesizer manipulation, crisp field recordings, and now even infectious minimal house outings. electronic music exists simultaneously in the future and the past. released 2010-09-01

knit prism “growing” c25 cassette

• crooked drifts
  
  
• sentimental elevations

avant archive press release...

knit prism growing aa002cs :: cassette duration: 25 minutes michael pouw's efforts as knit prism have already transported us to many lands—some familiar and others less so. here guitar chords issue forth on tape, floating lightly in the air, but also with enough heaviness to refract the light passing through. there is a certain haze about growing. mimicing the moods and incidences in our daily lives, pouw travels from one moment to the next, often with little transition in between. not wanting to be incongruently clear about this, all we can say is that the sounds on this recording are attributed to places of mystery and a certain 'other world' that so often exists in the realm of comedic drama. this is realism and comedy together. walk through the barrier of fog and step into a world in which the rules are unknown. released 2010-09-01

black eagle child “born underwater b/w the arquebus” c30 cassette

• born underwater
  
  
• the arquebus

avant archive press release...

black eagle child "born underwater" b/w "the arquebus" aa001cs :: cassette duration: 30 minutes from the artist: composition has always been a difficult process. when i decided to stick close to my comfort zone and start building music from foundations of guitar, writing music became a little easier. before black eagle child reached this point, my composition process did not exist. mostly the result was failure, but from this lack of discipline also came a couple pieces i really felt proud of. here they are finally in an official production. released 2010-09-01