metal rouge “ephemeroptera 5” compact disc-recordable

• odonata: i am ancient (15:49)
  
• for dr. mark sadgrove (3:23)
  
• doppler injection (21:16)

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.

mhfs “the grey lynn homeless set” seven inch single record

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

emerald cocoon press release...

mhfs alone together #4 - the grey lynn homeless set 7" [ec006] new zealand-born tokyo-based physicist mark sadgrove aka mhfs aka hometown fielding has been quietly upsetting petty notions like 'music' since 2004 when his 'west auckland driving songs' cdr barely drifted onto the scene via campbell kneale's celebrate psi phenomena label. from the start all the hallmarks were in place: site specific recordings, lyrical domesticity, systematically illogical recording choices, an acoustic guitar strung only with low e’s (his favorite string - who wouldn't want more of a good thing?), invented instruments, real-time linux csound programming, obsessively repeated lyrical fragments, an almost buddhist sense of 'sound as object', songs buried so quietly under so much hiss that even the most jaded 'difficult music' fans double checked their players to make sure something wasn't broken. in 2006 metal rouge played their first ever show (at the wine cellar in auckland, new zealand) which also doubled as helga's farewell party for her imminent departure back home to the us. mhfs was asked to play, but busy at work on his phd thesis ('resonant quantum transport for kick atoms') was unable to make it and handed us 'the grey lynn homeless set' to be played over the pa in lieu of an in-person performance. billed as a 'special non-appearance by mhfs', saturday night bar patrons were subjected to completely brutalized fragments of bone-dry pointillist guitar, seemingly random electronic beats jumping across the stereo spectrum and two sub sub sub low fidelity acoustic 'folk' songs buried under masses of hiss and digital haze – the only audible lyrics something about being 'fucking angry'.  i wish i could say the bar regulars stopped in their tracks, stunned by the sheer alien illogic of the misshapen audio tumbling from the bar pa, but alas…  most punters just assumed the pa was on the fritz and went back to their drinks – those sounds couldn't possibly be intentional, right?  emerald cocoon is now proud to present 'the grey lynn homeless set' in it's short and confusing entirety. check your cables, check your speakers – beauty has never sounded so broken.  part 4 of the 'alone together' series. mastered by pete swanson. edition of 300.

yek koo “oh woman b/w flame creation” seven inch single record

• oh woman
  
  
• flame creation

emerald cocoon press release...

yek koo alone together #3 - oh woman / flame creation 7" [ec005] helga fassonaki (of metal rouge) returns as yek koo with her first new release since last years 'i saw myself' on stunned records. gone are the horizontal string-sprawl epics of past, replaced by a new density and compositional focus. dictaphone guitar-swirl and declamatory vocal preaching atop loping nod-out rhythm samples, you could almost say yek koo has gone pop …. until the b-side hits: a sheet of live industrial slamming recorded at la's now defunct spiritual hub, the echo curio, that sounds like a realtime channelling of kali. as hard to pin down as ever, the closest point of comparison would be the morley / russell split 7" lathe on corpus hermeticum left to percolate in the merciless californian sun and even that sounds nothing like it. confusing, enticing, nuanced and brutal. part 3 of the 'alone together' series. mastered by pete swanson. edition of 300.

ashley paul “hidden face b/w leave mine” seven inch single record

• hidden face
  
  
• leave mine

emerald cocoon press release...

ashley paul alone together #2 - hidden face / leave mine 7" [ec004] ashley paul's music is the intersection of so many different facets of late 20th century art music that sometimes i'm surprised that the vinyl can still spin under the weight of all the ideas contained within. modern composition, euro free clatter and textural psychedelia converge as stilted song forms on the verge of careening off the very face of form on thin lines of carefully controlled reed-skree. amazing that a music so loaded with ideas could feel so hand crafted and warm. guitar, vocals, crotales and saxophone stitched together and moving in a constant slow peristalsis, never quite coalescing, never quite drifting apart. equal parts alien unease and folkish charm, these slowly tangled tones drift prismatic and high in the late afternoon light. ashley is also one half of aster (with artist of equal genius and partner in life/crime eli keszler) and paul & maurey (with sakiko mori). part 2 of the 'alone together' series. mastered by pete swanson. edition of 300.

christina carter “obelisk b/w tholos” seven inch single record

• obelisk
  
  
• tholos

emerald cocoon press release...

christina carter alone together #1 - obelisk / tholos 7" [ec003] a new 7" by christina carter which serves as the opening ceremony for our new 7" series of solo performances 'alone together'. a lone voice, the tangled bells, the caw of a crow, a plane passing overhead … a fortuitous overlapping of sound moments, trapped in amber by christina for us to bear witness. much like her early cdr’s 'hand & mind' or 'human as guitar', 'obelisk/tholos' is an act of white witchcraft, a healing spell that defines time with the merest of tools: bells, voice, a microphone … mastered by pete swanson, ed. 300

sunken “new zealand eels” long playing record

• eelman 003
  
• census
  
  
• the evidence
  
• eel meal
  
• pint

metal rouge “trails” long playing record

• the sunshine path
  
• may 1971
  
  
• ripe century
  
• the sad song (666)

emerald cocoon press release...

metal rouge trails ec001 lp after a period of semi-hibernation and technological downgrading metal rouge are back with the first full length missive by their new trio formation. on trails lifers helga fassonaki (lapsteel/vocals) and andrew scott (guitar) are joined by true-crime aficionado caitlin mitchell (drums) for a free floating investigation into lew welch’s mist-ridden disappearance into the norcal wilderness on one side and a raging fit of white magic against urban-planning hell on the other. mumbling low-fidelity chord flares, dual slide attacks and reverb-drenched vocal confusion underwritten by stuttering free cymbal play and outright rockist brutalism combine to make this perversely their most approachable release yet. come get lost. recorded at green machines 09, mastered by pete swanson, photo art by lemule barbour. edition of 300.