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... happy spring everyone !!! to commemorate our favorite season (and to help get this place back to some sort of workable condition) we're having a "spring cleaning" sale !!! please visit the spring (2013) cleaning page to view a list of (recent, mostly 2012) releases that we're now offering at reduced prices (while supplies last, no rainchecks, etc) ...
previous record label:
 krabbesholm hojskole 		there are 139 titles on kranky in stock.
they are listed below.		next record label:
 krayon 
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march 18th, 2011

kranky (usa) #krank 155 lp

belong “common era” long playing record

  • come see (5:27)
  • never came close (4:14)
  • a walk (5:02)
  • perfect life (4:29)

  • keep still (4:39)
  • different heart (5:29)
  • make me return (4:33)
  • common era (4:08)
  • very careful (3:20)
march 2011 release ; after the muted splendor of 2008’s “colorloss record”, new orleans duo belong return with a proper full-length album for kranky ...

while the production values have been lifted admirably (notably, drum machines rule the lower registers ; the low-pass ceiling has lifted from 500hz to about 1k) the same sense of diffuse grandeur rules the airwaves here, as beatifically washed-out as anything from the 90’s “lo-fi” boom, yet fleshed out with contemporary electronic music’s production techniques ...
kranky press release...
artist: belong
title: common era
catalog #: krank155
release date: march 21, 2011

it's been five years since the last belong long player, as the duo works slowly to organize their sound works. both the time invested, and the wait, have been well rewarded with this return.

common era shows extraordinary progression from that first album of dense, scorched earth instrumentals, hints of a new direction having been revealed on the colorloss record ep from 2008 which contained covers of four should-have-been classics from the original psychedelic era. the new material has such common pop elements as "songs," vocals and drum machines, but the results could hardly be called conventional and are like little else happening on the current "scene."

the songs themselves are akin to radio transmissions received from another time and place, just as likely to be the future as the past, or even from a contemporary alternate universe. they are both passionate and dispassionate, grey yet technicolor, ghostly and palpable, distant yet immediate, grainy and focused. upon listening these conceptual contradictions are dismissed with ease, as the recordings reveal that they fit all of these descriptors simultaneously, an extraordinary balancing act.

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 $12.61

new to stock as of
march 18th, 2011

threads:
modern-psych
lo-fi
guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 155 cd

belong “common era” compact disc

  • come see (5:27)
  • never came close (4:14)
  • a walk (5:02)
  • perfect life (4:29)
  • keep still (4:39)
  • different heart (5:29)
  • make me return (4:33)
  • common era (4:08)
  • very careful (3:20)
march 2011 release ; after the muted splendor of 2008’s “colorloss record”, new orleans duo belong return with a proper full-length album for kranky ...

while the production values have been lifted admirably (notably, drum machines rule the lower registers ; the low-pass ceiling has lifted from 500hz to about 1k) the same sense of diffuse grandeur rules the airwaves here, as beatifically washed-out as anything from the 90’s “lo-fi” boom, yet fleshed out with contemporary electronic music’s production techniques ...
kranky press release...

artist: belong
title: common era
catalog #: krank155
release date: march 21, 2011

it's been five years since the last belong long player, as the duo works slowly to organize their sound works. both the time invested, and the wait, have been well rewarded with this return.

common era shows extraordinary progression from that first album of dense, scorched earth instrumentals, hints of a new direction having been revealed on the colorloss record ep from 2008 which contained covers of four should-have-been classics from the original psychedelic era. the new material has such common pop elements as "songs," vocals and drum machines, but the results could hardly be called conventional and are like little else happening on the current "scene."

the songs themselves are akin to radio transmissions received from another time and place, just as likely to be the future as the past, or even from a contemporary alternate universe. they are both passionate and dispassionate, grey yet technicolor, ghostly and palpable, distant yet immediate, grainy and focused. upon listening these conceptual contradictions are dismissed with ease, as the recordings reveal that they fit all of these descriptors simultaneously, an extraordinary balancing act.

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add this item to your
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 $16.81

back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
concert-recordings
minimalism-drones
site-specific

 best of 2011 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 154 lp

tim hecker “ravedeath, 1972” double long playing record set

  • the piano drop (2:54)
  • in the fog i (4:52)
  • in the fog ii (6:01)

  • in the fog iii (5:01)
  • no drums (3:24)
  • hatred of music i (6:11)

  • hatred of music ii (4:22)
  • analog paralysis, 1978 (3:52)
  • studio suicide, 1980 (3:25)

  • in the air i (4:12)
  • in the air ii (4:08)
  • in the air iii (4:02)
february 2011 release ; ... for tim hecker’s third kranky album (either his sixth or seventh overall, depending on your scheme) he decamped to reykjavik, met up with australian composer ben frost (something of a ... let’s face it ... tim hecker biter) & spent a single day recording the pipe organ tones & patterns that are the majority sound-source (along with a fair bit of ben’s spry ivory-tinklings) of the 12 fragments contained herein ...

one expecting a departure from tim’s largely nihilistic “metal” -informed music as of late into a spiritual miasma will perhaps be pleased to instead bear witness to the familiar crushing, piled-up voids of all-sound that make up his productions herein ; as heavy and atmospheric as his guitar-based work, retaining the full-spectrum thrills but imbuing it here with a newfound sense of acoustic realism (listen to the sound-sample ; plenty of witness of humans interacting with musical apparatus in a huge, resonant room) that, imho, makes this his most nuanced outing yet ... highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...

artist: tim hecker
title: ravedeath, 1972
catalog #: krank 154
release date: february 14, 2011

tim hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. recorded in a church in reykjavik, iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. in reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. it is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

while the title of the piece "hatred of music" might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated cdrs pushed by bulldozers in eastern europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. they also really didn't at all.

despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. it is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. this work is a significant contribution to hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force.

the album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in july of 2010. iceland-based musician ben frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
digital-musics
electro-acoustic-composition
minimalism-drones
site-specific
concert-recordings

 best of 2011 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 154 cd

tim hecker “ravedeath, 1972” compact disc

  • the piano drop (2:54)
  • in the fog i (4:52)
  • in the fog ii (6:01)
  • in the fog iii (5:01)
  • no drums (3:24)
  • hatred of music i (6:11)
  • hatred of music ii (4:22)
  • analog paralysis, 1978 (3:52)
  • studio suicide, 1980 (3:25)
  • in the air i (4:12)
  • in the air ii (4:08)
  • in the air iii (4:02)
february 2011 release ; ... for tim hecker’s third kranky album (either his sixth or seventh overall, depending on your scheme) he decamped to reykjavik, met up with australian composer ben frost (something of a ... let’s face it ... tim hecker biter) & spent a single day recording the pipe organ tones & patterns that are the majority sound-source (along with a fair bit of ben’s spry ivory-tinklings) of the 12 fragments contained herein ...

one expecting a departure from tim’s largely nihilistic “metal” -informed music as of late into a spiritual miasma will perhaps be pleased to instead bear witness to the familiar crushing, piled-up voids of all-sound that make up his productions herein ; as heavy and atmospheric as his guitar-based work, retaining the full-spectrum thrills but imbuing it here with a newfound sense of acoustic realism (listen to the sound-sample ; plenty of witness of humans interacting with musical apparatus in a huge, resonant room) that, imho, makes this his most nuanced outing yet ... highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...

artist: tim hecker
title: ravedeath, 1972
catalog #: krank154
release date: february 14, 2011

tim hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. recorded in a church in reykjavik, iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. in reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. it is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine.

while the title of the piece "hatred of music" might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated cdrs pushed by bulldozers in eastern europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. they also really didn't at all.

despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. it is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. this work is a significant contribution to hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force.

the album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in july of 2010. iceland-based musician ben frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
modern-psych
beat-research
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 152 lp

pan•american “for waiting, for chasing” long playing record

  • love song (7:24)
  • are you ready? (5:02)
  • dr. christian (5:36)
  • still swimming (1:47)

  • from here (5:52)
  • the penguin speaks (5:52)
  • amulls (9:43)
november 2010 release ; reboot of this hard-to-find 2006 pan•american album, widely considered as mark’s most minimal & beguiling affair ...
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: for waiting, for chasing
catalog #: krank152
release date: november 15, 2010

for waiting, for chasing was originally issued in a limited pressing by the stefan németh (radian) curated mosz label in 2006. this is the first time it is being made widely available in north america and elsewhere, and also the first time it is being issued on the vinyl lp format.

as mosz eloquently stated at the time of release :

...it is not about the process or the media, which have been used. it is about how elements and structures are put in a detailed relation to each other, ending up in a slow-moving, breathing organism. filaments of percussive elements condense to polyrhythmic elements, layers of sound, instruments and field recordings merge to build up a mystic parallel, not so much fictional world.

perhaps the most skeletal and minimal of all of the works in the pan•american canon, it may also be the most compelling.

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back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
film-video

kranky (usa) #krank 150 lp

brian mcbride “the effective disconnect” long playing record

  • mélodrames télégraphiés (in b major 7th) part 1 (5:26)
  • mélodrames télégraphiés (in b major 7th) part 2 (4:13)
  • girl nap (3:51)
  • several tries (in an unelevated style) (7:45)

  • supposed essay on the piano (b major piano adagietto) (4:10)
  • toil theme part 1 (2:30)
  • toil theme part 2 (2:44)
  • toil theme part 3 (2:27)
  • beekeepers vs warfare chemicals (4:13)
  • i know that you don't like the future like i do (3:09)
  • chamber minuet (2:44)
october 2010 release ; second solo outing from stars of the lid’s brian mcbride, an orchestral suite composed as the score to george langworthy & maryam heinen’s 2009 film “vanishing of the bees” ... just as fulfilling as an sotl album proper ; fans will be in heaven ...
kranky press release...
artist: brian mcbride
title: the effective disconnect
catalog #: krank150
release date: october 25, 2010

from brian mcbride:

when george and myriam approached me to compose for their film they suggested i concentrate on four different themes: the gloriousness of the bees, the endurance and hardships of traditional beekeepers, pesticides and the holistic nature of non-industrial agriculture. i was especially intrigued with the idea of combining some of their mournful aspirations with something more serene.

composing began in may of 2009. i had decided to start fresh not using anything that i had already recorded. preparing the music for the film, i knew that i needed to provide more built-in changes in the structure of the pieces to give george and myriam more flexibility. as i worked, i purposely distanced myself from the more continuous architecture employed in my previous recordings in favor of several mini-suites. in the thinking about the music, i hoped that the pieces would do justice to the ‘gloriousness of the bees’ theme, striving for a more overt hopeful quality. but old traditions die-hard and the hopeful side of the music was eventually more subsumed by the lamentable.

i should also mention that if you have seen the film, this record will not contain all the music used and scored for this film.

i am incredibly honored to be a part of this project even if the final compositions turned out to be more appropriate for a different and more forlorn film. i know you have a lot to think about in this world but if you care about food or the world around us, you deserve to at least consider the arguments within this honest and real piece of film-making.

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new to stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
modern-psych
digital-musics
guitar-themed
field-recordings

kranky (usa) #krank 145 cd

benoît pioulard “lasted” compact disc

  • purse discusses (2:50)
  • sault (3:18)
  • rto (3:44)
  • gloss (1:50)
  • tie (3:25)
  • shouting distance (3:07)
  • fluoresce (2:20)
  • lasted (2:52)
  • weird door (1:10)
  • ailleurs (2:57)
  • passenger (1:05)
  • tack & tower (3:28)
  • a coin on the tongue (2:40)
  • nod (5:23)
october 2010 release ; ... just want to point out that, after never really “clicking” with thomas’ music, i unashamedly, unabashedly love this record, which combines contemporary digital sound-tools with a great sense of snaking melody and a “private” delivery that recalls arthur russell’s best moments ...
kranky press release...

artist: benoit pioulard
title: lasted
catalog #: krank145
release date: october 11, 2010

lasted is the third album by thomas meluch under the alias benoit pioulard. thomas has toured throughout north america and europe since his last record, the process of which has had a marked impact on the development of these songs as lyrics and structures have been scrapped, tweaked and reworked in the live setting. as with previous albums it was recorded and mixed in domestic isolation, this time throughout the rainy season in his current home of portland, oregon.

while the extent of the dreary climate's influence on the results is left to the listener's discretion, what is certain is that thomas has a preternatural ability to weave disparate sound components into a cohesive sonic tapestry, mixing a varied palette of field recordings and percussive elements along with melancholy melodies to create songs that recall - and are akin to - vespers of long-buried memories.

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new to stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
art-punk
guitar-themed
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 143 cd

disappears “lux” compact disc

  • gone completely (2:37)
  • magics (3:56)
  • pearly gates (3:40)
  • marigold (3:14)
  • not nothing (1:44)
  • lux (3:55)
  • old friend (2:08)
  • little ghost (3:34)
  • new cross (1:44)
  • no other (2:34)
april 2010 release ; debut album of big, chunky, overloaded rock music (in a loose jesus & mary chain mould ; listen to the sound-sample) from this chicago quartet, now performing with sonic youth’s steve shelley taking up the drum stool ...
kranky press release...

artist: disappears
title: lux
catalog #: krank143
release date: april 12, 2010

this is the debut studio full length from this chicago quartet after two singles and a limited live album, all self-released by the band.

disappears are that rarest of musical things, a 'rock' band affiliated with kranky. but at least they are a rock band and not some less than reasonable facsimilie, because let's face it; most bands using that descriptor would not sonically intimidate your grandmother if she were alone in a dark alley. and deliver the granite the disappears do from the opening chords, delivering scuzzy, driving rhythms that certainly imply a threat of ill will.

drawing on a combined reverence for reverb, heavy tremolo, distortion, delay and repetition, disappears play minimal rock music inspired by krautrock, punk rock, the mid 80's new zealand scene, and a bit of everything in between. and in their minimalist approach the band finds their real strength, hammering home chord structures that are tried and true and can and do remain fresh in the hands of the right talents such as these.

as a wise man once said, "keep it simple stupid".

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back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
modern-psych
analogue-synth
minimalism-drones
beat-research
guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 142 lp

jonas reinhardt “powers of audition” long playing record

  • mumma deed family clone (2:16)
  • atomic bomb living (6:12)
  • orbiter dicta (7:04)
  • only you can achive nitrogen (4:04)

  • near a mirrored pit viper (4:30)
  • powers of audition (5:09)
  • wastrel eyelid (9:36)
march 2010 release ; ... i’m impressed with the catch-all channelling of 70’s “electronic psych” tropes (seriously ; they’re all there :: some very moe / roe-leaning synth melodicism, a drum-led arpeggio-tumbler ala “moondawn” - listen to the sound-sample - even some psych-guitar trance-outs ala “you”) on this, the second album from jesse reiner’s jonas reinhardt, heard here in a band-formation with damon palermo (mi ami), diego gonzalez (citay), and phil manley (trans am) ...
kranky press release...
artist: jonas reinhardt
title: powers of audition
catalog #: krank142
release date: march 15, 2010

jonas reinhardt continues his cosmic flight inward on this latest release. the instrumentation from his debut album expands here to include acoustic drum patterns, guitars, and woodwinds alongside synthesizers and electronics. together, these voices seamlessly twist and meld into a singular aural journey. this is music of the spheres for an electronic era where new age visions are re-imagined through a lens of experimental rock.

the titular concept behind the album, drawn from ideas of the post-war avant-garde, refers simply to the human capacity to audition sound and fill in blanks where the composer leaves space for interpretation.

jonas explains:

each of the songs is meant to engage the listener's innate power of audition to fill in intentionally left blanks. these occur throughout the recording where there is either diminished narrative resolution or explicit sectional movement meant to provoke an auditory response.

the result is a mesmerizing journey to cracked and digitized moonscapes where reinhardt's transparent relationship with instruments, sound, and form are made whole and hints of a beat-centered future are just around the corner.

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back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
beat-research
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 141 lp

loscil “endless falls” double long playing record set

  • endless falls (7:55)
  • estuarine (8:21)

  • shallow water blackout (7:07)
  • dub for cascadia (6:07)
  • fern and robin (7:11)

  • lake orchard (7:41)
  • showers of ink (8:44)

  • graupel (5:28)
  • kinematics (4:19)the making of grief point (8:54)
march 2010 release ; fifth album from vancouver’s scott morgan, moving further & further away from the straight-up muted berlin-style techno of his first few outings & getting into some, frankly, dynamite aggregates of held-chord string-stasis & lush, cycling filtrations ...
kranky press release...

artist: loscil
title: endless falls
catalog #: krank141
release date: march 01, 2010

endless falls is the fifth full length release by scott morgan under the loscil moniker. the album begins and ends with the sound of rain recorded by scott in his back yard, precipitation being a constant presence in his home city of vancouver. many of the other sounds on the album are derived from these same recordings, processed and combined with other harmonic sounds to create the textures and drones.

something completely new to this release would be vocals, of a sort, a first for any loscil composition, contributed by daniel bejar on the final track. scott states :

the collaboration with dan made us both incredibly nervous. dan felt out of his element doing 'spoken word' but rose to the challenge. i felt self-conscious about changing the listening perspective from abstract, ambient music into foreground, conscious listening. the first time i heard dan's voice recording i was terrified and was tempted to call the whole thing off. i listened to it a few more times and it completely grew on me. now i can't imagine that piece without his performance. i love dan's use of words, his vocal rhythms and the intimate intensity of his voice.

jason zumpano is the only returning performer from past collaborations, he is responsible for the piano parts. kim koch and robert sparks make appearances on violin and bass recorder. the cover photos for the album were taken from the backseat of the family car by scott's newest collaborator, his 4 year old daughter sadie.

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 $12.61

new to stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics
beat-research
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 141 cd

loscil “endless falls” compact disc

  • endless falls (7:55)
  • estuarine (8:21)
  • shallow water blackout (7:07)
  • dub for cascadia (6:07)
  • fern and robin (7:11)
  • lake orchard (7:41)
  • showers of ink (8:44)
  • the making of grief point (8:54)
march 2010 release ; fifth album from vancouver’s scott morgan, moving further & further away from the straight-up muted berlin-style techno of his first few outings & getting into some, frankly, dynamite aggregates of held-chord string-stasis & lush, cycling filtrations ...
kranky press release...

artist: loscil
title: endless falls
catalog #: krank141
release date: march 01, 2010

endless falls is the fifth full length release by scott morgan under the loscil moniker. the album begins and ends with the sound of rain recorded by scott in his back yard, precipitation being a constant presence in his home city of vancouver. many of the other sounds on the album are derived from these same recordings, processed and combined with other harmonic sounds to create the textures and drones.

something completely new to this release would be vocals, of a sort, a first for any loscil composition, contributed by daniel bejar on the final track. scott states :

the collaboration with dan made us both incredibly nervous. dan felt out of his element doing 'spoken word' but rose to the challenge. i felt self-conscious about changing the listening perspective from abstract, ambient music into foreground, conscious listening. the first time i heard dan's voice recording i was terrified and was tempted to call the whole thing off. i listened to it a few more times and it completely grew on me. now i can't imagine that piece without his performance. i love dan's use of words, his vocal rhythms and the intimate intensity of his voice.

jason zumpano is the only returning performer from past collaborations, he is responsible for the piano parts. kim koch and robert sparks make appearances on violin and bass recorder. the cover photos for the album were taken from the backseat of the family car by scott's newest collaborator, his 4 year old daughter sadie.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
april 26th, 2012

first in stock on
march 2nd, 2011

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

 best of 2011 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 140 lp

ken camden “lethargy & repercussion” long playing record

  • birthday (6:57)
  • raagini robot (7:01)
  • in your ears (7:33)

  • raga (8:10)
  • new space (7:40)
  • jupiter (11:45)
march 2010 release ; awesome record of shimmering, electronically modified solo guitar music from arco flute foundation’s ken camden ...

the pulsing, gated rhythms do have a certain (k) / (c) luster that reminds me of achim reichel & / or steve hillage, but the sound-pallette is decidedly contemporary, with endless synchronized delays & comb filterings making the proceeding just so rich & dense ...

... one of the best things that kranky has put out over the past few years, one that seems to have been somewhat swept under the rug (i have the distinct feeling that ... if this exact same record had been released as a boutique, pricey euro-import - say on 8mm or ultra eczema - people would have been all over it) ; highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...
artist: ken camden title: lethargy & repercussion
catalog #: krank140
release date: march 29, 2010

ken camden plays guitar. while those four words might imply something extremely limiting, ken's playing and execution are anything but. his work seamlessly melds elements of modern composition, kosmische musik, eastern modal themes and academic electronic works; in other words, a good amount of the things we love here at kranky.

all of the pieces were recorded in real time with no overdubs, with the exception of jupiter which was designed and recorded as a duet for two guitars. while this process may not result in the technical perfection that many strive for, it leaves in the idiosyncrasies that give sound recordings their life and their soul, that make them unique to the individual and the moment. each final mix was chosen from multiple versions of each composition for the qualities inherent in the specific selected take.

what results are six intoxicating, structured atmospheres perfect for headphones and a deep recline into an enveloping chair.

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new to stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

kranky (usa) #krank 139 cd

felix “you are the one i pick” compact disc

  • death to everyone but us (2:44)
  • you are the one i pick (2:36)
  • ode to the marlboro man (2:35)
  • i wish i was a pony (2:46)
  • where is my dragon? (3:03)
  • waltzing for weasels (3:36)
  • what i learned from tv (4:59)
  • back in style (2:30)
  • bernard st. (4:54)
  • lifter (3:19)
  • song about zoo (1:25)
november 2009 release ; debut release from the duo of chris summerlin & lucinda chua ...
kranky press release...

artist: felix
title: you are the one i pick
catalog #: krank139
release date: november 2, 2009

felix is the musical duo of lucinda chua and chris summerlin, who make their home in england.

the focus of the album is lucinda's askew stories, and the subtle conversation between her piano and the guitar accompaniment of chris summerlin, an intuitive discussion that speaks volumes by not saying too much and while never stepping on each other's lines.

the songs themselves are delicate and spare chamber pop. they are understated and deceptively simple, but deliver an emotional impact that mere decibels cannot. lucinda's tales of woe concern the banality of domestic life, small animals, and the desire to keep the forces of the world at bay.

you are the one i pick may be an album of small charms, but they come with a frequency rarely found, and are myriad in number.

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threads:
modern-psych
digital-musics
guitar-themed
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 138 lp
4ad (uk) #krank 138 lp

atlas sound “logos” long playing record

  • the light that failed (4:47)
  • an orchid (3:06)
  • walkabout (featuring panda bear) (3:59)
  • criminals (2:55)
  • attic lights (3:44)
  • shelia (3:32)

  • quick canal (featuring laetitia sadier) (8:38)
  • my halo (3:17)
  • kid klimax (3:00)
  • washington school (3:25)
  • logos (3:29)
october 2009 release ; second solo venture from deerhunter’s bradford cox ... less of a focus on the dance-beats, more of a weird garage / “go-go” fascination (sounds like some of the guitars are sampled from billy childish records) ...
kranky press release...

artist: atlas sound
title: logos
catalog #: krank138
release date: october 19, 2009

the prolific bradford cox delivers yet again, with his second solo album under the atlas sound moniker. eleven delectable pop delights served up to tantalize and tickle your taste buds.

this is the second solo album from deerhunter frontman bradford cox following his debut "let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel" from early 2008.

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kranky (usa) #krank 138 cd
4ad (uk) #krank 138 cd

atlas sound “logos” compact disc

  • the light that failed (4:47)
  • an orchid (3:06)
  • walkabout (featuring panda bear) (3:59)
  • criminals (2:55)
  • attic lights (3:44)
  • shelia (3:32)
  • quick canal (featuring laetitia sadier) (8:38)
  • my halo (3:17)
  • kid klimax (3:00)
  • washington school (3:25)
  • logos (3:29)
october 2009 release ; second solo venture from deerhunter’s bradford cox ... less of a focus on the dance-beats, more of a weird garage / “go-go” fascination (sounds like some of the guitars are sampled from billy childish records) ...
kranky press release...

artist: atlas sound
title: logos
catalog #: krank138
release date: october 19, 2009

the prolific bradford cox delivers yet again, with his second solo album under the atlas sound moniker. eleven delectable pop delights served up to tantalize and tickle your taste buds.

this is the second solo album from deerhunter frontman bradford cox following his debut "let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel" from early 2008.

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back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
guitar-themed
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 137 lp

white rainbow “new clouds” double long playing record set

  • tuesday rollers and strollers (18:06)

  • major spillage (12:49)

  • all the boogies in the world (20:10)

  • monday boogies forward forever (16:01)
october 2009 release ; second epic blaster on kranky from adam forkner, heard here evoking the great cosmic divine over four side-length pieces, channeling late ash ra tempel (göttsching’s guitar sounds like a huge influence, as does “e2-e4” ; maybe even some of karoli’s snaking lines) albeit laid out in a manner more befitting contemporary “chill-out” zones ...
kranky press release...

artist: white rainbow
title: new clouds
catalog #: krank137
release date: october 19, 2009

a few things have changed for adam forkner since his last white rainbow album from 2007, prism of eternal now. a national tour with fellow kranky heads valet and atlas sound, and countless hours jamming with portland avant-music collective rob walmart inspired him to hunker down and dig deeper into his personal vision of what head music can be.

adam forkner lives and loves in portland, oregon. this is the second white rainbow album released on kranky.

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electro-acoustic-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 136 cd

ethernet “144 pulsations of light” compact disc

  • majestic (5:59)
  • 5 + 7 = 12 (6:55)
  • summer insects (7:26)
  • vaporous (8:37)
  • seaside (5:49)
  • kansai (5:43)
  • temple (12:47)
october 2009 release ; lovely ambient-techno excursions from tim gray, clearly influenced by wolfgang voigt’s work as gas while incorporating some very unusual spatial effects to induce a highly hallucinogenic waking state ...
kranky press release...

artist: ethernet
title: 144 pulsations of light
catalog #: krank136
release date: october 5, 2009

144 pulsations of light is the debut full length release by tim gray under the name of ethernet.

tim states:

based on my research and experience in using sound for induction of meditative states, i set out to apply trance-inducing sonic effects to drone-ambient music. i recontextualized the deep bass kick sound used in techno dance music as a subdued hypnotic pulse to accentuate the textures. an unprocessed analog roland tr-808 was used for this pulse, as well as binaural beats and spatial effects processing to create music to facilitate deep meditation. i blended layers of synthesized textures with organic field recordings made in central japan in '00-'01, and northern california between '03-'08. the intent of the album is to produce an introspective sonic environment conducive to self-healing work and voyaging into new states of awareness.

while tim's description may read as somewhat dry and technical, the sonic landscapes that he composes are anything but. he sculpts textural washes of sound to create immersive, constantly shifting aural psychedelic environments. hazy, gaseous atmospheres that are alternately arid and humid float above, in and around the muffled pulses used as rhythms. the experience is not unlike that of landing on an alien planet, stepping out of a spaceship, and surveying new terrain.

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kranky (usa) #krank 135 cd

to kill a petty bourgeoisie “marlone” compact disc

  • you've gone too far (8:39)
  • the needle (5:09)
  • villain (6:08)
  • along the line (5:12)
  • i will hang my cape in your closet (7:05)
  • bridgework (3:22)
  • i hear you coming
  • but your steps are too loud (6:04)
  • in peoples' homes (1:52)
  • turritopsis (9:47)
  • summertime (5:32)
september 2009 release ; second album from jehna wilhelm & mark mcgee’s tkapb ...
kranky press release...

artist: to kill a petty bourgeoisie
title: marlone
catalog #: krank135
release date: september 21, 2009

marlone is the second album release from the oddly monikered duo to kill a petty bourgeoisie. they are a pop band of sorts, in that their songs can worm their way into your head and not leave, but they are certainly not a group to be lumped in with the top 40 prattle that dominates the airwaves nor the mediocrity that smothers the interwebs.

quite different from their other releases, marlone is a more organic and open work, allowing breathing space for the songs to unfold and evolve; witness the slow, sinister burn of both "villain" and "turritopsis." and in quite a change of pace for the group, they even deliver a straight ahead pop song with the brisk romp of "in people's homes."

what they assuredly are is a group that continually explores the union of the light and the dark, the sweetness of the female voice set against the salty backing tracks, always searching for the fine balance between the calming and the equilibrium challenging.

to kill a petty bourgeoisie consists of jehna wilhelm and mark mcgee, with various collaborators in both the studio and live settings. marlone was born from a collection of songs written on tour and during live performances, with additional material taking form in the recording sessions and later in mixing. the album was recorded at the sound gallery in minneapolis, mn.

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threads:
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beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 134 lp

nudge “as good as gone” long playing record

  • harmo
  • two hands
  • verdantique
  • aurolac

  • tito
  • burns blue
  • dawn comes light
september 2009 release ; second full-length from brian foote’s nudge, again working with collaborators honey owens (aka valet, plays in jackie-o motherfucker, and, more recently, ilyas ahmed’s group) and paul “strategy” dickow ...
kranky press release...
artist: nudge
title: as good as gone
catalog #: krank134
formats available: cd/ lp
release date: september 7, 2009

nudge returns with a slow burning full-length of sounds perfect for the dying days of the summer's swelter. the varied stylistic shifts of previous material have garnered their fair share of comments regarding a schizophrenic nature, but here the experimental lean of the group is placed to deliver it's most cohesive sound to date

masterfully blurring the music's entangled live and programmed approaches to the point of imperceptibility, layer upon layer of synth, guitar and vocals are draped over skeletal pop structures and anchored by dub basslines born of resin-stained fingers. covered in an electric blanket of atmosphere that can surely only come from years in outer space memorizing the top of one's shoes, the gothic trappings reveal themselves as hard-earned circles beneath the eyes as opposed to poorly applied hot topic nail polish.

as good as gone is a proper album whose arc is intended to be absorbed stem to stern.

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threads:
modern-psych
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 134 cd

nudge “as good as gone” compact disc

  • harmo
  • two hands
  • verdantique
  • aurolac
  • tito
  • burns blue
  • dawn comes light
september 2009 release ; second full-length from brian foote’s nudge, again working with collaborators honey owens (aka valet, plays in jackie-o motherfucker, and, more recently, ilyas ahmed’s group) and paul “strategy” dickow ...
kranky press release...
artist: nudge
title: as good as gone
catalog #: krank134
formats available: cd/ lp
release date: september 7, 2009

nudge returns with a slow burning full-length of sounds perfect for the dying days of the summer's swelter. the varied stylistic shifts of previous material have garnered their fair share of comments regarding a schizophrenic nature, but here the experimental lean of the group is placed to deliver it's most cohesive sound to date

masterfully blurring the music's entangled live and programmed approaches to the point of imperceptibility, layer upon layer of synth, guitar and vocals are draped over skeletal pop structures and anchored by dub basslines born of resin-stained fingers. covered in an electric blanket of atmosphere that can surely only come from years in outer space memorizing the top of one's shoes, the gothic trappings reveal themselves as hard-earned circles beneath the eyes as opposed to poorly applied hot topic nail polish.

as good as gone is a proper album whose arc is intended to be absorbed stem to stern.

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back in stock as of
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first in stock on
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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 133 lp

deerhunter “rainwater cassette exchange” long playing record

  • rainwater cassette exchange
  • disappearing ink
  • famous last words

  • game of diamonds
  • circulation
june 2009 release ; between-album ep-length disc from deerhunter ...

five new songs ; just enough to tide us over until the next blast ...
kranky press release...

artist: deerhunter
title: rainwater cassette exchange
catalog #: krank133
formats available: cdep / vinyl ep
release date: june 8, 2009

"don't complain, don't explain." - henry ford

certainly not a group to rest on their laurels (especially difficult when they have new songs burning a hole in their collective back pockets), deerhunter delivers five new tracks on this extended play.

this is not some stop-gap release between albums, or mere leftovers from their most recent microcastle album, but an all new session. the band loves the ep format and thinks it does not get the respect it deserves. hell, some bands arguably work best in the ep format, think cocteau twins or my bloody valentine, and now maybe we should add deerhunter to that list. that's certainly not to say their albums aren't great, but with 2007's fluorescent grey ep and this new one, a lucid argument can be made that minute for minute, and hook for hook, their two ep's can't be matched for visceral energy and pop smarts.

the fearsome and fearless atlanta foursome come back with another shot to the head.

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 133 cd

deerhunter “rainwater cassette exchange” compact disc

  • rainwater cassette exchange
  • disappearing ink
  • famous last words
  • game of diamonds
  • circulation
june 2009 release ; between-album ep-length disc from deerhunter ...

five new songs ; just enough to tide us over until the next blast ...
kranky press release...

artist: deerhunter
title: rainwater cassette exchange
catalog #: krank133
formats available: cdep / vinyl ep
release date: june 8, 2009

"don't complain, don't explain." - henry ford

certainly not a group to rest on their laurels (especially difficult when they have new songs burning a hole in their collective back pockets), deerhunter delivers five new tracks on this extended play.

this is not some stop-gap release between albums, or mere leftovers from their most recent microcastle album, but an all new session. the band loves the ep format and thinks it does not get the respect it deserves. hell, some bands arguably work best in the ep format, think cocteau twins or my bloody valentine, and now maybe we should add deerhunter to that list. that's certainly not to say their albums aren't great, but with 2007's fluorescent grey ep and this new one, a lucid argument can be made that minute for minute, and hook for hook, their two ep's can't be matched for visceral energy and pop smarts.

the fearsome and fearless atlanta foursome come back with another shot to the head.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
site-specific
minimalism-drones
lo-fi
playback-music
sound-art

kranky (usa) #krank 131 cd

gregg kowalsky “tape chants” compact disc

  • invocation (1:07)
  • i-iv (20:45)
  • v (1:16)
  • vi-vii (13:24)
  • viii (0:51)
  • ix (4:19)
  • x-xi (8:07)
june 2009 release ; kind of slept on this “studio” variant of gregg kowalsky’s “tape chants” project (previously documented in a “live” incarnation on a root strata cdr) ... it’s excellent disc covering a series of pieces made utilizing slightly detuned loop-cassette fragments, played back in acoustic spaces and “ganged” via multitrack to highlight the implicit beat frequencies and assorted psycho-acoustic behaviors ...
kranky press release...
artist: gregg kowalsky
title: tape chants
catalog #: krank131
formats available: cd
release date: june 8, 2009

from gregg kowalsky:

after my first album for kranky, i was eager to adapt a new method of composing and performing as a way to distance myself from the digital realm. i felt limited by the unlimited possibilities of digital production, and i had spent the previous 5 years composing with the computer as my main instrument. in an effort to push myself i spent two years experimenting with tape loops, cassette players and recorders, analog synths, sine oscillators, mixer feedback, contact mics and various acoustic sound sources.

through these experiments i developed a series entitled tape chants, which is made up of performances and compositions using tapes as the main source material, as well as the mono speakers of various cassette players for the piece's amplification. all of the cassettes are tuned to each other using the pitch control and halfspeed playback devices located on the sony tcm 200dv cassette recorder. all of the compositions are constructed with tuned sinewaves as the starting point and the pieces are built using sources such as shruti box, percussion, gongs, etc.

the live performances of tape chants begin with the placement of the 6-10 cassette recorders and boomboxes around the performance space. the piece is begun by adjusting the amplitudes of the individual tape players. i walk around the space listening to the overall mix and slowly adjust the volume on the playersõ to create a live lo-fi surround sound mix. depending on where each member of the audience is located, they will hear the piece slightly differently than the person next to them. psychoacoustic phenomena play a large role in the performance due to the different spaces the piece is performed in. the live set fits somewhere between sound installation and performance.

during the construction of the studio version of tape chants, i was interested in adding rhythmic textures to the once static drone compositions. this is a newer approach which i have been focusing on, finding new ways and means to break up the static drone.

the recorded version of tape chants does not try to replicate the surround sound component of the live performances, but there is a variety of different acoustic spaces located in the source material. many of the same cassettes that were used in the several editions of the series were used to record this album.

tape chants follows gregg through the cardial window album released in early 2006 on kranky.

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threads:
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guitar-themed
modern-composition
digital-musics

kranky (usa) #krank 130 cd

tim hecker “an imaginary country” compact disc

  • 100 years ago
  • sea of pulses
  • the inner shore
  • pond life
  • borderlands
  • a stop at the chord cascades
  • utropics
  • paragon point
  • her black horizon
  • currents of electrostasy
  • where shadows makes shadows
  • 200 years ago
march 2009 release ; second full-length outing for kranky from tim hecker ...

while overall it’s a much more mellow outing than “harmony in ultraviolet” ‘s metal-tinged overload, there’s a new-found focus on pulsing sub-bass activity that recalls tim’s roots as a producer of post-dancefloor music (see his jetone sides for force inc.) as well as ushering the music into new domains ... the deep, swirling chord-shapes that keep this from being an exercise in pure texture are always present ; tim’s expertise at riding the line between mood and sentimentality always in effect ...

a bunch of us have been waiting with baited breath for this one ; i’m glad to report that everything i’ve grown to love about tim’s music in recent years is here in droves ... highly recommended for fans new & old alike ...
kranky press release...
artist: tim hecker
title: an imaginary country
catalog #: krank130
formats available: 2xlp / cd
release date: march 9, 2009

an imaginary country continues from the trajectory of his last album, the critically acclaimed harmony in ultraviolet, while also showing a few new tricks. tim has incorporated more pulses into this work and also works with a sound pallete including overdriven mellotron strings and synthesizer. at times this album is less overtly aggressive than previous works, but the notion that this is pastoral work would be dead wrong as there are plenty of the agitated crescendos that he is know for. this music backs off from the void of immensity in favor of a terrain of lushness and warmth.

this heat, this work of musical abstraction, is largely made possible by the tools of digital technology that he employs. it is a means of musical production that allows for the obliteration of questions of representation or instrumentation. strings, synthesizers, pianos and guitars all fade away into the fog of what they once were. a tropical mist (or a northerly breeze) of sound is also a musical resonance of imagination.

the title comes from a quote, "the imaginary country... one that cannot be found on a map," uttered by debussy in regards to the sad state of musical affairs at the time, arguing that music was in dire need for alternate worlds of possibility. in some ways this is a utopian work, in the sense of the term meaning that of 'no-place'. all the tracks are landmarks in a dream cartography.

with this album tim hecker expands his palette as well as his range, further cementing his reputation as a singular and significant entity in the world of contemporary music.an imaginary country follows a collaboration with aidan baker for the alien8 label entitled "fantasma parastasie" released in the fall of 2008, and the harmony in ultraviolet album released in late 2006 on kranky.

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kranky (usa) #krank 129 cd

lotus plaza “the floodlight collective” compact disc

  • red oak way
  • quicksand
  • these years
  • different mirrors
  • whiteout
  • what grows?
  • sunday night
  • antoine
  • the floodlight collective
  • a threaded needle
march 2009 release ; solo album from deerhunter’s lockett pundt ...
kranky press release...
artist: lotus plaza
title: the floodlight collectivecatalog #: krank129
formats available: lp / cd
release date: march 23, 2009

this is the debut solo release from lockett pundt who also toils as guitarist and songwriter in the band deerhunter.

lockett pundt's first full length is an expansive meditation on the modern history of the pop song with an obvious appreciation for the atmospheric vocal harmonies of the 50's, the brill building writers of the 60's, and the sounds of the early 80's postpunk uk scene.

the production is multi-multi-layered with a seemingly endless amount of subtle detail in each track, while the vocals are generally low in the mix and add yet another layer to the sound.

there are certainly references to lockett's day job here, and it can be no other way as he is an integral part of that "other" group. but he clearly stakes a claim to his own sound here.

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threads:
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beat-research
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 128 cd

pan•american “white bird release” compact disc

  • there can be no thought of finishing
  • for aiming at the stars
  • both literally and figuratively
  • is a problem to occupy generations
  • so that no matter
  • how much progress one makes
  • there is always the thrill of just beginning
  • dr. robert godard
  • in a letter to h.g. wells, 1932
february 2009 release ; sixth solo disc from labradford’s mark nelson under his pan•american guise ...

this is arguably mark’s most varied set yet, with themes ranging from the seefeel-esque “for aiming at the stars” & the muted thump / haze of “in a letter to h.g. wells, 1932” (surely indebted to wolfgang “gas” voigt’s more laminar transgressions - listen to the sound-sample) to the cycling six-string bass figures & ambient wash more commonly associated with his prior outfit ... top-notch work !!!
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: white bird release
catalog #: krank128
formats available: cd
release date: february 23, 2009

from mark nelson:

thank you to my family and kranky for the freedom to make this record.
thank you to the musicians and engineers who contributed.
thank you to all listeners.mark n

the sixth album from mark nelson's longtime solo project follows his quiet city album on kranky, and more recently the for waiting, for chasing release on the mosz label.

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threads:
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art-punk

kranky (usa) #krank 127 lp

deerhunter “microcastle • weird era continued” double long playing record set

  • cover me (slowly)
  • agoraphobia
  • never stops
  • little kids
  • microcastle
  • cavalry scars
  • green jacket

  • activa
  • nothing ever happened
  • saved by old times
  • neither of us, uncertainly
  • twilight at carbon lake

  • backspace century
  • operation
  • ghost outfit
  • dot gain
  • vox celeste
  • cicadas
  • vox humana
  • vhs dream

  • focus group
  • slow swords
  • weird era
  • moon witch cartridge
  • calvary scars ii / aux. out 13
october 2008 release ; second album from this atlantaland “ambient punk” quartet, already quite popular & not so much in need of any waxings from my end ...

still, it’s worth pointing out to the more jaded of you that, along with the proper “microcastle” abum (itself really quite a good pop record), this issue includes a further albumsworth of studio experiments, ranging from the backwards-tape guitar filigree of the title track to a more electronically-tinged version of the band’s motorik-meets-motown sound ...

if i had to pick one act from the pitchfork omniverse to name as my “guilty pleasure” it would most assuredly be these guys ; but then again i’m feeling less & less guilty about them every day ...
kranky press release...

artist: deerhunter
title: microcastle/weird era cont.
catalog #: krank127
formats available: cd
release date: october 27, 2008

atlanta-based deerhunter are set to release microcastle, the follow-up to 2007's cryptograms on october 31, 2008. microcastle will be released simultaneously on cd and lp via kranky in north america and 4ad in europe.

microcastle was recorded over the course of a week at rare book studios in brooklyn, new york with nicolas verhes. the album was recorded as a four-piece consisting of bradford cox, lockett pundt, joshua fauver, and moses archuleta.

"saved by old times" features a vocal collage by cole alexander of the black lips. the album also features two songs with lead vocals by guitarist lockett pundt: "agoraphobia," and "neither of us, uncertainly."

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threads:
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art-punk

kranky (usa) #krank 127 cd

deerhunter “microcastle • weird era continued” double compact disc set

  • cover me (slowly)
  • agoraphobia
  • never stops
  • little kids
  • microcastle
  • calvary scars
  • green jacket
  • activa
  • nothing ever happened
  • saved by old times
  • neither of us, uncertainly
  • twilight at carbon lake

  • backspace century
  • operation
  • ghost outfit
  • dot gain
  • vox celeste
  • cicadas
  • vox humana
  • vhs dream
  • focus group
  • slow swords
  • weird era
  • moon witch cartridge
  • calvary scars ii / aux. out 13
october 2008 release ; second album from this atlantaland “ambient punk” quartet, already quite popular & not so much in need of any waxings from my end ...

still, it’s worth pointing out to the more jaded of you that, along with the proper “microcastle” abum (itself really quite a good pop record), this issue includes a further albumsworth of studio experiments, ranging from the backwards-tape guitar filigree of the title track (listen to the sound-sample) to a more electronically-tinged version of the band’s motorik-meets-motown sound ...

if i had to pick one act from the pitchfork omniverse to name as my “guilty pleasure” it would most assuredly be these guys ; but then again i’m feeling less & less guilty about them every day ...
kranky press release...
artist: deerhunter
title: microcastle/weird era cont.
catalog #: krank127
formats available: cd
release date: october 27, 2008

atlanta-based deerhunter are set to release microcastle, the follow-up to 2007's cryptograms on october 31, 2008. microcastle will be released simultaneously on cd and lp via kranky in north america and 4ad in europe.

microcastle was recorded over the course of a week at rare book studios in brooklyn, new york with nicolas verhes. the album was recorded as a four-piece consisting of bradford cox, lockett pundt, joshua fauver, and moses archuleta.

"saved by old times" features a vocal collage by cole alexander of the black lips. the album also features two songs with lead vocals by guitarist lockett pundt: "agoraphobia," and "neither of us, uncertainly."

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kranky (usa) #krank 126 ep
4ad (uk) #ad 2823 ep

deerhunter “nothing ever happened b/w little kids (demo)” seven inch single record

  • nothing ever happened

  • little kids (demo)
october 2008 release ; pre-album teaser from deerhunter, released both by kranky & 4ad ...

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kranky (usa) #krank 125 lp

windy & carl “songs for the broken hearted” double long playing record set

  • btwn you + me
  • la douleur
  • my love
  • forever
  • rhodes
  • champion
  • when we were
  • snow covers everything
  • interlude
  • the same moon and stars
october 2008 release ; fourth kranky outing from this long-running dearborn, mi duo ...

it doesn’t get any more blissed-out than this, even if the subject matter at hand is less than uplifting ... still, i’d be hard-pressed to name a more warm-sounding set of music, with carl hultgren’s guitar echo’ed and reverb’ed beyond the point of timbral recognition, and windy weber’s bass drones & occasional vocals rounding out the spectrum ...

these two always manage to channel a complex array of sound, almost orchestral in it’s scope ; this is the best i’ve heard them in years ...
kranky press release...

artist: windy & carl
title: songs for the broken hearted
catalog #: krank125
formats available: cd
release date: october 13, 2008

most everyone has experienced love as well as heartbreak. the 10 songs that form the new windy & carl album are interpretations of those emotions that run the gamut from pain, anger and longing, to warmth, admiration and joy.

started in early 2007 and finished in the spring of 2008 in the midst of some sudden inspiration, these songs are some of the best windy & carl have to offer, and a new mark in their always developing sound.

the opening track addresses the denial of trouble at home, while the title of la douleur (the war, named after the marguarite duras book) is self explanatory. the touching words of my love, a song about the renewal of faith and hope, flows on to the genuine sentiment of forever. the title of the closing track notes the idea that no matter how near or far two lovers are, they still exist on the same plane.

this fall, windy & carl will have been together for 19 years. and in these sounds you get a sense of what love encompasses, how there can be bliss in any oasis, and trouble in any paradise, the highs and the lows, the reality of time and depth of emotion that go into any relationship that has lasted so long.

long time fans will hear similarities to earlier works, but anyone who listens to songs for the broken hearted will no doubt find emotions they can respond to and identify with. a collection of love songs, whether it be a presentation of love gone wrong or new love in full bloom, the album is an expression of timeless emotion and universal feeling. we have all known love in our lives, and we have all known loss. this is an album that encompasses both and shares those feelings with the world.

this is the fourth album for kranky by windy & carl, and continues one of the longest relationships the label has maintained with any artist.

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kranky (usa) #krank 125 cd

windy & carl “songs for the broken hearted” compact disc

  • btwn you + me
  • la douleur
  • my love
  • forever
  • rhodes
  • champion
  • when we were
  • snow covers everything
  • interlude
  • the same moon and stars
october 2008 release ; fourth kranky outing from this long-running dearborn, mi duo ...

it doesn’t get any more blissed-out than this, even if the subject matter at hand is less than uplifting ... still, i’d be hard-pressed to name a more warm-sounding set of music, with carl hultgren’s guitar echo’ed and reverb’ed beyond the point of timbral recognition, and windy weber’s bass drones & occasional vocals rounding out the spectrum ...

these two always manage to channel a complex array of sound, almost orchestral in it’s scope ; this is the best i’ve heard them in years ...
kranky press release...
artist: windy & carl
title: songs for the broken hearted
catalog #: krank125
formats available: cd
release date: october 13, 2008

most everyone has experienced love as well as heartbreak. the 10 songs that form the new windy & carl album are interpretations of those emotions that run the gamut from pain, anger and longing, to warmth, admiration and joy.

started in early 2007 and finished in the spring of 2008 in the midst of some sudden inspiration, these songs are some of the best windy & carl have to offer, and a new mark in their always developing sound.

the opening track addresses the denial of trouble at home, while the title of la douleur (the war, named after the marguarite duras book) is self explanatory. the touching words of my love, a song about the renewal of faith and hope, flows on to the genuine sentiment of forever. the title of the closing track notes the idea that no matter how near or far two lovers are, they still exist on the same plane.

this fall, windy & carl will have been together for 19 years. and in these sounds you get a sense of what love encompasses, how there can be bliss in any oasis, and trouble in any paradise, the highs and the lows, the reality of time and depth of emotion that go into any relationship that has lasted so long.

long time fans will hear similarities to earlier works, but anyone who listens to songs for the broken hearted will no doubt find emotions they can respond to and identify with. a collection of love songs, whether it be a presentation of love gone wrong or new love in full bloom, the album is an expression of timeless emotion and universal feeling. we have all known love in our lives, and we have all known loss. this is an album that encompasses both and shares those feelings with the world.

this is the fourth album for kranky by windy & carl, and continues one of the longest relationships the label has maintained with any artist.

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guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 124 cd

raglani “of sirens born” compact disc

  • river in
  • the promise of wood and water
  • perilous straits
  • washed ashore
  • jubilee
september 2008 release ; the mass-market debut of st. louis’ joe raglani, finally in stock !!!

joe’s someone who’s been toiling in the underground for a few years now, with only a handful of attainable recorded appearances (a split w/ scenic railroads on gameboy, a tape on ides, and recently an excellent lp for john tamm-buckle’s kvist, along with a spate of self-released output on pegasus farms) ; so helping get his kranky debut off the ground & into the ears of a much wider audience was something i’m glad to have been a part of ...

despite joe’s name often being mentioned in affiliation with the noise-music wave, i place this set squarely in the canon of “bedroom minimalism” ; long pieces involving static modal drones (often sourced to chord-organs, melodica, and his own voice) coated in endless layers of modular-synth fizzle and flutes, acoustic guitar, etc ... always a festival of micro-detail, with the improvised elements never staying in one place or register for all too long ... unlike much of the music in this loose vein that crosses my desk these days, i get the feeling that nothing here is arbitrary, that each individual component was carefully & cleverly laid in the overall lattice ...

so, in short, this is a really great record ; if you’re feeling the more static end of tim hecker or greg davis’ recent music, and or want to witness a different approach to the contemporary synth-minimalism wave, i urge you to check this out ... highly recommended !!!
kranky press release...
artist: raglani
title: of sirens born
catalog #: krank124
formats available: cd
release date: september 15, 2008

situated in the soundworld of contemporary kosmiche electronica, of sirens born goes several steps further than many retro-focused efforts, rendering audibly literal the traditional metaphor of voyage that has underscored so many synth-driven concept albums. beginning tentatively and uneasily, these five pieces progress through expansive phases of grandeur and menace, shipwrecking before washing ashore on a new world. at the core of the work is the idea of the imaginary vista; high, keening drones issue from the heart of unknown rivers, populated on all sides by fantastically twittering creatures and alien flora, drawing the listener on with the hint of exotic treasure, hidden within forbidding and impossible jungles.

raglani drew the vocabulary of his sonic imagery from film (the new world, aguirre) and the early nonesuch documents of 'world music' (especially peruvian and andean folk music), distilling from these the dreamwork of epic travel and the alien strangeness of other cultures imagined through legend. song forms are dissolved here, but still present; electronic and acoustic sources blend seamlessly into majestically glittering waves. though its indebtedness to the dark romanticism of krautrock is clear, this is not an electronic trip through well-worn evocations of cosmic space. it is rather a story about the submerged memory of mythic voyages, of a time when every far-off destination was alluring, dangerous, and questionably real, envisioned from the perspective of a world well-mapped and conquered by machines.

joseph raglani is a veteran of the experimental sub-underground, having released an lp, tapes, cd-r's, and small-run cds through labels such as gameboy, ides, kvist and his own pegasus farms. this is his first widely distributed release.

"joe's on my short-list of people for whom i have high hopes ..." - keith fullerton whitman, mimaroglu music

"it's enormously comforting in these superficial silly sound bite times to hear an album that works clearly and unambiguously with tonal harmony without sounding fake, plastic, twee or ironic."- paris transatlantic

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bedroom

kranky (usa) #krank 123 cd

benoît pioulard “temper” compact disc

  • ragged tint
  • ahn
  • sweep generator
  • golden grin
  • the loom pedal
  • ardoise
  • physic
  • modele d'eclat
  • idyll
  • brown bess
  • cycle disparaissant
  • a woolgathering exodus
  • detruisons tout
  • loupe
  • tapyre
  • hesperus
kranky press release...
artist: benoit pioulard
title: temper
catalog #: krank123
formats available: cd
release date: october 14, 2008

temper is the second album under his benoit pioulard nom de guerre. composed throughout a year that involved graduation from university and a cross-continental relocation, its 16 tracks arose in specific periods of intense creative energy.

assembling various analog sources on basic software at home, pioulard has honed his craft into a form that suggests something far grander. with soft-edged vocals and a broad palette of instruments that lately includes harmonium and cello, he constructs diverse arrangements that skirt the borders of pop with beautiful, detailed atmospheres. the scope and sonic narratives of songs like "a woolgathering exodus" and "golden grin" exhibit new degrees of musicality, while the weightlessness of "brown bess" or "sweep generator" reflects the unrestrained context in which the record was produced.

it is no coincidence that the word 'temper' has more than 20 definitions related to basic existential aspects like emotion, behavior, and music; it offers many dimensions but also reveals how scrawny language can be in its attempt to name the abstract. on temper, pioulard endeavors to make sense of things in a tumultuous time, inspired by everything from medieval astrology to the poems of t.s. eliot and the films of the italian neo-realists. fully aware of the mission's vanity, he is nevertheless consumed by its path.

benoit pioulard's first album was the widely acclaimed precis which was listed on literally dozens of 2006 year end best of lists.

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kranky (usa) #krank 122 cd

christina carter “original darkness” compact disc

  • original darkness
  • fountain of youth
  • you are so far away
  • re-found mary
  • hidden man
  • capable of murder
  • do not love a woman
  • suffering
  • in prisoned body
  • do you recognize my voice?
october 2008 release ; solo outing from charalambides’ christina carter, rife with her trademark blend of siren-song vocal delivery and often dissonant guitar chiming (listen to the sound-sample for a taste) ...
kranky press release...
artist: christina carter
title: original darkness
catalog #: krank122
formats available: cd
release date: october 27, 2008

christina carter has a gift. in a world where most people shy away from the truth, from honesty in emotion, christina has the strength to address those feelings head on through her music. within the songs of original darkness, she confronts loneliness, self doubt, inadequacy and desire. she bares these emotions in a sometimes tender, sometimes forceful, sometimes pleading voice, a voice in which you can hear her vulnerability, her trepidation.

christina's words, and the mournful sound of them, stirs a melancholy that is supported and framed by her gently plucked guitar notes, notes that echo the sadness in the world she sings of, as well as the words she sings.

these 10 new songs are effective at painting pictures, exposing the underbelly of what we all really think but most will not say, of what we all really feel but push away. with the addition of gentle bells and occasional keyboards, christina reminds us of what it means to be honestly human.

the latest album from the longtime charalambides mainstay follows her electrice album from late 2006 on kranky as well as a split album with pocahaunted from early in 2008.

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bedroom

kranky (usa) #krank 120 cd

boduf songs “how shadows chase the balance” compact disc

  • mission creep
  • things not to be done on the sabbath
  • i can't see a thing in here
  • quiet when group
  • pitiful shadow engulfed in darkness
  • a spirit harness
  • found on the bodies of fallen whales
  • last glimmer on a hill at dusk
september 2008 release ; the second from matt sweet & co ...

while i enjoyed the first boduf songs outing, it wasn’t until i caught their (a trio by that stage) performance at the 2008 brainwaves festival that it all started to make sense ; a borderline inaudibly quiet set of almost sea-shanty lineage “downer” material(s), entirely acoustic, sang barely above a breathy whisper in a near pitch-black theater to a dedicated crowd of several hundred on a blustery november afternoon (even a stray seasonal sniffle would have wiped them out, let alone a sneeze !) - easily one of my favorite musical moments of the year ...

the set in question was largely comprised of materials from this album, captured in full “bedroom” spec, with mat’s vocals mainly augmented by stray classical guitar strums & the occasional electronic ambience (listen to the tail-end of the sound-sample) ... really lovely album, especially as contemporary folk-based forms are starting to advance to showier plateaus ; this is straight black-cloud throughout ...
kranky press release...
artist: boduf songs
title: how shadows chase the balance
catalog #: krank120
formats available: cd

release date: september 29, 2008

on his second full length release, mathew sweet uses the same formula that he has employed previously; one microphone, one acoustic guitar, a few random instruments, a couple of field recordings, and a deft, understated touch with the mixing process. he locked himself away in his home studio (to be honest, his bedroom) and no one else heard a single note until he was finished.

this album is a further step away from the "folk" label, which never seemed all that appropriate to mathew's work in any case. if you record solo with an acoustic guitar the description is somewhat inevitable. but the results might more rightly be construed as "acoustic death metal" considering the themes of death, alienation, fear, hatred and isolation that are his forte, as well as his affinity for gothic imagery.

mathew states that the album was mostly recorded at night because there was less background noise to contend with in his neighborhood at that time of day. but if you listen closely you can still hears small bits of rain hitting the window, and cars sliding by on wet roads.

the final result is one of the most unassuming, and engaging recordings of the year. it is intimate, extremely personal, and spectral in presence.

the second full length release from this uk resident follows his lion devours the sun album from late 2006 on kranky. a lot of artists are described as "outsiders" or "underground", but with mathew sweet this is actually an apt description as he belongs to no 'scene' and is working on the farthest fringes of the 'music business'.

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machine-music
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 119 cd

jonas reinhardt “jonas reinhardt” compact disc

  • lyre of david
  • modern by nature's reward
  • lord sleep monmouth
  • how to adjust people
  • fast blot declining
  • tentshow
  • every terminal evening
  • worm preach the struggling fire
  • tandem suns
  • blue cutaway/tore earth clinker
  • an upright fortune
  • crept idea for a mom
  • lucian lift
november 2008 release ; debut from former citay / current crime in choir member jesse reiner’s “synthesizer project” ...

love this one ; a convincing blend of “smooth” late-70s / early-80s berlin school patterns (specifically, klaus schulze’s score for lasse braun’s “body love”) and kind(s) of bleepy grids heard in the background(s) of era educational programming - halfway beetween the cosmic zones of emeralds and the syrupy arpeggiated-lines of oneohtrix point never ...
kranky press release...
artist: jonas reinhardt
title: jonas reinhardt
catalog #: krank119
formats available: cd
release date: november 10, 2008

drawing from traditions of 20th century instrumental synthesizer music, jonas reinhardt represents a love affair between analog electronics, sweeping atmospherics, and driving motorik beats. combined together, these elements bring the album's 13 pieces into focus as the soundtrack for an inner-eyelid space epic that never was.

inspired in equal measure by the natural beauty of his california coastal surroundings, continental european art-rock experimentation, and the freewheeling punk aesthetic of contemporary home studio recording, jonas reinhardt's music transcends it's influences to bring into being a work that's wholly new while referencing a celebrated aesthetic of the past.

armed with a battery of analog synthesizers and vintage drum machines, jonas writes music that is at times stark and spare and at others lush and all-encompassing; all the while keeping an underlying rhythmic pulse just beneath the surface.

jonas describes his technique as 'a spirited conversation between man, machines, and the ecstatic truth of the chaotic unknown.' with this album, jonas carefully constructs melodies and rhythmic foundations then pushes the limits of recording to the sonic fringes and beyond. the effect is a warm, hauntingly familiar sound bounded by unpredictability.

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kranky (usa) #krank 118 cd

christopher bissonnette “in between words” compact disc

  • provenance
  • a touch of heartbreak
  • orffyreus wheel
  • tempest
  • the colonnade
  • jour et nuit
april 2008 release ; gorgeous set of slowly drifting long-form pieces from christopher bissonnette, his second for kranky ...

in many ways, this is what i wish all contemporary releases of “drone music” were like ; impeccably assembled & orchestrated, with just a hair of dissonance hiding behind an otherwise tonal wash of warm timbres & hiss ... exemplary.
kranky press release...
artist: christopher bissonnette
title: in between words
catalog #: krank118
formats available: cd
release date: april 14, 2008

in between words is a collection of works that continue christopher bissonnette’s explorations into orchestral and spatial acoustics. cultivating an increasing interest in field recording and found sounds, bissonnette has woven spatial ambience into these new compositions, while still concentrating on moments of near empty space between 'instruments.'

inspired by the continuous din, the constant low-level hum of urban background noise, interspersed with all manner of mechanically created sounds, bissonnette finds in this a near-melodic soundtrack to his daily life. on the final track "jour et nuit," this seems most apparent as one can almost hear sparse traffic on a highway in the sweeping long tones.

using orchestral sound sources as well as recording his own sounds to manipulate and process, bissonnette has crafted a symphony of six movements, with melodies as ghostly apparitions that fade in and out of view. recorded as spontaneous mixes, these compositions maintain a sense of organic fluidity while creating passages of escalating tension.

the second album from this canadian composer follows his periphery album on kranky. bissonnete continues, in addition to his solo material, to work with the media collective thinkbox, of which he is a founding member. thinkbox is a project-based collective exploring material and technique to produce works that develop complex questions to simplified answers about art, technology, and the nature of multimedia creation.

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kranky (usa) #krank 117 lp

cloudland canyon “lie in light” long playing record

  • krautwerk
  • white woman
  • you & i

  • scheiße schatzi, auf wiedersehen
  • heme
  • lie in light
  • mothlight part 1
april 2008 release ; debut full-length from the contemporary krautrock duo of kip ulhorn & simon wojan ...

these guys have clearly done their homewerk ; the motorik drum-machines & errant synth-arpeggio flare come straight out of the cluster playbook, and the occasional stretch of beat-less, cycling chord-changes (listen to the sound-sample) do remind of faust’s “läuft...heisst das es läuft oder es kommt bald...läuft” ...
kranky press release...

artist: cloudland canyon
title: lie in light
catalog #: krank117
formats available: cd / lp
release date: april 28, 2008

it appears there is a second "kosmische musik" period in full bloom around the world at the moment, not so much "kosmische" as in "krautrock" but instead "cosmic". just here at kranky we have the celestial symphonies of stars of the lid, the guitar circle prog-psych of white rainbow, the astral folk explorations of lichens, the cut and splice electro-motorik of andrew pekler, the alien space-blues of valet, and now the half german, half american duo cloudland canyon who actually bring the full-on "krautrock" on.

you can play pick the influences if you like, but you can do that with any group. cloudland certainly owe a debt to the german underground of the 70's, but they have also added flourishes of baroque pop and even a tinge of the 80's new zealand scene into their sound. that they have ingested these influences and then delivered something as dynamic as this album without sounding like rote imitation is what impresses. the album is anything but one-dimensional, as they traverse a wide swath of territory. from the lock down groove of the opening track "krautwerk," to the dense buzz of "white woman," through the pastoral pscyh of "heme" and on to the gentle wash of the closer "mothlight," cloudland canyon have created an eclectic and rewarding listen.

this new album follows the silver tongued sisyphus ep on kranky, and their exterminating angel collaboration with lichens on the holy mountain label. ezra buchla, whose father don builds the legendary buchla synthesizers, guests on viola and synth. simon wojan also plays trumpet and writes music for king khan & the shrines, while kip uhlhorn previously toiled in the red scare as well as panthers

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kranky (usa) #krank 117 cd

cloudland canyon “lie in light” compact disc

  • krautwerk
  • white woman
  • you & i
  • scheiße schatzi, auf wiedersehen
  • heme
  • lie in light
  • mothlight part 1
april 2008 release ; debut full-length from the contemporary krautrock duo of kip ulhorn & simon wojan ...

these guys have clearly done their homewerk ; the motorik drum-machines & errant synth-arpeggio flare (listen to the sound-sample) come straight out of the cluster playbook, and the occasional stretch of beat-less, cycling chord-changes do remind of faust’s “läuft...heisst das es läuft oder es kommt bald...läuft” ...
kranky press release...
artist: cloudland canyon
title: lie in light
catalog #: krank117
formats available: cd / lp
release date: april 28, 2008

it appears there is a second "kosmische musik" period in full bloom around the world at the moment, not so much "kosmische" as in "krautrock" but instead "cosmic". just here at kranky we have the celestial symphonies of stars of the lid, the guitar circle prog-psych of white rainbow, the astral folk explorations of lichens, the cut and splice electro-motorik of andrew pekler, the alien space-blues of valet, and now the half german, half american duo cloudland canyon who actually bring the full-on "krautrock" on.

you can play pick the influences if you like, but you can do that with any group. cloudland certainly owe a debt to the german underground of the 70's, but they have also added flourishes of baroque pop and even a tinge of the 80's new zealand scene into their sound. that they have ingested these influences and then delivered something as dynamic as this album without sounding like rote imitation is what impresses. the album is anything but one-dimensional, as they traverse a wide swath of territory. from the lock down groove of the opening track "krautwerk," to the dense buzz of "white woman," through the pastoral pscyh of "heme" and on to the gentle wash of the closer "mothlight," cloudland canyon have created an eclectic and rewarding listen.

this new album follows the silver tongued sisyphus ep on kranky, and their exterminating angel collaboration with lichens on the holy mountain label. ezra buchla, whose father don builds the legendary buchla synthesizers, guests on viola and synth. simon wojan also plays trumpet and writes music for king khan & the shrines, while kip uhlhorn previously toiled in the red scare as well as panthers

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kranky (usa) #krank 116 cd

valet “naked acid” compact disc

  • we went there
  • drum movie
  • kehaar
  • fuck it
  • babylon
  • fire
  • streets
march 2008 release ; second solo set from jackie-o motherfucker’s honey owens ...

while i love the lazy-days west-coast feel of the opener (rife with acidic backwards guitar lines) it’s the blissed out vocal-cloud & synth-ripples of “drum movie” that take the cake (listen to the sound-sample) ... great stuff !!!
kranky press release...
artist: valet
title: naked acid
catalog #: krank116
formats available: cd
release date: march 3, 2008

naked acid is the second solo release from portland artist valet, aka honey owens. she states: "these songs were inspired by the pacific northwest landscape, semi-conscious dream states and the idea of one's dna code being accessed as eternal memory. i started off with the idea to make a 'songs' record but it really didn't turn out that way. instead the record became it's own story. track one is a static beach journey duet with adrian orange, and tracks 3, 4 and 5 are collaborations with mark evan burden (silentist) on drums."

from the gentle narcotic haze of the album opener "we went there," which is dissected by honey's trademark incendiary guitar work, to the lazy alien country blues of "fuck it," and through the hyperventilating rhythmic distortion of the closer "streets," naked acid is a fever dream of ghostly incantation and smudged psychedelia.

honey owens follows up her widely lauded blood is clean album from early 2007 with another trip through the fertile garden of her imagination. she will be touring starting in mid-february to support the album.

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kranky (usa) #krank 114 cd

atlas sound “let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel” compact disc

  • a ghost story
  • recent bedroom
  • river card
  • quarantined
  • on guard
  • winter vacation
  • cold as ice
  • scraping past
  • small horror
  • ready, set, glow
  • bite marks
  • after class
  • ativan
  • let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel
february 2008 release ; first solo set from deerhunter frontman bradford cox ...
kranky press release...
artist: atlas sound
title: let the blind lead those who can see but cannot feel
catalog #: krank114
formats available: cd / 2lp
release date: february 18, 2008

one of the latest "true queer art punks" to emerge from the cracked pavement of southern suburban sprawl, atlas sound is the solo moniker of deerhunter frontman / provocateur bradford cox. here on his debut album, cox / sound moves out of dank nightclubs filled with eternal existential drone punk, and relaxes at home in his grant park, atlanta bedroom. and this is, essentially, a bedroom album, a collage, mixing the garage rock and ambient electronic influences previously explored with deerhunter in a new context, with newly explored recording techniques, mainly laptop-based, learned with guidance from kranky artist nudge's brian foote. the result is 14 songs of melancholy and mania.

this is a true solo album, entirely created and produced by a single person. that is certainly not unique, especially in the contemporary scene. but bradford cox's unusual talent is the ability to take a wide variety of seemingly incongruous sound elements, and seamlessly meld them into a cohesive pop narrative. a sunken 4/4 techno beat underpinning "winter vacation"? perfect. mbira loops running over the top of "quarantined"? just what it needed. an insistent, clipped drum roll carrying "river card"? masterful. and ultimately it is this innate ability to combine all these disparate elements into a singular whole that makes this album such an enjoyable, and unique listen.

this album is for my best friend lockett. it has a lot to do with childhood. i wanted to make an album that was uplifting but honest, which is why it seems sad a lot of the time. i want to make music that could be 'healing' or therapeutic to people who relate to it.

- bradford cox, oct 20, 2007, harlem, new york

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kranky (usa) #krank 113 cd

charalambides “likeness” compact disc

  • uncloudy day (11:02)
  • do you see? (7:21)
  • figs and oranges (5:51)
  • memory takes hold (13:24)
  • the good life (4:35)
  • saddle up the pony (7:15)
  • feather in the air (7:15)
  • walking through the graveyard (3:35)
  • what you do for money (8:56)
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: likeness
catalog #: krank113
formats available: cd
release date: october 29, 2007

likeness is the newest release from the duo of tom and christina carter. recorded over a period of several weeks during the spring of 2006, the album is a return to the spontaneous composition of previous charalambides records such as houston and union. with the exception of "the good life", which appeared in a primitive version on the wholly other cdr home, all of the tracks on this release sprung forth after 'record' was pressed, and were fleshed out via overdubs, editing, and a malfunctioning space echo over the course of the next few months.

lyrical content largely derives from public domain american popular song from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, edited, rearranged, and largely deconstructed by christina into abstract 'protest' songs for the century at hand. musically, the album departs from the warm psych of a vintage burden in favor of the lush and layered vocal strata of christina's later solo works, and a chillier, more abrasive guitar sound that favors the velvets over the byrds.

though containing much of the compositional concision that gave a vintage burden much of its appeal, the sound here just as frequently turns the corner into the abstract echoing spaces that characterize the more discordant sounds of charalambides at the dawn of their kranky residency.

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kranky (usa) #krank 112 cd

to kill a petty bourgeoisie “the patron” compact disc

  • the patron (5:48)
  • the man with the shovel, is the man i'm going to marry (8:00)
  • lovers & liars (6:10)
  • long arm (7:51)
  • dedicated secretary, liason, passionate mother (2:01)
  • i box twenty (4:20)
  • you guys talk, we'll spill our guts (7:06)
  • with brass songs they'll descend (3:57)
  • very lovely (7:38)
  • window shopping (3:14)
kranky press release...
artist: to kill a petty bourgeoisie
title: the patron
catalog #: krank112
formats available: cd
release date: october 15, 2007

the patron is the debut full length release by to kill a petty bourgeoisie. the songs center around an underlying love story between two merging corporations that manage to capture the raw sentiment of isolation, profound discovery, and morbid betrayal. the patron is about the corruption of an idea that is at first welcomed and later destroyed.

the recording process typically began with a basic vocal and guitar structure which was then slowy developed by adding electronics and manipulating sounds, until the orignal outline is blurred yet still identifiable. the steady passing of sounds and samples are most important to tkapb's recording process, and they rely heavily on the loss of translation between each pass.

but the importance of the technical details of any sound recording should be considered infinitesimally small when measured against the end result. many sound artists have read both the pop and noise manifestoes and tried to join the two seemingly opposed theories into a cohesive whole, yet few have succeeded. invariably, the artist makes a conscious or subconscious decision to stand firmly in the one camp where their beliefs truly lie and to occasionally tip the cap to the other to remind both themselves and the listener of their original intent. what tkapb have produced however, is a near perfect storm of structure and chaos, melody and noise, the precise and the random, fused into their own unified musical theory of everything that at times soothes while simultaneously grabbing your throat.

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kranky (usa) #krank 111 cd

cloudland canyon “silver tongued sisyphus” compact disc

  • dambala
  • silver tongued sisyphus
second release from the german/american krautrock duo, fixated on all-things moebius/roedelius (right down to their near-perfect execution of era instrumentation & fidelity)

as a card-carrying member of the c/kluster fanclub i say yes; bring us more of this (a lot more) ...
kranky press release...
artist: cloudland canyon
title: silver tongued sisyphus
catalog #: krank111
formats available: cdep
release date: september 17, 2007

the first cloudland canyon release for kranky was recorded in brooklyn, germany and memphis. it follows on the heels of the well received "requiems der natur 2002-2004" album released on the tee pee label. silver tongued sisyphus is a secular call to prayer with humming, looping and loping ambient passages interspersed with bursting rhythmic energy and agitated guitar lines. recent live shows have sounded like an unauthorized soundtrack to netherworld versions of the swimmer or the scorceror. pulling influences from the foggy ether of generations past, cloudland canyon has staked their claim to the shadows of cult musical culture of the late 1960's and early 1970's german underground scene.

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 best of 2007 !!! 
kranky (usa) #krank 110 cd

white rainbow “prism of eternal now” compact disc

  • pulses
  • middle
  • for terry
  • mystic prism
  • april 25th 11:14pm
  • warm clicked fruit
  • guitars
  • waves
  • awakening
finally in stock !!! cd version (lp on marriage) of this serious grower; one of the most-listened-to albums around the mms offices here for the past few months & one of my contenders for album-of-the-year...

the second album by adam forkner’s white rainbow, following the heels of his epic “white rainbow box” ... listen to the sound sample (to your left) - this is just the sort of summer-fades-into-autumn armchair ethno drone-psych that i can get behind; entirely spaced-out & always joyous washes of upper-register guitar scrabble & synth ostinato... with those darbukas & casio beeps all but buried in the mix...

really great stuff; highly recommended.
kranky press release...
artist: white rainbow
title: prism of eternal now
catalog #: krank110
formats available: cd
release date: october 01, 2007

after years of outer space exploration in yume bitsu and surface of eceyon, as well as stints as a hired gun for a multitude of artists including dirty projectors, jackie-o motherfucker and devendra banhart, adam forkner decided to turn his focus inward and began to record solo material. and focus he did, working at a dizzying pace that culminated in the production of the 5cd/1dvd white rainbow box (2006 marriage records). the remarkable thing about that album was not that it was 4.5 hours long, but that the overwhelming majority of it was of extraordinary quality and not mere filler.

with the release of ...eternal now, white rainbow has surpassed typical solo project territory and is now a virtual elemental force. at a somewhat brief 71 minutes, his kranky debut pulses and flows with mantric chants, clattering percussions, sighing sustains and guitar leads unashamed of their scorching transcendence. he breathes new life into archaic sub-genres such as progrock, new age, and hippie folk incantations, while never stooping to the negative aspects of any of them, and at the same time remaining a step ahead of the technologically crippled and virtuoso-less looper pedal scene. prism of eternal now leaves behind the bounds of gravity for a free floating meditational headtrip of inner space exploration.

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kranky (usa) #krank 109 cd

andrew pekler “cue” compact disc

  • on (6:30)
  • roomsound (4:08)
  • pensive boogie (1:57)
  • steady state (4:11)
  • rockslide (4:57)
  • dust mite (1:24)
  • vertical gardes (3:42)
  • dim star (3:47)
  • contact (4:44)
  • mote (1:07)
  • floating tone (8:16)
  • untitled (0:30)
  • untitled (3:28)
kranky press release...
artist: andrew pekler
title: cue
catalog #: krank109
formats available: cd
release date: may 21, 2007

from andrew pekler:

“typically, library music albums were not available to the general public but were marketed directly to film, tv and commercial production companies. judging by the information provided on the record sleeves, these consumers of library music were assumed to have little interest in the identities of the individuals who actually wrote and played the music, the musicians' names often being relegated to the very small print. instead, it appears that the functional aspects of the product were of foremost importance; the persistently generic names of the tracks and their descriptions, durations and suggestions for their usage are the ubiquitous features of library album packaging. at the same time, the name of the production studio itself is given the kind of front cover top-billing usually reserved for a performer or composer (or to brand names on boxes of corn flakes).

a picture emerges of near-anonymous composers, musicians and arrangers going to work 9 to 5, producing music according to functional-aesthetic guidelines for a never to be seen customer, further removed than even the session players at motown or studio one ever were from the glamour of pop or the pretense of individual artistry. this sort of faceless assembly line production runs counter to the conventional (western) practice of connecting creative works with individuals deemed to be their authors.

on the other hand, this apparent anonymity and subordination to quasi-utilitarian determinants does have its own liberating potential. freed of the obligations of personal expression, one can simply work with the material at hand, concentrating on discrete aesthetic objectives without being unduly concerned for the overall "meaning" of the work. to paraphrase john cage, the artist is free to have nothing to say and to say it.”

with this in mind andrew pekler conceived and produced cue. starting from short expository phrases setting forth a track's instrumentation, mood and development (reproduced on the back cover), pekler attempted to construct pieces to fit these specific criteria. during the process of assembly a track would more often than not evolve beyond its prescribed limits (in these cases, the descriptive blurbs have been updated to reflect the changes). this "dog walking man" method turned out to be a fertile middle ground between the micro-managed jazz miniatures of nocturnes, false dawns & breakdowns (2004) and the expansive improvisations of strings + feedback (2005) and may help to explain why cue sounds very little like its predecessors.

on the whole it is a vibrant, playful album with the occasional somber passage providing some contrast to the predominantly ebullient tone. piano and analog synthesizer sounds abound while percussion (when used) is typically reduced to a minimum of tom toms, bells and unidentified noises. feedback can be heard in almost every track but taking on more subtle textural roles, guitars get the occasional spotlight and men are wearing pastels again this spring.

it should be noted that cue is not an attempt to re-create, re-imagine or re-contextualize library music of past eras. it is not a post-modern exercise in citation, juxtaposition or collage. the attempt to re-create the "style" of library music would be pointless anyway as the music found on library records does not adhere to any distinct stylistic or aesthetic formula. instead, library music can be defined by the formal constraints pertaining to its mode of production and it is the appropriation and application of these same constraints that have enabled and inspired andrew pekler to produce the music for this album.

andrew pekler has previous releases on scape and staubgold, is one third of the kosmischer pitch live band, and is part of an as yet unnamed project with jan jelenik and hanno leichtmann.

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kranky (usa) #krank 108 cd

strategy “future rock” compact disc

  • can't roll back (6:20)
  • future rock (9:07)
  • running on empty (8:59)
  • windswept (interlude) (2:15)
  • stops spinning (5:34)
  • phantom powered (6:43)
  • sunfall (interlude) (2:59)
  • red screen (8:24)
  • i have to do this thing (planete sauvage mix) (7:02)
kranky press release...
artist: strategy
title: future rock
catalog #: krank108
formats available: cd
release date: may 21, 2007

this is paul dickow's second full length for kranky and third as strategy. he is extremely busy running the community library label, which will be releasing a 12" version of this album's title track, while also collaborating in the trio nudge, and recording and performing solo work.

three years have passed since drumsolo's delight, and strategy finally comes forward with a new full-length. his third album to date, future rock focuses strategy's diverse interests into a single point, while still drawing directly from the dense, shimmering sonic language established on delight.

based on a refined studio process that incorporates multi-tracked live instrumentation, archaic synthesizer equipment, archived recordings of improvisations and band practices, digital sound design, and sound of non-musical origin, the album is a polyglot solution of genres. musical quotations, discrete sonic jokes, and skewed musicological impressions are blended into a dream-like, impressionistic musical composite which confounds and compounds music's past, present, and future. a gauzy, vibrating curtain of sound, much like the one that made drumsolo’s so distinctive, ties together all the songs as do the signature wurlitzer electric piano and old-school spring reverb.

incorporating compositions that have taken years to develop, a handful of close collaborators (including his cohorts from the band nudge), and using source material that dates as far back as 2000, future rock is easily strategy's most complex, narrative, ambitious and overtly "pop" record to date; as well, it's practically a thesis statement for his vision of a genre-free musical world. to date you've heard strategy dabble in everything from headphone-oriented ambient music to house and dub; this is the work that brings it all together.

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kranky (usa) #krank 107 cd

deerhunter “fluorescent gray” compact disc single

  • fluorescent grey
  • dr. glass
  • like new
  • wash off

  • bonus: video for "strange lights" from cryptograms directed by james sumner
april 2007 release; a post-album e.p. by this gang of atlantian miscreants.

i’m a fan. sue me...
kranky press release...
artist: deerhunter
title: fluorescent grey
catalog #: krank107
formats available: cd ep
release date: april 16, 2007

four new songs recorded while mixing cryptograms. a snapshot of what direction the band might explore next? probably not.

this ep arrives on the heels of a well received sophomore lp, cryptograms. while exploring themes not especially dissimilar, the ep functions in many ways as an epilogue to both the lp and the accompanying well-reported anxiety surrounding it's creation. the band now has a clean slate to explore something entirely new in the future.

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kranky (usa) #krank 106 cd

lichens “omns” digital versatile disc and compact disc set

  • vever of agassou (4:57)
  • faeries (8:19)
  • bune (8:46)
  • m st r ng w tchcr ft l v ng n sp r t (18:41)
  • sighns (2:27)

  •  dvd: live at chicago's empty bottle
kranky press release...
artist: lichens
title: omns
catalog #: krank106
formats available: cd+dvd
release date: may 7, 2007

the second long player from lichens, like his first, the largely improvised the psychic nature of being, is an ascent to a higher plane. rob lowe's sound recordings are of a distinctly personal nature, works turned inward as much as they are projected outward.

this new album was conceived with the idea of it being a continuation of the first, while using slightly different techniques in recording and editing; from multitracking individual passes, and pulling single tracks in and out of the mix ("vevor of agassou" "faeries"), to opening up into a completely different process by overdubbing multiple tracks ("m st r ng w tchcr ft l v ng n sp r t"). all this while remaining firmly within the realm of improvisation, augmented with the use of skeletal frameworks.

the accompanying dvd video contains a single live 28 minute performance from chicago's empty bottle that was recorded in 2006. all lichens live shows are individual events and are not mere duplications of previous performances. thus, the performance here is a unique snapshot of the lichens live experience. the film was directed and produced by mary scherer and edited by todd mattei.

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kranky (usa) #krank 104 cd

deerhunter “cryptograms” compact disc

  • intro (2:50)
  • cryptograms (4:17)
  • white ink (4:59)
  • lake somerset (3:49)
  • providence (4:08)
  • octet (7:50)
  • red ink (3:40)
  • spring hall convert (4:29)
  • strange lights (3:38)
  • hazel st. (3:48)
  • tape hiss orchid (1:12)
  • heatherwood (3:37)
kranky press release...
artist: deerhunter
title: cryptograms
catalog #: krank104
formats available: cd
release date: january 29, 2007

cryptograms is the second full-length offering from deerhunter, and their first for kranky. the album took almost two years to finish and was the product of emotional, physical, and financial strain on the group. the result is an album that finds the band shifting from discordant catharsis, and forming a sonic identity that completely expresses the place from which they have arrived.

the album functions in part as a study in duality and the concept of the same experiences seen from two angles, present and past. the most obvious manifestation of this is in the chronological sequencing. the first half of the album was recorded first unsuccessfully in 2005. these recordings were a blur at best, wordless and bordering on psychological atrophy. the sessions failed to provide anything tangible, and were racked with technical and personal problems, including out-of-tune pianos, panic attacks, and a tape machine that seemed to fail to capture the full spectrum of ambience the band was exploring. the band returned home, having failed, and considered giving up.

the idea arose to give it one last shot and exactly one year from the date of the recording of their first self-titled lp at a small studio in rural ga, they returned to that same studio and plugged in. the session resulted in the first half of the record which was recorded in one day and completely filled the reel of tape they brought with them.

cryptograms' first side begins with an introduction leading to the title track, and ends with the tape literally spinning off the end of the reel in the middle of a drone layered with bells and accordion ("red ink"). the second half of the record, also recorded in one day, in the november of 2005, represents the band in an entirely different state. "spring hall convert" opens with the line, "...so i woke up..." and introduces a set of focused psyche-pop songs fixating on adolescence, illness, and failing connections.

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kranky (usa) #krank 103 cd

christina carter “electrice” compact disc

  • second death (10:36)
  • moving intercepted (8:26)
  • yellow pine (8:47)
  • words are not my own (12:29)
kranky press release...
artist: christina carter
title: electrice
catalog #: krank103
formats available: cd
release date: september 18, 2006

christina carter approached her new solo album with the specific idea of recording all of the songs in the same key and using the same guitar tuning. while some artists would be hampered by such self-imposed constraints, christina uses it to her advantage by exploring seemingly innumerable ways to twist and turn the same basic notes into new shapes, creating just as much a mood as a song cycle.

when asked to give her thoughts regarding this new album, christina carter responded with fragments rather than linear composition:

"continuing with subterranean song writing eliminating excess elements, at the same time expansive because the 'mixing' of the record doesn't mimic the sound of a 'live' band more cinematic or sculptural, feeling of being a human body... piano-like guitar... two personal songs, two universal songs idealization and memory... songs created instantly, not knowing what i was going to sing about until i sang, but i have a few ideas that i carry around with me for extended periods until they find a place natural and artificial are two sides of the same coin... often, it is best to do the opposite of what you think you should do... inspired by 60's album art and band photos of floating heads, slight physical 'defects' and skeletal uncoordination, anachronistic futurisms, the idea of 'drone' (4 different songs from the same basic musical elements), dance choreography, and living with chronic pain..."

with electrice, christina has created the most cohesive and fully realized version of her unique musical vision to date.

electrice is the first widely available album from christina carter since the reissue of her living contact album by kranky in 2004. the album was recorded, mixed and edited entirely by her. one of the two core members of charalambides, christina carter has been making her own path in both that ensemble as well as with her solo releases for almost 15 years.

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lo-fi

kranky (usa) #krank 101 cd

chris herbert “mezzotint” compact disc

  • stab city (7:50)
  • elisa (6:14)
  • untitled #1 (1:25)
  • chlorophyll (6:21)
  • untitled #2 (1:46)
  • suashi (6:37)
  • untitled #3 (1:42)
  • horse latitudes (7:50)
  • untitled #4 (1:37)
  • cassino (10:05)
  • let's get boring! (7:58)
  • untitled #5 (1:55)
kranky press release...
artist: chris herbert
title: mezzotint
catalog #: krank101
formats available: cd
release date: september 18, 2006

mezzotint is a collection of digital, textured pieces assembled through the extensive manipulation of found sounds and environmental sources. a dedicated non-musician, chris herbert has a long-standing interest in intuitive composition and the elastic nature of sound as a resource, influenced by the collage ethic and the instantaneous capture of performance.

working with decidedly low-tech methods (chris uses minidiscs, a battle-worn desktop pc and a badly-behaved delay pedal), many of the tracks came into being through guerrilla sessions during his day job. the pieces are essentially improvisations created by extended rehearsal and juxtaposition.

mezzotint is the consequence of a continual process of subtraction and composting, leaving just a trace of melody or the implication of rhythm. the result is a spontaneous, embracing the mystery of faraway broadcasts and the internal experience: a clouded, busy music of vertical activity and blended, indistinct color as opposed to narrative uni-direction.

chris' signature swampy, gaseous, and even dirty, crumpled sound is a welcome contrast to the clean, edgeless granular cloud aesthetic employed by an increasing number of artists.

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threads:
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bedroom
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 099 cd

boduf songs “lion devours the sun” compact disc

  • lord of the flies (5:27)
  • two across the mouth (4:02)
  • that angel was pretty lame (6:31)
  • great wolf of no tracks (2:45)
  • green lion devours the sun, blood decends to earth (6:51)
  • 27th raven's head (darkness showing through the head of the raven) (3:43)
  • please ache for redemptive (5:02)
  • fall of cherry blossom in long shadows of twilight (3:45)
  • bell for harness (9:36)
kranky press release...
artist: boduf songs
title: lion devours the sun
catalog #: krank099
formats available: cd
release date: october 30, 2006

lion devours the sun is the first full length release from u.k. resident mathew sweet following his self-titled kranky debut ep released in the fall of 2005. it was recorded at home with a 4 track and a single microphone, using acoustic guitar and voice along with well placed touches of a cymbal-playing monkey, some bricks, an e-bowed autoharp, a homemade gramophone, and daggers.

the title derives from alchemical imagery, the sun representing consciousness and the lion symbolizing emotion. some of these songs contain actual invocations of demonic forces. not really. mathew states that "this is not folk music", and that someone told him that they think the first record "sounds humble and withdrawn and the new one sounds righteous and bitter". he agrees.

the debut boduf songs release garnered high praise from all reviewers. he has performed limited live shows in the u.k. and europe, and recently recorded a live session for the legendary vpro in amsterdam.

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kranky (usa) #krank 098 cd

benoît pioulard “precis” compact disc

  • la guerre de sept ans (3:08)
  • together & down (3:08)
  • ext. leslie park (2:42)
  • triggering back (2:30)
  • moth wings (1:16)
  • alan & dawn (2:51)
  • corpus chant (1:43)
  • palimend (3:04)
  • coup de foudre (1:31)
  • hirondelle (2:22)
  • needle & thread (2:42)
  • r coloring (0:40)
  • sous la plage (2:59)
  • patter (2:58)
  • ash into the sky (3:18)
kranky press release...
artist: benoit pioulard
title: precis
catalog #: krank098
formats available: cd
release date: october 16, 2006

precis is the first album from thomas meluch under his musical pseudonym benoit pioulard. following a series of limited, handmade cassette and cdr releases for friends and family over the last several years, and the well-received enge ep (moodgadget 2005), precis arose as a documentation of a coming to terms with impermanence, marked by analog residue and the imperfections of human influence.

a multi-instrumentalist with an insatiable palette, pioulard bases most of his songs on treated acoustic guitars and honeyed vocals, backed by carefully layered bells, bass, dulcimer, old tape samples, field recordings and myriad other sources. these sounds, though sculpted roughly into pop songs, have their own delicate patterns of ebb and flow, distortion and disappearance.

from the sunny refrain of "triggering back" to the descent of nighttime chills on "needle & thread", precis sighs in time with the seasons. it's an album about him, her, and you; it's an exaltation of the ways these things end.

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kranky (usa) #krank 097 cd

jessica bailiff “feels like home” compact disc

  • what's inside your mind? (2:26)
  • we were once (4:27)
  • lakeside blues (2:35)
  • brother la (2:51)
  • persuasion (1:58)
  • cinq (2:18)
  • spiral dream (2:34)
  • evidence (2:11)
  • pressing (4:18)
  • if we could (2:45)
  • with you (2:48)
kranky press release...
artist: jessica bailiff
title: feels like home
catalog #: krank097
formats available: cd
release date: july 10, 2006

feels like home balances the more accoustic approach to jessica's songwriting on her most recent (untitled) album with the blissed electricity found on her earlier material. gossamer vocals hover over delicate melodies, accented by tasteful bits of percussion, piano filigrees, and sundry guitar sounds. feels like home is the most refined example of jessica bailiff's musical vision to date.

it's the first full length of solo material from jessica in 4 years but she's been doing anything but taking a break. check her fruitful collaborations with dave pearce (as clear horizon), rachel goldstar (as eau claire), and jesse edwards (as northern song dynasty), as well as a featured appearance on odd nosdam's latest album where she made vocal and instrumental contributions.

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kranky (usa) #krank 096 cd

loscil “plume” compact disc

  • motoc (5:38)
  • rorschach (7:42)
  • zephyr (4:20)
  • steam (6:29)
  • chinook (5:57)
  • bellows (5:15)
  • halcyon (5:48)
  • charlie (7:22)
  • mistral (4:58)
kranky press release...
artist: loscil
title: plume
catalog #: krank096
formats available: cd
release date: may 22, 2006

fourth full-length from vancouver-based sound artist scott morgan. he continues to refine the visual aspect of his performances and recently released a download-only drone album on net label, one.scott morgan notes: "compositionally, many tracks on plume are similar in approach to first narrows; they started with a harmonic root from which sounds were processed into a loose structure over which the live players could improvise. there was substantially less editing this time around with the live tracks. i opted to choose the better improvised passes and merely mix them in and out rather than cut them up. i think this leaves a lot more natural space and balances the heavily structured and repetitive electronic elements with more organic performed layers. jason zumpano returned from the first narrows ensemble and i also recruited long time friend steve wood and my partner krista to play some ebow guitar as well as josh lindstrom to play some xylophone and vibraphone which i believe added a nice new element into the mix.

thematically, i stuck with things that are quintessentially loscil; flow, subtle movement, gradual transition, growth. also of significance to this album is the family connection. "charlie" was composed after seeing/hearing my daughter sadie through ultrasound while she was still in the womb. the track was also partly composed as a womb-like sound experience for her to sleep to after she was born, hence the heart beats..."

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kranky (usa) #krank 095 cd

charalambides “a vintage burden” compact disc

  • there is no end (7:49)
  • spring (5:20)
  • dormant love (4:53)
  • black bed blues (17:37)
  • two birds (12:40)
  • hope against hope (5:13)
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: a vintage burden
catalog #: krank095
formats available: cd
release date: may 22, 2006

the long awaited new album from the legendary charalambides, now pared down to the original core duo of christina carter and tom carter. after having exorcized some demons through the release of their last album joy shapes, here they have recorded a more melodic song cycle, reminiscent of their earlier albums union and market square. of particular note is the inspiring guitar work tom displays on the 18 minute instrumental black bed blues. with a vintage burden, charalambides have delivered their most cosmic and beautiful album to date.

no doubt the godparents of the whole "freak-folk", "free-folk", "new weird america", whatever scene, charalambides were wandering alone in that arid wilderness when they started recording and releasing their music via cassette in the early '90s. with enough artists now having sprouted to warrant the naming of an entire sub-genre, they are still at the head of the class. charalambides is where it all started.

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kranky (usa) #krank 094 cd

gregg kowalsky “through the cardial window” compact disc

  • ashes from everywhere (7:15)
  • that in allepo twice (7:33)
  • into the marshes they drove me (7:51)
  • coral gables (5:50)
  • long distance decade (8:28)
  • gara note (5:02)
  • tendrils (guitar pickup) (2:16)
kranky press release...
artist: gregg kowalsky
title: through the cardial window
catalog #: krank094
formats available: cd
release date: april 17, 2006

for through the cardial window gregg kowalsky used mic'ing and recording techniques to pull out hidden textures and frequencies from sound sources as diverse as recordings of the mills ensemble (he filtered a piece he wrote for the group through the pickup of an acoustic guitar), bowed acoustic guitar and a broken floor heater. "into the marshes they drove me" contains source material from the band isis. kowalsky made a track, using tones, harmonics and feedback loops. the music he creates is situated betwixt and between textural ambience, psychedelia and pure noise.

born in new york city and raised in south florida, gregg kowalsky has had the opportunity to perform throughout europe and the united states under the osso bucco moniker for the past several years. he participated in festivals such as wdr's soundart-köln festival, sonar, offf (online flash-film festival) and the nursery summer festival in sweden. he now resides in oakland, california where he completed a master of fine arts degree in electronic music and recording media at mills college with the guidance of fred frith.

kowalsky's compositions range from textural ambient to drone and noise pieces, which are highly influenced by the thick, humid air of south florida where gregg lived for most of his life. he is interested in filling the spaces his music occupies through dense, live, multi-channel mixes. he has composed for film, dance, acoustic ensembles and sound installations.

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kranky (usa) #krank 090 cd

windy & carl “the dream house / dedications to flea” double compact disc single


  • the eternal struggle (31:51)
  • i have been waiting to hear your voice (12:06)

  • ode to a dog (19:14)
  • sketch for flea (18:10)
new disc from windy & carl. includes the recent brainwashed “handmade” disc plus one other ep...
kranky press release...
artist: windy & carl
title: the dreamhouse / dedications to flea
catalog #: krank090
formats available: 2xcd ep
release date: november 7, 2005

the dream house is the first album of new material from windy & carl in five years. recorded at their home studio in dearborn, mi it consists of two tracks. the dream house is in many ways the duo's simplest and most straight-forward release, concentrated as it is on two evolving pieces. it is also windy & carl's most ambitious recording, with the duo deliberating on longer forms.

windy & carl are capable of sustaining melodic ideas and patiently apply attention to singular musical gestures. windy weber describes the album as being about "death and dreams and beliefs and leaving and moving on." the second disc, dedications to flea, are gentle tributes to a departed canine friend. the double cd ep package sells for the price of a single cd.

byron coley called windy & carl "the inventors of michigan space drone" in the wire in 2002. the two have released a number of albums and plethora of singles and compilation tracks (all compiled on their self-released introspection triple cd set). windy & carl have played across the united states and europe and are the only group invited to each of the terrascope festivals. their new release is made up of the dream house cd ep and a cd ep called dedications to flea, which was originally released on the brainwashed handmade label in an edition of 500 copies.

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kranky (usa) #krank 089 cd

dawn smithson “safer here” compact disc

  • safer here
  • somewhere far
  • nowhere near
  • ticking away
  • speak through me
  • how thoughtless
  • letter to the empire
  • a new day
  • crossroads
kranky press release...
artist: dawn smithson
title: safer here
catalog #: krank089
formats available: cd
release date: october 10, 2005

former jessamine bassist and vocalist and recent sunn o))) contributor, dawn smithson has returned after a six-year hiatus with her new full length album safer here. smithson's bass held an anchoring position in jessamine’s swirl of rhythm and sounds and the band’s musical explorations took shape around her distinct vocals. since reentering the music world, she most recently contributed on bass in live performances and recordings with sunn o))) (white 2, the libations of samhain) and on vocals in ginnungagap (1000% downer).

in early 2004 smithson began working on new recordings and after listening to the songs she sent kranky, it didn't take us long to say "heck yes." incorporating experimental aspects of jessamine's sound with acoustic elements and introspective songwriting, safer here balances melody with experimentation to create rhythmic, non-ornate songs, it's an album where every musical gesture carries weight.

as a solo recording artist smithson's voice comes to the foreground, carefully matched by considered instrumentation. the album was recorded alone with acoustic and electric guitar, bass, accordion and her voice, then later accompanied by contributors jussi brightmore (100 pets, i’m being good, baron samedi), david farrell (southerning, dormant), rex ritter (fontanelle, jessamine, sunn o))) ) and brian foote (nudge, fontanelle).

smithson has this to say about safer here: "because this album is so personal and intimate, i think it is best listened to alone—like watching a melancholy movie that deeply effects you." through careful placement of a stereo pair of neumann mic's and a large diaphragm rode, the recording quality reflects the emotional intent of the music, creating the feeling that you're there in the room. safer here was mixed in june 2005 by dawn smithson and rex ritter at magnetic park in portland, or.

personnel:
dawn smithson vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, accordion, keys
rex ritterelectric guitar on "how thoughtless"
jussi brightmore electric guitar on "nowhere near"
david farrell synths on "a new day"
brian foote synths on "ticking away"

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threads:
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kranky (usa) #krank 088 cd

brian mcbride “when the detail lost its freedom” compact disc

  • overture (for other halfs) (6:38)
  • piano abg (4:33)
  • a gathering to lead me when you're gone (6:13)
  • prelude (1:44)
  • our last moment in song (6:03)
  • retenir (5:47)
  • i will (5:44)
  • stringer to light feed frenzy (4:47)
  • the guilt of uncomplicated thoughts (7:51)
  • for those who hesitate (5:23)
  • silent motels (3:56)
  • latent sonatas (4:36)
kranky press release...
artist: brian mcbride
title: when the detail lost its freedom
catalog #: krank088
formats available: cd
release date: october 31, 2005

as one half of stars of the lid, brian mcbride has contributed to the essential drift music of our time. when the detail lost its freedom was recorded mainly on an asr x keyboard sampler. the instruments recorded were guitar, piano, vocals, harmonica, trumpet and strings. there were no synthesizers or keyboards used in the creation of the album. there's a lot of sampling in the sense of capturing a tone, isolating its tuning, and playing it on the keys of a piano. guitars become piano-esque. room noise becomes room noise played on a keyboard. and you can actually make out some guitars.

when the detail lost its freedom is a collection of individual pieces and therefore released from the lid's uninterrupted architecture. the album was recorded somewhere in between los angeles and chicago, always at home, in random moments of duress over the last four years. the final mix was arranged from december 2004 to january 2005. music guests included two singing ladies, an ex-wife and a fiancee, two guitarists, notably mike linnen who did the soundtracks for all the real girls, manic, george washington, and undertow, the morgan park (chicago) step-up trumpet section and violinist eden batki, referred to as the inland empire symphony quartet on the credits.

when the detail lost its freedom is a recording that sheds light on the notion of "picking up the pieces and moving on." it is a record of brian mcbride "getting it out" in the midst of some overwhelming situations, a recording made during a move from chicago to los angeles. the strong emotions the recording sessions tried to channel do bring a sense of awkwardness here that made it through to the finished product.

as mcbride describes the recording process: "in retrospect, it probably has to do with some of my weaker moments. which is all fancy code for: it was therapy during a divorce and a move to a city which thrives on sucking the life of out people's souls." as with stars of the lid's recordings there is a synthesis of different instruments or maybe a reinvention through some gross mutation (of different guitars, violins, trumpets, harmonicas) - which then become the pooled tones for extended, and melodic development. what you get are nacreous songs that pack a real emotional wallop, are reminiscent of stars of the lid (and lots more), and that earn a space on your shelf all to themselves.

"it's a lovely album..." - harold budd

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kranky (usa) #krank 087 cd

christopher bissonnette “periphery” compact disc

  • in accordance (9:44)
  • proportions in motion (8:46)
  • comfortable expectations (9:32)
  • substrata (8:32)
  • tenor viol (4:48)
  • travelling light (7:19)
  • pellucidity (7:23)
kranky press release...
artist: christopher bissonnette
title: periphery
catalog #: krank087
formats available: cd
release date: october 10, 2005

periphery is a collection of piano and orchestral based material, recorded and produced over the past year. christopher bissonnette has developed a system of exclusion and reconstruction, using seconds of samples to produce extended textural edits, often removing any traces of the original source, yet retaining the fundamental nature of each modeled phase. an analysis of the sound and recontextualizing of the sample initiates this method.

audio patches are constructed with sets of randomized variables. most tracks are mixed and recorded live, resulting in organic, sinuous compositions. interstitial moments, trails of reverb and tonal passages are all manipulated to become the groundwork for compositions. these extended phases create a fragile balance of tension and atmospheric placidity.

the results are unprocessed introspective compositions, layered with delicate minutae - extended, irrreproducible, immersive happenings.

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threads:
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folk
guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 085 cd

boduf songs “boduf songs” compact disc

  • puke a pitch black rainbow to the sun (2:29)
  • claimant reclaimed (5:29)
  • our canon of transposition (1:16)
  • this one is cursed (3:20)
  • grains (3:26)
  • lost in forests (4:11)
  • ape thanks lamb (1:54)
  • oh celebrate your vague words and coquettish sovereignty (3:05)
  • vapour steals the glow (4:35)
kranky press release...
artist: boduf songs
title: boduf songs
catalog #: krank085
formats available: cd
release date: october 3, 2005

boduf songs is mat sweet, who lives in southampton, england. he recorded some songs for kranky as demos in early 2005 at home with an acoustic guitar, some cymbals, violin bow, toy piano, manipulated field recordings, and a computer. with less than ideal equipment and under less than ideal conditions, he created songs with memorable melodies, artful arrangements and carefully placed effects that lend an air of surrealism to the album. the recordings made such an impact on kranky that we decided to release them as is rather than having mat re-record the songs, and possibly lose any of the immediacy and intimacy that make them so engaging.

deceptively low key, boduf songs skirts between singer-songwriter, psychedelic, home recorder and folk modes, bringing an obtuse, angular minimalism to these forms. listening to this music visions of a beautiful spring day in an english meadow come to mind. with death keeping a close and watchful eye from behind a nearby tree. mat sweet will be recording a new boduf songs album for kranky this summer and fall under more ideal recording conditions.

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kranky (usa) #krank 083 cd

nudge “cached” compact disc

  • classic mode
  • standing on hot sidewalk
  • contact
  • my new youth
  • remove ya
  • dee deet
  • parade
  • blon
  • no come back
kranky press release...
artist: nudge
title: cached
catalog #: krank082
formats available: cd
release date: may 16, 2005

nudge coalesced as a trio for the recording of cached. honey owens is a member of the freeform rock collective jackie-o motherfucker, brian foote and paul dickow were in fontanelle, foote and dickow dj, and dickow performs and releases music as strategy.

nudge have released one album on foote's outward music co. imprint, contributed elaborate devices for filtering crisis to the tigerbeat 6 catalog, and made numerous compilation appearances. based in portland, or, nudge is situated at the nexus of a remarkable musical scene in which the divisions between electronic, improvising and rock-based musics are routinely ignored. owens books the dunes club where electronic and improvising music commingle, dickow books dj nights and foote is involved in the audraglint label.

beginning with the balanced melodies of guitar and vocal that lead off cached on "classic mode," nudge demonstrates a remarkable range and mixture of real time playing and electronic processing. rhythms hint at dub reggae or african patterns while the accretion of electronic textures goes on above and below the melodies and beats. this interlocking of electronic and organic instrumental sounds is what sets nudge aside from those who simply glue twee melodies onto drum machines and synth pads.

nudge enjoys their flirtations with genre, which makes cached a genuine look at a band in "play" mode (as opposed to po-faced "work").

performers:
brian foote: guitar, process, percussion, synth, program, melodica, harmonium, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, vox and trigger.
honey owens: vox, guitar, process, bass, wineglass, percussion, synth, program, melodica and trigger.
paul dickow: drum kit, process, bass, percussion, synth, program, trigger and organ.

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threads:
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kranky (usa) #krank 080 cd

charalambides “our bed is green” double compact disc set

  • tea (4:35)
  • the treadmill (1:52)
  • take the pointing finger for the moon (6:39)
  • pas el agoa (5:10)
  • black pope (2:36)
  • bid you goodnite (1:50)
  • i don't know you (3:49)
  • stuttgart (4:19)
  • silver reeds (3:24)
  • our bed is green (4:12)
  • faze her (3:57)
  • dead bee (3:28)

  • regret (3:35)
  • neutron decay (2:40)
  • c.g. (3:16)
  • the core (3:21)
  • coming out (3:48)
  • strange matter (3:52)
  • 20 hours (2:06)
  • cosmic string (6:04)
  • dorothy (1:10)
  • i don't know what to sing (1:04)
  • the bottle (2:04)
  • the hair on my head (is brown) (1:26)
  • same old routine (8:00)
  • final (2:53)
reissue of arguably the ‘bides best (and first) record, originally realeased k7-only back in the first year of the band’s existence (prior to their involvement with siltbreeze) which they then reissued on their own wholly other label in 1995... here is it again, finally in a non-finite edition, restored to it’s initial length and released as a double-disc set.

it’s certainly one of the key points in the lengthy discography of the band, which i believe is now defunct (tom, christina, jason, and heather all have solo projects.) - it’s wall of haze thrown up in haste, slowly broken down over the course of the hour-plus radiation session. tantalizing in its inclusivity - you certainly feel like you’re in the room with them, if not in their mind(s) ...
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: our bed is green
catalog #: krank080
formats available: 2xcd
release date: april 4, 2005

originally released on one cassette by the band in 1992 and later reissued as a limited edition compact disc on their wholly other label, our bed is green was the first release by charalambides. kranky is proud to add this album to our charalambides reissue series, placing all of the original cassette (with the exception of two cover songs) on a double cd set. time lag reissued the album on vinyl in fall 2004. this is more than a historical document, the continuing relevance of the music is self-explanatory.

our bed is green was the debut release from charalambides. formed in 1991 by tom carter (who was playing in the heavy psych combo the mike gunn at the time) and christina carter to take part in improvisational sessions at a local houston club, the band was asked to play live on ktru. instead, they recorded our bed is green.

although no band is totally sui generis, anyone who heard the debut recordings by charalambides in 1992 could have been forgiven for thinking that of the duo. our bed is green was a recording that roped in folk, improvisation, psychedelia, blues and gospel into a crackling sound world utterly unlike anything else. ranging across a 90 minute cassette and produced at home on four track, the music had only the means of production in common with the so-called lo fi scene of the time. on their debut charalambides achieved the distinct otherness they retain to this day.

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kranky (uk) #krank 079 lp

out hud “one life to leave” twelve inch single record

  • one life to leave - a requiem
  • one life to leave - a requiem for a requiem
  • put it away, put it away, put it away dad
kranky press release...
artist: out hud
title: one life to leave
catalog #: krank079
formats available: 12" / cd single
release date: february 7, 2005

this is what the boys in the kranky marketing labs call a "teaser"; an ep featuring one track from the forthcoming out hud album, a remix of that track exclusive to the ep, and another non-lp track. the first statement on disc from the nyc band in two years, the first appearance of vocals by phyllis forbes and molly schnick on an out hud song, plenty of value for the consumer with two exclusive tracks and an indication of the awesomeness of the album to follow.

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kranky (uk) #krank 079 cd

out hud “one life to leave” compact disc single

  • one life to leave - a requiem
  • one life to leave - a requiem for a requiem
  • put it away, put it away, put it away dad
kranky press release...
artist: out hud
title: one life to leave
catalog #: krank079
formats available: 12" / cd single
release date: february 7, 2005

this is what the boys in the kranky marketing labs call a "teaser"; an ep featuring one track from the forthcoming out hud album, a remix of that track exclusive to the ep, and another non-lp track. the first statement on disc from the nyc band in two years, the first appearance of vocals by phyllis forbes and molly schnick on an out hud song, plenty of value for the consumer with two exclusive tracks and an indication of the awesomeness of the album to follow.

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 $5.04

back in stock as of
march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
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modern-composition
guitar-themed
electro-acoustic-improvisation
electro-acoustic-composition
digital-musics

kranky (usa) #krank 077 cd

“kompilation” double compact disc set

  • stars of the lid - even if you're never awake (version) (8:18)
  • keith fullerton whitman - stereo music for serge modular synthesizer (excerpt) (5:43)
  • pan•american - what do they dream? (9:09)
  • autistic daughters - the glasshouse and the gift-horse (6:33)
  • christina carter - silhouette (7:20)
  • greg davis - campestral (textured) (5:27)
  • growing - primitive associations / great mass above (12:36)
  • dead texan, the - when i see scissors i can't help but think of you (4:06)
  • tom carter - monument ii (edit) (7:40)
  • loscil - sickbay (6:11)

  • charalambides - joy shapes (10:59)
  • brent gutzeit - piano motor skills #2 (edit) (8:52)
  • strategy (3) - drumsolo's delight (5:31)
  • pan•american - inside elevation (5:07)
  • keith fullerton whitman - schnee (7:12)
  • clear horizon - for days (7:16)
  • out hud - dad, there's a little thing called too much information (7:30)
  • fontanelle - monday morning (7:15)
  • jessica bailiff - swallowed (4:02)
  • christmas decorations - build a house (3:30)
  • stars of the lid - requiem for dying mothers, part 2 (7:38)
you’ve come a long way, baby...

2004-2005 roster-spanning double-cd overview from by far the most consistently appealing american record label since vanguard (ok... maybe finnadar)... yes, the price is correct, this is a double disc priced at $4.81. no reason to sleep on this one (at least until after you’ve acquired a copy and are all set for appreciation in your favorite chair/isolation tank).

i’ve got two pieces on here, one is the “psych” song from “antithesis”, the other is a rough version of a piece that will appear in a mildly transfigured state on “multiples”. plus you get an alternate version of one of greg’s “somnia” pieces, a brand-spanking new stars of the lid epic, and a smattering of jams from the last 10-odd kranky releases.

there’s never been a better time for the sort of horizontal-application sound-research that the kranky-label excels in...
kranky press release...
artist: various
title: kompilation
catalog #: krank077
formats available: 2xcd
release date: nov. 1, 2004

we'll provide the context — two compact discs filled with twenty one tracks. over 148 minutes of music. brand new music from pan•american. a preview of forthcoming albums from stars of the lid and keith fullerton whitman. an exclusive mix of an album track by greg davis. all priced cheap at less than the cost of a cd ep.

it's been years since there's been a kranky sampler (and that one came out in europe only) so it's time to show what we've been up to for the last few years. way back when compilations like pillows and prayers and wanna buy a bridge? inspired us to check out tons of bands. hopefully kompilation can perform the same function for today's fans.

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threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
lo-fi
bedroom

kranky (usa) #krank 075 cd

christina carter “living contact” compact disc

  • silhouette
  • dream mother
  • alone not alone
  • going down
  • body energy exchange
  • major
early album bedroom guitar/vocals from charalambides’ christina carter ...
kranky press release...
artist: christina carter
title: living contact
catalog #: krank075
formats available: cd
release date: nov. 1, 2004

the material on living contact is made up solely of christina carter on acoustic guitar and occasional vocals. it was recorded on boombox and four track tape from 1994-98, the period between charalambides' union and houston albums, with most of the material recorded in 1995 and 1996.

wholly other originally released living contact as an edition of 100 cd-rs in 2001 and the label's catalog describes the music as "the primitive and spectral underpinnings of charalambides rendered with mysterious simplicity."

living contact follows the charalambides unknown spin cd and tom carter's monument cd in the continuing series of reissues of charalambides-related material on kranky.

seen in the light of the latest studio album from the band, joy shapes, this solo acoustic recording expands our understanding of christina carter's contributions instrumentally to charalambides and stands alone as affecting acoustic music. living contact reminds us how pivotal charalambides have been as a band and as individuals over the past decade.

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threads:
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guitar-themed
doom
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 073 cd

growing “the soul of the rainbow and the harmony of light” compact disc

  • onement
  • anaheim ii
  • epochal reminiscence
  • primitive associations  / great mass above
the first growing album was certainly the sleeper hit of the 2003 kranky batch... the perfect synergy of latter-day doom-metal stylings with the ambient soundworld of the post-shoegazer generation of groups (mid-period too pure... seefeel specifically). something about the melancholy of their hometown of portland, or seeped through in droves and we were all grateful for their unique vision of the apocalypse, as retold not in explosions and the wrath of god but in detuned octave-divided guitars and filtered field recordings of birdsong. a unique statement...

already, here, we have album #2. again, recorded with rex from jessamine, and again the sort of thing where you don’t notice the bruises until long after they’ve slowly been inflicted.
kranky press release...
artist: growing
title: the soul of the rainbow and the harmony of light
catalog #: krank073
formats available: cd
release date: oct. 18, 2004

recorded by the band in olympia, wa from 2003 to early 2004 and mixed with rex ritter (jessamine, fontanelle and sunn) at magnetic park in portland, or in march and april 2004, the soul of the rainbow and the harmony of light takes growing's expansive palette, blurring and disguising instrumental points of origin to a point where sheer sound defines itself with authority. now a duo with kevin doria on bass and guitar and joe denardo on guitar, growing have pushed into the manipulation of feedback, hiss and static; wringing out waves of delay from their amps while retaining an earthbound mastery of crushing riffage. these grainy textures contrast with a clean, pulsing lushness that carries traces of bird song and touch on natural environs and the passing of time.

since the release of the sky's run into the sea in august 2003, growing have played a select number of shows, including the u.k. version of all tomorrows parties (at the invitation of mogwai). a number of older tape releases from the band are being reissued and the italian heroine label put out a split ep growing recorded with m. evan burden of get hustle.

in july 2004 the band took to the road for a tour of north america beginning with a performance at the los angeles museum of contemporary art. european touring is planned for the fall of 2004 along with some more visits across america. the track "anaheim ii" was recorded for an abortive split release with pelican. the title of this album is taken from an 1893 essay by bainbridge bishop concerning the relationships between color and sound. the essay was subtitled "a plea for a new science." bishop invented the color organ in 1877, a musical device capable of playing both sound and corresponding light together or separately.

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threads:
modern-psych
film-video
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 072 cd

the dead texan “the dead texan” compact disc and digital versatile disc set

  • the 6 million dollar sandwich (3:02)
  • glen's goo (4:07)
  • a chronicle of early failures pt. 1 (5:43)
  • a chronicle of early failures pt. 2 (5:47)
  • taco me manque (2:37)
  • aegina airlines (2:48)
  • when i see scissors
  • i cannot help but think of you (3:59)
  • girth rides a (horse)+ (2:33)
  • la ballade d'alain georges (6:23)
  • beatrice pt. 2 (4:04)
  • the struggle (5:28)
solo outing from 1/2 of stars of the lid (the adam half), released as a combination cd-album and dvd-video (the album with animated videos.) personally i think the album stands on its own two feet... the dvd feels more like an aside than anything else. fans of stars of the lid will already be familiar with the sound-world...
kranky press release...
artist: the dead texan
title: the dead texan
catalog #: krank072
formats available: cd-dvd
release date: october 4, 2004

the dead texan contains music from adam wiltzie (stars of the lid, aix em klemm) on compact disc and a dvd containing music videos by adam wiltzie and video artist christina vantzos. the eleven tracks on the dead texan are sonatas to stars of the lid's noctambulant fugues. or as adam wiltzie describes them, mini symphonies.

the presence of piano and strings are reminiscent of zbigniew preisner's soundtrack work and the feel is suggestive of george delerue's early 60s soundtracks, but the surreal smear of guitars is wiltzie's unmistakable contribution.

wiltzie has been living in brussels, belgium for the past few years. a decidedly european, filmic sensibility wafts through the dead texan as a song title like "la ballade de alain georges" (with its reference to the 1940s french actor) and snatches of dialogue indicate. tracks vary from the flowing, transparent melody on "a chronicle of early failures - part 2" to delicate and fleeting vignettes. combined with the creation of the seven video segments that accompany the dead texan, the tracks appear and depart as brief chamber pieces yet still fit into a greater whole.

the dead texan is just a continuation of mr. wiltzie's nocturnal musical fumblings. many of these songs would have been beginnings to new sotl tracks, but he felt as if they were too aggressive for the new lid record, which is still being recorded as we go to press.

christina vantzos is a filmmaker and video artist whose work has been shown in film, music and art festivals in baltimore, kansas city, chicago and brussels. she has accompanied musicians as a vj and is working on a video documentary on teenage life in scotland.

the work of christina vantzos and adam wiltzie together on the video pieces for the dead texan moves from animation to tranquil video capturing the interplay of water and light. although wiltzie began composing and recording the music on his own, the process of combining music with video eventually became a truly collaborative one.

the composition of the music and the creation of the videos became simultaneous. both mediums played off the other until audio and visual came to support each other seamlessly. the dvd is divided into seven sections which add up to a half hour's viewing time.

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minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 070 cd

tom carter “monument” compact disc

  • monument 1 (memorial)
  • monument 2
beautiful (borderline-onkyo at times) solo lapsteel & reverb overtone-set from charlambides’ tom carter. an astounding amount of mood-variety from such a (seemingly) simple setup. to draw comparisons to other contemporary artists working in similar fields: loren mazzacane connors with a dash of keiji haino (specifically nijimu’s “era of sad wings”), maybe even a bit of paul panhuysen or rafael toral. definitely john cipollina and manuel gottsching...
kranky press release...
artist: tom carter
title: monument
catalog #: krank070
formats available: cd
release date: june 21, 2004

monument is a recording of guitar music from tom carter of charalambides and is the second in a series of charalambides-related reissues by kranky. the two tracks of solo lap steel guitar were recorded live to dat by tom carter a few days before a live performance in march, 2001. monument was originally released by wholly other in an edition of 55 cd-rs. the first track, "monument 1 (memorial)," is slightly longer than two minutes and barely reveals itself. the second, "monument 2," is 47 minutes in length and considerably more expansive and louder than the opening cut. the album was made using lap steel guitar, glass slides, digitech tsr-12 stereo reverb, a rat distortion pedal and craftsman screwdrivers.tom carter is best known for his work with charalambides, which he co-founded with longtime creative partner christiina carter in 1991. since 2002, carter has also undertaken solo work and collaborations. his 2003 solo tour, centered around the seminal brattleboro freefolk festival, featured unaccompanied solo shows and musical excursions (on stage and tape) with bardo pond, thurston moore, dredd foole, the mvee medicine show, ian nagoski, tower recordings, and double leopards, among others.

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threads:
minimalism-drones
digital-musics

kranky (usa) #krank 069 cd

loscil “first narrows” compact disc

  • sickbay (6:13)
  • lucy dub (7:19)
  • first narrows (10:19)
  • emma (7:31)
  • modo (5:42)
  • brittle (7:33)
  • cloister (8:59)
third album from vancouver native scott morgan, working a similar sub-aquatic sound-set as heard on the prior two records, only this time with live instrumentation added to the fold.

lulling, and at times queasy, scott’s proven to be a force in his own right ...
kranky press release...
artist: loscil
title: first narrows
catalog #: krank069
formats available: cd
release date: may 10, 2004

first narrows is the third loscil album and the first in which scott morgan uses real instruments and input from other musicians. using sound sources that ranged from sampled instruments to miscellaneous lo-fi mini-cassette recordings, morgan generated music on computer by custom programming sequencing and processing designed so that no two performances of the patches would be exactly the same. in turn, jason zumpano on fender rhodes piano, tim loewen on guitar and nyla rany on cello improvised over those electronic sequences. morgan then edited and mixed the live and premixed sections together.

first narrows is named after the first gap to the entrance of the burrard inlet, over which the lions gate bridge spans; the main entrance into vancouver from the pacific ocean. by including a loscil track on their compilation of canadian electronica alongside artists like tim hecker, polmo polpo, ghislain poirier and thomas jirku, the intr_version label confirmed that loscil deserves placement among the unique practitioners of electronic sound arrangement.

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kranky (usa) #krank 068 lp

charalambides “joy shapes” double long playing record set

  • here not here

  • stroke
  • joy shapes

  • natural light

  • voice for you
2004 charalambides album, at this stage a trio with scorces’ heather leigh murray. some heavy, extended metamorph-psych, resplendent in its efficacy ...
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: joy shapes
catalog #: krank068
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: may 10, 2004

to say that the words "unique" and "singular" are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious. to apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the texas group charalambides over the last decade plus would be understatement. to be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. but they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. this new album is certainly not for the faint of heart.

five songs stretch and crawl over 75 minutes, with christina carter finding a new fearlessness in her voice that will draw comparisons to patty waters or the early work of meredith monk. joy shapes is the first studio album recorded by charalambides in a long time. the main tracks were recorded in june 2003, with subsequent overdubs, mixing and mastering done throughout the summer and early fall of 2003 including one night of vocals recording done in what tom carter calls a "lost evening."

christina carter: electric guitar, voice, bells
tom carter: electric guitar, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar, chimes, wind wand
heather leigh murray: pedal steel guitar, psaltery, voice

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kranky (usa) #krank 068 cd

charalambides “joy shapes” compact disc

  • here not here
  • stroke
  • joy shapes
  • natural light
  • voice for you
cd version ...
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: joy shapes
catalog #: krank068
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: may 10, 2004

to say that the words "unique" and "singular" are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious. to apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the texas group charalambides over the last decade plus would be understatement. to be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. but they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. this new album is certainly not for the faint of heart.

five songs stretch and crawl over 75 minutes, with christina carter finding a new fearlessness in her voice that will draw comparisons to patty waters or the early work of meredith monk. joy shapes is the first studio album recorded by charalambides in a long time. the main tracks were recorded in june 2003, with subsequent overdubs, mixing and mastering done throughout the summer and early fall of 2003 including one night of vocals recording done in what tom carter calls a "lost evening."

christina carter: electric guitar, voice, bells
tom carter: electric guitar, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar, chimes, wind wand
heather leigh murray: pedal steel guitar, psaltery, voice

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

kranky (usa) #krank 067 cd

brent gutzeit “drugmoney” compact disc

  • piano motor skills #2 (14:17)
  • riding horses (22:18)
  • 400 blows (20:42)
  • untitled (13:12)
utterly fantastic solo outing from this tv pow/television power electric mainstay. the first piece (“piano motor skills #2”) is the sort of murky piano drone-scrape musique concrète that i’ve been (unsuccesfully) trying to do for years... and here brent pulls it off with perceived ease.

as kranky sails into distant experimental oceans, i sit back and watch with a grand smile...
kranky press release...
artist: brent gutzeit
title: drug money
catalog #: krank067
formats available: cd
release date: may 10, 2004

if you have a short attention span, if you lack the patience to listen to music that progresses deliberately and in minute increments; then don't listen to this recording. drug money is three tracks of viscous, slowly forming drones. these are not cotton candy clouds of bliss out fodder. these are battleship chains, slowly dragged along rusty steel plates and then slowly dropping on the ocean floor. all of the source sounds for drug money were created by gutzeit by placing electric motors on the strings of a piano.

brent gutzeit has performed around the world as a solo artist and a member of the laptop/power glitch group tv pow, in addition to running the boxmedia label. he has made himself a key player and organizer in the improvised and laptop music community in chicago. gutzeit is also a member of the chicago chamber/supergroup everyoned. in 1997, kranky released mosquito dream, gutzeit's collaboration with guitarist james plotkin. drug money is the logical continuation of that album's gradual apportionment of sound.

originally released as a limited edition cd-r on boxmedia and sold at a chicago record store whenever gutzeit needed money for, uh, um... recreation; the album will now be widely available.

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threads:
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digital-musics
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 066 cd

strategy “drumsolo’s delight” compact disc

  • cascadian nights (4:03)
  • super shewolf inna city (5:37)
  • drumsolo's delight (5:31)
  • jazzy's dilemma (5:40)
  • super final zen (5:54)
  • walkingtime (5:29)
  • the jazzy drumsolo (11:44)
kranky press release...
artist: strategy
title: drumsolo's delight
catalog #: krank066
formats available: cd
release date: april 26, 2004

drumsolo's delight is the second album paul dickow has made under the name strategy. dickow was a fan of synth-pop who simultaneously learned to play keyboards, the drums and program. he went on to drum in the art punk outfit emergency, play keyboards in fontanelle and multiple instruments in nudge.

strategy wires together dickow's programming and performing experience via a hodgepodge of table top electronics, computers and realtime musicianship. combining a granular ambient aesthetic with an abstract, percolating rhythmic sensibility, strategy unites small parts into complete melodies motivated by complex pulsations. the portland mercury described dickow as "portland's laptop prankster/meister of disquo."

paul dickow has been performing and djing at dance clubs, rock clubs, dance parties and galleries up and down the west coast. he releases music on his archigramophone imprint and curates monthly community library nights at the dunes club in portland. strategy has released dance singles (with seattle's orac label), remixes and a debut album, strut, on the portland-based outward music label in summer 2003.

drumsolo's delight weds the subtle rhythmic promise of the early work anthologized on strut with a discreet ambience. the album flirts with the tensions of hyper-modern digital vastness on one hand, and the gritty immediacy of live dub mixing on the other.

drumsolo's delight moves towards the points of overlap between rhythm and cloudiness- reaching towards the grey area where sounds share active and passive characteristics. drumsolo's delight is strategy's most thematic work to date, and aside from the technical syntheses achieved in the studio, the album is an accurate snapshot of several years' of work creating music concerned with geography/place, people, memory, and weather.

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threads:
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electro-acoustic-improvisation

kranky (usa) #krank 063 cd

dean roberts “be mine tonight” compact disc

  • all pidgins sent to war, palace of adenaline v and e.e. / disappearance on the grandest of streets
  • smash the palace and what nerves you got
  • letter to monday
2003 album by dean roberts featuring contributions from giuseppe ielasi, christian alati, and 3/4hadbeeneliminated members valerio tricoli & antonio arrabbito.
kranky press release...
artist: dean roberts
title: be mine tonight
catalog #: krank063
formats available: cd
release date: nov. 17, 2003

be mine tonight is a recording of songs. slow, often wrenching songs where the brush of a cymbal, a voice or a plucked string can have great impact. through arrangement, processing and editing dean roberts has crafted out rock that presents listeners with familiar forms as it challenges them with oblique gestures. improvisational and electronic strategies are ably utilized to push the dimensions of rock songs played by a group of people together in one room.

be mine tonight is the very first production of a young engineer and composer valerio tricoli, a rising name in the world of improvisational music. it was recorded in bologna , italy from dec. 2000 to dec. 2002. giuseppe ielasi, of fringes recordings and a legend of italian improvisational guitar, contributed prepared guitar, as did christian alati. the deft drumming by antonio arrabbito marks his recording debut. roberts played acoustic and electric guitars, piano, percussion, bass, harmonium and glass harmonica.

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 062 lp

clear horizon “clear horizon” long playing record

  • watching the sea
  • death's dance
  • for days
  • sunrise drift

  • millenium blues
  • distortion song
  • a child's eyes
  • dusk
  • open road
again, one of the things i love about kranky: nowhere in the press release below do the words “flying saucer attack” appear (despite the fact that this record is essentially a fcollaboration between david pearce and kranky mainstaple jessica bailiff).
kranky press release...
artist: clear horizon
title: clear horizon
catalog #: krank062
formats available: cd / lp
release date: nov. 17, 2003

suffused with folky textures and bleached white noise (often simultaneously), the clear horizon album collects the band's first formative recordings. both bailiff and pearce contribute vocals and guitar, with piano, various effects and occasional percussive elements entering into the mix as well. although the resulting nine songs do embody some of each member's trademark sounds; something strange, interesting and new seems to have developed in their fusion here as clear horizon.

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kranky (usa) #krank 062 cd

clear horizon “clear horizon” compact disc

  • watching the sea
  • death's dance
  • for days
  • sunrise drift
  • millenium blues
  • distortion song
  • a child's eyes
  • dusk
  • open road
again, one of the things i love about kranky: nowhere in the press release below do the words “flying saucer attack” appear (despite the fact that this record is essentially a fcollaboration between david pearce and kranky mainstaple jessica bailiff).
kranky press release...
artist: clear horizon
title: clear horizon
catalog #: krank062
formats available: cd / lp
release date: nov. 17, 2003

suffused with folky textures and bleached white noise (often simultaneously), the clear horizon album collects the band's first formative recordings. both bailiff and pearce contribute vocals and guitar, with piano, various effects and occasional percussive elements entering into the mix as well. although the resulting nine songs do embody some of each member's trademark sounds; something strange, interesting and new seems to have developed in their fusion here as clear horizon.

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 061 cd

charalambides “unknown spin” compact disc

  • unknown spin (29:59)
  • voice within (8:25)
  • magnolia (9:42)
  • skin of rivers (10:09)
kranky press release...
artist: charalambides
title: unknown spin
catalog #: krank061
formats available: cd
release date: nov. 17, 2003

unknown spin was recorded live to tape by christina carter, tom carter and heather leigh murray in may, 2002 and released prior to the newly expanded trio's first east coast/ midwest tour. unknown spin is the first in a series of reissues of charalambides material on kranky.

originally issued by the band's wholly other imprint in a cd-r pressing of 300 [with a track by scorces], unknown spin is now available to a wider audience and will remain in print.

unknown spin is a great introduction to charalambides' new modus operandi; an improvised minimalism that comes from guitar, pedal steel guitar and the haunting, wordless vocals of christina carter and heather leigh murray.

in addition to the excellence of the music itself, unknown spin gives listeners some hints of what the upcoming charalambides studio album might sound like.

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threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
modern-psych
doom

kranky (usa) #krank 060 cd

growing “the sky’s run into the sea” compact disc

  • a painting
  • tepsihe (all music is folk music)
  • cutting, opening, swimming
  • southern rites
  • pavement rich in gold
it was bound to occur eventually... the sprawling doom-metal sound-world (as typified by practitioners like sunn o))) and earth) creaking over into the kranky-lineage cloud-chamber universe.

here we have the fruits of a band raised on sleep’s “dopesmoker”

the mid-period too pure catalogue (seefeel, etc...). epics abound.,,
kranky press release...
artist: growing
title: the sky's run into the sea
catalog #: krank060
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: aug. 25, 2003

growing is a trio based in olympia, wa. the sky's run into the sea is their debut album and is aptly named; like the horizon line it delineates a place where elemental forces collide and overlap.

growing recorded and mixed the album in their home town.

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kranky (usa) #krank 059 cd

stars of the lid “avec laudanum” compact disc

  • the atomium part one (5:32)
  • the atomium part two (10:43)
  • the atomium part three (6:16)
  • dust breeding (1.316)+ (9:08)
  • i will surround you (10:28)
kranky press release...
artist: stars of the lid
title: avec laudenum
catalog #: krank059
formats available: cd
release date: october 21, 2002

avec laudenum was originally released on the belgian sub rosa label in 2000. adam wiltzie and brian mcbride recorded the album via mail and by the time it was released wiltzie had moved from austin, tx to brussells. kranky is making this recording widely available for the first time in north america at domestic prices.

this reissue follows the band's ambitious double cd/triple lp set the tired sounds of stars of the lid. avec laudenum marked a decided expansion of the stars of the lid drone methodology. the duo's use of guitars and samplers was more compositionaly directed, creating long, exquisitely stretched out melodies.

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beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 058 cd

loscil “submers” compact disc

  • argonaut 1 (7:12)
  • gymnote (6:01)
  • mute 3 (7:32)
  • nautilus (7:01)
  • diable marin (4:15)
  • resurgam (7:37)
  • le plongeur (7:09)
  • triton (6:45)
  • kursk (7:10)
kranky press release...
artist: loscil
title: submers
catalog #: krank058
formats available: cd
release date: november 4, 2002

submers is the second album from the vancouver-based scott morgan aka loscil. all of the tracks are named after submarines, the final cut being a requiem for the crew of the ill fated russian nuclear vessel kursk.

recorded at home on computer with samples and keyboards used as sound sources, submers is rife with source less echoes, steely surfaces and ominous melodic and rhythmic undertows. the sifted melodies are layered over muffled, clicking and pulsing rhythm tracks with an appropriately aquatic feel to the entire album.

after the release of the loscil debut, triple point, morgan toured europe in early 2002 and released an ep on the uk involve label. submers is an album that easily merges ambient , contemporary classical music and minimal techno in defiance of the current mania for micro-genres.

submers is not an exercise in process for its own sake. melody, texture and rhythm are all at work to make a truly deep listening album.

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 056 lp

fontanelle “style drift” long playing record

  • interstices (4:29)
  • just, go, crazy (4:23)
  • scissure (5:56)
  • james going (5:12)

  • style drift (11:56)
  • red light, green light (2:31)
  • monday morning (7:14)
kranky press release...
artist: fontanelle
title: style drift
catalog #: krank056
formats available: cd / lp
release date: november 4, 2002

style drift is the second full-length lp from the portland, or band fontanelle. like its predecessors, style drift was recorded at the band's magnetic park studio, where fontanelle work their unique mix of instrumental improvisation and computer-aided arrangment.

as a band, the quintet has forged a muscular, freaky groove; style drift has propulsion, edge and heft behind it.

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kranky (usa) #krank 056 cd

fontanelle “style drift” compact disc

  • interstices (4:29)
  • just, go, crazy (4:23)
  • scissure (5:56)
  • james going (5:12)
  • style drift (11:56)
  • red light, green light (2:31)
  • monday morning (7:14)
kranky press release...
artist: fontanelle
title: style drift
catalog #: krank056
formats available: cd / lp
release date: november 4, 2002

style drift is the second full-length lp from the portland, or band fontanelle. like its predecessors, style drift was recorded at the band's magnetic park studio, where fontanelle work their unique mix of instrumental improvisation and computer-aided arrangment.

as a band, the quintet has forged a muscular, freaky groove; style drift has propulsion, edge and heft behind it.

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 $10.08

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 054 lp

jessica bailiff “jessica bailiff” long playing record

  • swallowed (4:02)
  • hour of the traces (6:00)
  • the hiding place (4:08)
  • big hill (2:34)
  • you were so close (3:17)

  • disappear (5:28)
  • mary (5:27)
  • time is an echo (6:45)
  • the thief (3:27)
kranky press release...
artist: jessica bailiff
title: jessica bailiff
catalog #: krank054
formats available: cd / lp
release date: october 21, 2002

call it jessica bailiff, untitled or anything you want; the third album from jessica bailiff exceeds the promise of her first two albums. simultaneously clearer and murkier, it features a more acoustic focus and experimental sound placement.

recorded at home with help from jesse edwards (red morning chorus) and former bandmate noel keesee, the album was realized between sept. 2001 to feb. 2002. two songs feature the violin-uke (most notably the stark "hour of the traces"), there is a tin whistle on a few tracks, piano, a few computer fx, drums, smeary guitars and even sitar.

jessica bailiff describes her new album as being about "...stagefright, dreams, loss of creative energy/desire, love & time, living in the same place all your life, ghosts, near-death experiences, etc..."

after recording two albums with the members of low, jessica bailiff has created a direct, stripped-back album that showcases her strengths in both songwriting and arragements.

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kranky (usa) #krank 054 cd

jessica bailiff “jessica bailiff” compact disc

  • swallowed (4:02)
  • hour of the traces (6:00)
  • the hiding place (4:08)
  • big hill (2:34)
  • you were so close (3:17)
  • disappear (5:28)
  • mary (5:27)
  • time is an echo (6:45)
  • the thief (3:27)
kranky press release...
artist: jessica bailiff
title: jessica bailiff
catalog #: krank054
formats available: cd / lp
release date: october 21, 2002

call it jessica bailiff, untitled or anything you want; the third album from jessica bailiff exceeds the promise of her first two albums. simultaneously clearer and murkier, it features a more acoustic focus and experimental sound placement.

recorded at home with help from jesse edwards (red morning chorus) and former bandmate noel keesee, the album was realized between sept. 2001 to feb. 2002. two songs feature the violin-uke (most notably the stark "hour of the traces"), there is a tin whistle on a few tracks, piano, a few computer fx, drums, smeary guitars and even sitar.

jessica bailiff describes her new album as being about "...stagefright, dreams, loss of creative energy/desire, love & time, living in the same place all your life, ghosts, near-death experiences, etc..."

after recording two albums with the members of low, jessica bailiff has created a direct, stripped-back album that showcases her strengths in both songwriting and arragements.

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first in stock on
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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 053 cd

christmas decorations “model 91” compact disc

  • cricket broom (2:47)
  • brittle stem (2:40)
  • data 70 (4:16)
  • opto-isolator (3:58)
  • model 91 (3:22)
  • small window (3:17)
  • orange suit (1:16)
  • a random hill (3:28)
  • lowlands (2:51)
  • tables and chair (2:09)
  • build a house (3:29)
  • hen's teeth (1:13)
  • sequence 3 (3:41)
kranky press release...
artist: christmas decorations
title: model 91
catalog #: krank053
formats available: cd / lp
release date: october 21, 2002

the exploded view, deadpan pop of model 91 marks the recorded debut of the brooklyn, ny duo christmas decorations. using vocals, guitar, bass guitar, primitive digital sequencers, and melodica, christmas decorations recorded model 91 in spring 2002.

the band call their music "ambient punk" and point to modern electronic composers like gert-jans prins, carsten nicolai (alva noto) and wolfgang voight (gas, m:15) and abrasive minimalists like the shadow ring as inspirations as well as older referents like ike yard and desmond simmons.

christmas decorations take a succinct, direct approach to song structure and instrumentation while experimenting with mood and melody.

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 052 cd

low “trust” compact disc

  • (that's how you sing) amazing grace (7:13)
  • canada (3:44)
  • candy girl (4:37)
  • time is the diamond (5:30)
  • tonight (4:05)
  • the lamb (7:12)
  • in the drugs (4:25)
  • last snowstorm of the year (2:16)
  • john prine (7:54)
  • little argument with myself (3:04)
  • la la la song (3:25)
  • point of disgust (3:25)
  • shots & ladders (7:51)
kranky press release...
artist: low
title: trust
catalog #: krank052
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: october 21, 2002

low recorded their sixth studio album in the spring of 2002. trust features cameo appearances by gerry beckley from soft-rock giants america and was mixed by tschad blake (latin playboys, lisa germano, pearl jam, etc.).

the new album features a number of recent live favorites like "in the drugs," "john prine," "a little argument with myself," and "canada." tschad blake's presence is immediately apparent with the bells, whistling and echoing drums on "(that's how you sing) amazing grace," and those extra touches continue across the album.

trust is the most assertive and expansive low album yet and matches big sounds with meaningful sonic details. this record grazes you with a brick then knocks you over with a feather.

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kranky (usa) #krank 051 lp

pan•american “the river made no sound” double long playing record set

  • plains (3:36)
  • for a running dog (8:22)
  • settled (4:38)
  • place names (6:44)
  • redline (9:12)
  • raised walk (3:06)
  • st. cloud (7:09)
  • 2-sided (2:19)
  • right of return (9:29)
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: the river made no sound
catalog #: krank051
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: april 29, 2003

mark nelson's third pan•american album is patiently assertive, carefully balanced between structure and impulse. each electronic dot, pulse or tone deliberately emerges from silence. sonic light and shadow come from this careful placement, with subtle references to dub, house and minimalism.

at a time when so much music fixates on process at the expense of the final product, the music on the river made no sound creates its own space and earns its keep.

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kranky (usa) #krank 051 cd

pan•american “the river made no sound” compact disc

  • plains (3:36)
  • for a running dog (8:22)
  • settled (4:38)
  • place names (6:44)
  • redline (9:12)
  • raised walk (3:06)
  • st. cloud (7:09)
  • 2-sided (2:19)
  • right of return (9:29)
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: the river made no sound
catalog #: krank051
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: april 29, 2003

mark nelson's third pan•american album is patiently assertive, carefully balanced between structure and impulse. each electronic dot, pulse or tone deliberately emerges from silence. sonic light and shadow come from this careful placement, with subtle references to dub, house and minimalism.

at a time when so much music fixates on process at the expense of the final product, the music on the river made no sound creates its own space and earns its keep.

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 $15.12

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 050 cd

stars of the lid “the tired sounds of ...” double compact disc set

  • requiem for dying mothers, part 1 (6:37)
  • requiem for dying mothers, part 2 (7:37)
  • down 3 (5:46)
  • austin texas mental hospital, part 1 (2:48)
  • austin texas mental hospital, part 2 (12:18)
  • austin texas mental hospital, part 3 (5:47)
  • broken harbors, part 1 (3:31)
  • broken harbors, part 2 (6:47)
  • broken harbors, part 3 (9:16)

  • mullholland (6:49)
  • the lonely people (are getting lonelier) (10:05)
  • gasfarming (3:18)
  • piano aquieu (10:56)
  • fac 21 (3:08)
  • ballad of distances, part 1 (3:36)
  • ballad of distances, part 2 (3:00)
  • a lovesong (for cubs)+, part 1 (6:45)
  • a lovesong (for cubs)+, part 2 (8:05)
  • a lovesong (for cubs)+, part 3 (7:45)
cd version ... but why even bother when there’s a triple lp version as well (unless you don’t have/access to a turntable, in which case i’ll simply look the other way... for now...)
kranky press release...
artist: stars of the lid
title: the tired sounds of
catalog #: krank050
formats available: 2xcd / 3xlp
release date: october 29, 2001

long overdue new release from nocturnal lullabye giants stars of the lid finds brian mcbride and adam wiltzie expanding their sound palette to include strings, horns and piano in addition to guitars and field recordings.

"the tired sounds of..." shows a continued trend toward more overt melodic structures seen on their previous avec laudenum album. six suites stretch across two cds and six sides of vinyl combining atmosphere, texture and melody. neo-psychedelia, contemporary classical, ambient, minimalist, maximalist, drug enhancer, drug substitute.

stars of the lid are all these things.
stars of the lid are none of these things.
stars of the lid are not about outer space, they are about inner space.

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digital-musics

kranky (usa) #krank 049 cd

loscil “triple point” compact disc

  • hydrogen (3:37)
  • ampere (7:27)
  • pressure (4:36)
  • zero (4:14)
  • discrete entropy (5:24)
  • fuel exergy (6:04)
  • enthalpy (5:01)
  • conductivity (7:40)
  • vapour (5:13)
  • absolute (9:57)
debut album by loscil; slightly more click-thump oriented than the excellent string of albums that follow ...
kranky press release...
artist: loscil
title: triple point
catalog #: krank049
formats available: cd
release date: october 29, 2001

triple point is based on the concepts of thermodynamics, the physical science which investigates the conversion of heat into mechanical force or energy and vice versa.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 048 cd

fontanelle “f” compact disc single

  • fulcrum (4:06)
  • corrective lenses (4:07)
  • charm and strange (6:42)
  • slow january (6:03)
  • return envelope (4:12)
  • floor tile (6:30)
  • walking with mercer (5:24)
kranky press release...
artist: fontanelle
title: f
catalog #: krank048
formats available: cd ep
release date: may 28, 2001

the music on f is taken from various sessions over fontanelle's three years, reflecting a variety of moods.

by turns wirey and rubbery, the three keyboardist, two drummer, two guitarist line up creates complex, syncopated tunes that reveal the band members experience in improvised music [charlie smyth hosted a monthly improv night at portland's bijou cafe] electronic drone [andy brown has released two cds under the southerning monicker], idm style electronics [brian foote and mat morgan play and record as nudge] and noise electronics [paul dickow records collage music as strategy and is a member of portland area improvising band emergency].

the six members of the group recorded at magnetic park, the studio run by rex ritter and andy brown in portland, or.

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march 18th, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
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minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 047 cd

labradford “fixed::context” compact disc

  • twenty
  • up to pizmo
  • david
  • wien
cd version ...
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: fixed::context
catalog #: krank047
formats available: cd / lp
release date: february 26, 2001

recorded at electrical audio in chicago and engineered by steve albini, labradford's sixth full-length release finds the trio stripping off the string trios of the last two albums and working with interlocking sound sources and modifiers; carter brown's vintage synthesizers, organs and electric piano; the distinctive duane eddy plays satie guitar of mark nelson and bobby donne's four and six string basses.

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 044 lp

aix em klemm “aix em klemm” long playing record

  • the girl with the flesh colored crayon (6:32)
  • 3x2 (exit) (6:06)
  • sophteonal (8:05)

  • prue lewarne (7:19)
  • the luxury of dirt (6:26)
  • sparkwood and twentyone (7:01)
kranky press release...
artist: aix em klemm
title: aix em klemm
catalog #: krank044
formats available: cd / lp
release date: october 26, 2000

collaboration between bobby donne of labradford and adam wiltzie of stars of the lid began as an exchange of music by mail and continued in two recording sessions at wiltzie's austin, tx studio, completed in may 2000.

these are songs. stretched out at times, sometimes with fragmented pieces of song structure carefully placed inside. present are slowly developing melodies that still manage to hook your ears. the guitar-based clouds of stars of the lid are here, as well as the clanks of bobby donne's bass, augmented by a deft mixture of samples and keyboards. and adam wiltzie sings.

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 044 cd

aix em klemm “aix em klemm” compact disc

  • the girl with the flesh colored crayon (6:32)
  • 3x2 (exit) (6:06)
  • sophteonal (8:05)
  • prue lewarne (7:19)
  • the luxury of dirt (6:26)
  • sparkwood and twentyone (7:01)
kranky press release...
artist: aix em klemm
title: aix em klemm
catalog #: krank044
formats available: cd / lp
release date: october 26, 2000

collaboration between bobby donne of labradford and adam wiltzie of stars of the lid began as an exchange of music by mail and continued in two recording sessions at wiltzie's austin, tx studio, completed in may 2000.

these are songs. stretched out at times, sometimes with fragmented pieces of song structure carefully placed inside. present are slowly developing melodies that still manage to hook your ears. the guitar-based clouds of stars of the lid are here, as well as the clanks of bobby donne's bass, augmented by a deft mixture of samples and keyboards. and adam wiltzie sings.

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 $15.12

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march 2nd, 2011

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threads:
modern-psych
plunder-phonic

kranky (usa) #krank 043 cd

godspeed you! black emperor “lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven!” double compact disc set

  • storm (22:32)
lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven...
gathering storm
[l.a.x.; 5/14/00]
cancer towers on holy road hi-way
  • static (22:35)
terrible canyons of static
atomic clock.
chart #3
world police and friendly fire
[...+the buildings they are sleeping now]
  • sleep (23:17)
murray ostril: "...they don't sleep anymore on the beach..."
monheim
broken windows, locks of love pt. iii. / 3rd part
  • antennas to heaven (18:57)
moya sings "baby-o"...
edgyswingsetacid
[glockenspiel duet recorded on a campsite in rhinebeck, n.y.]
"attention...mon ami...fa-lala-lala-la-la..." [55-st.laurent]
she dreamt she was a bulldozer, she dreamt she was alone in an empty field
deathkamp drone
[antennas to heaven...]
during the late 90s i avoided godspeed, not unlike a healthy person avoids the plague... chalk this behavoir up to a built in mechanism that sort of makes my brain shut down for a few years re: any one movement, artist, record, etc... after one too many made me aware of how “fresh & new™” it was (recently, see: mia, grime, bloc party, dfa, etc...) - not that i think there shouldn’t be a grand idea from the underground that we can all bond over, it’s just that i hate to think that publicity agents and pr firms are doing their jobs so well that we all don’t even realize when we’ve all been “sold” on something, more or less against our will. and as such, i ignore any band that fits this bill, at least while the magazine articles are still coming with frightening regularity, regardless of their cultural relevance in relation to record releases...

which isn’t to say that this was the case with gy!be here re: the press (in fact quite the opposite, i don’t think they’ve ever done an interview), just that i know more than 20 people who don’t own a single rock record on an independent label other than this one (or f# a#), a fact that i’ve long found suspect... no yo la tengo, no pavement, nothing. so i waited until earlier this year (2005), a ways after their critical and commercial successes somewhat died down a bit (at least regarding lip service), to inspect their oeuvre, and that of their label constellation.

well... i was wrong. very wrong. this is really a damn great rock record, atmospheric, and even while it’s tacitly political, i can’t glean from the content just how so (good to know that it’s there though.) and as much i’ve found the use of long, found spoken texts in the past to be contrived and often offputting, it really does create a “cinema pour l’oreille” aura around the whole thing. it makes perfect sense that so many people would latch on to this unique & frankly pretty damn powerful music.

so, take it from someone who consciouslly missed the launched-boat all those years back... this is something you really should hear, especially if similar mechanism(s) have kept you at bay...
kranky press release...
artist: godspeed you black emperor!
title: lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven
catalog #: krank043
formats available: dcd
release date: november 8, 2000

it's not unreasonable to say that the montreal group godspeed you black emperor! have been one of the most highly feted groups around. long awaited would be an understatement in regard to this album. appropriately titled, lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven was recorded at chemical sounds in toronto, with 4 track snippets and field recordings added in montreal.

after months of touring the band is at the peak of its powers. they've spread an audio net out across the continent, recording the static on the radio, the random airwave proselytizing and the corporate spokesvoice of the service station that are the companions of the long distance driver. whether it's rickety piano melody, the gentle foreplay of strings, the roil of guitars and drums, or a reminscence about sleeping on the beach at coney island, godspeed you black emperor! work on the smallest and grandest of scales [often simultaneously].

the devotion the band has inspired is not only well deserved, but continues to spread. lift... ups the ante with more power [especially rhythmically] honed to perfect by the band's near constant touring. nearly two years after the recording of the slow riot for new zero kanada the band's studio skills have sharpened, bringing the guitars to a howl and the drums to a rumble. the two cds work well as discrete units or as one extended work.

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 042 lp

fontanelle “fontanelle” long playing record

  • picture start (10:04)
  • niagara (6:06)
  • reflex vs. parallax (6:37)

  • the telephone fade (7:05)
  • 29th & going (7:00)
  • counterweight (6:27)
kranky press release...
artist: fontanelle
title: fontanelle
catalog #: krank042
formats available: cd / lp
release date: may 29, 2000

fontanelle was recorded at their magnetic park studio. two guitars, keyboards and drums interweave in complex, bubbling and sometimes downright funky patterns that evoke steve reich, electric miles davis and can. melody and rhythm bob, weave and play off each other subtly.

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modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 042 cd

fontanelle “fontanelle” compact disc

  • picture start (10:04)
  • niagara (6:06)
  • reflex vs. parallax (6:37)
  • the telephone fade (7:05)
  • 29th & going (7:00)
  • counterweight (6:27)
kranky press release...
artist: fontanelle
title: fontanelle
catalog #: krank042
formats available: cd / lp
release date: may 29, 2000

fontanelle was recorded at their magnetic park studio. two guitars, keyboards and drums interweave in complex, bubbling and sometimes downright funky patterns that evoke steve reich, electric miles davis and can. melody and rhythm bob, weave and play off each other subtly.

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 $15.12

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
may 19th, 2005

threads:
minimalism-drones
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 041 lp

pan•american “360 business / 360 bypass” long playing record

  • steel stars (10:40)
  • code (6:38)
  • double rail (11:28)

  • coastal (5:22)
  • k. luminate (9:27)
  • both ends fixed (11:24)
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: 360 business / 360 bypass
catalog #: krank041
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: january 31, 2000

360 business / 360 bypass is mark nelson's second pan•american album. it expands the rhythmic intricacies of the debut and adds melodic input from guests alan sparhawk and mimi parker (of low), cornetist rob mazurek (chicago underground / isotope 217) and the mixing expertise of casey rice (designer/super e.s.p./tortoise engineer).

the subtle coalescense of melody, rhythm and ambience flows at its own unhurried pace, hinting at dub, minimalist techno and jazz.

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 $12.61

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march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
may 19th, 2005

threads:
minimalism-drones
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 041 cd

pan•american “360 business / 360 bypass” compact disc

  • steel stars (10:40)
  • code (6:38)
  • double rail (11:28)
  • coastal (5:22)
  • k. luminate (9:27)
  • both ends fixed (11:24)
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: 360 business / 360 bypass
catalog #: krank041
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: january 31, 2000

360 business / 360 bypass is mark nelson's second pan•american album. it expands the rhythmic intricacies of the debut and adds melodic input from guests alan sparhawk and mimi parker (of low), cornetist rob mazurek (chicago underground / isotope 217) and the mixing expertise of casey rice (designer/super e.s.p./tortoise engineer).

the subtle coalescense of melody, rhythm and ambience flows at its own unhurried pace, hinting at dub, minimalist techno and jazz.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 4th, 2006

threads:
modern-psych
guitar-themed
digital-musics

kranky (usa) #krank 040 cd

doldrums “desk trickery” compact disc

  • office scene (0:46)
  • sparkling deadheadz (5:36)
  • fritland (3:41)
  • grill out time (8:05)
  • free festival of the stonebridge (13:17)
  • who shot j.r.? (9:52)
  • godspeed you young actress! (5:36)
this 1999 record was actually one of the first things i remember hearing that had a lot of computer-manipulated guitar on it... still sounds great...
kranky press release...
artist: doldrums
title: desk trickery
catalog #: krank040
formats available: cd
release date: december 13, 1999

the title refers to the computer technology applied to the mixing process. there's a great deal of computer-mutated guitar damage going on. you may think it's sampling, looping, sequencing, break beats or the like but it is electric guitar sounds transformed via silicon chips. there are also some wah-wah jams.

lots of folks talk about mixing improvisation and the transformative capacity of digital technology - doldrums actually do it. they've dragged the swollen corpse of prog rock straight into the future, and brought along some mountain boogie, too.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 4th, 2006

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 039 cd

philosopher’s stone “apparatus” compact disc

  • descent (4:22)
  • komposition (5:20)
  • snake (6:02)
  • filament (10:22)
  • lost (7:14)
  • calendar (3:33)
  • valeta (6:17)
  • an apparition (7:23)
  • confluence (9:40)
kranky press release...
artist: philosopher's stone
title: apparatus
catalog #: krank039
formats available: cd
release date: october 5, 1999

in the two years since the release of preparation, gareth mitchell left amp to concentrate on his own work as philosopher's stone. the ideas that became apparatus were exploited, developed and implemented over that time.

apparatus is designed with many carefully placed details. those details form part of equally considered structures. it is hoped that the listener may be drawn into the music whether investigating its minutiae or experiencing a more overal, visceral impression.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 038 cd

jessica bailiff “hour of the trace” compact disc

  • crush (6:27)
  • toska (4:29)
  • after hours (3:49)
  • amnesia (5:05)
  • warren (5:17)
  • how our perception of distance is changed with each passing hour (20:21)
  • across the miles (4:20)
kranky press release...
artist: jessica bailiff
title: hour of the trace
catalog #: krank038
formats available: cd
release date: october 22, 1999

with her second album, jessica bailiff has expanded and defined the ravishing sound that typified even in silence. like her debut, hour of the trace was recorded at 20 below in duluth, mn with alan sparhawk recording and producing.

all instruments were played by jessica bailiff and alan sparhawk with guest appearances by mimi parker drumming on "toska" and sharing backing vocals with alan on "crush."

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 $10.08

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
may 19th, 2005

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 037 lp

labradford “e luxo so” long playing record

  • recorded and mixed at sound of music richmond va. (7:50)
  • with john morand and assisted by brian hoffa (5:43)
  • dulcimers played by peter neff strings played (5:09)

  • by chris johnston craig markva jamie evans (5:04)
  • and jonathan morken. photo provided by (7:19)
  • let o'steen. design assistance by john piper (8:00)
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: e luxo so
catalog #: krank037
formats available: cd / lp
release date: july 13, 1999

the fifth album from the flagship of the kranky fleet and (dare we say it) one of the most important bands in the world. "e luxo so" (grab your portuguese-english dictionary) was recorded at sound of music studios in richmond, va like labradford and me media naranja and features contributions from a string quartet (chris johnston, craig markva, jamie evans and jonathan morken) and peter neff on dulcimer.

subtle blips of percussion and samples interweave through blurry guitars, bubbly electric piano and plangent organ and some gorgeous piano. six songs. labradford stand alone.

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march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 037 cd

labradford “e luxo so” compact disc

  • recorded and mixed at sound of music richmond va. (7:50)
  • with john morand and assisted by brian hoffa (5:43)
  • dulcimers played by peter neff strings played (5:09)
  • by chris johnston craig markva jamie evans (5:04)
  • and jonathan morken. photo provided by (7:19)
  • let o'steen. design assistance by john piper (8:00)
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: e luxo so
catalog #: krank037
formats available: cd / lp
release date: july 13, 1999

the fifth album from the flagship of the kranky fleet and (dare we say it) one of the most important bands in the world. "e luxo so" (grab your portuguese-english dictionary) was recorded at sound of music studios in richmond, va like labradford and me media naranja and features contributions from a string quartet (chris johnston, craig markva, jamie evans and jonathan morken) and peter neff on dulcimer.

subtle blips of percussion and samples interweave through blurry guitars, bubbly electric piano and plangent organ and some gorgeous piano. six songs. labradford stand alone.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

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

kranky (usa) #krank 036 cd

james plotkin / brent gutzeit “mosquito dream” compact disc

  • mosquito dream (6:41)
  • sand scroll (9:27)
  • wires (6:23)
  • cloud cover (7:24)
  • halo (13:12)
  • mosquito veil (8:12)
early james plotkin (pre-khanate, post-old) duo session with chicago wunderkind brent gutzeit ...
kranky press release...
artist: james plotkin / brent gutzeit
title: mosquito dream
catalog #: krank036
formats available: cd
release date: may 10, 1999

james plotkin and brent gutzeit met in japan in 1994. plotkin was touring with scorn, gutzeit was living in tokyo. they began a collaborative project.

plotkin recorded a guitar track, gutzeit destroyed it and rebuilt it.
gutzeit used handmade instruments, boom box, stereo and four-track tape deck to create 5 different tracks.
plotkin remixed those tracks and sent gutzeit 40 minutes of music.
gutzeit did another round of mixes, burned them to cdr and sent them to plotkin.
by that time gutzeit had moved to chicago.
plotkin mixed more tracks.

the final round of mixes ended up in kranky's hands in the fall of 1998. each "remix" that became mosquito dream took a year to complete. mosquito dream is expansive yet attentive to details, reverberant but granular.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 035 cd

low “secret name” compact disc

  • i remember (4:11)
  • starfire (3:07)
  • two-step (5:49)
  • weight of water (4:22)
  • missouri (4:04)
  • don't understand (6:56)
  • soon (5:13)
  • immune (3:32)
  • lion/lamb (4:13)
  • days of... (5:58)
  • will the night (2:23)
  • home (2:26)
kranky press release...
artist: low
title: secret name
catalog #: krank035
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: march 30, 1999

secret name was recorded at electrical audio studios in chicago in november, 1998 with steve albini. it marks a continuation of both strands low worked with on the songs for a dead pilot ep; moving from brittle drones to chamber pieces augmented by a string quartet. low remain tied to the simple grace of the voices of alan sparhawk and mimi parker while expanding and varying instrumentation and song structure. perhaps it is best to describe low's approach a essentialism - allowing each musicial gesture to make maximum impact on the listener.

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 $9.24

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 4th, 2006

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 034 cd

godspeed you! black emperor “slow riot for zero kanada” compact disc single

  • moya (10:51)
  • bbf3 (17:45)
kranky press release...
artist: godspeed you black emperor!
title: slow riot for new zero kanada
catalog #: krank034
formats available: cd ep
release date: march 29, 1999

presenting two new pieces from the montreal collective known as godspeed you black emperor! consider this a travelogue of sorts; across the expanses of north america or inneer landscapes not so easily charted.

the sonic crests and swells that this nine piece band achieve, along with their overwhelming live show, is apt reminder of the physicality they work with. guitars, drummers and a string section coordinate together with a nimbleness that defy expectaions one might have of such a large ensemble.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
guitar-themed
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 033 cd

roy montgomery / chris heaphy “true” compact disc

  • virtually so #1 (5:32)
  • virtually so #2 (9:16)
  • unfathomable #1 (5:54)
  • picnic time (3:58)
  • clouding over (7:07)
  • certainly (2:47)
  • spurious (5:32)
  • unfathomable #2 (10:37)
kranky press release...
artist: roy montgomery / chris heaphy
title: true
catalog #: krank033
formats available: cd
release date: april 6, 1999

with true, montgomery has turned to composing music for the theater to accompany acting, dialogue and stagecraft. true matches the introspective, unfolding melodies that graced roy montgomery's previous albums with stark, edgy guitars and some stripped down melodies.

montgomery and heaphy bob and weave their guitars across the soundfield or unravel wiry melodies. true is an involving, sometimes uneasy listen.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 032 cd

james plotkin / mark spybey “a peripheral blur” compact disc

  • jute wheel (15:27)
  • aluminum as a medium (11:26)
  • a peripheral blur (7:20)
  • vord lae (13:33)
  • northern sleight (4:48)
kranky press release...
artist: james plotkin / mark spybey
title: a peripheral blur
catalog #: krank032
formats available: cd
release date: november 25, 1998

this is the first collaboration between these two well known sound mainipulators. a peripheral blur is well named: something always seems to appear briefly at the borders of auditory perception.

mark spybey contributed toy sounds and vocals as source material while james plotkin used guitars. sounds shift focus and density in a way that escapes exact definition and encourages listening investment.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 030 cd

jessamine “don’t stay too long” compact disc

  • elsewards (4:38)
  • it was already thursday (4:56)
  • pilot free-ignition (4:14)
  • continuous (7:00)
  • corrupted endeavor (5:45)
  • burgundy (4:49)
  • hand held (6:20)
kranky press release...
artist: jessamine
title: don't stay too long
catalog #: krank030
formats available: cd / lp
release date: september 1, 1998

from the initial warmth of the wurlitzer electric piano, don't stay too long announces that jessamine have distilled their experimental sounds into song craft, creating a low-flying, groove-oriented record, with a soulful emphasis on the vocals. clocking in at a concise 40 minute, the band have linked the instrumental forays of the long arm of coincidence to the melodic invention of their singles.

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 $8.41

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 029 lp

tomorrowland “sequence of the negative space changes” long playing record

  • butterflies (4:28)
  • sunspot (6:12)
  • venus (3:17)
  • synapse (4:29)
  • dustbot (4:30)

  • saturn (4:52)
  • oxygen (3:53)
  • sequence (3:11)
  • sunbeam (5:20)
  • mantric (4:57)
kranky press release...
artist: tomorrowland
title: sequence of the negative space changes
catalog #: krank029
formats available: cd / lp
release date: september 22, 1998

sequence was recorded on an 8 track deck, which allowed the band to overdub and open up a wide sound spectrum. the result is a subtle album that flows, bubbles and chips as filtered loops and drones create an electro/organic atmosphere.

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march 2nd, 2011

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november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 029 cd

tomorrowland “sequence of the negative space changes” compact disc

  • butterflies (4:28)
  • sunspot (6:12)
  • venus (3:17)
  • synapse (4:29)
  • dustbot (4:30)
  • saturn (4:52)
  • oxygen (3:53)
  • sequence (3:11)
  • sunbeam (5:20)
  • mantric (4:57)
kranky press release...
artist: tomorrowland
title: sequence of the negative space changes
catalog #: krank029
formats available: cd / lp
release date: september 22, 1998

sequence was recorded on an 8 track deck, which allowed the band to overdub and open up a wide sound spectrum. the result is a subtle album that flows, bubbles and chips as filtered loops and drones create an electro/organic atmosphere.

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 $12.61

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 028 cd

stars of the lid / john mccafferty “per aspera ad astra” compact disc

  • low level (listening) part 1 (6:22)
  • low level (listening) part 2 (8:42)
  • low level (listening) part 3 (5:29)
  • anchor states part 1 (4:27)
  • anchor states part 2 (8:51)
  • anchor states part 3 (6:46)
kranky press release...
artist: stars of the lid / john mccafferty
title: per aspera ad astra
catalog #: krank028
formats available: cd / lp
release date: november 18, 1998

in a unique collaboration, kranky is proud to present per aspera ad astra, the pairing of the tonal feedback duo stars of the lid and new york city minimalist line painter jon mccafferty.

mccafferty (best known for the cover art for r.e.m.'s green album) approached stars of the lid in the summer of 1995 while the band was on tour with fellow texans bedhead. mccafferty has done a series of paintings influenced by stars of the lid's music for nitrous oxide album. in an attempt to blur the distinctions between mediums, member adam wiltzie has incorporated the sounds of mccafferty painting in his studio to the music.

in arranging this recording, the acts of the visual artist have become sound worthy - they determine a context and become music.

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march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 13th, 2007

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 027 cd

godspeed you! black emperor “f# a# (infinity)” compact disc

  • the dead flag blues (16:27)
the dead flag blues (intro)
slow moving trains
the cowboy...
(;outro)
  • east hastings (17:58)
"...nothing's alrite in our life" / dead flag blues (reprise)
the sad mafioso
drugs in tokyo / black helicopter
  • providence (21:15)
divorce & fever...
dead metheny
kicking horse on broken hill
string loop manufactured during downpour...
kranky press release...
artist: godspeed you black emperor!
title: f# a# ?
catalog #: krank027
formats available: cd
release date: june 8, 1998

originally released on vinyl in a pressing of 500 on the constellation label, f# a# ? has been remixed and resequenced. take the epic scope of ennio morricone, the artsy slash of 17 pygmies, the desert tones of prime savage republic, bolster the mix with the rhythmic chugalug of the ex and add the canadian tradition of radio drama and you begin to get a hint of what this band are up to.

with twin percussionists, three guitar players, violin, cello, glockenspeil and tape loops, godspeed you black emperor! can make a big rumbling sound or stretch out into delicate filigrees. the nontet has developed a reputation in their hometown for gripping multimedia shows at their recording and performance space hotel 2 tango. at the lounge ax twin film projectors emitted grainy backdrops while the band built up their cinemascope sound world. the original home recordings were made at hotel 2 tango and have been tweaked at toronto's chemical sound studios (with the help of daryl smith of slow loris).

two new pieces, "dead metheny" and "sad mafioso," have been recorded for the compact disc.

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march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 13th, 2007

threads:
minimalism-drones
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 025 cd

pan•american “pan•american” compact disc

  • starts friday (6:43)
  • remapping (7:01)
  • lent (4:54)
  • first position (3:36)
  • tract (5:42)
  • the dark nest (3:37)
  • noun (7:50)
  • lake supplies (4:57)
  • part one (5:52)
kranky press release...
artist: pan•american
title: pan•american
catalog #: krank025
formats available: cd / lp
release date: march 23, 1998

mark nelson has been recording and trading tapes under the name pan•american for some time now. during the summer of 1997, he started recording a full length album for kranky at home and at sound of music studios in richmond, virginia.

mark's contributions to labradford as the trio's guitarist and singer, might prepare the listener somewhat for the debut pan•american album. those lucky enough to be in contact with the independent taping community (which is the last, true underground left) and in possession of earlier pan•american cassettes may be somewhat forewarned. but who could have expected what has emerged from months of sampling, recording, and mixing?

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
april 13th, 2007

threads:
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 024 cd

windy & carl “depths” compact disc

  • sirens (7:06)
  • undercurrent (4:41)
  • set adrift (6:35)
  • depths (19:02)
  • the silent ocean (3:35)
  • aquatica (15:45)
  • surfacing (13:17)
kranky press release...
artist: windy & carl
title: depths
catalog #: krank024
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: march 23, 1998

put aside whatever preconceptions you might have about windy & carl. their new album for kranky is well named; a journey into deeper and more unsettling waters than you may have come to expect from the dearborn, mi duo.

across two albums and a slew of singles, windy weber and carl hultgren have created some lovely, blurred melodies and extended drones. on depths, they put layer upon layer of guitar and constructing a wider and darker album than their previous releases might lead you to expect.

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back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
august 23rd, 2004

threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 023 cd

labradford “mi media naranja” compact disc

  • s (6:19)
  • g (4:00)
  • wr (5:50)
  • c (6:25)
  • i (4:59)
  • v (6:25)
  • p (9:19)
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: mi media naranja
catalog #: krank023
formats available: cd / lp
release date: november 19, 1997

with their fourth album, labradford have once again broadened and varied their sound, while maintaining their distinctive identity. mi media naranja adds a string section, fender rhodes electric piano and slide guitar to the trio's sound bank. it is the most cinematic of labradford's recordings to date.

the music alternately stretches, ripples or lofts its way past the listener as if it was coming off a screen and not through speakers. the sounds here are reminiscent of john barry, bill evans and most of all, labradford.

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 $15.12

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march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 022 cd

magnog “more weather” double compact disc set

  • more weather (8:13)
  • tear catching current (4:07)
  • vacant chair (0:50)
  • chopstick (12:52)
  • our texture (3:57)
  • arc of infinity (1:02)
  • somewhere between asleep and awake (10:13)
  • waiting leaves (1:30)
  • mystery goodness (31:03)

  • between stones (1:02)
  • ocean floor sleep (14:43)
  • ghost squid (3:53)
  • asleep at light speed (6:28)
  • goom chi pan (2:05)
  • 26 times (14:21)
  • goom chi pan (reprise) (2:29)
  • pattern sifter (2:17)
  • signatures (22:49)
kranky press release...
artist: magnog
title: more weather
catalog #: krank022
formats available: dcd
release date: november 25, 1997

double cd collection of early demos from this edmonds, wa trio whose debut self-titled album was released on kranky in 1996. this consists of of 4-track recordings from 1994-96, guitar, delay, bass, moog, drums, vocals, bag, etc.

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 $10.92

back in stock as of
march 2nd, 2011

first in stock on
november 1st, 2007

threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 021 cd

low “songs for a dead pilot ep” compact disc

  • will the night (3:06)
  • condescend (5:10)
  • born by the wires (13:27)
  • be there (4:43)
  • landlord (6:47)
  • hey chicago (2:40)
kranky press release...
artist: low
title: songs for a dead pilot
catalog #: krank021
formats available: cd ep
release date: november 20, 1997

new 36 minute six song ep from this trio from duluth, mn. three previous albums have been released on vernon yard, as well as a split single with the dirty three. "the careful unveiling of melody has always been low's forte, with the new album the group adds the transformative factor that the blurring and merging of an eight track tape deck brings to the recording process. low have retained the patient song craft, the riveting vocal interplay...and the relaxed pace that allows songs to stretch themselves out. keyboard drone, throbbing drum patterns and waves of bass feedback are new flavors added to the mix, giving songs for a dead pilot a subtle, experimental feel."

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threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-psych
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 020 cd

stars of the lid “gravitational pull vs. the desire for an aquatic life” compact disc

  • the better angels of our nation (3:56)
  • cantus ii; in memory of warren wiltzie (19:03)
  • jan. 69 (9:23)
  • lactate's moment (12:19)
  • be little with me (6:27)
kranky press release...
artist: stars of the lid
title: gravitational pull vs. the desire for an aquatic life
catalog #: krank020
formats available: cd
release date: october 14, 1997

reissue of the very limited lp that was on sedimental label, with additional material added.

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threads:
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minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 019 cd

philosopher’s stone “preparation” compact disc

  • through palisade trees (2:52)
  • cathode cataract (4:08)
  • where regrets end (8:19)
  • places where the mind dies (5:50)
  • pali (2:31)
  • building a mirror of the stars (4:58)
  • treehouse (4:24)
  • the circular ruins (9:46)
  • the spirit leaves the body (2:49)
kranky press release...
artist: philosopher's stone
title: preparation
catalog #: krank019
formats available: cd / lp
release date: august 29, 1997

solo recordings by gareth mitchell, a contributing member of the uk group amp. "mitchell's home recordings sound like a combination of zoviet france, robbie basho and scott walker, with guitar-originated textures floating over percussion, loops and mitchell's wavering voice. the soundfields he constructs with guitars and loops expand and swirl around the listener's head. melodic vocals flutter above strings and guitars burst through pushing meters into the red. sound is tingled, smeared and looped. within the mass the listener can hear what sounds like the chiming of bells, gongs and faint voices."

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threads:
modern-psych
guitar-themed

kranky (usa) #krank 018 cd

dissolve “third album for the sun” compact disc

  • rogue satellite
  • (live edit)
  • into the black
  • (live edit)
  • presume too far
  • (live edit)
  • high on upper street
  • (live edit)
  • street philosophers
  • dream index
  • (live edit)
  • sunflower search engine
kranky press release...
artist: dissolve
title: third album for the sun
catalog #: krank018
formats available: cd
release date: august 29, 1997

recording sessions for the second dissolve album began in october, '96 in new zealand. guitarists roy montgomery and chris heaphy were joined by john chrisstoffels of the terminals, who contributed some cello and percussion, kaye woodward of the bats who added guitar and vocals and arnie van bussel on bass. the finished work is a measure darker and more abrasive than dissolve's first album, with added skins of texture and melody.

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kranky (usa) #krank 017 cd

amp “astralmoonbeamprojections” compact disc

  • onehopesinuncertainty (11:04)
  • lightdripglow (8:52)
  • transmigration (12:09)
  • interlude (4:13)
  • stellata (7:15)
  • shiftime (3:25)
  • polemic (7:49)
  • celestialreturn (19:53)
kranky press release...
artist: amp
title: astralmoonbeamprojections
catalog #: krank017
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: may 12, 1997

any association between the group amp, its origins in bristol, england and the varios bands based in that area ought to be put aside for a moment. with their second album, amp have moved beyond any scene identification or family tree into a realm of their own creation. their initial singles, debut album sirenes and collaborations with the third eye foundation found amp moving between delicate piano figures, jungle rhythmic clatter, outer limits drone and cosmic balladry. this new double album on kranky finds amp delving into speleological explorations, working within sound caverns that echo with bass and the distant thunder of drums.

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minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 016 cd

doldrums “acupuncture” compact disc

  • xarpet (1:38)
  • on the green (8:57)
  • mao's revelation in the great hall (9:28)
  • discussing the belgians (8:54)
  • late 70's blue box (9:29)
  • on the pine (34:50)
kranky press release...
artist: doldrums
title: acupuncture
catalog #: krank016
formats available: cd
release date: february 24, 1997

first full length following an ep on vhf by this trio. with acupuncture, listeners ought to draw more appreciation for the considerable rhythmic maneuverability doldrums bring to the table as well as the mathematical skills they can use when the mood fits them.

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threads:
modern-psych
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

kranky (usa) #krank 015 cd

stars of the lid “the ballasted orchestra” compact disc

  • central texas (3:43)
  • sun drugs (12:20)
  • down ii (1:22)
  • taphead (12:34)
  • fucked up (3:57 am) (8:32)
  • music for twin peaks episode #30 part i (8:01)
  • music for twin peaks episode #30 part ii (13:32)
  • the artificial pine arch song (18:00)
kranky press release...
artist: stars of the lid
title: the ballasted orchestra
catalog #: krank015
formats available: cd
release date: march 10, 1997

cd version of the new album by this texas outfit, following 2 released on sedimental. purely droning ambiance.

"...finds stars of the lid adding harmonica and didgeridoo to an arsenal of sound sources that already includes guitars, effects and field recordings."

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threads:
modern-psych
beat-research

kranky (usa) #krank 014 cd

bowery electric “beat” compact disc

  • beat
  • empty words
  • without stopping
  • under the sun
  • fear of flying
  • looped
  • black light
  • inside out
  • coming down
  • postscript
  • low density (unlisted)
kranky press release...
artist: bowery electric
title: beat
catalog #: krank014
formats available: cdrelease date: november 12, 1996

transcendent second full length album for the label, recorded 6/96.

with their now familiar sense of economy apparent in the arrangements, beat finds bowery electric adding layers of analog synth and sampled guitars to their 'drone n' bass' foundations, along with programmed loops and live beats; further befuddling those luddites still wondering whether the band is rock, post rock, ambient or dance.

beat is a stunning record. a truly seamless meeting of their dreamy glacial drift, the muscle of the first (loop-ish) 2x7", and the overpowering dub-erotic feel of mad professor / massive attack. organic, metallic, and icy/hot. a compendium of contradictions which is one of the sweetest listens you'll hear all year. they certainly deserve the 'drone & bass' tag -- but don't expect jenkinson breaks. the electronic elements are kept simpler (and buried).

- g man ii.

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minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 013 cd

labradford “labradford” compact disc

  • phantom channel crossing (4:43)
  • midrange (6:29)
  • pico (5:46)
  • the cipher (3:12)
  • lake speed (6:47)
  • scenic recovery (4:52)
  • battered (7:57)
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: labradford
catalog #: krank013
formats available: cd / lp
release date: november 12, 1996

self-titled 3rd album from this richmond, va trio (keyboards, bass, samples, guitar, vocals).

"from the beginning strains of chains dragging across a co2 canister on 'phantom channel crossing,' labradford have infused the album with sampled and real time percussion traces, at times faintly delving into actual syncopation."

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 012 cd

jessamine “long arm of coincidence” compact disc

  • say what you can (5:43)
  • ...or what you mean (4:31)
  • periwinkle (5:26)
  • step down (4:10)
  • you may have forgotten (10:17)
  • polish countryside (10:10)
  • schisandra (7:11)
  • it's cold in space (12:21)
  • the long arm of coincidence makes my radio connections (7:52)
  • all the same (6:39)
kranky press release...
artist: jessamine
title: long arm of coincidence
catalog #: krank012
formats available: cd / dlp
release date: september 2, 1996

from beginning to finish, the long arm.... is a remarkable work that documents the range this quartet can cover; from moog squiggles to blissful balladry to rhythmic tangle and stellar directed drones. the full integration of percussionist michael faeth into the band has resulted in a more confident and varied rhythmic base. the long arm... is a resolutely percussive album, inspired in part by the extended interplay of can in their tago mago period. more directly, it is the result of jessamine's commitment to live improvisation.

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 011 cd

spiny anteaters “current” compact disc

  • current (floppy punks/current 1/all our children/floppy punks 2/current 2/lowdown) (17:47)
  • pillow factory (4:14)
  • introduction (1:28)
  • scening (8:59)
  • smile too much (2:51)
  • tea cups (8:47)
kranky press release...
artist: spiny anteaters
title: current
catalog #: krank011
formats available: cd
release date: june 17, 1996

second album by this canadian guitar group, who've been compared to crystalized movements (almost obligatory 20 minute opening track found enclosed). "....tingles and crackles with energized particles of electricity. the ottawa quartet have given free reign to the guitars and the resulting bursts of feedback and twisted melodics ought to give listeners a new appreciation of the band's noisier side."

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threads:
modern-psych
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones

kranky (usa) #krank 009 cd

roy montgomery “temple iv” compact disc

  • she waits on temple iv (12:08)
  • departing the body (5:04)
  • the soul quietens (3:08)
  • the passage of forms (9:31)
  • jaguar meets snake (7:55)
  • above the canopy (14:45)
  • jaguar unseen (2:24)
kranky press release...
artist: roy montgomery
title: temple iv
catalog #: krank009
formats available: cd
release date: january 1, 1996

when his lips are sealed, mr. montgomery suddenly becomes quite listenable. this second solo album, following the scenes from the south island cd on d. fish, is another instrumental trance epic.

"mayan aficionados out there will link the title and the famous site at tikal. the tracks on the album are thick with interwoven guitar lines and moog drone, inspired by the guatemalan rain forests and mysterious ruins of the temple there."

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threads:
modern-psych

kranky (usa) #krank 007 cd

bowery electric “bowery electric” compact disc

  • sounds in motion
  • next to nothing
  • long way down
  • another road
  • over and over
  • deep sky objects
  • slow thrills
  • out of phase
  • drift away
kranky press release...
artist: bowery electric
title: bowery electric
catalog #: krank007
formats available: cd / lp
release date: august 16, 1995

debut full-length from ny trio that play a monotonous, heavy-fuzz edition of slightly glazed rock.

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kranky (usa) #krank 006 cd

labradford “a stable reference” compact disc

  • mas (4:32)
  • el lago (5:29)
  • streamlining (4:44)
  • banco (5:03)
  • eero (6:50)
  • balanced on it's own flame (4:02)
  • star city
  • russia (5:03)
  • comfort (6:14)
  • sedr 77 (4:07)
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: a stable reference
catalog #: krank006
formats available: cd
release date: may 26, 1995

2nd album by heavily acclaimed virginian trio. guitar, keyboards, bass & subdued vocals mix up a brew of lo-ball ambiance and occasional icy sadness, it's no wonder they're huge in the uk.

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kranky (usa) #krank 004 cd

spiny anteaters “all is well” compact disc

  • aspect ratio (2:50)
  • 10 years ago (3:43)
  • stal (4:19)
  • fabulous fur coat (5:04)
  • tripping girl (3:21)
  • lullaby (5:24)
  • sparky (8:36)
  • mass man (3:43)
  • elevator (2:28)
  • spork (1:56)
  • dear kim (3:06)
kranky press release...
artist: spiny anteaters
title: all is well
catalog #: krank004
formats available: cd / lp
release date: may 26, 1995

debut album from 1994 by canadian indi-guitar quartet.

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kranky (usa) #krank 003 cd

jessamine “jessamine” compact disc

  • another fictionalized history (2:13)
  • secret (5:09)
  • royal jelly eye cream (5:30)
  • ordinary sleep (3:42)
  • inevitably (4:43)
  • cellophane (5:47)
  • you have ugly talents
  • martha (5:37)
  • one-trick pony (9:11)
  • don't you know that yet? (9:45)
  • lisboa (3:45)
kranky press release...
artist: jessamine
title: jessamine
catalog #: krank003
formats available: cd
release date: november 30, 1994

debut full length by this seattle band with a couple singles and a bit of a silver apples fixation behind them. "moog-guitar duels," "electron wave lapping," and other forms of cloudy pop damage within a somewhat straight indie format a la stereolab (or some other utterly fantastic band that i'm too lazy to listen to).

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threads:
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analogue-synth

kranky (usa) #krank 001 cd

labradford “prazision” compact disc

  • listening in depth (7:32)
  • accelerating on a smoother road (4:14)
  • splash down (6:43)
  • disremembering (3:42)
  • experience the gated oscillator (7:22)
  • soft return (3:28)
  • sliding glass (6:21)
  • c. of people (4:58)
  • new listening (5:06)
  • gratitude (2:23)
  • skyward with motion (9:00)

  • everlast (5:38)
  • preserve the sound outside (3:07)
november 2007 release; the reissue of the debut release on kranky - labradford’s timeless prazision lp, here augmented with the b-side of their debut single as a bonus track ...

in 1993, i went into the record collector’s depot in ridgewood, nj & asked if they had any cluster records (or anything similar to the first few harmonia lps) of which i was (and remain) enamored. they handed me this; in retrospect a very prescient act ... i bought the lp, dubbed it to cassette, and lay in the sun on the floor of my parents’ house in hillsdale with my walkman on, listening to this record, on repeat; maybe about 20 times in a row that first day (it’s been a long time since i’ve listened to a record more than twice, let alone 20 times ...)

i contemplated the note within about getting in touch ... the town that i lived in, despite being a stone’s throw from new york city, felt like something of a cultural oasis; it was very reassuring to know that there were groups working in near-isolation in various parts of the country, self-releasing their records & getting them into the hands of like-minded souls. while i didn’t meet the gang until much later (when they kindly invited me to open for them on a string of east-coast dates that ultimately led to my kranky recording career), this record had a very strong impact on my musical development.

this remastered reissue takes me back to that fateful day - alas its 20º outside - not a ray of sun to be had - but 14 years on, i’m amazed at how little of this music’s effect has been lost on me ... a timeless album.
kranky press release...
artist: labradford
title: prazision
catalog #: krank001
formats available: cd
release date: november 12, 2007

the debut album from labradford, as well as the premier kranky release, was originally issued in october 1993 to a surprising amount of acclaim as well as a fair bit of confusion. what was one to make of these beatless atmospheres cum pop songs that had very little to do with contemporary "indie-rock"? the album was typically lumped into such newly minted sub-genres such as "lo-fi" and "post-rock" even though there was no connection to any such imagined scenes. lo-fi? you can hear mark nelson breathe between vocal lines for chrissake. must be the lack of cymbals and hi-hat that accounts for that fallacy. post-rock? does this catch-all phrase for disparate musical groups and sounds even imply anything concrete or encompassing? alas, just another label that quickly became meaningless.

what is clearly evident upon listening to the album anew is that this is not a dated or stale work by any means. it could just as well have been recorded in 2003, or 1983 for that matter, as in 1993. it does not contain any of the markers so typical of pop music that would place it in any time frame, no production touches or instrumental sounds that would identify it as being the product of a specific period. at the very least, labradford created a timeless work, one that still challenges the listener today. more to the point, they created a masterwork.

previous record label:
 krabbesholm hojskole 		...and that's everything on kranky in stock.
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... this page was last updated on sunday, may 19th, 2013 @ 7:12 pm