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Jason Calhoun – Introduction To An Apology
VinylLimited to 100 copies: LP with 2-sided colour insert... The hallmark of jason calhoun's music--either under his given name or under the naps alias--is an emotional resonance that allows fragility and perseverance to occupy the same space. Though humble in his approach, calhoun has done something quietly extraordinary in building a body of work that, unlike so much music that seeks to transport you elsewhere, instead asks you to check in with yourself. Recent cassette releases have found him pushing composition lengths to 20 or even 30 minutes; for his first LP, introduction to an apology, he has done the opposite, bringing a sense of concision and focus to this collection of pieces, with every moment material. Those familiar with calhoun's music will recognize the gentle purrs of melody here, the restless hiss of seeking connections, and the evocation of people and places that feels especially meaningful in the context of the pandemic. Some tracks are postcard-like in their brevity and sense of tidings, while others shift the listener into a denser headspace, generously allowing for more sustained reflection. From its yawning opening tones to its final, outstretched moments, this is an album that invites gratitude and grace.£20.00 -
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Ned Milligan – Enter Outside
VinylLP limited to 100 copies: Comes with 2-sided colour insert and liner notes. In recent years, Ned Milligan has pursued composition almost exclusively through chimes and cassette tape. Emphasizing live performance, this music was defined by equal parts improvisation and careful curation. His new LP, Enter Outside, demonstrates the tonal and textural qualities found on those recordings while expanding his palette with the inclusion of a singing drum. The title of this album--which can be interpreted as a directive, suggestion, or invitation--embodies the feel of these pieces and how much the music employs outdoor elements not as a mere backdrop, but as a collaborator. As with Milligan's prior albums on Fluid Audio, Gertrude Tapes, and Florabelle, most of Enter Outside was recorded on a rural porch in Maine with additional processing afterwards. Each track offers a gentle immersion into his environment and gradually encourages it to become yours as well, while the gentle racket of the world hums along. There is a fundamentally bristling beauty to this album's core and its ability to let the listener experience its space as a living thing.£20.00 -
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Josh Mason – Coquina Dose
VinylComes with a two-sided insert as well as a download code. Includes unlimited streaming of Coquina Dose via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Coquina Dose is an album of uncommonly intimate gestures and reflections, many of which are inspired by Josh Mason’s lifelong home of Florida—what it means to live there, other people’s perceptions of it, and its unofficial status a “humidity kingdom.” In evoking this atmosphere, Mason utilizes guitar and tape, which has been so emblematic of his work, but also further engages with new ideas in synthesis, and even the bio-feedback of plants. The processes are fascinating but ultimately secondary to the emotional tenor of the album. It’s remarkable how gentle, reflective, and quivering—really, how alive this music is.£20.00 -
John Atkinson / Talya Cooper – Plains
VinylIncludes an insert and digital download of the album. ALSO includes a digital download of the original soundtrack of the film Two Plains & A Fancy - a whole other album produced by John Atkinson + Talya Cooper! As an LP, Plains grows out of elements of the film’s original score, but it’s also very much its own thing—a quartet of glimmering, weightless pieces that, free from the need to score certain scenes of certain lengths, unfold and envelope at their own pace. Anchoring the album is the side-long “Chillien”, a delicate, harmonic bloom punctuated by the whirs and clicks of Cooper’s guitar and voice. Atkinson, taking control of the processed elements of composition, allows the b-side sequence to grow more expansive and dynamic with each track, maintaining an unmistakably warm glow. This is ambient music with an appreciable sense of landscape and scale.£18.00 -
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Olli Aarni – Nielu
VinylMastered by Taylor Deupree. Limited to 150 LPs, comes with a two-sided insert and download code... The quality of Olli Aarni’s music has remained remarkably high given his consistent output over the last five years for labels like Preservation, Cotton Goods, and Dauw. Often working in the cassette format and primarily composing extended, gorgeously textured drones, Aarni’s new album, Nielu, is one of his first releases on vinyl and a kind of culmination of the sound he has crafted for years. Even in the context of such an impressive discography, Nielu is noteworthy and Aarni considers it to be his personal definitive ambient album. The hallmarks of Aarni’s prior work—exceptional attention to texture, ghostly looped figures, enveloping sound fields—are especially immersive on Nielu, which, in his native Finnish, can be translated as “vortex,” “throat,” or “swallowing”—all appropriate imagery here. Taking inspiration from the harsh weather conditions of Fennoscandia, both side-long pieces are enveloping compositions that reward close listening but, even more, invite surrender to wide washes of sound. Evocative and sometimes, bleak, Nielu is fundamentally beautiful and grows more emotionally engaging the louder it is played.£18.00 -
Ned Milligan – Nature Always Needs Improving
VinylThis album is limited to 100 copies on black vinyl. Comes with a two-sided insert and download code... Ned Milligan now presents his new album, Nature Always Needs Improving, building on the momentum generated by his admired third LP, Continental Burns. Echoing that album’s mode and structure, Nature Always Needs Improving offers a handful of tender, minimalist pieces before giving way to a spectral side-length conclusion. The deep intimacy of the album is enhanced by its process—primarily recorded outdoors on porches or in yards—and by the unpredictable interaction of incidental sounds with traditionally musical sound sources, especially resonant chimes.£18.00 -
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Ned Milligan – Continental Burns
Sale, VinylThe third album by Ned Milligan and the first to reach an audience beyond family and friends, Continental Burns is the result of getting reacquainted with the act of making music and diving into the experience of creating short films. Limited to 100 LPs, comes with a two-sided insert and download code... Composed primarily over the summer of 2014, Continental Burns was created with two sides in mind. The first five tracks (which also score the video of the same name) share a certain kinship; the sixth complements what came before while departing from it at the same time. A lot of this music came out of Ned’s longstanding interest in repeating figures and loops of both musical and traditionally non-musical sound sources. In contrast to the suite of songs on side A, the B side is taken up by “The Station in Spuyten Duyvil,” an extended reworking of a track that first appeared on Rambler, Ned’s 2005 debut. Entirely composed of processed melodica, it proudly bears the influence of long-form works by Jim O’Rourke, early Rafael Toral, and Stephan Mathieu. Mastered by Sean McCann.£14.00 -
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John Atkinson – Asasin In Lege
CD, SaleLimited to 200 in four-panel gatefold sleeves and comes with a download code... The soundtrack to the investigative documentary Asasin în Lege by John Atkinson (of the long-running Brooklyn experimental rock ensemble Aa) is the inaugural release from Florabelle, a New York-based label for experimental music and media founded by Ned Milligan. Debuting on Romanian and Moldovan national TV in November 2014, Asasin în Lege (Killers Inc.) investigates the assassination of an influential Russian businessman, tracing a barely-underground war between Kremlin-connected businessmen and bankers fought with brigades of assassins for hire. The soundtrack’s eight instrumental compositions combine field recordings with dense digital textures to establish an atmosphere that is alternately luminous and menacing, giving the sinister proceedings an otherworldly air. The album was mastered by Andrew Weathers (of Full Spectrum Records).£10.00