Bardo Pond’s extensive archive recordings series opens up once again with 'Volume 9', an incisive journey into their hypnotic sound. Recorded in the early 2000’s it’s a heady mix of acoustic ambience and menacing distortion.

Infamous purveyors of longform stoner rock, Bardo Pond embrace their sludgestorms with graceful nods to Hawkwind, Earth and my bloody valentine. For anyone uninitiated with the band’s tranquilizing sound, Volume 9 leans into their mesmeric practise with reckless abandon.

Featuring two tracks recorded with ace percussionist Michael Zanghi (Kurt Vile/The War On Drugs) and the seminal two parter ‘War Is Over’, a lilting Floydian strum that’s invaded – quite literally – by unreconstructed noise. The Zanghi collaboration is an Eastern-facing mantra with percussive flurries and distorted modal shifts – like listening on the other side of feedback.

“Effortlessly combining psychedelic inspirations from Pink Floyd's original explorations to the more modern reachings into the beyond” AllMusic.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 – Conjunctio
A2 – The Nine Doubts
A3 – War Is Over Part 1

Side B
B1 – War Is Over Part 2

‘Little Eden’ glows with vintage McCartney-esque couplets before rolling out a chiming signature riff on ‘As I Lay Down To Die’ and adopting Jimi-like phrasing on ‘And Away We Go’. A psychedelically-hewn panoramic take on brutalism Britain punctuated with pure pop melodies and beautifully-observed English melancholy. This is an album that rekindles your love of music – from the harmonies that are oh-so Teenage Fanclub and Lemonheads, to the grunge and awe of Dinosaur Jr. There’s perspective and retrospective tale-spinning where we wait “for the wonderful world to come” (©‘Start Burning’), an imaginary future soundtracked by the spirit of Arthur Lee, brought into focus with witty wordplay on songs that are littered with spine tingling guitar breaks.

TRACK LISTING

Disc One:
A1 Everyone Rise
A2 And Away We Go
A3 Brain Fatigue
A4 You Owe Me
A5 They Will Return
B1 Find The Mole
B2 Do Without Me
B3 Hold Your Horses
B4 The Man In The Garden
B5 As I Lay Down To Die

Disc Two:
C1 Cherry Gardens
C2 Numb In The Head
C3 There's Always Love
C4 Little Eden
C5 Here Come The Flies
C6 Pasted All Over
D1 Start Burning
D2 My Own Hollywood
D3 Never Knew What Hit Me
D4 Dreams Of Flying

‘Devasting, with slow, burning songs that shudder and wince’ NY TIMES

Peel Sessions is an essential nine-track set catching Boston’s mighty Come at the peak of their powers. The collection includes two sessions recorded for John Peel in both 1992 and 1993, plus a previously unreleased live track ‘Clockface’ from 1991, unwrapping the blueprint of their sonic idealism. Raw, loud and live, exactly where the band’s dissonant blues noise rock originates.

1992’s four track session is direct from their debut; but more mangled, strangled and abrasive. The follow-up set from a year later includes live favourite ‘Mercury Falls’ and ‘City Of Fun’ neither of which surfaced as studio recordings.

The sessions feature the masterful guitar interplay of two central pivots of the post-post-punk and alternative noisnik underground, Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Pullman, Thurston Moore, Ryley Walker, Lemonheads) and Thalia Zedek (Uzi, Live Skull, solo). The session’s line-up is completed by the addition of Sean O'Brian and Arthur Johnson’s visceral bass and percussion, documenting an essential era for the band.

Peel Sessions follows their recently released ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ reissue, part of Fire Records forthcoming reissue series for the seminal group.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Dead Molly (Peel Session, 1992)
Bell (Peel Session, 1992)
William (Peel Session, 1992)
Off To One Side (Peel Session, 1992)


Side B

Wrong Side (Peel Session, 1993)
Sharen Vs. Karen (Peel Session, 1993)
Mercury Falls (Peel Session, 1993)
City Of Fun (Peel Session, 1993)
Clockface (Live In Boston, 1991)

‘A Mythology of Circles’ is the new album from Brooklyn-based composer and musical artist Faten Kanaan, her first to be released on Fire Records. Cyclical patterns and 'variation through repetition' are central to Faten’s music. Harmony and counterpoint are composed intuitively and treated as narrative tools- with sound, silence, and the resulting mystical relationship between notes used as gestures to tell a wordless story. The album is separated into a ‘dusk to evening’ side, and an ‘underworld/dream-state’ side; highlighting the myths of Ishtar, Inanna, Orpheus, Persephone, and others.

Inspired by cinematic forms and mythological story structures: from sweeping landscapes and quiet romances, to patterned tensions and dream sequences; Faten brings an earthy, visceral touch to electronic music. In symbiosis with technology is an appreciation for the vulnerability of human limitations and nuances.

All the sections are played in real time, neither looped nor sequenced- allowing for subtle changes to unfold. The use of VST sampled choral voices in this album embodies the forlorn state of technological acceleration, and the desire to return to a vulnerable human sound. The album art also explores a complicated relationship with technology: the statue comes from a series of digital replicas, returning in its last stage to a more intimate and handmade feel.

Composed, produced and mixed by Faten Kanaan, the album was mastered by Heba Kadry (Bjork, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Julianna Barwick).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've been a fan Of Faten Kanaan's work since her superb split 7" with Pye Corner Audio on Polytechnic Youth a few years ago. What we have here is the spiritual and logical culmination of an artist working hard at their already considerable skills in the intervening years. It's a stunning work of scope, beautifully transportive and haunting.

TRACK LISTING

1. Patagonia Motet 1: Lago
2. The Archer
3. Hesperides
4. Birds Of Myrrh
5. Night Tide / Anteros
6. Sleepwalker
7. Mist & Madrigal
8. Rêve-Rivière
9. Erewhon
10. Patagonia Motet 2: Andes
11. The North Wind
12. The Heron
13. Ishtar Terra

Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, ‘Thank Christ For The Bomb’ is released with bonus tracks on CD. A hugely influential album cited as the embryo for punk, grunge and beyond. Featuring epic 1970 concepts from this far reaching trio much praised by Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Captain Sensible, Stephen Malkmus and a host of others. ‘Thank Christ For The Bomb’ is a visionary tale of cold war fear, alienation and everyday drama. “This is a masterpiece!” New Musical Express. A thinking man’s rumination on alienation, the album is a game of two halves; side one tackling the thermo nuclear threat while side two traces riches to rags alienation in everyday London. Also featuring Radio 1 sessions and live versions of key tracks including a lengthy take of ‘Soldier’ recorded for the BBC’s In Concert series. First of a trio of ground-breaking albums that steered the band from the Blues into a heavier, more prog-based sound and a true reflection of their much-praised live sound. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Strange Town
2 Darkness Is No Friend
3 Soldier
4 Thank Christ For The Bomb Side
5 Ship On The Ocean
6 Garden
7 Status People
8 Rich Man, Poor Man
9 Eccentric Man
10 Garden (Radio 1 Sessions)
11 Eccentric Man (Radio 1 Sessions)
12 Garden (Live At Leeds)
13 Eccentric Man (Live At Leeds)
14 Soldier (Radio 1 Sessions)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

180 gram LP (part of a trilogy – complete on RSD 2015). Bardo Pond follow up last year’s RSD release ‘Rise Above It All’ with the second of a trilogy of RSD exclusive releases. Continuing their exploration and interpretation of existing tracks, this time they turn their attention to ‘Ride Into The Sun’ by the Velvet Underground and ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ by Brian Eno. The results are astounding and in the case of ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ wonderfully surprising, with Isobel’s voice embellishing a rendition of startling Bardo pop. Loosely formed in 1989 by guitar wielding art student siblings, Michael and John Gibbons, Bardo Pond became a reality in 1991 with the addition of vocalist and flautist, Isobel Sollenberger, bassist, Clint Takeda and drummer, Joe Culver (replaced in 1999 by trainee librarian, Ed Farnsworth). Bardo Pond are the flagship band of Philly's "Psychedelphia" space rock movement, which also included the likes of Aspera, Asteroid No. 4, the Azusa Plane, and tangentially the Lilys. They favour lengthy, deliberate sound explorations filled with all the hallmarks of modern-day space rock: droning guitars, thick distortion, feedback, reverb, and washes of white noise.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ride Into The Sun (The Velvet Underground)
2. Here Come The Warm Jets (Brian Eno)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

The complete collection from Australian band The Moles. The work of songwriter Richard Davies, who moved to the States and went on to join Eric Matthews in Cardinal, the story of the Moles is told through the release of ‘Untune the Sky’ and ‘Instinct’, which is now reissued on vinyl and CD along with a comprehensive CD containing bonus material from various EPs and singles including, the ‘Tendrils And Paracetamol’ EP, ‘The Moles EP’ and the ‘Propeller’ 7inch single, which brings the track “Propeller” to digital format for the first time, and finally ‘Odds and Ends’. Formed in Sydney in the late '80s, The Moles debuted in 1990 with the EP ‘Untune the Sky’, followed a year later by another EP, ‘Tendrils and Paracetamol’. After the 1992 release of their first full-length release -- also titled ‘Untune the Sky’ -- the group relocated to New York, where they released a pair of seven-inch singles (packaged together as the Double Single EP). A move to London followed, and although they garnered great acclaim from the British press, the band nonetheless broke up around the beginning of 1993. In 1994, however, Davies resurrected The Moles again for the album Instinct; a band effort in name only, it essentially marked the beginning of Davies' solo career, although he did not make his formal bow until 1996's ‘There's Never Been a Crowd Like This’.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl :
Untune The Sky :
Side A
1. Wires
2. Accidental Saint
3. Rich Man
4. Curdle
Side B
1. Surf’s Up
2. Europe By Car
3. Bury Me Happy
4. Nailing Jesus To The Cross…

Instinct :
Side A
1. Minor Royal March
2. Eros Lunch
3. Already In Black
4. Instinct
5. Cars For Kings Cross
Side B
1. Cassie Peek
2. Raymond, Did You See The Red Queen?
3. Treble Metal
4. The Crasher…

CD Track Listing
DISC ONE
1. Wires
2. Accidental Saint
3. Rich Man
4. Curdle
5. Surf’s Up
6. Europe By Car
7. Bury Me Happy
8. Nailing Jesus To The Cross
9. Minor Royal March
10. Eros Lunch
11. Already In Black
12. Instinct
13. Cars For Kings Cross
14. Cassie Peek
15. Raymond, Did You See The Red Queen?
16. Treble Metal
17. The Crasher…

DISC TWO
Tendrils And Paracetamol EP :
18. Tendrils And Paracetamol
19. This Is A Happy Garden
20. Breathe Me In
21. Lonely Hearts Get What They Deserve.
The Moles EP:
22. What’s The New Mary Jane
23. Going Down
24. Saint Jack
25. Let’s Hook Up And Get Some.
Propellor 7”:
26. Propellor
27. With Body Wifes Seven Days. Odds And Ends :
28. The Crown Souls
29. Rebecca
30. Rich Man (original Mix)
31. Drink Talking
32. Bury Me Happy (early Version)
33. Flex
34. We Need An Electric Guitar
35. Mystery Song