The new studio album by iconic experimental ambient artist, Eluvium.

­The first Eluvium album to feature a full live orchestra.

(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality is the new album by Eluvium – the renowned moniker of prolific modern composer, Matthew Robert Cooper. Taking initial inspirations from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Richard Brautigan’s All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, (Whirring Marvels) inherently deals both with humankind’s need for meaning, and the emergence of algorithms reflecting the feedback loops of humankind’s interactions with machines themselves. This complicated relationship that we have with technology, automations, and algorithms – and the influence they in turn have on shaping our image of the world – is the mechanized heart and soul of an album that almost instantly establishes itself as a peak in Eluvium’s inimitable catalog.

During the writing process for (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality, Cooper began experiencing shoulder and arm pain that rendered his left arm increasingly debilitated. This inspired new compositional methods that blended varying degrees of electronic automations with traditional songwriting. Lyrical themes were built using algorithms to cull content from a notebook filled with years of scribbled thoughts, poems, considerations, conspiracies, scientific notions, and notes on the spirit of existence. Employing musicians from all around the world – including members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Golden Retriever, and the entire Budapest Scoring Orchestra – much of the music was conducted and recorded remotely via teleconference during the global COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. This approach to composing served as an unintended but serendipitous challenge for an album inspired by the complicated convenience of technology.

(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality blends an ornate combination of ingredients to construct a narrative of our dynamic invention; technological advancement; loneliness and isolationism; and unchecked idealism in a world of never-ending growth. The resulting hope that somehow emerges is itself a marvel of innovation and inspiration.

TRACK LISTING

1. Escapement (1:37)
2. Swift Automatons (2:37)
3. Vibration Consensus Reality (for Spectral Multiband Resonator) (8:01)
4. Scatterbrains (3:34)
5. Phantasia Telephonics (5:55)
6. The Violet Light (2:30)
7. Void Manifest (4:11)
8. Clockwork Fables (2:16)
9. Mass Lossless Interbeing (3:43)
10. A Floating World Of Demons (3:04)
11. Endless Flower (3:46)

RIYL: Brian Eno, Max Richter, Eluvium, Tim Hecker, John Cage. Originally released a year after the increasingly iconic The Disintegration Loops, a decade later Melancholia still stands as William Basinski's second most beloved album. Originally released on vinyl to commemorate its 10-year anniversary, we now have this limited repress. Remastered from the original recordings and pressed onto audiophile-quality 100% pure virgin vinyl, this limited-edition vinyl reissue is packaged in a stunning gatefold jacket featuring all-new artwork. It is truly a sight and sound to behold.

Like many of Basinski's most soul-stirring works, Melancholia began as a series of short tape loops captured in the early 1980s. Basinski then stored them away for decades, revisiting them at a different time in his life, at which point they took on a stunning new sound all their own - one that many consider to be among the finest of the past decade. "Melancholia is probably the best of Basinski's records until now, even if this is hard for me to say given my love for each one of his releases. This music is so beautifully delicate and sad in its auto-reflective moods, it stands right there with everything ranging from the usual suspects in the 'ambient' field, to a distorted damp ghost of Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel put into a time machine.” - Touching Extremes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Melancholia I (3:24)
2. Melancholia II (6:49)
3. Melancholia III (1:54)
4. Melancholia IV (4:15)
5. Melancholia V (1:14)
6. Melancholia VI (2:15)
7. Melancholia VII (2:26)
8. Melancholia VIII (3:08)
9. Melancholia IX (3:36)
10. Melancholia X (1:08)
11. Melancholia XI (1:15)
12. Melancholia XII (7:10)
13. Melancholia XIII (2:00)
14. Melancholia XIV (5:53).

The first new album in over a decade from world-renowned singer-songwriter, Nina Nastasia.

Produced by Steve Albini.

Riderless Horse is my first solo record, and it’s the first record my former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, didn’t produce.

I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan. Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery.

Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability. Steve Albini produced this record with me, and Greg Norman assisted. It was exactly the right environment to work on this record. We all had meals together, cried, laughed, and told stories. It was perfect. It made me realize how much I love writing, playing and recording music.

Terrible things happen. These were some terrible things. So, what to do – learn something valuable, connect with people, move the fuck out of that apartment, remember the humor, find the humour, tell the truth, and make a record. I made a record.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cork And Pour (0:12)
2. Just Stay In Bed (2:12)
3. You Were So Mad (2:53)
4. This Is Love (3:10)
5. Nature (2:57)
6. Lazy Road (2:45)
7. Ask Me (3:41)
8. Blind As Batsies (2:35)
9. The Two Of Us (2:37)
10. Go Away (2:19)
11. The Roundabout (2:09)
12. Trust (3:20)
13. Afterwards (2:34)
14. Creek And Chimes (0:33)

The complete recorded history of one of the more influential and revered post-hardcore bands of the early 1990s. Newly mixed in 2021 by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Lincoln was a Morgantown, WV band formed in 1992 by Jay Demko (vocals/guitar), John Herod (guitar), Justin Wierbonski (drums), and Johanna Claasen (bass). Dan Ball would later take over on bass. Though a band for only a brief time who left behind only a handful of recordings, they remain highly respected and are often regarded as one of the many foundational pieces of what would become known as “post-hardcore,” as well as the proto-emo scene that was birthed by bands like Rites of Spring and Moss Icon. Lincoln’s first 7” was originally released in 1992 by Watermark Records.

The following year, their universally beloved split 7” with Washington, DC’s Hoover became the inaugural release on the Art Monk Construction label. A final Lincoln 7” was released posthumously in 1994. All of Lincoln’s releases have remained out-of-print and unavailable since the late 1990s. In 2021, Lincoln’s entire recorded history was recovered, and the original analog tapes were restored and transferred. J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) newly mixed every song. All eight songs – seven that originally spanned three 7” singles, plus a previously unreleased track are now finally available on CD, LP, and Digital formats. It all sounds and feels better than ever, and shows just how much a small band from a small town with a small discography can have such a large and lasting impact

TRACK LISTING

1. Benchwarmer (5:01)
2. Sugarloaf (3:27)
3. Waterboy (4:42)
4. Repair And Reward (5:06)
5. Union (2:39)
6. Grade Curve (3:06)
7. Stop Means Stop (2:12)
8. Seed (3:40)

On their first album together since Maze of Woods (2015), Matthew Robert Cooper (Eluvium) and Mark T. Smith (Explosions in the Sky) further their creative curiosities as Inventions. Beginning with a trace of uncontrollable laughter that shifts into the driving atmosphere and unfolding elation of opening track “Hint and Omens,” Continuous Portrait is an album of strange hypnosis, punctuated by songs that venture quite far from the respective oeuvres of Cooper and Smith. The spry, playful layers of “Calico” bounce against a steady thrum of rhythms and samples from everyday noises, while the dancing lightness of “Outlook for the Future” is met with a storm of emotional resonance. Both tracks emerge as distinctively different directions for Inventions, and it is that very sense of exploration, pleasure, and ceremonial melancholia which informs the entire album from front to back. Inventions has always been the product of two friends who find comfort and inspiration in the genuine surprise of creating and combining sounds. Continuous Portrait whirls and hums like Cooper and Smith want us to invoke our inner playfulness and welcome a greater joy into our lives, if only for a moment. The result is a portrait that continuously embraces the completely foreign and familiar, and evolves with each successive listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hints And Omens (5:38)
2. Calico (3:57)
3. Continuous Portrait (2:54)
4. Outlook For The Future (3:31)
5. Close To People (3:16)
6. Spirit Refinement Exploder (5:15)
7. The Warmer The Welcome (3:57)
8. A Time In My Life (4:11)
9. Saw You In A Movie (4:07)

Maserati’s first new album in 5 years. “The sonic equivalent of being in the passenger seat with Bullitt.” Pitchfork // “Sleek, pedal-to-the-metal rock, sharply executed by a group thoroughly committed to its own stylistic cause.” NPR // Marking their 20th year as a band, Maserati returns with their first new album in five years. Produced by the band and mixed by Grammy-winning producer, John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Swans, Angel Olsen), Enter The Mirror is Maserati’s most compelling mélange of triumphant guitar hooks, abstract synth-pop, and Wax Trax-inspired noise anthems.

The gated drums of Phil Collins and chorus-drenched guitars of INXS were prominent influences on Enter The Mirror, paired to magnificent effect with the increasingly dystopian lyrical themes (which, ironically, were also massive influences on popular music in the 1980s, and feel ever more relevant now). In addition to longtime members Coley Dennis, Matt Cherry, Chris McNeal, and Mike Albanese, Maserati are joined by friends and collaborators, Bill Berry (R.E.M.), Owen Lange, and Alfredo Lapuz Jr. Self-reflection and loss of control as both a positive and negative aspect of modern existence is at the heart of Enter The Mirror. It is Maserati’s most efficient and cohesive album, and a monumental accomplishment for a band who have weathered many storms throughout their first two decades and found the will to not just keep moving, but to move with style and chase. 

TRACK LISTING

1. 2020
2. A Warning In The Dark
3. Killing Time
4. Der Honig
5. Welcome To The Other Side
6. Empty
7. Wallwalker 

Bruno Bavota – the young, prolific Italian composer whose music has often been labeled with earnest, adjective-laden descriptors such as “disarmingly sincere” and “extraordinarily emotional” – has experienced a self-imposed creative transformation over the past few years. Where his early records were pristine, piano-driven expressions of universal themes, his more recent works have found him in a place of thorough meditation and self-examination.

As Bavota explains, “While at the beginning of my music and career, I focused on crystal clear piano sounds, eventually all the time spent at the piano day after day changed my sense of the piano itself. I started to see the piano like a living instrument.” Get Lost is Bruno Bavota's first studio album since the 2016 release of Il Pozzo D'Amor thrust him into that peculiar world of anonymous but significant success via high-volume streaming playlists and high-profile TV commercials. Il Pozzo D'Amor would be his last album of immaculate, traditional piano music. If Get Lost isn't a complete reinvention, it is at the very least a completely different direction. Rather than obsess over the sound of the piano itself, Bavota now explores the sounds around the piano - the resonance, the silence, and the acoustic ambience of the living, breathing space in which the piano resides. He employs an array of outboard effects pedals and processors to not just capture those sounds that are often overlooked, but to sample, loop, and reposition them as central figures in a story.

Bruno Bavota gave Get Lost its name when he found himself drifting deeper into the darker side of his music. Inspired by a familiar observation of modern life, Bavota confessed, "I think people are becoming more selfish and don't seem to have time to listen to other people who need to be heard. We don't show much empathy." Much like Bavota's evolving approach to the piano, he has discovered profound purpose and influence in the people and places least visible but most meaningful

TRACK LISTING

1. Shelter (2:52)
2. Attesa (3:08)
3. Darkest Light (3:25)
4. The One I Know (3:39)
5. Sneaking Behind The Falling Sky (3:49)
6. The Day That You Forgot (3:20)
7. San Junipero (4:51)
8. Get Lost (4:11)
9. Movement (3:21)
10. Your Eyes (4:11)
11. (dis)connected (4:26)
12. Timeless (2:09)

Stateless is the second full-length album of genre-hopping post-everything experimentalists Tangents. In a delectable hybrid of styles, Stateless cuts up and weaves together rich instrumental passages from the multi-talented ensemble of musicians whose collective resume spans decent swathes of recent experimental music history: British electronic music producer Ollie Bown (Icarus, Not Applicable); Adrian Lim-Klumpes (Triosk, 3ofMillions) on piano, Rhodes, vibraphone and marimba; Peter Hollo (FourPlay String Quartet) on cello; and the duo Spartak (free improviser Evan Dorrian and singer/producer Shoeb Ahmad on drums and guitar respectively). Sparse metal-coated drum hits stumble over glistening reverse vibes, Saharan guitar licks, Fender feedback and washes of filtered piano. Moments of acoustic jazz surface, flowing into stoic upbeat anthems, drenched with multilayered patterns of glitched strings.

RIYL: Nils Frahm, Tortoise, Dawn Of Midi, Hauschka..  

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Experimental electronic Jazz-ish sounds on Temporary residence. Reminiscent of former TRR signings The Drift but slightly less 'Drifty' (sorry). Swooning atmospheric jazz numbers but with rhythm, driving but not heavy. A triumph of substance and style, and a must-have for lovers of jazz, and those not-so-keen alike. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jindabyne (7:07)
2. Oberon (12:46)
3. Masist Cau (6:40)
4. Directrix (1:40)
5. N-mission (6:22)
6. Along The Forest Floor (5:18)
7. Maze Crescent – Part I (6:20)
8. Maze Crescent – Part II (3:38)

DIGITAL BONUS TRACKS
9. Jindabyne (Four Tet Remix) (7:08)
10. Dank Memes & Things (the Cheech Diva's Evensong In The Time of Orange Skinned Camachos And shrill DM Masons) (6:15)
11. N-mission (Rabit Remix) (3:48)

Features former members of Crain, The For Carnation, Papa M. If there is one constant with Parlour, it is that nothing is ever the same. For nigh two decades, the Louisville, KY experimental troupe - led by Tim Furnish of influential, defunct Louisville art-punk band, Crain - has relentlessly evolved in subtle but substantial ways. This consistent creative movement keeps the sound of Parlour forever curious, and impossible to predict. While that may make for some commercial challenges, it also makes for more compelling and mercurial music. On the band's self-titled fourth album, Parlour pushes ferocious, dynamic guitar rock to the brink with hypnotic repetition and shifting, stabbing rhythms. In fierce Parlour fashion, the driving crunch of guitars is punctuated with shimmering buzz of synths. The difference here, though, is Parlour has shed their trademark woodwinds in favor of a leaner, heavier aesthetic. With a reduced instrumental palette and increased focus on beats and riffs, the songs are more naked and intense - equal parts crashing krautrock, and crushing prog-rock. 

TRACK LISTING

1. New Syntax Preserves (4:18)
2. Nadeemed (7:29)
3. Fempire (5:06)
4. Catnip (4:40)
5. Resist Ants (7:36)
6. Kármán Line (5:55)
7. Decadence Herd (7:57)
8. Unwinding (6:59)*
9. Aflipperput Redux (7:27)*

*Digital Bonus Tracks Available With Vinyl LP Download Coupon

RIYL: Zombi, John Carpenter, Maserati, Vangelis, Yes.

Following their well-received debut EP, First Contact, the cinematic synth-prog duo, Contact, return with their first full-length album. Comprised of prolific UK film composer, Paul Lawler, and veteran multi-instrumentalist, A.E. Paterra (Zombi, Majeure), Zero Moment emphatically delivers on the promise of First Contact. With cinematic sprawl still intact, it's an album of dramatic, stately gestures. Efficiently packed with vintage, celestial explorations of shape-shifting, alien landscapes, Zero Moment is the soundtrack to pondering what it's like for your body to wander as close to the stars as your mind.

“Every bit as impressive as you’d imagine.” – Noisey.
“Will instantly appeal to fans of previous Zombi work. A synth nerd’s waking wet dream.” – Exclaim.

TRACK LISTING

1. Zero Moment (6:12)
2. Grand Detector (5:29)
3. Serenad (5:56)
4. Sensorium (5:34)
5. Modal Force (5:21)
6. Dawn Star (7:20)
7. Dao Valis (5:58)

A few years ago, an unknown group from an unlikely town began generating the kind of "next big thing" blog buzz that eventually leads to a big label bidding war, support slots on major tours, and unanimous praise. For Bloomington, Indiana's Dreamers of the Ghetto, it resulted in a divorce and a devastating break-up.

"Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift." – Mary Oliver

Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Luke Aaron Jones and fellow DOTG alum Marty Sprowles picked up the pieces and pared down the widescreen stadium-sized rock of Dreamers to the more intimate, introspective Hunterchild. Jones' vocals are more arresting than ever, indebted as much to vintage Peter Gabriel, Prince, and Depeche Mode as the rich well of electronic R&B explorations from a similar orbit as James Blake and The Weeknd in their most powerful moments. Hunterchild are comfortable in their own skin in a way that's almost unheard of for debut artists.

Co-produced with Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Wax Fang), Hunterchild's eponymous debut album is noticeably more eclectic than Dreamers of the Ghetto. From the beat-heavy sexploits of "Part Time" to the stark falsetto professions of "Aching," this is a story in 11 parts. Equally complicated, heartbreaking and revelatory, Hunterchild bares an emotional fearlessness that only comes from a devotion to the light in the face of total darkness.

TRACK LISTING

1. So Bad (5:23)
2. Part Time (4:33)
3. Aching (4:06)
4. Hunter (4:46)
5. Work You (4:01)
6. Fantasy (4:30)
7. Time Traveling Lover (5:00)
8. Alone (4:17)
9. Secret Messages (4:08)
10. No Anchor (5:12)
11. How It Feels (4:49)

In 1992 Louisville, KY was home to a unique and diverse punk rock scene that was fast becoming a highly influential underground mecca, and for every Slint and Rodan there were a half dozen brilliant and forward-thinking bands that went virtually unnoticed – most of whom were guilty of more than a little self-sabotage. Plenty of cities across the world have these kinds of musicians, the ones who are cherished in worn-out mixtapes and increasingly unbelievable stories of historic local live shows. The Telephone Man were one of those, and one of the best ones to ever fall through the cracks of Louisville music history.

With a maturity and level of execution that betrayed their youthful age, they were the missing link between the introverted slow burn of Slint, the angular aggression of Bitch Magnet, and the emotional expressiveness of early 90s DC punk. It was a unique combination at the time, and twenty years later sounds downright prescient. Less than 75% of this collection ever saw the light of day, and even that was limited almost exclusively to short-run handmade cassettes passed around at live shows and sold at local record stores.

Though its members would move on to more notable endeavors – guitarist/singer Matthew Ronay is now a world-renowned artist based in NYC, while others continued to pursue music in a diverse array of bands, including Guilt, Ink & Dagger, The Metroschifter and Weird Weeds – this beautifully remastered anthology fills in a little-known but enlightening piece of the legendary Louisville music puzzle.

TRACK LISTING

1. Automatic Pilot (4:46)
2. Castner (4:11)
3. Douglass Boulevard (6:34)
4. Let Me Tell You How Much I Love You So You Can Treat Me Like Shit (3:57)
5. Rain = Flood (5:20)
6. Kelly (2:41)
7. Muldoon (3:53)
8. Whole Man, Half Man (4:13)
9. I Will Follow You (6:41)
10. Grandfather (8:42)
11. Camaro (2:40)
12. Inspector 29 (1:58)
13. Nothing (3:11)
14. Rebel Yell (4:12)

Dreamers of the Ghetto are a family band from Bloomington, IN, consisting of brothers Luke and Jonathan Jones, Luke's wife, Lauren, and Marty Sprowles. After teasing blogs with enigmatic, homemade video clips for the past year, Indiana's most promising and perhaps most eccentric group finally unleashes their debut album, the stunning 'Enemy/Lover'.

Dreamers of the Ghetto marries the sentiment of classic 80s film soundtracks to minimalist, romantic dream-rock, creating a unique environment that becomes almost instantly addicting. The triumphant, reach-for-the-stars attitude of veterans like U2 and Depeche Mode is paired with the gospel splendor of Spiritualized and ominous austerity of The xx, all carried by what Shaking Through calls "the most amazing singer we've seen since Sharon Van Etten.” DOTG have mined a sound that is both timeless and nostalgic, and they’ve done so with an earnest fearlessness and refreshing lack of irony. They are true, pure, and unbelievably powerful.

TRACK LISTING

1. Antenna
2. State Of A Dream
3. Connection
4. Regulator
5. Always
6. Crime Scene
7. Phone Call
8. Dark Falcons
9. Night Hawks
10. Tether

First album released domestically from acclaimed Australian group. Recorded by Steve Albini mixed by Scott Horscroft (SILVERCHAIR, THE PRESETS). Garnering increasing acclaim in their native Australia with their first two albums, we are proud to finally present Melbourne trio My Disco’s third full-length, the truly brilliant and enigmatic "Little Joy". As always with My Disco, the most fascinating and unique element to their sound is space – long, deep, sometimes scary space. Their defiance of rock music’s time-worn tropes is what defines them, and "Little Joy" explores and expands on that concept, stretching a naked few instruments to transform short blasts into heavy, rhythmic, meditative body music. The bare bones of a drum beat, a rumbling bass, one repeated phrase and some bursts of feedback add up to a wholly compelling world of sounds between sounds. Shards of vaguely recognizable post-punk riffs fuse pounding, euphoric rhythms to hypnotic, almost psychedelic vocal mantras.

The result is a new take on an old idea that occupies the unlikely space between Boredoms, The Necks, Wire and Liars. Recorded by Steve Albini and mixed by Scott Horscroft, My Disco’s minimalist instincts are perfectly suited for Albini’s famously austere productions and Horscroft’s textured, pop-leaning sensibilities. This unlikely marriage is at the heart of "Little Joy"s success. It’s the sound of a band using the fewest tools to create the greatest range of possibilities – a record both expansive and minimal, a compressed expression of vast emotions.

'The minimalist trio don't so much defy convention as simply deny it, sidestepping genre and tradition to smash together their own sound. Identifiable elements include shards of black noise, striking percussion, lyrical snatches delivered with prosecutorial zeal and pulmonary bass parts.The band have used the ethos of the DIY scene they came out of to craft a fascinating sound, where repetition gives way to harsh beauty' - Craig Mathieson, The Age.

TRACK LISTING

1 Closer (2:58)
2 Young (8:46)
3 Turn (3:45)
4 Sun Bear (6:45)
5 Sunray (4:40)
6 Lil’ Joy (6:46)
7 With Age (3:35)
8 Rivers (9:51)
9 A Turreted Berg (4:12)