SATORI - 'Pillars Of Salt'
CD £9 Adv - OUT 28 FEBRUARY


    

SATØRI's mission to document the stupidity of our species continues with "Pillars of Salt" - a journey through grinding rhythms, dystopian soundscapes and a fascination into what lies beneath the surface.

"An aberrant signal. Data loss. Corrupted programming. Everything should be fine. But it isn't, is it? Everything is f**ked. Something has gotten into the system and is destroying it from within. This is humanity being consumed by the inability to think for itself. Ahead is the future. Just don't look back..."

Formed in the mid-80's, with previous releases on high-calibre labels such as Broken Flag, Cold Spring, Trident, Mindscan, and Tesco Organisation, SATØRI's sound comprises a mixture of harsh Industrial noise and power electronics with harder and heavier percussive beats than before. Their material provides a constant pervasive undercurrent of violence, the feeling of a planet on the verge of collapse and a reflection of the lack of humanity embedded in a culture based on greed and self-preservation.

Featuring guest vocalist Lorenzo Abattoir, the album was produced by Andy Swan (Khost, Final, Iroha, Tactical Pagan).

• CD in matt-laminate digipak.

COLOSSLOTH - 'The Harmony Knife'
CD £9 Adv - OUT 28 FEBRUARY


        

The fifth album from industrial / esoteric electronic alchemist Colossloth is a concept album based on the writings of professor Ted Kaczynski AKA the Unabomber. It is not about his terror campaign against the industrial society and the rise of technology - but his manifesto "Industrial Society And Its Future" and in particular the elements of "The Power Process".

"With "The Harmony Knife", Colossloth is cutting through to the bone and sinew of Man's chronic, species-specific dissatisfaction, and the causes thereof. He is laying bare humankind's inability to solve its own, self-created problems, to meet its basic needs, and to achieve even those goals clearly within its reach.

What is the fundamental nature of the human condition? Is it one of misery and failure in the face of blissful possibility? Is it the contrary unwillingness to accept that we can become fully realised and contented beings through the success of actualised, idiosyncratic, and often basic goals?

In defining and describing The Power Process, the twisted mind of Ted Kaczynski saw mankind's primal need to struggle for a goal, however small, as necessary for a meaningful life. Indeed, without this elemental piece of the evolutionary struggle, he saw terminal atrophy as the inevitable result.

With "The Harmony Knife", Colossloth seizes these ideas and sonically extrapolates the implications of humankind's failure to satisfy even our most rudimentary needs. He creates an auditory landscape examining our repeated inability to focus our efforts on fundamental goals to ensure even a measure of happiness or contentment. Humanity's inability to live rather than merely exist" (Jake Shell).

• CD in matt-laminate digipak.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - 'Электронная Музыка АНС (ANS Electronic Music)'
CD £8.50 Adv - OUT 28 FEBRUARY

  

Available on CD (or any other format) for the first time outside USSR, Soviet composers perform their works on the legendary ANS synthesizer.

Recorded in 1969, "Электронная Музыка АНС (ANS Electronic Music)' features 6 tracks of experiments on the unique machine by: Eduard Artemiev, Stanislav Kreitchi, Sándor Kallós, and Alexander Nemtin. A 'musical' machine unlike any other which has long fascinated cutting edge, modern electronic composers, notably COIL and THE ANTI GROUP COMMUNICATIONS (TAGC) / CLOCK DVA, that have both released recordings utilising the ANS.

Try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor; an orchestra without musical instruments. This magic is possible by using the musical ANS synthesizer. Created by Soviet scientist Evgeny Murzin over the course of 20 years, ANS is an instrument with which a composer can not only create but also draw their music without notes. You can see the twinkling of different lamps, the rotation of grooved glass discs... The drawings on the glass are 'sounding notes'. To listen to the drawn picture, press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin.

Inside the ANS are five rotating glass discs with 144 tones printed (by hand) on each one. Light is projected through the discs and onto photovoltaic cellbank which converts the light into electricity and sends signals to the ANS's amplifiers and bandpass filters. The ANS can generate 720 tones this way and, unlike a human musician, play them all at the same time.

Murzin dedicated his photoelectronic apparatus to Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, hence the name ANS. Scriabin, the creator of the 'Poem of Ecstasy', and a famous explorer of synesthesia, used in his works a highly chromatic, new type of harmonic style designed to express his beliefs, views and wishes.

Soviet music lovers will already know recordings made on ANS from Tarkovsky's films Solaris, The Mirror, and Stalker, Konchalovsky's film Siberiade, and others.

• CD in full colour matt-laminate digipak with the new artwork by Abby Helasdottir, complimenting the ANS process perfectly.

IGGOR CAVALERA / SHANE EMBURY - 'Neon Gods / Own Your Darkness'
CD £9.50 Adv | LP Black £20 Adv | LP White £22 Adv - OUT 21 MARCH


   

Two legendary titans of the extreme metal scene - IGGOR CAVALERA (Cavalera Conspiracy / Petbrick / founding member of Sepultura) and SHANE EMBURY (Napalm Death / Dark Sky Burial) - join forces for this unique split of brooding dark ambient, industrial strength noise, and heavy synth-laden electronics, creating what feels like the lost soundtrack to some dystopian fever dream.

Setting the tone for this double-headed behemoth with creeping, cinematic dark ambience, IGGOR CAVALERA's side-long 'Neon Gods' unfolds into a brutal sonic nightmare. Equal measures of dread and anguish come together with the occasional reprieve of slow, pulsating drones and almost meditative waves of static. The crescendo of harsh industrial noise with heavy Death Industrial vocalisation is nothing short of pummelling.

"Neon Gods is a bit of a sonic trip, with different layers of atmospheric vibrations, from darkness to light. It's an absolute pleasure to do this split release with Shane, I believe we share a lot of similar ideas when it comes to opening our mind to different styles of sounds" (IC).

SHANE EMBURY's 'Own Your Darkness' merges menacing, pitch-black dark ambient and hypnotic bass swells with celestial synth lines that subtly lurk around the peripheries. Rising and falling, ebbing and flowing - until finally the all-encompassing apocalyptic bleakness, the enveloping darkness, closes in around you.

"Iggor and I have been good friends for decades and this is a record very different for us both but amazing! A very interesting track to make, it was my first experiment with the Solar 42. An excellent synth for those eternal drones of despair and was assisted my long time colleague Russ Russell. As I journey ever onward in through my individuation it's imperative that I own my own darkness... hence the title. We all need to strive for balance and to kindle a light in the darkness of being" (SE).

• CD in matt-laminate digipak

• Ltd Ed 300 copies on white heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve (via Cold Spring only!)

• Black heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve.

LTD WHITE LP £22	BLACK LP £20	CD £9.50

T.A.G.C. - 'Iso-Erotic Calibration'
CD £11.50 | LP Black £21 | LP Brown £23 - OUT NOW!

    

Carefully constructed aural rituals from T.A.G.C., this album maps new realms in the area of sensual electronic music. Founder Adi Newton (CLOCK DVA) uses The Anti Group as an outlet for his research in psycho-acoustic music.

"Iso-Erotic Calibration" explores the potent topic of human sexuality. Recorded over a period of three years, this could be considered on of their more "accessible" albums.

Originally released in 1994 (Side Effects, the label of Lustmord, Musica Maxima Magnetica, and Adi's own Anterior Research Recordings), we are proud to present the album for the first time on vinyl, as well as the first official CD reissue, fleshed out with four bonus tracks: two were bonus digital-only tracks (2013); one track is taken from the soundtrack to the 2011 T.A.G.C. film 'Given'; one is a remix of the title track.

The Anti Group Communications (T.A.G.C.) was devised by Adi Newton and Steven James Turner as early as 1978 as a multi-dimensional research & development project. TAGC are not affiliated to any one system of philosophy or epistemological paradigm or occult fraternity but are open more to individual systems and innovative thinkers. Science, Art, Music Sonology, Literature, Research & Publication are its main areas.

The artwork is filled with text and illustrations supporting the different songs.

• CD in matt-laminate 6-panel digipak

• Ltd Ed 300 copies on brown heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve

• Black heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve

LTD BROWN LP £23	BLACK LP £21	CD £11.50

BASS COMMUNION - 'The Itself Of Itself' 2 x LP (Lumberton Trading Company) - £34

Deluxe vinyl reissue of 2024's "The Itself Of Itself" - Bass Communion's first album for 12 years. Long established as a purveyor of mostly atmospheric or ambient textures, the seven cuts here take detours from this approach in order to draw as much from musique concrete, noise music, abstract electronics and uneasy listening. Whilst still rippled with the same shades of light and dark that can be found throughout all of Steven Wilson's (Porcupine Tree) work, "The Itself Of Itself" reveals a fascination with analogue sounds and artefacts like tape hiss, wow and flutter, static noise, and sonic break-up, taking the music into a space at once different yet familiar. A dynamic listening experience where unease, dread and comparatively claustrophobic torrents of sound make (un)natural bedfellows to moments of enchantment and serenity. "The Itself Of Itself" sees Bass Communion cutting his teeth on an album that's at once cinematic and moody whilst proving him to be a master in electronic music craftsmanship, spreading its weather-beaten wings to embrace new strategies and a strong desire to journey elsewhere. Ltd x 1000 copies with obi strip in a wonderful Carl Glover designed deluxe gatefold sleeve and 24pp booklet of his photographs. VERY FEW IN STOCK - ACT FAST!

MUSLIMGAUZE - 'Citadel' 2 x LP (Other Voices Records) - £25

Originally released by the revered Australian label Extreme, this is the first ever reissue since its original CD-only press in 1994. "Citadel" is an album of exotic Arabic textures where traditional instruments intermesh with technology, found sounds and voices meld with drones and synthesizers. The album uses both eastern and western rhythmic patterns embedded in layers of shifting soundscapes: incessant tablas piercing through swirling cymbals, haunting, machine-gun rhythms, traditional strings, the interplay of rhythm and voice, and mesmerizing chants. "Muslimgauze produce a raga music for the technological post-cyber age. Shifting cultures out of ancient history into the current day, transcending those traditional forms. "Citadel" has a voice of what is now and perhaps what is to come. In these troubled political times, peace through people being unified in harmony whilst maintaining their own strength and cultural identity is a vision to strive towards" (Extreme). The original tracks were perfectly remastered (receiving high praise from the Extreme Music owner Roger Richards). Double LP in deluxe extra heavy cardboard with spot UV finish and inside print, with new sleeve design were created by Oleg Galay. **SLIGHT DAMAGE!** Please note that all copies arrived to us with 1-2" spine splits, hence the reduced price. Still sealed.

SMELL & QUIM - 'Spacesh*t' CD (Cheeses International) - £11

Originally released as a CDR in 2000 (Mental Guru), this is the first CD-proper edition of this album from Leeds absurdist-noisers Smell & Quim. "Spacesh*t" was originally conceived as the millennial year of 2000 was approaching. At the time, Smell & Quim was a multi-limbed flailing collective animal with many members, under the leadership and guidance of S&Q founder Milovan Srdenovic. These members included the technical recording Wizzardess Holly Hero, Candy Nook, Expose Your Eyes, Sam (drums), Mark, Pig, the late Diz Willis, the late San DK, the late Simon Morris (Ceramic Hobs), Carol, Paul Holmes, Shack, and Chad. The author Stewart Home also provided clips of his prank phone-calls to prostitutes. The idea was to create an hour-long stream of sound and music designed to both entertain and confound the occupants of any alien craft that might tune-in whilst passing in earshot of Planet Earth audio emanations. Much of it was recording during real-time social interaction. Despite a dizzying array of lewd / smutty / violent track titles, the CD plays as one continuous track (52 minutes and 57 seconds long). Ltd x 300 copies in a 6-panel digipak with artwork by FAO (Fan Assisted Oven).

DAVID JACKMAN - 'Schining' 2 x CD (Die Stadt) - £15

The next in Die Stadt's David Jackman / Organum series, continuing his pursuit of the monolithic shifting structure. Beginning with similar sounds to "Flames Of Fire" - a metallic buzz and deep, resonating tone - Jackman shifts the pitch more with sharper buzzing and a greater use of gongs and bells. A shimmering mix, with the first half much heavier. On the second CD he opens the sound up more, with the dynamics giving an almost buoyant quality to the music. Leading off with the crashing gong, it's soon stripped back allowing a sustained, wavering tone to be in the forefront. The sound resembles what could be an organ but held for infinity. Just as it becomes mesmerising and hypnotic though, Jackman throws in the bells, with variations coming in rapid succession versus the otherwise slow and steady feel. Ltd x 500 copies in a digisleeve with excellent artwork by Jonathan Coleclough.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - 'Prophecy + Progress: UK Electronics 1978-1990 Volumes I + II' 2 x CD (Peripheral Minimal) - £18

Following on from 2018's V/A "Prophecy + Progress: UK Electronics 1978-1990" LP, this double CD contains all the original tracks from Volume I and a further 13-tracks for Volume II. Both discs also contain a bonus track. This compilation represents the burgeoning Electronic music scene in the UK. An eclectic mix of acts that were experimenting with newly available technology during the years 1978-1990. Although electronic experimentation had been explored in the decades before, a myriad of experimenters were recording 'alien, eerie, sterile, austere and vaguely menacing' music in Industrial cities like Sheffield or post-war London. The antidote to the Thatcher government at the time seemed to be a quiet rebellion in the shape of dark and alienating soundscapes by acts that are now considered pioneers, or have achieved cult status. It's an attempt to rekindle those heady days of experimentation and to encourage new generations to rebel and forgo the fashionable posturing that comes with anything vaguely 'interesting'. CD1 features: Clock DVA, Vice Versa (pre-ABC), Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound, Monos), Konstruktivists, Naked Lunch, Five Times Of Dust, Schleimer K, V-Sor X, Attrition, Peter Hope + David Harrow, John Costello (Engram), T.A.G.C., John Avery (Hula), plus Peter Hope & Russ Deluxe. CD2 features: The Future (Adi Newton of Clock DVA / The Anti Group, Ian Craig Marsh, and Martyn Ware of The Human League / Heaven 17, B.E.F.), Neu Electrikk, Colin Potter + Steve Parry, Eric Random, Illustration, Final Program, Ian Boddy (ARC), Malcolm Brown, Stress, Red Fetish, UVPØP, Hula, Bourbonese Qualk, and Steve Parry. Ltd x 500 copies in a 6-panel double digipak with 8-page photographic booklet of UK Brutalist buildings.