Dissonant Plane

Going through some recent emails about shows that happened in town while I was in Indonesia, I discovered Sokai Stilhed.  That’s the childhood nickname of Heather Cullen and the moniker she performs and records under.  Her songs are delicate and soulful with a wonderful mysterious lo-fi production that layers her voice with acoustic instruments and sounds.  So I dropped her a line and asked if she would like to bring some of her discs here to sell.  She came by today and they look even cooler in person than on the web.  These lovely sounds are wrapped in envelopes with handmade covers.  The first untitled disc has a section of an old carpet invoice and a little envelope pasted to the cover.  Inside the little envelope is a little folded sheet of paper with the titles typewritten out.  On top of this, the bigger envelope which makes up the sleeve has a button and thread to tie closed the opening.  It is a little personal message reaffirming the private nature of the music inside.  The second disc is similarly wrapped, except that both envelopes are closed with sealing wax embossed with a fish design (this one can be found in the case as we don’t want to break the seals).  They are both really lovely items and we only sell them for $7.00.  Check out the above link for some sounds on her myspace page.  I also found an excellent article that Dave Segal wrote about her in The Stranger.  As you can read, she’s just played a number of gigs, but has a few more coming up including a night at The Josephine on July 16th with Hemmingway and The Shining Ones, which should be an interesting contrast. - Eric

Jesse Paul Miller and his wife Linda Peschong packed up and traveled through Asia for six months in 2008.  I reckon about two months of that was in Indonesia on the islands of Bali, Java and Lombok.  While there Jesse made numerous recordings of music and the sounds of life which he has started publishing on limited edition CDRs.  “Asia Archive 2008” is concerned solely with the Muslim call to prayer heard throughout Indonesia.  Most of the disc was recorded in Solo (Surakarta), an old royal city in central Java.  The call to prayer comes from all directions in Javanese cities as mosques are everywhere.  Not only that, they seem to all run on a slightly different clock as the calls from each mosque start at different times.  This means that five times a day there is a beautiful overlap of loudspeakers, often broadcasting quite distorted, mixing with the sounds of the town, in this case the sleepy city of Solo.  It is constantly variable and Jesse even captured the sound of the tape being reversed one day, as well as several nice musical performances which appear toward the end of this 77 minute disc.  A small fragment of call to prayer (ironic recorded at the Buddhist momument Borobudur) is also included on “Jalan Jalan - Street Atmospheres and Music in the Heart of Java“.  There are 16 tracks on this disc and they cover a wide range of material including street musicians, markets, food courts, rain and radio.  A more varied disc, this should definitely appeal to fans of the Sublime Frequencies label.  Compiled in a similar manner is “Bali - Converging Orchestras of Life and Rebirth on the Island of the Gods“.  While obviously shifting its focus to another location, it also reveals how different culture is on these two neighboring islands (they are separated by a mile wide strait).  The Bali disc is full of ceremonial gamelan including much from a mass ceremation of 54 bodies in Ubud.  Also added to the mix are cock fighting, beach drumming, children, birds, night sounds, kecak and of course more gamelan - all filled with the wonderful energy of Bali.  The whole disc is fantastic, but is easily worth it alone for the Gamelan Beleganjur recording (marching gamelan).  Rounding out our Jesse Paul Miller selection is “Constellation” which collects recordings made closer to home in Colorado, Hawaii and Washington States.  A 53 minute collage of monsoon rain, frogs, highway overpass, hummingbirds and children, ice breaking in a tiny bay, oysters, bamboo forest, and “all that accompanies”.  This disc is subdued, a relaxed exploration of sound.  All four are exceptional and frequently enjoyed at home.  Also, they are very limited self published released CDRs in editions of only 20 to 40 hand numbered copies.  Given that Jesse also sells these discs to shops in Japan, they probably won’t be around too long.

Latest batch of used goodies:

• 3/4 Had Been Eliminated  “A Year of the Aural Gauge Operation”  CD  (Häpna)  $10  - gentle filmic rock with nice little sounds
• Badalamenti, Angelo  “Soundtrack from Twin Peaks”  CD  (Warner Bros.)  $8  - Eric stopped watching TV when this went off the air
• Balmorhea  “Like Water in a Dream of Thaw”  CD  $7  - soft instrumental post rock with acoustic instruments
• Balmorhea  “Tour EP”  CDR EP  $3  - CDR EP, instrumental post rock, ltd. 175
• Circle  “Sunrise”  CD  (No Quarter)  $10  - like a psychedelic Motorhead
• Dif Juz  “Extractions”  CD  (4AD)  $8  - jazzy instrumental rock produced by Robin Guthrie
• Eckhart, Eric  “Lost and Found”  CD  $2  - slickly produced folk songs & indie rock
• Electronicat  “21st Century Toy”  CD  (Disko B)  $7  - ‘electric-glam-rock n roll’; promo w/no tray
• Galbraith, Alastair  “Cry”  CD  (Emperor Jones Records)  $10  - guitar, drones, loops, vocals in a dreamy combination
• Galbraith, Alastair / De Gennaro, Matt  “From the Dark (South Island)”  CD  (Xeric)  $9  - awesome acoustic long string drones
• Grouper  “Wide”  LP  (Weird Forest)  $8  - fragile lo-fi echos, clear & black vinyl mix, only 500 made
• House of Cosy Cushions  “Animal Dream”  CD  (Seadog Records)  $7
• Jeck, Philip  “Surf”  CD  (Touch)  $9  - subtle textures created from vinyl and loops
• Kemialliset Ystävät CD  (Fonal)  $10  - wild freak folk from Finland
• Mountain High  “Co-Op Shmo-Op”  7″  (Hot Dog City Record Co.)  $2  - garage / indie rock
• My Cat Is An Alien / Roden, Steve  “Cosmic Debris Volume II”  CD  (A Silent Place)  $10  - split of quiet sound, reissue of extremely ltd art LP
• No Land’s Band  “Percolating Joys”  CDR  (Ero)  $2  - CDR, ambient noise electronics
• Oracle  “Doomed to Reign Volume Two”  CDR  (Scatalogical Liberation Front)  $5  - CDR, ltd. 100, Seattle black metal
• Oval  “Ovalprocess”  CD  (Thrill Jockey)  $7  - glitchy ambient electronica
• Pink Floyd  “More”  CD  (Capitol)  $8  - originally releaed in 1969
• Popol Vuh  “In Den Gärten Pharaos”  CD  (SPV)  $8  - essential ‘71 album of Moog ambiance w/bonus tracks
• Pretty Things, The  “S.F. Sorrow”  CD  (Edsel Records)  $10  - very psychedelic pop from 1967
• Various  “KVRX Local Live, Vol. 13″  CD  $2  - w/Donkeys, Half Japanese, Akron/Family, Balmorhea
• Weirdlords  “The Book of Weird Vol. 1″  CDR  (Council of Serpentry Music)  $2  - experimental & lo-fi rock from Seattle
• Weirdlords  “Zizlore’s Mansion”  CD EP  (Council of Serpentry Music)  $2  - heavy rock from Seattle; 26 minutes
• Whitman, Keith Fullerton  “Playthroughs”  CD  (Kranky)  $8  - pretty drones
• Zorn, John  “Cartoon S&M”  2 x CD  (Tzadik)  $12

Two brand new releases from local label Debacle Records came in today.  First up is “Fuck Rockin’In American Airspace” by Broken Penis Orchestra - a 10th anniversary release of cut up pop culture samples and absurdity.  This one is a CDR with a bonus DVD-R of BPO live at Wooden Octopus Skull 2005.  Packaged in a full color cover with micro detail photocollage artwork, this one is limited to 100 numbered copies, but yet still sells for only $5.00!  $5.00 can also get you the new double 3″ CDR with one disc each by Penetration Camp and Physical Demon packaged in a nifty full color folder sleeve.  This pairing has some collage elements as well, but mixes them with good old noise, sheet metal and synths.  We’ve still got a bit of the Debacle back catalog in stock as well such the recent discs by Hemingway and Brent Landon, plus slightly older titles like …Wind Swept Planes… (who play in store on Thursday night).