Your cart is currently empty!
£11.99
Few copies in stock with minor wear on sleeves, pictures can be sent upon request.
Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.
The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.
In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars).
The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where [Thurston] Moore, [Kim] Gordon and [Lee] Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.
The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world.”
Tracklisting:
1. C.B.
2. Green Love
3. Brother James
4. Kill Yr. Idols
5. “Mad” Groove
6. I Love Her (All The Time)
7. Expressway To Yr. Skull
8. Spahn Ranch Dance
9. “Blood On Brighton Beach”
10. Burning Spear
11. Death Valley ’69
12. Speed JAMC
13. Ghost Bitch
14. World Looks Red
15. The Word (E.V.O.L)
16. Brother Jam-Z
17. Killed And Kicked Off
Few copies in stock with minor wear on sleeves, pictures can be sent upon request.
Jlin’s detailed and meticulous exploration of rhythm’s inner and outer reaches has made her one of the most distinctive and recognisable voices within both the electronic and classical music worlds. Her compositions are consistently appealing and have an accessibility to them, yet often defy expectations. She exists within her own locus solus - no matter the collaborator, no matter where sounds ultimately lead her.
Whatever the situation – from composing the Pulitzer Prize shortlisted ‘Perspective’ for Third Coast Percussion, to ‘Godmother’ her AI-powered collaboration with Holly Herndon, Jlin always expresses her outlook to the fullest.
Her new album ‘Akoma’ sets a new benchmark in her personal road map, not only since the album features guest appearances from Björk, Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet but for her continued sonic persistence and resistance.
Jlin does what Jlin does and it’s beloved across genres, across scenes and across generations. ‘Akoma’ is a new entry point into her sound and a new approach for both those who have been following diligently and those who are just now entering her world.
So how did she get here? Here’s a rundown for those looking for the facts.
She was both a math nerd and a steel factory worker. She got inspired by Footwork and started making tracks with mentorship assistance from RP Boo and DJ Rashad, but her music was far from typical for footwork from the get-go. In 2011, she released her first track ‘Erotic Heat’ on the Planet Mu anthology ‘Bangs & Works Vol.2.’
Fashion designer Rick Owens heard it and invited her to soundtrack his Paris Fashion Week show. Already before an EP or an album Jlin was in new cutting-edge territory. And it hasn’t stopped since. Everyday Jlin wakes up early and clocks into her home studio working hard on new music. Her discipline and craft-like approach means that those who would try to copy her sound simply can’t get to the level she is at.
Since ‘Erotic Heat’ she has released two bold albums, 2015’s ‘Dark Energy’ and 2017’s ‘Black Origami.’ She has also released her soundtrack to Company Wayne McGregor’s dance piece ‘Autobiography’ (2018) and most recently (2023) the mini-album ‘Perspective.’
She’s remixed µ-Ziq, Factory Floor, Ben Frost, Max Richter, Björk, Martin Gore and others. She’s collaborated with Holly Herndon and the late SOPHIE. She’s worked with visual artists Kevin Beasley and Nick Cave. She composed a string quartet for Kronos Quartet and performed with them live in a tribute to Philip Glass. She also recently completed a tribute to Sun Ra with Kronos. ‘Perspective’, her very well received percussion work for Third Coast Percussion has further opened doors for her in classical music. She’s even thinking of one day writing an opera. She had a residency at MassMoca Museum earlier this year (2023).
She’s performed live at Pitchfork Festival, Unsound Festival and too many others to mention.
She’s also worked with Indian dancers, Company Wayne McGregor and renowned choreographer/MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham.
There’s more but you get the picture - she’s working in contexts and in ways that few of her peers are able to. ‘Akoma’ is the next step - all these paths have led to this.
We encourage you to tune in.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Borealis (ft. Björk)
2. Speed Of Darkness
Side B
4. Summon
5. Iris
6. Open Canvas
Side C
7. Challenge (To Be Continued II)
8. Eye Am
9. Auset
Side D
10. Sodalite (ft. Kronos Quartet)
11. Grannie's Cherry Pie
12. The Precision Of Infinity (ft. Philip Glass)
After two critically acclaimed albums (2020’s ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ and 2022’s ‘The Rest Is Distraction’), and numerous mini-album, EP and single releases, London-based trio Girls In Synthesis return in May ’24 with their new statement; their third album ‘Sublimation’.
If you thought you knew GIS, think again… they have moved on and created a dark and intense, yet melodic, collection of songs; their take on an angular pop record. Opening song ‘Lights Out’ is split into two distinct sections; the opening a Barrett-esque vocal and guitar lament to sleep deprived anxiety which morphs, via a ‘Faust Tapes’ influenced freeform noise section, into a stomping, high intensity closing blitz.
Tracks such as ‘Deceit’, ‘We Are Here’ and ‘Picking Things Out Of The Air’ see the group at their most melodic to date, minimising some of the chaotic noise elements of their signature sound and bringing to the fore impassioned, soaring vocals and keys melodies.
Their trademark, driving drums and bass foundation is particularly evident on songs ‘I Judge Myself’ and ‘Corrupting Memories’, but is counterbalanced by intense, early goth influenced keyboard lines, bringing influences from late 1970s/early 1980s into focus with the contemporary GIS intensity. Slow-burning tracks ‘I Was Never There’ and ‘The Prefix’ build up tension and atmosphere with sparse arrangements and circular, spiralling outros, while closer ‘A Damning Lesson’ sees the band return to their intense, bludgeoning wall of sound only to send it into a blur of echoing drum machine, reminiscent of the early work of Cabaret Voltaire.
Lyrically, GIS prove themselves head and shoulders above their contemporaries, leaving the pastiche sloganeering and lecturing to those wishing to preach to the converted, and reach inside to bring forth poetic and challenging analysis of the anxiety and emotional turmoil of self-reflection and human relationships.
Booked in for extensive UK/EU touring throughout May and June, the band will be adapting their white-heat live show to bring subtlety and clarity to the new songs from ‘Sublimation’, losing none of their unique and intense performance in the process. Be ready…
Tracklisting:
1. Lights Out
2. Deceit
3. Semblance of Choice
4. We Are Here
5. Corrupting Memories
6. I Was Never There
7. Picking Things Out Of The Air
8. I Judge Myself
9. Subtle Differences
10. The Prefix
11. A Damning Lesson