Angus MacLise - Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda

When Lou Reed ditched this shamanic man from the original lineup of VU, obviously he made a terrible mistake. After leaving the Velvet Underground for good, Angus traveled around between North Africa, India, Greece, the Middle East and finally finding his place in Nepal. A student of both La Monte Young and Aleister Crowley, he would begin to blend Tibetan mysticism with his music to create magical forms of transcendent sound through various drone techniques. If you try this album, then you will likely to find that the Skaters' music is the mammoth serenaded by this dinosaur music. You just can't describe this. Try it.

Angus MacLise - Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda

Terry Riley - Shri Camel

Terry Riley's place in the minimalism camp of modern classical music has been secured ever since his '60s debut. His career eventually found its zenith with such marvelous as 1964's In C and 1969's A Rainbow in Curved Air, Riley's use of cyclical and repetitive patterns brought comparisons to fellow minimalist Steve Reich during this time, too. Having since fallen deeply into Indian music by way of several years of study with the north Indian vocal master Pandit Pran Nath, Riley found a fine middle ground for his classical minimalist training and the music of India on this 1980 release. With a specialized Yamaha keyboard and a 16-track studio as his tools, Riley creates four instrumental longplayers here, all sporting a mix of Far-Eastern atmospherics and minimalist explorations. Meditative yet quite provocative, Shri Camel will definitely please your swollen eardrums. Have a nice trip.

Terry Riley - Shri Camel

Tau Emerald - Travellers Two

This collaborative venture from Fursaxa's Tara Burke and Sharron Kraus came about when the two musicians missed a flight bound for Finland. Instead of rebooking or changing flights the duo decided to spend the week at Sharron's house recording this album. The end product of their endeavours is a three-quarter-hour collection of improvised acoustic psychedelia and avant-folk song crafting. There are comparatively few pieces that would fit into any conventional song template, but the largely a cappella, almost ecclesiastical sounding 'Hensbane' stands alongside the mediaeval-styled title track and the drifting sea shanty 'Mermaid's Call' as examples of what these two can do within the parameters of 'traditional' folk music. Elsewhere, you'll find a varied approach to instrumental music, with some pieces along the lines of 'Evening Wings' propelled by melodious string plucks and sonorous metallic drone tones, others taking the form of pure percussion, as on the magical 'Stoikite' while 'Laureola' establishes a reedy astract drone. With so much emphasis on variety and multi-instrumental exploration, Travellers Two is an album that never fails to maintain your interest, ranking amongst the best work of either artist. Highly recommended.

Tau Emerald - Travellers Two

Sun City Girls - You're Never Alone With a Cigarette

Recorded in July of 1988 during the sessions that produced Sun City Girls' most popular recording, these nine tracks represent the other half of songs which were originally prepared as a 2LP demo version of Torch of the Mystics for Placebo Records in 1989. The sequencing of all 20 tracks at the time was entirely different with the predominately instrumental tracks in this collection mixed in and around the mostly vocal tracks of what became Torch. Placebo went out of business shortly after this proposed 2LP idea was presented to them but Majora Records quickly stepped in to begin releasing most of the material. Included here are five tracks from early Majora singles: "100 Pounds of Black Olives" and "The Fine-Tuned Machines of Lemuria" (the complete unreleased 12-minute version) from the single "You're Never Alone with a Cigarette" and all three tracks from Record #1 of the double 7" Three Fake Female Orgasms -- "Plaster Cupids Falling from the Ceiling," "The Beauty of Benghazi," and "Souvenirs from Jangare." The short piece "Harmful Little Armful" is from the triple 7" box set Bruce Lee, Heroin, and the Punk Scene (from a Bay Area label Massacre at Central High) and rounding out the set are three unreleased studio tracks recorded the same day as much of the Torch LP: never before heard versions of "Amazon One," "Sev Acher," and "Wild World of Animals." This is the first of a multi-volume set of reissued singles, compilation, and unreleased tracks to be assembled and sequenced to play as full-length records. Vinyl editions may also appear in time.

SCG - You're Never Alone With a Cigarette

Kemialliset Ystävät - s/t

Kemialliset Ystävät (English translation: Chemical Friends) is an ever changing group of free form pilots who have been sending murky audio clouds from their basement in Tampere, Finland to the people of the world since 1995. They work in short, spooling instrumentals, building layers of simple repetitive riffs into laminal mudcakes and weaving ghosts of folk song into huge tunnels of drone. They utilize a wide spectrum of moldy acoustic instruments and almost broken electronics to create their joyful noise but the recording studio in itself might be their single most important instrument. Members of Kemialliset Ystävät are involved with other projects such as The Anaksimandros, Avarus, Islaja, Kiila, Es and Päivänsäde.

Kemialliset Ystävät - s/t

White Rainbow - Prism of Eternal Now

Portlander Adam Forkner is White Rainbow. He creates magical musical moments that one must spend time with. No hurry here; he lists his influences as Jon Hassell, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream and if you know of at least one of those artists, then after listening to these acid waves from Prism Of Eternal Now, you will understand that i-doser is nothing but a joke. Tryp out, people.

White Rainbow - Prism of Eternal Now

Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan - Pullhair Rubeye

Pullhair Rubeye is the first solo album released by Animal Collective member Avey Tare and his wife, Kría Brekkan (Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, formerly of múm). The album was released on April 24, 2007 in CD, LP, and digital formats. It was recorded with guitars and piano on an eight track in their practice space in Brooklyn and later mixed down on a borrowed two track. This album comes in two releases, the forward playing version and the backwards. This is the original forwarded form. Nice and Warm.

Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan - Pullhair Rubeye