Superior Viaduct

The minimal masterpiece and always the rarest Faust artifact from the 70s. A fantastic work. Hugely recommended to fans of minimalism.

"Violinist, composer and filmmaker Tony Conrad started his career in New York in the early 1960s. As a member of the Theater of Eternal Music (a.k.a. the Dream Syndicate) alongside John Cale, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela and Angus MacLise, he participated in now-legendary and often legendarily loud drone performances with many pieces having no beginning and no...

A beautiful, fully licensed, gatefold lp replica of the original. It sez here: "Heldon's startling second album. Sounds like Cluser or Harmonia combined with Gastr del Sol."...

"Franco Battiato is often heralded as Italy’s answer to Brian Eno. A quizzical composer / lyricist, Battiato turned pop music upside down in the early ‘70s with three classic LPs—Fetus, Pollution and Sulle Corde Di Aries—that formed a confluence of avant-folk sensibilities and analog electronics.

Pollution from 1972 is the captivating follow-up to Fetus. Like its predecessor, the album features Baroque textures, motorik rhythms, weird tape effects and Battiato’s perfectly oblique vocals. Upon he

“Following the release of lo-fi electronic masterpiece I Don’t Remember Now / I Don’t Want To Talk About It and his brilliant follow-up Plaster Falling, Cincinnati-based artist John Bender began assembling his third and last album, Pop Surgery, in late 1982.
While all of Bender’s work draws from intimate home recordings—featuring the artist alone with various keyboards, analogue sequencers and tape delays—Pop Surgery remains the one that perhaps best distills his arrant deconstruction of the “pop”...

"Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain is the quintessential work of artist/filmmaker/composer Tony Conrad. Comprised of both film installation and minimalist score for amplified strings, Ten Years leaps across genre and medium to connect his revolutionary structural filmmaking with the experiments in long-duration sound that Conrad had begun in the 1960s as part of the Theatre of Eternal Music. 'Ten Years began with image before sound,' writes Andrew Lampert, 'a row of quadruple projections arranged...

"Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain is the quintessential work of artist/filmmaker/composer Tony Conrad. Comprised of both film installation and minimalist score for amplified strings, Ten Years leaps across genre and medium to connect his revolutionary structural filmmaking with the experiments in long-duration sound that Conrad had begun in the 1960s as part of the Theatre of Eternal Music. 'Ten Years began with image before sound,' writes Andrew Lampert, 'a row of quadruple projections arranged...

“American composer and multi-instrumentalist Alvin Curran has remained one of the great emblems of experimental music for the last half-century. In 1966, along with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, Curran co-founded Musica Elettronica Viva, a seminal gesture in collective free improvisation. In the early ’70s, his solo work would become a crucial bridge between minimalist traditions on both sides of the Atlantic.
Canti E Vedute Del Giardino Magnetico, Curran’s solo debut, was recorded by....

A beautiful reissue edition on the always great Superior Viaduct label of one of his great, earlier releases.
I really like Dreyblatt's work from this time period. He would have a small ensemble work with mostly re-tuned instruments which he would have them bow and strike according to his score, until the room fills with waves and waves of sound. This is quite similar to what I saw.

"Arnold Dreyblatt has been called “the most rock ‘n’ roll of all the composers to emerge from New York’s....

"Philosopher, musician and anti-art activist, Henry Flynt has long foregone the academicism often associated with “serious music” in favor of a uniquely intuitive, emotional approach to composition. In the 1960s and 1970s he was a part of NYC’s vibrant avant-garde scene, studying with Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath and developing his own proprietary technique on violin.
You Are My Everlovin’, Flynt’s first published musical work, finds the composer in peak form, recorded live at Inroads, New York

“Composer, filmmaker and photographer Phill Niblock is a true pillar of the New York avant-garde. In the past 50 years, he has curated over 1,000 performances at his Centre Street loft and steadfastly built a massive, multidisciplinary body of work. While his earliest musical compositions date back to 1968, Niblock waited until the early ’80s to release any recordings. Nothin To Look At Just A Record, a powerful debut with densely layered trombones, would be the first to unfurl his unique approach to...

This was Richard's first album after the dissolution of Heldon and it's an mostly solo work (Francois Auger (drums) and Jean-Philippe Goude (mini-moog) join him on one track) that conjures up impressions of icy, pristine landscapes.

“Consisting of longer, brooding synth-based pieces as well as short proto-industrial études and interstitial sketches, Iceland features Pinhas’ delay-ridden electric guitar, pulsating machine rhythms and analog synthesizer washes—all vivid in texture and timbre...

"On Suicide's First Rehearsal Tapes, recorded in 1975, Alan Vega and Martin Rev create minimalist aural structures, traces of which would surface on their eponymous debut album, released on the Red Star label in late 1977. These songs are not a sketchpad of semi-formed ideas. The First Rehearsal Tapes comprise an audio diary of two men out in the ether, measuring themselves as evolving individual artists and as a unit who would rely on inseparability to realize their unique and often confrontational...

Excellent first album by this Australian post-punk ensemble! First-time vinyl reissue since its initial release in 1983.

"In the fertile terrain of New Zealand’s 1980s post-punk scene, few figures loom as large as the Jefferies brothers. Graeme Jefferies and Peter Jefferies—the primary forces behind This Kind Of Punishment—wrote some of the best music to come out on Flying Nun, Xpressway or elsewhere. A dizzying mix of pastoral ballads and DIY experimentation, TKP’s songwriting was at once...

In the early 80s, John Bender released two, hand packaged vinyl lps of minimal, lo-fi, 'coldwave' electronics. They were both really great and are now really quite rare and it's nice to see this (the first one) available again.

"John Bender recorded voraciously between 1978 and 1980 at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Not even song titles could slow down his creative pace, as he named all the tracks after their position on the original tapes. '36A2,' for example, was cassette #36 side A, piece #2....

"Emerging out of Amsterdam's vibrant squat scene in 1979, The Ex -a name chosen for the ease and speed with which it could be spray-painted onto a wall-have for four decades been an entirely self-sustaining musical entity, charting a course through the global underground with a spirit of freedom and radical exploration.Originally released in 1982, History Is What's Happening features one of the most harrowing title/cover art combinations in recent memory. What at first glance looks like a firing squad...

This is a great, late period 'old style' Sun Ra lp; it's his first NYC recording, as far as can be told, but it sonically has much more in common with his Chicago recordings of the late 50s, which is my very, very favorite period of his work. Highly recommended.

"Sun Ra's only release for the Savoy label is a gem. Recorded in October of 1961, this is probably the first recording the Arkestra made after arriving in New York. As such, you're dealing with a smallish Arkestra (seven main...

"On his fourth album, Clic, Franco Battiato moves further out—into realms of pure and elemental approaches to sound—to create a seminal work that flows naturally from one musical form to the next. Every second ripples with orbital chords, kosmische textures and schizophrenic string quartets, yet somehow manages the same dramatic pacing and variety as his avant-rock albums Fetus and Pollution.
Originally released in 1974 on Bla Bla, Clic features Battiato on VCS3 synthesizer and piano, along with...

The minimal masterpiece and always the rarest Faust artifact from the 70s. A fantastic work. Hugely recommended to fans of minimalism.

"Violinist, composer and filmmaker Tony Conrad started his career in New York in the early 1960s. As a member of the Theater of Eternal Music (a.k.a. the Dream Syndicate) alongside John Cale, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela and Angus MacLise, he participated in now-legendary and often legendarily loud drone performances with many pieces having no beginning and no...

“Flaming Tunes' sole release is perhaps the finest elegy to the '80s home recording ethos that you've never heard. Originally released in 1985 on cassette (with individually hand-colored covers), this self-titled album grew out of the collaboration between childhood friends Gareth Williams and Mary Currie.
Williams is best known as a member of English art-rock band This Heat. After leaving the group in the early '80s, he travelled to India where he studied classical Kathakali dance-an experience...

“Since the mid-1960s, Jon Gibson has played a key role in the development of American avant-garde music. As a versatile reed player, he has performed with everyone from Steve Reich and Philip Glass to Terry Riley and La Monte Young. In the 1970s, Gibson would emerge as a minimalist composer in his own right and release two exceptional albums, Visitations and Two Solo Pieces, on Glass' Chatham Square imprint.
Songs & Melodies brings together recordings from 1973 to 1977 (mostly previously...

"Manchester-based Factory Records set up a US office in the early '80s.
In typical Factory styles, they allocated catalogue number FACT A to a 1981 gig with New Order and Ike Yard in NYC.
FACT A SECOND would be Factory America's debut release, Ike Yard's self-titled LP."

“Ike Yard remain a legendary band of early '80s New York City - at once immensely influential, yet obscured by a far-too-brief initial phase. Their debut EP, the dark and absorbing Night After Night, sounds almost like a

Excellent, weird, darkly circular electronic release from 1981, which, strangely enough, was originally released on John Fahey's Takoma label.

"This first-time CD release is mastered from the original analog tapes. First appearing...

"Reissue of a seminal Shandar lp of early Reich music, recorded at two concerts in 1970. Both pieces are for four organs, & you can hear the early elements of his non tape-music here. Includes Phillip Glass as a member of the ensemble!"

"'Four Organs' is the ultimate minimalist composition. Performed by Reich, Glass, Art Murphy and Steve Chambers, four identical Farfisa organs strike a single chord and gradually lengthen each note to produce polyrhythms between the players. Anchored by Jon...

“The Screamers were part of the first wave of L.A. punk bands, active in 1977-1981. They cleared new paths for the sound and image of rock music, abandoning electric guitars for a keyboard-based sound, as well as embracing video and theatrics in a manner that put them far ahead of their time. However, the band never released a record and outside of several bootlegs of demos and live performances, there has never been an official aural document of their trailblazing music.”
Until now! ...

“It's been nearly five decades since Joe McPhee assembled a group of musicians to perform the weekend concerts that would become Nation Time, his second LP. It was December 1970, thirty-one-year-old McPhee was inspired by Amiri Baraka's poem 'It's Nation Time,' and the students at Vassar Collegedidn't know what hit them. 'What time is it?' shouted McPhee. 'Come on, you can do better than that. What time is it?!!' The music on Nation Time came out of a fertile, but little-known creative jazz scene...

“Ellen Fullman began developing The Long String Instrument in her St. Paul, Minnesota studio in 1980 and moved to Brooklyn the following year.
Inspired by composer and instrument builder Harry Partch, Fullman's large-scale work creates droning, organ-like overtones that are as unique in the world of sound as her vision of the instrument itself. Along with her 1985 debut album-appropriately titled The Long String Instrument-Fullman's only output in the 1980s would be two self-released cassettes...

"Hailing from Nuneaton, England, Kevin Harrison recorded both solo and collaboratively throughout the late '70s and early '80s. While his early recordings would come out in hyper-limited editions or go unreleased for decades, Inscrutably Obvious remains his sole LP-a lost gem of Britian's '80s cassette culture and DIY bedroom aesthetics.
Originally released in 1981, Inscrutably Obvious covers a lot of ground on it's seventeen inscrutable tracks-from analog synth workouts to mutated disco and...

"Takehisa Kosugi is an inter-media artist and performer who started his career back in the '60s in Tokyo. With his first band Group Ongaku (free anarchist-conceptual improvisations) he was introduced to the Fluxus avant-garde movement. During the '70s, he was a member of the mystical, psychedelic, droning rock band Taj Mahal Travellers. He co-founded the band in 1969. Since the end of the '70s until now, he has released several solo albums and commissioned works for events and sound installations. His...

“In 1981, The Ex started squatting Villa Zuid, an estate overlooking abandoned Van Gelder paper factory in the village of Wormer, Netherlands. Formerly the home of the factory's manager, the Villa briefly served as the band's base of operations and would inspire one of The Ex's most impactful, enduring albums in their 40+ year history.
Originally released in 1983, Dignity Of Labour is "our idea of improvised industrial punk noise," states Ex-frontman G.W. Sok, which not only offers a perfect...

"Limited vinyl LP repressing includes bonus 7” pressing of the rare Move EP.
1979 solo debut from The Homosexuals bassist Jim Welton (aka. L. Voag). A band by the name of The Rejects were formed in the bar of Goldsmith's College in South London in 1976. The name The Rejects was too deeply embedded in what was regarded as "the new conformity of punk," leading to the name change to The Homosexuals. The band then lived in a series of squats while making music and recording. Their angular guitars...

Reissue of Budd's first generally available album, which came out in 1978 on Eno's Obscure label, and which featured a wretched pressing, like ALL the Obscure releases, so it's good to have this available in a a much nicer and more listenable form!
Very much in line with his better known work from the early 80's on EG with Eno.

“For five decades, Harold Budd stood on the forefront of the West Coast avant-garde. Born in Los Angeles, he studied with Schoenberg-pupil Gerald Strang and began...

“While awaiting the release of Dignity Of Labour, The Ex headed back into the studio in early 1983; this time with a new friend-The Mekons' Jon Langford-helping produce.
Originally released in April 1983 (only a month after Dignity Of Labour), Tumult marks a major evolution in Ex-sound. Opener "Bouquet Of Barbed Wire" emerges snarling out of post-punk atmospherics with Terrie Ex's glacial guitar, Bas Masbeck's loping bass and cascading tom-toms from new recruit Sabien Witteman, while "Fear" and...

"Following their groundbreaking collaboration with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Comme à la Radio, Areski and Brigitte Fontaine began recording almost exclusively together as a duo. Originally released in 1973, Je Ne Connais Pas Cet Homme is their first record billed under both names.
Deeply rooted in North African and European folk traditions, the album features evocative vignettes with breezy vocals and minimal accompaniment of classical guitar, strings and woodwinds. As always, there is a...

“In the summer of 1981, The Fall embarked on their second American tour, criss-crossing the States over a two-month period. Featuring the dual guitar of Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon and rhythm section of Stephen Hanley and Karl Burns, A Part Of America Therein, 1981 would document this fabled journey with crucial performances that show the band evolve from noisemaking lout cultists into true post-punk legends.
"From the riot-torn streets of Manchester, England to the scenic sewers of Chicago..."...

“Prima Materia was a vocal improvisation ensemble, founded by Roberto Laneri in 1973. Composed entirely of vocalists with no academic training, the group developed various techniques-revolving mostly around the use of overtones-that would embody their unique sound. No instruments nor electronic manipulations were ever employed within the group's physiognomy, which was realized purely through the human voice.
La Coda Della Tigre, the group's sole album, was recorded in 1977 by Alvin Curran and...

The sheer brutality and energy of this album are still hard to take (and even believe) 25 years later. And these people were on heroin, which is a depressant? Oh, to be young and filled with energy.

"In 1979 the quintessential 'no wave' group released two albums simultaneously; Buy was effectively the group's debut, originally appearing on the indie label ZE, while the same project was released as Off White under the adopted alias of James White, one of the many identities of leader James Chance...

“...a stunning collage of rehersal excerpts & studio experiments that dates back to 1971 - & still sounds 20 years ahead of its time.”- Rolling Stone

“Faust stand among the most influential creative forces to have emerged from Germany in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Along with Can, Agitation Free, Neu! and others, Faust rejected the Anglo-American norms of rock ’n’ roll to start a back-to-basics and uniquely Teutonic revolution in sound—later dubbed by the UK press with the semi-derogatory...

“Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint.
The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden voyage. Bryars...

“Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, England in 1943. His first musical forays were as a jazz bassist working in the early 1960s with improvisors Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Bryars later worked with composers John Cage and Cornelius Cardew, founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia and collaborated with Brian Eno on his famed Obscure imprint.
The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars' first major composition, was inspired by the tragic event of the British passenger liner's cross-Atlantic maiden voyage. Bryars...

First ever CD issue of this weird, sort-of-systems-music release from 1976!

“David Cunningham was born in Ireland in 1954. His work ranges from pop music to gallery installations including several collaborations with visual artists. His first significant commercial success came with The Flying Lizards' single "Money," an international hit in 1979.
Originally released in 1976, Cunningham's first solo album Grey Scale has become a landmark statement of DIY minimalist composition - continuing...

First ever reissue of this weird, sort-of-systems-music release from 1976!

“David Cunningham was born in Ireland in 1954. His work ranges from pop music to gallery installations including several collaborations with visual artists. His first significant commercial success came with The Flying Lizards' single "Money," an international hit in 1979.
Originally released in 1976, Cunningham's first solo album Grey Scale has become a landmark statement of DIY minimalist composition - continuing...

"La Monte Young is the daddy of us all." - Brian Eno

“La Monte Young was born in Bern, Idaho in 1935. He began his music studies in Los Angeles and later Berkeley, California before relocating to New York City in 1960, where he became a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian...

"La Monte Young is the daddy of us all." - Brian Eno

“La Monte Young was born in Bern, Idaho in 1935. He began his music studies in Los Angeles and later Berkeley, California before relocating to New York City in 1960, where he became a primary influence on Minimalism, the Fluxus movement and performance art through his legendary compositions of extended time durations and the development of just intonation and rational number based tuning systems. With wife and collaborator, artist Marian...

This is the first of the 2 albums that the duo of Hans Joachim Roedelius & Didier Moebius recorded for the Brain label. From 1972, it uses primitive synthesizers, electronic junk, guitars, basses, homemade boxes & more to achieve a true and utter masterpiece of early electronic sound. I can not recommend this highly enough!

Beautiful, new replica edition of this great, classic German release. There is currently no in-print CD edition; this is the only version currently out there!

After recording their classic II, the duo of Hans Joachim Roedelius and Didier Moebius joined forces with Michael Rother (ex Neu!) for two fabulous albums as Harmonia. So this, their 2nd album for Brain, was not released until the later 70's, & features slightly more sophisticated electronics & slightly less obvious 'junk' than before. Still..

“Warren 'Sonny' Sharrock died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1994. At the time of his death, many writers noted that he had recently landed a contract with a major label (RCA) and was perhaps 'destined for big things.' In my opinion, these writers missed the point. Although Mr. Sharrock may not have been successful financially (as though that might be a primary motivating goal for any true artist), he was uncommonly successful aesthetically. Certainly, there are a few dubious moments to be found...

"Byard Lancaster was a composer/multi-instrumentalist born in Philadelphia in 1942. He started playing alto saxophone at an early age and later took up flute and bass clarinet. While attending Berklee College of Music, Lancaster and pianist Dave Burrell organized late-night jam sessions with fellow students and touring musicians.
In 1965, he moved to New York and quickly became part of the city's burgeoning scene -- playing with jazz luminaries such as Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, Bill Dixon and...

Beautiful reproduction, including the great, psychedelic, gatefold jacket, of one of my favorite albums by Albert!

"In the mid-'60s, Albert Ayler found himself at the center of major transformations within jazz. On his albums for ESP-Disk', his delivery was radically aggressive and his tone blistering -- aiming for something beyond the New Thing. His music would be further energized when (at the behest of John Coltrane) Bob Thiele signed him to Impulse! As Ayler told The Plain Dealer at the...

"By the early '70s, Milford Graves had more or less stopped gigging. Having learned his lesson the hard way in multiple-night runs like a legendary Slugs' residency with Albert Ayler, he knew that the level of energy that he put out during a performance would be difficult to sustain over the long haul. A concert was a kind of absolute ritual for him, after which he would be totally spent, emotionally and physically. Graves rarely left anything on the table. Any musical performance was an opportunity to...

"The late percussionist Milford Graves was one of the most unique artists the world has ever seen. Born in Jamaica, Queens in 1941, he began his career in the early '60s as a part of New York's vibrant Latin jazz scene. His focus quickly turned inward, shifting towards a practice that explored the very nature of self. From his work in the New York Art Quartet and collaborations with Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock and more to his important contributions during NYC's loft era-he is, simply put, free jazz...