Artists featured include Boris Kovac, Volapk, Giovanni Venosta, Keith Rowe + Alain De Fillips, Shelley Hirsch/Jon Rose/Chris Cutler, Thomas Dimuzio, Marie Goyette, Ken Ando (of 5uu's), Brian Woodbury, Philip Perkins, Steven Tickmayer & more. All titles are exclusive to this release.

The early 1980s seemingly weren't a great time for creative music. Punk had come, swept away all the old (both good and bad - they didn't care!) and had mostly self-destructed by then, leaving the generally less interesting 'new wave' and all its subsets, all of which seemed to be made to get people to dress up 'creatively' and go out, snort cocaine and dance ('punk disco', my wife called it then). While there *were* a few exciting signs if you knew where to look for it, for the most part the collision...

Bob Drake: drums, bass, backing vocals, tapes, viola
Susanne Lewis: vocals, guitar, viola, accordion, synths

Venus Handcuffs is an early, pre-Hail project by Bob Drake and Susanne Lewis, both of whom were working in Thinking Plague at the time they were also simultaneously doing this duo work.

"Referred to as "a cross between Throbbing Gristle and Nick Cave" during the band's lifetime, Venus Handcuffs got their start in the ranks of Colorado's most far-reaching band, Thinking...

Nice record by an instrumental trio of Lukas Simonis-guitar, Bob Drake-bass, Chris Cutler-drums, playing music very much in the vein of The Ventures and of twangy guitar / instrumental music of the sixties. The main goal was to:" return to the old work method, rarer today, where the band sits around with instruments, plays the pieces in real time, and works out the arrangements together, and then records them while they are still fresh." The ‘twangy guitar / instrumental rock sound’ definitely brings...

Lauren Weinger's album Silo is drawn from the soundtrack of a large-scale installation project, Picture Powderhorn, which was 1st performed around the grain silos in Minneapolis, in August of 2000. Featuring aerialists covered in mics and recorders asc...

This is a really good and completely unclassifiable Americana-based orchestral big-band work, with obvious nods to Van Dyke Parks (see below) and far beyond. I hope that some people pick this one up based on its worth, as I think this will be a tough s...

When Henry Cow fell apart in the summer of 1978, the main players in the band dispersed. Fred Frith left England to settle in NYC for a good number of years, getting involved the then just beginning to evolve 'downtown' sound, recording three excellent and high-profile albums for Ralph Records, forming first Massacre and then Skeleton Crew. Chris Cutler formed the Art Bears and also was an important member of Cassiber. Lindsay Cooper and Georgie Born did a lot of musical improvising and John Greaves had...

"Classic recording by the ever deeper Russian instrument builders and masters of live electroacoustic/song/sound sculptures. Dangerous, Bitter, Desperate and Down to the Bone, but carrying a huge emotional charge and a rare beauty. This is lived music, both mature and profound."-Chris Cutler

The 1st by the duo of Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille plus guests. Primitive electronics, reeds, electric & acoustic pianos, noise, songs, & the hovering spirit of Satie. Not as divine as Traite De Mechanique, but still an excellent and essential releas...

“This legendary band, whose reputation continues to grow as time passes, were gone before anyone knew they were there. They played a handful of concerts, reformed very briefly to make a second LP, then immediately disbanded again. But the records attracted a cult following, especially in Japan.
Their existence became tenuous, flickering, mythological. How come there's an original Beefheart drawing on the inside cover of their first LP? Why were they invited onto France Culture to debate...