astralasia arrival

It's been a month past it's initial release date with Fruits de Mer struggling to get the print run accurate for the new Astralasia vinyl album.

"a black and white optical image card sleeve housed within a optical image PVC outer sleeve -- so the images disappear when you put the two together

Bet Keith at Fruits De Mer won't be trying that too often. Still it's all come out in the printers wash in the end and is now ready to disappear before your very eyes.

Astralasia's Marc Swordfish remarks they made a departure from their usual approach for the new recording

"Wind On Water' mostly came about thru jams, a bit similar to our first cassette, rather than being sample-led; it kinda takes us to a more organic, free situation, especially to redo them live. It certainly makes it more exciting for us, even our full-on wig-outs. The current line up is so fluid, it's certainly a most exciting place. Vinyl releases matter to us more than anything and are still paramount, no matter how many people download it or cds,its not the same buzz or sound/art representation gratification, some magic disappears. we may be in a digital age but we are still real, let's keep it so

Krautrock style trance psychedelia. With some nice guitar.
Available from Fruits De Mer for around 20 quid in the UK and from Hey Day or Shiny Beast outside the UK.

craig padilla and 'sonar'

Fruits De Mer are building the electronic music section of their label very nicely. Another high quality recording, this time a double album 'Sonar' by Craig Padilla.
Padilla has been evolving this his electronic symphonies for some years now. You'll recognise the sound instantly. This clip has that compelling "Rainbow in Curved Air" Terry Riley vibe and the modernist electronic composers of the 70's influece. It'll be those vintage synths that do it everytime.

'Sonar' is a compilation of recordings by Craig Padilla from 1996 onwards, none of which have appeared on CD or vinyl before. Although they span nearly 20 years of recordings, Craig and I selected them to provide a consistent feel across four sides of listening -- music influenced by the kosmische sounds of the 70s, but fed through 21st century equipment. Immerse yourself.

And it's not difficult to immerse yourself in this clip from 'Sonar'. And below that the Tubular Bell like 'Velvet Moon'
All the order details are here

astralasia vinyl on fruits de mer

Fruits De Mer summer albums have the unmistakeable quality the London independant label have been consistently releasing for some years now.
Astralasia, described by All Music as "mysterious ambient-dub and tribal house" are pretty much born from the New Age early 90's and have a good dozen recordings behind them by now.
Their latest for FDM 'Wind On Water' is exactly where they want to be.. on vinyl.
The bands Marc Swordfish...

'Wind On Water' mostly came about thru jams, a bit similar to our first cassette, rather than being sample-led; it kinda takes us to a more organic, free situation, especialy to redo them live. it certainly makes it more exciting for us, even our full-on wig-outs. The current line up is so fluid, it's certainly a most exciting place. Vinyl releases matter to us more than anything and are still paramount, no matter how many people download it or cds,its not the same buzz or sound/art representation gratification, some magick disappears. we may be in a digital age but we are still real, let's keep it so..."

In his usual open humour Keith Jones at FDM describes the sleeve as "black and white optical image card sleeve housed within a optical image pvc outer sleeve -- so the images disappear when you put the two together (that's the theory anyway, we haven't printed them yet!) "
Let's hope it all works out K and them printers get it matched.

Wind On Water is released in early June 2014 - more information here
One look at the artwork and you sort of know what's waiting in this excerpt of their track 'Rangoon'. High quality trance begins >

barn owl

The heavy, minimalist, trance-inducing collaboration between Bay Area guitarist Jon Porras and Evan Caminiti -- have released a new LP, titled Lost in the Glare.
On this release, the guitars are complemented by a Farfisa organ, Juno 60 synthesizer, bass clarinet, manipulated cassette tapes, tanpura, gong, and drums. The video above, for the track Turiya, provides a dose of the Barn Owl sound that Aquarius Records elegantly describes as "darkly epic doom folk dronedrift dreaminess."
Download the MP3 for free here while it's available, Courtesy of Thrill Jockey records.