music fellowship

black forest / black sea –s/t– music fellowship – cd - 9$

BLACK FOREST/BLACK SEA is the Providence duo of Jeffrey Alexander (mostly guitar) and Miriam Goldberg (mostly cello). They play free-form music that draws from folk traditions. The have toured extensively in the US and Europe, from Savonlinna to Sicily, Riga to Reykjavik and Portland to Portland. This is the fourth BF/BS full-length - recorded in Providence, RI, Portland, ME and Montague, MA with guest performances by Italian sound sculptor Stefano Pilia (guitar, tiny sounds) and Miriam's sister Margot Goldberg (phonorgan). Yet another sister - Gillian Goldberg - provides lyrics. Miriam and Jeffrey also incorporate voice, ur-pedal, casio, bul bul tarang and omnichord. "...a half-improvised framework of guitar, cello and sundry accented glitches...a magnificent patchwork tent of bark, calico fabric, twisted vines, and fallen stars...a gorgeous snapshot of the free psych underground, one of the purest spaces of otherworldly terrain in the current musical landscape." - Pitchfork

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dialing in - the islamic bomb - music fellowship - lp - 15$

Reita Piecuch transforms field recordings from her extensive travels through south Asia into dense, static-barbed walls of drone through a variety of arcane and archaic methods of sound transformation. Instead of using a sampler, Reita's collection of odd and classic vinyl is mangled by pieces of scotch tape across the grooves, allowing her to capture samples of everything from Soviet 78s and Bollywood to classic rock and folk onto cassettes. When moving to cassette, the four track becomes her instrument, allowing her to transform the sound by speed and pitch and through layering with other sounds. The backdrop for all this tape fuckupery is the inspiration of her travels through Asia. By mixing audible snapshots of her journeys with piano, harmonium, and her collection of samples, Piecuch creates an amazingly textured and unique sound. The new album, The Islamic Bomb, uses recordings from her recent trip to Pakistan. Calls to prayer from the Islamic muezzin become movements so antarctic they slow the heart. Discintegrated loops of fast-talking boys on the street become jittery Ata Kak rythms, masterfully meshed with slow drifts of muffled piano. The Islamic Bomb is Dialing In's third album following previous releases on Pseudo Arcana (Cows in Lye, 2006) and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon (Ketalysergicmetha Mother, 2005). It is undoubtedly her most restrained, meditative, and mature work to date. Jade green vinyl limited to 500 copies.
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heavy winged / windy and carl - monolith:earth - music fellowship - lp and cd - 17$

The first monolith appears on Earth. The apes, huddled in a valley, find the mysterious object and approach it with trepidation. With one hesitant touch, evolution is spurred, and the apes begin their ascent(/descent) to humanity with the use of tools. Territorial wars between apes are no longer fought with fists and teeth, but with bones and clubs. As the victorious ape hurls his deathclub into the air, thousands of years of evolution fly by from first tool to spacecraft.

The Monolith series combines two artists on the same one-sided, reverse-cut LP by hard-panning one recording to the right and the other recording to the left. By adjusting the panning controls on his or her turntable, the listener is free to control the degree to which the two recordings melt into one. Each edition in the series is limited to a one-time pressing of 500 picture disc LPs featuring a Monolith inspired painting by Ned Clayton and includes a CD with stereo mixes, extended versions, and bonus tracks.

Monolith: Earth is the oxymoronic pairing of dreamcore drone legends Windy and Carl and new school leaders of free rock Heavy Winged. Heavy Winged contribute one of their darkest, most oppressive tracks yet. The addition of Windy and Carl's purity creates something entirely different. It's no longer the sound of three bros busting out dark drone metal in some shed in snowy Vermont; it's now the sound of some communal artists busting out epic krautjams in the German hinterland. Primitive, vicious early man meets colossal pristine symbol of higher thought - could there be any better pairing for this Monolith?
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robedoor - shrine to the possessor - music fellowship - lp - 14$

New batch of brutal minimalism from Robedoor on their first vinyl full length, Shrine to the Possessor. This one is pure darkness - no light, no air, just tortured souls and echoed cries. Three epic droning processionals built from the heaviest, thickest low-end tones. The sound of indentured servants from a scorched dustbowl wasteland. Caveman aesthetic pushed to its limits by recording to eight analog channels.

Robedoor's storied back catalog includes full length CDs on Release the Bats and Interregnum, collaborative albums with their sisters-in-arms Pocahaunted on Digitalis, Ecstatic Peace, and Blackest Rainbow, and countless other long sold-out CDRs and tapes, several on the band's own label, the undeniably prodigious Not Not Fun, as well as on Ruralfaune, Chocolate Monk, Chondritic Sound, and many others.

Recorded by Bobb Bruno at Bored Fortress HQ in Eagle Rock, CA. Artwork by Andy Spore. Includes silkscreened 11x17 poster. Limited and numbered to 500.
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double leopards / sunroof / mouthus – crippled rosebud binding – music fellowship – 2xlp - 24$

The 5th installment in our triptych series brings together two Brooklyn bands, Mouthus and Double Leopards, and the sonically entwined Sunroof! of England. While each band contributes a side to this two-LP set, the artists are brought together not just figuratively on wax, but literally, as the fourth side features all seven musicians playing together. Double LP Gatefold artwork and design by Mouthus.
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tarentel – ghetto beats on the surface of the sun vol 3 – music fellowshipp – lp - 11$

ramses III – matanuska – music fellowship – cd - 11$

During the quiet nights of winter while the snow gently falls outside, the fireplace offers warmth and light. The UK's Rameses III hail from a place where subtle drifts are priceless. These insular drones are highlighted by rich acoustic depths, adding so much contrast that it's heartbreaking. Recordings of birds add a natural grace, and in the context, this trio is freed. Within these digital walls rises something majestic, extracted from the soil. With their latest full-length release, Rameses III build upon their burgeoning reputation as architects of some of the most beautifully striking soundscapes around. Matanuska invites metaphor, conjures atmosphere and envelopes the listener in its shroud. Glistening waves of string and keyboard hum and shimmer to create wondrous ambient sculptures that eventually find release in a blossom of bucolic folk. Matanuska will appeal to fans of Stars Of The Lid, Eyvind Kang, Brian Eno, Thomas Koner and Richard Youngs.
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black forest / black sea –s/t– music fellowship – cd - 11$ / lp 14$

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hala strana – heave the gambrel roof – music fellowship – lp- ~~20$~~ sold out

Steven R. Smith began recording music under the Hala Strana moniker in 2002 as a way to further explore his interest in traditional Eastern European folk music, apart from his solo releases under his own name and collaborative work in Thuja, Mirza, and other Jewelled Antler creations. Heave the Gambrel Roof is Smith's fourth full length album under the Hala Strana name. The album is a return to the shorter, more song-based form of Fielding and Hala Strana and includes reworks of four traditional Albanian tunes as well as seven original tracks. *The first pressing of the LP is limited to 250 copies. The cover is a 12"x12" square of wood that has been hand cut and hand sanded, with screen printing on both sides. Each copy is hand numbered using a woodburner, with the vinyl wrapped in felt, and includes an 8-page chapbook created and printed by Smith.
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this is the first pressing and has the wooden covers

tarentel –ghetto beats on the surface of the sun vol1 – music fellowship – lp - ~~12$~~ sold out

tarentel – ghetto beats on the surface of the sun vol2 – music fellowship – lp - ~~12$~~ sold out

tarentel – ghetto beats on the surface of the sun vol 4 – music fellowship – lp - ~~11$~~ sold out

Tarentel's predominantly instrumental compositions read like chapters of an epic novel - vast and absolutely breathtaking. Tarentel's tidal force and blissful elegance elicit the kind of ecstatic response their name suggests. This album is being released as a series of 4 limited 12" LPs, each between 30 and 40 minutes...

The four LPs are comprised of studio and home recordings from September '04 to April '05, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun isn't your grandma's Tarentel. It will eat your face, make you shake your ass, with a healthy dose of psychedelic fever and blast off moon landing thrown in for good measure. Take your medicine!

blithe sons / claypipe / pekko kappi - the amzed map – matanuska – music fellowship – cd - ~~12$~~ sold out

Volume 6 in our triptych series comes from our friends at Jewelled Antler. Located in different corners of the world; central California, New Zealand, and Finland share rich ecologies. All three are heavily forested, and all three are influenced by prevailing warm coastal winds, creating a common cathedral of nature welcoming reclusion and spiritual introspection. It's natural then for this compilation of forest folk bands growing out of the Jeweled Antler collective to include artists from these three locations: The Blithe Sons from California, Pekko Kappi from Finland, and Claypipe from New Zealand.
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franciscan hobbies– walls are stuck –music fellowship – cd - ~~11$~~ sold out

The Jewelled Antler's The Franciscan Hobbies return with their fourth full-length album (& second proper CD) of anarchic folk-noise & abstract nature processionals. Based around Thuja-explorers Glenn Donaldson, Loren Chasse & Rob Reger, this free-form musical body also encompasses another half-dozen friends from likeminded bands
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robert horton – sleep, wake, hope, and then – music fellowship – cd - ~~11$~~ sold out

Sleep, Wake, Hope, and Then are the most recent pieces by Robert Horton, striving to create an album full of recordings that shimmer and change the light. Horton has performed and recorded for almost 30 years in a variety of outlets. He founded the Appliances, part of SF's first wave of punk bands in 1979, and formed the tribal noise drone group Plateau Ensemble in 1983. Since then, he has been a prominent contributor to the last two revolutions in home recording, both the cassette culture of the 80s and 90s and the CDR zeitgeist of the 00s. Robert records under his own name, Egghatcher, and Future Ears. He is currently a member of Kyrgyz, Beautiful Friend, Infinite Article, Broken Mask, and a duo with Tom Carter. Co-released with New American Folk Hero.
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