stunned

chrome wings - time patterns - stunned records - cass - 7$

Nothing is exempt from evolution, and Portland’s Chrome Wings are a prime example of that principle when they take simple amoeboid sounds and swiftly sculpt them into electric body parts & sets of hi-fi feathers for the dance floor. With the magic and levity of storm clouds parting way to a rainbow or a kiss from a lover, ‘Time Patterns’ approaches unassumingly, yet leaves the listener breathless and wanting more a half-hour later. It’s a sound that’s taken Chrome Wings personal time & dedicated evolution to arrive at, obvious to all who’ve caught their recent live performances. Rhythms this juicy and soundforms this hypnotic in arrangement offer proof that we higher-primates can ascend toward the very stuff of dreams — in the club, at home, in the car, all of the above. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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queen victoria — there will come soft rains - stunned records - cass - 7$

Nick Malkin of Queen Victoria shares: "Ambling along the line where song meets drone, ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ is a delicate union of human noise, field recording and vague narrative. Six pieces of desert folk recorded with guitar, percussion, violin, keys and voice in a room colored with the distinct presence of something natural and unknowable, there and unthere. It is one ethereal document of an autumn in Los Angeles that leads Queen Victoria through examination and expression both within the frame of structure and without." Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c28 tapes with insert and double-sided jcard, cover photo by the band.
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duck dive / edibles - split - stunned records - cass - 7$

Indonesia might seem an unlikely locale for the discovery of an analog synth recording artist who’s keeping abreast with our corner of cassette culture. But in the capital city of Jakarta, a man known as Gonzo is doing just that, and doing it pretty damn well. We were tipped off to Gonzo’s rad project Duck Dive by Dewey Mahood (of Portland’s Eternal Tapestry & Plankton Wat), who shares this split tape as newly-founded groove/dub vehicle Edibles. Here both jammers align themselves as global poles of mellow in order to slow the clock with clear-air visions of eternal summer & worldwide chill-out. Let the guitar, synthesizer, hand drums, jungle calls, and bird songs found on this c43 drive every bummer away. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c43 tapes with double-sided jcard and insert.
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torture corpse - stop the mind - stunned records - cass - 7$

After Torture Corpse debuted the gritty ‘Particular Sufferings’ on Stunned last year, we followed closely as his statement of devastation continued unfolding with an excellent EP on Italy’s Radical Matters. Now with a renewed ferocity and focus, this Act II casts an unflinching gaze at the brutal state of the world through Netherlands-zen/apocalyptic-Buddhist lenses. With the schemes of the globes’ shadow elite being exposed daily and the emperors of the world appearing quite unclothed to all who care to notice, Torture Corpse urges on toward the next necessary stage: ‘Stop the Mind’. Bracketed between black noise apparitions are vast stretches of radioactive chant and meditation bowl strikes, cerebral activity cooling to zilch. Circuits open and fully offline, there comes a bracing visit from none other than Manjushri — inevitability we can believe in. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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husere grav - stunned records - cass - 7$

Following up recent stunning releases on Anathema Sound and a killer split tape with Robedoor, Texas black metal/drone lord Husere Grav now burns another 37 minutes on his electrified altar and the thick, humid vapor releases ancient memories of equinox rituals. Entreaties are made into nine realms of the unknown, each a masterfully shaped atmosphere pregnant with expectation; none dare breathe in a place so still. Austere tectonic frequencies permeate like dense clouds of incense until all fades in ash-raining guitar haze, and catharsis reigns. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c37 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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mortuus auris & the black hand — freiheit ist immer freiheit der andersdenkendenc - stunned records - cass - 7$

The last time we heard from Mortuus Auris & The Black Hand, the London cipher-weaver spun a most quixotic tapestry alluding to a nearby Other (Stunned no. 46). This next chapter raises the tension ever higher, thoroughly exploring ancillary avenues of nocturnal field recording & alien found sound. ‘Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden’ is an amalgamation of organic and inorganic energies fused into a beautiful, breathing contradiction. Special recording & editing techniques employed over its hour align the sacred geometries uncovered in spider webs, fishing nets, and tantric sex positions. The luminous sub-dimension revealed by such transgressive use of tech might take some getting used to; its’ presence suggestive of a Contact experience right under our own skins. Hand-numbered edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c60 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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lunar miasma — three legged elephant - stunned records - cass - 7$

Near the center of Athens, Greece’s recent swell of experimental sound activity is Panos Alexiadis, Insult Recordings operator and former Red Needled Sea jammer. Turning a page along with his city’s recent scene, Panos is now busy at work with his analog synthesizers, prompting a name change last year to Lunar Miasma and a handful of amazing releases already on labels like Small Doses, Ruralfaune, and Basses Frequences. ‘Three Legged Elephant’ continues the wild ride with two varied sides of phase pattern play and bold synth lines signaling like lighthouse beacons from the moon. Stereo-swept arpeggios gurgle brightly underneath expertly laid fields of sine antigravity, lifting the whole affair into genuine komische ecstasy. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c45 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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sparkling wide pressure - facing the nothing world - stunned records - cdr- 7$

Frank Baugh of Sparkling Wide Pressure reports: “This is music which reflects the inner urge, the secret fear, and the courage to look directly. Guided by moods into the true reflection of an empty world that is open. Open world. Sitting still and being one with movement. Seeing the truth reflected in hollowness. It is like saying prayers in a nothing world. Pointless and poignant.” Exacting sentiments as we see this – Stunned’s final CDr edition – out into the world & into your own intimate listening experiences. Limited edition of 111 stamped cdrs with double-sided color cover in vinyl jacket.
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talisman - initiate into the mysteries - stunned records - cass - 7$

Early in 2007, Mark Ledoux and M. Geddes Gengras stepped into a Philadelphia recording space for a week and simply tore it up together, performing a multi-instrumental alchemy with guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, glockenspiel, dulcimer, bells and drums. The result of this dive into free-shredding folk and alternate-scale acoustics was ‘Initiate Into the Mysteries’ — the Talisman duo’s one & only album first issued as a highly limited CDr on Night Goat Records. Stunned was fortunate to score one of these rare early editions, and ever since it has been a favorite jam no matter what time of day or what mood we’re in. Now on its third birthday, this tragically-overlooked masterwork has been dusted off, re-edited, and re-mastered with care by the band. We’ve additionally transferred it to high bias chrome tape along with all new art design. Let’s just say it’s about time. Talisman’s skill in fusing cloaked twilight dirge with sun-blinded modal reverie is totally compelling, and displays some of the more technically-accomplished passages heard from either members’ inimitable output. Let the mysteries resonate strong as ever with our renewed attention and this special second issuing. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c43 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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sudden oak - banquet years - stunned records - cass - 7$

Ever since watching them torch down LA’s Echo Curio in 2008, John Ward & Matt Erickson of Sudden Oak have been our favorite Frisco free-sound bruisers. This cassette might come as a surprise turn even for those privy to the duo’s own Bezoar Formations imprint and its periodic outflow of Sudden Oak tapes and discs. A further refining of their road-toughened scuzz, ‘Banquet Years’ turns in a document of whiskey-soaked saxophone lurch and boogie guitar slime-motions. These two ataxic modalities are without individual agenda, fusing into a singular badass voice which is equally comfortable commanding a bulb-glaring bunker as it is crashing the narcotic pool party nextdoor. Bounce back & burn it proud. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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sean mccann - open resolve - stunned records - cass - 7$

Confounding expectations and annihilating boundaries, ‘Open Resolve’ is not only Sean McCann’s 3rd time back on Stunned, but its also his postcard from the utter edge. Hummingbird-speed cymatics liquefy the scaffolds of time in anticipation of a completed simulacrum. A flickering, sizzling future-spew for me & for you. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c43 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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andreas brandal - secrets of the snow - stunned records - cass - 7$

A silhouetted form beckons us into the darkened forests of Norway, and we follow anyway, sensing that secrets may be revealed in the thawing undergrowth. Seed and larvae which were burrowed deep all winter respond to the warming of Earth’s crust, and before one knows it, the snow rescinds to sprouting greens & creeping things. Who lead us here? How did he know this would happen now? Questions only Andreas Brandal could immediately satisfy, and does just so, on his newest tape release proudly presented here. Since the early nineties, Brandal has orchestrated significant visions of both seasonal & dimensional shift in his soundcraft. Likewise, ‘Secrets of the Snow’ weaves a tableaux of wilderness abandonment, sentient mycelia, and complex drone-frequencies emitted via planetary groans. Capturing these rich, subtle intimations on tape comes only with the extensive focus and practice Andreas Brandal is suspected to have had in those groves of intrigue he coaxes from perennially. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c43 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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granit korridor - III - stunned records - cass - 7$

Sven Dyllus hails from Germany and is the man behind Granitkorridor’s newfound brand of concrete mystique. ‘III’ is the follow-up to Dyllus’ debut pair of catacomb-carved cassettes on the Rudio Horrible label. The Granitkorridor approach is alluringly simple and resumed here; across 6 starkly unique pieces, deep floating bass guitar riff is drawn into fields of wayward gravitational ebb & flow. Dense coil reverberation materializes a vapor trail which charts a glorious slowburn toward cosmic core. Maximal effect springs eternal from the most minimal perpetuations of tone, and these blissful sixty minutes might as well be sixty years long. Hand numbered edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c60 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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excavacations - stunned records - cass - 7$

The Offices of Moore & Moore guys often have a thing or two up their sleeves when it comes to their design and label curation. But now OMM’s Chad and Nicholas have gone and slammed down the wild card. The formation of their musical arm signals a refreshed zeitgeist with little prior warning. Excavacations nod toward just about everything that’s worked right in rock/kraut/indie/pop/drone the last 40 years while still managing to sound entirely original and future-bound. With this fine balance in place, the duo execute a veritable opus for our WTF times in under an hour. Expansive, ambitious, endlessly-repeatable, and oftentimes fist-pumping fun like tearing through Big Sur on a motorcycle. With all requisites met for a holiday in the sun, Chad and Nicholas along with Stunned invites everyone to kick back with this soundtrack, rest up, and tilt our shades toward a brand new decade. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c56 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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m. geddes gengras/a.m. shiner — the blue push/the red kush - stunned records - cass - 7$

A dazed high-5 thrown between two dudes celebrating the good leaf & west coast living. MGG curls his dense smoke signals into hypnotized pythons the hue of purest sativa on ‘The Blue Push’. This uber focused A-side arrives at dawn after some heavy out-of-body wandering over a diverse nightscape. It’s breakfast time and AMS orders an indica off the menu, proceeding to side B with bong lit brightly. Seven hiccups and a big long belch. Wha’ happened? ‘The Red Kush’ might have something to do with it. Or maybe it was ‘The Blue Push’ we had earlier? Whew… what’s that you said? Pass the tape again? Have at it. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c46 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
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analog concept - impressions - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Alexey Pushkin of Analog Concept made his inaugural visit to America last summer with audio recorder in tow, capturing as many natural city sounds in NYC as possible before returning home to Russia to edit these source tapes. What resulted from this intricate documentation is ‘Impressions’ — an album quite unlike anything we’ve heard in recent memory. As Analog Concept navigates lonely subway tunnels, bustling city parks, and ominously desolate corridors, his layered travelogue yields to borderline-subliminal synth accentuations. Never entirely unaffected field recording, never entirely a formal synthesizer composition, this one sits on our shelf marked ‘unclassifiable’, and we’re delighted to offer it here for your own unique collection. Special edition of 111 cdrs with double sided color sandwich-covers in vinyl jacket.
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ossining/afterlife - split - stunned records - cass - 7$

This split is a convergence of forty fingers and four heads belonging to 2 crews who are no strangers to the school of modern synthesizer work — Kevin Danchisko (Sovetskaya Gone), Brad Rose (Digitalis/The North Sea), Ryan McGill (Bones of Seabirds/Cliffsides) and Franklin Teagle (Anathema Sound/Meditations). To say that each of these members has had a helluva ’09 is total understatement. Dudes have burned it up on all levels audile & visual. Case in point: the opening side’s all-hands-on-deck approach of Ossining. Kevin & Brad launch laterally in warm g-force tones for the remainder of Side A’s high-altitude analog cruising. There’s no need to come down from such birdflight bliss with Afterlife’s B-Side, offering a bounty of dilated-eye synth trance. Here Ryan & Franklin reach for the gooier forms which emerge at dusk on the horizon. Crisply telepathic in their chemical trailblazing, they dare to chisel flashing arpeggios down to quark level. Ladies and gentlemen, we have drift off. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c52 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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pine smoke lodge - haligdaeg - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Pine Smoke Lodge’s Hillary & Matt hail from Portland Maine, where Matt also runs the awesome label Existential Cloth. The timing of the arrival of their ‘Haligdaeg’ is perfect for us northern-hemisphere-huggers who are now getting hit with the full thrills and chills of winter. Together Pine Smoke Lodge summit snowy banks of acoustical drone in ever-ascendant strides of bowed & plucked strings, icicle bells & xylophone, and heat-generating vocal mantra. The trail they follow is never steep, but vista-revealing peaks are reached in good order. Bookended between two stretches of sparkling activity comes a middle passage where one feels the clock has frozen as solidly as the ground underfoot. Such moments of palpable harmonic stasis trickle throughout ‘Haligdaeg’, making the climb worth it every time. Limited edition of 111 hand-stamped cdrs with color cover in vinyl jacket.
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a.m. shiner — bananarchy - stunned records - cass - 7$

Sulfuric post-music debut by the young & troubled Andrew Michael Shiner, whose sonic vernacular on this special edition long playing cassette never strays far from snotty concrete chomping noise. Side A is seven widely varied attempts at funneling assaultive energy thru a black hole in the hopes of its emergence as a pure & beautiful force of healing through the white hole on the other side. Just barely making it there and catching glimpses of the toxic information field being refined in the analog shitstorm is enough to let this single side roll out the length of a full album. Side B matches the first fifty minutes with two more minimally-oriented pieces that include Andrew’s first ever “metahistoric live performance” (were you there? probably!). All is finally capped by a half hour time-freezing monolith wash guaranteed to mellow any harsh incurred by contact with the bananarchic agenda. Also look out for new chapters of the A.M.S. crisis to unfold soon on Housecraft and Sound Holes. Hand numbered edition of 80 pro-dubbed black & white c100 tapes in vinyl album with cover collage compiled from a year’s worth of strung out doodles from A.M. Shiner’s old bummer-job phone log.
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tricorn and que - ashes wander - stunned records - cass - 6$

Jeff Astin. Kane Pour. Tricorn and Queue. Dawn of time. An eye, singular and illuminated from without. A twitch, a blink. Two eyes appear. Gaze frozen open, beholding. End of time. ‘Ashes Wander’. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
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antique brother and the family band - digger gold - stunned records - cass - 6$

A new hour-long Antique Brothers jam is enough to get excited about, but when sibling shredders Ged & Cy Gengras include The Family Band it’s a full-fledged Happening to be attended at all costs. Along with the Gengras bros. on ‘Digger Gold’, Caitlin C. Mitchell, Jake White, Jeremy Kelley, and Seth Kasselman of Warm Climate join together in cracking open the smelling salts for all seven of our chakras. It’s rare to find improvisers (family or not) willing to explore just about anywhere in soundspace together and still take their time to happily map each co-discovered step of the way. Getting out of hand and family reunions go quite hand-in-hand, so listen as these partiers’ charms and spells transform the occasion into group sonic alchemy. Noise melts into grooves like lead smelts into gold and we all go home richer, baby. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c63 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
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hammer of hathor - false teef - stunned records - cass - 6$

Mark E. Kaylor & Heather Vergotis are active members of the burgeoning Portland free music community, having busted their chops around town for years prior to forming the multi-instrumental beast Hammer of Hathor. Some duos in PDX can pull off jazz or punk, and some can pull off scuzz or folk, but HOH venture to ask “why not take it all on?” Their ‘False Teef’ begins at any number of disparate points to launch into super inspired jam mode, as we can testify after 40 such minutes of feedback meditation, string twang trance, surging tape loop, smoked out riffs, and a pair of rattling false teeth perched upon the amplifier. It’s also immediately apparent these partners are synched for optimal 4D pattern-weaving and burnt basement reach-out to the tangential points between the weird and weirder energies. Breathe in a whole new scenery, take on a whole new time — a soundtrack is here to assist the switch. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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rambutan / chapels - split - stunned records - cass - 6$

Kindred wielders of the guitar electric, Eric Hardiman of Rambutan and Adam Richards of Chapels are back for a second time this year on Stunned, and with good reason. Both consistently excavate load after load of deep-listening paydirt from their upstate NY studios. Rambutan initiates descent on this split by carving lush amp whispers before Holland Hopson stops by for a halftime banjo & electronics breather. Eric’s rich brand of reverberant mystery-making is resumed for the remainder of the spool, a perfect preparation for Chapels’ intriguing B-side string sculptures. Beautifully haunting, this triplet of pieces by Adam is some of his most incandescent yet, riddled with bits of black gem & bright crystal. Just another night’s work for each of these miners, their complimentary flavors of ore hoisted out of dreamtime’s cavern into the light of day. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c59 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
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padna - siberia / hinterland - stunned records - cass - 6$

"Geiger counters, crystal radio sets, sonar consoles, and broken walkie talkies chatter their way through a binary snowdrift on the opening side of ‘Siberia/Hinterland’. Chilly, spooked, and Siberian for sure, but it could just as well be an eerie code transmitted from the dark side of Pluto. Who knows? Brooklyn’s Nat Hawks might begin to answer, as he is the purported brains behind this sprawling enigma. He’s also responsible for running the totally fresh label LittleFuryThings and performing in avant NY outfits like Christian Science Minotaur. Clearly, his solo Padna role is no stranger to wrangling strange cargo such as found at the front of this c56. Side B’s ‘Hinterland’ reciprocates these anti-drone motions with a brightened palate of its own. Seven protean orchestrations run a whole rainbow range of opaque tones. Both sides of Padna’s coin are landed on throughout the trip, flipping from dark atmospheres to warped merrymaking at a whim. Being introduced to these creations has definitely been one of the highlights of Stunned HQ’s listening year, and echoes of the Padna endeavor are bound to be near. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c56 tapes with insert card and double-sided color jcard." -stunned
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pummeler / derek rogers — juggernaut / simmer - stunned records - cass - 7$

SIDE A: Denmark’s Pummeler wants nothing more than to tug at your arm like Virgil and then drop down together into an underworld of intrigue lit by rows of meter-tall candles. His ‘Juggernaut’ is a relic remaining from some ancient struggle between maddened monks and shadowy succubae for turf within an alternative purgatory. Here, lava-thick vocals of abandon fume in spires toward an unresponsive midnight. Navigation through the columns of rotted wire & dank-as-hell electronic mantra of Pummeler may be tricky at times, but between us and Dante, we have some good guides on both sides of the historical divide. Look for Pummeler on tour through the UK this September with Shiggajon & Claus Haxholm! SIDE B: I first met Derek Rogers while on tour through Austin with Magic Lantern in March. We found ourselves mutually stoked to be in a city that rightly prides itself as a mecca of southwest american weirdness, and the demo he passed on seems like the perfect reflection of that time & place. Rogers’ noise/synth jamz can either be scorching as a Texas brushfire, or glimmering in crystal refracted oasis-stasis. Either way, the casios are coolly bent, the tape loops are locked, and things go straight into gummy unreality in the plastic-melting mirage of ‘Simmer’. Look for Derek on tour in California this August playing with Al Qaeda & Mike Watt! This split c60 is a limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted tapes with collaged double-sided jcard and cardstock insert.
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torture corpse — particular sufferings - stunned records - cass - 6$

It’s close to a few minutes before the end of Side A that you might sense it. A true sonic confrontation with the Big One. That’s right — death. The ol’ grim reaper, grasping his sharpened scythe. Dust to dust, worm’s food. Mortified matter oozing from the stereo speakers. And so, our first confrontation with Torture Corpse’s debut release ‘Particular Sufferings’ was a heavy, heavy affair indeed. We felt beauty and awe, we felt dread, we laughed, we damn nearly cried. In addition to such visceral gut reactions, we became increasingly convinced that very few musicians maintain such master-level control as TC’s Robert Kroos displays over these weighty 46 minutes. This is deep bardo death bliss from Holland hung on a thematic scaffolding of the Buddhist hell realms and their respective inhabitants. Torture Corpse could have merely crafted a depressing literal interpretation of these dim zones even the grimmest of us rarely glimpse at. But instead he infuses these prickly places with an insightful, affirming poise. It’s a bold testament to fearless artistry which wields the flame of creative consciousness through both blistering noise blackness & ambient White Light floating. Funny all this talk of the dead, then, for something so thrilling and ultimately lifelike at the end of the day. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed and imprinted c46 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
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masons / molten honey — in the basement of the temple / molten honey - stunned records - cass - 6$

during the winter of 2005, ny filmmaker matthew lessner (darling darling; by modern measure; the woods) and his then 14-year old sister sophie fortuitously gained late-nite access to the basement of their hometown's masonic temple. creeping under dark cloaks and employing the sense of sibling telepathy, the two managed to set up their gear and capture the session of what is now their delirious 2008 debut tape side in the basement of the temple. we've enjoyed playing this demo the last few years for any stunned houseguest wanting the ultimate nutso explosion of graveyard confetti punk. we also can't think of a better bush-era sayonara statement, hence the three year wait on properly unleashing this fifteen-minute flash. totally freaked out, all manner of esoteric energies pent up behind the boiler room doors of the lodge are channeled furiously thru the duo – sophie's lacerating clarinet feedback & guitar punctuations bleat in perfect pulse to matthew's neon war cries and punished drum kit. one would think flipping this tape over might provide some relief from the a-side's secret society onslaught. but that's exactly where john frank's molten honey awaits in a den of sound dementia, hammering his former psych'd folk styles into even more obtuse angles of guitar rattle, contact mic probe & synth key slap. this self titled b-side provides eight vastly different post-2012 snapshots that wiggle their mercurial imagery under our mesmerized gaze. hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed c30 tapes in imprinted hot orange shells & fold-out color j-card.
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donato epiro - sounding the sun - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Over the course of ‘Sounding the Sun’, Italian psych magician Donato Epiro aims his wand in all directions of the acoustical field, doing his best chameleon’s dance with drums, flute, chanting, and strings. An impressive dynamism is in play when Donato takes his bonfire percussion & fluttering raga loops, then swiftly braids them down to stilled passages of minimalist vibration. It’s a blissful abduction of the ear’s attention/perception, harnessed to a pervasive feeling of time running backwards as the album spins forward. A beautiful and unpredictable escape to some far off sunny fields of a magical land long, long ago. Limited edition of 100 hand stamped cdrs with double-sided insert card & color cover in vinyl jacket.
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padna - metal hurlant / farmer's hearth - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Nat Hawks from Padna reports: “Last winter I went home with no music equipment and when I arrived was invited to play a show the next week. So I went into my closet at my folks' house and found all manner of old, broken sound toys. This is an elaborate recreation of the set I did for that show. Also, at the time, my father was getting heart surgery, which resulted in the conflicting emotions of holiday brightness (Metal Hurlant) and dark contemplations (Farmer's Hearth).” Limited edition of 111 stamped cdrs with color cover and double-sided insert in vinyl jacket.
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magnetic north duo - midnight safari blues - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Sindre Bjerga and Nils Rostad hunt down roomfuls of skittish warbles & waves over 3 separate live performances collected here for their sophomore offering ‘Midnight Safari Blues.’ Having debuted together as a duo earlier this year on Tape Drift with the excellent ‘Static Fields Forever’, the two indicated a shift in Norway’s free-noise priorities. This is resonance that wants to be held and sculpted like soft clay. One might suggest Bjerga’s minimalist electronic peppering and Rostad’s dream-drunk guitar act like handfuls of yeast thrown into the otherwise limp loaf of roomtone that’s encountered by every performer upon first stepping into their show space. Every contrasting string pluck and layered sinusoid create a little air pocket allowing the listener to breathe moment-to-moment, unsure of when the next alignment will arrive. This welcomes in an ever-evolving interplay of active & passive improv structures, and a reflection of an audile world which folds organically into night’s magnetic center. Hand numbered edition of 100 stamped cdrs with full color sleeve & double sided insert card in vinyl jacket.
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a.m. shiner - good cop - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Andrew Michael Shithead heaves bad-mannered molotovs of juvenile delinquency & stolen wattage back into the city grid, intent on waking at least one other dreamer for the fight. A post-urban portrait painted in hot shades of shrapnel and puke that is not fit for those with heart conditions, children under 13, or reptilian politicians (and their good cops). Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of FIRE.
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yuko x chino - sovereign plumed serpent - stunned records - cdr - 7$

Yuko x Chino is the blazing new-ish solo vehicle for Sasqrotch member Danny No/Fi. In similar fashion to his LA-based homeys, he sticks to everything that is lean & mean about metal and drone. Danny’s guitar work conjures a blizzard of white ash within our cochlea, unleashing sickly stretches of a crafted confusion that seems bound to etch a new sense into the collective mind. The concluding slice here is a live radio performance on KCSB Santa Barbara, where YxC is introduced as special guest Bright Eyes. He then proceeds to decimate with upper-register wail while Chad from The Offices of Moore & Moore drops in on guitar. Woah is right… consider the airwaves taken back! Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of EARTH.
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smgsap- chrysalis cycles - stunned records - cdr - 7$

"shea M. gauer and scott A. peterson are smgsap, and Chrysalis Cycles is their third full length release in nine years as a group. The layered soundscapes here testify to a pair of improvisational artists with ears for excruciating detail – meticulous gatekeepers on the threshold of analog/digital transfer banks. Moans of plate tectonic energies lay a groundwork for the duo to unleash a wide variety of insectile oscillations and zaps of errant particle collisions. By the conclusion of the four cryptic cycles, it’s hard not to be convinced that somewhere, maybe right under your nose, a creature has undergone a magical, chemical reconfiguration. Ltd. 69 handnumbered cdrs in heavy cottonpaper pouches with fold-out color insert."
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dreamcolour - innerworship - stunned records - cass - 8$sold out

If there is one group that has emerged from 2009 which best embodies the Future, in our mind it would be California’s Dreamcolour. We were hooked ever since first checking their righteous live actions, their early cdr & taped treats, and their uncontainable offerings of jazz and drone’s most mystical sides. ‘Inner Worship’ finds this intrepid tribe bloomed out to a 9-piece at times, shooting for nothing less than Sacredelica in the raw. Yes, an entirely new genre seems ripe for carving here after one gets wet with this hour long wave. Dreamcolour operates with such an impressively cohesive front that they take the meaning of “unity through sound” to the next fractal notch. The sweaty saxophone bop, orbital viola lines, and holy hollers of Side A impressively distill to a pinpoint of mass mind mantra on Side B. Like hearing all individual parts of an explosion reach their expressive boundaries and then implode into a singular, refined meditation. When these sun-risen modes of the Inner are visited here (and that’s quite often) don’t be surprised if you find yourself grabbing the nearest instrument at hand, becoming a temporary 10th member of Dreamcolour, and worshiping right along. Limited special edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c60 tapes with double-sided color art in vinyl album.
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a.m. shiner — bananarchy - stunned records - cass - 7$sold out

super minerals - clusters - stunned records - cass - 7$sold out

Finally breaching the surface of the sea after a 3-year deep dive, Super Minerals now gulp in lungfuls of oxygen only to notice its quality has changed quite a bit in the time they’ve been submerged. Fins and gills are sloughed — wings are needed now. Perched high on coastal cliffs in the fog of a polygon sunrise, ‘Clusters’ celebrates with upright piano & bells that spirit which commingles prepared herbs with the purity of raw Pacific light. For fans of Charlemagne Palestine, early Keith Jarrett, Vangelis dipped in vaseline, or John Tesh in flames. Hand numbered edition of 111 pro-dubbed & gold ink imprinted c47 tapes w/ double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of AIR.
-stunned

dead black arms - lake reflection catalyst - stunned records - cass - 7$sold out

The last time Copenhagen’s Claus Haxholm dropped a Stunned release under his Doom Riot moniker, it caught the ear of many seeking drones of timeless celestial import. Including Julian Cope, who recently called it “guaranteed guestlist entry into the Underworld… a righteous and coherent statement of intent that should have y’all returning again and again.” So we asked Claus back, and this time he returns in Dead Black Arms garb to resume the Danish bleak-streak. ‘Lake Reflection Catalyst’ lasts half as long as the last go-around so it makes sure to burn twice as hot over dual/dueling 20+ minute sides. Listening closely, one becomes privy to a dawning horror wrought high above mirrored waters — a startling, unprepared realization and the ensuing paradox. The scene holds especial tension given Dead Black Arms’ relentlessly minimal approach to guitar and percussion drone. Often stripping back all semblance of tone in order to chase down forces of sheer electricity, Haxholm’s obsessive pursuit bares his instrument’s power to sculpt stark new forms. Yet somehow an array of subtlety is preserved in the crush of naked timbre, affirming that details are never overlooked by Denmark’s dark son. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted & pro-dubbed c46 tapes in clear shells w/ blue foil liner & double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of WATER.
-stunned

sean mccann - frame of mind - stunned records - cass -7$sold out

Sean McCann hardly needs introduction around here after having delivered his breathtaking album ‘Sway’ on Stunned in summer ‘08. One might initially assume ‘Frame of Mind’ to be a simple continuation of last year’s highwater mark. But mere seconds into this c38, we’re affirmed that these freshest of Sean’s crops are in the grip of a holy orbit unconcerned with what has come before. This is his transition from occupying a seat in the symphony to tapping the conductor’s wand at the podium. Opening night’s hush and poise is palpable as the framework’s magnitude is unfurled against a hazed rainbow canopy. Then, the presentation of some massive whirling chrysanthemum emitting gold-flecked clouds of brass vibrato, chamber orchestra drone, bowed strings, and vast fields of guitar & synth sun worship. Every time Sean dips his ladle into the pool of higher soundstates we pay attention. On ‘Frame of Mind’ he seems to have dropped in the deepest bucket he could find. Let’s drink up. Hand numbered edition of 120 pro-dubbed & imprinted c38 tapes in melon shells with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned

sleepwalkers local - better living through science - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out

Better Living Through Science is the third Sleepwalkers Local solo outing of (VxPxC)/Thousands jammer, Echo Curio curator, and Phantom Limb label blazer Grant Capes. Wielding guitar as primary source of slo mo explosion-making along with a versed range of effects, drums & voice, Grant ushers in deep deserts of spaced rock before floating us into open skies of introspective instrumentals, and then back around again for a mini-opus or two. Like waking from a beautiful dream and going about your day, only to wake again for real, but this time down the block in your pajamas... help is here. Ltd. 80 hand numbered cdrs in polyvinyl case with color art.
-stunned

analog concept - listen already today to the music of the past! - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out

Don’t just stand there waiting for those 90s electro compilations in your old CD wallet to become cool again. You got to dust them off and pump them once more as if they were the freshest shit around. It’s in this way, as our Russian friend Alexey’s Analog Concept seems to suggest, that you can get ahead of the ‘revival of the fittest’ curve in modern music. So we’re taking his advice and just listening already, by the minute becoming happier at accepting this prompt. Where Analog Concept’s sound steps into the category of ‘the fittest’ has much to do with his deft detroit techno licks grinding their lil’ hips against the pillars of great, late-period Zoviet France and Tangerine Dream. Caffeine-infected beats gurgle to the fore of an hour-long continuous current bearing a strong scent of vintage synthesizer candies. We’re transported to the nightclub of dreams, but not necessarily to its dance floor. It’s more like leaning over in the corner –loaded– pumping drowsy fists to a schizoid groove which forms the bridge back to 1989 or forward to 2089: your call. Limited edition of 100 painted cdrs with double-sided insert and cardstock cover housed in vinyl jacket.
-stunned

enfer boreal -the birth of venus - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out

Whether it was in reference to the second planet from the sun or the roman god of love, this particular birth demanded frenchman Enfer Boreal to craft some of his most cosmically creamy zoners in honor. Eschewing his previous releases’ pressure-packed drones, ‘The Birth of Venus’ keeps the fuzz warm-n-light so that blissed organ & guitar lines are buoyed into the mix like silvery stratospheric beings, instruments of novel expression played by no one. Yet Enfer Boreal manages to uncover challenging peaks in the arc of his masterfully-controlled soundtrack, ensuring repeated visits to this realm of vapor. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of AIR.
-stunned

ajilvsga - crossed bones - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out

The hot dust of a thousand atomized strip malls whips into the eyes and ears of all who pass the way of Crossed Bones. Our seasoned guides Brad Rose and Nathan Young clutch their headscarves tighter and drive their guitars even deeper into the blistering earth, if only to anchor themselves momentarily in the bent circuit tempest. Forty minutes featuring twin cabinet-shakers that had us promising the neighbors we weren't testing a new form of sonic weaponry after spinning the demo. Of all Ajilvsga's past and present explorations into heavy mental music, none have grabbed us so quite in the gutz. Serious low end woofer junkies encouraged to be among the first to check this one as the jam to mix with the sweat of a new summer. Ltd. 100 handnumbered cdrs in thick polyvinyl case with spooked art by Ted Trager.
-stunned

warm climate - edible homes - stunned records - cass -6$sold out

With an unmatchable tenacity that depends on little much else than a power source, guitar and clarinet, Seth Kasselman has spent over a decade making some of the more truly idiosyncratic music we’ve had the pleasure of being hit with. The mere range of styles his Warm Climate project has taken on would be enough to daunt any four-piece band of fulltime songwriters. But ‘Edible Homes’ is proof that it only takes one Seth to take the piss out of a dozen genres at a swipe on these two 20-minute rollercoaster tape sides. It’s nearly impossible to describe just where exactly this ride takes the listener except that it’s a rich amalgamation of rock, classic pop, free jazz, dance, drone, tribal noise, broken toys, and psych riffing that testifies to Warm Climate’s versed knowledge of sound in its myriad of cultural forms. Like twisting the dial through the whole range of A.M./F.M. channels, not because any are tiresome, but because each one is enrapturing. All we can do is let the accumulation scoop us toward a nexus that wipes the cultural palate clean, and indispensably so. Hand numbered edition of 120 pro-dubbed & imprinted c42 tapes in lime shells w/ extended length double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of FIRE.
-stunned

black eagle child — seeds that sprout in summer - stunned records - cass - 6$sold out

This follow-up full length to editions on such labels as Blackest Rainbow and Housecraft finds Black Eagle Child rowing his boat ashore and sparking the campfire wide and bright. Let’s stretch out our legs, because we have a nearly hour long psychfolk excursion of delight on our hands here. Once BEC’s Michael Jantz starts dronin’ and fingerpicking his acoustic around the flames, things chill way out and the ears get a good cleanse. Just crack a brew and mind you don’t get sick on the s’mores. This release happily marks Black Eagle Child having created a child of his own. Along with Mike & Celeste, we welcome Mary Jantz into the world, the newest and most special sprout of summer. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c50 yellow tapes with matching jcard.
-stunned

sparkling wide pressure - seven inside and out - stunned records - cass - 6$sold out

Frank Baugh has a real ability to conjure super lucid memories from the furthest crags of our cranium whenever his Sparkling Wide Pressure begins emitting its visionary environs. Of the many corners he turns in his half hour visitation between chilly realities & possible alternate dream spaces, we’re guaranteed to always be adrift in the soothing detritus of a quickly fading analog past. With ‘Seven Inside and Out’ Frank asks, are these warm dream worlds we imagine sad hoaxes or attainable endeavors for the future? Half-soldered circuitry tends to be the slit in the fence Frank takes advantage of here by deftly slipping through nostalgic loops & blurred drones. Given its relatively brief runtime, this cassette displays a vast scale of vision skilled in its admixture of loner synth dirges, hope-thirsty distant wails, and anti-gravitational guitar cycles. The combinations here pair perfectly with the thoughts of dawn & vibrations of dusk. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in mustard shells and double-sided color jcard.
-stunned

sagas — root structures & private dementias - stunned records - cass - 7$sold out

With a discography that spans nearly a decade of collaborative and solo journeying, Matt McDowell has put in his time on the road for sure. This newest project of Matt’s splits its recorded time between US poles of Portland & Pittsburgh, providing the flavor of a genuine american saga. Beyond being simply a collection of songs, ‘Root Structures & Private Dementias’ is a wonderfully complex and multi-tiered travel experience. With taught melodies that fork off distinctly from the point where Ennio Morricone and Michael Flower meet on the path, Sagas always seems to be pushing the capacity of his six-string guitar ever higher. Pervasive in the background throughout this release are sounds harkening escape to distant lands and the motion required to get there. Train wheel creaks, auto revs, airplane cabin hum, steamstacks, blimp buzz — all these merge nearly subliminally with the technical finesse of one ripping jam after another. How many times can one man make us go “woah”? All aboard, this ride’s limit is beyond the sky. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c58 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned

pimmon- steered in smash ascent - stunned records - cass - 6$sold out

It is our great honor to work with a musician whose reputation stretches out far before him — Australia’s Paul Gough and his dazzling work as Pimmon, a name now over ten years in operation. It’s also a name that has been trusted to consistently trace an arc far outside of any conventional tastes & trends as they vacillate (and evaporate) over the years. Since early releases on seminal labels like Staalplaat, Freedom From, Tigerbeat6 and FatCat, Pimmon’s priority has been not only to push buttons, but to push precisely the right ones that activate zones of minimal & maximal electronic ecstasy. From cosmic backstrokes of bass tone to the atomic intensity of the high register, each level exemplifies a foundational gesture from the start. ‘Steered In Smash Ascent’ carries through this crackling range of delirium with the bold intent of an artist who is steering ship far beyond the imagination’s current capacity. Our hope is that Pimmon sails on like this yet another decade, returning with aural booty us landlubbers can only dream about. Hand-numbered limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c46 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned

chapels -last night of the earth - stunned records - cass - c

House of Alchemy label head Adam Richards continues his ‘09 resurgence with this solo project which latched to our ears a few months back and didn’t let go. Chapels is the name of Adam’s game, and if that sounds harmless enough, let’s just reserve our thoughts until his full tidal force of moan-riddled gearing and howling industrial waves crash over us. ‘Last Night of the Earth’ comes as a refreshing blast to the mind’s rafters, departing from so many other experimental acts in its choice use of otherworldly hiss & masterful analog groans. Each tape side features two central squalls separated by sprawling transitions of environment that evoke the alternating cycles of violence & stability in gaia’s seasons. Every pass over Adam’s flickering work reveals new jewels that appear icy hard on the surface, but cracked open they spill a multihued yolk over the final night’s canvas. Numbered edition of 100 painted & pro-dubbed c30 tapes in clear shells w/ red foil liner & double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of EARTH.
-stunned

mortuus auris & the black hand / emuul — omicida della regina / songs for a solo piano - stunned records - cass - 6$sold out

Two deep-earth journeyers knock heads on this mega-split and out spills an hour and twenty of the good shit. SIDE A: Mortuus Auris & the Black Hand rev things into motion, and by motion we meant of the perpetual, unrelenting sort. We can think of very few projects like this that are able to so effortlessly corral together such widely variant bits upon bits of trans-terrestrial energy. Never is the ear overwhelmed, but from behind the psychic veil march out characters strange and rarely glimpsed with an eerily patient formality. ‘Omicida Della Regina’ reaches zenith after carefully examining each of these composite forms in turn. Their sounds are unrecognizably alien, yet somehow exclusive to our human experience on Earth. Is the Other they hint at to be embraced or repelled? Can’t decide? Hit rewind and buy a little more time. SIDE B: The white & black key strikes of a Fender Rhodes blur into grey-speckled piano comas here on Kyle Iman’s second release under the Emuul tag. When Kyle first told us he was developing ‘Songs for a Solo Piano’, our ears already began to tingle and it was still weeks before the master was to arrive. At this point it might as well be admitted publically Stunned’s absolute fetish for anything piano. Whether Emuul knew this or not, he still delivered a final forty-minute side that exceeded any fetishistic expectations. Maybe we weren’t prepared for its spaciousness, its bejeweled drift that articulates so much while speaking so little. Keyed contemplations like these allow the listener to plough their own mindfield beside the composition’s skilled soliloquy. For this reason and more we eagerly welcome Seattle’s Emuul aboard. This split c80 is a limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted tapes with collaged double-sided jcard and cardstock insert.
-stunned

nodolby - stunned records - cass -6$sold out

Nodolby is one of the few acts of recent times that can still give us a remarkable thrill, harkening back to days earlier in this decade when ‘noise’ meant the gloves coming off and all you could do was brace yourself for the impending shockwaves. Dokuro Records boss Mic Scariot has been refining his Nodolby circuits to the side of his long-running group Ent, and lately this solo show seems to be surging ahead with an unexpected bumper harvest of psychoactive sizzlers. The untitled c32 proudly presented here has been marinated in acid rain and tastes nasty when it wants to be. But at moments it pauses its wild sensory-max'd climbing entirely to siphon streams of irradiated drone glory into our midst. Of all Nodolby’s output we’ve heard, this cassette shows a particular devotion to the neon awe that accompanies a mind existing fully outside of time, surging where it wills at the speed of sound. A thrill indeed. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c32 tapes in light blue shells w/ double-sided color jcard.
-stunned

thouroof - throught the book of lambspring - stunned records - 3" cdr - 5$sold out

From vial to vial pass the sonic fluids necessary to produce throuRoof’s second chapter here in his Sacred Art of Alchemy series, which began with 2008’s much-discussed ‘Emerald Tablet of Hermes’ on Housecraft, and is set to conclude in its third & final part later this year on Thors’ Rubber Hammer. Like an ancient alchemist, throuRoof’s Antonio Gallucci synthesizes mantric sound effects with metaphysical drones, marking combinations once thought impossible. As second parts go, ‘Throught the Book of Lambspring’ is where the action settles in enough for the series’ bigger themes to emerge. Mysterious consequences take hold with this brazen elixir-brewing; before one knows it, all is a stew of indiscernible tones, guitar plucks, and haunted hums. As the piece closes on high notes of a bloomed confusion, we’re left hanging but not dissatisfied – the storyteller having led us to a most strange crest of the narrative. Limited edition of 80 hand numbered & painted 3” cdrs in case w/ double-sided color insert card.
-stunned

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