Monday, January 7, 2013

Crystal covered Time-Lag nugs 1.7.13



Time-Lag nugs!!  peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)



Hey folks!  Hope 2013 has everybody smiling.  Aside from the lovely nug, pictured above, here is another reason to smile:  a fresh Time-Lag update!  In the event that you do not receive the Time-Lag e-mail update, I have copied the contents and placed it below.  And, if you are interested in the Time-Lag story, then check out this interview that I was honored to conduct with Time-Lag proprietor, Nemo Bidstrup - so fresh that it needed to dry before the goods could be sampled.

peace and love, friends :)



~ rolling into this fine new year. deep snow & chilly sunshine in these parts. feels like a proper maine winter… excited to be kicking off 2013 with some new time-lag action, the first in nearly a year if you can believe it..!

~ fairly short update today, but looking like the next one will be a biggie… CELEBRATION and ELLIE DANIELS reissues both being pressed now. test pressings sounded amazing. next update should see those ready for the world, and with time on our side hoping to have a new used/rare vinyl list as well, and maybe even a special surprise time-lag release. new website is currently well underway too! stay tuned… for now this new one should keep your brain warm…

~ after much work & collaboration with josh, this one is finally complete. couldn't be more excited about it really, came together very sweet. taking orders now & will start shipping this week :


JOSHUA BURKETT ~ XAVIER'S BIRDS ~ book & 7inch (TIME-LAG 059) $22.00
really wonderful release here… full sensory stimulation from one of the our fave & most under-documented contemporary players, artists, and general hushed enthusiasts of the unusual (mental, visual, musical, etc.)… more then a few folks in the know list 'gold cosmos' and 'where's my hat?' as all time classics, so no doubt these new tracks are bound to please. a bit different from past releases, each of the three tracks here is a collaboration with a different long time friend and musical compatriot, building off josh's unmistakable home-fi acoustic foundation : LAU NAU adds her stunningly haunted vocal textures, WILLIE LANE strangles electrified strings like only he can, and THURSTON MOORE subtly corrodes with a haze of damaged frequencies & vibrating plucks… three totally separate vibes unfold as diverse golden facets of a whole… as few and far between as proper burkett releases have been over the years, even less exposed has been his amazing & unique artwork. while just about anybody with a eye turned towards new england underground album cover art, show posters, mail art, etc. will surely have had a glimpse of josh's instantly recognizable visual universe, the quantity, scope, and focus of his paintings, drawing, sculptures (and words!) presented here is truly visionary. josh's hand picked selection of pieces for the book span from all the way back to his very earliest paintings, up to some of his most recent… the book itself is 52 full color, pro-printed pages of artwork, each piece accompanied by josh's equally interesting stream of consciousness writing about the work, which is both enlightening, highly amusing, and often pretty hysterical. get comfy, get lifted, and settle in for a multi-sensory trip… 7inch is a large hole 45rpm disc with hand stamped labels. book has a double-sided offset printed neon green cover, with a hand painted & metallic gold screen printed wrap-around title strip. numbered edition of 222 copies.

JOSHUA BURKETT ~ XAVIER'S BIRDS ~ 7inch (TIME-LAG 059) $8.00
same music as the above version, but without the massive book. 7inch is a large hole 45rpm disc with hand stamped labels. each copy is packaged in a one-of-a-kind hand painted recycled 7inch cover, with a double-sided offset printed neon green outer cover that matches the book, and with the same hand painted & metallic gold screen printed wrap-around title strip. numbered edition of 111 copies.


~ and a nice batch of new goodies have arrived as well (remember, free shipping in the usa!)...


CRYSTAL SYPHON ~ FAMILY EVIL ~ lp (roaratorio) $20.00
crystal syphon, one of the greatest “lost” groups of the west coast psych scene, came together in merced, california in 1965. originally a beatles / byrds-influenced unit called the morlochs, they soon shed their original moniker and moved in a more psychedelic direction, becoming a fixture on the ballroom circuit from 1966-1970. although their music may nod in the direction of the new tweedy brothers and quicksilver messenger service at times, it’s imbued throughout with a distinctive sound that arose from practicing up to six nights a week. the band entertained offers from various labels during their existence, but as they insisted on complete artistic control and ownership of their music, no deals were struck. now, some 44 years after its creation, roaratorio is proud to make the music of crystal syphon available for the first time ever. drawn from studio tracks, rehearsal tapes and a live recording from the fillmore west, family evil is released in an edition of 500 copies, with cover art by norman orr and extensive historical liner notes in an old-style “tip-on” jacket. digital download included. 

DADAMAH ~ VIOLET STAINS RED ~ 7inch (yellow electric) $10.00
two unreleased tracks from dadamah (kim pieters, janine stagg, peter stapleton, roy montgomery) recorded in the early 90's. beautiful murky vocals from kim and roy, bleak jangly bursts of guitar and droning organ/synth. on red and purple vinyl... totally cool to hear more stuff from this amazing & under-appreciated group!

DREDD FOOLE ~ BLUES SERMON WITH CONGREGATION ~ lp (humito) $18.00
restock… the first vinyl document of the dredd and mv&ee collab recordings, this is a reissue of two deep slides originally released in 2004, as companion volumes to "kissing the contemporary bliss", in extremely limited runs. the sessions behind this record represent a singular apex of high in the catalogs of both dredd foole and mv&ee, where the playing and being of each of the three individuals involved coalesces into a singularly cosmic perception and extrapolation of the blues doctors' truth, while simultaneously, individual sonorities and specialties drive their own cadillac. a major work of contemporary psychedelic blues in its own right, this lp is also an essential piece of the puzzle for com enthusiasts; this is a key document of the star-gobbling sound mv&ee were toying with as their private universe back in the early-mid oughts, including such sides as "lunar blues", "cosmic dust and the electrobeam hermit thrush", and "zone of domes". like those albums, mv's patented "spectrasound" techniques are on full display, creating a dazzling living environment in which dredds otherworldly and piercingly free vocals orbit. classic and singular psychedelic visioning, the sound here has almost has no known parallels i can think of, outside of buckley/underwood, or possibly robbie basho, but just gone. listeners who know mv&ee solely as harvesters of song, or are unfamiliar with dredd foole's "recent" work, can look forward to flipping their respective gourds... another excellent humito release!

ELEPHANT MICAH / HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER ~ HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER PLAYS ELEPHANT MICAH PLAYS HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER ~ 7inch (paradise of bachelors) $6.50
paradise of bachelors is pleased to announce the first-ever recorded collaboration between hiss golden messenger and elephant micah, the respective musical projects of m.c. taylor of durham, north carolina and joe o’connell of southern indiana, in our estimation two of their generation’s most compelling songwriters and lyricists. their forthcoming split 7”, scheduled for release on september 4th, 2012, finds these critically lauded artists versioning each other’s compositions and wrestling each other’s angels. the two songs, both possessively titled, explore related issues of power, domain, submission, and mortality in the aftermath of a heavy rain. hiss golden messenger offers an ambling, mandolin-laced take on “my cousin’s king” - an ambiguous centerpiece of elephant micah’s superb "louder than thou" lp - while elephant micah’s abstracted interpretation of “balthazar’s song” dilates the bleary donkey’s lament (after robert bresson) that opens hgm’s "bad debt" and closes "poor moon." the 7” will be available in a limited, hand-numbered edition of 500, featuring kustom kudzu stamps.

GROUPER ~ SLEEP (FRAGMENT) ~ one-sided lp (filip, canada) $22.00
sleep (fragment) is a new 12" record by grouper, published by fillip in an edition of 800 on 180gm white vinyl. this canadian release is based on sound installations performed several times by grouper in berkeley and vancouver… very limited stock.

GROUPER ~ A I  A : DREAM LOSS ~ lp (yellow electric) $18.00
repressed again... first in a two part vinyl release by grouper. a i a is a two-part release comprised of songs written and recorded over the last four years.  both albums are low, both discuss:  being an other to one’s own self, to other humans; ghosts and aliens, both literal and metaphorical; other worlds to escape to. 

GROUPER ~ A I A : ALIEN OBSERVER ~ lp (yellow electric) $18.00 
repressed again... second in a two part vinyl release by grouper. a i a is a two-part release comprised of songs written and recorded over the last four years.  both albums are low, both discuss:  being an other to one’s own self, to other humans; ghosts and aliens, both literal and metaphorical; other worlds to escape to.

GROUPER ~ COVER THE WINDOWS AND THE WALLS ~ lp (yellow electric / root strata) $18.00
restock... 3rd repress of grouper's third solo full length. self-release on yellowelectric (though printed as rs47/gr-003.) this record was originally pressed in 2007 on root strata... always welcome new edition. this time of black vinyl.

LICHENS ~ LÍTIÕ FÓLK ~ lp (morc, belgium) $22.00
on this release, robert lowe (of om, 90 day men) focuses on his distinct voice. for the most part of the album, you’ll hear nothing but his wordless vocals – some parts melodic, some droning, some pulsating, but at all times enchanting. impressive from the very first to the very last notes. edition of 260 copies.

METZ ~ S/T ~ lp (ossining) $13.00
dented corners, reduced price… “hearing it in its entirety for the first time confirmed that it was every bit as good, if not better, than i had imagined. the late 70’s produced some great hard rock in the lone star state and way too little of it made its way to vinyl. metz takes that hard rockin’ tejas spirit to the next level by injecting the music with equal parts glam and dirty white boy funk and its about time the world got to hear it."- rich haupt, rockadellc... "some will find it hard to believe that a glamrock band with a gritty urban veneer came from texas and stuck together long enough to release this milestone record. the metz take on glam includes some of the associated clichés, like heavy chunks of chord strokes and catchy riffs, danceable rhythms and beats, and a vocalist with some theatrical influence in the singing department. besides the obvious, metz bring some original flair that pushes their material over the top! instead of the lead singer getting all the attention (he sounds like a cross between marc bolan and a less angry johnny rotten), it’s the two or three sassy black girls that ssteal the show with the best vocals (leads & harmonies) on the entire album. these streetwise babes strut along as they dish out extra servings of sex appeal during performances, which is a scarce gender switch for glam rock. metz also provides lots of mind-stripping guitar solos and untamed organ with hovering leslie cabinets that occasionally drift into dark and gothic sound trips." - scott "loopden" bubrig, acid archives.

MONTGOMERY, ROY ~ MUSIC FROM THE FILM HEY BADFINGER ~ lp (yellow electric) $18.00
23 short and moody narratives, reminiscent of carlos paredes. solo guitar music and loops from recordings he rediscovered/revisited several years ago. we've talked about how he feels they can't be altered, need to exist as they were in that time, in a skeleton form, a collection of fragments. a galaxy, or a sketch book; they belong all together.  

O'BRIEN & JAKE, JUSTEN ~ TIME WILL TELL ~ lp (guerssen, spain) $26.00
the greatest album in the history of north dakota is justen o'brien and jake's time will tell (1978). bootlegged twice already, guerssen is proud to present the first artist-approved reissue of this mysterious, deep, ufo-inspired masterpiece. featuring crystal-clear sound, the originally-intended cover art in a gorgeous gatefold cover, in-depth liner notes by douglas mcgowan (yoga records), and never-before-seen photos capturing the mystique of this long-gone psych/prog/lounge classic, even longtime fans will need to check back in with justen o'brien's unique vision of the cosmos. a truly major left-field rediscovery on par with bobb trimble, jade stone and luv, or dr hooker.

PEAKING LIGHTS ~ LUCIFER IN DUB ~ lp (weird world, uk) $22.00 
following this year’s hugely critically acclaimed new album lucifer, la duo aaron coyes and indra dunis, aka peaking lights have announced the imminent release oflucifer in dub – a special collection of dub edits conjured up by coyes himself. the sonic boom-mastered, six song collection takes the glistening strands of krautrock, minimal house, analogue dance music, skewed pop and the band’s core influence – dub - which lucifer so successfully fused together and pushes even more deeply into the murky heat of the latter. the result is a seductively heavy surrealist-soundsystem monster that acts as a perfect companion piece to the hypnotic groove and intricately patterned melodies of its parent record... “before lucifer even had a song written or a name to it we had the ‘light bulb skull rattle’ that we had to do a dub for whatever was to come out of the studio session at gary's electric”, says coyes on the album’s genesis. “after spending the better half of the year on tour we managed to finally settle in to a spot in echo park where we set up a small studio and got physical with dubbing out the luciferlp. we have always loved the challenge of approaching the music we make from a new angle, and although the dub aspect to the music we make may be there in structure this is the first time we have layed it down by playing as the engineers... both of us really love how lucifer in dub turned out. we wanted it to have a different feel with the mastering; shawn reed of night-people who put out our early recordings introduced us to sonic boom who we met while on tour and later worked with mastering some of our remixes. he really understood the sound we were after, there was no compromise in the low end, he gets our zone - warm, lush, round, heavy on the psychedelics.” limited to 200 copies in north america… very limited stock.

PHANTOM BUFFALO ~ TADALOORA ~ cd (microcultures, france) $10.00
tadaloora is phantom buffalo's fourth album. a masterpiece. we're very proud of it. and we think you should buy it right now and listen to it for the rest of your life. 

PRINTS OF DARKNESS ~ ZINDABAD ~ lp (ravi) $28.00
“raw, exciting and really quite excellent... fans of fuzz will find a feast of it on this set. the prints turn in enjoyable readings of ‘summertime,’ ‘morning dew,’ and country joe & the fish’s ‘rock and soul music,’ but it’s their original numbers that really stand out... the band’s bottled-up creative energy comes bursting to a head on the culminating number, ‘oh color the shadowy distance,’ which starts out as an über-dramatic doors-in-the-garage exercise atop a ‘tobacco road’-type stomp riff, before levitating into a psychedelic instrumental section that sounds a bit like jorma kaukonen jamming with the velvet underground. thrilling stuff.” - mike stax (ugly things)... this is the story of a sixties garage band... only this one was based in lahore, west pakistan, where there was a small american community and a funky school in an old british raj-era bungalow. september 1967: skip boyce had a drum kit assembled from various shops in penang during a family vacation and danny carr had a framus bass and a huge amp. let’s start a band! new kid steve davy provided the missing link. add his psychedelic hofner guitar and small amp and the great flower famine was born. “let’s just play songs with three chords (‘gloria,’ ‘louie louie’ and ‘for your love’ were the first three); more followed: stones, animals, kinks, doors. old friend travis “smokey” henderson was in the states, but returned to lahore and joined as lead guitarist. john sligh was added as lead singer because he liked the same tunes the others did and looked cool. by the end of the school year, the famine was a tight unit - the best rock band in west pakistan. september 1968: a year’s worth of new music, and new influences - hendrix, led zeppelin, the san francisco groups. meanwhile, steve bought a hofner violin bass like paul mccartney, skip returned from the states with a full set of ludwig drums like ringo, and a new redheaded kid arrived by the name of richard woodbury. his addition and a new name for the band (prints of darkness) gave the group a new style. their repertoire expanded. september 1969: one addition to the personnel - roberta “bourbon” kilgore as vocalist. the prints started writing their own tunes in earnest. on may 22, 1970, they played their last show and for the first time in three years, the instruments went in different directions afterwards. and so did the prints. in the band’s final year, several of their shows were recorded using a single open mic and a standard quarter-inch reel-to-reel tape recorder. the best tracks have been cleaned up and compiled for this release on ravi records, a label set up by music mail order company metro music. the release is a true labor of love, with no corners cut, and no expense spared on the sound restoration, mastering and packaging. the heavy-vinyl lp (180 gram) is housed in a super-deluxe gatefold sleeve modeled on the stones’ “high tide and green grass,” complete with a lavishly illustrated and annotated booklet. hand-numbered limited edition, only 800 copies for distribution… recommended!

STAMPFEL, PETER ~ LIVE ~ lp (mystra) $16.00
yes!! it's that/thee legendary 'holy/moly/modal' master from the 60's & ever onward..this recording is an amazing live document from a awesome performance in the mid-90s!... unlike any performer ever, stampfel has stumped the best and blown minds forever..comes in a 'every-copy unique' handpainted/silk-screened/paste-on cover and has insert with notes by stampfel & mystra... plus a 8 page booklet with holy modal rounders/fugs stories...

VON HIMMEL ~ FLORID PAGODA ~ cassette (donkey disc) $6.00
moon timbres encompassing ancient marrow knowledge and ritual awakenings give way to bongo fury freak-outs and stately sequencer appendages subsumed by organ/guitar effluvium approaching escape velocity.


~ as always, everything on this list is in limited stock, so please email for confirmation before sending any money. all prices include shipping in the usa. all lps will be shipped MEDIA MAIL, cds/tapes go FIRST CLASS... but if you want priority, or have any other shipping needs just let me know and i’ll sort it out. same goes for all you overseas folks. anyone who wants to be removed from this list, just let me know...




thanks to lyrkoss for the good vibe