***Duncan Park, from Johannesburg, South Africa, has been releasing music since 2017 on labels such as Ramble Records from Melbourne Australia and Aural Canyon from Texas, as well as numerous self-released digital releases. Leaning into the lo-fi world, Path To The Gallows is a great representation of Duncan’s expertise in playing, composition, variety, and open mindedness. The LP begins with the epic "A Moon Possessed Corpse", which starts with the classic handheld cassette handling racket, setting up the tone of the release, before sliding right into Duncan’s frenetic fingering and pull-offs, like he’s desperately trying to document something before heading off on a one-way trip, all while his dog moans in the background, knowing what’s in store.Duncan draws inspiration from Six Organs of Admittance, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, Daniel Bachman, Spiral Joy Band, Pelt, Liam Grant; from jazz giants like Alice Coltrane and Charles Mingus, and also from extreme metal and noise.
LP $22.25
08/01/2025
Nearly four years to the date after the release of Higher Order, Eric Arn’s previous release for Carbon Records, we are releasing his latest collection of guitar excursions.The songs on fixe Idee have a rolling, rambling guitar feel that builds sonic lattices which drift in the air like steel spiderwebs in the summer sky. The record opens with the American Primitive-esque storytelling saga Impromptu pour le fantôme, setting the stage for a nice variety of playing and recording styles to follow.The more pastoral tracks "Sunrills" and "Gutbucket" are nicely interspersed with the more aw, lo-fi slide-based joints "Rhyolite" and "Ewigkeitsgasse", each with variations of tipsy tones dancing off the edge of the fretboard to bathe in a swirling concoction of acoustic fantasia. Fixe Idee finally moves back into the Primitive landscape with the raag "Melathys", then the closer, the perfectly titled "Bear", completely unraveled starts with more spastic and experimental Derek Bailey leanings, then eventually settles into more rhythmic patterns, and an exhaling finale. This is a record made by someone whose passion for the guitar as a physical instrument creating sound for enjoyment, and as a catalyst for getting right with the Universe, is deeply evident.
LP $27.35
06/13/2025
***Continuing much of the instrumental, musically dense partnership of Loren Connors and Suzanne Langille in the 80s and 90s, Crucible stands out as a clear highlight in the pair's musical partnership, despite the music not featuring the pair performing together.Full of Connor's beautifully droning walls of sound, and Langille deconstructive approach to Americana melodicism, Crucible is getting a vinyl reissue on Carbon Records. Loren Connors, with multiple decades worth of projects, needs no introduction. One of the forefathers of American free improvisation, Loren Connors sits on the throne among the ranks of other talented improvisers, such as Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis (whom he has released a tribute album for), and a major inspiration in much of his work, Derek Bailey.Full of heavy, crushing solo-guitar work, much of Connors output here feels very appropriate to the era, with tracks like "First Light" perfectly capturing his ambient, yet incredibly light and minimalistic guitar work. Don't get it twisted here though, Connor's melodies, while soft and delicate, are figures calling for especially deep listening, as seen through songs like "Pipe Dream" and "Single Heart," where the thoughtfulness of his playing adds volumes to the waterfalls of texture beneath. The duo instrumental works also demonstrate his restrained yet expansive approach; the piece "O'Donnells Camp" feeling almost like a post rock interpretation of some Spanish-Style duet in A minor. Additionally, poet-vocalist Suzanne Langille's solo pieces perfectly align with the album's guitar-centric tracks, blending American songbook and folk influences in "Crying Low." While the more artful...
LP $21.95
03/07/2025
***With the death in 2020 of long-standing occasional third member Peter Stapleton (percussion / electronics), A Handful of Dust has regrouped as the core duo of Alastair Galbraith (violin, guitar, cello, piano, drums) and Bruce Russell (guitar, electronics). This new set of live-to-four-track recordings from January 2022 is the first album to be wholly recorded 'in the studio' since 1995's Towards a Soundtrack to the 'Anabase' of St-John Perse. Committed to tape at the Rugby Hotel in Dunedin, the four-track recordings were played back in the room where they were made and recorded again, this time to Android telephone, to make a digital mono master which you hear on this record. Unadorned, brutal and sonically austere, this new set captures the 'wild Mercury sound' for which this long-standing unit is rightly feted among cognoscenti of the Antipodean New Thing. Three pieces that will pop your third eye in seconds flat. Astral travel for now people. Duck and Sally continue their unplanned career in the extreme abuse of the rock'n'roll toolkit. Drowned Phoenician sailors bob disconcertingly to the surface while the captain's tower rocks to a sustained monomachy 'twixt Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, brought back from the grave for that specific purpose. Don't be shy - please jump out of your window. You know you gotta trust us, when you need a friend...
LP $25.35
09/01/2023
***Although only 23 years old, Liam Grant's become a leading force in a much needed third wave revival of American Primitive music. The path was paved from the blues by Fahey, Basho, Kottke and so on, followed with a second coming heralded by folks like Jones, Rose, Basho-Junghans and others. Despite his age, Liam's the very definition of "an old soul" and while he draws on a wide variety of contemporary influences, he also channels a comprehensive history of the blues as well as a deeper energy that informs both his playing and songwriting. Features contributions from Mike Gangloff of Pelt, Grayson McGuire, and Ethan WL.
LP $25.35
09/01/2023