***ESCAPE-ISM—the found-sound dreamdrama—are back in action & out in front. And this time, they’re leading a Charge of the Love Brigade. This “charge” isn’t the traditional scramble across a muddy, bloody field though, like in the days of yore. This one is a furtive insinuation into the senses of the tuned-in listener.Their fifth record, and fourth “sound” record—(the third one was “A Protest Against Sound”—an entirely silent LP) —Charge of the Love Brigade is revolutionary in its own right. Besides being packed with tunes—super-hits such as “Black Gold,” “Last Of The Sellouts,” “The Rebel Outlaw,” & “Fire in Malibu,” for example, Charge of the Love Brigade proposes a reformation of the traditional notes and scales; an entire new sound alphabet!That’s right, ESCAPE-ISM—the “act of musical vandalism”—famous for their development of new prototypes for stomping & smashing, are reforming the scales, chords, & notes (e.g. A, B, F#, etc) that comprise musical literacy to achieve the group’s primary aim: the repurposing of music as we know it. Though many musicians of note have operated their instruments with "alternative tunings," up until now no one has obliterated tuning absolutely or abolished letter-notes for the destruction of bourgeois society.According to ESCAPE-ISM, this will have a very profound effect: “Music will no longer be cordoned off from the rest of experience as a commodified, specialty freak show, but instead be a pastime which can be prac- ticed and enjoyed—not only by non-musicians and amateurs—but also by plant life, wild animals, and even inanimate objects...
LP $27.95
03/07/2025
Rated Z is the new record from minimal rock 'n' roll duo ESCAPE-ISM, the legendary "found sound dream drama" featuring Ian F Svenonius & Alexandra Cabral. Rated Z is a declaration of a new underground, distinct from the tedious drivel of self-satisfied corporate indie rock. Rated Z continues Escape-ism's commitment to minimalism, impertinence, and the search for new modes of communication with those fellow travellers who are loath to fall in line with the latest thing. The song "Rated Z" declares Escape-ism's commitment to absolute obscurity, while "Rocker's Delight" outlines a hang out scenario for the fringe elements who rally to Escape-ism as the last gasp of poetry & playfulness in an oppressive landscape of artless algorithm rock. "Teenage Surrealism PT I & II" delineates a dialogue with a dream, and "Whatever People Say That I Am" is a soon to be theme song for those who can't be numbered, named, and filed away. Escape-ism has relentlessly toured the world over the last five years and has recently made a feature film "The Lost Record" (based on the last Escape-ism disc, also titled "The Lost Record"). The Lost Record film has been playing cinema arthouses over the last months in Europe, sometimes in tandem with live Escape-ism performances, and has been selected as a feature film by several Festivals (FAME Film Festival in France and L.U.F.F.; Lausanne Underground Film Festival, among others ). It also played in Venice during the recent festival there and at Rome's Museum of...
LP $22.95
11/05/2021
***Sometimes, what seems “to be”… isn’t. And what “was” actually wasn’t. What’s "in" is sometimes out. And what was thought to be "north" is sometimes south. Similarly, up until now, there just wasn’t enough... of TOO MUCH. That’s how its been, ever since dynamic-duo TOO MUCH—RICH MOREL & IAN SVENONIuS—let the world listen in on their once-in-a-millenia electro-beat gobstopper “PATENT LEATHER”; the monster hit which defined dance floors since its release in 2019. “PATENT LEATHER” a bewitching blend of lechery and love, was tattooed on the brain of every loitering lothario in every night-club, roadhouse, and streetlight latrine in both the free and not-so-free worlds.It was so incessant; it shook houses down, burned parliament, and crashed the stock market. Dancers everywhere pleaded for more. TOO MUCH have finally relented and deigned to give the heaving, begging, prostrate mass a new mess of motor-robot rhythm rockers. Yes, that's correct. TOO MUCH have a full length record and they call it… “CLUB EMOTION.” CLUB EMOTION is nine songs of pure ecstasy perfectly suited for the club, the car or the closet. Its a pure joy to listen to in one’s bedroom or at the beach. On a stroll, at a drive-thru, or while careening through the astral-plane, looking for a romantic rendezvous. TOO MUCH, which features Rich Morel (of MOREL, BLOW OFF w/ BOB MOULD, collaborator w/ PET SHOP BOYS, YOKO ONO, US GIRLS) and Ian Svenonius (The MAKE UP, ESCAPE-ISM) is a new kind of group; they aren’t your typical music...
LP $23.45
07/03/2020
***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.7 rating from Pitchfork. CHAIN & THE GANG… the world’s only “DOWN WITH LIBERTY” group… the best and most radical rock n roll group ever… have a BRAND NEW long playing record out on RADICAL ELITE records and its a “head scratcher” for sure… Chain & the Gang—known as the dynamic and irresistible live combo that pens provocative, unforgettable odes to obedience and total destruction (e.g. “Devitalize”, “Certain Kinds of Trash”, “Detroit Music”) got sick of the simple fare so prevalent at the rock festivals these days. After nodding off to the washed-out zzzounds of the latest five-star folly critic’s catastrophe, “Chain & the Gang” decided to respond with their patented perversity; they reached to the farther corner of the lab and came up with an immortal classic in the hard-to-hear genre of “EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC” (!!!!?!!!!) In fact, this record is so confounding, so new and uncharted, they decided to call it “EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC.” Not only is it a pounding super-classic, but it's the final word in the experimental music genre, answering the questions initially proposed by John Cage, Yoko Ono, LaMonte Young etc., shutting down the need for further experiments forever. The Lab is Closed! Besides Chain & the Gang's “Chain”—aka IAN SVENONIUS––the “EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC” LP features an all-star cast of avant-garde geniuses such as DANNY KROHA (the Gories, Demolition Dollrods, Danny and the Darleans), FRED THOMAS (Saturday Looks Good to Me, Lovesick, Tyvek, His Name is Alive), SHELLEY SALANT...
LP $17.75
09/29/2017
***XYZ is a group comprised of the renowned IAN SVENONIUS (THE MAKE UP, CHAIN & THE GANG, WEIRD WAR) and the artist MEMPHIS ELECTRONIC (of the groups NON!, DUM-BUM BOYS, DIE IDIOTEN), whose murals of electrified Mao are such a sensation with the South European resistance movement. Their self-titled record, XYZ, released on the label Radical Elite in the USA, was made on the French Riviera in Nice and mixed in Berlin by FRED BIGOT (aka ELECTRONICAT). The record consists of 10 songs composed entirely of vocals and sounds from the latest models of computerized pinball games. Instrumentalist Memphis ran his electric guitar, bass guitar, and drum machine through said machines, while Svenonius composed his lyrics extempore and on the spot with the drama of the careening silver ball in mind. Pressed in a limited edition of 300 hand-stamped, silk-screened vinyl.
LP $15.50
02/24/2015
***This spring, CHAIN & THE GANG will release its fourth full-length album, Minimum Rock n Roll, on IAN SVENONIUS’ imprint, Radical Elite. Chain & the Gang is led by Svenonius, the prime mover behind the bands NATION OF ULYSSES and THE MAKE-UP, and author of two books — Psychic Soviet and Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group—not to mention online talk show host and auteur filmmaker. The band deals in a new genre called CRIME ROCK that updates rock n roll, blues, and gospel music of the late ‘50s /early ‘60s for the discerning few. As Ian himself puts it: "If asked about it by a prospective fan, I would say 'Watch out; it might hurt your feelings.' Or 'Be careful...there's no telling what might happen if you put it in your ear.'" Why? Because Chain & The Gang isn't for everyone. It's not designed for the victims of Ikea who rely on robots to choose their background muzak, but it can also prove to be addictive and has some disturbing side effects. A gang with a fluid and floating active core, Chain & the Gang recorded Minimum Rock n Roll in Portland, Oregon with Ian and KATIE ALICE on vocals, BRETT on electric guitar, CHRIS on bass guitar, and FIONA on drum kit. It was then mixed down in Washington, D.C. by BRENDAN CANTY (Fugazi, Deathfix). Minimum Rock 'n' Roll is a protest against a world where everything is available—the internet's engorgement of the senses has...
LP $17.75
05/13/2014
CD $11.00
05/13/2014