Beta-lactam Ring Records blrrecords.com

The Long Dead Sevens video for "Mother's Song"

Thu, 8 May 2008 11:33:56 -0700

Deep in the black heart that lies beneath banjo, fiddle, slide guitar, piano and derringer; somewhere near the unmarked grave of the coward Robert Ford; in a place that smells of salt peter and rancid tonic, the atmospheric detailed twang of The Long Dead Sevens is joined by the growling din of collapsing new buildings.

A theatrical steam-industrial moan echoes through the mesa heralding an age not quite ancient and not quite modern. Colts and Mausers unite to shoot 'em up in this dark, enveloping, weirding wild west operetta.

"This album is a masterpiece and I don't use that term lightly." "The album is due for release around mid-May on Beta-Lactam Ring Records. Get a listen; you won't experience anything like it anywhere else. Truly marvellous."
- Steve Dean, www.stokesounds.co.uk

BlRR label update May 07, 2008

Thu, 8 May 2008 11:35:06 -0700

Greetings to you. We are very proud to announce we have the following albums and book available and now shipping (we have many, many, many, many, many, many orders for the new goodies and we will be shipping out the next 7 days (an email will be sent as soon as your order has gone out). "Images/Zero Mix" was our very first book and we had a few delays along the way but we are very proud with the final result. all best, chris.

Nurse With Wound "Images/Zero Mix" Book/CD
Nurse With Wound "The Musty Odour of Pierced Rectums" LP
Ariel Kalma "Le Temps des Moissons" CD
The Silverman "Blank for your Own Message" CD
Volcano the Bear "Mountains Among Us" CD

Coming in May we have the following albums for your listening pleasure: Anakrid "Banishment Rituals of the Disenlightened" CD/LP, Head Resonance Company "19 Tracks for Unknown People" CD/DVD, Liles, Andrew/Menche, Daniel "The Progeny of Flies" CD, Seven That Spells "Black Om Rising" CD/DVD, The Long Dead Sevens "The White Waltz & Other Stories" CD/2CD, Aidan Baker "Book of Nods" CD. Pre orders are being accepted with a 10% pre order discount being offered: use code PO10%. It expires April 30th, 2008.
Following these will be releases from Edward Ka-Spel "Dream Logik Part Two" CD/4LP, Eyeless in Gaza "Sumer Salt and Subway Fun" 2CD/3CD, Nick Grey & the Random Orchestra "Spin Vows Under Arch" and Anakrid "Scenarion" LP.

Acid Mothers Temple Presents "SEVEN THAT SPELLS JAPAN TOUR 2008"

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:53:10 -0700

Acid Mothers Temple Presents
"SEVEN THAT SPELLS JAPAN TOUR 2008"

July 13th (Sun) @ Rooster North Side TOKYO OGIKUBO (03-5397-5007)
http://www.ogikubo-rooster.com/north/
w/ Tsurubami, Miminokoto

July 14th (Mon) @ Tokuzo NAGOYA (052-733-3709)
http://tokuzo.com/
w/ Jiyujigen (Kuriyama Jun ex.Ox), Doburoku Kyodai

July 16th (wed) @ Bears OSAKA NAMBA (06-6649-5564)
http://home.att.ne.jp/orange/bears/
w/ Doburoku Kyodai

July 17th (thu) @ Helluva Lounge KOBE (078-331-7732)
http://helluva.jp/lounge/

July 19th (sat) @ Indoyo YAMAGUCHI HOFU (0835-38-5324)

July 20th (sun) @ Gallery Soap KOKURA (093-551-552)
http://g-soap.jp/
w/ Rokugenkin

July 21st (mon) @ At Hall OITA(097-535-2567)
http://www.athall.com/

July 23rd ~ 26th @ Shikoku

July 27th (sun) @ Ease HIMEJI (0792-81-7583)
http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~ease/
* only this show, Niko Potocnjak solo / Niko Potocnjak + Michishita Shinsuke (LSD-March)

July 28th (mon) @ Pepper Land OKAYAMA (086-253-9758)
http://www.pepperland.net/

July 29th (tue) @ @ Urbanguild KYOTO (075-212-1125)
http://urbanguild.net//

July 30th (wed) @ Lucrezia HAMAMATSU (053-451-5838)
http://lucrezia.web.infoseek.co.jp/

July 31st (thu) @ UFO Club TOKYO HIGASHI-KOENJI (03-5306-0240)
http://www.ufoclub.jp/

* At 3 shows on 13th ~ 16th July, Tsuyama, Kawabata and Higashi will join with STS as special guests!!

New Release: Volcano the Bear "The Mountains Among Us" CD Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:19 -0700

Available mid April 2008 as an edition of 500 copies in a full color book bound cd case. This year sees the eruption of the Volcano with a myriad of releases leaving the town folk covered in a fine and mysterious silt of musical entropy. The limited release of "Mountains" finds our boy's spelunking the creepiest of dream spawned caves, excavating crystalline fragments along the way, which are then set in beautiful mental jewelry appropriate for any formal occasion. Arpeggiated blurs and disinterred voices snap, crackle and pop as an unnamed rusted hulk is slowly pushed across an ever morphing open landscape. More accurately still, it's like that weird wind harp record from the 70's with a mid period NWW and Mauve Sideshow marching up opposite sides of the hill to claim the giant harp. And that's just in the first 19 minutes!. Afterwards, there is a slo-mo interlude battle between rarified VTB brand chamber music and the sounds of...things. As promised, the denouement is a brief, dare I say, pretty little whisper of pizzicato and drone. So pretty and little, in fact, that it caught the attention of my otherwise weirdness deaf partner. A real symphony of the spheres that showcases this Volcano's ability to blow its top and rain sweet tweeky kittens on the valley below

The Silverman "Blank For Your Own Message" CD Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:17 -0700

Available mid April 2008. First ed. of 500 copies in a full color book bound case. Silverman should be given a degree in bio-melodics. This most recent body of collaged constructions pulsates with aspects of a living system. Slurred drones rush sonic corpuscles through electronic capillaries, imparting breath to each track. An obscured, parenthetical heart beat occasionally comes through as an unexpectedly metallic panging in the background, mostly drowned out by the fluid dynamics of localized subsystems playing out their various vital functions. Perhaps each one of us DOES sound a little like a Javanese gamelan orchestra inside if you hit the right spot. Cutting to find out is not advocated. Silverman’s fantastic voyage sounds like a spiritual dissertation on degrees of scale. The musical camera obscura sometimes finds purchase on an atomic level, aurally zooming into the humming orbits of individual atoms and even creeping up on the sounds of the electrons, protons and neutrons themselves. With this beautifully ambient series of orchestral maneuvers in the dark, Silverman may have found a tonal replacement for Gray’s Anatomy.

New Release: Ariel Kalma "Le Temps des Moissons" CD Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:14 -0700

First ed. of 500 copies packaged in a book bound CD case Available mid April 2008. First time on CD for this classic prog album! This has been the first solo recording LP from Ariel Kalma, recorded in 1975. After a long journey to India where he learnt the basics of modal music and singing, Ariel was inspired by the fusion of ancient and modern ways of playing music in the 70s with saxophone, ethnic instruments, effects, electric instruments and electronic filters. As making a record was expensive at that time, when the first thousand records were pressed Ariel run out of money so he bought blank sleeves and one by one, he drew the shape of his hand and numbered each LP. This first pressing is now rare and sought after!

Another detail made this LP memorable because it had not been done before: Ariel convinced the pressing engineer to loop the groove at the end of side 2 - thus creating an endless loop - and although it was casually mentioned on the cover, it caused surprises sometimes by sending listeners into trance. or on some occasions burning the motor of their turntable after endless hours! On this CD, Ariel included a loop of several minutes only, because the LP loop had an audio advantage: as time passed the sound of the loop changed because the diamond eroded the groove.

To the 3 compositions originally on the LP have been added 2 other ones from that period of time.
Note from Ariel : Saxophone is powerful. It has raw sounds that are often filtered, polished for easier listening. I like to let my saxophone sing and when I play, I hear high-pitched, teasing sounds that I like so much. they titillate my senses. If it is too sharp for your ears, adjust your EQ till you are comfortable.

Ceci fut le premier disque solo d'Ariel Kalma, enregistré en 1975. Après un long séjour en Inde où il apprit les rudiments de la music modale et du chant, Ariel fut inspiré par le mélange d'ancients et modernes facons de jouer de la musique, mixant ses saxophones avec des instruments ethniques, des effets, des instruments electriques et des filtres électroniques. A cette époque, faire un disque coutait cher et lorsque le pressage des milles premiers disques fut effectué, Ariel n'avait plus d'argent disponible; il acheta des pochettes blanches et dessina sur lune après l'autre le contour de sa main et numerota chaque disque. Ce premier pressage est rare et recherché de nos jours !

Un autre détail contribua à rendre ce LP mémorable, du fait que cela ne fut pas fait auparavant : Ariel convaincu l'ingenieur du pressage de boucler le sillon à la fin de la plage 2 - créant ainsi une boucle sans fin - Et malgré que ce fut mentionné sur la pochette, créa des surprises : parfois génerant une transe chez l'auditeur. ou en quelques occasions, brulant le moteur de leur tourne-disque après des heures sans arrêt ! Sur le CD, Ariel a inclus une boucle de quelques minutes seulement car le LP bouclé offrait un avantage auditif supplémentaire au CD : en long terme le diamand de la platine usait le sillon un peu plus, provoquant un continuel changement sonore, comme une Reternelle...

Aux trois compositions originellement présentes sur le LP on été ajoutées deux autres de cette période.
Note d'Ariel: le saxophone est puissant. Il a des sons crus qui sont souvent filtrés, polis pour une écoute plus aisée. Dans cet album, j'aime laisser mon saxophone chanter, et lorsque je joue j'entend des sons aigüs, provoquant, et je les aime beaucoup. ils titillents mes sens. Si c'est trop acide pour vos oreilles, réglez votre équalisation jusque ce que vous soyez confortable. »

1 Le Temps des Moissons - Music of the morning and end of afternoon for one tenor saxophone, harmonium, wah-wah pedal & long delay space/time feedback effect - only active loops, no overdubs. Here we can hear the Indian influence of the composition: an introduction starting softly, slowly building up the theme, tuning each note and fine tuning the echoes, creating a space from where the theme can be exposed. Then the rhythmic part takes over and develops. Ariel added a third part, which is not in the Indian tradition, but more present in literature: a conclusion where the saxophone let go and disappears into space.

1 Le Temps des Moissons - Music du matin et fin d'après midi pour saxophone ténor, harmonium, pedale wah-wah, et effet de long echo espace/temps - boucles actives seulement, pas de surimpositions. Ici on peut entendre l'influence Indienne de la composition : une introduction débutant doucement, batissant lentement le theme, accordant chaque note et les echoes créant un espace d'où le theme est exposé. Puis la partie rythmique prend place et se développe. Ariel ajouta une troixième partie qui n'est pas dans la tradition Indienne, mais présent en litérature : une conclusion où le saxophone se laisse aller et disparaît dans l'espace.

2. Bakafrica - Promenade along the dunes on a camels back. Loy Ehrlich: electric guitar - Brahim el Belkani: Hajouj (djonkoloni) - Ariel Kalma: sax, echoplex, percussion, filters. Paris, 1974, Brahim, a Marroccan friend was visiting and Ariel gathered musicians of various parts of the world in his studio. One day this piece was born out of Ariels idea to make a piece based on the African bass that Brahim played and a tempo constantly changing in speed, as a camel would in crossing the desert.

2. Bakafrica - promenade sur les dunes à dos de chameau. Loy Ehrlich: guitar electrique - Brahim el Belkani: Hajouj (djonkoloni) - Ariel Kalma: sax, echoplex, percussion, filtres. Brahim, un ami Marrocain lui rendant visite, Ariel Ariel reunit des musiciens de diverses originesdans son studio. Basé sur la basse Africaine que jouait Brahim, ce morceau fut concu sur l'idée d'Ariel d'un tempo constament changeant en vitesse, come un chameau le ferait en traversant le desert.

3. Voyage Reternelle - Abstract sax and bizarre rhythms plus loops, vari-speed tape recorder and vintage drum machines. This mix was made for a giant multi-screen disolve units slide show at the Paris Kinopanorama, 1973

3. Voyage Reternelle - sax abstrait et rythmes bizzares plus boucles, magnetophone vari-speed et boite à rythme ancienne. Ce morceau fut concu pour un diaporama multi-écrans au Kinopanorama de Paris en 1973.

4. Fast Road to Nowhere - Jaws harp, bamboo flute, a voice and tuned echoes play around a melody from the Middle East: the road is narrow and steep and I walk alone...

4. Fast Road to Nowhere - Guimbarde, flute de bamboo, voix et echoes accordés samusent autour dune mélodie du Moyen-Orient : « la route est étroite, ardue, et je marche seul. »

5. Reternelle - Dance for two saxophones and their harmonies for morning and evening to turn on the music and sing on the loop. Tuning loops and echoes for one saxophone is already hard, and here Ariel plays it on both saxophones, creating changing patterns that move rhythms around.

5. Reternelle - Dance pour deux saxophones et leurs harmonies. Musique du soir et du matin : tourner sur la musique et chanter sur la boucle. Accorder boucles et echoes pour un saxophone est déjà difficile, et ici Ariel le pratique sur les deux saxophones, creant des motifs changeants qui font tourner les rythmes.

New Release: Nurse With Wound "Image/Zero Mix" Book/CD (Deluxe Edition) Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:10 -0700

Available mid April 2008 Deluxe Edition (The book, the album “Zero Mix” plus the bonus album “Requital for Lady Day”, numbered and signed insert by S. Stapleton, all packaged in an embossed hard-bound box and limited to 400 copies). Available late March 2008. Hardbound book featuring paintings created to celebrate the release of the albums "Angry Eelectric Finger". The book also contains the album "Zero Mix" packaged in a book bound cd case. Released in an edition of 1500 copies featuring full color images and a matte and gloss spot coating, plus full color dust jacket. Thou had best be ready when the angry eelectric finger points to YOU! THUS SPAKE NURSE (& Xhol): The recipe began with our fearless leader, Steve Stapleton, cooking up some recordings & mixing in a few tablespoons of Xhol Caravan. Beta-lactam Ring now serves up this piping hot dish to you, the hungriest of hungry, hungry hippos. In addition, Chef Steve painted 100 individually hand painted discs to celebrate the release of the three album set “Angry Eelectric Finger”. The paint and vinyl was salvaged from the local landfill site at Inagh, County Clare, Ireland and recycled here in Cooloorta during September and November 2004. The paintings were displayed in Galway, Ireland and Portland, Oregon before being offered for sale. All the paintings are now presented here in a deluxe hardbound book with full color images and a spot gloss coating. Released in an edition of 1500 copies with the album “Zero Mix”.

New Release: Nurse With Wound "Image/Zero Mix" Book/CD (Standard Edition) Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:08 -0700

STANDARD EDITION. Available mid April 2008. Hardbound book featuring paintings created to celebrate the release of the albums "Angry Eelectric Finger". The book also contains the album "Zero Mix" packaged in a book bound cd case. Released in an edition of 1500 copies featuring full color images and a matte and gloss spot coating, plus full color dust jacket. Thou had best be ready when the angry eelectric finger points to YOU! THUS SPAKE NURSE (& Xhol): The recipe began with our fearless leader, Steve Stapleton, cooking up some recordings & mixing in a few tablespoons of Xhol Caravan. Beta-lactam Ring now serves up this piping hot dish to you, the hungriest of hungry, hungry hippos. In addition, Chef Steve painted 100 individually hand painted discs to celebrate the release of the three album set “Angry Eelectric Finger”. The paint and vinyl was salvaged from the local landfill site at Inagh, County Clare, Ireland and recycled here in Cooloorta during September and November 2004. The paintings were displayed in Galway, Ireland and Portland, Oregon before being offered for sale. All the paintings are now presented here in a deluxe hardbound book with full color images and a spot gloss coating. Released in an edition of 1500 copies with the album “Zero Mix”.

New Release: Nurse With Wound "The Musty Odour Of Pierced Rectums" LP Available mid April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:31:06 -0700

Available mid April 2008 dirty brown vinyl and a book bound LP sleeve. In the terpsichorean tradition of traumatizing and titillating treacalese collector geeks the world over, Beta-lactam presents a limited LP release by Nurse With Wound. This is a full fledged, full length, full bodied album of previously unreleased material, and just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder... It would seem that the musty odour exuded by pierced rectums is exhilarating; even scintillating. With rounds of disembodied voices, arias of crackle and rumble, jets of ascendant and descendant sound, bursts of silent, nurse wounding flak worthy of The Great Cage, well, if my thermometer reads correctly, "Rectums" is not unlike "Gyllensköld" in its sonic attacks and rectal decays. I find it especially enlightening with Ann-Margaret singing in the background on the television, but you will realise hours of listening pleasure even without the random Ann-Margaret caveat. Honestly though, Volks, if'n I heard this record and did not know who it was, I would buy it on the spot because it just happens to be AWESOME, dude. All I'm saying is that thy ear drum is worth piercing with the "Musty Odour Of Pierced Rectums," possibly whilst driving around in a Pierce-Arrow reading Pears Anthony with, of course, a butt plug firmly and resolutely installed.

New release: Ulkomaalaiset (Edward Ka-Spel) "Two" CD

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:27:01 -0700

Vol. 2 now available. Ulkomaalaiset is a rather different kind of Gharbzadegi or Fremd. In this context it speaks to a disconnection to place rather than to people. Fitting a square peg into a round hole CAN, however, be a good thing. Edward Ka-Spel united with Alena Boikova and Martin Heuser in Finland to herald the coming of Spring and managed to paint several startling tone poems that reflect this sense of Ulkimaalaiset. The trio settings were improvised with an intimacy, conveying both the beauty and loneliness of exploring a strange, unpopulated place. Sometimes Heuser’s piano plays against Ka-Spel’s and Bikova’s electronics with the quiet subtlety and austere sweetness of a more musical John Cage/David Tudor collaboration. Occasionally the spirits (and maybe even the ghosts) of Aho and Sibelius are inadvertently conjured. This triumvirate is so well matched that they seem to create air above mountains. Two separate releases present with four very distinct pieces of loud, quiet, and loud. Cloudbursts of angelic rain bewitching the souls of the ever wandering Ulkomaalaiset.

Easter in rural Finland isn't exactly the most exciting holiday. Everything is closed, the few people that are normally there seem to vanish and even the mosquitoes maintain a respectful distance. Martin Heuser somehow found himself in Karis (also known as Karjaa for, in Finland, most of the places have 2 names) with nothing to do. He had flown North from his birthplace in South Brazil to avoid military service and claim a spot at the delightful Lärkkulla College - but at Easter 2007 he very much felt like an outsider. The college was virtually empty. Likewise Edward Ka-Spel (an Englishman) and Alena Boikova (a Russian) found themselves at the same place at the same time, anxious to celebrate the coming of Spring but not quite sure how to do it. A casual conversation over a bottle of Chilean wine, procured BEFORE the shops closed, revealed that Martin played classical piano. Ka-Spel, a little excited by this news, declared that the three should make an album. In fact they made two. They will probably make another one at some time in the future. What else a poor foreign boy (or girl ) do in Finland? Ulkomaalaiset means "Foreigners" in Finnish. The name was decided upon in a truly democratic way as all found the word to be a beautiful one. The band would like to thank Stefan at Lärkkulla College for making this all possible, and Chris & Heather at BLRR for allowing the music to be heard by a wider public.

Martin Heuser: piano

Alena Boikova: Drums, percussion, electronics

Edward Ka-Spel: keyboards, electronics, small indescribable objects.

Mental Mood Music (Beta-beat 9) new BlRR sampler

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:22:03 -0700

Beta-lactam Ring Records Fall 07/Winter 08 Sampler
1. The Long Dead Sevens “Mother’s Song” (Version) From the album The White Waltz & Other Stories
2. Andrew Liles “As On A Dung Hill” From the album Black End
3. Edward Ka-Spel “Harvester” From the album Dream Logik Pt. 1
4. Volcano The Bear “Splendid Goose” (Edit) From the album Amidst The Noise & Twigs
5. Earthmonkey “Jokin’ Joe” (Edit) From the album Be That Charge
6. Christus & The Cosmonaughts “Surviving The Fanatics” (Remixed Version) From the album From Atop This Hill
7. LSD March “Tempo” From the album Nikutai No Tubomi
8. Seven That Spells “I” (Edit) From the album The Men From Dystopia
9. Un Festín Sagital “La Dignidad del Espíritu Bestia” From the album Epitafio a la Permanencia
10. La STPO “Colonies” (Edit) From the album The Shy Volcanic Society At The Bear And Bird Parade
11. Waldteufel“Sanguis” (Edit) From the album Sanguis
12. Anakrid “The Examinatione” From the album Banishment Rituals Of The Disenlightened
13. Akai Ikuo “Red Hot Noodle” From the album Language Without Words
14. The Silverman “IV” From the album Blank For Your Own Message (A Zen Opera in Seven Parts)
15. Volcano The Bear “Middlefarm” bonus sampler song
16. george&caplin “Highway Driveway” (Sandusky Remix) From the album He Really Got Through To Advertising...

New release: Un Festín Sagital "Epitafio a la Permanencia" CD

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 13:48:37 -0700

Black Series 29 - Ed. of 400 numbered copies. Now all that is needed is for Dario Argento to step in and make a movie around this album. At last, Rock In Opposition enters the 21st century, cuz SCREW POST ROCK! But even though Un Festin Sagital’s name may be RIO, they are not dancing on the sand. Like little Chilean goblins, UFS pilot their fractured UFO into the cobwebbed corners of the collective head heritage. They prefer to keep to themselves inside the darkness on the edge of town, with their oddly timed opuses flickering like a forest of ill begotten faeries waiting to capture anything that strays off the path. Their skittering, rhythmic angina pays skewed homage to immortal RIO titans like Hellebore and Samla Mammas Manna, but tends to spew forth with even darker hues, like those splattered by Univers Zero, Art Zoyd and Legendary Pink Dots. UFS’s dedication to experimentation and noise in between precision timed progressive coughs could almost cast them into the same fiery pit currently occupied by many modern black and doom metal daemons. A stalwart avoidance of jazz idioms further cements their psychedelic kick into the cosmic eye and could sort of brand them as RIOORIO (Rock In Opposition Of Rock In Opposition). Whatever bullshit genre classification best suits them, like a mighty horse they rock the fat ass!

Volcano the Bear "Amidst the Noise and Twigs" TOUR DATES

Mon, 5 Nov 2007 15:01:04 -0700

VOLCANO THE BEAR
european tour 2007
# Nov 9th - Horzu Festival, Bremen, Germany
# Nov 10th - Rote Flora, Hamburg, Germany
# Nov 11th - Wroclaw Industrial Art Festival, Poland
# Nov 12th - Belleville Store, Berlin
# Nov 14th - Huset In Magstraede, Copenhagen, Denmarkk
# Nov 15th - Kafe 44, Stockholm, Sweden (with Dragon Or Emperor)
# Nov 17th - Potlach/Avanto Festival, Helsinki, Finland
# Nov 18th - Pulkvedis, Riga, Latvia
# Nov 20th - Elektro Klub/Jazz Club, Katowice, Poland *new date
# Nov 21st - Rhiz, Vienna
# Nov 23rd - Bloom, Mezzago, Italy *new date
# Nov 24th - Musiche Possibilli Festival, Ivrea, Italy
# Nov 29th - Stadtgarten Restructuring Song Festival, Cologne, Germany
# Nov 30th - Pauze Festival, Gent, Belgium
# Dec 1st - Worm, Rotterdam, Netherlands
# Dec 2nd - Instants Chavires, Paris, France
# Dec 4th - Grim, Marseilles, France
# Dec 5th - Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France
# Dec 6th - L'Ecurie, Geneva, Switzerland
# Dec 7th - St. Gallen, Palace, Switzerland
# Dec 8th - Bad Bonn Fr Katz Festival, Dudingen, Switzerland

We are looking to add further dates so please check for updates.

This tour is set to coincide with our new album, 'AMIDST THE NOISE AND TWIGS', which will be released by Beta-Lactam Ring Records.

Also keep an eye on our Myspace page, which has a couple of tracks from the forthcoming album.

New release: Bela Karoli "Furnished Rooms" CD

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:59:58 -0700

Artist: Bela Karoli
Title: Furnished Rooms
Label: Helmet Room Recordings
Format: CD
Catalog #: con-hm18
Condition: new
Price: $14.00

Tracklist Samples
1 Snow
2 String of Lights
3 Invertebrate
4 Psychosomatic
5 Some Things that Fly There Be
6 Summertime
7 Machine
8 Carnage
9 Prelude
10 Old Man River
11 Metal Body
12 Margin

Description:

Ed. of 700 copies. This unorthodox trio combines an upright bass, mechanical electronic percussion, two women singing, violin and accordion to produce music undefined by genre. "Furnished Rooms" is an album that began in the car. Its songs range from sparsely acoustic to lush, electronic landscapes, while the collection reckons with the realization that we are animals living with machines. Bela Karoli's own instrumentation reflects this tension as the band balances between acoustic and electronic. This album will appeal to fans of Feist, Thom Yorke, and Andrew Bird. What The Press Is Saying: "Exceptional music .... 'Furnished Rooms' is startlingly good. Mating organic instrumentation ... with mechanical percussion, the act effectively conjures Thom Yorke's dour, Eraser-era landscapes as seen through the lens of Beth Gibbons." -Dave Herrera, Westword "Haunting, jazz-inflected electro acoustic tunes that ooze with grace." -Ricardo Baca, Denver Post

New release: Golden Death Music "Ephemera Blues" CD

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:59:23 -0700

Artist: Golden Death Music
Title: Ephemera Blues
Label: Helmet Room Recordings
Format: CD
Catalog #: con-hr13
Condition: new
Price: $14.00

Tracklist Samples
1 Track 1
2 Track 2
3 Track 3
4 Track 4
5 Track 5
6 Track 6
7 Track 7
8 Track 8
9 Track 9
10 Track 10
11 Track 11
12 Track 12

Description:

Golden Death Music combines delicate, organic psychedelia with rich textural arrangements to form intensely beautiful songs, raising the listener above the mundane. Michael Ramey (Golden Death Music) describes the sound as "Like a mere silhouette of the endless dream that is The Great Impending Sound.
As an album, Epherema Blues works on multiple levels. On the surface, the immaculate production and deep psychedelia are reminiscent of early Pink Floyd or Hood. When you dig deeper, the record becomes an invitation to a transcendental experience; a call for the listener to realize the fleeting nature of all of our lives and the importance of a true awareness to the moment. Ephemera Blues is the perfect soundtrack for your moments of existential despair.
This album will appeal to fans of early Pink Floyd, Film School and Hood.
"by far the best guitar-orientated music that I have heard since Elliot Smith's Either/Or" - English Assasin

New release: Andrew Liles "Black End" CD Number 12/12 CDs in the Vortex Vault

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:43:50 -0700

Artist: Liles, Andrew
Title: Black End
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: CD
Catalog #: mt136
Condition: new
Price: $20.00

Tracklist Samples
1 Ohm
2 As on a Dung Hill
3 Kojack without the Hat
5 Kay-loong-meu-tuk
6 Kay-loong-meu-tuk
7 Kay-loong-meu-tuk
8 Kay-loong-meu-tuk
9 Kay-loong-meu-tuk
Black Series 16 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies available November 1, 2007. Number 12/12 in the Vortex Vault! A thousand curtsies and twice as many thanks to Steven Stapleton who appears on 'Ohm', R K Faulhaber who narrates on track 2 and Matt Waldron who sings and plays guitar on track 3. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'.

New release: Volcano the Bear "Amidst the Noise and Twigs" CD

Mon, 5 Nov 2007 15:01:01 -0700

Artist: Volcano the Bear
Title: Amidst the Noise and Twigs
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: CD
Catalog #: mt204a
Condition: new
Price: $18.00

Tracklist Samples
1 the sting of haste
2 before we came to this religion
3 larslovesnicks farm
4 burnt seer
5 cassettes of berlin
6 splendid goose
7 she vang moon
8 one hundred years of infamy
9 the three twins

Description:

Available November 6, 2007 on CD – first ed. of 1000 is packaged in a full color book bound case with an eight page booklet. Volcano The Bear "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" is the follow up to the critically acclaimed "Classic Erasmus Fusion" album. Who knew that amidst the noise and the twigs there was music…sweet, sweet music?! This world is Volcano the Bear’s womb. At last, the year that VTB gets a shot at Top Of The Pops, assuming the pops finally snaps out of its vapid trance and embraces the standards of Comus, 3 Hurel, early Residents and 12th century Arabo-Andalusian music. As usual, our heroes are found keeping things stripped to the bone trumpet, but dripping with a juicy, melodic marrow. The record pours slowly and resolutely like a folk-psych dream urn, loaded with full metal banjoes; crumhorns at 12 O’clock; and autoharps at defcon 5. The experimentalism is this time couched in shifting tides of self-spun acidic harvest ballads that noisily well up into proto-Kraut thrums and tribal night trips around the pyre. A rural, squelchy, DIY delicacy which stinks of occidental embouchure so crystal crisp that every skkrrrr, pphaaapph and brrruuuummmm resonates like a small, sound-specific god, intertwined with beautifully skewed notes, voices and rhythms. "Amidst The Noise And Twigs" plays like a recently discovered field recording of some obscured Celtic clan who accidentally stumbled onto psychedelia 600 years ahead of its time. These pipers truly rock the gates of dawn.

Volcano the Bear Euro tour dates:
october 4th - paris, pompidou centre - 8.30 pm www.centrepompidou.fr

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

09/11 - germany - bremen - horzu festival
10/11 - germany - hamburg - rote flora
11/11 - poland - wroclaw - industrial art festival
12/11 - germany - berlin - belleville store
14/11 - denmark - copenhagen - huset in magstraede
15/11 - sweden - stockholm - kafe 44
17/11 - finland - helsinki - potlach/avanto festival
18/11 - latvia - riga - pulkvedis
21/11 - austria - vienna - rhiz
24/11 - italy - ivrea - musiche possibilli festival
29/11 - germany - cologne - stadtgarten reconstructing music festival
30/11 - belgium - gent - pauze festival
01/12 - holland - rotterdam - worm
02/12 - france - paris - instants chavires
04/12 - france - marseille - grim
05/12 - france - lyon - grrrrnd zero 06/12 - switzerland - geneva - l'ecurie
07/12 - switzerland - st. gallen - palace
08/12 - switzerland - dudingen - bad bonn fr katz festival
for more dates and information please visit brainwashed.com/vtb

New release: Seven that Spells "The Men from Dystopia" (with special assistance from Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple, ...)

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:36:54 -0700

Artist: Seven that Spells
Title: The Men from Dystopia
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: CD
Catalog #: mt207
Condition: new
Price: $16.00

Tracklist Samples
1 I
2 II
3 III
4 IV
5 V

Description:

CD edition of 500 numbered copies in a full color book bound case. Available Nov. 30, 2007. Simply amazing Croatian psych with special assistance from Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple, ...) If the metallic mettle of these men represents Dystopia, then forget Utopia, I wanna bang on Dystopia’s drum all day! The sweet ‘n’ sour smell of Kraut explodes in carefully paced salvos, and then goes completely off the rails. And then gets crazier. And crazier. And crazier. And crazier. Until it reaches an insane, almost unbearably heavy sonic crescendo, and then gets even crazier. And crazier. And crazier. A thick, unending firestorm of napalm psychedelia PUMMELS while its orbit decays into the swirling sounds of slowly going mad. An audio illustration of a mescaline trip that gets too close too enlightenment. Amon Duul II times ten to the fifth of Beethoven! A truly massive attack!
Seven that Spells:
Stjepan Jurekovic' - drums
Lidija Dokuzovic' - voc
Tvrtko Dujmovic'- bass
Tsuyama Atsushi - voc
Kawabata Makoto - electric sitar, tambura, hurdy-gurdy
Niko Potoc(njak - guitar, synth
Recorded during 2006 & 2007 @Psychedelic Dungeon and @Acid Mothers Temple
Recording engineer - Sven Pavlovic'
Mix - Hrvoje Nikšic' @KRAMASONIK studio and Kawabata Makoto @Acid Mothers Temple
Artwork - Niko Potoc(njak
Photo by: Grga Mirjanic', Iva Jila Mahalec

New release: LSD March "Nikutai No Tubomi" 2xCD

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:18:32 -0700

2xCD edition of 500 numbered copies in a full color book bound case. Available Nov. 30, 2007. It gets so lonely in the belly of a whale. But the acoustics are fantastic. The pitch and yaw of its cavernous gut lowing with a long, guttural song burst. This is met by a loud, wailing which drone swells up as millions of gallons pass through tons of ambergris. These massive internal sound collisions resonate into a monstrous feedback of even greater proportion than the beast itself. And Jonah smiles. This is the sound of LSD March. Be the body of Christ and let the whale take of YOU.
LSD March is a Japanese psychedelic rock group, based in the city of Himeji. It is led by singer and guitarist Shinsuke Michishita. The group is named after a track by krautrock group Guru Guru. Michishita has also played with Magura Mozart and Doodles.

Tracklist Samples
1 Aubade
1 Nikutai No Tubomi
2 Elephant
3 Stone
4 Tempo
5 Love
6 1978
7 Dance
8 Holy Ghost

New release: Ulkomaalaiset (Edward Ka-Spel) "1" CD

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:49:12 -0700

(Electro-improv album with Edward Ka-Spel.) Ed. of 300 numbered copies, available Dec. 18, 2007. The second album “2” will be issued early Feb. 2008. Ulkomaalaiset is a rather different kind of Gharbzadegi or Fremd. In this context it speaks to a disconnection to place rather than to people. Fitting a square peg into a round hole CAN, however, be a good thing. Edward Ka-Spel united with Alena Boikova and Martin Heuser in Finland to herald the coming of Spring and managed to paint several startling tone poems that reflect this sense of Ulkimaalaiset. The trio settings were improvised with an intimacy, conveying both the beauty and loneliness of exploring a strange, unpopulated place. Sometimes Heuser’s piano plays against Ka-Spel’s and Bikova’s electronics with the quiet subtlety and austere sweetness of a more musical John Cage/David Tudor collaboration. Occasionally the spirits (and maybe even the ghosts) of Aho and Sibelius are inadvertently conjured. This triumvirate is so well matched that they seem to create air above mountains. Two separate releases present with four very distinct pieces of loud, quiet, and loud. Cloudbursts of angelic rain bewitching the souls of the ever wandering Ulkomaalaiset.

Easter in rural Finland isn't exactly the most exciting holiday. Everything is closed, the few people that are normally there seem to vanish and even the mosquitoes maintain a respectful distance. Martin Heuser somehow found himself in Karis (also known as Karjaa for, in Finland, most of the places have 2 names) with nothing to do. He had flown North from his birthplace in South Brazil to avoid military service and claim a spot at the delightful Lärkkulla College - but at Easter 2007 he very much felt like an outsider. The college was virtually empty. Likewise Edward Ka-Spel (an Englishman) and Alena Boikova (a Russian) found themselves at the same place at the same time, anxious to celebrate the coming of Spring but not quite sure how to do it. A casual conversation over a bottle of Chilean wine, procured BEFORE the shops closed, revealed that Martin played classical piano. Ka-Spel, a little excited by this news, declared that the three should make an album. In fact they made two. They will probably make another one at some time in the future. What else a poor foreign boy (or girl ) do in Finland? Ulkomaalaiset means "Foreigners" in Finnish. The name was decided upon in a truly democratic way as all found the word to be a beautiful one. The band would like to thank Stefan at Lärkkulla College for making this all possible, and Chris & Heather at BLRR for allowing the music to be heard by a wider public.

Martin Heuser: piano

Alena Boikova: Drums, percussion, electronics

Edward Ka-Spel: keyboards, electronics, small indescribable objects.

Tour Dates for BlRR artists. New Dates for Legendary Pink Dots, Seven That Spells

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:55:23 -0700

Beta-lactam Ring Records label artists tour dates. See our bands live!

Green Milk from the Planet Orange tour dates: visit www.green-milk.com

Legendary Pink Dots tour dates: visit brainwashed.com/lpd

La STPO tour dates:

george&caplin tour dates: visit georgeandcaplin.com

Orbit Service tour dates: visit orbitservice.com

Soriah tour dates: soriah.net

Volcano the Bear tour dates: VTB

Seven That Spells tour dates: 7thatspells.com

New release: Andrew Liles "Black Pool" CD

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:06:55 -0700

Black Series 15 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies available October 1, 2007. A million and one thanks to Jackie Potter who narrates on 2, 10, 15, 19 and 21, Colin Potter who supplied field recordings made in Blackpool, Lancashire, UK, Freek Kinkelaar who narrates on 19, David Janssen who co-wrote and played on 6 and 11 and Brian Poole who co-wrote and supplied voices on tracks 3, 11, 14 and 20. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

New release: Andrew Liles "Sheep" CD

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:07:13 -0700

Black Series 14 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies available September 1, 2007. Many thanks to Michael Liles and Esme Haynes who narrate on track 1, David Janssen who plays on track 2, Steven Wilson who re-constructed track 3, Annie Kerr who stroked strings on Tracks 7 and 10, Wolfgang Weiss who narrates on 11 and Gregg Sharpen and Colin Potter who inadvertently contribute to track 13. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'.

New release: Andrew Liles "Black Panther" CD

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:35:07 -0700

Black Series 13 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies available August 1, 2007. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

New release: Andrew Liles "Black Out" CD

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:35:07 -0700

Black Series 12 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies available July 1, 2007. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

Beta-lactam Ring Records myspace page

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:44:51 -0700

Beta-lactam Ring Records myspace page
http://myspace.com/blrrecords

New release: Maëror Tri "Ambient Dreams" CD

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:30:58 -0700

Black Series 34 - Ed. of 500 numbered copies. Oh, the roaring silence! Maëror Tri has knack for gathering simple sonic ingredients, simmering them in a jabberwocky with special electro-sauces, and serving up an ear smacking meal that tastes great even as leftovers. So, let’s get to the meat of the matter... “Ambient Dreams” is, surprise!,.. an ambient recording. By ambient I mean "like the hazy wails of windswept souls as seen under failing fluorescent lighting." Please turn your books to the chapter entitled "Nurse With Wound-Homotopy To Marie" for related reading. MT's jittery electronic torpedoes are juxtaposed by silent wakes and expatriated metallic swirls. Pregnant and cavernous (see also Lustmord) sounds wander back and forth leaving trails of lingering, tonal machine noise. It's like that great and variable symphony provided by the refrigerator when conversing with the radiator late at night. Robotic whales calling to each other in a pool of motor oil. Music to grease the chasse of your dreams! Please file in experimental or rock but NOT NEW AGE because Kenny G wouldn't like it!

New release: Silverman "State Of Union" CD

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:31:01 -0700

Black Series 18 - Ed. of 500 numbered and signed copies. "The Silverman is one of the two remaining founding fathers of The Legendary Pink Dots and this release serves partly as a sketch book of ideas and stuff he did on a solo tour with the addition of a new 20 minute bonus track. The music by The Silverman only has a far away resemblance of the Legendary Pink Dots, like just one layer is distilled and used as the backbone of an entire new world. It could be described by that dreaded term ambient, but it doesn't justify it. The sounds inside this release are at times far too alien to be filled under ambient. It moves along many different territories, ambient, cosmic, but it takes out the best elements and it is presented in a rather own way. Music that is like a disturbing dream, not a nightmare but a surrealistic dream." (FdW-Vital Weekly)

New release: Akai Ikuo "Language Without Words" CD

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:32:56 -0700

Black Series - 19. Ed. of 300 copies. Poppy red is the colour of Akai’s cracked fusion. Their downtempo psychtronica rises and ripples like exhaust from a resin caked hookah. Registering on the Richter scale somewhere between Squarepusher (Music Is Rotted One Note) and Terje Rypdal (Odyssey) with little Thromboses of Seefeel, Deodato, Coil and The Orb congealing around the edges, Akai has an expansive sound, but leaves a lot of space, which keeps the cool cool. Exotic percussions cut the strangely metered cocaine of jazz rhythms and glitchy sequences with soothing, tropical diazapams that transform the frenetic beats into hallucinations of quiet grandeur. The gamelan/steel drum-like din offers pleasing, almost Lou Harrison moments that tweak into metamorphs of the third stream. This bitches brew is spiked throughout with tinctures of guitar psychedelia and drams of electronic chirps and whirs. And a subtly stumbling, matte finish bassline bubbles just beneath the meniscus. A long, strange trip into a morphine drip.

New release: Waldteufel "Sanguis" CD / LP now available.

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:52:46 -0700

That cheeky little wood devil. It was weird enough when Markus first donned his Waldteufel hides in '95. After the sub-tribal thud of Crash Worship, such earthen tones seemed almost extra-terrestrial. 12 years on and he continues to crack open die Erde, and houses her escaping spirits and demons in lieder for the Vreaky Volk to sing. Sanguis is well named as it not only taps into the stuff this life's veiny floe, but also happens to be bloody brilliant. The opening psychedelics raise the standard, call the wild and deliver a definitive apocalyptic folk-you to genrefication. A droney accordion meditation sounds like some avant garde Wehrmacht era B-side, then followed on by a slow and sturmy Sitzkrieg of black metal. Markus' baritone rolls up a centre column of buzzing guitar flanks like a Panzer division pushing back some unseen musikal enemy. This bold and inventive advance is supported further on by sonic cannon rounds of rounds and canons firing ever thickening salvos of voice and sound, as if midwifing some impossible juxtaposition of an ersatz gothic Beach Boys and a Bier drunk Popol Vuh. Despite the technology and the occasional glints metallic, Sanguis sounds built of ancient marrow. Markus's vocals are a powerful root upon which girthy boughs of folklore expand Himmelward. German lyrics add to the poetry and provenance resulting in a sort of Neue Alte Deutsche Welle (NADW). Or, perhaps, Zauberkraut (Achtung Herr Kommisar: Zauber=magic. Alles Klar?). Whatever you prefer to call it, Waldtuefel is more delicious than Dunkels and will knock over anyone's Maginot line without chipping a hoof.

New release: Soriah "Ofrendas de Luz a Los Muertos" CD

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:32:21 -0700

Black Series 33 - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. Available June 22, 2007. Far from harvesting sweet airs from organs, Soriah’s “Ofrendas de Luz a Los Muertos” hangs heavily in electrified air like a soul gazing down on its discarded skin. The fusion of noise technician Power Circus into Soriah’s fold slices old bones into a scrimshaw of power electronics. This slowly building monstrosity of sound literally shakes foundations, leaving a wake of rubble that the dead can easily follow. From ‘neath the pulsations echoes up the mournful Tuvan wail of Soriah’s disembodied ghost, leading deceased legions into the light of the living. Sonically devastating, the crushing beauty of “Offerings” approaches operatic quality, that is, if things like MB. Hafler Trio and New Blockaders could ever be considered operatic. A useful beacon for the dead, but sure to also weave the living into their morbid limbo line in search of Soriah’s black sun.

New release: Andrew Liles Vortex Vault Poster

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:46:33 -0700

Andrew Liles Vortex Vault Poster. Ed. of 100 numbered copies on 100 pound book stock paper with a gloss coating. Available May 15, 2007.

New release: Andrew Liles "Black Sea" CD

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:52:57 -0700

lack Series 10 (and the half way house for Vortex Vault) - Available May 1, 2007. Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

Andrew Liles Vortex Vault 12 CD subscription available

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 18:56:41 -0700

Black Series - Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

New release: george&caplin "He Really Got Through to Advertising" CD

Wed, 30 May 2007 17:18:38 -0700

Black Series 20 - Ed. of 350 numbered copies. THEY really get through. g&c's backwards looping under-coat melodics seep like a musical IV into nourishment-hungry heads. Warm acoustics resonate over warbling electronics, palpitating into slow, sentient rhythms. "Dreamo" has already been co-opted by punk-dits, so g&c's get their own "Hemo" category, just so everyone can be called something ending in "-emo." Yes, Hemo: The blood. Fluid dynamics at its core purpose: pumping life into a system. Their sanguine essence of cosmic psychedelia blasts a new kind of human flower. Tiny sounds rise to peal at the surface, dueted by a disembodied vocal melancholia. These 7 tracks carve out a truly unique sonic geode that paints a plasma of pure loveliness. The blood has served them well, with an evolution marked this time by a particular subdued heaviness in the creases. Coming on like some unearthed Factory or 4AD artifact, g&c's organic nu-gaze halos continue to circle above; the blood infusing the machine with a soul. They really DO get through.
g&c "...we are really excited as it features loads of new sounds (from harmonica to flute), and a whole new perspective on george&caplin via collaborations with Sandusky, Robin Rozum (our talented multi-instrument neighbor), Joshua Gondrez (Time's Knowledge) and super-pumpkin engineer Jim Wilson (Airshow Mastering)."

New release: Christus & the Cosmonaughts "From Atop This Hill" CD/LP

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:51:40 -0700

Terra Firma flags. Sky burns electric. Fauna flee for fear. The second coming of Christus is here. 8 new stations of the cross oscillate wildly between bristling electronic noise pyres and sizzling, solemn song-forms. “From Atop This Hill” is a study in the transcendental possibilities of synthesis couched in the form of a mystery play. The jilted narratives just glisten, rich with pulsating electrocycles that alternately coil into instrumental pythons. Form and function fuse in a flux of devotional experimentalism paired with a sort of weird pop. Christus' strangely wrought onomatopoeic lyrics are compelling, wrapped as they are in his classic coldwave croon amid slo-mo motorik surges of minimal wave. Drag thy cross upon yon hill and embrace the passion of the Christus.
Christus & The Cosmonaughts May Well Be: The progressive, psychedelic musical excursions of an ever-changing band of performers fronted by yours truly, Scot Solida. A strange and unique hybrid of live jamming and cut-and-paste techniques form the basis of the songs. From space rock to prog rock to blatant experiments in sound, you will find something new in the sonic explorations of Christus And The Cosmonaughts. To understand the reasons for its existence, we must go back nearly a quarter of a century to the turn of the nineteen-eighties, when a pair of singular events occurred which would shake the very foundations of even the strongest psyche. First, I would face the death of my father, who was brutally murdered at the hands of a gunman, and left to die in a desolate field. I will not go into details here, but if you would like to learn of my very personal feelings regarding the matter, consult the track "Famine" from the extended play recording called The Four Whore's Men. I was plunged into despair and madness, and the results were that I would spend far too many of my formative teen years behind the locked doors of one institution or another. It was an embarrassingly predictable response to a tumultuous and unfathomable event. They never caught the murderer who stole my father's life and my sanity. The other event, which occurred at roughly the same time, but necessarily later, was a performance by a skinny Brit on the television. The fellow was Gary Numan, and I was enthralled by the mysterious sounds he and his band were producing. This began my lifelong love affair with synthesizers, which would become a hobby, then a career. Like so many solitary people, I spent the better part of my years seeking out music and art that I deemed to have been as strange and unusual as I myself was becoming. That art usually had something to do with science fiction or other flights of the imagination. I didn't care for the "real" world with any amount of conviction. I also became obsessive about pursuing the art of synthesis, first with my simple monosynths, and later with more elaborate and sophisticated gear. By the mid part of the decade, I was supporting myself as an illustrator, all the while recording my own (admittedly embryonic) music, and eventually wound up working with a brilliant studio owner called David Nichols, who taught me the finer techniques of engineering. Christus & The Cosmonaughts was born during this time, as an excuse to write and sing my lyrics (usually short stories) and to experiment with the fabric of sound. Fast forward to the present: Christus And The Cosmonaughts now happily resides alongside some of my favorite artists on the utterly superb independent record label called Beta-lactam Ring Records, whose head honcho shares my penchant for elaborate and artistic packaging. For the most recent LP, I have been joined by an extraordinary guitairst and bassist who goes by the unlikely name of Har, the ever-stalwart Ant Graham and 54-year-old Nashville session drummer and Colorado resident Wayne Cunningham. As for myself, I am a professional sound designer and writer. If you use a computer for your music, you have probably read any number of my articles in the UK magazine called Computer Music, or the stateside Grooves magazine. You may even have used my sounds in your software synthesizers (I have patched a great number of them), or dragged one of my loops into an arrangement, via the samples I do under the name The Electronic Garden. I have put many of them to use myself.

New release: Martyn Bates "Dissonance/Antagonistic Music" 2CD/ LP now available.

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:55:06 -0700

“…it’s an amazing, long lost missing piece in the UK post-punk/DIY jigsaw.” The Wire/April 2007. Ed. of 150 copies on 220 gram vinyl. Freed from layers of sand, the ancient seal is cracked and the stone portal pried away. A hoary blizzard of slowly settling dust and mold is finally sliced by the first tantalizing glint of a mythological cache. At long last a lost experimental classic from the earliest days of the UK diy movement is delivered from legendary obscurity. “…violent anti-music: I think this is a brilliant tape…hauntingly beautiful and totally refreshing sound.” So wrote Geoff Rushton (aka Jhon Balance) in a 1980 issue his Stabmental magazine about Martyn Bates’s “Dissonance” cassette. Originally released as a micro-edition in the UK in 1979, the more definitive American version was released as a cassette in the US shortly afterwards. For the first time “Dissonance” sees a limited edition CD and vinyl reissue, appended by a bonus disc with the 1994 “completion” of the piece. “Dissonance” presaged Martyn’s solo career and his work as part of Eyeless In Gaza in a most unusual way. Rather than directly suggesting what was to come, the cassette, instead, suggested a composing and sound AESTHETIC that exists to this day. That first cassette-only cri-de-coeur would have you believe that Martyn would be the next Nurse With Wound. Instead, rather like a more extreme Vice Versa or Human League, with Bates literally finding his voice, the later music (solo and with Eyeless In Gaza) evolved into a textural, fractured, DIY chamber pop INFORMED by the avant-garde, occasionally straying back into outright experimentalism (Pale Hands I Loved So Well, eg.). That Eyeless In Gaza (and let’s not forget Peter Becker) and post 70’s Martyn Bates manifested from “Dissonance” makes this bizarre and essential release even more of a precious find. If Martyn had not recorded another note, this would still stand as an extremely important early, incredibly forward thinking moment of sonic exploration. Dynamic, visceral and jagged but musical and deliberately constructed, “Dissonance” captures, maybe even defines the zeitgeist of the DIY attitude that was rising in the heady days of the late 70’s and early 80’s. An undeniable antecedent and a true revolution.

New release coming soon: Anakrid "UnoDos" 2CD

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:36:21 -0700

Black Series 31 – “UnoDos (Father/Rapture of the Deep) Ed. Of 400 numbered and signed copies each with an original piece of art by the band. Available Oct. 31, 2007. Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina...with a shimmering heap of home made percussion and a tall cool glass of squelchy tonal blur on the rocks. As promised, the south has risen again and seceded from the corporeal into the astral under the banner of Anakrid. This SC based trio forges with a metaphysical trigonometry, looking deep into the bowels of the ancient, long-form, experimental God-head, and yet turning in a full 30+ compositions, dumping the old skool “one drone per side” rule. The neighbours spy the psychedelic outline of the heaving Mauve Sideshow, which causes even the house of love itself to rumble right down to its Konstruktivits. Anakrid makes a passionately focused and dynamic racket. The studio itself is played like a Strad in the hands of a peyote pitched Janos Starker. Crisp layer upon crisp layer of succulent sound goes down sweeter than the sweetest key lime. Anakrid simply reigns, even more than the motorcycle boy…This album will appeal to fans of MB, Nurse With Wound, Troum, Hafler Trio, the experimental parts of Goblin during a Dario Argento movie, SPK, .. file under soundtrack doom drone.

Bickel fist began experimenting with compositional music in 1989 (with limited cassette-only releases debuting as early as 1990). Those familiar with Bickel’s musical pedigree will note a significant duality in his modes of musical expression. As a dynamic frontman, he’s always been heavily steeped in punk rock, but his solo records consistently veer more towards the esoteric.

Bickel says, “I got into stuff like that through punk rock, which led me to stuff like Throbbing Gristle, and that actually led me to a lot of 20th century classical.” Bickel points to ‘50’s composers like Stockhausen as references to what inspired this form of experimentation. I asked whether fans of his more traditionally “punk” bands like In/Humanity or Guyana Punch Line would be able to make the leap into appreciating Anakrid, which Bickel says is “hard to say”, even though he views this music as a logical extension of punk’s ethos: “I sort of see it as a part of punk rock that has nothing to do with punk rock.”

And listening to it, one certainly would be hard-pressed to make the connection- at least sonically.

Bickel says he has hours and hours of music on tape that he pours over for new ideas: “A lot of the stuff that I work with is stuff that was recorded to four-track six or seven years ago, and I’ll find maybe a one-second snippet that is really awesome and I’ll sequence that in some way or loop it or manipulate it.” If there is ever a normal instrument audible, it’s certainly not played in an orthodox way.

New release: Andrew Liles "Black Mamba"

Mon, 2 Apr 2007 14:31:28 -0700

Part 5 of 12 in the Vortex Vault, a release in the Black Series.

New release: Edward Ka-Spel "Dream Logik Part One"

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:04 -0700

Available May 15th, 2007. First pressing of 850 numbered copies in a book bound gatefold CD case – easily one of our most deluxe cd packages to date. The first 50 copies will include a signed insert.
We are still writing a review of the album but we wanted to go ahead and announce pre orders for this album as the packaging will take about six weeks to manufacture.
Artwork by Jesse Pepper jessepeper.com

New release: Edward Ka-Spel "Melancholics Anonymous" CD negro 21

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:08 -0700

mt145 Edward Ka-Spel "Melancholics Anonymous" CD negro 21

New release: RLW "An Archivist's Nightmare" CD

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:18 -0700

Click here for Mp3 Audio Samples
Artist: RLW
Title: The Archivist's Nightmare
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: CD
Catalog #: mt138
Condition: new
Price: $20.00

New release: Tomutonttu LP

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:27 -0700

Click here for Mp3 Audio Samples
Artist: Tomutonttu
Title: Tomutonttu
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: LP
Catalog #: mt123
Condition: new
Price: $20.00

New release: Kemialliset Ystävät "Alkuhärkä" LP/7"

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:37 -0700

Artist: Kemialliset Ystävät
Title: Alkuhärkä
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: LP+7"
Catalog #: mt122a
Condition: new
Price: $25.00

New release now available by Andrew Liles "Black Widow"

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:40:57 -0700

Black Series 8 - Available March 1, 2007 Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

New release: Earthmonkey "Be That Charge" 2CD & a limited 3CD edition, 3LP edition.

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:34:51 -0700

Artist: Earthmonkey
Title: Be that Charge (Deluxe)
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: 3xCD
Catalog #: mt049deluxe
Condition: new
Price: $30.00
Description:
Deluxe 2xCD edition plus bonus CD limited to 300 numbered and signed copies
with an original art insert by Peat Bog. All packaged in a deluxe 5 color
gatefold sleeve. Honey...looks like the monkey's been in the mushrooms
again! Yes, the unstoppable Peat Bog has once again raised his pulsating
colours and thrown himself, and us, into a cosmic oblivion. And though
scientists have recently proven that a person can swim as quickly through
syrup as through water, syrup is still the more delicious swim. And syrup is
the pool that Peat offers up for your musical laps. This latest has both
kinds of music: stoned and stoneder. The record opens with a kind of Duulish
slow groove that one might find useful while laying in the middle of a field
staring at clouds. Before long, one is laying in the middle of a cloud
staring at fields. Peat's production shows that his sixth form spent in
Nurse With Wound school paid off. All the tracks are quietly layered with
subtle backdrops, voices an d swells of thick fuzz. As ever, however, no
matter how close Peat brings us to a need for rehab, Earthmonkey is fat with
rhythm and even the occasional need to, perhaps, ever so slightly, bang the
head. A nice electro punker in the middle not only invokes the spectre of
Chrome, but is also sure to grow a thicker, healthier mullet faster than any
other traditional hair remedy. Looking for that modern something a little
2066-And-Then-o-licious and also a little Galactic-Supermarket-o-rama?
Earthmonkey is your Kraut-tastic choice! And somehow I managed to get
through this whole thing without mentioning the word psychedelic. Until now.
Dammit!

Artist: Earthmonkey
Title: Be That Charge
Label: Beta-lactam Ring Records
Format: 2xCD
Catalogue Number: mt049a
Status: in stock
Price: $18.00
First 2xCD edition of 1000 copies in a deluxe 5 color gatefold sleeve.
Honey...looks like the monkey's been in the mushrooms again! Yes, the
unstoppable Peat Bog has once again raised his pulsating colours and thrown
himself, and us, into a cosmic... (More Info. Here)

BlRR Radio - 350 new songs added from the BlRR catalog.

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:33:43 -0700

BlRR Radio - 125 new songs added from the BlRR catalog.

RSS discount offer. Use code RSS20% for 20% off almost any item.

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:22:08 -0700

RSS discount offer. Use code RSS20% for 20% off almost any item. not available for "NO DISCOUNT" releases.

New release: Anla Courtis/Ralf Wehowsky "Return of the Stone Spirits"

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:41:58 -0700

Description:

Black Series 3 - Ed. of 300 numbered copies. Anla Courtis (ex Reynols) and Ralf Wehowsky (P16.D4, RLW). Six pieces of ghostly musique-concrete and fuzzed out drone.

a.c.: coils (on 1, 3), guitar (on 2), argentinian violin (on 4), stuff in a plastic bag (on 3, 5), sampler (on 6).
r.l.w.: coils (on 1, 3), guitar (on 1, 2), cambodian violin (on 4), kalimba & cappuccino shaker (on 5), cd-scratch (on 6). # 6 is dedicated to the frozen antheil.
Recorded quasi-live november 5th 2005 in eggenstein, germany. no sound-transformations ex post facto. all pieces but # 3 are to be heard as played by a.c. & r.l.w. in real-time. #3 constructed from 2 real-time recordings, layered. edits, mix, post-production & mastering by rlw, november 2005 – march 2006

New BlRR Podcast now available featuring Un Festin Sagital.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:38:15 -0700

Beta-lactam Ring Records Podcast October 15, 2007.

New release now available by Andrew Liles "Black Beauty"

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:42:20 -0700

Black Series 7 - Available Feb. 1, 2007. Ed. of 300 numbered and signed copies. 'The Vortex Vault' will be in part a collection of unreleased, unearthed and dusted down material from the vast Andrew Liles archive of unused studio material. 'The Vortex Vault' will also include brand new recordings, conceptual and collaborative pieces, special guests, kraut rock psyche outs, space rock, the odd and unlikely, Norwegian, the obscure and arcane, aircraft, cicadas, the absurd and nonsensical. 'The Vortex Vault' is a platform to release radically different and eclectic material. Expect the unexpected, the minimalist and excessive, the demure and deranged. The first in the series will be 'Black Paper', The second in the series will be 'Black Hole', and in no particular order will be followed by 'Black Beauty', 'Black Mamba', 'Black Pool', 'Black Sea', 'Black Panther', 'Black Sheep', 'Black Widow', 'Blackout', 'Black Market' and finishing with 'Black End'

BlRR Digital Downloads now available

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:56:30 -0700

Beta-lactam Ring BlRR Digital Downloads mp3 song and album downloads

New albums now available by Edward Ka-Spel, Volcano the Bear, Noise-maker's Fifes, Andrew Liles

Tons of new mailorder items added

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:56:26 -0700

Aldebaran
Dwellers In Twilight
$15.00 (CD)
add to cart

Anakrid
Banishment Rituals of the Disenlightened
[Preorder]
$16.00 (CD)
add to cart

Anakrid
Banishment Rituals of the Disenlightened
[Preorder]
$30.00 (LP)
add to cart

Anakrid
Pos Load: Nihilsurrealisme
$30.00 (LP)
add to cart

Astro Jazkamer Hair Stylistics
Motorcycle Fuck With The Ghost Rider
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Baker, Aidan
Book Of Nods
[Preorder]
$15.00 (CD)
add to cart

Baker, Aidan
Figures
$16.00 (CD)
add to cart

Coffins
Mortuary In Darkness
$25.00 (2xLP)
add to cart

Coffins/Otesanek
Split
$16.00 (CD)
add to cart

Corrupted
El Mundo Frio
$30.00 (CD)
add to cart

Courtis/Matsunaga
Anla Courtis + Kouhei Matsunaga
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Deathspell Omega
Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum
$30.00 (LP)
add to cart

Deathspell Omega
Kenose
$30.00 (LP)
add to cart

Deathspell Omega
Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice.
$40.00 (2xLP)
add to cart

Drastus
Taphos
$16.00 (CD)
add to cart

Expo 70
Animism
$15.00 (CD)
add to cart

Expo 70
Audio Archive 001
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Expo 70
Audio Archive 002
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Expo 70
Mystical Amplification
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Head Resonance Company
19 Tracks for Unknown People
[Preorder]
$20.00 (CD + DVD)
add to cart

Inanna
Day Of Torment
$16.00 (CD)
add to cart

Kalma, Ariel
Le Temps des Moissons
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Kawabata, Makoto/Pauvros, Jean-Francois
MARS
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Liles, Andrew/Menche, Daniel
The Progeny of Flies
[Preorder]
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Limpe Fuchs
Pianobody 2002
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Merrell, Baker and Jordan
Nagual
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Mortuus
De contemplanda Morte; De Reverencie laboribus ac Adorationis
$17.00 (CD)
add to cart

New Blockaders/Das Synthetische Mischgewere
The Monosyllabic Bicycles Tri-Coloured Quadruples
$40.00 (LP+7")
add to cart

Noise-maker's Fifes
Soirée Dansante
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Noise-maker's Fifes
Soundscapes of the Inner Eye
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Nurse With Wound
Images / Zero Mix
$25.00 (Book)
add to cart

Nurse With Wound
Images/Zero Mix (Deluxe Ed.)
$85.00 (Book+2CD)
add to cart

Nurse With Wound
Images/Zero Mix (Standard Ed.)
$35.00 (Book+CD)
add to cart

Nurse With Wound
The Musty Odour Of Pierced Rectums
[Preorder]
$20.00 (LP)
add to cart

Onde
One
$38.00 (LP)
add to cart

Picks & Lighters
Picks & Lighters
$10.00 (CD)
add to cart

Pulse Emitter
Progression To Desolation
$20.00 (LP)
add to cart

Raymond Dijkstra
Die Sonne
$150.00 (LP)
add to cart

Raymond Dijkstra
Die Wille
$150.00 (LP)
add to cart

Ride For Revenge
The King Of Snakes
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Seven that Spells
Black Om Rising
[Preorder]
$18.00 (CD + DVD)
add to cart

Seven that Spells
It Came From The Planet Of Love
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Seven that Spells
My Mommy Wants To Kiss Your Mamma
$18.00 (CD)
add to cart

Silverman
Blank For Your Own Message
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Tecumseh
Crossing Divides
$20.00 (LP)
add to cart

The Long Dead Sevens
The White Waltz & Other Stories
[Preorder]
$15.00 (CD)
add to cart

The Long Dead Sevens
The White Waltz & Other Stories/ The White Waltz Companion Disc
[Preorder]
$20.00 (2xCD)
add to cart

Thralldom
A Shaman Steering The Vessel Of Vastness
$20.00 (LP)
add to cart

Troum
Darve sh/ Ajin
$25.00 (CD)
add to cart

Troum
SEN (Picture Disk)
$35.00 (2xLP)
add to cart

Troum
SEN (Tan, White, Black)
$35.00 (2xLP)
add to cart

Ulkomaalaiset
Two
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Up-Tight
Early Years
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Uw Hypotheekadvies
Nature or Nurture
$15.00 (CD)
add to cart

V/A
Post-Asiatic Lost War Dream Music
$18.00 (2xCD)
add to cart

van Luijk, Timo/Vanderstraeten, Kris
Costa del Luna
$35.00 (LP)
add to cart

Volcano the Bear
The Mountains Among Us
$20.00 (CD)
add to cart

Whitehorse
S/T
$18.00 (2xCD)
add to cart