Lighten Up Sounds

BLOODWALL - "The Smell Of Burning Anti-Freeze" c40

A serene and pastural lattice of melodic modulations intertwine for complex harmonic bliss. Graham Baldwin (of Visitor, 2208 Records) comes through full force with this stunning new long-play album of ethereal guitar and minimal electronics, conjuring meditative numb mode for tranquilized agoraphobia. After a slew of remarkable self released tapes and records, it’s long past time we lend a helping hand to further disseminate the work. “The Smell Of Burning Antifreeze” provides an interesting juxtaposition to previous Bloodwall releases. Where earlier work features prominent drum machine thump and electronic sputter, these beautiful new recordings capture a more pristine and distilled approach, showcasing supreme six-string chops complimented by deep synth water-tone. A delicately layered sheen of circular shamanic sound. Hand screen-printed clear shell Type II cassette comes packed in 100% post-consumer recycled brad pack sleeve featuring two color screen-printed artwork sourced from original photograph by G. himself. Print and design by M.H. Released in an un-numbered edition of 100. Not to be trifled with.

MYRRH - “Hymns” c32

Since this cassette has consistently flown out the door in record time, and in preparation for an upcoming Trans-European tour later in 2013, this album is now available again in a fresh pressing of 100 copies. Sludge-mystics trigger involuntary trance-mode. Myrrh is the power trio of Jackie Beckey (of Brute Heart), Andie Mazorol (Mother Of Fire, Visitor) and Jason Millard (Lighted). who have made a name for themselves around Minneapolis with their epic and minimal form of instrumental doom pummel... but the instrumentation itself also sets this group apart. Viola, Lap Steel, Electronics and Drums weave together to form what could possibly be the heaviest folk music ever made. There is an air filled sense of space throughout these recordings, while still providing detailed crunch and clarity to the goings on. Sweeping strings and percussive plucking folded over sliding fuzz and tone-crackle, backed by enormous crushing rhythm. Restrained yet unbelievably massive. Recorded by Jason Misik to 1” tape, and mixed by John Marks (Art of This), "Hymns" comes as a powerful follow up to their excellent debut album, recently re-released on vinyl from Soft Abuse. That killer self-titled LP captures them in a snapshot from the previous raging duo rig, but these more recent recordings vividly portrays them in their current ripper trio formation. Professionally duplicated black shell chrome Type II cassette with silver ink imprint comes packaged with a double-sided glossy cardstock J-card featuring original black and white photography by Andie Mazorol in a clear and black Norelco case. Dramatic and drifting psychedelic doom anthems for tomorrow’s sweat soaked soirée.

Check the band site HERE.

CORPSE CANDLE - "Don't Kill The Messenger" c48

A painful voyage, lumbering and poisoned. Robert Meldrum delivers with a singularly gruesome and severe approach for this new long play album of eerie drone swamp and mangled horror sound. A set of five brutal navigations through crumbling tunnels of stone and rubble, hurling headlong into the pit of stinking tar. Haunted wailing and undulating sulphur tone morphs into abrasive grinding shrapnel, an ultimately terrifying apparition. Real time duplicated translucent Ghoul-Green cassette with black and white labels comes packaged with glossy double sided black and white cardstock J-card in a matching custom-painted green and clear Norelco case. Hand-numbered edition of 50. The howl of triumphant decay.

VALES - "Surface" c28

Crisp and coarse sandpaper sonics conjured from exceedingly harsh and precise synthesizer dominance. No nonsense electronics and concentrated seethe styles. Honed to fine edge, slicing with pure display of focused power. Vales is the solo outlet of David Doyen, now providing some of his harshest work to date, opting for maliciously deliberate full on drill churn maneuvers. Light the pyre and fry the friar. Real time duplicated clear shell Type II Chrome cassette comes with hand numbered double sided cardstock J-card featuring original vortex collage artwork by M.H. w/ matching plum labels in a clear Norelco case. Shifting currents and walls of pristine ferocity. No arpeggios, guaranteed.

SASHASH ULZ - "Hibernation" c32

Two sides of twisted sonic canopy for sweet, sweet solitude. Lucid tape loop hypothesis from Sashash Ulz of Russia, zone deep and lose self in the ultimate circular dissolve. After a furious swarm of releases on such stalwart labels as Digitalis, Goaty, and Hooker Vision, we at Lighten Up are proud to present this newest expanse of mind-numbing audio dreg. Using a series of multiple tape loops played simultaneously through multiple tape machines, providing fresh nitro glycerine boom-box wobble for complete brain melt. Swollen neanderthal perpetual! Real time duplicated black shell Type II chrome cassette with kush green labels comes packaged with matching full color double sided card stock J-card featuring blazed original collage artwork by M.H. in a clear Norelco case. Blissful garble-trance supreme for proud social rejects, true abandonment. Hypnotic warp mode ala crude analog voyeurism, as it should be.

Edition of 50

SAGAS - "Sojourner's Lament" c40

Wailing feedback morphs into delicate fingerpicking and sweeping tides of lap-steel shimmer. Sagas is the solo project of Matt McDowell (of Dire Wolves, Waterfinder). Lovely and real,"Sojourner's Lament", presents three focused improvisations for lap steel, guitar and electronics, each with its own respective sense of deep spacial awareness and an uneasy sense of doom hovering just beneath the surface. Lighten Up is proud to offer up these new sessions for your personal deep listening and metaphysical mind travel. Clear shell cassette comes packaged with full color double sided J-card featuring original collage artwork by M.H. with matching full color labels in a clear Norelco case. Aqua-lung beauty for barren cornfields.

SINDRE BJERGA - "Radiant Flux" c44

Majestic balance burns through damaged synapse. Entrancing electro-acoustic scratch, long form isolationism and cavernous tape-drone meditation from Sindre Bjerga, who should need no introduction after his prolific string of releases on various labels across the underground spectrum. With "Radiant Flux", Bjerga provides a well matched pair of profound live documents from his recent live actions in Norway. Broken tone acrobatics and crinkled tape stew, garble and wallow in the hopeless gurgle ditch. Side A was recorded live in Public Library! Each side features the same gear setup and deliberate sonic approach, yielding two obviously related but distinctly separate audio tapestries. An impulsive trance nod off, slashed silk. Pure room-sound environments! Real time duplicated bright yellow opaque shell cassette with printed bright yellow labels comes beautifully packaged inside custom fabricated machine-sewn plastic envelopes, featuring original full color/translucent collage art by M.H. with a hand-numbered printed vellum insert. Frozen fire shines brightly, an everlasting shard of light.

SOLD OUT!

LORD BIRD - "2012 Is Real" c61

Sometimes I feel like rolling around in broken glass. Just to clarify, LORD BIRD is the solo project of Vermont’s Michael Timmers, one third of Yinzer harsh-head trio Lord Bird Golden Cobra, and a significant racket-maker in his own right. This stellar debut cassette presents a damaged pair of long form tracks of super strange and harsh sound, piles of broken garbage and some undeniably bizarre vocal moves. You’ve been warned. Like melting Smurfs with a broken Sade tape in the background. There are sections of this that sound like an actual air horn being set off, other bits recall nothing so much as a painfully claustrophobic voyage through the stinky depths of hopelessly clogged plumbing. Totally recommended! Opaque “Midnight Blue” shell cassette with full color labels comes nicely packaged with matching full color double-sided “seething cosmos” cardstock J-card, along with a mildly offensive fold out “shout list”, cryptic interior lyric sheet & a seperate full color mini-poster featuring all original artwork by Timmers himself, depicting an EPIC holy battle of Aliens vs. Mayans. Hand-numbered edition of 50. The future is now, and it totally sucks.

Edition of 50

LORD BIRD GOLDEN COBRA- c36

High end feedback worship and heavy sonic novocain for powerful deep-zonk attack modes. LBGC is the power trio of Nick Painter (Trogpite), Kenneth Painter Jr. (Kimmie Dix & The Doomies) and Michael Timmers (Lord Bird). Each member has continued to dive ever deeper into the aural abyss with their own respective streams of extreme sound, but together they manage to gel into a violently flailing beast, spewing out super harsh, mind-erasing Yinzer noise. If you’ve witnessed the freakers in action, you know what I’m talking about. Recorded in Pittsburgh PA throughout 2006, these killer recordings were originally released in a meager edition of only 15 copies on CDR, and to these in-house ears seem absolutely crucial listening for this current seasonal temperature shift. FTW. I only recently reclaimed my singular silver skuffer (16 outta 15!) from the seething sea of plastic and after seriously blasting it on a full on lousy day, I was completely wiped clean. Aural enema.
Upon realizing how essential these recordings actually are, moves were immediately made to put together an archival physical manifestation of this powerful and strange harsh-head document. Word on the street is that these guys were the drunkest band at the recent Voice of the Valley festival, which I guess I wouldn’t dare question. Amplified vomit. That VoV gig was actually the first ever LBGC action outside of Pennsylvania state, after freaking years of strictly-local harsh and deep fried home-team brain boilers. Unapologetically LOUD and incessant tonal purity with straight up bizarre vocal moves and damaged junk abuse. Track three features completely out of hand guest vox from next door neighbor at the time “Phil”. Seriously inebriated.
This is in fact, the first ever OFFICIAL Lord Bird Golden Cobra release, with only very small handfuls of tangible evidence ever physically filtering through to us feeble human fungus. All word of mouth, had to be there kinda thing...So here, for the sake of posterity and our savage interest in down-low Yinzer noise history, Lighten Up Sounds is proud to present this official cassette re-issue of the self-titled Lord Bird Golden Cobra album in it’s entirety. Real time duplicated “bling-bling” Gold-foil cassette with custom black and white sticker comes packaged with double sided black and white card-stock J-card featuring all new original “Lord-Bird perched on a Jeep” collage artwork by M. H. recreating the almost-impossible-to-see stencil art from the 2006 release. Also includes an additional bonus track salvaged from the otherwise burnt-out LBGC mother (bird) brain. Alongside the fertile golden egg awaits a plump set of three full color mini-photograph cards, featuring a rare group shot of the delinquents getting all “lappy”, bare-chested basement action shot, and a portrait of neighbor “Phil”. Comes packed up tight in a clear Norelco case. Blows minds and speakers.

Edition of 50

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

TIMES A CHANGIN'