Stunned no. 23

The Pistil Cosmos — Smoking Clouds In the Land of Fire cdr (Stunned no. 23) — out of stock —

The French psychedelic underground’s recent sweep of cdr & tape gems owes much to Monks of the Balhill member and “V” galactic guide Vincent Caylet. Lately, his parallel solo project The Pistil Cosmos has been fleshing out a rather grittier and at times noisier underbelly to his other works’ more peaceful star-eyed realms. 'Smoking Clouds In the Land of Fire' steps into 2009 as the salvo that says the scene in France is maintaining some serious chops. Album opener “The Dreamt Language” taps into echoing caverns of shrouded gallic ancestors, their chants hushed under a menacing moon. Twin opus “There’s No Ghost Here” features over twenty minutes of cascading overtones & startling infrasound resonating like a pulsar, dissolving the parameters of modern drone in a rainbow blur. Deep in scope, wide as our minds can go, be sure to tune in to this particular cosmos. Hand numbered edition of 90 white cdrs in vinyl case with insert card and full color art.
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review:

"Whether attributable to the piece's suggestions of the infinite or the personal nature of these works, they have a gripping nature that is a step above a lot of the drone stuff out there. Caylet seems to begin with one idea and spend the rest of the time extrapolating on that, exploring all of its pockets. Of course that doesn't mean there are no sudden changes: harsh noise rhythms do enter to cut off the drone for moments before slipping back in. Yet these are so well placed and timed that they merely feel like brief mental distractions before returning to the environment at hand. As the drones drift off, we are left with the hazy electronic repetitions whose underbelly reminds us of where we have been, rendering it all nostalgia as the grind keeps us centered in the present." - Ear Conditioned Nightmare

Stunned no. 22

Metal Rouge - Salt Stones cdr (Stunned no. 22) — out of stock —

It has been a longtime desire of ours to work with Andrew Scott & Helga Fassonaki of Metal Rouge, before Stunned was even a twinkle in our eye in fact. If there’s one thing we’re convinced of, it’s that these two are some of the most raw and intrepid aural magicians out there. And ‘Salt Stones’ is everything we could have hoped from them after years now of shaking in our shoes whenever they plug in around town for another anthem unto the heavier of heavenly bodies. Keeping in step with their no-bullshit, stripped-back live actions, here we encounter a merging of energies old and new as Andrew & Helga boost off from 90s NZ free noise styles, lending honorable nods to earth-quakers A Handful of Dust, Gate, and Dead C. But ample room is left for Metal Rouge’s own signature ear-splitting/life-affirming gamma rays. We’ve no choice but to rise higher than ever into the ultraviolet spectrum as Metal Rouge continue their liberated refinement, casting chunks of 6-string trance, extreme jazz vocals and black metal into the blistering, beautiful gas inferno of ‘Salt Stones’. Limited to 90 black cdrs in sari cloth lined vinyl case with transparent insert and flower.
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review:

"Before too long the proceedings drift into a slower and more minimal metallic slant. Electronic arpeggiations interweave with strums and gestures from Andrew as washes of fuzz coalesce with Helga's atmospheric vocal shudders. Soon the fuzz builds back as Helga's vocals subside. Slow and dizzy blues twangs and slides bend over one another while synthesized guitar insanity lurches on in the background. Blips and squelches emerge from the dust of the dense layer of fuzz which lies below all of the proceedings here, soon moving into bassier and more obtuse territory that nearly sounds like some monk chant stuff or something. That Metal Rouge are able to wield such heavy axes without losing any lushness or detail of activity is wonderful. Rather than pushing its listener into a dark cavern they merely seem to suggest a number of paths at any given moment, giving you the opportunity to peak down each of them before they choose one ... As the work crescendos over its length, it begins to merge more and more with its surroundings, seemingly melding with the very air in the room and just hovering, static and warmed by the friction of its minute vibrations. Small details begin to break off and make statement; feedback, cries, equipment battles, all add to its organic and fluid sound world ... Metal Rouge, clearly with a knack for finding the inner rhythms of a work and letting them unfold as they will, have released another great one with Salt Stones." - Ear Conditioned Nightmare

Stunned no. 21

Albero Rovesciato - Ancient Shining Drums of the Covered City c30 (Stunned no. 21) —out of stock—

Albero Rovesciato’s members Francesco Cavaliere & Marco Lampis are native to the mystic isles off Italy but now they roam Berlin, presumably because they have smashed all the percussion instruments in their homeland. All we know is we’re glad we located them with some remaining objects and intact drums, because few troupes can make us simultaneously smile with delight and scamper for cover when they rev up like this. Cavaliere & Lampis emerge from the badass Italian sound collective Phonorama, so we know they mean business once they open their trick bags and begin spilling out wares of leftfield musique concrete & cybertimes junkyard gamelan. Before-and-after shots of their performance spaces provide evidence that a typical Albero live action reduces much of their tools to splinters & powder. This isn’t to imply that things are sloppy, however. Not for a second. Crystal recording fidelity on ‘Ancient Shining Drums’ benefits the wheezing-blurting-whacking fits of OCD voodoo, ensuring that we have never heard chaos sound so lean & tangible before. Marco puts it best when mentioning he & Francesco’s desire “to escape from pedals and digital effects, to approach and find material contact with the instruments, to arrive at PYRAMID LEVEL.” Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in blood red shells, insert card, and double-sided color jcard.
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review:

"This stuff is totally liberated from imposed rhythmic constraints and finds a true, natural flow of rhythms. That isn’t to say they’re above relentless, authoritative pounding as on the second piece but as that part fades a thicket of clicks, clacks, clinks clanks, thrums, dings, dongs etc. materializes against a super sparse minor key organ melody. Resolving the percussive in a (somewhat) more coherent way against a pulsing organ loop beware going nuts in the final 15 seconds. A brilliant piece. The last two pieces are also great. The first is shorter and has a droning presence along with percussive rattle that starts out friendly before getting real complex real quick. The last piece initially sounds like marbles and silverware slung down a bar through a labyrinth of beer glasses. It’s somewhat disorienting but appealingly tactile and immediate. I don’t even really hear drums anywhere in the piece, and it doesn’t matter, the two guys manage to create a rich, exciting piece out of these incidental sounds that people usually ignore in their everyday life. There's some squeaking towards the end that sounds like saxophone almost, but I’m pretty sure it’s just coming from the friction of someone rubbing a glass. Not only is this tape just a flat out brilliant and enjoyable percussive brouhaha, these guys are creating something really distinctive, complex and enthralling." - Auxiliary Out

Stunned no. 20

Sparkling Wide Pressure — Seven Inside and Out c30 (Stunned no. 20) —out of stock—
Frank Baugh has a real ability to conjure super lucid memories from the furthest crags of our cranium whenever his Sparkling Wide Pressure begins emitting its visionary environs. Of the many corners he turns in his half hour visitation between chilly realities & possible alternate dream spaces, we’re guaranteed to always be adrift in the soothing detritus of a quickly fading analog past. With ‘Seven Inside and Out’ Frank asks, are these warm dream worlds we imagine sad hoaxes or attainable endeavors for the future? Half-soldered circuitry tends to be the slit in the fence Frank takes advantage of here by deftly slipping through nostalgic loops & blurred drones. Given its relatively brief runtime, this cassette displays a vast scale of vision skilled in its admixture of loner synth dirges, hope-thirsty distant wails, and anti-gravitational guitar cycles. The combinations here pair perfectly with the thoughts of dawn & vibrations of dusk. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in mustard shells and double-sided color jcard.
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— Tiny Mix Tapes
— Auxiliary Out