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Warm Climate — Camouflage On the River Wretched c36 (Stunned no. 93) —out of stock—Even those familiar with Warm Climate’s last decade of underground madness will find ‘Camouflage on the River Wretched’ a most combustible cocktail. Shaken, stirred, or molotov – any preference? No matter, it’s all going to be pleasantly poured down the hatch when Warm Climate’s iconoclastic bandleader Seth Kasselman grips microphone and guitar. Moving along from 2009’s pop dementia sleeper-hit ‘Edible Homes’, now Warm Climate explores dark urban noir, graffiti-speckled rock n’ roll, and mysterious cinematic narrative. Sounds about right for a group who was publicly declared “Best Band in L.A.” to the hearty agreement of the audience at this year’s Bottled Smoke Festival. Hell, Warm Climate IS Los Angeles, or at least one especially crucial aspect of its tremendous Voice. In all its befuddling and inscrutable glory, the city itself seeks purest expression through the genius minds who roam its Escher-like sprawl. Warm Climate has deftly responded to the schizoid urges of L.A. in good measure: with an incredible music that will be remembered long after the cars, buildings, and sea of people. Special edition of 222 pro-dubbed & imprinted c36 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert._______________________reviews:— Auxiliary Out
— Impose Magazine
— Foxy Digitalis— Tiny Mix Tapes
— NPR Music— Animal Psi
— Sick of the Radio
Dire Wolves — Jams and the Giant Peace c36 (Stunned no. 92) —out of stock—Now here is the summer album we’ve been absolutely craving. ‘Jams and the Giant Peace’ is the kind of psychedelic monster that immediately transports us back to being seventeen again, cruising around town invincible and high while blowing the car’s factory-installed speakers to shreds. When the shop owners and neighbors demand to know who’s responsible for all the sudden ruckus, tell them Pittsburgh-based trio Dire Wolves just got to the party. And they aren’t leaving until every cymbal crash & scorching chord has been loosed. Along the way curveballs are thrown of classic Kraut/Japanese psych, liberated studio deck manipulation, and free-sound meltdown. This is simply par for these dude’s course. Twist one up and take that top off, summer’s best jams are just beginning to drop. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c36 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
_______________________reviews:— Impose Magazine
— KZSU Cassettes
Armali Lari — Ma tu la pasta la vò? c40 (Stunned no. 91) —out of stock—Sicilian duo Armali Lari first introduced their sound to Stunned as “camera music for informal people,” a distinction we found quite the understatement upon actually hearing the stuff. More accurately, this “camera” is a dizzying kaleidoscope that never halts its colored tumble, and we hope the “informal people” mentioned have a penchant for the insane. From moment one, we were proudly counted among the target audience Armali Lari suggests, because a work like ‘Ma tu la pasta la vò?’ is an unhinged paradox worth picking apart over and over again. A fascinating embroidery is woven from the simple array of largely acoustic instruments employed by Armali Lari’s Francisco Calandrino & Nicola Giunta. Their all-inclusive angle results in our whole sensorium being whisked to an environment wildly infused with humor, abandon, and mischief — a place we don’t want to scoot from anytime soon. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
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— Blog Eagle Child
Donato Epiro — Supercontinent c30 (Stunned no. 90) —out of stock—‘Supercontinent’ is Donato Epiro’s freshest hypnotic adventure, and a glimpse into some future tropical world where lysergic acid rain waters the neon foliage. Animatronic apes and mechanical birds flock around Donato as he expertly fashions his sonic hieroglyphs, while sibilant rhythms and humid chants pour freely into the deviant ceremony from all sides. Join the intoxicating celebration, and play this tape whenever you need a little break from the continent you’re currently standing upon. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________reviews:
— Impose Magazine
— Chain D.L.K.
Rambutan — Dream of a Future Desert c60 (Stunned no. 89) —out of stock—
It’s no accident that this is Rambutan’s third entry in Stunned’s catalog, and hopefully it won’t be his last. Appearing to have slowed the prolific pace of his 2009 solo offerings, we were starting to wonder what’s been brewing in Eric Hardiman’s cauldron for 2010. Then this luminous hour was slipped our way, and we instantly realized what the wait was about. ‘Dream of a Future Desert’ is Rambutan’s personal zeitgeist of ethereal texture-craft and his definitive statement of the year. With an evolved ear for deep sonorous spaces, Hardiman maneuvers his glistening guitar & honeydripping synth lines into an overall manifestation of desert mirage and articulation of oasis air. Epic in scope and mesmerizing in its holographic nature, ‘Dream of a Future Desert’ presents itself as an absolutely essential chapter in Rambutan’s inimitable discography. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c60 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________reviews:
‘Dream Of A Future Desert’ is a really great hour-long slide into the mind of Albany, NY’s Eric Hardiman, best known for his work with Burnt Hills. Rambutan is an entirely different kettle of guff – long abstract hallways of treated keys and guitars, opening up like a string of mirrored rooms – but the glint of this stone is no less bright. Instrumental and very psychedelic in a low-key and rambling way, ‘Dream’ has a definite “smoke if you got ‘em” vibe that’s hard to resist. — The Wire, October 2010— Foxy Digitalis
Jawsmoke / Nite Lite — Palo Santo / Molly c26 (Stunned bonus #10) —out of stock—Huddled in midday stasis of mind-n-mood, the duo of Jeff & Phil abide with herbs, embers of holy wood, and loops of damaged tape. This A-Side is dedicated to Palo Santo. Nite Lite is the long-in-formation clatter/field recording duo of Phil & Myste, debuting on this B-Side along with extended family jammers William, Whitney & Jeffry. A trans-lingual conversation beside waterfall and springtime sunset, ‘Molly’ is the abridged document of five hearts coming together in a rare medicinal state, becoming one tribe through the unforgettable nite. Limited edition of 88 pro-dubbed & imprinted c26 tapes with double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________review:
— Cassette Gods
Blood On Tape — The Terror of Solitudes c34 (Stunned no. 88) —out of stock—Following acclaimed releases on Anathema Sound, Reverb Worship, and their own Softland City imprint, Blood on Tape return here with a work of slow-burning beauty and subtle menace. Side A begins with delicate tones of acoustic guitar, harmonium, voice, and percussion traveling an unhurried journey of celebration toward a bit more electric B-Side. Using Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings as a conceptual launch-point, this tape’s back half is an improvisational surge of six-string quake & purifying feedback. Embodying a briefly-burning comet, ‘The Terror of Solitudes’ concludes without a speck of dust or debris; just the lingering pure energy of a duo in dynamic communion. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c34 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
Jeremy Kelly — It Sounds Different In the Dark c31 (Stunned no. 87) —out of stock—Jeremy Kelly’s previous albums on Digitalis and Tape Drift contain gutsy undercurrents & explosive centers that hold our attention like nothing else out there. Stunned is glad to announce that ‘It Sounds Different In the Dark’ is a similar drop through the blissfully unknown with our trusted guide JK. It doesn’t take long before we realize that sense of direction & determinacy are exchanged for sheer disorientation in Jeremy’s world. Exhilaratingly torn between poles of all possible guitar forms, it matters little what is up, down, straight or crooked within the first few minutes. After all, this is in the Dark — an excursion for the daring listener who desires something quite different in their audio diet. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c31 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________reviews:
— Animal Psi— Tiny Mix Tapes
Alberorovesciato — Crown, Mineral & Sacred Well (The Skorpio Tape) c30 (Stunned no. 86) —out of stock—Crown, Mineral & Sacred Well: alchemical antidotes to planetary toxicity. Our heroes Alberorovesciato combine these ancient elements in a half-hour ritual of percussive glossolalia, summoning assistance from outer realms. Now Skorpio is back, and he’s way pissed about this oily fuckin mess everywhere. Seriously, humans. If you can’t plug your holes, stop drilling them. Skorpio knows. He stopped needing oil a few millennium ago. Now he survives purely on the ecstatic anti-rhythms of freedom that Francesco Cavaliere & Marco Lampis have been celebrating with Alberorovesciato since Stunned no. 21. Thanks for making the call guys, and welcome home Skorpio. Do whatever it takes to make yourself clean & comfortable here. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________review:
— Auxiliary Out
Roped Off — Blows Glass In Space / Discovers a New Angle c40 (Stunned no. 85) —out of stock—Forces to be reckoned with in their own right as farmers of prime Delaware sound crop, Mike Haley (Wether, 905 Tapes) and Dave Doyen (2:00AM Tapes, Vales) tag team a set of bent synthesizers on this c40, bringing their new duo Roped Off into snarling maturity. We presume that blowing glass in space leads one to smoke something especially dank out of that glass in space. Let’s further assume that the discovery of a new angle was not only novel, but an inevitable consequence of these actions. No matter how it’s sliced, or slices through the listener, it’s an entirely unpredictable ride in the opposite direction of a safe synth reality. These boyz mean biz. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________reviews:
— Animal Psi
— Foxy Digitalis
Granitkorridor — V c58 (Stunned no. 84) —out of stock—Deep zones of bowed-bass infinitude assist our anti-kinetic midnight vigils with Granitkorridor’s 2nd release on Stunned and 5th overall chapter in his ongoing saga. Elevation into “V” discovers its maker hovering with tremendous patience like a god of thunder, expanding his sonic domain to an ocean’s breadth. Seducing us through chambers of refreshingly minimal décor, Granitkorridor draws every unnecessary particle away from the space, leaving little behind but the unmistakable afterglow of a drone master. Limited edition 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c58 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
_______________________review:
— Animal Psi
A.M. Shiner / Musculus — A.M. Radio / Microfiche c68 (Stunned no. 83) —out of stock—With eyes dilated as wide as the bandwidth’s spectrum, A.M. uses his Radio to wrest open abandoned frequencies on the dial. Bidding brain & body adieu, Shiner slips inside to play, joining metallic ghost voices as they surf through a strangely erotic vacuum. Weird new Canadian crew Musculus similarly reaps the generative union between flesh & electromagnetic possibility on this split’s flip. Their microfiche machines hum like monks on night watch, murky mantras preceded by 4th-dimensional feminine counterparts who emerge from a motorized surround. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c68 tapes w/ double-sided jcard and insert.
