Rock

Noveller - Mannahatta (full)from No Dreams CD - available  Oct 29th

CD + tour t-shirt now available for order at imprec.com 
 
Gezan were delivered to Important by Makoto Kawabata of the Acid Mothers Temple who claimed them to be the greatest live band he'd seen in a long time. Gezan comes with full praise from many in the Japanese underground who regard them as the best young band in Japan. Gezan is already quite popular in their home country and are on tour in America now. See them at South By Southwest on March 11th.

2/26 8PM

Grand Victory
245 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
https://www.facebook.com/events/232199753632845/

2/28
123 Louis , New Brunswick NJ @ Candy Barrel

3/1
@house venue
6pm start , Podrum Mahzeni 1613 , Bethlehem Pennsylvania

3/2
@Mojo Main
270 E Main Street Newark, DE

3/4
@Modern Cult Records
2001 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206

3/5
@529
529 Flat Shoals Ave, Atlanta, GA

3/07
@ No Problemo
813 Purchase St New Bedford, NJ

3/08
@ The Parlour
North Main Street Providence, RI

3/12
@ Quantum Lounge (SXSW)
305 W. 5th St. Austin, TX
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_MS25620


Gezan - Full Claw Lunar Surface - IMPREC364 - March 2014

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.'s new album "Astrorgasm From The Inner Space" features their original vocalist Cotton Casino and is being released in conjunction with their two month tour of the USA beginning April 23rd at the Mercury Lounge in New York City. Available on CD and deluxe double LP.

As usual, AMT delivers to Important their most scorching tracks. They've included, appropriately since Important is set to issue Grayfolded on triple vinyl, a brand new re-recording of Dark Star Blues with Cotton Casino. On Astrorgasm From The Inner Space, Acid Mothers Temple look towards their source (the band turns 19 this year) while also evolving towards their next stage.

Acid Mothers Temple tour USA + Canada in April to support this album beginning in late April: http://acidmothers.com/acid-mothers-temple-the-melting-paraiso-u-f-o-us-...

Acid Mothers Temple + The Melting Paraiso UFO - Dark Star Blues (edit) - IMPREC402  April 29, 2014

Excerpted from Important Records 3LP release of John Oswald's epic "ultimate Dark Star" which weaves together 25 years of the Dead's most sought after live song.
This particular section includes layers of the following performances: 

9/2/68 Betty Nelson's Organic Raspberry Farm, Sultan WA
2/22/69 Dream Bowl, Vallejo CA
10/21/71 Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL

"Dark Star" vocal:
9/13/93 Spectrum, Philadelphia PA
3/20/92 Copps Coliseum, Hamilton ONT
2/28/69 Fillmore West, SF CA
2/15/60 Electric Factory, Philadelphia PA

"Crashes" vocal: 
4/27/69 Labor Temple, Minneapolis MN
9/13/93 Spectrum, Philadelphia PA
5/11/72 Civic Hall, Rotterdam Holland
5/15/70 Fillmore East, NYC


Grateful Dead/John Oswald "Clouds Cast" From Grayfolded 3LP on Important

Limited edition of 500 copies packaged in a heavy duty gatefold sleeve. 
On a long hot summer night in 2012 a meeting of minds happened in Liverpool, England. Damo Suzuki visited the city to play a show with MUGSTAR.
After a flurry of e-mails Damo requested MUGSTAR not to practice or figure out any music prior to the performance, as he believed it should “Start from Zero”.
Leaving the whole performance to be entirely improvised on the spot.
It proved to be quite a night: the shamanic presence of the legendary Damo Suzuki immersed in the full-on, intense, sound of MUGSTAR - one of the leading bands currently exploring fresh and uncharted areas - as they forge forward through the deep space of kraut/psych.
The music that emerged that evening moved through driving, head-spinning double wah-wah attacks, eerie ethereal passages and on to an extended motorik coda, all powered along by thunderous bass and drums.
Damo settled in immediately, a master of his own unique art. Surging along with MUGSTAR as “sound carriers”, absorbed in the energy and atmosphere through to the shows exhausting end. It’s a great pairing.

MUGSTAR + DAMO SUZUKI Waken To The Night from START FROM ZERO LP

Pre-order available now: 
http://importantrecords.com/

Pitchfork: 
" About 90 seconds into "Confetti", the stunning second song on James Blackshaw’s Summoning Suns, the guitarist hesitates as he begins to negotiate a particularly tricky—and, for him, rather unprecedented—passage. The first two verses have ended, a small string section has pushed the tune onto a carousel that might have suited Van Dyke Parks in his prime, and an ascendant third verse has thrust Blackshaw into a place he’s never been: a vocal hook that he has to sing himself. "The needless noise you air," he offers gently, the instrumentalist’s voice so soft and uncertain at the start of each word that he almost drops "the." "Echoes everywhere," he ends, pushing the last syllable with such force it seems he’s using his last bit of breath. It’s guileless, charming, and the anchor of a masterful few minutes of acoustic pop so good they make you ask an unlikely question: Why hasn’t James Blackshaw been singing all along?"

James Blackshaw Failure's Flame from Summoning Suns CD/LP -  Pre-Order Available Now

Pre-order available now.
In typically fine form, The Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Pairaiso UFO have delivered another smoker to Important Records. Double LP pressed in an edition of 1000 copies.

Benzaiten is an In C style homage to the the classic Osamu Kitajima record of the same name. The Acid Mothers Temple covers the title track and reprise using Kitajima's original composition as a departure point to explore the outer realms of AMT territory. Further instrumental explorations reveal textures of the original composition while launching out further into the cosmic domain. Numerous Acid Mothers original tracks are scattered in between. Benzaiten!

Acid Mothers Temple - Benzaiten - 2LP - Aug 2015

Forseen years ago by the inclusion of a secret extra pocket in the Far West packaging; Master Musicians have created and brought fourth a painstakingly crafted complimentary LP for synced playback with their 2013 release Far West. With 2 turntables or other playback devices you can playback a fully unique quad experience. Further West shows off deeper journeys into the cave where we can dissolve ourselves.

Further West also stands alone as an inverted yugified universe from the Far West cannon. Liquid synth journeys into the void. We invite you to enjoy it either way.

Includes fold out poster from photographer Alison Scarpulla

Master Musicians Of Bukkake  -  Where Apollo Meets Delphi (quad) - August 2015

Composed by Daniel Lea as L A N D, ANOXIA was mixed by Ben Frost and mastered/cut by Rashad Becker. 

Bringing to mind the work of modernist architects such as R.M Schindler and Erno Goldfinger, as much as the paradoxical universes of Ballard where dream and reality fuse, allowing chaos and order to logically cohabit, L A N D’s second record transports to a world at once stark and depopulated and yet teeming with a visceral lushness of a near future we can all recognize. 

L A N D Neutra from Anoxia CD/LP - Available Oct 27, 2015

http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec439

With the departure of long time bass/drum duo Shimura Koji and Tsuyama Atsushi, AMT now have a new rhythm section featuring two young Japanese musicians, Satoshima Nani on drums and S/T on bass. Thus, Wake To A New Dawn of Another Astro Era is the first record in the second chapter of this legendary Japanese psychedelic rock group.

Wake To The New Dawn Of Another Astro Era finds a rejuvenated Makoto Kawabata encompassing the best of what AMT has come to mean in the last 21 years. Deep ambient synth passages fade into deftly composed anthemic jams worthy of crowd favorite status like La Novia and Pink Lady Lemonade. Makoto's guitar prowess reaches unfathomed apexes in epic crescendos while the new rhythm section holds down heavy Kraut-influenced repetition. Straddling the line between composition and improvisation, this is a legendary AMT record for sure.

The double LP is pressed in an edition of 1000 and features light show artwork by LiquidbiupiL.

Acid Mothers Temple & Melting Paraiso U.F.O. Nebulous Hyper Meditation from Another Astro Era CD/2LP

http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec440

Of Grog Vim is a cinematic take on the epic life of visionary legend Grog Vim. 
This is the 15th album from Italian cult band, Larsen, who represent a meeting point between sound art and post-rock. 

After two albums deeply marked by the smoky voice of singer Little Annie, Of Grog Vim is the first fully instrumental album to be released by the band since they started 20 years ago and features special guest multi-instrumentalist Thor Harris (Swans) on trombone on two pieces. 

"If you're troubled by the retrograde state of guitarbased music, Larsen warrants your attention..." All Music Guide

Larsen - Mother Vim from Of Grog Vim CD

The Ape Of Naples is Coil's highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of Jhonn Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape Of Naples uses Balance's final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece.

Ape Of Naples

Coil - Fire Of The Mind - from The Ape Of Naples CD/2LP - 2018 REPRESS AVAILABLE

Eighty years ago, the "alt-right" proudly called themselves by a different name: fascists. The first war they launched was in July 1936, when right-wing Spanish military generals attempted to overthrow the democratically elected, left-leaning government of the Spanish Republic. The coup initially failed, but the generals, aided by Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, transformed their effort into the bloody three-year long Spanish Civil War, a dress rehearsal for World War II. Though the Republic ultimately lost the war, its defenders organized a response that will endure forever as a testament to solidarity: the creation of the International Brigades, tens of thousands of volunteers, from more than fifty countries, who journeyed to Spain to fight fascism. These included 2,800 Americans who came to be called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. 
On October 6th, sui generis Brooklyn-based band Barbez, in collaboration with singer Velina Brown, release a remarkable tribute to those volunteers called For Those Who Came After: Songs of Resistance from the Spanish Civil War. These inventive and moving new renderings of the indelible protest songs of the International Brigades will be released on the pioneering Boston-based label Important Records. The album was recorded live at the Japan Society, in 2016, at the annual reunion of veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an event that has been held in New York since the 1940s. The highlight of the reunion has always been the singing of these songs, which were led on several occasions by Pete Seeger, a lifelong friend of the Lincoln veterans, who recorded many of them for his iconic 1944 album, Songs of the Lincoln Battalion.
Barbez draws on avant-rock, contemporary classical and folk music styles such as cumbia and flamenco to reinvent iconic songs like “L’Internationale” (The International) and “Viva la Quince Brigada” (Long Live the Fifteenth Brigade) for a new generation of listeners. The album features the group’s stellar musicians: clarinetist Peter Hess (Philip Glass Ensemble), theremin virtuoso Pamelia Stickney (David Byrne), marimba and vibraphone player Danny Tunick (the Clean), guitarist Dan Kaufman (Rebecca Moore), violinist Catherine McRae (the Quavers), bassist Peter Lettre (Shearwater), and drummer John Bollinger (Sway Machinery); with vocalist Velina Brown (San Francisco Mime Troupe) and special guests Dafna Naphtali on background vocals and Sebastiaan Faber on trumpet. It’s the first Barbez record since 2013’s acclaimed Bella Ciao (Tzadik), which was inspired by ancient Roman Jewish melodies and the Italian Resistance during World War II. Like each of the group’s previous five albums, For Those Who Came After was mixed by the incomparable Martin Bisi (Swans, Sonic Youth, John Zorn) at his legendary B.C. Studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Live engineering was performed by Damon Whittemore (Paul McCartney, Andrew Bird). Released on vinyl and CD, the album also features extensive liner notes by award-winning author Adam Hochschild, who recently published a groundbreaking history of the Spanish Civil War.

For Those Who Came After: Songs Of Resistance from the Spanish Civil War

Barbez - Venga Jaleo - For Those Who Came After - CD/LP - Oct. 20, 2017

Vinyl pre-orders available now.

Seattle experimentalists NEWAXEYES play with tension and contradictions. Merging dark electronics, crystalline guitar melodies, pummeling beats and samples to refract the volatility, paranoia, and catharsis of the post-Information Age, the band spins carefully orchestrated and recklessly warped instrumentals into something entirely their own.

Their debut album, BLACK FAX, recorded live to tape over the course of two days and produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Wolves In The Throne Room), is a testament to the band’s genre-agnostic approach to music. A quartet of skilled multi-instrumentalists, Jordan Rundle (Bass/Synths/Sampler), Bret Gardín (Electronic drums/Synths), Tyler Coray (Guitar/Sampler), and William Hayes (Guitar/Synths), draw inspiration from a wide variety of places and seamlessly merge them into songs that are as abrasive as they are cinematic. 

Opening song “False Flag” samples vocals from dozens of conspiracy theory videos, unrecognizable as they are seamlessly woven through soaring guitars and a glitchy drum machine. “Aleph Null” is an example of the way the band is adept at mixing textures, moods, and instruments to create something that nods at the band’s eclectic list of references while being simultaneously unique. Parts of “Dennis” could easily be used as a thumping beat-driven background to a hip-hop song while others are downright ambient, blending post-rock sensibilities and a strumming guitar line. “At Blood’s” serves as a slow meditation between the punching percussion that drives the rest of the album. With guest vocals from composer/vocalist Hanna Benn recorded in a cavernous gutted stairwell and distorted over a droning synthesizer, there’s a hint at the dynamic abilities the band is able to pull from.

Since forming in 2013, NEWAXEYES has pursued a diverse range of projects within and beyond a traditional band structure. Versatile performers with backgrounds in modern composition, sound design, film and visual art, their wide-angle vision has encompassed various multimedia projects, art collaborations, and large-scale works - including 2015’s The 8th Passenger, a 2-hour-long live rescoring of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic ‘Alien’, performed to a sold-out theater.

NEWAXEYES guitarist William Hayes recently played on Jóhann Jóhannson’s score to Panos Cosmatos' (Beyond the Black Rainbow) Nicolas Cage-starring film Mandy (2018), the latest Myrkur album Mareridt (2017, Relapse Records), and toured as live keyboardist of Wolves in the Throne Room in 2016. Bret Gardín contributed electronic drums to post-punk pioneers Sort Sol’s Stor Langsom Stjerne (2017, Sony). 

If BLACK FAX is anything to go by, NEWAXEYES is sure to carve out something all their own in the coming years. 

Members of NEWAXEYES have played guitars on Jóhann Jóhannson’s score to Panos Cosmatos' (Beyond the Black Rainbow) Nicolas Cage-starring film Mandy (2018), the newest Myrkur album Mareridt (2017, Relapse Records), toured as live keyboardist of Wolves in the Throne Room, and contributed electronic drums to post-punk pioneers Sort Sol’s Stor Langsom Stjerne (2017, Sony).

Black Fax

Newaxeyes - Aleph Null - from Black Fax - pre-order now

"In the first introductory listen from the upcoming LP This, WEEED pull back the curtain to reveal the first 5 minutes of the 14 minute track “Haze II” (single version) that allows the listener to stand as the dweller on the threshold to a mystical & radiating new dimension. From a chorus of droning sustains & introductory chords, “Haze II” breaks through the thin of the air in a frenzy formation of doom-laden guitars that extend upwards like sky-scraping trees that grow vertically upward with an almost unnatural velocity. Joining the Important imprint that is home to contemporary heroes/luminaries like Acid Mothers Temple, the Bainbridge Island band has elevated their own approaches from the archaic & esoteric up towards heightened degrees of illumination like guitar-gilded towers that can almost touch the outer layers of the sun. Like Icaraus taking a rocket-accelerated elevator to the solar sphere surface; WEEED provides just a taste of what’s next in store from a group that is developing the doom/stoner-core narrative into the next chapters & sequels of pure illumination." Impose

THIS

WEEED Haze II From THIS LP - Available June 3, 2018 - Available now

Pre-order available now. Ltd. 500 copies.

Cotton Casino delivers vocals on the melancholy space-blues ripper comprising side A on the Acid Mothers Temple's new Halleluja Mystic Garden.  Every time Makoto gives us new masters to release I think "This is one of  the best Acid Mothers Temple records I've ever heard!"  and this one is no exception. Halleluja Mystic Garden contains two long sides of blissed out, super tight AMT jams that somehow stretch into the future while staying strongly rooted in the group's celebrated psychedelic history. Hallelujah!,  another essential AMT classic.

Acid Mothers Temple - Cometary Orbital Drive - from Hallelujah Mystical Garden Pt 1 LP

XIU XIU & EUGENE S. ROBINSON PRESENT: SAL MINEO
SAL MINEO

IMPREC381

RELEASE DATE:  23 APR 2013

SAL MINEO is a Jamie Stewart/XIU XIU + Eugene S. Robinson/OXBOW production. Now sleep tight.

Sitting at the crossroads between OXBOW's EUGENE S. ROBINSON [lyrics/voice] and XIU XIU's JAMIE STEWART [music], SAL MINEO is a pure/impure distillate of experimentalism based on 30 second to 3 minute long focused bursts of sonic crime, that plumbs the cooling depths of a pleasure cruised death trip. These two undisputed heavyweights of musical and emotional non-compromise, whose music leaves tender bruises by whatever sweet blow it is rendered, are ready to crack rooms in two with their high precision silencer of a duo show, combining the best and most free-roaming of both their artistic domains.

"The Primary Bell" by Sal Mineo (Xiu Xiu & Eugene S. Robinson) IMPREC381

HOLY SONS
MY ONLY WARM COALS

IMPREC372   CD

RELEASE DATE: April 23rd 2013


"My Only Warm Coals" neatly sums up a fifteen year span of  Emil Amos' (Grails/Om) basement home-recording in nineteen songs. Using the 4-track like a mirror in LSD therapy sessions, Amos disassembles himself and leaves the puddle on the floor for the listener to contemplate without easy resolution.
The record also arcs a period of 'lo-fi' recording technique and sonic experimentation that has largely gone undocumented in the larger underground culture, while epitomizing a supremely alienated sound from a person who wouldn't set foot on a stage for most of these 15 years.

"Bed of Nails" by Holy Sons IMPREC372

In Search Of The Lost Divine Arc is one of AMT's most cohesive and direct albums delivering memorable riff after memorable riff. The bands current live set includes 3 or 4 songs from this album marking the first time in their career that they've written songs for one single record and played many of them live. 

1. Space Speed Suicide
2. Born Free Stone Free
3. Skillful Grinning Skull
4. Escape Horoscopes
5. Babe, I'm Gonna Reave You
6. In Search Of Lost Divine Arc

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO  "Space Speed Suicide"  IMPREC383 CD/2LP

Now available: http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec383