"From our perspective, the FOSSILS collective is an ESSENTIAL part of the new music scene, and they have been for many years. With music (sound sculpture) rooted in such outfits as AMM, The Nihilist Spasm Band, and the LAFMS, they have also through their MIDDLE JAMES CO. organization kept the lo-fi DIY flag flying. So many labels today are pursuing “art editions” which are beautiful and do sell for their self-conscious “collectability”, but are a bit too precious and pretty for our taste. I like packaging where you can’t tell if there is a printing error or not—-packaging where you could sit a coffee cup on it and the coffee-stain ring would become part of the artwork. KSE applauds their keeping the xerox/DIY/punk-industrial/anti-pretty aesthetic alive and kicking. As DIY micro-labels continue to lose sales to the pretty and the pretentious, this attitude is needed now more than ever.
As for the music, every FOSSILS album is different, but many things stay the same: the playful improvisation, the multi-textured sound sculpture, the speaker-splitting jaggedness, the humor, the “action painting in sound” aesthetic. This one (which features saxophone, percussion, cello or violin, guitar, and electronics) begins quite playfully (almost a twist of Half Japanese, though with saxophone) and then heads for a long walk along the Canadian free-improv prairie, adapting to the weather and even morphing into almost-antisong song in a few places. It takes you into its own world for the length of an album, and then, as when leaving the darkness of a fun-house and emerging into the mundane light of day, the CD is over, you’ve crashed. But the trip was awesome!!!" - KSE Editions
£5.00 each
To Order Email: mantilerecords@gmail.com (please email to check availability before making payment)
Payment via paypal to mantilerecords@gmail.com or cheque. All payments in British pounds (GBP £).
Postage Costs: UK: £1.50 / Europe: £2.00 / Everywhere Else: £2.50 + 50p per additional
SWELTER 'LIVE IN LOWELL' (TD75) CD-R
"Swelter indeed. A hot slab of collaborative psychic summer energy burn from two of the finest experimentalists in North America – Howard Stelzer and David Payne (Fossils). Two-man howl of shredded tapes and analog junk recorded live in August 2014 in Lowell, MA, the music on this disc is all about texture, sizzle and feel. It would be folly (and beside the point) to pick out individual contributions, as both voices blend superbly into a single slab of sound. When the music is this good, it’s far better to sit back, let the sound wash over you and experience the ultimate sonic catharsis. A dense and even psychedelic mind scrubbing that offers multiple epiphanies and aesthetic rewards. New details emerge with each listen, but it’s the overall immersive effect that will pull you back in time and time again. Like entering a new world where time and space have collapsed and all that remains is the beautiful abyss." TD RECORDS
£5.00 each
To Order Email: mantilerecords@gmail.com (please email to check availability before making payment)
Payment via paypal to mantilerecords@gmail.com or cheque. All payments in British pounds (GBP £).
Postage Costs: UK: £1.50 / Europe: £2.00 / Everywhere Else: £2.50 + 50p per additional
