Drone fans have been anxiously anticipating what Earth main man Dylan Carlson’s solo material was going to sound like, but the wait is almost over. Carlson is due to release ‘La Strega and the Cunning Man in the Smoke’, his first record under the name Drcarlsonalbion, as part of Southern Records’ prestigious Latitudes series (which has previously seen exclusive releases from the likes of Bardo Pond, Grails, Ariel Pink, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Haxan Cloak and many, many more) on October 16th, and the first few reviews have started to trickle in. The record consists of 7 folk inspired tracks and a cover of PJ Harvey’s ‘Last Living Rose’, and judging by these quotes, it sounds like we’re in for a treat –
Where to even begin with this album? Much like the mellotron and field recordings of ‘Edward Kelley’s Blues,’ the genesis can found in a recent trip to the British Isles, with Carlson researching our indigenous folklore and traditional faire folk. The probing field recordings lend levels of abstraction to gently spoken poetry; a sound which is somehow both atonal and blissfully melodic.
Rob Batchelor, Beard Rock
Carlson has created something evocative and quite special. Transplanting the droning guitar style he uses with Earth and using it as musical bed while shimmering and almost bluesy guitar licks are laid over the top. Boozily drifting past and literally sounding like orange-drenched Autumn sunsets across a glade in the forest. I know, right?
Supersonic 2011 marketplace – welcome to our stallholders
Make sure you bring an extra bag or two to Supersonic – you’ll be wanting to stock up on import Neurosis vinyl and that ultra-rare, lathe-cut 8″ comp of Bardo Pond side projects. The one with the hand-stamped foil sleeve? Yeah, that’s the one. These fine people have got all this and more.
LANCASHIRE & SOMERSET
Lancashire and Somerset is humble label, currently living in the hills of Shropshire. They attempt to help and support a growing family of bands like Nathan Bell, Kogumaza (both performing at Supersonic 2011), Enablers, McWatt and previous festival hits Mugstar, all with a like minded ethos based around truthful, honest music. Releasing mainly on the superior format of vinyl, they hope to continue to help this network grow.
FIRST FOLD First Fold is an independent record label specializing in Electronic and Experimental music. First Fold’s focus is to maintain a self regulating and enthusiastic approach to the creation of music and visual media.
BAD EGG RECORDS Bad Egg is an independent, stalwartly DiY label which has been releasing and promoting some of Birmingham’s finest and noises since 2009. Their roster houses local heroes such as Stinky Wizzleteat, Human Hands and Fuck Your Haircut.
BURNING WORLD RECORDS Burning World Records label and mailorder is based in Holland, home of the Roadburn Festival, and mainly focused on vinyl. Black metal, drone, death, stoner, doom – as long as it kicks you in the gut. As a label Burning World is the home of Roadburn Records. They’ve released records by Altar Of Plagues, Yob, Church Of Misery, Lustmord and Neurosis in the past, to name but a few. Coming up are the new Gnaw Their Tongues vinyl and White Hills Live at Roadburn on CD and vinyl.
FUTURE NOISE Future Noise is a Manchester based-label, booking agency and PR company. They work and have worked for the likes of Ufomammut, Charger, Unearthly Trance, Grifter, Morkobot, The Sontaran Experiment, Stuntcock, Lento, Paul Catten, Conan, Domes of Silence, Rise to Thunder, A Man Called Catten, Bastard of the Skies, Black Sun, Undersmile, Siena Root, OvO, Pine Barrens, Privileged to Fail Records, Full Stack Recording Studio, The Sleeping Shaman, Supernatural Cat Recordings and The Malleus Rock Artlab.
HOLY ROAR
Holy Roar Records is an independent record label run by Alex Fitzpatrick and Ellen Godwin. The label began in January 2006 when they moved to London from Birmingham and put out their first release in June 2006. Since then Holy Roar Records has released over 80 CDs, records and tapes. The name is actually derived from a vision Alex had whilst on the hallucinogen LSD. The vision came to Alex, as he listened to Slayer, in the form of a lion with the face of Jesus.
STATIC CARAVAN
Digging out musical treasures at the A + R car boot sale of recorded sound, Static Caravan have been putting out esoteric electronica and folk-pop since the late 1990s. They have worked with Tuung, Hannah Peel, Starless & Bible Black, The Owl Service and Serafina Steer amongst many others.
SOUTHERN
Southern Records has been fiercely fighting the independent corner since the late 1970’s, when the helped anarchist punks and activists CRASS found their own label. Over the years Southern have worked with, amongst many many others, Dischord, Bluurg, Wrong, Subterranean, On-U Sound, Touch & Go, Kranky, Constellation, Ipecac, Anticon, Saddle Creek and Southern Lord. Southern is proud to support Capsule and Supersonic for another year of outstanding boundary-pushing programming. Come and say hello – they’ll have plenty of interesting stuff for sale and love a natter.
COLD SPRING Cold Spring are the UK’s premier Label, Mailorder and Distributor for Industrial & related music: Esoteric, Dark Ambient, Power Electronics, Noise, Ritual, Japanoise, Soundtrack, Neofolk, Doom and experimental music.
The films below aren’t from this year’s stallholders, but they are a celebration of the beautiful world of physical records and record shops!
