"It's been a long time comin'". Illnesses, uprootings, and numerous pressing & production delays have all led to this: a two-months-late Spring installment of the Tryst Haunt Series. Yes, it's now officially Summer. But they're all the better for the extra time spent on them. All the packages are beautiful, and these scans don't nearly do justice to what these things look and feel like in "real" life.
We present:
LTH 707: visitations & big blood's "'lectric 'lashes"in the true spirit of the occasion, southern maine's outerworldly psych-folk beacons visitations and big blood decide to forgo the concept of the "split" release and instead launch forth into a mindbending collaborative effort. the bands are not new to performing together: they've toured together and have even backed each other up under various names. but this release marks the first physical release by their combined forces, and, unbelievably enough, is big blood's first vinyl release ever. the ease with which the bands complement each other is astounding - five clear voices reaching together to guide the record through a buzz-guitar singalong, a breathless pastoral folk tune, a chugging nightmare rock-dirge, and a sweetly-lighthearted vocal exercise. this 33rpm 7" record contains four tracks in a 14-minute official runtime, but will play forever if you let it. in addition, the record comes with a bonus cd-r of tracks from the late-night jam session that pre-dated the recording sessions for the 7", as well as the four tracks from the 7" itself in digital form. a one-of-a-kind package, with each record sleeve offset printed with the bands' artwork in dark blue ink on colorful, individually hand-painted sheets of heavy art paper. embossed, hand-numbered limited edition of 300 record/cd-r sets.
LTH 708: prisma & drona parva's "best buds" 7"the two spectral ladies of prisma mark their debut release with this 7" split with drona parva. prisma has been performing the quietest shows in and around portland for a couple years now, mixing softly echoing vocals with flute drones, only the gentlest plucking of various stringed instruments, and the occasional analog noise rumble. their a-side track resonates with beautiful restraint and delicacy; the stunning debut all of us entranced by their live show have hoped for. on the b-side, drona parva--the long-running solo project of time-lag records' nemo bidstrup--turns in a blissed-out muti-tracked free-flowing guitar composition. trance-inducing acoustic plucks and strums eventually give way to shimmering waves of fuzz guitar until the whole thing becomes impossibly beautiful. the minimal packaging for the record complements the gentle touch of the recordings held within: the 45rpm 7" record is a custom, slightly-marbled avocado green color with a yellow-green mandala-design center-label. the record is held in a semi-transparent vellum sleeve that has been hand-punched on the corners, giving a soft mask to the striking colors on the record itself, and hand-numbered to 300.
LTH 709: the north sea's "nikolette (reborn)" b/w corsican paintbrush's "under storm skies"anyone familiar with the extensive north sea discography is aware of brad rose's keen ability to mix it up between eastern-tinged folk instrumentals and more straightforward strummers, which usually feature rose's classic low-in-the-mix mumble-drunk vocals and charmingly loose playing. "nikolette (reborn)" finds him revising a beautiful, quivering folk song from 2007's baby blue bones cd (mymwly) with the more-confident-than-ever vocals now at the forefront, and an army of acoustic strings and hand percussion backing this boxtop prophet's hymn. corsican paintbrush's contribution follows suit, foregrounding eden hemming rose's soft, lilting vocal melody and some rhythm-keeping strums while keeping a lush, hazy swell of drones and cave-echo vocals as the backdrop. equally ethereal and dusty, like 4AD dream-pop marred by dirt under fingernails and ash from the campfire turning cheeks black. black 7" vinyl record has a hand-stamped center label, and comes packaged in a textured black art paper sleeve with flower petal inclusions, with line-drawings and stamped titles in white ink, and an embossed screenprinted insert featuring liner notes and a topographic street map of tulsa. limited edition hand-numbered to 300.
WORLDWIDE - $28, SHIPPING INCLUDED
The first two editions of the Tryst Haunt Series are still available, as are full subscriptions for this year's twelve 7" records (still to come: GHQ, Vollmar, and Elephant Micah in September). Please visit the new "work-in-progress" label website at http://www.lanimauxtryst.com/order.htm for more information and to order.
Finally, it pains me to announce this, but the Tryst Haunt Series will go on indefinite hiatus after the Summer 2008 installment. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which being that I've gotten the itch to start focusing on album-length vinyl releases for our artists. Please feel free to email me at lanimaux (at ) gmail (dot) com with any questions and I'll try to clarify.
