Apologies to folks who've ordered Flowering over the past week or two... we're in the process of a huge move from Clifton Ranch to our new haven at Highland Ranch and label stock is currently in flux. All should be shipped by this weekend. As of right now we are currently sold out of Flowering; we may be getting a few more copies from the label in due time and will update again if and when we get em. Thanks to all who flocked to the Storefront to order! Proper L'animaux update in a month-or-so with a couple new LPs and tapes.
Hey all, we've got a very limited number of copies of the new full-length Herbcraft cassette Flowering, just released and out now on Julia Dream Recordings. Limited to 69 copies, we're down to just a handful ourselves! Comes with a free digital download of the whole album.
Very limited number of this first new Herbcraft release since last summer's Ashram To The Stars LP! Full-length cassette includes a free digital download of the album.
"Flowering represents some of Herbcraft’s most expressive and exploratory
work to date blending psychedelic pop melodies with some of the most
trashed sounding sonic voyages exploring the arc from the US West Coast
to the Tokyo underground. Minds were blown here at Julia Dream when we
first heard Flowering and we are extremely excited that this is our
inaugural release. Keep the crops flowering." - Julia Dream Recordings
"Mind-blowing tape from the Herbcraft cultus aka Matthew Lajoie of
Cursillistas et al: Flowering was briefly non-available as an edition of
only 12 copies cassette privately distributed amongst friends but the
quality of the sonics so impressed noted Blues scholar and COM
correspondent Andrew Ross that he started up his own deluxe tape
imprint, Julia Dream Recordings, just to bring it to the world. Issued
here in an edition of 69 copies with gorgeous pro-printed sleeves,
Flowering represents the absolute apex of the Herbcraft saga thus far,
devouring genres and regurgitating them as foggy out-of-focus paeans to
oblivion via weeping single note blues delivered with alla the amplified
overdrive of Rallizes or the Far Out. The whole deal starts off with a
dosed/phased F/X vox and ashram vibes tone-float before tripping over
into “Journey To The Center Of Your Hive”, a multi-dimensional transport
that pushes the interstellar overdrive to the max. “Magic Carpet Ride
Hallucination #4” kicks into a streamlined Krautrock groove before
dissolving the whole thing via gate after gate of gloopy F/X while
“Flowers Strewn” is a beautifully lucid take on six-string sorcery ala
Ben Chasny’s most circuitous outings. But it’s “Psychic Spore
Travellin’” that best takes your head off, a totally epic six-string
amplifier-worshipping monolith that tears fuzz and confusion from
wailing steel with all of the void gobbling force of your favourite
Tokyo titan. Throw in a bunch of disconnected downs that sound like
they’re beamed from Skip Spence’s weeping third eye and you have the
most goddamn potent collection of trips und trauma this side of
yesterday. Cassette issue of the year? No question. Comes with a free
download. Very highly recommended. " - Volcanic Tongue
09 May 2012
Pete Fosco's Vacationlanded cassette is now sold-out! The last few copies are available via DNT Records and soon via our newest distributor, IMPOSE!
Our next update will be coming this summer, with new limited edition full-length vinyl LPs from Concord Ballet Orchestra Players and Altered Gee available for pre-order in the coming months. More 45s and tapes soon, too, hold on!
MLJ
13 February 2012
ORACLE OFFERING's HOWL'S ANGELS cassette is now sold out! Look for copies soon at Tomentosa...
Hey folks! A quick update this time to announce that the LONG-delayed, long-awaited final Cursillistas studio album is now available in a limited, one-time-only, vinyl-only pressing of 225 hand-numbered copies. Here's a little more about this LP:
Observe Ember Weeks is the final Cursillistas "studio" album, momentarily lost to time as Herbcraft took flight, now seeing a brief light-of-day. Written, recorded, and mixed concurrently with Wasp Stings (Digitalis), Joint Chiefs (Digitalis), and several small-run/tour-only releases between 2007-2009, O.E.W. touches on elements and styles of all these while also marking a return to a more song-based rural folk psychedelia. Nylon-string minor-key folk-pop commingles with naive noise experiments, breathless first-take improvisation, multi-tracked "full band" jams, wah'ed fuzz guitar abandon, electric slide glide, heavy tom-thumps & tambourine shakes, all presented with Cursillistas' trademark rich reverb treatment and multi-layered vocals. This is perhaps the peak Cursillistas experience in all its bedroom glory, the fitting final chapter to a project that never stayed still for too long, and the definitive collection of the tunes that made up much of Cursillistas' live set from 2007-2009. Deluxe 150-gram virgin black vinyl held in a 4-color, 5-layer silkscreened art paper jacket, with two-sided full-color pro-printed glossy heavy stock insert, hand-numbered to 225.
Many thanks to you heads who pre-ordered the vinyl... your copies are on their way as I type this. I want to note that the photos do not nearly do justice to the silkscreen work Emily Johnson (of Lightning strike Lightning) did on these jackets... in real life they are quite stunning and, as one customer put it, "more than subtly-psychedelic." Test drive the tunes at the Curs-Camp and head on over to the storefront to order!
Next update in Spring, with more new wax and tape... till then....
01 February 2012
Planets
Around the Sun and Jared Fairfield tapes are now sold-out. Update
coming soon concerning the new Cursillistas LP! Thanks to everyone who
pre-ordered the record.. your copies are on their way...
☮MLJ
04 January 2012
ALTERED GEE has been receiving tons of love recently from folks like Foxy Digitalis(a perfect 10/10: "Really, you’re going to want everything you can get after having a
small taste of “European Gees,” so the tape is essential. For whatever
reason, this just seems to hit a sweet spot in the ears. This is one
of those albums you’ll want to put on repeat and then make all your
friends listen."), Cassette Gods(Favorite Tapes of 2011: "What a great surprise. This is a 19 year old kid making extreme
chillout R&B/electro that completely tops every synth and drum
machine album released this year."), and even local blog/zine Dispatch(Jakob Battick's Top 5 of 2011: "It’s like witnessing some self-taught keyboard virtuoso
perform his own bizarre misinterpretation of The Chronic, while messed
up on all sorts of supplements, and it’s just beautiful. You can listen
to it over and over and over (and over) again but still be fascinated,
and that’s the reason it takes my #1 spot.").
So it's no real surprise that the cassette we pressed a few months ago is now sold out. The last remaining copies are available locally (Portland, ME) at Moody Lords and Strange Maine, and worldwide via DNT Records. Also down to just a couple copies each of Planets Around the Sun's WE O WE and Jared Fairfield's Mysteries.
We're gettin close on the Cursillistas Observe Ember Weeks LP release, expect an update by the end of the month.
All orders that were placed during our holidaze sabbatical will ship this week; thank you for your patience! Thanks everyone for a killer 2011!
01 December 2011
2006-2011: FIVE YEARS OF BRAIN OFFERINGS
TWO NEW LIMITED ANALOG RELEASES [brainshadows 7", oracle offering cs]
Well, here we are folks... five years.
In early-December 2006 we announced the first-ever L'animaux Tryst release, and since then, we've had the privilege to bring to light some of the most far-out esoteric music being quietly recorded in and around Portland, Maine. We can't thank you enough for all the support throughout the years; suffice it to say we wouldn't still be here without the continued enthusiasm of you all, near and far.
Earlier this summer we quietly celebrated the 5-year anniversary of the release of Cursillistas' Thrush Chimes in the Field Haunt on Time-Lag Records; this was the CD-R that put the gears in motion for the L'animaux micro-label enterprise in the first place. The entire album is streaming online for free for the next few months, with the option to buy lossless audio download of the whole thing for $5. In other news, we are working on finally revamping the entire dot-com website - the first update in over two years, during which the site had lapsed into total obsolescence. What you see over there now is an interim solution until we launch something all-new in 2012. It's a very necessary update; thank you all for your patience while the site got so bad we nearly abandoned it completely a few times.
We've been hustlin, tryin to get the Cursillistas Observe Ember Weeks limited edition LP ready before the end of the year, but it looks like it'll be delayed until January or February. All the records have arrived but we're waiting on the 4-layer silkscreened covers. Pre-orders will ship as soon as they're ready, and we've set the new tentative release date at January 31, 2012.
For now, we are excited to announce two new limited edition releases to close out the year:
BRAINSHADOWS
is the new hard-pop duo of M.Lajoie & D.Aquarius, exploring a love
of trash cinema, echo-chamber mono 45s, pulp sci-fi paperbacks,
adults-only comix, Detroitrock, and Rockers. This
debut 7” smothers space-echo pop with the psychedelic technicolor grit
and grime of a Bakshi / Corman urban sewer. Wah'ed synths and fuzz
guitars lift up heavy basslines and off-kit percussion, with nice &
ruff soft-focus vocals appearing like phantoms, all produced in
engulfing heavy MONO. A-side "Wild Cherry" brings home some tuff teenage
motorcycle love-in vibrations; an intravenous alternate soundtrack to a
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls party
scene. On the flip, "Ripe" is genuine lovers rock dub-pop, with plenty
of wah and hazed & hushed come-ons: an abstracted ode to the magick
of early Keith Hudson and Horace Andy sides.” Recycled black vinyl 45rpm
7" held in a pro-printed full-color sleeve. Limited to 200. _________________________________
FORMAT: CS [c40] // EDITION: 50 // RELEASED: 12.01.11 // SOLD OUT
Following last year’s soft-focus stunner Beyond Aquaria
on the Cabin Floor Esoterica label, Oracle Offering serves up a
full-length cassette steeped in the audio nexus of supernatural horror
and Gnostic pagan ritual. An altar built in honor of tape-hiss, vedic
synth meditation, and full-moon white witchcraft receives a visitation
from a gnarly half-human gang with a taste for female flesh. Lurking
behind the sympathetic string reverberation, airy synth atmospheres, and
cool-breath choral incantation is the heavy hand here to crash the
party: engines rattle, howls are emitted, the coven shrieks, a far-off
church bell chimes. A fully-formed VHS [oc]cult classic with all the
dialogue removed, this cassette is the last thing you want to meet at
the end of a dark alley; a nightmare treasure in the basement of an
abandoned cabin in the woods. Recorded, mixed, and dubbed in a 100%
analog process from start to finish. Hand-labeled opaque lavender
cassettes with full-color pro-printed double-sided j-card, held in a
green-tinted case. Limited to 50.
These new titles--as well as all currently-in-print L'animaux-and-related releases--are now available at the new L'animaux Storefront.
Anybody who pre-ordered the Brainshadows 7" and would like to add the Oracle Offering tape to their order, please contact lanimaux @ gmail.com as soon as possible to combine shipping. Any questions, just send an email and we'll get it sorted out.
As
is our usual practice, all shipments will cease between December 11th
and January 1st. Any orders placed during that time will ship
immediately on January 2nd, 2012.
Many thanks, as always, to all of you far and wide! 2011 was a great comeback year for L'animaux, and we still have a handful of copies available for many of the releases (Concord Ballet Orchestra Players, Planets Around the Sun, Altered Gee, Pete Fosco) so head on over to the new storefront and catch up on what you might've missed out on.
See ya in 2012...
☮MLJ
27 September 2011
Lightning strike Lightning's Creepy Power art edition cassette is now sold out. As such the "any 3 tapes" special has been transformed into a three-tape package of the remaining new releases (Pete Fosco, Planets Around the Sun, Altered Gee) for just $13 + shipping. Order now at the storefront.
Orders have begun shipping; any orders placed prior to September 27th will be shipped out by the end of the week.
Thanks everyone!
13 September 2011
TONY CLIFTON'S RANCH = DUB PALACE OF SIN FOUR NEW LIMITED CASSETTES [pete fosco, planets around the sun, altered gee, lightning strike lightning] + TWO NEW VINYL PRE-ORDERS [cursillistas, brainshadows]
Been awhile, friends... been kept busy on the Herbcraft tip, had a great summer in support of Ashram to the StarsLP, thanks to everyone who helped set up gigs or stump'd for the record...
Breakin' the L'animaux silence here with four brand-new limited-edition tapes, home-dubbed, hand-assembled, etc. These are mostly ready to go except that we're waitin on the inserts to come back from the print shoppe... so we're taking orders now and they should be ready to ship in about a week.
In the longer-run, we've got two new vinyl projects at the pressing plant, which will be released in late-October. They are both extremely limited editions of around 200 copies, so we're starting to take pre-orders now for folks who want to reserve a copy. All pre-orders taken will be for a discounted price up until release day, and for a limited time we're offering a special combo deal: just $17 + shipping for both the upcoming Cursillistas 12" LP and Brainshadows 7" single. Scroll furthur for more info...
And... get your feet wet with the new L'animaux Tryst podcast, "Way Far Out", available for stream and free download. 10 tracks from the past, present, and future...
LTFR 028: PETE FOSCO: VACATIONLANDED FORMAT: CS [c43] // EDITION: 75 // RELEASED: 09.13.11 // $5.00 + shipping While electric guitar mangler / vibe-generator Pete Fosco
may call Kentucky home, he is nonetheless a man smitten with Maine.
After a trip up the coast to Acadia and Belfast last summer (which
included a show with MV & EE and Herbcraft at the now-sadly-defunt
Roots & Tendrils), Fosco was so inspired that when he returned home
he sat down in front of some warm tubes, strapp’d on a six-string, and
let rip on some true Vacationland meditations. What we’ve got here are
four extended improvisations/compositions for solo electric guitar, with
Fosco bending, growling, coaxing, and summoning tones with fingers,
slides, and other mystery implements. The sounds evoke dusty winds
streaking across the Desert of Maine, Northern Lights shimmering from
atop Cadillac Mountain, and vertiginous views from Pemetic. Sometimes
sparse (Fosco is a master at the pregnant pause), sometimes as swirling
and dense as a January blizzard, the soundtrack Fosco creates is a heavy
homage to the dark mystery and latent wonder of exploration in the
Maine wilds.
Black shell cassettes with hand-painted and typed labels,
held in polybox with full-color, pro-printed insert on vellum, enclosed
in a piece of a vintage map of Maine. Limited to 75.
Ditching the domestic life for a stint of wild-abandon nomad
drift, Planets Around the Sun departed from Maine in July to unplug and
roll on down the line… WE O WE is their
parting gift to the musical community that launched them into new
orbits. Drawing from every era of the band’s career and pointing forward
to new phases, it is a carefully crafted full-length mixtape of past
trysts and future haunts. From the opening acousto-electro instrumental
shimmer we move to a stretched-out heavy drone-folk version of the
classic White Light side “Saraswati”, here completely re-figured with
the addition of guest baritone guitar and cello from local duo South
China. The Ian Paige solo excursion “Agnes” follows, with drones and
steel strings lulling raga moves into your atmosphere; once the tablas
and electric guitar hits, you’re halfway between Demolition Derby and Country Stash, truly a vapor to be savored and returned to often. The B-side hits with “We Owe”, a possession-ceremony standard with netherworld vocal chants circling around watery
bass wobbles and wah’ed synth stabs. This flows into “May Day” and its
extended doom-dub treatment “Version”, moving from Velvety melodic
guitar-scorched psych to a half-tempo high-stepping astral-funk groove.
But enough about the past. Planets point to their present/future with
the closing track, a cracked lo-fi country-folk tune that serves as
their on-the-road calling card. Sure to be a counterculture hit in
22nd-Century America.
Hand-written (in white paint) cassettes
held in a case with full-color pro-printed art, featuring a reproduction
of a totally psychedelic needlepoint by Paige’s grandmother. Limited to
75. LTFR 032: ALTERED GEE: EUROPEAN GEES FORMAT: CS [c69] // EDITION: 75 // RELEASED: 09.13.11 // SOLD OUT It may be counter-intuitive to think of “G-funk instrumentals”
as a possible product of an icy and blizzed-out Maine winter, but holed
up at the House of Hits (aka Hit Factory) in Winter 2011 with an array
of analog synths (SEIL OR 400 for the highs, Moog Taurus II for the
lows) and hip-hop golden-age drum machines (E-mu SP-1200, Drumulator,
and Korg DDD-1), Key Jr. Dee Jay and Slouch formed Altered Gee
amid a thick cloud of purple smoke and didn’t stop making hits til the
tape ran out. Recorded entirely on 8-track cassette(!), the deep-grooved
trunk-rattlers on European Gees ride that line between suave
Euro electro-futurism and dank, dirty, post-Zapp R&B boogie and
G-funk, all stretched out, heavy-lidded and dazed. Weightless,
pitch-shifting, portamentoed synth lines arc over and around each other,
anchored by heavy-bounce syrupy-thick bass and Slouch’s ace
reverbed-out kick’n’clap beats. This is dance music with runtimes long
enough (in the case of “Magnum Opus”, 15+minutes of synth-funk ecstasy)
to get lost in the transcendence of the groove. The song titles say it
all: “Dowsed”, “Funky Airs”, “I Wanna Lay You Down And Feel You Up”…
this is some sexy, fonky shit, ideal for sittin low in your Coupe de
Ville and gettin scandalous in some sweaty bedsheets.
69-minute white
cassettes with individually-chrome-painted and typewriter-engraved
labels, held in a case with full-color pro-printed j-card designed by
the band. Limited to 75.
LTFR 033: LIGHTNING STRIKE LIGHTNING: CREEPY POWER FORMAT: CS [c40] // ART EDITION: 33 // RELEASED: 09.13.11 // SOLD OUT Way back in 2008, The Wire magazine named Lightning strike
Lightning’s “The Moon” 7” single as one of the top 10 of the year, while
Foxy Digitalis’ Brad Rose remarked that they were “quickly becoming one
of my favorite bands” while naming it the Best 7” of the Year. So
what’s been going on since then? Public silence; private Creepy Power.
After four long years of hermetic writing, recording, re-recording,
editing, mixing, re-mixing, and so on, LsL finally emerges once again
with their second full-length, the follow up to their 2007 disc Turn Myself Into The Ocean.
Many of the original ingredients remain (worldless female haunt-vox,
busted mini-amp guitar growls, tom-violating rhythm tracks, banjo ruffs) but are in service to arrangements that are both
tighter and more expansive. Moments of breathless spectral visitation
bloom alongside forest-folk recitations, bell loops drawn out to
time-bending drone, heavy dirge remembrance, and general free-form
folkery. While the murk of of the previous recordings has been dialed
back a bit on Creepy Power, the gossamer echo chamber that
remains—combined with the slightly-higher-fidelity—makes for a smoother
ride and headier drift; this is one to get lost in.
SPECIAL
ONE-TIME-ONLY ART EDITION: Clear cassettes with in-house screen-printed
labels, held in a case with double-sided reversible pro-printed j-card,
each with a one-of-a-kind Land camera photograph taken by band member
S.Turley with tracklisting handwritten on back, held in a sewn fabric
sleeve. Limited to 33.
PRE-ORDER SPECIAL: $14 Long-delayed "lost" Cursillistas album, begun recording in January 2007 (post-Les Biches; pre-Wasp Stings) and originally conceived of as the proper follow-up to the more song-based Thrush ChimesCD-R from 2006. After two-and-a-half years of writing and recording, the album was abandoned, only to be completely remixed, remastered, and re-sequenced from heaps of cassettes and zip disks in 2010-11. Many songs were previously only available on tour-only CD-Rs & tapes in demo form - this is the only proper release of the mostly-unheard "studio versions" of this material, which made up much of Cursillistas' live set between 2007 and 2009. Pressed onto deluxe 150-gram black vinyl and housed in a heavy cotton stock art paper sleeve, with five-layer silkscreen print and two-sided insert. Limited to 225 copies.
LTFR 714: BRAINSHADOWS "WILD CHERRY b/w RIPE" 7" Debut single from this new "hard pop" duo of D. Aquarius and M. Lajoie, which smothers Spector-era space-echo pop in the psychedelic technicolor grit and grime of a Bakshi / Corman urban sewer. Wah'ed synths and fuzz guitars lift up heavy basslines and off-kit percussion, with nice & ruff soft-focus vocals appearing like phantoms, all produced in engulfing heavy MONO. A-side "Wild Cherry" brings home some tuff teenage motorcycle love-in vibrations; an intravenous alternate soundtrack to a Beyond the Valley of the Dolls party scene. On the flip, "Ripe" is genuine lovers rock dub-pop, with plenty of wah and hazed & hushed come-ons: an abstracted ode to the magick of early Keith Hudson and Horace Andy sides. Recycled black vinyl 45rpm 7" held in a pro-printed full-color sleeve. Limited to 200 copies.
27 January 2011
PLANETS AROUND THE SUN: TOWER CS and WHITE LIGHT & CURSILLISTAS: TRAVEL LIGHT CS now SOLD OUT. Eclipse Mailorder (USA), Tomentosa (USA), and Norman Records (UK) will have copies available in the coming weeks.
Only two copies left of the Concord Ballet Orchestra Players 2xCS art edition as of Thursday afternoon. Email lanimaux@gmail.com to grab one before they're gone!
Thanks everyone for the orders! They'll start hitting the mail on Monday.
MLJ
25 January 2011
L'ANIMAUX HQ = ICE PLANET HOTH
THREE NEW LIMITED CASSETTES
[planets around the sun, concord ballet orchestra players, white light & cursillistas]
With the ever-present danger of being permanently snowed-in, it's a fairly typical January here in Maine... And while actual windows-down road-trip days seem pretty far off at the moment, we can at least offer a variety of new soundtracks to your favorite metaphorical/metaphysical trip of choice...
Deep waters beneath the floe:
LTFR 026: PLANETS AROUND THE SUN: TOWER
FORMAT: CS [C-32] // EDITION: 45 // RELEASED: 01.25.11 // SOLD OUT
WITH AN OUT-OF-PRINT DEBUT CASSETTE [GOLD, DIGITALIS LTD.] UNDER THEIR ASTEROID BELT (AND A DOUBLE-LP WAITING IN THE WINGS), PLANETS AROUND THE SUN EMERGE FROM THEIR PSYCHIC SABBATICAL TO PRESENT THE TOWER CASSETTE. SELECTED FROM NEARLY THREE YEARS OF DOCUMENTED EXPERIMENTATION, THESE FOUR TRACKS PLAY LIKE RADIO TRANSMISSIONS FROM EXTENDED TRIPS INTO A STARLESS VOID, RETURNING WITH THE MESSAGE THAT PSYCHEDELIA ISN'T ALL PAISLEY AND PEPPERMINT SWIRL. THE CURIOUS PSILOCYBIN-NAVIGATING OPENER WINDS INTO THE RITUAL DOOM-MARCH OF LONG-TIME LIVE STAPLE "SLOW HORSE", HERE CAPTURED IN ALL ITS BLOWN-OUT LIVE-FI GLORY. A TAPE-FLIP REVEALS EVEN DARKER ROADS AHEAD: WAILING ECSTATICS PULLED SUBTERRANEAN, SURFACING FOR AIR TO THE OBEAHICALLY-WARPED INNER-GROOVES OF A POSSESSED BLACK ARK DUBPLATE. THE TAPE RUNS OUT ON AN ORGAN-AND-WAH-PEDAL-STOMPING FREE-PSYCH JAM, AMBIENTLY RECORDED AMONGST THE BLIPS AND WHIRS OF THE SPACE VESSEL'S ELECTRONICS RUNNING ON ZERO-GRAVITY AUTOPILOT. A MIXTAPE FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP ALONG INNERSPACE HIGHWAYS, TOWER IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO 45 HAND-NUMBERED HOME-DUBBED BLACK FOIL CASSETTES, PACKAGED IN FULL-COLOR PRO-PRINTED HEAVY STOCK J-CARDS IN NORELCO CASE.
LTFR 027: CONCORD BALLET ORCHESTRA PLAYERS: FIRST ANNUAL NORTH FALMOUTH ORGAN SLAUGHTER FORMAT: 2xCS [CHROME C-49 & C-55] // EDITION: 75 // RELEASED: 01.25.11 // PRICE: $8.00 + SHIPPING
AFTER BEARING WITNESS TO A COUPLE MIND-BLOWING LIVE SETS BY THESE PSYCHEDELIC TRUTH-SEEKERS, WE ARE COMPLETE CONVERTS TO CONCORD BALLET ORCHESTRA PLAYERS' CAUSE AND ARE PROUD TO BRING THEIR EPIC ANALOG DEBUT DOUBLE-CASSETTE AUDIO-TOME FANFOS TO THE PHYSICAL REALM. CONCORD BALLET GATHERS TOGETHER A CREW OF THE BOSTON-AREA'S FINEST KRAUT-WORSHIPERS, SPACE-ROCK PSYCHONAUTS, AND IN-THE-MOMENT FREE-IMPROV EXPERIMENTALISTS ONTO A SINGLE SPRAWLING STAGE, RESULTING IN A WIDE VARIETY OF HEADY CINEMASCOPE-WORTHY JAMS. DOCUMENTING CBOP RELATIVELY EARLY IN ITS EXISTENCE, FANFOS SUGGESTS A PARTICULARLY WIDE-OPEN CANVAS AND TECHNICOLOR PALETTE OF POSSIBILITIES (GHOSTLY THEREMIN, FLUTE, CASIO BANKS, ELECTRIC GUITAR DIVINATIONS, GROOVING BASSLINES AND EDGE-OF-SEAT DRUMS), LEADING THE LISTENER DOWN PRISMATICALLY-VARIED PATHS AS THE BAND NAVIGATES THRU THE PERPETUALLY-MANIFESTING "NOW". RANGING FROM BRIEF MYSTERIOUS VIGNETTES TO MAJESTIC SIDE-LONG MINDSCAPES, THESE TRACKS WERE RECORDED WITH A FLY-ON-THE-WALL LIVE QUALITY THAT DOESN'T OMIT TRIPPED FIRE ALARMS, OFF-MIC SNEEZES, OR STUMBLES, ALL OF WHICH REVEAL CONCORD BALLET TO BE DEVOUT BELIEVERS IN AUTHENTIC IMPROVISATION AND PSYCHEDELIA. EXPERTLY MASTERED BY GREG DAVIS AND PRO-DUPED ONTO PREMIUM CHROME TAPE, FANFOS IS LIMITED TO 75 COPIES AND PACKAGED "AUDIO-BOOK STYLE" IN A WHITE VINYL FOLDER, WITH PRO-PRINTED FULL-COLOR COVER ART. ALSO INCLUDES A DOWNLOAD CODE FOR A COMPLEMENTARY DIGITAL COPY, FOR EASIER TRACK-BY-TRACK PARSING OF THIS MASSIVE MISSIVE.
---------------------------------------
In addition to these new titles, we still have a few copies left of Jared Fairfield's Mysteries cassette, the Gorman Trio / Sacred Basil split cassette, and Endless Caverns' Magi Hymnal cassette... grab them from the storefront before they're gone... and as always, out-of-print titles can be purchased via Tomentosa and Eclipse mailorders.
We'll also have copies of the brand-new Endless Caverns cassette Sensei Deprivation Tape on Existential Cloth Recordings by the end of the week... feel free to place an order now at the online store.
If you're interested in keeping up with L'animaux, consider joining the mailing list (email lanimaux [at] gmail.com) or Facebook group.
Keep warm, till next time,
MLJ
23 November 2010
LTFR 024 - TEMPERA // ENDLESS CAVERNS ESTRANGED MANEsplit cassette is now sold-out.
Also sold out of all copies of the HERBCRAFT PAPERS cassette on F.I.T. Down to the last few copies of everything else... Tomentosa and Eclipse will have copies available soon in their distros.
All domestic and most overseas orders have now shipped; the few international orders left will ship next week [Nov 30]. M☮L
10 November 2010
L'ANIMAUX DRINKS THE MOON // THREE NEW LIMITED CASSETTES [tempera, endless caverns, jared fairfield, gorman trio, sacred basil]
Wheels are turning and machines are purring once again at the L'animaux Tryst HQ, a gentle wave of activity not seen around these parts in a little while. Deep fall hibernation vibes are keeping the tea kettle on, mukluks on at all hours, and hi-fis glowing warmth in every room as we dub, draw, fold, cut, paste, repeat....
Everything can be ordered in an automated fashion from our new L'ANIMAUX STOREFRONT, or as always you can feel free to simply email your order to lanimaux [at] gmail [dot] com.
LTFR 023: GORMAN TRIO // SACRED BASIL: UNTITLED SPLIT FORMAT: CS [C-25] // EDITION: 60 // RELEASED: 11.09.10 // SOLD OUT
DOCUMENTING THE FIRST OF SEVERAL LIVE COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN SONIC AMBASSADORS FROM GORMAN [J. SPENCER], CURSILLISTAS [M.LAJOIE], & WHITE LIGHT [I. PAIGE] DURING THEIR WEEK-LONG US TOUR IN 2009, "EXALTED (MOST HIGH)" WAS COVERTLY PERFORMED IN THE BASEMENT OF THE CLINIC [BLOOMINGTON, IN] WHILE THE PROSPECTIVE AUDIENCE WAS STILL PORCH-BOUND. THICK TONE-DRONES FOR THE THICK MIDWEST SUMMER EVENING AIR; FREE-DRIFT NOTES FOR THE RECREATIONAL HIGHS OF THOSE "HIT THE ROAD" DAYS. THE FLIP-SIDE IS A PREVIOUSLY-UNRELEASED SNIP FROM THE SACRED BASIL SESSION THAT BIRTH'D THE DAY OF SIX BILLION CASSETTE [CABIN FLOOR ESOTERICA #7], AN OPEN-FIELD / FREE-RANGE JAM OF RECIFEIAN ACOUSTIC STRINGS, BELLS, PRE-LANGUAGE VOX, AND CREAKING FLOORBOARDS. UNSELFCONSCIOUS HOOTS CAPTURED LIVE AT NEW WYRD 33. HAND-LABELED SAPPHIRE-FOIL TAPES PACKAGED IN AN ART PAPER J-CARD SLEEVE, WITH 60 COMPLETELY UNIQUE INDIVIDUALLY HAND-DRAWN/WRITTEN AND COLLAGED COVERS, HAND-NUMBERED TO 60.
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LTFR 024: TEMPERA // ENDLESS CAVERNS: ESTRANGED MANE FORMAT: CS [C-40] // EDITION: 45 // RELEASED: 11.09.10 // SOLD OUT
TWO IMPROVISATIONAL PORTLAND ACTS PAY TRIBUTE TO A FAVORITE SPOT IN THE LOCAL UNDERGROUND SCENE: STRANGE MAINE. THIS USED RECORD/TAPE/BOOK/CURIO SHOP BY DAY TAKES ON THE OCCASIONAL TRANSFORMATION INTO THE MOST FREEWHEELING VENUE IN TOWN, AND IS THE SITE OF SOME OF THE GREATEST LIVE SETS WE AT THE L'ANIMAUX CAMP HAVE EVER WITNESSED. ON THIS TAPE, TEMPERA DROPS THEIR FIRST NEW RELEASE SINCE 2009'S STELLAR SELF-TITLED 12"; THIS 19-MINUTE SESSION WAS RECORDED LIVE IN MAY 2010 AND WAS PERFORMED USING JUST TWO MICROPHONES AND MORE DELAY/ECHO/LOOP PEDALS THAN BAND MEMBERS. THE RESULT IS OF AN ENVIABLE SUBTLETY, THE SOURCE WHISPERS AND WHISTLES BENT TO UNIMAGINABLE ANGLES AND LENGTHS UNTIL ONLY SPECTERS REMAIN. ENDLESS CAVERNS' CONTRIBUTION FINDS WHISPS OF CRACKLY ELECTRIC GUITAR LEADS MINGLING WITH DUB-INSPIRED BASS, VOCALS, AND PERCUSSION, ALL STRETCHED OUT IN A HALLUCINATORY TIME-ZONE WHERE EACH TWEAK IN THE CHAIN ADDS A NEW LAYER OF HAZE TO YOUR ALREADY-CLOUDY VISION. HAND-LABELED OPAQUE BLOOD-RED TAPES IN NORELCO CASE, WITH PRO-PRINTED FULL-COLOR "WINDHAM HILL-THEMED" J-CARDS HAND-NUMBERED TO 45. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LTFR 025: JARED FAIRFIELD: MYSTERIES FORMAT: CS [C-29] // EDITION: 75 // RELEASED: 11.09.10 // SOLD OUT
AS HUMBLE-YET-IMPRESSIVE IN VISION AND EXECUTION AS ANY CLASSIC UNDERGROUND ALBUM SHOULD BE, THIS OUT-OF-NOWHERE EP FROM RURAL MAINE'S JARED FAIRFIELD IS SO ON-POINT THAT ONCE IT CROSSED OUR PATH WE KNEW IT HAD TO FIND A HOME ON L'ANIMAUX TRYST. WORKING A FOUR-WAY CROSSROADS OF PAGAN UR-FOLK, AQUARIAN PSYCH-POP, CONTEMPORARY UNDERGROUND, AND FUTURE SOUNDS, FAIRFIELD MOVES HIS REMARKABLE VOICE THRU TIMELESS TUNE AFTER TIMELESS TUNE, FAINT VAPOUR TRAILS OF PAST SKEWED-POP CLASSICS ON THE PERIPHERY. ALONG THE WAY, THAT VOICE IS JOINED BY DEFT GUITAR FINGERPICKING, AUTOHARP STRUMS, DRONE/PURE SOUND, A RICH TAPESTRY OF PERCUSSION, AND EVEN ONE SABBATH-WORTHY FUZZ BASS BREAKDOWN, ALL COMPOSED AND ARRANGED WITH QUIET CONFIDENCE AND WARM FIDELITY. THE TITLE TRACK IS ONE OF THE BEST SINGLES WE'VE HEARD ALL YEAR, AND ONCE YOU'VE MOVED PAST THAT PARTICULAR EARWORM, REPEAT SPINS REVEAL NEW DEEP VISIONS LIKE EACH QUARTER-TURN OF A KALEIDOSCOPE. HAND-LABELED WHITE TAPES IN AN OVERSIZED, PRO-PRINTED FULL-COLOR TEXTURED ART PAPER SLEEVE, TIED CLOSED WITH WOOL YARN, HAND-NUMBERED TO 75.Jared Fairfield- 'Mysteries'
In addition to these new limited magnetic-tape offerings, the online shop has a few distro items that L'animaux-related bands [HERBCRAFT, CURSILLISTAS, ENDLESS CAVERNS] have released on other fine labels [Digitalis, Cabin Floor Esoterica, Hello Sunshine, Fuck-It Tapes], as well as older items that are still in print.
For a more transparent rambling experience, check in with the new 33RD CONGRESSIONAL REPORT Tumblr, where we're regularly posting new, forthcoming, and unreleased tracks, mixtapes, videos, oddities, upcoming events, etc. in 12pt. Rockwell [where available].
ENJOY THE EARTH'S BOUNTY // HORN OF PLENTY // CORNUCOPIA M J L J☮
06 October 2010
...as this particular site drifts into "archival" mode real quick...
...and with the official dot.com gathering moss and weeds...
a couple new sites for increasingly-relevant L'animaux Tryst-and-related updates:
[posts include new and old recordings from members of the L'animaux family and beyond, mixtapes/podcasts, previews of upcoming albums, videos, "happenings" (live events), and redirects of note -- generally updated a couple times a week or more]
LTFR 025: JARED FAIRFIELD - MYSTERIES CS [c29; ed. 75]
look for a digital c45 mixtape of tracks from these albums along with tracks from other upcoming releases by PLANETS AROUND THE SUN, CURSILLISTAS, LIGHTNING STRIKE LIGHTNING, BAD BUS, and field recordings captured in and around the 33rd Congressional Offices thruout 2010.
