mortuus auris & the black hand / emuul — omicida della regina / songs for a solo piano - stunned records - cass - 7$ sold out
Two deep-earth journeyers knock heads on this mega-split and out spills an hour and twenty of the good shit. SIDE A: Mortuus Auris & the Black Hand rev things into motion, and by motion we meant of the perpetual, unrelenting sort. We can think of very few projects like this that are able to so effortlessly corral together such widely variant bits upon bits of trans-terrestrial energy. Never is the ear overwhelmed, but from behind the psychic veil march out characters strange and rarely glimpsed with an eerily patient formality. ‘Omicida Della Regina’ reaches zenith after carefully examining each of these composite forms in turn. Their sounds are unrecognizably alien, yet somehow exclusive to our human experience on Earth. Is the Other they hint at to be embraced or repelled? Can’t decide? Hit rewind and buy a little more time. SIDE B: The white & black key strikes of a Fender Rhodes blur into grey-speckled piano comas here on Kyle Iman’s second release under the Emuul tag. When Kyle first told us he was developing ‘Songs for a Solo Piano’, our ears already began to tingle and it was still weeks before the master was to arrive. At this point it might as well be admitted publically Stunned’s absolute fetish for anything piano. Whether Emuul knew this or not, he still delivered a final forty-minute side that exceeded any fetishistic expectations. Maybe we weren’t prepared for its spaciousness, its bejeweled drift that articulates so much while speaking so little. Keyed contemplations like these allow the listener to plough their own mindfield beside the composition’s skilled soliloquy. For this reason and more we eagerly welcome Seattle’s Emuul aboard. This split c80 is a limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted tapes with collaged double-sided jcard and cardstock insert.
-stunned
donato epiro - sounding the sun - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Over the course of ‘Sounding the Sun’, Italian psych magician Donato Epiro aims his wand in all directions of the acoustical field, doing his best chameleon’s dance with drums, flute, chanting, and strings. An impressive dynamism is in play when Donato takes his bonfire percussion & fluttering raga loops, then swiftly braids them down to stilled passages of minimalist vibration. It’s a blissful abduction of the ear’s attention/perception, harnessed to a pervasive feeling of time running backwards as the album spins forward. A beautiful and unpredictable escape to some far off sunny fields of a magical land long, long ago. Limited edition of 100 hand stamped cdrs with double-sided insert card & color cover in vinyl jacket.
-stunned
tricorn and que - ashes wander - stunned records - cass - 6$
Jeff Astin. Kane Pour. Tricorn and Queue. Dawn of time. An eye, singular and illuminated from without. A twitch, a blink. Two eyes appear. Gaze frozen open, beholding. End of time. ‘Ashes Wander’. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
antique brother and the family band - digger gold - stunned records - cass - 6$
A new hour-long Antique Brothers jam is enough to get excited about, but when sibling shredders Ged & Cy Gengras include The Family Band it’s a full-fledged Happening to be attended at all costs. Along with the Gengras bros. on ‘Digger Gold’, Caitlin C. Mitchell, Jake White, Jeremy Kelley, and Seth Kasselman of Warm Climate join together in cracking open the smelling salts for all seven of our chakras. It’s rare to find improvisers (family or not) willing to explore just about anywhere in soundspace together and still take their time to happily map each co-discovered step of the way. Getting out of hand and family reunions go quite hand-in-hand, so listen as these partiers’ charms and spells transform the occasion into group sonic alchemy. Noise melts into grooves like lead smelts into gold and we all go home richer, baby. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c63 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
hammer of hathor - false teef - stunned records - cass - 6$
Mark E. Kaylor & Heather Vergotis are active members of the burgeoning Portland free music community, having busted their chops around town for years prior to forming the multi-instrumental beast Hammer of Hathor. Some duos in PDX can pull off jazz or punk, and some can pull off scuzz or folk, but HOH venture to ask “why not take it all on?” Their ‘False Teef’ begins at any number of disparate points to launch into super inspired jam mode, as we can testify after 40 such minutes of feedback meditation, string twang trance, surging tape loop, smoked out riffs, and a pair of rattling false teeth perched upon the amplifier. It’s also immediately apparent these partners are synched for optimal 4D pattern-weaving and burnt basement reach-out to the tangential points between the weird and weirder energies. Breathe in a whole new scenery, take on a whole new time — a soundtrack is here to assist the switch. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
-stunned
rambutan / chapels - split - stunned records - cass - 6$
Kindred wielders of the guitar electric, Eric Hardiman of Rambutan and Adam Richards of Chapels are back for a second time this year on Stunned, and with good reason. Both consistently excavate load after load of deep-listening paydirt from their upstate NY studios. Rambutan initiates descent on this split by carving lush amp whispers before Holland Hopson stops by for a halftime banjo & electronics breather. Eric’s rich brand of reverberant mystery-making is resumed for the remainder of the spool, a perfect preparation for Chapels’ intriguing B-side string sculptures. Beautifully haunting, this triplet of pieces by Adam is some of his most incandescent yet, riddled with bits of black gem & bright crystal. Just another night’s work for each of these miners, their complimentary flavors of ore hoisted out of dreamtime’s cavern into the light of day. Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c59 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert.
-stunned
padna - siberia / hinterland - stunned records - cass - 6$
"Geiger counters, crystal radio sets, sonar consoles, and broken walkie talkies chatter their way through a binary snowdrift on the opening side of ‘Siberia/Hinterland’. Chilly, spooked, and Siberian for sure, but it could just as well be an eerie code transmitted from the dark side of Pluto. Who knows? Brooklyn’s Nat Hawks might begin to answer, as he is the purported brains behind this sprawling enigma. He’s also responsible for running the totally fresh label LittleFuryThings and performing in avant NY outfits like Christian Science Minotaur. Clearly, his solo Padna role is no stranger to wrangling strange cargo such as found at the front of this c56. Side B’s ‘Hinterland’ reciprocates these anti-drone motions with a brightened palate of its own. Seven protean orchestrations run a whole rainbow range of opaque tones. Both sides of Padna’s coin are landed on throughout the trip, flipping from dark atmospheres to warped merrymaking at a whim. Being introduced to these creations has definitely been one of the highlights of Stunned HQ’s listening year, and echoes of the Padna endeavor are bound to be near. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c56 tapes with insert card and double-sided color jcard." -stunned
-stunned
padna - metal hurlant / farmer's hearth - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Nat Hawks from Padna reports: “Last winter I went home with no music equipment and when I arrived was invited to play a show the next week. So I went into my closet at my folks' house and found all manner of old, broken sound toys. This is an elaborate recreation of the set I did for that show. Also, at the time, my father was getting heart surgery, which resulted in the conflicting emotions of holiday brightness (Metal Hurlant) and dark contemplations (Farmer's Hearth).” Limited edition of 111 stamped cdrs with color cover and double-sided insert in vinyl jacket.
-stunned
sun araw (feat. matthew lessner) - in orbit - stunned records - cass - 6$
Sun Araw’s Cameron Stallones & filmmaker Matthew Lessner are longtime Stunned brothers that go back with us before the music, the tours, the films, the label, you name it. As tireless globetrotters, both have spent the last year beaming their respective good messages far and wide to the delight of audio aficionados & visual art subversives alike. Marking a Second phase in all our geosynchronous friendships, ‘In Orbit’ finds these dudes collaborating on ascendant planes of high mind where outer Los Angeles and Inner Space bisect. Deep dubby howlin, Farfisa organ hang-gliding, gooey tempos, and trademark shimmering ‘Araw-guitar licks are the hybridized fruits harvested here. Along with your candy, flip this tape as needed. Happy to say, there’s no limit to the number of orbits it can (and will) make through your stereo and ours. Special edition of 222 pro-dubbed & imprinted c30s with jcard design by Cameron.
-stunned
pimmon- steered in smash ascent - stunned records - cass - 6$
It is our great honor to work with a musician whose reputation stretches out far before him — Australia’s Paul Gough and his dazzling work as Pimmon, a name now over ten years in operation. It’s also a name that has been trusted to consistently trace an arc far outside of any conventional tastes & trends as they vacillate (and evaporate) over the years. Since early releases on seminal labels like Staalplaat, Freedom From, Tigerbeat6 and FatCat, Pimmon’s priority has been not only to push buttons, but to push precisely the right ones that activate zones of minimal & maximal electronic ecstasy. From cosmic backstrokes of bass tone to the atomic intensity of the high register, each level exemplifies a foundational gesture from the start. ‘Steered In Smash Ascent’ carries through this crackling range of delirium with the bold intent of an artist who is steering ship far beyond the imagination’s current capacity. Our hope is that Pimmon sails on like this yet another decade, returning with aural booty us landlubbers can only dream about. Hand-numbered limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c46 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
dreamcolour - innerworship - stunned records - cass - 8$
If there is one group that has emerged from 2009 which best embodies the Future, in our mind it would be California’s Dreamcolour. We were hooked ever since first checking their righteous live actions, their early cdr & taped treats, and their uncontainable offerings of jazz and drone’s most mystical sides. ‘Inner Worship’ finds this intrepid tribe bloomed out to a 9-piece at times, shooting for nothing less than Sacredelica in the raw. Yes, an entirely new genre seems ripe for carving here after one gets wet with this hour long wave. Dreamcolour operates with such an impressively cohesive front that they take the meaning of “unity through sound” to the next fractal notch. The sweaty saxophone bop, orbital viola lines, and holy hollers of Side A impressively distill to a pinpoint of mass mind mantra on Side B. Like hearing all individual parts of an explosion reach their expressive boundaries and then implode into a singular, refined meditation. When these sun-risen modes of the Inner are visited here (and that’s quite often) don’t be surprised if you find yourself grabbing the nearest instrument at hand, becoming a temporary 10th member of Dreamcolour, and worshiping right along. Limited special edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c60 tapes with double-sided color art in vinyl album.
-stunned
super minerals - clusters - stunned records - cass - 6$
Finally breaching the surface of the sea after a 3-year deep dive, Super Minerals now gulp in lungfuls of oxygen only to notice its quality has changed quite a bit in the time they’ve been submerged. Fins and gills are sloughed — wings are needed now. Perched high on coastal cliffs in the fog of a polygon sunrise, ‘Clusters’ celebrates with upright piano & bells that spirit which commingles prepared herbs with the purity of raw Pacific light. For fans of Charlemagne Palestine, early Keith Jarrett, Vangelis dipped in vaseline, or John Tesh in flames. Hand numbered edition of 111 pro-dubbed & gold ink imprinted c47 tapes w/ double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of AIR.
-stunned
m. geddes gengras -smoke blower - stunned records - cass - 6$
SIDE A: The come-up. A flick too many of the bic lighter perhaps, and then it’s a red-eyed night prowling the east side of town in pursuit of a burrito and more ganja. Or maybe a ganja-burrito? Someone should invent that so we could eat it. Rounding the corner now and –oh crap– it’s the cops. Sirens, dogs barking, the choppers start following, dropped the burrito back there somewhere (yet to score any ganj…). And suddenly a snap-to after 22 minutes of this modular synth-sourced hallucination, and the realization that we’ve been listening to ‘Smoke Blower’ by M. Geddes Gengras. Yes, L.A.’s own Renaissance Man: part Antique Brothers guitar wiz, part Green Machines uberstudio founder, part drummer for the mighty Robedoor, etc. Ged’s rap sheet goes on and on. It’s starting to make sense now. Or is it? SIDE B: re-ignite. You thought shit was crazy back there? Goodness gracious, son. Until we’ve actually stood under a dozen hydrogen blimps erupting in unified concert, this is the closest document on our hands approaching such levels of up-your-guts bass frequency experience. Fried, fried, fried. A psychic plunge upward, only to watch as a scythe the size of Florida rakes down the redwood forests. Tree trunks and rattlesnake ribcages all eventually clipped and neatly bundled with patch cord, piled miles upon miles high... 'ew' & 'whew'. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c44 tapes in clear shells with green foil liner w/ double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
magnetic north duo - midnight safari blues - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Sindre Bjerga and Nils Rostad hunt down roomfuls of skittish warbles & waves over 3 separate live performances collected here for their sophomore offering ‘Midnight Safari Blues.’ Having debuted together as a duo earlier this year on Tape Drift with the excellent ‘Static Fields Forever’, the two indicated a shift in Norway’s free-noise priorities. This is resonance that wants to be held and sculpted like soft clay. One might suggest Bjerga’s minimalist electronic peppering and Rostad’s dream-drunk guitar act like handfuls of yeast thrown into the otherwise limp loaf of roomtone that’s encountered by every performer upon first stepping into their show space. Every contrasting string pluck and layered sinusoid create a little air pocket allowing the listener to breathe moment-to-moment, unsure of when the next alignment will arrive. This welcomes in an ever-evolving interplay of active & passive improv structures, and a reflection of an audile world which folds organically into night’s magnetic center. Hand numbered edition of 100 stamped cdrs with full color sleeve & double sided insert card in vinyl jacket.
-stunned
analog concept - listen already today to the music of the past! - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Don’t just stand there waiting for those 90s electro compilations in your old CD wallet to become cool again. You got to dust them off and pump them once more as if they were the freshest shit around. It’s in this way, as our Russian friend Alexey’s Analog Concept seems to suggest, that you can get ahead of the ‘revival of the fittest’ curve in modern music. So we’re taking his advice and just listening already, by the minute becoming happier at accepting this prompt. Where Analog Concept’s sound steps into the category of ‘the fittest’ has much to do with his deft detroit techno licks grinding their lil’ hips against the pillars of great, late-period Zoviet France and Tangerine Dream. Caffeine-infected beats gurgle to the fore of an hour-long continuous current bearing a strong scent of vintage synthesizer candies. We’re transported to the nightclub of dreams, but not necessarily to its dance floor. It’s more like leaning over in the corner –loaded– pumping drowsy fists to a schizoid groove which forms the bridge back to 1989 or forward to 2089: your call. Limited edition of 100 painted cdrs with double-sided insert and cardstock cover housed in vinyl jacket.
-stunned
pummeler / derek rogers — juggernaut / simmer - stunned records - cass - 7$
SIDE A: Denmark’s Pummeler wants nothing more than to tug at your arm like Virgil and then drop down together into an underworld of intrigue lit by rows of meter-tall candles. His ‘Juggernaut’ is a relic remaining from some ancient struggle between maddened monks and shadowy succubae for turf within an alternative purgatory. Here, lava-thick vocals of abandon fume in spires toward an unresponsive midnight. Navigation through the columns of rotted wire & dank-as-hell electronic mantra of Pummeler may be tricky at times, but between us and Dante, we have some good guides on both sides of the historical divide. Look for Pummeler on tour through the UK this September with Shiggajon & Claus Haxholm! SIDE B: I first met Derek Rogers while on tour through Austin with Magic Lantern in March. We found ourselves mutually stoked to be in a city that rightly prides itself as a mecca of southwest american weirdness, and the demo he passed on seems like the perfect reflection of that time & place. Rogers’ noise/synth jamz can either be scorching as a Texas brushfire, or glimmering in crystal refracted oasis-stasis. Either way, the casios are coolly bent, the tape loops are locked, and things go straight into gummy unreality in the plastic-melting mirage of ‘Simmer’. Look for Derek on tour in California this August playing with Al Qaeda & Mike Watt! This split c60 is a limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted tapes with collaged double-sided jcard and cardstock insert.
-stunned
sagas — root structures & private dementias - stunned records - cass - 7$
With a discography that spans nearly a decade of collaborative and solo journeying, Matt McDowell has put in his time on the road for sure. This newest project of Matt’s splits its recorded time between US poles of Portland & Pittsburgh, providing the flavor of a genuine american saga. Beyond being simply a collection of songs, ‘Root Structures & Private Dementias’ is a wonderfully complex and multi-tiered travel experience. With taught melodies that fork off distinctly from the point where Ennio Morricone and Michael Flower meet on the path, Sagas always seems to be pushing the capacity of his six-string guitar ever higher. Pervasive in the background throughout this release are sounds harkening escape to distant lands and the motion required to get there. Train wheel creaks, auto revs, airplane cabin hum, steamstacks, blimp buzz — all these merge nearly subliminally with the technical finesse of one ripping jam after another. How many times can one man make us go “woah”? All aboard, this ride’s limit is beyond the sky. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c58 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
torture corpse — particular sufferings - stunned records - cass - 7$
It’s close to a few minutes before the end of Side A that you might sense it. A true sonic confrontation with the Big One. That’s right — death. The ol’ grim reaper, grasping his sharpened scythe. Dust to dust, worm’s food. Mortified matter oozing from the stereo speakers. And so, our first confrontation with Torture Corpse’s debut release ‘Particular Sufferings’ was a heavy, heavy affair indeed. We felt beauty and awe, we felt dread, we laughed, we damn nearly cried. In addition to such visceral gut reactions, we became increasingly convinced that very few musicians maintain such master-level control as TC’s Robert Kroos displays over these weighty 46 minutes. This is deep bardo death bliss from Holland hung on a thematic scaffolding of the Buddhist hell realms and their respective inhabitants. Torture Corpse could have merely crafted a depressing literal interpretation of these dim zones even the grimmest of us rarely glimpse at. But instead he infuses these prickly places with an insightful, affirming poise. It’s a bold testament to fearless artistry which wields the flame of creative consciousness through both blistering noise blackness & ambient White Light floating. Funny all this talk of the dead, then, for something so thrilling and ultimately lifelike at the end of the day. Limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed and imprinted c46 tapes with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
black eagle child — seeds that sprout in summer - stunned records - cass - 6$
This follow-up full length to editions on such labels as Blackest Rainbow and Housecraft finds Black Eagle Child rowing his boat ashore and sparking the campfire wide and bright. Let’s stretch out our legs, because we have a nearly hour long psychfolk excursion of delight on our hands here. Once BEC’s Michael Jantz starts dronin’ and fingerpicking his acoustic around the flames, things chill way out and the ears get a good cleanse. Just crack a brew and mind you don’t get sick on the s’mores. This release happily marks Black Eagle Child having created a child of his own. Along with Mike & Celeste, we welcome Mary Jantz into the world, the newest and most special sprout of summer. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c50 yellow tapes with matching jcard.
-stunned
nodolby - stunned records - cass - 6$
Nodolby is one of the few acts of recent times that can still give us a remarkable thrill, harkening back to days earlier in this decade when ‘noise’ meant the gloves coming off and all you could do was brace yourself for the impending shockwaves. Dokuro Records boss Mic Scariot has been refining his Nodolby circuits to the side of his long-running group Ent, and lately this solo show seems to be surging ahead with an unexpected bumper harvest of psychoactive sizzlers. The untitled c32 proudly presented here has been marinated in acid rain and tastes nasty when it wants to be. But at moments it pauses its wild sensory-max'd climbing entirely to siphon streams of irradiated drone glory into our midst. Of all Nodolby’s output we’ve heard, this cassette shows a particular devotion to the neon awe that accompanies a mind existing fully outside of time, surging where it wills at the speed of sound. A thrill indeed. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c32 tapes in light blue shells w/ double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
thouroof - throught the book of lambspring - stunned records - 3" cdr - 5$
From vial to vial pass the sonic fluids necessary to produce throuRoof’s second chapter here in his Sacred Art of Alchemy series, which began with 2008’s much-discussed ‘Emerald Tablet of Hermes’ on Housecraft, and is set to conclude in its third & final part later this year on Thors’ Rubber Hammer. Like an ancient alchemist, throuRoof’s Antonio Gallucci synthesizes mantric sound effects with metaphysical drones, marking combinations once thought impossible. As second parts go, ‘Throught the Book of Lambspring’ is where the action settles in enough for the series’ bigger themes to emerge. Mysterious consequences take hold with this brazen elixir-brewing; before one knows it, all is a stew of indiscernible tones, guitar plucks, and haunted hums. As the piece closes on high notes of a bloomed confusion, we’re left hanging but not dissatisfied – the storyteller having led us to a most strange crest of the narrative. Limited edition of 80 hand numbered & painted 3” cdrs in case w/ double-sided color insert card.
-stunned
chapels -last night of the earth - stunned records - cass - 6$
House of Alchemy label head Adam Richards continues his ‘09 resurgence with this solo project which latched to our ears a few months back and didn’t let go. Chapels is the name of Adam’s game, and if that sounds harmless enough, let’s just reserve our thoughts until his full tidal force of moan-riddled gearing and howling industrial waves crash over us. ‘Last Night of the Earth’ comes as a refreshing blast to the mind’s rafters, departing from so many other experimental acts in its choice use of otherworldly hiss & masterful analog groans. Each tape side features two central squalls separated by sprawling transitions of environment that evoke the alternating cycles of violence & stability in gaia’s seasons. Every pass over Adam’s flickering work reveals new jewels that appear icy hard on the surface, but cracked open they spill a multihued yolk over the final night’s canvas. Numbered edition of 100 painted & pro-dubbed c30 tapes in clear shells w/ red foil liner & double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of EARTH.
-stunned
a.m. shiner - good cop - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Andrew Michael Shithead heaves bad-mannered molotovs of juvenile delinquency & stolen wattage back into the city grid, intent on waking at least one other dreamer for the fight. A post-urban portrait painted in hot shades of shrapnel and puke that is not fit for those with heart conditions, children under 13, or reptilian politicians (and their good cops). Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of FIRE.
-stunned
dead black arms - lake reflection catalyst - stunned records - cass - 6$
The last time Copenhagen’s Claus Haxholm dropped a Stunned release under his Doom Riot moniker, it caught the ear of many seeking drones of timeless celestial import. Including Julian Cope, who recently called it “guaranteed guestlist entry into the Underworld… a righteous and coherent statement of intent that should have y’all returning again and again.” So we asked Claus back, and this time he returns in Dead Black Arms garb to resume the Danish bleak-streak. ‘Lake Reflection Catalyst’ lasts half as long as the last go-around so it makes sure to burn twice as hot over dual/dueling 20+ minute sides. Listening closely, one becomes privy to a dawning horror wrought high above mirrored waters — a startling, unprepared realization and the ensuing paradox. The scene holds especial tension given Dead Black Arms’ relentlessly minimal approach to guitar and percussion drone. Often stripping back all semblance of tone in order to chase down forces of sheer electricity, Haxholm’s obsessive pursuit bares his instrument’s power to sculpt stark new forms. Yet somehow an array of subtlety is preserved in the crush of naked timbre, affirming that details are never overlooked by Denmark’s dark son. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted & pro-dubbed c46 tapes in clear shells w/ blue foil liner & double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of WATER.
-stunned
yuko x chino - sovereign plumed serpent - stunned records - cdr - 7$
Yuko x Chino is the blazing new-ish solo vehicle for Sasqrotch member Danny No/Fi. In similar fashion to his LA-based homeys, he sticks to everything that is lean & mean about metal and drone. Danny’s guitar work conjures a blizzard of white ash within our cochlea, unleashing sickly stretches of a crafted confusion that seems bound to etch a new sense into the collective mind. The concluding slice here is a live radio performance on KCSB Santa Barbara, where YxC is introduced as special guest Bright Eyes. He then proceeds to decimate with upper-register wail while Chad from The Offices of Moore & Moore drops in on guitar. Woah is right… consider the airwaves taken back! Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of EARTH.
-stunned
sparkling wide pressure - seven inside and out - stunned records - cass - 6$
Frank Baugh has a real ability to conjure super lucid memories from the furthest crags of our cranium whenever his Sparkling Wide Pressure begins emitting its visionary environs. Of the many corners he turns in his half hour visitation between chilly realities & possible alternate dream spaces, we’re guaranteed to always be adrift in the soothing detritus of a quickly fading analog past. With ‘Seven Inside and Out’ Frank asks, are these warm dream worlds we imagine sad hoaxes or attainable endeavors for the future? Half-soldered circuitry tends to be the slit in the fence Frank takes advantage of here by deftly slipping through nostalgic loops & blurred drones. Given its relatively brief runtime, this cassette displays a vast scale of vision skilled in its admixture of loner synth dirges, hope-thirsty distant wails, and anti-gravitational guitar cycles. The combinations here pair perfectly with the thoughts of dawn & vibrations of dusk. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in mustard shells and double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
a.m. shiner — bananarchy - stunned records - cass - 7$
Sulfuric post-music debut by the young & troubled Andrew Michael Shiner, whose sonic vernacular on this special edition long playing cassette never strays far from snotty concrete chomping noise. Side A is seven widely varied attempts at funneling assaultive energy thru a black hole in the hopes of its emergence as a pure & beautiful force of healing through the white hole on the other side. Just barely making it there and catching glimpses of the toxic information field being refined in the analog shitstorm is enough to let this single side roll out the length of a full album. Side B matches the first fifty minutes with two more minimally-oriented pieces that include Andrew’s first ever “metahistoric live performance” (were you there? probably!). All is finally capped by a half hour time-freezing monolith wash guaranteed to mellow any harsh incurred by contact with the bananarchic agenda. Also look out for new chapters of the A.M.S. crisis to unfold soon on Housecraft and Sound Holes. Hand numbered edition of 80 pro-dubbed black & white c100 tapes in vinyl album with cover collage compiled from a year’s worth of strung out doodles from A.M. Shiner’s old bummer-job phone log.
-stunned
v
masons / molten honey — in the basement of the temple / molten honey - stunned records - cass - 6$
during the winter of 2005, ny filmmaker matthew lessner (darling darling; by modern measure; the woods) and his then 14-year old sister sophie fortuitously gained late-nite access to the basement of their hometown's masonic temple. creeping under dark cloaks and employing the sense of sibling telepathy, the two managed to set up their gear and capture the session of what is now their delirious 2008 debut tape side in the basement of the temple. we've enjoyed playing this demo the last few years for any stunned houseguest wanting the ultimate nutso explosion of graveyard confetti punk. we also can't think of a better bush-era sayonara statement, hence the three year wait on properly unleashing this fifteen-minute flash. totally freaked out, all manner of esoteric energies pent up behind the boiler room doors of the lodge are channeled furiously thru the duo – sophie's lacerating clarinet feedback & guitar punctuations bleat in perfect pulse to matthew's neon war cries and punished drum kit. one would think flipping this tape over might provide some relief from the a-side's secret society onslaught. but that's exactly where john frank's molten honey awaits in a den of sound dementia, hammering his former psych'd folk styles into even more obtuse angles of guitar rattle, contact mic probe & synth key slap. this self titled b-side provides eight vastly different post-2012 snapshots that wiggle their mercurial imagery under our mesmerized gaze. hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed c30 tapes in imprinted hot orange shells & fold-out color j-card.
-stunned
brave priest - precious summers - stunned records - cass - 6$
these portland bud-n-beard powered bros absolutely shred their way through the most killer motor-psych sessions of the year! the night we first heard brave priest's "no blood" single which kicks off this tape was admittedly some sort of epiphany, and got our total attention for sure. dudes-in-mention matt mcdowell, dan barone, and brain thackeray (all formerly of the excellent dark yoga) perfectly nail us with serotonin rushed northwest grunge-fried vibes that remind everyone to just relax & rock. the troupe rips through a trio of gnarly jams on side a, ranging from drowsy garage-prog slowburnin' to quaking metal spinouts. side b is a single 12-minute epic that twists and arcs toward a pinnacle of hot psych purity. hit play and pump yer fists to the dawn of a new day. hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed c30 tapes in logo-imprinted yellow shells with 3rd eye cover art by cameron stallones.
-stunned
smgsap- chrysalis cycles - stunned records - cdr - 7$
"shea M. gauer and scott A. peterson are smgsap, and Chrysalis Cycles is their third full length release in nine years as a group. The layered soundscapes here testify to a pair of improvisational artists with ears for excruciating detail – meticulous gatekeepers on the threshold of analog/digital transfer banks. Moans of plate tectonic energies lay a groundwork for the duo to unleash a wide variety of insectile oscillations and zaps of errant particle collisions. By the conclusion of the four cryptic cycles, it’s hard not to be convinced that somewhere, maybe right under your nose, a creature has undergone a magical, chemical reconfiguration. Ltd. 69 handnumbered cdrs in heavy cottonpaper pouches with fold-out color insert."
-stunned records
- past -
the doglands - the doglands - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
At last, the promised re-issue of John Frank's former folk handle The Doglands, and one of the few releases from the last couple years that really inspired us to get Stunned Records up and running. Wide-eyed & weird tin can psych from the lo-fi backhills of the hi-fi mind who brings us Oregon's Molten Honey. Any vocals here are peaced-out Huxlian assurances of glistening outer and inner worlds, every rusty guitar strum a testament to the irrelevance of government and impotence of academia in the face of such nature and the cosmos. For those who travel the high trails close to the sun. Ltd. 40 hand numbered copies in heavy green Tibetan rice paper sleeves.
-stunned
sleepwalkers local - better living through science - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
Better Living Through Science is the third Sleepwalkers Local solo outing of (VxPxC)/Thousands jammer, Echo Curio curator, and Phantom Limb label blazer Grant Capes. Wielding guitar as primary source of slo mo explosion-making along with a versed range of effects, drums & voice, Grant ushers in deep deserts of spaced rock before floating us into open skies of introspective instrumentals, and then back around again for a mini-opus or two. Like waking from a beautiful dream and going about your day, only to wake again for real, but this time down the block in your pajamas... help is here. Ltd. 80 hand numbered cdrs in polyvinyl case with color art.
-stunned
super minerals - the pelagics - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
A new age slowburner that leads the listener on drone-descent through the five classified depth zones of the ocean – the pelagics. The deeper the Super Minerals duo dive, the stranger their field transmissions and creature encounters become. Whale moan symphonies, sonar decay, poisonous urchin, squid in telepathic sex-trance, underwater lava, and the bones of our ancestors who fought for their land over the face of the sea. Among Minerals’ most expansive sessions yet, and the third official chapter in their devolutionary cycle following sold out tapes on NNF & DNT. Ltd. 50 hand numbered cdrs in polyvinyl sleeve with color insert.
-stunned
sean mccann - sway - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
"Sean McCann doesn’t seem content standing still in the same place for too long. His thankfully consistent tape & cdr reports beam in evidence that for this recent San Francisco transplant, a solo jam is the romper room in which to include all sounds and exclude all rules. Sway presents a distinct turn in Sean’s focuses and obsessions of the moment. Tender guitar & synth interplay gives way to epic washes of white and bliss, then rounds the bend to bonked floor-stomp raga, inevitably to run the cycle again in lost languages of electricity. Totally essential McCann. Ltd. 80 handnumbered cdrs in polyvinyl sleeve with some of our favorite Ted Trager art design yet."
-stunned records
ajilvsga - crossed bones - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
The hot dust of a thousand atomized strip malls whips into the eyes and ears of all who pass the way of Crossed Bones. Our seasoned guides Brad Rose and Nathan Young clutch their headscarves tighter and drive their guitars even deeper into the blistering earth, if only to anchor themselves momentarily in the bent circuit tempest. Forty minutes featuring twin cabinet-shakers that had us promising the neighbors we weren't testing a new form of sonic weaponry after spinning the demo. Of all Ajilvsga's past and present explorations into heavy mental music, none have grabbed us so quite in the gutz. Serious low end woofer junkies encouraged to be among the first to check this one as the jam to mix with the sweat of a new summer. Ltd. 100 handnumbered cdrs in thick polyvinyl case with spooked art by Ted Trager.
-stunned
the north sea - submarine museum - stunned records - cass - 7$ sold out
"For lack of a better word: woah. Brad Rose is back at the helm of his ever-welcome, shapeshifting solo guise The North Sea. Submarine Museum is a continuous 33 minute cassette side depicting a sonic mandala riddled with points of desperate beauty and feedbacked death throe. The first two-thirds of the guitar based piece flows from humble pulses into a squall of the vertical blood-quickening sort. But that’s precisely where the atmosphere’s glowing membrane is pierced, letting through a sharp bodhi light of release and penultimate peace for the final third of the journey. Catch breath. Repeat. Limited to 80 pro-dubbed cassettes with color inserts housed in hand-crocheted cases by Myste French."
-stunned records
metal rouge - salt stones - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out
It has been a longtime desire of ours to work with Andrew Scott & Helga Fassonaki of Metal Rouge, before Stunned was even a twinkle in our eye in fact. If there’s one thing we’re convinced of, it’s that these two are some of the most raw and intrepid aural magicians out there. And ‘Salt Stones’ is everything we could have hoped from them after years now of shaking in our shoes whenever they plug in around town for another anthem unto the heavier of heavenly bodies. Keeping in step with their no-bullshit, stripped-back live actions, here we encounter a merging of energies old and new as Andrew & Helga boost off from 90s NZ free noise styles, lending honorable nods to earth-quakers A Handful of Dust, Gate, and Dead C. But ample room is left for Metal Rouge’s own signature ear-splitting/life-affirming gamma rays. We’ve no choice but to rise higher than ever into the ultraviolet spectrum as Metal Rouge continue their liberated refinement, casting chunks of 6-string trance, extreme jazz vocals and black metal into the blistering, beautiful gas inferno of ‘Salt Stones’. Limited to 90 black cdrs in sari cloth lined vinyl case with transparent insert and flower.
-stunned
the pistil cosmos — smoking clouds in the land of fire - stunned records - cdr - 7$sold out
The French psychedelic underground’s recent sweep of cdr & tape gems owes much to Monks of the Balhill member and “V” galactic guide Vincent Caylet. Lately, his parallel solo project The Pistil Cosmos has been fleshing out a rather grittier and at times noisier underbelly to his other works’ more peaceful star-eyed realms. 'Smoking Clouds In the Land of Fire' steps into 2009 as the salvo that says the scene in France is maintaining some serious chops. Album opener “The Dreamt Language” taps into echoing caverns of shrouded gallic ancestors, their chants hushed under a menacing moon. Twin opus “There’s No Ghost Here” features over twenty minutes of cascading overtones & startling infrasound resonating like a pulsar, dissolving the parameters of modern drone in a rainbow blur. Deep in scope, wide as our minds can go, be sure to tune in to this particular cosmos. Hand numbered edition of 90 white cdrs in vinyl case with insert card and full color art
-stunned
tricorn & queue - continual passage - stunned records - cass - 6$ sold out
tricorn & queue have captured the hearts & minds of many of us this year with their previous two ultra hypnotic tapes on digitalis and housecraft. well, the headbands are wrapped, the hidden entrance has been found, and now housecraft's own jeff astin and kane pour step again into the thick of a cosmic ritual passageway on this latest quest for the ultimate philosopher's tone. launching out from the remnants of magnetic decay that closed the last release, here t&q cast similar cycles of satellite purr and crackling naturescapes that unfold like nocturnal blooms. the humid loops gradually increase in secretive tensions that linger long after the final decibels fold back around to the first step of the journey. stay on the good path with one of our favorite sound & craft outfits around. hand numbered edition of 120 pro-dubbed c40 tapes in blue shells with gold ink imprinting and color j-card.
-stunned
albero rovesciato - ancient shining drums of the covered city - stunned records - cass - 6$ sold out
Albero Rovesciato’s members Francesco Cavaliere & Marco Lampis are native to the mystic isles off Italy but now they roam Berlin, presumably because they have smashed all the percussion instruments in their homeland. All we know is we’re glad we located them with some remaining objects and intact drums, because few troupes can make us simultaneously smile with delight and scamper for cover when they rev up like this. Cavaliere & Lampis emerge from the badass Italian sound collective Phonorama, so we know they mean business once they open their trick bags and begin spilling out wares of leftfield musique concrete & cybertimes junkyard gamelan. Before-and-after shots of their performance spaces provide evidence that a typical Albero live action reduces much of their tools to splinters & powder. This isn’t to imply that things are sloppy, however. Not for a second. Crystal recording fidelity on ‘Ancient Shining Drums’ benefits the wheezing-blurting-whacking fits of OCD voodoo, ensuring that we have never heard chaos sound so lean & tangible before. Marco puts it best when mentioning he & Francesco’s desire “to escape from pedals and digital effects, to approach and find material contact with the instruments, to arrive at PYRAMID LEVEL.” Hand numbered edition of 100 pro dubbed & imprinted c30 tapes in blood red shells, insert card, and double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
kabyzdoh obtruhamchi - stunned records - cass - 6$ sold out
Yes we’re going to have to learn how to pronounce yet another tricky project name, but in this case it’ll be highly worthwhile, as soon many will be talking about Kabyzdoh Obtruhamchi. Sergey Kozlov is Russia’s newest exporter of excellent jams, and his solo c50 arrives as a thankful surprise with its sky-rending hybridization of eastern european guitar spree & 70s snowdazed modal folkrock. Resonant drums burst through the giant aluminum churn of guitar, voice, and percussion arcing overhead. Dancing between poles of hot motion & cool mass, Sergey’s impressively energetic numbers establish themselves long enough to each become deeply meaningful, essential scenes in his pan shamanic expression. Big countries produce big stories, and we’re glad to roll out the first of more hours to follow from Bryansk’s psych music representative. Hand numbered edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted c50 tapes in clear shells w/ gold foil liner & double sided color jcard.
-stunned
xiphiidae - transresonance formation - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
Xiphiidae is often praised around here not only for capturing us with the glowing biomechanics of his transmissions from the slippery edges of the noosphere, but also for the fact that these reports form a metasignal of nuance that few other discographies care to sustain. The Xiphiidae-antennae become conduits of deeply alien & angelic sounds, among the earliest preceptors to arrive in environments that far surpass anything resembling consensus reality. In these places, a new Resonance might be detected, sending signals through nature & patiently waiting to be heard over the entropy of the eons. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of WATER.
-stunned
warm climate - edible homes - stunned records - cass - 6$ sold out
With an unmatchable tenacity that depends on little much else than a power source, guitar and clarinet, Seth Kasselman has spent over a decade making some of the more truly idiosyncratic music we’ve had the pleasure of being hit with. The mere range of styles his Warm Climate project has taken on would be enough to daunt any four-piece band of fulltime songwriters. But ‘Edible Homes’ is proof that it only takes one Seth to take the piss out of a dozen genres at a swipe on these two 20-minute rollercoaster tape sides. It’s nearly impossible to describe just where exactly this ride takes the listener except that it’s a rich amalgamation of rock, classic pop, free jazz, dance, drone, tribal noise, broken toys, and psych riffing that testifies to Warm Climate’s versed knowledge of sound in its myriad of cultural forms. Like twisting the dial through the whole range of A.M./F.M. channels, not because any are tiresome, but because each one is enrapturing. All we can do is let the accumulation scoop us toward a nexus that wipes the cultural palate clean, and indispensably so. Hand numbered edition of 120 pro-dubbed & imprinted c42 tapes in lime shells w/ extended length double-sided color jcard; designed in energy of FIRE.
-stunned
kabyzdoh obtruhamchi - estcho - stunned records - 2xcdr - 8$ sold out
When Kabyzdoh Obtruhamchi’s self-titled c50 debuted late last year (Stunned no. 18), it sent a jolt through those of us who might have been unaware Russia had such a tempest brewing in its belly. Like some hyper-elastic one man jam-band oblivious to anything but perpetual motion, his sound simply shredded. And now after mere months, Sergey Kozlov is back to kick our butts permanently into the future. The trouble is doubled and so are the discs on this one-two ‘K.O.’ punch. As this is some of the most untethered sound being spun on either of the globe’s hemispheres right now, it goes without saying that ‘Estcho’ is a soundtrack of the yet-to-be. Like dropping by the year 4000 when a race of tattooed cyborgs throb in dionysian telepathy under guitar-guided biochemical tent party beats. Raveup til’ sundown and back again. Who knows where this celebration/liberation will take us? Hand numbered edition of 100 painted x2 cdr sets in oversized case w/ full color art.
-stunned
fabric / sparkling wide pressure — late clothes / blue doorways - stunned records - cass - 7$ sold out
SIDE A: An ear tuned toward the miniature sounds that form the larger patchwork of heard Existence. A summoning of the shadows that hang everywhere, yet are never noticed. Hard describing what is ultimately an indescribable and most welcome collection of enviro-tactile play here by Cleveland’s best kept secret. Matthew Mullane is the polymathic alter ego behind Fabric, who delivers ‘Late Clothes’ as an integral part of a broader stroke in the approach to his craft. This includes museum curation & advocacy, live performance, academic writing and publishing poetry. This side also arrives after 4 years of field recording and six-string development, working from a spectrum of sound sources that stake out common ground in REM sleep-syntax. Carefully experiencing each successive piece on ‘Late Clothes’ reveals the simultaneous presence of distant memories and intimate sounds, co-operating toward truly hypnagogic ends. SIDE B: ‘Blue Doorways’ feels like a new escalator on the cosmic scene – always in gliding ascent, paced for those who like the ride up stoney, but not stoned. Hazed, but not crazy. Just lifting through the smog of civilization’s concerns, then past the satellite litter ring around our globe, through a swiss cheese ozone, and finally into deep space. Tilt on back. Sparkling Wide Pressure has done this before (see: Stunned no. 20). He will continue to do it again. Much like Fabric who shares this cassette, SWP’s Frank Baugh has his finger in a number of pies juicy-n-large. He’s an art educator, Kimberly Dawn label leader, accomplished painter, and all-around contact man for any badass haps in Tennessee. Yes, this was a set-up. ‘Blue Doorways’, along with ‘Late Clothes’, is the yin-yang pill we’ve been dying to pop all summer. This split c62 is a limited edition of 100 pro-dubbed & imprinted tapes with collaged double-sided jcard and cardstock insert.
-stunned
enfer boreal -the birth of venus - stunned records - cdr - 7$ sold out
Whether it was in reference to the second planet from the sun or the roman god of love, this particular birth demanded frenchman Enfer Boreal to craft some of his most cosmically creamy zoners in honor. Eschewing his previous releases’ pressure-packed drones, ‘The Birth of Venus’ keeps the fuzz warm-n-light so that blissed organ & guitar lines are buoyed into the mix like silvery stratospheric beings, instruments of novel expression played by no one. Yet Enfer Boreal manages to uncover challenging peaks in the arc of his masterfully-controlled soundtrack, ensuring repeated visits to this realm of vapor. Hand numbered edition of 100 painted cdrs in color slipsleeve w/ transparent overlay in vinyl jacket; designed in energy of AIR.
-stunned
sean mccann - frame of mind - stunned records - cass - 6$ sold out
Sean McCann hardly needs introduction around here after having delivered his breathtaking album ‘Sway’ on Stunned in summer ‘08. One might initially assume ‘Frame of Mind’ to be a simple continuation of last year’s highwater mark. But mere seconds into this c38, we’re affirmed that these freshest of Sean’s crops are in the grip of a holy orbit unconcerned with what has come before. This is his transition from occupying a seat in the symphony to tapping the conductor’s wand at the podium. Opening night’s hush and poise is palpable as the framework’s magnitude is unfurled against a hazed rainbow canopy. Then, the presentation of some massive whirling chrysanthemum emitting gold-flecked clouds of brass vibrato, chamber orchestra drone, bowed strings, and vast fields of guitar & synth sun worship. Every time Sean dips his ladle into the pool of higher soundstates we pay attention. On ‘Frame of Mind’ he seems to have dropped in the deepest bucket he could find. Let’s drink up. Hand numbered edition of 120 pro-dubbed & imprinted c38 tapes in melon shells with double-sided color jcard.
-stunned
glazed glitter - joy to be led - stunned records - 3" cdr - 6$ sold out
"We here at Stunned appreciate small doses which provide big effects. So when Texas drone dude Landon Odle sent us his Glazed Glitter debut 3”, we eagerly boarded this darkened dreamship. In short order, Landon explores a few ways to drop into a lush foetal tone float where pre-cognitive memories blend with more familiar sounds located on the other side of a shimmering aqueous barrier. Plenty of detail is heard, but little is identifiable other than what can be briefly impressed upon in the suspended fantasy goo of Joy To Be Led. Ltd. 50 handnumbered 3” cdrs in full-sized case with exquisite cover art by Maureen Gubia."
-stunned records