Black Elk: Sparks (CD)

Artists

Latest Vinyl

Alexandr Vatagin: ...

Just in time for valeot records 5th anniversary, co-founder and label head alexandr vatagin presents his third solo album “serza”. in combining the analogue and tender atmosphere of “valeot” (2006) with the harsh, yet subtle digital electronics of “shards” (2008), “serza” is attesting to a consequent and traceable development towards maturity in sound and structure. featuring a huge spectrum of common as well as unusual instruments, it takes you on a thirty minute trip full of delicate melodies, pushing drums, gentle noise, swirling celli, warm vibraphone chimes and sweet piano tunes. The album features friends from all over the world …
Mark Templeton: Je...

Mark Templeton presents Jealous Heart, an album which reimagines the story of his sound in an approach that is both staid and deeply emotional, re-orienting what is offered and what is held back through a myriad of smeared stringed instruments, fragmented horn phrases, tape loops, and found-sound-driven explorations. Templeton’s music is always difficult to truly classify, which is part of its charm. It is way too dense and detailed to qualify as ambient in a traditional sense – instead developing itself into a highly organized, spacious clutter. It is electro-acoustic music that hearkens to tape machines and misused instruments of …
Betacicadae: Mouna...

Clear vinyl in handmade printed sleeve and insert. Individually numbered edition of 100, each one-of-a-kind. Includes download code for bonus material. Painstakingly constructed by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Scott Davis during more than two years of spiritual struggle and rebirth, ‘betacicadae: mouna’ is a lush, transcendental narrative in sound. It is a cohesive whole that employs a broad spectrum of textures and extends far beyond formula like “drone” or “field recordings.” The sounds absorb, project, embrace, and comfort the listener in imaginary geography—surreal, dreamlike spaces beween earth and otherworldliness. ‘mouna’ is an intimate personal statement, but also a universal musical narrative of …
The Mistys: Stalki...

This little baby comes in a super limited 7″ pressing (200 copies) and we have a feeling they will not be around for long! Comes with a Japanese style ‘Wrap around’ cover and black/white photo booklets. Mistys are the first signing to The Boats new label Other Ideas and ‘Stalking / Drawers’ will be it’s debut release! We want more Mistys music please Andrew. This stuff gets me and Jess moving around the room!

Latest CD’s

Various Artists: F...

Lovely 4 panel digipak that comes with 8 photographic postcards… Contributions from the following artists: Hakobune Porya Hatami Celer Darren Harper Tomoyoshi Date Chihie Hatakeyama A Bleeding Star
Stafrænn Hakon: P...

This is a limited edition of 300 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies, packaged in a lovely hand-stamped blue recycled cardboard envelope with the front cover image printed on glossy photo paper and two inserts, with the tracklist and credits, printed on nice fabric paper… Stafrænn Hákon, the moniker of the multi-instrumentalist Olafur Josephsson, is one of the leading artists of Iceland’s alternative music scene. Over the years, his music has been described as a mix of post-rock, ambient, lo-fi and electronica which still holds true to some extent, though with each album he takes a giant leap and keeps growing …
Machinefabriek �...

Limited edition CD (x150) in a recycled card sleeve that is hand stamped (designed by Machinefabriek) and numbered. It includes four double sided color prints and a download that includes all bonus items! Bonus digital items include two Machine Room movies by Sanja Harris, a full color art PDF and two exclusive remixes by Marcus Fisher and Steve Roden… Through the sublimely shot images and the stunning and engrossing audio material, ‘Machine Rooms’ really does set the bar for a conceptual album, with both aspects of this beautiful looking package really complimenting the other, and enhancing the synesthetic vision of …
Ian Hawgood &...

Hibernate would perhaps not be where it is today without ‘Wolfskin’ by Ian Hawgood, our inaugural release back in 2009. Wolfskin referenced a series of nightmares Ian had as a child, focussing on elements of dreams and violence by marrying beauty with the harsh. Ian Hawgood has immersed himself in musical projects for longer than he cares to remember; in recent years he has released through the likes of Experimedia, Dragon’s Eye and his own Home Normal label as well as through several netlabels. Increasingly, Ian has been collaborating with other artists – including Jason Corder (Offthesky), Tim Martin (Maps …

Latest Tapes

The Fractal Skulls...

70 c40 electric blue cassettes in yellow library cases. 3 colour, double-sided risograph sleeves designed and printed by James Hines… Fractal Skulls is a High Wycombe, UK based master of the kosmische. His side of the tape follows on from a full length on Subexotic and cassettes on Blue Tapes and Reverb Worship. Unashamedly mellow, ‘Telepylos’ melds the highest regard for the likes of Terry Riley & Cluster with a hint that we should be questioning everything. Adam Willetts is from Christchurch, New Zealand. Over the last few years he has been quietly releasing a slew of clever electronics for …
Be Honest: Tea, Su...

Two side-length tracks of extended guitar techniques, ambient synth work, field recordings and chance happenings. ‘Tea, Sugar, Soda, Soap’ is inspired by the battered earth of the Irish midlands and the palpable stillness of the life there which is fast disappearing back into the bog and bracken. The album is based on field recordings collected over the course of a year from the Brosna river basin in Offaly in the Irish midlands. These recordings were then overlaid with a series of improvised guitar playing, experimental instrument triggering and generative synth patches designed to short-circuit preconceived compositional ideas and habitual performance …
Hakobune: A Distan...

Limited edition tape run… Hakobune, aka Takahiro Yorifuji, is an ambient/drone act from Japan. His work typically includes layers of guitars to create a soundscape. This release in particular sounds more lonely than other releases. The art is puzzling, how it just moves from place to place with the swept paint.
Yousei Suzuki: The...

Housed in screen printed hand numbered Bradpaks in Edition of 100. No two copies alike… Yousei Suzuki is a young steel string guitarist from Osaka Japan. ‘The Scene From A Frame’ is the follow up album to his release on Senri Records last year entitled ‘Broken Woods & Some Prayers’. A continuation of his experimentations with broken guitars, zither, and piano. The songs on this album were all recorded either live or in one take. Suzuki’s compositions are sometimes full, fluttering bustling tales told with ringing steel strings- but they’re also sometimes sparse, songs scraping together shy offerings that tiptoe …

Latest Books

Various: Sound By ...

This seminal title is considered by many to be one of the most important books about sound art ever published and is now finally back in print with this handsome new edition via Charivari Press. Originally published in 1990, the book was part of Art Metropole’s “…by Artists” series and includes essays written by John Cage, Christina Kubisch, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Christian Marclay and many others, covering historical overviews, surveys of recent work, discussions of copyright and even some recipes for reproducing works of sound art. The book includes John Cage analysing the use of noise and perucssion in …
Marihiko Hara and ...

Wistbook 009 / Edition series. 100 / Format. 3″cd and novella… A murder mystery by one of today’s finest crime writers, “Jigokuhen” takes place in a declining coastal city whose once thriving harbours and shipyards now house a shadowy criminal underworld. Drawn into this world when the son of the city’s mayor is killed, a jaded middle-aged detective finds himself distracted by a beautiful unemployed dockworker who spends each day walking aimlessly along the shore, and whose mysterious past may just hold the key to solving the crime. Throughout the novella, these two characters act as allegories of the dingy …
David Newlyn: Cano...

Wistbook 008 / Edition series. 100 / Format. 3″cd and novella… This botano-philosophical treatise is a classic of Renaissance scientific literature. Delicate, minutely detailed sketches of flora and fauna litter the pages, attesting in their exquisiteness to the wonder and beauty of a world viewed under the microscope for the first time. Accompanying the drawings are Alberic’s handwritten notes on taxonomies and classifications, designations of anatomical parts, therapeutic and practical uses, and allegorical meanings. A sober yet reverential tone is retained throughout, and the book ends with a sublime canticle praising the Divine Creator “who deigned in His Infinite Wisdom …
Gareth Davies and ...

Wistbook 007 / Edition series. 100 / Format. 3″cd and novella… Terra Incognita” tells the tale of a fictional nineteenth century attempt to find the Northwest Passage, a proposed sea route along the northern coast of Canada and Alaska that hitherto lay undiscovered. The novella opens in the midst of a vast wasteland, frozen and empty, the creak of wood or ice only emphasising rather than breaking the silence. During the journey, there are moments of mortal danger as the crew do battle with the occasional squall or manoeuvre round looming icebergs, but for the most part they are in …

Six panel digipack in a run of 1000 copies…

I remember Ian sending me a very early version of this album well over a year ago now and was completely blown away by its beauty. Having listened to the final version I can say hand on heart music does not get much better than this. A masterclass in sonic experimentation!

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‘Sparks’ is the first full collaboration of the Black Elk quartet of Ian Hawgood, Tim Martin (Maps and Diagrams), Danny Norbury and Clem Leek. Whilst Ian and Tim take over acoustic, electronic, mixing and compositional duties, Danny plays cello and Clem piano. Special guest Aki Tomita (Rurarakiss) is on vocals for ‘Sparks’ and ‘The Blackest Rainbow’. Mastered by Lawrence English, designed by Michael Waring (Future Sequence) and featuring cover photography by Jaime Montefort, ‘Sparks’ is the first of two connected records which will be out this year on KOMU. ‘Anchor’ will be released at the end of 2012. Thank you. – Ian

This is a pre-order: Ships July 27th or slightly earlier