Camera Obscura Catalog



	CAM001CD - "Songs of Moonlight and Rain" by Stone Breath. "Songs of Moonlight and Rain" establishes an acid-folk thread somewhere between the occult realms of Current 93, and the mantra-strum of Japanese legends Ghost. Acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, penny whistles, zitherlin, chimes, Tibetan bells, hand drums and many other instruments are used to infuse songs like "Perched upon the Temple Bell, the Butterfly Sleeps", "Words Written on Petals" and "To Cull Undying Flowers" with a unique poetic force that lives up to their evocative titles. [More] This release is sold out at source with no repressing plans.

	CAM002CD - "Tycho-Magnetic Anomaly And The Full Consciousness of Hidden Harmony" by The Azusa Plane. After hearing some singles in 1996, we were keen to summon the Azusa Plane magic on a full-length release. "Go forth and create mighty soundscapes with your guitar and black boxes without regard for length or the confines of the 7" format" we said...and Jason did, this time using a friend's studio to achieve the layered and symphonic sound he had always dreamed of. The orbit of "Tycho-Magnetic Anomaly..." includes two concise, gyroscopic compositions that recall the pastoral elegance of Roy Montgomery's "Scenes From the South Island", an astonishing neo-medieval dronescape with Jason's guitar conjuring choirs of lost souls from the ether, and concludes with a 25 minute Glenn Branca-esque massed guitar onslaught that is arguably the most ambitious and impressive work in the canon of this now extinct project. [More] (US$12.00 shipped anywhere)

	CAM003CD - "The Late Music" by the Black Swan Network. "The Late Music (Volume One)" is a full-length CD of experimental/ambient tape manipulations by Olivia Tremor Control side-project Black Swan Network. In the unlikely case that you wondered what those strange interludes between the four-part harmony pop gems of OTC's "Dusk at Cubist Castle" would sound like developed into pieces in their own right, here is your chance to find out. "The Late Music" follows on conceptually from the two and four channel extravaganzas that can be found on the bonus disc of sound experiments shipped with early copies of the "Dusk at Cubist Castle" CD and also on OTC's "The Opera House" and "Jumping Fences" EPs. [More] This release is sold out at source with no repressing plans.

	CAM004S - "Rivulets" 7" EP by Alastair Galbraith. A four track single from the legendary Kiwi master craftsman of exquisite four-track song fragments. Two tracks were previews of tracks from his next full-lengther "Way Back Out" on the next Best Way label later in the year. The other two tracks were instrumentals exclusive to this release and showcase Alastair's more experimental work in this period of his artistic journey. [More] (US$8.00 shipped anywhere)

	CAM005CD - "Strung behind the Sun" by Green Pajamas. This was the first new full-length CD of the Green Pajamas' 60s influenced psych-pop since the astonishing "Ghost of Love" was released by Green Monkey/Bomp in 1990. Over the course of 15 songs, the Pajamas stage the biggest comeback since Lazarus, and show why no-one can touch them in their chosen genre. "Strung behind the Sun" is a dazzling ray fired into the prism of psychedelia, refracting off in all directions. Lyrically, "SBTS" sounds like product of pensive afternoons sat in Seattle coffee shops, a curtain of rain on the glass turning the street into abstract washes of colour. [More] (US$15.00 shipped anywhere)


	CAM006CD - "Universal Mind Decoder" by Abunai! Debut CD from one of the surprise sensations of the first Terrastock festival in Providence, RI in April in 1997, and a band that has kicked on in style since. Their first is a paradigm-smashing collision of Fairports-influenced folk-rock, post-shoegazer guitar dynamics, P-funk bass stylings and a definite Germanic thing going on in there on extended acid-jams like "77 Gaza Strip" as well. Can't work? It does. Why doesn't it fly apart like a badly-maintained fairground ride? Who knows. All I know is that their version of "Gypsy Davey" breathes new life into a genre that I hitherto thought to be exhausted of possibilities. [More] This release is sold out at source with no repressing plans.

	CAM007CD - "You and Me and the Continuum" by Primordial Undermind. Their second full -length CD since the marvellous but little distributed "Yet More Wonders of the Invisible World" on September Gurls in 1995. This gem started life as a band-released tape early in 1996, so a proper release is way overdue. This ASCII bite snatched from the ether of the Internet covers the vibe of the thing nicely: "A bit heavier and more instrumentally expansive than their first, it still features veritable gobs of gtr freakout of quite warped variety and includes a few new songs that I'd have to rate as the best things they've accomplished. Side two especially is just about perfect, twisty complex moodity that explodes periodically out of its structures into some great acid-bursts, colored by some nice instrumental additions (bouzouki, etc) and wonderfully played throughout. [More] (US$12.00 shipped anywhere)

	CAM008CD - "Red Ampersand" by Salamander. Minneapolis outfit Salamander began as a duo in the summer of 1992 featuring Erik Wivinus and Sean Connaughty on guitars and vocals. They played mostly mellow droning instrumentals that in retrospect sounded much like Labradford or Low, but they say that they hadn't heard them at the time. Doug Morman joined on bass in early 1993. They played as a drumless trio for about a year, did some recordings and played a couple of shows that way until Bryce Kastning joined on drums and keyboards in early 1994. Then followed a period of heavy psychedelic improvisation and four-track recording, leading to a trip to POD studios in 94/95 to lay down some material on sixteen-track. These recordings contain some truly remarkable improvisational psychedelic rock, reminiscent at times of Bardo Pond and Cul de Sac, but with a unique character that sets it apart. "Red Ampersand" propels the rocket from the guitar dynamics and tuneful immediacy of songs like "Hazy" and "Black Heart" straight through the stargate of the 17 minute plus intergalactic journey "Carved Into Water". [More] (US$15.00 shipped anywhere)

	CAM009CD - "Over and Out" by The Alchemysts. Magnificent three piece power-psych from this criminally under-released Somerset trio who's "One Eyed Again" compilation on Behemoth in th mid-90s struck a perfect balance between great tunes, garage punk confidence and stoned guitar explorations of the psychedelic heartland. What you get, in Paul's words, is "Drony instrumental passages, punky garage blasts, longish trippy guitar workouts (a la "Stoned in Jerusalem")...some off centre melodic stuff. all finished off with large amounts of fuzz, feedback and distortion in the great psychedelic tradition!" Who could ask for more? [More] This release is sold out at source with no repressing plans.