ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS / UNIVERSAL INDIANS
Ashtray Navigations / Universal Indians
(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers) Used split CDR $12.00
“In the welter of home recording releases, it has to be said there is nobody quite like Phil Todd and his splendid Ashtray Navigations,” promises Sound Projector. “No other music sounds as chronically symptomatic of a week-long influenza fever, fraught with hallucinogenic visions of discomfort.... [S]tarting off with a whimpering puppy of a toy organ loop [the CD follows] the corridors of sound-leakage, ambient room recordings and noisy clutter with a suite of metal guitar solos…. Universal Indians … play very loud guitar and drums…, turgid and slow…, while the vocals are wrenched from the chest cavity of the singer as though he’s being given the Heimlich maneuver by a masked wrestler.”
Deadicated to The Sensory Armada
(Memoirs of an Aesthete) LP $25.00 (Out-of-stock)
The seven new numbers recorded between summer and autumn 2011 in the first AshNav vinyl LP since 2009 arrives with a heartfelt dedication to the lost and unrecorded '60s London psych duo of the title, and to all sounds sucked into the air, gone forever. Deadicated to the Sensory Armada is the latest stage of Phil Todd and Co's immersion in the synths-and-sequencers cosmos which has edged into recent Ashtray Navigations releases. A few new moves should give an indication of future directions. Piled-up guitar structures, cascading rhythms and the first recorded appearance of drummer Mr. Seth Cooke. Edition of 100.
Four More Raga Moods
(Ikuisuus) Used CD $4.00 (Out-of-stock)
Four more slow-glowing trance bombs that combine lucid, transparent guitar gliss with spectral folk, subliminal drones and guest appearances from Alex Neilson, Ben Reynolds, Mel Delaney, Chris Hladowski, Matt Cairns, Andy Jarvis and Pete Nolan of Magik Markers, et al. From 2006
Four Raga Moods
(Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers) Used CD $15.00 (Out-of-stock)
There are indeed four untitled tracks from 1997 here, the first of which clocks in at a monolithic 41 minutes. “Compared to other Ashtray indulgences from the same era, it’s downright minimal,” observes Outer Space Gamelan, “Based around what I’d approximate to be harmonium, guitar, cheap percussion, field recordings, effects pedals, violin.... The only two general constants are a hazy pool of tape buzz, static and a woozy hand-drum rhythm…. At times it sounds like Phil Todd is trying to communicate a greater whole through an impenetrable wall of static, like a busted Walkman picking up alien satellite feeds or a shortwave radio station occurring just beyond the limits of the dial.”
Six Imaginary Scenes From The Life Of Muhammad Al Aqil
(Nashazphone - NP009) LP $25.00 (Out-of-stock)
This candle-burning outing from Phil Todd continues the quest for the farthest possible cosmic frequencies through effects, guitar, synth, and saz –- spread eagle on a bed of field recordings. Edition of 200 copies.
The "o" Mouth Direct Input Raygun
(Turgid Animal - TA409) 7-inch $9.00
New tracks from Phil Todd and Mel Delaney. Leeds UK's finest experimental movers and shakers of the last decade or so. Perhaps their noisiest material yet. Limited to 250 copies on black vinyl.
To Your Fucking Feather’d Wings
(Gold Soundz) Used CDR $4.00 (Out-of-stock)
“Great, epic, slow-burning, surreal drone rock,” swears Head Heritage. “One of Phil Todd’s best.”
Use Copenhagen 69 Guitars & Park Drive Circular Effects Pedals Exclusively
(Siltbreeze) Used LP $15.00 (Out-of-stock)
Solo guitar effectery by Phil Todd (Inca Eyeball, Target Shoppers, Ceramic Hobs). Overdub upon overdub of acidic, vibrating good-sound that should surely complement the eye lids at a comfortable half mast, especially on the synth-drenched side-long “Phaser Like a Block of Salt.” Numbingly electric. Edition of 500. Sealed
You Cannot Tell Cigars By The Picture On The Box
(Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) Used CD $7.00 (Out-of-stock)
“Bedroom legends shower the parched earth with canonized filth and cheap-tape degradation,” sputters The Wire, “Setting a brand new bench mark in foggy-psychic-swuzz. Six extended tracks that run the gamut of ooze, sliming a cast of guest contributors along the way.”