SC Distributon

Jagjaguwar is proud to present the soundtrack from director Rick Alverson's provocative film "The Comedy." The film focuses on Swanson (Tim Heidecker), who whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom. Desensitized and disenchanted, he strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution. A scathing look at the white male on the verge of collapse, Rick Alverson's carefully observed portrait provokes and disorients; a cautionary fable for the autumn of the American Era. With his similarly-minded friends, ("Tim and Eric" co-star Eric Wareheim, LCD Soundsytem frontman James Murphy and comedian Gregg Turkington a.k.a.“Neil Hamburger") in games of comic irreverence and mock sincerity. As Swanson awaits a large inheritance from his father’s estate, he grows restless of the safety a sheltered life offers, and he begins to test the limits of acceptable behavior, pushing the envelope in every way he can.

Alverson worked with Jagjaguwar to create a soundtrack of eerie, bittersweet and mystic pop songs from the "autumn of the American Era," featuring artists from the present (GAYNGS, Gardens & Villa, Here We Go Magic) and the past (Donnie & Joe Emerson, Bill Fay, Amanaz). Markedly, the soundtrack features excerpts from William Basinski's groundbreaking The Disintegration Loops, one of the most powerful manifestations of the inevitable cycle of life ever committed to tape, even as it documents the inevitable decay of all that is committed to tape.

For fifteen years, Table of the Elements has been the preeminent source of avant audio, championing minimal, improvised, and outsider musics of various spots and stripes. Now, as its influence radiates outward, the label presents Radium, its "rock" imprint, showcased here with Impala Eardrums, A Radium Sampler. While minimalist legend Rhys Chatham leads the way with a delightful unreleased piece from his mid-80s archives, most of the other contributors are younger folks, from a new generation of performers. It's a diverse bunch, ranging from the raw Americana of Megafaun and Jonathan Kane, to the humid, pulsating krautrock of Ateleia and the spectral songcraft of Paul Duncan. Neptune serves up its version of home-forged proto-clangor, while Collections of Colonies of Bees and School of Seven Bells pour forth in glistening, shimmering waves. Together, these eight tracks — all previously unreleased on CD — have one thing in common: a resolute will to march headlong into the untamed brambles and briar patches of 21st-century sound.

John Fahey's death -- he is believed to have died in the explosion of a house during the filming of Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point in 1969 -- is shrouded in confusion and camouflage. His remains were never found, and the question remains: did Fahey purposely stage his own death for his own occlusive purposes?

Fahey's collusion of folk, blues, ethnic and modern classical methods, which suggests both the trickster and the shaman, has attracted a cult of musician followers over the years, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. But his unsolved disappearance inspired another cult, which worships Count Saint Germain, a Rosicrucian adept who is said to have never died and has assumed various identities over the centuries. Disciples of this sect, heard on this record, believe Fahey -- "The Great Koonaklaster" -- to be the most recent incarnation of Saint Germain. They view Fahey's music as a synthesis of Saint Germain's abilities as a classical composer and skills as an alchemist, and have absorbed his guitar style in order to pay homage to him.

A variety of ritual services are contained within, and there is much to be gleaned from these Koonaklasterians' offerings; whether or not you choose to accept this "Immortal Motherf#cker of the 20th century" as Saint Germain is up to you.

Generally, we think compilations should be saved for rare, newly rediscovered gems from a time before we were even born. But every so often a new compilation will come along that offers genuine insight into an idea or an environment. It is in the spirit of those top-shelf revelations that we present to you our most recent attempt at legitimacy.A companion piece to 2004's TRR50: Thank You compilation, TRR100: Thankful collects one new, previously unreleased song from nearly every band we've signed since TRR50. As such, the music is decidedly more diverse than TRR50, as the eclecticism of the label is increasingly explored. From the transcendent textures of Eluvium to the sentimental pop of Carloline; the dark prog-pop of The Ladies to the backyard barbecue jams of The Anomoanon; the jarring rhythms of Sleeping People and By The End of Tonight to the sublime minimalism of MONO; every corner is explored, and no two releases better express that than TRR50: Thank You and TRR100: Thankful.

Trapped in splendid isolation on the verdant backside of the planet, the New Zealand scene has evolved into as vivid and unique a beast as any you're likely to hear. Thanks to recent expeditions, you can now hear its multifarious tweets and warbles for yourself, as the intrepid folks at Xeric present NEED FOR A CROSSING: A NEW NEW ZEALAND, an introduction to the latest generation of antipodal soundsmiths. It's a strange and exotic menagerie, and a welcome chance for the rest of us to hear what's happening in the new New Zealand.

This is Secretly Canadian's 100th release, finally stamped and shipped out on its 11-year anniversary. But this isn't a 11-years-of-Secretly-Canadian-budget-blow-out-back-pat. That will likely happen with SC200, The Johnny Cougar Mellencomp. SC100 is more a suspended, freeze-dried nugget of evolution from those humbled beginnings everyone has. For those with a checklist of Hooiser Rock History, take note that SC is the first Indiana label to issue 100 titles. Daydreams are good when thinking of who came before — BRBQ, 700 West, Lamp, Solid Gold or Gulcher — and what they could've done if not for being corn-holed by that cruel economy of scales or packing up and leaving the state for brighter times. A few years past its inception, SC albums were never shrink-wrapped, sleeping space doubled as office space and the website address was garbled syntax of tildes and slashes unable to be translated over the phone.

All artists who issued recordings from SC01 (June Panic, Glory Hole) to SC99 (Swearing at Motorists, Last Night Becomes This Morning) were up for inclusion to cover a song by a label mate via the ol' names-in-a-hat method. So step back a bit just a few years and settle in or dust off those old SC albums to refresh with the originals. While the pre-SC100 discography is packed with Indiana heavies, there have been extended stays and shack-ups in Bloomington by most of the SC roster, be it a few days, or monthly rates at the College Inn, or even more permanent. No one wants to get hokey here, but this is a communal gathering, a family jamboree where each takes a turn, fugs it up a smidge, and pays homage to tourmates of past, or in some takes, to personal strangers. No need to rumble through each track with my own gander, but it's a gulp of life and worth every penny on this set to hear the swagger yell as Nikki Sudden tears into June's "See(ing) Double," just like an apparition of him strolling down Fourth Street, dressed like a million, and swiggin' a sack at 2pm. You wouldn't have seen that from the booth window, though Sudden did make his way down to that corner late one night.

Everybody loves a mystery. Generations of record collectors have spent valuable chunks of their lives poking through vinyl bins in search of unknown pleasures, or rambling though the piney woods with their ears cocked for a high, lonesome sound. Even revolutionary sounds can come and go with the scarcest trace. That's part of the power they hold over the ardent, would-be listener. The truth is out there.

Since 1993, Table of the Elements has spoken that truth, focusing on musicians whose light shimmers outside the frames of convention and registering the ripples of music that are too essential to die or dissolve into the common currency. It has prospected for the rarest sort of sonic lode, the uncut goods blessed with a hearty half-life. The label's 100-plus releases are a vital contemporary archive, a survey of meaningful eruptions across a broad horizon of improvised, experimental, minimal and outsider musics.

Here, on these two CDs, is a field guide to the essential Table of the Elements. This sampler is more than a summary of label highlights; the performances make a statement as bold as their visceral impact and as rich as the conceptual process that underpins their creation. It's the kind of music Table of the Elements is all about. It thrives outside the barricades, where no one else is looking. Where the truth is spoken.

This new compilation from Asthmatic Kitty Records acts as a social mix-tape tracing the particular relationships that make up the extended Asthmatic Kitty family and friends. The compilation gathers musicians, friends, colleagues, and collaborators from the label's seven-year history, presenting an odd, exciting, and idiosyncratic family tree in which kinship and musicianship are thankfully confused. Joining the choir are mainstays of the Asthmatic Kitty roster, as well as old band-mates and friends, and a few artists who've made their mark outside of this label.

"Mews Too" continues the musical conversation begun in 2001 by Asthmatic Kitty's first compilation "To Spirit Back the Mews" by including many of the contributors to that album, and by inviting new friends as well. The twenty-four tracks include contributions from Asthmatic Kitty's current roster--Sufjan Stevens, Half-handed Cloud, Liz Janes, Castanets, and Bunky--as well as indie luminaries Danielson, Royal City, Denison Witmer, Jim Guthrie, and Steven Lambke of the Constantines. Like its predecessor,"Mews Too" weaves various genres and eccentric individual visions to form a testimonial to the uniqueness of Asthmatic Kitty's musical community.

Back in 1997, we at Temporary Residence Ltd. had a novel idea: compile a Black Sabbath tribute album with experimental rock, folk, and electronic bands reinterpreting classic Ozzy-era Sabbath tunes. At the time it seemed like a unique idea, since such tributes were then executed primarily by washed-up glam bands or tired hardcore groups cheekily cashing in on nostalgic quasi-irony. Much has changed over the last eight years, of course. Black Sabbath did the unthinkable by reuniting - and has since done so three times. Ozzy Osbourne became a household name with his startlingly popular MTV-produced reality show. Everything Comes & Goes is full of genre-bending homages by genuine Sabbath fans; each track serves to remind us of the stunning brilliance and innovation that was the original Black Sabbath. And that, first and foremost, makes it worth all the wait. Artists include: Matmos, Four Tet, Ruins, Paul Newman, The Anomoanon, Racebannon, Curtis Harvey Trio, Grails and more.

Independent artists from every corner of the North American continent gathered together for To Spirit Back the Mews (AKR 004), a homegrown collection of rejuvenating tunes by the Asthmatic Kitty family of friends; 80 minutes of unique art pop, including contributions by AK artists Liz Janes, Half-handed Cloud, and Sufjan Stevens (Michigan, Seven Swans). Stevens offers four tracks unavailable elsewhere, and adds his production and instrumental skills to seven songs by other artists. Other contributors include Royal City, Shannon Stephens, Jason Brouwer, and Matthew Haseltine.

We know what your thinking, drummers going solo: Phil Collins, Don Henley, Peter Criss. The odds are not looking too good, but we gambled anyway. Fortunately, everything has payed off, and we are happy to say that we have compiled a record chock full of hot stix and Moby Dicks.After years of waiting Membranaphonics is finally here!It has taken roughly three years to compile the tracks on Membranaphonics, and as you will hear it has been worth it. Drummers are complicated people, and it isn?t easy to pull them out from behind their safety net...the drum set. This compilation is a collection of songs performed by some of the most creative and talented drummers touring and recording today.A release for some, this project has allowed the drummer to go in a direction that their current vehicle would not allow them. You will be surprised to hear that these drummers are not only proficient on the skins, but are adept to handling many instruments and some can even sing! Of course like individual drum kits, not one of these songs are alike. Diverse, eclectic, whatever adjective you would like to use, this collection is varied and interesting. Listen in and let this record smash your thoughts of Sussudio and bring a new respect for the person behind that stack of drums.

In the eight years that Temporary Residence has been releasing music, we have never done a proper label compilation or budget-priced sampler of any kind. This is for one simple reason: compilations are usually bad. We can probably count the number of solid, essential compilations released in the last 20 years on one hand, with fingers to spare. Why then, would we go and jeopardize a good thing by releasing an inexpensive label compilation? Because this one's not bad at all. As a matter of fact, it's pretty damned amazing. Featuring BRAND NEW and EXCLUSIVE tracks from most of our artists â?? and packaged in a gorgeous 24-page full-color booklet â?? this collection is absolutely essential for any fan of Temporary Residence bands (specifically Explosions In The Sky, Fridge, Tarentel and Sonna), or just fans of beautiful instrumental music. Itâ??s really awesome, itâ??s pretty cheap, and itâ??s definitely not gonna be around forever.... but then again, what is?

An album dedicated to a tradition & routine so common to our everyday lives yet so rarely captured to tape. Featuring some of the most distinctive voices in music today, all without instrumental accompaniment. Featuring Appendix Out, Richard Buckner & PW Long (duet), Danielson Famile, Drunk, Dave Fischoff, the Grifters, David Grubbs, Jandek, the Japonize Elephants, Jarboe, Damien Jurado, Suzanne Langille, Nikki McClure, Modest Mouse, the Panoply Academy Die-Cast Cadets, Pedro the Lion, Elliot Sharp, Songs: Ohia, Swearing At Motorists and Mia Doi Todd, as well as the voices behind God Is My Co-Pilot, Low, Red House Painters and Two Dollar Guitar.

A live compilation documenting the International Pop Underground Convention, held at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, Wash., August, 1991.

A compilation culled from the first 25 volumes of our International Pop Underground series of seven inch releases. See also the Project: Echo (KCD055) compilation of singles released in 1996.