Vernal Scuzz
Tape / CD / Order
Vernal Scuzz are a freeform band from Irondale, AL whose first release melds a
hissing proto-punk bite with art rock weirdness, chanting and nocturnal fugues.
Jasper and Mika's voices coo and screech in equal doses. Lyrics play with syntax
and cut-up sources to form a lingo that is charged yet ambiguous. “Vernal Scuzz
seems to constantly be in metamorphosis...ethereal folk opening to angular strings,
then full punk uproar...” Their first recording presents the group’s idiosyncratic
concepts through a visceral playing style that is unpredictable and raw. Read more...
Tape / CD / Order
Vernal Scuzz are a freeform band from Irondale, AL whose first release melds a
hissing proto-punk bite with art rock weirdness, chanting and nocturnal fugues.
Jasper and Mika's voices coo and screech in equal doses. Lyrics play with syntax
and cut-up sources to form a lingo that is charged yet ambiguous. “Vernal Scuzz
seems to constantly be in metamorphosis...ethereal folk opening to angular strings,
then full punk uproar...” Their first recording presents the group’s idiosyncratic
concepts through a visceral playing style that is unpredictable and raw. Read more...
Johnny Coley - Mister Sweet Whisper
LP / Order
Transcendental poetry meets Southern Nightmare Jazz on the third album by
Alabama-based poet-artist Johnny Coley. Mister Sweet Whisper is the meeting of
Johnny Coley and the band Worst Spills, led by guitarist & arranger Joel Nelson.
Tapping into French surrealism and transgressive American poets such as John Ashbery,
the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper evolve, cinema-like, with Coley as an uninhibited, almost
mystical, narrator. Textural, noirish playing complements Coley’s decadent landscapes, which
glide by like cigarette smoke invocations. Echoing, and at times, dissonant notes of saxophone,
crystalline tones of vibraphone, and jagged guitar arrangements punctuate Coley’s dreamlike
visions, populated by ballet dancers, haunting nightclubs, and ghostly car drivers.
Wistful and expansive, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper speak of Coley’s talent and natural
ability to channel his poetic world into songs. A remarkable follow-up to Coley’s first two albums—
Antique Sadness, from 2021, and Landscape Man, from 2022—which were praised as “exquisitely
haunting, sublime, hilarious” and falling “somewhere between Robert Ashley, David Wojnarowicz,
and Intersystems,” Mister Sweet Whisper arrives in full form: unpredictable and brilliant. Read more...
LP / Order
Transcendental poetry meets Southern Nightmare Jazz on the third album by
Alabama-based poet-artist Johnny Coley. Mister Sweet Whisper is the meeting of
Johnny Coley and the band Worst Spills, led by guitarist & arranger Joel Nelson.
Tapping into French surrealism and transgressive American poets such as John Ashbery,
the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper evolve, cinema-like, with Coley as an uninhibited, almost
mystical, narrator. Textural, noirish playing complements Coley’s decadent landscapes, which
glide by like cigarette smoke invocations. Echoing, and at times, dissonant notes of saxophone,
crystalline tones of vibraphone, and jagged guitar arrangements punctuate Coley’s dreamlike
visions, populated by ballet dancers, haunting nightclubs, and ghostly car drivers.
Wistful and expansive, the songs in Mister Sweet Whisper speak of Coley’s talent and natural
ability to channel his poetic world into songs. A remarkable follow-up to Coley’s first two albums—
Antique Sadness, from 2021, and Landscape Man, from 2022—which were praised as “exquisitely
haunting, sublime, hilarious” and falling “somewhere between Robert Ashley, David Wojnarowicz,
and Intersystems,” Mister Sweet Whisper arrives in full form: unpredictable and brilliant. Read more...
Johnny Coley - Huron
First Edition / Order
203 pages
Written entirely on his phone, Coley's novel is composed of short improvisational
chapters which move in a stream-of-consciousness, refracting prismatically outward
from elements of his lived experience. The text reflects his rich conversational abilities
and sense of humor as he deploys marathon run-on sentences that exquisitely trace
the paths of thoughts coming into being. Zigzagging like a switchback road through
the French Alps, these passages play with common speech and syntax while invoking
a wide swath of literary references and philosophical ideas. Coley skillfully weaves
many strands of contemporary thought and lyrical asides into a metaphysical prose
wholly his own. He is deeply interested in each character's idiosyncratic form of
language, in colloquialisms and misunderstandings, and in the magic of words as
agents of potential. Huron's world opens up fabulous possibilities. Those familiar
with Coley's work in poetry and spoken word will find an entirely different and
compelling dimension of his literary practice in this book. Read more...
First Edition / Order
203 pages
Written entirely on his phone, Coley's novel is composed of short improvisational
chapters which move in a stream-of-consciousness, refracting prismatically outward
from elements of his lived experience. The text reflects his rich conversational abilities
and sense of humor as he deploys marathon run-on sentences that exquisitely trace
the paths of thoughts coming into being. Zigzagging like a switchback road through
the French Alps, these passages play with common speech and syntax while invoking
a wide swath of literary references and philosophical ideas. Coley skillfully weaves
many strands of contemporary thought and lyrical asides into a metaphysical prose
wholly his own. He is deeply interested in each character's idiosyncratic form of
language, in colloquialisms and misunderstandings, and in the magic of words as
agents of potential. Huron's world opens up fabulous possibilities. Those familiar
with Coley's work in poetry and spoken word will find an entirely different and
compelling dimension of his literary practice in this book. Read more...
Green Plum Ensemble - The Heavenly Music
Cassette / Order
Green Plum Ensemble is a six-piece+- freestyle drone and lamentation band
from Philadelphia. We make ritual and conversational music composed collectively
in performance. Our members bridge worlds of experience – in singing groups,
temples, communes and noise bands – and trans-continental musical continua
including free jazz, Jewish liturgical music and Georgian polyphony. Our special
focus is on traditions of collective grief and ecstasy. Above all, we are a group of
friends brought together by an interest in music’s oldest powers.
Read more...
Cassette / Order
Green Plum Ensemble is a six-piece+- freestyle drone and lamentation band
from Philadelphia. We make ritual and conversational music composed collectively
in performance. Our members bridge worlds of experience – in singing groups,
temples, communes and noise bands – and trans-continental musical continua
including free jazz, Jewish liturgical music and Georgian polyphony. Our special
focus is on traditions of collective grief and ecstasy. Above all, we are a group of
friends brought together by an interest in music’s oldest powers.
Read more...
Sweet Wreath presents
Sun Ra’s Magic City : A Cosmo-Mythic Map of Birmingham
This map project visualizes the world of Sun Ra at the very beginning of his earthly journey
in the town of his youth, Birmingham, Alabama. The map’s illustrations depict sites relevant
to his early musical career, and a recently unearthed image of Sonny as a member of the
Rhythm Four vocal quartet. The project includes images sourced from the Birmingham Public
Library Archives, as well as items in the collection of the Southern Music Research Center,
including show advertisements and early images of Sonny’s public appearances.
The project draws on the research and writing of Burgin Matthews, especially from
his book Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America.
The map features a full text on the reverse side with detailed information about
each location connected to Sun Ra’s Magic City history. Read more...
Sun Ra’s Magic City : A Cosmo-Mythic Map of Birmingham
This map project visualizes the world of Sun Ra at the very beginning of his earthly journey
in the town of his youth, Birmingham, Alabama. The map’s illustrations depict sites relevant
to his early musical career, and a recently unearthed image of Sonny as a member of the
Rhythm Four vocal quartet. The project includes images sourced from the Birmingham Public
Library Archives, as well as items in the collection of the Southern Music Research Center,
including show advertisements and early images of Sonny’s public appearances.
The project draws on the research and writing of Burgin Matthews, especially from
his book Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America.
The map features a full text on the reverse side with detailed information about
each location connected to Sun Ra’s Magic City history. Read more...
Select an image above to learn more about each title.
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The Space Glyph Series presents contemporary writers & artists working with experimental texts and poetry.
Select a book to learn more about each title.
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