update July 2, 2008 11am est
ELEH "Homage To The Square Wave" LP - SOLD OUT
*** head to http://www.taigarecords.blogspot.com/ to pick up copies while still available***

We've got a limited amount of copies of this brand new LP from Taiga Records in Minneapolis. Taiga has been doing super deluxe LP pressings and this one is certainly no exception. It's housed in a 2 color letterpress jacket but unlike every other letterpress jacket you've seen this one was actually cut and then hand glued so that it has a printed spine. It's a more rhythmic drone crafted by Eleh on vintage modular analog gear and made entirely out of square waves. The first 100 include a screen printed insert paying homage to Josef Albers and to Eleh. We only have 100 of these and expect that they'll all be gone within the next 24 hours.

NEW GRAILS & IMPORTANT RECORDS SHIRTS AVAILABLE NOW!

Click below to read the recent interview with James Blackshaw on Pitchfork where he discusses, amongst other topics, the recent Blackshaw currated/Important released compilation titled The Garden Of Forking Paths as well as his breakthrough release for Important.

MORE PRAISE FOR DAN FRIEL'S GHOST TOWN!
Check out this Stereogum "Band To Watch" feature

GLOWING REVIEWS FOR DAN FRIEL'S GHOST TOWN CD/LP
From Coke Machine Glow
Ghost Town contains within it the haunted forms of the most worn records on my shelves, specters of (yes) (seriously) Neutral Milk Hotel, New Order, the Dust Brothers at their best, the Chemical Brothers at their best, the Pixies, Is This It (2001) and pop music et al along with the resonant memories of those I’ve recently wiped with decided dissatisfaction from my cerebral RAM: the rhythmic puncture of Clark and Justice, the blissed-out fuzz of Times New Viking and No Age..............

DAN FRIEL "GHOST TOWN" CD/LP COMING IN MAY ON IMPORTANT

Check out this Pitchfork write up and MP3 from the Dan Friel full length titled Ghost Town coming next month. Imagine Wolf Eyes covering In The Aeroplane Over The Sea and you're not even close...

"It blows up into a stomping instrumental ditty, a music-box melody shoved through the speaker cone of a subwoofer salvaged from the trunk of a totaled Jeep." Pitchfork

NEW RELEASES:
april 22:
Acid Mothers Temple "Infinite Darkness...." CD/LP
Three Day Band (John Fahey/Ayal Senior) CD
Kluster "Admira 1971" CD
Kluster "Vulcano 1971" CD

may 13:
Dan Friel "Ghost Town" CD/LP (mp3)
Grails "Take Refuge In Clean Living" CD/LP
Cluster "Berlin 2007" CD

BORED? Download this PDF of an interview with John Brien from a recent music publication in the UK. Also included is an overview of some Important releases from the last 7 years.

GRAILS COMMERCIAL FOR TAKE REFUGE IN CLEAN LIVING CD/LP
On May 13th Important will be releasing the new Grails cd/lp titled Take Refuge In Clean Living. It's been on repeat here ever since the masters arrived and very soon you'll hear why. Click the clip to the left to check out a commercial for the new record on the Grails MySpace page.

NEW IMPORTANT RECORDS "PUFF PUFF" PLATTER PADS

In the apparel section of the Important site we've got new double sided Important Records slipmats. Designed by Darryl Norsen these have his Puff Puff design on one side and the Important Mondrian 2 logo on the other side.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE


We've got limited stock of a couple of great APTBS shirts available right now. They're professionally printed on the highest quality American Apparel shirts.

COIL BOX SHIPPING BEGINS

Despite the flu's best attempt to keep the Coil boxes from shipping (our entire staff had the same flu) we've finally started shipping out the boxes. Assembly is moving very slowly and we've only been able to ship about 100 a day.

******* Important Records Podcast **********

Click on the link below for the recent Important Records podcast from Brainwashed Radio in its entirety. This Mp3 link can be played directly on your computer without a subscription to iTunes.
http://media.brainwashed.com/podcast/podcast080210.mp3

************************* NEW YEARS SALE *******************************
Our new years sale has been a massive success. It'll be available for about
one more month. It's a great way to explore titles in the Important catalog that
you've been curious about but haven't purchased at full price.

**A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS REPRESS**COIL BOX NEWS**
************************* NEW YEARS SALE *******************************

APTBS repress:
2nd pressing of the self titled A Place To Bury Strangers LP is back in stock
this time around we've got some white splatter on pink to ship to mailorder
while supplies last.

Coil "Ape" box news:
Click the image to the left to see the first look at this super lavish package. The
overall quality was even higher than expected. 4 lps packed in a tip-on style ultra-
heavy duty box set.
We don't have the vinyl here yet as there are some slight concerns with the test
pressings but should have that resolved soon. As soon as it is there will be an
update with some more information.

New Years Sale:
Get 15 Important Records releases for only $100 or 30 for $175.
See the list of available titles and shipping info here.

And last, but not least, we've got a new t-shirt design from Darryl Norsen

Click the album cover on the left for a mini-website including a bio on Christina Kubisch, a link to an NPR piece on Electrical Walks & information about the upcoming Kubisch releases on Important.

On Novemer 20, 2007 Important Records will be releasing Christina Kubisch's first collection of work sourced from recordings made during her acclaimed Electrical Walks. At the same time Important will also be reissuing, for the first time on CD, her 1986 album Night Flights. Both are masterful works by one of the most important first generation sound artists.

"the most consistently rewarding of the first-generation sound-artists" Keith Fullerton Whitman

SELDON HUNT HOODIES AVAILABLE NOW
The fall chill is in the air and our response is a new hoodie from Seldon Hunt. Seldon Hunt is a celebrated graphic designer who has worked closely with Isis, Khanate, Neurosis etc. Over the last couple of years he's done some great work for Important including the Conrad Schnitzler 3cd box set titled Trigger Trilogy and the recent Acid Mothers Temple Crystal Rainbow Pyramid cd/lp.
Printed electric blue on black and navy. Available in small, medium, large & extra large.

COIL APE OF NAPLES BOX OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
In December 2007 Important will finally make available the long rumored 4 LP box for Coil's Ape Of Naples album. Ape will feature the full length album spread out over 3 lps each with B-side laser etchings. The 4th lp is a double sided exclusive full length album titled The New Backwards which features backwards mixes of Coil. Each LP is packaged in an offset printed single pocket jacket and they're housed in a deluxe heavy duty box which was offset printed w/ a 5th color spot UV gloss. A poster is also included in the package. This will be limited to 1500 copies. More info soon. Please sign up for the Important mailing list to be notified immediately upon release.
LP1: 1. Fire Of The Mind 2. The Last Amethyst Deceiver 3. Tattooed Man LP2: 1. Triple Sun 2. It's In My Blood 3. I Don't Get It 4. Heaven's Blade 5. Cold Cell LP3: 1.Teenage Lightning 2005 2. Amber Rain 3. Going Up. LP4: The New Backwards side A: 1. Careful What you Wish For 2. Nature Is A Language 3. Algerian Basses side B: 1. Copacabbala 2. Paint Me As A Dead Soul 3. Princess Margaret's Man in the D'Jamalfna

UPCOMING IMPORTANT VINYL TITLES:
We will not be taking pre-orders for these titles. They will be put up on the site when they're available for order. If you'd like to be alerted when they're available please sign up for our monthly mailing list here.

CITAY
Little Kingdom
IMPREC139 LP
available: Nov 6, 2007

500 copies. First 100 on transparent orange vinyl.
“Inspired by the acoustic sides of ‘70s rock behemoths Led Zeppelin, Heart and Black Sabbath, they've taken a detoour into lush, baroque folk and sun-kissed Laurel Canyon jams; blending those groups with more pastoral shades with the likes of John Fahey, Pentangle and CSN&Y to very fine effect.”---MOJO

SUN
I'll Be The Same
IMPREC171 LP
available: October 23, 2007

Limited vinyl edition of the Staubgold full length cd. 500 made. 100 on white/100 on transparent orange.
Sun is the coupling of sound artist OREN AMBARCHI and musician-producer CHRIS TOWNEND. The pair have been kindred spirits for many years,

2007 End Of Summer Sale:
http://importantrecords.com/releases/sale.htm

LARSEN & FRIENDS ABECEDA CD/DVD now available
OCEAN/CONIFER split LP also now available
Both of these long delayed and extremely elaborate releases are finally available. Check the front page of the site for a lot more info on both.

We've just started uploading videos to an Important Records page on You Tube. If you've got any interesting footage related to anyone who Important has ever worked with let us know!
Click on the logos on the left to link to the Important page on You Tube.

SMEGMA "33 1/3" LP HANDMADE $30
We're fortunate enough to have a small quantity of Smegma's 33 1/3 lp in handmade packaging by the band. Every one is a unique work of art as you can see by the images to the left. More information about the record here. The regular vinyl edition is still available as well.

HOTOTOGISU "Some Blood Will Stick" CD HANDMADE $20
Click on the image to the left to see a larger image of this beautiful handmade edition done by Hototogisu. We've only got about 50 of these. The regular edition of the cd is still available as well. More information here.

Larsen:
Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo, guitar, electric viola
Marco “il Bue” Schiavo, drums, glokenspiel
Paolo Dellapiana, electronics, accordion
Roberto Maria Clemente, guitar

Baby Dee, harp, piano
David Tibet, vocals
Johann Johannson, electric organ, piano
Julia Kent, cello
Snejanka Mihaylova, lights and performance
Bellissimo, visuals

The title says it: at the center of attention is the alphabet. In the sense of the single letters. Considered however as elements in and of themselves, gifted in some way with a true semantic individuality: the ideogram A - a hut, C - symbol of the moon ... this is how they were understood by Karel Teige: 1920's Czechoslovakian cultural radical, founder and principle theorist of the Devetsil collective, largest driving force of the local avantgard surrealists. Designer, student of architecture and visual art, Teige attacked with modern force in the exploration of the possiblity of an interweaving of verbal art and optical expression, industrial technology and mass media, inspired by the poem composed in 1923 by compatriot Vitezslav Nezval: at that time involved in Devetsil: Abeceda specifically. The same Nezval said on the subject of opera"It is intellectual exercise around the most elemental poetic object: the letters of the alphabet.". Language taken back to its minimal terminology, to the essence of spelling and fonetics of its building blocks in which derive the rhymeing quarters of every letter - 25 in total - of the latin alphabet. Ulterior developments of Abeceda made the ominous volume realized three years after Teige, that applied the notion of "poeticism" on the live body of Nezval's opera, that is, the symbiosis between visual and verbal signs which position the same fundamentals of Devetsil. In his words "The artistic fruit of Poetism is negligent, fantastic, exuberant, playful, anti-heroic and erotic.".
Conceived and built as a poetic dialogue between text and images, Abeceda manifests still now the real extraordinary expressive urgency. They are established elements, as well as the verses of Nezval, the photography of Karel Paspa that paints the suggested figuration from the original text on the dancer and choreographer Milca Mayerova (she also, like the same Paspa, adhered to the Devitsil movement). Factors combined from Teige with imprint photomontage techniques, "I have tried to create a photo-style of an exquistely abstract and poetic nature, translating in graphic form that which Nezval expressed in his verses as verbal poetry.", chiosava the author. Drawn into cultural oblivion following the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, the memory of Abeceda has resurfaced only recently. In 2001, when the work was at the center of the exhibition Dreams and Disillusions - Karel Teige and the Czech Avant-garde at the Grey Art Gallery in New York (occasions in which were presented the video of the subject of the year before at Wolfsonian-Florida International University), and again in the last months, inserted in the basic theme of the exposition Modernism - Designing a New World (1914 - 1939) hosted by the London museum Victoria & Albert.
Teige and the other members of Devetsil would have certainly liked the ulterior declination of Abeceda built by Larsen. The Turinian group, active for more than ten years (a passage documented by six albums, the last and most recent being Seies), that communicate an eclectic and multi-disciplined approach to musical material. Specimen, in that sense, the work done years ago by Winsor McKay with his cartoons, put to music by Larsen under the wording of Cartoanimalettimatti (a project premiered in 2002 during the festival Rimusicazioni) and in general the stateless attitude with which the quartet measures the codes of rock, after the zeroing of the same rock provoked by punk, as such to make Larsen more appreciated abroad than in their own country. Reasons for which the artistic interlocutors of the Turinian group tend to place themselves beyond borders. American are both the labels - Young God and Important Records – that have released their music so far, and many of their partners seen often by their side, Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) - in the configuration called XXL, or Matmos and the ex-Swans Michael Gira and Jarboe. All icons of the independent music scene across the ocean.
Some of these accomplices will play with Larsen on Abeceda : David Tibet, brain of the british “apocalyptic” project Current 93, project that also involves Baby Dee, transgender cult icon from the Manhattan off scene, same underground the cello player Julia Kent, of Antony and The Johnsons, belongs to, whereas Johann Johannsson, musician and producer that has worked with Marc Almond and Barry Adamson, comes from Island. Also on stage with the band will be the russian performer and choreographer Snejanka Mihaylova; together with Larsen, and the visuals by the Bellissimo team inspired by Tiege’s Abeceda, they will set up a concert/performance in 25 movements, one for each letter of the latin alphabet; elaborate and fascinating staging, exclusive worldwide preview for the Torino Settembre Musica festival and its audience.

Alberto Campo
www.settembremusica.it
www.larsen.to.it

New Important t-shirt on the apparel page....

There's a new t-shirt now up on the apparel page. The print is an electric blue on a navy American Apparel tee.

In the next week we'll be making the following June releases available:
Astral Social Club "Neon Pibroch" cd
Astral Social Club "Super Grease" lp ltd500
- Two new full lengths from Vibracathedral Orchestra/ABand man Neil Campbell

( r ) "In Pink" cd
2nd full length on Important from Larsen's Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo

Black Magic Disco self titled cd
My Cat Is An Alien collaborating w/ Tom Greenwood (Jackie O-Mother Fucker) & Ramona Ponzi

A few Important things...........

"These are rare talents for someone so young, and, given Poste e Telegrafi, Stefana sounds as if he'll be wielding them among the heavyweights for a long time to come. " Pitchfork

Pitchfork has just published a much deserved rave review of Alessandro Stefana's debut full length on Important. Read it here.

Pauline Oliveros has recently received a lifetime achievement award.
Read all about it here. There's a good chance we'll be releasing a comprehensive collection of her unreleased early electronic work soon.

New releases now available from: Smegma, Asa Irons & Swaan Miller, Pauline Oliveros, Merzbow & Carlos Giffoni. More info on the release page.
Also available is a limited edition Smegma t-shirt utilizing the nifty cover artwork from the album. Click the shirt image to link to our apparel page.
What's coming? New releases are on the way from Piano Magic, XXL (Xiu Xiu Larsen), Astral Social Club, Acid Mothers Temple, Eleh, Kawabata Makoto and loads more.

DELAYED:
Ocean/Conifer split LP. This is being manufactured now but missed it's street date. It should be available in 30-60 days. Limited to 1000. Judging by demand for out of print Ocean vinyl this will sell fast.
Larsen & Friends CD/DVD - Larsen live accompanied by David Tibet, Julia Kent, Baby Dee and Johan Johannson. Extremely elaborate and complex packaging has caused this precious release to be delayed. Should be ready in less than 30 days.