Ba Da Bing! US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Dreamloops marks the highly anticipated vinyl debut of 36's album, a masterwork from Dennis Huddleston (known as 36. This deluxe four-LP set spans two-and-a-half hours, featuring eight tracks, each a standalone 18-minute composition. Huddleston's signature style dreamlike, introspective midnight music, blends hypnotic loops with evolving melodies that are both captivating and deeply emotional. Originally released in 2019 as a cassette series, Dreamloops was revisited by Huddleston in 2023 to bring newfound clarity and cohesion. The tracks, while rooted in repetition, are far from static, continuously unfolding with subtle shifts in texture and emotion. Huddleston's music is enriched by intentional imperfections like tape hiss and wow & flutter, which add a layer of nostalgic warmth and depth. Dreamloops is a profound listening experience. Huddleston's ability to blend ambient warmth with haunting melodies is strong reasons his albums are so respected. He rewards deep and attentive listening. This collection, praised for its emotive and atmospheric power, continues 36's rising status in modern ambient music.

Review: The Dead C formed in New Zealand in the mid-80s and they remain one of the boldest bands to have emerged from the island's underground scene. Taking a supremely lo-fi, scuzzy approach to improvised rock, they've remained an enduring force with an international fan base as evidenced by their presence on Brooklyn label Ba Da Bing! Now that label are reissuing some of their earlier, hard to find work including this monolithic three-track entity, The Operation of the Sonne. It's a tangled, disorienting affair in which the guitar barely squawks through the thick layer of noise, but it's present enough to wrap around your skull and hold on tight. Not for the feint hearted by any means, but if you appreciate unbound free improvisation and noise rock, you'll definitely want to check this.

Review: New Zealand's foremost, fearless noise rock outfit The Dead C transmitted their dirt-caked sound to the world through a trio of albums in the 90s. Nowadays they're aligned with NYC label Ba Da Bing!, who deemed it high time these seminal slabs got a bigger audience. Originally recorded in the winter of 1994, The White House is a shade more direct than its gnarly predecessor The Operation of the Sonne, but only by a fraction. The trio's sound is pointedly inward looking and actively pursuing a fidelity which renders voice, guitar and drums as one coagulated beast. The fact it still kicks on the likes of 'Pitcher' despite this rejection of clarity is testament to the formidable playing and intent of the band, and perhaps the benefit of a fresh but considered remaster.

Review: After the squalling attack of The Operation of the Sonne and The White House, New Zealand noise rock provocateurs The Dead C had someone garnered attention and praise in 90s underground circles. In appropriately discordant fashion, they responded to their status of sorts by barrelling even further into obtuse noise and creating a double album's worth of sprawling, degraded epics. Despite their clear desire to not capitalise on recognition, there are some sharp hooks which would help the wider alternative rock landscape latch on, whether it's the tense, teasing drumming of 'Half' or the dissolving anti-anthem buried in the grimy folds of the title track. Ba Da Bing! take pride in delivering just the right kind of remaster and reissue for this and the other seminal Dead C records - a document of true originality and the gnarliest of noise bands.

Review: An artist whose life was often beset by tragedy and ill fortune, and one who arguably never achieved his true potential, Jackson C. Frank has had his songs covered by everyone from Simon & Garfunkel (his former flatmates) and Nick Drake to Laura Marling and Counting Crows. Moreover, the appeal of the reflective world-weary melancholy of these songs extends well beyond the mid-'60s folk circuit where he initially made his name. This three album collection is the definitive version of the man's work: remastered and sounding richer than ever, it contains 24 previously unreleased tracks, paying rich homage to a maverick and magical talent.

Review: In Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet, a dysfunctional group of performance artists undertake a month-long residency at an institute devoted to culinary disciplines. Food is interrogated for its sonic potential as the group mic-up, amplify, distort and transform what they cook in front of an audience. The noise produced by the characters in the film is driven by food blenders, overflowing cauldrons of gurgling soup and sizzling frying pans (courtesy of The Sonic Catering Band), yet the music that soundtracks the culinary capers is engorged with aching melodies and wordless, airy vocals. Contributors include Cavern of Anti-Matter, Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk and a Hacksaw and Trost's band, Roj (formerly of Broadcast), and Nurse With Wound. Flux Gourmet is presented in a lush 2xLP package with an ornate, colorful design and Strickland's detailed liner notes.