2024 Release Extavaganza - Elkhorn/Gangloff, Acid Mothers Reynols, Daniel O'Sullivan, Tomutonttu ja Lehtisalo, Mahti, and Elkhorn

Pre-amble - we’re on Instagram now for some reason at @vhfrecords

Haven’t exactly been good about updating the news here (and have lost track of how many people have told me “I didn’t realize you were still doing the label, I only buy re-issues of records I’ve already bought a few times, did you get the new Television audiophile LP?”), so might as well just catch right up with news of all of our 2024 releases (one more might sneak out before EOY if we’re lucky). We’re making them all available for pre-order now. We’ll start shipping the Acid Mothers Reynols this week ahead of it’s May 17 release date. We’ve already got all of these in hand, so feel confident in knowing you’ll actually get them soon if you choose to order!

Here’s the details:

• vhf#159 Elkhorn & Mike Gangloff “Shackamaxon Concert” LP - Beguiling acoustic sound sheets with Elkhorn laying out the environment while Gangloff’s hardanger fiddle goes deep over the top. Amazing study-worth Jake Blanchard jacket. (This one has actually been out for a bit - thanks to all who have ordered!)

• vhf#160 Acid Mothers Reynols “Vol 3” LP - New volume of collaborations between these prolific international wanderers, which combines their unique sounds in a jammy and psychedelic way that will surprise.

• vhf#161 Daniel O’Sullivan “The Pastoral Machine” LP - Fourth volume of Dan’s Library Music series, a cosmic and more electronic set of miniatures perfect for sound tracking whatever activity. Beautiful collages (including on the printed inner) by Dan, an accompaniment to his forthcoming art book on Timeless Editions.

• vhf#162 Tomutonttu ja Lehtisalo s/t LP - Totally fun and brilliant Finn electronic madness from these Circle and Kemialliset Ystävät vets, surfing the intersection of Cluster, post-punk/wave, etc. Memorable short tunes and earworm vibes.

• vhf#163 Mahti “Konsertti I” 2xLP - Deeply cosmic and beautiful string and electronic sound from members of Circle w/Finnish folk musician Hannu Saha (on the Kantele, a zither-like string instrument). Double LP on limited green vinyl!

• vhf#164 Elkhorn “The Red Valley” LP - Debut standalone VHF LP by the Elkhorn duo of Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard, a tight set of six studio recordings in a variety of moods and featuring a lot of new sound textures. Limited pink vinyl in a jacket by SEEN Studio.

vhf#164 Elkhorn "The Red Valley" LP

vhf#163 Mahti "Konsertti I" 2xLP

vhf#162 Tomutonttu ja Lehtisalo s/t LP

vhf#161 Daniel O'Sullivan "The Pastoral Machine" LP

vhf#160 Acid Mothers Reynols "Vol. 3" LP

vhf#159 Elkhorn & Mike Gangloff "Shackamaxon Concert" LP

All of these are available to order now and will also be available on our Bandcamp Site. Excellent pressings from Smashed Plastic in Chicago, and all include download cards. Available to shops through Revolver USA - Street dates are May 17 (Acid Mothers Reynols); July 12 (Tomutonttu ja Lehtisalo and Mahti); and August 9 (Daniel O’Sullivan and Elkhorn).

Sunburned Hand of the Man and Daniel O'Sullivan - essential new jams available April 28, 2023

We’ve opened pre-orders for new releases by Sunburned Hand of the Man and Daniel O’Sullivan - both will metaphorically hit the streets on April 28, 2023. Sunburned’s “Hypnotape” CD is somehow their VHF debut after 30+ years of East Coast Freakout Crew parallel existence - we’ve finally joined forces for this epic jam!

Daniel O’Sullivan’s “The Physic Garden” is the third volume in his series of LP’s of music recorded for legendary UK Library Music org KPM, and is a sparkling collection of miniature jewels with a brilliant jacket by Dan and Mark Titchner and pressed on fab green vinyl.

These titles will also be available on our bandcamp, of course

Ashtray Navigations & Mike Gangloff - new LPs out November 25, 2022

Smashing new LPs from Ashtray Navigations and Mike Gangloff have arrived at the HQ and are available to order now. Also available on https://vhfrecords.bandcamp.com and in the usual stores, mailorders, and big box retailers….These are both pressed in Virginia by Furnace and the Ashtray Nav is even on aesthetically complimentary green vinyl.

And! Jack Rose’s all time classic Kensington Blues is available on Compact Disc again after being out of print for many years in that format. Exactly the same as previous editions, so no need to buy it again, but if you’ve been wanting one for the car or something, here ‘tis. LP’s are currently sold out but will be back eventually.

We’ll be back soon with details on Daniel O’Sullivan’s The Physic Garden LP and Sunburned Hand of the Man’s Hypnotape CD. Here’s Dan’s LP on press!!!

Available February 19, 2022 - Flower-Corsano Duo "The Halcyon" LP

We've opened up pre-orders for the Flower-Corsano Duo LP "The Halcyon" - merely the first LP since 2009 from the world's greatest Drums/Japan Banjo duo. Not like anything else and I've actually got the LPs in hand (an uncertainty in our current world) so this will be in stores/your home/etc on February 19! It's great and will look amazing in your teeming basement LP piles (demonstrated below). Thanks Mick and Chris!!!

Also - we’ve clawed back a small quantity of the Black Twig Pickers “Friend’s Peace” LP and Fern Knight “Castings” LP from our distribution partner - likely this is the last of these we’ll have on vinyl, so if you’ve been waiting for them to be on sale for $5 or something, now might be the time to reconsider.

Eight Point Star LP (and other news)

Pre-order - available July 30, 2021!!! Remarkable debut LP by new Cosmic-Appalachian string band, birthed from the same Virginia firmament that has brought you Pelt, Jack Rose, Black Twig Pickers, and Spiral Joy Band. Led by Mike Gangloff’s droning fiddle and Matt Peyton’s fingerpicked guitar, Eight Point Star mines the modal traditions of both old-time Appalachia and far-out drone music to produce beautiful tunes that are equal parts memorable and psychedelic. Available on vhfrecords.com and our Bandcamp site. Note that we actually have the finished LPs, I know pre-orders in the era of indefinite waits for LP manufacturing are pretty weird - order with confidence! Get an extra for your neighbor, kids’ teacher, boss, etc!!!

Also coming soon - Daniel O’Sullivan’s “Fourth Density” LP. This is still in the pressing pipeline, but will look rad according to this AI simulation:

Also - we were able to claw back some copies of the immediately sold out Black Twig Pickers “Friend’s Peace” LP - a few are still available here and on our Bandcamp.

2021 Update - Black Twigs & Daniel O'Sullivan LPs, FSA repress, etc

(Pre-amble - a reminder to follow our Twits for slightly more frequent updates! - twitter.com/vhfrecords)

NEW! The Black Twig Pickers! "Friend's Peace" is the first VHF release by the gang in many years, and will be released April 2, 2021. You can pre-order it now from VHF or our Bandcamp. It's a beautiful album, with "Moonshiner," droning fiddle, upbeat dances, an acapella lament, acoustic guitar wizardry, and a long elegiac finale. 

Also - this technically snuck out at the end of 2020, but Daniel O'Sullivan’s "Electric Māyā: Dream Flotsam and Astral Hinterlands" LP is your 2021 best friend. First in a series of 3 LPs of Library Music miniatures from composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan (Æthenor, Ulver, This is Not This Heat, etc). For heads, the term “Library Music” in 2020 might evoke dodgy Italian gray market LPs and crate diggers hunting for “funky breaks” - but London’s venerable KPM Music is working with groundbreakers like Daniel to open up new avenues for composers to experiment. Electric Māyā includes 18 gems, beautifully arranged and recorded specifically for the challenge of the short form. These are fully realized tunes, not just clips from the middle of some jam to be used on late night TV. The obvious touchstones here are Eno’s On Land and Music for Films, but Dan’s touch on multiple instruments and knack for melody extend the music far beyond mere atmospherics. There are plenty of drifty segments, each rendered fully realized - a timely reminder that a well-made drone or bit of ambience can set its spell in 2 or 3 minutes rather than 30. In a beautiful jacket designed by Dan and Turner Prize-nominee Mark Titchner.

We’d sold out (!?) of our recent-ish deluxe edition of Flying Saucer Attack’s s/t 1994 debut LP, but an exact repress is available again! This edition was cut by Golden, is housed in a super heavy Stoughton “tip-on” jacket, and is a wonderful-sounding RTI audiophile pressing. Also includes the original insert and a download card.

We’re working on some new releases for later this year - the debut s/t LP by Virginia’s Eight Point Star and the 2nd LP in Daniel O’Sullivan’s Library Music series (“Fourth Density”) are already at the pressing plant, and a couple of other exciting releases are in the prep stage. And we’re still having our blowout sale on many titles, thanks to all who have indulged so far.

2020 Update - New releases, huge sale continues, warehouse finds, etc

Hi - I supposed this isn’t much of a news blog if it’s only updated once a year, but here we are….We bring you two big new releases: Richard Youngs’ “Ein Klein Nein” LP (vhf#149) and the boggling Ashtray Navigations “Greatest Imaginary Hits” LP + 4CD Set (vhf#148). (note that these are also available on our Bandcamp site). We will be working with our distributors on a full in-store/mailorders/etc release for these titles - everything is still on hold for now, but hopefully we can get these out to your preferred retail location soon.

Also - we’re continuing to add new items to our 29th anniversary sale (formerly 28th anniversary sale) - many titles are heavily discounted, including CDs for $2 and $4 and LP’s from $5. Also - for the titles that we’ve placed on sale, we’ve reduced the price of the Bandcamp download to match. These are wonderful records - the low prices are due to the reality of the 2020 biz, not the enjoyment to be had once they reach your home/car/etc.

And - we found some copies of titles that we thought were sold out - including Pelt’s “Bestio Tergum Degero” CD and the Richard Youngs/Simon Wickham-Smith “Lammergeier” CD.

Finally - there’s a few titles that are showing as sold out - the Flying Saucer Attack LPs, Pelt’s “Untitled” CD - we’ll have those available again as soon as we’re able to receive shipments from our San Francisco distribution warehouse.

Arriving June 7 2019 - New LPs by Astral Social Club & Grumbling Fur Time Machine Orchestra, and Bruce Russell & Luke Wood!

Dear friends, we emerge from the basement laboratory to bring you two (?!) LP new releases: The debut collaboration “Plasma Splice Trifle” (vhf#147) by the dream team of Astral Social Club & Grumbling Fur Time Machine Orchestra, and the debut “Visceral Realists” by the mighty Bruce Russell & Luke Wood. Both are excellent pressings, include a download slip, and are wonderfully packaged. You can stream them in their entirety now and pre-order for June delivery. Also available via our bandcamp site and in stores (hopefully).

Buy:

Astral Social Club & Grumbling Fur Time Machine Orchestra “Plasma Splice Trifle” vhf#147 LP

Bruce Russell & Luke Wood “Visceral Realists” vhf#146 LP

If you buy the Astral Social + Fur LP, you can turn it over and see what famous prog-rock LP the back cover reminds you of.

The Bruce & Luke LP is in a letterpress and debossed cover with riso prints by Luke Wood tipped on to the front and back. Also includes two very smart inserts.

In July or August, we’ll have a first ever vinyl edition of Pelt’s “Pearls from the River,” followed in the fall by new LP’s from Richard Youngs and a 20th Anniversary LP+4CD set by Ashtray Navigations.

New Items added to 27th Anniversary Sale, New Items on Bandcamp

Added several new titles to our ongoing 27th Anniversary Sale - lots of great albums discounted, many 50-60% off, including plenty of vinyl, multi-disc sets, etc. Please help us reduce our basement squalor, to prepare for future squalor.

Also - we added a bunch of new back catalog titles to our Bandcamp site, including 8 which are "pay what you want." (Almost without exception, people want to pay $0, but hey, do what thou wilt.)

New Releases (Slowest Lift, Flying Saucer Attack), Sale Items

Finally - some new releases! We're very pleased to announce two new LPs available Dec 1, 2017. You can preorder them now! Flying Saucer Attack's "In Search of Spaces" has been unavailable since shortly after its 1996 release. The new edition was produced in collaboration with the band and Bruce Russell, who released the original CD way back when. The Slowest Lift LP is the debut long-form release by the duo of Sophie Cooper and Julian Bradley, and is a unique psychedelic-electronic hybrid. You can listen to both releases in full on the pages below:

Flying Saucer Attack In Search of Spaces 2xLP

$20.00

sale

The Slowest Lift s/t LP

Sale Price:$8.00 Original Price:$15.00

Also - We've put a number of items on sale, in some cases for more than 50% off. You can seem them with the little sale icon and new price on the all releases page. Lots of steeply discounted, excellent stuff that we'd like to find a home for, including plenty of vinyl. 

VHF on Bandcamp

I just found out that BANDCAMP is a thing, so we're on it at http://vhfrecords.bandcamp.com

At the moment, we've only got a handful of titles up there, but we'll be working on adding more over the next few weeks, including some releases that have been out of print and might not be available for download anywhere - or maybe they are, I'm not sure at this point. Anyway:

2016 Releases - Æthenor's Hazel LP/CD, Jack Rose LPs

Dang, I totally forgot about this part of the web site. Æthenor's Hazel LP/CD is up for preorder now - http://www.vhfrecords.com/catalog/athenor-hazel-lpcd-vhf140 - ships August 26th. Stream in full now on the link above.

Also - very happy to announce that in collaboration with Jack's estate and Three Lobed Recordings, we're restoring Jack Rose's original catalog of LP's to print. We'll be issuing new editions of Red Horse, White Mule; Opium Musick; and Raag Manifestos on September 23, 2016. The LP's are generally faithful replicas of the LP's as they were originally issued by Eclipse in 2002-2004. The new editions are new cuts from Jack's masters and are being pressed at RTI. Each LP will include a download card. We'll put up a pre-order link soon. Also - Kensington Blues will be available again on LP around the end of July.

Summer 2015 Releases Preview - Vibracathedral, Ashtray Navigations, Kawabata

Hey girl - assuming that pressing plants get all those record store day classic rock LP's pressed and out of the way, we'll have 3 new jams for you to enjoy this summer!

vhf#139 Vibracathedral Orchestra - Rec Blast Motorbike LP - Return of the mighty “classic” lineup of the VCO with their first new music in many years. Here the quintet of Michael Flower, Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport, and Julian Bradley (joined by raconteur John Godbert) feature in a set of upbeat tracks that put the group's radical instrumental strategies into a package of full on rock action. LP + download code

vhf#138 Ashtray Navigations - A Shimmering Replica LP + Bonus CD - First ever VHF release by the 21-years-running Ashtray Navigations, bringing one more core piece of the UK freakout underground back to the mothership. On this generous 100 minute package, Phil Todd and Melanie O’Dubshlaine essay a kind of guitar and electronics exotica, with burbling rhythms, Heldon-like laser guitar leads, field recordings, synth racket, etc – the totally fun take on Les Baxter’s all-time classic “Quiet Village” (here wittily retitled “Quite Village”) is a good example of the explorer spirit at work here. LP + Bonus CD + download code

vhf#133 Kawabata Makoto - Astro Love & Infinite Kisses 2LP - Astro Love is the first widely available solo release in several years from Kawabata, emerging from a period of relative quiet with this blockbuster Krautrock-flavored epic. On the whole, this a lovely and impressionistic record, the other side of Makoto’s outrageous works with Acid Mothers’ Temple. 2xLP + download code

Richard Youngs - NO FANS COMPENDIUM 7CD Box - Available April 6, 2015

Update - Order NOW for April 6 shipment!!!

Hey goobers - extremely pleased to announce the April 6 2015 release of NO FANS COMPENDIUM by Richard Youngs. See below for a 40 minute audio sampler, the full track listing, and some snaps of the folios being printed by the mighty Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR. We'll announce full ordering details soon.

NO FANS COMPENDIUM is a deluxe limited edition 7 CD set of Richard Youngs’ recordings for his long-running private NO FANS label. 5 CDs are Richard’s personal selection from his NO FANS releases, all of which were issued in tiny editions (20 – 50) and only available for sale at Richard’s rare shows or at Glasgow’s now defunct Volcanic Tongue shop. In addition, Richard has included two full discs of material previously unavailable in any form - a recording from 1989 pre-dating his earliest widely-known work, and a new recording from late 2014. Unbeatable as a survey of Richard’s career, everything here is of equal quality to his over-the-counter releases. In keeping with his penchant for unpredictable stylistic mashups and reinventions, there are folky laments, achingly beautiful “songs,” tape collage, rude prog noise, minimalist experiments, multi-tracked vocals, etc. Each disc is housed in an individual card folio with artwork repurposed from the original releases. 

Disc 1 - 20th Century Jams
1. 19 Used Postage Stamps    
2. Inner Sky Part II    
3. May Verses    
4. Live In My Head

Disc 2 - 21st Century Jams
1. Live In Glasgow 2000
2. Easter 2001
3. This Life Gives Force
4. Sun Lay Lay

Disc 3 - Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi/Live in Salford
1. Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi 1
2. Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi 2
3. Multi-Tracked Shakuhachi 3
4. Live in Salford

Disc 4 - Somerled/No Home Like Place
1. Glasgow Device 
2. Mixolydian Sea Tone       
3. Revolution, Again
4. Alarms I
5. Alarms II
6. No Home Like Place

Disc 5 - Three Handed Star/Garden of Stones
1. Three Handed Star
2. Garden of Stones 1
3. Garden of Stones 2
4. Garden of Stones 3
5. Garden of Stones 4
6. Garden of Stones 5

Disc 6 – Harpenden!
1. Green Ink
2. To The Hill
3. The Dead Fly
4. Setting for Voices

Disc 7 – Thought Plane
1. Thought Plane

Jack Rose - Kensington Blues (Early Version)

Every December 5th now brings an avalanche of pics, videos, and music to commemorate Jack's 2009 passing - here's a little contribution I found during a recent cleanup of our archives. This is from a CD that Jack sent us as a proposed new release in early 2005. The letter below references a phone conversation where he mused that he might instead use the tracks for a few small-run singles and EP tracks that he'd promised various labels. Contrary to his heritage as a free-wheeling improvisor with Pelt, Jack worried over a fairly small repertoire for his solo shows and recordings, reworking songs over and over until he was completely satisfied with how he played them. Eventually, he ended up scrapping this sequence and re-recording some of these songs (with a couple of substitutions) to produce the Kensington Blues LP/CD that remains his masterwork.

Astral Social Club "Fountain Transmitter Meditations" LP + Bonus CD - Out Oct 14, 2014

The long-awaited new Astral Social Club LP w/Bonus CD (+ download code) will be here October 14, 2014! You can stream it now:

H. Usui "Sings The Blues" LP+CD OUT NOW!!!

OUT NOW!!!! First couple of dozen copies will include a sleeve for the CD of the album that's included with the LP that Hiro made himself.

sale

Stream all tracks from our releases on vhfrecords.com and soundcloud.com

As part of reworking our long neglected web site, we've added the ability to stream the entire contents of all of our releases - even the bad parts. You can listen to each release on its individual page, or go to our soundcloud site. We'll eventually add unreleased and out of print titles. 

Spring 2014 Releases - Sparhawk/Carbonara and Hiro Usui

Very pleased to announce two new releases for Spring 2014, our first in almost 2 years: 

vhf#135 - H. Usui - Sings the Blues LP (+CD)

Solo darkness from Japanese legend (Ghost, Fushitsusha, Marble Sheep, August Born, etc). Raw and gripping, a darker version of his all time classic Holy Letters (vhf#84). Limited edition includes CD version of the album. 

vhf#134 Jesse Sparhawk & Eric Carbonara - Tributes & Diatribes CD

2nd VHF release of beautiful cosmic duets on level harp and Indian guitar by this Philadelphia area duo. If you like Popol Vuh, Fahey, Third Ear Band, ragas, etc - this is for you.