a recent feature in the BEAUTIFUL / DECAY art magazine

of drawings by John Collins McCormick

which were recently printed as a small book through Friends & Relatives

(very few copies still remaining = "buy in duplicate")

click'r HERE to see the spread

Recent review of Lougow's  "King Conversion" cassette!

"These two fifteen minute slabs of tape manipulation and percussion feel like nightmares I would have had after falling asleep with the television turned up much too loud as a child. The first involves wandering through a burning office complex. A drummer can be heard fooling around in a distant room as if chunks of the ceiling aren’t falling, but the smoke prevents me from ever actually finding him. When the situation finally grows hectic enough for me to call off the search, I open the first door I come to and find myself staring out at a crowded factory. The workers go about their business, stoically ignoring the machines falling apart only a few inches away. Is this just me? The second involves fighting off paranoid hallucinations in an abandoned hospital as the one-man cult who dragged me there conjures some violent spirits in the other room. The occasional peaceful mirage presents itself, but I hold on to the last one a few seconds too long, awaking to find half of my body already in the mouth of some new creature. When it finally swallows me whole, I slide down the chute, dropping back into the same hospital. Clearly, you need this." ----Cassette Gods

AVAILABLE NOW!!!

GROWTH SPERT - "Solar Maximum" cassette

(Jon Middleton brings a full length album of beautifully mastered sound quality, showcasing a collection of songs based around homemade scattered-clutter drum kits based in found metal objects and kitchen pans, heaving accordion, voice and accelerating scratch-board violin. Certain tracks sound as if they're a Crass side-project performed using trash, transmitted from an unknown island in Southeast Asia. Others are more in line mentally with a tranced teen rhythmically sorting through scrap metal while invoking an apocalyptic rendition of a cappella Ella Jenkins. Jon is originally from Jonesboro, Arkansas and currently resides in Minneapolis. Created in an edition limited to 50 copies.)

$4 (ppd in the u.s.a.)
send paypal to: friendsandrelativesrecords@yahoo.com
send cash to: 114 S. Huron St. #4, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Review from Foxy Digitalis for the
(D)(B)(H) / Seeded Plain & Hal Rammel split LP
--------------------------------------------------

"(D)(B)(H) and Seeded Plain split sides on this LP of improvised music. Both groups demonstrate multiple modes of listening and performing through unique instrumentation and performance. (D)(B)(H) plays live on Bloomington Indiana’s WFHB community rad...io employing Marty Belcher on saxophones, Justin Clifford Rhody on trumpet, tapes, guitar, harmonica and cymbals, Kray Korvella performs metal objects, tapes, guitar and radio and Daniel Wick rounds out the ensemble on percussion. Seeded Plain is Brian Day and Jay Kreimer on homemade instruments joined on this recording by Hal Rammel and his amplified palette.

The side long improvisation from (D)(B)(H) – “Bad for Business” – illustrates improvisation predicated on listening and emulation as much as it highlights ingenuity and performance. The instrumentation blends together as much as it stands on its own, at times the saxophones and guitars are intertwined in sustain so that it’s hard to discern feedback from howl. Yet there are moments of certainty wherein each instrument executes its known characteristics. The pace of the piece revolves around the transference of ideas between players, which come and go, entertained and forgotten at a leisurely rate. This is not to say the piece is without intensity, while silence and restraint are employed by all performers so are noise and abandon. There is an overall quality to this recording of finding or creating a language. There is as much frustration in the performance as there is elation. The balance between these two elements makes for an engaging listen.

Seeded Plain and Hal Rammel utilizes modified everyday objects as their instruments. Brian Day and Jay Kreimer use a collection of disparate materials ranging from tape measures to golf balls, however much of their instruments are built from raw materials such as metal rods, wood and various strings and springs. Both Day and Kreimer amplify their instruments and use some form of processing. Day opts for pedals while Kreimer uses a laptop. Hal Rammel’s electrified palette is a painter’s palette which he has attached tines to the edges making it similar to an Mbira which he can pluck or bow. There is a distinct richness in the tones which are culled from these creations which without their modifications would be unheard. The sounds range from lush bell-like sounds and singing bowls to grading scraping and attack heavy percussion. Many of the sounds could well be electronically generated due to the use of amplification, however the clarity and density of the sounds reinforces their acoustic origin. Seeded Plain and Hal Rammel perform with a more “all over” aesthetic as compared to the minimal moments of (D)(B)(H) – both sides engage the listener in an active listening situation that finds each play of the LP revealing new intricacies."

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=29752

AVAILABLE NOW!!!

"Dimentia Europa" by, John Wheatley (a.k.a. John Bellows)
(Sounds and songs of the street, sky and sea recorded throughout a series of travels in Europe onto a cassette deck, and then later layered and manipulated into a 37 minute long montage via 4 track. A flowing portrait composed to pull you through as a guide, while you melt into the couch or car seat...)
Full color covers & cassette labels. ----- Limited to 50 copies.

$4 (postage paid in the u.s.a. -- intl. orders write for postage cost)
paypal to: friendsandrelativesrecords@yahoo.com
cash to: 114 S. Huron St. #4, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

FRIENDS & RELATIVES 

records, books and objects
Complete Catalog -- Winter 2012

send all orders by paypal to: 

friendsandrelativesrecords(at)yahoo(dot).com

LP Records
(D)(B)(H) - "Masterpieces of Objective Reporting" ($12)
(D)(B)(H) / Seeded Plain & Hal Rammel - "split"($12)
(D)(B)(H) / Glen or Glenda - "split" ($12)
Mt. Gigantic - "old smiler" ($12)
Mt. Gigantic - "gleanings and gatherings" ($12)
Impractical Cockpit - "tour thanks tape 2" ($8)
Occasional Detroit & Gaybomb - "s/t" ($5)
This Robot Kills - "the over the phone lie detector test..." ($8)


7" records - ($4 each, unless individually priced)
Justin Clifford Rhody / Sam Gas Can - "split"
Justin Clifford Rhody / Uke Of Spaces Corners - "split"
Justin Clifford Rhody / Nocturnal Feeding - "split"
Justin Clifford Rhody / Fools - "split"
Justin Clifford Rhody / Gal & Lad - "split"
Amina Althea / Christian Brady - "split" ($2)
d.b.h. - "the size of your fist" ($2)
Dig Shovel Dig - "recent works from the two greatest composers in the universe"
Nocturnal Feeding - "cathy's motorcycle..."
The Foreheads / The Nazis From Mars - "split"
Impractical Cockpit / County Z - "split"

CASSETTE TAPES ($4 each, unless individually priced)
The Savage Young Taterbug - "e.p."
id'm thffft able - "hangin' flaccid like a wet lilac"
William S. Burroughs - "nothing here now but the recordings" ($5)
Growth Spert - "solar maximum"
"Dimentia Europa" by, John Wheatley (a.k.a. John Bellows)
Churchburners - "already done did"
Million Brazilians - "dyngia salon"
Lougow - "king conversion"
Ryan Jewell - "radio: vol. 1"
Dick Lickerer - "s/t" ($2)
Collection Of The Late Howell Bend - "pitter patter treat"
Aether Jag / Man-0-gram For A Maa'm - "split"
Colleen Donaldson - "oh i feel so sorry for you you have to get up"
Mt. Gigantic - "old smiler"
A. Restrepo (Nocturnal Feeding) - "paranormal activity"
Smut / At My Grandma's House - "split" ($2)
DJ Sony Playstation - "wall hugging mouse"
Dennis Ray Powell, jr. / Clare Hubbard & Justin Rhody - "split" ($2)
Sky Thing - "howdy cloud"
Amina Althea - "carpet collections" ($2)
(D)(B)(H) - "the world is a wedding, as wet as breath on glass"
(D)(B)(H) / Tiny Music - "split"
(D)(B)(H) - "bleach is the color of my true love's hair"
(D)(B)(H) - "not all girls just wanna have fun"
Justin Rhody & Matthew Himes - "romantic love"
Dysmal Abyss - "born to be born again"
Dysmal Abyss - "disguise the limit"


Compact Disks
Charlie Mcalister & Eric Ostrowski - "the year of suspended sap..." ($3)
Jay Kreimer - "peter and the moon trip" ($3)
Russian Tsarlag / (D)(B)(H) - "split" ($5)
Colleen Donaldson - "feeling good, feeling bad, feeling groovy" ($3)
Uno Moss - "the complete recordings" ($3)
Hackles - "interiors" 2xCD ($5)
Sky Thing - "howdy cloud" ($3)
Volume: 2 - compilation 2xCD ($3)
Shelf Life - "regarding the absence of floors" ($3)
Jack Wright Nonet - "live in detroit" ($3)
"SOUNDS" - compilation ($3)
Eye Of Vision - "s/t" ($3)
Jad Fair & Bill Wells - "whale" ($5)
Jad Fair & David Fair - "6 dozen cookies" ($5)
Uke Of Phillips - "p.b.h.t.s.s." ($5)
Matty Pop Chart / Welcome Home, Nemo - "split" ($5)
(D)(B)(H) - "why a preacher and not a priest" ($3)
(D)(B)(H) & Crude Hill - "a shredded leaf doesn't blow"($3)
(D)(B)(H) - "wave the old wave" ($3)
Mt. Gigantic - "old smiler" ($5)
Mt. Gigantic - "gleanings and gatherings" ($5)
Rymodee & Ghost Mice - "split" ($5)
Missing Murderers - "midnight hymns" ($5)
Breakway - "get down" ($3) (ONE COPY REMAINING!!!)
Man-0-gram For A Maa'm - "sorry, sorry, sorry" ($3)

"SLOW BREATH" - CDr BOOTLEG SERIES
(all titles $2 ppd each, editions of 10-20 copies)
Bontemper - "s/t"
Minds To Peace A.B. - "s/t"
Puke Attack - "s/t"

BOOKs & ZINEs
"Sliding Glass Door", by Justin Clifford Rhody (photo book - $15)
"Remake The Sleeper", by Andrew Restrepo ($4)
"SLO-MO" (illustrated) - issues #1-5 ($4 each, or all 5 issues for $12!!!)
John Collins McCormick - drawings ($2)
"7 Poems for Audrey Hepburn", by Michael Joseph Phillips ($1.99 - bootleg from 1968!)
"The Weather's Terrible", by A. Restrepo ($2)
DRAWINGS #1 - comics compilation/anthology ($4 - massive!)
DRAWINGS #2 - comics compilation/anthology ($4 - massive!)
"The Wonders Of The World: Recite" - screenplay, by Donna Sellinger & Madeline Ffitch ($2)

DVDs
"Alpaca", by Eric Ostrowski ($3)
"Hepatitis (B) Youth", by Jeremy Hogan ($5)
"Bum Shack", by Justin Rhody & Keith Wright ($3)



OBJECTs
Human Hair ($2.98)

Free listen/download of this album previously made available in a physical format through the Orphanology label (cd-r) and Friends & Relatives (split cassette with Aether Jag.)

Here's a music video for the recently released

LOUGOW cassette "King Conversion"!!!