Rope Cosmetology: Casement Ledges Where Moss Has Grown...

Hello Again,

Finally. After months of adjustments, the fourth Rope Cosmetology album, Spezial Gedankengefüge, has been completed. Orders will ship tomorrow.



Here's the revised running order:

Week 1

101 Visit When in Sympathy (10:12)

102 Hamletmaschine (5:42)

103 I Must Mourn (5:30)

104 Otherwise She Agreed (5:36)

105 Grateful, But Some Fur (20:05)

106 All Is Lead, Corporeal (9:46)

107 Jean Heap Came Off His Pen (composite) (5:02)

108 Third Symbol May Stumble (12:41)

Week 2

201 Set Rehearsal (7 Apr 09) (52:07)

202 Dirges One Ruined (5:16)

203 Visit When in Sympathy (10:46)

204 The Cortege (8:07)

205 Rope Cosmetology (2:21)

The third disc, a 45-minute DVD of various short videos shot during (and around) the April sessions, will also be included.

Thanks very much for waiting on us to finish the album. It's a collection of rehearsal recordings, so there are occasional flubs, errors, missed beats, blown notes, etc., but THIS GROUP DESTROYS and I don't think you'll mind the odd imperfect moment.

Yours Faithfully,

Tom, for Tim, Ryan, Feri, and Balazs.

Brand New from Pándi Balázs!

TLASILA/Rope Cosmetology wonder Pándi Balázs has recently unveiled a new longform mega-mix. It shreds any and all shredders...

Grab it here!

(122 MB.)

TS

KSV Update...

Good Morning Lovelies,

Off to work in a few minutes, so while I'm murdering the fragile moments left before I bolt for the tram, I may as well give you the blood-flecked lowdown on the next raft of releases:

Careening toward you on August 1st, the long-delayed and much dithered-over Female Reggae Showcase album (Kid Traumgekrönt/U-Hölderlin Super-Clash!) will have mud all over its corsets, but will nonetheless be available. On August 15, you can finally get your mitts on the 2xCD Rope Cosmetology studio collection, Spezial: Gedankengefüge (Compound Thought). No need for hype on this one - those in the know know. Verstehen Sie? August 23 finds Katja Frigate's Coldplay Nancarrow Burzum Hines assemblage at last ready for public aring, and September 1 will mark the escape of our slightly delayed 25th disc (especially as we're already up to number 35!), the all-encompassing, all-knowing, all-deflecting mega-mix compilation Karl Schmidt Verlag: Was du nicht wissen wolltest? Also on this date, the 3xCD TLASILA set of recycled, re-positioned "hybrids," Die Fehde des Gemischs. We suggest you eat all your meds at once for that one...

As if all this weren't burden enough, on September 15 we'll begin our first, tentative steps into actual Verlag-ness with the publication of a new book of fellow traveler Tom Smith's photographs, and, on October 1, the release of Unpunished, an illustrated volume of TS's 2000-2001 reviews for the late, oh-so-great Bananafish.

Too pro for you? Well, many were reeling, swooning, coughing up clumps of bilious humors, nay, nearly dropping dead under the intense pace of releases. Engines have thus been reversed, and the gargantuan ship of state that is KSV GmbH will be steaming along - at least for the next few months - at a more regal clip.

SOLD OUT: Feinkost Lampe: 26. Februar (KSV 018); Tom Smith & Blue Sabbath Black Fiji - Ich werde nicht nackt sein (KSV 022); Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson & Tom Smith - Todesröcheln (KSV 026); Rope Cosmetology - Hinterzimmer-Apotheke (leibt) illegal Meztgerei (KSV 027); Silke Arp Bricht: 3. Juni (KSV 029); and Tom Smith - Hintergrundmusik (KSV 032). Many, many thanks.

ALMOST GONE: Three Resurrected Drunkards - Begriffsschrift (KSV 019) and Twenty Years of Sudden Infant: One Participant's Perspective (KSV 023). Get 'em while you can.

Coming later in 2009: 50 Karl Schmidt Fans Can't Have Jobs!?, a box containing all previously-issued KSV recordings and publications, two DVDs, three bonus CDs, and more, housed in a container ill-suited for stovepipe hat storage. A limited edition of ten units, and as each one will take a week or so to make, beware: the love will surely ooze forth...

Hope everyone is well.

Best,

Karl

Tending to the Flock...

I've been neglecting some of the related sites. Time, as always, is at a premium. ("Time management," a loathsome idea if there ever was one, isn't exactly my forte.) To address these crimes, I went into overdrive and added a blog update to the moldering Miss High Heel profile, uploaded three short videos, over 100 photos, and changed the layout of the Rope Cosmetology page (its Blogger counterpart is still woefully undernourished, but I'll be cross-posting updates and previous parallel entries soon), responded to long-standing friend requests at the TLASILA MySpace page (and there's still a lot of work to be done there, apologies in advance, etc.), added all the new and recently issued albums (and accompanying sound files) to the Karl Schmidt Verlag site (yeah, its Blogger doppelganger is also hurting - I'll get around to it, promise), even Twittered a few times yesterday, and responded to some follower tweets.

And one of these millennia I'll complete the latest revamp of the TLASILA web portal. Oy...

Happy Clattering,

Tom

Dioxins on the Wing...

Droogs!

KSV orders received through midday 7/7 hit Deutsche Post in the morning. Thanks, as always, for hopping aboard the Hellbound (albeit thoughtfully ergonomic) tram...



Clockwise from top left: Tom Smith - Hintergrundmusik (KSV 032); Three Resurrected Drunkards - Begriffsschrift (KSV 019); Schützenausmarsch: 5. Juli, Hannover (KSV 034); Silke Arp Bricht: 3. Juni (Rémi Groussin, Michel Henritzi & Junko Hiroshige) (KSV 029); Rope Cosmetology - Hinterzimmer-Apotheke (leibt) illegal Metzgerei (KSV 027); Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson & Tom Smith - Todesröcheln (KSV 026), and in the center, 27. Juni: Strict Sevens (A Dogma Diary) (KSV 033).

(Click above to view a larger version of the image.)

Until Tomorrow,

TS

Aufstieg in Fahrtrichtung verkehrt!

Hello Everyone,

I've been working quite a lot of late, traveling throughout Lower Saxony to various corporate strongholds where I parsimoniously impart the gnostic secrets of English. Apologies for falling behind in posts these last two weeks - I've been filling in the gaps whenever I have a spare moment.

Re KSV: still working out the kinks of the Female Reggae Showcase album. Chris Grier's parts are superb, as might be expected, but I'm being overly exact with the surrounding sonic elements. Just can't help myself... As for the long-delayed Three Resurrected Drunks opus, it's all done, save for a final round of dithering. Sometime next week?

In the meantime, I've completed two "instant" releases, both recorded on Saturday, the 27th of June. The first of these details the music I composed for a dinner party that began the evening, and the second documents a truly epic DJ party at that went down at favored hangout Silke Arp Bricht. Turntables were set up all over the club, and the inspired local jocks pulled out gem after coruscating gem. The howls of delight you'll hear were all too real...

I would have posted these new collections earlier in the week, but I reckoned it would be best to give everyone a respite from Karl's punishing regimen.

Here are the new releases:

KSV 032 Tom Smith - Hintergrundmusik



Recorded June 27, 2009. Mixed June 29-July 2, 2009 by TS at KSV HQ, Hannover. Initial playback (rough version), June 27.

01 Hintergrundmusik (68:45)

Composed and produced by TS.

Edition of 10.

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KSV 033 27. Juni: Strict Sevens (A Dogma Diary) (2xCD)



Recorded by Karl throughout the evening of June 27, 2009, at Silke Arp Bricht, Hannover, on the occasion of their "Strictly 7" Vinyl Only" party. One of the best, least despairing, most engaging nights out I've enjoyed in ages...

DJs: Celler Loch, Major Marks, Stan das unausstehliche Ehepaar, David 7Lynch, Dr. Sleaze, Micha Phonem, Magnetfolie, and Ratte Bruns.

Edited, mixed and produced by yours truly at KSV HQ, June 28-30.

101 23:30 to 1:50 (61:05)

201 2:10 to 5:25 (67:53)

Edition of 10.

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Pricing:

KSV 032 is € 8.49 within the EU, €10 outside the EU.

KSV 033 (a double disc album) is € 10.49 within the EU, €12 outside the EU.

Postage paid. Add € 1 for each additional album.

Send orders to: tlasila [at] gmail [dot] com.

Our sole distribution partner is Tochnit Aleph. Daniel is a brilliant fellow. Support him.

Coming soon, new releases from Rope Cosmetology, Katja Fregatte, TLASILA, and the Was du nicht wissen wolltest and Twenty Years of Sudden Infant compilations.

--

We're off to Hamburg tomorrow. Pix and sounds to follow!

The CP and I must soon turn in - work begins anew in the morning...

Love and Fortuitous Exits,

Tom

Commencing De-Icing...

The latest round of orders are aboard the KSV synchrotron and ready for accelerated delivery. Don't mistake the faux-oak outer shell of our ring collider for an ordinary living room floor!



(From bottom left, clockwise: KSV 026, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson & Tom Smith - Todesröcheln; KSV 031, Fête de la Tourette: 21. Juni, Hannover; KSV 029, Silke Arp Bricht: 3. Juni (Rémi Groussin, Michel Henritzi & Junko Hiroshige); KSV 028, Kenou Boyd Fromberg vs. Der Wolfsburger 32,002Hz Chor - The Silent Din (Abgeklärt Pts. 1-4); and KSV 027, Rope Cosmetology - Hinterzimmer-Apotheke (lieben) illegal Metzgerei. Click above for a larger version of the image.)

More new releases on the way!

Love,

Tom