now available: ballast nvp077: Eric Lunde: Shoulda killed me when you had the chance...... (8 x cs, book, prints, and more!)

When it rains at ballast, it pours at ballast...

Eric Lunde: shoulda killed me when you had the chance…… (8x cs, book, thumb drive, hand printed postcard, hand-printed cassette artwork, two short essays, temporary tattoo) 

Housed in a wood recipe box with Lunde’s logo branded on the lid, this is the salient collection of Lunde’s earliest—and long unavailable recordings: 

Expositions of the Virus (1987)
Infected Text (1987)
Scramble (1987)
Form’s Forced Surrender (1987)
Operative (1987)
Live Censor / Censure Live (1988)
LLND reading—Sept. 20, 1991, Lower Links, Chicago IL (1991)
Bruise Grind Kill [as Accelerator] (1988) 

Making these releases available again is, for me, cause for celebration alone. I could easily talk about the merits of each cassette for longer than most people would appreciate. So, I’ll call attention to three elements. First, the Bruise Grind Kill cassette. This project of Eric’s is unlike the other recordings here in that there is no voice present: it’s all electric motor apparatuses on bass guitar and drums. The resulting audio has an aggressive Chop Shop feel, and it hits me just right. Second, the 1991 recording of Eric reading his book, LLND. Many moons ago Eric had mentioned he thought he had a recording of this but knew not where it was. 

Well, he found it, and as I was able to patch in a small element (24 seconds, from when the tape flipped over) from Karl Paloucek’s audience recording, we now have a complete recording. Which leads me to item 3, the reprint of Eric’s book LLND. I picked up a copy of this perhaps in 1991 or 92, a year (give or take) after it came out. The binding has seen better days, and there were some pages missing (which Eric included as part of a stand-alone erratum sheet). This edition brings everything together in one volume. (And for those wondering why there is a digital version—anathema to ballast—of all the audio included on the branded flash drive, it’s because this is a co-release with Eric’s label.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edition of 50 signed and numbered copies, $87 ppd in the US. rest of world, please get in touch for shipping.

now available: Steve Fors: it’s nothing, but still: japan/us tour, 2023-24 DVDR (ballastnvp070)

I saw Steve perform these pieces in Chicago in 2024 and immediately asked if he had an interest in releasing the material asa DVDR.
The audio, which sweeps seamlessly between field recordings, drones, and other electronic and electroacoustic elements is lovely, but the video elements accentuate and elevate the audio and provides a layer of densely personal and simultaneously opaque narrative to the performance.
When viewed sequentially, the archival home video, nature imagery and themes, medical processes, what may (or may not) be found footage from abandoned locations (think Priyapat), abstract geometric patterns, and Stan Brakhage-esque painted film cels create an overarching voyeuristic, eavesdropping puzzle of a narrative. Not unsurprisingly, the packaging for this release is also a wonderfully personal puzzle of artifacts that I am excited for folks to dig into and piece together.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edition of 32, $22 ppd in the US. please get in touch for shipping.

ballastnvp079: Blake Edwards & Simon Whetham: Uncultured Media (2x3" CDR)

After trading releases with Simon for about a year, he asked if he could process some of my sounds for one of his live performances.
When he sent me a recording of one of the performances, we agreed the next stop would be a formal, studio-composed collaboration.

This 2 x 3” CDR set unites our interest in the sounds of malfunctioning and repurposed equipment, found and salvaged equipment, and electroacoustics… and I daresay the result is exactly what we’d hoped for: audio that isn’t quite like what either of us would do individually yet complements each of our sound sources and composition aesthetics.

The release comes is a petri-styled dish sealed with medical tape and some resinous “uncultured” materials…

 

 

 

 

 

Edition of 24 numbered copies: $12 ppd US, rest of world, get in touch for shipping info!

ballast nvp075 (vertonen) and 076 (Pope Joanna) now available!

excited to share these two new releases, which are, coincidentally, both in 5" reel to reel boxes...

ballastnvp075—vertonen: on company business (CDR, 3” CDR, booklet)

the full-length CDR component of this release is an unabashed homage to the audio work of Eric Lunde. first, 80 to 90% of the audio was processed using the opycay device Eric gave me some 10 years ago. those familiar with Eric’s work will easily recognize its unmistakable aural signature. (for those unfamiliar, think of a device that accelerates the process of duplication exemplified by Alvin Lucier’s “I am sitting in a room.”)

layers of cut-up, duplicated, and distorted voices and cassette players churning, sputtering, and dying, obscuring and uncovering elements of communication and language à la the cut-up text ideas of William Burroughs and others.

the 3” CDR explores one of the outgrowths of “mind control” projects of the CIA’s MKULTRA project, and the booklet features cut-ups from declassified CIA documents.

edition of 24 signed and numbered copies.

$16 ppd US, overseas, let’s be in touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

ballastnvp076—Pope Joanna: Holy Furnace (CDR, booklet, ephemera)

honest to goodness power electronics. I have known Clarisse (Pope Joanna) for almost 25 years—we performed two shows in CA in 2002, did a very short east coast tour a year later, and then she pretty much put the project to rest and focused on her academic career. although we never fell out of communication, our chatting picked up a bit after she released a split cassette in 2010. I had long hoped Clarisse would make a recording of Sermon I—the piece she performed at the two shows in CA—partially because I had fond memories of the shows but also because it seemed a glaring gap in her fairly thin recorded output.

over the course of nine years, Clarisse recorded an iteration of Sermon I along with seven other pieces and has deemed this release the conclusion of Pope Joanna.

The lyrics, as Clarisse states, “are almost all based on the hypocrisy of religion and cloaked in the tropes of religious texts: sermons, prayers, etc.”

In addition to a booklet of lyrics and a thorough interview, the release comes with a reliquary of sorts: Clarisse cut up elements of her Pope Joanna costume (pontifical gloves, stole, and mitre) and attached them to the inside bottom of the box.

Edition of 26 signed and numbered copies.

$16 ppd US, overseas, let’s be in touch.

 

 

 

just released: ballastnvp072—tac: soundofnoise (7” lathe, CDR)

almost one year ago I released a 7” lathe and CDR set by tac entitled vibrations. and, lo and behold, I'm excited to share that a new tac 7” lathe and CDR is here!

soundofnoise further explores audio in what I would consider tac’s signature style: a focused capturing of source material, either organically produced or constructed by tom, that is sometimes treated—or combined with other recordings. the result? one might recognize a sound, but there’s something just a bit disorienting at play. the lathe has four shorter tracks (approx. 3 minutes each) that are focused distillations of this process, and the CDR (approx. 60 minutes) further weaves and juxtaposes audio past and current into a long-form aural terrain. 

as with almost all tac releases, the packaging is part of the puzzle…for this release, fire played a role in sealing the perimeter of the packaging (see photos for reference) and the inserts provide additional insight (and clues) into the audio on this release.

edition of 22 copies, $30 ppd in the us—folks overseas get in touch so we can figure out shipping.

(also, there are very limited copies of vibrations remaining. if you want to grab both releases, let me know.)

evicshen 10” lathe (nvp066), vertonen CDR (nvp073)

super excited to share that the evicshen lathe has landed! side 1 has two tracks that, for me, really do justice to the breadth of audio victoria creates.  

(if you aren’t familiar with her work, watch this.)

side two is a cut-up 7” flexi that has both tracks from side one of the 10” on it….so,
if you have a portable turntable with no tracking features, a needle that isn’t one you’d leave in a will, and something to bump the tonearm back in place, you’ll enjoy some pretty chaotic stuff.

edition of 25 numbered copies, $50 ppd in the us. overseas, let’s be in touch.

second, a new vertonen cdr, “crevarsse,” is now available. field recordings (direct, embellished, or enhanced), shortwave, drone, and damaged electronics. it’s also the prologue to a trilogy, “phothuum,” which will be released as a 3 CDR boxed set later this year.

edition of 32 signed and numbered copies, $12 ppd in the us. overseas, let’s be in touch.

ballastnvp068 and 069 now available!

 

excited to share two new releases. 

first up, ballast nvp068—dead edits: “Everybody, this has been one of the greatest tours of our life. We really, first, I’d like to thank the band. I’d like to thank our road crew. And I’d like to thank our lighting people. Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because  not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you.” (7” square picture disc lathe)

 

yes, that’s the title. 

 

 as with most dead edits releases, this started with a conversation—broadly about david bowie, but specifically about how utterly impeccable his “farewell speech,” as it’s come to be known, was delivered during what would be the last performance of the spiders from mars.

side one employs reduplicative strategies to degrade and evolve the “farewell speech” with various playback and recording methods to produced distorted and time adjusted “iterations” of the speech.

on the other side—because nothing can follow the farewell speech besides “rock and roll suicide,” dead edits approaches the song—as captured from the Odeon performance—with our own distinct treatment.

edition of 28 numbered copies, $22

ballast nvp069—vertonen: irreversibility (2 x CDR).

responses to death, of course, are situationally variable. irreversibility is, for me, one such response. disc one, “irreversible,” leans more towards recent work with layered, raw, or processed “small” sounds mixed with field recordings and various electronic disturbances. disc two, “death tick,” is a linked trilogy of pieces built primarily from tonal sine wave manipulation and was heavily inspired by the 1977 electronic music album Pythagoron.

edition of 22 signed and numbered copies, $12.

 

if you’re ordering from overseas, please get in touch so we can calculate shipping.

thanks as always for your support and interest!