"Penultimate Press releases one of the most audacious and unrelenting entries in the entire minimal cannon. A collection of recordings from a true American eccentric maverick pioneer, Sam Esh. Originally available as double-cassette in tiny editions on Mike Rep Hummel's OldAge/NoAge label these are now bound together on a double-CD set which does not interrupt the unrelenting creativity of Mr. Esh. Picture Moondog taking a turn for the far worse morphing into a way further crazed Legendary Stardust Cowboywho eschews any song tradition for an unrelenting hypnotic acoustic hurricane complete with glossolalia vocals. This is raw primitive repetitive street blues, an acoustic freight train barreling through your brain.
"It was Ron House that first steered me to the music of Sam Esh circa 1990. Sammy would bring his self-made cassettes to Usedkids Records and Ron thought it would be something that would interest me, which indeed it did. I had a cassette-only label I started in 1985 called OldAge/NoAge which had just started to garner interest in the outside world thanks to a RARE cassette review in Byron Coley's Underground column for Spin Magazine . . . Sam often sang and played in drug induced states hence this unique lingual hodgepodge streams direct from his altered temporal reality. A large part of it has to do with a tragic event in Sam's life 50+ years ago. He and his wife were in San Francisco during the late '60s and imbibed in most of the indulgences that time and place was known for. They 'took a trip' to a remote area of Baja Mexico, and during an extended acid trip Sam caught dysentery, a bacterial disease that results from contaminated food or water. Being he was in a rural undeveloped area at the time, and under the influence of said drugs Sam very nearly died from lack of proper medical attention, and was severely affected cognitively by this near-death experience. The result of this trauma was a cognitive state that has ever since required medications psychotropic medications that do not mesh well with alcohol which Sam has been on and off for decades. Regardless Sam liked to drink, and when he did he developed something of a 'Jeckyl-Hyde' personality as a result. Sam was never violent or antisocial, but often quite difficult to relate to for most people . . . Through six months of amazing shows (I drummed for the band he recruited to back him up called Hard Black Thing) Sam was quite charismatic on stage. We recorded the Incendiary release 'Sam Esh & Hard Black Thing Montezuma Baby Duck' released on Siltbreeze Records from '92..." - Mike "Rep" Hummel.
After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.
This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).
Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.
Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.
Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
