Includes a 16-page booklet. "Psychedelic rock record collectors have been repeating the name Heitkotter as if it were a mantra ever since the first copy of a hand-made demo LP turned up in a Los Angeles music publisher's reject bin, with nothing more than that word scrawled across a plain white jacket. Now-Again Records embarked some years ago on what seemed like a fruitless crusade -- to find out more about this Heitkotter, his music, his story. In the process, we've visited the house where this confounding album was recorded, found Heitkotter's musicians, rescued the demo-recordings that paved the way for this album, uncovered unpublished photos and paintings by the man behind the album, and are now ready to present the definitive look into a musical vision equal parts dangerous and peaceful, nihilistic and optimistic. It's safe to say the world has never heard something like Heitkotter -- it is a unique piece of art unlike anything that came before or has come after it. The bizarre LP known as Heitkotter -- recorded in around 1971 and pressed in a run of less than twenty five copies -- was the culmination of one Stephen David Heitkotter's artistic career. Ross Dwelle, Stephen's childhood friend and the drummer on the record, describes the bedroom sessions in a handsome Craftsman home in Old Fresno as this young trio 'trying to play five songs written by a man losing his mind... probably stoned the whole time.' Heitkotter, this time issued as Black Orckid, as we assume Stephen would have wanted it -- is too complicated to be written off as a symptom of a greater ill, or lionized by a few (and dismissed by the majority) as 'outsider' art. It's a rare and vital look at 60s and 70s American rock through the sad story -- and incredible music -- of an untethered soul. And as we hope to show in enlightening more of Stephen's backstory, it can also be considered sweet, kind and optimistic. The Heitkotter tale is cautionary, but Stephen's music is as close to the sublime as American rock has ever ventured." - Now-Again
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.
