The Rough & Wojtyla album Side R & Side W offers a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle that recreates a monochromatic landscape. Drones are supported by tentative jazz drum beats, and just when you think you have found some stability in the listening, ruptures happen and multiply. In perfect harmony, the two musicians dont take themselves seriously; they saturate their sonic world with long abstruse silences, before returning more furiously into the barely hidden chaos. The listener is constantly pushed around, always looking for something to hang on to without ever finding it. But concretely, what might one find in the music? Maybe Walter Ruttman and his Weekend (1930)? Or maybe Albert Ayler? Some Stockhausen? When the fury of the sax swirls around the siren, its a bit of Cluster taking a trip to the land of free-jazz that rips the thick veil of the oppressing yet liberating first part. Or this disco rocket, which for a very precise 15 seconds would have you believe that expectations might be met. But nothing that comes next resembles what has just crumbled. The duo is enjoying itself with this collage, this assembly of sonic decadence where nothing holds, not even the bearing walls. This structure is ready to crumble at any moment. The krautrock-inspired electro passages get entangled, but the experience of the two musicians prevents them from falling into the too obvious influence of Cans Tago Mago (1971). So what to do now? What is there to understand when the cellos cry on this fragment of post-rock without reference? The tapes are altered, sped up, it sways and it dances as if its inside a schizophrenic brain that cant stop spinning. This records 35 minutes will just hit you across the head. The music meanders constantly; funk, jazz, rock, all incorporated without an apparent link. The constant pace of ruptures leaves you almost dizzy. But this is not random, the whole is a serious abstract or cubic masterpiece you cant keep your eyes off of in fear of missing a nuance or a sound. And maybe thats it and nothing else: art. The capacity to take someones gaze and direct it towards an incomprehensible evidence. Personnel: Robert G. Rough - electronics, field recordings, various other instruments; Karol Wojtyla - drums, saxophone. Recorded, mixed, and edited by Robert G. Rough. Edition of 200. - Bam Balam.
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.
