"Welcome to the second solo vinyl album by Jeffrey Alexander, best known these days for the lysergic guidance he provides for SF's Dire Wolves. But Alexander has underground roots that go far beyond his work with the Wolves. Back in the '90s, when still based in Providence RI, he ran the Secret Eye label, helmed a couple of superb acid-folk units and was the person most responsible for bringing not one, but two editions of the Terrastock Festival to the city Lovecraft built. Since relocating to the Bay Area, Alexander has spent a good bit of time turning Dire Wolves into one of the most elegantly psychedelic bands on the scene, and has also managed to lend an occasional splash of sound to Jackie O Motherfucker. And all of these different arcs make themselves felt on Meditations for Beowulf. Buttressed by two tracks with vocals, there are six instrumentals that explore many nooks and crannies of experimental logic, running from the doodly keyboard larking of 'Turn Your Lights Down Low' to the crackly, throbbing space-wheeze of 'Iridescent Clouds.' The two vocal tracks have the lyrics printed on the back, so you can sing along if you like. 'Beowulf's Trip' has a stoned vibe that will make fans of the MVEE sound tingle deep down in their souls. And 'Sunsplash Your Mind' is a sort of answer song to the well-known question, 'What was it like to do acid with John Lennon?' The answer is especially intriguing because it posits that Lennon was able to predict the names of Hüsker Dü's three LPs for SST. And also that he could distinguish between and actual LP and a mere mini-LP (Metal Circus) when doing his augury. Pretty damn hep. As is rest of this splendid face full of smoke. Breathe deep. You'll be glad you did." - Byron Coley, 2019. Edition of 250.
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.
