Not content with simply offering a live album from their recent not-quite-a-reunion shows, Swans have printed up 1,000 woodblock-sheathed copies of their new double disc We Rose From Your Bed With the Sun In Our Head as part of a Kickstarter-like project for the band’s next studio album, The Seer.

Here’s an abridged breakdown, straight from the mouth of Michael Gira himself:

Represented in these discs are the best recordings we could provide of the (ever-evolving) shows. Those of you who attended the early shows realize that the first iterations of the music morphed and grew (seemingly with a will more expansive than our own) into something quite different by the end. This, in itself, was immensely gratifying. We also developed many new songs – or sonic events is perhaps a better way to describe some of them – along the way. In compiling these recordings and mixing them with my trusted friend and engineer Kevin McMahon (at Marcata Studio, Gardiner NY), we did our best to represent that transition… if you choose to acquire this 2 disc set, in my view it would behoove you to listen to the music at a generous volume level. This has absolutely nothing to do with an aggressive intent, as some mistakenly assume. Exactly the opposite, in fact. As with the live experience, it’s all about immersion…ALSO INCLUDED (ON DISC 2) herein are a few acoustic performances by me of songs that will be on the upcoming Swans album. These are the basic templates – the songs necessarily mutate into something else entirely by the time we’re through with them. These simple versions are included here to give you a picture of the process involved. They’re not meant as (and aren’t!) “great performances”. By the way, these are for YOU only. Please, please, please do not “share” these, or any of the other recordings on the goddamn internet or anywhere else. Would really appreciate your attention to this request!

Speaking of the packaging, the cover image is a drawing by myself that was expertly converted to woodblock, and then printed and numbered by my good friend Nicole Boitos. She also was kind enough to number them, 1 through 1000. I suppose if I weren’t perpetually holed up in the studio working on the new studio album, I would have printed them etc myself, but definitely the result would have been the smeared mess of a dim-witted 3 year old by comparison. Thanks to Nicole for doing such an expert job! But, I indeed served my time in the end. After receiving the finished prints I assembled the final package personally, signed each one, as well as did some additional coloration on each one (see pictures on this page). This is a labor of love. Or labor, anyway!

Check out more photos of this project below, and head to Young God’s official site for more details on how you can score everything from an executive producer credit on The Seer to a “simple, short, original song, acoustic guitar and voice, with customers’ name in the song, praising the customer.” Yes, really.

Battles have announced plans for a limited four-part remix series called Dross Glop. Set to launch on February 7th with contributions from the Field and Gui Boratto, it’s now available for pre-order at Warp’s Bleep store. Or you can simply sample both songs below…

Via Kompakt:

MOHN is Burger/Voigt’s new project (Jörg Burger and Wolfgang Voigt)

MOHN  first album will be published on KOMPAKT in the spring of 2012

MOHN is extremely decelerated, slow motion techno with and without bass drum, containing lots of plasticiser

MOHN is slow, sublime, sombre music, fusing different ambient styles to one new one

MOHN LIVE primarily is a non-stop concert-lecture for a seated audience (theatre), but it also works standing up(shoegaze, ambientbounce, ambientgrunge,…)

MOHN comes at a scale of 16:9

MOHN is opium for the people

Lets MOHN together

Check out the first of three trailer’s for MOHN’s live show below…

We realize the economy’s wrecked and all, but if you’re going to buy one post-Isis retirement plan this year, make it Aaron Turner’s first proper House of Low Culture LP since 2003. Always a magnet for prime guest players—Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’ Malley and Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Jay Randall both contributed to past HOLC releases—Turner welcomes two main collaborators on Poisoned Soil, his wife/Mammifer bandmate Faith Coloccia and percussionist B.R.A.D (Asva, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Burning Witch).

We haven’t heard the whole thing yet, but we did grab one of 100 limited “lead paint” pressings through Taiga here. You can also sample an excerpt of a song via the A.V. Club below…

Yep, tUnE-yArDs; blatant disregard for The Elements of Style, and all. Check out the Village Voice’s entire critic-fueled countdown here, our year-end coverage, and tUnE-yArDs talking about MC Solaar below…

Well then; good thing we checked our E-mail just now. Had we not, we may have missed out on “SteviePink Javascript,” a truly bizarre lathe-cut 7” from Ariel Pink and his old buddy R. Stevie Moore. Here’s the deal, via PIAPTK Records, which may still have a few of its 88 copies available:

An amazing 6 minute space droner collaboration from Ariel Pink & R. Stevie Moore. Only 88 copies were made, and they lathe cut onto 7” MIRRORS. Comes in silkscreened holographic drum covering, in several different colors. Almost every aspect of this record was made from recycled or upcycled materials. The mirrored acrylic was collected over several years from the by-the-pound remnant bin of a Tacoma plastic supplier. It came from the end pieces and overcut scraps of various projects and was otherwise destined for the dump. The holographic covers were hand-cut with a T-square and boxcutter (hence the jaggedness of some) from the end remnants of rolls of psychedelic drum-covering. Even the paper for the insert was picked up at a garage sale.

Have a listen to the pair’s very strange trip below, and check out other ‘unique’ vinyl releases from Casiotone For the Painfully Alone, Wooden Wand and more at PIAPTK’s online store…

Check out our exclusive Korallreven mixtape here and an extended version of their “Sa Sa Samoa” single (featuring Julianna Barwick) below…

Just when you thought At the Drive-In might be pairing their reunion gigs with a new record, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala have sprung this on us: the Mars Volta’s sixth album. Due out March 27th through Warner Bros., Noctourniquet features the following, according to a press release:

While Noctourniquet was, in typical Mars Volta fashion, written by and produced by Rodriguez-Lopez, the 13-track album explores musical territories previously uncharted in the duo’s 20 or so years of creating music together. The spectrum of musical and emotional textures conceived and created by Rodriguez-Lopez on Noctourniquet ranges from the opening bombast of “The Whip Hand” to the menacing crawl of “The Malkin Jewel” punctuated throughout by hypnotic melodies and borderline electro-ambient washes, most notably in the epic “In Absentia.” The bold diversity of the new material combined with Rodriguez-Lopez’s assured producer’s hand guiding The Mars Volta’s most confident and refined performances to date make Noctourniquet an early contender for this year’s most challenging and rewarding listen.

As with previous Mars Volta efforts, Bixler-Zavala’s lyrics trace a narrative journey with a defined protagonist, this time inspired by disparate elements including ’80s UK alt-rockers The Godfathers, Superman comic nemesis Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus.

In other words, good luck making any sense of it all, especially the song titles. Check out the album’s complete tracklisting and likely cover after the jump…

The Mars Volta, Noctourniquet (March 27th, Warner Bros.):
1. The Whip Hand
2. Aegis
3. Dyslexicon
4. Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound
5. The Malkin Jewel
6. Lapochka
7. In Absentia
8. Imago
9. Molochwalker
10. Trinkets Pale of Moon
11. Vedamalady
12. Noctourniquet
13. Zed and Two Naughts

Breton have released a free EP featuring four new tracks and a live show staple (the stuttering breaks and dovetailing strings of “The Well”) that originally appeared on the group’s Sharing Notes record. Originally founded as a film collective, Breton quickly took on a second life as a sample-driven, art-damaged pop group caught somewhere between British bass music (Untold’s always on-point Hemlock imprint released their Counter Balance EP a couple years back), dusty mixtapes and Tom Vek. (The fact that Breton remixed Vek and they’ve toured together makes perfect sense.)

While Breton’s debut album (the FatCat-endorsed Other People’s Problems) won’t drop until April 3rd, we’ve got their Blanket Rule EP below—it crashed their servers this morning—right alongside some early 2012 tour dates, more streaming music and a killer video…

Breton Tour Dates:
2/24 Turin, Italty – SRSLY
3/21 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
3/27 Dublin, Ireland – Academy 2
3/28 London, UK – Corsica Studios
3/29 Manchester, UK – Islington Mill
3/30 Leeds, UK – A Nation of Shop Keepers
4/1 Roubaix, France – La Cave Aux Poetes
4/3 Paris, France – Point Ephemere
4/4 Strasbourg, France – La Laiterie
4/10 Rouen, France – Le 106
4/13 Lyon, France – Epicerie Moderne
4/14 Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Caprices Festival

In denial about the need to head back to work tomorrow? Well, if you’re in New York, we can’t think of a better way to make poor decisions than to attend Pat Mahoney’s weekly WHOCARESWINS party at Nur Khan’s Electric Room in the basement of the Dream Hotel on 16th St. and 9th Ave. On this particular evening, the former LCD Soundsystem drummer will be joined by his longtime Special Disco Version partner, James Murphy. For more info on WHOCARESWINS, head here, or check out the pair’s two-part Beats In Space mix below…

James up first:
1. Edwin Birdsong – She’s Wrapped Too Tight
2. Department of Sunshine – Rude Boys
3. Man Friday – Real Love – Nite Groove
4. NYCC – I’ll Keep My Light In My Windwon – RCA
5. Joe Simon – Love Vibration – Spring
6. Roy Ayers – Hot – Columbia

Pat takes over:
7. Roundtree – Hit On You (Remix) – Aria
8. Sabata – Man For My Lady (Re-Edit) – Numero
9. Sinnamon – Thanks to You (Inst) – Becket
10. Was (Not Was) – Wheel Me Out – Antilles
11. Loose Joints – Tell You Today – Island
12. Magic City feat Fire – Let’s Rock – Sunshine Sound

Back to Jimmy:
13. Trigger Finger and The Space Cadets – Defend It U (Video Freak) – Solid Platinum
14. Gypsy Lane – Cold Fire – Vanguard
15. Special Request – Salsa Smurph – Tommy Boy
16. Image – Feel The Power – Musique
17. Mandrill – Dance Of Love – Arista
18. Hercules – 7 Ways To Jack – Dance Mania
19. Hot Chocolate – Mindless Boogie – RAK

Pat’s back:
20. Trussel – Love Injection – Elektra
21. Hot To Trot
22. Touch – Me And You – Brunswick
23. First Choice – Dr Love (Marshall Jefferson Edit) – Salsoul
24. Shalamar – Right In The Socket
25. Tasha Thomas – Shoot Me (With Your Love) – Orbit
26. Cloud One – Atmosphere Strutt – P&P

James Murphy:
27. Steve Miller Band – Keeps Me Wondering Why – Capitol
28. 10CC – Good Morning Judge – Phonogram

Pat Mahoney:
29. Amon Duul 2 – Spaniards & Spacemen – Vinyl

Spuds:
30. The Messengers – In The Jungle – Rare Earth
31. Hercules & Love Affair – Shadows – DFA

Pat:
32. Quartz – Beyond The Clouds – TK Disco

James:
33. Time Bandits – I’m Only Shooting Love – CBS
34. Diamonds Dub (Tangoterje Edit) – Supreme