Chocolate Monk

[Balor/SS1535]

Some of the posts in the "listening now" thread reminded me of this label, which seems to have an interesting mix of noise and improv music of various sorts.  I don't own anything from them, but the prices on the website are very amenable to sampling.

I was, however, excited to see a project local to my part of SoCal on their current releases page: https://vcunit.bandcamp.com/album/vcu

Best releases and projects to check out?

[Skin Flick]

I was, however, excited to see a project local to my part of SoCal on their current releases page: https://vcunit.bandcamp.com/album/vcu

the saxophonist was at the show we last saw each other at. he is a ripper of a player and a real solid dude.

[Balor/SS1535]

I was, however, excited to see a project local to my part of SoCal on their current releases page: https://vcunit.bandcamp.com/album/vcu

the saxophonist was at the show we last saw each other at. he is a ripper of a player and a real solid dude.

I've seen him several times---each very enjoyable!  Didn't realize he was present at Banjo's fest, though?  (I'm probably just misremembering something obvious.)  Birdeater was trying to get him to do a tape a while back too---I was supposed to help record it, but it never happened.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

I'm not an expert at all and only know a small number of releases from the label. There is a wide variety of material, but I really enjoy these:

Dylan Nyoukis and Karen Constance - The Soup Trilogy

• Background Noise For Eating Soup
• Recycled Soup
• The Final Fumes From The Soup Bowl

I also love all of Karen's solo material. You can more or less pick any release and find gold. The solo material from her and Dylan often uses the same source material and techniques, but Dylan's work I find to perhaps contain more "humour" and absurdism, whereas Karen's feels more "serious." At least that's my impression from the releases I'm familiar with.

Dylan and Karen's earlier work as Blood Stereo is also very worth checking out. Your Snakelike King and Two Paths to Outer Edge are great places to start.

Bren't Lewiis Ensemble has the occasional release on there and is worth exploring if you are looking for somewhat similar audio collage to Dylan and Karen's style. Constant high-quality output from this collective of artists.

The Carousel release in 2025 was fantastic. It's called, Awakened Spirits Of Ancient Mischief.

Also check out the collab from Howard Stelzer & Neil Campbell – Their Crowning Achievement from 2020. Really great album.

[k.p.g]

Finding the gems in this label can be a pretty daunting task, as the sheer volume of releases is larger than most.  I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, but if the freer / more improv-based side of things is your bag, you'll have a good time here. 

It's probably pointless to point out a releases by the likes of Dilloway as being good, but, well... The Hale Bay Paws collab with Mike Collino might be one of the best entries in both of their respective catalogues, and CM put it out first.

Charlie Draheim release Legal Crotch Ambient is another standout title from older times, being more akin to some weirder Wiese-style pummeling than the usual, drugged-out affair that he was generally known for.

Newer titles from artists like Max Julian Eastman, Cody Brant & Caspar Sonnet have tickled my fancy as of late.  The aforementioned Carousel disc is also a standout... god damn.

[Duncan]

Currently spinning the Sodium Tail - Occultations 2 disc that recently came out on the label. It's slow paced stuff with a lot of gently creepy, atmospheric tonal stuff being underpinned with scraping object noises. Quite ethereal. Not typically something I'd be that into but it's working to kick off saturday morning and carries with it an oddly Henning Christiansen vibe in places.

Agree with most assertions about the label here: too large a discography with limited editions to really be able to dig through and collect in retrospect. Been through so many eras too, very hard to make recommendations because will anyone be able to find em?! I usually get a few things from each batch and it's still hard to keep up with. Also agree that anything involving the in house musicians i.e. Nyoukis/Constance is worth grabbing.

Recently the label started putting out larger runs of pro glass mastered CDs. Maybe just 2 releases so far?


Dylan Nyoukis & Seymour Glass - No One Cares About The Drama Queen's Potassium Intake
Jérôme Noetinger - intensior corda sonus

Both great.

One thing I know is that the label boss is usually pretty happy to send files for free if there's a semi recent sold out release you're interested in. I can also say that with Polly Shang Kuan Band recently having reassembled into a new lineup and doing loads of shows there's probably a good chance we'll see a release from them soon and that one is going to be very worth your time.

[aububs]

patchouli & echoes comp
stone shit unicorn
take heart, the night is over
spandex booze hound
the borful tang from 2008
gang rape of a short bus rider
VIOLENT AMBIENT comp
broken brain + from the lips of lepers comps
swissotic commune

all great and probably gives a clue to when i was trying to keep up

incredible label