Available tapes

Tapes

My Cat Is An Alien & Nad Spiro - La Casa Encendida
Kabouter Chismus - S/T
Sinclair Beiles - Chopin in Majorca

Lp

Fursaxa - Immured LP
Ilta Hämärä - Saivo

Books

Bart De Paepe - mellow my mind: a sloow tapes discography
Gregg Sharits - Bone Wings
Bob Forrest - John Michell:A Memoir
Malcolm Ritchie - Encounter with the Great Mother. Ayahuasca in the Andes

Broadsides

Louise Landes Levi - In The Aura of The Other
Bart De Paepe - Excursion to the Alvinnenberg
David Miller - From Epilogue
Ronnie Burk - 1999

orders & contact: sloowtapes at g mail dot com

Malcolm Ritchie

Malcolm Ritchie
Encounter with the Great Mother. Ayahuasca in the Andes
Sloow Tapes – Book

Malcolm Ritchie was born in London, in 1940. He spent his childhood in Scotland and later on moved to Cornwall where he attended art school. Since then he has traveled widely and has lived in Wales, London, California, New York, and for nearly 10 years in Japan. He now lives in Scotland again, on the Isle of Arran. His books include The Shamanic Healer and Village Japan. Limited to 50 copies.

Bob Forrest

Bob Forrest
John Michell: A Memoir
Sloow Tapes – Book

Short memoir about John Michell (1933-2003), the Merlin of the Age of Aquarius, by friend and occasional collaborator Bob Forrest. Michell wrote about diverse subjects such as flying saucers, ley-lines, British eccentrics and sacred geometry. His books include The View Over Atlantis, Dimension of Paradise and Megalithomania among others. Limited to 50 copies.

Ilta Hämärä

Ilta Hämärä
Saivo
Sloowax 006 – LP

Out of the twilight emerges this debut offering by Ilta Hämärä, the duo of Bart De Paepe (Sylvester Anfang II, Bokrijk, Charles Vögele) and Timo van Luijk (Af Ursin, Elodie, La Poupee Vivante). An imaginary source that combines Bart’s hazy psychedelic antics and Timo’s subtle and abstract sound manipulations in otherworldly spheres of cosmic dimensions, like a spectral veil covering an odoriferous botanical garden. The gates are open to golden clouds… Limited to 300 copies.

Addendum to the sweet batch of Timo Van Lujik-centred LPs (Af Ursine, Elodie, Lumine) newly in stock this week, Saivo documents The Belgium-based Finn farther exploring the heavily psychedelic duo, Ilta Hämärä alongside Bart De Paepe (Sylvester Anfang II, Bokrijk, Charles Vögele) for De Paepe’s Sloowax - an offshoot of the prolific Sloow Tapes label.

The scope for Saivo is perhaps more dilated than Van Lujik’s trio of new releases, and somewhat closer to the electro-acoustic wanderlust of his Af Ursin project thanks to the a mutual sense of trippiness that we’d also associate with De Paepe’s work in Sylvester Anfang II. Essentially the pair divine a sort of pineal alchemy inside, gingerly approaching from stereo extremes to frame a widescreen, lysergic sound between the eyes and around the head with beautifully illusive and elusive mixing treatments.

They first draw us in with a magickal shimmer of percussion and keys in Spektrin Huntu before seamlessly segueing into the ascendent kosmiche trajectories of Sielun Ankalo, then following the spirals of Tuoksuva to the lense-smearing astral creme of Kynttilänvalon Jumalat and the bifurcating raga drone helixes of Kuvitteellinen Alkuperä at the run-out.

That all appears to be a sort of mental preparation for the steepest leg of the journey, the summit of Tähdenlentoja on the B-side. Freed of time restraints, here they really billow outward and upwards, buoyed by updrafting strings and angel’s breath harps to a pinched highpoint where oxygen is in short supply and depth perceptions become warped, intangible. (Boomkat)

Ronnie Burk

Ronnie Burk
1999
Sloow Tapes Broadside #15

Ronnie was among the first students at Naropa University in the mid-1970s where he spent summers studying the teachings of Tibetan Rinpoche Chögyam Trungpa, met Beat writers like Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Gregory Corso as well as Diane Di Prima, who became one of his mentors.

After his summertime stints in Boulder, Ronnie returned to San Antonio to participate in the cultural and political activities in the Chicano community. In 1977 his first poems were published in Caracol: La Revista de la Raza. In the early 1980s, Ronnie lived in New York City where he became friends with Surrealist poet Charles Henri Ford and photographer, filmmaker and poet Ira Cohen. He was also involved with many of the then young filmmakers of the Lower East Side including Richard Kern.

David Miller

David Miller
From Epilogue
Sloow Tapes Broadside #14

David Miller was born in Melbourne, Australia, and has lived and worked in London for many years. His many published books of poetry and prose include The Waters of Marah: Selected Prose 1973-1995 (2003), Collected Poems (1997) and he edited the anthology The Alchemist's Mind.

Bart De Paepe

Bart De Paepe
Excursion to the Alvinnenberg
Sloow Tapes Broadside #13

Essay exploring the legends and magical surroundings of the Alvinusberg, the spiritual centre of Stekene.

Louise Landes Levi

Louise Landes Levi
In The Aura of The Other
Sloow Tapes Broadside #12

Louise Landes Levi has translated & written books, published chap books, broadsides & cards, / played sarangi in concert halls, in radio stations in town squares & railroad stations for some decades & perhaps for some lives.
Overland journeys to India produced several interpretive translations/ one of Rene Daumal ( the great Sanskrit autodidact & author of well known Mt. Analogue) RASA originally printed by New Directions (1982), now available through Shivastan, the other, of the legendary poet genius Mira Bai whose devotion to Krishna freed her entirely. SWEET ON MY LIPS was published by Cool Grove Press in 1997 & reprinted in 2003 w. an introductory essay by La Monte Young.

My Cat Is An Alien

My Cat Is An Alien & Nad Spiro
La Casa Encendida
Sloow Tapes – CS 60

Live collaboration by My Cat Is An Alien and Nad Spiro with an introductory note by Mk Ibañez. Unfolding galaxies of shooting stars slowed down to my speed. Another blast from the alien void. 100 copies.

Gregg Sharits

Gregg Sharits
Bone Wings
Sloow Tapes Book

Never before published poems, drawings and collages by Gregg Sharits, brother of Paul the celebrated filmmaker. Gregg was an original member of the Bardo Matrix crew when it was still a psychedelic lightshow operating from Boulder, Colorado together with John Chick, Dana Young and Craig Love. Introduction and additional photo’s by Craig Love. Edition of 50 copies.

Kabouter Chismus

Kabouter Chismus
S/T
Sloow Tapes – CS 40

Kabouter Chismus was a short-lived project of Dutch singer-songwriter Nico Denhoorn and singer Minneke Walstra. This record represents a certain Dutch hippie movement that started out in the early sixties called Provo. Provo in Holland was one of the first worldwide movements of youth culture created in 1964 and in a way precedes many of the later proper hippie movements of America. It was very much influenced by Beat Generation writers, Marquis de Sade, Dada and anarchism. The Provo generation were one of the first generations to question environmental problems, challenge conservatism and advocate for women emancipation and progressive acadamic innovations in post-war Europe. When the provo movement somewhat vanished in the same way Dada had decades earlier it gradually transformed into a movement in which people called themselves Kabouters, meaning Gnomes. basically the Kabouters took the provo mentality further into the years to come. They called The Netherlands Oranje Vrijstaat, which means Orange Free State, opposing the monarchy and wars western countries were engaging in during cold war. During that time Amsterdam was globally regarded as a liberal hippie capital. Its reputation of freedom to smoke weed and absolute freedom for gays is also rooted in this era.
Musically this album is sometimes reminiscent of Boudewijn de Groot, but more versatile. The basis is acoustic guitars with added electric guitars, flutes and other instruments. Some songs are in English and some are in Dutch. Official reissue, 100 copies.

Bart De Paepe

Bart De Paepe
mellow my mind: a sloow tapes discography
Sloow Tapes/Kraak

Chronicling the first 10 years of Sloow Tapes, mellow my mind gives an overview of all the tapes, broadsides, lp’s and booklets published so far. From Keijo's desolate avant/acid folk moves to Fursaxa's spiked organ drones with a short detour by way of Ira Cohen's Akashic Records. Fully annotated with detailed information about the tapes, promo texts, reviews and a few texts written especially for this publication by Bart De Paepe, Matthew Parry and Louise Landes Levi. Full color. A co-producton with Kraak. 300 copies.

Fursaxa

Fursaxa
Immured
LP - Sloowax 005

Listening to Fursaxa’s music is like strolling around at night in a dark forest under a full moon’s gaze and getting lost in crystallized spider webs spun by Rumpelstiltskin. Boiling down Hildegard von Bingen, Nabakov and Nico in heavenly spiked acid folk layered with organ drones, percussion and chanting. 300 copies.

The best way I can think of to describe Fursaxa's music would be, psychedlic acid-freak-folk and the project is led - and vocalised by - Tara Burke. Cheap casio keyboards, acoustic guitar, accordion and dulcimer are utilised - as well as Tara's haunting vocal, sometimes primal-scream-ish wails, sometimes pretty and Nico-ish, chanteuse-like; the overall effect is spooky and beguiling. The kind of music Liz Harris of Grouper fame is probably well into.

Tara is influenced by minimalism, Medieval and Renaissance music and the song titles kind of give this away; "Moon in Cancer" opens the record and elsewhere titles such as "Ancient Anodyne", "Standing Stone" - particularly ancient sounds on this track; "A Pomeranian Rite" and "Outside the Cloister Walls", which is a highlight featuring multi-tracked vocal at varying pitch; the effect is a little unsettling. "TKSI" is a particularly languid, solemnly droning example of freaky folkness. "Troglodytes" closes side A and is one of the many gorgeous, multi-tracked vocals which recur throughout the record.

Accordion crops up on "Triptych", primeval howls and organ on "Sardonyx", and more shivery Medieval sounds than you can shake a stick at across the remainder of the record. Interesting. But probably better not to listen to if you're alone and in the dark. (Norman Records)

Als vor sechs Jahren Tara Burke unter ihrem Projektnamen Fursaxa auf ATP Records „Mycorrhizae Realm“ veröffentlichte, da war das das bislang fertigste, eventuell auch (im weitesten Sinne) zugänglichste, weil songorientierteste Album. Ein Album, das so klang, als habe eine die Bezeichnung Weird Folk verdienende Band sich entschieden, sich nicht an der glasklaren Stimme von Comus‘ Bobbie Watson zu orientieren, sondern eine Wiedergängerin Nicos als Chanteuse auszuwählen: „Was Stimmung wie Stimme anbelangt, könnte man fast soweit gehen und sagen, dass Fursaxa näher an Nico als an Vashti Bunyan oder Shirley Collins ist“, schrieb ich damals. Das Album zeigte, dass (gute) Folkmusik oftmals von jedweder Betulichkeit meilenweit entfernt ist.

„Immured“, das erste Album seit 2010, erinnert wieder etwas stärker an frühere Alben, ist –wenn man so will – weniger poppig (wobei das Adjektiv nur im sehr weitesten Sinne auf Fursaxa zutrifft). Man hört Glocken, Drones an der Grenze zur Dissonanz, Stimmen murmeln: Das das Album eröffnende „Moon in Cancer“ kann man sich in seiner Archaik auch gut auf dem Soundtrack zu Justin Kurzels „Macbeth“-Verfilmung vorstellen.Vielleicht könnte man sagen, dass hier fast schon das Verschwimmen von „foul“ und „fair“ musikalisch umgesetzt wird. “Ancient Anodyne“ wird von Burkes Klagegesang dominiert, der von Flöten und wenigen Gitarrentönen untermalt wird. “Concertina“ lässt in seiner Mischung aus Harmoniumdrones und Gesang an Charlemagne Palestine denken. Dabei setzt Burke nicht nur auf akustische Instrumente: Auf „Yksi“ wird Burkes Stimme von elektronischem Brummen untermalt. Das die erste Seite des auf 300 Exemplare limitierten Albums abschließende „Troglodytes“ ist ein Trauerlied aus sich überlagernden Stimmen, das wie eine LoFi-Version von Dead Can Dance zu Zeiten von „The Serpent’s Egg“ klingt. „Standing Stone“ lässt einen glauben, Machens „little people“ hätten Backward Masking für sich entdeckt, bevor sie mit Rasseln den großen Gott Pan anrufen. Auf „A Pomeranian Rite“ spielt Burke das Harmonium, während sie rezitiert, beschwört. Dass ihr Album an einem als „The Hestian Den“ bezeichneten Ort aufgenommen wurde, passt da sehr gut. Das Album wird von „Serpents Twisted“ beendet: Inmitten von Dröhnen und Brummen ertönt Burkes geisterhafte Stimme, die aus dem Äther zu kommen scheint, aus dem Zwielicht, das die Heide/den Heiden nur fahl beleuchtet.

„Immured“ ist ein archaisches, ursprüngliches Album, wahre Ur-Musik, die in der Lage ist, Daturaträume im Hörer zu erzeugen. (M.G.) (African Paper)

No es de extrañar que Tara Burke / Fursaxa tenga un disco que se llama “Sola en el bosque oscuro”. Se me ocurren pocos títulos que puedan describir mejor su música. Sus canciones (igual que las de Charalambides, White Magic, Daniel Higgs o incluso Grouper) desprenden un aire chamánico, hipnótico, tribalista. Situada estilísticamente en las antípodas de lo moderno y lo urbano, Tara Burke se nutre tanto del minimalismo de Terry Riley como de la música folklórica de los apalaches, el rollo medieval o la psicodelia. Si entrais en su perfil de Discogs vereis que tiene unos novecientos discos publicados (Ecstatic Peace, Important, autoeditados…). Que no panda el cúnico: molan todos, creedme. Incluso los que tiene con su anterior grupo, UN. Casiotones baratos, farfisas, drone, acordeón, guitarra, flautas, coros de misa hechicera en loop + delay… Algunas canciones son instrumentales y otras tienen muy poca instrumentación, pero todas te transportan a un lugar especial, que no es algo que se pueda decir de los jodidos Tame Impala o de Courtney Barnett. Ese lugar es inquietante y reconfortante a la vez, como cuando ves el cadaver de un animal en el bosque y no puedes dejar de admirar la escena.
Dentro de poco Pargueland organizaremos una excursión al Montseny para escuchar Fursaxa en el bosque, por la noche. Beberemos ron, comeremos cheetos, nos fumaremos unas rayas de peyote y haremos una orgía. Ya os avisaremos, si es so (Pargueland)

Sinclair Beiles

Sinclair Beiles
Chopin in Majorca
Sloow Tapes - CS 60

Sinclair Beiles (1930-2000), one of South Africa’s more unusual and often underrated poets, left his home country in the mid-fifties and after spending time in New Zealand, Spain and Morocco he moved to Paris which at the time was the centre of international bohemia. Beiles worked in Paris as chief editor for publisher Maurice Girodias’ Olympia Press and established links with the American beat generation of writers, particularly Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Gregory Corso and William Burroughs. Together they collaborated on the legendary collection of Dadaist cut-ups, Minutes to Go. When the Paris scene fell apart in the early sixties, he left for Greece. In 1969 Beiles published a volume of poetry Ashes of experience, his first substantial publication.
Beiles returned to South Africa in the seventies and later married fellow poet Marta Proctor. They moved into a house in Yeoville, Johannesburg and soon became part of the Yeoville artistic group in the eighties. He often performed his poetry live, at venues such as the Black Sun. In 1997 Beiles finally received some recognition when the French Cultural Institute and the British Council of Johannesburg organised a Beat Hotel exhibition in Carfax where Beiles read his poems. Beiles had a history of mental instability and his illness made him at times unpredictable and volatile. ‘Chopin in Majorca’ is a one-man play and was recorded in 1989. Cover photo by Gerard Bellaart. Edition of 100 copies.