An astounding work of passion and patience over one thousand hours in the making, Long Beach musician/composer Chris Schlarb bestows his latest musical vision, Psychic Temple, onto the world. Known for his work as half of the hypnotic, jazz/drone duo, I Heart Lung, Schlarb’s latest work expands wildly in new directions, incorporating wordless vocal choirs, string quartets and horn sections into his 29-member ensemble.

Inspired by the rhythmic pulse of microhouse, and the melodic vocabulary of jazz and folk music, Psychic Temple is a deeply considered meditation on beauty. Recording began in January of 2009 and over the next nineteen months Schlarb collaborated with twenty-eight musicians (including four bassists, three drummers and six vocalists) to build Psychic Temple.

It would not be an exaggeration to boast that Psychic Temple contains performances from some of today’s finest musicians including Mick Rossi of the Philip Glass Ensemble, legendary Minutemen bassist Mike Watt, vocalists Julianna Barwick, DM Stith, Joel St. Julien (of ELLUL), Aaron Roche, trumpeter Kris Tiner, Brian Blade Fellowship pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley, Weird Weeds percussionist Nick Hennies, guitarist Danny Miller and drummer Tabor Allen (of Rare Grooves and The Widow Babies), bassists Steuart Liebig, C.J. Boyd and Anthony Shadduck, and Danny T. Levin and David Moyer on horns.

Credits
Composed, Arranged, Engineered, and Produced by Chris Schlarb

Recorded and Mixed at Sounds Are Active, Long Beach, CA.
from January 4th, 2009 – August 18th, 2010

Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering
Layout and Design by Elis Im
Photography by Ian Souter
Additional Artwork by Danny Miller
Mix Consulting by Ronan Chris Murphy
Master Consulting by TW Walsh

Track Listing
01. I Can Live Forever If I Slowly Die 10:10
02. Dream State > Police State 9:15
03. Daughters of Ursa Major 5:20
04. White Dove In The Psychic Temple 8:25

ellul’s massive, multilayered debut is born again in a series of specially commisioned remixes. Thavius Beck chops and screws “Esophagus” while Italian electronic duo Mickey Eats Plastic reconstruct “Freedom.” Fellow San Francisco-based artists Radius and Bookworms take completely original turns on their respective remixes while Siamese Sisters surmount a difficult task in re-approaching the delicate and powerful “Fragrance.” A trio of stunning remixes from Blevin Blectum, Deneir and Heezen with Xn. round out an impressive remix EP.

Artwork by Matias Coduri

Track Listing
01. esophagus (Thavius Beck Remix) [mp3]
02. freedom (Mickey Eats Plastic Remix) [mp3]
03. maniacs collide (Radius Remix) [mp3]
04. blood (Heezen with Xn. Remix) [mp3]
05. fragrance (Siamese Sisters Remix) [mp3]
06. enamel on iron (Blevin Blectum Remix) [mp3]
07. around the bend (Bookworms Beck Remix) [mp3]
08. swamp king (Deneir Remix) [mp3]

Press
None at this time.

The Sounds Are Active “Side” teems with spastic new work from Melk The G6-49, Bizzart and Deneir. New and unreleased tracks from Soul-Junk, Vla Hemia and Create (!). Softer pieces contributed by Xn. (featuring a slick remix from hip-hop producer supreme Omid) and the brooding “Two Planes for Elliott Smith” by the Constantine/Levin/Phillips/Schlarb/Shadduck quintet.

Track Listing
Asthmatic Kitty Side
01. Sufjan Stevens – All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!
02. Half-Handed Cloud – Let’s Build A Planet
03. Viva Voce – Red D-Lish
04. Liz Janes – Guitar Guitar
05. Castanets – I’ll Be Just Where You Are
06. Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday
07. Half-Handed Cloud – Pressing Into It
08. Liz Janes – Vine
09. Viva Voce – Welcome Mat
10. Half-Handed Cloud – Here’s A List
11. Sufjan Stevens – Year of the Tiger
Sounds Are Active Side
12. Deneir – Random Object Subject
13. Patagonian – Hands in the Face of Time
14. Xn. – gone home early (Omid Remix)
15. Vla Hemia – Break Loose
16. Soul-Junk – Nova (Evig Poesi Remix)
17. Bizzart – Pink Summer in Hell
18. Melk the G6-49 – Henry
19. Create(!) – Three Butterflies, Seven Mockingbirds
20. Constantine/Levin/Phillips/Schlarb/Shadduck – Two Planes for Elliot Smith

Press
“Proving that sisterhood is powerful, sibling labels Sounds Are Active and Asthmatic Kitty cram a grab bag of sounds- everything from hip-hop to free jazz to folky weirdness- onto one sampler. The Sounds Are Active half buzzes with new tracks from Soul-Junk, Bizzart, Vla Hemia and others.”- XLR8R

A collection of five short ambient guitar pieces from Chris Schlarb recorded in 1999 and released as a limited edition album totaling less than 10 minutes. Built around the unorthodox but simple sounds coaxed out of the electric guitar the original album was meant to be listened to repeatedly. After the limited release sold out, Schlarb contacted a number of different experimental, electronic and hip-hop artists to gauge interest in remixes and reinterpretations.

Collected here in this remastered and remixed release are three distinctly individual representations of ideas without numbers. Each of the original five pieces have been remixed twice and laid aside one another in their own distinct space. Remixes from Omid (Freestyle Fellowship, Beneath the Surface), outputmessage (Ghostly International, Dabrye), languis (Plug Research, Nobody), Siamese Sisters (Vla Hemia), Accident (Bizzart, Acid Reign), Patagonian, Yochannan, therefore, Deneir and anaphylaxis.

Track Listing
01. gone home early [mp3]
02. palindromic tone
03. migration
04. flood tide
05. clocks, unwinding
06. gone home early (omid remix) [mp3]
07. palindromic tone (outputmessage remix)
08. migration (siamese sisters remix)
09. flood tide (yochannan remix)
10. clocks, unwinding (accident remix)
11. gone home early (deneir remix)
12. palindromic tone (patagonian remix)
13. migration (therefore remix)
14. flood tide (languis remix)
15. clocks, unwinding (anaphylaxis remix)

Press
“dreamy, soundtrack-y, delay and echo-laden ‘anti-guitar’ guitar pop.”- music (for robots)

flowers (eating) words has been on and off hold for over 2 years, waiting for technology, time and purpose to bring ten short songs together. Clocking in at a robust 11 1/2 minutes each of the tracks was designed to fit into the close confines of sixty seconds each. Xn. and Deneir each contribute four abbreviated pieces in addition to one collaborative composition. On “gold in mirror” Deneir takes Xn.’s sloth-sound and pumps it full of rocks and cymbal shimmer. “Internal Chattering” reveals on repeated listens: Xn.’s bubbling guitar haikus threading Deneir’s LFO gurgle.

Elsewhere on solo tracks Deneir fashions a trumpet solo out of a squeaking chair and Xn. pursues eBow, hiss and harmony only to fall over the finish line and begin again.

Produced by Xn. and Deneir.
Artwork by Tim McMullen
All tracks presented in 192kps.

Track Listing
01. flowers (eating) words [mp3]
02. who is she now? [mp3]
03. a reminder [mp3]
04. gold in mirror [mp3]
05. it’s not raining, it’s over [mp3]
06. wordless understanding [mp3]
07. random object subject [mp3]
08. my chair, the trumpet [mp3]
09. charting oblivion [mp3]
10. internal chattering [mp3]

Press
None at this time.

The album features unique interpretations of songs by Neil Young (”Round & Round”) and Curtis Mayfield (”People Get Ready”) as well as three original compositions. opening up is and album full of phasing harmonies and subtle warmth.

Xn. is:
Chris Schlarb- electric guitar, electronics, glass, metals, turntable, bow

Recorded 2002-2003 in the Red Room, Long Beach, CA.
Mixed, Engineered, Written and Performed by Chris Schlarb
artwork by Paul Goode

Track Listing
01. neon pink fetus and the five guitar dream (wishing they were vibraphones and kalimbas)
02. people get ready [mp3]
03. lullaby for elisha
04. round & round
05. neon purple sparrow and the red room whisper system

Press
“a set of tone poems stretched and spindled by solo electric guitar arias”- Fahrenheit

“a fragile and endearing EP, once again demonstrating Schlarb’s willingness to stretch the boundaries of what he can and cannot do”- Ink19.com