Street date: 2020-12-31

For the past seven years Brooklyn's ultra-childish Japanther have baffled unsuspecting audiences and steadily grown their cult following. They've lived out of a van all over Europe, Australia, Canada and the US, circling the international underground like hungry wolves. All the while screaming through yellow pay- phone mics, self-releasing and self producing in keeping with the "art project" persona the group was founded on in 2001. Synchronized swimmers, illegal shows, marionettes and giant puppets have all been employed successfully again and again. All in an attempt to redefine what bands, groups and gangs can do. On their latest effort, Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt, legendary Crass poet and drummer Penny Rimbaud performed the executive producer role along side engineer and producer Aron Sanchez at Zero Mass in Brooklyn. Penny also contributed two epic poems ('I Thee Indigene' and 'Africa Seems So Far Away') to the album. The amazing B'more Club MC Spank Rock contributed "Radical Businessman"-a soulful song about the time he got locked up at JFK over some jewellery. Other tracks of note include "The Dirge" a New Bad Things cover that proclaims "I love you no matter where you spend the night..." and "Bumpin' Rap Tapes" another anthemic lonesome love song.

Street date: 2008-09-08

Truth Cult's first release is a split album between PORN (formerly known as Men Of Porn) and Merzbow. PORN is the demented child of one Tim Moss. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Moss fronted the cult band Ritual Device, forging links with the West Coast with the patronage of Frank Kozik's Man's Ruin Records. Eventually Moss moved out to the Bay Area where Men Of Porn was born. In the stellar company of Melvins' stalwart Dale Crover (on drums) and omnipresent uber-producer Billy Anderson (on bass), this is a 'Power Trio' in the truest sense of the phrase. Since 1999, they have released three albums and toured the world as the de facto Melvins' support band, thanks to Tim Moss's day job as band's tour manager. For their newest album, and the nascent release on Southern's brand new imprint Truth Cult, the intrepid low-end experimenters enlist the help of Japanese noise demigod Masami Akita (aka MERZBOW). Collaborating across the album's twelve tracks, the fearless Masami layers scree and grafts gristle onto their already dense muscular creations - this is a marriage made in Blake's Heaven & Hell; their two uniquely singular approaches blending seamlessly to create a portentous hybrid beast of no equal.

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Action Beat, The Noise Band From Bletchley - this is not a mere fact of the band's geographical origin but also the name of their second album (their first for Southern's imprint Truth Cult) and Southern are thrilled to be releasing this record. These passionate individuals have become renowned for their experimental guitar music and for their improvisational nature. To say that this album was recorded in just three days at the Southern Studios (otherwise known as Action Beat's second home) and features ten musicians, is surefire proof of their extemporaneous style. The Noise Band From Bletchley marks Action Beat's evolution from a noise band to a fully realized experimental and technically competent improv band. This album is guaranteed to get more than just your toes tapping!