home normal

Hi guys! After a lovely mini-hiatus we are back with something new and something old. First up is the amazing Elian release ‘Whispers, Then Silence’. Its an album I have had in my possession for almost 2 years now, and its taken a while to get together, tweak and timed right for the arc of Home Normal. Now its here I can safely say its one of the finest records I’ve ever heard and I am so proud Home Normal get to release this amazing work by such a talented artist who will be one of the names to watch this year. Pre-orders are up now, with release set for August 13th. A week later will see us also finally re-release the incredible Celer album ‘Engaged Touches’ in a 1000 edition matte digipack. This was our fastest-selling album and one of the works which really kicked Home Normal off in a big way. It sold out in 2 days of pre-orders, not even making the release date in terms of availability. Will and I have been talking for a long time about re-releasing it, especially as we have constantly received emails from people asking if we had spare copies laying around (which we don’t by the way!). Anyway, I am absolutely thrilled that we get the release / re-release two such amazing works which are both integral into the early evolution of the Home Normal label.

Oh and I should point out that this month all orders will be dealt with by Ben so please contact him on: benhomenormal@yahoo.co.uk if you have any questions about orders etc. I’m off for my honeymoon into the jungles of Indonesia to work in some local villages which should be fabulous. Of course I’ll end that trip with a bit of a luxury nip over to Bali because whilst you can take the boy out of the comfort zone, you can’t take the comfort zone out of the boy, or something like that anyway. Much love to you all x

We finally received our copies of The Boats ‘Sleepy Insect Music’ from Japan, after the whole delay involving the giant ash cloud. Its a real honour for us to release this great record, spanning The Boats existence and including all sorts of rarities and previously unreleased work. Its also great to be doing a collaborative with Japanese label, Flau and hopefully this will be the first of a few of those. I should point out that we have now sold out of stock in Japan and only have about 80 copies left to sell to the world in the UK, so you better be quick! For more information, art and sounds, as always go to the releases page or hit the link above.

Please also note that this release is tied in with the early May Boats / Danny Norbury tour in Japan. Please check this out and be sure to check out information regarding the Home Normal x Flau night in Tokyo on the 15th of May with The Boats, Danny Norbury, Radiosonde and myself (Ian Hawgood) here: flau.lolipop.jp/flau_shop/main_news.php

Apologies for the delay in updating the news as I have been very sick since returning from Paris with food poisoning! Its totally wiped me out but thankfully Ben has been on top of everything in terms of orders.

As most of you are no doubt aware, a couple of weeks ago we released the wonderful ‘Northern Songs’ album by Chris Weisman & Greg Davis, getting all sorts of ‘big-ups’ and recommendations, even being an album of the week at Boomkat. Following on from this release are two superb albums by Tobias Hellkvist and Michael Santos respectively. Tobias Hellkvist is a multi-instrumentalist from Sweden. To date he has released two full-length albums, ‘Evolutions’ being his third. Michael Santos is a London-based artist who has previously released on U-Cover, Benbecula and the excellent French label, Baskaru. ‘Memory Maker’ has been in my greedy mitts for a while now and we are finally releasing these two totally wonderful records out into the big wide world. Please go to the releases page or hit the links above for info, art and sounds, as always.

Also, please go to the shop where we are having a rather massive sale on old Home Normal stock among many other things, we also have some rare ’seconds’ of the now sold out ‘Sketches’ by Library Tapes. If you want to get your hands on the sale stock you better be quick as stuff is selling like hot cakes…oh, and we only have a handful of the latest Mobeer and Moteer left now.

Oh and a quick short note for international orders…as soon as that massive ash cloud disperses, the post will be on its way including all The Boats ‘Sleepy Insect Music’ pre-orders. We are sending them off but nothing is flying in or out of the country due to the ash cloud at present I believe. Cheers.

We are thrilled to report the brilliant album ‘Northern Songs’ has finally gone up as a biggie release. Its something of a classic by the enormously talented Beatles obsessed song-writer Chris Weisman and the mighty Greg Davis! We are very proud indeed to release such a uniquely voiced and beautiful work, so as always please go to the releases page or click on the above link to read more, listen to tracks and check out the artwork by the very talented Ryan Storm. Thanks!

Hi all! Sorry for the huge delay in updates as its been a very hectic month and a bit while we busied ourselves in the Home Normal HQ. Its going to be the quickest of overviews before we send out a giant newsletter later on today!

Slow Films In Low Light
We managed to miss sending a newsletter out after my own release of Slow Films In Low Light, yet despite this it was still bought in droves and even made albums of the week and big recommendations in Boomkat, Smallfish, Norman records, P*Dis, Databloem and Darla to name a few. We’ve managed to make a nice amount of money for The Archway Foundation and with such amazing artists on board its just a real honour that this has done so well. For more information please go to the releases page and we can raise even more money for a charity who does such amazing work!

New Releases!
Yes, that is correct! We have new releases due to arrive this weekend from Chris Weisman & Greg Davis, Tobias Hellkvist and Michael Santos. These are available for pre-order NOW! You can check out some of the tracks, artwork and more information on the ‘releases’ page. These are all in digipack in 1000 edition. We also have some of the tracks to a very special Boats release, as a collaboration between Home Normal and Flau, which will be available March 26th. This will be followed by a Boats and Danny Norbury Japan tour in May so again for more information simply go to the page or hit the link above. home_n017 by the excellent Elian has been put back a little bit due to the newly congested schedule and should be with us towards the end of April, along with a massive 1000 digipack reissue of Celer’s remarkable Engaged Touches. Watch this space for more information.

Shop
One of the main reasons for the massive delay in output has been the busy work that’s been going on in the background by our awesome web designer Christian Roth. The old Home Normal shop was getting a bit confusing with its ever expanding stock and the label focus (ie. knowing what label an artist was on). The new Home Normal shop is a huge beast and heck, you can even log into your own account! We have a whole new easy way to search for stock and we even have shipping confirmations going through once we have actually done it rather than having to email you all individually so its a much easier and efficient system! We have special deals on right now and the shop is due for a big new stock update by the end of the week.

Shows
Thanks to everyone who turned up to the Home Normal organised Svarte Greiner, Simon Scott and William Fowler Collins show. Sorry for those expecting Simon as he was unable to play that night due to unforeseen circumstances, and also for those of you who were wanting to see Konntinent and myself play as we were going to fill in - we were both very sick that night as you may have seen! But all who came thoroughly enjoyed both sets, and especially the wonderful improvised session between Erik and William at the end of the night.

If you are in London this coming Saturday (the 27th of March), we have a bit of a Home Normal / Hibernate / Experimedia / Type festival going on at The Flea Pit. It will in fact be the last night before The Flea Pit sadly closes its doors to music, but what a way to end things: Rameses III, Jeremy Bible (HN’s designer and Experimedia chief flying in from the States), Konntinent, Isnaj Dui, Michael Santos, Relmic Statute and myself! Doors open at 5pm with the first artist on at 6.30pm. We will even be selling the new Home Normal releases ahead of schedule exclusively to those who come on the night. I highly recommend that if you wish to go you book tickets online as its very limited number: www.wegottickets.com/event/72010

Below you can find directions to The Flea Pit.

Arctic Circle / Resonance FM
Ben and I did an interview just before the Home Normal Boats/Danny Norbury in December at Café Oto with the lovely Ben Eshmade of Arctic Circle for Resonance FM (a wonderful radio station in London). If you would like to hear some of Home Normal’s previous releases and what we had to say about all things HN, please go here: www.jointhecircle.net/radio/

Headphone Commute
I recently did a big interview about my work and Home Normal for the fantastically informative Headphone Commute. It can be read here: reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/03/21/home-normal/

Headphone Commute also very kindly put a wonderful mix of Home Normal releases together which you can check out and enjoy at leisure here: reviews.headphonecommute.com/2010/03/21/hc-at-home-with-home-normal/

Qwartz
Finally, the Qwartz awards will be from the 1st to the 4th of April in Paris. Jeremy is flying over to attend as my Koen Park ‘Everything In Shadow’ album has been nominated for album of the year, and we will have a joint Experimedia / Home Normal stall there. If you wish to buy stock, check out the music and art or simply say hello, please do - and neither of us will say no to a drink or two if you are offering and the nearby bar For more information about this fantastic supporter of independent music please go here: www.qwartz.org/

Thanks and well done on reaching the bottom of this exhaustive news update! More very soon.

Directions to The Flea Pit – Columbia Road E2 7RG

Tubes
Old Street (Northern Line) – Bethnal Green (Central line) – Both c.15 mins on foot

Old Street
Walk east (toward Shoreditch/Hackney) from Old Street tube station along Old Street itself. You will reach a cross roads with Hackney Road ahead, Kingsland Road to the Left and Shoreditch High Street to the right. Continue ahead up Hackney Road. Columbia Road is the second Street on the right hand side, after the George and Dagon pub, opposite the Chinese Super Market. The Flea Pit is the white painted building on the left hand side of the road after the park

Bethnal Green
After leaving the station, walk north along Cambridge Heath Road (toward Hackney Central) until you reach Cambridge Heath Station and the T junction with Hackney Road. Turn left onto Hackney Road and walk west until you reach Ravenscroft Road on your left. Turn left and follow Ravenscroft Road until the end where you will find the Flea Pit on the corner of Columbia Road

Overland rail
Cambridge Heath – 10 mins on foot

Turn left onto Hackney Road and walk west until you reach Ravenscroft Road on your left. Turn left and follow Ravenscroft Road until the end where you will find the Flea Pit on the corner of Columbia Road

Buses + 5 mins on foot.
55 – From West End/Old Street. Stops on Hackney Road at the start of Columbia Road after the George and Dagon pub, opposite the Chinese Super Market. The Flea Pit is the white painted building on the left hand side of the road after the park

48, 26 – From Liverpool Street Station. Stops on Hackney Road at the start of Columbia Road after the George and Dagon pub, opposite the Chinese Super Market. The Flea Pit is the white painted building on the left hand side of the road after the park

Today we welcome the release of one of my favourite artists over the past few years; Jason Corder’s mighty offthesky. The new offthesky record is called Hiding Nature and is a perfect example of melodic fragmented structures which Jason has become so recognised for. Pop on over to the releases page for tracks, gorgeous cover art by Joseph Borreson and more information.

We are now getting very low on our Japan based stock as I try to cut this down before I move house at the end of the month. We have very few Flau left in the sale, but we have just added the two latest releases by Kumisolo and Henning Schmiedt. We will also have the new Hibernates and Under The Spire in any day now.

Monday saw the release of the new Chihei Hatakeyama album ‘A Long Journey’. Its a real thrill to be able to release an artist and friend on Home Normal such as Chihei.. It has already been highly recommended by Darla, P*Dis, Smallfish, and Norman Records, and Boomkat made it an album of the week. It has been selling super fast so my advice would be to get your hands on a copy as soon as possible! The cover art is by the sorely missed but forever loved Danielle Baquet-Long, whose poetic, musical and photographic work really is very special indeed. Thanks to Will for being so open to us using her work for Chihei’s cover.

As I am moving house, I am having a bit of a clear out of some of the Japan (and some UK) based stock. As such we are selling off much of our Room40, Someone Good, Flau, Son of Rose, Corey Fuller, Offthesky and Color Cassette stock, plus we are having a sale on the Mountain Ocean Sun release ‘Peace Conference’ for a short time only! We also still have our ‘get a free CD of your choice when you spend over £50 on CD’s’ deal. Enjoy the post-Christmas shopping I say! The new, more accessible and updated shop, including lots of new stock, old vinyl, rarities, dirt cheap used stuff and Home Normal ’seconds’ (ie. cd’s where the cut was a bit out etc) will be up by mid-February hopefully. There is a group of five members who go out to small local record shops in the US, UK and Japan, searching for weird and hidden gems, so we can just have a bit of fun with our little store! I have already picked up about 700 albums the past three months, many of which will be available to purchase soon. More info soon about this and the forthcoming Offthesky record ‘Hiding Nature’.

KONNTINENT ‘OPAL ISLAND’
I am massively chuffed to announce the release of the Konntinent album ‘Opal Island’. He’s been one of my favourite artists for a while now, has become a good friend, collaborator and Home Normal show organiser, and the album is just incredible really (and like L/M/R/W has gotten lots of thumbs up!). Its an amazing record, with a lovely vocal appearance by Lisa Madisson, mastered by Taylor Deupree, with cover art by yours truly, and is something to treasure indeed. As per always, its available at all good stockists, is a best seller and highlight at most right now, and is also available in our own shop.

SOME QUICK NEWS ABOUT POSTAL NIGHTMARES AND FROZEN HILLY ROADS
Ben lives on a hill. The snow came down, the hill got icey and couriers and Ben’s car stuck their fingers up and said ‘no way’. For those outside the UK the past two weeks…its been a nightmare for posting. We couldn’t get stock, couldn’t get out of the house even at times, add to this the UK Christmas postal delays…been a bit wild to say the least. So…some of the initial orders were a bit delayed but for those (99% of you) who ordered a bunch of the new stock - we have sent it all out ahead of schedule to make up for this!

The Japan post has been having a bit of a nightmare too…while I was in the UK I had four packages returned as my writing of ‘O’ looks like a ‘D’..and no I am not joking. If ANYTHING is out of place, or a little different, they hold onto packages and then eventually send them back…frustrating! But such is life I suppose. Post has gone missing and whilst this is ridiculous, at least the Japanese postal service can look into what happened. So if you ordered a package and it hasn’t arrived let me know and I will look into it. The same is true for UK orders (and missing UK orders are more common esp over Christmas). Please note if you ordered and I am sending from Japan, it won’t take a day to arrive!!!

And finally, I WILL be updating the blog and all that jazz v soon - been a mad work week or two to be honest so gotten rather behind! There will be another post out for the new release by Chihei Hatakeyama next week! Also, if you are near Loopline in Sendagaya, Tokyo this Saturday - come along to see both Chihei and I play live, plus pick up early copies of our respective Home Normal releases!

Well, after some very severe snow storms in the UK over the Christmas period, the CD’s finally arrived earlier this week. We are very sorry for the delays to home_n009 release by L/M/R/W, ‘Drifts’. The stock has been sent out for the most part so you can pick up your copies at your favourite distributors or at our own store as always. For those who ordered from our shop we did get a wee bit delayed with these orders but have made up for that by sending out ‘pre-orders’ nice and early for your enjoyment! We simply couldn’t get out of Ben’s house as he lives on a hill and were totally snowed in! So, once again sorry for the slight delay. Add that to the backlog of Christmas post with Royal Mail and you can see we have been having a nightmare!

However, we are finally good to go and I am thrilled to report the new digipaks in matte look gorgeous! home_n009 is out NOW and is by the mighty L/M/R/W. In case you were wondering, its something of a super-group - much like Mountain Ocean Sun was with Warren Defever and the IDA crew for their Peace Conference release a little while back. We do like our secret super-groups it seems! So who are L/M/R/W? Well…

L stands for Leo Fabriek adding harmonium to Birthday and subtle piano touches to Tegendraads.

M stands for Mariska Baars who also composes solo as Soccer Committee but never is shy to engage in a collaboration. The only ’she’ of the gang adds guitar and voice on Birthday and voice on Clay.

R stands for Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) and is the only one featured on all three tracks adding guitar, sampler, effects and editing to Birthday and Tegendraads. On Clay he seems to control the controls.

W stands for Wouter van Weldhoven who also releases solo compositions. On Birthday and Tegendraads he contributes taperecorders and melodica.

Track 1 and 3 were initially released as Live Edits on cassette by Digitalis, track 2 initially released as Clay on 3-inch cd-r by Machinefabriek. The tracks have also been (re)mastered by myself and contain gorgeous cover art by Rutger. So hop on over to the shop or any of our lovely distributors for a copy of this wonderful work!

More news over the weekend as we are steam-rolling some amazing work in the next month…well, year even! Next up will be Konntinent’s rather incredible ‘Opal Island’. Stay warm, don’t get snowed in if possible and speak soon!

Yes that’s right, we will be having our big Christmas show this coming Sunday (the 20th) at Cafe Oto, London! The show will feature yours truly do some of my improvised micro-elements, The Boats, Danny Norbury and the mighty Home Normal trio of Konntinent, Isnaj Dui and KESH curator, former Slowdive drummer, the mighty Simon Scott! Its already been highly recommended by Time Out, Fluid Radio and various lovely blog and zines. Its going to be an awesome night and we’d love to see you there! If you fancy going please go here to purchase an advanced ticket: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/64922

Also, apologies for the delays in our releases of the marvellous L/M/R/W. Konntinent, Chihei Hatakeyama and offthesky albums. We had a problem waiting for the printer in this ‘peak’ season as they say…so we have unfortunately had to delay these releases until January with new release dates. What it does mean is that in January and February we are going to be all over the place with incredible, jaw-dropping music :). It should also be noted we have changed, for these releases at least, our packaging to a rather gorgeous matte digipack with credits now down the spine. They look super lush and at no extra cost.

I will also be releasing my ‘Slow Films In Low Light’ album - a collection of remixes and reworkings by other artists on the Home Normal roster past, present and future. ALL the money from this release will be going to The Archway Foundation, a charity who serve those affected by loneliness. That means that if you spend £5.99 (special price), the charity gets £5.99 directly.. For more information about this, plus sound clips and information, simply go to the relevant release page. Thanks! Hope to see you at the show but if not have a wonderful Christmas and more to come in the New Year, oh, plus and end of year review from myself and all the artists involved this year! More soon on the newsletter (sign up on the information page).
Cheers, Ian

offthesky / color cassette special offer
We have some very rare releases fresh in from jason corder (offthesky / color cassette) including his long deleted mobeer 004 release under color cassette ’small town smoker’. Exclusive to Home Normal and Experimedia (I think) - anyone who buys an offthesky release will be sent a link to download his EP ‘Du Soliel’ for FREE. Anyone who buys a Color Cassette release will be sent a link to download some Color Cassette B-sides for FREE.

Seems like its been a while since our last end of summer releases with Isnaj Dui and Mountain Ocean Sun. But, slightly later than planned we are back with albums from Le Lendemain and Greg Davis. Some of you will be unfamiliar with Le Lendemain but not with the guys behind it, namely David Wenngren and Danny Norbury. David is well known as Library Tapes who kicked off Home Normal all those months ago now, Danny played cello on that very album. Despite working together before for two Library Tapes albums, this is their first album together and its a thing of staggering beauty, poise and delicacy. Its called ‘Fires’ and will be out this coming Friday (the 23rd).

Greg Davis is of course a name many of you will be familiar with for his work on Carpark Records, Kranky and Room40 to name a few. I have long been a fan of Greg’s work and really wanted to release some of Greg’s live improvisational work. ‘Midpoint’ just goes to show how enormously talented Greg is over two live sets, 3 years apart, in Bellingham, Washington and Burlington, Vermont respectively. ‘Midpoint’ will be released the following Friday (30th).

Special mention to the brilliant photographer Liam Frankland who provided the cover art for this release. For more about Liam and his work please hit the link below:

www.liamfrankland.com

Pre-orders are up now. We hope you enjoy these two phenomenal releases!

After a long hot summer of postal strikes and delays, we are thrilled to finally be releasing the excellent Mountain Ocean Sun album ‘Peace Conference’.

Mountain Ocean Sun are: Jean Cook, Hitoko Sakai, Daniel Littleton and Warren Defever. Daniel Littleton has spent years playing with NYC’s quietest band IDA, and is also a frequent Tara Jane Oneil collaborator. Jean Cooks a violin-veteran and has jammed with everyone from Jon Langford to William Parker and Assif Tsahar. Hitoko Sakai worked with Japanese noise artist MSBR for years performing, organizing tours, and writing about the Japanese experimental and noise scene before recently moving to the USA. Warren Defever runs an artspace in Detroit called the UFO FACTORY and probably best known for his work with His Name is Alive (4AD).

Peace Conference is a 64 minute piece of harmonium, strings, bells, gongs, shruti boxes, percussion wonderment. For sound clips and more info go to the releases page, to grab a copy please go to the shop or visit one of our lovely distributors.

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay as things have been a bit hectic (I’m actually writing this from Hong Kong airport on transit to Tokyo!). Isnaj Dui’s wonderful album ‘Unstable Equilibrium’ came out on Friday with some great early reviews and responses. Katie’s work is totally unique, melodic and just fab so please give it a whirl on the releases page. If you like it you can buy it from us direct or go to one of our lovely distributors. If you ordered both the Mountain Ocean Sun and Isnaj Dui albums we will be dispatching this a few days before release (the 10th of Sept) separately so you can expect the Isnaj Dui to arrive in a few days still.

Other good news in the shop is that we have finally sorted out the postage plug-in so that the cost is £1.99 first item plus 0.49 each extra item. Yes we are still sending out CD’s from our 2 London addresses and Tokyo address (which was one reason we had the 1.99 per item postage) but we didn’t expect to have so many loyal customers buying loads of stock in one go and being forced to pay silly postage prices! Despite this we have sorted out our stock so that most of it will be now sent out by Ben in London whilst I do have some of the Mobeer and Flau stock in Tokyo - however for such orders we will take the cost of this postage as its our fault for being oh so very global!

Final news is that Tokyo Droning’s (our brother/sister label) first release by offthesky ‘fluoroscence’ sold out in our shop in 12 hours! For those of you who have been asking where they can get a copy, well Norman Records sold out quick flash BUT I think Smallfish Records still have one or two copies (literally one or two!). Also we staggered this release so that Darla, Experimedia and Databloem will have this in a week or so - more to come on that in a bit. Thanks to Jason for his inspirational work and to whoever has bought / will buy a copy - we really appreciate the support for such a small experimental label/project.

Speak soon!

Unfortunately, due to forces out of our control (namely the postal strikes in the UK), our printer’s have fallen way behind in getting Mountain Ocean Sun’s ‘Peace Conference’ ready in time for our release date. For some bizarre reason, which we were only made aware of yesterday, the Isnaj Dui album is ready despite this. As such Isnaj Dui’s (006) ‘Unstable Equilibrium’ will still be released on the 28th of August as planned, but the Mountain Ocean Sun release will now be officially unveiled on the 11th of September. For those who have pre-ordered both we will be sending out 006 on the 28th of August and MOS on the 11th of September as per release date, or we can offer a full refund on MOS due to this delay. We apologise to those of you anticipating the Mountain Ocean Sun release - there really was/is nothing we can do about it. Blame the Royal Mail - not us! Many thanks.