Buy Some Records So I Can Make More

A Bandcamp Friday fundraising appeal

Hi! You’re getting a second email from me this week because I need money.

The record label head of the Burning Ambulance hydra, Burning Ambulance Music, is gearing up to put out (at least) two kick-ass albums in 2024. One is already in progress, while the other is still in the concept stage, but here’s what I can tell you right now:

Tungu is the project of Sergey Senchuk, a Ukrainian bassist, electronic musician and sound sculptor who collaborates with artists from all over the world. His upcoming album Irrational Thinking of the Subject is 15 tracks long and includes guest appearances from Noël Akchoté, Phil Minton, Gebhard Ullmann, Ayumi Ishito, Phil Durrant, Sabine Vogel, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, and many other folks. It’s beautiful, intimate stuff that combines improvisation, field recordings, electronics and sound processing, and winds up sounding like nothing else you’ve ever heard. Which makes it a perfect addition to our catalog.

The second release we’ve got planned is a collaboration between guitarist Ava Mendoza and violinist gabby fluke-mogul, who have an existing duo project called AM/FM, with one additional element: drummer Carolina Perez, who plays in the death metal band Hypoxia. They’re going into the studio next month, and I have the feeling the results are going to be face-peeling in the best possible way.

Anyway, in order to cover the costs of these two projects, and whatever else we decide to do as a label this year, it would be amazing if you wanted to purchase some of our back catalog, either digitally (in which case our first seven releases are pay-what-you-want, and our last two are $10 each) or in physical format. Here’s where I tell you that our CDs are truly beautiful, packaged in heavy cardboard gatefold mini-LP sleeves with art and design by the brilliant visual artist I.A. Freeman, who’s also done a lot of work for the ESP-Disk’ label, including several Matthew Shipp records, and who is available to design album covers for you, too, if you have a need.

Here’s a rundown of what we’ve put out to date.

Eyes Shut, Ears Open: A Burning Ambulance Compilation — a 14-track digital-only set with exclusive music from Mats Gustafsson, Burnt Sugar, Dead Neanderthals, Aaron Parks, Melvin Gibbs, Melissa Aldana, and more

Senyawa, Alkisah — an absolutely brain-roasting album of industrial post-metal ritual music by a brilliant Indonesian duo, reviewed rapturously in The Wire and on Pitchfork

Ivo Perelman/Nate Wooley, Polarity — a gorgeous collection of saxophone/trumpet duos, intimate and thrilling

Matthew Shipp/Whit Dickey, Reels — a piano/drums duo session by two absolute legends of NYC free jazz, with decades in the game

Graham Haynes vs Submerged, Echolocation — Haynes on cornet, Submerged (and a few collaborators) on electronics and block rockin’ beats

José Lencastre, Inner Voices — overdubbed solo saxophone and electronics, like an Adrian Sherwood remix of Julius Hemphill

Breath of Air, Breath of Air — the debut album by the sui generis trio of guitarist Brandon Ross, violinist Charles Burnham, and drummer Warren Benbow; it’s like psychedelic power-drone string band music

Diego Caicedo, Seis Amorfismos — a stunning work of modern composition, combining extreme metal guitar and vocals with a string quartet and creating something unearthly and totally unique

Ivo Perelman/Nate Wooley, Polarity 2 — a second volume of sax/trumpet duos from these two masters, and somehow they’ve managed to outdo themselves

Every one of these records is beautiful and amazing, and I don’t think any other label would have put them out. And the same is true of the records we’re working on for 2024. So help yourself to some incredible sonic art, and keep this operation afloat. Today is Bandcamp Friday, the day on which all revenue goes directly to artists and labels, so please consider buying one or more of our releases. Thanks, and our regularly scheduled newsletter programming will be back on Wednesday.