Jan 17th Newsletter

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Torn Light Records
1855 N Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60647
312.955.0614
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  • Dieter Roth: Souvenirs. (Text in English & German)
    Dieter Roth: Souvenirs. (Text in English & German)
    $30.00 | , , Add to cart

    Art polymath extraordinaire, Dieter Roth (1930-1998) maintained throughout his career an output so prodigious and various that art historians and fans are still struggling to keep up. Bringing [...]

    GENRE: Art/Photography
  • Altered States: The Library of Julio Santo Domingo.
    Altered States: The Library of Julio Santo Domingo.
    $30.00 | , , Add to cart

    Julio Mario Santo Domingo (1957-2009) was a collector and visionary who filled his homes and warehouses with the world’s greatest private collection related to the subjects of drugs, sex, magic, [...]

    GENRE: Art/Photography
  • Howlin Rain – The Alligator Bride [colored vinyl]
    Howlin Rain – The Alligator Bride [colored vinyl]
    $9.00 | , , Add to cart

    “On June 8, Oakland, California’s Howlin Rain return with The Alligator Bride, their fifth LP of swampy, ragged, unapologetic rock ’n roll. Led by Ethan Miller (co-founder of psych rockers [...]

    GENRE: Art Rock / Krautrock / Prog / Psych
  • Link Wray – Missing Links Vol.3 – Some Kinda Nut
    Link Wray – Missing Links Vol.3 – Some Kinda Nut
    $13.00 | , , Add to cart

    “Another great grab bag of hideously rare Link, all from the ’60s on this volume, including tracks that Wray issued under his own name, and side projects that he lent […]

    GENRE: Rock / Pop
  • Title TK
    Title TK
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    “Comprised of the artists and musicians Cory Arcangel, Howie Chen and Alan Licht, Title TK is a “band” that performs in music or art contexts. While they appear on stage […]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Dennis Covington – Salvation On Sand Mountain
    Dennis Covington – Salvation On Sand Mountain
    $6.00 | , , Add to cart

    “For New York Times reporter Dennis Covington, what began as a journalistic assignment-covering the trial of an Alabama pastor convicted of attempting to murder his wife with poisonous [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Sean McCann, Matthew Sullivan, Alex Twomey – Saturday Night
    Sean McCann, Matthew Sullivan, Alex Twomey – Saturday Night
    $14.00 | , , Add to cart

    “Saturday Night is the debut LP by old friends and collaborators Alex Twomey, Matthew Sullivan, and Sean McCann. Recorded over numerous evenings at the artists’ homes, and completed just [...]

    GENRE: Experimental / Noise, Modern Composition / Musique Concrete / Electronic
  • Art & Power: The Avant-garde & the Soviet State, 1917-1928
    Art & Power: The Avant-garde & the Soviet State, 1917-1928
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    In Art and Power, Andrei Sarabyanov and Natalia Strizhkova explore the historical period between 1917 to the early 1930s, when avant-garde artists and Bolshevik leaders worked hand in hand to [...]

    GENRE: Art/Photography, Non-Fiction
  • Total Expansion of the Letter: Avant-Garde Art and Language After Mallarmé
    Total Expansion of the Letter: Avant-Garde Art and Language After Mallarmé
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    At the outset of the twentieth century, language became a visual medium and a philosophical problem for European avant-garde artists. In Total Expansion of the Letter, art historian Trevor Stark [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis
    Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    This book reassesses Miles Davis’ “electric period” and analyzes its continuing influence on contemporary music. While jazz purists often revile this phase – which encompasses the entire [...]

    GENRE: Jazz / Fusion / Free Jazz, Non-Fiction
  • Neon Screams: How Drill, Trap, & Basement Made Music New Again
    Neon Screams: How Drill, Trap, & Basement Made Music New Again
    $8.00 | , , Add to cart

    Neon Screams is a manifesto, a rallying cry for the new musical futurism. Taking street music’s embrace of Auto-Tune in the late 2000s as his starting point, Kit Mackintosh launches […]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery
    Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    Years after its release, Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea remains one of the most beloved and best-selling albums in all of indie music, hailed as a […]

    GENRE: Indie / Alternative, Non-Fiction
  • Soma: The Divine Hallucinogen
    Soma: The Divine Hallucinogen
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    Soma has been shrouded in mystery for centuries. It is simultaneously a sacred hallucinogenic plant used in secret rituals, a personified God, and an important cosmological principle. Summarizing [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex & Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557-1789
    Nefarious Crimes, Contested Justice: Illicit Sex & Infanticide in the Republic of Venice, 1557-1789
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    This captivating history exposes a clandestine world of family and community secrets―incest, abortion, and infanticide―in the early modern Venetian republic. With the keen eye of a detective, [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Sublime Noise: Musical Culture and the Modernist Writer
    Sublime Noise: Musical Culture and the Modernist Writer
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    When Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring premiered in Paris in 1913, the crowd rioted in response to the harsh dissonance and jarring rhythms of its score. This was noise, not music. […]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Witold Gombrowicz – Kind of Testament
    Witold Gombrowicz – Kind of Testament
    $9.00 | , , Add to cart

    A Kind of Testament is part autobiography and part justification of the life’s work of one of Poland’s most important novelists and playwrights. Written in France in 1968, this personal […]

    GENRE: Memoir
  • Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction
    Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    Early science fiction has often been associated almost exclusively with Northern industrialized nations. In this groundbreaking exploration of the science fiction written in Latin America prior [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century
    Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    Women’s contributions to science fiction over the past century have been lasting and important, but critical work in the field has only just begun to explore its full range. Justine […]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Michel Leiris – Scratches: Rules of the Game – Volume 1
    Michel Leiris – Scratches: Rules of the Game – Volume 1
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    “For me his work is not only a document that enriches our knowledge of man, but also a personal testament that touches me deeply.”–Francis BaconScratches is the first volume in [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Marcus Rainsford – Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti
    Marcus Rainsford – Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    As the first complete narrative in English of the Haitian Revolution, Marcus Rainsford’s An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti was highly influential in establishing [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Dream Factory on the Nile: Pierre Sioufi Collection of Egyptian Cinema Lobby Cards.
    Dream Factory on the Nile: Pierre Sioufi Collection of Egyptian Cinema Lobby Cards.
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    Egyptian lobby cards combined a film’s poster art, still photographs from the set, and a credit list that usually included the production company, cast and crew, director, screenwriter, and music [...]

    GENRE: Art/Photography
  • Be Brave to Things: The Uncollected Poetry & Plays of Jack Spicer.
    Be Brave to Things: The Uncollected Poetry & Plays of Jack Spicer.
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    Be Brave to Things shows legendary San Francisco Renaissance poet Jack Spicer at the top of his form, with his blistering intelligence, painful double-edged wit, and devastating will to truth [...]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Gesualdo Hex: Music, Myth, & Memory.
    Gesualdo Hex: Music, Myth, & Memory.
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    In this vivid tale of adultery and intrigue, witchcraft and murder, Glenn Watkins explores the fascinating life of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo―a life suffused with scandal and [...]

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Trip: Andy Warhol’s Plastic Fantastic Cross-Country Adventure.
    Trip: Andy Warhol’s Plastic Fantastic Cross-Country Adventure.
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    From the author of Strapless and Guest of Honor, a book about a little-known road trip Andy Warhol took from New York to LA in 1963, and how that journey—and […]

    GENRE: Art/Photography, Non-Fiction
  • Adjusted Margin: Xerography, Art, & Activisim in the Late Twentieth Century.
    Adjusted Margin: Xerography, Art, & Activisim in the Late Twentieth Century.
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    This is the story of how the xerographic copier, or “Xerox machine,” became a creative medium for artists and activists during the last few decades of the twentieth century. Paper […]

    GENRE: Art/Photography, Non-Fiction
  • Absence of Clutter: Minimal Writing as Art & Literature.
    Absence of Clutter: Minimal Writing as Art & Literature.
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    In the 1960s and 70s, minimal and conceptual artists stripped language down to its most basic components: the word and the letter. Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Carl Andre, Lawrence Weiner, […]

    GENRE: Art/Photography, Non-Fiction
  • The Star Club – The Very Best Of The Star Club
    The Star Club – The Very Best Of The Star Club
    $24.00 | , , Add to cart

    A compilation of the best of the early material from the first era of The Star Club, a long running and heavily influential Japanese punk band. Label: Club The Star […]

    GENRE: Punk / Hardcore
  • Wilson Pickett – The Wicked Pickett [white label promo]
    Wilson Pickett – The Wicked Pickett [white label promo]
    $85.00 | , , Add to cart

    “A fabulous album, done when Pickett was in the midst of his best period at Atlantic. It had everything — great songs, wonderful production and arrangements, and a hungry, galvanizing [...]

    GENRE: Soul / Funk / Disco
  • Ryley Walker & Chris Brokaw – Strangled Pairs #13
    Ryley Walker & Chris Brokaw – Strangled Pairs #13
    $45.00 | , , Add to cart

    Guitar duo improvisation from Walker & Brokaw Label: American Tapes – AM 982 Format: Vinyl, 12″ Country: US Released: 2014 VG+/VG+

    GENRE: Experimental / Noise
  • The Ted Curson Quintet – Live At La’Tete De L’Art: The Canadian Concert Of Ted Curson
    The Ted Curson Quintet – Live At La’Tete De L’Art: The Canadian Concert Of Ted Curson
    $26.00 | , , Add to cart

    A smoking modal set from the trumpeter’s legendary quintet. Label: Can-Am Records – CA 1700 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue Country: Canada Released: 1985 VG+/VG+. Jacket in shrink.

    GENRE: Jazz / Fusion / Free Jazz
  • Steve Roach, VidnaObmana* – Spirit Dome – Live Archive
    Steve Roach, VidnaObmana* – Spirit Dome – Live Archive
    $10.00 | , , Add to cart

    “Spirit Dome returns with a perfect companion, Live Archive. Two out-of-print releases from this acclaimed ambient duo are brought together in this value-priced 2-CD release. Living proof [...]

    GENRE: Modern Composition / Musique Concrete / Electronic
  • The Nihilist Spasm Band – 1984
    The Nihilist Spasm Band – 1984
    $15.00 | , , Add to cart

    When the cassette 1984 was released on Chimik Communications in 1984, the Nihilist Spasm Band’s last record was the 1978 Vol. 2. Although the band was very active at the […]

    GENRE: Experimental / Noise
  • irr. app. (ext.) – Josephine & Elsewhere
    irr. app. (ext.) – Josephine & Elsewhere
    $20.00 | , , Add to cart

    This limited edition collection of live recordings sees irr. app. (ext.) stripped down from its usual group configuration for the stage; for these performances Matthew Waldron braved audiences on [...]

    GENRE: Experimental / Noise
  • Andrew Liles – Miscellany Deluxe (Souvenirs Perdus D’antan)
    Andrew Liles – Miscellany Deluxe (Souvenirs Perdus D’antan)
    $20.00 | , , Add to cart

    “Miscellany Deluxe was originally released as a 13 CDR box set in 2003. Eleven of the albums included in the box were later made available as individual downloads in 2011. […]

    GENRE: Experimental / Noise
  • Jean Genet – May Day Speech
    Jean Genet – May Day Speech
    $20.00 | , , Add to cart

    Transcript of Jean Genet’s May Day Speech, given in support of Bobby Seale after his imprisonment. City Lights, 1970 staple-bound zine. Some light wear and discoloration.

    GENRE: Non-Fiction
  • Alberto Moravia – Time Of Desecration
    Alberto Moravia – Time Of Desecration
    $12.00 | , , Add to cart

    Alberto Moravia’s nightmarish exploration of disaffected youth in fascist Italy. FSG, 1980 Hardcover First US edition. Light discoloration to dustjacket.

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Donald Antrim – The Hundred Brothers (signed)
    Donald Antrim – The Hundred Brothers (signed)
    $15.00 | , , Add to cart

    There’s Rob, Bob, Tom, Paul, Ralph, and Phil; Siegfried, the sculptor in burning steel; blind Albert and ninety-three-year-old Hiram; Foster, the New Age psychoanalyst; and Maxwell, the [...]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Hala Alyan – The Arsonists’ City
    Hala Alyan – The Arsonists’ City
    $8.00 | , , , Add to cart

    The Nasr family is spread across the globe—Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. [...]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Ismail Kadare – Doruntine
    Ismail Kadare – Doruntine
    $20.00 | , , Add to cart

    Doruntine or Who brought Dorontine is a novel by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. It is based on the old Albanian legend of Constantin and Doruntine Book is in “Like New” […]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Ken Schles – Night Walk
    Ken Schles – Night Walk
    $15.00 | , , , Add to cart

    Twenty-five years after the printing of his seminal 1988 book, Invisible City, Ken Schles revisits his archive and fashions a narrative of lost youth: a delirious, peripatetic walk in the […]

    GENRE: Art/Photography
  • Cornelia Parker – Verso
    Cornelia Parker – Verso
    $32.00 | , , Add to cart

    This diminutive artists book was specially commissioned by Ivorypress as part of an ongoing series. Verso is a previously unpublished work by British sculptor and installation artist Cornelia [...]

    GENRE: Art/Photography
  • Olga Tokarczuk – House Of Day, House Of Night
    Olga Tokarczuk – House Of Day, House Of Night
    $125.00 | , , Add to cart

    Nowa Ruda is a small town in Silesia, an area that has been a part of Poland, Germany, and the former Czechoslovakia in the past. When the narrator moves into […]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Stig Dagerman – Sleet
    Stig Dagerman – Sleet
    $8.00 | , , Add to cart

    A selection of stories from Sweden’s greatest post-war writer. “Dagerman wrote with beautiful objectivity. Instead of emotive phrases, he uses a choice of facts, like bricks, to construct an [...]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Thomas Bernhard – Extinction (1st US Edition)
    Thomas Bernhard – Extinction (1st US Edition)
    $20.00 | , , Add to cart

    The last work of fiction by one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Extinction is widely considered Thomas Bernhard’s magnum opus. Franz-Josef Murau—the intellectual black sheep of a [...]

    GENRE: Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Criticism/Transgressive
  • Toad Hall – S/T
    Toad Hall – S/T
    $16.00 | , , Add to cart

    Lo-fi psych with tinges of baroque pop Label: Liberty – LST-7580 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo Country: US Released:1968 VG+/VG+. Jacket is low end VG+, has faint shelf wear.  

    GENRE: Art Rock / Krautrock / Prog / Psych
  • Inner Dialogue – Friend
    Inner Dialogue – Friend
    $14.00 | , , Add to cart

    Psych-pop from California Label: Ranwood – R-8074 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: US Released:1970 VG+/VG. Light shelf wear. Couple faint marks on record.

    GENRE: Art Rock / Krautrock / Prog / Psych
  • Rottweiler – Haight
    Rottweiler – Haight
    $8.00 | , Add to cart

    Hard-hitting acid house from Ariel Motto Label: Chicago Research – CR038 Format: CS, Album Country: US Released: 2020 VG+/VG+

    GENRE: Techno / House / Electronic
  • Mind Garage – Mind Garage
    Mind Garage – Mind Garage
    $35.00 | , , Add to cart

    Christian psych-rock from West Virginia Label: RCA Victor – LSP-4218 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo Country: US Released: 1969 VG+/VG  

    GENRE: Art Rock / Krautrock / Prog / Psych
  • Earthgasm – Y.S.F.W.P. 02
    Earthgasm – Y.S.F.W.P. 02
    $8.00 | , Add to cart

    “YARD SALE FOR WORLD PEACE 02 All tracks: Stephen Sharrett – Saxophone, electronics Anton Seder – Clarinet, electronics” Label: Yard Sale For World Peace – YSFWP02 Format: [...]

    GENRE: Jazz / Fusion / Free Jazz
  • The Fraternity Of Man – The Fraternity Of Man
    The Fraternity Of Man – The Fraternity Of Man
    $17.00 | , , Add to cart

    “The short-lived Fraternity of Man is undoubtedly best known for the pro-pot anthem “Don’t Bogart Me,” which showed up during an unforgettable scene in the genre-defining [...]

    GENRE: Art Rock / Krautrock / Prog / Psych