If you paid any attention, you might have noticed that Thor’s Rubber Hammer was completely dormant in 2010. I didn’t intend it that way, but after a stolen laptop, moving to a smaller place and most of the stock into storage, and — more than anything else — putting more focus on my my day job at NPR Music, the record label was put aside. Releases were canceled and offered elsewhere (was pretty happy that Stunned Records picked up Mortuus Auris & The Black Hand’s gorgeous Sleep), and I turned down more killer demos than any one should.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to turn Thor’s Rubber Hammer into what I’m calling a “sometimes label.” Oh, the store is very much in full effect, just less label output. One or three releases per year — records and cassettes that truly embody TRHP’s sonic vision better than anything else. It just so happens that 2011’s schedule has been booked and I couldn’t be happier with the selection.

• TBA / Jeremiah Cymerman & Matthew Welch- Ecstatic Jazz Duos LP: The final pane of the Ecstatic Jazz triptych, now with a new A-side duo to be revealed soon.
• Layne Garrett and Friends- Reconstruction of a Monument c60: Washington, D.C. improviser and instrument maker Layne Garrett had over 75 people contribute self-looping cassettes for a beautiful spring day in an abandoned quarry. These are the field recordings.
• TBA LP: I really can’t tell you what the other project is, just yet — just someone whose music I’ve grown to love dearly and was more than thrilled to introduce the world to some time ago.

(And if you’re wondering, those adorably curious dogs in the photo are Bjorn, Otto and Krister. Hey guys!)

-Lars Gotrich, the only guy running this ship

My girlfriend and I woke up at 3 a.m. to see the lunar eclipse last night, but curse the clouds, we could barely see it. But at least there’s good news for Thor’s Rubber Hammer this morning: Express Night Out’s Christopher Porter named Last Winter We Didn’t Sing (along with music from 12k, Fluid Radio and Paul Schutze’s sound installations — fine company, indeed) some of the best wintry mixes on the Internet.

If you order the CD now (which includes music from Greg Davis, Scott Tuma, Susan Alcorn, Nicholas Szczepanik and more), you may not get it until after New Year’s. But you can get the comp digitally now!

Chris Schlarb’s new album, Psychic Temple, is everything I’ve come to love about his music. It speaks beyond boundary in the way only Chris can. I’m biased, of course, having released his I Heart Lung split LP with DWMTG, plus that forever-delayed I Heart Lung Interoceans vinyl (*sigh* one day). But he stretches out his composition with more ease this time around, more at peace with rhythm.

Psychic Temple is already available as a digital download, but let’s get this thing on 180 gram vinyl.

The excellent folks at Digitalis just released Daughter of Eve by Beru. Driven by Jessica’s vulnerable yet striking voice, it’s a noise/folk-collage similar to our 2009 release, What Would I Do Without You, which is down to its last copies.

… just for $100, no less. Thanks everyone who took advantage of the moving sale. I’ve lowered prices on some items (including LPs and CDs), so take a look around.

I’m all moved into the new place and relocated a third of the stock into a closet. And soon enough, the rest will go into storage. The moving sale will end this Friday, Aug. 20, and I just put up a button to buy the whole Thor’s Rubber Hammer catalog for $90 PPD.

So I have moved, but the Thor’s Rubber Hammer stock has not. If you place an order now — remember: there’s a massive moving sale going on (some items almost gone!) — don’t expect it to ship out until August 16. Thanks!

After two blissful years with a spacious basement as Thor’s Rubber Hammer HQ, the landlord’s giving us the heave-ho to renovate the house (no hard feelings, promise). I’ll be moving into a much smaller space, so I need to unload a ton of merch. The whole TRHP catalog is more or less half-off with a few distro items getting the sale treatment, too.

ONWARD TO THE SALE.

Both late posting this batch-before-most-recent from Stunned Records and generally updating the site. Don’t miss out on the huge moving sale, too!

Chrome Wings- Time Patterns c30
Xiphiidae- Iiustus / Transresonance Formation c90 + c25
Archers by the Sea- Sometimes We Should Dance c48
Queen Victoria- There Will Come Soft Rains c28

HIT THE DISTRO.

“In The House Of Stone & Light” by Martin Page Covered By Beru from Jessica Collins on Vimeo.

Don’t miss out.

[Sound & Hearing]