{"title":"Moon Duo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMoon Duo is a psychedelic rock band formed in 2009 by Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada. Originally from San Francisco, California, the band has since relocated to Portland, Oregon. With their unique blend of mesmerizing keyboards, powerful guitar and vocals, and dynamic drumming by John Jeffrey, Moon Duo creates a captivating sound that takes listeners on a cosmic journey through space and time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLed by Sanae Yamada on keyboards and Ripley Johnson on guitar and vocals, Moon Duo's music combines elements of psychedelic rock with experimental soundscape. Their hypnotic melodies and pulsating rhythms transport audiences into a trance-like state, while their thought-provoking lyrics explore themes of spirituality, consciousness, and the mysteries of the universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince their formation, Moon Duo has gained critical acclaim for their innovative approach to psychedelic rock. They have released several studio albums and performed at renowned music festivals around the world. With each new release, they continue to push boundaries and redefine what it means to create immersive sonic experiences.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"mazes-1","title":"Mazes","description":"\u003cp\u003eFormed in San Francisco in 2009 by Wooden Shijps guitarist Ripley Johnson and his partner, Sanae Yamada, Moon Duo's first two critically acclaimed EPS, \u003ci\u003eKilling Time\u003c\/i\u003e (2009) and \u003ci\u003eEscape\u003c\/i\u003e (2010), fused the futuristic pylon hum and transistor reverb of Suicide or Silver Apples with the heat-haze fuzz of american rock 'n' roll to create tracks of blistering, 12-cylinder space rock. Now their debut album \u003ci\u003eMazes\u003c\/i\u003e, recorded in San Francisco and mixed in Berlin during 2010 as the band prepared to move to the mountains of Colorado, explores a far broader, lighter, sound. That's most clear on the dreamy organ and skipping riff of the title track, which recalls the Velvet Underground, or the handclaps and swinging organ bloops over the potent shredding and guttural riff delivered by Johnson in 'when you cut'. Throughout, \u003ci\u003eMazes\u003c\/i\u003e is the sound of Moon Duo carving out their own identity, looking to the horizon, and moving forward.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Souterrain Transmissions","offers":[{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50415981560139,"sku":"1123198","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50415981232459,"sku":"336804","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50415982412107,"sku":"1123204","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/b5eb0e96-7334-4ca0-84dc-e9c498bbd568_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726694404"},{"product_id":"occult-architecture-vol-1","title":"Occult Architecture Vol.1","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eOccult Architecture \u003c\/i\u003eof Moon Duo’s fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 - is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light. Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, \u003ci\u003eOccult Architecture \u003c\/i\u003ereflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark ener­gies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. In Chinese, Yin means “the shady side of the hill” and is associated with the feminine, darkness, night, earth. Following this logic, \u003ci\u003eVol. 1 \u003c\/i\u003eembraces and embod­ies Moon Duo’s darker qualities, in the heart of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. According to guitarist Ripley Johnson, “the concept of the dark \/ light, two-part album came as we were recording and mixing the songs, beginning in the dead of winter and continuing into the rebirth and blossoming of the spring. There’s something really powerful about the changing of the seasons in the Northwest, the physical and psychic impact it has on you, especially after we spent so many years in the seasonal void of California. I became interested in gnostic and her­metic literature around that time, especially the relationship between music and occult qualities and that fed into the whole vibe.” \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sacred Bones Records","offers":[{"title":"Silver | LP.","offer_id":50465362411851,"sku":"1143705","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP.","offer_id":50465361985867,"sku":"1002398","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Silver | LP","offer_id":50441730654539,"sku":"1143703","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50441731309899,"sku":"1002399","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50465362215243,"sku":"1002397","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/90bed3a9-019e-4059-902a-c2d233e970ee_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727287236"},{"product_id":"live-at-levitation","title":"Live at Levitation","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first Austin Psych Fest was held in March 2008, and expanded to a 3 day event the following year. 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The artists and sets showcased on Live at Levitation have been chosen from over a decade of recordings at the world-renowned event, and document key artists in the scene performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at Levitation annually from all over the world. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Reverberation Appreciation Society","offers":[{"title":"Orange | LP","offer_id":50461415211339,"sku":"1165292","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50461415670091,"sku":"1165293","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/d5d7fbe0-f3eb-482d-bdcf-a62f1612205b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727248050"},{"product_id":"stars-are-the-light","title":"Stars Are the Light","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eStars Are the Light\u003c\/em\u003e, the luminous seventh album by the American psych explorers Moon Duo, marks a progression into significantly new territory. From a preoccupation with the transcendental and occult that informed Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada’s guitar-driven psych rock, and reached its apotheosis in the acclaimed Occult Architecture diptych, \u003cem\u003eStars Are the Light\u003c\/em\u003e sees the band synthesize the abstract and metaphysical with the embodied and terrestrial.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBranching out from \u003cem\u003eOccult Architecture Vol. 2\u003c\/em\u003e, the album has a sonic physicality that is at once propulsive and undulating; it puts dance at the heart of an expansive nexus that connects the body to the stars. These are songs about embodied human experience — love, change, misunderstanding, internal struggle, joy, misery, alienation, discord, harmony, celebration — rendered as a kind of dance of the self, both in relation to other selves and to the eternal dance of the cosmos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTaking disco as its groove-oriented departure point, \u003cem\u003eStars Are the Light\u003c\/em\u003e shimmers with elements of '70s funk and '90s rave. Johnson’s signature guitar sound is at its most languid and refined, while Yamada’s synths and oneiric vocals are foregrounded to create a spacious percussiveness that invites the body to move with its mesmeric rhythms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cstrong\u003eSonic Boom\u003c\/strong\u003e (Spacemen 3, Spectrum) at the mixing desk in Portugal’s Serra de Sintra, (known to the Romans as \"The Mountains of the Moon\") the area’s lush landscape and powerful lunar energies exerted a strong influence on the vibe and sonic texture of the album.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sacred Bones Records","offers":[{"title":"Clear LP | Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":50465432305995,"sku":"1143721","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50465429356875,"sku":"1068580","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Pink | LP","offer_id":50465428930891,"sku":"1143720","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Red | LP","offer_id":50465434108235,"sku":"2000654","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50465432928587,"sku":"1068579","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7e0c9f3b-3423-49d5-9ef1-a19bd5ab6b19_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727289177"},{"product_id":"shadow-of-the-sun","title":"Shadow of the Sun","description":"\u003cp\u003eMoon Duo's third full-length LP, \u003ci\u003eShadow of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e, was written entirely during one of these evolving phases - a rare and uneasy rest period, devoid of the constant adrenaline of performing live and the stimulation of traveling through endless moving landscapes. This offered Moon Duo a new space to reflect on all of these previous experiences and cradle them while cultivating the album in the unfamiliar environment of a new dwelling; a dark Portland basement. It was from this stir-crazy fire that \u003ci\u003eShadow of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e was forged. Evolving the sound of their first two full-length records, \u003ci\u003eMazes\u003c\/i\u003e (2011) and \u003ci\u003eCircles\u003c\/i\u003e (2012), Moon Duo - Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada - have developed their ideas with the help of their newly acquired steam engine, Canadian drummer John Jeffrey (present on the band's last release, Live in Ravenna). The unchartered rhythms and tones present on this record are reflective of Moon Duo's strive for equilibrium in this aforementioned new environment. You can hear it is the result of months of wrangling with a profound feeling of being unsettled - there are off-kilter dance rhythms, repetitive, grinding riffs, cosmic trucker boogies and even an ecstatically pretty moment. Mixing with Jonas Verwijnen in Berlin, allowed for a creative catharsis and dissolved the album’s formal technique into a cool and paradoxically sane sound of confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sacred Bones Records","offers":[{"title":"Blue | LP","offer_id":50466862596427,"sku":"1143689","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Red | LP","offer_id":50466862629195,"sku":"1143693","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fc43c7b7-250b-4ba7-8511-213dfc1c3d05_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727326578"},{"product_id":"occult-architecture-vol-2","title":"Occult Architecture Vol 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eMeaning all things magick and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the \u003ci\u003eOccult Architecture\u003c\/i\u003e of Moon Duo’s fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light. Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, \u003ci\u003eOccult Architecture\u003c\/i\u003e reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. Following the Yin (feminine, darkness, night, earth) represented on \u003ci\u003eOccult Architecture Vol. 1, Vol. 2\u003c\/i\u003e presents the Yang. Yang means “the bright side of the hill” and is associated with the male, sun, light and the spirit of heaven, and as such Vol. 2 explores the light and airy elements of Moon Duo’s complex psyche. “In production we referred to Vol. 1 as the fuzz dungeon, and Vol. 2 as the crystal palace,” guitarist Ripley Johnson explains. “The darkness of Vol. 1 gave birth to the light of Vol. 2. We had to have both elements in order to complete the cycle. We’re releasing them separately to allow them their own space, and to ensure clarity of vision. To that end we also mixed Vol. 2 separately, in the height of Portland summer, focusing on its sonic qualities of lightness, air, and sun. Listeners can ultimately use the two volumes individually or together, depending on circumstance or the desired effect.” Vol. 2 was mixed in Portland by the band’s longtime collaborator Jonas Verwijnen.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sacred Bones Records","offers":[{"title":"LP.","offer_id":50466946253131,"sku":"1008327","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50466946908491,"sku":"1143717","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Blue | LP","offer_id":50466946154827,"sku":"1143714","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466946318667,"sku":"1008326","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50466947367243,"sku":"1008324","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/1e5ad504-e835-467c-a23f-323644b875a4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727332462"},{"product_id":"circles-8","title":"Circles","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCircles\u003c\/i\u003e, the second full length album from Moon Duo. \u003ci\u003eCircles\u003c\/i\u003e is the product of a long winter's isolation in the rocky mountains, though the road to its fruition stretched over six months and several locations. The groundwork for the album was laid at the band's home in blue river, Colorado in the early months of 2012, where all songs were written, and the preliminary tracks recorded. For two weeks in early April, Moon Duo moved into a small apartment above lucky cat recordings in San Francisco for an additional recording session with engineer Phil Manley. Like it's predecessor, the album was mixed and tweaked at Kaiku studios in Berlin. 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We had a vague sense of coalescence, or fomentation, like a glimpse of a thing in outline which you can’t yet see, but neither of us knew at the time that this was the record that would mark the beginning of our life as a touring band and would initiate our connections to so many (now long-time) friends, familiars and collaborators. Ten years feels like both a lifetime and the blink of an eye - measurable but impossible to quantify. 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