Plus Tapes

When Blood Operatives came out in 2005 on the Sun City Girls own Abduction label, it was the first Alvarius B. full-length release in 7 years. It is a collection of songs seemingly based on actual, but unnamed, shady characters of the global underworld past and present. Regardless of intent, this is cryptic folk music of the highest order, with several tracks employing folk/rock/psych orchestrations featuring the talents of Eyvind Kang, Tim Young, Richard Bishop, Andrew McGinnis and Randall Dunn. Twisted Americana folklore breeds with baroque Italian cinematic pop, dark ballads, and vagrant story lines. Eleven unique and varied tracks and the most “produced” Alvarius B. record to date.

Originally released as a limited edition one-time pressing of 1000 vinyl LPs on Abduction this criminally out of print rarity is now presented on Plustapes for your cassette loving enjoyment. 

 

Press

 The sounds on Blood Operatives of the Barium Sunset (Bishop’s second album under this moniker, and the first one he’s released in seven years) will be familiar to those who enjoy the outsider music of today, but it’s unlike any other record this year and most others. It’s not the only album to evoke isolation, deep emotion, unlit corners and general unease. But it is the only one that tamps down certain elements of the Girls’ music – in particular the histrionic screed-yelling hobo stonk conspiracy-theorist glare that surfaced on their Kaliflower and Jacks Creek albums, then never really went away – into a more listenable, thematic whole, while losing none of what made that music jarring and venomous in the first place. ~ Doug Mosurock, Dusted Magazine