I am selling my 28+ year collection of Records. As an avid collector, my items have been properly handled, played and stored over the years. The rating system I use to grade the condition of my items are strictly according to Tim Neely's “Goldmine” Standards. Check out my other auctions, I have Hundreds more coming every Sunday!

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Sunn O))) & Boris ?– Altar

Label: Southern Lord ?– sunn?²

Format: 3 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Blue Vinyl

Country: US

Released: Feb 2007

Notes: This copy is one of 2000 copies on opaque blue vinyl (available only via Southern Lord mailorder). Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Packaged in an elaborate gatefold jacket/book with color printing on all pages. The individual LPs are held in heavy black sleeves with black print. A Note on my photos:  Pic #4 is the open gatefold and page 1 of the book on right side, Pic #5 is the center fold of the book, and Pic #6 has the last page of the book on left.

The Southern Lord vinyl edition was released a variety of colors, here is the breakdown:

2000 copies on opaque blue vinyl (available only via Southern Lord Mail order) (This copy)
2000 sets on opaque green vinyl.
1500 sets on opaque yellow vinyl.
1500 sets on brown/red vinyl.
1000 sets on black vinyl.
600 sets on white vinyl.
1000 sets on clear vinyl.
500 sets on orange vinyl.
500 sets on purple vinyl.
551 sets on picture discs.
Unknown Number on dark red vinyl.

Condition: Vinyl NM (Only played once) – Cover VG+ (Because the packaging is so fat, tight and heavy, it has a bit of a crack, like it wants to bulge out, on the top spine.  Another slight crack inside the gatefold spine at the last page if the booklet.  I've kept it in a tight vinyl outersleeve to prevent further damage, but, when I opened it up to take the photos, I noticed that it isn't really that fragile at all.  Just super tight and heavy).

Altar is a bona fide collaboration between powersonic drone throners Sunn 0))) and Japan's experimental rockist thunderhead Boris. Outfitted by the Southern Lord label (Sunn 0)))'s vanity plate) in an oversize digipack with a four-color, 12-page booklet, with black ink on gold metallic pages, it's a handsome package to say the least. When looking through the credits one sees not only the bandmembers from Boris -- Takeshi, Wata, and Atsuo -- listed alongside the Sunn 0))) boys Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, but a surprising array of guests as well, including Joe Preston of Thrones, High on Fire, Earth, and Melvins fame; Earth's Steve Moore; Alan Dubin from O'Malley's other gig, Khanate; Rex Ritter of Jessamine; Kim Thayil (formerly of Soundgarden); and -- of all people -- Jesse Sykes and her bandmates Phil Wandscher and Bill Herzog from the Sweet Hereafter. For starters, five of these six cuts are meant to be listened to at spine-dislodging volume on a decent-to-great set of headphones, or at least a set of speakers cranked to Valhalla with your head placed firmly between them. This baby is really, really slow. All of it. Slower than any record by O'Malley and Anderson's main project. Metalheads may be outrageously bummed at how turtle-like the pace of this set is. But the point is HEAVY, not necessarily "metal." It's drenched in weight and needs volume to lift it off the ground -- and so you can hear everything in this dense mix. When joined together in all their downtuned glory, these guitars and synthesizers actually emit new microphonic tones. The low, pulsating frequencies hack out a space in the wall of drone and offer a new set of tonalities. (Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham did something akin to this with their guitar-and-bass orchestras, but they were going for the high end of the sonic spectrum and used anywhere from 15 to 100 guitars, all tuned differently and strummed in staggered chord progressions, to get those new sounds.)

Remarkably, this triangle of guitars with drums -- Sunn 0))) normally doesn't use them -- and synths feels natural here and, using only one or two chords, adds real tension to "Akuma No Kuma," the album's hinge piece. A single low chord, so low and droning as to offer discomfort, is joined by a vocodered voice (Preston) in that same tone (almost like a Tibetan monk chanting prayers gutturally, from the bottom of the throat), which gradually begins to unfold into a minimal modal if not melodic lyric frame. Atsuo's "lead drums," a sextet of different synthesizers, a trombone, and percussion (including a chilling gong), become an elliptical, bone-rattling, jaw-grinding drama that seeks resolution. It doesn't get it; these combined elementals are merely mutated into other phases that also remain unfinished. Elsewhere, on "The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)," Sykes croons cinematically (think of a drugged-out Julee Cruise on the Blue Velvet soundtrack) to an uneasy, fractured waltz tempo -- not ushered or guided by drums, but the drone of a lone guitar chord, a series of minimal fills on piano, and Wata's space-echoing guitar that evolves into yet another chord, but returns with the same tension. She is a chanteuse here, offering a kind of hunted whispering beauty -- she'd be right at home with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti -- to the halted, faltering proceedings that seems to slip into ether as the band begins a slow but deliberate disintegration behind and on top of her singing. When her vocals are multi-tracked on the refrains, the tune moves off the map and digs deep into the consciousness of the listener; it erases every bit of the song that preceded the moment she finds herself in. It disappears in an echoey series of traces and figures, but there's no body left.

"Fried Eagle Mind" allows Wata the lead vocal -- if one can even call it that, since it seems to come out of the disembodied textures of the music. Without drums, accompanied only by partially by guitars and a pair of synths that utter and stutter more than speak, it creates a ghostly ambience that has nothing to do with Eno's idea of "ambient music." This stuff is impossible to ignore; you can't go about your business when you are melting into a substanceless goo in your chair. The final cut, "Blood Swamp," a nearly 15-minute exercise that evolves from the ominous sound of a shimmering gong, a quintet of guitars, and a pair of synthesizers, is one where the "drone" is taken to its own place of erasure and disappearance entering the drone of silence -- which in and of itself, because of all that's preceded it, is heavy as well. Each series of droning tonalities and tuned-out modes wraps into each developing one, and the hot volume and sonic palette expand into something akin to oblivion. It is not blissful. It is a music of controlled excess, charged with eroticism, terror, death, and transcendence. It is the sound of a horror film unfolding as reality in the dreams of the filmmaker. But it is so utterly brutal in showing you the dark side of its true beauty, so complete in its application of violent stillness, that it cannot be resisted or captured. It can only overcome the listener with its unstated will to domination of the unforgiving nature of sound itself.

Thom Jurek

Tim Neely's “Goldmine” Standard:

Mint (M) Absolutely perfect in every way. Certainly never been played, possibly even still sealed.(More on still sealed under "Other Considerations"). Should be used sparingly as a grade, If at all.

Near Mint (NM or M-) A nearly perfect record. The record should show no obvious signs of wear. A 45 RPM or EP sleeve should have no more than the most minor defects, such as almost invisible ring wear or other signs of slight handling. An LP cover should have no creases, folds, seam splits or other noticeable similar defects. No cut-out holes, either. And of course, the same should be true of any other inserts, such as posters, lyric sleeves and the like. Basically, an LP in near mint condition looks as if you just got it home from a new record store and removed the shrink wrap.

Very Good Plus (VG+) A Very Good Plus record will show some signs that it was played and otherwise handled by a previous owner who took good care of it. Record surfaces may show some signs of wear and may have slight scuffs or very light scratches that don't affect one's listening experiences. Slight warps that do not affect the sound are "OK". The label may have some ring wear or discoloration, but it should be barely noticeable. The center hole will not have been misshapen by repeated play. Picture sleeves and LP inner sleeves will have some slight wear, lightly turned up corners, or a slight seam split. An LP cover may have slight signs of wear also and may be marred by a cut-out hole, indentation or corner indicating it was taken out of print and sold at a discount. In general, if not for a couple things wrong with it, this would be Near Mint. All but the most mint-crazy collectors will find a Very Good Plus record highly acceptable.

Very Good (VG) Many of the defects found in a VG+ record will be more pronounced in a VG disc. Surface noise will be evident upon playing, especially in soft passages and during a song's intro and fade, but will not overpower the music otherwise. Groove wear will start to be noticeable, as with light scratches (deep enough to feel with a fingernail) that will affect the sound. Labels may be marred by writing, or have tape or stickers (or their residue) attached. The same will be true of picture sleeves or LP covers. However, it will not have all of these problems at the same time, only two or three of them.

Good (G), Good Plus (G+) Good does not mean Bad! A record in Good or Good Plus condition can be put onto a turntable and will play through without skipping. But it will have significant surface noise and scratches and visible groove wear (on a styrene record, the groove will be starting to turn white). A cover or sleeve will have seam splits, especially at the bottom or on the spine. Tape, writing, ring wear or other defects will start to overwhelm the object. It is a common item, you'll probably find another copy in better shape eventually. Pass it up. But, if it's something you have been seeking for years, and the price is right, get it...but keep looking to upgrade.